Review Fix Exclusive: Dana Snyder Interview: Talent and Versatility No Laughing Matter

Originally trained in theater and well-versed in the comedy stylings of the past, Dana Snyder is not your typical voice actor.

Known to millions around the world as the voice of the wise-cracking milk shake Master Shake on Cartoon Networks’ hit show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Snyder is currently one of the most talented voice actors in the business.

Despite his current success, however, the way Snyder landed the role of Master Shake had as much to do with luck as it did talent.

“I went to college with a girl who went to high school with Dave Willis (Co-creator of Aqua Teen with Matt Maiellaro),” said Snyder, via telephone in Los Angeles. “He called her up, asking if she knew anyone in New York that had a weird voice for the show they were doing and that’s it. She gave them my name; then I auditioned and the rest is history.”

While Dave Willis is noted for being the voice of both Carl and Meatwad on Aqua Teen, providing a big part of the show’s humor, many would say that it’s Snyder’s character, Master Shake, which provides the show with the backbone that has led to its success.

Snyder’s comedic influences have also played a huge role in the way Master Shake is portrayed as well.

“I’m into old showbiz stuff like Don Rickles, which I think reflects in Master Shake, of course. I always inject little secret nods to my old comedic heroes,” said Snyder. “Frequently, people will think, ‘Oh, he made that up’ and I’ll say, ‘Well, I kind of stole it from that guy or whatever.'”

Snyder also credits his parents for helping to shape his sense of humor, giving him freedom to express himself and exposing him to a variety of different sources of entertainment when he was young.

“My parents were always very supportive of what I was doing; that always helps,” said Snyder. “They never said, ‘I don’t want you to do this,’ or ‘You can’t do that,’ unless I wanted to set the couch on fire or something.

“When I was growing up, my dad was always watching old W.C. Fields movies and stuff, so I always sort of watched them, too, and I think a lot of my humor comes out of that,”said Snyder. That’s the kind of thing I wouldn’t normally be exposed to if I was watching the things my friends were telling me to watch.”

Regardless of what anyone says concerning the reasons for the success of Aqua Teen, Snyder believes that it is the unity among everyone involved in the show that has led to its monumental success.

“I love being a part of Aqua Teen,” said Snyder. “I think my favorite part is just being so surprised by how popular it’s been. I never thought it would. When we did it the first time, it was like, well, this is really going to be nothing. We were just making this little cartoon for no money and now it’s so enjoyable and amazing to see how into it people are.”

“Everyone at Adult Swim in Atlanta are really nice guys. Dave (Willis) and Matt (Maiellaro) are people who I would be friends with anyway [if he wasn’t on Aqua Teen]. Jay [Aqua Teen Executive Producer and Editor, Jay Edwards] is coming out to LA next week to visit for the weekend and stuff. I don’t know if that’s normal. It sort of is like a family, where we’re genuinely interested in what each other is doing. There really is a comradery between us all. It’s like we’re just a bunch of weird, super-funny guys hanging out.”

In addition to Aqua Teen, Snyder also appears on two other cartoon network shows, playing Granny on Squidbillies, a cartoon about a group of squids that live in Georgia and Dr. Wang on Minori-Team, a cartoon about a group of minority superheroes that use their stereotypes to defeat the “Great White Shadow.”

Snyder also has a podcast available on his website, Eyeofthesnyder.com, that is equally entertaining.

It is this versatility that will undoubtedly play a huge role in the future success of Snyder’s career. Nonetheless, while Snyder himself is happy with the way his career is progressing right now, he knows he still has things to accomplish before he ends his career.

As far as the near future is concerned, Snyder has set some pretty lofty goals for himself.

“Probably making 150 to 200 million dollars a year,” said Snyder. “And having a fleet of Lamborghinis, all with the day of the week printed on the hood next to my face, pointing to it that says, ‘This is my Wednesday car.’ Unless it’s the Thursday one, then it’ll say Thursday.”

This article was originally published in May 2006.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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