It was fun figuring out the science of the world as much as we wanted to figure out, and then playing fast and loose in other places. Which we do with our show in general. One of the things we love about the BoJack Horseman show is that we can always fall back on, "It's a ridiculous cartoon." And it is! It's a serious, relationship-based grounded character tragedy, but it is also a ridiculous cartoon.
Raphael Bob-WaksbergWe often ask, "Do we have enough humans?" Because it's always fun to come up with an animal in show, but it begins to feel like overkill.
Raphael Bob-WaksbergJessica Biel is a really interesting case. She actually called us after the table read and said, "You guys should go meaner." She pitched us, and said, "Look, I know there are a lot of things to make fun of me about. I don't want people to think you're pulling punches. Please, dive in." We asked, "Could we tell a joke about your friend and mentor Stephen Collins?" And she said, "Well maybe not so much in that area. As long as the jokes were about me, I'm game for everything."
Raphael Bob-WaksbergIt's a fun show, BoJack Horseman to do, and that gets around. It's easy, especially for a lot of actors who don't do a lot of voiceover. No makeup, no wardrobe, they really just come in, the lines are right there, we goof around for a half hour, and I think it feels like, "Oh, yeah, this is why I got into this business: to play around and have some fun." There's no paparazzi, most of them don't do any promotion for the show. it's the fun part of acting, without the other stuff.
Raphael Bob-WaksbergI am wary of repeating myself too much. In this age of Netflix, as a Netflix show, if you want to go back and watch a season 1 episode, you can do that easily. I'm not interested in repeating the same story beats over and over and over again. But part of the truth of BoJack story is about how much he repeats himself and these patterns that are difficult to get out of. I'm trying not to be evasive about that. I'm not using that as an excuse. I think that's convenient to fall back on as a TV writer: "Oh, it's a show about stagnation."
Raphael Bob-WaksbergDaniel Radcliffe was actually a fan of the show and excited to be on it. Some of it is we've gone long enough that we're legitimate. Even if they don't know the show, they know we are a show and not some weird thing that's going to go away. Also, the more celebrities we get on BoJack show, the more it feels like a club to be in: "If Naomi Watts will make a fool of herself, I guess I can make a fool of myself, too."
Raphael Bob-Waksberg