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From: ngsippel@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu
Date: 11 Oct 93 20:55:10 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.tv.ren-n-stimpy,rec.arts.animation
Subject: Billy West Speaks At Miami University
Greetings R&S Fans!
This article is about the latest news on R&S, and a lot of
information that doesn't quite fit the R&S FAQ. Please get a copy of
this article now because it won't be reposted (unless I get a ton of
posted requests). Enjoy!
By the way, my comments are in ().
Section I: Wild Cartoon Kingdom
I just got the special collector's edition of WCK. It is jammed pack
of good info. about Batman: The Animated Series as well as the
"actual" (biased) story about R&S.
On a quick note, Bruce Timm, a big shot on BTAS, worked with John
Kricfalusi (the creator of R&S) in 1987 and 1988 on "Beany and Cecil"
and "The New Adventures Of Mighty Mouse." (He almost looks to John
K. as an idol in some respects.)
Overall, the article of R&S is very good, and the pictures are
fantastic. A must buy! Some points of interest:
[1] The fan letters. Very interesting. WCK claims that the Muddy
Mudskipper song goes "without breaking his knees" rather than
"scraping his knees." Which is it?
[2] DYN: John K. is Lithuanian!
[3] Get a load of the horse manure Gerry Laybourne says to Bob Camp's
staff after they take over the show. Also look what happens to Roy,
a person who helped engineer the takeover of R&S after John K.
[4] The addresses for Nick and WCK: Send in those letters!!!!!!
Section II: The R&S Kellogg Products
Frosted Mini-Wheats: Free SNICK Keychain with 2 UPC Codes (Proofs Of
Purchase). The cereal needs sugar! :)
Corn Pops: R&S Shorts Offer. 2 UPC Codes and $6.95.
Any other products?
Section III: The Billy West Talk
Wednesday, October 6, 1993 at 7:30pm (for 3.5 hours!)
Billy West opened his speech by mentioning he worked with Howard
Stern and does advertisements (voice-overs) for AT&T. For his first
voice, he did the R&S answering machine (Stimpy says, "I usually
answer the vacuum cleaner!"). Billy also imitated the Warner
Brothers characters (not YW&D:) very well !!
Billy was born in Detroit in 1950. He learned his art from
mimicking commercials and singers from the radio (he does Casey Kasem
and Elvis impressions here). He credits Mel Blanc (WB), Daws Butler
(HB), and Don Messic (spelling?) (HB) as his inspirations. In 1963,
his family moved to Boston, and in 1966, became a guitar player.
During his time with bands, he became obsessed with alcohol and drugs
(although he continued it during the early 1980s). In 1970, he made
fun of another band he saw, Aerosmith (!), when he went to Berkley
School (I don't exact title--wrote it quick).
During the 1970s, he played with bands, and during technical
difficulties, he would do impressions to keep the crowd happy. After
Billy realized his talent, so in 1978, he started doing stand-up.
Unlike other stand-up comedians, he didn't have a set
script--anything he thought up (especially when alcohol-induced), he
did. The crowd's response was mediocre, so he thought he might've
failed---but no! He gave a friend a tape of his voices, and the tape
got him at job at WBCN as a morning producer.
In 1985, Billy cleaned up. In the speech, he mentions that three
years of his life are completely blank to him. And now, more than
ever, he wanted to get beyond radio.
Andy Pale (currently a WB producer) let Billy West meet Ruth and
Bob Clampett. The Clampetts wanted to a remake of the 1960s show
Beany and Cecil (actually based on the live action show of the
1940s). (At this point, he went on about the early history of B&C.)
Basically, B&C had its four main characters: Beany (the young boy),
Cecil (the sea-sick serpent), Capt. Huff-N-Puff (Beany's uncle), and
Dishonest John (you guessed it--the villian). At this point in the
speech, Billy showed a B&C cartoon: "Clambo" (it credited TTA and
BTAS writer Paul Dini for writing it!). (By the way, the 'toon gets
- *** out of four stars--it was funny!) He mentioned that John K. was
an animator on the show (I thought he was a director!). Billy was
the star of B&C, doing most of the voices.
(Well, like the current Nick situation,) ABC had its own brand of
infighting between the animators and the network. (Remember, this
was during the time of crappy cartoons.) One minute someone was
kissing butt, and the next this person was talking bad about the
person who he/she kissed butt! :( After 6 episodes. Bob Clampett's
dream went into the toilet.
Billy West continued on talking about how John K. went onto
Mighty Mouse and its new look and feel. He mentioned that John K. is
preoccupied in his own world and always had creative exchanges with
him.
In 1989, Billy felt defeated and went back to radio. This time,
he moved to New York, where he worked with Howard Stern. (Billy also
mentions his encounters with his idol, Jackson Beck, an newsreel
narrator and Bluto from Popeye.) Basically at this point, Billy does
some voices from the show and talks about the first Stern T.V. show.
For the second clip of the night, he showed a piece where he played
Frank Sinatra having Alzheimers. Billy talked about how develops
voices (by playing around with a starter voice and changing it) and
how he got his Honey Nut Cheerios Bee job. The clip was shown, a
commercial for Honey Nut Cheerios. He also made a joke about the new
gay sitcom coming this fall: "Honey and Nuts." :) He mentioned you
_must_ sell the product to keep your job.
THE NICK STORY
In 1990, Billy worked for HBO's Comedy Channel as their official
spokesman for voiceovers and commercials (like doing a commercial for
Mystery Science Theater). Jim Jenkins, a producer, told Billy West
of a new show he was creating for Nickelodeon. The show was "Doug,"
and Billy tried out for the two top voices and got them both. (Billy
turns on the slide projector now for slides of Doug.) Both of the
top voices, Doug and Roger (Doug's nemisis), are supposed to be
anti-Bart Simpsons. The second (and the final Doug) slide was Doug
writing in his journal, and Billy West (in Doug voice) said,
"Dear Diary: Today, I learned about condoms!"
Billy became excited at the idea of Doug, because it was a part
of Nickelodeon's attempt to bring back the animation industry. Can
Nick save us from the doom of Saturday morning dreck? He did mention
that the industry went miniacture crazy (ie, Scooby Doo, Flintstones,
Roseanne Barr, and Muppets).
When John K. first showed Billy West "Ren and Stimpy," (now
abbreviated R&S) he asked, "What are they? Microbes?" At this
point, Billy began showing slides of the "Fire Dogs" storyboard and
accompianied it with voices and explanations. "Fire Dogs," in Billy
West's opinion, is a depression era comedy.
During Christmas 1992, John K. was at war with Nickelodeon
(abbreviated Nick) and was visiting Billy. John had it with Nick and
vowed not to do any of the voices for R&S, ie, Ren and Mr. Horse.
Originally, Billy West was to do both R&S in 1990. But some Nick
executive thought it was too much for him to do.
Every character on every show made has an entry in a character
bible. It describes the character's traits, likes, etc. Stimpy's
character bible includes "gullable and naive." Ren's bible includes
"high-strung and manipulative."
The voice of Stimpy was based on Larry Fine. West's Larry Fine
is based on a "depressed old Jewish guy." Ren is based on a mixture
of Peter Lorre, "South of the Border," Kirk Douglas, and Burl Ives.
(To shorten this article, all current info in the FAQ about Douglas
and Ives is corroborated here.)
The voices of R&S are listed here:
Stimpy...................................Billy West
Ren Hoek.................................John K./Billy West
Sci-Fi Announcer ("Space Madness").......Billy West
The Ghost/Stinky The Fart................Billy West
Seagull ("Untamed World")................Billy West
Sven Hoek................................Billy West
Husband (Mr. Pipe).......................Billy West
Mr. Horse................................John K.
Fire Chief ("Fire Dogs").................Harris Peet
(One not mentioned in the talk:
Muddy Mudskipper.........................Harris Peet.)
Billy West mentions the new R&S CDs and the home video of "Son Of
Stimpy." He mentioned that Stinky The Fart's voice is based on Paul
Tsongus (from the 1992 democratic national convention).
NEW EPISODES FOR SEASON 3:
Billy claimed that season 3 will have the balance of season 1 and
the craziness of season 2.
- An episode about the Fireman's obsession with midgets.
- Stimpy gets so obsessed with his belly button that he
falls into himself and meets Jimmy The Belly Button
Elf (played by Gilbert Godfrey)
- "Ren's Pecs" Stimpy's buttfat is transplanted into Ren's
shoulder area, and Ren becomes famous.
- Stimpy wants to become a cartoonist and begs Wilbur Cobb,
The King Of Cartoons (a rotting hunk of meat and mushrooms),
to judge his work. Wilbur is based partially on Walt Disney.
At this point, Billy West goes into the Censorship groups'
agendas and the popularity of the Simpsons. Beavis and Butthead, in
his opinion, is a mirror of society (gosh, I hope not). The final
clip of the evening is R&S speaking Japanese in "Space Madness."
(Hearing "You bloated sack of protoplasm" translated is very funny!
By the way, American idioms, like glazed ham, got translated into
itself! [Billy said, "A cantoloupe costs $500 over there...just
think if they had glazed ham!"]) Currently, Japanese and German
versions of R&S are being tested, but the emotion of the show is
lacking. To Nick's test marketing, German kids didn't like R&S (but
I do, and I am German!:).
Billy West closed his speech and answered questions.
Q: What is log based on?
A: Slinky and Lincoln Logs.
My Question: What was cut out of "Sven Hoek" and "Fake Dad"?
A: (He went off the subject slightly here).
Powdered Toast Man fell after 3 complaints were registered
with the FCC (this was corroborated with WCK).
Billy West, did fortunately, described fairly well, "Man's
Best Friend." He claimed to have a copy for himself(!).
He said it will probably come back because Nick spent $500,000
for it. The usual episode costs $400,000 (and I think he
compared this with Murphy Brown at $60,000 per episode).
He mentions here that "You Eediot!," R&S's new CD, debuted on
Billboard a couple week's back at # 184. Muchmusic's #1 song
last week was the "Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen" theme.
Q: Is the Fart voice the same as the Ghost?
A: Yes.
Q: Will there be a Ren and Stimpy movie?
A: Nick is talking about having cartoons before movies than a
R&S movie.
Comment from the audience: I liked the black and white scene in
"Haunted House."
A: John K. would disagree strongly with you.
Q: Who does all the paintings?
A: Bill Wray. He is classically trained in Europe.
My Second and Last Question: When is new R&S coming out? And
when is John K.'s new shows are coming out?
A: November 20 for new R&S. John K. is coming out with "He Hog
The Atomic Pig" (storyboards are ready) and "The Ripping
Friends."
There was a lot more than I wrote here that happened, but usenet
cannot create the impressions, the laughter, or the personality of
Billy West. It was a great time! Before I sign off, I want to thank
Billy West for coming to Miami and sharing himself with everyone!
Also, any Trademarks and Copyrights are acknowledged here. Please
use this document for informational purposes only. I hereby make
this document welcomed for copying as long as I get credit and this
disclaimer stays on. All comments not in parenthesis aren't mine,
but recreations of the dialog. Any opinions are not of Miami
University.
--
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"Happy Happy Joy Joy!!" "Hello Nurse!" Norman G. Sippel
-- Stimpy -- Yakko ngsippel@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu
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This .Sig Was Dumber Than Advertised :)