Exclusive Interview: Dan St. Germain creator of In Security

 

John Blabber: How did you get into comedy?

Dan St. German: I’ve been doing standup since high school, I used to get up in front of people and I wasn’t very good at first but I got in professionally 7 years ago. I quit drinking after college and decided to get into comedy. I remember going to this bar where me and a few friends would drink $2 PBRs and just work on bits. I had some fun with that and here I am!

How did the concept of In Security come about?

I’m really excited about it because I’ve had more people that I respect in the comedy world tell me that they really like it. I’ve been writing for a while and  I’ve written some scripts. I actually used to be an overnight security guard and when I started talking to people about it people seemed to be really into it and were like ‘You should write about that!’. It’s a workplace comedy featuring characters that have no idea that they are awkward as opposed to the Office which is all about working with people you know are weird. Its a different type of situation because these aren’t 9-5 people and other people aren’t around to really interact with them so it provides for a unique setting . I wrote the script and I’ve been working with Dan Powell who has been fantastic and we have been able to get all these great personalities to help voice characters like Janeane Garofalo, Andre Royo, Yamaneika Saunders, Henry Zebrowski, and Andrew Short. I then teamed up with Dan Powell from Ugly Americans. It was really great working with him and Omega Darling and Great City.

Do you see a lot of your stand-up routine in the show?

Yes, because In Security is like sad and dirty, which is probably going to be the name of my second album. Richie is a character that is completely falling apart and I think he knows it but can’t do much about it. The shows I like Eastbound & Down, Larry Sanders, etc are shows about loser-ish types and that’s the type of personality I kind of attract to when writing and I hope people that like that style enjoy the series and it keeps going. I like it and its been a dream of working with all these people.

How did you come up with the look of the characters?

I’m really influenced by Dr. Katz because I like the most realistic type of stuff. I do like to be part of that process in a way by getting into the nitty gritty of the animation like ‘if the arm doesn’t move a certain way the joke doesn’t work.’ Thankfully, Dan’s had a lot of experience and he’s great about notes.

Do you like the freedom you get working on a web series versus on TV?

There is definitely a lot of freedom of working with CC:Studios, but I kind of wanted the series to go both ways so that if the network really did want to do a 30-minute series, then In Security has the capabilities of doing just that. Making this into a longer show is definitely the goal here because I love making the show and there are a lot of talented people on the back-end helping me out.

What else are you working on right now?

I am working on a live actions series out by love life. Ive got a new album coming out February 2014 and a new short coming on Above Average. I’m working on a Comedy Central SiriusXM radio show called My Dumb Friends with Sean Donnelly and that should be coming fairly soon and I’m really excited about that.

 

Check out Dan St. Germain’s new animated series In Security on CC: Studios