Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach and Donald - A Very Special Episode: Alabama Jackson w/ Seth Green and Friends

Episode Date: February 15, 2022

We get animated on this week's episode as we dive into the pilot episode of Donald's new show Alabama Jackson! Join us as we break down the time-traveling comedy with the creative minds behind the show, including Seth Green, Chris Waters, 'Harv' Harvatine, Shirley Faison, Ashley Ray, and Lee House.   Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Raquel Willis. Join me on my new podcast, Queer Chronicles, a show where LGBTQ plus folks tell their own stories in their own words. This season, teens will share all about growing up in political battleground states. We will always exist and we will definitely not let them take away our joy, no matter how hard they try. Listen to Queer Chronicles on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your most fabulous shows. Hi, this is Shannon Doherty, host of the new podcast, Let's Be Clear with Shannon Doherty. So in this podcast, I'm going to be talking about marriage, divorce, my family, my career. I'm also going to be talking a lot about cancer, the ups and the downs, everything that I've learned from it. It's going to be a wild ride. So listen to Let's Be Clear with Shannon Doherty on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey, it's Alec Baldwin. This past season on my podcast, Here's the Thing, I spoke with more actors, musicians, policy makers, and so many other fascinating people like jazz bassist Christian McBride. Jazz is based on improvisation,

but there's very much a form to it. You have a conversation based on that melody and those chord changes. So it's kind of like giving someone a topic and say, okay, talk about this. Listen to the new season of Here's the Thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, and I'm the host of the On Purpose podcast. And I had the opportunity to talk to one of Hollywood's major icons,

Michael B. Jordan. In our conversation, Michael shares the highs, the lows, and everything in between, offering a genuine glimpse into his world. The closest to getting what you want is always the hardest. People give up right before they get what they've always wanted to get. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, guys. This is Joelle.

Hopefully you know me if you're here. If not, hi, I executive produced this show. I am so excited for what we have in store for you today. Donald has a show, as we've talked about quite a lot, Alabama Jackson. It's out right the heck now. You can go listen to it. It's actually a TV show, so you can watch it, which is great. And we're so excited. He brought so many of his good friends here, and we are elated to have an opportunity to bring you guys a sense of comedy and laughter and of course to uplift our friend Donald like

guys if you he worked so hard put everything everything else on the back burner to deliver a show that is full of his passion full of his drive it really pushed him as an artist you know and it's I think he's bearing a lot of his soul in it um it's an incredible like the laughs per per second are through the roof. You're going to love it. I digress. We're going to talk about all of that in the show. But before we get to that, I want to take a little bit of time to explain why our other best friend Zach isn't here. If you follow him on Instagram, then you're aware that he recently lost a friend to suicide. lost a friend to suicide. It's devastating if you've ever had to go through it. It's a lot to mentally process. It's a lot to try to examine. And so he's taking time to grieve and to do that. It's been a really hard couple of years. Suicide rates are at an all-time high and we just wanted to acknowledge first the love of that friendship and second to encourage you if you're having suicidal thoughts, if you know somebody who's having suicidal thoughts, to please, please, please, please reach out for help. You are so worth the time and the effort to feel better, to have a full and happy life,

and hopefully help isn't too far out of reach. If you're in America, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. That number is 1-800-273-8255. Again, it's 800-273-8255. So our thoughts and love are with Zach as he's working through this difficult time. And of course, to anybody else, you know, trying to grieve a loved one or struggling to lift themselves up. It's a lot of work. We see you. We love that you're trying. And we're with you. Okay. Now we're going to do some laughs. You're going to hear a lot of love between a lot of people who've worked really hard to bring something special into this world. And I love that we can share that with you guys. So without further ado, please enjoy a very special episode of Fake Doctors, Real Friends,

The Alabama Jackson Story. Here's some stories about a show we made About a bunch of doctors and nurses and a janitor who loved to hate. I said he's got stories that we all should know. So gather round to hear our, gather round

to hear our Scrubs Rewatch show with Zach and Donald. Mm-hmm. Well, well, well. Look at this. Look at this. Look at what we have here.

Daniel, Joel, I'd like to introduce you to Chris and Harvateen. Hi, guys. Hello, gentlemen. Pleasure to meet you both. What's happening? These are the stupid buddy guys right here. Harv is one of the head honchos. Yeah. He's like the,

we got, we got one of the owners up on this piece right now. Oh shit. Pleasure to have you both. Truly. Well, it is, I'm such a huge fan of what you guys do on the podcast.

And yeah, so this is so cool that, that I'm even like a small part of this and donald you kicked ass in that commercial and how great was it that sets played and then you're played right after right after that's crazy i didn't even know i didn't know you were in a commercial man did you you didn't tell us did you i didn't tell anyone okay is that what you guys were what were you guys talking about before we record what were you guys talking about before we record? What were you guys talking about?

Is that what you were talking about on the last episode? Yeah, so we talked about that as our big news and we bleeped that out. Yeah, the thing that you beeped out. Okay, because I was like, damn. I thought maybe my mind went right to Dr. Acula. I was like, oh shit. That would be dope. Oh my God.

Yo, you're speaking the language, man. Everybody would go crazy if that's what it was. Dude, I think Dr. Acula should be, I think you guys should do a Dr. Acula special of the podcast. What if we did a Dr. Acula stop motion animated special? Dude, that's what I'm saying, man. We get puppets that look like me and Zach, and we freaking make a Dr. Acula movie. I told my 15 year old about this podcast and she

was, she's a huge fan because of Hulu. She watches Scrubs and she called you guys kings. You and you and Zach Kings. Wow. And she like my dream is for her to call me a king because she, anyone that's cool she calls him a king. So that's like so I know that you guys thought it was it was it was more uh it was more because it was his friend's son or whatever but

all the kids all the kids in high school are watching scrubs it's it's uh it's officially retro cool i hope so because it really feels like friends and the office are leading the way when it comes to what the kids are watching nowadays. Let me introduce you guys to Harvatine and Chris Waters. These guys both work at Stupid Buddy Studios. Harvatine is an owner of Stupid Buddy Studios. And Chris, what would you say your role is? Because you have a bunch of hats in this situation. Like, you and I sat down and we did the development together, and then you jumped on as a writer after that in Alabama Jackson. What would... I'm just...

Joelle, I'm all over the place. We should really start by saying, welcome to Fake Doctors, Real Friends special episode of Alabama Jackson. There you go. The new fast-paced stop-motion animated comedy series

on Adult Swim's YouTube platform, which premieres today! Thunderous applause. Thunderous applause, Daniel. Oh, that's right, because today is tomorrow. Today is tomorrow, yeah. I was like, wait a minute and on the show we have

with us Harv who is the king of I'm going to call you king how about that who is the king you like that? it's a little much the prince of animation well I'm going to say king because

in this situation you are the two people that i were my go-to guys and then seth when he gets on here also yeah you guys are champions of uh the alabama jackson cause and so you know i mean a lot of people could have jumped on but harv the fact that you volunteered to step up and be a part of this and chris the fact that you volunteered to step up and then ladies and gentlemen let's give a round of applause thunderous round of applause for Seth Green y'all thunderous applause thunderous applause thunderous applause dental thunderous a motherfucking applause for Seth's motherfucking We got him on the podcast. Who else is on this?

I see Chris. I see her. Hi. I see Joel. Let me introduce you guys. Daniel. That's Daniel. We call it.

We call him Daniel. Daniel. How'd you get saddled with that? That's a long story from a fifth grade. Start. Tell them. Nobody knows. It's a long nickname. It's a long nickname.

It's a long nickname. Don't worry about it. This show's about you today, Donald. This show's about you today. Do you want to talk a little bit about how Alabama Jackson came into being and how these guys got involved? Yeah. Okay. So that's actually a great segue.

Alabama Jackson started. You know, I'm a huge fan of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Everybody knows that I love Harrison Ford. He's one of my favorite actors of all time. When I first started as an actor, Eddie Murphy, Denzel Washington and Harrison Ford are three people who I tried to mimic a lot, you know, in my comedy, in my physical movements and in, you know, and then the seriousness of Denzel. I just wanted to, those were the three that I tried to always be like. And Indiana Jones just seemed like one of those movies where it was like, man, there's so much black history out there and this dude's chasing after it. Like he chased after the Ark of the Covenant. That started, that's an, apparently, according to myth now, that's in

Ethiopia, according to, I don't know if you guys know this, but the Ark is in Africa. Yeah. But that's, I love the archeological shit where they dig up the bones. And my most, the thing I'm the most passionate about is old civilizations and like instances of humans on all other parts of the planet and how the culture seemed to evolve even though there was oceans between them which is why there's that whole pangea argument that they weren't moving that they were all just sort of in the same region before natural geological phenomenon separated to the continent right but the But the, the, the, the like, the fact that a thousand years ago, 3000 years ago, a million years ago,

another human being was in this spot doing some shit. And now you're standing there. That blows my mind. It's one of my favorite things. So I love to travel. Yeah. I love Indiana Jones for the fantasy, not necessarily the history of it though.

You know what I mean? Right. And I always thought it was kind of, what are you talking about? The fantasy of punching Nazis in in the face yeah man this one dude this one dude taking on a freaking whole army by himself with a bullwhip and six bullets and wins dude but also gets his ass kicked which was what made him lovable right right because he was stumbling and bumbling his way through it all yeah and i was like wouldn't it be great if we if

we created a black version of this? Here's exactly how it happened. We're all on this panel, and they're like, hey, what are you guys up to? What are you doing next? We're all like, we're doing this. This is the season of Robot Chicken, and Donald loves stop motion, and this, that, and other things. And they were like, well, Donald, what would you do if you... What are you going to do? And he goes, you know what I really want to do

is a black Indiana Jones called Alabama Jackson. And then everybody exploded in laughter. And then we went on to whatever the next question was. I saw Sten Reich's face on the panel go like this. Is that Donald Bill? And then Matt texted me and he said, hey, do you think that's a show?

And I said, fuck yes, I think that's a show. And he said, let's call Donald the second this is over. So that's what we did. We called Donald. We're like, hey, dude, a black Indiana Jones called Alabama Jackson is something. Let's talk about what you really mean. What do you really mean? And Donald started talking about how, because we were all in that place of like, I don't know enough about my own history.

how, because we were all in that place of like, I don't know enough about my own history. We're infighting about nuance of like cultures. And what Donald said was, I want to tell the story of a modern black man who has all of these preconceptions and assumptions and is living the life of a modern black man. And he gets forced into a position where he has to learn and appreciate black history like from somebody like harriet tubman and he said it's like i want it to be like quantum leap right he's got to go back and learn some shit and solve some shit and i was like have you ever watched timeless on nbc because it's a show about right but it was an organization of supposed evildoers traveling back in time to fuck up history and then the people that they had stolen the time travel tech from had their beta model

to chase them through time the rules of the time travel were very specifically laid out you can never return to the same point twice you can't like recorrect something that's already been shifted in a timeline so it it's constantly chasing these, these anarchists through time. And I was like, that's your fucking move. Like you've got, you've got somebody actively trying to destroy black history.

And Donald looked it up and he's like, well, the worst motherfucker was Woodrow Wilson. Yeah. And we were like, well, that's a great villain. That's a great villain.

And then I remember who came up with the, that's a great villain. That's a great villain. And then I don't remember who came up with the KK Cabal. I came up with, that's, Ashley Ray will be on the show later on. She's the one that came up with the KK Cabal. It's Chelsea Handler. And if you listen to my podcast, Dear Chelsea, you know that I love making space for women to share their stories. And that is why I'm excited to be part of Women Take the Mic, iHeartRadio's celebration of women who make music, influence change and create culture.

All month long, your favorite voices from talk radio, music and podcasting will highlight the remarkable achievements made by women and discuss the most significant issues facing us today. Today, search Women Take the Mic to listen to a collection of International Women's Day episodes from iHeart's top podcasts, including Angela Yee's Lip Service, The Psychology of Your 20s and Dear Chelsea. It is a great way to support women and discover your new favorite show. Listen to Women Take the Mic on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at The Daily Show, which means he's also back in our ears on The Daily Show Ears Edition Podcast. The Daily Show Podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports, and more from Jon and the team of correspond a new season of my podcast. This season will

be even more revealing and more personal with more entrepreneurs, more trailblazers, more live events, more Martha, and more questions from you. strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant about the authenticity in the world of food writing. Be sure to tune in to season two of the Martha Stewart podcast. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. iHeart podcast update this week, quite the opposite of their trash-talking wives. friendships, and even frenemies. The Eds. There's so much more to the Eds than being married to real housewives. These two gentlemen are loved and well-mannered, quite the opposite of their trash-talking wives. Hear these podcasts and more on your free iHeartRadio app

or wherever you get your podcasts. Scrubs Rewatch Show with Zach and Donald. And then the idea of the black cabinet is an actual historic concept. So us, there's a lot of plausible reality in this that an organization called the black cabinet that has time travel is chasing woodrow wilson who also has time travel and the kk cabal through time trying to save black history while it is actively being trapped trying to be. I'm like, this is a fucking great show. Right.

So nobody, but you're right. Nobody wants to give you money. Right. Right. It's very hard to convince somebody on a pitch that something is good. So our whole thing at SPS is always, let's make something. Let's make it and show you exactly what it is. Because otherwise it's, it's up to your imagination,

your context and whatever experience you've had up until that moment. So we talked to adults, women were like, hey, how does this get, listen, I know you won't give us a pilot. I know we're not going to get a pilot script written. We want to make a proof of concept that has value to the company.

How do we do that? And then we started talking to mechanics of it. So it literally came down to us negotiating for about 20 minutes of content that we could break up any way we wanted. And we're like, we do these in shorts and that way it's not a single episode. You can show several instances, gain minor character development, even in a one to three minute episode, that's going to prove the show. So that's what we've done. We've got seven episodes. There is a meaningful arc for each of the characters.

Plus you see how it would work in series. Our goal is a half hour, but more than anything, I'm so proud of this motherfucker. I'll take it. Not just because he's such a hard worker it not just because he's such a hard worker not just because he's so talented but because he had this idea he's been so passionate about it and he's really worked his ass off this is hard work guys making a show and he's roped in

like half his family which is which is also well i gotta give it back i gotta give it back though you know what i mean? Like that, this was one of those things where it was like, look, you got to show up every day. And when you show up, you got to bring something to the table. Uh, I'm not that dude. I'm not the dude that even shows up. I'm the dude that's like, what are we doing? Yeah. This is one of those moments where it was a, it was a come to moment where it was like, dude, you got to be better than you've ever been. And even though this is a small medium, what we're doing, we're hoping a lot of people view it. We'll see how it plays out and stuff like that. This is a huge idea.

Yeah. It's a huge idea. I know, but the window is so small. The window is so small, though, I feel like. You're wrong. Do you disagree? I do. I do, because this is a moment small. The window is so small, though, I feel like. You're wrong. Do you disagree? you know, we all over the last couple of years have dealt with a tremendous amount of forced shame for what we haven't experienced for the mistakes that we've made for what we don't already know. And there used to be a lot more basic forgiveness. You take one position or another,

there's a, there's a way that we get to present, a way that we get to make it. And the hack is to just do it. Because you try and get through all these multi-layers, the corporations, all the different companies, especially as they're getting gobbled by each other, you have 400 levels of people who have to both see it, read it, and sign off on it. I hate that shit. I can't waste time like that. So like, if you think about how short the turnaround is from us on that panel to tomorrow, when this show is released today, today, today, today, today is tomorrow. Can you edit that? Can you edit that? So it works. Yeah. Time is a perfect eight. That's why Alabama and Harriet can travel. So for the listeners out there, the three gentlemen that we have on the show today, I've known for a bit.

So I did a movie called Clueless a while back with Breckin Meyer, who Seth Green is best friends with. Seth Green is best friends with. And one night, this is, this is sincerely how it happened. Seth goes, Seth says, you should go out on a date with my sister. And I was like, okay. Oh my God. Why would I do that? I have no clue.

You're a good dude, man. My sister was always bringing home like the worst fucking people. Right. But I had only met you once at this point you know what i mean like i'm fine hey but we did vibe but we did vibe no doubt brecken was like hey you're gonna love this kid and the second i saw you i was like oh yeah i'm gonna love this kid right and so he invites me on he invites me on a date with his sister we go on the date and after the date she's like let let's go back to Seth's house. It's to Seth's apartment.

And this is when the first time we ever, like we kicked it a little bit before, but this was like the time that we really kicked it. And I got to tell my jokes. I got to be 17. We're like 20. I'm not even 21 yet. Yeah. And then, uh, so we hang out and, you know, Seth and I have a, we have like a, there's a thing that's happening where we kind of get each other's jokes. And it's like, we have the same sense of humor.

We exchange numbers. I go back to New York. I'm calling Seth Green on the phone, like once or twice a week. You know what I mean? I'm calling Brecken on the phone once or twice a week. Like, guys, man, I miss y'all. Like, you know, Seth comes to New York. Fucking comes to New York. fucking comes to new york

we're kicking it in new york do you remember when i got to go to your like i was at your mom's on thanksgiving yeah it was no it was a new it was it was new year's it was new year's eve and you came oh shit so that's like 97 dude i don't clueless 98 i think it's don't... Clueless is... 98? I think it's the same year Clueless came out. So I'm not exactly sure. So is that 99 even? I don't even know, dude. I can't be sure.

I'm not sure. Clueless is 95. 95. 95. So I was right. So that New Year's is probably like 96. Yeah. Because I was here with Ryan.

Yeah. So you come through and my best friend growing up, this girl, Jessica Mercado and Seth Hug. And I'm like, how the fuck do you know each other, guys? And she's like, from auditions back in the day. I was like, Seth lives in L.A. Seth goes, I grew up in Philly. I'm like, oh, shit. Right.

So the connection was the connection was always there. Right. And so time goes forward. Time goes forward. Seth starts doing this thing called Sweet jay with matt and brecken and just a little bit of context in in 99 sony digital was trying to develop um a linear content precursor to youtube they were convinced that the internet was a place where people would be viewing stuff and everybody was investing negligible amounts of money to see what you could really do. It was still dial-up, but we talked Sony Digital into giving us about $46,000 to produce the

equivalent of 39 minutes of content. And the same thing, like you can break it up however you want, like one episode, 20 episodes. So what we wound up doing was making, God, how many shorts? Do you remember? It all predates anybody.

Matt would be the only one that knows those numbers. The point is we made what would become the proof of concept for Robot Chicken. I made a deal with Sony Digital Lawyers

to be able to sell our thing anywhere else. And then we tried to sell it to SNL, Matt TV, MTV comedy. We had a deal with comedy and then September 11th happened. They were like, Hey, we're just not going to fucking do this. So all rights reverted. We sat on it, Matt. And I had like three or four years. And then it was Seth MacFarlane making the deal after Family Guy had been canceled the first time.

Seth MacFarlane made a deal with Mike Lazo, the head of the Adult Swim, to air the aired and unaired episodes of Family Guy on Adult Swim. It blew up so big. God, it was even before that maverick called me uh seth mcfarland calls me and says hey do you know these adult swim guys and i said i don't know why i'm doing this um i said i said yeah we already brought because because maverick had done a voice on sweet j like he was in our shorts because it was just like us gangbanging this independent production together he called me and said you should pitch to adult swim.

I said, we already pitched the cartoon network. We got passed on. And he said, no, no, no. There's a whole new thing.

They're buying the old episodes of family guy. Go pitch to them. So Matt and I go pitch to Keith Crawford and Mike Lazo. And in an unprecedented move, they contracted us to make 20 quarter hours of what would become the first season of robot chicken that's the story that's fucking crazy dude so it's kind of like the same thing in a lot of ways you guys would jump through way more hoops than i had to but you weren't to do this buddy you've had it so fucking easy easy none of this shit's supposed to happen that's the crazy thing none of this shit happens

this way it does a terrible standard for ourselves by being able to achieve this on this budget yeah like with the case we're gonna have to make to anybody for our half hours we've almost we've almost made too beautiful of a show i love that i love that we've almost made too beautiful of a show. I love that. I love that we've almost done that. And I can't wait for you guys to watch it. You've had it very easy, though. And you know what, Donald? That's the only way I want it. I want to protect you from all of this.

Thank you for that. And I thank you for that. I thank you for that. So Harv, I met at Shadow Machine, right? That's where we met. And he was animating on Robot Chicken. Am I correct? That's right.

Both Harv and Towner. And Towner, right. And Eric. And so, you know, as time went on, I really dove into the stop motion animation game. Like, I really am trying to become a better stop motion animator. Like, my goal is to be able to animate my own stuff, even though it takes forever.

If Alabama Jackson goes to series, I'd like to animate it on it. You know what I mean? As you should. That's like Lucille Ball saying, no, no, I've got to be the one to build this dress. There are some artists that... I get it.

I get it. Why won't you just let me make a joke? No, I get it. I'll let you make a joke. You got the joke out. You got the joke out. You're a passionate artist. Clearly.

And so, Harv, when I stepped away from Shadow Machine, and so hard when i stepped away from shadow machine and uh you know when robot chicken left shadow machine yeah so what happened there just to consolidate that we had a hundred episode or rather shadow had a hundred episode production contract with adult swim so at the end of five seasons at the end of 100 episodes matt and i had to decide whether we were going to produce a sixth season at all. And if so, were we going to do it at Shadow? And, you know, Matt and I manner in which things were contracted or organized or built at a core level that we just had a different philosophy about. And it's not a this way or that way. It's just a way you want to do business, right? we um decided we realized because harvin towner had broken off themselves both successful animators very talented artists had broken off and made a little boutique production shop like a mini studio with a full development um capability but also the ability to shoot stages and experiment with

shit and they were doing such like cool experimental stuff. And they were like, I don't know, let's just try this, see if this works, I don't know, let's just do this. And we were so excited by that. This was the idea that Matt and I came to Harvintown and we're like, this is a big risk guys. But if the four of us as artists create a collective that is dedicated to just making these projects as best we can,

creating this IP, developing these concepts, working with our friends, and most of all, governing the mood, the manner, the spirit, the culture of the place. That's what we wanted. So that's where we broke off and formed SVS. And then we produced the last six seasons of Robot there and everything else, Crossing Swords, Buddy Thunderstruck, MODOK, everything. Everything's been done here. Like it's opened up. You guys are freaking animating for the Mandalorian now. Like you guys are freaking doing your thing, dude. But Harv, can you tell us about how you guys started?

Because it's really it's a really interesting story. You know, the studio has a camper as a uh as a winnebago as it's one of its logos and stuff like that can you tell us where that came from well it started with me and toner who were buddy system studios and we we formed that because in animation and stop motion you can't just it's hard to do something yourself you got to team up with someone so we really believed if we team up together we got our friends together like a buddy system then we can do projects and matt and seth were stupid monkey uh so when we teamed up together it's buddy system meets stupid monkey so we became stupid buddy studios that's kind of where the name came from um and when we all came together we loved the idea of

camping and togetherness and like having an adventure so the the bagel the winnebago became kind of our spirit animal kind of the true north of where we're going it's the uh it's the real ride that we're all taking together so the winnebago is kind of like our our jam so that's where i'm sitting right now is in in our original winnebago that me and toner had when we were teaming up doing projects just together on really scrappy budgets it kind of became the symbol for the studio which and that's that's inside the building that we animated alamama jackson that's right how did you get that inside the how'd you get it inside the door first of all well back then the doors were big and there was no enclosure so we drove it in and then we parked it over here right next to the window so i can see outside of beautiful

burbank right on but then we sealed it up we sealed up the doors so we could have a shop and puppet department all that kind of stuff so and then we also had to take out the engine so this thing is not operational it's stuck in here so whenever we leave this building we might have to just light a match or just walk away i don't really know because well it has to go with you it has to go with you yeah we drag it out and then so so when you guys formed the company chris were you there already or did did you come much later? Like how recent? I was, I joined up in 2015. And it was actually, originally, it was just to help with one project. It was this insane short that Towner and Harvard made a buddy systems called Micro Mayhem, which is

incredible. People just look that up on Vimeo. But yeah so i i joined up to help develop that and then i love the ethos of the place i you know i had worked a lot in animation and cg animation and just seen a place where you had people like building stuff you know carpenters and grips and like it felt like a little live action like a miniature live action studio and i was i was just fascinated by that so we and we hit it off and slowly but, I sort of started taking on more and more projects. And then for the last three years, I've been ahead of development. So I helped develop all the TV shows and features and all the fun stuff that we're working on at the studio. That's how I teamed up with these guys.

Chris might undersell himself, but Chris is one of the most special people that I have ever gotten the privilege of working with. And he's so good at this job and every aspect, it's a very difficult job to do development because you have to be both curious and have boundless energy and have a very patient temperament and be a good, you have to be nice. You have to be nice because you're convincing people to do shit they don't want to do all the time. And then you really have to be able to lead with your heart and get emotionally invested in something which is scary to do as a person, especially on behalf of a fucking TV show. So, Chris, like, it's been a godsend. We feel like we are making the kind of stuff that we want to make, that we are putting the right kind of time and effort in the right place. I used to get jealous when I found out chris was working on other projects

like no bullshit because i feel the same way it felt like it felt like it was just me when i was with chris you know what i mean he makes you feel good he makes it feel like dude it's just you and me baby it's you and me baby and then he goes behind my back and he's working with other people. He's like, dude, I was talking to him. Sorry, Donald. I just got off the phone with Disney+. I was like, wait a second. Hey, Donald, Donald, Donald.

It's called polyamory and it's perfectly acceptable. Dude, he didn't inform me that we were in a poly relationship before that happened. If I would have known that, I would have been like, oh, I bet. He made it seem like that it was just me. And when I found out that it wasn't, one, I wanted him more, obviously. Two, this is the crazy part. It made me realize, oh, this motherfucker works harder than I do. This dude works hard.

This is one of the hardest motherfucking workers that I know right now. And because he would be able to be so invested in my thing and then jump on a call with somebody else and be so invested in their thing. And then jump on another call with somebody else and be so invested in their thing. And then jump on another call. Like the list is endless. I was like, how many shows do you have about right now? He's like, I've got quite a few in, uh, that I'm juggling right now.

And Alabama is one of them. And I just, I'll say this. I'll say this, Donald, you made it easy. Like the only thing we do at Superbody is stuff that we really believe in. And you were, you're so passionate about animation this is such a clear idea like we always want to get behind an idea that's just really clear and it's funny as hell i think it's perfect for the energy you bring to every you know whether you're buying coffee and donuts for the whole crew or buying lunch for the whole crew like you dove into this

and it was super easy to support you in making this crazy ass show. So it's been a blast. And yeah, we want to make more of it, Adult Swim. Listen in, Adult Swim. We're just getting started. We're going to take a break and we'll be right back. It's Chelsea Handler. And if you listen to my podcast, Dear Chelsea,

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yo we're back we should probably talk about the show at some point, right? Yeah. Hey, how soon are we allowed to start posting the opening, right? Isn't that a thing we're going to do, like preview? We have to talk to Adults Forum about that, yeah. Let's offline about that. You can play the theme song, right? Can I?

Can we? For people to listen to the theme song? Oh, yeah, yeah. We should play the theme song 100%. Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, play the theme song right now. Play the theme song right now. Alabama Jackson. He's a time-traveling man, doing the best that he can. Woodrow Wilson hates blacks. Harriet's got

his back. Almost saving black history. Alabama Jackson. Alabama Jackson. That's what I'm talking about, y'all. That's what I'm talking about, yo That's what I'm motherfucking talking about That's good Matter of fact, matter of fact

Hold up, hold up I don't think they heard it Daniel, play it one more time Alabama Jackson He's a time-traveling man Doing the best that he can Woodrow Wilson hates blacks Harriet's got his back.

All while saving black history. Alabama Jackson. Alabama Jackson. That's one of the things, Donald, is like, as this started coming together, as it really started coming together, like when we got Wanda, when I heard the music for the first time, when I saw the way we were going to get to use the monitors and sliders and I saw the puppets, I was like, God, this is really gonna fucking work.

And as we've been putting the footage together, you've been the, the exact amount of both patient and hardworking. You're a really good producer and I know this isn't easy, dude. I warned you, but you have not shied away at all from any of the responsibility. I truly followed your lead, man. No doubt. And I thank you for that. You know I love you.

You know I love you too. What? You do? Don't get mushy. Don't get mushy. Don't get mushy. Don't you get mushy. He actually said it. I say it all the time. Fuck you. I say it all the time. Every time we hang up, I say it. Every time I see you, I say it.

Don't even try it. Because so many of our friends have died that I never miss a chance to tell you how much I love you. That just got really dark, dude. Did it? Yeah, it kind of did. It kind of did. It kind of did. It kind of did.

It kind of did. Well, you'll never not know where you stand with me. Well, you'll always know that. Dude, that's a double negative. What does that mean? You'll never not know. Never not. Yeah, you'll always know.

Never not. It means you'll always know. Got it. Sometimes it's appropriate to make a double negative to emphasize. You get i totally get it joel and daniel joel and daniel five minutes before we have a very i know we haven't just added all this out is there anything is there anything we didn't uh is there anything we didn't uh cover that we were supposed to cover on this uh this first portion um well you know i think you you guys spoke a lot about why you guys came together and why you

liked this initial idea. I think we could probably end on what you guys are hoping to see from fan reactions, and maybe, Donald, if there's like, maybe we can get more into that with your mom, but like, what lessons you're hoping people take away

since you're dealing with actual history. Right on. To be honest with you, for the fans out there, what's important for me is that you guys just check it out. I'm sure it'll absorb into your brains and you will. And I really do believe you'll come back for the next episode and then the next episode and then the next episode but getting you

to watch the first episode is my goal. That's my true goal and then we'll see how it all plays out. You know what I mean? I think we've got a really dope show that has a lot of you know, it's fast paced, it's got action and then it's got a little bit of a history lesson in there for everybody. But as Seth said, it's not preachy. We're not in your face talking about it.

You know, and so. Plus you got Donald. Plus you got Donald and Wanda Sykes. Well, then there's Donald Faison and Wanda Sykes. And Seth Green. Right. That's a dynamite cast already. That is it. And we've also been bringing on a really cool guest cast. It's so proud of this, man. I'm so proud of this. Like, cause it's, we, we both grew up on a lot of these shows. The eighties was a very different time where entertainment programming was

focused on a bit of education mixed in a little bit of like basic guidance for how to be a person, how to be kind, how to not put too much sauce on your food or how to even acknowledge when you've made a mistake and move forward. And because knowing is half the battle. Knowledge is power. And knowledge is power. The more you know. And somewhere along the two thousands, that programming became more about catching eyes from the news to the tablets. It became all about sensationalization.

And so the opportunity to give little bits of real history, like basic history too, in a way that doesn't feel educational in a way that feels like you've got an emotional investment in it. Like you need to know more, like you're learning along with this character from a series of experts. That was a really, it's just McDonald's. It's come together very well. And I can't wait. I'm so excited for people to see it. I am with that. And we. And we did take liberties. We did take liberties. So I think it's like the great, and then it's an occasionally true story. I want everyone to know.

Right. Tell the truth. Because it's like the multiverse we're talking about here, dogs. I feel like we're overemphasizing the educational components of this. Well, no. Hold on. No, I'm not. Like I said, there's just a little bit of history in there that people might not have known or they did know you know a lot of a lot of people don't know that woodrow wilson was a very racist president he just so happened to be like a yeah like the racist

what did the lawyer what did the lawyer say when we were trying to get this cleared the lawyers were like well he's he's a notorious racist so this is fine so we're not well documented yeah it's well documented that he was very racist. Because in the theme song, if you guys listen, there's a line, Woodrow Wilson hates blacks, and it's true. That's all it needs to say.

That's what I love the most about the theme song is it is just the facts, man. Yeah. He's a time traveling man. Doing the best that he can. Woodrow Wilson hates blacks. He's a time traveling man. Doing the best that he can. Yo, Woodrow Wilson hates blacks. Harriet. He's got his back.

All while saving black history. Come on. Yeah. Alabama Jackson. With that, let's bring in the theme songwriter, Bert and my mom. We'll be joining us right now. Ladies and gentlemen, this Zoom and podcast is getting so crowded, but that's how we do here on Fake Doctors, Real Friends.

This is a very special episode of Fake Doctors, Real Friends. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Shirley Faison and Bert Price. Thunderous applause, Daniel. Thunderous applause. Ma, you see who's on here with me? Yes, I see Chris. I see Chris. I see Seth.

When's the last time you saw Seth? We were on that one Zoom early on in the production. But in real life, it's been quite some time. Yes. Ma, tell everybody where you're at right now. I'm in my office. Well, what's this office that you're in? Tell us, everybody, what happened.

Okay. So during the pandemic, I decided to open my own talent agency. Thunderous applause, Daniel. So I'm set after Equity Franchise. So if you're out there and you need an agent and you might be in the metropolitan area or in the tri-state area, Shirley Faison, what's the name of your agency? It's called Aduni Rose Talent Agency. Aduni Rose Talent Agency. Do you want to give them, is there something them a website or something?

Yes. It's called adunirosetalent.com. A-D-U-N-N-I-R-O-S-E talent, T-A-L-E-N-T.com. Thunderous applause, Danny. Thunderous applause for my mom. And then we got Burt Price in the house. house. Now, I'm going to be honest with y'all. I've known Bert for how many years now? 30 years now? Almost, maybe 27. Yes. And he took my younger brother Olamide under his wing and taught him the ins and outs of the music industry.

And for people who have listened to Fake Doctors, Real Friends, you've heard some of Olamide's music. Guess who helped Olamide with that? Burt Price. So when it came time to freaking make a soundtrack for Alabama Jackson and a theme for Alabama Jackson, it was only right to go to the one man that has been doing right by my family since he met us, Burt Price. You forgot about the records that we did together.

Well, the records we made together. Don't nobody want to listen to that. Anyway, so Bert, my mom wrote on this with me. And then Bert, I somehow convinced him to probably do more than we paid him for, to make some music for us. And when you guys watch the show and you listen to the soundtrack that accompanies the show, you're going to be very impressed. And I want to thank you both for being on here with us. Wow. Thank you. Shoot. You deserve all the praise, Bert. You deserve all

the praise. Surely this, I mean, like I I've been saying how proud I am at Donald. I know everyone's exploding with pride, but also both of your contributions to this invaluable. So thank you. Thank you so much. No doubt. So let's get into this. Mom, had you ever written before when you did this? When I called you up and I was like, Ma, you know, I got one extra slot for a writer. Do you want in? film or television, but I did write a book called If Walls Could Talk, which was basically about the brownstone in Harlem and all the people who lived in it. So what is your, your background is pretty much a historian type of like, okay. Yes.

Yeah. Okay. So you went to college for black history. Yeah. I got a degree in African-American studies. Right on. And so we, when, when I called you up and I was like, I need you to write with me personally, it was before you all the knowledge that you had obtained in college and stuff like that. And so I was trying to pick your brain.

And so you were actually the one who came up with the idea of Woodrow Wilson being the bad guy also. I was trying to find a bad guy to be Alabama Jackson's nemesis. And you were like, well, what about Woodrow Wilson? And I was like, well, what's up? I had no clue about any of this. This is what Seth was talking about earlier. Like for real, as a young African-American male growing up in New York city, the amount of my own history that I know is very little. And that's a problem. And I, the guilt that I had when freaking, uh, thinking about that is really also what went into Alabama Jackson. It was like, I can't be this person anymore.

I have to know a lot more than I know now. And my mom had all of this knowledge. And I, you know, I used to laugh that shit off. Like she, I remember one year my mom came at me with a, the gift was, it was for Christmas. And she literally figured out, the book was like the size of a encyclopedia. And it was my family's history.

My entire family's history. She got it all the way back to Nigeria, to Africa. Like, my family's history. And I looked at it like, oh, wow, that's cool. And that was it. But I had all of this knowledge in front of me. And I was taking it for granted. And so I wanted to make sure I didn't do that again.

And that's how, that's why I freaking got you on board, mama. Are you mad at me for saying that? Can I look at that book at some point? It's your mom's house? It's at my house too. Can I come by and check that out? Mom, are you mad at me for admitting that just now? No, I'm not mad at you.

But when you, but. I saw how, I gave it to you, you just laid it down. That was a lot of hard work, but yeah. But are you mad? No, I'm not mad. Okay, cool. And then your mother is the type of person that understands that human beings will make mistakes and that it's possible to correct those

mistakes simply by learning new information and making an effort and well there it is and there it is and i was very happy to have her on board as a writer yeah are you mad ma no of course okay just checking just checking okay all right but surely do you do you love me just a little bit more than Shun? Just a little? Don't answer that. Don't answer that, don't answer that. Don't answer that.

Okay, so you're actually the person that came up with the idea that Woodrow Wilson was this, I mean, you told me about it. Can we dig a little bit into that real quick? Woodrow Wilson was an interesting person in that prior to becoming I mean, you told me about it. Can we dig a little bit into that real quick? with the black vote, and he made all these promises. And what he did was basically renege on all the promises that he made. And there's a transcript of, I believe it was Fortune, went to the White House, and Woodrow Wilson, they argued and then Woodrow Wilson threw him out of the White House because he didn't live up to his promises.

And one of the things that he did was he was the president that kind of put the nail in the coffin to Black history and the contributions that Black people make in this country. All the way from like, from what I understand, like his inauguration hadansmen there, and he was, you know, Birth of a Nation came out. And he debuted Birth of a Nation at the White House. And if you remember, Birth of a Nation was- Depicted Black people as- It shows the Ku Klux Klan. Yeah, depicted Black people as thugs and rapists and killers. And after this movie came out, he debuted it at the White House and said, it's an American treasure.

It's a classic. And people went and saw the movie and then started lynching people in the street, Black people in the street, after they saw this movie. This is the... Yeah, it was a movie, a kind of a how-to

to be the most effectively murderous racist possible. Yeah. And this is where we have a lot of the systemic racism that we're dealing with now in America comes from that. So he was the perfect bad guy. And Seth, you played him wonderfully. Thanks, man. No doubt doubt he's kind of a dick which is always funny to play right we should we should we

should also say that this show is a comedy right this show is so pound for pound funny that you're not gonna really think that you're learning anything right you're gonna have so much fun watching this show that by the end of it, when you find yourself out with your friends and you just randomly recall some incredibly important

African-American history facts, people will be like, damn, did you go to school for that? You're like, nah, I watched Alabama Jackson. I can't wait, man. I'm so excited. I can't wait either. Okay. So that's how you got wait, man. I'm so excited. I can't wait either. Okay, so that's how you got involved, Mom. You were the historian. So when we started writing all of this,

did you ever feel like you were out of your league? Well, you know, what was really interesting was that when I agreed to it, I didn't realize that we were going to be on Zoom for eight hours of the day. I realized that we were going to be on Zoom for eight hours of the day. So after the first day, I said, okay, so I'm on the learning curve here. And I bought this program so that I could actually type in the script the way that you guys were doing it. And I just

said, okay, I'm here to learn. And let me just try to make a contribution. We made a great contribution, actually. One of my favorite episodes is the Nelson Mandela one. I had a talk with Adult Swim today and they were like, yo, there's a possibility that people are going to come at you because of the Nelson Mandela episode. What's the, is the, I know that there's a lot that we can't talk about because all the S&P is actually really, it's a, it's a different level of NDA, but what are they only scared

because it's Mandela? What are they? What's that? Cause honestly, that episode for me is so it's like, I don't want to spoil this, but Harriet in that episode, cause Wanda, again, we, we recorded all her episodes at once. So we were kind of finding it as we went and we asked her to just like ad-lib a bunch of stuff and then we used it in episodes in places and we inadvertently gave harriet her own catchphrase and it had it reveals in that episode i can't wait um and then also i'm at best plays mandela and it's brilliant it's brilliant he does a great job so are they just scared like we should i feel like we should say that i feel like we should we should say the structure like

how we structure these really short episodes because there's a there's like a thread from episode how we do that yeah yeah so the format is yeah because it's only uh we only have like three minutes to tell these relatively complex stories so the format is we always drop alabama and harriet tubman donald and wanda sykes into the middle of whatever is going on and the audience just kind of has to catch it up and in every instance woodrow wilson has done something to try to subvert black history so he's tried to stop it from happening, which is a metaphor for what's happened when we erase Black history, right?

When Woodrow Wilson said, okay, we're not gonna teach anybody about anything that's happened with Black history. So they get dropped into this and then they've got to figure out a way to stop Woodrow and his henchmen from subverting Black history. And so it all happens really quickly.

And we feature a major historical figure in every episode. And like I said, we take liberties. We've taken some liberties with Nelson Mandela. But the idea is that we're highlighting the contributions these people have made. We've taken a lot of liberties with Nelson Mandela. We might get a little heat. Yeah, we've taken a lot of liberties. We might get a little heat. We've taken a lot of liberties. We'll see.

But our point is very clear that Mandela's freedom, his own agency over his own thoughts were stolen from him for years. And things happen to people that are in prison. I mean, that's why I don't, don't even get me started on that. Let's not go any further. Let's not go. I'm not going to go any further. But the idea that a man like Mandela was so specifically intentionally targetedly persecuted gives us a lot of leeway to demonstrate what that might look like before he's able to become his real self again. We needed for the benefit of our show to kind of show him at what our imaginable worst would be to give him room to be safe. We had to show how much the KK Cabal had compromised Mandela for him to be out of the picture, for AJ and Harriet to have

a task. Get him back from that point. Yeah. So I'll give an analogy that doesn't ruin an episode because we didn't use it, but it's an example. Everyone talks about Muhammad Ali and his bike got stolen. And if his bike hadn't got stolen, he wouldn't have gone and talked to the cop who ended up teaching him to be a boxer. And so the idea would be that Woodrow, being a time traveling guy, knowing that that's a seminal moment in Muhammad Ali's life or Cassius Clay at the time, would prevent that moment from happening. And then there's no Muhammad Ali. Without Muhammad Ali, there's no athlete activist. So that's the premise of the show is there's these like seminal moments, some of them actual and some of them that we've just imagined in all these

historical figures lives. And Alabama and Harriet have to make sure those seminal moments happen or black history will change and American history will change and the global history will change. So that's like, there's super high stakes, but then you also have a character in Donald playing Alabama Jackson, who is not fully committed to the assignment yet. And then you have Harriet, who is like fully committed. And that's where that that's where the conflict between the two of them comes in. And she's trying to be like, look, I sacrificed my entire life for the cause you need to get with the program. And that's that's where their growth and that's where their journey goes. And that's what's, you know, the chemistry between the two of them is so fun.

Don't give away the show, Chris. I'm not, but I just realized in this moment, it's a little bit like Terminator 2 and Harriet Sarah Connor and AJ is baby John Connor. Yes. Yeah. Yes.

Yes. Yeah. Because there's a moment where she's like don't you realize how serious this is he's like i guess i like that analogy wait donald can you talk a little bit about what it's like working with your mom it's a joy working with my mom i know i'm safe with my mom i know if i say some dumb shit she'll be like that was some dumb shit uh please please please forgive my son for saying some dumb shit my. My mom has the sweetest voice ever in the history. And she's also, I mean, she's protected me pretty much my whole life.

So having her in a writer's room with a bunch of seasoned writers, and you know, this is the first thing I've ever written in my life, you know, and this is the first thing that my mom, this is the first type of, this is the first scripted format that is that right? Is that the right way to say it? This is the first scripted format that my mom has ever had to be a part of in writing. And so we were very new to it. But thanks to Ashley

and Lee, we got through good. But I said some dumb shit in the writer's room and my mom was very good. It's a safe space. Yeah, it's a safe my mom was very good to be like, you know, you know, she protected me. And so it was very good to work with my mom. And also I was very nervous because I put my mom in this situation and I didn't necessarily set her up for success. I put her, I just threw her to the wolves and threw her to the sharks and she was able to swim easily with them. And I am so, I got to be honest with you, mom, I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of the fact that this wasn't

something that you were necessarily eager to do, but you knew I needed you and you stepped up because you're my mom and came through like a champ and so I'm so proud of you thank you I thank you I thank you tremendously and we'll see how this all plays out now Bert wait wait Donald can I just say one thing because you mentioned your mother's voice how important your mother's voice is I would just like to say that in all the years that I've known Shirley I've never heard her raise her voice. She's never, in my presence or in my experience, needed to raise her voice. She has a confident, quiet strength

that is both gentle and formidable. So the value of her voice in the room, like I said earlier, is priceless. Yes. Y'all are bigging me up. I'll give you flowers all day. I love you all. I'm so excited this is happening.

I can't wait for the people to see it. Ladies and gentlemen, say goodbye to Seth Green, Chris Waters, John Harvick. Awesome to be on the show, guys. Love the show. You guys are great. Thank you for being here. When Donald told us Shirley was coming on i unlike seth i didn't know

uh his beautiful mother but i had heard her on the podcast and i was like oh she could definitely be in the room so thanks to big dog's real friend for introducing me to shirley fazon in all honesty the room was closed we had our two two writers. It was Lee and Ashley. And you even said, because we made, because we made this thing with like two dimes rubbed together.

And Chris, you said to me, you literally said to me, do you want to get your mom in there? We should get your mom in there. And I was like, yeah,

let's put my mom in there. And that's, wait, I think it's also important to say Donald, so many people try and put their family over and the whole thing falls apart. Like not everybody's, not everybody's the way it's like, to say, Donald, so many people try and put their family over and the whole thing falls apart.

Like not everybody's not everybody's the way it's like not everybody can do that. Right. So I'm glad that the people you brought in all your family, that they're like experts at the job or this would not have worked. Wait till they wait till they hear you rap. Wait till they hear that. Like your family came through to play. You should play the guy track i feel like we should play it man no we can't play it we can't play it we can't because we have to go stop dominating the time i'll see y'all later love y'all bye y'all love you guys so speaking of the rap bert yes speaking of bringing my family and bert Bert is my family. Yes, sir. You are my family member. Yes, sir.

You are actually in the living room that I grew up in right now. Yes. Hanging out, yeah. Bert is a musical genius. A lot of people don't know this about him, and those who do know this about him, those who do know this about him, run to him for music and help

when they need it. And that's who i ran to when the show needed music like if you watch the show without sound without music it's a completely different show and bert stepped in and and and crushed it i would really like to i would bert you crushed it like you crushed it i would really like to get into how you got into music and then what your idea was when you started thinking about Alabama Jackson. Wow. Okay, long story short, I started pretty much like you did. Well, like you inspired your brothers to do.

You came from a family that sang and performed. Same thing with me. My brothers were musicians musicians and i wanted to do it and i would always get thrown out of their band practice you know all that kind of stuff until finally i just got my own stuff and got better than them and now they beg me to play with them right that's what's up but now um alabama jackson man when you gave me the idea, first of all, I have a background in post-production, but just in doing commercial jingles and stuff like that. Actually, that's one of the ways we kind of connected to that John Silberman music I used to work at. It's a jingle house in New York, and your group is over there.

Yeah, we were over there, yeah. That's another way we connected. Yeah, that's right. Your group is over there. Yeah, we were over there, yeah. Yeah. That's another way we connected. Yeah, that's right.

So I worked on the Coca-Cola Olympic spot there for 96 Olympics and stuff, a lot of things. So I did that kind of stuff, but never for a TV show. Always wanted to do some kind of scoring, some kind of a movie, television project. So when you said yes, you heard me. You were like, oh, it doesn't pay much. I was like, yes. I'm telling you it doesn't pay much. I'm like, yes. I'm telling you it doesn't pay much.

I'm like, yes. You're like, I'm telling you it doesn't pay. I'm like, yeah. And so the inspirational, honestly, you sound like Alabama Jackson, first of all. That's why y'all heard so many banjos. I don't know why. Like you said, Alabama, and I grabbed a banjo hanging over there.

And that's how it started. And then you sent the demo of the theme song. And then I just, we listened to the lyrics. I came up with one idea. Kind of so-and-so, kind of country. Well, we were like, we kind of wanted country. And you were like, okay. And then you said to us, you were like, I got to with you shun this don't this this ain't it dude we got it then i just thought

about blaxploitation bro i love like you know like uh which way is up let's do it again all of those you know movies from the 70s the music was killing they had curtis mayfield you had james brown doing it so like the whole idea was like you know I did want to keep it period because you're traveling through time. We went to the 60s at one point, so I got to give it a 60s vibe, an 80s vibe, 70s vibe, whatever. But I still wanted to have that 70s blaxploitation kind of energy to it and then you guys also sent the chips reference like the you know the kind of uh the hokiness of the 80s a little bit so a lot of it is tongue-in-cheek but we tried to really do a good job and make it funky your little brother's on guitar playing all the wah-wah stuff i love it that is on congas playing all the percussion stuff because we really wanted to sound like

something straight out of a exploitation a blaxploitation movie. And then we hired Mizell to write the rap for Alabama Jackson. And it became a true family affair at that point. It's like, I got literally my brothers,

my mother, I don't even know what to call, I guess my brother Bert. You are my mother. I don't even know what to call it. I guess my brother, Bert. You are my brother. Even though you date my mother, you are my brother. I'm just so happy that it all worked out. Hey, it was a pleasure. And your rap skills are on point, Alabama.

No, they're shit. Alabama. Yeah, I was about to say. Alabama's rap skills are on point. So we they're shit. Alabama. Yeah, I was about to say. Alabama's rap skills are on point. So we're going to take another break and then when we come back

we're going to bring in Ashley Ray and Lee House. It's Chelsea Handler and if you listen to my podcast Dear Chelsea, you know that I love making space for women to share their stories

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Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at The Daily Show, which means he's also back in our ears on The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. The Daily Show podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports, and more from Jon and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content you can't get anywhere else, like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to The Daily Show, ears edition, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal with more entrepreneurs, more trailblazers, more live events, more Martha, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Walter Isaacson, about the geniuses who change the world. Encore Jane, about creating a billion-dollar startup. Dr. Elisa Pressman, about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant, about the authenticity in the world of food writing.

Be sure to tune in to season two of the Martha Stewart podcast. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. iHeart podcast update this week on your free iHeartRadio app. Rachel goes rogue. For the first time, she's ready to tell you the real story on her own terms. podcasts. And we are back. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Ashley Ray and Lee House. Let's thunderous applause them. I'll do everybody's favorite. Everybody's great.

You haven't seen anything yet either, huh? Nope. I can't wait. I'm going to have Adult Swim send you guys this stuff. This is a pretty fast turnaround. I was surprised. Yeah, I was like, okay. I was like, I thought they were still making puppets probably.

No, we finished the whole thing. I want to talk to you guys about it, though, too. Like, you know, I've known Lee for a really long time since I first moved out to Los Angeles. And Ashley and I had a conversation together. I knew right away when meeting Ashley that she had to be a part of the project. when meeting Ashley that she had to be a part of the project. I knew right away. Chris Waters introduced us. And then Lee, Chris was like, I got a guy named Lee a house. And I was like, wait a second, Lee house?

Does he go by house? He goes, no, he goes by Lee. But, you know, I was like, wait, hold on. Lee and I used to go play paintball together we used to smoke weed together we used to do a lot of things back in the day that uh when we were very young and then you went on to be like a sag rep at one point and you were a writer and why don't you tell us about uh how you how you came into the industry. It's crazy. My first job out here was actually working with Ice Cube at Lynch Mob Records. He and I got close over time

and I actually went on tour with him. So six months of being in LA, I'm on tour with Cube, you know, rolling with the Lynch Mob. I wasn't necessarily cut out for West Coast gangster rap. So I became a PA. I did that for a few years. And then I got a job with the Screen Actors Guild where I was an outside field rep. And I would go to any set that the SAG actors were on. I actually went to the Scrubs pilot. I remember. I do remember

that. Yeah. After that, I started writing jokes for Flex. He got one-on-one. He put me on one-on-one. And, you know, I've been in this crazy business of writing ever since. That's nuts. And now, Ashley, you're a stand-up comic. You're a fire stand-up comic, too, by the way. I am. No doubt. No doubt. But what brought you to the business?

How did you find yourself here in this situation? Oh, I lived in Chicago. That's where I started doing stand-up. I started working for The Onion back in 2016. And I loved comedy writing. I had worked in advertising for a long time, got kind of sick of it, realized I just wanted to make people laugh. So I made that switch, realized I like being on stage too. I think there's this expectation that when you're a Black woman who performs, you do like spoken word or like storytelling or something. And I was like, no, I just want to tell like, you know, like jokes about butts and stuff. Let's just focus on the funny stuff. And that's kind of

where I found my lane. I came out to LA and got to work with Maria Bamford. She'd been, she was working on an audio book and I helped edit it. And obviously she is amazing with animation, voice work. And that got me really into the idea of like writing an animated pilot, getting more into, you know, doing stuff for Adult Swim and kind of realizing, you know what, I think a black woman could make these kinds of jokes and like make a show that captures this voice. And that's what I wanted to do is like make that kind of black woman stoner comedy that I saw in shows like Laser Wolf and stuff. So I was really excited when this opportunity came up. And I was also, I want to say, very excited to work with Lee because I knew his work. You worked with Trevor Moore from The Whitest Kids You Know. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is

amazing. Like just icons working with icons that inspire me. It's always great when you get to work with people that you love to listen to or watch, man. And so that's how I felt about the two of you, as a matter of fact. I was so proud to work with somebody that I knew from back in the day who had pushed his way all the way up and is now freaking working hard it. And then Ashley, you just come with such with this aura. You know, there's just something so magnetic and amazing about you. You know, it's true. You can, you can shuck it up. You can laugh it off all you want. I'm so excited to work with you. Are you kidding? No, but there's something really special and magical about you. Like I said to Chris, I was

like, look, if anything, I have to have Ashley Ray on this bad boy. He was like, all right, all right. We'll see if we can work it out. And then mom, of course you're an icon forever to me. You'll always be an icon to me no matter what. I think, yeah, I'm so, I didn't even realize you were, I thought they said that you were even on the call. Hello. I am so excited to see you again. Oh my, like seeing that you were in there, that was when I was, I just was so excited. Cause for me, it was like the first time I'd been in a room with like all black writers and it just was this, I was like, wow, yeah, this is it. Like everyone just had these different perspectives that were so interesting. I was so excited from the moment we started. Okay. So let's get into how we did this, man. Like our first day in the writer's room was a bunch of story breaking and trying to real,

you know, I think our first week was that. When did we write our first script? Do you think? When was the first script finally written? Oh. It took a while, right? It took a while, right? Like.

Yeah. We were having so much fun. We were bonding with each other, getting to know each other. You know. I felt like we had hit out kind of each other. You know, we talked. I felt like we had hit out kind of all the beats or different stories we wanted. And then it was like, oh, we got it. We got to get this like scripted out because I had already left for tour by the time. Yeah, you were on tour.

But by the time we started writing, you were already. And I was like in my car, like my friends driving me and I'm like on my laptop, like joining in over Zoom in the car. And so I feel like it was probably like into the second or third week we right started getting we finally started to get the scripts in that's not usual I guess yeah I would also say that Donald like you as an actor brought so much to the room because you would act out so much of it as we were like throwing out ideas that I think we could all see the scenes.

Like we immediately just started doing voices and bouncing off each other and being like, yes, this is a scene, this is building into it. So. That was a huge help, man, because you, you know, you would embody Alabama so well. We knew what to write next, you know, and how to play off of you, which is different than most writers room where you don't have the actor in there. Right. Well, I mean, I'm going to be honest with you guys. I felt like a fish out of water because, and I was like, how can I make a contribution to this? Because, you know, first of all, the two of you are very seasoned and, you know, like, I'm going to tell you something right now. Both of your scripts didn't get touched when you see them you'll be like oh shit that's exactly what i wrote oh my god it's crazy dude first time ever it's crazy it's there might be

like a word here or a word there but for the most part that shit stayed intact like you know both of you so uh it's it's it's just it's you know, you could tell who the seasons season ones were and who wasn't. And I, I had to find a way to fit in. And I was so, I was so nervous for my mom. I was like, how's my mom going to find a way to fit in. And then she found her way into, and it was just like, we got a really good thing going right here. Let's keep it going. Yo, to me, that was one of the best rooms I've ever been in.

I mean, everybody got along. Everybody was cool. Nobody was extra sensitive. You know, it can get crazy in some rooms. Yeah. You guys have been in rooms before, so you know. Yeah. And I think there's like the expectation kind of like, oh,

Adult Swim humor and this kind of thing. But I thought we all just like brought the weirdest ideas, the funniest that like no one was afraid to really, to really get into, you know, the weirdest stuff that came to us. It was a really a room where I think we were all just really comfortable. Yeah. Yeah.

I gotta tell you guys, man, I'm so excited for you to see this show. We got seven episodes episodes we didn't do eight episodes we it went from 10 to to eight to seven but they're all very well fleshed out and the arc for this is amazing i would love to uh i'm gonna get on a text right now and send them send you guys all of the all of the all of the shows so you can watch them bert got to see everything from storyboard bert was there from storyboard all the way to uh mix pretty much because yeah because he was doing the music on

it so he's got he's gotten to see he's got to see every version of each one of these scripts. Yeah. I'm so excited. Yeah. But finding out that Wanda Sykes was able to voice Hair, that to me was like, wow, okay, okay, this is going to be amazing. I just, being in this room, it was so special because I felt like we each had our own kind of generational connections

to different parts of Blackness, and it all would come together in these interesting ways. Like when we wanted to do the, this episode about like Aaliyah that was like really complicated. Yeah. But then like you told a story about like how you, like she used to prank call you and stuff. And I was just like, Oh my gosh. Like to me as like someone younger, I was like, I can't even imagine that. And just.

I thinkley's calling us old and very nice it's all good that's smooth that's smooth you've gotten good that's really smooth right there it's all good i'm over here i'm over here smiling like yeah man that's right but there's just so many of these moments where i was like oh this you know i think it can feel so distant like black culture and black history and it's like this was a room where it was really alive where it was like no this isn't like something that can just be boiled down to like braids or these things people appropriate but it was like no we really got to work with the ideas that we wanted to bring to life yeah and it it felt good it felt real good i want to see i can't wait to see how this plays

out i you know i really can't wait to see how that's my new that's my new slogan let's see how it plays out like i don't know i think the timing of it it's perfect and why is that? Given how in Texas and other places they're trying to ban books. They are banning. They're not trying to. They're doing it. Right. They're banning books that deal with Black culture, that deal with Jewish culture. I think it's appropriate to come out right now.

Okay. I will say this. The great thing about our show, we talked about it a little bit earlier. The great thing about our show is that we don't push it on you though. You know what I mean? You're going to get this history through laughter and comedy. And you can't beat that with a baseball bat if school was like that i would have learned way more because i would have been way more invested yeah you know that would have been amazing if that's how school was for me back in the day you know what i mean like first of all they didn't teach black history in school back then either i remember making a stink about it like how come black people only have one page in this whole fucking textbook, dude, this whole textbook on one page. That's

the black history segment. Yeah. I like when I, when I was growing up, I feel like it was always, okay, February, that's your month. Like, you know, somebody get up and read like a dry biography of Harriet Tubman or like, you know, Madam CJ.J. Walker. It was always the same people. And we treat, I think, Black history, obviously, with a lot of reverence. And that, I think, makes it hard for people to want to make jokes and to like turn this into stuff that is relatable and funny. Because a lot of times people are like, oh, you can't. No, like these Black women, there are heroes and stuff. You can't make jokes and like, you know, let them in on the joke and stuff. And it's like, no, you can't. Like, right.

This is another way of teaching this history and showing people how important they are. Yeah, man. And Donald, you're right. Using humor is the best way, I think, to make the lesson stick so that somebody doesn't get bored like I used to. And, you know, you can laugh while you learn. Laugh while you learn. Joelle, is there anything we missed out on? The only thing I wanted you guys to answer is if you guys had like a

favorite. I thought it'd be fun if you guys each commented on something that somebody else wrote that you really liked. I don't know if you guys have that experience. That's easy for me. Okay, so they haven't seen the show yet, but I've seen the show, and I'm a huge fan. The Techeba episode is freaking, it comes off amazing. I don't think anybody, Joelle, did you get to see the Techeba episode?

I only got the pilot. Okay. The Techeba episode is like fire. Deborah Wilson plays Techeba. She comes in and slays, like she slays uh and i don't know if any of you out there know who deborah wilson is if you do she was on mad tv she's a i know who deborah wilson is yeah that's crazy to me wow yeah she's an amazing first i'm hearing of this and i'm i'm just i'm grinning so much. Wow. That's almost perfect casting though.

Yeah. Amazing comedian. I love her. And she came in with so much energy and, and, and, you know, she, cause we were going to hire her to, we had a whole Oprah Winfrey. Of course. And we were like, get Debra. Let's see if we can get Debra to do Oprah. But then in doing it, we were like, we're not going to do the Oprah thing.

Let's just get, let's just get, can get Debra to do Oprah. But then in doing it, we were like, we're not going to do the Oprah thing. Let's just get have her play Tachibah. And when I tell you she slays, she slays it. Anyway, I can't wait for you to see it. That's my favorite. One of my favorites is Alabama Jackson

saves rap. I think for me, my favorite, I don't even know if it made it, but the Alabama Jackson and the Diner sit in. That's the second episode. Yeah, that one to me, we all threw in little bits that just were like, oh, this punch up here would be really good. The overall arching thing was like, yes, this is what the show should be about.

That one I loved. And whenever we would read that one out loud there were just so many little like things we would throw out that were so funny i think the thing with the acronyms was one of my favorite jokes right and it made it it made it oh wow it made it it made it yeah yeah yeah i love grape in the fredlass one. That was killing. Yeah. Grapevine, yeah. He was funny. So we got Ed Fordham to do several roles in this. Ed's an actor.

He's been on television, but he's also a rapper. He was in a, what was the name of his band? His group? Trends of Culture. I produced a song on it. His record. First, I think. The Valley of the Skins. Yeah.

I think they were the first act on Motown, rap act on Motown. Yep. Signed by Steve McKeever. So we got him on this. We got my nephew. He wrote a rap for this. He's Mizell Faison. He's out there right now. Isaiah Poet. Isaiah Poet. He killed

it. Not trying to sound too sappy. I didn't have a favorite moment. My favorite moment was the process man you know just hooking up each day and once again it was such a fun room i mean it was something that i think each of us look forward to and then when we were done it's like damn this has got to become a series yeah that we'll see how like i said my new favorite term we'll see how, like I said, my new favorite term, we'll see how it plays out. We've developed, we've put out a proof of concept that is like no other. I mean, we turned this little tiny budget, uh, and, uh, you know, I called in a couple of favors, Seth called in a couple of favors and we really put like, I don't think adult

swim is ready. I don't think adult swim is ready for, know like if this is the if if they come back at us and they say we need you to do it again for the same money it's impossible let's put it that way you know what i mean it's impossible we i called in all my favorites i got burt on here i called that's how i got the music i called i called the dude that freaking is dating my mom. Now, yo, you got some heavy hitters on here, man. The music is going to be awesome. You're on there, Wanda Sykes. I mean, come on,

man. It's on and popping. It's amazing. It's really just like a family affair. I'm so excited for it to be in the world. All right. Yeah. Well, it's out right now. For all of you listening, once you finish listening to the podcast, please, it'll be in the description below. But go to YouTube, the Adult Swim page. It's Alabama Jackson Week.

Enjoy. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Congratulations, everybody. I want to thank Ashley Ray. I want to thank Lee House. I want to thank Shirley Faison. I want to thank Ashley Ray. I want to thank Lee house. I want to thank Shirley phase.

I don't want to thank Bert price. I want to thank John Harvard team. I want to thank Chris waters. And I want to thank Seth green for all being a part of the podcast today. More importantly, I want to thank Joel Monique and Daniel Goodman for putting together this special version of fake doctors, real friends.

And on that note, we will go out with the Alabama Jackson theme song one last time. Five, six, seven, eight. Alabama Jackson He's a time-traveling man Doing the best that he can Woodrow Wilson hates blacks I'm Raquel Willis.

Join me on my new podcast, Queer Chronicles, a show where LGBTQ plus folks tell their own stories in their own words. This season, teens will share all about growing up in political battleground states. We will always exist and we will definitely not let them take away our joy, no matter how hard they try. Listen to Queer Chronicles on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your most fabulous shows. Hi, this is Shannon Doherty, host of the new podcast, Let's Be Clear with Shannon Doherty. So in this podcast, I'm going to be talking about marriage, divorce, my family, my career. I'm also going to be talking a lot about cancer,

the ups and the downs, everything that I've learned from it. It's going to be a wild ride. So listen to Let's Be Clear with Shannon Doherty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey, it's Alec Baldwin. This past season on my podcast, Here's the Thing, I spoke with more actors, musicians, policymakers,

and so many other fascinating people, like jazz bassist Christian McBride. Jazz is based on improvisation, but there's very much a form to it. You have a conversation based on that melody and those chord changes. So it's kind of like giving someone a topic and say, okay, talk about this. Listen to the new season of Here's the Thing on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, and I'm the host of the On Purpose podcast. And I had the opportunity to talk to one of Hollywood's major

icons, Michael B. Jordan. In our conversation, Michael shares the highs, the lows, and everything in between, offering a genuine glimpse into his world. The closest to getting what you want is always the hardest. People give up right before they get what they've always wanted to get. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.