William Salyers Interview!

William Salyer's is a extremely talented and funny Actor. You may know him from his work on Regular Show as Rigby and Moral Orel as Reverend Putty and if you don't I highly recommend you check these out!! Mass effect 3, Skyrim, Sims, and the Darkness 2 are some games he voices characters on. Every Monday the family and I excitedly gather around the TV to watch the newest episode of regular show and you should too!  One thing is for sure about William his future's so bright he’s gotta wear shades! The 4^th season of Regular Show starts this Monday Oct 1^st with a 30 minute Halloween Special!! In the words of a great Raccoon and Blue Bird "YEA-yuhhhh". Here’s the man himself enjoy the read…

BBM: When did you first discover your talent of voice over acting?

I’ve been acting since I was 15, so VO wasn’t a major change for me. I’d never considered it as a career, though. Over the years, I’ve done some of it tangentially, while I was working on other jobs. The Artistic Director of a theater I’d be working at would say “This guy on our board has a car dealership, and he’d like you to do a radio spot for him,” that kind of thing. Once, when I was working at Ensemble Studio Theater in New York, the producer told me a friend of hers was looking for people who were good with dialects to do VO for a PBS documentary series about bridges. She asked if I could do a Swiss accent. I could, so I voiced the part of the man who designed the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. I enjoyed it, but even then, I didn’t think “This is the ticket for me!”

BBM: When did you get your first big break?

Like most working actors, my career has consisted of ups and downs, with many small breaks here and there, but if you mean VO, that would have to be Moral Orel. In 2005, my friend Scott Adsit, who now plays Pete Hornberger  on NBC’s 30 Rock, was working on a series for Adult Swim with co-creator Dino Stamatopoulos. It was a Claymation-style animated show about the misadventures of a sweet, American boy who listens to the grown-ups, always tries to do the right thing, and invariably screws up.  I was getting ready to leave for a summer-stock season of theater in Santa Fe, NM, when Scott called to tell me that they had the first season’s episodes recorded, but they weren’t satisfied with one of the voices: the town’s religious figure, Reverend Putty. He asked if I could come read for the part. Well, I couldn’t believe it. There was no WAY I was going to be cast as a series regular on an animated show for Adult Swim – I just didn’t have the experience. Voiceover is a VERY tight field, with a lot of people trying to break in. I thought Scott was just being a good friend and trying to throw me a bone by bringing me in to audition, but I knew it would be rude to refuse the gesture, so after some hemming and hawing, I agreed. When I went to Shadowmachine to read for the role, I wasn’t nervous at all, since there was no way in hell I was going to get the job. I relaxed and had a good time with it, then thanked Scott and Dino and left. Two days later, Scott called to tell me the network liked me and I was in. The other actors had already recorded their parts, so I went into the booth and voiced the 8 first-season episodes Putty was in all at once, in 4 hours. After it was over, it was like it had never happened. I flew to New Mexico and did my theater gig. Then the checks came. Finally, the day came when I heard my voice coming out of this little, bespectacled doll on television. To this day, it was one of the weirdest, most wonderful experiences I’ve ever had.

BBM: What character do you associate yourself with most out of all the work you’ve done?

Wow. Good question. I’m kind of a closet science geek, so it would be one of the scientists I’ve played, probably; either Louis Slotin in Paul Mullin’s play “Louis Slotin Sonata,” or Mordin Solus in Mass Effect 3. I’m not smart enough to BE a scientist, but I can always play one.

BBM: You’ve done work as an actor, theater, and voice over actor. Which one is your passion?

I’d have to say live theater. The pay is a fraction of what you make in other acting, but you just can’t beat it for excitement. If you’re the lead in a play, you have to pick that show up, put it on your shoulders and carry it for two-plus hours in front of a live audience. If you make a mistake, there are no re-takes or pick-ups. In terms of focus and flexibility, it’s great training for other forms of acting.

BBM: Do you feel there’s a little Rigby in all of us?

Definitely!  Our inner-Rigby is always there, hovering over us, telling us to take more than our share of the pizza or pee without raising the seat. It’s that voice that tells you to do whatever you want when no one else can see you and the consequences don’t matter.

BBM: Can you share some of your experiences from comic con? I loved all the props and I already got my toy of Mordecai. Was that your first panel at comic con?

Why? Did it seem like my first time? ;) No, that was… number three for me… or four? Let’s see: there was San Diego last year, then New York, then WonderCon in Anaheim, and we did panels at all of those. We also did a private panel in Atlanta for Turner, CN’s parent company, last Christmas, so I should know how to do it by now. It was the first time Regular Show was so front-and-center, though, with the booth being modeled after the living room of the house, and the life-sized Benson, and costumed-characters of Mordecai and Rigby. It was really a trip for all of us, I think. There were some wonderful surprises for me this time, like a really sweet fan recognizing me as soon as I left the hotel. I was with my family, heading to the CN hospitality lounge to pick up our badges. Suddenly, behind me I hear “Excuse me… excuse me!” I turned around and there was this young girl. “Can I get a picture with you?” I was stunned. “Do you know who I am?” I asked her. She did. My wife took her picture with me and we chatted for a while. Another surprise came when an actress friend who knows him said that The Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun told her he loves our show. He loves our show! I’m a HUGE Walking Dead fan, so that was awesome to hear.

BBM: Funniest Story from Comic Con?

I got on an elevator at our hotel to head down to the pool. At the first stop, a woman got on with her two young boys. I could see by their badges they’d been to the Con, so I asked them how they liked it. As they were telling me their stories, the elevator stopped at my floor. Just as I was stepping off, I asked the boys if they were Reg Show fans. “Well, yeah,” they both said, as if the question was crazy. As the elevator doors were closing, I said “Oh, cool. I play Rigby.” “WHAT?!?” I heard from both of them, just as the doors slid shut.

BBM: Where do you find the humor in life?

For me, humor comes from real life. It’s born out of those desperate times when you’re at the end of your rope, and your only choices are to burst into tears or start laughing. That’s where the best comedy comes from; you laugh to keep from crying.

BBM: Do you do any improv on Regular Show/ Moral Oral?

Not really. J.G. (Quintel, the creator of Regular Show and the voice of Mordecai) has a really strong idea of the show’s aesthetic. He knows how he wants it to sound, so there’s not a lot of wiggle-room. It’s a testament to the quality of the writing that people think we make some of it up as we go along. There was more room for improvisation in Moral Orel, because that show animated to the dialogue; not the other way around. It’s rare for animators to match their work to voices that have already been recorded, but that’s the way Moral Orel worked, so if you wanted to play with the scripts a little bit, that was possible.

BBM: Did you expect regular show to be such a huge hit? I like to say I watch it with my daughter, but to be honest it’s my favorite show and I’m 25.

Thanks! No way did I expect it to be so huge. We’re seen all over the world now, and J.G. says we’re creeping up on 3 million viewers. That’s astounding to me!

BBM: I don’t know if you could give me any insight on this but where did the entire you know who…. My Mom!  Come from?

I honestly don’t know. Sam (Marin, who voices Pops, Benson and Muscle Man) and J.G. went to school together in the animation program at CalArts. They have a lot of shared history. I always assumed it was something they carried over from that time. If you ask them, and they tell you, you’ll have to let me know.

BBM: Today I saw Rap it Up I love that Episode! The flow that you busted out was that your first time flowin? I also loved the take on Poetry and Hip Hop very awesome.

what you saw (heard?) me do in "Rap It Up" was my first ever attempt. The lyrics were provided by the writers of course, but the rhythm, such as it was, was all mine. As you know, there were some very accomplished artists in that episode, so I just had to let go and laugh at myself, rather than get all up in my head about whether or not I was up to the task.

BBM: What I enjoyed most about moral Orel is it doesn’t rely on pop culture references, over the top violence and a lot of other things. My wife showed it to me years ago and I loved the clever little touches “I hate my boss mug” that Reverend Putty had for example. Can we ever expect a return to Moralton? How has Reverend Putty been doing lately?

Putty has been quietly enjoying the recent tribulations of the Catholic Church.  He’s also joined the online dating site “Hot Protestant Singles,” under the username “One True Daddy.”

I’m glad you asked about Moral Orel. I remain tremendously proud of that show. I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but it’s my birthday, and I’ve had some scotch, so… we recently recorded a half-hour Moral Orel special; a “prequel,” if you will. Depending on the reception it gets when it airs, you could be seeing more of the good folks of Moralton. I sure hope so.

BBM: What is some advice Reverend Putty might give us for the end of 2012?

The Mayans were godless heathens who had NO IDEA when the world will end. Don’t be afraid of them. Be very afraid of Jesus, who will be back any minute, and he’ll be pissed.

BBM: What is some advice you would give to a youth wanting to pursue a career in voice over acting?

Read A LOT. You need to be able to pick up a script and make sense of it immediately, then adjust your reading ten different ways, plus that extra two you never even dreamed the material would support. Also, if anything else in the world will make you happy, do that instead. Acting – of any kind – is a relentless need, not a viable career choice.

BBM: I have to ask you’ve done some great work on video games. Are you a gamer?

Thank you. YEA-yuh, I’m a gamer! I’ve been one since the “hot” graphics were two vertical lines and a square dot.

BBM: If so what games do you enjoy?

I like an FPS with a great story line. I want my games to be really immersive; that’s why third-person and run-and-guns don’t do it for me. Some of my all-time faves were the Half-Life series, Bioshock, and Fallout 3. I’m playing Rage right now. I also like Borderlands. I can’t wait for Borderlands 2. I’ve also been playing a very good WWI flight sim called Rise of Flight.

BBM: What do you prefer Ps3 or Xbox-360?Ah, now I reveal myself to be a heretic: I like to game on my PC. I have a PS3, and my kid has an Xbox, but there’s no beating the high-end graphics of a good computer and the precision input of a keyboard and mouse.

BBM: Do you have any upcoming work in new games?

I’m one of the lead voices in Sims 3, and I’m holding my breath for Sims 4. I know it’s a niche type of game, but EA is a great company to voice for, and the titles in that franchise tend to yield a LOT of sessions. It also pays well, because the job involves improvising gibberish to picture, and not everyone can do that for 6 hours straight, over and over. I’ve done some of the pre-production work on the game, and I should find out soon if I’m in the cast.

BBM: What’s coming up for you in the future? Could you touch on the play you’re working on?

Sure. The play is called “Body of an American,” by Dan O’Brien, and it’s based on Dan’s relationship with Paul Watson, the Canadian journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize for his photo of a dead American soldier being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu in Somalia in 1993; the Black Hawk Down incident. It’s a heavy story with some wonderful writing, premiering at Portland Center Stage in Oregon this October. It’s just me and one other actor, so there will be some heavy lifting. I can’t wait!

BBM: Also I saw on your wiki a movie coming out this year any details you would like to share?

I have a wiki?

BBM: Has hamboning ever saved your life? (sorry had to ask)

Well, in a manner of speaking, yes. The episode you’re referring to was the script that J.G. and the casting director had me read when I was called backed to my final audition for the part of Rigby. I got so caught up in the scene, I actually started slapping my chest like I was hamboning. That was completely stupid, because you’re never supposed to make extraneous noises in voiceover; they add stuff like that later, with SFX. My enthusiasm must have counted for something, though, because I got the role, and since it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, you could say that hamboning saved my life.

BBM: Any Last words anything you would like to add?

I just want to thank everyone for making the show so popular. Keep watching, buy our merch as it comes out, and with any luck, we’ll run forever.

BBM: Would you be willing to give us some sugar??

NO! I’M the OLDEST! STOP TAAAALKING!!!

Looking at your face book it really feels like you care about your fans. You reply to all post they leave on your page and it’s heartwarming to see.

Thanks. I do care. Regular Show wouldn’t exist without them, and I’m grateful for each and every one.