Larry Kenney Voice of Lion-O from Thundercats

Larry Kenney voiced so many of our childhood cartoon characters . LionO  the lead character of Thundercats,  plus Jackelman  one of the baddies on the show. But did you know he also was the voice of Count Chocula and Sonny the Cocoa Puffs bird? He is also that voice at the end of those Skittles commercials. #thundercats #comics #80s #90s #doubleaxehandlesmash #wrestling #retro #cereal #cocoapuffs #countchocula #skittles #voiceactor #conventionvibes #liono #dynamitecomics #

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Sword of Omens, come to my hand. I Lionel commend it. Hi, you're listening to the Double Axe Handle Smash Podcast. Thundercats.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

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SPEAKER_05 1:47

I'm Johnny O, and this is Josh O. And we are here today with a very special guest. The voice of our childhood. And Josh has the sword of omens right here. And uh so we have a very special guest, Larry Kenny, who voiced Lionel as well as many other characters. We'll be getting into that uh in the show. And uh Larry, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_03 2:22

I'm great, guys. Thank you. How are you?

SPEAKER_05 2:25

We're doing awesome. This is this is a dream come true.

SPEAKER_03 2:28

It really is. Thank you so much. Uh that's very nice of you, thank you. And I've been dreaming about being on here with you guys too, so we're wrong.

SPEAKER_05 2:39

Um so one of the first questions I wanted to get into, and and we'll go sort of in the beginning of your career, is how did you get into radio at only 15 years old? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:53

Well, I I was uh uh I was taking a radio class in high school. I'm from a small town in Illinois, a town of about 20,000 people, and for some reason our high school had uh a radio studio, and you could take a radio class. Now back then I, you know, I just thought that was everybody had one, you know. But looking back on it now, it was so amazing that uh we had we had a really new state-of-the-art studio, but we didn't have a transmitter, so we would broadcast uh uh at lunch every day uh over the telephone lines to the local radio station. And uh anyway, so I did that for uh about a half a year, about a semester, and then one day I got a call from uh the program director of the uh biggest radio station in the area in Peoria, Illinois, uh, and asked, offered me a job. I said, well, okay, I'm not doing anything else, you know, except turning in, turning in the uh empty soda bottles and beer cans that I would find in the alley behind the house. I used to do that, I used to do that. And uh and I used to make pot holders to sell and to neighbors and stuff. I was always making some bread, you know. But I said, uh, he said, I heard you on it, and would you come up and audition? So I said, sure, and it was this Saturday. It was a show called um Peoria Pekin School Scope. The town I was from, I'm from, is from Pekin, Illinois, right across the river from Peoria. So it was a show, one hour a week, and it was a public service show. So no commercials on it. You know, it was one of those public service things that radio stations have to do to keep their license. And what we did uh for an hour on Saturdays was uh myself and another high school kid from uh Peoria High School, uh, we would um um play records, you know, and then in between them, sort of commercials, we would talk about what's going on at the local high schools. You know, big football game this week at Central, uh uh and and then um yeah, like that. Big deal. So that's how I got started. And then I um they eventually offered me my own show when I was about 17. Wow. And then um did that a couple years, and then I started sending out tapes, you know, in bigger stations, bigger cities trying to get jobs. I moved from there to Fort Wayne, Indiana, Cleveland, Chicago, and New York. And I've been out here 50 years now.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Well, actually, that gets into my next question, which is so you spent years on the Don Imus radio show, correct?

SPEAKER_03 5:42

Yeah. 112 years. Well, it was it was 35, but if you know IMAS, it's in black.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

So how did you get on there? Yeah, 35 years that was. I mean, because for our listeners, that was in a huge, huge market. So that's a that you know, being on that show was gigantic. So how did you get on there? Sure. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:06

Again, a long story that I'll try to keep shorter than the last one. My wife tells me, you know, you you stories are too long. So I'll try to cut it down. I was working in Cleveland uh at a radio station, WKYC, owned by NBC. And IMAS was in Cleveland at that time at a different radio station. He was doing mornings, I was doing afternoons at different stations, okay? He left there uh to go to New York. I hadn't met him at all, but he had left there to go to New York, and it turned out that my uh board operator, the guy who played the records in the you know, commercials and things like that, the engineer, called me uh uh after I came to New York, and he called me and said, um, no, I was in Chicago. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I had left Cleveland to gone to Chicago. I'm doing mornings in Chicago, Imus is doing mornings in New York, never met him again. He calls me and says, Would you I'd like you to do some bits on my show? Uh, you know, I've heard you do Nixon and Kissinger, you know, and Kennedy and all those things. Would you be interested in I said, I think so, yeah. So for a year, I never met him, but every morning uh uh when we both had newscasts on at the top of the hour, uh he would call me and say, let's do um let's do something today about uh this news story, you know, whatever was going on on the news, you know. You see, um there's a big story on the news about about Kissinger and Nixon, and let's do something about that. So I would just come up with a two and a half to three minute bit on that. Next day we might do, oh God, I know, Ross Perot or somebody. So we did that for a year, never had met him. Then I got an offer to come to New York and do a uh show at it at another radio station, WHN, did that, and for for a long time, that's that's what it was. And then I finally gave up my other job and was just doing commercials and the IMAS show. And the rest, as they say, is history.

SPEAKER_05 8:08

It's great. Um When did you discover that you were you could do these voices and stuff, you know? Like, did you practice and did you hear yourself? Someone said, Wow, you can do that character.

SPEAKER_03 8:22

Uh my mother. Your mom. Oh. Well, she she always told me, God rest your soul, that from the time I could talk, I would watch cartoon shows and things, and then turn around and do the voices. You know, she said, you were mimicking everybody. And then by the time I got into school, I discovered that that was not only fun to do, but the chicks loved it. It's a true thing that if if you're a young guy, if you can make a girl laugh, you're halfway there. You know? Yeah. So they're laughing or magic tricks, you know. Think about what you're up against. The rest of the schlubs in school, what are they gonna do? Right. So so that really that's how it came about. And and and uh so when I got into the radio gig then, I would incorporate them into my radio show. You know, I play a Beatles record and uh Tom Jones record, and then I maybe do a little comedy bit as uh as Richard Nixon, you know, or somebody like that, and play another uh another record. And I kept doing that all the way till I got to New York, and then the whole new world opened up to me, you know, cartoons and commercials and things like that. Well well, how I mean the little follower. Very shortly after that, very shortly after that, I said goodbye to radio and accept Ryman.

SPEAKER_05 9:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:44

And uh stopped doing my own radio show because I figured out figured that sitting there for four hours playing records was good money, don't get me wrong, but not the kind of money you can make doing commercials and cartoon shows and things like that.

SPEAKER_05 9:56

Well, what kind of cartoons did you grow up with watching, like the uh Rocky and Bullwinkle and everything and Onytunes?

SPEAKER_03 10:03

You mentioned my favorite show ever, Rocky and Bullwinkle. As a matter of fact, one of my characters on Thundercats is kind of something I kind of based on a character in Rocky and Bullwinkle. Do you do you remember? Um, well, you guys aren't old enough to remember. Well, you mentioned it, so you must be. Oh, we watch we watched them all. We love the stuff. You remember Snightly whiplash? Uh yes.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

Hello, Matton. I'm gonna tie you to the railroad track.

SPEAKER_03 10:29

Well, guess who that became on Thundercats? Jackal Man. We must get the Thundercats, yes. That's how it works. Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_05 10:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

So I love Rocky and Bullwinkle, though.

SPEAKER_05 10:46

I can I can do Rocky and Bullwinkle pretty good, so we'll have to. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Rocky lets me pull a rabbit out of my hat.

SPEAKER_04 10:53

It'll never work.

SPEAKER_03 10:55

I don't know. One of my favorite Bullwinkle things is uh Rocky picks uh finds in the water of all places uh fan mail. Uh no, he finds a letter bullwinkle. And bullwinkle says, fan mail from some flounder? All right, enough of that.

SPEAKER_05 11:18

Oh, that's fun. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Well, so how did you go from that because you mentioned it before, commercial acting? Because you were the voice of Count Chocula. So how do you transition from one to the other?

SPEAKER_03 11:31

There's no transitioning, really. It's all recorded. I mean, you know, oh, you mean from one character to another?

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Yeah, from one character to another. And in like at what point do you sit there and go, you know what? The commercials are good money. How can I get into that?

SPEAKER_05 11:46

Like, were you already doing Thundercats before you did the serial commercials?

SPEAKER_03 11:50

No, no, I was doing I was doing uh I got the job doing uh Coco Buffs first in 78. Oh. 1978. When the hell of a year's weren't around then where I was I was.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

I was I was around in 78. Oh, that's why you have gray hair.

SPEAKER_05 12:12

That's his Thomas Jefferson look for the 4th of July.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

It is. A little more like Martin Van Buren, I think, but uh yeah, in that area.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Um, it's just a running gang on the show. Everybody's just gonna make fun of my hair. I was saying George Washington, but if he's gonna put, we won't talk about it. No, no, no. I'm proud of the fact that in my 50s I still have a full head of hair. So people can feel free to make fun of me all they want.

SPEAKER_03 12:45

I got this big round bald spot. Imagine I feel at uh 79. We got a lot of this left. You don't look 79. Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Not back here, though. Oh, I don't want you.

SPEAKER_03 13:01

That's a good question.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Uh I was answering it and I got screwed up. Uh, Joe, just about commercial acting in general, getting into it.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

Uh yeah. Well, when I came to New York as a disc jockey, you know, now I I had been doing commercials for uh the other stations I had worked at in the smaller markets, you know, but those were usually for the local market, like in Cleveland, Higby's department store and things like that. And made some good money along the way. But when I got to New York, then you start having to audition for commercials, you know, with the big ad agencies. And because I was on the radio every morning doing these voices and stuff, I started getting my agent started getting calls, you know. Sending over an audition for this, sending over an audition for that. That's how I started. You mentioned uh Coco Puffs or Count Chocolate. I did I did Coco Puffs and Count Chocolate for 40 years, which is unheard of in this business. I mean, usually if you if if you get a commercial, uh a major commercial that's on the networks, you know, that's where you make the money on the TV networks. Um let's say you get a Chevy, a Chevy account, and you're the Chevy announcer, you know, you probably make you can make a cutter direct pair just from that, you know. Same with Coco Puffs, Count Chocolate. Anything that's on the on the network. So I got really lucky. I uh first it was the same ad agency that uh that did uh uh the Cocoa Puffs and Count Chocolate. They're General Mills, both General Mills cereals. And um so I went and auditioned for um Sonny the Cocoa Puffs Bird. The guy who had been doing it since I was a kid, Chuck McCann, had gone to Hollywood and was doing you know movies and things out there. So I became Sonny, the Coco Puffs bird, in 78th. A year later, they asked me to try out for uh Count Chocula. And uh of course I won that too.

SPEAKER_05 15:05

And uh what if if if Sonny the uh Coco Puff uh bird and uh Count Chocula were to have a conversation, what would that sound like?

SPEAKER_03 15:17

I don't know, I like to hear it too.

SPEAKER_04 15:24

I'll pay her, I won't go cocoa for Coco Puffs. Nobody cares about your Coco Puffs. Get out, you bastard.

SPEAKER_03 15:38

I'll give you I'll give you a little pure Sonny and then a little pure count, you know.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

I'll pay her, I won't go cocoa for Coco Puffs! Yahoo! I cocoo for You know like that.

SPEAKER_03 15:51

And uh Count Chocula was um oh, my favorite Count Chocula commercial was where I got to sing.

SPEAKER_04 15:57

Count Chocula cereal is coming your way. How about a monster for breakfast today? With chocolatey covered marshmallows in everybody.

SPEAKER_05 16:10

You did the Frankenberry a little bit too? No, no, I did not.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:22

Yeah. Yeah. I've also been doing um, I still do, after 25 years, uh one that you guys might know, might not know that it's been me doing it. But most people don't, because you know, uh uh on cartoons or TV shows or movies, there are credits at the end, you know, this voice provided by not on commercials. So most people don't know who's doing the commercials unless they're very attentive, you know. You know the Skittles commercials? Yeah. Where the guy at the end says, Be a little rainbow, taste the rainbow.

SPEAKER_05 16:58

Yeah. Nice. So cool. That's awesome. Thank you. So, how did you become involved with Thundercats? And what do you remember about auditioning for Lionel for the first time?

SPEAKER_03 17:14

Uh, my agent called one day and said, uh, tomorrow at 10, I'd like you to go to this address, the studio, and you're gonna be auditioning for a new animated series that will be recorded here in New York. And that was a big deal because up until that point, we're talking about 1985. All the almost all the cartoon shows were recorded in LA, you know, or Florida, Disney, you know. But this is the first one ever, I think, that was gonna be recorded in New York. So they it they auditioned 300 people here and 300 people in LA, and probably a couple in Chicago. Uh, and so you go there, I I went to the place where the auditions are gonna be. You walk in, and there's the walls are covered with um drawings of the characters and a paragraph underneath about each character and what they're all about, you know, Lionel is the Lord of the Thundercats and stuff like that. And then pictures of the Thunder tank and all that just to give you an idea what the show was gonna be like because we didn't know what the hell it was about, you know. And uh so then they asked us to um before we went into the booth when it was our turn to um pick one Thundercat that we want a new audition for, and uh one mutant, you know, the bad guys. So I knew right away I wanted to do Lionel, you know, because he was the Lord of the Thundercats. He was a star. So I think why not go you know, go home or go bigger, go home. So um um, so I I I auditioned for Lionel, and that voice, of course, is just my voice. They told us before we went in, we don't want for the Thundercats, we don't want cartoony voices, we want real people voices. For the mutants, the bad guys, go ahead, go nuts, you know, chew the scenery. That's because any actor will tell you they love playing bad guys, whether it's a movie or animated show or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 19:19

Could you get to just let it all out?

SPEAKER_03 19:22

You know, just go crazy. So I said, I saw the thing for Jackal Man, and I think I I think I tipped it off a little bit earlier when I said that I when I auditioned for Jack Wan, uh, I I channeled um Sniley Whiplash on uh Bullwinkle, rocking Bullwinkle. So I I went in and I did a couple of takes one as as Lionel and then one as Jack Wan. And then uh a couple days later the agent calls and says, Hey, you got this you got a job, you know, you're doing uh you're doing uh Thundercats. And then once we started recording, um they started auditioning us for other parts on the show too. There were only five of us in the cast, uh Thundercats, Silver Ox, Tiger Sharks, all those shows we did for Rankin Bass. Uh and hundreds of voices, you know. So as we went along and new characters were added or whatever, we had to audition again in the studio to uh to do the new voices.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

Hey, John. Oh, Josh. You know, not only is it wedding season, but back to school is right around the corner. I think it's really important that everyone have the absolute perfect haircut. Do you know a place where they could go?

SPEAKER_05 20:43

Yeah, I go at an old town barber shop in Summers, Connecticut.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

You mean the one relocated at 48 South Road, Route 83?

SPEAKER_05 20:51

Yes, it is. Uh and haircuts are only $20 to start.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

And their phone number, if you want to get up, call, 860-604-5949.

SPEAKER_05 21:00

And guess what? Now they have two barbers on duty, no waiting. And they also do beard trims. Yes, I went down there the other day, had a fresh new look. They trimmed my beard, they even used a straight razor. I'm all lined up everywhere, my neck is all good and I'm all uh nice and fresh, and uh I hate hair on my neck.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

I just gotta say, I mean, even though it's a very low bar, this is the best you have ever looked. I appreciate that. Thank you. Come on. Tell Jerry at Old Town Barbershop that double axe handle smash sent you. So you're making Thundercats. Did you have any idea at the time that, you know, 40 years later it still has these passionate fans, you know, like you know, where we you know, where we have 'em on DVD and Blu-ray and we, you know, we still watch 'em to this day.

SPEAKER_05 21:57

And we're waiting for a kind of action movie too.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 22:01

I still read the comic too. Do you? Good. Well, there's a whole new batch of them out now. I just signed 500 of the other, well, not the other day, but the other week, I signed 500 copies of uh new comic books.

SPEAKER_05 22:16

Yeah, they have uh uh uh Thundercats uh Silverhawk series right now going on. That's the newest one, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:22

Dynamite comics. Yep. It's just it's incredible how it's grown. I mean, my God. Um I go to these Comic Cons and I'm signing not only the old, you know, toys and action figures and things like that, the swords. I signed so many of those. The big heavy swords at all. And um and now the comic books and everything. But your question was, did we have any idea about the back in 1985? There's no way you could know. I mean, shortly after we started recording, we were having lunch one day and we were all talking about because everybody on the cast was a was a um a seasoned actor. You know, had been around a long time. And so you know what quality is and what quality is not, you know, what you know what shit is. Sometimes you say, okay, I'll take the job anyway. But we knew, we started talking about this show's got a chance to really make it. Writing was incredible for a car, you know. The music, get out of here, you know. As soon as we heard that, you know. Oh, that theme song, yeah, that made the show.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:36

And we had already recorded about ten episodes before we ever heard the music. Because uh in cartoons and other things, you you record the voices first. Uh you pretty much have to. It would it would be uh almost impossible to have them animated, and then you try to be in a booth and match your voice the voice to the lips. You know, I mean it would be take forever. So you record the voices first, and and uh after about we had recorded maybe uh eight or ten of them, uh director came in one day and said, I got a surprise for you, I've got the soundtrack, I've got the music. He fired that thing up, and we're all like, Jesus Christ. Yeah, it was incredible. And we knew that the writing was good, we knew we were good, the actors. And so we started saying this it's got a it's got a chance, but you never know in this business, man, because anywhere in entertainment, you could have the best writers and directors and actors and all that kind of stuff. But they're outside influences, for example, with a cartoon show, you make the greatest cartoon show in the world, but if the network you sell it to decides to put it on at five o'clock Saturday morning, you know, or 10 o'clock Monday night, it's not gonna be a hit. Right. And I always tell this story about when I f when I knew, first knew for sure it was a hit show. I went to, I was at uh Toys R Us. Remember them?

SPEAKER_05 25:06

Uh Toys R Us, didn't they have like a mascot, Jeffrey the Giraffe or something like that?

SPEAKER_03 25:10

Oh, yeah, something like that, yeah. Jeffrey the Giraffe. I'm so happy you remember that. How about you have a little stuffed one, don't you? I do. So I went to to uh Toys R Us a couple weeks before Christmas. Show had been on the air about a year. And the previous time to this I had been to Toys R Us, this I don't know, a few months earlier, and I noticed that we they had like one whole row on both sides of all Thundercats stuff. Action figures, Thunder Tank, all that stuff. And this time when I walked in, there's three aisles, all Thundercats. One aisle of He-Man. Son of a bitch. Oh, I'm joking, right? So I looked at that up and down three aisles, both sides, all Thundercats, and I said the show's a hit. Now, as I'm walking down one of the aisles, there are two little guys, maybe 10, 12, our target audience, you know. And I slowly walked by them. I'm sorry. I heard one of them say, I'm gonna be tigra. He's the cool one, you know. The other guy said, I'm gonna I'm gonna get Panther. I like Panther. I couldn't help myself. I stepped up and I said, Hey guys, why don't you be Lionel? You know, he's the one that goes, Sword of Omens, come to my hand. And they looked at me like I was, who is this pervert? Well, you think about it. Here's that middle-aged guy who walks up to two little boys and he's like, hey guy. So, no, so I just kind of started slinking away. And I heard him behind me, one of them said, Oh, wait a minute, I don't think I told. I said, You should get Lionel. He's the one that goes, Sword of Bowman, come to my hand. And as I'm walking away, I heard one of them say, he didn't even sound like Lionel. That was a moment I I I loved.

SPEAKER_05 27:28

Um you were uh Oh, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03 27:34

No, no, but it's okay.

SPEAKER_05 27:36

The the height of the Thundercats uh popularity, uh how often are have you ever like went and bought a whole bunch of the figures and toys of for your own collection, or do you have collections of your own?

SPEAKER_03 27:49

I don't really have a collection. Well, I have a little bit of one you can't see. I have a little uh my wife calls it my monument to Larry.

SPEAKER_05 27:59

It's a little table with you know uh I got something I want to show you. She gives you a little tiny space, huh? Um that's what we need.

SPEAKER_03 28:16

Isn't that cool?

SPEAKER_05 28:17

That's oh there's a sword in there too.

SPEAKER_03 28:21

And it's undergraphed by Larry Kennedy. And I got the I got the buttons of chocolate and cocoa plus too.

SPEAKER_05 28:37

She she lets you she only lets you have the little space, huh? What's that? She only lets you have the little space, huh? She doesn't let you have a big room. Oh yeah, well this is my this is my uh my office.

SPEAKER_03 28:51

I'm just kidding. She has she has her my little pony and her Hello Kitties and hers, and I have mine. No, no, she's not. She's uh she's a coal miner. Yeah. And uh, but not anymore. I you know, I wouldn't why would I have her keep working in the coal mines? Right. Yeah. No, she's times are tough, you know. She takes care of she she she is the uh secretary treasurer of my corporation. Oh which uh when we signed up, you know, my agent said, and my lawyer said, You need to do a personal services corporation for tax purposes, you know, otherwise they'll eat you alive. And so we did, and we're filling out the papers, and uh the lawyer says, Now, what what position do you want? Uh I said, President. Okay. And he said, Okay, you're president. And Carol, you'll be the secretary treasurer. I can't sign a check. I can't cash it. I thought I was, you know, doing a great thing. The first time I went to sign, Clara Kennedy, you're president. She said, no, no, no. That they won't cash that. Because you're listed. I'm listed as the Secretary Treasury.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

So when you were recording, did the cast usually record together or did you record separately?

SPEAKER_03 30:27

Always together. Always. We were all in the studio at the if one of us was in there, the other the rest of us were in there. With a few exceptions. Uh sometimes, like after we had recorded uh an episode and had gone to lunch, uh, our director uh might come over and say, uh, Larry, before we start again, would you come in and say, I just got a couple lines I want you to do over again, you know, something like that. But basically, we were all in the studio together, which is the way it always was and always should be, but it's not anymore. I'm still working. I mean, I I'm still I'm I'm doing uh Teen Titans Go. I'm on uh Pokemon.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

Who are you on Teen Titans Go?

SPEAKER_03 31:12

Heef, the guy in the wheelchair.

SPEAKER_04 31:15

Yes! Why you damn kids?

SPEAKER_03 31:20

Oh, come on. Typecasting. And on uh, if you're familiar with Pokemon Horizons, uh I'm Ludlow. The old guy with the well, all my characters are the old guy.

SPEAKER_05 31:38

Even when you were a young guy? Yes.

SPEAKER_03 31:43

Well, that's funny because when I was a young guy, I could do old guys, you know. And uh uh so back then I would do it if they wanted a 90-year-old guy, I I would do a 90-year-old guy, you know. If they wanted a 10-year-old, I said, well, I think I can do that. I think, as a matter of fact, uh Thundercats, the first two or three episodes, Lionel was a little boy, seven years old. And so I had to find they said they said first uh uh they being the producers, now we're thinking about getting a seven-year-old kid, you know, unless you want to try. And I said, Well, try.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

So I just said something like, gee, Snarf, I I don't know if I can be the lord of the Thundercats. I mean, that's pretty heavy, you know. Not bad.

SPEAKER_05 32:37

Do you have any um like like while you're recording with your castmates, do you have any like mm funny stories or any kind of stories that when you guys were in the room together? Any kind of did you guys ever play tricks on each other, kind of go off script when you guys weren't recording and kind of screw around and stuff?

SPEAKER_03 32:58

Or no.

SPEAKER_05 33:00

It was always serious.

SPEAKER_03 33:07

I know. I mean uh lovingly, you know. Uh oh yeah, uh Earl Hammond, who played Mumra, and among other characters, uh he was wonderful. And uh I know you guys are familiar with the show and the characters, so uh you you remember when Mumra would transform from you know to to he would go ancient spiritual evil transformistic, you know, like that. Well, you know how on the on the screen uh Mumrah would this green crap would come out of his drool and violent Earl did that, not the green, but when Earl started doing that, he would kind of slobber transform this decayed form into mumra. So we would all start backing away from the microphone. In fact, um I would got to the point where I would, as we were recording, I would kind of peek a couple of pages ahead all the time. And whatever I saw, oh Mumra's transforming. And I would warn the other people, it's coming up, it's coming up, so we could all kind of back away further from the microphone and away from his spittle. Uh and of course there were other fun things. I mean, it took us three years to record all the husband cats in Silverhouse. So we we we were together a long time. And of course, there are always funny moments. I can't recall any other single one, you know, but uh it was a great cast, a great group of people, and great engineers. The whole crew was great. We became like a family. I know you hear that all the time, but we really did. We had Christmas parties every year, and uh knew each other's kids and stuff. Because we worked together so so often, you know.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

So, do you ever find yourself just like in everyday life, like just going to the grocery store or something, and you slip into your lino mode? Like all of a sudden, like you you just become the Lord of the Thundercats, you know, with the cashier who's taking just that little bit too long to scan your items at the grocery store.

SPEAKER_04 35:36

You know who you're talking with, dealing with, son? Ring those things up. I've got no wrong to deal with on my car.

SPEAKER_03 35:43

No, I'm not, I really don't. I really don't. Mostly uh, my wife and I have this thing where we're incredible fans of Mel Brooks movies, and we find in our daily lives we're we're using lines from his movies, you know. Like she'll say, Um, I thought you were going to the store, and I'll say, Well, you're wrong, then why aren't you? You know, like it's time. Damn your eyes, all that kind of stuff. But I don't recall, no, I uh when people know who I am or whatever, uh they'll ask me to do the voices, you know. But I I no, I don't normally for one thing it's been so long that I'm afraid if I went up to somebody and said, guess who this is? Thunder!

SPEAKER_02 36:27

Thunder, I have no idea.

SPEAKER_03 36:29

You know, not everybody knows.

SPEAKER_05 36:31

So if they ask me, I'll do the voices. Oh, you gotta do the thunder, thunder, thundercats ho. You gotta no, I don't have to. I don't have to. Could you please do it, sir?

unknown 36:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 36:46

Now, most people, I always ask people at Comic Cons to do it with me. They get a kick out of that, you know. But I have to remind them that it's three thunders and then thundercats. Oh. Three. In other words, thunder!

SPEAKER_04 36:59

Thunder, thunder, thundercats, ho! I can't do it without putting my arm up in here.

SPEAKER_02 37:06

I don't know why.

SPEAKER_05 37:07

It's probably because of the chest and the whole you know, lifting things. Uh so the sword of omens is right here. We have it right here. What what what would you say to the sword of omens if you really wanted it? What do you say?

SPEAKER_03 37:24

First of all, that's not the sword of omens. That is the dagger of omens. I have one right here and that claw I showed you.

SPEAKER_04 37:30

Doesn't it look bigger when when you go thundercat? Excuse me.

SPEAKER_03 37:39

Uh no, no, um, but that's the one. That one is the one that was gonna get clawed. It'll get bigger, don't grow. So anyway, yeah, I signed a lot of those, and I signed a lot of the big, the great big one is heavy as hell. I like that you had the dagger there, though.

SPEAKER_05 38:10

What do you what would you like fans to remember most about you and your uh legacy uh as a voice artist?

SPEAKER_03 38:22

Gee, I don't know, I don't know. I uh I obviously I I would hope that to be remembered as uh uh a good actor, not just you know, somebody was on a cartoon show. Um not that all actors on cartoon shows aren't good actors. I would like to remember for somebody amongst the industry. I'm proud that I'm known, appreciated as uh a true professional. You know, I'm I'm always there on time, easy to work with and stuff. But for the general public, I just uh I hope they remember uh since I meet so many of my Comic Cons and things like that, you know, I just hope they remember that I'm uh I was a good guy. You know, that I was not some jerk because there's enough of those around. But no, I just you know I I love it when people on Facebook say I met Larry Kenning over the weekend, what a nice guy, you know, this and that. That's all. Nothing beyond that.

SPEAKER_00 39:22

So what projects and upcoming uh what projects are you working on now and any upcoming appearances you want to promote?

SPEAKER_03 39:29

Uh I have a I have a Comic-Con coming up in uh Des Moines, Iowa, not too in a month or so. But I don't know the exact dates. Um and I'm I'm still doing uh, as I said, um Pokemon Horizons and and um Teen Titans Go. Still doing Skittles and I'm still auditioning. As a matter of fact, I just before we before we started this, I got a uh email from my agent about auditioning for some other thing. Some other 50 to 60 year old guy in turn, 50 to 60 year old. Well, that's what I am, you know. But the funny thing is, I you know, I think people tend to think, even my agents, they think, well, he can do old, he can, he's an old guy, so he can do old guy voices, you know. But they don't they don't uh send me to auditions for you know young veral men or anything like that anymore.

SPEAKER_05 40:26

All right, so our last segment here um is called Rapid Fire Smash. And so we're just gonna ask you the 10 quick questions, and you're just gonna give us the uh fastest answer. You don't you can uh expand on it if you want, like a sentence or so. But uh we'll just uh we'll just go, Josh.

SPEAKER_00 40:48

All right. Just first thing, first thing comes to my mind. Yep. So what is the weirdest thing anybody has ever asked you to autograph?

SPEAKER_03 40:58

Their breast. Uh young woman, uh a young couple, uh one of the first Comic-Cons I ever did in New Jersey. Um this is 12, 15 years ago. I had just started doing these and I was not sure what to expect, you know. But I had my son, my at the time about 15, sitting next to me, and this really nice young couple, attractive young couple came up, and she kind of leaned over to me and said, you know, across the table, she said, Would you sign my breast? And I said, No, I said, I looked around and said, um, I I would really, but there's children here, and you know, her husband leans in and says, We can go out in our van and do it. This is a very modern young couple, you know. So I said, I tell you what. If I do this, so I lifted up her t-shirt and I signed it across her belly. Yeah. She looked. And and like lots of other people when they asked for my autograph on their body, they plan to have it tattooed over. Which is kind of neat, I think.

SPEAKER_00 42:12

Right, that's pretty cool. I like that. Actually, it was our second.

SPEAKER_05 42:16

I was gonna say, have you ever had an autograph turn into a tattoo? That was the second one.

unknown 42:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:23

Yeah. Did the people in the van have candy?

SPEAKER_03 42:29

He's sick, isn't he? I don't I love it. Oh Josh. Other than that, I don't remember anything uh uh uh out unusual or outlandish that they asked me to see. What's your favorite? I hate to think of it. It might be better.

SPEAKER_00 42:47

What's the favorite voice you did on the Dynama show?

SPEAKER_03 42:51

Nixon. Richard Nixon. He was the president for you guys. Matter of fact, uh it became pretty famous when I would say, I'm a send the morning. Hi there, Dono. Nixon was always fun to do. Uh Teddy, I did a lot of Teddy Kennedy. Yes, well, we'll uh we'll cross that ridge when we come to it.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

I mean um, that one just sunk in.

SPEAKER_05 43:28

Uh is Bigfoot real.

SPEAKER_03 43:34

One of them is. His left foot, I believe. Uh I don't think so. I don't think so. I just made up a joke. I think Bigfoot is not real. Yeti. Yet Okay, it's been nice talking to you. You guys.

SPEAKER_00 44:01

That was great. So are I tell my are aliens real?

SPEAKER_05 44:11

Do you believe in the possibility that we're not alone?

SPEAKER_03 44:14

I believe in I believe we're not alone. I believe we're not the only creatures. It can't be. It can't be. And I don't not sure that they're people with enlarged heads and big eyes and like that, but I think there's something out there. And there's something going on.

SPEAKER_05 44:28

So if if aliens are real, then would you rather have the sword of omens or the thunder tank?

SPEAKER_03 44:38

I'd rather have the thunder tank because the sword's heavy as hell. Look at this is what happened to me after after uh 40 years of carrying that damn sword around. I used to be six and a half feet tall.

unknown 44:52

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 44:53

Beautiful red hair. I saw pictures. I'd take the thunder tank and I'd have it lowered in the rear, you know, and bouncy things. Where they Hispanic community, they have those cars that bounce up and down. Yeah, yeah. Uh Lowriders. Lowriders. Lowriders. No rider.

SPEAKER_05 45:18

Oh my. Can I have Panther on back in? No, you do. So the best Indiana Jones movie.

SPEAKER_03 45:32

Uh I always think the first one would be the best. But you know, I I mean it probably holds true in this case too. I don't know. With movies, you know, I I have this thing about I really don't like it. It doesn't make me angry, but it makes me uncomfortable to think about what's your favorite. What would you give that movie? I don't I don't place an order on where I like something. You know, was this better than that or whatever? Uh if I like it, I like it. You know, not bail with it.

SPEAKER_05 46:10

We'll skip the next question.

SPEAKER_00 46:13

Um and uh here there is uh Okay, this next question, there is a correct answer. Okay, that so just to be clear, that this is a clear, cool one where it must be answered correctly. So, but I will let him answer. Him ask.

SPEAKER_05 46:35

Does pineapple belong on a pizza?

SPEAKER_06 46:38

No! Are you kidding me? Although I'm gonna face I quit.

SPEAKER_04 46:47

I quit.

SPEAKER_03 46:51

You and me, Josh. That's right. I just noticed your t-shirt. I like that t-shirt. What are you wearing? I got good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:00

We dressed for we dressed for the role. You're then. Hey, paid $500 for the sword, too.

unknown 47:07

Shh.

SPEAKER_05 47:08

Don't tell my wife.

SPEAKER_03 47:10

For that sword you paid $500.

SPEAKER_00 47:16

If you had bought it with my signature on it, it would have cost you $500. As a married man, my wife is indulgent to a certain point. If I if I went and said, hey yeah, hon, I just paid $500 for this, it her answer would be, get out of our house. Oh, what I meant to say is get out of my house.

SPEAKER_05 47:42

Love it. So uh that will do it, and I really appreciate Larry Kenny for coming on the show. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. You are a legend. Yeah, thank you for coming on. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 48:00

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you guys. I really had a good time. You know, uh do a lot of these, and you guys always had your stuff together, and uh it's always fun for me when that when that happens. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Um thanks everybody for watching Thundercats, all the other stuff. I appreciate it. I always like to say that uh if it weren't for the fans watching it, you know, what's the point? You know, I'd be a nobody. Like I shouldn't even have I should have just stopped, but thank you everybody.

SPEAKER_05 48:34

I appreciate it, thank you so much. And um, yeah, thank you. So for Johnny O and Josh O. We are out, everybody.

SPEAKER_07 48:44

Oh thank you for listening to the show. Join us on our YouTube channel. Double X Handle Smash, as well as BuzzerPow, as well as Spotify, Amazon Music, and Apple Podcast and Market. If you wanna sponsor us, please contact us at Double X on handle Smash XJBand.com.