Billy West

Career Radio career In 1980, West was part of an oldies band called The Shutdowns. West worked at WBCN in Boston, performing daily comedic routines on The Big Mattress show, then moved to New York City in 1988, working at K-Rock Radio (92.3 FM WXRK). West became a regular on The Howard Stern Show at that time until leaving in 1995, where he gained notice for his impersonations of Three Stooges middleman Larry Fine, Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott and Stern's head writer Jackie Martling. though he would rather develop original voices. West has been very outspoken over his displeasure about the influx of star actors providing voice-over for films and major shows. West has stated that he did not like the Disney version of Doug and that he "couldn't watch" the show. West was the voice of the show's namesake, Geeker, throughout Project Geekers 13-episode run. West was the voice of Zim in the original pilot for Invader Zim. However, according to creator Jhonen Vasquez, he was replaced by Richard Steven Horvitz due to his voice being too recognizable. West was the voice of "Red" in numerous M&M commercials, as well as the 3D film I Lost My M in Vegas, currently playing at M&M's World in Las Vegas, Nevada. He also voices a number of minor characters in the series Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World. He voiced the character Moobeard in Moobeard the Cow Pirate, a short animation featured on Random! Cartoons and reprises his role as Elmer Fudd in Cartoon Network's series The Looney Tunes Show. In 1999, he also had a cameo in the Emmy Award-winning cartoon Dilbert.

The Ren & Stimpy Show

West provided the voice of Stimpson J. Cat in Nickelodeon's The Ren & Stimpy Show from 1991 until 1996, and he later provided the voice of Ren Höek from 1993 to 1996 when Ren's original voice and series creator John Kricfalusi was fired by Nickelodeon (then a division of the original Viacom) for delivering late and objectionable episodes. He performed other characters on the series, such as Mr. Horse (another role he took over after Kricfalusi's departure) and the announcer for the "Log" ads (a voice West would use years later as the narrator for The Weird Al Show).

According to West, he was originally supposed to do the voice of both Ren and Stimpy (and performed both characters on the tape that was used to sell the show to Nickelodeon), but then Kricfalusi decided to do the voice of Ren himself once the show was sold and he had West on board as part of the selling point. West was replaced by Eric Bauza in the series following this.

Futurama

West's roles in Futurama include Philip J. Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Zapp Brannigan, and Dr. Zoidberg, among others. As he and other Futurama cast and crew point out in DVD commentaries, he voiced so many characters throughout the series that conversations are often held entirely between characters he is voicing. West went into the Futurama auditions and was asked to try out for, as he says, "just about every part". While West is known for his original voices, the voice he uses for Fry is often considered to be closer to his natural voice than any other character he has played; in an audio commentary, he states Fry is "just [himself] at age 25". This similarity, West acknowledges, was done purposefully in order to make it harder to replace him in the part along with placing more of himself personally into the role. Futurama was renewed by Comedy Central as four direct-to-DVD films broken into 16 television episodes. West reprised his roles for these films and was signed on for two new 26-episode production seasons (four 13-episode air seasons) of Futurama which aired summers of 2010 to 2013.

In 2022, it was announced that Futurama would be returning in 2023 with the original cast, including West.

Advertising West was the announcer of the program Screen Gems Network which ran from 1999 to 2001. He was the promotional announcer for The Comedy Channel before it merged with HA! to become Comedy Central. Over his career, Billy West has voiced multiple characters in television commercials. These include (but are not limited to): Red, the plain milk chocolate M&M (1996–present) (after Jon Lovitz's departure from the role in 1996) He appeared on Ken Reid's TV Guidance Counselor Podcast on January 30, 2015. The episode was recorded live at The Smell in Downtown Los Angeles during the third annual Riot LA Comedy Festival.

West began his own podcast show in July 2015. It features him doing numerous characters per episode, recurring segments such as "Song Demolition", "Billy Bastard – Amateur Human Being" and special guest Jim Gomez.

Films In the 1996 film Space Jam, West voiced Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. He reprised both roles in subsequent Looney Tunes feature-length films and returned as Fudd in the theatrically released Looney Tunes: Back in Action. In 1998, West starred in the direct-to-video film Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island as Shaggy Rogers, becoming the second person to portray the character (the first being Casey Kasem). He was one of the top contenders to replace Kasem after his retirement in 2009 but lost the role to Matthew Lillard. He voiced the role of Muttley in the 2020 Scooby-Doo CGI film Scoob!. In 2000, he provided additional voices in Disney's Dinosaur. In 2004, West voiced the classic character Popeye in the 75th-anniversary film Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy, and made his live-action film debut in Mark Hamill's Comic Book: The Movie. He also appeared in a cameo in Garfield: The Movie. Other films featuring West's vocal talents include Joe's Apartment, Cats & Dogs, Olive, the Other Reindeer, TMNT, The Proud Family Movie and as Biff Buzzard in two Tom and Jerry direct-to-video films.

Music West is a guitarist and singer-songwriter with a band called Billy West and the Grief Counselors. They have released their debut studio album, Me-Pod. West has toured as a guitarist for Roy Orbison and Brian Wilson.

The Futurama episode "Proposition Infinity" features the track "Shut Up and Love Me" which was written and played by Billy West and Greg Leon, under the name Wailing Fungus.

Radio Throughout the 1980s, West provided character voices on Charles Laquidara's Big Mattress radio show on Boston's WBCN. West was one-half of the award-winning WBCN Production team from 1980 to 1986. From 1989 through 1995, West was an occasional contributor to The Adam Carolla Show, a syndicated morning radio show that replaced Stern's show on CBS in LA. On February 19 and 20, 2007, The Howard Stern Show ran a special two-part retrospective of West's work with the show. It marked his first work with the show since leaving after his last show on November 1, 1995. On June 9, 2009, West appeared on Jackie Martling's Jackie's Joke Hunt on Stern's satellite radio channel Howard 101.

Video games Characters voiced by West include Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in numerous Looney Tunes video games.

Other video game characters West has voiced include: Stimpy in The Ren & Stimpy Show: Veediots! (1993), Nicktoons Racing (2000), and Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots (2007) Dr. Zoidberg in The Simpsons Game (2007) Additional voices in Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly (2002) Ricky Sr. and O'Toole in Open Season (2006) Sparx in The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (2007) Philip J. Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Dr. Zoidberg and Zapp Brannigan in Futurama (2003) Nash and Zam in Crash Nitro Kart (2003) Voices for the player character in Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000) Murfy and other characters in Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc (2003) The narrator in Minecraft: Story Mode (2015) Ren and Stimpy in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (2021; voice added as part of the June 6, 2022 update)

He has spoken openly about the child abuse he suffered from his father, saying that he developed his impressionist abilities as a coping mechanism.

West has expressed criticism of Dick Cheney and the Republican Party, describing Republican senators as "old men with bad breath and dandruff." He has also parodied the Twitter posts of Donald Trump by reading them in the voice of Futurama character Zapp Brannigan, drawing comedic parallels between Trump and the fictional character.

In 1998, West purchased a home in the Hollywood Hills West area of Los Angeles for $480,000 and sold it for $1.18 million in March 2016.

West is a prostate cancer survivor. He has also discussed experiencing episodes of depression.

In 2019, West revealed on Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast that he had been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum.

Filmography Film + List of voice performances in feature and direct-to-video films Year Title Role Notes 1996 Joe's Apartment Ralph Roach Space Jam Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd Role of Elmer shared with an uncredited Greg Burson 1998 Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island Norville "Shaggy" Rogers Direct-to-video General Slug Short film 2020 Scoob! Muttley

Television + List of voice performances in television shows Year Title Role Notes 1988 The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil Cecil 1991–1994 Doug Doug Funnie, Roger Klotz, additional voices 1991–1996 The Ren & Stimpy Show Stimpson J. Cat, Ren Höek (1992-1996)*, additional voices *Replacing John Kricfalusi 1994 The Baby Huey Show Fox

Video games

Live-action + List of acting performances in feature films Year Title Role Notes 2004 Comic Book: The Movie Leo Matuzik Direct-to-video 2011 Demoted Robert Reilly 2013 I Know That Voice Himself Documentary

Discography Me-Pod (2004) Label under Universal Records (Philippines)