Stewie's Playground » Actors

Kanye West, Will.I.Am, U2 to voice characters in The Cleveland Show next season

Wendy Boswell — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:11:23 +0000

In an interview with the BBC, Mike Henry reveals that there are quite a few musical artists lined up to lend their voices to a wide variety of characters in The Cleveland Show next season, including Kanye West, Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas, and U2’s Larry Mullen.

Here’s what Mike had to say about Kanye:

On Kanye’s public persona relating to his Cleveland Show character

Kanye could not be a cooler guy at our show – we do definitely have some jokes where he makes light of himself.”

“He does some things out in public that stir up controversy and opinions. He knew that and we contacted him and he was totally up for doing the part.”

On the character that Kanye will play

“He’s a recurring character,” says Henry of Kanye West, who voices a character called Kenny West in the show. “He does an extended rap-off with Cleveland Jnr in an episode first season and he and Cleveland hook up and do another rap in season two.

“The first time we had actually written a rap for him. Five of our writers sat down to write this rap and they were like, ‘I wonder how he’s going to like it?’.

“But he was genuinely laughing. He very humbly asked if we could change one line which didn’t feel right. He was even joking that we should write a song for his next album.”

On the character that Larry Mullen will be voicing

“He came in and we hung out for a couple of hours. We just recorded him doing a couple of different parts and he was very funny.

“It’s a thrill for me to do all this. U2 is my favourite band of all time and David Lynch the film director plays a part on our show.

“He [Mullen Jnr] plays a mobster in one episode; he plays a bad Elvis impersonator by design in another episode.

You can read the rest of the interview here.

image Fox Broadcasting

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Seth MacFarlane talks about why he decided to do The Cleveland Show

Wendy Boswell — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:07:07 +0000

There’s been some speculation on why Seth MacFarlane started another show when he already had two (American Dad and Family Guy) on his plate, and here it is straight from the horse’s mouth:

“I get bored pretty quickly … The Cleveland Show, just getting that off the ground was very stimulating, it was a lot of fun to kind of build something new and to see if it could be done.”

Seth also talked about his motivation for coming to work every day:

“I guess what motivates me is that I can’t ever really be content with the status quo. I was sort of – for good or for bad – driven to seek out whatever’s next, what’s the next level, what’s the next step, whether that be creatively or career-wise.”

He also talks about why the character of Cleveland was chosen for the spinoff, rather than the popular choice of Quagmire:

“For a number of reasons Cleveland was the obvious choice, not the least of which had to do with Mike Henry, who does his voice, who is also a writer, is very much a comedy powerhouse and he himself was an obvious choice to run a series,” said Seth.

image via Bauer Griffin

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More information on Family Guy Live for Haiti benefit

Wendy Boswell — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 07:03:45 +0000

I’ve gotten more information for yalls on the “Family Guy Live” benefit for Haiti happening February 12:

On Friday Feb. 12th, the cast of Family Guy will take you on an adventure through song and comedy.
This will take place at the Gibson Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA at 8:15pm!
Other friends along for the ride will be the cast of ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’
AND
SARAH SILVERMAN
AND
JEFF ROSS!

Get your tickets here. If you’re in LA the tickets are $59.50/$69.50/$89.50, with 100% of the proceeds going to Partners in Health (http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti).

For all of the fans who can’t be in LA for the Family Guy/Always Sunny charity event, you should know that the Monday after the event Adam Carolla will post a podcast from backstage. You will be able to download it from adamcarolla.com, and the site asks you to donate before you download (remember, all proceeds go to Haiti’s earthquake relief). The Facebook fan page is here.

The official press release is as follows:

All proceeds will go to Partners In Health’s Stand With Haiti initiative. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia star Rob McElhenney says, “We hope that our involvement can assist Partners In Health in any way possible as they spearhead the recovery efforts in Haiti.” Family Guy producer Kara Vallow echoes this, adding, “Family Guy is proud to be a part of what is going to be a one-of-a kind event for a tremendous cause.”

The It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia ensemble— Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, Kaitlin Olson, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Artemis Pebdani and Danny DeVito— will perform the FX show’s signature musical moment, the hilarious rock opera extravaganza, “The Nightman Cometh,” live on stage.

Seth MacFarlane will lead a bawdy live interpretation of Family Guy’s equally unique songbook. Family Guy Live will feature the cast of the Fox hit, joined by musical accompaniment, performing some of the memorable selections from the show and much more.

Get Tickets at LiveNation.com and TicketMaster.com. Tickets also available at all Ticketmaster outlets including all Macy’s, f.y.e. and Ritmo Latino locations and via Charge by Phone –(800) 745-3000.

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Seth MacFarlane to host the Writers Guild of America West Coast awards

Wendy Boswell — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:17:26 +0000

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has asked Seth MacFarlane to host the West Coast awards on Feb. 20 at the Century Plaza.

Here’s what Seth had to say about the gig:

“I look forward to catching up with my strike buddies from 2007, and making some new strike buddies for 2011,” said MacFarlane.

image Bauer Griffin; hat tip to Variety

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Video of Seth MacFarlane from “A Night to Benefit Haiti”

Wendy Boswell — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:04:15 +0000

Here’s a video of Seth MacFarlane and Adam Levine singing together at “A Night to Benefit Haiti”, a benefit held at Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

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Alex Borstein on Lois Griffin

Wendy Boswell — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:37:53 +0000

Here’s Alex Borstein talking about her Family Guy character Lois Griffin; she also plays Asian reporter Trisha Takanawa and Cleveland Brown’s ex-wife.

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Mike Henry on how Cleveland Brown came about

Wendy Boswell — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:28:40 +0000

Here’s the talented Mike Henry on “Inside the Actor’s Studio”; he talks about how the character of Cleveland Brown came about.

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Seth MacFarlane on Inside the Actor’s Studio

Wendy Boswell — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:16:04 +0000

These episodes originally aired September 3, 2009; here’s Seth MacFarlane on “Inside the Actor’s Studio” with James Lipton.

First, he talks about Brian Griffin (and shows us the voice):

Quagmire:

Peter Griffin:

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Seth MacFarlane’s guest spot in Star Trek – watch!

Wendy Boswell — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:27:21 +0000

Here’s the clip of Seth MacFarlane doing his guest spot on Star Trek Enterprise, Season 4, Episode 15; the episode entitled ‘Affliction.’

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Mila Kunis (Meg Griffin) at the premiere of “The Book of Eli”

Wendy Boswell — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:04:38 +0000

Here’s the lovely Mila Kunis (voice of Meg Griffin) at the premiere of “The Book of Eli” in Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, CA. Mila plays the role of Solara in the movie, which is a post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind. This is a pretty stellar cast: Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, and Jennifer Beals.

images Bauer Griffin

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