If you don't recognise John DiMaggio, you can bite his shiny metal ass.
DiMaggio's stock in trade these days isn't his face, but his voice. As Bender, the alcoholic, whore-mongering, chain-smoking robot with a heart of fool's gold, DiMaggio stole damn near every episode of 'Futurama'.
He made Aquaman a fan favourite in 'Batman: The Brave And The Bold' and Marcus Fenix a badass in 'Gears Of War', and he's won a legion of new admirers as Jake The Dog in 'Adventure Time'. He recently produced and narrated a documentary, 'I Know That Voice', that shone a light on the oft-neglected art of voice acting.
If we took the time to list the rest of the prolific talent's extensive film and TV credits, we'd never actually get to the interview, but suffice to say we had plenty to talk to him about — including his appearance at Supanova Pop Culture Expo, his beef with Chris Rock, the cult of 'Adventure Time', and the, er, future of 'Futurama'.
Hey, how's your day going? My day's good. I'm doin' alright. I'm kickin' it. I'm on the couch.
Good to hear. Unfortunately, you'll have to leave the couch soon, because you're coming to Australia for Supanova. This is a convention where 'Adventure Time' is just an absolute phenomenon. It's such a unique show — when 'Adventure Time' first came across your desk, did you get it straight away?
Not at all! As a matter of fact, it's crazy, because I was really in the dark. I just didn't really get it. The scripts were numbered scripts; they were scripts without stage directions, so we had to match the numbered scripts with the big storyboards we were sent. We'd have to look at the storyboard to see what was going on. That's kind of a backwards way to do it, but that's how they did it. I just didn't get the show, but I just said, 'Okay, whatever, if that's what you want, I'll do it, but I just don't get it'.
I complained about it to Tom Kenny, who plays the Ice King, but was also Spongebob Squarepants, so he's, like, the man. I said, 'Tom, I just don't get this show', and he said, 'John, listen — it's this generation's 'Yellow Submarine''. So I said, 'Ohhhh, okay, I'll just think of it that way and everything will be just gravy'. From that point on, it clicked.
It's been a trip. I can't believe how much of a cult sensation it is. I've said it before, and I'll say it again; I go to conventions and I'll meet whole families that have dressed up. They'll come to my table to say hello, and dad's dressed as Jake, the baby's dressed as Ice King, the son's dressed as Finn and the mom's dressed as Marceline. It's like, 'What's going on?' Grandma might even be dressed as Princess Bubblegum. It's mind blowing.
I've never done anything with this kind of cult status. I mean, 'Futurama', sure, but 'Futurama' is a little more mainstream, I think. 'Adventure Time' is just so weird.
You mentioned how broad the fanbase is, from really young kids to their grandparents. Do you ever have moments where you read the script and think, 'I can't say that! Kids are watching this!'
You know, there are so many different kinds of people watching that I just don't know what to say. Sometimes I'll say, 'Wow, can we get away with that?' And they'll say, 'Well, yeah, Standards & Practices says it's fine'. They'll say stuff like, 'We can say 'on it' but we can't say 'in it'', and I'll just be like, 'Okay, whatever that means, sure'. As long as I'm putting it 'on' it, and not 'in' it, it's fine. I don't know.
Sometimes you'll have little kids come up and say, 'I love Jake The Dog, it's my favourite show!' And then you'll get, like, 22-year-old kids with red eyes like, 'What up, dude! The show is awesome!' And I'm like, 'Okay, alright, take it easy, bring the kids back over here, will ya?' So it's pretty funny. Not that I want the guy [with red eyes] to leave, but he can just step over there. I'll talk to him later. Ha!
But it's just a trip. It's really just a fun job. And this trip will be great, because we've got a bunch of people coming with us. Where are you? Are you in Melbourne?
I'm in Brisbane, so it's just...
Oh, you're in Brisbane! So you'll be able to come to the Gold Coast show. You guys are like, what, 60 miles away from the Coast?
Yeah, we're super close.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's exciting, because we've got Jeremy [Shada] [Finn The Human on 'Adventure Time'] coming, and Hynden [Walch] is coming as well; she plays Princess Bubblegum. So you've got Finn, Jake and Princess Bubblegum comin'. Listen, it's just fun.
This'll be my second Supanova. I went to Brisbane and Adelaide last time, and I had a blast. I just had so much fun, and I couldn't wait to come back. I wanted to go to Perth, and Daniel [Zachariou], the promoter, the guy who runs Supanova, he was like, 'Listen, why don't you space it out a little?' I just had a good time, and you guys treat us so nicely.
I really appreciate the Aussie hospitality. I don't know if anybody's said anything bad about you, but I'll go to bat for you if you want.
It's good to have Bender in our corner.
That's it! I'm serious! You've got better beer, anyway.
Do you think you can get away with things in a cartoon that you can't get away with in live action? Why do you think that is?
I think you can get away with stuff in cartoons moreso than live action because it softens the blow, really. It makes the most vulgar thing 'cute', if you will. Violence is funny. It really dulls the knife. And at the same time, it makes it completely vivid. It opens your eyes to it just as much, but it puts a slight shade over it, like if you put vaseline on a camera lens and shoot through it. You know what I mean? The bottom line is that it just softens the blow.
Fart jokes are funnier on cartoons, too. That's just it. Shit jokes are funny, too, in cartoons. Bender literally shits a brick? C'mon. That's genius. When I first read that scene direction, I nearly shit myself. But that would have been embarrassing, and the Fox executives in the room would have been really pissed off. I wouldn't have worked in this town again. But I'm still working, because I didn't shit myself.
You are still working, and you're one of the most prolific voice actors out there. Being a guy who does so much work in that field, what did you make of Chris Rock's comments at the Oscars a couple of years ago when he said voice acting isn't work?
I know what he said! I know what he said. Chris Rock... Chris Rock... Listen. Chris Rock is very fortunate in that all he has to do is go in and read in his voice. That's all he has to do. That's all they hire him for. To talk like himself. I've gotta go in there and I've gotta jump through hoops. I've gotta sound like the guy I didn't sound like an hour ago. I've gotta do all sorts of crazy stuff. I do the stuff in the trenches.
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You know, listen, that whole speech... We make fun of it in my documentary, 'I Know That Voice', which is also on iTunes and Xbox. Please plug it! We're also screening at the Gold Coast Film Festival, which is really cool, coinciding with Supanova. I'll be doing a screening there and I'll probably be doing a Q&A afterwards. We address that speech in the movie.
Listen, if I'm producing an animated film, and we don't know how to generate any interest in it other than trying to get celebrity voices, and we have that money, and we want to make money, then that's what you do. But I know, personally, if I was gonna do a cartoon, I'd have all the players in my back pocket and I don't need a 'name'. Instead of spending money on a name, I'm going to spend money on the artists. I'm going to spend money on what the animation looks like, and I'm going to break in some new talent; that's what I'm going to do.
But that's not the way it works here in Hollywood, and that's the bummer. But at least I'm still working! I've got a job! It's hard to do that in this business, because there's a lot that's not within your control. You know how you want to represent yourself, you know what you want to do, you know what you want to try to do, but you know... it's all up to the theatre gods. The show business deities.
Something that doesn't need any celebrity voices is this 'Simpsons'/'Futurama' crossover you guys are finally doing. Can you believe it's taken this long to do a full-on crossover episode?
You know, I've shown up twice in 'The Simpsons', but just in cameos. So this whole thing is really cool. And let me tell you something, it was one of the funniest table reads I've ever attended in my entire life. Table reads, for your readers, are what we do as a cast; you know, we sit down at a big table and read the script aloud for the writers and the execs. And this table read was just absolutely hilarious.
Homer and Bender, together at last... it's like a homecoming. It's really something. It's really, really funny, and I can't wait to see it. And who knows? Maybe this thing could lead to more 'Futurama' down the road. Who knows? If it doesn't, it's a really nice way to send it off.
I was going to ask you about that – when you were recording it, did you feel like you were saying goodbye to Bender?
You know what? No. Bender's always going to be with me, no matter what. No matter if we're doing the show or not. That character will just stay with me forever. People are always going to ask me to do Bender. People are always going to say, 'Hey, Bender, you still got it?' Of course! It's Bender. Bender's great, fer chrissakes!
The good thing is, even though we're all getting older, we've still got the voices. So we can still do the show. We can totally do it. So, listen, fingers crossed. 150 episodes, though... that's not too bad.
It's amazing.
That's not a bad run. If that's it, I'll take it, you know?
Especially considering that it's already come back from the dead a few times. Could anything surprise you with 'Futurama' at this point?
At this point? It's Zombie 'Futurama', fer cryin' out loud. It's come back from the dead that many times... it's a shambling mound. Who knows? Matt Groening is a pretty wealthy dude. Who knows what he wants to do? He's turning 60 soon, maybe he wants to do another four DVDs! I mean, he could do it. He's Matt Groening! He can print his own money! What the hell? If he wants to do it, I'd love to do it.
Any day of the week he wants me to play Bender, I'm all over it. Singin' telegrams? I'll do that. Actually, I probably wouldn't want to do singing telegrams as Bender. That would suck. I'd get lots of things thrown at me at front doors. Bender shows up at your door with a bouquet of flowers, [sings incomprehensible song]... No. That's not going to work. Door slams. Over.
You know, I love Bender and I love Jake, but my favourite character of yours is Aquaman.
[As Aquaman] OUTRAGEOUS!
Yes! 'Aquaman's Outrageous Adventure' is amazing.
I appreciate that.
It's such a great take on the character. If an Aquaman spin-off or an Aquaman animated movie ever came along, is that the sort of thing you'd be up for?
They've got nothin' on. They wanted to do a spin-off, but Warner Bros wasn't interested. But who knows? Maybe something will happen. I'm just glad I got the chance to play Aquaman. That was a lot of fun, and it was very silly. I got to sing a lot of songs. That was a good gig.
I got to work with Andrea Romano a lot, and she's wonderful. She's an amazing voice director. I worked with her on 'Batman: Brave And The Bold' and 'Batman: Under The Red Hood', and she's directed everything. 'Spongebob Squarepants', 'Animaniacs', 'Pinky And The Brain'... she's the best. She's unbelievable. So I've been fortunate, and I would love to do some more of those, but I don't think they're coming 'round the bend.
How do you go about creating the voice of a character like Aquaman? How much input do you have into it? Do they come to you with an idea, or is it all you?
It all depends on... listen, if they know what they want, you can do your version of what they want pretty easy. But if they're kind of missing something, as an actor, that's your chance to come in and wow them. That's your chance to come in and say, 'I know what you want. It's this!' When you can bring that to the room, that's a wonderful feeling. That's a really great thing.
That's kind of what happened with Bender. But with Aquaman, I had experience with Andrea, and I was just able to come in and nail what they wanted. Then, when you do the character, you're able to throw some things against the wall and see if they stick.
Give them what they need. Give them what they have to have. But then put your own spin on it and see what happens.
John DiMaggio will appear at the Supanova Pop Culture Expo with 'Adventure Time' co-stars Jeremy Shada and Hynden Walch from April 5-6 at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre and April 12-13 at the Melbourne Showgrounds.
