February 25, 2025 • 25 mins
Andy, Chris, Josh, and Rob join Matt for our inaugural "Bar Chat" episode as we welcome special guest: Jeff Steitzer! Jeff's unforgettable booming announcements set the tone for multiplayer combat throughout the Halo video game series. Jeff candidly shares his journey from the vibrant stages of the theater scene to the recording booth, all while being initially unaware of the seismic impact his voice would have on gamers worldwide.
Listen as we chat about the blend of gaming and theater work in Jeff's career, and how conventions have become a cherished avenue for him to connect with fans. Whether you're a gamer who reveres his voice or want to learn more about his journey, this episode promises a delightful mix of nostalgia, industry insights, and personal anecdotes that underscore Jeff’s fascinating career.
In honor of our interview with Jeff, we’ve whipped up the perfect concoction for a toast to him — the "Sticky Grenade," inspired by Halo:
Ingredients:
- 1/8oz Grenadine
- 1/2oz Blue Curacao
- 1/4 Silver Tequila
- 1/4 Lemon Juice
Instructions:
- Pour just a few drops of grenadine into the bottom of a shot glass.
- Add the blue curacao carefully over the grenadine.
- Layer the silver tequila on top. Use the back of a spoon, ensuring it sits above the curacao.
- Top with a light splash of lemon juice.
The result is a vibrant colored shot with a sweet start and a strong finish!
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Cheers, and thanks for listening!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matt (00:00):
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 , 1.
Rob (00:12):
We have liftoff.
Welcome to Matt and FriendsDrink the Universe.
Matt (00:23):
Hello, matt and Friends Drink the Universe listeners.
Welcome, matt and friends Drinkthe Universe listeners.
Welcome to our very first BarChat.
Bar Chat is our newest episodetheme.
The idea of this new theme isto foster relaxed atmosphere, to
engage in casual conversationalinterviews with interesting
individuals as well asbusinesses like wineries,
breweries and distilleries.
Think of this as the evolutionof our In Local Brews format.
(00:45):
Our guest is the best possiblelead-up to our upcoming video
game trivia episode, which willrelease on March 4th 2025.
I'm very excited today to sharewith you our conversation with
the legendary voice of God,multiplayer announcer for the
Halo series of video games, mrJeff Stitzer.
Jeff is an amazing person, evencreated some very special sound
drops you will hear during thevideo game trivia episode.
(01:07):
Thank you very much, jeff, forthe interview, for your time and
for the sound drops.
Without further ado, let's getto it.
Chris (01:18):
There he is, the man himself.
Matt (01:22):
I'm Matt.
By the way, it is so nice tomeet you after we've been
emailing for a couple weeks here.
I really appreciate the sounddrops that you did.
They are absolutely amazing.
Oh, great, great, great, great.
I'm glad I feel like we grew uplistening to you without
formally meeting you.
I bet you hear that a lot.
Jeff Steitzer (01:38):
I do, and it always is a little bit.
I never quite know what to makeof that because of course I
wasn't aware that people wereout there listening or playing.
Or it's the weirdest thing,because you know, whenever you
do a job as a voice actorbasically you're contracted to
do the job you go to a studioalthough not so much these days
(02:02):
and then you just record forhowever long it took.
You would end up, you know,going away and saying thanks and
thinking no more about it.
And in fact, in the case ofthis game and I've said this on
a number of occasions I did notknow that we had fans.
I didn't know the game had beena success.
Nobody told me.
Andy (02:26):
That's insane.
Jeff Steitzer (02:38):
The only way I knew.
No, no, they did not.
I didn't actually know until myagent called me a couple of
years after we'd done the firstone and said, hey, guess what
they want you for the sequel toHalo?
And I said, oh, so it did.
Okay, huh, she said, I guess.
We were clueless, sadly.
Matt (02:52):
What we can introduce.
Since this is a drinkingpodcast, I came up with a little
shot here called the StickyGrenade, and since I spent most
of 2007 and 2008 trying to hearyour voice say Killianaire in
many different game modes,sticky grenades were always my
favorite.
So we have a little shot here.
I will put that recipe uponline, but cheers to you, sir,
(03:14):
cheers, cheers, cheers.
Josh (03:15):
Cheers.
Thanks for joining us.
Jeff Steitzer (03:16):
Thank you very much.
Did you ever hear Killianaire?
Matt (03:21):
I think I heard it twice total.
Maybe, if I was lucky, one wasin the griffball mode, which was
just glorified soccer Indeedgriffball.
Jeff Steitzer (03:32):
So that would be the one he did the thing he did.
Chris (03:38):
What's funny, jeff, is your voice.
You have your own voice, butoccasionally you'll say a word
and I just hear the charactervoice come through Really.
So it'll be like a fullsentence and just one of the
words just kind of triggers thememory, oh yeah, and you're like
, oh, I know what that voice is.
Jeff Steitzer (03:54):
Oh, that's hysterical.
Chris (03:55):
Yeah.
Jeff Steitzer (03:56):
You know, I don't listen to myself very much
outside of recording, so I'm notall that.
I never know what I sound likeand I never sound to me like
anything special at all.
So it's obviously a lot ofpeople disagree, and I'm glad
they do, because otherwise I'dbe, you know, probably bagging
(04:16):
at some local grocery storeinstead of sitting and talking
to you guys, I had a question.
Andy (04:22):
I wanted to ask you if I can get that right off the bat.
I'm not going to ask specificmonies, but I was curious.
Video games I I assumevoiceover work would be very
different from other work do.
Do video games?
Do residuals as um like no?
Jeff Steitzer (04:38):
well, no, I take that back.
No, uh, when we did halo, theymost certainly did not do
residuals.
And an interesting thing Ifound out just a couple of years
ago from Marty O'Donnell wewere doing a convention in
Phoenix and he said I tried toget Microsoft to give all of you
guys you and Jen and Steve apercentage of the money that was
(05:02):
made, and they were like no.
Chris (05:06):
Microsoft said sorry.
Jeff Steitzer (05:08):
Apparently Steve said but you know it's okay,
because now we're going out anddoing conventions and making
money that way.
He said those are our residuals.
And I was like, well, that'sall well and good for you, steve
.
You know, but those aren'tcorrect or positive, I wouldn't
mind making my residuals whilesitting on the couch and not
going anywhere at all.
(05:29):
I should take that back.
I love conventions and I lovemeeting people.
Rob (05:34):
It is the coolest part.
Jeff Steitzer (05:36):
I love it, I really do.
Rob (05:39):
I had a question as well.
I'm off screen here, butthere's my hand.
Jeff Steitzer (05:47):
Should I do that too?
Yeah, yeah, I like that, I likethat I was just curious.
Rob (05:51):
If you have a particular character that you've connected
with the most in in your career,like, do you have a favorite
voiceover that you've done or acharacter that you've portrayed?
Jeff Steitzer (06:02):
um well, this, this, this is going to be it,
partly because I've done so muchof it over such a long period
of time.
I've done other things.
I don't even remember oftenwhat I did.
Rob (06:16):
Okay.
Jeff Steitzer (06:17):
You know there are a couple of games out there
that I did, one called theOperative no One Lives Forever
and it had a sequel, and Ievidently played different
characters in the two games.
I don't remember what I did atall at all.
Other things I do kind ofremember I did a bunch of things
for the kids years ago PajamaSam and Freddy, fish and Spy.
(06:44):
Fox maybe Was that it, and Ihave no memory at all of what we
did.
It was a circus thing and Ithink I played an animal, but it
was like oh, okay, If you sayso.
And then a follow-up to that,is there a character that you
(07:12):
would love to voice that youmaybe haven't had the
opportunity to do at this point?
Who?
Uh, I have to say no, and I'lltell you why.
It has always been my positionthat if you start to pin your
hopes on getting to do something99.9 times out of 100, you're
going to be disappointed.
You know you're not going toget that job.
Yeah, that's fair.
So it's like when I, as atheater actor, a stage actor,
(07:33):
which I've done a lot of I usedto go in for auditions and you
know, what you're always told is, first of all, enjoy the
audition, because for thatperiod of time you get to play
the character.
Nobody else in that room isplaying it, just you.
And then, after you leave,forget about it.
Just forget about it becauseyou're not going to get that
role.
And again, more often than not,you're not, and when you do,
(07:56):
it's like, oh my god, oh great,you know, yeah.
So that's kind of why I don't.
I was asked that when I wasdoing a summer at a shakes
Shakespeare festival.
It's like what roles do youwant to play?
and it's like I don't think thatway, I just don't think that
way oh, that's fair, you know,because if I don't get to play
it, then I'll feel disappointed,and you know, there are always
(08:16):
reasons why you don't get to docertain things, sure?
Rob (08:19):
so I would have liked to hear Jeff Stites or Batman.
I'm just saying you, you know Idon't even know.
Jeff Steitzer (08:25):
You know this is terrible.
I never watched Batman, oh myGod.
I'm aware of it and I'mcertainly aware of the actor,
kevin Conroy, yes, who playedBatman, mostly because I thought
for years he was somebody elseentirely.
There's another actor, Ibelieve, named Kevin Conroy,
who's a stage actor, and Ialways thought it was that guy
(08:50):
and, of course, it's not at all,and it's one of those things,
you know.
You listen to him and you go ohwell, you know, that's why he
got the job.
He's perfect.
Oh, absolutely, you know.
I'm more amazed by someone likeMark Hamill, you know.
Chris (09:00):
That was the next one.
Yeah, yeah yeah.
Matt (09:03):
So the question that I have is, since we tend to be a
comedy-centric podcast, you'vedone so many Halo games.
Do you have a good funny storyfrom any of the recordings that
you've done, or anything like?
Jeff Steitzer (09:14):
that Well?
Yeah, a couple.
But the problem is, in someinstances they're predicated on
doing certain phrases and thenbeing told we couldn't.
Andy (09:25):
Oh, we've got to get some of those.
Matt (09:26):
Can you share some of those, well well the one I can
certainly tell.
Jeff Steitzer (09:29):
I'm sure I tell this story quite a bit.
Um, we were doing one of thegames.
Uh, the idea that the writerhad was that if you were to
shoot one of your own teammembers, you would hear me.
And this was predicated on areal life incident many, many
years ago.
Dick cheney, on a real lifeincident many, many years ago.
Dick Cheney shot somebody inyou know one of his fellow
(09:52):
hunters in the face.
So if you did something likethat in the game, you would have
heard me saying Cheney mania.
Josh (10:01):
Oh that's such a shame that they cut that out.
Jeff Steitzer (10:04):
I know.
I mean I've said I've told thisstory enough that you know.
I'm sure there are thousands ofsamples of this going out all
over the place.
But that's certainly what wethought, because when we
recorded it, I you know it wasone of those things that happens
every once in a while wheresomething makes the folks in the
other room laugh and thenthey're like let it's, like,
come on, you're just having fun.
(10:26):
But that was one where we allhad a hard time keeping a
straight face.
We thought it was prettyhysterical.
Matt (10:32):
That's fantastic.
Jeff Steitzer (10:33):
Yeah, there have been a few instances like that.
Josh (10:37):
Jeff, I've got a question for you, so I did read that you
spent some time doing well.
I think it sounds like you cutyour teeth, maybe in stage.
Oh yeah, and so I even saw thatyou were on Broadway.
I'm a big, big, big Broadwayfan over here as well.
Cool, do you have a thing thatyou liked more?
Did you like stage acting more?
Did you like voice acting more?
Jeff Steitzer (10:55):
That's a very good question.
Here's what I like about voiceacting.
It's the same thing I likeabout film and TV and any voice
recording stuff, audio books.
You only have to get it rightonce.
Josh (11:13):
Not every time.
Jeff Steitzer (11:15):
Almost invariably .
You're paid often quite a bitmore money to do voice work or
TV or film than you are thetheater.
That's always been true.
The one example where thatwasn't true was when I was doing
first Inherit the Wind onBroadway and then Mary Poppins
(11:35):
for a year and a half onBroadway because that paid
really well.
That paid really really well.
But for the most part you don'tget paid that well and you're
doing eight shows a week andyou're.
You know the regional theaterhas an insane schedule Sure,
(11:55):
where you end up doing fiveshows in a weekend.
So you do a Friday night, twoon Saturday, two on Sunday.
That's often what you've got.
That's a lot.
You know if you're playing anykind of a large role.
That's hard, and it means thaton monday, your only day off,
you tend to be, you know, sortof on a couch collapse because
you're so damn tired.
Sure, yeah, what I like aboutvoice work as well is that your
(12:19):
audience are the people of theother room the engineer, the
writer, maybe a producer from343 or something and if you get
laughing then it's instantgratification.
Sure, that's fair.
Which is great fun.
But on the other hand, as avoice actor, I consider myself a
(12:39):
gun for hire, in the sense thatwhat do you need?
I will try to give that to youand will keep crying until I
give it to you, or give yousomething equally good, and then
we're done.
But when you're on stage,you're in control.
I mean, you've rehearsed whatyou're going to do.
But when you're standing infront of you know god, in the
(13:01):
case of pop and you know, therewere like 2,000 people I there
was another theater here locallythis got close to 3000 people,
you know, and you can make themlaugh as a group or be quiet as
a group.
There's tremendous satisfactionin pulling together an audience
(13:22):
like that.
And you don't get that, youknow, certainly on a film.
I mean, people might, you know,laugh afterwards after you've
done something.
But it's just not the same.
Josh (13:32):
Yeah, I mean you're talking to a room full of people
who have some sort of musicalbackground and all have been on
a field performing in marchingbands or on a stage performing
Sure many times.
You know nothing more thanmostly most of us high school
and collegiate level, but youknow musicals and plays.
Jeff Steitzer (13:49):
That counts.
Josh (13:50):
But we for sure understand that feeling of getting a crowd
to stand and cheer for you andwhat a wild rush, that is.
Rob (13:58):
It is Jeff did you ever do any musical theater, or was it
all just straight plays?
Jeff Steitzer (14:04):
No, no, no, A lot of musical theater.
Josh (14:05):
I think Poppins was a musical right.
Jeff Steitzer (14:13):
Mary Poppins was a musical.
Yeah, I didn't have a lot ofsinging.
Thank God I didn't have a lotof stage time, which made it all
the more ironic that it was thebest paying stage job I ever
had and I did the least amountof work.
I mean, it was really what wecall country club acting,
because I spent more time, youknow, reading or napping than I
did on stage.
When I was on stage I wasjumping back and forth between
the two characters I played Inother instances.
(14:34):
Yeah, I've done a lot of stuff.
In Seattle there's a theatercompany which sort of which is
where I live focuses on musicaltheater company called the Fifth
Avenue, also one called theVillage.
So there are two places where Iwork quite a bit and I've done
a lot of musicals.
I've done how to Succeed inBusiness Without Really Trying.
I've done Kiss Me Kate.
(14:55):
I did that twice actually herein town and then I also did it
in Hartford, which at the timewas being run by a guy named
Darko Treznik who won a Tony forthe Gentleman's Guide to Love
and Murder, which is based onthe same material as Kind Hearts
and Coronets.
He also did Anastasia.
(15:15):
What else did I do?
Funny thing happened on the wayto the Forum.
Oh yeah, I played Cynics.
That was an interestingsituation.
That was in Seattle and we weregetting it.
It was our dress parade.
So we're all getting into ouryou know, our long johns and our
you know togas and stuff andunfortunately I was in a
dressing room that had a carpetand when we weren't in there,
(15:38):
apparently they were sewing andstuff in there.
So I was getting ready and Iturned suddenly and I drove a
nail about this long into myfoot.
Rob (15:50):
And it.
Jeff Steitzer (15:50):
The needle, not a nail a needle and the needle
broke off.
So now there's a needle in myfoot, and so the stage manager
came up and she tried to get itout.
She's poking around trying toget the needle out.
Chris (16:04):
She can't get it.
Jeff Steitzer (16:06):
So they take me to the emergency room and they
go in there and a couple ofpeople there try and they're
poking around.
They can't get it out.
Then there's somebody elsewho's supposed to be better, so
they have to call him.
He's on a Zoom call and he'slooking at the x-rays while he's
trying to tell you know, showother people how to get rid of
it, couldn't get it out.
(16:26):
So I had to go back and Ithought that's it.
I can't do the show.
But when I got back to thetheater they said we, we want it
.
You want you to stay in theshow you know we don't want you
to leave.
The show must go on I'm doing alot of running around in the
show and I'm dancing in the showand singing in the show, and
they said we think we've got asolution.
What we're going to do is goingto take a wheelchair and we are
(16:47):
going to decorate it so itlooks like a chariot and then we
are going to have one of theproteans push you around
throughout the show.
So it was great, becauseeverybody else by the end of you
know, everybody ought to have amaid was huffing and puffing
and I'm just like, I'm justsitting in a chair.
Rob (17:06):
Yeah.
Jeff Steitzer (17:09):
It was spectacular.
So that, and God what else.
Singing in the Rain I did andsome new musicals I did.
I've done a lot.
Musical theater was how I gotinto the theater in the first
place.
Josh (17:24):
Yeah, I was going to ask so.
Did theater lead to the voiceacting?
Is that how that?
Oh, yeah, oh yeah, absolutely.
Jeff Steitzer (17:31):
What had happened was when I was growing up and
this is not unusual, I don'tthink for a lot of people who
grew up in the 1950s and 60slike I did families, because it
was popular music of the time,used to have LPs of musical
theater and Julie Andrews, youhad the Sound of Music with Mary
(17:58):
Martin, you had, you know,whatever it might be.
We had Wildcat with LucilleBall, which, perversely, is one
of my favorite shows Shouldn'tbe, but I love it.
And I had a teacher in thefourth grade who did
semi-professional.
She was semi-professional, shedid theater in a lot of the
theaters in San Diego and one ofthe last things I did before I
(18:18):
left town I was supposed to beauditioning for what was either
going to be the Wizard of Oz asa child actor now 10 years old
the Wizard of Oz or Peter Pan.
Missed out on both of those,but I did get to see my teacher
in a production of the PajamaGame where she was prancing
around as may.
She wasa very stocky woman whowas chasing this guy around
(18:41):
great number and, uh, afterwardsshe had me come backstage and I
got to meet the man who wasplaying the lead, who, as it
happens, was the guy who createdthe role and did it in the
movie john Rea it.
So that was incredibly cool andwe were sitting and talking.
At one point he said you know,I've got a little girl just
about your age.
(19:02):
And I was like, oh really.
And years later I realized that, in addition to being, you know
, talking to somebody I knewfrom albums that we had in the
house he had done, and he, um,uh, uh, annie, get your Gun with
Mary Martin on tour and theymade a record of it and we had
that.
Uh, he was also the father ofBonnie Raitt the singer.
(19:24):
That was the little girl who wasabout my age, oh wow.
What a connection so that's howit got started, yeah.
And then years later, you knowit sort of I didn't do much with
it.
And then I got into junior high, got into a play, started doing
a lot of plays, went all theway through high school and
college and went out to, cameout to Seattle and got an
(19:47):
audition for an ensemble in acompany here and was asked to
join.
And it was while I was doingthat that a lot of the local
folks who did commercials here,who came to see the work of this
particular company because wewere pretty wild and wacky, we
were, you know, rock and rolltheater they were offering us
work.
Just, I mean no auditions, it'sjust like what are you?
(20:09):
Are you free to come and do acommercial?
I was like, yeah, okay, andthat's how it all started.
Josh (20:16):
Yeah, we'll show up for the paycheck, right.
Jeff Steitzer (20:18):
Absolutely.
I mean considering that we weremaking no money.
We were making $60 a week inthe theater company oh my
goodness.
Now, yeah, figure that out by amonth but of course rent was
$150, you know, in Seattle yousaid At that point yeah, wow,
we're talking about 1975, jeff,I appreciate you so much.
Matt (20:43):
I wanted to ask you one more question before we close.
Where did that announcer voicecome from for the game?
Yes, how did that haloannouncer voice where?
How'd that come well?
Jeff Steitzer (20:52):
I can tell you.
Can tell you, I originallyauditioned, as did every man in
Seattle, for Master Chief.
That's the copy they had.
Plus, there was a little bit ofan alien that we read, as I
recall, and then we also had toscream as if we were being
massacred at the end of theaudition.
At the end too.
They didn't want you to do itat the beginning because they
didn't want, you know, shootyour wad.
(21:15):
So I did that, and you knowit's a long story not worth
going into.
But I was told initially that Iwas going to be master chief and
I was kind of like oh okay,great, but remember, I don't
know what a master chief is youknow right so all my friends
were going in recording,including Jen Taylor who I had
known and locally, and DavidScully who was Sergeant Johnson,
(21:37):
all those folks, they were alldoing their work and I hadn't
been called.
So I called my agent, which Ihad by that time For years, I
didn't Just kept getting workand I said what's going on?
So he said I'll check and see.
She came back and said well,turns out Marty O'Donnell, you
know, doesn't know you.
So apparently he got kind ofgot cold feet.
(21:58):
That's what she said.
He disputes, that that's whatshe said.
And so he decided to work withsomebody he knew in Chicago.
She said but the good news isthey want you to be the
announcer.
And I was like, oh, anannouncer, cause you know, an
announcer is kind of a craftmusic hall kind of thing.
Back in those days I mean.
I thought what's that going tobe?
(22:19):
But I thought, okay, great.
So, you know, because works,work.
So I went in for my first dayand Marty met me and, you know,
introduced me around.
I got to see all the stuff thatwas being worked on.
I saw a halo ring.
I had no idea what I waslooking at, but it was pretty
cool and we went in to record.
He said, ok, so what are wegoing to do for the voice of
(22:42):
this guy?
What do you?
What is, what should he soundlike?
And I said I don't know, whatdo you, what are you looking for
?
And he said, well, you did youaudition for chief, right?
And I said, yeah, which waskind of a, you know, there was
sort of clint eastwood kind ofthing that everybody was doing
and you know said, okay, we canstart with a little of that.
(23:02):
He said can you do monstertruck rally, monster truck rally
?
I said, yes, I think I can.
He said, great.
And he said and didn't you doan alien?
And I, I did do an alien.
It was sort of like this orsomething.
Whatever he said, mushed it alltogether and after about 20
(23:22):
minutes we'd come up withsomething.
He said I think we got it and Iwas like, okay, great, and that
was the voice.
Wow, that's exactly how ithappened.
Matt (23:34):
Can I ask you for a Killianaire before you go?
Jeff Steitzer (23:37):
Of course, killianaire.
Rob (23:41):
Yeah.
Matt (23:41):
Thank you very much.
Rob (23:43):
You're very welcome.
Wow, wow, wow, what a pleasure,jeff.
Matt (23:46):
Thank you so much for joining us my pleasure.
Jeff Steitzer (23:49):
I really appreciate it.
Thank you guys so much forasking.
I appreciate it.
Chris (23:56):
This podcast is a production of unfiltered studios
.
If you would like to know moreabout joining unfiltered studios
, please visit our website atunfpodcom for more information.
Matt (24:05):
The boozy quote for this episode will be a little riff on
a famous line from Halo chiefwhat are you doing in this bar,
sir?
Finishing this flight?
On social media, please like,follow and push all the buttons
for us.
That's Matt and Friends DTU atFacebook, instagram Threads and
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(24:25):
links to our merch store, socialmedia and all the places you
can listen to us.
Visit our websitemattandfriendsdtucom.
That's mattandfriendsdtucom.
Thank you again for listeningto Matt and Friends Drink the
Universe.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 , 1.
Rob (00:12):
We have liftoff.
Welcome to Matt and FriendsDrink the Universe.
Matt (00:23):
Hello, matt and Friends Drink the Universe listeners.
Welcome, matt and friends Drinkthe Universe listeners.
Welcome to our very first BarChat.
Bar Chat is our newest episodetheme.
The idea of this new theme isto foster relaxed atmosphere, to
engage in casual conversationalinterviews with interesting
individuals as well asbusinesses like wineries,
breweries and distilleries.
Think of this as the evolutionof our In Local Brews format.
(00:45):
Our guest is the best possiblelead-up to our upcoming video
game trivia episode, which willrelease on March 4th 2025.
I'm very excited today to sharewith you our conversation with
the legendary voice of God,multiplayer announcer for the
Halo series of video games, mrJeff Stitzer.
Jeff is an amazing person, evencreated some very special sound
drops you will hear during thevideo game trivia episode.
(01:07):
Thank you very much, jeff, forthe interview, for your time and
for the sound drops.
Without further ado, let's getto it.
Chris (01:18):
There he is, the man himself.
Matt (01:22):
I'm Matt.
By the way, it is so nice tomeet you after we've been
emailing for a couple weeks here.
I really appreciate the sounddrops that you did.
They are absolutely amazing.
Oh, great, great, great, great.
I'm glad I feel like we grew uplistening to you without
formally meeting you.
I bet you hear that a lot.
Jeff Steitzer (01:38):
I do, and it always is a little bit.
I never quite know what to makeof that because of course I
wasn't aware that people wereout there listening or playing.
Or it's the weirdest thing,because you know, whenever you
do a job as a voice actorbasically you're contracted to
do the job you go to a studioalthough not so much these days
(02:02):
and then you just record forhowever long it took.
You would end up, you know,going away and saying thanks and
thinking no more about it.
And in fact, in the case ofthis game and I've said this on
a number of occasions I did notknow that we had fans.
I didn't know the game had beena success.
Nobody told me.
Andy (02:26):
That's insane.
Jeff Steitzer (02:38):
The only way I knew.
No, no, they did not.
I didn't actually know until myagent called me a couple of
years after we'd done the firstone and said, hey, guess what
they want you for the sequel toHalo?
And I said, oh, so it did.
Okay, huh, she said, I guess.
We were clueless, sadly.
Matt (02:52):
What we can introduce.
Since this is a drinkingpodcast, I came up with a little
shot here called the StickyGrenade, and since I spent most
of 2007 and 2008 trying to hearyour voice say Killianaire in
many different game modes,sticky grenades were always my
favorite.
So we have a little shot here.
I will put that recipe uponline, but cheers to you, sir,
(03:14):
cheers, cheers, cheers.
Josh (03:15):
Cheers.
Thanks for joining us.
Jeff Steitzer (03:16):
Thank you very much.
Did you ever hear Killianaire?
Matt (03:21):
I think I heard it twice total.
Maybe, if I was lucky, one wasin the griffball mode, which was
just glorified soccer Indeedgriffball.
Jeff Steitzer (03:32):
So that would be the one he did the thing he did.
Chris (03:38):
What's funny, jeff, is your voice.
You have your own voice, butoccasionally you'll say a word
and I just hear the charactervoice come through Really.
So it'll be like a fullsentence and just one of the
words just kind of triggers thememory, oh yeah, and you're like
, oh, I know what that voice is.
Jeff Steitzer (03:54):
Oh, that's hysterical.
Chris (03:55):
Yeah.
Jeff Steitzer (03:56):
You know, I don't listen to myself very much
outside of recording, so I'm notall that.
I never know what I sound likeand I never sound to me like
anything special at all.
So it's obviously a lot ofpeople disagree, and I'm glad
they do, because otherwise I'dbe, you know, probably bagging
(04:16):
at some local grocery storeinstead of sitting and talking
to you guys, I had a question.
Andy (04:22):
I wanted to ask you if I can get that right off the bat.
I'm not going to ask specificmonies, but I was curious.
Video games I I assumevoiceover work would be very
different from other work do.
Do video games?
Do residuals as um like no?
Jeff Steitzer (04:38):
well, no, I take that back.
No, uh, when we did halo, theymost certainly did not do
residuals.
And an interesting thing Ifound out just a couple of years
ago from Marty O'Donnell wewere doing a convention in
Phoenix and he said I tried toget Microsoft to give all of you
guys you and Jen and Steve apercentage of the money that was
(05:02):
made, and they were like no.
Chris (05:06):
Microsoft said sorry.
Jeff Steitzer (05:08):
Apparently Steve said but you know it's okay,
because now we're going out anddoing conventions and making
money that way.
He said those are our residuals.
And I was like, well, that'sall well and good for you, steve
.
You know, but those aren'tcorrect or positive, I wouldn't
mind making my residuals whilesitting on the couch and not
going anywhere at all.
(05:29):
I should take that back.
I love conventions and I lovemeeting people.
Rob (05:34):
It is the coolest part.
Jeff Steitzer (05:36):
I love it, I really do.
Rob (05:39):
I had a question as well.
I'm off screen here, butthere's my hand.
Jeff Steitzer (05:47):
Should I do that too?
Yeah, yeah, I like that, I likethat I was just curious.
Rob (05:51):
If you have a particular character that you've connected
with the most in in your career,like, do you have a favorite
voiceover that you've done or acharacter that you've portrayed?
Jeff Steitzer (06:02):
um well, this, this, this is going to be it,
partly because I've done so muchof it over such a long period
of time.
I've done other things.
I don't even remember oftenwhat I did.
Rob (06:16):
Okay.
Jeff Steitzer (06:17):
You know there are a couple of games out there
that I did, one called theOperative no One Lives Forever
and it had a sequel, and Ievidently played different
characters in the two games.
I don't remember what I did atall at all.
Other things I do kind ofremember I did a bunch of things
for the kids years ago PajamaSam and Freddy, fish and Spy.
(06:44):
Fox maybe Was that it, and Ihave no memory at all of what we
did.
It was a circus thing and Ithink I played an animal, but it
was like oh, okay, If you sayso.
And then a follow-up to that,is there a character that you
(07:12):
would love to voice that youmaybe haven't had the
opportunity to do at this point?
Who?
Uh, I have to say no, and I'lltell you why.
It has always been my positionthat if you start to pin your
hopes on getting to do something99.9 times out of 100, you're
going to be disappointed.
You know you're not going toget that job.
Yeah, that's fair.
So it's like when I, as atheater actor, a stage actor,
(07:33):
which I've done a lot of I usedto go in for auditions and you
know, what you're always told is, first of all, enjoy the
audition, because for thatperiod of time you get to play
the character.
Nobody else in that room isplaying it, just you.
And then, after you leave,forget about it.
Just forget about it becauseyou're not going to get that
role.
And again, more often than not,you're not, and when you do,
(07:56):
it's like, oh my god, oh great,you know, yeah.
So that's kind of why I don't.
I was asked that when I wasdoing a summer at a shakes
Shakespeare festival.
It's like what roles do youwant to play?
and it's like I don't think thatway, I just don't think that
way oh, that's fair, you know,because if I don't get to play
it, then I'll feel disappointed,and you know, there are always
(08:16):
reasons why you don't get to docertain things, sure?
Rob (08:19):
so I would have liked to hear Jeff Stites or Batman.
I'm just saying you, you know Idon't even know.
Jeff Steitzer (08:25):
You know this is terrible.
I never watched Batman, oh myGod.
I'm aware of it and I'mcertainly aware of the actor,
kevin Conroy, yes, who playedBatman, mostly because I thought
for years he was somebody elseentirely.
There's another actor, Ibelieve, named Kevin Conroy,
who's a stage actor, and Ialways thought it was that guy
(08:50):
and, of course, it's not at all,and it's one of those things,
you know.
You listen to him and you go ohwell, you know, that's why he
got the job.
He's perfect.
Oh, absolutely, you know.
I'm more amazed by someone likeMark Hamill, you know.
Chris (09:00):
That was the next one.
Yeah, yeah yeah.
Matt (09:03):
So the question that I have is, since we tend to be a
comedy-centric podcast, you'vedone so many Halo games.
Do you have a good funny storyfrom any of the recordings that
you've done, or anything like?
Jeff Steitzer (09:14):
that Well?
Yeah, a couple.
But the problem is, in someinstances they're predicated on
doing certain phrases and thenbeing told we couldn't.
Andy (09:25):
Oh, we've got to get some of those.
Matt (09:26):
Can you share some of those, well well the one I can
certainly tell.
Jeff Steitzer (09:29):
I'm sure I tell this story quite a bit.
Um, we were doing one of thegames.
Uh, the idea that the writerhad was that if you were to
shoot one of your own teammembers, you would hear me.
And this was predicated on areal life incident many, many
years ago.
Dick cheney, on a real lifeincident many, many years ago.
Dick Cheney shot somebody inyou know one of his fellow
(09:52):
hunters in the face.
So if you did something likethat in the game, you would have
heard me saying Cheney mania.
Josh (10:01):
Oh that's such a shame that they cut that out.
Jeff Steitzer (10:04):
I know.
I mean I've said I've told thisstory enough that you know.
I'm sure there are thousands ofsamples of this going out all
over the place.
But that's certainly what wethought, because when we
recorded it, I you know it wasone of those things that happens
every once in a while wheresomething makes the folks in the
other room laugh and thenthey're like let it's, like,
come on, you're just having fun.
(10:26):
But that was one where we allhad a hard time keeping a
straight face.
We thought it was prettyhysterical.
Matt (10:32):
That's fantastic.
Jeff Steitzer (10:33):
Yeah, there have been a few instances like that.
Josh (10:37):
Jeff, I've got a question for you, so I did read that you
spent some time doing well.
I think it sounds like you cutyour teeth, maybe in stage.
Oh yeah, and so I even saw thatyou were on Broadway.
I'm a big, big, big Broadwayfan over here as well.
Cool, do you have a thing thatyou liked more?
Did you like stage acting more?
Did you like voice acting more?
Jeff Steitzer (10:55):
That's a very good question.
Here's what I like about voiceacting.
It's the same thing I likeabout film and TV and any voice
recording stuff, audio books.
You only have to get it rightonce.
Josh (11:13):
Not every time.
Jeff Steitzer (11:15):
Almost invariably .
You're paid often quite a bitmore money to do voice work or
TV or film than you are thetheater.
That's always been true.
The one example where thatwasn't true was when I was doing
first Inherit the Wind onBroadway and then Mary Poppins
(11:35):
for a year and a half onBroadway because that paid
really well.
That paid really really well.
But for the most part you don'tget paid that well and you're
doing eight shows a week andyou're.
You know the regional theaterhas an insane schedule Sure,
(11:55):
where you end up doing fiveshows in a weekend.
So you do a Friday night, twoon Saturday, two on Sunday.
That's often what you've got.
That's a lot.
You know if you're playing anykind of a large role.
That's hard, and it means thaton monday, your only day off,
you tend to be, you know, sortof on a couch collapse because
you're so damn tired.
Sure, yeah, what I like aboutvoice work as well is that your
(12:19):
audience are the people of theother room the engineer, the
writer, maybe a producer from343 or something and if you get
laughing then it's instantgratification.
Sure, that's fair.
Which is great fun.
But on the other hand, as avoice actor, I consider myself a
(12:39):
gun for hire, in the sense thatwhat do you need?
I will try to give that to youand will keep crying until I
give it to you, or give yousomething equally good, and then
we're done.
But when you're on stage,you're in control.
I mean, you've rehearsed whatyou're going to do.
But when you're standing infront of you know god, in the
(13:01):
case of pop and you know, therewere like 2,000 people I there
was another theater here locallythis got close to 3000 people,
you know, and you can make themlaugh as a group or be quiet as
a group.
There's tremendous satisfactionin pulling together an audience
(13:22):
like that.
And you don't get that, youknow, certainly on a film.
I mean, people might, you know,laugh afterwards after you've
done something.
But it's just not the same.
Josh (13:32):
Yeah, I mean you're talking to a room full of people
who have some sort of musicalbackground and all have been on
a field performing in marchingbands or on a stage performing
Sure many times.
You know nothing more thanmostly most of us high school
and collegiate level, but youknow musicals and plays.
Jeff Steitzer (13:49):
That counts.
Josh (13:50):
But we for sure understand that feeling of getting a crowd
to stand and cheer for you andwhat a wild rush, that is.
Rob (13:58):
It is Jeff did you ever do any musical theater, or was it
all just straight plays?
Jeff Steitzer (14:04):
No, no, no, A lot of musical theater.
Josh (14:05):
I think Poppins was a musical right.
Jeff Steitzer (14:13):
Mary Poppins was a musical.
Yeah, I didn't have a lot ofsinging.
Thank God I didn't have a lotof stage time, which made it all
the more ironic that it was thebest paying stage job I ever
had and I did the least amountof work.
I mean, it was really what wecall country club acting,
because I spent more time, youknow, reading or napping than I
did on stage.
When I was on stage I wasjumping back and forth between
the two characters I played Inother instances.
(14:34):
Yeah, I've done a lot of stuff.
In Seattle there's a theatercompany which sort of which is
where I live focuses on musicaltheater company called the Fifth
Avenue, also one called theVillage.
So there are two places where Iwork quite a bit and I've done
a lot of musicals.
I've done how to Succeed inBusiness Without Really Trying.
I've done Kiss Me Kate.
(14:55):
I did that twice actually herein town and then I also did it
in Hartford, which at the timewas being run by a guy named
Darko Treznik who won a Tony forthe Gentleman's Guide to Love
and Murder, which is based onthe same material as Kind Hearts
and Coronets.
He also did Anastasia.
(15:15):
What else did I do?
Funny thing happened on the wayto the Forum.
Oh yeah, I played Cynics.
That was an interestingsituation.
That was in Seattle and we weregetting it.
It was our dress parade.
So we're all getting into ouryou know, our long johns and our
you know togas and stuff andunfortunately I was in a
dressing room that had a carpetand when we weren't in there,
(15:38):
apparently they were sewing andstuff in there.
So I was getting ready and Iturned suddenly and I drove a
nail about this long into myfoot.
Rob (15:50):
And it.
Jeff Steitzer (15:50):
The needle, not a nail a needle and the needle
broke off.
So now there's a needle in myfoot, and so the stage manager
came up and she tried to get itout.
She's poking around trying toget the needle out.
Chris (16:04):
She can't get it.
Jeff Steitzer (16:06):
So they take me to the emergency room and they
go in there and a couple ofpeople there try and they're
poking around.
They can't get it out.
Then there's somebody elsewho's supposed to be better, so
they have to call him.
He's on a Zoom call and he'slooking at the x-rays while he's
trying to tell you know, showother people how to get rid of
it, couldn't get it out.
(16:26):
So I had to go back and Ithought that's it.
I can't do the show.
But when I got back to thetheater they said we, we want it
.
You want you to stay in theshow you know we don't want you
to leave.
The show must go on I'm doing alot of running around in the
show and I'm dancing in the showand singing in the show, and
they said we think we've got asolution.
What we're going to do is goingto take a wheelchair and we are
(16:47):
going to decorate it so itlooks like a chariot and then we
are going to have one of theproteans push you around
throughout the show.
So it was great, becauseeverybody else by the end of you
know, everybody ought to have amaid was huffing and puffing
and I'm just like, I'm justsitting in a chair.
Rob (17:06):
Yeah.
Jeff Steitzer (17:09):
It was spectacular.
So that, and God what else.
Singing in the Rain I did andsome new musicals I did.
I've done a lot.
Musical theater was how I gotinto the theater in the first
place.
Josh (17:24):
Yeah, I was going to ask so.
Did theater lead to the voiceacting?
Is that how that?
Oh, yeah, oh yeah, absolutely.
Jeff Steitzer (17:31):
What had happened was when I was growing up and
this is not unusual, I don'tthink for a lot of people who
grew up in the 1950s and 60slike I did families, because it
was popular music of the time,used to have LPs of musical
theater and Julie Andrews, youhad the Sound of Music with Mary
(17:58):
Martin, you had, you know,whatever it might be.
We had Wildcat with LucilleBall, which, perversely, is one
of my favorite shows Shouldn'tbe, but I love it.
And I had a teacher in thefourth grade who did
semi-professional.
She was semi-professional, shedid theater in a lot of the
theaters in San Diego and one ofthe last things I did before I
(18:18):
left town I was supposed to beauditioning for what was either
going to be the Wizard of Oz asa child actor now 10 years old
the Wizard of Oz or Peter Pan.
Missed out on both of those,but I did get to see my teacher
in a production of the PajamaGame where she was prancing
around as may.
She wasa very stocky woman whowas chasing this guy around
(18:41):
great number and, uh, afterwardsshe had me come backstage and I
got to meet the man who wasplaying the lead, who, as it
happens, was the guy who createdthe role and did it in the
movie john Rea it.
So that was incredibly cool andwe were sitting and talking.
At one point he said you know,I've got a little girl just
about your age.
(19:02):
And I was like, oh really.
And years later I realized that, in addition to being, you know
, talking to somebody I knewfrom albums that we had in the
house he had done, and he, um,uh, uh, annie, get your Gun with
Mary Martin on tour and theymade a record of it and we had
that.
Uh, he was also the father ofBonnie Raitt the singer.
(19:24):
That was the little girl who wasabout my age, oh wow.
What a connection so that's howit got started, yeah.
And then years later, you knowit sort of I didn't do much with
it.
And then I got into junior high, got into a play, started doing
a lot of plays, went all theway through high school and
college and went out to, cameout to Seattle and got an
(19:47):
audition for an ensemble in acompany here and was asked to
join.
And it was while I was doingthat that a lot of the local
folks who did commercials here,who came to see the work of this
particular company because wewere pretty wild and wacky, we
were, you know, rock and rolltheater they were offering us
work.
Just, I mean no auditions, it'sjust like what are you?
(20:09):
Are you free to come and do acommercial?
I was like, yeah, okay, andthat's how it all started.
Josh (20:16):
Yeah, we'll show up for the paycheck, right.
Jeff Steitzer (20:18):
Absolutely.
I mean considering that we weremaking no money.
We were making $60 a week inthe theater company oh my
goodness.
Now, yeah, figure that out by amonth but of course rent was
$150, you know, in Seattle yousaid At that point yeah, wow,
we're talking about 1975, jeff,I appreciate you so much.
Matt (20:43):
I wanted to ask you one more question before we close.
Where did that announcer voicecome from for the game?
Yes, how did that haloannouncer voice where?
How'd that come well?
Jeff Steitzer (20:52):
I can tell you.
Can tell you, I originallyauditioned, as did every man in
Seattle, for Master Chief.
That's the copy they had.
Plus, there was a little bit ofan alien that we read, as I
recall, and then we also had toscream as if we were being
massacred at the end of theaudition.
At the end too.
They didn't want you to do itat the beginning because they
didn't want, you know, shootyour wad.
(21:15):
So I did that, and you knowit's a long story not worth
going into.
But I was told initially that Iwas going to be master chief and
I was kind of like oh okay,great, but remember, I don't
know what a master chief is youknow right so all my friends
were going in recording,including Jen Taylor who I had
known and locally, and DavidScully who was Sergeant Johnson,
(21:37):
all those folks, they were alldoing their work and I hadn't
been called.
So I called my agent, which Ihad by that time For years, I
didn't Just kept getting workand I said what's going on?
So he said I'll check and see.
She came back and said well,turns out Marty O'Donnell, you
know, doesn't know you.
So apparently he got kind ofgot cold feet.
(21:58):
That's what she said.
He disputes, that that's whatshe said.
And so he decided to work withsomebody he knew in Chicago.
She said but the good news isthey want you to be the
announcer.
And I was like, oh, anannouncer, cause you know, an
announcer is kind of a craftmusic hall kind of thing.
Back in those days I mean.
I thought what's that going tobe?
(22:19):
But I thought, okay, great.
So, you know, because works,work.
So I went in for my first dayand Marty met me and, you know,
introduced me around.
I got to see all the stuff thatwas being worked on.
I saw a halo ring.
I had no idea what I waslooking at, but it was pretty
cool and we went in to record.
He said, ok, so what are wegoing to do for the voice of
(22:42):
this guy?
What do you?
What is, what should he soundlike?
And I said I don't know, whatdo you, what are you looking for
?
And he said, well, you did youaudition for chief, right?
And I said, yeah, which waskind of a, you know, there was
sort of clint eastwood kind ofthing that everybody was doing
and you know said, okay, we canstart with a little of that.
(23:02):
He said can you do monstertruck rally, monster truck rally
?
I said, yes, I think I can.
He said, great.
And he said and didn't you doan alien?
And I, I did do an alien.
It was sort of like this orsomething.
Whatever he said, mushed it alltogether and after about 20
(23:22):
minutes we'd come up withsomething.
He said I think we got it and Iwas like, okay, great, and that
was the voice.
Wow, that's exactly how ithappened.
Matt (23:34):
Can I ask you for a Killianaire before you go?
Jeff Steitzer (23:37):
Of course, killianaire.
Rob (23:41):
Yeah.
Matt (23:41):
Thank you very much.
Rob (23:43):
You're very welcome.
Wow, wow, wow, what a pleasure,jeff.
Matt (23:46):
Thank you so much for joining us my pleasure.
Jeff Steitzer (23:49):
I really appreciate it.
Thank you guys so much forasking.
I appreciate it.
Chris (23:56):
This podcast is a production of unfiltered studios
.
If you would like to know moreabout joining unfiltered studios
, please visit our website atunfpodcom for more information.
Matt (24:05):
The boozy quote for this episode will be a little riff on
a famous line from Halo chiefwhat are you doing in this bar,
sir?
Finishing this flight?
On social media, please like,follow and push all the buttons
for us.
That's Matt and Friends DTU atFacebook, instagram Threads and
TikTok For more informationabout the podcast, as well as
(24:25):
links to our merch store, socialmedia and all the places you
can listen to us.
Visit our websitemattandfriendsdtucom.
That's mattandfriendsdtucom.
Thank you again for listeningto Matt and Friends Drink the
Universe.
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