The Long, Strange, Impossible Journey That Brought Archer to Television

Really, the best way to get a gig that eventually lands you in the driver's seat of the funniest show on TV is to walk into Turner headquarters in Atlanta looking like a drunken vagrant. (Take note, aspiring showrunners.)

At least, that's how it worked for Adam Reed, creator of FX's hilarious animated workplace sitcom Archer, a show that follows the exploits of a womanizing, politically incorrect jerk not too dissimilar from James Bond. It's also one of the best-written series on the air.

Adam Reed. Photo: Getty Images

A North Carolina native with an affinity for British humorist P. G. Wodehouse and a knack for a good yarn, Reed both writes and acts on the show. In fact, he has, at minimum, cowriter credit on every episode and sole writing credit on most of them. It's a labor of love, and its origin stories are as funny and strange as anything Archer has managed to do for over the course of its soon-to-be-six seasons.

As the show prepares to return Thursday at 10 p.m., we met up with Reed to learn his backstory and, subsequently, the origin of Sterling Archer.

Adweek: We're big Archer fans over here. How did you get into the industry?

Adam Reed: I sort of fell backwards into TV. My sister got me a job at Turner Broadcasting after college, and one of the first things I had to do working for the marketing department was watch every episode of The Flintstones and take notes. So I watched all 164 episodes of The Flintstones.

And that damaged you permanently, and now you're seeking revenge on the world?

Exactly. So then at that department I was known as the guy who knew The Flintstones and that led to my working on a Flintstones home video. And then somehow because of that I took a writing test for Cartoon Network and got a job there in their on-air department. And worked there for a while and then left, and then when we left my partner Matt Thompson and I stole all the master tapes for the original Sealab 2020. And we were living in New York and were out of work and so we sat down and cut a pilot for what became Sealab 2021 and sent it to Cartoon Network over the transom and then Mike Lazzo called and said, hey, we're starting this thing called Adult Swim and your show is just weird enough to be on there.

When did you decide you wanted to pitch FX?

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The Long, Strange, Impossible Journey That Brought Archer to Television