Phil LeMarr lends voice to 'Futurama'

The future is now for comedian Phil LeMarr. LeMarr is voicing the character Hermies Conrad in the new animated series from Matt Groening, creator of "The Simpsons," "Futurama."

Unlike the other strange humans, aliens and robots populating the year 3000 in "Futurama," LeMarr said, "He's in some way the normal one." Nevertheless, he was still a member of the Olympic Limbo Team.

Despite his past athleticism, LeMarr's character serves a different function in the show. "Every business needs a beurocrat," LeMarr said of his recurring role. "(Hermies) is the closest thing to an internal authority ... the voice of the establishment."

LeMarr is not new to voicing animated characters. The "Mad TV" star started his career in high school doing a voice for the "Mr. T" cartoon. Though he has been doing live action work on TV and in films, LeMarr appreciates doing voices for animated series. "Obviously (doing a cartoon) you have to put on a lot less make up," LeMarr said. LeMarr said he also appreciates the fact that there aren't any physical boundaries and there's no rehearsal, not to mention that he doesn't have to memorize lines.

Also, LeMarr noted that working in animation is much quicker for the actors, despite the extraordinary amount of time it takes to actually produce one episode. Comparing his work on "Futurama" with his work on "Mad TV," LeMarr said "Futurama" "takes a full eight-hour day at most, (whereas) a full episode of 'Mad TV' takes a full 40-hour week at least."

Despite his happiness with the work he's done on "Futurama," LeMarr said "Everyone is aware of how high the bar has been set," referring to the inevitable comparisions to "The Simpsons." This doesn't overly concern LeMarr, though. "I think the danger of that is offset by the positive (associations)" with "The Simpsons," he said.

LeMarr said that even though there's a "weird sort of awe thing" surrounding Groening, LeMarr also noted that Groening "disarms that. There's no sort of boss thing."

And now that LeMarr has finished with this season of both "Futurama" and "Mad TV" completed, "I'm in this weird sort of limbo," he said. Still, LeMarr has a smattering of upcoming film and TV work. In addition to the film "Kill the Man" from October Films, LeMarr is also working on a couple of episodes of "King of the Hill" before getting to work on the second season of "Futurama."

Of his future work, LeMarr is optimistic. With a long running late night show and a new primetime animated series, LeMarr hopes his work is remembered. "The majority of things are bad, but we only remember the good stuff," he said.

03-24-99