WEBVTT - An Interview with the Creators of Homestar Runner 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:12.039 In text with Technology with tech Stuff from dot Com. 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:15.000 Hey there, and welcome to Tech Stuff. I am your host, 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:19.320 Jonathan Strickland, Executive producer. I love all things tech and 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:21.799 today I've got a real special treat for you guys, 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:23.480 or at least it was a special treat for me. 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:27.200 I got to talk with the creators of Homestar Runner. 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:33.879 It's a flash based web cartoon, uh network. Really, when 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:36.080 you think about it's not just a series or lots 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:39.000 of different little offshoots that came out of it that 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:44.120 premiered in the late nineties early two thousand's, and anyone 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:46.760 who was around on the Internet of those days probably 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.319 as at least encountered some sort of reference to the 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:55.000 Homestar Runner universe. And uh, Mike and Matt Chapman, the 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.520 Brothers Chaps, came into the studio and we got to 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:02.440 talk a lot about how they got into this and 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:04.840 how it evolved over time and where it's going in 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:08.880 the future. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this interview 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:12.560 with the Brothers Chaps. I am overjoyed to be joined 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:15.759 in the studio by Matt and Mike Chapman, also known 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:19.520 as the Brothers Chaps. The creators of Homestar Runner as 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:24.000 well as many other projects. And uh, it's a bit 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:26.800 of a fanning out, geek out moment for me. I've 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:29.319 been a fan of Homestar Runner since before I was 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:33.120 working at How Stuff Works. And really it's great to 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:38.280 have two people here who they there work preceded the 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:42.880 age of YouTube web series because YouTube didn't exist when 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:47.080 you guys launched Homestar Runner. And anyone who has been 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:48.720 on the Internet for any length of time has at 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:53.160 least encountered Homestar Runner references if they're not deeply familiar 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:58.480 with the incredible lore and mythology, the the the deep 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:02.800 legends of Homestar Runner that have found their way into 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:05.240 all sorts of other mythos. I mean, you're part of 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:11.119 the Buffy verse, guys, Yeah, that was somehow We're responsible 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:13.960 for the Doge meme, even though we didn't really have 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:16.960 anything to do with that. Yeah. Well, and you have 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:19.960 a you have an incredible couple of bonus tracks on 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:24.519 Guitar Hero two which have confounded me on numerous occasions. So, 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:28.000 I mean, you're the influence just keeps on going. But 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:33.280 for people who have never seen a Homestar Runner cartoon. 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:37.040 They they're not familiar with it. I can't wait. Don't 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:41.280 bother at this point, you missed the boat. Sorry, guys. 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.080 Just go go to know your meme dot com and 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:46.600 dope find stuff. No, I want to hear from you guys, 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:50.800 because I'm really curious to hear your elevator pitch for 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:57.760 what is Homestar Runner. Homestar Runner, I like the Mattsford 0:02:57.840 --> 0:03:00.840 brow right now. It struggles with This is a series 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:09.960 of animated shorts following the exploits of non humanoid, ageless 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:18.560 h organisms that have uh that interact with one another 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:25.120 in meaningful and humorous ways to the delight of several 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:30.359 of literally dozens of people. Uh. That's the elevator pitch. 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:32.919 And that's why we just did this ourselves. That any 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:36.480 I mean, I'm starting to get get a glean of 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:40.400 the the marketing brilliance exactly that has been part of 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:44.320 home Start Runners since the very beginning. So I know 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:46.880 you guys have talked about this in other interviews, but 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:49.600 I would love it if you could kind of walk 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:52.640 people through the origin of where this all came from, 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:54.440 because it's all I mean, I know, it's kind of 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:58.160 a mishmash story because home Star Runner itself ends up 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:02.040 being a reference to a weird joke that kind of 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:06.720 came up of a local Atlanta ad spot. Right. Yeah, 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:10.560 So our friend Jamie Huggins was nicking a Kroger or 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:13.280 Win Dixie ad that Mark Lemke was on and probably 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:16.760 or something. Jamie doesn't know a lot about sports. So 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:18.960 instead of saying all Star second Basement for the Braves, 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:23.240 Mark Limpy, he was trying to parody this commercial and said, 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:27.200 and now Homestar running for the Braves, Mark Lemki. And 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:30.240 we're also like, Jamie, what is the Homestar Runner? And 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:33.360 so then a couple of years later, um, we kept 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:35.880 using that phrase and decided to use it as a 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:38.080 you know, the name of a character when we were 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:40.599 born one day and made a story involving the Homestar Runner. 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:44.200 This is great because you know, it's it's the sort 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.120 of thing. I think it's an inspirational story, honestly, because 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:49.760 I know I've got lots of friends. We goof off 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:51.760 and we make you know, you'll make a joke, and 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:53.839 every now and then a joke is just it's sticky. 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:58.080 It's something that that for some reason resonates beyond just 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:03.280 the moment of making UH an offhand absurd reference, and 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:06.159 then it kind of snowballs from there and it can grow. 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:09.480 And to me, that's sort of what Homestar Runner sounds like. 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:12.840 It was something that Begans just sort of this one off, 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:17.200 little goof, but it ended up inspiring UH a huge 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:23.160 number of shorts. So after the the little joking about 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:26.159 a local ad spot and by the way, if you 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:29.359 ever really need to mind for comedy gold, you just 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:34.080 have to find some some great Atlanta local Atlanta UH commercials. 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:38.720 I've seen so many amazing ones, including people I know 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:41.800 have showed up in them, like Chris Blair of Dad's 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:47.040 Garage character. But if you guys, UH then went on 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:50.560 and started looking at things like a children's books and 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:54.040 seeing how terrible children's books can be, and thought, we 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:57.960 can do a terrible children's book. UH, and Homestar Runner 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:01.760 had a spot in that. But beyond that, we get 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:05.520 into the you know, late nineties, early two thousand's, and 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:10.040 the Worldwide Web was really just starting to get some 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:14.159 really serious traction at that point, right we're s's seeing 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:17.120 kind of the the end phase of what people later 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:19.520 on would call the web one point oh era where 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:23.679 everything was very static, nothing was interactive. You would probably 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:26.599 have a web page and it wouldn't change from one 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:28.720 month to the next, so there's no reason to ever 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:31.120 go back. You go once and that's it. You made 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:33.599 a new web page. You didn't update your webpage. Right, 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:38.080 here's my new webpage, and you would have to have 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:41.760 the little under construction at the very top, right, because 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:43.960 it's never finished, except for the fact that it's always 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:49.479 kind of finished. So you got interested in in UH 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:54.159 in flash animation and flash in general, and UH this 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:58.080 is interesting to me because it gave an opportunity to 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:02.200 have a more dynamic experience on the web, something that 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:05.320 was totally new at that time. Today we take it 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:08.400 for granted. You know, every website is dynamic in some 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:10.240 way or another, or it has some sort of dynamic 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:12.160 element worked into it. But at that time, it was 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:18.120 pretty new. And the concept of creating UH episodic content 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:22.920 that you could very easily see, you know, the next episode, 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:25.520 that was new as well. There weren't a whole lot 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:29.200 of examples of that before you get into say the 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.920 mid two thousand's, when UH stuff like YouTube started to 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:36.680 show up. So from what I understand is it true 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:39.880 that essentially the reason why Homestar Runner exists as a 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.040 cartoon is that it was kind of a way to uh, 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:46.720 to practice with Flash. Like you were, you needed to 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.120 animate something, so why not use this character. We're really 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:53.680 learning web development stuff like that's why we were learning 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.000 Flash and graphic design and stuff like that was like 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:59.040 for job type stuff, and we just used the Homestar 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:00.960 characters as like, how are we gonna learn this new 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:04.080 software Flash? And well and more so than we need 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:06.360 to animate something, it was like we need to make something. 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:10.760 I mean, I graduated from film school and moved back 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:14.320 to Atlanta from Tallahassee, Florida, and uh, you know, they 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:19.760 weren't shooting Avengers movies and or whenever that would have been. Um, 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:22.880 they weren't really shooting much of anything other than fantastic 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:27.480 Local Dixie. Uh and so I you know, there wasn't 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:29.240 a whole lot to do, and like there was you 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:31.720 were not ever going to try and put video on 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:33.600 the web at that point, Like there was just I mean, 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:35.640 lots of people still had dial upe modems. It was 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.640 just not um something that you could afford the bandwidth 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:41.520 for either. So I mean we just wanted to make stuff. 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:44.800 Mike moved back from he dropped out of grad school 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:47.520 and moved back and anytime we've always we've been together, 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:50.160 from when your kids, we've made stuff together. And so 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:51.439 we were like, all right, well what are we making? 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:54.040 And Flash was away that was like, oh wait, we 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:56.840 don't need you know, a budget, we don't need a crew, 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.040 we don't need you know, to go Rento camera, we 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:02.920 don't need film sc or whatever. We can start making content. Um. 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:04.480 And so it was like, all right, well, I guess 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:06.640 we're gonna learn how to animate because and we had 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:08.760 done stop motion stuff we were kids, and we're fans 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:14.040 of animation. Obviously Maria Mario pained for the Supernintendo, but 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:16.800 we never um, that wasn't what either of us were 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:21.000 like schooled in UM. We were always artists and creators 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:24.319 of something, but never specifically animation. So we didn't look 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:26.840 at it. Initially I was like, oh, we are we 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:28.880 can't wait to start animating. It was more like, this 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:31.560 is a way to tell stories, So what is the 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:34.080 best thing we have for that medium? And it was like, oh, 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:36.120 what if we turned that homestyle run our character and 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:38.959 his friends into a cartoon? UM? And so that was 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:41.120 kind of what it was born out of. Um and 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:44.000 the same reason that we would, you know, leave each 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:49.200 other dumb answering machine messages, voicemail messages. It's like, oh, wait, 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:53.000 here's some content. I have a medium to produce something on. 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:55.719 It's the thirty seconds before the beat happens. Here, Mike, 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.559 here's my little narrative I'm gonna give you when I'm 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:01.200 asking you if you remember to get some high life 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:04.559 at the publix or whatever. So anyways, so flash was 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:05.880 kind of the next one of those, you know, was 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:07.960 the next. And flash was also easy. I mean it 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:11.240 was easy enough for people that weren't animators to you know, 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:14.840 stumble their way through and produce something that was, you know, 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:18.200 halfway decent. So two guys in their apartment with like 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:20.679 a couple of keyboards could like make something that sounded 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:24.520 you know, as good as the like. At that time, 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:26.679 you know, there're were these studios making flash things that 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:29.079 had like you'd watched the credits of a thirty second 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:32.360 flash cartoon and it had like thirty people involved, um 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.640 one for each second of the cartoon, right right. And 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:38.760 this is so interesting to me because it parallels so 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:44.320 nicely with the rise of computer games. I did a 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:48.200 an episode recently about Sierra Games, which I know you 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:50.960 guys love. Yeah, I got to talk to Ken Williams 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:55.000 and he actually came on. He tried to get Roberta. Now, 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:57.800 he tried to, but she she was busy trying to 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:01.280 figure out how to work their cable box. So uh, yeah, 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:03.840 all of that is actually in the episode too, So 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:08.280 it's great, but uh and I was very thankful for 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.160 him to participate. But it was so interesting because the 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:14.040 whole reason why Sierra Games got started was that he 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:19.679 was programming. Roberta had started to encounter games, and a 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:21.760 lot of those games were being written by people who 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.640 were teaching themselves how to code. So games were great 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.600 because it was something that had structure, right, you had 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:30.840 an idea, you didn't have to learn how to bring 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:34.280 that idea to fruition, and so the game was really 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:38.320 the the tool they were using in order to educate 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:41.920 themselves on how to code. And then eventually a whole 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:45.200 industry kind of grew out of that. And it's very 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:47.640 similar to what you guys are saying, like necessity is 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:51.120 the mother of invention. You had this this tool there 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:53.400 you need to learn how to use the tool. You 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:56.560 had certain limitations placed on you, but those limitations ended 0:11:56.640 --> 0:12:00.000 up just shaping the direction, didn't hold you back neces 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.680 sterile um, And in fact, I could argue that without 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:06.080 those limitations, you could end up being paralyzed by choice. Right. 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:07.920 You have so many options open to you don't even 0:12:07.960 --> 0:12:10.320 know what to tackle next. That's why Homestar cartoons are 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.319 still five fifty four because that was the default and 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:17.120 Flash and still animated at twelve frames a second. Limitations 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:21.079 are still seventeen years later. Wow. Yeah, And it's it's 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:23.880 interesting now because we're in an era that sort of 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.720 the post Flash era as well, where we're starting to 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:30.800 see Flash being you know, pushed further and further away, 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:33.720 and there's not really any development development on that. And 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:36.760 I know that has posed something of a challenge or 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:40.320 Homestar Runner as well, because you know, that whole archive 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:43.320 it's all in Flash, so I'm sure there's the the 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:46.040 Some of it has been poured it over to YouTube, obviously, 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:49.240 which is great because you know, that's a fantastic way 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:52.440 for people to find it. Although I think you guys 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:57.520 ended up following a strategy that I've heard several creators say, 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:01.480 is uh incredibly important you it was necessary, which was 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:03.959 that you create your own space where stuff would go 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.760 and live in that homestar runners own domain. Uh. The 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.800 Bernie Burns of Rooster Teeth has talked about the same thing, 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:13.440 that you need to have a space that's your own, 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:16.640 because if you start depending upon someone else's platform and 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:19.920 that platform changes, you're at their mercy. So you were 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:22.400 actually ahead of the game, but only because really because 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:27.920 that was that was the only way forward pioneers, because 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:32.400 what else was there to do? But ended up being 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:35.439 again like that that inspired Bernie Burns over at Rooster 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:37.480 Teeth to do the same sort of thing. He he 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.480 knew he didn't want to put everything just on another 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:42.600 platform like at that time it would have been like 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:46.679 my Space or YouTube. Um, so it's it's something that 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:51.680 has since gone on to inspire others. So uh, you 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:55.200 go in, you start making this cartoon and uh, you're 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:57.640 having a good time, and what at what point during 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:00.959 the process did you start to feel like this was 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:04.280 gonna be something bigger than just a fun project to 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:08.840 do occasionally, uh, and become something a little more serious 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:12.679 than that. So we're we're what early two thousands here, 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:14.280 We've been doing it for a couple of years. Maybe 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:16.760 two thousand, two thousand one was sort of when we 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:19.640 were just uh, that was the sort of early years. 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:22.120 And I think it was sometime in two thousand one 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:27.080 when we started doing strong bad emails every yeah, every week. Yeah, 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.320 I think that was a turning point. Um, And it 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:32.200 certainly didn't feel like it at the time, but I 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:35.080 think looking back, having giving the fans a week like 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:37.000 something to look forward to every week, and knowing, Okay, 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.000 I'm gonna check back on Monday morning, gonna check back 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:43.040 on Monday morning, that sort of snowballed into sort of 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:46.160 where we I don't know, yeah, and then we sort 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:49.000 of think of the point where we realize, like, oh wait, 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:51.840 I think lots of people are watching this, and more 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:55.440 than maybe maybe we thought was when for the first 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:57.120 couple of years we were just on like a Yahoo 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.880 shared hosting account. It was supposed to be like the 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:02.320 thirty bucks a month and you've got like five gigs 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:04.840 of bandwidth or something, and I don't know how many 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:06.680 cartoons would have been on the website at that point, 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.320 but um, I remember printing out this thing and I 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:12.040 think we got kind of a tip off, right from 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:14.400 somebody at Yahoo that was just like, hey, I'm a 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:16.120 fan of what you guys are doing. You're gonna have 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:18.400 to find another solution. And he was like, I've been 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:21.520 looking the other way for a while now. And so 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:25.200 I get onto our accountant download the like you know whatever, 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:29.160 just bandwidth chart thing, and we've done like thirteen terabytes 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:33.760 of transfer or something on our thirty or five games whatever. 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:36.640 So there's we always just pictured this UM server in 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:39.960 the back of some Yahoo data centers, like smoking sparking 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:43.600 in the back. Yeah, and that's when it, uh, we've 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:45.600 got shut down at some point, right, that's when the 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:47.440 system is down. So the site was actually down for 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:50.960 a day or two. Yeah, um and uh, but that 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:52.600 was kind of when we were like, oh, wow, okay, 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:54.360 you know, we've gotten some emails and people. We knew 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:55.920 that there were some, you know, but we just sort 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:57.760 of assumed it was like, oh, these few people that 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:00.320 know about flash animation on the web have found our stuff, 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:02.240 and that's awesome, and we thought that was great. Um. 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:04.040 I think that was when that was kind of the 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:05.840 moment where were like, oh, wait, maybe this is something 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:07.960 we could do we could continue to do and because 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:11.200 at the time we still had regular day jobs and 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:13.000 I think that was probably about the same time we 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:16.080 decided to sell some merch and and then a year 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:19.520 or so into that was when our dad, who was 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:22.360 was a c p a um like basically told his 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:25.840 two screw up artists sons to quit their jobs. He 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:27.760 was like, this is dumb. You quit your jobs and 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.400 make these cartoons for living, would you? Which is We've 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:32.440 always feel like it's the probably the best moment you 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:35.200 could you could ask for from a father's son. Oh yeah, 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.080 when you got a churn public account and saying, hey, guys, 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:42.240 no you know that that regular steady gig you have 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:47.640 quit it? What that's amazing? Make cartoons with your brother 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:50.160 in the basement? Good grief. That's like, yeah, dream come 0:16:50.200 --> 0:17:00.120 true moment, right there? Tons and tons of short that 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:03.360 you guys have made, lots of wonderful characters, not to 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:07.080 mention all the alternate versions of those characters. Was always 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:08.760 the most fun was to sort of world build and 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:10.919 do other Yeah, yeah, I was enjoying. I love the 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:14.480 old timey ones. Always like people that like that. That's 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:17.280 my favorite too. So well, there's a sort of polarizing. 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:21.080 It's no I to me, it's just the level of 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:27.760 absurdity coupled with the Transatlantic accent. My favorite. There's a 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:31.040 there's a video that that we did here at How 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:33.720 Stuff Works about the Transatlantic accent. They got me to 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.440 be the one to do it, and I have to say, like, 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:41.840 there's certain certain influences that went into the absolute nonsense 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:44.879 that I was spouting off randomly at the end of 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:47.320 the video, just to kind of give examples of Transatlantic 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:50.680 accent and the old timey homestar runner ones were way 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:53.600 up there, and it's like, I know what I'm saying 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:56.320 has no meaning, but it doesn't matter. So and also, 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.159 it's just fun to do until somebody really tells you 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:01.199 to knock it off, and then it's actually fun to 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.320 do for about another five minutes. Yeah, you gotta, Yeah, 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:06.360 you gotta get past that point, right. It's the whole 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:08.760 thing where you you tell a joke until it's being funny, 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:12.280 and you keep telling it gets funny again. Yeah, repetition 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:17.399 get louder to remember the I always think of the 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:21.320 side show Bob Stepping on the Rakes and the Simpsons. 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:23.120 It's like it's like quak, he's gonna do it again. 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:25.440 It's like happened so many times and it's like, whoa, 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.720 we did it one more time. So it was wow. 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:29.879 I didn't you know, I thought they were going to 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:34.880 draw the line of nineteen. Uh. Well, out of all 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:37.280 that massive amount of stuff that you guys have done, 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:39.480 are there any things that just stand out in particular 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:42.080 in your in your minds as things like when you 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:45.080 came up with it or when you first animated it. Uh, 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:49.800 it brought you, guys just just genuine joy and whether 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:51.920 whether or not it went on to have a life 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:54.800 of its own afterward. I'm always interested to hear the 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:56.879 kind of stuff that when someone writes it and I 0:18:56.920 --> 0:18:58.960 know this gets self indulgent, but when you write it 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:02.160 and you just think that's great, that's just a great 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:04.879 little moment there, you know, even if even if you 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:07.560 have to associate yourself with it a little bit, Is 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:09.720 there anything like that stands out in your mind for 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:11.200 me and it Maybe I don't know if it's the 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:14.639 same for Matt. You mentioned Sierra Games. We did a 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:17.600 Peasant's Quest, which was a riff on King's Quest sort 0:19:17.600 --> 0:19:20.080 of in the Drug Door universe, and to me, making 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:23.080 that whole game was probably the most fun thing we 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:26.640 ever did. And Homestar related, um, just making the graphics 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:29.239 for it, making the puzzles, do I mean just an 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:31.320 implement it may being able to make a game that 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:34.879 was not only it wasn't a parody of those games. 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:37.800 It was an homage to those games, and it was 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:41.359 those games, you know, like it was functional, it wasn't 0:19:41.400 --> 0:19:46.359 just a joke. Yeah. I feel like when we made 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:52.040 there's a emails at one eighteen What's virus one nineteen 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:56.040 where he gets a computer virus and all this kind 0:19:56.080 --> 0:19:57.840 of crazy stuff happens and it gets a little like 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:00.280 meta and uh, and it ends up with him getting 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:02.440 a new computer in the next one because he asked 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:04.840 to sacrifice this computer. But I remember that was one 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.720 where we we stayed up all night we did. Uh. 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:10.040 Is that another one where we messed with the frame? Yeah, 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:14.119 we re sized the size of the movie, but the 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:16.160 viewer wouldn't know because we still always have this black 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:18.040 border around it. But then at some point in it, 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:20.520 that like border moves until like kind of messes with 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:23.720 your head in the cartoon. And then we there's a 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:25.720 part where pop up ads start showing up in the 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:27.640 cartoon and then we made a real pop up ad 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:29.760 like we did some like I forget what it was 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:32.360 action script like made one cap and in your browser too, 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:34.359 so it was this broke broke the fourth wall, you know, 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:37.840 outside of your normal computer realm. And um, I just 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:40.000 remember finishing that one up, like I'm pretty sure we 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:42.240 stayed up all night for that one. And uh. And 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:45.640 then the next day, um, we went to what Steak 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:47.320 and Shake because I want would always like we'd like 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:48.840 finish it up and be like, yeah, that's good and 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:50.320 kind of good feeling. And we didn't even like go 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:52.399 look because we we tried not to be we always 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:54.320 want to know, stay in touch with the fans, but 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:57.800 never like tried to you know, we didn't like dissect 0:20:57.840 --> 0:20:59.720 every comment or every at the time it would have 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:01.920 been like live journal page or something like there weren't 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:05.080 just like message boards, uh or comments sections like there 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:08.000 are now. But um, I don't even I think we 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:09.800 didn't even look at like anything. We're just like we 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:12.280 just they're all gonna love it because everybody's gonna love 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:13.480 this one, and we love this one. We had a 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:15.520 really good time when then let's go get take and 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:20.360 shake that. I don't know, that sort of moment where 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:23.080 you're like confident enough in yourself to be like I think, 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:25.320 I think we did a home run here, and then 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:27.919