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Cartoon Network Interactive
Chunky Puffs! YUM! YUM! YUM!
Oh Pencils!! It's SPENCER ROTHBELL!!!
Ed, Edd n Eddy
1999-2009
July 12, 2016
JXP: What got you interested in animation?
SPENCER: I've always been interested in drawing and TV/film/cartoons. When I was a kid I would watch a lot of cartoons and I always loved comics.
JXP: Favorite shows and cartoons growing up as a kid?
SPENCER: I loved a lot of CN/Nick/Disney cartoons, also older ones like Betty Boop and Bugs Bunny. All the old Fleischer stuff. I love The Simpsons and Ren and Stimpy, and always loved Mad Magazine.
JXP: What were some of the funniest shorts you got to work on while you were at CalArts?
SPENCER: I actually didn't make a lot of animated shorts that were very funny. It's weird because I'm a pretty jokey guy - but I suppose I felt pressure to make more serious work when I was in school. Let that be a lesson to you - when being creative, don't worry about what your peers are making or some perceived notion of what you "should" be making! Just make art that feels true to yourself.
JXP: What was your first animation gig?
SPENCER: Apart from smaller bits of animating on friends' projects/working on student film type stuff, I started out writing on Clarence. When I first started, I was writing little joke/dialogue/re-write pitches (for example I wrote part of the cow toy song in Fun Dungeon and the dead frog joke in Clarence gets a Girlfriend).
JXP: How did you get hired for Clarence?
SPENCER: Skyler and Pat Harpin asked if I would be interested in doing some writing - I wrote a lot of sample premises and dialogue etc as a writing test. I ended up writing samples which later became Jeff's New Toy and Slumber Party.
JXP: What was it like working with Tom Kenny, Sean Giambrone, Roger Smith, Donovan Patton and Katie Crown?
SPENCER: They're all such wonderful and experienced voice talents. I've learned a lot from them - they're so quick and funny. It's always really fun to do an episode record!
JXP: You became the new voice of Clarence. You two sound almost exactly alike except you sound younger. How did you develop the voice?
SPENCER: Even from very early on in the show, we would all pitch dialogue in the characters' voices, so I would say that our Clarences all kind of merged together. Of course, my version will be a bit different but hopefully it still encapsulates the core of the character.
JXP: As the voice of Camden, was his voice modeled after Droopy Dog by any chance?
SPENCER: Camden's voice is influenced by Droopy Dog and BooBoo Bear.
JXP: How come in the second season, you voiced Larry but not Mr. Reese, Nathan or Amy Shutzger, all previously voiced by Skylar Page?
SPENCER: There are some voices that I could match better than others.
JXP: What was it like working with Nick Pitera who sang "At Least I'm Not Uptight" as Clarence in the episode "Jeff Wins"?
SPENCER: Nick was very gracious and easy to work with. He has a very impressive vocal range, and he even sang a bit of "A Whole New World" for us.
JXP: What is your favorite episode of Clarence?
SPENCER: It's hard to pick a favorite! I like Jeff's New Toy because it's the first thing I wrote for the show - but also Puddle Eyes because it's such a strange simple premise.
JXP: What's the secret behind Gilben? Does he have some sort of psychic mind power?
SPENCER: Gilben is just a normal kid, what do you mean? ;)
JXP: In the episode "Clarence Dollars", Gilben ate Jeff's buddy star stickers but now he's stiff as a board with psychic powers. Why is that?
SPENCER: There are a lot of inconsistencies with some of the earlier episodes - we just hadn't developed Gilben as a character yet so he was more of a "random background kid" at that point.
JXP: Why is Mavis afraid of fire hydrants? How does it feel voicing the less verbal Mavis?
SPENCER: Mavis has some interesting quirks. Maybe we'll reveal her fire hydrant relationship eventually. I love voicing Mavis. She's like the Chewbacca or Groot of Clarence.
JXP: In the episode "Average Jeff", Belson was shown at the beginning but he didn't appear in either the Crayon or Quilt groups. Which group does he belong too?
SPENCER: Belson seems pretty clever but he's a bit of a slacker too. Hmm...not sure which group he'd be in. Quill?
JXP: What's the secret behind using the "Until the End" Saba Lou album by WackoWacko as the ending credits?
SPENCER: Skyler was a fan and wanted to use the song - it sums up the show in a way, being a kid!
JXP: Who wrote the Clarence theme song?
SPENCER: The Clarence theme is written/performed by Simon Panrucker.
JXP: Will there be any guest animators on the show?
SPENCER: We've already had Lindsay and Alex Small Butera as guest animators in "Tuckered Boys"! If you haven't seen that one, check it out! We're always open to having more.
JXP: Is it true that the show has made 100 episodes? Any secrets on the 100th episode or the future of Clarence?
SPENCER: We sure have! Don't know for sure but I think we'll be making a lot of them.
JXP: Was Ed, Edd n Eddy an influence on the show by any chance?
SPENCER: I honestly was never huge into Ed, Edd, and Eddy but I know Skyler was! I gotta go back and rewatch some of those older shows!
JXP: Does Jeff has Asperger syndrome because he has OCD and other problems. Does Clarence have it too?
SPENCER: None of the characters have diagnosed mental illnesses - but if that helps people relate to them in their own way, then that's fine with me! I just think of them as being quirky.
JXP: What's the step by step process of making an 11-minute Clarence cartoon episode?
SPENCER: The basic rundown is: First we write an episode premise (which is submitted to Cartoon Network for notes/approval). Then we break the story beats and think of jokes. Then a writer will write an outline. I do an edit pass of the outline and submit it for notes.
We do a storyboard handout, which is a mix of a table read and describing ideas to the board artists, then the board artists do a thumbnail pass (after that two more passes with notes), after that we do casting and record an episode (with the storyboard onscreen), then an animatic is built, which is a roughly timed-out version of the board with audio, then come all the designs (characters, props, backgrounds, color, FX) and original music, then this is all shipped off to be animated by Saerom Animation in Korea.
Eventually we get a work print, which is altered and edited, and that's what ends up on TV! Whew. I'm exhausted now. Luckily we have an awesome showrunner, Stephen Neary, who's helped make our crew into a really functional, productive, happy one.
JXP: Any advice for a cartoonist like myself?
SPENCER: Keep on drawing as much as you can, take life drawing classes, study film and TV shows that you like, stay true to your vision!