Speakeasy with ‘The Venture Brothers’’ James Urbaniak
The character actor and blogger talks about his popular stint as one of the lead voices on the Adult Swim show.
Gangly, charmingly quirky character actor and blogger James Urbaniak became a familiar face to indie movie audiences thanks to breakthrough roles in American Splendor and Hal Hartleys Henry Fool. Hes most respected for his Drama Desk-nominated turn in the acclaimed one-man show Thom Pain (Based on Nothing), but may be most beloved as one of the lead voice actors on Adult Swims “The Venture Brothers,” a parody of vintage cartoon adventure shows along the lines of “Johnny Quest.” Local fans will get the chance to see Urbaniak in the flesh at Atlanta Supercon, Nov. 21-23. Hell also has a guest spot on “CSI: Miami” on Mon., Nov. 24.
Since 2005 youve kept the urbaniak blog on Livejournal. Why do you blog?
I started because Jackson Publick, creator of “The Venture Brothers,” had a Livejournal account. He inspired me to start one. I was doing Thom Pain: Based on Nothing, which was a one-man show that lasted about an hour. I developed this routine where every night Id come home from the theater and go on the “Venture Brothers” fan site, The Peoples Republic of Venture. I used to write in anonymously and I got hooked on that kind of dialogue. When the play ended, I thought, “Well, why not blog as myself?” I was a little hesitant at first, but its an enjoyable way to communicate thoughts and ideas. Plus, if theres a topic that interests me, blogging provides an excuse to research it. Im not aware of the blog specifically affecting my acting career, but I have gotten some attention to it from larger media outlets. I guess in that sense, its raised my profile a notch or two.
“The Venture Brothers” has always struck me as appealing to slightly older fans more so than most of the Adult Swim shows. Do you think thats the case?
The fans are definitely all ages. The initial audience for my blog was “Venture Brothers” fans, and a lot of them are pretty young, in high school or college. I just did an episode of “CSI: Miami,” and the director was this guy in his 50s who said, “I love ‘The Venture Brothers, and so does my son!” He asked me to call his son on his cell phone, and when the son picked up, I said “Hi, its Dr. Thaddeus Venture!” When we were done talking, the father got back on the phone and said “You owe me one.”