Sorry to have abandoned you like that without even a soup can of warning. I spent the last two days in a recording studio pretending to direct a cast of talented actors for the fourth season of The Garfield Show, and I spent several days before that writing scripts so they'd have something to read. Above is a photo from yesterday's session and I'll tell you who all these folks are…
Front row, left to right: Audrey Wasilewski, Laura Summer, Stan Freberg, Julie Payne, Jason Marsden, Laraine Newman. Back row, also left to right: Gregg Berger, me, Wally Wingert, Frank Welker. In the Monday session, we had some of these people plus guests Susan Silo, Bill Farmer and Joe Alaskey.
This was taken during a break that was also a Surprise Birthday Party for Mr. Freberg, who turned 86 yesterday. We had cake and balloons and the joy of bringing a smile to Stan's face. I still feel my sense of humor is on loan from him and that I need to thank him for it periodically. Then after the party, we went back to work and recorded another cartoon. On most recording dates, we work from 10 AM to 2 PM and do either two 11-minute cartoons or half of one of our 55-minute specials. This week, we were doing 11-minute cartoons.
(This paragraph is to save me answering any number of e-mails: We're recording shows for Season Four. Season Three has aired in other countries but not America. Cartoon Network here is again running shows from Seasons One and Two on occasion, and I'm told a deal to have them broadcast Season Three is imminent, though I have no idea when they'd commence. I may not find out before they start turning up in my TiVo listings.)
These sessions are enormous fun for any number of reasons. Just being with these funny, talented people is the dominant reason but there's also the fun of being there as words on paper turn into acting. There's a lot of magic happening at those microphones and we have a cast that is utterly non-competitive. Everyone supports everyone else and no one feels the slightest resentment when someone else scores big with something. As in the comic book field, I love to see people I consider extremely gifted be in awe of the gifts of others. Frank will do something amazing and I'll see Gregg shake his head in admiration. Then two minutes later, it'll be Frank shaking his head at something Gregg has done. There's also that wonderful sense of "we're making something" in the room.
I went without much sleep the last four or five days so when I got home from the session yesterday, my assistant Darcie and I did all the post-recording paperwork and then I decided to lie down for ten minutes. I woke up three hours later but it was, as they say, a Good Tired.