Larry Kenney (born August 5, 1947) is an American voice actor and radio personality.

Early life

Larry Kenney was born August 5, 1947 in

Pekin, Illinois Pekin () is a city in and the county seat of Tazewell County, Illinois, Tazewell County in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located on the Illinois River, Pekin is the largest city of Tazewell County and the second most populous municipality of the Pe ...

, the son of George and Joyce Kenney. He has a brother, Steven, and a sister, Jody. He graduated from Pekin Community High School. He attended

Western Illinois University Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College. History Western Illin ...

but did not graduate.

Career

In 1963, Kenney began his radio career at the age of 15 as a disc jockey at

WIRL WIRL (1290 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a conservative talk format. Licensed to Peoria, Illinois, United States, the station serves the Peoria area and broadcasts in AM stereo. The station is currently owned by Midwest Communication ...

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...

. After WIRL, he worked at

WOWO WOWO (1190 AM) – branded News/Talk WOWO 1190 AM 107.5 FM – is a commercial talk radio station licensed to Fort Wayne, Indiana, serving primarily the Fort Wayne metropolitan area. Currently owned by Federated Media via licensee Pathfinder ...

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

; WKYC (AM, now

WTAM WTAM (1100 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, and carries a news/ talk/sports format commonly known as "Newsradio WTAM 1100". Owned by iHeartMedia, WTAM serves Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Oh ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

(1970–1973); WHN,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

; WYNY, New York City; WJJD (now

WYLL WYLL (1160 AM) is a commercial radio station in Chicago, Illinois. It is owned by Salem Media Group and airs a Christian talk and teaching radio format. The studios and offices are located in Elk Grove Village. Its daytime transmitter and two- ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

; and WKHK (now

WLTW WLTW (106.7 FM) is an adult contemporary radio station licensed to New York City and serving the New York metropolitan area. WLTW is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts from studios in the former AT&T Building in the Tribeca neighborhood of ...

), New York City until 1972. Kenney was part of the regular cast on the ''

Imus in the Morning ''Imus in the Morning'' was a long-running radio show hosted by Don Imus. The show originated on June 2, 1968, on various stations in the Western United States and Cleveland, Ohio before settling on WNBC radio in New York City in 1971. In Octob ...

'' radio show from 1973 to 2007, where he recorded impersonations of dozens of characters, including

General George Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...

Andy Rooney Andrew Aitken Rooney (January 14, 1919 – November 4, 2011) was an American radio and television writer who was best known for his weekly broadcast "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney", a part of the CBS News program '' 60 Minutes'' from 1978 to 201 ...

, and

Ross Perot Henry Ross Perot (; June 27, 1930 – July 9, 2019) was an American business magnate, billionaire, politician and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an inde ...

. Also in 1973, Kenney joined 1050 WHN (now WEPN), a country music station in New York City. He originally announced the afternoon drive-time, before taking over the prestigious morning drive-time in 1974. His show was a hit, not only for the music, but also for his comical characters who "joined" him while performing his deejay duties. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' named him Best Country Disc Jockey "at a station in a metropolitan area of one million, or more" in 1976 and Best Country Music Personality in 1978. He stayed at WHN until the fall of 1979, when he moved to WYNY to host the morning slot for a year before moving to

WKHK WKHK (95.3 FM) is a country music formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Colonial Heights, Virginia, serving Richmond and Petersburg in Virginia. WKHK is owned and operated by SummitMedia. The station's studios and offices are located ...

's (now WLTW) morning show. He was the host of the New York edition of the television show ''

Bowling for Dollars ''Bowling for Dollars'' is a television game show on which people could play the sport obowling to win cashand sometimes prizes based on how well they bowled. Unlike most TV game shows of the time, which were taped in either New York or Hollyw ...

'' on WOR-TV (now

WWOR-TV WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the Flagship (broadcasting), flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by Fox Te ...

) from 1976 to 1979. He is also known for his voice work as

Lion-O Lion-O is a fictional superhero and the main protagonist character of the '' ThunderCats'' franchise. Lion-O is the leader and the hereditary "Lord of the ThunderCats." Lion-O is based on the lion and wields the legendary Sword of Omens, which i ...

on the 1980s

Rankin/Bass Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usual ...

cartoon '' ThunderCats'', and Karate Kat, a martial arts blackbelt cat featured as part of ''

The Comic Strip The Comic Strip are a group of British comedians who came to prominence in the 1980s. They are known for their television series ''The Comic Strip Presents...'', which was labelled as a pioneering example of the alternative comedy scene. The ...

''. He was also the voice of Bluegrass in ''

SilverHawks ''SilverHawks'' is an American animated television series developed by Rankin/Bass Productions and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures in 1986. The animation was provided by Japanese studio Pacific Animation Corporation. In total, 65 episodes were ...

'' and Dolph in ''

TigerSharks ''TigerSharks'' is an American animated children's television series developed by Rankin/Bass and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures in 1987. The series involved a team of heroes that could transform into amalgams of human and marine animals and ...

''.. Retrieved 2009-10-22. Kenney also did voice work for several breakfast cereal characters, including Count Chocula and

Sonny the Cuckoo Bird Sonny is a common nickname and occasional given name. Often it can be a derivative of the English word "Son", a name derived from the Ancient Germanic element *sunn meaning "sun", a nickname derived from the Italian name Salvatore (especially in N ...

. In recent years, he has reprised this role for humorous ''ThunderCats'' references on the animated series ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...

''. In the 2011 ''ThunderCats'' animated series on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

, Kenney returned to the series, but as Claudus, Lion-O's and

Tygra Tygra is a fictional character from the '' ThunderCats'' franchise. The character is portrayed by Peter Newman in the 1985 ''ThunderCats'' TV series and Matthew Mercer in the 2011 ''ThunderCats'' TV series. In the first TV series, Tygra is kn ...

's father. Kenney provided voice-overs for ''

The State A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "stat ...

'', the 1990s sketch comedy cult classic which featured his daughter,

Kerri Kenney Kerri Kenney-Silver (born January 20, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and musician. She is best known for starring as Trudy Wiegel on the mockumentary series '' Reno 911!'' and previously for her sketch comedy work on MT ...

. He was also the announcer for VH1's ''

Best Week Ever ''Best Week Ever'' is an American comedy series created and executive produced by Fred Graver. The series originally aired from January 23, 2004, to June 12, 2009, on VH1.Harris, Scott"VH1 Cancels 'Best Week Ever'". ''Inside TV''. January 13, 20 ...

'' during its run from 2004 to 2009, and provides introductions for

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and ...

's radio coverage of ''

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, AB ...

'' and various other commercial work, including for

Skittles Skittles may refer to: * Skittles (confectionery), a brand of fruit-flavor chewy candy, distributed by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company *'' Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical'' * Skittles (sport), the game from which bowling originated * Skittles (ch ...

and

Campbell's soup Campbell Soup Company, doing business as Campbell's, is an American processed food and snack company. The company is most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however, through mergers and acquisitions, it has grown to becom ...

. He was the announcer for The Beat 102.7 in the video game ''

Grand Theft Auto IV ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sixth main entry in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2004's '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', and the ...

'' and K.T.I. Radio in the ''

L.A. Noire ''L.A. Noire'' is a 2011 action-adventure video game developed by Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games. Set in 1947 Los Angeles, the game follows detective Cole Phelps's rise among the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department as he so ...

''. He also gives the voice to JB Cripps in ''

Red Dead Online ''Red Dead Online'' is a 2019 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games as the online component of ''Red Dead Redemption 2''. After several months in beta, it was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in May 20 ...

'', the online component of ''

Red Dead Redemption 2 ''Red Dead Redemption 2'' is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the ''Red Dead'' series and a prequel to the 2010 game ''Red Dead Redemption''. The story is set in 1899 and f ...

''. In 2008, he was hired to do an impersonation of

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

for a gala held by the Mark Twain House and Museum.

Personal life

He and his wife Carol Ann Jacobs Kenney have three children: daughters

Kerri Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in County ...

and Ashley, and son Tanner. Kerri, the eldest, is an actress, best known for her work on the series ''

Reno 911! ''Reno 911!'' is an American comedy television series airing on Comedy Central. It is a mockumentary-style parody of law enforcement documentary shows, specifically '' Cops'', with comic actors playing the police officers. Thomas Lennon, Ro ...

'' and ''

''. Ashley works in the nonprofit sector and is the bassist and singer for the band Witch Hair out of

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

. Tanner did a voice of the Intelligent Agenda Caller in the video game ''

''. Kenney now lives in

New Canaan, Connecticut New Canaan () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. About an hour from Manhattan by train, the town is considered part of Connecticut's Gold Coast. The town is bounde ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

* *

Interviews

Larry Kenney e-mail interview
(2000) on Thundercatslair.com
Larry Kenney interview
(2002) on Matt Blank website

(2008) on Thundercatslair.com
Larry Kenney
interview (c. 2008) with Rob Shan Lone on insomniacmania.com — transcript
"ThunderCat Has His Tongue"
(2009) with Don E. Smith Jr. on Cosmic Booknews {{DEFAULTSORT:Kenney, Larry 1947 births American game show hosts American impressionists (entertainers) Radio personalities from Illinois American male voice actors Game show announcers Living people Actors from Peoria, Illinois People from Pekin, Illinois People from Westport, Connecticut