Over the past couple of seasons, fantasy football sitcom The League has established a highly dishonorable tradition of using one episode per season to showcase the deranged antics of Jason Mantzoukas’ insane Rafi — the brother-in-law of Nick Kroll’s character, Ruxin — and Seth Rogen’s equally unhinged Dirty Randy. And this year’s adventure, which is also the second-to-last episode before the series finale, will be even more animated than usual. That’s right, EW can exclusively reveal the latest Rafi- and Dirty Randy-featuring extravaganza — which is titled “Adios y Bienvenidos” and premieres Wednesday on FXX — will find our heroes represented in cartoon form.
“An animated Rafi-Dirty Randy episode seemed like the natural progression for characters people thought were inhuman anyway,” explains League co-creator Jackie Schaffer to EW via email. “It was something I have been joking about about privately since we shot ‘The Lockout’ in season 3. After the Seahawks were robbed of their second Super Bowl victory this year, FX execs attempted to console Jeff and I over drinks in Arizona. I told them that the only thing that would cheer me up is if they gave us the money to do a Rafi and Dirty Randy animated episode in season 7. The next day they called and said ‘Go for it.’ Jason and Seth have such distinct voices and the characters are so well defined it felt completely natural. Seth said it perfectly — ‘How were these characters ever live-action?’ ”
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“The show is actually half-live action, and half-animated,” elaborates Schaffer’s fellow League creator and husband, Jeff Schaffer. “So Rafi and Dirty Randy’s stories affect our entire cast and vice-versa. Something very big and terrible happens in the world of our cast. The situation is so dire that the only people who can solve it are … Rafi and Dirty Randy. And we can all wonder out loud if the cure is worse than the disease.”
You can see an exclusive first look image of the cartoon Rafi and Dirty Randy above, as well as an expletive-featuring — and just generally nuts — trailer for next week’s episode of The League, below.