One of the highlights of attending San Diego Comic-Con, last week, was seeing the cast of FOX's animated series, 'The Cleveland Show,' who are celebrating its upcoming second season.

Cast members Sanaa Lathan (who voices Donna Tubbs), Kevin Michael Richardson (who voices Cleveland Brown, Jr., and Lester Krinklesac among others), and Reagan Gomez (who voices Roberta) were on hand along with series creators Seth MacFarlane, Mike Henry, and Richard Appel.

During its panel session, clips from future episodes were shown. One scene had Cleveland playing basketball against President Barack Obama.

While Richardson is the veteran of the trio, having done voices in other animated series -- including Maurice from 'The Penguins of Madagascar,' The Joker on 'The Batman,' and the upcoming 'Kung Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom --Lathan and Gomez are getting comfortable doing work from a booth and having time to do other projects at the same time.

Black Voices caught up with the trio. Excerpts of the conversations are below.

Sanaa Lathan: The biggest joy is that you get to laugh your butt off every week. The other joy is that you can roll out of bed in your sweats, go to work, and you're done in an hour. I feel lucky to be part of such a great group of people. They are really at the top of their craft and it's just funny stuff.

Kevin Michael Richardson: It's cool. It's a lot of fun to do. It's a black animated sitcom that's on primetime television and the success of it is really nice. It's about time. I don't remember the last time a black animated show did. 'The PJs' come to mind.
How has your character grown as you continue to do more with her with each episode?

SL: My character Donna, I'm always discovering new things about her. Coming up next season, Donna has a past as a blaxploitation actress superstar called Hot Coco Bang Bang. She has many colorful things in her past that come out and many skills that come out.

Doing an animated show is totally different from feature films that you've done. How do you work that out?

SL: We get to do the table reads, where everyone is there and we get the feel of the story. You get to see where the laughs are at and then you go in and you do it. Sometimes, Cleveland (voiced by Mike Henry) will come in and do it with me.

RG: We tape each individual character. We don't tape as a group or as a cast. Kevin does about 18 different characters on any given episode.

KMR: Reagan does a few herself. She's very talented. In working out the characters that I do, they would show me a picture, and if it's a celebrity, that's usually no problem because we have an idea of what that person sounds like anyway. They would show us an illustration and tell Reagan and myself what they want. We would collaborate on these issues, and then make everybody happy.

Sanaa, how were you able to work on the show and still have time to perform 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' in London?

SL: That's the greatest part of this job. You can be anywhere in the world and all they need is a booth, and what they do is they call in to the booth, and you do the same thing that you do in LA, but you're doing it by phone.

What else do you have coming up?

SL: I just finished a pilot for HBO called 'Tilda,' which is produced and directed by Bill Condon, and starring Diane Keaton, Ellen Page, and myself.

KMR: I'm doing a voice on the animated 'Transformers' series as well as the 'G.I Joe' animated series.

RG: I did a film called 'A Gang Land Love Story.' It's a modern day Romeo and Juliet and I play the Juliet character. It stars myself, A.J Lamas and Gary Anthony Sturgis. I also have another movie coming out called 'Dysfunctional Friends' with me, Meagan Good, Stacey Dash, Wesley Jonathan, Tatiana Ali, and it's a crazy cast. I'm trying to do my thing.

SIDE NOTE: According to Deadline.com, 'Tilda' centers on Tilda (played by Keaton), a powerful female online Hollywood journalist with a no-holds-barred style. Page will play Caroyln, a morally conflicted creative assistant caught between following the corporate culture of the studio she works for and following Tilda, who has taken a keen interest in her. Lathan will play Sasha Litt, a mysterious new head of operations that big boss Andrew Brown (played by Jason Patric) brings in to work at the studio.

'The Cleveland Show' will make its second season return on September 26 at 8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT.