In the Know is a new comedy that follows the exploits of the third most popular NPR host and the behind-the-scenes chaos behind his show. Part stop-motion and part live-action talk show, the Peacock series features genuine interviews with a myriad of real-life stars. In the Know comes from the minds of The Office‘s Zach Woods, comedian and UCB veteran Brandon Gardner, and Mike Judge, who’s known for creating iconic animated series like Beavis and Butt-head and King of the Hill.
Alongside his creative role in the show, Woods stars as lead character Lauren Caspian, host of the public radio show In the Know. Each episode features an extended interview in a style reminiscent of shows like Space Ghost Coast to Coast interspersed with elements of a stop-motion workplace comedy show focused on Lauren and his coworkers. The first season includes segments with Ken Burns, Finn Wolfhard, Norah Jones, Tegan and Sara, Nicole Byer, Roxane Gay, Mike Tyson, and many more eclectic guests.
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Screen Rant recently interviewed Zach Woods and Brandon Gardner, who both serve as creators, showrunners, and executive producers for In the Know, about creating a hybrid-style show, their guest selection process, and conducting conversations between real people and a puppet.
Zach Woods & Brandon Gardner Talk In The Know
You guys have a really long history together, going back to UCB. I’m curious just how this first began as an idea for you guys, how it sort of formed in the first place.
Zach Woods: Do you want to take it away?
Brandon Gardner: Sure. So yeah, like you said, Zach and I, at this point, we probably met close to 20 years ago, or maybe a little less than that, doing improv at UCB. And so we had performed together a lot as improvisers, and that was always a joy. And then I think we both got interested in writing around the same time and would share things with each other that we were writing.
And then when I moved out to LA and Zach was already out here, we started writing things together and that was so fun. So when Mike [Judge] first came to Zach with the idea for this show, it felt sort natural for Zach and I to work on it together.
I love the blend of animation and real interview, it gives me Space Ghost Coast to Coast vibes a little bit. From a writing standpoint, what is it like balancing that when you can’t necessarily account for what the other person will be saying?
Zach Woods: That’s a great question. Yeah, that was an interesting part of it to understand. We sort of didn’t know when we started out how lumpy a mixture it would be between the kind of workplace comedy part of it and the interview part, and whether they would integrate or whether it would just feel like two shows Frankensteined together. But there’s an odd thing that would happen where often in the interviews there would be these thematic seeds with the main story that we hadn’t planned, but that would work really, really nicely.
And I think it’s also nice to be able to take a break from – the sitcom format has been drilled into everyone’s bones so deeply that to have something that takes you out of the established choreography of the three act structure and then this happens, this happens, this happens, I think creates the possibility hopefully for some surprises instead of just feeling like you’re on the same Disney World ride that you’ve been riding since you were five, and now you’re a grown man on a Disney World ride and everyone’s like, “What’s going wrong in this guy’s life? Why is he riding the same ride again? Where’s his family?”
And in terms of choosing who would be a guest on the show, what was that selection process like? Was it just who you thought could sort of roll with the comedic punches the best, or?
Zach Woods: It was pay to play. Whoever would offer us the maximum compensation, we’d be like, “We’ll give you our platform.” A lot of these upstarts, they were like, “You know what would really give my career a boost is if I was on a stop-motion show about NPR?” And we said, “Well, listen, honey, it’s not happening like that, but you got to show us the green.”
Brandon Gardner: Pay up.
Zach Woods: [Laughs] Yeah. We had an amazing booker who helped us a lot.
Brandon Gardner: And a lot of it was trying to book people that we thought actually would be interviewed on NPR, like imagining the type of person that might be on Fresh Air with Terry Gross and all people that we genuinely find fascinating. We didn’t want to talk to someone that we weren’t interested in or that seemed sort of one dimensional.
And so we were able to talk to people who were really fascinating and did a ton of research. We really tried to approach it like it was a real interview so that they didn’t feel disrespected in some way that we had just written jokes and didn’t actually know anything about them. And I think as much as we went in already loving them, each of them had even more humor and were so playful with what we were doing that we loved them all the more.
And when it came to directing these interviewees and getting them into the right head space, how did that work for you guys, getting them comfortable with talking to a stop-motion essentially?
Zach Woods: When we were interviewing them, we hadn’t done any of the stop-motion. We just had a still photo of the puppet, which they would be looking at for an hour while they talked. Because we thought if they were looking at my face, it would be distracting because I guess in my imagination, there’s so much distance between me and that puppet. But the truth is that they probably would’ve been fine, because we’re basically the same person.
But I think something we wanted was we always wanted the joke to be on Lauren; we never wanted people to feel like they were being ridiculed or made fun of. But one thing we did want to do is enter into some slightly uncomfortable territory in the sense that when you’re someone as media savvy and experienced as all of our interview subjects, you can end up being this kind of doll with a string in your back where you say the same thing nine hundred times and you’re bored of it and your eyes go dead while you’re talking about it.
And what we thought is if they’re being interviewed long form by a fake NPR stop-motion post, they’re likely to be sort of pushed gently off of their talking points and into territory where they might not ordinarily dwell. And we thought that would be interesting. So that was something – we never wanted people to feel attacked or made fun of, but we did want people to feel like they were off of their kind of script. And man, oh man, did people rise to the occasion on that.
Awesome. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me guys. It was really awesome to meet both of you. I’m really excited for this show.
Zach Woods: Thanks. That’s really nice. I love your earrings too. Your whole environment and your earrings are so cool.
They’re preserved flowers.
Zach Woods: Really?
Brandon Gardner: Wow.
Zach Woods: Oh, like those little glass cubes? That’s awesome.
Brandon Gardner: So cool.
More On In The Know
Lauren Caspian is NPR’s third most popular host. He’s a well-meaning, hypocritical nimrod, just like you and me. He’s also a stop-motion puppet. Each episode follows the making of an episode of Lauren’s show In the Know, in which Lauren conducts in-depth interviews with real-world human guests. Lauren collaborates with a diverse crew of NPR staff. They are also puppets and nimrods.
Check back soon for our other In the Know interviews
- Caitlin Reilly and Charlie Bushnell
- J. Smith-Cameron and Carl Tart
Source: Screen Rant Plus
In the Know
- Release Date
- January 25, 2024
- Cast
- Zach Woods , J. Smith-Cameron , Charlie Bushnell , Carl Tart , Mike Judge , Caitlin Reilly
- Seasons
- 1
- Creator(s)
- Zach Woods , Mike Judge , Brandon Gardner
- Writers
- Zach Woods , Mike Judge , Brandon Gardner
- Directors
- Zach Woods , Brandon Gardner
- Showrunner
- Zach Woods , Brandon Gardner
- Where To Watch
- Peacock
