This past Thursday I had the opportunity to interview Evan Michael Lee, a voice actor who lends his voice to the Mark Henry character on WWE Network’s upcoming adult animated series, Camp WWE. We discussed several topics including what we can expect from the show, working with Seth Green, and his own fandom.
Steve Coulson: Before we get started, I’d just like to thank you for taking the time to talk to us about yourself and Camp WWE.
Evan Michael Lee: First and foremost, can I just say how unbelievably sad it was to hear about Chyna? That kind of blindsided just about everyone. And it was so interesting to see how many fans, I was checking the WWE Facebook page just a second ago, to see how upset most of the fans were it took WWE this long to acknowledge her after her leaving the company and what not so. I mean, rightfully so, they have every right to take umbrage with it, but the whole thing is unfortunate.
SC: It was extremely sad. It is sad when anyone passes, but especially someone so influential who fought so many demons. There have been too many passings as of late. But let’s try to get to a lighter topic. Were you a wrestling fan growing up or before this project?
EML: I was, I’ve been a wrestling fan since I was about 5-6 years old. I remember I was downstairs playing with a friend of mine and my brother was watching TV and he said “come look at this, come look at this”, and I look at the TV and it was… I want to say Ax, Smash, and Crush versus Earthquake and Typhoon. And that was the first wrestling match I think I’ve ever seen. And I said “what is this?” And he said it was a thing called wrestling. And I was just watching it and I got hooked, and ever since then I’ve been a fan. Like, old school Undertaker. I was just talking to a friend and he said he was scared too because back when he started he put people in the body bags and carried them away. You think as a kid, this guy is murdering people and he’s allowed to walk away scot free? So I had been a fan since the early 90s. Its been a full circle moment working on the show.
SC: Yeah and to the Undertaker point, the best was when he would come out and just stare at one kid in the crowd. Can you imagine being that one kid?
EML: Yeah, I just imagine all the therapy that kid would mean years later after being traumatized by a 6 foot 10 madman.
SC: Absolutely. So with that being said, who was your favorite wrestler growing up?
EML: Oh god, I have a lot, speaking of the Undertaker, even though he scared the s*** out of me, he was definitely one of my favorites. I liked Razor Ramon. Diesel was a favorite of mine. Shawn Michaels. Bret Hart. Those are kind of the old school- Mr. Perfect, definitely, the Perfectplex, which was a move my brother always used to try to do to me and ended up hurting me, obviously, because we aren’t supposed to be wrestling!
But yeah, even the newer ones like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock.. I even liked Ted Dibiase The Million Dollar Man, I just wanted to be rich. Those were a few of my favorites growing up. Others stood out, Papa Shango.. Kane, he was Isaac Yankem D.D.S., and even Papa Shango turned into the Godfather. So yeah, I had a few favorites.
SC: It had to be interesting to see some of your favorites growing up on the show now, for example Ric Flair, and while they may not all lend their voices, there is Steve Austin, for example.
EML: Yeah, yeah, I know Ric Flair does his own voice. Vince (McMahon) obviously does his own voice. Jake “The Snake” Roberts does his voice. Triple H actually lends his own voice, but he doesn’t lend it to the Triple H character. He plays Triple H’s father. There’s a few little quad jokes in there, “he’s Quadruple H but his friends call him Quad”. Oh and Sgt. Slaughter does his own voice!
SC: Lots of legends then, so that must be exciting
EML: It is, it is, though I haven’t actually met any of them yet because when we do it you’re just in the booth by yourself, and its Seth Green on the other end and Aaron, our other executive producer over there. Yeah, so its just us kind of talking into a microphone, but they play other people’s voices so you can hear what they sound like. A lot of talented actors lend their voices to the show, I think its going to be very funny. From the ones I’ve heard so far I think The Big Show has one of the funniest voices, the guy who does his voice, its hilarious. I think you’ll like it.
SC: What’s it like working with Seth Green? Have you worked with him before?
EML: I have not, actually. Its pretty surreal working with him, I didn’t know what to expect the first day working with him but like, we sat down and he just asked me where I’m from and we started talking about wrestling. I had no idea he is such a wrestling fan. We talked about old school wrestling, some of the newer people, and the people we liked, the people we didn’t care for, and for someone so famous he’s just really down to earth. Really, really nice. And obviously being on Family Guy and Robot Chicken, he understands funny. I have total faith in this show.
SC: How did you become apart of the show and what was the process like for you?
EML: The funny thing is I saw a casting call for it, and I saw they were looking for adults, so I sent a screenshot to my manager and said “Hey do you know this casting director, I think I would be really good for this project” you know, obviously being a big wrestling fan. So she made an email and they wrote me back saying they’d love for me to come meet them and audition for the show. And they had me first come in and read as R-Truth, that was the first character I initially came in for, and so I prepared for it and went in there and knocked it out of the park. They were like “yeah, that was good but could you also read for Mark Henry?”. So I was like okay yeah, I didn’t really have a second voice or a character prepared, so I sort of just made up a smooth jazz sexy voice, and they really liked it.
After that, about a week later, they wanted me to meet the producers and Seth Green to audition in front of them. So I did my Mark Henry in front of them and they really liked it, so they not only read for Mark Henry but I read for Mark Henry, Vince McMahon, The Rock, I want to say The Undertaker, and Stone Cold Steve Austin. So I read for five people.
So like a week goes by and I didn’t hear anything, and I didn’t think I was going to get it, and then the next day I get an email saying they’d like to see me one more time. And this time they wanted me to read for The Rock and Mark Henry. And it was only just a few of us at this point, so I was really excited but also really nervous, I was like “oh s***”. So I auditioned, they loved it, and about two days later I get an email saying I didn’t get it. Yeah, it was so weird, and normally when I don’t get it I move on with my life but this one I was really bummed about. I was such a huge wrestling fan and it’d be so fun to be apart of this really cool project. So I go on with my life, move on with my life, and I get home from Vegas and I’m hung over. And my manager emails me and says “hey, are you available Friday? They might want you for that WWE show”. I say I’m free and she says they haven’t made a decision yet, but they’ll let us know tomorrow.
So I’m taking a nap and I get text message from my manager saying “call me ASAP”. So I call her and she says “So, you got it”, I said “what are you talking about?” and she said “the role for Mark Henry, they want you to be the voice” and I’m like “what?!” she goes “yeah!” and I was like “shut the f*** up!” I was speechless, I was like “oh my god, I really f***ing got it”. So I called my mom and she’s crying on the phone, and my dad is over the moon happy, because they all knew how much I loved wrestling as a kid. There would be many of nights where I would skip doing my homework because I was watching RAW or Smackdown and they’d yell “do your homework!” and I’d say “in a minute” then never do it.
SC: So it really is full circle for you then?
EML: Its like “wow”, its really like my childhood coming into my adulthood, and I don’t take it for granted, I’m just so happy to be apart of it.
SC: Here’s the big question all the readers will want to hear, what can you tell us about Camp WWE?
EML: Okay! What can I say that won’t get me in trouble… The best way I describe it, it is definitely, definitely, I can’t stress this enough, it is definitely not a children’s cartoon. It is something for adults – it is like South Park meets Archer. If that gives you an idea. Its very crass, its very adult. And there are a lot of jokes that- yeah there are wrestling jokes there, but there are a lot of pop culture references. So even if you’re not a wrestling fan you can enjoy the show.
The premise is that a lot of these WWE Superstars are eight years old, the camp is run by Vince McMahon, and some of the veteran Superstars are the camp counselors. So it allows for unique dynamics, you know there’s the kids and the older wrestlers at the campground so hi-jinx ensue. A lot of mystery and slapstick humor and things like that. I think it’ll be really, really funny. I don’t know if that answers your question.
SC: If the show is successful, and I’m sure it will be, would you be interested in coming back?
EML: Oh absolutely. Are you kidding me? I hope they call me back! Yeah, I hope they do. It would be an awesome experience to do this all over again, you know, continue with the story and these character’s development and whatnot. So yeah, of course, when season 2 comes I’ll love to come back.
SC: Great, great. Again thank you so much for coming, I appreciate you taking your time to answer some questions. Before we wrap up is there any other projects you’re working on you’d like to promote?
EML: I also do a radio show every Monday at 5 PM (8 PM EST). It is on, a new name for the station, z420.tv and the show is called Spill The Tea. I’m a co-host on it and every Monday we talk about pop culture and things like that. I am also sometimes a guest on the same station for Grand Theft Auto, the host of that (Jake Belcher) is a huge wrestling fan and he’s really excited I’m apart of this project. Sometimes I go on there and I talk about wrestling, I try to talk as much about the show as I possibly can.
May 1st when the show airs, I’ll probably do a live Tweet thing that day, so if anyone wants to chit-chat with me on there I’ll answer any Tweets or anything about the show or any questions you may have. Feel free to Tweet me on May 1st and follow me and feel free to do all that stuff. I’m the same on Instagram and Facebook, I’m not hard to find.
SC: Thank you again, would you like to say any last thing to your fans and the fans of Camp WWE?
EML: Tune in on May 1st, its going to be really, really funny, its going to be wild. I hope everyone enjoys it, we had a lot of fun recording it, there’s been a lot of laughs. When I read the scripts at home I laugh out loud to it. It is so f***ing funny, I hope everyone else finds it just as funny as we do or else we’re just a bunch of idiots, but I think everyone will find it funny. So yeah, let us know what you think and tell your friends to watch it, tell your family to watch it, so hopefully the WWE will like it and they’ll give us the message that they want to renew us and give us a season 2, so fingers crossed!
SC: Remember, Camp WWE premieres directly after Payback, this Sunday, May 1st on the WWE Network at 11 PM Eastern Standard Time and the first month is free to new subscribers.
EML: Its absolutely free so if you’re tight on money, don’t worry about it. You have thirty days to watch them all for free, and they have really good programming, I recommend you purchasing it.
You can find Evan Michael Lee on numerous social media platforms below. Be sure to follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!
http://www.Twitter.com/evanmichaellee
https://www.facebook.com/evan.m.lee.9?fref=ts
https://www.instagram.com/evanmichaellee/
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