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"Robot Chicken" debuts at 12:30 a.m. Monday morning in the Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" programming block. The episode, "Junk in the Trunk," repeats at various times through Friday.
TV 'Chicken' tastes like perfect job to Seth Green
When Seth Green was 12 years old, he learned that the screw on G.I. Joe's back was the key to it all.
Take a hobby drill to the screw, and the whole figure starts to come apart. It turned out to be valuable information for him later.
Now the 31-year-old comedic actor is talking about the latest toy he's tinkering with - "Robot Chicken."
Green's hair is in a Mohawk, and he's talking about working with toys, but he's passionate. The little boy who discovered how to take apart and rebuild that first G.I. Joe has found his favorite job.
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"One of my best friends and I were joking around," he says. "We grew up together, and he is working on the show as well, buying toys and sourcing things, and we're also doing a comic book together. Who would have thought when we were 7 years old, getting beat up in the schoolyard, that we would be somewhat successful in the two fields we love the most?"
"Chicken" is a natural career extension for Green, whose wiseacre edge came in handy for him on the big screen with the "Austin Powers" movies and last year's "Without a Paddle."
He calls toy making "meditative" and is a frequent visitor to the major comic book and toy shows.
He and the former editor of Toy Biz magazine, Matthew Senreich, struck up a friendship a few years back, and that led to their collaboration on "Chicken."
Green and Senreich say they are satisfied with Cartoon Network censors, though the two have been told to cut back now and then. For example, one sketch about a violent video game was softened at the network's request.
Finding targets is also an art, Green says: "You can't make fun of something that is already preposterous."
On the other hand, Green says, he gives advance warning to a few celebrities who are being teased and even invites them to be part of it.
"I'm a fairly nice guy and don't go around kicking cats or anything," he says. "I make calls to a lot of the people that I know and say, 'Do you want to come and make fun of yourself?' We get a lot of celebrity participation."
The Cartoon Network originally turned down the show, but that was before the cable channel launched its "Adult Swim" lineup, aimed at young men.
"I've never found something worth putting this much time and energy into," says Green. "We're not a studio trying to figure out a way to make 'Starsky & Hutch' into a movie for the masses. This is our show. This is who it's for, (but we know) other people will find it funny."
● Terry Morrow, Scripps Howard News Service
