Yeah, we’re big fans of Mike Judge around here. Have been, ever since an animation festival in 1992 that featured a crudely-animated short called Frog Baseball. When you go to something called “Spike & Mike’s Sick & Twisted Festival Of Animation,” you want content that lives up to the promise implied in that name.

Mike Judge is that rare creative figure who manages to be equally successful in both live-action and animation. There’s a certain cartoonish quality to his live-action efforts, that complements the realism to his animation. Think about it: Idiocracy could work as well as a cartoon, as King Of The Hill could in live-action.

(Not to mention how entertainment like Ow! My Balls! and the Oscar-Winning Ass could easily be things Beavis and Butt-Head run across in their channel-surfing)

In fact, I like to imagine all of Judge’s creations as taking place in a unified shared-universe, where Initech is located in a suburb of Arlen, Texas, while Reynolds Extract is located just over the state line in Highland (as evidenced by the presence of sleazy lawyer Joe Adler – hey, Judge does this stuff deliberately, so I like to think he’d appreciate someone noticing).

So, yeah, I’m pretty excited for Silicon Valley – and for seeing Kumail Nanjiani, one of the best parts of the Harmontown podcast, get a regular gig. Those of you with HBO, report back!