Dave Willis

Willis was originally hired in 1995 by Williams Street, an Atlanta-based production house for Cartoon Network, as a writer for "Cartoon Planet" (Cartoon Network 1995-99), a compendium of old Hanna-Barbera cartoons linked by original sketches. He then moved to sister show "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast" (Cartoon Network 1994-2002), a bizarre animated parody of late-night talk shows, where he first met creative partner Matt Maiellaro. Willis became a producer on the show as well as providing several minor voices. The characters who became the center of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" -- Frylock, Master Shake and Meatwad (voiced by Willis himself) -- were originally conceived by Willis and Maiellaro for an episode of "Space Ghost: Coast To Coast" in 1999, although that episode, 'Baffler Meal,' didn't air until 2003. The show originally had a vague premise about a team of super-powered fast food items that fought crime, but that was soon abandoned in favor of surrealist suburban sitcom adventures and other inexplicable science fiction events. Willis and Maiellaro wrote and directed every episode and while there was very little logic at play -- characters would often die in one episode but appear unscathed in the next, for example -- that was part of the quirky appeal and the show quickly gained a cult following. While Adult Swim blossomed into an integral part of Cartoon Network's programming, Willis continued to be incredibly prolific. He worked in various capacities on several Williams Street-produced shows on Adult Swim, including the 1950s sitcom parody "The Brak Show" (2000-03), the surreal underwater comedy "Sealab 2021" (2000-05) and the anime parody "Perfect Hair Forever" (2004-07). 2005 saw the launch of Willis' next co-created project (this time with Jim Fortier), "Squidbillies," which followed the lives of a family of anthropomorphic hillbilly squids. "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" was perhaps Adult Swim's biggest breakout success; in 2007, a big-screen feature-length spin-off went by the incredibly literal title of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters" (2007). Willis took on writer, director, producer and actor roles alongside Maiellaro on the film, which made a decent profit, taking in over $5 million at the box-office and making a further $12 million on DVD in the US alone. Not bad, given the film's miniscule $750,000 budget. Willis continued to work in animation, following the "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" movie with an online-only spinoff series "Carl," about the superheros' cantankerous next-door neighbor. He also created "Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge" (Adult Swim 2010), wrote a 2011 episode of Seth MacFarlane's long running series "Family Guy" (Fox 1999-) and provided the voice of guest villain Barry Dylan on "Archer" (FX 2010-), a James Bond parody created by some former Williams Street regulars.