Chris Mezzolesta has been the voice behind Hooters ads in Atlanta, a psycho scientist cartoon character on MTV and telephone on-hold messages for an Ohio company -- "Press 1 for more options."
But his latest gig is a bit ... weightier.
The Wilmington voice actor is one of about 80 such talents who have created an audio file of the 1,081-page health-care reform bill, replete with all the subparagraph references, clauses, subclauses, quotes, unquotes, subsections, U.S. codes, terms, notes, definitions, deletions and insertions.
From start to finish, the bill consumes about 24 hours of listening time.
Consider it light listening compared with the 77 hours it takes to hear both testaments of The Bible or the 60 hours for Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace."
Mezzolesta reads from page 184, line 20 through page 212, Line 13, starting with the words "Subparagraph B, Small Employer." He's got another segment from page 366, Line 3 through page 381, Line 23.
Shakespeare it is not.
"The part I read was admittedly rather dry," he says. "My approach was to read something a little more conversational, but not so sing-songy like an announcer."
The idea for the audio bill was hatched just three weeks ago by Diane Havens, a voice actor in New Jersey, and Kathleen Keesling, from Colorado.
They were chatting online about how people on both sides of the health-care reform issue have not actually read the one bill that has emerged so far.
As voice actors -- the ubiquitous but faceless souls who narrate instructions for computer programs, announce station breaks, animate advertising mascots, record phone messages and read at breakneck speed all the complications of prescription drugs -- they decided House Bill 3200 should be heard.
To enlist their peers, Havens and Keesling put out word on Twitter, Facebook and other networking sites that voice actors access.
"We're a tight-knit group," Havens says.
Eighty people responded from throughout the United States, plus Canada and Australia, all volunteers who donated their time and voices.
Mezzolesta was among the first to sign up.
"I thought it was a good idea to promote public awareness," he says. After getting his assignment from Havens, he recorded his segment at his home studio in Wilmington and shipped it digitally.
Each reading is annotated, and can be amended as the legislation evolves.
Mezzolesta, who has been a voice actor for nearly 20 years, says this is the first time he's ever read legislation.
"It's different than cutting a hamburger spot," he says.
