Cass Warner has Passed and Does Samy Burch Know Something We Don't?
On this episode of the podcast, writer Jordan Morris sits in to talk about his latest works and we honor the passing of Legacy Looney Legend Cass Warner, the granddaughter of the Warner Brothers Studio Mogul Jack Warner.
The Book written by Cass Warner Sperling can be found at the link below.
https://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Warner-Cass-Sperling/dp/098147120X
Youth Group is now available for pre-order:
Coyote Vs Acme Screenwriter Samy Burch says screenings of the film to potential buyers is still ongoing! Let's hope this gets traction and the film sees distribution soon. #CoyoteVsAcme
Episodes Discussed:
'Tooned in Space' - Tiny Toons Looniversity
Debuting on Cartoon Network starting April 6th!
Follow the Guest:
Jordan Morris
@JordanDavidMorris on Instagram
Rate, Subscribe & Like on iTunes and follow @ThisMeansPodcast
That’s NOT All Folks!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
A beloved Looney Legend has left us,but it's not all sad news as Coyote vs.
Acme the film is still being screenedand could still possibly come out.
So of course you realizethis means podcast.
(05:58):
Hello and welcome to, of courseyou realize this means podcast.
I'm your host, Jonathan Graves.
And with me today, it is a pleasure tobring to you screenwriter and TV writer,
animation enthusiast, and just allaround comedic fun guy, Jordan Morris,
who has a new graphic novel that he'sworking on coming out later this year.
(06:20):
Jordan, welcome to the show andhow are you doing this morning?
Hi, I'm doing great.
I actually love being introducedas all around comedic fun guy.
I'm going to insist on being introducedthat way for future podcasts all around.
You know, you know, when you're, whenyou're a creative person these days,
you do a lot of different stuff.
You, you know, you podcast you workon TV, you work in some other stuff.
(06:44):
And I think all around comedic fun guy.
That really gets at it.
Thank you so much forthis wonderful title.
You're welcome.
Of course.
Yeah, so you are a podcasteras well and you've worked with
some really fun youtube channels
in the youtube space.
That's how I say youtube.
Yeah, I did a little freelancewriting for the screen junkies back
in the day And you can, you canstill see me semi regularly on Good
(07:08):
Mythical Morning with Rhett and Link.
I I worked for them for a bitand established a couple re
recurring jokes that were, werestill recurring to this day.
Fantastic.
I touched on it briefly.
I just wanted to highlight the passing ofCas Warner, the, Beloved, you know, one
of the Warner sisters, if you will shecoauthored the book, The Brothers Warner,
(07:31):
and she had developed a lot of filmand TV projects with the studio and was
the great granddaughter of Jack Warner.
And so I went to, you know, theseliving legends, they're still with us.
They in and the generationsthat they are attached to have
such a wealth of knowledge.
(07:52):
And if you ever get to sit down withsomebody like that, I think you should
definitely take the opportunity.
They have a lot of insight into howbusiness was run back in the day.
And if you haven't, Readthe Brothers Warner.
I highly recommend it.
It is currently available at the WBstudio store, which is really cool.
But I'm sure you can find it onAmazon and everywhere like that.
(08:13):
Did you ever get to meetCas Warner by the way?
No, I didn't.
And I'm, I'm, I'm thrilled tohear about this book actually.
I would, I mean, yeah, I mean, as,as someone who's such a big fan
of Warner Brothers stuff, I guessI don't know too much about the
history of the studio and the family.
So yeah, that's great to hear that.
There's a book out there and yeah,that's, that's such a cool way to like,
remember somebody is through, you know,recommending and recirculating their book.
(08:36):
That's awesome.
I'm, I'm definitely going to check it out.
Yeah, absolutely.
And we, you know, send condolences tothe entire family and, and friends.
I, I know people personally who had justmet her because she was doing a signing
a couple of months back and I'm sure it'sjust devastating to to lose someone like
that, but you know, we wish, And, and wehope that the healing starts and, you know
(09:02):
just know that she lived a wonderful lifeand yeah what, what more can you ask for?
Yeah.
What an, what an awesome,what an awesome legacy.
And yeah, it seems like, and soundslike she lived a really long, cool life
and left behind lots of awesome stuff.
So that's, that's great.
I mean, yeah, obviously like welove Warner Brothers stuff, it's
all over and it probably will,you know, it'll outlive us all.
So yeah, what a, what a cool, whata cool legacy to leave behind.
(09:25):
So something that we hope lives onis this film Coyote versus Acme.
Have you heard about it?
Do you know anything about thedrama that's going on around it?
I do I've been following it I had aliteral dream about it last night.
Oh, wow.
Yes Yeah, maybe because I
knew we had this recording comingup and it was on my mind but in my
dream I was scrolling through my likeTwitter feed and saw that the, in my
(09:51):
dream, this is not actually happeningby the way before people start buying
plane tickets disclaimer, disclaimer,disclaimer, this is my dream.
I cannot predict the future.
I don't know.
I saw that there's a theaterout here called the new Beverly
that does like classic moviescreenings and stuff like that.
And in my dream, the new Beverlywas showing coyote versus Acme
as part of like a viral You know,thing to actually get it released.
(10:12):
So yeah, I, I I, I have hope.
I'm so excited to hopefullysee this movie someday.
That's so cool that like, I didn'tknow until she started stumping for it,
that Sammy Birch was the screenwriter.
I loved May, December.
I thought May, December was a hoot.
So yeah, I would be soexcited to see this movie.
I mean, who wouldn't, if you'relistening to this podcast you know.
(10:33):
You're probably so stoked on it.
So yeah, consider, consider me amongst thepeople who are really stoked to see it.
And yeah, hopefully it,hopefully it happens.
It's it, I guess it's reassuring thatwe're still talking about it, you
know, X amount of months later becauseyeah, it's been a story for so long.
So hopefully the fact that it is anongoing story and people still care
means that it'll come out at some point.
(10:54):
I've, I've, I've talked to acouple of people who have seen it.
And they all kind of corroboratewhat you hear and that it's like
funny and surprisingly emotional andall the performances are awesome.
And all the, all those greatLooney Tunes characters show up.
So yeah, I'm, I, yeah, I can't wait.
I w I'm, if the new Beverly actuallystarts showing it, I'll, I'll be out
(11:15):
there with a, with a, with a deckchair about waiting for my ticket.
I hope that dream is propheticbecause Quentin Tarantino
is a huge Looney Tunes fan.
So if anyone is going to screenit like that, it would be him.
Yeah.
He is the owner of the newBeverly and a couple other
old movie theaters here in LA.
So yes, Quentin, you can do it.
We believe in you.
(11:37):
Yeah.
Just give them the 35 million,however much they're asking for,
you know, screening at your theater.
You got it.
Great.
Quentin's got it.
If this finally ever does come out, Ithink that a lot of people are going to be
surprised and it will also Rejuvenate thefranchise in a new way, and I think that
would be really exciting especially for usfans listening and And promoting release
(11:59):
coyote versus acne every which way wecan but a new quote has come out and she
was talking about may december again andshe said As far as I know it's ongoing.
I think we're all prettyheartbroken about it.
We hope it will somehow findits home and not end up stuck
in a vault for the rest of time.
(12:21):
That would be a great resolution.
They are still screening it.
They are still pushing for it to bereleased, which is fantastic news.
That brings us to the last news article,which is Tiny Toons University is back!
Season 2 dropped last, Iguess, two, two Fridays ago.
And it is better than Season 1!
(12:43):
A lot of people are sayingthat they love the writing in
this second batch of episodes.
It's only five currently and theyare set to premiere on Cartoon
Network on April 6th at 9 a.
m So set your alarms, but Currently, youcan watch them streaming on Max, so I know
(13:03):
you're a fan of Tiny Toons growing up.
Did you have a ball just jumpinginto this world, and what was it
like writing for Buster and Babs?
Oh my god, I mean, yeah, I mean,dream come true, like literal,
literal childhood dream come true.
I loved the Tiny Toons growing up.
I have a special special affectionfor the, the like movie that they did.
(13:26):
I don't think it was released in theaters.
The, how I spent my summer vacation.
Oh, it's
so good.
It's so
funny.
It, I think we had it on VHS andwe just watched it into the ground.
My sister and I I can still, youknow, I still sing, I still, still
sing the happy world land music.
Part of the plot is plucky goingwith Hampton's family to happy
world land, which is like a really.
(13:46):
Like terrible amusement park.
Happy world land, happy worldland where the fun doesn't
stop for only 80 bucks a pop.
Great joke.
Yeah, I, I yeah, couldn't, I was such afan of Looney of tiny tunes growing up.
Oh, great.
NES game for tiny tunes.
Did you ever play the NES game?
I will
platformer so fun.
There were so many.
So many little tiny tunes, the platformersthat were incredible Buster breaks loose.
(14:11):
And yeah, I mean, the list goes on.
I think there's like five goodones, but all by Namco or like
the same company did them all.
And it's just like, where's this?
Like, bring that back.
That'll just like games like that.
Oh
gosh.
I know.
I would love to see alittle re release of those.
But yeah, no, I mean that, thatjust assures that a kid is going
(14:32):
to become obsessed with somethingwhen there's like a TV show.
And also a video game that likejust ensures that you're like, Oh,
I'm obsessed with this for life.
This is imprinting on me.
So yeah, I and yeah, when I heardit was getting rebooted, I was
just like, so stoked as a fan.
And then something I was super stokedabout as I heard that some, some old,
(14:53):
like, comedy colleagues were gonna beinvolved in it Erin Gibson who I who
I did Upright Citizen's Brigade improvand sketch with when I first moved to L.
A., I she's the I I don't know,we don't know exactly what her
title is, I'm gonna say showrunner.
She's
the Yeah, she's the coshowrunner with Nate Cash.
Nice.
Nate Cash.
And
obviously I, like, think Erinis so funny, she's so amazing,
(15:14):
she's got a great podcast.
She's always been one of my favoritefunny people, and I'm like, oh,
great call, Warner Brothers.
That's, like, exactly the kindof person you need to talk to.
To you know, to kind of refresh TinyToons, then I think a little bit later
in the writing process she brought onmy good friend and, and, and another UCB
collaborator from back in the day, AllisonBecker who I think is so funny, a great
(15:37):
writer, but also one of those, that actorfrom that thing does a lot of commercials.
She was like a recurringlocal weirdo in parks and rec.
She was like the local newspaper reporter.
So yeah, she is like a really, reallyfunny actor and also a great writer.
Two talents.
Can you imagine having two talents?
I can't.
But yeah, so yeah such a greatcast, the voice cast, I know.
(16:01):
And it's just got so muchenergy, so much liveliness.
And.
I'm, I'm assuming modern comedy writingis a lot different than what it was
back in the day And so can you talkabout writing on a show that is very
in your face with its with its punches?
Yeah I mean, I think that like WarnerBrothers stuff and like definitely Tiny
(16:22):
Toons and Animaniacs Did such a greatjob of incorporating like current pop
culture to the point where, like, if yougo back and watch them now, sometimes
there's an element of like, who was that?
Is that, was that character that walkedthrough supposed to be Eric Roberts?
You know, obviously animationtakes a couple of years to
(16:42):
get from script to screen.
So, You know, even then some ofthe references are like, yeah,
you can't be so up to date.
Like I guess South Park they can make ina long weekend, but you know, um, yeah.
So, but they, I think they tried tobe as current as they possibly could.
Yeah.
And I think with Tiny Toons, I don't likemaybe clarify my role in it a little bit.
(17:05):
I wrote a couple offreelance episodes for them.
I wasn't there in the writing room.
I wasn't there in the likepitch or anything like that.
Yeah.
But I mean, I talked to them a little bitabout what they kind of wanted to achieve
with the show, and I think they didn'twant it to, you know, walk that line of
being like for adult fans, our age, butalso like something kids could watch.
Because I think sometimes thereboots and the refreshes, they,
(17:29):
they swing one way a little harderthan they swing the other way.
So I think that like, youknow, we, they wanted it to be.
You know, a, like, respectful returnto the show that people our age love,
but also, like, you know, you want toget a new generation of kids into this.
Of course!
Yeah, so I think you, they did want tomake it, they did want to make them seem
(17:55):
like modern teens slash young adults.
So I think that they do, like, use somemodern slang, and they do, like, act a
little bit more like They're from 2024.
Cause I think you could do like a 90sthrowback version of Tiny Tunes and
it would probably be really hilarious,but, you know, you might lose some.
(18:16):
You know, you might lose some newviewers that way Although maybe not.
I don't know who doesn'tlove the 90s, right?
Like who doesn't love to remember the
90s?
Yeah, everything's got to be updatedthough And the way that they use the
characters and they have these cutawaysto their faces and they're doing the memes
like, What I'm thinking about specificallyis like plucky having really beady eyes
and like a really big expression onhis beak and like that kind of thing.
(18:38):
I think that goes far for kids andobviously the internet culture that
we're in, people are just going totake screen grab to that and then
plug in whatever they're thinkingover for that kind of overlay.
I
love, I do love how expressive they are.
And it's such a cartoony cartoon.
And I think cartoonycartoons are definitely like.
(18:58):
Fewer and far between these days andlike Looney Tunes still work great for
memes like Big Chungus, you know, likeyou could turn on turn on your favorite
social media right now and find 10 funnyBig Chungus memes because like they're
so expressive and that's why Spongebobmakes such a great mean it's like
(19:21):
yeah it's just like Yes, pure emotion.
You know what he's feeling at all times.
You know, it, me, me aftertoo much coffee, right?
Like these things work so well forit just because like the cartooning
is so brilliant and I really like.
That that is an aspect of this show.
I like that, that like, even though itis modern and you know, you still have
(19:42):
some like modern slang and modern ideas.
Like it's, it's, it's classic cartoon.
It's a classic Warner brothers cartoon.
And like the characters stillkind of like move and behave and
emote like those old cartoons.
I think that's just a, sucha great part of the show.
Yeah, and most recently theyincorporated the celebrity parodies
with with Plucky being obsessed withthe tabloids magazine and going through
(20:06):
and looking at the different mashupsof celebrities and animals, which I
thought was really funny and a reallygreat callback to the 90s series.
For those who are uninitiated and don'tknow who big chunks is, that is Bugs
Bunny imitating Elmer Fudd from WabbitTrouble all the way back from 1940.
So, like, you know, that is a, areally fun callback, but that has
taken on a, a meme of its own,if you will, and he's everywhere.
(20:30):
But speaking of cartoony cartoons,you have worked on a slew of them.
You have Teen Titans Go Un Kittymost recently Jellystone which
just dropped its third season.
So.
These characters have been in yourrepertoire so far as vehicles for comedy
Which characters do you associate withthe most or like are easiest to write?
(20:56):
Oh, sure.
Great question Yeah, I so the the episodeof tiny tunes one of the episodes that I
did is that episode you mentioned whereplucky is looking at all the tabloids.
We also, we also get Marvinthe Martian in that one.
I love Marvin in that.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's kind of a, it's kind of an oldman, Logan type story where Marvin
is old and broken and then a spoileralert gets his, gets his groove
(21:19):
back and goes on a space adventure.
It's perfect.
Yeah, and it's honestly, like, so good.
Oh, thanks!
I love, I really love how it turned out.
It was so fun to do.
And, yeah, and, and those thosecelebrity parodies you mentioned,
those were so fun to come up with.
Alison Becker and I jammed onthose together, and I think some
of them were Aaron Gibson's, too.
Yeah.
So yeah, I cannot take credit for Fox J.
(21:41):
Michael.
I think that's one of thefunniest ones in there.
And I think that was an Alison Becker.
But yeah, those like celebrityyeah, those like animal celebrities
were like a blast to come up with.
I think we probably have like 50 unusedones that didn't make it into the episode.
So hopefully, hopefully if there'smore tiny tunes at some point we see we
see some of those animal celebrities.
Can you give the listeners just a peekat one of them that may have Oh, gosh.
(22:04):
Lifted on the cutting room floor?
Let
me see if I can remember.
I don't know if I have it in front of me.
Okay.
If we, if at some point I findit, I'll email it over to you and
you can, you can read them on air.
Perfect.
Yeah, but I mean, I, I,like Plucky is so funny.
I think that the modern, the, theLuniversity version of Plucky is like
a hilarious, like, update of him.
(22:24):
I like that he's just like, Okay.
screening high status ahigh status jerk, basically.
I love a high status jerk.
I love a Danny McBride character.
You know, even though he is like ahigh status jerk and hard to get along
with, like, he and Buster and Hamptonare, are like still friends, you know,
like that friendship is still there.
(22:45):
And like, even though he's annoyingand even though they get on each
other's nerves, like they arefriends at the end of the episode.
And I think that's such a nicepart of the show is like, the
characters can have conflict, butlike, They're, they're friends.
And I think that's a, that's somethingI always like to try and do with my
casts of characters is to like make itso they can have conflict and they can
(23:10):
fight and they can be funny at eachother, but, but, you know, you do want
them to be friends at the end of theday, and you do want people to, like,
understand why they're a unit, you know?
Not just that they, like, got smushedtogether somehow, but they do have a
connection that's, like, fun to see.
So, yeah, I, I appreciate that they,they really wanted to do that with
Lunaversity, is to make sure that,like, the friendship stayed believable.
(23:32):
1000 percent and it is believable and Ilove whenever they have scenes together
But just I got to give it up for intothe podcast david erigo jr who brings
life to both plucky and hampton inthis and just that dual role of Being
so sweet and innocent with hamptonand then just being the out and out
jerk with plucky I I don't know howhe does it, but he does it so well And
(23:55):
it's yeah, it comes off in the writingit comes off in the characterization
so And it's so funny to watch.
Anytime Plucky is the butt ofthe joke, it, it always gets me.
Yeah, there's a, and I think it mighteven be the first episode of Lunaversity.
They have, they're doing somesort of talent show and you cut to
Plucky and he's wearing the NataliePortman outfit from Black Swan.
(24:18):
Yes.
I have not laughed that hard at a card.
I had nothing to do with that.
I was just enjoying that episode as a fan.
And yeah, that's, that to me is sucha hilarious joke and such a great.
A great example of like how this modernplucky is like a little bit different
and transitioning over to jelly stone.
I'm sure you're a fan ofthose characters as well.
And top cat has really surprised me withthe antics that come around for his family
(24:43):
and you know, all of the cats associatedwith that franchise and all of the
little groupings like you have Yogi bear.
You have and now we havethe Jetsons coming in.
We had a cameo of ScoobyDoo in the gang like.
Do you, have you worked with your,like, goal of working with a IP yet?
(25:04):
Or is there another IP that's outthere that you haven't touched on yet?
And, what IP brought you the mostjoy to work on within Jellystone?
Oh, that's a great question.
Yeah.
I'll talk about Jellystone a little bit.
And yeah, and I think you, you, you,you hit on something that I think
is a core part of the show and thatlike, it's a lot of little shows.
(25:28):
Like, I guess that's how the creator, C.
H.
Greenblatt, when I got the job, that'skind of how he described it to me.
It's like, it's all these littlesitcoms that kind of happen within it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This bigger show in, you know, thislittle town of Jellystone has all of
these little sitcoms that happen init, and it's like, you know Magilla and
Jabber working at the hat store, likethat's its own little show, and Yogi
(25:51):
and Boo Boo and Cindy at the hospital,that's its own little show, and of course
these characters kind of like mix up andmash up, but You know, you kind of like
start an episode with like, which ofthese little worlds are you starting in?
And Top Cat and his gang being these kindof shifty scammers is its own little show.
And yeah, I love, you know, Ilove I love their take on all
(26:13):
these Hanna Barbera characters.
Tom Lennon as Top Cat, how funny is he?
He's such a great, he's such a greatVO performer and He's fantastic.
Such a fun use of him.
And yeah, so that was a blast and, and,you know, like these, the Hanna Barbera
characters, like, have these greatdesigns and all those shows had great
theme songs, but I think that's mostlywhat people remember about them, right?
(26:36):
It's kind of like their vibes, likeyou know, I mean, I, I, Diehards
probably do, but like, just regularcartoon fans probably don't have a
favorite Grape Ape episode, you know?
Like, it's something you rememberfondly, but I don't think it's
been as rerun and re obsessed overas, you know, the Looney Tunes.
(26:57):
So yeah, it's a little moreof a blank slate, and you can
kind of just have fun with it.
Like, you want to like, recapture kindof what was fun about the character
in general, but like, It's, it's,it's a little more Lucy Goose, and
like, Jellystone is a crazy show,like, if you haven't watched it yet,
like, I think they, they're not superconcerned about, like, plot, or it
(27:18):
making total sense, I think they justwant it to be funny, and I love working
on a show like that, like, you know,I think, I think with Luniversity,
they, they do want those things.
Those episodes to have like emotionalarcs and like, maybe not lessons, but
like, you know, you want the character tokind of grow and change and jelly stone.
It's just chaos.
And I think that like, it's been,it was really fun because I worked
(27:41):
on both those in the same year.
It was really fun to do both likesomething that was a little more like.
That had a little more character plotgrowth and then just like jelly stone.
It's like, what insaneidea can you come up with?
What will be funny?
What's making us laugh in the room?
So yeah, I like thatboth those shows exist.
I love how you described it as chaos.
(28:01):
Cause like that show, it's so, it's likeplayful chaos is how I would describe it.
But yeah, And totally like it'sirreverent and it doesn't really care
about plot, but it's just got good vibes
Yeah, the vibes the jellystone vibesare impeccable I like yeah, and I love
how both these shows turned out andI think that like it it's yeah again
(28:21):
It's great that both of them can likeexist, you know On the same network
and I want to give a shout out tofriend of the podcast jenny lorenzo
who who voices a couple of characterson the Show choo choo bobby louis
spooky Hardy har har and pixie.
Yeah, look out for her.
She's hilarious such a great voicecast on that show I will say something
(28:42):
that I I tried to do in this seasonof Jellystone that we never were able
to crack, that I absolutely will takea crack at again if, you know, they
do another season and I work on it.
Fingers crossed.
Yeah, that would be great.
I know.
Yeah, check out Jellystone.
We would love to do more.
I, I wanted to do an episodewhere Jabberjaw gets back
(29:05):
together with her band.
Oh, yes.
The original Jabberjawcartoon is very weird.
It is a talking shark who lives ina bubble city with human teenagers.
He talks like Curly from the ThreeStooges and they have a rock band.
It's just the most randomcollection of things.
But I really have a, I, Ihave a lot of love for it.
And.
As a as a 90s ska kid, I waskind of obsessed with the
(29:29):
Cartoon Network short that did alittle ska song about Jabberjaw.
Maybe not like technically a skasong, it's probably like more
like a punk song with horns in it.
So don't, don't get at mein my mentions, people.
I know the difference.
But so I like that.
So Jabberjaw kind of continued to live inmy head because of those little shorts.
So, and, you know, in the, in Jolly Stone,she, they like vaguely allude to her band
(29:54):
in an episode that I didn't work on, likeshe remembers them as ghosts or something
like that, and so I would come in to thewriter's room basically every other day
with a new pitch for how Jabberjaw getsback together with her band And they
didn't, Carl didn't like any of them.
Oh, no, he's a great, he's agenuine, a great dude to work with.
(30:15):
And very nice and very open tocollaboration, but for whatever reason,
I could not get them to hook intoone of these ideas where Jabber gets
to get back together with her band.
And, you know, I love likerock and roll movies and you
know, I was like a punk kid.
So I would love to like, you know,Bring some of that energy into it, but
yeah, we were never able to crack itI think I think they're open to it.
I think I think we could do ajabber in her band episode in
(30:38):
a future season should that
Fingers crossed that everybody flocksto that show and gives it some attention
because I agree It takes a minute to likemarinate in it, but definitely it's worth
it and you'll come out A more alive andoverjoyed person with your daily life.
(31:00):
It's so funny.
I dare anybody not tolaugh watching Jelly Stone.
It's such a treat.
And they're, you know,they're 12 minute episodes.
You can throw on a couple.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
And so Jellystone is already out onMacs and soon will be on Cartoon Network
if it's not already and Tiny ToonsUniversity Season 2 is dropping at 9 a.
(31:21):
m.
on April 6th.
So again, set your clocks for that.
And, I'm going to take itover to a new topic here.
We're going to be discussing yournew graphic novel youth group,
and this is a really fun adventuremystical, like kind of like Buffy
(31:41):
the vampire slayer, but at church.
Honestly, a great pitch.
That's a great way to describe it.
Yes.
Thank you.
I found the humor to be, you knowrelatable, honestly between, you know
daughter and mom dynamics you got frienddynamics and they're going through
certain things and, and it's justevolving until you get to a spiritual
(32:05):
exorcism that has to take place.
So can you talk a bit about writingfor a graphic novel as opposed to
writing for an animated series?
And like, what's, what'sthe difference between that?
Yeah so, a youth group I did with agreat artist named Bowen McGurdy whose
work you know from the series SpectreInspectors, if you're a, if you're a YA
comics fan, and they've done some Marvelas well and yeah, so like, Comics are,
(32:29):
are, are pretty collaborative, right?
So you're, you're working with the artist,and I think that, like, in certain schools
of thought, the writer should be kind oflike second banana to the artist, right?
Like you're, as the writer, you'rethere to kind of set them up for their,
you know, to succeed in the ways thatYou know, you're kind of there to set
(32:52):
them up to be the best they can be.
And I, I really likethat school of thought.
I really like, you know, kind of, Whatcan I write that will support them?
What can I write that,like, lets them show off?
What can I write that, like, isnot too much of a pain in the ass?
Like, crowd scenes.
Can I write something withouta bunch of crowd scenes?
And of course you have like an editor.
We had we had a great editor onyouth group, Ben Wilges, who is
(33:15):
a great comics writer himself.
And yeah, so like, that's kind of yourteam and like, you know, and you, and you
want to collaborate, but like compared toan animation show, that is a very small
team, like for an animated show, likethere's so many people working on it and
I think, you know, like, like when you'redoing comics, you want to give artists.
(33:43):
You know, space to shine and youwant to help them to, you know,
turn out the best product they can.
But with animation, there's like a dozenother people that you want to do that for.
So like your story editor,for instance like on the
university, it was Alison Becker.
It's like, how can I, her, bring this ideato, to light and like, how can, and she's
(34:08):
kind of like supporting Aaron and there'sthe directors and the storyboard artists.
So it's kind of like, and you know,with animated shows, you're not
always in the same room together.
Like it's, it's, it'spretty piecemeal, right?
Like I've done some shows where likethe writers get together with the board
artists and the board artists get togetherwith the directors, but those are kind
of fewer and farther between these days.
(34:29):
So yeah, I, I, You know, I think they'reboth group efforts, but like, graphic
novels, your group is much, much smaller.
So fewer ideas, fewer cooks, it cankind of be a little more, like, of a
vision but with, like, animated shows,like, there's, there's just more cooks
(34:50):
and more ideas, and like, oftentimes,that creates but also just you, you
have to know that there's like a lotof people who want to have a say.
So yeah, I think that's, that'slike, that's the big difference.
So that's a good description.
Yeah.
I would also think that a animated seriesis like a train, you know, and like
it's pulling people on and people aregetting off and, but it's still going.
(35:12):
It's like full speed ahead, you know?
And for.
Your own project you're kind of outthere in the back pushing, you know
Trying to get the the train to makeits destination yeah, so We've already
pitched the book, but do you wantto , tell the listeners what the,
what the crux of the book is about?
And like yeah.
(35:33):
Yeah, I mean, Buffy the Vampire Slayerat Church is a, is a great pitch.
I don't, I don't feel like I need to saymuch, much else about it, but I will.
It is a YA horror comedy.
It's about teenage exorcists so it'sabout a kid whose parents force her
to go to a goofy youth group and shefinds out that these goofballs who, you
know, sing parody songs and talk aboutabstinence have to do actual exorcisms,
(35:56):
so you have this skeptic, this nonbeliever who has to kind of team up with
these hyper believers to fight monstersand demons so yeah, like, obviously
Buffy was a big inspiration Shaun ofthe Dead was a big inspiration, like
how you do a Horror thing that is kindof has a lot of character based jokes,
but also like a real horror plot in it.
Yeah.
(36:16):
And when the
main character finds the friend tiedup in the garage, I immediately thought
of Shaun of the Dead by the way.
So that was a one to one it came across.
Oh, good.
Good.
Yes.
I know.
I love that movie.
So, yeah.
Any, any comparison to Shaun ofthe Dead, I think is flattering.
Yeah.
And, and I had, had, hada ton of fun doing it.
Bowen is like such a great artist.
You know, we were talking about like howfar an expressive character goes, but
(36:40):
Bowen's characters have such beautifulacting, like, like the, the jokes in it
land well because acting the emotion.
And I think that like, I, I just, I can'twait for people to see these characters.
They're, they're so fun and real.
And yeah, really like comedy's alittle tougher in graphic novels.
(37:02):
I think you don't see a ton of likefunny comics, like it's, it's, it's rare.
And I think that it's just a little bittough because, you know, you don't have
timing and like Yeah, there's just somechallenges with it, but I think, like,
Bowen is such a great artist, and like,those characters just are so expressive,
and I think that, yeah, hopefully the,like, comedy lands because of that.
(37:23):
And, yeah, it's, it's, it is availablefor pre order now, we love a pre order.
Yes.
Yeah.
And I was a I was, so I was likea youth group kid growing up.
I know I've mentioned, I've been acouple of kind of kids, but aren't
we all, aren't we all, we're alla lot of different kinds of kids.
Yeah.
So I was a youth group kid and alwayslike, thought it was a very funny
world, this world of like, we'rereligious, but we're also kind of cool.
(37:47):
Right?
Like we also like, we go to, wego to, you know, band concerts
and we hang out and watch movies.
Like, so I love that attitude.
I think it's such a funny, weird attitude.
And.
It's never a world that I sawlike expressed in media that
well, like I never saw, you know,teen church or youth group, like.
(38:09):
represented well in media.
So I don't know.
I had always kind of wantedto tell a story in that world.
And the idea of making themexorcisms just kind of came.
And that's, that's kind of wherethe, where the germ of the idea
was
born.
Well, it's a fun idea and Ithink it's executed really well.
You have, again, as you said,expressive faces and really fun,
lively drawings with these characters.
(38:30):
And the way that the story progressesis just really energetic and.
It leaves you on the edge of your seatas you're flipping the page and like I
can't wait for people to read this aswell again, and that is available for pre
order currently and comes out july 16thin stores and digitally In the young adult
fiction section, so look out for it there.
(38:51):
It's called youth groupWhat a great title.
Yeah, I know.
Yeah.
And the cover is gorgeous too.
If you want to take a look at it, bit.
ly slash youth group book is alittle link and you got all those
pre order links and you can see thegorgeous cover a couple of the pages.
Yeah, no, I'm excited forfolks to check it out.
And again, we love a pre order.
Do I know why?
Not exactly, but we do.
(39:11):
So if it sounds like a coolidea we love a pre order.
Fantastic.
So, Jordan, thank you somuch for coming on the show.
Where can people find you online?
Yes I'm, I'm out
there at Jordan David Morris onInstagram and I'll just shout
out that book link one more time.
Bits.
ly slash youth group book.
You got all your, yougot all your info there.
(39:32):
I'm, I'm excited to check it out.
And thank you so much for having me.
God, what a fun chat.
Yes, absolutely.
Thank you for coming on.
And you can follow the podcast over atthis means pod on twitter And this means
podcast over on facebook and instagramwhere I am posting daily anything that
has to do with looney tunes or any updateswithin warner animation you will find it
there Bill hater was currently cast ascat in the hat in a new animated movie.
(39:55):
So like that's going to be wild but yeahfollow us on social media to stay up
to date on all things in the loonaverseAnd as always that's not all folks
A beloved Looney Legend has left us,but it's not all sad news as Coyote vs.
Acme the film is still being screenedand could still possibly come out.
So of course you realizethis means podcast.
(05:58):
Hello and welcome to, of courseyou realize this means podcast.
I'm your host, Jonathan Graves.
And with me today, it is a pleasure tobring to you screenwriter and TV writer,
animation enthusiast, and just allaround comedic fun guy, Jordan Morris,
who has a new graphic novel that he'sworking on coming out later this year.
(06:20):
Jordan, welcome to the show andhow are you doing this morning?
Hi, I'm doing great.
I actually love being introducedas all around comedic fun guy.
I'm going to insist on being introducedthat way for future podcasts all around.
You know, you know, when you're, whenyou're a creative person these days,
you do a lot of different stuff.
You, you know, you podcast you workon TV, you work in some other stuff.
(06:44):
And I think all around comedic fun guy.
That really gets at it.
Thank you so much forthis wonderful title.
You're welcome.
Of course.
Yeah, so you are a podcasteras well and you've worked with
some really fun youtube channels
in the youtube space.
That's how I say youtube.
Yeah, I did a little freelancewriting for the screen junkies back
in the day And you can, you canstill see me semi regularly on Good
(07:08):
Mythical Morning with Rhett and Link.
I I worked for them for a bitand established a couple re
recurring jokes that were, werestill recurring to this day.
Fantastic.
I touched on it briefly.
I just wanted to highlight the passing ofCas Warner, the, Beloved, you know, one
of the Warner sisters, if you will shecoauthored the book, The Brothers Warner,
(07:31):
and she had developed a lot of filmand TV projects with the studio and was
the great granddaughter of Jack Warner.
And so I went to, you know, theseliving legends, they're still with us.
They in and the generationsthat they are attached to have
such a wealth of knowledge.
(07:52):
And if you ever get to sit down withsomebody like that, I think you should
definitely take the opportunity.
They have a lot of insight into howbusiness was run back in the day.
And if you haven't, Readthe Brothers Warner.
I highly recommend it.
It is currently available at the WBstudio store, which is really cool.
But I'm sure you can find it onAmazon and everywhere like that.
(08:13):
Did you ever get to meetCas Warner by the way?
No, I didn't.
And I'm, I'm, I'm thrilled tohear about this book actually.
I would, I mean, yeah, I mean, as,as someone who's such a big fan
of Warner Brothers stuff, I guessI don't know too much about the
history of the studio and the family.
So yeah, that's great to hear that.
There's a book out there and yeah,that's, that's such a cool way to like,
remember somebody is through, you know,recommending and recirculating their book.
(08:36):
That's awesome.
I'm, I'm definitely going to check it out.
Yeah, absolutely.
And we, you know, send condolences tothe entire family and, and friends.
I, I know people personally who had justmet her because she was doing a signing
a couple of months back and I'm sure it'sjust devastating to to lose someone like
that, but you know, we wish, And, and wehope that the healing starts and, you know
(09:02):
just know that she lived a wonderful lifeand yeah what, what more can you ask for?
Yeah.
What an, what an awesome,what an awesome legacy.
And yeah, it seems like, and soundslike she lived a really long, cool life
and left behind lots of awesome stuff.
So that's, that's great.
I mean, yeah, obviously like welove Warner Brothers stuff, it's
all over and it probably will,you know, it'll outlive us all.
So yeah, what a, what a cool, whata cool legacy to leave behind.
(09:25):
So something that we hope lives onis this film Coyote versus Acme.
Have you heard about it?
Do you know anything about thedrama that's going on around it?
I do I've been following it I had aliteral dream about it last night.
Oh, wow.
Yes Yeah, maybe because I
knew we had this recording comingup and it was on my mind but in my
dream I was scrolling through my likeTwitter feed and saw that the, in my
(09:51):
dream, this is not actually happeningby the way before people start buying
plane tickets disclaimer, disclaimer,disclaimer, this is my dream.
I cannot predict the future.
I don't know.
I saw that there's a theaterout here called the new Beverly
that does like classic moviescreenings and stuff like that.
And in my dream, the new Beverlywas showing coyote versus Acme
as part of like a viral You know,thing to actually get it released.
(10:12):
So yeah, I, I I, I have hope.
I'm so excited to hopefullysee this movie someday.
That's so cool that like, I didn'tknow until she started stumping for it,
that Sammy Birch was the screenwriter.
I loved May, December.
I thought May, December was a hoot.
So yeah, I would be soexcited to see this movie.
I mean, who wouldn't, if you'relistening to this podcast you know.
(10:33):
You're probably so stoked on it.
So yeah, consider, consider me amongst thepeople who are really stoked to see it.
And yeah, hopefully it,hopefully it happens.
It's it, I guess it's reassuring thatwe're still talking about it, you
know, X amount of months later becauseyeah, it's been a story for so long.
So hopefully the fact that it is anongoing story and people still care
means that it'll come out at some point.
(10:54):
I've, I've, I've talked to acouple of people who have seen it.
And they all kind of corroboratewhat you hear and that it's like
funny and surprisingly emotional andall the performances are awesome.
And all the, all those greatLooney Tunes characters show up.
So yeah, I'm, I, yeah, I can't wait.
I w I'm, if the new Beverly actuallystarts showing it, I'll, I'll be out
(11:15):
there with a, with a, with a deckchair about waiting for my ticket.
I hope that dream is propheticbecause Quentin Tarantino
is a huge Looney Tunes fan.
So if anyone is going to screenit like that, it would be him.
Yeah.
He is the owner of the newBeverly and a couple other
old movie theaters here in LA.
So yes, Quentin, you can do it.
We believe in you.
(11:37):
Yeah.
Just give them the 35 million,however much they're asking for,
you know, screening at your theater.
You got it.
Great.
Quentin's got it.
If this finally ever does come out, Ithink that a lot of people are going to be
surprised and it will also Rejuvenate thefranchise in a new way, and I think that
would be really exciting especially for usfans listening and And promoting release
(11:59):
coyote versus acne every which way wecan but a new quote has come out and she
was talking about may december again andshe said As far as I know it's ongoing.
I think we're all prettyheartbroken about it.
We hope it will somehow findits home and not end up stuck
in a vault for the rest of time.
(12:21):
That would be a great resolution.
They are still screening it.
They are still pushing for it to bereleased, which is fantastic news.
That brings us to the last news article,which is Tiny Toons University is back!
Season 2 dropped last, Iguess, two, two Fridays ago.
And it is better than Season 1!
(12:43):
A lot of people are sayingthat they love the writing in
this second batch of episodes.
It's only five currently and theyare set to premiere on Cartoon
Network on April 6th at 9 a.
m So set your alarms, but Currently, youcan watch them streaming on Max, so I know
(13:03):
you're a fan of Tiny Toons growing up.
Did you have a ball just jumpinginto this world, and what was it
like writing for Buster and Babs?
Oh my god, I mean, yeah, I mean,dream come true, like literal,
literal childhood dream come true.
I loved the Tiny Toons growing up.
I have a special special affectionfor the, the like movie that they did.
(13:26):
I don't think it was released in theaters.
The, how I spent my summer vacation.
Oh, it's
so good.
It's so
funny.
It, I think we had it on VHS andwe just watched it into the ground.
My sister and I I can still, youknow, I still sing, I still, still
sing the happy world land music.
Part of the plot is plucky goingwith Hampton's family to happy
world land, which is like a really.
(13:46):
Like terrible amusement park.
Happy world land, happy worldland where the fun doesn't
stop for only 80 bucks a pop.
Great joke.
Yeah, I, I yeah, couldn't, I was such afan of Looney of tiny tunes growing up.
Oh, great.
NES game for tiny tunes.
Did you ever play the NES game?
I will
platformer so fun.
There were so many.
So many little tiny tunes, the platformersthat were incredible Buster breaks loose.
(14:11):
And yeah, I mean, the list goes on.
I think there's like five goodones, but all by Namco or like
the same company did them all.
And it's just like, where's this?
Like, bring that back.
That'll just like games like that.
Oh
gosh.
I know.
I would love to see alittle re release of those.
But yeah, no, I mean that, thatjust assures that a kid is going
(14:32):
to become obsessed with somethingwhen there's like a TV show.
And also a video game that likejust ensures that you're like, Oh,
I'm obsessed with this for life.
This is imprinting on me.
So yeah, I and yeah, when I heardit was getting rebooted, I was
just like, so stoked as a fan.
And then something I was super stokedabout as I heard that some, some old,
(14:53):
like, comedy colleagues were gonna beinvolved in it Erin Gibson who I who
I did Upright Citizen's Brigade improvand sketch with when I first moved to L.
A., I she's the I I don't know,we don't know exactly what her
title is, I'm gonna say showrunner.
She's
the Yeah, she's the coshowrunner with Nate Cash.
Nice.
Nate Cash.
And
obviously I, like, think Erinis so funny, she's so amazing,
(15:14):
she's got a great podcast.
She's always been one of my favoritefunny people, and I'm like, oh,
great call, Warner Brothers.
That's, like, exactly the kindof person you need to talk to.
To you know, to kind of refresh TinyToons, then I think a little bit later
in the writing process she brought onmy good friend and, and, and another UCB
collaborator from back in the day, AllisonBecker who I think is so funny, a great
(15:37):
writer, but also one of those, that actorfrom that thing does a lot of commercials.
She was like a recurringlocal weirdo in parks and rec.
She was like the local newspaper reporter.
So yeah, she is like a really, reallyfunny actor and also a great writer.
Two talents.
Can you imagine having two talents?
I can't.
But yeah, so yeah such a greatcast, the voice cast, I know.
(16:01):
And it's just got so muchenergy, so much liveliness.
And.
I'm, I'm assuming modern comedy writingis a lot different than what it was
back in the day And so can you talkabout writing on a show that is very
in your face with its with its punches?
Yeah I mean, I think that like WarnerBrothers stuff and like definitely Tiny
(16:22):
Toons and Animaniacs Did such a greatjob of incorporating like current pop
culture to the point where, like, if yougo back and watch them now, sometimes
there's an element of like, who was that?
Is that, was that character that walkedthrough supposed to be Eric Roberts?
You know, obviously animationtakes a couple of years to
(16:42):
get from script to screen.
So, You know, even then some ofthe references are like, yeah,
you can't be so up to date.
Like I guess South Park they can make ina long weekend, but you know, um, yeah.
So, but they, I think they tried tobe as current as they possibly could.
Yeah.
And I think with Tiny Toons, I don't likemaybe clarify my role in it a little bit.
(17:05):
I wrote a couple offreelance episodes for them.
I wasn't there in the writing room.
I wasn't there in the likepitch or anything like that.
Yeah.
But I mean, I talked to them a little bitabout what they kind of wanted to achieve
with the show, and I think they didn'twant it to, you know, walk that line of
being like for adult fans, our age, butalso like something kids could watch.
Because I think sometimes thereboots and the refreshes, they,
(17:29):
they swing one way a little harderthan they swing the other way.
So I think that like, youknow, we, they wanted it to be.
You know, a, like, respectful returnto the show that people our age love,
but also, like, you know, you want toget a new generation of kids into this.
Of course!
Yeah, so I think you, they did want tomake it, they did want to make them seem
(17:55):
like modern teens slash young adults.
So I think that they do, like, use somemodern slang, and they do, like, act a
little bit more like They're from 2024.
Cause I think you could do like a 90sthrowback version of Tiny Tunes and
it would probably be really hilarious,but, you know, you might lose some.
(18:16):
You know, you might lose some newviewers that way Although maybe not.
I don't know who doesn'tlove the 90s, right?
Like who doesn't love to remember the
90s?
Yeah, everything's got to be updatedthough And the way that they use the
characters and they have these cutawaysto their faces and they're doing the memes
like, What I'm thinking about specificallyis like plucky having really beady eyes
and like a really big expression onhis beak and like that kind of thing.
(18:38):
I think that goes far for kids andobviously the internet culture that
we're in, people are just going totake screen grab to that and then
plug in whatever they're thinkingover for that kind of overlay.
I
love, I do love how expressive they are.
And it's such a cartoony cartoon.
And I think cartoonycartoons are definitely like.
(18:58):
Fewer and far between these days andlike Looney Tunes still work great for
memes like Big Chungus, you know, likeyou could turn on turn on your favorite
social media right now and find 10 funnyBig Chungus memes because like they're
so expressive and that's why Spongebobmakes such a great mean it's like
(19:21):
yeah it's just like Yes, pure emotion.
You know what he's feeling at all times.
You know, it, me, me aftertoo much coffee, right?
Like these things work so well forit just because like the cartooning
is so brilliant and I really like.
That that is an aspect of this show.
I like that, that like, even though itis modern and you know, you still have
(19:42):
some like modern slang and modern ideas.
Like it's, it's, it's classic cartoon.
It's a classic Warner brothers cartoon.
And like the characters stillkind of like move and behave and
emote like those old cartoons.
I think that's just a, sucha great part of the show.
Yeah, and most recently theyincorporated the celebrity parodies
with with Plucky being obsessed withthe tabloids magazine and going through
(20:06):
and looking at the different mashupsof celebrities and animals, which I
thought was really funny and a reallygreat callback to the 90s series.
For those who are uninitiated and don'tknow who big chunks is, that is Bugs
Bunny imitating Elmer Fudd from WabbitTrouble all the way back from 1940.
So, like, you know, that is a, areally fun callback, but that has
taken on a, a meme of its own,if you will, and he's everywhere.
(20:30):
But speaking of cartoony cartoons,you have worked on a slew of them.
You have Teen Titans Go Un Kittymost recently Jellystone which
just dropped its third season.
So.
These characters have been in yourrepertoire so far as vehicles for comedy
Which characters do you associate withthe most or like are easiest to write?
(20:56):
Oh, sure.
Great question Yeah, I so the the episodeof tiny tunes one of the episodes that I
did is that episode you mentioned whereplucky is looking at all the tabloids.
We also, we also get Marvinthe Martian in that one.
I love Marvin in that.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's kind of a, it's kind of an oldman, Logan type story where Marvin
is old and broken and then a spoileralert gets his, gets his groove
(21:19):
back and goes on a space adventure.
It's perfect.
Yeah, and it's honestly, like, so good.
Oh, thanks!
I love, I really love how it turned out.
It was so fun to do.
And, yeah, and, and those thosecelebrity parodies you mentioned,
those were so fun to come up with.
Alison Becker and I jammed onthose together, and I think some
of them were Aaron Gibson's, too.
Yeah.
So yeah, I cannot take credit for Fox J.
(21:41):
Michael.
I think that's one of thefunniest ones in there.
And I think that was an Alison Becker.
But yeah, those like celebrityyeah, those like animal celebrities
were like a blast to come up with.
I think we probably have like 50 unusedones that didn't make it into the episode.
So hopefully, hopefully if there'smore tiny tunes at some point we see we
see some of those animal celebrities.
Can you give the listeners just a peekat one of them that may have Oh, gosh.
(22:04):
Lifted on the cutting room floor?
Let
me see if I can remember.
I don't know if I have it in front of me.
Okay.
If we, if at some point I findit, I'll email it over to you and
you can, you can read them on air.
Perfect.
Yeah, but I mean, I, I,like Plucky is so funny.
I think that the modern, the, theLuniversity version of Plucky is like
a hilarious, like, update of him.
(22:24):
I like that he's just like, Okay.
screening high status ahigh status jerk, basically.
I love a high status jerk.
I love a Danny McBride character.
You know, even though he is like ahigh status jerk and hard to get along
with, like, he and Buster and Hamptonare, are like still friends, you know,
like that friendship is still there.
(22:45):
And like, even though he's annoyingand even though they get on each
other's nerves, like they arefriends at the end of the episode.
And I think that's such a nicepart of the show is like, the
characters can have conflict, butlike, They're, they're friends.
And I think that's a, that's somethingI always like to try and do with my
casts of characters is to like make itso they can have conflict and they can
(23:10):
fight and they can be funny at eachother, but, but, you know, you do want
them to be friends at the end of theday, and you do want people to, like,
understand why they're a unit, you know?
Not just that they, like, got smushedtogether somehow, but they do have a
connection that's, like, fun to see.
So, yeah, I, I appreciate that they,they really wanted to do that with
Lunaversity, is to make sure that,like, the friendship stayed believable.
(23:32):
1000 percent and it is believable and Ilove whenever they have scenes together
But just I got to give it up for intothe podcast david erigo jr who brings
life to both plucky and hampton inthis and just that dual role of Being
so sweet and innocent with hamptonand then just being the out and out
jerk with plucky I I don't know howhe does it, but he does it so well And
(23:55):
it's yeah, it comes off in the writingit comes off in the characterization
so And it's so funny to watch.
Anytime Plucky is the butt ofthe joke, it, it always gets me.
Yeah, there's a, and I think it mighteven be the first episode of Lunaversity.
They have, they're doing somesort of talent show and you cut to
Plucky and he's wearing the NataliePortman outfit from Black Swan.
(24:18):
Yes.
I have not laughed that hard at a card.
I had nothing to do with that.
I was just enjoying that episode as a fan.
And yeah, that's, that to me is sucha hilarious joke and such a great.
A great example of like how this modernplucky is like a little bit different
and transitioning over to jelly stone.
I'm sure you're a fan ofthose characters as well.
And top cat has really surprised me withthe antics that come around for his family
(24:43):
and you know, all of the cats associatedwith that franchise and all of the
little groupings like you have Yogi bear.
You have and now we havethe Jetsons coming in.
We had a cameo of ScoobyDoo in the gang like.
Do you, have you worked with your,like, goal of working with a IP yet?
(25:04):
Or is there another IP that's outthere that you haven't touched on yet?
And, what IP brought you the mostjoy to work on within Jellystone?
Oh, that's a great question.
Yeah.
I'll talk about Jellystone a little bit.
And yeah, and I think you, you, you,you hit on something that I think
is a core part of the show and thatlike, it's a lot of little shows.
(25:28):
Like, I guess that's how the creator, C.
H.
Greenblatt, when I got the job, that'skind of how he described it to me.
It's like, it's all these littlesitcoms that kind of happen within it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This bigger show in, you know, thislittle town of Jellystone has all of
these little sitcoms that happen init, and it's like, you know Magilla and
Jabber working at the hat store, likethat's its own little show, and Yogi
(25:51):
and Boo Boo and Cindy at the hospital,that's its own little show, and of course
these characters kind of like mix up andmash up, but You know, you kind of like
start an episode with like, which ofthese little worlds are you starting in?
And Top Cat and his gang being these kindof shifty scammers is its own little show.
And yeah, I love, you know, Ilove I love their take on all
(26:13):
these Hanna Barbera characters.
Tom Lennon as Top Cat, how funny is he?
He's such a great, he's such a greatVO performer and He's fantastic.
Such a fun use of him.
And yeah, so that was a blast and, and,you know, like these, the Hanna Barbera
characters, like, have these greatdesigns and all those shows had great
theme songs, but I think that's mostlywhat people remember about them, right?
(26:36):
It's kind of like their vibes, likeyou know, I mean, I, I, Diehards
probably do, but like, just regularcartoon fans probably don't have a
favorite Grape Ape episode, you know?
Like, it's something you rememberfondly, but I don't think it's
been as rerun and re obsessed overas, you know, the Looney Tunes.
(26:57):
So yeah, it's a little moreof a blank slate, and you can
kind of just have fun with it.
Like, you want to like, recapture kindof what was fun about the character
in general, but like, It's, it's,it's a little more Lucy Goose, and
like, Jellystone is a crazy show,like, if you haven't watched it yet,
like, I think they, they're not superconcerned about, like, plot, or it
(27:18):
making total sense, I think they justwant it to be funny, and I love working
on a show like that, like, you know,I think, I think with Luniversity,
they, they do want those things.
Those episodes to have like emotionalarcs and like, maybe not lessons, but
like, you know, you want the character tokind of grow and change and jelly stone.
It's just chaos.
And I think that like, it's been,it was really fun because I worked
(27:41):
on both those in the same year.
It was really fun to do both likesomething that was a little more like.
That had a little more character plotgrowth and then just like jelly stone.
It's like, what insaneidea can you come up with?
What will be funny?
What's making us laugh in the room?
So yeah, I like thatboth those shows exist.
I love how you described it as chaos.
(28:01):
Cause like that show, it's so, it's likeplayful chaos is how I would describe it.
But yeah, And totally like it'sirreverent and it doesn't really care
about plot, but it's just got good vibes
Yeah, the vibes the jellystone vibesare impeccable I like yeah, and I love
how both these shows turned out andI think that like it it's yeah again
(28:21):
It's great that both of them can likeexist, you know On the same network
and I want to give a shout out tofriend of the podcast jenny lorenzo
who who voices a couple of characterson the Show choo choo bobby louis
spooky Hardy har har and pixie.
Yeah, look out for her.
She's hilarious such a great voicecast on that show I will say something
(28:42):
that I I tried to do in this seasonof Jellystone that we never were able
to crack, that I absolutely will takea crack at again if, you know, they
do another season and I work on it.
Fingers crossed.
Yeah, that would be great.
I know.
Yeah, check out Jellystone.
We would love to do more.
I, I wanted to do an episodewhere Jabberjaw gets back
(29:05):
together with her band.
Oh, yes.
The original Jabberjawcartoon is very weird.
It is a talking shark who lives ina bubble city with human teenagers.
He talks like Curly from the ThreeStooges and they have a rock band.
It's just the most randomcollection of things.
But I really have a, I, Ihave a lot of love for it.
And.
As a as a 90s ska kid, I waskind of obsessed with the
(29:29):
Cartoon Network short that did alittle ska song about Jabberjaw.
Maybe not like technically a skasong, it's probably like more
like a punk song with horns in it.
So don't, don't get at mein my mentions, people.
I know the difference.
But so I like that.
So Jabberjaw kind of continued to live inmy head because of those little shorts.
So, and, you know, in the, in Jolly Stone,she, they like vaguely allude to her band
(29:54):
in an episode that I didn't work on, likeshe remembers them as ghosts or something
like that, and so I would come in to thewriter's room basically every other day
with a new pitch for how Jabberjaw getsback together with her band And they
didn't, Carl didn't like any of them.
Oh, no, he's a great, he's agenuine, a great dude to work with.
(30:15):
And very nice and very open tocollaboration, but for whatever reason,
I could not get them to hook intoone of these ideas where Jabber gets
to get back together with her band.
And, you know, I love likerock and roll movies and you
know, I was like a punk kid.
So I would love to like, you know,Bring some of that energy into it, but
yeah, we were never able to crack itI think I think they're open to it.
I think I think we could do ajabber in her band episode in
(30:38):
a future season should that
Fingers crossed that everybody flocksto that show and gives it some attention
because I agree It takes a minute to likemarinate in it, but definitely it's worth
it and you'll come out A more alive andoverjoyed person with your daily life.
(31:00):
It's so funny.
I dare anybody not tolaugh watching Jelly Stone.
It's such a treat.
And they're, you know,they're 12 minute episodes.
You can throw on a couple.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
And so Jellystone is already out onMacs and soon will be on Cartoon Network
if it's not already and Tiny ToonsUniversity Season 2 is dropping at 9 a.
(31:21):
m.
on April 6th.
So again, set your clocks for that.
And, I'm going to take itover to a new topic here.
We're going to be discussing yournew graphic novel youth group,
and this is a really fun adventuremystical, like kind of like Buffy
(31:41):
the vampire slayer, but at church.
Honestly, a great pitch.
That's a great way to describe it.
Yes.
Thank you.
I found the humor to be, you knowrelatable, honestly between, you know
daughter and mom dynamics you got frienddynamics and they're going through
certain things and, and it's justevolving until you get to a spiritual
(32:05):
exorcism that has to take place.
So can you talk a bit about writingfor a graphic novel as opposed to
writing for an animated series?
And like, what's, what'sthe difference between that?
Yeah so, a youth group I did with agreat artist named Bowen McGurdy whose
work you know from the series SpectreInspectors, if you're a, if you're a YA
comics fan, and they've done some Marvelas well and yeah, so like, Comics are,
(32:29):
are, are pretty collaborative, right?
So you're, you're working with the artist,and I think that, like, in certain schools
of thought, the writer should be kind oflike second banana to the artist, right?
Like you're, as the writer, you'rethere to kind of set them up for their,
you know, to succeed in the ways thatYou know, you're kind of there to set
(32:52):
them up to be the best they can be.
And I, I really likethat school of thought.
I really like, you know, kind of, Whatcan I write that will support them?
What can I write that,like, lets them show off?
What can I write that, like, isnot too much of a pain in the ass?
Like, crowd scenes.
Can I write something withouta bunch of crowd scenes?
And of course you have like an editor.
We had we had a great editor onyouth group, Ben Wilges, who is
(33:15):
a great comics writer himself.
And yeah, so like, that's kind of yourteam and like, you know, and you, and you
want to collaborate, but like compared toan animation show, that is a very small
team, like for an animated show, likethere's so many people working on it and
I think, you know, like, like when you'redoing comics, you want to give artists.
(33:43):
You know, space to shine and youwant to help them to, you know,
turn out the best product they can.
But with animation, there's like a dozenother people that you want to do that for.
So like your story editor,for instance like on the
university, it was Alison Becker.
It's like, how can I, her, bring this ideato, to light and like, how can, and she's
(34:08):
kind of like supporting Aaron and there'sthe directors and the storyboard artists.
So it's kind of like, and you know,with animated shows, you're not
always in the same room together.
Like it's, it's, it'spretty piecemeal, right?
Like I've done some shows where likethe writers get together with the board
artists and the board artists get togetherwith the directors, but those are kind
of fewer and farther between these days.
(34:29):
So yeah, I, I, You know, I think they'reboth group efforts, but like, graphic
novels, your group is much, much smaller.
So fewer ideas, fewer cooks, it cankind of be a little more, like, of a
vision but with, like, animated shows,like, there's, there's just more cooks
(34:50):
and more ideas, and like, oftentimes,that creates but also just you, you
have to know that there's like a lotof people who want to have a say.
So yeah, I think that's, that'slike, that's the big difference.
So that's a good description.
Yeah.
I would also think that a animated seriesis like a train, you know, and like
it's pulling people on and people aregetting off and, but it's still going.
(35:12):
It's like full speed ahead, you know?
And for.
Your own project you're kind of outthere in the back pushing, you know
Trying to get the the train to makeits destination yeah, so We've already
pitched the book, but do you wantto , tell the listeners what the,
what the crux of the book is about?
And like yeah.
(35:33):
Yeah, I mean, Buffy the Vampire Slayerat Church is a, is a great pitch.
I don't, I don't feel like I need to saymuch, much else about it, but I will.
It is a YA horror comedy.
It's about teenage exorcists so it'sabout a kid whose parents force her
to go to a goofy youth group and shefinds out that these goofballs who, you
know, sing parody songs and talk aboutabstinence have to do actual exorcisms,
(35:56):
so you have this skeptic, this nonbeliever who has to kind of team up with
these hyper believers to fight monstersand demons so yeah, like, obviously
Buffy was a big inspiration Shaun ofthe Dead was a big inspiration, like
how you do a Horror thing that is kindof has a lot of character based jokes,
but also like a real horror plot in it.
Yeah.
(36:16):
And when the
main character finds the friend tiedup in the garage, I immediately thought
of Shaun of the Dead by the way.
So that was a one to one it came across.
Oh, good.
Good.
Yes.
I know.
I love that movie.
So, yeah.
Any, any comparison to Shaun ofthe Dead, I think is flattering.
Yeah.
And, and I had, had, hada ton of fun doing it.
Bowen is like such a great artist.
You know, we were talking about like howfar an expressive character goes, but
(36:40):
Bowen's characters have such beautifulacting, like, like the, the jokes in it
land well because acting the emotion.
And I think that like, I, I just, I can'twait for people to see these characters.
They're, they're so fun and real.
And yeah, really like comedy's alittle tougher in graphic novels.
(37:02):
I think you don't see a ton of likefunny comics, like it's, it's, it's rare.
And I think that it's just a little bittough because, you know, you don't have
timing and like Yeah, there's just somechallenges with it, but I think, like,
Bowen is such a great artist, and like,those characters just are so expressive,
and I think that, yeah, hopefully the,like, comedy lands because of that.
(37:23):
And, yeah, it's, it's, it is availablefor pre order now, we love a pre order.
Yes.
Yeah.
And I was a I was, so I was likea youth group kid growing up.
I know I've mentioned, I've been acouple of kind of kids, but aren't
we all, aren't we all, we're alla lot of different kinds of kids.
Yeah.
So I was a youth group kid and alwayslike, thought it was a very funny
world, this world of like, we'rereligious, but we're also kind of cool.
(37:47):
Right?
Like we also like, we go to, wego to, you know, band concerts
and we hang out and watch movies.
Like, so I love that attitude.
I think it's such a funny, weird attitude.
And.
It's never a world that I sawlike expressed in media that
well, like I never saw, you know,teen church or youth group, like.
(38:09):
represented well in media.
So I don't know.
I had always kind of wantedto tell a story in that world.
And the idea of making themexorcisms just kind of came.
And that's, that's kind of wherethe, where the germ of the idea
was
born.
Well, it's a fun idea and Ithink it's executed really well.
You have, again, as you said,expressive faces and really fun,
lively drawings with these characters.
(38:30):
And the way that the story progressesis just really energetic and.
It leaves you on the edge of your seatas you're flipping the page and like I
can't wait for people to read this aswell again, and that is available for pre
order currently and comes out july 16thin stores and digitally In the young adult
fiction section, so look out for it there.
(38:51):
It's called youth groupWhat a great title.
Yeah, I know.
Yeah.
And the cover is gorgeous too.
If you want to take a look at it, bit.
ly slash youth group book is alittle link and you got all those
pre order links and you can see thegorgeous cover a couple of the pages.
Yeah, no, I'm excited forfolks to check it out.
And again, we love a pre order.
Do I know why?
Not exactly, but we do.
(39:11):
So if it sounds like a coolidea we love a pre order.
Fantastic.
So, Jordan, thank you somuch for coming on the show.
Where can people find you online?
Yes I'm, I'm out
there at Jordan David Morris onInstagram and I'll just shout
out that book link one more time.
Bits.
ly slash youth group book.
You got all your, yougot all your info there.
(39:32):
I'm, I'm excited to check it out.
And thank you so much for having me.
God, what a fun chat.
Yes, absolutely.
Thank you for coming on.
And you can follow the podcast over atthis means pod on twitter And this means
podcast over on facebook and instagramwhere I am posting daily anything that
has to do with looney tunes or any updateswithin warner animation you will find it
there Bill hater was currently cast ascat in the hat in a new animated movie.
(39:55):
So like that's going to be wild but yeahfollow us on social media to stay up
to date on all things in the loonaverseAnd as always that's not all folks
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