Rick And Morty's Justin Roiland Explains The Process Of Recording Both Titular Characters' Lines
One of the most impressive aspects of the beloved adult animated series "Rick and Morty" is the fact that many of the lines you hear on the show are performed by the same voice actor — series co-creator Justin Roiland. Indeed, Roiland actually voices both of the titular characters from the series (Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith), having used the voices for those characters in a variety of other projects before "Rick and Morty" ever existed.
Throughout the first six seasons of "Rick and Morty," it's safe to say that Roiland has performed some pretty incredible feats as a voice actor. Perhaps most notable is the Season 3 episode "The Ricklantis Mixup," which takes the audience to a multiversal hub called the Citadel of Ricks in which a wide variety of alternate Ricks and Mortys have congregated. As such, Justin Roiland delivers nearly every single line in this episode, breathing life into dozens of different characters with unique twists on the series' protagonists.
In any case, there's no question that Roiland's juggling act as a voice actor has to be one of the most difficult parts of creating "Rick and Morty." However, according to Roiland himself, there's actually a specific process in place for how he records his lines.
Roiland records his lines in a very specific order
Speaking to Decider about the difficulties of voicing both titular characters on "Rick and Morty," Justin Roiland explained that he actually records all of the voice lines for Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith in a specific order. Roiland said that he begins by recording all of the lines for Morty, and follows that up by recording all of the conversations that Morty and Rick have throughout the episode. After that, he proceeds to record all of the lines that Rick has with other characters, and any lines Rick has left over by the end of it all.
Despite the incredible amount of work that goes into this process, it's clear that Roiland himself still has an incredible time recording these voices. "I think doing these voices, it's one of the reasons why this show exists," Roiland explained. "I just kept going back and doing different versions of types of shows with two characters in the show somewhere, talking to myself and playing with that and riffing ..." Roiland went on to describe how, even on his worst days, this extensive process is able to cheer him up because he finds the characters and the improvisation so enjoyable.
Although the immense amount of time and effort that Roiland puts into his voice work may seem daunting at first, there's no question that Roiland still absolutely loves performing the voices for Rick and Morty.