Peter Serafinowicz, Valorie Curry, Griffin Newman, Ben Edlund, Barry Josephson and David Fury attend the Special Q+A for THE TICK
In a world where superheroes have been real for decades, an accountant (Griffin Newman – Search Party, Beware the Gonzo) with zero powers comes to realise his city is owned by a super villain called The Terror. As he struggles to uncover this conspiracy, he falls in league with a strange blue superhero, The Tick (Peter Serafinowicz – Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars).
From the original work of Ben Edlund, the Amazon Original Series The Tick will premiere in the UK on Amazon Prime Video on Friday 25th August.
During a Special Q & A moderated by Alex Zane, following the Premiere of the first two episodes in London, Peter Serafinowicz, Valorie Curry, Griffin Newman, Ben Edlund, Barry Josephson and David Fury answer questions about the eagerly awaited series...
I’m going to start with you Ben because obviously this is a character you created over 30 years ago, it’s been a comic strip, a cartoon in the 90s, and in 2001 a live action version. How does it feel to be bringing The Tick back to the screen in 2017? Because of the prolific nature of superheroes, The Tick is more relevant than ever.
Ben Edlund: Yeah that’s sort of what inspired it because we felt like The Tick got called back into action because there was so many things to have fun with out there. How does it feel? It feels amazing to be given the tools necessary to make this, you know with the dimension that I wanted to see it, this has action and comedy and all the pieces that maybe feel the most important to a depiction of The Tick that’s something.
I’m excited and happy, that’s how it feels.
Obviously we have The Tick with us this evening, and Peter taking on on this role, first of all how much did you know about The Tick before taking on the part? And also it does really feel the perfect role for your particular comedy sensibilities.
Peter Serafinowicz: I didn’t really get it (laugher). I really didn’t know that much about The Tick I had a sort very peripheral knowledge of it, I knew it was a comic book character, that it was a kind of superhero parody. The TV series with Patrick Warburton I don’t think that aired over here (UK) and the comic book I think I was vaguely aware of, I think I was getting it mixed up with something else I don’t know, but I didn’t imagine it was, first of all, so sophisticated and brilliant and so “up my street” comedy wise.
I’m really disappointed in myself for not reading it earlier and the once I read the script that was...you know some of these lines, Ben’s writing it’s so poetic, lyrical, profound and funny and I’d never read anything like it, that I got to read these words, as you know from Ben’s answer just now, Ben takes the same care and attention to his conversational sentences (audience laughs) I really admire that you know and yeah, so I quickly became aware of how beloved this character was and it was announced that Amazon was going to reboot the show and I had the fans going crazy about it online.
So yeah when I finally spoke to Ben when I’d read the script and he said he wanted me to be The Tick I was extremely flattered that he was entrusting his big blue baby to me you know.
I think we can all agree that you are a brilliant Tick (audience applauds). Did you think you share much DNA with the character, obviously he’s a huge character, but do you see similarities between who you are and the character of The Tick? Can you relate to him?
Peter Serafinowicz: Yeah, I mean I think I (laughs) you know after five months in that suit you know I had to be shown my IMDB page to be reminded that my name was Peter Serafinowicz (audience laughs) but I think that, yeah I’d like to think that I’m generally a kind of positive “can do” person and that my mind does wander and take detours, and what was the question again? (audience laughs)
It was whether you see The Tick and you go “that’s a lot like me”, without it wanting to sound offensive because obviously The Tick is a huge larger than life character.
Peter Serafinowicz: I think, I had never wanted to do a TV series, but Americans seem to be the only people who want to employ me (laughter) but it means spending time away from family, my wife and my kids which I hate doing, but I thought if that happened, if I were ever to do that it would have to be something special, and when I read this I realised that it was, my wife read it as well and was like “well this is the most ‘you’ part” (audience laughs) “I mean you’ve kind of got to do it” So maybe she just wanted to get shot of me (audience laughs) but yeah it was very special, it’s the part of a lifetime. So thanks Ben.
Ben Edlund: Thank you Peter.
The Amazon Original Series The Tick will premiere in the UK on Amazon Prime Video on Friday 25th August. The Tick season 1 will be released in two parts of 6 episodes each. Part 1 will be available on Friday 25th August. Part 2 will be released in early 2018.
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