interview conducted September 2026
by Courtney Goodrum
edited by J. Schleusner
Doc Hammer is well known for co-creating the Venture Brothers as well as voice acting for the show. He has many talents and passions that go beyond the cult classic cartoon. I was lucky enough to have some time to ask him a few questions about his interests, his art and secret talents he would love to try.
You have had a career working in animation, music, writing, voice acting and many forms of art. Is there a completely different creative outlet you have always wanted to try or explore but just haven’t had the opportunity?
I’m a classical oil painter, I just did a reunion album (The Visible Heaven) with my first band ‘Requiem in White’, and I was a voice actor and writer on a TV show… I do too much. The sad fact is that people don’t accept the polymath. If you’re well known for one thing, the general understanding is that the other disciplines are hobbies. Meaningless dabblings by an unsatisfied person. I’d like to think that all my work speaks for itself, and the quality is empirical, but that’s not how it works. Let’s face it, when a funny guy from TV does another art form, the general consensus is “Oh, he thinks he’s a painter now.” Or “Why does every guy on TV want to be a guitar player? He’s like Johnny Depp without the eyeliner.” I can’t run around going “Will you look up my name on Discogs! I’ve been doing this my whole life! Will you look at my paintings? That’s a lifetime of serious study!” It doesn’t help. I will always be the thing you first knew me as. Which really is more of an observation than a complaint. Most artists live completely unknown, and I don’t. It’s a miracle that anyone knows my work. I’m grateful to have an audience to share my work with, but you asked about my other disciplines and that’s the paradigm I live in. But to directly answer your question: I’d love to do puppetry next!
Is there a piece of media -be it music, film, television, comics, artwork etc. that greatly influenced you, that people would never have guessed was an influence?
Influences are a weird thing. I wear them on my sleeve. You can smell them on everything I’ve ever done. Ya know what’s weird? I find that I’m more influenced by the things I dislike than the things I like. The things I like creep in without me addressing them, but the crap? That’s the fight. Keep the crap out! Creation, at least for me, is a process of reparation. For instance, I’ll have an idea for a painting and look at the blank canvas and think “This looks nothing like my idea! I have to fix this white mess!” Writing and music are the same thing. I have a vague idea and I just throw a bunch of mistakes at it until I finally fix them all. So with influences, I find that avoiding things I dislike while I’m repairing my art is how I think. I don’t feel like I’m ever creating anything. I feel like I’m just repairing my failures. The fact that I CAN fix my failures is why I keep going.
What is one joke you are surprised you got away with being aired or published?
Hahaha! There’s no way I’ll answer that! Come on, don’t make me say that nonsense here! Venture Bros. had some iffy characters and crude jokes where I was sure that someone would go “They’ve gone too far!” But we were given a pass. I think we got away with it because we were always real in our character development, and had this layer of love spread over our work. The ‘crude’ was always in context, and the ‘iffy’ was always handled with love. The other reason I think we got away with it was that we just weren’t a huge show. The Venture Bros. is a cult show. We have smart and dedicated fans who understand and love what we do. You have to be a bigger show to get a “Mothers Against The Venture Bros.”
Was there something you have created that at the time felt minor or a throwaway joke or idea that surprisingly people remember it years later?
People can quote The Venture Bros. with an accuracy that exceeds mine. I constantly hear show quotes and think to myself “Oh yeah, we said that. Huh, that’s pretty good. I forgot about that one.” I’ve even heard the DVD commentary being quoted by fans. Jackson and I were pioneers of commentary that was more like a podcast than an actual commentary on the show. We just hung out and talked. People hated it at first. Lot’s of complaints. But over the years people have started to enjoy just kinda hanging out with us in the commentary. But, yes, there is a line that I hear being quoted, and it wasn’t what I thought was a big line. It was just something I say in real life when I’m frustrated in a conversation. It’s “I dare you to make less sense!” I’m glad it resonated with some people, but I never expected it to be quotable.
What is the strangest piece of advice you have ever received in your creative career and did you ignore it or has it become relevant and you carry it with you to this day?
I never really got advice, and if I did, I didn’t notice it. I’m really up my own ass. I follow my passions furiously and learn from my failures. There’s just something in me that doesn’t want art or career advice. I want to fall on my face and figure out what I tripped on. But years ago I received a bit of encouragement from my friend Ben Edlund. It’s almost advice. Hell, it’s almost career advice! I was a painter and a musician when Ben and I met, and he was the creator of The Tick. He told me once “You’re a natural writer.” Now mind you, I’d never written anything at that point. I couldn’t even type. Yet presciently he said “You’ve learned how to paint and play instruments, but you’re a writer in your bones. If you just type what you say, you’re already there.” It’s kinda miraculous to have a friend be so generous with his truth and respect. Ben made an observation, but I became a successful writer, so in a way it was advice. Advice that changed my life.
If you could go back in time and sit and talk with your younger self at the beginning of your creative career what is something you would tell yourself not to focus or worry about – or to focus on?
I would tell myself to treat people with more care. I wouldn’t give work advice. The journey in your career is more important than the destination. Failure is what makes us better. But I would’ve loved to have someone candidly tell me that the things I say without thought or malice can hurt people deeply. I’d love to sit with my ridiculous haired youthful self and explain that people hold me in esteem, and a cruel, throwaway comment can do unintentional damage. When I was young I was deeply lost in my head and thought that nothing I said mattered because I didn’t matter. So I’d probably tell little me “You matter. Treat people better.”
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