Seth Green

The Scarecrow from “The Wizard of Oz” gets a shiv behind prison bars. Cartoon Network photos

Matt Senreich, left, and Seth Green, writer and creator for the show, show off sets for “Robot Chicken.”

When Seth Green was 12, he learned the screw on G.I. Joe’s back was the key to it all.

Take a hobby drill to the screw, and the whole figure starts to come apart. It turned out to be valuable information for him later.

Now the 31-year-old actor is talking about the latest toy he’s tinkering with - “Robot Chicken,” which airs on Cartoon Network.

Part of the “Adult Swim” franchise, “Chicken” is a satirical stop-motion sketch series that uses toys, puppets and Claymation figures to poke fun at everything from Britney Spears to President Bush.

His hair is in a Mohawk, and he’s talking about working with toys, but Green is passionate. The little boy who discovered how to take apart and rebuild that first G.I. Joe has found his favorite job.

“One of my best friends and I were joking around,” he says. “We grew up together, and he is working on the show as well, buying toys and sourcing things, and we’re also doing a comic book together. Who would have thought when we were 7 years old, getting beat up in the schoolyard, that we would be somewhat successful in the two fields we love the most?”

“Chicken” is a natural career extension for Green, whose wiseacre edge came in handy for him on the big screen with the “Austin Powers” movies and last year’s “Without a Paddle.”

He describes making toys as “meditative,” and is a frequent visitor to major comic book and toy shows around the country.

He and the former editor of Toy Biz magazine, Matthew Senreich, struck up a friendship a few years back, and that led to their collaboration on “Chicken.”

The 15-minute show features up to 20 sketches and sight gags, most of which skewer pop culture in rapid succession: The “Wizard of Oz” Scarecrow takes a shiv in a send-up of HBO’s “Oz”; Rachael Leigh Cook goes on an anti-drug rampage with a frying pan; and there’s an “ode” to men being kicked between the legs.

Think of “Chicken” as “Laugh-In” set in Gumby’s world.

And although Green and Senreich say they are satisfied with Cartoon Network censors, the two have been told to cut back now and then. For example, one sketch about a violent videogame was softened at the network’s request.

Finding targets is also an art, Green says: “You can’t make funof something that is already preposterous.”

On the other hand, Green says he gives advance warning to a few celebrities who are being teased and even invites them to be part of it.

“I’m a fairly nice guy and don’t go around kicking cats or anything,” he says. “I make calls to a lot of the people that I know and say, ‘Do you want to come and make fun of yourself?’ We get a lot of celebrity participation.”

Senreich, Green and two writers dream up ideas for sketches, some of which are on the screen for less than five seconds.

“Between the two of us, we have our hands in every single aspect of this show,” from writing to editing it, Senreich says.

Years ago Green and Senreich became fast friends after developing a short film for Conan O’Brien’s show. After that, they started doing shorts for Sony.

From those, they pitched the idea for “Chicken” around Hollywood - specifically places such as Comedy Central and MTV.

The Cartoon Network originally also turned down the show, but that was before the cable channel launched its “Adult Swim” lineup aimed at young men.

“I’ve never found something worth putting this much time and energy into,” says Green.

“We’re not a studio trying to figure out a way to make ‘Starsky & Hutch’ into a movie for the masses. This is our show. This is who it’s for, (but we know) other people will find it funny.”