Written by Laura Dengrove & Al Mannarino
It must have been a full moon at Comic Con, because the cast of Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter were out and about.
Pop-Break got to sit down with two of the stars, Scott Adsit and Stephanie March, and they told us about their characters, got forgetful about the names in the show, and why Adult Swim is just great.
Scott, I know this isn’t your first Adult Swim show, what is it about this show that made you come back to Adult Swim and what made you jump onto this?
Stephanie March: Well, I haven’t often had an opportunity to work on something that’s so wacky and fun, almost never actually so I couldn’t not do it. It was too good of an opportunity. I was surprised I got the job actually, I really was. I mean you know those moments where your just like, “Really? They want me to do that?” and I hope it worked out well. I certainly had a great time doing it.
Was there a set script, or did you guys get to improve at all?
Scott Adsit : It gave us an opportunity to be as silly as we want, and they can just say dial it back or whatever. That’s a great freedom to have. I was attracted to it though because of Jon Glaser. I’ve know Glaser since the ’90s and we always kept in touch — working both live and on camera together. So I just said yes without really knowing anything about the project (laughs). But also I knew who was directing the show — these brilliant guys. Actually one of the directors, John Lee, just directed Pee Wee’s new film. So I trusted all of the creative minds behind it.
Also, I love Adult Swim because the people in charge there really see these creators and people as artists. They don’t really interfere with anything, occasionally they do, but they really see these guys are artists and allow them to express themselves in their own way. It’s really unique.
SM: Well I think between you and Jon…well actually he was pretty careful to stay with the plot. It’s very plot-driven, it goes to point to point for a reason, so we couldn’t really stray too far.
SA: Yeah, we would shoot something and get it just right for the script and then we would go and do a playful one with improvisation.
How would you compare this to other Adult Swim shows? Is it self aware, or something different genre wise?
SA: It’s aware of its genre, which there are many genres in it, but it is very much a horror adventure with other strangeness (Laughs).
SM: I feel like our characters take ourselves very seriously. I don’t think anyone was playing to the camera, or winking at it or anything, but we were very serious in our own characters.
And who do you play in the show?
SM: I am the wild lesbian Mayor Carol Blatant on the show (laughs). It was so much fun and I have a few girlfriends on the show, but that’s all I’ll say about that.
SA: I play the tavern owner, I’m a very strange fella and I am a bit wild and weird and eager to get involved it whatever is happening. He is just a very bizarre weirdo who doesn’t see everything like other people do.
What’s the name of your tavern?
SA:Sonny’s chowder house…or Sonny’s something … uh…
SM:You can tell we were really paying attention to everything. (Laughs) I can tell you everything else about the shot, like where we shot, what color the bathroom was, but I can’t remember the name of the actual thing we were in.
SA:I found out the name! My name is Sonny Coco, so the Taverns name is Hot Coco’s.
SM:That’s right!
So how do you guys interact and react to and with Neon Joe?
SM:With complete ire.
SA:I’m threatened by him, a bit suspicious about what he’s doing, but that eventually changes down the road.
