page_title: My Morning Straitjacket
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: My Morning Straitjacket / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: Mike Barker at the 2010 Comic Con in San Diego
context_page_description: "My Morning Straitjacket" is the seventh episode of the sixth season and the eighty fourth overall episode of the animated comedy series American Dad!. It aired on Fox in the United States on November 22, 2009, and is written by Mike Barker and directed by Chris Bennett.
  In the episode, when Stan crashes a My Morning Jacket concert to drag Hayley out of it, he decides that he likes the band so much so that he becomes a groupie and follows them on the road.
context_section_description: In a November 2009 interview the episode's writer Mike Barker spoke about how an experience at the 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival inspired the episode, saying: "At Bonnaroo, I’m watching these guys create this lush, intense sound as the rain is washing over them… and as the sheet of rain attacks the stage, the raindrops are being illuminated by the multi-colored stage lights, and it was just… biblical. And it was one of those moments — and by moment I don’t mean during a certain chorus or something, I mean the entire time the guys are playing — it was one of those moments where everyone in attendance realized they were witnessing something really special. No one’s worried about getting wet, or getting their shoes muddy, or needing to sit down after standing shoulder to shoulder with wet strangers for four straight hours. And I actually remember having the thought, “If lightning strikes these guys dead, there’s not a thing tragic about that.” Seriously, can you tell me a better way for a musician to go? Because I can't think of it. But during the show, I start to become aware of how intensely I loved this music, and by extension, these guys for playing it. And I thought to myself, “What if I try to share this experience through the characters in American Dad? Is it possible to translate how much I love this music to a large portion of American Dad’s audience that presently has no idea that this band even exists?” That would be my way of giving back, I suppose. My Morning Jacket is one of the greatest bands of all time, so why wouldn't I try to share that fact?"
  He also spoke about producing the episode, saying: "I was definitely conscious of the fact that the band could end up hating this episode and resenting me for not delivering like I had assured them I would. I mean, it’s tricky. Normally when we (the writers) make our episodes, our primary rule is that we have to make ourselves laugh. We have to find the episode interesting and funny. Because if we’re laughing, then there’s a good chance our audience is laughing, too. But with this episode… well, suddenly there’s this entirely new segment of people that will be watching the show, many of them for the first time, and that’s the My Morning Jacket fans. And the fans have certain thoughts and feelings about both the music, as well as the guys making it. The last thing I want is for my episode — which is really a pretty personal creative experiment — is for it to somehow reflect negatively back on the band. Jim and the guys were really great at respecting my autonomy throughout the process. This is a story I wanted to tell, and basically they took a big leap of faith by entrusting me, this absolute stranger, with their music, their voices, and ultimately, their image. So perhaps the most important thing for me in regards to the band was to do everything in my power to make sure that the episode didn’t suck. Because if it’s bad, or embarrassing, then that leads to questions from the fans like “Why would MMJ do this?” and suddenly this incredibly thoughtful and principled band is on the firing line for selling out or something."
  He also spoke about if the band had any input on their character designs, saying: "We gave the band customary consultation and they signed off on all of the artwork we ran by them. It’s always tricky animating real people. Because you’re not just animating them to resemble who they are in real life, you also have to make sure they resemble characters that live in the American Dad universe, and that carries with it a whole host of challenging parameters for our animators. But I think our character designers did a great job at capturing Jim and the guys."
caption: American Dad! co-creator Mike Barker wrote the episode.
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