Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase

Billy West's voices are heard all over the world, whether it's in a cartoon or a commercial, the sound is out there somewhere at any given time. A self-proclaimed Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck etc.) devotee, West says that the cartoons he saw on TV in the 1950's hit him over the head like an anvil. More like a cartoon anvil that is. "I knew deep down even back then that I wanted to be one of these screwy adults with magic voices," says West with total resolve.

Billy West was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1952 and did a lot of daydreaming and blurting out surreal voices and noises. In 1963, Billy moved with his mom and his two brothers to Boston, Massachusetts. He learned to play trumpet in Detroit and learned guitar growing up in Boston and started to perform with different bands for over 17 years. "I still kept doing voices and routines onstage and people would get all excited," recalls Billy. In 1978 he left the musician's life and tried his hand at standup comedy. "Nobody told me you had to have an act. I just went up and screwed around. While wildly amusing, it was the voice characterizations and impressions that rang the bell."

In 1985 Billy left Boston for New York and The Howard Stern Show. He spent 1989-1995 voicing grotesque send-ups of the pretentious glitterati of the time and performed in the rarified air of unscripted radio comedy. Billy West had already gotten two jobs with Nickelodeon by then and found himself voicing the starring roles for "Doug" and the cult hit "Ren and Stimpy." He left the Stern Show because there was no real money in it...not even long term. The work lead to Hollywood and a Matt Groening cartoon - Futurama - and the show plays on the "world's stage" somewhere everyday.

West's most notable film work came in the 1996 movie Space Jam. Starring alongside Michael Jordan, West provided the voice of both Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. West reprised the roles of Bugs and Fudd in subsequent Looney Tunes feature-length films and even returned as Fudd in the theatrically-released Looney Tunes: Back in Action. In 1998, West starred in the direct-to-video film Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island as Shaggy, becoming the second person to portray the character (the first being Casey Kasem). In 2004, West voiced the classic character Popeye in the 75th anniversary film Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy, and made his live-action film debut in Mark Hamill's Comic Book: The Movie. He also appeared in a cameo in Garfield: The Movie.

Over his career West has been the voice talent for close to 120 different characters including some of the most iconic animated figures in television history.

Billy also has a band "Billy West and the Grief Counselors" and made a CD.