Animaniacs: Interview with Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche

Why do you guys think the show has endured for as long as it has

That's a brain question. Yeah, I could point to a whole chart, if I could, of various, you know, statistics and whatever

Nomenclature. Actually, to tell you the truth, I'm not a genius, I just play one on TV

But as an actor, I can say that I think, you know, the enduring factor of at least Pinky and the brain is that the relationship between these two characters

It's so much fun and audiences get very emotionally invested in how much these two really take care of each other in their own way

You know, at the center of this very antagonistic, irritated relationship is love

And I think people will always tune in to see two characters who truly love each other

Played by two actors who truly love each other. That's the truth. And honestly, Michael, what's already happened when Maurice started riffing a little bit as the brain, you immediately started to smile

immediately. And it's really pretty much something that you can't help, which..

Because you have a condition. No, I'm kidding. That's right. That's right. You can't help

yourself. Yes, always, my friend. When it's done at this level with Mr. Spielberg and Tom Brueger

got it right, 25 years ago. And the fourth... And the wild continues the tradition and is getting it right again. So when it's done right at this level

it is pretty much timeless. So I think that's that we got it right

Do you guys find yourselves slipping into character voices out in the world

like in your lives? Is their family sick of hearing you break into pinky and the brain

Absolutely. We do that, and yet we also slip into other voices that are only for us

We big Monty Python fans and big fans of Derek and Clive Peter Cook and Dudley Moore as their characters Derek and Clive which were their underground tapes in the 1970s

where they just were completely filthy. And when I discovered he actually knew what those were

I was like, oh, this is my guy. Yeah, this is my spirit animal. No, Peter Sellers is my sort of voice actor, well, my character actor, hero

and Maurice is second only to Peter Sellers in terms of my voice characterization hero

Give him $100. He came in second. There you go. We slide into it all the time

And I think that our respective spouses and people who love or purport to love us

tolerate us. Let's put it that way. The people who endure us

They tolerate us. Like I said, you know, as soon as I start doing this, look at your face

It's just the greatest thing in the world. You can't stop smiling. So I think most people get a kick out of it

Yeah, certainly, yeah, my generation who grew up on the original series. It's a thrill

Yeah, so was there anything that you guys ever tried to push the writers to put in the show that never quite made it in

You kind of mentioned something like that, Moe. Well, but it made it in

And I remember on the OG show that I said, you know, brain should join a 12-step program

Oh, yes. You know, and next thing I knew about two months later, Peter Hastings said, you know, took your suggestion

And so we had the episode Meglamaniacs Anonymous. That's right. You know, and so I'm trying to think, what have we, have we had suggestions

We, you know, with this new batch, it's been more of suggestions, not so much suggestions as questions, at least from me

which is what does this mean And because there will be a meme or some suggestion that is definitely funny and it was included in the script and when maurice and i riff on a line in the new version

uh or new iteration rather we we get a laugh but i often don't know what it is that's funny

because there are things that have come up since this show was created that are funny to the

sort of 25 to 40 year olds yeah you know And so that's something, and more questions about going, what is that

Why am I, why does screaming Leroy Jenkins make everybody laugh out loud

I didn't know who Leroy was. I thought maybe he was just a nice guy who ran a deli in Woodland Hills

But he's a major player in a video game and it made everybody laugh

So I'm very keen to learn. Some of those references are lost on me too

I'll just say this, though. You know, with, you know, in terms of suggesting things to the writers, I really trust

these writers and and the original series writers I really I've never had

I've been a guy who you know leaves it in the writer's hands I'm an actor

I'm an interpreter it's like Frank Sinatra could really couldn't write a tune

you know out of his way out of a wet paper bag in terms of songwriting

but boy did he interpret them well and I'm not saying I'm the Frank Sinatra I'm at least the victim own of

cartoon voice actor I'm sorry, we say that all the time, Mike

We don't draw them, we don't write them. We're really good at our job, and it's not hyperbole to suggest that we've created the souls of these characters

But when you have the skill of Wellesley Wilde and his crew and Gabe Swar, they're just..

We've created the souls. They've created the in-step on up. Yeah. And that's the way we see it

You guys have a joke that or a bit in the show that you most proud of over either the original show or the new I think that I a big fan and Maurice has pointed out that there are places online where you can go and read all of the responses to Pinky are you pondering when I pondering

Yeah. Or ape whips, as we like to call it. Ape wits, yeah

Not that we're into that sort of thing. But, you know, the ponderings, Rob has rift a couple of them that are really, really quite clever

There's so many of them, and those have always been, and they're real crowd pleasers

When we get a chance to be live in front of people, folks love to, they contribute their own responses, their non-sequitur responses, and that's become quite a little, quite a big, enjoyable part of the whole experience

I love any episode where Pinky can't get Brains fictional name that he's made up for the plot to take over the world, right

Bob Bob. B'Bob, Bob. Brain all the ways he gets that wrong. There's an episode where I think it's called a legendary tale

where Prane makes up a mythical character called Johnny Brain Peach Pit Bill Boone Crockett

Your little Johnny Brain, Peach Pit, Booboon, and the way that Rob throws off

the names he's getting wrong with such confidence in a plumb. Always, that tickles me

That's the stuff I like. Hey God, Bubba B, Bapalula. Stop saying that Pinky, right

You have to hurt you. Okay, is there anything you loved most about the new season that you want to spoil or like

for the audience? No, we have to forfeit our entire salaries if we spoil anything

That's right. But I can tell you this. There are, the music is still a big part

A music, animaniacs has ostensibly been the musical part, but there are a couple of really lovely

musical pieces coming up for Pinky in the Brain as well. I love talking to you guys

Thank you, Mike