There’s plenty to love about Nickelodeon’s Doug (currently on Hulu, FYI), the quirky animated series about a goofy, earnest preteen in the kaleidoscopic town of Bluffington. What perhaps stands out most, however, is its jazzy, offbeat sound design, which often eschewed instruments in favor of vocalized scats and man-made sound effects. A new video from Great Big Story celebrates the man behind the show’s honks, boings, and doo-do-doo-do-doos: Fred Newman, who, in addition to Doug, provided voices and sounds to the likes of Gremlins and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?.
There’s some fun trivia in there, too. In addition to improvising the theme song, Newman lent his elastic voice to Skeeter and Porkchop, as well as to Mr. Dink (whose name he says stood for “double income, no kids”) and the lead singer of The Beets (he modeled him after Sting, apparently).
The relish on this Honker dog is Great Big Story’s custom soundboard, which allows you to trigger one of Newman’s signature wooshes or chicka-chickas whenever you, or whoever you’re using it to prank call, need a rush of warmhearted nostalgia.