Amazon Alexa Will Now Sound Like Melissa McCarthy…Or Shaq
If you’ve got Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa, you can choose to have it speak in the voice of Melissa McCarthy or Shaquille O’Neal. It will cost $4.99, though. If you weren’t aware, Samuel L. Jackson is also an alternative voice option.
Shaq said: “I just wanted to add my personality to the Alexa experience,” “I think the fans are gonna love it. They’re going to see a unique side of me.”
McCarthy said: “That’s right folks, get ready for the vocal stylings of this nasal Midwestern gal!” “I am so excited to join the Alexa family. It’s been such a fun experience working on this project. I hope you all enjoy all my dad jokes! Fun fact — if you hear a slide whistle, it’s my personal one that I brought with me to the recording studio!”
Training Alexa to sound like Shaq took about 60 hours in a studio Amazon footed the bill for in Shaq’s house. He said it “was like reading out of the dictionary” and the whole process was “the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.”
Melissa says some personalized phrases like: “I wish I had an exotic name like Svetlana or Giselle. But you can call me Melissa” and “Hey, remember when you said to set that alarm for you? Um — this is the alarm going off. So, you’ve been alarmed.”