Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers To Fly Flag In Animated Series

By David Bloom

Long-time underground comix stars The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers are about to emerge into the light with an eight-episode animated series, with help from key creative talent behind Rick & Morty, Silicon Valley andWorkaholics, among others.

Gilbert Shelton, the Freak Brothers' creator, will be an executive producer on the animated project. The show will be built around his comic's original story lines, which follow the misadventures of three pharmacologically impaired non-siblings (and their cat) as they try to find more drugs, It is both celebration and satire of alternative culture, and remains a cult favorite. Freak Brothers comics have been translated into 14 languages with more than 40 million copies sold.

The Freak Brothers debuted in 1968 in The Rag, an Austin, Texas, alternative paper. Three years later, the first stand-alone Freak Brothers comics were published, with new issues from Shelton and eventual collaborators David Sheridan and Paul Mavrides arriving through1992, including runs in publications such as High Times and Playboy. Compilations of the work have been in print in one form or another ever since.

The eight 22-minute episodes of adult-oriented animation are expected to be ready by early next year. The project has not lined up distribution yet, but has enlisted a lengthy list of Hollywood veterans of notable TV and film projects.

The series was commissioned by WTG Enterprises, whose executives include long-time Hollywood producer and former Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. movie executive Mark Canton (Power, 300). Canton will executive produce with WTG CEO Courtney Solomon (AFTER, American Haunting, Dungeons & Dragons), and WTG President Jeffrey Edell (The Kids Are Alright, The Grey)
Showrunners will be Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland (writers on King of the Hill and America Dad).
John Althschuler and Dave Krinsky, co-creators of Silicon Valley, will write, produce and serve as executive producers and creative contributors.
Adam Devine and Blake Anderson, co-creators of the long-running series Workaholics, will voice characters. They also will serve as executive producers and creative contributors.
Daniel and Jeremy Lehrer (Highly Gifted) will serve as writers and producers.
Starburns Industries (Rick and Morty, .Animals) and Pure Imagination Studios (The Simpsons, Lego Batman) will create the animation.