R!OT Radio Interview - 9 Oct 2002
From Homestar Runner Wiki
On October 9, 2002, The Brothers Chaps were interviewed on the radio show "The R!OT" on Radio U.
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[edit] Transcript
OBADIAH: It's the Riot on Radio U. On hold right now, The Brothers Chaps, uh, responsible for HomestarRunner.com. But before we get to them — so Matt and Mike, hang on — we have to call Hanna {dial tone, dialing} because she's psycho-obsessed with HomestarRunner.com. She came into work with a T-shirt on the other day, and so we're gotta wake her up.
NIKKI: She's got one of the T-shirts?
OBADIAH: Yeah, she bought a T-shirt. {busy signal}
NIKKI: You know, you should really be able to — I can't dial, by the way, so... {dial tone, dialing}
OBADIAH: Yeah, that's all right. Nikki, you just take your time. We gotta make sure she's awake, 'cause she's like, {faking a voice} "I gotta hear the — I gotta hear it!" {regular voice} So let's make sure. {busy signal} Nikki.
NIKKI: It's not workin'.
OBADIAH: Try one more time, okay?
NIKKI: It's not me!
OBADIAH: Is it? {dial tone} Try her cell phone or something, then.
NIKKI: {dialing} I don't know if it's her old number or not.
OBADIAH: Oh yeah, 'cause they moved, didn't they? Didn't Hanna move? She had a stalker and she's like, "I gotta get outta here," kinda thing.
NIKKI: {simultaneously} Oh, we'll try this one. We'll try this.
OBADIAH: {phone rings} Oh great, you know what's gonna happen now. Just like when we call everybody else on their cell phone. Voicemail. {Nikki giggles} Hi, um, thanks for calling Hanna from Radio U. Uh, just wanted to say, I love HomestarRunner.com.
KAREN: Hello?
OBADIAH: Hanna!
KAREN: No, it's not!
OBADIAH: {simultaneously with Nikki} Is that Karen?
NIKKI: {simultaneously with Obidiah} Karen?
KAREN: Yeah.
OBADIAH: {simultaneously with Nikki} Where's Hanna?
NIKKI: {simultaneously with Obidiah} Hey, is Hanna there?
KAREN: Uh, yeah!
NIKKI: Okay.
OBADIAH: Can we talk to her?
KAREN: {laughs} Uh, I can try.
OBADIAH: Okay.
NIKKI: Okay, it's Nikki and Obi.
OBADIAH: Yeah.
KAREN: Okay, good morning.
OBADIAH: {simultaneously with Nikki} Good morning.
NIKKI: {simultaneously with Obidiah} Hi.
OBADIAH: Is she still asleep?
KAREN: Yeah.
OBADIAH: Okay, yeah, you definitely need to go in and wake her up, this is very important.
KAREN: Okay.
OBADIAH: Okay.
KAREN: I'm walking right now.
NIKKI: All right, thanks. At least we got a hold of somebody this time.
OBADIAH: Yeah.
NIKKI: {laughs} We're doing good.
{silence}
OBADIAH: She's gonna love this. Seriously, she will.
NIKKI: Did you not tell her we're talking to them?
OBADIAH: No, she knows.
NIKKI: Okay.
OBADIAH: That's the problem.
HANNA: Hello?
OBADIAH: Hanna?
HANNA: Yeah.
OBADIAH: You know who I have on the phone right now, don't you?
HANNA: Oh, is it Wednesday?
OBADIAH: It's Wednesday.
HANNA: Brothers Chaps?
OBADIAH: Yes, that's right.
HANNA: Oh my gosh.
NIKKI: {simultaneously with Obidiah} So turn on your radio now and go.
OBADIAH: {simultaneously with Nikki} And you almost missed it.
HANNA: Turn on my radio now?
OBADIAH: Yeah, 'cause we're gonna talk to them in, like, five seconds.
HANNA: Okay.
OBADIAH: And you're gonna miss it!
HANNA: I'm not gonna miss it.
OBADIAH: You're the one that bought the HomestarRunner.com T-shirt and you're not even on... The thing.
HANNA: Okay, well, I am now, and — I'm on the radio?
OBADIAH: Yes, that's correct. Good morning, Hanna.
NIKKI: Hi!
HANNA: Great, good morning.
OBADIAH: All right. We'll talk to you later.
HANNA: Okay!
OBADIAH: Okay, bye.
HANNA: Thanks for the call.
OBADIAH: {simultaneously with Nikki} All right, uh-huh.
NIKKI: {simultaneously with Obidiah} No problem!
OBADIAH: All right, the Brothers Chaps! Good morning, guys.
MIKE CHAPMAN: Hey, what's up?
OBADIAH: How are you guys feeling this morning?
MATT CHAPMAN: Pretty good, how's it going, eh?
OBADIAH: It's going just good. {laughs}
NIKKI: Eh? Are you from Canada?
OBADIAH: I thought you guys were in Georgia. Isn't that the exact opposite of Canada?
MATT: It is, actually.
MIKE: That's the irony of it all.
{Nikki and Obadiah laugh}
NIKKI: That's good, I like it.
OBADIAH: Two Canadians living in Georgia, it's like some kind of a sitcom. {laughs} That'd be awesome!
MATT: It's called "Down North." {The DJs laugh} It's a fish out of water series.
OBADIAH: Absolutely. So what's up, guys? The, uh, Homes— creators of HomestarRunner.com, which, unfortunately, I'll bet some of the people in our audience have never been to, because they're losers.
MIKE: {laughs} Now come— now come on, that's not a good way to get them to go to the site.
OBADIAH: No, I'm saying ...
NIKKI: That's what really motivates them.
OBADIAH: No, that's — that's how they... they change from the loser to the winner category—
MIKE: That's true.
OBADIAH: —is by going to HomestarRunner.com.
NIKKI: Now, this has been the cause of Obi not doing anything this morning. Every time I look over, even when we're talking, it's like...
OBADIAH: I'm on HomestarRunner.com.
NIKKI:He's on HomestarRunner, and he has been — every time a song plays, he's like, "turn it down," and he turns HomestarRunner up, he's listening, and I'm like, "okay." And so I think, personally, have gone through the entire website content this morning.
OBADIAH: Okay, now, before I— we get into any interesting questions about HomestarRunning, here's what I just have to tell you, is that Strong Bad is the greatest character that's ever been created, and I just.. I include him with, you know, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, all of that. Strong Bad is amazing. Way better than Mojo Jojo.
MIKE: Oh, well, thank you.
OBADIAH: And his, uh, his email section is what I'm very happy about, especially—see, he just answered, and it all fits in together, because what we do on Wednesdays is on Wednesday nights from eleven to midnight we have a specialty show called "Electric Circus," and it's nothing but techno. And recently— you know, his latest update, his email is that he answered a techno question, and I'll tell you what, that's one of the funniest things I've ever heard in my life. He's like, {imitating Strong Bad} "Yeah, I heard a techno song once." {regular voice} That was amazing.
NIKKI: If you actually go to HomestarRunner and look at it, that is our DJ that does that show —
OBADIAH: Yup, the guy that does that show, that's him right there.
NIKKI: — to a T.
OBADIAH: That is him right there.
NIKKI: He walks around and does that one beat over and over again.
OBADIAH: Yeah.
NIKKI: And then adds a high pitch to it, so —
OBADIAH: Yeah.
NIKKI: — log on and find out. You'll see! That's what we deal with every day.
OBADIAH: Now, tell us where HomestarRunner came from.
MATT: Well, Mike, do it.
MIKE: Our sick, twisted minds.
OBADIAH: Well, aside from that, what was the impetus for creating him?
MIKE: It was boredom one day, we, uh, we were working in the Olympics one day in 1996, and, uh, had a day off, and were bored, and wanted to do something, so we, uh, created the, uh, characters and made a little book, and, uh, that was pretty much it. We went to Kinko's, and made about ten copies for our friends. And, uh, you know, a few years later, we, uh, we decided to make a website. Pretty much the rest is history.
NIKKI: And now you even have shirts, too.
MIKE: Yeah.
MATT: Yup.
MIKE: We even have shirts.
NIKKI: Aww.
OBADIAH: Now, you, Mike, you're the one who does the voice for Homestar Runner, aren't you?
MIKE: No, Matt is.
OBADIAH: Really?
MIKE: Yeah, um...
OBADIAH: Well, let me hear Homestar Runner.
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Um, good morning. It's a little early in the morning for my throat to be, you know, really good enough to do the voice, but, hi!
OBADIAH: So, Homestar — {cracks up} Nikki can't even sit down! {Nikki cracks up} She had to stand up, she's laughing so hard. Now, Homestar, tell me, what has been your favorite cartoon so far?
MATT: You're asking Homestar?
OBADIAH: Yeah.
MATT: Oh, hold on, let me get him.
OBADIAH: Okay! Get back over here!
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Um, I like the ones where I win the game, and, um, and then I also like the ones where I don't lose the game.
NIKKI: {laughing} I feel like I'm logged on but I'm not! I feel like I'm at the website!
OBADIAH: That was pretty amazing! And Mike asked me — er, Matt asked me on the phone yesterday, he asked me, "Do you want to talk to us, or do you want to talk to the characters?" And I'm like, all of the sudden, it's far too tempting to not talk to Homestar Runner! 'Cause I've been watching his show all morning, and all of a sudden he was on the phone. Whoa! So, Matt and Mike, how exactly do you put HomestarRunner together? Like, what kind of software, like, how does it work?
MATT: Um, well, we use primarily a program called Flash, and, um, we discovered it around two versions ago back in whenever that was. That was around '99, I guess?
OBADIAH: Uh-huh.
MATT: And, uh, it's just this program, you can basically make cartoons. You can do a million other things with it, but that was kind of the part that grabbed us. And, uh, so, you know, we draw stuff in, you know, we'll scan it in and then you turn it into these little vector graphics in Flash, and then you can make it move all around, and then, you know, we record the voices, write the thing, do storyboards, the whole —
OBADIAH: The whole deal.
NIKKI: I wanna do that! {laughs}
OBADIAH: Now, wait a minute, what, like, when in the heck do you guys do this? You know, like, do you have jobs or are independently wealthy?
MATT: Well, we did, we did freelance Flash stuff, um, also, until very recently I had, uh, a real day job, and, um, I finally got cut out of the cubicle. And, so, uh, so, yeah, now we're kinda doing — in addition to, like I said, some other Flash stuff, we pretty much do it full time. So we're kinda doing it twenty-four hours a day.
OBADIAH: Okay, now listen, I hope I'm not prying too much, but I'm sure there are, you know, people out there going, "Man, how do you — like, how do you pay for it?" You know, like do you, like, I mean, how do you pay your rent or your house or whatever and do this full time? Like, do you get enough hits, is there advertising, like, how does that work?
MIKE: Well, there's no advertising, we, um —
OBADIAH: I haven't seen any ads on it, that's why I'm —
MIKE: Yeah, we sort of prided ourselves on not ever, you know, stooping to banner ads or popups.
OBADIAH: Which we appreciate the fact that you're not some corporate lackey and yes-man.
NIKKI: Thank you.
MIKE: I think that a lot of people — a lot of people email us that notice that. Um, let's see, yeah, we sell a decent number of shirts, but it's mostly, you know, out of our own pocket, you know, we do other — other work to pay the rent, stuff like that.
OBADIAH: Right on.
MIKE: The website kind of pays for itself. T-shirts kind of keep the store going and allow us to make more T-shirts and stuff.
OBADIAH: I may — I think I may go down the Hanna road and get myself one of these T-shirts.
NIKKI: You need one.
OBADIAH: I'm telling you what, Nikki, this— that — this guy Homestar is changing my life. Now, I know that we got to talk to Homestar this morning. Is Strong Bad around, or is he — is he still in bed?
MATT: Oh, he's not going to be happy, this early.
OBADIAH: I'm — I know, but I just gotta tell him I'm a huge fan of his stuff.
MATT: All right, well, hang on.
OBADIAH: See if you can find him, 'cause he —
STRONG BAD: {picks up the phone} What?!
OBADIAH: Strong Bad!
STRONG BAD: Hello!
OBADIAH: How are you doing, man?
STRONG BAD: What? Who are you?
OBADIAH: My name's Obadiah.
STRONG BAD: Hi, what, what? Did I go back in time? In the — on the prairie?
OBADIAH: Yeah, that's — that's right!
STRONG BAD: Brother Obadiah, fetch me a glass of milk.
OBADIAH: Do you want it fresh from the cow?
STRONG BAD: Yes! Bring the cow in here, I can't — I don't wanna get out of bed.
OBADIAH: I — I just wanted to tell you what a big fan I am of your work.
STRONG BAD: Oh, my work? You mean, what I did to that one guy's house last night?
OBADIAH: That was amazing. I — I — actually, I was talking about the car— the cartoons.
STRONG BAD: Oh, right, right. Well, you see this guy's house, though, man. It's pretty good. He's got, like, toilet paper, eggs, and we, uh, we duct taped the car to the side of his house.
OBADIAH: {laughing} That's pretty ama — but you know, I — I wouldn't want you to be liable for any — I don't want you to incriminate yourself, so I'm sure that that was probably just a guy that looked like you, right?
STRONG BAD: Oh, of course! Uh, hello? Who's this?
OBADIAH: Uh, yeah, uh —
STRONG BAD: Strong Bad you're talking to, I —
OBADIAH: Yeah.
STRONG BAD: I dunno.
OBADIAH: That must have been — that was probably your little cat thing that you have wandering around in your cartoon. What's his name?
STRONG BAD: Oh, The Cheat?
OBADIAH: Yeah, The Cheat.
STRONG BAD: Yeah, that guy does all my dirty work for me.
OBADIAH: Yeah, that — that's pretty amazing.
STRONG BAD: All of my biddings.
OBADIAH: Now, I saw, uh, of the one cartoon I really liked was the one that you didn't actually get to be in it but you were in the commentary part. You know, about the King's sheep?
STRONG BAD: Oh yeah, that stupid little fairy tale thing?
OBADIAH: Yeah, that was — that was amazing.
STRONG BAD: Yeah, they totally shafted me on that one, man.
OBADIAH: I — I —
STRONG BAD: I should've been the star of that cartoon.
OBADIAH: I—I agree, 'cause, you know, Homestar Runner, he's a pretty freakshow-looking guy.
STRONG BAD: Yeah, that guy, he — that guy has an underbite that — that — I dunno, he could swallow, like, a bowling ball, easy.
OBADIAH: Seriously. Well, Strong Bad, listen, I'm going to bring the cow in, and we'll talk to you maybe later.
STRONG BAD: Okay, man, don't ever wake me up this early again.
OBADIAH: Okay, take care.
STRONG BAD: Okay.
OBADIAH: Well, Matt and Mike —
MATT: Yes.
OBADIAH: All right, well, listen —
MATT: We're still here.
OBADIAH: Excellent, excellent.
NIKKI: Ha ha, yeah, you've just been waiting, I know, I know.
OBADIAH: Well, guys —
NIKKI: Actual amazing website, HomestarRunner.com.
MIKE: Thank you.
NIKKI: That's it. You can spend all day there.
OBADIAH: We are gonna put you guys on the Riot Website of the Week. Just so you know we— I, personally, I don't know about Nikki, but I just stinking love your website, so I am a huge HomestarRunner fan.
MATT: All right.
OBADIAH: All right?
MATT: Thanks so much, you guys.
OBADIAH: Hey, you're welcome. Um, we're going to put you on hold, and I just want to say again, thank you very much for talking to us this morning.
MIKE: Thank you.
OBADIAH: All right. Nikki, I talked to Strong Bad —
NIKKI: I know.
OBADIAH: — and Homestar Runner today!
NIKKI: You got your morning made.
OBADIAH: Did you see—?
NIKKI: Log on to RadioU.com R!OT page, you can find not only HomestarRunner but other websites, but seriously, today, there is nothing else you wanted to do, go ahead.
OBADIAH: That's —
NIKKI: Log on.
OBADIAH: That's classic.
NIKKI: That's it.
OBADIAH: HomestarRunner.com, that's gonna occupy the rest of my morning as well, that's the way it is. {Radio speak}
[edit] Fun Facts
- Mojo Jojo is a villain on the Cartoon Network series "The Powerpuff Girls." He is a monkey with a huge exposed brain and many complicated, bumbling plans to destroy the Girls.
- The email Obidiah talks about is techno.
- Mike Chapman explains the origins of the original book.
- Obidiah mentions a cartoon for which Strong Bad did the commentary, even though he wasn't in the toon. That toon is The King of Town DVD.
