Mike Lazzo
Mike Lazzo is an American television programming executive who spent his career at Turner’s Cartoon NetworkCartoon NetworkCartoon Network is an American animation cable channel launched by Ted Turner on October 1, 1992, and based in Atlanta; it has aired Space Ghost Coast to Coast, the Toonami block and the adult animation block Adult Swim, belonged successively to WarnerMedia and Warner Bros. Discovery, and became part of Skydance with the latter in October 2026.Open the full entry, launched the adult-oriented cartoon Space Ghost Coast to Coast in 1994, is regarded as the creator of the adult animation block Adult SwimAdult SwimAdult Swim is the adult-oriented programming block and brand of the U.S. cable channel Cartoon Network; it premiered on September 2, 2001, is known for adult animation such as Aqua Teen Hunger Force and for the Toonami block, and by 2026 aired 13 hours a day on Cartoon Network.Open the full entry, and left WarnerMedia in 2020.
Contents9 sections
Key facts
Before 2001Early Life and Start at Turner
Lazzo was raised in LaGrange, southwest of Atlanta, Georgia; a high school dropout, he worked as a Turner Broadcasting shipping clerk and later became Cartoon Network’s head of programming and development.[1]
1994Space Ghost Coast to Coast
Cartoon Network executives asked Lazzo, then a producer, to create a cartoon that would appeal to adults; the result was Space Ghost Coast to Coast, which premiered in 1994.[2]
It was his first show for Cartoon Network, with a first episode made for just $25,000, and it ultimately led to Adult Swim in 2001; he also helped develop The Powerpuff Girls for Cartoon Network.[3]
2001Running Adult Swim
Adult Swim launched in 2001, and Lazzo went on to become its showrunner.[4]
January 2005Doing the Opposite
In early 2005 Lazzo was Cartoon Network’s senior vice president and regarded as Adult Swim’s founding father; he summed up its philosophy as “Look at what everyone else does, do the opposite.”[5]
July 2014Executive Vice President and Creative Director
In July 2014, Lazzo was executive vice president and creative director of Adult Swim.[6]
2020Leaves WarnerMedia
In 2020, Lazzo, then 62, left WarnerMedia, which named Michael Ouweleen as his replacement.[3]
2021Emmy for Primal
As one of the executive producers, Lazzo shared the 2021 Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program for the Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal episode “Plague of Madness,” and a 2023 nomination in the same category for the episode “Shadow of Fate.”[7]
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
Adult Swim: Official website: https://www.adultswim.com/ (opens in a new window)[8]
Sources
- Cartoon Network exec has his ducks in a row (opens in a new window)
- How Space Ghost Coast to Coast Changed Cartoon Network Forever (opens in a new window)
- The legacy of Mike Lazzo, creator of Adult Swim who recently left (opens in a new window)
- How the Adult Swim pirate ship set sail: An oral history (opens in a new window)
- Swimming Against The Tide (opens in a new window)
- Christina Miller Tapped to Head Cartoon Network, Adult Swim & Boomerang (opens in a new window)
- Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal | Emmy Awards and Nominations | Television Academy (opens in a new window)
- Adult Swim (opens in a new window)