Billy West

“I'm not like a high intellectual.”

“I don't get to watch Futurama, until it's on TV.”

“Somebody's real voice is probably the hardest one that somebody could attempt.”

“You have to have some kind of power of observation, almost like a trained observer.”

“You watch people and study them the way an alien would.”

“Well, I happen to have a love of vocal reproduction devices.”

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

“I've always said that you can't be the new Mel Blanc by doing Mel Blanc's voice.”

“But the throat just kind of falls into line once you realize in your head what it is. You got to remember the musicality of a character you're going to do.”

“Life is for the living. I was a little scared before surgery 'cause of the release you sign that says there's always a very small percent chance that you'll die during the operation.”

“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.”

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

“It had more layers than an onion. These writers meant business. There was a level for everybody. Your major could be celestial mechanics, and there'd be celestial-mechanics jokes.”

“As long as I can apply my craft, I'm happy.”

“If someone gave me the chance to create something, I put myself into it. I just want to try to do something that will last forever and that won't leave people saying, 'Gee, it could have been better, it could've been this, it could've been that.'”

“Even when I was coming through school, I was a loner and I used to study music and play it and play it, and I was in bands.”