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Get to know MC Chris

By Brian O’Neill

Chris Ward’s breakout role was as a rapping spider. While this may seem odd, it’s pretty much par for the course for fans of Adult Swim. Ward, who performs as MC Chris, got his big break working on shows such as Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Sealab, exposing his squeaky voice and odd cadence to a waiting world. He left that all behind to concentrate on a solo career, which he called in to discuss...

Rapper, comedian MC Chris

Are you a rapper or are you a comedian who uses rap as his vehicle?

I don’t really know what I am, if I’m a comedian rapper or a rapper comedian, a real rap act or a parody rap act. I just kind of call myself an entertainer and hope that that’s true.

Well, whatever it is you do, how did you prepare for making it your career?

I had no preparation for this. I did not intend for it to go this way – if you told me that I was going to be a rapper five years ago, I would have laughed hysterically. I made music but it was always just for fun. I was always working on being in the film or TV industry in some capacity and all of this stuff just started happening to me and I don’t quite know why. But I definitely ran with it.

How did you get hooked up with Adult Swim in the first place?

I was doing improv at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade in New York City. I was just hanging out at the after hour’s place that everyone there would hang out at and I had the right conversation with the right guy at the right time. I didn’t have any money so I told him I could drink a pint of beer in under five seconds if he would buy the beer that I drank. He agreed. After like five beers, he said I should work for him.

I was in the right place at the right time, but I sound kind of weird, I have art school experience, screenwriting was my major in school, I draw, I act and I write. On these cheap shows you have to have people who can do all kinds of stuff. That’s why I was able to move from show to show really easily and be put to use in many roles.

So the secret to your initial success was being multifaceted and an alcoholic.

Yeah. If you’re multifaceted for long enough without any payoff you just start hitting the sauce. I’m off the sauce now, but kids ask me how they get a cartoon made. I tell them to start drinking.

And then you left Adult Swim, which seemed like it could have been a mistake since there was security there.

It was a gamble – I was scared out of my mind because Adult Swim is really hot so leaving was dangerous to do – but sometimes you have to jump off the high dive and see what happens. I really enjoyed my time there. Every kid wants to work there and I totally appreciate that and I hope to work there again some day depending on how all of this goes. But I think at the time I just needed to know if it would work on its own. Plus Adult Swim is cool enough that if I fall on my face, there’s a pretty good chance I can come back. I really want to make an MC Chris cartoon someday and I wouldn’t feel very comfortable showing it to anybody besides them first and hopefully I could do it with them.

The MC Chris phenomenon was driven by the internet. You encouraged trading audio files at a time when many said such activities were killing the entertainment business.

We’re one of the rare cases where file sharing got us to where we are today. My song was played on a cartoon, the website was in the credits, everyone went to the website, they got the song, shared it and then that was my fan base. It happened that fast and those kids have stuck with me for five years now.

And those kids give you money?

They do. This is where music corporations are really screwing up – they feel that consumers are bad people. I feel the consumer has a right to digest the music before they want to support it. A lot of times, it’s their favorite bands and they’re going to see them live, buy all their merchandise and buy the CD. That’s what happens to me. Stealing from us hurts us a lot more than the major corporations, but we have to go on the faith that the kids are going to like our stuff and support us live or buy our stuff online and they do both.

Do you ever get feedback – good or bad – from people in hip-hop circles?

I’ve heard that Murs likes my stuff. We’re doing this show in Ohio with Jurassic Five and I’m really nervous to find out what they think of me. But, you know, I’d assume that they wouldn’t like me. I assume that the people who get into my music are the kid with the comic book in his hands or the college kid with a bong in his hands. I think it’s a market that has to invent itself. That’s what I’m hoping for anyway.

What are you doing at the Big Free Concert anyway? You’re not just performing; you’re the host, right?

Yeah, I’m going to be there the whole time. It’s going to be like a telethon for me. By the end of it, my bowtie is going to be undone, I’ll be begging for pennies... But yeah, I do a set, but I’m there the whole time. I can’t wait. I’ll be previewing new material from my album that’s coming out at the end of the summer, Dungeon Master Of Ceremonies, cracking jokes, maybe having some fun with the crowd. I don’t quite know what’s going to happen, but it sounds like one of the craziest things I’ve ever done so I’m looking forward to it!

Originally Published: May 10, 2006

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