NB: Including me! And I also very much liked Tennessee Tuxedo, which you also created, is that right?
Joe Harris: We created eight shows in all. The first one was King Leonardo and His Short Subjects. Then we went to Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales. And Underdog was the third. Mixed in there were small fillers, like The Hunter and the Fox. Tooter Turtle was in there. Go Go Gophers was another one. And then we did Klondike Kat.
NB: Ah, yes, Klondike Kat. Love him, too.
Joe Harris: One of my personal favorites was Commander McBragg. I always thought he was underrepresented and underutilized. He was the Baron Munchausen type of character. He did outrageous stories from his past. In a way I think he had the same... I know this may sound odd. I thought he had the same qualities as Mr. Magoo. Magoo couldn't see, and kept stumbling and fumbling. And McBragg can't help lying about everything. So I think he's funny, in that sense.
NB: And Commander McBragg, because of his tendency to lie, that led to a lot of great storytelling.
Joe Harris: I'd love to do a book on him.
NB: That's a great idea! The DVDs of Underdog are coming out. Are you excited about that?
Joe Harris: I already have my sets. I haven't seen them yet. But, yeah, sure, I'm excited.
NB: It's a great way to introduce a whole new generation to Underdog.
Joe Harris: I think it's probably the only way. But, you know, it isn't just another generation. You have the Boomers who saw it originally. But I've been all over the country, people have asked me to come and do talks, and blackboard stuff, and talk to kids, and everywhere I've gone, the kids know Underdog. It's not even age-related.
And my daughter, who just recently graduated from high school here in New York, she belongs to a private school and in New York everybody in private school knows everybody else in private school. It's like sort of an underground group. I've talked to a number of them, and they all know Underdog. And I've had to draw, I can't tell you how many drawings, for kids all over New York. And sometimes for parents, who say it's for their kids.
NB: I can definitely believe that.
Joe Harris: So yeah, I'm excited about it coming out. It's a great thing.
NB: Did you have input on the making of the DVDs? Or provide commentary or bonuses?
Joe Harris: I did one thing for them, and it was for one of the additional pieces called "The Nug of Nog". I don't know if you know about that.
NB: No, I don't.
Joe Harris: Well, then, I'll tell you what happened. I used to have a place in the Hamptons and I had a friend and we used to play volleyball on the beach. And he had two daughters, Sophie and Elizabeth. One day, I told them I would come down on the weekend, and we would sit on the sand and draw. So I got all set to do that, and then I got called to do something in Los Angeles, and I went.
I felt bad. So on the way out, I took out my sketchpad. I always carry it with me everywhere and I drew and episode of Underdog. It's called "The Nug of Nog," who is a kind of classic Genghis Khan type of villain, who kidnaps Polly, which is a staple. We have to kidnap Polly. And then he challenges Underdog to a contest, which turns out to be a whole bunch of robotic volleyball players.
The Nug of Nog sits in a bomb-proof shelter, operating the controls, because the bomb is really not a volleyball. It's a bomb. The robots are trained to hit it exactly right. Underdog sees that you can't touch the little spikes on it. He doesn't know what to do, because there's six of them and only one of him. And he finally hits the ball, the bomb, that is, up in the air. He sees the wire coming from the shelter, and he dives out, breaks the wire, all of the robots collapse, he saves Polly. He opens up the little Plexiglas bomb shelter, and drops the bomb in the lap of Nug of Nog, and says, "Now don't move." Then he leaves.
He goes back to the beach, and he doesn't find the kids, so he says, "I'm sorry we missed you. But I hope this will make up for it."
NB: Awww.
Joe Harris: I animated that with a friend downtown, but very limited animation, and that was included in the DVD.
NB: That's wonderful! I bet those girls loved that.
Joe Harris: Oh, they did. They sent me letters. Now, of course, they're in their 40s.
NB: Now they'll have a lasting tribute to them.
Joe Harris: Yeah! I've done a lot of drawings for kids over the years, and kids seem to react very well to Underdog. Most of them know who he is, of course.
NB: Who wouldn't react well to Underdog? I mean, he is the "underdog." Everyone feels that way, right?
Joe Harris: You're a real booster, aren't ya?
NB: Well, I think you can tell that I was a fan of the show when I was a child. I loved it.
Joe Harris: At least we kept your mom and dad in bed for another hour.
NB: My son is discovering all the old cartoons on Cartoon Network's Boomerang channel. He loves all the old cartoons, which I am very happy about because my husband and I can relive our childhoods while we're watching them with him.
Joe Harris: That's the fun part, isn't it? How old is your son?
NB: He's almost 5.
Joe Harris: Oh, what a great age. They're still not too big to carry on your shoulders, and they're old enough to understand everything.
NB: That is exactly right. Do you have many children?
Joe Harris: I have three daughters, and the oldest is now, let's see, she's 47. The second daughter's 43 and the last is 18. Y'know, I re-lived all the childhood stuff, too.
NB: That's wonderful! Do you stay in Manhattan or travel a lot?
Joe Harris: I live in Manhattan. I don't travel anymore. I love traveling, but up until recently I never had the opportunity because I came into New York to take care of my daughter because she was living in New York with her mother, because here we have a school she can attend, so we had a house in Connecticut and an apartment in New York, but she died five years ago. So I came in to take care of my daughter.
