IT’S SETH SPEAKING
The new voiCe of trAnsit
Actor Seth Rogen will finally have his revenge on all those who teased him about his voice when he was a boy growing up in Vancouver.
On Thursday, it was announced Rogen had become the new voice of TransLink, providing etiquette reminders and service announcements for the SkyTrain network and other public transit. Beginning this weekend, both fans and foes will hear Rogen’s voice over TransLink loudspeakers.
“In a way, this is both an incredibly wonderful thing for me to do and if you don’t like me, it’s a wonderful way to get revenge on you,” said Rogen, followed by his signature laugh.
In May, actor Morgan Freeman was set to be the voice of TransLink as part of a Visa campaign introducing tap-to-pay services. When allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced, Freeman’s recordings were canned.
After this reporter suggested Rogen as a replacement in a tweet, the Vancouver-born actor responded to say he was game. TransLink social media manager Robert Willis jumped on the opportunity and invited Rogen to collaborate, to which Rogen responded “hit me up.”
“I was 100 per cent serious. I instantly thought it would be a wonderful idea,” Rogen said in a three-way phone call with Willis and Postmedia on Friday. “I instantly made it clear that I would just do whatever they wanted and try to make it as easy for everyone as humanly possible, really.”
Willis said the day the exchange occurred was “weird, surreal” and that the “whole morning was kind of odd.”
“I’m just doing my normal job and suddenly, I noticed, ‘Oh. Hey. Is this the real Seth Rogen? Oh, it’s the real one. That’s cool.’ And then we went to our boss and said, ‘Hey, should we do this?’ We weren’t sure and then we decided — let’s do it. This is a golden opportunity. It just unfolded from there and it’s been great so far.”
The announcements were recorded “in Los Angeles in a very small recording studio, over the course of a very short period of time,” said Rogen, who splits his time between California and B.C. The specific messages were chosen with guidance from TransLink and recorded with “editorial panache” from the actor.
On Thursday, TransLink released a brief video to Twitter announcing the actor could soon be heard voicing announcements throughout the public transit network.
Rogen said he happily takes public transit when in Vancouver and that Los Angeles’ public transit leaves something to be desired.
“I do have a car — it’s just ’cause the traffic in Vancouver is terrible and I don’t like dealing with it,” he said, thus proving that stars are just like us. “Los Angeles does not have good public transit and so when I’m in a city that allows me to get where I want to go without getting in a car, I’m thrilled to jump on that opportunity.”
Following Thursday’s reveal, Rogen’s fellow comedian, actor and Point Grey Secondary graduate Nathan Fielder, also jumped in to say he would happily voice announcements for Vancouver International Airport.
“I hope so — that would be amazing. That would make me personally very happy to get off a plane and hear Nathan Fielder’s voice welcoming me to Vancouver,” said Rogen. “I think only people who went to Point Grey high school should do all announcements for all transportation in Vancouver.”
Willis isn’t sure if other marketing or social media managers are taking notes, but did say there was some attention coming from other transit authorities.
“I won’t be surprised if there’s some other, I’ll call them copycat kind of ideas, coming on down the road,” said Willis.
“Piggyback!” Rogen chimed in before laughing.
You can hear Rogen’s announcements on SkyTrains, buses and SeaBuses beginning as early as this weekend for a limited time. After that, you can catch Rogen in next year’s reboot of The Lion King, where he’ll voice warthog Pumbaa alongside Billy Eichner’s Timon.