Crack-Duck has a lot on his plate. As apartment manager of Grungetown Towers, he has to muster the courage to interact socially with his tenants and deal with discord — such as when diaper-clad Thievy Tim steals the Sun from Zqiygyxz, the all-knowing dog who has reached nirvana — all while coping with the crippling pain of existence.

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The series Crack-Duck is the surreal, disturbing and oddly heartwarming brainchild of writer-actor Danny Lacy, who also lends his voice to his woebegone, web-footed hero. Lacy has created an incredibly imaginative, if grotesque, world of characters who take on some of life’s greatest challenges and mysteries within the walls of their dilapidated domicile.

“I wanted to make something with a main character who’s fucked up and depressed, and that’s just who he is and it’s fine,” Lacy explains. “Everyone wants to be OK so hard. I want people with anxiety to see Crack-Duck and know that they’re not alone.”

Lacy created the show idea for a pitch prep class put together by family friend and renowned animator Tom Ruegger (Animaniacs). Lacy had been doodling weird cartoon characters on everything he came in contact with since his youth. “It’s probably due to some horrible mental disorder or the result of pent-up sexual frustration,” he says. “Obsessive Compulsive Doodling?”

After fleshing out the characters, and changing Crack-Duck from a crackhead to a severely depressed duck with a crack in his head, L.A.-based Lacy sold the show to Canadian television channel biTe TV, which distributes it on MondoMedia’s YouTube channel. Two episodes are out now and more are scheduled for early 2015. 



The Tangled Web We Watch is our column on what’s worth watching online. You can watch Crack-Duck at YouTube.com/MondoMedia and read Stephanie’s full interview with Danny Lacy on her blog TangledWebWeWatch.com.

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