Animation Source Forums

Hey Steet, or someone else, I was wondering if I could find a volunteer to try to interview Col. Spigot's voice, Michael Gough. I have his address and I will share it with somebody.

What are you guys thoughts on his character, Col. Spigot?

What I think...that's a vast subject.

Spigot is a great villain. If you took the character "alone", he's more a typical cartoon character villain than Don Karnage - though as much as Karnage, not a real villain as he helps a lot on the comical relief actually. (especially due to his size, and his undeserved/unfitting job position...)

But what makes the character is Thembria and its inhabitants as a whole. I mean, it's a very special country...a parody of the ex-sovietic union, frozen in snow, with swine inhabitants who have ridiculous habits like overly relying on administration, horribly strict rules, constant threats of being shot by a firing squad? All that in a Disney cartoon?? Major win!!!

Michael Gough's voice really fits the character. It's a very distinct voice, a perfect match, can you only imagine Spigot being voiced differently? I don't!
And of course, Sergent Dunder is almost the exact opposite of him, a very contrasting character who made the pair even more unique. Spigot's a very despicable character, yet sometimes you would almost feel sorry for him...but especially sorry for Dunder.

Would you help me get a hold of Michael Gough for me, Steet? I know his email, but he won't respond although I haven't tried in the past year or so. If only I had kept that interview...I'm kicking myself in the pants.

How do you know you've got an address he still uses? Maybe I can contact him, if that's what you need me to do, but I'm not sure it will make any difference.

Michael Gough would like to thank you personally, Steet, for those very nice comments.

Wow, that's cool Did he say anything else?

He will be back real soon with the answers to your questions. Hold tight.

Spigot to me was the most amusing character on the show (Don Karnage is pretty darn close but Gough's voice just hams everything up to a hilarious extent). What was interesting about Spigot is that his position doesn't quite make him a traditional villain. Thembria is as Rebecca once stated 'a frozen wasteland' but unlike most other villains who go out of their way to cause trouble or scheme, Spigot and the High Marshall are for the most part perfectly fine keeping to themselves in their little area until Baloo and co are forced to cross it's borders.

Spigot is something of a perfect combination of evil and sympathetic. On one side he's an egotistical facist who once tried to 'torture' and execute and innocent civilian to prove it was Saturday (it makes sense in context). On the other hand he is an underappreciated toady who mostly follows orders out of fear of being shot (which nearly every punishment, even ones issued from other people's follies, seems to amusingly involve). There are even some points in the show he and Dunder are just somewhat incidental roles and merely trying to get a particular task done if in a rather extremist fashion (eg. the Golden Sprocket of Friendship). Spigot is versatile in role which gave him opportunities to appear almost as prominantly as Karnage.

Gough was indeed hilarious as Spigot, I liked how he was able to handle constant fluctuations in emotion for comical effect, perhaps one of my favorites was in his 'interroation' of Rebecca in Spy in the Ointment going from manic yelling, nervous whimpering and triumphant mocking, before calming into the oddly feminine sounding 'To the dungeons with them'. .He was pretty great as Copher in Winnie the Pooh as well, shame he doesn't get to do that role much any more.