Going into an incredible 12th season this Sunday, King of the Hill continues to be the work horse of the FOX Sunday animation block, getting little of the attention of Family Guy and The Simpsons, but still delivering plenty of laughs. This summer I paid a visit to a recording session for the series, and got a very entertaining look at what goes on when the actors assemble to voice their familiar characters. Series co-creator Mike Judge records his role as Hank Hill from Texas, but there was still an impressive assemblage of talent from the show there that day, including Kathy Najimy (Peggy Hill), Pamela Adlon (Bobby Hill), Brittany Murphy (Luanne), Johnny Hardwick (Dale), Stephen Root (Bill), Lauren Tom (Minh/Connie), Breckin Meyer (Joseph) and an obscure voiceover actor named Tom Petty (Lucky).

Breckin Meyer didn't join the show until a few seasons in, but sitting in the green room before he began his work for the day, he told me "It's funny, whenever I tell people 'I can't man, I've got to go to King of the Hill today', they say 'You've been on that show forever!' It's the steadiest job I've had in my entire life! It really is, for all of us."Meyer also works as a writer and actor on Robot Chicken with his longtime friend Seth Green, and recalled that when he first came to audition for King of the Hill, "They were going to recast Joseph's voice, because they wanted him to go through puberty. Brittany was doing it originally. I got a call to audition for Joseph; Seth Green and I actually both came in. I think we even came in together. I did the audition and I didn't get it, and then they brought me back for another random kid voice, like a week later, like "Bobby's Friend #3", a Texas kid. Because I had the balls finally, because they hired me for that part, I said 'Can I give that Joseph thing another thought?' They were like "Okay," and then I got it. It was so crazy, because it wasn't the way it normally goes."Meyer noted that the hit film Clueless was one of about four times he and Murphy played boyfriend and girlfriend and said "It was funny taking over for her [as Joseph]. I wasn't sure what the hell his voice should be. If you ever hear the original Joseph that Brittany does, it's f**king crazy! It's just nuts! She does the weirdest Joseph. Luanne as well, but Joseph was just crazy. She had this weird voice where it was like her mouth was filled with popcorn and she was double fisting cigarettes. So when I came on, I was like 'Well, I don't know how to do that!' So it took me about two months to realize what voice I was going to do for Joseph and then it slowly became what it is now."Meyer said King of the Hill was a great job, remarking "Where else am I going to get to work with [Stephen] Root for six years? He's one of the funniest cats. Seriously, where else are you going to get that? It's unbelievable. And Tom Petty is here! F**king A! This is crazy! The people who roll in, it's just awesome. So it really is fun. That's the really fun part about voiceovers."When I asked Lauren Tom if this was the longest job she'd ever had, she laughed and replied "I actually never stopped to think about that, but it absolutely has! And it's my favorite all-time job too, I'd say." Tom, a regular on Men in Trees, is a very busy voiceover actress, featured on shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Teen Titans and her role as Amy on Futurama. Tom noted that King of the Hill "sort of launched my whole second career; my parallel voiceover world, so I feel so grateful and indebted. Because once you're sort of in the little loop, the little circle, you're in and people kind of pass you around from show to show."