It is hard to find another show that feels quite like Bee and Puppycat. It’s a fever dream. It’s a mood. It’s basically the animated equivalent of a weighted blanket, but one that occasionally glitches out and shows you a cosmic horror. When Natasha Allegri first brought this world to life on Cartoon Hangover back in 2013, nobody really expected it to become this massive, multi-platform phenomenon that eventually landed on Netflix with Lazy in Space.
But honestly? The magic isn't just in the pastel colors or the weird, floating islands. It’s the Bee and Puppycat cast.
The voice acting in this show is weirdly grounded for a series about an out-of-work girl who travels through space with a temp-agency cat-dog hybrid. Usually, in animation, everyone is "on." They’re shouting. They’re high-energy. In Bee and Puppycat, everyone sounds like they just woke up from a nap, and that’s exactly why it works. It feels human.
Allyn Rachel is the Heart of the Show
Allyn Rachel isn't just the voice of Bee; she is Bee. Before she was getting sucked into giant music boxes or fighting off space warlocks, Allyn was building a solid career in live-action comedy and commercials. You’ve probably seen her face in shows like New Girl or The Good Place without even realizing it.
Her performance as Bee is a masterclass in "millennial malaise." She captures that specific brand of anxiety where you’re technically an adult, but your life is a mess, and you’re mostly just hungry. What’s cool is how she balances the slapstick comedy with moments of genuine, quiet sadness. When Bee realizes she isn’t exactly "normal" (no spoilers for the newcomers, but the reveal in the later episodes is a heavy hitter), Allyn shifts the performance subtly. It’s less bubbly and a bit more hollow.
Most people don't know that Allyn has a massive background in improv. That’s why Bee’s dialogue feels so natural. It doesn’t sound like someone reading lines from a script in a booth; it sounds like a girl rambling to her pet while she tries to figure out how to pay rent.
The Mystery of Puppycat’s "Voice"
Now, Puppycat is a different story.
If you look at the Bee and Puppycat cast list, you’ll see a name that looks like a typo: Oliver.
Oliver isn’t a person. Well, not a human one. Puppycat’s iconic, digitized grumbling is actually generated by a Vocaloid software program. Specifically, it’s the "Oliver" voice bank, which was designed to sound like a young British boy soprano. It’s the same technology used for Hatsune Miku, just tweaked to sound like a grumpy, extraterrestrial creature who wants a leather jacket and treats.
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The contrast here is brilliant. You have Bee, who sounds incredibly human and relatable, paired with a literal computer program. It creates this inherent disconnect that makes their friendship feel even more special. When Puppycat is "speaking" in his true form—the space outlaw—he’s voiced by different actors, but that digitized hum is the soul of the character. It’s a bold choice. Most studios would have just hired a professional voice actor to do a "grumpy voice," but Allegri insisted on the Vocaloid. It gives the show its distinct, otherworldly texture.
The Supporting Players: Why the Cast Works
The show wouldn’t be half as good without the surrounding chaos of the Wizard family.
Ashly Burch as Cass
If you’ve played a video game in the last decade, you know Ashly Burch. She’s Aloy in Horizon Zero Dawn, Tiny Tina in Borderlands, and Chloe Price in Life is Strange. In the Bee and Puppycat cast, she plays Cass, the overworked, sardonic sister of Deckard.
Cass is the foil to Bee’s aimlessness. While Bee is floating through space, Cass is literally coding at her desk until her eyes bleed. Burch brings a sharp, realistic edge to the character. She’s the voice of reason, but she’s also just as stressed out as everyone else. It’s a nice change of pace from her more "action-heavy" roles.
Kent Osborne as Deckard
Deckard Wizard is voiced by Kent Osborne, who is basically royalty in the world of indie animation. He worked on SpongeBob SquarePants, Adventure Time, and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.
Deckard’s voice is soft. Almost too soft. He’s the ultimate "soft boy" chef who can’t quite tell Bee how he feels. Osborne plays him with this hesitant, stuttering quality that makes you want to give him a hug and also tell him to just speak up already.
The Rest of the Wizard Clan
The show expands significantly in Lazy in Space, bringing in more of the Wizard siblings:
- Howell (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani): Yeah, that Kumail Nanjiani. He plays the slightly pompous, struggling businessman brother. It’s a perfect bit of casting because he can play "annoying but likable" in his sleep.
- Crispin (voiced by Tommie Earl Jenkins): Crispin is the weirdo who lives in a van and used to date Bee (sort of). Jenkins has this incredibly deep, soulful voice that makes Crispin’s bizarre behavior feel strangely profound.
The Weirdness of Guest Stars
One of the best things about the Bee and Puppycat cast is how they pull in people you wouldn't expect.
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Take Stephen Root, for example. The man is a legend. Office Space, Barry, King of the Hill. He shows up in the series as some of the more eccentric side characters. Then you have Natalie McDonald and even Natasha Allegri herself jumping in to voice various bit parts.
The casting feels like a group of friends hanging out, which is literally how the show started. It was a Kickstarter project. It was a labor of love. Even as it moved to a giant like Netflix, that "indie" energy stayed because the core cast stayed.
Why the Voice Direction Matters
Most people overlook voice direction, but for this show, it’s everything.
In a lot of Western animation, there’s a push for "theatricality." In Bee and Puppycat, the direction leans into the "mumblecore" aesthetic. There are long pauses. There’s overlapping dialogue. Characters trail off mid-sentence because they forgot what they were saying.
This helps ground the high-concept sci-fi elements. You can have a giant space warlock threatening the galaxy, but if the main character is more concerned about her spilled groceries and sounds genuinely annoyed about it, the world feels real. It’s that contrast between the epic and the mundane.
The Cultural Impact of the Cast
We have to talk about how the fans interact with these actors.
Because the show had such a long gap between the original YouTube shorts and the Netflix release, the Bee and Puppycat cast became legendary in niche internet circles. Fans didn't just want more episodes; they wanted more of these specific voices.
When the leaked episodes of Lazy in Space hit the internet years ago, people were dissecting every line. There was a genuine fear that the cast might change if it went to a big network. Thankfully, that didn't happen. The continuity of the voices is what allowed the show to survive its long, messy production history.
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Facts vs. Fiction: What People Get Wrong
There’s a common misconception that Puppycat is voiced by a child.
I’ve seen this on Reddit threads and Tumblr for years. People hear the high-pitched, melodic tone of the Vocaloid and assume it’s a kid with a filter. It’s not. Again, it’s Oliver. The reason it sounds so "real" sometimes is that the producers spend an insane amount of time tuning the software to mimic human breath and inflection.
Another weird rumor is that the show was "re-cast" for Netflix.
That’s partially true but mostly misunderstood. The Netflix version, Bee and Puppycat: Lazy in Space, actually re-animated and re-voiced the original stories to make them fit into a longer narrative. So, while it’s the same actors, they are technically "new" performances of the old material. If you watch the 2013 version and the 2022 version back-to-back, you can hear Allyn Rachel’s voice has matured. Bee sounds a bit more tired, a bit more lived-in.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Creators
If you’re a fan of the show or a creator looking at how this cast was built, there are some real takeaways here:
- Lean into the "Wrong" Choice: Using a Vocaloid for a lead character was a huge risk. It could have been grating. Instead, it became the show's signature. If you're creating something, don't be afraid of "unconventional" audio.
- Chemistry Over Credits: The Bee and Puppycat cast works because the actors feel like they inhabit the same world. They don't sound like they're in different booths. If you're casting a project, look for voices that "vibe" together rather than just big names.
- The Power of the Pause: Notice how much silence is in the show. The actors are allowed to breathe. This creates an atmosphere that you just don't get in fast-paced kids' cartoons.
The reality is that Bee and Puppycat shouldn't work. It’s too weird. It’s too slow. The protagonist is kind of a loser. But the cast makes you care about that loser. They make the bizarre space logic feel like a Tuesday afternoon.
If you want to dive deeper into the world of the Bee and Puppycat cast, your best bet is to follow the original creators on social media. Natasha Allegri and the team at Frederator often share behind-the-scenes clips of the recording sessions. Watching Allyn Rachel try to keep a straight face while "talking" to a computer-generated cat is exactly the kind of wholesome content the world needs right now.
To really appreciate the nuance, try this: watch an episode with headphones on. Listen to the background walla and the subtle vocal fry in Bee’s voice. You’ll realize that every "um" and "uh" was a deliberate choice to make this strange world feel like home.
Check out the official Frederator YouTube channel for the original pilot to compare the vocal evolution. It's a trip. You'll see exactly how far these characters—and their voices—have come since that first temp job in space.
Next Steps for the Deep Dive:
- Compare Versions: Watch the original 2013 "Food" episode and the Netflix Episode 1. Listen for the subtle shifts in Allyn Rachel's pitch and pacing.
- Explore the Tech: Look up the "Oliver" Vocaloid demos on YouTube. It’s fascinating to hear the raw software before it was turned into a grumpy space king.
- Support the Artists: Many of the voice actors, like Ashly Burch and Kumail Nanjiani, have substantial bodies of work. If you like their "vibe" in Bee and Puppycat, you’ll likely enjoy their more personal projects or improv work.