ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Bobby Moynihan and Danny Pudi have spent the day at Disney California Adventure Park meeting and greeting fans attending the Disney Channel Fan Fest. The former Saturday Night Live cast member and the former Community actor are in attendance because they are the voices of Louie Duck and Huey Duck, respectfully, in the cable channel series DuckTales. Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation), who provides the voice of the third triplet, Dewey Duck, is not in attendance.
Moynihan and Pudi have taken a break from a wall-to-wall day of activities as part of the festival to talk about how much they enjoy being voices in the animated show. In the case of Moynihan, DuckTales is just one of a long list of animated programs he has worked on that also includes his being the voice of Orka on Star Wars: Resistance, which also airs on the Disney Channel.
Pudi has numerous film and TV jobs on his resume but he only has a few credits as a voice actor. But it was not for a lack of trying as he has been pushing for this kind of acting work for years. What he realized is that it is very difficult to find an opening into the animation world. Once he saw the first script for DuckTales, Pudi had hope because so much effort was being put into making sure the voices of the three duck nephews were very distinct.
Being at the Fan Fest is an opportunity for Moynihan and Pudi to spend time together. The have on occasion been part of recording sessions for DuckTales, but generally they work in a booth alone. Pudi hints that keeping the cast apart became a better option because they would have so much fun as a group, the sessions would go extremely long.
Pudi says: "I love anytime we get to see each other. The first time I met Bobby was on camera for a recording session. When I got the call about Fan Fest I jumped at the chance to get to meet the fans and to get to be with Bobby all day."
Both have been acting for years. Although best known for his work on SNL, Moynihan has a recurring role on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The New York native's past credits include Me. Myself and I, We Bare Bears, Summer Camp Island, Nature Cat and both The Secret Life of Pets offerings.
Pudi has been busy with TV projects from Community to Powerless and feature films such as The Tiger Hunter, a film that meant a lot to the Chicago native because his father lived the life of the character he plays in the 2016 release.
Although Moynihan and Pudi keep working in live-action projects, they always look for work in animation. Moynihan laughs and points out that since he's heard and not seen with voice work, he has a better chance of being cast as a duck in an animated project than as a super hero in a live-action movie.
Moynihan is especially grateful when he can land any voice over work.
"I was lucky enough to be on TV and now I get to do animation," Moynihan says. "What some of these professional voice actors do is unbelievably amazing. I am not a voice over artist. I am just lucky enough to be in some cartoons."
Both actors talk in glowing terms about being part of the DuckTales family. But, there was a point where there were discussions about dropping the three actors and replacing them with young performers. One of the main notes they got while doing their recording sessions was to sound younger and younger.
It was finally decided that Moynihan, Pudi and Schwartz had found such a comedy rhythm and had improvised so much that there would be no change.
The characters Moynihan and Pudi voice are both nephews of Donald Duck but they are very different in temperament, with Louie being a little more quick-witted and adventurous while Huey leans more toward a more practical approach. This triggers a conversation of whether the actors were the right pick for their roles or should have been cast as a different duck.
Moynihan is certain that he would have never been cast as Huey but maybe Dewey while Pudi takes the stand that he could be a Dewey but would have never been cast as Louie because he doesn't think he has the kind of voice that should be coming from someone in charge. None of that matters because both are having so much fun bringing their spin to the voices they landed for the classic Disney characters.
A third season of the Emmy-nominated series will debut later this year. New episodes for season No. 2 began airing on the Disney Channel and DisneyNOW on May 7.
Weekend on 05/16/2019