John Kassir

**John Kassir** (born October 24, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as the voice of the Cryptkeeper in HBO's *Tales from the Crypt* franchise. He is also known for his role as Ralph in the off-Broadway show *Reefer Madness* and its 2005 film adaptation. He is one of the current voices of Scrooge McDuck after the death of Alan Young in 2016, along with David Tennant in the role as the property was rebooted.

In *CatDog*, he was the voice of Mervis the pig among other characters; in fact, he was one of the only actors not part of the main cast to stay after the death of co-creator William Hanna.

## Biography

### Early Life

John Kassir was born on October 24, 1957, in Baltimore, Maryland, to an Iraqi father from Mosul and a Syrian mother from Mardin, Turkey. He is of Assyrian descent. As a child, he would often do impressions in school and was described as a "class clown". His mother would often buy props for him and he would entertain customers who were shopping outside of Eudowood Plaza. He graduated from Loch Raven High School and attended Towson State University where he studied theatre. He and several other students formed a comedy troupe called Animal Crackers.

### Career

#### Stand-up Comedy

Kassir first became known in 1985, when he defeated Sinbad for best stand-up comic on *Star Search*.

As a stand-up comic, he has opened for the likes of Lou Rawls, Tom Jones, The Temptations and Four Tops on their TNT Tour, Bobby Vinton, Richard Belzer, U2, and Harry Blackstone, Jr. among others. John has also appeared on stage performing improvisation with Robin Williams.

#### Film and Television

His film credits include, *And Then There Was Eve* as G. Alexander, *Flora & Ulysses* as Ulysses', *Hellblazers* as Rick, *Jack the Giant Slayer*, *Monster Mash* as Igor, *Monster Mutt* as Pet Shop Pete, *Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical* as Ralph Wiley and Uncle Sam, *Smothered* and *Spy Hard* as Rancor Guard.

In television, he played the Bulgarian kicker, Zagreb Shkenusky, for 7 years in the HBO comedy series *1st & Ten*, about a fictional football team. His other live-action credits include sketch-acting on *The Amanda Show* and a portrayal of Shemp Howard in the 2000 TV biopic *The Three Stooges*, produced by Mel Gibson, and Ralph in *Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical*. He was also able to get his own Pee-wee Herman style show in 1997 called *Johnnytime*, which aired for two seasons on the USA network. He also appeared as The Atom in the *Justice League of America* pilot episode, which, despite not being picked up, was released as a film in some markets. Kassir has appeared in over a dozen feature films, starred in eight TV pilots (six of which went to series and two of which lasted on air for over six years each) and guest-starred in dozens of TV series in both comic and dramatic roles.

#### Voice Acting

Kassir has specialized in voice-over work for animation, video games, and other productions, most notably as the voice of Crypt Keeper in *Tales from the Crypt*. He would later voice Ray "Raymundo" Rocket in *Rocket Power*. He also provided the voice for the mercenary Deadpool in the video games *X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse*, *Marvel: Ultimate Alliance*, and *Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2*, as well as for Sauron and Pyro, two other well-known characters. He was also featured in the very first commercial for the Nintendo cornerstone video game series *The Legend of Zelda* in the United States in 1987.

In 2011, he voiced Crazy Smurf in the live-action/animated film *The Smurfs*, and in 2012, he voiced Jealousy as well as Gumball, Penny, Leslie, Carrie & Darwin when he possesses them in *The Amazing World of Gumball* episode "The Flower". Kassir appeared in Bryan Singer's *Jack the Giant Slayer* (2013), along with Bill Nighy, as Fallon, the two-headed leader of the giants; Nighy played the big head while Kassir played the small head.

Additionally, he voiced Buster Bunny of *Tiny Toon Adventures* in case Charlie Adler was unavailable, Ray "Raymundo" Rocket on *Rocket Power*, Jibolba in the *Tak and the Power of Juju* video game series, Pete Puma in *The Looney Tunes Show*, and Deadpool in *X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse* and the *Marvel: Ultimate Alliance* series. Kassir even voiced Elliot the Dragon in Disney's 2016 live-action remake of the 1977 live-action/animated movie *Pete's Dragon*.

Kassir also voiced Rizzo in the *Spyro* video game *Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure*, as well as Ghost Roaster in *Skylanders: Giants*, Short Cut in *Skylanders: Trap Team*, and Pit Boss in *Skylanders: Imaginators*. He is also known for his various roles in the first season of *The Amanda Show*. He voiced the Ice King in the original *Adventure Time* pilot, but was replaced by Tom Kenny for the series. He also provided additional voice over work for *Eek! The Cat*, *The Brothers Flub*, *Sonic the Hedgehog*, *SpongeBob SquarePants*, *Dead Rising*, *Casper's Scare School*, *Spider-Man 3*, *Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!*, *The Princess and the Frog*, *Diablo III*, *Diablo III: Reaper of Souls*, *Monsters University*, *The Prophet*, *Minions*, *Halo 5: Guardians*, *The Secret Life of Pets*, *Despicable Me 3*, *The Grinch* and *The Secret Life of Pets 2*.

#### Theatre

A few of his many theater credits include: originating the role of Kenny in *Three Guys Naked From The Waist Down* (also starring Scott Bakula), for which he was nominated for both a Drama Desk and an Outer Critics Circle award. John also originated the role of Ralph in the musical *Reefer Madness*, on stage and in the film version.

### Personal Life

He married actress Julie Benz on May 30, 1998, the marriage lasted for nine years until Benz filed for divorce in December 2007.

## Trivia

* Originally, John Kassir was going to voice both Mervis and Dunglap, but voice director Gordon Hunt thought it would be better for Kassir to primarily focus on Mervis plus a few minor characters if necessary. The role of Dunglap was eventually given to Tom Kenny, the voice of Dog.