From: ngsippel@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu
Date: 11 Oct 93 20:55:10 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.tv.ren-n-stimpy,rec.arts.animation
Subject: Billy West Speaks At Miami University


Greetings R&S Fans!

This article is about the latest news on R&S, and a lot of 
information that doesn't quite fit the R&S FAQ.  Please get a copy of 
this article now because it won't be reposted (unless I get a ton of 
posted requests).  Enjoy!

By the way, my comments are in ().


Section I: Wild Cartoon Kingdom

I just got the special collector's edition of WCK.  It is jammed pack 
of good info. about Batman: The Animated Series as well as the 
"actual" (biased) story about R&S.

On a quick note, Bruce Timm, a big shot on BTAS, worked with John 
Kricfalusi (the creator of R&S) in 1987 and 1988 on "Beany and Cecil" 
and "The New Adventures Of Mighty Mouse."  (He almost looks to John 
K. as an idol in some respects.)

Overall, the article of R&S is very good, and the pictures are 
fantastic.  A must buy!  Some points of interest:

[1] The fan letters.  Very interesting.  WCK claims that the Muddy 
Mudskipper song goes "without breaking his knees" rather than 
"scraping his knees."  Which is it?

[2] DYN: John K. is Lithuanian!

[3] Get a load of the horse manure Gerry Laybourne says to Bob Camp's 
staff after they take over the show.  Also look what happens to Roy, 
a person who helped engineer the takeover of R&S after John K.

[4] The addresses for Nick and WCK: Send in those letters!!!!!!


Section II: The R&S Kellogg Products

Frosted Mini-Wheats:  Free SNICK Keychain with 2 UPC Codes (Proofs Of
                      Purchase).  The cereal needs sugar! :)
Corn Pops:  R&S Shorts Offer.  2 UPC Codes and $6.95.

Any other products?


Section III: The Billy West Talk

Wednesday, October 6, 1993 at 7:30pm (for 3.5 hours!)

    Billy West opened his speech by mentioning he worked with Howard 
Stern and does advertisements (voice-overs) for AT&T.  For his first 
voice, he did the R&S answering machine (Stimpy says, "I usually 
answer the vacuum cleaner!").  Billy also imitated the Warner 
Brothers characters (not YW&D:) very well !!

    Billy was born in Detroit in 1950.  He learned his art from 
mimicking commercials and singers from the radio (he does Casey Kasem 
and Elvis impressions here).  He credits Mel Blanc (WB), Daws Butler 
(HB), and Don Messic (spelling?) (HB) as his inspirations.  In 1963, 
his family moved to Boston, and in 1966, became a guitar player.  
During his time with bands, he became obsessed with alcohol and drugs 
(although he continued it during the early 1980s).  In 1970, he made 
fun of another band he saw, Aerosmith (!), when he went to Berkley 
School (I don't exact title--wrote it quick).

    During the 1970s, he played with bands, and during technical 
difficulties, he would do impressions to keep the crowd happy.  After 
Billy realized his talent, so in 1978, he started doing stand-up.  
Unlike other stand-up comedians, he didn't have a set 
script--anything he thought up (especially when alcohol-induced), he 
did.  The crowd's response was mediocre, so he thought he might've 
failed---but no!  He gave a friend a tape of his voices, and the tape 
got him at job at WBCN as a morning producer.

    In 1985, Billy cleaned up.  In the speech, he mentions that three 
years of his life are completely blank to him.  And now, more than 
ever, he wanted to get beyond radio.

    Andy Pale (currently a WB producer) let Billy West meet Ruth and 
Bob Clampett.  The Clampetts wanted to a remake of the 1960s show 
Beany and Cecil (actually based on the live action show of the 
1940s).  (At this point, he went on about the early history of B&C.)  
Basically, B&C had its four main characters: Beany (the young boy), 
Cecil (the sea-sick serpent), Capt. Huff-N-Puff (Beany's uncle), and 
Dishonest John (you guessed it--the villian).  At this point in the 
speech, Billy showed a B&C cartoon: "Clambo" (it credited TTA and 
BTAS writer Paul Dini for writing it!).  (By the way, the 'toon gets 
**** out of four stars--it was funny!)  He mentioned that John K. was 
an animator on the show (I thought he was a director!).  Billy was 
the star of B&C, doing most of the voices.

    (Well, like the current Nick situation,) ABC had its own brand of 
infighting between the animators and the network.  (Remember, this 
was during the time of crappy cartoons.)  One minute someone was 
kissing butt, and the next this person was talking bad about the 
person who he/she kissed butt! :(  After 6 episodes. Bob Clampett's 
dream went into the toilet.

    Billy West continued on talking about how John K. went onto 
Mighty Mouse and its new look and feel.  He mentioned that John K. is 
preoccupied in his own world and always had creative exchanges with 
him.

    In 1989, Billy felt defeated and went back to radio.  This time, 
he moved to New York, where he worked with Howard Stern.  (Billy also 
mentions his encounters with his idol, Jackson Beck, an newsreel 
narrator and Bluto from Popeye.)  Basically at this point, Billy does 
some voices from the show and talks about the first Stern T.V. show.  
For the second clip of the night, he showed a piece where he played 
Frank Sinatra having Alzheimers.  Billy talked about how develops 
voices (by playing around with a starter voice and changing it) and 
how he got his Honey Nut Cheerios Bee job.  The clip was shown, a 
commercial for Honey Nut Cheerios.  He also made a joke about the new 
gay sitcom coming this fall: "Honey and Nuts." :)  He mentioned you 
_must_ sell the product to keep your job.


                           THE NICK STORY

    In 1990, Billy worked for HBO's Comedy Channel as their official 
spokesman for voiceovers and commercials (like doing a commercial for 
Mystery Science Theater).  Jim Jenkins, a producer, told Billy West 
of a new show he was creating for Nickelodeon.  The show was "Doug," 
and Billy tried out for the two top voices and got them both.  (Billy 
turns on the slide projector now for slides of Doug.)  Both of the 
top voices, Doug and Roger (Doug's nemisis), are supposed to be 
anti-Bart Simpsons.  The second (and the final Doug) slide was Doug 
writing in his journal, and Billy West (in Doug voice) said,

            "Dear Diary: Today, I learned about condoms!"

    Billy became excited at the idea of Doug, because it was a part 
of Nickelodeon's attempt to bring back the animation industry.  Can 
Nick save us from the doom of Saturday morning dreck?  He did mention 
that the industry went miniacture crazy (ie, Scooby Doo, Flintstones, 
Roseanne Barr, and Muppets).

    When John K. first showed Billy West "Ren and Stimpy," (now 
abbreviated R&S) he asked, "What are they?  Microbes?"  At this 
point, Billy began showing slides of the "Fire Dogs" storyboard and 
accompianied it with voices and explanations.  "Fire Dogs," in Billy 
West's opinion, is a depression era comedy.

    During Christmas 1992, John K. was at war with Nickelodeon 
(abbreviated Nick) and was visiting Billy.  John had it with Nick and 
vowed not to do any of the voices for R&S, ie, Ren and Mr. Horse.  
Originally, Billy West was to do both R&S in 1990.  But some Nick 
executive thought it was too much for him to do.

    Every character on every show made has an entry in a character 
bible.  It describes the character's traits, likes, etc.  Stimpy's 
character bible includes "gullable and naive."  Ren's bible includes 
"high-strung and manipulative."

    The voice of Stimpy was based on Larry Fine.  West's Larry Fine 
is based on a "depressed old Jewish guy."  Ren is based on a mixture 
of Peter Lorre, "South of the Border," Kirk Douglas, and Burl Ives.
(To shorten this article, all current info in the FAQ about Douglas 
and Ives is corroborated here.)

    The voices of R&S are listed here:

    Stimpy...................................Billy West
    Ren Hoek.................................John K./Billy West
    Sci-Fi Announcer ("Space Madness").......Billy West
    The Ghost/Stinky The Fart................Billy West
    Seagull ("Untamed World")................Billy West
    Sven Hoek................................Billy West
    Husband (Mr. Pipe).......................Billy West
    Mr. Horse................................John K.
    Fire Chief ("Fire Dogs").................Harris Peet

(One not mentioned in the talk:
    Muddy Mudskipper.........................Harris Peet.)

    Billy West mentions the new R&S CDs and the home video of "Son Of 
Stimpy."  He mentioned that Stinky The Fart's voice is based on Paul 
Tsongus (from the 1992 democratic national convention).

    NEW EPISODES FOR SEASON 3:

    Billy claimed that season 3 will have the balance of season 1 and 
the craziness of season 2.

    - An episode about the Fireman's obsession with midgets.
    - Stimpy gets so obsessed with his belly button that he
       falls into himself and meets Jimmy The Belly Button
       Elf (played by Gilbert Godfrey)
    - "Ren's Pecs" Stimpy's buttfat is transplanted into Ren's
       shoulder area, and Ren becomes famous.
    - Stimpy wants to become a cartoonist and begs Wilbur Cobb,
       The King Of Cartoons (a rotting hunk of meat and mushrooms),
       to judge his work.  Wilbur is based partially on Walt Disney.

    At this point, Billy West goes into the Censorship groups' 
agendas and the popularity of the Simpsons.  Beavis and Butthead, in 
his opinion, is a mirror of society (gosh, I hope not).  The final 
clip of the evening is R&S speaking Japanese in "Space Madness."  
(Hearing "You bloated sack of protoplasm" translated is very funny!  
By the way, American idioms, like glazed ham, got translated into 
itself!  [Billy said, "A cantoloupe costs $500 over there...just 
think if they had glazed ham!"])  Currently, Japanese and German 
versions of R&S are being tested, but the emotion of the show is 
lacking.  To Nick's test marketing, German kids didn't like R&S (but 
I do, and I am German!:).

    Billy West closed his speech and answered questions.

    Q: What is log based on?

    A: Slinky and Lincoln Logs.

    My Question: What was cut out of "Sven Hoek" and "Fake Dad"?

    A: (He went off the subject slightly here).
       Powdered Toast Man fell after 3 complaints were registered
       with the FCC (this was corroborated with WCK).

       Billy West, did fortunately, described fairly well, "Man's
       Best Friend."  He claimed to have a copy for himself(!).
       He said it will probably come back because Nick spent $500,000
       for it.  The usual episode costs $400,000 (and I think he
       compared this with Murphy Brown at $60,000 per episode).

    He mentions here that "You Eediot!," R&S's new CD, debuted on
    Billboard a couple week's back at # 184.  Muchmusic's #1 song
    last week was the "Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen" theme.

    Q: Is the Fart voice the same as the Ghost?

    A: Yes.

    Q: Will there be a Ren and Stimpy movie?

    A: Nick is talking about having cartoons before movies than a
       R&S movie.

    Comment from the audience: I liked the black and white scene in
       "Haunted House."

    A: John K. would disagree strongly with you.

    Q: Who does all the paintings?

    A: Bill Wray.  He is classically trained in Europe.

    My Second and Last Question: When is new R&S coming out?  And
       when is John K.'s new shows are coming out?

    A: November 20 for new R&S.  John K. is coming out with "He Hog
       The Atomic Pig" (storyboards are ready) and "The Ripping
       Friends."


There was a lot more than I wrote here that happened, but usenet 
cannot create the impressions, the laughter, or the personality of 
Billy West.  It was a great time!  Before I sign off, I want to thank 
Billy West for coming to Miami and sharing himself with everyone!

Also, any Trademarks and Copyrights are acknowledged here.  Please 
use this document for informational purposes only.  I hereby make 
this document welcomed for copying as long as I get credit and this 
disclaimer stays on.  All comments not in parenthesis aren't mine, 
but recreations of the dialog.  Any opinions are not of Miami 
University.

-- 
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"Happy Happy Joy Joy!!" "Hello Nurse!"  Norman G. Sippel
 -- Stimpy               -- Yakko       ngsippel@miavx2.ham.muohio.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------
            This .Sig Was Dumber Than Advertised :)

