The Million Dollar Voice Of Nickelodeon | From Broke To $30,000 Per Hour

So here is your chance to meet one of the most recognizable voices of all time, E.G. Daily. No. Oh, I don't know about that, Chucky. That's so cool. With characters like Rugrats Tommy Pickles, The Powerpuff Girls, Curious George, and many, many more. Men, men, men, men, manly men. Chances are if you're between the ages of 18 and 40, you know exactly who I'm talking about. Today we're breaking down exactly how she built her empire, the very dark realities of working in the entertainment industry, and exactly how much money she made per episode as soon as you subscribe. And hit the like button. Don't forget that, Jack. But first we got to thank today's sponsor, DeleteMe. We have to talk about something that's increasingly more and more important in today's digital age, and that would be data privacy. We all know by now that our personal information is being bought and sold online by data brokers, which obviously puts all of our privacy at risk. 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And now with that said, let's get back to the podcast. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. It It's going to take me probably 5 minutes I'm I'm starstruck. This doesn't happen often. Well, what was it that you wanted to do this interview with me about? Which Like which particular thing was it? Well, for I Well, I think everything, but for me it was so full circle because I grew up on Rugrats. Like as a kid. Like, non-stop reruns. Like, my parents would hear the theme song over and over and over again. I saw the Rugrats movie. Yeah. And so, I didn't tell My mom would get a kick out of this, but I didn't tell her that I was doing this with you because I was just like afraid I'm afraid of jinxing things. I'm like, "Well, what if like, you know, because of the rain, like, people don't show up or have to reschedule?" Like, if something were to come up, I don't want to get my hopes up. Your mom would freak out, too. She would lose it. Like, absolutely mind-blowing. to go. I'm very busy. go. But, you did so many voices, I think, for like, my entire generation grew up hearing you. So, it's just weird to like be here across the table from you. It's is is mind-blowing. close. It's mind-blowing. There's a line right here. All right, I'll keep my distance. I promise. He's been looking forward to this for a very, very long time. I'll behave. I first really found your content separate from like, Rugrats and everything on TikTok. I think through the pandemic, I saw you and your daughter posting videos together. Yeah. I'm like, "Wow, this is so cool." We would do them together sometimes. Yeah, I think it was Hunter. Yeah, Hunter Daily, yeah. And so, that's how I started following you on like, just separate from everything else. But, I think you have a really cool story to tell about how you got into voice acting. Uh, if you could go into a little bit about your background, like, how you got started in that and like, growing up to begin with. I didn't really come from a family that knew anything about entertainment. You know what I mean? Like, I wasn't I wasn't like, I didn't have an uncle or cousin who was like a big director. I didn't have any nepotism. There's no connection to anything in Hollywood, but my family, all I knew was that my mom was really loved the whole Hollywood thing cuz she was like, an immigrant. So, she had no connection to it, but she had this thing where she just loved it. You know, she loved music and she loved So, I think starting off, like, I I think I always thought like, "How am I going to do this?" Like, I really didn't know how I was going to do it. But, I think she sort of saw that I had certain things about me that might have been like, magical. I think my mom saw the magical part of me and um and I don't know how it happened, just like one thing led to the next and then I like as a little girl I got an agent and then I just sort of allowed things to sort of flow, you know, things just started flowing. So, I really have to say like I look back at my career and I just go, "Wow, I can't believe I've done all this work." And sometimes it feels like I haven't done any work cuz I'm like I can't So much time goes by and I'm like, "Wow, I can't believe I did that and I did Saturday Night Live and I did American Bandstand and I did Rugrats. I did Powerpuff Girls. I did Huge Week Adventure. I did You know what I mean?" Yeah. And I just think I just keep walking forward and then new opportunities keep coming and I try not to grab too hard onto one of the past things because if I grab too hard to the past things then I won't see what's up in front of me. Like sometimes I'll be so um stuck on something that I did that I want to keep doing and then sometimes these magical things like voiceover just happened. It's just like I did a play and someone said you could do this. So, if I were just looking back all the time it's like, "No, I'm an actress. I'm a singer." then I wouldn't have been open to this opportunity that came up. So, I don't know how to say it started. It just started like random. What was magical as a kid? Like what were some of the things that they looked at and said like, "Ah, it's not normal. Like there's maybe some talent here." I think I was just really good at singing and um dancing. Like just innately I think I had that and I started writing songs as a little girl. Like I literally picked up a little guitar book when I was eight or nine and taught myself to play guitar and we didn't have YouTube so I taught myself I started singing and watching singers and mimicking singers and then I started taking lessons. I was good at it. I mean I was just I could do it. I could do like I could imitate sounds. I could imitate voices. Do you think it's just like a biological difference in you that most people don't have where you can mimic voices or do you think it was something that kind of just like fostered over time after lots of practice? I think like some people have this weird ear and they can mimic and imitate sounds and some people have no idea how to do it. And I think because I sing, I can hear like someone say something like, "Hey, what are you doing?" And then I can they can say, "Can you sound like that boy?" And I'll be like, "Hey, what are you doing?" And I could do it exactly like that. Like Two and a Half Men, you know that thing? So, you know, I do that. So, that was one of those things where they were like, "Can you take Jake's voice and then can you sing like you were him because we need the singer for the opening of Two and a Half Men and he doesn't sing, so we need somebody that sort of sounds like him." So, I was like, "Okay, send me a recording of his voice." And he was just like, "Sarah, what are you talking about?" You know, he sort of talks like that when he was a little kid. He was sort of chubby and he sort of was like talk slow and then I was like, "Can you sing like him?" So, I'd go, you know, "Men, men, men, men, manly men. Woo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo." So, it's like I think I just have the ear for it. Just like you might be really good at real estate innately. Like there's certain things we have innately. Some people are really good at organizing. Like my other assistant, she can literally I can put her put her to a closet with like tons of vitamins and things in boxes and I can come back in like 20 minutes and everything is beautifully lined up. I can't do that, but I just think everybody has their little magical things. And I think my magical thing was limitless when it came to my voice. Like literally limitless. I could do like any kind of voice, any kind of um age range like I'd do age ranges and little kids, little girls, little boys, ch- chubby kids. Yeah. Genius kids, smart voice, you know, whatever it is. You know what I mean? Yeah. Girls, little tiny girls, little baby girls. Babies. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? It's just like it's infinity. Yeah. Right? On top of that, I really applied myself to being really good at those things. So, I didn't just rely on my innate talent, I relied on um I studied. Like I was my game was like be as good as I could. And that meant every aspect of it. That meant like be great, know how to play guitar, so I taught myself. No how to write music. So I'd listen to great writers. I just studied. I studied a lot. I think the combination between what I actually could do as a gift and then what I how much I applied myself. I was relentless. How did your parents foster that growth? Cuz it seems like they were very supportive and and nurturing of like letting you explore that and and get really good at that. They didn't do music. They didn't do like instruments. They they owned a fencing company. They built fences and window grills. You know, and so I think what she she'd do was she'd go to thrift stores and yard sales and uh flea markets and she'd pick up instruments. And she'd see like some weird instrument, she'd throw it in the house. And one of the five kids would pick it up and start playing it. And I sort of did all of it. I was the one that would like pick up trying to sing it, pick up trying to play that instrument. So I could play like a little harmonica, a little drums, a little guitar, a little piano, a little You know what I mean? I picked them all up. And my brothers and sisters all did too, but just more more limited. Even my brothers and sisters will say that when I was born it was almost like she was like, "This is my little This is going to be, you know, which also put a lot of pressure on me, to be honest. Like I felt it, but I really do feel like I felt it from my mom. Whatever that was that she saw was I think what gave me a little push and um and also made me be a little sensitive to other people wanting That's where my people pleaser comes in. I want everybody to feel special. Did uh your parents ever put any pressure on you to to go for more of like a a normal career or like we want you to be a doctor or a lawyer? They want you to like because they came with from nothing, what I did was miraculous to them. You know, I don't think they had any expectations of any of us and of any of the five kids in my family. Like my sister is a brilliant painter. She goes by Wren River and she's a brilliant painter. She's like a master painter. And she's sold paintings all over and she's been in magazines and I don't I they could have ever expected that. Do you that some of that is because growing up in Venice, that that is a very eclectic culture of people where I think creativity is really rewarded? They weren't really I don't think they knew what Venice was either. I don't think back then there was even that kind of culture about it. There was just that's where they landed when they came here and they got one room that they could all fit into. Yeah. So I don't think they had any concept of the Venice culture yet cuz Venice culture is so different back then. it was very different back then and they've been here like I don't know, 40, 50 years. Yeah. when did you first get into to voice acting? You kind of alluded to it in the beginning. Did you initially try to become a voice actor? Was it like different types of acting and when did you secure your first agent? So I was just an actress. You know, I started getting an agent when I was a kid like I had commercial agents when I was eight. And was that you that initiated that whole process or my mom got me an agent and I had a best friend who was like a child model, my friend Michelle. She was like this beautiful little girl and she had commercial agent. And so my mom was like, "Let's get you commercial agent." So I hated it. I thought it was like awful because you had to be really fake pretty much. It was like, "Hi, my name's Michelle. I work for so-and-so agency." And I was just like, "I can't do that." Do you know what I mean? It felt really like contrived to me. Mhm. But she still got me this agent and I went on these commercial auditions and I didn't understand why I never booked any of them. I just thought, "Okay, I guess you just go on these auditions and you don't book them, you just go on them." And then um I think it wasn't until 15 after like I got one when I was eight and when I was 15 I got my first job. Like 15 was like a guest star on a Laverne & Shirley episode. My mom sort of started me and then was finish your question were you were in commercials between the ages of eight and 15, right? I didn't really I did Let me think. I did one commercial. Mhm. Um I think when I was 14 for a Pepsi Cola commercial. It was like a national commercial. I don't know how I booked it, but I did one commercial and then I booked Laverne & Shirley, and then I guest starred on like Fame, and then I guest starred on Chips, and Bay City Blues, and then that That was my I started working, you know, in acting when I was about 15, 16, 17. But, how is your agent sustaining themselves over Oh, it's different agents. Someone earning like if it's 6 years they don't get a single booking for that client. Yeah, I didn't have I didn't get any work that whole time. I don't even know how I ended up booking what it how when I switched agents cuz I was just a kid. I was a kid. The Pepsi-Cola commercial I should never got cuz they were like, "Can you I was very ethnically ambiguous looking, you know? I think, probably, cuz I had more of my brown hair. It was kind of my Jewfro hair, and Sure. you know, wild, and you know, hippy looking, and I think um they said go to this Pepsi-Cola commercial, and they were like, "Can you sail a catamaran? Can you get out Do you know how to be on a catamaran?" And I was like, "Yes!" Cuz that they said just say yes to everything. Yeah. And I said, "Yes, I can." And then I think because of my ambiguous look, they like that. They like that. Ethnically ambiguous. I got it. And then then I was like sitting on a beach, and they're like, "Okay, you're going to go out." And I was like, "Holy I have to go out." So, I didn't know what I was doing. I should never probably booked that, but I did. And I had to drink a lot of diet a lot of Coke. And it was um Coke or Pepsi? Sorry. But, before we go into that, I know how overwhelming it could be to see all the equipment that's out there and think, "Ooh, I got to spend thousands of dollars to get started up." But, thankfully, our sponsor StreamYard is there to help. So, StreamYard is a live streaming studio platform that helps you create high-quality content with just a click of a button. All you need is any camera and an internet connection, and you can start streaming directly from your browser. What I really like, though, is that you could stream to multiple social media platforms all at the same time, so you could set it up once, and then stream to YouTube, to Twitch, to Instagram, and so on. Basically, almost anything out there, you're going to get your face out there. StreamYard is the best way to start creating content online, and best of all, they also offer a free package so you guys can get started today at the cost of zero. And look, leveling with you guys, they've also been a huge supporter of the podcast and have allowed us to take a lot of trips and travel to some of the guests that we otherwise just wouldn't have really seen. So, if you guys appreciate that and want to support us and have something that's totally free, visit StreamYard down below in the description to get started today. Thank you so much StreamYard. We love you and back to the episode. Right after I got out of high school, like everybody was going to colleges. Yeah. And then where it said my name, there was no college. I wasn't going to go to college. That wasn't like my My parents were not those parents that were like, "You go to college become a doctor. You go to college." Again, they had no expectations. academic? No, not at all. I'm a terrible speller. Right now, even today, I'm embarrassed. Like when I write something, I have to have somebody proofread cuz I'm terrible at it. But, um I think there were no expectations, yeah. So, I didn't go to college. I just knew that I was going to start working. And that was maybe the magic my mom saw. Mhm. She saw that part of me that was like, "I'm going to make this happen." You're paving your own road. I paved my own road. And just out of curiosity with this Pepsi-Cola commercial, I'm wondering like how long you digging in this sand. How long did it take? Like do you just show up to the beach? Was it a full day shoot? a I think it was one or two days, full days. And do you remember how much they paid for it? Like I really don't. thinking like Pepsi, they probably got a pretty sizable budget, you know? a It was a national Pepsi commercial. get royalties on that? And I I would sure I did back then. Wow. They stopped airing it, though. Oh, yeah. Imagine Otherwise, they'd been like back in the olden days. Yeah. Pepsi-Cola, but yeah. How were you supporting yourself after high school? It's a big uh jump not to go to school and to go out and like begin working. I think it was those those few jobs I started getting. I mean, I had a couple recurring things on Fame. And then I did basically Blues, some TV show. And then I did um CHiPs. Then I did I started working like booking little guest stars and things. And then I I started booking features. Like I did this one feature called The Escape Artist, I think. And that was a Francis Ford Coppola film with Griffin O'Neal and Desi Arnaz Sr. and all these really classic people that were in it. Then I booked that movie and somehow I became I don't even know how that happened. I went from never booking a job to like all of a sudden there were castings of like, "We're looking for an Elizabeth Daily type." And I'd be like, "I'm right here." Mhm. "I'm right here." You know, and then I was wondering why they wouldn't just call me. They were looking for a type like me. Why wouldn't they call you directly? Sometimes I thought they I think they didn't think I would be available. Oh, wow. That happens a lot. Really weird. Um yeah. So Yeah. Wow. I just I started earning my own money and And it was sustainable immediately outside of high school? For some reason it was. I don't cuz I didn't I had like Um like at 15 I worked in an ice cream parlor, but I only worked there cuz there were cute boys and I was like, "Where are the cute boys here in this ice cream parlor?" That was the only reason why I got that job. Did you end up making one of the cute boys your boyfriend? Probably. And I don't know. Maybe. That's sort of was my thing. That was the guiding light for me. It was like, "Where are all the cute boys here?" That's funny. Yeah, I was boy crazy. Yes. So, still am, I think. Anyway, um man crazy. Anyway, yeah. Yeah, so that's it. And how did that progress? Because I think you you were not really doing any voice acting at that point. So, how did that then transition into voice acting? into voice acting? So, I was starting to do a lot of movies, right? If you look at my IMDb page, there's like a lot of wacky interesting movies, a lot of them. All of a sudden I get a call from a guy named Bruce, who's a friend of mine that I'd known, who's a producer. And he said, "Oh, um we have this play that was on Broadway called Tanzy and it starred Debbie Harry on Broadway. It was a musical. And it was about a female wrestler. You have to be able to sing, you have to be physically fit. So, my That's right up my alley. I was into always working out and I'm singer and uh you know, and it's a musical, so I love that. And so, I said, "I'll do it." And opening night at the Roxy, um a lot of record labels came, so I got a major record deal from it. I was just singing like a couple songs in the play, but I got a massive record deal on A&M. And some guy came and handed me this card and said, "You should really do voiceover. You're really good at it." Cuz in the play, I had to be a female wrestler, but each round of the wrestling, I had to be a different age. So, I had to go from being a baby a five a baby in the first round. Like they put me in a baby dress and a big diaper and with a thing on my head and a rattle and I was like ha And I just was a baby girl and then I had to be like, "Hi, I'm Tammy, a five-year-old girl." And then I had to be a 10-year-old who talked like this. And then I had to be a 16-year-old and then I had to be a grown-up. So, I had to age myself and he saw that and he was like, "Wow, you're really good at these voices and you're really good at children's voices." Again, this was that weird gift that I had that I could imitate and mimic. And then so, this guy handed me a card opening night and he said, "I'm a voice agent. You should really pursue this." And I was kind of like I was like, "I'm not a cartoon. I don't I never thought like I'm going to be a famous cartoon one day." But I did call him because I talk about um offshoots when I I talk about a thing called offshoots where like if you get a tap on the you're going this Yeah. and you're very clear. Mhm. And then you get a tap on the shoulder like, "You should try this here." And I'm like, "Oh, no, no, no, I don't do that. I only do this." But I was like, I really believe that part of reason why my career's been so phenomenal with so many different um I've done so many different types of things between music and acting in movies and cartoons is because I listened to the little tap on the shoulder, which is like I think the God voice. And it was like, "You should pursue You should come me at this office and try this voice thing. And first I was like, really want to do a cart, you know, voices? But I did go to his office one day and I did go on my first audition with this agent. And my first audition um I booked. And that was Tommy Pickles on Rugrats. Mhm. That which became change my life. Yeah. Changed the trajectory my whole like all of a sudden I started getting all these cartoons and I was like Huey, Dewey, Louie and Powerpuff Girls and Jungle Cubs and Rugrats and like like my whole career and not only was that perfect but I was having babies during that time. Right? Mhm. So I was able to be pregnant and work the whole time. There's like Rugrat episode with me in labor during Rugrats. I'd be like No. Oh, I don't know about that, Chuckie. Oh, please. And I'd be like No. contractions and then I'd be like, okay, I'm better. Let's go. Yeah, and then I'd do it again. Oh my gosh. they actually have me in labor on Rugrats. Mhm. Okay, well we'll get to that in a second. But what made you say yes to that? Because you seem very focused on going one direction. What made that different that day? What made you say yes to that? Because you seem very focused on going one direction. What made that different that day? What made you say yes to that? Because you seem very focused on going one direction. What made that different that day? To the cartoon? Yeah. I think he was so clear that I had a real gift with the thing. Again, there's that gift thing. He goes, I think you're really good at this. Like your ability to do children's voices and and age your voice up was really good. Mhm. That's what he said. And I was kind of like, hm. You know, to me it was like and I always say it's like people flipping their eyelids over. They don't realize it's a weird gift mhm or that weird double jointed thing. People go like this and their joints pop Oh, yeah. You do that? Not really. Don't do it. It's weird. uh I can't really but yeah. I think it was just um he saw in me the ability to mimic and sound so much like a kid that he was like, you you should really pursue this. And and I trusted Um yeah, I trusted him. I just said, "Okay, I'll I'll go on an audition with you." And I just went with it. Hm. And it was like it was one of those yeses that I think changed my life. Now, you mentioned offshoots. How do you know when to say no? Cuz you can't just say yes to everything, and then you're just overloaded. But how do you make that distinction? It's a really tricky line. Like it really is. it just a gut feeling? Is it usually something you have to think about, or is it kind of just like, "Okay, I know what my answer is."? Sometimes it's like, "Hell yeah." And my body like, "Oh, hell yeah. That feels good." But like the voice everything wasn't a hell no, but it was like there was some uncertainty, but there was curiosity. So, I sort of said, "Maybe I'll check it out." Yeah. You know? What What was that like auditioning for Rugrats? You had no idea what it was at the time. So, what was that process like? What did they have you do? I went to this little Nickelodeon recording thing, and it was my first audition. I didn't almost didn't go, because I was having my carpet replaced in my condo that day. So, I almost was like, Uh They're changing the carpet in my place. I'll catch you on the next one. And he was like, "I think you should go in, you know, go ahead and try it." And this agent was a little pushier. Yeah. And he said, "No, I think you should try it." And I was like, Hm. "No, I'll catch you on the next one." And he was just enough pushy that I was like, "Okay. Guys, I'm just going to the corner. I'll be right back." I just told the guys that were working for me, like basically don't rob from me. I'll be right back. I'm coming back in 10 minutes, but really it was like an hour. Sure. And I just Um And I just ran there, and I just uh read this audition, and I had no idea what I was doing, cuz I'd never done a cartoon, but I just read the lines as a character that I think is a little girl. I always did like little baby voices, and I thought, "That That picture They showed me a claymation." I was like, "That That claymation Like the mouth on that claymation looks like the voice I've been doing my whole life." which was like, "Oh, Michelle, let's go Let's go get ourselves a snack. What do you say?" You know what I mean? And you know, and I just looked and I thought the way his mouth was and the way my mouth sounds and just something about it and I did that voice and then I was like, "I can't be here very long. I got to go." And they were like, "Okay, we're almost done." I was the first person, so they kept making me wait. They kept sending producers in and I was just like, "I got to go." And then I I was completely ignorance is bliss. I didn't know what was going on. And there were people waiting to read after me, but they kept bringing new producers in like in the booth and I was watching more and more people come in cuz I guess they were just like, "She's it." And I didn't know that. And I got home and my agent called and said, "You They really love you for that show." And to be honest, I was actually replacement cuz they had another girl who did Tommy Pickles. And I had to come in They decided it wasn't the right voice and I had to come in and re-dub all of her voice for an entire season. And then I I I booked it and that was like, you know, you know. Now, did they have you audition for other characters like Chuckie or No, it was just Tommy Pickles. Did they have everyone else already locked in on the other voices? they'd already done a whole season with the girl that wasn't in So, they did the entire season, but didn't like the way Tommy Pickles' voice sounded. That kind of stuff can happen where you can do a record and then they go, "Eh, we're not feeling it." What were your initial impressions of the show? Like when they pitched the idea, did you think, "Oh, this is going to be a hit" or like what what were your first thoughts going into it? Remember, I was getting carpet put in my condo. That's all I was thinking about. You were just thinking it. Well, what about when they say you you got it? Like this is yours if you want it. I was like, "Really?" I really was just like every time I Sorry, every time I book a voice cartoon, every time, and I started booking everyone I I'd read for it, I'd book it. I'd read another one, I'd book it. I was literally doing eight seasons a week. I was doing eight different shows all week long. Like I'd go from a Jungle Cubs to a Rugrats to a Powerpuff Girls to a I was literally going day-to-day to to a different series on a different networker. It was a lot of work. Is there any like conflict of interest? Like does Power Puff Girls not want you being a voice on something else? think. They would like sign an exclusive. Just like no? No, because I'm doing that voice for them and I'm doing Tommy for somebody else and nobody can own you in in voice over. Really? Uh-huh. I feel like the producers would smarten up cuz they would want like just cuz you're so good at what you do that just like we want her and that's it. They can't have me because I'm infinity. I'm I'm I do an an infinity amount of voices so how how can they prison me in one place when I I'm like water. Yeah. I'll go everywhere. Sure. You can't just put me and you can't just say water to stay here. I mean, I'm going to go everywhere. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? I do. So how did it work when you were filming? Would they have you go into the office and just Yeah, for Rugrats. They would have the babies go in together. So like um Chucky, Phil, Lil and Tommy um would all be together and do our voices and then like Angelica would go in on her own usually cuz they would have the babies cuz we did so many of our lines together. So they'd have us together. So when we first started doing Rugrats, it would take a lot longer. It would take like 6-hour sessions. Nowadays, you never take that long. I go in and I do four episodes in 1 hour and 2 hours. 1 to 2 hours. All by myself cuz I'm not waiting for everybody to get their lines right. I'm just doing my lines. Wow. So you could get through an entire like season or Pretty quick. Wow. Yeah. Pretty quick. And how does how does pay work with voice over acting versus being like physically on screen? I mean right. Like voice over acting is like you just leave when people start doing shows. It's like a scale rate. It's pretty much the same with on camera. Like you'll get a scale rate. I don't know what scale is for on camera but it's it's probably similar for a full day, whereas you go and do a voiceover and it could take you 10 minutes. Mhm. You'll make the same $1,200 or whatever the scale rate is, if it's SAG, as you might for a full day on the set. So, it's kind of pretty lucrative when you do voiceover cuz you have so much time. Right. And um but then when you have a show that becomes a hit, the money starts growing. So, let's say you have a show that goes for 6 years. Like Rugrats didn't start raising their money until maybe 6 years in. And then they were like, "Our show's pretty popular. We're going to raise the amount you guys are getting. So, you now you're going to get double scale. Or you're going to get triple scale." And then it would jump from like this amount to like all of a sudden around season 9, 10, it would go from like "Oh, you're making two grand, three grand" to like 30 grand or some crazy amount. Oh, yeah. So, you could make really big money per episode. Yeah, you were you could make really big money per episode. I mean, Simpsons, like I'm good friends with Nancy who plays Chuckie on Rugrats. And The Simpsons are making like I don't know. It's where they were making I heard something like a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand plus an episode, right? it's more than that. For Nancy, yeah, yeah. Yeah, for some of those people it's like crazy money. So, animation can be very lucrative cuz it's the same thing. They have a show on primetime. Yeah. They're making money, so why isn't aren't these star actors that are now known making the money? So, I mean, there's a there's a lot of money to be made in voiceovers. If you can have a show that lasts long enough to go into big money and syndication and if it's primetime, that's where the money is. If it's just like um syndication, not syndication, but if it's like streaming or it's all different now cuz there's so many venues. There's like there's so many different platforms, you know, streaming and like whatever. Different money now. Yeah. So, if you go in and you record one episode and it's 30k, how long does that take you? Well, back then I would think I was still working with a lot of the cast members. And when you'd like I said, when you're working with everybody in the booth, you're waiting in between your lines so that each person gets each line right that they want. So, it could take 4 hours back then. Uh but right now you could go in and do your the same work. You could go in for do us an episode. It's It's not like right now we're doing Rugrats again. It's not quite It's not what it was back then cuz they came in like 14 years later and renegotiated and they wouldn't negotiate back to that rate. All right. to start it as a brand new show kind of. We didn't go brand new show rate, but it wasn't like that rate. You know, it was like Yeah. wasn't here, but it wasn't here. Did you feel like you had more leverage before the 6 years of of Rugrats to increase your pay or did it take 6 years to really take off because It kind of took that long to take off. what cuz it you started I think it was 1989 or 1990 was the first. know. I don't remember the date. Okay. Yeah. I can't remember my own birthday sometimes, you know. Right before you, I don't know if you watched the show Ned's Declassified? No. On Nickelodeon? Yeah, I know it. He He was saying that even after three seasons, they were very much apt to say, "Well, if you don't like the pay, you could leave and we'll replace you very easily." And that was their mindset. But I feel like with something like Rugrats, very difficult to replace the voice cuz it always sounds a little different. Like you can never Yeah. get it quite the same. Usually when you go in on a show like that, like when they came back and said, "We want to do Rugrat reboot." Cuz now we're on season 2 of a brand new reboot. Mhm. You really don't want to be greedy. You really don't. You don't want to play that card because they could replace you. There's It's always possible. What you want is a really beautiful um harmonious uh win for everyone. So, I think when it came to when we all got asked back, and they didn't invite all of the adult characters back. They recast a lot of those characters. Some people didn't get recast, but the um the main baby characters all came back. But when that happened, we had to come together as a group that all the babies and say, "Well, what do we think is fair without being greedy and saying, 'We're not going to do it unless you give us $5 million an episode.'" You know, we had to be really um have integrity to the whole show. Not just think about ourselves. Like, we want to let's just try to break them for as much money as we can. And so, I think we all came together and thought they offered a certain amount and then we all came together and said, "Well, what's a fair amount that's not crazy and not greedy and also a little win for us." And that's where we came up with a number that felt beautiful to Nickelodeon as well. And then it's a big win. So, you can't just you can't just go for like you know Yeah, you just can't you can't you want to you want to do the right thing cuz I've seen people get booed. Here's an example. So, Babe, you know the movie Babe and Babe 2? Okay, so Babe the pig I was Babe pig in Babe pig in the city the second one. The first one had actually Christine Cavanaugh who's brilliant actress voice actress who was the original Babe. She actually did Chuckie on Rugrats. Hmm. Um she started as Chuckie on Rugrats. So, I already knew her. I was working with her. And she was Babe in the first Babe. And then what happened is they came time to negotiate um Babe pig in the city the sequel to Babe and they went to her and her agent said, "This is what we have for you for Babe 2." And her rep or whoever it was her lawyers or rep was like, "No, we can't we want way more. We want more." And then they couldn't they said, "We don't have any more for this. This is our budget. We would love you to do it. This is our budget." And then whoever it was the powers that be in in that team said, "No, we want more." And they came to me and said, "Will you audition for this role?" And at that point I had to say, "I'm not auditioning for that role because she's my friend. I work with her on Rugrats and we don't we can't do that. I'm not going to step in. And so I didn't. And but I said but I'd love to audition for this other role um this little monkey. And they were like, "Okay." So then what happens is time passed, they cast we cast her cuz they never settled on an amount. And whatever this happened time passed, they didn't settle with her, they negotiated with somebody else. I got cast as this other character the monkey, the little boy. And then a week before we recording, I get a call I'm literally sitting on a beach and I get a call from George Miller the director says "E.G., we've been listening to the tapes. We already recast the character. So it's not like you'd be stepping on anyone's toes. We think you're Babe for this. And would you be interested in doing it now?" And at that point I was like, "Yeah, I would." So I said yes at that point because I knew I didn't um I didn't have uh lack of integrity to my friend and to doing the right thing for people that you work with. And so then I got cast as that character. And yeah. So you can get booted out. That's my point. Even on a giant feature like that. If you don't play the right cards. How do you take care of your voice if you're doing multiple shows? It's nice that it's let's say 4 to 6 hours in a day for an episode. Means you could do maybe two at you know, two in a day. But how do you ensure that you don't strain your voice in one episode so that you go to the next one and it's like you can't do the other show. I think I've been doing so much stuff with my voice for so much of my career. I mean I'm a singer. I think my voice is so conditioned for so much. I like I'm a bodybuilder. Like my like some people are like I just think I'm like a bodybuilder when it comes to my vocal cords or my ability to push my voice. It's kind of rare that I can't you know, the only kinds of things that would really mess my voice up are if I have a really really severe chronic bronchitis cough and it just kind of gives me a little laryngitis, which is pretty rare even. And I'm still able to push myself past that to do certain like Tommy Pickles even if I was like talking like this and I had like a really hoarse voice, I still could go "Ah, that's so cool!" you know, and I could just I smile every time you do that. Oh my gosh. I just push it right over it and so it happens. Wow. Now, you were saying you were in labor also doing the voice of Tommy Pickles. How How does that work? Can you Can you It works. Do this from home or is it like I was in the studio and I had gone to the doctor cuz I was I was very pregnant. And I said, "I feel like I'm in labor." And that doctor that I stopped using after that particular incident, I didn't no longer use that doctor. Somebody else came in cuz the doctor never made it to labor, I don't think. But I basically um I went to the doctors and said, "I think I'm in labor." And they were like, "No, you're fine." And I was like, "Okay." And my my kid's dad was like trying to take care of me cuz he could see I was like struggling with contractions and I just went ahead and went to work. And I just like, yeah, went How long does labor start before birth? It can vary. It can be like you can kind of be in labor for 2 days having like the contractions start coming faster and faster, which contractions feel like um like just pain. Like it just gets really like it's almost like your belly just hardens for a second and then it relaxes. And it's a really weird feeling. Feels like cramps. But you're not a girl, so you don't know what cramps feel like. It's like that. When you have a really good ab day, Jack, and your and your abs just kind of like do ab days. like that. He skips ab days. It's like girl cramps. It feels like cramps but it gets very extreme. I've gotten um what do you call it? It's a cramp, right? And like in your calf cramp? Yeah, where it spasms out. It kind of feels like in a weird way like it gets hard and it's weird. That's what a certain They're called Braxton Hicks feel like. It kind of gets really Your belly will actually contract and gets really hard and it kind of hurts. It's kind of like a cramp in a way but it's a little different. Okay. It's like kind of in your See, I didn't know if this was happening like right before you're about to give birth or if this was like had been happening for a few days, and that can happen. You can start having contractions, but not be in labor. And you don't go into labor till you're dilated a certain amount, and your body's gotten so so big inside. And so I guess I went to the doctors, and he's like, "No, you're fine." But I was having so many contractions, I was like, "How can I just be fine? I think I'm in labor, but I just I listened to the doctor, and then I just went to the work, and which was probably better, too, cuz I wasn't sitting at home thinking about it. Right. I just went to work. And my job wasn't like, "Oh, I have to go run a marathon." It was like sitting in a chair doing voices. And they were very patient with me. They're like, "Oh, you're having another one of those." And they were like, "Wow, these are You're having it pretty often." I was Yeah, every 2 minutes. Okay. Yeah, I was like, "That's when you know you're in labor." Cuz you can have Braxton Hicks contractions, but they might be like every hour. And you're not in labor yet. How long does a contraction take? It's like It lasts like 20 seconds. Oh, wow. That I see I thought it was going to be like a 2-second thing. No, it's kind of like no, no. So maybe it's Wow. I don't know. I got to remember. It's been a while. I'd have to get pregnant again. So yeah, it's a really weird thing, but I was like, I just was like, "Okay." So I went to work, which I would have probably done anyway. And then after work it was the crew in the studio that was like, "You're having a lot of contractions very close together." People that were moms that were in the booth were like, "When your contractions start happening like every 2 minutes, 3 minutes, you're getting closer to have being in labor." And then that night I had a baby. So I That night? That night. Wow. Do you remember the episode that you filmed? But people ask that all the time. I don't remember. I wish we could look back at that episode and be like, It's in the vault somewhere. You'll hear me like, "Oh, Chuck E. Cheese doesn't like owls, either. Hold please." That is wild. Yeah. So, were you ever able to record these episodes from your house? Like if you just set up one of those See that little audio recording thing? Well, that's all very new. Like all this stuff now is very new. So, I would go in all the time, but during COVID and I had a little booth, so I would do a lot of my own auditions at home. Um for a long time I've had a my own little recording for voiceover. But when COVID hit everything stopped. And that's when Rugrats had gotten picked up for a reboot and we started doing episodes before the COVID hit. Mhm. And then I was in COVID and they're like and we're like, "Oh, no. We just started getting to do new Rugrats and it's so fun and so exciting." And we were all kind of bummed. And then all of a sudden like after a few months they called and said, "Do you have a booth set up at home?" And I was like, "I do." And I had just updated it. And I had just put this thing that I It's a it's called I'm Source-Connect where I can connect to a studio outside of mine. Mhm. And I had just gotten that all upgraded for some reason. Which is miraculous. So then I was like, "I do." And then all of a sudden they said, "Can we try to do some episodes at your place?" And I was like, "Okay." So, I started doing them at home. And actually then I moved to Malibu in a little place right on the beach and I had this little booth I had it made for me and I set it all up in there. I did I think I did like 20 episodes at in Malibu in this little tiny beach nook um during COVID. 20 of the brand new episodes were done at home in a little tiny It wasn't even anything like that. It was literally like made of plexiglass with a little foam in it and I threw a blanket over it. It's so great. That's really neat. It's really cool, right? And I did a lot of major Rugrats episodes in that. Wow. Is there ever a time where you weren't able to film and what would they do in those cases? Like let's just say you had just given birth or something like that and they have to get an episode out. Is there ever anything like that or is it pretty laid back in terms of their schedule and you laid back because if let's say I'm Let's say I had a baby and I needed a, you know First of all, it's not that hard to just sit in a booth and do your lines, even if you just have a baby. I was that person that um started working pretty quickly right away because I was known for just bringing the baby with me. Like I didn't want to That was my only thing was I didn't want to leave my child and be working to where my kid wasn't getting what they needed. So, I would just have like a nanny or an assistant and they'd sit right there outside the booth and then I would record and if I needed they need me, I would just step out for a second and I'd just like So, I never It never compromised any of my personal life. Like I just could do it anytime. I could do voiceover most of the time. It wasn't If I had a a flu, like if I had a flu or something and I needed to wait, all they just say, "Okay, we'll get you record next week." So, we'll skip this week and we'll do your lines for this this week next week. So, you'll do next week's and the week after together. So, they just kind of move things around. It's like super chill. Mhm. It's not like when you're filming a movie and you're on location and you have to be working with the other actors and like if you can't show up, you're screwed. Right. Because the whole everything gets But voiceover, they can record you a week later. It's not going to make or break anything. Wow. If Graham were doing a voiceover for a cartoon character, what would the cartoon character look like? Wait, what? He would be really smart and I would make him talk a little faster. And I'd say that he'd say, "Listen, everyone, we have something really important we're going to negotiate here." That's what I would make you sound like. He does He is smart, fast-talking It's really cool, I tell you. That's how I'd make him sound. Wow. make you sound more like a surfer guy. A surfer guy? Dude, what are you talking about? I would have him do. Gnarly, man. That's gnarly. do. Why don't you guys come over for a little while? We'll do something fun at my place. That's crazy. Doesn't mean you can't see him look like that. I can see it. Huh. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I I'd say that's pretty fitting right there. Yeah, that's one of my favorite games. My favorite games is like if you were to put 10 faces and let me hear 10 voices, I could match the voice to the face. Yeah. That's my funny funny little game. Yeah, I listened to a podcast where you were talking about making a voice of a pillow and how it would sound. like Kelly Clarkson. Yeah, and I thought it was so accurate. It just like this really high-pitched but very is a pillow and she's fluffy and she talks like this. Everything is beautiful. Put your little bottom right here. You know? What goes through your mind when you when you see something like that and you put a put a personality to it like Oh my god, it's so much fun. It's so much fun because you can make anything have a voice. Like this little plant could be like Oh, I'm just sitting here in the sun and beautiful. You know what I mean? And this one would be like, "Oh, yeah, I really like it here in the sun. He's a little bit bigger. Let's hang out here in the sun. Okay, let's just do that." What would this key sound like? Oh, the key would sound like this. Let's go. We're Alexis. Let's put this in the car. I mean, he's skinny and little so I would do this. It just depends. It's very fun. Oh, that is I wish I had that skill. That sounds fun. It's really fun. You know, I wanted to be a voice over actor when I was a kid. I did. So, uh we'd get together with my buddies and uh one of our friends had a cell phone. He was the only one whose parents would like not check the minutes. So, when you had to pay by minute or whatever. And so, we used to make these prank phone calls and I would be the one doing the voices and we'd call like grocery stores and yeah. No, gosh, no. This was when uh I was in like sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade, like somewhere around there. Uh-huh. Um but yeah, so I would call up and I had this character Ina Macrovich Ooh, let's hear it. calling these grocery stores. hear it. Hi, my name is Ina Macrovich. I'm calling because I left something in in the grocery store. Like, you know, I used to good. Yeah, my voice got a little deep but it used to be better back then. Yeah, and then I used to call the schools as my mom Oh my god. out of school and I called Hi, my name is Pamela Stephen Calling on behalf of Graham. He's not feeling well. See, it's amazing. really wanted to get into voice acting. I just thought I had a had a cool knack for it. Yeah, that's so cool. Thank you. Love that. I actually did this voice-over seminar. I did two things you guys should check out. I'll get you a link for I at least can get you a link for the one-woman show though. The voice-over seminar is somewhere. I can get you a link for that, too. But, um it's a voice-over seminar. And I did it because people would ask that. They'd be like, "How do you do it?" And I have a really cool voice. And he's like, "It's not just about having a cool voice. You have to be able to read the lines like a real person." People like reading lines like "Drinking water." "Don't You're under the authority of the pu- You know, you have to be able to read it like it matters. But, um so I did do a seminar on voice-over because people would ask. And I filmed it in front of a live audience. And it's it's like And I talked about the tips, tools, how-to's. And it's really cool. And it's not expensive. I did it like a digital download thing so people can learn. And I also did like which is really interesting is I actually interviewed a lot of the famous voice-over stars. Like And I asked all of them like I talk about this in the seminar, but I asked a lot of like big pro guys like how you got your break. What was really weird was none of them got a break like normal. Like it wasn't like, "Oh, I had an agent and I booked a job." Everyone was like, "I was singing at a wedding. Someone heard my voice and said, 'You want to go?'" "I was in a play. Someone heard my voice." I was like, "Nobody went into voice-over like with the intention of a voice-over. They just I was a comedian. Someone heard me." Every single major voice-over star got it in some random way. It was really cool. Who's out there looking for voices? Is it that they work with TV and movies? And they were just sent out to scout? Or are these people just going about their day and they find someone? I did a play. And some guy came to the play and was like, "You're really good at your voices, your children's voices." He was a voice-over agent. So, he happened to be at the play where I happened to be changing my voice around. And he's like, "You should try this. So, he's like, you never know. All I know is you the more you're out there and the more you do things, the more you like say yes to things, the more openings for opportunities come. I guess it's the same for dating, right? I'm supposed to be going out more. You're supposed to be going out more? I think so cuz I've been like not it's like what's it going to go out when it's raining, but yeah, if I want to find my next husband. Are you on the apps? I am. These are our favorite topics to talk Jack Jack I'm on the apps. You might see you there. Yeah, I am on those apps. Those drive me crazy. I'm not so good at them. I need I need I would have my assistant swipe for me because I'm just like my fault is terrible. But does she know your taste? I mean well, my uh Julie's newer, so she but my other assistant Ace, she kind of it she kind of has the same taste as me. But it's not just like the taste like the type. You know what I mean? It's not like the type thing. It's more like now at this point in my life, it's more like when you hear people talk about themselves non-stop and they don't ask you how you are like narcissist. Like that's just like I'm highly allergic to narcissist. Like like I'm looking for different things now than I think I did when I was younger. Like now it's really like kind people, people that are love animals, are kind connection. Yeah, yeah, yeah. People that are like deeper connected. So, it's harder for me with apps because um I can't it's hard for me to just look at a picture now and read a few lines. Like and then if I even get to where I would conversation, usually they want to text and text and text and text. I'm like, I don't want to text. If you wanted to just like have a quick FaceTime call, that would be better cuz then you could see someone and I'm super intuitive and I can see if like I'm, you know, for one am I really attracted to them? For two, are they really hearing me? Do they really see me? Are they really connected? Are they talking about things that matter? Or they just like, "Yo, me and my buddies are going to ride in this boat. Want to come?" Like whatever. Just like if there's something deeper, like I love animals. I've done a lot of things for I don't know, I just look for deeper things now. And it's hard for me because um I see everything. Like I think I'm highly intuitive. So, I can see when someone's over trying to sell themselves and they're not really what they're saying they are and Do you feel like maybe it's intimidating that they that they know who you are or do they not know? Cuz I feel like it would yeah. I meet someone and they go like, "Oh my god, I saw you on Valley Girl. You're my favorite." I'm like, "I can't date that guy." Because it's too weird. Because they're like fan or it's fan-girling and they're like, "It's one thing if somebody's doing just as good in their career." Do you know what I mean? If they're like their world, their life, their careers they're doing well. So, if they just love what I do and they and they want to know me and and it's not like they live in Pacoima on a boat dock and they're they got a big fish in their picture and they're asking me to like move to Pacoima and go fishing with them every day. Like we have nothing in common. So, we're like, Do you know what I'm saying? Like if we have a lot in common and like I'm a big animal person. I'm I'm an animal activist and I do a lot. And so like with somebody that loves animals, I'm like, "That's a good I like people that love animals." Cuz that tells me a lot about someone. And someone who does a lot of spiritual work, that tells me a lot about someone. And they kind of like they would know how to walk a press line if they had to. Like those are important things cuz I go to like big things sometimes. You know what I mean? Yeah. I go to like beautiful events. And so, I don't want to like feel like the person I'm with is like completely freaked out by all of it. That just wouldn't be a match. So, there's like weirder things I have to look for and I just don't, you know, All right. But if they are a fan of your work, wouldn't that signal I'm a huge fan. But wouldn't that signal though a fiance. a fiance. Oh, congrats. But Jack doesn't. But but if they're a fan of your work, wouldn't that also signal that that they appreciate like what you do and like your backstory and your career and like is nice. And actually that would be really beautiful as long as they were feeling great about what they did and they were thriving at what they did. I think if somebody's like I think you just have to be each other's match or each other's person. And I mean like comparable magnitude. The meaning like you know, just both be doing doing well in your life, you know what I mean? Or if you're both not doing well, but at least you match, you know what I mean? Like for me I don't Like I dated this guy who was a sweetheart and I really liked him. But um we we really were we were matching some ways. He was like he was a very spiritual guy and we would go to some events and stuff and he was really nice guy. But like he lived in a behind a house in a little hut and behind a house in a thing and I was like I can't I can't go there. Yeah. It's not not like it's not like trying to be superficial, but it's just trying to be like comparable magnitude like you know what I mean? I've worked hard and I live a certain way and I don't want to all of a sudden like have to It's like an inequality match. if somebody's has no spiritual life and they don't believe in God, that's fine. I do and so that's a big disconnect. So I think there has to be like there has to be matches across like important things. And to me the important ones are like spirituality, love of animals, um you know, a person who's not a narcissist who's just like I think it's it makes it hard. It does make it a little hard. Yeah. What's some of the best relationship advice you've ever heard? The best? I want to hear yours first. relationship advice. Jack's like, what? Well, I don't know if this is like I mean it's a pretty commonly agreed upon thing that communication is key and I'm a firm believer that like you should communicate everything. I think communication will solve 99.99% of problems in relationships. that's great answer. Yeah, I love that. Yes. Yes. Yes. One point for you. And I think laughter. I think being goof be able to be goofy and have fun. I mean Oh, this guy's a big goof. I'm more I'm more I just want to be able to laugh. Like I've got I think to me like being able to laugh is like whoever I end up marrying or being with my for the rest of my life partner person, I just want it to be fun and funny and also sexy and hot. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like best friend slash super hot for each other. That's it. Yeah. And great communication and like just a lot of like similar interests in the world and the real big world and the important things. Cuz work is like work is beautiful and I'm grateful for my work but it's not at the end of the day you want to like feel safe with your people. Right. And your career is here and there and it goes up and down all the time or whatever but the end of the day you want to feel safe in home at home wherever home is. Yeah. When Rugrats was wrapping up, how did you feel towards that? Were you ever nervous of like finding what the next thing was and and like progressing further? For my job, you mean? Yeah. Yeah. Like there were there times where where I'm like wondering what my next move's going to be. Right, because Yeah, right now. I mean, I have jobs and I'm I'm doing great. I thank God. But I do wonder like because I feel I'm being called to something more big something bigger. Mhm. And I do really want to do a documentary um because I've had pretty interesting like journey with like even just personally like my personal life and it's not like I would want it to be a scandal thing but there's been a lot of scandal in my life with um you know, it's like my ex-husband was married to Pam Anderson twice. My ex-husband was married to Shannen Doherty once. My ex-husband was the guy in the Paris Hilton tape. Do you know Yeah. But because of for some reason and not just that, in my own life other things I've just had a lot of really wild things happen. So I have a very and people I dated like Yeah. Could you share any of that? Like Like what do you mean? Like which thing? Like any any stories with that or something that you would want to include in the documentary? Okay, like when I was in my 20s, I was madly in love and I I had this boyfriend who's name was Jon-Erik Hexum. And he was this very very beautiful man. And he looked like you. Yeah. There you go. So don't worry. You'll You'll find your partner. He's And he was a very beautiful man and uh Jon-Erik Hexum and um I was younger than him and I was madly in love with him and um I think I was 22 and he was working on a very big show at the time and he put a prop gun up against his head and shot it and it blew a piece of his skull the size of a quarter into the middle of his brain. And No. Brain dead. And so that happened. And In a In a prop gun? a prop gun. Is that just a for the shooting a blank? Yeah. But a blank Oh, yeah. Those Yeah. Close range. A blank close range. If you put it here, he probably would've been okay, but it was here. Did he Did he intend to do damage or was this probably playing around. He was on the set and they said he was playing around and he put it here and the the blank has gunpowder, wax, and paper and Yeah. it's strong enough to shoot through a piece of his skull the size of a quarter to the middle of his brain. So it basically took him out. And so like that was a very um challenging time for me cuz I was only in my 20s and he was my boyfriend and it was weird. The whole thing was weird and um Yeah, I mean I just had some really There was a lot of trauma I've had some trauma and also had some amazing things. So life has just pretty been pretty crazy journey. And you know, I've I shared a lot about a lot of that in that one-woman show I talked about. Mhm. It's called Listen Closely and it's on digital It's on Amazon. Both the seminar and Listen Closely. Listen Closely is like a 1-hour 15-minute one-woman autobiographical musical about my journey. So, I feel like I'm supposed to do the documentary based on that one-woman show. So, if you guys see the one-woman show, listen closely. There was a lot of things that happened. You I do talk about the Paris Hilton thing, and I do talk about the Shannen Doherty stuff, and I do talk about how I met my first voice agent, and it changed my career. And I do talk about John Eric shooting himself in the head. I actually reenact that whole thing in the one-woman show. So, I try to just be really real about what happened and how my thought process was during a lot of it, and how I just kept growing my spirit to be able to handle all this Yeah, so I'm feeling like the next thing I'm supposed to do is either like this book or this documentary. Plus, there was a lot of stuff like around the Conrad Hilton, which is Paris Hilton's little brother. Mhm. I mean, you could Google it. In my family, there's a lot of drama around that. There's just been a lot of stuff. In the middle of that, I've had this beautiful career. And and my love of animals. So, I just think there's a lot of interesting things that I would want to share my side of what happened about a lot of things. Yeah. How did you cope through the the shooting? Uh Um That cuz that I feel like is is just a is a tough one to grasp because it was like a bit of an accident, very spontaneous. It was kind of like a dream. Okay. of felt like I was in a dream. I was like I really almost couldn't believe it was happening, and then but there were a lot of things that happened up until to that that kind of looking back, I was able to journal like I felt like he was a ticking time bomb, and he was going to blow up. I mean, I like I wrote it in journals like I feel like John Eric is a ticking time bomb, and I don't know when he's going to go off. And then there was another weird thing that happened that I didn't remember till recently. I went and did ayahuasca, which I don't do drugs really. I don't know if you guys know what ayahuasca I don't I don't do drugs. I've never done I don't really do any drugs, and I'm not a drinker. That's not really my thing, but I did go do ayahuasca because there's so many amazing things I kept researching about it. And in that I had a very vivid memory of when I was with John Eric in his room, in his bed, and I couldn't stop crying. And it was like it was happening. I was during the ayahuasca when I was on ayahuasca, and I was just remember I was just crying, crying, crying. I was like, and he was right there with me, and I remember it was like yesterday. And what was really weird was he died a week later, and I couldn't remember that when I was Uh I didn't know why I was crying when I was actually with him in real life a week before he died. And now I look back, and I was like, I must have known something. Like I knew something was going to happen. I wrote the thing he's, you know, there's just a lot of really weird things. They just What What made you want to do ayahuasca? What What about that piqued your curiosity? Cuz I've seen a lot of documentaries on it, and hearing people's experiences, and it's it's interesting, but I would be I feel like I'd be terrified. Terrified. Yeah. Okay, that's why I did it. Because for one, my daughter had done it. One of my younger daughter did it, and she kept calling me every night after her ceremonies and be like, "Mom, this is mind-boggling. Like there's a lot of people just like you. There's women your age who have had adult kids who have had lives, and they're very like, you know, they're There's so many people just like you, normal, regular people, not drug addicts, not this, not that." And I kept thinking, "Yeah, but I'm terrified." I First of all, I don't like to throw up. Right, yeah. And that's one of the first things, right? You just like you throw up a lot. up. So it's like, do not I cannot. And so I kept saying, "No, honey, I could never do that, but I'm glad you're having a good experience." And my daughter, for her, it was very healing. And um And so, and the place she went to was very very high-end, and they really educate you there. You have to do classes about it before you even do ayahuasca. And then you do 4 days in a row. But you know 4 days in a row of ayahuasca? 4 days in a row. That seems Is Is healthy? It It's fine. It's It's They have like medics and a medical team. You have to see the doctor This isn't in the United States, right? In Costa Rica. That's where I did it. And how long does the ayahuasca trip last? I mean I don't think it's long, right? It the first like you the first three nights you go in and you start the ceremony is like music and singing and like chanting. It could start at 7:00 and then you're there till like 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. 7:00 p.m.? Yeah. And what are the demographics of the people? Everyone. I mean there were like conservative like couples from like that have a cow farm, like really conservative, like they go to church. They're like there were super conservative couples that were there. I was like, "What are they doing here?" And then there were like moms and there were like young girls and like older people and there was like older men like in their late 70s. I mean it was really wide wide demographic. It wasn't like, "Oh, it's a bunch of wanting to be sober now." Cuz there's a lot of healing properties. So it was really wild. But so when my daughter came back from that trip, she said, "Mom, you should really think about it." I was like, "No, I can never do that. It scares the it scares me so much." And then I just kept thinking about it and I kept researching and I researched this guy Gabor Mate, this doctor. And he said like he's never seen so much healing in his patients and he had he had dealt with people that were dying and he dealt with people that were terrible addicts. He says he's never seen the kind of recovery or healing that came from ayahuasca. So it was like and they kept saying like if it's calling to you and if it's calling to you then you got to listen. Cuz that's how Mother Ayahuasca works. And so then I finally said to my daughter, "Yeah, I'll do it." I couldn't believe I said it and I couldn't believe I did it. And I did four days of it in Did you go alone? I went with my daughter again. She went again. This was months later. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, it was wild. How much does it cost for a four-day trip of that? Well, this this place I went to was like really nice. It's called Rythmia. It's like a little bougier, but I wanted that cuz I wanted it to be like very intimate. Really safe. You have to see the medics office. You you have to do health forms. you have to eat a certain diet. It's very strict. It's a medicine. Mhm. And so, um you know, I don't know what that place is like 6, 7,000 for a week. Per person? Yeah. But it's for 4 days. It's No, it's a week. Oh, it's a week. like Oh, you do breath work, you do meditation, you do yoga, you do Oh, wow. a whole retreat. whole retreat. And one of the activities that you do on the retreat is the ayahuasca. Aside from that, it's meditation. right. And the last night of ayahuasca, you do from like 7:00 p.m. till the next day. You're literally watch the sun come up and you wake up and you're You don't wake up. You're just like You're awake through the night. you around sober people? Like there are people like if you Did you see people like freaking out on the floor? a giant room like a giant room Like a whole massive 60 people. You're all in the same room. So, you If Vsauce had a great documentary on it. He went and did exactly this and filmed the entire thing. I think I saw that one. Yeah. I watched a whole bunch of them because I wanted to But I didn't I didn't know like to me I I really wanted to hear people's stories that never did drugs, cuz I was that person. I was like, I want to hear from somebody who was never a drug addict. Mhm. That's That's what I was looking for online and I couldn't find a lot of those. I don't know if I found any. No. Cuz that scared me. I was like, it's one thing if you've done drugs and used to be out of your mind. But it's another if you're never done drugs and that scares me. How do you find it to be healing? Like in what way? Oh, it's just so Like I'm saying, it it takes you to part of your brain that you can't really tap back into usually. Breath work, you can do it with, but like I was able to go back to that moment lying in that bed with my boyfriend who shot himself. And I remembered like a message. Like his message was um I believe in you. Go do this that go do these things you want to do. Like cuz he was like the big star at the time. He had this series and I was like I was doing my own career but I remember like there was beautiful messages and I did I went ahead and and followed through like it's almost like he said you can do this and that was way back at the beginning of my career and I remember things about my mother that like it was hard for me to connect with my mom all the time for some reason my mom is beautiful lady and was a good mom but she was very like she'd look at me she'd be like what why is your hair messy here what's going on with that eyebrow or well it wasn't like looking at me like I love you it was like she she had a hard time really seeing deeper was more like she would great mom still but just couldn't see me inside me which was painful for me because I always just want to be seen I want people to see me and so one of the messages I got was that in my ayahuasca cuz you're like tripping but you remember everything you're literally remember yourself throwing up in a bucket you remember yourself crawling to the bathroom you remember like you remember your like usually when you're drunk you black out you don't remember not that I ever do that but people when they're really messed up they don't remember anything you remember everything during ayahuasca and so one of the messages was like a shaman lady would ask me like what are you feeling I'm like I feel really nauseous she's like what is that I'm like it's fear she goes what is that fear I'm like I'm just scared of everything and I just start sharing all these things but I'm crying crying crying and then I just said and I'm afraid like my mom's getting older and I'll never get to really have her see me and I start crying like crying deep crying and then all of a sudden she goes do you want to dance with your mom and all of a sudden I'm dancing with the shaman lady but it's actually like I'm feeling like it's my mother but my mother young and me young and I'm crying and I'm like connecting to my mother and then when I come back to town after ayahuasca my mom is so present and I feel her like I've never felt her and I don't know how how worked but something shifted from the ayahuasca for me. And when I see my mom now, it's a very different, weird thing. It's just weird. Do you think it's because you're behaving and seeing things differently, or do you think I had this revelation that my mom has always been able to connect with babies, and that came from the ayahuasca. What's the message was your mom connects to babies and children. She sees them. She has a hard time with adults for whatever reason. Maybe they were too painful for her. Mhm. But, for some reason, my mom could connect and love children and babies. Like, she just loves them. She had five kids. But, adults probably scared the out of her. So, um I realized that in order to connect with my mom, I connect with her like she sees the little kid. So, it's like I don't know what happened. Just something There was a weird revelation about my mom that was profound. What's your relationship with work look like in now? Are you still very gung-ho about work? Are you still very excited to take on more jobs and continue working for the next 5, 10 15, 20 years? Or or what's your sentiment? I'm going to be an old lady. I would like to make it BIG IN HOLLYWOOD. THAT WAS FUN. The next 25 years. Yes. Well, let me tell you. Who are the grandparents on Rugrats? Boris Boris and uh what's his name? Boris and Minka. Minka. You could be Minka. Yeah, and then we do my Oprah. Oprah, I remember when I used to watch you. Sounds like a little bit like Cher. Yeah, Cher talks like this. Anyway, I still really want to keep doing beautiful I feel like there's so many messages and things I've learned that I want to find ways to put them out. You know what I mean? If I can spare someone some of the things I did, I want to do that. I feel like there's so many different voices I could still do. There's so many roles I still want to do. So, there's a lot of like things I still want to do. I really do want to do a do documentary cuz I've all the old footage of me like performing back in the '80s when I would do like the Sunset Strip and the Whiskey and the all those clubs back then and just like I have you know videos of like I videotaped everything back then. So, I want to use all the live footage and So, I really want to do that. I have to find the right person to help me like a person to help me put it together cuz it's too much for myself. But, you know, like a team that does documentaries. So, I'm going to do that. That's one of my goals. And I think I want to write the a book. And there's other roles I want to do that are like just dope and cool and and voice over it's limitless, you know, there's so many different voices I I want to play with, but So, yeah, I still feel the drive. I mean, I definitely um feel like the last 2 years were kind of chill for me. Um even though I was working, I was doing Rugrats and other shows. One's called Grimmsburg. I still think there's some other really cool things I want to do and and more speaking and more teaching and more um more fun and more funny and more love and more How were you and what were your thoughts about like saving and investing throughout the entire process? Was there any concern of like I don't know how long this is going to last. I better save it like just in case cuz I hear a lot about the industry could either be like you're doing really well one year and then there's no work for a Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You can make money one year and then not at all the next. I mean, there were times where like I'd have to move out of my house and go When my kids were little, we moved out of our house and went to go live at the Oakwoods cuz I was running out of money. The Oakwoods is like this apartment complex that a lot of people would go stay at when they were filming a show or they'd bring their little families and stay in these little apartments. Mhm. It was kind of fun. It was a lot of industry people, but there were times where I had to move out of my house and and take the kids when they were little and because I was like, "Oh, I'm running out of money." You know, and then everything just fly back and all of a sudden we're making money again. So, I am very aware about saving and um being smart with money and um I'm uh you know, I do have to you do have to think about it cuz like I have money but would I feel like if I wanted to just retire and stop doing everything right now, I don't think I would feel ready to do that. Mhm. Do you know what I mean? Financially, I don't think so. I think I'd like to do some jobs that were like just really super big money to where I really don't even have to think about it. But right now, I think I would want to be more stable there. Sure. Where are you investing? I hate stocks and all that stuff. I literally like the only money I put into stocks or into I don't know what those are. I don't even know what they're called. Index funds? It's with USB. What is that? USB? Is that USB? Anyway. USDC? I don't know. All I know is like all the only money I've ever put is like a little chunk of dough. I would put into that. Like that money is down by 15 or 20%. And it's been in there for 2 years. So, I'm like Wait, wait. It's so it's down 15% over 2 years? In the last like whatever since they I put it in, it's down from what the actual value was. has gone down. Tell me about it. You guys tell me about that. I maybe over 2 years? So, the S&P is down about 10% year over year. Over 2 years, it's positive. So, right now it's it's whatever I put Okay, then maybe it's been a year, but whatever money I took and I put it in this thing is like you should do that and then I'll invest that for you, blah blah blah. It's down. Which means like I'm Every time I've ever put money in all those things that are play the market is always down and anytime I was like I think I need that, they'd be like, "Oh, it's down by this much." and I'd be like, "I need it." And I told you to put it in nothing unless it was really conservative and I wasn't going to lose and it'd be down. So, I like have no faith. I think you just got to hold on a little bit longer. I mean, overall the market saw a pretty big dip over the past year, so going up? Do you have the I mean, you know, let me check. Well, it did well today. Did really well today. There's no golden like where you can expect it to go up by But then what? Then it goes up and then it's 2 years later it goes down, so you never really make any money with it. Well, the Well, the average about 7 to 8% a year. Over 20 years it's about 10% a year. It's not. No, adjusted for inflation, I'm sure we didn't specify that, but yes, adjusted for inflation. a year. would do a cartoon voice of what you just said, "Adjusted for inflation. Don't talk about it." I would do a little kid with like, "Hey, let's talk about inflation here." Let's talk about inflation. 7 to 8% a year, Jack. a year, Jack. Okay. Yeah, well, adjusted for inflation, it's 7 to 8% a year. But, if not, it's 10. And for Rugrats, do you get Do you need to get royalties? Yeah. Wow. Well, then that's That's a retirement. I mean, that's great. And I you get royalties from like I'm good. I'm fine. I could retire if I want. I mean, I You get royalties from like Two and a Half Men. I did like Took me like 5 20 minutes to record that song, and I get gigantic royalties on that song. And I didn't even write the song. But, it's uh in syndication, that show. So, it is a really big money thing. Yeah. Who would have thought? You know, I did that so long ago, but it's great. Chuck Lorre has good projects. One of the stories that sticks with me for a theme song is Danny Elfman, who wrote um The Simpsons theme song, did it in the car in 15 minutes. Yeah. Submitted it, and that's it. The Simpsons theme song. when it's really good, and it it took me 15, 20 minutes to cut the men, men, men, men, manly men. Woo hoo hoo. That It's so funny. I I didn't realize until recently that you were the voice for that intro. But, I always wondered because his singing was too good. Like, there's no way. I thought maybe it's like he You can sing like this, but he can't really sing very good. So, yeah. Men, men, men, men, manly men. Woo hoo hoo. How to sing it. I always thought maybe it was just like really auto-tuned, and they used him and like just like fixed the voice cuz it was like too good. That was magic of me. No. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Can you do the voice of Chucky? Can you imitate But, can you do any of the voices? Like, can you cuz you're so good at at picking other characters and like doing it? Could you or no? You know, it's really funny. Chucky I don't really do. Huh. I really don't do it. Um There was a time on the show where I did one of the other characters. I can't even say what cuz I had a little issue. But um uh I did do one other character on the show just one or two episodes cuz the person wasn't available or something. But um I don't want to like It was probably supposed to be on the download but I did do that one of the characters once. Um and uh But like yeah, I don't do Chucky which is really funny. Yeah. There's once in a while there'll be a voice I don't do. I mean I don't do men's voices obviously. You know. But I used to do like I did uh Mrs. Incredible. "Dash, you have to get over on that you know." What's her name she does Dash. Oh, Helen Hunt. That's It's Holly Holly Hunter. Yeah. Holly "Dash, I want you to tell your dad something." You know, she talks like that. Yeah. So I actually did Mrs. Incredible for all the like pickups and the commercials. She did a Tide commercial. And uh so I do things like that. Like they say, "Can you do Holly Hunter's voice?" I'm like, "No, I can't do that. She sort of talks like this." And I was like, "I can't do it." But then I did it and then I was like, "I guess I can do it." Or they'll say, "Can you do Cher?" I'll be like, "Oh honey, I'm not sure how to do it." You know, so I try to do Cher, you know. "Snap out of it." That's Cher. Yeah, that was pretty good. It's pretty good, right? Oh my gosh. Yeah, so I do that. But it's a weird thing. So it's certain voices yes and there might be a voice here and there I don't. And I don't do Chucky. Hm. Yeah. But Nancy does great. How often do people ask you to do Tommy Pickles? All the time. Really? Yeah. Do you ever get tired of it? like workers at my house and they'll be like, "Oh, you do Tommy Pickles." And I'll be like, "Yeah." And then I'll do it. No, not really. It It's pretty sweet. It's pretty sweet. You know. You see them like light up like, "Oh my god, you're the voice of my childhood." I mean like if I'm like um if I'm in a restaurant and I'm eating dinner with somebody or you know and somebody walks over the table and is like, "Oh, can you do the voice of my kid?" I'm like, "I'm on a date." We just It's probably not a good time. You get asked that while you're on a date? there'll be times when people walk up to you at the table like, "Oh my god, I I know you." And they're very sweet and I always try to be very gracious, but sometimes I'll have to say, "I'm on a date, so it's not really appropriate for me to So I'll have to say that, but I try to be nice cuz they're sweet. Your date doesn't encourage you, "Oh no, no, it's okay. Go ahead. Go ahead. He wants to ask the exact same thing. Sometimes. He said I've been waiting this entire time. Yes, you already set them up to ask the question. Yeah, he set it up. No, I mean sometimes just to be sweet to people. You don't want to make people feel terrible. I don't like making people feel bad. It's hard enough for them to walk up and say, "You're the voice of my childhood." And that is a gift to me. But just sometimes there might be like I might be in the middle of something and it's really a bad time. I might just say, "Oh, I'm just in the middle of something. It's not a good time for me, but thank you, you know." Just want to be gracious. Yeah. Is there anything else that you want to talk about? Anything else that we you feel like we didn't hit? I think really honestly you guys should watch the Listen Closely. Okay. It's the one woman I autobiographical musical. It's on Amazon. And the one woman Oh, I do have the voice over seminar, which is pretty cool. And I did have like some guest people come and talk about voice over and I did share some interesting facts about voice over. It's really kind of interesting. And I talk about my journey a little bit, too. And because I really think a lot of the journey is is is being open. And I talk about offshoots like be open to like somebody trying to point you to something new that you might say no to. And again, it is a fine line like we talked about it. You might You might say no to I did say no one time I got offered a partner Chuck Norris movie to play his daughter in something and I remember that. I was like, "I'm not doing Chuck Norris movie." You know, I passed on it and I was so sad I passed on it cuz they were in Calgary filming riding horses and I was home in the summer doing nothing cuz I had no other jobs that came that summer and I thought I was going to have like So sometimes it's like I find more opportunities come by saying yes. Do you know what I mean? So, I talk about things like I talk about different kinds of things, but I like to teach people things other than just how to do voices about life so that it's life and art and it's not just like you're doing your work and you're obsessed with your work cuz I did obsess with my work and that's not a fun way to live. Oh, that sounds like me. Yeah? But he loves it though. I love it. So, you can engage when you're doing something else, too. Yeah, well I'm doing both, but like but I love work. For me that's my escape is just like loving work. And I do, too. I do, too. But um I think um if you have a box and you have like nine squares and you have like work and your fiance and your animals and your fun and your family and your aquarium and your blah blah blah and you put them all in a box that your life should be balanced and it shouldn't be like 99% just the work and then you give a tiny bit. I just think it just needs to be balanced for it all to really be good. I always feel like it it can't be balanced. It's got to be like if you want to excel at one thing, you have to be like more overweight Yes, that's true. There are times you want to be a little intense, but it it'll make you crazy. And the thing is you don't want to get to where you're just you feel like an empty shell, which is what I've experienced where I was so obsessed with making my work happen that I couldn't say no to people. I did things I didn't want to do. I went places I didn't want to go. Everything was for work and I think I would want to encourage people to um to not give up yourself so much. You know what I mean? It's one thing to be ambitious, which is cool and be driven, but don't give up your integrity to yourself and that's the difference. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. And goodbye. I said yes to things I didn't want to do or yes to hanging out with people I didn't want to hang out with because I thought I could get an opportunity with that person and then I was like things happened that I didn't want to have happen then I'd be like that's that's a line you shouldn't cross. You should I feel for myself I would take better care of myself. Well, thank Thank so much. Is there anything else we'll link to everything that you mentioned in the description so like all that'll be there. I like the Tik Tok. Cool. Well, it'll all be in the description. Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate it. All right. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Although you know what while we're on the topic of being a creator I got to say I know how overwhelming it could be to see all the equipment that's out there and think oh I got to spend thousands of dollars to get started up but thankfully our sponsor StreamYard is there to help. So StreamYard is a live streaming studio platform that helps you create high quality content with just the click of a button. All you need is any camera and an internet connection and you can start streaming directly from your browser. What I really like though is that you could stream to multiple social media platforms all at the same time. So you could set it up once and then stream to YouTube, to Twitch, to Instagram and so on. Basically almost anything out there you're going to get your face out there. StreamYard is the best way to start creating content online and best of all they also offer a free package so you guys can get started today at the cost of zero. And look leveling with you guys they've also been a huge supporter of the podcast and have allowed us to take a lot of trips and travel to some of the guests that we otherwise just wouldn't have really seen. 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