Reddit AMA Recap: Brad Neely for China IL

After a few delays, China IL creator Brad Neely stopped by Reddit to do an AMA session and we were there to grab some highlights. Here’s what the show creator had to say about his past, the present, and maybe some future items as it pertains to the Adult Swim series which is now in its third season on Adult Swim.

On working with Matt Stone and Trey Parker on South Park:

I was very lucky to be a small part of South Park. The truth is I was terrible in there. Trey and Matt have it all figured out and really don’t need help, but I was VERY afraid of them and I knew nothing about TV. I was able to learn a lot from watching them work. I laughed only when I found something funny. And I pointed out what might have already been done. Beyond that I just tried to keep up.

Which of the characters are most like Brad?

Frank. No, Baby Cakes. Frank. They’re all kinda part of me. Frank represents all my anxiety, self-doubt, rash shittiness. Frank is fragile, but brash. Baby Cakes has never grown up. And Steve is dangerous when he loses control. They’re all the bad parts of me.

On casting voices not voiced by Brad:

We knew we wanted someone with authority for The Dean. We didn’t know what KIND of authority at first, though. We went out to Bryan Cranston but he was busy with some stupid live action show. Then we thought of Hogan. We tried and he said Cool. We never knew that The Dean would be such a nihilistic, Alpha-male, anti-human weirdo. Once we got Hulk, we knew we had a show. Everything changed. We rewrote everything. Then for Pony I knew early on that it had to be Greta. I had seen Greenberg and her voice was so special… it WAS Pony. Luckily she was game and that was that.

On what kind of personal inspirations Brad had used for some of the voices:

Baby Cakes’ voice was based on a girl that I worked with in a toy store. She was from Philadelphia and talked like BC, only higher. She was cool. Then she moved away. I made Baby Cakes. I moved to LA. and TEN YEARS later I saw her as I was croassing the street on sunset. She remembered me and we talked in the middle of Vine for a sec. So weird. Frank and Steve’s voices were based on two close friends of mine in Austin Texas. Now Frank and Steve and BC all have become their one sounds to me, but I started out with those touch stones: impersonating friends and cowork

On the possibility of China IL coming out on DVD

I want this too. We did a pilot that no one has seen. It’s kinda a bridge between the shorts and the style of the current show. Adult Swim is the group that needs to be encouraged. Because, frankly, no one buys anything anymore.

 

Read more of Brad Neely’s Reddit AMA here. New episodes of China IL air Sunday Nights @ 11:30 pm ET/PT only on Adult Swim, check your local listings. Check out our recent exclusive interview with Brad Neely here.