“Robert Mitchum sounded different from John Wayne, and John Wayne sounded different from Clark Gable.”

I did speak out about celebrities because I thought it was appalling. I thought that if the cartoon became popular, it was only going to last as long as the career of the people who are in it.

I don’t have that much of an ego where it’s like “How dare you, you can’t do something without me.”

Tom Kenny is a master of changing a pubic hair this way or that way, and sounding like a totally different character.

John Kricfalusi is very talented; he used to really piss me off. But I did good work, you know? The Ren & Stimpy show without me was totally unsuccessful.

All actors used to sound different. Robert Mitchum sounded different from John Wayne, and John Wayne sounded different from Clark Gable. They were like men’s voices, but they weren’t Everyman, it was them.

Somebody’s real voice is probably the hardest one that somebody could attempt.

Everybody. Somebody would just stick their head in the door and say, “He sounds too Jewish.” Or, “He’s too tough, he’s off-putting. You gotta seduce kids, not scare them out the door.”

I’m not like a high intellectual. That’s the thing.

The only thing I have to say to people – try being the hero of your own world one day.

The characters are all, believe it or not, rooted in a reality of some sort.

To me, it all comes down to things being character-driven. It’s hard for me to look beyond that. CG and all this cool stuff – so be it. But to me, it pretty much begins and ends with character-driven plots rather than technologically-driven plots.

I’m not like a high intellectual.

Robin Williams understands sonic performances. He understands what it’s like to change your voice up.

All actors used to sound different. Robert Mitchum sounded different from John Wayne, and John Wayne sounded different from Clark Gable. They were like men’s voices, but they weren’t Everyman, it was them.

So a lot of traditional rock sounds, you can’t play them. But to be honest, there was no particular intention when I started playing with four strings. It just worked out that way and it sounded cool.

Nor use too swelling, or ill-sounded words . . . .

I always knew ‘My Dawg’ would be a hit, but I didn’t even know what a hit was. When I made the song I knew it sounded hard.

It sounded too contrived and having to follow devised parameters to create art.