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Any show that kind of relish the damage of its main character without really investigating what that damage does, where it's from or what it means, is a show I think needs to be taken down a peg.
Raphael Bob-Waksberg
I do not want to have feelings that are just for me that I cannot express to other people. That frustrates me.
You're going to get different kinds of animation for different kinds of audiences. Traditionally, adult animation has been for the young male audience. There's no reason why that should be.
I am a big fan of 'Rick and Morty.'
In 'Bojack', at least at first, we had to couch some of the sadder or weirder or introspective stuff we were doing in the costume of a typical adult animated comedy. With 'Undone', it felt like we'd outgrown that expectation.
I don't believe in good people and bad people.
For me as an audience member, it makes the characters more relatable and interesting if they're evolving and changing - it makes them feel more real in a way. But not every cartoon is trying to be real.
I don't know, I don't know how to do anything. I'm just like, doing impressions of what I've seen other people do, and hoping no one knows that I'm actually just a little monster in a human suit making my arms go up and down.
With Bojack we are seeing him on this journey. I think we're hoping for him to find a way to be more gracious and kind and positive and better to people in his life and better to himself, but I don't know if I necessarily frame it as he was a bad person and he will become a good person.
Art is a dialogue. I'm throwing rocks across a chasm and hoping people catch them on the other side.
I love to go on road trips. That's one thing I love about being in L.A. and having a car. In New York, you can get around on the subway but you can't really go anywhere. But there's a danger in believing that where you are defines you.
I think Netflix have a bit of a reputation for being totally hands-off, which is not quite fair. They are very active and vested, but in a really good way.
I'm mostly interested in characters and how they manifest themselves in their relationships. I'm delighted that people relate to the characters in 'Bojack', and hopefully they will too to the characters in 'Undone.' If they understand themselves or feel seen in a new way, I think that's a wonderful thing.
Netflix is looking for interesting ideas from interesting creators. They really want to help me make the show I want to make.
It takes great strength and courage to ask for help.
When I first moved to Los Angeles, I was staying with a friend of a friend of a friend up in the Hollywood Hills. I was in this tiny little closest paying $400 a month in this beautiful house.
I think there's something very valid about having feelings that you can't articulate. I don't think you should shut those feelings out, but I also want to be able to communicate them.
I don't know how everyone writes a novel; that sounds exhausting.
I think 'BoJack' is definitely very much about kind of the burdens of being comfortable.
Part of being a writer is just getting it in your bones, getting the muscle memory down, just doing it.
I think as soon as we start thinking of ourselves as good people, that's when we start letting ourselves off the hook which is bad. I think we should always be trying to be better but that doesn't mean we want to be good.
That's all life is, I guess. Just a bunch of riffs. Look at me: I'm wearing a tie. Why am I wearing a tie? It's because I saw an adult wear a tie and I thought, Oh, that's what people do. We're all just trying to be what an adult is.
I kind of want to take the writer down a peg. I think there are a lot of pretentious writers in this business, which I am certainly one, in certain cases.
There was a warm and encouraging environment at home. My self-loathing and neuroticism are not because of my upbringing.
A lot of Christmas episodes feel like stories in quotation marks. Uh, a homeless guy comes to live with them and they all learn a lesson. That didn't come from an organic place.
Humor was a big part of my childhood. My family was full of comedians. We'd sit around the dinner table and try to one-up each other. It sometimes ended in tears, but usually in laughter.
I thought it would be fun to make a cartoon about this sad, misanthropic horse.
One of the things that set us apart early on, as opposed to other animated shows, was the fact that 'Bojack' was continuous and serialized.
I think some actors are very smart and have the tools. They know how to disconnect themselves from the characters, but I think for a lot of them, it's very difficult.
I think you need to think of yourself as a flawed human being with aspirations for goodness and never start to think, 'Oh, I am a good guy. These other people are bad guys. They're dumb, I am smart.'
I think we're all trying our hardest, and a lot of times we do bad things and need to do more good things. We need to be more caring, more forgiving, more loving.
My general feeling about award shows that I've been to in the past was always that when you win, it's a great time. What a joy. You're celebrating there. And when you lose, the whole thing feels very stupid and why does anyone care about any of this. This is boring. I want to go home.
Saying someone's a fan of animation is as silly as saying someone's a fan of live action. That can mean anything.
Why do we want to win an award? Yes, my grandmother would be very proud, but I think it's also so people can hear, 'Oh, this show won an award. I guess it's good. I should watch it now.'
I don't know if animation is a style. It's a format.
Look, anything any writer writes is going to be on some level autobiographical. Part of the funny/sad thing is that you don't always know how autobiographical you're being.
Netflix really trusts us. We don't get a lot of network notes. They're not coming back all the time like, 'Oh, this is too sad', or 'This is too weird.'
If you are stuck on a problem, go for a walk and think about something else for a little bit. Going for a walk is very helpful for a writer because if you are staring at a blank page of a computer screen there is all this pressure.
I think that, as a show creator, you have to be very careful about what messages you're putting out into the world. That is a not always popular thing to suggest, because it feels very Tipper Gore-y, perhaps.
I'm excited when any Netflix show comes out. I'm like, 'Yeah, Netflix! Doin' great! We're all on the same side.'
What I also love about Lorrie Moore stories is they take me a long time to read. They're not easy for me because each sentence, I feel like, is so rich and dense, it just sends me off in a thousand directions.
I had ADD as a kid and often acted as the class clown. My teachers used to tell my mom, 'Raphael thinks he's a real comedian.'
I - you know, I know almost nothing about sports. So whenever I hear anything involving sports, my go-to move is to kind of nod and agree.
The Comeback' is so cringey and difficult, but watching it, what I was really struck with was the kindness and the generosity.
When we started on 'BoJack', it was understood that the Netflix model was to give shows time to find an audience, and to build that audience, and I remember being told, 'We expect the biggest day 'BoJack' Season 1 is going to have is when we launch 'BoJack' Season 2.'
I've been in rooms where the creator has sold a show and then felt like the network didn't buy the show they wanted. They bought a show they thought they could craft into the show they wanted.
Whenever I talk about how good season two of 'The Comeback' is, people ask, 'Do I have to see season one?' And I say, 'You get to see season one.'
I really liked the idea of a talking horse in a human world.
My mom's last name is Bob. My dad's last name is Waksberg. Every time I try to get a ticket at will call, they say last name. And I say, Bob-Waksberg. And I see them looking under W. I go, no, Bob-Waksberg. And they go, no, last name. And I go no, my last name is Bob-Waksberg.
I was very moved by shows that combined things that were funny and sad. I remember liking 'Simpsons' episodes in which emotions were central.
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