- James Marsden is really handsome.
- Very handsome.
- Between you and James Marsden.
- Who's more attractive?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, James Marsden I think, right?
You can see me right?
Ladies and gentlemen I'm not introing this
but I'm about to intro the intro.
Ladies and gentlemen I give you Patrick
with what many people are saying
is quite possibly the best intro
to any Polygon video ever made.
On your marks, get set, it's
Patrick time, baby. Hit it.
- Hi, welcome to polygon.com the website.
(fumbles terribly)
See?
- Wow!
Don't cut.
- [Tara] I think we got it
- Don't cut.
- Hello we have Ben Schwartz
here who is Sonic the Hedgehog.
And he's a very busy man and
we have a lot of questions.
So we're gonna try to get through this
as quickly as possible.
Ben, question one: how you doing?
- I'm doing very well.
I'm timed in all these correct?
- Yes.
- I'm doing well, thank
you very much Patrick.
How are you?
- Doing very very well.
(boing sound)
- OK and there's a boing
after every correct answer?
- No, there's not.
- We don't know what it means yet?
- We don't know what it means yet.
- Okay, I can't wait to figure out.
- How did you become
involved in this project?
- In 10 seconds?
Oh man I did a test many years ago,
just to do the five-minute test
try to sell to the studios.
And after I did it, they
liked my voice so much
that they kept me around
for the real thing.
- Great.
(boing sound)
- Let's get this closer.
- What's the most challenging part
about voicing Sonic the Hedgehog?
- Challenging, I think one of the things
I was most excited about
and also I really want
to make the fans proud
because Sonic has a very
passionate fan base.
There've been a lot of actors
who played Sonic in the past
in video games and in cartoons.
So I really want to make them proud.
So that was a thing and
I feel very fortunate.
(boing sound)
- You've gone over.
- Yeah, of course.
- How did you get into character?
- I get it to character by,
sometimes I drink little
green tea and get caffeinated
but I always figured that
Sonic was like this little kid
that had all this energy
that he always wanted to get
out there in the real world
and he finally had the
opportunity to do it.
(boing sound)
- How do you get out of character?
- Great question.
When I'm done, no joke,
'cause we do so much
yelling and voice over stuff
I'll have like an emergen-C or something
because I find that
I'll get sick sometimes
'cause my throat gets so rough
from going up here for six hours in a row.
(boing sound)
- In your own words, what is a hedgehog?
- You want me to make up
new words or my words?
- In your own words, what is a hedgehog?
- Okay, schmoopadotz, roukes, pardouche,
foosh-noosts, rapautz.
- Have you ever seen a
hedgehog in real life?
- Yes, I've held on to many a hedgehog now
because of this movie.
- Really?
- Yeah and you hold onto them like this
because their tops are spiky.
- Just- what do you think of this?
- I think this is a real hedgehog.
It's beautiful.
In 10 seconds, I think it's gorgeous.
Thanks for having me.
- Okay.
(boing sound)
What is your favorite
noise from the Sonic games?
- Great question.
Getting rings to me is very exciting.
Also the Seeeegaaaa when you start
it is very very exciting.
But also- noise, I mean that the
music for some of the boards
are unbelievable.
But there's also---
(boing sound)
Of course, sorry.
- Do you remember any other
noises from the Sonic games?
- Yeah of course, thank you.
So it goes like that
(dun-dun-dun-dun dun-dun-dun-dun
(dun-dun-dun-dun dun-dun-dun-dun)
and you have to get the
air ball before it gets up.
It used to make me so anxious.
It's crazy.
(boing sound)
- Do you remember the noise it makes
when you pass a checkpoint?
- Oh, the balloon?
- Yeah.
- The balloon thing?
- Yeah.
- Does it go (dun-dun)
- Sonic the Hedgehog
is both a buddy film
and a road trip film.
Have you ever been on a
road trip with your buddies?
- Patrick I have, thank
you very much for asking.
And this story is going to
take at least five minutes.
So it started in 1942
and in my head I was like
why am I alive?
No, I'd done a bunch of road trips.
(boing sound)
That's gives me another 10 seconds.
I'd done a bunch of road
trips and one of one was
I took it from New York
to watch off the Montreal
for the Montreal Comedy Festival.
And when we did it, we got
stopped by Border Patrol.
It was a fun story that
would make a great time.
(boing sound)
- Did you have a visa?
Was it that sort of
situation where there like
do you have---
- This is great that you're asking this.
In the car was me, Gil Ozeri, Adam Pally,
I believe Bobby Moynihan, Charlie Sanders
It was the first time they
introduced Sketch ever.
And Gil did not have his passport,
so he brought his birth certificate
or Social Security card.
And then we found out that in the back
we had a sketch that had fake drugs in it
and so we had to go- when we
got to the Border Patrol thing,
Gil goes, "Oh I'm sorry
I don't have my passport,
I just have my birth certificate."
And he goes "and we have
fake drugs in the back."
And he goes "everybody out!"
And then everybody had
to get out of the car.
And we got interviewed one by one.
(boing)
- One time I got stopped---
- No no no.
(boing)
I don't give a fuck.
Have you been on a road trip before?
- I've moved a lot, yeah.
Name three cities or
state that you lived in.
- Texas.
(boing)
(sound of Pat dying inside)
- How does it feel to portray a character
who is so fervently adored
by a massive fan base?
- I feel very lucky and I
feel like our version of Sonic
in the film has turned out to be
a beautiful little blue blur if you will.
So I'm very proud of it.
But it is exciting to jump in a franchise
that has so many people that adore it
and you just cross your fingers
that we're doing it justice and
hoping the legacy continues.
- Okay, next question.
Have you ever drawn Sonic fan art?
- Have I ever drawn Sonic fan art?
- Yeah.
- I haven't.
I have seen some.
- Would you like to?
- Sure!
- [Tara] Go!
- Oh my God!
That's so unfair.
Dude was that drawn already?
- No.
- Oh, you're talented.
Sanic versus Sonic.
This should be the sequel.
If we ever get a sequel,
this should be the sequel.
- Bring me on to the art team.
- Sanic versus Sonic.
This is incredible.
May ask you to draw other things?
OK so let's try Mega man OK?
It's another blue character.
Ready and whenever you ready.
- [Tara] Go.
- Thank you very much for your
time and your and your help.
Five, OK, alright never mind.
Sorry.
So you can just draw Sonic?
- If you had Sonic's powers,
how do you change the
world for the better?
I would race around, I
would find a way to help.
I would try to help
poverty and homelessness.
And I tried to get up but I
found out I was tied to my seat.
- If you had Sonic's powers,
what crimes would you do?
- OK I'd probably---
Where do you live?
- Brooklyn.
- I would steal from your place.
I would 100% steal from your place
but replace it with like,
like if you had pants that were like
let's say you look like you're a 21 waist.
So let's say you have like a 21 waist,
I'll replace it with like a 19
waist or something like that.
Or if you wear shoes,
I'd put like a a little bit of cheese in
but enough to make you feel like
"Oh my God did my feet make that?"
It's not real, you know what I mean?
- Right.
- I'll try to screw you
enough that when you woke up
you'd be uncomfortable with
setting out towards the day.
- You'll just use Sonic's
powers to gaslight me.
- Just you.
Do you know any other
cool terms like 'gaslight'
that I can use in conversation?
- Yes.
- Can you give me one, just naturally.
Pretend like were just talking.
"What's up Patrick, how are you?"
- "Good, I'm really
getting railroaded here."
(boing)
How do you take care of your voice?
- I voice a lot of characters
that have very high voices
like Randy Cunningham ninth-grade ninja
was a very high voice,
Dewey Duck very high voice
and Sonic has a very high voice.
I found this thing on Amazon
and it's like a liquid type
thing that coats your throat
so when you do a high voice
your vocal cords get closer
and they're hitting each other.
And it gives it a little bit of a lining,
and then I drink a lot of
hot tea when I'm doing it
but it was a problem
because I don't know
how to use my diaphragm,
I wasn't trained, so I
have ruined my throat.
I used to be a way better singer
now I can't sing as much anymore.
(boing)
Sorry.
- What's Sonic running from?
- In the movie,
there is actually something
he's running from- you.
- Specifically me.
- Yes.
- Not the viewer, me?
- You.
- In some Sonic literature,
Dr. Ivo Robotnik begins as
a father figure to Sonic.
- You're talking about Eggman?
- Dr. Eggman.
Do you view Jim Carrey as a father figure?
- I actually grew up with his movies.
I adore him, he was an idol of mine.
Dumb and Dumber, I think
is still top five movies
of all time for me.
So meeting him for the first time
I found that in this business
you'll have watched somebody
so long that when you see them
you're like, you just
know their faces so well
and it takes a second
for them to be that thing
and then become a person.
And so when I saw him like
"Oh my goodness this is
all my favorite movies."
And then we got to talk like
human beings and it was great.
- In one of the most charming
interviews I've ever seen,
you explained Sonic the
Hedgehog to Larry King.
(Ben laughs)
- Oh yeah, sure.
- Larry King: Hedgehogs are interesting
though aren't they?
- I can't wait to see where this goes.
- [Patrick] What other things
did you like to explain to Larry King?
- I just did Larry King
again because I love him.
He gave me a pair of his suspenders once.
And nothing brought me more joy
than what he has to say
this pop culture references
which he is reading off of a thing.
I never told the story before.
It's gonna be more 10
seconds, is that all right?
(boing)
- Can you tell me more about this?
- Sure, of course.
He's getting older and
I really care about him
because I've been
watching him my whole life
and so I saw that he was getting older
we're talking about health stuff
it was before the cameras were rolling
and we're talking about health stuff
and we're getting into it.
And we were talk about how he feels
and he was lovely about it
but you know you can
tell that he's medically
is you know figuring stuff out.
And I go man, I hope you feel better
and he said something and then he goes
"Three, two, one!"
"You played a banana,
a duck, and a hedgehog!"
"Why you playing all these things?!"
I'm like, what is going on?
- What do you think long time fans
are gonna think this movie?
- I really hope they enjoy it.
We put a lot of Easter eggs in it
to reward people who play it.
And we have like even a
Smash Brothers reference
with like an animation of Sonic.
We have when Sonic,
I don't know if you remember when
he's like on the edge of something
he's kind of like going this.
We've hid that in the movie,
On his bandana, you
have the original logo,
we have all these things
that if you're a Sonic fan,
you're gonna be rewarded.
(boing)
- What do you think Larry
King will think of the movie?
- I hope he sees it.
I think if he sees it, he would like it
'cause I get to be very funny in it
and Jim Carrey is unbelievably funny,
I think he'd really enjoy it.
- All right, you come
out of the movie theater,
Larry King comes out of the
movie theater, he's just seen it.
What are his first words to you?
- "Hey man."
- After that.
- "Do you know where the bathroom is?"
"It was an hour and half long
movie, I'm 100 years old."
(Ben laughs)
- Do you know what they used
as an on-set stand-in for Sonic?
- Yes they did, I do know.
We had three different
versions of the doll,
one that- you would, I
guess, you'd call a doll.
One that you would hold,
but then for James also
they had like a tennis ball.
The whole thing that James
and Jeff Fowler, the director, who's
been amazing, was that eye lines-
They didn't want it to look like
James was just looking at a person,
they wanted to know exactly
where Sonic's eyes would be
and stuff like that.
Which I thought was so great.
So there was like three
different versions of Sonic.
(boing)
- Just let me know what
you think about this.
- This is one of the stand-ins.
This is one of the Sonic stand-ins.
- [Patrick] Do you know
where that is right now?
- Oh my God, are you about to bring it out?
Holy shit, are you for real?
Are you for real?
- Can you---
- [Tara] You've been
talking to it all along.
- Yeah.
- Oh my God.
Tara, this is the Sonic stand in?
- What was your first video game?
- Of all time? Well first of all,
I played like Dig Dug and
stuff on my Tandy and stuff
but if you wanna say consoles,
also Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing,
do you remember that?
You're younger than me, I think.
How old are you, 12?
- 31.
- You're 31?
- I'm 32.
- Wow, good job.
Was it just your birthday right now?
- No, yeah, just right then, yeah.
But when I got the original Nintendo,
it came with Duck Hunt.
I had the one where there was Duck Hunt
and it had Mario's one.
You got the zapper.
So, that was a big one for me.
But then we quickly went on
to Mike Tyson's Punch Out,
we quickly went on to Zelda, next.
(boing)
- When like, if somebody comes up to you
and they're like are you a---
you just---
- I'm trying to make you look good, yeah.
- Are you a gamer?
- Can I have it?
Yeah.
- Uh, yeah.
- Can I have it back?
- Sure.
- Can I have it?
(boing)
- What was your game of the decade?
- This decade?
- Yeah.
- I might say Inside.
I liked Tomb Raider when I played Tomb Raide-
(boing)
- The hedgehog's dilemma suggests
that in seeking closeness and warmth
we risk hurting others.
- Oh this is great.
- And ourselves.
How do you experience love without pain?
- I think it's possible
but I think also the idea of any low,
the inverse of something
will only help you experience
the other thing more.
But surely, you know that you're cold
without ever being warm.
If you went outside in the
winter in New York City
you'd be freezing right?
(boing)
Right, sorry.
- What's the case for and
against pineapple on pizza?
- I would say against,
it's a lot of sweetness
when you put in your mouth.
If it's on tomato sauce and cheese,
I feel like it's a lot of sweetness
and it's kind of tart. And for?
I don't know, you wanna be crazy?
- Shadow the Hedgehog...
- Shadow the Hedgehog, yeah.
- ...is the dark reflection---
- It's a villainous hedgehog.
- He's everything Sonic isn't.
Who is your Shadow?
- Can I be honest?
And I can't believe I'm
gonna say this on camera
because I'm embarrassed
I think it's you.
I think you're my villain.
- I'm you, but worse?
- Yeah.
Not worse, just with
villainous intentions.
I don't think Shadow's worse.
Shadow's just the inverse,
the villainous side of it.
- And eventually, I think they team up.
So, I mean maybe that's---
- Well, no spoilers. You know what I mean?
- As a performer and an artist,
how do you make sure that
you're using every bit of time
you have left on this
earth to its very fullest?
- As a performer and artist,
I think one of the things
that I really enjoy
is to make people laugh
and to try to create
things that I'm proud of.
(boing)
- When Sonic farts, was that you farting?
- Yeah, that's me.
We put a series of microphones around like
almost like uhh, bullet time.
Remember in The Matrix
when he goes like this
and the bullets go through?
So we have a series of cameras
and when I fart, I try to fart and do this
so you kind of feel the sound
and the emotion of me being flatulent.
- Wonderful.
- What color do you think
Sonic's arms should be?
- Right now, we have blue in the movie.
And one might say in the
video games they're white.
One might say that.
The real question, Patrick,
and I'm gonna ask you this:
What color are Sonic's hands?
- That's a great question.
I think they're blue under
those gloves, at least in film.
- I know what color they are.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- Can you tell us?
- Yes I can.
Which camera do you want me to tell you?
This is enormous.
You gotta check out next
interview at polygon.com
when we do the sequel.
If we do the sequel.
Please let's do a sequel.
If we do a sequel, should
we do this one more time?
- Yeah.
- This is what has to happen
for us to have this interview.
Sonic has to have a huge opening weekend,
all the fans have to see this movie,
these are all the things
for you and I to meet each other again.
- [Patrick] Thank you Ben Schwartz.
- I can't wait, Patrick.
Tara, thank you for having me.
Thank you all of the camera human beings.
I appreciate it.
What a special time we've had.
And let's sign off the
way you always sign off.
Pop it into your camera.
I love your goodbye phrase.
- And that...
...is everything...
(sound of Pat crumbling inside)
...that we...
...could do today.
- His Christopher Walken sign off.
Thanks so much for having me, guys!
Okay, I'm gonna put it on your finger.
Have you ever done this before?
- No.
- It never works.
Okay ready?
I'm gonna transfer it.
Let's get it fast.
Here we go.
Great, and do we have that in slo-mo?
- Do we have it?
- OK great.
Well let's pop that in slo-mo
because I want everybody
see how scared Patrick was
when it touched his finger.
When a basketball touched his finger.
