I requested this memoir from NetGalley as fan of Billy’s work on Futurama, not sure what I was about to read, I will lead with the caveat that there are a lot of potential trigger for readers, the book covers abuse both physical and sexual of a minor and a lot of substance abuse amongst other potentially difficult subjects to read about. So diving in, I rated it 4.75 stars out of 5.
It was an absolutely heart-breaking yet hopeful and inspiring memoir from one of the good guys. There were times reading this that I was surprised Billy was still alive to write this book, because holy crap who could keep going through that! He mixes the hard stories in with the good, with humility – even when he’s reeling off who he’s worked with on various projects it is absolutely not bragging, but a ‘look how lucky I was to work with this amazing person’ but also doesn’t shy away from calling out toxic behaviour and people in the industry. He also touches on the advent of AI and what that could mean for the future of voice acting and actors.
I’d recommend this to fans of Ren & Stimpy or Futurama or Disenchantment or anyone who’s ever watching something Billy voiced even if you didn’t know at the time – honestly, reading this I realised just how many of my favourite animated series and characters featured Billy and how versatile he is – check out his IMDB if you don’t believe me!
As mentioned at the start, a consistent theme of this book was his experience of abuse and (undiagnosed) neurodivergence and how these affected his life so it may be difficult to read for some but also hopeful. I found the pace of the book quite fast whilst slightly chaotic, but it felt authentically Billy.
This book is available now on Kindle or if you prefer to support your local independent bookshop its available in hardback next month bookshop.org
Culturenator 