Adam Reed has done what nearly everyone in Hollywood has wanted to do which is co-creating a very popular show that hits the demographic with the money. College students all over America have said that they enjoy such shows as "The Simpsons," "Family Guy," "Futurama," "South Park" and "Sealab 2021."
Adam Reed and Matt Thompson are the co-creators of Adult Swims Sealab 2021. Cartoon Network has recently released the DVD of the first season of Sealab 2021.
Check out the website for Sealab 2021
Daniel Robert Epstein: How did you and Matt Thompson come up with Sealab 2021?
Adam Reed: We were just bored as hell with our jobs at Cartoon Network and wanted to raise our stock value. We picked an old show, got drunk and rewrote the dialogue. We didnt know how to edit so we wrote it to match the existing lip flap. The original Sealab was 30 minutes long which was like 22 minutes longer than it needed to be. It was incredibly unfunny but we were just proud as hell of it. Cartoon Network wisely passed. Then five years later we were in New York and broke again so we sent them a new seven minute pilot. Unbeknownst to us they were looking for content for Adult Swim so they bought it. That was in 1999 so weve been doing this a while.
DRE: The theme song is very original.
AR: Yes its done by a New York band called Calamine. Theyre not still together but they were a terrific band.
DRE: Who wrote it?
AR: We left it up to them. I had a crush on the lead singer, Julie Stepanek, and I was hoping that I would parlay the theme song into us getting married which didnt happen. I would invite her to dinner to talk about it and she would tell me we didnt need to go to dinner because she would just write the song. I just wanted to smell her hair!
DRE: Do you guys feel like there is a philosophy behind the humor of Sealab or do you just try to make it as funny as possible?
AR: If there is a philosophy I dont know what it is. There might be one. We try to make ourselves laugh and [senior vice president of Cartoon Network's Adult
Swim] Mike Lazzo laugh because he signs the checks.
DRE: I read that Matt has only met a few fans of the show. The show is really popular.
AR: The only feedback I get about that is from the forums of Adult Swim. Everybody on there just trashes the shit out of the show but every Monday morning I still go to see what they wrote. Its such a downer. Every Monday morning I get kicked in the teeth.
DRE: Do you agree with any of the stuff they post?
AR: I disagree with every negative comment and I get very defensive. Internet nerds, youre probably living in your moms basement. You dont know how hard it is to make good TV. I dont know, theyre all into anime and Im not.
DRE: I dont like anime either.
AR: I cant watch five minutes of it.
DRE: It bores the shit out of me.
AR: I think there is something strange about an adult that would sit down and write multiple postings about a cartoon. Shouldnt they be mowing their lawn or something?
DRE: You guys also direct the show which is unusual.
AR: Its a really small crew. There is me and Matt then four other guys. The four other guys draw and animate while Matt and I direct and edit. For me Im just a control freak so it drives me crazy to have anyone else do anything. I tend to micro-manage. The other thing is that were cheap. It would be nice to pay a producer to oversee the other guys but one of the shows selling points was that we wouldnt charge a lot of money for it. The profit margin is pretty slim.
DRE: Usually people that write TV cartoons dont direct. Did anyone try to convince you not to do it?
AR: No, theyre not hands off but they allow us our freedom. They dont really ever get in our production process unless were three weeks behind schedule, then we will get a phone call. Were pretty autonomous.
DRE: Wasnt there one episode that you didnt write?
AR: Yes All That Jazz (aka Jazz Cola) was co-written with us by Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis [creators of Aqua Teen Hunger Force].
DRE: How was that?
AR: Those guys are hilarious and it was a blast. I would like to do it more. Matt [Thompson] and I have on occasion gone over there to brainstorm for a Space Ghost. Nothing usually comes of that, its usually all these guys sitting around trying to crack each other up.
DRE: I went through a few of the websites that are obsessed with your show and I found some stuff. In one episode Captain Murphy calls himself "Howlin' Mad Murphy." Is that a reference to Dwight Schultz's character on The A-Team, "Howlin' Mad Murdock?"
AR: It is. We put a lot of pop culture references in. Stuff that we liked when we were kids. Its sort of a crutch because you know you will get a moderate laugh because its a common thing everyone can relate to.
DRE: Did you get The A-Team DVD set that just came out?
AR: No I didnt. I want The A-Team to live in my memory. I find when I watch old TV shows I am just appalled at how low the production value is.
DRE: I found that The A-Team actually sucks.
AR: Yeah, like the old Charlie Brown specials. When they came on at Thanksgiving and Christmas I thought they were the best things in the world. Ive watched a couple of them recently and found they werent good at all. Do you remember The Superstars?
DRE: No, whats that?
AR: It was NFL and MLB players competing at track and field. It was my favorite show of all time when I was a kid and I recently saw some episodes and it was terrible. Theyve got the jittery chyron and they had their socks pulled up to their knees. So I try not to watch anything old because it makes me sad.
DRE: In episode 2, is the whole beginning of this episode, from the alarm sounding to Murphy's speech about the oven, is taken directly from the film Mister Roberts?
AR: Yes it is. Its Henry Fonda, James Cagney and Jack Lemmon. Theyre all on a navy ship in World War 2.
DRE: Who is that joke for?
AR: Me. Mister Roberts was the first DVD I ever bought and nobody has heard of it.
DRE: Howd that fly at Cartoon Network?
AR: I think Lazzo knew it. Hes got an encyclopedic knowledge of everything thats been filmed or taped. Hes incredibly tuned in to culture. Its hard to get a reference by him.
DRE: I got a chance to talk to David X. Cohen who co-created Futurama. They used to write some jokes that werent funny but just weird. He said it was because they were writing until really late at night and they just kept rewriting over and over again. Does that ever happen to you guys?
AR: A lot of times if you work on a joke too much it just dies. It will either be right the first time or it will never be right. Tweaking something indefinitely costs us money because the animators have to sit around waiting for us and Im only so funny anyway. A lot of times you end up making the joke different and not necessarily better.
DRE: Did the show change much after Harry Goz passed away?
AR: Yeah it did. We were all floored by his death. The cool thing is his son is now the new captain with a different voice and a different character. We were close to Harrys family because he brought his wife in when he recorded. Both his daughter and his son are voice actors. We just had his daughter be the guest villain in a voice we are doing now.
The character of Captain Murphy was a great catalyst for dumbness. His crazy little mindset would easily fuel 11 minutes of stuff. The Happy Cake Oven episode is a perfect example because hes like a little kid in charge of all these people. When Harry died and we got rid of Captain Murphy we kind of lost that simple way to fuel an episode of absurdity.
DRE: Do you consider Sealab as part of that grand tradition of absurdity even going back to the absurd fine artists?
AR: I just read the coolest quote about American humor. I think it was Mark Twain who said that the whole basis of American humor is absurdity and trying to disguise the fact that it is absurd. It is absurd and we break all those good rules about plot construction. We use the Deus Ex Machina all the time because we dont know how to end the show, so we blow it up. I doubt whether it makes for excellent writing but its fun to make.
DRE: Have you guys met comedy writers that like the show?
AR: No.
DRE: Why do racier situations seem to get more into your show than the other Adult Swim shows?
AR: I guess thats our sense of humor. More and more of late we are locking horns with the networks Standards & Practices department about stuff. Its weird stuff like the fact that we cant say the word Jesus but we can show somebody getting murdered. A script we are working on now there is a guy thanking Jesus Christ and the Standards & Practices walk in, a big argument ensues and he ends up murdering the S & P guys. It turns out Aqua Teen had written the exact same script two weeks ago. We are all getting mad at the same people.
DRE: Do you meet with the S & P guys or just get notes?
AR: We get notes. If a script gets approved creatively it goes to a separate script clearance company who tells us what they might have problems with. Simultaneously it goes to Cartoon Networks legal department where they read it and then the Standards people read it. We get notes from all three making suggestions and telling us to take certain stuff out.
DRE: Do they make suggestions on jokes?
AR: Actually our script clearance company does. Its these five really nice ladies who live somewhere in Massachusetts and if we say Rolls-Royce theyll give us suggestions for new names. We just had an episode where a guy walks in with a box of Krispy Kremes. They said we cant do that but their alternate names were like Sugar Bombs.
DRE: Do they ever come up with something thats funnier than what you wrote?
AR: Probably funnier for us because its so ridiculous. Now we have a guy carrying a box of Sugar Bombs and we think thats hilarious.
DRE: I read that Sealab items were pulled from Hot Topic.
AR: Oh really? Im not really in the merchandising loop.
DRE: Do you get money from the merchandising?
AR: No, nor the DVDs. Its not the best contract in the world. Turner plays hardball with their suppliers. Its like, heres the contract you can sign it or go home. So we signed the contract. The interesting thing is that when we first sent them the pitch and Lazzo said he wanted it we got a contract from Turner legal. The first page of it said You have used a Turner owned property for this pitch. Legally we can sue you. Sign this contract or were going to sue you. We instantly got on the phone with Lazzo and he said What? Dont sign that! It actually took like ten months of back and forth between us and Turner legal to get an acceptable contract. Even then its more of a writ of servitude than a contract.
DRE: Has Sealab opened up doors for you to do other things?
AR: Maybe but I havent had time to look into any of those doors because Im so busy. Were too busy to come up with new show ideas. But if and when we do it will be easier to sell it.
DRE: Has anyone floated the idea of a Sealab movie?
AR: Just the internet people, the web posters.
DRE: Would you be interested in that?
AR: The show would have to end then we would we rest first. But its such a daunting thing. Writing a screenplay is hard. I know if there is a movie to be made there would be two years of script meetings and tweakings to be done. Then there is more money and people involved which seems like a nightmare.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Adam Reed and Matt Thompson are the co-creators of Adult Swims Sealab 2021. Cartoon Network has recently released the DVD of the first season of Sealab 2021.
Check out the website for Sealab 2021
Daniel Robert Epstein: How did you and Matt Thompson come up with Sealab 2021?
Adam Reed: We were just bored as hell with our jobs at Cartoon Network and wanted to raise our stock value. We picked an old show, got drunk and rewrote the dialogue. We didnt know how to edit so we wrote it to match the existing lip flap. The original Sealab was 30 minutes long which was like 22 minutes longer than it needed to be. It was incredibly unfunny but we were just proud as hell of it. Cartoon Network wisely passed. Then five years later we were in New York and broke again so we sent them a new seven minute pilot. Unbeknownst to us they were looking for content for Adult Swim so they bought it. That was in 1999 so weve been doing this a while.
DRE: The theme song is very original.
AR: Yes its done by a New York band called Calamine. Theyre not still together but they were a terrific band.
DRE: Who wrote it?
AR: We left it up to them. I had a crush on the lead singer, Julie Stepanek, and I was hoping that I would parlay the theme song into us getting married which didnt happen. I would invite her to dinner to talk about it and she would tell me we didnt need to go to dinner because she would just write the song. I just wanted to smell her hair!
DRE: Do you guys feel like there is a philosophy behind the humor of Sealab or do you just try to make it as funny as possible?
AR: If there is a philosophy I dont know what it is. There might be one. We try to make ourselves laugh and [senior vice president of Cartoon Network's Adult
Swim] Mike Lazzo laugh because he signs the checks.
DRE: I read that Matt has only met a few fans of the show. The show is really popular.
AR: The only feedback I get about that is from the forums of Adult Swim. Everybody on there just trashes the shit out of the show but every Monday morning I still go to see what they wrote. Its such a downer. Every Monday morning I get kicked in the teeth.
DRE: Do you agree with any of the stuff they post?
AR: I disagree with every negative comment and I get very defensive. Internet nerds, youre probably living in your moms basement. You dont know how hard it is to make good TV. I dont know, theyre all into anime and Im not.
DRE: I dont like anime either.
AR: I cant watch five minutes of it.
DRE: It bores the shit out of me.
AR: I think there is something strange about an adult that would sit down and write multiple postings about a cartoon. Shouldnt they be mowing their lawn or something?
DRE: You guys also direct the show which is unusual.
AR: Its a really small crew. There is me and Matt then four other guys. The four other guys draw and animate while Matt and I direct and edit. For me Im just a control freak so it drives me crazy to have anyone else do anything. I tend to micro-manage. The other thing is that were cheap. It would be nice to pay a producer to oversee the other guys but one of the shows selling points was that we wouldnt charge a lot of money for it. The profit margin is pretty slim.
DRE: Usually people that write TV cartoons dont direct. Did anyone try to convince you not to do it?
AR: No, theyre not hands off but they allow us our freedom. They dont really ever get in our production process unless were three weeks behind schedule, then we will get a phone call. Were pretty autonomous.
DRE: Wasnt there one episode that you didnt write?
AR: Yes All That Jazz (aka Jazz Cola) was co-written with us by Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis [creators of Aqua Teen Hunger Force].
DRE: How was that?
AR: Those guys are hilarious and it was a blast. I would like to do it more. Matt [Thompson] and I have on occasion gone over there to brainstorm for a Space Ghost. Nothing usually comes of that, its usually all these guys sitting around trying to crack each other up.
DRE: I went through a few of the websites that are obsessed with your show and I found some stuff. In one episode Captain Murphy calls himself "Howlin' Mad Murphy." Is that a reference to Dwight Schultz's character on The A-Team, "Howlin' Mad Murdock?"
AR: It is. We put a lot of pop culture references in. Stuff that we liked when we were kids. Its sort of a crutch because you know you will get a moderate laugh because its a common thing everyone can relate to.
DRE: Did you get The A-Team DVD set that just came out?
AR: No I didnt. I want The A-Team to live in my memory. I find when I watch old TV shows I am just appalled at how low the production value is.
DRE: I found that The A-Team actually sucks.
AR: Yeah, like the old Charlie Brown specials. When they came on at Thanksgiving and Christmas I thought they were the best things in the world. Ive watched a couple of them recently and found they werent good at all. Do you remember The Superstars?
DRE: No, whats that?
AR: It was NFL and MLB players competing at track and field. It was my favorite show of all time when I was a kid and I recently saw some episodes and it was terrible. Theyve got the jittery chyron and they had their socks pulled up to their knees. So I try not to watch anything old because it makes me sad.
DRE: In episode 2, is the whole beginning of this episode, from the alarm sounding to Murphy's speech about the oven, is taken directly from the film Mister Roberts?
AR: Yes it is. Its Henry Fonda, James Cagney and Jack Lemmon. Theyre all on a navy ship in World War 2.
DRE: Who is that joke for?
AR: Me. Mister Roberts was the first DVD I ever bought and nobody has heard of it.
DRE: Howd that fly at Cartoon Network?
AR: I think Lazzo knew it. Hes got an encyclopedic knowledge of everything thats been filmed or taped. Hes incredibly tuned in to culture. Its hard to get a reference by him.
DRE: I got a chance to talk to David X. Cohen who co-created Futurama. They used to write some jokes that werent funny but just weird. He said it was because they were writing until really late at night and they just kept rewriting over and over again. Does that ever happen to you guys?
AR: A lot of times if you work on a joke too much it just dies. It will either be right the first time or it will never be right. Tweaking something indefinitely costs us money because the animators have to sit around waiting for us and Im only so funny anyway. A lot of times you end up making the joke different and not necessarily better.
DRE: Did the show change much after Harry Goz passed away?
AR: Yeah it did. We were all floored by his death. The cool thing is his son is now the new captain with a different voice and a different character. We were close to Harrys family because he brought his wife in when he recorded. Both his daughter and his son are voice actors. We just had his daughter be the guest villain in a voice we are doing now.
The character of Captain Murphy was a great catalyst for dumbness. His crazy little mindset would easily fuel 11 minutes of stuff. The Happy Cake Oven episode is a perfect example because hes like a little kid in charge of all these people. When Harry died and we got rid of Captain Murphy we kind of lost that simple way to fuel an episode of absurdity.
DRE: Do you consider Sealab as part of that grand tradition of absurdity even going back to the absurd fine artists?
AR: I just read the coolest quote about American humor. I think it was Mark Twain who said that the whole basis of American humor is absurdity and trying to disguise the fact that it is absurd. It is absurd and we break all those good rules about plot construction. We use the Deus Ex Machina all the time because we dont know how to end the show, so we blow it up. I doubt whether it makes for excellent writing but its fun to make.
DRE: Have you guys met comedy writers that like the show?
AR: No.
DRE: Why do racier situations seem to get more into your show than the other Adult Swim shows?
AR: I guess thats our sense of humor. More and more of late we are locking horns with the networks Standards & Practices department about stuff. Its weird stuff like the fact that we cant say the word Jesus but we can show somebody getting murdered. A script we are working on now there is a guy thanking Jesus Christ and the Standards & Practices walk in, a big argument ensues and he ends up murdering the S & P guys. It turns out Aqua Teen had written the exact same script two weeks ago. We are all getting mad at the same people.
DRE: Do you meet with the S & P guys or just get notes?
AR: We get notes. If a script gets approved creatively it goes to a separate script clearance company who tells us what they might have problems with. Simultaneously it goes to Cartoon Networks legal department where they read it and then the Standards people read it. We get notes from all three making suggestions and telling us to take certain stuff out.
DRE: Do they make suggestions on jokes?
AR: Actually our script clearance company does. Its these five really nice ladies who live somewhere in Massachusetts and if we say Rolls-Royce theyll give us suggestions for new names. We just had an episode where a guy walks in with a box of Krispy Kremes. They said we cant do that but their alternate names were like Sugar Bombs.
DRE: Do they ever come up with something thats funnier than what you wrote?
AR: Probably funnier for us because its so ridiculous. Now we have a guy carrying a box of Sugar Bombs and we think thats hilarious.
DRE: I read that Sealab items were pulled from Hot Topic.
AR: Oh really? Im not really in the merchandising loop.
DRE: Do you get money from the merchandising?
AR: No, nor the DVDs. Its not the best contract in the world. Turner plays hardball with their suppliers. Its like, heres the contract you can sign it or go home. So we signed the contract. The interesting thing is that when we first sent them the pitch and Lazzo said he wanted it we got a contract from Turner legal. The first page of it said You have used a Turner owned property for this pitch. Legally we can sue you. Sign this contract or were going to sue you. We instantly got on the phone with Lazzo and he said What? Dont sign that! It actually took like ten months of back and forth between us and Turner legal to get an acceptable contract. Even then its more of a writ of servitude than a contract.
DRE: Has Sealab opened up doors for you to do other things?
AR: Maybe but I havent had time to look into any of those doors because Im so busy. Were too busy to come up with new show ideas. But if and when we do it will be easier to sell it.
DRE: Has anyone floated the idea of a Sealab movie?
AR: Just the internet people, the web posters.
DRE: Would you be interested in that?
AR: The show would have to end then we would we rest first. But its such a daunting thing. Writing a screenplay is hard. I know if there is a movie to be made there would be two years of script meetings and tweakings to be done. Then there is more money and people involved which seems like a nightmare.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 21 of 21 COMMENTS
cornelius:
"fignuts" and "jerkface" are forever in my lexicon.
ohsoordinary:
Fignuts.