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Joey Camen

Joey Camen
Camen in 2015
Born (1957-01-16) January 16, 1957 (age 67)
Other namesJoseph Camen
Occupations
  • Standup comedian
  • voiceover artist
  • actor
  • writer
  • filmmaker
  • author
Years active1977–present
Websitevoicecomic.com

Joey Camen (born January 16, 1957) is an American voice actor, comedian and writer who has performed voice over work in various movies, TV shows and video games.

Early life

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Camen is of Russian and Romanian Jewish ancestry. His father, Hyman Camen was an upholstery furniture salesman and carpet salesman. His mother, Dorothy (née Aronovitz) Camen, a part-time bindery worker. Joey was going to be named Jack, however, his grandfather Joseph on his father’s side, died on the morning of his birth. His parents quickly changed his name to that of his dearly departed grandpa.

Biography

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In 1974, after graduating from Henry Ford High School in Detroit, Camen went to Hollywood, California.[citation needed] He auditioned at the Comedy Store on the Sunset Strip, and within a few weeks, he was a regular performer and master of ceremonies, making him one of the youngest professional standup comedians at the time. His standup act featured various dialects along with characters he created based on the people he grew up with in multi-ethnic Detroit.[1] He was then discovered and mentored by voiceover artist Daws Butler, who voiced the characters of Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw and others.

On Dinah Show

Camen got his first break at 20 performing his standup comedy routines on national TV shows Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert and later on Dinah, the daytime talk show starring Dinah Shore. He was also the opening act for such performers as Oingo Boingo, The Pointer Sisters, Richard Pryor, Marvin Gaye, and others. In addition to being a regular performer at the Comedy Store for more than 25 years, Camen has headlined at comedy venues in Las Vegas and comedy clubs and colleges across the United States.[2]

As a voice-over actor, Camen has worked on multiple projects over the years, including video games Devil May Cry 5, Skylanders: Giants, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Mafia II; the online series Sam & Max, where he voiced two seasons as Bosco and the entire Jimmy 2 Teeth family.

He has voiced multiple characters on animated family films such as The Queen's Corgi, The Son of Bigfoot, Thunder and the House of Magic, and Space Jam as Bang the Monstar.[3] Joey has also voiced spots for various TV and radio commercials and was the voice of Natural Smurf in the Hanna-Barbera TV series, The Smurfs. In addition, Camen is the designated voice of McGruff the Crime Dog for a series of videos shown in public schools throughout the United States and PSA commercials.[citation needed]

As an actor, Camen’s first job was as a sketch player on the short-lived NBC variety series, The Richard Pryor Show, where he performed sketches alongside Richard Pryor and other cast members. Then as a pledge in Floyd Mutrux’s The Hollywood Knights, and next co-starring in the PBS television series, The Righteous Apples, for 2 seasons as Samuel 'DC' Rosencrantz. This led to working with Ralph Bakshi on his films, American Pop and Cool World, as well as guest roles in sitcoms and other feature films.

In 1994 Joey wrote and performed a serio-comic one-person, two-act play, In the Hood with Mrs. Aronovitz. The premise was simple: An ungrateful son tricks his elderly mother out of the deed to her apartment building in order to tear it down and put up a parking lot. Mrs. Aronovitz and her tenants rally together to get the building back. Camen portrayed 9 diverse characters. The play had a successful run in theatres in Los Angeles and New York City.

Camen's filmmaking credits include the Houston International Film Festival Bronze Award-Winning comedy short Bernie - A Love Story about a man and his mattress, in which he worn multiple hats as writer-director-producer and actor. Joey has also directed various YouTube videos for his comedy channel CamenTV.

Author

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Joey has written two non-fiction books. The 2013 pet memoir, My Life with Snoopy: How One Shelter Dog's Love Changed a Man's Life and Other Tails of Adventure, which tells the story of his 13-year relationship with his Burbank Animal Shelter dog, Snoopy.[4] And his 2017 autobiography, Laughing Through the Pain: Stories from the Trenches of Hollywood Standup Comedy and Beyond.[5]

Filmography

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Animation

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Video games

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Year Title Role Notes
2006 Bone: The Great Cow Race Euclid [6]
2006 Sam & Max Save the World Bosco, Jimmy Two-Teeth [6]
2006 Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space Bosco, Jimmy Two-Teeth, Mary Two-Teeth, Timmy Two-Teeth [6]
2007 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Ben Grimm/The Thing
2009 Brütal Legend Kabbage Boy Bassist, Bouncers [6]
2010 Mafia II Leon, Gangsters, Civilians [6]
2019 Fallout 76: Wild Appalachia Ansel Abrahms, Cavit Klein [7]
2019 Devil May Cry 5 Morrison, Goliath [6]

Live-action

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Anime

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Shorts

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Controversy

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Joey Camen was criticized by video game fans who had discovered his YouTube channel Camen TV in where he played various offensive stereotypes. The videos were posted between 2015 and 2017. The videos were later taken down by Camen in 2019.[9][10]

References

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  1. ^ "Comedy Store comics come in all sizes". Independent Press-Telegram. Long Beach, California. December 7, 1975. p. 341.
  2. ^ McCulloh, T.H. (June 23, 1995). "THEATER : Sizing Up the Season's Offerings : Productions range from tiny--one man playing 12 parts--to huge--a WWII drama employing 42 actors". Los Angeles Times.
  3. ^ Lodge, Guy (July 21, 2014). "Film Review: 'The House of Magic'". Variety.
  4. ^ Camen, Joey (1 October 2013). My Life with Snoopy: How One Shelter Dog's Love Changed a Man's Life and Other Tails of Adventure. Opulent Press. ISBN 978-0-9903423-0-4. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  5. ^ Camen, Joey (2017). Laughing Through the Pain: Stories from the Trenches of Hollywood Standup Comedy and Beyond. Art and Commerce Media. ISBN 978-0-9903423-4-2. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Joey Camen (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  7. ^ Bethesda Game Studios Austin (April 14, 2020). Fallout 76: Wastelanders DLC. Bethesda Softworks. Scene: Credits: Voice & Music - Cast. Note: Characters added in the Wild Appalachia update are listed as part of the cast for Wastelanders (a separate update), and were not credited until the release of Wastelanders.
  8. ^ Vicarious Visions. Skylanders: SuperChargers. Activision. Scene: Closing credits, 7:13 in, Voice Actors.
  9. ^ "Your favorite DMC voice actors might have some takes you don't know about". Newsweek. 18 March 2019.
  10. ^ "Devil May Cry 5 voice actor pulls racist and transphobic videos from his own YouTube channel". Eurogamer. 19 March 2019.
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