You have highly impressive backgrounds with a slew of cool animation projects. What are some of the most memorable that you’ve worked on?
BB: Aside from Looney Tunes, anytime I got to work for Pixar has been a pleasure. I’ve done some Disney films that were fun. Sometimes not even necessarily major things, like there was a film called The Emperor’s New Groove where I played a squirrel. He had some really fun bits with Patrick Warburton, who spoke squirrel and translated what the squirrel was saying. He’d be like, “Squeak-squeak,” and I’d be like, [speaks hilarious gibberish in squirrel voice]. I get to play the occasional villain, I’ve been the Winter Soldier for various Marvel things.
EB: It’s funny. I feel like there will be some years where I’ll only specifically play a certain character. There was a year where I played Drift, the samurai warrior from Transformers, and then Tiger Claw, a Japanese yakuza assassin, a really serious character on Ninja Turtles. It was like, okay, I’m only playing Asian characters for this month, next month I’ll be playing Mexican wrestling dads, and then next month I’ll be playing…you know, it never stops. And now Fozzie Bear and Muppet babies. I just found out today I’ve been nominated again, the second year in a row, for this character. But I have no doubt in my mind that Maurice LaMarche will win this year. And then Kevin Michael Richardson was nominated in the same category. I’m up against some heavy hitters.
“…Looney Tunes had a pace about them. They were gag-driven. These are gag-driven. Comedy is comedy.”
Do you think this rebooted version of Looney Tunes will resonate with the contemporary ADD-riddled generation, hooked on Tik-Tok?
BB: You know, I do, and here’s why. The classic Looney Tunes had a pace about them. They were gag-driven. These are gag-driven. Comedy is comedy. I think that the fans of the classics and the newer generation are both going to be equally as entertained by the Looney Tunes cartoon shorts. They’re like classic Looney Tunes, and what better entertainment to expose to a new generation than this franchise? We did one short called Wet Cement, and it’s just gag after gag after gag. It’s just so well done. Anyone with a short attention span is not going to get bored because it’s constant.
EB: Oh boy, you know what, I hope so, I really do. I feel like these guys have gone through the wringer, and what with the anticipation of Space Jam 2 coming out next year, this is a very nice lead-up towards what’s happening with the Looney Tunes in the next few years. I’m completely honored and blessed to be a part of it, and I really do hope that it does resonate with the right people and that it brings in an entirely new generation of Looney Tunes fans.
Finally, can you kindly give me a favorite moment and/or quick impression of your favorite character?
BB: It’s not necessarily from this show, because I can’t remember reading out so many of these shorts, but we did an episode of Duck Dodgers, where Porky was bare-chested. And he said to Daffy, [in Porky Pig’s voice] “He-hey c-can I put my clothes back on? My neh-neh-nipples are getting cold.”
Great interview! 5⭐️!