Winslow is ready to make noise(s) in Vegas

Kirk Baird

Friday, Aug. 29, 2003 | 8:42 a.m.

Friends and family may know Michael Winslow for many accomplishments.

For the rest of us it's as "that guy makin' all the noises" in the "Police Academy" movies and "Spaceballs."

But Winslow has expanded beyond just appearing in movies. He's also a one-man sound-effects crew.

Winslow has provided strange noises and sounds for both big-budget films such as "Back to the Future 3" and theme-park rides including "Terminator 2: 3D Battle Across Time" and "Men in Black Alien Attack."

He's even working on a library of sound effects digitally recorded for use for film, music and television.

"I'd love to sell Lucasfilm some noises that they don't even have," Winslow said in a recent phone interview somewhere in central Florida.

To prove his point, Winslow launches into a near-perfect replication of the Death Star trench run in "Star Wars" in which Luke Skywalker is being chased by Darth Vader as he tries to blow up the enemy base.

Winslow does the mechanical voice of Vader saying, "I have you now," the sounds of his ship whizzing by and of the laser torpedoes being launched.

"I'd love to get to do that ending segment, that whole sequence" during a stand-up show, he said. "I'd play the music, but I'd redo all the dialogue and noises. I'd like to do that for three minutes to see how far I can get with the last scene."

Winslow makes the point that while Lucasfilm already has an extensive library of sound effects, it's not the same as coming from a human.

"You can go ahead and use (canned effects), but it has a certain synthetic feel," he said. "But when you put a human touch to it, people react to it. I guess there's the physiological body language to it."

Ask him why he's probably the only person on the planet capable of making the noises and he is clueless.

"I don't know," said Winslow, who turns 43 on Sept. 6. "I wish I knew, but it's just one of those things."

Winslow performs at 10 p.m. today and Saturday at Excalibur's Catch a Rising Star. According to Winslow's official biography on his website michaelwinslow.com the comedian-actor first showed imitation skills while an infant, making airplane sounds in his crib.

"That's what I was told, anyway," he said.

With a father in the military, Winslow moved around considerably, transferring in and out of schools. The comic learned to use his voice to scare bullies or at least believe he was crazy.

"For me, it was just an imaginary friend," Winslow said. "You know how it goes."

Eventually Winslow discovered his calling as a comedian. After winning a talent show at a Los Angeles club, he made it to the "Gong Show" and bought a car with his winnings. He then hired a manager and agent.

In 1984 Winslow received the biggest break of his career, landing a role as Cadet Larvell Jones in the first "Police Academy" film. While the long-running franchise was generally reviled by critics, Winslow is proud of his work in all seven of the films.

Even Leonard Maltin's "Movie and Video Guide" singled out his performance in the first film: "Winslow's comic sound effects are perfect antidote for slow spots in script."

Still, the comedian couldn't resist making a crack at the series' propensity for sequels -- especially the last film, 1994's "Police Academy VII: Mission to Moscow."

"When you get up to seven, you get to, 'OK, where are we going this time? Oh, Moscow. Greeeaaaat,' " he said.

As for his stand-up show, Winslow said it's a combination of jokes and sound effects.

In one sequence, he impersonates a radio being tuned up and down the dial as it picks up a number of diverse radio stations, including reggae, world music, thrash metal and techno dance.

He also has a running gag of taking the cast of one TV show and placing it in another. For example, the cast of "Sanford and Son" starring in "The Andy Griffith Show." This affords Winslow the opportunity for celebrity impersonations, such as his dead-on Redd Foxx impression.

As for taking audience requests, the comic says he rarely hears suggestions from the crowd.

"They're usually too busy staring at me," he said.

Well, accept for one particular show.

"One drunk jackass actually did ask me for 'Freebird' repeatedly," Winslow recalled. "So guess what I gave him? He got the entire 16 bars opening guitar solo and that shut his mouth."