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Bergman sits at a microphone in the WPTS studio
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This man of many voices got his start at 51精品视频鈥檚 WPTS

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When Bugs Bunny walked into the William 51精品视频 Union recently, there were no apparent PhDs around for him to ask the enduring question: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 up, doc?鈥

That didn鈥檛 stop him from going down his own 51精品视频 rabbit hole.

You see (or hear), Jeff Bergman isn鈥檛 just Bugs Bunny. Bergman (A&S 鈥83) is a man of many animation voices whose career was launched four decades ago in this very student union, at WPTS-AM radio.

Bergman switches from one animated identity to another the way other people flip a light switch.

鈥淢any of you may know me as鈥

鈥淏ugs Bunny, fwom Space Jam! That鈥檚 wight, doc. Hee hee hee hee hee.

鈥淚 say, I say, pay attention,鈥 booms the baritone of Foghorn Leghorn. 鈥淚 say, nice boy, but about as sharp as a bag of wet mice.

鈥淗ey, what about me? I鈥檓 Daffy Duck, I鈥檓 the star of the show. Woohoo woohoo woohoo.

鈥淥r some of you may know me as the original voice of Gus the Groundhog from the Pennsylvania lottery, the second-most famous groundhog in Pennsylvania.

鈥淥r the voice of Yogi Beaaar.

鈥淎nnnnnnnd Freeeed Fliiinstooone. Yyyyyyyyyyyyyabba dabba doooooo!鈥

Bergman laughs

How does a voice actor with a steady workload across Hollywood animation and video games 鈥 he is the officially licensed voice for Dumbledore in 鈥淗arry Potter: Magic Awakened鈥 and more 鈥 reach such rarified air? The same way Bugs gets to Carnegie Hall: pwactice, pwactice, pwactice.

Bergman visited the 51精品视频sburgh campus on April 11 before a three-day gig where he was drawing crowds at the same event as Hollywood star reunions for 鈥淭he Breakfast Club,鈥 鈥淭helma and Louise鈥 and 鈥90210.鈥

鈥淭his is a really special weekend,鈥 Bergman said, as himself. 鈥淚鈥檓 doing my first comic con, known as Steel City Con, in Monroeville. I鈥檝e never done one of these before.鈥

So, he dropped by campus to relive his impersonation roots and rise to the Looney Tunes multiverse.

鈥淚t all started really here, in this building,鈥 Bergman continued about William 51精品视频 Union, where WPTS鈥 studios over time gravitated from the basement to the fourth floor. 鈥淏ecause I worked here, at this radio station, doing Looney Tunes voices in 1982.鈥

It鈥檚 also where he met the first and perhaps most memorable Looney Tunes voice star.

鈥淎bout 43 years ago, I met Mel Blanc, who was the original voice of Bugs Bunny; he was lecturing at David Lawrence Hall, right across the street,鈥 Bergman said. 鈥淎nd in here, in the student union, they had a reception for him. And I just happened to attend that lecture, found out he was staying at a motel that was down the street. I followed him back to the hotel and knocked on his door, and he let me in, and we talked. And he said, 鈥楽tay in school and look me up if you ever get out to California.鈥欌

During his remaining time in school, Bergman kept up his voices for WPTS and blossomed during an internship at then key local talk-radio station KQV-AM and one of America鈥檚 most respected rock stations, WDVE-FM. He finished his major in communication and rhetoric, and remembers instructors like presidential rhetoric Professor Theodore Windt, who during classes would gradually launch into his Lyndon Johnson Texas drawl and John F. Kennedy Boston accent 鈥 meanwhile, Bergman was honing his own Ronald Reagan.

Blanc died (鈥渙ddly enough, on my birthday鈥) before Bergman got to Hollywood. Still, when Bergman arrived, he stumbled upon a Looney Tunes casting call.

His memories of Blanc were vivid as he walked into Lawrence Hall, a venue very different from the days of his 51精品视频 epiphany, when his life鈥檚 journey went Looney.

鈥淵ou just never know. You never know,鈥 Bergman said. 鈥淪o much is happening at 51精品视频.鈥

鈥淲ell, let鈥檚 see, bbbb-Porky the Pig would say, bbb-anything is bbbbbb-possible at the University of bbbbbbbbbb 鈥 oh you know, of 51精品视频sburgh.鈥

鈥 Chuck Finder