How does FAMILY GUY get famous actors to do, like, 1 line of dialogue?

In the past they've gotten folks like Cloris Leachman, Judd Hirsch and Seth Rogan to do a brief (and kinda pointless) cameo in episodes here and there.

The more bewildering ones, though, are virtually "invisible" appearances where they do a random voice for (sometimes) a throwaway character. Example: Bryce Dallas Howard (from THE VILLAGE and SPIDER- MAN 3) does a voice in the Lauren Conrad episode.....in a cutaway.....and it's 1 line.

How the hell do they get these name actors for roles like this? I can understand it if they're fans and get a chance to be part of an episode. But could it be that they're they sought out by Seth MacFarlane & producers, and actually paid, to just do some dialogue for a background character?

cause maybe like this is the only work these so-called name actors can get these days? cloris and judd, i don't see too much of nowadays.

On Jun 17, 8:46 pm, [email] wrote:

Cloris Leachman had a Betty White-like vibe a few years ago when her cameo aired (she showed up in a lot of TV shows and movies, and still kinda does).

Judd Hirsch was probably one of their weirder cameos, though.

On Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:01:29 -0700 (PDT), Sean Walsh wrote:

Cloris' best role (IMO) was Grandma Ida on Malcolm in the Middle. In one episode she played an adversarial role against a character played by Betty White. Funny stuff.

I definitely agree. It was fun to watch the Betty White character "harden" when asked to yield on the pension to the Cloris character!

To go back to the OP, I believe they work on the cartoon shows because: 1) it's FUN; 2) it's not much work; 3) their kids/grandkids likely get a kick out of it. Oh, yeah, it does help keep them in the public eye.

As far as working on other shows: a job is a job; money is money; and it never hurts to stay in the public eye.

"John Gilmer" wrote in message news:[email]...

"harden"

You should check Betty out on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" as Sue Ann Niven.

(from Wiki) host of The Happy Homemaker show. Her superficially ever-cheerful demeanor belies her true, man-chasing nature and sardonic personality. She is particularly attracted to Lou Grant (who in no way returns her interest).

A much better Betty IMHO. ;-)

Oh, yeah!

I remember it well.

No, no, she was Madame Defarge in "History of the World, Part 1"!

[email] wrote in news:hvefm1$eai$[email]:

Judd Hirsch was a supporting actor on the CBS series NUMB3RS for the past six seasons (118 episodes). Not like he retired.

On Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:43:43 -0700 (PDT), Sean Walsh wrote:

Alcohol and cheap women. Or is it women and cheap alcohol?

QED <heh>

In article , Sean Walsh wrote:

SAG minimum buys a lot of lunches. If you don't work anywhere else that year, it pays your dues and keeps your health and retirement bennies active. Your kids and/or grandkids might be impressed, and even get a trip to the studio. You might well record it at another place and time while you're doing something else anyway. You might be flattered to have them be fans and ask. Lots of potential reasons.

"Anim8rFSK" wrote in message news:[email]...

Actors are people too. Actors could simply be fans of the show and would love to have a cameo in it (e.g., Sen. McClain had a brief wordless scene in 24 handing a file to someone because he liked the show). Plus doing voice work is relatively easy. As pointed out elsethread, no makeup, no costume, minimal rehearsal--especially if it's just one line. Meanwhile you might get to spend a few hours, maybe share a meal or a day on a show you like.

And if you don't like the show, well, as Anim astutely mentions, it's good pay for a few minutes of work.

-- Ken from Chicago

In article , Sean Walsh wrote:

Do they do them at the same time they're recording something else? If FG shares audio studio place with Robot Chicken an actor could do both in the same session. Or just ask if they can do the line when they're done with a commercial voice over, or hell do it from home if they have the setup. It's not like they're having to come in and wasting a day just to do one line.

In article , Invid Fan wrote:

TV Guide had an article about actors doing voiceovers a couple of months ago. It was mostly about actors doing voiceovers for commercials, but I'm sure the same applies to cartoons.

In general, they love this kind of work. It's really easy, since they don't have to deal with costumes and makeup, there's less rehearsing, and they get paid decent money for it. And if you're contributing to a show you like, that's a bonus.

It seems like everyone in Hollywood wants to get a chance to appear on Simpsons or Family Guy.

Barry Margolin wrote:

I don't know about FG, but a lot of celebrities did/do Simpsons voices because (like with appearances on "Batman" in the 1960s) their kids (or, in at least one case - Werner Klemperer - their grandkids) pretty much begged them to.

Some celebs might also be friends/fans of Seth - having an Oscar doesn't stop Forest Whitaker from having a recurring role on "American Dad".

Also keep in mind that they can record multiple lines at once (Sandra Oh had a role on an episode of "American Dad", which would have given her the opportunity to record a couple of lines for Toshi's mother in other episodes).

-- Don

ISTR Futurama did this with Lucy Liu as well, as mentioned in one of the episode commentaries -- i.e. when she did the main show she appeared in, they also had her record some throwaway lines, one of which got used in a later episode.

On Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:43:43 -0700 (PDT), Sean Walsh wrote:

Back in the days of the Batman live action series, there was a lot of that.

Back then, the 60's, there was a lot of a *lot* of things!!! :)

BJs & coke, plus a stuffed cabbage.

"Sean Walsh" wrote in message news:[email]...

I'd think they're just fans of the show, nothing more. The same reason so many celebrities go on The Simpsons and South Park.

In fact, George Clooney appeared on South Park as the voice of Stan's gay dog and only growled and barked. Though Jennifer Anniston got a bigger part as the teacher who took the students into the rainforest.

Also see Robot Chicken as they get way too many stars for a 15 minute late night cable show. They must have tons of celeb fans. :-)

In article , "Andy from Dover" wrote:

Celebrity cameos on South Park are very rare, those are the two notable exceptions. Probably because the show is notorious for skewering celebrities.