It’s always fascinating when you finally catch on to a new joke or reference that you previously missed, but I find it even more entertaining to find such references in shows or books you’ve been aware of for years. Case in point: I’m embarrassed to say how long it took me to catch that Ginger Grant, the “Mooovieee Staaar” of Gilligan’s Island fame, was based heavily on Marilyn Monroe. Without giving too much away, it was in the 20th Century, but the decade in which I realized it was NOT the same as the one in which I became aware of the show. In my defense, I was always a Maryann man myself, and it at least took me less than 30 years to figure it all out. On the other hand, I found great pride in the moment when my then five-year-old child informed me that the Hooded Claw from Penelope Pitstop was the voice of Templeton, recognizing as she did the distinctive vocalizations of Paul Lynde.
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) advises you to sit right back and hear a tale, a tale of “late to the party”, asking: What’s the most stunning after-the-fact pop cultural revelation you’ve ever had?
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the most immediate one i could think of was when i found out Uncle Phil from the Fresh Prince (James Avery) was the voice of Shredder in the original TMNT cartoon. i can’t think of a real “stunning” one though.
In terms of voice actors I can’t really say as I’m hard of hearing, so I rarely recognize one voice from another unless it is distinctively burned in my memory (I can recognize a certain few cartoon voice actors fairly well).
I was a bit surprised learning Bill Dauterive of “King of the Hill” was voiced by Stephen Root. Or realizing Stephen Root voiced Bill, I’m not sure which direction it went because I liked the actor in other things before I ever really saw KotH, but I never realized it was him. I was also surprised to learn that I hadn’t noticed the Robot Santa of “Futurama” was John Goodman until several years after owning the futurama DVDs.
But as I said, I’m hard of hearing, so voices sound quite different to me.
How many voices Frank Welker has done. I did not realize how prominent of a voice actor he was. He is easily Mel Blanc’s successor for the title of “Man of 1000 voices”
There have been many from finding out sonic the hedgehog was voices by Steve Urkel.to the California Raisins not being a real band, But I think my very first big realization was when I saw Ace Ventura: Pet Detective again after 7 years and realized how exactly the first client in the movie is paying him… mind = blown (pun intended)
Nothing has stunned me for ages, but posthumously declaring Dumbledore as gay was a revelation I found worthwhile.
Someone finally explaining to me what the end of American Psycho was all about. The first time I saw it I was a bit lost.
Finding out Mark Hamill, was the voice of the Joker on Batman TAS. Or when I was much younger that Casey Casem did a lot of voices for Hanna Barbera. Shaggy and Robin on Super Friends. Those are then only ones off the top of my head.