Seth MacFarlane & His Doctor Talk Voice Maintenance
Photo by Ramona Rosales
Despite being a brilliant series creator, a hilarious actor/comedian, and a talented animator, Seth MacFarlane is most known for his voice work. In addition to voicing numerous characters on shows like Family Guy and American Dad, and the titular role in Ted and Ted 2, MacFarlane is also a respected singer. So needless to say, the guy needs to take care of his instrument, and he enlisted the top man (“Top…men”) to help him out. Dr. Shawn Nasseri has been MacFarlane’s ear, nose, and throat surgeon for 11 years, and in addition to helping with vocal cord maintenance, the good doc is also credited for saving Seth’s Oscar gig.
“Doing an hour of animation voiceover is as strenuous as doing six hours of singing,” MacFarlane told The Hollywood Reporter. This is especially true for the role of Quagmire, which he says is “probably the most taxing.”
It’s hard to imagine that this is harder than preparing to sing while accompanied by a 39-piece orchestra in venues like Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and London’s Royal Albert Hall. In fact, Seth joked that his only warm-up before a live singing performance is a shot of Jack Daniels. Of course, this isn’t actually fact, as Nasseri is quick to point out.
“You can’t say that!” the Doc said to MacFarlane. “He warms up and warms down. People don’t realize he’s classically trained as a singer.”
People also don’t realize that his Oscar hosting performance almost didn’t happen, due to a severe case of walking pneumonia. “The producers were freaking out that Seth couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak, couldn’t stop coughing,” Nasseri said. In the end, MacFarlane was saved by Nasseri’s emergency regimen of “antibiotics, steroids, cough medications and inhalers.”
And Seth isn’t the only celebrity who credits Dr. Shawn with protecting their voice. The Harvard alum has an office with walls showcasing signed photos and CDs from patients like Steven Tyler, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, and Harry Styles.
These mementos are joined by some of MacFarlane’s Family Guy doodles, including one that features Stewie flipping the bird at a Clay Aiken record, because Nasseri also happened to be the on-call doctor for most of American Idol‘s run.
[via The Hollywood Reporter]
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