Toothpaste For Dinner: An Interview With Drew, Humorist
Published on January 30th, 2009 in: Art, Comedy, Comics, Interviews, Issues, The Internets |By Adam McIntyre
Drew and Natalie Dee are a husband and wife duo, creators of a handful of well-known webcomics. I discovered them through their joint creation, Married To The Sea, which updates with a new comic at midnight—every night. Their webcomics—and now videos on YouTube—often become viral Internet phenomena. I had a chat with Drew about the nature of their work and where it may be headed.
Popshifter: Drew, I can’t just sit here and call you a webcomedian. What do you and Natalie call your profession?
Drew: The word I like is “humorist”. . . it implies some amount of subtlety in what we do.
Popshifter: How would you describe the difference between Natalie’s sense of humor and yours?
Drew: Like sushi and a gaping wound, we are raw in two different ways.
Popshifter: Do you feel a daily obligation to poke fun at the Internet or is it simply something that happens on its own?
Drew: My writing and comics have always made fun of where I work—now I work on the Internet.
Popshifter: Did you find yourself doodling on the clock at your old job?
Drew: I was a research chemist for a couple years post-college and it’s actually a really boring job. I used to draw at work all the time; it’s a productive way to amuse yourself. Before I left my last corporate job (a little over five years ago), I would draw Toothpaste For Dinner at work, sometimes.
Popshifter: Drew, this is purely out of personal curiosity: I want to talk a little bit about Roller Chester. It began suddenly and ended soon after with only nine episodes, the ninth being considerably longer than the others. What was the concept behind Roller Chester? Is there another idea for a series waiting to go?
It took me about a year and a half to shoot, edit, and soundtrack the Roller Chester stuff. It was originally going to be a longer-form video but I was working way too much on it and got burned out, so I chopped it into episodes and posted it on YouTube.
Popshifter: I liked it. It seems natural that you might start producing music videos, short films. . . longer films. . . what you do now has a hard-to-pinpoint addictive quality to it. It’s entertaining even when I’m not laughing. What are you using and what would you like to do with the video side of things?
Drew: Just a video camera and an old copy of Final Cut. It’s nice to work with, I wish there was a video equivalent to the Akai MPC (there probably is and I just haven’t heard of it yet, knowing how these things go).
I have some video work storyboarded/written out but haven’t had the time to finish it. I spent the better part of the year getting our T-shirt business (Sharing Machine) up and running in our new Pittsburgh warehouse, with a better print shop, and a new website. We also launched Superpoop, which is a new comic of mine made out of found-photo material.
At some point I will probably make more videos; I like the form even though it’s relatively time-consuming compared to our other work.
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10 Responses to “Toothpaste For Dinner: An Interview With Drew, Humorist”
February 4th, 2009 at 8:59 am
As I big fan of Drew and Natalie’s work, I wanted to say that I appreciate their sense of humor and the effort they put into keeping us entertained. It’s refreshing to find something other than porn or politics online. I know I can get on one of their sites and find something that will amuse me right away. Often, it feels like an inside joke. I agree with Drew’s comment about the readers being bright and funny; it’s reassuring to know that there are other people like Drew and Natalie out there. I think their style attracts a certain type of individual, and I’m happy to be one of them.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:56 am
You make us all laugh Drew. Thanks
February 4th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
I have a certain “stumbling” website to thank for my intro to the comics of Natalie and Drew. Now its a daily ritual and I have shared the hilarity with a few friends who I know would appreciate the humour. Love it all, keep it coming! Thanks for the refreshing.
February 4th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
I’ve been reading NatalieeDee and TPFD for years now and spread the word to anyone I can. Many people say they ‘don’t get’ toothpaste for dinner to which I say, “Hah you are dumb.” When I do run into someone who recognizes their merch it’s like a super secret club of awesome people. Keep it up Drew! You guys rock 🙂
February 4th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
I have read Drew and Natalie’s comics pretty much every day for the past few years. I’m surprised now to realize I’ve been reading them for so long. It’s great to see them get more and more recognition. They are on my list of people I would love to meet but would feel really awkward talking to because I am intimidated by very cool people.
February 4th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Great Jupiter’s Thunder! You have lifted the veil, which totes destroys the mood yo! Bring me back my lithographs stereoscoepium!
February 5th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Great interview, Adam!
Thank you for turning me onto MARRIED TO THE SEA.
March 10th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
It’s so cool to KNOW there’s comics waiting to be enjoyed each day. It’s really cool when a stranger me recognizes a tee shirt and we have a brief sharing of how we ‘found’ Drew and Natalie. What’s really fun is when someone “get’s it” when sighting a tee shirt for the first time and I can direct them to the websites. Thanks Drew & Natalie.
April 12th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
[…] Toothpaste For Dinner: An Interview With Drew, Humorist, Popshifter January/February 2009 issue […]
July 16th, 2015 at 4:40 pm
Underrated content producer. Na$ty Jam$ and Real Art continuously catch me off guard with how catchy their songs can be.
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