Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.

I'm Jesse Thorn, it's Bullseye.

My guest is Lisa Hanelwald. She's a cartoonist, a writer and now she's the creator of the

new show Tuka and Birdie. It's an animated series on Netflix and it is so great. I love Tuka

and Birdie. It's a show about two women, two anthropomorphic bird women. They live in

Birdtown. Tuka is a Tukam. She's outgoing and fun. She's also kind of a mess. She doesn't

really have a solid job. Birdie, her best buddy, is a songbird, kind of a homebody, a

little shy and deferential. And when the show starts, she's just moved in with her boyfriend.

A lot of the problems Tuka and Birdie encounter are fairly human and grounded. Relationship

stuff, work stuff, sexual harassment. But the world that they live in is anything but

grounded. It is breathtakingly living, extraordinarily surreal. Fones talk, hospital equipment,

talks, plants walk around. If you've seen Lisa's work before, she's written four books

of comics and was also a producer on Bojack Horseman and designed the look of that show.

It'll give you some sense of what Tuka and Birdie is like. In fact, Lisa based Tuka and

Birdie on characters from her books. Character she's lived with for a long time and sees

as sort of extensions of herself. Anyway, let's take a listen to a little bit of the show.

Like I said, Birdie has just moved in with her boyfriend, which means that Tuka, her

roommate, is moving out. In this scene, Birdie, who's played by Ali Wong, calls Tuka,

who's played by Tiffany Haddish for an update.

So when do you want to come over to get your things? You're not officially moved out until

you've taken out your last box of stuff. Sure, sure. I'll come get it later. I'm just

picking out some dick for my new place. Tuka, are you getting junk off the street again?

...