Angus Oblong, creator of the show “The Oblongs” and author of “Creepy Susie and Thirteen Other Tragic Tales for Troubled Children,” spoke to Ron Russo’s Adult Swim class Monday. It was his first visit to Ohio and one of his rare visits to a college campus. Oblong sat down with the Kent Stater to talk about his unique life.  

Q: How did the whole appearance start?

When I first got the show and the book deal, I started getting interviewed by newspapers, magazines, and they started asking me all these personal questions: How old are you? Where are you from? Are you married? Do you have kids? And it started to freak me out, so I just started lying, I made up a bunch of answers, so if you go online and read an interview with me, it is just filled with lies. And then it came time for public appearances, book signings, appearances on camera, so I thought, ‘How could I mess with (the) fan base even more?’ So that is where the clown face came in. I can party with fans all night long in a hotel lobby, and then the next morning end up with them in an elevator, and they won’t even know it’s me. 

Q: You’re trying to pitch your show for a second season, will it be a continuation of the first season?

Yeah, there will be some changes. Bob (one of the main characters of “The Oblongs”) is going to have a new job. The things that the other producers came up with, like the climbers, the rich nemeses, I am dropping them. I am going back to the original show pitch: Milo and the kids as friends, the Debbies, the Oblong family and the peripheral characters I created. It is going to be much funnier and much wronger though.

Q: Which station do you hope picks the new season up?

I would love to be on Fox, Comedy Central or even Adult Swim. If Netflix is the one that we end up going with, I am going to demand that it not all be released at once. I do not approve of binge-watching. I do not think shows are supposed to be watched in 12 hours. It kind of makes you sick, for starters. You need to anticipate what is happening next week. You need to soak it in for a week before you see the next one. So if it is released on Netflix, my demand is to release it over (the) course of weeks.

Q: How many episodes would you want to be in a season?

52.

Q: Why did you want to speak with the students?

I have been through it, and I am always glad to help and give advice to anyone who is trying to do what I did because nobody helped me. I was thrown into this; I was a waiter, suddenly I had my own show, and nobody was willing to take me aside and show me the ropes and teach me how to do things. I had to do it on my own.

Q: How do you think the industry has changed since you’ve been in it?

Animation is digital now. Nobody’s doing layout and cell painting ­— that’s all dead — everything’s digital. I had one of the first digitally colored shows, so point and click, there were no cells existing. Right after “The Oblongs,” all animation went letterbox.

Q: Is the makeup something you do everyday now or just for appearances?

Appearances. I don’t do it to go to the store. Sometimes I will just wear it and go out and let people buy me drinks.

Q: When did the makeup start?

I have been doing it 10 years. I had all these colors, but I finally settled on black and white.

Contact Henry Palattella at [email protected].