Agua Donkeys stars MP Cunningham and Jer Jackson have been friends for years, with much of their real-life bond giving the show's fictional versions of MP and Jer -- pool cleaners and employees of the titular Agua Donkey company -- a natural rapport. Their longtime history also allowed them to work exceptionally well behind-the-scenes, with Cunningham directing the ten-episode season and co-writing many of the episodes alongside Jackson. The comedic television show follows two pool cleaners who attempt to find tans, the perfect girl and only the best summertime "vibes" -- bringing SoCal attitudes to small-town Utah.
Ahead of Agua Donkeys' first season coming to Roku Jun. 25 -- following its release on the now-defunct Quibi -- Cunningham and Jackson spoke with CBR about the zen-like elements of pool cleaning, making the leap to The Roku Channel and the inherent joys of a summer mindset.
The series primarily follows the fictional versions of MP and Jer, a pair of almost Zen-like doofuses, who travel through their town living a simple and comical life. Reflecting on the sweet-natured and often silly approach of the show and its characters, Cunningham shared, "Jer and I, we love summer. We love when you're growing up and you get together with your friends and you go down and you get a slushie and you go on a walk, or you go to the pool. You're staying up late. The nights are warm. You have a crush on somebody and you're focused on that. You're excited about it. We love all that stuff."
The Agua Donkeys director continued, "I think that there are a couple of different ways that you can look at life, and we choose to look at the good things about it. And this world that we've created is just an all-encompassing summer. That's the whole vibe of it... The zen-like idea of being... People might think it's very dumb but it's very zen-like as far as a certain vibe that we have where things roll off of us because we're so present in a way."
Comparing the characters to a 13-year old mindset, Jackson stated, "There's kind of a magical sweet spot in life before things get too complicated, but they're just getting complicated enough to be interesting. You're starting to deal with real issues, but not really. Not in a real way, or not the real consequences. Every decision you make doesn't have some life-impacting consequence. Where you're going to go to college, or you're going to get a job or those kinds of things."
Recalling how they've known each other for almost a decade at this point in real life, Cunningham explained, "Since [Jackson] and I met, we've always been making stuff, and so we've always been used to writing it and be directing it and starring in it. All that kind of stuff. We love to have creative control and we just kind of see it as a bunch of friends hanging out. It's a good time."
This natural element gave the show a unique tone and style from other Funny or Die productions, with Jackson explaining how "when we teamed up with them, were just super supportive out the gate. And then Quibi was when we came out with them." He shared, "Early on when we were pitching to Funny or Die, and talking about the show, and it was taking shape, and they were asking us, 'What celebrity do you want to come in make these appearances and champion the show?' And me and [Cunningham] talked about it and realized we want it to be its own thing, and when the celebrity comes on, it changes a little bit and it takes you out of that world. To Funny or Die's credit, when we told them that we weren't interested in that route, they were fully supportive. I don't know that we would have got that at very many places, so that was really cool."
Agua Donkeys began life as a short film before being picked up for a ten-episode season by Quibi. Following the collapse of the service, its content library found a second life on Roku -- which was a boon for Cunningham and Jackson. "The funny thing about Quibi and Roku," Cunningham revealed, "is Colin Davis was the executive over our show at Quibi, and now he's the executive of content at Roku. And so we had a fan go over to Roku and he's still awesome about just being like, 'I want your guys' voice and style so you guys just do what you do.'" Agreeing and calling Davis the "coolest dude," Jackson added, "[Roku] has just been so on board and so enthusiastic and very creative and getting in these meetings and talking about things we want to do. They've got all these ideas. They've really been awesome."
Speaking about the collapse of Quibi and the effect it had on them, Cunningham recalled, "It's almost like we had a premiere and a release, and then nothing. It got wiped away. Now, this is basically our release again, so it's a cool second chance. But the best part of it is we kind of have a niche following, a cult following, from the release and so now we've come over with a fan base. And that's been really cool. We've met a lot of cool people that have really liked the show. It's just a dream come true. To even be talking about this... To be able to go out there and have Jer and I get together, talk about funny stuff. It's such a trip."
Agua Donkeys, starring MP Cunningham, Jer Jackson, Baby Darrington, Luke Jackson, Joey Gibson, Raymond Kelleher, Pyper America, Melaine Berrett, and Laura-Eady Popwell, will be available to stream on The Roku Channel Jun. 25.