Inside The Voice-Over Booth: Brad Venable Wears A “Virtual” Leisure Suit

EDITOR’S NOTE: MVO: The Voice-Over Guy’s Brad Venable has an encyclopedic knowledge of video games which, combined with his impressive voice acting skills, makes him a favorite of video game producers. Here’s one of Brad’s many funny recording session stories.

One of my top five, all time, desert island sessions was the first of several ones I did as the Narrator for the remake of the classic adventure game Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards.

I was in my studio at home, patched in with Randy Ryan, my director, in Austin, Josh Mandel, the lead writer in Washington, and the legendary Al Lowe, the creator of the game, and part of the original crowd at Sierra Games.

So, having a total fanboy moment getting to work with Al, and not wanting to disappoint, I researched every reference in the script, and I was confident when we began.

Except for the part where I skipped a page during my prep.

So when we got to a reference to “lutefisk,” I was completely taken aback, but somehow stayed in character, and trying to cover my butt, I broke the fourth wall, saying, “What the f— is a lutefisk* anyway, an old catcher from the major leagues playing an ancient guitar??”

About three seconds of silence. Then I heard a burst of laughter from all three, and Al couldn’t stop for nearly a minute.

We ended up keeping the outtake as a great moment of self-aware humor, and because I made Al Lowe crack up.

*EDITOR’S NOTE (again)

Lute: Any plucked string instrument with a neck (either fretted or unfretted) and a deep round back

Fisk: Carlton, retired Major League Baseball catcher. Best known for “waving fair” his game-winning home run in the 12th inning of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. At the time of his retirement in 1993, Carlton Fisk held the record for most home runs all-time by a catcher with 351. 

Venable’s improvised wordplay score during a live session: 98/100.

Perfect 100/100 improvised wordplay scores are only achieved during live broadcasts.