If you are of a certain age and have a certain indie film sensibility, then you most likely have fond memories of the legendary Nickelodeon TV series The Adventures of Pete & Pete, which ran on the network from 1993 to 1996.

That was an era when Nickelodeon was open to airing shows that experimented with formats and styles before launching into the commodified hit-generating machine it is today. Pete & Pete was a series with a strong indie film sensibility that included in its cast appearances by New York actors like Steve Buscemi and Martin Donovan. If you were a fan of films like Hal Hartley’s The Unbelievable Truth and Alexandre Rockwell’s In the Soup, then Pete & Pete was the kids show you wished you had when you were a kid, but were glad to watch as an adult.

However, the most memorable character on the show was the superhero Artie, the Strongest Man in the World, played to oddball perfection by actor/performance artist Toby Huss, who would leave the series mid-way through it’s run. Since then, Huss has worked as a terrific voice actor on animated shows like King of the Hill and The Venture Bros.; and as a wonderful character actor on shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm and Reno 911! and in movies like Cowboys & Aliens, God Bless America and the recently released 42, directed by Brian Helgeland. Seeing Huss pop up on a show or in a movie is, for Pete & Pete fans, liable to induce a joy-gasm of epic proportions.

Well, for this fan at least, anyway.

If you are not familiar with Huss’s work, the above embedded podcast interview can still be vastly entertaining and informative as superstar interviewer Mike Plante questions Huss not only about his Pete & Pete days, but also about getting by in Hollywood as a voice over actor and trying to fit in live gigs as his performance personas like Rudy Casoni in between his mainstream acting jobs.

As a bonus, embedded below is Huss as another one of his characters, Brad Logan, singing the charming song “I’m Up to My Ass in Ass.”

(Photo of Toby Huss above stolen from Cinemad website.)

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/77f51b1c5c/i-m-up-to-my-ass-in-ass-by-mr-brad-logan