I had seen Bill quite a few times when I worked for Disney, but I never really had a chance to talk with him or get to know him before.

While I'm certainly familiar with his work as Goofy, I was blown away by how talented he is. A master of voices and impersonations, a standup comic and a down-to-Earth, kind person as well.

It gives me great pleasure to be able to bring you my interviews with Bill Farmer.

Scott Wolf: Were you an animation fan or a Disney fan growing up?

Bill Farmer: Absolutely! I've always been an animation fan. Of course, I didn't see Disney that often, we saw it of course on Sunday nights, but I generally grew up with things that were on like Popeye. The old black and white Fleischer Popeye's, and of course Warner Bros. and Disney when they were on TV.

SW: When did you realize that you had this talent to do voices?

BF: Actually, I found out that I had a propensity for doing voices when I was probably around twelve years old. The first voices that I did really weren't cartoon voices. They were things like John Wayne, and Walter Brennan and those sort of voices. My friends thought that was really cool so they always said, "Do voices!" And we'd call people up on the phone and as we got older we would drive thru places like Burger King and they'd have me order in different voices like, (like Pat Buttram from "Green Acres") "I'd like a whopper with cheese" and "Arnold the pig would like a coke," and they'd look out and everything. (listen here) It was just kind of a fun thing in high school.

I got into doing it in a radio station in college. I went into broadcasting and it just took off from there.

SW: You were doing impersonations, had you thought about doing voices for a living?

BF: In the middle of Kansas where I grew up it didn't seem real viable. Hollywood was a million miles away and it really wasn't encouraged. They'd say, "I don't know... show business is really risky," and all that kind of stuff so I didn't think of that. I immediately thought of something closer to home like maybe theatre or radio which I did go into for a number of years. I was a DJ and an engineer as well so I developed characters and did them on the air and that kind of stuff.

SW: Did you take broadcasting classes in college?

BF: Yeah, my degree's actually in broadcast journalism with a minor in electronics so I was able to get a license to be an engineer at these radio stations.

Then I went into standup comedy in radio for a number of years. In '82 I went into standup comedy and I was doing that when I moved out here at the urging of an agent in Dallas who said, "Why don't you go to Hollywood with all the voices you do, and see what you can do?" So I came out here, left my wife in Dallas because I didn't know if I'd be able to make it or anything and got an apartment out here, and as luck would have it about four months after I got here my agent said, "Do you do any of the Disney characters?"

SW: Was it your agent from Dallas?

BF: I got an agent out here, and it was thru the one out here that they had the audition so it was just the right time and it was my very first animated character audition.

SW: What character was that for?

BF: It was for Goofy.

SW: Oh, right off the bat?

BF: Yes. They said, "What Disney characters can you do?" and I said, "I can kind of do a Mickey and I'm pretty good at a Goofy. I hadn't really thought of it that much. They just liked my Goofy.

SW: Were you familiar with Goofy's voice at that time?

BF: Yeah, and he was my favorite Disney character. So I remember him because he was my favorite. I was especially thrilled when I got that voice.

SW: Was the audition at the studio?

BF: No, it was just at my agent. They gave me a cassette tape with some old Goofy cartoons like "Clock Cleaners" and "Boat Builders" and stuff from the '30s and so I practiced over the weekend. I remember I went in on like a Monday and we laid down the recordings at my agent and about a month later they said, "Hey, they liked your Goofy! They want you to do a job." So in January of '87 I did my first one. I didn't know if it was going to be a one time thing or twice or whatever. I wasn't thinking it was going to be a twenty year career so far.

SW: That doesn't often happen.

BF: No.

SW: And you come out here and you're immediately a big name because everybody knows Goofy.

BF: I was thinking, "Hey, this stuff isn't that hard." Later on I found out how hard it is. I was just lucky right off the bat. It was just serendipity that I was at the right place at the right time and had the right sound.

(Hear a special greeting from Goofy)

More from Bill:
Various odd voice jobs he's had

See other interviews

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in the interviews are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mouse Clubhouse. Mouse Clubhouse accepts no legal liability or responsibility for any claims made or opinions expressed within.