The Big Picture

Netflix’s Leo is surprisingly heartfelt and delivers important lessons for viewers of all ages. Co-writer and director Robert Smigel discusses his career and why he’s proud of this film. Smigel also shares his favorite TV Funhouse sketch and which Triumph the Insult Comic Dog bit made him nervous.

In Netflix’s animated movie, Leo, co-writer Adam Sandler voices a 74-year-old elementary-class lizard who finds his purpose by sharing his wisdom with the kids. Featuring some big names in comedy and plenty of musical numbers, the film is surprisingly heartfelt and actually sneaks in some important lessons for viewers of all ages. In an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, co-writer and director Robert Smigel discusses why he’s so proud of this film and takes a look back at his career thus far.

A comedian, a writer, a producer, and more, Smigel has been on all sides of the camera. Since his work as a writer for Saturday Night Live, he’s worked alongside fellow comedians like Sandler, Bob Odenkirk, Conan O’Brien, and more over the years and has gone on to have his own SNL segment, TV Funhouse, and other sketches. Smigel’s first feature-length animation gig was co-writing and executive producing Hotel Transylvania and Hotel Transylvania 2 before teaming up with Sandler again on Leo. The movie also stars the vocal talents of Bill Burr, Cecily Strong, Jason Alexander, and Rob Schneider.

In this one-on-one, Smigel shares what he hopes kids take away from the messages throughout Leo, why a movie like this would have helped him out as a kid, which bits were too out there for animators, and which musical number they had to cut. He also talks about the Triumph the Insult Comic Dog bit made him the most nervous and which TV Funhouse sketch is his favorite to this day. You can check out all of this and more in the video at the top of the article or in the full transcript below.

Leo Release Date November 21, 2023 Director Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel, David Wachtenheim Cast Adam Sandler, Bill Burr, Cecily Strong, Jason Alexander Runtime 102 minutes Main Genre Animation Writers Robert Smigel, Adam Sandler, Paul Sado

Read our Leo Review

COLLIDER: You have done so many things through your career. Besides Leo, if someone has never seen anything you’ve done, what’s the first thing you want them watching and why?

ROBERT SMIGEL: Oh god, that’s a tough one. I mean, I’ve covered so many different kinds of comedy. The Star Wars Triumph visit is bliss to me because it’s like he’s making fun of these kids, but they are totally in on it. Not that they’re in on the joke, but they’re game for it, so it’s such a happy 11 minutes of comedy.

The Triumph Bit That Made Robert Smigel Nervous

Oh, I’ve watched that 11 minutes a number of times. You’re fearless when you do stuff like that. What’s the most nervous you were when doing Triumph, recording one of those bits?

SMIGEL: I can tell you it was probably when I went to Texas to cover Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke just because over the past 15 years, the world’s just gotten tenser and tenser and more polarized, and Texas is very light with– I mean, just to be very frank, you just get paranoid. Like, I had been to the Trump inauguration and that was the first time I’d really… [I was] doing the same thing I always do, but now there are a couple of people aggressively tearing the cigar out of Triumph’s mouth. One motorcycle guy, one biker was like, “Get the fuck out of here, man. Get out of my fucking face,” like that kind of stuff. And another biker is like, “Okay, buddy, calm down. Calm down. He’s cool. He’s cool.”

So, I went to Texas, and I thought, “Oh shit, man, just one crazy person.” I was scared, but once you’re there, people are just people. Everything is heightened on CNN or these places. They always show you the craziest person because that’s what gets attention. They do it in every story. And you know, even with everything, you just see the most extreme because that’s what gets the clicks, and so it makes people even more drawn apart from each other to see the world displayed that way.

Jumping into why I get to talk to you, completely switching gears…

SMIGEL: [Laughs] I am a comedian, by the way.

What’s the Message of Netflix’s ‘Leo’?

[Laughs] I really enjoyed this movie, and one of the things that I really enjoyed is that there’s a lot of messages in this movie, but it’s a sweet delivery. It’s like a brownie. You don’t realize you’re getting broccoli inside. Can you talk about that aspect and how the kids are going to learn?

SMIGEL: I hope it kind of sneaks up on kids because it’s just kind of funny at first. “Oh, this crazy lizard is caught, and he’s talking, and then he’s having this conversation, and this girl’s confessing that she talks too fast, but she doesn’t realize she’s talking too fast, that she’s talking about talking too fast and singing.” And I feel like all these subjects are funny — writing a Dear John letter to your drone — they’re just inherently silly and playful, but at the same time, the message starts creeping up on you that these kids are really starting to get something out of having someone to share their fears with, and they haven’t had that. I know I didn’t, and it would have helped a lot if I had felt comfortable enough. Your parents are the best, but kids aren’t ready to do that most of the time. I didn’t do it with my friends, really, and I would have loved to. I think I would have been a happier kid. I was pretty happy anyway because I was funny, and I kind of skated by just by making people laugh and making myself laugh.

Breaking Reality in ‘Leo’

The drone thing I found very funny, but it’s over the top compared to a lot of the other stuff. Did anyone ever say, “Does this work?” Or were you always like, “Oh, no, this is funny?”

SMIGEL: I got a lot of pushback on the dancing stopwatches. Sometimes it was storyboard artists who get into these animation rules like, “Okay, maybe the animals talk here, but shouldn’t these kinds of animals not talk?” And, “Now, this is a bridge too far. I’m sorry, dancing stopwatches? This is a break from reality.” And I’m like, “It’s an animated movie. We can do anything we want.” But we actually cut that down a little bit because then the network, the Netflix people, also, were like, “People don’t like it.” And there were some people in the audience on test screenings that hated the dancing stopwatches, but not a lot. I mean, the movie got great numbers, but there are a few people who don’t like it. So it’s like, “Really? It’s like five out of 100 people.” We did trim it down a little bit, but it still works. It’s still there.

I’m always curious about the editing process. How did the film change in the editing room in ways you guys didn’t expect?

SMIGEL: It really didn’t change that much other than just it was very long. We got it down to 91 minutes before credits, which is pretty standard. I was thinking it should be 96 because that’s what Moana was. I thought, “Oh, a musical. You gotta tell the story and have songs.” But we managed. The biggest struggle was the third act, which is a very common thing in movie writing. We just tried different things.

Robert Smigel’s Favorite ‘TV Funhouse’ Sketch
Image via NBC

I want to switch back to something else you did, which is TV Funhouse. I always loved those when I watched them when I was younger. If someone has never seen a TV Funhouse, what’s the one you want them to watch?

SMIGEL: Oh, boy. That’s tough because some of them are referential. I can just tell you some of my favorites. I love the idea behind “The Ambiguously Gay Duo” because the message was, “Why do we care?” The people kind of lose sight of that. They think it’s a gay joke, but it’s really about the villains. That’s what was funny about it to me. Why are they so obsessed with whether these guys have sex or not? It’s like, they’re superheroes, they’re the ultimate heroes on Earth, and people are wasting their time thinking about that. So, I love that concept, and I always will. Then, there was one where Mr. T, and then there’s the Christmas one with Jesus. I got too many of them.

And so many of them are so funny, which is why I’m saying thank you for your work and for making me laugh for so many years. I hope this is a huge hit for you and everyone involved.

SMIGEL: Thank you. I’m very proud of. It means a lot to me that it has that kind of silliness and a very simple human message to it.

Leo is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

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