Home Movies co-creator Brendon Small and I have a lot in common. Were nearly the same age, we were both fat kids and we love to watch bad movies. I got a chance to talk with Small about the Season Two DVD set of Home Movies that was just released. But we ended up mostly chatting about the worst movies ever.
Get Home Movies Season Two
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to today?
Brendon Small: Today? Nothing, nothing good, no, no. I did a big show last night that was fun at the Comedy Central Stage so, thats, thats what I did yesterday, but today I got nothing. I was going to see a movie.
DRE: What movie?
BS: Kung-Fu Hustle possibly.
DRE: Oh its awesome!
BS: Thats what everyone says, yeah.
DRE: Did you see Shaolin Soccer?
BS: Yeah, I did see that.
DRE: Same guy so
BS: What else is out there?
DRE: Eh just see that [laughs]
BS: I saw Sin City.
DRE: Thats good!
BS: Yeah, I thought that was good too.
DRE: That was really good. I liked it.
BS: OH my God, I saw the Amityville Horror.
DRE: Why?
BS: I used to work in a movie theater so I would just see everything. I would see 12 movies a week, didnt matter what it was. Then it became kind of an addiction where like Id see a movie everyday. When I was doing Home Movies I would still see a movie everyday.
DRE: How did you do that?
BS: I had a lot of free time my only job was to sit and write cartoons. My philosophy of writing was, and still is, that 90% of writing is not writing, its doing anything but writing. That means seeing any kind of crappy movie I can get my hands on. One of my favorite things in the world is crappy horror movies, but not these new crappy horror movies.
DRE: These news ones are all PG-13 so they dont even have tits in them.
BS: Sometimes theres almost the girls asscrack and thats kind of awesome for a second. Then theres some reveal and theres a fucking demon or something, hows anybody supposed to jack off to that?
DRE: I heard the new Amityville Horror isnt even scary.
BS: Oh its not scary at all.
DRE: When I was out of work Id go see any movie. I saw this awful Keenan Ivory Wayans movie called Most Wanted.
BS: Yeah [laughs].
DRE: Yeah, it was real crap and I saw 8 Heads in a Duffle Bag. [laughs]
BS: Ah, thats a good one. [laughs]
DRE: I really tortured myself with movies. Anything with Tom Arnold, you know?
BS: My crappy philosophy behind that is that I think you can still learn something even from bad movies.
DRE: Yeah, you can learn more in a lot of ways.
BS: Well, heres what I think you can learn. You can learn how to make a really crappy movie.
DRE: [Laughs] Whats the worst movie that you ever saw in the theater? Sequels dont count. You cant count Superman 4 because youre stupid for seeing that in the theater anyway.
BS: I never walk out of movies but you know what movie I had to get out of was the Jim Jarmusch one, Coffee and Cigarettes. That movie is so in love with itself that I had to leave. Having said that Ill sit through movies test marketed for babies like Shrek.
DRE: The worst movie I ever saw in the theatre is Leonard Part 6.
BS: Thats a really bad movie. What is the premise of that one?
DRE: [Laughs] Yeah, sadly, I do. Bill Cosby used to be a secret agent and he finally gets back in the game to save his daughter or something. This woman controls animals and shes throwing grapes everywhere and her whole evil team of people are vegetarians. This one guys head exploded when he ate a hot dog.
BS: Thats pretty awesome. I remember that being a tremendous flop. I think Ishtar is a great movie. I think the first 25 minutes of that movie is outstanding. People forget that Ishtar was a financial disaster because they went and shot in the desert and spent like a couple hundred million dollars just to level out the desert because the wind storms kept fucking it up. There was no way that this little silly spy comedy was going to make that money back so it got labeled as being one of the biggest disasters in history. But the movie itself is just outstanding.
DRE: Yeah, I havent seen it in a long time but Im glad I didnt see it in the theater. Ghostbusters 2 sucked. But once again, you cant count sequels. I banned Ghostbusters 2 from my life. If its on TV, I dont watch it. I used to watch it all the time, and now Ive
BS: You had enough.
DRE: I dont watch it, ever.
BS: No more Ghostbusters 2.
DRE: It is terrible.
BS: Yeah, that was a rough sequel. But its good to see them still busting ghosts though. You have to admit that.
I think now is the time to get a whole bunch of recording artists together and have a bunch of new songs for the Ghostbusters.
DRE: Music inspired by Ghostbusters.
BS: Inspired, just like ghost-busting music.
DRE: You mean music to bust ghosts to or music thats inspired by the movie?
BS: Id say if youre planning on busting ghosts in the future then this is the music you would want to listen to get inspired.
DRE: Who should they get?
BS: I think John Mayer. Hes number one on the list.
DRE: Maybe Natalie Merchant?
BS: Alicia Keys, Rob Thomas, Matchbox 20. [laughs] I would listen to that, and then Id go seriously, I would fucking kill someone and have and then bust their ghost.
DRE: Alright, I got to ask you some Home Movie questions.
BS: Oh Jesus.
DRE: [Laughs] So I spoke to H. Jon Benjamin not too long ago about the first set. Hes funny as hell.
BS: Hes a fucking goofball. In my opinion hes the best actor that ever played Coach McGuirk.
DRE: He did do a live Dr. Katz thing once but he said that he doesnt think a live Home Movies thing would work because he wouldnt want to stand onstage there in Coach McGuirks clothing.
BS: [Laughs] I think he says that but I dont think he means it. We all want to wear leotards.
DRE: Would you walk around on your knees and be like
BS: Dorf on golf? Oh I would do that for the sheer embarrassment of having the audience watch me. I would love to have that happen and then have the constant threat of maybe bringing an audience member on stage to embarrass.
DRE: Its improv, anything can happen, right?
BS: But theres no possible way to make me eight years old.
DRE: They did it to Martin Short in Clifford.
BS: Youre right. They did manage to have an entire nation believe that he was 11 years old.
DRE: But then again, that movie was horrible.
BS: I applaud that movie though for trying something that was just like Holy Shit! Im supposed to believe that Martin Short is a little kid? [Laughs]
DRE: Itd be better if they had it like Eugene Levy as a little kid with his chest hair popping out everywhere [Laughs]
BS: Yeah, it weird, confusing sweaty vortex to live in where kids look like Martin Short. But I love Martin Short and I love Charles Grodin, so what do you do?
DRE: You definitely dont watch Clifford. Seriously.
BS: Ive seen it recently. Its not a good movie, but again, I applaud the folly of it.
DRE: [Laughs] Lets just talk about bad movies.
BS: Yeah.
DRE: There was a time when Martin Short when he got big again after Father of the Bride, theyre like lets give him a break and they did A Simple Wish?
BS: Oh right and it was some weird kind of like whimsical fantasy movie. But you know what, Ill tell you, Ill defend Martin Short forever because I taped his special on Cinemax when I was a kid.
DRE: I even like Jiminy Glick.
BS: Yeah me too. I think that hes got this amazing charisma and hes not a hack. You can see comics get boring and old and lose their shape, but Martin Short manages to keep things incredibly weird.
DRE: Thats why I like Christopher Guest because he bounced back after making that 50 Foot Woman remake.
BS: Was he responsible for that?
DRE: Yeah he directed. But absolutely! He was responsible.
BS: Thats the worst way to say it. Who is responsible for this?
DRE: It sounds like he shit on the floor [laughs].
BS: [Laughs] Who broke this expensive thing? Thats all movies are.
DRE: I read an old quote from you that said Home Movies was a little bit about role reversal?
BS: Yes.
DRE: Do you remember Louie Andersons cartoon?
BS: [Laughs] Yes, I do remember that.
DRE: Life with Louie, which I actually liked.
BS: I used to watch that too, yeah. He did all the voices and everything, yeah.
DRE: That show was about him as a little kid with his abusive dad but it ended up being a nice show.
BS: It was a strange line that he kind of went with. The dad was distant and weird.
DRE: The thing is, in real life his dad was so abusive that he turned him gay and fat.
BS: [Laughs] Thats all you had to do if you wanted your kid to be gay and fat.
DRE: [Laughs] If Home Movies was about when you were a kid would you show your future children Home Movies?
BS: No, I was what I call an indoor kid. Theyve got indoor cats and outdoor cats, so I was an indoor kid. During the summer I would find a place on the couch and basically say Were going to watch some TV. If some people want to come over thats great. Im not going outside and Im going to see if I can put on about 15 pounds before the next school year.
DRE: You did that every year? How much did you weigh?
BS: I was a fat kid.
DRE: I was a fat kid and now Im a fat man.
BS: Oh really? [Laughs] Im trying to work out everyday and I have to curb the urge to eat anything I see. I definitely have an unhealthy relationship with food.
On Home Movies we didnt want to make the kids precocious because there are a lot of TV shows that did that and I think its kind of like insulting and stupid. We wanted to make them kind of socially smart but have them be completely book stupid. Home Movies is a show about a kid whose parents divorced and hes processing this divorce through his camera. This kid is trying to have some control in his life through this little lens. At the end of the series he found this replacement family with his friends, the Coach and everybody else.
DRE: Were you a standup comedian before you started the show?
BS: I wouldnt call myself that but I would perform a lot. I went to music school first and just got pretty jaded with that so I started taking writing classes at Emerson College.
DRE: Whats Deathclock about?
BS: Deathclock is a new show with Adult Swim. Its about a death metal band. I wrote the music for Home Movies and theres a band on there that had like a lot of rock stuff. This is kind of taking the band from Home Movies and turning it up to a million and making it scarier and theres going to be murder and death and blood. A lot of people will die each episode.
DRE: Thats great.
BS: Its not going to feel like Home Movies at all.
DRE: Is it Squigglevision?
BS: No its not going to squiggle. Its going to be very music driven. Im doing it with my buddy Tommy Blacha, who used to be a writer for Conan OBrien. We have just been on this like death metal kick for the last couple of years and going out and seeing bands like Cannibal Corpse.
DRE: How about Barbarian Chronicles?
BS: Yeah, Im supposed to be getting notes in about a half hour for Barbarian Chronicles. I just finished the first script. Its a show thats kind Conan the Barbarian meets Lord of the Rings meets Harry Potter meets Curb Your Enthusiasm. Its very day to day life in this very kind of like magical landscape. The look I want is going to be kind of like Frank Frazettaish.
DRE: You should do it rotoscope.
BS: Were actually going to hopefully have some battle segments done that way.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Get Home Movies Season Two
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to today?
Brendon Small: Today? Nothing, nothing good, no, no. I did a big show last night that was fun at the Comedy Central Stage so, thats, thats what I did yesterday, but today I got nothing. I was going to see a movie.
DRE: What movie?
BS: Kung-Fu Hustle possibly.
DRE: Oh its awesome!
BS: Thats what everyone says, yeah.
DRE: Did you see Shaolin Soccer?
BS: Yeah, I did see that.
DRE: Same guy so
BS: What else is out there?
DRE: Eh just see that [laughs]
BS: I saw Sin City.
DRE: Thats good!
BS: Yeah, I thought that was good too.
DRE: That was really good. I liked it.
BS: OH my God, I saw the Amityville Horror.
DRE: Why?
BS: I used to work in a movie theater so I would just see everything. I would see 12 movies a week, didnt matter what it was. Then it became kind of an addiction where like Id see a movie everyday. When I was doing Home Movies I would still see a movie everyday.
DRE: How did you do that?
BS: I had a lot of free time my only job was to sit and write cartoons. My philosophy of writing was, and still is, that 90% of writing is not writing, its doing anything but writing. That means seeing any kind of crappy movie I can get my hands on. One of my favorite things in the world is crappy horror movies, but not these new crappy horror movies.
DRE: These news ones are all PG-13 so they dont even have tits in them.
BS: Sometimes theres almost the girls asscrack and thats kind of awesome for a second. Then theres some reveal and theres a fucking demon or something, hows anybody supposed to jack off to that?
DRE: I heard the new Amityville Horror isnt even scary.
BS: Oh its not scary at all.
DRE: When I was out of work Id go see any movie. I saw this awful Keenan Ivory Wayans movie called Most Wanted.
BS: Yeah [laughs].
DRE: Yeah, it was real crap and I saw 8 Heads in a Duffle Bag. [laughs]
BS: Ah, thats a good one. [laughs]
DRE: I really tortured myself with movies. Anything with Tom Arnold, you know?
BS: My crappy philosophy behind that is that I think you can still learn something even from bad movies.
DRE: Yeah, you can learn more in a lot of ways.
BS: Well, heres what I think you can learn. You can learn how to make a really crappy movie.
DRE: [Laughs] Whats the worst movie that you ever saw in the theater? Sequels dont count. You cant count Superman 4 because youre stupid for seeing that in the theater anyway.
BS: I never walk out of movies but you know what movie I had to get out of was the Jim Jarmusch one, Coffee and Cigarettes. That movie is so in love with itself that I had to leave. Having said that Ill sit through movies test marketed for babies like Shrek.
DRE: The worst movie I ever saw in the theatre is Leonard Part 6.
BS: Thats a really bad movie. What is the premise of that one?
DRE: [Laughs] Yeah, sadly, I do. Bill Cosby used to be a secret agent and he finally gets back in the game to save his daughter or something. This woman controls animals and shes throwing grapes everywhere and her whole evil team of people are vegetarians. This one guys head exploded when he ate a hot dog.
BS: Thats pretty awesome. I remember that being a tremendous flop. I think Ishtar is a great movie. I think the first 25 minutes of that movie is outstanding. People forget that Ishtar was a financial disaster because they went and shot in the desert and spent like a couple hundred million dollars just to level out the desert because the wind storms kept fucking it up. There was no way that this little silly spy comedy was going to make that money back so it got labeled as being one of the biggest disasters in history. But the movie itself is just outstanding.
DRE: Yeah, I havent seen it in a long time but Im glad I didnt see it in the theater. Ghostbusters 2 sucked. But once again, you cant count sequels. I banned Ghostbusters 2 from my life. If its on TV, I dont watch it. I used to watch it all the time, and now Ive
BS: You had enough.
DRE: I dont watch it, ever.
BS: No more Ghostbusters 2.
DRE: It is terrible.
BS: Yeah, that was a rough sequel. But its good to see them still busting ghosts though. You have to admit that.
I think now is the time to get a whole bunch of recording artists together and have a bunch of new songs for the Ghostbusters.
DRE: Music inspired by Ghostbusters.
BS: Inspired, just like ghost-busting music.
DRE: You mean music to bust ghosts to or music thats inspired by the movie?
BS: Id say if youre planning on busting ghosts in the future then this is the music you would want to listen to get inspired.
DRE: Who should they get?
BS: I think John Mayer. Hes number one on the list.
DRE: Maybe Natalie Merchant?
BS: Alicia Keys, Rob Thomas, Matchbox 20. [laughs] I would listen to that, and then Id go seriously, I would fucking kill someone and have and then bust their ghost.
DRE: Alright, I got to ask you some Home Movie questions.
BS: Oh Jesus.
DRE: [Laughs] So I spoke to H. Jon Benjamin not too long ago about the first set. Hes funny as hell.
BS: Hes a fucking goofball. In my opinion hes the best actor that ever played Coach McGuirk.
DRE: He did do a live Dr. Katz thing once but he said that he doesnt think a live Home Movies thing would work because he wouldnt want to stand onstage there in Coach McGuirks clothing.
BS: [Laughs] I think he says that but I dont think he means it. We all want to wear leotards.
DRE: Would you walk around on your knees and be like
BS: Dorf on golf? Oh I would do that for the sheer embarrassment of having the audience watch me. I would love to have that happen and then have the constant threat of maybe bringing an audience member on stage to embarrass.
DRE: Its improv, anything can happen, right?
BS: But theres no possible way to make me eight years old.
DRE: They did it to Martin Short in Clifford.
BS: Youre right. They did manage to have an entire nation believe that he was 11 years old.
DRE: But then again, that movie was horrible.
BS: I applaud that movie though for trying something that was just like Holy Shit! Im supposed to believe that Martin Short is a little kid? [Laughs]
DRE: Itd be better if they had it like Eugene Levy as a little kid with his chest hair popping out everywhere [Laughs]
BS: Yeah, it weird, confusing sweaty vortex to live in where kids look like Martin Short. But I love Martin Short and I love Charles Grodin, so what do you do?
DRE: You definitely dont watch Clifford. Seriously.
BS: Ive seen it recently. Its not a good movie, but again, I applaud the folly of it.
DRE: [Laughs] Lets just talk about bad movies.
BS: Yeah.
DRE: There was a time when Martin Short when he got big again after Father of the Bride, theyre like lets give him a break and they did A Simple Wish?
BS: Oh right and it was some weird kind of like whimsical fantasy movie. But you know what, Ill tell you, Ill defend Martin Short forever because I taped his special on Cinemax when I was a kid.
DRE: I even like Jiminy Glick.
BS: Yeah me too. I think that hes got this amazing charisma and hes not a hack. You can see comics get boring and old and lose their shape, but Martin Short manages to keep things incredibly weird.
DRE: Thats why I like Christopher Guest because he bounced back after making that 50 Foot Woman remake.
BS: Was he responsible for that?
DRE: Yeah he directed. But absolutely! He was responsible.
BS: Thats the worst way to say it. Who is responsible for this?
DRE: It sounds like he shit on the floor [laughs].
BS: [Laughs] Who broke this expensive thing? Thats all movies are.
DRE: I read an old quote from you that said Home Movies was a little bit about role reversal?
BS: Yes.
DRE: Do you remember Louie Andersons cartoon?
BS: [Laughs] Yes, I do remember that.
DRE: Life with Louie, which I actually liked.
BS: I used to watch that too, yeah. He did all the voices and everything, yeah.
DRE: That show was about him as a little kid with his abusive dad but it ended up being a nice show.
BS: It was a strange line that he kind of went with. The dad was distant and weird.
DRE: The thing is, in real life his dad was so abusive that he turned him gay and fat.
BS: [Laughs] Thats all you had to do if you wanted your kid to be gay and fat.
DRE: [Laughs] If Home Movies was about when you were a kid would you show your future children Home Movies?
BS: No, I was what I call an indoor kid. Theyve got indoor cats and outdoor cats, so I was an indoor kid. During the summer I would find a place on the couch and basically say Were going to watch some TV. If some people want to come over thats great. Im not going outside and Im going to see if I can put on about 15 pounds before the next school year.
DRE: You did that every year? How much did you weigh?
BS: I was a fat kid.
DRE: I was a fat kid and now Im a fat man.
BS: Oh really? [Laughs] Im trying to work out everyday and I have to curb the urge to eat anything I see. I definitely have an unhealthy relationship with food.
On Home Movies we didnt want to make the kids precocious because there are a lot of TV shows that did that and I think its kind of like insulting and stupid. We wanted to make them kind of socially smart but have them be completely book stupid. Home Movies is a show about a kid whose parents divorced and hes processing this divorce through his camera. This kid is trying to have some control in his life through this little lens. At the end of the series he found this replacement family with his friends, the Coach and everybody else.
DRE: Were you a standup comedian before you started the show?
BS: I wouldnt call myself that but I would perform a lot. I went to music school first and just got pretty jaded with that so I started taking writing classes at Emerson College.
DRE: Whats Deathclock about?
BS: Deathclock is a new show with Adult Swim. Its about a death metal band. I wrote the music for Home Movies and theres a band on there that had like a lot of rock stuff. This is kind of taking the band from Home Movies and turning it up to a million and making it scarier and theres going to be murder and death and blood. A lot of people will die each episode.
DRE: Thats great.
BS: Its not going to feel like Home Movies at all.
DRE: Is it Squigglevision?
BS: No its not going to squiggle. Its going to be very music driven. Im doing it with my buddy Tommy Blacha, who used to be a writer for Conan OBrien. We have just been on this like death metal kick for the last couple of years and going out and seeing bands like Cannibal Corpse.
DRE: How about Barbarian Chronicles?
BS: Yeah, Im supposed to be getting notes in about a half hour for Barbarian Chronicles. I just finished the first script. Its a show thats kind Conan the Barbarian meets Lord of the Rings meets Harry Potter meets Curb Your Enthusiasm. Its very day to day life in this very kind of like magical landscape. The look I want is going to be kind of like Frank Frazettaish.
DRE: You should do it rotoscope.
BS: Were actually going to hopefully have some battle segments done that way.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 21 of 21 COMMENTS
infinitelykaty:
I'm so glad this popped up randomly for me. Looooooooooove Home Movies. Love Brendon Small, and this interview is great.
accuser:
Home Movies is fucking awesome. Same for Metalocalypse. Total mancrush on Brendon Small.