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Whatever you do, dont callTuca & BertieaBoJack Horsemanspinoff.
Theres this apocryphal story about how Philip K. Dick wroteThe Man in the High Castle.
One day, a name appeared in his head for no particular reason: Mr. Tagomi.
He decided this should be a character hed write about, and it all stemmed from there.
Im always curious about those Mr. Tagomi ideas for creators.
I was like, Let me think of ideas.
I was like,Oh my God, thats me.
I love eating all the eggs.
Im so greedy with food.
This character is my id.
Im going to create Tuca.
I like creating these characters who just say whatevers on their mind and do whatever they want.
They have no bodily shame, no hindrance to whatever they want to say.
They just put it all out there, for better or worse.
Its very fun to write for a character like that.
I get to live vicariously through them.
She becomes really obsessed and shes using the plants to push away everyone emotionally.
It was a very quiet, sweet story, not as funny as most of my other work.
Id like to see you do some of these.
And through these characters, we could explore their differences and similarities and explore these themes of female friendship.
Liquor is not my vice.
That was more of my Tuca time.
A lot of the Tucas I know are currently sober.
But a lot of times, its just a quiet decision.
Its like Im brand-new at this.
I think a lot of people go through that.
That was my favorite episode.Oh, Im glad you liked it.
It was a difficult episode to write.
I mean, theyre all difficult in their own way.
I dont know, sometimes its hard to write those things.
The banh mi joke was getting a lot of traction on Twitter.Oh God, thats the worst pun.
Sure, but thats in keeping with the shows wordplay.
The bingeable model of watching makes that possible.
Its rewarding to make a little moment for you to find, but its not essential to the plot.
Its something that made the background designer laugh when they were drawing it, or made the storyboarders laugh.
Were letting you in on a crew joke.
Do you have a favorite visual joke that people might miss?Oh God, there are so many.
Theres the contract that Bertie needs to sign when shes potentially buying a house with Speckle.
Theres so much in the background of this show; its ridiculous.
We were just like, This is the best movie with the best actor in the whole world.
We watched it over and over again.
So, to get to cast him on this, I would not shut up about it.
Everyone was like, Who the hell is this?
Why are you so obsessed with this person?
I would not be able to play it cool at all.
Theyve been very hesitant to let other kinds of people in because …
I dont know, why change?
So thats been really frustrating.
When I first started working in animation, I was shocked by what a boys club it was.
But I think that is changing.
Its frustrating because I know its not for lack of trying.
They dont think that the audience is there.
They dont think the interest is there.
But I feel like Netflix has been picking up a lot, so hopefully other networks will follow suit.
Its not an animated show, but Adult Swim just green-lit theThree Busy Debrasshow.
Ijust saw that, yeah.Adult Swim has been the one whos been most outwardly against havingwomen-created shows.
Thatone execbeing outwardly misogynist was really shocking.
They just let him continue working there.
Im sure hes a great exec, but hes a misogynist.
Hopefully, theyre going to change and have a cartoon created by a woman, too.
That would be great.
And not just one.
Its like, But you have 16 shows about men, so come on.
Why is this considered niche?
The show dips its toe into surrealism, but never goes all the way in.
Does it help the plot?
But for the most part, those things serve the plot.
I think it makes sense that Berties phone can talk.
There are boobs on buildings, but that just helps flesh out the tone of the show.
Like, Yes, this is for adults.
Did you have to sell Netflix on using nudity so liberally?No, there was no sell.
There was just, Heres how its going to be.
And they were like, Cool.
But they werent objecting to it.
They thought it was interesting and hilarious, so there was no pushback.
Lets ease into it.
So that was the only feedback I got about that kind of thing.
Tell me about putting the music together.I really wanted a lot of music from the start.
And then we worked with Jesse Novak, whos this genius composer.
Hes so good.Hes so able to just do any style of music.
And hes so funny.
It felt very collaborative, but he really takes anything and makes it sound actually like a good song.
Its incredible, his ability.
He seems like a nice guy!Hes a very nice guy.
It was very, very fun working with him.
I didnt want to have an all-white cast that was my main goal.
Ali, frankly, just nailed the audition.
And she was great.
Shes just such a good actress.
And then Steven Yeun just had an incredible audition.
What animals are you currently obsessed with, just in your life?The usual horses, puppies.
I really like looking at reptiles.
I would not want to own one, but I like snakes and lizards.
I dont know, theres something funny about them.
Why would you want that in your house?
But I like to humanize them a little bit.
Mostly horses though, honestly.
On a day-to-day level, its like, yeah, horses are my base.
Do you follow horse Instagrams?Oh yeah, I follow horse Instagrams like crazy.
And then I have my own horse now.
I got her five months ago.
Congratulations, thats amazing.Thank you.
Im like, Oh my God, am I going to get sick of my favorite thing?
But I havent yet.
I go to the barn about four or five times a week.
Tell me about the non-animation sequences that occasionally pop up in the show.
Feel free to get crazy with the format.
So the directors were the ones who really suggested things like that.
They added in that puppet scene.
I just really like having that sense of play and breaking up the medium in my show.
Its so fun and unexpected.
It was really difficult.
Those things are just so fun to me.
Its just like, why not, you know?
This interview has been edited and condensed.
