Beat Bugs, a made-in-Vancouver animated series, starts streaming Aug. 3 on Netflix. Earlier this year we talked to one of its stars, Vancouver comedian Charlie Demers who provides the voice of Walter the Slug.

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Comedian, educator, author, playwright, and now animated slug — Charlie Demers is building himself one impressive and eclectic resume.

Demers, a headlining comic and creative writing lecturer at the University of British Columbia, will be the voice of Walter the Slug on the new Beatles-inspired animated kids show Beat Bugs, which will debut on Netflix in August.

(Mobile users CLICK HERE to hear a Sound Cloud file of Demers describing how a real life slug brought him good luck)

Although he's starred in his own web series opposite Sean Cullen and Ryan Beil, and has provided voices for CBC's fake news series This Is That, Demers has never considered himself a working actor.

So the invitation to audition for the voice of a cartoon slug took him by surprise.

"My first assumption was that it was some sort of prank. When someone tells you they are doing some sort of cartoon about the Beatles and they want you, a person who doesn't do cartoons to come in and audition, my initial response was very skeptical. I didn't think it was a real thing."

Beat Bugs, which is co-produced by Vancouver's Thunderbird Films and animated at their Atomic Cartoon studio near Olympic Village, centres on the adventures of five lovable bugs — Jay, Kumi, Crick, Buzz, and Walter — who, according to a Thunderbird press release, have a "knack for getting themselves into mischief and mayhem."

The show will feature well-known Beatles songs, performed by popular artists like Pink, Sia, Of Monsters and Men, and Eddie Vedder, woven into the narrative of each episode.

The Beat Bugs, to Demers' chagrin, didn't get to sing.

"The term we used in the sound booth was 'tinging' which was sort of a half-talking, half-singing that was meant to bridge us into the recordings. For some reason, presented with the choice of having me or Eddie Vedder sing, they chose Eddie Vedder. It's all politics," Demers joked.

Other actors lending their voices to the show include Fred Ewanuick of Corner Gas fame and Ashleigh Ball, who is the lead singer of the Vancouver band Hey Ocean! and the voice of Applejack and Rainbow Dash on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

As a voice acting newbie, Demers followed the lead of the veterans in the sound booth.

"It was whispered to me to keep my eye on Ashleigh that she was a superstar and I would learn a lot from watching her," he said. "All my cast mates were very kind and very gentle in showing me the ropes."

(Mobile users CLICK HERE to hear Charlie Demers doing the voice of Walter the Slug)

Australian Josh Wakely of Grace Productions will direct, write and produce the series.

sbrown@vancouversun.com

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