Patrick Warburton is buzzin'
Voice veteran talks Bee Movie
CraveOnline: How aggressive a tennis player are you?
Patrick Warburton: I used to play tennis before I got married. My roommate and I lived in a little apartment down on Chatagua, down in Santa Monica. We would go up to the public tennis courts and yell and break rackets. He actually did it. Not I, but my roommate, we had tennis rackets, broken tennis rackets all over the wall as a testament to his temper on the court. It was funny back then.
CraveOnline: Were you bummed out that you didn't get to be a bee?
Patrick Warburton: No. I had a lot of fun being the insecure, somewhat unstable insecure boyfriend. Jerks and bullies.
CraveOnline: How did the years on Family Guy prepare you for Bee Movie?
Patrick Warburton: You know, I've done a lot of voiceover work the last few years and it's been a lot of fun because I've got four kids. They can appreciate or enjoy most of it except for some of the Adult Swim stuff. With Family Guy, you do work with Seth MacFarlane. On the Bee Movie, you work with Jerry Seinfeld. I didn't come in for a single session where I wasn't working opposite Jerry which was really unusual to be working with not only the producer and creator and voice talent that he is but because it's Jerry. It's a very unique experience going in and doing voiceover. Usually when you do voiceover, you're isolated in a room, you do it by yourself and there are just so many people involved, half the time you don't know the names of those in the room running the show. But working on the Bee Movie, you get to come in, work directly right opposite Jerry. So that was certainly the most fantastic experience I've had working, doing voiceover work.
CraveOnline: Do you stick to the script with Jerry or try everything?
Patrick Warburton: No, the boards are pretty specific. Each page is like glued to a board of cardboard. They keep really good track of what's written and what they've got there. For the most part, there are a few days where we would go off a little bit and just try something else, but for the most part, it was all storyboarded specifically. Lines are pretty specific by the time you're recording. And that's the only time I show up. That's my only involvement. They know exactly what they want at that point. It's pretty specific but there was a little bit of improvising going on in regards to what Ken did for a living. He was selling fake diamonds for a while. That was really funny. He'd talk about these diamonds as like a multi-level marketing thing. These diamonds were developed by NASA for the astronauts' wives. That's what they were developed for.
CraveOnline: You'd done more voice work than him. Did you give him any advice?
Patrick Warburton: I would never give Jerry a tip. I can't even give a tip in child care anymore. Not that he's caught up to us. We have four, we still have more. They'll all be here today at the premiere so that will be fun.
CraveOnline: Did you stay in contact with him over the years since Seinfeld?
Patrick Warburton: Not so much. The first two episodes I did of Seinfeld were during the sixth season. That was a great opportunity, it was very exciting. Then I was signed to another show for the next two years. Although a few opportunities came up for me to be able to go back on Seinfeld, I couldn't because I was on this other show. Fortunately, that other show got cancelled and right around that time, I got a phone call from my agents that said Jerry's doing an American Express commercial and would like to know if you'd like to work with him on it. There are two things: You're not going to be in the commercial and they're not using your voice. To which I replied, "So what am I doing?" They said, "Well, Jerry's working opposite an animated Superman and he thinks you could be good to work opposite him." And I said, "Well, that would be great then." I get to do Jerry a favor? That's a great opportunity. I went and did that and of course the day or two they decided that they would use me for Superman. Then we had dinner that night and he also inquired about coming back on the show during the ninth season. It was a great day all around.
CraveOnline: How well do you know Jerry?
Patrick Warburton: I obviously love the man. He's involved me in a number of his projects he's been involved in. I find him to be very gracious and down to earth. I actually got to sit down and have a dinner with him, his longtime friend and manager George Shapiro the other night. That was really special because I've gotten very little just one on one time with Jerry. That was very cool. I think with Jerry, a lot of what you saw of him in the TV show is not far from the man himself. He has a very clever comical, whimsical perspective on things, a very insightful one. At the same time, I guess if you're just hanging out with him, he's not always trying to make people laugh in the room. When that happens, it's an effortless thing with him. From my perspective, it seems that fatherdom has been a very wonderful, special thing for him. So we're happy for him.
CraveOnline: How much time would you spend screaming in a session?
Patrick Warburton: I don't do any voice preparation whatsoever ever. I don't know how to preserve a voice when you're screaming so when there's a lot of screaming, I'll usually try to put a hold on it and say, "Can you just make this all at the end of the session because I won't be audible after I do this probably." But I've lost my voice a number of times screaming. Joe screams in Family Guy. Ken does a lot of screaming. I would just totally lose my voice at the end of that.
CraveOnline: Did you work with Renee Zellweger at all?
Patrick Warburton: No, I've never met the woman. I never met David Spade until the premiere of Emperor's New Groove and we did that together. We're working together on a show right now.
CraveOnline: How has Family Guy evolved over the years?
Patrick Warburton: On Family Guy, you work really fast, especially if you do a character like I do, like Joe who's not super integral in a lot of the shows. I can go in and do three episodes in about five or ten minutes because Seth works that fast. He just has you run through one time, just do a line. "That's good, that's fine." He moves on. He works really fast. The party for the 100th episode is actually this Monday night and I'm thinking of going to it because I've never been to a Family Guy party. I've missed every single one. Me and my family live sort of out in the boondocks. I think I'll try to make it to this one. Seth's an interesting character. We never get out on New Year's Eve. My wife prefers to just stay at home, relax and watch TV or chill out. So last New Year's Eve I told Seth, I said, "I'm sick of not going out on New Year's Eve. I'm going with you wherever you're going. I'm inviting myself to go with you." He goes, "I'm going to Drew Barrymore's house. How does that sound?" I go, "That sounds great. Give me the address." So that was a blast that night, going out. Seth's a hoot. He loves to sing. He's got a whole band coming up on Monday night. He's been going to rehearsals to sing at the 100th party.
CraveOnline: There was a Joe themed episode where he gets his legs back. Are there any more Joe-centric ones coming up?
Patrick Warburton: I'm not sure about that but I took the kids to the pumpkin patch yesterday. Where we are, they have this whole pumpkin fair. They've got the giant pigs. We'd shoot ears of corn at targets. It's ridiculous. It's not the pumpkin patch we went to at the church growing up. I ran into one of the Family Guy writers there and he was mentioning the party Monday night and mentioned that they were going to be doing an Empire Strikes Back episode of Family Guy. I thought the Star Wars one was absolutely brilliant because it was so accurate shot for shot and all that stuff but it was really clever. He said Joe's going to be in the Empire Strikes Back one and Joe was actually in the Star Wars one but they had to cut eight minutes down but Joe will be in the video I guess of the Star Wars episode. I go, "That's fine. I wasn't complaining or moaning. I just like to be a little part of that show." It's just fun to be a part of it.
CraveOnline: As which Star Wars character?
Patrick Warburton: I think he was the one making sandwiches. Joe was making sandwiches for all the guys before they went off to take to Death Star down.
CraveOnline: How limiting is voice acting?
Patrick Warburton: It's interesting. There's almost less limitations. They're fewer because you can do anything in the cartoon format. You can be big or loud or tiny or wherever you want to go with it. If it works it works. If it doesn't, there's that safety net. You can try it a number of different ways. Since you have that opportunity to try a number of different things, I guess you should and go from one end of the spectrum to the other vocally. Whatever works ends up working. On camera, you don't really have that opportunity. You have to try to find it and make it work and believable. You can do anything in a cartoon, so it's less limiting to me.
CraveOnline: What kind of personal experience do you draw on for these wild characters?
Patrick Warburton: I played a NASA scientist in a film called The Dish. I couldn't get through junior college so I'm not sure I was pulling from personal experience. That was all B.S. You've got to be a good B.S.er I guess to be an actor. You've got to be able to portray a character even if it's not you. I just had a really tiny film I did that's been on the festival circuit for a while called The Civilization of Maxwell Bright where I played a horrible guy. I don't find it pulling from personal experience when you have to be ultra-mean or aggressive, basically shut off from being a human. You just have to really commit to what you're doing and believe without judgment that what you're doing is right, what you're saying is right or how you feel and just commit to that. So I don't always sublimate, take something and imagine that this is what's going on. I don't know. It's just I guess committing to it.
CraveOnline: What about a fun thing like Bee Movie?
Patrick Warburton: Oh, it's just fun to do. You just have fun while you're doing it. It's just like playtime.
