A conversation with… The Robot Chicken Writers (Kevin Shinick, Tom Root, Doug Goldstein, Hugh Stervakov & Mike Fasolo)

I first met Robot Chicken creators Matt Senreich and Seth Green while I was working at Palisades Toys… they always let me hang around with them in return for some cool toys.  Then after Paliades went out of business, I landed at Master Replicas.  Not long after, Robot Chicken rolled out its first Robot Chicken: Star Wars episode.  I was graciously invited to come and hang out at the premier party at Skywalker Ranch… in return for some FX Lightsabers for the cast and crew.  (And, just to shut me up, they even included my picture with the cast on a DVD Easter Egg!)

So, when I signed on to the Long Beach Comic Con, and was asked to interview some of the guests, it was with no small amount of amusement that I emailed the Robot Chicken offices to say: “It’s ME again!” I’m still trying to figure out what I can give them, so that they’ll let me be seen with them at the show. Hmmm…

Anyway, five RC Writers agreed to sit down with me for a quick chat –   Kevin Shinick, Tom Root, Doug Goldstein, Hugh Stervakov and Mike Fasolo. (Seth & Matt were conspicuously “unavailable”; I should have brought gifts!)  But in all seriousness these are some really funny guys, with a lot of talent and passion for what they do. Check it out below:

TRAVIS: Thanks guys, first of all, for taking part in the inaugural Long Beach Comic Con.  What made Robot Chicken want to be a part of the show?

TOM: Anything for a paycheck!  Assuming there’s a paycheck.  There probably isn’t a paycheck, now that I think about it.

HUGH: I was just hoping for a catering table. Like, water and cookies?

MIKE: We’re media whores. If there’s a venue that will put our names in big, bold letters we’re all over it.

DOUG: I really want there to be a great con in Los Angeles.  I mean, San Diego Comic Con is nice but it’s a two hour drive and I usually hate leaving my house.  So anything we can do to make Long Beach big and awesome, we’re there, since we are big and awesome.

KEVIN: It’s close to my house.

TRAVIS: How did each of you become involved with Robot Chicken?

TOM: Matt Senreich and Seth Green fell in love back in 1998 or 1999, and when they wanted to make a short animated film, I was one of the writers they asked to help them out.  Long story short, three Emmy nominations.

HUGH: Seth created this show and asked me to buy the toys. I was busy with a couple other jobs that were better than buying toys, but Seth is a friend so I did him a favor. I’ve only got one Emmy nomination, but I’m a little better-looking than Tom, so it all evens out. Plus, the toy buyer gets all the chicks.

MIKE: Matt and I made a bet back in the late 90’s where whoever lost had to sell a TV show and hire the other. Matt lost and so I got a job at Robot Chicken. Pretty sweet, huh?

DOUG: Most of us used to work for Wizard and ToyFare magazines like a long time ago, and then Matt called Seth ‘cause he heard Seth loved toys and it turned out Seth loved ToyFare.  So we all became friends and decided to make a TV show.  Our first attempt, “Toys and Porn and Chickens” didn’t work out.

KEVIN: I was their one thousandth interviewee. So it was either give me a job or buy me a car.

TRAVIS: You guys all write for the show, but most of you have other responsibilities, as well.  I think Kevin, you’ve done some voice-work, and Doug and Tom have both directed and produced episodes, too.  How does that work – do you just draw names out of a hat, like some families do for chores?

TOM: When you’re creatively involved on a show like this, your job can’t just end when you hand in the script.  We’re always trying to think of ways to make the show better, and that means working on it in all sorts of various capacities.

HUGH: Wait—drawing names out of a hat, has anyone thought of that? That makes a lot of damn sense! Maybe we could actually WIN an Emmy with that strategy!

MIKE: What Tom said.

DOUG: None of us actually know how to make a TV show, so when people start screaming that something’s gotta get done, whichever one of us is closest tries to do it.  That’s why I avoid going to the bathroom at work – I don’t want to have to clean it.

KEVIN: To be honest, I think I swindled my way into my first RC voice over part. I wrote a “Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego?” sketch, which was a show I use to have on PBS. So when it came time to record, the choices to play me were limited. Then Mike and I became Co-Creative Directors because we share a kidney.

TRAVIS: Obviously you guys love toys.  Do any of you still collect toys, and if so, what?  Any prized possessions or favorite items, whether it’s something new or something you’ve had from childhood?

TOM: I’ve got the four Mego Teen Titans from the 1970s up on my shelf at home.  They were always my favorite Megos, but my old ones are beat to crap, and I never had Kid Flash.  When Seth [Green] found out, he started buying them for me as birthday gifts.

HUGH: I have a 10’ x 10’ storage unit full of toys, and I’ve decided it’s my 8 month-old daughter’s problem to deal with it. I share the unit with Seth, but my crap is sadly encroaching upon his more and more every year. One day I’ll go in there and it will have eaten all his stuff.

MIKE: Many many moons ago I had a pretty big collection of the Micronauts. I’m sure they’re somewhere back at my parents house shoved in a corner somewhere.

DOUG: I still have all the Transformers I had as a kid.  Metroplex, Swoop, Thundercracker… I’ve even got the original G1 Soudwave.  Mmmm…. Soundwave… so sexy…

KEVIN: My childhood home still has all the toys I grew up with and I’m amazed at how many Star Wars rip-offs I owned. Toys like Star Worlds, Star Raiders, or my favorite, S.T.A.R. Team, which were blatant knock-offs of Vader, Threepio and R2. Now I have faux love for them all.

TRAVIS: What’s your favorite Robot Chicken skit that you wrote or co-wrote?

TOM: Lately it’s the Harry Potter sketch where Criss Angel is a substitute teacher at Hogwarts.  It turns completely insane at the end.

HUGH: It didn’t make it to air. Sucks to be me. And yet, tons of people who work on the show quote it to me. My genius is doomed. Everybody get away from me, I’m a black hole of failure.

MIKE: My favorite skit is one that never made it into the show, either. It was where Darth Vader enlisted Encyclopedia Brown’s help to find Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon. It may have been the best skit ever written but everyone was so jealous of how great it was that they rejected it.

DOUG: The little sketch where a mouse ran in wearing a dynamite vest and killed a bunch of cats in a suicide bombing.  I love it.  My therapist loves that I love it.

KEVIN: My usual answer is the 300 spoof I wrote called 1776. But recently I’ve found a soft spot for “Thursday the 12^th.” the sketch where Jason is getting ready for Friday the 13^th.

TRAVIS: Okay, share the love – what’s your favorite Robot Chicken skit written by one of the other guys in this interview?

TOM: I like Mike Fasolo’s retelling of Jesus’s birth in the manger.  It’s two solid minutes of farting followed by an explosion.  And it makes Mike’s parents disappointed in him, which is an added bonus.

HUGH: I don’t even really know why, but I loved Doug Goldstein’s sketch where King Kong overhears his imprisoners talk about how stupid he is, and then takes their advice to climb over the fence. Probably because nobody farts or humps anything. Y’know, I’m a classy guy.

MIKE: My favorite is the Star Trek Opera that was written by Kevin Shinick. It’s a great idea, got great music and real opera singers. It needs to be made into a full length opera and put on Broadway.

DOUG: Tom wrote a sketch where Inspector Gadget used spare parts from Cyberdyne and acted like a Terminator.  Genius.  Pure f***ing genius.  Tom is a pure, f***ing genius.

KEVIN: I think I was in tears when I first read Tom’s Iron Man sketch where the loud noise of his iron uniform screeching through the metal air ducts gives him away.

TRAVIS: Is there anything off limits for Robot Chicken?  Anything you guys won’t parody or lampoon?  Or have there ever been instances where the network said “no” to an idea for a sketch?

TOM: At this point there’s probably no subject we won’t touch.  It’s just a matter of how.  And after four seasons we know how the network’s going to react to things, so we don’t submit anything they’ll outright refuse to air.

MIKE: We’ll write anything that comes to mind, no matter how ridiculous or taboo or mean. From there it got so the network and the lawyers and they have the final say.

DOUG: No.  I wrote a short bit about a stillborn baby once.  It got to animatic and was cut for time.  So… no.

KEVIN: Has Robot Chicken said things are off limits? No. Has my wife said things are off limits? Yes. In fact, she didn’t speak to me for a while after I “desecrated” Dr. Seuss and Charlie Brown.

TRAVIS: I love the Star Wars episodes – how involved was Lucasfilm in making the episodes?  Are we going to see a Star Wars Robot Chicken: Episode III?

TOM: We made our Star Wars episodes with Lucasfilm’s full blessing, but their involvement in content was very limited.  And yes, we’ll be making a third Star Wars episode.  Adult Swim announced it on a bump several months back, so I guess it’s happening!

MIKE: All the skits we write are seen by Lucasfilm and they have final say but they pretty much let us do what we want. And yes, there will be an Episode III.

DOUG: Once a year or so George Lucas flies down to LA and begs us to take some of his money.  It’s kind of annoying at this point – we say yes just to make him go away.

KEVIN: They were great. They let us go nuts and usually only had minor notes. And yes, we are currently working on a third (possibly feature length) Star Wars special.

TRAVIS: Titan Maximum is debuting soon, and preliminary buzz has been great! (Editors Note: The show actually HAS debuted now… sorry it took me so long to post!) What do you want to say about the show?

TOM: I think Robot Chicken fans will like Titan Maximum.  It’s the same vibe, just with recurring characters and awesome robots and lasers.  If viewers will simply watch every episode of the first season multiple times, and maybe buy some merchandise, I’m certain the show will grow on them eventually.  That’s all I ask.

HUGH: I’m against the show because I don’t have to buy any toys for it. But, having seen some of the episodes, I can say it’s the best damn show I’ve ever been against.

MIKE: It’s a giant robot controlled by a dysfunctional team of kids who you wouldn’t want mowing your lawn and yet they’re the ones in charge of saving the universe. How can you go wrong?

DOUG: Titan Maximum?  I’m not familiar with it.

KEVIN: Watch the F**k out of it!

TRAVIS: Did you guys get out and skate at the Robot Chicken on Wheels Tour?  I was at the Philly stop, and the only writer I saw was Kevin!

TOM: I was at the San Diego, Los Angeles and Las Vegas skate parties, and I did not skate.  That was a whole lot of not skating, let me tell you.

HUGH: I was at the LA show, and I can’t skate because of the friction rule. I refuse to attach anything to my body that eliminates friction. Look, I can barely walk straight on a flat floor that’s not moving. You can’t ask too much of me, even for my art.

MIKE: I was only at the LA one and by the time I got there they’d run out of skates so I couldn’t. But if I had it would have been a sight to see. My skating skills were the inspiration behind all those awesome 80’s skating movies.

DOUG: I did the first third of the tour so I could say I slept on a big tour bus.  Pretty comfortable actually.  Though being woken up by the sound of the bus going over the rumble strips is not cool.

KEVIN: Yes! I have photos, stories and two bruised kneecaps to prove it. Illegitimate children still pending.

TRAVIS: Since Matt & Seth aren’t here, anything you want to share about them?

TOM: Matt’s middle name starts with an “I.”  Isn’t that weird?  And Seth’s real name is Samuel Greeley.  Look it up.

HUGH: Really? What is Matt’s middle name? Is it Irwin? AND CAN WE CALL HIM FLETCH?? Dammit, I’m so jealous of Matt now. And Seth? In person he’s 6’ 5”. It’s all a ruse. And now I’ve given it up.

MIKE: They are both good, honest, fair, hard workers who I am honored to know and call my friends. Think that will get me a raise?

DOUG: Seth and Matt aren’t here?  Then I’m going home!  Later, suckers!

KEVIN: You will never see them in the same room together.

TRAVIS: Finally Doug, since Breckin’s not around… want to set the record straight on the “Aluminum Falcon” skit?

TOM: He does.

HUGH: Oh man, I can’t wait for this.

MIKE: One day, far in the future, someone is going to write a Da Vinci Code-like book about uncovering the truth of this skit. I just hope the book will be more thrilling than what actually happened.

KEVIN: On behalf of Breckin, I think it’s only fair for me to say, “Doug, you’re a liar!” And I’m saying that without having heard Doug’s response.

DOUG: (Sighs) Look.  I conceptualized the sketch, pitched the sketch, and I wrote the sketch.  Brecken touched up the dialogue a little.  Before that, he’d never even seen the Star Wars films.  Oh, he’d seen every episode of “Droids” and has “The Ewok Adventure” on tape, but that was it.  When we sat him down and told him what the whole Saga was about, he really fell in love with the Jar Jar character.  So we just gave him a juice box and told him to sit in the corner for the whole writing cycle.  And that’s the truth.