Hey you guys, thank you so much for
again lowering your entertainment standards
and showing up on Talkin' Toons today.
You guys, this has never happened.
Well, one of my guests has
already said he's wetting his pants.
That has never happened.
So today we're already ahead of the game.
We have this incredible opportunity
to literally preach to the choir
and the fans of Justice League,
which is pretty much everybody with a pulse right?
So today we have got an incredible group of people.
We have six guests today, one of them is wetting his pants.
And we're gonna talk about Justice League,
and all sorts of other way bitchin' stuff
that you guys are gonna really enjoy on Talkin' Toons.
(superhero music)
As promised, look at this, look at this incredible,
this is like a year book picture from D.C.
(guests laugh)
I'm documenting this, it's too exciting.
Why can't you just be in the moment Michael?
Be here with us.
This is the first time Rob is actually talking to me.
Thank you Michael, it's a pleasure.
By the way Mr. Conroy's ego has it's own area code
so just so we know.
(guests laugh)
I just thought I'd throw that ...
Don't make him angry.
Someone has to go change his pants now.
That's right, thank you, thank you guys so much.
This is really really cool.
Let me just, as if you didn't know,
I just wanna make sure because I want to make sure
that the yearbook picture is correct.
We have Kevin Batman Conroy, right?
Hello.
We have Susan Wonder Woman Eisenberg, right?
We have George, I'm not gonna talk about the pants.
It's okay.
We have George Superman ...
Super.
By the way, it could be the Jewish version of Superman.
(laughs)
It could be Shlomo Superman.
I am one of the supermans.
Okay, great, George Superman Newbern.
We have Michael The Flash Rosenbaum, right?
We have Phil The Green Lantern,
number one in our program and our hearts, Lamarr.
And we have the beautiful Maria Hawkgirl Canals.
Why does she have to be beautiful?
Well, dude.
She can't help it.
Stevie Wonder could see that we have, you know, seriously
some really incredibly beautiful ...
The only person that's missing is Carl Lumbly.
Carl Lumbly that's right, Carl plays ...
He doesn't live in L.A.
He doesn't?
No.
Didn't he used to live in L.A.?
He's been commuting for a long time.
Well in any case, this is the fucking Justice League.
(guests singing)
Ladies and gentleman, The Fucking Justice League.
(guests laughing)
Firstly, thank you guys for, Kevin and Phil
have been kind enough to be on the show before
but it's really great to get all of you in.
Thank you Brian for figuring out how to stage this.
This is as a result of Susan's incredible desire
to literally give the fans what they want.
Because we all get to do conventions
and we've talked about this incredible experience before.
It is never, double negative, it is never not overwhelming.
I come home every weekend exhausted from saying thank you,
to people, and I've been sitting next to Mr. Conroy
at New York Comic Con, and your line goes out the door.
And every 45 minutes or so ...
God bless them, God bless them it's fantastic.
Oh yeah, but then every so often,
Kevin will stand up like on his chair.
Oh God.
(guests laugh)
Right, and he does, everybody quiets down.
And he does, "I am vengeance, I am the knight,
I am Batman. And grown men ...
(guests laugh)
Right? So knowing that ...
It gets the crowd really revved up, you know?
Of course it does, but Susan, you took it one step further
and not only were kind enough to call us
and Liz and Brian and say, "hey man, there's a fan
love out there for this franchise that is so deep
and so honest, that who knows," and so thank you for
doing this because we're straight up.
The whole idea is just try to find,
give the fans a little bit of a voice.
And I'm telling you man, I can speak from my own experience.
The people in the Ivory towers at Disney, Warner Brothers,
wherever, they listen, they pay attention to these fa ...
Why do you think when you go to Comic Con,
there are millions of dollars worth of props
that everybody goes click click click click click
and sends it out?
So that if they see that you guys wanna do this,
you just don't know where it goes.
That's the fun of going to Comic Cons for us.
For me, anyway.
(guests agree)
Is the interaction with the audience.
Cause when you're doing voice work as you know,
you're just sending it out there into the aether.
And you don't really get the audience experience.
It's nice to hear how great you are.
(guests laugh)
That's right.
Or how great they think you are.
Or something, I'm not as good as you think I am.
No, its true.
It's amazing, an amazing experience.
#JLreunion thing has been in my Twitter feed
for like ...
Is that right?
I've been on this TV show for about six or seven years
and they've got a huge Twitter presence.
On my Twitter feed, I have probably
two to one Justice League.
Over Scandal?
Over Scandal.
That's crazy.
It is, and the thing that happens a lot,
a lot of you guys do a lot of on camera stuff.
And I hear it over, Sean Astin was on the show
and he just got done doing Rafeal for five years
on turtles for Nickelodeon.
So the first thing, he sent me,
he was doing Stranger Things last season.
Oh yeah, right.
The first thing he did when he got off the plane
he sent me a text, he said the guy who picked me up, the
transport guy freaked out that he was picking up Rafael.
(guests laugh)
Not Rudy?
Not Rudy, not the guy from ...
The Lord of the Rings.
None of that, it was all about,
dude this guys a fucking turtle.
I'm telling you.
I know it's amazing isn't it?
It is so remarkable, and the thing we find out
is especially now, that guys like us who've got no place
where we've been around for a while,
we have a multi generational audience
and you run into people who say,
"Oh my God, I grew up watching Batman."
Well that's it, it's the childhood ...
That is it.
Yes, but now their children.
And now they've passed on.
We live in their imagination, we live in the audience,
when you're just the voice of the character,
you're living in the person's imagination.
It's a more intimate experience
than they get from an on-camera performance.
So I'm not surprised they would react that way
to Sean's, you know, animated character.
I think there's something really about a voice.
Like growing up listening to Mel Blanc do Bugs Bunny.
His voice changed, over the years.
Like you know, the latter-day Bugs was not the same as
(imitates Bugs Bunny)
You know, it got lower, but its still the same.
It's like your parent's voice.
Like your mom's choice changes over the years
but when she says your name you hear it in the
back your head, your like (imitates whining child).
Phillip!
Yes?
I've coined Phil a couple of Times interviews
because people ask me all the time,
"who are your inspirations, your favorite?"
You said once, this is one of the most brilliant answers.
I was at Phil's house doing my
podcast at it's earliest iteration.
And I asked you that question,
"who are some of your inspirations?"
And you know one of my favorite actors is Bugs Bunny.
And I know exactly what you're talking about.
It was, we know it was Mel, but it was about this
perfect amalgam of writing,
and visual and Bugs, you bought it.
Right.
Hook line and sinker.
Exactly.
They made it real.
Yeah, and so the same thing is happening with
you guys got the voice, characters
are iconic comic book characters.
The fan base for which is millions.
With this world building and the quality of the writing.
(guests agree)
Who are the writing staff mainly?
Well Bruce Timm was overseeing the whole thing
but you had Dwayne McDuffie, you had Stan Berkowitz,
Rich Fogel, you know like, huge.
Paul Dini.
Paul Dini was on there, yeah.
Make room for Emmy.
Imagination architects.
Yeah.
And they could all come back if we come back.
Heck yeah, sweet Dwayne, except Dwayne
would give us so much juice from wherever he is.
And Charlotte, talk about being a champion
for Mr. McDuffie, but all the people you talk about
are all loved by the fan base.
That is to say when you were kind enough to be on this show
a few months ago and people saw the little clips.
People were as excited about seeing
Alan Burnett and Paul Dini
because of their fan bases.
Yeah, people that, the name I often hear
that's brought up at Comic Cons is Andrea Romano.
(guests agree)
It's amazing to me that the audience even knows,
I don't know who the voice directors were
on The Flintstones or The Jetson's,
the shows when I was a kid.
But audiences now really pay attention to that stuff.
And she's not on social media so ...
No she's not.
They know.
There's so many fans out there.
Was it you Susan who was telling me that at a
convention you just did or was it you were just
with a convention and Andrea said, "oh I would totally..."
In Denver we were all together and she said to the
audience, "I'd come out of retirement to write this
if you guys did a project again,"
and there was just such a flutter in the audience.
People were just so excited about that.
Well cause there really isn't anybody who's got
the track record that she has.
I mean there are some other really really talented
voice directors, but nobody who has done so many
high quality projects.
There's nobody that makes you feel more comfortable,
more at ease, more confident as an actor.
She knows how to talk to actors.
She really does.
And you know what, sometimes you just wanna line reading,
and she knows exactly what you want.
Just give it to me.
Oh yeah.
And she has the chops to give you a good line reading.
Well she got her degree in theater, in acting.
Oh was it really?
Yeah, up at Fredonia College in New York.
That's why she knows how to talk to actors.
The most embarrassing thing for actors,
especially starting out when you're doing voice,
and you don't really know what you're doing
or any of the newcomers, is the
(grunts)
(shouts)
and you're screaming and it's kind of an art.
It's like we all learn that it comes easy right,
but in the beginning she would actually make
herself more vulnerable.
That's right.
She would do the, "Michael more like a (growls),
she would make a face,"
She would make herself look silly and you're like,
"oh we can do that?"
That's exactly right.
And she learned, we've all had the
great good fortune of knowing Gordon Hunt.
And Gordon was Andrea's mentor.
And he's really the guy who gave me a shot.
And I adore Gordon, well we all loved Gordon.
But to be able to have that pedigree
and watch what he did with Jonathan Winters
and Daws Butler, and Mel Blanc,
and Alan Oppenheimer, and over and over.
Just wonderful actors and the way he,
Bob Riggle would just essentially wrangle cats.
(guest laughs)
But get these really bitchin' performances
out of something like Smurfs, you know,
what of Danny Goldman, and all these,
I mean remarkable actors.
So Andrea was essentially his assistant,
watched this for years, and then, jumped in.
Got to work on Batman, Superman, Pinky and the Brain,
Animania, Tiny Toons, all the Disney ...
Avatar, over and over and over again, yes mam?
I love how she always tried to get us together.
Yes.
As much as possible.
Because she knows that that energy,
we feed each other with that energy.
And I think that was part of the magic.
I think I did a couple of Justice Leagues,
I was Lightray I think in one of the two,
I don't even remember.
But the point is that you make such a great point Maria,
the fact that you six are here doing this.
The excitement out of that side of the cameras is palpable.
I mean everybody is scrambling around going,
"oh my God, Justice League is here."
Cause this is the choir.
This is the choir to whom we're preaching right?
So when, and unfortunately, a lot of sessions now
end up with us individually.
But always when you can get this group of actors together,
with a Paul Dini, Bruce Timm,
Stan Berkowitz, fill in the blanks script,
with iconic characters, you can't go wrong.
I always regret like not being able,
because I was doing Smallville too, I was up there.
We had you for season one and then you got the gig.
Then I was like 10 months there bald and cold.
(guests laugh)
I missed it because there's a certain energy when I'd come
in alone I was like, "Shit, I miss interacting."
Somebody like Andrea, can also help you juice it up
to fit what she knows she's got.
Right.
That's her skillset.
But I honestly think that, I mean,
there is a lot more like, humor and interplay
between Green Lantern and Flash in that first season.
And then I think, it's like, because they didn't
get to see us doing it, in the records,
they wrote a little bit less of it in the later season.
(guests agree)
I didn't notice it was less humor.
Well no, just the stuff with Michael.
Wait a minute, less humor?
What are you talking about?
This is not what I want to hear.
It goes to show that we have a little bit of influence
as who we are as actors, in the writing.
Because the writers get inspired by these ...
Well that's really nice.
You and I worked together I think on Danny Phantom.
Now is this the first, sort of, for lack of a better term,
serious superhero voice thing that you've ever done?
Yeah, I was so excited, it was so exciting to do.
Are you a fan of comics or anything like that?
I was a little bit, but not ...
She's too pretty to read comics.
Not big time, but do you know that I found,
and I'm not one of those sentimental people that keep like
papers and materials, I keep clothes and shoes,
(guests laugh)
but I found like a few years ago,
my audition sides for Hawkgirl.
For Hawkgirl?
Yeah, and Andrea had brought me in because I
was doing some other little things on Danny Phantom
and, the one you were the star of, Status.
So she brought me in for Hawkgirl.
And I remember like, I treated it
just like an on-camera audition.
That's what I do, I dress for it.
Did you wear wings?
It's for me, I even have a scent.
It makes me feel the character.
The scent, what was Hawkgirl's scent?
A fragrance.
A fragrance.
I don't remember.
I used Recar, for ...
(guests laugh)
We wanted to talk to you about that.
Mine was Kibbles and Bits.
Kibbles and Bits, of course.
But your point is well taken,
and I was doing an interview the other day and of course,
you guys probably all get this a lot,
cause you get young actors now because of the
video games and all this stuff that requires voice talent.
Let me back track a little bit,
when I first came to L.A. the only two actors I knew well
who really wanted to be voice actors from the time
they were little were Corey Burton and Nancy Cartwright.
Everybody else came here ostensibly to do live action
theater, I was a singer who became an actor.
I was doing on-camera stuff,
segued into voice work, gratefully so.
But now, as a result of Arkham Asylum,
and video games, and all these other, you get
people who say, "dude I just wanna be a voice actor."
(guests agree)
So, then the next question that I get a lot is,
"I'm gonna be a voice actor and I want you
to hear this great impression of Flash."
I go, "Well, Mike Rosenbaum does Flash."
"Yeah but I do a great one."
Right, so you start to find out, you say,
"well it's like small V, large A."
The best voice actors are really solid actors.
And George, you're on a hit show,
which is finishing up but it's candle is done.
Yep.
And you've had so many on-camera movies and stuff.
But I would venture to say the one thing I hear
over and over again, is just like you said with Mel Blanc,
Bugs Bunny is one of my favorite actors.
Because Mel was a great fuckin' actor.
(guests agree)
It's not just about the funny voice,
and the reason that we love all these characters,
and that you can improvise in the context of Batman
for an hour and say things as Batman
that Kevin wouldn't necessarily make sense of, right,
because you've got that character
and you're trained as an actor.
That's the first thing I point out at Comic Cons
when people ask, "how do you get into the business?
You know talk about voicing."
I say, "well the most important thing is it's acting.
It's voice acting, it's about acting, so get involved
with productions, get involved with your local acting
company, study acting, because you're creating
a character but you only have your voice to do it.
But you've gotta create that full character."
And you're creating relationships, and I'll say
it's even more difficult when you don't have
the other actor.
I've heard that too.
You have to create everything, you have to attribute
the response that you're not seeing or getting
from another human being, and respond to it.
You need even more imagination, even more training.
That's what you're being paid for, is your imagination.
Yes, exactly.
Because coming up with the idea for the voice
is what you're being paid for.
Anyone can imitate you, or me.
People come up and imitate me all the time, really well.
And I say, "well now I'll have to kill you."
(guests laugh)
Do you hate when people try to do your voice?
You're really doing me well, like I hate you.
I am vengeance, I'll show you how much I'm vengeance.
... ourselves very much, our own voices.
Yes, it's having the idea to come up with that sound.
That's what you're paid for.
That's such a misconception to think that,
like I think people hear, like "Oh you're doing a voice."
I talk all the time.
I could do that, I could go and read copy.
It seems so easy, it's such a small world
in the acting world.
I gotta say Michael that's an interesting thought
because I hear it all the time.
And I was singer first and then became an actor.
And the truth is, if I had come out here,
it'll be 40 years next month.
(guest giggles)
You look like a young boy.
I tell people all the time,
you know I was the entertainment in The Last Supper.
I know.
Check the (inaudible).
Jesus wanted to party.
So, but you know what, the truth is
if I had come out and there was something like,
American Idol, I would have said, "oh, oh yeah
I'll take a crack at that."
I know that the paradigm has shifted
but, there is this, for lack of a better term,
an American Idol effect and that is to say
that you find people who are plucked out of obscurity
and often they're really freakin' amazing.
But you hear them talk, and they're maybe 18,
and they're going, "oh my God if I don't stay
through the next week, my career is done."
I have to say it's not a criticism, it's an observation.
That never occurred to me
when I got my 10th callback that I didn't get.
It never occurred to me like,
"holy fuck if I don't get Who's Cooking The Soup, I'm done,"
But when you're young, you do think that.
I mean you do think there's a fine item at
"oh well he got that there's no, that's over for me,
he already got the part that I want."
I used to think that and then I, the longer you
sort of survive you go, oh there's
enough for really kinda everybody, at a certain point.
Well you realize, I mean, even if,
us old folks, when it was just Hollywood,
even in that world, you couldn't actually be fired.
There was no king of Hollywood who could say,
"you will never work in the ..."
A lot of people have threatened you'll never work
in this town again, but the only way to get out is to quit.
Yeah.
No, I was the king of Hollywood.
(guests laugh)
I was king Vitamin for a while.
I was naive.
I gotta be honest with you, I honestly left college
thinking, I never listened to odds or statistics or,
I really didn't, and I look back and I go,
why were you so stupid?
But really inadvertently I was brilliant
cause I would have realized that and started believing
the hype of how hard it is ...
You had to believe in yourself and that's the hardest.
It's like climbing a ladder, just don't look down.
Yeah, you have to hear the tiny percentage
of screen actors that get work,
and this was my attitude: and I'll be in that percentage.
Of course, that's the beauty of what we do.
I look back now like you do and you're like,
how many auditions, how many outfits?
(guests laugh)
But how much fragrance?
(guests laugh)
How much Hawkgirl scent, no, but the thing, you know what?
Look at everybody, everybody here is smiling.
Like you're into this, right?
And we are all, we all pay our rent doing something
we would essentially do, don't tell anybody, for free.
Well the Video head companies already know.
I know.
Well I'm working at In and Out now but, good for you guys.
But the point is, that I, at 62 years old,
I am still moved by the same Jones to do this gig
that I was when I came here at 22.
And like Michael said ...
You don't look 62.
I don't.
You look at the world still as a 22 year old.
Though my altruistic, idealistic ...
I do too.
I do too.
I think there's something wrong with me sometimes.
Cause I pass my image in a window and I think,
who is that guy?
Because I think I'm still like 25.
But the fact that what we do and
what Susan was kind enough to wrangle us all together is
we're here celebrating something that has nothing to do
with the way we as humans and actors look.
It is about keeping that incredible
spirit and character alive that
we've all had a hand in creating.
And make it clear, we don't write them
and we don't draw them.
But we're the ones who get to be the point people.
And we're the ones who ...
We're the front man of the band.
Yeah.
And, that's how I feel when I experience all those
people telling me these wonderful things, and they say,
cause I was the mom on a show that they love,
Wizards of Waverly Place, and then they're like mind-blown
that the mom on a sitcom can be Hawkgirl.
Cause they think of certain characters or actors in boxes.
And to blow their minds is very thrilling as an antress.
And it's exciting, and then I think, my goodness,
I was able to be part of two projects
that are so beloved.
Of course I want more work,
of course I need more work, of course I'd love to do more.
But what a blessing to do two things that
that really stuck, and that changed their lives.
And like you said, parents are now showing their kids
that they grew up with, it's wonderful.
Susan, I wanna ask, because you're Wonder Woman.
And that, talk about being back on the map.
I mean when I was.
(guests singing)
That's a big deal.
It is.
I'd love to hear your take on some of these moments
where you, especially with young women,
because I, most of my stuff, virtually all of it,
is comedy stuff and it's a joyful experience,
but you embody a character that has meant an awful lot,
especially in recent context, to the power of women.
I mean the movie "Wonder Woman" was freakin' huge.
Incredible, and I would love to hear some of
the experiences you've had with meeting people at
conventions who come up to you and tell you what
Wonder Woman in your context has meant to them.
It's been deeply emotional, I mean it's,
people come up and they're crying.
She's been so extraordinary for marginalized people,
Wonder Woman, and so, people, not just women,
anyone who's been marginalized, or felt marginalized,
has in some way, related to that character.
And so I hear extraordinary intimate stories from people,
that they feel they can share with me.
Because I voice this character.
Isn't that, I mean, in my life time,
I can't think of too many people who are
literal strangers, but what they've done
has effected me so deeply that I think I'm gonna tell them
my deepest, most profound secrets.
What an incredible thing.
It's incredible and it's, I mean, it's a privilege.
And I say that a lot and, there are times when I'll
ask people, "can I give you a hug?"
Because I just am so moved by their story
and their journey and I'm like, "can I give you a hug,
because you're awesome."
They say 20 dollars.
Right, and they say, "yeah that'll cost ya."
But if you want a selfie I can do it for 40.
Right exactly, we'll work something out.
So yeah I mean its, and then of course with the movie,
but the movie is so late, you know.
I mean people have been waiting.
That movie shows exactly what you're talking about.
People were, I mean ready,
to take a big bite out of that whole franchise.
For sure, and when you think about all the Batman
movies and the Superman movies, and their projects,
the animated series, all of that.
There have been so many projects that people have loved
throughout, this is like it's Linda Carter,
it's Justice League, and now it's the movie.
Yeah, a huge gap.
And so the fact that she's still so beloved
with such a dearth of projects.
To be even a tiny, tiny, because obviously,
on camera, live action is not the same,
it's not seen as the same as animation,
but just to be mentioned in that story, in that narrative.
Nobody has your voice.
Nobody.
Nobody talks like Susan, sorry Linda.
I mean I had the pleasure of working with you years ago
I think at Hanna Barbera Odds and Ends.
It was Pirates of Dark Water.
Oh my God.
With Gordon Hunt.
With Gordon, Hanna Barbera.
And Jonathan Winters did that.
Working with Jonathan Winters, how mind-blowing was that?
He was one of my heroes as a kid.
The first time I worked with him I remember Gordon said,
"do you wanna sit next to Jonathan?"
I said, "pfft, yeah."
Gordon said, you know we build extra time into the
session because it's Jonathan.
And he's gonna, and frankly we're getting
a free show and he can't not do it.
He's just gonna riff.
So we're sitting there doing, I think the first time
I was working with him was Smurfs or something.
And I'm sitting here and Jonathan's sitting where I am
and Gordon says, "okay Jonathan we're ready
and whenever you wanna go, go."
So Jonathan elbows me, pretends like he's looking
down the barrel of a rifle, and he says,
"shoot the priest it'll stop
those Mexicans in their track."
(guests laugh)
They're rolling on this?
Oh yeah, and I said, "shoot the priest, it'll stop ..."
And I thought oh okay, we're at the Alamo, okay so I
thought, I'm gonna fuckin' riff with Jonathan Winters.
So he's "shoot the priest, it'll stop ..."
and I said, "oh okay Mr. Crockett, I'm gonna go reload."
He goes, "I'm not Davy Crockett, Crockett's upstairs
with Colonel Travis, I'm Jim Bowie,
quit drinking you son of a bitch shoot the fuckin' priest."
(guests laugh loudly)
Jonathan just went riffing down that road.
Now, that's a totally inappropriate story.
But, it gives you an idea of how
crazy this whole thing can be
and the fact that it's Jonathan Winters
or fill in the blank, any one of these people, George Hearn.
All these incredible actors who get there and they're like
Tim Curry, they get there and they think, this is the gig.
Yes it is.
We did a 13 episode arc with David Tennant whom I love.
He was on a 13, David Tennant, on Ninja Turtles.
And I don't even know anything about Dr. Who.
I love David Tennat from, oh God,
what's the movie, the TV show he does?
Broad Church?
Broad Church.
And he couldn't wait to get on Ninja Turtles.
He was thrilled about being part of the whole turtle thing.
That's hilarious.
But the question I was gonna have for you is,
thank you for bringing up Mr. Winters,
but, you've had a very successful,
and continue to have a successful on-camera crew.
Do you find that you enjoy doing voice,
I mean a superhero as much?
Man, I love it, I love it so much.
And I also have a little thing, I do a lot of audio books.
Oh, you do?
I do, so the book I'm working on
right now has 150 characters in it.
So, I get up, five hours a day,
I get up at like 6:30, and I just.
And you get to bring voice to the specific character?
Yeah I sit in the booth for five hours
like four days a week, as much as I can do,
I can't take more.
Good for you.
You know you have other friends that can do other voices.
(guests laugh)
It's crazy like doing it.
And to script out all the characters.
It's the more insane version of what we get to do.
It's almost the crazy-making version.
How do you keep track of so many?
It's hard, it's really hard.
But it's fun, it's fun and I don't recommend
a lot of people dive in there cause it's crazy-making.
Not everybody can do it, this is actually something
that occurred to me like four or five years into
my voiceover career, like doing it,
and I realize not everybody can read words off of a page,
and not sound like they're reading.
Isn't that amazing?
It's weird, I have a very unique
milk toast quality to mine.
A very sort of syfer-like ability, no.
You remember all the guest stars we had on Justice League?
Does anybody else remember there would be times where
there were people you saw be amazing on camera,
and they'd come in there and you're like ...
Yep.
Wow.
(guests laugh)
Trying to be really nice and was like,
"okay, okay let's do that again."
That was great.
How many times has it happened
to one of you folks where Andrea would say
okay, great thanks you guys, well then Kevin
could you just hang on, I just wanna chat with you.
Yeah Rob's a nice guy but he just couldn't read.
I don't know how bad Rob is.
(guests talking)
And so they have you tweak it and pick it up.
You're so right Phil, I kind of forgot about that
but the number of times that I'd be in a room
with you know, the usual suspects,
Billy and Maurice and Tress, and a movie star
would come in, and then Billy would start riffing
or Welker would start doing what they do
and you see the blood drain out of their face
and they go, I don't do that,
and they go, well we didn't hire you to do that.
But they are utterly dumbstruck
by what this group of actors do.
Oh Jesus, isn't that something?
Well even like, even in commercial copy,
at my agent's office the other day,
they brought down a couple of agents from another department
because this department kept sending
people over to the voiceover department,
thinking that their clients can do this.
And so they, like six people walked in who work
in the department, they're not, they're just staff.
And the head of my department gave them all copy
and they went in, and he said, "okay, everyone
thinks they have a great voice and they can
do this, so go ahead."
And then they had me read with them,
commercial copy animation,
and it was really ...
Astonishing.
It was, and they said, "okay, we get it."
We get it, and we won't send you any more people.
You know what else is special about Justice League for me?
I really wanted to get a nice voice job because my husband
and I were talking about starting a family.
And I prayed...
A nice voice job, I was like, what's going on,
I didn't know what you were saying.
Is that what the kids are calling it?
I went to auditions and I'm like, you know,
I would love to get a wonderful steady voice gig, job.
And I got Justice League.
And I had both my children.
And nobody cared, maternity clothes, right?
Right, I don't have to worry about being pregnant.
They don't have to hide it, no it's great.
That's a great point.
It was so fun, I mean, it was wonderful.
Talk a little bit about, because
the ostensible reason we're here is to
kinda give the fans what, you know, they want.
So, what we're talking, what your idea was,
because you've heard it and I presume you've all heard it,
we're trying to light a fire
under the idea of a Justice League reunion.
Right.
And your thought is primarily that it would,
it would maybe be more of a movie-type circumstance.
Yeah, it would be, I mean, we had a great run.
We had five years, which is, between Justice League
and Unlimited, it was five years.
Same cast?
Yeah, you don't wanna be picky about it,
I mean, we were lucky.
Unless it's this little picky.
So, you know, I never think about,
I tell people like, the show's not gonna come back.
Bruce is not gonna sit there and try to reconnect everybody.
But I would love, you know they do the straight to DVDs.
Well let me, so you have, you guys I'm sure all do.
Do you have people that actually come up and say,
"dude when can we find, when will
they ever do any more Justice League stuff?"
All the time.
And together, you know, why aren't you guys together?
Why do they have different, you know ...
Yeah why are they replacing ...
There's something about this mix.
And they have reasons for doing what they do,
they have different Wonder Woman
and different Batman and Superman.
And all the different characters.
And I should say, even though we have a couple celebrities
sitting right here, I'm not a celebrity,
so that plays a big part in all of this.
Uh, you're Wonder Woman, hello.
They feel that celebrities will sell the tickets,
however, I would argue with that,
that because we were part of people's childhoods
and because they feel so connected to this cast,
that's worth all ...
How about the production value?
Just the way it looked, the way it was directed and written?
Sequence of first time (inaudible)
Yeah, they showed it to us, I went, "what the hell?"
(guests agree)
This is amazing, this is not just a cartoon.
Yeah it was badass, it was something we were all proud of.
And I think that's why it was unique.
Well and the thing is that now we know
with the advent of social media and these,
if people don't like it, right now,
they tell you right now, whatever I'm moving on,
because there's so much product,
and to stand out, moreover to stand out and have it be,
have it be a legacy piece, is really difficult.
But the other thing that's cool is that now
we have all these great opportunities like
Hulu, Netflix, Apple will soon have their own channel,
where people are a little more empowered to do stuff that
hackneyed phrase, "art for the sake of the art".
They're not dictated to by necessarily, by advertisers.
Not everything has to get, you know, 20 million.
Right, but if you guys now know,
and when the fans know that like, wait a minute,
I just watched this episode of Paulsen's goofy little show.
These people wanna do this.
And moreover they're all together and they really dig it.
Because I think a lot of times people peel off and they go,
hey I got to meet Michael, or I got to meet George,
or I got to meet Susan, but when you see them all together
and they hear that you are who you are.
It just makes them go, "holy."
That's why when you go do a panel.
Those panels, and we read it and
it felt like a rock concert.
It was crazy, I couldn't believe it.
So what can the viewers do to help Susan?
Write your congressman.
(guests laugh)
Not the former attorney general of
the State of New York, not right now.
You went there.
All well, I couldn't help it, their teed up for me.
So they can use social media,
they can get the word out, the can tweet about it.
Any platform you have, use, and talk about how much
you want a Justice League reunion.
#JLreunion and then you can tag Warner Brothers.
People do pay attention to it, how can they not?
They all have their own heavy duty
social media apparatus in place.
But unlike other things, it's not original content so,
we are playing these iconic characters
and we need, it's not like we can ...
Go and do it ourselves.
Right, we need to be sanctioned if you will,
and I think for years there's been a belief
at Warner Brothers, that there isn't an audience for this.
And I've even been told that
when the DVDs, the blu-rays came out ...
One of my favorite characters by the way.
DVD?
Blu ray.
Oh, Blu ray.
(laughs) Yes.
But they didn't sell
like a gazillion of them, and that was also
because we were streaming at the time on Netflix.
So people didn't really need to
go buy it when you could get it.
The paradigm is so shifted,
and I have learned, as a result of the largess
of folks here, to kind of embrace it.
And that's why you guys are nice enough,
kind enough to be here.
They gave me this great opportunity with this
fancy shmancy studio to come and bring in people
that I would choose to hang out with,
who happen to be the most talented freakin' actors
in the world and play superheroes.
So that we can literally get together
and say to people, to whom it really matters,
start talking about this.
And I think that's important because,
you know we could say this, we could say how badly
we'd love to do it and how much we enjoy it
and all the people we worked with who we loved.
But it really is up to you guys out there.
I mean if you guys get on that bandwagon
and just sort of like, go nuts with it.
If you do that we have a chance.
That's really, it's in your hands, so.
And it's exciting that we're all into it.
Not every member of the team is into it, they wanna move on,
do something else, but we love it so much.
What a wonderful experience though for all of you.
That you can say we all have these wonderful careers.
I've had the good fortune of knowing Phil for a long time,
and when you are able to get to a place
you go I've had this great career but man,
I had a couple of cherries that were just unbelievable.
And I'm out to dinner and somebody says,
"aren't you, wait a minute, you were superman."
Oh yeah, holy shit, you know Batman is at table four.
And it is always a remarkable experience.
They know by your voice.
Yeah but to see that you guys all love each other
and wanna do the gig is a big, I think a really
important part of the whole equation.
We hadn't read a script together since the show went,
so when we did New York and when we did Denver,
it was the first time we were reading those roles together
and we all just slipped right back in ...
Having Andrea there ...
Yeah and Andrea was there.
By the way table four,
if you were at table four and you were ordering a ribeye,
how would you say it as batman?
(imitates Batman) Bring me the ribeye.
(guests laugh)
Rare, rare, bloody, I like it like I like my villains.
Yeah, bloody, nice.
See, and you know the thing is that you guys,
I gotta tell the audience what's so great,
and we know this is true, this excitement,
and this kind of joy of being here, it's not contrived.
This is how folks are at work.
Honestly how many times do you go home from work
just exhausted from having a great time,
a really wonderful emotional time with people
that you just sit across from and go,
I just got to work with Maria and George Newbern?
Well, to be honest Rob, we're actually
much less well behaved at work.
George and I will be like snickering.
Sure, I mean if I go home and my wife is like,
"look the dogs thrown up, the kids not doing his homework,
I don't give shit you've been doing duck voices all day."
(guests laugh)
"Straighten out."
Yeah, right, but it is a joyful thing
and when you have everything firing on all cylinders,
and you, I mean the writing and the directing,
and then you see the opening sequence, and people
who wanted ...
The music.
The music, do work at a really high level.
You know, the proofs in the pudding.
I did, when I first came to L.A.
Early on, I did a movie that no one saw,
that Bert Reynolds, and Kathleen Turner,
and Cristopher Reeve were in.
It was a remake of Switchy Tales,
it was a remake of His Girl Friday.
Terrible, by the way.
But I was star struck, I did all my stuff with
Christopher Reeve and some with Bert Reynolds
and that was, he was just off Superman
and you know, it was Chris Reeves, super stud guy.
And I remember talking to him and said, "is it weird
that people always come up to you, you're superman,
you're superman," and he was like, "you know what,
I went through a period where I was like, get away
get away," but he said, "I've just now come around
to going, this is the best thing that could've ever
happened to any actor," and I will always be able
to look back on that and I've always thought of that.
You know, the fact that I got the
second of 20th iteration of him.
It gives me chills, we've all kind of addressed it.
Susan you kinda got into it, and one of the
overarching things, and I love about this opportunity
to juice up interest about a reunion,
for this specific group of people is that,
you mentioned the phrase disenfranchised.
And we now know that we have what,
what we all know as the autism spectrum.
And the thing I think that as much as I appreciate
all of the love and the joy,
and the appreciation of the appreciation,
is that I find I inevitably meet someone every weekend,
more than one or twice, people who are somewhere
on the autism spectrum.
And whether or not they're eight or nine years old
or 30 years old, and people for whom
buying a freakin' slurpee is a difficult thing,
but their parents bring them.
And okay, you wanna go talk to Yakko, and you,
(imitates Yakko)
Hey how ya doin' buddy?
And all of a sudden you're the shiny object,
but when you're talking about superheroes,
that hits people in a different way
because if you find someone who is maybe
somewhere on the autism spectrum,
but their shiny object is Batman,
or the Flash, or Superman, or Hawkgirl, or Wonder ...
That is like, in their circumstance,
in their context, that's what gets them through.
And their parents, for that 10 minutes
look at their sweet boy or girl,
with tears coming down the parent's eyes
because that little boy is, "I'm superman."
And when I hear that voice, that locks me in.
That is, such a profound gift
that is utterly unquantifiable.
And so the audience knows that.
And if you can say we're gonna get this group of actors
together, and it goes so beyond money,
and action figures, and ratings.
It is a deep, beautiful,
recipricol response to something that is life-changing.
The intimate ways you touch in people's lives
when you're the voice of an animated superhero.
Especially the kids on the autistic spec.
And at Comic Cons, every Comic Con I go to,
there's always a number of people on the spectrum.
And it's such a profound experience to meet
and to talk and to, you see it in their eyes,
you're touching a place in their soul.
And their parents.
And their parents, it's such
an honor, it's such a privilege.
I've had parents say like, "okay, okay we have to go,"
and it's like no, no, no, it's ...
And some of the people that are really involved
with the Jlreunion, and have done the most
incredible fan art, I have met them.
And they are on the spectrum.
And they have put so much time and love
into these pieces of artwork, with all of us.
With our faces attached to, you know,
the bodies of the superheroes.
It is, isn't it astonishing?
Yes, it's astonishing.
And as parents, I mean my son's grown now.
But, if my child were in that circumstance,
and I got to have five minutes with Green Lantern
and my son lived for the Green freakin' Lantern,
I would make it happen, and to stand there.
I honestly, I never, I can't get enough of this.
You can't get enough of having five minutes with
the Green Lantern.
You really can't, you can't do better than that.
At the New York Comic Con, I brought my family with me,
and my third, she was 13, so she got to be with me.
And she was not on the spectrum,
got to see all these different kinds of people,
including kids that were, and she was so moved.
And she said, "mama, you make so many people so happy,"
and I said, "yes, isn't that awesome that I got
to be part of this, what a gift."
And she really appreciated and got inspired,
and unfortunately might wanna be an actress."
I'm trying to talk her out of it.
But it was just really sweet cause I never seen a child ...
Oh honey, this has all happened in my 40 year career
in L.A. this is all relatively new.
It's crazy.
It's crazy.
When I first started, and I remember, right when
I got slewed through, they had me audition for the Flash.
I was a horror movie guy, I read Fangoria magazine.
Famous monsters baby yeah.
Yeah that was me, and so I auditioned for this,
and they're like, "yeah you're
auditioning for the Flash," I'm like, "okay."
I didn't really know that much about it,
and then I got it, and even while doing it I'm like
I love this, this is fun, this is cool.
I didn't know how big it really was
until I started going to these conventions
and seeing, I had no idea.
You used yourself, you used your real human qualities.
Yeah I had no idea and then you get to these conventions
and people are going, "you're the Flash,"
I'm like, "how do you know that?"
(guests laugh)
Like Kevin said, earlier, when you hear that voice,
and I know we gotta go, just briefly, I had
the great good fortune of working with Mel Blanc twice.
He was 80 when I worked with him.
Sitting next to him at Hanna Barbera, on a Jetsons project.
He's got, you know, oxygen in his nose,
goes outside and has a cigarette.
(guests laugh)
I expect I'm gonna hear, boom, you know.
So I'm sitting next to him and I must have,
again Gordon, God bless him, said, "hey Rob
you wanna sit next to (inaudible)
He liked you.
Here's exactly what you're talking about.
That voice, I sat next to Mr. Blanc and I said,
"Mr. Blanc, I know you hear this all the time,
really, if it's not a big deal ..." before I got it out of
my mouth he knew where it was going, he'd done it
a million times, he looks at me and goes,
(imitates Bugs Bunny)
"eh, what's up doc?"
That was it.
That was pretty good.
I know right.
Well, but it was that, oh Jesus, God almighty.
I mean it was 30 years ago, but it was, that,
immediately I was eating rice krispies, sitting on my floor
in Livonia Michigan, watching
Daffy the wabbit feeder, fire, boom.
Now it's the same thing, we all now
have had this profound gift, to be not only
in each other's lives personally as friends.
How cool is it that your friends are fuckin' superheroes?
(guests laugh)
But moreover, you get to go, you have that experience
now, as a result of these great events,
and shows like this where you can go and meet people
in real time, and you see how this part of your career
is something that will never leave them, never leave them.
And then they share it with their children.
And oh my God, so the opportunity to even talk about
a Justice League reunion, is a big deal to
tens of millions of people.
It's not a handful of folks to go, "I love comic books."
Oh my God, it's all over the world.
For me, it was really exciting to be,
cause we do on-camera a lot, so it shows what we look like.
But when I went into Home Depot and I'm asking
about something and the guy goes,
"you're Hawkgirl aren't you?"
I'm like, "what?
I feel like you saw me naked."
(guests laugh)
How did you know?
He's like, "your voice."
I'm like "oh my gosh."
It freaked him out right?
Yes.
In the most wonderful way.
He loved it, it was so cool.
Did he make you say something?
Yes of course, and I gave it to him.
(guests applaud)
Well I'll tell you what, because, thank you Brian.
We've got this little tradition that
you all know about here on the show.
And we're going to read a scene from Lord of the Rings,
and I'm gonna pass this out and all of you are
gonna get to assay your roles in the context
of Lord of the Rings as your specific, okay.
Batman, you're Bromier?
Boromir.
Okay, Boromir, I don't even know.
Don't kill us if we don't know the character.
Eragon it doesn't matter.
Superman.
Okay, Flash, legolass?
(water bubbles)
Legolas.
Legolas, okay great, have you ever heard
John Dimaggio do his bong?
No.
Oh my God, it's, have you ever heard him do that?
It's fantastic, his big bong water, okay you're Gandalf.
Okay, and Maria you're Gimli, there you go.
Okay great, so we're gonna do this.
What, where's Susan?
Wait a minute, where, did I miss one?
Oh here, I got it right back here, there you go.
Batman has it.
I wanna play everything.
What else is new?
I'm sorry Susan, okay.
Why don't you sing it?
And I'm gonna be my buddy Sean, I'm gonna be Frodo.
Or no that's not Frodo, that's the other guy.
Sean's Sam.
Sean's Sam, okay.
So, I was gonna say, L. Ron, Hubbard?
No, Elrond, okay.
Who's Elrond?
I am.
So, we're gonna do this, thank you very much Brian,
first of all to find a scene
where you can get seven actors is ...
So here's our take or here's the Justice League take
on a little bit of, Lord of the Rings.
By the way, we have no idea what's going on.
Kevin, I was just gonna say, this is the cabin?
We got, I don't know, 10 million views
of what Kevin did a few months ago,
and the first thing he says is, "now it's a cold read."
(guests laugh)
Because actors are, we're so like,
it could be so much better.
It could be better.
Isn't that funny how we're so ...
All you gotta do is say, "hello it's Batman
and people fall over," but as an actor,
you wanna say now, "it could be so much better."
Because as great as you want them to think you are
you want the movie to be greater.
Okay, so here we go, Elrond you guys start this out,
and off we go, Elrond.
Strangers from distant lands,
friends of old, you have been summoned
here to answer the threat of Mordor.
Middle earth stands upon the brink
of destruction, none can escape it.
You will unite, or you will fall.
Each race is bound to this fate, this one doom.
Bring forth the ring Frodo.
(guests laugh quietly)
So it is true.
The ring of power.
The doom of man.
It is a gift, a gift to the foes of Mordor.
Why not use this ring?
Long has my father, the stewart of Gondor,
kept the forces of Mordor at bay.
By the blood of our people are our lands kept safe.
Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy.
Let us use it against him.
You cannot wield it, none of us can.
The one ring answers to Sauron alone.
It has no other master.
And what would a ranger know of this matter?
This is no mere ranger.
He's Aragorn, son of Arathorn.
(guests laugh)
You owe him your allegiance.
Aragorn?
This is Isildur's heir?
And heir to the throne of Gondor.
(paper rustles)
Gondor has no king.
Gondor needs no king.
Aragorn is right, and I know a thing or two about rings.
We cannot use it.
You have only one choice.
The ring must be destroyed.
Well, what are we waiting for?
The ring cannot be destroyed Gimli, son of Gloin,
by any craft that we here possess.
The ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom,
only there can it be unmade.
It must be taken deep into Mordor,
and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.
One of you must do this.
One does not simply walk into Mordor.
It's black gates are guarded by more than just orks.
There is evil there that does not sleep,
and the great eye is ever watchful.
It is a barren wasteland, riddled
with fire, and ash, and dust.
The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume,
not with 10,000 men could you do this.
It is folly.
Have you heard nothing Lord Elrond Hubbard has said?
(guests laugh)
The ring must be destroyed.
And I suppose you think you're the one to do it.
And if we fail, what then?
What happens when Sauron takes back what is his?
I will be dead before I see
the ring in the hands of an elf.
(characters shouting)
Do you not understand?
Wait I said never trust an elf.
Do you not understand?
While you bicker among yourselves, Sauron's power grows.
None will escape it, you'll all be destroyed.
Your homes burnt and your families put to the sword.
I will take it.
I will take it, I will take the ring to Mordor.
Though I do not know the way.
I will help you bear this burden Frodo Baggins,
as long as it is yours to bear.
If by my life or death I can protect you, I will.
You have my sword.
And you have my bow.
And my ax.
You dire the fates of us all little one.
If this is indeed the will of the council,
then Gondor will see it done.
So be it.
You shall be the fellowship of the ring.
(guests applaud)
Beautiful.
That was bad ass.
That was fun.
Wasn't that cool?
That was weird.
Oh man.
Good for you Brian, what a great
piece that you got together.
Good job brother.
Good job.
Honest to God, that was,
thank you, thank you so much all of you.
For your passion, and your friendship, and your kindness
to all those folks out there.
It's really cool that you guys did this.
I wanna take a moment, if each of you have a,
you wanna let folks know your specific social media
stuff or if you have it.
Okay, well why don't we, do you have Twitter?
RealKevinConroy on Twitter and Facebook.
You're actually on there now?
I'm on there.
Okay.
SusanEisenberg1 on Twitter, SusanEisenberg21 on Instagram.
Twitter is @GeorgeNewbern
(guests laugh)
You're not sure?
I'm not sure, at George Newbern.
Okay Maria.
I am @Maria_CB in everything.
Okay, Philly?
@PhilLamarr on Twitter, two L's in the middle, two R's
in the end, and that's really where I am most of the time.
I also have @goblinsanimated on Instagram
for my goblins animated project.
Cool, yeah check that out that's bitchin'.
TheMichaelRosenbaum B-A-U-M on Instagram.
MichaelRosenbum, cause it wouldn't fit, on Twitter.
(guests laugh)
And I got a new podcast called Inside of You with
Michael Rosenbaum, free on iTunes.
I'm getting this whole cast on: Kristen Bell,
Justin Hartley, the Arrow's coming on.
It's called Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum.
It's free, check it out.
All to get inside of them.
Oh, I, okay.
Honey talk about whatever you want.
No, no, we're still on air I just want a picture
of all of us so I can post it.
(guests laugh)
Susan thank you so much for doing this.
(guests applaud)
Thanks to the Nerdist honestly.
I called and you guys came and I so appreciate it.
Oh honey, everybody is so excited.
No wonder, Wonder Woman.
You are, none of this happens without you, so thank you.
And folks, you've seen it again,
this is really up to you, right?
As I said, all of this excitement
is not contrived, it's genuine.
We all deeply appreciate you guys letting us into
your homes and your hearts for a long time.
As we've found out today it's no different,
laughter is the best medicine.
The cool thing is you can't OD and the refills are free,
so on behalf of the Justice League,
thanks very much we'll see you on the next one you guys.
(guests applaud)
(superhero music)
