ComingSoon Senior Editor Spencer Legacy said: Koalaman Creator Michael Cusack talks about developing the show and juggling projects like smiling friend When YOLO: Crystal FantasyAll 8 episodes of . Koalaman Currently streaming on Hulu.
“It follows middle-aged dad Kevin and his famous not-so-secret identity, whose only superpower is his burning passion for following the rules and eradicating petty crime in the town of Dapto. “It may look like any other Australian suburb, but evil forces, both cosmic and man-made, are waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting Daptonians.” On a quest to clean up the dungeons, and often frustrated families involved in his adventures, Koalaman is ready. I’ll do whatever it takes to defeat the jerk who won’t drop the trash on me.
Spencer Legacy: How do you juggle so many projects at once between Koala Man, Smiling Friends, YOLO, and Paloni Show segments?
Michael Cusack: With lots of help! Luckily, I have a lot of talented animators around me and people who can lighten the load. Princess bent from australia… they do a lot of animation for these things right now i have talented people around me who can help me with all these projects he only has a million not here. So yeah, delegation.
This is a deep cut, but you mentioned in The Very Positive Stream in 2018 that Koalaman had just been picked up and that was almost five years ago. So what’s it like to see it develop?
Was it nearly five years ago?
Yes, 2018.
Oh my God yes. have understood. Completely forgot. Yes, I received it by the 20th, but after that I had to shop. That’s the way the industry works. Selling the show isn’t the end of the story. They also have to sell it — if it’s in the studio, they have to sell it to the network. So it was in development hell for quite a few years, but yeah, we stuck with it and it was good.It snowballed, with a few more people on board, showrunners and Justin [Roiland] as an EP [executive producer] And it got a lot of steam.It was a place where I was lucky enough to work smiling friend too much Yolo I’m on the side, so I wasn’t just sitting there waiting for this to happen.
I was also really pleasantly surprised to see Damo and Darren appear in the series. When did you decide to include them?
For some reason… so it just seemed to make sense when I did Damo and Darren Many years ago I installed it at the Dapto station. I actually had him go to Dapto and take pictures of the Dapto station and draw them for the “Ciggy Butt Brain” cartoon.Then years later when I made the Koalaman shorts, it somehow made sense to set Koalaman Because he was mad at petty criminals like Damo and Darren. Koalaman On Hulu’s series they worked well together so it makes sense to include them as well. They’re like Jay and Silent Bob in this universe. Like things.
Were you concerned about whether Australian concepts like showbags and emu wars would be understood by a global audience, or were you much more confident?
When it comes to those things, in the writers’ room, Australians brought up what we felt was very Australian, and American writers loved it, did it, expanded it. I realized that what’s normal and strange to us is kind of funny to Americans. That was the fun part. That’s right, there was no pushback. If anything, the network and executives wanted to make it more Australian, and they were able to do that because, at the end of the day, the characters still have all their motivations, wants, and needs. Weird stuff on the side.
You worked with Justin Rowland again on Koalaman. Completed Bushworld Adventures, Paloni Show, and High On Life. So what has the collaboration been like over the years?
Yeah it’s really good. So that means Justin got his first start.when i did Bushworld Adventures — rick and morty April Fools’ Special — I was just making shorts for YouTube. He suddenly gave me a message. rick and morty In season two, he said, “You wanted to do this April Fool’s Day special?” I was incredibly lucky. At the time, I looked like I was washing dishes in a restaurant. So it was great. To this day, it’s one of his most enjoyable jobs I’ve gotten. Justin was very good at being like, “Do whatever you want.” And I said, ‘Don’t you want to see the script before I do it?’ And he said, ‘No, I don’t care. It’s a dream come true for any creative person who wants to make something like that, yes he is a great friend who has helped me with my career and I am eternally grateful I am a person.
Koalaman is a bit more serialized than your other shows. Do you prefer the episodic or serial format?
i don’t really have a preference. I think there are advantages and disadvantages to both.clearly smiling friend It’s an episode, so you can watch it anytime. There is no overarching story or arc that is good in itself. I also like serialization.I like having a show that you can binge on and at the end of the binge session you get the whole cohesive story and have to watch it from start to finish. [they’re] Both are fun. Luckily you can do both.
Even Koalaman has a great voice. How can I make sure they don’t mix or look too similar?
Just be as different as possible. Like when I do Maxwell, it’s as tough as an old man can go on my voice. I think Kevin and Maxwell are very different, sometimes Liam sounds like Kevin, and I always try to redo Liam’s lines on top of that and try to elevate him.
But it sounds the same, like The Great One and Tall Poppy. After watching, I realized that I do the voices of those characters pretty much the same. high on lifeIt’s a really gravelly voice and my go-to. And I’ve done that quite a bit with some characters. My philosophy with stuff like that is that as far as thinking about the character when you’re voicing it, it’s a little bit more nuanced than the others. quite similar.
You mentioned that the production time for Koalaman was quite long. When did Hugh Jackman come out and what was it like?
I wonder when it was… oh god, when was that? I think it was about a year and a half ago. Yeah, I think it was last year, but I don’t remember. Our casting reached out. I wasn’t optimistic. I came from school with the idea that I was unknown and that I wasn’t going to get a famous actor, but I was clearly wrong. The fact that it’s something new that appealed to people like Sarah Snook, Hugo Weaving… I mean, I say it all the time, but it’s still not that we have such great talent. I can’t believe it… on this show. cannot be processed. It makes no sense.
It’s a pretty crazy cast.
That’s insane. That’s insane. And they were great. That may sound lame, but you could say someone was like, “Hahaha, you fell for it! Just kidding. It wasn’t a real Jackman!
long scam.
Yeah but yeah they were great. Not much else to say. They are all professional and great to work with.
Did you ever think you’d make a show where Jemaine Clement monologues about peeing and eating larvae while Justin Rowland was washing the dishes before reaching out?
No, I definitely didn’t. I think…it’s weird. I think about that sometimes. Time travel and watch shows from when they were at their worst. I’ve always dreamed of making an animated show like this, so I’m living the dream. It’s truly incredible and I feel very lucky.
Your work is always wonderful. It’s really cool to see all these Newgrounds and YouTube animators really start taking off.
So yeah, if in some way I can help other YouTube animators and Newgrounds artists get their work out there and get gigs, shows, whatever they want, I feel like I’ve accomplished something. That’s what it’s really worth. I grew up with all those things, so I feel like I owe them something. Yes Yes. It’s great.
