From ‘King of the Hill’ to ‘Bless the Harts’ Emily Spivey Is an Expert at Making Fun of the South

This past weekend, Fox unveiled its latest adult animated comedy Bless the Harts, starring Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, and Jillian Bell. And at the Television Critics Association’s 2019 summer tour Decider sat down with series creator Emily Spivey about how her sweet ode to Southern families came to be.

Set in Spivey’s home state of North Carolina, Bless the Harts follows the blue collar Hart family. These three generations of Southern women may be at odds with one another, but there’s a lot of love to make up for all that frustration. From her King of the Hill and Saturday Night Live roots to how beloved researcher and self-help guru Brené Brown came to alter both her latest show and her Netflix movie Wine Country, Spivey spilled on what went into creating her star-studded series.

Decider: Why was this a show you thought would translate well to adult animation?

Emily Spivey: One of my favorite shows in the world is King of the Hill and I was lucky enough to write on that staff. I just always loved the sort of gentle, humane humor of the show and how authentic it was to Austin, to Arlen, to Texas. I wanted to do the same thing with North Carolina. I think Mike Judge would agree, that show is a love letter to where he grew up, and Bless the Harts is a love letter to where I grew up. I wanted to see, in the spirit of The Andy Griffith Show, a really nice sense of place in the South with Southerners that aren’t hee-haw.

What did you learn from King of the Hill that you brought to Bless the Harts?

What didn’t I learn? That was my first real official job in a writer’s room, and that staff was the kindest, funniest group of guys in the entire world. They were so patient with me. I learned how to break a story in that room. Prior to that I had just been writing sketches. Just to get to work with Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, it was just a dream come true. I’m proud that I got to be in that writer’s room.

What goes into writing that kind of gentle comedy?

It’s less situational and more character based and low concept. If I could I would go no concept, I would have two characters just talk for 30 minutes. So I try to write really authentic characters and just hope that the stories and the comedy come out of that.

There’s a trend in animation right now where these lower stakes shows are getting appreciated more. I’m thinking of Bob’s Burgers. Why do you think it’s veering away from the really intense Family Guy sort of format?

People like a good story, they like to see themselves reflected back. I hope it is a trend that continues because all of my favorite shows are that. I was watching a bunch of Mary Tyler Moore’s the other day and they’re so brilliant. Ted Knight can just walk into the room and he can get a laugh. He doesn’t even have to say anything because you know what he’s thinking, you know the character so well. So I can only hope to get a little close to that.

You’re a female showrunner in adult animation, an industry that’s typically a boy’s club. I hate that this is a question I feel like I need to ask but what’s that like?

I’ve been lucky, let’s put it that way. The situations that I’ve been in professionally have been very loving environments and I know that’s not the case for a lot of ladies. From Mad TV to SNL to King of the Hill I’m very lucky to have been in kind, wonderful rooms. People even talk about SNL being a boy’s club, but when I was there I was with such a good pack of ladies and there was never a sense that I was being treated differently because I’m a woman or whatever. And Lorne loves a funny lady.

But that being said, I know it can be difficult. There was one room I was in that was a little stinky but it was later in my career and I had the sense enough to get out of there.

The medium you’re working in, adult animation, is my favorite. And it’s always really frustrated me because there is a lack of projects coming from women. But when they do come they’re typically the most interesting. I’m thinking of Tuca & Bertie, Bless the Harts is very sweet and loving, and Big Mouth, which has a female co-creator. What do you think animation can do to be better?

I feel like it’s one of those things where either girls feel like they can’t — I don’t know what I’m trying to say. It feels very boy. It feels very masculine.

It does.

I’m not sure what — maybe it’s because it’s a comic book thing. I don’t know, that’s such a good question. I do hope people embrace Bless the Harts because I do like seeing three generations of ladies on an animated show. I know there are a lot of dudes that watch that Sunday night, so I’m hoping they’ll want to watch some ladies.

Another thing that’s nice about your show is that your female leads are played by women. Not to pick on Bob’s Burgers but there are five main characters and only one women in the main voice acting cast Was that important to you to have women play women?

I really came at it because I really wanted to work with Maya [Rudolph]. And I knew Kristen [Wiig] would do it, and I wanted to work with Kristen, and Jillian [Bell]. I wasn’t really thinking female. I was just thinking who would I like to work with in a dream world.

With Jillian Bell’s character, Violet’s so deadpan but Jillian I always think of as crazier. What was it like pairing her with such a toned down character?

I wrote it for her because I know that she has that side of her that can be very deadpan and I also know that she can do so much with very little. She’s a genius. I knew she’d be the best person to play that type of character. She brings so much attitude in those little lines that she has.

And what was it like working with Maya Rudolph on this?

She’s doing my mom a little bit, she’s doing my mom’s accent. But we’ve worked together like I always say for 5,000 years. The good thing about Maya is that we speak a twin language. I can write something and know exactly how she’s going to do it and visa versa. It’s a dream.

I also wanted to talk about your Netflix movie Wine Country. I know that Paula Pell bought everyone vibrators. Were there any other stories in that movie that happened in real life?

Everything in that movie, seriously. I think it all happened in real life, every bit of it.

What’s your favorite story?

Probably the tarot card reader because that lady was a real bossy pants. And Poehler and her were immediately butting heads. They’re both alphas. That lady came in and she was like ‘This isn’t going to work.’ She made us move furniture, she complained that it was too hot. She shushed us. It was hilarious. I’m not joking, she was like 90. Her name was Granny Rainbow. Is Granny Rainbow. I hope she’s still with us.

I also wanted to talk about Brené Brown’s appearance.

Oh my god, I love Brené.

I can’t stop reading her. Who came up with the idea to include her?

You know what happened with that is that Maya was starting to do Bless the Harts. When she was looking for the accent, she goes ‘I think I’m going to try it as Brené Brown’s accent.’ We had listened to her a little bit, but then as a group we just did a deep dive. The group became obsessed with Brené Brown. So we wrote her in, and she was game to do it. She was amazing.

How was she on set?

A human living doll. So fun, and so funny. She’s exactly how you want her to be. We actually did a big scene with her where we asked her questions in real time, and she didn’t want to know the questions. So she on film answered a ton of our questions. We need to release it as an extra.

Getting back to your current show, what’s the episode you’re most excited about in this first season of Bless the Harts?

I’m most excited for the Thanksgiving episode. It’s all about Black Friday, and it’s how Wayne and Jenny met. It’s just one of my favorite things I’ve ever written.

Black Friday is so funny to me but then it’s just really funny and sweet that their origin story came out of Black Friday … The blue collar-ness of it, that’s what I like to write. Because that’s just how I grew up and the people I grew up with, it was very blue collar. That struggle for the American dream, it’s just so fascinating to me.

Do you ever have a hard time remembering those specific blue collar nuances?

No way. I’m home all the time, I’m in North Carolina all the time. It’s just in me. It’s who I am. It’s the same with [Amy] Poehler. Poehler and I used to joke that we’re so blue collar, like we’d get our hackles up about stuff and can’t stand when somebody’s rich or snooty. We’re  little blue collar babies.

New episodes of Bless the Harts premiere on Fox Sundays at 8:30/7:30c. 

Where to stream Bless the Harts