Trivia Tropes
- Actor-Shared Background: "The Kanes" revealed Lana is from San Francisco, just like Aisha Tyler.
- Channel Hop: The first seven seasons aired on FX before switching to FXX beginning with season 8. The switch was originally planned for season 7 where it would have aired alongside Adam Reed's proposed series Cassius & Clay. When Cassius & Clay wasn't picked up the channel hop was delayed by a year.
- The Danza
- Ron Cadillac, Malory's husband, is voiced by Ron Leibman.
- Christian Slater plays a drug dealer/CIA operative named Slater.
- Development Gag: According to Word of God, a discarded plot thread from the first season would have had Cheryl get pregnant via Archer, only to have Malory give her Laser-Guided Amnesia and dump her in a local hospital, with the implication that this was a regular occurrence. Season 3 had this conversation:Malory: So help me God if you throw that computer on the floor again you are going to wake up in a hospital with total amnesia under someone else's name! (leaves)
Pam: That's actually kind of scary.
Cheryl: Eh. Wouldn't be the first time. - Died During Production:
- George Coe, Woodhouse's original actor, fell seriously ill before Archer Vice (forcing Tom Kane to replace him in the role) and would later die after Season 6 finished airing. Woodhouse then went missing in Season 7 before being confirmed dead in the Season 8 premiere.
- Similarly, Ron Leibman died several months after Archer: 1999 aired. The second episode of season 11 was dedicated to him.
- Jessica Walter passed away in March 2021, only a few months after Season 11 finished, though she had finished the voice recording for Season 12. Both her and the aforementioned Ron Leibman had their characters Put on a Bus in the form of an escape to an unnamed tropical paradise.
- Distanced from Current Events: The showrunners decided to drop the name ISIS for season 6
because of the ongoing real-life events with the terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). - Executive Veto:
- Anka, the German heiress from the Season 2 premiere, was originally planned to be 14, which is the age of consent in Germany (sort of; both parties must be under 18), but FX shot it down and made her 16.
- "The Double Deuce" originally had Archer disarming Lieutenant Stripes by throwing the Wee Baby Seamus at him. This was changed after the network objected.
- In "Drift Problem", Archer receives a new car with a built-in bar in the glove box. FX insisted that it be established the bar is stocked with apple juice and not alcohol as they did not want to promote drunk driving.
- Non-Singing Voice: For Cherlene's songs, Judy Greer was replaced by Jessi Lynn Martins.
- The Other Darrin: Woodhouse was originally voiced by George Coe, but by Archer Vice he was voiced by Tom Kane, due to Coe's falling seriously ill. Coe died before season 6.
- Out of Order: "Coyote Lovely" was supposed to air second in production order, but it instead aired half way through the season. Fortunately, the only notable reference to this episode before it aired was in "Once Bitten", where Krieger made a passing reference to Bilbo's death. Well, that and the nerve gas in the ventilation system.
- Playing Against Type:
- Ron Perlman as a gay Cuban spy in "Honeypot".
- Jack McBrayer, who's best known for roles as irritatingly nice guys, is Ray's violent adulterous drug farmer brother.
- Anthony Bourdain, known for his relatively mellow on-camera persona, as a Gordon Ramsay-esque Angry Chef.
- Promoted Fanboy: Anthony Bourdain was very excited to guest on the show, and he clearly had fun with the role.
- Real-Person Cameo: In "The Honeymooners" a drawing of a hot dog guy◊ is of video game journalist Patrick Klepek.
- Real-Life Relative: Malory's new husband, Ron Cadillac, is played by Ron Leibman, Jessica Walter's real life husband.
- Release Date Change: The eleventh season was originally going to premiere on May 6, 2020, but it was delayed to September 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic interrupting the final stages of production.
- What Could Have Been:
- Adam Reed voiced Archer himself in the original pilot but the producers convinced him to cast someone else. Reed would eventually be cast as Ray.
- Reed had also envisioned Archer having a British accent to keep up with the James Bond parody. When H. Jon Benjamin was cast, Reed himself insisted that Benjamin use his regular speaking voice instead.
- Before Judy Greer auditioned for the role, Adam Reed planned to write Cheryl out of the show in Season 1, as part of a running gag where Archer kept getting ISIS' secretaries pregnant. 1
- The show was originally titled "Duchess".
- Season 3 was meant to have 16 episodes, but due to a miscommunication note ended up with 13 instead.
- Season 6 was originally going to be about the characters' lives in prison, but these plans were scrapped as it was too similar to Orange Is the New Black.
- You Look Familiar: Guest star Jeffrey Tambor voiced Torvald Utne and then went on to have a recurring role as Len Trexler.
Miscellaneous Trivia
- This interview with Aisha Tyler and Adam Reed.
- Onion AV Club interview with Adam Reed
- Amber Nash, voice of Pam, is neighbours with the physical model of Pam.
- Most characters, such as Archer and Lana, were based on Atlanta-area models, while Brett and Len Trexler were based on their voice actors, Neil Holman (also the art director) and Jeffrey Tambor. Lana, by sheer coincidence, looks strikingly like Aisha Tyler (the producers once said they intended to model Lana after Tyler herself, but mentioned that if they waited for a spot to open in Tyler's stand-up, TV hosting and podcasting schedule, they still wouldn't have the character design done.) Malory was designed with her voice actress (Jessica Walter) in mind, but is actually based on a model with a more "extreme" look. Finally, Ray is an interesting aversion of the Ink-Suit Actor: while his design is based on a member of the cast, his model is Lucky Yates - the voice of Krieger.
- Additionally, while there's no indication it was intentional, Cyril◊ looks alarmingly like serial killer Robert Hansen◊ (with a little bit of his voice actor, Chris Parnell), though he was actually based on a friend of Adam Reed.
- Cheryl's brother, Cecil and his girlfriend Tiffy are based on their voice actors, Eugene Mirman and Kristen Schaal, and Captain Murphy is Jon Hamm with white hair. Similarly: Patton Oswalt as Alan Shapiro, Jamie Lee Curtis as Agent Bruchstein aka Peregrine, Christian Slater as Slater.
- Aisha Tyler has stated in interviews that if there was ever a live-action Archer project, she would personally beat up any actress who tried to take the Lana role away from her. Whether she was joking or not is open for debate.
- Additionally, while there's no indication it was intentional, Cyril
