Exclusive Interview: Ben Jones prays to the cartoon gods and they always deliver for him.

Ben Jones mentions his affinity for the cartoon gods for his career. He talks about them a lot actually. He thanks the cartoon gods for the introduction of ‘Bug’ in his new animated series Stone Quackers which airs Thursday Nights @ Midnight only on FXX. Evidently, when local screenings of Stone Quackers were happening in and around town, the most popular of all of the characters was Bug, so much so that Ben has promised that season two is going to feature a LOT of Bug, ”fans at these local screenings literally stand up and cause chaos and mayhem for ‘Bug’ while the actors on the stage get left in the dust”. Ben also thanks the cartoon gods for putting him in a situation where he gets to work with Nick Weidenfeld for a cartoon studio filled with a rock-star staff that helps him put together some of the best new shows on television, ”it’s like I go to school everyday, I learn so much from them”. That said, I couldn’t help but ponder if there WERE cartoon gods, what would they be comprised of?

In any case, Ben doesn’t sound like any boss I’ve ever worked for, and the ADHD Studios staff should be fortunate. Most bosses are assholes and they do things to undercut their employees all the while taking the glory for anything that goes right. ”I make sure that my staff has enough coffee and snacks, I do this on a micro-level for Stone Quackers and on a macro level for all of the other shows”. Forgive me for not having Ben specify what sort of snacks we’re talking about here, and I only hope that with a company like ADHD studios that usually brandishes a pizza with every show or commercial they do, that it’s the snacks that are usually unhealthy. Otherwise, what the hell else are you going to snack on?

But, that’s just who Ben is. He’s a selfless boss. How did he get that way? Well, if you wanna know more about the guy, he tells us to keep watching Stone Quackers, He notes that his series is largely inspired by his family, ”My mom was a witch, my dad is kinda like ‘Data’ from Star Trek: Next Generation, and my sister is kinda normal I guess. Me? I’m like a mix of Barf, Dottie, and all of ‘Gothfield’ the cat.’ ‘ When I asked if his family has ever seen the show, he said he wasn’t sure because he never asked, ‘I’m terrified that the answer would be soul crushing. All I get is bad reviews from my mother and my father.”

Evidently, these influences all came to fruition after Ben had scribbled a picture of two ducks several years back. He would take that picture, and hang it on the wall until one day…”One day, these two guys LITERALLY came off the street wearing pretty much the same outfit as to what I had drawn. My first question was, ”who the fuck are you guys?” Turns out, it was the Power Violence duo of Whit Thomas and Clay Tatum, ”and what perfect names for cartoon characters, Whit and Clay”. Whit, Clay, and Ben would form a bond over their mutual interest in noise-skate scenes. Similar to their eventual real-life counter parts, Stone Quackers focuses more on the relationship between Whit and Clay while Barf does his best to try and  be part of the team, ”I’m so much older than Whit and Clay and I usually try and act cool around them, but I just come off as out of place and I say stupid shit.”

Well, whatever is going on it’s working. Ben has promised that Stone Quackers season two is already in production and that not only will we see more Bug, but we are also going to dig deeper into a potential relationship between Dottie and Barry, ”The show is about nothing. Like this season we have story lines about Barf being hungry and the guys running out of salsa.” However, do NOT think of the scripts for this season as being overtly complex as Ben has noted that he thinks scripts, for the most part, are stupid. Instead, he prefers a character-driven series and he does so by naming Louie and Wes Anderson-flicks as models though his affinity to The Simpsons might be second-to-none. ”How fucking lucky am I to be airing a series after The Simpsons! FOX is the end-all-be-all for cartoons and it’s all because of The Simpsons. Game over. Sorry The Flintstones! I am who I am from my haircut to what I eat because of The Simpsons.”

Well, I guess that answered my question on who the cartoon gods would be. And if The Simpsons really are them, then Ben Jones is certainly someone made in their image.

Stone Quackers can be found in the Animation Domination block airing Thursday nights at midnight on FXX