Interview No. 60

Interview By: @The-Great-One

This is not easy to say, but eddsworld, Edd Gould... has passed away. Tom made this announcement on March 28, 2012. Back in August, I was privileged to interview this very creative and humorous individual. Not everybody on Newgrounds knew of Edd's cancer and are probably surprised by this. Even though when doing this interview I found out of Edd's cancer, it truly is sad to see him go and at such a young age of 23. He will truly be missed, and I can only hope that his words here will live on and people can still learn from his wonderful creations that have made many people laugh for years to come.

Today's guest if you haven't figured it out by the video above already is none other than that twisted man himself. His works include that of Edd vs Pie: Random (2004), The Dudette Next Door, - Tribute -, Hammer & Fail, and recently Hammer & Fail 2. These crazed characters can only come from a mind just as crazy, none other than Edd Gould a.k.a. as @eddsworld.

Q: How did you find Newgrounds and why did you join?

A: I found Newgrounds, if i remember correctly, after being linked to fellow stickmen animators stuff being judged within the portal. From there i discovered the Assassin area of which i spent many hours on (mainly killing telletubbies if i remember rightly) before finally realising i could submit my own flash content! But the first animation/game i watched off the front page was 'Osamagotchi' (search for it!)

Q: Your first flash submission would be entitled Edd (2003). An interesting little music video what is this flash about and looking back on it are you still proud of it to this day?

A: Can't say i'm too proud of it.. I didn't even know how to stream the audio back then! But it is impressive how i managed to synch up certain parts of the movie regardless. It does however please me to watch back to see how much my life has changed since i have made that animation. Maybe a second sequel is overdue.

Q: We begin our trip into Eddsworld with Edd vs Pie: Random (2004). You say it's random, but even something random can draw inspiration from somewhere. Where did yours come from for this?

A: Oh god, i honestly just did a few animation tests and thought it would be fun to synch it to some music. O Fortuna was the first thing that came to mind and of course we all know how popular pie is with animators (Weebl and LegendaryFrog come to mind) this was simply a ess of bits i had previously made with a pie sub-story added, haha.

Q: Edd vs Tom (2004) is an important flash to you is it not? When and how did you meet TomSka and how did the collaboration go on making this in other words how did the ideas form the flash?

A: If i recall correctly, me and Tom met on another stick animating site formally known as StickSuicide.com (now known as Explosm) where they had a similar animation portal to Newgrounds, but one day Tom added me simply as a fan wanting to talk. Then eventually we thought it would be fun to do a joint animation and it seemed best to start with a simple fight where we passed the baton back and forth. But boy did it get complicated! It was originally set to go on longer but we had to stop it where we did due to the file being too big to send back and forth!

Q: The Dudette Next Door would be a hilarious flash movie that would have a hilarious plot twist at the end. What can you tell us about the idea of this flash and how it came together? Also what's it like to work with Rina-Chan?

A: Rina-chan was great, she was ideal for the role really and a relief to have someone that experienced help someone who wasn't particulary well-known. If i recall correctly, it was initially a parody of 'the girl next door' which is some average movie i saw, but then me and Tord played it by ear and exchanged it scene from scene again until we decided there was a clear ending to make it all work out correctly. I remember this being a big hit with Newgrounds, probably for one very good reason, haha.

Q: Eddsworld Zombeh Attack, Eddsworld Zombeh Attack 2 and Eddsworld Zombeh Attack 3 would be three hilarious flash movies in an excellent trilogy. What can you tell us about the inspirations as well as the creative and writing process of these flashes?

A: Well clearly, the inspirtation for the first installment came from a deep love of Shaun of the Dead,which basically made me want to create my own little adventure along the same lines. As for the setting of Bittens borugh, i was aided my the vast Zombie-movie-Knowledge of Tord who helped shape the area and the plot, but i had the overall storyline from an early stage.. it just took forever to get it done due to computer problems and no internet for months and months.

However the second installment was a much more straight forward affair, with a clear inspiration from Army of Darkness, i had the plot in mind right from the start and plowed through it. But with the third installment, Tom and Matt had a little influence over the plot of the film, Tom's suggestions were good but added to the work load, and Matt's were more minor. Most of Tom's lines were redacted by him, except the final line really. Same case with Matt. The third is probably my least favourite, but has the best intro and ending. (in my opinion)

Q: Although this wasn't the first time you've worked with MajinPiccolo it is probably the most memorable one you two have done together and that is the music video - Tribute -. Said to be the best song in the world by Tenacious D. Where did the inspiration come from for this and what is it like working with MajinPiccolo?

A: Well basically, MajinPiccolo said it would be fun to animate something longer together. He had just found the song, and it was already one of my favourites so i said we should simply go for it. And i basically let him lead the production as he had never actually seen the original video before, whereas i had. So it was a safe bet his ideas would be vaguely original for the song, which in some examples were!

Q: Eddsworld Zombeh Nation would be your first Daily Feature award. Like your last zombie flick this one would be just as funny. What was the writing process for this one this time around and did you have any problems when creating it?

A: Well basically the writing was done from day one really, whcih made it a lot easier, i knew where i wanted it to go at least. I wanted to do a Zombie story away from the original 'Zombeh Attack' story. And the whole inspiration of the opening scene was almost directly from An American Werewlf in London, where the werewolf hunts down a man through the underground, and i simply wondered why had no one had zombies in the underground before. I would of thought it would be a pretty bad place to have them!

Q: The World of Edd would certainly be a morbid comedy you give us. Where did the inspiration come from for this?

A: Honestly i don't know, it started off as the intro shot of the camera panning to edd's house, then i just made it up as i went along.. turned out better than expected i guess!

Q: One of my all-time favorite flash movies by you has to be the music video you made entitled -Sugar sugar-. Where did this idea come from?

A: Oh man, the inspiration for this video was actually the episode of The Simpsons where this song was used, simply because after then i went and found the song and then i had heard the song a few times and thought wouldnt it be amusing if it was just a guy being hit on each note of the chorus. And then i linked edd's coke addiction into the song and that was pretty much it. To be honest i was astonished no one else had thought of this concept before!

Q: You and koit would work together on Koit / Eddsworld collab. You two would just go back and forth with the same animation seeing what you could make of it. Why this sort of idea and would your recommend that other artists try something like this as well?

A: It worked well the first time, not so well the next. The fact it was incredibly random and a suprise to see where the next person would take it was interesting to say the least. Simply because you would leave a door wide open and they would just break a hole in the wall claiming its a new door. You never knew where it was going. But i would recommend this to people, just be prepared to go anywhere with it.

Q: The Zanta Claws series is quite possibly the funniest Christmas related flashes on Newgrounds. We start with Zanta Claws then we head into Zanta Claws II and end at Zanta Claws III which would be the first time you hit the triple crown winning the Daily Feature, Weekly 1st Place, and Review Crew Pick awards. I wonder does Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" give inspiration to these? If so how much?

A: Actually not very much at all, except possibly the skeleton reindeer. Most of the inspiration came from someone actually telling me of the oriignally Saint Nicholas existing centuries ago, and i joked about it saying what if he is still around.. just as a zombie. Treating the good and eating the bad. So then it sort of spreaded from there. But i was super stoked with those triple awards, made my year.

Q: Hammer & Fail and Hammer & Fail 2 would be two hilarious flash animations with "Hammer & Fail 2" hitting the triple crown. What was the inspiration for this as well as the creation that went into it?

A: I drew a revised version of the eddsworld bungalow with another floor, and then thought about using that from now on. Then i realised i coudlnt just change the house magically one episode. Then i decided it might be funny to see them build it. This was also a good time to introduce thier neighbours which have never been mentioned but i have always known ere there, thier rivals. Opposite versions of themselves, much like Bizarro, The rowdyruff boys and so forth. The original reason for splitting it was to keep fans happy faster, but in the end i think it took just as long as normal thanks to other complications!

Q: I questioned whether or not I would ask this question, but I guess there is no point in trying to stray away from it. What can you tell us about your diagnosis with cancer and how are you doing?

A: I'm currently doing well (at least they have said so), the cancer is in the very low percentage. All that's left now is to have a Bone Marrow Transplant sometime later this year and hopefully i'll be on the road to recovery! (Atleast this is what they tell me)

Q: What can we expect from eddsworld in the future?

A: More episodes. Lots more. We got dozens written down, just gotta get cracking!

Edd is a remarkable individual. He has a passion for his works and the characters he creates. It truly is a treat to see his works and what life he gives them. I am thankful for the creations Edd has given us as many others, and I believe I speak on behalf of my fellow interviewers and Newgrounds fans when I say we're all hoping you not only fight this cancer, but that you kick its ass.

Sadly Edd could not kick this cancer's ass, but he has left us with an amazing world of animation, humor, and memorable characters that we will never forget for the years to come. If Edd were here now, he wouldn't want us to be sad, he would want us to be happy, to laugh, to see what he has brought to us and put a smile on our faces. It felt strange to interview him knowing of what he had and him dealing with it, but now... when a funny person dies it gives a strange feeling on how to react. Edd will be missed, his works will be treasured here on Newgrounds for generations to come. Rest in peace Edd.

UPDATE: October 2, 2020

While going back to update the interviews to clean them up and fix any videos or links that were in them I came across this interview. It still holds a place in my heart that Edd was able to share his story and his creative visions with all of you here on Newgrounds. I would give anything to have this wonderful person back and to see what Newgrounds has become overtime, I'm sure he would be just as proud of all of you just as he always was. I learned that a documentary was made on Edd later in life and I would like to share it with all of you here on this interview. To preserve his teachings to the next generation.