Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Hello, it's me, Jen Arden, and I'm singing to you from my bathroom studio. Hello. I'm just here sitting on the john. It's just a beautiful morning. You should see the view out into my bathroom.
And I've just been, no, I'm not sitting on the john. I'm actually in the tub. How are you guys? You're listening to the Jan Arden Podcast. I'm here with Caitlin Green, Adam Karsh, and they are respectively in their own homes in Toronto, Ontario. How are you guys? How are things in TO? Doing okay. We're both good, I think. Can I speak on behalf of Adam? Sure. Go ahead. Great. We're good. Everything's good. Well, it's November, so put that in your pipe and smoke it.
That's right. I feel like all of a sudden the holidays are just approaching. My birthday is at the end of the month. So it's on the 27th. So I know I'm a year older. So it's always weird. The holidays cram everything in. Like at least it feels that way because my husband's birthday falls on Thanksgiving. Then there's, of course, there's Thanksgiving. Then there's Halloween. And then there's my birthday. And then there's Christmas. And then, oh my God, it's another year gone.
I does time feel like it's going quicker because of COVID. I feel like the passage of time, it, I swear to God, it's Monday and all of a sudden it's Friday. It's Monday and it's Friday. It's just, it's been a very weird mode that I've been in this last 18 months. It just doesn't feel obviously when I guess when you're moving around, it's not quite as obvious that the weekdays are flying by.
Yeah. And I think since I've been back at work on the morning show that I work on, I haven't, I can't even believe that I've been back on the air for as long as I have. And I just blink and it's Friday again. And that just keeps happening over and over and over again. And then all those Friday realizations pile up and quickly form a year.
Um, do you, do either of you guys usually plan like a winter holiday? I know a lot of Canadians kind of do Palm Springs or Palm desert, or they head to Florida or they just, just some sunshine because we do kind of deal with this for six or seven months. So does that look like it might happen for either of you guys?
So this year, my in-laws have planned this big trip with the whole family. So us, our family, my wife's sister's family, my wife's brother's family, and we're renting a big chalet in northern Quebec and we're going skiing. That's what we're doing.
That sounds super fun. I mean, it's not a beach. It's not a beach. Where in northern Quebec? I have to check. I'm not sure exactly. Like it's it's it's not a popular ski resort, but it is a ski resort. And everyone in the family skis. It's every every single member skis. So it's worthwhile activity. Is that before Christmas, Adam? The week right after. I think we're leaving on Boxing Day.
Well, if you need someone to carry your knapsack. You can join us. I love Quebec. Me too. I got so excited when you just said that. I haven't been to Quebec in ages. You guys do Quebec quite a bit, you and Kyle.
Yeah, I love it. And I love, I was wondering because there's an area of Quebec, I think it's called Charlevoix, and they have a ski hill there called Le Massif, and I've never been. It's a little far from Toronto. I think it's past Quebec City. So usually we stick to like Montreal, Eastern Townships, Mont-Tremblant. But I haven't been there, and I have been coveting going there for a ski winter trip, which is why I got so excited and lit up like a Christmas tree when you just mentioned it.
So if you find out that that's where you're going, please let me know. And I look forward to your full review either way. For sure. Just before this all happened in like that, that March when everything kind of fell apart, I had rented a, I guess an Airbnb in Palm Springs. And I usually go a couple of times a year just with girlfriends. And even four nights is fun there because from Calgary, it's only two and a half hour flight.
So it's super fast and it's very dog friendly. There's dogs all through the airport. You know, it really is very cool if you're a pet owner. Anyway, I got a reminder yesterday that, you know, here at
blah, blah, blah, whatever company I'm using, we have your credit. We'd love to see you. You know, the borders are open. Just a reminder, you have a selection of homes you can choose from. So I think I'm going to do it. I think I'm going to absolutely plan end of January or February, use that house. It's probably not the one I originally rented. That took me 19 hours to decide on.
And I'll just go and grab a couple of pals and fly down. Hopefully by then I'll have my booster as well.
Oh, yeah. I hope that everyone can get their booster soon as well because some of the data out of Israel on the effectiveness of the third shot is great. It is so fantastic. Yeah. So hopefully, fingers crossed, that can be a thing that happens soon. But I have, you know, I've never been to Palm Springs or Palm Desert. And I have many, many. I know. I know. You know what? I've never been to California. I've never been to LA. I've never been to San Francisco. So this is high on my list of places to go. I really, I know from your travel bug. Yeah.
You would absolutely love both places. Palm Springs is like a teeny weeny little mini LA. It's very craft driven. There's lots of artisans. Like on a Thursday night, well, back in the day, they closed off the streets for like eight blocks and you'd walk down there and you could buy...
any, anything under the sun. Like it just was really fun to walk down there, but Los Angeles, Caitlin, if you don't hit Venice beach at some point in the next few years, you and Kyle would love it so much. They have a, I'm sure it's still there, but they just sell 501 Levi's, but they're all dyed different colors. That's how specific this is.
You walk in and it's vintage Levi's that have all been dyed like green and purple and red. And people are in there just like trying jeans on like maniacs. Anyway, it's one of my favorite little spots, Venice Beach. And the food is incredible. The Mexican cuisine. That's what I was going to say. Yeah. And talk about plant-based stuff. I mean, there's just no end to the choices. Yeah.
Yeah, we have really close friends that live in LA and we have been dying to go. I've been dying to go. And I love comedy. And so it's a land of standup comedy. I love entertainment. It's of course, Hollywood. And we have pals there and the food scene is supposed to be amazing. I'm obsessed with the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. So I really don't know why I'm not going. It seems ridiculous that I haven't so far. Well, happy to know they have tours. They have bus tours for the Housewives of Beverly Hills that you can ask.
They better. Well, they did. They did two years ago. You could get on these buses for like $59 and there's a tour guide and here's Blankety Blank's house and here's where they've, and this is the restaurant where they had the, I'm not kidding you. And it's really popular.
Okay, so one of my close girlfriends, she actually was invited to this very fancy VIP event in London recently. And when she was there, she winds up seated at a dinner table, like two seats down from Kyle Richards, who is one of the stars of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Ooh.
And she just haphazardly posts this on her social, prefaces it with nothing, just like great night out with like this brand in London. And I instantly messaged her and I'm like, excuse me, why have you not led with this? Which is that you're having dinner with a star of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. And she's like, oh yeah, I don't even watch the show. So I didn't know who she was, but everybody else was freaking out. Anyways, we're like besties now. And we exchanged numbers and she said I should come visit her in LA. And I was like,
girl, we're planning an LA trip around this friendship only. That's the whole reason we need to go. It could only be better if it was the above deck or below deck people for you, Kate.
don't even get me started. My dream would be to have a friend who's way wealthier than me book a below deck yacht trip. And I would be so thrilled to go. I don't think I could even contain myself. Everyone else on those like shows, they're just actual rich people. So they play it cool and they make all these crazy demands and, you know, act the way you would expect them to the whole time. I would just be sitting there like a kid in a candy store with my
head and my hand so excited to see like Captain Lee anyways this has become very inside my obsession with all things Bravo but this leads me to my next we'll just we have a couple of minutes left in this segment but I do want to touch base on the squid game squid game
And I have not watched it. My brother, my older brother, who was incarcerated for many, many years, he actually said to me, Jan, don't watch it. It's really awful. This is coming from a guy that could probably stomach anything. He's like...
it would not be good for you. It's pretty intense. I know we've touched on it before, but it's still going. It's still trending as the number one show globally. So this is, what, six weeks in now? About that. I watched the whole thing. I loved it. It was one of the best things I've ever seen on Netflix. Why did you love it, Adam? It's just...
It was, it's tense. It's gory. I mean, that doesn't bother me, but it's, it's, it's intense. I loved it. I just love the premise. I love the concept. I love the cinematography. Is there a protagonist? Does somebody win? Is that a, is that a spoiler alert? I don't want to really, yeah, I don't want to say exactly, but do they set it up for a second season?
Yeah, it could be. I don't think it needs a second season. I kind of wish it would just end. You know they're going to. I'm sure. I mean, I'm going to watch it. You know what's up about the money. Absolutely, there's going to be a second season. Caitlin, you guys watched it? I won't watch it. Sorry, it's not for me. As I just cited off all of my Real Housewives obsessions, I like Succession. I don't just watch reality TV at all, but I do find that I... It felt like one of those things with Squid Game that it was...
It kind of just, it wasn't, this isn't news to me. You know, it isn't news to me that capitalism is destroying the world and it isn't news to me that greed tends to win. And I feel like ever since watching, you know, movies by Bong Joon-ho, who of course did Parasite and Snowpiercer and Okja, that I'm like, okay, I get it. And I get this, this like critique and I, it already gives me such existential dread.
knowing how true it is that I was like, I can't watch it again. I can watch it if it's, you know, a great piece of, you know, a great piece of cinema or like a movie, but I just don't want to watch people get plowed down for sport from this super rich over and over again, episode after episode. I can't do it. You guys are a little younger than me, but when I think back to going to the drive-in with my parents, movies like Rollerball,
Um, there was very apocalyptic dystopian kind of games. I can't remember, but it was very seventies. Soylent green, uh, which was the movie about, you know, they, at the end they find out that they're eating people and yeah, you know, so that's already happened. There was all that kind of stuff going on in the seventies. I think the only problem I have is it just seems a little too close to home. Now it seems like these types of stories are not that far away from our reality. Um,
And maybe I'm being super dramatic, but I will try and get my gumption up to watch the squid game because I feel like I want to know what's going on. Okay. This is the Jan Arden podcast. I'm going to watch the squid game. I'll be right back. Welcome back to Jan Arden podcast. Uh, I'm here with Caitlin green, Adam Karsh, and we have a special guest today joining us. And I actually got to work with this gentleman a little bit this year. His name is Anthony Q Farrell. He's written on so many great shows, uh,
I would be remiss not to mention The Office. And I might even let you ask him something. Thank you. Adam, because I know you love The Office so much. Anthony Q. Farrell is launching a show. Actually, it launched last week, a couple weeks ago maybe, called Overlord and the Underwoods.
And it is kind of hearkening back to, oh, if you ever saw Elf or if you ever saw some of those sitcoms that were, you know, Mork and Mindy. I'm sure he will. I'm sure he'll use those as references because I've read about him and I know that he compares the show to things like that. But it's going to be a great conversation. So stick around for that. Mork and Mindy. I love that show. I had a crush on Mindy. Pam Dauber.
Pam Darber. What happened to Pam? Pam, are you out there? I don't know. I had a crush on her. Mork & Mindy was probably one of the first sitcoms I got into. I loved it. It was great. Elf, I didn't really understand, to be honest. I watched it. But it was a shit hit. I don't think we were meant to understand it. Yeah, it was weird. But I mean, when you're in a pitch, when you're going into the network and you're pitching these shows...
Like I can imagine them just sitting there on the elf pitch going, okay, it's a puppet. And he'll like walk around and he's really gnarly. He was actually quite a grumpy little puppet alien guy. Yeah. It reminded me of Garfield. Garfield. Exactly. I bet it's ripped off from Garfield. Do you know what ALF stands for? Alien. Alien life form. That's right. Yes. I didn't really know that. There you go. You guys are both scaring me. You guys are scaring me intensely.
What are you guys reading right now? Anybody, you guys readers? Yeah. I'm not a reader. I just finished reading This Is Your Mind on Plants, which is a book by... I love it. It's by Michael Pollan, who is one of my favorite people really ever to listen to or read. It's nonfiction, and it essentially explores how...
People have been looking to alter their state of consciousness through the consumption of plants since the beginning of time. And he looks at that through kind of three case studies. One is caffeine, one is opium, and the other is mescaline. And it's very, very fascinating. I absolutely love it.
What is mescaline? Sorry. Like peyote. It's a type of cactus. It's like an extract from a cactus. So is that sort of the root of tequila? No. Mescaline? No. It is. Because I know that it's made out of cactus plants. Is tequila not made out of cactus plants? Yeah. I think you're thinking of mezcal, so I certainly understand the confusion. I'm sorry. See how up on my drugs I am? Did I
Did I not just show you my instance? Yeah. Well, that's very nice. That was quite sweet. Mescaline is like peyote. It is a very intense hallucinogenic. And I don't mean intense in terms of you're necessarily going to have a bad time. It's actually rejuvenating.
relatively safe, statistically speaking, safer than a lot of things, especially alcohol, which is kind of what he gets into with all of these, you know, conversations about drugs. And now that more and more people are talking about the use of drugs in medical
mental health. Yeah, ketamine and things like that. LSD. I think a lot of these things were kind of like brushed under the rug and treated as though you were going to think that your eyeballs were melting and you jump off a bridge if you did an LSD. And then as a result of that, they just shut down all studying of it. So he's great. He's a professor at I think it's... Maybe we need to get him. Oh my god. If we ever talk to him, if I had a chance to talk to him for any reason, I think my head would explode. He's fantastic.
So he's sort of the professor at what university, Caitlin? I think Stanford. And I want to say Stanford or is it Berkeley? It's one of those two. And then I think as well, I think he's done some stuff at Harvard. I could be butchering this, but he is very good. So what was the difference for people that are thinking about reading books?
your brain on plants or your mind on plants or your body on plants. Like what was the general gist of it? What was your takeaway? I loved it. I just thought it was fascinating. I think that the history of what people have been doing kind of since the dawn of time is interesting. I think our relationship with any sort of mind-altering substance, caffeine being one of them, is fascinating to me. I mean, it helped...
create the ability of the industrial revolution for crying out loud. So yeah, I like it. And I also think it treats the, the subject treats them like the subject matter is treated very honestly instead of just saying, this is illegal, forget about it. It's not so black and white, which I find great because it just goes to show you that kind of like the poison is in the dose, meaning you can, you can die from consuming alcohol when statistically speaking, you're not really going to die if you have, if you take mescaline or if you take
psilocybin. So we think one thing is safe and the others aren't. And it's just very, the notion of prohibition, the history of prohibition gets brought up. It's just, it's all very interesting to me, at least. The history of food, the history of what, how human beings have made their way through the, you know,
thousands and hundreds of thousands of years and how diets have changed and the hunter-gatherer stuff. I've read quite a few books kind of along those lines. The coffee thing really intrigues me. Now, I'm one of those people, I have not drank coffee for 25 years, not caffeine. I like the flavor of coffee and I do decaf on occasion.
But people are all in about coffee. They're very serious about coffee. You look at companies like Nespresso. I was in the mall a week ago, and there's this beautiful multi-million dollar store dedicated to coffee machines and the little pods that are like little packaged jewels. And they have this recycling program. You can put them in a bag and seal it up and mail it.
Because they took a lot of grief early days for throwing those metal pods into the garbage with the caffeine grounds in them, coffee grounds. So I know, are you guys like over the moon coffee people? Like are you like hardcore? Okay. I'm more of an espresso, not an espresso, although an espresso does actually do a nice job at pouring a shot. But espresso, I love espresso. I have a machine and I have like three every day, four sometimes. I am a huge caffeine fanatic.
What happens to you when you don't have it? I'm groggy. It really does make a difference. I also think it's just part of my routine. Like, wake up, have a coffee, I can operate. Well, and he brings this up. So this notion that we have to go off of it and that it's a bad thing for you is completely unfounded. And so some people, sure, personally, like maybe they find that it makes you jittery or it doesn't work for you. And that's totally fine. And some people are recommended against it if you have heart issues. So certainly this is like a, you know,
specific to you type of thing, but it isn't this blanket, it's terrible, everyone should go off of it. And he went off of it for the purpose of writing this chapter in the book. And he said that he wound up going back on it and that people would reach out to him and say, oh my gosh, you'll be so happy to know I went off of caffeine. And he was like, why? I actually think it's really helpful for people. It dusts off your brain. It can increase your ability to focus. And it has been increasing people's productivity essentially since the industrial revolution. Again, you just can't have too much of it.
Well, I mean, the amount of money that people spend on coffee is every year it increases in how many hundreds of billions of dollars coffee generates globally, not only for the people growing it or whatever, but I'm just, I have friends that are,
doing four or five coffees a day and they're doing it at, you know, reputable, expensive boutique coffee shops that are charging five, six dollars for a latte or whatever. It's a lot. Like I just was jittery when I did it. I was super jittery. I wasn't sleeping well. So for me,
But then I know people that have a fully leaded coffee at 9 o'clock at night playing a card game and they go to sleep. They put their head down in there and I'm just like, yeah. I don't drink coffee at night.
No, I couldn't do that really either. I mean, maybe I could. I'm tired enough from waking up at 4.30 in the morning every day that I might be able to. I need it. I need it. It dusts the cobwebs off my brain. I find it helpful. I'm one of those people that enjoys it. And I've always found it a bit mildly irritating and judgmental when somebody would be like, oh, you need coffee every day. All right, well, great. Good for you that you don't.
You need food every day. You're right. You know, life is difficult enough as it is. And I think if you find things that you enjoy, and for God's sakes, have a cup of coffee, a great cup of coffee, and having that moment of contemplation where you just sit and drink it and enjoy that moment in your day, I think it can be a very meditative time. I say, hell yeah, take those 10, 15 minutes and
recharge yourself, take some pleasure, take some time to enjoy what you're doing. If I have time, I'll ask Anthony Q. Farrell if he drinks coffee, but we may not because we have a lot to talk about. You're listening to the Jan Arden Podcast. Don't go away. We have such a great guest coming up. And yeah, stay with us.
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As promised, Anthony Farrell is with us. Do you like your initial in there, Anthony? Anthony? Sure, yeah, put it in there. I can explain what the initial is later. It's Q, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, Anthony Q. Farrell is here. Anthony is a writer, a creator, a producer, I guess. He is a visionary, and I'm happy to say that he is a colleague of mine now.
Anthony has written on a lot of shows. One I'm going to throw out there right now, just to pique your curiosity, The Office, seasons four and five. Anthony was involved in writing with that. He knows everybody. He's hanged out. Hanged out? He's hanged out with, you know, Mindy and Jenna. Anthony, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. Anthony Q. Farrell, go. Tell me. What the hell? Oh, the Q is actually, there's actually no Q. My middle name is actually Christopher.
I like Anthony Q. Farrell, though. Me too. There's something that it just feels like it sets you apart. I agree. One of my friends, Shane Carty, many, many years ago, he used to call me Anthony Q. Farrell, man of the people, like John Q. Public. Yeah. And I liked it. So I started using it for my standup. I was like, Anthony Q. Farrell. And then when I started writing, I kept it. And then it just stuck. And I just kept it as a stage name. My mother...
who loves the name Christopher would laugh at me and be like, that's not your, you tell people. That's why I have no problem telling people now it's not a real initial because my mom has already told everyone. She's like, his name is not Christopher. His name is Christopher. Well, you're disappointing your mama. I hope you're happy now. Hope you're happy. I have to disappoint her in some ways. I mean, I'm her favorite. I have to disappoint her in some ways so that even the playing field for my brother and sister. How has standup helped you
in the world of television because that's that's where this this that's where this all started
Yeah, stand-up, not improv. The thing specifically that stand-up helped me with was finding my voice. I started doing stand-up when I was at the Humber Comedy School. I went to Queens. They did drama and math, you know, that old thing. Drama and math? Yeah, that's my degree is in drama and math. Okay, that just sounds bizarre, but keep going. My mother and father, they're both accountants. I was good at math, so I did the math for my parents and I did the drama for me.
And then after Queens, I went to Humber Comedy School for that. They had a comedy program and that's why I started doing stand-up. And the interesting thing, it took a while, but when you're on stage, I was so used to acting and being characters and doing different things as different people. And then when you're on stage in the microphone, it's you and talking to people. And it took a while for me to realize I didn't have to be someone else when I was on stage. I could just be myself because...
People found me funny. They found me intriguing and kind of like a cool guy. So I was like, oh, just trust that. So then it helped me to find and figure out my voice. And then that set me up to, you know, when I was writing sketches and then TV shows and all those things, it just...
It was very, very useful for me as a tool. So you're writing, you know, and Adam, jump in here because Adam is a massive Office fan. So he was so intrigued when I think when everyone reads a person's resume, you know, when you have that kind of success and when you have experience in a show that is a global phenomenon.
you know, people are like, what? What? Tell me everything. So Adam, Adam, I'm going to let you ask Anthony Q. Farrell like a question or two because I just feel like it's the right thing to do. Thank you. Here we go. Is it a collaborative process with the writing? So when you're working with the actors, like do you throw back and forth ideas? Absolutely. It's especially with the writers, a lot of the writers being in the right
I love the actors being in the writer's room. It was very much like back and forth. Like we obviously had very, you know, very specific scripts, very strong scripts that were, had been poured over by a bunch of the writers already. So when we got to the stage, they're already in really good shape, but there's always time, you know, with that schedule, there was always time to play. So we would get the way it's written and then there'd be time. Like now once the actors had a sense of the scene, they would just kind of go for it. And then I just remember in one of the episodes that I wrote employee transfer, there was a beat that,
where Dwight and Andy are kind of going at each other and they're in the conference room and they're interviewing each other because Dwight's saying he wants to go to Cornell.
And during the scene, Dave Rogers, who was directing it, they started pulling at the table. And I was like, oh my gosh, get them to pull at the table even more and see who can win that battle. And then they just kind of went for it. And that happened because they started something and then I added to it and then they added to it and we kind of went back and forth. And then it's one of the, I think it's one of my favorite scenes where they're just like going back and forth. Amazing.
So I just pulled that table into the corner and was like, "Thank you very much. Thanks for coming in," whatever it was. And then it was just like, it was great. So a lot of playfulness on that set, which was great. - Did you ever sit in Michael Scott's chair? - Absolutely. - At his desk. - Absolutely. 'Cause whenever, you're always there when, sorry, Steve, I'm sure a lot of people have done this, but you're always there when other people aren't there. As a writer, you're there when people are not around. So you kind of walk around the set
So I've sat in that seat many times. That's super cool. I think Steve Carell is hysterical. He's one of my favorites. And on top of that, he's one of the nicest people in the world. I always tell people that set was incredible to work on because...
You know, when you work on a set, it comes from the top down. Greg Daniels was humble, nice. Steve Carell, humble, nice. And because they were excellent, everyone else was excellent as well. So I can't. It comes from the top too. And I'm sure things like that resonate with you because now you're embarking on your own show. You're embarking on this absolute adventure. And I want to get to that because I want to talk about Overlord and the Underwoods, which is a co-pro, I think, CBC and Nickelodeon, if I'm correct. Yeah.
Yeah, and also BYUtv in the States. Love that. So walk us through this premise. I want to tell you, it's been a joy spending time with you this last eight, seven weeks and being able to play a little tiny part of ROFL, the little sidekick robot. I know this seems out of context, but tell us about the show that you've created,
and what your inspiration was for it and obviously it is the antithesis to the office and sort of that so this is you are stretching yourself out here Anthony as important to stretch I've been told so uh I think the show it's co-created by myself and Ryan Leesbrock Ryan actually had the initial idea he works for CloudCo in the states and um
He just wanted to get throwback to the old like Alf days, Mark and Mindy, where there was a cool sci-fi comedy premise. And then he, his company and Marvel media came to me to develop the series. And then that's when we kind of filled out the world. And the basic premise is Overlord is the second worst villain in the entire universe. And he's in witness protection on earth with his seven cousins, once removed the Underwoods, their lovely family on earth. There's nicest family on earth and this evil. So it's kind of like Darth Vader's and witness protection.
So that's the premise of the series and we have a lot of fun with Overlord going-- - Do you ever. - Yeah, and ROFL is Overlord's robot butler who wants more from that relationship than Overlord wants. I think ROFL would love to be Overlord's best friend, but Overlord doesn't have best friends. He's too cool for that.
I got to say, I've also really been enjoying having to get to spend time with you, Jen, because you've been so excellent. You're so excellent in the show. You bring so much to it. I just, I get excited every time I see it. Well, when you have good writing, I'm telling you, and it's like singing a really, really well-written song.
You just, if you have a bad song, you can have Streisand singing it. You can have Ariana Grande and you cannot feel the song lift off the ground. I mean, you could have Adele sing a bad song and, and a bad song is a bad song. I should probably say there are no bad songs, but you know what I'm saying? So when you, when you have really clever, and I'm going to use the word because it's exactly what it is. The humor is clever and you guys have to straddle this chasm of energy.
entertaining adults and entertaining kids. And there's so many nuances in there that go over kids' heads. And because as I'm reading it, I'm like, wow. I mean, there's so many little innuendo bits, but the adults get it. So they're interested. They got a dog in the hunt and the kids are like completely entertained, but they don't necessarily go down that road.
Like what an art form. It's been, the writers are excellent. The cast has been excellent. We've all been, one of the things I say, like, let's try and make ourselves laugh. And then the kids will laugh because it's funny and it's physical and all that sort of, but also if we can make ourselves laugh, then we'll be making parents laugh as well. So that's, that's been the key. A lot of laughter in the writer's room.
I'm talking with Anthony Q. Farrell, who is about to launch a wonderful show called Overlord in the Underwoods. He's with us today on the Jan Arden podcast. We're going to be right back. And I know Adam has more questions for him, as I do. Don't go away. The Underwoods, the fam of the Iowa. Hollow Bay Finest, Weeple Willow, Jim and Flower. Things were all good, every day was the same. And things all changed.
Hi folks, we're back with Anthony Q. Farrell who's got a magnificent show and this has got to be an exciting time. How long have you been working on
Overlord and the Underwoods, like from the time that conceptualized and writing it and casting it. I think people are so curious. How long do these shows take to put together? They take. So this one in particular, I started in the 50s. Yeah, started. It was all three. Now it was this one, January 2017. Oh, my good Lord. Come on. Yeah. Yeah.
January 2017 is when I started working on this. And then we, from there, you know, it was developing the product, developing it. And then we got some money to write a script. So I wrote a script and then we got, we sold it. We actually initially sold it to Hulu. Hulu bought it initially. And, but then Disney took over and they weren't sure what they, how they were going to use Hulu yet. And we didn't want to wait around to figure it out. So we were like, we're going to, we're going to keep moving. So we ended up. But we're going to keep your money.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to keep it mine. So we went into the board. CBC wanted it and Nickelodeon wanted it. And...
And then we brought on BYU TV. And then there's other partners as well that have... Those are the three creative partners. They all gave me notes and everything. The CBC, Nickelodeon, and BYU TV. And there's a bunch of other people who have bought the show who are going to be doing it second round in a bunch of other regions. Some, like ITV in the UK. But some of them I can't talk about yet because they're announced. How hard is it to please everybody? How hard is it when you do have those partnerships where...
People want to weigh in on the scripts. They want to weigh in on the storyline. And you as a writer and a creator, how obstinate are you? And like, have you, it's an art form probably to feel like people have, you know, been in the parade too. Yeah. I mean, I'm a tourist too, so I'm pretty stubborn. But I, the, the,
The thing that I'm doing this boot camp for showrunners right now where I'm teaching other mid-level operators how to like how I show run and how other people do it. So they get it. You know, they get a sense of how the job works. And one of the things I talk about is setting up, setting yourself up for success. So, yeah, I had three very different broadcasters on this show, especially. And it was a situation where.
Nickelodeon obviously wants to have something that's great for kids. CBC, it was the primetime division, so they wanted stuff for adults. And then BYU TV, they were looking to do family shows. So everyone kind of wanted something different. So
very early up front, I said, here's what I want from the show. Here's why it's great for you. Here's why it's great for you. Here's why it's great for you. I'm always going to get you 80% of what you need. I can't promise you a hundred because I've got to do stuff for all three of the broadcasters. And they all understood. And from that point, we got very little notes actually on things because everyone understood what the plan was and what I was going to be doing and what I was going to be trying to make it work for them. And I just kind of
set out with that goal in mind. And it worked out pretty good. Everyone's very, very happy with the series. Yeah, it's just a matter of like, and then I'm very open to collaboration. Like I love when people add their own creative
That's what makes it fun. That's what makes it enjoyable. Like I think otherwise people don't want to work with you anymore. No. They feel like they're doing your show instead of our show. And I'm a much more of an our show kind of guy. So yeah, I just try to, and then people, you know, it's the reason why I think people like,
to continue working with me is because they're like, oh, I know that if I'm doing something with Ed, I'm going to get to do something cool. And also he's going to listen to me because, you know, I'm not a costume designer. I'm going to listen to my costume designer when she's telling me something about, you know, costumes because I've not trained. It's difficult working in something where everything's micromanaged. It's a very, very difficult environment when you're hired to do a job and you've got the director or the writer or one of the producers or one of the networks just saying, okay,
No, do this. I like that, but it needs to be pink. No, it needs to be blue. So I've always found that in my little world, letting people do their jobs, letting creative people do their jobs.
Because at the end of the day, if everyone's doing their best, the end result is fantastic. I mean, it's way better than what I could do on my own if I was controlling everything. What are your objectives in the bootcamp, Anthony? Like, what do you want to tell these young aspiring writers, producers, directors? What do you want them to walk away with after a bootcamp? Yeah, I mean, here's the thing. The reason I'm doing it is because they're
especially in this it's a with BIPOC TV and film so it's BIPOC writers and producers and the reason why I'm doing it is because especially after like the stuff that happened with George Floyd last year there's been a lot of a lot more opportunities not like a tunnel but there's been more opportunities for BIPOC creators and then what's happening is they're getting put in positions where they can
be running a show, but they've never had that experience before. So they don't know anything about casting. They don't know anything about the post-production process, about all the extra... They're great at writing, but they don't know the other things that have to do with show running. So the boot camp is basically a way for me to say, all right, when you get the chance, here are all the things that are going to come to you. And here's the way I deal with them. Here's the way a few other people I know deal with it. Just so that you're at least prepared when you get the chance so that
you can put your best foot forward when you have that opportunity. Because sometimes, you know, with BIPOC writers, you get one chance and if it doesn't work out, it's really hard to get a second chance when you're marginalized, right? So I'm trying to make sure that all these writers who are great, some of them and some of them who are in the bootcamp are, you know, right on Jan, you know? So they're going to be, you know, they have a great, they have a great mentor in Janica. Janica is fantastic, right? But not every one of us gets a great mentor that gets to be around Janica.
the process all the way through. So I'm hoping that in five years, when you see showrunners and all these different shows, this program has, you know, built a little bit of a legacy where everyone's putting the best foot forward and everyone's getting a chance to make the best show possible because. Yeah. Oh gosh, absolutely. Like five years from now, I really do think we're going to be looking at a much different geography in television and film. Who's making it, who's writing it, who's,
Who's kind of at the controls? Because I think the day of the old white guy, Hollywood production companies, I think that ship has sailed. That's the white production company. Old white guy production company. Well, I like it. It's how I get most, I get a lot of calls. But you know, you do it tongue in cheek and you do it in a way that's like, hey, I think we all know what this means and I got my eye on you.
Yeah. I, I definitely, that is definitely not the name of my production company. No, I, I knew you were kidding. I was, I felt like we're, we're leading people down the garden path here. Cause I was playing along, but I appreciate you. Cause I was like, Oh my God, someone's going to Google like, Oh, Anthony's working on old wet guy productions. Let me go. And they're just going to get. No, that's that name's probably already taken. Who inspired you growing up? Like, who were you, who did you have your eye on and what were you watching? And,
And what made you have that spark in your heart that said, I can do this? You know, being a black man and being, you know, looking at the terrain out there going, I don't know about this. I watched a lot of TV growing up. I still watch a lot of Golden Girls. I love you for that. It's my favorite. I have the candles. It's...
They're so good. I watched a lot. Anything that was on TV, I watched it back. A lot of SNL. I loved Eddie Murphy. I would see...
it's funny because Daryl who plays Jim Underwood in Overlord Underwoods, he talks a lot about like, you know, seeing a lot of his heroes and he wanted to be Marty McFly and he wanted to be all these things but he never saw like a person of color in those roles. And now he's kind of, he's going to be the person that inspires kids to do that. For me, I just watched a lot of comedy. I can watch, I soaked in everything that was comedy as a kid. And then when I started feeling like, oh, I think I'm funny too is,
When I was a little kid, I would do speeches, you know, the speeches that you'd have to go up in front of the class and do speeches. And so I started using that as like my standup. So one, in fact, one of the speeches I did when I was in sixth grade was about my Saturday nights. And I'd be like, 830 Golden Girls comes on. That's when I watched. And so I literally, that was the first thing that I started doing where I was like, Oh, I'm basically doing standup with my little speeches and people have found them funny. And they, they look forward to that every year. Like what, what, what funny speech are you doing this year? And so it was, uh,
it that's kind of where I started and then high schools doing theater and I think the time I realized I was actually going to be doing it for real for real was I was doing summer stock in Vermont I was doing I was doing I was doing uh Once on this Island and Candide I would have died to see that it was great and then but my mom came to see the shows and this is like I was in university at the time and uh
She looked at me after she watched the show and they're like Broadway actors in the shows and stuff like that. And it was really great. And she was looking at me. She said, so you're doing this, huh? And I was like, I think so. And she was like, okay. And then that was like it. And I was like, all right, I guess I'm doing it. And then my wife who was, who was also from Toronto, we got married after university and we moved to the States and then LA and everything. And it was just like, we just went for it. So that's all you can do.
You set your sights and dreams do come true as corny as that sounds. And I think just being persistent. Anthony Q. Farrell, I wish I could talk to you all day. I wish you so much success with the show. Not just because I'm on it, because that in and of itself, it's worth tuning in for. But honestly, thank you for your time.
efforts to promote tolerance, visibility, acceptance. Thank you for giving people a chance. You're going to inspire a whole new generation of young people coming up through a very difficult business. So let's keep in touch. Can't wait to see you season two. Yes, let's do it. Come on.
Overlord and the Underwords, it's coming up. Check out CBC Gem. Check out their partners. I don't have all the info, but we'll try and put that up on the site. You've been listening to the Jan Arden Podcast, and we're so grateful to have you. And stay in touch there, mister. Absolutely. Totally do. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.