List of The Ren & Stimpy Show characters

Marland "Ren" T. Hoëk (voiced by John Kricfalusi in Seasons 1–2 and Adult Party Cartoon, Billy West in Seasons 3–5 and most laughter and screaming, and Chris Edgerly in Nicktoons MLB) is a scrawny "Asthma-Hound" Chihuahua with a fairly long, rat-like, pink tail (which constantly disappears due to the character's animation limits), pink eyes and tan fur. Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of Animation World Magazine described Ren as "scrawny", "dyspeptic", and "violently psychotic". On some occasions, Ren "lost his mind" in a "cumulative process", resulting in Ren becoming, in Goodman's words, a "screaming klaxon, neon-pink eyes dilating into twin novae inches above his jagged, monolithic teeth". Andy Meisler of The New York Times described Ren as "adventurous", "intelligent", and "emotionally brittle".

Kricfalusi originally voiced Ren in a manner that he describes as "a bad imitation of Peter Lorre". Billy West said that he auditioned to play Ren; the creators of the series believed that having West voice Ren and Stimpy would give him too large of a workload. West would, however, take over Ren's voice after Nickelodeon fired Kricfalusi. Kricfalusi would return for the Spike TV episodes and unaired episodes of The Ren and Stimpy Show. In the pilot, Pierre Decelles provided Ren's signature diabolical laughter, while West performed Ren's maniacal laugh in the series.

Kricfalusi complained about Nickelodeon executives requesting for Ren to have "a softer side".

Bill Wray said that Ren was his favorite character to write for; Wray described Ren as "fun" because "you can make him mean". In 1993, he added that, "It drives me crazy when I tell people I work on the show and they always say, 'Make Ren meaner'".

Stimpson "Stimpy" J. Cat (voiced by Billy West in the series, Eric Bauza in Adult Party Cartoon) is a 3-year-old fat, red and white Manx cat (described by George Liquor as a "Cornish Rex Hound" to enter him in a dog show)[1] with a large blue nose, purple eyelids, no tail, white gloves with fingernails on them, human-style buttocks, flat feet and a brain the size of a peanut (despite some intelligence, such as when cooking and inventing). Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of Animation World Magazine described Stimpy as "obese" and "brain-damaged". Andy Meisler of The New York Times described Stimpy as "barrel-chested" and "good-natured".

Stimpy's trademark facial expression is a blissfully ignorant smile with his tongue flopping out. Most of the time when he gets excited, he says his famous catchphrase, "Oh, joy!" or simply "Joy". He also has a strong attachment to his "first material possession" which is a litter box (given to him in the pilot episode) and even though Ren destroys it (by bashing it on his head in "Fire Dogs" or dumping it in acid in "Ren's Bitter Half"), Stimpy always reacts strongly to it by crying, panicking or fainting, though it always appears again in some later episode. Stimpy is named after an art school classmate of Kricfalusi, whose nickname was "Stimpy Cadogen" ("Killer Cadogen" was Stimpy's pseudonym in several episodes, and in a few others he is referred to as Stimpleton Cadogen). Billy West, who voiced Stimpy, said that he based Stimpy's voice on a "sped up" Larry Fine of The Three Stooges. West described Stimpy as one of his favorite characters. Eric Bauza voiced Stimpy in the Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" because West believed that the series had no humor and that voicing Stimpy in it would damage his career, as West later said in an interview.

Stimpy likes to create destructive electronic devices and feels a fixation for "sensory pleasures of fresh kitty litter".

Bill Wray described Stimpy as his favorite character to draw. Wray said that Stimpy has "a huge range of emotion".

• Mr. Horse first appeared in the episode "Stimpy's Big Day/The Big Shot" as a tester for Gritty Kitty Litter, a brand of cat litter endorsed by Stimpy. Mr. Horse greatly prefers Gritty Kitty over the other leading brand, proving that Gritty Kitty can stand up to use by a horse.
• He next showed up in "Fire Dogs", as part of a Mrs. Buttloaves's animal menagerie that needed saving; when she dropped him out of her high-rise apartment window, Ren and Stimpy attempt to catch him with a lifesaving net. Due to his size, Mr. Horse's fall is not softened by the net and both his legs are broken. He drags himself away (to the tune "When Johnny Comes Marching Home") and is then interviewed by a reporter. When asked about his feelings on the fall, Mr. Horse thinks long and hard about it, then utters his catchphrase, "No, sir, I didn't like it", and continues to drag himself along.
• Mr. Horse had a brief cameo in "Svën Höek". Upon depositing a quarter in a slot in the living room wall, Stimpy is treated to a powerful leg kick from Mr. Horse to his head that sends him careening across the room.
• In "Rubber Nipple Salesmen", Mr. Horse is one of the prospective customers Ren and Stimpy speak to while selling the titular products door to door. Mr. Horse is shown breaking character here – his usual straightforward, stern demeanor was replaced by a nervous, panicky paranoia, and he alluded to hiding a dark past. He is seen wearing pants, gloves and a cap made of rubber, and is afraid that the FBI had sent Ren and Stimpy to find him. It appears he has a walrus captive with him, as the walrus whispers "Call the police" to the salesmen.
• In "The Great Outdoors", when Ren eats a meat pill without adding water first as Stimpy advised, it takes the effect of Mr. Horse growing inside of him, which stretches Ren's body and Mr. Horse's shape is seen. Mr. Horse then turns to the camera and says "No, sir, I don't like it".
• In “Stimpy’s Fan Club”, Mr. Horse appears at the end whenever Ren was crying to Stimpy because he wrote the letter to Ren. He appears at the house’s window along with 3 other people.
• Mr. Horse was featured in two shorts at the beginning and end of the episode "A Visit to Anthony". In the first, he plays a GI (at the rank of Private E-2) returning from an unspecified war. He is interviewed by Ren Hoëk, Ace Reporter, who asks him a series of questions about the war. When asked by the reporter if the sheep in his arms is his fiancée, Mr. Horse snaps back, "No, man, it's my sheep!"
• In the second, he plays the spokesman for the United Nations, with Ren sitting beside him. This highlights the complete lack of continuity between any Mr. Horse roles. The entire short is a set-up for him to say his catchphrase, but instead he says "Las cucarachas entran, pero no pueden salir" (The cockroaches go in, but they can't get out), which Ren, who turns out to be his translator, repeats as "No, sir, he doesn't like it".
• In "Out West", Mr. Horse appears as the horse of Abner and Ewalt when Ren and Stimpy travel out west. Abner and Ewalt are seeking horse thieves to hang, so they convince the pair to steal their horse. However, indicating that he's been stolen many times before, Mr. Horse grumbles about the "old steal-the-horse bit again" when the pair mount him and trudges on two legs (with Ren and Stimpy still on his back) to Abner and Ewalt, where he must carefully remind them he is stolen, and therefore the dog and cat duo are horse thieves.
• In "Dog Show", Mr. Horse appears as the pre-judge in the contest, that is, the judge who decides which dogs are unworthy of even entering the competition. Any animal deemed unworthy is rejected and thrown as a repast to a massive sleeping bull-dog. Stimpy is nearly given such a fate for having too smooth of a butt until George Liquor aggressively insists he be let through.
• In "Jerry the Belly Button Elf", Mr. Horse shows up as a party guest. He and the other party guests arrive at Ren and Stimpy's place after Stimpy's whole body is sucked inward from constantly fiddling with his belly button, after Ren repeatedly warned him not to do so.
• In "Insomniac Ren", Mr. Horse shows up to Ren and Stimpy's place as Ren's golfing buddy, as well as Muddy Mudskipper and Haggis MacHaggis. But Ren still has a hard time falling asleep by dawn and he offers Mr. Horse, Muddy, Haggis and Stimpy five bucks each to help him get some shut-eye. They then proceed to flog him with their golf clubs behind a closed door. In lieu of falling asleep, Ren ends up unconscious or comatose, as Stimpy shushes to the audience for much quietness and mentions when he, and the other golfers leave.
• In "Space Dogged", a medium-sized framed picture of Mr. Horse is seen among the items that Stimpski (a Russian version of Stimpy) tosses into the fireplace inside a space capsule to provide more fuel when it begins to falter.
• In "Dinner Party", Mr. Horse is among the guests at a party in a mansion. Prior to that, he's seen throwing darts when Stimpy visits him for an invite and at one point Mr. Horse throws a dart that gets embedded in Stimpy's forehead.
• In "Terminal Stimpy", Mr. Horse appears as a pilot coming out of an airplane's restroom saying "Man, these airplane foods really go through ya", succeeding a scene of an airplane part that fell off, through the roof and into a basement where it lands on Stimpy, as he's killed for the eighth time and after being seen lighting a match in front of a furnace.
• Mr. Horse returns in two Adult Party Cartoon episodes, appearing in major roles as a psychiatrist, whom upon declaring Ren insane (after Ren tells the whole truth what he did to Stimpy) is nearly beaten to death by him with the butt of his gun and a wild dog attack in "Ren Seeks Help" and a doctor in "Stimpy's Pregnant".

Powdered Toast Man is endowed with various abilities and like many superheroes, has a mysterious background and an alter ego. The character's catch phrase is "Leave everything to me".

Powdered Toast Man can fly, either by releasing flatulence, or by inserting his head into a special toaster and launching from it, or merely by pushing off from the ground. He also flies backwards. He can hover in mid-air as well. His powers include some offensive weapons: high-velocity raisins shot from his mouth, hyper-corrosive croutons fired from his armpit, butter pats that are launched from the top of his head, and hyper-acidic marmalade from his navel. There are several signals that alert Powdered Toast Man to danger: his tongue phone, the inflation of his briefs, the dissipation of the toast particles in his head, or the reading of emergency messages encoded in slices of olive loaf.

He is apparently made entirely of Powdered Toast, as he can produce fully formed similar toast by flicking his wrist or by separating his head (which is made of two pieces of toast) and scraping the interior with a butter knife. His head is therefore depicted as being made of two identical pieces of toast, each complete with a face.

By day, Powdered Toast Man is Pastor Toastman, a "cool youth deacon". His disguise is composed of a pair of thick black spectacles and a pastor's collar, a possible parody of Superman's thinly disguised alter ego, Clark Kent. Pastor Toastman's office also serves as his headquarters, and he is served by a lovely young female assistant named "Catholic High School Girl" and it is strongly suggested that the two have a romantic relationship.

Most of Powdered Toast Man's accomplishments are dubious and pyrrhic - if he ever succeeds it is usually accidentally, and at the cost of unintentionally inflicting havoc on someone else. Additionally, he fights for the sake of Ignorance and Prejudice.

• He saves a kitten from being run over, at the cost of an airliner (which he shot down), and a truck (which was flattened by the airliner). It appears no one is killed in the crash, as the occupants of the plane seem cheerful and happy to see Powdered Toast Man despite their wounds. Responding to another mission, he throws the kitten offscreen, where it is presumably run over by another vehicle (we hear the screech of tires and then a crash),
• He fights Spider-Man once, after being turned evil by the evil Dr. Dough-naught, and Spider-Man gets Powdered Toast Man working for good again, by using milk which stops PTM being crunchy. This adventure appears in the licensed comic book published by Marvel Comics.
• He saves the Pope (voiced by Frank Zappa) from the clutches of Muddy Mudskipper. Why or how Muddy kidnapped the pope is unclear, but it is clear that after Powdered Toast Man frees the pope from the barrel of TNT he was strapped to, he places Muddy there in his stead and ties him up.
• When the President of the United States accidentally gets his private parts caught in his own pants zipper, Powdered Toast Man frees him - in a very painful way. Though grateful, the President is incapacitated, and Powdered Toast Man steps in as Commander-in-Chief. While in office (having somehow avoided the entire line-in-wait to fill in for the Chief Executive), he heats the Oval Office with some dusty old papers, which include the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. (The scene where he tosses the documents into the fire is cut on Nickelodeon.)
• Powdered Toast Man responded on numerous occasions to the plight of Ren and Stimpy when the dog and cat duo had run out of Powdered Toast, producing more for them with a flick of his wrist or a scrape of his head. It is implied that this is the usual method that Ren and Stimpy get Powdered Toast when they run out, because it doesn't "taste right" unless Powdered Toast Man exits with his traditional passing of gas.
• He is also a very popular figure with children. Responding to a request from sickly "Little Johnny" about being able to meet the President, he actually manages to bring the President to him. In trying to get to Little Johnny on time before his nap, the President was vaporized by the massive speed of Powdered Toast Man. He also managed to save the child out of the hands of his apparent nemesis "Waffle Woman", at the cost of destroying most of the Earth. On one occasion, in a Powdered Toast commercial, he encounters a little boy and a girl who are flying, and reminds them that "children can't fly". The children panic and go plummeting and Powdered Toast Man saves them at the last second.
• When carrying passengers on his backside, he asks them, "Are you clinging tenaciously to my buttocks?" before flying off.

The product named after Powdered Toast Man is true to its name — toast in powder form. Throwing doubt as to its appeal, toast is usually served warm, but powdered toast is room temperature.

The product comes in a can with an aerated top, allowing the toast to be "sprinkled" out in a manner similar to that of shredded Parmesan cheese. The powder somehow comes together, forming a piece of toast that can be consumed. Perhaps itself a commentary on the obsession of American culture with quickly prepared pre-made foods, it seems to take more time to "make" a piece of cold, sawdust-tasting Powdered Toast than it would to toast a piece of bread.

Though it's "jam-packed with Vitamin F", Powdered Toast doesn't make children smarter.

In the first commercial, at the beginning of "Robin Höek/Nurse Stimpy", Ren asks Stimpy, "Isn't he wonderful?" Stimpy then says, "Why, He's TOAST-A-RIFIC!"

• In "Stimpy's Big Day/The Big Shot", Muddy is the namesake star of The Muddy Mudskipper Show. After Stimpy's epic ode to Gritty Kitty Litter lands him the co-star slot on the show, the actual cartoon is revealed to be a direct rip-off of Yogi Bear, with Stimpy as Yogi and Muddy as Ranger Smith.
• In "Powdered Toast Man", Muddy appears as a villain who has kidnapped the Pope.
• In "Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen", several mudskippers with the same character models as Muddy appear during the animal sing along.
• In "Insomniac Ren", Muddy, Mr. Horse and Haggis MacHaggis arrive at Ren and Stimpy's place the next morning so Ren can go golfing with them. However, Ren has trouble getting rest, therefore he offers them each five dollars to knock him out literally with their golf clubs. They accept the offer, as well as Stimpy who awakes when he hears this, and they send Ren into a coma. The others then depart to go golfing without him.
• In "My Shiny Friend", Muddy Mudskipper and his own show are referenced on a TV and later, Stimpy, after becoming obsessed with, addicted to and finally overdosing on watching too much TV, has a nightmare involving Muddy, who attacks him, then a giant version of Muddy chases him. In another chase scene, giant Muddy is now a huge TV with his mouth on the screen (or for the screen) and legs, and the nightmare ends with Stimpy falling into the TV's mouth, and being eaten.
• In "Ren Needs Help", Muddy is one of the various patients at a mental institution. He and a yak (possibly one of the yaks from "The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen") are there because the yak claims that Muddy constantly incites and excites him by saying the word "cheese" around him, which sends him into a frenzy each time and he rubs (and eventually wears off) his rear end with a cheese grater.
• In "Dinner Party", Muddy is among the guests at a party in a mansion. Prior to that, he's seen in prison, pulling a lever to a machine that presses license plates. When Stimpy appears and hands him an invitation card, Muddy pulls the lever once again and accidentally presses (and flattens) Stimpy's hand, and arm.
• In "Terminal Stimpy", Muddy may have been killed off for good because his car was struck by Stimpy's and he was gravely injured and asked Stimpy a few favors before passing on, his final request was to be skipped across the road into the pond nearby he ended up being struck by a bus before he could reach the pond, he was last seen stuck to the front of the bus saying "I got another favor to ask you".

Muddy's lines would also be used as archive recording from these last three episodes for Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker.