My generation has a hard time being genuine and enthusiastic. There's a lot of irony in our culture.
The basic idea of 'The Venture Brothers' was taking the world of 'Jonny Quest' and jumping back into 30 years later, seeing how someone who grew up like Jonny - with that kind of space race enthusiasm and disregard for other cultures - would turn out. Dr. Venture is a boy genius who didn't grow up to be what he should have been.
Shore Leave is the one who evolved the most - because he started as a one-off joke because we were gagging on how the G.I. Joe vocationally specific-themed characters reminded us of the Village People. We made a sassy Village People kind of guy, and then we brought him back.
I hate hearing me talk when I'm not in character, and I can barely deal with hearing me as a character.
I accidentally saw David Byrne's last two songs in Prospect Park at a free concert because I came out of a movie late, and he was still playing.
I dressed as the Riddler once, when I was little too heavy to do. I would wear tights. My brother was in a hair metal band, and he had Riddler tights made. My brother's a geek, but he was in a heavy metal band, so I'm a chubby fifteen-year-old, and I borrow his Riddler tights and wear them to school with the package. That wasn't a good idea.
I've been working pretty much 12-16 hours a day, six or seven days a week since May of 2003, and every time I see a photo of myself, I realize that there is never a time when I don't look exhausted.
The thing that always struck me about 'Jonny Quest' is: What kind of parent brings his kid to the Amazon so that yetis can throw boulders at him?
Cristin Milioti! Who you might know from 'How I Met Your Mother' or 'The Wolf of Wall Street.' A pure delight.
Shirt Club isn't just a series of shirts that say 'I Love The Monarch' on them.
The biggest direct influence on my career is Ben Edlund, who gave me my first real professional break and, through his friendship and example, turned me into a writer and a more critical thinker in general.
I think it's more fun to grow to love characters who are flawed than it is to present perfect characters. Perfect characters aren't very funny. Certainly my friends are a strange, intense bunch of people, and people's families drive them crazy, but challenging relationships are always more rewarding.
My first cassette was 'Synchronicity,' and my first CD was U2 'War' and King Crimson 'Discipline.'
Around 2000, I was working on cartoons like 'PB&J Otter' and 'Doug.'
Guys like the Monarch are not unique, and there are guys like him all over the world torturing dumb scientists.
I really love advertising art of the '50s and the way mid-century design was often represented in jazzy, fast art.
I don't watch a lot of TV. I just don't have a whole lot of time, and my life is so disorganized, I don't have any kind of consistent schedule. Usually, I pop in a DVD or flip around when I get home at 4 in the morning and try to fall asleep.
I don't think a lot of people are able to relate to genuine patriotism, a genuinely good feeling about our country and its meaning to the rest of the world.
When you see 'Star Wars', and you see Greedo hustle up to Solo, you know they have a history; you understand that there's a dude named Jabba the Hutt who's after him, and Greedo is going to try to shoot him and get the money. You get what's going on there.
I used to throw on soundtracks, and orchestral stuff would be the only thing I could write to, maybe 'Dead Can Dance' or 'Cocteau Twins' or something. Mostly, it was movies scores that would kind of inspire me.