you are a vocal instructor. david: voice. johnny "bananas" devenanzio: voice. acting. and soul. we're going to get to some truth today. ooh-hoo. 'cause you're not used to doing this. i'm not used to having someone's finger in my belly button. uh huh. good. now, left. ok. this is going to help you in all of your speaking, sir. these are tongue exercise. (singing) i'm going to let it shine. awesome. i've been told, in the past, that when i sing, it reminds people of velvet covered in peanut butter. who are these people? [theme music] theme song: i'm going to give up and be [inaudible]..

johnny "bananas" devenanzio: marlon brando in "the godfather." i'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse. johnny "bananas" devenanzio: viola davis in "fences." i gave 18 years of my life to stand in the same spot as you. johnny "bananas" devenanzio: and heath ledger in "the dark knight." why so serious? johnny "bananas" devenanzio: these are just a few examples of what great acting looks like and what i could only aspire to be. but before i can accept my oscar, there's a few things most actors got to do-- work a bunch of [bleep] jobs. oh, god, this does not smell very good, rob. look out! ah! johnny, you ok? ah! johnny "bananas" devenanzio: and take acting classes. [music playing] and as luck would have it, my producers have set me up with one of the best acting coaches in the biz, howard fine. i have been doing reality television now for over a decade, but i had a small part in a movie, the new "jay and silent bob reboot" movie. this [bleep] is bananas! and it kind of gave me the acting bug.

so i think i'm ready to take my talents to the silver screen. and i'm hoping that, within the next year, i'd like to win an academy award. when you do, you can thank me publicly, which-- - i will. - i'll look forward to it. - i'll bring you as my date. - we don't have to go that far. i didn't know what to expect, meeting johnny bananas for the first time. the name alone spoke to me. he was very present, right from the moment he walked in the door. the most talented people protect themselves and your protection is humor, which means you must be really, really sensitive under that. so acting training teaches you how to access what's already inside you. are you an acting teacher or are you a therapist? - i am. - because i feel like-- they are closely aligned. i feel like i should be laying down on a couch right now. starting with a blank slate, i'll be working on the neutral scene-- a script comprised of random lines open to interpretation by the performers. and my partner is one of howard's most promising students, shea depmore. these are the only words you may say. notice, there's no punctuation. it's not about the words, it's about what

you bring to the words. the neutral scene is a core part of our training here, at the studio. it begins to show the tools that actors need to have. they need to know where they are. so let's do your bedroom. i've come over, i'm trying to get you ready to go. ok. what their relationship is. do you want to be my girlfriend? sure. that was easy. what just happened. perhaps, i want to move in to your place and you have a roommate. maybe you need to tell her. howard fine: and a basic conflict. i mean, there's some conflict there because we just started dating five minutes ago, and you already want to move in. that's crazy. red flag. just meeting him, i have no idea whether or not he has what it takes to be an actor. he definitely has charisma. i'm not worried about him bringing his full self up on stage. johnny "bananas" devenanzio: now onto the set design. much like building pillow forts as children to fully get into the character, howard has instructed us to bring our own props to make the set more immersive. i painted that one. - did you really? - yeah. - i like it. - thanks. - how is it going?

you like our place? you have made place. i think there's a little too much of her stuff in the area. i feel like there's a little too much bananas, but what do i know? well, you're moving into my place, if you don't recall. all right. you're already moving nicely into conflict. let's start. i wish you wouldn't do that. why not? because i find it annoying. i wrote a trap line into it. so the first line is, i wish you wouldn't do that. and pretty much everyone says, oh, let's fight. and then they begin to realize if the relationship is unimportant, the scene is unimportant. line. didn't take long to crash and burn. i don't know what to make of this neutral scene. it's a bunch of random thoughts on a piece of paper that don't really make sense. i can't figure out where to place these words, what the scenario is going to be. so that's making it a little bit difficult. - stare at each other-- - mm hm. and do the scene. forget that you're even in a room. i wish you wouldn't do that. why not? because i find it annoying. - suit yourself. - good. and how weird do you feel right now? - very weird. - yeah. because your body doesn't know where it is.

trying to act without the props-- yeah. is akin to playing baseball without the ball, the bat, the bases. no matter what you're trying to contact emotionally, if the body doesn't know where it is in space, you can't function in truth. i thought, coming in today, that i was pretty naturally gifted. i will say that i understand now why acting is considered a craft and an art. so take this new concept, work it, and then i'm going to bring class in to watch. johnny "bananas" devenanzio: and after havingne m oe chance to run lines-- - we should get on with it. - do i say, suit yourself? no big deal. oh, no big deal. johnny "bananas" devenanzio: it's showtime. i am a bit apprehensive about the upcoming performance, mainly because i feel likek like a total idiot, i'm not going to look believable, and i'm probably going to forget most of my lines. this might be one of the toughest tests yet. [applause] - ok. let's go to work. i wish you wouldn't do that. why not? because i find it annoying. suit yourself.

have you heard the news? yes. and i have to say, i was very surprised. so was i. we should get on with it. no big deal. hm, that's what you say. all right. let's discuss. johnny, what did you learn today? johnny "bananas" devenanzio: i learned a lot. you've transformed from not being willing to be vulnerable to actually opening up your heart. i'm leaving here a more complete person. i now know that i do use comedy to create a barrier around me. howard fine: how did it feel having the audience? to be honest, i didn't even notice. excellent. so you actually were not performing. acting is not about showing, it's not about indicating, it's about really being authentic. that's big stuff to happen in a matter of hours, from this morning to now. thanks. howard helped me break those walls down, be vulnerable, be sensitive, be ok being that person. because that's what acting is.

whatever my next adventure is, wherever i go from here, i hope that i can take what i've learned today, and it can make me be a more authentic, effective actor on the silver screen. and then i want to win an academy award. i will be your date. all right. [theme music]

[gargling] this is voice over acting. people have often told me that i have a face for voiceover. what the [bleep]? who wrote this? (in silly voice) from silly characters, like this-- (with spanish accent) to romantic ones, like this-- (with dramatic voice) to intense movie trailer voices, like this. good voiceover acting is just as important as performing in person. so i'm combining the love i have for hearing my own voice with animation. and i couldn't think of a better place to cut my teeth than at wink studios with brenden

hill, head of development. [music playing] i'm not going to lie, i kind of got the bug for wanting to act. but i thought, maybe, it would be more my speed to try out voiceover work. and what better place to try my hand at voiceover acting than wink studios. so tell me a little bit about what you guys do here. we're a group of animation professionals from a lot of the major studios that come together to start our own company. our first movie is called "extinct." it's directed by david silverman, co-directed by raymond persi. we've got some great voiceover talent in the movie-- rachel bloom, adam devine, ken jeong. so we'll see how you stack up to that level of talent. johnny "bananas" devenanzio: like any production, it all starts with words on the page. and writer, producer, joel cohen, is just the man to give me some context for the story. the idea that john, rob and myself had was, what if there's a species of animals that travels to the present day and learns that they've become extinct? so we came up with this thing called flummels, which

are like these cute, furry, little donuts with holes in the middle, trying to save themselves from going extinct. as somebody who's trying to break into the field of voiceover acting, i would really like to see what the overall process entails. that, we can show you. so this is a scene from the movie. this a scene where the flummels see donuts and think their flummels. because they don't know what donuts are, because they're from 100 and so years ago. this is in the board stage still, where we're just working out where the characters are, where the camera is. so this is in the very early stages of animation. early enough that it's not expensive to make changes. johnny "bananas" devenanzio: voiceover acting comes down to two things-- a microphone and an actor. so now it's off to the studio to meet with veteran directors, david silverman and raymond persi, who are going to show me the ropes. so what have you guys done in the past? i've been on "the simpsons" from the very beginning. johnny "bananas" devenanzio: never heard of it. and i also worked at pixar, and was a co-director on "monsters inc." i cut my teeth on "the simpsons" television show, and i worked on the movie with david. and then i went over to disney. and i was artist there on "wreck it ralph" and "frozen."

and a voice actor, ladies and gentlemen. - and a voice actor? - oh, yes. that's right. - ok. how is it different for an actor who's used to doing live action to doing animation? mostly, what i would say to an actor who is less accustomed to doing this is, think more stage performance. in animation, it calls for a little more bravado, and more emotion, and more projection to get the performance. so what's the first step? first step? we got to get in there. so i was told that i'm here to take adam's job. is that what's actually going on here? actually, no. adam devine has a job and he's doing an awesome job at it. you haven't seen my chops today yet, all right, david? hm. well, ok. we might be sending a pink slip adam's way after today. ah! he's going to eat a flummel! you monster! we won't let you die, brother! [screaming] i'm the gray one? - you're the gray one, yes. - ok. normally, it's the opposite-- you record the voices first. but this, since we're trying you out, we're going to have you voice to the picture. got it. [beeping] we'll save you! ah! we'll save you!

so after it beeps, it goes one, two, three, and there's an imaginary four. and i'll cue you. ok. [music playing] when do i go? about three beats ago. now here we go. he's going to eat a flummel! close. you need the, ah! he's going to-- got it. ah! he's going to eat a flummel! better? very nice. johnny "bananas" devenanzio: now i'm getting the hang of this. ah! we'll save you! he's going to eat a flummel! very solid. this is one. mm! that's perfect. [screaming] bravo. very nice. - thank you. - very nice. you got it, raymond? i think you got it. johnny "bananas" devenanzio: after a bit of editing magic, we were off for our big screening. fingers crossed. how do you think you did? it took a few tries to get the cadence and to get the timing down. and i'm hoping that everyone is very pleased to see me make

my transition into a flummel. uh, let's see if it paid off for you. johnny "bananas" devenanzio: let's see. we'll save you! cute, little doggy. here you go. ah! he's going to eat a flummel! you monster! we won't let you die, brother! i'm not getting a pulse. [screaming] guys, guys, guys! it's just a donut! mm! all right. [laughing] [cheering] if i didn't know my own voice, i would have thought i was watching adam. on a scale of one to seth macfarlane, how was my voiceover work today? - i think you hit the 10. - yeah? i really do. you really had a great sense of inflection, a great power to your performance, a natural-- - yeah. and good energy. - yeah. great energy. great energy, natural, and it fit right in. mr. bananas, that was-- that was quite good, i got to say. thanks, man. well-- well, i had some good teachers over here. now all we got to do is just make that difficult phone call

to adam. so what's his number? [laughing] well, we'll get it-- we'll give it to you on the way out. ok. perfect. [theme music]

johnny "bananas" devenanzio: acting comes in all shapes and sizes, so if you're looking for big laughs in a small package-- i tried to convert my boat to solar power, but you can't imagine how many cloudy days you have out at sea. that's true. johnny "bananas" devenanzio: look no further than the brooklyn puppet conspiracy. with over 20 years of experience in building entertainment, this team has done everything from commercials-- i've been selling cars since you were a missed date on your mother's calendar-- - my mother? and you think this limp, little ad is going to stop me from making my full number on you? johnny "bananas" devenanzio: to music videos. so for my next foray into the world of acting, david fino is giving me a crash course in puppet improv. [music playing] so puppets work different ways, right? there's like the marionette that works on strings. - yeah. - ok.

there's rod puppets, and shadow puppets, and we've even got a little bowl of finger puppets out there. and then this guy here, he is one of two kinds of live hand puppets. so you're doing one hand and i'm doing the other. exactly. hooray! yay! woo! nbc! man, we are good. we are good. so this isn't ventriloquism, so i don't have to talk without moving my mouth. - that is absolutely correct. when we do this on stage, we're just out in the open. and the idea is that we make the puppets and what they're doing interesting enough that the audience doesn't look at us. melvin here, this is my puppet, when we do puppet improv. he's been on my arm probably more than any other puppet. - you made melvin, too? - yes. ok. and all his friends, including the one that you are going to be working with this evening, as well. i get my own puppet. you are going to have your own puppet. let me take a gander at puppet bananas. here he is. he usually goes by the name of rosco. if that is not a handsome devil, i don't know what is. learning the tv aspect of it takes a lot of practice. - look who it is! - we're all on camera. i gotta get the arm motion going now.

it's a workout. you know, all of our interaction and all of our focus is going to be entirely on the monitor. the monitor doesn't flip, like with facetime. so what you'll see is that you'll move the puppet this way, but the image goes that way. everything is backwards. see if you can look directly into the camera with the puppet. turn the other way. yeah, there you go. there you go. compensate back, calibrate. there. that's-- there you go. you're getting it. what are we doing this evening? we are going to do a little puppet improv in manhattan. well, listen, man, i'll try anything twice. [laughing] should my voice for my puppet be my voice? well, that's up to you. even when the puppets' voices are close to my own speaking voice, like melvin's is, i like to just give it a little color, a little personality. tonight, i want you to just be your biggest, most colorful self through the puppet. and then let that play the characters in the scene. yo, what's up, man? yeah, yeah. you know-- and you could even try-- yo, it's rough out in these streets, man. yeah, it's going to be rough, rough. and it could rain. oh, i wasn't moving the mouth. next, it's off to popular improv spot, the pit,

to meet with the rest of the bpc gang along with tips for our upcoming show. i feel like there's six people watching me right now. do you guys find that this is like an extension of who you are? you could almost, kind of like-- i would say so. yeah. yeah? as a puppet, you can do so many me things than, as a human, you can. so like, we do-- you know, we can like bungee jump-- yeah, you can fly. and like really go down in there. yeah, bungee jumping. you know, fish under water, you're birds in the sky. it's kind of the same thing. so where we have some physical limitations, with the puppets, we are freed up to do other things that we couldn't do if we were just doing them ourselves. so we're going to circle up, and we're going to do ju a couple of basic, improv exercises. - zip-- - zap-- of basic, i zop. exercises. and that was to you. so now you turn to somebody and say, zop. this is completely differt than normal prim. i wouldn't ca jllnny bananas a natural at puppetry, but it's not easy. one of the hardest things about doing this kind of performance is doing the puppetry and the improv at the same time. - did you hear that? - yeah, dad, i heard.

i thought it was a monster. a monster? uh. what makes this more difficult is there is no script. so you're, essentially, trying to be creative and trying to make up scenes, and situations, and circumstances through an inanimate object. what did you call me? it was a beautiful, perfect, apple pie, right in the window sill. that actually wasn't, uh, your neighbor's window. that was my rear end. oh. [laughing] that was very funny. we're all telling the story from the same perspective of the same character. [music playing] johnny "bananas" devenanzio: well, prepared or not, i'm getting thrown straight into the fire. can't say i'm feeling good about this one, when "1st look" returns.

all right, so let's recap. first, we learned about puppets. so, yeah, i'm the dummy. and david's hand is up in my head. if i'm not looking at you, it's like this guy's actually alive. then we learned about improv. the monster? uh. uh, line? i have done improv before, but, obviously, this guy has not. he's going to need to tighten it up for this show tonight or the two of us are going to look like a couple of dip-[bleep]. [giggling] so now it's time to combine the two in front of a live audience. we have got a fun improv show for you tonight. let's bring out our newest cast member,

mr. johnny bananas and little bananas! [cheering] here he comes, everybody! chug! chug! chug! - oh! oh! family show! chug! all right. [cheering] we're going to start off with a little opener for you that we call a one sentence story. and to get that going, we just need a single word from you. audience: water. water is our word. water. so last week, i'm fishing down on the dock. mm. and i feel a big tug on my fishing line. which is funny because the only lure i used was it cheeze-it. it was a whale-- a giant, blue, freshwater whale. and then i realized that it actually wasn't blue after all, it was, uh-- moby's dick. which i had caught on my fishing rod.

and i reeled it, and i reeled it-- my performance tonight, if you want me to describe it, have you ever seen a jet aircraft that flies into, like, birds and just goes down in a big ball of flames? it was about tantamount to that. i can't believe your parents let you out after what you did last weekend, man. yeah. well, i can't believe your parents let you out of the house, period. i feel like a puppet improv taps in to a lobe of the brain that doesn't exist in my brain. that-- that thing that you broke? you broke your dad's car. i called it a thing. i mean, i can't believe he let you out after that. wait, is that the guy who drove through the taco bell front window? oh my god! hey, man, you're famous! that's him! oh my-- get a selfie. go, go, go. - ok. go, go, go. you'd think just free-form thinking, and just being in random scenes, and making stuff up as you go along is easy. and it's not. [laughing] thank you! thank you! big round of applause for mr. johnny bananas, our newest cast member. i don't think johnny went down in flames. i think he did really well. in one day, he put on a professional puppet

for the first time, he learned how to do long form improv, and then did it in front of a real audience. that's challenging and impressive. next time i watch "sesame street" with my niece, i am going to watch it with a whole new-found respect. [cheering] thank you all for coming. and we hope to see you next time! here's johnny! is it voila, viola, or viola? joel cohen is-- i'm going to need commas in here in places, so i know where to, like, change. i'm combining the love for hearing-- [bleep] i'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse. can i saw the love i have for hearing my own voice?

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. let's talk about it. [theme music] welcome to "talk stoop." today we're sitting down with women who are out there every day killing it. first up is singer and actress, christina milian. she was signed to a recording deal at 18, and has been entertaining us with her music and films ever since. this girl is one fearless female. [music playing] all right, you hear that noise? it's all this construction in this beautiful building, 277 fifth ave. sitting here with christina milian. hello. nessa: hi.