Today, Disney+ launches its Monsters, Inc. spin-off series Monsters at Work with two episodes. Billy Crystal returns as one-eyed would-be funnyman Mike Wazowski and John Goodman reprises his role as his fuzzy buddy, James P. “Sully” Sullivan. 

The series is based on the Oscar-winning 2001 Disney/Pixar hit Monsters, Inc., which created a world in which monsters scaring kids at night generated energy for the City of Monstropolis. But the movie closed with the Monsters finding a new source of energy: comedy.

For motor-mouthed Mike, he sees it as a great opportunity. For Crystal to play him, however, it’s a fun challenge.

“He’s he’s on speed dial, isn’t he?” Crystal tells ABC Audio. “It’s such a thrill to play him and it’s so exhausting at the same time. After like four-hour sessions of being him with such high energy. I’ll take a nap for three or four days,” adding, “But that’s what I love about him. You know, it’s one of my favorite characters of anything I’ve done.”

Crystal also says of Monsters at Work, “[T]he great thing about it is families can watch it together.”

Goodman agrees. “It’s a rare thing now to sit down with a family, be able to watch something. Everything’s so splintered. But This stands, the test of time. People that I run into, that’s usually the first thing they say is ‘Monster’s Inc.! Where’s Sully?’ And I am I’m proud of that, to be able to be a part of these artists’ world.” 

Monsters at Work also features the voices of Jennifer Tilly, Pixar veteran John Ratzenberger, Henry Winkler, and comedian Gabriel Iglesias.

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