When I first started watching Momma Named Me Sheriff, my first thought was “Oh boy, what in the rootin’ tootin’ Cheez Whiz-lootin’ hell am I even watching?” There’s a lot going on, from the subtle-not-so-subtle celebrity cameos to amputation crimes, ice-cream monsters, secret conspiracies, and the bizarre provincial population of Old Town, USA. This show has turned my frown into a twisted smirk of total confusion.
Out now on Showmax with a second season debuting next month, Adult Swim’s Momma Named Me Sheriff is a spin-off of the cult-popular and equally zany Mr Pickles, which first introduced the Old Town’s incompetent constable and the dysfunctional Goodman family. Both shows were created by Will Carsola and Dave Stewart, who talked with us about the new project.
[Before our interview, the organisers quickly explained what NAG is/does – and apparently we have bad jokes? I guess this is how I found out my editor hates me. If this doesn’t make it into the article I know it’s true.]So do you guys just shuffle storyboard cards until they just form a coherent story? Or is there an actual method to this madness?
WILL: Talking, a whole lot, and when we have an idea we put it on an index card and put them all on a board like a big pot of ideas. Some of them shine through and make it into one story and some don’t but then make it into another story. In short, start with the basics and fill them out.
So Mr Pickles, the show this one is based off, explain it to me in three adjectives.
WILL: Bloody, cute, horrifying. Now that’s Mr Pickles.
DAVE: Loving, evil, murderous.
So why a spin-off show of something so loving, evil, and murderous?
DAVE: We wanted to explore the talent of the people living in the town a bit more, which was really hard to do with Mr Pickles. And we really wanted to dive into the world a bit deeper. It’s also much easier and fun to write for Momma Named Me Sheriff. The Sheriff was the one everyone loved in the show, and giving him the opportunity to be the main character made it easier to explore this whole new avenue. Because he’s a sheriff, he can go anywhere!
Are the Sheriff’s wheelies only for mobility, or are they critical for him to be able to do his job during the day?
WILL [in Sheriff’s voice]: Well, ya know, it’s just how I am, ya know, uh, it’s like wheeling around and it’s kind of a style, but, uh, a sheriff can’t reveal his secrets.
(It’s so weird asking someone a question and the character answers, it kind of felt like I was in my own mini-episode of the show. Yes, I was fangirling. HARD.)
In the first episode, the president lets it slip that there are cats living on the moon, how many cats are there and what do they eat?
DAVE: They eat space cat food, government grade, and there are thousands and thousands of them.
WILL: There are moon mice too!
Will, do you feel like you embody Sheriff more in your daily life now since you voice him and write him?
WILL: No, not really, I do the voice for my son a lot to get a laugh. I feel like whenever I need to I can jump into the Sheriff’s brain but I don’t see him every day.
DAVE: Yet!
Dave, do you feel like you have a say in the way the animation is since Will has his own art brand called “Liquid Death?”
DAVE: Well, it’s kind of interesting because it’s completely the other way around. I think his animation fuels Liquid Death a bit more.
(You can see most of Will’s art on his website or his Instagram where he posts his pieces as well as photos of his family. Adorbs.)
If you could be with one character during a zombie apocalypse, who would it be?
DAVE: Linda, I think they would think she was a zombie already and they wouldn’t attack her. Her brain is already kind of hanging out. I would completely just use her as a human shield.
WILL: Damn, that’s a good one. Linda has a flipper that I think she could utilise if needed, you know.
(He never answered me, it’s okay, I’m okay.)
Your commentary on the American life is like, totally so brave. Is it fun amplifying all the things wrong with America in such a “not giving a damn, I can animate anything” kind of way?
DAVE: I think it’s more about us (Americans) making fun of those things too. There are a lot of people in America that all have problems with the things that are accepted in our society and that’s an undertone that Will and I love making fun of and taking jabs at.
Do you guys have a favourite moment from season two?
DAVE: There’s an episode where Sheriff gets addicted to pudding and it becomes like his drug, and him having to overcome that was just the funniest thing.
WILL: An episode called Sheriff and Roach where Sheriff turns a cockroach into a deputy, and they work on a case and there’s a really really awesome driving scene.
Momma Named Me Sheriff season two premieres on Showmax on 15 February, just 24 hours after the US. Be there, and please remember to leave your thinking caps in the incinerator outside.