Bill Farmer, the Goofy Guy

Bill Farmer stood before a room of about a hundred people and gave a warm message on keeping faith in God, despite the industry's reputation. Opening with a brief history about his life before playing the voice of Walt Disney's beloved character, Goofy.

As a child, he had always been a movie nut and was quite good at voice imitations. He started off as a radio station personality, which led him to Texas. In 1983, he started performing as a stand up comedian. But, because he was shy and hadn't much faith in himself, he was very scared on his first night before a live audience. But after his first try, he kept going back, week after week. Soon, he was working as an electronic technician during the day and then a comedian at night. In the words of Farmer, "Either you're funny or you ain't. A live crowd will tell you."

It was then that his friend brought him along to Lover's Lane United Methodist Church, where he met the love of his life, Jennifer, while performing one night. After becoming best friends, they were married on June 2^nd, 1984. Farmer got rid of his job as an electronic technician, which didn't please her father, but in time, they grew closer.

When an agent suggested his moving from Texas to Hollywood, Farmer felt very uncertain. Thinking of it as an impossibility, Jennifer sent letters to the major agencies in Hollywood and four responded. Through this connection, Farmer was pitched the idea of becoming a Disney character. And, of them all, Goofy was his favorite. After sending in his demo tape, on January 26^th, 1987, Les Perkins called him in to be the voice of Goofy. And after that first time, he kept being called back to be the voice of Goofy.

Farmer claims, even now, that he didn't succeed in anything until he gave everything up to God. In bold proclamation, Farmer stated, "God was always there when we needed him." He also encouraged the listeners to know their limitations and plow right through them. Having been a poster child for ADD in grade school, before the term was established, his teachers would simply say, "He's disruptive," and discourage him going for his dreams. Having high frequency hearing loss, Farmer's first job was a radio engineer. Admittedly, he was sure to add, "If you may not see very well, you might not want to become a pilot."

But the meat of his message was, from being Goofy and looking at his past, his standpoint is, "The difference between 0 miles an hour and one mile an hour is infinite!" He added that, going 0 miles an hour will get you nowhere. However, going 1 mile an hour will get you somewhere, eventually, and that's better than not getting anywhere. Start little and you'll pick up momentum as you go. And, regardless of everything others say, don't listen to them and listen to God. "Other people are not that smart," Farmer stated, "You are the expert in your life."

The audience listened, completely enraptured, as he encouraged everyone just to go for their dreams. Also, that had he not done stand up comedy, he would never have met his wife, who gave him the strength and faith to go to Hollywood, where he achieved his dreams, which was all done because he gave his worries up to God.

As for Jennifer Farmer, when she first came to Hollywood, she simply wrote jingles for radio stations. Later, she took lessons for becoming a script supervisor and interned on the show 'Beverly Hills 90210'. She was given the chance to direct "Naturally Native", and created a film business on the side. This year, she will be returning to Nickelodeon as a script supervisor.

With a smile, Farmer concluded, "You can be goofy and give it up to God and still get through life."