Billy West is a man with many voices in his head, and he’s made an astounding career out of it. He started his career on the radio at WBCN in Boston where he made personal friends with artists like Peter Wolf from the J. Geils Band and Aerosmith before they hit it big! Then he headed down to New York where he joined the Howard Stern show doing famous voices like Marge Schott, amongst others, and even played Bugs Bunny in Space Jam with Michael Jordan.
Billy has done so many voices you know like the Red M&M for the tv commercials that there are too many for me to list so just check this from his bio on his website:
“Billy West is an American voice actor, musician, and former radio personality known for his voice roles as Bugs Bunny in the 1996 film Space Jam and several subsequent projects, the title characters of Doug and The Ren & Stimpy Show, as well as the Futurama characters Philip J. Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Dr. Zoidberg, Zapp Brannigan, and many more. In commercials, he voices the Red M&M and formerly voiced Buzz for Honey Nut Cheerios. West also voices other established characters such as Elmer Fudd, Popeye, Shaggy Rogers, Skeets, Muttley, and Woody Woodpecker. He was a cast member on The Howard Stern Show, during which time he was noted for his impressions of Larry Fine, Marge Schott, George Takei, and Jackie Martling.------------------------------
BIO FROM HIS WEBSITE: BillyWest.com
Billy West was born in 1952 in Detroit, Michigan. Best known for his work on Ren & Stimpy, Futurama and Looney Toons, West has a career in radio and television that began in the 1980′s when he did comedic impersonations for Charles Laquidara’s Big Mattress morning show on Boston’s WBCN FM radio network. By the mid-90s, he had moved to doing impersonations of Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott on The Howard Stern Show, giving him greater exposure. From there, West became involved with the Nickelodeon shows Doug and Ren & Stimpy. Portraying the title characters on both shows, Billy West saw his voiceover work reach an even larger, yet younger audience.This led to Warner Bros. hiring him for the film Space Jam in 1996. Featuring Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan and the cast of Looney Tunes, West voiced Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, two characters whom he has sporadically voiced throughout the next decade. He is also known for his portrayal of Philip J. Fry on the cartoon Futurama, which began in 1999 and has continued on through a number of changes through 2012 and currently airs on Comedy Central.
In addition he is also the voice of the iconic Red M&M.
He’s also played guitar with Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Roy Orbison, and more.
After many requests for Billy to do a podcast, and ultimately much psychic pressure, he finally capitulated. Listen to all the personalities and characters roaming the mindscape of his cranial structure. He’ll be joined by call-in guests of international renown, musicians performing and exploring musical genres from the past to the present, and much, much more.”
Hear my interview with Billy, and so many of his voices, on our podcast page here.
And I always love seeing the people behind the voices, doing the voices where I can watch them. So here’s 2 of the greatest animation voices alive, Billy West and Jim Cummings together on one podcast:
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