Louisville native Dan Nations and his friend Samson Cornette conceived of an adult cartoon, in the style of Adult Swim — the programming block on Cartoon Network that introduced late night audiences to "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" (2001), "Robot Chicken" (2005), and "Rick and Morty" (2013), among many others. Nations and Cornette envisioned a series informed by 1980s horror aesthetics and inspired by "The Addams Family" and "The Munsters." But with blood. Voluminous blood.
They wrote a script in 2009 and began to shop it to production companies while also reaching out to animation studios to determine the cost of animating a series. When they learned that working with an animation studio would be too far outside their budget to make happen, they decided the only way to bring their project to life would be to learn to animate themselves. Nations and Cornette learned to animate, and "Meat the Carvers" was born, produced entirely in-house.
After producing a pilot episode, Nations and Cornette decided to keep their collaboration going. They soon completed a entire season of six episodes with runtimes that range from 13 to 23 minutes each. They were joined by Paul Coffey, who helped them during the animation process by planning shots, and encouraging the use of mixed media. Nicole Davis assisted with background assets and Joshua Drake created CGI elements and some of the music. Cornette also wrote music for the series.
The production of "Meat the Carvers" is a collaborative effort. "Sam and I plan the stories out together and he writes the scripts. Sam also voices various characters, including Jack, Damien, and Victor," Nations says. "Most of the rest of the crew have provided voices in some capacity throughout the season."
"We started out with just the two of us making a pilot," Nations says. "We were fortunate to show the project to Felissa Rose, who was very receptive of the concept and now voices the pyrokinetic witch and mother of the Carver family, Delores."
In addition to the voice acting of Rose, known to audiences from her work in the cult film "Sleepaway Camp" (released in 1983 and never forgotten), "Meat the Carvers" features guest appearances by Dave Sheridan, who played Doofy in "Scary Movie," Frank Dietz who performed in the films "Zombie Nightmare" (1987) and "Black Roses" (1988), as well nostalgia enthusiasts Matt from the online magazine Dinosaur Dracula! and Jay from the blog Sludge Central, who are also known for their podcast The Purple Stuff.
Their efforts to create an adult cartoon with the widest possible audience has been increasingly successful. In early 2024, the YouTube channel Kings of Horror began to release "Meat the Carvers." Kings of Horror have a subscriber base of 1.54 million. "Admittedly, they have that from hosting films and our original programming is a new animal on their page," Nations says. Even still, "Meat the Carvers" viewership is already approaching 2,000. Fans of camp, gore, horror, and comedy will want to binge the first season. And we will all be keeping an evil eye out for a second season.
