Mike Henry on voicing Cleveland Brown before | TV Shows

Comedian Mike Henry, famed for voicing Family Guy’s Cleveland Brown for 25 years, spoke to The Express US about the impression the beloved character had on him and the legacy it left behind.

Six years in the past, Henry took to social media in June 2020 and announced that he would no longer voice the Cleveland Brown character. “It’s been an honor to play Cleveland on Family Guy for 20 years. I love this character, but persons of color should play characters of color. Therefore, I will be stepping down from the role,” Henry wrote. The determination was half of a broader motion to put an end to “voiceover whitewashing” in cartoons. Henry handed the baton on to YouTuber Arif Zahir, who has grow to be standard amongst followers.

And now, Henry discusses his upcoming memoir, which highlights his iconic voice work on Family Guy and The Cleveland Show. This comes after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had been ripped aside by Family Guy for a second time.

For more than 25 years, Henry helped form one of tv’s most influential comedy franchises. He grew to become a key inventive pressure behind Family Guy, before turning into the co-creator of the spinoff, The Cleveland Show. The voice actor has spent a long time bringing some of animation’s most memorable characters — Cleveland Brown, aged neighbor John Herbert, and the maid Consuela — to life.

Speaking solely to The Express US, Henry opens up about his upcoming memoir, his pursuit of life past Hollywood success, and his deeper connection to Cleveland Brown.

‘What a blessing’

“When Family Guy started, I hit the ground running and immediately created Cleveland, Bruce, Herbert, and Consuela. And those and many, many gags I wrote, and jokes I wrote, and learned actually on the job to write a sitcom format, and I got to start writing, and the second season, got actual scripts that I wrote, and it grew from there, and then we spun off Cleveland, and that ran for four years, and then back to Family Guy, doing voices, and I spent a lot of my time with my family. And, you know, family’s been super important to me. I’ve got kids who are 22 and 18 now. And you know, what a blessing voice work is. It doesn’t take that much time and, um, you know, allows me the freedom to do stuff with my family and then also to sort of be introspective and work on myself and realize that comedy isn’t everything. And, um, I realize, really, that it’s okay to be vulnerable, and to put yourself out there, um, you know, because if you’re, if you’re vulnerable, if you, if you are comfortable being vulnerable, you can’t really get hurt by words, or, you know, whatever’s gonna come at you online.”

How did Cleveland Brown change you?

Henry answered, “That’s good. Cleveland changed me in a number of ways. You know, when I played Cleveland, I was always a little extra conscious of different races and what people’s realities are. But I think he just reinforced that we’re all the same. Honestly, he provided a lot for my family and me just through, you know, his portion of the work that I’ve done. But the bottom line is, he just reinforced that we’re all the same. I’m just so grateful to have gotten to create him and played him for a long time.”

‘Hit the ground operating’

When discussing the transition from being a forged member of Family Guy to being a co-creator of The Cleveland Show, Henry shared, “So, I had been on Family Guy for six years, and I had learned so much. About how a room operates, how a show operates. When I started the Cleveland show, I was really able to hit the ground running. I was sort of given a lot of education there along the way. And so that was great! I was teamed up with Rich Appel, who had been on Family Guy and a number of other shows. I was actually put in a position where, for the most part, all I had to do was be funny. So it’s interesting looking back. I haven’t really thought about those days in a while. You know, there have been changes, and I’m just really grateful for the whole run of all of it.”

Working with David Lynch

When requested if Lynch’s voice work on The Cleveland Show influenced his scene-stealing efficiency in Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, Henry answered, “David Lynch inspired me to move from Virginia, and it’s sort of my everything I knew to pursue what I wanted to pursue in California. I figured if David Lynch, if this man could be so celebrated for this, for, obviously, not giving a rat’s a– about what anybody thinks about him, he’s just letting his creativity flow.

“That actually impressed me. So, you already know, that led immediately to me popping out right here, and I knew that he was doing the climate. Um, you already know, I do not bear in mind the radio station, but anyway, “It’s 72 and sunny. ” I used to be like, clearly he is bought a sales space in his home. Maybe he’ll do this.

“So casting reached out, and he said yes. And it was so funny. And he’s so cool. Like, he got me into transcendental meditation. His combination of innocence and that cherry pie hometown, you know, ‘Golly, gosh kind of thing,’ and then the viciously dark stuff that he comes up with, and it’s all sexy, and so much of it is hilarious. You know, he’s just such an inspiration. We got to go to his house and record him for the first time, and then we would record him remotely after that. No one has inspired me more in a creative way than David Lynch,” he completed.