Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 66: Kaitlyn Robrock - PT 1
66 Plays5 months ago
On this week's episode we are so very excited and honored to bring you part 1 of our conversation with the one and only Kaitlyn Robrock! That's right join us as we sit down to chat with the official voice of MINNIE MOUSE! And be sure to come back next week for the second half of our interview with Kaitlyn for even more wonderful stories from her amazing career!
DISCLAIMER: We are not an affiliate of the Walt Disney Company nor do we speak for the brand or the company. Any and all Disney-owned audio, characters, and likenesses are their property and theirs alone.
Recommended
Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to Sharing the Magic, the podcast that takes you on a journey through the enchanting worlds of Disney. Each week, we're joined by a special guest, whether they're a magician creating moments of astonishment or a Disney expert sharing the secrets behind the magic of the happiest place on Earth. Together we'll uncover the stories, inspirations, and behind the scenes tales that bring these worlds to life. So, get ready to be spellbound and transported to a place where dreams come true.
Guest Introduction: Caitlin Robroc
00:00:53
Speaker
Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Sharing the Magic podcast. I'm your host, The Goofy Doop, and today we have a very special guest. But before we introduce our guest, I'm going to introduce our cast. Tonight we have James. James, how you doing?
00:01:12
Speaker
I'm doing great, Jeff. How are you? I'm excited for today, man. I i got the opportunity to see our guests a couple of years ago. So I'm just excited to hear a story and hear some of the progress that has been made in other parts of her life, you know, since we last talked. All right. Lisa, what's up?
00:01:31
Speaker
Hey, everyone. I am super excited to be here tonight. can't hear Can't wait to hear more about what our guest has to share, everything from inspiration to you know daily daily work. I'm super excited because this is completely different than what I do on my day-to-day basis. Yeah.
Voice Acting Journey and Inspirations
00:01:52
Speaker
Well, joining us tonight is the talented Caitlin Robroc.
00:01:57
Speaker
Hi, everyone. Yeah. Nice to see you. Or hear you. Yeah. Hear? Yeah, probably hear the official voice. I can see them. They don't know that, but I can see them because I'm that special. Caitlin sees all of y'all and hear all and know all and feel all.
00:02:18
Speaker
So Caitlin, you do a lot of stuff, right? You're not only the official voice of the one and only Minnie Mouse, but you do a lot of other things as well. you do I do a lot of looping, starting my journey in anime. It's been quite fun. ah Some voice matching or dubbing and some video games, but mostly animated shows of various natures. That's awesome. I think so.
00:02:43
Speaker
I think so too. So I got to tell you, all right, you ready for my story? Yeah, tell me your story. I've been wanting it. I'm like, oh, I want to tell Caitlin my story. OK, so I grew up, you know, I grew up in New Mexico and ah I would watch Disney movies. And in my family, it was always, you know, we'd put in a Disney movie and it was like, you know, that's your great cousin. And his name was Pat Butram.
00:03:10
Speaker
Pat Butrum was on Green Acres. He was my evil sheriff of Nulham. I grew up just falling because of that, because of that. Like, you know, that's your great cousin. Turns out it is my grandma. I guess he's he's is legit my great cousin.
00:03:26
Speaker
But I just, I fell in love with, I needed to know who did the voices of everything. That person says that person. I wonder if that's the same person as this. And back in those days, you didn't have YouTube or anything like that. So you had to like look at the credits and and just find who these people were. And so I remember as a kid always doing Pat Buttrum's voice all the time. And um and eventually though,
00:03:54
Speaker
i bought ah I bought a dog and I used to sing him Disney songs and I started, I ran out of songs. I started singing him Goofy's song, you know, like Goofy's, Goofy's voice. and um What kind of happened was I just kind of fell in love with Goofy's voice. So then I'm like, well, let me go study the voice of Goofy. And so I did for a long time. Well, you know, Bill Farmer, Bill bill Farmer grew, he, he loves Pat Buttrum and he, like, that was his voice that he was like, oh, take a Whopper and cheese and a Coca-Cola to go. You know, he would go to like,
00:04:31
Speaker
Burger King can do that. And all his friends would laugh. You gotta do a voice at a drive-thru. You gotta keep that voice when you get to the cashier. Yeah, you do. You gotta keep that voice when you pick up the food. Because if you suddenly drop it, they may, I don't know, they may not believe you? Yeah. Like if you're gonna commit to the bit, commit to the bit until you get the bite. That's right, that's right. Write that down, that's good.
00:04:53
Speaker
absolutely so then it was like okay well i love goofy and but i would i realize and this this is going to enter into my question because i think it's it has to do it does have to do voice acting but it's what i call you people have what i think is called an anchor voice there's that one first voice that kind of grabs you and for me it was pat butch room but then i went into goofy i was like You know, leave old sheriff, I'm up here. But then it went um down and up, and down and up. Before you know it. Well, I'm goofy. And you have sort of, I'm like, oh my God, Bill, Bill loves Pat Butcher. Maybe I could do goofy.
00:05:30
Speaker
And so I found, I fell in love, and i we've interviewed Bill before, i tell I tell him all the time, I'm like, Bill, there's nobody in this world that studies your voice as passionately as, and I don't study Pinto, I don't study, I study Bill.
00:05:46
Speaker
That's who I study and I let him know he probably thinks I'm a freak but but I but I really really all freaks you have to be um you have to love
Mastering Character Voices
00:05:54
Speaker
these voices and love the history behind them I know if you're if you're gonna be a ah steward of them and represent them yes to the world you have to know what they mean to people and all the nuances, and that's where I want to go with this too. So I think you have an anchor voice that sort of roots you to your act your voice acting world, but then you branch out. You can you can branch out. So Pat Buttrum was sort of my foundation, but then he went from that to to Goofy, but then
00:06:23
Speaker
There's these little things that I am obsessed about, that Bill does. It's like, he doesn't just go, gosh. He goes, whoo, gosh. There's a little, hmm. There's a glob, yep. Right before that. And I go, that's what makes you know an impression different than the voice, a voice. And I don't like that word, impression.
00:06:50
Speaker
Cause I think, well, maybe, and you could push back on that. Maybe you, impersonation is like a standalone moment that brings back the person in question. Yes. But to, to re recreate the character, you have to go beyond the established in order to continue with the new. I still, I love that too. Those are like three questions. I love, I love that. Cause I, so I've heard you talk about how you studied Rosie.
00:07:18
Speaker
and how when you spent a lot of time studying her voice, but you can tell where your voice, where her voice ends and yours begins or something like that, I remember. It's like a Venn diagram. Yeah. Tell me about that. ah A lot of people don't, um,
00:07:38
Speaker
Sometimes they don't believe it because this is where I live and this is where I sit, where Rusi, she naturally sounded like Minnie, just a bit of a lower maternal sound, yeah which was a commonality in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse days and Roadster Racers, because we are a um ma a maternal, paternal,
00:07:58
Speaker
view for those ages, for those audiences. And then what made her normal voice stand out would be like the nasality she adds to it, her scoops, because many scoops up and down. In case anyone's wondering, I'm on my last thread of aligners, so there's a list going on here. That's its own thing.
00:08:18
Speaker
ah ah ah But all the little things that yeah she would remember or she had just ingrained in her and things that come out with her when she's with, when she was with Wayne. Oh my gosh, Wayne, all wine.
00:08:32
Speaker
because they recorded together a lot. They never wanted to be a part. They just loved being together, on and off the camera, off the mic, and they would bounce off each other. And you you hear it so clearly, the naturalness, the organicness, and the styled acting that those characters had when you watch things like Three Musketeers, yeah or um The First, Once Upon a Christmas, The Gift of the Magi. It's such a good study material.
00:08:59
Speaker
and I, what was it? As I never, when I was in high school, I didn't exactly have too much time for TV. And, you you know, I was like, I'm too grown up for cartoons. And like, no one is too grown up for cartoons. do So I missed, i and I like to sleep in on the weekends. So I missed the entirety of the House of Mouse show run, or um Mickey Mouse works i'd like they they were both very similar both in tandem and I've been seeing more and more clips from one or both of those shows on TikTok and they're so funny and yeah or they were so gutsy for the time and just Mickey got angry Minnie got real sassy
00:09:44
Speaker
I love Mortimer and like I didn't know that was as far as Mortimer went coming back into the Canonical fold. like It's fun rediscovering these things that are 25 years old. yeah I didn't get them the first time and now that I do, it's like, this is wonderful material to just watch. This is real acting. This is real response. yeah It's not necessarily like, can you count how many steps on the ladder?
00:10:07
Speaker
Yeah. One. I know. I know. Which has its place to guide children in. Right. Piper. But at some point, you know, they're going to want to respond to what's real. What's natural. I agree. So much. And there's a there's a comic I'm reading. I'm doing a project with a friend who does a Donald Duck match. But he's like, it's Mickey and the giant. But then there's these goofy lines that I've never like I never see. And it's like, you know, it's Mickey comes in with beans. And then Donald's like,
00:10:37
Speaker
You know beans and goofy like what do you mean by means like he's angry he's like you could see there's like this emotion well maybe a goofy movie if that was sort of what brought some of that emote where you saw goofy just in a wide range and they beat the heck out of bill in that movie I know they did they told They threatened him to replace him with someone else. you know and and If you get a chance to see the Not Just a Goof documentary. I haven't seen that yet. it'd be on It should be coming out on Disney Plus. I could be wrong. ok but i I saw it not too long ago. Phenomenal oh documentary. yeah But I know they did that because they're like, okay, well, and his I know as much as they whooped him up, he is that he i mean he's the best he's my he's the best Goofy of all the Goofies.
00:11:25
Speaker
And it's like, I don't think Disney even knew what to do with Goofy until really Bill took that and gave him emotion. And it was like, it wasn't just, it wasn't just, he could scream, but then he could be, you know, that hot tub scene in a Goofy movie where he's just yeah so subdued. That's so real. That's such a cool scene. No. And his response and reaction when the car is in the ravine, like. Yeah.
00:11:49
Speaker
Yeah, like what father doesn't think like, it doesn't matter how old you get, you're my son. I will never not worry about you. I will never not try my best for you or do things I never thought I would do for you. you And you will never understand that until you become a parent, if you do, yeah or until you have someone dependent on you.
00:12:06
Speaker
that you want to be there for. And it's very common where a lot of the products that kind of start out as TV and film or theme park or one off, they'll have like voice actors be a part of it to to bring it to life and like that envisioned idea. yeah But oftentimes when it goes to a movie or a wider reaching audience, they want to grab everyone's attention in a way that's palatable for everyone and understandable for everybody.
Evolution of Character Voices
00:12:32
Speaker
ooh Yeah. Yeah. Have you ever had it? Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. finish I'm sorry. No, no, no. So I'm so sorry. they were definitely Like the character voices department was created in the eighties to, to be like, you know, let's have one voice for the consistency and stuff. Those things were shuffled around with audio books or CDs or or yeah or not CDs tapes or vinyl or eight track, whatever. And there were different voices that were in and out.
00:12:56
Speaker
and aiming to to service the model for it. But, you know, Mickey only, like, you know, it went to the same person and there was that consistency. And I remember, um i what I don't believe it was Pinto Colvig who did Goofy in A Christmas Carol. Oh, that was, ah um oh, gosh. Well, boy, you've been either Scrooge, ah that's, um somebody, it's, it's I got to look at it. No, hold on. It's, um, now we have to look it up. See, I will. It's, it's, uh, I talk about him all the time. He's such a little neither way of your new group, different goofy than, oh la you know, lay up and these are, it's a different, completely different delivery. We were just talking about him earlier too. I know this is why I'm getting older stinks.
00:13:48
Speaker
No, I had a Smith. Gotcha. How Smith. Yes. yeah why do i Yeah. I had a question that came out of the vein of something that you said, like a one off like in the parks. Have you had any projects like that where it was like a one off that you just kind of fell into an expanded role because of it? An expand something I did as a one off that became bigger. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:10
Speaker
And not at the theme parks, no. um I've done some work for for theme parks, like for background audio, like like talking windows on Buena Vista Street, or I'm one of the two, like there were two of us who came in to do all the female k Navi voices in Pandora.
00:14:27
Speaker
So you'll hear you'll hear voices calling out in the distance when you ride the rides or things like that. So we're in it like that. And I was so close to getting pirate red for Pirates of the Caribbean. I was so close and I loved it. That was so rad. It's Gray Griffin.
00:14:44
Speaker
And she's got this attitude that flows so well in the in this revamped pirate world. so And there's a saying in all in Hollywood of like, just because you didn't book the job doesn't mean you didn't get the job. And what that means is only one person can book it. yeah Only one. But if it's like, well, there's four of us or five of us at the callback, the difference is all of you could do this role, do it well, and do it onward. Now we're just getting into the nitty gritty, the nuance, looking for that spark that sets this character
00:15:20
Speaker
completely alight. Like you you have a spark, but what's the one that meshes well with all the other voices? What's your improv like? what what is What is the understanding of new things that are thrown at you? yeah um And it's not that, no, like, oh, these four couldn't do it, so she booked it. It's like, no, everyone can do it, but what's the one that you feel resonates with you the most? What's the one where it's like, I can't stop listening to you?
00:15:46
Speaker
And that' that's a gift, that's the spark that's in all actors and entertainers and people who want to create something outside of themselves. So even if I don't book this role, Great like gray books this role could and she's she slays it it doesn't mean I didn't get it It doesn't mean that isn't an archetype I know and can explore with and bring to other auditions and live in that world Yeah, just next time heighten it a little more or bring more Caitlin into it to see if that's what makes it pop Yeah, and it's an ever-changing
00:16:20
Speaker
River and you'll book things that you're like, I booked that I was so sick that day and like yeah, you didn't hear Yeah, you you didn't you didn't second doubt yourself. You just went with no filter and did your first things Yeah, you were sick. But now that you know, you got it refined where that was so you're not searching for it the day you record I love that And I tell people all the time, you won't see your growth. You live with yourself every day, but the more you do it, the more you internalize the same lessons you hear over and over and over and go with a million teachers. yes Everyone's teaching style is different. You want to hope for a teacher that will teach you a visual or an understanding to apply where everyone can apply it as opposed to like, well, this teacher is teaching you how he
Workshops and Skill Development
00:17:06
Speaker
would do it. That may not work for you. Yeah.
00:17:08
Speaker
You know, we want it to be generic but and understandable that you can then springboard off of to make it your own. There's no one else like you for better or for worse. yeah And if you have one voice, that doesn't matter. Jenny Slate has one voice. She barely ever changes it, but she has such a range and her voiceover is across the board because she's doing the archetypes. I love that. Your point of view, your intention, your emotions, your improv, your your personal response that's just framed in the world you need to be in. yeah That's all what makes it unique. Who are some big influences on you? like Are there certain teachers? Do you find your influence
00:17:53
Speaker
or i like him i i taken ah i so I still take clinics and workshops to learn about various directors' way of directing, like how does my acting um work with you? And if if I'm doing something or not doing something that you're seeing that I'm not, I'm there to learn that so I can apply it in the future and show you that I'm directable and adaptable, but also hopefully fun right off the bat. Or i I've shown you the spark. Do you click with my spark?
00:18:20
Speaker
If not, I'll work on it and then a couple years later I'll take another clash with you like, yeah, it's been a few years. I'd love to kind of see where I'm at and see how you like it. um for For consistent work, i would I did workout groups with Mick Winger for eight years. um at Almost every week we'd go in and we'd bring in copy, are like old copy of animation or video game or commercial that like I've never booked this commercial in my life, here's how I would do it. Is there something I'm missing? Is there something and I can change? Or I have no problem if they're like, no, this is a a perfect read, I'd cast you, they can just only book one. yeah And i've had teach I've done work in in workshops, I usually bring in a character I'm my very best at or my most fun to play to see like, am I over the top in any way? Is there something I can polish about it? um And then I bring in a character I never audition for, never read for,
00:19:15
Speaker
I'm not a typical, I'm not an archetypical normal choice for this archetype, but how would Caitlin do it? Is this something that could pop the way everyone at Disney wanted Hades to be kind of like Shawnee, they wanted a specific Hades. And then James Woods came in and they're like, no way, wait, this works. yeah You know, we like having those archetypes flipped on their head as long as they're still respectful towards the goal of the archetype.
00:19:42
Speaker
So I've been submitted on things like this isn't my normal. This is not like all these other women who excel at this archetype, but I'm a wild card. Do you want to break the mold and try something new? if If she's hitting the story beats and the elements and she understands it, why not? And it just depends if they want to yeah go with it or not. I mean, you're a wild card, but you did study many, the voice for a long time, correct? and you yeah And you got it. So I'm curious what was, no, I know, here's what I know. I know you you had, you went in, there's a just a general like audition and and you had
00:20:19
Speaker
one and then they called you back twice and I'm just curious what so after all that time now I'm a little invested in this because this is sort of you know I so I work sort of well the voice matchy thing is sort of where I'm at but I'm but not really I'm not I'm an amateur voice actor but not like you know just amateur but I do it for fun But I'm just so smitten by the process. And i just i'm i just I just love the process. But then I'm terrified too, a little bit. And the place where I'm terrified is, yeah. So what did it feel like to to go through that process of of ah that? and and And something in which you invested so much of your time into, yeah
00:21:05
Speaker
That would be terrifying. The big thing was, is, you know, I had studied whatever I
Acting's Influence on Voice Acting
00:21:12
Speaker
could on my own. Thank God for YouTube. yeah Yeah. Um, and then when I kind of came to town of like, I want to get involved with this, I want, I'm going to say it was like, I started trying to learn the ropes around 2005. Cause that's when I figured out, like I have the, that just, you know, sheer luck.
00:21:33
Speaker
vocal formation where I'm able to achieve this sound, right let's see where I can go with it. Because I wanted to do voiceover for years. I thought you had to be a Broadway actor because all the Disney names and the films were Broadway people, rightfully so. Stage stage acting, I think, is the best training for voiceover because you have to, the very back row of the messaging, they can't see your face. right They can't read your emotions like the movie or TV show. right They can barely see your body. How is it going to move fluidly that they can hear you? Yeah. You have to deliver everything in that voice. Right. And then everything else enhances it. And then kind of in a way, TV film, your face is what sells it first.
00:22:12
Speaker
and then the dialogue behind it and how your face reflects the emotions with it. There are different avenues of acting, but they're all acting. yeah And I thought I would just go to New York and do some Broadway shows. And that doesn't work like that, because that's a career in of itself. People strive every day. You don't just walk in and do it. very My hubris got me. um But when i when I came back, finished up college, workshops and clinics were kind of starting to bloom. And I did Bob Bergen's like eight week voiceover Seminar twice so I could like really internalize it umm because I'm a slow learner and it's hard it's hard to remember or
00:22:49
Speaker
or let things seep in there. So I take it, I take a class, i to every school, every class, every endeavor, i take if I'm taking a class, I do beginner. And they're like, oh, you're a professional. Like, no, no, no, I wanna do beginner. What are the beginning basics for this style? I wanna learn from the ground up, because if I'm not hitting it, I'll never hit it. yes And if they're like, you shouldn't be here, like just please teach me. you you know if If I ace it, whatever, I'm here to know that I'm doing it right. And if if I'm in a clinic and they're I've gotten like,
00:23:17
Speaker
Caitlin, I don't have any notes for you. that There's nothing I would change about this. This is completely... Within the realm, castable, I can hear it. Like, I'm so sorry, I have nothing for you. And I said, doesn't matter that you didn't give me anything. I didn't pay for nothing. I paid i paid you to teach me if I needed it. And you have taught me that I'm succeeding where I'm at. I need to be confident at it and I can relax. yeah That's worth it to me to know I'm doing well. Those classes don't guarantee auditions or anything. I'm paying for your time and the use of the studio to see where I'm at. yeah And we'll focus on the second round when it's like, I don't know what to do with this.
00:23:51
Speaker
What's what should my thought process be? Should I change my voice in any way? And I'm i'm younger and I sound younger. You should hear my mom. She's 75. She sounds like she's 30. So how if we're doing older women, right? How do we reach an era that's believable and organic, right? Because that there's that and then there's your cartoony stuff. I don't often read for too many teens or kids unless it's specifically animation.
00:24:16
Speaker
kind of comedy based work where you have that suspension of disbelief because there's women out there who can do children like you think it's a real child. or Yeah. Yeah. We would watch old family guys and like i I'm shocked that you were on by the way.
00:24:31
Speaker
wasnt Oh, you weren't i my wrong ah geez sorry and we were? watching sorry kaly there's some cuta away or whatnot and stewey's talking to some other kids and the kid says something pretty dark or Ah, who's that? Yeah, she's my age. She naturally sounds like a real child. So she could do all kinds of child work to, and you'll believe it because she just is gifted with that sound. yeah But she also knows how to put an affectation on her voice or do a trick voice to change it up for other archetypes as well. right And she is a mother. So if it's like, you don't sound like a mom, like but she is a mom. Moms sound like this.
00:25:22
Speaker
yeah I understand how it may not come out the same from a visual. Maybe you could they could change the design of the character to better reflect the actor, and it could come out better. Who knows? like yeah But never not audition for something you're told. Nah, you don't sound like you could do that. Do it anyway. Do it anyways. I love that. Do it well. like Do it strong. if Even if you're wrong, do it strong.
00:25:42
Speaker
I love that. I've never thought of that. Do it strong but wrong. If you love what you're doing and you're proud of it, submit it and they're like, yeah way wrong for this. This fits for this character. Like, can I read for that one? yeah Or like, well, we have an idea for this one. Like, okay. You can write a character for me to better follow this train you seem to like. You never know what's going to happen. You're sowing seeds everywhere to see what will blossom and take root.
00:26:07
Speaker
I literally just went through this whole process. i When I did the audition, I was telling you about that I did. i've I for Walt, Roy, and Elias, and I had to come up with this older Midwestern voice. I have a West Coast voice, and I had to figure it out on the fly, and listening, you can't find any any like audio, real good audio of younger Walt or younger Roy. So I had to make it up on the fly. And it's one of those things that you, you have to really, like you said, you have to be invested into that idea and be willing to take that risk and understand that it may not be the best, but you're
Unpredictable Journey and Career Connections
00:26:43
Speaker
right. It could lead you on a different direction. Now that different direction started for you with drawn together. How, like, how did that happen? I know James has been wanting to ask you this before. Yeah. He's like, Oh yeah. He's been geeking out about this. All right. Earlier today said, oh, my God, I love this. I got to ask her about this. So this is very important to James. Just so you know, drawn together for me. I'll give you a backstory on why drawn together is so important to me. And I didn't realize that you were in it until the movie was I was a 20 something United States Marine who was bored in my barracks and needed him something to watch. I was jumping back into animation and family guy had just gone off the air for the first time. And I wanted something that was just raunchy and fun.
00:27:25
Speaker
And then we got to the movie and then they were messing with Smurfs and Smurfs ended up being one of my favorite cartoons as a kid. And come find out you played Smurfette in that. So how did that come about? I have to know. because it's For me, it's like literally I'm geeking over this. I'm trying not to. But the fact is, is like the way I heard you kind of tell it mouse me, you didn't really go too deep into it. It was you. It was like you. Not quite the audience.
00:27:54
Speaker
We can edit this out, by the way. Don't edit it out. I'll tell you. So it wasn't quite the audience, but the fact is you said that it was like a they were auditioning like you were drawn into a drawing and your name got drawn out of a bunch of people. Yeah. Yeah. Not like that at all. No. um No. OK. I don't even remember what I said because I don't remember anything.
00:28:15
Speaker
Like like the the the stepping stones, I can recall all those like key moments where like your life takes a divert path and like, I can't believe I, what what if I'd missed this? Like don't, you know, don't waste your time worrying. Like, what if I hadn't done this? Like you did it for a reason.
00:28:31
Speaker
you know You know, your conscience told you your instincts told you, God will provide whatever, whatever is singing to you. You're here for a reason. Let's make the best of it. Even when it's a bad thing, like, why am I here? There's no reason. Like maybe that reason isn't here yet, but do your best at it. And it could help someone in the future. You know, life isn't full without hardships and some, and it sometimes it feels like the hardships are too much. But if you meet those hardships, the best of your ability and, and give yourself grace.
00:28:57
Speaker
You know, it it'll turn out all right in the end and you you'll only be better for it. And I try to be as consistent a person at any job I've worked as well as in my private life. You know, I don't share every aspect of myself and I am hopeless with social media, but I try to be the exact same person with everyone I meet.
00:29:18
Speaker
And then if if things don't click, like I'll still be courteous and kind and still treat them the same. I'll just like, I don't have to invest too much emotion or energy or sharing myself with this person if it's not received well, but we can have a nice time while we're in this moment together. But what had happened was I had, I had gone, we, we started going to the San Diego Comic Con.
00:29:41
Speaker
back in, like my first trip was 2000, it was like a one day and like and like, that's not enough, I need to do more. And then the following year, we went all four days and I had met some friends online through like ah discussion boards about anime and manga. And we all agreed to meet up at the convention for the first time and we were just hanging out having a fun day. And we were we were just talking and having fun in the lobby. And I was constantly like, I really should get going soon, but we're having such a good time, I'll stay.
00:30:10
Speaker
I really should get going soon. And then I think at one point we're like, you know, is anyone getting ready to head out? And someone's like, actually, my friend just texted me. Can we wait for her? She wants to go take us to introduce, she wants to introduce us to somebody over at the Hilton. It's a voice actor. And it was like, what if I hadn't spoken up to then make that person make the decision when the text had, what if I'd left before the text? Like it's all those tiny little things that lined up. Yeah.
00:30:36
Speaker
the way I think they were supposed to. And we're walking over to the Hilton with her and like, yeah, he's a voice actor. I think he's Leonardo on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Oh, Cam Clark. And yeah, I was like, i wow. so was Like Brian Tochi. Like, is it the cartoon? Oh no. Oh no. Yeah. That's the movie. That's right. Yeah. That was the movie. And I had to clarify and it's like, oh, it's Kim Clark. I know him. Yeah. He was in Akira. And then she's like, no, he wasn't in that. Like, yeah.
00:31:02
Speaker
I know that. He was in Akira. He's like, no, no, he wasn't in that. I don't think he does anime, like, but he's like the most popular one. And it's like, well, Leonardo is the most popular to me. So then I was like, Michelangelo? By chance, you know, the fan favorite? It's like, no, no, like the funny one, like the sarcastic one, like Raphael. Is that one red? And like, I had to walk her through it. Yeah. And that we basically narrowed it down. We were meeting Rob Paulson. Yeah. Oh, wow. And it was like, oh, pinky in the red.
00:31:31
Speaker
yeah So it was a big deal for me to meet him and I was very excited and he introduced us to his son Ash who was a sweet sweet gentleman and we were talking like yeah we've just been hanging out and we're a very diverse group of just all across the board people talking about anime and manga and We included him in the conversation, because he had a big bag, I think, of manga himself. So we were kind of getting him into our mix. And I was like, I hope you guys don't mind. And I just was like, Robin, do you mind if I just kind of chat with you for a little bit? Is that OK? And he was so gracious. I said, of course, honey, what do you want to know? And like, well, I'm a big fan of this. And this, that, and the other thing. Do you think I could take a picture on my cheap little phone, like the barest there,
00:32:18
Speaker
thing And I said like could I take a picture to show my mom and dad they love pinky in the brain They won't believe me that I met you It's like of course honey, and he was just very kind and like I'm so glad to talk to you We're getting ready to head out soon. and I was like, okay. Thank you so much And we go back to the group and we're chatting and they they hit on something I want us it wasn't Kingdom Hearts, but they like hit on something that everyone was a big fan of yeah, and We all exchanged but like we were all had just kind of met that day. So we all exchanged um emails or or AIM, login names or some way to get a hold of each other, live journal. I think it was live journal. We had our live journal accounts, but we were able to like, we're having fun. We have to like keep this going. And so we kept, we had each other's, if we had, I think we all had emails back then.
00:33:05
Speaker
it was This was 2001. So I think we all had each other's emails and we all had live journals or are just a way to message each other through AIM. And we were like, yeah, let's keep in touch. And we all started talking online and knowing Ash, um he just was so, so kind and was like, yeah, I know all these other voice actor people. They're great. And like, okay, good. They're so nice. And he introduced me to Jess Harnell, who has been one of my like most staunch supporters.
00:33:34
Speaker
We were just talking about him, me and James, yeah. Yeah, because before we came on and I did this, turn me loose, turn me loose. And I'm like, you know, he's like the alternate voice of Roger Rabbit. Oh, Jessica, how do I love thee? Let me count the weight. One was more than two, you know, but he was, he as a kid, I had no idea that it that the voice changed, you know? and Yeah, it sounds like Charles Leiser on the ride. Oh, he's amazing. And then he's bre he was Bear Rabbit on Splash Mountain. There you go. And it just glided right in and um we we met him that way and they they would come to Comic Con to do like voiceover panels like for improv fun questions. And I went to every one ever since Mark Evanier established it because he's one of the heads of Comic Con like he's a huge deal. Yeah. So I went to every panel and when when it would end.
00:34:27
Speaker
ah you know, not many people kind of stage door and ran up to meet them, but I did. And I was like, you know, thank you so much. Big fan of this, that and the other thing. i'm I'm kind of working towards it. It's a passion of mine. I'm really interested
Navigating Social Media in Voice Acting
00:34:38
Speaker
in doing it. I'm curious. And I tried to think like, there's no point in asking something generic. Right. Because You get very generic answers because it can be really nuanced or like this worked for them. It may not work for you or like this is something I can't give you. Like, how do you get an agent? Like, well, in theory I could tell you, but then like now we have to break it down.
00:34:59
Speaker
And if you if you go straight to a demo, you've missed crucial steps. And lots of people have, they've just gone straight to making a demo of what they're currently able to do. yeah And they're like, all right, let's do it. And like, where's the music? Where's the sound effects? You want it to sound like it's taken from a show.
00:35:16
Speaker
to be natural in your ear. right You should have people listening to it to see, it is this marketable? Are you where you should be? And it's not to negate your acting style, it's to see what's what is what is about it that's sparking. And it's a whole process. Do you think like, oh, well, here, well, go ahead if you if you'd like to finish that, i but I do have a question later. I'm like, ooh, that's a good. If you're thinking of it now, ask it now. Okay, here we go.
00:35:42
Speaker
Okay. So I think that's right. Absolutely. But I wonder. Okay, 10 years from now, five years from now. Do you think that's going to shift? Do you think because of like social media and people just build out pages of YouTube stuff that they've done or that's what I'm trying to do. That's sort of where i'm that's where I'm thinking it's going to go. So I'm like, well, maybe I'll just invest in and this sort of thing. So if people want to, okay, do you like them or not? Okay, well, here you go. Click on this thing and and that's what it is.
00:36:13
Speaker
You know, do you think that's wise? Do you think, you know, cause it doesn't seem quite as with, with, with, with YouTube pages and Instagram stuff and tick tock. It's like, well, here it is. You can, you can see what I'm about. Is that a good strategy for voice actors? What do you think? It can be, um, again, I am hopeless with social media. My tick tock page literally states, I swear one day I'll use this and I had some ideas.
00:36:43
Speaker
because I'm never in time for memes and trends. yeah I don't know how to film a video to put on TikTok. I don't know what CapCut is, but it's like at this point, like if I want to kind of reach out to people through those mediums just to play and just to kind of be in their minds,
00:37:00
Speaker
yeah to to ah like my my My job is to entertain you. And if you become a fan of mine, all the better come meet me at a convention, yeah watch the shows I'm in, ask me questions. yeah I don't want to be that statistic that people say never meet your heroes. yeah I've had that plenty of times. How many times have we heard of people like falling from grace or doing something in your life? yeah I really liked him and, you know, never fall into the parasocial trap because social media, it exposes a lot of your private life. It's your choice to do that, but you didn't have to write. You don't owe anybody a part of yourself. You're not willing to give. Yes. But like what my idea was like.
00:37:43
Speaker
You know, I'm way late for the, like, I'm a voice actor. Woke from a show. And then the clip of the show. yeah i I'm a voice actor. yeah Something that everyone knows and you didn't know it was them, the actual clip. So my my goal, like, it'll probably be the first one because I'm so excited. I try to change it and flip the script on the memes. Like, cause what's going to make me stand out? What's going to make me like love this meme that Reflects Caitlin, right? Yeah, and so my answer was I'm a voice actor and then I would just scream and then I'm gonna have like a montage of all seven projects I've done where I've just been screaming i love it that will be it
00:38:21
Speaker
I love that. I've done plenty more, but like, who cares? Yeah. Did y'all know I can scream like the Dickens? and they'll they'll It'll take them by surprise. It'll make them laugh. And it's like, good. I kind of, I kept you on your toes, but, and some people, the impressions and impersonations, it's a, it's a, it can be a trap. Yeah. The talent to recreate is a good talent. It's entertaining. People love to hear it. Can you maintain it?
00:38:46
Speaker
Can you can you embody the character behind the person you're embodying? Absolutely. And they go ahead.
Acting vs. Impressions in Voice Acting
00:38:54
Speaker
Oh, well, I was good. I was just going to say absolutely. You're right. It's like there's a there's a analogy. It's like, well, anyone could, you know, do Porky Pig or something, you know, but can you sing? Can you can you be Porky Pig seeing the Pledge of Allegiance?
00:39:11
Speaker
Yeah. Something like that. But it's it's even more than that. It's like there's voice acting, there's voice acting, but the acting part is, you know, the acting part is just so... If you don't have that, you don't have it. Then you don't have it. Period. You know? And it's like, well, I can do this. And it's like that could work for... There's a place for it. Yeah. A one-off or something to parody.
00:39:33
Speaker
or something to reference for the greater good, but it can't stand on its own. And there are impressionists and impersonators of various levels, many of which absolutely have successful careers because they take those snippets for their medley and they can expand on them. Jim Eskiman, Piot Michael. There's a gentleman with three names, like John Michael something, Michael Johnson. I feel terrible that I can't remember it.
00:40:00
Speaker
but yeah they often showcase their wares on like Mark Evanier's panels. And I was just like, how? They're comedians. And Messkman made me cry when he did Robin Williams and I couldn't handle it. And you can see it on the voiceover Comic Con at home four years ago. And then the young lady who was also with us goes, I want to see Caitlin cry again. Can you talk more? And I'm like, ooh, how dare you. It's also fun, like, I was talking to a friend who's like, you don't leave Robin Williams and I was ho ho. Like a hook. Everyone loves a good hook. Everyone can do a Mickey Mouse voice. But like, where are you going to take it?
00:40:42
Speaker
yeah and yeah service service the genre or the tone of what you're in. i had I think the Mickey Mouse from South Park is hilarious. I'm positive it's Trey Parker. And like, what's the trick? I have to retox, he has the hook, ha ha. So he has the the tick, ha ha. And like he's saying things obviously Mickey wouldn't say. But it's that high falsetto voice that puts you like, oh yeah, it's a joke, it's on Mickey. yeah And he's, you know, but anyone could do that but he had trey has the acting and the point of view to make this evil mickey its own thing Yeah. service is it i've i've heard plenty of stories of you know impressionists and voiceover persons who are brought in on projects because because of their name, because they have a lot of good fans, yeah like the final product was not strong, not not what anyone thought. and it's like You don't want to throw someone in the fire before they're ready, because if it's not well received, they may not trust you again, and you deserve to have that time to grow.
00:41:40
Speaker
and learn and put your best foot forward. Yes. I love that. I love that. And I'm going to ask one question and I'm going to shut up for a minute because i we know, well well, I want to let. So we we actually, there's one other host that's not here. a lot just so you know you're tangental back They're not tangents. They're great. these this is like This is great. You've been nothing but a ah pleasure and a joy.
00:42:04
Speaker
We will we will wrap it back to John together that I like. a Well, well, yeah, no, no, no, no, we got it. We need to ask Rachel's question. But here's here's my thing. So I before I go, I'm going to like pause myself. All that because I can't sometimes I i just I can't help myself. I just get out of my box and I just so excited. I get x I get really excited. So. john Uh, Rachel's not here, but she's, yeah but she root works with great kids and the kids are like, really? You're going to, you're going to have this interview and, and she then, and they have some, they had two questions for you. I know it's going to be cute and before that though. So I, I love what you said about.
00:42:45
Speaker
ah Really acting and I think there's there is there's no trick voices where you can you know? Yeah, you know I do a horrible Donald my wife hates when I ever do it, but it it is in my head It's a trick voice. Yeah, I do not do it. Well.
00:43:00
Speaker
There's a process behind it. Yeah. Yeah. And I have friends that do that. I'm like, okay, that's not, you know. And there's a couple ways to do it. Like the air pocket and cheese is common, but, um, if I'm correct, Clarence Nash and Tony on some, they do it a different I way. Way different. And I have a friend that does like a great Clarence Nash, but he is not Tony and he knows it, but he's been years and years at it. And, and, um,
00:43:25
Speaker
It's his own thing. It absolutely is. And and ah but he's a good actor. He's still good acting. He can sing. he's He's saying he's the Donald Duck Project. Everyone go watch it. But he' hell he'll sing nothing but a hound dog in in in ah Donald's voice like
Exploring Emotional Depth in Disney Characters
00:43:43
Speaker
crack. And it cracks me up. But it is clearly Clarence Nash. You know, there's there's people that do a way better Pinto Colvin goofy than me. But Can you do, can you out Bill Farmer me? Okay, we we'll get on that runway. But here's the thing with Bill and I'm like, and this goes into that point of acting.
00:44:02
Speaker
It's like, why do I love Bill? Why do I why do i latch onto that? Because Bill has that ability to be like, you know, who's turning sun? He's just all over the place. You know, he's he could be high up here and just high energy. But then it's like, Lexi, what, you know, what the heck are you trying to do? And he just brings it down to that place where it breaks your dang heart. And I think,
00:44:31
Speaker
Yes. There's a person behind that voice. Yes. And and he says it made him very feel very uncomfortable recording that because he said it was a little bit too built. You know, when he's like, the hot tubs, he's like, well, maybe Max ain't all things you think good shuns, you know, son should be, but well, love my son. And just the ah ability to slow. have Here's my question. And then I'm going to leave. No, I get it, bro. Have you ever had a, have you ever had a recording session? where so we Well, yeah.
00:45:02
Speaker
Even though that didn't feel like goofy, it was. Yeah. The sound guided you in and your acting kept you. Yeah. I want to talk about you. Have you ever had a recording session that felt a little bit too close like that? And how did, and then how did you work through it?
00:45:21
Speaker
not Not yet, like that is a cathartic type of project. yeah there There could be something coming up, but Mickey and Minnie, they they don't often go into those realms. right um And like most, a lot of characters don't necessarily go that way, but Goofy was so special because they established his kind of reboot with, he has a son. And the world around that, where's mom? Where's all this stuff?
00:45:48
Speaker
questions abound. But that was ah that was a chance to expand upon this. It's like almost like a multiverse what if or like, he has this ability to go somewhere because the person behind it had that experience and knows what to deliver. And it was relating to a child. So that brings it into a realm unlike any other. So Mickey and Minnie, they they could very well go into those spaces, but most likely in a movie that would ah allow for that type of in depth and that that pacing and that patience to explore this yes in an hour and a half, what comes before, what comes after and what sells it. That could infusibly happen with them if they are dealing with morting and ferrety or um
00:46:27
Speaker
Millie and Melody, if they're dealing with their nephews and nieces, it could go that route. You never know. Donald could get there. I think he has before with Huey Dewey and Louie. Uncle Scrooge for sure has, both in the TV show and the movie. And Daisy could have that with April, May, and June. like it It can definitely go to those places if the need calls for it. It just has yet to call for it, for me. right Ooh, that could be a whole other, whole other podcast of, in hypotheticals. It truly sets Goofy apart from everyone else where, where he has experienced every range, a person in that real world could experience. And that's why he's well-loved and Bill in particular, cause he lived all that.
00:47:08
Speaker
And then I call, I call Bill's sit in our house. Cause I call him St. Bill, you know, he's saying, Oh, my wife wouldn't, my wife wouldn't say that, but of like well he's to me, he's a, he's a sweetheart. You know, Bill has definitely said he studied other persons in the past. He kind of learned about what has been before. Cause Pinto Colvig gave us the, the, the, the ethics of goofy, the baseline, yeah which it was pretty cut and dry for what goofy is like. He didn't have to go too far.
00:47:37
Speaker
beyond the needs of what these shorts were meant to do. And then as we got in, they fizzled out for a bit. Tony Pope, I think, sounded a lot like Bill. Tony Pope. I enjoyed Tony. I did too. I did too. The only project I've heard was soccer mania. Yeah, me too. I'm like, oh, that sounds like... I love her pieces. I did too. And I made a point to tell her, like, I am extremely fond of your father's goofy.
00:48:01
Speaker
good I remember watching that as a kid, and then like, well, where is that? Where did it go? Thank you. I know. yeah And Hal Smith gave us kind of that breakout of what Pinto had established as like, here's the ceiling. So Hal could raise it a little bit to have like the the grumbling reactions, like, Scrooge. and the Yeah, or or yeah, or the like,
00:48:22
Speaker
Like Goofy's very judgy. That's the secret of Goofy. He'll start things like, well, I don't know. you know like he would go he'll ah He'll start sentences like, and it's- It's like um ah a dartboard. yeah no The basics of Goofy is this circle. yeah And then Hal Smith added the and the the next outer ring because he went back and forth between what he had to do as Jacob Marley and then kind of the Goofy-ism.
00:48:48
Speaker
and like he flip-flopped to show like he can have those two separate consciences which elevated him and then Tony Pope took it where it's like you're relating to all these other characters that you haven't before yeah and that really set the tone of like here's a modern goofy Here's something to build upon. yes And then when they created the big the big thing, yeah when Bill came in, it's like he had these other elements as well that i know they all build upon each other. They're all so essentially goofy and they're all so important. And Bill's the longest and he was able to encapsulate everything Tony and Pinto did on his own personal welfare.
00:49:23
Speaker
and And Tony was more... Tony was more punchy, you know, like Hal Smith and Edd Pinto. lo was It was more is more like in-the-mouth labor, neither through, it was more like this. But then, like when Tony Pope, play it was more up here and down and up and up and down, and it was a little bit more punchy in the voice. Like, it was a lot more just like that. And Bill...
00:49:48
Speaker
did a You're right, Bill did a great job of taking the like in a little of this and then merging it, merging it with a little bit more punchiness. And then it just he just brought it together and now he's, now we got a great goofy, great, you know. Thank you for that. Kalyn, I love you. you This is, so okay, I'm gonna- You're amazing. I'm going to shut up. I'm going to let other people talk. But like, like oh, yeah. um Well, no, go ahead. No, no. Are are there like piggybacking off of Jeff? Are there? okay i got ah I'll be right back. Are there things that you do kind of like you've seen with Tony and Bill that you kind of emulate with Brucey to a degree, not emulate. I don't think it's the right word, but like kind of incorporate into your many.
00:50:35
Speaker
you know kind of you know but like you said up and down with um tony and bill are there any things that you do that were kind of like i want to call them rusiisms with mini yeah and that's a good word for it because up up until rusi there were several women who had done mini in and out for the needs that were present at the time and um walt did it at first um and there's so many lovely ladies and i don't want to mix them up but one of you like one of them was very shy And, you know, if she didn't want to do too much beyond like one or two, just because she's like, oh, I'm a little shy. This is a little much. But she was lovely when she did it. And just she just decided I'll step back and everyone has that. Where can you live with what you're presented with? I believe it was Marjorie Ralston who had felt that way. And then Marcela Garner came in, Thelma Boardman, Ruth Clifford.
00:51:26
Speaker
And then Janet Waldo popped in for, um I think it was a Christmas carol, like on um like a vinyl? I could be wrong, but that was back in the 70s, so i it's very feasible, because at that point, I believe Alan Young was a part of Scrooge, um because it was it was Bill Thompson in like the other Scrooge short, the one about money, and he did lovely as well.
00:51:51
Speaker
but all these ladies added something that let Minnie be who she had to be in all those different shorts. And then Rusi incorporated all of them as well as her own natural comedy and instincts to to break her out of that movie world to be like, she's a full fledged mouse in addition to the star that you see on the screen. And totally Minnie was that first big one of like, okay, we're not in the cartoon, we're behind the scenes now.
00:52:16
Speaker
And that's my, what do they call it? That's my Roman empire. That's my that's my opus or something like that. right um i Because I remember watching it on TV and like, that was my world. And, you know, it's it's still so fun today. You watch it nowadays and you're like, oh yeah, times has certainly changed. We would we would change a couple of things if we rebooted it. But I think my favorite was, she' she's like selling the self-help of her come down to our institute and we'll help you, Robert Carradine, exactly as you are from Revenge of the Nerds. And I think one of the lines was, do you embarrass yourself acting like a nerd? And like, whoa!
00:52:58
Speaker
Nerds are cool, man. And it's not embarrassed, it's cringe. And who cares what people think? It's so easy to just ignore people these days. At least I think it is. But you those little isms that she brought, they were so natural to her. And I still rewatch old stuff to make sure I'm not getting too locked into the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse format. So when we do the Paul Ruder shorts, she's allowed to go insane and go crazy and have a quicker pace. And what was Rusi's Organic quick pace for these kind of cinematic things. What's mine? Can I blend the two that way the shorts are coming off? organic fun mini But I'm i'm not gonna break my back trying to 100% be roosie. I never will be she was who she was and she was beautiful at it Yeah, they'll never be another roosie
00:53:45
Speaker
who I am I am who I am and but you're kit you're a Caitlin. You're not a roosie. Yeah, you're taste right. I love improv. I love comedy. I love the wacky takes. I love gross voices and screaming and and and we ah mini's we've never had it before where Minnie magically is like she bowled a strike and then goes yes or yeah or Don't you want to impress the whole world? Your minis a lot more gotta roll in some cases. I love doing that, or the how not to draw, like, I'll help you with a pie.
00:54:18
Speaker
I have to do the pie. It's a fun turn and that comes from Miss Piggy. That I drew from from Frank Oz as Miss Piggy. Miss Piggy was, she was the epitome of grace and polishedness and a kind narcissism because she knows she's the best, she's a diva. She's not delusional.
00:54:39
Speaker
but she definitely knew like I'm going to live life like the queen I am and if you can't see that that's your problem and then only when she's like faced with a straight-up wall will she scream yell kick karate yeah but it takes a while to get there and it's a harsh turn and then once she's accomplished the goal she's right back to normal I don't know. It's not true. I love that for Minnie, actually, because it's like it gives it another layer. The attitude will pop in as needed. Yeah. She is certainly different from Miss Piggy, but Miss Piggy is my hero. I think I have noticed, and I want to bring it back to drawn together with this. Watch this. We will get back. I promise you. I'm getting back right now with it, because of what I want to say. But I want you to say something new. OK, if you want to, go ahead. OK. Hold on. I have to remember what I was going to say. I'm sorry, Caitlin. That's not bad.
00:55:29
Speaker
No, it's um I think we were talking about hooks and touchstones. I'll just do that. like yeah yeah so When I really listened with a dissecting ear and not get caught up in the magic of what you're watching, listen to what Roussi says, how does she pronounce her vowels, her consonants, things like that. She scoops up, she scoops down. She creaks ever so slightly into words that start with a vowel.
00:55:51
Speaker
so she doesn't do like you know we're gonna go see the opera we're gonna go see the opera there's that break she doesn't say pluto she says pluto she doesn't say everybody she says everyone it's these tiny little yeah things that roll into it that subconsciously make her stand apart and she she has a nasality a lot of the time especially on her m's and m n's there's a baby quality but it's not a baby voice it's not annoying it's not stringent it's pleasant and a soft kind of breath in that head voice so it doesn't pierce your ear. It's just this mix of all these little things. So I had to pay attention to all of those and then work on each element and you work it over and over. Yes, acting is the core of voice acting. If you want the voice and you don't want it to be the voice over the acting, do the voice on your own time. Practice practice everything so it's an impression and impersonation. yes
00:56:48
Speaker
It doesn't go anywhere, because you're not really acting. You're focused on the mechanics. And the more you do that, the more you've internalized it, the more it's second nature. It won't hurt. You drop into it like a like you know a bird takes flight. That way, you don't have to worry about it later. After that, you know how to get in the sound and the voice. Now do the acting. And when the acting is there, when your components are there to take the character where they have to go, yeah now you're voice acting. And you don't have to worry about them the voice.
00:57:15
Speaker
You nailed it. I was a recording yesterday and I, I was listening back. So I'm, you know, doing my thing and I, there's times there. I'm sure, I'm sure you you've gone. I know you've got probably gone through this process because you just, you know, you're talking about there is that moment. Well, like goofy's tough. Goofy's one of the hardest voices, you know, he's not a trick voice. You're kind of born with it or you're not. You're just, yeah yeah you know, it's what it is. So I'm like, Holy moly.
00:57:45
Speaker
So I'm super obsessed but then I'll record and it's funny I will say oh I'm concentrating too much on the technicalities of the delivery of the voice to where I'm not actually acting but then sometimes um and I get squirrely and I'm like ah but that doesn't I i need to rein it in and and to make sure it's within a ah ah a set of boundaries where it still sounds like the voice. And all all of that is
Self-Practice and Development
00:58:20
Speaker
essential to know. And you're hitting it on the head. All of this process and this work, you do that on your time at home among trusted friends in a workout group, if if everyone's cool with doing that.
00:58:33
Speaker
um Because when I came to town, this is way back, but I loved Minnie and i I took classes with certain people who had an in with that world. And I said, i'd love I'd love to kind of do these sort of things or work on this, do you have advice? And the the person was very, very kind but honest of like, yeah I can't help you regarding this. There is someone currently performing the voice, that person's a friend of mine and I cannot in good conscience help you while they're here and around. it right Even if you meant nothing by it other than you love it and who knows what the future holds, that's right it could so easily come off as you're gunning for the role. And I even said like, oh my God, I'd never. It's like, never I believe you. I don't know you, but I believe you because you were so honest when you were asking.
00:59:22
Speaker
and oh yeah looking at that and not talking to the class about it. So you don't cause a bad reputation. That's right. Oh, not everyone is going to know who you are. They won't know that. Well, you nailed it. I'm so excited because what I think is and this this could lead into this question, which is.
00:59:43
Speaker
I've asked him, why do I spend so many hours, 3 a.m., watching goofy, goofy, goofy all the time? Okay, why would I do this? What's that? Because it's, I love it, because it's fun. But, you know, what I get to do sometimes is I'll have a friend, you know, who's like, oh, you do have ah a good voice. Hey, I have a kid, you know, my son or or this person would love a birthday, you know, ah a happy, happy birthday, you know, in a goofy voice.
01:00:11
Speaker
And it just to see the difference that just a voice can make. I always say this, I don't care, but what, what, but nobody can steal my voice away from me. Nobody can do that. And in that child's life, you've created a magic they're familiar with.
01:00:28
Speaker
So for me, my, like my end goal is just to be very best goofy so that I can bring other people joy. I don't care if it's on any, any TV or whatever, but it's the process that I love. And, and for me, it's the the joy that.
01:00:48
Speaker
my you know you just sent this birthday happy birthday and they said hey i have a friend that loves goof you love to do a happy birthday for you and oh my gosh it just just to see you made just a someone smile it a little bit, whatever it is, that's it. That's the end goal for me, man. And um I know you do a lot of that. And so maybe my question is, what's your favorite, what's what's your favorite kind of joy that you get to bring other people with your with your voice?
01:01:22
Speaker
At the core, I want to make people laugh. yeah So I was at my most freest and most Caitlin-ist with the mini veil on doing the role Paul Ruder shorts, because I can take her anywhere I want. yeah And i ah on principle, we we give three takes of a line.
01:01:41
Speaker
And I've heard plenty of actors, you know, if I'm waiting in the lobby, I'll you hear things every so often. And I told myself very early on, like, you know, they'll be like, we've got to get in the car now. We've got to get in the car now. We've got to get in the car now. And like, that was the same read. Exactly. Maybe slightly different inflections. Where's the emotional change? Yeah, now they're gonna direct them a new emotion and do three more and then change it or add it and it's like I want to give you three off the bat and then we could pick the one we want to focus on. We got to get in the car now. We got to get in the car now. We've got to get in the car now. Yeah. What emotion do we want to pick from or do we want a whole new one? Why bother doing extra work until we know where we want to go with it and that's just my personal
01:02:27
Speaker
choice as an actor to give those different reads and some half the time or I'll do a a random fourth one of like oh I just thought thought of this and sometimes like oh that one yeah we we saved ourselves the trouble yeah or it'll it just gives them like ah oh I didn't know I didn't realize you could say it like that I've rewritten lines that are mouthy Minnie gets a lot of monologues and Like we're gonna fix this up guys. I have to breathe somewhere yeah or like ah but But we work it on the process and again it it all internalizes over time yeah, and um I Took that time and I did it all on my own I didn't talk about it because after the gentleman was saying I can't help you in this way that the best thing I can say for you is if you love this character and you love the world she lives in and
01:03:14
Speaker
Practice on your own. Focus on all the little details that make her mini. Pay attention to all your sounds. Learn your mouth. yeah kind Learn your consonants and vowels. Listen to you know how you sound super low and sexy when you're sick. you know Actors often have exaggerated voices to to be a ah cartoon character. What's the add-on they do? Nasal, guttural, head. What is stringy and piercing versus adding breath to it? like the old the 1920s when she was created. And so adding that breath goes a long way. And he said, just like if you do that all on your own and you and you don't talk about how you can do this and you you don't showcase it, if ever the time comes, you can come at it with your full confidence and just be someone they've never heard of before. Sometimes social media impressions can hurt you.
Social Media's Impact on Careers
01:04:08
Speaker
because they'll they'll pay attention to you, they'll notice you. You're very popular, you're able to do something. Maybe you sound exactly like the character. The voice part of voice acting has been done. You achieved it. you got that You've got that notification. yeah That could be the thing that brings you in. There was a character that was recast and they needed a voice match to continue on. And everyone and their mom was like, bring in this person. Bring in this person, oh my God.
01:04:35
Speaker
And if I recall correctly, they they brought them in. They paid attention. They were aware. yeah They brought them in. They matched. We usually have a three parter. You match lines that exist. Here's the refs. Here's lines that have no ref. Show us what you can do. Show us the acting. You have the voice. Do the acting. And depending on the character, there's singing involved. and For many, it was all three of those. But this person came in. They aced the you know the the written exam where they recreated all the lines and process and everything they're in. But like, did you pay attention to how that character said this word to these elements? And then when they did the un-recorded lines, the the the newly written like, this is what this character would say, our writers wrote this, acted out, and they burned crashed and burned. yeah They could not act like the character. They didn't know the character. They didn't think like the character where then the voice will carry the character slash your thoughts in this world.
01:05:34
Speaker
and the person they ended up picking sounded phenomenal. very, very close, maybe not as close as the other guy, other person, but the acting was there. And I was picky about this character. I was very picky about this particular one. And I i have no problem in saying like, yeah, they they hit 95% of the beats of the original creator of this role. yeah I'm very satisfied, very happy. And now now the goal is like, don't constantly think of it's not this,
01:06:06
Speaker
the not the original voice, just get yourself out of that. And that's a me thing, but they didn't do anything before. yeah I think they did on camera, but this was their first big thing. and like But they had taken that time to practice and study.
01:06:21
Speaker
and come out the gate strong because no one knew who they were. And that there wasn't any preconceived notion about them. There was no kind of risk of like, well, if you're doing that, you really shouldn't be doing it on social medias or cameos. yeah like I don't do anything on social medias because my girl stays in the magic of her world. Yeah. And she doesn't come out on the fly and and break magic.
01:06:46
Speaker
I love that. and I love the term magic. Things out of respect for the character. Yeah. I am a voice actor ah everywhere else. And ive yeah I've already spoken to people of like, I'd love to read for the, I'm reading for these projects on these streaming platforms that it's like the R rated adult animation. If certain projects include certain elements, I won't read for them. I'm not comfortable with that. And I don't want to recreate these emotional beats that I don't think I could handle well, but like, Hey, blood of Zeus. I love Greek mythology. I'm going to audition for it. If I book it.
01:07:16
Speaker
yeah I'm happy to go under a pseudonym to protect the brand, but at the same time, being having my name on it is also just fine. Because the audiences are not the same. i know Five-year-old is not going to watch Blood of Zeus and go, wait, I know that name. But I wouldn't promote and know that project alongside Disney in any way. they yes You have to. Some projects I don't promote at all. I was just happy to play in that world and and do that job.
01:07:44
Speaker
And when you carry the torch, you know, like when you're carrying the torch of, of, ah for you know, of one of the the fab, the five fab five or the six or, you know, there, there almost seems like, yeah. Yeah. the ex let's No, no, no. You have to think of it because it's the fab five. Yeah. That's Daisy erasure. I know. Yeah. Sensational six. Sensational six. Okay. The, um, the sensational seven.
01:08:12
Speaker
ah We could do that. Well, okay. Then it just goes more and more. Pluto, Donald, Daisy. Yeah. Dippin' Dale. So there's your excellent eight. yeah I like excellent eight. But now, you know, Clarabelle is coming up strong. That's my girl. I love Clarabelle. And she's not a tertiary anymore. She's a secondary. Pete is not a tertiary. He is a secondary. Yeah. Pete's secondary. There's 10. There's- Oh, Clarabelle would be great.
01:08:39
Speaker
Clarabelle's great, and we have Pete and Clarabelle visit you at Disneyland. They are- What kind of voice? I haven't i can't even remember Clarabelle's voice. Oh no, it was... um Oh gosh, it was... um The daughter, was it the daughter of? April Winchell, yeah, Paul Winchell. Yeah, Paul Winchell. Yep. Yeah. And she's been doing it since Clarabelle was created as a speaking form. I don't know, I honestly cannot tell you if she ever spoke pre-1980 in any of those cartoons. She was there. Oh, she had a great voice. I think she had one or two lines in some of the other shorts, but nothing. Now I gotta remember what Clarabelle sounded like. I don't even remember. YouTube!
01:09:21
Speaker
Oh, i i thought I thought that was it. I was like, oh. And I'll spite anybody who's like, yeah, she's Goofy's girlfriend. ah no and No, no, no, no, na know yeah no, no, no, no, no. Horace Horse Collar, sweetheart. Um, actually they're just like dance partners and like, where are you getting this info? He's a Goofus Canis. It's the official, you know, book about our character friends at Disneyland and like, well, I know other people and that's not it. I'll fight you. Uh, Elvira Elvia Alman. Okay.
01:09:51
Speaker
Did it in 93, 94, 95. No, that's a lie. 33, 34, 35. And something in 1990. Okay. Oh, that, the 1990, I bet. Ooh, I need to go deep dive into some Clarabelle, because I haven't. Uh-huh, there it is. So, Elvia Allman did the one-liner in The Prince and the Popper. Oh, thank you, Sawyer.
01:10:10
Speaker
Um, is that, is that how she sounded? That's how ah Elvia sounded. So she had the lower, hu like she had a lower toe that fit the face. And it was just, oh, thank you. So you're a very straightforward line, but the voice was pleasant and it was the start. And then April Winchell started voicing her. April Winchell created Claribel the way we know her today in full force, just like Rusey recreated Minnie to make her the fully rounded character, April gave Clarabelle the whole presence and everything Clarabelle is base is her. I i love Paul Winchell he by the way he's mother in who framed Roger Rabbit. And it's and like when she's talking to baby that's the the base of Clarabelle without the twang. Yeah, and the the deeper scoops. But it's there you hear it. Okay, but she's also very funny.
01:10:58
Speaker
You know, acting background. She did improv. She's very funny because she turns on a dime and yells at Roger and then turns right back. You would love that voice, wouldn't you? That'd be fun. yeah Oh, you should. Oh, I'm like, I wanted i wanted to i could your heart. You'd be great at that voice. Two page script of all the characters. I'm going to do my best impression of all of them. Yeah. Cause I won't sound like any of them. I'm going to do a something. I'm going to say something. That's phenomenal. But you got the range and that's the thing. But I, one of my greatest thrills, you so rarely do we get to watch other voice actors perform unless it's an ensemble record for a show.
01:11:33
Speaker
Which itself is so rare. Yeah, and when the when the 10 freeway had that big like closure I Think like the first day it was like something had happened and like we have to close it now and redirect everybody now There was no prior warning or there was very little prior warning And it prevented Jim Cummings from getting to his session on time. Everyone completely understood he and like how awful it took that long to get there. He was like nine to 10, I was 10 to 11.
Learning from the Greats: Jim Cummings and Bill Farmer
01:12:01
Speaker
And I get there at 10 and he hadn't arrived yet. And it's like, let's get started with us. And then when he comes in, we can switch to him if he's got to get going.
01:12:09
Speaker
yeah We'll figure it out. And we got through half our work, and then they said, hey, Caitlin, we can finish you out if you have to get somewhere. Jim is OK to stay a bit longer. He kind of has to get somewhere. Are you OK to step to the side for a boss? And I said, absolutely, I'll wait. And I go to the the viewing room on the couch where all the the vocal director was, the engineer, and like, please, let him go in and do everything he's got to do. It's 20 minutes, and then he can get going on the rest of his yeah he's errands. I'm completely fine. This was it for today.
01:12:37
Speaker
And why wouldn't I say that? Because now I got to sit and watch Jim. Do it." And he he came in for Pete. He had maybe 10 lines. It became 30 because he always had a new way of reading the line. He ad-libbed, he added. he' a be he He plumped it up. He he had like, you know, those the id ego and the superego. He would go right into stuff. He'd add little buttons and tags. And it was like watching a symphony play out. No one ever gets to see that. And I'm watching it. I'm like, I'm learning by watching him.
01:13:11
Speaker
yeahp i'm going to I'm going to break out a bit more where appropriate. Minnie doesn't have that same like kind of freedom to a point that Pete does, but that's what makes Pete so fun. Well, and Jim can't help but do that. I was at a Comic Con. I've never met Jim Cummings, but I've watched him, and but there's the first time I met Bill.
01:13:32
Speaker
And so it was Comic-Con, I think it was like 2021. So it was it was not a lot of people there, but Jim was bored. So he's like, okay, so you he's just going ah all over the place. He's like, walks up right to Bill, and you know, and Bill like, oh, I debate. You know, and he's, they're doing their thing. And I'm like watching them right in front of me.
01:13:57
Speaker
Oh, and it was what was so cool about it. When I got to see them, this was true for him and Bill. It wasn't just, Oh, they're like in person. I could hear little things.
01:14:10
Speaker
that they actually do in their voice or how they carry their voice that I never heard. Like you can't hear that just by watching Disney Plus. Like you could see it, but I could see how like Jim puts his voice here in this specific spot and I could see how Bill, i change that's how I changed my hyuk. Cause before it was like hyuk, but Bill's violent when he does his hyuk it's like,
01:14:37
Speaker
And it's, he like, glitches it forward. It's, it's violent. It's, it's, it's there. But to see that, that's a great story to watch somebody.
01:14:50
Speaker
Do it in front of you, I think, is such a different experience. It has to be, you know? They're seeing the act of creation in front of you. Yes. They're only going to pick one line and boil it down to that, and that's going to be it. That's kind of the joy of stage acting, too. Every night's different. And, like, yeah, if you know for sure, like, you don't know where else to really go with this, OK, just do it as rote. Do it the one feasible way it's meant to go, and then play the rest of the time. Yeah. And there are some lines and some paragraphs like,
01:15:17
Speaker
I'll give you three takes, but it's going to be the same read. There's really no other way to read this line. But now we can try volume. Now we can try like empathy. But the melody is the same. I'm very melody oriented. I sing all the time. I goof around all the time. but But after watching Jim, it's just like, I like Pete so much because he's just so ridiculous. yeah yeah And when we'll just goof around with it. We'll be like.
01:15:39
Speaker
You know, oh, what's today's cartoon? Oh, we're going to create um a carnival for the kids school, like, and Pete's the construction crew member, like, oh, we're going to build this year. you build we We're going to build a playground here for a nominal fee. And like, Pete's pretty good. I like that. I love screwing around with it. And like, it doesn't sound like him, but the pacing and affectation, like that's how yeah there's some things there yeah so even if your impression is like you don't sound like it at all but you made me laugh like because you had that that acting part down even if the voice wasn't there because you're thinking like the character and i love to just play around and i'll i'll pick on bread every so often or like you know what's the line that goes into this and like oh bread hasn't come in yet but this is the line okay let me read myself and like
01:16:20
Speaker
oh i can't believe this is gonna happen or like something stupid or something done and like i it's better to think it because if i speak it then it's like well that's how paul rudder shorts are like that's a whole other animal that is yeah this is how brett thinks this is how his pacing is this is how he guides the lines let me think about it and then i respond and when i first started going those first six months Tress MacNeil was my anchor. ah All the work had been done for a lot of stuff Rushi could not get to while she was in her her battle and she had taken several months off to to heal and take care of herself and So we were backtracking and going through work that like we gotta get this stuff done I think only two projects didn't make it. Yeah
01:17:05
Speaker
to the deadline that continued a year later, cause they were holiday based. So they just aired the following year. But I think other than that, we were able to catch up. We did six months of work in three months. Well, by the way, your speaking voice reminds me a lot. I was going to say that earlier. I'm like, Ooh, I, cause you know, like voice actors, people could go, you know who you a little bit sound like? I'm like, when you're speaking, your natural speaking voice, I'm like, she sounds like tress.
01:17:33
Speaker
know i i've I've heard that a couple times. um Yeah. Dress is my hero. Yeah. I think one of the greatest female voice actors of all time. I think so. We certainly agree about June Faray, but Tress has done stuff. I've never heard any other voice actress do. But even your natural speaking voice sounds a lot like her. It does. Which I think is good. If I weren't Minnie, I would adore being Daisy. Not gonna lie. But it's so naturally funny. Tress just is herself for Daisy. Daisy doesn't have to think before she jumps.
01:18:05
Speaker
Oh, you can do daisy so easy. It's funny. Yeah. And they're such a good team. And Kukuloka was a beautiful addition. She fit that trio so well. But now that we've incorporated Claribel more as we should, now they're a quad quartet.
01:18:20
Speaker
and they all work off each other beautifully. The mini bow tunes is really a quartet for them. And everyone fits in our type. Everyone fits in need of skill, a voice, and I love it. And so the more we use them, the better. But whenever I was like feeling frustrated or scared or nervous or like doubting, um I was gifted a bracelet that Rusi had. She had all these wonderful bracelets and then someone close to her gifted me a bracelet. And for those first six months, I wore the bracelet to every session because I just needed something to remind me what am why am I doing this, what am I doing. And then over time I relaxed and now the with the bracelet's in my treasure box.
Ensemble vs. Solo Voice Acting
01:18:57
Speaker
But almost 95% of the time they played Ruth's work to guide me in. And it's just like, i i sometimes I close my eyes, sometimes I just kind of focused on the page and like
01:19:10
Speaker
She's right here. She's talking. And now I'm going to talk right back because she's right here. i don't I don't know if she'll ever know how much she helped me in those first few months just by being such a phenomenal actor where she created something right there without needing many there with her. She crafted it all in her mind. Any actor who doesn't do ensemble records.
01:19:30
Speaker
that's so hard because our ensemble is organic and relatable and fun and you get the best work out of ensemble records. Yeah. But some and like we had to learn otherwise. And that's a testament to the strength of voice actors where you you you made the story you made the world in your own head. Yeah. And and they were there even if they weren't in that movie they were there with you because you knew them.
01:19:50
Speaker
Our imagination. but Yeah. Yeah. Tress. Jim is the first voice I can recall hearing as a child outside of my parents because I watched Dumbo Circus. So I can recall Katie Lee and Jim Cummings. I couldn't tell you what they said. I couldn't tell you what happened. But I remember the sound before anything else. And my two heroes. Roussi is the most one of the most important voice actors.
01:20:12
Speaker
Jess and Rob are so crucial to how I started. yeah And I've always like, I don't need to impress anybody. I don't need anyone to be proud of
Closing and Social Media Engagement
01:20:19
Speaker
me. I'm gonna do my thing. yeah I'm a hypocrite. I wanted Rob and Jess's acknowledgement. I wanted them to be proud of me because they knew me for so long. They knew how long I worked, all the questions I asked, all the all the times I bugged them for for for for any random thought. yeah you know and But then they both have stated, we were never not proud of you. And then like, I have to leave, I'm gonna cry.
01:20:42
Speaker
because they saw the entirety of me that I didn't see. yeah You know, i'm I'm not their daughter, but they they saw me like, oh, she's one of ours. Like, you know, she's Ash's age. Like she's growing and learning just like my son, just like all the kids we perform for. Yeah. What's the woman she's going to become? And and Rob even still says like, like it'd be when he found out, he's like, this little girl right here. What? And like, does he, I'm still that little girl sometimes that's that youthful wide eyed.
01:21:10
Speaker
then But like my hero, you know, for for who who's my style, who do I just love to play with and be in that world? Trust McNeil and Maurice LaMarche. Yeah. they that Their worlds are so wide and they access a comedy that I love, yeah that I like to embody, my style of comedy. That's right. You know, I always try to perform, well, what's going to make me laugh? Yeah. And hopefully it makes enough people laugh where that's the one they want. I love that style.
01:21:38
Speaker
Thank you for joining us for another enchanting episode of Sharing the Magic. We are the Thinking Fans podcast, an entertainment show where education and entertainment collide each week. We bring you whimsical interviews with Disney guests who share their magical experiences and reveal how they are woven into the Disney fabric. Don't forget to hit that follow button to stay updated on our latest episodes.
01:22:01
Speaker
Spread the word and let your friends know they can tune in wherever they enjoy their favorite podcasts. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and ex, formerly Twitter, at at sharing the magic pod. Until next time, keep sharing the magic.
01:22:18
Speaker
oh