By Acorn Jones
Bob Bergens’ dream was to voice The Looney Tunes, and in particular Porky Pig. Bob's idol was Mel Blanc, and he worked day and night trying to perfect eh-puh-peh-eh Porky's famous voice. When he was 18, a good friend of the family had Casey Kasem send Bob an autograph picture for his high school graduation. Bob sent Casey a thank you note, stating he wanted to do voices for cartoons and included his phone number. To his shock Casey phoned Bob and offered his assistance. Casey requested Bob make a home made demo of as many voices as he could. Bob sent Casey a tape of 85 voices which Casey, in turn, gave to Don Pitts, a voice-over agent and one of the nicest guys in the biz. Don signed Bob, and at 18 he was set up with his first agent. Not long after, Bob booked his first cartoon, Spiderman, and His Amazing Friends.
In 1990, Bob's dream came true when he joined a handful of actors who share the job of voicing The Looney Tunes. Over the years, Bob has voiced Porky, Tweety, Marvin the Martian, Henry Hawk, Sylvester Jr., and Speedy Gonzales in a variety of feature films, albums, toys, games, and television series', including the 2 time Emmy nominated series Duck Dodgers, in which Bob received an Annie Award nomination as best voice performer in a television series. In 1991 Bob was asked to play Sylvester Jr., for a radio program called Mrs. Bush's Story Time, hosted by First Lady Barbara Bush. Soon after, he was thrilled to be invited to a reception at the White House in appreciation for his participation in Mrs. Bush's literacy program.
Bob has been an active member of The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences since 1994, He's a 2 time volunteer Big Brother, and was honored as the 2007 Jewish Big Brother of the Year.
AJ: You had decided at a pretty young age that you wanted to be a voice actor, specifically wanting to be Mel Blanc’s replacement for Porky Pig. Was there any other career you had seriously considered? Is there any other career that you would find interesting at this point in your life?
BB: Not really. Psychology was an interest. But from the day my dad moved the family to LA when I was 14 I never even thought about pursuing any other field. I put all my energy and passion into voice-over.
AJ: You’re known as a voice actor primarily. Do you work on-camera as well?
BB: I have. I’ve did a lot of sitcoms in the 80s: The Facts of Life, Gimme A Break, Silver Spoons, etc. And I hosted a gameshow a few years ago called Jep!, which was a kid’s version of Jeopardy!. One of the reasons I tour with my show is I love performing live. So sure, more on camera/stage work is definitely something I’d like to continue to pursue.
AJ: In one of your voiceover classes you mentioned being a class clown growing up and always making funny voices when the teacher wasn’t looking. There’s a lot of joy in the attention that a class clown gets; was that the case for you, and if so, how would you describe the feeling you get when you’re working today?
BB: Well, it wasn’t always fun in school. Especially when I got in trouble. But I can remember one of my principals always asked when I was sent to him, “Who’d you do this time?,” referring to which teacher I imitated to get sent to his office. I’d tell him, do it for him, and if he laughed I didn’t get into as much trouble. Kinda like my first critic.
AJ: Is it still fun for you?
BB: Working today is a blast, but in a different way. I’m not just aiming for laughs. It’s a career. It’s how I make a living. Although, I can’t imagine a more enjoyable way to make a living. I get the same high in front of a microphone today as I did in my early voice-over workshops.
AJ: When building a character’s voice from scratch, once you start recording the series, can you still develop the voice or is it set?
BB: Not at all. In series work, you feed the writers, and they feed you. Look at The Simpsons. The characters from that first season are very different from what they are today. Same goes for on camera. Watch the first season of All in the Family. Those characters aren’t what we eventually came to know. As a series evolves so do characters.
AJ: Are there characters you’ve recorded that you wanted to keep working on?
BB: Oh sure. And sometimes, you do! When I did Bucky for “The Emperor’s New Groove,” I never expected Disney would do a sequel, as well as the series “The Emperor’s New School.” Bucky was a one day gig for a quick gag in “New Groove.” They ran the film for a test audience who loved the character, so I was brought back a few more times for added scene. So a one day gig became much more.
AJ: Which characters are you most proud of?
BB: Well, Porky of course. ;-)
AJ: It seems like you are always on the move, whether on your teaching circuit or traveling for your one man show Bob Bergen: So Here’s the Deal!; not to mention all of the voice work you do. Do you ever have down time or vacation, or do you travel with an ISDN connection attached to your hip? (For the readers: ISDN is a type of connection that many recording studios use to transfer audio data)
BB: I actually only started taking vacations about 6 years ago. I never wanted to miss out on a gig or audition. But since one can literally take their studio with them, traveling is much easier. That said, some vacations I just vacation. I’m going to Europe this fall, and no mic will be with me! But when I travel with my one man show I can absolutely keep on working.
AJ: What does a typical workday for you look like?
BB: LOL-depends on the day. On a day with no work its laundry, The Young and the Restless, pay bills, etc. On work days I get up early, usually before 5:00am. The coffee is already made. I grab a cup and head to my office studio for my morning auditions or any work I need to do from home. If I have a session on an animated feature it’s up to an 8 hour day starting at 9:00am, so I’m out of the house by at least 7:30am. Episodic animation for TV is a 4 hour session. Commercials are typically 1-2 hours. There really isn’t a typical work day when you do voice-over. Every day is different, which is part of the fun!
AJ: Did you have any mentors in the voiceover world growing up? And what was it like to study with Daws Butler?
BB: Daws was the best! His workshop students consisted of some of the top animation actors working today: Nancy Cartwright, Mona Marshall, Corey Burton, to name a few. His workshop was 10 dollars or a handshake, whatever you happened to have. All of the class scripts were written by him, and he stressed acting and timing over voice and sound. I miss him!
Other mentors? Wow, you name it! Everyone who worked in the biz: Mel, Don Messick, June Foray, Frank Welker, and dozens more!
AJ: Where do you see the voiceover industry heading?
BB: With technology it’s getting geographically easier to pursue voice-over than it was when I was starting. Ten years ago if you’da told me that people in Iowa would have access to the same commercial copy we get in LA, NYC, or Chi, I’da said you were crazy! Today, everyone everywhere can not only have access to the same commercial copy, they can have agents. I have an agent in every port, in addition to my LA agent. Animation today is done primarily in LA. But I can see someday instead of looking at an actor through the glass of a studio, the director and producer are looking at a big screen TV with the animation actor in a studio in another town or state. Not sure when this might happen, but it doesn’t seem far fetched. Which is one of the reasons I teach my weekend animation workshops around the country. When opportunity knocks you want to be ready!
AJ: How would you change the industry if you had the power to reshape it?
BB: Wow, where do I start! Technology is a good thing. As I said, online casting resources bring voice-over opportunities to people all over the country. That’s the good news. The bad news is, it has sky rocketed the competition. Plus, a good 20-40% of what use to be union/residual paying gigs are now non union. And in some cases actors are undercutting to get the gigs. It’s really putting a damper on the ability to make a good living at voice-over. Those of us who make our living in Los Angeles make the real money in residuals. It’s really not possible to make a good living just on session fees. Plus, we get a great pension and health benefits with union work. (cartoons are both SAG and AFTRA) I know most people who live in smaller markets don’t really think about pension when it comes to voice-over. But they will be 65 one day (God willing) and will really miss that nice pension from both SAG and AFTRA.
Competition has also made it more difficult to secure agents. Those taking the non union jobs outside of LA are also shopping LA agents, and finding it hard to get one interested. That’s because so much of the work has gone away from the LA market, LA agents aren’t as quick to sign and groom newer talent. They have to work much harder these days just to keep their current roster working. If everyone around the country refused to work non union, everything would be union. But this will never happen. Most actors do not look at the big picture. They look at today. But if I could change something, it would be that all work would be union, and all actors no matter where they lived could benefit from what union work brings.
AJ: You’ve also worked with the Big Brother program, extensively; what can you tell me about your experience with the program?
BB: It’s been great! I’ve been a big brother for about 20 years for 2 boys. My first little Mark is in his mid 20s and my current little Ryan just turned 13. You get to be a kid every other week. Movies, bowling, miniature golf, etc. Plus, as the kid grows and evolves so does the relationship with them. If anyone is thinking about being a big brother, the waiting lists of kids is enormous. I work with Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles, but there are BB organizations throughout the country. It’s every other week for 2-6 hours, so it’s not a huge a time commitment as one might think. And it makes a huge difference in a kid’s life! Yours as well!
AJ: What’s something about yourself that people don’t know? Do you follow sports or music, baking or jogging, do you secretly love Brittany Spears, etc…. What are your hobbies?
BB: Well, for 5 years I was a mall Santa! From ages 18-23. I did a ton of Hanukkah parties as well, which I always found odd.
I love to cook! Love to eat!!! LOVE TIVO!!!!!!!!!!!
AJ: How many characters would you estimate you've voiced?
BB: No idea. Never counted.
AJ: You have an upcoming show here in New York, Bob Bergen: So Here’s the Deal!! What can you tell us about it?
BB: It’s the story of a nice Jewish boy who wanted to be Porky Pig. It tells of my years as a child practicing the voice, how my grandmother bought me a tape recorder, how I pursued the business, the day job I had to support myself, getting Porky, and other anecdotal stories about the business of voice-over. It’s really a follow your dream sort of thing.
AJ: Can you retell the story of when you went and saw Mel Blanc in the studio? (It’s a favorite of mine)
BB: Well, ya gotta come to the show for that!!!! ;-)
AJ: Thank you so much for speaking with us Bob! Any final words?
BB: Eh-thuh-the-eh-thuh-the-eh-thuh-That’s all folks!
Bob Bergen: So, Here's The Deal! will play at Don’t Tell Mama’s (http://www.donttellmamanyc.com/eventdetails.php?day=22&month=4&year=2009&eid=664) on April 22nd and 23rd. To make reservations call 212.757.0788 after 4 PM. Tickets are expected to sell out quickly.
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