This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Lori Alan: Hey, I'm Lori Alan, and you're listening to The Theatre Podcast with Alan Seales.

[0:10] Alan Seales: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another all-new episode of The Theatre Podcast. I'm Alan Seales, and our guest for this episode, Lori Alan, has an amazing career, starting basically all the way back to when she was just a wee baby, all the way through to, you know, like right now. As she has been and continues to be the voice of Pearl Krabs on SpongeBob SquarePants, just reprised her role in Inside Out 2, Toy Story 4, and exactly like a bazillion trillion more things. I love how her mind works, how it dissects and analyzes the way everyone speaks, and how she files all these little character traits away in her own little mental repository of voice acting characters. As someone still hoping to break into that business, I definitely want to learn from her, and I definitely did.

I hope you do, too. But before we start, of course, find me online on social media. Leave a rating for the podcast wherever you're listening now. Share the episode in your stories, whatever else you feel like doing. And now, everyone, please enjoy this episode with Lori Alan. Our guest today is an award-winning actor, writer, producer, and coach who fell out of the womb sitting in front of a microphone. She is the voice of Pearl Krabs on the SpongeBob SquarePants animated series, and among many other roles has brought to life Diane Simmons on Family Guy, Sue Richards, a.k.a. The Invisible Woman, on The Fantastic Four, and The Boss on the Metal Gear Solid video game series. She originated the role of Mae Coleman in the award-winning musical Reefer Madness back in 1988, and is now, in 2024, reprising the same role in the current L.A. production. Lori Alan, welcome to The Theatre Podcast.

[1:46] Lori Alan: Hi. Thank you so much for having me. I think they must have the dates wrong, because I'm 27, and it's the 25th anniversary, so I'm not quite sure.

[1:51] Alan Seales: Well, I did say you fell out.

[1:57] Lori Alan: I did fall out of the womb, you're right.

[2:01] Alan Seales: You fell out of the womb into the microphone. So, I mean, you could be performing at two years old back in 1988.

[2:06] Lori Alan: I was performing at about, well, at about four. I come from like a third-generation family, like theater family. I think if I had gone home and said, Mom, Dad, you know, I want to be a doctor or a lawyer, they would have been like, absolutely not. You need juggling, tap dance as a backup. You know, absolutely nothing, nothing but a career in the arts.

[2:24] Alan Seales: Your backup is juggling and tap dance.

[2:30] Lori Alan: Yeah. Or juggling tap dancing shoes, I think, would be, you know.

[2:35] Alan Seales: Exactly. So, you can catch them in midair and make them tap while you're juggling.

[2:39] Lori Alan: Oh, my God. Yeah, fake applause, too. That's not a bad idea to have your tap shoes around and be like, yay, me. You're not bad.

[2:43] Alan Seales: Yeah, well, you know, I think we all need our entrance music. Anyway, that's just, that's just life. But talk about that. Like your family came from an entertainment background. And then I think, like what I've read in several different places, I think, we'll put it air quotes, your big break was a Shakey's Pizza commercial at five years old?

[2:59] Lori Alan: Yes. So, my parents were theater majors with like television theater majors and minors and radio or something like that at American University back either in the late 50s, early 60s. Again, I don't know how that's possible if I'm only 27. My mom's like, please stop reminding me how old you are, because I don't want to think about how old I am. But at any rate, so they met there. And they were like the theater kids that did great, great work. And my mom and dad both went off to Arena Stage, which is an amazing repertory theater in the DC area. And then my dad went and decided to open up his own advertising agency and writing jingles, you know, writing songs, my mom still directs and in her like, retirement community and acts all the time.

She's always like, honey, will you run lines with me for, you know, Sweet Magnolia? I mean, she's they're just they're so creative. I just love it. And so my dad, when he went into advertising, got the Shakey's campaign, and being like gluten intolerant, like really having a bad celiac thing. I was like, this is the best commercial ever. And he was the first guy to like use a handheld. And it was just me and my cousins and my sister. And we were just being obnoxious and singing this great jingle that he had written. And I was like, but I was like, hey, it's a union gig. Thanks, dad. Barfed on the job, but union gig, love it.

[4:21] Alan Seales: Is jingle writing still a thing that people can specialize in? Because I don't I mean, I cut the cord of cable a long time ago. And so I pay to not see commercials. So my purview is a lot smaller. But literally, the last jingle that I think really stuck in my head was 1877 cars for kids.

[4:39] Lori Alan: Oh my god, first of all, that's kind of creepy. I'm sure it goes to something wonderful. Kids that are in dire straits or their families are but that's well, whatever it is, they're doing great advertising because it does stay in your consciousness. Like while you're asleep, it does something into your DNA that jingle. Yes, I do believe there are jingle writers. And jingle singing is pretty amazing. You have to be a really good sight reader to really be a session singer.

[5:02] Alan Seales: Yeah. What is that process?

[5:11] Lori Alan: I don't know because I'm not a great I don't read music well. So I don't know how I got out of NYU with that. Being able to schmooze my way through graduation without being able to read well, but music that is. But yeah, you have to be able to just be very quick on your feet, you know, and just really be able to transpose on the spot and all that kind of stuff. So that's kind of crazy. Yeah, the jingle writers and I mean, even the world that you're in of cartoon voiceover acting or animated video games, that sort of thing. It's like I've taken voiceover classes. I've done some of that work. And it seems like casting agents, if they're specializing in their natural or your corporate, they just they don't know anything about the animated side and vice versa. I maybe I'm just not traveling in the right circles.

[6:01] Alan Seales: But wait, what do you mean animation acting doesn't know about say it again.

[6:06] Lori Alan: Well, so I am. I've done I've done a couple classes with some with some coaches and casting agents who are like I teach and coach. So there you go. We're going to get into that. Yeah. Because I think I'm going to take from you. But but the the trying to read like a a pet food commercial or something that is corporate, like Welcome to ABC. Yeah, like, you know, it needs to sound like a real person. You mean?

[6:31] Alan Seales: Yeah, different genres.

[6:36] Lori Alan: Yeah, the whole different. Yeah. I mean, there's, you know, when I first came up, you know, I've been doing commercials and stuff as a kid anyway, and my mom was a booth announcer. And so they didn't have what we would use now technology wise, like a source connector, or what do you call it, IP, IP DTL, or any of those things that would connect you immediately with the other side. So for folks who are listening, it's like a triple wide, right, like cable that enables the client to be in Uruguay, and I'm in Los Angeles, and you're in New York or whatever. So I remember my mom, if there would be breaking news, she would get in the car, I'd be like, drive carefully. And like Ronald Reagan has been shot.

That's who Diane Simmons is based on my mom's beautiful voice. But yes, there was, you know, promo, commercial animation. And now I'm sure there was obviously e-learning and audiobooks and all those things going on, but I didn't know about them. And now, thanks to the unions organizing things like podcasts and audiobooks and meditation apps, I mean, you name it, there's so much more work to be had. There's there's an influx of voice talent union, non-union, but there's also stuff that was never around, you know, like video games, and all the things that are medical, like what you were saying, like this, this Canon camera, when you open up the back and replace the batteries, you know, there's so many instructional things and medical things and for people's websites. So there's tons of different little tentacles that sort of are a form of voiceover and a way to make revenue that there just never was before, which is really cool.

[8:07] Alan Seales: Right. So I guess my, where was I going with that originally?

[8:11] Lori Alan: I was just that it's all different.

[8:13] Alan Seales: Well, it's all different. But I guess the question for you, because this is a podcast about you, the question for you then is going back to the beginning, Shakey's Pizza to voicing a very popular cartoon character and getting video games and all these things. How did you go from, I guess, being this five-year-old pizza kid, right, in Potomac, Maryland, Washington, D.C. area. And then, of course, through NYU Tisch, you covered NYU, but I'll be specific, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, like, so you're going through there, you know, you want to perform and then you get to voice over stuff. So let's start, I guess, with the, how did you get into voiceover? But then I do want to go back and touch on later what it was that made you want to follow in your parents' footsteps, because if you were going to rebel, you could have been like, I'm going to be a doctor, like you said.

[9:02] Lori Alan: Okay. Well, what you were saying at the, just our, your last moment there, and you do have a lovely voice, is really the first.

[9:07] Alan Seales: You're so welcome.

[9:09] Lori Alan: Goes to, you're welcome, goes to really this, the first question, which is, because I have such creative, cool, groovy parents and was stepping over my mom's friends to go to school after they'd have a cast party or something, making fondue for her friends in the 70s. And my dad always being like, you know, writing jingles at home, you know, my parents were divorced when I was early, but I'd hang out with one, you know, with my dad every other weekend or so. And it literally, I think, I think my mom reminded me, it was maybe first grade or something where we did three blind mice and I'm not especially tall, but I was bigger than the kids at that juncture, that time in my life, whatever. And I got to do three blind mice and like boss, three little mice around.

And I just, there was never, there wasn't anything else that I ever wanted to do or knew about because everybody is creative in my family. My brother's a wonderful bass player and just an incredible musician and singer. And my sister is a ridiculously amazing singer and she's a famous DJ in Nashville. So yeah. And she plays out now with her husband, Jeff. There wasn't anything to rebel against. It was like, this is just what I do. So, and I came out, I mean, I started doing like even print work or commercials as a kid, you know, and my, again, my mom would be like, you know, make it sure it's a union job, Elliot. And they did. And it was so cool. So I think I just, and then I would take time off to like, you know, be a kid and take finals.

And, and I love, so I was always in ballet until the ballet teacher finally, after like 70, you know, thousand bajillion dollars, she was like, well, Lori's, she has, she has a figure. So she probably won't be your typical ballerina. And I remember being like, why didn't you tell us years ago? Yeah, she has a figure, she has boobs and hips. So she was like, but she's very charismatic. So I really recommend musical theater. And I loved our showstoppers choir when I was in high school, because I have such a low voice and my wonderful teacher, Mrs. Baldwin, Marlene Baldwin said, you know what? Cause my sister even, sorry, if you're listening to this, Lisa, and some other kids would just make fun of my voice.

And she said, you know what? You have a lovely voice. You can go sit in the tenor section. So I was like, cool. I get to like, hang out with all the cute guys in the tenor section. And then she said, you know, you might want to listen to this one song. And it was Bette Midler singing the Rose. And I was like, Oh, so I just fell in love with, I was able to really come to terms with like, my voice is beautiful. It's different than everybody else's. And, and I didn't, you know, my sister was singing like Barracuda and Linda Ronstadt. And I wanted to sound like her so bad, they would stand outside of a room and she would throw a hairbrush at me. And she still to this day is the most amazing voice. And still throws her hairbrushes at you.

[11:47] Lori Alan: And still throws her hairbrush. Exactly. Yeah, I have a dent in my forehead. And she's like, that's not what happened. I'm like, yeah, kind of is. But yeah, so I just came up, you know, throughout school, and my parents were so not staged parents. Like, I remember going to a Tide commercial. It was, I think this I was like four or five, five.

[14:35] Lori Alan: So that's so all of those little all the elements came together and then here we are.

[14:42] Alan Seales: That's incredible. The reason I asked about the age is because I'm thinking back to my own childhood, right? And there is nothing I liked about myself. I can't name a single thing I liked about myself when I was in 10th grade. Maybe anybody does. Yeah, I'd like I thick hair, right? So I'm like, okay, great. I have hair. I didn't like my haircut like that. I have thick hair. All right. So that was like, that's that time, then you're coming into your own. And I think it's really incredible that you focused in and kind of drilled in on the singing part, but then, like, performing, you always wanted to perform. And what got you into, I guess, into the TV film, the voiceover side of things more than the stage stuff?

[15:21] Lori Alan: Yeah. And I guess, well, I guess touching on Reefer Madness for a second. That was 1988. If the dates are correct, of course. So like, frame your answer here around the 1988 timeframe. You're so cute. Well, since I again, since I was a theater lover, and I'd watched my parents do voiceover, and my family's very funny. I mean, just you didn't. Yeah. So I did the Groundlings in New York. And I think what happened, so I wanted to be Faith Prince, I just wanted to stay in New York. And I was like, oh my gosh, I wanted to be your Subrette Alto character gal. And then I had had, I think, a third callback for In Living Color. And back then, you didn't just do a self tape or send something in, which is a great comedy show.

And I would have been on right when Jim Carrey was on. So they flew me out twice, MADtv. And so I finally at one point, I just said, you know what, I something just came over me. I had like six commercials running on, on the air, on camera and voice. I had done the first season of Law and Order. I played like this rookie cop or something. And I just really, I really knew I wanted to do animation and especially sketch comedy. So I just booked a flight and came to visit an ex-boyfriend and hang out. And then I took another trip and yeah, exactly. In quotes, in air quotes. But no, it was Mitch Whitfield and his mom helped me do my demo in New York and voiceover demo. And then all of a sudden, I was just like, oh, I like it here.

I'm such an empath and easily stimulated clearly that New York just felt oppressive to me after a while. So I just kind of ditched the whole. I want to be on Broadway as a young person in my 20s. And I just wanted to go be doing comedy and animation. So I took a bunch of classes and I was like, I'm hilarious. You know, I was like, no, and that's why I think that's why I think I'm a good coach is I'm like, you have to, yeah, everybody wants the real read and the real sound conversational, like you don't do voiceovers, but you still need to study the craft, you know, just like anything else. So I just picked up and moved. Like I literally, I don't, I think I was 27. And I just, I just picked up and I was here.

It was like post riots, pre-earthquake here in California. So I just thought, well, you know, it's, I got to do a little bit of everything here. So I knew that I was like in the right place. And I always, always missed my true theater, New York dreams. And so Andy Fickman, who directed the Reefer Madness LA original production had directed me in a two-person show that I wrote with my dear friend, Andrew Schaefer. And they were really good friends. And he was like, I'm, he had met Dan Studney and Kevin Murphy, who wrote Reefer. And he was like, you should come audition for this kind of like very sweet, codependent, like Reefer, Madam Den, Reefer Den, Madam Lady. And so I went to the audition and like a slip in a kimono.

And I was like, hi, because she's very sort of fragile. She does end up getting revenge in the end of the show, you know, and they were like, you're insane. And I was, you know, I just looked crazy and thank God it was Andy, whom I adore. And we've all stayed amazing friends. And the show ran here in LA for two plus years. You'd like look up one night and you'd be like, oh, holy shit, there's Mel Brooks. Oh my God, there's Warren Beatty. Oh, there's Jennifer Tilly. You know, it was the thing to go to.

[18:41] Alan Seales: Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back after this break.

[18:43] Lori Alan: Welcome back to the episode. My mom, Pia, had a brush with Warren Beatty. He wanted to date her in high school. He's from the same area that my mom grew up in, Maryland, Virginia area. And he came to the show one night and he was just sort of waiting for all the ladies to come out. Eyebrow raise.

[19:03] Alan Seales: Eyebrow raise, big time. And I remember he was sort of, and I am bloody at the end of the show, not to give too much away, right? And so anyone who's fortunate enough to play this part of me is bloody. So I was the last one out because I have to wipe everything off. And there he was. And he was just sort of like, hi. And I was like, hi. I couldn't wait to mess with him. I was like, hey, do you remember Martha Manning? And his face just went like stone cold. And I was like, yeah, that's my mom. Like, stop flirting with me, you weirdo. I mean, he was just, he is a character.

[19:36] Lori Alan: You could be my dad in a different universe.

[19:39] Alan Seales: Yeah, exactly. When my mom and dad actually were in New York, I forget what my dad said. They were seeing Pajama Game or I don't remember what show they were seeing. But Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty were sitting right in front of them because my mom and dad wanted to go to New York and be like Nichols and May. They're both very funny, as I said, and ridiculously talented. And so they were sitting, it's not the Pajama Game, I don't know. And my dad tapped Warren Beatty on the shoulder and was like, hey. And he had just gotten super famous. And my mom said, you could just see his body language like totally tense up. I'm like, oh, Jesus. And so he said, do you remember Martha Manning? And he turned around and was like, hi, Martha.

And then my mom was like, I can't believe you did that. And my dad put on Warren Beatty's name tag at the reunion. My mom was like, okay, we're done. So it was actually really fun to, but they're both just so silly. But it was really funny to meet him because his face just went ashen. He was like, see you later. But it was really cool to meet Mel Brooks and people like that who came to the show. You would just be like, oh my God, you are an icon above icons above. You're just in the stratosphere of human beings.

[20:48] Lori Alan: Even now, I was looking at the team now and this revival, I want to ask why this revival is happening. And of course, the stuff happens regionally all the time. And is this unofficially, can't say it's an out of town Broadway tryout. Is there other things happening? Because you look at the list and it's being produced by Alan Cumming and Kristen Bell among many, many other people that are notable. So there's obviously some interest in some real finances in this.

[21:16] Alan Seales: Yeah. I mean, the thing about Reefer Madness, we were Christian Campbell, who was my Jimmy Harper, right? So Christian obviously played Jimmy Harper in the LA production, the Broadway New York production and the film has now taken obviously a huge bite out of the producing here and Kristen and Alan Cumming, who played the lecturer after my very favorite lecturer, Harry Murphy here in Los Angeles. And so they just built this really cool space out here because it's just really, it can be really challenging, as you know, in New York to get things up and running. So I know that they had done some stuff in 2019 to get this great revival up and running. We had done a concert at 54 Below a couple years prior, I think. And now that LA is so cannabis friendly, well, it's always, it's been that, you know, you just walk down the street here, like on Melrose Avenue, and you're like, whoa, contact, hi, dude, you know?

[22:10] Lori Alan: I know, you start talking like that. It's insane how crazy that is. It's really nuts. I mean, you'll just be-

[22:14] Alan Seales: Whoa, dude, crazy.

[22:16] Lori Alan: You'll be like at a stoplight and be like, oh, thanks, you know.

[22:21] Alan Seales: It's like that here in New York now, too.

[22:25] Lori Alan: Oh, right.

[22:26] Alan Seales: Yeah, yeah.

[22:26] Lori Alan: Don't you smell it like walking down the street?

[22:28] Alan Seales: It's legal. Yes, because literally, at the end of my block, I can turn right, looking off of my stoop, and I see a legal dispensary there.

[22:35] Lori Alan: Yep, there you go.

[22:36] Lori Alan: There is now one of the few legal dispensaries, and it is so nice and brilliant. I do take a lot of CBD. It helps me sleep, and it helps my joints. But anyway, these guys, they just had this dream, and Christian was saying, there's been a bajillion revivals, right, which is why we love the theater, and all the different interpretations, and the confluences of things that just come together with Reefer Madness, Dan Studney, and Kevin Murphy, a brilliant book, brilliant lyrics, and there's just something that's so timely. It's a satire, and there's just something about the right people at the right time, the right place, and it just has this sprinkle of magic. It's like, you know how you could watch Hair, or Les Mis, or, I don't know, Sir Evan Hansen.

You can just watch certain things over and over, as many iterations. My dad texts me, and he goes to the theater all the time. He's like, I saw this really cool production of Hair, where they, I don't know, whatever was cool and groovy about their production. There's just certain musicals that have this, and we've gotten this crazy following, and people just love the characters. They love the satire. They just sort of love the magic that this show creates, and it's really hit a couple different generations. I think that people that are coming to the show now, and I'm sure Christian and the team have desires and wants to maybe take Las Vegas, to take it back to New York. We just got an extension here. They asked me.

[24:10] Lori Alan: Reprise my role because the amazing Broadway diva, who she's not a diva. Actually, she's one of the kindest souls I know, is Nicole Parker, who is absolutely wonderful. I came from Titanic to do this. Mm hmm. Yeah, she had another gig from the get-go. And I remember thinking, God, whoever plays me, because this part that I originated 25 years ago, when I was, you know, just literally fell out of the womb. Um, she has to have this big heart. And I remember thinking, God, dang it, guys, you better cast someone with a big, big heart, who's just lovely. And sure enough, I was like, it's Nicole. And I love her. And I think she is so talented. Her one-woman show is hilarious. And I met her when Mary Birdsong, my dear friend, and Nicole were in the Martin Short Show on Broadway.

And I think I had auditioned to be their swing or something. So I've always just admired her. And when they said, Hey, do you want to step in? I was like, uh, yeah, sure. So I put a bunch of other stuff on hold. And I could not be more tickled because this cast, our original OG LA cast, is so phenomenal. I was heartbroken not to be able to go to New York. And then the show closed because of 9/11. And then the film was great. And Anna Gasteyer is absolutely hilarious. And so there's been a couple of great Mays, there's been a couple of great Mary's and Jimmy's and lecturers. Of course, I'm biased in some regards to the OG LA cast, which is why we're going to be doing a reunion concert on the 30th of like the OG LA cast, which will be July 30.

Mm hmm. Oh, nice. Nice. At the same production space. Yeah. And the space is so cool. They've done such a great job with production design and turning this really weird. It was King Kings, I think, in the Whitley, but it had been dark for quite some time. And I forget what Christian was telling me the other day. What the restaurant was that they just built it from the ground up. So it's like a whole experience. And Hollywood Boulevard is just nasty. It's like sort of how Times Square was really nasty before it got like over-gentrified. Yeah, it's kind of like that now. It's just, it's nasty. But you have this immersive, it's an immersive show, right? Yes. So Spencer Lift, who's actually just so talented, choreographer, and now choreographer-director, he's now doing Drag, the Musical on Broadway, and he did it and I was sick, I had COVID.

So when I knew I was going to go back and replace Nicole for three weeks, I had like two and a half rehearsals, but I knew the show. I know this character obviously very well. But like, you know, I was like, Thanks, Dan and Kevin, you're brilliant. They've rewritten a bunch of added some songs and rewritten some lyrics. And I was like, Oh, shit. And now Spencer's choreography is so amazing. It's throughout the whole space. Yeah, it's so it's really cool. And they've done a really good job on social media. So it's kind of fascinating to especially go on Instagram, you can really see what the space is like, and you walk in and all the green clocks are set at 420. And it's just amazing. You have this whole experience that you just don't have here in LA.

You know, we don't regard the theater as much as we do in New York. And so you get to have to have the Victory Garden. And so you get to have like this amazing food. They have these guys that are doing the food and drinks. It's a cool space. They have drag queen bingo on Sundays. And then the venue is able to start hosting things like the Rocky Horror Show. And then like our amazing David Lamoureux, who's our musical director, who's so talented. And he and his jazz quartet, they play Thursday, Friday, Saturday night. So it's just a really cool place to be. And so when they announced that we were going to be extending, I just genuinely hope that I get to be a part of it as it continues to, you know, it's just like, I can't quit you.

I can't quit you, Reefer Madness. It was funny. So before you mentioned Nicole Parker, I was thinking in my head, I was like, the kind of the style is sort of like tongue-in-cheek. It's campy just like Titanic. Have you seen it? And that was the question queued up in my head. And then all of a sudden, it was like, oh, of course, you know about Titanic because of Nicole Parker. And Titanic here is one of those things that it's one of these sleeper hits that now. Did you see it in the basement of the Gristedes, by the way? No, I didn't. But that was my favorite grocery store. No, I did not. But I've seen, like, everyone's in a blue moon. I can't believe I have to follow my footsteps in Nicole's footsteps.

And I just, I like go down her Instagram page and stalk her quietly because I just love to watch her do Celine Dion. I just, I can't get over how cool that show is and Disaster and all the amazing things. I mean, that's what I love and miss so much about New York theater. But, you know, we're trying to sort of create that experience here. But she is just, she is a force. She is a force to be reckoned with. And one of the loveliest people, she was so helpful because I had to shadow her backstage with a mask on. And there is no really real backstage. The stage managers, I mean, the whole crew has been so helpful. There's so much choreography in the whole space. It would be so easy to get injured.

I fell and clonked my own hand because I'm klutzy because I had to come out and tap dance as you do, you know, when you save the kid from getting executed at the end of a play, oopsie, spoiler alert. Yeah, there's so much dancing in the aisle and such little space, but we make the best of it. The wardrobe team, the production team. I mean, they have helped us all so much. And Nicole was like, she I said, Oh my God, can you show me this one fight scene? And she took a video of herself in her bedroom before she left for this other gig, you know, that she's on for a little bit. She'll be back on the 18th of July and my birthday. And happy early birthday. Thank you. And so the whole cast was just rooting for everybody.

You know, it's very hot. So there was a girl that had some heat issues. My finger got jammed. I mean, it's like I love theater people. Theater people are so, we are just a weird bunch of folks. And I couldn't, I wouldn't have it any other way. So I'm going to drastically change subjects for a second because when I wish you a happy early birthday, you said thank you. Is that low register your normal voice and how you've been talking the like an affect you put on because when you were telling me you're just being silly? Yeah. Because you told me you got made fun of for having a low voice. And I don't think your voice is abnormal or abnormally lower higher anything at all. I think it was just low.

It almost sounded like, you know, before boys go into puberty and their voice changes. It's like I sounded like a dude. I think like in seventh grade, like I found it. I sound, I had this kind of depth. And I guess it was like really raspy too because I was always like, hey guys, from early on. So it was raspy and it was low. And so I think that just kids, and I didn't sound like, oh my God, hi. You know? Yeah. So it just sounded different to them. And, you know, kids can be just awful if they think or smell or have a sense that you're different in any way. They'll just pick on you. Kids can be, kids can be mean. Kids are terrible.

[31:23] Lori Alan: And I'm like, haha, now I make my money off my voice. But yeah, yeah. Screw you guys. Screw you guys. Yeah, there are several people that I idolize in this space. And one of Trey Parker being one of them, Alan Tudyk being another. And like you and Yardley Smith and like the people who just lean into being so unique and so different. And I love how, I mean, even just watching you when you even do an affect like just for a joke as a character, you like click into this moment and then you click back into your normal self. And it's super cool to watch voiceover artists. I think it's so much fun. And like, yeah, we're very, we're a very animated group, you know? I mean, you can't be shy. You can't. I mean, introverts run the world and us extra a color, you know, the extra of us, the extra extroverts, we make it like sparkly and shiny.

Not that introverts don't. But like, we're all just like, we listen to people for a living. And then we sort of mimic people. So we've probably been the class cut-ups, you know, the ones that were over, you know, trying to get attention from our parents at the dinner table kind of people, you know, like, we were just kind of nutty. We have a few screws loose. So when we, yeah, exactly. You're pointing at yourself. So me, me, me, me. So yeah. So also, when you get to record with like for SpongeBob, we get to record, we're in our 25th year. And we record together except during the pandemic. I know it's insane. Yeah. So we get to record every time. I mean, Pearl, Pearl Krabs, that's me. So I've been 16 for 25 years.

So that's awesome. So grateful. It's so good. I just, I put this, this I am showing a little caricature of Pearl. I just try to use her as like a little college and I lift, but we record together. And we, you know, you feed off each other. So it's very similar to being in a live theater show. It's very, very similar, that same adrenaline, that same, you know, because you're always creating new moments, like there was something so funny from Anthony Norman the other night he was doing on stage, who's just wonderful, who plays Jimmy Harper, the part that Christian Campbell originated. And you're always finding something new. And the same thing, even with the same character you've been playing for 25 years.

It's still so fun to have these different discoveries. And my poor husband, I recently got married, I've known this lovely person for 14 years. And his beautiful partner whom I knew passed away, and we were just checking on each other because my stepmother was dying. And we just checked on each other during the pandemic. And we sat outside and just would take these long walks and cut to we were comforting each other. And now we're married. And it's so interesting because he's like, stop listening to the way I talk like my ears have like, extra, my ears may as well have like megaphones coming out of them. And I always encourage people to listen to people on the subway. How did your mom sound when you were little?

How did you sound when you were little? Who was the camp counselor? Who was like your cousins, the kid that picked on you, the lady, the dry cleaners, whether you can do celebrity impressions, good or bad. Like, I always, and I learned that from my animation mentor, Charlie Adler, who if you don't know who that is, you can look him up because he's been on absolutely everything from Cow and Chicken to just everything. He's incredible. And he was like, make a list of characters that already live in your head. And then you're not focusing so much on let me make up this funny voice. It's something that's already sort of living in there. Like everyone has like that weird aunt or that, you know, that one teacher.

Or for here's my newest addition to my character list. I had strained my Achilles doing something stupid. The ankle guy, foot and ankle guy, his name is Dr. Harris. He's like, Hey, Lori, how you doing? And he's like a giggle talker. He doesn't just talk. He's like, so tell me the insurance you have again. Let's just check if that's covered. And he is the weirdest, most adorable way. It's so strange, but he giggle talks. Right? So I have him on my cast of characters. And then my husband speaks, he's an LA native. So he's got like more of a laid-back thing. And he's like, yeah, I didn't do that. I'm like, you what? He's like, I didn't do that. I'm like, did you? No, it's didn't. He's like, didn't. And I'm like, no, it's not didn't. But it's not didn't. So I'm constantly being such an ass, but I can't help it.

I listen and talk for a living. So I'm always fascinated. I'm somehow related to you in spirit and in whatnot. I'm always asking my kid, what's a WANU? And they're like, I don't want to. What's a WANU?

[36:04] Lori Alan: That is hilarious. Exactly. My dad, since he's from the East Coast, my dad has stayed in the DC area. And he's also has this beautiful voice. And so if he's doing a spot, or he'll play it.

[36:16] Lori Alan: It's great to come up with characters like I had some show where I had to be like this lesbian gym teacher with this like nondescript non we couldn't figure out where she was from, Eastern European type gym teacher and I was like okay so who's on my list? At the time Arnold Schwarzenegger was our governor and he was in California and I just find that fascinating. So I was like ladies get down and give me 70 push-ups, you know? And Goldie Hawn is another like person on my list because I love the way she's kind of dingy and then her sentences don't really land, it's just kind of here. So I did this, I had a show where I auditioned and it said and I got to play opposite my dear friend Tom Kenny, SpongeBob, who's always like up here and he played daddo and he got to be in his low voice and he is ridiculously talented.

He's like on 75 shows, I don't know how he does it. And so for me it said like kind of a dingy but very lovable mom, so I was like well if I do my Goldie Hawn and then just add in lots of warmth then you come up with like a dingy but absolutely lovable mom. So I love, you know, accents you do well or don't do well, like nobody's gonna know I'm doing a bad Scottish accent to play some weird drunk bartender lady, you know, a female pirate, whatever. I just grabbed from like I love the way Drew Barrymore talks like out of the side of her mouth, it's just an affectation. She's not doing it to be weird or interesting, it's just the way her mouth kind of moves. So there's, I could play like an evil witch who talks out of the side of the mouth.

I just, any inspiration you can draw upon because cartoon scripts, animation scripts are not always, you know, they're for kids a lot. A lot of the kids' shows you have to sort of, and also now that we're all just stuck in our booths most of the time and for pandemic time, some places still are not having everybody in the same booth together or the same, you know, big recording booth. Like I do a lot of stuff for Pixar and there we are still separated. So it's nice to be able to have some references so you can find your own fun in your own studio when you're in your pajamas, you know.

[39:03] Alan Seales: That's so cool. I truly relate to everything you were just saying and I try to make a character out of everything I read to my kids at night because that is the way I don't go out of my mind. I make it different and now they ask for it. They're like do the voice. I mean, okay, how you doing? I'm, you know, like yeah, get a little bit of something in there per character. And last night my younger one was like do voices but don't make them funny, just do regular voices. I was like okay, don't scare me before. But how many kids do you have?

[39:28] Lori Alan: Just two.

[39:29] Alan Seales: Two?

[39:30] Lori Alan: Almost eight.

[39:31] Alan Seales: Just two, as opposed to just two, not ten? Did you give away another one or okay, not ten?

[39:35] Lori Alan: Yes, they're two boys, both of which love the voices and my younger one tries to do the voices. That's the best because he's like that has a Darren in his little, like, you know.

[39:46] Alan Seales: Yeah, that means you did a good job.

[39:47] Lori Alan: Good job, good job, dad. Like a request, yeah, yeah, yeah, they do that. And then we also play make me laugh in the car where if it's a song I know the words to, I'll say the words, I'll make a dialogue with the song and it makes them laugh. Anyway, and I digress. You brought up Pixar, let's see, you've got credits that include Toy Story 3, Despicable Me, Minions, which is not Pixar but we won't count that. Let's see, you do them. So Toy Story, yeah, once Andy goes off to college, you know, our very fabulous Andy who was a little boy and had all Woody and Buzz and all the rest of the gang. So when he goes off to college, this little cute girl Bonnie whose mom works at a daycare center, they get the toys.

And so, you know, as I'm working for Pixar, we don't always see the final product until everybody else does. In fact, we don't because we could, you know, we don't, they don't want us to know all the spoilers and stuff. You could sign seven million NDAs but you've got to still keep it on the DL. So sometimes we'll see a little more than just a few snippets. But when I knew that the toys went, I mean, I cannot stop crying watching the ending of Toy Story 3. It is so beautiful. And then to know that I got to come back and be Bonnie's mom for Toy Story 4. But Inside Out 2, oh my gosh, that is such a deep movie. It's such a profound and it's so great because it teaches kids like you're cutie pies like to have feelings and that it's okay to have feelings, right?

It's okay to feel sadness and how great that sadness at the end of the day is what makes the mishmash, the cornucopia of feelings. Like that is actually what saves the day because I think kids grow up thinking that they have to feel happy and be joyful all the time and kids struggle with kids at school or learning or just being a human being. And so Inside Out 2 just came out, I haven't seen it yet, and I'm in the mom's head so I get to be in Diane Lane's head. So I'm really looking forward to seeing Inside Out 2.

[41:46] Alan Seales: Are you still the mother's sadness character in 2 and 1?

[41:49] Lori Alan: Yeah.

[41:50] Alan Seales: I love it. I've seen it twice. We just came off a stint of why we, my kids love it. And then let's see, WALL-E, one of my favorite movies. Monsters University, who were you in WALL-E?

[42:01] Lori Alan: I don't even remember, isn't that awful? I was the bus driver talking to Billy Crystal.

[42:08] Alan Seales: And Monsters University, I know that, but I can't, I can't remember. I genuinely cannot remember. And I met, I have to tell you this before I forget in case you're a Marvel guy, but I got to work for a hot second at least with Stan Lee for doing the 1994 remake of Fantastic Four and I was like I hit the jackpot because I just moved here and, you know, to do that. And then in the next couple years book Family Guy and SpongeBob in the same year. Like as an actor, you know, with or with Reefer Madness, like you don't know, we're just, you know, we're day players. We all live as day players, all of us. So it's so exciting when something like that, you don't know when you're auditioning for X that it's going to turn into like a Friends or Simpsons or Family Guy or SpongeBob.

So talent and drive, yeah, sure, yay, but being at the right place at the right time. I mean, every day I, all my mugs say grateful and blessed because I have, even though my AC is out and it's sweltering in here and outside, I am such a grateful woman. I am and beyond grateful. I have nothing to ever complain about, even aging in this business, you know, as it, there's always something new around the corner and I just have to stay in that place of gratitude, extreme gratitude and just being a good person. I remember my mom came up to New York and I was doing a gig at this place called Star Tracks and they, back then, you know, only headshots were in black and white, right? And so I made the wall, my headshot was up there and I was like, oh my god.

And so this guy took my mom aside and he said, your daughter is lovely and fun, but she's a good person. She's on time, she's lovely, she's not like an obnoxious young person, she's a lovely person and that's going to take her far. And I think sometimes people want the job, they want, I mean, who doesn't? Obviously, we all want the job, like duh, we want the job, the gig, but it can't equal like that means I'm a good person or that equal success because as far as I know and the motto that I try to live by is my job is to stay vocally in good shape, physically in good shape, mentally and spiritually. Like a lot of my voiceover students, I'm like you are so focused on wanting the agent, the gig.

Have you spent any time volunteering? You know, for me it's like, you know, it's animals, it's always helping animals, but go help somebody, help kids that you know are having literacy issues or the homeless or, you know, go sing for this for senior citizens. Like do something that's outside of yourself so that, because this business is narcissistic. I mean, inherently narcissistic and can be very lonely. So it's a horrible, that's why people love to be in the theater or an improv troupe or a chorus, you know, something. And so you got to go be around other people so that you can have the longevity because you have a rich life when you're not on stage behind the mic, all those things. You have to have a rich full life.

[45:11] Lori Alan: Well, they say that, I forget what it was like if you can't solve a problem, if you're stuck on something, like just go take a shower, go do something else. And that's why like people say they have those aha shower moments because you're, you're giving your subconscious is still working so and but your anxiety isn't focused on it. It's something else. But I feel like it, I literally feel like I just got a master class in these minutes that we've been chatting. And so let's touch on the coaching side of things too because I want to, I want to make sure that you plug that. I love, I love that you're comfortable enough and want to give back and want to teach like that because you're a successful artist. You don't need to and you, it feels like you want to and because you are kind, you want to give back and help. So like how do we, how do we connect with you and what do you focus on specifically when you're coaching?

[46:03] Lori Alan: Thank you, thank you, thank you. I think I was mentoring a lot of young women in the business and I remember I sort of just fell into coaching and then I was like I guess I could, I don't want to be tacky but I should probably charge for it because it's great for, you know, it keeps me in good vocal shape, it keeps me making interesting choices for auditions whether it's commercial, an audio book, or especially animation, which is just really my love. I had a client who was like hey, would you come in with me when I go record my demo? And so I was like okay. So I talked to a very lovely, lovely, just laid-back producer friend of mine, Susan Palio at Voice Tracks West here in LA. And now of course everything's, you know, you can be all over the world, literally all over the world.

I've done people's demos that are in Spain and Australia and I said, Susan, I know you teach and do people's demos like non-stop all day, but could I ever be like the B12 shot? Could I ever come in there with a client and, you know, you do the engineering and she still of course directs, but we do a lot of classes together, a lot of people's demos. So people can just find me at Lori at LoriAlan.com or probably coach me at LoriAlan.com, coach me at LoriAlan.com. Yeah, that's a more reliable email. But I love coaching because at this point, you know, both my parents are directors too, you know, between jingles and commercials and theater. So I've been doing this so long that if I had the time, I would probably be a voice director.

I would probably be, and I'd probably be real good at it just because that sense of timing that you get year after year of doing this and just watching like Tom Kenny's now the director on SpongeBob. He has been for quite some time and our derivative shows like Camp Coral and the Patrick Star show and our movies. But to watch him direct from inside the booth himself and us is just incredible. So I just love to be able to approach coaching as again from the inside out. There's nothing, there's no, and I know I think I can curse, right? So it's like fuck them. My mentor Charlie Adler's like stop trying to please this invisible them, you know? We tend to put casting directors or producers or agents on some pedestal and the truth is it's a collaborative collective experience. We all need each other to create X.

[48:51] Lori Alan: You want to step away from the mic if I'm going to scream or make this effort sound. But I want it to be a very authentic, enjoyable experience because we're so focused on the result. So whether it's talking yourself in, again, who are you talking to, bringing up like, I have a picture of my dog, I have a picture of my family in here, my husband and Pearl and just crazy. And just like I have this coaster that says you're a goddamn magical unicorn, you know, like your space, your space, if you can make your recording space, whether it's a closet, I've done gigs from a closet in a hotel many a time, if you can make your space a pleasurable place to be. Even if the AC doesn't get in here, because it can, it'll make too much noise.

We want to find a way to bring your joyful self and also like, what if somebody just got COVID like life is in full swing, right? So I think everyone thinks they have to be in this perfect space. No, you could have just found out that, you know, there was this audition was due yesterday or oh my god, I'm supposed to be at rehearsal or oh shit, I got to walk the dogs or something. Or I'm just tired today. I got some bad news and the world is really weird right now as it is. So but you still have to be able to audition so you can't, you can't, when you're auditioning, you can't take it from a place that you're not. You can't be someone that you're not. So I think we have to bring in what's actually going on in our real lives and bring it into your audition, bring it into the character I play has.

She's very protective and very, you know, loves her, loves the people that are in the reefer den with her, but she's very protective over the young kids that are, that the bad guy Jack is bringing to the reefer den, you know, and she gets revenge at the end. But like whatever mood I'm in or whether it's hot or my allergies are acting up, you have to take you as you are now, human being, Lori, Alan, Alan, and bring it into your session right now and use anything, whether it's nerves, I slam my finger, whatever it is, you can't. So bring all of you to the table where you're at right now today authentically and block out what the shoulds, when you have a case of the shoulds as an artist, it's, it can shut yourself down so fast, you know?

[52:08] Alan Seales: Oh my gosh. I love this. I wrote down your email address. I am going to email you because yes, all the reasons. Yes, yes, yes.

[52:17] Lori Alan: Good. Well, we're going to wrap up with the three standard closing questions that I ask everyone just to end the episode. The first one very simply is just what motivates you.

[52:25] Lori Alan: Wow. As a person or as an artist? Well, I guess it's the same thing, right? Especially as I get older, I want to be in the moment. I want to be in the moment and find joy wherever I can because life is so short and I've had a lot of loss and so I just want to have authentic experiences on stage, off stage, have meaningful relationships and be able to say no, be able to say yes more, to be able to say no to people, places and things that don't serve you and really step into an authentically genuine place as a human being.

[53:01] Alan Seales: What advice would you give to your younger self and younger people listening now starting out down a similar path?

[53:06] Lori Alan: I suppose I would tell them that whatever their case of the shoulds is, that the thing that makes them self-conscious, especially as younger kids, you know, like I was talking about my voice or that I had a figure, I was like, yeah, I got boobs and hips, you know, to that will ultimately, I promise that will be the thing that, um, that makes you stand out, that makes you different, that you can't be anybody else. So stop trying to be someone else and to be you. And also I would say as an artist, to rest and find other hobbies. Like we tend to go, go, go, especially in New York and LA, they're busy. The vibe and just the pace is busy. It's like take time out for self-care because you will burn out. You will burn out. So self-care.

[53:47] Alan Seales: Yep. All right. Hardest question. Last one. If you can only see one show for the rest of your life, but you can see it as many times as you want, what would you see?

[53:56] Lori Alan: Wow. Well, I have two. I would see Gypsy over and over because I love seeing all the different women that have played Gypsy. When I saw Tyne Daly on Broadway, I have, I've never seen an ex, I was crying. I can't get over the commitment and her take as that Mama Rose. I can't, I mean, astounding. So physically and she didn't care, not that she's not a good singer, but she didn't have to like hit these momentous, like just amazing notes. She was that character in a different way than I'd ever seen it. And Bryan Cranston in Network, I've never waited backstage or outside or outside rather for anyone. And I was so blown away by his performance and he talked about something. Every actor, every, every person who's in the arts actually should read.

He's got a couple of books because he has the most, he talks about his inspiration and his commitment. And when he stopped thinking about the end result, not what can I get, but what can I give? That changed, that really changed my attitude, especially as I get older and his performance in Network was amazing. So I really wanted to stay and tell him how much he has inspired me, especially when the business just comes to a screeching halt with, with strikes and all this kind of stuff. He, his performance was outstanding and, and his, as an author, he's ridiculously inspirational. Again, the whole idea of what can I give, not get. I'm not there to get a job, to get anything. I'm there to give a performance.

I'm there to give an interesting take. I'm there to serve the text and make interesting choices and to make myself proud and go about your day. So those are the two performances. Sorry, I couldn't narrow it down to one.

[55:39] Alan Seales: That's great. So your website, laurieland.com and where, where are you on social media? Where else can we connect with you?

[55:46] Lori Alan: Oh, cool. Thanks. LaurieTalk4, I think on Instagram. I don't know who got one, two, and three. And then on Twitter, I'm, wait, I have to check on Twitter, I think, or X, I just can't say X yet. Is that okay? I don't even, I don't even acknowledge its existence.

[56:02] Alan Seales: I know.

[56:03] Lori Alan: I try not to as well. I think I'm LaurieAllan1, LaurieAllan1, L-O-R-I-A-L-A-N-1 on, on, on X. And then LaurieTalk4 on Instagram. And I am, now I am showing my age cause I cannot handle TikTok. I'm sure I'll get it one of these days, but for right now, we'll stick with these two.

[56:24] Alan Seales: It's not for anybody over 26.

[56:25] Lori Alan: So totally, I get it. I get it. No, a lot of my voiceover friends are so amazingly talented and they have mastered TikTok. Very envious of them.

[56:34] Alan Seales: I know. I, yes, I still need to get into that. And then of course, get tickets to see Reefer Madness at reefermadness.com.

[56:41] Alan Seales: Hey everyone, this is Alan breaking in from the editing room right after Laurie and I finished recording. Christian Campbell, who is the original Jimmy Harper from the stage production of Reefer Madness, sent Laurie a voice note to ask her to clarify with me that there are two different places to get tickets. One for Reefer Madness the musical and one for the actual reunion concert. The reunion concert tickets are actually available on Eventbrite. So check the show notes for that. But with his permission, I thought it'd be fun for you to hear the voice note he left.

[57:10] Christian Campbell: Tickets for the show, our show is on Fever Up, but tickets for the Legacy concert can be found on Eventbrite. Of course, we've extended to August 19th by popular demand and should audiences continue coming and we will continue extending the show and that we're building something more than just a fantastic Broadway caliber show. We're building a community. We're building a best in class theater. We're going to be starting Freaky Fridays, which will be midnight showings of Rocky Horror Picture Show with Shadowcast. That'll be starting on the 19th of this month. We'll be starting with bi-weekly and then it'll be moving on to probably other movies besides Rocky Horror as well as Burlesque and whatnot.

But we're calling that Freaky Friday, so that'll be a midnight event that people in Los Angeles can always expect to go to. And just keep following us on Reefer the musical and that you don't have to come see the show to enjoy the Victory Garden on Hollywood Boulevard. Just be sure to check out our hours of operation on the Google page at Reefer Madness Broadway. We're doing the Reefer Den post-show venue concerts that start at 10 o'clock on Thursday, well, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and then Saturday. That show starts at 11 o'clock.

[58:32] Alan Seales: All right. Now I'll take you back to Laurie.

[58:33] Lori Alan: And it's such an immersive experience. You won't regret it. It is Broadway caliber. All the performers have been on Broadway.

[58:39] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[58:40] Lori Alan: Anthony Norman was Evan Hansen. I feel like he's my son. I'm so protective over him. I love him. He is so talented. I can't even imagine having the talent that some of these kids have because, I mean, when I was coming up, you didn't have to be that much of a triple threat, but these guys blow my mind away. The dancers, Theo and Andre and Claire and Jane, the cast is amazing. The talent is just mind-blowing. And we just extended. And I really hope that with the extension that I'll be able to continue on with this great cast. I really do. And we had some really fun groupies in the audience, and they know a lot of the lines in the script. So there was something that was cut, I think, when Mary sings something.

She sings a song, Lonely Pew, and she says, I lied, I guess, about saving Jimmy a spot. And I think in the movie, they all went, oh, there was a gasp. And so we don't do that in the show, but the audience did, and it was like, yeah, you guys love us. And so it's just so fun. I mean, people just have a blast. So we're having a blast, too. There's no doubt about it.

[59:50] Alan Seales: All right. Well, you can find me at thetheaterpodcast.com. I'm on Threads, Instagram. I try to post to TikTok, leave a rating and a review wherever you are listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode because it's awesome. Thanks to Jukebox the Ghost for the intro and outro music, and Lori Alan, thank you. This has been so cool. I enjoy talking about VO so much.

[1:00:11] Lori Alan: Oh good. Well, to be continued, and thank you so, so much for having me.

[1:00:15] Alan Seales: Of course. Take a deep breath, make the world a little colorful.