Two great minor-character cartoon voice actors have recently passed on. The first was Alex Rocco was more well known as a parent in The Facts of Life and someone who got whacked in The Godfather II. His first and recurring Roger Meyers Jr. appearances on The Simpsons rejuvenated his career according to him on a commentary (I could be wrong on this). Alex had a great show-biz type voice, especially when he’d go on a tear in court on how nothing is original or telling the writers to create Poochie. Really raspy and angry. The latter is often used an inside joke for those of us fighting against corporate idiocy. The crazy yellow family then led to him being the insect Thorny (head of construction) in A Bug’s Life. I hope they plan to write Mr. Meyers out alongside Mrs. Krabappel instead of recasting.
George Coe is not as famous outside us diehards. He was more recently recognized as Archer’s tortured butler Woodhouse. Since Archer‘s create came from the early Adult Swim days via Sealab 2021, I’m confident Georges “old man” voice was used in other productions, I kept imagining Space Ghost and/or Brak things. More obituaries said he was an early member of SNL. Not sure exactly how. I’m guessing maybe he was a minor bit player behind the so-called imaginary “golden age” with Belushi, Akroyd, etc. It’s similar to how they say Al Franken and Tom Davis were in the cast when they were writers who occasionally were in skits.
Thanks gentlemen. You contributions made two great cartoons even better. Jokes about Hanna Barbera ripping off other sitcoms and historical references to the overthrow of Iran’s legitimate, pre-shah government will always be in my memory.