Hulu’s Koala Man creators explain the show’s unique twist

Despite a verifiable “adult animation” boom, few series released by streaming services in recent years have struck the balance between comedy and familial feelings that struck early on Simpsons and Bob’s burger as S class. but koala man could become one of them.

Created by Michael Cusack (smiling friends), the new Hulu series revolves around Kevin (Cusack), an uptight middle-aged father of two, who struggles with his menial job as he works Crocodile Hunter-esque for Big Greg (Hugh Jackman) while he’s … impersonating a powerless crime fighter, Koala Man, at night. To build the show, which oscillates between the personal life with Kevin and his wife Vicky (Sarah Snook) and the more random, fantastical exploits of Koala Man, Cusack teamed up with Justin Roiland (Rick and Morty) and showrunners Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit (Detective Pikachu).

“In this day and age, it’s daunting to start any type of show because there’s so much,” Samit tells Polygon. “So we knew from the start that we needed something to set the show apart from everything else out there. We have a few things that speak for us: Michael Cusack’s distinctive voice and perspective; the Australia of everything makes it a little bit more unique than most things you see on American TV; and we tried to give the show a little bit more optimism and heart than I think you see in a lot of adult animation these days. There’s not a lot of cynicism in there koala man.”

A creator could easily assess the adult animation landscape, calculate the trends, and then guess exactly what the market might be looking for. When viewers can’t tell the difference between Chicago Party Aunt and Paradise PD, you could look at both. But Hernandez says while he likes comedy in the showrunning hot seat koala manit’s pretty much impossible to “read the tea leaves for what people might want” and actually be funny.

“So I think for us one of the things that we also decided early on was let’s just do what we think is the best show possible. And let’s break away from the outcome and really focus on what we as a group and we as a showrunner find funny and makes us laugh and what’s specific to this show and not shy away from some of the weirder stuff.

For Samit and Hernandez, that included an episode featuring a “giant alien sex fiend,” an action-inspired set piece Cowboy Bebopand an episode-long tribute to the 1971 car chase film vanishing point, in which Kevin has to cross the outback to return his son’s jacket. And because the team didn’t “need to make it less Aussie or flat out some of the crazier stuff,” says Hernandez, there’s also a Mad Max moment, of course, the ultimate Down Under franchise.

Image: Hulu

But as Samit points out, you’re clinging to an emotional core koala man was the ultimate twist on a familiar formula—and the writing partners came from a slightly different vantage point than most of their contemporaries. While the two with more mature comedies like 1600 pennsSamit and Hernandez have spent the last few years in the trenches on G and PG fare Detective Pikachu, The Addams family 2, and Disney’s upcoming film based on EPCOT mascot Figment. The series of projects culminates in koala man.

“If you’re a permanent writer on something like our first show, 1600 penns, learn a lot about imitating the showrunner’s style and capturing the voice of what your boss is looking for. So you spend a lot of time writing things you wouldn’t write in a vacuum; I’ll write in the style of Bill Pullman or Jenna Elfman or Josh Gad. When we were writing the Addams Family movie, it wasn’t that dissimilar — you kind of know who Wednesday is. And that’s a really invaluable lesson, because sometimes when you’re the showrunner of a show, someone might come up with something that really is the funniest thing you’ve ever heard, but it oversells the character. And a joke can be really funny, but you might have to say, “Based on the kind of person Kevin is, I don’t think he would say that.”

“The jobs may seem different, but for us it’s always about big characters, big worlds, and keeping the structural integrity of those things intact as we tell the stories now.”

If this sounds too sincere, please remember: koala man Season 1 has a giant alien sex devil.

All eight episodes of koala man Season 1 is now streaming on Hulu.