It's not that unusual for shy people to do this.

Yeah.

Well, we were talking earlier about you did improv and your stand up seems harder for you.

And for me, it's opposite.

Really? Stand up, I think, for a shy person, it's not that hard, at least unless you do a lot of crowd work.

Yeah.

Right.

And did you enjoy it when you went? Like I said, I got

Yeah

... to do a, a special.

Um, but, uh, you know, Tig Notaro did a really funny animated special a few years ago, um, and where it was...

I think she, like, she's, you know, was anima- kind of like e- they're animating her stories, and they're showing that to audience.

And, and I just wanted to do it because I'm known as a, an animated character.

Yeah

... at all.

Um, and then, you know, when it...

The, the bar is so low that it, it usually works.

It sometimes can be, I think, for comedians, a, a, it, it, it feels like an insurmountable wall of, "Oh, no.

What if..." You know, especially comedians who rely on such great material like you, of like, "Oh, what if my crowd work isn't as funny as my material or whatever?" But then once you start doing it, it seems like, "Oh, this is actually really easy, and I'm a gen- I'm a naturally funny person who can talk to people," and then it becomes, like for a lot of comedians, it becomes the only thing they wanna do.

Mm-hmm

... me and the, and the written word.

Um, but, uh, and eventually I was like, okay, we're, I feel like I'm making enough from Bob's Burgers, I don't have to, like, write for other people's shows anymore.

I can just make my own thing.

And then that was, like, right when, like, COVID happened, and then there's one disruption after another, and I was like, if I just, like, if pe- fi- fi- five years before that, like, everyone was g- being given a Netflix show, and I just wasn't-

Sure

... because for, for, I hadn't really been watching it and it was like I had a meeting, uh, to write on the show.

So I watched that first, and then I went back and watched the rest.

So for me, like, his season, even though it wasn't the fir- is, like, the first, it's the first I watched.

And the rest is like, "Oh, oh, interesting.

There, there's not, there...

It's, like, so funny, but there's just fewer-"

Like, "I'll be back in six months."

... that was really interesting.

Yeah, and I, I was actually, uh, I was...

That's not how I was picturing it when I first thought I was gonna do it this way.

I thought, "Well, then, oh, this is great because with animation it's like you can have a million c- camera angles 'cause you don't need a actual camera, and I can do a bunch of cuts, like, from, in, in the middle of the joke to, to mix, to kind of, like, fight against the-

Like, in, uh, everyday situations or in-

Oh, yeah.

Any, I mean, anything.

I just have...

So I think it's a perfect question for us to start by to ask Dan, to what extent are you,

Dan, a summer boy? Yeah.

Well, I grew up in Alaska, where summer is very beloved by people.

I was going to say, does that really raise the stakes on summer? It's not as big of a deal in LA, I feel like.

I was kind of surprised, moving here, that the temperature does change over the year.

It does a little bit.

Even though you'd think it wouldn't.

Dan, do you still play like comedy club-ass comedy clubs or are you doing like theaters and stuff?

Yeah

... a little bit, and then, and then it w- it is good.

And, um, it, it, it was definitely, like, a, a really amazing kind of, uh, experience, like, life experience because I, I am, like, very uncomfortable with public speaking.

Um, and you know, my, I did, like, debate in high school, and I was always, like, pretty good at, like, I felt like I had good ideas, but-

Egos

... every- everyone wants the...

It's not even egos.

It's just like, uh, like, I mean, think about, like, it, if you had, it's like a, a ball bearing company, a ball bearing factory, and you're like, if you'd make the wrong kind of ball bearing, it's not gonna be plastered across every blog like, "This is the worst ball bearing ever.

shorties or that kind of thing

and that didn't really um seem right for the bunch for one-liners that i do so it really it really is um just me on stage uh and i really wanted i thought it was so funny if that's all it is yeah and literally no reasons animated and everyone's like no that's a terrible idea and i'm glad that they did that because i came up with a bunch of you know fun little jokes on jokes yeah i could do yeah great oh my god where's it living And it's on YouTube.

Okay, great.

20th.

Awesome.

And

phenomenal yeah nice i love it and how long did it

take to animate I don't even want to think about how long ago I recorded this, but first we did a three minute animatic, and that took a while to do, because it was figuring out the design, it was also getting the people, I know the work of Bob's that are very busy, waiting for them to have time.

Like, uh, do, do you have some sort of way around that?

I, I do, um, have kind of a process.

You know, when I started, even for, like, the first five years, uh, I would just think of something and write it down on a piece of paper or eventually a phone when I got a phone.

Um, and this was a long time ago.

Um, and, and then I kind of stopped just thinking of them and I realized I needed to, to work, and I just kind of, I, I've tried a bunch of different things.

What works is I just open a Google Doc.

I just free write, you know, every kind of word or phrase that comes to my head.

Um, w- is there something you, is there something you remember experiencing there that made you kind of go like, "Oh yeah, this is why all those great comedy writers come from this place"?

All right

... and what I've kind of learned is, is that, like, the thing I have the most control over with is, is my taste.

Um, and I think I, you know, I really try to...

I feel food is kind of the ul- ultimate hedonic treadmill, where, you know, you, you eat food that's really... a new kind of food that's really good, and then you get used to it, and that's your baseline.

And you know, my, my kids are kinda spoiled by ordering in all the time, and like, now just, like, to me, you know, when I was a kid going to a restaurant was a treat.

And like, to them, that's, like, the baseline.

And then when you try to make something for them, they're, you know, they don't...

Mm-hmm.