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Yes, as in the shoe.
Oh, yeah: We also talked about how horny tortoises are in real life.
Clea, I think the idea forHousebrokenoriginally came from you.
I was wanting to go to therapy with one of my cats.
And I was like, what if there were a show about going to therapy with your pets?
That would be so much fun.
The group therapy angle really came from them.
So we went from there and brainstormed and created the rest of the world together.
How did you come up with the different kinds of pets to include?
We didnt want it to just be cats and dogs.
Then we thought it would be really fun to have animals with the more issues, the better.
So of course, Nibbles lives in a school and shes tormented by all the students.
Or Shel: We really liked the idea of a very old tortoise.
Wait, time out.
Is that real?JC:Oh, yeah.
Gabrielle Allen:Well, they hump everything.
Our editor has a tortoise, he says that.
Every time wed look it up to see, thered be more [videos].
It stuck in my head.
It was one of those things I wished I kind of hadnt seen.
GA:And he did.
GA:The only animation I wrote was when Jen and I did a polish ofShrek 4.
That was super fun, and we loved it.
But as far as the day-to-day details of animation, I was exposed to very little.
Was it an adjustment?GA:Its so different.
I mean, anything is possible in animation, literally.
When I started writing onScrubs, we would do these fantasies and pop-aways and all this sort of stuff.
Getting into animation is even more.
They asked us at the beginning to continue to think more visually and that has been an adjustment.
Its a fantastic challenge.
So it was a complete learning curve for me as well.
Gabby was not alone.
Everyone at Bento Box [the animation studio] was so patient with us and really helped us.
Did we have anyone in mind?
JC:We knew Clea.
We knew we wanted Clea to be something, we knew we wanted Sharon to be something.
Then it was kind of wide open.
Then every time she pitched jokes for Elsa, the fake service dog, she was so funny.
We were just like,you have to be Elsa.
Then Sharon did a really funny accent for Tabitha that we thought was great.
Tim Simons plays a character who comes into the fourth episode.
We always thought that Tim would be an amazing raccoon.
GA:And Tony.
When he does Max, his whole body changes.
Hes like a totally different person.
Clea, how was that process for you?
CD:I still worry about it.
I still am like,Im the worst one.
GA:No, Clea is so good.
Elsas so good, and so real and heartbreaking.
This is so crazy.
GA:When have you been bad at a table read?
JC:Youve never been bad at a table read.
CD:Table reads are not my thing.
I would do it, and hed be like, Come and listen to it.
In my mind, I was doing a whole range of things.
He played it and they all sounded exactly the same.
And I was like, okay, so, some work to do.
But he taught me how to listen, and how to think about the lines in a different way.
Its really fun and really freeing in a way that Ive never experienced in live action.
Everybody went home March 13, and then like March 15, we were up and running.
We got right back in the room [on Zoom].
Take it down a notch.
And then Twig is very catlike, very aloof, very strange, very complicated.
GA:Twig is really the reason were all here.
JC:You know what, Twig is still not impressed.
CD:Yeah, shes not.
Pilot is like the cat version of Mia, and Twig is the cat version of me.
CD:I guess now that Im saying that out loud, Im basically just a complete narcissist.
JC:Who thinks shes going to get fired.
CD:Oh my God.
Look at that face.
GA:Oh, Frankie.
JC:Shes the new one.
JC:He and Frankie are in love.
Then we have a little ten-year-old terrier whos 12 pounds and she bosses everyone around.
She has an underbite and that was sort of the visual inspiration for Diablo.
JC:He was driving drunk.
It was totally his fault, he is such a jerk.
GA:Hes a bit of a douchebag.
But hes so unbelievably cute, he looks like a stuffed animal.
But Jen hates him.
JC:I really do.
GA:She really hates him.
Hes heavily featured in episode five.
His names Carter in the show.
JC:Shes so cute.
GA:Shes really cute, and so sweet.
CD:And also in episode five.
GA:Oh, thats right, shes in episode five, too.
She doesnt speak, but shes there.
