By Nell Geraets
Listening to Eric Bauza immediately transports you back to those lazy Saturday mornings watching television as a child. One moment, the Canadian voice actor sounds exactly like the clever Bugs Bunny; the next, he’s a pitch-perfect Daffy Duck.
“Most of us watched cartoons as kids,” Bauza, 45, says. “They’re probably the first fictional characters we’re introduced to that have a very profound impact on who we become as adults. It’s a way to escape and something to look forward to. It’s the opposite of homework.”
One of his earliest memories is watching Looney Tunes, specifically The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show. Now, about four decades later, he’s a driving force of the franchise, voicing iconic characters like Bugs, Daffy, Porky Pig, Marvin the Martian and Elmer Fudd.
“I never thought I could say, ‘What’s up, Doc?’ and get a paycheck for it,” Bauza says in Bugs Bunny’s Brooklyn lilt. “Which is good because my son needs braces,” he continues, now with Daffy Duck’s classic lisp.
Bauza’s first gig with the franchise was Marvin the Martian about “15 Earth years ago”. As one of the successors of the legendary Mel Blanc – Looney Tunes’ original voice actor, who died in 1989 – Bauza says he had massive shoes to fill.
Eric Bauza is now the voice behind iconic Looney Tunes characters like Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Tweety and Sylvester.
“Mel is the be-all, end-all. You can’t expect to come close to the bullseye because he was performing on all cylinders with these characters,” Bauza says.
“All I can hope is that I make people smile. If you’re smiling, then I know I’m doing a job well done,” he continues, shifting into Porky Pig’s stutter.
Bauza’s most recent work is in The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, the first fully animated original Looney Tunes feature involving Daffy and Porky (both voiced by Bauza), who must save the world from an alien invasion. It’s a zany adventure that recalls Looney Tunes’ early days when hand-drawn animations and slapstick gags prevailed.
The Looney Tunes remain as relevant as ever despite being over 90 years old, Bauza says. While their knock-knock jokes and silly songs never get old, it’s the creators’ attention to detail that has ensured the franchise’s longevity.
“They’ve built a time machine and gone back to the earlier days of 2D animation when there wasn’t a huge rush to get things done,” he says. “They worked at such a meticulous pace. They perfected everything.”
This includes perfecting the voices. Bauza has won two Children’s & Family Emmy Awards for his voice work. He makes it look easy, but it’s not all smooth sailing.
“I live on throat lozenges,” he says. “Daffy Duck is hardest on my vocal cords because he starts at 11 and goes all around the dial until it breaks.”
But regardless of how physically taxing voice acting can be, Bauza says he has no plans to stop.
“Doing Looney Tunes voices, it’s like putting on a Santa outfit. People are just instantly happy,” he says. “And that’s all, folks!”
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is screening at select cinemas now.
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