But the throat just kind of falls into line once you realize in your head what it is. You got to remember the musicality of a character you're going to do.

It's very hard to take a character out of nothing, and put a hook on it, especially because it's only sonic. Futurama is a sonic world, and everyone's attention is focused on that sound and that little cartoon image. You can change it.

I'm not like a high intellectual.

Somebody's real voice is probably the hardest one that somebody could attempt. The characters are all, believe it or not, rooted in a reality of some sort. I've met and talked to people, and they're also fusions of showbiz periphery. But the best thing was, if you did your own voice and you were the star of the show - if it came to blows and they had you on the ropes and you had to leave, then they could just get someone to sound exactly like you.

But the throat just kind of falls into line once you realize in your head what it is. You got to remember the musicality of a character you're going to do.

You have to have some kind of power of observation, almost like a trained observer.

Robert Mitchum sounded different from John Wayne, and John Wayne sounded different from Clark Gable.