The Radio Personality Who Became An Iconic TV Star: “Laugh-In’s” Gary Owens

Is it possible to make lots of money with just your voice?

Certainly. For decades people have made successful careers out of voice acting, voiceovers, radio,even automated systems.

Only a handful, however, reach the pinnacle of the profession, people who do indeed make tons of money from their voice.

And sometimes their careers take unexpected turns. And that’s where we find longtime radio personality turned TV star Gary Owens.

Get your copy of Gary Owens’s book

He was a successful and popular radio personality in Los Angeles in the 1960s, when he was recruited to join an unusual new TV show called “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.”

But actually, even though “Laugh-In” may be what he is best remembered for, Gary Owens had a very long and very successful voice acting career.

Owens was never one to gatekeep, so in 2004 he wrote a book called How to Make a Million Dollars With Your Voice. Now keeping in mind that that was over 20 years ago, long before anyone knew that AI was going to take over a lot of the voicing environment, so some of what he says is a little dated.

But not to worry, because listening to the stories that Gary Owens tells more than makes up for it.

So here now, from 2004, Gary Owens.

Gary Owens died in 2015, at age 80.

he Timeless Genius of Stan Freberg

Stan Freberg had so many hyphens after his name it’s kind of hard to sort out everything he was.

He was a writer. He was a comedian. He was a radio actor. He was a voice actor for cartoons. He was an advertising executive. He was a recording artist.. Should we go on?

The kid from Pasadena who displayed a sardonic wit from an early age created a creative life for himself the made him a star in several media.

It seemed like every few years Stan Freberg was back in the public Spotlight, often doing something new and creative and fun.

And much of his work lives on to this day.

Freberg published his autobiography — or at least, Part 1 of it – in 1989. He called the book It Only Hurts When I Laugh. He arrived at our interview a bit bedraggled by an exhausting book tour, but his trademark wit was on full display.

So here now, from 1989 Stan Freberg,

Stan Freberg died in 2015. He was 88.