A Comic Conversation Ep 20 Robert Costanzo - Gem State Comic Con 23

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[00:00:33] Oh, hey there, nerds. Chances are if you've ever heard a New York City accent in a film, you've heard this week's guest because it's time for another

[00:00:40] Comic Conversation!

[00:00:44] This week we talk with Robert Costanzo about his start in Hollywood, playing the father of a beloved sitcom character, and of course, his extensive role as Harvey Bullock in the DC Animated Universe. So practice your Brooklyn accent, solve some crimes, and say, how you doing? It's time for another

[00:00:59] Comic Conversation!

[00:01:06] Welcome, welcome!

[00:01:08] Thank you. Thank you, people of Idaho. Can you hear me? They usually can hear me in Fresno, but, uh, anyway.

[00:01:15] Nice to be here. I'm really enjoying myself, and I didn't get a chance to see you, beautiful state, but I like the mountains with the, like, sugar coated. It reminds me of some, like, great dessert.

[00:01:26] You know, you got the dark mountains and then the, you know, the old guy mountains turning white like me.

[00:01:32] Can you hear me okay? Really? Okay. Alright, well, it's good to be here.

[00:01:36] That's awesome.

[00:01:37] And, uh, Felipe made up half of those credits, I think. No, no, actually, yeah.

[00:01:41] No, I did. I just looked at my IMDB.

[00:01:43] I, I did do them, it feels like, in a lifetime in a galaxy long ago, as they say, but, uh, anyway.

[00:01:52] That's amazing. You have this crazy long career. It's an amazing resume, but...

[00:01:57] Yeah.

[00:01:57] ...before we get into all that, we have a segment on our show called Growing Up Geeky.

[00:02:03] What is it called?

[00:02:03] It's called Growing Up Geeky. So what did you geek out on when you were a kid?

[00:02:08] Oh, what did I geek out? Well, geek was not a, uh, a word in my lexicon when I was a kid.

[00:02:14] Geek is a fairly new social media word. Not social media, but, uh, what did I geek out on?

[00:02:21] I actually was a, uh, I was a fan of, uh, early comedy television. You know, the life of Riley.

[00:02:29] I'm dating myself. No one else will date me, so.

[00:02:32] The life, the life of Riley, uh, Father Knows Best, those wonderful comedies.

[00:02:38] And Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke.

[00:02:41] Oh, yeah.

[00:02:41] And then it was a thrill when I came out to Hollywood.

[00:02:45] I got cast from a commercial to do Alice, which was a wonderful sitcom.

[00:02:50] And that was my first foray out here.

[00:02:53] And, um, I got to work with Mary Tyler Moore, uh, in a variety show, Short Live.

[00:02:59] Uh, uh, so, uh, I guess my geeking was those TV shows back in the day.

[00:03:05] I remember when we got our, our first, uh, you know, 15-inch Crosley television, you know.

[00:03:12] Nice.

[00:03:12] Yeah.

[00:03:12] But I was a sports nut even back then.

[00:03:15] Okay, yeah.

[00:03:15] I was more baseball and, you know.

[00:03:18] Uh, what, what's your team so that way I know whether I have to fight or not?

[00:03:21] I was a big Yankee fan back in the day.

[00:03:23] Okay.

[00:03:23] Which a lot of people from Brooklyn, oddly enough, were.

[00:03:26] They were more like, uh, they were more Dodger haters than Yankee fans.

[00:03:31] So I grew up a happier child because the Yankees always won.

[00:03:35] Right.

[00:03:36] I always say I had two uncles that insisted I become a Yankee fan.

[00:03:41] So I was a much happier kid.

[00:03:43] Uh, would have been maybe a better actor to deal with all the pain because the Dodgers

[00:03:47] lost all the time back in the day.

[00:03:50] Yeah.

[00:03:50] So, and then, uh, I, I briefly became a Dodger fan when my boys were young in LA because Paul

[00:03:57] LaDuca, who played with the Dodgers, uh, I grew up with his parents.

[00:04:01] And so I used to go to the games free and eat with all the Dodger players.

[00:04:05] And then as soon as they traded Paul, my hatred of the Dodgers came back.

[00:04:09] So, yeah.

[00:04:11] That's all right.

[00:04:12] I, I, uh, I'm a lifelong, uh, Raiders fan.

[00:04:15] So having them move and come back and move again, I know what it's like to love.

[00:04:19] The Raiders, yeah.

[00:04:20] They move all over the place.

[00:04:22] Al Davis saga.

[00:04:23] Exactly.

[00:04:24] All right.

[00:04:24] So you mentioned Brooklyn.

[00:04:26] Where did you go to school?

[00:04:27] You went to school for acting, right?

[00:04:28] Well, you mean, um, you mean, uh, well, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:04:32] I, I, I, I went to, uh, college.

[00:04:34] I majored in business, went into the business world, so to speak.

[00:04:38] And then, uh, wound up kind of a story with, um, the chairman of the board of my company thought

[00:04:44] it was very funny.

[00:04:45] And I wound up, a lot of people were saying that.

[00:04:49] So I went over to the Strasburg school, Lee Strasburg, the method guy.

[00:04:54] And I went there and I said, this isn't bad.

[00:04:56] You know, women who wouldn't even look at me were saying, would you come up to my loft

[00:05:00] and rehearse, uh, Macbeth?

[00:05:02] I said, yeah, why not?

[00:05:04] Yeah.

[00:05:04] You know?

[00:05:05] So, uh, I knew this was kind of my thing to do.

[00:05:08] It felt like this was right.

[00:05:10] So I, uh, kept studying and eventually quit my job in sales and started, uh, doing a lot

[00:05:18] of small theater all around New York.

[00:05:20] Then got cast in some commercials, did some, uh, dinner theater in the Midwest.

[00:05:27] Then got cast in Alice and basically came out here in 77.

[00:05:32] Okay.

[00:05:32] And really never went back.

[00:05:33] I mean, I did NYPD Blue and I've worked in New York on, and, and, you know, different

[00:05:38] locations, but I've lived in LA for, uh, since the late seventies.

[00:05:44] Oh wow.

[00:05:44] Since I was a young leading man.

[00:05:46] Oh.

[00:05:46] Yeah.

[00:05:47] Still are a young leading man.

[00:05:49] Oh, sure.

[00:05:50] So the, you mentioned Alice, Alice was your big break.

[00:05:53] I used to love Alice.

[00:05:55] Flo, Kiss My Rips.

[00:05:56] I mean, in a way, yeah.

[00:05:57] I mean, not in a way it was.

[00:05:59] I mean, uh, yeah, I got cast from a Prego commercial.

[00:06:03] You know, my mother would kill me because she made her own sauce.

[00:06:08] Every Italian would, would like, you know, disown you.

[00:06:11] I'm not actually, I'm Hispanic, but I mean like, I mean pretty much every, every Italian I

[00:06:15] know will disown you if you're like, Oh, Prego, come on, man.

[00:06:19] Yeah.

[00:06:19] I know.

[00:06:20] I know.

[00:06:20] I even buy meatballs at Costco sometimes.

[00:06:23] Oh.

[00:06:24] My mother would kill me for that.

[00:06:25] Sacrilius.

[00:06:26] But anyway, uh, so I came out from the Prego commercial to do Alice and that really was,

[00:06:32] uh, a break.

[00:06:33] Yeah.

[00:06:34] I started working fairly, you know, soon and quickly.

[00:06:39] So let's, let's pull back the, the, the Hollywood curtain here.

[00:06:43] Uh, what's it like on set on big productions?

[00:06:45] Like Total Recall, Die Hard 2, Saturday Night Fever, Friends.

[00:06:49] They're all different.

[00:06:50] You know, it's like everything else.

[00:06:52] There's a different dynamic, you know, depends on, a lot of it depends on who the star is,

[00:06:57] how accessible they are, how they feel, you know, and all.

[00:07:00] Uh, so they're all different.

[00:07:02] I mean, it's, it's hard to say.

[00:07:04] I, I usually enjoy them all in, in many different ways.

[00:07:07] You know, they're all, and like many Hollywood, you know, you work together, you're, you're well

[00:07:13] intentioned, but you sort of go on your own way and that's it.

[00:07:16] And then you run into each other and you embrace.

[00:07:19] And it's not like being phony or anything.

[00:07:21] It's the way the world is.

[00:07:22] I got my group of close friends that most of whom are actors, I guess.

[00:07:28] Yeah.

[00:07:28] So they're all, I would say every set is different.

[00:07:31] Um, and of course, if you're on a series, then you develop more of a familial thing.

[00:07:37] You're more like a family because you're with each other all the time.

[00:07:40] Usually a movie could be anywhere from a couple of days.

[00:07:44] Although like I was, I did a movie in Germany with Robert Duvall.

[00:07:49] Oh, nice.

[00:07:49] We had a lot of fun, you know, we were together about almost two months.

[00:07:52] So.

[00:07:53] Wow.

[00:07:53] That's a different dynamic.

[00:07:55] Yeah.

[00:07:56] Yeah.

[00:07:56] I was going to ask what the difference is between filming a movie and filming TV.

[00:08:01] Like.

[00:08:02] Yeah.

[00:08:02] Well, you know, filming, uh, filming, filming a movie.

[00:08:06] Um, I mean, I mean, let's face sometimes you don't even work with everyone in a movie.

[00:08:14] If you're in a TV, uh, like sitcom, you're there for five days.

[00:08:18] If you're, if you're working an hour show, it's typically eight to 10 days.

[00:08:23] Uh huh.

[00:08:24] Movies can be like any length of time.

[00:08:26] So, uh, that can change.

[00:08:28] Um, but you know, if you like, if you hit it off and you start, you can be friends in a couple

[00:08:33] of days or you could work with somebody eight weeks in a sitcom and you say, hello, goodbye.

[00:08:39] Right.

[00:08:40] Do you have any, but it's not any.

[00:08:42] Do you have any, uh, fun stories from filming movies, filming TV?

[00:08:47] I mean, I, I, I'm kind of a, uh, Hollywood geek.

[00:08:51] So I love all those behind the scenes stories, learning about actors, learning about the process.

[00:08:56] Well, do I have any, well, there's some stories.

[00:09:00] I don't know if it puts everybody in a good light.

[00:09:02] So I'm a little hesitant to say that.

[00:09:04] Okay.

[00:09:05] All right.

[00:09:05] All right.

[00:09:06] Uh, well, I told this story last night at dinner.

[00:09:09] So I did a movie called Fatso with Anne Bancroft and she directed it.

[00:09:14] The great actress.

[00:09:16] I was like in awe of her.

[00:09:19] Hey, how you doing?

[00:09:20] And, uh, when I met her and she was about 10, 15 years older than me then.

[00:09:27] And she reminded me a lot of the aunts, Italian women I grew up with in Brooklyn.

[00:09:33] Women who had tremendous potential and, but got married, lived upstairs from their mother,

[00:09:39] raised kids, basically dominated their husbands.

[00:09:44] I don't know why, you know, everybody's talking about feminism.

[00:09:47] We lived in a matriarchal society back in the day.

[00:09:51] The women ran stuff, which is fine.

[00:09:53] I wish they ran them today.

[00:09:55] Maybe we'd have a chance.

[00:09:57] Right.

[00:09:57] So anyway, um, when I met Anne, she said, Robert, you don't have to breed for me.

[00:10:04] You're going to play my husband.

[00:10:05] Oh.

[00:10:06] And I remember saying to her, aren't I a little young for that, Ms. Bancroft?

[00:10:11] She said, you son of a, you know.

[00:10:15] But, uh, but I had a great time.

[00:10:17] We had to do one of the scenes in the movie was we were supposed to be in New York.

[00:10:23] And what it was is Anne did it as a, uh, a short at the American Film Institute.

[00:10:28] Because one of, a sister of hers had weight problems her whole life.

[00:10:32] So it was a serious look at, at weight, big issue.

[00:10:37] But it was also funny.

[00:10:38] Dom DeLuise, uh, was the main character actually in it.

[00:10:42] And Anne directed it.

[00:10:44] And she and I were married in it.

[00:10:46] So one of the earliest, actually first scene in the movie is uncle, uh, cousin Paulie dies.

[00:10:52] He's 500 pounds.

[00:10:53] Oh, wow.

[00:10:53] So they got to carry the casket.

[00:10:55] And we're supposedly crying and all.

[00:10:57] So the makeup person comes by.

[00:10:59] You want glycerin, you know, to have tears?

[00:11:01] I go, I don't need that.

[00:11:03] Anne Bancroft got glycerin.

[00:11:04] I went, whoa.

[00:11:05] She goes, what?

[00:11:06] I said, the great Anne Bancroft uses glycerin?

[00:11:09] She, I, she used to smack me a little in a yawn.

[00:11:12] I loved it.

[00:11:14] Why not?

[00:11:15] So, uh, she said it takes the pressure off.

[00:11:18] The tears.

[00:11:19] And then when the scene was over, she goes, come here, I'll show you what I used.

[00:11:22] And she went around the corner.

[00:11:24] We were in an actual cemetery.

[00:11:25] And it was a young girl on the tombstone, 14 years old, who died with two lilies looking so angelic.

[00:11:33] Oh, my God.

[00:11:34] And Anne said, I just concentrated thinking about her.

[00:11:36] I said, okay, Ms. Bancroft, you restored my faith in your greatness.

[00:11:41] You know, and Duval and I, we, Bobby Duval and I, when I worked with Robert, we used to argue about sports, acting, all kind of stuff.

[00:11:50] He was crazy, funny as hell.

[00:11:52] We'd go watch dailies, and he'd look, and he'd yell out, you know, when you get dailies the day after you shoot scenes.

[00:11:59] And Duval would yell, how the heck is that?

[00:12:01] So you finally had a real moment.

[00:12:03] And I'd get all red-faced, you know, stuff like that.

[00:12:07] Do you have a preference, like, uh, filming a movie or filming TV?

[00:12:12] Is there like, hey, this is more my wheelhouse to do this type of acting?

[00:12:17] I like comedy.

[00:12:18] I always like comedy.

[00:12:19] Um, the difference is, you know, when you do a sitcom, you're doing it in front of a live audience, so the feedback is immediate.

[00:12:27] Ah, yeah.

[00:12:27] So it's sort of a hybrid form.

[00:12:29] It's somewhere between theater and television, in that you, uh, you have an audience, and, um, you don't really play to them as much as you would in theater, because you're playing to that box.

[00:12:43] And in the sitcom world, it goes, you know, set up, set up, joke, close up, usually.

[00:12:49] So, but, you know, as I always say, the act, you don't act from the neck up, you act with your whole being.

[00:12:56] Right.

[00:12:56] And, uh, I don't make too much of a difference.

[00:12:58] Although, in a close up, like if you're doing a dramatic role in a movie, you, you know, you tend to bring it down because you, you know, the camera close up and the eyes can do so much.

[00:13:11] Right.

[00:13:11] Right.

[00:13:12] So it's a little different approach in that respect.

[00:13:16] That's interesting.

[00:13:16] Oh, that's so good.

[00:13:19] So going from there, because we've talked about like live action and stuff, let's get into a little bit of voice acting.

[00:13:24] Right.

[00:13:24] What's that?

[00:13:24] A little, let's get into a little bit of voice acting here.

[00:13:27] Uh, so now your voice acting resume is just as long as your camera career, at this point at least.

[00:13:33] Uh, how'd you get into voice acting?

[00:13:36] I, I actually got into voice acting.

[00:13:38] Um, I was doing, I did a commercial on camera and somebody picked up my voice and asked me if I wanted to do voice.

[00:13:47] Abrams Rubeloff, I believe it was, the agent.

[00:13:50] And, uh, I started doing mostly commercials back then.

[00:13:54] Okay.

[00:13:55] And then, uh, they start sending me out for cartoons.

[00:13:59] Andrea Romano, who directed Batman, said she always thought of me right away.

[00:14:04] But I did have to go in and read for it.

[00:14:06] And then, like everything else, things just sort of fall into place.

[00:14:09] As far as Hercules went, they asked the cast who did the movie if they wanted to do it.

[00:14:15] And most of them did, excuse me, but Danny DeVito didn't do Hercules.

[00:14:20] He had other projects.

[00:14:21] Thank you, Danny.

[00:14:23] So that was a nice kick.

[00:14:24] So that's how we sort of got into that.

[00:14:26] Yeah.

[00:14:26] Okay.

[00:14:28] Was, uh, so that was it that's getting into the Hercules was kind of the big gateway.

[00:14:34] Well, Batman and Hercules.

[00:14:36] And then I've done stuff for, uh, Seth MacFarlane.

[00:14:40] And, but I'm not really a, one of the quote kings or queens of voices.

[00:14:44] There are some actors that they're on all those Saturday morning cartoons.

[00:14:49] They have tremendous range.

[00:14:50] I don't know if you've, uh, Kevin Richardson.

[00:14:53] He's amazing.

[00:14:54] Yeah.

[00:14:55] He's this large African-American guy.

[00:14:57] Sweetest guy in the world.

[00:14:59] Can do anything from a little baby to like, uh, you know, uh, uh, a mob boss.

[00:15:05] Yeah.

[00:15:05] He played, he played the Joker.

[00:15:06] What's that?

[00:15:07] He played the Joker in one of the animated movies.

[00:15:09] That's right.

[00:15:09] Yeah.

[00:15:09] That's right.

[00:15:10] Yeah.

[00:15:10] Uh, I mean, just going on that, just so, so.

[00:15:14] So Andrea Romano, uh, she, she found you for Harvey Bullock.

[00:15:18] Like she, she wanted you specifically?

[00:15:20] Well, they brought me in, but she always told me, Robert, I always, I had you in mind,

[00:15:23] but I mean, it was sort of up to her and the producers and all, you know, I didn't do

[00:15:28] much different.

[00:15:28] I just kind of did my usual guy.

[00:15:31] You know, I made it a little more guttural, a little more, uh, uh, you know, a little

[00:15:36] more side of my mouth, you know, Batman, you know, wuss, you know, that's kind of where

[00:15:41] I found that guy.

[00:15:43] Yeah.

[00:15:44] What, uh, what was the recording process?

[00:15:46] Like, were you all in the same room?

[00:15:48] Yeah.

[00:15:49] Yeah.

[00:15:49] With, uh, with Batman, we were, we were in sort of, uh, like a little semicircle arc.

[00:15:57] And, um, a lot of times we'd get up and face each other, almost like you're doing a scene

[00:16:03] in a movie.

[00:16:04] Mark Hamill always stood up, very animated, moving around a lot.

[00:16:08] Yeah.

[00:16:10] Well, but I mean, that's an amazing room to be in and Mark Hamill, who you mentioned,

[00:16:15] but the great Kevin Conroy.

[00:16:17] And we had a lot of really great actors that showed up, uh, you know, at Asner and Stephanie

[00:16:22] Zimbalist, good people would, uh, you know, do roles.

[00:16:26] And Andrea always said, you know, do it like it's a radio teleplay back in the day.

[00:16:32] Right.

[00:16:32] It sounded like a cartoon.

[00:16:34] Yeah.

[00:16:34] Exactly.

[00:16:35] That, that was the, that was like the first, uh, time we saw a cartoon or animation really

[00:16:41] taking seriously as a dramatic piece versus just, Hey, we're entertaining kids on a Saturday

[00:16:46] morning.

[00:16:47] And it won a few awards that had the great look too.

[00:16:49] Yeah.

[00:16:49] It looked like the classic comic book.

[00:16:52] Yeah.

[00:16:52] Yeah.

[00:16:52] It absolutely did.

[00:16:53] I mean, cause even to this day, again, just your voice being lent to Harvey Bullock,

[00:16:58] like every, every actor live action or animated has essentially tried to emulate you since then.

[00:17:07] Right.

[00:17:07] It's the same thing where every, every, every actor that we've seen play Batman has essentially

[00:17:11] emulated Kevin Conroy since, you know, uh, and all the animated stuff, say for Kevin Richardson's,

[00:17:17] uh, performance in, in Red Hood essentially is a knockoff.

[00:17:21] We just lost Kevin, you know?

[00:17:23] Yeah.

[00:17:23] I know.

[00:17:24] Yeah.

[00:17:24] Yeah.

[00:17:24] Wonderful guy.

[00:17:26] Yeah, man.

[00:17:26] Uh, but yeah, just Mark Hamill is like the Joker.

[00:17:28] Like the, the, the characters that you guys portrayed in the animated series are, are kind

[00:17:35] of like the litmus test at this point for everything Batman since then.

[00:17:38] Yeah.

[00:17:39] Uh, and, and your Harvey Bullock again, the minute I hear any Harvey Bullock, I think of

[00:17:43] you.

[00:17:44] Yeah.

[00:17:44] Who else is doing Harvey Bullock?

[00:17:46] I don't even know these days.

[00:17:47] Um, was that the one on, there's one on camera where the guy is like really doesn't

[00:17:52] look at all like the bullet guy, right?

[00:17:54] No, he doesn't.

[00:17:54] Uh, so Donnell Logue is the one that plays, uh, the live action one.

[00:17:58] Uh, Michael Madsen played him in, uh, in, in, in Dynasty and, uh, Robin Atkinson Downs,

[00:18:07] uh, played him in, uh, another iteration.

[00:18:11] And then there was also the version that was in the Dark Knight movies, uh, that again, he,

[00:18:17] the, the, the way he portrayed it was very much a hard boiled, but schlubby kind of guy.

[00:18:22] Who's that?

[00:18:23] Matt, uh, matching?

[00:18:24] Um, yeah.

[00:18:24] Oh no, the other guy.

[00:18:25] I'm trying to remember who was in the Dark Knight movies.

[00:18:29] While he's looking that up.

[00:18:30] Yeah.

[00:18:30] What was it like working with Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy?

[00:18:34] Because for a lot of us.

[00:18:35] A lot of fun.

[00:18:36] Yeah.

[00:18:36] That, that's our Batman.

[00:18:38] Like, that's the voice we hear when we think of Batman.

[00:18:42] Yeah.

[00:18:42] Kevin.

[00:18:42] Big shout out to Kevin Conroy.

[00:18:44] He was amazing.

[00:18:46] So, I mean.

[00:18:47] No, it was a lot of fun.

[00:18:48] We had good time.

[00:18:49] We just still kidding around, breaking chops and teasing Andrea.

[00:18:55] Andrea.

[00:18:57] Andrea.

[00:18:58] Yeah.

[00:18:59] That's awesome.

[00:19:01] That's awesome.

[00:19:03] Okay.

[00:19:04] Yeah, like, when I, I mean, we were talking about this earlier.

[00:19:09] Like, when we think of Batman, and there's always a big debate about who's, who's the best Batman?

[00:19:16] Who's, who's your Batman?

[00:19:17] Like the movies, yeah.

[00:19:18] Well, you know what's funny?

[00:19:19] People say, you know, it's, it's Ben Affleck or it's Christian Bale.

[00:19:24] I dig Adam West.

[00:19:25] Or Adam West, right?

[00:19:26] Back over, well, he, I don't think he's here anymore, but somebody who was here before said Adam West.

[00:19:30] No, I don't think, I don't really dig Adam West.

[00:19:33] What's interesting, though, as soon as we, you know, people throw it out there.

[00:19:36] You know, I don't, I don't really know.

[00:19:38] I, I, I'll confess it right here.

[00:19:40] I have not been an aficionado of the Batman movies, so I don't really know.

[00:19:44] That's totally okay.

[00:19:45] Kevin is still my guy.

[00:19:46] Yeah, that's the answer.

[00:19:48] He brings the gravitas to the role.

[00:19:49] Exactly.

[00:19:50] And that's, that's always my argument.

[00:19:52] Whenever, whenever anybody says, who's the best Batman?

[00:19:55] Yeah.

[00:19:55] And everybody starts going over live action, I always throw the wrench in there and say Kevin Conrad.

[00:20:00] Yeah, Kevin Conrad.

[00:20:01] And Kevin Conrad, before passing, did play a live action Batman.

[00:20:04] When something's on point, leave it the hell alone.

[00:20:07] Oh, yeah.

[00:20:08] Well, of course, he's not a movie guy, and you're not going to do a hundred million dollar movie with Kevin Conrad.

[00:20:14] He's a theater guy.

[00:20:15] Right, right.

[00:20:15] Right.

[00:20:15] And I mean, you go to, you go to Clooney or Christian Bale or, or Val Kilmer.

[00:20:20] I listened to an interview with Kevin where he talked about, he hadn't really read Batman before reading the role.

[00:20:28] But reading the script, he was like, well, this guy obviously is, Batman is his true self.

[00:20:35] And Bruce Wayne is his facade.

[00:20:37] So that's why he spoke with his regular voice as Batman and then pitched his voice up as Bruce Wayne.

[00:20:42] He's the only person still since then to do that.

[00:20:45] Kevin said that.

[00:20:45] Kevin said that.

[00:20:47] Since, he's the only person that's still done that, that changed his voice as Bruce Wayne and did his regular voice as Batman.

[00:21:21] Yeah.

[00:21:22] He was almost like a different version of Batman.

[00:21:25] But it's funny how the lesser characters became the bigger movie thing.

[00:21:29] Like the Marvel comics were like, you have Marvel, you read Marvel comics, you know, it's like having American flyer trains rather than Lionel.

[00:21:39] Right.

[00:21:39] It's like, you know, Second Citizens or something.

[00:21:42] Iron Man.

[00:21:43] Meanwhile, Marvel became this gigantic enterprise.

[00:21:46] What's crazy is the movie that made them the giant powerhouse that they are was an obscure character that people didn't really know much about.

[00:21:54] Like Iron Man started the whole thing and people didn't really know much about Iron Man.

[00:21:59] But the movie was so good.

[00:22:00] I used to like Marvel and I liked Wonder Woman because it was a chance to almost, you know, look at some hot women in shorts.

[00:22:08] But then seeing them fight was amazing, too.

[00:22:10] You know, it was great.

[00:22:12] So we talked a little bit about acting.

[00:22:16] OK, well, we'll cut it short.

[00:22:18] If you guys have questions, get them ready.

[00:22:19] We're going to get Robert back because he's got a lot of autographs to get to.

[00:22:23] And if we don't get to your question, come say hi to Robert at his table just on the other side of his wall.

[00:22:28] I love him.

[00:22:29] Right there.

[00:22:29] Anytime.

[00:22:31] So acting in front of the camera, you know, in a booth, what do you prefer?

[00:22:36] What do I prefer?

[00:22:37] What are the options?

[00:22:39] So in like acting for voice acting or on camera acting?

[00:22:45] I would say on camera.

[00:22:47] On camera.

[00:22:47] I think depending on the role.

[00:22:50] But they're all, you know, they're all fun.

[00:22:52] They all present their challenges.

[00:22:54] I used to hate to do, you know, the fall and the harumphs.

[00:22:57] And, you know, it's sort of hard to make that seem real.

[00:23:02] Right.

[00:23:02] Like cartoony.

[00:23:04] But, you know, but Andrea Coates is great.

[00:23:07] She was great.

[00:23:07] The impact sounds, you know.

[00:23:09] Yeah.

[00:23:10] You feel like almost stupid doing it, you know, especially if you're like a trained actor.

[00:23:16] You know, you're trying to be organic.

[00:23:18] Right.

[00:23:18] But you, it works, you know.

[00:23:21] So with your extensive knowledge on movies here, I got to ask you a question here.

[00:23:27] Or more so on this.

[00:23:28] If you were on a 10 hour flight.

[00:23:30] If I were.

[00:23:31] If you were on a 10 hour flight and you could sit next to anybody dead, living, alive and

[00:23:37] just have a conversation.

[00:23:38] Who would that person be?

[00:23:41] Cagney.

[00:23:42] Who?

[00:23:43] James Cagney.

[00:23:44] James Cagney.

[00:23:46] I love those old guys.

[00:23:47] I mean, to me, Cagney, Bogart and Eddie G.

[00:23:50] That's it.

[00:23:51] Inspiration for you.

[00:23:51] That's the end of it.

[00:23:52] End of story.

[00:23:53] Yeah.

[00:23:54] If you watch Cagney in his first movie, I think it was, was it King of the Roaring?

[00:24:00] No, not King of the Roaring Twenties.

[00:24:02] He just was, everything he did had such a flair, such a dynamic, the way he got into a car,

[00:24:08] the way he flipped, the way he looked at people, when he shoved the grapefruit in May Clark's

[00:24:13] face.

[00:24:14] Right.

[00:24:16] His Yankee Doodle Dandy.

[00:24:18] The only movie he won an academy.

[00:24:19] I would say off the top of my head, Cagney.

[00:24:22] James Cagney.

[00:24:22] Yeah.

[00:24:23] If I had to talk to a director, it would be somebody like Fellini.

[00:24:27] Okay.

[00:24:27] Federico Fellini.

[00:24:28] Federico Fellini.

[00:24:29] The great Italian director.

[00:24:30] Mm-hmm.

[00:24:31] Yeah.

[00:24:32] I mean, that would be my, and probably to, you know, the question of what role I would love

[00:24:39] to have played.

[00:24:40] Ooh, yeah.

[00:24:41] Actually, I did Guys and Dolls with Milton Berle.

[00:24:44] I played Harry the Horse, which is a great musical.

[00:24:46] Nice.

[00:24:46] But I would love to have played Nathan Detroit.

[00:24:49] He was the ultimate Broadway Guys and Dolls, you know, back in that genre.

[00:24:53] Right.

[00:24:54] That's awesome.

[00:24:55] Yeah.

[00:24:55] All right.

[00:24:56] So, real quick before we get you out of here.

[00:24:59] Okay.

[00:24:59] Go ahead.

[00:25:01] So, what's some advice you would give to anybody who wants to try and break into the industry?

[00:25:05] Go into the tech business.

[00:25:09] Go into it.

[00:25:10] And then what's next for you?

[00:25:13] No, like an aspiring actor?

[00:25:15] Yeah.

[00:25:15] Yeah.

[00:25:16] Just study hard.

[00:25:17] Go into it because you really want to do it and you love it.

[00:25:21] My youngest son, Chris, has got talent, but he's always trying different things.

[00:25:25] And, you know, he keeps seeing, like Sammy Lerner's a friend of his, the kid on the Goldbergs.

[00:25:31] Okay.

[00:25:31] So, Sammy hit it big, but he's worked hard.

[00:25:34] You've got to be in the arena.

[00:25:35] You've got to be networking.

[00:25:37] You've got to get yourself out there and you've got to work at it.

[00:25:41] You've got to do your plays.

[00:25:43] You've got to learn the craft.

[00:25:45] You've got to be around it.

[00:25:46] And somebody will tap you on the shoulder and say, this is your shot.

[00:25:50] Absolutely.

[00:25:51] Always be ready.

[00:25:52] Always be ready.

[00:25:53] All right.

[00:25:53] Who wins in a test of wits?

[00:25:55] Harvey Bullock or Joseph Tribbiani Sr.?

[00:25:58] Who would what?

[00:25:59] Who wins in a test of wits?

[00:26:02] Harvey Bullock.

[00:26:03] In a test of wits?

[00:26:04] In a test of wits.

[00:26:05] Right.

[00:26:06] Harvey Bullock or Joseph Tribbiani Sr.?

[00:26:10] I think Joey Sr. now.

[00:26:12] You think Joey Sr. is more witty?

[00:26:14] He imparted good advice to his son.

[00:26:17] He almost got out of cheating on his mother, you know, with Joe.

[00:26:21] Almost.

[00:26:22] Yeah.

[00:26:23] That one phone call screwed everything up.

[00:26:25] Yeah.

[00:26:25] All right.

[00:26:26] Any questions out there?

[00:26:28] Anybody got any questions?

[00:26:29] Okay.

[00:26:29] Come on up.

[00:26:32] All right.

[00:26:32] Go ahead and give me your name and give me your question.

[00:26:35] All right.

[00:26:36] So my name is Sean and my question for you is out of every show and voice acting role that

[00:26:42] you have done.

[00:26:43] What role outside of the ones that you have played would you have tried your hand at?

[00:26:48] Felipe, repeat that.

[00:26:49] I got most of it.

[00:26:50] So he's saying of all the roles that you were in, what role would you try your hand at again?

[00:26:57] Would I try my hand at again implying that I didn't do it well enough?

[00:27:01] Or you mean?

[00:27:05] Oh, he's saying, so what role would you have wanted to take that wasn't one that you already

[00:27:09] did?

[00:27:10] Would I have what?

[00:27:11] What role would you have liked to take that you didn't already, that you never had done?

[00:27:16] Oh, that I had never done before.

[00:27:18] Yeah.

[00:27:19] Oh, like I just mentioned a couple.

[00:27:21] You know, Nathan, is that what you mean?

[00:27:23] Nathan Detroit and Guys and Dolls.

[00:27:26] Harry, Willie Loman, Death of a Salesman, The Greatest American Play, which I'm trying to

[00:27:31] get a production going right now.

[00:27:36] Harry Brock in a great American play called Born Yesterday.

[00:27:40] I've been fooling around with a little Shakespeare, actually.

[00:27:43] I've been in this kind of semi-amateur, semi-professional.

[00:27:47] I've been doing like Caliban and The Tempest.

[00:27:50] I love doing Shakespeare, too.

[00:27:53] Try to un-Brooklyn it a little bit.

[00:27:55] Right.

[00:27:56] Brooklyn Shakespeare, that works too.

[00:27:57] Any other questions in the audience here?

[00:27:58] Come on up.

[00:27:59] Come on up.

[00:27:59] If anybody has any questions, come on up.

[00:28:02] If we have anybody that has any questions, go ahead and just line up in the middle here.

[00:28:06] Hey, Bobby.

[00:28:07] Hey, James.

[00:28:08] So I know, and with good reason, people always talk about like Kevin and Mark.

[00:28:13] I'd like to know, how was your experience working a lot with like Ingrid Olu and Leanne

[00:28:17] Strimmer as Montoya along with your Bullock?

[00:28:20] Yeah.

[00:28:21] It's hard hearing with this.

[00:28:22] So he was saying, what was your experience working with like Montoya on Batman?

[00:28:28] You know, kind of working with the other actors that played detectives in Batman.

[00:28:32] Montoya, she played, shows you, I don't, she played who again?

[00:28:36] You were saying?

[00:28:37] Who did Montoya play?

[00:28:39] Montoya was the character.

[00:28:40] Yeah, I know.

[00:28:41] Oh, she was the character.

[00:28:42] Yeah, she was the partner.

[00:28:43] I don't have much of an experience with her because I didn't know it was the character

[00:28:46] or the actress.

[00:28:47] Yeah, it was Ingrid Olu and Leanne Strimmer, the two actresses.

[00:28:51] I don't remember much with them.

[00:28:52] Yeah, they were nice, I remember.

[00:28:54] And she was a little on the shy side and very sort of, you know, by the book.

[00:29:02] And I think she felt a little bit like dwarfed by some of the bigger personalities.

[00:29:09] Maybe.

[00:29:10] I think that's how I remember her.

[00:29:12] I'm pretty sure.

[00:29:15] She was kind of like sat back, you know.

[00:29:17] All right, let's get you back to your table so you can get some autographs going.

[00:29:20] But where can everybody follow you, learn more about you?

[00:29:23] Maybe you have a website.

[00:29:25] I don't have a website.

[00:29:26] I'm scared of spiders.

[00:29:30] No, but you can, you know, IMDB.

[00:29:32] I got to get that corrected.

[00:29:34] I'm lazy when it comes to this stuff or self-promoting.

[00:29:37] They got me older than I actually am and I'm old.

[00:29:40] They got me down as the son of Carmine because my dad did a couple of little movies and commercials, which I don't mind.

[00:29:48] He is my dad.

[00:29:48] I love them.

[00:29:50] But, you know, it's almost like, hey, dad, I did 200 films and now I'm your son.

[00:29:55] You're supposed to be my father.

[00:29:58] But he could care less.

[00:29:59] He was great.

[00:30:00] He was fearless.

[00:30:02] So I guess IMDB, I'm not a Facebook.

[00:30:07] I'm not, not that I'm shy.

[00:30:09] I'm just not, I don't know.

[00:30:11] I don't inhabit the world of social media.

[00:30:15] I'm always asking my son, you know, how do I do this?

[00:30:19] I just set up a PayPal thing for the first time.

[00:30:22] If you had, you know, left it to me and I have one of those phones, you go like this.

[00:30:25] A rotary dial.

[00:30:26] All right.

[00:30:26] There we go.

[00:30:27] A rotary.

[00:30:28] So if you're here at Gem State, this is your chance to come meet Robert Costanzo.

[00:30:33] Thank you so much, everybody.

[00:30:35] All right, Robert.

[00:30:36] We appreciate you coming.

[00:30:42] We hope you enjoyed this week's comic conversation.

[00:30:48] This was a production of the Distance Nerding Podcast and Time for Tacos Media.

[00:30:52] For more content, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok, all at Distance Nerding.

[00:30:58] If you enjoy our content, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:31:03] Thanks, and keep nerding together.

[00:31:05] Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening.

[00:31:08] Signing out from another amazing episode of Comic-Con Radio.

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