Donny Osmond & Johnny Bravo!

In honor of Donny Osmond being on "Dancing With The Stars," I wanted to devote this post to his exploits in the world of Johnny Bravo. First off, I want to express my never-ending gratitude and appreciation for him and let people know how supportive he's been of Johnny Bravo over the years. He first played a self-effacing version of himself in the aptly titled episode, "Johnny Meeets Donny Osmond" in the first season finale. From there, he went on to lend his voice to our two half-hour holiday specials (A Johnny Bravo Christmas and It's Valentine's Day, Johnny Bravo!) and a final episode in the fifth season (That's Entertainment!). His final appearance is one of my all-time favorites, not just because Donny is in it, but also because we got to play with the show's format and tell the story in different animation styles.

FUN FACT: Lea Salonga also lent her voice to That's Entertainment! so it was sort of a Mulan reunion to have Donny and Lea in the same episode. In fact, the director of Mulan, Tony Bancroft, attended the VO session that Lea Salonga recorded for us at the CN Studios in Burbank.

As much as we chide Donny's wholesomeness, he's always been a good sport and allowed us to push the limits of his character to absurdly saccharin heights. Before we asked him back to reprise his role in the holiday specials, I'd always wondered what he thought of his portrayal on the show. Fortunately for us, he knows that we're not being mean-spirited about it and that he's only playing an amped-up version of himself. In fact, he once told me how much he loves how goofy his character comes across and that he's often recognized by a whole other generation of fans who only know him from the show.

The last time I worked with him was in 2007 where he uncharacteristically voiced a character that wasn't himself. He played the cheesy announcer on a video game called "Johnny Bravo in The Hukka-Mega-Mighty-Ultra-Extreme-Date-O-Rama!"

The video game was originally created for the PS2 in the UK (November 2007) and was later released in the States for the Nintendo DS. Unfortunately, Donny's voice was omitted in the US release so if you want to hear Donny say lines like, "Look at me. I love you. For your mind." or "I have a friend in the hairspray business. Does that intrigue you?" you're going to have to head on over to England and play. It was a really fun experience because, not only did I get to work with Donny Osmond again, but I got to write all the dialogue, storyboard the intro, and design the cover and main characters!

The First Runner Up for Miss Artichoke, Miss International Car Show, The Treacle Queen of York

Nic Schweizer

Def-Con Love

In the game, Donny plays the sarcastic character, Loveheart, who is pictured on the screen in the back. Some of my other favorite lines that Donny recorded were...

"Ever date a guy with no eyes?"

"That was fun. Minus the fun."

"Let this be a lesson to you. Learn from it. Or not. I'm not your mom."

"Whoever said 'You can't find love by winning it on a game show,' needs to take a poetry class because it doesn't rhyme."

"You've been playing the Hukka-Mega-Mighty-Ultra-Extreme Date-O-Rama! Thanks for playing and tune in again next time! Tell your friends! If you have any. I'm just kidding! Or am I?"

So, in closing, much in the same way I love Thrifty's mint chip ice cream from Rite Aid, eye heart Donny Osmond.