The man who sounds like he swallowed a special-effects machine is a headliner for the Halifax Comedy Festival this week.
Michael Winslow, who starred as Sgt. Larvell “Motor Mouth” Jones in the Police Academy franchise, is bringing his one-man versions of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and newcomer Louis Armstrong with him.
“This will be my first visit to Halifax and I’m looking forward to it,” Winslow said when reached at his Florida home. “We made half of the Police Academies in Toronto, so (visiting Canada) is kind of like coming home.”
While Winslow has dropped off the public radar since his 1980s zenith, he’s been busy globetrotting and entertaining himself and his fans with new sounds. Talking as he unpacked from a three-city tour in Florida hot on the heels of a working visit to New Zealand, Winslow told Metro he’s focusing on music and children’s entertainment when he’s not bringing the noise to comedy shows.
He was especially excited about a project he’s working on with Bill Cosby.
“He was really cool. He convinced me to tell classic stories, but put noises in them. It figures it would take Dr. Cosby to figure this out,” Winslow laughed.
He’s hoping to release a new music CD this summer (check out michaelwinslow.net for a sample) and there’s talk of a Police Academy 8.
Halifax fans can expect to be blown away as usual by his machine guns, electric guitars and air planes. “I’ve put a lot of music in this show. I want to make sure folks have a great time because, basically, our job is to help people forget about the rent.”
Winslow is performing at Casino Nova Scotia tonight at 8 p.m., Thursday at 8 p.m. and at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium Saturday at 8 p.m.
