It’s Bluey’s dad! Meet the voice behind Bandit, Dave McCormack
“I don’t have to change my voice or anything.”
Bluey’s dad, Bandit, is voiced by David McCormack, the lead singer of 90s indie rock band Custard.
The 54-year-old singer-songwriter has previously said that he never expected Bluey to be a hit series and that it was by chance that he scored the role.
“I thought it was just going to be reading a couple of lines, but I ended up reading all of them for the pilot,” he said.
“I’m not an actor. I don’t know how to do that! But a friend of a friend said someone was doing a show about a cartoon dog and can I read? I said, ‘Yeah, I can read’. And that was about it.”
Dave aka Bandit is based in Sydney and Bluey is made in Brisbane
Dave says the voice of Bandit is how he speaks naturally and that he records his voiceover in isolation in Sydney, while Ludo Studio, the production company for Bluey is based in Brisbane.
“I don’t have to act, I don’t have to change my voice or anything. I don’t hear anybody else talking; all I do is literally read what they tell me to and that’s it.”
Speaking to Media Week, Dave says voicing Bandit is the “easy bit” and gives credit to Ludo Studios for creating the animated ABC Kids show about a family of Blue Heelers that we love so much.
“I’m sure behind the scenes when they’re doing the writing and animating it they must put in so much thought and time into keeping the show successful, but luckily for me, I get the easy bit! I get the scripts that are so funny and fun to do, I do my bit and then I just go ‘bye!’.”
He continues: “I’m based in Sydney and they’re all in Brisbane. So I do my voice bits remotely via Skype, with Joe [Brumm] who writes and directs most of it. I don’t know what they’re doing up there, but they’re doing a very good job.”
“I’ve got two daughters; Bandit’s got two daughters.”
The creator of the Bluey, Joe Brumm says the show based on his own experiences raising two daughters.
Like Joe, Dave also has two daughters, 11yo Rose and 9yo Grace, who he shares with his wife Lucy. The father-of-two says he can relate to both Bandit and the show’s relatable portrayal of parenting.
“I grew up in Brisbane; the show is set in Brisbane. I’ve got two daughters; Bandit’s got two daughters. It’s pretty relatable to my real life,” he told website Kids In Perth.
“So much so that my partner Lucy would often accuse me of leaking story ideas to the Bluey creators. She was convinced that I was feeding them plot lines. But it’s just a universal thing that happens to parents. Parents and parenthood, there’s common themes through it all and the Bluey creators and writers have managed to really distil those core little things that happen. When we’re doing the episodes, I’m laughing. I’m laughing because that’s completely me. That’s exactly my life. Maybe I’ve got a dual personality, or maybe they’ve installed cameras in my house and the recording everything (laughs).”
“It’s really good to have a funny, warm, entertaining children’s show, made in Australia”
Dave says one of the things he loves most about Bluey is that it’s unequivocally Australian and loved globally.
“When you become a parent, suddenly there’s this whole world of kids’ entertainment that’s revealed to you that you’ve not been aware of before. Lots of it is from the United States and less so from the UK. There are some legendary Australian shows like The Wiggles and Play School, which is great, but it’s really good to have a funny, warm, entertaining children’s show, made in Australia featuring scenes from my hometown of Brisbane, with an Australian accent front and centre,” he tells Media Week.
“I’m pretty proud of that, actually. I’m proud that a show made in Brisbane [Queensland], can be popular and loved throughout the whole entire world.”
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