Exclusive Interview: Creators Aaron Buchsbaum, Matt Hausfater, and Teddy Riley Talk Fairfax Season 2

Aaron Buchsbaum, Matt Hausfater, and Teddy Riley are the creative masterminds behind the must-see animated show, Fairfax.

The-laugh-out-loud comedy follows four middle school best friends on their never-ending quest for clout on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles—the pulsing heart of hypebeast culture. Starring Skyler Gisondo, Kiersey Clemons, Peter S. Kim, and Jaboukie Young-White—and featuring the likes of Billy Porter, Zoey Deutch, Camila Mendes, Rob Delaney, Yvette Nicole Brown, Ben Schwartz, JB Smoove, John Leguizamo, and Colton Dunn, among others, in guest roles—this series is about the timeless struggle to be cooler than you are, to fit in while standing out, and what it feels like to wait in line for a pair of sneakers you’re never going to cop.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Aaron, Matt, and Teddy about Season 2 of Fairfax.

PC: Matt, I wanted to start with you. When you were all creating this show, it was important that Fairfax felt new but also familiar, which it definitely does. How have you continued to strike that balance as you’ve headed into Season 2? What can you tease about the upcoming season?
Matt: We always wanted it to feel authentic to how we felt growing up. Even though we had a friend group, we were always a group of outsiders looking in. With regards to Season 2, we wanted to show what happens to a group of friends when external forces provide a fork in the road and what that does to people and the relationships that we set up and how we can evolve them going forward. But it’s always important to us to stay cozy, to stay comfy, to find our way home no matter what that particular episode was tackling.

Aaron: On a more macro level, we were obsessed with animated shows like Hey Arnold!, Doug, and Recess. They’re all strong influences on this show. Coupling that with what makes us laugh, what cracks us up, that’s how we separate ourselves from the pack of other animated shows today. It’s the perfect combination of those two things that continues to drive the uniqueness of this show.

PC: Aaron, you’ve said in the past that there’s only so much character that you can put on the page and it’s up to the actor to bring those characters to life. How has that collaboration grown as the series has gone on?
Aaron: First and foremost, it’s crazy that we basically made this entire show over Zoom, so our collaboration with our actors was over Zoom. But literally each of them, Kiersey [Clemons], Peter [S. Kim], Jaboukie [Young-White], Skyler [Gisondo], they all know their characters so well. So you’re recording a line that you’ve written and they’re like, “Well, what if I try it this way?” They’ll throw something else out there and you’re like, “Fu*k, that’s way funnier than what we wrote. That is very strong and spot-on.” They know their characters so well. It’s incredible. They’re all well-oiled machines. Your actors contribute so much and they’re so funny. I’m thinking of Skyler specifically. He is Dale. He knows Dale better than anyone, and he’s not even a writer on the show. It’s wild. You see someone like that come in and deliver lines and then play with them. We’re the luckiest guys in the world because they make us look so good.

PC: Teddy, I could see this show as a live-action series. What went into the decision to make it an animation? How has this format created freedom for all of you as writers?
Teddy: We couldn’t see it as a live-action show because with the way we wanted to satirize the culture it felt like animation was the best platform for it. I think Zoolander was something that we talked about early on as something that’s in our world but outside of it by a couple of degrees.

Making that decision to go animated gave us the freedom to have things like talking pigeons and a larger-than-life fashion designer with his own lair and henchman of his own—using a lot of the things that make a cartoon a really fun cartoon and being able to give you the medicine, so to speak, without jamming it down your throat.

Aaron: We always talk about how to a teenager the stakes are always life or death—the stakes are so high—and the need to really convey those stakes in every situation, even if it’s something mundane like not getting home on time. Animation lets you really explore and play with heightening those stakes.

PC: These characters are based on people and relationships that you all know. Which has been your favorite to write, and has that changed from Season 1 to Season 2?
Aaron: They’re all our babies, so I don’t think we can pick a favorite, but I do think that writing Hiroki for Billy Porter was a dream come true. It’s always so fun, then when you have Billy come in and deliver those lines, it gives you chills every time.

Matt: Also, Colton Dunn. The way that we write, the three of us go around the room and “Yes, and…” each other but not for a specific character. But with Principal Weston, Teddy started doing it and then I started adding to it. By the end, we were like, “Wouldn’t it be hilarious if we had a principal who was more obsessed with likes and clout on social media than the actual kids in school?” It went from there. Then you have Colton come in. We were speechless when he came in for the audition. He was incredible. We’ve had people say that he’s their favorite character. But then you get that with Jaboukie and the other characters. They’re all such home run hitters. It’s a spoil of riches.

Teddy: I would have to say the main gang and Benny. He’s so mean and brash. We have so much fun writing for Benny. In Season 2, we fell in love with Derica. She’s really present in the storylines. She goes to some crazy fu*king places.

PC: There’ve been so many incredible guest stars in this show. What can you tease about who we can expect for Season 3? If we’re lucky enough to get a Season 3, is there anybody that’s left on your bucket list?
Matt: Tilda Swinton.

Teddy: We can give you clues. One of our guests was in Cliffhanger.

Matt: One of them was on SNL, so good luck narrowing that down.

Aaron: This is all out there. [laughs] The Season 2 guest cast is amazing. We’ve got a couple of new faces that blew us away. Edi Patterson and Tim Simons play siblings in Season 2. Every scene that they’re in is gasoline. It’s so good.

Make sure to follow Aaron (Instagram), Matt (Twitter/Instagram), and Teddy (Twitter/Instagram). Watch Fairfax Season 2 on Amazon Prime today.