S2E20: “Charlie Fleischer Is 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 –

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