Take Five: on 's "Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter"

12.10.2015

Since writing for Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Jon Glaser has been instrumental in the evolution of comedy on TV, creating and starring in , guest starring in Girls and Parks & Recreation, and writing for .

His current (don't call it passion) project is Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter, a supernatural parody, which premiered Monday on Adult Swim, the first of five episodes airing every night at midnight this week

In between editing another pilot and the deluge of press, Glaser spent a few moments talking with Brief.

Did you grow up loving monsters?

For me it was not a passion project. It was not something I always wanted to do: "Oh I got to do a horror parody." It was just the result of a joke that I made on Jimmy Fallon's show a few years ago. That's one of my favorite parts about Neon Joe. I'm still really proud of the show and think it's a good horror parody.

That's refreshing. Everyone labels their work a "passion project." This one's kind of a goof.

I still wanted to make it good. It became a challenge of "Now what?" When Adult Swim saw me do the interview and responded to the stupid name "Neon Joe Werewolf Hunter," which sounds funny, stupid and interesting and said, "Could that be a show?" I of course said sure and set about trying to figure out if it actually could be.

Are you going to look back at your old jokes and see how many you can turn into a TV show?

Yeah, exactly. That's been the running joke in some of these interviews. People are looking for advice about how to make a TV show: you get on a talk show, make a stupid joke and then you get to make a TV show. It's that simple.

Do you have a premiere night routine?

My premiere night routine is probably in bed by 10. I'm not sure if I'm going to stay up tonight and watch it.

I'm doing The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore tonight. I'll be home past dinner so I'll probably just relax.

Now that you have your own show and comic book, where do you go from here?

Hopefully more of the show and the comic. Hopefully make another joke on a talk show, and do an even stupider show. I guess the next step is to make a full-length feature based on Neon Joe.

Somebody told me that there's an actual moon called the Full Beaver Moon. If we got to make a full-length movie, it would have to be called Full Beaver Moon.

You're already on your way then.

I'll probably have some bourbon tonight before I go to bed. That'll be my premiere night routine. Just a lonely glass of bourbon, and then pass out on the couch and have my kids wake me up in the morning, "Daddy, what's wrong?"

Do you have a favorite bourbon?

I like Bulleit.

I actually had some this weekend. With eggnog.

Yuck. Did you see that thing Nick Offerman made with the whiskey? That's amazing. What do you think we had on while drinking eggnog?

Nice. I'm so jealous he got to do that.

In the pilot you killed off Paul Rudd. Do you have any other actors you'd like to kill off?

Just Paul. That was one of the first ideas I had when sitting down to figure out how to make this joke into a show. Paul Rudd was killed in the pilot of Delocated so he'll certainly have to be killed in this show and it all unfolds from there. That's the key to my creative process: killing Paul Rudd and figuring out the rest.

This is either the dumbest question I've ever asked, or maybe the best: Do you notice a difference between John's and Jon's? Has it been hard growing up without an H in your name, or do you take pride in it?

Boy, I don't know if that's the dumbest or the best either. I think it's both.

That's what I was striving for.

My legal name is actually Jonathan. When I was young, I hated the name Jonathan. So I started going by J-O-H-N. And I'm sure my Mom and Dad we're like, "What the? Whatever, if that's what you want to do." When I was in middle school or high school, I had enough of the "go to the John" jokes, so I lost the h. When I got much older, I was like, "F***, why didn't I go by Jonathan?" It's much cooler, more unique. I'm way too old to start telling people: you know what, call me Jonathan now. I'd look like a real dick.

That could be like your mid-life crisis.

That's exactly it. It would come across as a mid-life crisis thing. Which brings up a funny Neon Joe story. We were shooting during May-June and my kids were still in school. There were some days where we'd have a later call and I was able to take my kids to school and I'm covered in these Neon Joe tattoos. I assumed most of my friends and the parents at the school know I'm an actor and would think the tattoos were for a job, but a couple people thought I was having a midlife crisis. I just thought: if you think a moon that says Mom on it is real, you're a moron. No judgment to anyone that has a moon with Mom on their bodies for real, but couple that with a werewolf shmerewolf one, and several werewolf heads on a kebab skewer…come on. How do you think that's real? But some people thought it was. Which was hilarious.

Sounds like the most fun mid-life crisis ever.

I agree. It was kind of enjoyable having the tattoos and the haircut. Maybe I should have a midlife crisis. Maybe I am having one, but I actually want some tattoos and this haircut. If you got a tattoo, what would it be?

Oh man, I've thought about doing my kid's names, one on each hand, in-between the wrist and the thumb. That's the non-joke answer. Really small, so they're always right there in front of me. I thought that'd be sweet. That could be my gentle mid-life crisis tattoo.

That could be your premiere night routine.

Wow, that is a challenge right there.