Super Slackers Q&A: We Talk To The Producers Of 420tv’s Lead Off Adult Animated Series

Unfortunately, this entire interview was done while sober.

More than any other adult animated series in modern history, there has not been a franchise like The Simpsons that have been more proliferate with the kind of talent that is staffed to not only allow the series to stay on the air for close to 30 seasons, but to also allow that talent to work on other projects outside of The Simpsons. Executive producer Michael Price has been doing this for years, shepherding the production of such series as F is for Family and soon a possible collaboration with Kevin Hart. Even the show’s creator, Matt Groening, has given us Futurama and the upcoming Disenchantment. Definitely, the growth of television in terms of being more than coming from cable or satellite providers and instead now coming by way of streaming services, has helped this trend flourish and we, the animation fans, are the victors in our spoils.

Enter Super Slackers, a new adult animated comedy created by Simpsons producer/animator David Silverman that follows a group of young adults that come across a strain of weed that gives them superpowers to…maybe…fight crime. The series stars a who’s who of social media talent all voicing highly satirized versions of themselves. For example, Jerry Purpdrank can fly, Max Jr. has super speed, Dan Nampaikid can shoot lasers, Jon Paul Piques can set shit on fire, Olivia Sui is the evil bad person and Arantza Fahnbulleh can freeze people. Now, for those thinking these powers get used to the best of their abilities, I heed caution. More often than not it’s pure luck that the entire city doesn’t get destroyed just by happenstance.

But that’s actually the funny derivative in the series that revolves around a team of comic book-inspired heroes provides. Marvel and DC would definitely steer clear of pot humor, but Super Slackers can take the idea head on, and that’s exactly what we’ve got here, an animated shorts series that runs for half a dozen episodes that are timed specifically for their target audience who prefers bite-sized videos rather than the longer form content you might get on TV or Netflix. “The producers asked me for an idea that would work with the talents’ online personas and connect with their fans. We discussed various options. David Silverman and the producers were excited about our idea of stoners who get superpowers and don’t want to be heroes. David helped shape this basic idea into a show that would appeal to the millions of fans that our stars have on social media, says show writer Joelle Sellner (Jackie Chan Adventures).

And that getting the characters to have the same names as their real-life counterparts is just part of the coup de gras that made Super Slackers a product of its social stars’ personas. For starters, everything from their character designs to input on the scripts and everything in between gave a rather dynamic collaboration between all parties involved which also involved EP and series director Mike Blum (Pipsqueak Films),”I was reluctant going in as I didn’t know any of the voices and was worried about professionalism and ability to deliver, but we were pleasantly surprised with the performances and people are going to be surprised with how good they are!” adds Sellner, “Some were naturals with their comedic timing. Certain actors are just always funny because of their delivery and we were pleasantly surprised.”

This specific group of Vine stars has experience in working with each other on other projects and their familiarity with each other would show in the recording sessions, for example, the characters’ constant bickering among the characters felt more natural due to the social stars’ prior relationships, “we worked really hard to replicate their actual relationships.”

The producers promise some entertaining plots to keep us entertained, for example, an episode featuring the characters meeting themselves in an alternate dimension where the Super Slackers aren’t slacking proved to be a technical challenge, but Joelle notes it was one of her favorite episodes. In terms of superpowers, the writer/producer notes that while you may have seen these powers affiliated with heroes from other universes, they are in very different stoner hands and they were deliberately picked to cause a lot of hilarious problems e.g., Dan’s eye-lasers severing a human arm thinking that he can remove a tattoo, and Arantza is constantly freezing her cohorts’ heads to shut them up when they something snarky, “What’s wonderful about animation, you can do whatever you want with characters, in live-action, just to have someone create ice, the SFX is very cost prohibitive. In animation, you can go to different cities and even go to the moon and you can’t do that in live-action without it costing a bunch of money.”

That’s music to the ears of director Mike Blum (Samurai Daycare) who simply just wanted to make people laugh, “we think that fans will really connect with the characters. Their personalities are going to speak to the actors’ core fan bases. So we hope to bring in all of their natural fans and then expand that group out because everyone likes to laugh their asses off. “

 

Super Slackers is streaming now for Beta members of 420tv

 

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity