September 2, 2025 • 37 mins
ICYMI: Hour Three of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – A replay of Mo’s in-depth conversation with friend of the program, Emmy Award-Winning Actor/Director Obba Babatundé, who returned to the program with wonderful stories gleaned from his life in TV and film and thoughts on the series finale of CBS' ‘S.W.A.T.’ and what his character "Pops"/Daniel Harrelson, Sr. (father of "Hondo"/Shemar Moore) has meant to his storied career…PLUS – Mo’ revisits his conversation with Disney Legend Bill Farmer (voice of Goofy and Pluto for nearly 30 years), and Bret Iwan (the fourth person EVER to voice Mickey Mouse) who joined the program to introduce 'Mickey Mouse Clubhouse+' - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app & YouTube @MrMoKelly
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Kelly six.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
We are alive everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Let's talk
with our latest guest, Oh, Bob Bubbatuonday. He is a
friend of the show. He has been on the show
a number of times. You may know him as Pop's
Daniel Harrelson Sr. Father of Hondo Shamar Moore on CBS's Swat.
I'm quite sure Obi Bubbatunde has some words of wisdom,
(00:32):
not only about that experience, but also the industry more broadly.
So let me welcome to welcome you to the show.
Babah albatun Day. It is great to see you again,
my friend.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
What a joy to be here with you again. Mo
is always a pleasure to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Last time I saw you, Yes, we were talking about SWAT,
and this is one of the many TV shows and movies.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
That you've been on.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
So I'm just thinking off the top of my head,
like Boston Legal, Gray's Anatomy, Criminal Minds. You've had a long,
extensive career, specifically on television, but you've also done voiceovers
for video games and movies. I think it was uh
Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence's Life. I'm just thinking off
the top of my head. What has this business shown
(01:12):
y you over these many years?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Well, you know what, Thank you so much. It's a
great question and deserves a great answer.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I'll do my best.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
You know, the thing that I have identified as that
it is your do is not necessarily your who.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Now let me show you what that.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Okay, by that, okay, your du as I have discovered
is what affects change in your life. But your who
is how you have affected change in someone else's life.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Oh wait, wait, waite, I think I know where you're
going with this. The way I say it is my
vocation versus my invocation.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
That's exactly correct, absolutely absolutely, And you know what, you know,
the beauty of that is when you identify that your
due is not necessarily your who. Like for somebody that's
a bus driver, when their term of driving that bus
the end of the day, when they get off that bus,
so they just a bus driver, know they are human being.
There's somebody who has a life experience. And so to
(02:09):
answer your question specifically about the industry of entertainment through
the journey of this which has been a half a century,
I just found out that I've got over two hundred
IMDb credits.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
That's you showing off. Now, No, no, I just found
this out.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
And that doesn't include theater, right and the no paying,
low paying that's earning a living at it, you know
what I mean. And again, I have been able to
identify that the relationships and the experience of dealing with
human beings and creating something that we were talking about
before we went on air, family family being a different
(02:44):
between family and relative. Relative you had no choice in
family is how one treats one.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Relatives are the ones you wanted to go home early
from the dinner. I know what you mean. Family can stay,
relatives gotta go. So that's one of the.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Things that I would identify that I would answer the
question with is that I've been able to see how
life is through the characters that I've played and through
the people that I've got a chance to interact with
in those in the off camera in those circumstances.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I would say that you are an elder statesman in
the television industry. Specifically, You've talked about your on camera
and off camera relationship with Shamar Moore, you play his
father on the show. But I'm quite sure you're a
mentor off the show.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Am I wrong?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Well, listen.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
You know, I never set out to try to do
anything but be an honest human being, and I come
to every situation mode to give, not to get. And
so I've done the same thing with Shamar, and we,
I do believe, have what is actually sort of a
mama surrogate dad in some sort of way, you know,
we and that relationship translates on screen. People have said,
(03:55):
you know, it seems like you guys are really father
and son. Well, that's because we are committed to telling
the truth to one another off screen and on screen.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
What does that truth seem like, sound like, feel like
when you are dealing with the professional relationship of actor
and actor versus the personal relationship of I'll say brother
the brother.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Okay, great question. Again, it's no different than what you
and I have. You know, when we see each other
through the years that we've been able to interact with
each other, we interact with each other on a human level,
you see. And so that is the deal is that, Yes,
you're a great host, and I hopefully I'm a good guest,
you know what I mean. But what happens is that
(04:37):
through our right before we get on air, we're talking
to each other as.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Two human beings. Yes, two people.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
You see every character that I've ever portrayed when I
only interested in playing fully realized human beings, I think
that that's been a key to mind.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Let me jump in there.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
You want to play fully developed characters and human beings.
But is that something that you're bringing to the role,
because it may not always be written into the role.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Absolutely, And that was where I was going with this, okay.
And what I do is I write a backstory to
every character that I portray, okay, so that whether it
shows up in the script or not, it informs everything
that that character does because I'm bringing to this, to this,
to the project, a fully realized human being. Wow, that's deep.
(05:24):
That's deep.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Now do you ever get pushed back from directors who
may say, no, no, no, no, no, that's not the motivation
for this character. That's not their backstory, that's not in
the script.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Well, they don't know the backstory. I don't give them
the backstory. See, it informs the work that I do.
I don't tell the director or the producer or anything.
I'll I respect the writing that they've done. Now, if
it seems like I'm not bringing forth exactly what they want.
Then I ask them, respectfully, can you help me because
I'm not really understanding why my character feels like that
(05:54):
in this situation. And they can say, as a director, well,
but this is what we're trying to get out of this.
You know, there's been in situations where I've been you know,
a director will come over to me and say, hey, listen,
you know what in this particular scene, just ignore you know,
that person. And I say, excuse me, why am I
ignoring them? If if, in actuality I in this scene
(06:17):
am trying to accomplish this, They go, well, you know what,
honestly I'm trying to get so and so I said,
oh stop, then you got to direct that person. Please
don't direct my character who I'm living this character's life
to be able to bring forth what you want from
another actor or actress.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I'm curious, because you've had some eight seasons to play
Daniel Harrelson's senior, that that character may occupy a larger
space in your consciousness than maybe other characters.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Is so in tune.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Let me explain something to an actuality that the producers
of the show came to me at one point and said, oh, well,
you know what we've heard from everyone. I want to
ask you, do you have anything in your life experience
that you'd like to share with us? And I was
able to give than that and we ended up creating
one of the episodes with using that information. They said,
can we use that? And I said absolutely. So again,
(07:08):
you know, I'm not acting. I'm living when but I'm
living the character in which I'm portraying, so that when
when that action starts, Obi is left in the trailer
or if it's on stage, he's left in the dressing room.
And now I am Daniel Harrilson Senior and Darryl Herringson
SR has a history and in this production he was
(07:31):
a former panther. Okay, well I have some of that
experience because I grew up in South Jamaica, Queens and
they had there was a place where the panthers actually
worked out of. So I have that in my in
my history. I've been on the planet for quite some time. Okay,
you're only thirty two, so no, no brother, No brother.
(07:55):
Next time I see thirty anything, it'll have a one.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
I'm planning on that as well.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Come on now.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
So yes, I try to make sure that I incorporate
all of those things, you know, you know, I'm so
blessed in so many ways. It's not a day that
I've walked down the street any day where if it's
a gas station or a supermarket where somebody goes, hey.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Amen, you aren't you?
Speaker 5 (08:22):
Aren't you?
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Or do you know who you are?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
But it's always with a sense of a warmth and
a smile, you know what I mean, And it's genuine,
and it's because I've been able to hopefully bring something
to their life, whether it was something that was a troubled,
tumultual situation that helped them get through, or whether it
was something that made them smile and laugh. And so
you know, I made a choice at the onset of
(08:47):
my career and I always tell people, I don't know
it was arrogance or confidence.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
I guess you'll be you know, a.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Little of each.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
But the deal was that I was going to go
forth and I was going to realize. I realized the power,
the potential power of the industry that that industry, those
images that I project and others that do the same
thing that I do project on that small or large
screen have the potential of going around the world and
suggesting to someone else who has never met you. What
(09:17):
because we resemble in a hue who you might be,
and so why would I go forward and misrepresent you
when you don't deserve that. So that was what I
intended to do in my career and I hope I've
been able to scratch the surface of that.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
My guess is Obah Babatunde. We're talking about the winding down.
I'll call it the winding down of the series swat.
They have actually a season and series finale. We're going
to get that with Oba Babatunde front of the show,
I would say, I would like to call you my
friend friend now as well, it's Later with mo Kelly
KFI AM six forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (09:53):
You're listening to Later with mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Okay, if I AM six forty, it's Later with mo Kelly.
We're live on YouTube right now. You can see this
conversation and of course on the iHeartRadio app. And I'm
continuing my conversation with guests. Oh, Bob Babatunde, you know
him from such films as Life, Miss Evers, Boys, introducing
Dorothy Dandridge The Temptations, John Q. I remember that with
Denzel Washington, and of course TV shows like Chicago, Med,
(10:32):
The Bold and the Beautiful, The Good Fight, n CIS
and more. He was showing off last segment, telling us
some two hundred I am dB credits and they're all earned.
And Obi, let me remind people why we're talking specifically
on this evening. You, of course, you played Pops Daniel
Harrelson Senior on CBS's SWAT As the show winds down,
(10:54):
it is both a season finale and a series finale.
Let's start right there. What does it mean for you?
Would you see the end of a show and you've
had some eight seasons inhabiting a character?
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Is a degree? Is there a degree of.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Not regret, but just almost like I'll miss this person?
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yes, couldn't turn your mic rct to put that there?
You go? Is it on?
Speaker 7 (11:20):
Though?
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (11:20):
So yes, no, absolutely, you know, when you've been breathing
life into a human being, you know, and creating as
I've done with Pops, of course there is a reminisce
sadness that comes with that, you know, But I also
miss the interaction with my crew with the cast members.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
But you know, I've been doing it for so many
years that that everything has a conclusion. Now, I'd also
like to say, as opposed to an end as the
point I'm making, you know, there's a possibility, you know,
that we could be picked up by somebody else and
we could keep right on going.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Let me jump in there, because there have been a
number of TV shows which may have started on broadcast
tell and they've segued either to another network or they've
gone to a streaming platform. Talk to me about how
streaming has impacted what you know as the television landscape.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Yes, well, you know, been doing it so long that
I've been able to have watched the maturation of how
things have evolved. You know, we used to have what
was called must watch TV. Yes, you know what I
mean on Friday Night. You know that's my show. You
know what I mean, And now we identify that with
streaming that has changed. You know, everything has a sense
of evolution. That's what I've been able to identify. And
(12:34):
I've known that because of my career, I've been able
to make adjustments and continue to do what it is
that I do in the evolutionary stage. So I am
not saying that, Oh my goodness, you got to hold on.
We've got to make sure that this thing. But we
have to identify if I've got something to say, or
if I'm on a project that has something to say
that speaks to the human heart source, that somebody's going
(13:01):
to tune it in and we're going to watch it evolve. Yes,
I'm going to miss that crew. I'm going to miss
that cast. I'm going to miss that interaction. And Darren
Daniel Harraldson Senior is as much a part of me
in certain ways as I am a part of myself,
So that part is not going to go away.
Speaker 8 (13:18):
Oh ba Babatunday is still going to be obah Babatunday.
You and I are both old enough. I think I'm
about may maybe twenty years older than you, But you
and I are both old enough to remember Swat the
TV Show. Well, I was being serious.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
You and I are both are old enough to remember
Swat the TV Show of nineteen seventy three, nineteen seventy five. Yes,
old enough to remember the movie in early two thousands,
and now you have the Swat TV Show CBS. Why
do you think SWAT that brand has such an enduring.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Appeal, one that's perfectly stated, you know the deal is
And that was when I was leading toward when I
said that when there's something that people are desirous of seeing, right,
there's an energy. And what did I'd like to say
about our SWAT is that you get an opportunity in
this character with Pomps and the relationship between you know,
(14:14):
Daniel Harrilson, Senior and Junior, right is the family aspect
of it, you see, because we don't we forget that
the men and women in uniform, be they military, be
the police, be they whatever, you know, the first responders,
that they're also human beings and that they have a
life and an experience outside of the job that they do.
(14:36):
And I think one of the things that was so
successful about this particular production is that it gave us
an opportunity, us being the world population, being able to
see who these people aren't when they take that uniform off.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
I've always liked the dynamic you hinted at it last
segment because you talk about Senior's history connect to the
Panthers and he was not too big on his son
become a member of LAPD absolutely talk about how that
intra storyline evolved over the years and seasons.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Oh yes, yes, yes, because again as Daniel Harrison came
back in, he had at that time a particular an illness,
and so Hondo had to come back and he had
to bring him into the city to live with him,
to look after him, right, And so it was rough.
It was not just the fact that it was this,
It was this is what the double deal was.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
It wasn't just the.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Fact that he had an issue with him, that Daniel
Harrison Senior had an issue with him, because here he
is a swat guy, not ahead of a swat team, right,
But also Daniel Harrison Senior had left the family for
another relationship. So here you had these two dynamics coming
together what he felt as a child and what Daniel
(15:56):
felt about him now in his profession. So we had
these two and that caused a fury an energy.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Was a good on screen tension.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Yes, yes, great on screen tension.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
And it also helped us to graduate not just play
just that business. We were able to play that which
was the human experience between a father and a son,
a man and a man, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
It was just perfect.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Before we go to this next break, I'm also curious,
what did you hear from actual members of law enforcement?
Of course, you had your advisors on set to make
sure it was as accurate as possible, but I'm quite
sure because you say, and I understand you probably recognize
any number of places you may go and you're associated
and connected to the spot TV show, what did you
(16:43):
hear from law enforcement?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
I got you know what, you guys do a good
job over there, man. We really appreciate the fact that
you show more than just what we do on a
daily basis. You guys are really in a way helping
us to be to live our lives both on the
job and off the job, because we are able to
(17:05):
be able to be identified in our humanity as well
as what we do is work. So that was a
high praise and I really appreciated the fact.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
When we come back, I just want to riff with
you and I want to hear from you. I only
give you time to think about it's on the preview this.
I want to hear about some of your favorite roles
beyond Darryl Harrelson's senior and the ones that still live
with you even though you may not inhabit them anymore?
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Can you do that for me?
Speaker 4 (17:31):
If we got enough time, we get a whole lot
of them, baby, all.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Right, then I like it. Oh, bah Baba Tonday, you
know him from Swat. He's joining me in studio as
the series of SWAT winds down, not only for the season,
but as the series as a whole. It's Later with
Mo Kelly CAFI AM six forty live on YouTube in
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
AM six forty. It's Later with Mo Kelly.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
We're live on YouTube as Kelly and also on the
iHeartRadio app. And if you've been tuning in tonight, you've
probably been enjoying this conversation as much as I have
with actor Oba Babatunde. You know him from Swat. He
plays Daniel Harrison Harrolson Senior. And I would say a
thirty five hundred other roles. And let me use that
(18:20):
as elited because before the break, I was asking Oba,
some of the roles which you've inhabited over the years,
which still stay with you or you are most proud
of or most more most meaningful to you? What would
they be?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
You know what, I've had the great opportunity to portray
some living human beings. I mean, I got an opportunity
to play Berry Gordy, I got an opportunity to play
Harold Nicholas. I did a musical where I played Semi
Davis Junior. Miss Evers Boys is a movie that I did.
(18:57):
It was my first you know, Primetime Emmy nomination, and
to tell that story about the life of those men
and women and the challenges that they had that was
put upon them by the country. For those of you
who have not had an opportunity to see it, I
would respectfully suggest that you go forward and see Miss
(19:20):
Evers Boys was an HBO production at Great Alfred Woodard,
Joe Morton, the Great Ossie Davis, I mean, a host
of just brilliant, brilliant actors, Lawrence Fishburne, you know, and
we got a chance to tell this story about these
men and women and what was going on that actually
went on mo in our lifetime. Yes, this is not
(19:41):
something that's antiquated likes you know they're talking about like.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
Wolves of Slave movie. No, no, no, no, no no.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
This went on during our lifetime where there was a
it was called we had to identify the effects of
untreated syphilis and the African American male. This is actual
Tuskegee experiment, right, And so that character, for me is
(20:08):
something that's very very special because it crossed a period
of time and and and was not just while it
was I didn't play a particular individual.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
I played a copulation of.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
All of those men and women's lives and what was
going on in their lives at that time. And so
that would be one of the ones that I would
say that I was extremely proud of. I mean, I've
gotten an opportunity, you know, I mean in Philadelphia, in
the movie Philadelphia, you know that I.
Speaker 9 (20:40):
Forgot there are just so many yeah, yeah, but I mean,
you know here here it was giving the opportunity to
have people to be identified not by their illness but
by their humanity who happened to be inflicted with.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
An illness, you know.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
So I mean, I mean each one, I have had
so many, gat eight opportunities to portray human beings. You know,
as I talked about the fact that with Sammy Davis Junior,
who you know was my entertainment mentor you know, and
to be able to get to meet him. He was
a person that I saw growing up on that black
and white television in my in my family's living room.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
You will me about that little black and white philm
Co Yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
And then to be able to see a man who
who was identified as one of the greatest entertainers in
the world, and then to later meet him and for
him and I to become friends, you know, And if
I can give you a quick story about you know,
I was co starring in a world tour with Eliza Minelly,
and you know, he was going to be doing his
world tour at the same time we were doing ours,
(21:41):
so we would proceed or follow one another into the
different venues around the world.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
And so he had come.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
We was our last closing night and his was the
next opening night at the Lake Tahoe Inherits, And so
Eliza knew I was a big fan. And he she says, oh,
Sammy's here and he wants to meet you. And I said, well,
can he see me after he's seen me work? I
don't know it was an active thing, but whatever, you know,
she says, no, he's not going to stay for the show.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
So anyway, I go on and uh, I do the show.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
And afterwards I come off for a costume change, and
Eliza's dresser, Helen says, Alba Eliza said, to tell you
that Sammy stayed so great.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
All right, I would have done my show anyway.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Afterwards, there's a knock on the door and I said, yes, uh, oh,
it's oh sorry.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
If you know what Sammy sounded.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Like, he says, oh, listen, man, it's sam I opened
the door and there he stood right did the eye.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
And he says, he said.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
He looked at me and he says, you, my man,
are a bitch on wheels, a bitch on wheels. I
got to tell you you're marvelous. And he paid me
a lot of nice compliments. And I invited him in,
and I said to him, because remember we weent Lake
Tahoe at Harrod's. Yes, And I said to him, I
looked at him in his eye and I said, mister
d because I could never call him Sammy.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
I said, mister d.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I want to thank you, sir for coming in through
the kitchen so I could come in through the front door.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
For those who don't know, when Sammy Davis was at
the height of his fame, he was not allowed in
like the club Cocacabana.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
If I'm not mistaken, who is.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Not allowed to actually enter where anyone else other performer
would he have to go come in and.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Lead through the kitchen? Absolutely, just want to give context.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Well absolutely, Tyr ran down his face and he said,
I said, I'm sure you've heard this enough. You know
many times he says, I could never hear it enough.
And we became fast friends from that point nineteen seventy
eight until this passing in ninety you know, and I
still try to keep that legacy alive.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Before I let you go, it's unfortunate. We were talking
about how SWAT is winding down. That is important, but
I also want people to know you beyond that, you
also have an affinity for Lando Calrissian if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Yes, yes, well you know I was doing some voice
over at one point, and so I played Lando Cracyan
in most of those game shows that you you know,
the game video of things, as you say, and I
was in the studio and they said, hey, hey, you know,
mister Williams.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
He doesn't want to do it anymore as in Billy D. Williams.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
He said, do you think that that you could do.
And I said, well, what is it that you want
me to do? Are you trying these things to me?
I said, well, let me tell you one singing if
you want me, maybe I'll just say I want my
arm to fall off.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
And they said, you got the job. I don't know
what to say. You probably have a million stories like that.
And I always say, at the end of it all,
we only have our stories. It's not about the money,
it's not about the titles, it's not even about the
(24:47):
IMDb credits. It's about the stories that we can tell
for the future generations. Give me one more story of
your choice before we part.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
A beautiful story is that? And I want to share
with everybody that's listening and watching that understand that everything
that you do, nothing in your life, is wasted nothing.
You throw the ball against the Walmot, it's coming back.
I throw it, It's coming back. Everybody in the studio,
that ball's coming back. Don't worry about when it is
coming back, just know that it is okay. So I'm
(25:16):
going to give you an example of that, all right.
Nineteen seventy eight, as I mentioned, I was doing a
world toward Eliza manelly, okay. There the fourth show, we
would do four shows, then we would have a breakoff
and go somewhere else. And the fourth show, there was
a young lady, a young girl. She was at the
stage door. She had been there every night and I
and she was.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
I walked.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
He said hi, Almah, said you here again tonight?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
She said yes, but it's sold out.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
And I jokingly said, listen, you've been here long enough.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
You could be in the show.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
And I went inside and what I decided would be
nothing other than a random act of kindness.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
I went out and I said to security, hey, she's
with me. Let her in.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
I put her in a chair in the wings, and
I said, stay out of everybody's way, enjoy the show.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Twenty years later, I'm trying to get into this movie Life,
starring Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. For whatever reason, I
don't know what it was, but the casting director would
not allow me to come in in audition, and we
tried everything we could. Two weeks later, after we gave up,
they said, hey, Ober, we got a call. We you know,
they want to see you. So I said great, So
I go in and there's the casting director bless her heart.
(26:22):
She was sitting with her. I guess she didn't think
I was right anyway. So she was sitting where her
legs crossing, her arms folded, and she said, we gotta
put you on tape. I said, okay. The director he
was on the phone. He said, hey, make good to
see we can put you on tape.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
So I go on tape. Two days later, we get
a call. You booked a roll. Right, great.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
I go to work.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
I'm on my way the first day on set, going
to the thing, and this woman comes out and she says,
how do you do. My name's Tina Fortenberry. I said,
it was nice to meet you. She says, I've met
you twice before. She said, I met you you did
the movie Philadelphia.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
I said yes. She said, I was a PA on
that movie.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
I am now the unit production the assistant of the
unit production manager, Jim Brubacker on this production was great.
She said, but I also met you many years ago.
You did something very nice for me. I was a
fan of Eliza Manille. I said, wait a minute. You
and that young girl that I put in the chair.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
She said yes, And I didn't know why they wouldn't
bring you in.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
But I would go in every day and stand and say,
oh bah bah ba tunday, oh bah by batundey, he's good.
You should bring him in. I think they brought you in,
so I wouldn't come in and say that anymore. But
I would like to think. She says, Now, what happened
was you went on tape and and Brian Grazer saw
you and said that's the guy I was. Vivian Brazer,
all right, right, imagine pictures said that's that's that's the
guy I want. So the point that I'm making is
(27:35):
that I had no idea at that moment that's something,
that random act of kindness, something that I was going
to do, was going to pay dividends in my life
some twenty years later. So identify that has happened to
me time and time again. And I suggest to everyone
that is watching and listening know that about your life
that there is nothing wasted. What you invest will return,
(28:00):
and if it's garbage, garbage is coming back.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
And if it's greatness, greatness is coming back.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
In the church and say you preach it now you
preach it, and I love it. I love it.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Oh Bob up Fortune Day We've talked any number of
times over the years, and it's always like the first
time I got to talk to you because I learned
something new and I love that you get to share
it with not only me, but everyone listening and now watching.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Please, this is not gonna be the last time we
have this conversation all with not at all.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Man, invite me back anytime. I'm happy to come. And
always I always enjoy you know, and thank you for
what you do. And thank you for all of those
who are watching who have supported my career throughout the years.
I couldn't have done it without that love and connection.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Now I am going to ask the next time you
come back, you stop trying to show me up with
that baritone, silky smooth voice.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
All right, listen, man, I can't help the way I speak.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
And he got deeper. Did you know he got deeper
before he left?
Speaker 4 (28:53):
Listen. I could say it like this and that might
make someone very happy.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Now you just showing off? Oh bab up tun day.
Always great to see my Thank you. It's later with
Mo Kelly k IF. I am six forty live everywhere
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (29:06):
You're listening to. Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
Kelly.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Plus the continuation of the beloved Disney
Junior series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Welcome to the next generation
of preschoolers and is still breaking records.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
It's a top three series for preschoolers with more than
five billion views on YouTube. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Plus airs
Mondays at nine am Pacific on Disney Junior and is
available for streaming on Disney Plus. Now, let's make the
Clubhouse appear with the magic words miska muska Mickey Mouse.
Joining me on the show right now is Brett Iwan,
the voice of Mickey Mouse.
Speaker 5 (29:53):
Welcome, sir, well, thank you, and hey, that's my line Mouse.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
And I'm also joined by Bill Farmer, the voice of
Goofy and Pluto.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Bill, thank you for coming on this evening.
Speaker 7 (30:04):
Doorsha, I didn't know there were five billion people watching us.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
It's a whole lot of people.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
I love it. Bill. Let me start with you.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
You are a Disney legend in your own right who's
been the voice of Goofy and Pluto for decades, as
well as countless additional voices in films like toy story cars, monsters, eke.
But how do you keep the voices straight in your head?
Or do they get confusing after a while.
Speaker 7 (30:28):
Not generally, if you know the personality and you know
the character that you're portraying, it usually stays pretty much
in its own box. There are times when I'll probably
do the wrong voice, you know, But once you learn
a character, it has a tendency to stay. So Gorsh,
I can go into Goofy anytime I'll want, and it's
(30:51):
right there.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Brett, I need not tell you how big of shoes
that you are filling as the voice of Mickey Mouse.
You're just the fourth person ever to lend your voice
to Mickey. You were born in Pasadena. That's important to
us folks here in LA, but you were raised in
part in Illinois.
Speaker 4 (31:06):
What was your connection to Disney growing up?
Speaker 5 (31:09):
Oh my gosh, I mean, what wasn't my connection to Disney?
Speaker 7 (31:12):
Really?
Speaker 5 (31:13):
Yeah? Growing up in Pasadena. I'm a southern California kid.
Going to Disneyland was you know, at least a yearly event,
if not more. I was surrounded by Disney.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
You know.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
One of my favorite things to do is actually beg
my parents to just drive down the one point thirty
four and pass the Disney studio a lot, just to
see this place that I had, you know, been watching
Walton in the old classic Disneyland TV shows giving tours
of I wanted to drive past the gates and imagine
what was happening in there. My dream was to work
for Disney. I wanted to be an artist. I learned
(31:45):
to draw by drawing Mickey. I wanted to be a
Disney artist.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Truly.
Speaker 5 (31:48):
The voice acting is really just came out of left field.
It's a tangent in my life story. But Disney has
been a consistent part of my life since my earliest memories.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Brett, I know what you mean because the studio so
we are broadcasting from is right across the street from
those Disney students that you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
In that one thirty four freeway. So we understand completely.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
And Bill, let me come to you the Mickey Mouse
Clubhouse Plus, as I said my intro, is the latest
iteration of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It's one thing to get
the voices right, but what makes you connect with preschoolers?
How do you know when you get that portion right.
Speaker 7 (32:26):
You hear it from the fans quite often at comic cons,
and it's usually the parents that will say, oh, yes,
little Billy will watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse five times a
day on the Disney Plus and stuff. So you just
learn the character. Doing the character is more about learning
(32:46):
the personality than just the voice, which you learn as
a voice actor. You can do an impression of a character,
but it takes more time to learn the character. How
does that character breathe, how does that character emote? What
kind of character is he? You have to get that
and become that character when you inhabit a role, whatever
(33:09):
character it is, and it also helps keep them straight.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Bill, let me follow up with that, because learning the
character is one thing. But you've been in this business
long enough, and I say this with great affection and respect,
you've seen the evolution of media. When you maybe came along,
there was no streaming. There was no cable, these substations
and channels, there was no YouTube. So when kids find
you your voice, your characters in this different media, has
(33:34):
that changed how you approach what you do.
Speaker 7 (33:37):
Every show, every performance really has its own vibe, whether
it was a Goofy movie where Goofy had to be
a nurturing father to Max Or on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
where it's for the younger audience and you're kind of
teaching lessons and it's all Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Daisy Mini.
It has its own vibe and it takes on its
(33:59):
own life, and you kind of get into that vibe
of the show and it differentiates it, but it's still
the same character. It's like showing different facets of a
diamond that you may have never seen before. Okay, Oh,
Goofy can be a nurturing father. Oh he can actually
be intelligent once in a while, and he can still
goof up things all the time. And it's a part
(34:22):
of the whole. You add to the whole, but you
don't take away from the character. You just add to
it over the years.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Brett, you may not be as far down the road
in your career as Bill, but I think this does
apply to you. How do you go about maintaining the
consistency of the sound of Mickey across media Across Let's
say you may be doing a cartoon, maybe you're doing
something that's live action, I don't know, maybe something for
a game or something like that. How do you maintain
(34:51):
the consistency Because my voice doesn't sound the same as
five years ago.
Speaker 5 (34:56):
Oh absolutely. I mean it's inevitable that all of our
voices kind of change, right, And thankfully, I think when
I look back at some of the stuff I started
doing sixteen years ago, I've definitely noticed a little smoother
approach to Mickey's voice, where it's a little less trick voice.
You know something Bill told me very early on, He said,
do you find yourself going into the studio and really
(35:17):
thinking about making the voice, making the sound? And I said, yes,
I'm terrified sometimes that is not going to come out.
And he said, well, just give us some time and
that'll go away. And that truly has. Now I'm able
to step into the recording studio and instead of thinking
about the sound, I'm thinking more about the character. As
Bill had just said, you know, it's more about knowing
the character than it is the boy. Once you get
(35:38):
the technicalities of the voice, you know, Mickey is a falsetto,
but he's not too high and he's not too low.
He's somewhere right in the middle. And once you get
that comfortable space that you can kind of go to
and kick off your sessions with, then the rest is
just more so about the personality. And to your point, absolutely,
the different projects require a different dynamic, whether it's an
(35:59):
I show where you're in a giant arena, or you're
at the theme park broadcasting to a whole park audience,
or you know, you talked about YouTube and different stream platforms.
You know, Mickey has his own vlog now on YouTube,
Me and Mickey. It's a whole vlog series, and so
that's a little different too because it's Mickey holding an
iPhone and communicating to his audience the way so many
influencers are nowadays, and so just having a different awareness,
(36:21):
you know, I always say these characters, especially Mickey, they're
actors and themselves, right, Like they approach each different role
the way any of us would as actors, you know,
kind of understanding the audience and the different situation surrounding
how it's being perceived. So yeah, the consistency, I think
more than sound is the character consistency that's the most important.
(36:43):
But of course the sound is iconic, so you can't
let that go to the wayside, And it's just kind
of common sense, like you of protecting your voice daily
to make sure that you're there whenever the call comes.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
In Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Plus first ten episodes now available
to stream, as we were saying, on Disney Plus. And
there's Mondays at nine am Pacific on Disney Junior. I'd
like to thank my guests both Bill Farmer, the voice
of Goofy and Pluto, and Brett Iwan, the voice of
Mickey Mouse.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Thank you, gentlemen for coming on tonight.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
Thanks for having our pleasure really was It's.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
Later with Moe Kelly kfi A M six forty. We
are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
Speaker 6 (37:22):
Aspy and KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County more
stimulating talk
Kelly six.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
We are alive everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Let's talk
with our latest guest, Oh, Bob Bubbatuonday. He is a
friend of the show. He has been on the show
a number of times. You may know him as Pop's
Daniel Harrelson Sr. Father of Hondo Shamar Moore on CBS's Swat.
I'm quite sure Obi Bubbatunde has some words of wisdom,
(00:32):
not only about that experience, but also the industry more broadly.
So let me welcome to welcome you to the show.
Babah albatun Day. It is great to see you again,
my friend.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
What a joy to be here with you again. Mo
is always a pleasure to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Last time I saw you, Yes, we were talking about SWAT,
and this is one of the many TV shows and movies.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
That you've been on.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
So I'm just thinking off the top of my head,
like Boston Legal, Gray's Anatomy, Criminal Minds. You've had a long,
extensive career, specifically on television, but you've also done voiceovers
for video games and movies. I think it was uh
Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence's Life. I'm just thinking off
the top of my head. What has this business shown
(01:12):
y you over these many years?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Well, you know what, Thank you so much. It's a
great question and deserves a great answer.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I'll do my best.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
You know, the thing that I have identified as that
it is your do is not necessarily your who.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Now let me show you what that.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Okay, by that, okay, your du as I have discovered
is what affects change in your life. But your who
is how you have affected change in someone else's life.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Oh wait, wait, waite, I think I know where you're
going with this. The way I say it is my
vocation versus my invocation.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
That's exactly correct, absolutely absolutely, And you know what, you know,
the beauty of that is when you identify that your
due is not necessarily your who. Like for somebody that's
a bus driver, when their term of driving that bus
the end of the day, when they get off that bus,
so they just a bus driver, know they are human being.
There's somebody who has a life experience. And so to
(02:09):
answer your question specifically about the industry of entertainment through
the journey of this which has been a half a century,
I just found out that I've got over two hundred
IMDb credits.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
That's you showing off. Now, No, no, I just found
this out.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
And that doesn't include theater, right and the no paying,
low paying that's earning a living at it, you know
what I mean. And again, I have been able to
identify that the relationships and the experience of dealing with
human beings and creating something that we were talking about
before we went on air, family family being a different
(02:44):
between family and relative. Relative you had no choice in
family is how one treats one.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Relatives are the ones you wanted to go home early
from the dinner. I know what you mean. Family can stay,
relatives gotta go. So that's one of the.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Things that I would identify that I would answer the
question with is that I've been able to see how
life is through the characters that I've played and through
the people that I've got a chance to interact with
in those in the off camera in those circumstances.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I would say that you are an elder statesman in
the television industry. Specifically, You've talked about your on camera
and off camera relationship with Shamar Moore, you play his
father on the show. But I'm quite sure you're a
mentor off the show.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Am I wrong?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Well, listen.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
You know, I never set out to try to do
anything but be an honest human being, and I come
to every situation mode to give, not to get. And
so I've done the same thing with Shamar, and we,
I do believe, have what is actually sort of a
mama surrogate dad in some sort of way, you know,
we and that relationship translates on screen. People have said,
(03:55):
you know, it seems like you guys are really father
and son. Well, that's because we are committed to telling
the truth to one another off screen and on screen.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
What does that truth seem like, sound like, feel like
when you are dealing with the professional relationship of actor
and actor versus the personal relationship of I'll say brother
the brother.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Okay, great question. Again, it's no different than what you
and I have. You know, when we see each other
through the years that we've been able to interact with
each other, we interact with each other on a human level,
you see. And so that is the deal is that, Yes,
you're a great host, and I hopefully I'm a good guest,
you know what I mean. But what happens is that
(04:37):
through our right before we get on air, we're talking
to each other as.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Two human beings. Yes, two people.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
You see every character that I've ever portrayed when I
only interested in playing fully realized human beings, I think
that that's been a key to mind.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Let me jump in there.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
You want to play fully developed characters and human beings.
But is that something that you're bringing to the role,
because it may not always be written into the role.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Absolutely, And that was where I was going with this, okay.
And what I do is I write a backstory to
every character that I portray, okay, so that whether it
shows up in the script or not, it informs everything
that that character does because I'm bringing to this, to this,
to the project, a fully realized human being. Wow, that's deep.
(05:24):
That's deep.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Now do you ever get pushed back from directors who
may say, no, no, no, no, no, that's not the motivation
for this character. That's not their backstory, that's not in
the script.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Well, they don't know the backstory. I don't give them
the backstory. See, it informs the work that I do.
I don't tell the director or the producer or anything.
I'll I respect the writing that they've done. Now, if
it seems like I'm not bringing forth exactly what they want.
Then I ask them, respectfully, can you help me because
I'm not really understanding why my character feels like that
(05:54):
in this situation. And they can say, as a director, well,
but this is what we're trying to get out of this.
You know, there's been in situations where I've been you know,
a director will come over to me and say, hey, listen,
you know what in this particular scene, just ignore you know,
that person. And I say, excuse me, why am I
ignoring them? If if, in actuality I in this scene
(06:17):
am trying to accomplish this, They go, well, you know what,
honestly I'm trying to get so and so I said,
oh stop, then you got to direct that person. Please
don't direct my character who I'm living this character's life
to be able to bring forth what you want from
another actor or actress.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I'm curious, because you've had some eight seasons to play
Daniel Harrelson's senior, that that character may occupy a larger
space in your consciousness than maybe other characters.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Is so in tune.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Let me explain something to an actuality that the producers
of the show came to me at one point and said, oh, well,
you know what we've heard from everyone. I want to
ask you, do you have anything in your life experience
that you'd like to share with us? And I was
able to give than that and we ended up creating
one of the episodes with using that information. They said,
can we use that? And I said absolutely. So again,
(07:08):
you know, I'm not acting. I'm living when but I'm
living the character in which I'm portraying, so that when
when that action starts, Obi is left in the trailer
or if it's on stage, he's left in the dressing room.
And now I am Daniel Harrilson Senior and Darryl Herringson
SR has a history and in this production he was
(07:31):
a former panther. Okay, well I have some of that
experience because I grew up in South Jamaica, Queens and
they had there was a place where the panthers actually
worked out of. So I have that in my in
my history. I've been on the planet for quite some time. Okay,
you're only thirty two, so no, no brother, No brother.
(07:55):
Next time I see thirty anything, it'll have a one.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
I'm planning on that as well.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Come on now.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
So yes, I try to make sure that I incorporate
all of those things, you know, you know, I'm so
blessed in so many ways. It's not a day that
I've walked down the street any day where if it's
a gas station or a supermarket where somebody goes, hey.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Amen, you aren't you?
Speaker 5 (08:22):
Aren't you?
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Or do you know who you are?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
But it's always with a sense of a warmth and
a smile, you know what I mean, And it's genuine,
and it's because I've been able to hopefully bring something
to their life, whether it was something that was a troubled,
tumultual situation that helped them get through, or whether it
was something that made them smile and laugh. And so
you know, I made a choice at the onset of
(08:47):
my career and I always tell people, I don't know
it was arrogance or confidence.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
I guess you'll be you know, a.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Little of each.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
But the deal was that I was going to go
forth and I was going to realize. I realized the power,
the potential power of the industry that that industry, those
images that I project and others that do the same
thing that I do project on that small or large
screen have the potential of going around the world and
suggesting to someone else who has never met you. What
(09:17):
because we resemble in a hue who you might be,
and so why would I go forward and misrepresent you
when you don't deserve that. So that was what I
intended to do in my career and I hope I've
been able to scratch the surface of that.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
My guess is Obah Babatunde. We're talking about the winding down.
I'll call it the winding down of the series swat.
They have actually a season and series finale. We're going
to get that with Oba Babatunde front of the show,
I would say, I would like to call you my
friend friend now as well, it's Later with mo Kelly
KFI AM six forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (09:53):
You're listening to Later with mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Okay, if I AM six forty, it's Later with mo Kelly.
We're live on YouTube right now. You can see this
conversation and of course on the iHeartRadio app. And I'm
continuing my conversation with guests. Oh, Bob Babatunde, you know
him from such films as Life, Miss Evers, Boys, introducing
Dorothy Dandridge The Temptations, John Q. I remember that with
Denzel Washington, and of course TV shows like Chicago, Med,
(10:32):
The Bold and the Beautiful, The Good Fight, n CIS
and more. He was showing off last segment, telling us
some two hundred I am dB credits and they're all earned.
And Obi, let me remind people why we're talking specifically
on this evening. You, of course, you played Pops Daniel
Harrelson Senior on CBS's SWAT As the show winds down,
(10:54):
it is both a season finale and a series finale.
Let's start right there. What does it mean for you?
Would you see the end of a show and you've
had some eight seasons inhabiting a character?
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Is a degree? Is there a degree of.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Not regret, but just almost like I'll miss this person?
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yes, couldn't turn your mic rct to put that there?
You go? Is it on?
Speaker 7 (11:20):
Though?
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (11:20):
So yes, no, absolutely, you know, when you've been breathing
life into a human being, you know, and creating as
I've done with Pops, of course there is a reminisce
sadness that comes with that, you know, But I also
miss the interaction with my crew with the cast members.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
But you know, I've been doing it for so many
years that that everything has a conclusion. Now, I'd also
like to say, as opposed to an end as the
point I'm making, you know, there's a possibility, you know,
that we could be picked up by somebody else and
we could keep right on going.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Let me jump in there, because there have been a
number of TV shows which may have started on broadcast
tell and they've segued either to another network or they've
gone to a streaming platform. Talk to me about how
streaming has impacted what you know as the television landscape.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Yes, well, you know, been doing it so long that
I've been able to have watched the maturation of how
things have evolved. You know, we used to have what
was called must watch TV. Yes, you know what I
mean on Friday Night. You know that's my show. You
know what I mean, And now we identify that with
streaming that has changed. You know, everything has a sense
of evolution. That's what I've been able to identify. And
(12:34):
I've known that because of my career, I've been able
to make adjustments and continue to do what it is
that I do in the evolutionary stage. So I am
not saying that, Oh my goodness, you got to hold on.
We've got to make sure that this thing. But we
have to identify if I've got something to say, or
if I'm on a project that has something to say
that speaks to the human heart source, that somebody's going
(13:01):
to tune it in and we're going to watch it evolve. Yes,
I'm going to miss that crew. I'm going to miss
that cast. I'm going to miss that interaction. And Darren
Daniel Harraldson Senior is as much a part of me
in certain ways as I am a part of myself,
So that part is not going to go away.
Speaker 8 (13:18):
Oh ba Babatunday is still going to be obah Babatunday.
You and I are both old enough. I think I'm
about may maybe twenty years older than you, But you
and I are both old enough to remember Swat the
TV Show. Well, I was being serious.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
You and I are both are old enough to remember
Swat the TV Show of nineteen seventy three, nineteen seventy five. Yes,
old enough to remember the movie in early two thousands,
and now you have the Swat TV Show CBS. Why
do you think SWAT that brand has such an enduring.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Appeal, one that's perfectly stated, you know the deal is
And that was when I was leading toward when I
said that when there's something that people are desirous of seeing, right,
there's an energy. And what did I'd like to say
about our SWAT is that you get an opportunity in
this character with Pomps and the relationship between you know,
(14:14):
Daniel Harrilson, Senior and Junior, right is the family aspect
of it, you see, because we don't we forget that
the men and women in uniform, be they military, be
the police, be they whatever, you know, the first responders,
that they're also human beings and that they have a
life and an experience outside of the job that they do.
(14:36):
And I think one of the things that was so
successful about this particular production is that it gave us
an opportunity, us being the world population, being able to
see who these people aren't when they take that uniform off.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
I've always liked the dynamic you hinted at it last
segment because you talk about Senior's history connect to the
Panthers and he was not too big on his son
become a member of LAPD absolutely talk about how that
intra storyline evolved over the years and seasons.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Oh yes, yes, yes, because again as Daniel Harrison came
back in, he had at that time a particular an illness,
and so Hondo had to come back and he had
to bring him into the city to live with him,
to look after him, right, And so it was rough.
It was not just the fact that it was this,
It was this is what the double deal was.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
It wasn't just the.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Fact that he had an issue with him, that Daniel
Harrison Senior had an issue with him, because here he
is a swat guy, not ahead of a swat team, right,
But also Daniel Harrison Senior had left the family for
another relationship. So here you had these two dynamics coming
together what he felt as a child and what Daniel
(15:56):
felt about him now in his profession. So we had
these two and that caused a fury an energy.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Was a good on screen tension.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Yes, yes, great on screen tension.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
And it also helped us to graduate not just play
just that business. We were able to play that which
was the human experience between a father and a son,
a man and a man, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
It was just perfect.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Before we go to this next break, I'm also curious,
what did you hear from actual members of law enforcement?
Of course, you had your advisors on set to make
sure it was as accurate as possible, but I'm quite
sure because you say, and I understand you probably recognize
any number of places you may go and you're associated
and connected to the spot TV show, what did you
(16:43):
hear from law enforcement?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
I got you know what, you guys do a good
job over there, man. We really appreciate the fact that
you show more than just what we do on a
daily basis. You guys are really in a way helping
us to be to live our lives both on the
job and off the job, because we are able to
(17:05):
be able to be identified in our humanity as well
as what we do is work. So that was a
high praise and I really appreciated the fact.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
When we come back, I just want to riff with
you and I want to hear from you. I only
give you time to think about it's on the preview this.
I want to hear about some of your favorite roles
beyond Darryl Harrelson's senior and the ones that still live
with you even though you may not inhabit them anymore?
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Can you do that for me?
Speaker 4 (17:31):
If we got enough time, we get a whole lot
of them, baby, all.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Right, then I like it. Oh, bah Baba Tonday, you
know him from Swat. He's joining me in studio as
the series of SWAT winds down, not only for the season,
but as the series as a whole. It's Later with
Mo Kelly CAFI AM six forty live on YouTube in
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
AM six forty. It's Later with Mo Kelly.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
We're live on YouTube as Kelly and also on the
iHeartRadio app. And if you've been tuning in tonight, you've
probably been enjoying this conversation as much as I have
with actor Oba Babatunde. You know him from Swat. He
plays Daniel Harrison Harrolson Senior. And I would say a
thirty five hundred other roles. And let me use that
(18:20):
as elited because before the break, I was asking Oba,
some of the roles which you've inhabited over the years,
which still stay with you or you are most proud
of or most more most meaningful to you? What would
they be?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
You know what, I've had the great opportunity to portray
some living human beings. I mean, I got an opportunity
to play Berry Gordy, I got an opportunity to play
Harold Nicholas. I did a musical where I played Semi
Davis Junior. Miss Evers Boys is a movie that I did.
(18:57):
It was my first you know, Primetime Emmy nomination, and
to tell that story about the life of those men
and women and the challenges that they had that was
put upon them by the country. For those of you
who have not had an opportunity to see it, I
would respectfully suggest that you go forward and see Miss
(19:20):
Evers Boys was an HBO production at Great Alfred Woodard,
Joe Morton, the Great Ossie Davis, I mean, a host
of just brilliant, brilliant actors, Lawrence Fishburne, you know, and
we got a chance to tell this story about these
men and women and what was going on that actually
went on mo in our lifetime. Yes, this is not
(19:41):
something that's antiquated likes you know they're talking about like.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
Wolves of Slave movie. No, no, no, no, no no.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
This went on during our lifetime where there was a
it was called we had to identify the effects of
untreated syphilis and the African American male. This is actual
Tuskegee experiment, right, And so that character, for me is
(20:08):
something that's very very special because it crossed a period
of time and and and was not just while it
was I didn't play a particular individual.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
I played a copulation of.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
All of those men and women's lives and what was
going on in their lives at that time. And so
that would be one of the ones that I would
say that I was extremely proud of. I mean, I've
gotten an opportunity, you know, I mean in Philadelphia, in
the movie Philadelphia, you know that I.
Speaker 9 (20:40):
Forgot there are just so many yeah, yeah, but I mean,
you know here here it was giving the opportunity to
have people to be identified not by their illness but
by their humanity who happened to be inflicted with.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
An illness, you know.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
So I mean, I mean each one, I have had
so many, gat eight opportunities to portray human beings. You know,
as I talked about the fact that with Sammy Davis Junior,
who you know was my entertainment mentor you know, and
to be able to get to meet him. He was
a person that I saw growing up on that black
and white television in my in my family's living room.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
You will me about that little black and white philm
Co Yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
And then to be able to see a man who
who was identified as one of the greatest entertainers in
the world, and then to later meet him and for
him and I to become friends, you know, And if
I can give you a quick story about you know,
I was co starring in a world tour with Eliza Minelly,
and you know, he was going to be doing his
world tour at the same time we were doing ours,
(21:41):
so we would proceed or follow one another into the
different venues around the world.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
And so he had come.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
We was our last closing night and his was the
next opening night at the Lake Tahoe Inherits, And so
Eliza knew I was a big fan. And he she says, oh,
Sammy's here and he wants to meet you. And I said, well,
can he see me after he's seen me work? I
don't know it was an active thing, but whatever, you know,
she says, no, he's not going to stay for the show.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
So anyway, I go on and uh, I do the show.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
And afterwards I come off for a costume change, and
Eliza's dresser, Helen says, Alba Eliza said, to tell you
that Sammy stayed so great.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
All right, I would have done my show anyway.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Afterwards, there's a knock on the door and I said, yes, uh, oh,
it's oh sorry.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
If you know what Sammy sounded.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Like, he says, oh, listen, man, it's sam I opened
the door and there he stood right did the eye.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
And he says, he said.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
He looked at me and he says, you, my man,
are a bitch on wheels, a bitch on wheels. I
got to tell you you're marvelous. And he paid me
a lot of nice compliments. And I invited him in,
and I said to him, because remember we weent Lake
Tahoe at Harrod's. Yes, And I said to him, I
looked at him in his eye and I said, mister
d because I could never call him Sammy.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
I said, mister d.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I want to thank you, sir for coming in through
the kitchen so I could come in through the front door.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
For those who don't know, when Sammy Davis was at
the height of his fame, he was not allowed in
like the club Cocacabana.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
If I'm not mistaken, who is.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Not allowed to actually enter where anyone else other performer
would he have to go come in and.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Lead through the kitchen? Absolutely, just want to give context.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Well absolutely, Tyr ran down his face and he said,
I said, I'm sure you've heard this enough. You know
many times he says, I could never hear it enough.
And we became fast friends from that point nineteen seventy
eight until this passing in ninety you know, and I
still try to keep that legacy alive.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Before I let you go, it's unfortunate. We were talking
about how SWAT is winding down. That is important, but
I also want people to know you beyond that, you
also have an affinity for Lando Calrissian if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Yes, yes, well you know I was doing some voice
over at one point, and so I played Lando Cracyan
in most of those game shows that you you know,
the game video of things, as you say, and I
was in the studio and they said, hey, hey, you know,
mister Williams.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
He doesn't want to do it anymore as in Billy D. Williams.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
He said, do you think that that you could do.
And I said, well, what is it that you want
me to do? Are you trying these things to me?
I said, well, let me tell you one singing if
you want me, maybe I'll just say I want my
arm to fall off.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
And they said, you got the job. I don't know
what to say. You probably have a million stories like that.
And I always say, at the end of it all,
we only have our stories. It's not about the money,
it's not about the titles, it's not even about the
(24:47):
IMDb credits. It's about the stories that we can tell
for the future generations. Give me one more story of
your choice before we part.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
A beautiful story is that? And I want to share
with everybody that's listening and watching that understand that everything
that you do, nothing in your life, is wasted nothing.
You throw the ball against the Walmot, it's coming back.
I throw it, It's coming back. Everybody in the studio,
that ball's coming back. Don't worry about when it is
coming back, just know that it is okay. So I'm
(25:16):
going to give you an example of that, all right.
Nineteen seventy eight, as I mentioned, I was doing a
world toward Eliza manelly, okay. There the fourth show, we
would do four shows, then we would have a breakoff
and go somewhere else. And the fourth show, there was
a young lady, a young girl. She was at the
stage door. She had been there every night and I
and she was.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
I walked.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
He said hi, Almah, said you here again tonight?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
She said yes, but it's sold out.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
And I jokingly said, listen, you've been here long enough.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
You could be in the show.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
And I went inside and what I decided would be
nothing other than a random act of kindness.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
I went out and I said to security, hey, she's
with me. Let her in.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
I put her in a chair in the wings, and
I said, stay out of everybody's way, enjoy the show.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Twenty years later, I'm trying to get into this movie Life,
starring Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. For whatever reason, I
don't know what it was, but the casting director would
not allow me to come in in audition, and we
tried everything we could. Two weeks later, after we gave up,
they said, hey, Ober, we got a call. We you know,
they want to see you. So I said great, So
I go in and there's the casting director bless her heart.
(26:22):
She was sitting with her. I guess she didn't think
I was right anyway. So she was sitting where her
legs crossing, her arms folded, and she said, we gotta
put you on tape. I said, okay. The director he
was on the phone. He said, hey, make good to
see we can put you on tape.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
So I go on tape. Two days later, we get
a call. You booked a roll. Right, great.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
I go to work.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
I'm on my way the first day on set, going
to the thing, and this woman comes out and she says,
how do you do. My name's Tina Fortenberry. I said,
it was nice to meet you. She says, I've met
you twice before. She said, I met you you did
the movie Philadelphia.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
I said yes. She said, I was a PA on
that movie.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
I am now the unit production the assistant of the
unit production manager, Jim Brubacker on this production was great.
She said, but I also met you many years ago.
You did something very nice for me. I was a
fan of Eliza Manille. I said, wait a minute. You
and that young girl that I put in the chair.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
She said yes, And I didn't know why they wouldn't
bring you in.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
But I would go in every day and stand and say,
oh bah bah ba tunday, oh bah by batundey, he's good.
You should bring him in. I think they brought you in,
so I wouldn't come in and say that anymore. But
I would like to think. She says, Now, what happened
was you went on tape and and Brian Grazer saw
you and said that's the guy I was. Vivian Brazer,
all right, right, imagine pictures said that's that's that's the
guy I want. So the point that I'm making is
(27:35):
that I had no idea at that moment that's something,
that random act of kindness, something that I was going
to do, was going to pay dividends in my life
some twenty years later. So identify that has happened to
me time and time again. And I suggest to everyone
that is watching and listening know that about your life
that there is nothing wasted. What you invest will return,
(28:00):
and if it's garbage, garbage is coming back.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
And if it's greatness, greatness is coming back.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
In the church and say you preach it now you
preach it, and I love it. I love it.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Oh Bob up Fortune Day We've talked any number of
times over the years, and it's always like the first
time I got to talk to you because I learned
something new and I love that you get to share
it with not only me, but everyone listening and now watching.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Please, this is not gonna be the last time we
have this conversation all with not at all.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Man, invite me back anytime. I'm happy to come. And
always I always enjoy you know, and thank you for
what you do. And thank you for all of those
who are watching who have supported my career throughout the years.
I couldn't have done it without that love and connection.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Now I am going to ask the next time you
come back, you stop trying to show me up with
that baritone, silky smooth voice.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
All right, listen, man, I can't help the way I speak.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
And he got deeper. Did you know he got deeper
before he left?
Speaker 4 (28:53):
Listen. I could say it like this and that might
make someone very happy.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Now you just showing off? Oh bab up tun day.
Always great to see my Thank you. It's later with
Mo Kelly k IF. I am six forty live everywhere
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (29:06):
You're listening to. Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
Kelly.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Plus the continuation of the beloved Disney
Junior series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Welcome to the next generation
of preschoolers and is still breaking records.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
It's a top three series for preschoolers with more than
five billion views on YouTube. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Plus airs
Mondays at nine am Pacific on Disney Junior and is
available for streaming on Disney Plus. Now, let's make the
Clubhouse appear with the magic words miska muska Mickey Mouse.
Joining me on the show right now is Brett Iwan,
the voice of Mickey Mouse.
Speaker 5 (29:53):
Welcome, sir, well, thank you, and hey, that's my line Mouse.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
And I'm also joined by Bill Farmer, the voice of
Goofy and Pluto.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Bill, thank you for coming on this evening.
Speaker 7 (30:04):
Doorsha, I didn't know there were five billion people watching us.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
It's a whole lot of people.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
I love it. Bill. Let me start with you.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
You are a Disney legend in your own right who's
been the voice of Goofy and Pluto for decades, as
well as countless additional voices in films like toy story cars, monsters, eke.
But how do you keep the voices straight in your head?
Or do they get confusing after a while.
Speaker 7 (30:28):
Not generally, if you know the personality and you know
the character that you're portraying, it usually stays pretty much
in its own box. There are times when I'll probably
do the wrong voice, you know, But once you learn
a character, it has a tendency to stay. So Gorsh,
I can go into Goofy anytime I'll want, and it's
(30:51):
right there.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Brett, I need not tell you how big of shoes
that you are filling as the voice of Mickey Mouse.
You're just the fourth person ever to lend your voice
to Mickey. You were born in Pasadena. That's important to
us folks here in LA, but you were raised in
part in Illinois.
Speaker 4 (31:06):
What was your connection to Disney growing up?
Speaker 5 (31:09):
Oh my gosh, I mean, what wasn't my connection to Disney?
Speaker 7 (31:12):
Really?
Speaker 5 (31:13):
Yeah? Growing up in Pasadena. I'm a southern California kid.
Going to Disneyland was you know, at least a yearly event,
if not more. I was surrounded by Disney.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
You know.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
One of my favorite things to do is actually beg
my parents to just drive down the one point thirty
four and pass the Disney studio a lot, just to
see this place that I had, you know, been watching
Walton in the old classic Disneyland TV shows giving tours
of I wanted to drive past the gates and imagine
what was happening in there. My dream was to work
for Disney. I wanted to be an artist. I learned
(31:45):
to draw by drawing Mickey. I wanted to be a
Disney artist.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Truly.
Speaker 5 (31:48):
The voice acting is really just came out of left field.
It's a tangent in my life story. But Disney has
been a consistent part of my life since my earliest memories.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Brett, I know what you mean because the studio so
we are broadcasting from is right across the street from
those Disney students that you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
In that one thirty four freeway. So we understand completely.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
And Bill, let me come to you the Mickey Mouse
Clubhouse Plus, as I said my intro, is the latest
iteration of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It's one thing to get
the voices right, but what makes you connect with preschoolers?
How do you know when you get that portion right.
Speaker 7 (32:26):
You hear it from the fans quite often at comic cons,
and it's usually the parents that will say, oh, yes,
little Billy will watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse five times a
day on the Disney Plus and stuff. So you just
learn the character. Doing the character is more about learning
(32:46):
the personality than just the voice, which you learn as
a voice actor. You can do an impression of a character,
but it takes more time to learn the character. How
does that character breathe, how does that character emote? What
kind of character is he? You have to get that
and become that character when you inhabit a role, whatever
(33:09):
character it is, and it also helps keep them straight.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Bill, let me follow up with that, because learning the
character is one thing. But you've been in this business
long enough, and I say this with great affection and respect,
you've seen the evolution of media. When you maybe came along,
there was no streaming. There was no cable, these substations
and channels, there was no YouTube. So when kids find
you your voice, your characters in this different media, has
(33:34):
that changed how you approach what you do.
Speaker 7 (33:37):
Every show, every performance really has its own vibe, whether
it was a Goofy movie where Goofy had to be
a nurturing father to Max Or on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
where it's for the younger audience and you're kind of
teaching lessons and it's all Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Daisy Mini.
It has its own vibe and it takes on its
(33:59):
own life, and you kind of get into that vibe
of the show and it differentiates it, but it's still
the same character. It's like showing different facets of a
diamond that you may have never seen before. Okay, Oh,
Goofy can be a nurturing father. Oh he can actually
be intelligent once in a while, and he can still
goof up things all the time. And it's a part
(34:22):
of the whole. You add to the whole, but you
don't take away from the character. You just add to
it over the years.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Brett, you may not be as far down the road
in your career as Bill, but I think this does
apply to you. How do you go about maintaining the
consistency of the sound of Mickey across media Across Let's
say you may be doing a cartoon, maybe you're doing
something that's live action, I don't know, maybe something for
a game or something like that. How do you maintain
(34:51):
the consistency Because my voice doesn't sound the same as
five years ago.
Speaker 5 (34:56):
Oh absolutely. I mean it's inevitable that all of our
voices kind of change, right, And thankfully, I think when
I look back at some of the stuff I started
doing sixteen years ago, I've definitely noticed a little smoother
approach to Mickey's voice, where it's a little less trick voice.
You know something Bill told me very early on, He said,
do you find yourself going into the studio and really
(35:17):
thinking about making the voice, making the sound? And I said, yes,
I'm terrified sometimes that is not going to come out.
And he said, well, just give us some time and
that'll go away. And that truly has. Now I'm able
to step into the recording studio and instead of thinking
about the sound, I'm thinking more about the character. As
Bill had just said, you know, it's more about knowing
the character than it is the boy. Once you get
(35:38):
the technicalities of the voice, you know, Mickey is a falsetto,
but he's not too high and he's not too low.
He's somewhere right in the middle. And once you get
that comfortable space that you can kind of go to
and kick off your sessions with, then the rest is
just more so about the personality. And to your point, absolutely,
the different projects require a different dynamic, whether it's an
(35:59):
I show where you're in a giant arena, or you're
at the theme park broadcasting to a whole park audience,
or you know, you talked about YouTube and different stream platforms.
You know, Mickey has his own vlog now on YouTube,
Me and Mickey. It's a whole vlog series, and so
that's a little different too because it's Mickey holding an
iPhone and communicating to his audience the way so many
influencers are nowadays, and so just having a different awareness,
(36:21):
you know, I always say these characters, especially Mickey, they're
actors and themselves, right, Like they approach each different role
the way any of us would as actors, you know,
kind of understanding the audience and the different situation surrounding
how it's being perceived. So yeah, the consistency, I think
more than sound is the character consistency that's the most important.
(36:43):
But of course the sound is iconic, so you can't
let that go to the wayside, And it's just kind
of common sense, like you of protecting your voice daily
to make sure that you're there whenever the call comes.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
In Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Plus first ten episodes now available
to stream, as we were saying, on Disney Plus. And
there's Mondays at nine am Pacific on Disney Junior. I'd
like to thank my guests both Bill Farmer, the voice
of Goofy and Pluto, and Brett Iwan, the voice of
Mickey Mouse.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Thank you, gentlemen for coming on tonight.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
Thanks for having our pleasure really was It's.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
Later with Moe Kelly kfi A M six forty. We
are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
Speaker 6 (37:22):
Aspy and KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County more
stimulating talk
Later, with Mo'Kelly News
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