July 21st, 2020 
Jackson Murphy 
Joining the HBO Max lineup this Thursday July 23rd is the new Cartoon Network-produced animated series Tig n’ Seek. It’s about an eight-year-old boy, a cat and their quirky co-workers at the Department of Lost & Found. Myke Chilian not only provides the fun as show creator, but also as the voice of the main character, Tiggy. (This interview was conducted as an email Q&A.)
Jackson Murphy: Two and a half years after your Pilot Tiggle Winks was posted online (to four million views on YouTube), the Tig n’ Seek series is finally here. What has your life been like over the past 2.5 years?
Myke Chilian: Kind of like a rollercoaster with a lot of ups and downs. Creating your first show is difficult, but our show coincided with a large company merger, transitioning to a new streaming service, a pandemic, the amplification of the BLM Movement, and an election year. Not to mention lots of trials and tribulation in my personal life. Overall it has been a challenge but I have learned so much.
JM: Have you always had an interest in the ‘Lost & Found’ concept and creating storylines based on it?
MC: The motivator for Tig n’ Seek wasn’t really based on the “lost and found” element. It was more a joke about mashing up something both bureaucratic and cartoony. I always loved movies like Ghostbusters and Beetlejuice because they take these supernatural elements and make them into a bureaucracy. I think that was more interesting to me than the actual finding element.
JM: I see your Twitter photo is with you and your cat… the inspiration for Gweeseek?
MC: Gweeseek was the name of one of my favorite cats in my life. She was so sweet and expressive, this character was a perfect homage to my old friend.
JM: How do you feel about Tig n’ Seek being one of the first new animated shows on HBO Max, joining the re-vamped Looney Tunes Cartoons?
MC: It’s an honor to be alongside such amazing work as Looney Tunes, Adventure Time, and the whole Studio Ghibli library! What’s extra cool about Looney Tunes is a lot of my friends actually work on that show. I worked with Pete Browngardt when I was storyboarding on Uncle Grandpa, so it makes me really happy to continue to work alongside him in some way.
JM: You voice Tiggy. He’s such an energetic, upbeat character. Is it challenging to keep that momentum going when recording his lines for all the episodes?
MC: Wow, good question, YES. It is. My voice recording is one of the hardest parts of the job. It takes a lot of energy out of me. After every record I just want to collapse on the couch for a couple hours. But that’s never the case, because I usually have to jump into another meeting right after a record.
JM: Wanda Sykes and Jemaine Clement are very familiar with voice acting. How has it been having them be a part of this series?
MC: I gotta say, Wanda, Jemaine, and my whole cast is so amazing! I am continually blown away by their performances. They really understand the characters and fit the roles perfectly. It was very difficult to get casting just right, and it looks like we knocked it out of the park.
JM: Was there a day while working on the show when you legitimately lost and found something?
MC: Ha! I rarely find things that I lose. Sometimes I wish there really was an organization like the Department of Lost and Found that I could contact about lost stuff. Though not sure how reliable they’d be if it were run by someone like Boss.
JM: The episode ‘The Tig-Tale Heart‘ deals with an annoying baby toy. There are such specific details and emotions in it that I feel like this has to be inspired by a real-life situation. Is it?
MC: Tiggy is prone to feeling guilty, which is why we chose to model this story after Edgar Allan Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart. I’m sure we can all relate to doing something wrong and having it eat us up inside to the brink of insanity. Tiggy does that a lot in our show. It makes for some rich situational comedy.
JM: Are you really good at Charades, or do you get as frustrated as everyone in the episode ‘The Tiggy Trap’?
MC: I’m probably mediocre at charades. I mostly relate to Boss in this episode –never able to fully understand the rules, blurting out answers on other people’s turn, getting angry at the game.
JM: You’re going to be part of a San Diego Comic-Con @HOME panel on Friday July 24th at 10amPT with other Cartoon Network show creators. Can you give us a preview of what you’ll be talking about?
MC: Actually I’m not sure how involved I will be. Me and some of the other show creators filmed ourselves introducing a clip or two. I’m guessing all you’re gonna see is pre-recorded iPhone footage of me in my living room saying stuff like “Don’t miss Tig n’ Seek premiering on HBO Max July 23!”
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