How was the move? It was a bit jarring, honestly. New York and L.A. are very different places, and to uproot your life and move in somewhere else is a very big step and it certainly was stressful, but starting the new job was very fun. Made it worth it. Do you see yourself staying in L.A. in the future? I’m here for the job. If I were fired tomorrow I would move immediately [laughs], because L.A. is pretty cool but I prefer the east coast. I try to go back as often as I can. I’ll be here as long as there is work for me to be here for, but if an opportunity arose elsewhere I would consider that as well.
tion, and here not so much. Here I have to plan things long in advance if I want to have a fun day and that takes the fun out of it for me. That’s just the way my personality fits here. I know plenty of people love it here, and if I could just love it here, I would! But that’s just crazy old me... I tried to phrase that as gracefully as possible!
Do you think that not being fully happy here helps your writing? Ummmm…I don’t! [laughs]. I have thought about that. I’ve thought about whether the ups and downs of your emotions fulfill certain bouts of creativity and I think I’m more inspired by people I’m around than myself personally. If you have someone you can bounce ideas off really well that helps. But if I’m by myself, whether I’m happy or too Why don’t you like L.A.? I grew up in upstate New York, then I depressed, it doesn’t really matter. That’s the lived in New York, not for that long, and I just way I’ve thought about that. loved it. I just like the culture. I like the way the city is. I like not having to have a car. All You don’t Skype with your friends? Oh I do, I contact them all the time. We of my closest friends were there so the move Skype, we phone call all the time. I have here was a bit rough. I did know people here, plenty of friends here. I just always thought but different groups. I just miss a lot of stuff back east. I don’t like having to drive and the I don’t think my emotion really affects my general culture of L.A. just isn’t my favorite. I output, if that makes any sense? don’t feel a sense of history here, or at least one that I connect to very much. In New York Do you relate to the characters in We I feel like everything is accessible to me no Bare Bears? The characters? Very much! Yes. matter what because of public transporta-
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To each one? Yes, each one, I have thought about this and I have an answer too. Each bear has a very distinguished personality. I think friends would say maybe I’m a bit like Grizz but maybe not so much. My family…well, I don’t know. We’re like all of them. I’m really mostly Panda, because he’s just a pathetic mess! But I think most people might think I’m Ice Bear, because he’s so weird and reserved and that’s how I come off on first impression. I relate to each one very much. You could say ‘which one are you?’ and I’m like ‘I think we’re all of them. They are all different slices of us’. Are you more comfortable writing about the sad bits, the cute bits or the funny bits? I always like writing the funnier stuff but any chance we get to make the show sad is always kind of thrilling. Our show is just about ‘three bears who hang out,’ but if we can throw some real strong emotional context to that it feels very rewarding...I don’t think people expect that from such a silly looking show. Are you surprised that adults are into it? Did you think this was for adults from the start? I’m not surprised at all that adults like it