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A Brief Exchange
With Kyle A. Carozza

Ed, Edd n Eddy

1999-2009

Kyle A. Carozza is an indie animator and cartoonist who directed MooBeard the Cow Pirate which aired on Nickelodeon's Random Cartoons. Later working on some indie projects and singing songs, I caught him on Facebook to ask him some questions.

February 18, 2014

JXP: Hello mr. carrozza. I am an interviewer and i have some questions for you. I hope you can take a few moments of your time.
   KC: Sure! What can I do for ya?

 

JXP: How did you get interested in animation?
   KC: Well, I loved watching cartoons since I was very little. By the time I was in the first grade, I knew that it was what I wanted to do for a living. I just never lost the interest from early childhood and I kept doing it.

 

JXP: What was your art style influence from?
   KC: I loved Looney Tunes right from the get go and Chuck Jones' stuff spoke to me before I knew what his name was. His Tom & Jerries were my favorite too. I have a lot of different influences ranging from Ken Mitchroney's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Shotaro Ishinomoari's work and Mario games.

 

JXP: Why do you love cartoons?
   KC: It's such a versatile medium, and it just gets more versatile all the time! It's possible to do anything in any tone and with so many different styles. To see a drawing come to life has always and will always thrill me to bits!

 

JXP: How did you create MooBeard?
   KC: It was 2003 and my computer was broken. I had a few days where I had no computer, so I decided it would be a good time to sit down with some paper and just create new stuff. My friend Samanta Erdini had created some seafaring animals, and I thought that it was a genre that would be fun to play with. I drew MooBeard in my sketchbook and soon gave him the sleeves. They were inspired by Mousse from Ranma 1/2, but I wanted him to use them more like Felix the Cat's magic bag or Wakko Warner's Gag Bag from Animaniacs.

 

JXP: How did you hire the actors or know which one was the best? Did it cost you any money?
   KC: I pitched the cartoon to Frederator and Nickelodeon financed it. Since it never became it's own TV show, I still own the characters, but they own the actual short. They let me try out whatever actors I wanted. I had a feeling Billy West was going to be able to do the voice I wanted, and I was pretty sure Dave (Gruber) Allen was my Dark Blade because I enjoyed his stage work as The Naked Trucker. Erica Luttrell was a surprise. They gave me her demo and she knocked it out of the park in her audition.

 

JXP: How come MooBeard wasen't a series? Why did it fail?
   KC: Nickelodeon wasn't interested, and neither was anyone else I pitched it to. It's been nice having this positive fan response over the years. I think it was a pretty good short, but I made it nearly 10 years ago with very little experience, so it's hard not to just see all the mistakes I made. I've also learned a lot about what makes a pitch work over the years.

 

JXP: Yeah. I thought it was funny. Beats Fanboy and Chum Chum but no close to beating Adventure Time.
   KC: Thanks! I love both of those shows, for the record. FanBoy and Chum Chum was really fun to work on and Adventure Time is one of those industry-redefining shows. Thank goodness for Adventure Time. We really needed something to shake up the studios' notions of what a successful show could be.

 

JXP: Any projects your working on now?
   KC: I'm always working on my webcomic, Frog Raccoon Strawberry but as for what I'm working on professionally, I'm working on a secret project of my own at Cartoon Network. I'm not allowed to talk about it yet.

 

JXP: Who's your favorite cartoonist?
   KC: I love too many different cartoonists to nail down just one. The aforementioned Ken Mitchroney and Shotaro Ishinomori are way up there. Osamu Tezuka, Hiroyuki Imaishi, Jim Smith, and lots of other amazing people are high on my list too.

 

JXP: What was your favorite cartoon show?
   KC: The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show might just be my favorite animated TV show. Especially the Tex Tinstar segments.

 

JXP: What's your favorite comic?
   KC: I loved the full color Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic when I was a kid-- The one Archie published. Looking back at it, it could get cheesy and preachy, but it's still great. Ranma 1/2 and Bone were my favorites as a teenager. I recently read Ishinomori's Inazuman and that's a fantastic comic, though it gets pretty weird by the end.

 

JXP: Any music of choice?
   KC: They Might Be Giants has been my favorite band since 1991 and they keep making amazing albums! I love comedy musicians like my friends at thefump.com, game composers like Jake Kaufman, japanese super hero theme songs, Game Grumps remixes... I like so much different stuff! I love finding bands from the 60s and 80s I've never heard of.

 

JXP: Any advice for an animator like myself?
   KC: My advice to any young artist: Learn by doing. Never think that you "aren't ready" or wait for someone to tell you you can make things. You have to learn by making stuff and making mistakes. I've gotten a lot of mistakes out of my system by making Frog Raccoon Strawberry for the past 4 1/2 years and making new pitches every year. Go make stuff!

 

JXP: I love Animaniacs and Secret Squirrel. Have you seen the show?
   KC: Don't spend too much time on stuff you don't own. Fan Art is nice, but you can't pitch stuff you didn't create. Make up your own stuff! Maybe it's time for your own cartoon super spy!

 

JXP: I'm contacting Warner Bros. to have permission to use the character. And I am already using my own characters. Secret Squirrel is going to be a back up segment for my cartoon titled The Bruno Show. A combination of Hannah Barbera slapstick, Ren & Stimpy humor and anime dark scenes with healthy enforcesI'm also producing another backup segment called Class Dismissed. It's basically a cartoon version of Arrested Development. I based if off of Sit Down Shut Up from Fox network.what do you think?
   KC: Take me seriously when I tell you that no company is going to be interested in turning over their rights to you. Maybe someday you'll be approached to revamp a character once you've had some experience, but that's just not how it works. In the meantime, keep creating and good luck! And don't forget to be original. Using something that exists as a jumping off point is fine, but it's YOUR voice that the world needs to hear!

 

JXP: Thank you Mr. Carroza. And I understand. But I think I will manage to get SS back on television. I already planned to use them and I contacted Warner Bros and gained the permission to use the Animaniacs for my show; to serve comedic purposes. My show is like Family Guy and Soul Eater for kids.And I will voice the main character. But otherwise, I appreciate your advice and I will follow it but I think I know what I am doing. If it costs money; then i'll pay for it. Simple as that. Thank you
   KC: Oh yeah? Got millions of dollars to burn?

 

JXP: DUDE! I'm planning. NOT READY yet! I'm still working on The Bruno Show first. I'll deal with Secret when I'm finished with the songs and all that junk. Besides; I have sources who owe me. And will pay me back which will be used to finance the rights to the show.And I have a donation campaign in my websites to allow me. Thanks; Mr. Carrozza.
   KC: Lol, ok, so SOMEDAY you'll have millions of dollars for the rights to various turner properties. Just focus on creating your own stuff for now. Get really good and get ready to pitch, get rejected a lot, and pitch some more. Good luck, and talk to you later.

Watch Kyle A. Carrozza's new animated series for Cartoon Network: Mighty Magiswords on Cartoon Network Anything