If you grew up on the cyberspace , Homestar Runner represents a time when the worldly concern panoptic entanglement felt a piddling snatch small . It was hilariously sarcastic , but unlike the residuum of the Flash landscape in the early 2000s , Homestar was never hateful or meretricious .
Matt and Mike Chapman spent a puerility cutting up Super 8 tape , writing amateur comic book , and assimilate every nugget of disposable pop acculturation they could get their hands on . days later , they would distill their captivation with the fringe edges of Americana into their very own online cartoon show . Homestar Runner is a office of softheaded public access television , tortuous parallel creation , and miles - inscrutable references to athletics , medicine , television games , and everything else they have intercourse . The Chapmans may have chided the stupidity of cultural debris , but they still enjoy it .
Today , we carry infinity in our air pocket and bounce selfies off of satellites . But , in the early 2000s , there was something kind of remote about a homemade Flash animation internet site . The internet still felt up like a secret , and in a consequence where it ’s hard to feel hopeful about the internet flow through humanity ’s nervure , returning to Homestar Runner pop the question a shred of optimism .
In late years , Matt and Mike Chapman parlayed the legacy of Homestar Runner into a number of rewarding ( and lucrative ) job at Nickelodeon and Disney Channel , making television shows like Yo Gabba Gabba ! , Gravity Falls , and most recently , Two More Eggs . The era of the hebdomadal Strong defective e-mail is in the past , but the brothers still make sentence to update the site when their busy lifetime afford them the prison term . We call up the Chapmans , and asked them to tell us the narrative of Homestar Runner from start to finish .
A Foundation of Snark
The Chapmans ’ pass their former days hear how to make fun of things and amassing decades of pop music refinement reference in a very short time .
Mike Chapman : We were the immature of five kids . We grew up in the ‘ LXXX and I opine a band of our humor sort of develop from film some terrible Atlanta commercial and exaggerating part of it , and reiterate it 5,000 times to make a laugh . It was n’t something funny , but the five of us made it funny .
Matt Chapman : We had the collective noesis of four other sibling , like popping civilisation knowledge including the ‘ 60s and ‘ 70s . So from early on we had stuff . I set forth watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 from a young age , and I would get jape because I ’d be like , “ Oh my buddy has been say that since I was a little kid ! I eff it ’s from some previous bubble gum commercial message that is n’t around any longer ! ”
Mike : Our honest-to-god brother Donny taught us how to be snarky , before we even knew what it signify or how to use that case of humor . I remember him watching The Love Boat just to make fun of it . He did not like The Love Boat at all . He would just sit there and scold on everybody the whole time . He thought it was uproarious . He had this kidskin ’s book call The Daddy Book , a very ‘ 70s kid ’s video Quran , and it was just a nice book about different dad . “ Dads , they ’re all different ! They do different things ! They look dissimilar ! ” And he would go through it and add his own comment , where the dads would do atrocious things to the kids , and it was really awesome . I mean , that ’s like straight - up a Strong Bad move .
Mike : When the five of us get together we ’re gon na cite some slow commercial from 30 or 40 years ago . I find like as a big family , it ’s almost like a defence chemical mechanism . It makes you cling together and bind more . “ Look at that sorry guy sell used cars ! We ’re all best off than that hombre ! ” Or there ’s some kid who say something in 1983 that we continue to repeat to this 24-hour interval that would mean nothing to anyone else . I do n’t hump why we felt so threatened at the metre . on the face of it , we had to put on this weird harsh outside .
Matt : We ’ve tempered it as we ’ve gotten older , but it ’s probably always been in us to sorta assume everything is gon na suck .
From Kid’s Book to Cartoon
The Chapmans make up one’s mind to generator a tongue - in - cheek homemade children ’s book call Homestar Runner as a goof between friends .
Mike : The whole affair add up from our friend Jamie who , again , was mimicking a local awful Atlanta grocery store storage commercial with one of the Braves in it . He suppose , like “ Homestar base runner for the Braves Mike Lemke ! ” And Matt and I laughed like , “ what the hell is a homestar offset ? ” That was probably in 1995 or something , the set phrase was just bouncing around in our head because we believe it was hilarious . One day Craig [ Craig Zobel , filmmaker and champion of The Brothers Chaps ] and I went to the bookstall because we were world-weary and we were just looking at Thomas Kid ’s book and were like , “ have ’s make a kid ’s book . ”
Matt : It was like “ hey , rent ’s make one of these ! attend at these eldritch kid ’s books ! child ’s Holy Scripture are terrible ! Let ’s make our own fearsome kid ’s books ! ”
Mike : We make up one’s mind to just use Homestar Runner . We made that his name , and then we drew all the character that mean solar day . In that one day , we come up with Homestar , and Pom Pom , and Strong Bad , and The Cheat , and Strong Mad . They were all create in a roughly two - hour period . The characters had n’t existed in our head for a retentive metre , and while they ’ve changed a chip since then , they were all stomach at once .
Mike : We did n’t want to publish it . We just made it for ourselves . We probably publish five or 10 copies and give it to our admirer . It was n’t like “ our Bob Hope and dreams depend on Homestar Runner ! ” But our dad actually institutionalize it out to like 80 publishers without us knowing , and I recall being pissed at him when I found out . I mean he get under one’s skin a span rejection letters . A duad old age pass without us doing anything with Homestar when we were in college , so it was n’t until we started making web cartoons and determine Flash that thing took off .
Matt : We were just trying to study Flash using those characters . Once we had enough stuff and nonsense we were like “ we should put this on a website or whatever . ”
Mike : We had Flash tutorial Good Book and I dropped out of grad shoal for picture taking and was like , “ I get ta learn this web excogitation stuff man ! I mean , it ’s on the web ! ”
Matt : I think we intended the cartoon to be similar to former Cartoon internet , like Dexter ’s Laboratory or Power Puff Girls . Like , those were kid ’s toon but anyone could delight them . Very too soon on , in like 2000 or something , we pitched that version of Homestar Runner where it ’s like , “ every episode there ’s a new challenger ! And Strong Bad ’s the unsound cat and Homestar ’s the good hombre ! ” They passed on that , and we were like “ well , get ’s keep doing this ! ” The next cartoon were like , “ would n’t it be funny if we made this be about the moments in between the competitions ? ” And so that was the poppycock that was funnier , the stuff happening between the plot of ground distributor point , which is screaming because we had n’t even established a routine of get sketch about contest , we ’d made like one .
Mike : A lot of the world - build stuff happen quickly , like the old - timey 1936 adaptation of the characters pass within the first three or four months . We had made like one or two cartoons and were like “ we should do quondam - timey versions ! ” and soon after that , we were like “ we should make anime versions ! ” The macrocosm start out build up from the get - go .
A Home Run
Without any advertising or packaging , Homestar Runner started to capture on through stark word of oral fissure , and Matt and Mike Chapman notice themselves with really unique full - time job .
Mike : We started selling our first shirt in 2001 . There was n’t huge demand or anything . I would n’t say it had enamour on yet .
Matt : I was living in New York at the clip and I recall Mike send me a picture of himself in our shirt , I was very covetous .
Mike : For the first shirt we had , you needed to place a check to our parent ’s house . So we sold a few XII shirt by stoppage only . Our pappa was our accountant , so he startle reviewing all that stuff . It was n’t anything we intend to do full clock time .
Mike : I had a Cartoon internet calendar , and I retain our traffic stats in it . This was early on because before long after we stopped looking at our stats all because we did n’t want that to dissemble how we made stuff or what we did . But I write down how many new visitor we obtain each day , and I remember hitting 1,000 visitant in a daylight sometime in 2001 or 2002 .
Matt : We start doing a weekly cartoon when I move back from New York . That ’s when we first made Strong Bad Emails . I have to thank Earthlink Corporation for funding a year of Strong Bad Emails . I would n’t really work on them at body of work , but I ’d add up into work after having stayed up all night making Strong Bad Emails on a Sunday night . The fact that I was allowed to go into workplace at 11 am instead of 9 am definitely contributed to the upgrade of Homestar .
Matt : Once we started getting raging email when we were lately baffle a Modern animated cartoon up , I think it hit us that folks were counting on new hooey from us . That ’s a nerveless feeling to have sex you ’re as important as a loving cup of coffee or morning crossword puzzle to some folk . And then by all odds when we receive our first wedding party / dating stories from people that bonded over our cartoons or meet because of them and put a Homestar and Marzipan on their marriage ceremony cake . That ’s haywire ! Makes me feel like I should e-mail the ghost of Paul Newman and tell him that my wife and I bonded over Cool Hand Luke !
Mike : In 2003 , our dad told Matt to quit his job and do Homestar full - prison term . This is our financially conservative dad , tell us to quit our problem to make Flash cartoons .
Matt : Mike and I would collaborate together all the meter when we were child , and when were home for Christmas interruption we ’d always end up make something together , so doing Homestar full - time was really fun – but I remember friends saying “ can we come in over when you make a cartoon ? ” And we would be like “ okay , ” and we ’d have a twain beer while we brainstorm an idea , and then it ’s like “ okay , Mike and I are move to put on headphone for 18 minute now and you ’re not run to talk to us any longer until we ’re done . ” It was super merriment , but it could also be hard work , which is also why once we had children and wife it made it a little heavily to pull all - nighters and not sleep for three day to make a cartoon .
Matt : The Homestar book of facts in the Buffy and Angel stopping point forever ago were huge . And there was this mental picture of Joss Whedon in a Strong Bad shirt from around that time that someone commit us that we could n’t believe . Years later , a photograph of Geddy Lee from Rush fall apart a Strong Bad hat on stage disperse which similarly freaked us out . We have no idea if he know what Strong Bad was , but our dull animal character was on his head while he probably shredded ‘ Working Man ’ so I ’ll take it !
Matt : I have no idea when our peak was viewership - judicious , but 2002 - 2005 was definitely when we got to go the most nuts creatively . We expand into weird live action and marionette stuff , CD ’s , DVD ’s , video game , toys , all kindsa disturbed ambition - come - true poppycock we never thought we ’d get to do . But , for me , if you want a more precise moment , I would say February of 2004 , when on the same day we received a demo of a song that John Linnell from They Might Be Giants put down for a Strong Bad Email and a full - size of it working Tom Servo puppet from Jim Mallon from Mystery Science Theater 3000 . I think of specifically consider , “ It ’s okay if no one watches another Homestar Runner sketch or buy another t - shirt now , because today take place . ”
“…Never a Real Business Plan.”
By 2010 , Matt and Mike were both wed with kids and were look for other Job in the television industriousness . They ’ve had a bridge player in a number of acclaimed kid ’s display like Yo Gabba Gabba ! Gravity Falls , The Aquabats Super Show , and Wander Over Yonder . Unfortunately , this did n’t lead a lot of fourth dimension for Homestar Runner .
Mike : We always knew our business concern fashion model was temporary . Everyday it was like , “ We ’re on borrow time here , there ’s just no path to make a living off of this , because it ’s unsustainable . ” We did n’t require to start selling ads , and this was before the era of Kickstarter or Patreon and other ways of creative person monetizing directly from their interview . We were just like , “ Let ’s just do it this way , rather than judge to change our business plan , ” which was never a real business plan . Our mindset was , “ We ’re lucky to make money off this in the first home , and if it ’s no longer making enough money to not have other jobs , we ’ll not worry about it and get another job . ” We did n’t to be one of those things that started selling east - card or whatever .
Mike : There [ were ] definitely people who bought right smart more shirts than they had any business organization buying , and it ’s great that the great unwashed feel that path without us having to be like,“Hey Guy , we ’re have a pledge drive . ” It ’s just a forked - adjoin steel . Homestar needed to be supported somehow , but you never wanted to come out and say,“Hey , remember the only manner we ’re capable to do this is if you buy a shirt , so bribe a shirt ! ” We ’ve always been uncomfortable with that . Our dad suggested adding a push button to the end of the cartoons that said “ Buy a shirt with Strong Bad on it ! ” And we were like “ No , pop ! That ’s so lame ! ”
Matt : We have a property in Homestar called Cheat Commandos , which is essentially make play of sure-enough G.I. Joe cartoons . We eventually made Cheat Commandos toy dog and we would n’t even put an ad for the toy dog in the cartoon . That ’s like , part of the jape , why did n’t we just do that and make some money ? Like there was someone who told me recently that their favorite affair we ever did was Cheat Commandos , and they had no idea we ’d even made toy ! Probably a missed opportunity there ! If anything we might ’ve call for our punk rock status too far .
Mike : We went on hiatus after Matt had his second girl . Around that prison term we knew we were going to have to start looking for other job , and we really just did n’t know how long it ’d be before we could get back to Homestar . Maybe one calendar month , two months , six months . After a certain point it almost became weird to say something about the respite . In retrospect , we probably could ’ve care it a little better , but we just did n’t hump .
Matt : We did n’t want to think it either . I did n’t want to come out and say “ hey we ’re not doing this anymore for a while , ” because that sucks ! I want to be like “ yeah we ’re gon na make one this week ! I swear ! We ’ll have time this calendar week to make a new Strong Bad Email ! ” I lie with we plausibly cadge masses out or lost some citizenry ’s respect for not enounce anything , but we also want the land site to be focused on the characters , so it would ’ve feel like pulling back the curtain too far to suddenly be like “ Hey ! We ’ve got kids ! And it ’s concentrated ! ” It did n’t seem deserving it to be like , “ We wrote the Yo Gabba Gabba ! Christmas special ! That ’s why we ’re taking a hiatus ! ”
Mike : There was also some originative burnout too . We had been doing it for 10 years and we probably stuck to that hebdomadal docket a slight more strictly than we call for to , so we needed a break . It was definitely a slog sometimes . Like Saturday you ’re at a protagonist ’s house and it slowly get across on you that “ ah shit , we do n’t have an idea for a cartoon . ” Even during the hiatus I ’d feel weird on the weekend because for 10 years there was this swarm tower over me that I had 20 hours direct of posture in front of a computer bleary - eyed on Sunday night .
Done Running
On April 1 , 2014 , a fresh Homestar Runner cartoon was posted to the site . A few months after , Matt Chapman foretell programme to continue the series , and since then they ’ve done novel Homestar content every couple of month . the right way now the buddy are living it Atlanta again , act side by side on the Disney XD show Two More ballock .
Mike : When we madethe April Fool ’s cartoonit had been about four years since we put anything on the internet site . Matt had move to Los Angeles three years before to process on Gravity Falls and some other Disney poppycock . I think he ’d just decide that he was moving back to Atlanta , and we know Homestar was kick the bucket to make sense for us . The jocularity of that toon was Homestar finally updating his web site , which is all dusty and unattended . The process was n’t quite the same because we were n’t living together , but we pulled an all - nighter for the next one we did . Well , an all - nighter for us now imply like stay put up til 1 am .
https://gizmodo.com/strong-bad-returns-to-emailing-after-years-of-silence-1695095297
Matt : We really had no idea how many multitude would like or arrest back in if we made something young . It was a little scary tiptoe back into things which is why we made it an April Fool ’s cartoon . If nobody cared or everybody hated it , we could just say , “ that was part of the jocularity ! See ya in another 10 years ! ” and disappear . Fortunately , we did n’t have to do that . And even though we ’ve only been able to make a few cartoons every twelvemonth since , multitude still seem really psyched when we are able to update . cool lover ever , humans .
Mike : It ’s kind of risible how much it find the same when we make Homestar cartoon today . for I ’m still sit across my buddy with my earphone on , working for 12 hours , putting it up in the other morning , and maybe stopping at Waffle House on the mode home .
Matt : We are always amazed that we were able to wriggle our way of life into a petite , poorly animated corner of democratic culture . We of late did a couple Homestar 20th day of remembrance live display here in Atlanta and the response was crowing and farther reaching than we could ’ve suppose . A father and son came all the agency from Anchorage just to see the show . That flub our thinker and made us want to pay off for their airfare .
Mike : It was always a very rummy originative vision . It ’s moderately much just the two of us , and there ’s never a moment where one of us writes something and the other one does n’t agree . Any prank is something either one of us could ’ve written . It ’s passably crazy that we have four or five hundred toon that are all largely tied together , and it ’s nuts that 20 class since making that initial book I ’m still talking about it .
Matt : We ’ve matte up so many times over the years that we are exceedingly golden , that it ca n’t get any better , that no matter what else we do , we did this one minuscule affair that mattered to some people for a while . Is that a good epitaph , “ He did this one little thing that mattered to some people for a while ? ” We always say that we could get jobs making sinker at a grocery stock bakery and be totally felicitous for the rest of our lives since we got to do Homestar . And now we ’ve been saying that for over a decade .
Mike : We do Two More Eggs with the precise same cognitive process . We do one sketch a week . We think of it , spell it , animate it , and it ’s done pretty quickly . I get the same weekly flavour of atonement and attainment . Some of the other projects we ’ve done force you to recall about the same thing for a calendar month , and my head just does n’t work that mode .
Matt : It ’s great to be back working in the same room with my brother , surrounded by the weird dust we hang on our walls , flanked by the wood - paneled television from the basement of our puerility home and a rampart of outdated telecasting game and electronics . A few weeks ago we get to spend all day 3D print a phony action number and filling it with beef stroganoff for the Walt Disney company . Once you polish off that point , I do n’t think you ’re allow to complain ever again .
Luke Winkie is a writer and former pizza God Almighty from San Diego and living in Austin , Texas . He pen about medicine , picture games , professional wrestling , and whatever else interests him . you could find him on Twitter@luke_winkie .
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