Information about Maurice Lamarche

Maurice LaMarche
Born	March 30 1958 (1958--) (age 49) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupation(s)	Voice actor
Notable Roles	as Futurama as Kif Kroker and others Inspector Gadget as Chief Quimby Pinky and the Brain as The Brain The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters' ' as Egon Spengler Catscratch'' as Hovis

Maurice LaMarche (born March 30, 1958 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian voice actor and former stand up comedian.

Early life

Maurice LaMarche was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, but his family moved to Timmins, Ontario very soon after he was born.^[1] LaMarche's childhood was filled with his "own little world of cartoons and sixties television".^[2] It wasn't until his sophomore year of high school that he learned of the popularity his talent for mimicry could garner him. This realization came from a coincidental performance in a high school "variety night" when a couple of friends urged him to enter. The act he performed at the variety night was "celebrities as waiters" which he actually used all the way up until the end of his stand up career.^[3]

Stand up

At the age of 19, LaMarche took his high school act to an open mic night in New York to a reaction of, as he describes, "they just totally ignored me".^[4] This reaction was coupled with the backlash LaMarche received from fellow Canadian comedians who LaMarche describes as discouraging him from pursuing a career outside of Canada.^[5]

Three years later, at the age of 22, Maurice moved straight to Los Angeles to further his stand up career. This move, LaMarche says, would always be something he regretted doing instead of moving to New York.

"... in retrospect, I thought it was a mistake. I think that a couple of years in New York would have made me a stronger comedian." - Maurice LaMarche^[6]

Over the next five years LaMarche's career would gradually progress, but even he says he never had great material. Despite being so critical of himself, LaMarche would be granted the opportunity of being part of the 1985 HBO Young Comedians Special, the 9th Annual Young Comedians Special. Looking back on his performance in this special, Maurice believes he was about five years away from "becoming great" and being the "only impressionist that actually comes from somewhere".^[7] Unfortunately, LaMarche wouldn't get that chance.

Sadly, in 1987, Maurice LaMarche's father was murdered. This sent LaMarche into depression and alcoholism for the next two years, effectively ending his stand up career.^[8] After getting sober in 1989, Maurice made a short-lived attempt at getting back into stand up. It was at this time that tragedy would strike again in the form of his little sister dying in a car accident.^[9] At this point, LaMarche decided he couldn't do stand up comedy anymore.

"Oh, that's it. I don't have any funny left in me. I'm done."^[10] - Maurice LaMarche

During his standup career, Maurice LaMarche opened for such acts as Rodney Dangerfield, George Carlin, David Sanborn and Donna Summer.^[11]

Voiceover acting

Maurice's first entrance into the voiceover industry was in 1979 in Easter Fever and Take Me Up To The Ballgame, two Canadian films.^[12] LaMarche didn't venture into voiceover acting again until years later as a part time job when he was doing standup.

Television

Maurice LaMarche began on Inspector Gadget and went on to Dennis the Menace, Popeye and Son and The Real Ghostbusters. After The Real Ghostbusters, LaMarche became a regular mainstay of the voiceover industry appearing in such shows as Talespin, Tiny Toon Adventures, , , Taz-Mania, Where's Waldo, The Little Mermaid, , and Bonkers before landing perhaps his most recognized role in 1993 as The Brain on Animaniacs (and later its spin-off show Pinky and the Brain). Following this, LaMarche worked on The Critic, Freakazoid!, and The Tick before then reprising his role of Egon in Extreme Ghostbusters. The stretch of two years after this saw LaMarche portray characters in such shows as Duckman, Hey Arnold!, Queer Duck, King of the Hill, and The Chimp Channel. It was at this time, 1999, that Maurice LaMarche began work on Futurama. Since Futurama LaMarche has continued to work steadily in television, including guest roles on The Simpsons.

LaMarche has done various voice work for many Warner Bros. Animation and DiC Entertainment cartoons. He also performed the infamous burping of Wakko in the short "The Great Wakkorotti" in Animaniacs.

Pinky and the Brain

Maurice LaMarche plays the character of The Brain in Pinky and the Brain. In creating the voice for Brain, LaMarche says he looked at a picture of the character and immediately thought of Orson Welles,^[13] although the character wasn't modeled after Welles.^[14] Voicing Brain gave LaMarche the opportunity to make use of his signature impersonation of Welles. Many Pinky and the Brain episodes are nods to Welles' career.

The Critic

While working on The Critic LaMarche once voiced 29 characters in one 30 minute episode.^[15]

His time on The Critic also afforded LaMarche the opportunity to once again parody Welles, this time after a video reading of a will (the Critic's family was so wealthy, they'd hired Orson Welles to narrate it) dissolves into a commercial for Mrs. Pells Fishsticks (as well as another for Rosebud Frozen Peas).

The Inspector Gadget universe

LaMarche has voiced Inspector Gadget (originally voiced by the late Don Adams) in two Inspector Gadget films (direct-to-video and television movies) as well as two television series (the original, and Gadget and the Gadgetinis), plus a live-action appearance in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!.

Heroes

La Marche appeared voice only in the second episode of the show Heroes, "Don't Look Back", as Sylar. His voice is heard in a recorded phone conversation on Chandra Suresh's answering machine. The role of Sylar was later played by Zachary Quinto.

Film

Maurice LaMarche has appeared in many films including the voice of Orson Welles in Ed Wood, Pepe Le Pew in Space Jam, the voice of Alec Baldwin in and reprising his roles from Queer Duck and Futurama in the direct-to-video films Queer Duck: The Movie and , respectively.

In Mark Hamill's 2004 movie , LaMarche made a rare live appearance to be in the special features of the DVD.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
2007		Kif Kroker Morbo Calculon Lrrr Additional characters	Direct-to-video Animated movie Post-production
2006	Tak & the Power of JuJu	Chief	Animated series
	Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas	Yosemite Sam	Animated movie
	Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law	Apache Chief Fred Flintstone Quick Draw McGraw Inch High Private Eye Atom Ant Various	Animated series
	Shuriken School	Mr. No Naginata Kubo Utamaro Zumichito Daisuke Togakame	Animated series
	Operation Z.E.R.O.		Television movie Animated movie
	Casper's Scare School	Pirate Thurdigree Burns	Television movie
	Heroes	Sylar
	Barnyard	Igg the Cow	Animated movie
	Queer Duck: The Movie	Oscar Wildcat	Direct-to-video
2005	Tripping the Rift	Gus	CGI animated series
		Inspector Gadget	Direct-to-video Animated movie
	Catscratch	Hovis''	Animated series
2004		Alec Baldwin
		Balto	Direct-to-video Animated movie
		The Beagle Boys	Direct-to-video Animated movie
		Himself	"Behind the Voices" Special Feature Live action
2003		Horace	Direct-to-video Animated movie
2002	Inspector Gadget's Last Case: Claw's Revenge	Inspector Gadget	Direct-to-video Animated movie
		Big Bob Pataki Head of Security	Animated movie
		Spike and Alley Cat	Direct-to-video Animated movie
			Animated series
		Balto	Direct-to-video Animated movie
2001	The Oblongs	Tommy Vinegar	Animated series
2000	Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman	Mr. Lawrence Talbot	Voice Only Animated movie
1999		Inspector Gadget Chief Quimby	Voice Only Animated movie
	Wakko's Wish	Brain Squit	Direct-to-video Animated movie
	The Chimp Channel	Harry Waller Bernard the Sarcastic Cockatoo
	Dilbert	Garbage Man	Animated series
	Queer Duck	Oscar Wildcat Mr. Duckstein Other Characters Animated series
	Futurama	Kif Kroker Morbo Calculon Lrrr Horrible Gelatinous Blob Walt Hedonism Bot DonBot Additional characters	Animated series
1998	Histeria!	Abraham Lincoln	Animated series
1997	Space Goofs	Etno	Animated series
	Extreme Ghostbusters	Egon Spengler	Animated series
1996	Space Jam	Pepe Le Pew
	Rocko's Modern Life	Conglomo Lizard	Animated series
	All Dogs Go to Heaven 2	Lost & Found Officer	Animated movie
1995	Duckman	Merv Griffin	Animated series
	Freakazoid!	Longhorn The Brain Dan Captain "K"	Animated series
	Pinky and the Brain	The Brain	Animated series
1994	The Tick	Human Ton & Handy Various other characters	Animated series
	The Critic	Additional Voices	Animated series
	Ed Wood	Orson Welles
1993	Animaniacs	Brain Spartacus Bob Hope Squit Wakko (burping only)	Animated series
	Bonkers	Mr. Blackenblue	Animated series
1991	Taz-Mania	Hugh Tasmanian Devil	Animated series
1990	Captain Planet and the Planeteers	Verminous Skumm	Animated series
	Tiny Toon Adventures	Dizzy Devil	Animated series
	TaleSpin	General Patton	Animated series
		Zoltan Ketchuck Tomato Guy	Animated series
1988	Beany and Cecil	Dishonest John	Animated series
1987	The Facts of Life	Rod Sperling	Live Action
	Popeye and Son	Popeye	Animated series
1986	The Real Ghostbusters	Egon Spengler	Animated series
	Transformers	Six-Gun	Animated series
	Dennis the Menace	George Wilson Henry Mitchell	Animated series
	Popples	Puzzle	Animated series
1983	Inspector Gadget	Chief Quimby	Animated series

Other media

• Commercials
• Kellogg's Froot Loops mascot Toucan Sam.
• The animated Willy Wonka character in Nestlé's ''Willy Wonka Candy Company' commercials
• Video games
• Several Characters in Lucasarts' Full Throttle
• Yoshimo and Renal Bloodscalp in the award-winning RPG, .
• Jack O' Lantern in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (video game)
• Vekk in Guild Wars Eye of the North

References

External links

• Maurice LaMarche at the Internet Movie Database
• Maurice LaMarche at TV.com
• Maurice LaMarche at the Voice Chasers Database
• Interview with Maurice LaMarche on "The Joe Cook Program"
• International Creative Management (Talent Agent)

•  • [ e]
Operatives - - - - - - Films: - - The Grim Adventures of the Kids Next Door Comics: - - Games: - -

•  • [ edit] The Simpsons cast members
Regular cast
Dan Castellaneta Julie Kavner Nancy Cartwright Yeardley Smith Hank Azaria Harry Shearer
Recurring cast
Doris Grau Pamela Hayden Jo Ann Harris Tress MacNeille Marcia Mitzman Gaven Maggie Roswell Russi Taylor Karl Wiedergott
Recurring guest stars
Albert Brooks Kelsey Grammer Phil Hartman Jan Hooks Jane Kaczmarek Maurice LaMarche Jon Lovitz Joe Mantegna Marcia Wallace Frank Welker