MuggleCast 137 Transcript
Show Intro
Jim Dale: [as Professor McGonagall] This is Professor McGonagall welcoming you all to MuggleCast hoping you enjoyed – Dobby! Dobby, come here! Here! Dobby! [as Dobby] Yes, I’d just like to say how very pleased I am to introduce MuggleCast to all of you! Thank you! Thank you!
[Show music starts]
Andrew: Hey, everyone! Welcome back for another edition of MuggleCast. I’m here with Matt.
Matt: Hey, everyone. This is Matt.
Andrew: And…
Matt: This is MuggleCast.
Andrew: Wait, you’re who?
Matt: Uh, this is Matt?
Andrew: Okay.
Matt: Obviously.
Andrew: I don’t know who you are, to be honest, but we’re back for – this is going to be a Special Edition of MuggleCast. There’s no other hosts this week. We’re here just to narrate, so to speak. Get it?
Matt: No.
Andrew: Because the Jim Dale interview.
Matt: Oh, oh right.
Andrew: Yeah. So this week is, of course, our big interview with Jim Dale, along with Micah Tannenbaum, a fellow co-host here on the show, and Aziza from Portus. Portus2008.org. Anyway, there’s not going to be any special content this week. We’re just going to give you a few announcements. Matt, we had a great live show the other day, didn’t we?
The Live Show
Matt: We did. You know, that was a really good show. A lot of people were really up for it, and a lot of peopled listened. How many people did we have?
Andrew: Oh, we had over 100,000 people, easily.
Matt: Oh, at least.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: At least ten or twelve.
Andrew: Million.
Matt: [laughs] Whoa.
Andrew: Anyway, Episode 136 was our live show where we went – we streamed a live feed of us onto the Internet so everyone could listen and then call in and ask questions about the big news this week, which was Deathly Hallows being split in two.
Matt: Mhm.
Andrew: We actually asked Jim Dale about his thoughts on that and that will be coming up in just a few minutes in the interview.
Matt: That’s right.
Andrew: But anyway, we want to say thank you to everyone who tuned in for that live show, and thank you, everyone, who has listened to it thus far. It’s basically a regular episode of MuggleCast, only we were having a ton of fun. Ben came back, Jamie came back really quick, Kevin Steck came back. So a lot of fun. Definitely, and everyone’s been saying it was the best live show ever, so check it out, Episode 136. We’re very proud of that.
[Show music fades out]
Matt: That’s right. And we’re also planning on doing a lot more. I know Andrew said in the past, so we were planning on doing more of those live episodes, but we – they didn’t really get a chance to do that. But, Andrew, are we really going to do anymore live episodes? Are you up for that?
Andrew: Yes, absolutely we will do more live episodes in the coming months ahead. We don’t know when exactly, and we apologize to anyone who missed our live show this week, but I’m thinking what we’ll do is we’ll create a mailing list, a MuggleCast mailing list, and that way, so people don’t miss upcoming shows, we will send out an e-mail a few days before, or as soon as we know we’re doing a live show. So everyone can make sure that make it because a lot of people were upset that they missed Episode 136 live, but as we have promised, we said we were going to a live shows as soon as Warner Brothers broke the news about the movie split and they did, and we did a live show the day later.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: So sorry, guys, but next time. We’ll let you know next time.
Matt: Yeah.
MuggleCast is Owning Podcast Alley
Andrew: Matt, what are we owning this week?
Matt: We are owning Podcast Alley.
Andrew: Yeah, Podcast Alley.
Matt: We freaking rule, man.
Andrew: We freaking rule! We’re number one this month, so far. Thanks to everyone who’s been voting for us. It’s MuggleCast March, so we have to win.
Matt: Yes.
Andrew: And we encourage all of you to continue voting. You can only vote once a month, but don’t forget to vote next month for MuggleCast Maypril and then MuggleCast May, MuggleCast Mune, MuggleCast Muly.
Matt: MuggleCast May just doesn’t sound very good. You’ve got to be more creative than that, Andrew. Come on.
Andrew: Muggle…Muggle May? Muggle May?
Matt: How about MayCast?
Andrew: MayCast?
Matt: Or Muggle…
Andrew: Muggle May.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: Muggle May.
Matt: Muggle May.
Andrew: Okay. Anyway, thank you to everyone who’s voted for us. We – you know, it’s out of nowhere this month. We’re number one. Everyone decided to help us out this month, so thank you. Thank you, thank you.
Matt: We have a very comfortable lead, too, on it.
Andrew: Yes, we do. At least a couple hundred votes. And we find that important to stay high up in that Top Ten list because we want people new to podcasting to visit Podcast Alley, which they do, and see that MuggleCast must be a great podcast. [laughs] And it is, I mean, you know.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah. Anyway, let’s waste no more time this week, Matt.
Matt: All right. Let’s do it.
Andrew: We’re going to jump straight into the interview with the one and only narrator of the U.S. and Canada Harry Potter audiobooks, Jim Dale. We’re going to be joined now by Micah Tannenbaum and Aziza.
Jim Dale Interview
Andrew: All right, Matt, Micah, and I are now joined by Aziza from Portus. Hey, Aziza.
Aziza: Hey, guys. Yay!
Andrew: We’ve got a big interview coming up in just a couple minutes.
Aziza: We do.
Andrew: But do you want to explain your job at Portus so everyone can get to know you a little bit?
Aziza: Sure will. I am the Portus’ public relations chair, so basically I make sure that all of you guys know what you need to know about Portus, and I keep you updated with the monthly newsletter as well as the Portus Previews, which is the official podcast for Portus in which we kind of interview all of the special guests, wizard rock bands, podcasters, everyone who will make Portus what Portus is going to be in July. So, yeah, basically, I’m the one that knows what you’ve got to know for Portus.
Andrew: Sweet. You’ve been doing a great job.
Aziza: Oh, thank you.
Andrew: HP2008.org, Portus2008.org.
Aziza: Yes. And really visit the website. The website is a great resource for everything, and we have a MySpace page, a Facebook page, and even a LiveJournal page.
Andrew: Awesome.
Micah: All your bases are covered.
Matt: We’ll put that all in the show notes, too…
Aziza: Yeah, you guys friend us.
Matt: …so they can find it.
Andrew: Yeah. We each have each other in our top eights on MySpace, so we’re like best friends.
Aziza: Yes, we do. Yes we are.
Andrew: That automatically means we’re best friends. [laughs]
Aziza: Totally.
Andrew: Okay. I think it is time to call him, right?
Aziza: Call him. Oh my god! Okay, I’m sorry.
[Everyone laughs]
Aziza: Everyone take a drink of water. Oh, so nervous! Are you guys nervous?
Andrew: I am, actually. I’ve been drinking all my water. I’m going to be out before we even call him. [laughs]
Aziza: And everyone’s going to be like, “Excuse me, Mr. Dale, I have to go pee.”
Matt: “Excuse me Mr. Dale…”
Andrew and
Aziza: Yeah.
Aziza: All right, I’m going to take a sip of water and then we’ll call him.
Andrew: Okay.
Matt: All right.
Aziza: And we’re now joined by Jim Dale, the U.S. narrator of the Harry Potter books. Mr. Dale is a Tony Award winning actor, and will be joining us at Portus this July since he might know a little bit about this Harry Potter stuff. Hello, Mr. Dale.
Jim: Hi, it’s nice to be with you.
Aziza: It’s great to have you here, and hear that voice. [laughs]
Andrew: Yeah. It’s kind of surreal hearing it outside the audiobooks.
[Jim laughs]
Jim’s Take on the Split Movie
Andrew: We’ll start off the questions today with a recent news story. I’m not sure if you’ve heard about this yet, but they’ve decided to split the final film into two parts. Did you hear about this?
Jim: Yes, I read about that. You know, my only problem with the films is, you know, if a story is written for the screen and then it has a beginning, a middle, and end, including all the characters, when you take an existing story that lasts – when you listen to it or read it, it lasts twenty-seven hours, and you try to condense that into a two-hour film you’re surely missing out and losing a lot of parts of all the story, all the side stories, and all the characters. I think sixty characters were missing from one of the films due to the fact they had to edit the story down so much. So that’s a pity, but if they’re going to make it into two films, then at least it gives all of us a chance of seeing and hearing a little bit more of the stories and the subsidery characters in the story. I’m very pleased that they’re doing that.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Aziza: Yeah.
Matt: Definitely.
Andrew: And that’s why producer David Heyman said that they want to give it – they want to do the final film more justice. So this is the only way they can do it.
Jim: Absolutely, yes. Well, you know, if they gave every film that justice each film would last about ten hours.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: That is true. What are you thoughts about the movies in general? Real quick, before we get into the…
Jim: Well, that was – actually what I just said to you is the way I feel. If it’s written for the screen that’s one story, that’s one thing. If it’s written to be read or to be listened to and then adapted for the screen you are bound to lose such a lot of it, such a lot of the content. When J.K. Rowling describes a scene it can take two whole pages. You are taken with her through a journey of what that scene is and what it looks like. She has something under every stone that she lifts up, something for you to appreciate, understand, focus on. But when it’s captured on film that one scene of the view can last for two seconds, then it cuts away. So those are the things that you lose when you adapt something for the screen. You lose the writer’s lovely technique of description.
If Jim Could Have a Role in the Movies
Andrew: Yeah. That is such an interesting answer. Now about the movies, a little bit more, if you were approached for a role which one would you take? Which one would you choose? If you could pick any?
Jim: I don’t know, I suppose at my age, I mean years and years ago I would for Dobby, I suppose, or something.
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: I put a long nose on me. But I’m too tall for that. But anyway, I would probably go for Dumbledore.
Andrew: Okay. [laughs]
Jim: The unfortunate thing was, you know, Richard Harris was playing Dumbledore for a few years, and Richard was saying, you know, after one or two films you’re finding you’re sitting around on the set for weeks, and weeks, and weeks, and weeks not doing anything, and he was getting a little bored with it.
Andrew: Yeah.
Aziza: Right.
Andrew: You wouldn’t want that.
Jim’s Relationship with Harris
Matt: Well, since you talked a little bit about Richard Harris, what kind of relationship did you have with the late actor?
Jim: We were friends. I made a film with him in – how was it – Budapest. We met in Budapest, and I did a film called The Hunchback. It was with Mandy Patinkin and Salma Hayek as well, and we were there for many, many, many weeks and Richard and I had a lot of time to spare, so we spent time together. And I got to know him and realized he was one of the nicest actors you could ever meet.
Matt: That’s just really nice to hear. He does seem like that kind of person, too.
Jim: Absolutely. Wonderful singer as well.
Matt: Oh, really?
[Aziza and Matt Laugh]
Jim: “MacArthur Park.” That wonderful song he recorded, “MacArthur Park.” It’s one of my favorite songs. I couldn’t believe I was meeting the guy who actually sang it. I was a fan. I was a great fan.
Getting Chosen to Narrate Audiobooks
Matt: Okay, let’s get into the books themselves a little bit now. So, Mr. Dale, how did you get chosen for the job?
Jim: Please just call me Jim. I, you know, please, no more.
[Everyone laughs]
Matt: Okay, Jim. They told me to say that.
[Everyone laughs]
Matt: So were – did you get approached for it? Did you audition for the job?
Jim: Well, obviously they said, after I got the job, they said we were looking for someone who could do a few voices perhaps, and the man who was trying to find the right narrator was called Tim Ditlow, and Tim heard that Jim Dale, the actor, was in an off-Broadway production of Travels With My Aunt. It was a very famous film with Maggie Smith many, many years ago, the aunt and the nephew. And he was told that there were three actors speaking in the play, all dressed in identical suits, with identical mustaches, with identical hairstyles, and they were doing a total of 33 different characters: women, children, foreign people, you know, with strange accents, unbelievable policemen, and villains. And so he thought, great, so he hired me to do the job of reading for Harry Potter and then found out that Jim Dale only played the nephew and the aunt. The other guys played 31 roles between them. So I really got the job under false pretenses.
[Aziza laughs]
Jim: But I’m very pleased I did.
Aziza: As are we. [laughs]
Preparing for a Reading
Matt: What kind of process do you take when you prepare for a reading?
Jim: Well, never having narrated an audiobook before – I think I had tackled one many, many years ago; it must’ve been so bad it was never released.
[Matt laughs]
Jim: So I really didn’t know how to do it, so I had to use my own inventiveness. And I realized when I read the first page, that it would be a good idea to mark the characters as I got to them, not only on the script but also on a separate notepad. And also to read the first sentence that that character speaks into a tape recorder prefacing it with, say, “Page One, Dumbledore” and then read the first sentence that Dumbledore speaks. And I realized if I did that, then I could go to the studio with this tape recorder and tape, and anytime I was a little confused as to what voice I had invented then I would replay the tape to voice 27, say, which was on page 31. And that was in the script, so I knew it was voice 27. I would rewind the tape or wind the tape back onto voice 27, listen to it, and then it would jog my memory as to the voice for that particular character. And I thought, well, that seems a good way to go. Then also you do have to attack that script by marking it constantly, because the writer doesn’t say the sentence like, “Dumbledore said, ‘Da-da-da-da-da-da.'” It’s always the opposite. “‘Da-da-da-da-da-da,’ said Dumbledore.”
[Matt laughs]
Jim: So, therefore, you have you have to know who is speaking prior to that line. So, all the dialogue has to be marked either with the initial of the character or you identify the character with a certain color.
Matt: Oh.
Jim: So, sometimes that page looks like a rainbow…
Matt: [laughs] Yeah.
Jim: …of different colors, but of course you have to memorize what the colors mean and what names they represent.
Matt: I could imagine. How many times would you say you read the books?
Jim: I am very lucky if I get a chance to read it once.
Matt: Oh, really?
Jim: I’m given the book on maybe Saturday, and on Monday I am supposed to be in the studio recording it.
Andrew: Wow.
Jim: Now, see what happens is that we are – I think the publishing company negotiates for the right to make the audio book, but then of course we have to wait for the real book to be published, and then a copy of it sent to us after it’s been corrected, etc., and we get it very, very late, so we’ve only got maybe seven weeks or eight weeks before the book comes out onto the shelves at the bookstore, which means that if our tape is not on the shelf on the same day, then the kids can’t wait for the audio book. They’ll buy the book and then their parents will then say, “We’ll buy you the book, but we’re not getting you the tapes as well.” So, we have to do a very, very quick job of recording…
Andrew: Mhm.
Jim: …and everything that goes on after that. See the recording of the book is quite easy for me. I rush through my recording of it, but then it has to go through the hands of some very, very clever people called the editors, and it’s the editors who find every mistake in that script that I have recorded – every mistake has to be corrected, so I have to go back into the studio. Then, only when they’ve finished that can they determine how many CDs it will need for the package. Only then can the package be designed. All of this has to be done and then taken to the factories, and everything has to be printed and published and packed and sent out to those shops throughout America in time for that opening day the book is released. So, it is very, very fast, and I just cannot take my time. In the first one or two or three books of Harry Potter, I was able to do that because the books were already on the market. They were in no hurry to get the audiobooks out. The books had been sold. So I could think of maybe one or two or three different voices for a particular character and then choose – make it my choice as to which of those three voices I would finally select. Later on I just did not have the time to do that. I just had to think of a voice, say to myself, “is it or isn’t it? Yes it is,” and then tape it, as I said, on my little tape recorder, and then move on to the next voice, because later on as you will appreciate – you know, when you get one hundred and thirty four voices in Book 5, that’s a lot of voices to invent.
Matt: Yeah.
The Voices in the Audiobooks
Jim: Also, I may have mentioned that Book 7 was a hundred and fourty seven voices…
Aziza: Wow.
Jim: …which broke the previous record. But then people say, “So she invented another seven characters, or eight characters.” And my answer to that is no, what she did in Book 7 is she took out sixty characters that were in Book 5 and invented another seventy one characters.
Andrew: [laughs] Oh, wow!
Matt: Oh, my goodness.
[Aziza laughs]
Jim: So all that added up adds up to a hundred and forty five voices, I think. So it wasn’t a matter of just inventing seven more voices, it was a matter of inventing fifty or fifty-five or sixty new voices which everyone will know.
Matt: Distinct voices.
Jim: Yeah. So that was a problem.
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: Because you run out of voices!
[Matt laughs]
Jim: My wife, she’s reading in bed late at night and she hears me screaming out “Where are you? Where are you?”
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: So it’s always very difficult. Sometimes I don’t even know who Jim Dale is at the end of the day.
[Everyone laughs]
Aziza: That’s funny.
Matt: That’s funny.
Aziza: Well, with Deathly Hallows, since you created so many voices for it, what was your – did you have a favorite character that was excluded to that book or did you have a favorite scene while you were reading in DH?
A Tedious Process
Jim: Let me explain something. As I’ve just explained how quickly we have to do it, you’ll appreciate that when I read the book, I am really browsing through it very quickly to get to the characters, to get to the characters, to identify who they are, what they are, and then invent a voice for them and record it and then move on. And when you have so many voices to invent you can’t spend too much time as a reader would, just sitting there, swallowing, tasting every word that is written by J.K. Rowling. You have to just scroll through the script as it were, quite quickly, to focus on
what is very important, which is the construction, the designing of that character’s voice because you have to become that character, you have to get into the head of that character and see the world through their eyes, whether they’re a snake or a spider or a villian or a hero. You have to be in their head. So at the end of the day when I’ve got all the tape ready to record I haven’t really followed the story that closely, so the first time I actually read the story and focus on it is when I’m recording it.
Andrew: Mhm.
Jim: Then, of course, we’re in such a great hurry that there are no takes. Two, three, four, five or six. We don’t do it that way. I have to keep reading until something happens causing them to have to stop the tape. Something happens in the way that there might be a page that has to be turned. That would make a sound, so I have to stop – they have to stop the tape then. If I just touch my shirt and it makes a scratching sound, that can be picked up by the microphone. We have to stop and go back on that. So there are many instances when we have to keep stop-start, stop-start, stop-start. And while we’re doing that, yesterday’s recording is being listened to and the editors are now coming back into the studio today to ask me to rerecord stuff I did two days before. So it’s all very fast and furious and mind-boggling at some times. And I have no idea what I’m doing half the time.
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: Because I’d – I’d forgotten the mood that I was in. Two days ago I’m asked to record one line. What was the mood that I – my character was in? So it all takes a lot of working out before you come up with the final – the final version of it.
Matt: Yeah. I can just imagine just all that stuff to think about and all these people coming at you.
Jim: This is not just me. This applies to every narrator who narrates a book that contains characters whose voices have to be heard. So it’s not just Jim Dale, it’s every narrator goes through this and has their own technique, their own way of capturing the story for their listeners to understand and appreciate and enjoy.
MuggleCast 137 Transcript (continued)
The People Involved
Andrew: You keep mentioning all these people involved in this whole audiobook process. I’m wondering how many people exactly are involved just working on your narration between the editors and the people listening to you…
Jim: Well, I would say the immediate people there would be me sitting in a small cubicle not daring to move because you have to just face the microphone constantly.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jim: Through the glass divider there are three people sitting out there. One is the engineer, one is the producer, and one is a somebody who can be called the producer’s assistant. It’s just another ear. What they are listening to is you – waiting for you to make a mistake…
Andrew: Yeah.
Jim: Because that’s when they stop you. You put an “S” on that word. You left out an “a” or you left out the “the.” You left something out or we couldn’t hear you on that one. So it’s stop-start, stop-start quite a lot. So those are those people. And then the tapes are then sent to the editors, and on a Harry Potter book there could be six editors in the next room and someone is in charge of them. And then after the editors then come the other people who will be doing all the packaging design, and then the people who will be working in the factories. So there are hundreds of people involved in it.
Matt: Wow.
Jim’s Favorite Parts
Aziza: Do you ever get to just read it for your own enjoyment?
Jim: I’ve not the time.
Aziza: Oh.
Jim: I really don’t have the time. I go from – see, I’m not just a narrator. I’m a working actor in the theater.
Aziza: Right.
Jim: And I have scripts that I have to read, I have scripts that I have to learn. I have rehearsals that go on from 10 o’clock in the morning until 5:30 at night. And then I have things to do in the evening concerning a one man show. So there’s quite a lot of activity in my life other than narration.
Aziza: Right. Did you ever have a part of the books that made you laugh out loud or even tear up or anything like that in your fast-taking?
Jim: Oh, you mean of Harry Potter?
Aziza: Right, right.
Jim: Oh, yes. There were so many things. I would fall off – I’d be falling about with laughter at some of these silly voices. Aunt Marge is a lovely example.
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: You know, you have to find these voices. Aunt Marge, you know, [imitating Aunt Marge] she sort of talks like this. She was wonderful! She, or, he, I saw in a pub once. He was sitting – this fat, jovial sort of colonel with a big red nose and a bushy mustache and he had a gin and tonic in his hand, and it was the way he was talking! And then I realized that, you know, when you get a lady and a fellow – an older man and an older lady, there’s not much difference between them, so the voice was quite acceptable to be that of a woman as well as a man. I realized that. You know, when you see two people sitting on a park bench, an old man and an old woman, you can’t tell which is which! She sits just like he does. She doesn’t sit with her legs crossed with her toe pointed. She sits like an old man sits…
[Andrew laughs]
Jim: [laughs] People get almost identical later on, not just the way they behave sitting there, but the way they talk as well.
Micah: Yeah.
Jim: So Aunt Marge – I don’t know what his real name was, bless his heart, but he was the inspiration for Aunt Marge.
Matt: Aw.
Jim: When I was using that voice it made me laugh a lot, so that’s when you – the producer was saying, “Will you please stop laughing? We’ve got a book to read.”
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: But you’ve got to have fun or it would drive you crazy.
Favorite Voice
Micah: Yeah. Well, I think that’s a fair assessment of Aunt Marge. But looking back on the whole series, what character’s voice was your favorite to do?
Jim: I suppose Dobby. I think everybody knows the story about Dobby, but if you’d like me to repeat it I will.
Aziza: Right. I would love to hear it too, because it’s one of my favorite things.
Jim: Well, it was Dobby was when I was in a theater – I was doing a pantomime called “Jack, Jack, and the Beanstalk,” but there was also another pantomime in the same group of buildings, one called “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves,” and I didn’t know that there was a dwarf in the elevator when I backed into it. There were people coming in and we were squashing in and then suddenly in the silence while the elevator was going up I heard this voice saying, [using his Dobby voice] “Excuse me, sir, can you take your bum out of my face?”
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: And there was this little fellow standing there. I said, “I’m sorry. I do apologize.” [using the Dobby voice again] “It’s all right, sir, they all do it. They all do it.”
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: And I remembered that voice, and from a long time ago when I was a young pop singer in England when I was about twenty-two years old. So these voices stay with you. You know, you really have to try to bring back memories of distinctive voices, and I’ve found that the most distinctive voices of the people from my youth were those of the comedians on the radio. You had to have a distinctive voice so that people would know who you are or, you must admit, all comics just have to say “Good Evening” and you know exactly who they are, and it was the same in the old days. So I remembered a few old comics, and I used their voices as a stepping stone towards the characters’ voices, and it worked many, many times.
Micah: Yeah, and because Dobby was your favorite, I mean, was that death scene in Deathly Hallows particularly difficult to do?
Jim: Absolutely! Yes, of course it was.
Matt: Aw.
Jim: But as I’ve said you have to get into the head of all of the characters, and there comes a time when the characters are, you know, they become real to you. And I think you’ve got to see the world through their eyes, and it was very, very sad. Very sad.
Matt: Yeah.
Most Difficult Voice
Micah: What would you think was the hardest voice for you to come up with?
Jim: Not the hardest but the most aggravating. I hated doing too much of Hagrid.
Andrew: Aw.
Matt: Aw.
Jim: Well, the first time I did Hagrid it was a lot of dialogue, and I lost my voice within twenty minutes, and we had to stop recording. That’s how bad it could be, because Hagrid, you know, the gravel voice, I won’t do it now.
Matt: Right.
Jim: It really does – you shouldn’t ever treat your vocal chords like that. Your vocal chords are your instrument, and you can play various tunes on the instrument, but if you break that instrument or cause it to malfunction, then you’re going to be out of a job. You’re not going to be able to do it. So you really have to take great care of your voice, like all opera singers have to, like all pop singers have to as well. Of course it’s the way of earning money, and if you destroy it or ruin it by treating it like that then you’re not going to be around for very long. So I really hated it. There was one scene, I forget what book it was, but Hagrid had been on holiday. Now J.K. Rowling could’ve asked Harry to say, “How was your holiday?” and Hagrid to say [does Hagrid’s voice] “Fine, I’m back now.”
[Micah laughs]
Jim: That’s all he had to say, but instead he went on for four, five pages explaining where he’d been, what he did, who he…you know. Oh, it went on and on and on.
[Andrew laughs]
Jim: I was dying for him to give it up and fall asleep.
[Andrew and Matt laugh]
Jim: So that was a problem. Anything that’s a strain to the voice be very wary of.
Andrew: Interesting.
Jim: But what it does is teaches you not to create voices with that gravelly effect.
Andrew: [laughs] Right.
Jim: Don’t do it, it’s silly.
J.K. Rowling’s Involvement
Matt: You pretty much give all of Jo Rowling’s characters’ voices. Does she ever put any input in voices when you’re reading?
Jim: No, not really. I met J.K. about three times, I think. The first time was after – she had already published books three and four, I think, so she arrived in New York and I was asked to go and meet her in this party, so I took along all my four books and she very kindly signed all four books, you know, she listened to me recording. She never – she said she knew my work as an actor in England and trusted me. So that was enough and she didn’t tell me I was doing anything wrong, and we really only had – the communication between J.K. Rowling and the producer was about the pronunciation of certain words that she herself had invented and perhaps wanted us to read in a certain way, or pronounce in a certain way. So those are the only contact notes we had with her. I did do a reading on American television one morning with J.K. standing at my shoulder. One shoulder was a white owl and the other shoulder was J.K. Rowling, so it was all a bit weird and frightening. Actually have the author listen to you read.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jim: But she was very complementary and she’s a lovely lady.
Messing up the Reading
Aziza: Do you have a blooper reel of maybe when you have messed up in the series or have misread something?
Jim: Do I have what?
Aziza: A blooper reel? Kind of like, um…
Jim: Oh, I wish we did. There was no time for doing that. If it was – see what happens between – I know nobody’s listening to this, so just between you and me.
[Andrew laughs]
Jim: If I really want to do it again I just swear.
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: And they have to stop the tape. It works every time.
[Aziza laughs]
Jim: But that’s sort of very seldom. Because I, you know, when you jump from one character to another to another, each character’s in a different mood. One is angry, one is sympathetic, one is appealing, one is frightened; and they’re all on the same page. So not only do they have different voices but they have different emotions that must come out in that voice. That can be very straining. And there’s no practice, there’s no rehearsal time for that. We don’t rehearse in any of these, we just turn the mic on and say go. And that’s it ’til lunchtime.
[Andrew laughs]
Jim: Those are the problems, you know. Like I said, trying to create all that from – with your voice the way you would read it on the page. I have to transfer all those emotions into something that can be heard by the listener. And sometimes when there are five or six different characters on the same page the dialogue jumps from one to another to another to another. It can drive one crazy.
Taking Care of his Voice
Aziza: Right. You mentioned that you have to take care of your instrument, which is your voice, very carefully.
Jim: Yes, mhm.
Aziza: Do you drink tea, or do you do anything to do that?
Jim: The only thing I take is not ice cold water, that’s crazy. You have a room temperature water. And a lot of people said, well, do you keep going dry? The answer is of course you do because every time you talk moisture is coming out of your mouth in the way – in your breath. So consequently, you can go all day without having to go. Do you know what I mean?
Aziza: Right.
[Aziza and Jim laugh]
Jim: And so I just drink water occasionally. But sometimes there’s more saliva in your mouth than there should be and it can be heard in your voice. So for those occasions the secret that all narrators know, or should know, is that you have a green apple in the studio with you.
Aziza: Oh.
Jim: And what you do is you take just a bite, not a great bite, just a bite of the green apple, chew on it, and then spit it out into the wastepaper basket. And that clears your mouth of all the sounds of saliva.
Aziza: Right. That’s…
Andrew: Interesting.
Aziza: Yeah.
Jim: These are little tips. But you should never take chocolate in there to chew.
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: You mustn’t do this. Just keep your voice as fresh as it can be.
Aziza: I think I may take that green apple advice, as well. [laughs]
Jim: Absolutely. Works every time.
Matt: That’s perfect.
Stephen Fry’s Narrations
Micah: Jim, I know you mentioned before that you don’t always get time to read the books for enjoyment, but have you ever listened to Stephen Fry and his narrations of the books?
Jim: No, I haven’t. Stephen does it all for, I think it’s just for England.
Andrew: Right.
Jim: I do it for America and Canada. No, I haven’t. I think my grandchildren haven’t either because I – my publishing company over here immediately send my audiobooks over to England for my grandchildren, and my grandchildren have a queue of people, of their friends, who want to read the American version just to hear the different voices. I’ve no idea what Stephen sounds like. My relationship with Stephen Fry goes back to Me and My Girl, the Broadway musical that I did here in New York. And Stephen Fry wrote most of the dialogue for Me and My Girl. The original script, I think, was lost, but Stephen’s wonderful at the old jokes. And I was complaining to him – he came to my apartment prior to his rehearsal – and I was saying some of these jokes are so old, Stephen, you know, and I knew them at school. Can we change them?
[Andrew laughs]
Jim: Stephen says no, I think we’ll leave them in. And I said, but Stephen, look, there’s one joke here, you know, he says to the chef – he says to the cook, what’s this? And the cook said it’s bean soup, and he said, I don’t care what it’s been, what is it now?
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: We’ve all heard this. No, let’s leave it in. You know, it got the biggest laugh of the night.
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: Because what happens, you see, is what is an old – an old joke to me – an old joke to me is only a joke I’ve heard.
Andrew: Uh-huh.
Jim: A new joke to someone is only a joke they haven’t heard, and some of these jokes from Me and My Girl go back two or three hundred years. There was a joke book called Somebody Miller’s Jest Book, 1740 or something like that, and some of these jokes were in that – Joe Miller’s Jest Book, it was called – and some of the jokes that the children are still telling at school today – not originally from that book, but they were printed in that book as jokes that existed at that time. And so, you know, there’s no such thing as an old joke – as a new joke – it’s just a joke you haven’t heard. And so, consequently, all the old jokes that we were brought up with here – that we were brought up with in England were incorporated into Me and My Girl, and the American audiences had never heard them and treated them as new jokes. And that was the terrific success of Me and My Girl; it went on for a couple of years – two or three years on Broadway. With Emma Thompson playing…
Aziza: Fantastic!
Jim: ….in the original production in London with Robert Lindsey.
Aziza: Wow.
Jim: And I did it over here with Marianne Plunkett, a wonderful, wonderful actress. It was great fun.
Jim’s Family
Aziza: Yeah, that sounds amazing. Jim, you had mentioned your family and your kids. Are they a fan of the books?
Jim: Oh, absolutely. In fact, we have a connection. I have three sons, all of them connected with show business. One of them actually is an actor touring in England at the moment in – what is it – Fiddler on the Roof. I have another son who runs a studio designing and making sets for commercials and for films. And my third son is connected to Harry Potter in a big way. Every film for Harry Potter that they do, there are helicopter shots, and my son, Adam Dale, if you Google him, the first name that comes up is Adam Dale, and he is a top, top cameraman; a helicopter cameraman.
Aziza: Oh wow.
Jim: And Adam’s done the last – he’s just finished the last – I think he’s still doing it – the last Harry Potter film.
Andrew: You know, I was just going to say, we just found out last week they’re filming at Millennium Bridge in London and they are doing…
Jim: That’s right.
Andrew: …helicopter shots. Is he in that?
Jim: Yeah, but what happened was Adam phoned me and he said, “it’s been great fun today because I took my son down” – I’ve got a grandson called Angus. And he took Angus down to the film set – they were shooting this Bridge – and left Angus while he went up in the helicopter, shooting very low over the River Thames. Then the helicopter landed and they put Angus in it and so Angus went for his first trip in a Harry Potter helicopter last week.
Micah: That’s awesome.
Aziza: I’m jealous.
[Andrew, Aziza, and Jim laugh]
Jim: So little Angus – he’s about seven or eight now. Eight, I think.
Aziza: Aw.
Jim: He met all the cast, which was wonderful.
Andrew: Cool.
Aziza: Yeah, I’m definitely jealous now.
[Andrew and Aziza laugh]
Aziza: Did they ever ask you – your grandkids or your sons – did they ever ask you to do any of the voices?
Jim: The voices?
Aziza: Mhm. For Harry Potter.
Jim: My grandchildren? Oh yes. Of course, they love it. See, I don’t see them a lot. If I go over to England and I stay in a hotel I have to wait there until everybody’s available to me.
Aziza: Mhm.
Jim: Some of them have homework, some of them have girlfriends, some of them are out, some are busy, some are…
Aziza: Aw.
Jim: The thing for me to do is bring them to America. Then I can wake them up at 2 o’clock in the morning and take them fishing if we’re at my house in the country.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jim: I do have them 24/7. Yeah, seven days a week, 24 hours in a day for me to talk to. So that’s the time, and we don’t have a lot of time talking about Harry Potter. We have a lot of time talking about who they are. I want to know who they are.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jim: Trying to find out who my grandchildren are. I don’t see them that very often.
Aziza: Right.
Jim: Not often, so I have to take every opportunity in finding out who these little people are.
[Aziza laughs]
Micah: You mentioned your relationship with Stephen Fry, but do you have any sort of relationship with Mary GrandPre?
Jim: No, none at all.
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: One can only answer “yes” or “no.”
[Everyone laughs]
Aziza: Well then, moving on.
Andrew: Moving on.
Matt: Neither do we, really.
Jims Thoughts on the Series as a Whole
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah. Let’s talk about the books a little bit more. What are your feelings about the entire series as a whole? I mean, now that it’s complete…
Jim: Absolutely brilliant. When I read the first book I was blown away by it, as were most people. I couldn’t believe that this writer had so much to say and that she was going to tell this one story over seven books.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jim: Ron L. Hubbard is reputed to be the one who has written the longest fictional story, which is over one million words long.
Aziza: Wow.
Andrew: Wow.
Jim: Now, I don’t know how many words J.K. Rowling has written in the total seven books of Harry Potter, but I just admire someone tremendously who has – in her head, not on a computer – in her head worked out a very complicated story with so many different voices, so many different characters who are vocal and have their own say. And she had it all worked out from the word “go.”
Andrew: Yeah.
Jim: Anybody who has that kind of mind, to me, is a genius. I will use genius for J.K. Rowling. I think she’s absolutely brilliant. I’m in awe of the way that she kept this story in her head, on scraps of paper. Perhaps only later did she use a computer.
Andrew: Absolutely.
Jim: But she was quite prepared to plan the whole seven books without the computer. She didn’t know they were going to be this successful.
Jim Knew Jo had the Answers
Andrew: Yeah, definitely. Well, did you ever have any questions about the series that were answered later on?
Jim: No, not really, because I knew that she had the answers. It’s no good puzzling your brain out. You know, everything will be explained as we go along and, sure enough, it was.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s true.
Jim: You just have to trust the writer and, in this case, she never let anyone down, I don’t think.
Andrew: Yeah.
Thoughts on the Characters
Matt: Yeah, definitely. Jim, you’ve read all the books, obviously. Do any of the characters in the book – do you relate to more than others? Is there any character you relate to the most?
Jim: You see, as a narrator, it’s like an actor when you’re given a role – a character to portray in a play or a musical. You have to get to know that character and you probably get love him. It doesn’t matter whether he’s the hero or the villain, you are interpreting the author’s words to create a character. So, I love all the characters…
Matt: Mhm.
Jim: …and I would create it on stage and off in narration. You have to. You have to love these people. They’re all so real to me.
Matt: Mhm.
Jim:I don’t think any of these voices come over as caricatures. I think they all are a little more than real. I mean, Peeves, you know, yes, Peeves…
[Matt and Micah laugh]
Jim: Those eccentric voices, but that, you see, there are people in this world who we call in England – over here you call them, you know, great-aunts. In England, we call them eccentrics.
[Matt laughs]
Andrew: Really.
Jim: These people, at a certain age, they become acceptable to us. Those with the most outrageous voices. [doing a stereotypical great-aunt voice] You know, the ones who talk like this here?
[Matt laughs]
Jim: But there are people who talk like that.
[Aziza laughs]
Jim: They’re not exaggerating. That’s just the way they talk! [stereotypical great-aunt] They always have and always will, dear!
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: Wonderful. You know, I’ve met these people and they are real. They don’t treat themselves as caricatures. You yourself musn’t treat them when you use an outrageous – that’s the word I think, an outrageous voice. People do have outrageous voices, same as they have outrageous gestures, or they wear outrageous costumes.
Andrew: Right.
Jim: This is who they are and you have to respect that.
Matt: Mhm.
Jim: They create far more as a character than just some normal bloke who always wears nothing, or talks in a boring voice, and when you say “Hello” to him, he’s stuck for an answer. These are the people who are boring on Earth, but the eccentrics are the wonderful ones. We always wished we had an eccentric in the family. Every family in England wants it’s own eccentric. You know, it’s wonderful.
Matt: Yes.
MuggleCast 137 Transcript (continued)
Other Voice Impressions
Aziza: You have such a huge wealth of character voices. Do you ever do impressions of real life figures?
Jim: Yes. In fact I broke into show business that way. I went to London for an audition for a touring production in a musical. It was – these were discoveries. These were people that they discover in various towns…
Andrew: Mhm.
Jim: …and if you’re that good you join the show and tour with them. Until they discover somebody who has more talent than you in another town and you’re in a sack.
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: This guy came to our local town and I went along with two or three hundred other people from all the surrounding districts for an audition. And I was doing singing and a little bit of tap-dancing then and I thought, “Oh! I’ll do impressions. I’ll use voices.” So I waited by the side of the stage and when they announced my name I walked onto the stage and tripped over a big curtain that was – and I fell flat on my face…
Matt: Oh!
Jim: …in front of hundreds of other people who immediately laughed because, obviously, this guy is an idiot, he tripped over as soon as he came in. He’s not going to get the job. I limped to the microphone and I did my impressions, and from the back of the theatre I heard a voice saying, “Those impressions are terrible!”
[Micah laughs]
Jim: And I remember shouting back, “I think they’re very good!”
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: “But we don’t know who your mother’s butcher is.” I said, well, I think that’s funny, doing impressions of people you never heard of. And I said, “They know these people in Rothwell.” He said, “We’re not in Rothwell…”
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: That was where I was born. “Did you tour through the country doing impressions of people nobody has ever heard of? So realistic that fall you did when you came on. That was funny.”
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: “Come back tonight!”
[Aziza laughs]
Jim’s Career in a Nutshell
Jim: And that’s exactly what I did. That night I went on – I was thrown on, actually, by two stage herders. One grabbed my legs and
one grabbed my arms – I was only 17 – and they swung me three or four times and as he said, “Jim Dale,” out flew this body twelve feet in the air, you know, twelve feet into the center of the stage…
Andrew: Wow.
Jim: …and I just crashed onto the center stage and it was about 4-5 minute act, and afterwards the audience sort of loved it, and they asked to join the show, which I did, and I was with them for a year and a half. That’s how everything started, you know. From then an agent came to see me and said, “When you come out of the Royal Air force in two years time phone me because I’d like to represent you as a stand-up comedian as your agent. You’d be a stand-up comedian.” And I joined him. Within months of me being a stand-up comedian I was asked to warm an audience up for the first Rock-n-Roll show in England which I did. And I sang a song on somebody’s guitar, and after that they said, “Can you come back next week as a singer?”
Andrew: [laughs] Oh my gosh.
Jim: And then they had me as a singer. Then George Martin, The Beatles George Martin, phoned up and said, “I’ve just become a recording manager and I’d like you as my first recording artist. Will you become a pop-singer?” That’s how that started. And then two years later I was asked to join the Edinburough Festival playing Shakespeare. Then Laurence Olivier came to see the show and said, “Would you like to come to the national theatre?” Then the national theatre sent a production to America in 1973 with me playing Petruchio in a show called “Scapino” which I helped to write. And it was “Scapino” that was the play staged on Broadway for a year and a half, and then now, the rest is history. Disney came along and offered me three films. After that, in 1980, came “Barnum,” the big musical, and…
Aziza: Right.
Jim: …that was 27 years ago, and since then I’ve just worked in America, except for one trip to London to play Fagan in Cameron Mackintosh’s “Oliver” at the London Palladium. But I’ve been here in New York since then, and that’s how my career sort of progressed from that very first time I went on that stage to do impressions and voices.
Micah: So this all started from tripping over a curtain?
Jim: That’s right.
[Andrew and Aziza laugh]
Andrew: That’s crazy.
Jim: Absolutely. Yes. But I think what one should mention is, yes, it got a laugh, tripping over the curtain, but the movements that I incorporated into my act were the results of having studied ballet, and tap, and national dancing, and judo…
Aziza: Wow.
Jim: …and eccentric comedy dancing for six years prior to that. I’d been dancing since I was nine, and it’s the movement that I learned doing all those – ten lessons a week, sometimes – after school, straight into dancing lessons for two lessons, and then on Saturday mornings as well, another two. And so all of this physical training was invaluable when it came to working in the British musicals.
Matt: Mhm.
Micah: Wow.
Matt: Wow.
Micah: [laughs] So…
Jim: As a young stand-up comic, if they didn’t laugh – if they didn’t laugh I would very deliberately limp off the stage slowly.
Andrew: So they’d feel bad for you?
[Aziza laughs]
Jim: Then suddenly you’d hear someone clapping because they’d say, “Oh God, he’s a cripple!”
[Everyoone laughs]
Jim: And then I’d run back on, forgetting that altogether, and take a nice big curtsy, like some big lady in a ballerina, you know. So it was all fun.
Aziza: So you said you did judo. You could probably easily kick all of our butts then.
Matt: Probably.
Aziza: Yeah probably.
Jim: Say that again?
Aziza: You studied judo. You could take all three of us right now.
Jim: Oh, no no no no no. See that happened one night. Somebody called something out from the second balcony, and you’re not allowed to say anything – not in musicals – and it’s – you shouldn’t do it, but I did. He called something out and I said, “I’ve got one word for you,” and like an idiot, he called back, “What?” and I said, “Jump.”
[Everyone laughs]
Jim: So I go outside the stage door and three of them are waiting for me. Now it doesn’t matter whether I’ve done judo. I promise you when three guys attack you, you really can’t defend yourself. You just go on the floor, you curl up in a ball, you let them do what they want, and then hopefully you can get up. And the very next night after that, I walked on the stage with a black eye and my arm in a bandage…
Andrew: Oh no!
Jim: …saying, “A funny thing happened to me on the way home last night.” You know the old musical joke, “A funny thing happened to me on the way to the theater” – on the way home from the theater.
Aziza: Oh dear.
Matt: The theater’s dangerous.
Jim: Oh yes. But you’re kids, you know, you can jump off a roof when you’re a kid and not hurt yourself. You can get beat up as a kid, as you often are, and not hurt yourself too much.
Micah: Now, Jim, you’ve been around…
Jim: What you do learn is not to call out to somebody, “Jump!” That’s what you learn.
[Everyone laughs]
Aziza: But get ready to make sure they’re smaller than you.
Jim: That’s true. Yeah.
The Harry Potter Fandom
Micah: Now, Jim, you’ve been around the series for quite some time now. What do you think of the Harry Potter fandom as a whole? The sort of how the fans…
Jim: Oh, I think it’s unbelievable. I didn’t – I didn’t appreciate how many fans and how ardent these fans were. Living in New York can be quite isolated – such isolation. [laughs] If that’s the right word. By that I mean, you have an apartment. Most people in New York live in an apartment and they don’t even know the people who live above them or below them, maybe even next door.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jim: Where as if you live in a small town, obviously you get to know many, many, many people. So, I hadn’t done many readings in New York City and I was asked to go on a tour of some of the cities of America. And it was only when I arrived in these places, these smaller towns, that I realized that there were such a fanatical group of people called Potterheads.
Andrew: Yeah.
[Aziza laughs]
Jim: And they packed these theaters. We did one in the San Fernando Valley and they had to – the wall was one of these walls you could fold back, and they folded the wall back and there was a car park. And there were, I think, about a hundred seats put in the car park for the overflow of people.
Andrew: Oh, my gosh.
Jim: So, I was amazed at how popular Harry Potter was. I hadn’t understood it, but I realize now. And they were there in the hundreds everywhere I travelled, you know, to promote Harry Potter. I couldn’t believe – lots of places, I’d look at the audience – I usually bring the children up on the stage at the end of a reading and I give them certain parts of the script for them to read.
Andrew: Oh, that’s a great idea.
Jim: But I don’t want them just making up voices. They have to do an impression of Jim Dale doing the voices.
Andrew: Right, right.
[Micah laughs]
Jim: That’s fun. And then they get prizes of the latest CDs of Harry Potter, you know. So, I do this, and I remember one place I asked for the children to come up and I looked around and most of the people there were adults. I got about ten children on the stage but I had to ask for two adults to come up, as well, to make out the twelve people because I put them in teams of four, you know. But, it’s not just children who are ardent fans.
Andrew: No.
Jim: Who are true Potterheads. It’s a lot of adults as well.
Micah: Oh, yeah.
Jim: I was truly amazed.
Andrew: There are listeners…
Jim: But thrilled! Because, come on, I mean, I was a pop singer, I was a rock and roll singer, I was one of the few in England at that time and we didn’t have many rock and roll singers. There was another guy called Tommy Steel and another one called Cliff Richard, but there weren’t that many, so the girls wanted to scream at what they thought was going to be a bejeweled sacred monster.
[Aziza laughs]
Jim: Pounding on the stage and, of course, Jim Dale arrived in a checked shirt and jeans.
[Andrew and Aziza laugh]
Jim: They were screaming, they were screaming their heads off and I remember thinking, why weren’t they here a few weeks ago when I was limping off the stage?
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]
Jim: As a comic? You know, this is fake. This is not for real. They’re not screaming at me, they’re screaming at anybody who sings a pop song. So, I’ve been through that period of being mobbed at traffic lights at silly teenagers. And it was embarrassing. Even to this day, I never go into a restaurant on my own. And if I do go with friends, I always face the wall. It’s just a habit that I’ve got into. It’s like carrying your sucky blanket with you or something.
[Andrew and Aziza laugh]
Jim: So, when I – suddenly, at my age, I’m now – go along to do a reading, and it’s like being a pop star again.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jim: It’s wonderful! It’s wonderful because nobody knows Jim Dale over here, unless they go to the theater. I mean that, seriously, and that’s my joy in life.
[Matt laughs]
Jim: I love going into a small town in America and nobody knows me. But if I was a big film star, or a television personlity, or as they say, “A house-hold name,” then I would be mobbed. And I had that and it’s not nice. It’s – because you can never say, “Today, I’m going out and nobody’s going to recognize me.” Everyday, it’s the same. And it can drive you crazy. So, I am thrilled with the fact that I show up to these readings, and nobody knows Jim Dale until I’m introduced. In fact, at one radio station, there were three or four men there. And the man came into the room and – who was about to get me into the studio, and he looked around. He said, “Jim Dale? Anybody?”
Andrew: Oh no! [laughs]
Jim: I said, “I’ll be him, I’ll be him.”
[Andrew, Micah and Aziza laughs]
Jim: So, what I’m saying is: I’m not known. So, I’m not mobbed in the streets. That’s the joy. And it’s fun now, so much fun at my age to have a whole new audience of youngsters…
Andrew: Yeah.
Jim: …who love the sort of thing I’m doing.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jim: And I couldn’t be more thrilled.
Andrew: Yeah.
End of Show Announcements
Matt: All right, well that does it for our Part One of the interview with Jim Dale. If you guys want to catch on to Part Two of the interview, just go onto Portus2008.org and catch on Portus Previews, and there you’ll find the Part Two version of our exclusive interview.
Andrew: That was great. Jim Dale’s a great guy. We had so much fun with him.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: And we look forward to seeing him at Portus…
Matt: Mhm.
Andrew: …this year.
Matt: He’s really a fun guy to talk to. I mean, he’s so much fun. He’s very – he’s so old-school.
Andrew: His thoughts on the movies and how they portray the stories is so interesting.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: I mean, he’s so wise. And it’s just – we’re very lucky to have him on the show.
Matt: I loved his take on the movies – on how they’re portrayed. I mean, what he doesn’t like about movies to film.
Andrew: So, visit MuggleCast.com for a link over to Portus Previews to check it out. Or just go to Portus2008.org for Part Two. Well, Matt, we’re not going to do anything else this week. As we said at the beginning, this is a very abbreviated show.
Matt: Yeah, it is. Well, it’s because it’s a long interview. I mean, it’s only half of the whole interview too.
Andrew: Right. And plus, we did that fantastic live show early this week which was…
Matt: Oh, yeah.
Andrew: …two hours and twenty minutes. So….
Matt: I don’t know how you guys did the whole twelve hour thing. That’s just two hours, it just got knocked out of me.
Andrew: You know, the twelve hour show – everyone – a lot of people – well, everyone loved it. I mean, everyone who listened loved it. And we had such a fun time doing it, so maybe we’ll do it again sometime.
Matt: Yeah, why not?
Andrew: Because it’s a lot of work. That’s why not. But, we’ll be back to our normal antics next week. There is a chance that we may skip MuggleCast (a new episode of MuggleCast) next week. Just because, we need a little break. We’ve been really busy this week preparing for these episodes. And….
Matt: And we had a triple header this weekend, pretty much.
Andrew: We did. MuggleCast triple header. One night was the live show, one night was recording this, and one night was recording Jim Dale. A lot of work, man.
Matt: Technically we redid the same episode twice. That’s why it was a triple header.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Because we – well, should we just tell them?
Andrew: Go ahead. Reveal it.
Matt: Okay, well, technically we did the same show twice. We recorded with Micah, who was in the interview with us and, apparently, it wasn’t – my Internet was really horrible. I couldn’t hear anything they were saying so Andrew and I are just redoing the closing for everybody. That’s why Micah’s not on right now, so…
Andrew: We had Make the Music Connection, we had rebuttals, we had news discussion.
Matt: We had a lot of stuff but we can probably hold that off until the next episode.
Andrew: Yeah, we’ll do that and I think that may be a little bonus for PicklePack members. The lost episode.
Matt: Yeah!
Andrew: So, PicklePackers, look forward to that. Anyway, like I said, we may be taking next week off because we need a little break. We’ve been so – seriously, we’ve been very busy this week with all this MuggleCast stuff, but we’re very happy with it, right, Matt?
Matt: Yeah, oh yeah, totally!
Andrew: It’s been a good week for MuggleCast and its listeners.
[Show music begins]
Contact Information
Andre: So, thanks, everyone, for listening. I do want to remind everyone if they have and questions about our interview with Jim Dale, or any news that they’ve seen this week, or anything else you want to discuss on a future episode, you can call into the MuggleCast hotline. Those numbers are: In the United States 1-218-20-MAGIC. If you’re in the United Kingdom you can dial 02081440677, and if you’re in Australia you can dial 0280035668. You can also Skype the username MuggleCast, just remember no matter how you call us, keep your message under 60 seconds and eliminate as much background noise as possible, so you sound crisp and clear. You can also visit the MuggleCast website for our handy feedback form or contact anyone of us at our first name at staff…
Matt: …dot mugglenet dot com.
Andrew: Thank you, Matt. How about community outlets?
Matt: Yeah, why not?
Andrew: [laughs] We got the MySpace, the Facebook, YouTube, Frappr, Last.fm, fanlisting and the forums. You can also Digg the show at Digg.com, and don’t forget to vote for us once a month at Podcast Alley.
Show Close
Andrew: I think that does it for this special edition of MuggleCast, Episode 137 with Jim Dale.
Matt: Yeah!
Andrew: Matt, thanks for being on the show today. Thanks for being the only host that could come in and talk today.
Matt: Aw, it’s okay. It’s not like I had anything else better to do.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s a Saturday night. What are we going to do?
Matt: Nothing.
[Andrew laughs]
Andrew: I’m Andrew Sims.
Matt: And I’m Matthew Britton.
Andrew: We’ll see you next week, or in two weeks, for Episode 138. Buh-bye!
Matt: Buh-bye!
[Show music ends]
Bloopers
Jim: So, all of that is in the hands…
[A phone rings]
Jim: Oh dear, just a minute. Can you hold on, I’ll just get rid of this person.
Matt: Oh yes.
Andrew: No problem.
[Everyone laughs]
Aziza: Ummm…blooper.
Jim: There we are. That was my wife…
Aziza: Awww.
Jim: I told her I was talking to you.
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