Infinite thanks must be given to my good friend and former roommate Shelby for sending me the link to information about this show. I would have never known about it otherwise and I would have missed out on possibly the fangirliest experience of my life.
I have been an Animaniacs fan since the day it aired and I found out in retrospect that I've been a fan of Rob Paulsen since even before that. He's been voices in pretty much every cartoon ever, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (he played Raphael, the turtle I had a crush on until I realized Donatello was the smart one. Recently they recorded a pilot for a Turtles reboot; Rob Paulsen played Donatello in that one. Funny, that).
On top of that, he's totally dreamy. So there's that.
The woman sitting across from me at the show was a friend of Rob Paulsen's and he came up and said hello to her beforehand. I sat and quietly stared and internally freaked the hell out. In a good way. Shelby laughed at me, a grand time was had by all.
About twenty minutes later, very close to my head but slightly behind me I hear a very familiar cartoon character say "Hello! I'm Yakko," as a hand lands on my shoulder. I turned to find Rob Paulsen, who was walking around greeting everybody and thanking them for coming (how unbelieveably nice is this guy!) and ... well, my reaction was the epitome of fangirlity. The gasp that escaped from my mouth would have sounded overtly theatrical if it hadn't been one hundred percent sincere. Yakko told me not to throw up and Rob Paulsen thanked us for missing the opening of the Olympics for his show. I told him that this was far more important.
Now, as for the show itself ... sweet holy everything, it was fantastic. Randy Rogel wrote pretty much all the best Animaniacs songs and they played pretty much everything I wanted to hear. They started with Variety Speak; they played A Quake, A Quake; Hello Nurse; Yakko's Universe; Lake Titicaca; a song called The Geologic Clock (I think?) that had never made it onto the show; they played The Invasion Song from Histeria; When You're Traveling (my absolute favorite Animaniacs song; I nearly overturned the table with joy when it began); Noel ... probably some others but I'm forgetting them. Yakko's World, obviously, but I'm a little tired of that song and Rob Paulsen is very tired of it (which was kind of awesome to hear).
They were funny, they were informative, their banter was genuine, the stories they told were interesting, some of the song lyrics got flubbed, Rob Paulsen bad-mouthed his I-Pad, it was fantastic. (I don't listen to podcasts but you can be certain that I will be downloading this one.)
The place was packed with cartoon royalty: Andrea Romano, Maurice LaMarche, Tom Ruegger who read a heartfelt rendition of Lake Titicaca to Sherri Stoner, who added commentary by Slappy Squirrel. I'm sure there are other people I'm forgetting. I was a bit overwhelmed at the time.
And that's what I'm really having a hard time capturing, that overwhelmedness. That feeling of absolute fangirl bliss. I was in a comedy club watching my favorite voice actor perform my favorite songs from one of my favorite cartoon shows, songs written by my favorite of that show's songwriters. I was there with one of my best friends, one of her biggest interests in life is animation. There's no one better I could have gone with and the event itself could not have been more perfect.
After the show Paulsen, Rogel, Stoner and Ruegger signed my notebook for me and I got a picture with Rob Paulsen. They could not possibly have been nicer and Shelby pointed out that the evening was far better than Comic Con.
It was pretty much perfect, really. Experiences like this come about very rarely and it's wonderful when you get to have an evening where everything is exactly right.
End of line.
-Sally
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6 comments:
Hi there. Nice to find such a thourough recap of the show, it'll make it easier to explain to my friends where I was that night without having to explain it all myself. I was the guy who asked Rob to swear it up a bit because it was an 18 and over show and my kids weren't allowed to attend, but to that point the show had been squeaky clean.
Hiya! Glad you liked the recap; I tried to include as much as I could remember.
I thought asking him to swear a bunch was a great request and I'm a little bummed he didn't acquiesce (or however that's spelled). Ah well, it was a great show anyway. :-)
Hello again. I knew without a doubt that there was no way he'd swear in any of his characters' voices if it was being recorded, and for exactly the reasons he specified. But I figured that 1) I'd get a good laugh out of it since my wife had no idea what I was going to say and 2) Rob would get to tell some good stuff about outtakes, particularly the "I'm Cute" anecdote I'd heard before.
Yeah, I liked all he had to say about outtakes. I'm really looking forward to listening to the podcast because I know there were a lot of great moments I've forgotten.
Hi there!! I'm Rob's friend Austin who he mentioned a few times in the show (the kid from Pennsylvania) and I wanted to thank you again for a nice recap. It's such a treat to see Rob's work appreciated by more than me, and that wonderful night was more proof than I could ever have needed. Rob continues to be the nicest, most generous friend I've ever had, and I'll be sure to tell him hi from you next time I see him. Thanks again!! :)
Hey, Austin! Thanks for the kind comment! The show was such a blast; it was really cool to see so many people who were as excited to be there as I was. And it's good to hear Rob's as kind as he seems. Have a great day!
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