Dana Carvey Channeled a Classic 'SNL' Character for His 'Secret Life of Pets' Voice

Once you’re aware that Saturday Night Live alum Dana Carvey is voicing the elderly, wheelchair-bound pup Pops in the new animated comedy The Secret Life of Pets, you may very well experience a wave of familiarity. That’s because Carvey based the dog’s sound on one of his famous SNL characters, Grumpy Old Man.

“It’s like a generic grumpy old man voice, and that’s what it was meant to be on Saturday Night Live,” Carvey told Yahoo Movies in a recent interview (watch above). The difference being, Carvey explained, Grumpy Old Man loved to hate on contemporary society, whereas “Pops is more of a straightforward character.”

Related: Meet Kevin Hart’s Rambunctious Bunny from ‘The Secret Life of Pets’

There were other influences for Pops, too, like Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) from It’s a Wonderful Life, one that sounded like Cary Grant, and another with an Indian accent. “We just riffed for like an hour,” said Carvey. “But it was pretty clear after the fact that that was the one.”

The Secret Life of Pets is now in theaters. Watch the trailer: