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JULY 28�AUGUST 4, 2021
How a college encounter led
Jeff Bergman to Bugs Bunny
and ‘Space Jam’ sequel
By Joshua Axelrod
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
eff Bergman must have
been feeling loony when he
showed up unannounced at Mel
Blanc’s hotel door.
It was late March 1981, and
Bergman was a University of
Pittsburgh junior with dreams of
becoming a professional voice-
over artist. So when he found
out Blanc, the original voice of
Bugs Bunny and many other
“Looney Tunes” characters, was
performing at David Lawrence
Hall, he jumped at the opportu-
nity to attend.
He somehow found out where
Blanc was staying and “some-
thing compelled me” to knock on
his door at 10 p.m. A voice that
sounded vaguely like Barney
Rubble from “The Flintstones”
(who Blanc also voiced) came
from behind the door and Blanc
J
came out in his bathrobe. After
Bergman explained he was a fan
who had just seen his lecture,
Blanc asked, “Are you Jewish or
Italian?” Bergman said he was
Jewish, and that was enough for
Blanc to invite him in for a chat.
“That really was a watershed
moment for me,” Blanc told the
Post-Gazette. “That changed
the whole trajectory of my life,
that one 45-minute meeting
with him.”
Blanc died on July 10, 1989,
which happened to be Berg-
man’s 29th birthday. Three
weeks later, Bergman audi-
tioned for CBS’ “Tiny Toon
Adventures” and, after securing
that gig, took over the role of
Bugs Bunny from Blanc. He’s
been Bugs’ primary vocal actor
ever since and will be voicing
that wascally wabbit, Yosemite
Sam, Sylvester the cat, Fred
Flintstone and Yogi Bear in
“Space Jam: A New Legacy,” out
now in theaters and streaming
on HBO Max.
“When it became apparent
two years ago that it was going
to happen, I was so excited,”
Bergman said of the sequel to
1996’s “Space Jam.” “I was like
the horse that wanted to race.
... When I found out I would be
Bugs, I was speechless. If you
hang in there long enough and
be persistent, good things will
happen for you.”
After years of rumors fol-
lowed by a lengthy casting
process, Bergman got word
in March 2020 that he would
be playing Bugs in the “Space
Jam” sequel. He met with direc-
tor Malcolm D. Lee, but then
the COVID-19 pandemic shut
down in-person production and
required everyone involved with
“Space Jam: A New Legacy” to
“put our technical big-boy pants
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LeBron James with Bugs Bunny in “Space Jam: A New Legacy.”
on,” as Bergman put it. He es-
timated that 95% of his vocals
were recorded remotely.
Bergman recently got to see
a screening of “Space Jam: A
New Legacy,” his fi rst time in a
movie theater since February
2020. He said his “head almost
exploded” watching the transi-
tions from 2D animation to 3D
basketball action that included
at least one representative
from just about every intellec-
tual property owned by Warner
Bros. Any trepidation he felt
about fans of the original em-
bracing this new “Space Jam”
immediately evaporated.
He was most impressed by
star LeBron James, who he said
“really gets into it” as an actor.
“This is a story about a father
and a son,” he said. “There is a
real element of empowerment
and knowing you have to stand
in your own power and own this
and be passionate about what
you want to do.”
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