Nantucket's Cary family gets presidential on Comedy Central
By Marli Guzzetta + Independent Arts Editor
On June 13, Nantucket native Donick Cary will bite the pin out of a cartoon grenade and lob it into the fray of political satire with the debut of his cartoon, "Lil' Bush," on Comedy Central.

Nantucketer Donick Cary (left) is the man behind the new politcal cartoon "Lil' Bush," premiering on Comedy Central June 13 at 10:30 p.m. His half-sister and Nantucket native Martha Cary (right) is a production assistant on the show. Donick's mother, Mara, provides the voice of Barbara Bush.

The half-hour-long cartoon depicts Dubya as a swaggering boy, living with Babs and Bush Senior and attending Beltway Elementary School, where he heads up a clique of familiar faces (Lil' Condi, Lil' Rummy and Lil' Cheney) and doles out critiques, compliments and nicknames to both classmates and school employees. ("You're doing a heck of a job, brownie," he says to an ethnic cafeteria worker.)

"There's something to offend and delight everybody," said Donick, the show's producer, director and creator. "It's somewhere between 'The Colbert Report,' 'the Daily Show' and 'South Park.' "

But even though the show is snarky, it has good, old-fashioned family values behind it. Donick cast his mother, Mara Cary, as the voice of Barbara Bush. Donick's half-sister, Martha (2001 Nantucket High School grad and daughter of Susan Cary) works as a production assistant on the show. (Richard Cary, founder of the now-closed Actors' Theatre, is their father.)

"We're like one, big whacky family, but it's a very professional atmosphere. I feel very lucky to actually work for a cool boss and to be part of something I believe in and I'm passionate about," said Martha, who idolized her big brother growing up. "Who wouldn't idolize your 'Simpsons'-writing, Emmy-winning, hilarious, interesting and very thoughtful big brother?"

While in Los Angeles, Martha has also bonded with Mara - leading to the kind of relationship between first and second wives that the rest of the country would do well to emulate. Susan even refers to Mara as her daughter's "fairy godmother."

"I'm just getting to know Martha now, and she's a wonderful, thoughtful, caring woman," Mara said.

'Lil' Donick' perfoming on Nantucket

Susan said she's grateful that her daughter - who attended college in Manhattan and hadn't driven any- where other than Nantucket until four months ago - has a family unit out on the West Coast, where they keep Nantucket alive in spirit.

"We still carry a lot of Whaler pride," Martha said. "We play 'Eye of the Tiger' every morning as we run in and then have a quick Nantucket session."

It's good that they have that fighting, family spirit, because the staff expects the show to kick up some dust once it airs. Donick has already appeared on CNN opposite Rick Sanchez, who posed the grave question: Does Lil' Bush go too far?

Comedy is serious business for Donick, according to Mara. "He worked hard at it all his life. He was always the class clown, with that wry sense of humor. I was playing Puck in 'A Mid-summer Night's Dream' when Donick was conceived and I think it definitely affected his personality."

What also affected his personality, of course, was growing up on Nantucket. "I think it's good to be a big frog in a small puddle," Mara said. "You learn a lot that way. You get to know all kinds of people, and they know you, so you bounce through that system and see yourself growing."

When Donick was small, Mara worked as the Nantucket Elementary School librarian and did puppet shows, with which Donick often assisted.

"Bucky Fuller came to speak at NISDA, and Donick had this puppet called Hugo that he would take with him everywhere. The puppet could say things that Donick couldn't. He and Bucky hit it off, and the three of them - Bucky, Donick and Hugo - talked for hours," remembered Mara of 'Lil Donick.' "I could rave on about him forever, because he was a charming wonderful, funny child to raise. … He was the kind of kid that when he set out to do something, he did it."

Before graduating from Nantucket High School in 1986, Donick left a small flood of practical jokes in his wake. When the Downyflake burned, and they put plywood all over the windows, Donick wrote, "McDonald's Coming Soon, Now Hiring" on them. Another time, he planted signs all over downtown that said 'Bridge to Hyannis' with arrows.

"He was always like this," said Susan, who's known Donick since he was 9 years old. "If you talk to some of his teachers, they'll tell you he was always getting in trouble."

After high school, Donick attended college, but left early to intern for David Letterman. After that, Donick moved to Florida to work for Nickelodeon before being re-hired by Letterman, this time to be a writer for the show. From there, he went to "The Simpsons," NBC's "Just Shoot Me," "Earth to America" and, most recently, Comedy Central's "Naked Trucker and T-Bones."

While working on "Naked Trucker," Donick was also creating six, fiveminute animated "Lil' Bush" shorts for Amp'd Mobile. (You can find them on Youtube.com) For the animation, Donick hired Nantucketer Alex Stancioff, who was doing software design in Bulgaria.

"The general public response to the Amp'd Mobile cartoons was huge," Donick said. "It was the highest rated programming with Amp'd subscribers."

The day the first short came out last summer, Donick was on the set of "Naked Trucker and T-Bones," along with a Comedy Central executive, who watched the short and wanted immediately to produce it for television.

Currently, the show is produced by a small staff, with 10 total people stateside, and 150 animators in Bulgaria, overseen by Stancioff, whom Mara called "one of Donick's cronies from third grade."

Mara lived on Nantucket until two years ago, when she moved to Los Angeles to be closer to Donick and his wife, who'd recently had their first child.

No longer financially responsible for anyone but herself, she also went out to L.A. to pursue acting, which she practiced on Nantucket, performing for both Theatre Workshop of Nantucket and Actors' Theatre, but had to limit after Donick was born.

In addition to her role on "Lil' Bush," Mara was also recently cast in "Diagnosis X" on the Learning Channel.

"It's been a part of me all my life to want to be a good actress," Mara said. "Now, it's unthinkable. It's just a miracle to be on this show. I am so deeply honored and grateful to my son that this could happen. I have tons of gratitude, and I'm working really hard to make sure I warrant this."

It's an odd but remarkable thing, Donick said, to see one's mother in the same studio as Iggy Pop, who provides the voice for Lil' Rumsfeld and is the only cast member who records shirtless.

Taking a page out of wiseacre cartoon playbook, Donick relied on musicians to voice a dozen characters for the first season. Indie kids: Amen, I say unto thee - Jeff Tweedy is doing voice of God. Frank Black is doing the voice of Satan, during an episode when Cheney has a heart attack and goes to hell. The Foo Fighters and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are playing themselves in a show with a "lil'" Live Earth concert, hosted by Lil' Al Gore. Collin Molloy from The Decembrists is doing the voice of many other people. And Henry Rollins is voicing a vet at Walter Reed.

"Not only do I get to do a silly cartoon and exorcise the demons of the last eight years," Donick said. "On top of that, I get to work with my family. And Iggy Pop, who I was watching on TV from Nantucket when I was 13. It's not

a bad job at all." I