Matt Weitzman:Im Matt Weitzman, one of the creators and showrunners ofAmerican Dad.
Dee Bradley Baker:And Im Dee Bradley Baker.
And Im Klaus, a fish in a bowl.
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Weitzman:Your voice is so resonant.
Baker:Thank you.
Weitzman:You actually speak German, dont you?
Baker:Yeah, I do.
(Baker spouts a few words of German gibberish)
Weitzman:Thats great.
Baker:Actually thats nothingits nonsense.
Weitzman:Oh, well, you speak great fake German.
Baker:(More German gibberish, including something about dancing if my college German serves) Thats Nietzsche.
Weitzman:Mines not great.
I can only singEdelweiss.
So as showrunner do you ever have a day where youre like, I just cant?
Where its just too offensive?
And he actually was the one who would not allow the joke.
He wouldnt say it.
So our monitor is kind of off.
But yeah, weve had times where we know not to cross a line.
They allow us to do a little bit more.
But all in all, we monitor ourselves some.
Not enough, maybe…
Baker:Can I ask a follow-up on that question?
Weitzman:Well, I think its part-and-parcel.
Well, he is an advocate against abuse.
Not child abuse, but domestic abuse.
Weitzman:Oh, huh….okay.
Matt, whats the best thing youve had Patrick Stewart do youve had Patrick Stewart do?
Baker:A table read.
I think thats the best thing I ever heard him say.
As far as any particular episode, theres the one where he sang.
And when he was the on-camera host ofAmerican Dadwhen we did the kind ofMasterpiece Theaterthing.
And he loved doing that.
So we are very grateful to have him as part of our ensemble.
Was he your first choice?
Weitzman:Yeah, Im going to give all the credit there to Seth.
But it worked, and no one has really asked the question.
Baker:Its really great how you dont have to pay attention to logic or things like that.
Weitzman:Thank God because there are so many logic bombs in our show.
Ive said this before, but Roger was never expected to leave the house in that first year.
He was expected to stay in the house like Alf.
Baker:So I guess its not really an issue.
Weitzman:No, as long as we can justify it then the audience goes along with us.
So, no, we just kept on doing what we thought was best for the show.
And sometimes you lose your way, but then you regain what your destination is.
Which is always to come up with a funny, heartfelt show.
Baker:And thats whats key to me is the heart.
The heart is affirmed…the family part.
Its not just about the jokes, its not just about making fun of reality and pulling things apart.
Weitzman:There is a love for each other and it all comes back together.
As misguided as everybody can be, it all comes back to Were all in this together.
Otherwise, we do become other shows that are all about edge.
You watch those other shows and you just dont care.
Why are we here?
Do you ever find yourself really stretching for something new or repeating yourself?
Weitzman:You do end up repeating yourself in some ways.
You end up using one character with another character in a similar story line.
But the goal is to come up with new and fresh ideas as much as we can.
We have a new set of writers.
One set of writers were there for about the first eight seasons.
The new people had to adapt to that.
But all in all, I think were the same show that we were in the beginning.
Baker:And it feels like that for me, in a good way.
From the fish point of view.
But its not feeling like that.
Its much more like where we started, but like theres new manure added to the garden every week.
Weitzman:And as terrible as this sounds, youre part of that manure.
Baker:Are you saying my performance is shit?
Thats what youre saying.
Weitzman:Yes, thats what Im saying in the best possible way.
Thats why he now has much fuller stories.
And how do you address either the two different audiences or the two different pleasures?
Weitzman:Thats a good question.
I guess that I would say that its the latter, two different pleasures.
You cant have dessert for your dinner and then again for afterwards.
You need the flavors: the two different flavors.
We discovered that we had to be different fromFamily Guy.
As time goes on, you want a little bit more on your plate.
And I think weve been able to offer that to our audience.
Yeah, they wanted to be funny and gagging, but they also wanted to be more grounded.
And it comes back to that heart thing.
You want people to be able to connect with your show.
Matt Weitzman and Dee Bradley Baker, thank you very much!
Photo credits: Gary Richardson.
