Gee, Mr. LaMarche, what do you want to do tonight?
The same thing we do every night, Paulsen... try to take over the world!
Yup, Canadian-born Maurice LaMarche (born March 30, 1958) is best known for the voice of The Brain in Pinky and the Brain. In creating that voice, LaMarche said he looked at a picture of the character and immediately thought of Orson Welles, although the character wasn't modeled after Welles at all, and he made use of his signature impersonation of Welles as a result — many Pinky and the Brain episodes are nods to Welles' career, actually. The role also earned LaMarche an Annie Award.
He also has roles in many commercials, including (since 2009) that of the narrator for Lexus TV ads and Toucan Sam in the Froot Loops commercials after Paul Frees' death in 1986.
Some of Maurice LaMarche's more prominent roles include:
- Dishonest John in the 1988 revival of Beany and Cecil.
- Simion the Monkey on Dexter's Laboratory.
- The Brain, Squit (the Ray Liotta-esque pigeon who wants to be a Goodfeather) and the Godpigeon in Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain. Speaking of Animaniacs, Wakko's burps were performed by LaMarche.
- Chief Quimby in the second season of Inspector Gadget
- LaMarche also plays Gadget himself. He got his start as Don Adams' singing double in Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas, and started doing the voice proper in Inspector Gadget's Last Case and continued in Gadget and the Gadgetinis. He also played the character onscreen for Gadget's appearance on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!.
- George Wilson, Henry Mitchell and Ruff in season 2 of Dennis the Menace
- Dr. Egon Spengler in The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters
- Zoltan in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!
- Dizzy Devil in Tiny Toon Adventures
- Balto in the sequels Wolf Quest and Wings of Change
- Aloysius 'Al' Vermin in Bonkers
- Verminous Skumm in Captain Planet and the Planeteers
- Jeremy Hawke and most of the male celebrities in The Critic
- Longhorn in Freakazoid!
- Handy and The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight (yeah, baby!) in The Tick
- Reverend Thomason in King of the Hill
- Mortimer Mouse in House of Mouse
- Big Bob Pataki in Hey Arnold! (and its two movies).
- Tubbimura and (from the second season on) Master Fung in Xiaolin Showdown
- Father and Potty Mouth in Codename: Kids Next Door
- Stan Freezoid and about half of the classic Hanna-Barbera characters in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
- The Chief in Tak and the Power of Juju
- Principal Pixiefrog, Mr. Mandril, and Mr. Hornbill in My Gym Partner's a Monkey
- Kif Kroker, Morbo, Calculon, Lrrr, Hedonismbot, the Horrible Gelatinous Blob, Donbot, Clamps, Walt, the Hyperchicken, and countless others in Futurama
- Odval in Disenchantment
- Mr. Freeze and Calendar Man in Batman: Arkham Series
- The Grand Master Wizard in Adventure Time
- Avocado Soldier in the Axe Cop motion comic
- The Garbageman and Mordac, Preventer of Information Services in the animated adaptation of Dilbert
- Sixgun in The Transformers
- Chief Charlie Burns in Transformers: Rescue Bots
- Dragstrip in Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015)
- Doctor Doom in Ultimate Spider-Man and Avengers Assemble
- Vincent Van Ghoul in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated
- Tapper in Wreck-It Ralph
- The king of Arendelle in Frozennote .
- King Pony Head in Star vs. the Forces of Evil
- Grumpy in The 7D
- Orson Welles nearly any time the guy's depicted in animation.*
- Scuttle in The Little Mermaid (1992) animated series
- Estroy in Evil Con Carne (probably a reference to his role as Destro in the DiC version of G.I. Joe: A Real American Heronote as the former is a parody of the latter)
- Magneto in The Superhero Squad Show
- Perry in Robot and Monster
- Yosemite Sam in The Looney Tunes Show and other Looney Tunes projects
- The Narrator of Pom Poko
- Hovis from Catscratch (another of his roles where he was with Rob Paulsen, who was Gordon)
- John Wilkes Booth from Hard Drinkin' Lincoln.
- Mr. Big from Zootopia
- Eel and Fender in Alpha Teens on Machines
- Popeye in Popeye and Son
- Archambault in Big Top Scooby-Doo!
- Doberman in Beethoven: The Animated Series
- Manboy in The Powerpuff Girls (2016)
- Vekk in Guild Wars
- Dr. Nitrus Brio in Crash Bandicoot (as of Mind Over Mutant)
- Gus and about half the incidental voices in Tripping the Rift
- Sleet, Uncle Chuck, The Oracle of Delphius, Knuckles's great grandfather Athair, the SWATBots and others in Sonic Underground
- Attila and Rasputin in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)
- The Brain and Ricky Recyclebin in Robot Chicken
- Splitface in Hero Factory
- Fujimura in Tekkonkinkreet
- Etno Polino in Space Goofs
- Chief Stroganoff and Leonard in Stripperella
- Sid and Chef Sal Monella in Gravedale High
- Chancellor Neighsay in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Several impersonations, including Woody Allen and Kirk Douglas, in the Spitting Image NBC specials.
- Howie and Lapoleon in the Best Fiends web shorts.
- Narration for the Love, Death & Robots short "When the Yogurt Took Over".
- Don Rattles and Steed Martin in The Jack Rabbit Story: Easter Fever
- Sylvester Slapdash on The Rocketeer
- Half-Pint Harry in It's Pony
Tropes associated with his roles:
- Large Ham: He can really ham it up when the situation calls for it.
- Man of a Thousand Voices: LaMarche has a very large vocal range, which he uses to a great extent in his career. For a comparison sample, he has voiced Winnie The Pooh, Tigger, Egon Spengler, The Brain, and Yosemite Sam. Very few of these characters sound alike.
- The Other Darrin: For the late Vincent Price, as the voices of Vincent Van Ghoul and Professor Ratigan.
Gee, Mr. LaMarche, what do you want to do tomorrow night?
The same thing we do every night, Paulsen...Try to take over the—
Stingers do not work that way! Good night!
They're awesome, they're Paulsen and LaMarche, Marche, Marche, Marche, Marche!