Craig Zobel
From Homestar Runner Wiki
Roger Craig Zobel is a friend of The Brothers Chaps and co-creator of Homestar Runner.
Zobel invented the characters Strong Sad and Pom Pom; he provided Marzipan's name, though Mike drew her design. He is also the eponym for Coach Z, as revealed in Wonkavision Magazine; mutual friend Bill Kramer would sometimes call him "Coach Zobel", as mentioned by Mike Chapman at the 2005 NYU Talk.
Contributions to Homestar Runner
Matt Chapman and Craig met in junior high, and Zobel became friends with both Chapman brothers. He and Mike co-wrote the original Homestar book, The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest, in the summer of 1996. While in college, the two were looking around the children's section of a bookstore and decided to make their own as a joke. About ten to fifteen copies of the small "book" were made and distributed amongst friends. That December, he helped the Chaps make the Super NES animation as a Christmas present.
When The Brothers Chaps adapted the Homestar Runner characters to Flash, Zobel assisted with several early toons. He co-wrote Pom Pom, Too and Where's The Cheat?. On Homestarloween Party, he is credited alongside the Brothers Chaps for writing, drawing, and directing (the drawings of Homestar's Kurt Cobain wig and Pom Pom's girls are specifically mentioned as his contributions in the DVD commentary). He additionally has provided the voices of Cherry Greg in Fluffy Puff Commercial and Kevin in Marzipan's Answering Machine Versions 6.0 and 17.2, and appeared in the short film Puppets on the Road. Zobel designed the covers for the strongbad_email.exe DVD box set, and the Everybody Everybody Poster; he drew the Strong Bad Screensaver illustration and the map of Peasantry in the Peasant's Quest Movie Trailer.
According to Matt in the DVD commentary for replacement, the scene of Bubs attacking Strong Bad is Craig's "favorite thing ever on our website".
Career
Craig Zobel and The Brothers Chaps have worked together on multiple film projects. Zobel was Unit Production Manager on David Gordon Green's All the Real Girls (2003), while Mike worked in the art department and Matt had a small on-camera role. He directed the feature film Great World of Sound (2006), which was produced by Missy Palmer and executive produced by the Brothers Chaps.
In addition to directing, writing, and producing several additional films, Zobel works as a television director. He was nominated for a 2021 Outstanding Directing Emmy Award for his work on the limited series Mare of Easttown.
He currently resides in New York.
