- It's amazing being here today. It's amazing being anywhere.
I can't believe they let us out of the water tower.
- (imitating Yakko) Well, hello nurse!
Can I say that in this day and age?
I'm all excited. It's a pleasure to be here.
- (FBE) Who did you do the voice on for Animaniacs?
- Oh, my gosh.
Well, that was a long time ago.
Man, let me see.
For Animaniacs, (as Wakko) I know I was Wakko.
Also I was the voice of Walter Wolf, which was Slappy Squirrel's villain.
It was her nemesis.
And I did all kinds of incidental voices.
Basically, there was five of us on that show
and if there were 50 characters in a given episode,
we divvied them up between us.
- I've been known to give Yakko a crack every now and then
(imitating Pinky) and I was also Pinky! Narf!
♪ (playful intro) ♪
- 25th anniversary. Oh, my gosh.
- (Dominick singing along) ♪ Animaniacs ♪
- Hey, good for him.
- (Dominick) I remember this.
- Yeah, he's only 10 and he doesn't even remember that much.
- (Sydney singing along) ♪ Animaniacs ♪
- Sydney, rock it, baby. She's got a good voice.
- (Jacob) I used to watch this show. - I used to watch it too.
I used to be on it, dude!
- (Lucas) Is this a new TV show?
- Yes, it is. It's new and old. It's both.
- (singing along) ♪ But we break loose and then vamoose ♪
♪ And now you know the plot ♪
- (Dominick) They were the second fourth wall breaking cartoon.
- Fourth wall breaking cartoon?
He went to film school and he's only six!
- (singing along) ♪ Animaniacs ♪
♪ Those are the facts, Jack ♪
- (Sydney) It breaks the fourth wall, like, 50 times.
Like, oh, yeah, contracts! - How do these kids get so precocious?
- (Sydney) ...50 times. - How do they know about
the fourth wall?
- (FBE) Before we tell you a little bit more about the show,
we have some scenes to show you. - Oh, okay.
- Okay, now this song that Robby's doing,
he actually did it in one take.
- Oh, that's me.
♪ United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama ♪
♪ Haiti, Jamaica, Peru ♪
♪ Republic Dominican, Cuba, Caribbean, Greenland, El Salvador too ♪
♪ Puerto Rico, Columbia, Venezuela, Honduras ♪
♪ Bah-bum bah-bum ♪
- What's amazing about this is it's so well-written
by this guy Randy Rogel, who composed all these songs
that you could probably sing it yourself
because it's just laid out so well.
- ♪ Norway and Sweden and Iceland and Finland ♪
♪ And Germany now in one piece ♪
♪ Switzerland, Austria-- ♪ Sing it, Dominick!
♪ Italy, Turkey, and Greece ♪ Come on!
- (Dominick) It's surprising how many places rhyme.
- That's the genius.
- (Sydney) The voice actor for that dude has to be, like,
know the countries. - He does know the countries.
- (Sydney) Whoever's the voice actor for that dude
has to be, like, know the countries. - Thank you.
Thank you very much, sweetie.
That was the first song we recorded for Animaniacs.
We recorded it in one take and it's a testament
to Randy's skill because he wrote a ton of songs for Animaniacs.
Randy has come to my rescue and has written the following
because there are countries that have sprung up
since that song was written and it goes like this.
(clears throat)
♪ Montenegro and Bosnia, Hertzogovinia ♪
♪ The Soviet Union is gone ♪
♪ South Africa, Georgia, Moldova, Latvia ♪
♪ Belarus, Azerbaijan ♪
♪ Uzbekistan, hey, Kazakhstan, hey, then there's Tahjikistan too, hey ♪
♪ Turkmenistan, hey, Kurdistan, Armenia, Tonga, Palu ♪
♪ Lithuania, Serbia, Kosovo, U.S. Samoa, The Balkans, Brunei ♪
♪ Macau and Crimea, then Eritrea, Ukraine and Estonia ♪
♪ Here's Macedonia, New Caledonia, Eastern Slovenia ♪
♪ Ivory Coast and Cape Verde and all of the Solomon Islands, Dubai ♪
How about that?
- Oh!
- Ah.
- (Alabama) They really like her. - (laughing)
- (Wakko and Yakko) Hellooo, nurse! - (laughing)
This is so funny.
- It is! Thanks, man.
That's why they're bringing it back.
- (Wakko) ♪ She's manna sent from Heaven ♪
- (singing along) ♪ Too bad I'm only seven ♪
- This was in a different time, when nobody thought it was weird
for a seven-year-old to be obsessed with a 30-year-old.
- (Wakko) ♪ ...take care of me ♪ - (Tida laughing)
That was funny.
Before I watched Looney Tunes, I would watch this.
- See? That's the idea!
- (Royel) No cartoons now can beat anything like this.
- (laughing) Thanks, dude. Listen to that kid!
- Well, you're on my team, pal.
I like the cut of your jib.
- (knight) No can do, pretty missy. - He's doing Dennis Hopper.
"No can do, pretty missy!" That's Dennis Hopper.
- (Dot) Pretty please with whipped cream and a cherry on top?
- Oh, wow. That's Tress MacNeille.
I've known Tress since she was a cocktail waitress
and she is now the pre-eminent voice actress ever
in the history of Hollywood.
- (Lucas) I liked it. It was fun.
I would actually watch this on the weekends.
- Oh, the weekends, because his weeks are really busy.
- (Melanie) If I was younger, I'd find that a lot,
a lot more funnier.
It's a little bit-- - (snorting)
"If I was younger, I'd find it a lot funnier."
Oh, okay. Well, thank you, honey.
- (Melanie) It's a little bit too far fetched.
- Yes, cartoons should not be far fetched.
- (FBE) ...called "Animaniacs," do you think that this is a show
that came out recently or does it look like an older show?
- (Lucas) I would say this came out in 2009.
- I like how specific he is.
- (Sophie) Definitely older.
I'm not saying that the animation's horrible,
but it's not that much detail. - Well, she's right.
Things have changed.
These kids, the bar they have now is astonishing.
- (Melanie) They're singing.
They don't really sing along in shows anymore.
- No, they don't because they can't afford to.
See, singing costs extra and these days,
shows have little tiny budgets.
Back then, they had a lot of money, so they paid us the same,
which is good because (whispering) we needed the money.
- (Dominick) If I've never seen it before,
it would seem like it was a newer show
because it's really funny. - Thanks, man.
- (Tida) It looks like an older show to me
because it's more fuzzy and stuff. - Mm-hmm, like me.
I'm a little fuzzy and stuff.
- (Tida) If people still watch Looney Tunes, they'll watch this.
- See, this again-- that was the pitch.
Basically, to bring it back, we brought her into the room
at Hulu and she went if people still watch Looney Tunes,
they'll watch this!
- (FBE) So Animaniacs was actually released
all the way back in 1993. - (Lucas) Oh, okay, so I was way off.
- (Tida) Oh, my god! That's so old!
- I know!
- (FBE) Does Animaniacs look like a show
that you and your friends would watch today if it was on?
- (Jacob) I don't know about my friends,
but I think that I would. - What's wrong with your friends?
Talk to your friends!
Why would you watch it and not your friends?
Make a phone call.
- (Sydney) Just because it's older doesn't mean it's outdated.
- Where do you find these genius children?!
- (Royel) The whippersnappers today, they just don't understand that
any cartoons that come out now will never match up to the old ones.
- Well, I'll tell you what. I want that kid to be my agent.
- (FBE) So some of the characters in Animaniacs even got
their own spin-off shows that you may have seen.
- They did, which meant more residuals,
which meant more mortgage payments.
- (Brain) Pinky, I need you. - (Sydney) I knew it!
Pinky and the Brain. I saw them in the intro.
- So a lot of people don't know, again, we were talking
about how we all covered a lot of ground
and did a ton of voices on this thing.
Rob, who was the voice of Yakko, was also the voice of Pinky.
- (Pinky) Brain, we were just talking about you.
- (imitating) "We were just talking about you."
How about that?
These people really like Pinky and the Brain as well!
I knew I liked them! Narf!
- In this Slappy Squirrel, you don't see it,
but I was Walter Wolf, who was Slappy's enemy
and was always out to destroy her because every cartoon
needs an enemy for some reason.
- (Slappy) ♪ Let's try for two ♪
- That's Bernadette Peters.
Right now, the kids would go, "Who?"
- Bernadette Peters was Rita and the dog was Frank Welker,
who has been the voice of Freddy on Scooby Doo
since 1969.
- (reporter) ...rumor has it you defected from your country
to join the NYC Ballet. Is it true?
- (reporter) Rumor also has it you're a giant chicken.
- Oh, that's me.
That's me doing the little reporter there,
doing my Tony Curtis impression.
- He's unimpressed.
He sees giant chickens a lot.
- (pigeons speaking foreign language)
- (Royel) Is that the mafia? - Yes, it is.
If they were pigeons.
Now kids, this is from a movie called Goodfellas,
which you're far too young to see.
It came out ten years before you were born,
but in about ten years from now, you can watch it and go,
"Wow, they made that a cartoon?"
- (Sydney) It's such a weird idea that it's a good idea.
It's such a weird idea that it's a good idea.
- Yeah, she's right.
That, again, went into the pitch.
We said, look, it's such a weird idea that it's a good idea.
- (Melanie) I haven't seen those either.
I don't know anything! Jeez! - (laughing)
Trust me, kid. It only gets worse.
I know nothing.
- (FBE) So it was announced in January
that there will actually be a reboot of the series on Hulu in 2020.
- How about that?
- (FBE) Do you think it's a good idea for them to make a reboot
for your generation? - (Dominick) Yes, but no.
It's probably gonna end pretty fast since the adults jokes
are probably still gonna be in there. - Well, we'll see, won't we?
- (Sydney) Nowadays, there's so much big things happening,
and I really want to see what the Animaniacs would do
with their crazy ideas with that. - Exactly.
I mean, just between the President and the Kardashians alone,
we got 12 years of shows.
- (Lucas) I'm gonna probably go back, watch the old ones.
- Good. Catch up. Like homework.
- (Lucas) And then in 2020, I will watch the new one.
- Aww, you heard him. That's one subscriber.
We've got at least one.
Basically, now, all I want to do is watch videos
of people reacting to things I've worked on
and react to them, so thank you very much
because now this is my whole life's mission.
- You know, that's, I think, one of the magical things
about this show is that it transcends, clearly, generations.
We're talking about a show of which a new episode
has not been done in 20 plus years and these kids are
by and large really enjoying it.
It just doesn't get any better and I don't think
it's a surprise that the show's being rebooted.
- (FBE) For you personally, what did it feel like
watching the kids today enjoy this show
that voiced so many years ago?
- Well, you know what's so great about that
is we all have the experience meeting people all the time
who grew up with this show and loved this show,
and now with it coming back, people are gonna get
to grow up with it all over again.
- The panned answer it was quite heartwarming.
The true answer is it's quite heartwarming.
The people who are our predecessors didn't get to see this.
They didn't get to see children reacting to Rocky and Bullwinkle
and Looney Tunes, but now, as a result of the kindness
of you people and others and the internet and social media,
people are putting a face with, you know,
these characters and the names and the most wonderful aspect
of what I do is I can sit in front of those sweet kids
or you or probably even some of your parents and say, "Narf!"
And you'd do that. You'd just smile.
- (FBE) Well, Animaniacs was a huge success at the time,
and for kids like me, who were right in the demographic
when it originally aired, it introduced a totally new style
of comedy that basically kid shows hadn't really seen because
it was a lot edgier and there was a lot more
adult jokes in there, right? - Yeah, absolutely.
We consciously tried to make the show appealing
to both kids and adults.
- (FBE) So do you feel like this show would still have
the same affect on kids of today that it did on kids
who watched it when it first came out?
- I do because I think good entertainment
is good entertainment.
- I think it's gonna have the same affect because
it's gonna be irreverent and satirical and it's gonna be
a whole new take on what's happening today
because, think about it, when the Animaniacs were around
the first time, there was no internet, there was no YouTube,
there were none of these videos, there was no Instagram
and Animaniacs are gonna attack all those things!
Boom!
- (FBE) And you know when we discussed a reboot of the show
with the kids, they were very, very excited
about the possibility.
There is anything you are able to tell us
about the new version of the show?
- The best thing I can tell you about the new version of the show
because I'm not allowed to say too much
is that by having Steven Spielberg involved,
we know it's gonna be a very high level of quality.
We know we have a high bar to live up to
and we are gonna go to that bar and conquer it.
- All I can tell you is don't bet against Mr. Spielberg.
I know for a fact that Yakko, Wakko, and Dot will be back
and so will Pinky and the Brain.
Whether they will have the original actors, who knows.
I do know that Randy Rogel, our multi-Emmy winning genius
song writing pal, has already written three or four songs
for the new Animaniacs and the show runner is now
Wellesley Wild.
Those folks are hand-chosen by Mr. Spielberg
and one of Mr. Spielberg's genius qualities I submit
is that he, like a lot of other great producers,
knows whom to hire and then turn them loose.
- (FBE) So, finally, what do you think
Wakko and Yakko would want to say to the kids today?
- (as Wakko) Wakko would probably want to say thank you very much.
I love you kids.
You are a lot smarter than I will ever be
and I just want to add, "Hellooo, nurse! Mwah!"
- (as Yakko) Well, you're unique and you're terrific.
You're kind of real specific.
♪ There's no one else the same as the person you became ♪
♪ In fact, you're kind of weird ♪
♪ But I dig you just the same ♪
♪ Because you're the only one of you there are ♪
♪ (scatting) ♪
Thank you.
- Hey, I just wanted to say thanks to FBE for having me.
This was a total blast.
- Thank you so much, FBE, for letting me play with you guys.
- Keep your eyes out for the new Animaniacs,
coming in 2020 and if you feel like rocking out,
look at my band Rock Sugar on YouTube.
It'll make you laugh. I promise you.
- If you guys want to pay attention to some more stuff from yours truly,
you can follow me on Twitter at Yakkopinky.
- Goodbyeee, Nurse!