In the Know star/co-creator Zach Woods talks about his new Peacock comedy with a lot of affection. “I think it’s a very strange show, and I think it’s pretty humanistic,” he tells Consequence. “It’s satirical, but the people who made this show love the characters and feel protective and fond of each of them, even though they can engage in some pretty obnoxious behaviors at their core. They’re wounded, full of yearning, wanting to do a good job… It’s a weird thing.”
It’s perhaps only weird given the context, as the characters Woods is talking about are puppets brought to life by stop-motion animation. In the Know features the Office and Silicon Valley star as the voice of a public radio host, whose awkwardness extends beyond his interactions with his officemates (voiced by J. Smith-Cameron, Charlie Bushnell, Carl Tart, Caitlin Reilly, and Mike Judge) to interviews with figures like Mike Tyson, Ken Burns, Tegan and Sara, Hugh Laurie, and more.
Woods tracks the origins of In the Know to a habit of his that co-creator Judge observed on the set of Silicon Valley: “I think I am both shy and curious about other people, usually. So often, in conversations, I’ll ask a lot of questions, and I sort of end up interviewing people all the time.”
That, plus Judge knowing Woods to be “basically like a nightmare coastal elite NPR embodiment,” led the creator to suggest a stop-motion animation series, featuring Woods as an NPR host interviewing real guests. Woods got on board, suggesting that “His name should be like one of these NPR names. So I was like, what if he’s named Lauren Caspian? And his girlfriend’s also named Lauren, and she’s a Dreamer under DACA, but actually she’s just an undocumented MFA student from Montreal.” From there, the dense and strange backstory of Lauren was developed, with Woods’ writing partner Brandon Gardner coming on board to help bring the idea to series as a co-creator.
The selection of guests was directly driven by the idea of “Who would Terry Gross talk to?” (especially since the Fresh Air host does interview a wide range of people) — Woods credits senior talent booker Hillary Kun (who previously worked on The Daily Show) for bringing an equally impressive range to In the Know.
“[Kun] did a spectacular job,” he says, “because it’s a dodgy proposition to ask people, ‘Hey, do you want to be on a show that you can’t watch, with an NPR host that you’ve never met, who’s stop-motion, and you’ll have no control over the edit. That’s a big ask, and she got all these people to sign on. We were really punching above our weight, thanks to Hillary.”
In the Know (Peacock)
