A closer look
Charles Martinet secured the iconic voice acting role of Nintendo's Super Mario by crashing an audition at the very last minute and improvising a rambling monologue about making a pizza pie while utilizing a high-pitched Italian caricature. The casting directors had explicitly asked for a gruff, Brooklyn-style plumber voice, but his bizarrely cheerful culinary rant completely won them over and became the auditory identity of the largest video game franchise in history. It is hilarious that a multibillion-dollar corporate mascot owes his entire personality to an actor who ignored all directions and just confidently stereotyped his way through a fake pasta recipe. Sometimes the absolute worst artistic choices somehow align perfectly with the universe to create undeniable magic
