Hey, are you following me on LinkedIn? I wish you would! Let’s connect.
Among other things, you’ll be able to follow my very businessy adventures in the voiceover universe. To bring you up to speed: everything is Bonzer. The entire VO Jeremy Bearamy is being eaten by AI, as is everything else, EXCEPT for the numerous victories and breakthroughs.
And if you got that “The Good Place” reference, you may be ready for Granny Has A Podcast.
That’s what I’ve been doing in lieu of paid bookings. I’d rather do both! But in the meantime, I’m developing a great podcast with comedy, pathos, stories, radical production values, and of course, time travel.
So here’s a little Throwback Thursday as posted on my LinkedIn. For the latest (MamaCat’s Never-Ending Festival of Spring Cleaning), go to Spotify, Audible, Apple Podcasts, etc., and hear how much it’s grown since this one.
And if you like it, give me a nice high rating, won’t you?
Or, How I Found the Dryest Turkey Sandwich in America.
Winner, “Dune” Award for Most Arrakis-Like Peformance by a Prepackaged Airport Deli Sandwich, 2024.
Dateline: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1:15pm. I am on my way to the grandaddy voiceover conference of ’em all, VO Atlanta. And in one of those rare events, I have a connecting flight instead of nonstop. I am, therefore, spending my cocktail money on a sandwich instead. A sandwich as dry as the humor of Philip Banks. A sandwich you could sand wood with. But I need to stay awake, and I don’t think I ate breakfast. Nope. Fed the dog, fed the cat… I had coffee!
The lanterns in Terminal 2, or “Humphrey,” as we still call it. They’re little illuminated zeppelins! Not Led Zeppelin.
So. No cocktails till Georgia. (Did anyone else just hear the Beastie Boys in their head?). We will be boarding shortly, and then we will be changing planes in Chicago, and tonight I will be hoping that the kitchen is open late at the Hilton, and that they still have that awesome salmon salad.
So. NOT. A Cocktail.
Meanwhile, the worst jazz guitar player in the Twin Cities Metro is ruining “Home on the Range” here in the Concourse. Happy Trails!
With the Bronx dragons, specifically. I had plenty of time to process. And it came to me. All the dragony imagery. The fire, of course. But also… the power. The element of surprise. The flight.
Dragons are my biggest fans. #DragonBasedDadJokes
The fierce loyalties. The magical attributes. The fearsome beauty. Dragons! But, you know, dragons of the Bronx, so they’re also hilarious and snarky and they use their street tough ways “for niceness and not evil” (Don Addams as Maxwell Smart). And for ordering GrubHub. And for this fine nonsense right here:
But I promise, mine doesn’t sound like the other Grannies’ podcasts. Because I’m not like the other Grannies.
Most podcasts are some sort of interview format. Mine is a little more like if Pinky and the Brain broke into RadioLab after hours. But what would Jad Abumrad say?
Ready to play the memorable District Attorney for you any time at reasonable SAG-AFTRA rates. Also available to be the scientist that the protagonist should have listened to in the first reel.
And if you got those references… you may ready for Granny Has A Podcast. 😎
There’s a brand new pair of fashion combat boots in that there cardboard carton. And coffee in that there mug. With my name on it.
The next episode of my little podcast is called “MamaCat and the Chain of Foolishness,” and it is in progress. The one after that is going to be called “MamaCat and the Three Little Words,” and they’re not, “I love you” — although those are pretty good words. And contrary to all known Star Trek logic, I am not citing, “let me help,” from the glorious Higo-award winning ST: TOS episode, “City on the Edge of Forever.”
Trinka the Triceratops and I are neither of us well-behaved, and we are most definitely up for making some history any old day.
Just had the most amazing conversation with Lau Lapides about NEVO 2024 and other plans for future goodies. Yesterday I recorded an episode of “My Own Mistake,” a podcast by my friends Stacey Kimble and Christy Spadafore. Couple days ago, I had a studio consultation with Uncle Roy Yokelson of Antland Productions. I am about 20 months into my three-year plan to… not so much resurrect my old voiceover career, but rather to birth a whole new animal.
Why does it always come back to animal husbandry with me?? 🤣
Studio Dog Amy Farah Howler. Nobody’s husband. Definitely an animal.
So, yeah, it’s breaktime. Leftovers for lunch and a few excellent videos by Miniminuteman, a New England YouTuber who debunks horse manure, la caca del toro, and other poor science. My kinda guy.
This is my debunking face. And my debunking cocktail. And my debunking cleavage. And how did your Granny behave on her last wedding anniversary?
So I have a handful of scripts downloaded for my upcoming video game & animation demo. This is a thrill. I’ll be working with Rachael Naylor and her production team, London to Minneapolis via the miracle of the internet. I have met and worked with Rachael at several VO events, and she has pulled out of me amazing characters and performances. So what could be more unexpected than an animation and gaming demo from a nice old lady who currently only rocks a milquetoast commercial demo? It’s a nice Midwestern boring demo of niceness. Allow me to shock you.
Shocking people is what I do well. These folks were so shocked that they turned into a wall at Fenway. I was going for Green Monsters, but this is still pretty shocking work.
So I also have a working document where I’m re-writing all the scripts these trained professionals wrote for me. Because, Lord love ’em and bless their hearts, this is the most boring and predictable copy I’ve seen since radio killed itself. All my custom characters as written are either maudlin, sad, or scared. The scriptwriters, to whom I’m paying a pretty fabulous sum, wrote for an old lady.
Old lady, boring a dragon to death.
Not for a Captain Janeway. Not for a Minerva McGonagall. Not for Dame Judi Dench’s “M”. They wrote dull, sad, boring copy for Granny. They have one kaljillion examples online of who and what MamaCat is capable of. And they wrote my expensive custom scripts for Auntie Dull. That ain’t me. You could ask the Parkins!
Old lady being dull and boring AF at One Voice. Somebody wake MamaCat up. She’s boring and dull. And predictable AF.
So, if you’re reading this and you’re on my demo team… and I know you’re not… this is high-stakes and expensive. Let’s get it hot. My re-writes are on the way. Love you, respect you; but the positioning statement is meant to be Steel Magnolia with a Sword. Not Goodnight Nana. Even Mrs. Weasley gets radical towards the end. Pussy Galore had a fleet of her own henchman pilots. Moira Rose as a Starship admiral. You dig?
