--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm your host John Bickley.
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--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Between two-factor authentication, strong passwords, and a VPN, you try to be in control of how your info is protected. But many other places also have it, and they might not be as careful. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it. Guaranteed or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com slash podcast for 40% off. Terms apply.
--:-- [Music transitions to a brief pause]
--:-- John Bickley: In the mid-90s, comedian Adam Carolla first invented the character of Mr. Burcham, a cantankerous shop teacher whose high school students learn politically incorrect lessons that go far beyond woodworking. Now the character has become the basis for an animated sitcom produced by The Daily Wire and backed by a cast that includes comedy stars Patrick Warburton, Rob Riggle, and Roseanne Barr, among several others.
--:-- [Music transitions to a brief pause]
--:-- John Bickley: In this episode, Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham interviews Carolla about what inspired him to create Mr. Burcham, who influences his comedy, and why now is the perfect time and animation is the perfect medium to revive the character.
--:-- Megan Basham: Adam, thanks so much for joining us.
--:-- Adam Carolla: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, you know, maybe just to start out, I had a little bit of fun digging back into the background of Mr. Burcham and finding some old clips from 1995 when you would appear on the L.A. radio station K-Rock as this character. And then later on Comedy Central's Crank Yankers playing him as a puppet then. So what can you tell us about the germination of Mr. Burcham, wood shop teacher?
--:-- Adam Carolla: He's an amalgamation of all the wood shop, metal shop, plastics, all the shop teachers I had from junior high who were big, scary guys with big forearms and big mustaches. And they hated kids, but they loved the subject. They loved woodworking, they loved metal, but they hated the kids.
--:-- Megan Basham: Okay. So just out of curiosity, how did you come to start calling into K-Rock as this character?
--:-- Adam Carolla: I was working as a boxing coach and I was training Jimmy, the sports guy for an on-air boxing, you know, morning show stunt. And he thought I was funny. And that guy turned out to be Jimmy Kimmel. But at the time, he was just Jimmy the sports guy over at the Kevin and Bean morning show. And he thought I was funny. And he said, come up with a character and I'll give you the phone number and you can call it in.
--:-- Megan Basham: Okay. So Adam, as you're creating this animated series that's targeted more at adults out of this Mr. Burcham character, did you have to contend at all with the cultural changes that we've seen since the mid nineties when you first created him? Did you have to update his personality or the kinds of things he would say, or was that kind of part of the joke that he doesn't change?
--:-- Adam Carolla: He was always a fish out of water. He was always this guy that was kind of set in his ways and didn't understand, you know, the world around him. And the world was different when he was created. But his position in the world was still the same, which is he didn't like the way society was going. He didn't like the way kids were going. He didn't like the direction of where we were heading.
--:-- Megan Basham: You know, the trans movement wasn't a big thing back then. And pronouns had been invented, but they'd just not been, you know, weaponized. And so he pushed back against other things, you know. But the same way that if we make it to season 10, he'll be pushing back against a whole new set of things that we can't even think of right now, 10 years from now.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, you know, when you started out with this character back in the mid 90s and later into the early 2000s, he was essentially on his own. You called in, you did his voice, his personality, even though you did sometimes reference other people in his life, we never heard from or saw them. So what were your priorities as you were filling out Mr. Burcham's world now with a family, coworkers, friends, all of those kind of characters to create a full story here?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Well, even back in the day, he had his dog, Saul Buck, and he had his prize student, Brad Higgins-Staller from the class, and Mr. Sapanze, who was another, you know, we changed some of the names a little bit. He had his wife and his kids and his life did get sort of built out. Mr. Gage, the metal shop teacher was his friend, you know, because when I was doing the character, even back in the day, you know, I wouldn't say I went fishing this weekend alone. I would say I went fishing with Mr. Gage, the metal shop teacher.
--:-- Megan Basham: Okay. So Adam, as you're creating this animated series that's targeted more at adults out of this Mr. Burcham character, did you have to contend at all with the cultural changes that we've seen since the mid nineties when you first created him? Did you have to update his personality or the kinds of things he would say, or was that kind of part of the joke that he doesn't change?
--:-- Adam Carolla: He was always a fish out of water. He was always this guy that was kind of set in his ways and didn't understand, you know, the world around him. And the world was different when he was created. But his position in the world was still the same, which is he didn't like the way society was going. He didn't like the way kids were going. He didn't like the direction of where we were heading.
--:-- Megan Basham: You know, the trans movement wasn't a big thing back then. And pronouns had been invented, but they'd just not been, you know, weaponized. And so he pushed back against other things, you know. But the same way that if we make it to season 10, he'll be pushing back against a whole new set of things that we can't even think of right now, 10 years from now.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, you know, when you started out with this character back in the mid 90s and later into the early 2000s, he was essentially on his own. You called in, you did his voice, his personality, even though you did sometimes reference other people in his life, we never heard from or saw them. So what were your priorities as you were filling out Mr. Burcham's world now with a family, coworkers, friends, all of those kind of characters to create a full story here?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Well, even back in the day, he had his dog, Saul Buck, and he had his prize student, Brad Higgins-Staller from the class, and Mr. Sapanze, who was another, you know, we changed some of the names a little bit. He had his wife and his kids and his life did get sort of built out. Mr. Gage, the metal shop teacher was his friend, you know, because when I was doing the character, even back in the day, you know, I wouldn't say I went fishing this weekend alone. I would say I went fishing with Mr. Gage, the metal shop teacher.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah. I mean, we had to build it out a little bit, but he was a fully kind of formed guy. You know, he taught at Louis Pasteur Middle School in Monrovia initially. You know, he was at a junior high, not a high school. He had his world was kind of built up. And so, yeah, it was pretty fleshed out. Not obviously with the detail it takes to animate a series. But it's why I think this series feels pretty good and pretty comfortable because we didn't have to start from whole cloth. This is like something that had been around for a long time and developed.
--:-- Megan Basham: One of the things that I really enjoyed about this show as I watched a couple of the screeners was that these weren't really just Mr. Burcham Knows Best storylines. Like when you looked at the episode where his son a little bit showed him up by managing to defy all expectations and get a girlfriend from the basement. That was a surprising story twist. So was it important to the comedy to have Bertram get it wrong sometimes?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Yeah, that's, you know, that's the tried and true template for this kind of stuff. You know, the same as it was for Archie Bunker back in the day. You know, he had all his opinions, but he sort of ended up being the butt of the joke. And that's balanced that way. Otherwise, it's never going to work. You can't have a character like Burcham sort of rubbing it in people's faces or being right all the time. You know, he's going to have to learn his lessons along the way as well.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, you know, you bring up Archie Bunker and this show has in many ways, even though it is a different medium as it's animated, that same very classic comedy setup. So what does the animated element bring to sort of the classic sitcom?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Well, it lets you do things that you couldn't really do. I don't know how we would sort of pull off bird man, you know, coming from the heavens, riding a bear and, you know, disappearing back up into the heavens and, you know, sort of flashback fantasy scenes and stuff like, you know it just gives you a little more creative leeway
--:-- Megan Basham: So Adam, as you're creating this animated series that's targeted more at adults out of this Mr. Burcham character, did you have to contend at all with the cultural changes that we've seen since the mid nineties when you first created him? Did you have to update his personality or the kinds of things he would say, or was that kind of part of the joke that he doesn't change?
--:-- Adam Carolla: He was always a fish out of water. He was always this guy that was kind of set in his ways and didn't understand, you know, the world around him. And the world was different when he was created. But his position in the world was still the same, which is he didn't like the way society was going. He didn't like the way kids were going. He didn't like the direction of where we were heading.
--:-- Megan Basham: You know, the trans movement wasn't a big thing back then. And pronouns had been invented, but they'd just not been, you know, weaponized. And so he pushed back against other things, you know. But the same way that if we make it to season 10, he'll be pushing back against a whole new set of things that we can't even think of right now, 10 years from now.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, you know, when you started out with this character back in the mid 90s and later into the early 2000s, he was essentially on his own. You called in, you did his voice, his personality, even though you did sometimes reference other people in his life, we never heard from or saw them. So what were your priorities as you were filling out Mr. Burcham's world now with a family, coworkers, friends, all of those kind of characters to create a full story here?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Well, even back in the day, he had his dog, Saul Buck, and he had his prize student, Brad Higgins-Staller from the class, and Mr. Sapanze, who was another, you know, we changed some of the names a little bit. He had his wife and his kids and his life did get sort of built out. Mr. Gage, the metal shop teacher was his friend, you know, because when I was doing the character, even back in the day, you know, I wouldn't say I went fishing this weekend alone. I would say I went fishing with Mr. Gage, the metal shop teacher.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah. I mean, we had to build it out a little bit, but he was a fully kind of formed guy. You know, he taught at Louis Pasteur Middle School in Monrovia initially. You know, he was at a junior high, not a high school. He had his world was kind of built up. And so, yeah, it was pretty fleshed out. Not obviously with the detail it takes to animate a series. But it's why I think this series feels pretty good and pretty comfortable because we didn't have to start from whole cloth. This is like something that had been around for a long time and developed.
--:-- Megan Basham: One of the things that I really enjoyed about this show as I watched a couple of the screeners was that these weren't really just Mr. Burcham Knows Best storylines. Like when you looked at the episode where his son a little bit showed him up by managing to defy all expectations and get a girlfriend from the basement. That was a surprising story twist. So was it important to the comedy to have Bertram get it wrong sometimes?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Yeah, that's, you know, that's the tried and true template for this kind of stuff. You know, the same as it was for Archie Bunker back in the day. You know, he had all his opinions, but he sort of ended up being the butt of the joke. And that's balanced that way. Otherwise, it's never going to work. You can't have a character like Burcham sort of rubbing it in people's faces or being right all the time. You know, he's going to have to learn his lessons along the way as well.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, you know, you bring up Archie Bunker and this show has in many ways, even though it is a different medium as it's animated, that same very classic comedy setup. So what does the animated element bring to sort of the classic sitcom?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Well, it lets you do things that you couldn't really do. I don't know how we would sort of pull off bird man, you know, coming from the heavens, riding a bear and, you know, disappearing back up into the heavens and, you know, sort of flashback fantasy scenes and stuff like, you know it just gives you a little more creative leeway
--:-- Megan Basham: So Adam, as you're creating this animated series that's targeted more at adults out of this Mr. Burcham character, did you have to contend at all with the cultural changes that we've seen since the mid nineties when you first created him? Did you have to update his personality or the kinds of things he would say, or was that kind of part of the joke that he doesn't change?
--:-- Adam Carolla: He was always a fish out of water. He was always this guy that was kind of set in his ways and didn't understand, you know, the world around him. And the world was different when he was created. But his position in the world was still the same, which is he didn't like the way society was going. He didn't like the way kids were going. He didn't like the direction of where we were heading.
--:-- Megan Basham: You know, the trans movement wasn't a big thing back then. And pronouns had been invented, but they'd just not been, you know, weaponized. And so he pushed back against other things, you know. But the same way that if we make it to season 10, he'll be pushing back against a whole new set of things that we can't even think of right now, 10 years from now.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, you know, when you started out with this character back in the mid 90s and later into the early 2000s, he was essentially on his own. You called in, you did his voice, his personality, even though you did sometimes reference other people in his life, we never heard from or saw them. So what were your priorities as you were filling out Mr. Burcham's world now with a family, coworkers, friends, all of those kind of characters to create a full story here?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Well, even back in the day, he had his dog, Saul Buck, and he had his prize student, Brad Higgins-Staller from the class, and Mr. Sapanze, who was another, you know, we changed some of the names a little bit. He had his wife and his kids and his life did get sort of built out. Mr. Gage, the metal shop teacher was his friend, you know, because when I was doing the character, even back in the day, you know, I wouldn't say I went fishing this weekend alone. I would say I went fishing with Mr. Gage, the metal shop teacher.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah. I mean, we had to build it out a little bit, but he was a fully kind of formed guy. You know, he taught at Louis Pasteur Middle School in Monrovia initially. You know, he was at a junior high, not a high school. He had his world was kind of built up. And so, yeah, it was pretty fleshed out. Not obviously with the detail it takes to animate a series. But it's why I think this series feels pretty good and pretty comfortable because we didn't have to start from whole cloth. This is like something that had been around for a long time and developed.
--:-- Megan Basham: One of the things that I really enjoyed about this show as I watched a couple of the screeners was that these weren't really just Mr. Burcham Knows Best storylines. Like when you looked at the episode where his son a little bit showed him up by managing to defy all expectations and get a girlfriend from the basement. That was a surprising story twist. So was it important to the comedy to have Bertram get it wrong sometimes?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Yeah, that's, you know, that's the tried and true template for this kind of stuff. You know, the same as it was for Archie Bunker back in the day. You know, he had all his opinions, but he sort of ended up being the butt of the joke. And that's balanced that way. Otherwise, it's never going to work. You can't have a character like Burcham sort of rubbing it in people's faces or being right all the time. You know, he's going to have to learn his lessons along the way as well.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, you know, you bring up Archie Bunker and this show has in many ways, even though it is a different medium as it's animated, that same very classic comedy setup. So what does the animated element bring to sort of the classic sitcom?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Well, it lets you do things that you couldn't really do. I don't know how we would sort of pull off bird man, you know, coming from the heavens, riding a bear and, you know, disappearing back up into the heavens and, you know, sort of flashback fantasy scenes and stuff like, you know it just gives you a little more creative leeway
--:-- Megan Basham: So Adam, as you're creating this animated series that's targeted more at adults out of this Mr. Burcham character, did you have to contend at all with the cultural changes that we've seen since the mid nineties when you first created him? Did you have to update his personality or the kinds of things he would say, or was that kind of part of the joke that he doesn't change?
--:-- Adam Carolla: He was always a fish out of water. He was always this guy that was kind of set in his ways and didn't understand, you know, the world around him. And the world was different when he was created. But his position in the world was still the same, which is he didn't like the way society was going. He didn't like the way kids were going. He didn't like the direction of where we were heading.
--:-- Megan Basham: You know, the trans movement wasn't a big thing back then. And pronouns had been invented, but they'd just not been, you know, weaponized. And so he pushed back against other things, you know. But the same way that if we make it to season 10, he'll be pushing back against a whole new set of things that we can't even think of right now, 10 years from now.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, you know, when you started out with this character back in the mid 90s and later into the early 2000s, he was essentially on his own. You called in, you did his voice, his personality, even though you did sometimes reference other people in his life, we never heard from or saw them. So what were your priorities as you were filling out Mr. Burcham's world now with a family, coworkers, friends, all of those kind of characters to create a full story here?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Well, even back in the day, he had his dog, Saul Buck, and he had his prize student, Brad Higgins-Staller from the class, and Mr. Sapanze, who was another, you know, we changed some of the names a little bit. He had his wife and his kids and his life did get sort of built out. Mr. Gage, the metal shop teacher was his friend, you know, because when I was doing the character, even back in the day, you know, I wouldn't say I went fishing this weekend alone. I would say I went fishing with Mr. Gage, the metal shop teacher.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah. I mean, we had to build it out a little bit, but he was a fully kind of formed guy. You know, he taught at Louis Pasteur Middle School in Monrovia initially. You know, he was at a junior high, not a high school. He had his world was kind of built up. And so, yeah, it was pretty fleshed out. Not obviously with the detail it takes to animate a series. But it's why I think this series feels pretty good and pretty comfortable because we didn't have to start from whole cloth. This is like something that had been around for a long time and developed.
--:-- Megan Basham: One of the things that I really enjoyed about this show as I watched a couple of the screeners was that these weren't really just Mr. Burcham Knows Best storylines. Like when you looked at the episode where his son a little bit showed him up by managing to defy all expectations and get a girlfriend from the basement. That was a surprising story twist. So was it important to the comedy to have Bertram get it wrong sometimes?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Yeah, that's, you know, that's the tried and true template for this kind of stuff. You know, the same as it was for Archie Bunker back in the day. You know, he had all his opinions, but he sort of ended up being the butt of the joke. And that's balanced that way. Otherwise, it's never going to work. You can't have a character like Burcham sort of rubbing it in people's faces or being right all the time. You know, he's going to have to learn his lessons along the way as well.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, you know, you bring up Archie Bunker and this show has in many ways, even though it is a different medium as it's animated, that same very classic comedy setup. So what does the animated element bring to sort of the classic sitcom?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Well, it lets you do things that you couldn't really do. I don't know how we would sort of pull off bird man, you know, coming from the heavens, riding a bear and, you know, disappearing back up into the heavens and, you know, sort of flashback fantasy scenes and stuff like, you know it just gives you a little more creative leeway
--:-- Megan Basham: So Adam, as you're creating this animated series that's targeted more at adults out of this Mr. Burcham character, did you have to contend at all with the cultural changes that we've seen since the mid nineties when you first created him? Did you have to update his personality or the kinds of things he would say, or was that kind of part of the joke that he doesn't change?
--:-- Adam Carolla: He was always a fish out of water. He was always this guy that was kind of set in his ways and didn't understand, you know, the world around him. And the world was different when he was created. But his position in the world was still the same, which is he didn't like the way society was going. He didn't like the way kids were going. He didn't like the direction of where we were heading.
--:-- Megan Basham: You know, the trans movement wasn't a big thing back then. And pronouns had been invented, but they'd just not been, you know, weaponized. And so he pushed back against other things, you know. But the same way that if we make it to season 10, he'll be pushing back against a whole new set of things that we can't even think of right now, 10 years from now.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, you know, when you started out with this character back in the mid 90s and later into the early 2000s, he was essentially on his own. You called in, you did his voice, his personality, even though you did sometimes reference other people in his life, we never heard from or saw them. So what were your priorities as you were filling out Mr. Burcham's world now with a family, coworkers, friends, all of those kind of characters to create a full story here?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Well, even back in the day, he had his dog, Saul Buck, and he had his prize student, Brad Higgins-Staller from the class, and Mr. Sapanze, who was another, you know, we changed some of the names a little bit. He had his wife and his kids and his life did get sort of built out. Mr. Gage, the metal shop teacher was his friend, you know, because when I was doing the character, even back in the day, you know, I wouldn't say I went fishing this weekend alone. I would say I went fishing with Mr. Gage, the metal shop teacher.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah. I mean, we had to build it out a little bit, but he was a fully kind of formed guy. You know, he taught at Louis Pasteur Middle School in Monrovia initially. You know, he was at a junior high, not a high school. He had his world was kind of built up. And so, yeah, it was pretty fleshed out. Not obviously with the detail it takes to animate a series. But it's why I think this series feels pretty good and pretty comfortable because we didn't have to start from whole cloth. This is like something that had been around for a long time and developed.
--:-- Megan Basham: One of the things that I really enjoyed about this show as I watched a couple of the screeners was that these weren't really just Mr. Burcham Knows Best storylines. Like when you looked at the episode where his son a little bit showed him up by managing to defy all expectations and get a girlfriend from the basement. That was a surprising story twist. So was it important to the comedy to have Bertram get it wrong sometimes?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Yeah, that's, you know, that's the tried and true template for this kind of stuff. You know, the same as it was for Archie Bunker back in the day. You know, he had all his opinions, but he sort of ended up being the butt of the joke. And that's balanced that way. Otherwise, it's never going to work. You can't have a character like Burcham sort of rubbing it in people's faces or being right all the time. You know, he's going to have to learn his lessons along the way as well.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, you know, you bring up Archie Bunker and this show has in many ways, even though it is a different medium as it's animated, that same very classic comedy setup. So what does the animated element bring to sort of the classic sitcom?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Well, it lets you do things that you couldn't really do. I don't know how we would sort of pull off bird man, you know, coming from the heavens, riding a bear and, you know, disappearing back up into the heavens and, you know, sort of flashback fantasy scenes and stuff like, you know it just gives you a little more creative leeway
--:-- Megan Basham: So Adam, as you're creating this animated series that's targeted more at adults out of this Mr. Burcham character, did you have to contend at all with the cultural changes that we've seen since the mid nineties when you first created him? Did you have to update his personality or the kinds of things he would say, or was that kind of part of the joke that he doesn't change?
--:-- Adam Carolla: He was always a fish out of water. He was always this guy that was kind of set in his ways and didn't understand, you know, the world around him. And the world was different when he was created. But his position in the world was still the same, which is he didn't like the way society was going. He didn't like the way kids were going. He didn't like the direction of where we were heading.
--:-- Megan Basham: You know, the trans movement wasn't a big thing back then. And pronouns had been invented, but they'd just not been, you know, weaponized. And so he pushed back against other things, you know. But the same way that if we make it to season 10, he'll be pushing back against a whole new set of things that we can't even think of right now, 10 years from now.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, you know, when you started out with this character back in the mid 90s and later into the early 2000s, he was essentially on his own. You called in, you did his voice, his personality, even though you did sometimes reference other people in his life, we never heard from or saw them. So what were your priorities as you were filling out Mr. Burcham's world now with a family, coworkers, friends, all of those kind of characters to create a full story here?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Well, even back in the day, he had his dog, Saul Buck, and he had his prize student, Brad Higgins-Staller from the class, and Mr. Sapanze, who was another, you know, we changed some of the names a little bit. He had his wife and his kids and his life did get sort of built out. Mr. Gage, the metal shop teacher was his friend, you know, because when I was doing the character, even back in the day, you know, I wouldn't say I went fishing this weekend alone. I would say I went fishing with Mr. Gage, the metal shop teacher.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah. I mean, we had to build it out a little bit, but he was a fully kind of formed guy. You know, he taught at Louis Pasteur Middle School in Monrovia initially. You know, he was at a junior high, not a high school. He had his world was kind of built up. And so, yeah, it was pretty fleshed out. Not obviously with the detail it takes to animate a series. But it's why I think this series feels pretty good and pretty comfortable because we didn't have to start from whole cloth. This is like something that had been around for a long time and developed.
--:-- Megan Basham: One of the things that I really enjoyed about this show as I watched a couple of the screeners was that these weren't really just Mr. Burcham Knows Best storylines. Like when you looked at the episode where his son a little bit showed him up by managing to defy all expectations and get a girlfriend from the basement. That was a surprising story twist. So was it important to the comedy to have Bertram get it wrong sometimes?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Yeah, that's, you know, that's the tried and true template for this kind of stuff. You know, the same as it was for Archie Bunker back in the day. You know, he had all his opinions, but he sort of ended up being the butt of the joke. And that's balanced that way. Otherwise, it's never going to work. You can't have a character like Burcham sort of rubbing it in people's faces or being right all the time. You know, he's going to have to learn his lessons along the way as well.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, you know, you bring up Archie Bunker and this show has in many ways, even though it is a different medium as it's animated, that same very classic comedy setup. So what does the animated element bring to sort of the classic sitcom?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Well, it lets you do things that you couldn't really do. I don't know how we would sort of pull off bird man, you know, coming from the heavens, riding a bear and, you know, disappearing back up into the heavens and, you know, sort of flashback fantasy scenes and stuff like, you know it just gives you a little more creative leeway
--:-- Megan Basham: So Adam, as you're creating this animated series that's targeted more at adults out of this Mr. Burcham character, did you have to contend at all with the cultural changes that we've seen since the mid nineties when you first created him? Did you have to update his personality or the kinds of things he would say, or was that kind of part of the joke that he doesn't change?
--:-- Adam Carolla: He was always a fish out of water. He was always this guy that was kind of set in his ways and didn't understand, you know, the world around him. And the world was different when he was created. But his position in the world was still the same, which is he didn't like the way society was going. He didn't like the way kids were going. He didn't like the direction of where we were heading.
--:-- Megan Basham: You know, the trans movement wasn't a big thing back then. And pronouns had been invented, but they'd just not been, you know, weaponized. And so he pushed back against other things, you know. But the same way that if we make it to season 10, he'll be pushing back against a whole new set of things that we can't even think of right now, 10 years from now.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, you know, when you started out with this character back in the mid 90s and later into the early 2000s, he was essentially on his own. You called in, you did his voice, his personality, even though you did sometimes reference other people in his life, we never heard from or saw them. So what were your priorities as you were filling out Mr. Burcham's world now with a family, coworkers, friends, all of those kind of characters to create a full story here?
--:-- Adam Carolla: Well, even back in the day, he had his dog, Saul Buck, and he had his prize student, Brad Higgins-Staller from the class, and Mr. Sapanze, who was another, you know, we changed some of the names a little bit. He had his wife and his kids and his life did get sort of built out. Mr. Gage, the metal shop teacher was his friend, you know, because when I was doing the character, even back in the day, you know, I wouldn't say I went fishing this weekend alone. I would say I went fishing with Mr. Gage, the metal shop teacher.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah. I mean, we had to build it out a little bit, but he was a fully kind of formed guy. You know, he taught at Louis Pasteur Middle School in Monrovia initially. You know, he was at a junior high, not a high school. He had his world was kind of built up. And so, yeah, it was pretty fleshed out. Not obviously with the detail it takes to animate a series. But it's why I think this series feels pretty good and pretty comfortable because we didn't have to start from whole cloth. This is like something that had been around for a long time and developed.
--:-- Megan Basham: One of the things that I really enjoyed about this show as I watched a couple of the screeners was that these weren't really just Mr. Burcham Knows Best storylines. Like when you looked at the episode where his son a little bit showed him up by managing to defy all expectations and get a girlfriend from the basement. That was a surprising story
