Patrick Warburton on Life After Puddy, His Sitcom Luck and Losing Out to Facebook Poker

You're also still working on Family Guy. Does that leave you time to audition for other projects?

Well, I have time to play golf during the week because shooting the average half-hour television episode takes about five hours a day. And Wednesdays are just an hour since that is when we do our table reads. My voiceover work on Family Guy is quick. What takes time is for me to drive out from Ventura County to the middle of LA to record. Once I am in the door, I am in there from a half hour to an hour. Seth [MacFarlane] just works really fast.

Your voice is so distinct and has led to an impressive voiceover resume. How much of your talent do you see as your voice?

Let's be careful when we use the "talent" word. I don't mean to sound overly self-deprecating but I love the fact that I have been fortunate enough to do a lot of cartoon work. Talented voice actors can actually sing, which I can't do or I don't do. Can I possibly train my voice? Is that something I can do? Maybe. I guess that's been a big part of my career for the last ten years. The final season of Seinfeld is when I expressed an interest in doing voiceover work. Disney was doing The Emperor's New Groove and then later I worked on the Buzz Lightyear TV series. Fortunately, both of those jobs worked out and I have gotten to do a lot of stuff with Disney, which to me is really special. I grew up in Orange County, going to Disney as a kid. I have 4 children and I still love Disneyland and so I love doing the cartoons. It's a great way to supplement the income and potentially be able to put four kids through college.

Do you have any ideas kicking around in your head for television shows or projects you would like to put into motion?

Yeah, there a few things but now there is this Facebook poker game that I am kind of addicted to. I am like a dog -- just give me something I am attracted to and the next thing you know I lose focus. One of these days I might grab that computer accessory that verbally types in whatever you have to say, I might get some creative writing done. I always end up dropping the ball on that usually.

You mentioned your 4 kids earlier. How much of your career right now is motivated from creativity and how much is motivated from wanting to support them?

It's great to have a job that you enjoy and you I still say, "Wow, I can't believe this is my job." Boy, did I luck out. I didn't do well in college and you go through those years in high school and then college thinking, "I have to make a living" and other times thinking, "I am not going to be able to transfer into a worthwhile university. I am just a failure. How could this acting thing possibly work out?" It's still a bit astonishing to me as I look back and think about how horribly things could have turned out. I am sure I could have gotten a job, I could have fared well doing something else possibly, but it's hard to believe that you could have this kind of fun and still provide a decent living for a family of six.

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