Stan Sellers, Actor/ Standup Comic/Voice Artist - 2nd Interview - Show #281

Stan Sellers reflects on his multifaceted career journey with a deep sense of gratitude and excitement for the diverse paths he has navigated in the entertainment industry. Beginning as a stage actor in Washington D.C., he transitioned into stand-up comedy, which eventually led him to Los Angeles, where he secured roles in renowned TV shows like "ER," "Seinfeld," and "The West Wing." His foray into voiceover work provided both creative satisfaction and the flexibility to balance his professional ambitions with raising his children as a single dad. Now, as he embarks on producing his comedy pilot, "Break Room," Stan remains enthusiastic about the process, eager to continue sharing his talents with the world through new and innovative projects.

(00:01:25) From Stage Acting to Stand-Up Success

(00:09:40) "From Theater to Voiceover: Stan Sellers' Journey"

(00:13:15) Embracing Work-Life Balance Through Voiceover Career

(00:17:17) Mimicking Diverse Voices in Voiceover Acting

(00:22:02) Warehouse Workers Comedy Pilot 'Break Room'

Transcript

R. Scott Edwards: 0:04

This is another episode of Stand Up Comedy. Your host and emcee celebrating 40 plus years on the fringe of show business stories, interviews and comedy sets from the famous and not so famous. Here's your host and emcee, Scott Edwards, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to the podcast. Man, I'm so excited. A really good friend of mine, a man that worked my club for many years, a great overall person, father and stand up comic, is here to chat with us and kind of catch us up since we did interview him before, but boy, so much has happened in his life. Let's get into it. Let me introduce the one and only Stan Sellers.

Stan Sellers: 0:52

Hey, everybody. Hey, Scott. Thanks for having me on. Pleasure to be here.

R. Scott Edwards: 0:56

Oh, we're just so excited. Stan, you are not only an old friend and a terrific stand up comic, but we've known each other a long time. We've kind of followed each other's family lives and things are just going really well for both of us and I think that gives us motivation to put the best foot forward and value our lives. Thank you for sharing what's going on in yours and boy, do I have some tough questions for you.

Stan Sellers: 1:22

Okay, lay them on me. I'm ready.

R. Scott Edwards: 1:25

All right, well, let's lay the groundwork. We've talked about some of this, but mostly comedy on our last interview. In this one, I'm going to get a little bit more about Stan Sellers, the professional entertainer. First off, your story starts in Washington D.C. where you were an actor and you're doing plays like Design for Living, Short Eyes and other stage presentations. How long were you doing stage acting and how did that lead into stand up comedy?

Stan Sellers: 1:56

It wasn't long in Washington D.C. probably started when I was about 16 and immediately moved into semi professional theater where I was doing design and short eyes. And another play by Miguel Pinero was a world premiere actually called the Sun Ochia. And from there kept performing. But I had written a variety show called Very Much Alive, which was sort of along the lines of variety shows from back in the day where you had sketches and little comedy. But I also attached a opening monologue. I like the Tonight Show. Johnny Carson. And I was attending the University of Maryland. They were putting on a talent show. Actually Sorority Delta Sigma Theta was putting on a talent show and I decided to do the monologue I had written for this unproduced play and I won second place.

R. Scott Edwards: 2:53

Wow.

Stan Sellers: 2:55

That was the genesis of me getting into stand up comedy. The following year I came back and I did another monologue for the talent show, but this was based on campus life, and the students loved it. So I jumped off, really from there, doing a few clubs around town. I had a cousin in LA said, why don't you come out here and do all of that? And I moved out in 79 and I've been here ever since.

R. Scott Edwards: 3:18

Well, that's incredible. Starting off as a writer, which I didn't know. I knew you did some acting in school in dc. I didn't know you were writing the show. Very much Alive sounds like a great concept. But doing a monologue, which, you know, stand up comedy is kind of a monologue to an audience live and getting that kind of response, by the way, the students really liked them. Students, do you agree with? Yeah, yeah. They're still big fans of Stan Sellers. So you came out to LA with that foundation of being on stage, being an actor and doing a couple monologues and like every other standup comic, I'm assuming that you were doing open mics and trying different clubs and, you know, starting with maybe three minutes of material and building it up. Was that the path that you took?

Stan Sellers: 4:13

Exactly. I was in la, actually, for three months and trying to get on the Comedy Store. I was too young to get in the Comedy Store on Sunset, but at the time they had a location in Westwood, and I worked that open mic pretty regularly with people like Lotus Weinstock, Danny Mora, Sanjay Bernhardt was big at the time. Gosh, Tim Jones, all these people who played your club, you know, we were just comics showing up on open mic. So in March of that year, I moved to San Francisco and got on as a regular at the Holy City Zoo. And that's pretty much where I stayed. That was my home for all of 79. March. March of 79 through December of 79.

R. Scott Edwards: 4:58

It's so funny how our paths have kind of been similar. I mean, I'm not a comic, but I mean, I don't know if you knew the story, but I opened Laughs Unlimited, All Comedy Showroom, my chain of comedy clubs, because my dad told me to go by the Westwood satellite location of the Comedy Store. And it was there I saw George Wallace, Sandra Bernhardt and Dave Coulier. And that's when Dave and I became friends. And that kind of led to me getting into comedy as a club owner and producer.

Stan Sellers: 5:28

Isn't that something? We're probably there on the same night sometimes.

R. Scott Edwards: 5:32

Yeah. And then the Zoo, for those that don't know in the listening audience what's funny about the Holy City Zoo, it had maybe 24 seats, a little teeny bit of a stage. But some of the biggest names like Robin Williams and Dana Carvey and Stan Sellers came out of that little teeny San Francisco club. I did not know that you were a regular there. That's great history.

Stan Sellers: 5:59

Yeah, Tony DePaul was. He's born and raised in D.C. and when Tony found that out on the first night I was there, he said, man, you can come down anytime. We bonded. And I did. I took him up on it. I really went down three or four nights out of the week and got stage time.

R. Scott Edwards: 6:15

Well, that is incredible in such a coincidence that you went from doing a monologue in D.C. getting to LA, struggling maybe to get some stage time, but you got some in Westwood, at the Comedy Store there. But going up to the Zoo and becoming kind of a house regular now, I'm sure you know Stan, but for the audience that doesn't know San Francisco was having a bit of a comedy boom. And there was probably five or six clubs within a 10 mile radius, wouldn't you say?

Stan Sellers: 6:49

I'd say probably within a five mile radius. Cause it's such a small city. You had the Zoo, you had the other cafe, you had the Punchline downtown. And those were pretty much the three biggies. And then there were, you know, little one nighters that were popping around San Francisco. Yeah. Over in Oakland. And you could really do in 79, you could really be on stage every night of the week doing stand up.

R. Scott Edwards: 7:12

Yeah. And that was one of the things that attracted Robin Williams was he loved stand up comedy. And this is long before he was a famous actor, but he would literally go from club to club to club each night and try to get some stage time. And of course, once he got successful, he could demand stage time anywhere he wanted. But the Holy City Zoo, the other Cafe and the Punchline were all clubs that led to a lot of celebrity stand up comics, including Stan Sellers. Now, I know some of you are saying Stan Sellers, Robin Williams, probably not in the same famous league, but I will explain to the audience that your work in stand up comedy led to a lot of television and movie acting. I mean, you appeared on er, Seinfeld episode, West Wing, csi, you did tons of commercials and TV spots. How did stand up comedy transition into professional acting? Stan Sellers, celebrity entertainer.

Stan Sellers: 8:18

You know, I don't know that it did. Honestly, I think it was my acting, seriously, I think it was my theater acting that helped me build a career in television because I had a pretty, I wouldn't say extensive, but I had a pretty good resume with theater credits on it. And when I got back to LA in 1980, that's pretty much what I used going forward to get an agent and to put myself out there as an actor. They were mainly looking at comedians for series work and for development deals to build a show around their stand up. I wasn't that guy, but I did have acting jobs.

R. Scott Edwards: 8:58

Well, yeah, but I'd have to believe, and I want to believe, Stan, because I've worked with you a lot and I know how funny you are as a stand up comic, that there had to have been tools that you learned as a comedian, engaging with live audiences and writing your own material had to have been some benefit going into all these great acting gigs.

Stan Sellers: 9:22

Oh, sure, definitely. Timing is everything. And I mean that, you know, delivering material so I could deliver a punch line. I think I did get seen because I did have comedy experience for some of the comedy shows. Definitely. Yeah, it did help. All of it helped.

R. Scott Edwards: 9:40

Yeah. And since this is a stand up comedy podcast, I had to get that in there. But you were a tremendous standup comic. You did end up headlining all three of my clubs. And I know you were doing headlining gigs around the country to make a living. You were also doing these acting gigs, things like Seinfeld and csi, doing a lot of commercials. And then you made another transition in your life. So these different chapters, Stan, is what makes your life so special and so unique. Because at some point, and I'd like you to explain to the audience, you transitioned to voiceover work and you've had a tremendous career doing television and movie voiceover. How did that come about?

Stan Sellers: 10:30

Gosh, it was so unexpected. I wasn't trying to be a voiceover actor. I had a very small part on an episode of NYPD Blue Many, many years ago, probably about 30 years ago, there was a riot scene that took place on an episode and they wanted me and this other guy to stand in front of the crow and just yell out stuff. We had no line. They just said, we want to put you here. And you guys are featured extras. Just yell out whatever you want to yell to the cops. Well, there's this thing that they do in Hollywood. It's called adr Automated Dialogue Replacement, also known as looping and what that is. Basically we are making the extras, the background sound like they're talking. We make it sound like a crowd. When you're filming a crowd scene or any scene, the only people who are speaking in a scene are the principal actors. The extras are not talking. They may move their mouths, but they're not talking. It's not recorded sound. So what they do is they hire a group of actors, performers, voiceover actors, to go on stage, soundstage and ADR stage and make that sound. And basically we're in a room talking to make it sound like all of those people are talking. And that's what we did on that first day when I went in to help them fill out the crowd for this riot scene. So there were already about 8 to 10 actors that were part of the group that worked on NYPD Blue. And me and the other went down and the other actor that was on camera with me, we filled out some of the other voices. So there was a nice gentleman that I worked with that day who took my name and number, he liked my work and said, hey, you mind if I pass your name around? I think you're pretty good. I said, sure. And for about a year I kept getting these calls with people saying, hey, I want to hire you to work on this show. And I resisted for a while. My wife slapped me upside the head, figuratively speaking, and said, they're giving you a day rate. Simple. So say yes to that.

R. Scott Edwards: 12:41

It's money. Get the work, do it. And it's so funny for someone that's been in front of the camera and on stage where you're part of the focus of the audience attention, becoming an ADR professional. And I think it's easier for us common folk to say looping. And you're doing the background voices for television, movies and commercials, whatever it comes up, it's behind the camera, it's behind the scenes. Nobody ever sees you. You never get screen credits, but you can make a good living.

Stan Sellers: 13:15

Exactly. And that was the difference. If I was doing, when I was doing on camera, I was lucky to get, oh, in the early days, maybe four gigs a year. When I started looping, I started working as a voiceover actor. I could work four times a week. It's been a very good gig for me. The best part, I always tell my kids and I always tell the people that I've worked with over the years. It enabled me to raise my kids. Being a Single dad since 2004, I never missed a recital, baseball practice, baseball game. I never missed being with my kids. And that's really the value that I've gotten out of this 30 year career as a voiceover actor.

R. Scott Edwards: 13:54

Well, it's funny that you kind of fell into it, but it did allow you to not only use your acting and stage skills, but gave you that family foundation. And by the way, Stan's got two amazing Kids, Miles and Sabrina, both very successful in their own rights. And this work as an ADR actor or somebody that went in and did looping for television and movies was able to give you a financial foundation to raise your family. And I think that even though it was accidental, it seemed really great. And we talked about this before on the first interview, you taught me two things. One, it's a really small clique of actors that get a chance to do voiceover work. And the other thing that I found fascinating was that when you see people, like in a restaurant scene and their mouths are moving, you said that the old school way. Anyway, I'm not sure if they're still doing it. Is. They'd be saying, peas and carrots, Peas and carrots, peas and carrots. Was. Was. Is that about right?

Stan Sellers: 15:02

That's true. Yes. They did do it that way on a lot of the old movies. They did just say peas and carrots, peas and carrots. But occasionally, and I've heard this really just listening to the background, which a lot of people don't, but they occasionally did some real voices back then. But most of the time, no, it's just what they say. They're recreating a walla background. W a L L a wala.

R. Scott Edwards: 15:30

Okay, they did that. And I have heard that term in the audio world, but it's called walla. And that's kind of instead of static. It's kind of that background noise that's humanized. Static is mechanical for human background noise. It's walla. That's interesting.

Stan Sellers: 15:50

Yeah. Yep, yep. And sometimes they said that just walla walla walla walla walla walla walla walla walla.

R. Scott Edwards: 15:55

Oh, really?

Stan Sellers: 15:57

Yeah, occasionally. It's come a long way since then. There was a lady who still works now. It depends on how you feel about her, but her name is Barbara Harris. I'll give her credit where credit is due. And she is sort of the one who, let's say, modernized the looping industry and by instead of just going on stage, going on an ADR stage and saying gibberish, she made it so that your dialogue has to match the genre location you're in. For instance, if you're in a police station, you need to sound like a police officer. If you're in a firehouse, you need to have firehouse jargon. If you're in a law office, you need to sound like you're in a law office. So instead of just being on stage talking about anything that gets turned down low, we're actually. We do Research. We show up with our research and we try as best as we can to sound professional.

R. Scott Edwards: 16:56

Interesting. Now Stan, explain this to me. Are you sounding like Stan Sellers or do you put in almost like impressions or inflections? I mean, if you are doing a brief British show, do you try to do an accent? Does any of that matter? Or you always kind of just Stan Sellers in the background?

Stan Sellers: 17:17

Nope, we, like I said same thing. We do accents. We do, yeah, we. There are people who specialize in accents. I can fake a few languages. I have a lot of research, have a lot of papers with different language phrases, Spanish phrases, Chinese phrases, Arabic phrases. So we can mimic a lot of different voices and sound like a lot of different people.

R. Scott Edwards: 17:42

So one of the challenges of the job is adapting to each particular gig. And if you're doing up to four a week, I mean that's real work.

Stan Sellers: 17:52

You could be doing medical one day, be a lawyer the next day, you could be military the next day and you could be doing Ben Hur on the fourth day. So yeah, it's, it does change every day.

R. Scott Edwards: 18:07

Wow.

Stan Sellers: 18:08

And it's a challenge, but it's, it's a great gig because you get to play. That's really what you're doing. You're playing, you're having fun, you're using your acting skills.

R. Scott Edwards: 18:17

Yeah.

Stan Sellers: 18:18

And because improv skills, you're making it up as you go along.

R. Scott Edwards: 18:22

And because you're behind the scenes, you can do it in your shorts and T shirt.

Stan Sellers: 18:27

That is true. Yeah. You can't show up on stage. Pretty casual.

R. Scott Edwards: 18:32

Well, that sounds like so much fun. Well, what's also interesting, and I want to enlighten the audience because even though you have been a long established stand up comic and then you went into acting and had some amazing roles on TV and in movies that turned into an amazing decades long career in voiceover work. But you haven't given up on anything else. You still do some acting. In fact, I just saw you on the special. It's actually a short form series called the Residence, which is about a high end detective and a murderer in the White House. So you're still getting out and utilizing your acting chops?

Stan Sellers: 19:15

Yes, I am still auditioning and getting lucky every now and then. The Residence we shot probably a little over a year ago and I play one of the three George McCutcheons. I am in the middle. My dad works at the White House and my son works at the White House. So we are part of the murder mystery known as the Residence with a cast of. I mean it's really a cast of many, many stars. We've got Uzo Adubo from Oranges the New Black, Giancarlo Esposito who's done everything, and Susan Watson from this Is Us. So it's, it's a huge cast of some really great people and it was a fun, fun show to work on. I think I'm in maybe three or four episodes. I have lines and maybe one. I was on set for a long time and it was just a blast. It was great to be on camera again.

R. Scott Edwards: 20:06

Yeah, I think a lot of us that are not in show business envy those that are because as part of your job, which you're getting paid for, so it's kind of a good gig, is hanging out with other celebrity actors. And that could be good for two things. One, of course, just building relationships. But also you can always enhance your skills as an actor because there's no end to our search for knowledge. And interacting with stars and other celebrity actors has to kind of rub off and help you make you better at your job.

Stan Sellers: 20:43

When you say, oh, definitely, yeah, just watching them work and the attitude, just the talent that they have, you do hope that it rubs off and that at some point you can rise to that level of celebrity. It was a blast. I didn't have any scenes with Bronson Pinchot. You may remember him from years ago. Malky. Yeah, he was stellar performer, doing accents and had some wonderful stories. But everybody was just a blast to work with, even Randall park, who from Fresh off the Boat. Very, very funny actor. And just to watch him work was a pleasure.

R. Scott Edwards: 21:23

Yeah. Seems like he's a perennial FBI actor. He's always playing an agent. Just so excited to share your amazing life and all these unique chapters. Going from stage acting in Washington D.C. to doing some stand up comedy in both San Francisco and la. Ending up in LA as an actor performing in movies and TV shows and then getting this amazing career in looping or voiceover work. Stan, it's really been an exciting career for you. Thank you for sharing it. What's next for Stan Sellers?

Stan Sellers: 22:02

Well, the last thing I did, I sought a pilot.

R. Scott Edwards: 22:05

Oh, that's awesome.

Stan Sellers: 22:07

Shot a comedy pilot. It's under my own production company, Two Kids, no sleep. And right now we are. We've entered it in about five film festivals that accept comedy pilots and web series. And after we do our festival one, we're going to it follows four underpaid and overworked warehouse workers who are trying to maintain their daily breaks. But they're constantly dealing with A meddling receptionist, boss who's never there and donut.

R. Scott Edwards: 22:40

So we can keep an eye out for it. Stan, what's the name of this pilot?

Stan Sellers: 22:44

It's called a break room and probably later in the year it follows the guys over Monday through Friday. So what we're going to do is to break up each day into its own episodes so they'll land on YouTube probably by October, November, and later on this year we hope to shoot 10 more episodes. So each episode is probably about four to five minutes. So it's not going to take you long to get through them. But for sake of the film festival, we put them all together as a 22 minute episode, 22 minute comedy pilot. So it's pretty funny. We've gotten some great laughs. I had some help from my good friend and your good friend Steve Bruner gave us some punch up on some jokes and got some great laughs with great cast, good director, Haynes Brook, who directed a couple of shorts that I wrote about five or six years ago. So we're going to move forward on YouTube like I said, and if something bigger comes of that, great. If not, we're okay with that because we're having a ball.

R. Scott Edwards: 23:48

Oh, that's so amazing. Stan, I was not aware of this. You. You're now your new hat is as producer. That's incredible. Congratulations. As a lifelong producer, I know how it feels to succeed in getting something from the page onto film or in this case, video, and getting an opportunity to share your vision of what in this case a funny sitcom would be. And I think it's amazing that you got this pilot out to the various festivals, but. But so smart to turn it into short vignettes on YouTube where it can get a much bigger audience. Ladies and gentlemen, go out and Google break room on YouTube and find these amazing funny shorts and check out the brilliance of the writing. And are you acting in this too?

Stan Sellers: 24:44

I am acting.

R. Scott Edwards: 24:45

So acting and writing and producing skills of the one and only Stan Sellers. That's amazing. All right, that's enough. I don't want you to get a big head anyway. Stan, I did not know about that. That sounds like so much fun and I'm going to go look for it myself. I wish you much success with your new pilot, Break Room. I know it'll do really well as short vignettes and videos on YouTube. And thanks for sharing with my audience this great life you've experienced in show business and all the unique chapters that built this amazing career. Congratulations.

Stan Sellers: 25:25

Thank you, Scott. It's been a blast still having fun. Just want to keep it going.

R. Scott Edwards: 25:29

Well, you know, I think that's something that's important for both of us. We're both getting up there a little bit in years, and I think you want to stay busy, you want to stay working. But the most important thing is have fun with what you're doing because that's what keeps us alive and healthy and enjoying our lives. Well, ladies and gentlemen, keep an eye out for the new pilot and YouTube show called Break Room. But if you pay attention on TV shows and movies, you'll hear in the background the looping voiceover work of Stan Sellers. And if you see reruns of shows like er, Seinfeld or West Wing, you you'll probably catch Stan Sellers on screen. And I just finished it, by the way. It's an amazing series of shows. Go look for the residents. Very funny, very good writing and a great show. And you'll see Stan on that. Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only Stan Sellers. Thanks so much for being on the podcast.

Stan Sellers: 26:31

Thanks here. Thanks, guys.

R. Scott Edwards: 26:32

Pleasure to be here, ladies and gentlemen. We'll be back next week with some great stand up comedy. So stay tuned. Bye. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Stand Up Comedy. Your host and emcee. For information on the show merchandise and our sponsors or to send comments to Scott, visit our website at www.standupyourhostmc.com. look for more episodes soon and enjoy the world of stand up comedy. Visit a comedy showroom near.