The Voice of Looney Tunes on the Horrors of Corporate Greed

Welcome to Pablo Torre Finds Out. I am Pablo Torre, and today we're going to find out what this sound is. For me, you know, what do I know? I'm just a cartoon duck. I only know how to get kicked out of studios, not run them. Right after this. Are you in your, are you in your, that's your, at home? Is that work? This is, I like to call it the, my Sherman Oaks bomb shelter. This is the home studio. It's in the, it's in the garage office. You can see my insane collection of garbage. That does not even include the, the Michael Jordan Bugs Bunny posters from the 90s. Oh my God. There's a, there's a lot. There's a lot. It's like stepping into my, my brain, I guess. Your brain is. I think, I think it's exactly right here. Your brain is what, is what draws me to you, Eric. Thank you for doing this, by the way. Absolutely. Thanks for having us. All the looney toots. I was going to say, when you. I mean, I mean, thanks for having us, Doug. That's what I was supposed. You moron, you messed it up already. Thank you. I did want to get this out of the way first, Eric. Are you a Raptors fan? Uh, yes. Yes, I am. That's because I was born and raised in Tirana. Tirana, Ontario, Canada, eh? We wanted the chips with the dip, and it looks like that's exactly what we got. Kawhi Leonard dipping out. Leaving us for the L.A. Clippers, and fans, they only had one thing to say. Thank you, Kawhi. You know, the whole while he had a decision to make about returning back to the West Coast, Toronto just, like, smothered him. Like, he couldn't go outside without a helicopter following. Oh, you guys, Toronto Raptors fans, they would have done anything to keep him in 2019. Oh, absolutely. That was, that entire, that whole team that was, like, you know, you're never going to get that again. Seems like leaving L.A. is the theme of the day, as the Clippers have agreed on the framework of a deal with Toronto to send Kawhi Leonard back to the Raptors. The expectation around all sides is that this deal will end up happening at the end of the day, Hannah. But this just in, that deal is now on hold until the NBA's investigation is over. If all what they're saying is true, then I can't wait to fly home for some home games, for sure. I should say that, like, I first reached out to you. I think I DM'd you in February of 2024, you know, long before, long before I reported anything to do with the Toronto Raptors, long before the movie that you're, that you star in came out. And the initial reason was just simple. And that's, I don't even know why I have a podcast if I'm not going to reveal to the world that Bugs Bunny is Filipino. That's right. I'm going to start talking like Bugs Bunny, but he's my uncle. And I'm going to convince Warner Brothers to animate him with lumpia instead of a carrot. I think that might be. They're like, what's that? And I was like, can we copyright, can we own the lumpia? Warner Brothers asked that question. I feel like it belongs to the people. Lumpia belongs to the people is my personal philosophy. Yeah. I have a whole multiplex. It's a multi-part series about why Filipino food should be more popular in America, particularly. As opposed to featured on Fear Factor. Yes. Balut, Balut, of course. So did you have a baby duck as a kid? Really? What was the duck's name? I think it was Sally. I was so young. Embryonic duck egg is like our introduction to mainstream television. If you are going to throw up, I have a bucket for you. God. I personally am offended by this. I resemble that food. Yeah. You should be careful what we say around these guys. Well, I want to continue to talk to these guys. Let's just say you're the general manager of all of the characters that are in your head. Like, give me your starting five. How do you explain this in sports terms for our sports audience? Who is on your personal roster? Oh, man. The top five. I mean. You know. I, I, I, you, you would think it's Spugs Bunny, but I have the most fun playing Daffy. And, um, runner up, Earth Creature, is Marvin the Martian. Isn't that lovely? And, of course, Spugs Bunny, you gotta have, uh, you know, you, you gotta have, uh, the number one duck on the planet. Uh, and then if you're gonna go outside of the Looney Tunes universe, I mean, uh, Woody Woodpecker, that's like another Mel Blanc go-to. But, uh, I don't know, last. Who, who would be last? I don't know. Uh, sheesh. Foghorn Leghorn isn't making the cut. You're leaving him on the bench. What are you doing? I see, I see. I see the lights are on, but nobody's home, you see. I should have been first. I, I'm the, uh, I'm the bad guy in, uh, Coyote versus Acme. Yeah. So, uh, maybe we'll end with, with Foghorn, sure. You've won three Emmy Awards for your voice acting. You've been nominated. You've been nominated eight times. The last one I lost, and I lost to, uh, Daffy Duck lost to Plucky Duck. That's an injustice. Yeah, well, you know, it's, if you're gonna pass the torch off to someone, it better be someone that bears your resemblance. Yeah. Uh, this is for all the ducks. Uh, yeah, it was a nice trip to New York. I still got to eat some delicious food while I was over there, and, uh, uh, previous to that were three Emmys in a row. What, one of, I think the third one, I, uh, I hosted that, uh, ceremony as well, which was insane, because, you know, I'm telling these Donald Trump jokes in front of the cast of Fraggle Rock. You know, they love the Fraggles, they Fraggles, they love me down there in the rock. I believe they call it the rock. Uh, the Fraggle crew was laughing. They were laughing so hard. I was making Poutine Putin jokes. That's what I was. Canadians love Putin. Right? The French fries, cheese, and gravy? Uh, I could have Putin in my mouth all day. Yeah, that's, uh, that's what I said, and then I was like, wait, I shouldn't be saying that until I get my green card approved, but, um, yeah, they, the Fraggles loved it. They were like, oh my gosh. When you're alone, when you're at home, do you find yourself talking to yourself as these characters? More in traffic or driving. That's usually when, uh, going to a session, if I have to do warmups or, uh, especially if it's like a voice match, I am the voice match for Antonio Banderas for Puss in Boots for DreamWorks. Oh, man. So when you go to the theme parks, I'm the one that goes, feel me if you dare, and the bagno is this way. Yeah, I, I, I only direct you to the restrooms. The boys litter box. This room is over here, and don't forget to drink your leche. Yeah, so, like, I do all that. When Antonio's too busy being handsome and rich, uh, they call me. The best part about this, though, was there was a movie that he had, uh, released, independent film, and there was a reporter, it was BBC, and they were like, you know that there is a Netflix animated show, and there was a Toronto performer. And I was like, what? And he was like, what? it. Your Bugs, your Daffy, your Foghorn, Leghorn, your Elmer Fudd. Also, Elmer Fudd's just left on the bench. Also, Elmer Fudd, he's not on the top five. Ooh, that wascoey Bowser. You realize pretty soon into it, like, you know, oh, oh, this is about a lot more than just, you know, uh. looney tunes you're looking at the guy who is taking on the biggest corporation in the world they're suing us for every acne product there is a sense of horror in in the film because it is about the horrors of capitalism eric this is about the horrors of corporate greed and oh yeah it's it's the story of the film and then the story of what happened to the film and how it is oh yeah it couldn't be more relevant to the interests of this podcast it blew my mind when i realized all of this is is colliding in one thing but but this is i want to explain to people for for whom this is just a thing they're learning about for the first time this is like the best film of its kind since who framed roger rabbit uh that is that is insane because i you're talking to a guy that uh has used his son's college fund to buy uh as many roger rabbit cells like i have original cells from the film hanging in my living room uh i think during covid we all went a little stir crazy buying things online and one of those things for me was the uh i like to call the holy grail of uh animation cells which is uh you know um in roger rabbit where bugs and mickey are parachuting yes they're with eddie valiant and jumping without a parachute kind of dangerous ain't it yeah you can get killed when i saw that as a kid i was like my god mickey mouse just said killed that's like uh that's like the f word in disneyland so that's the funny thing and i think that's what's going to surprise people is that it's not your corporate nostalgic cash grab shoe commercial you know uh not to say that i i hadn't fallen for that when i was a kid because i mean i love those uh before space jam there were two very popular uh super bowl commercials that featured michael jordan and bugs bunny of course you know this means war and that's you know it was who'd you expect you're my friend but this is like just like the other movie the previous to this the the day the earth blew up it just had porky and daffy it just focused in on two of the looney tunes characters that we know are supposed to be uh you know paired up together roadrunner and coyote like sylvester and tweety or or elmer and bugs for that matter a lot of people think oh yeah it's looney tunes it's like the muppets but the muppets actually did hang out together the muppets actually had a show together they they knew each other's acts and you know they they traveled in a van uh looney tunes never really had right like a bugs bunny foghorn cartoon or a sylvester taz cartoon yeah and and the thing that i had never contemplated right beyond even like the the universe of looney tunes and the way that all these characters might interact with each other is the centrality of acme as the corporation and so yes the brilliance of this is in the proposition of a question and i know this originated with i believe it was a 1990 new yorker piece that first framed this up satirical and and it's a humor piece of satire and i went back and read it and it it crystallized just this unbelievably funny premise which is what if wiley in specific sued acme for this pattern of dangerously defective products that he keeps on buying like he's addicted to it despite the catastrophic failures of said products is there anyone in the whole world who cares what happened to the coyote at all yeah i do and it's just like what would it be like if he hired will forte as his attorney and then we're off and running it's all central to like you said coyote versus acme a legal case a legal case about monopolies the funny thing is is yeah the entire time the acme corporation or even the logo the name on a box is basically is like a character you know like it it's it's been there the whole time not just in the roadrunner and coyote world but uh it's been all over war for whatever reason that was like the kind of nameless name brand that exists in this world and they make awful awful products well but this is this is the thing is that it's it's a story about okay how do you hold a monopoly in check what are the traps of consumerism how can capitalism be regulated and it's told through the lens of like this tiny personal injury firm that's taking on goliath it's like you said it kind of harkens back to that roger abbott world where we coexist with these characters so they have to go through real life court drama sometimes yeah they need to get witnesses they got to convince people to testify they're gonna show up spoiler alert in front of a uh commission of politicians there's a question i have though about how it must have felt to make a film that is trafficking in this kind of commentary only to discover that the film itself is getting eaten by the thing that it's about sure enough we get the call and it was just uh it's just been a roller coaster ride ever since i'll just explain it for people who don't know i mean in late 2023 warner brothers decides to permanently shelve that was their decision at the time they're going to permanently shelve this movie which was done and was testing really well according to reporting and the stated reason eric was they wanted to take the tax break rather than distribute it uh for me you know what do i know i'm just a cartoon duck i only know how to get kicked out of studios not run them um uh it's like a case where you might even think they weren't even probably looking at any specific titles they may have just plugged in a number that worked for the the big the big h and r block tax document uh preset thing you put some numbers in and if it balances you out then that's it you know they they might not have even known and i guess that's this is the part of show business and i'm sure you've been a part of this or witness to where the projects especially like uh the good old days of uh pilots remember when these to make pilots when they wanted to create new things they want yeah pilot season was such a big thing uh people would fly in to audition for stuff and some of it would would get made some of it was passed and then put on a shelf not for tax purposes but maybe they just acquired it but in this case i mean we're coming uh on what three years since you said yeah that was like i remember the last day i i worked on this movie was the day before the writer's strike and then when we when we found out that we were shelved was the the same week that the actor's strike ended so we had that big long hot sweaty summer uh where the universal studios cut down their own trees and they were like oh we're gonna do this we're gonna do this we're gonna do this so we wouldn't have any shade which is literally a thing that happened by the way striking actors and writers claim the company was trying to stop them from protesting by removing all the shade amid blazing temperatures mbc universal says the work was routine landscaping that is literally a thing that oh yeah that happened to try and deter people from picketing uh we're doing construction and then they they put fences on the sidewalk and then we had to walk on the road and they're like we're gonna trim the trees and by trim the trees i mean completely like destroy it was crazy well i cannot think of a less romantic reason to do anything than tax reasons but this is a it's it's at this point a trend among studios i mean warner brothers in 2022 infamously shelved batgirl due to tax reasons and to for those who don't know the reason you do that apparently is you avoid for the cost you avoid distribution costs marketing costs as you're referring to you help your quarterly earnings report look better and then you can write it off because it is apparently a thing that did not work for you even though in the case of this film cody versus acme which apparently reportedly cost around 70 million dollars um the budget resulted in the right test scores resulted in certainly interest but the budget resulted in the right test scores and yeah there was no explanation other than tax reasons I mean, it is what it is, and again, I don't know. And then why they decided to take, you know, Ketchup's offer. Ketchup Entertainment, which bought the film in the end. Yeah, after immense backlash, by the way. Our heroes. I've grown so used to seeing the Ketchup Entertainment logo in front of the Warner Brothers logo for my movies now. Thank you, Ketchup. I just touched upon, like, my reaction to being written off for taxes and then fast forward to when Ketchup acquires it for distribution. You know, I go, is this real? Is this happening? Because we've come to the finish line. Again, just like Coyote, we've come to that finish line or we almost got him. We almost got the Roadrunner. But every time, the bird just slips through the fingers. Exactly. Well, when you realize the arc, I didn't realize how many years it's been. It's been since you worked on it. But I imagine that one of the feelings that you might have is informed by what is, it turns out, a solution posited in the film as well as one that I have become very inspired by in real life, which is a public reaction. The public demanding something. I mean, I want to read this tweet that Phil Lord, who's one of the great, you know, writer-producers in Hollywood, he made Spider-Verse and all these other things. He had written, quote, end quote, referring, of course, to Warner Brothers and Paramount and the merger that is also, you know, lingering in the air of the American economy. We wait for the resolution of that. But the idea that people might, again, whether it's on a picket line or whether it's just as consumers say, this isn't okay, and that might inspire something, that has to, I mean, I wonder if it struck you the way that it appears to me from the outside. My theory has always been whether we get on the big screen or we stand a shelf for tax purposes, we will definitely at least be a chapter in something that we're not going to be able to do. We're going to be a chapter in something that we're not going to be able to do. Literally, they were dropping the last frame of music to make the score complete, and that's when they got the call. Like, they literally ended their Friday finishing the score of the film, and that's when they got the call. And then I think our attitude was, no news is good news. And we hung on to that for a long time until we definitely found out it was over and done with. And then they had no choice but to kind of just say, oh, you know what? We're just kidding. We're not writing it out for taxes. We are going to put it up for sale for $80 million. And non-negotiable. I mean, you put it up for a price that no one can match, then you're basically just saying, this is never going to see the light of day. I like how you, again, I don't even know if it's ever truly conscious what you do, but, like, I like how you're non-negotiable. I like how you're non-negotiable had Trump in it. $80 million, you know. That's a chump change where I come from, really. $80 million, come on. We called it a Tuesday. You know, these Canadians, they're taking all the American jobs. We got to look out for them. Very polite people. Very polite. But we got to look out. Snowbacks, I like to call them. Snowbacks. Anyways, yeah, I mean, yeah, can't help but seep in when you talk about logistics. And making deals. It's relevant to the whole thing, frankly. The idea of there's a merger, and they're seeking permission, and they're trying to create, again, this terrifying atmosphere where if you have enough money, you can do whatever you want. What I like, though, again, though, is the idea that Ketchup really just stepped up to the plate and saw this opportunity of, you know, it's not just about the Looney Tunes anymore. It's just the. It's just the art of making movies and film and telling a story and making sure that it follows through and that. Like, we're living in a world where a Batman cartoon by Bruce Timm and J.J. Abrams lives on Amazon.com, not, you know, not where it should be. You know, when I was young, streaming was just where you'd go fishing, you know. You'd take your fishing pole to the stream. These are my dad jokes, but. Again, Rabbit, you messed it up. You're messing up this interview. No one cares about you. They want to talk about corporate greed. My area, my expertise. Money! I love it! Why this is so appealing to me is that I fell in love. I fell in love with Looney Tunes as a kid. And in case it's not abundantly obvious, I am Filipino-American. You are Filipino-Canadian. Filipino-Canadian. I wonder. We're an endangered species, by the way. I mean. And that's. I'm calling for a complete and total shutdown of all Filipino-Canadian businesses until we figure out what's going on. But I'm curious, like, how did the cartoons that we're now talking about for. for so long. How did those cartoons fit into your relationship with your parents, maybe? Oh, man. Well, my dad was. and still is, like, such a. like a cinephile. He loves movies. He loves westerns. He loves. You know, he would just tell me when him and his dad in the Philippines growing up would go to the theater and watch cartoons. You know, Popeye, of course, was. was a huge one. And Mighty Mouse, like, old Looney Tunes. So his love for. for film and television and animated shorts, like, kind of brought me into it. And, of course, we were introduced. If you were a kid growing up in the 90s, we were introduced to these animated shorts by way of the Bugs Bunny and Tweety show. So that was the 90s. renaissance, the 90s resurgence of the Looney Tunes. That's my childhood. That is my childhood. Oh, the Chuck Huyton's lights This is it We'll hit the heights And oh, what heights we'll hit On with the show, this is it So, like, ooh, I thought I saw a putty tat I'm gonna eat that bird If it's the last thing I do Yeah. I go in and out of Looney Tunes Tourette's So it's, uh, it's insane like, how it impacted me as a kid, but not just as a voice over-performer, but as an artist. I was in animation first as a layout artist. I used to draw. I still draw, but not as much as I used to. But, yeah, I would record these animated shorts on a VHS. Look it up, kids. VHS. But I would pause the VHS cassettes and draw. the poses that were on the screen. Uh, I would send away for the Chuck Jones Art Gallery cell catalog. And it would have, like, like, little frames of animated scenes, like, from your favorite cartoons. But now they're worth, like, thousands of dollars. I should've. You know, when I was 10, I should've bought them when I was 10 years old. You should've known those would be assets. Assets, commodities. Having. To monetize later. Uh, again, you've seen. You've seen my wall. Don't make me open this door again. Behind the door is. is your childhood, it turns out. Yes. I said, Son, when I leave this planet, you're gonna have a hell of a garage sale. That's gonna be. And I also talk to my son morbidly like that. When I. When I trip, fall, and snap my neck, you're going to have a great garage sale. Wait, what does your son. What does your son think of all of this? Oh, I always say that he's like my little. my little. my little manager at the schoolyard. He's 10 years old, and when he's with his buddies, and I'm on my phone like a responsible parent, uh, you know, sitting there. He's like, hey, Dad, come over here. And I'm like, yeah? And he's like, do the. do the. do the voice, do the thing. And I go, eh, what's up, doc? And he goes, okay, go away now. Go away, go away. Yeah, I'm like, wow, jeez. Okay, your majesty, your peanut butter sandwich is ready. Yeah, uh, he's starting to kind of. do, like, do voices, uh, on his own. Oh, is he good? One of which, you know, I gotta tell you, he has a really good Eric Cartman, even though he. He's never watched an episode of South Park. He wants to watch that show so bad. He goes, Dad, can we watch that show with the four little kids? And I was like, I wish I could show you this year, but I can't. I think we started watching that in high school, right? That was our. Can't be showing your facts. Mr. Hankey, you can't meet Mr. Hankey before you've gone to high school as a general principal, I think. Looking to get my kid expelled this year. But the connective tissue here, like the reason why this stuff matters and the reason why animation still has. Again, it was sort of like awakened when I was watching Coyote vs. Acme. It's because it's this thing that has lasted so long that it does multi-generationally resonate. It's rare. It's rare to have this thing that feels like. Sports has it, to be very clear. Sports has this in spades. Oh, absolutely. But it's an inheritance. It's an heirloom that you pass down to your kids. I always like to say we're talking about characters that are now entering their 90th year. Daffy turns 90 next year, I think. And, you know, like you said, we talk about these characters like our oldest relatives at the Thanksgiving dinner table, you know? These are people that we sit across from at dinner and go, oh, God. Either we like them or we can't stand them, but we're stuck with them. How do you feel about. the concept, then, of what artificial intelligence promises to do to not just how to create animation, how to create, quote-unquote, art, but also to do what you do, to just make everybody at the tip of their phone have the ability to do voices? I think right now, presently, I think it only really affects the people that have those iconic voices, like in the case of, like, James Earl Jones. Giving his blessing so long as his estate receives royalties that they could use his likeness in voice as Darth Vader for future Star Wars projects, you know? Someone like me, it's not going to affect my voice. Mel Blanc created Bugs Bunny, let's not forget, you know? Like, if anybody should be getting compensated right now, it should be him, not me. I'm, like, the sixth person to do Bugs Bunny, not the first one. But then, you know, where do you. Where do you even start in that situation? You know, his next of kin, I know his son is still alive, and I don't know if he would. He's very precious and, you know, sacred with his father's work, and I don't think he would allow that. And if you're talking about art, still, AI, you know, if you want it to be really fine-tuned, it only can recreate what it's been given, and it hasn't lived. And that lifetime of having to get up every Saturday morning to watch the Bugs Bunny and tweet. Having to get up early enough to pop in the VHS. I mean, I have that. I have, like, endless episodes of Inspector Gadget. I have so many animated series on VHS, if anyone's interested in buying them. I just want them for the commercials, to be honest. But, yeah, the old commercials. But even that! Even just all of the references and the source material you have. Like, at some point, AI's going to try to eat everything. But AI literally has never eaten Lumpia. AI is not going to have that particular background that you bring to this, which is your own as well as someone else's. It's because AI knows that Lumpia will clog its arteries. And that's not. AI's smart. AI has looked up what hypertension is in there. Like, this seems like something we should evolve past. Filipino high blood pressure is a different kind of high blood pressure. It really is. It really is. And, look, Eric, at the end here, I could talk to you forever. I think it's pretty clear. But at the end here, I am trying to imagine all of these fandoms that you have, all of these source materials that you consult, all of the humanity and the emotion you bring to this stuff, which is often quite unhinged, let's be honest. You have an unhinged Bugs Bunny. That's true. I'm imagining what it'd be like if Bugs or Daffy were. were asked to weigh in on Kawhi Leonard returning to the Toronto Raptors. Except for, perhaps, some annoying a**hole reporter who keeps on talking about caps or convention. Well, I, for one, am for it. I'm a big fan of the claw. I mean, I loved him back here at the Clippers, but let's be honest. Yeah, he's a pretty fun guy. I was trying to do the Kawhi laugh, but. It came. It came through. It horrifyingly came through. Maybe that was AI. I don't know. And I'm sure when he sees me next, he's going to choke slam me through a table. Eric Bauza, congratulations on finally getting to see your art in movie theaters, out among the people where it belongs. It's been a real pleasure, man, to hang out with you. Likewise, sir. And on that note, I'll say. That's all, folks. God. You know how to f***ing do that. This has been Pablo Torre Finds Out, a Metal Art Media production. And I'll talk to you next time. I'll talk to you next time. Bye. Bye. Bye.