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Maurice LaMarche
Maurice LaMarche (born March 30, 1958) is a Canadian voice actor. Across a career spanning more than four decades he has voiced Chief Quimby on Inspector Gadget, Egon Spengler on The Real Ghostbusters, The Brain on Animaniacs and its spin-off Pinky and the Brain, Big Bob on Hey Arnold!, Alec Baldwin in Team America: World Police, Kif Kroker and Calculon on Futurama and dozens of other highly recognizable characters in central and minor roles across film, television, and video games.
LaMarche was born in Toronto, Ontario, on March 30, 1958, to Guy LaMarche and Linda Bourdon. His family moved to Timmins, Ontario shortly after he was born and moved back to Toronto when he was around 4. LaMarche's childhood was filled with his "own little world of cartoons and sixties television". It was in his second year of high school that he learned of the popularity his talent for mimicry could garner him. This realization came from a coincidental performance in a high school "variety night" when a couple of friends urged him to enter. The act he performed at the variety night was "celebrities as waiters" which he used until the end of his stand-up career.
One of his neighbours was comedian Mike Myers.
At the age of nineteen, LaMarche took his high school act to an open mic night in New York City, performing to a reaction in which, as he describes, "they just totally ignored me". This reaction was coupled with the criticism LaMarche received from fellow Canadian comedians who LaMarche describes as discouraging him from pursuing a career outside of Canada. He returned to Canada, continued to do stand-up, and also started a career in voice work.
Three years later, LaMarche moved to Los Angeles to further his stand-up career. This move, LaMarche says, would always be something he regretted doing instead of moving to New York: "... in retrospect, I thought it was a mistake. I think that a couple of years in New York would have made me a stronger comedian."
Over the next five years, LaMarche's career progressed, playing comedy clubs throughout the US, with several appearances on The Merv Griffin Show and An Evening At The Improv. In spite of such interest, LaMarche believed that, while his impersonations and stage presence were professional, he needed to develop funnier comedy material. LaMarche was asked to be part of the 1985 HBO production Rodney Dangerfield Hosts the 9th Annual Young Comedians Special, on which Bob Saget, Rita Rudner, Louie Anderson, Yakov Smirnoff also appeared, and included the breakout first appearance of Sam Kinison. Although he was received and reviewed favourably, in looking back on his own performance in that special, LaMarche believed he was "probably about five years away from going from being a good comedian to being a great comedian" and being the "only impressionist that actually comes from somewhere".
During his standup career, LaMarche opened for such acts as Rodney Dangerfield, George Carlin, Howie Mandel, David Sanborn, and Donna Summer, usually in the main showrooms of Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
On March 9, 1987, LaMarche's father was murdered, shot to death by a lifelong friend in a Toronto hotel lobby in front of dozens of witnesses. This sent LaMarche into depression and alcoholism for the next two years, effectively stalling his stand-up career. After getting sober on January 20, 1989, LaMarche returned to stand-up comedy in the early part of 1990. As he was regaining self-confidence, his 18-year-old sister was killed in a car accident in September of that year. At this point, though he remained sober, LaMarche decided to retire from stand-up comedy. He said, "at that point I just threw up my hands and went, 'Oh, that's it. I don't have any funny left in me. I'm done'".
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Maurice LaMarche
Maurice LaMarche (born March 30, 1958) is a Canadian voice actor. Across a career spanning more than four decades he has voiced Chief Quimby on Inspector Gadget, Egon Spengler on The Real Ghostbusters, The Brain on Animaniacs and its spin-off Pinky and the Brain, Big Bob on Hey Arnold!, Alec Baldwin in Team America: World Police, Kif Kroker and Calculon on Futurama and dozens of other highly recognizable characters in central and minor roles across film, television, and video games.
LaMarche was born in Toronto, Ontario, on March 30, 1958, to Guy LaMarche and Linda Bourdon. His family moved to Timmins, Ontario shortly after he was born and moved back to Toronto when he was around 4. LaMarche's childhood was filled with his "own little world of cartoons and sixties television". It was in his second year of high school that he learned of the popularity his talent for mimicry could garner him. This realization came from a coincidental performance in a high school "variety night" when a couple of friends urged him to enter. The act he performed at the variety night was "celebrities as waiters" which he used until the end of his stand-up career.
One of his neighbours was comedian Mike Myers.
At the age of nineteen, LaMarche took his high school act to an open mic night in New York City, performing to a reaction in which, as he describes, "they just totally ignored me". This reaction was coupled with the criticism LaMarche received from fellow Canadian comedians who LaMarche describes as discouraging him from pursuing a career outside of Canada. He returned to Canada, continued to do stand-up, and also started a career in voice work.
Three years later, LaMarche moved to Los Angeles to further his stand-up career. This move, LaMarche says, would always be something he regretted doing instead of moving to New York: "... in retrospect, I thought it was a mistake. I think that a couple of years in New York would have made me a stronger comedian."
Over the next five years, LaMarche's career progressed, playing comedy clubs throughout the US, with several appearances on The Merv Griffin Show and An Evening At The Improv. In spite of such interest, LaMarche believed that, while his impersonations and stage presence were professional, he needed to develop funnier comedy material. LaMarche was asked to be part of the 1985 HBO production Rodney Dangerfield Hosts the 9th Annual Young Comedians Special, on which Bob Saget, Rita Rudner, Louie Anderson, Yakov Smirnoff also appeared, and included the breakout first appearance of Sam Kinison. Although he was received and reviewed favourably, in looking back on his own performance in that special, LaMarche believed he was "probably about five years away from going from being a good comedian to being a great comedian" and being the "only impressionist that actually comes from somewhere".
During his standup career, LaMarche opened for such acts as Rodney Dangerfield, George Carlin, Howie Mandel, David Sanborn, and Donna Summer, usually in the main showrooms of Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
On March 9, 1987, LaMarche's father was murdered, shot to death by a lifelong friend in a Toronto hotel lobby in front of dozens of witnesses. This sent LaMarche into depression and alcoholism for the next two years, effectively stalling his stand-up career. After getting sober on January 20, 1989, LaMarche returned to stand-up comedy in the early part of 1990. As he was regaining self-confidence, his 18-year-old sister was killed in a car accident in September of that year. At this point, though he remained sober, LaMarche decided to retire from stand-up comedy. He said, "at that point I just threw up my hands and went, 'Oh, that's it. I don't have any funny left in me. I'm done'".