
Greek American comedian and voice actor Basile returns to Australia in November with his Blame It On The Greek tour. The “explosive” and “dynamic” talent, as he’s been described, spoke with Supanova ahead of the shows, detailing his voice acting work and more.
What are you looking forward to most when it comes to returning to Australia?
The fans who come to my show! I find all the Australians are just phenomenal people with the sweetest and most loving personalities. Men, women, and children are so personable and don’t have a sarcastic bone in their bodies.
The other thing is the beauty of the country and the various cities. Each city has its own individuality and personality, no matter if it’s the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and Darwin, just to name a few. I have made great friends with many of the fans and entertainers Down Under, and I am proud to call them my friends.
How do Australian audiences compare to the rest of the world?
The Australian audience has always been receptive to all the material that I have done in past tours and continue to do today. I know there are only roughly 23 million Australians that live in Australia, with many groups represented, just like in America. However, the only difference is that your “melting pot” of all these various ethnic groups, is a much richer, thicker stew than the United States audience on a per capita basis, and that is why my material and my on-stage personality, working the audience, always does so well!
What can fans expect from Blame It On The Greek?
The Blame It On The Greek Australian tour is a hybrid of both my Greek and non-Greek comedy shows. I take my ability to work the audience and improvise off of them, while all at the same time throwing my material in. It doesn’t matter what ethnic group you belong to, what race you are, or what religion you follow, you’re going to blame everything that goes wrong in your life on me… The Greek!
From the very young to the very old, this show is for you! No expletives are needed to get my message across, you’ll just enjoy the show for what it is; a crazy, fun experience with no political points of view, just poking fun at ourselves and enjoying each other’s company for the evening of fun and laughter!
You’ve done a significant amount of voice acting over the years, including Universal Studio’s Bullwinkle J. Moose. What do you enjoy the most about Rocky and Bullwinkle?
The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show was such a wonderful Cold War relic of a cartoon. It still holds a place in many people’s hearts. Bill Scott was the original voice of Bullwinkle Moose, and he was brilliant at it. It’s an honour to do the re-dubbing master of the original loops that were made from 1959 to early 1961. To fix those original loops and be able to be the voice of Bullwinkle for many outlets through Universal Studios has been a great feather in my cap. Don’t worry folks, you’ll hear it in my show. Not in the traditional way you might think, but it’s in there! [laughs]
Any tips for those looking to get into voice acting?
Keep working on your craft, whatever it may be. If you’re a carpenter, a plumber, a lawyer, or whatever… just keep working on your craft to be the best that you can possibly be. And don’t give up so easily just because you have one or two or even five failures, that doesn’t mean that you can’t turn those failures into successes. Perseverance and dedication always win out in the end! If you know that you have the talent, pursue, pursue, pursue! Don’t allow others to tell you that you’re a failure. You’re not, for success is right around the corner, you just got to grab it!
Anything else you’d like to add?
God bless you all and I look forward to meeting every single one of you at one of my shows coming to a city near you!
For details on the upcoming tour, click here.