Short Stuff: The Voice of God

Today we salute the great Don LaFontaine, aka The Voice of God in movie and TV trailers. See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.

• 0:04Josh Clark?

  Buy smart, drive for less and trade for more. That's Toyota affordability and it starts with a great deal on an off-road ready Tacoma or half ton Tundra, two of Toyota's longest lasting trucks, combining power for work, tech for adventures and style in between. And they're built on a reputation for quality and reliability, which is why Toyota trucks are known for holding their value, which could mean big savings when it's time for your next Toyota. So get a great deal today and a great value tomorrow. Shop toyota.com for more. Toyota, let's go places.

• 0:35Speaker 02

  Ready to upgrade your PC? Shop now during the Dell Top Tech Event and find the award winning tech the experts trust most, like the Dell XPS 13 Laptop. Study, work and do more with a thin and light design, a vivid touchscreen, long lasting battery life and impressive performance powered by Intel Core processors. While shopping, you'll also find great prices on monitors and accessories and perks like Dell Rewards, fast shipping and financing with flexible payment options. Just visit dell.com/deals. That's dell.com/deals.

• 1:12Josh Clark?

  Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's sitting in for a date. So this is short stuff. Hit it Chuck.

• 1:20Speaker 02

  In a world where two doofuses podcast.

• 1:25Speaker 02

  That's my imitation, everybody of Don LaFontaine. And this is a bit of tribute to the man that was known as the voice of God. Don LaFontaine, the movie trailer guy.

• 1:38Josh Clark?

  That's right. That's exactly what a lot of people call him, the movie trailer guy, because he has to his credit Chuck, this eye popping number. I'm going to take this one. Okay.

• 1:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, let's hear it.

• 1:49Josh Clark?

  Over the course of his career, he recorded more than 5,000 film trailers.

• 1:57Speaker 02

  Oh, man.

• 1:58Josh Clark?

  Previews, 5,000 previews, 750,000 television spots. Like commercials and promos and all that stuff.

• 2:07Speaker 02

  I bet Don LaFontaine, when he passed away in.

• 2:13Josh Clark?

  2008, I think.

• 2:15Speaker 02

  2008 was a very, very rich man.

• 2:19Josh Clark?

  I would think so. I would think so.

• 2:22Speaker 02

  And good for him.

• 2:24Josh Clark?

  Sure, I mean, he did it with his own hard work. I mean, by the end of his life, he was working basically till the end.

• 2:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 2:30Josh Clark?

  And by the end of his life, he um, he had built out a home office and was averaging seven voiceovers a day, which you, if you don't do voiceovers, you're probably like, that doesn't seem like that much. I'd knock that out in like 15 minutes.

• 2:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 2:44Josh Clark?

  No, you wouldn't, because it's actually surprisingly difficult. And if you're actually working with a professional company, they will make you do that over and over and over again. And it is quite, it's quite awful. I don't recommend it for anybody who doesn't love voiceover.

• 3:01Speaker 02

  Yeah, we read our audiobook and uh, it was not fun. And this is two guys who talk for a living into a microphone. And it was, it was pretty painstaking.

• 3:10Josh Clark?

  Yeah. And the, the director was even great.

• 3:13Speaker 02

  Yeah. No, everyone did a great job. Everyone was awesome. It had nothing to do with that. It was just very monotonous. It just wasn't for us, you know, we're very off the cuff, you know, obviously, the way we do our show and did not transfer over to uh, like, the exact readings of things.

• 3:28Josh Clark?

  Yeah, for sure. Like, exact. It has to be exact or you'll get yelled at.

• 3:33Speaker 02

  All right. So Don LaFontaine was born in Duluth, Minnesota. Um, he served in the military and the, uh, well, he's in the army because he was in the United States Army Band and Chorus, uh, and worked as a recording engineer there. And once he got out, he continued engineering at the National Recording Studios in New York City. And in 1962, he got hooked up with a producer, a radio producer named Floyd Peterson. And Peterson, uh, just happened to be working with Stanley, the great Stanley Kubrick on Doctor Strangelove, was creating these kind of radio promos.

• 4:07Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 4:07Speaker 02

  And uh, it was like really successful. So he and LaFontaine hooked up and said, all right, we should like be like legit partners from now on.

• 4:17Josh Clark?

  Yeah, they did legitimize it. They formed Floyd L. Peterson, Inc. And I think this is the impression I have is that initially Don LaFontaine just kept doing his engineering thing.

• 4:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, I think so.

• 4:31Josh Clark?

  It wasn't until 1965, a few years into their partnership, that, that I guess there was some scheduling mix up and a voiceover actor didn't show up on time or for their slot. So Don LaFontaine had to step in and record some radio spots for the gunfighters of Casa Grande for MGM. And MGM said, brother, we are just gonna buy this whole thing outright. This proof of concept is done. You invented the plane with the seat back trays and everything right out of the gate.

• 5:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, they're like, hey, you with the perfect voice, give this a shot.

• 5:10Josh Clark?

  Exactly.

• 5:11Speaker 02

  This was at a time when film production and promotion were all kind of done in-house. Like you made the movie and then you didn't go to a different company to like cut the trailer or whatever. Like they did it all themselves.

• 5:23Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 5:24Speaker 02

  And they were like, hey, I think we can disrupt this tradition. And they, I don't know why that was funny. Why was that funny?

• 5:34Josh Clark?

  Disruptors, disruption. It's just such like a 2013 horrible Silicon Valley horror show.

• 5:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, I wasn't thinking of it in the terms of disruptors, but they literally disrupted. But yeah, you're right.

• 5:48Josh Clark?

  Yeah, but no, no, I mean, I wasn't laughing at you, Chuck.

• 5:51Speaker 02

  No, no, I know. You're laughing at people that use the word disruptors with a straight face.

• 5:54Josh Clark?

  Yeah, and the disruptors themselves.

• 5:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, sure. All right, so they were disruptors, straight faced. And they said, they kind of developed the modern movie trailer as we know it together. It was, you know, it was, it was a very creative time for them and they were the first to create these like catchphrases that are now very ubiquitous across the trailer industry. And, you know, this example, I think this came from the New York Times obituary or maybe SAG-AFTRA or DonLaFontaine.com, but they listed some of these sort of catchphrases that are now just all over the place, like a one man army or nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and no way out. But of course, "in a world" was the money slogan.

• 6:42Speaker 02

  And LaFontaine just, he kind of crystallized it when he was like, it's just a very rapid way to set the scene when you can say, "in a world where violence rules." Like, that kind of says it all in just a handful of words about what kind of movie you're about to see.

• 6:58Josh Clark?

  Yeah, because if a 90-minute movie is ideal to have like a nice, steady, crisp clip.

• 7:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:06Josh Clark?

  A trailer has to be even crisper.

• 7:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:09Josh Clark?

  Even at a steadier clip, you have to be able to, yeah, surmise a bunch of stuff from just a few words. And that was, I mean, that was a great innovation. I saw basically everywhere that he's the one that came up with that. He's certainly credited with it.

• 7:23Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 7:24Josh Clark?

  I get the impression no Hollywood historian has actually gone to the trouble of identifying that, yes, he definitely was the one who pioneered it. Everybody's like, yeah, it was Don LaFontaine.

• 7:33Speaker 02

  Yeah. All right. Nice caveat, and we'll be back right after this with more on "The Voice of God."

• 7:55Speaker 03

  First thought is like, wow, how are we going to do all this?

• 7:57Josh Clark?

  Hey, this is Josh and Chuck from Stuff You Should Know.

• 8:00Speaker 02

  That's Alan Goya, planning engineer at AT&T, and he's talking about Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers, where every seat, screen, phone, and transaction is connected with AT&T fiber and 5G, redefining the fan's experience. And Alan's master plan made it all possible.

• 8:16Speaker 03

  It was going to rival anything that was already built. And that takes quite a bit of people and different teams to all be on the same page.

• 8:24Josh Clark?

  That includes field services manager Drexel Jones. His team made sure it all came together and held up on game day.

• 8:30Speaker 04

  Through Alan's whole crew design, we connected the event visitors to the world.

• 8:36Speaker 02

  And after years of hard work and collaboration, it was opening night.

• 8:39Speaker 04

  To actually see the whole stadium light up and data's flowing is a beautiful thing.

• 8:44Speaker 03

  What the fans experience is incredible. It gave me a lot of pride.

• 8:47Josh Clark?

  AT&T, connecting fans to what they love.

• 8:51Speaker 05

  Connecting changes everything. AT&T.

• 8:57Speaker 02

  You know, you're never done decorating your home. You know what I mean?

• 9:00Josh Clark?

  Sure.

• 9:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, because it's a process. There's always something you could do, or buy, or update. The only question is, what's next? For us, our animals just wear out our rugs so quickly. It's usually a new rug.

• 9:11Josh Clark?

  Well, Chuck, whether you need a rug, or whatever is next for you, you can go to Wayfair. It's the smart place to get it.

• 9:18Speaker 02

  That's right. Whatever your style, whatever your budget, whatever you're looking for, Wayfair makes it easy to find it. And you can feel good about your purchases, too, because Wayfair verified products go through a thorough 10-point quality inspection.

• 9:29Josh Clark?

  And with over 20 million 5-star reviews, Wayfair must be doing something right. You can find pieces made for real life and get even more value with Wayfair Rewards. Join Wayfair Rewards today to get 5% back on every purchase. Head to wayfair.com to shop all things home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R dot com.

• 10:04Speaker 02

  All right. So "In a World" is the kind of thing that has been parodied many, many times over the years. Like, once it became so ubiquitous, every comedian latched on to it. They were in GEICO commercials. The Simpsons movie, like, used Don LaFontaine. And at the end, like, Homer was talking back to Don LaFontaine as the voice of God, and that was kind of fun. So obviously, that's the kind of thing that's going to be parodied. But as far as his real career goes, we can go back to 1976, when he started his own production company, Don LaFontaine Associates. And his first assignment out of the gate was Godfather Part II. And two years later, Paramount Pictures said, "Hey, why don't you just come work for us and run our trailer department?"

• 10:49Josh Clark?

  Yeah. And he said, ka-ching, I'll be right there.

• 10:53Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 10:53Josh Clark?

  I always loved your mountain logo.

• 10:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, me too.

• 10:57Josh Clark?

  That was, uh, that was such a great thing at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark, where it dissolves from the Paramount logo into the actual mountain.

• 11:05Speaker 02

  I knew you were gonna say that. I just saw Disclosure Day, the new Spielberg, and I highly recommend it.

• 11:09Josh Clark?

  Okay, good. I saw Backrooms in the theater twice within three days.

• 11:14Speaker 02

  Oh, wow.

• 11:15Josh Clark?

  I really liked it a lot.

• 11:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, all right. Did you see it twice just because you wanted to, or you're like, oh, I gotta take you and me back and see this?

• 11:22Josh Clark?

  Both of those.

• 11:22Speaker 02

  Okay, cool.

• 11:23Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 11:24Speaker 02

  That's fun.

• 11:25Josh Clark?

  Yeah. So, but yes, I recommend that as well. I'll go see Disclosure Day.

• 11:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 11:29Josh Clark?

  You're the second group of people who recommended it.

• 11:32Speaker 02

  I'm a group?

• 11:34Josh Clark?

  You are.

• 11:35Speaker 02

  Amazing.

• 11:35Josh Clark?

  That's how important you are.

• 11:37Speaker 02

  All right. So he worked at Paramount for just a few years, left in 81, moved to LA, which is ironically where Paramount is. And there was an agent named Steve Tisherman who said, hey, you should really like, like, he wasn't the voice of God, the voice of God yet in 1981. He were like, you should really just concentrate on this because you're so good at it.

• 11:55Josh Clark?

  Sure.

• 11:56Speaker 02

  And that was it. That's when he really cemented his legacy as just the voiceover guy.

• 12:01Josh Clark?

  Yeah. Real quick question, Chuck. Um, why does Steve Tisherman's name sound familiar? I did not get a chance to look him up, but.

• 12:09Speaker 02

  I don't know.

• 12:09Josh Clark?

  Is he like a legendary agent?

• 12:11Speaker 02

  I have no idea, actually. It didn't ring familiar to me.

• 12:14Josh Clark?

  Okay, it did for me for some reason. I don't know.

• 12:16Speaker 02

  Maybe, though, you know?

• 12:18Josh Clark?

  But, yes, Don LaFontaine did become the king of voiceovers, the voice of God after about that time, starting in the eighties. He became the, like, the in-house, I guess, voice for all four of the networks in America, plus the overlooked fifth one, UPN.

• 12:39Speaker 02

  That's right. And TNT and TBS, Cartoon Network.

• 12:42Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 12:43Speaker 02

  Uh, I mean, you can hardly name a brand without, you know, mentioning Don LaFontaine having voiced for them.

• 12:50Josh Clark?

  You're not gonna say all these brands?

• 12:53Speaker 02

  That's funny. And then, you know, he was sort of the in-show announcer for award shows for the Academy Awards at times. And just, you know, it was a heck of a career. And I love it when someone can find a niche like that and just like dominate it to that degree. It's really kind of fun.

• 13:10Josh Clark?

  He definitely did dominate. And not just dominate it, but also make fun of yourself, too.

• 13:14Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. He had a great sense of humor, I feel like.

• 13:16Josh Clark?

  Yeah, that Geico commercial, I went back and watched it, the one from 2005.

• 13:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 13:21Josh Clark?

  It is so cute. There's this real Geico customer telling about like this story where they had to like, you know, call Geico and, you know, I guess make a claim. That's the word I'm looking for.

• 13:33Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 13:34Josh Clark?

  And it was just an average, everyday story. So they hired Don LaFontaine to kind of movie it up. And so he was translating what the woman was saying. It was very cute.

• 13:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, I bet he made some good scratch from them, too.

• 13:50Josh Clark?

  I hope so, man. He definitely deserved it. And by the way, if you are, if you work in advertising for Geico, you guys have been killing it for the entire century so far.

• 14:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, I think they always put out a pretty fun spot.

• 14:07Josh Clark?

  Remember the Geico cavemen?

• 14:09Speaker 02

  That's great.

• 14:11Josh Clark?

  Did you know that there was a short-lived TV show featuring them? Do you remember that?

• 14:16Speaker 02

  Yeah. Did it actually come out? I remember it was a thing. Okay. Yeah, I didn't know if they actually made it to air, but I knew it was a thing.

• 14:23Josh Clark?

  It was rough.

• 14:24Speaker 02

  Yeah. I mean, that probably wasn't. Some things are best left as 30-minute or 30-second ads.

• 14:28Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 14:30Speaker 02

  Like most things, probably.

• 14:31Josh Clark?

  Yeah. America's very fickle.

• 14:33Speaker 02

  So this is, well, I don't know if it's surprising or not, because he kind of had that deep bear tone. But he was an on and off smoker for a lot of his life. And he had quit, though, for two solid decades. He did the right thing before he was admitted to Cedar Sinai, very sadly, in 2008, with a pulmonary embolism, was in critical condition the week after that. And his family was like, let's pray for Don, like he needs to hear from everybody. And on September 1, 2008, he passed at the age of 68, about 10 days into his hospitalization. And he is interned at the fantastic, legendary Hollywood Forever Cemetery, which is great.

• 15:15Josh Clark?

  Which we did a whole short stuff on itself.

• 15:17Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah, that's right.

• 15:19Josh Clark?

  Yeah. Apparently, his last final performance was in a Phineas and Ferb episode. I'm pretty sure, and I know it's a cartoon, I'm pretty sure it's Nickelodeon cartoon. The episode is The Chronicles of Meep, if you want to go hear him. His final line was, "In a world..." There, I said it. Happy?

• 15:37Speaker 02

  That's funny.

• 15:37Josh Clark?

  Which is a great final line. And they put a little short tribute to him at the end of the episode, so good for them.

• 15:44Speaker 02

  I wonder if he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, because he totally should.

• 15:48Josh Clark?

  If he doesn't, then the Walk of Fame needs to get their act together.

• 15:52Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm looking that up real quick, because that was something that I meant to look up earlier.

• 15:57Josh Clark?

  Well, hold on, while you're looking that up, let me mention, there's a 2013 movie, written and directed by Lake Bell.

• 16:05Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 16:05Josh Clark?

  Called In a World, and it's about like the voiceover world, I guess.

• 16:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, she's great.

• 16:12Josh Clark?

  Yeah, I haven't seen it. Have you seen it?

• 16:15Speaker 02

  I have not seen that movie, but I'm a fan of Lake Bell from Children's Hospital. And I've just learned, and of course,

• 16:25Speaker 02

  I don't know if this is right or not, the AI overviews are so bad, it's hysterical sometimes.

• 16:30Josh Clark?

  Let me just make something up.

• 16:31Speaker 02

  Because that says no, but then I'm seeing a picture of him with a star, so maybe yes. Yesterday, I asked whatever the stupid assistant in my house is, because I wasn't sure if Ireland had made the World Cup this year, and I said, "Is Ireland in the World Cup?" And it said, "No, Ireland is in Ireland."

• 16:52Josh Clark?

  Oh, my God. Wow.

• 16:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, not a joke.

• 16:56Josh Clark?

  Wow.

• 16:56Speaker 02

  Pretty unbelievable.

• 16:58Josh Clark?

  At least it acknowledged that Ireland exists.

• 17:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, it's making everything better, right?

• 17:04Josh Clark?

  Sure, yeah, but like by the second.

• 17:07Speaker 02

  All right, so I'll do some real research and see if he has that star on the Walk of Fame, and I'll report back later.

• 17:12Josh Clark?

  Yeah, because ironically, the AI assistant could be right, because another AI program created a fake picture of him on the, with the star.

• 17:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:21Josh Clark?

  What a time to be alive.

• 17:22Speaker 02

  I know.

• 17:24Josh Clark?

  That's it, I guess. Short stuff's out, right?

• 17:27Speaker 02

  Short stuff's out.