During the first two seasons of The Real Ghostbusters, Lorenzo Music, best known for voicing Garfield the Cat, played the role of Dr. Peter Venkman. In a performance comparable to Bill Murray’s from the 1984 comedy, with Music perfectly encapsulating the character’s sarcasm and wit, it still managed to be its own thing. Jump ahead to the series’ third season, and Music would be replaced by Full House‘s Dave Coulier, who’d hold onto the role for the remainder of the series.
During this past week’s Extreme Ghostbusters reunion hosted by The Ship-it Show podcast, Coulier, who returned to the role of Venkman as part of the companion series’ two-part “Back in the Saddle” episodes, talked about the pressure he faced initially playing the character following Music’s departure, admitting:
“I basically just did a Bill Murray impression, and that was it. It was just kind of very simple, but I was filling some very iconic Lorenzo Music shoes, and it was something that really kind of played with my head at the time cause I thought that his voice was so iconic and recognizable, and here I am just coming in and doing a shlocky Bill Murray impression, you know?
Maurice LaMarche, who voiced the character of Egon Spengler in both The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters, would quickly chime in, telling Coulier that he did a “fantastic job,” saying that both he and Music were “great Venkmans.”
“You made it your own, man. Lorenzo, God love him, and God rest his soul, you know, he was doing his own thing with it, and you made it your own as well, you know. They just decided to switch horses halfway through production, and you did a fantastic job, man. You were both great Venkmans because I worked with both of you.”
While The Ship-it Show‘s special was centered around Extreme Ghostbusters, including revealing why the series was canceled after just one season, there was a bit more Real Ghostbusters talk, with Coulier reminiscing about studio recording sessions.
“I just remember laughing with Mo (Maurice LaMarche), Frank (Welker), and Arsenio (Hall). I mean, it was like four of the most immature people you could possibly sit in a recording studio, it was just, anything would set us off,” adding, “It was just so sophomoric, it was like burping and fart and stupid stuff, and we just couldn’t compose ourselves.
If you happened to have missed it, watch The Ship-it Show‘s Extreme Ghostbusters reunion below, hosted by Kylie Griffin herself, Tara Strong, with special guests Jason Marsden, Billy West, Pat Musick, Maurice Lamarche, Rino Romano, and Dave Coulier.
