Hello and welcome back to that article were we get to peek behind the voices and see the folks who make the magic happen. That's right, it's time for "Hey, It's That Voice!" For today, we will look behind Greg's former manager and all-around selfish guy, Marty!
It was bound to happen. We were going to have to talk about Farty Marty sooner or later. Yeah, just about everyone who has ever seen him can agree he's just looking out for himself. I mean, look at that mug up there. I'm sure he might be a smooth talker just so he can get whatever he would want, but that might be the only thing going for him. The guy would throw anyone under the bus if he could benefit somehow. But enough about how big of a jerk he is, how about we ask the big question: who voice's Marty? Why, that would be Jon Wurster!
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| A face you can trust. |
Born on October 31, 1966, Jonathan Patrick Wurster has been in a number of musical bands. As a drummer, he got his start with The Accelerators before going on to Philadelphia-based band Psychotic Norman. He also was a member of the band The Right Profile, which was a Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based band which featured Stephen J. Dubner, co-author of Freakonomics. It is also said that Wurster booked the very first show for Philadelphia punk rock band The Dead Milkmen in 1983. He is also mentioned by name in the song "Stuart" on the album Beelzebubba.
Wurster would continue drumming for bands, becoming a permanent fixture to the indie rock band Superchunk starting in 1991. He first contributed to their album On the Mouth, released in 1993, and would continue for the rest of their releases (Foolish, Here's Where the Strings Come In, Indoor Living, Come Pick Me Up, Here's to Shutting Up, Majesty Shredding, and most recently with I Hate Music).
In 2007, Wurster would join The Mountain Goats for the last leg of the Get Lonely tour. He stuck with the band as the permanent drummer, starting his contributions with Heretic Pride in 2008. The following albums included The Life of the World to Come, All Eternals Deck, Transcendental Youth, Beat the Champ, and most recently with Goths, which is slated to be released on May 19th.
There are also a number of other times Wurster has played the drums for others. He has recorded for numerous acts, including Jack Wenberg, Finger, Portastatic, George Huntley, River City High, Rocket from the Crypt (a hometown and fav band of mine), Alejandro Escovedo, Hazeldine, Jay Farrar, Gerty, Marah, Doug Gillard (of Guided by Voices and Nada Surf), Chris Stamey, the Keene Brothers, Robert Pollard (of Guided by Voices), Bob Mould (of Hüsker Dü), A.C. Newman (of Zumpano and The New Pornographers), The Extra Lens, Kathryn Calder (of The New Pornographers and Immaculate Machine) and Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service). He would also share the stage with a number of other musicians, performing with Katy Perry, Ryan Adams, R.E.M., The dB's, Inspiral Carpets, The Minus 5, and Charlie Daniels (known for his single "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"). Also, unsurprisingly, Wurster is a frequent contributor to Modern Drummer magazine.
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| The Mountain Goats performing in 2014. Wurster (left, behind the drumset), Jon Darnielle (center, on guitar), and Peter Hughes (right, on bass). |
Well, that is quite a career, but that is only Wurster's career as a musician. What about his voice? This article is called "Hey, It's That Voice!", after all. Well, you may recognize his voice from The Best Show with Tom Scharpling. That's right, Jon Wurster is good buddies with Tom Scharpling, the voice of Greg Universe. Kinda makes ya think, huh? The two are known as the comedic duo Scharpling & Wurster and have released comedic albums together. Their albums and show can be found on their website here. Together, both of them have starred on an episode of The Simpsons and have written for several episodes of Tim & Eric-related shows Tom Goes to the Mayor and Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. As a writer, Wurster has also contributed to Scharpling's show Monk, Squidbillies, and Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell.
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| Tom Scharpling (left) and Wurster (right). The dream team. |
Wurster has often appeared along Scharpling in a number of media (as stated in the previous paragraph). The two both have starred together in Squidbillies, The Simpsons, Adventure Time (as Bryce, frenemy of Jake's brother Jermaine), and, of course, Steven Universe. Wurster also played Aimee Mann's boyfriend in Mann's music video for "Labrador", which which was a reenactment of 'Til Tuesday's famous "Voices Carry" music video.
And that will do it for this edition of "Hey, It's That Voice!" Join me next time when we look at the voice behind the most punk rock mom in Beach City!
