The Cartoon

The Hard Way known colloquially as "The Cartoon" was an animated series Dick and Maddox pitched to FOX Animation in 2010. The show was animated by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titmouse,_Inc. Titmouse] and consisted of three short cartoons making up one 8-minute pilot. Seldom referenced by Dick, the process behind the show's inception was the focus of The Dick Show bonus episode 34 - "Dick on the Cartoon."

Conception
In 2010 Dick and Maddox pitched a cartoon to FOX Animation and were accepted into their Inkubation program, a project designed to assist producers in setting up pre-production for their shows. After a handful of table reads the pair were given $25,000 to develop a pilot. They decided to go with Titmouse, the studio behind such cartoons as The Venture Bros., Superjail! and Metalocalypse. Director Jody Schaeffer was hired to develop a three-part pilot.

The Hard Way
The show centered around Greg (voiced by Dax Herrera) and his Canadian ex-girlfriend Julie (voiced by Lilian Bowden), Greg's roommate Maddox (voiced by George Ouzounian and Jody Schaeffer) and their friend Nort (voiced by Brian Posehn). Greg is portrayed as a sensible ordinary man living with his crazed friend Maddox, who is always getting into zany shenanigans. Their friend Nort is the show's harmless loveable oaf. The inspiration behind the show's name remains unknown.

Rough Water
Dick and Maddox recorded lines for the first episode, Hard Water, at the Titmouse studio. Things went swimmingly until Maddox was tasked with voicing his character. After wasting several hours on Maddox's failure to read, speak, or generally function professionally, director Jody Schaeffer recorded scratch lines to be re-recorded by writer and voice actor Tommy Blacha.

I am the Greatest Flop in the World
The second episode, The Next Mozart, features a song performed by Maddox's character in spite of a childrens' talent show. The song, written by Dick, was recorded at Sean's house with a solo guitar and Maddox on vocals. Sixteen takes of varying yet consistently horrendously quality were recorded. Jody Schaeffer recorded a scratch vocal for this too.

Dead End
In 2011 Dick and Maddox fashioned a wooden crate containing a broken parking meter and ten DVD's of the pilot episodes. No further progress on the cartoon was made after this point. This was several months before the first episodes of The Biggest Problem in the Universe were recorded.