'Handy Manny' leads an adventure into Latin culture

Voice talent is key to award-winning animated show

By Rick Bentley
The Fresno Bee

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NORTH HOLLYWOOD -- The outside of Salami Studios looks more like an abandoned building than the hotbed for one of the hottest animated shows on the Disney Channel. Behind the rather dismal exterior is the modern looking recording studio where the audio for "Handy Manny" is recorded.

"Handy Manny" is a multi-cultural series that teaches young viewers basic Spanish words and phrases plus exposes them to aspects of Latin culture. This is done through the industrious handyman Handy Manny (voiced by Wilmer Valderrama) and his talkative tools.

The new episodes that begin airing Monday will include the introduction of a new character: Flicker, a talking flashlight. Country singer Grey DeLisle provides the voice.

Voice talent begins to arrive about 5:30 p.m. on this day. It is the last recording session for the current season. Audio has to be finished months in advance to give computer animators time to create the visual part of the series.

Fred Stoller arrives first. The lanky stand-up comedian provides the voice of Rusty The Wrench. He's appeared on television shows from "Seinfeld" to "My Name Is Earl."

"I have been doing more voice work in recent years," Stoller says. "You don't have to shave or get dressed up. It is a lot of fun because you can be the voice of a cat or a monkey wrench, things you could never do on camera."

The rest of the cast filters in over the next 45 minutes. The talent includes Carlos Alazraqui (Felipe the Phillips Screwdriver), Dee Bradley Baker (Turner the Screwdriver), Tom Kenny (Mr. Lopart), Kath Soucie (Dusty the Saw), Nika Futterman (Squeeze the Pliers), Nancy Truman (Kelly) and Valderrama.

Moments before the cast is to move to the recording studio, Valderrama is going over his script in a small room on the second floor of the building. He was working as an executive producer and on-air host of "Yo Momma" when the chance to be a voice actor was suggested.

The show is not just another job for Valderrama. He wanted to make sure "Handy Manny" had just the right tone.

"I didn't want it to be preachy," Valderrama says. "I wanted the show to be something fun where, subliminally, kids could walk away with something. I love how diverse it is. I think it is a show that screams what America is today."

When he came to the United States from Venezuela at the age of 14, Valderrama could not speak English. He devoted every free moment to learning the language and was speaking English comfortably in a few months. Four years later he was cast on "That '70s Show." That's a big reason he takes great pride in how "Handy Manny" helps foster interest in a second language.

At 6:35 p.m., the voice talents file into the studio. Some animated shows record each actor separately. Their work is edited together later. That's not how "Handy Manny" works. The gang's all here.

The voice actors either sit or stand shoulder-to-

shoulder in a row. The room is empty except for a microphone and stand in front of each talent. They all face a large glass window.

The odd arrangement is necessary so they can see voice director Susan Blu and director Charles E. Bastien.

The recording session starts at 6:55 p.m. In general, the session goes smoothly. Blu occasionally asks the animators to deliver a line in a different way. Her tone is always supportive. That's because she has been on the other side of the glass as a voice talent on "Where's Waldo?" and "Jem."

Just before 8 p.m., the recording session is done. Many of the voice actors hang around the recording studio. This was the last recording session for the new season. They won't see each other for a few months.

Many of the actors, like Dee Bradley Baker, won't be out of a recording studio too long. He also does voice work for "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" and "American Dad." It's the latest work in a long line of voice work jobs.

Baker says at its core, voice acting is just acting.

"You have to create and imagine everything from an active imagination. And that at its kernel is acting," Baker says.

All of the voice acting work has paid off for the series. Since its debut in September 2006, "Handy Manny" has consistently ranked among the top 20 series on broadcast and basic cable with its target audience of viewers ages 2-5. And it is a hit in other parts of the world. "Handy Manny" is a top rated show in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Australia, Argentina, Chile and Columbia.

It recently was honored with an Environmental Media Award for "Best Children's Live Action/Animated Television Program." The honor was for an episode on recycling and solar energy.

And anyone passing by the recording studio would not have a clue that that kind of work goes on inside the building.