Terry Briscoe, Voice Actor, Storyteller, Dad

00:00
It's fine. We're acting it's okay.

00:11
Welcome to another episode of Chewing the Fat. I am your host, Big Robb. Thank you so much for tuning in, downloading the podcast.  I certainly do appreciate that. And to the folks that have bought me a coffee at chewingthefatbr.com, thank you so much for supporting this podcast. I really do appreciate it.  It is one of the  favorite things that I do during the week is to create this podcast because I do believe the more that we can have these conversations about the things that keep us down, the easier it is to get through them. And I could not do that.

00:41
without my guests and I have a new friend here from the VO community that I've just fallen in love with.  He is a great human being calling us from Clarksburg, Maryland that is in the DMV, not DMZ as I originally said. He's not in the DMZ trying to phone.  Please welcome Terry Briscoe. Hey, Big Robb, what's up man? Thanks for having me on. Oh, thank you for being here, Terry. I  really do appreciate  it.

01:08
You know what? I'm gonna say, I don't remember exactly how I met Terry. He just kinda came into my world. It's just as the, you know, the VO community grows and you make connections, you know people, people know people and you get introduced to people and you start seeing the same people in workouts and  on calls and  you know, that stuff. And  probably  saw  you working  on the  Leo Braun stuff.  Seen a lot of people posting about Leo Brawn. That's another audio drama.

01:37
Podcast it's a great podcast if you're into like horror stories and long-form  world and  storytelling  You gotta check out Leo Brawn that's B-R-A-W-N. It's a great podcast Jason  Beard  great writer for that But  I think I saw you were involved in that and I think I just reached out be like hey, that's exactly what happened  That is exactly what happened we still to me um,  I think you started as a fan of the show. Yeah

02:06
and you reached out to me based upon that. And you was like, hey man, how can I get on here? And I'm like, well, let me make a phone call and see what we can do. It means like, know, dead body number three or anything, know, just something to be a part of it. yeah, so it's, again, I love doing that podcast as well. It's just such, again, great writing. Jason's some great writing, but your work in it as Willie Topaz.

02:34
Everyone says his name differently  Everyone says that they drop into like a slight Terry impression  I Just feel like you know sometimes you know people and you have to say their whole name  Like when you when you talk to them you're like,  oh That's Jim Collins or whoever you can't just say that's Jim. Well, that's you know I feel like Willie Topaz is one of those names. You can't just say oh, that's Willie

03:00
I agree, it's a package deal. It's Willie Topaz. Exactly. It's Willie Topaz. It's not Willie or Topaz. Exactly. So Terry, you're up in Maryland and is that home base for you? Is that where you were born, raised, grew up? I was actually born in Georgia, but I have no recollection because I was months old when we moved to the DC area. My dad is from DC. My whole family is from DC, except for my mom's folks who I don't really know.

03:29
But they moved up here and I think I think I was three months old. Okay, so okay I've been in the DC area outside of you know, where I was stationed in different military places  Most of my life. Okay  So growing up were you always into like the entertaining thing and telling stories  or Were you that  funny kid in class liking to do all the funny voices? I mean or how did how did  voice acting become your thing?

03:58
It's,  my is a circuitous route  to voice acting.  I did not grow up  in the performing arts until like I started, did, I wrote poetry in high school.  And I was actually pretty good at it, but I never pursued like doing it on stage or anything of that nature.  So then when I went to,  as a freshman at Towson University, I befriended my college roommate  and I met he, and he knew other guys that were rappers.

04:27
And it was just a natural progression for me going into spoken word poetry into rapping, especially in the 90s when the golden era of hip hop, right? But as a child, I actually used to sit under my, it's a well-known story now, like I used to lay underneath my coffee table and watch cartoons and wrestling and all that stuff in the morning. And this is when you're old enough to actually know this commercial.

04:56
The know my brother, you got to buy your own. That way, you know what I'm talking about? So  I didn't know this until I was an adult, but Dave Finoy actually does the voiceover in that commercial. He doesn't say that line, but he does the commercial for, he's like the sounds of the 70s. It's  Dave Finoy when he was a man.  So I was literally laying underneath my coffee table listening to and imitating Dave Finoy when I was a little tike.  That's awesome.  Yeah. So I always had that in my mind. That commercial and Optimus Prime.

05:26
Mm-hmm. So I've always been my whole life. like, I always wanted to do that. But you know, it's so many of us. We don't know that's a real job. Yeah. Yeah. And especially if you're in a smaller town, you know, mean, yeah, you're near DC, but DC is all about politics. By the time I was actually in DC. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But that's what saying. I mean, it's like, you know, that's what everybody associates with DC. Although DC has a...

05:50
an amazing like jazz culture and music culture there too.  Go Go has, have our very own style of music called Go Go that is, that is  indigenous to the DC area.  And  the movie Bustin' Loose,  the theme song Bustin' Loose from Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, that is the original Go Go band. Oh wow. And basically just like invented an entirely different music that just never took off anywhere else but here. That's wild. That's wild. But yeah, yeah.  you know,

06:18
So, mean, so you're in an area where there's life, there's culture, there's things that you can get involved in. like I said, for the most part, people know DC is that's the nation's capital and politics and all that stuff that goes on there. So guess living in an area like that, growing up in an area, that can kind of give you a different type of perspective on finding the things that you're interested in.

06:47
that aren't what the area you're in are known for. Yeah. Right? 100%. Yeah.  And even we do have like a little, it's like we, there are so many films that are DC centric,  but they're not actually filmed in DC because you can't film in DC. Right. Right.  And people don't know that. Like most of the stuff's filmed in Baltimore  or Northern Virginia  because you can actually get permits there and you can't get permits to film in DC. Wow. So, but people think that there's like this thriving.

07:15
you know, atmosphere of movie making in DC, but it's not  at all. Right, right. Yeah, I know I've got some friends  that work on Broadway and a lot of times they will workshop shows in DC before they then  move it into their, you know, the Broadway run or whatever like that. So I have friends that like, like I said,  there's artists, there's a life, there's that type of stuff that's going on there, but it's necessarily the way that you think.

07:44
Yeah, it's not big here. It's like you said, this is the place that you come to. I mean, we have world famous theater, the Warner Theater. We have world famous theaters here, the Kennedy Center. was actually, of my dream jobs that I booked, I actually got to do a promo for the Warner Theater. Oh, So I was like, this is like growing up around here and the icon that does the Warner Theater, I got to do a job for them. like...

08:10
Yay, yeah, we all have our own personal little bucket lists and things like man. I'd love to be involved in that I'd love to be in and even if you didn't even realize it you're like, oh wait, oh  I remember walking past this AR I've ever seen this and I remember you know what I mean to be Associated with that and nobody may ever know your name. You're just the voice on the yep  the promo  But you're like, that's  that's me. I can put that on my resume now Yes

08:35
Yes, actually, again, some of these people that I imitated as a kid, I imitated the DC lottery guy. And I got that phone call while I was outside playing basketball one day and the guy was like, all right, yeah, we wanted you for the DC Powerball commercial. And I'm like, And that's the cool thing. So there's another little Terry somewhere in the DMV that heard that commercial sitting under the coffee table and might be like,

09:03
man, I'd like to do that one day. Oh man, so this is like a super cool story. So  that commercial was on the radio  and I was in a movie that I was fortunate enough to actually win a Best Supporting Actor award for in this movie. order for it to receive Oscar consideration, you had to have  a debut in, I want to say New York or LA.

09:28
So it's terribly small movie, man. Like there's no budget, but it was just, you know, it was fun to do and I never thought I'd be in a movie. But the song, one of the songs on the soundtrack was going to be nominated for an Oscar. Thereby the whole movie is now nominated for an Oscar as well. So we had to have a debut. did a, went up to New York for a debut in Manhattan.

09:51
And I was riding with my friend before we hopped on the bus, the whole cast, he had paid for the, the director paid for a bus for us to go up to Manhattan and watch our movie.  we were in Dunkin Donuts,  the line and drive through. And then my commercial came on for the DC lottery that morning. And then, so we went from that to going up to Manhattan to watch our own movie that was on the play, it was on the billboard  with Barbie and Oppenheimer.

10:21
Wow, and I was like this is like the dopest day ever right? Yeah  Can't get any better than that  Was that  was that line of Judah? Yes,  okay. Okay. Yes. Yes. It was a lion of Judah legacy because there's another we call lion  Yeah,  very cool, man. That's awesome  Yeah, that was a yeah,  that was a cool day  So you  spoke of  not really

10:51
pursuing the arts per se. You started writing poetry, doing some rap, come out of school, come out of high school. Where does Terry go? What's Terry's next move right out of high school there? Well, I had actually committed to joining the Army Reserves before I even went to, I wasn't even 18 years old when I committed to going to the Army Reserves. was 17 when I signed up. And so my next move was going to...

11:17
go do my training and my training was like most people go for MOS.  The usual is between three and six months.  But I had a double MOS, so I had to go for like a year.  And then I'm like that means when I came back, I was already like one year removed from my high school class into college.  For my freshman year at Towson.  So in school, then what were you studying? were you? Psychology and mass communications.

11:45
Okay, so mass communications, you know, that kind of keeps you like a pinky finger, you know, in kind of that realm, you know what I mean? Yeah, and when I was in, when I was attending Towson, actually did work for a radio station as a promotions assistant. So I was on air, drive the van.

12:07
get people to eat chicken wing competitions.  So best job ever because it was working for the Ravens in 2000 when they won the Superbowl. So  I was like, I was working for them  and had the best deal ever. So I was a member of a  team  and we used to do the Tony Serguss of the show, the radio show,  who went on to be in the Sopranos.  So we used do his show every week  and we had an open tab at the bar.

12:36
We could eat anything we wanted, could drink anything we wanted, and my partner didn't drink.  So I'd never had to worry about driving.  So they were essentially paying me $10 an hour just to go get a hammer and then get beautiful women to go talk to million dollar athletes  and  be in chicken wing eating competitions. It was amazing.  Best job ever. Yeah. Look, I worked in radio for a long time and  it's one of those jobs that like you don't do it for the money.

13:06
because they don't pay hardly anything, but you get the best stories because people would not believe it. These things happen, yeah, for sure. No, that's awesome. So did you, after Towson and all that, did you then go in to serve military? Or? I did my three, I did like three and a half years and it was done. yeah, I was out.

13:32
actually got a general discharge under honorable conditions because when my debt  year,  I had like a half a year, like six months left  before I fulfilled my, where I can go into the inactive ready reserve.  And my father passed away 10 days after my 22nd birthday.  And I come home  and actually weird, like  my brother had just been released from prison.

14:00
and he was under my custody in Baltimore, Towson.  And he lived with me for the final three months of his sentence.  And my father was sick, he had cancer.  And the day, November 16th, the day my brother came off of release,  my dad died the same day.  So,  yeah, so we are,  you know, mourning him.

14:26
Working two jobs. I'm in the reserves. I'm taking like 14 credits  like that. So we're like I was taking 300 level courses  and you know, the pressure just got to me man. I was just like  He's like I'm a you want to smoke some weed. I was like, right. Yeah sure  I smoked and then that just so happened two weeks later. We went up to  New Jersey to go to our  our summer You know our two-week summer thing we had to do  and they tested us there

14:51
And so I got like what they call an administrative discharge I got a it's a general under honorable conditions because I never really did anything wrong except this one thing Mm-hmm, they never even gave me like a Wow  So my  service ended in three and a half years. Mm-hmm  Yep, so then I returned back to Towson and  I did that for like  another year and half and I was like then the money ran out Yeah, so I was just in Baltimore just working and you know

15:19
After a while I was just like, why am I here right now? I moved here to go to college, I'm no longer going to college. I'm leaving without a degree, no longer in the military. So you know what, I'm leaving. And I left everything I owned. Wow, where'd you head to? I came back down here. I graduated from high school at Springbrook in Montgomery County in Silver Spring, Maryland. And my family, my brothers were still here. My mom lived in Hyattsville.

15:48
And so just came back down here. My brother was like, yeah, come on, just move back. And I went to live with him for like a very short amount of time. Cause I just couldn't. I just couldn't. so I just moved out after like, then I ran away for like three months. Oh wow. So it was definitely something great came out of that then. mean, know, as tumultuous as it seems, mean. Yeah, it all ended up.

16:18
On the bright side, Well, what then, what's the path, what are the dots that connect between that point and 2021? When you say you started your true voice acting career. Sure. So I began, after I met my wife, I got a job as a truck driver. And...

16:46
I from that, from being a truck driver to being a transit bus driver.  And then  that's when I got sick.  For your listeners who do not know, I have multiple sclerosis.  And my MS cost me my career because, you know, kind of a dangerous career to have if you have MS. Right,  right. Right.

17:06
And so I started my transportation company. Man, this is a really circuitous route. No, no, it's fascinating. So I started my own individual transportation company where I doing non-emergency medical transportation. One of my bus driver buddies, Keith Jenkins, saved my life. He owned a company where he had senior group homes. And one of the sad hosels he did with them was he took them to their doctor's appointments as well.

17:35
So he was like, I teach you how to do this business. And he did. I mean, gave me my first clients, everything. And so I did that for, I still do it now, actually. My company's still active. I just celebrate my 11th year. Yeah, yeah, so the pandemic is where are the dots that connected all together. So I'm running my business. I think it was my seventh year of my business, so eighth year at that point. And then the pandemic comes down.

18:04
So ironically though, the pandemic was news to everyone else. The pandemic was not news to me. My daughter, my youngest daughter who's getting ready to graduate and go to Arizona State.  Yeah, she was committed last week.  She was supposed to go to Beijing  on a school trip  in the spring  of 2020.

18:31
So from 2019 on, had my, at the bottom of the bottom half of 2019 on, I had my ears to the ground and what was going on in China. I was paying crazy attention to what was going on. I was sitting in my baby over there. know, so once the reports started coming through, I was like, this is, this is not, well they canceled it anyway, but yeah, you definitely not going on. So, because I had paid thousands of dollars for this trip to go down and I knew,

18:59
that the pandemic was coming down the pipe. I had stored up stuff, I had saved up money, all of that stuff. So it was in the news to me when it hit. However, I was not expecting it to hit like the way it did. Like I lost $3,000 in income the first month from people who nobody's going the doctor's appointment. They ain't going nowhere. can't take them anywhere. The doctor's offices aren't open. Right, right. So I was like, oh man, okay.

19:27
And then they came through with the stimulus checks, right? And I said...

19:34
You know what, this thing that's been eating at me my whole life that I just never did. And I saw one of those,  you know the Facebook, you know what I'm talking You know the ads.  You know the ads. You can make a seven figure salary in 90 seconds with your voice and no microphone. I already knew that was BS.  But I had been using my voice my entire life. I was in chorus when I was a kid.

20:00
I was a, but I didn't even mention that, but yeah, it was a chorus when I was, I started out in chorus as a child, carried that all the way through high school, did spoken word poetry, going with the rapping. So I had always been using my voice and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna go for it. That's what I've always wanted to do and I'm gonna go for it. So I took the stimulus money and I built myself a booth and not this one, but.

20:28
But yeah, built it bit, and I contacted Such A Voice as well, came through. And I met Tim Powers.  He was my first coach, which is,  that's  enormous blessing.  Because I know people who did not have that experience.  he's been very influential in not only  my voiceover career, but my life as well. Yeah, my first time meeting him this year.

20:55
at Vio Atlanta and he's just such a great guy. Just a solid dude. guy man. Keeley shirt off his back man. Shout out Tim Powers. Yeah. But okay, okay. you know, so it was, it was a little bit more than like I said, 90 seconds and you know, before you bring it down your seven figure salary, right? So I mean, was like a minute, 10 maybe, a second.

21:23
Set me less, I'd be able to 70 seconds. 180 seconds, you go. So what was that start like? Like say you got a great coach to start it. And you're saying easily it's not that, know, snap your fingers and you're the next thing.

21:45
You didn't get called instantly to be the next Powerball DC voice.  No, I didn't. You didn't get instantly called to  do the other thing, you know what I mean? Do  the theater.  You had to work at it, right?  I did have to work at it. I will  admit that I have been  fortunate  and...  fortunate, talented, and  educated.

22:14
Enough where all it's all things intersected and success happened Relatively fast for me compared to how most people experience voiceover. I got my demos in my hand and As the story goes nothing stories and the story goes I had a part-time job as a liquor store clerk in my county because that's that's a government job in my county Oh, wow, so for 20. Yeah, so I had like a I had like a 12 to 20 hour job where I full benefits including like yeah

22:44
I'm like, oh, this job, well. But I had to get rid of that job because I had an attack or a relapse, the knife, about the job. I was, just, Tim had given me a book to read and I bought it and I like, all right, okay. So I'm standing there, doing slow times at the store. I'm standing there and I'm the book. And it was a voiceover voice actor.

23:12
by Tara Platt and Yuri Lowenthal. And guy walks up to me, everybody's messed up, I couldn't see what the guy was doing. He walks up to me and he says, hey, oh, you're an actor. And I'm so green at that point, I don't even accept it. I'm actor, you know what I mean? Right, right, you're like, ah. We say, ah, like I haven't booked anything. I'm this. Yeah, I'm reading this, but I'm trying to be an actor, I'm trying to be a voice actor, right?

23:37
That thing where we really had that light that goes on his voice acting is acting. Yes, right. It is. is. So the guy's like, oh man, I'm an actor too. You know, here's my telephone number. And I'm in my head, I'm like, yeah, of Sure you're an actor, Right, right. OK, great. Sure you're an actor. So I lose his number that he gives me because he just wrote it on a little piece of paper. And he came back in the store a couple of weeks later. he's like, hey man, you never called me. But here's my actual card.

24:07
He gives me his card and he has the INDB on the back of his card. So I'm like, oh, this dude is actually an actor. So I go home, or like doing my break or something, and I look him up. And I was like, oh, this dude was in The Dark Knight. And I was like, oh my God, this dude's like, are you okay? He's been in some things. He's been in some things. It's like, oh, okay, cool. And then so I called and I like, hey man, I just got my demo back.

24:38
And I was like, can I see, cause he did some voice acting as well. I'm like, hey man, can I send you my demo? Can you like give me your assessment and tell me if it's any good? I mean, I think it's good, but you know, Tim told me it's good. I trust Tim's opinion, but you you can't, you don't, need more ears on these things. Right, right. He's like, send it to me. So he sent it to him. And then he was like, wow, that was really, really good, man. Um, do you mind if I pass along your demo?

25:03
I was like, man, pass it on to everyone. And he's like, cool, cool, cool. I got a director buddy who I like to hear it. And so he sends it to him, his name's Jun DeGiso from MJD Productions. He does local movies in this area. And the dude calls me, he's like, hey, I like your demo a lot. I'm shooting a movie next weekend.

25:31
And I would like to know if you like a part in the movie, you know, like a movie, movie? Like, with real people? Like on camera? on camera? He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I got a role for you. I'm like, I mean, sure, why the hell not? I've never done it before, why the hell not? Right. And so.

25:53
I'm thinking I'm gonna be like, you know, like standing on a corner like, you know, maybe sitting in the chair at a bus stop or something. With like a red stocking cap on because. Because why not? Because why not? You know what I mean? Because that's just the look. Yeah. But he gave, he actually gave me nine lines in the movie. Okay. So I was like, oh my God, I actually got an IMDB credit for this. Nice. Yeah.

26:20
First out the shoot, they were like, I step on, I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know what blocking is. I don't know nothing about nothing. I go on the site, just like, tell me what to do. I'm like, yeah, go over there. When it come when I hit three, two, one, you come through the gate, the gun and we're good to go. I'm like, all right, cool, let's do it. And they were like, you're natural. I'm like, cool. All right. Of course I am. So I wind up.

26:50
And the irony in all of that is,  one of the guys who's like, one of his associates,  Francisco Anderson,  he wrote a movie that he wanted to be done.  And  they originally hired a guy, my character's name is Jimmy Crow.  That's the role that I won the award for. They originally wrote it for a white  guy.  So he backed out, I guess he had something else to do.

27:19
He backed out and they were like, let's have Terry do it.  He called me, I was like, oh yeah, sure, whatever man, let's go down.  And yeah, man, we go down and film it at Frank's,  his sister's house,  and she just passed away recently, rest in peace to her.  Yeah, and that was one of them. And so the  scene, one of the scenes that I was in.

27:43
I'm like a scumbag in a movie obviously, about a name Jimmy Crowe, right?  So he's like a biggest sellout in the world.  And there's this beautiful woman in a movie who is like the love interest of the main character.  But I'm her boss at the  corporation that we work at.  And I'm just so sleazy and  grimy.  It's just cringey.  I'm having a hard time doing it.

28:11
Right because I just met this woman and I was like, I was a natural necessarily to This is second nature. You haven't been to like four years of Juilliard to be able to embody a different character and get your own Yeah, yeah, right. So after a while, let me shoot we shoot like I don't know like five takes I mean, she's I'm having trouble. She's like just do it. It's fine. We're acting is okay and she said that and

28:40
Cool, and I go full sleazy, just, ugh, guy. And then that's the role that I wound up winning the award for. So thanks to her for giving me the permissions to actually really flexing the role. And thanks to Frank for giving me the role to begin with. That's really cool, man. That's really cool. So is there...

29:05
more on camera stuff you wanna do? mean, so you're an actor now, you're a voice actor, that's how I know you, but I mean, obviously you're an actor as well, you can embody those characters. Do you wanna do more stuff on cam? I mean, I'm not going to say that I'm never going to do anything else because they're constantly asking me to do stuff and I, man, thank goodness that they do. They have interest in me and think I'm good enough to do it, but it's not where my heart lies. Yeah.

29:32
I love voice acting man. I love voice acting. That's all I wanna do man. I wanna voice act and I wanna teach other people to voice act. That's what I wanna do. Yeah. That's awesome. What is your favorite genre of voice acting right now?

29:46
Who I think you know the answer I Mean first and foremost we talking about we talk about finances or we talking about your heart commercial is always gonna be the one that That's gonna be the one it's gonna be because everybody has a commercial, you know And if you can get on a commercial you can get some dollars in your pocket. Yes, you know Everybody wants to have a national commercial everybody wants to do that

30:13
Coca-Cola whatever large brand that you just grew up with and  you have a part of that That's I think as voice actors. That's a given it doesn't matter if you're an audiobook actor  or What if somebody you know if Apple come and say hey Rob, would you do this spot? Yeah show  what? Not gonna turn that down  no, so so yes, so we understand that Commercial is always kind of there. It's always part of the plan, but

30:41
sometimes it's not necessarily the dream. It is not. And the dream is obviously from what I was mentioning earlier, watching Transformers as a little kid, obviously the dream is being on something like, not necessarily, for me it's not necessarily like a Disney movie. A lot of people say Disney movie or Marvel movies. I don't necessarily want to be that. Kevin Michael Richardson, I don't know if you know who Kevin Michael Richardson is. Kevin Michael Richardson is one of my absolute favorite voice actors and

31:09
He doesn't have a signature role.  He has a lot of  great roles and a lot of roles that move, that help stories move along and  get good laughs and stuff.  But he's in everything.  He is in  everything. And I want to be that guy. I want to be the guy that is in it. I want to be the guy with the IMDB credits. There's so many, you got to flip the pages.  You know what I mean?

31:33
I want to be Jerome in Family Guy. want to be, you know, the sheriff in Gravity Falls. I want all of those, the versatility roles. That's what I want to  As an on-camera actor, that'd be what they call the character actor. Yes. You want to be the one that they have. We have this weird puzzle piece that we need film like,  Call Rob, Call Terry.  They're the puzzle piece.  They're those utility actors that can do whatever you need done.

32:00
Yeah, 100%. You don't get necessarily put into a pigeon hole like, oh, well that's what he's known for and anything he does kind of sounds like that. Right. You know what I mean? Right. You want to be that versatility actor. Yeah. I love that. Absolutely. That is exactly what I want to be.  Outside of that, mean, you know what my dream would be? What's that? Like if I could wave a magic wand and make something happen,  it would be to play Willie Topaz  in

32:29
an animated version of Leo Braun. It's like for Adult Swim.  That would be amazing. Like a DC Comics  style animation movie with Leo Braun. a  graphic novelist,  graphic novel style. Almost like a Sin City type of- I love Sin City so much. Something like that. That'd be cool. That would be so cool. I could hear Stitch  now  with the drawing of Leo.

32:59
It would be, that would be everything. And that's a character that I've built from the ground up with Jason.  He does the writing and I bring myself to the role.  And  to  be able to continue that on in an animated series would be the dream.  And that's a role that started with Leo Braun, but you do have a spin-off series that is coming,  right? Yes, yes, we do.

33:26
And it's a comedy outrageously. It's a comedy coming from a horror. Right. But I mean,  you know, mean,  one that that the show just some of the genius of the writing of this,  you know, for sure that Jason has and all. But  but also to hear something in your performance to say, you know what, this is not that one note  sonnet. This is something that has depth and has character that  we can pull from and bring other things to light in it. So  to be able to bring up.

33:56
comedy from what was created as a horror, I mean that's pretty spectacular. I don't know if I've ever seen it go that way before. That's very unique in its own way. I mean like a lot of that is Jim. Because playing off a Jim is so easy to make things funny.

34:17
I don't necessarily think I'm a stand-up comedian funny kind of guy.  I can put a quip in there, here and there, and I make Willie sound funny with his arrogance and stuff. But  Jim's just a funny, funny guy. Yeah, Jim Frank is  hilarious. He's hilarious. I love doing this with him. But yeah, and that kind of goes back to Tim Powers and the improv and being able to be in the moment. And  when you have a great scene partner to play with, you can just create...

34:47
these just hilarious things and you can be open to like, to be comfortable that like, all right, whatever ridiculous thing I'm gonna say, Jim's gonna pick it up and he's gonna run with it. And then I'm gonna pick it up and I'm gonna run with it I'm gonna pick it up and run, you know what I mean? As opposed to like, that's not what the script says, you know? It's pretty effortless man, working with him and Jason gives us all the freedom in the world. That's awesome. To make these characters our own and big kudos to him man, because I know what it's like turning over something that you wrote.

35:17
to someone else. oh, I don't know about that. So when will Topaz and Stillman be out? And is it going to be released as the entire series at once, or is it going to be trickled out, or? It's going to be, from what I understand, it will be summer. And it will be a good chunk at a time. I don't necessarily say it could be 100 % of the episodes in season one, but I know that we wanted it to. And we might actually push it back a little bit more to let it get a little bit more of a.

35:46
Okay, a burn going right right so you can really get some binging going on you can write Listen 20 minutes or whatever and they're don't know about you, but I do that. I do that like I've been stuff. Whatever that been binging the devil's den. Yeah Which is also a side podcast for Leo Braun. I mean

36:07
Jason is like, and then Jason's got other  podcasts that are out now.  Magnetar. Magnetar, mean,  it's just... Other things, and other things that are coming. Jason's in a groove right now, Yeah, yeah. Lots of cool stuff happening. Shoestring TV, baby, let's go. Yep, yep. And, you know, and I mean, I feel honored to be just, again, a small part of that  universe, you know? It's great to be able to be proud of something like that.

36:38
Like you said, when we talk about doing commercials and this, that, and the other, this is a passion project. This is not about a pay project. You know what I mean? This is like, we're doing this because we love it because of the writing, the people you're working with, the storytelling, the world building is just amazing. Jason's just doing a great job. I almost didn't do it because I was starting to get really busy and

37:08
I was just, know, he doesn't have the money to pay right now because he's not making any money. So I was like, don't think I could take on a free project right now. I just don't have the time, man. But  Eric Carlino, plays Herman and many other characters in the show,  when Jason was looking for the character, he recommended me.

37:26
So based on my relationship with Eric, I was like, all right, I'll at hear the man out because Eric, I'm not gonna make him look bad recommending me and I don't even give him the time and day, right? Don't even, just let them in. I'm not gonna big time somebody. So he sent this, we had a meeting and he's like, all right, man. Yeah, so I liked him and I was like, I'll tell you what, send me the script and I'll read it and I'll let you know if I can do it.

37:55
How's that? He's like, that's all I can ask. He sent it to me and of course, like we just, talked about earlier, Willie Topaz is one word. It's not. And I was like, I read that instantly. I'm a November Scorpio. So my birthstone is Topaz. It's all right. So.

38:17
And I love how it sounds, willy toes just rolls off the tongue. As soon as I read that, was like, I already know, was like, I'm in. But then I actually read the script and I was like, this is just so well written and I can be the only person that ever plays this character. So I was gonna say about wanting to do an animated character, something like that, Optimus Prime.

38:44
You wanna be the person that originates that character that all the kids now imitate. That's a little dream of mine. I'd love to have some character that I originate and then everybody else does impressions of. You know what I mean? 100%. 100%. Because yes, it's great if you can do an Optimus Prime or you can do whatever voice, but if you're the one that's the first one and the best one.

39:10
You're the source material. The source material, exactly. Exactly.  I love that idea for Willie Tophats.  Two characters that I play in audio dramas,  ironically, both the showrunners are named Jason.  I play a character named Fuletto,  and it's a pixie thug.  He's like the henchman of the furry godmother in this  show called The Dad Bout of Destiny.  Okay.

39:39
And he sounds like Mickey Mouse.  So for me to go from sounding like Willie Topaz to being able to sound like a pixie thug  that sounds like Mickey Mouse,  it's just fun stuff,  Audio dramas,  to go back to the question,  audio dramas are the favorite thing that I do now, because it says I don't do animation right now.  Audio dramas are absolutely,  they're...

40:06
Man, I love them. I love those. I cannot get enough of them.  Yeah, and it's it's funny like  for For me like  when I get the script for the audio drama or something like that. I read the whole script I don't  I don't just like alright highlight here my lines and where this is the pickup and when I hear this line then I talk and I  don't do that it's like I'm reading the story to be like, alright

40:29
What is the story right then I go back and be like, okay, what am I injecting into the story? That's I don't do that with pretty much any other source material other than like audio dramas  because because you know fat script like exactly Yeah,  what you did with turtle top was awesome.  Thank you. Thank you  for  For you in what you're  what you've got going on you

40:56
getting busier and busier and I just think it's amazing. But outside of the work,  what's bringing you joy?

41:05
Oh man, it's still kind of the work, but it's not me doing voice acting. I recently began coaching. And I do an in-person voiceover course, which we don't do very much of these days anymore. So I get to actually instruct these students and they're grown students, they're not like children. I get to actually instruct these students in person and to see their growth week by week.

41:36
to the point where I'm almost ready to hand them off to individual coaches now.  It's like a  course, not an individual coaching,  although I will be doing that soon as well.  But I never thought that coaching would be something that I would be able to  do.  Because number one, they're like, OK, like they said with the movie thing, quote unquote natural. How do you teach that? Right. Right.

42:05
You can teach people the basics and stuff like that, but if you don't have it, how do I teach it the way that I got it when my route has been so weird? And I was very concerned about that at first. When the woman asked me to come teach the class, I was like, There's a bad history of the athletes that you think of that were good athletes.

42:28
Typically are not good coaches. There's not a lot of Larry Byrd's out there, right? It's a lot more Magic Johnson's they turn out not to be great in the great great coaches  They turn out to be great coaches,  even though they were great players, right? You know, it's sometimes you just can't teach the thing that you it made you work, right? Right because you know necessarily work for everybody It's not a it's not a mass replicatable type of process or right again if you get if you're just natural at it you're like

42:57
I can't tell you how to be funny. I can't tell you what's funny. You know what I mean? It's just, I say things and people laugh. And just works for you. right. Or whatever it is. It's like, don't know if I can teach you how to do that.  I can show you what I do, but  I don't know if I can quantify it and say, all right, if you do this, this, this, then you're gonna be this. It doesn't work that way. You asked me  earlier, one of the biggest jobs that I've...

43:26
booked in early. The first thing that I booked was a national commercial for the National MS Society.  And the reason why was because when I found out that I have MS,  I was lost. I didn't know anything about disease whatsoever. The thing is I knew Richard Pryor died from it. That's the only thing that I knew about it, right?  And so  I was fearful. So I contacted the National MS Society to get educated.  And  they did that for me  10 years ago.

43:53
They even paid a bill because I had to leave my job suddenly. And I was unemployed for nine months and was living off of credit cards. So they had a program with APAD that had a $600 bill or something like that, like an electric bill. I was like, oh man, they're gonna turn my lights off. So I contacted them and they were like, we got you. And they paid the bill and I never forgot it. So as soon as I got my demo on my hand, I contacted them. I was like, hey, I'm a voice actor now. I know you do ads. I'm not looking to get paid. I don't wanna pay it back.

44:23
because you guys looked out for me, educated me, helped me get from underneath some debt. And I just wanna give back to you. And they're like, we're just so happy to have this campaign where we're kicking off in the next month. And we love, we listen to your demo and we'd love for you to be the voice of it. So that, you know, it's been a lot of serendipitous kind of situations for me.

44:53
And that was the one that, that was my first big thing. And being able to put that on your resume, when you're brand new in the industry, it's a huge, it's a huge thing for you. So, and I did get something from it, but I wasn't looking for money. I was just looking to give back to them. I know a lot of people are getting out of the industry, worried about AI, there, and I mean, you it's fair. It's fair. But, know, learn the acting. You learn the acting and you're going to make it.

45:23
And then there'll be a smaller pool for you. So I want to be a person that's bringing that, that's paying that forward with teaching  those acting skills to the next people that are coming in. So then they can pay it forward and put the ladder down for someone else.  Like it was done for me.

45:42
Terry this is the second segment of the show. This is where we dive a little bit deeper into your mental health journey I definitely believe that the more we can talk about this stuff the less scary it is because depression Anxiety those things want to tell you that you're alone So the more people that talk about going through those things that we can find that common ground the easier It is for us all to get through that. So for you, how do you keep the darkness at bay? No, I knew the question was coming because I listen to your show

46:13
No, answer is going to be different. I  don't keep the darkness at bay.  I embrace the darkness as part of the journey.  Tupac has a song called So Many Tears, and it's my favorite Tupac song for many different reasons.  But the beginning of the song is, in elementary, I thrived on misery, left me alone, I grew up amongst a dying breed.  That's the intro. I grew up in D.C.

46:41
in the 80s when DC was the murder capital.  And people were dropping like flies  around me as a young man, know, like  seven, six, seven, eight years old.  So I got  used to  depressing situations,  you know, and death at a very early age.  So I just kind of have always  just incorporated that as part of life.  And just

47:09
waking up another day and getting through that day. And there's gonna be some happiness and there's gonna be some sadness and you know, it's just, and all of that is just part of the puzzle. So that's how I've always looked at it, man. I try to do things that obviously make me happy, voiceover makes me happy, you know, meeting all the people that have met like you and know, Mitch Vlachensky and Mike Cunningham and just Jim and everyone that I've met along the path. It's just they've...

47:39
helped me, I've leaned on them in some tough times. A lot of people know that I lost my brother last year. That was devastating. He was only 52 years old. So that was a very tough loss. that is after, know, my dad died when he was 59 years old, when I was 22 years old. So it's just kind of used to having the men in the family not live to be old. You kind of get a certain mentality like, all right, well.

48:09
I gotta do what I need to do today.  There's no time for  yes.  There's no time for excuses. If  something bad happens, you gotta get through it.  And then once you get through it, man, I get good. I think, as I've stated multiple times today,  helping other people is  definitely something that will see you through dark times.

48:38
because you're focusing more on helping someone else than you are focusing on your own situation. You know? Yeah. And I think that, you know, open yourself up for that. I think it's not that you're trying to forget about what you got going on, but in the way that you're talking, it's like you realize, all right, well, sun's gonna come up tomorrow, it's gonna be another day. This may not have been a...

49:06
you know, a 100 day, but there's another chance for to have a 100 day tomorrow. You know what I mean? And if I could help somebody else have a 100 day tomorrow, or help somebody else have a 100 day today, maybe that makes it a 120 day for me. You know? I like your math. You know what I mean? I mean seriously. Yes, 100%, 100%. It's better than if I had concentrated on myself, because now I'm helping somebody else out.

49:36
Right. You know what mean? Maybe it's because I see myself in them. Maybe I see, you know, stuff that I've been through. You know, you have a very unique situation with your point of view of getting diagnosed with MS later in your life. You know I mean? And so it's like, I guarantee you, those people, if they get that diagnosis, they're gonna freak out. You know what I mean? And you have a perspective where you can be like, hey,

50:05
I was where you were. I didn't know what to do. I found the resources.  Here's some resources. Let's just have that conversation. What's going through your mind? Because this is what was going on through my mind. You know what I mean? Yeah, 100%. And I think we all have those kind of things.  And we just don't realize it sometimes until the situation arises. And you just have to be,  if you're that empathetic person, if you're the type of person that thinks  more of

50:35
others than yourself, the universe gives you those opportunities to share that. That unique perspective that you have  that nobody else really can. Yeah, no doubt. That is a great way to put it.  Absolutely a great way to put it.  That you can take your pain  and  keep someone else from having to experience  or  bring them out of it.

51:05
All right, Terry, this is the third segment of show. It's time now for the Fast Five. The Fast Five is down now for the Fast Five. Fast Five. Sorry, I'm still working on that theme song. Best theme song in the game, One of these days, somebody's going to write a theme song for me. We had to Mike Cunningham to sing it for you. could do some harmonies or something. That'd be great.

51:31
Like a four-part barbershop harmony for the Fast Five theme song.  Or five-part, that'd be even better. Five-part, yeah. Think it'd make sense. Fast Five is powered by Poddex. It's an app created by my friend Travis Brown.  If you go to chewingthefatbr.com slash poddex,  it'll take you to where you can download the app for your favorite mobile device.  It's made for podcasters, but it's great  icebreaker questions you can use any time.  No wrong answers, just first thing come off the top of your head. You ready? Yep.

51:59
Alright, here we go. Question number one.

52:03
If you could pick only  one lesson to tell a new  voice over talent, what would it be?

52:12
Oh,  one. Come  on coach.  Authenticity  from the top.  Yep.  I love that. I love that. Be yourself.  Yep. Because the world doesn't need anybody else but you. Correct.  And anybody but one of you. There you go. I love it. Question number two.  Okay, who is your biggest mentor or teacher this year?

52:41
This year my biggest mentor has been David Goldberg  Okay,  Yep.  I've been  working with David for corporate narration  and having to learn it completely like it feels like Opposite skill set from commercial.  It's been tough. So  and and I yeah, he's a great teacher. That's awesome. Yeah question number three

53:10
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

53:16
Money not an issue, Portugal. Portugal. Portugal. Portugal. Yeah?  Yeah. Have you been there before? Great client, no. No, I have not. But I'm trying when I try to go next year. Okay. But they have a strong economy. have, it's, the weather is good. They've got good food. It's centrally located. It's just like everything you need is right there. They got great beaches. It's...  If you go.  And being a voiceover, you just take your rig wherever you are and you don't have to worry about it. Absolutely.

53:45
That's awesome. That's awesome. Question number four.

53:50
What is your most  treasured  memory?  Oh, my most treasured  memory  is  when  my first daughter was born. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. Actually, you know what? I want to say even before that, I'm going to retract that.  When my wife told me that she was pregnant with my first daughter.  Oh, wow.  Yeah. We used to work together in an office and she came, she was like, basically she was like, guess who's going to be a daddy?

54:21
Yeah, that's a  great memory yeah, yeah, I it's I know for me  I'm remembering  my first son was born it's like that and you don't  you can't explain it  no you know you can get it just until it happens to you to become that father of that mother that first time you see that child it's just It definitely does change your life forever

54:51
Question number five.  What embarrasses you instantly?  I guess the few times where your kids have gotten mouthy in public.  know, because coming from a black community, don't  play that.  So like when that happened, your initial was like.

55:16
You

55:40
I love it. I love it. Well, that is our fast five and that's the show Terry Thank you so much for being here man.  That was a super fun man. Thanks for having me Yeah, I I love this if folks want to keep up with you. What's the best way they can do that?

55:52
The best way you could do it is go to my website and that is briscoevo.com because all of the socials are there. I'm not one of those people to have it where it's all the same on every social. But if you go on every social and type in Terry Briscoe, there's not a lot of us, so I'm going to come up. But all the links are right there at briscoevo.com. Awesome. And I suppose if somebody needs that Briscoe VO magic, they can get in touch with you directly through the website as well. Absolutely. Oh, and one thing we didn't get to talk about, don't forget.

56:22
check out the Microphone Insider on Thursday evening, right? Every other Thursday. Nice. Well, I'll put those links in the show notes for folks to find that. again, Terry, man, this has been a blast. It's great knowing you. I wish you nothing but success in everything you've got going on. I just love you, brother. Thank you so much. Thank you, brother. I appreciate you. Absolutely. And if you would like to support this podcast, I'd appreciate it you buy me a coffee at ChewingTheFatBR.com. But until next time, I look forward to the chance we have to sit a spell and chew the fat.