The Newest Voice of Bugs Sits Down on Vocals Qs to talk 'Space Jam: A New Legacy', Looney Tunes, and Toronto
Eric Bauza, The Canadian-Born Voice-Actor and key member of 'Space Jam: A New Legacy' comes on the season finale of Vocal Qs to reminisce about Toronto and share what’s in store in the future.
Hard to believe it's already the season finale of the very first season of Vocal Qs. The FilmSpeak team, and Managing Editor, Michael Winn Johnson (who also doubles as host of the podcast) can’t thank you all enough for the support you’ve shown a brand new podcast. We at FilmSpeak are fully aware of the fact there are millions of podcasts out there, so thank you for listening to ours.
What a great way to end it. We ended up bookending the podcast, with Billy West in the premiere, and our very special guest today, Eric Bauza. Both men have voiced the iconic Bugs Bunny, both men have been in a Space Jam movie (with Bauza voicing undisclosed characters in the soon-to-be-released sequel, Space Jam: A New Legacy) and this season on Vocal Qs seems to symbolize a passing of the vocal-artistry baton, with West representing the old school, and Bauza representing the up-and-coming stars of the Animation. Bauza assures us all that Space Jam: A New Legacy is actually even more of a family-friendly film than the original. He tells listeners that he felt that with Michael Jordan starring before, it was more of an inside joke about being an icon and a ‘commercial athlete’. Bauza himself is one of the biggest basketball fans out there (especially his home team and recent NBA Champions, the Toronto Raptors) so he’s certainly not mocking His Airness, but as a fan of animation growing up, Bauza feels ‘A New Legacy’ connects with audiences better, and has a well-rounded message behind it.
Bauza has come so far from his high school years of imitating the P.A. system to get out of class, from Toronto-boy to L.A. actor, but he hasn’t forgotten his roots. When two Toronto boys get together (since I also grew up in the area), we just couldn't help ourselves. We're almost exactly the same age, we had similar experiences growing up, and now our sons are almost the same age as well. It is an hour long chat about all the fun we had as kids growing up in Canada in the 80s, the cartoons we watched, the world that influenced us, sports teams, Canadian food and so much more.
This was an absolute pleasure (not just because we're both Canadian, and therefor super polite) but because Eric is such a joyful individual. You can tell he loves his life, he's grateful for what he's able to do for a living, and he's grateful he can share it with all of us.
So join us for the LAST episode of the season as we talk about Ghostbusters, Hilarious house of Frigtenstein, the CNE, the Raptors, and of course, becoming Bugs, Daffy, and what he said to Lebron James considering Toronto Raptor fans’ view of ‘King’ James.
Special thanks to everyone for listening this season! Please leave a comment or rating on whatever podcast provider you use, please make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on Season 2 (to be released close to March 2021) and more importantly, have a wonderful Holiday Season, and all the best in 2021!
Check out the last episode of 2020 below.