Ren and Stimpy’s Contribution to Comedy

The Ren & Stimpy Show was a cartoon on Nickelodeon that didn’t hold anything back when it came to jokes involving lower bodily functions.  The show was the brainchild of animator John Kricfalusi, who was influenced to create the cat and dog duo by another cartoon and a ridiculous postcard.  Kricfalusi’s voice was lucid and permeated behind the hilarity of the show’s revolting hijinks.  The Ren & Stimpy Show’s influence on comedy can be clearly seen on animation shows on the air today.  

John Kricfalusi started his career in 1979 working at crummy animation studios in Los Angeles, but he dreamed of one day selling an original intellectual property to a network. He began as a storyboard artist and layout artist on low-end Saturday morning cartoons such as The Jetsons revival and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.His mentor, the great animation legend Ralph Bakshi, saved Kricfalusi from obscurity by hiring him as a supervising director in 1987 on Mighty Mouse, the New Adventures. Unfortunately for Kricfalusi, the show was shortly cancelled after a scene where Mighty Mouse sniffed pollen from a flower to attain superpowers, alluding to cocaine use. 

Kricfalusi used to draw retarded cartoon cats during his off time.  He was greatly influenced by a cartoon called A Gruesome Twosome, which portrayed a retarded cartoon cat.  One day he saw a ridiculous postcard of a Chihuahua in a sweater.  He was greatly inspired by the absurdity of the postcard and began sketching a cartoon Chihuahua.  He would draw the retarded cat and the angry Chihuahua separately until one fateful day in 1982 where he figured to combine the characters.  Ren and Stimpy were born. 

No network or studio was open to creator driven cartoons back in those days.  The genesis for most cartoons began with toy companies hiring studios to produce cartoons to advertise merchandise they’d wish to sell.  It took Kricfalusi 9 years to sell The Ren and Stimpy Show.  Nickelodeon bought The Ren and Stimpy Show in 1991 and commissioned Kricfalusi’s studio, Spumco, to produce the episodes.  Kricfalusi formed a creative team with people he worked on previous shows with like Eddie Fitzgerald of Tiny Toon Adventures. 

Kricfalusi’s methods were a lot different than most animation showrunners because he let everyone pitch in on the creativity of the show.  This was during a time when most animation showrunners only let the writers and the storyboard artists come up with gags.  Kricfalusi was open to suggestions from everybody even down to the least creative position like the layout artist.  Kricfalusi had one major mandate when it came to creativity, never repeat a drawing or a gag.  Artists would create great gags all day, but no matter how great they were, if Kricfalusi saw anything similar to what they had done before, he would throw them out. 

The Ren & Stimpy Show debuted on Nickelodeon in 1991.  The show was completely outrageous with its use of toilet humor.  Jokes revolved around feces, mucus, feline hairballs, raw fish sandwiches, decaying teeth, and every other putrid thing Kricfalusi’s imagination could conjure.  As disgusting as the show was, it presented a very clear viewpoint that stated the world is an absurd and dysfunctional place, and all you really need is your best friend.  The episodes were structured with the beginning starting with a problem that separates Ren and Stimpy, and them reuniting at the end. 

Kids ate the show up but Nickelodeon had a huge problem with the toilet humor.  There were continuous battles between Nickelodeon and Kricfalusi over script content and creative control.  Nickelodeon fired Kricfalusi off of the show in 1992.  After being fired, Kricfalusi created shows like The Goddamn George Liquor Program and Weekend Pussy Hunt for the web, where he wouldn’t have to worry about wrestling networks for content or control.  The Ren & Stimpy Show would run for a total of 5 seasons before being removed from the air.  Ren, Stimpy and Kricfalusi ultimately returned for a single mini-season on Spike TV in 2003 called Ren & Stimpy ‘Adult Party Cartoon’, but this time they were purposely aimed towards adults. 

One-way The Ren & Stimpy Show influenced comedy was by pushing the envelope in toilet humor in animation.  Shows like CatDog, Superjail, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and South Park came down the road that was paved by Ren & Stimpy.  The success of these shows came from them being marketed to their demographics correctly.  The ones that were lighter on the toilet humor were marketed to children; conversely the ones that were extreme on toilet humor were marketed to adults. 

The most significant influence of The Ren & Stimpy Show was starting the trend of creator driven animation series.  As stated before, the genesis of most animation shows before The Ren & Stimpy Show was through the marketing departments of toy companies.  The Ren & Stimpy Show showed future comedic animators that they could sell original intellectual properties to networks and retain control, as long as they played by the network’s rules. 

South Park is a highly successful comedic animation series that is in its fifteenth season, and they just recently signed for another three seasons on Comedy Central.  South Park pushes the toilet humor envelope in ways that even make Kricfalusi look tame.  The greatest aspect of South Park is that the creators, Matt Parker and Trey Stone, have complete control over the content of the show.   They continue to shine and carry the torch that was passed on by Kricfalusi’s efforts in The Ren & Stimpy Show. 

Bibliography

Andreeva, Nellie.  Comedy Central Renews ‘South Park’ for Three More Seasons

Through 2016.  Deadline.  16 Nov. 2011<http://www.deadline.com/2011/

11/comedy-central-renews-south-park-for-three-more-seasons/>

C. Allen Smith.  IMDB.  <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0471136/bio>

Ren & Stimpy: In the Beginning.  Producers.  Jon Barbour and Gary Khammar.  DVD. 

Paramount Pictures, 2004