Our interview with Last Man on Earths Andy Bobrow gets deep into what made the ambitious show so special.
One of the most exciting, unpredictable shows from this year was no doubt FoxsThe Last Man on Earth.
Did the first few episodes establish a benchmark that you kept reaching for?
ANDY BOBROW:I know that in hindsight, we sort of didnt achieve it.
No, I dont think so.
Its not like we were going, Is this as good as the pilot?
It was more just a matter of, Where do we go now?
Will had almost most of the season planned out, especially in terms of the character introductions.
All of that was figured out.
So you werent trying to write yourselves into corners creatively there, Will knew all of those beats?
Wow, that much so early on.
So Will had that all done.
Inevitably youre treading water.
Thats good that youre getting back into it so quickly though.
It is, and in terms of Dan Sterling (the new showrunner), hes a great guy.
But the sensibility of the show isnt going to change any next season.
Especially since Will is still very muchits his show.
Wed write scripts, but hed still do a final pass on all of them.
He overlooked all the editing, too.
Its an easy way to burn yourself out.
Where did the name Tandy come from because its honestly the best worst name possible?
There are two Phil Millers, so why not?
No, its really the best option out there.
Was it his idea to cast Jason or just a happy coincidence there?
Yeah, no, he wanted to work with Jason and bring Jason in on some level, somehow.
Then it just became a matter of scheduling.
We couldnt get him.
Hes hard to get.
So finding time on his calendar to shoot was difficult.
At one point we had flashbacks happening to their life together.
I didnt even notice.
Did you guys want to push Phil even further, or did you find yourselves scaling him back?
There was a lot of discussion in the room because he was makingusa lot of uncomfortable as well.
Like, are we going to lose the audience here?
No, but I think its great that you go that far with it.
And it kind of works.
Shes kind of seen him at his most honest and hates him for it.
There seemed to be a lot of depth there, even if we didnt get into all of it.
How did you view their relationship and do you think well get back to Melissa at some point?
In our shorthand for her, the thing that we kept calling her was the honesty police.
OnThe Muppet Showa real person would wander in every once and a while.
So thats how I kept picturing her.
That shes the guest star onThe Muppet Showbasically.
So when Phil says something ridiculous, someone on camera has to say, Youre being an ass.
Otherwise the people at home are saying, Well why does he get away with this?
What do you have to say about that?
What did you think the show was about?
Thats a really good question because obviously its healthy and good that people are interpreting it in different ways.
Thats definitely my crack cocaine.
But we didnt pursue it as much as I wanted to.
Yeah, but you could definitely feel it though.
He just likes this sort of toddler character.
This guy who just wants what he wants.
So I think thats really where every episode started from.
What can I do to be funny?
What will be a good performance?
But the ultimate themes are inherent in the premise.
The gender politics things you brought up though, that did creep up on us.
And that I thought was really interesting.
Do you think meshing those different sensibilities together is important to making something special?
It feels like a Biblical story.
People are going to find those messages in the material no matter what.
I really liked the spiritual side of it.
Its what makes the show different.
But I feel like this show is a kindred spirit and it could also be about purgatory.
And again its not until that he learns his lesson that he can move forward at all.
It holds up, I think!
Thats basically how I interpret the show.
I dont know if everyone does, but its how I do.
Was there any difficulty transitioning fromCommunityto this one?
Were there any rules of lessons fromCommunitythat you tried to bring over toLast Man?
Yeah,Community, as wacky as a show as it was, it was very highly structured.
Yeah, so I came off ofCommunitythinking, I know how to break a story.
ButLast Manepisodes are not structured that way.
Theyre not the traditional heros journey, mythic structure.
Weve definitely been having conversations about it.
I dont want to tease anything because nothings been set yet.
So thats on the table.
Its freeing to know that you’re able to.
We can really do anything.
Ahh, thats great!
Idontthink well do it, but wecould.
But thats theCommunitycoming out.
Thats me learning from Dan Harmon.
Its me going, Fuck it!
We dont have todoanything!
Lets do a cartoon!
We can do anything.
The Last Man on Earthssecond season is set to premiere in the fall on FOX.
Listen to our special Comedy Week podcast here!
