MomoCon 2014: Animaniacs Cast Reunion Interview and Panel

The cast of the 90s animated show Animaniacs reunited at this year's MomoCon in Atlanta. The anime and video game convention brought together a very impressive guest list for the event that just happened to include voice actors Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell and Tress Macneille who voiced Yakko, Wakko and Dot, respectively. Pinky & The Brain fans were also in for a treat with Maurice LaMarche voice of The Brain present along with his partner Pinky, who was also voiced by Rob Paulsen and the writer and composer for both shows, Randy Rogel. The group was featured on their own separate panel over the weekend to share their thoughts on working together on the popular cartoon series, some behind-the-scenes stories and more. Read on for an excerpt.


How did you guys get to be the voices on the show?

Jess Harnell: Oh man, well it was different for all of us. Myself, I went in and auditioned initially at my agency. They had a bunch of parts for the show and

Tress Macneille as Dot: Charity...

Jess Harnell: Yeah charity. Thank you honey. They said that Steven Spielberg was involved, and I'm like, "I've heard of him!" So they said, "Can you pick a few verses to read?" So I did Wakko, and I have no idea what I did; it was just some crazy cartoon voice. But when I went to the call back, which is like the second audition, the lovely Andrea Romano said, "You do a lot of impressions?" and I said, "Sure." She said, "Why don't you try like Elvis?" I kid you not; that was it. So I went like, (as Elvis) "Hey man, I've got a potty emergency." So she said, "Will you do The Beatles; why don't you try one of The Beatles?" But the thing is, (as John Lennon) "I've always done all four of The Beatles. They're different; John's here", and then (as Paul McCartney) "Paul's here like from the back of the throat and stuff", (as George Harrison) "and George is congested like he's had a cold", (as Ringo Starr) "and Ringo is impossible." So yeah, it's kind of cool right? So I think what I did was I just did John, but then I saw a picture of Wakko, and he's so little, and I'm like he can't have a voice like a big guy. So basically, I just did like a helium Beatle, and I called it a Helitle, and that was the origin of Wakko. How about you guys?

Tress Macneille: Well, I had been in Tiny Toon Adventures. (as Babs) "Do you like my ears better up, or down?" Which was Steven Spielberg's first foray into animation. So he was favorably disposed towards me, haha. That was very nice. And Andrea Romano was also the director on that show, so I feel that the role of Dot was custom made for me. And it was the best thing that ever happened to me, actually, in my career--to be able to work with these guys.

Jess Harnell: And she's done a lot of work folks. You were also Chip and Gadget on Rescue Rangers. If you haven't figured it out yet, IMDB it when you get time and you'll find out.

Tress Macneille: (as Chip) "Yeah, Rescue Rangers away!" Yeah and Gadget, I meant to make up a demo reel of her once saying primarily what she said in every show which was, (as Gadget) "Monty, are you alright!?" There was a role in Batman where I said, "My baby! My baby!"

Rob Paulsen: This really has been an amazing run not only for the show but to have this Renaissance years later. I can remember when we were doing call backs for the show; it was about a two-month audition, right? I remember Tress and I would call each other and be like, "Did you get on? I don't know." So as it happened, I think all of the stars aligned for all of us. There were several times when I told Tress, "You've got to take a picture of this, because this is as good as it gets." And then I said, "Unless of course, you're on The Simpsons." Which she has been for 500 episodes. 550 episodes.

Tress Macneille: Well I'm probably not in 550 of them, but I'm probably in 500.

Rob Paulsen: The cool thing about Animaniacs though is it checks all the boxes. It's musically amazing, it was done in the old style of Looney Tunes with the full orchestra, we've got incredible actors and incredible writers. Everyone won Emmys and Emmys, and it really was just a special thing.

Randy Rogel: Let me just say, because they're being very modest. When they were doing the show, it was right after Tiny Toons and Steven Spielberg was executive producer. They auditioned all of the people in Hollywood, all of the A list people auditioned, and these were the people that got the parts. Let me tell you, I'm the guy on the writing side writing scripts and writing music, and our stuff is only as good as the people who can perform it. I was blessed everyday when I would go to recordings with people like Maurice, Jess, Tress and Rob. They were people that would make us look good, so thank you guys.

Other highlights from the panel included the cast's thoughts on the MomoCon event, which song is each cast member's favorite, how they come up with new voices, and a elongated belch from voice actor Maurice LaMarche.

For more information on the event, check out the official MomoCon website.