Originally published at: Watching the live action model for the 1982 Garfield TV special compared to the final animation is an absolute delight | Boing Boing
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I remember seeing Lorenzo Music speaking at an event once, it was surreal to learn that the “Garfield” voice was just his natural speaking voice, you could feel the audience going “whoa” when he took the microphone.
Other high-profile voice actors like Billy West or Tara Strong can probably go out to a restaurant and order a meal without being recognized, but I bet Mr. Music had to deal with the “oh my God that guy sounds just like Garfield” reaction every time he interacted with someone in public.
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I always though like Garfield sounded like a knock off of Bill Murray. That sorta sardonic not really caring voice.
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Funny, that. When Bill Murray saw the cartoon pilot for The Real Ghostbusters he wanted to know why his character (voiced by Lorenzo Music) sounded like Garfield. And then Murray eventually voiced Garfield himself in a couple of feature films made after Music’s death.
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OH yeah, he did do his voice for The Real Ghostbusters. Probably what lead my brain to make the connection.
Probably even more true for Sterling Holloway, the original voice for Winnie the Pooh. Jim Cummings tells how when he took over doing the voice he channeled Holloway by remembering a time when he overheard Holloway ordering chowder at a restaurant:
Then there’s always Yeardly Smith, Lisa Simpson’s voice.
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This is from the 80s, so I’m surprised to hear how much the narrator of the package, and the music composer, both have that 1960’s narrator voice - like they are narrating a Bel Telephone instructional film or something. Where did that accent come from? Did people actually talk like that normally? Is it a theater technique? It’s very crisp and clear, but also sounds kind of artificial…
I was very happy to see Lorenzo Music in this clip. See, we lost one of our cats last month who was named Lorenzo after, of course, Lorenzo Music. Garfield actually leaves me kind of flat, but I’ve long been a fan of Mr. Music’s work and naming our lovely tabby for the voice actor and not the character just amused me. To my knowledge our Lorenzo never wrote any well known comedies, but he did have a wonderful melodic meow.
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He was a co-creator of The Bob Newhart Show and also wrote for Mary Tyler Moore and the Smothers Brothers. As comedy writing gigs went back then he was doing pretty well for himself.
ETA: oh you meant your Lorenzo. Duh.
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Yep. I’m sure those shows would have been very different had they been written by our Lorenzo! Probably a lot more napping and people sharing quiche innards with their kitties.
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I think if cats wrote comedy it would mostly be about biting humans without warning and for no reason.
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