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Futurama Stars Billy West & Lauren Tom Reunite at Corpus Christi Comic Con | Full Q&A Panel
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Jul 23, 2025
Watch the Futurama Q&A panel from Corpus Christi Comic Con, where voice acting legends Billy West (Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Zapp Brannigan) and Lauren Tom (Amy Wong) share behind-the-scenes stories, discuss their favorite episodes, and talk about their careers in animation, King of the Hill, Red & Stimpy, and more. Hear touching personal reflections, hilarious anecdotes, and their advice for aspiring voice actors. 🦾 Topics include: – Returning to Futurama on Hulu – Memories of recording “Jurassic Bark” & “The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings” – Singing “Shut Up and Love Me” live – Voice acting challenges & career journeys – East West Players & community impact 📍 Filmed live at Corpus Christi Comic Con, July 2025. 💬 Drop your favorite Futurama line in the comments! #Futurama #BillyWest #LaurenTom #ComicCon #VoiceActing #FuturamaOnHulu #AmyWong #Fry #ZappBrannigan #JurassicBark #RedAndStimpy #KingOfTheHill
View Video Transcript
0:00
Billy West and Lawrence Hall. Actually, excited. Acted. Excited.
0:09
Yeah.
0:15
Thank you guys. Awesome. All right.
0:22
But that's kind of relevant right now. Kind of relevant. Well, welcome to Corpus, you guys. Is
0:29
that Oh, nice. Yeah, he's pretty cool. You guys got an extra little jacket toss it away. Um, so is this you first time
0:37
at Corpus Christie? Yes. Yes, it is. Nice. So, you guys enjoying the weekend so far? So far so good. Can't wait to go to the
0:44
aquarium tonight. Oh, mission. Good idea. All right, so as you guys may There you
0:51
go. As you guys may know, this is a Q&A panel. So, if you have any questions
0:58
that you would like to hear from either one of these wonderful people, please I I would get on my hands and knees, but I
1:04
don't want you. Please don't be shy. Come up, ask a question. We've got a volunteer in a blue shirt that's there and ready to help you out. You line up
1:10
right to that middle microphone right there. I'm staring you guys down. Come on. Look, they're here for you. They're
1:16
here for you. Um, so I'll start off on a I'm shy. Yeah, you could just tell.
1:23
I wanted to ask a question. a blur and Tom.
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There you go. She's ready. When When when Fry had his head stitched
1:34
on to you, did he ask if he was a Cup?
1:39
[Music] Yes. Yes, he did. He had a Cup.
1:46
Thank you. So, on the note of Future, I can't
1:52
imagine why else you guys would be here. Um, as you know, this show has gone through a few different network changes,
1:58
perhaps three to be exact. Um, so my question is, did the production quality
2:04
did was your experience shifting alongside those network changes or was
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it kind of the step back same thing every time? We were always happy to see each other.
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um you know when it went away the show became zombified it would die and then be back but it
2:22
never died. I mean I thank everybody here for keeping it going. You know they just can't kill us.
2:28
Um and and it always was revived a few times now three times maybe. And um we
2:35
were always so happy to see each other again. We're back in the same seats, you know, same setup. And we've known each
2:42
other for an awful long time. Almost 30 years. Yeah. So, it was like a big family reunion.
2:47
I know. But, uh I didn't know. I um I think that
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um it's on Hulu. It's streaming on Hulu now. There's there's another season on
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the way. Yes, there's another Yes. Tell you that announcement like early next year, but you think they'll
3:05
probably come out? Yeah, we're still doing the post on it, but they're really good and the writing is
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and thanks thanks to you guys. It's um in the top 10 of streaming. Yeah.
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programs. Thank you. Thank you. That was just me re-watching to be ready
3:21
for this moment. I'm sorry. It was just me. Um just so to follow up on that
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question, I know this is a a bit of an obvious one, but do you guys have any significant memories in the early
3:33
seasons? Do you guys have any significant memories of coming on to the show not knowing what to expect and then
3:38
finding out that you ended up with a lovely little cast that you're with? Well, um I
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you know I have a little story I can tell you because um when I first met Matt Graining at my audition, he had
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some drawings there and um originally Amy was supposed to be the girier one.
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No, no, the other way around. Amy was supposed to be kind of like the tough kickass one and they drew me with like a
4:06
mechanic's jumpsuit and I looked super tough, like a badass. And then Leela was
4:13
supposed to be the girier one. And when I started talking to Matt, I have a
4:18
little bit of a crazy laugh and Matt just said, "Oh my god, I don't I don't
4:23
really know what we're going to do, but I've got to have you on this show in some way because of your crazy laugh."
4:29
So then they ended up kind of switching it and having Amy be more of the girier
4:35
one because I think it fit my natural energy better. And then Leela was the tough kickass and then that's Katie's
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very you're perfect. Yeah, you're perfect. You're Everybody's where they're supposed to be. Yeah. And then Billy can do anything.
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Not anything. Yeah, he's got many people in there. I know. You meet a better class of
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people that way. Well, I think you're so good. I think
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we're ready to open up to the Q&A. We have a freaky man. Oh, wait. That's not my She said one
5:08
little spiel, please. I'm just going to if you guys will just indulge me for two minutes. I have a little spiel. Um, so every year I do a
5:15
fundraiser and it's coming up in a couple um months and it's it's the charity that means the most to me. It's
5:22
so close to my heart. And basically, it's called Homeboy Industries, and it's based in Los Angeles. And it's the
5:28
largest gang intervention um intervention organization in the whole world. And what they do is they take uh
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folks who have been in formally incarcerated. They put them through an 18-month program and they get their
5:41
tattoos removed and um they get people off of alcohol and drugs and they get
5:47
their GED and and they you know get anger management and parenting classes and at the end of that 18 months they
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get a job and um they go back into society with a 70% success rate and only
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30% recidivism rate. So the model really works and so if you
6:08
don't mind my lovely helper Arlene is going to pass around a little bucket and
6:14
sort of kind of like church you know if you could just put in like if you have an extra dollar that would be so great.
6:21
And then what I'm going to do is if you follow me at all on Instagram, I'm going to post from the from the loving folks
6:28
at Corpus Christie ComicCon and you'll see it posted there on my five. It's a
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5K and so it's coming up September 29th. So, thank you so much for even considering
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if you want to be a part of something that fundamentally changes and turns around somebody's entire life, this is a
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great time to do so. And I'm really really glad that you had the chance to talk about that because that is an incredible incredible way to deeply
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impact somebody. I'm so glad. Yeah, he'll see that bucket's running around right now. Yay. Thank you guys.
6:58
All right, we're ready for the first question. What are you guys uh top three
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characters uh you guys done? Like the ones that you had the most fun um um you know portraying for
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you. He's got 57 of them. He's going to take you. Can you pick three? That's
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like trying to pick your favorite. I can't. That's That's always been a a tough one for me because I love all the
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stuff that I've been fortunate enough to do to be picked to interpret somebody's
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work. Um, so I can't pick a favorite cuz they're all my favorite really. You
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know, when somebody asks you to create something, you're you're a big part of that process. So you're really proud of
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anything that they liked. and got to, you know, be uh produced. And so, like
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when I auditioned for the characters, Lauren was talking about when she met Matt, um when I walked into the audition
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for Futurramama, it was over at Fox way over in West Hollywood. And um I
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walked in that room and there was 200 people in that room like this. And I said, "Oh, Jesus, I'm getting out of
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here." You know, I see Brian Styles. I said, "He's going to mop the floor with
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the audition. I'm getting out of here." I didn't leave. I'm glad I didn't leave because I got to sit down and they
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showed me pictures of the characters. You know, you become really a big part
8:25
of the process because it's down to you. The producers, the directors, the writers, the creators, everybody got
8:32
together and created something and it's down to you to deliver it. So, you got to think long and hard before you open
8:39
your mouth or you perform something because you you want to hit all the right notes. Hopefully, I just got real
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lucky that day, you know, when I went in there. Lucky, honestly.
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The most talented person in show business, the hardest working and the biggest heart.
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Just saying. Oh, I'm so top three. So, what are your top three
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though? I I it's tough to tell you just off the top of your head. Don't think of it about it too much.
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Well, Fry was what I sounded like when I was 25 years old. I was all I was all whiny and nasely and complainy
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and I um I was in a band and a I broke a string now. What am I going to do, you know? I was all That's what I
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sounded like. And um but it's good because uh Fry is all over the place and
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his heart's in the right place though luckily. Um and so he's a perfect match for Leela who's strong and decisive. I
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mean I like in real life I really admire strong tough women, you know. I really
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do cuz I was raised by a woman. I didn't have a dad. So um you know that was a
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natural thing. But she's a perfect match for him because he's he's kind of needy, you know, and she's like, "Oh, come on."
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You know, I was a project for a girl. I really was. It's like, "Why do you got to wear that stupid hat? Why do you
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have, you know, wear your hair like that?" And, you know, I was always like, "I needed to be fixed." And I think Fry
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might be kind of like that. But I guess that's the closest one to what I would
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pick. But top three, that's really tough. Yeah, understandable.
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I would say for me it'd be um I well I love Amy, but I also love men in King of
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the Hill because she's kind of like my grandma before he
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so big. Oh, look at me like a little kitty in a boat. Anyway, um and then I
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also love Oh, I got to back this up. This is like number three about kids
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next door. That was a crazy one. Sorry. I heard
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you're the mic was good. Thanks for saying we're safe. Thank you very much.
10:59
Thanks. Thanks. I love West. I want to say like since 30 and we're
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like part of the older crowd that actually loves Future Rama. We're together. When we were together, we uh we actually watch carto when he's
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visiting. My question is if you can sing part of the song, uh, shut up and love me.
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If you hear me, if you can sing part of the song, shut up and love me.
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You know what? It's bouncing everywhere off the walls. I think it's the mask. It Yeah, it
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always happens. Trust me. There you go. Freaking face.
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Now you can hear me. Can you hear me? All right. a little closer. We're workshop on this. Here we are. There you go. I know. He's ready. He's ready. Like
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I said, my son's dirty up 60 and uh we part of the old crowds his show and
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we're together. We'll watch it and all time. My question is if you can sing part of the song uh show and love me.
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Oh, I know the chorus. Shut up and love me. Shut up and
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shut up and love me. Yeah.
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I'm so proud of that. I wrote that. I wrote those words. I'm really proud.
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Hello. Hello. Big fan of King of the Hill. I quote probably men. It's like to my husband
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like long wildlife jungle. Like I say that all the time. I love your work as the red Eminem. It's beautiful.
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Have you ever eaten me? I have.
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Well, my question for y'all as someone who loves to do silly voices myself, uh,
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what got you into voice acting? Like, what made you decide to start voice acting? It
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I was a little freak when I was a kid. I, uh, no, honestly, there was no word
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for autism in the ' 50s. There was no word for neurodeivergent in the 50s.
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That's exactly what I was. I was chronic low-level depression from birth. So, I
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didn't know what planet I was on. I I I had to watch people. Oh, that's how you
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laugh. Oh, that's how you cry. I was like a little alien. And my dad was uh
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inhumane, drunk, psychotic, and abusive. And I was the whipping boy. And he thought I was stupid. And I used to go
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crazy because I'd say to myself, "Why is everything so effing hard? Why why can't
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I understand simple?" you know, and I and I grew up feeling like that. So,
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where I retreated was where I felt the most at home, which was in front of a
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radio or in front of the TV set cuz that's where my friends lived, you know,
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inside that box in the living room. They all lived in there. And I wanted to be one of them. And I just said, I wish I
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wish that I could just, you know, uh, vaporize and go right into the TV set.
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But um you know it's it was the only way out for somebody like me. I hated
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school. I used to get physically ill thinking about going to school um
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because I didn't understand anything. I just felt like a dummy. And um but but I
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know a few things about neurodeivergence that that people have gifts.
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You know, the awkwardness aside, um I was very awkward. Um but
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uh I think that um you know of course I wound up in the right business but no one will tell you
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that. There was nobody back then to say you know what don't worry about it you're going to be fine. No every day
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was a nightmare. So um I I got into a band as soon as I graduated high school.
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I wanted to play music. So I was singing and playing music. And then I did stand up for a very very brief time. standup
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comedy. I I didn't have an act. I just used to pull stuff out of my ass stage
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and some nights it would be brilliant brilliant and then other nights it would go to hell on a twisted metal fireball
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and so um that didn't last long. Then I got into radio. So I was in Boston and I
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was in radio and I was writing comedy. You know I didn't know anything about writing comedy. you know, it was just
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like throw you right in there and and you were hands-on and um and then I
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moved to New York and u I worked with Howard Stern for about six years or so.
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What's Billy talking about, Robin? Yeah. He never knew what I was talking about.
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So, um, and then I, uh, then I moved to California to because all the work that
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I wanted to do was really out in Los Angeles. But, um, I don't know. There's my my
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wonderful boring story. Thank you. I love it. And I just I just um King and Hill was my first audition
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and I didn't know anything about voice acting and I just went like any other audition and I got it and I feel like I
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learned on the job from Pamela Allah who who does Bobby because she had been in it already for so long and I was just
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very grateful that my brother and I used to sit in the backseat of our car and listen really carefully to my
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grandparents speak in their accent because it got in my bones and so I knew
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how to do that. So, I was able to use it later. Well, thank you guys so much. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you for your question.
16:39
[Applause] Throughout the whole show that you did,
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what was your favorite line? What's
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your favorite line? Somebody said to Fry, "Hey, Fry, I heard beer makes you stupid." And he went, "No, it doesn't."
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And I thought I thought it was a typo. I was reading it and I looked at David Cohen, the director, and I said, "David,
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no, he doesn't." And he goes, "Please read it as written."
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I said, "Okay, okay, but I'll be back for the $1,000 fix it for you or whatever it is." And then I saw it on TV
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and I was like, it was the best acting I ever did in my
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life because it was so honest that I didn't know what I was saying and Fry doesn't know what he's saying. So, it
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was the most authentic, true, pure delivery. I really didn't know what I was saying. I just went along with it
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and then I went, "Oh, Jesus." Yeah. I I I got it once it was on TV. I
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got the joke. But I'm I'm slow on the tape. Yeah. Thank you.
17:50
Thank you for your question. Hello. Hi. There's my friend.
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a big fan of Future. Um, my question is, will there be any more episodes that are
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movie like episodes? I don't know what they have planned. You know,
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we did them. Well, we did them, but you know, they might break them down again and and uh
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augment the episodes. Who knows? I mean, there's You know what my secret fantasy
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is? Is that um at Disney there'll be a Futurama ride.
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Oh boy, I love that. Disney, are you listening? Yeah. No, I think uh that would be so
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perfect. You know, Planet Express and everybody gets in and you know, I don't
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know if you ever went on the Simpsons ride, but it's it's quite remarkable. And um they were talking about it once
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and I kept bringing it up because I wanted to see it happen. I don't know if we have like movie like episodes, but
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definitely like the ones with themes. That'll be a lot of fun and different.
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Yeah. Thanks. Thank you so much. Thank you for your question.
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Hey, how are you? Oh, hi. And I believe we met before and
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I'm your biggest fan. Thank you. And I'm your biggest man, too, Lauren. And I would like to do voices to y'all.
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I was going to ask a question. I'm saying let me just cuz I was want to ask you all questions. What is your favorite
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cartoon character? Please
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you pass the audition. Get on stage. You ought to be a man on stage. I'll be
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first to call Charles Fleer and give him the great news. Bring me Charles Fletcher. I just wanted
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to introduce to me myself that I'm about to rabbit. Wow, that sounds great.
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Thank you. Well, thank you very much. And thank you very much to What do you think of that, you guys?
19:53
What? Yes, sir.
20:01
Hello. You're not going to do anything wacky, are you? I do have a question.
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Um, so Lauren, my question to you is, is there anything you're looking forward to in the new King of the Hill season?
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Oh, yeah. I wasn't asked for those. I'll be looking forward to that. Well, I they've announced this so I can
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say it already. Um so, you know, in this day and age, we had to be a little bit
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more politically correct. So, they had to replace um Toby Hos who played Khan
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um with someone Asian. And so, my buddy Ronnie Chang is going to be K now. And
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we so funny if you guys watch a daily show. I had worked with him before and
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so I kind of like put it I couldn't work. Didn't they use Toby for but Tobyy's going to do Johnny
20:46
Hardwick's part now. So he's doing Dale and and so it's all in the family and it it worked out perfectly because Toby had
20:53
so much grace about that about stepping down and and just we're all so happy that he's still like part of our family.
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I love Toby. He's so great. That is awesome to hear. My question for you Billy um between Ren and St. who was
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more fun to do the voice of and you're not that. It's always more fun to do um as far as
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character goes, it's always fun to do a quintessential a-hole,
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you know what I mean? Like Zach Branigan and so deliciously stupid and arrogant
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and get informed. I made it with a woman,
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you know. And then um let's see, Ren was a combination of a bunch of types like
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um god Jackie and then there was uh bur lives and then and he was south of the
21:45
border cuz he was a chihuahua and he would sweep with a Mexican accent sometimes but he had a Danish name and
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um he had a whole thing going on and Kirk Douglas was in there so emphatic
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but um uh Kirk Douglas was like you know
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I can't eat the slap you know and that's what worked it into the Ren character
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will shut up you fool I shall kill you
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you and um and St was like happy he was
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ble kind of ble and innocent you know childlike but uh yeah the the the
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harsher ones the ones that do a lot screaming that it's very cathartic.
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You know what's funny? When you're performing and say you we were in a a a
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combative scene with somebody or you're yelling and arguing, your body thinks that you're at war. Your body doesn't
22:48
know that you're pretending. Your body doesn't know you're play acting. So when you come out of there, you're like,
22:54
"What the hell?" You know, after screaming and yelling, I used to come out of Ren and Stimpy like sprinting
23:00
like a top. I'd go out on the street and I'd have to shield my eyes from the sun because I was so, you know, messed up
23:07
from screaming and yelling, but um yeah, that was um but they're fine. Those
23:15
Thank you. Sure. Hi. Uh wow. Um again, I already told you
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before, big fan. Red Cy drama, love roles. I was just discovering you were
23:30
to holy spice which was very much great. Love that show. That was my childhood. Of course you kicked more Replacements
23:38
Teen Titans. Um American Dragon Jake Long. I just discovered Samurai Jack. You're you have
23:45
been as my childhood a long time. Of course I'm very excited for the reboot of King of the Hill. Uh my question is a
23:53
very simple one is how what is the best advice you can give someone who wants to enter the voice acting scene and also
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what do you do when it comes to strain broken imaging
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and then do all that and it's very straining. Well, do you know the um sorry
24:14
I know. Do you know the website called I want to be a voice actor? uh.com. So, it's free.
24:22
And um number uh uh four from Kidsex Door, D. Bradley Baker, he put together
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he spent so much time and energy putting this website together for people who want to get into the voiceover business.
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And honestly, anything you could possibly want to know is on that website and it's completely free. So, that's the
24:44
first thing I would say um to just check that out. And um and also just I think
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you know my my younger son wants to be an actor too and I I tell him the same thing you know go for it with all your
24:57
heart and have a plan B too you know like try to try to do as many things as
25:02
you possibly can to be like a triple threat if you want to. So my son is studying at college right now and he's
25:09
taking directing classes and playwriting classes and and you know all the behind
25:14
the scenes too. So to give yourself more of a chance to work. Um so that that's
25:19
what I would say. Yeah. It's a business of
25:25
95% unemployment. Your job is looking for work.
25:31
If you can get past that, uh it can be very rewarding and there's
25:36
a lot of competition way more than when I started. I know that much. And not to take don't try not to take
25:42
anything personally. It's just so subjective and there's so much luck involved too.
25:48
But you but you might have like the perfect thing for somebody's project. Somebody you haven't even met. The
25:55
future is totally unwritten. And if somebody told me like 30 years ago that
26:01
I'd be doing what I was doing, I I would have said they had rocks in their head. They would have been, you know, you're crazy. How how how is that going to
26:08
happen? you know, and you feel like that when you're sitting with nothing to do and
26:14
no prospect for any kind of uh professional future, when you're confused and you're alone and you're
26:20
like, "Oh god, I wish I I wish something would happen." Um, everybody knows that
26:26
feeling and um I'm just here to say that the future's unwritten. You have no idea
26:33
what's going to happen. It's uh it's up to you to write those pages, you know,
26:38
but but you will have things happen to you, especially if you put out a certain kind of energy. I'm I really believe in
26:44
that, you know. So, thank you very much. Thank you very much.
26:51
To grab that second question to make you guys follow up on it. Um he's asking what you guys do when it comes to like
26:57
vocal strain. And I I would use the word vocal for um Yeah.
27:02
What do you do when it comes to straining your voice? You yelled a lot. Yes. Um I was built for punishment. I
27:09
really was. I was built for abuse. So I recovered very quickly.
27:15
Drink a lot of tea. She has some hot tea. Yeah. And um if you Billy, you taught me
27:21
this about video games cuz they have you do 400 fight zones. So you taught me that you need to rest
27:28
your voice for 5 minutes every 10 minutes is what you told me, right? Yep.
27:34
And that's it. Maybe you just made it up. But I should add my star.
27:40
It worked out. Yeah, it was so hard. It is. Those are the hardest kicks cuz
27:46
you got to do a reaction for anything that that a player is capable of doing.
27:52
You have to respond and they'll have like 400 different things. It's nutty.
28:02
Oh yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you for your question. Yes. Hi there. I'm a fan of Futramama. I've
28:09
been watching it since I was a kid. Thank you. And um I got some questions. It's like a
28:15
two-parter. Uh which out of all the episodes y'all have done, you know, since the '9s of
28:22
Futurama, what has been the best episode that y'all have ever worked on? And what was the most difficult one that crushed
28:30
your soul? soul crushing one has got to be Jurassic
28:35
Park. Sad question. That episode still gets me.
28:41
Um, but what was I recorded? We recorded that. I read the
28:46
script. I knew it was going to be sad. I just didn't know how sad it was going to be
28:51
until I saw it on TV. And then I was like, "Where's the cat? I got to hug the cat."
28:56
You know, I just wanted to bond with an animal so badly.
29:01
Yeah, everybody was affected by that. We've had so many wonderful experiences. So, what was one of your favorites to
29:07
record? One of my favorites to watch and record was um
29:13
The Devil's Hands because it was like an opereta and it was written by Ken. The songs were
29:19
written by Ken Keeler who's just a brilliant, brilliant guy. Yes. And um and we all got to sing this
29:27
opereta and uh and that was the one with Fry playing the haller,
29:33
you know, to the universe. He was trying to declare his love for Leela and the
29:38
holofoner did all this magic and she didn't see it. Yeah.
29:44
I love all the ones with singing in it. Oh yeah. We had such fun and we're still
29:49
doing stuff. We're still more favorites to be had. more favorites.
29:56
Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Hello.
30:01
Hi. I'm I'm a fan of Futurama and King of the Hill, by the way. Oh, good. So, uh, this question is for Laura. Um,
30:07
out of all the King of the Hill episodes, which one was your favorite to work on? Oh my god. Oh, boy. That's hard. There
30:14
was one more. I forgot the name of it now, but all a couple come to mind. when
30:19
Connie gets her period that that episode is a and Frank has to go take her to buy
30:26
I mean yeah Hank has to take her to buy tampons at the grocery store that's just crazy um that was really fun and then
30:33
there was another one where um Connie and Bobby like are wrestling in a
30:39
wrestling match and and but we're putting it on and so we're doing all that spinning and the fake wrestling and
30:44
stuff. I won't remember the name of it, but I love doing that one, too. And and just the men, we have I can't wait for
30:51
you to see the new ones. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
30:59
Hi. Um, my question is, what was your favorite moment in making the show so
31:05
far? Could you step a little closer? I'm sorry.
31:11
Favorite moment in making the show so far. Oh, you would. What was your favorite moment in making the show so
31:16
far? Favorite moment? Um, was something that no one would ever know? Um, in the very
31:22
beginning, John Dumagio, who plays Bender,
31:28
um, he couldn't control his laughter when he thought something was funny. He'd just start laughing and and ruin a
31:36
take. you know, if I was performing and all of a sudden you'd hear, you know, cuz of something funny
31:43
somebody said earlier or whatever. So, we had to stick him in a corner and take
31:48
a couch pillow and have to bury him under the couch pillows cuz he was he
31:54
was uh he was uncontrollable. Yeah, that was one of my favorite
32:00
moments, burying him on couch pillows. And also just I don't I don't have like
32:05
a specific moment but Dave Herman who plays everything Roberto and he just he's a
32:13
hate freaking genius. He's he's so good. We can all of us just break up so much when he's doing his bit. It's just
32:20
impossible to keep a screen. He can say one word is scrum the janitor and we're falling all over the place.
32:26
Yeah. So yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much.
32:33
[Music] Hello. Hi. Uh, thank you for my childhood.
32:38
First off, uh, my question is, what would be your first role of comedy?
32:44
What was our first role in comedy? Well, first rule that you would have in comedy.
32:49
Oh. Oh, timing is everything, right? Um, let's see.
32:56
Uh, I don't know if this is helpful at all, but you know, I I actually learned
33:01
this from a teacher once about there's a straight line and a wavy line and you have to kind of know which one you are
33:08
and because each person plays a part in that and so if you're the straight line
33:14
you just keep doing that and the wavelength can just be all over the place. Um but I don't know it's it's
33:20
almost like an innate thing. Don't you feel like with the timing? I think um
33:26
it's to be an actor or comedian or anybody like that. Um it's you have to
33:32
have instincts, you know, just a a built-in knowledge of how people act and
33:38
you just learn it from life, you know. You learn and and mythology, that's a
33:43
great place to learn from. Greek mythology has everything going on in it. Jealousy and envy and passion and you
33:53
know you know it's it's got every single thing in those fables and those stories
33:59
and they help you as an actor. But I don't know did you say comedy? Was that it?
34:04
Yeah. Yeah. Comedy. I didn't know the first thing about it. I just think that I was um
34:12
uh what do you call it? um extemporaneously funny when I was younger, you know, and
34:19
I went into a comedy club. The first thing I said was, "Ever notice everything."
34:26
Thank you so much. Sure.
34:33
Hi. Um first off, huge fan of Futurama King of the Hill, but especially Ren and
34:39
Stimpy. Um, without getting into the whole drama of it and everything, when
34:45
you were cast as Ren, you had already been doing St. This is kind of a two-parter. Did it take a long time to
34:52
pick up the Ren voice or did you already have it? What people don't know is that in the
34:59
very beginning, um, it was my audition tape that sold the show as both
35:04
characters. Um, we were over at over over at Nickelodeon in Time Square and
35:10
John Kay had a meeting with the women from Nickelodeon and we went upstairs and we were down the hallway and he
35:19
didn't have a a voice demo. He just kind of was unprepared. He was going to go in
35:24
there and try to pull bald him over with these ideas and here's what's going here's what we want to do and all that,
35:30
but he didn't have a demo. So, we went in a closet and it was right out of a movie scene, you know, where like there
35:35
was a broomstick and you put the tape recorder and a microphone and then I'm
35:40
sitting there with like a paper, you know, in my face reading and I did both
35:47
characters and he went in with that and then he came out and said, "Congratulations. What you did just sold
35:52
the show and I said good, that's great. Excellent." you know, but but he decided
35:58
he was going to do the Ren voice. And I didn't give a fat frog's ass who did
36:03
what, cuz I had a I had a job doing a voice in a cartoon. I was thrilled out of my mind. I didn't care. But uh but he
36:11
got himself fired. He was more dissolute than than anybody ever imagined. And um
36:17
you know, that was the end of him. But uh but they asked me, "Weren't you
36:22
supposed to do it originally?" I said, "Yeah, I guess." you know, I mean, I I just remember that one day where I did
36:30
both of them, so I went back to doing what I did. So, did they give you the job or uh how
36:38
did that go about? I think I think I remember um auditioning for it, but they wanted to
36:46
be sure, you know, because the thing was uh the thing was big. It was it was
36:52
really really big and they were selling tons of merchandise and here the show is like on rough seas and they were showing
37:00
the same six episodes over and over again because John couldn't deliver a show on time and um and I and I was
37:08
embarrassed. Somebody said, "Yeah, I saw that episode again for the 20th time." And I was like, "Look, I don't know what
37:15
to tell you. If it was up to me, you'd have them, you know, every week." So
37:20
yeah, thank you. Oh, thank you. Thank you for your question.
37:28
What's your favorite type of seafood? Favorite seafood? Favorite seafood? Billy's a vegan.
37:35
I'm a vegan. But for me, it's sushi for sure.
37:41
Or anything like sea bass. I Which is the one that's overfished? I Is it Yes.
37:47
Is it sea bass? Swordfish and salmon. Yeah, they're all kind of over fishing, but I love black cod and sea bass.
37:57
Don't call me that. Thank you. Thank you.
38:03
Ask Lauren about her experience with the East West players and how's that shaped her as an actress and if she has any
38:08
Macco or James Hall stories. Oh my gosh, you're going to make me cry. So, you know the East West players?
38:15
Yes. Or did you? I've never seen the show, but I know like it's a big deal. Like, you know, James Kong started it like all
38:21
those years ago and kind of like home a home base for Asian-American actor. Yeah. It's the largest, you know, Asian
38:28
um theater in Los Angeles and it was founded by MCO, who I actually got to
38:33
work with because he came out to the public theater in New York to direct a play uh called the music lessons. And
38:41
what what a wonderful actor. He was the first Asian that was nominated for an Oscar for the Sand Poles. And um I
38:49
actually did a play when I first moved out to Los Angeles with John Cho and he
38:54
was 22 years old then. And I thought, "This guy's going to be an Asian James Dean." And I said to my agents at Gersh,
39:02
I said, "You guys have to sign this guy. He he's so handsome and such a great
39:08
actor." And they just didn't get it. and and like of course you know cut to you know he's starring in all these movies
39:15
and so I think they probably they missed the boat on that one but um yeah I I
39:21
love East West players and I I still um support them just by you know with money
39:27
and then going to all the productions. I haven't been in one in a while, but um
39:33
they have a new artistic director now too since passed and um yeah, it's
39:39
it's a great theater, but because of uh all the funding that's been cut been cut recently, they they really took a big
39:45
hit. So So they've been trying to fund raise like crazy recently and lots of
39:51
organizations are in that same boat to uh so many or it's really scary time. So
39:58
that's why I'm I'm also thanking you guys in advance for for letting me pass
40:03
that bucket around to you because everybody's struggling so much right now. And I just it just restores my
40:10
faith in humanity that people just come together to help each other cuz that's
40:15
why we're here, right? You might get you might get deported for trying to help people
40:22
or detained. Wish that was I got my safe. I got her. I got
40:27
So on that very warm and light note, I would like to say that this panel is coming to a close. So if you guys would
40:33
like to give them your rounds of applause for being here
40:42
at our table, if you have any more questions, if you would like to just say hi, if you would
40:48
like to hear more, come to the table. If you did a chance to hit that bucket and you want to now
40:54
I'm going to leave it on my table. Yeah. Thank you so much. So, thank you guys so much.
41:01
[Applause] [Music]