ARCHER
AISHA TYLER and ADAM REED Interview
Aisha “Agent Lana Kane” & Adam “Agent Ray Gillette” Creator/Executive Producer ARCHER Thursdays at 10 PM EST beginning January 27 on FX
January 26, 2011
By Lena Lamoray

FX PRESS RELEASE: Archer is an animated, half-hour comedy that revolves around the spy agency known as the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS) and the lives of its employees. Although their work of espionage, reconnaissance missions, wiretapping and undercover surveillances is daunting and enigmatic, every covert operation and global crisis are actually unmitigated occasions for the ISIS staff to undermine, sabotage and betray each other for personal gains, pleasures and prosperity. The series features the voices of H. Jon Benjamin as the highly skilled yet incredibly vain master spy “Sterling Archer”; Aisha Tyler as fellow agent provocateur “Lana Kane”; Jessica Walter as Archer’s domineering mother and the rapacious CEO of ISIS, “Malory Archer”; Chris Parnell as the easily intimidated comptroller of ISIS, “Cyril Figgis”; Judy Greer as Malory’s loquacious secretary, “Cheryl”; Amber Nash as the discordant director of human resources for ISIS, “Pam Poovey”; and George Coe as Archer’s elderly and always exploited butler, “Woodhouse”.

I spoke with AISHA TYLER and ADAM REED about the return of ARCHER. What an honor it was to speak to the mastermind of the show and his saucy leading lady. They gave us a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes and what possible ringtones we have to look forward to. I could listen to Adam and Aisha talk about ARCHER all day. Don’t miss the season two premiere of ARCHER, Thursday night, January 27th at 10 PM EST only on FX.

Lena Lamoray: How would you describe Lana’s relationship with Archer? Do you think she’s ever going to tame Archer?

Aisha Tyler: Tame Archer. Well, I can tell you what I think. I bet you Adam will have a— Well, Adam will actually know, because he writes the show. I just show up and look around for cookies. So, I think if there’s anybody who can equal Archer or kind of mollify him in any way, it’s Lana because she’s probably the only combination of— I mean, you know Archer is so driven by libido. That’s probably stronger than almost another impulse in his … brain. But, most of the women that he sleeps with are kind of disposable and Lana’s the only one who kind of knows him as a person and is also super sexy, and also does what he does for a living and he actually can learn from. They often operate as a team. So, I don’t know that she can ever tame him, but I think he finds himself drawn to her like kind of terribly, kind of this terrible attraction that he doesn’t understand and so he mocks it and he scorns it. The only person that can tame Archer is his terrible drunken mother, but Lana might be somebody— But he can run from her because in the end he doesn’t want to sleep with her. But, Lana, there’s the lure of the … is very powerful. … strongest, literally, there’s like planetary gravity and then there’s the kind of invisible force that holds the atoms together. Then, there’s the lure of … a at the top of that list in terms of powerful things in the universe. So, I think he circles her against his will. Whereas with his mom, he runs, he ultimately runs from her, and then spits in her drink. But, I don’t know that he can ever be tamed. He’s just sprawling Id in a … suit. Trying to control Id is like trying to hold water in your palm. Why would you do that when there’s television?

Adam Reed: And cups.

Aisha Tyler: And cups. They’ve been invented, and mugs, out of which I’m drinking right now. But, yes, would they ever get back in a relation—? I don’t think so. They might have some terrible 12-day affair at a hotel where no one leaves and room service dishes pile up outside the door. That could happen—Adam, pitching.

Adam Reed: Four days of just crying and yelling.

Aisha Tyler: Crying and yelling, and then crazy sex that like makes all the other people in the hotel check out, right, like a Ming vase comes flying out the balcony. Were they fighting? Oh, no, that was sex actually. But, yes, will they ever be together? I doubt that, I really doubt that. I think Lana’s too smart. I think she’s the kind of woman who also is really driven by a libido, so would sleep with him as well because he’s pretty hot. Then wake up in the morning and slap herself and say, “What was I thinking.” Then sleep with him again and be like what a dumb-dumb. She’s definitely is the ying to his yang. I don’t know which one of those is the girl, yang—I don’t know. I don’t even—

Adam Reed: The one with the big boobs.

Aisha Tyler: The one with the big boobs. In the … that little Chinese symbol, whichever one is stacked is the woman and that one is Lana.

Adam Reed: I always thought that was just two boobs anyway.

Aisha Tyler: You know what, Adam, we just learned so much about you in that last—

Adam Reed: … just studied major.

Aisha Tyler: I don’t need to hold up any … just show you—

Adam Reed: Those are boobs.

Aisha Tyler: Boobs, very small boobs.

(How well that degree has served you, Adam.)

Adam Reed: I use it all the time.

Aisha Tyler: Like ordering in restaurants and embarrassing yourself in public transportation trying to speak people.

Adam Reed: All of those.

Aisha Tyler: Of course, you’ve got your rusty Mandarin. Mandarin is hard to keep polished. It’s a hard language to burnish. Adam, you and I should just go talk in the corner like we usually do?

Adam Reed: I think we should be on listen-only.

Aisha Tyler: I’m going to put that on a tee-shirt.

Lena Lamoray: Adam, when the episode “Tragical History” airs, are you going to offer that pirate virus as a ringtone?

Adam Reed: I think so or as an actual computer virus, if FX legal will let us do that. I think it will be available as a ringtone. If the other ones are, which I think they are. I know we all have “Mulatto Butts” on our phones at work. So, nobody ever knows whose phone is ringing. It’s just this chorus of “Mulatto Butts” all the time. It’s actually a terrible place to work.

Aisha Tyler: And mildly, strangely kind of racialist.

Adam Reed: Well, slightly, yes. It leads to some interesting conversations about race in America and technology.

Aisha Tyler: I’m going to come in and moderate some kind of groundbreaking …. Let’s talk about how we feel.

(Adam, I’m not going to try and imitate it, but a ringtone I want is—and I want you to imitate it—is Cyril when he says the word hello.)

Adam Reed: “Helloooo.”

Aisha Tyler: That was nice.

Adam Reed: Here’s another running gag.

Lena Lamoray: Now, Adam, are there any characters in Archer that were inspired by some of your real life friends?

Adam Reed: No. No, no, no. Well, Malory of course is exactly my mother, but other than that, no. I was just kidding, though my mom’s actually really awesome, and not an alcoholic.

Aisha Tyler: She always takes a beating on these calls.

Adam Reed: She really does. Luckily, she doesn’t follow my career whatsoever, so she has no idea—

Aisha Tyler: Even where you’re living right now.

Adam Reed: Yes.

More Conference Call Interview Highlights:

Q: What episode in Season 2 are you most excited for people to see?

Adam Reed: I’m excited for people to see the explosive season finale, which I’m just writing today, hopefully by lunch. Now, I’ll have my weekend free. I think the season opener is pretty good, the snowmobile one. Then, I don’t remember any other ones until the explosive finale.

Aisha Tyler: He’s going to bring in a team—Yes, I would agree with Adam that the opening, the season opener “Swiss Miss” is a pretty— It’s really wonderful because I think it’s a classic Archer episode, but it’s also just really—reminiscent is probably too light a word. It’s like smack dab in the middle of all the great espionage movies, all the great—the whole Bond …. It really feels very “spy-y” and it’s “action-y.” Adam, you said something about the fact that it was great, that the show is animated, because you know we could never afford to shoot ten seconds of this amazing kind of … chasing in the middle of the show. You can draw trees for days for nobody ….

Adam Reed: Or one tree.

Aisha Tyler: One tree over and over again, varying heights and sizes. So, it’s really explosive. It’s fun. It’s really funny. I think it’s a perfect example of what we do best on the show, which is a combination of international elegance, high intellectualism, and dirty jokes.

Q: Could you tell us just a little bit about “Swiss Miss” and what the gang does?

Aisha Tyler: Yes. I never know how much I can give away, because the sniper has got his gun in the back of my neck …. He hasn’t given instructions about when to shoot. In “Swiss Miss,” the whole group goes to Gstaad, ostensibly to protect the daughter of—what does he do? He’s like an international chief … or something.

Adam Reed: He’s a captain of industry.

Aisha Tyler: Captain of industry and that’s enough. He has this like insanely precocious daughter and we’re all there to protect her. There’s another group of evil doers from some unknown origin—maybe they’re—are they Basque? I don’t know where Basque is.

Adam Reed: Their accents are a little hard to pin down.

Aisha Tyler: Yes, they just sound mean and European, as if they drink wine out of glasses with no stems. I mean really … lowlife. They are planning on kidnapping this young lady, and … and maybe we all just sleep with each other instead of— That’s the thing, there’s always time for sex on our show, in between the high intrigue, but, this young girl who’s underage becomes this albatross for poor Archer, who’s really not a very disciplined guy anyway. He, for the first time, displays some self-discipline. But, it just backfires. For once, Archer has it all together and none of us believe him because he’s kind of a DB. His normal MO is DB-ness. It’s hilarious. There’s a snowmobile race, dancing monkeys, live action—

Adam Reed: We invent a new drink.

Aisha Tyler: We invent a new drink, a Green Russian.

Adam Reed: The Green Russian, which is absinthe and milk.

Aisha Tyler: Which seems just unacceptable as a beverage or a housecleaning product, but wonderful things happen after people start drinking the Green Russians, wonderful things. Malory explodes. It’s awesome. It’s really great. Somebody catches on fire. Somebody has their wedding jewels in their tackle boxes. That’s a line. It’s just great. There’s nudity; there are dancing bears. Five minutes into the show, Adam Reed does this off-shoot. It’s really good. I’ve seen it maybe four or five times. We aired it at Comic-Con. I have never heard such thunderous laughter except in my own head at night before I go to bed. (Malory and Pam bond in a very unique way.) It’s great. It’s a really great episode. It’s a really explosive launch to the second season. I think people are going to love it.

Q: You said you were still trying to lure some guest actors to voice the villains. Have you had any luck with that?

Adam Reed: No. We did. I’m drawing an embarrassingly huge blank on the fantastic guest stars that we had this season. We do have some, but I can’t remember who they are right now. I don’t know why.

Aisha Tyler: I would Google them, but it’s so early in the morning, I forgot how to use the computer.

Adam Reed: (Jeffrey is back, Jeffrey Tambor is back.) He voices Len Trexler, who is the head of ODIN. Malory has her ongoing financial troubles; thinks about selling ISIS to ODIN, which doesn’t fit well with all of the other ISIS employees.

Aisha Tyler: Oh, that’s such a great episode.

Adam Reed: (Rachael Harris.) Rachael plays a movie star who comes to ISIS to shadow Lana to research a role, much to the chagrin of the ISIS employees. There’s a lot of chagrin this season.

Aisha Tyler: A lot of group chagrin. Somehow, in Season 1, we were chagrinless, but we’re taking—

Adam Reed: We really stepped up the chagrin.

Aisha Tyler: Rife with chagrin in Season 2.
(She’s researching a role to play a spy in a movie. It seems that everybody is kind of wowed that she’s there because she’s a movie star. She’s shadowing Ms. Kane, but Lana’s the one who could really give a ….) Yes, Lana’s the one who’s really about the work, right. Lana’s like, “Hey, there’s a planet to save.”

Adam Reed: Just like on the real show, right.

Aisha Tyler: It does seem to be true … feel that way inside my head. But, then she’s flattered. She’s baited. She’s baited and lured into letting this girl shadow her. That’s another hilarious episode. I never know how much I can say about what happens in any of the shows. But, it ends up being mainly what you would think, which is having this young, idiotic Hollywood numbskull bobbing around ISIS, just throwing wrenches into everybody’s ill-formed drunken plans. Then, something else happens, too. There’s a big twist in that episode. That’s a great episode. Did I say that Season 2 is awesome? It’s really funny. I need to get out a thesaurus and look up awesome and come up with—

Adam Reed: I would say it’s easily 85% as good as Season 1.

Aisha Tyler: I’m going to go you one better and say it is 89% as good as Season 1. I actually think in some ways—

Adam Reed: I thought that. I didn’t want to sound braggy.

Aisha Tyler: Okay, I’ll brag for you. Adam Reed is on fire. Because now it’s Season 2, so we’re able to range a little bit further afield. I feel like there are more missions this season. Is that right, Adam? Does that feel like that to you? We have more missions. We spent a little bit more time out in the world. There’s more—

Adam Reed: I feel like that.

Aisha Tyler: There are incredibly funny historical references. We get to learn more about the characters and their lives. Woodhouse—we learn more about Woodhouse. How awesome is fricking Woodhouse? You never would say that Adam Reed isn’t bold, but we’ve been emboldened by the heady atmosphere of Season 2. Oh, we can take some risks here, not like we held back in Season 1. But, it’s just a little bit more wide ranging and you get to see the characters interact a little bit more.

Adam Reed: That one whole episode is Woodhouse’s experience in World War I. He’s pretty old.

Aisha Tyler: I was sure it was World War II.

Adam Reed: It’s basically the same war.

Aisha Tyler: Pretty much, right, same outfits. The same outfits, except I think in World War II they didn’t have the little—what are those things that go on your feet?—spats, they didn’t have spats. That’s the only way you can tell. I was going to say dickies, but I think those …. I need to study my antiquated male accessories. I think that’s something else I need to Google today.

Adam Reed: Spats are coming back.

Aisha Tyler: Yes, I think that Lindsay Lohan is designing a new line of spats. It’s going to be her next comeback of her effort.

Q: Has there ever been a line that either of you has ever had to say that you just couldn’t because of the hysterical laughing that ensued?

Adam Reed: Didn’t we just have one recently, Aisha where we couldn’t not keep giggling. I forget what it was. It was something dirty/stupid.

Aisha Tyler: Yes, it was a couple of episodes ago. I can’t remember what it is.

Adam Reed: I can’t remember what it was, but when that happens, when I’m directing the video session, I just keep trying to make Aisha laugh more.

Aisha Tyler: Yes, he’s super professional, Adam. He’s laser focused captain of the ship.

Adam Reed: Stern but fair, I would say.

Aisha Tyler: Stern, but fair, yes. If you—I went into the brig, I deserve it. I can’t remember what it was.

Adam Reed: I can’t remember what the line was though, but it does happen often that we get the giggles.

Aisha Tyler: The show is— Can I say this Adam? Hold on for a second. The show is so funny. Have you seen it? Oh God. I say that— I’m a fan of the show and I would be a fan even if I wasn’t on it. The show is funny on the page. So, it’s really—a lot of times, we are laughing all the way through. It’s not a joyless job. It is really one where it is a blast to make. It goes very quickly because each of us are in the booth alone. It’s maybe about an hour. On a really slow day, it’ll be an hour and a half. It’s just delightful, because you get to spend a bunch of time working on the math of comedy. The lines are hilarious on the page and then my job is to try to come in and say it in the funniest way I possibly can. So, the sessions are just play. Let’s say it like this, let’s say it like that. My goal as a needy, laugh-starved artist is to try to crack the guys up on the other line. You always know you nailed it when they rail into guffaws on the other line. Then you just do a little victory dance around the tiny carpet lined room. We laugh constantly. That’s one thing about this show is that we are laughing constantly. I imagine there are people who make comedy who are joyless people who never laugh at their own jokes, but we are incredibly self-satisfied …. We laugh at everything we do. We’re cackling hysterically almost all the time. So, it’s a very fun time to—it’s a really fun show to make. We’re professionals—

Adam Reed: … very serious about it.

Aisha Tyler: I think everybody else is just joyless, like over at The Simpsons. They just come in and there’s tears. There’s tears and dry biscuits. On our show, laughter and cookies. I wish I could think of a specific line. I can’t think of one right now.

Adam Reed: I can’t either, but you know if we said it, if we remembered it, it wouldn’t be that funny now, probably.

Aisha Tyler: Right, no it’s never that funny. Oh, it’s all right.

Adam Reed: I don’t know why “poop-hat” is suddenly … of comedy.

Aisha Tyler: …. I do remember that one of my favorite lines in this season; I call Archer a bag with which one douches. … the most arcane, obscure thing we’ve …, no, but I really enjoy it.

Adam Reed: The thinking man’s douche bag.

Aisha Tyler: Yes, it’s elevated stuff there. Those are college level jokes. Not everybody can deliver those.

Q: One of my favorite relationships is the verbal sparring between Lana and Malory. Are we in for any showdowns for Season 2?

Adam Reed: We do have a showdown, a bit of one. There’s sort of a two-episode arc where a character on the show deals with a devastating illness. Malory and Lana get into a—they sort of have a showdown at the beginning of that two-episode arc. We find that Lana’s definitely not scared of Malory, and whatever deference she shows her is just by choice, I think.

Aisha Tyler: Just professional courtesy. One thing I like about—

Adam Reed: Lana’s not afraid to use her words.

Aisha Tyler: Well, I think one other thing we learn about Lana this year is that she thinks that she’s just kind of a pearl amongst really drunken, irresponsible swine, and that she has professional designs of her own. She’s very ambitious. She’s not afraid to mince words with Malory. She thinks that Malory probably needs to be put out to pasture at some point. You’re right. She’s respectful because she’s a professional, but I think she envisions herself behind that large, and dinged, and slightly damp desk at some point in her career. That happens.

Q: Adam, I have to ask you why every time when they speak about Archer’s mother and her sexual habits does he throw-up. Where did you come up with that?

Adam Reed: I don’t know. I think it’s so beyond his ability to process that maturely. He regresses so hard and fast into childhood that it actually causes a physical response, which is to ruin the carpet.

Q: Are we going to find out who Archer’s daddy is?

Adam Reed: You know, we try really hard. We keep looking, but as I’m writing the explosive season finale today by lunch, we may or may not. It’s going to depend on where the morning takes me.

Aisha Tyler: That is a thematic line right through the season. We keep revisiting that particular issue. “Who am I,” Archer asks himself. “Why am I here?” He’s having a prolonged existential moment.

Adam Reed: “What have I done to deserve this?”

Aisha Tyler: Or literally, “What have I done?”

Q: One of the funniest things, because of you—is people that watch Archer, run around screaming “Danger Zone” all the time, and finding different ways of saying it in different pitches. So, I have you to thank for that.

Aisha Tyler: Don’t feel alone in that because the number of people that scream “Danger Zone” at me on-line. It’s literally the on-line equivalent of somebody going up to Dave Chappelle and going “I’m Rick James ….” It happens to me every day. Someone on Twitter or Facebook, just yells, “Lana, Lana, Lana, Lana, Lana, danger zone.” So, you should feel that you’re part of a very large and—

Adam Reed: I think that was a haiku.

Aisha Tyler: Oh, thank you. Oh, yes. They’re out there. You guys are a club and you should feel proud of yourself and maybe print up some visors or something. You belong. Don’t feel bad about it; you belong. I know you’re not a joiner, but yet still you do belong, so feel good about it.

Adam Reed: I wonder if sales of that song have picked up. In any measureable way if even one person bought that single on iTunes because of Archer.

Aisha Tyler: Mulatto Butts. Can you buy Mulatto Butts now as a ringtone? That’s the other thing people—

Adam Reed: I think you can get it free on the FX Archer site.

Aisha Tyler: That’s because they’re givers. That’s something else now. You can just diversify and people are going to start texting you Mulatto Butt lyrics.

Adam Reed: That’s a conversation starter.

Aisha Tyler: “White … mama, black … daddy”. I think that’s the only lyric to the song. Is there more? Have you written more?

Adam Reed: Well, just mulatto butts sung over and over.

Aisha Tyler: That would be nice when you’re in an editorial meeting at work, just ring. “I need you to take me seriously. I’m a real journalist. I was almost nominated for a Pulitzer.” (singing) “White … mama, black … daddy.” You can say that you hear your mom calling you.

Q: Aisha, whatever made you decide to do this?

Aisha Tyler: Oh, can’t you tell that I’m starkers? The way that I got started in the entertainment business was first in high school, college doing sketch and improve and then right after that doing stand-up comedian. Comedy is my first love. She broke my heart and she continues to. I love her so. I don’t know how Adam Reed found me, but I got the script for the pilot for Archer and I read literally maybe ten pages of it and I was like “I have to do this show.” It is a delight to make. I sensed that when I read the script because it was just for me such a wonderful combination of real mature, thoughtful, smart writing that’s referential—not with a “v”, but with an “f.” It’s definitely—there’s no “v” in that word. It’s incredibly smart and ties in with so many things that are happening in the world. Then, it is so delightfully bawdy and dirty. It is just a joy. It’s just like … I can’t wait to see these words. I have so many stories, but I only like to tell three of them because I’m trying to burnish them to a fine hue. I’ve told this story a million times, but it was that maybe two or three episodes into Season 1. No, it was two; it was “Training Day.” Was that the first episode that we did or the second one? Second one, maybe.

Adam Reed: I think it was the second one, but it aired first.

Aisha Tyler: So, it was the second episode that we recorded for Season 1. It was called “Training Day.” It’s the one where they’re trying to turn … into more of an—trying to give him some virility by … how to be an agent. I got to say a million amazing things in that script. I got to say that I don’t care if there’s a million dead hookers in your trunk. I don’t remember what the end of that line was, but million dead hookers was all I really needed to hear. You had me at million dead hookers, Adam. But, Adam—you know you got me right there. I ran the writers in a …, so I like having semantic conversations about comedy. Adam and I had this conversation for a good amount of time, cackling hysterically over whether the word ball-slappiest or ball-slappinest was funnier. I just thought, “Oh, I found my home. I’ve come home. This is my home.” So, I love it. It’s just an incredibly funny, unabashedly, and unapologetically for grown-ups, that it takes a lot of risks. Also, it looks very elegant. It’s a beautifully drawn show. There’s nothing like it on television. Those are all the reasons why I decided to do it. It’s definitely not that when I visited Adam in Atlanta they had Snicker bars in the recording studio. That didn’t have anything to do with it because I can buy my own Snicker bars.

Q: Adam, what goes on in that brain of yours?

Adam Reed: I’m merely a vessel. It’s weird, not to sound like an idiot, but basically I just try to come up with a storyline and put the characters in a room. They just start talking and I just start typing. It’s just basically just eavesdropping on people being mean to each other.

Aisha Tyler: But, also one nice thing is that we’re liberated, I think—don’t you Adam, by the fact that the show’s animated that we are just able to do—… able to just do and say things that might sound really unacceptable coming out of walking person.

Adam Reed: I think so. I think partially because it’s animated and people are more forgiving of a cartoon character saying or doing the things that these people say or do. Also, I think a lot of it has to do with the voice cast who are all so pitch perfect that they’re deliveries in I think it helps the viewer overlook or forgive the bad things that they do. Because when they describe what they’re doing or they say these horrible things to each other or about each other, there’s just an excellent note of fun buried in all of these lines, not from the writing, but from the reads from the actors.

Aisha Tyler: There’s also … purity. Everybody recognizes these people. This is obviously an extreme work place with extreme conditions. These people are extreme expressions of personalities. What everybody recognizes, every one of these people, they recognize the kind of slack-jawed, self-involved boss, and douche bag always seems to win. The secretary, every time you turn away, is painting her nails or talking to her girlfriend on the phone or updating her status update, the kind of over-sexed inappropriate co-worker who always seems to walk in at the wrong time and … the wrong time. Everybody knows these people. Everybody also knows their thoughts. None of us would ever say to each other the things that the characters on Archer say, but we’re all thinking them. There’s just this great liberation on the show. The reason people laugh is that (a) because the expressions are extreme, that’s the thing about comedy. It’s really taking reality and pulling it as far to the breaking point as you can without actually breaking it, but also, people recognize these people. They recognize their thoughts; they recognize their feelings. Everybody is walking around with this big ball of disdain and desire in the pit of his or her stomach that they can’t express. All of our characters get to say all of those things. It’s great. One thing about Lana that I like and that I think a lot of people see themselves in Lana, which is like this long-suffering professional just surrounded by douche bags, who also has her own issues and her own problems, her own—

Adam Reed: She’s a mess.

Aisha Tyler: She’s a mess. She’s a total mess personally. She’s a wreck. She also is the one who comes into work and she is like “Hey, let’s get it done,” and everyone is like “….”

Adam Reed: “Let’s not get it done.”

Aisha Tyler: Then she goes out and she tries to get it done. So, you see these people and you think, “Well, I don’t know somebody just like this, but I know somebody that is probably very close to this personality.”

Q: Adam, did you already know who you wanted to voice these roles, because I’m telling you, no one else could do Archer. No one.

Adam Reed: Yes, yes. We were very lucky to get all the folks that we wanted. I think that was due in huge part to Jessica Walter agreeing to do the show first. Because then we very haughtily said when we called all these other fantastic people like Aisha’s manager, “Well, Jessica Walter is attached, so pass that along to your client, Mr. Manager.” So, I think we were very, very lucky. Actually, in the pilot, the character of Cheryl was going to be—not killed off, but made to disappear because Archer had gotten her pregnant. There was this whole back story about they would just knock out these young secretaries and dump them to Bellevue with no identification. But, then Judy Greer read for the part and it was like “Oh, my gosh, Judy Greer”. No, this person cannot be impregnated and dumped in a mental hospital. We’ll keep her crazy, but she will definitely become an important character. So, I think we were just incredibly lucky to get all these fantastic, talented people.

Aisha Tyler: One really great thing, too, is that her character has evolved into just this erratically spinning dervish. I mean, she’s awesome. She’s not at all who she first was when we met her. She’s just sprawling and terrible. She’s awesome, and Pam, too. I’ve fallen love with them. They were completely different people when we started the show, or at least we didn’t know them that well. But, they’ve become—

Q: What’s it like going into Season 2 and now having established a rhythm working with this show? More specifically, what’s it like trying to keep track of all these running jokes that you guys wonderfully keep track of and keep evolving throughout the show.

Adam Reed: My screenwriting program does that for me actually. A little dialog window will pop up and say “Running gag?” Then I open up a little sub-menu. It’s like “Hey, you said Danger Zone thing you been going to.” I find it very hard to keep track of all that. I zoned out—what are we doing? Running gags. A lot of times when I’m writing, I’ll go to those when I’m stuck. Actually, the episodes don’t necessarily air in the order that they’re written, so sometimes a call back to another joke will wind up seeming like some very prescient call forward to this joke three episodes later. I have no control over that. It just makes me look smarter than I am. As evidenced by my answer to this question. Yes, these scripts are due every three weeks. So, my rhythm is two weeks of pacing around and not being able to come up with an idea, and then a week of typing and no sleeping, and snapping at everybody. I just do that 13 times. Awesome to live with am I.

Aisha Tyler: You guys know that Adam does everything himself because (a) no one else could write these shows, which I think was actually was evidenced in the beginning of Season 2. We thought, “Oh, now, Season 2, bring on the dancing girls and the bowls of money.” Some people came in to write the show and they couldn’t write the show. The muse only visits Adam. It’s probably because of the … drinking. The show has such a unique voice that I think it’s been really hard for anybody else to duplicate it. So, poor Adam is now tethered to all of us. This is a blood marriage that will never end.

Adam Reed: Blood marriage.

Aisha Tyler: That will only be escapable by funeral pyre. By …, the only way you can get out of this is by setting yourself on fire. “Blood Marriage.” This would make for a good episode. That’s a really good name for an episode. Bam, Adam, that’s like 90% of the work right there. Just plug that into your program.

Adam Reed: That’s fantastic.

Aisha Tyler: See what comes out. Just a lot of … and danger zones.

Adam Reed: … and danger zones.

Q: Adam, by my count from what I’ve seen so far, spoiler alert … that we have in Season 2: underage girls … trying to be a hero, several ISIS-ODIN showdowns, my personal favorite, Woodhouse’s history in “The Double Deuce,” movie stars. Could you maybe just talk a little bit about what you have cooking for the latter half of Season 2?

Adam Reed: Yes, there’s a character deal with a devastating illness over the course of a few episodes. The body count goes way up.

Aisha Tyler: Talk about a blood marriage.

Adam Reed: What else happens? Archer continues his quest to find out who his father is. Archer falls in love for real, which leads to the explosive season finale.