Toon-In-Talk Episode 09: Interview with American Dad Cast and Producers

Hello and welcome to ninth episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews. American Dad is a popular animated sitcom from the deranged, talented mind of Seth Macfarlane-Family Guy creator. The show recently switched networks from FOX to TBS and American Dad is now free to explore more creative and lewd plots that push the envelope so far they are blinding the censors. At the New York Comic-Con, Whitney scored a roundtable interview with the American Dad cast: Dee Bradley Baker, Rachel Macfarlane, Wendy Schaal, and Scott Grimes and the producers: Brian Boyle and Matt Weitzman. Show Notes The first interview is with voice actors Dee Bradley Baker and Rachael Macfarlane. Rachael Macfarlane and her brother Seth Macfarlane worked together for years and she is very complimentary about his work. Seth encouraged her to try voice acting. The cast recorded the episodes a year before their release. Rachael loves the freedom of being a voice actor, meaning it can go on forever and she is free to play anybody, anything, and from anywhere. Dee likes it, because it’s quick, air conditioned, and he doesn’t have to remember his lines. Rachael and Dee both love the normalcy of being voice actors. Dee wants to create an episode where Klaus and Roger start a fish stick factory. The show is on TBS now, so the American Dad crew have more freedom to be creative. Dee speaks German fluently. Rachael’s favorite animated show is Pippa Pig and Dee loves Avatar. The producers are well aware of the voice acting cast’s capabilites and limits. They are thrown voices during the table read to see what the voice actors can do. The second interview is with producers Matt Weitzman and Brian Boyle. The second interview features the producers They never thought American Dad would be on the air for so long. In the beginning the show was compared to Family Guy, but American Dad soon made itself distinct, such as time slot, dedication to story, and characterization. They claim to be doctors of comedy. With the move to TBS, they are allowed to cuss and show different forms of nudity. Whitney explains how familial relations work. Both are really happy where the series is going and hope it will continue. The “Chris” is Chris Robertson, an animator on the show and prior interviewee. If Roger wasn’t an alien, he would be a duck because he is so adaptive. The third interview is with voice actors Scott Grimes and Wendy Schaal. Wendy loves the energy and attention American Dad is getting from TBS. Scott loves the advertising their giving the show. American Dad has made 205 episodes and it is a lot of storylines for the actors to keep track of. Kevin Bacon loves the show. They don’t do group recording sessions anymore, because Seth is very busy. Wendy and Scott discuss their favorite episodes. Scott released a record years ago and the writers included those songs in the show as a joke.