Too Many Cooks creator hid his new horror movie in Adult Swim’s yule log

Eight years ago, comedy writer Casper Kelly captured the internet’s attention with his delirious, violent sitcom parody Too Many Cooks. The format was just as vital to the short’s viral success as the hijinks within; Adult Swim first released Too Many Cooks as part of a 4 a.m. “infomercials” block, where Mountain Dew-fueled night owls might catch it without knowing what the hell they were watching. Adult Swim put the video online in response to raucous chants. Since then, weirdos have talked about Smarf since.

Kelly, who had previously worked in Adult Swim, was present at that time. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Squidbillies. Too Many Cooks’ literal overnight success opened the door for Kelly’s own series, Your pretty face is going to hell, and one-off work on the Cheddar Goblin sequence in Panos Cosmatos’ equally unhinged thriller Mandy. Kelly was back in the. Too Many CooksMode of concealing a genius work behind generic late-night programming and the premiere without fanfare Adult Swim Yule Log“, aka Fireplace. Everyone who tuned in to the Rick and Morty season 6 finale, but clicked away from the crackles of Adult Swim’s mild-mannered yule log that immediately followed, missed yet another cavalcade of bizarre imagery, trope inversion, and unexpected social commentary — but in this case, behind the flames was an entire feature-length film.

FireplaceJustin Miles stars with Andrea Laing, and Justin Miles plays a happy couple looking for romance. An unruly group of stoners arrives at the Georgia cabin overbooked on the same night and immediately destroys the mood. The people are killed by a bunch of hillbillies.

Kelly was true to his impulses Too Many CooksBut this is only the start. The film begins with a shot of the yule log locked off. It then explodes into an exhilarating horror movie warped by strangeo dream logic. Malignant M3GAN writer Akela Cooper. Fireplace is funny, it’s scary, and it’s constantly upending expectations. It’s a Casper Kelly joint, and if you missed it on TV, Adult Swim has given viewers the ultimate holiday gift by dropping it on HBO Max on Monday.

With Adult Swim Yule Log/FireplacePolygon interviewed Kelly to find out how Kelly did it.

[Ed. note: This interview contains spoilers, so go watch the movie first.]

Image Credit: Adult Swim

What happened to Polygon? FireplaceStart for you? You set out to have fun with yule logs. Do you have a long-held dream to create a horror film?

Casper Kelly It has always been on my bucket list. I’ve wanted to make a movie for a very long time. It’s always been, like, the attractive person across the room I’ve been too shy to approach. It was finally possible to get back in touch with it. Quick aside: Thanks for letting me know that it was enjoyable. The film has never been seen with me. No screening has been done. This was a very fast process. So I’m living in pure terror of “Does this work?”

While watching the holidays last year, I saw this photo of blurry legs and walking in front the yulelog, discussing something. Then, I realized it was funny to make a Yule Log and see what happens. thenThe movie is just made. At first, I had hoped to do it all with audio. I would be able to keep my eyes on one shot for the duration. But then I decided… maybe I should not do that [laughs].

There is probably a traditional “movie” version of this, but as with Too Many Cooks, you’re really extrapolating the look of the movie from the yule log TV experience, and it has that sheen throughout. How does TV appeal to you or make you uncomfortable?

Although I do have dreams of making films one day, streaming the yule log is a natural option. It’s something you would click and watch. It’s a television grammar thing that the yule log has, so it was natural to use this for my project. Yes, it is something I really love. It keeps me coming back.

It’s not just TV — it’s any programming people accidentally catch while they’re bleary. Even the most routine things feel like it’s a 4 AM show at this hour. Videodrome. So it didn’t surprise me that in the credits for FireplaceYou would like to give Rodney Ascher a special thank you for making some amazing documentaries including this short The S From HellThe era was about those who were scared of the Screen Gems logo which would soon appear in front. The Monkees. What’s the connection there?

I’m glad you asked that. Rod reached out to me after. Too Many Cooks, and we’ve become very close friends. He was an early reader of the script, and he had a very good idea, which I’ll share with you: I had the idea of a reflection [where we see the murderer watching the couple while the camera is still pointed at the yule log]. But I was gonna try to do it with a wine glass, and he said, “Why don’t you use a champagne bucket?” And I’m like, “Oh my God. Yeah, that’s much better than a wine glass.” Easier to see! That was his contribution. But yeah, he’s a very close friend, and we’re just mutual fans. We’ve been trying to do a project together, bouncing around, talking about that, too.

Too Many Cooks, Your pretty face is going to hellThe Cheddar Goblin stuff and. Mandy all feel connected to this unique space you’re carving out between horror and comedy. This was done FireplaceDo you feel that the next step is in your future?

I think there’s a part of it career-wise where you sort of build on what people seem to respond to, and extrapolate there. Like if I’m making the leap into a movie, I should try to incorporate some of what people seem to like about Too Many CooksPerhaps to a degree. I don’t know if that was a conscious thought. Perhaps it was unconscious fear.

I’m actually a late bloomer with horror. It scared me to see it when I was a little girl. It was something I can remember seeing my parents watching. The Omen when I was very young, and there’s the point where the maid hangs herself and yells “It’s all for you, Damien!” And I was so young, I didn’t even understand the idea of hanging. Why does she have to be on this rope?! This scared me to death. So I’m a late bloomer. Just watched The ExorcistIt was the first time I had ever seen it, a whole month ago. It was like this: OK, I think I’m ready. So it’s a surprise that I got into horror, but after doing pure comedy for so long, it’s fun to get to try other directions.

The film is influenced by so much horror iconography. You’re twisting the Evil DeadYou can use the cabin-inthe-woods method. Texas Chain Saw-adjacent murderers, you have an alien element — it gets wild. You might wonder where you found the necessary elements, other than a deep love of horror. Is it more comedy and the ability to improvise your way up to terrifying levels of escalation?

I think a lot of them are my core, like in ways I probably shouldn’t admit. Some aspects of Pleatherface, his awkwardness… I’m sort of a big oafish, awkward person, but I’m not a killer or horrible! It’s not a problem.

But I think “improving with escalation” is a great statement. It’s sort of a creative problem of, “If the camera’s locked off, what can you do?” Oh, I can have a reflection, that’s interesting. I can have time travel, that’s interesting. Then I think about time, and when you’re in your house, or out looking to buy a house, or in an Airbnb, and you imagine what else has happened in that house? What has happened to this property before I moved there? These are the questions that you will be asking yourself when you think like this. I probably should do a movie that focuses on one thing, but right now, it’s fun to cram in every idea I’ve got.

Image Credit: Adult Swim

Adult Swim has always been located in Atlanta, but this might be the most Atlanta thing it’s ever released. The movie is very silly, successfully so, but it’s also confrontational about race and history! You meld time through overlays, and it’s pretty wild, but how did you piece that aspect of the film together to make it land?

It’s very scary. As if I didn’t do it wrong. It was definitely hard work. My dad is from Georgia, I’m a Southerner, and while I don’t want to go into it too much, the million-dollar question is always: Here I am Mister Progressive Guy, in purple. But what if it was 200 years ago? How would you describe your beliefs?While I think that I’d be a great person, it is hard to believe. It’s a scary thought. But it’s an interesting, important conversation, and I took a real chance. This was an idea that would keep me up at night. Are you really doing it?It would have been easy to make a movie about a tree flying through the air and killing people.

Amazingly, it was also your idea.

It was the natural extension and creation of. What am I going do with the yule log photo? But I think you can improv in a way that gets at things you’re concerned about, even unconsciously. You can find meaning in it.

The movie wisely doesn’t overexplain those elements, either. The movie is fortunate to have the typical stoner character that can hallucinate and open up new realms of thought. When did you decide to connect the dots of all the temporal bits with the dream logic of the “fireplace world”?

My daughter, she’s in the special thanks too, actually had an idea of an elevator with a fireplace in it that could go to other fireplaces. And I’m like, “That’s amazing. I’m taking that right now.” So that was a big idea, and I kept “Yes, and”-ing it. I’m obviously a big fan of David Lynch, so there’s a bit of Black Lodge, or the woman dancing in EraserheadTo have some time away from the actual movie. Or with the aliens, I’m even thinking of Brian is the LifeThe Monty Python film about a Christian apostle group. These aliens just come in and abduct one member of the group, then take them away.

You’re totally out of sync with the aliens. This design and this costume came from where?

Shane Morton is a wonderful man who I have the pleasure of working with. Too Many Cooks Your pretty face is going to hellHe has just a large inventory of things. Everything is his. People throw away things that were in horror movies. He takes them. I’d say, “Could we have a person who’s just all eyeballs?” And he’s like, “Yeah, I got a thousand eyeballs in my truck right now, we can glue that!” He’s just a can-do guy. We started spitballing, and he added the idea that the alien might have tongue appendages. He’s like, “Let’s do it!”

Image Credit: Adult Swim

How do you sell Adult Swim? Although the concept of making a movie behind a Yule log may seem antithetical to traditional businesses, it somehow makes sense.

This started as a “4 a.m.” Then, as I was pitching it, I just said, “Hey, what if we made it a movie? I’d love to make a movie.” And they were like, “If you can make it for about the same budget, go for it.”

Adult Swim has been a wonderful partner in my life. This is an amazing place for creativity. Mike Lazzo used to run it. He is both an incredible and brilliant genius. It is now run by Michael Ouweleen. Ouweleen created Harvey Birdman and was a long-time executive at Cartoon Network. It is a wonderful relationship. So it’s wonderful to do things with them. I know there’s a lot going on with the mergers and everything, but I feel optimistic about Adult Swim. I think it does very well with audiences, so they’ll continue to support it.

Cartoon Network Studios’ merger with Warner Bros. Animation has affected a lot of people in the animation industry and at Cartoon Network — how do you feel about the future?

It’s an interesting time in streaming and animation, but I worry about everything anyway, and I’m so bad at predicting the future. I’m terrible at it. I’m a horrible investor in stocks, and whenever I try to invest in a stock, I’m so wrong. It was 15 years ago that I believed we’d run out oil. Mad Max. So I don’t know anything!

There’s a tinge of meta-comedy in Fireplace about the streaming era, where the lead couple imagines who might play them in the true-crime dramatization of the horrific crime they’re experiencing. Who will you play in the film version of the making-of? Fireplace?

Should I just say George Clooney and pretend I’m very confident? Yes. We have to get our butts in the seats.