Name that toon
The creators of the new Eyebrowy DVD expound on the inspiration behind their hilarious cartoons, their decision to leave their Irish characters behind, and how the real-life counterparts of their ‘toon army view their small-screen siblings.
John Walshe, 05 Dec 2006
Colm and Bren Russell, the two brothers who script, animate and voice the massively popular and frequently hilarious Eyebrowy cartoons, are as inconspicuous as a blue jersey when the Dubs are in Croker or a goatee in an art gallery. And that’s the way they like it.
In fact, the duo aren’t exactly comfortable with the whole promotional circus surrounding the release of their first DVD, I Prefer The Early Stuff.
“One of the things we do is to take the piss out of people who would maybe be a bit precious or take themselves really seriously in interviews. But some of the interviews we’ve done, we’ve read them afterwards and it sounds like we take ourselves too seriously,” Colm admits. “It was like we were becoming the characters we were slagging. Plus, we like to bring in the characters whenever we can for promotional stuff and let them do the talking because it’s a better showcase for what we do.”
If anything, releasing the DVD has encouraged the brothers to feel more respect for some of the musicians they lampoon.
“It’s only when you do something like this that you realise that you can’t actually get the perfect thing you always wanted,” Colm notes. “You have to make sacrifices. So you then realise that when bands put out albums, there are a lot of factors that have to be taken into consideration that they’re not in control of.”
That said, while Eyebrowy animations have always cast a wry eye at Ireland’s independent music scene, they’ve also been quite warm towards the characters, imbuing them with an innate vulnerability that makes them ultimately likeable. In other words, these genuine music fans picked up on certain idiosyncrasies and made them funny without being vicious.
“We never wanted to piss anyone off or to be cruel,” Colm explains. “At the same time, we don’t really worry about what the people involved are going to think about it. It’s like a bunch of mates having some good-natured slagging: if somebody gets a bit cruel, it’s not really funny, it’s just awkward.”
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