- 4 minutes ago
Legendary voice actor Jim Cummings, who has brought to life Winnie The Pooh, Tigger, Darkwing Duck and more, joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about voice acting.
Jim Cumming's podcast Toon'd In with Jim Cummings is available to be streamed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/toond-in-with-jim-cummings/id1689588131
Jim Cumming's podcast Toon'd In with Jim Cummings is available to be streamed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/toond-in-with-jim-cummings/id1689588131
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TechTranscript
00:00Hi, I'm Jim Cummings, voice actor, and I'm here today to answer all your questions from the
00:04internet. This is voice acting support. Let's see, Ambroseman, tips on doing an evil laugh.
00:16Well, the thing you have to remember about laughing, it's an odd thing. You have to get
00:20rid of all your air because you'd think you'd and then just throw your head back and laugh,
00:25but it's actually more beneficial to go. That is an evil laugh. That's evil laugh 101. I
00:33hope I didn't frighten any of you. Voice acting, lowercase. How are kissing sounds handled in
00:39voice acting? I am happy to say I don't do this very often. None of my characters are very kissable,
00:46but I've seen it done, and you know what they do? Folks go,
00:52and there you have it. That was easy. I'm sorry you had to see that. Potential key,
01:00how to get voice deeper and fuller, sort of when you just push a little lower, a little less air,
01:07and you push that forward. That's basically it in a nutshell. And if you want to go higher,
01:14then I would suggest imagine it coming out of your eyes, and it's up there, and all of a sudden
01:20it's
01:20a little squeakier. And if you have a falsetto, I've had this told to me before, and it almost
01:26makes sense. You got to kind of play around in the mirror and go, well, it's squeezing up there,
01:32and now it's a little higher. It's like a placement thing, I guess. It's not an exact science,
01:36I'm afraid. Sorry about that. Dr. Sass asks, what is my method for creating voices slash characters?
01:43I always think of it in terms of creating a character. It's just a sort of a mindset,
01:48like Winnie the Pooh. He's always a character, and he's a character who likes honey, and Tigger
01:54is a character that loves to bounce, and you let those certain things inform you. I have a friend,
01:59Jess Arnel, says voice acting is a small v, but a capital A, and that's what you have to remember.
02:05And the thing about voice acting is you have to get it all in the voice. You can sit there
02:10and go
02:10all day long, and no one can hear it. You have to have that mindset.
02:14Arkham Patience asks, who is my favorite Jim Cummings character?
02:19Well, it might be Winnie the Pooh, and it could definitely be Tigger, because you never know.
02:24And hold on there, pal. It could be Pete. He's the oldest Disney character out there.
02:29And don't forget Ray from Princess and the Frog, because the women love a man with a big bag pouch.
02:36And don't forget to remember Don Carnage from Tailspin. I was too fantastic in that role. I know you
02:43agree with me. And don't forget, get those turtles. That was Shredder. He's a bad guy.
02:50What makes them endearing to me is their characters, and it's always joyous to see other people's
02:57reaction. Like for Winnie the Pooh, so many people, you know, I'll do a convention. And
03:03knowing that it so obviously is so very, very meaningful to other people, that means something
03:10to me. You know, I've had people tell me that Pooh has gotten them through terrible times and
03:16many hardships and on and on. And it's an honor. It's a privilege. It's nice to know, because we do
03:22these cartoons pretty much flying solo. Oftentimes, we're all alone in a room, and we don't have an
03:28audience. There's no reaction. You don't know. You're kind of flying blind a bit. To get out there
03:33to the public and see everybody's genuine reactions and how meaningful it is to them is meaningful to
03:40me. Yay for you. How do voice acting auditions work? It's always good to see a picture. I always
03:47enjoy seeing a picture of the character, because that informs you. You know, if he's a big guy,
03:52he's going to sound big. From there, you ask questions. Is this guy sneaky? Is he smart? Is he
03:58dumb? Is he from England? I always do it this way. You know, follow their direction. Follow what they
04:03say they want. They want this. They want a guy who sounds like he's a tough New York City cop.
04:09And then
04:09you throw him a curveball, because sometimes that works too. It goes against what they thought,
04:15but they didn't think of it. And it hits them the right way, and boom. So give them one as
04:21they want,
04:22and then give them the next one as you want. It also shows a little bit of versatility,
04:28and that's not bad either. This comes from Lunatic Jellyman. How do I convey genuine emotion?
04:34Wow, that's a question. All right. Well, you can start by feeling genuine emotion. You know,
04:39it's called acting. You know, for instance, get into the scene, and it always helps to know the
04:44scene before you're going into it. You know what's going on. You know the context. One of the hardest
04:49things to do is to cry on cue. If you try not to cry and fail, that's a little more
04:57genuine than trying
04:58to just go, oh, woe is me. You know, because it's a bit put on, and it feels a bit
05:04put on. But if you're,
05:07if you're trying not to cry,
05:11and you can't do it, well, that's better. Couches wants me to comment on,
05:17today I learned Jim Cummings, the voice actor for Winnie the Pooh, calls sick kids in hospitals and talks
05:23to them in character. It's not like I do it every day, but I have done it, and it's very
05:28rewarding,
05:28and it's nice. One of the cutest things we did was we had a situation where kids who were on
05:35the
05:36spectrum and different levels of maladies, and God bless them, they were out there, and it was Pooh,
05:42Tigger, Darkwing, Mickey, Minnie, and Donald talking to the little kids on the phone, and we were able
05:49to see them. It was very rewarding. They were just so cute, you couldn't even stand it. Hello,
05:55Winnie the Pooh. Hello. Have you got any honey? You know, and oh, yes, of course, and I shall share
06:01one with you as soon as I see you. Oh, that's great. Pooh's gonna give me some honey. It's just
06:05so nice.
06:06Here's a good one. Fuzzy Accident wants to know, what does this guy sound like? He's got a pretty
06:12good snout on him there, so he might have some of that in there, and it doesn't look like he's
06:17the smartest guy in the world. So, well, I was just thinking to myself, self, oh, no, wait,
06:27that wasn't me thinking that. That was somebody else, and he's got these big teeth out there,
06:32so you might want to do something with those. You know, make them give them a little whistle,
06:36something like that, and I'm sorry, what were we talking about? Don't try that at home. Actually,
06:42go ahead. Selecto asks, how do you do gravelly slash raspy voices without damaging your vocal
06:48cords? Well, you want to keep hydrated, that's for sure. I put a couple cough drops into a
06:54little bottle of water or a glass of water, and I sip it. I think, like for instance, Taz,
06:59when we were doing Tasmania, he's probably the roughest character on me, that's for sure. I requested
07:07that we do them on Friday afternoons, so I had the weekend to recover, because it does get you a
07:12little crispy. You know, you want it to be authentic, you want it to be real, but you don't want
07:15to hurt
07:16yourself. Know your instrument, first of all. Know what you're capable of, and know your limitations.
07:21Know that it's okay to say, okay, that'll be enough for today. Can we finish the rest of the show
07:26tomorrow?
07:27Vaj8. How many takes per scene is too much, and when do actors begin getting sick of it? Once you're
07:34at a point where you're kind of just repeating yourself, I always go back to this. I did dancing
07:41jalapenos for an ad years and years ago. Tequila. We did that about 40 times, and I realized that we
07:52were never going to make it sound any different, and you can only hear that so many times.
07:59And I can tell you the truth, they used the fifth take, and not the 45th. I say instincts are
08:04the
08:04best things, so follow your instincts. Let that be your guide, believe me.
08:09Corncob wants to know, who is your favorite male character with a female voice actor? Well,
08:15I got to go right to Nancy Cartwright. I mean, surely, Bart Simpson is one of the most endearing
08:21little characters out there. It's certainly one of the most famous, and Nancy Cartwright. She's a girl,
08:27and she does a heck of a Bart, so I would have to go with Nancy. How about you? Adrienne
08:33Vecke,
08:33why does my voice go all actory when I perform? Anyone else struggle with this? I think that what's
08:40happening is you're maybe taking it too seriously. It happens. You know, we get all impressed with
08:46ourselves, and you know, you're looking at the right camera angle, and how am I addressing the
08:51mic in the proper way, and you get caught up in that, and next thing you know, it's less genuine.
08:56Nobody wants to be all actory at that point. Prestigious truth, okay. How did you, how did I
09:03get into voice acting? How did I get into voice acting? Well, I always knew I was going to do
09:08this
09:08since I was five. I saw Mel Blanc on the Jack Benny program, and my dad said, you see this
09:15guy,
09:15see this guy? Yeah. He goes, well, he's the one that does that Bugs Bunny, and the Taz, and the
09:19Daffy Duck, and all those characters that you get up and watch on Saturday morning, and I thought,
09:23well, he doesn't have to stand in the corner for being weird. I'll do that. Everybody seemed to like
09:27him, so I knew I was going to do this when I was five. Nico asks, how do you practice
09:35the movie
09:36trailer voice? When it comes to doing a movie trailer, you push out very slowly with the air.
09:42Drop it down in a world he'd never made. Trapped. And that kind of slows it down and drops it
09:49down
09:50all by itself. Use a lot of air. You're pushing a lot of air in there. Hello, he said sincerely.
09:58That's my official movie trailer voice. Coming to a theater near you. The purple guy wants to know,
10:05how do I voice a drunk character? Well, you can do an impression of somebody that you know that's
10:10often drunk. There was a guy named Crazy Guggenheim, Frank Fontaine on the old Jackie Gleason show,
10:15and he was, he was always drunk. Slur your words, and um, and have a few shots of tequila before
10:26you
10:26record, and then you will be a drunk character. No, don't do that. Well, this comes from Poo-Poo-Pourri.
10:33Don't ask. Why is it so much easier for me to get into character when I have an accent? Well,
10:39it's funny that you ask me this because people tell me all the time that I have this crazy accent,
10:45and I don't know what they're talking about. That was my buddy, Don Carnage. It's kind of fun to do
10:49a character with an accent because it gives you a little something to hang your hat on. It gives you
10:53something to hide behind. You know, right off the bat, you can, you can tell that this guy's from
10:58somewhere, but you don't know where. It's just a little acting trick that you can use. Doodles
11:05and scribbles. What is the craziest same voice actor realization you've had? Robin Williams was, uh,
11:12an amazing actor. I just love Mrs. Doubtfire. I mean, here he is playing a Scottish little old lady,
11:18and that was pretty amazing. Hearing that come out of him, you know, it knocked me out. We have a
11:25question here. In your opinion, meaning me, what is the best cartoon voice casting of all time?
11:31Boy, that's an interesting one. I think Bugs Bunny is pretty perfect. You know, that voice coming out
11:37of that, that face, that character, pretty, pretty spot on. For that matter, Taz,
11:43by no coincidence, they were both Mel Blanc. He's like the dean. He's the godfather. Batfan wants to
11:50know, which do I prefer, recording alone or with others? Well, I always prefer recording with others,
11:57because if you think about it, acting is part reacting, and if there's nobody there with you,
12:03you're not reacting to their line. Mentally, I read the line or two ahead of mine, and then I deliver
12:09mine so that I kind of keep it in the moment. But I think almost everybody that you ask will
12:16say that
12:16they prefer having somebody else there. Mr. Unter wants to know, I'm considering getting back into VO,
12:23so what has changed in the past 10 years? One thing that's popped up in recent years is AI,
12:30artificial intelligence. And nobody I know is very pleased about this. I mean, the name alone,
12:36artificial intelligence. What else do you need? It's artificial, and it's not very intelligent.
12:42You know, the idea that they can simulate a voice or a face or this or that, and then imbue
12:48it with
12:48the human emotion. I just hope it crashes and burns. But other than that, I don't have an opinion.
12:55Cwallis9 asks, why is there no Oscar category for voice acting? Now, I ask that same thing. I'm a big
13:02advocate of that. In fact, if we can get a few people to write a few letters, whoever is out
13:07there
13:07watching right now, it's almost like a no-brainer. Look at all the casting directors. They're getting
13:13their own category, and I'm a huge advocate for that. If anybody's out there in the academy and
13:19rattle your cage a little bit, join on, won't you? SonicSaber25 asks, do voice actors get paid
13:26if a piece of media reuses one of their lines? And the answer is yes. You can't basically lift work
13:33that you've already done for A, B, or C and use it over here to sell shoes. So yes, you
13:40do get paid.
13:43PositiveResident263 asks, what happens when a voice actor for a long-running cartoon
13:47dies or can't do it anymore? Well, that's a sad state of affairs, but usually they will recast it
13:55to sound much like the original. I do Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, but I'm not the original. That was
14:01Sterling Holloway and Paul Winchell. So the trick is you have to be true to the character, stay in
14:08character, and keep it to the original. I dare say I've been Winnie the Pooh much, much more than
14:15the great Sterling Holloway was all those years ago. Mildly UpsetGerbil wants to know, how important
14:22is voice acting in gaming? Well, I think it depends on the game. Some games are action-driven,
14:28some games are story-driven, and obviously the ones that are more story-driven and more dialogue-driven,
14:33it's pretty darn important. But if it's all running around and throwing grenades, probably a little
14:38less so. Well, that's all the questions we have for today, and I hope you had a good time. I
14:43know I did.
14:44Thanks for stopping by and saying hi.
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