S2E20: “Charlie Fleischer Is In ‘Toon’ With The Universe”

01/25/23 • 60 min

Charlie Fleischer: Still in ‘toon’ with the universe.

If you don’t know Charlie Flesicher’s name, you know his voice. He’s the voice of Roger Rabbit. He’s appeared – in human form – on TV and in movies since the 70’s. We worked with Charlie on “Demon Knight” – the first “Tales From The Crypt” branded horror movie. He plays Wally Enfield. It’s been a while since either Gil or I have spoken to Charlie. In this conversation, we all get to catch up! The headline: “Charlie Fleischer’s Still In Toon With The Universe”!

The Crypt Family

Now, as we’ve said here a bunch of times, one of the really great benefits of working on film and TV sets is that you work with – and hang with – some really fascinating people. Like Charlie Fleischer. Charlie was “family”. He’d worked a couple of times for Bob Zemeckis already (in addition to casting Charlie as Roger Rabbit, Bob also cast Charlie in “Back to The Future 2”). When casting suggested his name for that role, there never was another suggestion.

Even then, Charlie was way more than just Roger Rabbit. He was a regular on “Welcome Back Kotter” and “Laverne & Shirley”. He appeared on “Laugh-In” and “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson”. The second time Charlie did the Carson show, he did panel. Sitting beside Johnny was the point of the exercise. Charlie had – and has – a solid body of acting work to his name and credit.

But, Charlie Fleischer is way more than just an actor. He’s a creative Renaissance Person. He paints. He creates music. And he writes scientific papers. In this interview, we’ll hit the Charlie Fleischer you might know already – the super talented stand up comedian who voices an iconic animated character. And then we spend considerable time with the Charlie you might not know yet.

That Charlie Fleischer will surprise you again and again. He really is in “toon” with the universe.

Here are the art pieces we reference in the podcast –

The Rhythmic Shimmer Of Glimmer Waves Museum Of Self Reflection Monroe Boat Zappa’s Zircon Zipper Picasso What Jade Racoons Frighten Cotton Mice

Charlie’s TED Talk about Gamma Ray Bursts and Moleeds –

Charlie Fleischer: Still in ‘toon’ with the universe.

The Crypt Family

That Charlie Fleischer will surprise you again and again. He really is in “toon” with the universe.

Here are the art pieces we reference in the podcast –

The Rhythmic Shimmer Of Glimmer Waves Museum Of Self Reflection Monroe Boat Zappa’s Zircon Zipper Picasso What Jade Racoons Frighten Cotton Mice

Charlie’s TED Talk about Gamma Ray Bursts and Moleeds –

Previous Episode

S2E19: “Rust Makes Our Heads Explode”

Nobody should ever die on a film or TV set. No one should ever get injured either but physical things happen (stunts, for instance). Injuries should should be rare. Death should be a complete stranger. With hundreds of hours of produced film and TV content under our belts, Gil Adler and I had the exact same reaction when the news dropped from the set of the movie “Rust”. It made our heads explode. How could that have happened?

On Oct. 21, 2021, actor/producer Alec Baldwin – on the set of “Rust” outside Albuquerque, New Mexico – discharged a prop firearm that had a live round in it. The bullet killed the film’s director of photography Halyna Hutchins and wounded its director Joel Souza. On the one hand, this was a tragic accident. On the other, it didn’t happen in a vacuum. People made this happen via a combination of carelessness, incompetence and ineptitude.

New Mexico Makes A Move

Yesterday, New Mexico added the potential for criminal behavior to the mix. They announced that they intend to prosecute Alec Baldwin and the movie’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed. Uncharged: the movie’s 1st assistant director, Dave Halls. He, apparently, reached a plea deal.

Gil and I aren’t the only ones scratching our heads over the latest developments. Most everyone in the business is perturbed by it. To help us get our heads around it, we’ve invited two guests. We just sat down with our good friend Tony Adler in S2E18 – Who’s The Boss. Tony is an accomplished 1st AD with a long, illustrious bio. Leigh Webb also had a long, illustrious career as a 1st AD. He worked for us on Tales From The Crypt (and shows like “Moonlighting”). Both Tony and Leigh have dealt with guns on their sets more times than they can count.

There’s a protocol. All one has to do is follow it. And yet...

Rust Makes Our Heads Explode!

Accidents on film sets make us angry. They should never happen though they do. What happened on the set of Rust makes our heads explode.

Next Episode

S2E21: Mike Vosburg Is Drawn To The Dark Side

Mike Vosburg’s cover art for the Crypt episode “On A Dead Man’s Chest”, directed by William Friedkin: Drawn to the dark side

If you’ve ever seen an episode of Tales From The Crypt, you’ve enjoyed the work of artist and comic book creator Mike Vosburg. When you sit and talk to Mike – aka Voz – you can’t help thinking “Wow, what a terrific person!” And then you look at his comic book art and you can’t help thinking “Wow, and he’s so drawn to the dark side.” I mean that in the nicest way possible of course!

Gil and I first met artist Mike Vosburg when we went aboard “Tales From The Crypt” at the start of its third season. Each Crypt episode began with a comic book cover depicting the episode’s most horrific moment. Mike drew the covers. Though Mike had been working in the comic book business for a long time by then, the Crypt gig suited him. He was already “drawn to the dark side”.

Comics Are Mike’s Life

Mike’s love of the comic book form began early. As a teen, he produced and edited the fanzine Masquerader. In time, his passion for comics took him to New York City where he worked for Marvel, DC and Charlton Comics among others. He worked with Stan Lee (as did Gil and I!) Before he headed west, he’d put his imprimatur on series like Thor, She-Hulk, Starfire and GIJoe.

Arriving in Hollywood, Mike got work drawing storyboards for feature films and TV shows. Storyboards help directors articulate their vision. That work eventually led him to Tales From The Crypt. We’ll talk comic books and working at Marvel. Penciling vs inking. John Frankenheimer, Ninja Turtles and film noir among other things. And, did I mention that Mike won an Emmy for directing episodes of Spawn on HBO? And, of course, we’ll talk a whole lot of Tales From The Crypt.