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A Brief Exchange
With Chris Savino

Ed, Edd n Eddy

1999-2009

Chris Savino is an animator and director who directed the later seasons of Dexter's Lab on Cartoon Network and later became producer for Kick Buttowski on Disney. A former Spumco animator, I talked to him on facebook about his experience.

February 22, 2014

JXP: Hello Mr. Savino. I am a huge fan of your work and I would like to ask you a few questions.
   CS: Thank you. I'll do my best to answer.

 

JXP: Thank you. Did you ever work for Hanna Barbera?
   CS: Yes. But it was technically owned by Warner Bros at the time.

 

JXP: You were a director at Dexter's Lab. It looks so different than the old HB ones. What happened? How come Gennedy wasen't involved?
   CS: He was.

 

JXP: Then why does it look different?
   CS: Because he wanted the people doing it to lean the design closer to the comics we were doing at the time as well as give the art director the freedom to make some changes. He approved everything.

 

JXP: How come Lalavava wasen't there in the new episodes? She was awesome.
   CS: Good question. Probably because we couldn't come up with any other stories

 

JXP: And what about Mee Mee and Lee Lee?
   CS: I think Genndy was done with them. Also because we probably couldn't come up with a good story

 

JXP: At the beginning of the Dexter’s Lab episode “The Continuum of Cartoon Fools”, what was Dexter supposedly doing when scribbling in an storyboard and timing himself with an stopwatch and making that strange noise?
   CS: He was timing the animation.

 

JXP: What’s the meaning of a joke Dexter told in a short bumper of the show: “A physics professor and his assistant are working on liberating negatively charged hydroxyl ions, when all of a sudden, the assistant says, ‘Wait, Professor! What if the salicylic acids do not accept the hydroxyl ions?’ And the professor responds, ‘That’s no hydroxyl ion! That’s my wife!’”
   CS: The that's my wife is an homage to an old old joke. The rest of the joke is pretty much jibberish to get to the punch line.I think the original punch line was that's no horse that's my wife

 

JXP: What other CN shows did you work on?
   CS: Powerpuff Girls. My Gym Partner is a Monkey.

 

JXP: Interesting. How did you hire the actors? Did it cost you any money? What was your favorite actor to work with?
   CS: Actors audition for the roles. Many different people audition for the roles. The production budget pays them. I like a lot of actors for a lot of different reasons so it's hard to say just one. They are all great.

 

JXP: Why did Dexter's Lab end? I love that show.
   CS: It ran it's course. The company felt they made enough to continue airing them in syndication.

 

JXP: The character; Douglas (or Mordecai) from Dexters Lab; dexters nerdy friend. Is his name Douglas or Mordecai? And how come he gets to appear more than once?
   CS: I'm not sure why his name was different. Possibly dexter needed a nerdy friend in two episodes is the picked him.

 

JXP: You seem to have worked on Kick Buttowski on Disney. Were you a director of some sort?
   CS: I produced and directed the entire series.

 

JXP: You were a Spumco employee? What was it like working with John Kricfalusi and Donovan Cook [2 stupid dogs creator]?
   CS: It was my first job. And I am indebted to john for giving me a chance. It was thrilling and frightening all at once. I never worked with Donovan.

 

JXP: Why did the animation chance from Spumco to Games Animation in The Ren and Stimpy Show for Nickelodeon?
   CS: Because Bob Camp has a different directing style than Johns.

 

JXP: Did John K. get fired? If so, how or why?
   CS: That's a long story. You can probably find many different answers on line

 

JXP: Perhaps I wish to know in your point of view. I'd like to gather information from other sources and cartoonists
   CS: I wasn't working for john at the time. I'm sure it was a business decision.

 

JXP: Why did Kick Buttowski end? Everything was smooth until Randy Cunningham and Slugterra showed up. Why did KB get canceled? it had 66 episodes.
   CS: It had 52 episodes which is the number of episodes that a network needs to syndicate the show. 52 was plenty.

 

JXP: Any cartoon shows your working on or creating by yourself?
   CS: Besides Bigfoot and Gray I'm currently doing a pilot that I created for Nickelodeon. But I'm not allowed to discuss that.

 

JXP: Okay. What artists or cartoonists is the influence or inspiration for your art style?
   CS: George Herriman. Cliff Sterrett. Charles Shulz. Harvey Kurtzman

 

JXP: What was your favorite cartoon show as a kid?
   CS: Rocky and Bullwinkle. Ok. One more question then I gotta roll...

 

JXP: Thank you. Have you ever worked in frederator, oh yeah cartoons and random cartoons? and what is it like working with sandro corsado and gennedy tartakovsky?
   CS: I've never worked on any of those. Genndy and Sandro are both excellent creators and I'm honored to have been asked to work on both of their shows.

 

JXP: Any reason for leaving Cartoon Network/Hanna Barbera?
   CS: The work ran out. It was time to move on.

 

JXP: Did you work on The Powerpuff Girls as well?
   CS: Yes. Ok. Gotta go. Thanks for all of the questions. I hope I answered them satisfactorily.​

 

JXP: Yes you did. Thank you Mr. Savino.

 

Watch Chris Savino's new animated series for Nickelodeon: The Loud House only on Nick and Nicktoons.