Episode #397
Lance Reddick stars as Renzo, an egotistical human warrior who has liberated the planet Farzar from evil aliens — it’s all part of the new Netflix sci-fi animated comedy series, Farzar, created by Roger Black and Waco O’Guin, whose previous animated projects include Brickleberry and Paradise PD. Black and O’Guin have been making outrageous comedy since meeting in college at the University of Georgia, and I spoke with them about their journey from Yucko The Clown on Howard Stern to animation, and with Reddick about pivoting from prestige TV to prank comedy.
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Last things first: Is Farzar part of the Yucko the Clown Cinematic Universe?
Waco O’Guin: Yucko the Clown (laughs).
Roger Black: It’s more the Brickleberry (Cinematic Universe). This is our third animated show. Super excited. We love the animated world system. We built it from Brickleberry. We started with a national park, then we went to an ensemble kind of workplace and now, the ultimate dream is working in space. Because we’ve always wanted to do a sci-fi show. We’re huge sci-fi nerds and fans of that and He-Man as well. We grew up on all the cartoons in the 80s and everything.
So there is a natural through-line through all of your animated projects.
Roger: Yeah. A lot of times we use the same cast and everything, too, because we get such a shorthand from working with them for so long.
And how does Lance Reddick enter the picture?
Lance Reddick: Gingerly.
Lance, your resume. I could talk to you individually for hours, just about The Wire. But then of course, you’ve been a stalwart fixture in genre series and movies (Lost, Fringe, John Wick among them). What drew you to Farzar and these two guys specifically?
Lance: Well, we had worked together on Paradise PD. So they had written a role that was there was got to kind of send up, this cross between the character I played on Fringe, and Lieutenant Daniels on The Wire. So we knew each other, and so I already knew, I had some idea what I was getting into in terms of their style of humor. This came up — they just called me up and said, hey man, we wrote this character with you in mind, please do it. I was like, OK.
How did you first get hooked up with them for Paradise PD, then?
Waco: I had watched The Wire, in between season one and season two of Paradise. I’d watched The Wire and I loved Lance’s character, and just wanted to write ridiculous stuff for that actor to say. We just went through your agent on now and and we just we were so happy when you accepted. We’ve had a blast working with Lance.
Lance, what did it take to convince you to work with these guys?
Lance: Whenever you say to an actor, it’s the lead. The lead, what? The lead? OK.
I know this is a different answer for Roger and Waco than it is for you, but Lance, I’ll start with you — what does it feel like to pivot from using your stature in live-action to then focusing on your voice and the stature of your voice in animation?
Lance: Well, I mean, I’ve done video games. I’ve been doing that quite a bit for the last 10 years. I actually haven’t done that much animation before. It’s interesting, because, in some ways, I mean, in terms of comedy, it’s actually easier to just rely on your voice, at least the stuff that I’ve had to do, because the characters that I played on Paradise PD and Farzar are so bombastic. But I know that a lot of the time when I’m working in video games, it’s much more difficult because most of that stuff is dramatic, and there’s a lot of nuance, and I’m just so used to being able to use my face and my body to help express things. It’s just a different kind of challenge.
For Roger, you know, I started by name-dropping Yucko the Clown, who probably doesn’t have a lot of nuance to him. Could you please fill me in on the transition from breaking out on Stern with Yucko, and then pivoting to, you guys met in college and you were doing sketches?
Roger: Yeah.
Tell me about that transition from being known for this one thing, to then pivot. Why you pivoted to animation and how that all came about?
Roger: Well, yeah, Waco and some of his buddies were doing a sketch comedy show in Athens, Georgia, and I was doing the Yucko character as stand up, then got on to Howard. And Howard was able to plug the comedy show, and that led to an MTV show, which led to us getting an agent, which led us to shopping out shows and developing shows, so it was like a little step-by-step process. Over, you know, 10 years, we finally sold another show after the MTV show was canceled.
Roger: We had an animated segment on our MTV show, and then we came up with Brickleberry, which was going to be a live-action show itself. But we were gonna have like cars flying off cliffs, and it was going to be really crazy. And they’re like, why don’t you animate this? And we’re like, hell yeah. We were huge fans of The Simpsons. Waco was an animation major at the University of Georgia. So we’re just like, Yeah, let’s try to animate it! We turned Brickleberry into animation. We fell in love with the medium. We learned how to break story. From Bento Box, we learned all the ins and outs of animation from animatics to full on animation. And yeah, and then we got at Netflix.
It sounds like there’s three pivotal talents in your arc, for both Roger and Waco. The first would be Howard Stern. The second would be Daniel Tosh, because he’s the guy who ultimately helped get Brickleberry to Comedy Central.
Waco: Absolutely.
And then the third would be Lance Reddick.
Waco: That’s right.
Because he gives you the stature and the legitimacy that maybe Howard couldn’t give you.
Roger: We did not know how Lance was gonna react. He’s such a stoic stentorian actor in there, like, is he gonna say this crazy shit? We sent over the, you know the sides. We’re like, oh, man, we gotta get him. But we’re like, will he do it? Will he do it? And he did.
Waco: And then we watched The Eric Andre Show we’re like oh, yeah, he’ll do it. If he could do that, he’ll do this.
Wait, I think I missed that episode. What did you do?
Lance: What I’m most famous for on that show is the last bit. I do this thing called I Wish I Were LeVar Burton. So we have the interview and then I storm off and break his desk, and then like they talk about me. And then I come back. And I’m in slave shorts. Nothing else. No shirt. In chains. I’ve got Geordie’s visor from Star Trek and the communicator badge stuck to my chest. And I just start doing this chant, that I wish I were LeVar Burton. I wish I were LeVar Burton. Where’s my iconic slave role? Then I have a tantrum, and I say ‘Fuck all y’all!’ It’s so funny, because for years, I thought LeVar Burton was mad at me, because I’d Tweet something at him on Twitter and it’d be crickets. Crickets. During the pandemic, I was watching The Next Generation for the fourth time, and I Tweeted something to Michael Dorn about the incredible character development he did and the next day LeVar Burton says ‘I Wish I was Lance Reddick.’ So I said, OK, he’s not mad at me!
You’re kind of taking me to school here, because I didn’t realize Lance, that you are already like on board with the whole idea of of prank comedy.
Lance: Also I did Corporate which is aired on Comedy Central. Which I actually was able to do concurrently with while I was shooting Bosch. That character is kind of like Renzo (on Farzar). He’s the CEO of a multinational corporation who’s a freaking maniac. He’s a complete mess. But Renzo was a whole nother level.
It’s such a strange year in the world. It’s a strange year in streaming television. You know, everybody’s talking about like, what is even the future of Netflix? But you guys have been through the rigmarole of show business before in different capacities, whether it’s acting or behind the scenes as creators, show runners.
Waco: Everything will be fine. We went through 2008. You know, the industry was over and you know, nobody had any money for pilots, but it comes back. I think Netflix is doing just fine. I mean, they’re the biggest. Now I think Wall Street kind of gets it wrong. I’m buying the stock. I have full confidence Netflix will be back and remain the best streamer. You heard right here like Jim Cramer shit.
Roger: You aren’t as animated though, as Cramer.
Well, that’s for the best. What do you guys love most about animation at this point? I mean, this is your third project.
Waco: Our first project was live action, and I can tell you, animation is so much better. In so many countless ways. From the fact that you get multiple chances to improve the episode. Because we do several like, three four screenings with the whole staff to see which jokes hit which jokes don’t. Replace the duds. Improve the ones that work. You know, you just get so many chances to get it right, and keep making it better all the way up until when it airs. You don’t have to worry about going on shoots or someone forgetting a camera or battery. You know it’s just more relaxed. We only had one live-action show, super low budget, so maybe some productions are more relaxed than that. But compared to our only live-action show, animation is you know, a walk in the park. We love doing it.
I guess one of the main differences about working for a company like Netflix compared to Comedy Central — especially since you worked for Comedy Central before all this recent Viacom, CBS Paramount+ merging and acquisitions and dumping of talent — but working with Comedy Central, on basic cable, you were still kind of dependent upon the ratings, and the numbers and the revenue. So what is it like working with Netflix, where not only do the numbers not matter, you might not even know what the numbers are?
Waco: You want to take it Rog?
Roger: No!
(All laugh)
Waco: It is nice not to have to check TV by the Numbers and get an ulcer, hit refresh refresh refresh, reveal, what is it? Oh God! Or Yay? It is nice not having to worry about that. Now we do. The numbers do matter, and we do know the numbers a little bit. But nothing like waiting on that rating. Waiting on your share
Roger: Next day. Yeah, the day after you air, you’re right.
Waco: That would happen. With Brickleberry, 13 times you’d have to do that. It was super stressful.
Lance, you might have had that experience with Fringe.
Lance: Yeah. It was weird. Because afrer coming from HBO, I didn’t even know that I was spoiled. Till I came to network television. A network series, and I remember after the first or second episode aired, I remember Josh Jackson walking around talking about the ratings, what it mean. And I’m like, what the ratings mean? How good is the show? That’s all that matters, right? I’m like, No. It was a weird cultural disconnect for me.
Yeah, and I guess the other thing I might as well mention, since we’re talking the day after the Emmy nominations come out, is you know, we were just talking about ratings and how they may or may not matter. In the industry, we also put a great deal of emphasis on the awards. But in the end, what really matters to each of the three of you in terms of, what’s the real reward of doing each individual project?
Roger: I got an Emmy. Down at the souvenir store on Hollywood and Highland. No. I mean, the awards are great and everything, and it’d be great to have one one day, but you know, ultimately, we just want to create great content and make people laugh. I feel like my comedy is, anyway.
Waco: Serving the fans, you know, making the fans enjoy the show, and maybe bringing a little bit of joy into people’s lives when we’ve all been through a lot in the past few years
Lance: I had a long session with my therapist this morning, after I didn’t get any nominations. No. My experience on The Wire was very sobering, in terms of what I thought awards meant and what they may actually really mean. So, for me, it’s nice — it would be nice to be nominated. But so much of what’s in terms of just as an actor or with your career. What’s important about these nominations and winning them, is how the industry interprets them because it can determine the kinds of opportunities you get. However, I’m now at a point in my career where I feel like I’m just starting, at 60, I’m starting to live the dream. So I don’t care.
So how do you measure success? Is it a people recognizing you on the street? Is it by people like me giving you great critical reviews on websites? Is it the next offer that comes down the pike from your agent?
Lance: Well, wow.
What does your therapist tell you?
Lance: The question’s a little loaded, because of what is success, and what it means. So at the end of the day. It’s always interesting to me when young people ask me for tips on becoming successful, because what I feel like they’re really asking for: Can I find out some tricks to become a star as fast as possible? And I feel like there’s a whole skillset to being a star. There’s a whole skillset to being an artist, and they’re not the same. In this industry, some people are really good at both. And for me, the most important thing is to be able to consistently do work that I love, and I’m proud of. Working with great people, and pay all my bills and that’s happening.
Well, I’d like to congratulate and award all three of you for putting up with me for 20 minutes and answering my questions.
Lance: Twenty minutes?! You went over! If I’d known that, I would’ve thrown a temper tantrum because I’m a star!
You even more awards for that. So congratulations and thank you.
Waco: Thank you so much.
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