(Left to right: Scott Adsit, Jay Johnston and Dino Stamatopoulos)

Dino Stamatopoulos has written for some of the funniest cult comedy series in the last ten years, including Mr. Show, TV Funhouse, Tom Goes to the Mayor, and most recently Moral Orel, an oft-misunderstood stop-animated cartoon created by Stamatopoulos himself. He's also written for other series, including Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and Mad TV.

With the new second season of Moral Orel starting November 12, Stamatopoulos and I spoke on the phone about what fans could expect in the new season, and about TV comedy in general.

There's a cool little interview with Moral Orel creator Dino Stamatopoulos over at the Adult Swim site. Before Moral Orel came along, Dino was a writer for both Conan and Letterman. He also worked on The Ben Stiller Show, Mr. Show, and TV Funhouse. The most interesting thing in the interview, besides confirmation that there will be a second season of the series, is that despite its aesthetic, Moral Orel is not really influenced by the pious Davey and Goliath cartoons of the 1960s. Instead, Dino took a script he had written for Iggy Pop (in which Iggy would play a twelve-year-old boy) and turned it into a cartoon. The result was the "Waste" episode. Dang, now I really want to see that Iggy Pop show get made. He's not too old yet, is he?