Before the release of “Digman!” on Comedy Central, I was able to see the first four episodes of the adult animated adventure series, and as our review says, it’s absurdly hilarious. Since the show is called “Digman!,” it should come as no surprise that much of the humor comes from this deluded character who is almost totally lacking any self-awareness about his shortcomings. Endlessly confident and hungry for adventure, Digman is like a Nicolas Cage character from another dimension, but with some necessary twists.
During an interview with Samberg and series co-creator Neil Campbell, I asked about using the Nicolas Cage impression as part of Digman’s character, and Samberg confirmed the inspiration:
“It definitely was the jumping off point for this. And then we obviously changed everything else. So it’s not him, it’s this new character in this new world in this new universe, but there was certain things about the pitch and tenor and rhythm of it that transferred over. That was one of my favorite things that I did on ‘SNL,; and it culminated in actual Nic Cage coming on the show and doing it with me, which was a career highlight. So I wanted to continue doing something like that without actually doing that, and this ended up being the perfect vehicle for it.”
Considering the fact that Digman feels like a mix of Indiana Jones and Cage’s character Benjamin Gates from “National Treasure,” it’s a good thing Campbell and Samberg didn’t rely solely on turning the character into another Cage parody. Though there are certainly influences there, Digman stands out as his own thing.
