John Kricfalusi
Encyclopedia
Michael John Kricfalusi , better known as John K., is a Canadian
animator
. He is creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show, its adults-only spin-off Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon", The Ripping Friends
animated series, and Weekend Pussy Hunt
, which was billed as "the world's first interactive web-based cartoon", as well as the founder of animation studio Spümcø
.
and Belgium
as a military brat
, his father serving in the air force. At age seven he returned with his family to Canada. Having moved in the middle of a school season, he spent much of his time that year at home, watching Hanna-Barbera
cartoons and drawing them. Kricfalusi's interest in Golden Age animation crystallized during his stay at Sheridan College
, where an acquaintance of his held weekly screenings of old films and cartoons, among them the cartoons of Bob Clampett
and Tex Avery
, which left a deep impression on Kricfalusi. He soon left Sheridan College and moved to Los Angeles
, intending to become an animator.
at the time, and soon Kricfalusi found work there as well. His first independent cartoon was a short called Ted Bakes One, which he produced with Bill Wray
in 1979 for a cable channel. From 1979 to the mid 1980s, Kricfalusi worked for Filmation and later Hanna-Barbera
on various shows which he once described as "the worst animation of all time." He recalls being "saved" from having to work on these cartoons by director Ralph Bakshi
, who'd worked with him before in 1981 and 1982. They began working on the designs for the film Bobby's Girl, which was sold to Tri-Star
but later cancelled. Under Bakshi, Kricfalusi directed the animation for The Rolling Stones
' 1986 music video "Harlem Shuffle
".
for CBS
, based on the classic Terrytoons
character. The series was well-received, and it is considered the forerunner of creator-driven cartoons. Kricfalusi directed eight of the twenty-six episodes and supervised the series. At the beginning of the second season, Kricfalusi and Bakshi had a falling out, prompting Kricfalusi to leave the show. The production of Mighty Mouse was very different from other cartoons at the time, gaining creative and artistic leeway thanks to the success of the irreverent Pee-wee's Playhouse
on CBS a year before. The animators had much more creative input, driven by Kricfalusi's production system that emphasizes artistic contribution in every step of the process, from outline to storyboard to layout to the animation.
Mighty Mouse was eventually canceled after it experienced some controversy for allegedly depicting the main character snorting cocaine. Ralph Bakshi maintained that neither he nor Kricfalusi had the character sniffing cocaine, and that the character was sniffing the crushed petals of a flower, which were handed to him in a previous scene in the cartoon.
for ABC
, where he teamed up with many of the people who would later work with him on The Ren & Stimpy Show. ABC had been negotiating for the production of the show with the Clampett family, who insisted that Kricfalusi would be part of the production. The long negotiations delayed the start of production to mid-July, causing much of the animation to be rushed in order to meet the September deadline. Tensions rose between Kricfalusi and ABC over the tone of the show, leading to an uncomfortable atmosphere for the show's crew. The more ABC strove to soften the show, the more Kricfalusi pushed for shocking and offensive material. The Clampett family were ultimately not very happy with the cartoon, but remained supportive of Kricfalusi. ABC cancelled the show after six episodes, finding the humor not suitable for children's programming.
, Bob Camp
and Lynne Naylor
. They began working on a pilot for The Ren & Stimpy Show on behalf of Nickelodeon
, after the eponymous characters were favored by Nickelodeon producer Vanessa Coffey in a presentation by Kricfalusi. The pilot was very well-received, leading to the production of the first 13 half-hour episodes of the show. The show came to garner high ratings for Nickelodeon, but the network disagreed with Kricfalusi's direction of the show, and disapproved of his missed production deadlines. Kricfalusi points specifically to the episode "Man's Best Friend", which features a violent climax where Ren
brutally assaults the character George Liquor
with an oar
, as being the turning point in his relationship with Nickelodeon. One of the episodes, "Nurse Stimpy", did not meet Kricfalusi's approval, leading him to use the alias Raymond Spum in its credits. Nickelodeon fired Kricfalusi from production of the series in late September 1992, leaving it in the hands of Nickelodeon's Games Animation studio, which continued producing it for three more seasons before its cancellation.
Kricfalusi and many other Spümcø animators worked for Donovan Cook
's 2 Stupid Dogs
during this period as well. Kricfalusi, according to the cartoon's credits, supplied "tidbits of poor taste" for the three "Little Red Riding Hood" episodes: "Red!", "The Return of Red" and "Red Strikes Back".
From 1993 to 1994, Kricfalusi contributed several articles for the magazines Film Threat
and Wild Cartoon Kingdom
under various aliases. During 1995 and 1996, he directed singer Björk
's animated music video for the song I Miss You
, and created Weekend Pussy Hunt
for MSN
, which was billed as "the world's first interactive web-based cartoon." Production under MSN stopped before the cartoon was finished, and later resumed under Icebox.com
, after the release of Spümcø's own web-based Flash
cartoon, The Goddamn George Liquor Program
. Between 1998 and 2001 he directed and animated several Hanna-Barbera cartoons for Cartoon Network: three Yogi Bear
cartoons, Boo Boo and the Man, A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith
and Boo Boo Runs Wild
, and two Jetsons
cartoons, Father & Son Day
and The Best Son
. In 2001, Tenacious D
released a music video for the song Fuck Her Gently
, produced by Kricfalusi. From 2001 to 2002, FOX Kids
aired the TV series The Ripping Friends
, created by Kricfalusi and Jim Smith. Kricfalusi felt the show's supervisors were doing away with the Spümcø style, and was displeased with the direction of the show.
-like themes in the new show. He criticized the new show for its overuse of toilet humour and its slow pacing. Only three episodes aired on Spike before the show was cancelled in 2004, and the complete series was ultimately released on DVD
in 2006, which includes three additional episodes that never aired.
Kricfalusi appears in several bonus featurettes and provides audio commentaries for the Looney Tunes Golden Collection
volumes 2
, 3
and 5
, for cartoons directed by Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones
. On February 13, 2006, Kricfalusi started his own weblog
, John K Stuff, posting about cartoons and the animation industry. The site was originally intended for other artists and entertainers, and specifically other cartoonists. That year, Kricfalusi directed two music videos, and served as art director for an animated musical segment. The first music video, for Close but No Cigar
by "Weird Al" Yankovic
, was released in September, on the DVD side of the DualDisc
album Straight Outta Lynwood
, which features Kricfalusi's character Cigarettes the Cat. The second music video was for Classico
by Tenacious D, starring the band members as cartoon characters. He animated them again in a THX logo
parody for the band's feature film, The Pick of Destiny. Kricfalusi served as art director for a musical segment in the show Class of 3000
entitled Life Without Music, which first aired on November 3, 2006. In 2008,
Kricfalusi was developing a series of cartoon commercials for Pontiac Vibe
starring George Liquor
and Jimmy The Idiot Boy. The series remained unreleased after General Motors
discontinued the Pontiac Vibe auto line in 2009. Kricfalusi developed and animated a bumper using Toon Boom Harmony
for Adult Swim
in early 2011. In October 2011, Kricfalusi animated the opening couch gag on the episode "Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts
" of The Simpsons
.
An art book, Spümcø and the Art of John K., was scheduled to be published in "spring 2011" by Abrams ComicArts.
, and he also names Chuck Jones
, Frank Sinatra
, Kirk Douglas
, Milt Gross
, Tex Avery
, Peter Lorre
, The Three Stooges, Al Jolson
, Bing Crosby
, Dean Martin
, Elvis Presley
, Don Martin and Robert Ryan
. Michael Barrier
, an animation historian, said that Kricfalusi's works "testify to his intense admiration for Bob Clampett's Warner Bros.
cartoons" and that no cartoonist since Clampett created cartoons in which the emotions of the characters "distort their bodies so powerfully."
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
animator
Animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...
. He is creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show, its adults-only spin-off Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon", The Ripping Friends
The Ripping Friends
The Ripping Friends was an American/Canadian animated television series, created by John Kricfalusi. The show premiered September 22, 2001 on Fox Kids, but was cancelled in September 2002. Adult Swim later picked up the show. The series occasionally airs in Canada on Teletoon...
animated series, and Weekend Pussy Hunt
Weekend Pussy Hunt
Weekend Pussy Hunt was an internet-only film noir cartoon series created by John Kricfalusi, starring Dirty Dog and Cigarettes The Cat. The series was initially developed for MSN, which billed it as "the world's first interactive web-based cartoon" and slated it for release in 1997, however MSN...
, which was billed as "the world's first interactive web-based cartoon", as well as the founder of animation studio Spümcø
Spümcø
Spümcø, Inc. was an American animation production company based in Los Angeles, California. The studio produced three traditionally animated series, two Flash-animated cartoon series, two music videos, five animated shorts, and a comic book. The company also went on to produce content for a few...
.
Early years
Born in Canada, John Kricfalusi spent his early childhood in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
as a military brat
Military brat
A military brat describes people who spend their childhood or adolescence while a parent serve full-time in the armed forces, and can also refer to the unique subculture and lifestyle of American military brats, the term refers to both current and former children of such families.Lifestyle: The...
, his father serving in the air force. At age seven he returned with his family to Canada. Having moved in the middle of a school season, he spent much of his time that year at home, watching Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
cartoons and drawing them. Kricfalusi's interest in Golden Age animation crystallized during his stay at Sheridan College
Sheridan College
Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a diploma and degree granting Canadian polytechnic institute with approximately 15,000 full time students and 35,000 continuing education students...
, where an acquaintance of his held weekly screenings of old films and cartoons, among them the cartoons of Bob Clampett
Bob Clampett
Robert Emerson "Bob" Clampett was an American animator, producer, director, and puppeteer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes animated series from Warner Bros., and the television shows Time for Beany and Beany and Cecil...
and Tex Avery
Tex Avery
Frederick Bean "Fred/Tex" Avery was an American animator, cartoonist, voice actor and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He did his most significant work for the Warner Bros...
, which left a deep impression on Kricfalusi. He soon left Sheridan College and moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, intending to become an animator.
Entering the animation industry
After moving to Los Angeles, Kricfalusi was introduced to Milt Gray by Bob Clampett, suggesting he should join Gray's classical animation class. Gray was working for FilmationFilmation
Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live action programming for television during the latter half of the 20th century. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1963...
at the time, and soon Kricfalusi found work there as well. His first independent cartoon was a short called Ted Bakes One, which he produced with Bill Wray
Bill Wray
William York Wray is an American cartoonist and landscape painter, notable for his Urban Landscape series of paintings, his many pages for Mad and his contributions to The Ren & Stimpy Show...
in 1979 for a cable channel. From 1979 to the mid 1980s, Kricfalusi worked for Filmation and later Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
on various shows which he once described as "the worst animation of all time." He recalls being "saved" from having to work on these cartoons by director Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...
, who'd worked with him before in 1981 and 1982. They began working on the designs for the film Bobby's Girl, which was sold to Tri-Star
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. is an American film production/distribution studio and subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures...
but later cancelled. Under Bakshi, Kricfalusi directed the animation for The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
' 1986 music video "Harlem Shuffle
Harlem Shuffle
Harlem Shuffle can refer to:* "Harlem Shuffle" * Harlem Shuffle...
".
Mighty Mouse
The team's most successful project was Mighty Mouse: The New AdventuresMighty Mouse: The New Adventures
Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures is a 1987 revival of the classic Mighty Mouse cartoon character. Produced by Bakshi-Hyde Ventures , it aired on CBS on Saturday mornings from fall 1987 through the 1988-89 season...
for CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, based on the classic Terrytoons
Terrytoons
Terrytoons was an animation studio founded by Paul Terry. The studio, located in suburban New Rochelle, New York, operated from 1929 to 1968. Its most popular characters included Mighty Mouse, Gandy Goose, Sourpuss, Dinky Duck, Deputy Dawg, Luno and Heckle and Jeckle; these cartoons and all of its...
character. The series was well-received, and it is considered the forerunner of creator-driven cartoons. Kricfalusi directed eight of the twenty-six episodes and supervised the series. At the beginning of the second season, Kricfalusi and Bakshi had a falling out, prompting Kricfalusi to leave the show. The production of Mighty Mouse was very different from other cartoons at the time, gaining creative and artistic leeway thanks to the success of the irreverent Pee-wee's Playhouse
Pee-wee's Playhouse
Pee-wee's Playhouse is an American children's television program starring Paul Reubens as the child-like Pee-wee Herman. The show was developed from Reubens' popular stage show and the one-off TV special The Pee-wee Herman Show, produced for HBO, which was similar in style but featured much more...
on CBS a year before. The animators had much more creative input, driven by Kricfalusi's production system that emphasizes artistic contribution in every step of the process, from outline to storyboard to layout to the animation.
Mighty Mouse was eventually canceled after it experienced some controversy for allegedly depicting the main character snorting cocaine. Ralph Bakshi maintained that neither he nor Kricfalusi had the character sniffing cocaine, and that the character was sniffing the crushed petals of a flower, which were handed to him in a previous scene in the cartoon.
Beany and Cecil
Kricfalusi left Bakshi's studio to work on The New Adventures of Beany and CecilThe New Adventures of Beany and Cecil
The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil was a revival of Bob Clampett's Beany and Cecil. It was produced in 1988 by DiC. Only eight episodes were produced, five which aired during its original run...
for ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, where he teamed up with many of the people who would later work with him on The Ren & Stimpy Show. ABC had been negotiating for the production of the show with the Clampett family, who insisted that Kricfalusi would be part of the production. The long negotiations delayed the start of production to mid-July, causing much of the animation to be rushed in order to meet the September deadline. Tensions rose between Kricfalusi and ABC over the tone of the show, leading to an uncomfortable atmosphere for the show's crew. The more ABC strove to soften the show, the more Kricfalusi pushed for shocking and offensive material. The Clampett family were ultimately not very happy with the cartoon, but remained supportive of Kricfalusi. ABC cancelled the show after six episodes, finding the humor not suitable for children's programming.
Ren & Stimpy
Kricfalusi formed Spümcø animation studio with partners Jim SmithJim Smith (animator)
Jim Smith, , is an American animator and musician. He worked on Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures with his long-time working partner John Kricfalusi...
, Bob Camp
Bob Camp
Bob Camp is a cartoonist, comic book artist, director, and producer. Camp has been nominated for two Emmys, a CableACE Award, and an Annie Award for his work on The Ren & Stimpy Show.-Career:...
and Lynne Naylor
Lynne Naylor
Lynne Naylor is an artist who has worked prolifically in animation, collaborating with others like Bruce Timm and Timothy Björklund, and designing female characters for Batman: The Animated Series. She also co-founded Spümcø, the company of her former boyfriend John Kricfalusi...
. They began working on a pilot for The Ren & Stimpy Show on behalf of Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
, after the eponymous characters were favored by Nickelodeon producer Vanessa Coffey in a presentation by Kricfalusi. The pilot was very well-received, leading to the production of the first 13 half-hour episodes of the show. The show came to garner high ratings for Nickelodeon, but the network disagreed with Kricfalusi's direction of the show, and disapproved of his missed production deadlines. Kricfalusi points specifically to the episode "Man's Best Friend", which features a violent climax where Ren
Ren
Ren is a common nickname for the feminine given name Renee .Ren or REN may refer to:-Abbreviations:*Orenburg Tsentralny Airport, IATA code REN, civil airport in Russia*Rede Eléctrica Nacional , Portuguese company...
brutally assaults the character George Liquor
George Liquor
George Liquor , most famous for his appearances on The Ren and Stimpy Show, is a cartoon character created by John Kricfalusi and is a mascot for Kricfalusi's defunct animation studio, Spümcø. Kricfalusi portrayed George Liquor as a patriotic, outspoken, politically conservative blowhard...
with an oar
Oar
An oar is an implement used for water-borne propulsion. Oars have a flat blade at one end. Oarsmen grasp the oar at the other end. The difference between oars and paddles are that paddles are held by the paddler, and are not connected with the vessel. Oars generally are connected to the vessel by...
, as being the turning point in his relationship with Nickelodeon. One of the episodes, "Nurse Stimpy", did not meet Kricfalusi's approval, leading him to use the alias Raymond Spum in its credits. Nickelodeon fired Kricfalusi from production of the series in late September 1992, leaving it in the hands of Nickelodeon's Games Animation studio, which continued producing it for three more seasons before its cancellation.
Kricfalusi and many other Spümcø animators worked for Donovan Cook
Donovan Cook
Donovan R. Cook III is an American film director and animator, best known for creating, directing and producing the animated series 2 Stupid Dogs and directing the Disney animated features Return to Never Land and Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers.Donovan Cook was born in Antioch,...
's 2 Stupid Dogs
2 Stupid Dogs
2 Stupid Dogs was an American animated television series created by Donovan Cook and produced by Hanna-Barbera and Turner Program Services that originally ran from September 5, 1993 to February 13, 1995 on TBS. The main segments of the show featured two dogs, "Big Dog" and "Little Dog". The Big Dog...
during this period as well. Kricfalusi, according to the cartoon's credits, supplied "tidbits of poor taste" for the three "Little Red Riding Hood" episodes: "Red!", "The Return of Red" and "Red Strikes Back".
Post-Nickelodeon
Music videos, web-cartoons, Hanna-Barbera cartoons, and The Ripping FriendsFrom 1993 to 1994, Kricfalusi contributed several articles for the magazines Film Threat
Film Threat
Film Threat is a former print magazine and, now, webzine which focuses primarily on independent film, although it also reviews DVDs of mainstream films and Hollywood movies in theaters. It first appeared as a photocopied zine in 1985, created by Wayne State University students Chris Gore and André...
and Wild Cartoon Kingdom
Wild Cartoon Kingdom
Wild Cartoon Kingdom was an animation magazine published from 1993-1994 by Larry Flynt Publications.-History:The magazine was created by Film Threat founder Chris Gore. It was edited by a number of people during its run, including Kevin Burke, Andrew J...
under various aliases. During 1995 and 1996, he directed singer Björk
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...
's animated music video for the song I Miss You
I Miss You (Björk song)
"I Miss You" is a song by Björk, the sixth and final single release from her 1995 album Post. It is amongst her least-well performing singles in the UK, but it hit #1 on the U.S...
, and created Weekend Pussy Hunt
Weekend Pussy Hunt
Weekend Pussy Hunt was an internet-only film noir cartoon series created by John Kricfalusi, starring Dirty Dog and Cigarettes The Cat. The series was initially developed for MSN, which billed it as "the world's first interactive web-based cartoon" and slated it for release in 1997, however MSN...
for MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
, which was billed as "the world's first interactive web-based cartoon." Production under MSN stopped before the cartoon was finished, and later resumed under Icebox.com
Icebox.com
icebox.com is a web television animation company founded in 1999 by Jonathan Collier, Howard Gordon, Rob LaZebnik, Scott Rupp and Tal Vigderson. The founders stated that the company was created to capitalize on the inherent "freedom of the medium" which they felt stifled creativity of writers due...
, after the release of Spümcø's own web-based Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
cartoon, The Goddamn George Liquor Program
The Goddamn George Liquor Program
The Goddamn George Liquor Program is a 1997 Adobe Flash cartoon series created by John Kricfalusi and starring the animated George Liquor. Liquor was spun out to his own web-based cartoon during the days when the Spümcø studio had an online presence. Michael Pataki voiced Liquor in the series...
. Between 1998 and 2001 he directed and animated several Hanna-Barbera cartoons for Cartoon Network: three Yogi Bear
The Yogi Bear Show
The Yogi Bear Show is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions about a fast-talking picnic basket stealing bear named Yogi. The show debuted in syndication on January 30 and ran for 33 episodes until December 30 in 1961 and included two segments, Snagglepuss and Yakky...
cartoons, Boo Boo and the Man, A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith
A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith
A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith is a stand-alone special parody of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series, The Yogi Bear Show, which revolves around Ranger Smith. A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith was made by The Ren & Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi and his company Spümcø...
and Boo Boo Runs Wild
Boo Boo Runs Wild
Boo Boo Runs Wild is a stand-alone special parody of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series, The Yogi Bear Show. It was made by The Ren & Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi and his company Spümcø. Boo Boo Runs Wild originally aired on Cartoon Network on September 24, 1999, along with A Day in the Life...
, and two Jetsons
The Jetsons
The Jetsons is a animated American sitcom that was produced by Hanna-Barbera, originally airing in prime-time from 1962–1963 and again from 1985–1987...
cartoons, Father & Son Day
The Jetsons: Father & Son Day
Father & Son Day is a 2000 short cartoon starring George & Elroy Jetson. It was made by The Ren & Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi and his company Spümcø using Macromedia Flash. -Plot Outline:...
and The Best Son
The Jetsons: The Best Son
The Best Son is a 2001 short cartoon starring The Jetsons. It was made by The Ren & Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi and his company Spümcø using Macromedia Flash.-Summary:...
. In 2001, Tenacious D
Tenacious D
Tenacious D is an American rock band that was formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. Composed of lead vocalist and guitarist Jack Black and lead guitarist and vocalist Kyle Gass, the band has released two albums – Tenacious D and The Pick of Destiny...
released a music video for the song Fuck Her Gently
Fuck Her Gently
"Fuck Her Gently" is a 2001 Tenacious D song. It is the sixth track on their self titled album.-Synopsis:The vulgarity of the lyrics is contrasted by the low-key acoustic ballad style of the song. The singer contends that he is speaking "for the ladies", but advises men to listen closely...
, produced by Kricfalusi. From 2001 to 2002, FOX Kids
Fox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
aired the TV series The Ripping Friends
The Ripping Friends
The Ripping Friends was an American/Canadian animated television series, created by John Kricfalusi. The show premiered September 22, 2001 on Fox Kids, but was cancelled in September 2002. Adult Swim later picked up the show. The series occasionally airs in Canada on Teletoon...
, created by Kricfalusi and Jim Smith. Kricfalusi felt the show's supervisors were doing away with the Spümcø style, and was displeased with the direction of the show.
The return of
Ren & Stimpy In 2003, Spike TV produced a new show featuring Ren & Stimpy, which was written and directed by Kricfalusi. The first three episodes were based on fan ideas and scripts that were rejected by Nickelodeon during the original show's run. According to Kricfalusi, Spike pushed for more South ParkSouth Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
-like themes in the new show. He criticized the new show for its overuse of toilet humour and its slow pacing. Only three episodes aired on Spike before the show was cancelled in 2004, and the complete series was ultimately released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 2006, which includes three additional episodes that never aired.
Post-
Spike Cartoon commentaries, music videos, George Liquor and Spümcø and the Art of John K.Kricfalusi appears in several bonus featurettes and provides audio commentaries for the Looney Tunes Golden Collection
Looney Tunes Golden Collection
The Looney Tunes Golden Collection was an annual series of six four-disc DVD box sets from Warner Bros.' home video unit Warner Home Video, each containing about 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated shorts...
volumes 2
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2 is a DVD box set that was released by Warner Home Video on November 2, 2004. It contains 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons and numerous supplements.-Related releases:...
, 3
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 is a DVD box set from Warner Home Video that was released on October 25, 2005. It contains 60 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical short subject cartoons, 9 documentaries, 32 commentary tracks from animators and historians, 11 "vintage treasures from...
and 5
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5
Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5 is a Looney Tunes collection on DVD. Following the pattern of one release each year of the previous volumes, it was released on October 30, 2007....
, for cartoons directed by Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
. On February 13, 2006, Kricfalusi started his own weblog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
, John K Stuff, posting about cartoons and the animation industry. The site was originally intended for other artists and entertainers, and specifically other cartoonists. That year, Kricfalusi directed two music videos, and served as art director for an animated musical segment. The first music video, for Close but No Cigar
Close but No Cigar (song)
"Close But No Cigar" is a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on his album Straight Outta Lynwood. A style parody of the band Cake, the song recounts the narrator's relationships with three attractive and near-ideal women, each of which ends when he perceives a minor flaw in her character or...
by "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
, was released in September, on the DVD side of the DualDisc
DualDisc
DualDisc was a type of double-sided optical disc product developed by a group of record companies including EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Sony/BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and 5.1 Entertainment Group and later under the aegis of the Recording Industry Association of America...
album Straight Outta Lynwood
Straight Outta Lynwood
Straight Outta Lynwood is the 12th studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It was released on September 26, 2006 in the U.S. by Volcano, on September 30, 2006 in Australia, on October 3 in Canada, on October 6, 2006 in New Zealand, November 13, 2006 in the United Kingdom, and November 24, 2006 in...
, which features Kricfalusi's character Cigarettes the Cat. The second music video was for Classico
Classico
"Classico" is a song by American rock band Tenacious D, featured on their 2006 second studio album The Pick of Destiny. The song also features on the band's 2006 movie Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, for which the album is the soundtrack....
by Tenacious D, starring the band members as cartoon characters. He animated them again in a THX logo
Deep Note
Deep Note is the name of THX's audio logo, a distinctive synthesized crescendo sound. It was created by Dr. James A. Moorer, then an employee of the Lucasfilm Computer Division, in 1983...
parody for the band's feature film, The Pick of Destiny. Kricfalusi served as art director for a musical segment in the show Class of 3000
Class of 3000
Class of 3000 is an American animated television series on Cartoon Network that was created by, was executively produced by, and starred André 3000 of the Hip Hop group OutKast as superstar and music teacher Sunny Bridges, set at Atlanta, Georgia's Westley School of Performing Arts. Mr...
entitled Life Without Music, which first aired on November 3, 2006. In 2008,
Kricfalusi was developing a series of cartoon commercials for Pontiac Vibe
Pontiac Vibe
The Pontiac Vibe is a compact hatchback car that was produced in Fremont, California, in the United States by NUMMI , a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota, and marketed under General Motors' Pontiac brand...
starring George Liquor
George Liquor
George Liquor , most famous for his appearances on The Ren and Stimpy Show, is a cartoon character created by John Kricfalusi and is a mascot for Kricfalusi's defunct animation studio, Spümcø. Kricfalusi portrayed George Liquor as a patriotic, outspoken, politically conservative blowhard...
and Jimmy The Idiot Boy. The series remained unreleased after General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
discontinued the Pontiac Vibe auto line in 2009. Kricfalusi developed and animated a bumper using Toon Boom Harmony
Toon Boom Animation
Toon Boom Animation Inc. is a Canadian software company that specializes in animation production software. Founded in 1994 and based in Montreal, Quebec, Toon Boom develops animation and storyboarding software for film, television, web animation, games, mobile devices, and training applications...
for Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
in early 2011. In October 2011, Kricfalusi animated the opening couch gag on the episode "Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts
Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts
"Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts" is the second episode of the twenty-third season of the animated comedy series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 2, 2011. The episode was the first to feature Superintendent Chalmers as the central character and...
" of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
.
An art book, Spümcø and the Art of John K., was scheduled to be published in "spring 2011" by Abrams ComicArts.
Influences
Kricfalusi says he is mostly self-taught, having only spent a year in Sheridan College, barely attending class. He acquired his skills largely by copying cartoons from newspapers and comic books as a child, and by studying cartoons and their production systems from the 1940s and 1950s. His main influence is Bob ClampettBob Clampett
Robert Emerson "Bob" Clampett was an American animator, producer, director, and puppeteer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes animated series from Warner Bros., and the television shows Time for Beany and Beany and Cecil...
, and he also names Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
, Milt Gross
Milt Gross
Milt Gross , was an American comic strip and comic book writer, illustrator and animator. He wrote his comics in a Yiddish-inflected English. He originated the non-sequitur "Banana Oil!" as a phrase deflating pomposity and posing. His character Count Screwloose's admonition, "Iggy, keep an eye on...
, Tex Avery
Tex Avery
Frederick Bean "Fred/Tex" Avery was an American animator, cartoonist, voice actor and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He did his most significant work for the Warner Bros...
, Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre was an Austrian-American actor frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner.He caused an international sensation in 1931 with his portrayal of a serial killer who preys on little girls in the German film M...
, The Three Stooges, Al Jolson
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was an American singer, comedian and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer"....
, Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Don Martin and Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
. Michael Barrier
Michael Barrier (historian)
Michael Barrier is an American animation historian. Barrier was the founder and editor of Funnyworld, the first magazine exclusively devoted to comics and animation. It began as a contribution to the CAPA-Alpha amateur press association...
, an animation historian, said that Kricfalusi's works "testify to his intense admiration for Bob Clampett's Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
cartoons" and that no cartoonist since Clampett created cartoons in which the emotions of the characters "distort their bodies so powerfully."
External links
- John K Stuff - John K's blog that discusses mostly cartoons (formerly titled "All Kinds of Stuff")
- John K's blogger profile listing his curriculum for cartoonists, show pitches, and several other blogs.