STAYING IN
THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, TODAY As series six of Futurama is released on DVD, Henry Northmore talks to Billy West, star of Matt Groening’s animated space comedy
A s the first project from Matt Groening after his worldwide ultra-mega hit The Simpsons, there was a lot riding on Futurama. A similarly animated comedy, it’s a sci-fi adventure concerning the lives and loves of a band of misfits at the Planet Express intergalactic delivery service. ‘I was never ever comparing it to The Simpsons. I always thought what we were doing was such beautiful work and it was different from The Simpsons and I was very proud of that,’ explains Billy West who voices three of the show’s lead characters: Philip J Fry, a pizza delivery boy who was cryogenically frozen by accident back in 1999 only to be defrosted 1000 years in the future; Dr Zoidberg, an inept alien-crustacean physician and Professor Farnsworth, an ancient scientific genius (as well as arrogant, idiotic starship captain Zapp Brannigan). In person, West is
much more low key and considered than the persona you might associate with a guy who makes weird and wonderful voices for a living. ‘They showed me pictures of the characters and I had to make some judgement calls and try and formulate something they might like. They liked what I did so we developed it a little further and the next thing I know I was doing four main characters.’ Cartoons take months to complete and vocal talent is central to the entire process. ‘It comes in immediately after the scripts have been written, then the animators go to work and build the cartoon around the voice performers,’ explains West, who plays so many characters that he often ends up having conversations with himself while recording. ‘I have no problem with that, it’s kind of what I was born to do,’ says West. ‘It’s the rewards of a
misspent youth: I had no interest in school, I really didn’t, I just built this little world that I lived in.’ Finding his niche on radio, West worked with shock jock Howard Stern for six years. He then started doing voices for the classic Looney Tunes characters and can be heard doing Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd and more. He’s often described as the natural successor to Mel Blanc who came up with the original voices. ‘I really appreciate it but I’ve always thought that you can’t be the next Mel Blanc by doing Mel Blanc voices, you have to do your own and luckily I’ve been able to do both.’ This was followed by Ren & Stimpy, Doug and then Futurama. ‘They were casting for the show and they wanted to have a look at me so I came and auditioned. I was so flattered that Matt Groening knew who I was and knew my work.’
36 THE LIST 13 Jun–11 Jul 2013
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