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  • - I haven't done this before.

  • I could learn stuff and this could be really fun,

  • just, how does Disney make a show,

  • you know what I mean?

  • Like what kind of checks and balances

  • and nets of mediocrity are we gonna be working with here?

  • I'm Justin Roiland.

  • And this is the timeline of my career!

  • [whimsical music]

  • [alarm beeping]

  • ♪ There's something out in space that could use ♪

  • ♪ Just a little investigation ♪

  • All right, Most Extraordinary Space Investigations,

  • that was a Channel 101 show that me, Dan Harmon

  • and Sevan Najarian put together for fun one night.

  • We wrote it, or we didn't even write it,

  • we just kind of outlined it, and then we shot it

  • in one night, and then Dan took the footage.

  • And we kind of forgot about it.

  • And then at the panel meeting, we were watching tapes

  • and Dan produced it, and he's like, "I've got a tape."

  • And he put it in, and he had edited it

  • and made it into this ridiculous show

  • and it was really funny

  • and it got screened, it got voted back

  • and we just kept making episodes.

  • Sarah Silverman joined us, I think on the second

  • or third episode, as like a regular cast member

  • of the space investigators.

  • [laughing] It's so dumb.

  • We would shoot it in my old apartment in Sherman Oaks

  • and just like, it was the most lo-fi,

  • like there was zero production value.

  • But people liked it.

  • Anyways, whatever.

  • It was a lot of fun to make that show

  • because we weren't allowed to write anything

  • until we got together the night we were gonna shoot it.

  • So we would get together,

  • having no idea what the story was gonna be,

  • and then we would all sit around

  • and just kind of smoke weed and, [laughing]

  • and you know, then we'd just come up with the story

  • and then just start shooting it all night long.

  • We'd usually wrap shooting around like four in the morning.

  • In my apartment.

  • [laughs] It was like everything was in my apartment

  • or around my apartment.

  • It was so funny.

  • - Here goes nothing.

  • - I just wanna let you know, that I don't trust you.

  • [upbeat music]

  • - Mharti, Mharti we have a problem.

  • - So "The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti"

  • was, I wanted to just do those voices

  • and kinda screw around, but I also wanted to make something

  • really shocking and disgusting on purpose.

  • I had done it before with a thing

  • called "Unbelievable Tales".

  • I got a huge rush off of being in the audience

  • and hearing the audience like just scream

  • and cover their eyes and, I don't know,

  • there was something really cool about having

  • that kind of effect on, you know, 400 people in a theater.

  • It was like, it was just insane

  • to elicit reactions like that.

  • And so that was kind of the primary motivation.

  • And then as I was making it, I kind of found,

  • I really liked the characters and the voices a lot

  • and I liked, I just liked, you know,

  • the talking to myself as those voices

  • and there was a lot about it that I liked

  • so I kind of accidentally stumbled upon that

  • throughout the course of making it.

  • But the audience definitely freaked the [beep] out,

  • which was amazing.

  • - But I don't understand how that would work, Doc,

  • I don't, I don't, I'm confused, I don't--

  • - Mharti, trust me, I built this car with my

  • own two hands. - You just need

  • to adjust.

  • I can help you have fun.

  • I'm a friend you can trust.

  • - Hmm.

  • - [screaming] - Leave him alone!

  • - No rhyming.

  • - Acceptable TV, that was a show on VH1 for a minute.

  • The show was kind of a little microcosm of Channel 101.

  • So we basically banked a bunch of sketches and animations

  • and then when the show was live,

  • the audience would vote on their favorite two shows

  • through this website that was designed, on Ruby on Rails.

  • And I remember that being a huge problem

  • because the website sucked and it was easy to hack

  • and all this shit.

  • So the show would air and there would be

  • five little mini TV shows that were like sketches.

  • And then people would vote on their favorite two.

  • We would find out Sunday which shows came back

  • and then we would get to work and basically start writing

  • the second episode of whatever shows they'd voted on

  • and start producing them.

  • We did a thing called Mr. Sprinkles

  • for the first episode, it got voted back,

  • and I had an animation department that I was running

  • where we were having to animate the second episode

  • in basically three and 1/2 days.

  • It was [beep]ing insane 'cause it was on light boards,

  • you know, classic animation,

  • painted backgrounds and After Effects.

  • And then the show kept, the animation kept getting

  • voted back eight weeks in a row,

  • and we were [beep]ing dead, the animation department

  • was just on fumes, 'cause we weren't sleeping.

  • I remember eight weeks, I was just like,

  • "I can't [beep]ing do this."

  • And I was also bummed because all these cartoons

  • we had banked are never gonna air.

  • Like we had animated I think four different

  • cool, fun little cartoon TV show ideas

  • and it was just Mr. Sprinkles the whole time.

  • The audience really likes this Mr. Sprinkles stuff.

  • It was good, I like Mr. Sprinkles, it's fun.

  • Whatever.

  • - I'm fine all day when the sun is out,

  • but when it rains I scream and shout.

  • - But this isn't about screaming and shouting,

  • is it Mr. Sprinkles?

  • ♪ Oh I found a perfect roomie ♪

  • ♪ Who could be a perfect buddy ♪

  • ♪ Together we'll make a lovely pair ♪

  • - I took a meeting with Mike Moon at Disney.

  • Alex Hirsch was there, that was the first time I met Alex.

  • And then they pitched me this Fish Hooks thing.

  • And Alex was looking for someone to help him develop it.

  • It was very different, I was like,

  • oh, I haven't done this before.

  • I could learn stuff and this could be really fun,

  • just how does Disney make a show, you know what I mean?

  • Like what kind of checks and balances

  • and nets of mediocrity are we gonna be working with here?

  • So, and how can I rise to that challenge

  • and try to help make something that's really good

  • or as good as it can be?

  • - Okay Bea, then it's a date!

  • See you tomorrow!

  • I mean, not a date date, because you know,

  • why would I want that?

  • [laughing nervously]

  • - This castle is in

  • unacceptable condition!

  • Unacceptable!

  • - Ah, Adventure Time.

  • Ah, the French wine. [laughing]

  • Adventure Time was fun, that was Pen Ward.

  • He was a fan of my podcast, called Grandma's Virginity,

  • check it out, all the episodes are still online.

  • And, actually don't check it out, don't even, who cares.

  • But he came on an episode and then I think,

  • I feel like on the episode, I was like,

  • "Come on Pen, put me in this show."

  • I might have been doing that.

  • And then he ended up like actually offering me a part

  • and I didn't know what it was gonna be.

  • And I went and recorded, I went there

  • and I just started, I just was like, "How about this?"

  • And I screamed.

  • I just did the screamy voice.

  • And he was like, "That'll do."

  • It was really cool and I did the first episode

  • and then by the third episode, it was,

  • there was so much of Lemongrab,

  • there were a bunch of clones of him