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Do it now?
How you doing out there? It's me Tigger, I am.
Doc Wayne Duck. It's me Bunkers keep bobcat All right, y'all?
Is it great?
Your favorite firefly you desire? Hold old knock Gud.
My name is Jim Cummings and welcome to tuned In.
Welcome back, everybody to another episode of Tuned In when Jim Cummings. I'm producer Chris, joined as always by the legend himself, mister Jim Cummings. How are you doing today, sir?
Back in the settle again. Welcome everyone, Welcome everyone.
And we're very privileged today to have an absolutely talented, phenomenal just create, director, producer, actor, voiceover artist, I mean everything, Alan Tude. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Hello, that's such a cool list.
Yeah, a few people know that you're a terrible failed mime. See I told I knew I could get him to say something. See he's still bad ass. You still can't do it.
Every time I get in that box and how bay, I start screaming because it's I have clusters.
Well I couldn't. I couldn't resist because you know we have. But you know, I used to you know, down in the French Quarter. I'm kind of almost from New Orleans, and I used to think, you know, the street performers, you know, they're all over and a lot of mimes. Really, who doesn't love mimes well to an extent?
I can, I can? I can argue a good mind four mimes there are, yeah, but there's the bad minds.
Well I thought I was going to do one and I'd be Lenny, the amazing talking mimew does he do it?
You know?
And you get the you're doing the kite and go, whoa, look at this it's a windy of what Look at this kite.
That's a k A the kite that's a kite. Look at me?
You know? And uh, and then I would starve. I don't know, you know, I don't know.
For the originality. I think I would throw some at least beads, at least I want to see your chest. Yeah, if that's if that's on the old thing.
Yeah, yeah, so you've been to Martin Goros then, so you know that I've been.
They started giving out beads just it like became a thing just around year round, it seems like in some places.
Yeah, oh yeah, well all of the telephone poles and wires and everything, they've all got beads hanging from them.
And the and the extreme drinking has heard become a year a year round thing as well. It's not just during this let's do it, let's do it up because this is the only time we can do is. Yeah, they stray down. There's money in the budget to spray down Bourbon Street every night. Every night there vomit, thank god, vomit all cod st that's rough.
Yes, great town great towns.
Stay away from that Bourbon Street.
It's got yeah on it. Yeah yeah, you know, just walk down once and say you did it.
Then leave.
Yeah you know, oh look breasts okay, got it, got it and see and see.
Yeah that was good food someplace.
But there is good food. There is nothing but good food. I always say, if you go to New Orleans and get a decent meal, you should be pissed because it should have been amazing.
You know.
You want to call people up on the phone. And I'm not even getting a dime from the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce for this incredible ad that we're accidentally doing here.
People love people who are from there or spend time their love love that place.
Yeah, and you grew up not too far away over in the great state of Texas.
Yehaw man, I grew up in Dallas, in North Texas. Yeah, I don't get I don't you know the good miles and miles of Texas. It's a it's an interesting place, you know. It's so very Yeah, just high on its own supply Texas.
Yeah, that's true.
A Texas flag above my bed as a kid, what kid? What is that?
Yeah?
He's got state pride at eleven.
Yeah, and why not weird? Yeah, but you made it work. It's apparently so well.
It does instill in you a drive for competition, which I think is has a lot of negatives and uh in our industry, and it also has some positives. If because you need a really strong drive in the in the business too. Oh yeah, you know, overcome all of the nose and door slamming your face to finally find it.
Yes, yeah, yeah, Well that's true. I mean, that's that's kind of like the old adage. You have to be able to hear a lot of no's, but it only takes that one good yes.
Yeah.
I And you found yours a while ago, so you're going pretty well, right.
Well I did, I did. I found my first yes in nineteen ninety six, I think five ninety six, for doing a workshop of a play called Bunny Bunny that Alan's wy Bell wrote about Gilda Radner about his relationship with Gilda Radner. He was a writer the first season of Saturday Night Live, and they had an almost love affair and became best friends. And it was a woman named Paula Kal played Gilda Radner and Bruno Kirby played Alan's y Bell. Oh, and then I played everybody else. Oh.
He would have loved it, man. You would have had a blast doing that because it was a it was a character actor role. And I got my first voice over job from that because I'd come.
On because they'd hear you're doing all these I.
Was a French person who came a French wat there who came in, and I would say, what was your extion from age? And then I turned to the audience and say one year later and flip the cheeseboard over and all the cheese is molded. Oh. I run off stage and I turn into Gil. That's a friend, big bone Judy, who was so upset because she just her husband just left.
What they're doing?
Oh, that's great.
And then I grew off and somebody else I could see her.
I got to see her there you disappeared for a moment.
Are you doing costume changes all the while?
Oh?
Man, that's fun.
Yeah. That was part of it was all about like how did he get that? You know?
Yeah?
The first goal? Yeah, fat suits. But I was the only element that was doing that. And then they continued this love affair, almost love affair, and I got a roll on ice age rolls, three little bitty rolls on ice age.
Oh wow.
And it came from that. And it came from that. But then I didn't work, you know, because I smoked the cigarettes. I couldn't get any voice over work. And it was like the day I quit smoking cigarettes, I started getting voice over work really okay, Yeah, for nineteen years to get it to work for me.
Kind of raggedy gave you the voice of like horse or something.
Or once I got rid of him, my voice came out, Oh like I had just I would just in my range, but just shrink, shrink shrinks, and I couldn't didn't do anything interesting. Yeah, that's the one vice I never bothered with.
And I'm glad. I'm glad for it. Yeah, yeah, you know, And I credit my dad, God restless soul. It's not that I was healthy or smart or anything remotely like that. I just thought it stunk.
It does, and it does.
I mean, you know, because my dad, you know, he's smoking what was it Lucky strikes or I think it was lucky strikes, No camels, camels, And he would put out the cigarette, but he wouldn't put it out all the way, and it would sit there and and just smoke away. And it had that little column of air column of smoke that I could still see it, and it looked a little blue when the sunlight went through it. And then he was BALI was putting this one out, he was getting another one from his shirt. Wow, And
I was thinking, Dad, just maybe some oxygen. I don't know, but I just thought it stunk because it stunk.
I'll still smell the some people when I when I smell it, and I can smell it, so I'm I'm somebody who was able to go, you're smoking. I can just look at a cracker. That's you're the one who smokes. It's in your clothes. But I'll still if somebody likes a cigarette, it still smells good to me. But I had to smoke in in a thing. Recently, you get
the fake cigarettes that are made with herbs in tobacco. Oh, yes, you're not addictive, but oh you couldn't wash it off your hands, you couldn't get it out of your hair. It was just it's just just.
And it's a weird taste too, isn't it. It's like a weird taste. It's like the fake cigarette. Yeah, it's like burning a leaf. Like, Yes, I tried one. I used to work in props and I was like, I have to smoke one of these, because you know, I was a smoker too, and I was like, I just need to see, like what this taste like. And it was like the weirdest, driest like it gave me like the driest throat and like, I'd just request to smoke a cigarette if I was filming. You can't do that, Huh.
Yeah, I have. And there's a trick. There's a problem with that because you have when you smoke a cigarette, you product have to always know, you have to always keep it sort of at the same length because of continuity, and they're cutting and doing different shots and dagas that you end up smoking so many cigarettes and you get a huge dose of nicotine that it can double your addiction. That's what happened to me. It smells like an orphanage fire, the fake cigarettes, like an orphanage fire.
Oh yeah, No, nobody likes fire and an org.
Not.
Corella Deville didn't even like that.
Yeah, man, oh man.
I heard you say on Letter Marlton's podcast that that play Bunny Bunny was kind of like reflective of your entire career. You know, You've gotten to play so many different characters, and you know, I wouldn't even I personally wouldn't call you a character actor because when I think of a character actor, I think of like over the top,
almost like goofiness. But like you know, but your characters are so rooted, like they're so they're like different people, like I don't know, researching your career and seeing everything that you've done, I feel like you've had just such an actor's career, you know, gotten you to experience so many different roles and so many different paths and methods of acting. It's really inspirational to me. And it's really cool to see that because it takes a lot of courage to do that as well.
I guess, yeah, yeah, I it's you know I now I want to do like I want to learn how to act. What I mean by that I want to do. I'm going to do a movie in July. It's a small movie that was a play and it's going to be made into a film called Ideation. Uh and yeah, I guess I can Ideation. It's independent movies need all the love they can share. We haven't shot it yet, and it's you know, uh.
To the theater near you right away.
That's about a year from now. Yeah. But he's he works in corporate world. He's a consultant, one of those awful people. But he's just because he's a dad and he's just like this guy. I cannot wait to play that role because it's I can play almost crazy, Like I feel like I'm the guy where they go, who's going to play this? This is like this is a you know what, hey get Alan, get Alan, see if he has a take on this weird robot who has
this thing or whatever. This is just a guy that I feel like a lot of guys can play, and that's going to be more of a challenge for me than a robot pirate, which I really want to play.
Yeah, you played a robot pirate?
Yeah yeah, I got to mash that up there you go.
Yeah.
Well, you know, one of my favorites was your your in King Candy.
Oh thanks you, I mean was my favorite. That was like a license to steal. That was my introduction to Disney. Yeah.
Oh yeah, well that was a damn fine one.
Yeah you won an Annie for that role, did you not?
And any Yeah?
Yeah that's great.
Yeah those are cool as hell. I wouldn't know personally, but I hear. I'm sorry, go on, go on.
Yeah, you don't do the movies, do you? You don't do movies. You don't do you do Disney movies?
Oh? I did a lot of Disney movies.
Yeah, yeah, Okay, that's the same. Oh yeah, oh, you haven't gotten Annie.
No, I haven't gotten any I've been up for five Emmys.
Uh.
There was a talk of putting me up for an Oscar for Vanity Fair. Uh said it for Christopher Robin, Yes, and uh and and Emmy's five Emmys, five Annie's. I'm oh for everything, I'm oh for ten. Wow, I'm you are literally hanging in there.
You're like the Leo DiCaprio. It's because you're so good. They're like, yeah, there, you just so I mean, I'm sure that's it.
Yeah, I think that is it.
You're I mean, but you know, hey the check Claiyers. Yeah, I mean, well I've won, I've won one Annie, and then they don't haven't been. I was, yeah, I met somebody who works at the end and they're like, would you ever want to come and give an award away? I was like, yes, oh absolutely great. That was like two years ago.
I think, well, I did it like five times, and each time I wasn't presenting like my own award. I was presenting other people awards, and I showed up five times thinking, well, you know, they asked me to yes, I bet I win. I'm just sure that I'm gonna win. I didn't. I didn't really know. Oh, okay, next year, how about this year? You want to come? Sure, I'm gonna win.
Five times in a row. And I said.
Then they called me the next year. You know, I'm busy. When is it? And so I'm they're bad like that.
I watched someone take that. I watched someone announced their own an award that they were in Spike Jones. We were like, what is he doing here? This is amazing. I think Spike Jones he directed that puppet remember there was like a puppet movie. It was weird. Their faces came off, it was like it was an It was an odd movie. He always does odd movies. Very cool for me. I'm sure I'm getting it wrong. And people were watching him this and going and you're missing it.
Yeah that didn't happen. But it was someone who works with Spike Jones, if not Spike Jones. And he announced the awards and Spike Lee, no, I get this to so much. They anyway, he had to announce and me and then he didn't win, and it was like wow, they had him up there doing like he had to announced three awards and then the last one was the one that he was up for and he didn't win. Ooh yeah, that's rough.
Oh there was the one Academy award where somebody was being really glib and said come up and get it. Marty and the wrong I can't remember the name, but there were two guys that were up for the Academy Award. This is like fifteen to twenty years ago, and the wrong Marty got up. Oh no, no, sorry, it's it's not here. It's the other guy down.
Marty Feldman had to go sit.
Back in fact whoever it was. Yeahful everybody wants a trophy.
I thought about making a trophy case I have won. I have this one Anny. I have one very cool uh theater award that was called the Clarence Derwent Award that goes to a the actor, one actor and one male and one female actor in a season who have their New York theater debut and they win and it could be in any kind of theater off Broadway, off off Broadway or Broadway. And I won with Alison Janny that year. She's an actress. You know, I haven't heard
of her. She hasn't done much sinse Yeah, yeah, yeah, Alison Jani won that year and it was and it came with a thousand dollars prize and I didn't have any rent money, so oh wow, okay it paid my rent. That workedest. But I thought about getting making a trophy case in my house with like wrestling belts and bowling trophies and you can just go buy them.
Yeah, well they're at a pawn shop, brand new ones made.
You can even get golden glooms and things. And there's a little black market going on that. Wow, I can hook you up.
We'll talk about Okay, yeah, get get an academic.
Award there, you go, get a doctor somewhere.
Well that's yeah, yeah, yes, wherever you want.
You just buy that, put it in a case and say uh huh and invite people over.
And just right, I did that, like like like Mike Tyson when he was given an award from a Tuskegee Institute or something like this. Exist Well, I never I never attended college but and to get a degree. But if I did, I would be a kind of homologist. No, And I thought, yes, yes, but you know no women have to Yeah, we know, Mike, we know, we get it. We get it. A Guyana komologist. There's a show Starbary.
It would be amazing. Yeah, I wouldn't Yeah, I wouldn't want that.
No, and you're sitting there smeared by him.
He couldn't know.
That'd be a rough one.
Yeah, that would be rough.
Fun I heard that. I heard they're painful already. But enough about that. Yes, I couldn't believe when I was looking up your credits, and it's one of my favorite movies ever that you played Sonny and I Robot. First of all, what a performance, great job, great job, Thank you. I awesome movie. I have one really specific thing to ask you, just for me personally about that movie. I heard,
I don't know. I was at a convention with my dad like ten years ago, literally ten years ago, twenty fifteen, over in London, and there was some guy who worked on that show. I can't remember if he was a or something, you know, one of the higher up guys,
and he's telling us about that long story short. He said that for movies like that, because you know it's set in twenty thirty five, way in the future, right, that they have like a division of people who like research like what specifically could be the most accurate aspects of our future reality to try and emulate that. And as we approach twenty thirty five, I mean, look at like the technology that we have. It's not that far fetched from robot anymore, is it.
Oh?
God, yeah, they do find cars and everything.
So my question to you is do you know of like a division like that that worked on that movie or no? Or is that they have to do it?
I mean to they do that, but they they can even because they're big, big movie budget people, and it was especially back then with the movie industry is a lot stronger. I remember Outing May designed the car for us, and then that was something that we had to keep under wraps and h M. Only a few people could look at it. And then it was a closed set when they had the Audi car that they were using,
because it had those wheels that that are adjusted. Yeah, their globes so they can go sideways, forward, backwards and all that. There are cars now that have those. They're still they're still on the fringes, but they do. They do make them. Yeah, so they're always.
Yeah, they have the Hummer. Now the new Hummer can do like the crab walk. It can't go any direction, but it can go like pretty much sideways, you know, not ninety degrees but maybe like seventy or sixty or something like that.
Wow.
Yeah, And it's cool too because motion capture was like really in its infancy back then, so you were like one of the first actors that really got to experience that then. And then years later, you know, working on Rogue one.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they I want to call them the Hobbit moves. Lord of the Rings first came out, and so Andy Serkis was the one person who had done it, and that's how everybody understood it. And I got the job and I wore the spandex. It was the coolest part about it was the first month where it was just me and this guy whose name I don't remember, Steve, I remember his last name. He was a theater he
worked in theater somehow. And they said, we're getting you a choreographer to work with to figure out how you're going to move. And I was like, no, I don't need a choreographer. I need ach I need a movement specialist. I need somebody. And I was like, this isn't going to this. This is a bad idea. And I was waiting at this table outside we were going to have a conference about the way the robot moved. And there
was a guy sitting who came in. He was sitting over down on the same big, long corporate table, and he and I are looking at each other and I said, are you the guy that I'm meeting? And he's like, yeah, you're allan I'm okay, yeah, great. So we introduced ourselves to one another, and I said, I got some books and I put down Alexander technique, which is a way that we all move. You know a lot of actors and acting school. That's where I was introduced to it.
It's the skelet It's sort of the ergonomic way that you should move with your skeleton, as like if you look at little toddlers, they have perfect posture and when they fall, you know, they just kind of sit. It's like, that's how our bodies are supposed to move. And then as we get older, we have injuries or we have something about ourselves that we cover up and it changes how we or we want to look cool.
I didn't know that that's interesting.
And so it was that I was like this, and then I had a book on mime, had a book on mime I had something else and he pulled out almost the same books. I was like, oh, this is gonna be great.
Oh, there you go.
So we were watching like Kabookie theater and stuff, and he was the only thing I had to do the first month was just I'd be taken to the gym to work out where they wanted me bulky so that I moved with muscle and so I got a killer shape. And then I would go to the studio and he and I would just do theater work. It was so great. Yeah, wow, And then we made the movie. The movie was great, and Will Smith was lovely, and Bridget moynihan was funny, and.
You used to have a crush on her. I could see why. Yeah, she's very pretty. H Yeah, she's attractive. She's and she's also if you at that time, I don't know if she's now. She was kind of like a guy.
She's like really easy, like she seemed like she had brothers or something like.
Oh yeah, she was yeah, not not the standoffish.
Yeah, she had to because she wore this this is maybe no, but this, so she'd have to wear all these tight clothes, like her pants were like painted on, and she had to have a mic pack, Like where are they going to put the mic pack? So it would have to be somewhere, and when she would get done with a take, she'd nun zip these pants from behind. I remember her sitting in front of me and you could just see like half of her butt is hanging out, like boy in a hand, I'm looking at your ass.
Yeah I don't like the view. Yeah, yeah, I liked.
She was like really like, you're welcome, like a pal.
Yeah yeah, yeah, like one of the guys, except with the really cute.
But yes, exactly like my friend John cute ass anyway, Yeah, e noybody knows cute ass.
John cute ass John. Oh my god.
Well it was a fun. It was a fun six month experience.
And yeah, if you're a fan of everything we do here at tuned In with Jim Cummings, you could support the show on Patreon for bonus exclusive podcasts, as well as early in ad free access to the show itself, prize drawings, and more. You'll feel the difference, so go ahead and join the tuned In family today at Patreon dot com slash Jim Cummings podcast Do it Now.
I thought that's why they were gonna. I was auditioning for Rogue one because I had done that, and when I first met the director, Caret Edwards, I said he was like, so we're going to have this robot. I was like, Okay, here's how you gotta do it, and I just was from that point. He's like, we're going to do every small film eye blinks and just we're going to do exactly that on the robot. We're going to do this this, And I was like, just stop,
stop stuff up. You're not gonna do that, and don't even say you're gonna do that, because you're gonna marry yourself to something you can't follow through, and then whoever plays this role is going to feel like you lied to them.
So just don't even start there.
You're gonna get in post and you're gonna need things done. My face is not the same as the face that's gonna be there, and my face tells a story that that face doesn't. And once you put all the elements together, you might just need the head to bow a little bit to tell the story. And that's fine, and this is and then they then I got the role. I couldn't believe it. I was very exciting and.
K Tuso is a lot more like robotic than Sonny, right, like he has he's stiffer.
Yeah, that's because I was. Yeah, and he doesn't have eyes like his eyes don't they blinked.
They're like the Iron Giant like, yeah, and.
They blinked at one point and then they took the blinking out because because it's a prequel, it had to be the same technology as it had to be so C three pos screwed me. It's basically what I started to see the review. And man, guy, I love what it is. We have a fun rivalry. He wins, but it's fun. And I was I was also on stilts, so I was a little stiffer too because it was I couldn't move around as easy.
Well, yeah, I just thought it was like a character choice.
Yeah, that's it. There you go said, we're gonna make this one stiffer. Okay, guys, yeah, I shouldn't me some stilts that forced me to walk a little bit. That's awesome and I lm provided it.
Oh man, well you've you've had a career in front of the camera, next to the camera, behind the camera, in front of a microphone. I mean, do you dance as well. I mean, no, I don't and I can't sing.
Oh I know, I see, I see. I've come into voiceover like it was Kincandy. Really is when it's when things are not a bad kickoff, right, because it was it had the nostalgia because it was Edwin and he has that great history with Disney and Ah. Then I did a small role in Frozen because the same Jennifer Lee was doing Frozen at the same time, in the way that you know they all work on the same projects. Yeah,
so they were straddling a couple of projects. Say hey, we're we're reviving this thing that's been on the back burner for years called Frozen. Would you play this older man in it? So then I did the Duke of Wesselton and it was such a big hit. John Lassiter was the one who said he's a good luck charm. I was like, yep, that's exactly right. That's why those
two that's worked. Yeah, no other reason but me. And once they committed to that, oh then you don't want to anyways, they didn't want to break off the idea. And so I've had this career and then because I got the green line from Disney. Then other people are like, hey, you wanted to come to a voice on this show and this show on the show, one thing led to another. But I'm just nice. I've had to learn as I go. I consider like you're real and you're truly this is
something you do and you're a master of it. I'm I feel like I've just started to get going, get going. Like I'm just like, oh, I think I know what I'm doing. I think I know where where I make my mistakes, where I can get caught and making a voice, and that's the thing. I forget to act for a second and oh yeah, like you're on your fourth round of three takes and like, wait, what am I not doing? This is oh I'm not acting, and let me put
myself in the place this character wants this. I'm asking, okay, we're in this play and then let my imagination. It's just a quick, you know, adjustment, and then they're like that's it and then you surprisingly move on right after that.
Nice, but it's that you don't want to get.
Acting, not making funny voices, right, they're acting and reacting and the whole bit.
Yes, you know, people forget you know that acting is part half reacting yes you know so.
And with with voiceover. So much of it is the imagination because you're here in a microphone and you're filling it in for whatever you're seeing it as it'll never be. But it's what creates your side of the performance and side of the thing. Yeah.
Yeah, it helps to you know, be a little weird. Yes, you know, it just does.
Yes, you know absolutely, you have to be able to let the chains off on your imagination. Yeah, that's scary. Uh first, you know, I think that's that is can be scary. Can just like you're launching, you're just you're following along. You're not you're not dictating to it.
See Charles Manson said that the same way that when I let my imagination go, it's scary. And I assume you have a different take on that.
Yes, okay, you end up saying things that maybe some people don't find fun. I mean, I mean it's just you just go anywhere, you can go anywhere, and it opens you up to people going, you're weird. I think that's the fear. Yeah, that's the scary party. That's a little too well.
I think I think this topic is really interesting because one of my friends put this, like I really agree with it, and he was like, child actors are all good actors because they have no ego, you know, like you can tell them what to do. They'll all take direction for the most part. Like you don't really find bad child actors, you know, and like just to piggyback on what you're saying, you know, the fear of being
weird and everything. I think that's something that gets put on us as we get older and then we find that, you know, hard to get back to. You. You hear so many actors artists talking about like getting back to
being a child, you know, like in that playroom. That's a hard place to get to when it's weird because we all went through that, right, and then we developed this ego and it kind of gets in the way and then it's like, oh, I'm overthinking everything, and yeah, have you had moments in your career or yourself, Jim where you've kind of gotten in your own way?
Yeah, that's overthinking it is really overthinking it, you know. I jokingly say instincts are the best stinks. And you know, and if you if it works for you inside your head, it'll probably work out out in the world, you know, by and large, I think.
I have an example where it did not work, okay, King Candy, Oh, yes, there's a point in the in the film and and Disney the one. Rich Moore was directing that film, and he did a lot of improv. He we would sort of get the things and then he would leave a lot of time for improv and or I guess within the sort of little scene I could just play around at a certain point. And it was where record Ralph first shows up in Candy whatever
My Candy and plays Candy. I was gonna say, Candy push, you couldn't have been that, But yeah, King Candy's wild ross to race something we said in there, and he comes out of this taffy and he looks like a monster. And Sarah Silverman's character not vanellape Mutton fat anyway, von Sweetz. She's running from him. He starts tossing all of the all the fans of the spectators, He's just throwing them around, and everybody's running and I said, please everybody stop, come up,
everybody calm down. I don't want to race. Ride on my hands because it's a race and you're rioting. Never mind, Yeah, did not more, God blessed us. I love the race right joke. I thought Disney didn't want a race riot joke.
Believe are you sure this was Disney they didn't want a race riot joke? I can't think of anything funnier.
They played it for one showing in Arizona before it came out, and it got crickets. It was like the Arab was sucked out of the theater when it happened. So that's less less of a good idea yea, to just make everyone feel afraid.
So how about let's do this not a lot or something.
Yeah, yeah, not at all. We're taking it out and do the lines that are written. Please.
Are you a notorious a liver? Because I am. I just think it's.
A great thing. Yeah, I can, but I always wait for permission, and I think that's a miss. Sometimes it's a mistake.
Well you know what I do, Not that I know anything, but I give him as written, yes, and then because you're going to do another take anyway, and then then I do it as.
It should be. I think that's that's that way.
They can't complain.
Well you got yours.
Yeah, now now here's the good one. You know you know, so that's that's cool.
Right, I'll do a little. It's you know, everybody's different, every director is different. And yeah, I find that when I am a given permission or feel that I can, those lines that I do improv are the ones that end up in the final project. That there's those are their choices, you know, because up to them, they choose them, and then there they tend to a lot of times to be the things that I get repeated back to
me by fans. Uh huh. When if you're at a convention and they say, could you put this on on my picture? Then that feels.
Who do people which one of your characters? Do people come up the most for a conventions? I'm curious to.
Know, I goes say, surprisingly, because we only made fourteen episodes of fire Firefly in two thousand and three, four that's still a cool show. Yeah. I did Star Wars. I get you know K two s O. Hey, hey, kids really like that bird? Oh yeah me too? Yeah?
Yeah, I mean, come on, good looking cuss too. Boy, there's a good looking little guy.
Yeah, there's a in making. Hey hey he was a cocky rooster. He was very he was protective. I get it. Cockyster and what he did there, Yeah, they were they made that was that was how they That was the character they gave him, and it wasn't working. It wasn't working. It wasn't working, and they wanted the animes really like
the character, wanted to save it. And they said, what if he's really stupid, and they said he's There was a there's like a a bar that has intelligence that you can just ranked down and they cranked it all the way down and his eyes got bigger. One went that way, one went that way, and they and then uh, I don't know if it was Lassiter, it was Lassiter at that time. Yeah. They came in and said, now that's a character I want to see. Mm hmm. And he was saved. Mm hmmm.
He was saved.
Yeah, well that's an animator's character. Like they're they're the ones.
Who really what comes in an audition for a character like that. What they just said, play a chicken. That was giving your imagination and play a chicken.
Yeah, I mean that's what they were given. They gave it to me because they were they had they've hemmed themselves in now where they're like not a given out on a roll but this is there's no I can't play any of the Islander people. So they're like, what who are you going to give him? What about the chicken? Yeah, the chicken can be from Texas, that's true.
Sure, why not?
And so that's how I got it. Well, he's memorable.
Yeah, good, he's very memorable, very much.
So he should he should have had his own song. I still believe he should. And then we did it too again not a song. They don't fresh out of songs. Yeah, he can just start it out, start out the song, a big swell of music. Yeah, and then somebody grabs him by the yeah throat and that's.
It and then that's yeah, two, three four, Then you're then you're in. Yeah.
That would see they just but lost opportunity. Yeah, I guess I'll have to make.
A three wake that's right.
Yeah. See they're making a live action I am not doing.
Oh I love it. And it's of course it's c G.
I I think they do have somebody.
Because they they actually I mean, do they have people. I guess for Moana they could. They might as well use an actual human.
I don't know. They can't. They don't have to, I hope it's not. I think it is going to be an animated bird, but it is a it is a female who's doing it. I do all of Disney animation. This is a Disney live action. I don't cross that line, except I did once, But to play a.
Bird, I don't either, but not by choice.
They do. They like to compartmentalize.
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, but it's a good compartment I'm enjoying it.
I mean it's a neat yeah, a neat thing.
No complaints over here.
Yeah.
Yeah, And you're still doing your live action thing with Resident Alien. New season coming out.
Yeah, yeah, it's coming out soon. This and June m Yeah, season four. We've done four seasons in six and a half seven years because it's been it happened like during COVID.
COVID happened with the strike, and so it's everything goes messed up.
Yeah, kicked around, kicked down the road, I should.
Say, yeah, yeah, between COVID and the strike.
Yeah, and then the cratering also of broadcast television has been also our companion. Yeah, but Netflix started showing it and.
Yeah, so it seems like a fun show. It seems like a good time.
It is I think a show that I will be looking back on, like, I cannot believe we got away. I could. I could because he's an alien. He can do anything. We were doing this thing where I don't think.
There.
We were doing a thing this season where so there was another character. There's another character, and she's exhibiting signs of possible she's been taken over by an alien and I hate that. Yeah, you know it does happen again. Yeah, right, always when you least expect it. And I say, wait a second, are you are you an alien? Hold on? And uh? In the script, I said, are you an alien? No, I can tell you're not. There's some quick thing where I decided she wasn't. And I said, this is seems
very fast. What if I just can I just check her? Let me just can I just check you real quick? And so I was like, are you only?
And hold on?
And I stuck my finger up her nose and I looked in her eye. Oh, and then I sound no, no, oh, that's residual. That's residual, pulled on her ears. Oh you're fine. Oh, like I could do it. That's uh, there's a lot of freedom there, Yeah, that's for sure. It kind of crossed.
She was probably tickled pink too. She oh yeah, thanks more nostril more not.
As an actor, there's definitely a lot to play with there. Yes, as a scene partner, your scene partner comes and sticks his finger up your.
Notes, what and give up show biz?
Yeah, so it is, it is a lot of it is.
That's why you get the big bucks.
Yeah, the big yep, those big you.
Take those leaps of faith, Yes, and that would that would be one they they get.
I was like the hundred. The creator says, he like, tells this story the creator that sounds so weird. The creator of the show in the beginning, Yeah, there was Christopher Shearon and he wrote this show Resident Alien, and they had auditioned one hundred and forty four people to play the role whoa and I was one hundred and forty five, And they're like, and then Alan walked in and we said that's it. We don't know what we're looking for until Alan walked in and we said that's it.
What he's doing is what it is. And as an actor my thought was, the hell was I one hundred and forty five? What the hell? Man? I feel like this is pretty much obvious. I should have been like, yeah in the first fifty.
Come, I wasn't. Yeah, we could have done this right out of the game.
Could have been done already, Man, this could have And yeah, I think I think the casting director I had upset her years before with one of my bold choices you were praising earlier. She had asked me not to do a bold choice. Oh, and I thought, but it's not funny unless it's bold.
Yeah.
And so I did a very bold choice and which required which required me to jump stealthily backwards into a wall.
Oh. Sure, very stealthy.
There are two people in the room. There's the cash director of the director. She was mortified. The director was like what is he doing? But the person running the camera and the reader both went and they were trying to not laugh, which is my favorite laugh. Oh that's good because they're they're using every muscle to stop laughing, but they still are making noise. Yeah. I felt like I had succeeded. That's right, But she stopped calling Your work was done, Your work and my work was done.
Yeah, but unfortunately done done, done done.
Yeah, and I became one hundred and forty five called in But it worked out. Yeah, I did and you're here now and I'm here now.
So see now that talk about your success, there's there's a path right there for you.
Well, I think I could have done better throughout this career that I like, I don't know, you just this, you get you can read a script and go, I know what they want, especially if you sit in a before when we went to waiting rooms and you could look around, you're like, oh, I'm not the right I'm not the type. I'm doing a totally different take. Well, leaning into that, Yeah, I'm just gonna do my thing, and you hope for it. I hope that it turns out.
It's it's turned out enough in my career that I've been able to survive. Yeah, well yeah, apparently. So.
I used to like going to casting facilities where they'd be casting for voiceover and on camera, and you'd walk in to be like three or four guys dressed like me or shorts and T shirts and sandals. Then a bunch of guys who looked like they're you know, third year of law school and pissed, and you know, yeah, no there, I know there are no glasses in these lenses, in these glasses, but I look more intelligent. Yes, see, I'm a lawyer now, no I'm not.
Yep.
So while your waiter that night, yes, yeah, what I was? Yeah?
Did you have a Did you have that period where you you know, you you had the acting bug, you had a job or two, and then you didn't have you still had the acting bug, but without the job or two, so you had.
To get a job. Yeah, And I I had a I waited tables. I started in Texas, and I went to an acting school for two years, and this little school that doesn't exist anymore in East Texas, which was had a terrible acting teacher, but the technical part of the theater I really enjoyed. And drinking beer was fun, and so I did that a lot. I've heard of that. So I grew up a little bit, and I learned a lot about how theater works and how to put
on a show. And then I went to Dallas, back where I was from, and I did like.
A couple of little plays and.
I was in an improv troop, which taught me a lot.
Big theater presence in Dallas, yes, yes, there's a the Dallas Theater Center is the big theater.
And I noticed all the big actors that they had coming to play. The large roles were from New York City or Los Angeles, California. But you could be big in Dallas and you'd really have to make it big to really get one of those roles. Yeah, so yeah, I thought I need to go to all Right. I got a roll. I got a role in a play that was written by these two Yale God bless them. I don't know what they're doing, these two women. It was written by them and they was being co directed
by them. And I got a roll and they said, here's a monologue you're going to do. It was like little vignettes. It was about age. It was to help. I don't know if we were making money, we were raising money for aise, but it was that was the main through line of all the different scenes within the play. And mine, mine was a page of rap. Well it was a they're like rap it like you're a rapper, and it was very profand I was like, she likes my bleep, I give her my beep. We do the bleep.
I want to sleep, And it was they have me wrapping it. And I don't know if you've noticed very wide and I know eminem is very good and he is also very white. But uh, I don't have that talent. Yeah, I don't have Well.
He doesn't either, so it's kidding. I am wherever you are. Come on, Emmy, come on. If you're a fan of everything we do here at tuned In with Jim Cummings, you could support the show on Patreon for bonus exclusive podcasts, as well as early in ad free access to the show itself, prize drawings, and more. You'll feel the difference, so go ahead and join the tuned In family today at patreon dot com slash Jim Cummings podcast Do It Now.
So I got done with the rehearsal and they said that was amazing. You were so good. And I went home and I said, I need to go back to school because that was terrible. And I can't I can't say exactly why. I can't articulate the specifics of the awfulness. Okay. I asked somebody in my improv troupe, Hey, what's a good theater school and they said Juilliard's good. I said, okay, where's that? And I found out it was in New
York and I auditioned and got in. So I'd done two years of trying to make it in Dallas.
Yeah, I was going to ask you about that.
That's yeah, good as it gets. It was great for voiceover because it taught me. They took my jewelliard. There were more voice classes than acting classes. Oh, which in your time, I wouldn't have counted the hours and went, wait a minute, there's not enough acting here getting short, I'm doing more voice classes, and I'm annoyed by it because it's a shape. They want to teach you to
do classical theater, and so you do everything like Patrick Stewart. Yes, the guest directors going to go why does everybody have an English accent? Like this isn't an English accent, this is mid Atlantic speech. And it's just weird that.
Nineteen forties Tarzan you speak?
Yeah, but dozan? Where are you going?
You know where's she from?
She's as an African? I am going over here? Yes, what are you doing here? He was a child, he was lost. There's a whole story to it. But it was weird that he was the king at the jungle.
Oh yeah, that's true. Yeah, I always thought.
Think seems strange in retrospect. Yes, but yeah, they taught me a lot about like they took away my Texas accent, which I had at the time. It was probably just a little bit like that.
Yeah, and yeah, because you're just you're straight away. I mean there's no accent.
You know.
That's when I get on the.
Phone with my parents or anybody from Texas, it's you.
Know, oh yeah, yeah, I'm sure of that now. In the West Texas town of El Paso, I was born, Uh.
Wow, el Paso, right. I spent a very memorable year there through my roots are.
I did too, but it was just over a weekend. Oh really, yeah, but it felt like a year.
What did you go to a con there?
I think so. I think that was me.
I wonder if we were. I was at a con in here. Somebody tried to kill the Green Power Ranger. Somebody was tweeting about it. I'm coming down there to kill the Power Ranger and I got guns and I'm going to do it. And then it kind of came around like the guests they're.
Like, did y'all hear that? There's somebody?
And he got in and because he was not very smart, and I guess was it was a cry for help because he was giving his location at all times. Uh, huh uh yeah almost and he had several weapons on him. Whoa, that was scary. Dang that was my last experience with al Paso.
Hmm. Well, Kinky Friedman had a song oh really yeah called the Asshole from al Paso and I thought, well, here we go. Yeah it was about him, Yeah, it could have been about him.
Yeah.
And I like Kinky Friedman because his guitar was fashioned. He adapted it the guitar neck onto a toilet seat.
Wow.
So it was just well no, just just the seat, not not the basin the pot, but the ring, the ring, Yes, like from the Men's are here here this This had make a great guitar. Now let's get one from best Buy. Well these are used, you know, you don't want to come on kicking? Come on? Yeah, how'd we get on that? Right to the toilet?
What kind of music do you listen to? More or less?
And I like Afro Cuban jazz. I like R and B really really like R and B. Yeah, a lot of jazz stuff like that, not a hell of a lot of classical, not too much pop music anymore. Pop music is I don't even know what's going on out there now.
Switch, that's all I know, and people with names that I don't know. One names, a lot of one namers. There weren't a ton of one namers. I was coming up staying Madonna, Yeah, Madonna, Prince Prince and then formerly known as Prince, but he's Prince.
Yeah, he's Prince.
There was just a few really big, heavy hitters that got one name, and now most everybody just has one name. That's a well.
I remember Paul, John, George and Ringo. They had a name so there, Yeah that was Peter paula married.
I guess they were one name, that's true. They each shot one name.
That's true.
To do their folk.
Chad and Jeremy, Peter and Gordon.
They don't count all Simon and Garfunkle, they did last names. I'm a big Paul Simon fan, me too.
Turn Overdrive, dude, where did this go?
Downhill? Boy?
He's talking about Overdrive? He's old.
Have you done any uh music for Disney? See? Yeah, I did well. I guess I did one, but it wasn't very I wasn't good. Yeah.
Well, I was saying a bunch of songs. Yeah, you know, so that was fun.
I grew up with those books. I remember I had a Mary Poppin's book and you can listen to it and then oh yeah, yeah, and you turn a page or I forgot about those like sing along type of enjoy enjoy the movie again just through.
Yeah, you've done one or two of those. I think over the.
Years I wanted to do and I pitched it to John Lassiter when he was there, that King Candy should do old songs like I used to have.
A Jerry Lewis Uh Buffalo gals, catch you come out tonight?
That would be great. Buffalo girls. Can't you come out tonight? Please come out to night? Oh my god, come out to like all of you. And he was like what, Like, I'm sorry, what are you saying? Yeah, I'm telling you we just got to do a recording. We'll do an audio release for some some old vaudeville songs. And he
ignored me. And then I caught him again at a party and I was like, hey, you really, I want to I want to make another shot at this, just we should do an audio thing and he said no. So I don't think he bothered to say no. He just looked at me, like you're so strange.
Yeah, he just looked at me, can you freshen this up for me?
Yeah? Yeah, God, you're still here.
He was always very generous to me.
He was very I credit him with yeah, yeah, yeah, really well.
He was so much pres brilliant guy. And he had a lot and he had a lot of Hawaiian shirts. Yes, yes, I remember. I used to have a few of them and we ran into each other a few times and I like your shirt. I cares all right, and that was exciting. They said, no, you have to go now, so I did.
He was a man. Well he's working a sky dance now, yeah, sky dance.
I think he's doing fine. Oh yeah, I don't think we're worried about him.
No, I'm not worried about him.
Would you like to play a game? We have a little game on this shot, a voice swap game. Oh no, it's going to be.
Bad at this.
No, you'll be from Fantasy.
Can I Can I tell you a story? Oh no, I don't know if you're going to like this story. But I always wondered if you knew this, and I wondered if you I'm glad I'm here. I thought you might anyway. When they did Christopher Robin, when you did Christopher Robb. There was a point where they said you did Winnie the Pooh oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, and you did Tigger yes, ultimately ultimately, ultimately yeah. We both both
knew that word was coming. Or one of the people that they offered it to because they wanted you just to do Winnie the Pooh was me.
Really, I didn't know that one ye.
Me And I said, I think Jim Cummings does this roll, and they said no, we would let we're going to We're going to someone else. I called Nolan North and I said, what the hell is this and he said, I guess it's what they're doing. I don't know why Jim isn't doing it, but if they've asked you an audition, I said no. They offered me the role. He said you should take it, and I said I can't do it, and I worked, yeah, yeah, I'm throwing Nolan under the busting the son of a bitch.
Uh.
And I would do it. I would try it. And it was one of those voices. I'm like, it's right here, right where my voice needs to shift over. I don't have any access to I don't have a space there. I can't I can't. I can't do it, and so I wrote him an I letter and said, thank you so much. I love this role. Sever since I was a kid, he was my favorite role and he was the one I identified with and you know, with your work and how I just through the years, he has
maintained a special spot in my heart. And because of that, I can't do it. I would never be able to do it. Justice and I thank you. And I was so genuine and loving about the role. They said, well, now you have to do it.
No no, no, no, no, no, you guys, you don't understand.
I can't do it. And they said you have to come in now improve to us. You can't do it. So it took about five minutes and they went, oh, yeah, you can't. Oh jeez, oh thanks. I had to show up to fail. I was like, here's where I'm let me show you it's going. I'm getting closer. I'm getting closer, and then you know where it's supposed to be. I can't get there. It's right here, and I'm like pointing in my mouth it's here. I can't do it. I can't do it, Jesus. So they glad you finally did it. Yeah,
it's that's that's that producery ideas. Those are those producer ideas.
Yeah, it was a weird one. We went in and saw. I took my one daughter into uh for some reason. We were both free, but they said, would you like to come in and see the shove? It's about seventy and so we go and and I won't be bringing up the fellow's name who was doing Tigger. Yeah, great guy, great actor, great guy, but he wasn't Tigger.
No, And did he try to do.
He came, It came across oddly enough. It had a Rodney danger Field quality. Hey Tigger, all right, I forget about it, okay.
You know. And it was and.
You know, and my daughter and I know that's so hard.
That's different. Wish you didn't have to see that. That's gotta hurt, yeah, and break your heart. Well it was.
It was funky because it was just she and I and then the producers and director sitting like eight feet behind us in the room. But the size, you know, they're sitting there, we're here, here's the screen, and and and we're going, you know, and I thinking they can't tell they can't see my face right from behind. And it was just it was it made you mad enough to smack your grandma. Yeah, it was.
It was that.
And sure enough, on the way home, the phone rings and jam it's mouth Foster. How are you very good? He goes, I'm sorry. I wasn't there, but I know that you saw the movie and what did you think? And I would I think it's gonna be great. And uh and he said, well, I was thinking we could talk about Tika. Yeah, and I go, let's do that, shall we. So the good news is that I that
I got to do it. The bad news is they had already filmed it, and you can tell by the way it was so I was stuck with the rhythm. I was stuck with the rhythm of it, and it was really hard. And some of them we fixed, some of them we were able to fix, and others we were able to fudge, and it came out great.
I thought it was just fine. I'm so glad they came down finally. Oh yeah, me.
Too, me too.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, that was a tough one.
It makes me feel it makes my stomach turn.
Yeah, but I don't think I've ever told that before on the podcast.
Yeah, yeah, it's that's that's the Hollywood.
You know, Yeah, that's the way. That's the way of the world.
You know, you mentioned, uh, I robot, so a lot of people didn't know I did Sonny the Robot and I Robot. And there's a reason I did that because they were doing test audiences with the with the movie, and they score the characters in this kind of test audience and I've got word back, Alan, You're testing higher than oh Will Smith.
Nice, it's about the slappiest.
And then I was gone. I was done. There was no publicity and my name was not mentioned. They wanted to get yeah, and I was like, wait, how do they nobody's gonna know that I And they're like mm hmmm, hmmm uh and sad.
That was such a good performance too.
It was Yeah, I put a lot into it because yeah, because he had to move like a robot, so I had to move. It was very I you know, it was whatever it was at the time, I was very upset. It took me that that was something I had.
To I mean that that freaking interview scene with you and Will Smith. I mean there's that's like that like hits you in like multiple times. You know, it's like an emotional scene and it's like giving humanity to a robot, you know. And I think that scenes like very important for the whole movie. It's because that's when we as an audience really feel connected, you know, especially when it's like, you know, can you paint the mona Lisa? You know?
Can you build a chair with your own hands? And can you It's like still true to this day, you know. I guess rebrought up again, you know with AI. I saw that like a meme of it, you know, and it was like, can you create you know that? What was that? You know the meme I'm talking about with the white lady and she's like screaming, you know, and usually has the reaction with the cat. You know what I'm talking about. You'd know if you saw it anyway.
But yeah, it's funny how that movie stayed relevant for such a long time, especially now with all these AI conversations and everything like that. You know, it's kind of just getting rehashed again.
It's a tricky thing, you know, like the voice over and the animation. I'm being I'm being and I don't anticipate even being nominated. But so when you we were talking about awards, earlier. When you get nominated for to get nominated for, let's say, an Emmy, the production has to put you forward for nomination. You're talking so uh and or where K two s O is? And they said, do you mind if we put you up for voiceover for an Emmy? And I was like, no, go for it.
That sounds great. I'll take an emotion captured it. Mm hmm. It's cheating kind of not to call youself.
What do you mean because amated?
Is that what you It is animated because they erased me and they animated. But I was in the room, I'm at the wheel, I'm with the actor back and forth. I my voice is completely attached to the world that everyone is seeing. I guess in that way, you could also say it's a hindrance because my imagination gives me a lot that never be They can't budget every realized. Yeah, my imagination has a much larger budget than But it is interesting.
Not everyone could say that, by the way, or should.
You know, Yeah, well the way the world is now anyway the business, but that, yeah, voiceover is a it's a it's a tricky thing in motion capture. I know that Andy serkis believes that he had a whole campaign that he believed that he should have been up, he could have been considered for an Oscar for performance in the movies.
Yeah, I'm especially. I mean you look at him, and you look.
Jesus, I'm Andy's I've you know, Andy's the godfather of it. But I disagree, and I've had arguments with with the FX guys, like I shouldn't be put up for anything. I was got Actually I robot. They let me talk to the the foreign press, so the Golden Globes people. They did bring me to that, but it was just
like a conversation. And it's like all these people that are older with a lot of jewelry and clothing that looks like it could be also used for couches, like very heavy knits and weaves, hats and and they're all European. And they said, do you think if you were nominated for Oscar, you should be for this role of Sonny? And I said no, And that was the wrong answer. Yeah, they said, well, you know, I said no because they changed they changed my performance here and there. I've noticed it.
I've seen I said, here's how it should be done. Yes, I'll say yes, but you should watch it with me in my little green suit. And if you see my performance in a little green suit and you like that, then that's the that's what you should give me the award for because I've seen it with me in the green suit, and it's different from the robot. It's more because you can't it's interesting, especially you couldn't animate. There were like moments where he was saying, I'm going to die? Will I dream?
Will it be over?
And it was confusion and hope and love and fear and as humans were, we give off all these little minute things like monkeys. Yeah, and you see yeah, micro expressions and our faces flush and things that then we perceive as other humans that you can't animate. You can't put that into the lassy face that I was anyway.
Yeah, No, that's true. That's true.
Us.
If you're a fan of everything we do here at tuned In with Jim Cummings, you could support the show on Patreon for bonus exclusive podcasts, as well as early in ad free access to the show itself, prize drawings, and more. You'll feel the difference, so go ahead and join the tuned In family today at Patreon dot com. Slash Jim Cummings podcast, Do It Now.
Well, it was a great collaborative effort.
I loved.
I loved getting to live in Vancouver for six months.
Yeah, good old Vancouver.
That's our favorite place. Really, yeah, I lived there. That's where we do is an alien.
Oh you'd film it up there? Yeah there now VFS at VFS oh Bridge. Were it like someplace you're in Delta? You're filming in Delta way down south? Yes, yeah, yeah, that's where they shoot a lot.
I enjoy it. We had a good time.
Sorry, I guess me excited. I love the film industry up there.
It's also a tight it's very cool. We live there six months out of the year. Now the show I think possibly maybe finishing here and we have a place up there, and it's like, well, what do we do. We have to we're not leaving, so we're going to be going in a couple of weeks. Because we did the winter, we have earned the summer.
Oh yeah, really, that's what I always say. Vancouver is such a great place in the summer. Yeah, the winter is not so fun and it doesn't really snow, but it's just not fun.
It's dark and cold and rainy and the days are very short. Yeah, that's the thing. They when you wake up, especially if you're on a set and you go to work in the dark and then gets dark again around.
Isn't that the most depressing feeling wake up in sound stage the whole day pitch black artificial lights, you know, like this, there's no windows in here, but yeah, and then you go outside and it's like, oh, it's dark again with like they have the orange street light. It feels so old fashioned up there.
It's like one of those little uh yeah, those little lights a little like vitamin D Vitamin D lights.
Yeah, oh right, right, right right.
Keep it, buy the coffee maker in the morning, turn on the coffee turn on your light.
They have vitamin D pills at Crafty. Yeah, they have vitamin D pills at Crafty because everybody is like, oh, we need sun.
Oh geez.
It does its interesting, But it's like I swear, it's there's no better place in the summer. It's like smells like pine and you can see for miles so clear, and it is a beautiful place being. Have you been on like a boat out on the water there.
Yeah, you can rent a boat and just give them your driver's license. Yeah yeah, take it out. It's okay, bring it back. You know you can drive it right, Yeah, yeah, sure, okay, sure, that's that's the agreement.
I'm a pilot.
I have a wow. Yeah, it's really cool.
I want to go now.
Yeah it is. It is beautiful. Go go everyone.
I think I've been there couple of times, but yeah, for sure I've been there with you. Yeah we yeah, stuff like that.
Canadians aren't coming here anymore, but you can go there and see another way to live, another way, a little more brotherly love. That's right. Although it was explained to me, uh, you know, Canadians are very nice and people think of them as like, you know, sorry and sorry sorry. But if you bump into a Canadian and you don't say sorry, then they'll say, excuse me, I'm sorry, but you bumped into me and you didn't say I'm sorry. All right,
everything going, okay? Everything, don't mess with the Canadian.
Oh yeah, have some bacon.
Put some bacon on that.
Yeah, that's right, that's right.
Another classic character of yours that we haven't mentioned is
Steve the Pirate from from Dodgeball. Beloved character and that's I just want to say that was another one, like I said at the top of the show about you, like, in my mind, not really being a character actor, because even though that is such a character, like there's like a literal twist at the end of the movie and it's just you being you know, like a normal person and not Stee And I don't think that works at all if you're not one hundred percent that character and believable,
you know, like it was oh yeah, yeah, such a great portrayal of that. I think that beat in the movie doesn't even hit unless you hit that entire character. So I just wanted to say, you get a great job and it's very memorable.
Thank you. I got that. I got that role because of my my ego. I read it. I read the script and I said, this is funny. If you get rid of this pirate character, this thing is going to be an hi t hit. I tell you. And my agent was like, I'm sorry, you didn't really listen when I told you before you need to focus on the pirate character. I was like, I don't know, I don't know if, I don't know, if it works, I don't know.
And I went to the audition and uh uh, there were all these actors who were very good in the waiting room who were going in for the pirate. And I was like, well, if they know something that I don't, I better actually try for this thing, because these these guys are really good. Oh man, think of the names. I can't think of their names. It was a lot of good people. And so Pitty you were you were
there too. George Clooney was George Clooney was there if Marlon Branda was still alive and he was there, Yes, he was the one. I he almost got it.
Yeah. I went to Butchino I at.
First, and when he turned it down and then I got it.
That's what that I knew. I knew there was a connection.
Yeah, this guy, he looks a little like a pirate. He looks like he's be at see without some screen.
That's exactly right. A long time, yes, and drank a lot of salt.
Water and oh, a lot of rum. Fifteen men on a didn't match chest, so I saw I had I auditioned for it, and then it was improv that got me the role because there was an improv audition. The callback was an improv audition. Oh and uh it was with Vince Vaughan and he was very nice, and but the characters had to say yarn gar in the right spot, and like, how are we gonna make money? I remember, how were we gonna make money to save the gym? And I said that we would catch whales for oil,
sell the oil. Yeah, I think that got the job.
Well yeah, well oil beef. Okay, never there's an old joke about pirates and.
Well oil be uh hooked?
Yes, okay, don't try that one at home.
Kids. Oh my god?
So what what is what is your Do you have a schedule we should know about? I think I should. Yes, things are coming out.
I don't need to, oh, like what I'm doing in my career.
Anything that or conventions whatever you have.
No, I mean I'm resident Alien is coming out and that's going to be you know. I got to direct a couple of episodes. No way, Yeah, directed the first two.
Is that typical? Well I'm acting now, but I really wanted to be erect.
I was given the opportunity and it seemed like I should do it because when else am I going to get the opportunity to just direct with because you can? Yeah, and I had done it before on this little thing. That I did with Nolan North, actually called con Man about Conventions. We raised a ton of money from fans and made this little film about the cons not a film, a little It was like a limited series subject, short subject thing, and I had so much fun writing that
and directing it. I directed it mainly because I was too afraid to ask directors and.
Well, did you did you go to conventions?
And yeah, I've been, because I've been to so many. Oh we didn't film, We didn't film at any conventions. We made some. But Nolan North was the second best motion capture artist I met. I met Nolan doing a video game because I got to offer to do motion capture for a video game and I was like, that's going to be great for comment I would just take
jobs for whatever I could write comment about. And met Nolan and I was like, I had been thinking this other actor in England for this character to play the second best motion capture artist. But Nolan North was doing the character and he called him Jerry Lansing and he got everybody's name wrong and so changed his name to Jerry Lancing and hired him to do it. And he hates Sandy Serkis. That's the defining quality. He hates Sandy Cirkis because he's the best. So he's like, probably does
his monkeys. Oh god, Smiegel was a gibbon and.
Oh my god, yeah he was.
He was the greatest. But so I directed that and I hadn't directed since, and uh, I don't think it's a really good idea to direct yourself because you can't.
But I did it, will do it.
Yeah, yeah, that would be weird. I had my wife. My wife was there and she's a choreographer, and choreographers have a director's eye, and so she would direct me. Yeah.
I was gonna say it couldn't hurt to have someone there who is used to telling you you suck, yes.
Exactly, and knows, yeah, knows what I want. She knows. She knows what I like and what I don't like. I think more or less, and yeah, God bless her. She's also a martyr about shots. Like I cared about the comedy. When it came to the comedy, I had lots of ideas like how it needed be done it no, no, no, that isn't funny, but this is funny. I was happy that I had those ideas. She would be like, we need a crane for this shot. We do. Oh good, let's talk about that. So all of the pre production
she was very instrumental. That's awesome, nice cool, And that's con Man' oh no, that was that's resonating. But con Man was the other one. Yeah, comment, don't watch it, don't watch it. It didn't age well, it doesn't. It doesn't work today. You know that I was a first time writer, and you know, everybody likes to do some edgy mm hmm, and it's it turns out you have to be really good at edgy to pull it off.
And some of the stuff, even though my heart was in the right place, Like, I did a thing about voiceover artists because I had I had been asked early in my voiceover career to do I played a Korean character. I played a black character. I played a Hispanic character. I played a super gay, like over the top you know gay character that I found. I'm like doing it, Like, isn't this offensive? This is offensive? I mean, if you're gay, this would be.
Yeah.
So the character the voice of Repster, which I think is probably one of the best ones. I end up going to a panel as a voiceover actor. I had done work on something called I Forget, but I played only minority characters and I end up on a panel that's about Uh, it's all about inclusiveness and inclusive inclusiveness, so that that where people get to actually do their own you know, they aren't they aren't being asked to do caricatures. They're doing you know, true inspirational roles. They're
playing kings and things like that. Black artists are playing kings and stuff. And I'm I'm there playing Rigmarole, who was an awful pimprimaroo. Yeah, he talked, oh ship and it was a character I had done on an MTV.
Is it hard out there for a pimp?
Well, for Rigmarole it was.
But that's what I hear. It's hard out here for a pimp. That's what I've heard.
Yeah, so I but don't don't. So Like my heart was in the right place because I was pointing out, hey, this is bad that people are representing you know, that we're doing these caricatures, and I was doing it in a way, but it also to do it, you have to then do all those characters and some people might find them offensive. I did a character about it doesn't matter. Like as far as gender and gay or straight, it doesn't matter what you are. Love is the most important part.
But to do that, I had somebody who was pretending to be trans to get laid. That's not a good idea.
Pretending to be trans to get laid.
By Leslie Jordan, who was also playing a straight guy who was pretended to be gay. Because it brings in the cougars, because they they because they they they lie to themselves. He says, like cougars, they lie to themselves. They say that homosexuality is a choice, and they know it's a deep, dark lie, and so they've got this hollow in their heart. And and you know what, I fill up that hole with my big old dick. Tell them you're right. Homosexuality is a choice, and I now
choose you. And they give themselves over to me one hundred percent because it backs up their warped worldview. I saved their lives. They let me do butt stuff whatever I want. But don't watch it. But don't watch it, I'm telling you.
God.
So I was trying to tell this story, trying to tell the story with Edgy anyway, what I'm saying is it was a good time. Nolan North is fantastic in it. The voice of episode is is my favorite.
Yeah, oh that's amazing. We probably won't be making any more of them, no no sequels.
Maybe maybe one day I could make them for YouTube, since YouTube's the most stream service out there of all the streaming services. Yeah.
Do you have a big presence on social media?
I can't. I can't. I don't know how to work it. Yeah, and I haven't had anybody teach me.
Yeah, it takes the team. Takes a team.
Yeah, and evidently if you know it, it's easy. I just don't. You got to let people into your life a lot, and yeah, I never know.
Yeah, how much like our buddy Nathan, you know, some people just have it to a science. Yeah really, and I'm not one of them.
Yeah, but yeah, I could go on and do songs, vaudeville songs as King Candy and that could I could probably get some clicks from that.
But the whole idea of content just pisses me off. I'm somebody who does not like that word. Contents is like the only other time you hear is like the contents like on detective shows, like what are the contents of his stomach? Well, his last meal was it's not art, it's art, it's stories.
It's I'm that yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm a story guy.
That's what it's about. Art. Art saves the world.
Well, that's I think somewhere woven into the fabric of Disney.
Is that thread that you just it all?
You know, it all started out with the mouse and and I think that was his number one thing he said first. You know, it could be outer space, it could be Cowboys, it could be you know, ancient rome it's the story, the story, the story, and that then from there, you know, the rest is actually kind of details. You know, Romeo and Juliet was a story. You know, look at Shakespeare he was apparently good at it. Yeah, he was able to pull off a few stories.
Yeah.
And isn't there a trope out there that said there are only seven stories?
Yeah, there's a bit seven or twelve. Ye, it's different on that, but it's a hero goes on a journey. Yeah, that kind you know that they boil it down to the most basic. Yeah.
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Do it now?
All right?
Well, why don't you describe the voice swap game?
Ah? I need to urinate okay, and I don't want to do it in my pants again?
Okay, just again?
So much clean up? Yeah? Yeah, I wore my pan pants, but I.
Shall Okay, let's shall we dive in and get this over with.
Let's gotta go body.
Oh yeah, okay, let me see. Okay, am I going to try to do one of your voices?
Is not gonna work?
Well, that's okay. Can you explain it.
I'll give you, give you a phrase of dark wing Ducks say, for instance, and then you say the same phrase back in one of your characters.
Okay.
Then you give me one in your character voice and I'll sing it back.
I'm not a voice, okay, go on.
Okay, how about how about King Louis from Jungle Book?
And are you doing King Louis?
Yeah, but not in Jungle Book the original?
But I know since since then, you're Yeah, you're Louis Prima.
Yes, yes I am. And uh and so I think I'll steal a little bit from the song. Well, I'm the King of the Swingers. Woa the Jungle v I P. That's it, I'm the King of the Swingers. Woa the Jungle v I P. In your character, King Candy, I'm the king.
If this swings, ho the jungle vi I P. Yeah, he had too many hopes. That was good. That's what the king says.
No such thing as too many hopes, that's what. But seriously, all right now, so now I'll.
Do a character and uh, okay, oh all right, I'm this is the Duke of Westleton from Frozen. I dance like a chicken with the face of a monkey.
I fly. I dance like a chicken with the face of a monkey.
I fly.
Would break drag Tigger into that?
All right?
How about how about two fellow pirates? How about Don Carnage and oh Steve the Pirate.
All right, that's true, Okay, Don corne You know something, if I wasn't already me, I would envy you because you get to meet me.
If I wasn't already me, I would not be you.
I would envy you. I would envy you because you get to meet me.
Oh my gosh, Steve the Pirate is the longest line he's ever had.
Yeah, if he were not.
You, no, if I were not me, I would envy you because you get to meet me. I guess that's pretty good.
That's pretty severely bodacious.
Okay, uh, oil boy must have many others. Hey hey, yeah, okay, here's hey hey falling off the boat Okay, into the water and then he comes up. Yeah, how do you do that in anybody else?
And anybody else? I don't know, how about maybe Taz?
I was gonna say, Taz doesn't really speak.
It was just it was weird. It was like we were in the room.
It makes sense.
Thanks for being here, buddy.
Thank you so much, Thank you, thank you, thank you.
It's beautiful. Did we ask if there's anything upcoming?
We should? Ye?
Yeah, just uh.
There you go, and yeah that's it, be there, be there. You're gonna chill some after that.
Yeah, all right, well, thanks you very much.
Wow, thank you absolutely thank you.
Thank you guys all for watching. I hope you enjoyed that episode. This was another episode of Tuned In with Jim Cummings. I'm producer Chris Jim Cummings. Alan Tudic, thank you so much for being here today. Really appreciate it. If you guys like this content, be sure to like and subscribe. Really helps us out, helps you out find more videos like this. You can find bonus content on Patreon. You can find merchandise on Shopify. Jim Cummings closet, all
that good stuff. We will see you in the next one. Thanks again, Alan for joining us. I'm producer Chris Jim Cummings. We will see you in the next one.
Cheers the end.
Why just that easy?
I'm gonna run and pee.
Yes play, I'll wait out here. It is made for p