Eclectic Voice of Roger Rabbit Has Broad Horizons

If Charles Fleischer got the obligatory “cultivate and broaden your interests” speech in his youth, he didn’t just heed the advice. He made it a credo.

A few of his myriad interests are readily apparent, such as his fascination with (and talent for) voice characterization, which helped him land the gig as the voice of Roger Rabbit. (Nepotism had nothing to do with that career coup--Charles is no relation to Max and Dave Fleischer, the brothers who turned out “Popeye” and countless other reels of animated film history.)

Fleischer is also a stand-up comic--he performs tonight at Michael’s Supper Club in Dana Point--plus he wants to pursue acting roles that involve more than just his vocal cords.

And then there is music. “I’m going to do an album of my songs,” Fleischer said recently after a performance at the Improvisation in Los Angeles.

In the course of his act--a loose, freewheeling blend of stand-up material, various voices, chats with the audience, and music--he sometimes sings in a smoky growl reminiscent of Tom Waits. His songwriting, he says, bears other influences: “My songs are a cross between Bob Dylan, Cole Porter and the Beatles. But I do like Tom Waits a lot because he’s theatrical. And I like theatrical songs.”

He also likes writing but not just the kind directed toward such predictable areas as stand-up material or screenplays. “I like to do prose and literary-type writing,” Fleischer said, explaining that he has been greatly influenced lately by author Raymond Carver, particularly the simplicity of Carver’s work.

“In my writing previously, I was very erudite, like I was trying to prove myself. Now I’m really into simplicity--the shorter the sentence, the better; simple sentences that can really grab you, as opposed to the really lengthy verbosity which may be quite elusive and quite educational but can also be pretty pompous. . . . I’m not saying my previous work in that vein is bad. But now I’m striving for a new kind of simplicity.”

On the other hand, some of the things he is interested in writing about are hardly simple. “I have a whole stockpile of projects: a book on mathematics, a novel about my mathematical discovery and a book of poetry. . . .”

When Fleischer elaborates about his mathematical discovery, it is hard to believe that he is affiliated with the innocent, bow-tied rabbit whose most perplexing compulsion is to supply the phrase that follows “Shave and a haircut . . . “ (“Two Bits!”).

“It’s a mental-spiritual discipline by which you can tune yourself to natural harmonics that exist within the universe,” Fleischer, 38, explained. “It’s based on patterns and relationships that exist (between) numbers. I’ve shown it to a couple of academicians, mathematical people, and they said I have made a unique discovery in what they call group theory, which is a branch of mathematics.”

Fleischer didn’t set out to join the group theory group. “(The discovery) was an accident. I was playing around with my calculator and seeing these patterns and relationships, which led to the writing of this book.”

He hopes that book will be published soon: “I would say within the year, if things continue the way they have. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like ‘Roger Rabbit’ to give me what I call media credibility, so that I can be put into a position where people would be interested in seeing what I have created.”

He isn’t just referring to the mathematical discovery, though he remains a little vague about what all he is referring to. “I have toys that I’ve invented. . . . I have things that I don’t even want to tell you about because people would think I do too much. They’d say: ‘He couldn’t be good--he does too much.’ So I’ll be slow: a book this year, a record next year, then a film, then a toy, then I take a little rest.”

Fleischer delivers the last sentence in a dead-on impression of Chico Marx. In other parts of the interview, he slipped into a veddy proper British accent, a Cockney, a streetwise jive-talker and both a German- and English-speaking Roger Rabbit--a sprawling spectrum not unlike the range of things that fascinate him.

So it was wholly fitting that this rather unusual comedian ended a rather unusual interview on a rather unusual note. He sipped his espresso, then paused thoughtfully for a moment. “I’m an eclectic young man--I’ve got a lot of interests,” Fleischer said, shifting back into the British accent to present a closing analogy.

“It’s like a bicycle wheel. I’m at the center of the wheel. My interests, apparently diverse, are the spokes which radiate outwards from the center. But, my friend, they all end up at the wheel, a continuing cycle of infinity. Well said, my friend. With that he lifted his small coffee cup and took a tiny sip, spilling it all over his shirt, forming the pattern of--what? A rabbit! Coincidence? You decide.”

Michael’s Supper Club is at 24399 Dana Drive, Dana Point. Show times: 8 and 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. Tickets: $20. Information: (714) 493-8100.