Joe Murray (animator)

Murray created and was the executive producer for the animated series Rocko's Modern Life, which aired on Nickelodeon from 1993 to 1996. He voiced the character Ralph Bighead in the episodes "I Have No Son" and "Wacky Delly", and a caricature version of himself in "Short Story".

Originally, the character Rocko appeared in an unpublished comic book titled Travis. Murray tried selling the comic book in the late 1980s, but was never successful of getting it in production. Murray wanted funding for My Dog Zero, so he wanted Nickelodeon to pre-buy television rights for the series. Murray presented a pencil test to Nickelodeon Studios, which afterwards became interested in buying and airing the show. After deciding that My Dog Zero would not work as a television series, Murray combed through his sketchbooks, developed the Rocko's Modern Life concept and submitted it to Nickelodeon, believing that the concept would likely be rejected. According to Murray, around three or four months later he had "forgotten about" the concept and was working on My Dog Zero when Linda Simensky informed Murray that Nickelodeon wanted a pilot episode. Murray said that he was glad that he would get funding for My Dog Zero.[3]

In 1992, two months prior to the production of season 1 of Rocko's Modern Life, Murray's first wife,[9] Diane, committed suicide.[10] Murray had blamed the show being taken as the reason for his wife's suicide.[11] Murray felt that he had emotional and physical "unresolved issues" when he moved to Los Angeles. He describes the experience as like participating in "marathon with my pants around my ankles". Murray initially believed that he would create one season, move back to the San Francisco Bay Area and "clean up the loose ends I had left hanging". To his surprise Nickelodeon approved new seasons.[3]

After season 3 he decided to hand the project to Stephen Hillenburg, who did most work for season 4 and created SpongeBob SquarePants shortly after that; Murray continued to manage the cartoon.[3] Murray said that he would completely leave the production after season 4. Murray said that he encouraged the network to continue production. Nickelodeon decided to cancel the series. Murray described all 52 episodes as "top notch" and that, in his view, the quality of a television show may decline as production continues "when you are dealing with volume".[3]

After completing 52 episodes of Rocko's Modern Life, Murray took a break from the animation business and produced two children's books, illustrated two others and raising children:[12] Who Asked the Moon to Dinner? (1999),[13][14] The Enormous Mister Schmupsle: An ABC Adventure (2003),[14][15] Hugville (written by Court Crandall) (2005),[16] and Funny Cryptograms (written by Shawn Kennedy).

Murray was working on a web-based cartoon named The Family Pop, which was produced in Flash and was in the middle of negotiations for this cartoon just prior to the onset of Camp Lazlo.[17] On September 30, 2008, Murray added a new feature to his website, The Tin Box, where Murray posts some of his independent work. The first work posted was "Where's Poppa", a short episode of The Family Pop.[18]

Murray decided to return to television cartooning, this time selling his work to Cartoon Network Studios. In 2005, he produced a pilot for the cartoon Camp Lazlo, which was picked up for a 13-episode first season and ran for five seasons, with production ending in November 2007.[19][20]

On September 8, 2007, the TV movie Where's Lazlo? won an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program (For an Hour or More).[21] During the production of Camp Lazlo, Murray underwent a divorce.[11]

Once production finished for Camp Lazlo, and the final episodes were delivered, Murray developed a new television series.[22] While he is working out details about production and distribution, he has started work on his next independent film project, Fish Head,[23] and publishing Creating Animated Cartoons with Character, a book on creating and producing an animated TV series,[24][25] and working on producing a new short series, entitled Frog in a Suit for his web network; KaboingTV.[18]

On April 20, 2010, Murray launched a donation drive on Kickstarter to fund the project, KaboingTV, a web network entirely dedicated to cartoons.[26] By June 5, the project surpassed its goal of $16,800 and Murray developed episodes of his Frog in a Suit series for the platform. KaboingTV premiered on March 11, 2011.

Murray worked on the PBS animated series Let's Go Luna!, which aired from November 2018 to November 2022.[27]

Murray also worked on the hour-long Rocko TV special Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling, which premiered on Netflix on August 9, 2019. This included reprising his voice role as Rachel Bighead.

Since 2019, he moved from Los Angeles to Belgium along with his wife and children. He still occasionally remains in contact with his American animation studio.

• Who Asked the Moon to Dinner? (December 31, 1999)[13][14][31] (Published in English and Korean[12])
• The Enormous Mr. Schmupsle! (August 2003)[12][14][15][32]
• Crafting a Cartoon[24] (September 12, 2008)[25][33]
• Creating Animated Cartoons with Character (August 24, 2010)[34]

• Funny Cryptograms (May 28, 2003)[12][35]
• Hugville (December 27, 2005)[12][16]