Nickelodeon's brand new animated comedy series Rock Paper Scissors premieres on Monday, February 12 at 5:30 p.m. (ET/PT)! To celebrate, below is a selection of interviews with the voice cast and crew of the all-new show!
From Animation Magazine:
‘Rock Paper Scissors’ Creators Kyle Stegina & Josh Lehrman Discuss Their Competition-Fueled Nickelodeon Comedy
This article was written for the March '24 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 338).
Three familiar inanimate objects get fresh, animated lives in Rock Paper Scissors — the new Nickelodeon series created by Robot Chicken alums Kyle Stegina and Josh Lehrman. The show, which has already gained traction on YouTube and has been nominated for an Annie Award for Best Writing TV/Media for its pre-released episode, “Birthday Police,” makes its official Nick debut this month.
The series, which is the first to be picked up from the cable channel’s Intergalactic Shorts Program, follows big-hearted Rock, affectatious intellectual Paper and overly confident Scissors — voiced respectively by Ron Funches (Trolls, Trolls Band Together), Thomas Lennon (Zoey 102, 17 Again, RENO 911!) and Carlos Alazraqui (Rocko’s Modern Life, RENO 911!) — a trio of best friends and roommates who lovingly compete over everything in hilarious but mostly wildly absurd ways.
Shower Time Inspiration
“Most of our projects come from long brainstorming sessions where Kyle and I ask each other, ‘What are we going through in our lives?’ or ‘What themes do we want to explore?’ This idea came to me in the shower,” recalls Lehrman.
Stegina says, “Josh came to my apartment and said, ‘How about a show starring Rock, Paper and Scissors? They’re roommates and they’re competitive over everything.’ It just made me laugh. It’s such a simple and fun premise that anyone can get on board with, and truthfully, the ideas you can pitch in one breath and visualize immediately are often the best ideas.”
“Or the dumbest ideas,” deadpans Lehrman. “And this show is a mix of both — in the best way!” adds Stegina with a smile.
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| Kyle Stegina (left) and Josh Lehrman (right) |
“Our show uses semi-photorealistic backgrounds with 2D cartoony characters, and it’s such an inviting contrast that’s just fun to watch,” says Stegina. “We were very ambitious in [the] series with how many places our characters go, and the background designers worked tirelessly to deliver on everything.”
According to Lehrman, most of the credit for the visual style goes to Amanda Li and Paul Watling. “They worked on the pilot presentation with us,” he notes. “Then two more amazing artists, Bob Boyle and John Won, came on and perfected the style when we started the series. I won’t give away any episodes, but there are several where Kyle and I saw the backgrounds in a design meeting, and they were so beautiful we were like, ‘What is this doing in our show? This belongs in a museum!’”
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| Friendly Trio: Kyle Stegina and Josh Lehrman’s new show follows the wacky adventures of three competitive best friends, voiced by Ron Funches, Thomas Lennon and Carlos Alazraqui. |
The duo is equally thrilled with their show’s stellar voice cast.
“Oh, man. We got so lucky with the cast,” says Lehrman. “We essentially got our first choice for everybody. I remember, in the early stages of development, Nickelodeon asked us who we wanted for the trio. And in the car ride back to one of our places, we pitched Ron Funches for Rock and Thomas Lennon for Paper. Scissors took us a little more time to figure out because we needed to find someone who could be a jerk and be vulnerable, but then we thought of Carlos Alazraqui because we worked with him on an episode of a Comedy Central show we wrote, and he really elevated the role. Also, he was Rocko, and Kyle and I were both big fans of Rocko’s Modern Life when we were kids. And all three of them said yes.”
“Melissa Villaseñor is wonderful as Pencil, and there was no one other than Eddie Pepitone for Lou,” says Stegina. “We wrote the part for him. We didn’t tell him that, though, because we didn’t want it to come out wrong! Like, ‘Hey Eddie. We wrote this miserable, talking garbage can with only you in mind.’”
For Lehrman, one of the most challenging aspects of the job is to tell fresh stories nobody has told before. “I’ve never seen an episode about getting busted by the Birthday Police for lying about your birthday at a restaurant to get free cake,” he explains. “Also, when we do tackle something that’s been done before, we try to tell the story in a way no one’s told it before.”
“I think the toughest part was creating a world that you want to keep coming back to,” Stegina chimes in. “Dealing with giant fighting robots, hordes of ghosts, anti-fart machines, and time travel are just normal days for Rock, Paper and Scissors, which makes it a fun sandbox to tell any story you can come up with.”
Lehrman believes that one of the qualities that makes the show stand out is the unpredictability of its storytelling. “This show isn’t bound by many rules, we can really go anywhere and do anything,” he explains. “We have an episode that takes place over the course of 50 years and another episode that takes place entirely in Scissors’ head!”
Stegina adds, “I really love their unique friendship: We think that balance is a pretty realistic portrayal of friendship that you don’t see a lot of in kids’ TV. I’ll add, too, that I love when we take a really silly idea and build it to a surprisingly emotional moment at the end. We do it sparingly, and I won’t give away any episodes, but I think viewers will be moved by some episodes this season.”
When asked about their animation idols and influences, Lehrman mentions Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas and The LEGO Movie. “I’d also like to say a public thank you to Will Carsola and Dave Stewart, who created the Adult Swim show Mr. Pickles,” he notes. “Kyle and I worked on that show’s spin-off, which was the only 11-minute show we’d written for. Will and Dave really care about storytelling, and I’m sure a lot of our structural instincts come from those guys.”
Stegina points to Futurama as a pivotal source of inspiration. “I think there’s a moment for every kid when they realize what their actual sense of humor is, and I remember first seeing that show and thinking, ‘Oh, that’s what comedy is!’ It’s a wonderful blend of super smart and super dumb with heart – and it’s been a huge inspiration in almost everything I’ve written.”
“I hope the viewers love these characters as much as Kyle and I do,” concludes Lehrman. “It’s a ridiculous thing to say, but these talking objects feel very real to me, and I’m rooting for all of them. Also, I hope viewers learn that you shouldn’t lie about your birthday to get free cake because the Birthday Police are real and dangerous!”
Produced by Nickelodeon Animation, Rock Paper Scissors is created, written and executive produced by Stegina and Lehrman. Conrad Vernon (Sausage Party) and Bob Boyle (The Fairly OddParents) also serve as executive producers. The show debuts on Nickelodeon on Feb. 12 at 5:30 p.m. ET/PT. New episodes will continue to air weekdays at 5:30 p.m.
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From Mama’s Geeky:
Rock Paper Scissors Cast Discusses New Nickelodeon Series
Ron Funches, Thomas Lennon, Carlos Alazraqui, and Melissa Villaseñor discuss their new Nickelodeon series, Rock Paper Scissors.
Based on the game often used to make decisions, Rock Paper Scissors Rock, Paper and Scissors, who are a trio of best friends and roommates who lovingly compete over everything in hilarious and wildly absurd ways.
Throughout season one, the trio will go to extremes playing hide-and-seek around the world, running from the birthday police, defending the world from an alien invasion, going head-to-head with the Rat Bros and more. Rock Paper Scissors premieres on February 12th on Nickelodeon.
We caught up with Ron Funches (Rock), Thomas Lennon (Paper), Carlos Alazraqui (Scissors) and Melissa Villaseñor (Pencil) to talk about their new animated series, Rock Paper Scissors. They reveal how they felt when they first saw their character’s designs, as well as what they love about the series. They also talk about what they couldn’t wait to see animated when they read the scripts and their favorite part in Rock Paper Scissors so far.
Tessa Smith: What was it that drew you to want to be a part of Rock Paper Scissors?
Melissa Villaseñor: The cast and the scripts are really funny. And I really connected with my character Pencil.
Ron Funches: I wish I didn’t let Melissa go first. Because those were my exact answers.
Thomas Lennon: The scripts are one thing but the main thing that made me want to do it was auditioning for it and getting the part. Whenever that happens, I take the part. But the nice thing about this show is I actually showed all three of the early screeners to my 14 year old, and I laughed at them, and he loved them. It’s a fun show.
Carlos Alazraqui: I echo the same. Working with Tom on Reno, obviously getting to work with Ron finally, and Melissa is just a joy. Kyle and Josh are great writers. They write really well for the characters. I used to love a show called Bottom with Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson and it has that kind of desperation of three flatmates moving in together, their neighbor Pencil, the landlord, it’s just a great world that’s written really well. It’s a lot of fun. And I too, had to go through the auditioning process. And there’s something very satisfying about having to go through that and making it. So it’s just a joy.
Tessa Smith: I’d love to know what you guys thought when you saw the design of your characters for the first time.
Ron Funches: I was excited because I was like, finally someone captured my true essence as a model. Chiseled rock features. I love it. He’s buff. He’s great. I think the whole world of the show looks beautiful. The mix of the animation with the photo collage type art that they do. I think it’s so unique and makes the show really stand out. I was kind of blown away as soon as I started watching it.
Melissa Villaseñor: I got really excited. I thought she was really cute.
Thomas Lennon: It’s one of those interesting ones where we had definitely been recording the show for a long time before you see even close to what anybody looks like. And I wasn’t really worried except for what would Scissors look like? How could you do that? And then I was very pleased with what Scissors happens to look like, but it was the one that was always sort of looming in my head. I was like, I really don’t know how you would do that.
Carlos Alazraqui: As long as you make me look as good as Johnny Depp and Edward Scissorhands, I was happy and they’ve done it. They’ve done it.
Tessa Smith: And he has a tail.
Thomas Lennon: My favorite moment in the early three episodes is that we see it once and we’ll never see it again. I think what’s great about it is it’s really like a microcosm of the whole idea of the show, is that things like that can happen.
Tessa Smith: You’ve juts mentioned one of your favorite parts, does anybody else have any favorite parts of the first couple episodes?
Carlos Alazraqui: I love Jonathan fart joke and I love the fact that all the entire episode, Paper has his high brow opinion of comedy, and in the end he laughs because people are falling over during this giant fart. To be able to laugh at physical comedy and pain is lower than laughing at farts. I love that conclusion.
Ron Funches: For me, it’s in the birthday police episode. Just watching it and enjoying it and it was a moment where I fell in love with the show was just a joke where the police call Paper and ask him to snitch on Rock and Scissors and asked him what his life would be if he didn’t have Scissors and the first thing he thinks of is that he can’t afford his apartment. And I was like, that is such an adult fun and silly joke without being crude, without being anything. It’s such a great joke that I was like, Oh, this show is on one of those levels that I truly enjoy where it’s comedy for everyone. I could watch it with my niece and nephew and I can watch it with my like 30-40 year old friends and they all seem to really enjoy it.
Thomas Lennon: It’s a fun family comedy that seems to be inspired by the movie Inception. Sometimes. Not afraid to go that deep.
Melissa Villaseñor: I was telling them I liked the landlord the trash, voiced by Eddie Pepitone. It really really made me laugh. I think that was my favorite so far.
Tessa Smith: What’s your go to when playing rock paper scissors?
Thomas Lennon: Obviously, rock.
Melissa Villaseñor: I do rock as well.
Carlos Alazraqui: I do scissors because a lot of people go do paper to cover rock and it’s just kind of a sneaky move. And so I’m gonna go with scissors, not to be my own character, but scissors.
Ron Funches: Rock is the correct answer.
Tessa Smith: When you got the scripts, what was the thing you were most excited to see on screen?
Ron Funches: For me, it was a power shark. I was like, what’s the difference between a shark and a power shark and I learned quickly is that he’s so charming and sweet and like a great friend but aggressive.
Carlos Alazraqui: I wanted to see the janitors becoming superheroes. I just thought that was ridiculous and fun. And they pulled it off.
Thomas Lennon: I really love that this is a show that can commit to taking the most absurd wacky, let’s say in a way it reminds me of The Monkees in a way that I really love. That kind of show. Tt feels kind of like The Monkees where almost anything could happen, but then you’re also very grounded with these people back at their place. And then they can be in the future and they can be in space and a lot of crazy things can happen to them.
Carlos Alazraqui: There’s the potential for so many crossovers. You could imagine pop Rock Paper, Scissors, like The Monkees, in Land of the Lost, going on to Green Acres. They could just travel anywhere. They’re gonna be right at home because they have each other. That’s the beauty of it.
Rock Paper Scissors premieres Monday, Feb. 12 at 5:30 p.m. (ET/PT).
About Rock Paper Scissors
Inspired by the age-old tradition of settling things with your best friends, the game comes to life through the shenanigans of pals Rock, Paper and Scissors in Nickelodeon’s new animated series Rock Paper Scissors, premiering Monday, Feb. 12 at 5:30 p.m. (ET/PT).
The titular characters, Rock, Paper and Scissors, are a trio of best friends and roommates who lovingly compete over everything in hilarious but mostly wildly absurd ways.
Throughout season one, the trio will go to extremes playing hide-and-seek around the world, running from the birthday police, defending the world from an alien invasion, going head-to-head with the Rat Bros and more.
###
From Mama’s Geeky:
Rock Paper Scissors Creators Talk New Nickelodeon Series
Rock Paper Scissors Creators and Executive Producers Kyle Stegina and Josh Lehrman discuss new Nickelodeon series in this interview.
Rock, Paper, and Scissors are best friends and roommates who lovingly compete over everything in hilarious but mostly wildly absurd ways in the new Nickelodeon animated series, Rock Paper Scissors. Ron Funches (Rock), Thomas Lennon (Paper), Carlos Alazraqui (Scissors) are the perfect casting choices as they bring these characters to life in a way that you have to see to believe.
We caught up with Rock Paper Scissors creators and Executive Producers Kyle Stegina and Josh Lehrman to discuss where the inspiration for this series came from, as well as how they found the design of the characters. They also detail bringing on the incredible cast and the importance of making content the whole family can watch together.
Executive Producers Kyle Stegina and Josh Lehrman Talk Rock Paper Scissors
Tessa Smith: Where did the idea for Rock Paper Scissors come from?
Josh Lehrman: Most of the time in writing, it is a grind to try to figure out what we’re going to work on for Kyle and me. We’re trying to figure out, is there anything we want to talk about that’s going on in the world? Is there anything fanatically that’s going on in our lives? And this was just something that came to me in the shower, and it came quickly. It was such a good idea that I turned off the shower to write it down, which I never do. And then I pitched it to Kyle later. And he was like, Yeah, I see that. Which is the immediate response you want when you’re pitching something.
Kyle Stegina: I knew we wanted the bar of entry to be super low. Can you pitch it in one breath? And that’s what’s been the beauty of this show. It’s easily understandable. And then when you build out the world, that’s where it can get detailed. That’s where it can get complex. You fill it with great characters and the characters really are at the heart of the show. So I’m glad that we tackled a very simple premise for this one.
Tessa Smith: I love the design of the characters, but Scissors in particular. How did you come up with the designs?
Josh Lehrman: We worked with this guy named Paul Watling, who’s wonderful, on our pilot presentation. And he drew a few versions of the characters. I think he designed all of them. At one point there was a version of Scissors where the blades were sort of up. And we all just went. That’s weird. I don’t know why, we just we thought it was bizarre. And then we were trying to figure out how he would talk. I don’t know how that’s gonna work. So anyway, Paul drew this other version, which is the current version you see, and we all just went, Yeah, sure. Looks good.
Kyle Stegina: The Scissors development took millions of dollars, it felt like he was the hardest one. Even the animators, like when they started talking, we’re just like, okay, all right, we got it, we got it. And it, to their credit, every character is just so fun to look at. They’re just so charming. And like the animation style, the semi realistic backgrounds with these silly, 2d characters on top of them, it’s a very charming look for reasons I can’t even tell you about because I’m not an artist, but it’s just pleasing to look at. Also, it’s both beautiful and a little bit, a little janky at the same time, which I think really speaks to the tone of the show. It fits the show very well.
Tessa Smith: This cast is incredible. Not just the main cast, but also the guest voices. Can you talk about bringing them on?
Kyle Stegina: The wonderful answer is that it was easier than we thought it would be. We were so honored that they wanted to be a part of the show. Josh and I were driving home from a casting meeting, and we’re like, who would play Rock? Ron Funches would be good, right? And we got Ron Funches. And then Tom Lennon, he has this wonderful intellectual sounding voice which is great for Paper, who acts very elitist and pretentious sometimes. And we got him. Then Carlos Alazraqui came on a little bit later, because we wanted to find the right person who could bring vulnerability to Scissors, because Scissors is that lovable jerk, right? But you need to see that it’s coming from a very insecure place to this dude. So Carlos just brought, I mean, he is a master of voices but he just brought such a human nature and vulnerability to Scissors that it makes you like him.
Josh Lehrman: And to your point to I mean, we can’t reveal a lot of the people who are stunt casting, who are fantastic, but we definitely will get people sometimes and Kyle and I go, How did we get this person? It’s a surprisingly high caliber of actors consistently coming in for the show.
Kyle Stegina: You’ll see later in the season. It’s worth mentioning that Pencil with Melissa Villaseñor gosh, who you might know from SNL. She has such a sweet, unique, memorable voice that brings an identity to Pencil. And for Lou, the angry miserable, trashcan landlord. We got Eddie Pepitone, who’s a hero of ours, who is just a rant machine. We wrote the character for Eddie, but we never told him. We didn’t want to tell him because we didn’t want to offend him being like, hey, yeah, we had we wrote this angry, sad sack trashcan with only you in mind. Would you like to play him?
Tessa Smith: I started watching these screeners, and then my 11 year old walked by and sat and joined me. Then my 12 year old. Then my husband. Can you talk about the importance of creating something like this that the whole family can enjoy together?
Josh Lehrman: I’m so glad you said that. Because it’s so important to us. We’ve worked in kids TV before and I feel like it’s really important to us to never talk down to the audience. And frankly, we want to make a show that we find entertaining, because we have to watch these episodes like 400 times before they’re done. So we’re just trying to make ourselves laugh every time. But yeah, we do try to write these in a way where it is for everyone. We’ve shown these to our friends who are also mid to late 30s. They have a blast. I showed it to my wife’s cousin, who’s nine years old, he had a blast. It’s been nice. Over the holidays with my I was with my wife’s family and people were like, should we watch Killers the Flower Moon? And then someone’s like, we wanted more Rock Paper Scissors. And I was like, Alright, good.
Kyle Stegina: We’re not calling them out. We’re just saying they’re very different.
Tessa Smith: When you were writing these episodes, was there something in particular that you were most excited to see come to life?
Josh Lehrman: I think I might have the same answer as Kyle just because it’s such a weird episode. I can’t give away the details, but the beginning of it is online. So we’ll just say it’s the clip that says Scissors helps with the groceries, or something like that. It’s such a weird one for us and goes in such a surprisingly emotional direction that I think that was the one. I was happy with how that one came out.
Kyle Stegina: Yeah, it’s an episode where basically, Rock and Paper come home and they are struggling with the groceries and they go Scissors. Can you help us? And Scissors goes, huh… And the entire episode takes place in Scissors head dealing with that question. It’s such a wonderful episode because you get his psyche. It’s all about how his thought processes and really dives into him as a character. It’s my favorite episode.
Rock Paper Scissors premieres Monday, Feb. 12 at 5:30 p.m. (ET/PT).
About Rock Paper Scissors
Inspired by the age-old tradition of settling things with your best friends, the game comes to life through the shenanigans of pals Rock, Paper and Scissors in Nickelodeon’s new animated series Rock Paper Scissors, premiering Monday, Feb. 12 at 5:30 p.m. (ET/PT).
The titular characters, Rock, Paper and Scissors, are a trio of best friends and roommates who lovingly compete over everything in hilarious but mostly wildly absurd ways.
Throughout season one, the trio will go to extremes playing hide-and-seek around the world, running from the birthday police, defending the world from an alien invasion, going head-to-head with the Rat Bros and more.
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From WTHR:
Stand-up comedians preview 'Rock Paper Scissors' TV show on Nickelodeon
The animated children's series debuts Monday, Feb. 12 at 5:30 p.m. ET.
INDIANAPOLIS — Everyone's favorite childhood game and ice-breaker is now a children's TV show!
"Rock Paper Scissors" follows the trio of best friends and roommates through various adventures.
And the titular characters are voiced by stand-up comedians and actors Ron Funches ("Trolls," "Loot"), Thomas Lennon ("Reno 911!," "I Love You, Man") and Carlos Alazraqui ("Reno 911!," "Rocko's Modern Life").
"The roommates are very co-dependent and probably do have a deep amount of love for each other, but we don't really see that until the last 30 seconds of most episodes because the rest of the time, they're really driving each other insane," Lennon said.
In its inaugural season, the guest stars already lined up for "Rock Paper Scissors" include actor Jason Alexander ("Seinfeld"), Grammy winner Alessia Cara, actress Isabela Merced ("Dora and the Lost City of Gold") and actress Carla Gugino ("The Fall of the House of Usher").
"We get a lot of the guests just off the strength of how funny the scripts and how great the show is," Funches said.
Although the TV show is debuting Monday, Feb. 12 at 5:30 p.m. ET on Nickelodeon, the fun adventures of these characters existed in a short series that originally launched in 2019.
"Very early on, after this short, (the vice president of development) said, 'This is testing really well with 10-year-old girls,'" Alazarqui said. "That is a great sign because I don't believe that was the intended target, so upon hearing that, I think it's because it tested very well, it's well written, and I'm guessing Nickelodeon said, 'We've got a great show on our hands. Let's make it.'"
And the interview couldn't conclude without a fun game of rock paper scissors among the cast, which was won in one round by Funches.
New episodes of "Rock Paper Scissors" air weekdays at 5:30 p.m. ET on Nickelodeon.
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