The new Netflix animated series Exploding Kittens began it reign of terror on Netflix this weekend. The show, which is very loosely based on the popular card game first introduced in 2015, explores the wild adventures of God and the Devil on Earth after they are transformed into two house cats with VERY different personalities. The terrific voice cast includes Tom Ellis (God), Sasheer Zamata (Devil) Ally Maki, Mark Proksch and Suzy Nakamura. The toon’s creators and showrunners Matthew Inman (co-creator of the original game and founder of the popular The Oatmeal webcomic) and Shane Kosakowski (You’re the Worst, Archer, The Muppets, Beavis and Butt-Head) took the time to speak to Animation Magazine about their new creative venture and the merits of the feline experience.
Animag: Gentleman, congrats on your new pawsome new show! Can you tell us a bit about the genesis of the project and how it call came together?
Matthew Inman: Well, we started work on the show around 2019, right before the pandmix. I created the card game about ten years ago, and then Shane joined me in developing the game as an animated show around 2019, 2010.
Shane Kosakowski: I was familiar with Matt’s work with The Oatmeal, so I was really excited to jimp on board. It was kind of kismet, because we had similar personalities and senses of humor, and it’s been a really great ride.
Of course, creating a new adult animated series based on a simple card game must have been an interesting experience.
Matthew: Making the card game directly into a show wasn’t really working. The game is about kittens that blow up, and there’s really no narrative. So, our approach was how do we make a show that we want to watch with no knowledge of the card game. I mean if we were going to make a Connect 4 movie. We’d be like OK, let’s forget about Connect Four and just write a good story. Shane’s background was in sitcoms, comedy and TV animation and the fusion of all of that came together to make something that I think is really, really fun. I think the show has lots of good visual gags, funny one-liners, jokes and storylines.
Shane: I was really excited because I knew Matt’s work and realized how big the game was. I was mostly attracted to the project though because of Matt’s original premise. It was something that was fresh and seemed like a great launching pad for funny stories and fun bits. I always told Matt too that the idea of God coming down in a cat’s body is a story that’s really funny to us now, but it’s also timeless: People would have laughed at the idea 2000 years ago too.
Tell us about your experience writing the show…did you have a writer’s room?
Matt: Our North star was to write characters that were fresh and original, because I don’t think audiences want to see another trope about a kid who gets bullied or a teenage girl with a crush. We tried to subvert some of those things, for example, the mom in our show is an ex-Navy SEAL and definitely the head of the household and our dad I the beta to her, and feels very comfortable in that position. He enjoys tabletop gaming, wears socks and sandals and owns a lightsaber and loves his life. The characters are appealing, but it’s also fun to write about a mom who maybe wore a necklace made of human ears at one time! I feel like I was the least experience in the writer’s room, so it was great to have Shane and our seven other writers lead the way.
Shane: We had a smaller writers’s room and it worked really well for us because everybody’s voices could be heard and flourish and get a lot of material in. We were doing this via Zoom during those COVID days. I live outside of Seattle, on Bainbridge island, and Shane lives in Orange County.
Where was the animation produced?
Matthew: The majority of pre-production and development was all done at Netflix, so we had the storyboards, animatics, radio play all done at Netflix. Then, the final color cut was done in a Canada at Jam Filled Entertainment studio. Now, I’m not saying this because it’s our show, but I think it’s a really beautiful 2D show. Our artists did a great job. Many of our background artists, and character artists also worked on Matt Groening’s Disenchantment series, so we’re very happy with the way it looks.
What do you love about your show now that it’s ready to deliver?
Shane: I hope people find it really funny. We start from a place where God has lost his empathy for humankind, so through his relationship and dynamic with this family, he finds it again. Matt’s game (Exploding Kittens) is a physical game that brings people and families together. So, we wanted to have an aspect of that in the TV show as well, and hopefully we were able to accomplish that as well.
Matthew: I want to pick something super specific! In the third episode, they basically go to A Dave & Buster’s (restaurant and arcade), which is called Shane & Chuggers, there’s an animatronic Cajun rat with a banjo, and Godcat talks to him because he doesn’t really understand that it’s animatronic. That rat’s name is Chorgle and he’s my favorite part of the show although he’s not there very long. Some of our background artists would randomly spray paint graffiti under a highway overpass that says Chorgle Lives. So, the rat lives in the ether of the how.
Shane: Chorgle is played brilliantly by Carlos Alazrqui [Rocko on Rocko’s Modern Life, Bane on Justice League: Doom, Mr. Crocker on Fairly OddParents].
Can you talk about how your background in comics helped with the show’s visual style?
Matthew: One of the things that’s always been important to me is this: If you’re going to make a visual gag, you have to push it as far as you can to get people to laugh. I feel like we did that well here. And of course, proportions can change. One of the things about being the God and the Devil is that they have magical powers, so their bodies can change: They grow and shrink, so there are a lot of opportunities for them. They can cast spells, and snap their fingers and suddenly things can just appear in front of them. The colors are really pretty too!
Shane: Not only are our board teams and artists really talented as artists, but they’re also incredibly funny. So you can watch the show one time for the story and the jokes, and then go back and watch it one more time to enjoy the backgrounds and the scenes. There are lots of jokes there too as Easter eggs.
Tell us about working with Mike Judge?
Matthew: We connected with him through Peter Chernin, who runs The Chernin Group. He put the show together for us. He knew Mike and put us in a room with him, and Mike loved the idea, and we went from there. We loved working with him. You know what’s surprising about him? His voice! I never heard him speak, and based on his cartoons, I think he had a cameo on Office Space, I did not expect the voice that came out of him! His voice is very gravelly! I thought it was crazy. I thought, wait, is that what you sound like?
Shane: This is the third time I’ve worked with Mike. He gave me my first job as a staff writer on an animated show called The Goode Family (2009). I also worked with him on Beavis and Butt-Head (2011) He’s just one of the smartest and funniest people you’ll ever meet in this town and to have him and Greg Daniels, who is also one of the smartest, funniest people in the history of television, we were in really great hands. We had great notes and great leadership from really talented people, so we got really lucky!
What were some of your sources of inspirations?
Matthew: Ren & Stimpy, weirdly the X-Men show, later South Park and Rick and Morty, all the usual. In the world of comics, The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes. They were my big go-tos when I read the funnies.
Shane: I was a huge fan of The Simpsons my entire youth. I would watch it at 6:00 and 6:30 and then with the reruns again at 11. The show has always been a big part of my. Matt and I both like a lot of the same comedies and so we both have the same kind of instincts for writing jokes.
What do you hope your show’s viewers will get out of it?
Matt: I just want them to laugh as hard as possible. We really don’t have a message: It’s heartfelt and meaningful, but ultimately it’s just a nice platter to put a bunch of silly cat jokes and God jokes on it.
Shane: The message is just that human beings are pretty stupid across the board. We found every way possible to make fun of us and how idiotic we are and the choices that we make. In the end, we’re all stuck together here, and we could all laugh together.
Are you both big cat fans or do you have dogs?
Matt: I am between cats at the moment. I did have cats. I had 17 of them growing up, so now I am good for a while! I have a dog right now. Tom Ellis who plays Godcat has two cats, and their names are Cain and Abel!
Shane: I wanted a dog my whole life. I finally got one, and then my five-year-old ended up being allergic to dogs, so we had to have the get our dog adopted.
What were the early responses to the show?
Matt: Everything I’ve heard has been positive, but those people are all yes men. They were my friends and family! They said, “Oh, it was incredible!” I looked in their eyes and I ask, “Was it really? Tell me the truth!” But everything seemed super positive. Netflix loves it. I know that!
Shane: My children love it, and frankly, they don’t love me, so I have to take their word at face value!
The first season of Exploding Kittens (nine episodes) is currently available to stream on Netflix.
Watch the trailer for the show below:
