NYCC 2014 Recap: ‘Mike Tyson Mysteries’ EXCLUSIVE Interviews

DSCN1694

Just when you thought nothing in the cartoon world could be surprising anymore, Mike Tyson comes along and knocks it on its ear (and no, that’s not a Holyfield joke.) On October 27, 2014 at 10:30pm, Adult Swim will unleash Mike Tyson Mysteries on the world, and based on how it appears, nothing will ever be the same.

The 10-episode first season will star the champ as himself, as he solves mysteries à la Scooby Doo alongside a talking pigeon (Norm Macdonald), a ghost (Jim Rash), and Tyson’s fictional adopted Korean daughter (Rachel Ramras.) Show producer Hugh Davidson stopped by this year’s New York Comic-Con with Tyson and Ramras in tow to tell us why their new show simply can’t be missed.

If you’ve ever heard Mike Tyson speak before, you’ll know he’s already a pretty animated guy. He’s offbeat, he’s unpredictable, and he’s funny – sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. Having his own cartoon was an inevitable and logical (but not very obvious) next step in his ever-changing career and life. But one still wonders how it actually happened, and how he got others involved.

“I never know how to answer that question,” Hugh Davidson said. “I think Mike is just a guy who wants to do things. Then people are like, ‘What? You’re going to have a restaurant? You’re going to have a fashion line? You want a cartoon?’ We’re the cartoon people that just fell into the universe of Mike Tyson.”

Mike-Tyson-Mysteries

Although according to Mike, he was actually presented with the idea, and quite unexpectedly. “Warner Brothers brought me the show,” Tyson said. “When I first came in the house, because they came in unannounced, I thought it was the police – these two white guys coming in. They explained that they wanted me to do a show on Adult Swim, and I had no idea what Adult Swim was. I thought it was just some old rich white guys that were going to swim in this exotic lake or something, like Cocoon, and become young and youthful or something.”

Needless to say, the obviously incorrect idea in Mike’s head didn’t really appeal to him at first. “I wasn’t interested in doing it, but when I saw the rough copy, man, I thought it was incredible,” Tyson explained with genuine excitement in his voice. “The trailer is more than what I envisioned, because I thought it was going to be El-Shmuck-o-ville.”

From there, he was hooked. “I wanted to be a part of it,” he said. “I put so much effort in after that. I’m really proud of that.”

His co-stars were also surprised from the get-go. Not at the show itself, but at Mike himself. “He’s great. I was shocked,” Davidson said. “I thought this was going to be a nightmare, he’s going to be crazy, he’s going to say a bunch of shit that doesn’t make sense.” But that wasn’t the case, because Mike is the real deal. “He can deliver a very comedic performance without seeming like an athlete that thinks he’s cool,” Davidson added. “Mike doesn’t act cool. In the recording booth, he’ll do anything. He’ll cry. He’s not afraid to try [anything].”

A crying Mike Tyson? Is this a new side of the fighter? “He’s so delightful. He’s so cute,” Rachel Ramras said. “He’s really adorable in this show, and sweet and sincere, and I think it’s going to be a side of him that people are going to be surprised to see.”

It’s this earnestness that seems to garner the most praise from Tyson’s co-stars. “He seems like he means what he says,” Davidson said. “And then [the show] is supposed to be comedic because it’s like inappropriate, or he’s in a situation he shouldn’t be. It’s perfect for him. And then we try to make it very grounded to fight the cartoony aspect so that you feel like there are stakes to the show.”

Ramras explained her part in grounding the show when she fielded a question about deciding which voice to use for Yung Hee. Rachel is clearly Caucasian, and her character is clearly not. In the end, she just decided to talk normally. “It’s my voice. That’s another thing that seems weird,” she said. “It seems like it really makes sense coming out of this little Korean girl. I did play around with making her sound a little younger or a little character-y, but the truth is: Mike is doing his voice, Norm is doing his voice, Jim Rash is doing a version of himself, and I think it sounded a little too cartoony if I did anything other than my voice. I’m fortunate enough to sound like a child even though I’m a grown woman. The show is so crazy [already], so at least the vocal performances are grounded in reality.”

DSCN1729

Although there are still some not-so-subtle reminders that this is indeed a fantasy world, as Tyson pointed out. “There’s a part of the [show] where we’re all in a car and we fall off a cliff, and my adopted daughter, she goes, ‘Now we’re gonna die!’ and I said, ‘No, we’re not gonna die, because it’s a fucking cartoon!’”

And a familiar-looking cartoon at that, as the animation draws comparisons to toons from the ‘70s, like that certain other famous mystery show. “It looks like a thing you already like,” Davidson said. “And Mike is just weird. He’s flat-out weird, and I think it makes you want to watch it.”

As for the other cast & crew members, if it seems like they have good chemistry, there’s a reason for it. Rachel Ramras, Jim Rash, and Hugh Davidson were all members of improve theater troupe The Groundlings in Los Angeles together, and Ramras had some hearty praise for Norm Macdonald was well. “He’s truly the funniest person in the entire world,” she said. “He’s so weird, and tells the strangest stories. He’s like that uncle who never stops talking, but you don’t want him to, because everything that comes out of his mouth is funny.”

Still, the focus remains squarely on Tyson, because he’s the star, and the producers just kind of let him run wild on the show. “I didn’t want to be the dipshit writer who had Mike Tyson and then tried to make my own thing. It’s better to try and find out what he’s great at,” Davidson said. “He has depth. It’s not just about the jokes, it’s not witty or clever, it’s more about Mike’s character. It’s like his one-man show: it’s very compelling. He’s so oddly compelling, and I think it’s really funny.”

He’s also capable of spouting out words of wisdom at any moment. During the interview, he said things like, “Time is the best teacher,” “Life is about the moment. It’s not about the past,” and “There’s no future in your past.”

Tyson seems content at this point in his life, and humble too. He’s happy with where he is, and how he is viewed in the comedic world – something that would have been unimaginable earlier in his life. “When I used to fight, if a comedian made a statement [about me], I’d be hunting the comedian down,” he said. “I’m just happy I don’t have to take myself seriously anymore, and that’s just part of growing up. Throughout the whole spectrum of this life, we’re so small, we’re so minute and insignificant, but we think we’re bigger than we are.”

Davidson thinks it’s because Mike is much more trusting nowadays, something that’s necessary when you’re making a cartoon in which you play yourself. A cartoon that’s likely to sweep the nation and the entire world soon. “He trusts that the whole thing is funny,” Davidson said. “He’s a secure person. He doesn’t care. What are you going to do, laugh at him?”

Maybe at him. Or maybe just with him. Either way, Mike doesn’t care, and neither should we, because the important thing is simply that we’ll all be laughing.

DSCN1862

[photos by Becca Green]