Our guest on this episode of Songcraft is Cinco Paul, the creator, executive producer, showrunner, and songwriter for the Apple TV Plus series Schmigadoon!, starring Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key. Though previously known as the scriptwriter for animated features such as the Despicable Me films, this project was Paul’s opportunity to lovingly and very impressively recreate the songwriting style of golden era musicals with a humorously contemporary twist. He joins us to deconstruct his reconstruction of the world of Rogers and Hammerstein.
SUMMARY
Our guest on this episode of Songcraft is Cinco Paul, the creator, executive producer, showrunner, and songwriter for the Apple TV Plus series Schmigadoon!, starring Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key. Though previously known as the scriptwriter for animated features such as the Despicable Me films, this project was Paul’s opportunity to lovingly and very impressively recreate the songwriting style of golden era musicals with a humorously contemporary twist. He joins us to deconstruct his reconstruction of the world of Rogers and Hammerstein.
PART ONE
Scott and Paul get into their feelings about musical theater, touch on the Beatles documentary once again, and discover they disagree about the concept of perfect rhyme in lyrics.
PART TWO
Our in-depth interview with Cinco Paul
ABOUT CINCO PAUL
Cinco Paul is best known for his long resume of blockbuster animated films which he co-wrote with partner Ken Daurio, including the Despicable Me series, the Dr. Seuss films The Lorax and Horton Hears a Who, and The Secret Life of Pets. Other films written by the pair include The Santa Clause 2 with Tim Allen, College Road Trip with Martin Lawrence and Raven Symone, and Hop with Russell Brand. Paul and Daurio’s films have earned over four billion dollars at the box office.
While not primarily known as a songwriter or musician, Cinco Paul previously wrote a stage musical adaptation of their script for Bubble Boy after the Jake Gyllenhaal film version failed to live up to their original vision. Additionally, he wrote the lyrics for the original songs in The Lorax, which earned him an ASCAP award in 2013. As far as music goes, that was about all the world heard from Cinco Paul until 2021 when he appeared as the creator, executive producer, showrunner, and, perhaps most impressively, songwriter for the Apple TV Plus series Schmigadoon!
The six-episode musical comedy stars Cecily Strong from Saturday Night Live and Keegan-Michael Key from Key & Peele who get lost hiking in the woods and stumble on a magical version of an early-1900s town that you’d find in a musical from the 1940s or ‘50s. Part parody, part loving tribute to golden era productions such as Oklahoma, The Music Man, Carousel, and The Sound of Music, Schmigadoon’s songs are an impressive recreation of a lost era of American songwriting that skewer the tropes that haven’t aged well while also celebrating what was great about that brand of songcraft. The soundtrack for Episode 1 earned Paul his first Grammy nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.