Wisdom Nunn takes ‘A Silly Detour’ to an Emmy nomination
During a car ride with his siblings, 21-year-old Wisdom Nunn learned he'd been nominated for his first Upper Midwest Regional Emmy for his animated series, “Bob’s World.”
“We all just like erupt in the car. It was such a fun moment,” Nunn said.
The show earned a nomination in the Long-Form Entertainment category for the episode “A Silly Detour.” Nunn said the recognition feels surreal.
“I feel like I've already won in that sense,” he said.
The science-fiction comedy-adventure follows Bob and Fred, twin brothers searching for their long-lost parents. Along the way, they discover the value of family within community.
Nunn’s family also helps drive this series. He is the drummer and backup vocalist for his family’s band Nunnabove. But his talents go beyond music.
Growing up, he said he watched cartoons like “Looney Tunes”, “Betty Boop” and “Scooby-Doo” in his grandma's room. He became fascinated with how cartoons were made. Watching Disney animator Eric Goldberg helped him understand how individual drawings become movement. Around fifth grade, his parents gave him an animation board for Christmas, which he said he still has.
Bob and Fred were characters Nunn and his brother created in elementary school from stuffed animals. Their stories became comics, animatics and then eventually a “Bob’s World.” Nunn said he began working on the project in September 2019.
Nunn voices Fred, while his brother Bennett voices Bob. His older sister Cadence voices Sam. His sister Mattie, the show's head writer, voices Kat and their mom voices the show’s mayor.
“Being in the band means I'm spending a lot of time with my siblings. And I'm just constantly thinking of scenarios that I'd put the four of us in,” Nunn said.
Over the years, they've developed a process from concept to production. Mattie writes rough scripts based on their ideas, then they revise them together before moving into storyboards and animation.
The nominated episode, “A Silly Detour,” initially sat on the back burner. It's a prequel to the show’s first episode. It follows space pirates tracking an orb who must stop on another planet for ship repairs, where things go wrong. Nunn worried viewers wouldn’t connect with it because it didn’t feature any of the original characters.
“I just dreaded working on the episode because I'm like, 'I miss the old crew. And I think people are going to hate these people, and it's gonna just...' all these thoughts in my head,” he said.
Because the episode already had a finished script and some storyboards, he decided to move it into production. He said his animation skills had improved, and he considered it the team's best work yet in humor, visuals, and voice acting.
“For the first time in a while, I was like, wow, this is like, I'm really, really loving this,” Nunn said.
The nomination has only encouraged Nunn to keep creating. Black creators also inspire him and he hopes to do the same for others.
“There's just this big burst of just diverse voices in animation, and it's beautiful,” he said.
Nunn hopes to build a studio where he can collaborate with other artists and he wants both music and animation to remain part of his future.
For “Bob’s World”, he hopes to finish the season and bring those characters back to where it all started.
“I'd love some stuffed animals for “Bob's World,” Nunn said. “That would kind of be full circle.”
The 2026 Upper Midwest Regional Emmy ceremony is on Saturday, Oct. 17 in Bloomington, MN.
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