This transcript was exported on May 20, 2021 - view latest version here. John Boccacino: Hello, and welcome back to the Cuse Conversations podcast. My name is John Boccacino, the communications specialist in Syracuse University's office of alumni engagement. I earned my bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2003, and later received my executive master's degree in public administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in 2020. You can find our podcast on all of your major podcasting platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify. You can also find our podcast at alumni.syr.edu/cuseconversations and anchor.fm/cuseconversations. Kevin Michael R...: When I found out that people made a living doing animation voiceover, I was like, what really? I mean, growing up with your friends and messing around and goofing off and stuff like that, you're always doing characters. You're imitating commercials, or scenes from a movie. I figured wait, people get paid to do that? I just made it an effort to really just see what I can do to do it professionally. John Boccacino: Well folks, today on the podcast, it is my pleasure to bring on Kevin Michael Richardson. He is a 1988 graduate of the College of Visual and Performing Arts with a drama degree. He's a classically trained actor, but that is not what we're talking about with his career on the podcast today. He is a well-known voiceover talent. If you've listened to TV, if you've watched TV shows, chances are pretty good you've heard Richardson's deep voice as the voiceover star of more than 530 credits to his name, including classics like Family Guy, The Simpsons, American Dad, SpongeBob Squarepants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The list goes on and on. He is Kevin Michael Richardson. We really appreciate you making the time to join us on the podcast today. Kevin Michael R...: Thank you, man. Thank you, John. Thank you for having me. John Boccacino: Listen, it's always a pleasure getting someone who's got such dulcet sounding tones to his voice, and you've got that really rich, deep voice. When did you realize your voice was special? That it was different and distinct? Kevin Michael R...: Oh, wow. Well, I never really... Wow. It's not something I realized, it's just a little knack that I had since I was a kid, just imitating certain celebrities from TV and stuff like that. And then friends would say, compliment me and stuff. But see, personally, I never heard that. You know what I mean? I never realized that. This is how I talk, you know what I mean? And when I found out that people made a living doing animation voiceover, I was like, what really? I mean, growing up with your friends and messing around and goofing off and stuff like that, you're always doing characters, you're imitating commercials, or scenes from a movie. I figured wait, people get paid to do that? I just made it an effort to really just see what I could do to do it professionally. And, of course, that included studying at the SU and doing plays from grammar school, high school, or anything I can get involved with. So I was told by my peers and certain, I guess, instructors that I had this, I guess, specific timbre in Kevin Michael Richardson podcast (Completed 05/20/21) Page 1 of 10 Transcript by Rev.com This transcript was exported on May 20, 2021 - view latest version here. my voice. And I just went with it. Just did the best I could with it. I personally never... It wasn't a realization... Man. Well, now that you mentioned it, looking back as a kid, my older siblings, I'm the youngest of five. They would have Barry White albums and stuff like that. And I would listen to them constantly and play them over and over and over again. And we're talking, I was, oh man, eight years old. Eight, nine years old listening to them. And just literally put my ear to the speaker. If you remember old fashioned stereos from the seventies, I mean, just picture this little kid putting his ear to the speaker with the volume turned way up. And he was listening to every word of how we sang it and stuff. And I would just go to school singing it, bringing them the 45 to the music teacher and saying, "Hey, could we play this so I can sing it for the class?" So I guess I got the little bit of that bug from a very early age. And maybe that was a time, I guess I realized, truthfully, that maybe there was something I could do with it. John Boccacino: I got to ask you, because you put it out there. Give me your best couple of bars of Barry White, since you mentioned it. Kevin Michael R...: I heard people say that too much of everything isn't good for you, baby. (Singing). That type of... John Boccacino: Bravo, Bravo. And by the way, for our audience listening, it's early in the morning out there on the West coast and Kevin had no problems dusting off the pipes to give us a little Barry White. I love the authenticity. I love just the willingness to go with it out there. Kevin Michael R...: I incorporated, I guess, a lot of that Barry type as a style in quite a few characters in animation. Like Jerome from Family Guy or Mr. Gus from Uncle Grandpa, and other numerous shows that I can't even think of that people have asked me to do that type of style voice. And I try to vary them up. Even though the tone is definitely there, one might sound slower, one might sound faster and whatnot, is more hip. But that tone is definitely still there for most of those characters. John Boccacino: No, it's great. And I love hearing the back. One of my favorite parts, Kevin, about the podcast is just finding out what drives alumni and how they get down the path that they're currently on. You mentioned theater playing a role in your life. How did you get hooked up with theater and what was your first impressions and why did you stick with it? Because clearly you've made a really good career for yourself doing this talented voiceover work. Kevin Michael R...: Thanks. I think it was in first grade. It was in a first grade talent show that... This was at St. Angela's in the Bronx. God, we're talking way back. And we were only a couple of blocks away from the school. We went there and I did a scene from Sesame Street. I can't remember what the name of the characters were, but it was that famous scene where they go, "No, no, no, no." Only I did it for 15, 20 Kevin Michael Richardson podcast (Completed 05/20/21) Page 2 of 10 Transcript by Rev.com This transcript was exported on May 20, 2021 - view latest version here. minutes and the same thing. And I wouldn't stop. I just wouldn't stop. And the audience was laughing because I wouldn't stop. And I got such a kick out of this, man. I was six, seven years old. And the faculty had to come out and whisper in my ear and just pull me off. And I just remember my family laughing for days when they brought me home. And that was the bug. That's when I got the theater bug, the acting bug that I had to be on stage. So at that point I started getting involved in any play the class would do and that kind of thing. Up until high school and then, God bless him, there was a teacher from St. Francis Prep, which was a school I went to in Pennsylvania for high school. And his name was Michael Hoover, Mr. Hoover. And he gave me the push to really stay in theater and got me involved in a program called the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, which was held in Miami. Where they had chosen, out of all the high schools in the United States, 3000 kids. You would submit a video of your acting and monologues and stuff like that. And what you can do, two monologues, one comedic, one dramatic. And they responded. And I was chosen to be one of the top 28 kids in the United States at 17 years old. And then when I went there and performed, I was narrowed down to the top 16. And at that point you perform again. And I was narrowed down to the top eight students in the United States. This is back in '82, at 17 years old for the presidential scholarship. And this was all because of Mr. Hoover who pushed me to get involved in that program. So that meant a lot to me. And apparently I think, from what I found out, Vanessa Williams was also a member of that program too. So that was a big push, a big jumpstart for me in theater. And which made me say to myself, I think I'm on the right track here. This is definitely what I want to do.