The Cleveland Show is a spin-off from Family Guy. Michael Henry is starring and executive-producing the show. He chatted a bit Windy City Times while in the midst of making more animated magic.
Windy City Times: Hello, Mike. Congrats on the new show! I heard it has already been picked up for a second season.
Michael Henry: Yep, we are [ a few ] episodes already into our second season. We are enjoying the ride right now.
WCT: How did the sitcom come about?
Michael Henry: I had been pitching Cleveland in the writer's room since Family Guy got started. The tip of the iceberg of what I was pitching never was aired because Family Guy is so densely packed with characters and everything else so there wasn't a lot of room for Cleveland in Family Guy. It got to the point a few years ago that Seth McFarland got the notion that the studio and network would love a spin-off. This was the only character that was considered for that. We just started thinking about it and came up with a show pretty quickly. The framework and dynamics came along.
WCT: It was meant to be.
Michael Henry: Cleveland is a well-rounded guy. He can be wacky in his own right so he is a good choice, I hope.
WCT: What's the premise of the show?
Michael Henry: Cleveland and Cleveland, Jr.,who is now 14up and leave Quahog. They end up in Cleveland's hometown in Virginia and start a new life there when Cleveland meets up with a high school love and her two children. We basically have a Brady Bunch in the animated universe here.
WCT: And a Jeffersons with the spin-off from All in the Family.
Michael Henry: Meets The Cosby Show, too.
WCT: That works. There are musical numbers as well, correct?
Michael Henry: Oh, yeah. We are far different from Family Guy. We are not showtunes-oriented. We are strictly funk and disco, '70s- and '80s-inspired. I love what we are doing musically. We have gotten to work with Earth, Wind & Fire and Kanye West. We have Hall & Oates as reoccurring characters on our show. Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas is on the show, too.
WCT: I heard that you have some good guest stars.
Michael Henry: We have a wide rang of cool guest stars. David Lynch, the filmmaker, plays the bartender. We have Jamie Kennedy, Jason Alexander, Ed Asner and Bebe Neuwirth, to name a few.
WCT: She's coming to Chicago with the Addams Family musical. How many characters do you voice on the show?
Michael Henry: I voice Cleveland and his stepson, Rollo; I would say eight or nine other reoccurring characters, also.
WCT: You sound like Christopher Guest from Waiting for Guffman fame to me.
Michael Henry: Oh, with my voice for the performance artist. No, I have just met several people that are exactly like that character. They have that universal thing about being very meticulous how he organizes his life and sees the world.
WCT: Are you going to continue doing voices on Family Guy?
Michael Henry: YeahHerbert, Bruce the performance artist, Consuela the maid and a few others.
WCT: There's already controversy because many of the African-American characters are played by Caucasians.
Michael Henry: Since the innovation of color-blind casting, there are many people that have played other races and genders. Cleveland is not just a Black guy. He is a very well-rounded character who happens to be African-American. All the cast around me is African-American. I have no agenda to make fun of Black people. It's an interesting thing about what we do but [ it's ] not the whole story. I ask my friends sometimes if it is over the line and there have been a few cases where we have changed something based on my gut feeling.
WCT: Are there gay characters?
Michael Henry: Cleveland's boss Floyd Waterman, who is an old southern gentleman, is clearly hot for Terry. Terry is one of Cleveland's co-workers, a strapping handsome man. Mr. Waterman is an old socialite who is married and clearly closeted.
His assistant is named Lawrence but he calls himself Florence. His name is F. Lawrenceget it? He's just silly. That's it so far.
WCT: Hilarious. It sounds like there is going to be a big following of the show like Family Guy. Cleveland Brown is back in town!
Special thinks to my college buddy, Kirk Butler, who set up the interview and writes for the The Cleveland show.