The Susan Boyle of Voiceover

By now you know of the heartwarming story of Ted Williams, the Columbus, Ohio homeless man who became an overnight sensation and is now not only no longer homeless, but also the voice of the Cleveland Cavaliers, NFL Films, NASA, FoxNews, Microsoft, the Playboy Channel and the Pentagon. Maybe some of those aren't true, but Mr. Williams has indeed turned his shit around. I, like everyone else, think this is great. But I can't help thinking that the only reason Mr. Williams is a huge sensation is because no one expected a voice like that to come out of a homeless dude standing on an off-ramp of an Ohio highway. A thousand dudes have the ability to do the (in Williams' words) "old school" VO. Just like Susan Boyle. Thousands of women can sing like Susan Boyle, you just don't expect a voice like Ms. Boyle's to come from a homely woman with a mustache.

And now Ted Williams has been made the voice of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese by CP+B, one more entity looking to make the most out of Williams' unfortunate/fortunate situation. I have to hand it to Ted. I was homeless once. And I've done professional voiceover work. But I never had the ingenuity to put the two together and turn my life around in a moment. I hope you all remember him when you're putting your Top Ten Awesome and Inspiring Stories from 2011 together in December.

So now, in the spirit of the moment, I have created a fake radio ad for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in the old school voiceover style that everyone is now so in love with again. I don't have Williams' depth and resonance, but I figure a few more cartons of cigarettes and I'm on my way.



CP+B: call me.