REMEMBER THAT GUY who did all the wacky sound effects and vocal hijinx in the ‘Police Academy’ movies from the 1980s? That’s Michael Winslow. But, did you know that his character Larvell Jones wasn’t in the original script? They actually wrote that character into the movie later. “After they saw that weird thing I did on Cheech & Chong,” the actor takes us back… After seeing Michael’s breakout bit part in Cheech & Chong’s ‘Next Movie’ (1980), the Police Academy producers came to see a show where Michael was opening for Count Basie’s Orchestra. The promoter for the Count Basie show had neglected to hire a sound system, Michael remembers, and, four minutes into Count Basie’s set, the fit-for-a-corporate-meeting house system took a dive. Michael’s portion of the show had been fine, he says, because he’d brought his own microphone and a Roland Cube amp to run his own sound through. But Count Basie was on the house system that broke down. “Count Basie was the only thing that mattered in that moment,” Michael said. “So I took my microphone, plugged it into the amp and put the microphone inside of his piano.” And it saved the show! “He appreciated that fact and he told the Police Academy guys, ‘you’d better take care of him because he took care of me.’” Michael said. “So they wrote me into Police Academy. They wrote me into the script. That’s how that happened.”
From Police Academy, Michael would go on to play the voice of ‘Stripe’ in ‘Gremlins’ (1984), onto ‘the-radar-sir-it-appears-to-be… jammed’ part in the iconic Mel Brooks Star Wars parody ‘Spaceballs’ (1987)… and on into Hollywood history before he stepped away from show business to raise his kids when he became a widower decades ago. Over the course of his stand-up career, Michael has opened for everyone from Weird Al to the Ramones to Dee Snider. He’s been called the ‘Godfather of the Beatbox.’ He once had the proud distinction of being ‘too loud’ when jamming with Eddie Van Halen at a NAMM convention.
More recently, he was featured on ‘Family Guy’ and ‘Robot Chicken.’ He’s also been a featured vocalist on songs with Run The Jewels, Jon Anderson from Yes, and Victor Wooten. He stepped back into the national spotlight with an appearance on America’s Got Talent in 2021. But have you heard him do Robert Plant? There’s a clip online of Michael doing Led Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’ on a Norwegian TV show from 2014… and he nails it! The drums. The guitars. Plant’s vocals. All of it. All with just his voice. He’s developing this new show around that idea. He calls it ‘Radio Brain.’ He’s been listening to a lot of Pomplamoose. He’s creating mash-ups of popular music, like White Stripes, AC/DC, Tom Petty, Foster The People… “It’s a little different now,” he says of the new show. “Now I get to do the Gorillaz, just with noises. I’ve found a way to do the bass and the resonance so I can make the room shake. I can do Gorillaz with Snoop at the same time, I can mash it. I can mash White Stripes with Pumped Up Kicks, I can mash Radiohead… I can mash anything I want… with noises!”
The Noise Man! The Man Of 10,000 Sounds!
He’s bringing the show to the Redwood Theater at the Tracyton Movie House this weekend. They’ll be screening ‘Police Academy’ followed by a Q&A with Michael at 5 p.m., then his featured show at 9 p.m. Jan. 13.
“And make sure to let the people know, our job is to help them forget about the rent for an hour,” Michael said. “That’s very important. Plus… normal is overrated if you don’t have the barbecue sauce.” // BILL MAN
POLICE ACADEMY SCREENING at 5 p.m., followed by a Q&A with Michael Winslow and Michael’s Music & Comedy Show w/ openers Richie Spychala and Brock Terrano, 9 p.m., Jan. 13 in the Redwood Theater at the Tracyton Movie House, Bremerton. Each show is all ages, $25. Tickets at tracytonmoviehouse.com, more on the socials @michael_winslow
