Martellus Bennett and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh discuss the upcoming Disney series, Hey AJ!, and how their partnership was formed.
Disney’s upcoming animated series, Hey AJ!, is a vibrant celebration of curiosity, family, and the boundless power of a child’s mind. Based on the popular children’s book series by Super Bowl champion and multitalented creator Martellus Bennett, the show follows the adventures of AJ, a high-energy girl who finds inspiration in the everyday world around her. Whether she’s turning her kitchen into a culinary kingdom or her backyard into a wild frontier, the series emphasizes that for a creative child, the entire world is a playground.
In this interview with Mama’s Geeky, Martellus Bennett and legendary animation veteran Jeff “Swampy” Marsh (co-creator of Phineas and Ferb) talk about their unlikely partnership. The duo dives deep into the dating process of finding a creative partner, the science of why doodling helps the brain focus, and how they’ve worked to ensure the show’s Black American experience feels both authentic and universal.
The “Dating” Process: How the Partnership Began
The collaboration between an NFL star and an animation legend seems like a dream team, but it didn’t happen overnight. How did that first conversation go?
Martellus Bennett: It took us about six months before we even agreed to do a show together. It’s almost like dating, you know? You have to figure out if you actually like the person. We did it the traditional way – met up and had all these philosophical conversations about what we believed in and how we saw worlds being built.
Swampy Marsh: For me, it was about the story Marty wanted to tell. The books were beautiful, but taking something from a page and building a full world that can sustain 22-minute stories is a big task. I found very quickly that there was a huge crossover in the Venn diagram of things we felt were important: imagination, the relationship with your kids, and how you support them.
On Fatherhood and Creative “War Stories”
You both talk a lot about your own children. How much of your experience as fathers made it into the show?
Martellus: Swampy is a great father. You can’t be around him for five minutes without him talking about his son. When I’m around men who don’t talk about their kids, I get weirded out! We shared “creative war stories” about raising kids with big imaginations. If we didn’t have a room full of guys who understood fatherhood, the Marty character wouldn’t have come to life the way he needed to.
Swampy: Marty might come from a whole different world than I do, but when it came to imagination and the ways you support your kids, we were exactly the same. I had to listen and become part of a whole new world, which was scary because I haven’t been scared in a long time. But telling these stories—learning about Marty’s daughter and his world—was a blast.
The Science of Doodling and Focus
Martellus, there’s a famous story about you painting during NFL team meetings. Swampy, you were a doodler in class. Does that creative itch actually help you pay attention?
Swampy: I used to draw in class so I could pay attention. I needed to occupy a part of my brain. As long as I was doodling, I knew what was going on. Universities actually have studies now showing that doodling allows you to focus because you’re occupying the part of the brain that would normally be wandering off into space.
Martellus: I did the same thing in football meetings! They used to get mad at me because they thought I wasn’t paying attention. I’d have a watercolor set out while we were going through film. I only had one coach my entire career who didn’t fight me on it. He’d call on me, I’d have the answer, and he’d say, “Okay, do what you gotta do.” That’s what the show is about – enabling and making space for imaginative play instead of shutting it down.
Music Is A Universal Language
The music in Hey AJ! is incredibly diverse, featuring everything from Funk to Pop. Was that always the plan?
Swampy: I am genetically incapable of doing a show that doesn’t have a musical element. Music is the thing that relates to everybody; you can still sing songs from cartoons you watched when you were five. We wanted to introduce all kinds of genres. We have everything from Meghan Trainor to Bootsy Collins.
Martellus: People sometimes ask, “What is Black music?” and try to pigeonhole it. But Black people love and play all music. We just opened up the imaginative can. Getting Bootsy Collins was crazy! We wanted songs that parents and kids would sing along to together.
From the NFL to the Disney Family
You’ve gone from winning a Super Bowl to creating a Disney series. Did you ever imagine this when you wrote the first book?
Martellus: Actually, I did. I have the ability to see a million possibilities in a singular idea. When I first drew the AJ books, I wanted them to feel like they had movement, like a cartoon. I didn’t go to school for animation; I learned through failure, books, and videos. Disney was my first “yes” after a lot of “no’s.” It validated to my family that you can dream up ideas and they are possible.
Swampy: Disney has been so supportive of letting us tell the stories that were important to Marty. It’s a dream come true for a Saturday morning cartoon and cereal kid.
Martellus: It’s a beautiful experience. I’m a Disney Dad through and through now. I want to show kids who look like me that you can start your own company, do your own books, and end up building something bigger than yourself.
Watch the full interview for even more behind-the-scenes stories, including Martellus’s hilarious Popeye’s Chicken inspiration and why there is strictly no shoes on the couch in the world of AJ!
About Hey AJ!
Inspired by former Pro Bowler and Super Bowl Champion and children’s book author Martellus Bennett’s family, “Hey AJ!” is a whimsical and music-filled family comedy about an imaginative young girl: AJ.
AJ uses her big imagination to make ordinary life moments extraordinary. She can turn a long drive with her mom and dad into a rocket ship space adventure or a trip to the park into a superhero mission to save the world. With AJ’s trusty stuffed bunny sidekick, Theo, her mom Siggi, dad Marty, and best friends Jessie and Jazz—there’s no situation that AJ can’t make extraordinary by using her imagination.
Hey AJ! premieres on Disney Jr. on January 13th and on Disney+ on January 14.
