Billy West on creating Richard Nixon's voice

Legendary voice actor Billy West joins Jim Cummings to discuss how he created the voice of Richard Nixon on Futurama. SUBSCRIBE to Jim's podcast, available on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you find your podcasts - jimcummingspodcast.com
You can support the show on Patreon for EXCLUSIVE CONTENT at patreon.com/jimcummingspodcast

[@MegaStunfiskandHat]

"It sounds like somebody's brrrreaking in!" "Its just the storm Dick, settle down"

[@Tester-sh1mn]

“Oh my God!” “It appears the Pentagon has been breached.”

[@bromosome8049]

I love how anybody doing Nixon impression usually does a futurama Nixon

[@queenieqt2033]

They do a reg nixon 😂

[@Monty-cn7cl]

I just did this it in history class the other day when we were talking about him 😂

[@marsneedstowels]

Or the Simpsons one. I too would like to express my fondness for that particular beer.

[@poolhall9632]

Bbbbbrrrrrrbrbrbrbrbrbrb

[@Mechadondada]

Arrroooo!!

[@ElectronicsPeddler]

I have always wondered why Billy used “Aroo” when he played Nixon and was even ready to ask him that very question at SF Sketchfest in 2013. It only took ten years but I finally have my answer!

[@TheShockVox]

I wanted to ask him too

[@mangrove]

He mentioned it waaaay back on the DVD commentary for "A Head In the Polls". Some of the commentaries are even funnier than the episodes, especially with Billy, John and Maurice all riffing.

[@Pillowcase]

Wow Fry really is just his normal voice. I didn't quite notice it in other interviews - but here you can really hear the timbre.

[@Fel1xF7W]

Lars is his normal voice, Fry is his impression of himself at 25

[@zw246]

I read he did that for, as he put it “job security”

[@bbryant460]

Which is funny, the new episodes he sounds so bored of it

[@AllbeeHivezChristianAllbee]

Sounds like a more chill Red M&M.

[@idontevenlikemoney]

​@bbryant460 yeah I wonder why? Lol

[@TheWillisShow]

Had the pleasure of meeting Billy at a convention in Greenville, SC. Such a nice guy. He spent a few minutes talking to everyone in his line. What an amazing talent. My Professor Farnsworth autographed picture is framed in my bedroom.

[@kumarmines]

That Fry's chuckle in the end!

[@i.m.evilhomer5084]

Gotta love Billy's Nixon voice. Billy actually looks like he's becoming a were-nixon when he does that voice.

[@Justmemyguy]

And to this day, Billy’s Nixon is the Nixon I hear any time I see Nixon….Aroooooo!

[@Colossal322]

He looks great for 71

[@scottmatznick3140]

Look at him from two years ago and tell me that

[@HiThere-ig5iz]

​@@scottmatznick3140He looks kind of like Norm MacDonald did..

[@vg4life]

Plastic surgery

[@aaa-my5xy]

honestly he looks a lot worse than he did a few years ago

[@callumdonington2227]

@@aaa-my5xy Looks better than Norm now

[@Chicken_Wing91]

*NIXON’S BACK BABY*

[@bethanyoneal5789]

I’m meeting you halfway you stupid hippies!

[@robertparker6280]

*WHO'S KICKING WHO NOW?!*

[@RondoOfBloodX]

KNOCK KNOCK!!!!!!!

[@benjauron5873]

The most fun thing I ever did inside a college classroom was I once played Richard Nixon in an in-class presentation for US History. And I'm the first to admit, I wasn't really doing an impression of Richard Nixon, I was doing an impression of Billy West doing an impression of Richard Nixon! Still had fun though, and I got an A, so that's all that matters.

[@mangrove]

I hope you quoted Nixon from the show: "Flabby, pasty_skinned, riddled with phlebitis...a good Republican body."

[@keyblader007]

I live for Billy's Nixon voice in Futurama!!!

[@toddwebb7521]

If Billy ever does requests I'd love to hear the Nixon moon landing failure speech in Futurama Nixon voice.

[@lomoTgod]

So glad I found this!

[@JonBrownSherman]

Billy was 8 years old for that presidential debate, for the record. What a precocious kid!

[@luxitos2867]

AROOOOOOOO---!!!!!

[@commaJim]

That's an awesome story. I loved that.

[@SighNaps]

Morbo: Morbo demands an answer to the following question: If you saw delicious candy in the hands of a small child would you seize and consume it? Johnson: Unthinkable. Jackson: I wouldn't think of it. Morbo: What about you, Mr. Nixon? I remind you, you are under a truth-o-scope. Nixon: Uh, well, I, uh ... the question is-is vague. You don't say what kind of candy, whether anyone is watching or, uh... At any rate, I certainly wouldn't harm the child.

[@TheWingus]

ERRRRRTTTTTT

[@elloowu6293]

Its wild, the same answer won trump his 2nd term.

[@SighNaps]

@@elloowu6293 A truth-o-scope would have been undeniably useful in the last US election cycle.

[@elloowu6293]

@SighNaps Maga would just say the truth-o-scope was "rigged" against Trump.

[@charlescrawford9972]

This was brought to you By the great taste of CHARLESTON CHEW

[@ericgarringer6911]

"Riddled with flubitis" always cracks me up

[@worldofwilson464]

When I was a kid, I watched Futurama a lot and really enjoyed the Nixon parts. It inspired me to start reading a biography about Nixon which was this huge bulky book and I even brought it into school with me.

[@baxatakbaxatak2014]

Of all Billy West’s voices, Nixon is my favorite.

[@ZoraCatone]

So THAT'S where the 'aroo' came from!

[@AbdiqalisMohamud010]

Love Billy so talented

[@jimmeskimen]

I'm convinced. I'm giving up impressions forever.

[@clayton9136]

Huh?

[@basedbattledroid3507]

Futurama Nixon is automatically how anyone born after the 1970s thinks of Nixon and I love it

[@joshp.a.7758]

Love ya' Billy!

[@jasonbourneistreadstone]

"Where they'll be no escape. From the fun!"

[@angusyjr]

They seriously need to do an episode where nixon's head actually turns into a werewolf...😂 Aroooooooooooooo!!!!! 🐺

[@Exnem]

I was born in the late 90s and I had no conception of Nixon, especially not being American so West going AROOOO is all I really "knew" about Nixon as a kid. 😂

[@lundylow]

The best impersonations come from the weirdest places, I love it.

[@IAEMThatIAEM]

on the DVDs Billy Said he did Anthony Hopkins' Nixon

[@isagacha1015]

“I am not a crook” -Richard Nixon

[@hillbillypowpow]

- a massive dirty crook

[@skylanderzrool25]

I love how through this entire segment, Billy just starts speaking like Nixon at random, as if he himself is on the verge of turning into a were-Nixon

[@darkalman]

His jawline changes noticeably when he does Nixon, it's subtle but noticeable AGNEW!

[@fifiwoof1969]

"Aroo" (with salute) 😂😂😂😂😂

[@vera39440]

anyone else see the letter from Richard Nixon to his mom when he was 10, where he identified as a dog? A lot of things make a lot more sense now.

[@Soloman_Gumball]

I like how his normal voice is just old Doug.

[@Top_Weeb]

Nixon's back!

[@mvilla36]

Every time I drive by Yorba Linda, I think of Nixon

[@andreasihrig2976]

That man never drank a Duff in his life!

[@elloowu6293]

Ah, we elected the wrong Carter.

[@ichigokurasaki100]

Ah roooo

[@shaden489]

This was great tbh I think i do a decent impersonation of Mr west's Nixon voice although I usually need to shake my face a little when I do the aruuu part to really get that bowl movment going

[@entropyachieved750]

All I can say is that's exactly how Nixon should sound like.

[@Sunset4Semaphores]

*VOTE NIXON!!!*

[@elloowu6293]

He ded mate

[@FatChickThrillah]

Thats Fry????? Blows my mind. Hes so old. Pictured him much younger

[@TPTurkey-x2i]

Futurama started airing in 1999. 25 years ago.

[@elloowu6293]

​@@TPTurkey-x2i Holy Shit and already we're closer to the year when fry was unfrozen.

[@BigAssBalls]

he's been in the voice acting game for a lot longer than you'd think, dude's got a crazy portfolio

[@Optilex42]

AND he did Nixon??? Futurama really is just the Billy West show!

[@acapulcogoldpablo8096]

I always do that aroo after I drink some nasty cheap beer or a really harsh shot lol

[@WalterOtterly]

Honestly, when I think of Nixon voice, I hear Billy West

[@zandernewson9933]

Oh god - he’s Tom Waites and Joker!!

[@retrotech383]

I did not know that West's voice was THIS close to Fry.

[@drt1605]

From the very first interviews asking him how he constructed Fry he admitted he used his own voice, just raised in intonation a little to match his "slightly whiney" tone of his youth. He said he wanted to ensure they couldn't recast him! What's really amazing is that although all human voices age, the Futurama voice actors have somehow minimised the effect. The Fry of today is definitely a bit different from original Fry but the ageing is nothing like as marked as certain Simpsons voice actors, even when matching actor ages across shows etc.

[@eeskaatt]

AROOOOOOO

[@WTFG78]

2:00 …arrroooo.

[@bud9133]

I always thought when a character does a weird noise out of nowhere, I don't why they're doing it, they're doing it because they are completely nuts.

[@demonmod]

billy is such a fucking legend. billy, if you ever see this, thank you.

[@zanesmith666]

Oh my god i realised the other guy is jim cummings!!!!

[@PhukYu2]

I wish Nixon could have met Nixon impersonator before he died. Futurama Nixon at that. I think he would have been tickled pink.

[@latviandragon2718]

billy sounds like older fry mixed with the professor

[@jamminb177]

Billy’s real laugh is The same as Fry’s 😂

[@nathanmarshall745]

Lmao i honestly said "that's not what nixon sounds like, he goes aroo" once and my friend reminded me i was a dumbass by saying "that's just the futurama version"

[@malkano86]

holy hell fry just pours out of him

[@concrete2733]

All i hear is Slurm Mackenzies tour guide as I watch this man speak

[@billkendrick1]

I DON'T PAY YOU TO SING!

[@ianfinrir8724]

​@@billkendrick1 You just used up today's bathroom break.

[@sirg-had8821]

ArRrRrRroooooooo.....

[@Ironcross6669]

😂😂😂😂❤❤❤❤

[@fifiwoof1969]

I don't know who "Rich Little" is.

[@Lexman509]

I hate to say this, but I got tired of people still whining about President Nixon. 😅

[@That1Yoshi18]

Question for Jim. Do you recall doing a voice over for a trailer of Charlie and the chocolate factory (2005)? That went by the lines "To all children. Watch what you say, watch how you act, or watch out.....for what happens"

[@roddydykes7053]

Norm Macdonald had a wicked Nixon

[@83julio15]

Phillip j. fry impersonating billy west 😂😂

[@Desecrator6]

All i hear is Stimpy in his talking voice lol

[@Aaron-zl5gq]

shit i had no idea Fry did Nixon.

[@KenSmith-bv4si]

Deer gawd I remember that election too. I have to say the best Nixon ever, way better Rich Little who was great just not the Aroo Nixon I dig better.

[@JosephLamb1989]

He looks like the last iron lung guy

[@thearchergravity]

Billy is my Nixion.

[@TrvisXXIII]

I watched a vanity fair interview he did that said it was from 3 years ago, and he’s gained so much weight since then. Wow.

[@BaronVonMott]

I think it speaks volumes that Billy's version of Nixon is generally considered to be better than the ACTUAL Nixon's own voice 😂

[@dragoneater1]

lmao so thats where that came from

[@brianquinn8570]

Is he really doing a voice when he does fry?

[@snakeeyes2551]

Fry is Billy West normal voice and that’s probably the reason I can’t imitate Fry’s voice. If you ask me to imitate Professor Farnsworth, Dr. Zoidberg, Zapp Brannigan, or Richard Nixon I’ll do a good impression of them. Ask me to imitate Fry’s voice you’ll hear crickets in the background.

[@DCmetrogreen]

This is the weirdest furniture I've ever seen.

[@wallybigwheels8993]

Charleston cheeew!!!

[@TommyWashow]

even the legends think rich little stinks haha

[@HailAnts]

His Nixon impression on _Futurama_ is actually kind of respectful. He's a no nonsense straight-shooter who doesn't put up with flack from anyone! Especially damn dirty hippies! 🇺🇸

[@richardarriaga6271]

Just don't ask about Cambodian children!

[@demonmod]

he's meeting us halfway

[@thegreat1007]

Billy's turning into Wilbur Cobb

[@LarryVargas-fs2xf]

SOUND OFF. !!!!!!!! AAARRROOOOOOOOOOO!!

[@High_Priest_Jonko]

Does Jim always talk over his guests? Or only the most distinguished and talented ones? At first I was like "Well, he's adding some good commentary like a good interviewer should do" but by the end of these 2 minutes I thought "Just stop" Almost got a pass from me, but a bit too much interrupting as if he can't stand not to be in the spotlight, as if he's trying to be a comedy duo. Let Billy West talk -- even when you're NOT interrupting him you're making him anxious that you will at some point, so he stumbles to get his stories out. Just stop

[@jimcummingspod]

This was the first interview Jim had ever conducted and was incredibly nervous. But thanks for the pep talk, all the best with your motivational speaking.

[@High_Priest_Jonko]

@@jimcummingspod Thanks for the context. I can certainly excuse a nervous first or even tenth interview. I can't imagine how nervous I would be during an interview with a legend like Billy West -- though I would probably tend towards not talking enough but that's just me.

[@sirgalahad1376]

Please don’t disrespect Jim like that. He’s beloved by many of us the young and young at heart.

[@jamespfitz]

Great talent, great story, utter BS.