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August 24, 2025 82 mins
This week on Toon’d In!, Jim Cummings welcomes the incomparable voice actress and queen of sass herself—Lori Alan! Known to millions as the voice behind Pearl Krabs (SpongeBob SquarePants), Diane Simmons (Family Guy), and The Boss (Metal Gear Solid series), Lori brings her powerhouse presence and razor-sharp wit to a lively, heartfelt, and hilariously candid conversation.

From her early days in voiceover (spoiler: she was in a commercial before she could walk!) to finding her groove as one of animation’s most versatile and in-demand talents, Lori shares the highs, the hustle, and the heart behind every performance. She and Jim dive into the art of bringing animated characters to life, the importance of emotional authenticity in voice acting, and the behind-the-scenes moments that shaped some of the most iconic voices in pop culture.

🎙️ Ever wonder how a single voice can steal every scene? Tune in and get Toon’d In!

🎟️ Meet Jim and Lori in person! Catch Jim Cummings at these upcoming conventions:
  • SacAnime (Sacramento, CA) – August 29–31
  • Amazing Art Expo (Las Vegas, NV) – September 12–14
  • Nostalgia Con (Milwaukee, WI) – September 26–28
  • Smoky Mountain Anime Fest (Gatlinburg, TN) – October 17–19
  • Armageddon Expo (New Zealand) - October 24-27
  • Supanova Comic Con Adelaide (Australia) - October 31 - November 2
  • Supanova Comic Con Brisbane (Australia) - November 7-9
  • Nostalgia Con (New Orleans, LA) – November 21–23
  • Nostalgia Con (Salt Lake City, UT) – March 13–14, 2026
Stay Toon'd for more appearances—because these legends are just getting started!

🎧 Listen on Spotify: bit.ly/4fHWwxa
🍎 Listen on Apple: bit.ly/3AmUYZi
💖 Support on Patreon: patreon.com/jimcummingspodcast
🎉 Order a Cameo from Jim: cameo.com/toondinjimcumming


Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/toon-d-in-with-jim-cummings--5863067/support.
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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you're a fan of everything we do here at
tuned In with Jim Cummings, you could support the show
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(00:21):
slash Jim Cummings Podcast. Do it now? How you doing
out there? It's me Tigger, I am Doc Wayne Duck.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
It's me Bunkers keep bobcat All right, y'all?

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Is it rate your favorite firefly you desire?

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Hold old knock Gud. My name is Jim Cummings and
welcome to tuned In.

Speaker 4 (00:43):
Welcome back, everybody to another episode of Tuned In with
Jim Cummings. I'm producer Chris, joined us always by the
legend himself, mister Jim Cummings. Hey, Chris, is are you
doing today?

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Sir?

Speaker 1 (00:53):
We are live and kicking today.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Yes, we have a very special guest for you today.
You know her from SpongeBob, the Fantastic Four animated series. Oh,
the list just goes on and on. Your credits are incredible.
I mean metal gear, none other than Lori Allen, thank
you so much for being here day.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
All right. I remember one of the first times I
heard you, you were talking speaking at the camera. You
were the Mervin's chick.

Speaker 5 (01:21):
Oh my gosh, that's right, that on camera thing. After
Candy Miler, who was like open, Open, Open, I was
the reality check.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
That was a fun campaign.

Speaker 5 (01:28):
That was back when you would get a campaign and
you would be chanting to God for you know, just
insane gratitude because oh yeah, you know that. And snack
will cook because you don't realize that they don't do
except for a few things like flow.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Who's my friend Stephanie?

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Oh you know, yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:46):
The guy ghost spots. But it's just yeah, it's kind
of amazing. Yeah, like a lot of beginner's luck and
that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
When I think things have changed, things have changed, you know,
not necessarily for the better, but they've changed.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
They have. Yeah, And what we were talking about when
we first started off, when I started off in New
York and from the DC area, my parents are voiceover people.

Speaker 5 (02:10):
I think if I hadn't come. Yeah, they went to
American University. They met in acting class, Thespians. They had
acting radio theater major and my dad said, I forget
what my mom was doing, auditioning for a play or something,
and he heard her and he said, who's that woman
with a voice. So they had a huge talent crush
on each other.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Oh that's great.

Speaker 5 (02:31):
And then yeah, so I come from that crazy Thespian family,
and I do think if I had come home and said, mom, dad,
I want to be a lawyer, doctor, they would have
been like that, that's completely unacceptable.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Oh that's great.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
You need juggling and tap dance as a backup.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah, you know, so I was really encouraged juggling. Sure, yeah, juggling,
that's given. Yeah, doy, that.

Speaker 5 (02:54):
Helps with voiceover a lot. But yeah, I mean I
started off as a kid. I have my union heard
since nineteen seventy four.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
My first radio spot was with Willard Scott.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
So you were four?

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Almost? Yeah? Yeah, like three?

Speaker 2 (03:08):
No, I think I was let's see sixty sixties, seventy eight,
so I was eight.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah, that's what I said. That's right.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Because I'm old now, so it's different.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Oh god, see you can't even do that. That that's
smoky voice. Well no, because you're you're too healthy. I
am too that's a beautiful thing. Thank you.

Speaker 5 (03:27):
I know I screamed with bloody murder when I got
my first job in New York with Don Buckwell and associates,
and I was like college and like partying and like yeah,
And so I went in the bathroom and did what
I know would be the most heinous, horrible thing to
do for any voice.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
Actor, which was to sit and scream and get back
some of the rasps. They were like, that's very clear sounding.
That's that's quite amazing. And I was like, oh shit,
am I going to get my voice that that raspy?
So that was crazy.

Speaker 4 (03:55):
And after smoking, for that reason, i've heard yeah literally
freeze yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Yeah, cigarette, oh go before he would go in and
then turn it into Paul frees See.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
You amaze me because your voice goes from like here
to here. I've always had a low voice.

Speaker 5 (04:11):
I was telling you when I saw you last that
all the women in my family have this low voice.
And so when my mom and my aunt and grandmother
and my other aunt were single, we were all hanging out.
Whoever's had my mom through great cast parties. She was
an octrese with a rowdy seventies. I'd make fond do
and learn how to make a cocktail for everybody kind

(04:31):
of community theater crowd afterwards. But she, uh, it was
just such an incredibly different time.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Both, It's just it was just so different.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
But yeah, but you're not kidding.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
I forgot what I was saying before that.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
That's okay. I don't remember what I'm saying right now.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Right now, Oh, I know what I was saying.

Speaker 5 (04:50):
Yes, So all the women would pick up, you know,
the various lines of a good old fashioned landline and.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Be like hello, hello, hello, hello. And I remember my
dad used to be like, signd of a, where's your
I need to talk to your mother?

Speaker 1 (05:01):
You know. Well, I remember. It's funny you say that
that the screaming and the thing, because I gave that
advice to someone the only single person who ever I
ever met in this business who was astonishingly annoying. And
that doesn't that doesn't do it all by itself. But
he was rude.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Deserve noes to Frank Welker, that's living on the edge, gym.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, if you're rude, I mean, it's like being rude
to a cross between the Pope and Bambi. Maybe sort
of maybe.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
Was he rude?

Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yes, oh, unbelievable. And b J Ward was there. It
was that the old Hannah Barbara, you guys.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Know, the one I love Hannah Barber.

Speaker 5 (05:49):
Now there's my crappy jim La fitness that's like a
little sketchy. Yeah, a gym is disgusting. I miss going
to Hannah barbera.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Me too, but that's where we first met.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
That's true. But this turd socket was was uh, was
rude to Frank Welker. And then he made the mistake
of asking me for my warm up routine. So I went, well,
first to get a pillow. Yeah, then you put it

(06:22):
over your head and you shriak at the top of
your lungs high holy Heaven, just for like you know,
and don't forget the pillow because your neighbors will they
yield The cops are yes, and and uh and he goes,

(06:44):
So that's how you do it. And I told it
was for Winnie the poop, and I could only hope
that he that he did it and lost his voice,
for I don't usually act like maybe.

Speaker 5 (06:59):
Your is so strong, like you can scream and you
can get into that gritty place of your voice.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah, well, I think it's so.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
What is your vocal?

Speaker 5 (07:08):
Have you noticed do you have to do a vocal
warm up of any kind anytime?

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Well? I do the old and it's what I Andrea
Romano and Sue Blue I took their I took their
workshop me too a thousand years ago. Really finicking, stupid
sounding thing. But you do that and then you do

(07:32):
that like three or four times and you're done, Especially for.

Speaker 5 (07:34):
Big cartoon voices, I feel like you gets your breath going,
and if you're having to do screams or efforts, you know,
when you're doing it on the breath like that. Yeah,
I'm like, aha, But yeah, I think it's because I
coach and teach and I'm always like, don't audition with
anything you could not sustain for twenty six years.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah, that's really good advice.

Speaker 5 (07:54):
Because you know, I've played this like Crazy Stroker. It
was a male lady on Family Guy, and then and
My Wife and the show Rick and Steve The Happiest
Day Wife. Yeah, the show part of a lesbian couple,
and I remember thinking I could do that if I
got on mic. So I remember, you know, taking care
of myself in a session, saying I can do that voice,

(08:14):
but I can only do it work really on the mic.
I can't project a lot with that voice, right. And
I also went to a session where I was supposed
to be like a serie Kathleen Turner voice. I got
there and there were like, well, she's a screaming crazy witch.
And I just was like, you know, because a lot
of our sessions are at nine am, you know, And
so I was like, I'm so not the person for this.

(08:35):
And I drank all night and I'm just kidding the
night before, and I just said I'm not the right
person for this. And I was so glad that I
didn't just blow a chord in there. And so they
were just like I said, if you want to call
my agent, I'm happy to refer someone. Sure enough, I
was kind and I wasn't an asshole. And then like
four months later, yeah, don't be a dick. And then
four months later they called me back to do like

(08:56):
some crazy, you know witch who was putting a spell
on someone.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
I think you really need to take care of your voice.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
Yeah, oh yeah, it's your instrument, as they say, yes, yes, yes,
she said music, Yeah fantastic. Yeah, So what is your
favorite thing you're you're doing these days.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
There's something I can't say.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
I'll just say, now, don't you hate that? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (09:23):
It's does it have to do with a story about toys?

Speaker 1 (09:29):
No, No, never heard of a toy story.

Speaker 4 (09:36):
Not a story of toys. Single. I was trying to
give you an out. You can answer in Spanish, right,
that's not breaching the NBA.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
That's true.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
No, I got told.

Speaker 5 (09:51):
I wasn't like literally wasn't allowed to talk about it.
But and then, uh, there, so the the boss that
I play on this.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
Metal GID period here first, No, no, you didn't.

Speaker 5 (10:02):
I haven't much camera to look and it doesn't matter
anyway that one. So the boss is this character that
I played in the Metal Gear Solid Yes gaming franchise,
and there's I forget if there's five.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
Would you know? Would you remember?

Speaker 5 (10:16):
So the prequel is in the third round, the third
round of games, and my character is like why the
whole thing exists?

Speaker 2 (10:26):
And I don't think I really realized just how badass.

Speaker 5 (10:29):
I knew she was badass when I was recording it,
but I didn't know that it would be the thing
that is now. And so what we're working on or
what we just finished was, you know, there's always sequels
of like musicals and TV shows and movies, and so
they're re doing this game like remaster, but our voices
are the same.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
Oh good.

Speaker 4 (10:47):
So they're using like the and this is metal your
solid delta, right, So they're using the voices from the
original recording.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Except for the prompts or whatever they're called the two.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Tours, So actually using those recordings.

Speaker 4 (10:57):
Yeah, so did they have you guys recording the additional
content for this except.

Speaker 5 (11:02):
To tell you how to play the game on a
different device. Yeah, it's a pretty bad ass. And so
we've had all these you know, behind the scenes and tables.
Yeah for a session. But thank god, we have reached
a tentative agreement for games so that AI protections. Thank
god because now we can focus on residuals and like
cats off to three years ago negotiating committee like yay,

(11:26):
Keith Farley and all the current guys and gals that
have done it. I'm just amazed at what when you
really do hold out. We are talented the AI and
you hear it all the time, and it's like Jim Cummings,
is that I got that they can get very very close,
but there's not a human emotion that you can capture
with AI you just cannot. And we held onto our

(11:48):
worth and are yeah, knock on leather or fax leather,
but we were able to really achieve stuff that we
were all like, wait what And it was worth the
holdout because if we had not had protections in AI
Digital Replica, we'd be so screwed.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Yeah, so it's.

Speaker 5 (12:03):
Really unprecedented, is gross understatement. So yeah, so we got
a session with FE but then we're doing some really
cool things in New York nice that's like a pomp up,
like we're going to play in Central Park and they
were like.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
Would you cosplay?

Speaker 5 (12:15):
And I was like, what as your character? And I
was like that's why I'm wearing a black dress and
I got to go on some of zempic. I'm kidding
before than day, is I going to be in this
like white body suit?

Speaker 1 (12:25):
So you know, no, kid, No.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
I was just like Tara Strong does it and she's
such a dear friend and she was like, you know what,
she cosplays a lot.

Speaker 5 (12:33):
So I was like, I'm going to do that. Yeah,
And I asked for a lot more money and they
were like sure. See that's how we knew we could
ask these gaming companies. You guys got the money and
we got the goods.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
You can't.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Fans are outraged. So yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting because the video games outdo movies. Yeah,
I earn.

Speaker 4 (12:55):
I mean specifically the Metal Gear franchise that might that
might be the most narrative driven video game ever.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
It was so cool.

Speaker 5 (13:02):
I remember going in there for sessions of sessions of
hon sessions, and it really is the first time that
there's all these backstories. I mean, it's incredible. And the boss,
my character is the is the hero of the thing,
or so we think, but she is or is she is?
She not of sacrificing. I wish she could run for
president right now. I wish she could be the person

(13:23):
that's in charge of our country right now because she
takes the ultimate sex because we you know, we have
a person who thinks about himself and not all of
the rest of the humans that live in This is Orange.

Speaker 4 (13:36):
Yeah, in your sessions, in your sessions, would you record
in the together with David Hayter.

Speaker 5 (13:43):
A couple of times I recorded with David, and then
I've recorded with Vanessa Marshall, But you know, I recorded
with our dear.

Speaker 2 (13:50):
Friend and.

Speaker 5 (13:52):
Undeniably amazing voice director. She is really in charge of
how I got my first couple of amazing gigs, the
trajectory of my career. I owed it Chris Simmermon Salter because,
as you know, any good first director is in your ear.
And she was like, you love him, you hate him,
this is for your country, And I was like, oh, yeah,
so you're so tired right after, specifically I think after

(14:14):
a gaming session because you're so frigid focus. But she
was my scene partner in my ear for hours and
hours and hours, and then I would just read pages
of that dialogue about the history of the United States
and what happened and takes place in nineteen sixty four.
And so the remastered reversion version as well as the
original is very like James Bondi and it seems.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
It's really cool. I mean, so I'm really excited to
be a part of that.

Speaker 4 (14:39):
Do you get to me Hideo Kajima. Yeah, Yeah, he's
a fascinating dude.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
Is he really is?

Speaker 4 (14:43):
Well, that's one of like I get chills even think
about it. That's one of the few people in my
life I was like that franchise was Yeah, was my childhood,
you know, like I was way bigger on video games
than I was watching about this before. And I was
at my dad's an actor as well, and I was
at the the Game Awards with him maybe four years ago.

(15:04):
Four years ago, no, three three three, Ye, it wasn't
that long, and and he this is a different Game Awards. Yeah,
he did win, but that was a different year. Anyway,
We're standing in line to go walk the red carpet,
you know, like father son, Yeah, yeah, and Hideo Kajima
is right in front of us, and I was like, oh.

Speaker 5 (15:27):
He loved Konami of course, which is like you know,
the the Disney or the Paramount or whatever of of
of Japan. And so you know, when he left, I
think people were like, oh my god, but he really
wanted to go off.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
And it's almost like, you know, Beyonce leaving Destiny's Child.

Speaker 4 (15:43):
I was like, I want a So I mean, he's
a visionary.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
He's a visionary.

Speaker 4 (15:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (15:47):
It's like I was finishing watching the Pee Wee documentary
and he was such a visionary, Like he just was like,
I'm going to make performance art and that's what I
That's what he did with.

Speaker 4 (15:56):
Wow, And you did the stage the stage show I did.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yeah, I remember auditioning for the Pewee Show and it
was a lot of voice actors, but there was also
a lot of improv like groundling, and so we had
to do all these different.

Speaker 6 (16:07):
Voices of like Cherry. I got to do Cherry.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
And it was so fun to sing this song you
can sit on Me That was really fun.

Speaker 7 (16:17):
And the flowers, and then I got to play a
hoes ginger the holes.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
And our lovely friend Phil Lamar took.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
Over Fishburn, so I got to.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
Be his holes and he had to sit on me
there too.

Speaker 5 (16:29):
Yes, but that was really FUNDI auditioning because you had
to be able to do the understudy for Miss Evon.
And I grew up watching like Soul Train and Peewee
like I was a weird kid. Nothing much has changed,
but I got to go to a taping that was
so cool. But I remember my audition. I had like
a Tierra and these crazy shoes and like a this

(16:52):
like crinoline thing and a dress on top of it.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
And everyone was like, what are you a dressed as?
And I was like, have you watched Pewee? Have you
watched the show?

Speaker 5 (16:59):
And I on the way into the audition and I
twirled and I was like, oh see, and Paul Rubins
went Hi, Miss Evonna, and I went hello, Peeye, and
he came up and he read with me because I'll
see you. I'll see you at the rehearsals, and I
was like, oh.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
My god, Wow, yeah, no way.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yeah, that was really freaking cool.

Speaker 5 (17:15):
And he was an interesting character because he wanted to
do the show that they had done at the Roxy
in the eighties, and I forget what original space.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
It was a kind of risquye was it not like this?

Speaker 5 (17:27):
Yes, but it wasn't so bad. It wasn't that like
you know, RAUNCHI, and it wasn't the kid's version.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
It was somewhere in between.

Speaker 5 (17:34):
And so we wanted to do that one and then
it sold out in like two seconds, and so they
had to move it down to Club Nokia, so got
to drive downtown every night. And it was really it
was it was a very out of body experience to
do that show, very interesting, complicated, and then Lynn Marie Stewart,
you know, who played Miss Evonne. I mean, I can't
believe they're both gone. They're probably just having the best

(17:57):
time wherever they are.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yeah, you know I love Yeah, Yeah, who didn't have
a great sort of a crush.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
How could you not?

Speaker 5 (18:07):
And she I would share a dressing room into her
last moment that I talked to her. We talked on
the phone and she was like, Hi, Roomy, she was
just an angel, so damn funny.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
And they had a good tribe of comedy folks, you
know they wanted to.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
I would think, yeah, and that's what.

Speaker 5 (18:24):
We had, right, We had that where you would see
people at auditions in the lobby on the show that
you were on, you know, And I remember when I
came here, I was like, I'm hilarious. I did the
Groundlings in New York. And then they were like, they
did an audition. I think I was telling you the
last time I saw you that they were like they didn't.
I said, I don't want to even try to pretend
to get into the Advance Company or the Sunday Company

(18:47):
or the regular company.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
I just want to skip the beginners.

Speaker 5 (18:50):
And so we held they held an audition and everybody
got in but me, And then they called me and
they were like, your characters are too big. And then
lovely Mindy Sterling, we were at a call back for
the Snackwell's commercials.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
On the podcast Mandy so much.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
She is great, He's great.

Speaker 2 (19:04):
I love Mandy. And she said I should tell you
something before we go in. You didn't get in because
there was too many, too many great women at the time,
and they just they couldn't They just didn't ever info
they weren't going to have you.

Speaker 5 (19:13):
And I was like, it crushed me. It crushed me
that I couldn't happened, that I couldn't do here. But
you know, I might not have met you, I might
not have met my husband, you know what I mean,
Like everything happens for a reason.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
But it was so crushing.

Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yeah, didn't crush. Didn't feel all that good at the time.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
No, you know, well she want to show with you
felt fabulous.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yes, it was. And I'm trying to think of the
first one I might do. I have a note on that.
Probably I did a lot of good homework here. But
we were the Fantastic Four and I was a bit playing.
I was in and out. You were sousman, that's right,
that's right, system and I was Bill Clinton in one

(19:59):
of them.

Speaker 5 (20:02):
That's the year that he was Oh yeah, you were
build planting and Fantastic four. Yeah, I got to play
that back, but I had taken a bunch of classes
when I got here, same as you. And I remember
Charlie Adler looked at me and said, you're insane.

Speaker 4 (20:18):
You Charlie. On the other day too, he said.

Speaker 5 (20:21):
You have a larger than life, crazy ass personality. Don't
ever change. Don't let anyone tell you that you're too
much in your personal professional life. You're going to work
and don't ever, ever ever short change yourself and don't
let anybody tell you otherwise. And so that the workshop
was with Andrea and Stu Rosen and Chris Immerman Salter,
and then Chris brought me in because you know, I

(20:43):
was like, foul mouthed and I don't know, can we curse?

Speaker 1 (20:46):
Oh? Fuck good? Thanks.

Speaker 5 (20:48):
So she had me auditioned for that like young Fighter Pilot.
I was Gary Owen's niece and I was like yeah,
and she said, can you do me a favorite? Can
you just curse your entire way through this audition? And
I'm going to bleep out all the curse words and
that's what got me the job.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
So fuck yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:05):
What she meant to say.

Speaker 5 (21:06):
Was yeah, which I gonna say boop boop boopy fuckers. Yeah,
and that's how I got the audition. And I remember
I was like, oh my god, there's Charlie Adler, Barry Gordon, you,
Candy Milow, Gary Owens. And I remember just being like,
oh my god, it's a good thing. I just don't
like my pants of like excitement, just like that.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
If you're a fan of everything we do here at
tuned In with Jim Cummings, you could support the show
on Patreon for bonus exclusive podcasts, as well as early
in ad free access to the show itself, prize drawings,
and more. You'll feel the difference, so go ahead and
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(21:47):
slash Jim Cummings Podcast. Do it now and then.

Speaker 5 (21:52):
I remember one day you were look, what talent don't
you possess?

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Well, oh you were drawing. Oh yes, I was thinking
of that the other day too. Yeah. Well I would
just sit there because you were sitting straight across from me,
and I'm sitting there. I'm sitting there. I got it.
Oh here's a pencil. Okay, well I'm done with this page.
I'm gonna draw LORI and so so I drew you and.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
I had lots of hair, big hair, lots of.

Speaker 5 (22:20):
Hair, lots of hair, and you wrote, whoopsie, there's a microphone.
You think i'd get used to where it is? And
you said you wrote, like hey boys, hub a hub
or something like that.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
And I remember, like Jim coming the picture of me. Yeah,
so that's exciting. I know exactly where it is in
my garage and.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
In your garage well, because.

Speaker 5 (22:38):
You know how they say that if you don't go
through your garage when you move in the first year,
you'll never go through it. So now I have reason
to go through it and find Oh.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
Good, Well I feel better now good. But I'm glad
you have that.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
Yeah, it's so great.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
Well, you're very photogenic, even though it wasn't a photo,
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
Thank you, but it was the year I moved here.
Sirih told me so on the way over.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
Wow, Sirih knows everything.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
She really does. It's kind of spooky. Yeah, it is
really spooky.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
Wouldn't it be weird to be one of.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
Those voices like that, there is a purse, there is
a lady there.

Speaker 4 (23:11):
Yeah, there is a Siri out there.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
I know.

Speaker 4 (23:13):
Let's find it. Let's find her and get her on
the podcast. Yeah, and that's voice acting, right, that's still
considered voice acting.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
I think they speaking of AI. I think they.

Speaker 5 (23:22):
I think she has to negotiate her contract every you know,
blankety blank months so that she can say more things.
And I think they tried to AI her voice so
that she could say a bunch of other stuff. And
she was like, you're going to stop that, and you're
going to pay me the way you used to pay me.
So yeah, yeah, for so it's so different now than

(23:43):
when we started.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
The first and that was the Beverly Center.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
You were the voice of the Beverly Center.

Speaker 1 (23:54):
It was one of my first best impressions.

Speaker 2 (24:00):
Yes, but please take the ticket at the Beverly Center.
How in the hell are you supposed to understand her?

Speaker 1 (24:06):
I don't think you are. No, you're not supposed to
take the ticket.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
You do take the Please take the ticket.

Speaker 6 (24:11):
Please take the ticket.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
This big time show be his voiceover folks getting this
anywhere else.

Speaker 4 (24:26):
That reminds me of when I grew up. I grew
up in Vancouver, Canada, and on Vancouver Island, specifically in Victoria,
and there was a ferry that you had to take
back and forth there was these massage chairs and you
would sit on them and it'd always say hello and welcome.
Please insert the coin, and he would just be over
and over, like I swear that that was the fairy.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
You had that experience.

Speaker 4 (24:51):
You would put it like a little lone in you know,
you put a little looney you know, a dollar coin
for you for you non Canadians out there, a little
dollar coin. You put it in there. You get a
nice little massage. But that just reminds me there's somebody
who voiced her out there. Yeah, there's some person that
was That's something.

Speaker 5 (25:08):
There's so many different parts of the voiceover spectrum, if
you will, that just didn't exist. I mean, there was
somebody doing that stuff before us. But now there's all
these other things to do. Like what's the stuff called
when Roy Samuelson does it? What's it called audio description?

Speaker 4 (25:25):
Oh? I thought you were going to say ASMR.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
No, I love AM Do you really it's the most
common thing I did.

Speaker 4 (25:31):
I feel like it's a woman thing. I feel like
I just don't get I remember your daughters would be
doing that with like the nails and like this, I.

Speaker 5 (25:38):
Like the nails tapping. There's nails tapping. There's one of
this person scratching your back. I'm like, this is so nice,
and then you fall asleep.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
But I like to do.

Speaker 5 (25:47):
I always look up this one woman who plays with
Plato and she does the bubble wrap. Some person doesn't
like to play with bubble wrap.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yes that's true. Yeah, yeah, I remember bringing that to
soothe myself on a few situations. I can't A long
time ago.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
Good Anger management to stomp on.

Speaker 4 (26:06):
And be like, yeah, you had mentioned Swatcats that both
you and Jim were in. That was your first project together,
I believe.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
Yeah. Here, I moved here.

Speaker 5 (26:18):
I moved here a post riots, pre earthquakes. It was
nineteen ninety three, and I had taken some classes and
got cast right away. Thank you to to Chris and
that I said, I learned that was on the spot training.
I mean, talent, sure, drive, sure, but I didn't just
insane luck. Yeah, and being willing to take class and

(26:39):
always having the student mindset.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
You know, that's good.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yeah, I think that's important.

Speaker 1 (26:45):
Speaking of Charlie, he was he was one of the
he was half of the Swat Cats. Yeah, I think
he and Barry.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yes, he and Barry.

Speaker 5 (26:52):
You're right, Yeah, and then taking class with Charlie was
something that I did, like whatever that is thirty years ago.

Speaker 6 (26:57):
Go go big.

Speaker 5 (26:59):
You know, you're like, oh my god, it's sort of
you have diarrhea and then you get up and like
vomit out a character.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
It's great.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that would be yeah, especially the vomit park. Yeah,
he would appreciate that, of course.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
He was.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, well we've had him on and he's gee, he's
so calm and mellow. Well he's really mellowing with age.
No he's not. No, he's not at all.

Speaker 5 (27:18):
He's doing a solo show at the end of the month.
I just got my tickets. We saw him this weekend.
A nostalgica. I've never felt so.

Speaker 2 (27:25):
Old and so happy at the same time.

Speaker 5 (27:29):
Remember we were in the lobby and we just took
over that place because it was like I haven't seen
you in sixteen years or you know, because it just
went to our home studios and yeah, you know, like SpongeBob,
I like, because we're in the studio together recording, I pick.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
Up yet Oh that's great.

Speaker 5 (27:43):
And it's just you know and Tom Kenny, whose SpongeBob
is the most generous talented guy he also has the
same great.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Energy like Charlie.

Speaker 5 (27:51):
He stands up and signs for hours, and he's in
a band, his band Tom Kenny, in the high school.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
And then he goes and places music at night all
day at the convention. Yeah, then he'll go and play
a few more hours. Yeah, Like what are they He's
like the ever Ready Bunny. Yeah, they just boom boom.

Speaker 5 (28:07):
And I remember in the booth, I want to say,
ten years ago, from inside the booth, he was like, Hey, Laura,
why don't you try blah blah blah direction.

Speaker 2 (28:15):
Make Pearl just a little bit more crazy, make her
laugh a little louder, or her crying daddy, something like that.

Speaker 5 (28:22):
And then I was like, wow, that's I've never had
Tom sort of be a little bossy in the booth.
And because we're still recurring on the show. If you're
not a series rag after twenty six years, but who's
who's counting and yeah, and I was like, oh, oh,
Tom directs the show now, so.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
He's a wonderful director.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah, he's a wonderful director. And he does all the
SpongeBob derivative shows like the Patrick Starr and Camp Carl
And I remember camp Coral. I had to be a baby,
and they were like, she's gonna have to audition again,
and I was like yeah no, and they were like,
you know, we could get another voice talent and I
was like okay, Like I really had to stand for myself.

(29:00):
I'm like, I'm sorry. And then the show won an Emmy.

Speaker 5 (29:03):
It was really exciting, and we were in the we
were at Nickelodeon one day and we were all just
like taking pictures inappropriate and licking the I mean, just
being obnoxious and without thinking of it. But I guess
it came to me in the moment. I was like, daddy,
and I looked at the producer and I was like, oh,
there's my audition. And I went into the booth. Oh wow,
because they were like, no, she asked to audition. I'm like,

(29:24):
for a baby, you're going to make me audition, So.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
Okay, just hire me and shut up and the baby.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah exactly, and then.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
Keep paying me.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
By the way, Yeah so I did.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
So that's yeah, Well that's good. Well, Well I think
you you hit every target you aim at.

Speaker 5 (29:43):
Well, I try, I mean, you know, and I think
people like the thing when you're versatile. Sometimes you'd be
like I do voiceovers. I have a really cool, like
scratchy voice. But are you are you taking improv? Do
you are you a good actor?

Speaker 2 (29:56):
Do you play an instrument?

Speaker 5 (29:57):
Did you stand up like something else to really flush
off those kills? And then so that when you're it
makes you confident, it makes you directable, you make the
casting director look good, you know, and then you're fast
on your feet.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
So if you get a direction.

Speaker 5 (30:09):
Like can we she really loves purple, You're like, sure,
no problem, huh.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
Okay, sure, So yeah you did Prince or something.

Speaker 5 (30:21):
Prince is my boyfriend, Prince is my lover. I said
to my husband. I said to my husband, if.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
You were to still be here today, could I have
sex with him just once? And he was like, yeah, that's.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
Okay, Yeah, how long could it take? Oh that was good?
Yeah yeah, okay, yeah, that's terrible. Sorry.

Speaker 5 (30:46):
I booked family Guy in SpongeBob in the same year,
and so I remember seeing a picture of.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
I don't think I ever knew.

Speaker 5 (30:54):
I mean, you just don't know that you're going to
get on these long running shows. And I really believe
to do your best and leave. Like when you think
of Brian Cranston's this great quote about what can you
give not get if you think about if you're thinking
about the outcome of your audition.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
He was talking specifically about auditioning. You're setting yourself up
to fail. So what can you go give? Can you
give a good interpretation?

Speaker 5 (31:16):
Can you just do something fun or enjoyable with the script,
whether it's dramatic or And he's like, because yeah, and
he says, and then just leave it. Go about your life,
you know, Go have a full, rich life, Go volunteer,
go do other shit so that this doesn't become the
be all and end all thing that you stare at,
you know. And I remember auditioning for Family Guy and
I was the utility player, and I had done a

(31:37):
pre Family Guy thing with Seth years before called Larry
and Steve and it had a talking dog in it.
And then I was testing at Fox because we used
to go in person to do that stuff too, and
I hadn't seen him in a couple of years, and
the premise was wildly different, and I played this lady
you sold him a mattress in Larry and Steve, and

(32:01):
then I played the auditioned to play the pot of
Lois you know, she was from Rhode Island, and Alex
Borstein got her, who's so ridiculously talented. Yeah, but I
walked in. I was like, Seth, and he's like, well,
didn't you remember the script? And I was like, no,
it's so different. So I got Diane the anchor woman,
and she's really based on my mom.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
You're perfect. Yeah, that's perfect.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
And then it was upsetting.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
Yeah, oh that's great.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
Did voiceovers.

Speaker 5 (32:23):
My mom would jump in the car and be like
and because I grew up outside of DC, and she
would drive it down to the whatever news station I
can't recall, and she would be like, Ronald Reagan was
just shot. And then she'd be like, can I go home.
I'm a single mom and I got to feed my kids.
She's but she's who Joanne Simmons is after, oh, for sure, and.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
Pearl is just me but bigger and louder.

Speaker 5 (32:44):
You know, I just knew she had to be really big,
and she was spoiled but lovable and a daddy's girl.
And then I was like, I knew she had to
be enormous. So I was like, you know, and I'm
looking up whale sounds and I'm like, no, no, no,
that's not no, not.

Speaker 4 (32:57):
That sounds.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
How does the whale? Oh those guys, I.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
Get a lot of things like can you blow out
your blowhole just a little louder? I'm like sure, right,
there were directions we get.

Speaker 1 (33:10):
Yeah, oh yeah, Well, speaking of Charlie Adler, he used
to he used to have some interesting I remember him
directing Nika Futterman and a woman and I need a
couple of testes on that one. I needed just to
you know what, give me a ball and a half.

(33:31):
And it's like okay, and then she would do it
and you go perfect.

Speaker 5 (33:35):
And you just can't get away with a lot of
that these days. But Charlie somehow.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
Is and it's you know, it's an old school thing
and everybody can still just love and appreciate him and
he doesn't get in trouble.

Speaker 8 (33:46):
There's something I did wit to play this really large
busted lady.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
And she just loved your computer.

Speaker 5 (33:52):
Yes, she was married to like a Stephen Hawkins like
computer person. And he said, lor I need her to
have bigger tits and false eyelashes.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
Now that's the direction that I understood, you know, wow,
And yeah, she's busting out all over and she's got
some false eyelashes on. So that was an easy direction
to day.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
I saw her.

Speaker 8 (34:13):
When you did that, I was blood and just big
eyed and just very big buzzom and very happy.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
I'm never going to drown, no.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
Natural buoyes.

Speaker 4 (34:24):
Oh man, you mentioned briefly, you said it's upsetting, and
then we kind of jumped to something else. We were
talking about Diane and her getting killed off.

Speaker 5 (34:33):
You know it's upsetting because I was friends with Seth
for a long time, and it was back in the
day when we didn't have emails, so we wrote letters
back and forth to each other and we talked on
the phone, and I was like, Hey, you won this thing,
this pilot that you did at Hannah Barbera that Chris
Zimmerman cast, and thanks for having me, and well Chris
really did. She's like, you're gonna play all the parts
with Seth. Great, And so I did the show for

(34:56):
over a dozen years, and then you know, our agent
McCalls and say, hey, give a booking in. Today's going
to be a double episode. And that's not uncommon for
knock on Wood, a long running show of let's say
if it was a Christmas episode and Kimberly or in
a tinia I think it was probably Kimberly at DPN
said to me, I just need to have your attention

(35:16):
for another minute, and I was like, okay. She said,
this is going to be your last session as Diane.
I'm sorry to just say it so bluntly, and I
was like what, And to this day, like I'm not
afraid to talk about it anymore because it just was.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Really that was really tough.

Speaker 5 (35:31):
Seth was is and will always be an absolute genius,
and I just remember like they didn't and I remember
being in the casting office and Linda la Montagne was like,
you can't be here, and I said, this is when
I went in to go do ad R my last
day of screaming.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
Oh, for God's sake.

Speaker 5 (35:49):
And I said, Linda, I'm here to have a granola
bar and some throat tea. I'm really not that intimidating
and I have to use the restroom.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
Like what the hell? What gives you know?

Speaker 5 (35:56):
She was like you can't be or I snapped and
I was just like, my god, you guys didn't give
me any warning. I've been on the show for over
a decade and I'm friends with you. Guys, and somebody
could have owed me a phone call, and you know,
if you look at the web, that's like Lrie.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
Allen didn't have time. I'm like, what.

Speaker 5 (36:14):
God, wouldn't that be interesting if that were the case?
So it was really it was really a bummer. But
then you know, she also fell into the water, So
I'm sitting there going, wouldn't that be neat if Seth
made it where she comes out of the water right
as a zombie or her twin sister shows up, you know,
something kind of crazy.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
But that that was.

Speaker 4 (36:33):
Over something like.

Speaker 2 (36:33):
That because I've been doing this since I was a kid.
You know, the.

Speaker 4 (36:38):
Shows don't go like that. That's that's not like a
dime a dozen, you know.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
I mean it did it?

Speaker 5 (36:44):
I mean it did it was I remember after I
did this, like ad R of the Scream, so I'd
done the episode.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
It's a great episode. And then there were a fewer
I can't remember the name of the episode, this double episode.

Speaker 5 (36:54):
But the day I went in to do my screaming,
the engineer looked at me and he was like, you're
done and said that is head down, and I went, Seth,
I think I'm done, right, I'm done done, and he
went and he came out and he was just bright
red and walked past me. And if he ever watches this,
just know that I love you so much and you
again change the trajectory of my career. But you know,
you have to have a tough skin, you have to

(37:15):
be fast, funny, sure, and you can't take the stuff personally.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
And that is really, really hard.

Speaker 5 (37:20):
And I'm so glad that I have parents who've been
in the business to watch them be like, okay, moving on, yeah, you.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
Know, yeah, well they have an overview of it. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
And there's just some that you just want so bad
and you're like son of them.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
You know.

Speaker 5 (37:36):
My friend wrote the part of Karen and Will and Grace,
you know, the Megan A.

Speaker 6 (37:41):
Lally parts. She's so fantastic.

Speaker 5 (37:43):
Yeah, And I remember going in and he tailored my
outfit for the boobs and the waist.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
And the thing at Barney's.

Speaker 5 (37:49):
And I went in and he my dear friend Max,
and then I stepped out and he goes, oh my god,
I think I might have overdirected you. Can you go
back in and do it completely the way you would
do it? And he turned me around and shoved me
in and I don't don't know what the hell came out.
And then I heard Jim Burreles say, well, she's funny,
she's great, but she's just not that funny. I mean,
I don't get I don't see what you see. And
Max and I'd gone to college together, and that hurt,

(38:11):
Like that stung. Yeah, well but she's amazing, she's my friend,
She's absolutely phenomenal.

Speaker 4 (38:20):
It's funny how those like there's phrases that just kind
of stick with you for your career. Like that reminded
me of a time in my life. I was on
this show called The one hundred on the CW and
I knew that the casting director liked me. I knew
that she liked me, and I knew I was perfect
for that show. I was like, I know, I'm perfect
for this show. My childhood best friend was one of
the leads on the show. We hadn't talked for years.

(38:42):
I moved to la you know, he was still in Vancouver.
I'm an extra. One day on that show and we
reconnect and I was like, they were like, oh, yeah,
like you're perfect for this show. Like, man, it sucks
that they're burning you for this, you know, Like I
had like one line and then so whatever I show up,
I do it. You know, have a good time on set.
I get another call in like two months, they want
you back on the show. The character was small enough

(39:04):
that nobody's going to care. I was like, I don't know.
I told my agent, no, I'm not taking it, and
then she was like, you're gonna really upset casting and
I'm like, no, I'm not. She loves me, like, no,
I'm not. Then my my agent begged me and begged
me and begged me to take this role. It is
a day player, you know, And I'm like no, like
I could really spin this into like something, you know,

(39:25):
and then she's like no, she convinced me to take it.
And I'm not going to say I regret it, because
like it was a good time and everything like that.
But I know, deep down I was right. I know
they would have still gone.

Speaker 5 (39:34):
Out really interesting to kind of you know, to hold
I think we put casting and producers and even our
own agents in this other category and we feel less
than and we feel beholden to them.

Speaker 4 (39:47):
And when it's the opposite way, it's the opposite way.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
In my opinion, team would yeah, it should be a
team and to think that, you know, they like Charlie
was used to say, fuck them, there is no them.

Speaker 5 (39:58):
They're holding auditions. I mean, of course they have some idea,
and if it says like she's a in over sex
lady from Russia, I'm not going to give like a
little list, big boy lace for.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
Something like that.

Speaker 5 (40:08):
But you know, I've done to where I call it
my f at take, and I'll put that first and
then I'll do what they're asking.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
I switch it around now.

Speaker 5 (40:14):
I don't give them what they want for the first
take because I want to stand out, especially if they've.

Speaker 2 (40:18):
Known you for years and years and years.

Speaker 5 (40:20):
I want them to be like wow, and to remember
that it took me forever to book something with like
Sarah Jane Turman, you know, and she was like, oh,
I keep a file on folks. There's this gal I
can't remember her name. Shoot at Dreamwork she does the
same thing.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
She's like, we know who's good.

Speaker 5 (40:36):
That's why every audition you're auditioning for a relationship and
a bajillion other parts that haven't even happened yet, you know.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
So I try to remember that at itude.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
Yeah, well, I always think it's good to give them
one as they want along the way they want to,
and then one the way it should be. Yeah, you know,
and then you never know, because I've gotten gigs like
that that were absolutely nothing like what they wanted.

Speaker 5 (41:02):
Yeah, I know, one of they do want something interesting
and different, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
They do. And I and I remember it was for Tailspin.
I've got this guy that Don Carnage and he was
a pirate, and of course every pirate has to be right,
you know, And I thought, well, there were pirates of
the Caribbean too, Yeah, so I made this guy from
Puerto Rico or maybe Cuba or but he was Carnage.

(41:31):
I love it, and he and and they bought him,
but he was still a pirate. I mean he was.
He was an air pirate.

Speaker 2 (41:38):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
But it was cool.

Speaker 5 (41:39):
It sounds like Antonio Benderas meets I don't know what.
That's gorgeous.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
Yes, yeah, well thank you. Yeah. He's a very popular
guy and I have to get more pictures of him
for the next con now that. Yeah, yeah, we think
about it, yeah.

Speaker 5 (41:52):
Because our fans remember so much more that we don't like,
especially something like The Boss or Spongebobin, Like do you remember.

Speaker 2 (41:58):
The episode where this happened. Can you see this?

Speaker 5 (42:00):
And I'm like, oh my god, No, it's not because
I don't care. Yes, I do watch some of the stuffs,
especially in the Edibles.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
Oh me, yeah, me too. Yeah see, because then they're
really good. If you're a fan of everything we do
here at tuned In with Jim Cummings, you could support
the show on Patreon for bonus exclusive podcasts, as well
as early in ad free access to the show itself,

(42:25):
prize drawings, and more. You'll feel the difference, so go
ahead and join the tuned In family today at patreon
dot com slash Jim Cummings podcast Do It Now.

Speaker 5 (42:38):
When we had the fires, which were so recovering from,
I came home from something and I was just so distraught.
I remember watching the news and just tears running down
my face and like this can't be happening, kind of
like what's going on now but different?

Speaker 2 (42:52):
And my husband's.

Speaker 5 (42:53):
Like, let's watch Bungebob, and I was like what And
I sat down and then I started crying again. I
was like, I cannot believe I'm a part of the show.
Many years later, I'm sixteen for twenty six years now,
but I was like This is hilarious. I cannot believe
I have the good fortune to be on the show.
We must have liked Binge watched like ten episodes. Oh wow,
that's it was such a good distraction, you know, and

(43:13):
it's so good. But fans are awesome because they know
stuff that we either don't know in general or just
wouldn't remember.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
Yeah, you wouldn't remember it. Yeah, for me, I can't
remember them, you know. I remember when one of the
first conventions I did. They they said, well, do the voice.
Do the voice, and I did Pooh, and then I
did Tigger and Dark Green. Now I don't know what's
the voice, and it was Minsk from Balder's Gate and
I did.

Speaker 2 (43:38):
I thought I was just going to ask you to
do Balder's Gate.

Speaker 1 (43:40):
Yeah, uh huh yeah, And it's like, oh he bos
said that the guy there, and I could barely remember it.
You go, that's the one.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
God.

Speaker 1 (43:51):
You know, you never know what's going to resonate. Yeah,
you know. You do these things because most most of
the time you're alone in a room. You have no
audience except for the two people in there, especially now,
and you have no idea.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
And that's why you have to get to where you
feel comfortable with self direction, you know. And I so
for animation.

Speaker 5 (44:13):
I strongly even if you're a shyer introvert, that's cool
introverts round the world. It takes crazy extroverts like us,
the three of us just sort of make it shiny
and weird introverts run the world. But I think taking
an improv class just gets you that to where again
you can take that direction, you can be fast on
your feet. And also Charlie taught me this eons ago,
but like, make your cast of characters, like how your

(44:36):
mom sounded to you and you were little.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
What do you sound like when you were little? What's
the dog? What's the voice that you use when you're
talking to your door?

Speaker 1 (44:42):
Do you use relatives and everything? In God?

Speaker 5 (44:44):
Yes, a great way to be able to just, you know,
nail them to the wall without them knowing it.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
Yeah, yeah, creatures, cousins like all that. Yeah, oh god, yeah,
there was a character on Oh God said Bunkers. Anyway,
my uncle Sam was, you know, I'm a guy, I
gotta tell you something right now. Their little mister, you know,

(45:09):
and he and he and that was that was just
how he talked. So he's been a lot of villains, right,
and then my aunt Grace got let rest her soul.
She reminded me, was because you know, when I was
spinning to sell you, Jim, you know what weathers are?
You's going to the picnic or not?

Speaker 2 (45:30):
Hold on? Was she from Philly?

Speaker 1 (45:32):
Uh? Pennsylvania?

Speaker 2 (45:34):
Well you know this close enough because Philly is in Pennsylvania.
So my stepmother may she rest in peace.

Speaker 1 (45:40):
Oh my gosh, she's doing.

Speaker 6 (45:43):
She'd be like, oh, Nora, you've brought so much weight?

Speaker 2 (45:45):
How did you do when you're coming home?

Speaker 5 (45:47):
And her joy and her best friend hoped they both
passed away, and there were such young, hilarious gals, and
Hope's voice was this piercing, high, wonderful thing.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
She said, it's sound good to see what I was like.
You just cracked a bunch of windows. Dogs are like,
ohh I love that philiya accent. Oh yeah, I booked
a lot of stuff with that Philly Philly, Philly. Oh yeah,
because the l's are.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
Swallowed, yeah they are.

Speaker 2 (46:09):
And then you put that on an audition and people
are like, oh, that's crazy.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
Yeah, you can put it in a sandwich.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
Yeah, exactly. You can put it in a HOGI. Yeah,
you go down by the shore and eat that HOGI
and be like, oh my god, I booked that ship.
That's awesome. I love the Philly accent.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
Yeah yeah. And I just you know, tap all the
weirdos from my neighborhood everything. I'm sure you've done that.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
We're celebrities that you don't do well, celebrities you only see.

Speaker 1 (46:35):
That's my philosophy.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
I did get your voice match Jennifer Coolie, and I
was like, oh god, if I just there's if I
had known, I would have were a second set of spanks.
I just I don't understand what's happening with the gays.
They just they want to kill me. And Manelli is
the only those two.

Speaker 1 (46:56):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
I don't know how I.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
Set that out. I've always done her.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
Really think it's just because I'm a gay man on
the inside.

Speaker 5 (47:02):
But I was doing the Growlings in New York and
I walked by and I heard her going.

Speaker 6 (47:06):
Say, yes, MNE's coming, something's good.

Speaker 2 (47:10):
And her voice like pierced out of this this club. Yes,
And I was like, oh my god. I stopped and
stared her. I was like, I love her.

Speaker 5 (47:18):
Trummers, and then I just did this crazy Liza impression,
and now she just sounds like this.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
You know, she's got that same low, crazy voice she is.
When I saw her at the Hollywood Bowl during the.

Speaker 8 (47:30):
Fire, she was like, I'm gonna sit down a chair
and I'm gonna sing comfortably because my hip is totally
messed up.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
Yeah, she sounds just a little. She was amazing in cabaret.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
I've never seen it.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
I should see it.

Speaker 5 (47:47):
It's really the day somehow, especially when you have to
sing something for an audition.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
You have an amazing voice.

Speaker 5 (47:54):
When you were telling me last weekend of all the
things that you've sung, I was like, oh my god,
I don't think I knew all this credits.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
Oh yeah, yeah, I get to be a stunt singer.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
That's so cool. How did that first happen for you?

Speaker 1 (48:07):
I I don't really know. I think maybe well the
California Raisins. I was lead singer for the California Raisins
many thousand years ago. Dorian Harewood camp Clark and Brian
Stokes Mitchell and the four of us and uh and
I was the lead singer. So and I just kind

(48:28):
of styled him after because I was a motown kid,
you know, the Temptations and you know that was that
was me. So I just kind of put them all together.
And in fact, my my audition was I can't get
next to you because it was all five of the Temptations.
So I maked my way through all five of them

(48:49):
and they were okay, yeah, that you don't suck and uh.
And then because they figured right away, I crammed down
the fact that I could do multiple characters and they
all sang. So they said, well, shit, let's get this
ass wipe. Yeah. You know, you know he's the wrong color,
but you know, but my favorite for the job. Yeah yeah,
and uh. And I remember for the callback that I

(49:12):
was sitting there and and I was I think it
was I want to say it was at Waves, but
I'm sitting next to this girl and she and she
gets a call on her phone, so she went.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
Hello nineties like hello, Yeah, yeah, I took up half
your car.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
Yeah, and she says, no, he's not here yet. No,
well okay, when he gets here, i'll you know, I'll
let you know, okay, And then then she puts it
down and goes, oh, mister Cummings is really right on
time today. And I said, oh, you're waiting for Jim Cummings.
She goes, yeah, you're the nice black man on the table,

(49:54):
and I said, hello, Sure, whatever you say. So I
was the nice black man.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
That's awesome. Yeah, that's so incredible.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
But I mean I didn't even think of it as that.
I just thought of it as the Temptations. Yeah, they
were black. So you know, what are you gonna.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
Do the I had an audition yesterday actually the day
we came back from WonderCon Wow. And she was this evil,
very put on in witch and she was like.

Speaker 5 (50:21):
And she made tidle tendrils that would reach out and
how sorry.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
The microphone is like a new thing for me. Yeah, and.

Speaker 5 (50:31):
So I had to sing for something, and so I think,
like I did play some old Jewish lady type casting,
and I did like.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
A Bruno Mars like uptown Funk, don't give it to Me?

Speaker 7 (50:42):
And then and then this other thing I did, like
you say, the price of my love is not the
price that you're willing to pay. So if you find
like sixteen bars or thirty two bars and then you
improvise a little with that song, like you just put
it right at the end of your audition, and you
just you know, just do your best and I can
put it whatever key is the salto person I have

(51:03):
sing down here. But yeah, singing singing on shows.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
Yeah awesome. Yeah, I think it's the coolest thing.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
It is the coolest thing.

Speaker 1 (51:11):
I agree, Yeah, I agree. You know I always like, oh,
this guy sings, well, let's do that.

Speaker 5 (51:16):
Yeah, And you don't always have to sing well, like
I did this whale of a birthday song on SpongeBob
It's all about you, Pearl on your sixteenth birthday, And
I got to sing, and because they knew I was
a singer, and then they were like, no less singing,
no less less thing. He definitely not musical theater. Okay,
definitely not pop. So I was like, what do you want,
like like basically like spoken words, and I saw, I was,

(51:38):
I forget what the lyrics are, lightfoot you, but.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
I was just like, I love my birthday, Da da dada.

Speaker 5 (51:46):
And I was like, when I sing, you know, but
since then I've gotten a chance to sing, which is great.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
Yeah, we like that. Well, you know, I knew it
was well, we all know it's good. But I remember
thinking when I very first started in the business, I
had my one daughter, she's in her forties now live
and whenever, you know, we're sitting around watching cartoons and
a song would come on and next thing I know,
she's two years old. She's standing up, she's marching around

(52:13):
the room, dancing, you know, and it was just it
was a song. It was a cartoon. Then she song
was over, Sit back down. So I knew that. I said, Okay,
so music cartoons singing we like we like that. Yeah,
we do like that, no matter what age we are. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (52:32):
I got to sing with this show called The Huggle
Monsters and it was so fun because Tom Kenny, who
plays SpongeBob, actually.

Speaker 1 (52:39):
I've got that in my Thank God that was you.

Speaker 5 (52:42):
This is a great I remember thinking, okay, what characters
can I smush together to try to think of something unique.
It's not that unique, but it said that she was
a very dinghy and just like happy go Lucky mom.
It was just a little sort of off, you know,
right of center, but that she was a really good
So I was like, I love the way Goldie hunt
and how nothing really lands when she speaks. And then

(53:04):
I just added in this warmth and breathiness and so
I got to you know, this low Alto girl got
to do.

Speaker 6 (53:10):
This really sweet sort of voice like that.

Speaker 2 (53:13):
And I played Mama and Tom can you blaw jetto?

Speaker 5 (53:16):
And he's so versatile like you, it's sort of absolutely
not fair, and so, you know, we were so tickled
that we got to do something that was so not
what we have normally rely be cast in.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
It's always nice. Yeah, yeah, we like that part. You
like that, yeah, because you get to stretch as an actor,
that's right, and we like stretching.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
And then you'd be on your phone and Lisa schaefferould
be like you're up up, and you're like, nope, I
can do the line. I just was texting my friend.
I was just tweeting and.

Speaker 1 (53:42):
She y, yeah, oh god, I haven't seen her in
a while. I know, I haven't seen anybody in a while.
I'm glad to see you.

Speaker 5 (53:49):
I'm glad to see you. It was so nice at
Wonder Calm. We were like, I want to sit down
and actually talk. Yeah, And then like three hours later
and we were like, we're not going to have a voice,
you know. But it really just makes me so happy
because I found my tribe when I moved to La,
I found my tribe of funny, weird circus folks.

Speaker 2 (54:07):
That's true, you being one of the main ones.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
Yeah, I always think of it as circus folks.

Speaker 5 (54:12):
I mean, we really are. I felt weird in high school.
I was teased, I was bullied, it really was. And
then I was like, she was such a weird voice.
They dubbed my voice for my first on camera commercial
because it was like scratchy and weird. And we booked
it me and this other blonde girl because we were
like laughing in the lobby and just being ourselves, being kids,
and all the other moms were brushing their daughters like

(54:32):
perfectly blonde ponytails, and I was like, no teeth and
you know, lost these front teeth. I mean I had teeth,
I had other teeth I think to rely on. Yeah,
And then we went in and we booked the commercial.
But then they dubbed my voice and I want to be.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
Like ha ha ha.

Speaker 5 (54:48):
You know, they really were like her voice is kind
of weird and scratchy as a five year old, she
doesn't sound like a typical five year old.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
I got teased. And now I'm like, well, you know,
look at me now, mom, you know, so there yeah, no.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Yeah, yeah, and where were you born?

Speaker 5 (55:03):
So I was born in Maryland outside of the DC area, okay,
And my mom and dad performed at arena stage sort
of like if our our Alminson Theater are out here
or the Geffen or something like that. Had a repertory company,
and so my mom was the leading lady, and I
believe she actually did parts when she was still in college.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
And so did my dad.

Speaker 5 (55:25):
And then he left and started his advertising started an
advertising company, and then he hired me and my sister.

Speaker 2 (55:32):
So right away I just sort of, you know.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
I learned on the spot. Yeah, wow, yeah, that's very good.
Well it's this wasn't Merviyn's, was it.

Speaker 2 (55:41):
No, Okay, it's for Shaky's Pizza.

Speaker 5 (55:43):
And I have the real Celiac where I really can't
eat wheat and I'll just be like sick for days.

Speaker 2 (55:48):
And my dad was like, I don't care. The show
must go on.

Speaker 5 (55:50):
And he was like on a single handheld camera, which
we didn't do back then, and we were Shaky's Pizza
looking at the camera like you know, being It was
a really cool commercially all sorts of awards, and for me,
they had a spit bucket because I was like in
between like every take.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
Oh that's right, Yeah, that's right. Oh yeah. And for
the people who don't know what that is, it's when
you're pretending to eat and then you because if you
would keep eating, like for take twelve, yeah, you'd, you'd
you'd have to order another pizza.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
And so what do you do?

Speaker 5 (56:23):
Spit it out? You spin it out, You spit it
out because I don't eat meat. And so I did
this on camera commercial for like Healthy Choice, and at
the callbacks I did, they said we were just going
for the sandwich that we weren't eating on camera, and
so they're like, are you so at our callbacks?

Speaker 2 (56:39):
Sleeve? Please again, Hi, Laurie Allen. Do you eat meat?

Speaker 8 (56:42):
No?

Speaker 5 (56:42):
Do you have any allergies wheat? And they were like, okay, great,
And I was like, I'm never going to get cast
in this thing.

Speaker 2 (56:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (56:46):
I had a spit bucket and so I was really
excited that I could could do that.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
That's right, Yeah, could have been nitroglycerine for all you know.
You still got the gig. Wow. Yeah, So the thing
we do for.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
Our it's so true.

Speaker 4 (57:02):
You guys had mentioned earlier in this conversation about fans
coming up and saying do the voice. And we were
just talking with April about how like literal doctors would
like calling nurses and then we see this clip. Did
you seem like no way, this is the experience. We
were just literally talking.

Speaker 5 (57:21):
I got to collegists, my old gynecologist after a nice
you know, healthy papsmere knock on wood healthy, and she'd
be like, hold on just a second. I was like,
oh god, what do they need to do another exam?

Speaker 2 (57:34):
Oh geez?

Speaker 1 (57:34):
You know.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
She brought in the entire office staff and she was
like every time, I just get such a kick out
of you being programs on SpongeBob. And I was like, holy,
so this riskit actually happened, And that actually happened.

Speaker 5 (57:45):
She brings in the whole stuff, and then I was like,
can we do a selfie? I'm like, my vagina's hanging out,
like what's happening? Can I a least close my legs
and get dressed? He was like no, don't worry. I'm like, no,
we're going to get dressed. But that is exactly true. Wow,
do the voice. And then I was at a con
and this little kid, he's little toe headed kid. He
couldn't have been more than like eight and his little

(58:07):
booger eating twin sisters on either side of him, and
he came up to the table and he's like, you
need you to do the voice, and I said, what
you may, and he's like Randy, and I'm.

Speaker 2 (58:16):
Like, hey, Randy, it's really nice to meet you. And
he goes, you're right, Dad, that's not her. It's not
her at all. And I said, you little shit, get away,
you and your booger eating sisters. You can get away
from ghetto grip. So it probably wasn't very nice, but
I was like, you little poop heead, Yeah, it's a
nice yeah.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
Click click click, yeah, don't.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
Make me cry. Go away. If you and your sisters
wash your hands.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
Yeah, gross, No, we're not shaking hands. Yeah, off man. Well,
the things we do for our art.

Speaker 5 (58:54):
Yeah, I mean, I mean we do really have to
do some weird stuff like the pigs our stuff.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
Oh my gosh, I owe so much of my career.
Also besides Chris to Mickey McGowan, May she rest in
peace because she and my wonderful agent, Natanya and Kimberly,
especially Natania because she's still just kicking it and she's
a ball busting wonderful human. Go we'regeous human inside and out,
and she's so good.

Speaker 5 (59:20):
And Mickey McGowan who ran a Pixar loop group, and
Mickey called and said, you know, I need someone like
mid range who's not.

Speaker 2 (59:29):
Low like me, because she talked like Joan Rivers, you know.

Speaker 5 (59:32):
And then she said, and not super high like our
wonderful friend Cherry Lynn or something like that. And she said,
who's who can do a good mom voice, but who's
also really crazy. We'll just like jump up at the
drop of a hat and thank god our my beautiful agent,
Thank you, Nitania. She said, Lori Allen, that's it. So
I joined that pixarur Loop group. And I mean talk
about thinking on your feet fast. There's that big microphone

(59:53):
in that Disney sound stage. Oh and you walk in
what they call a donut, and everything you have to
say differently, Like let's say it was a husband and
wife at a carnival. We'd have to walk by and
be like, honey, can you get me another cut and candy?
And the next time you can be like, ooh, that
the bearded woman. That's sort of crazy, and now we're
fighting the third time around. I mean you have to
just keep going and going and going. You cannot be shy.

(01:00:15):
You got to make stuff up and be fast on
your feet. And you're auditioning for these other little look
sort of pop up parts I would say, like Bonnie's
Mom or the bus driver and Monsters University and fun
things like that, and you are auditioning in front of
each other.

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
I mean, you got to have a tough skin.

Speaker 5 (01:00:32):
You got to be persistent, and you've got to have
a tough skin, and you've got to not take it personally.
You just have to leave it and your booth, drop it,
leave it at the mic, and be like, I'm going
to go for a walk, I'm going to go have lunch.
I'm want to call a friend, because otherwise it's just
it's just one.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
Yeah, yeah, well you know I I don't take myself seriously,
but I do take the work seriously.

Speaker 5 (01:00:55):
I mean I do I when I'm coaching, because I
coach and teach and do people's demos. I'm like you
almost I would prefer that somebody breaks the script down,
like it we're a live action piece.

Speaker 2 (01:01:07):
What's the pre life?

Speaker 1 (01:01:08):
What just happened?

Speaker 2 (01:01:08):
Where are you coming from? Who are you talking? To
are they right? There are there people you know far away?
If it's an evil queen, evil queen's aren't evil all
the time. They're gonna have one moment of being very
very insecure.

Speaker 8 (01:01:20):
Like like a really bratty, cool, confident kid is going
to have a moment where they're like, oh man, they're
picking on me.

Speaker 5 (01:01:25):
You know, so where's the levels and cadence and then
acting and what's your relationship to the person place thing
that you're talking to about? And half the time it's
not in those sides that we're given because we're not
given the full script.

Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
You got to make it up.

Speaker 5 (01:01:38):
Yeah, So I will write like keywords to myself. I'll
write my intention at the top of the scene. Yeah, yeah,
I really tell yeah, Jez, I still think there's hope
for you yet I'm coming.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
Yes, I plod through.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Yeah, you'll make it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
We like plotting, so to speak, you know, as long
as it's not too deep. If you're a fan of
everything we do here at tuned In with Jim Cummings,
you could support the show on Patreon for bonus exclusive podcasts,
as well as early in ad free access to the
show itself, prize drawings, and more, you'll feel the difference.

(01:02:17):
So go ahead and join the tuned in family today
at Patreon dot com, slash Jim Cummings podcast, Do It Now.
I always wanted to know when did you know that
you were going to join the circus? Did I ask
you that? Because that's what I feel like, You know.

Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
That we really are circus carnefolk, We really are.

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
So I watched my parents. My mom was also the
sag after president in Washington, so I remember doing my
homework in the back of the room there.

Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
So it's in your blood.

Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
It is because my father's father was a performer. My
mother's mother was a performer. My mother's mother was on
a train and she was just beautiful. She looked exactly
I think I was you last week.

Speaker 5 (01:03:01):
She looked like Judy Garland, I mean her and my
grandfather my mom's side looked like Clark Cable.

Speaker 2 (01:03:05):
They would get stopped, so show me a picture.

Speaker 5 (01:03:07):
Yeah, And she got used to being gone with the wind,
and my great grandmother said no. So then when my
mom wanted to go off to summer stock with like
ned baby, my grandmother told her yes. So anyway, I
watched them. I watched her be a union, you know,
a good union gal. But and I really wanted to dance,
so I started off as a dancer mostly, but I
had to do this thing and like, I don't know,

(01:03:29):
it was like second or third grade, where.

Speaker 2 (01:03:31):
Did you do three blind? Nice?

Speaker 5 (01:03:33):
And I'm not especially tall at all, but I was
for some reason at that time. And the minute I
got to boss the little kids around by being the
mom mouse or whatever it was, I was.

Speaker 2 (01:03:41):
Like, oh, I'm in.

Speaker 5 (01:03:42):
And then I did any to do exactly and then
I got to do Annie Get Your Gun, which is
this community theater. My mom was like, well, I'm not
in this production, but I'm producing, so I've got my
eyes on you.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
So Phyllis Arlek, you know, very similar Baltimore, Maryland accent.
She would pick me up with a cigarette and the
windows closed and she could take me to the theater
and I would just like kind of keep tying my
orange little frizzy bows in my hair, just putting on
lots of blush. And there were these women in their bras,
you know, having a cocktail before they'd go on, and
I was like, these are my people. And I just

(01:04:16):
knew that, like Thespian people were their bras.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
Okay, they were.

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
Just waiting to get this because it's ay was hot backstage. Yeah,
and I would fall asleep. That was adorable.

Speaker 1 (01:04:27):
Yeah, I'm sure.

Speaker 2 (01:04:28):
And I fell asleep on stage and I just loved it.
But you got the job, yeah I did.

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
He fell asleep on stage because she.

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
Sang us a lullaby and I was like, I have
homework to do. It was nine.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
Oh wow.

Speaker 5 (01:04:41):
Yeah, So between Three Blind Mice and this musical, I
was like, I am in the circus.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
Yah, yes, there wasn't.

Speaker 5 (01:04:47):
They're really besides like spring makeup and a spring perfume
and doing makeup on people. Right after I graduated college,
I started working the next year and so it doesn't
go unnoticed on me again. Talent yeay, drive sure, but
just the right place at the right time, sure, and
just being it like doesn't hurt, and forming relationships with

(01:05:10):
people and always wanting to stay in class. I'm in
a writing class right now, Like you know, I'm writing
my solo show.

Speaker 2 (01:05:15):
Finally.

Speaker 5 (01:05:16):
My teacher won't let me stop. He's like, write it,
do it, talking to.

Speaker 2 (01:05:20):
A you know, talking to a used story, talking to
your phone or the computer, and write this sucker and
get it done.

Speaker 5 (01:05:27):
Oh wow, you know, but I think it's uh, it's
important to just always stay creative somehow. I mean, there's
just a you know, because otherwise we just we don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:05:35):
What to do with ourselves. Yeah, like you have this
great podcast, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is a lot of fun. I
get to hang out with you and yeah, all sorts
of cool peeps, cool peeps, and looks like everybody likes
it so far. What do you How are we doing
out there, folks having a good time? Okay, thumbs up, Okay,
thank you, see see and so yeah, so you know,
it gets us out of the house.

Speaker 5 (01:06:01):
I mean the convention. Like I said that, we were
all mad a week last weekend together. It's so special
when someone will say to me, like I I played Metal.
I hadn't talked to my dad in five years, and
this guy said to me just this weekend, he said,
my dad wanted me to play the game, called me
out of the blue. We weren't talking and we bonded

(01:06:22):
over playing this game, and now our relationship is back.
And then this one lady said to me when we
were going we were my husband and I were volunteering
at the fire fighters near our house with these crazy
Pacific palisades and Altadena fires. And I brought without Nickelodeon.
I just said to the cast, would you guys like
to come and we'll just hang out. They just want
to make us breakfast and you know, hang out. And

(01:06:43):
it was We just spent the whole day with them
and it was so so nice. And this one gal
said to me, it is really hard because basically when
you have a fireman husband, they're never home, especially during
fire season, which is with global warming all the time now,
and she said, my kids loves spund and she's like,
I loved it and we watch it like all the time.
And thank you for helping me raise my kids. I

(01:07:06):
don't everyone's in a blooming ya kids me. And I'm
just I feel so fortunate. And I think that I
it's smart. I know a little a little bit about
a few things. You knows, geous of people that know
a lot about a lot, and like, I know a
lot about like three or four things, and one of
them is doing this and to think that it brings
joy and yeah, yeah, it's just it's just the coolest.

Speaker 1 (01:07:29):
Yeah, And you know, in the irony of it, it's
it's like with me because I'll you know, Pooh gets
that a lot. Yeah, and and and I just I
always stop and think, well, it's the thing that used
to get me kicked out of class. I've said it before,
and now everybody seems to it's okay. So I learned
more in the hallway than I did in the classroom.

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean yeah, I can't fight it. Nope.

Speaker 5 (01:07:55):
And we just like I said, I love doing I
love mishmashing characters around, like no one's going to know
if you're doing a bad celebrity impression, right. I think
that's something Charlie probably taught me. And so I had
some audition right to play like this like an Austrian
lesbian gym teacher.

Speaker 2 (01:08:15):
So it's like I'm going to do Arnold faults and
I go because he was our president, having president Hello, governor,
and he's like California, you know, it had like fourteen
fourteen syllables, and so I was like, ladies, get down
and give me push ups of any nice you know
that as long as we're having fun.

Speaker 5 (01:08:31):
And I think that for the new generation, they don't
know from going into the office, they don't know from
chit chatting in the hallway and having a booth director
kind of help you out. And now you're so busy
being on camera too. You're busy being your own lighting person,
directing person, making sure.

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
I just want to know if the.

Speaker 5 (01:08:47):
Gain is good and the volume. Like so many voice
people know so much tex stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:08:51):
I'm like, I just want to talk and say stuff
and then make it into an MB three and send
it in and apparently it's okay. But like to just
pull from all that stuff and to just be weird
and authentic. I this, somebody gave me a poster that
said You're a goddamn fucking magical unicorn, and I have
that on my booth.

Speaker 1 (01:09:08):
You.

Speaker 2 (01:09:09):
I try to look at that as a.

Speaker 1 (01:09:10):
Mark card, isn't it? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
Of course, pretty sure line unicorn cards.

Speaker 1 (01:09:16):
If you're a fan of everything we do here at
tuned In with Jim Cummings, you could support the show
on Patreon for bonus exclusive podcasts, as well as early
in ad free access to the show itself, prize drawings,
and more. You'll feel the difference, so go ahead and
join the tuned In family today at Patreon dot com,

(01:09:37):
slash Jim Cummings Podcast Do It.

Speaker 4 (01:09:40):
Now would you like to play a game? Okay, we
have a voice swap steam.

Speaker 1 (01:09:45):
Yeah it was secret. Yes, that's right.

Speaker 4 (01:09:47):
We do little voice swap game that we play on
this podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:09:53):
Game.

Speaker 4 (01:09:54):
The way it goes is, Jim will say one of
his character lines, say Winnie the Pooh says something, and
then you'll say that same line but in one of
your character voice.

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
I love it. Yes, I've seen this. I'm a fan
of yours.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
Oh a likely story. Okay, well, okay, so who should
we uh tigger dark Wing? Maybe I don't know tiger,
uh tigger? Okay, okay, let's well, here's here's an easy one.
Don't wonderful thing about tiggers. It's tiggers are wonderful things.

Speaker 2 (01:10:23):
I don't know about anything about tiggers, but tiggers, I
know I'm missing the middle part, are wonderful things.

Speaker 1 (01:10:31):
It was a little too subtle, but hey, you know
what do you think you so? Now?

Speaker 5 (01:10:39):
Okay, let's see Diane, Yeah, Dan, Yeah, Tom, I am
not an ignorant slot.

Speaker 2 (01:10:50):
In fact, you were in the closet.

Speaker 5 (01:10:53):
Back to you in the studio and coming up next,
Tricia Takanawa with the weather, tell.

Speaker 3 (01:11:00):
Him, I am not in the closet, but Tricia Nakinawa's
back with the weather and I don't even think about
can be remembering the other part back, don't you?

Speaker 4 (01:11:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:11:16):
I think it was verbatim, I think or not.

Speaker 2 (01:11:18):
Yeah, we can have a transcribe and it it'll be like.

Speaker 4 (01:11:22):
The voice of the Black Reporter.

Speaker 2 (01:11:25):
Phil Lamar, that Phil, and he's like you were the
podcast and he kind of did it just really loud
and he's so oh my god. Phil Lamar is just
one of the funniest humans and the whole planet.

Speaker 1 (01:11:37):
Yeah, it really is. Yeah, have you ever seen there?

Speaker 2 (01:11:40):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:11:40):
Have you ever seen the Black Version at Ciedric or
other voice over passe Cidric Yarborough and Gary Anthony Williams
and Phil and they are the funniest. So they did
the show with the Groundlings and called the Black Version.
So for instance, they'd get a name of a movie,
like a leak of their own, and they'd be like
bitches were bats and they rise throughout the whole show.

(01:12:02):
I almost pede at one of the shows that they
are so talented and three of the.

Speaker 1 (01:12:06):
Nice stories and talented.

Speaker 2 (01:12:08):
Yeah, Sorizy, you got to get him. He's so crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:12:12):
Yeah, he is and he was good. And what Malcolm
in the middle. Oh, I used to have him on
that he would pomp up and.

Speaker 2 (01:12:20):
He's such a brave improviser too. Oh my god.

Speaker 5 (01:12:22):
So they do have like one song in the black
version that they'll set from time to time, and it
was whatever the year that what's the movie?

Speaker 1 (01:12:32):
Oh my god?

Speaker 2 (01:12:33):
No, yes, exactly, Yeah, we're common and John Legend saying glory.
What movie is that from? I can't remember.

Speaker 5 (01:12:43):
But Gary raps, Gary raps without any notice or preparation.
He can do a full and then I can't even
do it because I.

Speaker 2 (01:12:49):
Look like a total jackass. But he is so talented.

Speaker 5 (01:12:53):
So when you see him, make sure you have him
improvised for a good like fifteen minutes.

Speaker 1 (01:12:56):
Oh god, he's incredible. Yeah yeah, oh, he absolutely is.

Speaker 2 (01:13:02):
Should we do another line?

Speaker 4 (01:13:03):
Yeah? Yeah, sure. I feel like she doesn't have catchphrases,
But what about the boss.

Speaker 5 (01:13:08):
Yeah, I'm thinking of a good boss line, she says.
She says, there is no such thing as luck on
the battlefield, loyalty to the end.

Speaker 1 (01:13:23):
There is no such thing as luck on the battlefield,
loyalty to the end of the honeypot.

Speaker 2 (01:13:33):
Oh so cute.

Speaker 4 (01:13:37):
Some alternate universe where who is of war General?

Speaker 2 (01:13:40):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:13:42):
It's a world I just don't want to live in.
But I'm glad you're living in ours.

Speaker 2 (01:13:48):
I know. I just can't even imagine not doing this.
I do.

Speaker 5 (01:13:52):
I feel so fortunate. I'm so grateful, and I really
have to pee because I've had a lot of water.

Speaker 1 (01:13:56):
But yes, it was so good to take a very talented.

Speaker 2 (01:14:00):
I'm going to take a very talented peaka.

Speaker 4 (01:14:02):
Where can people find you on social media?

Speaker 5 (01:14:04):
Oh my god, they can see me at just Loriallan
dot com and then on Instagram. I don't know why
Lori Talk one, two three was taken, but I'm Lori
Talk four.

Speaker 2 (01:14:13):
I love Instagram. I'm an Instagram junkie.

Speaker 1 (01:14:15):
It's terrible.

Speaker 2 (01:14:16):
I love Instagram.

Speaker 5 (01:14:18):
And the og Galpals, which is the four actresses that
are you know, we didn't it's not a Nickelodeon thing,
but it's just us Jill Tally and Mary Joe Catlet
and Karen Lawrence who were on SpongeBob.

Speaker 2 (01:14:28):
So that's really cool. Yeah, and then announcing all the
cool Yeah, we're the og Galpals. I pitched that.

Speaker 5 (01:14:34):
I was like, we should have an episode where we
scared the shit out of each other on like a
like a camping trip or whatever, and I almost lost
my vocal cord.

Speaker 2 (01:14:42):
But it's a great episode.

Speaker 5 (01:14:44):
But yeah, LORI talk four on Instagram, my website and
then X I really.

Speaker 2 (01:14:51):
Should get off of that. Lori Allen one again. I
don't know why Lori Allen was taken.

Speaker 1 (01:14:56):
But yeah, but the same spelling.

Speaker 5 (01:14:58):
Yeah obviously, Yeah, r I A L A N. It's
my middle name. My phone name is Fleri Allen Deniberg. Yes,
I know you're Jim Cummings, just just playing.

Speaker 2 (01:15:08):
You don't even what is your middle name?

Speaker 1 (01:15:10):
Jay? Jim?

Speaker 2 (01:15:11):
Just what member? When I got your John Jim J
Jim j Jim J Cummings, you'd be good DJ. Did
you start in radio? No, doesn't have a good DJ
voice too.

Speaker 4 (01:15:21):
I do have a good v y.

Speaker 1 (01:15:25):
Yeah, coming up next, I'm the Booter Scooter. I can
remember Youngstown, Ohio, w W WA jo T thirteen thirty
bow bow and hey, come on Dawn the Booter Scooter.
And it was what uh what b Weaver calls a puker?

Speaker 2 (01:15:45):
Oh those guys.

Speaker 1 (01:15:48):
Hey, it's your daddy. Oh love the radio. Hey, come
on down you know we're going to be at that
Oak Park mall all day long.

Speaker 5 (01:15:55):
Bo was my husband on Fantastic four. Oh yeah, and
we know we're probably done. But Bo Weaver was my
uh oh, that's right.

Speaker 2 (01:16:03):
He played my husband on the Fantastic before he played
Read Richer is a very smart scientist. And I remember
when we changed directors like halfway through and the new
director said something like, I need you guys to make
your effort noises.

Speaker 1 (01:16:16):
And it was a Tony somebody. I think it went
from a from Chris to a guy named Tony.

Speaker 2 (01:16:25):
I can't remember that awful if I saw him and
I'd be like, Hi.

Speaker 1 (01:16:29):
No, you wouldn't should but but yeah, oh god, he
gave I wish I didn't say his name, I know,
but because I wanted to make fun of him. Well
that's okay. He's probably not around anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:16:43):
But Quentin Flynn, yes, myself, Bo and Jock mckatt, who
played the thing.

Speaker 5 (01:16:48):
He would fall asleep, but she takes may he rest
in peace. That's a good Chuck mccam. And they gave
us a disc just of the dry takes, but it
was mostly just our screams and efforts. And I remember
driving around with Quentin and we were running errands together
and we were like, oh my god, this all sounds
like constipation and sex.

Speaker 2 (01:17:08):
You'd be like get down from there, oh you know,
and I was like, oh my, this is a.

Speaker 1 (01:17:14):
Little r yes, but the check cleared, that's right, Oh
my god. Yeah. Yeah. Well I've seen Quintin at a
few conventions and do you have anything you would like
to let people know that you'll be appearing? We should?
Did we do that?

Speaker 2 (01:17:31):
MGS con?

Speaker 5 (01:17:33):
So, speaking of the of the Boss, there's metal Gear
Solid is because we have this re release of the
game Delta, and by the time this this errs, we
will have known something really exciting about it, about a
live immersive experience. But I can't say it. It really sucks.
But mgs con is just a metal Gear Solid convention.
It's fans started. They did it with a kickstarter situation.

Speaker 4 (01:17:56):
And so is it because maybe by the time this releases.

Speaker 5 (01:17:59):
The oh yeah, it'll be August twenty third in Ontario.
And it's incredible. It's really incredible. All the voice talent
is there. You can learn so much about just the
decades and decades worth of this story that is never
ending and they'll be talking a lot about Delta because
the official releases a few days right after.

Speaker 4 (01:18:17):
That, and lots of we'll probably time this up along
alongside that. Yeah, because we have a bunch, you.

Speaker 1 (01:18:23):
Know, yeah, a bunch in the camp.

Speaker 4 (01:18:25):
Yeah yeah, and that's I feel like that's always the
most beneficial for everybody is to you know, ride the promotions.

Speaker 2 (01:18:31):
Yeah, thank you, Yeah, I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:18:33):
Yeah, there are dozens of people who watch this.

Speaker 4 (01:18:36):
Yeah, we love you.

Speaker 2 (01:18:37):
Ah.

Speaker 1 (01:18:40):
I don't know. I think two weeks somewhere.

Speaker 2 (01:18:42):
I remember where it is, you know, I would really
all turn.

Speaker 1 (01:18:46):
Into the same one.

Speaker 5 (01:18:47):
I know, eventually, the same folks that did the one
we were at this weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:18:51):
This past weekend.

Speaker 5 (01:18:52):
They have one in New Orleans and I've never been
to New Orleans, which is insane, and it's going to
be around my birthday and I was like, already to go,
even if I make six sense. I mean, I just
want to go because it's so fun to meet people
and do panels like Dragon Con. That was a party.
That was a party. Police were outside with us hanging out.

Speaker 4 (01:19:12):
I can't believe they have their own brand of beer,
like like Dragon, I have Ale or whatever it is.

Speaker 1 (01:19:19):
I'm like, what that party?

Speaker 4 (01:19:22):
Like they like did the like the covers of it
on like construction paper almost. It's like, wait a second,
they like printed these off at home and like stuck
them on some beer.

Speaker 2 (01:19:31):
Wow, that's too that that was a rowdy rowdy. Yeah,
there's got to be.

Speaker 4 (01:19:38):
More than percent beer eight percent alcohol beer.

Speaker 1 (01:19:41):
Whoa wow? Yeah, that is a party four.

Speaker 4 (01:19:46):
And three point cause plays there. I swear that's the
best cause plays I've ever seen any conventions? Is that
Dragon con?

Speaker 2 (01:19:52):
Causeplay folks are going to be at the MGS con.

Speaker 4 (01:19:55):
Oh, I bet so. You always see a snake for yeah,
you see quiet.

Speaker 5 (01:20:00):
Oh yeah, I'm on a couple. There's one lady that
had her had me on her arm and on her butt,
and she wanted me to sign her button. I'm like,
your kid is right there, so maybe we'll go into
the ladies.

Speaker 2 (01:20:12):
Room and I'll do it.

Speaker 5 (01:20:13):
So that's always interesting when somebody has their character on
your on their body.

Speaker 1 (01:20:17):
Yes, yes, yeah, it happens a lot to Pooh and Tigger.
Who and Tiger are all over all over? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:20:25):
Yeah, I have a tattoo place that I can't show you.

Speaker 1 (01:20:29):
Is it that one?

Speaker 2 (01:20:31):
Yeah, let's not talk about it that one.

Speaker 1 (01:20:33):
Okay, all right, I love you, We love Lari Allen,
everybody loves you, and I love you right back. Yes,
Ray so much, thank you very very much for doing this.

Speaker 2 (01:20:44):
Thank you so much for having me so good to
meet you.

Speaker 4 (01:20:47):
Absolutely really nice meeting you too. I'm sure I'll see
you at one of these conventions soon. Yes, yeah, And
thank you guys all for watching. We hope you enjoyed
this episode. If you did, please like and comment and subscribe.
It really helps us, it helps you. You know that
on YouTube you can actually watch a video like you
can have a video recommended to you and then it
never is recommended again, not even that channel. It's a

(01:21:08):
really weird algorithm. So if you like and subscribe, I
mean that'll never happen to you. And if you like
this content so much, you can find bonus content on Patreon.
That's right. We have little pre roll interviews, you know,
you get to see some of the behind the scenes
before we even start recording. There's bonus episodes, there's episodes
that are exclusive just to Patreon. There's a whole bunch
of contents, giveaways, good stuff like that. So if you

(01:21:29):
like this content, like this channel, go check us out
on Patreon. We like all you. We love all you
Patreon subscribers.

Speaker 1 (01:21:35):
Yeah we do, Yeah we do.

Speaker 4 (01:21:37):
And there's merchandise on Shopify at Jim Commingy's closet. You
can get some cool stuff there. I don't think I'm
leaving anything out. There'll be a link in the description
with any upcoming conventions appearances that Jim is going to
be at that Laurie'll be at. We'll include that as well.
And that just about does it for today. We'll see
you in the next one. Once again, thank you so

(01:21:58):
much for being here. Really appreciate it. Lauri Ell and
Jim cummings On producer Chris, thank you.

Speaker 5 (01:22:02):
Thanks guys, that was awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:22:07):
Thankank you
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