The Voice For Futurama's Calculon Came From A TV Star, Seinfeld, And An Obscure Cartoon
On David X. Cohen and Matt Groening's 31st-century sci-fi sitcom "Futurama," the world's citizens are hooked on a high-octane ultra-soap-opera called "All My Circuits," a long-running TV series starring a cast of mostly robots. The main character in "All My Circuits" is a tall, egocentric blowhard named Calculon who is constantly discovering evil twins, engaging in robotic infidelities, and discovering multiple personalities. In a strange metanarrative twist, the Calculon on "All My Circuits" is played by a robot ... that also happens to be named Calculon, and also happens to be an egocentric blowhard.
In reality, Calculon is played by veteran voice actor Maurice LaMarche, one of the best voice actors currently working. Maurice LaMarche plays Calculon with a bloviating confidence that only seems to infect famous actors. Calculon eventually reveals that he is many hundreds of years old, and changes his identity every few decades. In previous lives, he has been several of the world's most famous robot performers, including Acting Unit 0.8, Thespo-Mat, and David Duchovny. Calculon's self-importance is a millennium wide.
When it came time to construct a voice for Calculon, LaMarche had to draw from several sources. Speaking on a panel at Sacramento's SacAnime convention in 2015, LaMarche revealed all the actors and obscure cartoon characters that he drew from, including a recurring character from a popular 1990s sitcom, a star of "The Carol Burnett Show," and a bizarre 1965 animated series that may be unfamiliar to younger readers. How many of you under the age of 35 remember "Roger Ramjet?"
Surprisingly, LaMarche did not choose to imitate the famed voice (and ego) of his fellow Canadian thespian, William Shatner.
'That was so terrible, I think you gave me cancer!'
As LaMarche explained on the panel:
"When [the showrunners] explained to me who he was I just went, alright. So I thought about all the stentorian, hamball, cheeseball actors that I could think of and just rolled them all into one. The guy who played — and I know these guys are all talented in their own right, and you're doing a character — he's a little bit J. Peterman from the 'Seinfeld' era, he's a little Lyle Waggoner, he's a little bit 'Roger 'Ramjet' Gary Owens."
J. Peterman is a character played by John O'Hurley, and actor who has been working in television since 1983, famously appearing in 75 episodes of the soap opera "Santa Barbara." He also starred in the little-remembered 1994 TV series of "Valley of the Dolls." O'Hurley played J. Peterman in 20 episodes of "Seinfeld." Lyle Waggoner, as mentioned, appeared on "The Carol Burnett Show," but also starred in a few notable B-movies like "Catalina Caper" and "Journey to the Center of Time." He was one of the main cast of the 1976 TV series "Wonder Woman," and appeared in single episodes of dozens of hit TV shows.
"Roger Ramjet" was a long-running superhero animated series that ran from 1965 to 1969. The title character had magical pills (called PEP pills, in case the illicit drug metaphor wasn't clear) that gave him superpowers for 20 seconds at a time. Roger was played by Gary Owens, the baritone-voiced announcer of "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," and the original voice of Space Ghost (not the one who hosted "Coast to Coast").
Why did we wait so long to bathe in champagne?
These are figures LaMarche, 65, would have been familiar with growing up. The actor continued:
"I just put them all in a hopper and just sort of came up with this kind of, 'No autographs, please. Thank you, I'm trying to enjoy some time with my TV family here. Normally you'd have to sit through a cat food commercial to see acting of this caliber.' You know, just kind of that thing where you can hear the head waggle on every syllable. So that's where I came up with Calculon."
In addition to Calculon, LaMarche also plays Lrrr, Morbo, the Hedonism-Bot, the Donbot, the long-suffering Kif Kroker, the back-country Hyper-Chicken lawyer, the Vincent Price-like Walt, and the headless body of Spiro T. Agnew. He has been a crucial member of the "Futurama" cast since the very beginning, and continues to play his many roles in the recent 2023 "Futurama" revival. Calculon started off as a joke character but eventually started having arcs of his own, including a story wherein he literally took his own life on stage to prove his acting acumen. Later, he would be resurrected in a Satanic ritual. Just like the Calculon he plays on TV, Calculon leads a broad and dramatic life.
LaMarche's most recent role was playing a centaur in the animated series "Krapopolis." No one can say he doesn't have a blessed career.