There's a lot of kids' shows that are really popular ratings-wise, but they don't sell a lot of stuff. A character on a backpack just doesn't have the same appeal as watching it on TV.

Obviously as a kid, for probably anybody who chose animation voiceover as a career in their adult life, Mel Blanc was the touchstone for everybody. He kind of invented the job and was the first voice actor to get onscreen credit.

People are always saying that I must have been the class clown, with all these voices. No, I was way too shy to be the class clown; I was a class clown's writer.

SpongeBob is a good role model as far as imaginary creatures go. He works hard and his emotional highs are very high, he's either giddy or utterly devastating and crying like a lawnsprinkler... SpongeBob is bipolar.

I never thought of myself as an impressionist, so when I do audition for voice-matching things, I have to work really hard and do a lot of listening and trial-and-error.

I don't have confidence in my instincts, and I feel like I have to go through a very right-brain and left-brain process.

There's a lot of kids' shows that are really popular ratings-wise, but they don't sell a lot of stuff. A character on a backpack just doesn't have the same appeal as watching it on TV.