I want to preface this interview with a small writer's note, in that I didn't realize until I was doing the transcription of my conversation with Ms. MacNeille that she and I share the same initials. So instead of my usual interview format, I'm going with first names this time around. Otherwise, there'd be a whole lot of "TM" and my readers might think I was talking to myself the whole time!

I also want to share that I missed the first call from Tress because I was still on the phone with Rob Pauslen, who voices Yakko Warner (among many others).

I have a voicemail from her that I will forever continue to save for posterity. I'm the luckiest interviewer ever, I tell you!

Tori Michel: First of all, let's talk Animaniacs! What did you do to prepare for the character of Dot, and what, if any, parts of Dot come from you?

Tress MacNeille: Well, I'm the luckiest girl in the world, maybe you didn't know that! Animaniacs was the second Steven Spielberg project that I had done, it was the carryover from Tiny Toon Adventures.

Tori: That's right, you were Babs Bunny too.

Tress: The producers and one of the writers, they knew pretty much what I was able to do. So the voice of Dot Warner was custom made for me. They were able to incorporate all of my skills into the cartoon and it was great luxury. Sherri Stoner, who was one the main writers for Animaniacs was with me at The Groundlings. She knew a lot of my characters that I had done for The Groundlings, and she was familiar with my talents, so it worked out really, really well. I never had to worry what I was required to come up with for Dot because it was a lot required of her.

She did a lot of impressions and many many characters in every cartoon. I remember this one where I did twenty impressions in one show, and that's men and women and children, so what a blast! I never had to worry!

Tori: So what are your feelings on the return of Animaniacs to television and what are your hopes?

Tress: You know, I'm thrilled particularly because it's an opportunity for a new generation or two to see the Animaniacs and be able to appreciate what a wonderful cartoon it is. It's so well made. I don't even know if they go to that kind of trouble anymore. Cartoons can look fabulous, but this was way before a lot of that technology. It was individually orchestrated and just such good care taken with each one. It'll be nice for the kids to be able to see Animaniacs. It's a fun show, it's not snarky, it's not dirty, it's not political or sardonic. We did lots of kiddin' on the square, but it's of course all very benign in comparison with today and the more adult cartoons. It isn't either adult or an itty bitty kid cartoon, not like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Minnie's Bowtique or some of the other shows that I do, particularly for Disney. Even Sofia the First is quite benign. But The Simpsons and Futurama might not be, or Fish Hooks or some of the other cartoons that I do.

Tori: What's your favorite Dot catchphrase? She's got some great ones!

Tress: Of course everything she said seemed to be a catchphrase, but I remember that when they'd say (she breaks into fantastic impressions of Rob Paulsen and Jess Harnell's work here before using her Dot voice) "I'm Yakko... I'm Wakko... and I'm Dot, the Warner Sister, the Cute One." But also, (Dot voice) "Boys, go fig!"

Tori: It's hard not to talk about your other voices. Reading your list of previous roles is like reading a "who's who" of great cartoon characters! I mean, you're Daisy Duck!

Tress: Why yes, I'm Daisy Duck. I'm the Queen of Hearts [in Alice in Wonderland], I'm Chip in Chip and Dale. I'm many Disney classic characters. I'm also Merriweather, one of the fairy godmothers and have been for many years. Merriweather is participating in Sofia the First, the new series.

Tori: And then you've got all the voices on The Simpsons and Futurama. I'm seriously talking to cartoon royalty right now!

Tress: I'm the luckiest girl in the world, I'll tell you!

Tori: What has been your favorite character?

Tress: It's so hard to say, because I always just love the one that I'm doing, you know? If it's something that really I can be free with, and have every confidence that you can't go wrong. You can't go wrong with a lot of characters. You couldn't go wrong with Dot because her voice was always placed in a place (Dot voice) where you couldn't screw up. You couldn't sound funny because her voice was funny. It was just odd. You could always just blame any mistakes you made on the character. More exaggerated characters like some of the parts that I play on The Simpsons (Agnes Skinner voice here) where you can really throw yourself, like Agnes Skinner, you could really throw yourself into a role, and get mad. The characters that are more exaggerated are, in my opinion, the most fun to do. Dot was always a blast. Babs Bunny, I adore her. The exaggerated stuff that I do for The Simpsons and Futurama, those are all big character-y things. Of course I always have appreciated greatly being many classic Disney voices, because I tell you sometimes it's such a comfort to do that kind of a classic cartoon and voice, very sweet spirited characters rather than the very adult sassy cartoons. It's nice to have a balance of doing Daisy and Chip and Merriweather... all very sweet characters. It's a nice balance, because when I get in there for The Simpsons and Futurama, well all bets are off.

Tori: That actually segues great into my next question. Do you prefer doing voices for the kids cartoons or the adult cartoons?

Tress: You know, I think that it worked out really well that I do both! It's like you wouldn't want to have all candy for dinner. It's the best of both worlds for me. I do some kids cartoons and eat at the kids table and then I go out for drinks with the adults! (Laughs) You come out with your sanity!

Tori: What's your favorite thing about doing voiceover work?

Tress: Well, I don't have to have a manicure! (Laughs) You try to respect the workplace and present yourself nicely. You can't really phone it in with animation. Now, a lot of voiceover work in recent years we've been able to do over the phone or the computer, but it's always just been part of the fun that we get ourselves going, and get in our cars, and go to many different jobs in a day, and keep ourselves busy, and do wonderful voice jobs with our pretty exclusive, small community of voiceover actors that do the bulk of the work. It's just a ball! Just hanging out with your friends and your directors get to be like your favorite teacher. We just laugh all day long! It's great.

Tori: What's your favorite new project that you're working on?

Tress: Ooh, well you know we're continuing The Simpsons. We just completed our twenty fourth year. We'll start at the twenty fifth probably in the beginning of March, end of February. Tomorrow, I'm working on a project with The Simpsons to promo for the Academy Awards, because we have a short that has been nominated about Maggie. So, I don't know! There aren't any things that are particularly new. It's just more of the great things that are continuing. We're finishing up some episodes of Futurama, so we've got a bunch of new episodes that are coming out. That's going to be great, nice fresh Futurama for the folks. Of course, The Simpsons always stays very fresh. We're finishing up some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes and just finished Minnie's Bowtique, the third season of those. I have a feeling that we're going to be seeing more of that show because they're being very well received by the powers that be. So that's always nice. Those particular shows, their audience skews very young, so they want to be very careful with their classic characters.

Tori: Just a couple of fun little questions... if you could be the voice of any cartoon character in history, who would you choose and why?

Tress: Well, I was thinking about that question, and it seemed to work out that I am a lot of the voices that are the female characters in animation. When we were growing up, there was Minnie Mouse but there was no voice of Daisy. There were a few characters, like Olive Oyl, I always loved Olive Oyl, but I know who ended up doing her voice for the Hanna-Barbera series, so I wouldn't say that I'd want to take her place. Though I ended up being the voice of Wilma Flintstone and Rosie the Robot [on the Jetsons]. I'm also one of the ugly stepsisters on Cinderella, I'm Anastasia. The Cinderella animated movies that have come out recently, I'm the ugly stepsister who ends up sympathetic and happy in the end. Spoiler alert! (Laughs) I just think I wouldn't be the voice of any other cartoon characters other than the ones that I am because the voices that those cartoons characters have just are so distinct, and the reason that we love those cartoon characters is because of voices that they had. So I wouldn't presume to improve upon any of them, really. They were done the right way. That's why we love them!

Tori: This is one I ask everybody that I interview: what is your favorite cartoon character personally? Past or present.

Tress: I would be hard pressed. I really would be, Tori! It's like asking a mother who is your favorite child! How do you pick? I'm so happy and grateful that I've had the opportunity to voice so many characters that have ended up being so fabulous, like Babs Bunny and Dot Warner and my first job was The Smurfs. So easy doing those shows, and lots of old Hanna-Barbera stuff. Of course Babs Bunny was just a blast. Stuff I did on Rugrats. Even today Daisy and Chip. Everything is going so well with all of my cartoons that they're all my favorites. I know that's just a cop out answer!

Tori: Is there maybe one that you grew up with that's a favorite that you didn't voice?

Tress: There were very few female characters. I always loved Bugs Bunny. I was a huge Bugs Bunny fan. The Warner Brothers cartoons were my particular favorites. They would have the Hollywood versions of the old Warner Brothers Studios stars. I loved those cartoons. As far as cartoon characters go, there was Betty Boop. It's just the whole world of cartoons was just such a wonderful place. You love the whole town. You know, I hadn't really thought about that before I saw the question. I don't know if I'd want to think of limiting myself in my appreciation of cartoons by citing a favorite. I might have felt that way once upon a time. I could have said "oh, well it would absolutely be so and so." Of course, I loved the Queen of Hearts and then I ended up being the Queen of Hearts. The Wicked Witch... I ended up being the Wicked Witch of the West many times for the animated series The Wizard of Oz, that was really cool. I kind of ended up being my favorites.

Tori: That is really cool. I'm sorry, I'm just beside myself starstruck talking to Tress MacNeille! I will say that all my friends who know what I do for a living now are super jealous of me!

Tress: I hope it gets you some major brownie points!

Tori: I am beyond flattered that you agreed to talk to me and that we've been talking for close to half an hour now!

Tress: Have we really? I'm just a chatterbox! I'm worse than Rob Paulsen! (Laughs)

Talking with Tress was a major honor for me. Her list of characters under her belt truly gives female voice actors something to aspire to. She was so charming and friendly, and just a pleasure to chat with. She also mentioned how young I sound. Guess I don't have a future in voice acting, unless there are roles for small children! Ha! I just want to give a special thanks to Tress for taking the time to call me--twice!--and spend her afternoon talking to me about her career! She is one of the greats!