Do you wonder how much has changed because of the pandemic? With the world slowly going back to normal, are we ready to go back to the way things used to be? What is it like being a voice actor during the pandemic? Today, I talk about this and so much more with industry veteran Robbie Daymond.
Robbie is a voice actor with an amazing repertoire. From kids’ cartoons to anime, he is in everything. If you are a regular consumer of video games or animation, you have heard his voice somewhere. His most notable roles include Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon, Spider-Man from Spider-Man (2017), SwaySway from Breadwinners, and many more. With so much talent and experience, you know Robbie has tons of value to share. This is an episode you don’t want to miss.
Show Notes:
[8:09] How Robbie got into voice acting.
[18:33] Robbie talking about L.A.V.A
[22:33] Q&A with Robbie during the live IgTV.
[34:05] Robbie and I on our relationship with Social Media.
[51:27] The things that keep Robbie inspired.
[1:12:38] Robbie’s inspiration to teach and learn.
Follow along with Alicyn's Wonderland on:
Instagram: @Alicyn
TikTok: @alicynpackard
YouTube: Alicyn Packard
Twitter: @Alicyn
Show Transcript
Alicyn  

Welcome to Alicyn's Wonderland. I'm your host, Alicyn Packard. Join us as we journey through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole into the wild and wonderful world of animation and video games. 

Alicyn  

Hey, do a girl a favor and please subscribe to this podcast and go on iTunes and leave us a good review. If you like the show, please help spread the word it really helps us to get heard by more people. Thanks so much. 

Alicyn  

Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Alicyn's Wonderland. I'm really excited because tonight's guest is Robbie Daymond, voice actor who's best known, I mean Robbie's credits are too numerous to list, but you might know him as Spider-Man in the animated series Spider-Man. Robbie was also Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon. He is Mumen Rider in One Punch Man and SwaySway in Breadwinners, just to name a few. So, I'm really excited to bring Robbie on to the show tonight. I hope you guys are all doing so well. It's so good to see you. Hey, Sebastian. Hey, Reed. Collette, what a pleasure. We would love to have you on Sunday. That would be amazing. I'm getting a lot of requests for more voice directors as well. So let me go ahead and see if Robbie's here and we'll add him to the show. He's not here yet. So that means it's time for me to vamp. Oh, yeah. I hope you guys are having a good week. It has been, it has been pretty busy over here, which is always a pleasure. I know as more and more things come online, we are being presented with more and more opportunities to get out there. And to meet people, to see people but I don't know about you, I found it all to be at times a little bit overwhelming. I'm like, Wait, how am I out in this world again? And it just seems that, you know, we're constantly having to face these challenges of putting so much on our plates. And I just was wondering how are you guys dealing with that? Oh, you got your second COVID shot. That is so great. Molly, you're feeling maxed out and overwhelmed as well. I know. It's, it's a lot. You, Sebastian, you were interviewed by Fred Tatasciore, that's amazing. We love Fred. He's such a talented voice actor here. Absolutely loved Fred. Yes. I don't know if you guys saw, I'm also fully vaxed. So that is part of the reason why I'm able to be out in the world again. And I just put out a music video yesterday called Vaxed Vaxed Baby, which is a song that has been stuck in my head ever since I got my second shot. And I just been thinking about that for a while. So let's see if, nope, not here yet, guys. Let me just, let me just go, wait, I want to double check that Robbie is good to go. Let me send him this. There we go. Okay, I'm going to go ahead and send him this live. And then, hey, InfoBobby, thanks for joining live. So I'm curious. I have some, some changes that I want to ask you about with Alicyn's Wonderland. So if anybody has a particularly strong thought about this, I would be so grateful for your feedback. Number one, how are you feeling about Wonderland being live on Instagram? Do you still think that this is the best platform for it? Or would you rather see it, hear the podcast in this rebroadcast form? That, that is my first question. And my second question is, if you do like seeing it on Instagram, do you prefer that we keep it the six o'clock time slot? Or do you want to move to seven? So let me know what you think about that. And yeah, you saw the Vaxed Vaxed. You guys, LetsTlkCartoons is on here. For those of you guys that are hardcore cartoon fans, I want to highly recommend that you follow LetsTlkCartoons because they are such a great resource for what is coming out on all the streaming and network TV for some of the best properties. And he, he does a really good job. Devii, who runs the account does a really good job of figuring out you know, stocking basically all the network's Twitter accounts and making sure that he knows exactly what is coming on. You want to see it on Nickelodeon. You want to see this show on Nickelodeon? That would be amazing. I love Nickelodeon. Yeah, I'm so glad. Well, Robbie has just joined us guys, so why don't I go ahead and add him to this feed. And we will make it a thing. All right. Here we go. Put your hands together for Robbie Daymond. And you have to give him a little leeway because you know Robbie has enabled me to become, so. 

Robbie  

Hello. Oh, let me fix that.

Alicyn  

Hey, how's it going? 

Robbie  

Hi, how are you? 

Alicyn  

I'm good. How are you?

Robbie  

Good. Oh, it looks like we've got a second guest here a little, my little, my little munchkin is coming in to say,

Alicyn  

The baby babes? 

Robbie  

Yeah.

Alicyn  

Oh! Happy Birthday little girl! 

Robbie  

Say "Hi!" Good job. 

Alicyn  

I heard you just had a birthday, is that true? 

Robbie  

She can't hear you. I've got my earbuds on.

Alicyn  

Oh, you got your earbuds in. 

Robbie  

Come on, get out of here, Squirt. 

Alicyn  

Tell her I said, Happy Birthday. 

Robbie  

I will. There she goes. How are you? How have you been?

Alicyn  

I'm doing good. I was just saying this week, you know, starting to feel the impact of COVID. And like, Whoa, there's a lot going on. And how did that happen? Can I handle all this, you know, socialing? 

Robbie  

Yeah, yeah. The real world coming back? 

Alicyn  

Yeah, you don't notice it that much. But just I'm used to zero. So, how's your transition back to, are you transitioning back to regular life?

Robbie  

Yeah, I've been, I've been vaccinated for a while, for a minute now. But it does seem like there's not a lot of sessions, not that many sessions are back yet. And it's sort of, there are a few here and there. So I've been going into the studio when they ask but, but the rest of the world? Yeah, it sort of feels, it feels like we're cruising back into it. At least being careful. But we know we open up in a week. Like, yeah, yeah, totally. And yeah, I don't know. I don't think we were, I think we were super precautious because my wife was pregnant for the majority of COVID. And then we had a little baby. So we were sort of, not at risk, but you know, you want to be extra careful with that sort of thing. And now that we're back, we're just sort of enjoying it. We're easing into it. Nice and easy. Yeah.

Alicyn  

Yeah. Where are you, by the way? I like your background. 

Robbie  

Oh, this is just my backyard. 

Alicyn  

It's your backyard. Does your backyard, you have like a cement wall or something? 

Robbie  

No, this is like a sunshade. See? It moves. 

Alicyn  

Ohh. It looks so solid until you're just like, Wack!

Robbie  

Yeah, I have a full studio that I, like, stream out of and do my voiceover stuff. I just don't want to be inside. I don't want to be inside anymore. I'm done. No more. No more inside for me. Yeah.

Alicyn  

Yeah. You got, your, you can use your outside voice. Hello.

Robbie  

Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As long as my wife doesn't yell at me, but it's good. 

Alicyn  

You have neighbors?

Robbie  

Yeah.

Alicyn  

Awesome. Well, yeah, it's good to see your face. I haven't seen you in a while. I don't, I mean.

Robbie  

Yeah, I mean, back in studio days. I think the last time I bumped into you, you were on the Warner Brothers lot somewhere doing something, or you were doing something, we might have been like two ships in the night. That's the way a lot of our stuff is.

Alicyn  

Paths crossing in the night? I know. I was thinking back, do you remember the very first time we ever met? 

Robbie  

Oh, that's a tough one. What was the show? You gotta tell me, you gotta remind me. 

Alicyn  

You know, it's funny because it was for the pilot for Get Blake! The show that you're on in Nickelodeon. 

Robbie  

I remember that.

Alicyn  

I was supposed to play the neighbor, which was a role that then didn't make it into the series. 

Robbie  

Because Scott went away.

Alicyn  

I think the role went away, which is such a bummer cause we would have had, been able to do two seasons of fun. 

Robbie  

I thought about that. That shows a funny one. That's one of those ones that I remember auditioning for back when I was like, non-union. I remember that was auditioning, I think in like, it had a bunch of different iterations. It was auditioning in 2009, and 10, and all of that stuff, but I don't think the cast started recording 'til like, 11, 13, 14? I can't remember. I don't remember. But it would have been nice to, it would have been nice to work with you. Yeah.

Alicyn  

It would have been fun. 

Robbie  

Totally. 

Alicyn  

And you know, I'm just curious, like, I know that you recently posted your Tiktok, which is how you got into voice acting, and you're a sassy kid. So you know, can you talk a little bit about that? I mean, you have a lot of formal training, and you did a bunch of theater. 

Robbie  

Sure. I just want to hi to your chat. There's a bunch of nice people in here saying all sorts of nice things. So, thank you, thank you for the kind comments chat. I'm glad you, glad you stopped by. Yeah. You know, for me, I was always a theater kid. And I went pro when I was itty-bitty, I got my equity card when I was like 10 or so. And, just from doing local shows and professional theater. And then I started doing summer stock when I was about 13. And then I went to school for it. I went and got my undergraduate degree. And then I got my masters. 

Alicyn  

In Vegas? 

Robbie  

I got, started my undergrad in St. Louis. And then I went to Vegas, and they were like, I auditioned all over the place. And I got in a bunch of places, but at a certain point I was I just had to pick also whoever gave me the best scholarship. Yeah, yeah. So, I ended up going to OLLV with the, with the intention of going to grad school. So, so I knew they were bringing me in, but I knew they were bringing me in to do that. And so that's why I ended up choosing that school. So I had a three-year program where they only brought in students every three years, there were 13 of us. And we, we taught the undergrads and there's a massive undergrad department, we had like, you know, over 100 kids sign up to be a major every year. And then usually that whittled down to about 30 or 40 by the time everyone graduated, and went their own ways, and got into the 400 level courses. What's my favorite musical? Someone asked me that.

Alicyn  

Yeah. Yeah. What is your favorite musical? What's your favorite musical? What's your favorite play?

Robbie  

That's, that's hard to say. Favorite, the favorite questions are always the toughest. God, I think, I'm always a huge Sweeney Todd nerd. I really liked Sweeney Todd. I know that's old but I like that. I was like Floyd Collins the last five years. Yeah, yeah. I and then as far as like, I felt like the funny stuff like comedies are where my heart lies, so I loved Avenue Q. And then more modern stuff obviously like who doesn't love Hamilton? I just, stuff I've seen on Broadway lately has been amazing. Like the revival of Oklahoma was amazing. What else? Waitress was great. Oh my god, the Tina Musical was fantastic. There's just so much stuff out there that I love. Oh hey, Deontay. What's up? And, and yeah, and then for straight plays, for non-musical plays. I love it all. My main course of study were the classics. So I was big into Shakespeare, modern styles, all of that stuff. So I those are sort of my favorites. I think some of my favorite plays are like, Love's Labour's Lost. I really love The Tempest. Hamlet's one of my favorites, of course. And then modern plays, you know. I like most stuff that goes, I like some of the classic stuff like the mid-century stuff. You know, like, I love that, The Salesman and all that stuff, but I really like modern plays, like, I like a lot of stuff from the 90s like, oh, gosh, like Torch Song Trilogy, Angels in America. And then all the more sort of modern stuff that's, that's coming along these days. But there's not as much as there used to be but yeah, a huge Sam Shepard fan. Yeah, all that stuff.

Alicyn  

Do you find you have time for theater anymore?

Robbie  

Nah, I haven't done, the last live play I did was like in 2008, or 9? And I did a Laurence Fishburne play, Riff Raff. We did it in Hollywood, it was really fun, because he actually came and saw the show one night. And that was, that was a blast. We ran that and some 99 cedars for like, gosh, maybe three or four weeks, something like that. But that's the last time that I've been on stage outside of the comedy show. So yeah.

Alicyn  

Do you think that's something you'd ever want to get back into and create time for? Or is it just? 

Robbie  

Right, right now my own show that I do with my buddies, my, we have an improv and variety show, that scratches that itch for me. So we do somewhere around a dozen, around a dozen to twenty cities per year, depending on how busy we are. And usually the spaces are somewhere between a 500-seat house and like a 3000-seat house. So I get to do, and then we do two shows. We do a stage show. And then we do a like in the room sort of panel show. And that just kind of scratches that itch for me. I just don't feel like I could dedicate. I don't feel like I could dedicate myself to that. Like, it's a big part of, I mean, I've got two kids and a wife and, and I can't like you know, I can't, I mean, I could but like I can't really go on tour if I wanted to try to pursue that again. I couldn't really like spend six hours a night at a rehearsal hall. 

Alicyn  

For the theater. Yeah. 

Robbie  

Yeah, I know that lifestyle. I lived it for you know, 20 years. And yeah, and once I moved to LA, that was a tactical move instead of New York is because I knew that someday I wanted, like a stable life. So yeah, yeah, yeah.

Alicyn  

Yeah. And here you are! 

Robbie  

Here I am, sort of. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Alicyn  

Here you are! Rocking VO, also father of two. 

Robbie  

I think the funniest, father of two, I think the funniest thing is that I still have my equity card. I refuse to give it away. I refuse. It has to go forever. Yeah, yeah.

Alicyn  

I mean, do they even let, can you, you can go anti-equity, I mean, I guess you could not renew it? 

Robbie  

Yeah, if you, if you didn't renew it, then it would just go away forever. Yeah. Oh, no, it wouldn't go away forever. But it would be harder to like, get it back. But I think as much work as I do in the, in the sister unions, it probably wouldn't be too hard. I pay SAG enough every year as it is. Yeah. 

Alicyn  

So, you know you, so you have two kids now, you have me beat by one. And how has that changed your work? Do you think that, working in animation like, that you've seen a significant shift, and? 

Robbie  

No, I don't, not really I mean, you know, if I'm being completely candid, my wife has taken the lion's share of child raising duties. I mean, I'm very present. I'm very active when I'm not, when I'm not working I'm at home with my family. But so that's been easier for me to transition in that way. So you know, I honor and respect her for taking that part of her life and changing that all around because she had a fantastic career which she'll eventually, she'll eventually reconnect with, I'm sure. But yeah, so for me, if anything, I've done more after having kids because I'm more motivated. Yeah, yeah. Like,

Alicyn  

I feel like it's shifted because you just, you know, kind of what they like and I feel like it gets me more excited about projects because I know what they like, you know what he's watching and I'm like, Oh, yeah, this show, all right. 

Robbie  

Yeah, it's such a fun age too because, how old is yours now? 

Alicyn  

He's five. 

Robbie  

Five. Yeah. The demographic is shifting. So there's not as much, I don't feel like there's as much work in cartoons as there was 10 years ago, but there, and I say cartoons as like target demographic like 7 to 11. And that demo doesn't exist anymore. It's like, it's like 6 to 9. The kids age out so fast. And, and so I feel like there's more preschool stuff than ever. So that's kind of neat. It's kind of neat for me where what the age of my kids are, or at least my daughter is at is because she can watch my stuff. Like I couldn't, I couldn't really show her the stuff I was doing on Disney or Nickelodeon. It's a little bit too old for her. There's some scary stuff and some potty humor. She doesn't need to see. But I'm in just a bunch of preschool stuff. So I could just go oh, you know, she doesn't understand. But it's kind of fun for me to be creating content that my kid can enjoy. Which is pretty neat. Yeah.

Alicyn  

Yeah. It'll be great when she, when she does understand and you'll become like, a rock star at her Elementary School.

Robbie  

No, no, no, come on. You know, kids don't work that way. Everything you think is cool, they're gonna be embarrassed of. Like, ugh, my dad's a cartoon. But yeah, yeah, I don't know. Hopefully, we'll see, we'll see.

Alicyn  

Hopefully, I think it'll happen. I don't know. 

Robbie  

Yes. Fingers crossed.

Alicyn  

It kind of depends, like, I don't know, I feel that the sons love their moms and usually the little girls love their dads. 

Robbie  

Yeah. But yeah, it's I don't know, my, I can't tell. I'm pretty sure my son hates me. He's six months old. And just, but I can't do anything for him. All I could do is like, change his diaper and hang out with him. But dad, his dad is like fifth fiddle, lowest man the pole. 

Alicyn  

No milk at the end of that tunnel.

Robbie  

No, exactly. I don't have it. I don't have what he needs. 

Alicyn  

Do not have what you want. 

Robbie  

Yeah, but yeah, I'm sure it's much different for a woman and to be, you know, a job as a mom and then to also be trying to work at the same time. I can only imagine what that's like for shifting your career. But at the same time, you know, it's pretty, I think you can do it, I think you can do both. I had a really bad teacher once told me like, you know, once you have kids, you have to, you might as well give up your acting career. And that was like a theater teacher. And I shouldn't say, it was a professor, yeah, but I got their point. And, and, and, you know, I'm creeping up on 40. So for me, it was sort of like, you know, okay, if I'm gonna have kids, I need to pull the trigger. And I, I wonder if I'd had them when I was younger, if I would have been able to pursue the arts in the way that I did. I'm not exactly, I don't, I'm not exactly sure if I would have though,

Alicyn  

You already had your footing. 

Robbie  

Yeah. But though I do have friends who, who did have children younger and did end up having a career in the arts. So it's hard to say, but I can't imagine that makes it any easier. Yeah.

Alicyn  

Yeah. And for anybody that's just tuning in, this is Alicyn's Wonderland. It's a weekly show where we interview people that work in animation and video games. So if you like it, you can subscribe. There's also a question box at the bottom. If you guys have questions for Robbie, we'll go ahead, we'll take some, we'll take some couple questions in like 10 minutes and then we'll take some at the end, is that, is that okay with you? 

Robbie  

Oh, I'm chillin, I'm just in my backyard, hanging out watching my dog. 

Alicyn  

I think I can hear birds like chirping in the background.

Robbie  

Oh, we have a, we have a big huge, we have a big huge beautiful bougainvillea that's just full of birds. So hopefully it's pleasant. Yeah.

Alicyn  

That's amazing. Yeah, I haven't done one of these outside in a while. The last time I did the mosquitoes, I was like getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Robbie  

Well, it's getting to be dusk. I'm sure they'll be out for me soon enough. But right now we're safe. I've got, I've got long pants on.

Alicyn  

Nice. Nice. Iff we see you starting to go like this. So can you talk more about LAVA?

Robbie  

Oh, yeah. So LAVA is an acronym for loud, annoying, and very annoying, just us, 

Alicyn  

Is that the three of you? 

Robbie  

It is the three of us. Yeah, yeah. 123. We never tell who's who. But this came about five years ago, I started working with Ray Chase and Max Mittelman, two other voice actors. And, and they, I just had a great rapport with them right away. And we also happen to take note that we were in a ton of stuff together. So I had been doing conventions for about a year or so and was sort of watching what was going on out there. And if I'm being 100% honest, I was like, I don't know if this is like, I enjoy the con scene, but I just wanted to do something different and special and bring a little bit more entertainment value to wherever I went. So I talked to the guys and I was like, well, Hey, you guys have their theater degrees and they're both from UCLA. And I said, Do you have any improv background? They both did. And I was like, What if we did like a nerd culture sort of themed variety show with improv comedy show for these conventions, and we pack it ourselves as a trio. And to my knowledge, nobody had really done this like I kind of like Johnny Yong Bosch used to bring his band out I think he still does sometimes, and some people have like some some gigs and some gimmicks that they, that they do, but like nothing really like this. So that was my idea, was to was to bring this show out. And I'm super glad I did because I don't really do shows by myself anymore. Not that I couldn't but, I would,

Alicyn  

The conventions you mean?

Robbie  

Yep, 95% conventions that I do are with the guys. And it's worked out. So and I wouldn't want to do it any other way now because it's so much fun, we get to do this show that we absolutely love. And, and, and bring this sort of like added value to the cons, because we do the show for free and then we just say okay, but you bring you, you, you bring us out as your guests and we'll give you that content, and it's an absolute blast. So anybody who's come to one of the shows, I think they all know like it ends up being like one of the most raucous sort of fun things that we do. And then we send a little merch then we go crash at our hotel and sleep and then wake up the next day and go try to entertain again. So yeah, it's really fun. 

Alicyn  

Awe, that sounds so fun. You're like constantly on tour with your besties

Robbie  

Yeah, it's it's great. And they're both such good guys. And you know, I also bring my wife and my kids out whenever they want to come with the city they want to go to and Ray's wife Julia is amazing. She comes out with him pretty much everywhere. And then we have extra seats that you know, Max will bring some family or we'll bring some family and it's just kind of like a fun sort of family affair that we all have and it's really a blast. So as far as the UK goes, I was seeing somebody talk that's definitely in the cards like super soon but but we're not allowed to talk about anything until like it's official on there. And so we got some big things planned now that the world's sort of getting getting back. Hey, Annie, how's it going? 

Alicyn  

Do you have any LAVA shows officially booked that you can shout out?

Robbie  

Yeah, we've got four this year. We'll be, but not until the fourth quarter. I think that's, we wanted to sort of wait and see how things are. We had some offers for the summer and third quarter but so in October, we'll be in Fort Worth. And then in November, we will be in New York at Anime NYC and then we will be in Layton, Utah in December? No, I'm getting these mixed up. We're gonna be in Utah. Oh, that's right. Utah is in October. Fort Worth is in December, New York is in November, and then we'll be Anime Pasadena here in LA in December again. But that is a nice sort of soft warming for us. And we'll see how, what the vibe is like out there. And then 2022 we plan on being out there crushing it. Yeah.

Alicyn  

Awesome. Yeah. Lots of LAVA fans on this stream. 

Robbie  

Brian's screaming for help for some reason. I hope you're okay. 

Alicyn  

I know. 

Robbie  

I noticed you StrawberryBunny. 

Alicyn  

Well, do you want to take a couple questions right now?

Robbie  

Yeah, I recognize a lot of names. So this, we got some crossover here. But yeah, let's, I'll answer questions. Yeah. 

Alicyn  

Yes. Okay. Well, I mean, this is probably not something that you can speak to. But there was a couple questions regarding Spider Man. And if it's kind of, 

Robbie  

Oh, I see it. Yeah, there's one right there. That one. That one I'll just say I'm not allowed to say anything. But um, I feel like the three seasons that we did, wrapped up in a very nice way, and left possibilities for the future, including your imagination. So take that however you take it, but I'm not currently,

Alicyn  

Season 4 is in your mind. 

Robbie  

It is. Perhaps, but that's not official coming from me. Oh, they did just release a brand new, they did just release a brand new trailer for a new preschool show called Spider Man and His Amazing Friends that I am not in but once they show the cast you'll see why. It's super cute, the things that they've got coming out. So yeah, it's exciting.

Alicyn  

Awesome. That's adorable. Somebody's asking and this is a good question, other than Tuxedo Mask, what's your favorite role?

Robbie  

Of course SailorMikey, SailorMikey would assume that Tuxedo Mask is my favorite role. And he's right. It's what? My first enemy role. Some of my favorites, man. That's, favorites is such a hard question. Right now I'm really enjoying, right now I'm really enjoying working on this comedy show with some of the creators of Pinky Malinky and a few other shows that I did that is as of yet unannounced, but I'm having a blast working with them. It's a comedy show. That's where my heart lies. Breadwinners is one of my all time favorites just because of the cast and how wacky it was and that we got to do songs every time. Let's see, Costume Quest was one of my favorite cartoons that I worked on. As far as anime goes, I'm really enjoying Jujutsu Kaisen right now. That's like one of my most enjoyable roles that I'm working on. I had a fun time on Kuroko's Basketball. Tuxedo Mask is up there. And obviously some of my absolute favorites are Prompto for Final Fantasy XV, Akechi from Persona 5, Hubert from Fire Emblem, and the most recently, Tuesday? I'm the main bad guy in the new Guilty Gear game and that one that kind of just let me go off the rails and sort of do my thing. So it was really fun. Yeah.

Alicyn  

Can you test that out? Can we hear what it sounds like?

Robbie  

Oh, yeah. He's just sorta like, he started out as like sort of a bad Joker. And then as it went, he just derailed more and more into this almost like a bad Christopher Walken, with the pausing and everything he does, and like and like and he just, I just kind of put it all in my nose and did some rasp and dropped it in. And he's a total psychopath. So it was it was fun. And the further and further I took it, the further and further I took it, expecting them to reel me in, they never did. So I just kind of like Alright, let's see how far we can go. So it was, it was, it was super fun.

Alicyn  

It sounds so fun. Have you gotten a chance to work with some of your favorite directors? 

Robbie  

Yeah, you know, I think one of the saddest things about my career is never getting to work with Andrea Romano. It never happened. And we, you know, crossed paths a million times, like I was on one of her shows, but she wasn't there that day. And you know, she had cast me but she wasn't directing. And then and then she retired. And I was like, Okay, well, I guess that ship sailed. But yeah, I mean, I have a lots of favorites out there. You know, one of the interesting things about voice directors is it's kind of a female dominated field. There are, you know, a couple of men out there, but a lot of the top casting directors and voiceover directors are women. And I think that's one of those little known facts that's that I think is so interesting about about voiceover, is that you know, in, in entertainment, which can be so male dominated sometimes, sometimes women have really taken over the reins. And you know, every year it's it seems like it's a female winner for director or casting director. But yeah, I mean, obviously, Meredith Lane is a longtime friend, and one of my favorites. And you know, I remember her when she was over at Nickelodeon, Collette Sunderman, I mean, you know, there's a million great directors out there. And I like them all. Yeah.

Alicyn  

Yeah. It seems in casting directors in general too are often women, and it seems like a lot of times people move up to voice directing from the casting world. So maybe that's natural evolution. 

Robbie  

I think so, I think that's what happened with quite a few people that I knew and, and oh, and oh, yeah, of course, Kristy Reed. She's amazing. Oh, my God, Kris Salter. She's amazing. Yeah. I, I have a theory, but I'm scared to say it. But my theory is that in general, women tend to excel better at interpersonal relationships. Like I just think they typically are just better at it. And I think it requires, I think handling actors, we tend to be, I'm talking on mad generalizations now, actors who tend to be a little bit more of a sensitive group, but myself excluded. I'm pretty tough. But to handle those egos, and those, those fragile egos requires a sort of a deft and delicate touch. And I think, I think women excel at that. Yeah, but that's just my opinion. Yeah.

Alicyn  

So pretty, pretty, I think at least 50% of the population will probably agree with you. 

Robbie  

And people are naming that Linda LaFontaine, Ginny McSwain was one of the first people to ever hire me. I can't believe I for, I didn't, I'm not forgetting people. There's too many to name. But Ginny was instrumental and she put me in my first cartoon. And she's, you know, one of the absolute OGs. Lisa Schaffer, unbelievably amazing. We've worked together. I mean, I've worked with all these people. So you know, and, and I can honestly say like, I just don't, there's just no negative experiences to be had. Yeah. They're fantastic.

Alicyn  

It's a very, it's an industry with a lot of amazing people. 

Robbie  

Yeah. Do you wanna see my puppy? Zelda, come here. Do you want to come up here? Come here, Zelda.

Alicyn  

Yeah, let's see.

Robbie  

Oh, she hates me. Look, she's like, forget that. I'm not coming over. That's hurtful. That's hurtful. Rejected by my own do., Mary Elizabeth, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. One of my favorites. We worked together on Chico Bon Bon. She directed me for like 52 episodes of that. She's also an old time friend. I first met her on the convention scene, and then we ended up working together. Oh, wow, Wendee Lee. I mean, really, yeah, we're really proving the point here by all the names in the chat. But yeah, Sara Sherman. Guys, you're crushing it. These are all the best of the best. Nice. Of course, it's Jeff. He knows. 

Alicyn  

Of course. Yes, of course. 

Robbie  

Peyton says you're looking beautiful tonight Alicyn which is absolutely true of course as as per usual.  I was watching you and your dude do your, what do you call that? Is that,  duet acrobatic yoga?

Alicyn  

Acroyoga. It's acroyoga. 

Robbie  

Fill me in. How did that, how did that come about? 

Alicyn  

Oh my gosh, you and your wife should try it.

Robbie  

I'm terrified she'd be great.

Alicyn  

It's really fun. I mean, it's yoga but you're doing it with a partner, so it's less strength-based and more skill-based. So it takes a while to learn. But you know, basically a lot of times you're looking for bone stack or or you're moving through now we're starting to do more like flow stuff which has been really great, but it keeps us connected. And we have to talk through things. And because we're both learning together at the same pace, it's extra challenging because, you know, if I ever fly with my instructor, you know, it looks like it looks totally different because he knows exactly what to do and how to hold those poses. So, learning together is like, it's a challenge that I think really helps our relationship grow.

Robbie  

Yeah, that's, that's what it seems like, it seems like you'd have to, there's a certain level of trust there required between each other and that, yeah, that's awesome to see. I really, really enjoy it. Yeah, it's cool. My wife has, that's what she does for a living. She has multiple Pilates and yoga certifications. She has her biomechanics certifications before we had kids. She was, she was coaching and training NFL and NBA players on their offseason, their strength and conditioning, stuff like that. So I mean, she did that. 

Alicyn  

You trust her? No, just kidding, because big furly NFL guys. 

Robbie  

She is, oh, yeah, of course, I always used to joke and they're like, no, they're just like, they're like children. She's like, especially the NBA guys, they're like, they're babies. They're 17. But yeah, I would go there. And she tells a great story about you know, that she was leading them through something. And they were asking about like inversions and handstands and stuff. And she's like, well, I'm going to tell, I can tell you, show you how to do it. And they're like, yeah, show us, and they're like, oh, and she's like, you know, imagining you know, million dollar insurance policies on these guys. So anyway, she started showing me how to do headstands. And all of a sudden, there's like 15 300-pound men just crashing over onto their backs, laughing about having what fun it is. But she's terrified. Yeah. But no, yeah. So anyway, yeah, she'll, I'm sure she'll get back to that at some point. She started to take on a few clients here and there. But yeah.

Alicyn  

I definitely need a break after we had our kid because it was just, it was hard to find time. But I guess that's one of the gifts of the pandemic. 

Robbie  

Totally. 

Alicyn  

I mean, that's the lockdown time.

Robbie  

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think some good can come out of it. It was a horrible thing that, oh, there's the mosquito. It was a horrible thing that we were all sort of had to deal with together. But I think a lot of people found a way to make the best of it. For me, it was you know, spending time with my daughter and, and taking care of my wife when she was pregnant. And those things were kind of invaluable. But the rest of it? Well, I'll pass No, thanks. I'll just the time.

Alicyn  

Timing-wise, I mean, I guess what a blessing, huh? Cuase those are the formative years that like your daughters will remember. She'll remember the feeling throughout.

Robbie  

Yeah, well, and well, I got to be with my wife the entire time she was pregnant. I got to experience that precious, those precious years of like a two year old, which are kind of amazing, like those last year. I mean, they're growing and they're doing all this stuff. And they they need so much. And they're growing so fast. It was good to have two parents there. And then I got to experience the first six months of my boy at home. And typically you're not going to get like, you know, six months maternity leave to be with your kids or a year to be with your kids. So yeah, that was really that was really special. Yeah. Ron is a big boy. He's the fattest boy. 

Alicyn  

That's your son's name? 

Robbie  

He is in the 90th, high 90 percentiles for everything. Hand, weight, length. He's a literal monster. He's like 19 pounds and he's five months old. He's a destroyer of worlds. I don't know what to do with him. I don't know. I don't know what,4 I don't know where I'm gonna put him. He's a monster.

Alicyn  

Yeah, you're over are six feet, right. I see. I'm six foot on the nose. But maybe even taller than that. Oh, thanks. It's just all six feet. It's the hat. It's tricky.

Robbie  

Yeah, we've got some we've got some big ones in our family. So it looks like he drew that it looks like he drew that genetic lottery. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, what's up? What's up Vernon? A lot of familiar faces in here.

Alicyn  

I'm curious. You have posted a couple weeks months. Who knows? Talking about social media and how you're doing a lot less on social media. Yeah, I know. You just joined tik tok. Yeah, I'm just curious. What's your relationship like to social media these days?

Robbie  

Oh, man. healthier. I think I think before I was like a little bit too wrapped up in it like for finding my validation, especially during COVID like in the early stages of COVID. I was I was sort of using it as an outlet and sort of an unhealthy way to interact with people and I feel like I'm an extrovert in general. But But yeah, so now even though I still interact, I've definitely like, cut way back. I I'm trying to I'm trying to do sort of like a post and forget it sort of sort of routine. I'm not the best at it. Like I still like to interact But instead of like, I was never like that obsessed with the interactions and likes and then chip per se, but but it was more like it was more like I was interested in what people were were saying. And I kind of had to divorce myself from that after I had a couple of like negative interactions that like sort of got to me. And as I get a little older and more like empathetic, I'm feeling more sensitive about things. And then I'm realizing like, well, I would never engage with these people in real life who are coming to me in bad faith. Why am I choosing to do it in a digital space. So it's not that I like, unconcerned with criticism, like if there's valid criticism to be had, I'm gonna listen to that and interact with it in the same way that people just do just come to you in bad faith, and are looking to snipe at you or take shots at you. I feel like social media is kind of set up to do that to sort of empower the people that are feeling disempowered, which can be a good thing for people who are disenfranchised and tried to make a difference in the world. But But when it comes to someone who has any level of status, whether it be you know, you're jealous of someone has 1000 followers, or 50, or 500,000, or 5 million, it's a way for someone who feels like they don't have that to take jabs at someone. And if they do it in the right way. It can be hurtful to everyone involved. So So I had a couple of those things happen, things that made me uncomfortable, like messaged DNS that I got that were like, I don't reply to most of them. But that just made me uncomfortable and mean and things like that. And I was just like, Oh, well, that's a bummer. So maybe if I just only engage with the people who come to me in good faith, and cut everybody else out, but still be able to listen to criticism, then I'll have a healthier relationship with social media. And that's pretty much what it was for me. So yeah.

Alicyn  

Hey, guys, this is Alison Packard. Sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to let you know that if you like the show, please, please, please remember to subscribe to this podcast. And leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps us to get heard by more people. Thanks so much. You know, that's, that's actually I've heard that from a few different voice actors about sort of them reaching this level of exposure, that makes them almost a little bit more susceptible. Because if you have you know, 50,000 followers, then you have 50,000, you know, people many of whom you're more and more people you don't know, when their exposure, what's the,

Robbie  

what's that statistic, like? One in every 100 person is a psychopath right. So let's, let's Yeah, that's real. So let's pretend that's real. And then let's say that one in every 1000s of those, and I believe this is also what was said, is that as people that will act on that, right, and then one in every 10,000 is someone that will act on it in a malicious way. So so if you have, let's say, my number, you have 70,000 followers, that means you have got 700 psychopaths, 70 of them who are willing to interact in it with them, and seven, that could be super dangerous. And because and, and when I say psychopaths, I mean, not just like, that doesn't mean like a bad person necessarily. You could just have whatever going on in your life and never interact with it. Like I'm definitely not like, you know, being tough on mental illness by any means. But like it, I've had people Zelda stop. I've had people threatened to kill me over an anime that I've voiced, which is like, multiple times, people who've written me emails saying that they want to do bad stuff to my family, or make inappropriate comments about my wife and my kids. And for me, now that I have a family, that was something that really woke me up and made me go, Hmm, okay, well, I need to make sure that those people, those people out there, and there's so many ways now with social media, that you can't protect yourself. And there are so many ways that like if you encounter one bad person, and become the focus of their of their malicious intent, that they could have just got serious for a second, but they can say anything they want, or, or do anything they want on the internet with no repercussions. Like you could say anything about anyone. And and and it sort of may do whatever it does, like a high school rumor. You know what I mean? And not to say that, like, you know, I've known people that have been the target of that. And it's sort of it's, it's tough, because there's nothing you can do about it. Because the instant that you were to engage with it, you give it validity, so you just kind of have to sit there and go, Okay, this bad person just said a terrible thing about me. And like, we're like, okay, like, Here's 5000 Spider Man fans who are shitting on me for no reason because they're taking something that I said out of context. So it's like, so you just go okay. Well, there's 5000 people that don't like me now. And there's one person out there who's trying to actively hurt me. And all I want to do is like, make cartoons and support my family. Yeah. So like, the digital space is like a really weird sort of place right now. So So yeah, you just kind of go, okay. Like, it's not meant to be like a pity party. I'm very grateful to have, like, I wouldn't trade all the people that I get to interact with, for like, just because there's a couple of, you know, bad eggs out there. But it does make make you go, oh, is social media even worth it? You know? And these days, when you're making your own content, and and it's part of the job now, it's sort of unavoidable. Yeah.

Alicyn  

Yeah, it's interesting. And how many of those people are actually accounts that the one crazy guy has made? So yeah, sure. And those 5000 you know, people are really just 1001 guy, that's, you know, right. Crazy. Yeah, it's

Robbie  

like, you can't put too much stock in that. And I can't even know we talked a little bit, I can't even imagine what it would be like to be a woman, LGBTQ, or, or, or any person that tends to get targeted more, because my female friends who are any sort of influencer or voiceover people, wow, the stories they tell me about the things that they get in their DMS and the thing and the horrific things people say, I understand my privilege of being a man and and and you know what, that comes with its own set of problems, but like nothing compared to what, what some women in the business go through? It's totally wild. But you know, I do think that those good people, oh, I was saying exactly what Travon stabby is saying, I do think that the good people outweigh the bad. And if you've accumulated enough social credit, and and you are, you've proven yourself to be a good person, then I think you're shielded against against most of those few few bad people out there. But overall, yeah, I think in order to have a healthy relationship with social media, a friend of mine told me only engaged with people that come to you in good faith. And, and it's something that I've been doing for the past year or six months ago since I made that post. And it's changed completely how I deal with social media. So yeah,

Alicyn  

that's interesting. Yeah, I took, I was off for 14 months, just completely off, I originally got off to have more time to focus on like a short term creative project I was working on. Sure, then I just didn't want to get back on. And it's sort of like, that's not the solution, either. Especially not now, when this is becoming more and more of our work. But if you are a digital hermit, you know, you're just kind of removing that, that piece all together. And then, you know, eventually it's like, Yeah, well, I

Robbie  

think I think all media right now is going is transitioning to sort of the podcast model that's been around for, you know, 1520 years, and that it's going directly to the, to the consumer, you know, so, and I don't necessarily know that that's a bad thing. But in order for that to happen, but you have to have a rapport with them in a relationship with them somehow. And, yeah, exit with your audience. So if I'm making, if I'm making you content for free, and you choose to engage in my content, and then I offer you a way to support me, whether it be through you know, a twitch subscription, or a T shirt or an autograph, you know, at a at a convention or some some way for you to say, Hey, I appreciate your work, or I appreciate the things that you do. That's for me, it's a really positive relationship. And but you can't foster those opportunities to, to, to give that entertainment to your fans, and allow them to support you without having a platform. So you know, you know, that's why I was resistant to like, tick tock for, you know, two years, I was like, bad tic tocs. For kids. It's silly. And I was like, okay, Max, I made when I was like, Alright, I'll make one. And then you know, I got, you know, more followers on Tiktok in a week than I've had on Twitter in in 12 years, so and a half million views on your video, I think, I think

Alicyn  

Yeah, yeah, but that's nothing compared. That's where all of the That's nothing. That's where all of the the main consumers of anime and video games and cartoons are now there, they're younger, they're all on. They're all on Tick Tock. And it's very difficult to say,

Robbie  

Well, you know, what, and what I like about it so far is that it really is opposed to forget it sort of thing. You make a little piece of content, you put it out there, the algorithm takes over and you just sort of, you know, yeah, you just sort of put it out there and then people get to enjoy it. And and that's the vibe like my wife has been on Tick Tock since the beginning. She's like, I don't post anything. I just love it. I you know, I read mom stuff and recipes and workout stuff and business stuff. And that's how I enjoy it. So and then I went on and I was like, Oh, the vibe on here is much better than say, you know Twitter where I love Twitter. It's like my biggest platform. Well, not anymore. But But it seems like it's set up to like argue like that negativity is sort of inherent there. So yeah. I don't know.

Alicyn  

Yeah, each one has its own little vibe. Like each one is like a friend and like Instagram. She's like, the popular girl that like just cares about like what you look like and Twitter's like the like, did you hear it? And then like, I don't know, tic tocs just like your best goofy bestie or something. Yeah, it's like always trying to act silly. I

Robbie  

don't know. It's just people dancing and lip synching and making creative content. I used to love vine. Like I grew up. I feel like it's got a nice vine vibe. You know, people are actually making content so yeah,

Alicyn  

that's fine. Yeah, we're actually going to try out like a new Wonderland after dark kind of thing. But it tested out tonight. Which Oh, man. Yeah, have fun. Go and have a drink but not because what's the age which is the age like I think my average age is like 14 over there. So over where on tik tok? Yeah, just the fans. It's young. Excuse me, I

Robbie  

content is completely clean on but my, I have a pretty clean. I will say like the occasional like, dirty word or whatever. But like, I don't really post Nazi for work stuff. Like I have a pretty clean vibe. Like, occasionally I'll curse that's about it. We do our 18 plus lava show. And it's literally like, like a little bit of gross out. humor, the opportunity to say the F word. And like, and like there's a part of me where I'm just like, isn't really an 18 plus show. There's nothing like inherently like sexual about it or anything like that. Yeah, it but but but there is some stuff that where if you don't call it an 18 plus show, like, I remember one one time, like, like a kid, like a 12 year old came with their mom and somehow got past security. And we're in the middle of doing this bit in the show. And I see like a 12 year old out there. And I'm like, get this What are we doing? Get this kid out of here. This is a not for a child. So it's like, you know it? 17? Plus, yeah, that's closer. But But yeah, well, I

Alicyn  

guess that's it for they're up to their parents I get but if the other parents didn't know what or what they're getting, but like, it's not an R rated movie. You know, it's like a live show, which makes Yes, an actor makes his view. Yeah. Yeah,

Robbie  

we got a big disclaimer before our show and all that stuff. So everybody feels like they're in a safe space. But I think today, I think the this day and age, you need to do that. Because whether you like the culture shift that we're going through or not, you still have to respect it, you still have to honor it. And you have to realize that that that people expect those things now. So when we do our live shows, we always make sure that it's a safe space for everybody. And there's no judgement of something that somebody is triggered or makes them feel stranger or wants to go. I think that's the only way that like, comedy Academy, Kim before we can move forward with in this in this day and age, but which is just by honoring and respecting your audience, which isn't that hard if you do it the right way. Yeah. As long as the discourse is responsible.

Alicyn  

Yeah, yeah. I love that. And and so twitch lava also has like, is it weekly, the twitch component?

Robbie  

Yeah, we were really not great at being regular about it before COVID. And we will continue to be regular about it. Now it put us in a good mode. But we stream together once a week, and we do it over zoom. And it's just audio, it used to be all of us over at my home studio and we would be on camera. But obviously that's not doable for COVID. And but we were we reliably streamed all the way through through quarantine once a week on Wednesdays. And we've got this great little, this little fam, it's the same three to 500 people that show up every single time and with with some new blood coming in every time. And they're incredibly generous and kind and have formed this little community and we only and it's grows, it's continued to grow. It used to be you know, 30 or 40. And now, you know, it's 10 times that and we hope to continue to slowly grow it. But it's more about it's more about just coming together. It also keeps us sharp. It keeps us funny, it allows us to continue to rip riff and be together. And this weekend, we're doing something insane that we've joked about for two years. We are three years we've joked about we started persona of the game and just couldn't finish it. And we joked about doing it all at once and like a nonstop marathon stream. Oh my god. So this weekend, starting at 9am. Over at Max's house, we've been setting it up for the last two weeks, we are going to stream together for 72 hours straight and try and finish the game from 9am threader to 9am on Monday morning, we're gonna sleep over. We're gonna eat there. We're not going to leave the apartment. We're going to take turns playing I agreed to be the sacrifice to be the sleep cam. As long as there's no audio because I talked in my sleep. We're good to go. So yeah, we're gonna do we're gonna do the whole we're gonna do the whole thing. It's gonna be a crazy experiment. But well, tomorrow we'll put out the schedule. We've got guests from the game coming over and we probably partnered with Atlas the company and they sent us a bunch of merge so we're doing like giveaways. Every hour on the hour Atlas, they make the game. They made the game persona. They distributed, distributed. And they're the producers. And so they were like, oh, we're doing this thing where you retweeted and send us and stuff, they sent us a bunch of stuff. So yeah, it's gonna be a really bizarre weekend, but it's sort of our it's the first time we'll be all together on camera. It's kind of our way of saying like, okay, you know, we're back We're ready to sort of, you know, do get back into this world and, and enjoy it. So yeah, that'll be fine. Tell

Alicyn  

max. I said, Hi. He was one of my guests. Many years ago when this show was just a podcast. We talked about it.

Robbie  

Yeah. Yeah, I told him. I was like, Yeah, he's, he's, we talked about it. Yeah, I did that. She's like, She's the best. It's like, Yeah, of course. Like, I'm gonna level with you. I have a hard standing No. For all like podcasts like this. No, no, no, no, just all of them. I've said no, like, all for all of COVID for like, eight. I did. Oh, no, that's a lie. I did one because she was a Native American podcaster. We were covering something really topical at the time. And then I did one for black lives matter that I hosted. But outside of that I haven't done like a single podcast. It's all been it's all been media requests, or like, stuff like that. But what you asked me, I said, Yes, because you exude a super positive energy. And I knew it would be fun. I'm glad. glad to talk to you for an hour for sure.

Alicyn  

Yeah, thanks. Robbie's so glad to hear that request. So yeah, yeah, I'm curious. So we've talked a lot about the business but what other hobbies do you have that keep you inspired?

Robbie  

Oh, man, that's crazy. Everything's focused around my kids right now. Like, I've become the world's biggest nerdiest dad in the world. Like I love being a dad. I always thought I would. But when I have time for myself, I do like to play a little music. I play guitar. I've always been a singer. And that's kind of like, yeah, I used to, I've written plenty of stuff. Now. It's just I'd rather just hop on ultimate guitars or ultimate guitar and like, play a song I don't know and sing a little bit. That's kind of like my Zen time. I don't really play as much video games as I used to. I used to play a lot but I felt like it became kind of a time suck. And and outdoor wise. I like a love to hike. I've been hiking a lot lately. Not lately. I've hiked I've hiked a lot for the last 20 years, but I've sort of COVID sort of rekindled my passion for it. So I've been doing the I've been doing the So Cal six pack the highest six peaks in Southern California. So I've done I've done four of the six I did about San Jacinto Sunday, so my legs are a little sore, but it's no joke. Yeah, it's fun. We're gonna do Sam Yeah, we're gonna do San Gorgonio at the end of the summer and that one's a 20 miler hike and hike out. So that's gonna be that's a real one. That's like almost 12 12,000 feet. It's like 11,000 some change. But But yeah, but it's really fun. But I also own owned three companies to the our lava company, a production studio, and then another company that we're going to launch sometime later this year. And so that just sort of dominated city. Yeah,

Alicyn  

yeah. Is it related to sort of like vo adjacent or

Robbie  

not the second one? No, the second one is just a straight business man. But our production company is a video game production company. So we have we have two games in production right now that are obviously you know, on announced but we'll probably be announcing one of them around third quarter this year. But once we drop our trailer and then second one we've been working on for two years. It's got a vertical or vertical slice is done and our pitches ready. We're just sort of waiting for when people are comfortable to be in the room together. We don't want to do like zoom pitches just because whatever. So yeah, we're just trying to make stuff happen. Yeah, yeah, we've got two games now.

Alicyn  

Yeah. Yeah. The timeline I don't know if it's just curious. So yeah, yeah, those are the those are the curious eyes. Yeah, yeah. So but like I know we're running up and so do you have your twitch tonight to

Robbie  

know we're taking the night off because of our our big long one that starts on Friday morning. So we're like we don't wait, we don't need to stream this week. Yeah, we timed this perfectly. Yeah, yeah, we have extra time if you want to talk about anything else or field any more questions, but

Alicyn  

yeah, let's take some more questions for the audience. So go ahead and type them in the box you guys if anybody just tuned in this show is called Allison's Wonderland it's an interview igtv show that is also repurposed as a podcast which is why I'm not constantly just saying word sent to everybody on the on this stream and and but I want you to know that I'm so grateful to everybody that tuned in live because that's the most fun part. So if you really feel the fields the questions too. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yes. Okay, I see. That's a very interesting, sailor Mikey asked another interesting question, which is what is your most obscure role?

Robbie  

Oh, obscure. Oh my goodness. Let's see lately. I have Wow, that's so hard to obscure. Like I've done so much stuff that you've never heard because I'd also do commercials. So that's another thing where he's just like, I consider that obscure I considered that sneaky

Alicyn  

What do you have any campaigns or commercials that

Robbie  

what I'm doing right now? I've been I've been doing the extremes almonds that's a good dude. I did a bunch of those I was doing the syndicated cut down for two Broke Girls for promos. Oh, God, so many so many commercials. stuff on there. Like everyone saw the the chat. And so I was like, you're on the radio as like, I don't know, probably like, who's who's to say, but got got early on in my career very, very, very early before I went union like 2008 2009. I did a fair amount of like, Korean MMO RPGs. And like mobile games and stuff like that. So if you really dig back into my IMDb, you'll find some stuff where you'll be like, Whoa, weird. So But anyway, yeah, I can't think of one right off the top of my head because it's obscure.

Alicyn  

Somebody needs to slice all those together into some grand that that's your negative comments. I think that's my demo. Yeah. I think it's all just spliced together. I'll just do it. All commercial serb scare is it's kind of funny not if you ask the boomers.

Robbie  

That is true. The boomers know the boomers know but but but also people don't realize that like for a while, not as much though these days, but like commercials were like bread and butter and the theatrical stuff was just for fun. But yeah, I don't know.

Alicyn  

Now, a lot of commercials are digital. The big Yes. Seems to be digital in that same way we could I think you and I could talk for a long time about the shifting the shifting vo market but that probably would bore the heck out of you guys to death. What's your biggest takeaway from recording from home over the past year

Robbie  

personally that something I already knew is that I am an extrovert and I need to pee I I've always been that way. I'm a people person. Can you finally relax? Come up here.

Robbie  

Come with that you don't come say hi. fit on your face. Hi, she's she's a big chunky girl. Can you say hi? And kind of she is a big old pity. She's just sweet love coming? Yeah.

Robbie  

She are we saying oh, we're talking about what we're learning from a recording at home. There's a lot of people. And that is my favorite part of the, that's my favorite part of the job. I mean, I love the creative part of it. But I love the people part even more than that, like I I didn't realize how much I missed it until COVID came. And I was like, please. So I got I like everybody I had waves of, you know, being depressed and figuring out like, what life is like, and thankfully, I had a family to keep me grounded. But one thing I did for quite a while is that I turned on my camera even when people didn't ask me to. So if I had a zoom set, I would find that most people I will find, I would find that most people would have their cameras off in sessions, because they probably let's be fair, they probably look like shit. They probably felt like shit. Nobody wants to see anybody. And, and I was finding that I was not behaving in the booth the same way I would behave at a session. I would like, you know, let's say I'm getting frustrated and the director gives me a piece of direction I don't like and I'd be like, Come on, let's go. I was like, What are you talking about, you know, like I was getting negative and like expressing that because I knew they couldn't see me. And and this is very candid now. I'm usually never done being distracted, but like, I look at my phone more all of that stuff than I would know in a normal session. And in between takes and all that stuff. And at a certain point I was like, I'm just gonna start turning the camera on which requires me to put myself together you know, and then I found I would behave more like I was in the in the room. So So yeah, so I did that for quite a while until I didn't need to anymore until it just kind of became kind of became old hat.

Alicyn  

Yeah, it's so interesting because I am the same I'm total extrovert and that you know there's so many days now that I don't leave my yard and don't leave my house. I'm just like here and I just miss people but I even find zoom is like such a great substitute but the lack of eye contact the fact that like if I'm looking at you I'm here but if I'm like want to make eye contact with you, I need to look at the camera. That is just such a weird disconnect.

Robbie  

It is not how we are we are no we are we are social, hairless monkeys, who are meant to interact with each other and touch each other and human existence is supposed to be tactile and and face to face and we are not built to observe and interact with the world through a screen period. I don't believe that. I really don't believe that. No, yes, we like I don't know how old you are, nor do I would dare what I asked. But for me sort of an elder millennial, I remember a time when that wasn't the case, the internet only, you know, just 20 years ago, it was, you know, occasional chat room and a few emails and whatever. And there was no video conferencing, none of that. But I'm also grateful for it because it allowed me to work during COVID. And a lot of my actor friends who aren't in voiceover didn't have that privilege. They just spent, they just spent 18 years or 18 months not working, which, you know, my account will be the first one to tell you, you know, you got you vo people were lucky because you just kind of you kind of just kind of marched on. So, and we did we marched on. And yeah, yeah, like today, we were looking at an office space and the we were all messed up. And the in the real estate agent reached out to shake my hand. And I was like, Oh, yeah, I guess we're I guess we're shaking hands now. But I was like, cool. And it felt great. I was like, hell yeah. shake my hand. Yeah. You know, and then you were like, Yeah, right. He seemed nice. He seemed pretty clean. I definitely washed my hands. But then, you know, we had a little birthday backyard birthday get together. Everybody was vaccinated. And it felt strangely normal. You know, and, and, and, but I think everybody's gonna have a little bit of like, social PTSD for the next. Yeah, for the next few months as the world sort of folds fold. The term is physically distanced, socially awkward. That might be right. Yeah, that might be

Alicyn  

scary. Yeah. Yeah. Are we not hiking?

Robbie  

I think the elbow bump is still super. I think that's still friendly enough. But but but yeah, you get a little skin on skin. Yeah. What do you drink it by the way? apple juice? Of course, it's definitely

Alicyn  

thinking you're having a nice glass of scotch. I am. That's the MacAllan 18 apple juice. Your Man after my own heart? I gotta say Oh, yeah, like, Oh, yeah.

Robbie  

Oh, yeah. Listen, I have been working my ass off since eight o'clock this morning. So I was like, I'm definitely gonna have a little happy hour with Allison.

Alicyn  

Yeah, I knew I went and grabbed mine. McCann. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he got busted out every once in a while.

Robbie  

That said, that was another challenge of COVID is to make sure like, I think a lot of people were self medicating during that time. And, and, you know, you hear those jokes and stuff. And like, I took it as the opportunity the other way. I was like, Alright, I'm going to come out of this. I'm going to lose some lbs. I'm gonna get I'm gonna get my shit together. Because I've got no excuse. Like, it was like being locked in prison. And what do you do when you're in prison? You better workout. So I built this big huge home gym that I love and that like, you know, dropped 30 pounds and like, you know, took the pills. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I did the best I could with it. But it's definitely like, not the world's coming back. I'm like, oh, stay on track, dummy. Yeah. are open again. Restaurants are open again. I I'm, I'm still freaked out about going to do I'm still freaked out about eating inside. I'm, I've been dining Alfresco for, you know, a year and a half. And I love it. So I don't know if I want to do anything else.

Alicyn  

There's plenty of opportunity. I mean, pretty much every restaurant still has that option. Right. So yeah.

Robbie  

Official. Reject Toronto. You're working on Greece. Are you are you crewing it? Are you in it? Are you chorus? Are you in Vernon? I know. I know. Vernon. You have been having a little bit of whiskey. You look good. When I saw you though, buddy. You look good. You look lean and mean. So it's not affecting you too much. But anyway, yeah, it's definitely it's definitely been a weird time. And I don't know, I think my big takeaway from working from home was that I was grateful to be doing it. But it is not my preferred way. And now that things seem safe. I'm I'm ready to get back in the studio. I had an in studio session last week. And it was my first one. And and but, but the production crew was still on zoom. So I went into studio, the engineer was there, but everybody was on zoom. And I was just like, Okay, I guess we're still not quite there yet. We're getting there. We're gonna have to drive. Yeah, but yeah, but it was nice to not have to worry about my, like, recording on my end or any of that stuff. So and you got to see

Alicyn  

you got to hang with the engineer at least. Mm hmm. No, it's good experience. I'm ready to go back. I think I will go back. Anytime someone asks me from Axel Blum has a great question. And it's a question I do love to add. As voiceover actors. What is your preparation like when you're when you get to prepare specifically for a role for animation or video game? cared? Yeah,

Robbie  

I think that really depends on how much I'm given. So I will prep just about as much as I'm given. And I don't usually ask for extra information unless it's offered. And if it is, I'll take it. But I think a lot of people don't realize that our that might be theater actors or traditional actors is that we aren't given that much time to prep, nor we've been given that much material to prep. So I think one of the most valuable skills you can have as a voice actor is really fast script analysis, almost to the point of like, instantaneous script analysis, I wouldn't quite call it cold reading. Because you, you're doing a little more than just cold reading, to be able to look at a character and make evaluation evaluations and strong choices about that character, right out of the gate, just from sort of a cursory glance over it, and then honing in on that as the session goes on. That's, that's a skill that really doesn't pertain to any other form of acting that I can I can think of, outside of maybe improv, improv even them, but but even then you're working off Givens that you're creating for yourself in the moment. So that's not even the same because with voiceover, you have to curtail the performance to fit within whatever parameters you're given. And sometimes those parameters are so loose. And and, yeah, and the script is loose, and sometimes you don't, sometimes, you know, unfortunately, there's sort of a range of quality that you're given, depending on what you're going in and working on. Then there's some projects I'll go on to work on. And I'll be like, Oh, that was a dream. They knew the answer to every acting question that I asked. And I was given art and, and context and circumstance, and they had other characters queued up for me to work off of if I'm by myself, and then other times you go, and you're like, you play Joe. He's a plumber or something. Good luck. You're like, okay, but I'll, I'll read a dozen lines, and try to figure out who Joe is in two minutes while we're getting ready to record. And I go, Okay, hello, this is Joe. And then we, we, we work over it. And then yeah, so yeah, and other times you have if you do something, maybe mocap, or whatever, you have got a lot more time to prep. But other times you do something like you do something p cap where you're tethered, and you're doing a line are not aligned reading, but you have your script up there, and then they want you to be they want you to do like an off book read. And I'll be off book on a six line sequence in 30 seconds. And that's only because my pedigree for like doing it for a lifetime. You know, I think that's only because that's a skill set that I've evolved that I don't know if I would have evolved, having not been doing voiceover for 14 years. So yeah, it's it's a holy, that's why sometimes you can put an actor in the booth and they fall apart. And vice versa. You can put a voice actor Yeah, they can fall.

Alicyn  

Have you been having fun with a lot of mocap stuff.

Robbie  

I'm not doing as much as I want. You never do as much as you want. It's my favorite. I played with y'all. It's my favorite. Like, if somebody's like, I've never done this, oh, my God, if someone were like, you don't hug, I would cut out an entire section of my career and replace with low cap in a heartbeat. If they're like, you've never we're going to do another another commercial again. But if you're gonna play with mo cap, I'd be like, Yes, I think the only one I would maybe put it up against would be animation because I love that. I love that so much. But I would give it all up to do that as much. So like I've played the lead bad guy in a game. And then I've done about half a dozen well for four p cap characters where you're tethered, where it's just the the helmet, and they're capturing just neck and above and you're on script, and then about two, two on set ones. And then the one, the one big roll and my say on set I was on set a couple of times, handful of times,

Alicyn  

and it fully book, fully off book for the mo cap when you're on set.

Robbie  

It's just like it's just like a being on set. Like for your family. So yes, you're doing the CGI, you're doing the scene work and you might as well be on a you're on a soundstage. So you might as well be on and you are on camera. It's the exact same as being on a movie Saturday, you

Alicyn  

gotta be like fully off hook memorized. And yeah, good to go. And it's really enjoyable. So, so yeah, you get the acting feels all the fields.

Robbie  

Oh, yeah. And, and, and you get to do it a bunch. And there's care given to every scene because, you know, if you're in the sound space, if you're in the Sound Studio with, you know, $3 million with the cameras over your head, all shooting, you know, 300 frames per second in each cameras were the you know, $50,000 they're not going to you're not going to mess it up. You're going to keep doing it until you get it right and and that that's really enjoyable for me. So yeah, yeah, it's that's a really fun experience. I also like when you're tethered. When you're tethered for non p cap vo like a lot more lately. I've been doing video games specifically where I'm just using wearing a skullcap with a microphone here. Yeah, yeah, being tethered to the back. And I'm getting to like move. And like acted out while having the script in front of me, without having to deal with being in the confines of trying to hit the radius of a dynamic bike. And that's super, that's super fun, too. Those are my preferred ways. Yeah, just sort of buzzing around the studio. Yeah, yeah. But

Alicyn  

real quick, the mag and act gang? How do you go about memorizing something with hundreds of hours of dialogue genuinely curious?

Robbie  

Oh, well, we don't memorize those with hundreds of hours of dialogue like something like persona five or Final Fantasy 15, or a big game, we've got the script in front of us. And also people what people don't realize is that when these mocap games are being recorded, as well, the stuff that is happening during the gameplay, a lot of the times is recorded in a voice over studio. So the script is there and all that stuff, but maddix, and the live scenes and all of that stuff that you see that's face to face, or going on that will be that will be p cap. So maybe you do maybe you do a bunch of them. And, and but then you maybe you have a handful of scenes or 50 scenes are 100 scenes, and you memorize those scenes the same way you memorize anything else, you know, you know what's coming up on your rehearsal schedule, you get off book, you have rehearsal time, you run it, run it, run it until it's perfect. It's very similar to anything you would do for film and television. Yeah. Interesting. Well, I like if I if I'm scoring a script, so like, in a traditional sense for something like that, and I'm really good, I've got something really beefy, I used to do, and I haven't done in a long time, but I used to do the multicolored highlighter. So I'd get a, I get a highlighter pack with like 12 different colors in it. And then I would score the script by my beats and my actions, and then I would break them down into memorizable chunks and highlight those chunks. And there wouldn't be any particular order, it would just be different colors. And then I would associate that with with what was coming next. And I would memorize the actions of the beats less than the words and then I would associate those actions with dialogue. This is a really nerdy ass theater pedagogy. But that was my preferred way. And I'm able to do that like really fast. Like if I scored my script appropriately. And we had a two hour car ride and we had a 15 minute scene. I'll be off booklet time we get to where we're going. Like, yeah, so that's, yeah, that was that's just like competitive speech and like high school and like, like memorizing speeches and scenes and all that shit. Yeah.

Alicyn  

Do you? Have you ever taught or do you have any aspirations to teach?

Robbie  

Yeah, so when I was in graduate school, we were not we were not t A's. We were PT eyes, which are part time instructors. So we taught 103 400 level classes. So freshmen is freshmen to see seniors, majors and non majors. So I taught scenes study, one through four, Shakespeare wanted to modern styles, one and voice and speech. And then when I left grad school at 25, I stayed for an extra summer and taught the AP high school students that came in. And then I also taught the summer courses, which are mostly non majors. So I taught theater history and seminar. And then when I moved out to LA, I taught at the New York Film Academy for about a year and a half or so. And I taught scene study, and Shakespeare and voice. So so like, I have a CV, but at the same time, I don't know, I think my career would have to take a turn not necessarily for the worst, but like, I would have to make a life change. Yeah, like I mean it in. Yeah. And I don't think I would really want to do anything but teach it like the the university level? Like I mean, I can't see. When I'm on coaching or anything like that. Ah, I mean, I feel like I could, but I don't necessarily know, I, I respect people who can do that and have the, and have the fortitude for that. I guess, like, I don't know, I don't know if I could do it. I don't know if I could do it. I think if you were paying me to do that, I would need to know that you had the potential to succeed. And I don't think to do it as a profession. I know that sounds silly to say, but like as a as a profession. I don't think I could take money from someone who I didn't think at least had a chance. But I don't think as a professional. You you have the ability you can say that. I don't think I don't I don't think you can and you can always you could be wrong. I have to clarify that I was put on academic probation by my conservatory for my sophomore year of conservatory and I failed. voice and speech. That's how they Yeah, and that's why I transferred schools because it wasn't the school for, for me, I was the only person in the school that had my equity card. They weren't casting me in anything So, and I couldn't, I wasn't getting respect, I was clashing with all the teachers. And then they put me on academic probation. And they had a cuts program and they were preparing to cut me like I knew that's what they were doing. So secretly, while they're preparing to cut me, I was touring around the country auditioning at every conservatory program in the country, that whole year, as if I was a high school senior looking to transfer. And I did their cuts program. And they were like, I did juries, and they're like, well, we decided we're gonna actually going to have you stay, we're glad to keep you. And I was like, No, thanks. I'm gonna go. So I left it transferred anyway, because I just I hated it. That school is a terrible school for me. I'm sure a lot of people had a great experience as a horrible school for me. And so I had plenty of people telling me this wasn't for me, especially the person that failed me and voice and speech. fuck that guy. What's he doing? give me give me now. The best revenge. My buddy Ray said this the best revenge is a life well lived. So that guy can blow it out as but, but But that said, If I were like coaching, I don't know that I can be like, Yeah, let's do six months with me. And I'm gonna make you an actor. Because right away, all I need is six sessions with you. And I would go, do you have the capacity for this? Because I believe very much in like, I don't think I'm the most talented person in the world. But I do think that, like, I have an aptitude to learn. So I would train someone like that. I don't know, it is not all about inborn talent, I think you can get better, I think you can make yourself viable. But I don't know if I could like work with someone and take their money directly and coach them if I knew they didn't have the chops. And the truth of it is the truth of it is that not that many people have the chops to make it a profession. But it's not just that it's about tough you are too. So I don't know, I don't know if I could do

Alicyn  

it. And and the ability to keep getting up, which I even think might be the bit the hardest part, the bit, the biggest component is like, you can have talent. But if you get knocked down and you can't get back up again, you just got to keep getting up. And it's so uncomfortable sometimes, but you just got to keep getting back up. And

Robbie  

let's be real about it. We do we do 500 audition a year, 1000 auditions a year, depending on, you know, from your agents, or wherever else you're fielding your auditions from and if we booked 5%, we're, we're crushing it, like five 5% of real kind of jobs it out of 500 or 1000 is, you know, great. And so that means Are you good with being rejected 95% of the time for more like, like, Are you two or more? Are you you can make a living booking 1%? Like like, Are you are you tough enough to handle getting turned down 99 out of 100 times. And I think that's the real thing about it. Also, there are so many people I've worked with throughout the years that are so talented, that also just never got their shot. A big portion of it is serendipity right place, right time choosing the right path. And but I do believe that tenacity, is tenacity is one of the most fundamental parts of all of the people that it's really a war of attrition, especially in LA. And and I think I was in LA in a really unique time. I graduated grad school in 2007. Not the best time to enter the world. So I came to LA things kind of cruised. And I like booked animated pilot, like my first month here. And I was like, Oh, this is gonna be easy. And then the housing market crashed, and the writer strike happened. And the whole city. I will say this, the writer's strike was almost more freaky than COVID in Los Angeles, because people weren't just staying inside. People were leaving in droves. All of Hollywood shut down. They were no such thing as a protocol. It was the it was the Writers Guild strike in 2000, late 2008 2008 to almost 2009. And if you're on from everything shutdown, commercials, television, film, animation, everything just shut down. And I lost my job until I was working at a television production company. I lost that job. I couldn't. There were lines around the block of actors trying to get waiter jobs with resumes. I remember I couldn't get a job with a master's degree as a pizza delivery boy, it was it was wild, but and a bunch of actors left. But the people that stayed and toughed it out and dealt with it. As soon as things came back, which they always do those people reap the benefits. So I really started to come out into the scene in like 2009 and because I literally think it was a war of attrition And then we'll just weren't as much there wasn't as much competition. And as you get older and move into older roles that remains the same, you know, I don't have many friends now who are creeping up on 40, who are still in business. And I work with 1000s of people, and a lot more of them are chiropractors and real estate agents and investors and teachers and many other normal, respectable, fantastic jobs. And these are all people i thought was one of the townspeople I ever worked with, but it's a grind and a hustle. And if you're not built for it, you're just not built for it. But anyway, it's not scary. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  

So come on in. It's really great. Anybody can do it. I'm an idiot. If I couldn't do it, you can do it easily. You just have to be tough. Yeah, just get those get those muscles going on.

Alicyn  

I want to thank you guys so much to everybody to join in live if you'd like to. So next week, we have Brian Hall coming on. Brian noise an amazing content creator youtuber and voice actor, starring in the new Hotel Transylvania four as well as tangled, the animated series. He's going to be so much fun. So I'm really looking forward to that. And then I'm going on vacation to Yellowstone, so I will not see you the week after that. But I bet we're gonna be on vacation at the same time. It's gonna preschool preschool rounding out for the good. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, I can't wait to hear all about it. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Robbie. You're amazing. You inspire me. So I really appreciate your time. Now, you're amazing. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I hope hopefully not ask you one more favorite before you go. Of course. Do you? Would you mind just saying like, hey, check out this show. Right now, how do I do it? Tell me what I'm gonna say. You hit me with it. Yeah, I mean, you can set you can put it in your own words, but just like you're watching, you know, you're watching Alice's Wonderland. This is because someday I want to edit these like story reels together. Just like this is Robbie Damon. You're watching Alicynn swing around. I love to show something like that. Or you got anything in your own.

Robbie  

Hey, this is Robbie Daymond. And you are watching Alicyn's Wonderland. It's the best show tune in streaming. Download it do it.

Alicyn  

You know you want to There you go. Guys. That was amazing. All right. Well, we're, you know, if we're gonna go jump over now and say good on Tik Tok. If anybody wants to join us over there, Robbie. Seems like you probably want to go and be spend some time with your lovely wife, but I'll definitely be in touch and thank you so so much. Well, I hope to see you in the studio soon. Oh, wait, I got perfect. Circle full circle. See Bye. Bye. Bye. See you later. 

Alicyn  

Thanks for tuning in to Alicyn's Wonderland, where we explore the wild and wonderful world of animation and video games. Please remember to subscribe and leave us a review. For more episodes of Alicyn's Wonderland. Please visit us at www.AlicynPackard.com. See you next week.
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Alicyn’s Wonderland Podcast

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