Lessons from World Famous Voice Actor David Kaye

Announcer Intro/Extro: 00:00:00

Your voice is your superpower. Use it. Welcome to Ignite My Voice; Becoming Unstoppable. Powered by Ignite Voice, Inc. The podcast where voice meets purpose and stories ignite change.

Deep conversations with amazing guests, storytellers, speakers, and change makers.

David Kaye: 00:00:20

You have to see everything. You're basically Mozart or Beethoven. You have to see the whole symphony in your head.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:00:28

Today's episode taps into the heart of what it means to be be not just a performer, but a human being who lives the story they're telling.

We're joined by our longtime friend, legendary voice actor and performer David Kaye, someone whose voices shape some of the most iconic characters across animation, video games, and television.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:00:48

From Megatron in Transformers to Clank in Ratchet and Clank, from Professor X to the voice of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, David's storytelling has reached millions around the world.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:00:59

But beyond the accolades, beyond the career highlights, David knows that great, great storytelling isn't about delivering the perfect line.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:01:06

It's about breathing life into the moment, becoming so connected to the words that it's as if you're living them for the first time.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:01:14

David shares how empathy, imagination, and curiosity transform a performance from routine to resonant. Something unforgettable. It's not about hitting it out of the park every time.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:01:25

It's about chasing those real, electric moments when you feel the story inside you. From his early radio days to traveling the world to reframing personal narratives and letting life itself expand, his voice, David's.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:01:39

Journey is a reminder that growth, adventure, and storytelling are all connected.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:01:44

This isn't just a masterclass in finding your voice. It's a masterclass in living with wonder, presence, and authenticity.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:01:51

Okay, so take a breath, lean in, and join us for this incredible conversation with someone who's never stopped being curious.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:01:59

And who reminds us to curate a life worth telling stories about.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:02:03

Here's David Kaye.

David Kaye: 00:02:05

I always tell people that no matter what you do in this business, whether it's animation, whether it's even a cartoony character, you know, like, you know, whatever that is, each of those characters, or even like a commercial script, it's a human being. Like the character or whoever it is, you're. Whatever you're reading or the character you're portraying is a.

You must think of them as a living, breathing being. Even if they're a robot and they have. They have feelings and they're. They're.

You know, I think it's important, especially in this business, to have empathy. I don't think there's a lot of that these days, unfortunately, in.

In this, this, this country I'm living in, you know, it's been great to me, but I think it lacks empathy without getting into too much of it. You notice it when you come back from other parts of the world. Wow. And I'm just generalizing though. I'm not being very, very general. But.

So when you're approaching a script, it's important to have, you need to have empathy. You need to, you know, as your mother, father used to say, put yourself in somebody else's shoot.

You know, that's really, it's kind of cringe and cliche now, but that's really important. So when I look at something, I always give an example.

Like it's easy to talk about cartoons and character voices, things like that, because there's like, there's a. Somebody's drawn something or it's bas based on a thing and you can see it and touch and feel it and jumps around and okay, that's obvious.

It's a character, it's a person. You need to have a soul. The soul's an important part of developing. But even there was a promo that came through.

I can't remember if it was CBS or Fox Sports or something. And it was FS1. Whoever was doing the baseball game, it was the Field of Dreams. When they do, they actually play the baseball professionally.

Baseball game, MLB goes into the Iowa Cornfield. Based on the. The movie Feel of Dreams, Kevin Costner.

And the script came in and it's interesting because it seems to be the sports writers from CBS Sports, Fox, whoever you are very good writers. They're like, wow, that's crafted wild storytelling. Even UFL and MMA stuff like, damn, man, that's deep. You know, they're very good at what they do.

The writers in these sports realms that I've worked for. And this one came through about the Field of Dreams game a few years ago. And it was very storytelling and well written.

And you're like, wow, man, this is like a steak. This is like a wagyu, you know, Japanese wagyu. I mean, whatever you envision, it was just a wonderful piece of work.

And it was in a 32nd or so, you know, piece of copy. Wow.

And the stuff I used to read, Cat in Kevin, you know, we'd given a piece of copy in radio long and we just jam it all in, you know, and, and so it's nice to be able to read some of this. It's let it breathe. And I was reading it and reading it and over and sometimes things kind of click, you know.

I kind of close my eyes and I kind of actually get to know the words so I don't have to look at the script. And it was this. It was kind of. I felt like I dropped in. I'd play it back. Nah, it's not. Something's missing. It just doesn't feel real.

It doesn't feel like it's organic or it's a guy. And then I started picturing the movie, and I started thinking about the house and the big porch around the house and the cornfields.

And I could literally got to the point where I could, you know, it's the breeze and the perfect, you know, late summer day. And I've never been. I've been to Iowa. I've been to the airport, but never been into Iowa.

But I envisioned that movie and that scene of what it might feel like. And I just thought of a older guy on a porch and maybe talking to his grandson or just reminiscing about something he had. So I humanized it.

I kind of whittled it down and really got into the character. And I closed my eyes. I could see him. I could see the guy. I could see this person. And I wanted to sort of tell the story.

And it's just narration, but it can't feel pushed, and it can't feel like you're reading something. It's really important. It has to sound like it's the first time you've ever said it.

One of the great teachers I had here long ago, and I was working on some trailer stuff many years ago. Gosh, I'm blanking on her name. Oh, boy. I'll think of it.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:06:46

Just us, too. Don't worry about it.

David Kaye: 00:06:47

Oh, my gosh.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:06:49

It's called age, David.

David Kaye: 00:06:50

Shh, shh, shh. Kevin. Great. And I remember. I remember going in the booth and how everybody goes in, and I'm thinking, hey, I'm a pr, and I know what I'm doing.

I got a piece of script in a world, blah, blah, blah. And then I did it. That sounded pretty good. Whatever I did, it was awful. And she stands there like this, with her finger on the mouth.

She said, you bore easily, don't you? And I'm like, wow, she nailed me. She. Because she said, listen, I have to say something.

So you're very good, but you do this day in and day out and becomes robotic. It becomes. You're not.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:07:28

You're not very engaged, I guess.

David Kaye: 00:07:29

Huh? You're not. You're sort of like she said, you know?

And she said to me, it's really important that no matter how many times you do this or read that spot, whether it's for a news promo for a TV station or what, it has to sound like it's the first time they've ever thought about it. Because being a human being, I don't know what I'm gonna say to you next. You don't know what you're gonna say to me.

We have an idea, but things come to us like that. It has to come across that way. Imagination is. I mean we're sitting around after this wrap party. One of my first cartoons in Vancouver many years ago.

Mickey Rooney was there and he was one of the characters. It was Cleo the misfit unicorn. And he was holding court. Cause we're all like, wow, Mickey Rooney.

We're all standing there, he's talking about oh Judy and all the great stories. He said, listen, I got some advice for you. Don't ever grow up. Don't ever grow up. And we're like, yeah. And it's like, it's true.

You have to have that sense of wonder and curiosity because it dictates whatever you do in front of this microphone. This is a small little world here.

And what people sometimes would come from on camera, you know, on camera they tell you just move your eyes, you know, just don't do anything. And here, same idea. But you have to see everything you have. You're basically Mozart or Beethoven. You have to see the whole symphony in your head.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:08:59

Hear it, feel it, breathe it.

David Kaye: 00:09:01

Yeah, you really do. And look at, I'm talking and sometimes it's in a 30 second piece of copy and it's just also, just from doing it over and over and over again.

You know where to go in young early in my career, I never knew how to approach her. Where should I should start? How I, how do I go in? And I started this sort of thing where I would just read it.

I would just, I wouldn't even look at it. No cold. It was cold read stuff. Nope. No, I just like put it up on the screen or whatever and just go roll it.

And interesting where this came from is Arthur Hiller is a great, he's another great Canadian born at Edmonton, became a, you know, Academy Award winning director and directed me in a small part carpool back in Vancouver a long time ago and since I was a reporter but he was a comedy reporter and he had some, some meat and it was really fun. And he's. He was notorious Arthur for, for filming the rehearsals and. And he said let's try It. Let's try one. Let's just. Let's. Let's just rehearse.

And then he would be rolling. They would be rolling. And you'd. Cause you're kind of loose and you're like, well, you know, this is a rehearsal, you know, and he's.

Try things and you do stuff. And he says, all right, yes, print it. Cut. That's great. Let's move on. I go, you see? Are we done? He says, yes, we got it. We don't. That's perfect.

So sometimes out of the gate, whatever it's in your gut or what you feel.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:10:22

Exactly.

David Kaye: 00:10:23

What I was going to say is magic. Yep. It's sort of just because we don't know what we're going to say from moment to moment as a human being.

So let's apply that to the script and let's just have at it. And if we make a mistake, that's what humans do. You know, we can try to.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:10:39

You don't have to be perfect.

David Kaye: 00:10:40

No. And so you're gonna see a lot of direction on stuff that comes through. You know, we don't want a polished announcer.

We don't want a polished voice or we want an actor. You know, I hate when they say that, but, you know. Cause this is what we do. But it's true. They want a little sloppy, a little.

You know, they want a real person. And so that's my goal every day, is to try and whatever it is, I get to try and. And sometimes it's written, you know, in radio promo.

You know, you just need to get the details out. But when those moments come through, even for wwe, they have writers, they're like, these guys got chops. And, you know, it's fun to dig into that.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:11:26

You know what's interesting, listening to you, I'm thinking about because you said sometimes director or producer will go, I don't want an announcer. I just. I want an actor. I want somebody who can be real because. And we battle this working with people.

Sometimes the people that know they have a good voice and listen to it. That's the problem is when they're performing, they monitor themselves at the same time.

David Kaye: 00:11:49

And I was guilty of that. How do you fight it for many years?

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:11:52

Cause, I mean, you've got one of those voices at times, you can bring it on and you can take on that classic announcer thing.

David Kaye: 00:11:57

Sure.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:11:58

You gotta fight it, though, right?

David Kaye: 00:12:00

Yeah. I don't teach a lot of classes just for time, and I just don't. You know, it's a skill that. And Every time I've done it, I'm like, you know what?

I'm glad I did. It's like, yeah, I really wanted to run a marathon, but you do it. You're like, wow, that actually felt pretty good.

But I really don't want to do it again. But every time I've taught trailer classes, I would go around the room, introduce yourself, tell me why you're here, and stuff like that.

And then I get to the one guy, usually the guy. The women usually are very much more natural. And he was like, oh, but I'm a former. Right? Okay, there's my project. And I used to be back in the news.

And I go, okay, all right. Okay. So I have to bring him away. I gotta get, get. You gotta come back. Come back out. You don't need to do that.

So I would find some pieces of copy, trailer copy, where I said, you don't need to do anything. You really don't. You need to do less than what you. Nothing. That's a good thing, because they seem to be performing, and we don't want a performance.

We want, as Don said, you know, when he was working at Paramount in New York, when he first said, the inner world, you know, we want to take you out of your. That could be shitty or awful or great or whatever. And put into this world. There's a point to that phrase.

We don't want somebody in a world, you know, or trying too hard. Because when you're in a darkened movie theater and those visuals come on, and you need a voice to be layered in.

We don't want anybody to be woken out of a sleep, out of, like, oh, wow. You know, we want to draw you in. So when you say in a world, you know, there was a time and place, there's.

You need to see that when the voice needs to convey that. Because you've got music and audio and visuals. You can't be like a wine that is unbalanced, has too much tannin or too much alcohol.

s to the point where he's. In: 1965

I go, there you go.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:14:13

Graduated.

David Kaye: 00:14:13

Boom. That's all you need to do is tell the story. And don't. You know.

So those are always my projects, and I always get one or two in the room that are former this or former that or came from. Because I remember begging Steve Lowe over at Coco Productions many, many years ago, when I was on the air and doing. I said, look, man, just.

Even if you think I can't do it, even if you think it's not me, just, you know, throw me. Just for practice, throw me some copy. Done. So Steve was great, threw me. He said, looks, I have an audition for you and, you know, come on over.

Can you move over? Blah, blah, blah. And it was for something. And it wasn't anything that I ever been seen before. It was always announcery, you know, stuff. And.

And I booked it and it was like, damn, man. And so ever since then, he kept bringing me in because he knew that I could do the other stuff and pull back the announcer. And I think it's theater.

Theater was a big, big driver in getting off the soapbox. Getting off. Because I was, you know, I was used to radio and I had. My heroes were raised. So I wasn't. I wasn't. My world wasn't expanding.

So when I started doing theater, then I really had to get out of my head because there are some nights where. Oh, my God, you know, sometimes. Some nights, you know, things are flowing.

Other nights you feel like there's a spotlight on you and you're watching yourself and it's the worst feeling in the world.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:15:35

Interesting how our brains do that, you know. Yeah, it can compartmentalize.

David Kaye: 00:15:39

It's true. It was a classic story.

I think John Gielgud was performing Richard iii, whatever it was, on, you know, in the West End in London, and it was a brilliant performance and people stood up and, oh, my God, it was incredible. And then, you know, behind his doors in his study or his dressing room, and it was smashing, throwing furniture and yelling and Madden and all.

Mr. Google, everything all right, sir? Everything all right? And he said, yes, yes, it's fine. He said I was brilliant. And I don't know what I did. I hated public speaking.

I hated it whenever. When I was in radio, whenever they say, hey, man, we gotta get you down to Joe's Ford, you know, it's gonna be. Gonna put the go stand like a.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:16:21

Dork in front of 40 people watching you.

David Kaye: 00:16:24

We got hot dogs for the kids. There's clowns and balloons and, you know.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:16:27

Oh, my God, you're so good at it though, Dave.

David Kaye: 00:16:29

And yeah, but I was terrified and I hated it. I did not like to be in public. I did not. And I was one of the things that maybe you did or did not know about me, but, you know, being.

I love being behind the mic. I loved my friends, you Know, hanging with you guys and doing that and being, you know.

But when it came time to, like, actually be in public, I'm like, oh, man. Really? It's. I was really uncomfortable. It became, you know, what do I look like? I look like a dork When I, like you said, what am I doing here?

Why am I here? I really, honestly hated it. Some people loved it. You know, Some people love it. A good friend of mine passed away here.

He was the original Ronald McDonald, you know, AJ. AJ. And he's an older gentleman. He was, you know, from the carnival, from the Wisconsin carnival.

He's a family of performers, and he knows all the circus people. Any show that came to town, he knew, come on, come with me, I'll take you into the circus. And he knows all the.

You know, he taught me about being a mark and noticing things and pickpockets. And he was one of. He's performed at the Magic Castle, you know, and he. He's. He was hilarious. And I. We sat.

We're having a donut one morning in his favorite little donut shop. And I said, here we get. You know, you get, like.

You get a call, and you got to get, like, a child's birthday over and, you know, down to Long beach, you got to drive down and get. He's like, like, ah. He goes, nope, never. I love it. I live for it. I go, really? Nope. That's what I do. That's what I'm here for. And, like, wow.

Because if I got that call, you know, to have to go down to Long beach and do a child's birthday, I'm like, I'm out. You know, I'm not doing that. What am I doing? I'm just an idiot. But no, he's a performer. That's what he does.

And he lived and breathed it and taught me a bunch of valuable lessons. And so it took me a long time to sort of get out from behind myself and just be who I am and not care.

And I think also that comes with time, because there is a point, and we've all heard people say that are of a certain age, well, I'm old. I don't care. I'm old. I don't care. I gotta say what I want. And I'm like, okay, I sort of get where that's coming from. You spend enough time.

But to some people, it's high anxiety and it's really uncomfortable. And I still get that way.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:18:48

Common theme.

David Kaye: 00:18:50

I run a gourmet society. I'm president of the gourmet Society. Or the Jonathan Club, which is downtown. It's a private club. And.

And somehow I'm leading this group of people who. I'm a voiceover guy. And some of these men and women, like, run the city. They own that building or they're in that.

They're the top whatever performers. And it's kind of incredible that I'm telling them what to do and organizing them.

And so that gave me a lot of confidence when some of these people came to me and said, hey, listen, we'd like you to. He'd like you to take over the Gourmet Society. It's one of the oldest clubs within a club and one of the oldest private clubs in America.

And here's this Canadian kid. Wow.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:19:31

Stuck in the role suddenly.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:19:32

Yeah, you have passion and purpose.

David Kaye: 00:19:34

Just passion and purpose. So there is a confidence thing there where. And that just came with time. But I never. I still like to be home. I love cocooning.

You know, we've all heard that. I love to just be home with Maria being Barcelona. I like the small group. I love my close friends. I love our group.

And I think joining things like that, you know, when we decided to join this because of squash, I played a lot of squash. A lot of my friends were members there, and I thought, okay, let's check it out. And I became involved with.

And I got to know leaders of industry, for lack of a better term, people who have been in this city for many years. And through them, I've learned much. I've had a much more deeper experience in living in a city like Los Angeles than I think I would have ever done.

So when these opportunities come up, it's, again, life experience and nuance. This informs how you approach a piece of copy. All this stuff, all the people you meet and you know, and you meet some characters, you know.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:20:41

Well, interesting that you had mentioned travel along with theater. I mean, they're just things that force us out of our little cocoon that you talk about. Right?

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:20:51

Yeah. Comfort zone.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:20:52

Remember the comfort zone and sort of common sense. You're in a country right now where this odd approach to one way to see the world and common sense seems to rule.

Maybe that's not the right direction, huh?

But I thought of something else here, and that is we chatted with Larry Hennessy a little while ago, and Larry from Larry and Willie had a great line that you are the story you tell, and we extrapolate from that. Something that we run with a lot, and that is the narrative, the personal narrative that you construct as a kid.

And as you slowly grow, really creates who you are. And we tie that into public speaking. Like you're talking. Because public speaking is a pretty scary thing.

And we all approach it from a really different angle. And the personal narrative can be a bit of a block for how well you present yourself. Then you gotta do something about it, right?

You gotta grow how you saw yourself, the story you told about yourself. And that's what we do a lot, is we look at how people perceive themselves. And then you gotta grow that, right?

You gotta take the personal narrative and delete some lines that are throwing them off in terms of being scared when they present. Add nuance. And we've discovered it's a rewrite of the personal narrative that is so critical.

And a lot of the stuff you've just talked about is how you pushed your personal narrative and grew yourself. Right?

David Kaye: 00:22:18

Yeah. I was not. I think you guys are the same way is. I was not satisfied. I was never satisfied for where I was.

I was always, well, how far can I go with this? Like, I was one of the first of our family to come back across the 49th parallel.

Like, we, you know, our story, you know, has a lot of European roots and American roots. And, you know, my mother said, you're the first one to go back across the 49th. I said, that's interesting. Yeah, it really.

Your life experiences, influences how you. You are the story you tell. And I was never satisfied with.

Look, I think I must blame, in a very good way, my wife, because she was born in Sicily and their family emigrated. Thank goodness they landed in Peterborough, where I was a young teen growing up and met her in high school and my exposure to the world.

I thought when my grandmother and my mom brought out the miniature meatballs and sausage rolls, that the queen was coming. Oh, my God, we're having the finger foods. Oh, you know, I was never. I was always like.

And even at a young age, you have champagne taste and a ginger ale, you know, but that was my world. Scalloped potatoes. Oh, it must be a holiday having scalloped potatoes. Fantastic. And so I went to Maria's house for Pasqua for E. And I was 17.

We met really early in high school, and I was invited over, and all the families were there and the food and the cooking. And I went, and I remember the first homemade pasta, you know, and they put it through their thing, and I remember thinking, oh, my God.

So this is food.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:24:02

This is life.

David Kaye: 00:24:03

It's another world. Now. This is a whole. I get. And don't eat too much the first course. Because it's just the first course, I go, this is more. You know.

And so that automatically became. And wine became a part of. It wasn't great wine. Frank's wine, pretty high test stuff. But they made wine, you know, in the Demijohn downstairs.

And so I was exposed to wine sort of being on the table. You know, I didn't really know what good wine was at all at that point, but I just thought this, this. It said, you know.

So when I. I got a name drop here. Armin Shimerman, who played one of the Ferengi on Star. On Star Trek Deep Space Nine. And him and I are friends and we've been in series together.

And he plays. What's his name in the doctor Nefarious in the Ratchet and Clank franchise. And I'm the Clank and weird. He's. He's very theater Shakespeare.

I mean, he's an amazing actor. And we were waiting to go in to. To do a scene or a cartoon. We're gabbing away in the waiting room and stuff.

And I said, you know, every time I go back home, I feel guilty. Why? I go. I go back. And I just wanted Joe's. I want to leave again. I said, I'm just. I get depressed because, hey, listen to me. I'm from New Jersey.

I come from a small town, same as you. I said, every time I go back, I get depressed. I said, I go back. And I said, you know, some stores are boarded up and everything else.

He said, you know why? He's. Because you left. That's why you left. I left.

When we come back, it's like I, like, I have those radio nightmares and back in Peterborough, doing overnights up on the, you know, up on the Peterborough Square, downtown Peterborough, you know, And I used. And I go, oh, my God, I wake up. Ever have that when you're in the dream, you think. You're thinking, no, no, I can make this work. This is.

This will work. It's going to be fine. And then you wake up and go, oh, my God. It's. He said, it's, you know, it's a fear of failure. And he said, you left. And he said.

And, you know, he said, are you. Oh, yeah. My sister's mom and dad, he said, they're all still there, so their life is. That's their life.

And that's great, you know, he said, but you left and you got a taste. Kat. We're in Paris. We're at the 200-year-old chocolate shop.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:26:10

Amazing.

David Kaye: 00:26:11

And you walk in there, Kevin, and It's like it's 200 years old, same place, and they're all dressed up in uniforms, and you're eating the same chocolate that Napoleon ordered and Marie Antoinette and all these characters and King Louis V, you know, like, oh, my God, I'm eating history. And so I need that. I want to feel that I'm part of the story. I'm a little individual on a giant planet.

I want to feel like I'm experiencing and understanding history and learning along the way, because it does nothing but enrich your life, and it makes it full, and it's really important. And too many of us, I think 14% of Americans travel still that 4 5th. It's very small. So the perspective is different than you got.

You know, we all know good friends from. Remember Todd Whiteside from New Zealand. Todd Mary. He was in sales. I don't know if you guys remember Todd.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:27:02

I don't remember Todd.

David Kaye: 00:27:03

He taught me how to ski powder. Come on. You w. But, you know, Ozzy's good friends of ours, they. It's a rite of passage. If you live in Australia or New Zealand, you gotta go.

This is an island. You have to go. And you see them all over. They work at Whistler, you know. G', day, Mike. What's going on?

You know, I mean, they go in the high percentage of people that grew up in those on those island countries, they go middle of the Gobi Desert. G', Day, Mike. G'. Day. Oh, my gosh. From Australia.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:27:29

Where's Nazi?

David Kaye: 00:27:31

Yeah. And so it's important. And we don't do that enough as a culture or if I say that.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:27:37

Loosely, you're curating your life.

David Kaye: 00:27:40

Yeah, you kind of have to.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:27:41

You're a collecting. Yeah. And I don't know that sometimes we forget that we have those options to pick and choose and open up so much.

That channel that gives us the wisdom to bring all of that to just a simple script.

David Kaye: 00:28:01

Yeah, that's right.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:28:02

What looks so simple. There's so much more underneath.

David Kaye: 00:28:05

Yeah, that's what's. And I'm telling you, you know, the more I tell people, you know, read, just be curious, because it will help you in your career.

Not just in this business, you know, in other business. And unfortunately, you know, as we're seeing currently, as someone who is just not curious and. And the empathy is not there.

And, you know, it's unfortunate, but it's a moment in time, and I prefer not to pay attention at the moment to this moment.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:28:36

So we're talking about the man.

David Kaye: 00:28:39

Yeah, we just said, look, listen, and I have friends on the other side, and we don't talk and find their people. But I just, as someone who fell in love with this country, it's difficult to see where it is.

But again, it's been hundreds of years of this, and there will be hundreds more years of this, and we're in whatever we are now. And so my focus is on, I have no news apps on my phone.

My team, Michelle and Sam and everybody, publicists are doing a wonderful job, but my focus is on my life right in front of me. What is, what is important. I'm really not engaging.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:29:24

What you can control.

David Kaye: 00:29:25

Yeah. What I can control is my life, my wife, my kids, my friends. And that's what's important to me.

And so I've kind of, you know, that's what my world is at the moment. The nuance of being a human will never be replaced by AI, but they're going to get very, very close and a little bit of inside.

It is much further along that you and I realize a professor at Harvard, I was on an airplane heading to Boston and I happened to sit beside this gentleman. We had a conversation about that earlier this year.

And he said, you know, he said, even I, as a professor, he said, I, I have used, you know, if I'm stuck on something, I have a dissertation, I have something, and I will, I will use it, but I, you know, use it in a way that I will help me out of a jam. He said, I teach my students that it's here, it's a tool, and we're going to have to learn how to use it properly.

It's much like a weapon that, yes, it can hurt people if it used properly. You know, there's a possible, I don't know, it was an analogy thrown out, but it's, yeah, it's much further along.

And it's not just it's coming for all of us. It's. It's. Think it about, about this.

You know, here you are, a person who works for the aerospace industry, and you're working on a certain aircraft, and you're the one, you're quality control. You're the one who says, you know, these parts meet the specifications. Yes, I approve.

There's AI that can do that in a heartbeat, you know, eliminating that position. And there's also AI now that's teaching AI. So we are, you know, in quite an interesting phase.

But as far as voiceover, here's what can, and I think is probably going to happen. Peter Cullen, who does the voice of Optimus prime in the film, is this friend of mine. He does the voice of this transforming robot.

The toys now are insane. They actually transform and roll out and it'll, you know, it'll right in front of you. The robot does its own thing and talks to you.

So they would get a fee for providing X amount of pages of copy or hours or whatever it is. Every unit sold, they would get a piece so that the payment structure would act accordingly.

In situations as trailers, it would be very simple to have a trailer house use like rated PG 13. In theaters Friday. Well, that's easy. You know, they could use your voice print and do that. You would get paid for doing nothing. Essentially.

They would pay to use your voice. When it comes to narration and nuance and a full thing, I think the human being is ultimately going to win out.

But I'm telling you, it's going to be very interesting because we are in a new phase of evolution and this is going to be a very big part of our lives, if it isn't already.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:32:31

There's magic in being human. No matter how advanced the tech gets, no matter how clever AI becomes. Sure, it can mimic a voice and write a sentence, but it can't replicate.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:32:41

That spark, that breath of life, the heartbeat behind the words, the split second laugh, the awkward pause. You know, the heart behind a story. We humans, we're the originals and the.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:32:54

Future, well, it's not just about technology. It's for the storytellers, the communicators, the beautifully imperfect humans who bring life into to every conversation.

Co-host Kevin Ribble: 00:33:05

It's about staying connected, about telling better stories, having deeper conversations, and remembering that.

Co-host Kat Stewart: 00:33:13

Being unstoppable is always human. Your voice matters. Join our movement@ignitemyvoice.com Ignite My Voice. Becoming unstoppable. Your voice is your superpower. Use it.