On April Fool’s this year, Audible put out a prank audiobook featuring 19 of the most sought-after narrators in the business reading entries from the Encylopaedia Britannica — a wink to the tendency of listeners to leave reviews with the superlative “I could listen to him/her read the encyclopedia!” The thing is, the gag recording is just as impressive as it is funny; after listening to a few entries, we were mesmerized. We repeated them over and over, and pined for more.
Here are some of our favorite excerpts from the audiobook (which you can hear in its entirety, below), with a little behind-the-scenes dishing from the narrators who performed them.
Audible Range: We were fascinated to hear the origins of this word. What did you think when this word was assigned to you?
CJ Critt: I knew that “blackballed” meant you were excluded purposefully, through a vote, from something — that something likely being a member in a club or organization. That colored balls were included in this process didn’t really dawn on me, so it was interesting to know these most logical origin details.
AR: This voice is deeply confidence-inspiring, like a president’s. Do you ever use this voice to get people to do things?
CJ: It’s thrilling that you found the voice I chose for this as exuding confidence. I think, due to the nature of the short-form assignment, and the dramatic nature of the “B” — Blackball, Blackmail, Blunderbuss — I decided to go for a kind of commanding “Take me seriously, damnit” tone. But if it made you want to obey, then I must try it on my husband!
AR: Who’s your personal “I could listen to him/her read the encyclopedia”?
CJ: Richard Ferrone and Davina Porter are wonderful voice actors, each with a distinctive rich sound that is always a soothing delight to listen to as they interpret good authors, but I would have to continue mulling to come up with the perfect “phone book” voice. Though truthfully, I have always wanted to be the lady that said, “At the tone, the time is 8:15 p.m. and 30 seconds.” I figure, with the time changing at ten-second intervals, you could work forever. Now Siri tells us the time. Bummer.
See audiobooks narrated by CJ Critt
Audible Range: This is such a magnificent word in any voice, but especially this one. How did you choose it, and do you have any other favorites for this voice?
Katherine Kellgren: Since I was a teenager I have collected recordings of great actors of past times reciting Shakespeare and other playwrights, some dating back to the early 1890s. I guess I might have been influenced by those recordings, when the acting style was more “theatrical” and the human voice had to travel farther to be heard before the days of electrical amplification. I wanted to give the word its full import (or as close as my feeble efforts could get) and ramp up the drama in an “I’m ACTING” kind of way.
AR: How do you describe this particular voice, and where else do you use a version of it, professionally … or even in real life? We can see this going over big in certain circles.
KK: Well, it’s kind of an over-the-top thespian voice. I used something similar for shameless ham actors (though I think they’d prefer to be called “theatrical impresarios”) Fennel and Bean in the Bloody Jack series by L.A. Meyer.
AR: Who’s your personal “I could listen to him/her read the encyclopedia”?
KK: Speaking of old recordings, my idol when I was a teenager (and still my idol now) was Sir John Gielgud. He’s kind of my everything. If I had to pick a living narrator, there are just too many to choose from, but I might start with Jim Dale.
See audiobooks narrated by Katherine Kellgren
Audible Range: This voice had us on the edge of our seats! It’s so exciting — how do you do that, technically speaking?
Eric Summerer: Well first, physically, there’s the matter of getting in close to the mic, for a more intimate relationship to the listener. Then, mentally, it’s important to visualize the decoy itself, to bring life to the inanimate object; to, in a sense, fool the listener into thinking it is a real bird, just as the decoy itself might do.
AR: Have you ever been faced with an “enticement into a place or situation of danger”?
ES: I try to stay wary of danger, but I have been lured onto many a tame-looking carnival ride, only to have my person flung about in unnatural ways. The Tilt-a-Whirl seems so tame from the ground, but it has the potential for mass confusion.
AR: Who’s your own personal “I could listen to them read the encyclopedia”?
ES: James Earl Jones. SO rich and precise. Who wouldn’t want to hear about arachnids from Darth Vader?
See audiobooks narated by Eric Summerer
Audible Range: How did you choose this word — or if it was chosen for you, how did you feel about it?
Peter Ganim: The word “gerbil” was chosen for me. Evidently the production team at Audible knows how to tickle my funny bone.
AR: “Rat tribe” might be one of the funniest phrases we’ve heard anyone say. How do you keep a straight face while reading certain texts?
PG: You don’t! Or, sometimes, you do. But, very often, both the engineer and I dissolve into fits of giggles when faced with recording what’s on the page in front of us. Should they ever release the outtakes, you’d all get a surprising and hilarious earful!
AR: If you were going to voice a gerbil for a kids’ book or show, what would you need to know about him first?
PG: It’s all about context, circumstance: Who is this gerbil? What is the crisis he faces in this story? Is he a gerbil plumber? A world-renowned gerbil opera singer? Is he completing his residency in gerbil proctology? All relevant questions which inflect the creation of that gerbil’s voice!
See audiobooks narrated by Peter Ganim
Audible Range: The different voices you used for this entry are very entertaining — do you have a name for each one, and what types of books do they tend to belong to?
Luke Daniels: Actually, some of them do. “Uncle Sean” is a voice I’ve done since I was eight years old. It’s based on Sean Connery, as The Rock was my favorite movie at the time. I even auditioned with it at my local mall when America’s Funniest People came through town. Then there’s “Gary.” He’s my resident know-it-all close-talker. Then there’s “Dude-Bro,” “Science Guy,” and “Nigel.” If you listen all the way through my entry, there are some specific characters from audiobooks I’ve done. I’ll leave it to the listener to pick those out. In fact one of those voices has their first solo audiobook coming out this September. Think of it as my own audio version of an Easter egg! But honestly, my approach to the voices is really more based on physicality … the character presented by the author takes shape in my mind. I see them, and my body takes on their physicality as I perform their dialogue. (Which is often more of an internal shift as any large physical changes would mess up the recording.) Ultimately, my job is to … channel that image to the listener through my voice. I try to keep it as organic and instinctual a process as I can. I always find my in-the-moment character choices are much more engaging than something I’ve planned and prepared as a specific “voice” I’m going to put on.
AR: Has anyone ever told you that you can sound exactly like Woody Harrelson? I mean, it’s uncanny. Do you ever mess with people using your many voices?
LD: This is so funny to me. I actually haven’t heard that specific comparison, but I love him and have taken notice of his voice before, as well as practiced doing it. Especially his work in True Detective. I just happened to be listening back to a YA title I did that was just released. It’s a first-person narration and the character is from Alabama. As I was listening, your comparison popped into my head and I could hear it! So, Woody, if you’re listening, thanks for the inspiration, buddy. It’s also interesting you point that out, because real people are how I get a lot of my characters. I’ll listen to the TV with my eyes closed sometimes and repeat what I hear, to see if I can match things like pitch, cadence, dialect.
AR: Who’s your own personal “I could listen to them perform the encyclopedia”?
LD: Neil Gaiman could read me the back of a cereal box and I’d clap my hands and squeal and cackle like a kid on a three-day candy binge.
See audiobooks narrated by Luke Daniels
Audible Range: The word “literature” has never sounded so profound before. What are some words you just love the sound of?
Gregory Salinas: One of my favorite words to say is “anthropomorphic,” and I feel like that doesn’t easily come up in conversation naturally, so I’m always happy to bring it up! A couple of my other favorites are “bungalow” — such a fun word to say! I love how it just rolls off the tongue. I like to use the word “often” a lot as well, but with a hard “t” sound.
AR: This is a pretty quintessential DJ voice — did you ever have a radio show?
GS: I’m flattered to hear that. Unfortunately, I have never had my own radio show, but I’m always looking for new opportunities. However, I have been part of a podcast before, which has been a great experience.
AR: If you could only perform one work of literature ever again, what would it be?
GS: I would have to say that I would choose Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It is a book that I’ve read numerous times and will always come back to read again. So many fun characters, and so many fun voices to bring to life. I have many editions of the book, but I’m still looking for that first edition!
