Thursday, January 22, 2015

You Know the Voice: Tress MacNeille (1983)

Tress MacNeille is one of the modern generation's best known voice actors, but did you know she actually appeared in a music video? Not only that, she also "sang" on the accompanying record.

The song in question is "Weird" Al Yankovic's "Ricky", which mashes together Toni Basil's 1981 hit, "Mickey", with the classic sitcom, I Love Lucy. In the video, Al plays a dual role, appearing clean shaven as Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) opposite Tress as Lucy. Tress actually did go into the studio to record the track with Yankovic, and that, friends, might be what got her started on a successful voice acting career. Al also appears as himself with his band in scenes that were taped separately.


Before anyone asks, I think another actress was hired to play Lucy, or an analogue thereof, six years later for Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire".

2 comments:

Silverstar said...

Another early on-camera performance from Tress MacNeille was on the late Nick At Nite series "On the Television", a spoof of "At the Movies" starring comics George McGrath and Tim Conway, Jr. (yes, the son of 'Carol Burnett''s Tim Conway), in a sendup of CBS's "Designing Women" titled "Annoying Women". Tress played the Dixie Carter role.

hobbyfan said...

Thanks for the tip. Have to see if that's available on YouTube or elsewhere.