Following the Allen Gregory panel (recap is here) that featured a 10-minute clip of the new Fox pilot, I got the opportunity to participate in a round table discussion with the producers and cast of the show. The footage gave solid confirmation that the collaboration between Jonah Hill (Superbad, Get Him to the Greek), French Stewart, (Third Rock from the Sun) Nat Faxon (Beerfest) and some seriously comedy-savvy producers is a winning combination. I love the retro animation style they went with, and some of the material is definitely going to push the boundaries of PC Television in ways we havenât yet witnessed. Watching the footage made the interview even more exciting because it was apparent that they have something special on their hands. In two surprisingly intimate group interviews, I sat down with David A. Goodman (Family Guy), Jarrad Paul (Yes Man), Andrew Mogel (Yes Man), French Stewart (Richard, Allenâs father), Jonah Hill (Allen Gregory DeLongpre), and Nat Faxon (Jeremy, Richardâs life partner). The show follows Allen Gregory, a spoiled but adorable 7 year-old who is being raised by his father Richard and Jeremy, Richardâs neglected life-partner.All the writers and actors were clearly excited about the project and answered everything with a level of refreshingly genuine enthusiasm. Hit the jump for more.In the interview, we discussed the making of the characters and the story, how they feel about airing the show within such a strong block of other animated shows on Fox, whatâs the method of developing each episode, in what ways animation differs from live-action, and how one of their characters shows a strong resemblance to Donnie from The Big Lebowski.Hereâs part one, wherein I talked to David A. Goodman (executive producer), Andrew Mogel (co-creator and producer) and Jarrad Paul (co-creator and produer) and if you want the audio, click here. Scroll down for Part 2 where I interviewed French Stewart, Jonah Hill and Nat Faxon. (Also, I apologize in advance for any stuttering in the audio. This being my first interview of any kind, I was occasionally shitting my pants.)Question: So, simple first question, tell us about the show?Andrew Mogel: The show is about Allen Gregory who is the most pretentious 7 year old that weâve known, played by Jonah Hill, and he has two doting gay fathers that tend to his every whim, and the pilot episode heâs going back to public school for the first time with kids his own age and he just finds that disgusting. Is there concern of having a pretentious 7 year old your main protagonist and having audiences actually connect with him right away?Mogel: At the center of it itâs really about this kid that wants to fit in. You know what I mean, deep down he wants these kids to like him even though heâs insulting them. [laughs] Jarrad Paul: And heâs got too much bravado to actually show his true feelings so he just kind of acts like everythingâs great and itâs going his way and he tries his best to make it happen but heâs having a hard time. David A. Goodman: I think the thing that is clear to an audience member, hopefully is clear, and relatable is that: heâs in a new situation, he wants to be liked, and weâre very clear on making sure that those motivations are clear so that when heâs being a jerk to people, the audience understands that heâs just like the rest of us. âPlease like meâ is at the core of everything. Paul: Yeah. Thereâs a balance. You canât just be a jerk 24/7. Compared to, especially on Fox, you know their animation, thereâs a much more down to earth feel? Thereâs not gonna be space ships coming down?Mogel: We tried to base it in a real world, and the look of it too, we wanted it to look more human. Paul: And acting wise, we go for like, subtle acting and facial acting as opposed to more broad stuff⦠Goodman: The advantage of animation though is that, one youâve got Jonah Hill, a full blown adult playing a seven year old, which you canât obviously do live action, unless itâs very expensive. And also, and I think this is really true, that characters in animation can do much more heinous things to each other than you can do in live action. You know, the British seem to do be able to do it, [laughs] but otherwise American sitcoms you canât be really mean to each other. You can in animation. I mean, we used to joke about Family Guy, that every character in Family Guy has raped someone.  [laughs] You know, and somehow that seems to have gone unnoticed by the audience. Weâre not going that far, but I think definitely the style has a fun meanness to the characters but again thereâs heart underneath it. You understand when watching it. So thatâs another reason why the fact that itâs animated is a necessary thing. Paul: And a lot of the meanness is oblivious meanness. Meaning they have these self-driven goals and they donât realize what theyâre doing to other people. A lot of itâs misguided, and Richard doesnât realize that heâs holding Jeremy captive in his relationship. Mogel: Jeremy used to be straight. He had a family, he had a wife and kids. And Richard somehow seduced him into this gay relationship. [laughs] Paul: And Jeremy kind of just goes with stuff and he doesnât really vocalize things strong enough and heâs kind of stuck there. With the character of Jeremy, did you get any inspiration from Donnie from The Big Lebowski?Paul: Thatâs hilarious. We love that movie. We didnât, but we love that movie. Would you ever think of a character telling Jeremy that heâs out of his element?Paul: That would absolutely fit. Mogel: Donny, youâre out of your element! Being on Fox, how much are you looking to push the boundaries?Goodman: Whatâs great about Fox is that you have not just two hit shows but two cultural phenomenonâs at 8 oâclock and 9 oâclock on Sunday night. And theyâre launching us at 8:30 on Sunday night. And Fox as a network and studio, because they have the safety of those two hits, they are willing to take creative chances with this show that no other network would take. And so, the fact that Allen Gregory is in love with his 70 year old principal, Principal Gotlieb, and that his discussions really do push the boundaries in terms of sex and a 7 year old talking about sex, the fact that weâre allowed to take these chances and are encouraged toâ¦you know Peter Chernin, one of the producers on the show is constantly like âpush it more and moreâ you know, because they know that thatâs what the Fox audience on Sunday wants. But story wise we definitely push the boundaries as much as we can within the voice of the show. You guys have those bits where Allen Gregory has a fantasy with his principal and poops his pants, which is something youâd expect from Fox animation. But some of the funnier bits in there were the real subtle stuff, like where Richard slaps Jeremy. Is that something that is more your guysâ humor?Mogel: Yeah we love that stuff. The shitting his pants; that was alwaysâ¦we wanted this moment where he is a kid. At the heart of it he isâ¦you know what I mean? The climax of that presentation was to show that he is a child and we wanted that moment. But yeah we love the smaller, subtler kind of stuff. Thatâs why we want it to be human and look the way it looks. Do you think that subtle humor is kind of what things are going with now? I remember in the beginning of Family Guy it started as a little more in your face, and now thereâs a lot more comments put to the side.Goodman: Well theyâve always had âem. I think thereâs always been in Family Guyâ¦like with Stewie asking Brian how his novelâs going doing that classic bit of [in high voice] âoh you got the character motivationâ¦â and it goes on and on. And thereâs definitely a connection to that in this show. This show does that times 10. And again, Family Guy and the Simpsons pave the way for the audience for the writing on those shows. Theyâre not writing those characters as cartoon characters. Whatâs going on there is adult humor. So just in that general umbrella, that allows a show like Allen Gregory to exist. Now the animation style, how did you come up with it? It seems very unique compared to other things on Fox. Was that a mission to find a unique style?Mogel: Definitely. Like Jonah said at the panel, we love the New Yorker vibe and it felt like the right attitude for Allen Gregory, so we started there and with the help of Bentobox and so many people helped guide it to what it is. But with the color pallet we wanted to do something a little different that felt more cinematic in moments. Goodman: I work very closely with these guys and Iâve come from a different place, having worked with Futurama and Family Guy which have a different look to itâ¦They place the cameras, where itâs animated but thereâs a feeling of, this is how it would look if it was a movie. Mogel: Almost like multi-camera vs. single camera. Paul: And we do different set ups for every shot [laughs] Goodman: Yeah, and itâs a lot of work but it lends a style to this show that really is unlike any other animation shows currently on television. ----Part two of the interview. For audio, click here.Jonah Hill: Yeah that was a pretty wonderful experience getting to show that in front of like 500 people, or how ever many people it was thereâ¦it was cool âcause that was the first thingâ¦Actually no, in SNL I wrote some sketches that I did on thereâ¦but it was cool, Iâve been working on it for so long that it was wonderful to hear people actually laugh at it, and not just hear ourselves laughing at it. How different is it working on film to television and animation?Hill: Well animation specifically just takes a long time. So what was interesting to me is when youâre writing something on a movie we write a scene and itâs like âalright now weâre done with the writing part letâs go out and shoot itâ you know you get to go make it. And with this when weâre done with the writing itâs like âletâs ship it away to Korea for like 8 months and wait for a little piece back thatâs nothing like you thought it was gonna be like, you know. So, itâs just slower. But the reward is just so great that itâs so beautiful and different, you know, like itâs really cool. (Fellow voice actors French Stewart and Nat Faxon join the round table.) Faxon: This feels like a crazy blast right here. Hill: Weâre just partying really hard. [laughs] Whatâs it like sort of having your name as the driving force behind this show?Hill: I just think that people are gonna say âwho is that?â It just seems surreal, I donât know. I gotta say that Jared, Manny and I really feel like there was nothing and then there was something, you know. That to me really is like the coolest part. We drove up here together, friends, and were saying that this started in Jaredâs apartment on a blank sheet of paper to now being at Comic-con here showing it, talking to you folks about it. That to me is something that is really different and special and cool. You guys are these great comedian minds. Is there a lot of adlibbing to the readings?Hill: These guys are so funny that itâs like, crazy. Theyâre so immediately â we auditioned people for these parts and right away, when Nat [Faxon] and French [Stewart] came in, we knew we wanted them without hesitation. And it just, they got what we were trying to do, and from the first recording session, they got who their characters were. Just, we had to do like no work in directing them and explaining everything it was like âthese guys know exactly what the hell theyâre doing.â So do you guys have to adlib anything?Stewart: The nice thing is that you to come in and you got this script thatâs already really funny and really well-crafted. Hill: Iâd almost say perfect [laughs]. Stewart: And everything else is just bonus flavor. No itâs really nice and enjoyable. They give you some leash but at the same time, you know. Hill: Weâll pitch them new jokes while weâre shooting or recording and then, yeah. These guys have adlibbed a ton of stuff thatâs made it into the show. Itâs so bizarre, specifically Frenchâs noises, and things, really make it in like [chhhh]. Heâs giving Richard like, this weird, he almost like, scats kind of. This thing where we never would have ever thought of that. Itâs just something he brought to his character. Itâs pretty exciting for me because as an actor youâre so focused on your own character and to get to have created some characters and watch these wonderful actors play them and act them has been a really cool experience, you know? Weâve tricked such talented people into being in the show. You mentioned at the panel that you guys are right after the Simpsons, stepping into the pedigree of Fox animation. Do you guys feel intimidated by that?Hill: For me, I would say that I created a show thatâs going on after the Simpsons. Thatâs all I need for the rest of my life. Thatâs my personal feeling. Iâm obviously intimidated to be in between that and Family Guy, but the fact that itâs like, Homer would be on and then you would watch our show is like beyond a childhood crazy dream, you know. It just doesnât make sense, itâs hard to think about⦠What do you like most about voice acting?Faxon: Just being able to be hung over. Hill: Not shaving, terrible clothes⦠Faxon: Nakedness, not having to stress. It takes me between 45 minutes and an hour and a half to get ready every morning so itâs nice not to have to do that. How long are the voice sessions for an episode?Faxon: You mean per character? Yeah. Stewart: Youâre usually in and out in an hour, hour and a half. It just depends on how big your episode is, you know. And then you come back and do punch-up here and there. Every now and then theyâve got a little piece that theyâre missing from an episode that they just need you to do one line and get out, so it just depends. Itâs great. What are you guys gonna think when action figures are made of your characters?Hill: If thereâs a doll of this my mind would be blown to pieces. Bentobox and Fox make Bobâs Burgers, right. And they said that this is theyâre second year here and people are dressed up as the characters and to me, if we were lucky enough to have a second season and come back here and people were dressed up, like, my head would explode. My head would explode, like there would be nothing crazier than that. Get ready for it.Hill: I mean, McBride, like Danny McBride, like I text himâ¦weâre walking down the floor and we see an Eastbound and Down bobble head of Kenny Powers and itâs like, âthatâs fuckinâ crazyâ. If people respond to this show Iâll beâ¦we think itâs funny so itâs just crazy. Itâs like us sending Allen Gregory to school. Thatâs what we were talking about. Itâs like him going to school and our baby is just getting judged and tries to make friends and, you know, you feel like a protective father, yeahâ¦what if they donât like them. Can you tell us about your characters?Faxon: I play Jeremy one of the two gay fathers. The, I am the reluctant gay [laughs]. The classic, you know, like youâve seen in â I was happily married with kids for years. Hill: Very happily married. Like not a problem in the relationship. Faxon: And now I was asked, âso how did that transition workâ? And Iâm like âI think it just didââ¦It just happened and there was noâ¦we were talking about that earlier, like meeting my wife and children. Hill: That was one of my â where Jeremyâs family comes. Faxon: Yeah thatâs just where I get browbeaten. Hill: And Jeremyâs just a good guy. But then you realize that heâs kind of fucked up too âcause he let this happen. Like right when I start to feel so bad for him, like what a good guy, Iâm like, thereâs some darkness there because he like has allowed this to go down. Faxon: And for a long timeâ¦like things are happening but heâs not saying anything. Stewart: Yeah like kicked to the curb in one episode and then really miss it and wanna come back. Hill: Heâs just a glutton for punishment. I love where he dresses off as Tinkerbell in that photo. Hill: That was my wrap gift, for season one, where we have those framed. Just to hear you guys talk, you guys are just riffing on things. It seems like thereâs just so much fun making this show. Hill: We went out last night with our writers who we introducedâ¦were you guys there for the panel? Yeah, the writers we introduced and our cast like Jarrad, Manny and I, David, like, we all went out last night and stuff and had this big dinner and went out and itâs just the coolest group of people and everyone is so funny and cool like, it would just be a damn shame to not get to continue that, you know. Itâs extremely fun. Can you explain where the character [Allen Gregory] came from?Hill: Ummâ¦God itâs really quiet in here. [laughs] The character, we wanted to play you know, Jarred and Manny had written this great script called Himmelfarb and I was maybe gonna be in that film and Jared lived in the same apartment building as I did and I was really hell-bent on creating an animated show and thought that their voice would be good to combine with my voice to write something together. And their main character in that movie was very delusional, kind of pretentious figure. And we were like, well that might be a cool character for me to play âcause we like that character. And then we just had the idea to make him seven. [ laughs] and the most adorable, like, heâs the last character visually that we locked down because it was impossible to get him cute enough for us. We were sending in pictures of nephew and like [laughs] you know, weâd go on the internet and type in âadorable kidâ and we couldnât make him cute enough because we wanted when he said something horrible to juxtapose that with how cute he is. Stewart: Now if youâre ever in trouble with the police theyâll go to your computer and theyâll be like â7,000 entries of adorable kidâ [laughs]â¦âmust be cuteâ. Hill: Yeah if they open the 7-year-old boy file, Iâll be in deep shit. We were talking about how itâs easier to get away with things with animation. Do you think itâs easier to show some more heart as well? Do you prefer the connection that animation provides as opposed to live action?Hill: I think itâs personally harder to convey emotion. I think the most prideful moments in Allen Gregory are when you feel bad for him or sad because being an actor, for me, itâs like itâs all in your eyes and your face expressing something and itâs a bunch of people animating that expression. You have to really have animators that get what youâre going for and even then itâs like, Iâm still gonna lookâ¦youâre gonna get more from like a human being hurting than an animated character hurting. Then you watch those movies like âUpâ and youâre like hysterical crying in the firstâ¦[laughs] so I think those are the moments in the show I really am like, wow I canât believe I actually feel bad for these little cartoon people. Faxon: I think itâs also what separates this show form the other shows, like animated shows on Fox, in the sense that it does have heart and it does have, like relationships and stuff that you sort ofâ¦itâs hilarious but you do sort of care about it, a little more than, say maybe Family Guy or one of those that do a lot of flashbacks and jokes and stuffâ¦I think this is more like story telling. Stewart: And the fact that the animation is more sort of lyrical and beautiful and thereâs something whimsical about itâ¦that I didnât see coming when we were doing it. Hill: But Simpsons though has amazing moments in it where there is so much heart that youâre likeâ¦I remember this episode where Homerâs mom comes back and she had abandoned him and at the end heâs just likeâ¦she abandons him again. And they go to a very sincere kind of sad place and sweet, and like I remember being a kid and seeing that and going like, why do Iâ¦itâs Homer but Iâm sad. I dunno, if thereâs a couple moments like that in our show thatâd be really cool.Whatâs the creative process in trying to find each characterâs voice in the show? Do you look at it visually and think, now I know how his voice will sound?Faxon: I think it varies depending on that project, but I think for this it was⦠Hill: We all kind of sound like ourselves. [laughs] Except French is like some weird Reggae scat. [laughs] Faxon: I think they wrote such a great script that itâs very, sort of, evident on the page. I feel like what direction⦠Hill: I mean theyâll tell you itâs airtight. [laughs] Not a hole in that script, we really just kicked the shit out of itâ¦damn near perfect. So they pretty much got exactly what to do. We illustrated it for them. Itâs like, you know, the guy who does the inking in the comic book and the guy that does the outline â he draws everything. The inking is just coloring inside what we already drew, you know what I mean? Heâs picking a color saying maybe the shirtâs red, I donât fucking know...Iâm totally kiddingâ¦Please write that Iâm joking. [laughs] You mentioned in the panel that the art style is kind of Wes Anderson influenced, and it seems like a lot of the humor has that kind of subtle Wes Anderson feel. Like the moment where Richard slaps Jeremy in the car. Itâs just really subtle, like that. Do you feel like thatâs drawn from places like Wes Anderson?Hill: Well thatâs also them too. Thatâs something where like, Richardâs a character where when people came in, people were doing the biggest caricature that you could imagine. And French goes bigger sometimes but heâs really grounded in playing that guy. And that right away, we got his energy, what he was going for with Jeremy like, it was just perfect. It would be crummy if it was done over the top or wasnât as subtle. To me the biggest Wes Anderson moment would be when heâs leaving Patrick and heâs like âIâm proud of you.â You know, just seemed like such a Rushmore type vibe. I think we all love Rushmore very much and that was a film about like an outcast in school and a fish out of water and you know⦠Stewart: And also the Louis Vitton lunch kit that has the wine and sushi. Hill: We got kind of obsessed with Louis Vitton. We would walk byâ¦I would find myself going into the Louis Vitton store and taking picture and sending them to these guys and likeâ¦we just thought that that was his label, his brandâ¦and the Porsche Cayenne was funny⦠(The group begins ragging on Jarrad Paul (producer) for driving a Porsche Cayenne and breaking his rental lease) If you guys could go to the convention floor without getting recognized where would you go first? Hill: We walked the floor yesterday. I had like 20 security guards with me but it was just your normal everyday Comic-Con experience, 20 bodyguards making sure nobody looks or touches you. No, it was really fun. What did we see? We saw that Danny McBride bobble head which we were pretty excited about. It was cool, I like to see all the merchandise that you canât get easily, like online or at stores where people either make stuff themselves or...Thereâs kind of a cool homemade vibe to a lot of this stuff. And the collectorâs mentality is just insane, like I have that as well where itâs just collecting things in general. I saw someone notice something they were excited, like super excited to see and itâs just a great thing to watch. Some that theyâve been looking for like some figurine or whatever it was, and I just saw their eyes like, itâs like itâs Christmas or something. And itâs cool to watch a vibe like that, some where people are so excited, you know. (To Jonah Hill) You tried stand-up in Funny People for the first time. Would you ever consider doing stand-up again?Hill: I dunnoâ¦there were parts of it I loved and parts of itâ¦I really didnât like it a lot. It takes years and years to get great as a stand-up and I had 6 months, you know. Maybe if I wanna put those years into it, you know, maybe, but I donât have the drive for that right now. Like what I do is so different than what a stand-up does, and visa-versa that, just because I like comedy doesnât mean itâs like, Iâd be a great stand-up comedian. I like acting, yeah I like collaborating. And I felt it was just so solitary up there, you know. Like I love writing with these guys and working with these guys and like, you know, itâs so collaborative that it honestly just felt lonely up there, âcause youâre just by yourself.You think itâs too easy to get in your head? Hill: There was a great profile on Harold Ramis in the New Yorker where he talks about why he stopped performing and he said âI just got tired of my self-esteem being in the hands of a bunch of strangersâ so itâs like, go up and youâre saying please tell me Iâm good, you know. And for me it was like, in a movie thereâs such a disconnect, or TV show, where if you donât read reviews or anything, you just put it out there and hope people dig it. You donât have to sit there and hear them decide whether they like it or not, you know. Showâs great.Hill: Thanks man, tell your friends.