Voice Lessons from Yakko, Raphael, Pinky and Carl. | Rob Paulsen | TEDxDetroit

oh wow look who's there turtle power how are you doing listen hi my name is rob paulsen and i am a real son of a couple of lovely people who were from Detroit Michigan and decided to live here as well I was born in woman's hospital not far from here I lived in Livonia I lived in Dearborn I lived in Rochester went to high school in Grand Blanc Michigan go Bobcats and the only two things I wanted to be in my life were a hockey player for the Detroit Red Wings and an actor fortunately for the hockey world I did not make it I did not have the talent temperament nor dental insurance to make a dime as a hockey player so the other passion I had was acting but I was doing traditional acting that is TV movie that type of stuff got to Los Angeles in 1978 thank you very much and when I went out there I was doing what one would expect but I was limited by this by being an average looking kid from Grand Blanc however the opportunity came along at about the mid-80s to audition for cartoons and I thought man now you're talking nobody cares what you look like it's the best gig in the world and I had 172 they still don't care what I look like so the first big show that I did was this I was Raphael and the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles thank you and by the way thank you and all of your parents for buying action figures because as a result of your parents largesse my kids teeth are straight today so thank you very much I love free enterprise the cool thing I'm going to talk about today is the extent to which these characters that I have been so so lucky in portraying affect people on a profoundly deep level and I've learned voice lessons which is the title of my book and I am so grateful for this opportunity to share them because you saw what happened all I said was that was Raphael and you guys started smiling well then let's see what else happened oh yeah hello mo time right how about that Yakko is really a hundred and four and then let's see something else happened hey Dad narf I'm not my job I got to be stupid maths for American dollars isn't this a great country and then let's see oh there's another one [Applause] all right I know exactly what you want to hear are you gonna finish that cross or how bizarre is that hey mr. Paulson would you say are you gonna finish that cause song as Carl Weezer yeah you gonna finish that course dude oh my god he said it oh my god it's incredible you should see it from my side pretty weird and then the cool thing about my gig because nobody cares what I look like I got to be another turtle right fifty percent of the Ninja Turtles in one guy from Livonia turtle power baby and again there's all sorts of new stuff coming out from which I've learned voice lessons now I have this little guy yeah and my first lines of this character are where are my testicles summer happens having been married for thirty years I know precisely never mind but I'll tell you what you guys what I'm learning is an amazing amount of stuff about how deeply these Patera kurz affect people as I said I was a hockey player and as a result of my being an actor and a guy who could skate backwards I got involved with a team in Los Angeles playing hockey many years ago and the first events I played were in Edmonton and Calgary I went to Edmonton with 200 Ninja Turtle pictures I went through all of them I had no idea the extent to which turtle power was a thing the next night we played in Calgary against the flames old-timers and this is that what happened this young fella Chad whom you see me utterly transfixed by it was the poster child for the Muscular Dystrophy Association of southern Alberta they told me they said hey Rob who's mr. Rafael I said that's me just so you know young chad is a turtle freak well when Chad came out to drop the ceremonial puck I lost them I mean I really lost it but Chad and his family taught me about turtle power I had run out of pictures but what I did have left was my turtle jacket my turtle crew jacket which had you know white leather sleeves and the typical body and I signed the jacket and told Chad that this jacket has turtle power and this is important because of what I'm going to tell you a little bit later on but I got to see what through these characters what real courage was Chad's mother kept in touch with me every year and told me how he was progressing and he never let go of that stupid turtle jacket called me and said hey sweetheart you need to hear this chat is having two spines I'm sorry two rods installed in his spine so he can sit up because it allows him to breathe properly but he refuses to go to surgery unless he has his turtle jacket with him so the doctor said all right well sterilize the jacket Chad will put in a plastic bag will lay it on top of you you'll go and have a surgery when you wake up it'll be on you and it it was and the turtle jacket to this day his mother says got him through the worst of his circumstances so that's why I learned about courage thank you thank you but then as I was a hockey player this happened mmm now ladies and gentlemen I don't know who the guy in the red is but talk about humility it's another voice lesson I learned turns out that mr. hockey's grandkids will ninja turtle fanatics this is yours truly with most of his teeth intact standing next to the greatest hockey player that's ever lived but moreover one of the greatest humans that's ever ever spent time on this rock and I learned more about humility in five seconds with Gordie Howe than years before that for the following reason yeah go ahead it's for you Gordon Gordy and Colleen how treated me and I'm sure millions of others well thousands of others like family I got to play hockey with Gordy just after that was taken the faceoff happened by the way on the other side of the ice were Alex Del Vecchio and Ted Lindsay yeah I lost my mind Gordy tripped me sat on me put a stick across my chest and said you King turtles aren't so tough mind blown cow African Bunga so his grandkids are total turtle freaks we hit it off so much it's so well they really treated me like family and so here's how Gordie Howe threw Ninja Turtles taught me about humility in five seconds Gordy and Colleen invited me to go play in a softball game in Vancouver many years ago during which there was an autograph session and I was signing turtle stuff and Gordy was signing everything that wasn't nailed down gentlemen about my age had spent an hour an hour in line to get the great man to sign his hockey puck Gordy signed it and the young man looked at Gordy and I was this far away and mind you I'd already seen how Gordy behaved as Gordy how the hockey player young man said thank you so much mr. Howell for signing my puck Gordie Howe put down his pen looked at that young man straight in the eye and said not a problem I've worked too hard for this privilege son Gordie Howe at 65 years old said to a young man after the millionth autograph he'd sign in his life not at all son I've worked too hard for this privilege you're a special person Gord humility ladies and gentlemen yeah utter humility that's how you behave if you're lucky enough to cultivate anything resembling celebrity financial or otherwise that's how you behave turtle power the ninja turtles and Gordie Howe taught me humility that happened a couple years later and it wasn't by accident was like I came down and said hey I think I'm gonna put this mask on my face that's not a bad looking guy I'm a voice actor and three years ago I was diagnosed with stage 3 throat cancer yeah I know it's a drag kind of a curveball but so is Chad right our little buddy Chad who made it by the way to 23 years old because of that turtle jacket and the lessons I learned from Chad and his family and Gordy and humility I was now able to put into use for my own time in a cancer cage even if the doctors had told me you're done I had nothing about which to be sad I'd had a remarkable life I've won an Emmy I've been married to the same woman for 30 years I have a wonderfully grown son I'm back doing Animaniacs and thinking in the brain with mr. Spielberg again right thank you but what's the axiom we make plans and God laughs how about this hot shot you're an Emmy winning voice actor you know Gordie Howe blah blah blah how about throat cancer all right I've had all these wonderful teachers as a result of these incredible characters so now I learn about empathy because now when I tell somebody whether it's another Chad or another Geordi or a sweet girl who wants to talk he yeah though a pinky or Carl Raphael Donatello or whomever when I say I know I really do know and now I get to come because I have had and I mean this seriously the gift of throat cancer I have this incredible opportunity now as a result of these wonderful hometown boys and girls of mine to come and speak to lovely people like you and show you that empathy courage kindness humility like love come from the most unusual and unexpected places one of the things I've also learned is the extent to which people on the autism spectrum connect with these characters this young man came up to visit me at a convention about two months ago and he just wanted to meet Yakko he doesn't know who Rob is he just wanted to meet you a Co part of what he also was dealing with was incredible anxiety issues but I'll be damned this young man wanted to come and went through the experience of standing in line his sister said here's my my brother I hope it's not too overwhelming and it certainly wasn't for me so when he got up to me this is what he was like now again it's not about me it's about the power of these characters okay so he's doing this having a difficult time next frame he's starting to calm down this all happened in about 15 seconds and he just wanted to hear Yakko so all of a sudden Yakko starts talking watch this uses that something [Applause] that is so important because for whatever reason that young man it's not look I don't draw man I don't write him I'm just the actor but the extent to that that the which that that young man's focused on Yakko and got him out of his circumstance even for a moment is a big deal another voice lesson so that like I said love inspiration kindness happiness comes from the most unexpected places you guys and all of you have that ability to cultivate it it takes a little extra time to make a difference and we can all do it isn't that something so I am a lottery winner I'm blown away that I get this opportunity I'm fine I got through the cancer stuff when I was diagnosed the doctors have a great sense of humor my radiation oncologist said Russian guy says mr. Paulson I'm so sorry I know what you do for a living and I said oh yeah isn't it something and this is can you do my voice I said yes I can so I started doing for him he says he's very good because I let me tell you something I feel stuff that we can cure you unfortunately before we do we almost have to kill you and I did that I started laughing I started laughing and it turns out whether it's the joy of Ninja Turtles or the wackiness of Carl in his cross song the nuttiness of nerve thinking I started laughing and he said don't lose that don't lose that and I didn't so my act might my motto now is laughter is the best medicine and the cool thing is you can't OD and the refills are free [Applause] and it's the dadgum truth I'm telling you I've been around too many people who has struggled with things that you and I thank goodness may never have to pardon me throat cancer anyway it has been a remarkable privilege to be here with you guys today and I really do want to thank everybody Charlie Joe Steph everybody Shannon everybody back there Larry just the kindest most wonderful people in the world and I am so proud to be pure Michigan I am yeah baby [Applause] and how about those lire it's alright people give you a hard time about the liens but I remember when the Red Wings were called the dead wings they're kind of now but they're going back up again because that how could this isn't even part of my talk but forgive me how cool is that that that exemplifies the spirit of Detroit isn't that something I had not lived here a long time and my parents would be so thrilled to see what this city looks like I am so proud of Detroit what a fantastic all right so what I'd like to do is leave you with a little song because we haven't got any music yet I don't think and I know a lot of you like Animaniacs and I'd like to leave you with a song that will enumerate every country in the world in which humour kindness empathy courage and humility make a difference ok so let's see if we can figure this out [Music] United States Canada Mexico Panama Haiti Jamaica Peru Republic Dominican Cuba Carribean Greenland El Salvador to play the Rico Columbia Venezuela Honduras Guyana and still Guatemala Bolivia then Argentina Ecuador Chile Brazil Costa Rica Belize Nicaragua Bermuda Bahamas Tobago San Juan Paraguay Uruguay Surinam Nancy on about there doesn't Guam Norway and Sweden and Iceland and Finland in Germany now on peace Switzerland Austria Czechoslovakia Italy Turkey and Greece Poland Romania Scotland Albania Ireland Russia Oman Bulgaria Saudi Arabia Hungary Cyprus The Rocketeer on their Syria Lebanon Israel Jordan okay let's go wait in Bahrain the Netherlands dr. work Belgium in Portugal that's a good number constrain India Pakistan Burma Afghanistan Thailand Nepal and Bhutan Kampuchea Malaysia then Bangladesh Asia and China Korea Japan Mongolia Lhasa Tibet II don't need to the Philippine Alice Taiwan Sri Lanka New Guinea Sumatra New Zealand bernieoh in Vietnam tell your knees your Morocco Uganda Angola Zimbabwe Djibouti Botswana Mozambique Zambia Swaziland Gambia Guinea Algeria Ghana who will run in Lesotho and Malawi Togo the Spanish Sahara is gone not in a Giri Italian Liberia Egypt Benin and Gabon Tanzania Somalia Kenya and Mali Sierra Leone and Algiers now mean uh maybe a Senegal Libya Cameroon Congo Zaire Ethiopia guinea-bissau Madagascar Rwanda my urine came on I'm down the movie guitar you sign here free Mauritania Pennsylvania Monica Lee Wow Oh [Applause] thank you thank you very much for yes for putting up with me and my sort of juxtapose oh that's real wait are you robbed are you upset with me because I screwed up my top no I I think that's fine but it's 20 years ago this is Ted we want the latest stuff I counted 10 countries you're saying about it don't even exist anymore Jesus do it again with all the song all this countries you missed come on [Applause] jeez somebody got up on the wrong side of the water tower all right smart guy I don't have any music but check this out hey Montenegro and bosnia-herzegovina the Soviet Union is gone South Africa Georgia Moldova in Latvia Belarus Azerbaijan who's next then hey Kazakhstan hey then they're Tajikistan - hey Turkmenistan whoo Kurdistan Armenia Tonga palu live the way near Serbia Kosovo you are Samoa the Balkans Brunei McCowan Crimea then Eritrea you cradle Estonia his Macedonian New Caledonia eater Slavonia Ivory Coast and Cape Verde under the Solomon Islands Dubai goodbye thanks guys [Applause] thank you preciate I love you teach right [Applause] [Music]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 262,320

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Entertainment, Cancer, Cartoon, Happiness

Id: GMKODu2e230

Length: 20min 52sec (1252 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 20 2019