Interview with Jimbo Matison, VP Creative Director, and Trevor Moore of "Uncle Morty's Dub Shack" Email interview conducted by Sumana Harihareswara, September 2005 [From Sumana's/the viewer's perspective: I think it's got some really tight writing, some great choices for how to edit the movie down to the twenty minutes that matter and allow for great jokes, and various levels of humor. Slapstick, puns, pop culture references and satire, sophomoric scatology gags, the use of dubbing to turn a movie scene into a Monty-Python-level satirical sketch. And the fact that you construct an entire alternate narrative for the movie makes the feel more sketch-comedy/improv and less snarky (as MST3K could be).] Q: How did you two get to do what you're doing with Uncle Morty's Dub Shack? Did you have to get a thumbs-up from anyone at ImaginAsian TV? Jimbo: Getting the thumbs up wasn't hard. We made a quick pilot and we all loved it here. The good thing about ImaginAsian is that it's a small startup network. We don't have a lot of money to produce original content; it's not that we're cheap, we just don't have it. I noticed we had a great deal of B kung fu and Bollywood movies, some we just couldn't air. I had made a pilot for a show a couple years earlier, when I lived in San Francisco, that was similar to the Shack, where I stripped the sound out and added my own stuff. I showed it to the other guys at the network and decided we could make a funny show for cheap. Trevor and I came up with the whole Dub Shack scenario and we ran with it. Really, the great thing about ImaginAsian is that we are small, and an idea like this gets the 'okay' much quicker than at regular networks. There was really only three people to go through to get it going: Mike Hong (CEO), David Chu (Programming and Acquisitions), and me, I'm the Creative Director. Much easier than going through 20 execs anywhere else. Q: Why couldn't you air those old kung fu and Bollywood B movies? Were there copyright issues? Jimbo: No copyright issues, they just lacked quality. They stank on the shelf. There was a couple that were so bad, we couldn't even goof on them. We have some Japanese B action films that are just wrong. Truly painful to watch. Sumana: What differentiates a film that you can't even goof from a film that you can chop down to a goofable twenty minutes? Jimbo: I think it's the actors. In some of the movies the writing might not be the best but the actors are great character actors, so their performances are really big and exaggerated. They're like cartoons without the proper voices. We give them the servicing they've been needing. Ha-ha! But some movies, oh, the acting is so bad and the plots are so thin, there's just not much to work with. In "Blow Back 2," we really didn't change the plot much. The big running scheme was, the main guy just wanted a bigger gun to beat the bad guy. "Blow Back 2" was pretty hard to goof on, but we like that one for what it is. Trevor: I like the films that have a lot of scenes with just two or three characters having a conversation, because then you can just throw whatever words you want into their mouths and completely twist the story's plotline. The films that are tricky are the ones with a lot of action and not a lot of dialogue. There's a difference between "bad/funny movies" and "bad/bad movies" we've had to scrap movies a week before our deadline because we didn't realize it was a "bad/bad movie" until we were halfway done writing it. Q: Do you think it's easier to make funny commentary on Chinese kung fu/action movies or Bollywood musicals? Trevor: I think they each have their advantages. The kung-fu films tend to have these great, expressive, comic relief characters that are just so easy to write jokes and come up with voices for. And the Bollywood films have all of those musical numbers that you can write songs for. Jimbo: There's really no preference; we love them for their different qualities. I love writing new songs for the Bollywood Musicals. It's great to watch with the sound off and think, "What are they just NOT singing about?", and then have them sing about it. With the kung fu films it's fun to figure out the most absurd reasons for them to fight each other. It's also dang fun to throw on the goofiest sound effects when they hit each other. Usually it starts with lots of fart sound effects, just to get it out of our system, and then onto better sound effects like foghorns that sound like really big farts. We've really been aching to get our teeth into some bad anime. I think we're getting some for the next season. Oh, it's gonna be so nice. Q: I notice that you all love to make up alternate lyrics and songs for the Bollywood movies, and you'll even put songs in martial arts movies where there originally weren't any songs. And the original conceit for the show has the four friends as members of some sort of band. Did you and Trevor get to do anything musical in your previous jobs? Jimbo: Oh yeah, I've been in a ton of punk bands since way back when. I've also been a director for a long time -- commercials, animation, etc. -- and I've always written my own music for whatever I'm doing. It's a lot more fun that way. We love the music aspects. It lets us jump up and down in the office. We have guitars and basses and amps and drums and when we get the disco ball rollin' it gets bananas. Trevor: I used to do a sketch comedy show on a couple PAX-TV stations and we would write and perform little songs every show for that, but I've never been able to really play anything. I rap some but that's it. Jimbo does all the instrumental stuff. Jimbo: I will say Trevor is not so much a musician but is great at writing rhymes. Dude's got hella flow. Sumana, which do you prefer, the kung fu films or the Bollywood films on the Shack? Do you have a favorite beverage you enjoy while watching? By that I mean beer. Q: My beverage tastes whilst watching Uncle Morty's Dub Shack tend more towards Juice Squeezes spiked with vodka. Trevor: I've been drinking a drink I made up called a "WhiskyVodka." How you make it is: you pour half the cup full of whisky. Then you pour the rest full with vodka. Add lime if desired. Q: I've seen perhaps ten episodes and I've found the dubs of Bollywood movies somewhat superior to the dubs of martial arts movies. "Soch" and "Dand Nayak" were particularly awesome. But I could be biased because I love the songs. Jimbo: I do think the songs help the shows flow better. That's why I've been trying to add songs where there shouldn't be. "Dand Nayak" is one of my favorites, it's just so dang silly. Q: Why do you think your sketch comedy works when other TV sketch comedy sucks? Jimbo: I think our sketch comedy works because we dare to be dumb. I love writing the stupidest thing I can think of. It's like a contest I have with myself. That's not to say I try to write something unintelligent, though. I don't enjoy unintelligence. The cast is easy to write for, too. I can write jokes and scenarios for Aladdin, John, Trev and Morty with my eyes closed. I'm the hardest character to write for; we've developed the other characters much more than mine. We're working on that now. Everybody is funny in their own right, too. Just Aladdin standing next to Trevor is funny. They are so opposite -- we really are all so different it's kooky. I think Trevor and me writing together is a good combination. I tend to write the absurd stuff while Trev writes the darker side. But when we're done with a script there's scenes where we honestly don't know who wrote what joke. You say other TV sketch comedy sucks. That makes me think, "There's got to be something good out there." I can't think of any, though. I think the best writing on TV now is in animation. "South Park", "The Simpsons" ... Come on, let's think of one good sketch comedy show.... Trevor: I think we sort of bask in stupidity. We are sort of proud when we've written something incredibly stupid and juvenile but then every now and then we'll throw in a point or social comment and that just gives the show a very weird feel. It's intentionally stupid and I think that just appeals to some people. Jimbo: We do think very hard about the writing. We're ruthless with each other, too. If I've written something bad, Trev will hand it back with the words, "Useless waste of time" on it. Equally, I will write "Bag of shit" on his work. Oh! I know what works for us, dares. We dare each other to do the most stupid stuff on TV. The Vomit Pudding episode was a dare. Trev's idea. I had to warn my mom about that one. Watch Aladdin in that one, he's very squeemish and was actually gagging while we shot. Aladdin dared me to put him in a dress for an episode and that's why I made him not turn into a girl [in an episode where the other main characters turn into women]. He loved the idea of it. That was until we actually had to go buy him a dress. That's when reality set in. The saleswoman at the dress shop was very pretty and Aladdin wanted to make a move. I picked out dresses I knew Aladdin would look just outrageous in. I had to yell at Aladdin to get him to come out the dressing room to show the nice lady, who just giggled into her hand. She asked if Aladdin was my boyfriend. I knew he was listening inside the dressing room. I immediately shook my head no and told her "Yes!". Aladdin howled. Needless to say he didn't get a date. Q: You said your earlier pilot just had you dubbing over the movies. Why did you and Trevor add the other characters and the whole backstory with the Shack? Jimbo: We added the characters because I didn't think just watching the shows dubbed would hold an audience. MST3K ["Mystery Science Theater 3000"] had Joel, Mike and the robots to break it all up. I also thought it would be better to have a face connected to the voice that's goofing on the film. I think it helps the senses to make it funnier. Whoa, deep. Also, I just wanted to be on the show. Ha-ha! It's true! What a dork. Yeah, I'm a big-ass hambone. Trevor: We wanted to set up a little more of these characters world so that we'd have more stuff to play with. And we've changed a lot of it from the beginning of the season! We originally we're going to the same bar in every show and checking in with the goons who torment Morty at the end of each episode, but as we got a couple episodes in, we decided not to limit ourselves with "segments" that we HAD to do each show. So now the characters leave the studio more, they turn into girls, the world blows up - it's become kind of like a live-action cartoon show. And I'm sure the show will change and evolve in the next season, we're just doing whatever interests us at the time and seeing where it takes us. I really wanted to do an episode about Aladdin being stuck in a bathroom stall next to Katie Couric while she is having really painful diarrhea and she's crying and making deals with God and telling Aladdin all of her secrets, like it's her death bed or something - then later she tries to hunt Aladdin down and kill him so that her secrets would be safe. So, who knows what the next batch of shows will be like. Q: Do you think it's odd that two white guys are the ones writing it, when you're making fun of Asian movies on the ImaginAsian channel? Jimbo: I actually don't think it's odd that we're making fun of Asian movies. To me, that's America. One second generation Latvian(me), a Taiwanese Canadian (John was born and raised in Ontario), a third generation Irish guy (Trevor), and one Bengali (Aladdin) goof on bad movies from Asia. What a great mix! That's America. I actually don't like the term "white guys." I'm proud of my Latvian blood. Latvians are nuts! If you go to France and then Ireland you won't come back thinking they have the same culture. Same as if you went to Japan and India. Big difference. Maybe that viewpoint is also my growing up in San Francisco in the 60s and 70s. I love everybody, baby. Don't get me wrong though, I do use the term "white guys," but I use it for predictable consumers who lack culture. Ha-ha! I think we respect the films, too. We would never want to goof on a film that was a classic and endeared by the country of origin. We also don't come from the viewpoint of, "Hey, let's make fun of Asian people!" That would be screwed. For instance, we never use outrageous Asian accents on our characters. That would just be lame, predictable and insulting. We do, however, use outrageous French accents and such, because it's just absurd and silly. The French have a right to be offended at our show! Ha-ha! We consciously don't use stereotypes as humor, because to us it's just not funny. Our viewpoint is, "Hey! Let's have some fun with these old B films!" ....I'm not that good at talking about my own writing. I don't have much of an ego with all of this. I just want to make some funny TV that no one has ever seen before. I don't really like TV and I want to make it a better place. Yaay!