Mutilator, 1991.

In my previous entry I wrote about the seeds of inspiration that produced a random sketch that would later evolve into a TV series.  But getting there wasn’t easy.  I already had my foot in the door at MTV, thanks to a couple of animated shorts I did, featuring a character called “The Mutilator.”  Part Mad Max, part samurai warrior, Mutilator was a post-apocalyptic bad–ass just trying to survive in a violent, dangerous world.  The crudely hand-drawn films were making the rounds in Spike and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation and eventually landed on the desk of an MTV executive.   At the time MTV Animation was in its infancy and hungry for original content.  They were developing Beavis and Butt-head (another Spike and Mike alum) into a weekly series and the thinking was that “The Mutilator” would become their favorite show (similar to what “Itchy and Scratchy” were to the Simpsons).

Stop motion animation can be back-breaking work.

Convincing an MTV exec to greenlight a couple of Celebrity Deathmatch shorts seemed like a herculean task.  Turns out that would become the first of many battles to get “Celebrity Deathmatch: The Series” on the air.

It was the Fall of 1997 and we were hard at work on the third of three Deathmatch shorts – Howard stern Vs. Kathy Lee Gifford.  By “we” I’m talking about myself and one other animator, Greg Pair, handling the all of the stop motion duties.  We worked out of 1633 Broadway, home of MTV Animation and puppets were being fabricated up the street by Karl Paolino Studios.   To say that the puppets were of an inferior quality would be an understatement.  They were fabricated using cheap foam latex that was filled with air bubbles and wire armatures that broke constantly.  In addition, the puppets had unusually long “gorilla” arms that were off model and looked nothing short of ridiculous.  But we made do with what we had, happy to finally bring our “clay boxing show” to life and often working late into the night to make our deadlines. 

Just some of the comic books I drew as a kid.

I’ve been animating professionally for over 20 years.  Privately, I started animating way before that…but only in my head.  See, growing up I didn’t have a camera, or a light table or a projector.  I also had very little formal art training.  But I did have a rich imagination and a seemingly unlimited supply of note pads.  Oh, yes and colored pencils.  Lots of those.  But most importantly, I had stories to tell.

I was a latch-key kid whose parents both worked and every day starting when I was in third grade, I’d come home and start drawing.  While other kids played outside, I was happy to remain sequestered at my drafting table in my little bedroom in Long Beach, NY.  I logged many hours in that room and it was there that I drew my stories.  This was mostly sci-fi- action/adventure stuff -- some with heavy titles like Beyond the Conscious Mind, New Dimensions and Vortex (all written when I was about seven years old) and others inspired by movies like Tron and Buckaroo Banzai.

The beautiful thing about inspiration is that you never know when it’s going to hit.  Case in point – it’s 1989 and I’m working in the equipment checkout room at NYU’s Tisch School of The Arts.  The room is located in the “basement” of Tish, at 721 Broadway, and it’s where student filmmakers go to borrow the cameras, lights and all the grip stands they’ll need to make their films.

If you work in the basement, you will inevitably encounter the film student who believes that he or she is about to embark on a cinematic journey which will result in the production of a film that is no less impactful than Lawrence of Arabia.  They will approach the check-out counter waving around a sort of arrogance that is normally reserved for royalty while their crew scrambles around them like peasants.  This budding filmmaker, high on the power that comes with being a director, expects that his film is going to be a masterpiece and that his film equipment should nothing short of pristine.

Howard Stern, who at the time was in a real life feud with morning talk show host Kathie Lee Gifford, was tickled by our clay-animated version.  He described the battle blow by blow on his national radio show as it played in the background: “So I defeat Kathie Lee Gifford by farting…and there’s green noxious fumes coming out of my ass, and she melts down.  So it was pretty good.” 

Jennifer Lopez vs. Dolly Parton

“Has a celebrity ever come after you for making fun of them?”

Over the years this has been one of the most frequently asked questions put to me, regarding Celebrity Deathmatch.  I am happy to report that there has never been a lawsuit filed by a celebrity against me or MTV Networks -- at least none that I’m aware of.  That’s not to say that a few celebs weren’t a little pissed off from time to time.

Still frame from "Mutilator."

Before “The Head,” “Celebrity Deathmatch” or “Glenn Martin, DDS” I had no idea I would grow up to become a working animator.  But I knew animation was something I had to try.  Growing up, I was a latch key kid, often coming home to an empty house after school.  My babysitters’ names were Popeye, Tom, Jerry, Bugs and Daffy. I was literally raised on those old school cartoons with their over the top slapstick violence and impeccable timing.   They would leave an indelible mark on me.

Question: What are some of the positive responses from celebrities who got skewered on the Celebrity Deathmatch?

As Celebrity Deathmatch grew in popularity, it became en vogue for stars to be parodied on the show. Whether they were up and coming “flash in the pan” type celebs or bona fide Hollywood Icons, for some, seeing their name on a Deathmatch fight card was acknowledgement enough that they had made it in show biz.

With the success of Deathbowl ’98 a symbolic battle had been won.  But the war to get this stop-motion slugfest on the air as a regular series still remained.  Three major obstacles needed to be overcome for this to happen:  1) We needed a production staff.  2) We needed a production facility.  3) Most importantly, we needed an official greenlight from MTV and an order for episodes which we had yet to obtain.