Any hope of resuscitating R & S?

I would like to believe that there's some hope. I suppose if we did it again--which does not look likely--the main thing we would do is make some products with it. There were a lot of potential merchandising opportunities that were never exploited, which was kind of surprising to me. It was really the college kids that latched on to the show, as much as or more than the little kids. So we thought we ought to put out a really nice line of Stimpy lingerie, or Ren's "Help You Love" kits, or stuff like that.

So what are the latest initiatives from Spumco HQ?

Well, we've got all sorts of projects on the horizon, but we haven't landed one yet. We are working on the George Liquor program, but it hasn't been sold yet. We're actually looking to self-finance it, or to get private investors to finance it. George Liquor is one of the characters from the Ren & Stimpy Show--he was their master. He's an ultra-American, right-wing (so right-wing that he thinks Republicans are Commies) kind of guy from the '50s, a lodge brother. He got kicked off the show. Now he's Jimmy the Idiot Boy's master. Jimmy's his idiot nephew he keeps out back in the chicken coop. He brings him out every once in a while to teach him how to be a real man and stuff.

I've noticed your new line of toys from Palmer Paints...

I hope you plug all that stuff! We've got plush and rubber figures of Jimmy the Idiot Boy and George Liquor, and a distant descendent of Jimmy, Jimmy of the Future. Jimmy of the Future is what idiots are going to evolve into 400 billion years from now--a very advanced idiot. Far superior to today's primitive network executives. He's got anti-gravity moon nipple boots, which I think everybody will like, because we all like nipples, don't we?

When you develop these things, do you consciously try to balance marketing needs with your creative vision?

I don't even think in terms of marketing needs. Not at all. And I think that's what's wrong with all entertainment today--99 percent of it. The second you have to say "marketing need," it means you have no concept yourself of what people like. I think all popular entertainers succeed or fail based on how well they communicate emotions to their audience. We just do what we think is funny or nasty or horny or whatever. Usually, people like it except if they're executives. Executives, they don't get it. Which drives me insane.

What kinds of pop culture inspire you?

I'm inspired by a lot of things. Bob Clampett is my favorite cartoonist, for his Warner Brothers cartoons in the 1940s. Kirk Douglas is my favorite actor. I like Joan Crawford a lot. I love Elvis, and not just his hit songs. I actually like his more soulful stuff, the songs he wanted to sing for himself that weren't necessarily hits. The reason I like them is because they were fantastically sophisticated and inventive, and it inspires the hell out of me that he was always trying new things. People don't know that about him--he was really an amazing guy. I don't hesitate to call him a genius, in every creative sense of the word. He's just got it; he's not just a guy who thrust his groin all over the stage, which I think is great, by the way. It's the coolest. I thrust my groin all the time, too.

What do you hope people get out of your own work? Anything more than just entertainment?