It's time for Animaniacs! Last week Sunday afternoon, I went back to SF Sketchfest to visit the amazing voice actors and stars of the hit animated Warner Bros cartoon show -- Rob Paulsen (Yakko), Jess Harnell (Wakko) and Tress MacNeille (Dot), and songwriter Randy Rogel as they told stories working on the show and singing along to songs like Yakko's World, Wakko's 50 State Capitols and a bevy of other beloved tunes.
A screen showing clips of episodes like Please Please Pleese Get a Life Foundation and Potty Emergency, Randy Rogel and Rob Paulsen entered onstage and performed Variety Speak and Yakko's Universe. For Yakko's Universe, they also sang how the ending was originally written. In the original version, Randy wrote about the planets, but while he was out of the town, another writer Paul Rugg wrote The Planets Song, so he had to come up with something else. In addition, the last verse was different, but the executives wouldn't allow it. When I heard it, I understood why. I loved the original version, but I still love how the song came out; it is one of my favorites.
Rob Paulsen is one of the most acclaimed and in-demand voice actors out there, with over 2,000 animated half hours to his credit and 1000 commercial spots. Rob Paulsen is best familiar to many as Raphael from "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," PJ from "Goof Troop," Yakko and Dr. Scratchansniff from "Animaniacs," and the voice of Pinky from "Pinky and the Brain" (for which he won a Daytime Emmy in 1999 for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program, and back to back Annie awards in 1997 and 1998). Rob's new weekly podcast, "Talkin' Toons with Rob Paulsen," is available on iTunes. Check out his website at www.robpaulsenlive.com
Randy has won three Emmy Awards (nominated for ten), a Peabody Award, two Annie Awards, three Leo Awards, and the Ovation Award. He recently co-wrote the hit song "Poisonous Love" for Kristen Chenoweth with John Powell for the major motion picture "Rio 2." He was show-runner for the animated series "1001 Nights" and won Leo awards for Writing and Best Animated Series. Randy wrote songs for the animated movies "Peter Pan -- Return to Neverland," "Cinderella II," "Winnie The Pooh: Springtime with Roo," and "Tweety's High-Flying Adventure." Randy spent nine years on staff at Warner Bros. Animation where he began as an original writer on the "Batman" series and then joined the staff of Steven Spielberg's "Animaniacs," for which wrote most of the songs and many of the scripts. Randy is a West Point graduate with ten years service as an officer in the combat arms. He has a B.S. in Engineering from the academy and a Masters Degree in International Relations from Boston University.
When Animaniacs was about complete, there was an idea to advertise the show by putting a blow-up doll of Yakko on the Warner Bros water tower. Bob Daly and Terry Semel, who ran the studio at the time, were driving by from having a drink. Tom Ruegger, writer, producer and story editor, got an angry phone call from Bob Daly saying, "What the hell is Mickey Mouse doing on my goddamn water tower?" So, he had to take the doll down. After that amusing story, Randy and Rob performed When You're Traveling to Nantucket. Cue in Jess Harnell to sing Hello Nurse and Tress MacNeille sings I'm Cute, both songs are also my favorites.
Named by Variety magazine as one of the top ten voice actors in the business, the Emmy-nominated Jess Harnell is truly one of the best and busiest. Jess has appeared on practically every animated series on TV and has had dozens of starring roles, including “Captain Hero” on “Drawn Together”, "Jerry" on "Totally Spies", "Fatso" on "The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper", "Gumpers and Swanky" on "Pet Alien", and of course “Wakko” on “Animaniacs”. Jess’s voice has been heard on countless popular prime time series as well, including shows such as“America’s Funniest Home Videos” which he has announced for the last 14 years. Jess is also the lead singer in the acclaimed 80’s metal/pop mash-up band and YouTube sensation “Rock Sugar”, sharing stages with such rock legends as AC/DC, Slash and Aerosmith. One of the top celebrity voice matches in the business, Jess perfectly mimics over 150 celebrities- both speaking and singing- from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Ozzy Osbourne, Elvis Presley to all four Beatles, Albert Brooks to Christopher Walken, Steve Perry to Willie Nelson and Pee Wee Herman to Rodney Dangerfield. As Jess says, “if it’s related at all to the voice, I like to believe I can do it. And if I can’t, I’ll work on it until I figure out a way that I can.”
Tress is enjoying a long and varied career in the wonderful world of voiceover acting. She is best known for her performances as Dot in "Animaniacs" and Babs Bunny in "Tiny Toon Adventures,' as Daisy Duck, Chip (of 'n Dale), Anastasia, and many other iconic voices for Disney as well as Mom and other character voices for "Futurama," "Pinky and the Brain," Charlotte Pickles for "Rugrats," Hoodsey Bishop for "As Told by Ginger" and numerous other film and TV projects all keep Tress happily occupied. Other television shows she has appeared in include Hey Arnold, Histeria, Dilbert, The Mask, Cro, Freakazoid, and Alvin and the Chipmunks. This year Tress celebrates over 25 years providing hundreds of character voices, vocals and impressions for "The Simpsons." Tress' Peabody Award is safely encased in Lucite.
Obviously, music was a huge part of Animaniacs because of their large orchestra (the musicians were paid $15 per hour) and composers led by the late Richard Stone. Tom Ruegger had three sons who all voiced on the show. He knew how stressing it was being a parent, so he came up with a story of Dr. Scratchansniff taking the Warners on a car ride to the circus, but the Warners are constantly fighting. That story became a song written by Randy himself who too has kids called I'm Mad. At the end, the Warners have a fun time and start being nice to each other. Or do they?
Rob, Jess and Tress talked about how much fun they had in the recording booth and working with the other actors, including Frank Welker and Jim Cummings. One episode they had a great time recording for was The Warners' 65th Anniversary, one of my favorite episodes. They all love their jobs and told us what they're working on now (Rob is on Doc McStuffins and Tress and Jess are on Sofia the First, both on Disney Junior). Randy is currently a writer on The 7D, as well as working on the next Ice Age movie and a Broadway show. Whenever Bernadette Peters, who voiced Rita, came in, the room always got serious because she really brought sophistication in the studio. When Andrea Romano, the casting and voice director, was holding auditions, each voice actor could only pick three characters to try out. When Jess Harnell auditioned (who at the time didn't have a lot of experience in voice acting), she knew he did impressions, so he did Elvis Pressley and others. Andrea asked him to do the Beatles. Jess asked her which one and she responded with "Don't they all sound the same?" Jess disagreed and proved her wrong (and he was right); he did Ringo Starr, but when she showed him a picture of Wakko, he found out he looked like a kid so he raised the voice higher. The actors talked about the writers, the other Warner siblings that were cut out of the show and Wakko's Wish (I loved the running/chase music by Franz Liszt, arranged by Steve and Julie Bernstein). When one fan asked how to be a voice actor, Rob recommended his podcast and a webpage on voice acting by Dee Bradley Baker. Another fan asked Jess what Wakko's favorite restaurant is and his answer made me laugh so much. I'd tell you what his response was, but it is a bit profane.
After the Q&A, Rob and Randy sang Noel, a song Randy wrote during the fourth season when Tom Ruegger asked him to write a Christmas carol "and make it funny."
On the episode Hooray for North Hollywood Part 2, Randy talked about when he got a phone call from Tom Ruegger who saw LA DOT on the side of a bus and thought it would be funny if Dot believed it was her name. He played how he originally wrote the song to us. When he played it for Tom, he thought it was okay, but he wanted the song to be "LA Dot," not "La Dot." Randy thought it should be "La Dot" because it sounded French, which fits Dot's personality, but Randy was still forced to change it. So Randy found a nice rhythm and had to write a new song, which Tress MacNeille herself performed for us.
After Jess Harnell sang Wakko's America, another tuneful favorite (Annapolis, Maryland has "wonderful clam chowder, but San Francisco's better"), Randy and Rob talked about another popular Warner Bros. show they worked on, Histeria. Randy performed a song he wrote on that show about all thirty-seven of Shakespeare's plays That's the Story That's Told by the Bard. Of course, the song told what the plays were about. If it was just the titles, it would be just plain boring.
When Randy started working at Warner Bros Animation, he was a writer on Batman: The Animated Series, for which he won an Emmy. When he heard about Tiny Toon Adventures (another show produced at the same time), he thought he would like to work on that. When he heard about Animaniacs (which was in development), he visited Jean MacCurdy, the executive in charge of production of both Tiny Toons and Animaniacs, the "mother" of the shows, and ran the studio as president for some time (apparently she made a surprise visit in the audience, but I couldn't see her). Anyways, he asked her if he could be on Animaniacs, but she thought he was great with that "drama stuff. Why leave?" Randy really wanted to be on the show and prove to her he should, so he came up with a song about the nations of the world as his 'audition tape,' Yakko's World. That's how he got on board; I loved that song. What's amazing was when Andrea Romano had Rob Paulsen record for that song, he did it in one take.
The day was wrapped up as Randy played the theme song and Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell and Tress MacNeille asked the entire audience to sing along. After that, I got in line to meet them (time consuming, but worthwhile) and they signed my ticket. I told them how much I loved their show. Jess said if I ever wrote a show, they'd love it too (that really meant a lot to me); Tress MacNeille was a real doll, so flattered when I told her she looked cuter in person ("We can't get anything done with her" -Jess Harnell). Randy was surprised that I wanted his signature, but how could I forget him? He was important to the show's success, so he signed it and wrote a musical note as a reminder of what he did.
SF Sketchfest continues until Sunday. There are plenty of events to choose from. If you are looking for something fun to do this weekend, check the schedule and see what you like at www.sfsketchfest.com
"Did you notice that the third please is misspelled with two E's? I think that was intentional."
