hey I'm Tom Kenny voice actor in
animation I'm known for doing spongebob
squarepants his snail Gary the narrator
that's his two hours later and then
other stuff like the ice cream I'm
Adventure Time
Heffron Rocko's Modern Life the narrator
on Powerpuff Girls Powerpuff Girls and a
couple of hundred other things on my
IMDB so I'm about to see some cartoon
characters that I've never seen and try
to come up with their voices what they
might sound like right here on the spot
ready yeah
goofy is always good go-to for cartoons
this guy's got the again you got the
teeth the protruding teeth you got the
big bulgy eyes this is a dragon who's
just really happy to be a dragon but
this is a dragon who's really happy to
be a dragon he almost looks like he's
surprised to be flying
hey I actually achieve liftoff okay it's
only three feet off the ground but it's
a start
oh boy hello sorry I want to be in your
new movie how to train your back oh
sorry sorry I hit the ground or maybe
you could even make him stupider like
this or maybe you could even shave off a
couple of IQ points and make him even
dopey er you know flapping and flapping
I'm flapping of course the master of
that kind of character is Bill Fargo
biking that does Patrick he would have
this character nailed this is obviously
your standard-issue megalomaniacal
madman who wants to take over the world
I think he's wearing a lab coat
he's got the bushy eyebrows he's even
wringing his hands and he's laughing so
I am the president of show business my
master plan is to make sure that every
movie released is a superhero movie
ah actors in green screens digital
explosions everything every movie that's
what it's all going to be sometimes when
you're auditioning for stuff they tell
you exactly what they want but you're
kind of trying to find a back door to it
maybe trying to find something that pops
a little it's a possibility that they
haven't thought of but that but that
still fits so maybe maybe you'll give
him some sort of an accent like that
some sort of I mean I've got it my
master plan is almost reaching fruition
yes soon let me see let me do that again
mr. plane yeah he's kind of got a mr.
Magoo look too late late too late late
for his eyebrow threading appointment
sometimes they'll say no accents we
don't want any accents and you go I'm
going to put the little accent on there
that maybe isn't 100% an accent but look
into my eyes look into my eyebrows
that's where my power is me whoa let's
see so this is a frog but he's a he's a
very fancy frog froggy went a-courtin he
did ride a sword and pistol by his side
where is my pistol there's no place to
hide a pistol when you're wearing this
leg breeches he's sort of snooty he's
got his nose literally in the air well
maybe you could give him some sort of a
foreign accent I am a frog I am a French
frog is that an oxymoron no wait a
minute here we go I don't want French
people I don't want French people mad at
me okay yeah that is a direct let me let
me do that again I'll do I'll do the
second voice with him well maybe or
maybe him you could take him to a place
or maybe you could take him to a place
like Metta he is a French frog just
because I am French do not call me a
frog that is a dog
right there he looks like he thinks he's
better than everybody else so you know
I'm a frog I'm not a turd never refer to
me as I may be a little bit of James
Mason in there you know
now where's my monocle what is it I'm
Mary put it here somewhere and there it
is
good night I need a very large monocle
to fit over my very large frog eyes wow
I actually did voice a dog with a nose
very much like this one on tap dog which
was a Nickelodeon cartoon where he was
half a half a cat and half a dog and I
was the dog F but this guy looks a
little more bored and dyspeptic like
he's kind of rolling his eyes yes I know
I'm shaped like a peanut but I'm
actually a dog okay you know worries
he's also got the teeth so maybe you put
a little bit of the teeth in there you
know what are you looking at you know
sort of like that I'll just keep walking
okay nothing to see here just keep
walking half lidded big nose some money
yeah there's that big nose so baby you'd
put a little bit of that in there like
it's always full of phlegm how do you
say I've it's got a cold wow this is
like something that would be on a Rick
and Morty episode let's see obviously a
very very bored with life is that just
pulled down just beaten down and bored I
look like a thumb with a briefcase
that's all I am a thumb with a briefcase
when you see a character like this you
know they don't want anything bright and
I top that not that they're not looking
for for energy this character obviously
exists to be beaten down and just to be
a beaten-down wage slave with a
briefcase well on the bright side I only
have 35 more years till birth
and it's basically look at the picture
think what he might sound like make your
best guess roll the dice and cross your
fingers
it's a weird way to live the goal of
animation voice acting is the same when
I'm camera acting you want to just
inhabit the character and do a
performance that feels right and makes
that character feel like it's alive and
really exists so that's where the
crossover is usually with animation it's
an auditioning process where the first
thing you get is a picture of the
character a drawing of the character and
maybe a breakdown of his personality
with Spongebob it was almost
instantaneous where Stephen Hillenburg
knew what he wanted and knew what he
wanted that character to sound like he
he knew everything about what he wanted
his show to be he had the show in his
head the way it sounded the music the
graphics it was almost like he was
watching a movie in his head and I could
sound like the guy that he was hearing
in his head so I got the gig pretty
instantaneously which is unusual
spongebob was one of the few characters
where I looked at it and I said man if I
don't get to be this guy it's gonna bug
me forever I really felt like like I had
to be this guy you know this this
character and and I've never had such an
emotional attachment so early on to a
character I just I wanted to voice him
well when Steve broke down spongebob for
me at the first meeting he said this guy
is half a child and half an adult he has
a foot in either camp he goes to school
like a kid he has his best friend and
they hold hands and skip around but he
also has a job and you know at a
restaurant it lives by himself and is
self-sufficient he's kind of a man-child
and then we talked about different
manchild characters you know pee-wee
Herman Stan Laurel from Laurel & Hardy
The Three Stooges Jerry Lewis right who
acts like a like a hyperactive crazy kid
and all those old movies but in a
grown-up's body steve also said maybe a
little munchkin from
from Wizard of Oz so we yeah so we so we
just sort of went to that place where it
wasn't really like this doesn't sound
like any child that you know but it also
doesn't really sound like any adult that
you know so it's sort of in that sweet
spot right in the middle and then with
the laughs Steve just wanted a really
characteristic laugh and the laugh came
from Steve and I discussing animated
characters that had very distinctive
laughs where the laugh could only be
from that character Popeye the sailorman
I got that got that got got or Woody
Woodpecker which I can't do huh
so what does this guy's laugh sound like
he lives in the water like maybe it's
kind of a semi dolphin sound like when
flipper would come up above the watering
you know and he goes yeah that's great
and everything was Sponge Bob came so
easily and and I attribute that 100% to
Steve just having the vision and knowing
exactly what he wanted like almost in a
JRR Tolkien's a like he knew the world
that he wanted to create and every
aspect of it so it was easy for him to
lead you there and when he heard what
was right to him you know that was it so
hopefully that gave you a little glimpse
into my approach to voice acting