Interview with Bob Bergen, voice actor of ‘Looney Tunes’

Bob Bergen is a voice actor. He is the voice of the Warner Bros. cartoon characters Porky Pig and Tweety Bird, in Looney Tunes animated series. He is also responsible for the voice of Luke Skywalker in over a dozen Star Wars video games.

Q. You are the voice of Luke Skywalker in the video game Star Wars. What was the most difficult aspect of this character for you?

A. I originally turned the audition down.  I told my agent I just don’t think I can do a decent Mark Hamill, and frankly in my heart couldn’t imagine any one else playing this character.  Despite this the producer wanted to see me anyway.  At the audition I reiterated my concern to the producer.  He told me, “Don’t do Mark.  Do Luke.”  This was a lightbulb moment.  The producer felt my voice print was close enough to Mark.  So he stressed I work more on finding the personality of the character.  

Look at the Gallery: Bob Bergen Voice actor

And there are two versions of Luke, pre Jedi and post Jedi. So his personality evolves and changes, depending on what era the game is in the Star Wars universe.  

I’m also not what one would call a die hard Star Wars fan.  I enjoy the movies, but I don’t know every lil planet and creature.  So I’m always in need of help with Star Wars universe pronunciations.  But I do love working on this franchise.  I recently got to do Luke again for Robot Chicken.  And I played a new character Bibo for Star Wars Resistance.  

Q. Looking at all of your daily work as an animation voiceover artist, are there words or phrases that are more difficult for you to pronounce or that you have more challenges with and how do you deal with it?

A. Not really.  But “That’s all folks” is a bit of a challenge.  Mel Blanc only said it once when he first started voicing the character in the 30s.  By the early 40s WB stopped using Porky saying the line and began spelling out “That’s all folks.”  Mel never really said it again until the late 70s doing talkshows.  By then his voice and the character had evolved from the 30s.  So whenever I’m tasked with that catch phrase I need to find a happy medium.  I really can’t do Porky the way Mel originally voiced him.  My Porky sweet spot is mid 1950s Porky.  So if you compare my “That’s all Folks!” to that of Mel’s 1938 version, it’s very different.  That said, I don’t think any of us who voice these characters come close to Mel’s genius.  My goal is to keep the integrity of the character.  But there will only be one Mel Blanc.

Q. How did you start your career?

A. As a kid I would spend endless hours watching and taping cartoons, imitating voices as well as creating characters of my own.  My dream was to voice The Looney Tunes and in particular Porky Pig.  My idol was Mel Blanc and I worked day and night trying to perfect eh-puh-peh-eh- Porky’s famous voice. My family relocated to Los Angeles and I spent a lot of time going through the phone books, calling every animation studio in town and gathering information on how to break into voice-over.  Hanna Barbara referred me to Bob Lloyd, who at the time had the only voice casting office in LA.  Lloyd referred me to Daws Butler, a legend in animation and well known as the voice of Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound and Elroy Jetson.  Daws taught a weekly class and I took his class along with any other class I could get my hand on.  At age 18, I was introduced to Casey Kasem who encouraged me to put together a tape of voices which I did.  Casey gave the tape to Don Pitts, the nicest voice over agent in the biz who then signed me.  The rest is history.  

Star Wars Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker

Q. You worked on Lupin III. What memory do you have of that experience?

A. Love playing this character.  One of my favorites.  Many of us have played him over the years.  He’s a lovable goof who thinks he’s more suave than he really is.  My fondest memories are the people I got to work with, namely Carl Macek and Jerry Beck.  It’s always great to work with people who love animation as much as you do.  I did several projects for them, and to my knowledge I never auditioned for any of them.  Carl would just hire me.  And he was kind enough to work around my busy animation and promo announcer schedule, often recording in evenings and weekends to accommodate me.  And Jerry is a living breathing animation Wikipedia.  Just spending time chatting toons with him is heaven.  I would so love to revisit playing Lupin again!

Q. What advice would you give to young people who want to pursue animation voiceover? Are there any schools or classes that you can recommend for studying this craft?

A. Well, it’s called voice “acting” for a reason.  It’s as pure an acting skill as theater and on camera.  So the first thing I would suggest is study acting, as well as improv.  Hone those skills.  Then study voiceover.  There are lots of great coaches out there who teach voiceover.  I suggest reaching out to the voice actors who have the career you desire to have and ask them who they studied with.  So often I see on social media out of work actors seeking advice from out of work actors.  When I was starting out I reached out to Mel Blanc.  Even at 14 I figured I should go to the top. The same is true today.  The good news is that today literally everyone is reachable through social media.  You can surf who their agents are.  You can listen to their demos.  Just know it has nothing to do with how great one’s voice is.  There is no such thing as a good voice.  There’s no such thing as a bad voice.  There are only good actors and bad actors.  I studied voiceover for 4 years with every vo coach LA had to offer.  I spent 2 years at an acting conservatory and 3 years studying improv.  It was only after all of this I knew I was ready to pursue.  And even after all of this it took me a good 5 years before I was able to make a living at voice acting.  If this is something you really want, don’t take short cuts.  Want it more than everyone else and be willing to work harder and do more than everyone else.  They hold auditions every day because they are always looking for the next big thing.  But the cream floats to the top.  You want to be ahead of the herd, not amongst them.

Q. What is your next project?

A. So often today we have to sign NDAs, so there’s much I cannot talk about.  But I am very excited about Looney Tunes Cartoons where we are doing over 200 brand new shorts that have the flavor of the original classic Looney Tunes of the 40s.  Die hard fans will be thrilled as they see that Bob Clampett influence.  Pete Browngardt is our show runner and he has that Looney Tunes magic and has assembled some amazing writers and artists.  In almost 30 years voicing these characters this is one of the most excited Looney Tunes project I have ever worked on.

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