Debuting in 2014, BoJack Horseman has become one of the world's most-popular adult animated sitcoms.

Set in an alternate version of Hollywood where humans and anthropomorphic animals live side-by-side, it follows the misadventures of the eponymous washed-up former equine star of 1990s comedy Horsin' Around.

Ahead of the debut of the fourth season on Netflix, Stuff talked to creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg.

Bojack Horseman is the washed-up former equine star of 1990s comedy Horsin' Around.

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It took a while for viewers and critics to catch on to the show, but now it's a global phenomenon – what do you put that down to?

I think it was a little of everything. First of all, a lot of critics judged it initially on the first six episodes, which was a mistake. Our goal was always to trick people into thinking the show was one thing and then having it evolve into something else. That said, I hoped a lot of people would like the first thing and want to keep watching and be a part of the whole surprise. I didn't think I'd have to tell people, "no, no keep watching – it's not what you thinking". It didn't occur to me that people would watch a couple of episodes and then stop. I think I now know that it takes a while for the audience to get in tune with the rhythms of what a show is - no matter what it is. Also, it takes a while for the people that make the show to do the same thing. I like to think that over the course of that first season we found the rhythms a lot more. But I also think people were looking in the wrong direction. People have assumptions about what an animated show is and what it is trying to do and we kind of buck that assumption a lot. We're not trying to do wall-to-wall jokes. People thought we were failing at something we weren't actually trying to do.

BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg.

Speaking of traditional animated shows and expectations, does having to deliver a whole season at once for Netflix change BoJack's dynamic, compared to say a weekly programme like The Simpsons or South Park?

It has really affected the kinds of stories we tell and the way we tell them. For me, the big surprise in terms of crafting the first season was how much the characters could evolve. That's because, not only could people watch all the episodes at once, but you could almost guarantee they would watch them in order. Now that we've got to season 4, we know many people have watched all 37 previous episodes and know these characters. That means you can do stuff that calls back different episodes and be more ambitious with your storytelling – which is exciting.

But what also does it mean for the show's production. Do you work on an episode at a time?



There's a point every season where I feel like I'm going to go mad because we'll literally be working on 12 different episodes at once in some function or manner. Episode 12 will be being discussed, 10 and 11 are being prepped for the table read, 8 and 9 are being recorded and 6 and 7 are being animated, etc etc. all the way back to episode 1. I have to kind of run from meeting to meeting to meeting and make sure everything is moving smoothly. However, it does kind of help the whole season, as you've got all the other episodes in mind when you're talking about something in particular.

Bojack Horseman is set in an alternate Hollywood where humans and anthropomorphic animals live side-by-side.

So what can viewers expect from season four?



I don't want to spoilt too much, because part of the joy of the show is discovering the show, seeing what we do and where we go with it. The show, from the very beginning, has been interested in the stories we tell – whether it's the sitcoms of the '80s and '90s, or Oscar-nominated movies stories – about ourselves looking outwards. This season, we're really interested in the stories we tell about ourselves. We create a narrative around our lives, give ourselves labels and titles and create fictions to help us deal with whatever we are going through. Sometimes that's helpful, sometimes it gets in our way. Another theme we focus on this time around is family – the responsibilities and the desire for one.

Tell me about Will Arnett. What made him the perfect voice for BoJack?

DANNY MOLOSHOK/REUTERS Will Arnett is the voice of BoJack Horseman.

He's just so talented and very funny. I've worked on shows and seen shows where you hear a line and you hear an actor say it and you think that line was much funnier than what that actor is saying. "I can hear it, but you're not quite getting it." Will is exactly the opposite. He can take any line and make it funnier than it is on the page, he makes the jokes sometimes funnier, he makes the setups to other people's jokes sometimes funnier. He can say "what" in a funny way. I don't know how he does it – it's an amazing thing to behold in table reads and in recording. You can give him anything and he can find the comedy in it. He's also a really good dramatic actor and that's what we've found over and over again. I'm inspired to give him more and more because he knocks it out of the park all the time and he gives these heavy monologues and doesn't make them sound saccharine or indulgent. He give them life and makes them sound real and grounded and you believe it and feel for him. We couldn't do the show we do without him – or any of our great supporting cast.

You've also managed to secure some great guest voices over the years. Is there anyone you'd really still be keen to get?

Holly Hunter is an actress who we tried to get before, but who turned us down. I think if we could find the right part for her, we could nab her. I don't really have a long wishlist – usually we write the character first and then go, "okay, who would be a good person to play this character". I also tend to get starstruck, so if I got who I really wanted I'd just get embarrassed and couldn't work with them. Stephen Colbert was on the show, which was amazing, but I just got so tongue tied around him I had to write his character off. He was a gentleman and so lovely, but I can't work with him anymore – I get too flustered. Weird Al Yankovich was another who I was a fan of since a child. But I don't know how many times we could have him back because I lose all sense of professionalism.

Finally, have you had any requests from actors to be a certain animal, or have you found any perfect matches of celebrity to character?

House of Cards' Constance Zimmer was campaigning for years to play an angry hedgehog. I said, I didn't know if we had any hedgehogs coming up, but suggested we had a stripper-whale vacancy instead. She did such a good job, we had to bring her back over and over again, because we just loved the voice she did. As for a perfect match, one of the first celebrities I remember we got was (American sports and political commentator) Keith Olbermann. Blue whale Tom Jumbo-Grumbo is in many ways a parody of Keith and he was totally in on the joke and thought it was a lot of fun. Right at the end of the first recording, we asked him if we could get some wild whale noises from him. Here was this very important man making stupid noises. That's when we thought, "okay, this show is going to be a lot of fun".

Season 4 of BoJack Horseman begins streaming on Netflix on September 8.​