Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Stupid Twitter got me again. I saw the tag on the right hoping it was good news about the upcoming King of the Hill revival but no, it was the sad news on how Johnny was found dead in house two days ago. Now I’m wondering how far along the show got with Hulu. Did Johnny lay down Dale’s voice for a season or were they still negotiating since the two strikes have everything in limbo. Will they replace him or will the beloved, paranoid and full-of-crap Dale be recast. I would err on risking a new voice actor because Dale Gribble and his hilarious, vocal opinions were a key element to making King so funny. I recall reading about how Dale was created by (I think) Jeff Daniels to offset how conservative (really a traditionalist, not an asshole) Hank was. I’m curious how they are going to address Dale being part of MAGA’s key demographic…on paper.
Lastly, I’m sad about missing the opportunity to talk to Johnny at any great length a few years ago. When the bulk of the Futurama gang came to our Austin TV Festival to perform a table read of the “Six Million Dollar Mon,” at the Paramount, Johnny surprised us all by yelling in his Dale voice at friend and co-star David Herman during the Q&A. It was funny. I didn’t have time to bug him as I had to reserve my efforts to get David and Phil Lamar to sign my Simpsons chucks; I got Billy West, Maurice LaMarche and David X Cohen later at a podcast thing in the Driskell.
Thanks for everything Johnny! You gave the world one very memorable and incredibly funny but also complicated comedic characters in history. Being a reside of Central Texas for the last 29 years, you’ve always permeated dozens of inside jokes via Rusty Shackleford dodges, pocket sand and whenever my iPhone gets a call from an unknown person, it’s your bit, trying to intimidate Peggy from teaching sex education.
