MaxFunDrive 2026: Janet Varney Masterclass BoCo Teaser!

Happy MaxFunDrive 2026! We wanted to share a short clip from this year's bonus content to help give an idea of what's on offer if you become a member. We had a blast chatting with Janet Varney, and if you like what you hear you can you can go to MaximumFun. Org/Join to get access to the full thing, plus TONS of other bonus content from the last 16 years we've been on the network. We're celebrating through May 1st with bonus goals and daily livestreams on YouTube, so follow us there and on Instagram, or check our website for updates on all of our plans!

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Travis McElroy?

  Happy Max Fun Drive. We've got a little treat for you. We had a sit down with our friend, professional actor Janet Varney, who told us where we've been going wrong in our voiceover careers.

• 0:11Griffin McElroy?

  That's our BOCO for this year's Max Fun Drive. If you give just five bucks a month, you'll get access to that and all the other BOCO we've ever done here on my Bim Bam and all the other shows. Janet turned our whole life around. Travis, do you remember a nugget that Janet gave us that you've really treasured?

• 0:25Travis McElroy?

  I believe she told us to always picture goofy, no matter what the character is.

• 0:29Griffin McElroy?

  Ah, yes.

• 0:30Travis McElroy?

  Break them off a piece of that good content.

• 0:33Griffin McElroy?

  Yeah.

• 0:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, I, of course, always imagine goofy, Disney's goofy. I always imagine Disney's goofy saying each and every line before and after.

• 0:45Griffin McElroy?

  Wow, that's interesting.

• 0:46Travis McElroy?

  Energy.

• 0:47Griffin McElroy?

  Yeah. So regardless of like,

• 0:50Griffin McElroy?

  regardless of the sort of tone of the piece, it's always goofy. If it's dramatic, comedic, or it's always goofy.

• 0:56Travis McElroy?

  That explains so much about Cora.

• 0:59Griffin McElroy?

  Yeah.

• 1:00Speaker 02

  Right? Imagine that, because that tells you, that cracks open a whole new world of every piece of work I've ever done, is you have to know that in my heart,

• 1:11Travis McElroy?

  That's the Rosetta Stone, folks.

• 1:13Griffin McElroy?

  Yeah.

• 1:14Travis McElroy?

  It is. That's the Rosetta Stone. Janet Varney, right there, we cracked it. Because you will occasionally slip and call a character goofy when you respond to them. I always wondered why that was. Or George, or George Gief.

• 1:25Griffin McElroy?

  George Gief.

• 1:27Speaker 02

  They could have cut that out. So I had, I can only assume, I mean, I'm just, you know, the instrument. I can only assume that something about that resonated for someone else. But not everyone is gonna, you know, goofy may not work for everyone.

• 1:41Griffin McElroy?

  When you, when you watch, When you watch, When you watch Legend of Cora now, and I imagine you do like all the time,

• 1:48Speaker 02

  Every day.

• 1:48Griffin McElroy?

  Because it's so sick. You, do you see, like, is it, do you hear the other characters sometimes be like, "You're bending the water there, Cora. Cora, that's a good job." Like, is that track sort of running in your, in your head? Is it still inside you, or is it just gone after you create it?

• 2:06Speaker 02

  No, I have to, when I'm watching it, I have to have my hand on the volume and I have to quickly mute. Each other character and quickly mute back so that I can hear my own voice.

• 2:17Travis McElroy?

  That's so funny. I do that when I listen back to our podcast.

• 2:20Griffin McElroy?

  That's so cool. I didn't. Yeah, that's that sounds like a hard way to watch it, though.

• 2:25Speaker 02

  It's a lot. It's a lot of it's a lot of exercise for my fingers.

• 2:28Travis McElroy?

  Janet, speaking of Donald Duck, have you ever tried to do him before? Because that's a fucking tough one, dude. That's a tough voice to try and try and pull out. We've done it a couple of times.

• 2:39Griffin McElroy?

  I don't know if you see the outline, Griffin, but the whole second half of it, if you flip to page two is Janet. Donald.

• 2:46Travis McElroy?

  I'm just saying, as a voice actor, you gotta goof around.

• 2:49Griffin McElroy?

  Yeah, okay.

• 2:51Travis McElroy?

  Step by step phonetic guide to Donald.

• 2:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. People have different approaches to that. I put as many chips into my mouth as I can. Now, they could be edible chips. They could be paint chips. They could be wood chips. As long as they're chips.

• 3:06Griffin McElroy?

  A lot of work. Yeah.

• 3:07Speaker 02

  It's the craft. This is a masterclass. What do you want me to?

• 3:09Griffin McElroy?

  That's the craft.

• 3:10Speaker 02

  Oversimplify it for you? Hello? That's not my brand.

• 3:13Travis McElroy?

  I was thinking.

• 3:14Griffin McElroy?

  That's not. Yeah, for sure.

• 3:16Travis McElroy?

  That's not Janet's brand. Janet's brand is overly complicated, hard to understand, intricate instruction. And if you don't get it, that's on you.

• 3:24Griffin McElroy?

  Yeah, don't take the fucking novice class if you can't follow it and then come back.

• 3:30Travis McElroy?

  Good one, Janet, and pass us. So if you want to hear the full thing of that beautiful bonus content and all the other ones, like we did a Hot Ones edition that we were not asked by them to do.

• 3:44Griffin McElroy?

  That was fun. It didn't pan out.

• 3:45Travis McElroy?

  It was a voluntary.

• 3:47Griffin McElroy?

  We did Pranky Doodle Dandy where I did my best joke I've ever done. Pranky Doodle Dandy is on there. You are not going to hear unless you go to maximumfun.org/join and pick the level that works for you and support us and very directly and help us keep making these shows and keep keeping the lights on. We sure do appreciate it and you'll hear the best jokes ever. Thanks. Thanks for supporting us.

• 4:06Travis McElroy?

  Thank you.