The Pat Fraley/Brad Garrett Comedy Class

Pat Fraley has an upcoming class in Los Angeles called ‘Crafting Comedy under the Stars.’ The stars the title refers to are “Everybody Loves Raymond” alum Brad Garrett, stand-up-comedian/voice-over artist Vanessa Marshall and, of course, the great Pat Fraley himself.

If you were at Voice 2010 this past June, you were treated to an early morning surprise visit from Brad during Mr. Fraley’s opening day comedy class. What seemed to be a loud heckler somewhere in the audience turned out to be one of the most recognizable faces-and voices-in comedy today. Audience members were invited to read scripts alongside Pat and Brad, with hilarious results!

Pat has created a promo piece for his upcoming workshop using photos and audio from the Voice 2010 session. I think it's worth your time to watch it. It’s the rare promo video that actually dares to teach you something, instead of only offering hyperbole. For instance, I like the insight of NOT playing drunk, but rather playing an intoxicated person struggling to appear sober. Brilliant! And that’s not the only tip you’ll glean from this short video. Take a look.



Great stuff! Interested in taking the class? Visit http://patfraley.com/Events/Crafting/CCUS.html

I wish I could be there. Take notes for me, huh?

Despicable Me (Celebrity Voice-acting with a Twist)

The hit film “Despicable Me” follows the trend of casting celebrities in animated features, but with a twist: the actors are doing character voices, rather than just lending their familiar pipes to a version of their on-screen personas.

Steve Carell headlines the villainous comedy as Gru, and he adds a very un-Steve Carell accent. Watch the clip below to see Steve in action and hear the results.



Jason Segel also stars in the film as a young, nerdy bad guy named Vector. In this interview from HitFix, Jason explains that the character designs came before he was cast, which influenced his approach to the voice of Vector.



“Despicable Me” has met with mostly favorable reviews, and done so well at the box-office ($195,373,890 as of this writing) that, according to imdb.com, we can expect a sequel by 2013.