Ten Year Old Tom was quietly one of the funniest comedies to come out of 2021, animated or otherwise. Steve Dildarian’s precise brand of humor puts an ordinary boy through a gauntlet of social struggles that function with a Seinfeld-ian quality to their structure and obsession with societal faux pas. Ten Year Old Tom consistently delivers comfortable, confident comedy and it’s finally ready to return for a second season of second-hand embarrassment. Dildarian’s Tom is set to face greater predicaments than ever before, which means that audiences have a lot to be excited about with Ten Year Old Tom’s sophomore season. Steve Dildarian graciously opens up on storytelling inspiration, naturalistic guest stars, if we’ll ever meet Tom’s dad, and gradual world-building in season two of Ten Year Old Tom.
Daniel Kurland: There’s a very seamless quality between the first two seasons of this show. Was there much of a break in production between the two? Did they happen pretty much in succession?
Steve Dildarian: It takes us a little while to make the show! I don’t know if it takes us longer than it does for other people, but for us it was like 17 months. I’m sure we could have maybe done it quicker, but that’s how it is for us.
But it’s funny because production had a break, but I didn’t. Even though we hadn’t been picked up right away, they still let me start writing with a small writing crew. So I, personally, kind of seamlessly just kept going, didn’t stop coming up with story ideas, and I didn’t really take much of a break. The rest of the crew took some time off, but it was overall pretty seamless. We were lucky to get a lot of support from the network and we knew that they were into it even if they couldn’t officially tell us certain things. Most importantly, they gave us the time to write. It took us a while, but here we are!
Daniel Kurland: You still primarily write the show yourself, but this season has a few more outside voices in the writers’ room. Has that been a helpful experience? Can you expand a little on what it’s been like to bring more writers into this world that you’ve built?
Steve Dildarian: It’s funny because I’d have to look at the credits, but to me it felt pretty typical to the same dynamic of season one and what we had going in The Life and Times of Tim. It felt comparable to outside writers, but it’s hard for me to not take the lead and write the bulk of the scripts myself since it can be difficult to replicate my voice, my tone, and my choices. The writers bring so much to it just in terms of story generation or a perspective that I would have never previously come to reach and it’s something hysterical. I think we find the perfect blend this season with how the scripts are broken up. For me, it works to have a small room of writers that start out early on and really just throw story ideas around and have conversations. Then, for the bulk of the season, I’m off to the races and writing on my own.
Daniel Kurland: Was there anything that you learned from season one that you tried to amend or change course on in these new episodes?
Steve Dildarian: In terms of making a show, you learn so much on how to literally make it; how you edit, how you work the PhotoShop file, everything. We learned quite a bit, but there’s also a lot of change-over so it’s me and a few top people who are helping everyone else. I make this stuff pretty consistently and the only way that I know how to do it. I don’t try to learn new tricks. The show might evolve in certain ways, but I don’t feel like I’m very far off from season one of Tim. It’s more or less the same kind of writing and the same kind of show. It’s naturally evolved, just because anything is going to–I’m a different person today than I was 15 years ago–but it’s a good evolution. The show’s a little more thought out and detail-oriented. There’s just enough of a polish on it to feel like a well-produced show. I’m always a little leery of making something too well-produced. My instincts are to be raw, unpolished, and outside of the mainstream. I think we’ve stayed true to that.
Daniel Kurland: Absolutely, and one way that the show does feel a little more evolved and different this season is how it really fleshes out the show’s supporting characters, including Tom’s extended family, and how they get more to do and gain depth.
Steve Dildarian: I’m glad you mention that because that’s exactly what I wanted to do. When we sat down to write the season I encouraged how we can treat these characters like real people who are layered individuals with their own points of view. The plumber isn’t just a one-off joke–he’s a person who has opinions! We get to know everyone on a different level. Rick isn’t just a neighbor anymore. We go into his house. We learn about his divorce. And that’s true to every character, whether’s it’s Nelson’s dad or whoever. Everything this season is just about getting to know people better and figuring out the inner dynamics of this community. Not for any reason other than the better that you know these characters, the more you’ll want to know them and hang out in their world. I think a lot of jokes also land better now because we better know these characters.
Daniel Kurland: I mean, some of my favorite stuff from this season is when Dakota’s mom and Tom’s mom get to riff off of each other.
Steve Dildarian: We did more of that than we ever had in the past, for sure. Along with the writing though is also the performances. Early in the production of the first season we were just coming out of COVID and we were still isolated with masks and heavy protocols. This season we got to record in person! That’s definitely how I prefer to do it. We always recorded the show as an ensemble, but it was just a remote ensemble. People were all over the world, but reading in real-time. This season we got to go into the booth at this great studio and I just love the energy. Getting to be in the booth–especially with some of these actors like Edi Patterson, Jennifer Coolidge–they take advantage of the humor that you can get out of looking someone in the eye. It’s not the same as being on those Zoom calls when we’d record it. But I can feel the difference on the audio tracks and the edits! Being able to read together with everyone was my favorite part of the season.
Daniel Kurland: You can really feel it. Something I love about the show is that these aren’t just talented performers, but they’re very natural comedians. I know that the show is scripted, but they bring such naturalistic performances to the show where it almost feels improvised.
Steve Dildarian: Totally. That’s really what I go for. It’s not necessarily about getting jokes through improv, but it’s the tone that comes together. You can feel what an actor is thinking and genuinely going through those emotions. I love it because it brings this whole world to life. It’s hard to fake that even though some actors say that they can, but I’m skeptical. I love nothing more than getting in the booth and messing around. It’s the most fun part of making the show.
Daniel Kurland: Will you find that the scripts ever change during that recording process?
Steve Dildarian: It’s funny, because they do and they don’t. I’ve been involved with shows where I was just a voice and they over-relied on improv. I don’t believe in that or just looking for jokes in the moment. I don’t do that whole “if it’s not funny on the paper, then let’s hope that it’s funny in the session” mentality. I usually have scripts that I’ve poured over, in great detail, and feel very strongly about. In the session, it’s suddenly a free-for-all, and I don’t necessarily know why. It becomes loose, fun, ridiculous, and sometimes there isn’t such a preciousness to the script. In my head I’m still putting the pieces together and once I’m in the editing phase that chaos goes away and it’s all structured again and makes sense. The rhythm of the writing is very important and I know it. It starts out tight, it gets loose and sloppy, but then it’s tight in the edit, but not so tight that it feels scripted. That balance is not easy. That’s where editors and writers need to figure out how much improv to indulge. It’s a never-ending conversation.
Daniel Kurland: You’re directing it too, which I’m sure is the difference. With someone else doing that, the same material can fall apart.
Steve Dildarian: Absolutely. I can zero in on the material that’s going to get used pretty fast. It’s innate to me.
Daniel Kurland: On the opposite side of things, there are some really fantastic subtle background jokes in Tickling With Troy’s office, whether it’s revealing that the word “MUSIC” is an anagram or fictitious Beethoven quotes. Do you have fun filling the background with jokes like this and is it the artists that come up with these gags or who?
Steve Dildarian: A lot of that is the artists and quite frankly I’m always worried over what’s getting slipped in. I’m always like, “What does that mean? Is this a joke that’s going to get us in trouble?” Rarely do I ask that a certain joke gets added to the background. I might say in broad strokes to add some graffiti, but it can become so time-consuming. You could spend another 17 months just adding subtle jokes to the background if you wanted! Some people love those Easter Eggs. I know that animation in general just leans into that, but it’s one of the few things that I’ll just hand over to the art department and tell them to have fun with it and that I trust them.
Daniel Kurland: This season gets away from Tom’s school a bunch, but most of the show’s plots still come out of there. Are you getting tired of school-based storylines on any level and looking for more excuses to get Tom to other places or is it still a good hub for comedy?
Steve Dildarian: In the back of my head–and the network as well–we tried to split it down the middle in terms of school stories and not-school stories. The same characters are going to show up in the natural course of a kid’s life, especially in a small community. It feels good to mix it up though and it was the same thing with Tim in terms of telling work stories and non-work stories.
Daniel Kurland: The season finale is the first double-length episode that’s not divided by two. It’s obviously a very big story that’s being told, but you handle it very well. Do you think this might inspire you to tell longer stories like this in the future? Was it more challenging or even a little easier on some level?
Steve Dildarian: That just kind of happened. If a story warrants it and it makes sense, then absolutely. In that case it was just a lot of story to pack into one 12-minute short. It fell somewhere in the middle so it just made sense to make it an even bigger thing because it is a big part of Tom’s life where he learns major revelations about everything. It just kind of kept going in that direction and like anything in this show, I’ll just kind of follow where things lead. I rarely plan things out or have the intention to be like, “I want to do a two-parter!” It’s just about following the natural instincts of where stories are going.
Daniel Kurland: There are some more teases to Tom’s dad this season, especially in the Mexico finale, but do you have any interest in digging even deeper there and bringing him fully in? Do you think the show is heading in that direction?
Steve Dildarian: It’s hard to say. It’s honestly been a big thing to consider because it’s certainly this absence in Tom’s life. It’s definitely something that needs to be acknowledged, and what that means I don’t yet know. We’ve already keyed up the absence enough times that it’s kind of like how do you not go there? So I think it will be fun to see who he is and how he talks. Until we get there, Uncle Bill kind of serves that purpose of a negative male presence in Tom’s life. The idea of who is Tom’s dad and what he sounds like is very appealing, even just for Edi to play off of! The idea of him returning is so awkward and conflict-ridden for so many characters that it would be really great if we could do that.
Daniel Kurland: Lastly, where do you see the show going in a third season and do you have more ideas for what’s ahead in the future that you couldn’t fit into this batch of episodes?
Steve Dildarian: I always have ideas and to me I definitely don’t feel like we’re running out of stories. Every time you turn on the news there’s a new story idea. Anything that happens in news, politics, sports, and religion is always some grown-up maniac doing something wrong and immoral. That, and the idea of how kids are supposed to process it, produces no shortage of material. It’s never been a story about a character or me and my history. It’s more ripped from the current headlines. That’s where all of the drama comes from. The deeper that we’re allowed to go with the show means that those ideas will only get crazier. It’s endlessly amusing to me so hopefully we’ll get to keep making more!
Season 2 of ‘Ten Year Old Tom’ premieres June 29th on Max