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Comedian Mark ‘KidWok’ Britten, of ‘Dragon Ball Z’ fame, to perform in Colorado Springs

An odd tone in a sound or voice is one of Mark “KidWok” Britten’s favorite things.

The voiceover artist and comedian will be minding his business, walking around the house, and suddenly overhear a certain something in a voice or an interesting sound on TV. If it sounds like a tone he can produce with his vocal cords, he’ll spend the next three to seven days creating a muscle memory to remember where the tone is in his throat so he can hit it on command.

“It just feels neat and unique to see what my vocal cords can do,” said the Colorado Springs resident, who can do about 200 voices. “I’ll mimic voices and sounds until I go to sleep. I listen in tones. When I listen to music I only hear tones, I don’t hear lyrics.”

He moved to Colorado Springs in 2017 from Dallas-Fort Worth, where he spent the late ’90s to early 2000s doing seven cartoon voices, including Oolong, Burter, Korin and Ox King, for “Dragon Ball Z,” a Japanese anime TV series. According to many sources, he says, it was the most recognized anime series in the world and kickstarted the anime craze. Last weekend Britten held court at Colorado Springs Comic Con at The Broadmoor World Arena with other voiceover artists from popular anime and cartoon series.

He’ll perform Friday and Saturday at Loonees Comedy Corner.

Making magic with his voice goes all the way back to third grade, when he started doing impressions of Robin Williams as Mork on “Mork & Mindy,” and Andy Griffith and Barney Fife from “The Andy Griffith Show.” Being in a military family that moved regularly, his ability to be funny and do voices helped him mesh with other kids.

Those old school impressions have fallen by the wayside, though, lost in the backlog of pop culture. The work now is to make comedy for his wide span of fans, from 18-year-olds to seniors.

“I have references where sometime the younger set will get it and I’ll say be patient, older people,” Britten said. “And then the older set will get it and I’ll say be patient, younger people. Van Halen references older people will get, then anime references older people won’t get. I try to make jokes funny even if they don’t know what they are.”

People love to challenge Britten to do voices, such as former President Donald Trump’s distinctive speech pattern. And he’s also busy working on a Vice President Kamala Harris imitation, though not of her voice, which is too high for his range, but of her laugh. He promises to have it polished by the time of his show.

“The only things that stand out about her are her tones,” he said. “That’s how impressions start. You have to find a pattern they do. Trump always says ‘I’ve heard it said’ and ‘Excuse me, excuse me.’ Those are place setters in my throat that hold the voice where it’s supposed to go. You find a lot of place holders.”

After getting into comedy more than 35 years ago, hearing an immediate response to his material on stage is still the best feeling. One of the reasons he relocated to the Springs was to be closer to Loonees.

“That comedy stage is one of the best in the U.S.,” he said. “You’re standing above the audience and there’s a huge clock on the wall and you can see the whole audience. So if somebody heckles you in the back of the room you can say, ‘Hey guy in the blue hat.’”

Colorado Springs voiceover artist and comedian Mark “KidWok” Britten learned to do celebrity impressions in third grade. It helped him develop a career as a comedian more than 35 years ago and landed him a job doing seven voices on the popular anime series, “Dragon Ball Z,” in the late ‘90s and early aughts. He’ll perform Friday and Saturday at Loonees Comedy Corner. Courtesy Mark “KidWok” Britten
Colorado Springs voiceover artist and comedian Mark “KidWok” Britten learned to do celebrity impressions in third grade. It helped him develop a career as a comedian more than 35 years ago and landed him a job doing seven voices on the popular anime series, “Dragon Ball Z,” in the late ‘90s and early aughts. He’ll perform Friday and Saturday at Loonees Comedy Corner. Courtesy Mark “KidWok” Britten
Colorado Springs voiceover artist and comedian Mark
Colorado Springs voiceover artist and comedian Mark “KidWok” Britten will perform Friday and Saturday at Loonees Comedy Corner. Courtesy Mark “KidWok” Britten


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