Cartoon Network Cast Dana Snyder In Aqua Teen Hunger Force Because Of A Drunk Voicemail
Those who weren't of drinking age in the early 2000s likely wouldn't understand the baffling, Dada animated series "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." It was ostensibly a sci-fi sitcom whose three main characters appeared to be the mascots of some long-forgotten fast food chain. There was Mater Shake (Dana Snyder), a bloviating anthropomorphic milkshake cup, Frylock (Carey Means), the level-headed carton of french fries, and Meatwad (show co-creator Dave Willis), a ball of uncooked ground beef and the innocent "child" of the group. Shake, Frylock, and Meatwad didn't really have adventures, so much as they did complain about the weird aliens and mutants that regularly visited their run-down suburban home. The Aqua Teens were rude, dumb, pushy, and only seemed to dimly perceive the world around them. They regularly swam in their neighbor's pool without asking.
"Aqua Teen Hunger Force" ran sporadically from 2000 to 2010, making 100 fifteen-minute episodes. From 2011 to 2015, they continued their shenanigans, but each season now bore a new title. There was "Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1," "Aqua Something You Know Whatever," "Aqua TV Show Show," and "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Forever." There have also been two full-length feature films, both of which stretch the definition of "feature film." It's a weird, weird show. A relic of its time that somehow has persisted.
Dana Snyder has been voicing Master Shake since the start, reading his lines with a feral whininess that borders on the sociopathic. If one hears a note of intoxication in Master Shake's voice there's a reason for that. Willis was interviewed by Inverse in 2021, and he told the story of how Snyder auditioned for Master Shake via drunken voicemail. When the first voicemail was accidentally erased, Snyder recreated it ... with more booze.
The exact same amount of alcohol
Willis recalled sharply the two voicemails that brought Snyder into his orbit. Willis was a little clumsy with his voicemail — and who among us hasn't been? — and required a second audition for technical reasons. Luckily, Snyder was up to the task of getting hammered and staying up until 3 a.m. again; he had to recreate the exact circumstances of the last drunken audition. Willis said:
"An ex-girlfriend of mine told me about Snyder. [...] She said, This guy is the funniest guy, and you gotta audition him. He originally recorded an audition on my voicemail, but I accidentally deleted it. When he re-recorded it, I told him there was a little magic in the old voicemail, and that I needed him to re-record it the exact same way. So he went to the same restaurant and drank the same amount of alcohol and re-recorded it at 3 in the morning, and that was it."
Sadly, Willis didn't say where the restaurant was, otherwise one might be able to commemorate the event with a miniature plaque: it was on this spot that actor Dana Snyder got drunk enough to audition for Master Shake on the TV series "Aqua Teen Hunger Force."
Willis is notoriously playful and tends to give very strange interviews. While it's entirely likely that Snyder did audition in the way described above, there's a non-0% chance that Willis made the story up. Or at least embellished it a little. Although, given the strange, raucous tone of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," a drunken 3 a.m. phone audition might be one of the least wild stories to come from its making.