Bender speaks! Futurama's John DiMaggio and David Herman on cameos, voice acting and AI

Futurama turned 25 years old earlier this year. Its 12th season is currently rolling out, an episode a week, on Disney Plus.

Feel old yet? Well, the show itself doesn't. Those who can remember when Futurama first appeared in 1999, with the story of Philip J. Fry being frozen for 1000 years, may feel old veins pumped full of fresh, tasty nostalgia after streaming this one.

The key cast has stayed the same since the beginning too. There’s Katey Sagal as Leela, Billy West as Fry and countless others, John DiMaggio as the iconic bender and David Herman as Scruffy and around 40 additional characters.

We sat down with John DiMaggio and David Herman to find out about Futurama season 12, and what it’s like to have worked together on a show for more than two decades. Well, on and off. Futurama was off screens for almost a decade between 2013 and 2023. But with at least two more seasons confirmed, Futurama is here to stay.

ShortList: What’s coming up in Futurama season 12?

John DiMaggio: There’s all sorts of great guest stars coming up. It's just more wacky Futurama — would you like to know some of the guest stars?

Sure

There’s Danny Trejo, Kyle McLaughlin, Neil deGrasse Tyson, LeVar Burton, Anna Ortiz. And who else did I leave out? Tim Gunn and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

David Herman: We’re going heavy on the high jinks.

How does it feel to have both worked on a show, for over 25 years, since episode one?

DH: It makes us feel evergreen.

JD: We were just saying how it's great, it's amazing, the chemistry that we all have together, because we've been together for so long. And during that [Futurama] hiatus, between 2013 and 2022, we were also working on another Mat Groening show called Disenchantment.

When you work with people for this long — the writing staff, the production staff, your fellow actors — you get a certain chemistry together that's magical. And we tap into that a lot. There's a special bunch of people. It’s been fantastic and it continues to be fantastic.

DH: Beyond doing Disenchantment it's just a small circle of guys and gals that do what we do, you know. A small circle, like a polyp. Like a pustule.

You’ve been voicing these characters for over 20 years now. Have you had to alter their voices to match changes in your own voices over the years?

DH: So far? Gracias a dios, our voices haven't changed too much. We're still able to a cinch up our testicles and play the little boys and girls.

JD: I think Bender’s changed a little bit. It's just the development of the character that's helped him change. Yeah, it has it has tweaked some. But it's all natural.

Billy's killing it. Billy [West] has been doing these voices forever, and he's still got it. It's pretty amazing, what he does. Big shout out to Billy West.

DH: Me too. Yeah, put me in that well. I shout out to Billy as well!

You’ve both worked on TV shows, movies and video games across your careers as voice actors. Is there a kind of project your particularly enjoy working on?

DH: I enjoy a good satire. A good romp. I really like doing it when we're making fun of shit that sucks.

JD: Doing animated adult animated shows is really a joy. But to be perfectly honest, just like any other actor, I'm just happy to be working. I love all of it, to be perfectly honest.

For Futurama season 12 were you able to actually record together as a cast?

JD: Yeah, we record together.

DH: It's one of the nice things about Futurama. They care about the chemistry and stuff like that, and it's a really big difference to be with these guys. That's the best, just to hang out with these guys and be with them.

JD: I second that. When you have this ensemble record, you really get to feed off each other and a lot of magic happens during that contributes to a lot of the laughs in the show.

DH: Voice over can be very solo experience, a very miserable solitary experience. No, but it can be like you're in a goldfish bowl by yourself. For many shows I've never met the rest of the cast. Yeah. I say more than any show I worked on, these guys are my friends, right? Right John, you're my friend? We're friends. Like we're more than acquaintances.

JD: Yes, we're friends. Okay.

DH: Okay. We thank you. Thank you. I owe you. I’ll pay you on Thursday.

So did being a voice over artist during the Covid years kinda suck then?

DH: Yeah, for that very reason.

JD: But what was interesting about that was you would do it over Zoom. You could do a Zoom with a bunch of actors from a particular show they were working on. I recorded an entire cartoon at home for another network. We don't need to bring it up.

I mean, the entire thing. And it was mostly me and another actor. We did it together constantly. And it really was a lot of fun. It was a refuge from the Covid days to go and be in a virtual room with everybody.

DH: It was a porno right, John? It was just him jacking off at home.

JD: Yeah, it was a porno. It was a porno. And I shouldn't have brought it up. Because it was tough times, man.

How do you guys feel about generative AI? We've heard a bunch about it being used for voice work in recent years.

DH: You just put a damper on the morning.

JD: Yeah, you just killed it. Nice job, Andrew. Jesus Christ. Why'd you have to ask about that shit?

DH: No, I will fight it to my dying day, as I back into a grave, but I will lose. I say if we were to Rip Van Winkle and wake up 20 years from now the world will be like, "oh, music, art? That's made by computers."

Maybe in sixty years from now, it'll implode and people will be like, "I'd like to know how John feels about life, how he gets through life."

And I'd like to hear his story rather than the story from a chip. Rather than hear a song from a chip. I think it will implode but it may take a century. But I think in the near future we may be, you know, replaced.

JD: Yeah, it's frustrating. It's a frustrating thing.

DH: It'll come around again. People will want to know what another human being is going through.

Let’s hope so. Are you guys watching anything on streaming at the moment?

DH: Dodgers games.

JD: Olympics? I've been watching a little bit of the Olympics. I can't wait for more Only Murders in the Building. That's a good one. Hey, where in England are you?

Just outside London. It's really hot.

JD: Listen, let me just say this. Let's end this by saying that the United Kingdom needs air conditioning and you say it with me: air conditioned window units, window units. Let's make it so you can go Tesco and get one. Come on man. A.C.... A.C., it's fantastic.

Futurama season 12 is available to stream on Disney Plus now.