Herewith, a new series, Game Off, described as “an inside look at the lives of Goombas as they march through the Mushroom Kingdom.” Yes, Mario and Luigi’s nemeses have lives beyond dealing with those plumber guys, and they’re here in a new webseries from Effinfunny.com — led by Sandeep Parikh, Zaboo on The Guild, creator of The Legend of Neil — and debuting with an episode here at the Nerdist Channel and another at Effinfunny. This one has two Goombas debating Kanye West’s new album, because that’s exactly what they’d do, right? To take you deeper into the the world of Game Off, we caught up with Sandeep to get the inside scoop on just where in the Warp Pipes of his mind this idea came from.

Nerdist: Tell us about where the idea for Game Off came from and what we can expect from the series.

Sandeep Parikh: The idea came from somewhere in the bowels of my brain. Probably a fever dream of some sort. I played a lot of Nintendo growing up, and I always wondered just what the hell those goombas were talking about before Mario came into their lives and destroyed everything. I figured they were just hired henchman, so they’d likely be engaged in watercooler talk.  Thus, Game Off, the topical animated series with Goombas, was born.

To be clear, this is somewhat of an insane experiment where we’re going to try and animate topical concepts extremely quickly so that they are as fresh as possible out of the oven. The team is me, Niraj Shah, who is animating and co-writing, and Josie Kavadoy, who is producing. Oh, and I’ve never done an animation before. Or a topical show. So, yeah, this will be an adventure.

N: This is a unique collaboration between Nerdist and Effinfunny with videos hosted on both channels, correct. How did this come into being?

SP: I came in to meet with the Nerdist peeps, and told them I was making Game Off for the revival of Effinfunny, my comedy channel and they wanted in. I love what Chris is doing with the Nerdist; we’ve been friends since he did Effinfunny Stand Up shows back in the day. So, here’s an opportunity to make funny stuff, with friends, and associate our brands together in a unique way where we share the show across both channels. ‘Twas a no-brainer for me.

N: Who will be voicing the Goombas? Can we expect a rotating stable of guest stars?

SP: Yes indeed. I have no idea yet who they will be as it will always be subject to whatever script we write. We’ve got about 4 days from inception to upload. So the guest stars will be whoever that is right for the role that I can get at a moment’s notice. So far, we’ve got an episode with Kevin Periera coming up next, that’s the only person I can tease you with.

N: You launched Effinfunny back in 2006. How has it grown over the last 7 years and how has the digital landscape changed?

SP: It’s a completely different world and is constantly evolving. Effinfunny has gone from showcasing clips of stand up from top performers and up and comers, to producing The Legend of Neil with Comedy Central and Save the Supers with My Damn Channel, and now we’re focused on producing 5 new series for the channel. The business model has really shifted, and continues to be something that’s relatively volatile, which I honestly love. It keeps everyone on their toes, and affords us creators a chance to control our own destiny in many ways. Now more than ever we can get in there and make our shows, find our own audiences, and see if we can strike internet gold. It’s the Wild West, with less dysentery!

The focus of Effinfunny is all about creating off beat, often nerdy, challenging comedy for our fanbase. It’s my playground, and I invite any of you out there to come on our swing set, so that I can push you over the rail and turn you inside out.

N: What games are eating up your free time right now?

SP: Still finishing up BioShock Infinite & Dishonored. And I’m so far behind on Mass Effect that I’m still playing through ME1. A fun multiplayer downloadable that I love is Hidden in Plain Sight. It’s genius, buy it. As far as tabletop goes, I’m still obsessed with Dominion and Cards Against Humanity (though I really need to buy an expansion pack). I also love backyard games like Cornhole, Spikeball, and was recently introduced to Kan Jam, which is a highly entertaining frisbee horseshoe style game.

N: What would be inside your ideal burrito?

SP: A smaller burrito, and inside that? You guessed it, an even smaller burrito. Infinite burritos!

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Now that you get the picture, time to head over to Effinfunny to see the companion Game Off episode 1, in which they talk about prequels and how they tend to suck. Go do that now. And then subscribe to the Nerdist Channel.