Full stream ahead: 2005 grad’s new comedy lands on Peacock

When Brandon Gardner ’05 developed a stop-motion animated comedy series with Zach Woods and Mike Judge, a public radio station was the ideal setting for the show.

“We chose a public radio station as a way to explore characters similar to Zach and myself,” Gardner says. “I would describe us as very liberal, progressive people. And as much as we agree with those values, we also think that there’s absurdity — at least with Zach and myself — and hypocrisy to our behavior where we don’t live up to our ideals. We wanted characters who could reflect what was funny about ourselves and the friends in our liberal bubble.”

The first season of In the Know, featuring the voice talents of Woods (Gabe from The Office) and Judge (creator of Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill), premiered in late January 2024 on Peacock. It is the first adult animated series on the streaming service.

A poster for The Pappy Parker Players caught Gardner’s eye while walking to a dining hall during his first year on campus. He joined the group and enjoyed improvisational performances. As a member of the Pappys, he attended a college comedy festival at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., which had workshops taught by performers from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCB). Gardner decided that he would take classes at UCB in New York City after graduating from Binghamton. That is where he met Woods and launched into a comedy career.

Woods, who has worked on several projects with Gardner, has high praise for his longtime friend.

“Brandon is a quietly ferocious artist. He’s incredibly funny, incredibly sharp, incredibly perceptive, but very soft-spoken and kind and polite,” he says. “If you weren’t paying attention, you might just think: ‘Oh, that’s a very nice, easygoing guy.’ But beneath that placid exterior is a very complicated, thrilling, brilliant comedian and writer. He’s provided so much institutional support and structural support for the project. And he’s given so much personal fire and flair to the project. His DNA and his humor are essential to the whole thing.”

Gardner is a Renaissance man for In the Know. He serves as a writer, showrunner, director and executive producer. In the Know also features a star-studded cast, with popular voice actors such as J. Smith-Cameron, Charlie Bushnell, Carl Tart and Caitlin Reilly. You’ll find names like Mike Tyson, Roxane Gay, Finn Wolfhard, Ken Burns and Norah Jones on the celebrity guest list.

“All the interview guests that we had [on the show] were people we desperately wanted,” Gardner says. “We thought they would be entertaining and interesting and reflect the real types of people that NPR might have on a show like this.”

The format of the show, featuring interviews with live celebrities, was originally created with the COVID-19 pandemic in mind. Because all interviews at the time were remote, Gardner explains, they wanted to make a virtual talk show where one side was animated.

“Then, as we started to develop the show in the world of the public radio station, the show became more and more about that, as well,” Gardner says. “And we were excited about the novelty of the structure: It’s a little bit of a talk show where you’ve got these interview guests, but it’s a little bit of a sitcom at the same time.”

The main character, a host named Lauren Caspian, is a blend of public intellectuals. Gardner says that as poor as Lauren’s behavior is, they still want him to feel like a real person.

“Someone that seems like they really want you to think that they’re interesting and smart can be a difficult type of person to be around,” Gardner says. “But I think it often comes from that person feeling like if people don’t think they’re smart or interesting, people won’t see any value in them. That’s very sad and, unfortunately for me, relatable. So, I think for Lauren, as horrible as he behaves sometimes, it just comes out of this deep insecurity — he just wants people to like him.”

Woods says the showrunners wanted to focus on the contrast between people’s ideas and actions, especially through Lauren.

“People’s ideologies can function more in a cosmetic capacity than an actual moral commitment,” says Woods, including himself in that description. “In the gap between how people see themselves and present themselves and how they actually are is a lot of comedy and heartbreak.”

In the Know was pitched to several streaming platforms, but Gardner, Woods and Judge decided on Peacock.

“A couple platforms were interested, but I think Peacock was the one that seemed most excited about the idea as we presented it to them, and didn’t have anything that they wanted to change about it off the bat,” Gardner says. “They were just like, ‘We’re excited. We want to do this.’”

Gardner says that while Peacock’s audience is smaller than Netflix or Disney+, for example, there are benefits to the team’s structure. Peacock executives often had great notes, Gardner says, but were receptive to unusual ideas, such as the show’s format.

“The drawback is, comparatively, Peacock has fewer subscribers,” he says. “So, we’re hoping it doesn’t limit, in a significant way, how many people get to watch the show. But the bonus was that we got to make a show that Zach and I are proud of and that reflects what he and I find funny.”

Gardner has been a performer and instructor at UCB for 17 years. His first love in comedy was improvisation, which started with the Pappys at Binghamton. Gardner says he appreciates the immediacy of receiving the audience’s response to improv comedy.

“Improv is a fun blend of writing and acting, where you’re doing both at the same time,” he says. “A lot of the [comedy] principles that I learned as a student at UCB and then taught are things I still believe — and came into play as we were making the show.”

Gardner says he was apprehensive about reading online reviews of In the Know, but ended up doing so. He says he could tell that most people who voiced an opinion watched the full series, and that he has a great appreciation for viewers and reviewers.

“After working on something for so long, it’s just nice to know that most critics have — even if they didn’t think it was perfect — enjoyed it and taken the time to think about it.”