Going Back to 'Superjail!' With Series Creators Christy Karacas and Stephen Warbrick
You don’t expect subtlety or character development from a show called Superjail!. But series creators Christy Karacas and Stephen Warbrick promise that the second season, premiering Sunday night at midnight on Adult Swim, will have—well, if not subtlety, then at least a bit more story and focus on characters than did the raucous first season. Not to say that the first season—which premiered all the way back in the fall of 2008—wasn’t pretty excellent with its mix of increasingly deranged scenarios and fountains of bloodshed as the titular prison’s Warden (voiced by David Wain) many attempts to keep life interesting (in his own demented way) spiral out into these sort of Rube Goldberg-ian machines of ultra-violence and chaos involving resurrected gods, out of control robots, bird people, time paradoxes, and of course, the inmates at the most secure and chaotic prison in the universe.
Frankly, “manic” and frequently “brilliant” are the words that come to mind when I think about the show. It’s like a well-timed clock of disaster, each episode of the first season bursting with moments great and small predicated on the sheer comic awesomness of absolute disaster. The relatively small principal cast gets its moments, including of course, the Warden, his harried encephalitic assistant Jared (Teddy Cohn), the mute killing machine Jailbot, and stubbly, rough and tough “female” guard, Alice (Karacas).
Warbrick and Karacas talked by phone with MTV Geek about some of the changes in store for this season’s 10 episodes, some of the notes they received from their Adult Swim overlords, and discuss giving characters like Gary and Bird more face time in each episode.
MTV Geek: So how’s production on Season 2 going?
Christy Karacas: Going great. [laughs]
Stephen Warbrick: Yeah, we’re starting to catch up now, but it’s going good.
Geek: There was a healthy gap between the end of the first season and the announcement of the new one. Was there any particular reason for that?
SW: “Unhealthy gap.” [laughs]
CK: I guess we wish it wasn’t as long but we took a while. I was directing and executive producing this other show, a kid’s show for Cartoon Network [Robotomy], so that was part of it.
But also, we spent a while really kind of trying to think about the show, add some more character development, think about the writing and the structure of it. I mean, it’s not like the show changed, but it’s definitely got a lot more focus on the writing and the character element of the show this season.
Geek: From the sound of it, it looks like there’ll be fewer whirling engines of chaos than in the first season.
SW: No, no—
CK: I think it might have more!
The first season’s great and we loved it, but we just wanted to—us and the network—get a little bit deeper. You know, the first season is—if it were up to us, I feel like we would have done it completely visually with no talking. But it’s a TV show, [and] people want to relate to the characters and get a story and all that.
I don’t know, it was a lot of reasons, really. But definitely, it’s worth the wait, I’ll tell you that much.
Geek: Looking at Season 2, are you planning to expand the cast beyond the four main characters?
SW: I feel like a lot of the secondary characters will become more main characters this season. But as far as additional voices and stuff, not too many.
There’s one surprise voice in one of the episodes.
CK: Yeah, and I think like Steve said, a lot of the inmates you’re familiar seeing like Gary and Bird and the Twins or even Jackknife, they’re way more involved in the stories now. So it’s not just the staff.
SW: Yeah.
CK: And I think the first season, you’d see a lot of the same dudes and you’d kind of in your head be like, “Oh, I know that guy.” But now they’re actually part of the story and it’s definitely cooler. It’s kind of like—
SW: Some of them even have names now.
CK: [laughs] Yeah, a lot of people got names now, it’s pretty cool.
Geek: Since you’re planning to flesh out the story, is the plan to do multi-episode arcs or are you sticking with the standalone episode format?
CK: It’s still standalone, but—and this kind of goes to the character thing, too—we have some new characters that show up and once they showed up they kind of stuck around and they’re in multiple episodes. I feel like we’re continually expanding the world and showing how big Superjail really is and how many people are really there. Even some stuff from the first season has kind of sneaked its way back this season, so I think there’s some surprises for people that are fans.
Fans are going to see a lot of things in the background but also main storylines—you know, like getting to know more about the Twins. Like Steve said, they’re just stepping up more as fuller characters.
Geek: What was the actual genesis of the show?
SW: Oh boy. Well, we made a short about 10 years ago called Barfight—which I actually just watched this morning—and the guy who edited it, Dave Hughes, worked for Adult Swim down in Atlanta. And he passed it around, and they liked it and got [in contact with] us, and wanted the show.
CK: Yeah, it’s funny, we used to work at MTV together in the 90’s—actually a lot of people who work on the show’s second season were at MTV in the 90’s, weren’t they? Yeah, and we made this short and were passing it around on VHS—it was a while ago—and it got rejected from like every film festival we entered it in. So we were kind of like, “Wow, f*** this.”
It just started getting passed around with animators and stuff and when Adult Swim saw it, it wasn’t like they saw it after we made it. It must have been—
SW: God, like a couple of years, yeah.
CK: Yeah, at least 3, 4 years. I remember when they called, I don’t have a TV and I was said “I don’t even know what Adult Swim is!” And I remember I looked it up and I was like, “Whoa, this sounds awesome! It’s some weird s***.” We were really psyched, so we met them and came up with Superjail! and they were super cool.
Geek: Have you ever gotten any notes from them about violence and general level of craziness in each episode?
CK: Yeah, we get notes all the time.
SW: Yeah last season [but] not so much this season.
CK: They’ve been cool, though. It’s not like they’re “Oh my god, we’re shocked,” it’s more like S&P, you know? And they seem more worried about sex than violence. I mean, like Alice’s package is more of an issue than a guy getting ripped in half. So it’s kind of funny.
We got a couple of shots this season [where Adult Swim said] “Yeah, tone it down,” but overall I don’t feel like it’s been censored.
SW: They’ve been very good.
CK: Yeah, you still see a lot of people getting ripped apart and their heads getting cut off and all that same stuff. But it’s so cartoony I don’t even think of it as violence. It’s almost more like energy and a way to have a little bit of chaotic visuals and stuff.
Geek: In the process of writing every episode, do you have a template for how the story will ultimately end up in that final series of chaotic visuals that will just about kill all the characters?
SW: I think that was more the template for the first season. This season definitely has… varying templates, I’d say.
CK: Yeah, that’s kind of what the network wanted us to get away from. It feels a lot more like a show now. Our big thing was how do give this a narrative and give a s*** about these characters, but then keep all of the craziness of the first season so it feels like the same show? So we’d really talk about the story and work on it. [There’s] definitely still a ton of fighting and violence [but] I don’t think every episode has that one minute fight anymore. But they all tend to build up to some kind of climax.
Also, I think this season—much more than the first season—there’s a lot more animation. Even when two characters are having a conversation, the stuff that’s going on in the background or around them is very crazy so it still has that “I’ve got to watch this again” feeling like you missed a bunch of stuff.
I think it lost some of the craziness but it gained character and story and it feels really good. And it was a little bit of a figuring it out [process] too, like how are we going to keep it like [the] first season. And I feel like it retained it real good. I feel some of them are just completely insane. We’re feeling really psyched, I’m really psyched to see what people think that were fans of the first season. And I’m hoping that maybe we can get more fans that can maybe get more into the story now—I see how the show might be too crazy [for new viewers]. People are going to love it or hate it, I think, and I don’t think there’s much in between like, “Yeah, I kinda like that show.”
SW: Yeah, it’s not for everybody.
CK: I think now, [the show] being a little more accessible might help it hopefully.
Geek: Are there any particular teases you’d like to give for old and possible new fans of the show?
SW: It’s tough. You know, an 11-minute show, it’s hard to even give any clues because I feel like you’d give the whole show away.
Geek: Right.
SW: But there are some new characters that are good. And definitely the ones that step up. It doesn’t feel forced, it feels like a nice addition, so I’m really looking forward to that.
CK: For big things coming up, John Waters is doing a voice this season in one episode and there’s definitely a couple of episodes that focus on the Twins, so you learn a little more about [them].
SW: Alice and Jared.
CK: Yeah, Alice and Jared, you learn a little about their backgrounds. And like Steve said, some of the inmates—the two gay inmates become more main characters; Jackknife—there’s an episode where you get to learn a little about Jackknife and Jailbot. That’s the premiere, actually [and] they’re kind of the stars of that one.
It’s kind of cool. It’s not just the staff, it’s mixing up who’s with who. You know, Ash is back and he’s in a couple of episodes hanging out with the gay couple.
I think fans are going to be psyched. You feel like you know these guys even though they’re supposed to be these hardened killers and all of that. But they’re kind of like—
SW: They’re kind of likeable, nice guys.
CK: Yeah.
SW: I was thinking about it the other day. I was like “Wow, there’s a lot of characters on the show this year.” Whereas last year I would have thought about it and said, “Well, there’s the only like the main guys.”
CK: Yeah, last season, I felt like the inmates were a character [and now] a bunch of them has stepped us as characters. I think people will like it.
Geek: Are either of you working on anything else?
SW: Your album.
CK: Yeah, my band, Cheeseburger, we did the theme song [for the show], “Comin’ Home.” But we have a new record coming out May 3rd on Williams Street Records [Another Big Night Down the Drain]. We’ve tried to put Cheeseburger songs into the soundtrack of the show a little more. So if you like “Comin’ Home,” or if you like Superjail!, then you might be psyched about the new record.
We making a music video now that’s kind of a Cheeseburger/Superjail! video that’s going to come out—I think it’s going to come out in a couple of weeks, I’m not even sure when. Maybe look for that.
SW: It’s great.
CK: [laughs] That’s about the only thing—we don’t have much time for other projects. With Superjail! it’s so crazy.
SW: Animation schedules, as always. Really tight.
CK: So we’ve been really busy.
SW: I sleep here a lot.
Geek: I’m personally looking forward to the new season. I really dug the Jackknife/Jailbot episode [“BFF”].
SW: Oh yeah? What’d you think?
Geek: That was excellent. It looks like you guys have added more frames of animation. I can’t be sure, but it looked a lot smoother and cleaner than the first season.
CK: We switched studios. We did the first season at Augenblick [Studios] and we’re doing this season at Titmouse [Productions]—they make Metalocalypse, they did Freaknik. The animation is really insane this season—it’s way more over the top than I thought it could be.
The animators are really pumped and I think they wanted to prove—I think a lot of them were really nervous [about making] this as good as the first season. I think it came out better. Mike Carlo, he’s our animation director, he’s insane. And the whole team—all these guys and girls, they just work so hard.
SW: I’m glad [you liked it] because you don’t see a lot of animated shows anymore. And we do it all in-house in New York [and] we’re pretty proud of it. So we just hope people will enjoy it.
Superjail! premieres April 4th at midnight ET on Adult Swim.
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