Direct ("I want to make something like that.") 

  An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (Dialogue. The non-stop brilliant random shit that has no bearing on the plot. I also love when sweet, thoughtful moments can be somehow added to these absurdist surrealist pieces.) 

  Tropical Cop Tales (Writing, structure. The rising action of the show that gets thrown in the trash and leaves the audience with a "fuck you" at the end. Creating its own set of unique words/phrases, as they did in The Greasy Stranger.) 

  GHXYK2/GHXXXYK2/wolfpupy/Wainstop/pilotredsun: Bart the General, The Scratching Post, Pretend I'm on the Hum then GO!!, H20rigins, Camping Prep Rhetoric, the grinchs ultimatum (Writing, structure, animation, writing style. GHXYK2 and co. have completely broken literally every single principle of narrative and art in general, and still managed to produce masterpieces. I can't figure it out. Also good at creating the illusion of having a plot.) 

  Quentin Dupieux: Wrong Cops (Writing, he has mastered the art of adding shit that's pointless and so good. In WC, QD builds off of each pointless event and makes a plot out of it all.) 

  The Shivering Truth (Writing, writing, writing. The most clever shit I have ever seen. It's clever in the same way as two men running a marathon racing each other, and one of them comes up with a plan to take a shortcut and reach the finish line first by going the opposite direction, circumnavigating the world.) 

  The Heart, She Holler (I hate directly taking from other media by any means necessary, and the only time I felt drawn to do so was with TH,SH. It opens with a funeral, where the person who has died has a VHS recording of him talking into the camera playing. It turns out he has hundreds of these VHS tapes, and has conversations with the townspeople through the TV, implying that he had to predict exactly what everyone would say and how everything would go while recording those tapes before his death.) 

  Mother, Earthbound, Mother 3 (Dialogue. My go-to reference for something that's incredibly funny, lowering your guard so it can cut deep with some dark, disturbing moments. I also love kids that are forced into serious, adult roles, like having to save the world. Also always nice thoughtful, wholesome moments.) 

  LISA, The Painful (Writing. Same as Mother with the humor followed by crushing disturbing darkness. However, here, they really like to twist the knife. This game has made me more uncomfortable than any other game, it knows just how to hurt you.) 

  Dream Corp LLC (It's often goofy, but has these moments of dreamy honest, earnest thoughtfulness.) 

  Hylics (Design!! Absolutely gorgeous DMT hellscape.) 

  JJ Villard: King Star King (Design, writing, structure, animation. This show is everything to me, man, the animation is beautiful and has JJ Villard's style in illustration that no one else has ever done or wants to do. It greatly expanded my mindset, I was blown away thinking "I didn't know you could do that." The names "Alfonso Molestro", "Carmine Exremente", "King Star King", the endless background details in animation and illustration, the fact that everything is sex, drugs, and violence, extremely archetypal, this show is pure id. The Vivaldi music a very nice touch. It is the perfect show.) 

  Son of Satan (Design. This is my favorite short film. Entirely abrasive and rough, but it grows on you. This is an adaptation, but an excellent one that JJ picked out and carries out perfectly. As it goes on and the kids proceed deeper into cruelty, depravity, abuse, and trauma, I fall deeper in love.) 

  End of Evangelion (Structure. I would love to make something as absurd that you pretty much have to choose to accept. A pathetic, untalented boy in middle/high school who is the only one that can pilot this huge ass mecha to save the world from an extraterrestrial threat that's invincible to everything else. There are a few other mechas, and it turns out that the only ones that can pilot them are two other kids his same age. Plus, I love that dreamy, thoughtful, introspective passage. And the ending!) 

  The Eric Andre Show (I was there for series premier, so it was heartbreaking seeing it get defiled. But it was a huge inspiration at the time.) 

  Aqua Teen Hunger Force (They truly, genuinely, absolutely, completely do not give a fuck. It's like the a partner that may occasionally show you affection and act like they are serious and care about you, and it builds up, and you can tell that there's a moment coming up soon where they will be completely open and genuine with you. Even in the series finale(s), it's a big fuck you to the audience.) 

  Hotline Miami (Fast paced. Stimulating. Overstimulating. Tense. Implicit storytelling. Engaging. Violent. Disturbing.) 

  Animal Collective (Positive, weird, happy, youthful, genuine, positive, happy, happy! Youthful themes. Dreamy lyrics that make the music extremely personalized, such that it's not like there's tons of direct, explicit things to take out of each song. The lyrics are like a movie where someone goes through an unbelievable journey like time travel or going to another dimension, then they return home and tell their lover what they went through, and all they learned, and how much they love and appreciate them, and it's just a pure pouring out of passion that the lover doesn't understand, and just hugs them. It's all a feeling, like when you can just stare into the eyes of someone else for hours without having to talk, and yet you know exactly what they're thinking. I used to see music as catharsis, as all I could think to ever write about was pain. It opened my eyes to see them make hundreds of elated tracks. On top of that, this is spanning from when they first started at two decades of age. Now they're twice their age, and still going strong. 

  Neil Hamburger (Major inspiration in terms of stand-up humor.)