281 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
281 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
From: ngsippel@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu
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Date: 11 Oct 93 20:55:10 GMT
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Newsgroups: alt.tv.ren-n-stimpy,rec.arts.animation
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Subject: Billy West Speaks At Miami University
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Greetings R&S Fans!
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This article is about the latest news on R&S, and a lot of
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information that doesn't quite fit the R&S FAQ. Please get a copy of
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this article now because it won't be reposted (unless I get a ton of
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posted requests). Enjoy!
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By the way, my comments are in ().
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Section I: Wild Cartoon Kingdom
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I just got the special collector's edition of WCK. It is jammed pack
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of good info. about Batman: The Animated Series as well as the
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"actual" (biased) story about R&S.
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On a quick note, Bruce Timm, a big shot on BTAS, worked with John
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Kricfalusi (the creator of R&S) in 1987 and 1988 on "Beany and Cecil"
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and "The New Adventures Of Mighty Mouse." (He almost looks to John
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K. as an idol in some respects.)
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Overall, the article of R&S is very good, and the pictures are
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fantastic. A must buy! Some points of interest:
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[1] The fan letters. Very interesting. WCK claims that the Muddy
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Mudskipper song goes "without breaking his knees" rather than
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"scraping his knees." Which is it?
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[2] DYN: John K. is Lithuanian!
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[3] Get a load of the horse manure Gerry Laybourne says to Bob Camp's
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staff after they take over the show. Also look what happens to Roy,
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a person who helped engineer the takeover of R&S after John K.
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[4] The addresses for Nick and WCK: Send in those letters!!!!!!
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Section II: The R&S Kellogg Products
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Frosted Mini-Wheats: Free SNICK Keychain with 2 UPC Codes (Proofs Of
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Purchase). The cereal needs sugar! :)
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Corn Pops: R&S Shorts Offer. 2 UPC Codes and $6.95.
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Any other products?
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Section III: The Billy West Talk
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Wednesday, October 6, 1993 at 7:30pm (for 3.5 hours!)
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Billy West opened his speech by mentioning he worked with Howard
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Stern and does advertisements (voice-overs) for AT&T. For his first
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voice, he did the R&S answering machine (Stimpy says, "I usually
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answer the vacuum cleaner!"). Billy also imitated the Warner
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Brothers characters (not YW&D:) very well !!
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Billy was born in Detroit in 1950. He learned his art from
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mimicking commercials and singers from the radio (he does Casey Kasem
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and Elvis impressions here). He credits Mel Blanc (WB), Daws Butler
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(HB), and Don Messic (spelling?) (HB) as his inspirations. In 1963,
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his family moved to Boston, and in 1966, became a guitar player.
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During his time with bands, he became obsessed with alcohol and drugs
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(although he continued it during the early 1980s). In 1970, he made
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fun of another band he saw, Aerosmith (!), when he went to Berkley
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School (I don't exact title--wrote it quick).
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During the 1970s, he played with bands, and during technical
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difficulties, he would do impressions to keep the crowd happy. After
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Billy realized his talent, so in 1978, he started doing stand-up.
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Unlike other stand-up comedians, he didn't have a set
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script--anything he thought up (especially when alcohol-induced), he
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did. The crowd's response was mediocre, so he thought he might've
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failed---but no! He gave a friend a tape of his voices, and the tape
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got him at job at WBCN as a morning producer.
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In 1985, Billy cleaned up. In the speech, he mentions that three
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years of his life are completely blank to him. And now, more than
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ever, he wanted to get beyond radio.
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Andy Pale (currently a WB producer) let Billy West meet Ruth and
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Bob Clampett. The Clampetts wanted to a remake of the 1960s show
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Beany and Cecil (actually based on the live action show of the
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1940s). (At this point, he went on about the early history of B&C.)
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Basically, B&C had its four main characters: Beany (the young boy),
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Cecil (the sea-sick serpent), Capt. Huff-N-Puff (Beany's uncle), and
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Dishonest John (you guessed it--the villian). At this point in the
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speech, Billy showed a B&C cartoon: "Clambo" (it credited TTA and
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BTAS writer Paul Dini for writing it!). (By the way, the 'toon gets
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**** out of four stars--it was funny!) He mentioned that John K. was
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an animator on the show (I thought he was a director!). Billy was
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the star of B&C, doing most of the voices.
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(Well, like the current Nick situation,) ABC had its own brand of
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infighting between the animators and the network. (Remember, this
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was during the time of crappy cartoons.) One minute someone was
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kissing butt, and the next this person was talking bad about the
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person who he/she kissed butt! :( After 6 episodes. Bob Clampett's
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dream went into the toilet.
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Billy West continued on talking about how John K. went onto
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Mighty Mouse and its new look and feel. He mentioned that John K. is
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preoccupied in his own world and always had creative exchanges with
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him.
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In 1989, Billy felt defeated and went back to radio. This time,
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he moved to New York, where he worked with Howard Stern. (Billy also
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mentions his encounters with his idol, Jackson Beck, an newsreel
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narrator and Bluto from Popeye.) Basically at this point, Billy does
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some voices from the show and talks about the first Stern T.V. show.
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For the second clip of the night, he showed a piece where he played
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Frank Sinatra having Alzheimers. Billy talked about how develops
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voices (by playing around with a starter voice and changing it) and
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how he got his Honey Nut Cheerios Bee job. The clip was shown, a
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commercial for Honey Nut Cheerios. He also made a joke about the new
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gay sitcom coming this fall: "Honey and Nuts." :) He mentioned you
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_must_ sell the product to keep your job.
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THE NICK STORY
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In 1990, Billy worked for HBO's Comedy Channel as their official
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spokesman for voiceovers and commercials (like doing a commercial for
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Mystery Science Theater). Jim Jenkins, a producer, told Billy West
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of a new show he was creating for Nickelodeon. The show was "Doug,"
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and Billy tried out for the two top voices and got them both. (Billy
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turns on the slide projector now for slides of Doug.) Both of the
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top voices, Doug and Roger (Doug's nemisis), are supposed to be
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anti-Bart Simpsons. The second (and the final Doug) slide was Doug
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writing in his journal, and Billy West (in Doug voice) said,
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"Dear Diary: Today, I learned about condoms!"
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Billy became excited at the idea of Doug, because it was a part
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of Nickelodeon's attempt to bring back the animation industry. Can
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Nick save us from the doom of Saturday morning dreck? He did mention
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that the industry went miniacture crazy (ie, Scooby Doo, Flintstones,
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Roseanne Barr, and Muppets).
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When John K. first showed Billy West "Ren and Stimpy," (now
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abbreviated R&S) he asked, "What are they? Microbes?" At this
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point, Billy began showing slides of the "Fire Dogs" storyboard and
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accompianied it with voices and explanations. "Fire Dogs," in Billy
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West's opinion, is a depression era comedy.
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During Christmas 1992, John K. was at war with Nickelodeon
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(abbreviated Nick) and was visiting Billy. John had it with Nick and
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vowed not to do any of the voices for R&S, ie, Ren and Mr. Horse.
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Originally, Billy West was to do both R&S in 1990. But some Nick
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executive thought it was too much for him to do.
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Every character on every show made has an entry in a character
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bible. It describes the character's traits, likes, etc. Stimpy's
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character bible includes "gullable and naive." Ren's bible includes
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"high-strung and manipulative."
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The voice of Stimpy was based on Larry Fine. West's Larry Fine
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is based on a "depressed old Jewish guy." Ren is based on a mixture
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of Peter Lorre, "South of the Border," Kirk Douglas, and Burl Ives.
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(To shorten this article, all current info in the FAQ about Douglas
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and Ives is corroborated here.)
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The voices of R&S are listed here:
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Stimpy...................................Billy West
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Ren Hoek.................................John K./Billy West
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Sci-Fi Announcer ("Space Madness").......Billy West
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The Ghost/Stinky The Fart................Billy West
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Seagull ("Untamed World")................Billy West
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Sven Hoek................................Billy West
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Husband (Mr. Pipe).......................Billy West
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Mr. Horse................................John K.
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Fire Chief ("Fire Dogs").................Harris Peet
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(One not mentioned in the talk:
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Muddy Mudskipper.........................Harris Peet.)
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Billy West mentions the new R&S CDs and the home video of "Son Of
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Stimpy." He mentioned that Stinky The Fart's voice is based on Paul
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Tsongus (from the 1992 democratic national convention).
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NEW EPISODES FOR SEASON 3:
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Billy claimed that season 3 will have the balance of season 1 and
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the craziness of season 2.
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- An episode about the Fireman's obsession with midgets.
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- Stimpy gets so obsessed with his belly button that he
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falls into himself and meets Jimmy The Belly Button
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Elf (played by Gilbert Godfrey)
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- "Ren's Pecs" Stimpy's buttfat is transplanted into Ren's
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shoulder area, and Ren becomes famous.
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- Stimpy wants to become a cartoonist and begs Wilbur Cobb,
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The King Of Cartoons (a rotting hunk of meat and mushrooms),
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to judge his work. Wilbur is based partially on Walt Disney.
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At this point, Billy West goes into the Censorship groups'
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agendas and the popularity of the Simpsons. Beavis and Butthead, in
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his opinion, is a mirror of society (gosh, I hope not). The final
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clip of the evening is R&S speaking Japanese in "Space Madness."
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(Hearing "You bloated sack of protoplasm" translated is very funny!
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By the way, American idioms, like glazed ham, got translated into
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itself! [Billy said, "A cantoloupe costs $500 over there...just
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think if they had glazed ham!"]) Currently, Japanese and German
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versions of R&S are being tested, but the emotion of the show is
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lacking. To Nick's test marketing, German kids didn't like R&S (but
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I do, and I am German!:).
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Billy West closed his speech and answered questions.
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Q: What is log based on?
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A: Slinky and Lincoln Logs.
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My Question: What was cut out of "Sven Hoek" and "Fake Dad"?
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A: (He went off the subject slightly here).
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Powdered Toast Man fell after 3 complaints were registered
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with the FCC (this was corroborated with WCK).
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Billy West, did fortunately, described fairly well, "Man's
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Best Friend." He claimed to have a copy for himself(!).
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He said it will probably come back because Nick spent $500,000
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for it. The usual episode costs $400,000 (and I think he
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compared this with Murphy Brown at $60,000 per episode).
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He mentions here that "You Eediot!," R&S's new CD, debuted on
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Billboard a couple week's back at # 184. Muchmusic's #1 song
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last week was the "Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen" theme.
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Q: Is the Fart voice the same as the Ghost?
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A: Yes.
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Q: Will there be a Ren and Stimpy movie?
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A: Nick is talking about having cartoons before movies than a
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R&S movie.
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Comment from the audience: I liked the black and white scene in
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"Haunted House."
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A: John K. would disagree strongly with you.
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Q: Who does all the paintings?
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A: Bill Wray. He is classically trained in Europe.
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My Second and Last Question: When is new R&S coming out? And
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when is John K.'s new shows are coming out?
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A: November 20 for new R&S. John K. is coming out with "He Hog
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The Atomic Pig" (storyboards are ready) and "The Ripping
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Friends."
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There was a lot more than I wrote here that happened, but usenet
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cannot create the impressions, the laughter, or the personality of
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Billy West. It was a great time! Before I sign off, I want to thank
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Billy West for coming to Miami and sharing himself with everyone!
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Also, any Trademarks and Copyrights are acknowledged here. Please
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use this document for informational purposes only. I hereby make
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this document welcomed for copying as long as I get credit and this
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disclaimer stays on. All comments not in parenthesis aren't mine,
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but recreations of the dialog. Any opinions are not of Miami
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University.
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--
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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"Happy Happy Joy Joy!!" "Hello Nurse!" Norman G. Sippel
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-- Stimpy -- Yakko ngsippel@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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This .Sig Was Dumber Than Advertised :)
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