Universal Basic Guys Creators Talk Season 2 Finale, Season 3 Future, & More (Exclusive)

Universal Basic Guys has been one of the standout hits of Fox’s Animation Domination block for the past few years, and ComicBook got the chance to talk with its creators all about the end of their second season and renewal for the third. Universal Basic Guys has been a breath of fresh air among the Animation Domination block as while it does take the traditional animated sitcom route much like its peers, it feels like a much different kind of series where everything is possible. It’s a wacky world, but the characters are grounded to keep it anchored.

Created by Adam Malamut and Craig Malamut, Universal Basic Guys is going to be ending Season 2 of its run with Fox with its final episode airing on Sunday, April 12th. But while this is going to be the end of the series for now, it has thankfully been renewed for a third season and the creator duo is hard at work on what’s next. Speaking to ComicBook all about it, Adam and Craig Malamut opened up about Universal Basic Guys so far, that awesome theme song, Season 3 hopes and more. Read on below for our interview that has been edited for length and clarity.

Universal Basic Guys Creators Talk Season 2 Process Ahead of Finale & Season 3

NICK VALDEZ, COMICBOOK: You’re rounding out Universal Basic Guys Season 2, and you just got renewed for Season 3, so I wanted to start with an update. How are you guys feeling about the show so far? Have you found a groove in the production process yet compared to when you started?

ADAM MALAMUT: I think we found a groove in the sense that we know there’s always going to be something that’s going to throw us out of our groove.

CRAIG MALAMUT: Expect the unexpected is the mantra. I do think that we’ve gotten better, more than the hang of it. Our team is gelling more. Everyone’s more experienced, so that’s been a lot better. And I think that what we’re excited about with Season 2 and Season 3 is we’re now building on this foundation of characters in a world. And so you can tell deeper, richer stories now that you’re more familiar with everyone.

CRAIG: Yeah, I think for the characters, you just have a much stronger instinct for what the characters would do or say and this and that.

ADAM: You can show the writers the old episodes.

CRAIG: You’re not just guessing, and we introduced some new characters in Season 3 that I think will be interesting. And you see how when you develop these new characters, you really don’t realize until about writing six or so episodes exactly how they’re going to fit in. Then you start to be able to write for them. So now with our core characters, we feel that we have some good characters like that. And then also some good side characters that have developed Joe Lo Truglio as Mr. Bouchard. He’s super fun, so we like that character.

We know the Jersey Devil is super funny and John Glazer’s great, so he comes back. I would say there’s good things, but ultimately when making a show, every story’s like, ‘What do we do? How are you supposed to write a story again? Oh my God, it’s 70 pages!’ So your hair is always in fire, but at least you’re used to the fire.

Universal Basic Guys Creators Break Down That Awesome Theme Song

There’s one thing I told myself that I have to ask you about, and it’s the theme song. It’s awesome. I appreciate a good theme song because in our current streaming era, those things get shorter and even non-existent. Could you talk a bit about putting that theme song together?

CRAIG: It’s funny because we like the idea of this very on the nose throwback kind of theme song. They just make us happy, and we know it’s dumb, so we kind of embrace that. It’s just fun to have a cold open that kicks into that little drum roll into the song to get the energy up when you’re about to watch an episode. So when we were writing it, it just was so stuck in our heads, we just thought we got to put this at the front of the show.

ADAM: I think it was something that we actually wrote for our pitch presentation short. It was something we did on our own. I was tinkering around with stuff, and I sent Craig a rough version of it. I was like, “And here’s another version.” He’s like, “No, no, no, stick with this one. This is the one.” It’s a little rough around the edges, but then Craig went in and took my vocals and he added a lot of chorus to it and stuff like that. He took it and crossed the finish line with it. But the fun fact about the theme song, we were wrestling with titles for the show.

We were coming up with all kind of different things because you go through development, and the universal basic income factor kind of ebbs and flows as how much it affects the show and different things happen. We started to think, “Well, maybe we should call it something about the Hoagies or something like that. Maybe it’s more about the family than the concept.” And in naming the show, Universal Basic Guys, it actually got some interest, but we got killed on certain things because it changed people’s perception about what they think the show’s going to be.

But one of the reasons we stuck with it is because we didn’t want to change the theme song. It was in the theme song and it fits so nicely that when everything was said and done, we’re like, “You know what? Let’s just stick with the Universal Basic Guys, so we don’t have to change theme song.”

CRAIG: One of those ugly names that just…hopefully people like it.

Is Mark Ever Going to Need a Full Time Job?

I love it because it kind of just helps you explain that Mark and Hank won’t just have to worry about work and it’s just about their free time. And so I wanted to ask about that specifically too, as we see them taking on different careers maybe once and a while to play around with the idea, but is a full career off the table as you expand the characters?

ADAM: Initially with what we’re interested in with that concept, it was a launching off point for Mark to do whatever they want and not commit to any one job. Other shows do that without explanation, but we had that. I think for us though, we just saw where things were going and we said, “Wouldn’t it be interesting to put a show in a world to explore the world?” I see where things are going with A.I. and the A.I. companies are only going to get more and more money while less and less people have jobs. What if we explored that world where there’s a future where guys like Mark who are big sales guys know it alls, know everything, but now he doesn’t have a role?

And he’s got to find himself and he’s always talked a big game, but now he’s got a plenty of money where his mouth is because he actually got the time to explore that sort of thing. So for us, it was like a window into where I think things should probably go with A.I. Making sure that maybe we could take care of people, and use that money for people to explore arts and other things. And so with Mark, it gives him a chance to try all different things.

We do flirt with the idea that maybe one season he’ll get a job because part of the thing we’re digging into the weeds of UBI is that it’s not necessarily supposed to be so you can go and spend money like crazy. I do understand people feeling like, “Well, are they saying that if people get money, they’re going to spend?” No, we’re not. It’s just a fun show. He’s an idiot, and that’s what happens.

CRAIG: I’ll add that some of the episodes touch on the theme of the show, and a lot of the episodes don’t. They’re just about this group of characters, the dynamics between them, and the problems they run into in this town because we’re not going to make every single episode about the premise. But yeah, we felt like it’s good once in a while. We have an episode coming up that hasn’t come out yet that really dives into the premise of a show to answer a lot of the questions that we’ve left lingering [Season 2’s “Markumentary”].

How Wacky Is Universal Basic Guys Allowed to Be?

In those terms too, I know there are some shows out there that kind of limit how wacky some things can get with their premises. You two have noted how you’re paying attention to introducing certain characters to the world, and playing around more with that elasticity. Then the show also has the Jersey Devil as a recurring character, Mark had a clone in one episode, and a horse explodes. So is there a guideline to follow with how wacky you’re allowing things to get?

ADAM: It’s interesting because there are probably some rules. I don’t know about Craig, but I honestly don’t always know what those rules are until someone pitches something and I say, “No, that wouldn’t quite work.” When you look at the episode where they go to the Poconos, for example, there’s witches, ghosts, and all that stuff. Craig and I are big science skeptic people, so it does sometimes stress us out like, “Okay, we’ve added this metaphysical thing to the world, so now this exists in the world.” Mark’s relatively grounded in terms of character relatability, and how he talks and stuff like that.

And so we really do like to go to crazy places, but we have to really earn it on our show. It’s where usually things build, and build, and build, so that by the time you get to some crazy place, you understand why. A good example is “Sheet Shock,” the Navy SEAL episode. It starts off as David’s like, “I want to write this memoir.” Mark’s like, “I can do Navy SEALs.” By the end, Mark has joined the Expendables and David has gone into this fantasy world where these Smurf characters are holding him hostage.

What makes it tricky sometimes is that we always want to get there in a way that it’s unexpected and it builds to that. But when you do a very natural dialogue with grounded sort of interactions and dynamics, it can be hard to get there sometimes. Then other times we just do it and then we’re like, “Well, we did this.” There’s not a constitution for what we are doing…it’s an animated show, so why not do fun stuff?

Yeah! Mark seems like a regular dude even in all of that, so that’s definitely the appeal.

ADAM: For better or worse, everybody knows a Mark Hoagies.

Expanding on the Characters Like the Merft Man in Season 2

In that same vein too everybody also knows a Merft Man, the shady friend who knows a guy that knows a guy, so I’ve got to ask about that a little. [Season 2’s “Go Fund Mernft”] finally dove into him a little bit, and showcased that his life is kind of super sad! What was it like diving in and figuring out his whole deal?

ADAM: (in Merft Man’s voice) “Well, first of all, that episode wasn’t supposed to come out, all right? I confessed some things that the producers told me they were going to cut it.” So with Merft Man, we actually have mixed feelings sometimes because if you look at a show like Seinfeld, you kind of don’t ever dive deep into the characters and whatnot. So we wrestle with if we want to keep Merft Man on this track of being the shady guy who knows some Russian mafia people, get you a gun if you need it.

But this episode, it was just so interesting to dive in. It was a funny premise as a way to get out some of that stuff. And then we thought, “Whoa.” This guy, just to reveal the depths to which this guy has underneath him and what’s going on, it just seemed interesting. We’re a little nervous about sometimes over-dimensionalizing characters, but I don’t know, this felt fun. It made him a more interesting character, I think. You just have to then reset him to the way he’s normally funny on that surface level way.

Best Kind of Hot Dog?

Just as a final question here to go out on, what’s the best kind of hot dog? I’m a solid classic, sausage dog kind of guy.

CRAIG: I have a really bad answer, but mine’s a pure nostalgia pick, and this is the worst possible answer. When I was a kid, we’d go to Wawa and there would just be those hot dogs that are just rotating in the little heat rack. Well, I’m not going to say anything bad about them, but I just love that just classic cheap hot dog.

ADAM: Okay, there’s no wrong answer here. I personally like all hot dogs. I love going to get a Chicago Dog at a place that does famous hot dogs or whatever. However, I also find sometimes with those hot dogs their skin is too thick and the ends are too thick. I also like a classic. To me, a hot dog is about the place you’re at. So at a baseball game, getting a hot dog, it’s just the feel, just getting a hot dog. And the other thing is, when we go apple picking with my family, they sell hot dogs and apple sellers.

There’s classic little hot dogs, simple little bun. I don’t even need mustard for that. To me, a hot dog is the food that symbolizes I’m at a fun thing, and I’m going to get a hot dog. That being said, I have been known to eat a hot dog from 7-Eleven for breakfast. I would say the only way they can go wrong…sometimes it’s either too tight, the skin’s too thick, or sometimes the hot dog’s too thick. It’s too much hot dog.

CRAIG: You need the good bun to hot dog ratio.

Universal Basic Guys Season 2 will be airing its finale on Fox this Sunday, April 12th at 8:30PM ET, and Season 3 is now in the works. What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!