Jason Griffith - Voice of Sonic the Hedgehog and MORE! - World Gone Geek

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(00:02):
We're all living in a worldgone Geek.
It's time to geek hard or go home.
The podcast is real.
Here's your host, grounded geek.
Hey everyone.
Welcome back to anotherepisode of World Gone Geek.
We've got a special treat foryou today.
An interview with none otherthan Jason Griffith, the iconic voice

(00:23):
of Sonic the Hedgehog, SonicX, the Sonic Video games and more.
We we caught up with Jasonlast September at the Cleveland Gaming
Classic and now we're finallybringing that conversation to you.
It was amazing time talkingwith him about his career, the impact
of Sonic and the world ofvoice acting.
But before we jump into that,a quick reminder.
Tickets are on sale for thisyear's Cleveland Gaming Classic happening

(00:46):
in September of 2025.
If you love gaming classicarcade games or all from from the
classic arcade to the consolesat home, all the way up into the
crazy stuff that we've gotgoing on today, including virtual
reality and more, all all ofthat is at the Cleveland Gaming Classic
at the IX center here in Cleveland.
And you don't want to miss outon it.

(01:07):
Meet some awesome people.
The event's bigger and betterthan ever and we, world Gun Geek
will be there to bring all theexcitement to you as well.
So get your tickets now@gamecleveland.com and we'll make this
year unforgettable.
Now, before we dive into ourinterview with Jason, I do want to
tell you about something youdon't want to miss.
And we want to thank ourfriends over at Paramount who who

(01:27):
have provided us with someactual Blu Ray physical copies of
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Get a fresh look behind thescenes with two exclusive featurettes
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It's so much fun, it's raw,intense and so much more than your
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So hearing Stallone kind ofgive his creative process has an

(02:32):
extra layer of depth.
Definitely worth checking out.
And like I said, you can get afree copy.
How do you do that?
Well, you just need to leaveus a voice message.
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Go to our website,worldgonegeek.com you'll see all
of our podcasts there,including the episode that you're
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Go to the very bottom of thescreen and there is a little microphone

(02:53):
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Click that, Leave us amessage, tell us who you are, leave
your email address and I'llget back to you.
The first say, let's say fourpeople that do that are getting an
actual physical digital BluRay digital.
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(03:13):
You can't see it, but this is it.
And you're going to get a copyof it in your grubby little hands
just by doing that.
All right, enough of me.
Let's get to the good stuff.
Jason Griffith, the voicebehind Sonic the Hedgehog and countless
other characters, is here toshare his journey and insights into
the world of voice acting.
So sit back, relax, and enjoyas we dive into the world of gaming,

(03:34):
Sonic and everything in between.
Please welcome the stage Jason Griffith.
There he is.
Thank you.
Go ahead, you got a seat ifyou want.
I don't want you to stand.
I definitely can't stand thewhole time, so.
But first, before we getstarted, I do want to just remind
folks that are here, Jason,it's from Cleveland.
Tell us a little bit about,like where you grew up here in Cleveland.

(03:55):
A little bit about that.
I grew up in Lake Lake LionVillage, which is a small town right
between East Lake and Timberlake.
Scoot back.
I went to Eastlake North HighSchool and Willowick Middle, where
I did my first school play andreally fell in love with acting.

(04:17):
Yeah.
So I grew up there.
Watched a lot of televisiongrowing up, specifically sitcoms,
which really got me into thenotion of being an actor because
I always wanted to be on a sitcom.
Specifically Full Housebecause I wanted to be Uncle Jesse
and I was in love with Candace Cameron.
Okay.
And.
Well, that would have been.

(04:38):
That would have been awkwardthough, if.
Uncle Jesse as a storylinenobody needed to see.
No, I don't think so.
And I, you know, I always say so.
Growing up, I always wanted avideo camera.
But back in the 80s and early90s, they were like a billion dollars.
So instead of that, everyChristmas or birthday, I would get

(04:58):
a voice recorder, like amicrophone, and, you know, little
cassette tapes.
And so all the creativity Iwanted to put into the video camera,
I put into these microphones,these boomboxes and whatnot.
So I really think that was.
Had a huge impact on why I'm avoiceover actor today.
I do tell my mom, if you wouldhave just gotten me that video camera,
I'd be on a sitcom right now.

(05:20):
That's all it would have taken.
Well, so you grew up here inCleveland, but that's not where you
are now.
I think you said it was just,like, through high school, right?
And then.
Yeah, I was here through high school.
I think I moved to New Yorkthe week I graduated because my cousin
was already living out there,so we lived together in Queens.
He was an actor.
He was auditioning for things,and he looks nothing like me.

(05:44):
He had this great conundrumwhere he was 18, but he looked 14.
So he could play all the highschool parts.
And, you know, he could worklong hours because, you know, when
you're a kid, you can't workthe long hours on set.
I had the opposite problemwhere I was 18 but looked 40.
So everyone's like, well, Idon't think he doesn't look like
the editor of the school paper.
You know, he.
I don't think so, really.

(06:05):
I think my.
My agent came up against awall where he's like, I don't know
how to submit you, and startedputting me out for voiceover stuff.
And it just clicked.
I remember that my first.
It was in the first coupleauditions I had where I booked the
job.
I think my first voiceover jobprofessionally was for a zit cream
or something like that, and itwent horribly.

(06:25):
In fact, I left that sessionthinking, I'll never, ever do voiceover
again, because it was just soembarrassingly bad.
But then my agent submitted meon another job, and I went on that
and booked that, and I said,all right, I'll try again.
So what was the.
So did video games come firstor animated shows come first?

(06:48):
Which was the first one thatyou ended up doing?
So I did my first animated shows.
Anime called Gravitation, nota very popular thing.
And.
And I.
Oh, okay, great.
We got some fans.
I don't even remember who I played.
I think I played a couplecharacters and maybe a game show
host and that the director ofthat named Bill Timoney.

(07:10):
I.
Oh.
Every time I see him, I thankhim for my career because he Said
to me during the session, he'slike, you're really good at this.
Do you want to audition forFox's Saturday morning cartoon lineup?
And I'm like, yeah.
Yes.
So that next week, I went infor a show called Shaman King at
four Kids.
I auditioned for that, yet Ididn't even get a call back.

(07:31):
So I was like, well, that's that.
You know, that didn't work out.
And about a week and a halflater, they called me and auditioned
for Sonic.
And I thought for the showSonic X.
And I thought to myself, like,oh, what are the chances I'm going
to get Sonic this hugecharacter, when I didn't even get
a callback for the show I'venever heard of before.
But I went in, I auditioned, Igot a call back, surprisingly, and

(07:52):
went in for that thought thatwent even worse.
And, you know, didn't hearanything for about two weeks.
And I was working.
I worked a lot of odd jobs inNew York before I was supporting
myself as an actor.
And I was working at myagent's talent office at the time
when they called to book me.
In fact, I was.

(08:12):
He.
My agent wasn't even in.
I was sitting there answeringcalls at his desk.
And I answered.
And they said, oh, yes, thisis four Kids.
Jason Griffith came in andauditioned for us for the voice of
Sonic.
And I was like, oh, great.
I get to hear the, like, therejection firsthand.
And I said, yes, oh, yes, as Iknow Jason.
And they said, oh, well, great.

(08:33):
We'd like to book him next Wednesday.
And I just about fell out ofmy seat.
I'm like, okay, let me takethat booking information and get
it to him right away.
And so the funniest thing is,my agent was in Florida at the time
at a talent convention.
He calls to check in that day,and I'm like, john, John, I booked
Sonic.
And his reply was, jay, no,you didn't.

(08:55):
And I'm like, I took the call,and it took me getting one of the
other agents with, like, acommercial agent in the office to
get on the phone with him andtell him to convince him that I had
actually booked the job.
So he had this ongoing thingbecause I would always book jobs
when he was out of town.
So I'd be like, get out of here.
Like, go to South Carolina, man.
You don't need that guy, right?
You just needed his name onthe door.

(09:15):
That was it.
I did eventually have to leavehim, so maybe that's it.
So you mentioned.
So you got booked.
What I think is interestingthis is where I would love to find.
So did you already have thevoice of Sonic?
Did they book you because younailed that voice, or did you have
to make some adjustments whenyou went in?

(09:35):
Tell me about the process ofcoming into Sonic's voice.
Well, when I had the firstaudition, or maybe it was when I
had the callback, I rememberwalking around the streets of Manhattan
with this portable walkmanwith a cassette tape in it, just
practicing all different typesof voices.
I actually hung it from myshower curtain once, so it just hang
down like a microphone andlistening to that and going in with

(09:56):
those ideas.
However, funny enough, when Iwent in for the callback, the producer,
Michelle Dunn, she said,because I auditioned for all the
male characters in the show,including a character named Chris
Thorndike.
And she said, I love whatyou're doing for Sonic, but can you
switch those voices, do theSonic voice for Chris and do the
Chris voice for Sonic?

(10:17):
And so I switched them.
So it was the voice that I wasdoing for Chris that actually became
the voice of Sonic.
And that.
That evolved while we were.
While we were recording too.
Because in the beginning, youknow, Sonic was like kind of nerdy
and a little nasally and, youknow, this sort of.
This sort of very gentle feel,you know.
But by the time we did SonicUnleashed, the producers were like,

(10:38):
we want him cooler.
He has to be like sharper,shorter, you know, more.
More power.
And so that.
That was the evolution of that.
Yeah, so there's always like,you know, anytime there's producers
or directors, there's alwaysinput on, like, how it should sound
or, you know, how you cantweak it.
That's like a never ending process.
And then.
And then how do you find thatvoice inside?

(11:00):
Like, I mean, I notice you.
What did you do?
I mean, obviously it was adifferent voice as it matured in
different shows.
What is it that you do to kindof get those different voices out
of yourself?
You know, it's.
It's like a feeling.
I don't know how to.
I would never know how todescribe it for someone else to do
it, except I know when I doSonic, everything comes out through

(11:23):
here.
When I do Shadow, everythingcomes throughout my voice.
Okay.
And then when I do Usopp, itjust comes out of all my face.
I don't know how to describeit any better than.
I worked with the filmdirector Philip Noyce on one of his
films about 10 years ago, andhis biggest direction to me was just
feel it, Jason.

(11:44):
Just feel what you say.
And that's like the best way Ican describe it, you know, and a
lot of it has to do with your face.
And, you know, because as avoice actor or any sort of actor,
you never want to just standthere with your hands in your pockets,
not moving.
I always conducted myself.
I learned from otherdirectors, other casting directors,

(12:05):
that the more you move, thebetter the sound was going to be.
And I remember there was oneparticular session, I believe it
was one of the Sonic Riders games.
So when you're in a booth, inthe recording booth, you can't hear
anything that they're sayingin the control room until they hit
the button.
And to the reverse of that, ifthey have the button, continue to

(12:28):
press it.
You can hear everything they say.
So I did a line.
I think it was a, like.
It was like a jet line.
I was, you know, shut yourpeak or whatever.
And the director was like, butthat was great.
And she kept her finger on thebutton, I think, by accident, because
then she turned to everyone inthe room and said, did you see that
silly little dance he does?
And I was, like, mortifiedbecause it was, you know, that was

(12:48):
the first time anyone, like,called me out on it.
And it took me about twoseconds to realize, oh, who cares?
Because, like, that's how Iget the best sound, you know, And.
And.
And now I've grown to be,like, proud of being, like, doing
the things that I think a lotof people would.
Would find embarrassing or,you know, they wouldn't be comfortable
with, especially in the beginning.

(13:09):
But it's like.
It's like a.
It's a point of pride, Ithink, to.
To feel uncomfortable and.
And to do the things that, youknow, not everyone can do.
Sure.
You know, to make your workthe best it can be.
Why do I picture you runningaround the booth as fast as you can
since you're doing Sonic?
I don't know.
I have.
There's have been sessionswhere they're like, do like, five
laps because then you're gonnabe out of everyone, or run in place

(13:31):
and then do the.
That's funny.
So how does voice acting,then, for the video games differ
from when you're doing it forthe show?
Right.
So with the.
With the show, everything was so.
So the show was already dubbedinto Japanese.
So we would see this, see thepicture, and you see the lip flap

(13:52):
that can't change, and thenyou have to submit the words into
that flap.
With the video games,everything was prelay.
So you get the.
You get the script, they wouldrecord it, you wouldn't see anything.
And Then they would come backmonths later after they had animated
some of the stuff, and thenyou would do the same thing you'd
done with the show, whereyou're kind of matching little app.
But everything for the videogames is, you know, relay.

(14:14):
And with the video games,you're doing the dialogue, and then
you're doing 20 pages of reactions.
So it's like, you know, give us.
You know, give us injury, likesmall, medium, large, you know, like
that sort of thing.
Or sometimes they want like five.

(14:34):
Five in a row.
But that's like.
All video games are like that.
I did Call of Duty, and it waslike, all right, in this queue, you're
being killed by water, but inthis one, you're being blown up by
a grenade.
So give us that whole rangefrom there to there and in between.
So how do you channel gettingblown up by a grenade?

(14:55):
Imagination.
That's the biggest tool.
Well, I don't know if you'vegoogled it, but on YouTube, you can
find videos where people havepulled all of the sound cues from
video games, and it just playsevery sound cue, so literally sounds
terrifying.
You can go to YouTube and lookup Jason Griffith, and it's like
one of the Sonic games thatyou've done.

(15:15):
And it's literally that andthen some of the things that you
say and that you say multiple times.
And so I just imagine that'swhat you're doing in the studio,
though.
I guess you're just basicallysaying exactly.
Exactly what it is.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
It's kind of fun.
You should check it out.
It's kind of.
I will.
You lived it.
So, by the way, everyone, thisis my family.

(15:37):
In the front row here is mybrother and my mom and Julia, my
brother's friend.
It's my first time being inCleveland in, like, three years,
so I got to see them for thefirst time in many years.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
All right.
And you brought them, so welcome.
Thanks for being here, guys.
Yeah, they love it here.
All right, all right.
So what.
So how would you say voiceacting has evolved?

(15:58):
You've been doing this for awhile now especially.
I know a lot of things changedduring COVID and post Covid.
Now some of those things arepermanently changed.
Can you tell us a little bitabout the evolution of the voice
acting from when you startedto where we are now?
Sure.
Stuff changed.
So, you know, when I firststarted, you went to a casting office
to audition for voiceovers.

(16:18):
There was a casting director there.
You were up against maybe 20,30, 40 different actors for A job.
If it was a big campaign, itwas like 500 people.
But you were in a booth at astudio with a casting director listening
to you saying, try this againthis way.
Which was a huge help becausesometimes those casting directors
would give you advice that youwould never have thought of yourself,

(16:42):
and that puts you the job.
And then recording.
You were always going to a studio.
They always had the client there.
You know, when we wererecording the games, they flew the
people in from SEGA SanFrancisco and Japan.
We had translators.
But then especially, I mean,this was sort of incrementally happening
before COVID but Covid is wheneveryone started auditioning from

(17:04):
home.
Like, I don't even think thereis going to a casting office to audition
anymore for voiceover, whichis really sad because I really miss
that interaction with thecasting director who can really change
your whole performance.
And of course, a lot of, youknow, I have my own home studio.
A lot of things are recordedfrom home.
But anytime I get to go to astudio, I love that too, because,

(17:26):
you know, interacting withreal people.
But, yeah, that's the mainthing that I think.
So much of the work is nowdone from home, especially the audition
process.
But also, like, I do.
I'm the voice of Navy FederalCredit Union and all of those.
You know, every time you heara Navy Federal Credit Union commercial,
just think, oh, that's Jasonin his living room.

(17:48):
Like, I.
There's.
I have another commercialright now called Zydra, and my mom
will always text me, oh, yourZydra commercial's on.
I'm like, just imagine I'm inpajama bottoms saying all those things.
So.
But.
And that's.
That's fine in itself, but it's.
You know, there's somethingspecial about being in a studio.
Like going to Warner Brothersto record, you know, anything is

(18:10):
just.
You feel cool.
You know, that's.
I think that's 80 to 90% ofwanting to be an actor is just wanting
to feel cool all the time.
Well, I mean, I feel likeyou're doing a good job.
Thank you.
We all think so.
I mean, I don't know if any ofthe bullies from high school are
here, but they might expect to differ.
Yeah, well, that's.

(18:31):
In fact, I was thinking aboutasking that earlier when you mentioned
that you come from Clevelandnow that you.
You haven't been back for alittle while.
Have you spoken to, like, anyof your teachers, Anybody from back
in those days who now knowwhat you do?
Like, is that a no?
No teachers.
I mean, we're all friends onFacebook for the majority.
Majority of them I'm friendswith on Facebook.
I haven't seen them since I'vebeen here.

(18:52):
But I just had dinner with acouple friends from high school last
night.
And was there anybody else?
I saw a next door neighbor.
Yeah, I saw my next doorneighbor I haven't seen in years.
Yeah.
But I, you know, I.
I don't know.
I don't.
You know, I keep in touch withso very few people.
So I have one good friend thatI've been friends with since elementary

(19:14):
school, and we.
We keep in touch quite often,but he doesn't live here anymore.
Gotcha.
So what are some of thebiggest challenges you faced as a
voice actor?
Vocal exhaustion.
That.
That, that was a big thing,you know, especially a lot of you.
I think I talked to some ofyou about recording Sonic Unleashed.

(19:36):
That was.
And if you played the game,all I do is scream.
And especially as the werehog,that's the most, like, that's the
worst scream.
Because not only do I scream,but I'm compressing my voice to make
this, like, certain, you know,like that.
And when I was recording that,I was sick, but especially sick because
my.
I thought I had strep throat.
It was so bad, every day mythroat was getting more and more

(19:58):
swollen and I just had toscream more and more the next, you
know, for the next session.
And again, back then wecouldn't say, oh, can I do this next
week?
It's on Zoom.
Anyway.
No.
Everyone flew in from Japan.
You're gonna do it right now.
That.
That's the biggest.
That's the biggest hurdle, Ithink, is when you're.
You just feel like you can't.

(20:20):
Like your voice doesn'tregenerate fast enough, you know,
sometimes.
Yeah.
Other tips and tricks thatyou've learned over the years.
Water, constant water, nosugar, you know, or limit that.
You know, I don't drink sodaanymore, or any of that sort of thing.
Also, I want to say when you have.

(20:41):
Well, first of all, when Iaudition for things, there's a lot
of times I'll audition forsomething and I'll say to myself,
oh, man, I hope I don't getthis job, because I'll realize, oh,
if I get this, I'm going tohave to do this four times a week,
you know, and, like, maybe Ishould have picked a different voice
to audition with.
But I think choosing a voiceor choosing some manner.

(21:03):
Choosing some manner of, like,getting to that voice and, and knowing
where it comes from.
Like, like, I Know where Soniccomes from.
And I can do this all day.
And I.
There's just, like, aconfidence about it.
Even shadow.
I mean, even though this islower, it's more challenging because
it comes out of my throat.
But I don't know.
There's a way I push it.
There's a way I can push itwhere I don't.
I'm not exhausting my throatas much, but, like.

(21:27):
And I also take these Chinese,like, candy lawsuits called ninjong
that are really helpful thathave saved my career.
I feel like on numerousoccasions, I was working on the last
Planet of the Apes movie, andit was just.
It was so much grunting andthese noises that they wanted to

(21:48):
sound genuine, and they werereally very specific about it.
So it was, like, over andover, doing this take over and over.
And I had a huge job the nextday narrating a documentary.
And I remember turning to myfriend John Bentley in the session.
I'm like, I don't think I'mgoing to be able to do this job tomorrow.
I'm going to lose this job.
And he's like, I got thisthing for you.
And he pulls out these nimjongcandies, and I took two of them.

(22:10):
And I.
Every time I've seen himsince, I'm like, thank you so much
for introducing me to those,because my voice was fine the next
day, and I don't feel like itwould have been had I not had this,
like, herbal lozenge.
Wow.
Yeah.
And just for legal purposes,this is not a paid endorsement for
a nimjong.
Although it could be if youreach out.
Yeah, he's available, is whathe's saying.

(22:31):
Yeah.
So what advice would you givesomeone who wants to do the same
thing you did, move to NewYork and don't do it?
No.
You know, I say that becauseif someone can discourage you from
doing it, then you shouldn'tdo it.
I always had a lot of support,but there were still a lot of hurdles

(22:57):
to jump over, and there wasstill a lot of doubt when I moved
to New York.
Is this going to work out?
Is this what I should be doing?
I knew it's what I wanted tobe doing.
But when you're young enoughand impressionable enough, people
can.
Can kind of say to you, oh,maybe you shouldn't do that, or you
should do this instead and,you know, or play it safe.
Because to be honest, actingand voiceover, it's not like a safe

(23:18):
route.
Especially in the beginningwhen there's so much.
Because now there's so manypeople auditioning for things.
That's the other thing that'schanged because people can audition
for home.
There's a thousand peoplesubmitting auditions now.
But if you want to do it and,and you're really driven to do it,
don't give up and makeyourself better.

(23:40):
Don't be lazy about it anddon't wait for someone to do the
work for you.
You know, I.
I always tell people I neverplayed any of the games that I voiced
because by that point in mylife, I had played so many video
games for so many yearsthroughout the 80s and early 90s,
that I was done.
Like, I'm like, this is whatI'm focused on now.
So it's like people aresurprised to hear I never played
the games.
But I'm like, I didn't haveany time.

(24:01):
I was going to acting class orI was going to my job at the pizzeria
or, you know, deliveringthings around Manhattan and auditioning
and like, listening to things.
I would watch shows and Iwould, you know, make up.
I would practice what otherpeople were doing and sort of see
if I could do what they weredoing and then change it to my.
My own version.
Okay.
And of course, like, growingup, what I did was always.

(24:23):
I was always taping myself,listening back.
When I finally did get a videocamera, I'd be watching that footage,
putting myself on tape,criticizing myself, critiquing myself,
always working on it, becauseif you're not working on it, the
next guy is, and that's theguy that's going to get the job.
And I found that over and overwhen I would under prepare something
and I'd feel like I shouldn'tbe at this audition.

(24:45):
And then constantly on theflip side of that, when I would not
over prepare, but when I felt,oh, I can't do any more preparation,
I'm ready for this.
You go in and it's the bestfeeling in the world because you're
like, you feel unstoppable.
That's when you really feel cool.
Like, that's the coolest part.
So I would say, you know yourjob as an actor, as a voice actor,

(25:06):
99% of your job is someonehanding you a script and saying,
do this now.
It's not go.
Come back in like a week whenyou figured it out.
And people are always rewriting.
Everything I do is rewritten,rewritten, rewritten.
So you gotta be quick on yourtoes to like, read that line and
know exactly how to do itright then and there.
So always be working on That atypical casting director gave me,

(25:28):
which my wife and I do all thetime because we think it's great,
is if you see a billboard oryou see an ad in a magazine, usually
there's like a little tagline.
Do.
This is great for commercialauditions, but for every kind of
audition, try to do thattagline, say it out loud three times,
and make it completely different.
So, for example, if the lineis new maple brown sugar flavored

(25:51):
instant Quaker oatmeal, italmost takes longer to say than it
does to make.
Try to do it three times fastby adding a word at the beginning
like, hey, new maple brownsugar flavored instant Quaker oatmeal.
Or like, did you know this?
New maple brown sugar flavoredinstant Quaker oatmeal.
Or like, look, new maple brownsugar flavored instant Quaker oatmeal.
Almost takes longer to saythan it does to make, you know, get
good.

(26:11):
Get really good at doing thatquickly because then you go into
a casting or.
Well, not you go into acasting or even a session, and you're
going to be the director'sdream, because they know you have
that range.
I auditioned years ago forHeinz Ketchup, for the voice of Heinz
ketchup.
Did the audition.

(26:32):
It was like three times in arow and laughing.
Never heard anything.
You know, that's what happens.
You never hear anything.
I went in for that castingdirector, like, a month later.
She's like, do you know youwere second choice for that?
I'm like, no.
She's like, you know why youdidn't get it?
I said, why?
She's like, you did threegreat reads in a row, but they all
sounded the same.
The guy who got the job wasn'tas good as you, but he did three

(26:52):
different reads and made theproducers go, oh, he's directable.
And we're not stuck with thisone reading of this.
Of this thing.
It's all psychological,interesting, you know, so that's
a great thing.
Just be quick on your feet.
Read out loud and record yourself.
Listen back.
Be critical of yourself, butdon't hate on what you're doing.
Just think if you don't likesomething, you can do it better.
If you do like something, thensee if you could change it to something

(27:14):
even cooler.
I love that.
And just again, for legal,this is not a paid endorsement.
For a quicker oatmeal, I'mjust covering myself on the podcast.
Oh, I thought that was a joke.
No, it was.
I'm just being all right.
So can you share aparticularly memorable, rewarding
experience like you told abouthow hard it can be, right?

(27:35):
Yeah.
Discouragement can come outthere now.
Give us a reason to want to doit Anyway, what's been the most rewarding
part for you?
It's doing these conventionsbecause everything that.
All my Sonic related stuffended 15 years ago.
Like, I haven't voicedofficially Sonic in 15 years and
the beginning was 20 years ago.

(27:56):
To meet fans that have beenimpacted positively by what I've
done has been such asurprising, rewarding experience.
I've had people break downcrying when they meet me and tell
me that Sonic kept them fromself harm or their home life was
really bad and Sonic was theone thing that they could rely on

(28:18):
to make them feel better oraccepted or they met friends and
like groups of friends whowere all into Sonic and then they
became lifelong friends.
Those are the most surprisingthings because I never considered
that.
I just thought when I wasdone, that was it.
And every once in a while Iget a MySpace message that says,

(28:38):
you suck.
You know, especially in thebeginning, people were very mad,
very mad that I had replacedRyan Drummond.
I'm like, I didn't.
I just went in for the audition.
Sorry.
So, yeah, that's been the mostsurprising thing, but the most rewarding
in the sense that that's thecoolest thing that could have come
out of this, that people havehad that experience.

(29:01):
And in the beginning, when thepeople would tell me in the beginning,
I didn't really understanduntil I remembered, like, oh, yeah,
like Full House was that forme, like, no matter what was going
on in my life, if I put on andI taped all of the Full House episodes,
my mom knows the tapes arestill at home stacked in the attic
somewhere.
If I put on one of those tapesand watched like three episodes,
I was like, oh, I feel.

(29:22):
I feel so much better now.
I feel like.
And again, that's what made mego like, I want to be on that set,
I want to be working there.
I want to be this person, youknow, that makes someone else feel
better.
And I got to do that.
That's fantastic.
Well, I mean.
And would you mind sharing,like, how do you deal with the negative
criticism then when you do getthe MySpace use?
And again, one of the thingsthat world gone geek.

(29:43):
We're trying to decrease allthe negativity, but if you get online,
like, there's a lot ofnegativity about that and some of
the people who maybe were fansof Ryan Drummond were very, very
angry.
Yeah.
For some reason.
Tell us how you deal with that.
Two.
Two.
Oh, I Don't I really.
You know, I let it slide.

(30:04):
Let it slide is maybe not theright wording, but I don't respond
to it, because the other thingI think is that everyone is entitled
to their opinion.
I remember when I'd bewatching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
and Raphael's voice wasn't thesame all of a sudden, and I was like,
why?
You know, this ruins my half.
This ruins my third grade afternoon.

(30:25):
So I get it.
Ruined my childhood.
Now.
Would I have, like, writtenthat person a letter and told them
to go to hell?
Like, no, but we can do thatnow with the Internet.
And people have.
Oh, you should.
There's a great.
I actually.
I just got an Instagrammessage a couple months ago of someone
reaching out to me to tell methat I corrupted the youth of the
world by playing shadow andsaying in quotes the D word and.

(30:48):
And how it's filed, andthey're like.
And I can psych.
Example after example of howthe world has gotten worse because
you did this.
And, I mean, my way of dealingthat was to just hit the block button.
I mean, that's what you got to do.
I don't need to hear any morefrom that.
And I also don't need torespond to it because I think a lot
of times what they're lookingfor is a reaction.
And I've grown to almost feellike things like that are a badge

(31:11):
of honor.
Like, it's like, oh, that'skind of cool, because if I wasn't
doing this, I wouldn't begetting hate mail.
True, but the fan mail and thepositivity far outweighs that.
I mean, especially now.
But back then, it was, you know.
Sure, yeah.
Then when someone replacedyou, they were the ones that people
were mad about.
Yeah, yeah.

(31:31):
And.
And sometimes still are.
But I always remind peoplethat, you know, we all have our different
takes.
Everybody sounds different,and everybody has their own era,
so it's okay that we're ableto share this character.
I think it's better thanhaving one person say, this is mine,
and that's nobody else's.
I think it's great.
And the other thing is thatSonic really started my career and

(31:55):
opened so many doors that I'mable to support myself now and my
family with voiceover workthat maybe wouldn't have happened
if not for Sonic.
So, like, how can I, you know,when people ask if I'm upset about
it, how could I be upset forsomething that gave me so much in
return?
You know, I don't care thatsomeone else gets to voice them now.

(32:15):
I think it's great.
I haven't met Roger yet, but Ihear he's, you know, I know he's
a fantastic actor and a lot ofpeople love him.
I have met Ryan and he's awonderful person, you know, so it
doesn't bother me.
It makes me feel like I'm.
I'm part of like a close knitcommunity, you know, that we all.
We're all kind of in the SonicClub together, you know.
Awesome.

(32:36):
Awesome.
Well, man, every time I lookback, there's more people out here,
which is fantastic.
Thank you all for coming.
We're going to take.
Does anybody have anyquestions from the audience?
Feel free to line up here atthe microphone or raise your hand
if you have.
And I have a couple more I canask them, but we'd love to get you
guys involved.

(32:56):
You'll be on our podcast.
Just so you know, we're beingrecorded right now.
Go ahead, step up the microphone.
So no endorsements for Quaker Oatmeal?
Yes, please.
Not until they pay me.
That's what I, you know, thenwe can do that.
Tell us your name.
First of all.
My name is Nick.
All right.
And what's your question for Jason?
Well, I was going to talkabout Quake Oatmeal, but now that
I can't, I'm trying to rack mybrain to find something.

(33:18):
Thoughts on Crush 40?
Being in the new Sonic movie?
Making a return.
Oh, I didn't even know.
I think that's great.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Chris 40 was at Sonic Expolast year and we're doing Sonic Expo
again in Dallas November 3rdthrough the 5th.
I believe it's the firstweekend in November and I think they
might be there again.
They're awesome.
They gave a concert.

(33:39):
They're.
I honestly wasn't even awareof Marsh 40 until last year.
They're awesome.
They are.
So I think it's great.
I think all awesome peopleshould be in these movies.
Thank you.
You got it.
Awesome.
Anyone else?
Got someone coming up?
Just tell us your name and goahead with your question.

(33:59):
Hi, my name is Porter Marin.
It's nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you too.
Thank you.
I got two questions.
Questions.
First off, what.
What was your favorite of allthe games you did, what was your
favorite Sonic game?
The War Soon.
Of.
Of all the games.
Yeah, the.
The second.
The second Sonic on Genesisbecause it had the casino stage.

(34:22):
That was.
That was always my favorite.
One more question.
Yeah.
Did you ever find that damnchaos umbrella?
Where is the damn fourth chaos?
I'm still searching for it.
Do you have it?
That's a guilty laugh.
Okay, thank you.
Awesome.

(34:43):
Anyone else?
Oh, I have a question.
Alex, this is my brother.
Someone asked me, what is yourfavorite Sonic game?
Shadow.
Shadow the Hedgehog.
It is a very hard game.
Yeah, that was the.
That was the very first videogame I ever worked on.
So that was.
Thank you.
I told them at my table I'dask you in the panel.

(35:05):
All right.
Hello.
Tell us your name.
My name is Riseru.
I'm a Sonic speedrunner, so.
Oh, cool.
Hi.
Speaking of Shadow theHedgehog, I love Shadow the Hedgehog.
Thank you very much.
I love you as well.
Oh, thank you.
So you kind of talked a littlebit about how you auditioned for
Sonic and got into that.
But what about getting into Shadow?

(35:27):
So I.
I was in a.
I was in a session for, I wantto say for Sonic X, but it could
have been a different show.
And there was an engineer atfour kids who came in named John
Dixon, and he had.
He came in, he said, do youwant to audition for this other character
named Shadow?
And I was like, of course.
So he brought me in a pictureof Shadow and.

(35:49):
And there was like a little,little monologue that I had to do.
So he's like, come over to my studio.
Because there were like eightstudios at the.
At that one studio location.
So after my session, I wentover, I auditioned, and I want to
say I did a callback maybe acouple days later.
And then it was like thelongest, not hearing anything.
And I just figured, oh, Ididn't get that.
And then when in.

(36:09):
Finally, when.
When Shadow appeared in SonicX, it was like, oh, no, you got it.
No, you're going to do this.
It was, it was.
It's so weird becausesometimes you get.
There's a big celebration.
Oh, you got the job.
And sometimes it's just like,oh, you didn't know.
No, that's what you're comingin for.
You know, so that was one ofthose things where I was like, oh,
this is cool.
And then I had sort ofsubconsciously based Shadow's voice
on my roommate's voice at the time.

(36:31):
His name was Carl.
You guys know Carl, and greatguy let me live with him for about
two years.
But Carl, you know, was alwayswriting a book, and it was always
about, you know, outer spaceand evil entities.
And he's always smoking hiscigarettes at 8 in the morning telling
me about his book, you know.
So I just, I thinksubconsciously a little bit of Carl

(36:53):
came out into Shadow, into his voice.
That's beautiful.
You know, I.
I've based so much, so many ofthe voices on people I've known.
Whether I even know that ornot, it like it just happens, you
know?
Yeah.
I've yet to do a characterthat sounds like this based on my
Uncle Freddy.
But one day, possibly Ibelieve in you.

(37:14):
I will dedicate my next Shadow run.
To Carl for you.
Thank you.
Awesome.
Did Carl ever publish?
Yeah, yeah, he actually.
I went to one of his book signings.
He did?
It sounds like you had beenperfect for the audiobook is what
I'm thinking.
Did that not happen?
I don't think so.
Oh, see.
Oh well, any other.

(37:35):
We can take one more questionif we've got time.
Anybody?
I see someone.
Unless he's running away.
No, he's coming.
Oh, we could do.
We could do a couple.
Yeah.
Okay, good.
Are we out of time?
I don't know.
No, I mean we got a few.
Your handler is over here.
It's Al.
Alejandro, right?
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah.
So I heard rumors about theoriginal cut of Shadow the Hedgehog
music about Tierm.

(37:57):
I've heard the.
We're all familiar with firstact Dam for Chaos biker.
Rumor is about you possiblydoing like way more like mixed gisting,
swearing, so.
Right.
So when we did the beam, Idon't think I dropped any F bombs
as Shadow.
I could be wrong because thatwas a long time ago.
But they didn't know what therating was going to be.

(38:17):
I think rating system had justcome out at this point and I know
I said.
I think I said shit a coupletimes instead of damn.
Because they said.
And the disclaimer is theysaid we don't know if we're going
to use this, but let's justget it anyway.
Because the opposite of thatis if they don't get it and they're
like oh, why didn't you get it?
Then they have to pay you tocome back.

(38:38):
So it's like oh, let's get it all.
But I don't think there wereany F bombs.
Yeah, just a couple.
Couple cranked up the notch alittle bit.
But I think they realized likewe've already got guns in this game,
like we don't have to go crazy.
And there's a whole like thismedia group online trying to find
a like archive of these old lines.

(38:59):
Do you have any info on it?
Nope.
I do know they videotaped myface for the whole recording session
because they were animatingthe mouth to my mouth.
So out there at least there'sa videotape of it.
I don't know where thosevideotapes are.
It's in a hard drive in a saltmine now.
I don't know.
It's on the dark web somewhere.
Probably some engineer hasaccess to it and he's sitting back

(39:23):
there just chuckling tohimself right now.
Time to hunt down the four kids.
Fault.
Yeah, it could be.
That's great.
Thank you.
So I got a question about just Shadow.
Like, didn't like the game.
It's pretty out there for Sonic.
When it came out.
Yeah.
When you were like doing that,like, what were you thinking?
This is awesome.
I get to swear I was so excited.

(39:46):
I'll tell you though, when Iwas doing.
When I was doing the game, I.
First of all, it was the firstvideo game I ever worked on.
And there was so much dialogue.
All I could think of theentire time when I wasn't thinking,
like, am I gonna have chickenparmesan for lunch?
Was, oh my gosh, my voice isgonna be coming out of some kid's
television.
Just like the voices that cameout of my television when I was playing

(40:07):
video games with my cousin.
And that was such a cool thingto tap into because it made me so
excited to do the job.
It became so much more about,like, than just doing a job.
It was like, I'm doingsomething that's gonna be so epic
for someone else.
Little did I know when I gotthe hate mail.
That wasn't the case backthen, but thank God for you guys
who were all five, six yearsold and your parents are like, yeah,

(40:29):
go play that game with the gunand the swearing, because it makes
a huge difference now.
But yeah, so that.
That whole.
I was floating on a cloud thatwhole session, because that was like
a couple weeks of recording.
I just.
I couldn't believe that I wasthat a.
That I was in a game that wasnamed after my character and that

(40:50):
I just have to do it at all.
I was like 22, 23 years old,you know, it was such a, such a huge
turnaround from like, whatI've been doing with my life, like
seeing people at a pizzeria.
It's honor to talk to you, brother.
Thank you, man.
Appreciate you.
All right, that's it for the questions.
One more great metal Sonic shirt.

(41:11):
Thanks.
You see the back?
So cool.
Reminded me of Sonic the Fighter.
So I bought it.
Love it.
Hi, my name is Lars.
And so also as an artistmyself, is there ever time that did
affect you?
And like, how did you dealwith that?
In the beginning, when I firstRead it, because I almost believed

(41:31):
it.
I almost thought, oh, wow.
I guess I.
Someone called me abysmal, I think.
And that stuck with me for alittle while at least, because I,
you know, I'd never gottenhate mail before and never.
Nobody had ever, like, toldme, oh, you're really bad.
Like, kind of like the wholetime I've been acting, it was always
like, oh, you're really good.
Oh, wow, that's good.
You know, and then you.

(41:51):
So it was a shock, and I thinkI carried that around for a little
while, and then.
And then it just went away.
You know, I didn't reallydwell on it too much, but every now
and then I would kind ofchuckle and be like, I'm abysmal.
That's awesome.
I mean, when I was a kid, Idefinitely was like, how dare you
desecrate my childhood bymaking him swear?
But it's definitely my top five.

(42:12):
Oh, good.
I'm glad.
Thank you.
Was it you that said it at Instagram?
That's it.
How long ago did you get it?
It wasn't me.
About two months ago.
Yeah, no, Definitely no.
Okay, good.
Way longer.
Like, I love that game.
Oh, good.
Okay, great.
So cool to see.
Yeah, you too.
Thank you, Lars.
What's your name?
My name's Dan.

(42:33):
I should have a question Bellson a.
Brian.
But I was just wondering ifit's your experience about playing,
like, God, Jet.
Yeah, like playing Jet.
I was.
Not a lot.
It was.
I mean, Jet always tore mythroat up.

(42:54):
It's like, shut your beak.
You have to like.
It's like Sonic, but you're,like, squeezing everything.
Yeah.
So it's really hard on yourtonsils with those games.
I feel like a lot of times werecorded two games at once, so they'd
have, like, two by two scriptsin the studio.
And it's like, all right, dothis one.
Do this one.
You never knew what you wererecording, you know, but it was fun.

(43:15):
I mean, a lot of those games, they.
There wasn't a lot of dialogue.
It was a lot of reaction.
One, two lines.
So they were.
They were super quick torecord and everybody was always happy.
So I.
I walked out happy, you know, I.
Except in the very beginningof my career, like, I never.
I haven't walked out of astudio where people were like, I
felt like, oh, really messed up.

(43:36):
You know, Everyone was alwayshappy with what I did.
Jet was someone I didn't haveto audition for.
They knew I was going to playhim, and they just said, give us
three examples of what youwant to do with Jet.
And we'll, we'll choose whichone we want.
It was like the first one I did.
They're like, that one.
We're going to do that one.
Choose one that was less raspyon your throat.
Yeah, yeah, I know, right?
But you're so high onadrenaline when you're doing these

(43:58):
things that it didn't, youknow, it doesn't affect you till
later when you're like, oh,why do I, why can't I swallow right
now?
You know?
Oh, right.
Because of all the streaming I did.
Yeah.
Just to enter these actorshere, it almost beat up for, like,
how, like, animation wasn't upthere because.

(44:20):
Right.
As long as.
Yeah.
And that's, I mean, that's abig part of why voice actors are
even involved in these,because they need to, like, bring,
you know, it just gives itmore texture as far as, like, believability,
the playability.
Yeah, I mean, it was, I, I, Ican't think.
Except for Unleashed, therewas never, like, like an unpleasant

(44:42):
recording experience.
Yeah.
Okay.
Thank you.
Yeah, man, thank you.
All right, one more.
I know we got to get you backto your table so that.
Hey, man.
Hi.
Hey, Dusty.
Hey, Dusty.
Good to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
Yeah.
Do you have any advice foranyone who's trying to, like, get
into voice acting?
Any advice or any tips?

(45:02):
Yeah, I sort of talked aboutit earlier, but, you know, where
do you live?
Aurora.
So it's like 40 people you live.
I'd say, think about what,what kind of voiceover you want to
do.
And I know the answer mightseem like, oh, everything.
And that's, But I will tellyou, even though that's true, and
I, I do everything and havedone everything.

(45:24):
That's a novice answer.
So the more specific you arewhen someone asks you that question,
the more they think, oh, thisperson really put thought into it
as opposed to, like, ah, justdo everything.
Because eventually you will,if you're successful.
There are classes thatdirectors that I've worked with or
casting directors that havecast me in things, teach that are

(45:44):
online.
I say, you know, practice asmuch as you can.
Read out loud as much as youcan, because everything in your job
as an actor is reading outloud immediately.
And then take those classeswith those directors or casting directors
when you feel ready, becauseI've seen over and over people get
eight jobs from those classesbecause they're good.

(46:05):
Or one of my great friends,Dorian Elliott, she's a casting director
and I've taken her class.
She taught me so many tips.
But she had someone who wasbabysitting her son who she was like,
oh, you got a good voice.
And she's like, yeah, I mightwant to try acting, you know?
So she's like, do my class.
She did her class and then sheliked her so much, she brought her

(46:27):
in for, like, the Voice ofPurina and she booked in and now
she has a voiceover careerfrom that.
So things can happen if youtake the right classes with the right
people and it's the right timefor you, because you also don't want
to go into those class classesunprepared and feel like you're sucking,
you know?

(46:48):
But, yeah, so that's.
That's.
That's a good thing.
And never give up, you know,because there's going to be a thousand
and one opportunities for youto give up.
I.
I remember once, this doesn'thave to do with voice acting, but
I remember there was a spellin my life.
It's like around the time Iwas 23.
I don't even think I wasvoicing Sonic yet, but I was just
sitting in my apartment in myone room, the size of this stage,

(47:10):
half of this stage, and, like,looking up at the ceiling, and I'm
like, just give me a sign,like, if I should be here doing this
right now or.
Or not.
I'm like, I don't get.
I, like, I need a sign.
And that night, I got an emailfrom a director saying, hey, do you
remember me from, like, threeyears ago?
We did a play together.
I'd love for you to be thelead in my play.

(47:31):
And I was like, oh, my God,that was like.
That was quick.
Thank you.
You know, but again, like, youcould get really discouraged.
I've been discouraged.
I've talked to my mom on thephone years ago where I'm like, I
don't know.
Like, I can't.
Like, this is hard, you know?
But you just keep going, youkeep plugging out.
You plug away, and eventuallyyou're gonna hit.

(47:51):
Cause all it takes is one job,like Sonic, for me to open all those
doors for you.
But that took five years.
Five years of auditioningbefore I even got to audition for
Sonic.
You know, I dressed up as theBest Buy box in Central park, handing
out things to people thatwere, like, scared of me.
Like, jobs like that, you justhave to, like, you have to do the

(48:12):
work, though.
You have to do the work.
Don't ever expect anyone tojust hand it to you, you know?
Cool.
Thank you.
You got it?
Oh, yeah, yeah, of course.
All right.
Well, we're going to take aquick selfie with the crowd so you
guys could just smile for itreal quick.
And we're going to say goodbyeto Jason.
Here we go.
Everybody's in there.

(48:33):
There we go.
All right.
All right.
Let's give a big hand forJason Griffin.
Thank you, guys.
Thank you so much.
Appreciate it so much.
And that's a wrap for today's episode.
But before you go, don'tforget to check out the Cleveland
Gaming Classic happening in September.
You can go togamecleveland.com get your tickets.
Now join us for an epiccelebration of all things gaming.

(48:55):
Also, if you want to win acopy of Tulsa King Season 2 and Blu
Ray, make sure to leave us avoicemail on our website.
We'll be giving one away.
We're actually leaving four ofthem away.
And all you have to do isshare your thoughts and questions
with us there with a voicemail.
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(49:16):
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Jason Griffith - Voice of Sonic the Hedgehog and MORE!

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Jason Griffith - Voice of Sonic the Hedgehog and MORE!