Interview: Bob Bergen

On the 7th of October 2009 LotsofInterviews.com conducted an interview with Bob Bergen, who is the current voice of Porky Pig. We talk about how he became a voice actor, his trip to the Whitehouse, his hosting of the TV show "Jep!", his adivce to other voice actors and what he has been working on at the moment.

How is it that you got into voice acting?

I wanted to be Porky Pig when I was five years old, that’s what

I told my parents I wanted to do when I grew up and my mum

said “you can’t be Porky Pig you’re Jewish” [laughter]. We were

more “ish” than “Jew” so I didn’t really know what that meant

but I knew there was this character on the cartoons that I could

imitate and I wanted to do it and I studied cartoons more than I studied my school work.

I got a portable tape recorder and taped them and I would imitate them and I would imitate teachers in school. Then when I was 15 my dad moved the family to LA, not for me to be Porky Pig but because he got a job there, he was nice but not that nice. And I just picked up every telephone book I could find, I rang up any number with animation or cartoon written next to it and I found Blanc and I found his phone number, rang him up and crashed a recording session and I called Hanna Barbera and they referred me to a guy called Daws Butler who was teaching an animation voice over class and was the voice of Yogi Bear, Snagglepuss, Captain Crunch and Huckleberry Hound. I just started studying voice-over, acting and inprov with everyone in LA who offered a class.

Back then they didn’t hire you if you were under 18, now they do, so when I graduated high school about a week later I got my first agent and I got my first job and supported myself for five years as a tour guide at Universal Studios until I was able to make a living as a voice actor.

   What do people say when you tell them you are a voice actor?

  It’s funny, sometimes I get “do the voice”; I was on a cruise last

  year and Paula Deen was on it too, she’s on the food network, and

  I walked up to her at the blackjack table and I just said “I’m a big

  fan of your cooking show, I’m the voice of Porky Pig” and she said

  “Oh you’re not, let me hear you do his voice” so I do it for her and

  she goes “get out of here! You are so Porky Pig!”

  The kids are tough because they’re not used to hearing that voice

  coming from an adult, so they give you this “I don’t get it” look. But

  for the most part it’s fun, it’s not like you’re a proctologist and

  somebody says “here demonstrate for me” you’re a cartoon voice,

  it’s fun to hear it and it’s fun to do.

  Can you tell me a bit about your visit to the White House and how

  this came about?

  Barbara Bush, when she was the first lady, had a literacy program

  and with that she did a radio program for children called “Story Time with Mrs Bush” and she would read children’s stories with various celebrities and/or cartoon characters and I did Sylvester Jr. with Joe Alaskey doing Sylvester and my agent called me up and asked if I wanted to be a part of it, it didn’t pay anything but I got to do a thing with Barbara Bush so I said “great!”.

So I get to the studio and of course she’s not there, she’s recorded her part in Washington and I was kinda bummed but I still did it anyway. Then a few months later I got this big thick invitation in the mail for a reception at the White House in honour of my participation in this project and I thought it was a joke! So I called up and said “I’m here to RSVP to the White

House” and they said “Ok we need your legal name, you need to be fingerprinted, your social security number” and I was like “Oh my goodness this is the real deal!” So I got everything they needed, I brought my mum, and we went to the Whitehouse. We were in that receiving line and we shook her hand, and I kept turning to my mum and saying “this is surreal”.

These events are chaperoned by the Marines and this young marine came up to me and said “last week we had Prince Charles and Princess Diana but Porky Pig and his mother, this is really great!” And I went to the bathroom and when I came out my mum asked “why are you thicker than you were before?” and I said “because I took all the presidential hand towels and toilet paper and I’m going to give them away as gifts when we get back!”