Joe Alaskey

[D'Snowth]

Certain voices are just harder to do then others, I guess.

There are even certain voices that I can't do, most it's voices that have a hint of gruffness to them... voices like Cookie Monster, Oscar, even Grover I can't do without my apparently uber-sensitive vocal chords straining and getting in pain after about two minutes or so. One thing I HAVE taught myself if I want a voice to have a hint of gruffness to it, without straining my vocal chords is take a deep breath, and slowly kind of exhale as I speak... the voice either sounds like somebody's in pain and can't bear it, or almost kind of like a street tough.

I also used to be pretty good at doing falsceto voices as well (ala Elmo), but as I've gotten older, and my natural voice has gotten deeper, even those voices are difficult to do; if you've ever seen my "Moron League, Later!" video on YouTube, it was hard to be to keep from losing Nawt's voice after a while.

 

[Super Scooter]

Yes, it does seem like Yosemite Sam is one of the hardest cartoon voices to do. Especially with all that wild yelling he does. And it seems like he gets passed around to different voice actors a lot. After Mel Blanc, there's Joe Alaskey, Jeff Bergman, Maurice LaMarche, Frank Gorshin, Bill Farmer, Jeff Bennett, Jim Cummings, and back to Jeff Bennett and Maurice LaMarche again. I guess it must be easier for the actors to take turns voicing the blustery cowboy.

When did Jim Cummings do Sam? That'd be interesting to hear.

Also, there's a video (somehwere) on YouTube of a recording Mel Blanc did discussing his various characters. When he does Sam's voice, he starts coughing as soon as he's done. He was REALLY having a hard time with that character.

Sam's actually "okay" to do when he speaks normally... but when he starts screaming, which is typically what he's doing, it hurts ALOT.

 

[Xerus]

I remember in a Looney Tunes episode where Sam had to control his temper or else he wouldn't get an inheritance. We got to hear Sam with a nice pleasant voice and then shifts into his regular angry voice.

Jim Cummings had voiced Sam in Tweety's High Flying Adventure.

Here's the voice cast for that movie

JOE ALASKEY: Sylvester, Tweety, Colonel Rimfire, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Marvin the Martian, Henry Hawk
JUNE FORAY: Granny
TRESS MacNEILLE: Prissy, Airplane Worker, Queen of England
JIM CUMMINGS: Tasmanian Devil, Rocky, Yosemite Sam, Cool Cat, Bandit, Casino Cat, Policeman
JEFF BENNETT: Foghorn Leghorn, Casino Cat
T'KEYAH CRYSTAL KEYMAH: Aoogah (uncredited)
STAN FREBERG: Pete Puma
KATH SOUCIE: Lola Bunny
ROB PAULSEN: Sphinx, Ship Crewman, Casino Cat, Singer
FRANK WELKER: Mugsy, Hugo the Abominable Snowman, Hector the Bulldog
PAT MUSICK: Additional voices
JULIE BERNSTEIN: Singer
STEVE BERNSTEIN: Singer
ELIZABETH LAMERS: Singer

 

[Ilikemuppets]

I never knew David Coulier was a fill in for Lorenzo Music on Garfield when they needed to dub over or replace a line in the scrip and Lorenzo wasn't available. But it makes sense. I just never knew or could tell.

Coulier has done extensive voice work for shows including Extreme Ghostbusters, The Real Ghostbusters and Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters (taking over the character of Peter Venkman after Lorenzo Music's departure from the role)

 

[Xerus]

I never knew David Coulier was a fill in for Lorenzo Music on Garfield when they needed to dub over or replace a line in the scrip and Lorenzo wasn't available. But it makes sense. I just never knew or could tell.

I didn't know that about Garfield either. I also wonder why Dave wasn't chosen to voice Garfield in those new specials. Though Frank Welker did a pretty good job voicing Garfield.

 

[Xerus]

Certain voices are just harder to do then others, I guess.

There are even certain voices that I can't do, most it's voices that have a hint of gruffness to them... voices like Cookie Monster, Oscar, even Grover I can't do without my apparently uber-sensitive vocal chords straining and getting in pain after about two minutes or so. One thing I HAVE taught myself if I want a voice to have a hint of gruffness to it, without straining my vocal chords is take a deep breath, and slowly kind of exhale as I speak... the voice either sounds like somebody's in pain and can't bear it, or almost kind of like a street tough.

I also used to be pretty good at doing falsceto voices as well (ala Elmo), but as I've gotten older, and my natural voice has gotten deeper, even those voices are difficult to do; if you've ever seen my "Moron League, Later!" video on YouTube, it was hard to be to keep from losing Nawt's voice after a while.

I know what you mean. When Mel Blanc was doing the Looney Tunes during the 80's, I noticed their voices had gotten a little deeper and softer. If you'll watch Daffy Duck's Quackbusters, you'll notice that Daffy's voice was a little softer and slower in the new animation, but when they showed the classic cartoons in that movie, Daffy suddenly went back to his regular voice.

Also, in the Ghostbusters DVD, Pat Fraley said he can't really do teenage voices anymore because of his age.

 

[Drtooth]

I didn't know that about Garfield either. I also wonder why Dave wasn't chosen to voice Garfield in those new specials. Though Frank Welker did a pretty good job voicing Garfield.

I don't think that's true at all. If you watch the Ghostbusters episodes with Dave, you'll notice his voice is closer to Bill Murray's. And if they intended to have the Bill Murray style Garfield, then Dave would have gotten the call. I'm thinking they went with Frank, since he has the most experiance working with Lorenzo on Garfield and Friends.

However, there is another person who could have filled in for Lorenzo on a couple lines. There's an actor I don't quite know the name of who voiced Garfield in a video game and a PSA about writing. Apparently he worked on Garfield and Friends, but not as a voice actor.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

I didn't know that about Garfield either. I also wonder why Dave wasn't chosen to voice Garfield in those new specials. Though Frank Welker did a pretty good job voicing Garfield.

Yeah, I have to agree!

 

[wiley207]

I guess the reason why Joe Alaskey is Daffy Duck's current voice actor is because of how he did such a good job voicing Plucky Duck. Incidentally on Tiny Toons, while Jeff Bergman and Noel Blanc were doing the classic LT characters on Tiny Toons, Joe Alaskey voiced Marvin the Martian on the "Duck Dodgers Jr." episode. I think I like Joe Alaskey's Marvin voice best, next to Mel Blanc. Though for some reason Marvin's sounded speeded-up on his appearance in the Taz-Mania episode "The Man from M.A.R.S."

Also, if Warner Bros. Animation ever did a revival of Bunny and Claude (a Bonnie and Clyde parody starring two gangster rabbits that stole carrots), I think Joe Alaskey would do a good Claude, whom was originally voiced by Mel Blanc. Pat Woodell could reprise the role of Bunny (or Tress MacNeille could fill in), and Jeff Bennett could voice the Sheriff (voiced by Mel Blanc using his Foghorn Leghorn and Yosemite Sam voices).

 

[Ilikemuppets]

I miss Taz-Mania.