# Who do you think they look like? (by voice only) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-they-look-like-by-voice-only/684462 "2014-03-24T17:29:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-they-look-like-by-voice-only/684462/1 "2014-03-24T17:29:00Z")
I listen to a lot of podcasts, the kind with a lot of recurring guests. For the most part I do not know what these people look like, but I get an idea in my head about what they \*would \*look like. When I look them up, I’m always way wrong, but I still have them in my head as some other person. For example, on the Adam Carolla podcast they frequently have Matt Atchity from Rotten Tomatoes on, and for some reason I’ve always pictured him as [Matt Paxton from Hoarders](http://www.greencleaningcoach.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/matt-paxton.jpg). Who are people you know only by voice and who do you picture them looking like? (pictures encouraged so we don’t have to look it up ourselves) ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2014, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-they-look-like-by-voice-only/684462/2 "2014-03-25T02:08:58Z")
Well, before the existence of the internet this used to be a real issue. Growing up I found that my image of someone based on their voice would never match what they turned out to really look like. A few examples I can remember: [ul] [li]When I first listened to Howard Stern I had no idea that Robin Quivers was black.[/li][li]Although it’s hard to imagine now I didn’t originally picture Rush Limbaugh as being short and kind of dumpy.[/li][li]I didn’t expect Bart Simpson to be a 40-ish year old woman[/li][/ul] Nowadays for anyone in the media their image is just a Google search away (Cecil not included). Funny you mentioned Adam Carolla’s podcast. When I first started to listen to that a couple years ago I wondered what Alison Rosen looked like. For some reason it didn’t occur to me to look her up for a couple months, but when I did I was surprised to see that for the first time [someone looked almost exactly how I pictured her](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Falisonrosen.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2010%2F02%2FAlisonRosen_042_C.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Falisonrosen.com%2Fcategory%2Fphotos%2F&h=600&w=400&tbnid=mtUrU3LkkkRQJM%3A&zoom=1&docid=dwQ-v01n8Hv1pM&hl=en&ei=VOQwU_HACqfV0QGFhIDQCQ&tbm=isch&ved=0CHkQhBwwBQ&iact=rc&dur=885&page=1&start=0&ndsp=20) (Cute, girl-next-door pretty, long dark hair, kinda yenta-ish)… ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2014, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-they-look-like-by-voice-only/684462/3 "2014-03-25T02:22:24Z")
I usually try not to look people up if I’ve been listening to them on the radio for a while, I’m usually disappointed Anyways, the last person I looked up was Michael Feldman from Whaddya Know. I’m not much of an NPR guy, but I listen to Car Talk and tend to be back in my car around 11:30 on Saturday so I usually listen to part of that as well. He _sounds_ like he’s about 65 years old, white hair, skinny, still pretty spry and quick witted. Actually, now that I check wiki he is 65, but he [looks much younger](http://nyuskirball.org/uploads/events/4a8001031842329ff2e04c5fd64b4bb1bcd2cd51.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2014, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-they-look-like-by-voice-only/684462/4 "2014-03-25T03:10:50Z")
I was astonished to see that [these guys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsaTElBljOE) were white. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-they-look-like-by-voice-only/684462/5 "2014-03-25T03:34:59Z")
Pete Holmes sounds short to me. He is, in fact, very tall. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_from\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Man\_from\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_from_Mars)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-they-look-like-by-voice-only/684462/6 "2014-03-25T20:14:19Z")
I like how Walter Matthau spoofed this phenomenon in _The Taking of Pelham One Two Three_ when he met Inspector Daniels for the first time. They had been speaking through radio for most of the hijacking of the subway train until the two finally met in person later in the film. Daniels is sitting in a squad car as Matthau walks up to him to introduce himself. Daniels is a black man. Matthau tells him, “Oh, you’re Daniels? I thought you were . . . a shorter guy. I don’t know \*what \* I thought.” ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-they-look-like-by-voice-only/684462/7 "2014-03-25T20:26:58Z")
I gotta say, I’ve been wanting to start this thread myself for years but I was always too lazy. I often have celebrity faces/voices/characters in my mental picture of the podcast voice I’m listening to. So here are some examples: Radiolab: [Jad Abumrad](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3fUb-3pWoI) is [Ed Norton](https://www.google.com/search?q=ed+norton&espv=210&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=b-UxU9eaOaTSywPJlYCICg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=681) [Robert Krulwich](http://www.radiolab.org/story/91852-tell-me-a-story/) is [this somewhat obscure actor from Boogie Nights who I just found out is named Ricky Jay](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0419633/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t27). ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-they-look-like-by-voice-only/684462/8 "2014-03-25T20:34:30Z")
From SGU: [Bob Novella](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmVbC2oc9dc) used to always seem to look like [Cameron Frye from Ferris Bueler’s…](https://www.google.com/search?q=cameron+frye&espv=210&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=VucxU_ShLKnpywPS_4HoAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CCcQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=681) (Actually [Jay Novella](https://www.google.com/search?q=cameron+frye&espv=210&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=VucxU_ShLKnpywPS_4HoAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CCcQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=681#q=jay+novella&tbm=isch) did too. Like they were somehow 2 different versions of Cameron Frye). [Steve Novella](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi6rc61uwfk) is [Tony O’Dell from that old sitcom Head of the Class](http://snakkle.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/tony-odell-split.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-they-look-like-by-voice-only/684462/9 "2014-03-25T20:39:42Z")
You mean \*\*H. Jon Benjamin \*\*doesn’t look \*exactly \*like animated superspy Sterling Archer? (hint: no, he doesn’t - [H. Jon Benjamin - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Jon_Benjamin)) ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-they-look-like-by-voice-only/684462/10 "2014-03-25T20:43:17Z")
Planet Money: [Chana Joffe-Walt](http://youtu.be/9Dq2yiHz0QE?t=33s) I can’t see as anyone other than [Jenna Fischer from The Office](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0278979/?ref_=tt_cl_t3) [Adam Davidson](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZoDKTcU3FQ) is [Troy McClure](https://www.google.com/search?q=troy+mcclure&espv=210&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=p-kxU9u1Icj8ygPx1IHABQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=681) (not Phil Hartman. I specifically see him as the character Troy McClure). TAL: My image of Ira Glass doesn’t match a specific person but I do have a clear mental picture of someone completely bald (as if undergoing chemo) for some reason. No idea why.