John Kricfalusi

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 Filmation at the time, and soon Kricfalusi found work there as well,[14] getting his start on shows like Super Friends and The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show.[15] His first independent cartoon was a short called Ted Bakes One, which he produced with Bill Wray in 1981 for a cable channel.[16] From 1979 to the mid-1980s, Kricfalusi worked for Filmation and later Hanna-Barbera and DIC Entertainment on various shows that he once described as "the worst animation of all time".[13][17] However, he did enjoy his work as a layout artist on the 1985 series of The Jetsons as he was able to train a team of Taiwanese animators to draw characters more emotive and wild, which at the time was considered radical.[18] He recalls being "saved" from having to work on these cartoons by director Ralph Bakshi, who had worked with him before in 1980 and 1982.[19][20] They began working on the designs for the film Bobby's Girl, which was sold to TriStar Pictures but was later cancelled.[20][21][22] Under Bakshi, Kricfalusi directed the animation for The Rolling Stones' 1986 music video "Harlem Shuffle".[23]

The team's most successful project was Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures for CBS, based on the classic Terrytoons character. The series was well-received, and it is considered the forerunner of creator-driven cartoons.[24][25] Kricfalusi directed eight of the twenty-six episodes and supervised the series.[1] At the beginning of the second season, Kricfalusi left 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.[26]

Mighty Mouse was cancelled amidst controversy for allegedly depicting the main character snorting cocaine. 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.[27][28][29] In 1994, Kricfalusi pitched a revival series of Mighty Mouse to Paramount, which would have featured other Terrytoons characters such as Deputy Dawg, but they rejected the idea.[30]

Kricfalusi left Bakshi's studio to work on The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil for ABC, where he teamed up with many of the people who would later work with him on many of his Spümcø projects.[31] ABC had been negotiating for the production of the show with the Clampett family, who insisted that Kricfalusi be part of the production as he was a strong proponent of Bob Clampett's cartoon style. 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.[26] ABC canceled the show after six episodes, finding the humor not suitable for children's programming.[13]

Kricfalusi formed Spümcø animation studio with partners Jim Smith, Bob Camp and Lynne Naylor.[32] 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 show came to garner high ratings for Nickelodeon,[12][32][33][34][35] and at the time was the most popular cable TV show in the United States,[36] but the network disagreed with Kricfalusi's direction of the show, and disapproved of his missed production deadlines.[35][37] Kricfalusi points specifically to the episode "Man's Best Friend", which depicts the character George Liquor as an abusive father figure, as the turning point in his relationship with Nickelodeon.[38] One of the episodes, "Nurse Stimpy", did not meet Kricfalusi's approval[39] because of the low quality of the rough cut of the episode that they received from the overseas studio, leading him to use the alias Raymond Spum in its credits.[40] Nickelodeon terminated Kricfalusi's contract late September 1992,[35][41][42] leaving it to Nickelodeon's Games Animation studio, which continued producing it for three more seasons before its cancellation.[43]

Fox Kids started airing the television series The Ripping Friends in 2001, created by Kricfalusi and Jim Smith. Kricfalusi had previously tried pitching the show in the late 1980s, but networks considered it "too extreme" so did not pick it up.[44] Kricfalusi felt the show's supervisors were doing away with the Spümcø style and was displeased with the direction of the show. He considers the episodes he was involved in to be experimental.[44] One of his contributions to the show was directing the voice-actors, which he "really worked-out" so much that he was afraid he'd give one of them a heart attack.[45]

In 2003, Spike TV produced a new show featuring Ren & Stimpy, which was written and directed by Kricfalusi.[46] The first three episodes were based on fan ideas and scripts that were rejected by Nickelodeon during the original show's run.[19] According to Kricfalusi, Spike pushed for more South Park-like themes in the new show. While he was initially pleased with the added freedom afforded to him by Spike, he later expressed disappointment in the series due to its slow pacing and overuse of toilet humor.[47][48][49] Only three episodes aired before Spike's entire animation block was "put on hold",[50] and the complete series was ultimately released in 2006 on DVD including three additional episodes that never aired. Kricfalusi also wanted to release an episode titled "Life Sucks" straight to DVD, but the episode remains unproduced.[51]

After leaving The Ren & Stimpy Show, Kricfalusi consulted, and other Spümcø animators worked for Donovan Cook's 2 Stupid Dogs, which was put into production by Hanna-Barbera president Fred Seibert. The cartoon's credits read "Tidbits of Poor Taste Supplied by John Kricfalusi" for the three "Little Red Riding Hood" episodes: "Red", "Red Strikes Back", and "Return of Red".[52] In 1994, Hanna-Barbera and Seibert started production on What a Cartoon!, also known as World Premiere Toons for Cartoon Network. Seibert approached Kricfalusi for advice and for recommendations for personnel to head the shorts, among them David Feiss, Tom Minton, Pat Ventura, and Eddie Fitzgerald.[53][54][55]

Kricfalusi directed Icelandic singer Björk's animated music video for the song "I Miss You" in 1997,[56][57] which features Björk and the character Jimmy the Idiot Boy.[58] Jack Black of Tenacious D approached Kricfalusi to produce a music video for the song "Fuck Her Gently" from their debut album, released in 2001.[59] Black browsed Kricfalusi's website and, since both he and his bandmate Kyle Gass held Ren & Stimpy in high regard, he asked Kricfalusi to produce the video. The costs amounted to $40,000.[60] Initially, Sony Music did not allow the video to be placed on Tenacious D's website and instead placed it on the record label Grand Royal's website, but later relented.[59] In 2006, 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,[61] on the DVD side of the DualDisc album Straight Outta Lynwood, which features Kricfalusi's character Cigarettes the Cat.[62][63] 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.[64][65][66] 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.[67] In 2014, he produced art for Miley Cyrus' Bangerz Tour.[68]

Venturing into Internet cartoons, Kricfalusi created Weekend Pussy Hunt in 1996 for MSN, which was billed as "the world's first interactive web-based cartoon".[69] The cartoon, which was released in segments, was scheduled to be completed in June 1997,[70] but production under MSN stopped before it was finished. Production later resumed under Icebox.com after the release of Spümcø's own web-based Flash cartoon, The Goddamn George Liquor Program.[71][72] Between 1998 and 2001, Kricfalusi worked on several Hanna-Barbera cartoons for Cartoon Network: three Yogi Bear parody cartoons he directed and animated, Boo Boo and the Man, A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith and Boo Boo Runs Wild, and two Jetsons parody cartoons he produced, The Jetsons: Father & Son Day and The Jetsons: The Best Son.[17]

Kricfalusi contributed several articles in 1993 and 1994 for the magazines Film Threat and Wild Cartoon Kingdom under various aliases.[73] Kricfalusi appears in several bonus featurettes and provides audio commentaries for the Looney Tunes Golden Collection volumes 2, 3 and 5,[74][75][76] 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.[77]

Kricfalusi directed commercials for Comcast[78] and Voice over IP company Raketu[79] in 2007. He was developing a series of cartoon commercials in 2008 for Pontiac Vibe starring George Liquor and Jimmy The Idiot Boy,[80] but the series remained unreleased after General Motors discontinued the Pontiac Vibe auto line in 2009.[81] He developed and animated a series of bumpers using Toon Boom Harmony for Adult Swim in 2011 and again in 2015.[82][83] He animated the opening couch gags of two episodes of The Simpsons, "Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts", which aired in October 2011 and "Treehouse of Horror XXVI", which aired in October 2015. He collaborated with streetwear brand Stüssy to create a short series of apparel based on his designs in 2012, which he promoted with a commercial featuring some of his characters.

The advertising agency Muhtayzik-Hoffer hired Kricfalusi in 2013 for an ad campaign for F'real milkshakes.[84] He was involved in the early development of many Reel FX projects such as the 2013 film Free Birds, a pitch for a film adaptation of the Dr. Seuss book Happy Birthday to You! and a pitch for a film he created with Jim Smith. He posted the concepts for these projects on his blog.[85][86][87][88] He partnered with animator Mike Judge to produce a series of shorts for UFC that aired on Adult Swim throughout 2016.[89]

In 2012, Kricfalusi funded through Kickstarter a cartoon short entitled Cans Without Labels, starring the character George Liquor (with Michael Pataki reprising the role for the final time before his death in 2010, having recorded his lines beforehand),[8] with the initial delivery date of February 2013. The cartoon was due to be screened at the 2016 Annecy International Animated Film Festival for the first time; however, at the last minute it was announced that it was not ready.[90][91] However, on August 6, 2017, the Kickstarter was updated, announcing the film's completion.[92] On May 27, 2019, Kricfalusi announced the DVD masterings' completion and released it on his MyShopify store within a week or two, with backers receiving first priority.[93]

The short received negative reviews for its animation, humor, sound design, storyline and repeatedly delayed production, as well as Kricfalusi's decision to release it following the sexual abuse allegations made against him the previous year. However, some praised Pataki's voice acting performance.[94]

In the 2020 documentary Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren and Stimpy Story, Kricfalusi stated in an interview that he was "officially retired" from the animation industry, "though not by choice".[6]