JERRY TRAINOR on 'T.U.F.F. PUPPY'

Interview by Michael J. Lee, Executive Editor for Radio Free Entertainment
August 4, 2010

Jerry Trainor has become a veteran part of the Nickelodeon family over the last several years, first as the recurring Crazy Steve on Drake and Josh, then as the wacky Spencer Shay on iCarly. Now, the comedic actor takes his outgoing, energetic brand of comedy to T.U.F.F. Puppy, a new animated series from Butch Hartman, the creator of the Nick hit The Fairly OddParents.

T.U.F.F. Puppy follows the adventures of Dudley Puppy, a dim-witted but enthusiastic mutt who finds himself suddenly recruited into the ranks of T.U.F.F. (Turbo Underground Fighting Force), a top secret crime-fighting organization that protects the world from a league of evil animals. Jerry provides the loud, spirited voice of Dudley, while the ensemble cast includes major voiceover talents like Grey DeLisle (The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, What's New, Scooby-Doo?), Jeff Bennett (Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Laboratory), and Rob Paulsen (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Animaniacs).

In this exclusive interview, Jerry talks about his big foray into 'toon territory and his experience of promoting the show at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con.

RadioFree.com: What style of comedy can fans expect from T.U.F.F. Puppy?

JERRY: I think Butch Hartman and the writers on T.U.F.F. Puppy are geniuses. Did you ever watch Arrested Development? There are jokes coming at you a mile a minute. [snaps fingers] There's jokes that you're not even aware of in that show. And not that T.U.F.F. Puppy is like Arrested Development, but it has that very fast, very funny, "if you blink, you'll miss ten jokes" type of [humor]...Very rapid-fire. It's got the big, over-the-top visuals that kids will gravitate towards, but it [also] has references to older stuff, pop culture references. And Dudley Puppy is my bread and butter--he's like a man-child. His heart's in the right place, but he's a dim-wit. And I love that. And he always seems to save the day.

And how does he usually do that?

Dudley has a little bit of almost every different breed of dog...And part goat, and they don't know how that happened. And he uses all those breeds to his benefit--you know, he can smell and see and point and all that. But really, he's just sort of a bumbling idiot that stumbles into the right thing to save the day from equally dim-witted criminals.

Are you the type of performer to really get involved in a lot of physical gesturing while you're recording the voice?

Oh, yeah! The other voice actors are so good, and they can do any voice at the drop of a hat with ease. They always remind me of, like, they're playing the flute at an orchestra--they're just sitting there, they have their pages laid out in front of them, a glass of tea. [says in a posh voice] "What voice do you want me to do, Butch? I will do that right now..." And then... [snaps fingers] No problem, and they're funny and they're awesome and they're on. And I'm sitting there in the booth just like freaking out and flailing because I really want to get across what face I'm making, because you're not going to see my face...So I really have to do that to really get the intonation of what I'm saying and make it fit, give the animators something to work with. And I do a lot of yelling. [laughs]

Would you say Dudley's voice is even more animated than Spencer's?

Yes. Absolutely, because Spencer, for the most part, is a normal, even-keeled guy, but then can get spazzy. But Dudley, because he's a dog, he's super excited, he's super like, [yells] "Hey, what's happening?!?!" [laughs] He has these moments where he thinks what other people are doing is stupid. Those are my favorite.



You were recently in San Diego promoting the show at Comic-Con. How was your experience there?

It was awesome. Butch Hartman and I just wandered over to the convention center..."Let's go in and see the Nick booth and see what's going on." We barely made it into the door, and it was mob central! I got Beatled, you know what I mean? It was a swarm...I mean, it became like Dawn of the Dead when they were on top of the mall and they're just surrounded. We were in the booth, we were at the Nick area, which is basically just a carpeted area, surrounded.

Aside from being mobbed, did you get to interact much with the fans?

Yeah. I mean, the line was crazy for the signing, and there was a Q&A after the T.U.F.F. Puppy panel, which was fun. I'll be honest, I'm sort of a geek--you know, I like comics and video games and things like that--and I kind of wished I had been able to walk around and see the stuff. So I think maybe next year I'm going to have to get a disguise.

What would you have personally wanted to check out, had you gotten the opportunity?

Well, my buddies are sort of big in the "geek culture" universe. They do a show called The Totally Rad Show, and they did a live panel Saturday night that I would have gone and seen, but I couldn't. And then I would have taken their lead and like followed them around, because they know all the cool stuff to see, like the Green Lantern panel...

Did fans approach you on the floor while you were just walking around?

Oh, yeah! See, when we first walked in...There's like an outer area where you sort of go get badges and stuff like that, and then you walk into the inner area, which is huge and packed. The outer area, when we were walking up to get badges, a few people came up, like, "Oh my God, I love you, you're great, can we take a picture?" "Yeah!" And I love it. I love doing that. It's great. "Yeah, here you go..." No biggie. That was fine. It was when we couldn't move that [it became difficult]...You sign an autograph, there's a thousand more all around. You're circled. And where do you say no? That's the hard part.

It probably makes you feel like a jerk for refusing a fan request...

Yeah, because I just signed all these things and I had taken all these pictures, and then it's like, "I'm sorry, I have to go." And then they just look so disappointed in you. And I hate that--letting [fans] down.

The internet has made it pretty easy for actors to correspond directly with their fans. Has being a part of iCarly made you more proficient with that aspect of the web?

You know, I've sort of waned on social networking. I was sort of an earlier adopter of Twitter, and I had this view of Facebook that was like, "I think privacy online is a myth, I'm going to accept everybody as friends. I'm not, obviously, going to be able to respond to everybody, but I will let them know I'm reading the comments, I will post." And I connected my Twitter to Facebook...Keep people informed of what I'm doing and what's going on. It just became too much for me to handle.

I'd imagine you could literally spend 24 hours a day trying to keep up with all the messages...

Yeah, it became too much to read, too much to handle, you know? And then some people would get upset at me if I didn't respond. [laughs] And I thought that was weird. And when you open yourself up too much, I think you run the risk of losing what makes a performer special. I'm not a big fan of reality TV and things like that, and I think letting people into your life too much...It's cool to see, but I think it can lead to sort of an overexposure and "I don't like that actor anymore because I know how he is in this situation or that situation..." So I'd rather just be an actor for people, and really perform.

Knowing too much can sort of be like seeing the Wizard behind the curtain...

Right! Spencer is so funny, and Crazy Steve is so funny, and I want all the characters I play to be funny. But if you knew how I was in real life, maybe you wouldn't think those characters are so funny. [laughs] Maybe you'd think I was boring, or maybe I would disappoint you somehow.

Stay tuned for two more exclusive interviews with Jerry! First up is a segment on his iCarly character Spencer, followed by a fun preview of his new Nick movie Best Player, in which he becomes video game rivals with his iCarly co-star Jennette McCurdy!