50 Fun Facts About Archer

Who created Archer?

He conceived it after his Adult Swim show Frisky Dingo was cancelled, while people-watching in a Spanish plaza.

Who voices Sterling Archer?

He also voices Bob Belcher on Bob's Burgers, which made the season four crossover episode possible.

In the early seasons, what does the acronym ISIS stand for?

The show dropped the name after the real-world terrorist group made the same initials notorious.

Which actress voiced Malory Archer until her death in 2021?

She was the first significant casting choice, and producers used her name to recruit the rest of the cast.

The show's creator voices which character himself?

Reed had planned to voice Sterling in the pilot but was recast when producers felt his delivery did not fit.

What is the title of Archer's pilot episode?

FX aired it as an unpromoted test screening in September 2009 after an It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia premiere.

In 2017, Archer moved from FX to which sibling network?

The move was part of a push to expand that channel's animated lineup.

What was the title of the three-part series finale that aired in December 2023?

Producers admitted they had planned two more seasons and did not have a good handle on how to go out.

How many Primetime Emmy Awards did Archer win?

Two of them were for Outstanding Interactive Program, for the online scavenger hunts hidden in seasons six and seven.

Which fictional Paris-based agency, run by Len Trexler, is ISIS's main rival?

It stands for Organization of Democratic Intelligence Networks and keeps undercutting ISIS for government contracts.

What is Sterling Archer's codename?

It was the name of Malory's beloved dog, which tells you everything about their relationship.

In which city was Sterling Archer born?

Malory was busy with wartime espionage, so he was raised until age five by his valet.

Sterling was offered an athletic scholarship to Johns Hopkins for which sport before being shot?

He excelled at it in boarding school; the scholarship fell through after he was shot in the abdomen.

Sterling shares his choice of handgun with James Bond. What is it?

Reed envisioned him as a sympathetic-but-dickish James Bond and read all the Bond novels for research.

What does Sterling call the black turtlenecks he insists on wearing during operations?

He claims to have been the first to recognize the garment's tactical potential and rages when other agents copy him.

Sterling has a fondness for going undercover under which first name?

It is a small running gag among many, alongside 'phrasing' and the voicemail pranks.

Which real actor does Sterling deeply admire, and who later appears on the show as himself?

The episode 'The Man from Jupiter' has him dating Malory, to Sterling's horror.

Which word does Sterling (or someone else) shout in response to any sexually suggestive remark?

It is one of the show's most durable running gags and evolves over multiple seasons.

How did Lana Kane get her job at ISIS?

She was about to throw red paint on Malory's fur coat when Malory pulled a gun; Lana alone stood her ground.

Lana Kane is usually seen carrying two of which submachine gun in shoulder holsters?

Her marksmanship is a running debate; one trainee mocks her style as 'spray and pray'.

Which physical feature of Lana's is the target of running jokes like 'shovels' and 'truckasaurus'?

In flashbacks she also sports an afro that Sterling compares to Angela Davis.

Lana's parents, Claudette and Lemuel, are academics at which university?

They were unaware of her espionage career for years and think little of Sterling, though they consider him family.

How is Sterling revealed to be the father of Lana's daughter?

Lana used it for in vitro fertilization without asking, and Sterling initially fled to Thailand in protest.

What is Cyril Figgis's job at ISIS when the series begins?

He also has a law degree, and later becomes CEO of the Figgis Detective Agency in season seven.

Cheryl Tunt is an heiress to a fortune made in which industry?

She went by the surname Gimble before ISIS learned about the billion-dollar Tunt fortune.

What kind of animal is Babou, the pet Cheryl keeps at her mansion and hates?

Sterling, on the other hand, adores Babou.

In Archer Vice, Cheryl reinvents herself as a country singer under what name?

FX released a real album of her songs in 2014, featuring a 'Danger Zone' cover with Kenny Loggins.

Pam Poovey grew up on her father's dairy farm in which state?

Poovey Farms is where she once seduced a milkhand named Jorge and endured her tormenting sister Edie.

How did Pam finance her college education?

She is by far the physically strongest person at ISIS and can overpower multiple trained opponents at once.

Pam has a stanza from which poet's work tattooed on her back?

It is the third stanza of 'The Destruction of Sennacherib', a strange choice for a Wisconsin farm girl.

Ray reveals he won an Olympic bronze medal in which event?

He called the finish 'a huge disappointment'. He is also an ordained minister who can legally perform weddings.

Ray's Colt 1911 pistols are engraved with the names of which two divas?

He was born in the backwoods town of Ferlin, West Virginia, where his brother pronounces the family name 'GILL-it'.

Sterling's long-suffering British valet, who raised him, is named what?

He was voiced by George Coe until the actor's death in 2015 and is a heroin user who claims to have known William S. Burroughs.

Season two suggests Dr. Krieger may be a clone of whom, in a nod to The Boys from Brazil?

Krieger himself objects that if he were a clone he would look like the man, and he has brown hair and a beard.

Krieger is an obsessive fan of which Canadian rock band?

He installed an elaborate drum kit in his tiny apartment to master 'YYZ', which he insists is pronounced 'why-why-zed'.

What is the name of Krieger's holographic anime girlfriend?

She is voiced by Judy Greer and can occasionally be seen conversing with the ISIS mainframe.

Barry Dylan is turned into a cyborg by which organization?

They rebuilt him to assassinate the defector Katya Kazanova, in a parody of The Six Million Dollar Man.

In season five, Archer Vice, what are the former ISIS staff trying to sell?

It was the first season to abandon 'mission of the week' for a single serialized story.

Sterling ends up in a three-year coma after being shot at the end of season seven by whom?

The actress's pool is where he is found, and seasons eight to ten all take place inside his coma dreams.

Season eight, Archer Dreamland, reimagines the cast in what setting?

Sterling is a private detective investigating the murder of his partner Woodhouse.

In Archer: Danger Island, Krieger does not appear as himself; instead Lucky Yates voices what?

The parrot is named Crackers, and the season pays homage to the 1980s show Tales of the Gold Monkey.

In Archer: 1999, Sterling and Lana are co-captains of a salvage spaceship with what name?

It was the first season in which Adam Reed did not write every episode.

Archer's season four premiere 'Fugue and Riffs' is a crossover with which other animated series?

Sterling, in a fugue state, adopts an identity identical to Bob Belcher, who shares his voice actor.

Sterling repeatedly tells Lana to call which musician because she is 'in the danger zone'?

He eventually gets the real singer to play at Lana's baby shower, only to learn she never got the reference.

Archer's animation studio, Floyd County Productions, is based in which US city?

All the main characters were modeled on local residents there; Sterling was based on an electrician.

Adam Reed conceived Archer shortly after the cancellation of which Adult Swim comedy?

Reed and Matt Thompson made Sealab 2021 first, then Frisky Dingo, which was cancelled in 2008.

A vacation in which country helped Adam Reed dream up Sterling Archer?

Reed people-watched for three days in Salamanca's Plaza Mayor and imagined a spy who would have sauntered over to any table.

How many episodes of Archer were broadcast across its 14 seasons and finale?

The run stretched from the unannounced pilot in September 2009 to the three-part Into the Cold in December 2023.

Which musician was hired by season seven to compose Archer's jazz-influenced score?

For its first four seasons the show used stock needle-drop music; Thirlwell came recommended for his work on The Venture Bros.

Archer's seasons 6 and 7 online scavenger hunts each won which Primetime Emmy category?

Clues and URLs hidden in the episodes triggered the hunts; the season 8 augmented-reality app went on to win two Clio Awards.