![Uncle Grandpa at the Movies]()
Cartoon Network’s Uncle Grandpa centers around the title character, uncle and grandfather to everyone in the world who travels the planet in a mystical RV going on adventures and helping those in need.
Toonzone News, along with other members of the press, sat down with series creator and voice of Uncle Grandpa Pete Browngardt, Eric Bauza (Belly Bag), and Kevin Michael Richardson (Mr. Gus).
QUESTION: I really liked the shorts. Are the cool and dumb turtles going to come back?
PETER BROWNGARDT: We don’t have plans. My supervising producer Audie Harrison and I were college roommates. I’ve known him for a long time. We met the first day at CalArts, and he always has these brilliant little shorts like that. He totally did that whole thing, and I was the voice of one of the turtles. We don’t have plans, but we have other shorts like that that are just totally random and have nothing to do with our universe. It’s just to experiment with humor and design and ideas. Weird stuff. Cartoon Network lets us do it, which is kind of unheard of, so it’s pretty cool to pitch it, especially the little shorts that we do. They really leave us alone to just do it. We outline them a little bit. In the storyboarding and writing phase, we just riff on stuff.
Q: Did you guys draw on inspiration from past cartoons?
PETER BROWNGARDT: Absolutely. Pee Wee’s Playhouse. It’s not a cartoon, but it’s kind of a cartoon world. It was a huge thing. I saw Pee Wee’s Big Adventure when I was a kid and Pee Wee’s Playhouse the show. Warner Bros. cartoons, Fleischer, Underground Comix was a big thing for me. The Far Side, I loved Gary Larsen. It was also trying to design a show where it could do anything. I didn’t want to do big story arcs. I wanted to do one-offs and I wanted to experiment. Really cartoony surrealism. That’s what I love about animation. It’s the art form where you can do the impossible, and it’s okay because it’s this language that was created that allows you to do it. That makes it okay in the world to just do surreal and strange things and humor and visuals and stuff.
![Uncle Grandpa The Package]()
TOONZONE NEWS: Eric and Kevin, what was your initial impression when you first heard of Uncle Grandpa?
PETER BROWNGARDT: They ran away and I had to chase after them.
KEVIN MICHAEL RICHARDSON: I did. I ran away. Eric Bauza was trying to tell me about this show, and I was like “Uncle Grandpa?” I said, “What is it about?” and I don’t think you were able to describe it to me, either.
ERIC BAUZA: I said, “You’re the only person that can do Mr. Gus.”
PETER BROWNGARDT: We actually struggled to find Mr. Gus for a while. The funny thing is he auditioned for Belly Bag, and we tried to get him back. I remember hearing in the audition, and I was like, no for a different character. And he finally came in, he looked at the character, sat down, and probably three seconds into his first few words, I said, “Oh, we finally found Mr. Gus.” We knew it right away, it just matched perfectly, with Kevin’s humor chops and everything.
ERIC BAUZA: My first exposure to the show…I used to be an animator, or a character layout artist, before I became a voice over artist. When you’re sitting at your desk for eight hours drawing, your friends will send you stuff on messenger, so this cartoon pops up in the chat window. I’m drawing, and I just hear Uncle Grandpa’s voice. Wait a second, I’ll draw this later. I was just taken by the original short, and I was like, I gotta work with this guy. That was the main motivation for me. The original shorts, that’s what did it for me.
![Uncle Grandpa Sick Bag]()
Q: Do you guys have to stick to the script normally or do you get the chance to play with each other?
PETER BROWNGARDT: Both. Mostly the script because we only have a certain amount of time to record and definitely these guys will riff on stuff for sure. Me, I’ll stick to the script.
KEVIN MICHAEL RICHARDSON: Thank God he has an open mind because that leaves us free to play, and if they like what we come up with, then they’ll keep it. And if not, they ask you to leave. (laughter)
Q: Why does Gus put up with Pizza Steve?
KEVIN MICHAEL RICHARDSON: That’s a good question. Because he loves Uncle Grandpa so much and he knows that he’s smitten with Pizza Steve and if you, like, eat him, then he’d be very sad.
ERIC BAUZA: It’s also in Adam DeVine’s contract to torment Kevin.
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