February 3, 2026 • 52 mins
Debi Derryberry is one of the most in-demand voiceover actresses in Hollywood. She’s perhaps best known for voicing Jimmy Neutron in both the Academy Award-nominated film Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and in the TV series The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius. Debi’s also played dozens of memorable characters in features like the original Toy Story in which she’s one of the aliens, The Boy and the Heron, Despicable Me 2, Kiki’s Delivery Service, The Christmas Chronicles and many more. She’s also appeared in well more than 100 TV series, including Monster High, Sharkdog, Bugs Bunny Builders, Pokemon Horizons, and The Loud House.
Debi’s video game work includes Cookie Run Kingdom, Crash Bandicoots, Final Fantasy, Guild Wars 2, Genshin Impact, and World of Warcraft.
For Anime, you can hear Debi in Netflix’s Rising Impact, Zatch Bell, Sailor Moon and Glitter Force.
Debi’s also written and recorded 5 award-winning children’s music albums. Her 2 most recent are: Go to Sleep-Lullaby Album and Gotta Go Green. Debi’s song Baby Banana hit #1 on Sirius/XM Kids. Her music can readily be found on all digital streaming platforms. Look for her new kids single, Compost Bin, with Grammy Award winner Lisa Loeb.
You can also find Debi at debiderryberry.com and on her YouTube channel, Debi Derryberry KIDS! which has animated videos to accompany her children’s music. Her TikTok page has over 1.3 million followers and over 28 million likes!
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Steve Cu (00:00):
On today's Story Beat,
When you're trying to come up with a character, Ilook at it a little more technically. What's the
age? So she's maybe a teenager. Okay, where's shefrom? Okay, just to make it easy, put her in the
south, maybe she's a little bit snarky. So then wehave a teenager in the south and she's snarky.
Well, maybe she has braces. Okay, so now we havethis teenage snarky thing and she's got braces on.
(00:27):
so you layer the different things that are in yourwheelhouse that you can do to come up with
different characters.
This is Story Beat with Steve Cuden. A podcast forthe creative mind. Story Beat explores how masters
of creativity develop and produce brilliant worksthat people everywhere love and admire. So join us
(00:54):
as we discover how talented creators find successin the worlds of imagination and entertainment.
Here now is your host, Steve Cuden
Thanks for joining us on Story Beat. We're comingto you from the Steel City, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. My guest today, Debi Derryberry, isone of the most in demand voiceover actresses in
(01:19):
Hollywood. She's perhaps best known for voicingJimmy Neutron in both the Academy Award nominated
film Jimmy Boy Genius and the TV series theAdventures of Jimmy Boy Genius. Debi's also played
dozens of memorable characters in features likethe original Toy Story in which she's one of the
aliens, the Boy and The Heron, Despicable Me 2,Kiki's Delivery Service, the Christmas Chronicles,
(01:45):
and many more. Her voice can also be heard in wellmore than 100 TV series including Monster High,
Shark Dog, Bugs Bunny Builders, Pokemon Horizonsand the Loud House. Debbie's video game work
includes Cookie Run, Kingdom, Crash, Bandicoots,Final Fantasy, Guild Wars 2, Genshin Impact and
(02:06):
World of Warcraft. For anime, you can hear Debi inNetflix's Rising Impact, Zatch Bell, Sailor Moon
and Glitter Force. Debi also written and recordedfive award winning children's music albums. Her
two most recent are Go to Sleep Lullaby album andGotta Go Green. Debi song Baby banana hit number
(02:26):
one on SiriusXM Kids. Her music can be readilyfound on all digital streaming platforms. Look for
her new kids single Compost Bin with Grammy Awardwinner Lisa Loeb. You can also find Debi at
debiderryberry.com and on her YouTube channel,Debi Derryberry Kids, which has animated videos to
accompany her children's music. Her TikTok pagehas over 1.3 million followers and over 28 million
(02:53):
likes. So for all those reasons and many more,it's my tremendous Honor and truly great pleasure
to be joined today on Story Beat by theextraordinarily multi talented Debi Derryberry.
Debi welcome to the show.
Wow. Thanks, Steve. That was quite the intro.
Thank you very, very much. It's so nice to be hereand.
Well deserved, well deserved. So let's go back intime just a little bit and into your history. When
(03:19):
did acting and singing first pass bite you? Howold were you?
Golly, I would say. Well, my, My mom had a guitar.
We always did little songs from camp. When wedrove places, we'd do, songs together. And I just
got the harmony bug and loved to do harmonies. Itjust makes me tick inside, makes me go all happy.
(03:41):
And so I got my guitar when I was nine and I, youknow, back then we had a newspaper and they put
the, the top 40 song they printed in the newspaperwith the chords and you could cut it out and play
the song and learn how to play it. I had a singingpartner, I think I was maybe 8 or 9 when I was
(04:01):
just, overcome with. I must sing all the time. Ourfamily was in a. We grew up in the desert near
Palm Springs. We were members of the Valley ValleyPlayers Guild. So we were in, ah, community
theater. And I did a number of community theatersin the desert as well as high school theater. And
I went to UCLA to be a doctor. To be a pre med andI took drama there. Obviously I did not go to med
(04:28):
school much to my dad's dismay, but I continuedstudying acting and doing stage shows and then
segued into some on camera. So it sort of alwaysbeen part of my life. my favorite part is when
people clap for me. I like being clapped for.
(04:50):
But. But in a studio setting, you don't getclapped at very often, do you?
No, not at all. But then there's conventions wherepeople give you your accolades at your table. When
they, when you sign their items.
Are they amazed that you are who. Who you are?
Because they m. Many times won't even know whatyou look like.
That's right. I have, you know, we have ourbanners there at our tables and usually, people
(05:15):
will walk up to the table and they'll look at. Ihave these pictures that have all the characters
that I've done well, some of them around me. Andthey'll look at the characters and they'll do like
a double take. Wait, you were Jimmy Neutron. Wait,wait, you were Zatch Bell. Wait, you were. And
I'll reply yes, in the character's voice. Andsometimes, you know, Steve it can be very
(05:39):
emotional for the listener because this was whatthey grew up with. And just like, you know, when
you smell something that reminds you of, like,grandma's house, that fried chicken smell, or that
plant at that place, when you hear that sound, Iwould say two or three times at each convention,
(05:59):
people break down in tears. You know, theyapologize. I'm like, don't apologize. It happens.
You know, you have memories. There are things thatspark genuine, primal emotions. And I guess sound
voice is one of them.
Absolutely. Especially when it's, a, sound fromyour childhood and it's something that had meaning
(06:20):
to you in resonance. It comes all the way back up.
By the way, that's the first time in nine years ofdoing this show that anyone has used the word
verklempt. So I'm thrilled.
Well, I don't know how to spell it. I didn't knowthere was an R in it. Verklempt. Verklempt. Well,
there you go.
At what point in your career, as you were startingout, did you think to yourself, I not only love
(06:41):
doing this, but I'm actually good at it? When didyou figure out that you were good at this?
I don't know if I figured that out yet. I don'tever think that that thought came into my head. I
love to work really hard, and I love to do what Ilove to do. I've had these opportunities come my
way, and I just kind of run through the door and Isay, yes, I want to try that. You know, if one
(07:07):
thing isn't working and another door opens, then Irun through that door. And a few of these doors
have led me to projects that have been reallysuccessful. Not by my doing, maybe a little bit.
But, you know, there's so much more involved in ashow than the voice. There's the creators and the
writers, the directors and the producers and theadvertisements, the networks, that there's so much
(07:33):
more. And I'm just lucky to be doing the voice.
And that seems to be what people notice.
Well, I'm here to tell you that you're actuallyvery good at what you do.
Debi Derryberry (07:43):
Thank you.
And not only that, but, the truth is that as awriter, we're going to talk about this a little
more, but as you know, I've written lot ofanimation scripts.
Yes.
And I never wrote a single animation script in allof my whole career that wasn't made much better by
the actors.
Is that right?
Whatever's in your head as a writer, it's not whatwinds up being done by the actors, and it's almost
(08:06):
always much better.
I do a lot of coaching, a, lot of voiceoverteaching, and I tell my students, you know, the
writer puts their on the page, who. What his ideais, but we get to play with that, we get to
interpret that, but we also need to give theanimator something to do. The words are a
suggestion and you need to stick to them fairlyclose, but you can play with them. And that's
(08:31):
where the acting part comes in. You have to beable to get them off the page.
I think the great voiceover actors that I havewatched and seen work in LA are also great
improvisers. They can riff on things and makethings much, much better than what's on the page.
Before COVID when we would be in the boothtogether, it was so much more fun to riff and to
(08:58):
be able to have that camaraderie and bouncing offeach other. And now that we record alone, we don't
get that as much. And I think product suffers,quite honestly.
Do you. It's a different energy, isn't it? Youdon't get the energy off of the other people.
That's exactly it. You don't get to bounce offthem. And you remember back in the days when all
(09:23):
the actors have their headphones on and, you know,the engineer would just let it run and it was just
crazy what would come out.
Absolutely. Well, so many of them came from,either the world of acting prior to. Or they were
comedians or whatever. But almost all of thesuccessful voiceover actors that I'm aware of are
(09:45):
funny people. They're not, dull, uninterestingfolks. And when they're in this, in a, a booth
together as a group, it just gets completelycrazy.
It does get completely crazy. With Jimmy Neutron,I was basically Steve. I was the straight man. I
was in that studio with the funniest people I'veever been around. Mark DeCarlo, Megan Kavanaugh,
(10:10):
Rob Paulson, Jeff Garcia. Just hilarious peoplewho could riff and had so many stories. And I
think to make something work, you need both thestraight man and the riffer.
So do you feel like the work that's being donetoday is really, less amusing or less entertaining
(10:31):
or less full of energy than it was. Is that whatyou're saying? That that's the big difference as
an actor?
Yeah, because it's, you know, I'm. I'm, I'mpointing. I know you can't see because we're audio
only, but I'm pointing at my Booth, which is alittle room here in my office. And that's where I
go to work. And it's not like we'd get in thestudio and go to Nickelodeon. I could. I mean,
(10:54):
sometimes we go into the studio still, but it'snever a group. I do miss it. And it was a special
time. When you're in something like that, youdon't realize until you're out of it. Wow, that
was the golden time. That was amazing. Because nowit's gone.
That was. That was a very special period. Well,especially when I was doing most of my work was
(11:18):
the 1990s into the 2000s, and it was the business.
The animation business was rocking and rolling.
They were doing, throwing off time. Tons ofepisodes of. Tons of shows, mostly for
syndication. All right, so let's talk for a momentabout the business of being a voiceover actor,
actress. There must be at least a thousand peoplein your head. Where do all the characters come
(11:40):
from? Is it just from the written page, or are youout there in the world and characters are coming
to you before you even know you're going to dothem?
I think it's a combination of that. I do have,what I call the, your legacy characters that live
in your head. You know, you have your standardcharacters, but then when you're trying to come up
(12:00):
with a character, I look at it a little moretechnically, a little more scientific. You know
where I'll have. I'll say, okay, what's the age?
Well, so she's maybe a teenager. Okay, where's shefrom? Oh, okay. Just to make it easy, put her in
the South. Okay, we have a teenager in the southand make her. Maybe she's a little bit snarky. So
(12:26):
then we have a teenager in the south, and she'ssnarky. Well, maybe she has braces. Okay, so now
we have this teenage snarky thing, and she's gotbraces on. and so you layer the different things
that are in your wheelhouse that you can do tocome up with different characters. So for me,
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there's, you know, the skills that I have that Ican put together. There's my wheelhouse
characters. There's my, copycat characters. InJimmy Neutron, Rob Paulson does this character
named Carl. And everybody wants to imitate Carl.
Well, I kind of stole him for a show I did withBill Burr called F is for Family. And there was a
(13:12):
little character named Philip. Yeah. So I did myversion of Carl as Philip, but he had some braces,
too. And so you can steal, impersonate. There's somany different ways of bringing characters into
crazy brain.
Do you work with your voice every single day?
(13:34):
Yes. whether I'm using, know, just picking up myguitar and writing a song, or this morning I was
at, my producer's house singing. I had twoauditions yesterday. One of the auditions took a
while because they wanted me to sing thisparticular song, so I had to learn it, download
the karaoke track. Now we have to be our ownengineers too. So I have to learn how to use
(13:56):
software where I can download music and sing withit and edit it together and do that.
You produce your own work. That way you actuallydo the physical work as well, not just the
singing.
For auditions, we have to record ourselves andedit it. If there's a song that they want us to
sing, we have to record that together too.
And so you're still. You just said auditioning.
(14:17):
You're still auditioning. People don't just callyou and say.
I get asked so often, Steve. We still have toaudition once in a while. They'll throw me a bone.
You know, back in the day of Jenny McSwain and SueBlue, they would say, get Debi over to Nickelodeon
or get Debi over to Salome Studios or just, justgo. But it's different now. You have to audition
(14:39):
for every single thing. So I do. And there's somany different things to audition for, Steve.
Every, there's video games, and every video gamehas, you know, over 300 characters. It's a
constant audition process for video games, forthe, all the dubbing, for the anime shows. It's
(15:01):
never ending.
So what, as you're working with your voice duringthe day, what do you have a typical set of
exercises that you do, or is it different everyday?
I don't. I mean, sometimes if it's a rough. Ifit's going to be a challenging singing session, I
will do my standard singing exercises, usually inthe car on the way over to the studio. But I think
(15:23):
just in general, I, I work on my breathing. I swimevery morning, and I hold my breath a lot to try
and really get my lung capacity up. And, you know,I do all the things you're supposed to do and not
do, like no smoking and no coffee. And, I'mdrinking. You can't see it, but I have my hot, my
hot beverage and I don't really drink sodas. So wejust standard makes sense, take care of your voice
(15:49):
kind of things.
Is there anything that you learned about yourvoice early on that you're still doing and working
on. Or, have you passed all that into some otherphase?
I used to do things that would hurt my voice, andI think, oh, I'll just have to do it for a second.
But, you know, I've learned if you can't sustainit for two to four hours, that's not a voice you
(16:12):
should be doing.
What do you mean by sustain it?
If, where you place that voice, if you can make itsound like that and keep that voice print for the
length of the session and, and guide that voiceprint through all the emotions that go with that
character in that episode. Maybe there's somelaughing, maybe there's some crying, maybe they're
(16:34):
screaming. Maybe there's some, something verydramatic. And maybe there's cursing, maybe there's
laughing. Maybe there's no talking at all and it'sjust all laughing. Can you stay in that character
for all those requirements? And it can be hard. Ihad one show called Tasmania, and I played Jim
(16:55):
Cummings was Taz, and I played his little brotherJake. And the voice that I got cast with was a
voice I could not sustain. And I ended up withalmost a vocal, vocal node. So I know never, never
to audition that voice again because every time Iwent into session, I always ended up blowing it
out.
Did you know when you first started doing it thatyou were in trouble?
(17:18):
I, knew that it would be challenging and I betterbe, you know, healthy and up to the task. But I
didn't think it would be a problem doing thatvoice. Usually as a professional athlete, they
will say no pain, no gain. But with voiceover,it's not that way. If there's pain, don't do that
voice.
Well, some voices, some voice actors, they dostuff. I don't know how they do it.
(17:40):
Yeah, I mean, in. Everybody's vocal cords aredifferent. Some smokers have that signature
smoking sound, and some people sound smoky withouteven smoking.
Steve Cuden (17:51):
Like Julie Kavner.
Yeah, she has that. You know, I can do that, thatancient rasp now without it hurting me. I call it
sort of my. My granny spot. It doesn't hurt me totalk like this, but I just lower it and there's
some texture there. And hold. Oh, Bob's youruncle.
(18:12):
That's. That's Warner Brothers classic granny.
Yes, but it doesn't hurt. And there are so manyscreaming scenes and death scenes in video games.
And the directors are always very, thoughtful andlet you scream at the end of the session. And
sometimes they're very young directors and theydon't know how a voice works. And us voice actors
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who do know, we will say, listen, there's thesefew lines that are really pushing a lot of
emotion. Let's save it to the end. I've beenreally fortunate that my voice has remained strong
and I've been able to, do all these differentcharacters.
Well, for sure, because you can hurt yourself ifyou're not careful. And, that's why I was curious.
(19:00):
If there is a preparation that you go throughevery day and you're saying, not really. It's a
day by day thing, Are there certain preparationsthat you go through with your voice when you're
getting ready to record, a show that's going totake you several hours?
Yeah, I will, make sure that I eat the rightthings beforehand or not eat the wrong things. No,
(19:21):
you know, no bubbles, no tuna fish, no garlic, nosoda, no coffee. Comforting kind of easy foods
that don't give you a lot of phlegm, you know, nomilk, cottage cheese, ice cream. Things to me that
are just second nature. Just that you're not goingto do before a session.
Did you know that when you first started out, ordid you have to learn it the hard way?
(19:42):
I think I had to learn it the hard way. But ofcourse, 30 years ago, you know, when you're 20 or
38, you're so resilient and you'll never die.
There's never anything that's going to hurt you.
You just keep at it. But now you just have to takecare of your body and your voice. It is really the
(20:03):
key. and the, the eyes, that's another thing,because now we don't get paper scripts anymore.
Steve. Everything's on a digital monitor. When Icoach people, when I train people, I still have
them use a paper script because I want them to getused to being able to take that adjustment,
whatever the director is asking them to do and notforget it. But these days you don't have a paper
(20:28):
script, so you usually have a little pad of paper.
These monitors on which the scripts are placed areat different distances. I have a distance for my
booth, so I have booth glasses. I have computerglasses so I can look down and up for a bicycle.
Look, I have distance glasses for when. BecauseI've always needed glasses. When I'm in a video
(20:51):
game studio, Sometimes they put that monitor onthe far wall. So. So, you have to be prepared with
your eyes. And also another thing is the headphonesituation. Because I have glasses, the headphones
can smash against the temples and give youheadaches. So, for recording, I have these custom
(21:14):
ultimate ear buds that are custom made to my ear,and I'll take that into the studio with me, and
that'll plug into the interface because theheadphones smash against them. I'm really short.
I'm 4 foot 10. So sometimes I travel to a studiowith a. You know what a yoga block is? It's like a
little square that's, not. It's made out of foam,really, but it's like my foot stool, because if my
(21:41):
feet don't touch the ground and I'm sitting in achair for four hours, that can be hard on
somebody's back or if you're standing for a longtime. So it's, there's a lot of physicality you
have to think about.
And do you exercise every day to work with yourbody so that you.
Can do that every single day? I'm on my exercise
cycle i (22:01):
00am I do 20 minutes of high cardio. And then, we'll do 20 minutes Pilates
on our YouTube. Pilates. And then in the swimmingpool for the lung and the, stretching, and then,
we'll do the dog walk. So every day is acombination of those.
So I think the listeners need to pay closeattention to this. If you have any thought in your
(22:23):
head about becoming a voice actor or even justnot, a voice actor, an actor in general, you have
got to take care of what they call your temple,which is your body. And if you don't, then you run
the risk of having. You're burning yourself out ornot being able to do it. And so it's a very
important aspect of doing what Debi does. So, whenyou receive a script, I assume you receive most
(22:45):
scripts ahead of time. You're not seeing them forthe first time in the studio. or do you.
Video games. You never receive a script. Youreceive your few lines. You sign an NDA. You don't
get to know the story. You have to be a reallygood cold reader because you just go in and here's
your script, here's your lines. Go for cartoons.
(23:06):
Sometimes they send you the script, or sometimesthey'll send you a scene and a digital one. Never
on paper. You know, as an actor, you want to readthrough the scene and know what's going on. You
have to look at the stage direction. You have tosee what the person said just before you spoke.
you have to know why you're saying it. You have toknow where you are, how far away is that person
(23:28):
from you? it is the video games director's job toknow what's going on in each scene. And. And a
very important part of a video game session is thebeginning, where I always have a paper and pencil,
and they say, this is what's going on. TheTridacodon is coming back through the Palauthics
period. And you know that all the dragons wore,laftas, so the loftas were going over the
(23:53):
Phanamenoas. And it makes no sense. But you haveto make sense of it and they have to explain it to
you.
I think that's phenomenal that anything comes outthat sounds like it belongs together because
you're doing sometimes, as you say, in anindividual booth by yourself. And they have to
piece all that together. And it should sound likeit's people talking to each other, but frequently
(24:17):
you're not together at all. So that's the trick,isn't it?
Yeah. I mean, good luck to the engineers. They'rethe ones. They're the ones that have to make it
sound like they're talking to each other. But ifyou listen to, say, a Bobby's World or a Tasmania,
where we all recorded together, or Jimmy Neutron,if you listen to those finished products, as
(24:40):
opposed to, say, a Paw Patrol or, you know,something that's current now that's not recorded
together, there's a big difference in the way itsounds.
Yeah. I'm guessing that the producers don't worryabout it too much because they probably think to
themselves, the audience at that age is notterribly discriminating, and so they're not
(25:02):
worried about the audience reaction being to thenegative. But I think that it does make a
difference.
I think the audience is very discerning.
Especially children. Especially. I mean, I domusic for kids and I don't perform live anymore. I
have an animated character that I use calledLittle Debi And when I was performing live, if
(25:25):
those kids were not engaged, they will get up andwalk away. I mean, an adult will sit there and be
polite. Kids are not so, you know, they're not sotrained in good manners because they want to be
entertained.
Yeah. And if you don't keep them engaged, theywill absolutely disengage quite quickly.
That's exactly right. I have this whole YouTubeKids channel. It's not YouTube Kids yet, it's Debi
(25:50):
Derryberry Kids. And I'm hoping one day to make itdown that lucky funnel that puts you into YouTube
kids, which is a Whole other thing. But currentlyit's Debi Derryberry kids. And my demographic is
like 2 to 6 year olds. And I'm having so much funwith all my kids music. I, having them animated.
(26:11):
the songs are animated now and I put them up on myYouTube channel. And you can look at the analytics
and see how long somebody watches your videobefore they piece out.
I know that you do multiple characters within asingle show. What's the most characters you've
ever done in one episode of a show?
(26:33):
I think it was F is for Family. I had seven shows,seven characters. I had Bill Barber's daughter
named Maureen. That was his little princess.
That's like my standard clear voiced little girl.
And then there was Philip, the fella down thestreet who has braces and he was a little nervous.
(26:56):
And then there was the kid down the street namedKitty. He, he wore a diaper and his mama was in
the people jail. and he watched the squirrels inthe TV set. And then I did the nurse from kind of
Midwestern. She was in the hospital all the time.
What kid did you almost kill this time? And then Idid Bridget, Bridget with a friend down the
(27:22):
street. And she was very foul mouthed and shewould say, say terrible sailor mouth things. And
then there was Gert. Gert was Suzanne's friendfrom college. And she had those cat eye glasses.
And then I had Scott. Scott was a little computernerd. So that was, I don't know if that was seven
(27:43):
or more, but there were a lot.
Did you ever have to do characters talking tothemselves back and forth?
Oh yeah. But what I prefer to do in that instanceis just record one and then record the other and
let the animator, you know, go to town.
So I had the great privilege to sit in the boothand watch. Not in the booth, but you know, outside
(28:07):
the booth. Watch. Jim Cummings doing twocharacters back and forth. Was in the show Bonkers
when he was doing Lucky Paquelle and Bonkers. Andit was, I mean they were two completely utterly
distinct sounding characters. They didn't soundanything alike. Their rhythms were different.
Everything was different about them. And he did itback and forth to himself and it was like, how is
(28:29):
he doing that?
I know, it's mind boggling, isn't it?
It's completely mind boggling. The great ones likeyou are very smooth at doing it in a way that you
go, I don't know how they're doing it. It's, it'slike a magic trick. It really is.
Oh, that's very kind of you to say. You know, it'sbeen so long that I've been doing it.
(28:51):
Well, yeah, I mean you've got it down to a thingwhere you know how you're doing it. Do you use
your body in your acting? Do you, even though it'svoice acting, do you need to use body movement and
expression in your face to get a character towork?
Absolutely. there was this one show I did with TimCurry called Peter Pan and the Pirates and Jason
(29:14):
Marsden played Peter Pan and I played Tinkerbell.
And Tinkerbell was a little petulant, kind of, Iwant to use the B word. She was a petulant in love
with Peter and she didn't like Captain Hook and Iwas like her first voice, normally she was just a
tinkle. When I recorded her, I would look at themic and I do this and when I looked at the drawn
(29:36):
animation, she did this and she sometimes wentcross eyed. I'm like, why is she doing that? It's
because that's what I did when I recorded her. Andsometimes they film you when you're doing the
voice because they want to know how does she getthat voice out?
They do that more often than people know is thatthey will record the actors and use the actors
expressions in the actual animation as they do.
(29:59):
Yeah, they have to let you know if it's a ScreenActors Guild union job, they have to tell you
ahead of time they'll be filming, for theanimators, which is fine, I mean, whatever they
have to do. But yes, there is a physicality thatgoes with each character.
I think one of the most fascinating things thatyou do and you have a specific voice for it is you
(30:20):
do both young boys and girls. Is there a, is therea distinction in your head how you get from a boy
to a girl? Does it, Is it, how do you do that? Isit just the modulation of the voice?
In real life, little boys and little girls soundthe same. But in cartoons they expect the boys to
have some gravel and the girls to be a little moreclear voiced. If you're talking like a, I don't
(30:47):
know, like a six year old, they're not going tohave the same smooth cadence that maybe a teenager
does because they stop and think. And that wouldbe a little girl maybe. But then if it's a little
boy, then you come out at. I kind of come out theside of my mouth and he has a little bit more
(31:09):
gravel and they a little Tougher, you know? yeah.
So for me the difference is clear versus side ofthe mouth and gravel.
So I'm just curious, is there anything you wishanimation writers would do more of to make your
job easier?
I like it when they give pictures. They giveimages of what the character looks like and that
(31:31):
gives me an idea of, what voice I might want tocome up with. If it's a really very large
character, kind of lumbering, then I have a couplechoices. I might go lumbering or I might do it a
little high pitched, which would be really funnynext to the visual of a very large character. So
(31:53):
having the, pictures is often helpful. I'm tryingto think if there's something else in the scripts.
sometimes if it just doesn't ring true to thecharacter that I've given it, I'll switch it up a
little bit. You know, depending on theregionalisms, maybe the character is upset or,
(32:15):
excited and they're from, you know, if they arefrom the south, you might add something to it. You
know what, I will tell you what, that might not bein the script, but you can add it or say they're
from Wisconsin. It would be, oh, for accordancesakes. Do you know, I, I'm taking a tuna casserole
(32:35):
and all those little woo hoo, those littleexpressions, the regionalisms, they bring it to
life. and sometimes I'll add that.
Do you do stuff like that in the booth? And theygo, no, that's not what we want at all. Do
something totally different. Does that happen?
Oh yeah, Sometimes I'll audition that way andthey'll be, happy about the audition and they'll
book me and they'll say, but we want to pull backon that accent. Pull back on that character a bit.
(32:59):
Just give it to us straight. And so I tell mystudents when I'm coaching, you know, if you have
two really separate characters, give them bothbecause they might really love them. But once you
get into the booth, they're going to pull it backanyway. They're going to do it the way, I don't
know, the way that they want. Who knows, maybethere's another character that they want to be the
(33:23):
funny right then.
You alluded to it a little bit a moment ago. But Ilove it when the voice with whatever the character
drawing is is counterintuitive to what you thinkthe voice should be.
Yeah, I think that's super fun. And I guess that'sthe freedom we get as a voice actor is to try
those sorts of things. And sometimes when you'rein a show as a utility player, the writers will
(33:48):
have, you know, some one off character and they'llsay, just take that character, this show, Debi and
you'll get to come up with something, you know,just on the spot. And you better be able to just
reach into your bag of tricks and put somethingtogether right quick.
And no doubt you do. what kind of direction do youget that you think is very helpful? What would you
like to have more direction of?
(34:10):
Oh, more Jeannie McSwain. More Debi chew up thescenery on this one. Come on, make me cry, Debi
She was the best director ever. I like directionthat is, being. Being from a science, scientific,
pragmatic background. You know, I like the easyones. Faster or slower. Something that's, that's
(34:31):
very easy to do, that's very tangible. I reallyadmire directors who have such a great, retrieval
skills with their words, and they can just reachdown deep and find the exact thing they need to
say. And of course, I don't have that, so I'm notable to communicate that to you right now. But a
good director is, is rare and hard to find. AndI've worked with just some of the best. And I'm
(34:57):
always amazed at their word retrieval skills.
You're talking about, you're talking about thatthey have good verbs to use that help you to
figure out where you're going with the, with theline, how to say the line, and so on.
Not just necessarily grabbing the verb, but comingup with. With the sentence that communicates to
you rather than just, he's madder than that. Youknow, just instead of telling me more mad, they
(35:26):
would say something that would just reallyresonate with me. Like, you know, he just sliced
off your, your dog's foot and it was your favoritedog. I know, look at me going really dark. But
sometimes they'll just say the right thing andit'll get you right where you need to be. I wish I
(35:49):
could think of a great example for you, but that'swhy I'm on this end of it, doing the voices and
marveling at the great directors.
Does anybody ever give you line readings?
Oh, yes. Sometimes I think it's wrong when anactor objects to it because sometimes the director
does not have good retrieval word retrieval skillsand does not have good communication skills. And
(36:11):
all they can do is say, I want it like this. And Iwill tell them because they're struggling not to
line read you. And I will say, just tell me theway you hear it in your head, it's okay. If it's a
line read, that's okay with me. And I let him offthe hook. And then they'll tell me and, you know,
it might be something that the emphasis was wrongor that they were hearing something completely
(36:34):
different than how I was reading the line. If youhaven't got it in the first three takes, give me a
line read.
Of course, there are two extremely famous examplesof famous actors who notoriously railed, against
directors who were trying to give them linereadings or something like that one being William
Shatner, who I've had the great fortune tointerview. And also, Orson Welles, both of whom
(36:59):
are in Maurice Lamarche's, wheelhouse. Right. andso the notorious thing is, don't give me a line
reading. Don't tell an, actor how to read a line.
You prefer it in the interest of time? Yeah, it'sjust a line. And if I'm not getting it in a few
takes, give it to me. So I just think it's alittle. I think it's a little snooty of an actor.
(37:22):
Not that. Anything against orson Welles or Mr.
Shatner. They have a. Studios are expensive,studio time is expensive, directors are expensive.
Let's just get her done.
Absolutely. Let's, switch gears a little bit andtalk about your songwriting, which you've already
chatted about a moment ago or a little while ago.
do you think of yourself primarily as an actressor a songwriter or both?
Debi Derryberry (37:45):
Oh, both.
How long have you been writing songs? Since youwere nine and you got the guitar. Were you writing
songs back then?
Yes, I wrote. My first song was called My Dog's MyBuddy, and that's actually on my first album, what
a Way to Play. And I have an animated. Not ananimated video. Yeah, I have both, actually
animated and live action. They both bring me greatjoy. But writing, music songs, whether it's kids
(38:11):
songs or adult songs. I also have a country bandcalled Honey Pig. It's a six person band, three
female harmonies. I love them both so much. Idon't think of myself as anything, you know, if
you'd say, I'm a really good dog walker and I'm agood songwriter, I'm a good singer, I'm a good
actress. I work really hard at everything I dobecause I love working and I want to be good at
(38:36):
everything.
Why did you decide to focus on writing songs forkids?
Easy for me to sing in a voice that kids love.
There's something about my singing Voice that kidsjust like to listen to. And I think it's important
as a steward of the grown upness is to be able to,have messages for kids that are on point, that are
(39:04):
educational but not educational, that are fun butnurturing.
Are you, do you write your songs on guitar? Isthat what you write on? Or do you also write on
any.
Other instruments, just on guitar? I'll generallybecause I'm a competent guitar player, but, you
know, I don't love E flat at all. And I play yourbasic chords. So my songs are fairly basic. you
(39:31):
know, they're generally your 14 fives or your 1645s.
Well, you have, you put into your songs ratherrepetitive, simple, interesting, fun melodies.
That's what I've noticed in looking at your work.
It's not like you're doing complex orchestralstuff. It's purposely done for kids and it has a
repetition to it. And that's the way that mostkids songs play. And that's right.
(39:54):
And most country songs as well. some of my adultsongs are a little more complicated.
Steve (40:01):
Do you have a preference?
No, I like it all. And sometimes I'll wake up andI'll have a kid song in my head that I'll have to
write down. Or sometimes I'll wake up and I'llhave a country song in my head that I have to
write down. Or I'll have to turn on my voice memoon the phone and sing it to my phone in the middle
of the night. And then I'll wake up in the morningand go, what were you thinking, Debbie? Or I'll be
(40:22):
like, that's a really good song. So, they come tome in different ways.
So where did Baby Banana come from?
My, kids. My, my second husband, came up with thischaracter, a baby banana. He said his dad was a
gorilla and his mom was a duck. And I heard himtelling this story to, my son and I thought, well,
(40:46):
that's an interesting diverse family. And so I, Iwrote that song Baby Banana and the Licorice Tree.
And it was on my very first album. And I didn'tknow it was going to do so well. so I wrote a book
called Baby Banana and the Licorice Tree. And thenI did a whole separate album called Baby Banana
(41:07):
with all kinds of, you know, tropical fruit songsand Baby Banana type things flying. So that's how
that song came up. And I did give him credit inthe, in the book inspired by.
Steve (41:20):
It's a very catchy song.
Thank you. Yeah, kids like it and it has littlehand motions to it. And I have a couple of
different, videos for it on my, wwberry Kidsanimated channel. One of them is just coming out
soon, and it's 3D, and the other one is 2D. Somuch fun doing these animated videos.
(41:40):
So one of your more recent songs is the CompostBin. How in the world did you get Lisa Loeb to
sing it with you?
well, she lives down the street. We have the samevoice agent. So I called her and I said. And I
coached her actually a couple times for voiceover.
And I said, I want to do a song more green based,so let's do a compost song. So I went over to her
(42:02):
house and we wrote it. She really liked my musicproducer, Steve Brickman, and we recorded it over
at his studio.
So where do you. When you get a song idea, wheredo you begin? Do you just. It's a. Is it usually a
melody or is it a hook or a lyric? What usuallycomes to you first? Or is it all the above?
All of the above. Sometimes it's a hook. It'snever usually the melody. And sometimes it's an
(42:28):
actual word. Hook. sometimes I work on it so hardand nothing ever comes of it. And sometimes it
just comes out like vomit, like, boom.
And, So when you typically write a song, are you apretty fast writer, or does it take you a long
time? Do you dwell on it for a long time?
I'm not a dweller, Steve. I like to get thingsdone. so it might take. Some songs might take
(42:52):
longer than others. I look for the finish line. Mydad used to say to me, Debi if you can't decide,
it doesn't matter.
So if you can't decide, it doesn't.
It comes down to a couple things.
You also from your career, you've had to go in anddo it. It's not like you go into a studio and
(43:13):
spend days trying to figure out a line.
You just go in and do it sometimes. M. I mean, Idon't want to say that I don't get stuck. Stuck. I
do get stuck. I. I have a few songs that have justsat there forever because they just haven't risen
to the. You know, with the cream to the top.
Is there a typical number of drafts that you gothrough, or is it usually one, two drafts and
(43:36):
you're done?
Sometimes I think it's done, and then I'll sit onit and I'll record it and I'll Be like. And then
it'll come to me that there needs to be a changeand I'll go back in and have to re record and make
a change.
If you're the creator of, a work of art, you'reentitled to keep working it. I always think, I
know for a fact, certain, that your first draftsare usually not very good of anything. And then it
(43:58):
takes a little while to refine, to revise, to makeit better. And then sometimes it takes a while
longer than that to get it where you really wantit. I mean, a lot of painters take a year or
longer to paint a painting, so they just keepcoming back at it. I'm just gonna, tell you that I
think that it's such a joy to listen to you speak,to listen to all the characters, and it's just
(44:19):
fantastic. But we're gonna wind the show down justa little bit. And I'm wondering, in all of your
experiences, you've told us all these greatstories already, but I'm wondering, can you share
with us a story that's either weird, quirky,offbeat, strange, or just plain funny?
I've been a scuba diver since 1983, so I've beendiving a long time time. A friend of mine said,
(44:41):
Debi they're looking for a scuba diver to be thebody stunt double for a little boy in this movie
they're doing at Warner Brothers called FreeWilly. And so I went over to Warner Brothers and
I'm, it's still at my age, I'm still the size of a12 year old boy. I've done a lot of jobs as a 12
year old boy in costume or whatever. And I metwith them and the next day I was flying down to
(45:06):
Mexico City to be the body stunt double to ridethe whale for Free Willy. So in that movie, in
Free Willy, when the little boy is, running aroundthe tank and he slips and hits his head and he
falls in the tank and the whale rescues him, it'sall me. I'm the one that rode that whale really.
And I want to say that I do not believe in males,in mammals, in captivity. And I would never do the
(45:31):
job again. Back then I didn't have the deepknowledge that I do now on how cruel it is. So I
don't want people to think that. I think it was agreat thing to do to have a whale in captivity,
but it was a very cruel job and it was very fun tobe in that whale tank with that whale for seven
weeks.
You were actually in with the live Whale.
(45:53):
And I know that your audience can't see this, butI'm just going to show up this picture of me on
the whale.
Debi is showing us this beautiful framed portraitof her sitting on a real whale in Free Willy.
That's crazy.
Debi Derryb (46:07):
So that's my story.
Ste (46:09):
I'm glad you survived that.
My mom and dad wanted me to get life insurance,and I called Lloyd's of London and they said, no
go. You don't get any insurance for that. But, youknow, we were young, indestructible, Nothing ever
hurts us.
And nothing did. And that's a good thing.
(46:29):
Nothing did. Nope. And that was before I had eyeLasix. I was, legally blind without my glasses,
and I couldn't wear glasses in the whale tank.
So how did you see what you were doing?
It was very fuzzy, but I, you know, could basicsee basic shapes. And I was basically the rat toy,
(46:49):
you know, that the trainer told the whale what todo and I was like the tennis ball you throw for
your dog.
Oh, my goodness. Was that whale tossing you up inthe air and all that stuff?
No, people tossing. he did, there were a lot ofnose pushes. There was a back, back rides. I was
18ft under in the dark when the whale came at mewith his big snout. And I couldn't see it, but I
(47:12):
could feel the water moving. And my job was to letgo of the grate on the bottom of this 18 foot pool
and let the whale stick his, head under my bodyand bring me to the surface and rescue me.
I had no idea. That is really. That would beintense. No question about it. Well, thank you for
sharing. Thank you for sharing that story. so. Allright, last question for you today, Debi you've
(47:36):
given us a tremendous amount of advice throughoutthis whole show, but I'm wondering if you have a
single solid piece of advice that you like to giveto those who come up to you and say, I'm starting
out. I'd like to be a voiceover person or whateverthey say to you, or a songwriter. What kind of
advice do you give to those people?
I would say if you're sure there's nothing elsethat you could possibly do, if there's nothing
(48:01):
else you want to do that you could possibly dobesides voice acting, then you have to be a voice
actor or a singer. But it is super hard and it'ssuch a long shot and it's. I've been so fortunate,
you know, that it's just such a hard way to make aliving that I really try to discourage people
(48:22):
unless they really want it. Because when you'repassionate about something, then it's fun and you
must do it. So if, if you must do it, then do it.
That is so, excellent to hear coming from someonewho's had such great success. Because I've told
people forever the business of show, is not forthe faint of heart or weak of stomach. And it
(48:45):
really is extremely hard. And if you don't havethe fire in your belly for it, it's not a good
idea to go too far down the road because yourheart's going to get broken. There are too many
people that do have the fire in the belly, andthat's the problem you're up against.
De (49:00):
That's exactly right, Steve.
It's a tough road to hoe. And when you do havesuccess like you've had, sometimes there are ups
and downs and you have to deal with those too. Itdoesn't all necessarily come as one smooth ride.
Oh, yeah, it's an up and down business for sure. Iwant to make sure I take a minute to tell people
about my, kids YouTube channel. I know I spokeabout it briefly.
Steve Cuden (49:22):
Sure.
it's, called Debi Derryberry Kids. And Debi isspelled D, E, B I with four letters. Derryberry is
D E, R, R Y B E, R, R Y Kids. And I would loveeverybody to subscribe to it and, show all the
animated videos to your kids. Or maybe you're justa big kid and you can watch them as well. But it's
(49:45):
my new pride and joy and I'm having so much fundoing it.
And your work is widely available on all, almostall the major podcasts, or, not podcasts, but the
major apps and platforms.
Oh, yeah, it's on all the streaming platforms.
It's on every single streaming platform out therein every country.
And tons of videos that are out there with Debi inthem. All kinds of wonderful stuff and songs that
(50:06):
you can find. yeah, I highly encourage you,especially if you're a parent with little kids,
that you're trying to keep entertained. I wouldsuggest that you go find Debi Derryberry Kids.
Oh, and, my latest compilation song list is calleddad Needs a Break. And it's over an hour of
videos.
(50:27):
Wow. Dad needs a Break. What about Mom? Doesn'tshe get a break?
That's the next playlist, Steve. It's going to beMom Needs Break.
The next compilation, Debi Derryberry. This hasbeen absolutely a fantastic hour on Story Beat,
and I can't thank you enough for your time, yourincredible energy, and all this wisdom that you've
shared. I thank you kindly for all of it.
(50:48):
Thank you for having me, Steve. Always a pleasure.
And so we've come to the end of today's StoryBeat. If you like this episode, won't you please
take a moment to give us a comment, rating, orreview on whatever app or platform you're
listening to? Your support helps us bring moregreat Story Beat episodes to you. Story Story Beat
is available on all major podcast apps andplatforms, including Apple Podcasts, YouTube,
(51:13):
Spotify, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and many others.
Until next time, I'm Steve Cuden, and may all yourstories be unforgettable.
On today's Story Beat,
When you're trying to come up with a character, Ilook at it a little more technically. What's the
age? So she's maybe a teenager. Okay, where's shefrom? Okay, just to make it easy, put her in the
south, maybe she's a little bit snarky. So then wehave a teenager in the south and she's snarky.
Well, maybe she has braces. Okay, so now we havethis teenage snarky thing and she's got braces on.
(00:27):
so you layer the different things that are in yourwheelhouse that you can do to come up with
different characters.
This is Story Beat with Steve Cuden. A podcast forthe creative mind. Story Beat explores how masters
of creativity develop and produce brilliant worksthat people everywhere love and admire. So join us
(00:54):
as we discover how talented creators find successin the worlds of imagination and entertainment.
Here now is your host, Steve Cuden
Thanks for joining us on Story Beat. We're comingto you from the Steel City, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. My guest today, Debi Derryberry, isone of the most in demand voiceover actresses in
(01:19):
Hollywood. She's perhaps best known for voicingJimmy Neutron in both the Academy Award nominated
film Jimmy Boy Genius and the TV series theAdventures of Jimmy Boy Genius. Debi's also played
dozens of memorable characters in features likethe original Toy Story in which she's one of the
aliens, the Boy and The Heron, Despicable Me 2,Kiki's Delivery Service, the Christmas Chronicles,
(01:45):
and many more. Her voice can also be heard in wellmore than 100 TV series including Monster High,
Shark Dog, Bugs Bunny Builders, Pokemon Horizonsand the Loud House. Debbie's video game work
includes Cookie Run, Kingdom, Crash, Bandicoots,Final Fantasy, Guild Wars 2, Genshin Impact and
(02:06):
World of Warcraft. For anime, you can hear Debi inNetflix's Rising Impact, Zatch Bell, Sailor Moon
and Glitter Force. Debi also written and recordedfive award winning children's music albums. Her
two most recent are Go to Sleep Lullaby album andGotta Go Green. Debi song Baby banana hit number
(02:26):
one on SiriusXM Kids. Her music can be readilyfound on all digital streaming platforms. Look for
her new kids single Compost Bin with Grammy Awardwinner Lisa Loeb. You can also find Debi at
debiderryberry.com and on her YouTube channel,Debi Derryberry Kids, which has animated videos to
accompany her children's music. Her TikTok pagehas over 1.3 million followers and over 28 million
(02:53):
likes. So for all those reasons and many more,it's my tremendous Honor and truly great pleasure
to be joined today on Story Beat by theextraordinarily multi talented Debi Derryberry.
Debi welcome to the show.
Wow. Thanks, Steve. That was quite the intro.
Thank you very, very much. It's so nice to be hereand.
Well deserved, well deserved. So let's go back intime just a little bit and into your history. When
(03:19):
did acting and singing first pass bite you? Howold were you?
Golly, I would say. Well, my, My mom had a guitar.
We always did little songs from camp. When wedrove places, we'd do, songs together. And I just
got the harmony bug and loved to do harmonies. Itjust makes me tick inside, makes me go all happy.
(03:41):
And so I got my guitar when I was nine and I, youknow, back then we had a newspaper and they put
the, the top 40 song they printed in the newspaperwith the chords and you could cut it out and play
the song and learn how to play it. I had a singingpartner, I think I was maybe 8 or 9 when I was
(04:01):
just, overcome with. I must sing all the time. Ourfamily was in a. We grew up in the desert near
Palm Springs. We were members of the Valley ValleyPlayers Guild. So we were in, ah, community
theater. And I did a number of community theatersin the desert as well as high school theater. And
I went to UCLA to be a doctor. To be a pre med andI took drama there. Obviously I did not go to med
(04:28):
school much to my dad's dismay, but I continuedstudying acting and doing stage shows and then
segued into some on camera. So it sort of alwaysbeen part of my life. my favorite part is when
people clap for me. I like being clapped for.
(04:50):
But. But in a studio setting, you don't getclapped at very often, do you?
No, not at all. But then there's conventions wherepeople give you your accolades at your table. When
they, when you sign their items.
Are they amazed that you are who. Who you are?
Because they m. Many times won't even know whatyou look like.
That's right. I have, you know, we have ourbanners there at our tables and usually, people
(05:15):
will walk up to the table and they'll look at. Ihave these pictures that have all the characters
that I've done well, some of them around me. Andthey'll look at the characters and they'll do like
a double take. Wait, you were Jimmy Neutron. Wait,wait, you were Zatch Bell. Wait, you were. And
I'll reply yes, in the character's voice. Andsometimes, you know, Steve it can be very
(05:39):
emotional for the listener because this was whatthey grew up with. And just like, you know, when
you smell something that reminds you of, like,grandma's house, that fried chicken smell, or that
plant at that place, when you hear that sound, Iwould say two or three times at each convention,
(05:59):
people break down in tears. You know, theyapologize. I'm like, don't apologize. It happens.
You know, you have memories. There are things thatspark genuine, primal emotions. And I guess sound
voice is one of them.
Absolutely. Especially when it's, a, sound fromyour childhood and it's something that had meaning
(06:20):
to you in resonance. It comes all the way back up.
By the way, that's the first time in nine years ofdoing this show that anyone has used the word
verklempt. So I'm thrilled.
Well, I don't know how to spell it. I didn't knowthere was an R in it. Verklempt. Verklempt. Well,
there you go.
At what point in your career, as you were startingout, did you think to yourself, I not only love
(06:41):
doing this, but I'm actually good at it? When didyou figure out that you were good at this?
I don't know if I figured that out yet. I don'tever think that that thought came into my head. I
love to work really hard, and I love to do what Ilove to do. I've had these opportunities come my
way, and I just kind of run through the door and Isay, yes, I want to try that. You know, if one
(07:07):
thing isn't working and another door opens, then Irun through that door. And a few of these doors
have led me to projects that have been reallysuccessful. Not by my doing, maybe a little bit.
But, you know, there's so much more involved in ashow than the voice. There's the creators and the
writers, the directors and the producers and theadvertisements, the networks, that there's so much
(07:33):
more. And I'm just lucky to be doing the voice.
And that seems to be what people notice.
Well, I'm here to tell you that you're actuallyvery good at what you do.
Debi Derryberry (07:43):
Thank you.
And not only that, but, the truth is that as awriter, we're going to talk about this a little
more, but as you know, I've written lot ofanimation scripts.
Yes.
And I never wrote a single animation script in allof my whole career that wasn't made much better by
the actors.
Is that right?
Whatever's in your head as a writer, it's not whatwinds up being done by the actors, and it's almost
(08:06):
always much better.
I do a lot of coaching, a, lot of voiceoverteaching, and I tell my students, you know, the
writer puts their on the page, who. What his ideais, but we get to play with that, we get to
interpret that, but we also need to give theanimator something to do. The words are a
suggestion and you need to stick to them fairlyclose, but you can play with them. And that's
(08:31):
where the acting part comes in. You have to beable to get them off the page.
I think the great voiceover actors that I havewatched and seen work in LA are also great
improvisers. They can riff on things and makethings much, much better than what's on the page.
Before COVID when we would be in the boothtogether, it was so much more fun to riff and to
(08:58):
be able to have that camaraderie and bouncing offeach other. And now that we record alone, we don't
get that as much. And I think product suffers,quite honestly.
Do you. It's a different energy, isn't it? Youdon't get the energy off of the other people.
That's exactly it. You don't get to bounce offthem. And you remember back in the days when all
(09:23):
the actors have their headphones on and, you know,the engineer would just let it run and it was just
crazy what would come out.
Absolutely. Well, so many of them came from,either the world of acting prior to. Or they were
comedians or whatever. But almost all of thesuccessful voiceover actors that I'm aware of are
(09:45):
funny people. They're not, dull, uninterestingfolks. And when they're in this, in a, a booth
together as a group, it just gets completelycrazy.
It does get completely crazy. With Jimmy Neutron,I was basically Steve. I was the straight man. I
was in that studio with the funniest people I'veever been around. Mark DeCarlo, Megan Kavanaugh,
(10:10):
Rob Paulson, Jeff Garcia. Just hilarious peoplewho could riff and had so many stories. And I
think to make something work, you need both thestraight man and the riffer.
So do you feel like the work that's being donetoday is really, less amusing or less entertaining
(10:31):
or less full of energy than it was. Is that whatyou're saying? That that's the big difference as
an actor?
Yeah, because it's, you know, I'm. I'm, I'mpointing. I know you can't see because we're audio
only, but I'm pointing at my Booth, which is alittle room here in my office. And that's where I
go to work. And it's not like we'd get in thestudio and go to Nickelodeon. I could. I mean,
(10:54):
sometimes we go into the studio still, but it'snever a group. I do miss it. And it was a special
time. When you're in something like that, youdon't realize until you're out of it. Wow, that
was the golden time. That was amazing. Because nowit's gone.
That was. That was a very special period. Well,especially when I was doing most of my work was
(11:18):
the 1990s into the 2000s, and it was the business.
The animation business was rocking and rolling.
They were doing, throwing off time. Tons ofepisodes of. Tons of shows, mostly for
syndication. All right, so let's talk for a momentabout the business of being a voiceover actor,
actress. There must be at least a thousand peoplein your head. Where do all the characters come
(11:40):
from? Is it just from the written page, or are youout there in the world and characters are coming
to you before you even know you're going to dothem?
I think it's a combination of that. I do have,what I call the, your legacy characters that live
in your head. You know, you have your standardcharacters, but then when you're trying to come up
(12:00):
with a character, I look at it a little moretechnically, a little more scientific. You know
where I'll have. I'll say, okay, what's the age?
Well, so she's maybe a teenager. Okay, where's shefrom? Oh, okay. Just to make it easy, put her in
the South. Okay, we have a teenager in the southand make her. Maybe she's a little bit snarky. So
(12:26):
then we have a teenager in the south, and she'ssnarky. Well, maybe she has braces. Okay, so now
we have this teenage snarky thing, and she's gotbraces on. and so you layer the different things
that are in your wheelhouse that you can do tocome up with different characters. So for me,
(12:49):
there's, you know, the skills that I have that Ican put together. There's my wheelhouse
characters. There's my, copycat characters. InJimmy Neutron, Rob Paulson does this character
named Carl. And everybody wants to imitate Carl.
Well, I kind of stole him for a show I did withBill Burr called F is for Family. And there was a
(13:12):
little character named Philip. Yeah. So I did myversion of Carl as Philip, but he had some braces,
too. And so you can steal, impersonate. There's somany different ways of bringing characters into
crazy brain.
Do you work with your voice every single day?
(13:34):
Yes. whether I'm using, know, just picking up myguitar and writing a song, or this morning I was
at, my producer's house singing. I had twoauditions yesterday. One of the auditions took a
while because they wanted me to sing thisparticular song, so I had to learn it, download
the karaoke track. Now we have to be our ownengineers too. So I have to learn how to use
(13:56):
software where I can download music and sing withit and edit it together and do that.
You produce your own work. That way you actuallydo the physical work as well, not just the
singing.
For auditions, we have to record ourselves andedit it. If there's a song that they want us to
sing, we have to record that together too.
And so you're still. You just said auditioning.
(14:17):
You're still auditioning. People don't just callyou and say.
I get asked so often, Steve. We still have toaudition once in a while. They'll throw me a bone.
You know, back in the day of Jenny McSwain and SueBlue, they would say, get Debi over to Nickelodeon
or get Debi over to Salome Studios or just, justgo. But it's different now. You have to audition
(14:39):
for every single thing. So I do. And there's somany different things to audition for, Steve.
Every, there's video games, and every video gamehas, you know, over 300 characters. It's a
constant audition process for video games, forthe, all the dubbing, for the anime shows. It's
(15:01):
never ending.
So what, as you're working with your voice duringthe day, what do you have a typical set of
exercises that you do, or is it different everyday?
I don't. I mean, sometimes if it's a rough. Ifit's going to be a challenging singing session, I
will do my standard singing exercises, usually inthe car on the way over to the studio. But I think
(15:23):
just in general, I, I work on my breathing. I swimevery morning, and I hold my breath a lot to try
and really get my lung capacity up. And, you know,I do all the things you're supposed to do and not
do, like no smoking and no coffee. And, I'mdrinking. You can't see it, but I have my hot, my
hot beverage and I don't really drink sodas. So wejust standard makes sense, take care of your voice
(15:49):
kind of things.
Is there anything that you learned about yourvoice early on that you're still doing and working
on. Or, have you passed all that into some otherphase?
I used to do things that would hurt my voice, andI think, oh, I'll just have to do it for a second.
But, you know, I've learned if you can't sustainit for two to four hours, that's not a voice you
(16:12):
should be doing.
What do you mean by sustain it?
If, where you place that voice, if you can make itsound like that and keep that voice print for the
length of the session and, and guide that voiceprint through all the emotions that go with that
character in that episode. Maybe there's somelaughing, maybe there's some crying, maybe they're
(16:34):
screaming. Maybe there's some, something verydramatic. And maybe there's cursing, maybe there's
laughing. Maybe there's no talking at all and it'sjust all laughing. Can you stay in that character
for all those requirements? And it can be hard. Ihad one show called Tasmania, and I played Jim
(16:55):
Cummings was Taz, and I played his little brotherJake. And the voice that I got cast with was a
voice I could not sustain. And I ended up withalmost a vocal, vocal node. So I know never, never
to audition that voice again because every time Iwent into session, I always ended up blowing it
out.
Did you know when you first started doing it thatyou were in trouble?
(17:18):
I, knew that it would be challenging and I betterbe, you know, healthy and up to the task. But I
didn't think it would be a problem doing thatvoice. Usually as a professional athlete, they
will say no pain, no gain. But with voiceover,it's not that way. If there's pain, don't do that
voice.
Well, some voices, some voice actors, they dostuff. I don't know how they do it.
(17:40):
Yeah, I mean, in. Everybody's vocal cords aredifferent. Some smokers have that signature
smoking sound, and some people sound smoky withouteven smoking.
Steve Cuden (17:51):
Like Julie Kavner.
Yeah, she has that. You know, I can do that, thatancient rasp now without it hurting me. I call it
sort of my. My granny spot. It doesn't hurt me totalk like this, but I just lower it and there's
some texture there. And hold. Oh, Bob's youruncle.
(18:12):
That's. That's Warner Brothers classic granny.
Yes, but it doesn't hurt. And there are so manyscreaming scenes and death scenes in video games.
And the directors are always very, thoughtful andlet you scream at the end of the session. And
sometimes they're very young directors and theydon't know how a voice works. And us voice actors
(18:37):
who do know, we will say, listen, there's thesefew lines that are really pushing a lot of
emotion. Let's save it to the end. I've beenreally fortunate that my voice has remained strong
and I've been able to, do all these differentcharacters.
Well, for sure, because you can hurt yourself ifyou're not careful. And, that's why I was curious.
(19:00):
If there is a preparation that you go throughevery day and you're saying, not really. It's a
day by day thing, Are there certain preparationsthat you go through with your voice when you're
getting ready to record, a show that's going totake you several hours?
Yeah, I will, make sure that I eat the rightthings beforehand or not eat the wrong things. No,
(19:21):
you know, no bubbles, no tuna fish, no garlic, nosoda, no coffee. Comforting kind of easy foods
that don't give you a lot of phlegm, you know, nomilk, cottage cheese, ice cream. Things to me that
are just second nature. Just that you're not goingto do before a session.
Did you know that when you first started out, ordid you have to learn it the hard way?
(19:42):
I think I had to learn it the hard way. But ofcourse, 30 years ago, you know, when you're 20 or
38, you're so resilient and you'll never die.
There's never anything that's going to hurt you.
You just keep at it. But now you just have to takecare of your body and your voice. It is really the
(20:03):
key. and the, the eyes, that's another thing,because now we don't get paper scripts anymore.
Steve. Everything's on a digital monitor. When Icoach people, when I train people, I still have
them use a paper script because I want them to getused to being able to take that adjustment,
whatever the director is asking them to do and notforget it. But these days you don't have a paper
(20:28):
script, so you usually have a little pad of paper.
These monitors on which the scripts are placed areat different distances. I have a distance for my
booth, so I have booth glasses. I have computerglasses so I can look down and up for a bicycle.
Look, I have distance glasses for when. BecauseI've always needed glasses. When I'm in a video
(20:51):
game studio, Sometimes they put that monitor onthe far wall. So. So, you have to be prepared with
your eyes. And also another thing is the headphonesituation. Because I have glasses, the headphones
can smash against the temples and give youheadaches. So, for recording, I have these custom
(21:14):
ultimate ear buds that are custom made to my ear,and I'll take that into the studio with me, and
that'll plug into the interface because theheadphones smash against them. I'm really short.
I'm 4 foot 10. So sometimes I travel to a studiowith a. You know what a yoga block is? It's like a
little square that's, not. It's made out of foam,really, but it's like my foot stool, because if my
(21:41):
feet don't touch the ground and I'm sitting in achair for four hours, that can be hard on
somebody's back or if you're standing for a longtime. So it's, there's a lot of physicality you
have to think about.
And do you exercise every day to work with yourbody so that you.
Can do that every single day? I'm on my exercise
cycle i (22:01):
00am I do 20 minutes of high cardio. And then, we'll do 20 minutes Pilates
on our YouTube. Pilates. And then in the swimmingpool for the lung and the, stretching, and then,
we'll do the dog walk. So every day is acombination of those.
So I think the listeners need to pay closeattention to this. If you have any thought in your
(22:23):
head about becoming a voice actor or even justnot, a voice actor, an actor in general, you have
got to take care of what they call your temple,which is your body. And if you don't, then you run
the risk of having. You're burning yourself out ornot being able to do it. And so it's a very
important aspect of doing what Debi does. So, whenyou receive a script, I assume you receive most
(22:45):
scripts ahead of time. You're not seeing them forthe first time in the studio. or do you.
Video games. You never receive a script. Youreceive your few lines. You sign an NDA. You don't
get to know the story. You have to be a reallygood cold reader because you just go in and here's
your script, here's your lines. Go for cartoons.
(23:06):
Sometimes they send you the script, or sometimesthey'll send you a scene and a digital one. Never
on paper. You know, as an actor, you want to readthrough the scene and know what's going on. You
have to look at the stage direction. You have tosee what the person said just before you spoke.
you have to know why you're saying it. You have toknow where you are, how far away is that person
(23:28):
from you? it is the video games director's job toknow what's going on in each scene. And. And a
very important part of a video game session is thebeginning, where I always have a paper and pencil,
and they say, this is what's going on. TheTridacodon is coming back through the Palauthics
period. And you know that all the dragons wore,laftas, so the loftas were going over the
(23:53):
Phanamenoas. And it makes no sense. But you haveto make sense of it and they have to explain it to
you.
I think that's phenomenal that anything comes outthat sounds like it belongs together because
you're doing sometimes, as you say, in anindividual booth by yourself. And they have to
piece all that together. And it should sound likeit's people talking to each other, but frequently
(24:17):
you're not together at all. So that's the trick,isn't it?
Yeah. I mean, good luck to the engineers. They'rethe ones. They're the ones that have to make it
sound like they're talking to each other. But ifyou listen to, say, a Bobby's World or a Tasmania,
where we all recorded together, or Jimmy Neutron,if you listen to those finished products, as
(24:40):
opposed to, say, a Paw Patrol or, you know,something that's current now that's not recorded
together, there's a big difference in the way itsounds.
Yeah. I'm guessing that the producers don't worryabout it too much because they probably think to
themselves, the audience at that age is notterribly discriminating, and so they're not
(25:02):
worried about the audience reaction being to thenegative. But I think that it does make a
difference.
I think the audience is very discerning.
Especially children. Especially. I mean, I domusic for kids and I don't perform live anymore. I
have an animated character that I use calledLittle Debi And when I was performing live, if
(25:25):
those kids were not engaged, they will get up andwalk away. I mean, an adult will sit there and be
polite. Kids are not so, you know, they're not sotrained in good manners because they want to be
entertained.
Yeah. And if you don't keep them engaged, theywill absolutely disengage quite quickly.
That's exactly right. I have this whole YouTubeKids channel. It's not YouTube Kids yet, it's Debi
(25:50):
Derryberry Kids. And I'm hoping one day to make itdown that lucky funnel that puts you into YouTube
kids, which is a Whole other thing. But currentlyit's Debi Derryberry kids. And my demographic is
like 2 to 6 year olds. And I'm having so much funwith all my kids music. I, having them animated.
(26:11):
the songs are animated now and I put them up on myYouTube channel. And you can look at the analytics
and see how long somebody watches your videobefore they piece out.
I know that you do multiple characters within asingle show. What's the most characters you've
ever done in one episode of a show?
(26:33):
I think it was F is for Family. I had seven shows,seven characters. I had Bill Barber's daughter
named Maureen. That was his little princess.
That's like my standard clear voiced little girl.
And then there was Philip, the fella down thestreet who has braces and he was a little nervous.
(26:56):
And then there was the kid down the street namedKitty. He, he wore a diaper and his mama was in
the people jail. and he watched the squirrels inthe TV set. And then I did the nurse from kind of
Midwestern. She was in the hospital all the time.
What kid did you almost kill this time? And then Idid Bridget, Bridget with a friend down the
(27:22):
street. And she was very foul mouthed and shewould say, say terrible sailor mouth things. And
then there was Gert. Gert was Suzanne's friendfrom college. And she had those cat eye glasses.
And then I had Scott. Scott was a little computernerd. So that was, I don't know if that was seven
(27:43):
or more, but there were a lot.
Did you ever have to do characters talking tothemselves back and forth?
Oh yeah. But what I prefer to do in that instanceis just record one and then record the other and
let the animator, you know, go to town.
So I had the great privilege to sit in the boothand watch. Not in the booth, but you know, outside
(28:07):
the booth. Watch. Jim Cummings doing twocharacters back and forth. Was in the show Bonkers
when he was doing Lucky Paquelle and Bonkers. Andit was, I mean they were two completely utterly
distinct sounding characters. They didn't soundanything alike. Their rhythms were different.
Everything was different about them. And he did itback and forth to himself and it was like, how is
(28:29):
he doing that?
I know, it's mind boggling, isn't it?
It's completely mind boggling. The great ones likeyou are very smooth at doing it in a way that you
go, I don't know how they're doing it. It's, it'slike a magic trick. It really is.
Oh, that's very kind of you to say. You know, it'sbeen so long that I've been doing it.
(28:51):
Well, yeah, I mean you've got it down to a thingwhere you know how you're doing it. Do you use
your body in your acting? Do you, even though it'svoice acting, do you need to use body movement and
expression in your face to get a character towork?
Absolutely. there was this one show I did with TimCurry called Peter Pan and the Pirates and Jason
(29:14):
Marsden played Peter Pan and I played Tinkerbell.
And Tinkerbell was a little petulant, kind of, Iwant to use the B word. She was a petulant in love
with Peter and she didn't like Captain Hook and Iwas like her first voice, normally she was just a
tinkle. When I recorded her, I would look at themic and I do this and when I looked at the drawn
(29:36):
animation, she did this and she sometimes wentcross eyed. I'm like, why is she doing that? It's
because that's what I did when I recorded her. Andsometimes they film you when you're doing the
voice because they want to know how does she getthat voice out?
They do that more often than people know is thatthey will record the actors and use the actors
expressions in the actual animation as they do.
(29:59):
Yeah, they have to let you know if it's a ScreenActors Guild union job, they have to tell you
ahead of time they'll be filming, for theanimators, which is fine, I mean, whatever they
have to do. But yes, there is a physicality thatgoes with each character.
I think one of the most fascinating things thatyou do and you have a specific voice for it is you
(30:20):
do both young boys and girls. Is there a, is therea distinction in your head how you get from a boy
to a girl? Does it, Is it, how do you do that? Isit just the modulation of the voice?
In real life, little boys and little girls soundthe same. But in cartoons they expect the boys to
have some gravel and the girls to be a little moreclear voiced. If you're talking like a, I don't
(30:47):
know, like a six year old, they're not going tohave the same smooth cadence that maybe a teenager
does because they stop and think. And that wouldbe a little girl maybe. But then if it's a little
boy, then you come out at. I kind of come out theside of my mouth and he has a little bit more
(31:09):
gravel and they a little Tougher, you know? yeah.
So for me the difference is clear versus side ofthe mouth and gravel.
So I'm just curious, is there anything you wishanimation writers would do more of to make your
job easier?
I like it when they give pictures. They giveimages of what the character looks like and that
(31:31):
gives me an idea of, what voice I might want tocome up with. If it's a really very large
character, kind of lumbering, then I have a couplechoices. I might go lumbering or I might do it a
little high pitched, which would be really funnynext to the visual of a very large character. So
(31:53):
having the, pictures is often helpful. I'm tryingto think if there's something else in the scripts.
sometimes if it just doesn't ring true to thecharacter that I've given it, I'll switch it up a
little bit. You know, depending on theregionalisms, maybe the character is upset or,
(32:15):
excited and they're from, you know, if they arefrom the south, you might add something to it. You
know what, I will tell you what, that might not bein the script, but you can add it or say they're
from Wisconsin. It would be, oh, for accordancesakes. Do you know, I, I'm taking a tuna casserole
(32:35):
and all those little woo hoo, those littleexpressions, the regionalisms, they bring it to
life. and sometimes I'll add that.
Do you do stuff like that in the booth? And theygo, no, that's not what we want at all. Do
something totally different. Does that happen?
Oh yeah, Sometimes I'll audition that way andthey'll be, happy about the audition and they'll
book me and they'll say, but we want to pull backon that accent. Pull back on that character a bit.
(32:59):
Just give it to us straight. And so I tell mystudents when I'm coaching, you know, if you have
two really separate characters, give them bothbecause they might really love them. But once you
get into the booth, they're going to pull it backanyway. They're going to do it the way, I don't
know, the way that they want. Who knows, maybethere's another character that they want to be the
(33:23):
funny right then.
You alluded to it a little bit a moment ago. But Ilove it when the voice with whatever the character
drawing is is counterintuitive to what you thinkthe voice should be.
Yeah, I think that's super fun. And I guess that'sthe freedom we get as a voice actor is to try
those sorts of things. And sometimes when you'rein a show as a utility player, the writers will
(33:48):
have, you know, some one off character and they'llsay, just take that character, this show, Debi and
you'll get to come up with something, you know,just on the spot. And you better be able to just
reach into your bag of tricks and put somethingtogether right quick.
And no doubt you do. what kind of direction do youget that you think is very helpful? What would you
like to have more direction of?
(34:10):
Oh, more Jeannie McSwain. More Debi chew up thescenery on this one. Come on, make me cry, Debi
She was the best director ever. I like directionthat is, being. Being from a science, scientific,
pragmatic background. You know, I like the easyones. Faster or slower. Something that's, that's
(34:31):
very easy to do, that's very tangible. I reallyadmire directors who have such a great, retrieval
skills with their words, and they can just reachdown deep and find the exact thing they need to
say. And of course, I don't have that, so I'm notable to communicate that to you right now. But a
good director is, is rare and hard to find. AndI've worked with just some of the best. And I'm
(34:57):
always amazed at their word retrieval skills.
You're talking about, you're talking about thatthey have good verbs to use that help you to
figure out where you're going with the, with theline, how to say the line, and so on.
Not just necessarily grabbing the verb, but comingup with. With the sentence that communicates to
you rather than just, he's madder than that. Youknow, just instead of telling me more mad, they
(35:26):
would say something that would just reallyresonate with me. Like, you know, he just sliced
off your, your dog's foot and it was your favoritedog. I know, look at me going really dark. But
sometimes they'll just say the right thing andit'll get you right where you need to be. I wish I
(35:49):
could think of a great example for you, but that'swhy I'm on this end of it, doing the voices and
marveling at the great directors.
Does anybody ever give you line readings?
Oh, yes. Sometimes I think it's wrong when anactor objects to it because sometimes the director
does not have good retrieval word retrieval skillsand does not have good communication skills. And
(36:11):
all they can do is say, I want it like this. And Iwill tell them because they're struggling not to
line read you. And I will say, just tell me theway you hear it in your head, it's okay. If it's a
line read, that's okay with me. And I let him offthe hook. And then they'll tell me and, you know,
it might be something that the emphasis was wrongor that they were hearing something completely
(36:34):
different than how I was reading the line. If youhaven't got it in the first three takes, give me a
line read.
Of course, there are two extremely famous examplesof famous actors who notoriously railed, against
directors who were trying to give them linereadings or something like that one being William
Shatner, who I've had the great fortune tointerview. And also, Orson Welles, both of whom
(36:59):
are in Maurice Lamarche's, wheelhouse. Right. andso the notorious thing is, don't give me a line
reading. Don't tell an, actor how to read a line.
You prefer it in the interest of time? Yeah, it'sjust a line. And if I'm not getting it in a few
takes, give it to me. So I just think it's alittle. I think it's a little snooty of an actor.
(37:22):
Not that. Anything against orson Welles or Mr.
Shatner. They have a. Studios are expensive,studio time is expensive, directors are expensive.
Let's just get her done.
Absolutely. Let's, switch gears a little bit andtalk about your songwriting, which you've already
chatted about a moment ago or a little while ago.
do you think of yourself primarily as an actressor a songwriter or both?
Debi Derryberry (37:45):
Oh, both.
How long have you been writing songs? Since youwere nine and you got the guitar. Were you writing
songs back then?
Yes, I wrote. My first song was called My Dog's MyBuddy, and that's actually on my first album, what
a Way to Play. And I have an animated. Not ananimated video. Yeah, I have both, actually
animated and live action. They both bring me greatjoy. But writing, music songs, whether it's kids
(38:11):
songs or adult songs. I also have a country bandcalled Honey Pig. It's a six person band, three
female harmonies. I love them both so much. Idon't think of myself as anything, you know, if
you'd say, I'm a really good dog walker and I'm agood songwriter, I'm a good singer, I'm a good
actress. I work really hard at everything I dobecause I love working and I want to be good at
(38:36):
everything.
Why did you decide to focus on writing songs forkids?
Easy for me to sing in a voice that kids love.
There's something about my singing Voice that kidsjust like to listen to. And I think it's important
as a steward of the grown upness is to be able to,have messages for kids that are on point, that are
(39:04):
educational but not educational, that are fun butnurturing.
Are you, do you write your songs on guitar? Isthat what you write on? Or do you also write on
any.
Other instruments, just on guitar? I'll generallybecause I'm a competent guitar player, but, you
know, I don't love E flat at all. And I play yourbasic chords. So my songs are fairly basic. you
(39:31):
know, they're generally your 14 fives or your 1645s.
Well, you have, you put into your songs ratherrepetitive, simple, interesting, fun melodies.
That's what I've noticed in looking at your work.
It's not like you're doing complex orchestralstuff. It's purposely done for kids and it has a
repetition to it. And that's the way that mostkids songs play. And that's right.
(39:54):
And most country songs as well. some of my adultsongs are a little more complicated.
Steve (40:01):
Do you have a preference?
No, I like it all. And sometimes I'll wake up andI'll have a kid song in my head that I'll have to
write down. Or sometimes I'll wake up and I'llhave a country song in my head that I have to
write down. Or I'll have to turn on my voice memoon the phone and sing it to my phone in the middle
of the night. And then I'll wake up in the morningand go, what were you thinking, Debbie? Or I'll be
(40:22):
like, that's a really good song. So, they come tome in different ways.
So where did Baby Banana come from?
My, kids. My, my second husband, came up with thischaracter, a baby banana. He said his dad was a
gorilla and his mom was a duck. And I heard himtelling this story to, my son and I thought, well,
(40:46):
that's an interesting diverse family. And so I, Iwrote that song Baby Banana and the Licorice Tree.
And it was on my very first album. And I didn'tknow it was going to do so well. so I wrote a book
called Baby Banana and the Licorice Tree. And thenI did a whole separate album called Baby Banana
(41:07):
with all kinds of, you know, tropical fruit songsand Baby Banana type things flying. So that's how
that song came up. And I did give him credit inthe, in the book inspired by.
Steve (41:20):
It's a very catchy song.
Thank you. Yeah, kids like it and it has littlehand motions to it. And I have a couple of
different, videos for it on my, wwberry Kidsanimated channel. One of them is just coming out
soon, and it's 3D, and the other one is 2D. Somuch fun doing these animated videos.
(41:40):
So one of your more recent songs is the CompostBin. How in the world did you get Lisa Loeb to
sing it with you?
well, she lives down the street. We have the samevoice agent. So I called her and I said. And I
coached her actually a couple times for voiceover.
And I said, I want to do a song more green based,so let's do a compost song. So I went over to her
(42:02):
house and we wrote it. She really liked my musicproducer, Steve Brickman, and we recorded it over
at his studio.
So where do you. When you get a song idea, wheredo you begin? Do you just. It's a. Is it usually a
melody or is it a hook or a lyric? What usuallycomes to you first? Or is it all the above?
All of the above. Sometimes it's a hook. It'snever usually the melody. And sometimes it's an
(42:28):
actual word. Hook. sometimes I work on it so hardand nothing ever comes of it. And sometimes it
just comes out like vomit, like, boom.
And, So when you typically write a song, are you apretty fast writer, or does it take you a long
time? Do you dwell on it for a long time?
I'm not a dweller, Steve. I like to get thingsdone. so it might take. Some songs might take
(42:52):
longer than others. I look for the finish line. Mydad used to say to me, Debi if you can't decide,
it doesn't matter.
So if you can't decide, it doesn't.
It comes down to a couple things.
You also from your career, you've had to go in anddo it. It's not like you go into a studio and
(43:13):
spend days trying to figure out a line.
You just go in and do it sometimes. M. I mean, Idon't want to say that I don't get stuck. Stuck. I
do get stuck. I. I have a few songs that have justsat there forever because they just haven't risen
to the. You know, with the cream to the top.
Is there a typical number of drafts that you gothrough, or is it usually one, two drafts and
(43:36):
you're done?
Sometimes I think it's done, and then I'll sit onit and I'll record it and I'll Be like. And then
it'll come to me that there needs to be a changeand I'll go back in and have to re record and make
a change.
If you're the creator of, a work of art, you'reentitled to keep working it. I always think, I
know for a fact, certain, that your first draftsare usually not very good of anything. And then it
(43:58):
takes a little while to refine, to revise, to makeit better. And then sometimes it takes a while
longer than that to get it where you really wantit. I mean, a lot of painters take a year or
longer to paint a painting, so they just keepcoming back at it. I'm just gonna, tell you that I
think that it's such a joy to listen to you speak,to listen to all the characters, and it's just
(44:19):
fantastic. But we're gonna wind the show down justa little bit. And I'm wondering, in all of your
experiences, you've told us all these greatstories already, but I'm wondering, can you share
with us a story that's either weird, quirky,offbeat, strange, or just plain funny?
I've been a scuba diver since 1983, so I've beendiving a long time time. A friend of mine said,
(44:41):
Debi they're looking for a scuba diver to be thebody stunt double for a little boy in this movie
they're doing at Warner Brothers called FreeWilly. And so I went over to Warner Brothers and
I'm, it's still at my age, I'm still the size of a12 year old boy. I've done a lot of jobs as a 12
year old boy in costume or whatever. And I metwith them and the next day I was flying down to
(45:06):
Mexico City to be the body stunt double to ridethe whale for Free Willy. So in that movie, in
Free Willy, when the little boy is, running aroundthe tank and he slips and hits his head and he
falls in the tank and the whale rescues him, it'sall me. I'm the one that rode that whale really.
And I want to say that I do not believe in males,in mammals, in captivity. And I would never do the
(45:31):
job again. Back then I didn't have the deepknowledge that I do now on how cruel it is. So I
don't want people to think that. I think it was agreat thing to do to have a whale in captivity,
but it was a very cruel job and it was very fun tobe in that whale tank with that whale for seven
weeks.
You were actually in with the live Whale.
(45:53):
And I know that your audience can't see this, butI'm just going to show up this picture of me on
the whale.
Debi is showing us this beautiful framed portraitof her sitting on a real whale in Free Willy.
That's crazy.
Debi Derryb (46:07):
So that's my story.
Ste (46:09):
I'm glad you survived that.
My mom and dad wanted me to get life insurance,and I called Lloyd's of London and they said, no
go. You don't get any insurance for that. But, youknow, we were young, indestructible, Nothing ever
hurts us.
And nothing did. And that's a good thing.
(46:29):
Nothing did. Nope. And that was before I had eyeLasix. I was, legally blind without my glasses,
and I couldn't wear glasses in the whale tank.
So how did you see what you were doing?
It was very fuzzy, but I, you know, could basicsee basic shapes. And I was basically the rat toy,
(46:49):
you know, that the trainer told the whale what todo and I was like the tennis ball you throw for
your dog.
Oh, my goodness. Was that whale tossing you up inthe air and all that stuff?
No, people tossing. he did, there were a lot ofnose pushes. There was a back, back rides. I was
18ft under in the dark when the whale came at mewith his big snout. And I couldn't see it, but I
(47:12):
could feel the water moving. And my job was to letgo of the grate on the bottom of this 18 foot pool
and let the whale stick his, head under my bodyand bring me to the surface and rescue me.
I had no idea. That is really. That would beintense. No question about it. Well, thank you for
sharing. Thank you for sharing that story. so. Allright, last question for you today, Debi you've
(47:36):
given us a tremendous amount of advice throughoutthis whole show, but I'm wondering if you have a
single solid piece of advice that you like to giveto those who come up to you and say, I'm starting
out. I'd like to be a voiceover person or whateverthey say to you, or a songwriter. What kind of
advice do you give to those people?
I would say if you're sure there's nothing elsethat you could possibly do, if there's nothing
(48:01):
else you want to do that you could possibly dobesides voice acting, then you have to be a voice
actor or a singer. But it is super hard and it'ssuch a long shot and it's. I've been so fortunate,
you know, that it's just such a hard way to make aliving that I really try to discourage people
(48:22):
unless they really want it. Because when you'repassionate about something, then it's fun and you
must do it. So if, if you must do it, then do it.
That is so, excellent to hear coming from someonewho's had such great success. Because I've told
people forever the business of show, is not forthe faint of heart or weak of stomach. And it
(48:45):
really is extremely hard. And if you don't havethe fire in your belly for it, it's not a good
idea to go too far down the road because yourheart's going to get broken. There are too many
people that do have the fire in the belly, andthat's the problem you're up against.
De (49:00):
That's exactly right, Steve.
It's a tough road to hoe. And when you do havesuccess like you've had, sometimes there are ups
and downs and you have to deal with those too. Itdoesn't all necessarily come as one smooth ride.
Oh, yeah, it's an up and down business for sure. Iwant to make sure I take a minute to tell people
about my, kids YouTube channel. I know I spokeabout it briefly.
Steve Cuden (49:22):
Sure.
it's, called Debi Derryberry Kids. And Debi isspelled D, E, B I with four letters. Derryberry is
D E, R, R Y B E, R, R Y Kids. And I would loveeverybody to subscribe to it and, show all the
animated videos to your kids. Or maybe you're justa big kid and you can watch them as well. But it's
(49:45):
my new pride and joy and I'm having so much fundoing it.
And your work is widely available on all, almostall the major podcasts, or, not podcasts, but the
major apps and platforms.
Oh, yeah, it's on all the streaming platforms.
It's on every single streaming platform out therein every country.
And tons of videos that are out there with Debi inthem. All kinds of wonderful stuff and songs that
(50:06):
you can find. yeah, I highly encourage you,especially if you're a parent with little kids,
that you're trying to keep entertained. I wouldsuggest that you go find Debi Derryberry Kids.
Oh, and, my latest compilation song list is calleddad Needs a Break. And it's over an hour of
videos.
(50:27):
Wow. Dad needs a Break. What about Mom? Doesn'tshe get a break?
That's the next playlist, Steve. It's going to beMom Needs Break.
The next compilation, Debi Derryberry. This hasbeen absolutely a fantastic hour on Story Beat,
and I can't thank you enough for your time, yourincredible energy, and all this wisdom that you've
shared. I thank you kindly for all of it.
(50:48):
Thank you for having me, Steve. Always a pleasure.
And so we've come to the end of today's StoryBeat. If you like this episode, won't you please
take a moment to give us a comment, rating, orreview on whatever app or platform you're
listening to? Your support helps us bring moregreat Story Beat episodes to you. Story Story Beat
is available on all major podcast apps andplatforms, including Apple Podcasts, YouTube,
(51:13):
Spotify, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and many others.
Until next time, I'm Steve Cuden, and may all yourstories be unforgettable.
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