Production
Programmed to air between the host segments of Saturday Night Live, TV Funhouse parodied such genres as 1950s educational films, Saturday morning Hanna-Barbera/Ruby-Spears/Filmation cartoons of the 1970s and 1980s, and the 1960s stop motion holiday specials of Rankin/Bass. [2] ¨Any episode of TV Funhouse appearing on Saturday Night Live would be listed by the announcer as "A cartoon by Robert Smigel.
The animation was produced by J.J. Sedelmaier Productions for its first three seasons until Wachtenheim/Marianetti Animation took over primary animation production duties.
Recurring SNLTV Funhouse skits
- Fun with Real Audio – This sketch presented animated scenes to found, real-life audio tracks.
- The All-New Adventures of Mr. T – A parody of the Ruby-Spears animated series Mister T . This cartoon depicts Mr. T (voiced by Tracy Morgan) as desperate to find work after 10 years, aggressively auditioning for unlikely parts such as classical theatre and tampon commercials with help from Jeff Harris (voiced by Andy Daly), Kim Nakamura (voiced by Ana Gasteyer), Spike O'Neill (voiced by Andrew Daly), and Bulldozer the Bulldog. Whenever he encounters obstacles such as directors telling him auditions are already over, he simply responds with the phrase "Ain't got time for jibber-jabber, I need work!" Mr. T also throws in different advice during his dialogue like "Drink your milk", "Stay in school", "Don't do drugs", and "Eat all your greens". After getting the employment, he would often mix up of all his advice to his companions when stating how one could get work as Bulldozer barks after that.
- The Ambiguously Gay Duo – A parody of the comic book superhero duets. The vaguely homosexual superheroes Ace and Gary (voiced by Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell respectively) fight crime in Metroville while their adversaries like Bighead (voiced by Robert Smigel) and Dr. Brainio (voiced by Stephen Colbert) try to figure out their true sexuality. Bill Chott provides the narration for this cartoon. All the shorts were re-written from The Dana Carvey Show . In the live-action version on the SNL episode hosted by Ed Helms, Jon Hamm and Jimmy Fallon play Ace and Gary while Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell played Dr. Brainio and Bighead.
- The Anatominals Show – A parody of a Yogi Bear–type Hanna-Barbera–style cartoon where Kogi Bear, Pook Bear, Mindy Bear, Sheila Coyote, Betsy Cow, and other animal characters are anatomically correct even when they are confronted by the park ranger during attempts to take picnic baskets. Both episodes were interspersed with scenes of Lorne Michaels (voiced by Robert Smigel) expressing deep disappointment with the show or trying to prevent visitors to Studio 8H from seeing the cartoon.
- The Michael Jackson Show – A parody of Hanna-Barbera cartoons, highlighting the misadventures of Michael Jackson (voiced by Dino Stamatopoulos) and his odd friends. Included in his rag-tag entourage are his talking common chimpanzee Bubbles, an aged Emmanuel Lewis, a talking anthropomorphic llama who's just called Llama, the living skeleton of The Elephant Man (voiced by Robert Smigel impersonating Jimmy Durante), a zebra with a pushmi-pullyu design, the sentient and speaking arm of Elizabeth Taylor, and a sentient urn containing Marilyn Monroe's ashes. Michael's friends often try to get him not to do stuff with little boys which goes comically awry for them. Sometimes when he gets satisfied with a little boy or the aged Emmanuel Lewis, Michael Jackson would have the same reactions that Quick Draw McGraw character Snuffles would have when he gets his dog biscuit. The theme song is to the tune of The Yogi Bear Show .
- The X-Presidents – A parody of Hanna-Barbera/Filmation cartoons from the 1970s. This sketch features former US Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush (all voiced by Jim Morris) as crime-fighting superheroes imbued with superpowers by a "hurricane-powered dose of radiation" received at a celebrity golf tournament. Each of their wives is a member as well. Bill Clinton, despite his status as a living former president, is not a member since he did not receive the hurricane-powered dose of radiation, as he was in office during the initial incident.
Disney parodies
TV Funhouse did a bunch of parodies of The Walt Disney Company. Their first one on April 4, 1998 was a trailer to the cheerful spin on the Titanic called "Titey" which had Jason Alexander voicing Titey and Whoopi Goldberg voicing the "bad old iceberg". The trailer also showed some marine life working together to save Titey from sinking. In addition, Gilbert Gottfried also voiced Napoleon Bonaparte who was on top of the iceberg in one shot during its duel with Titey and Molly Ringwald voiced Anne Frank who sings about writing in a diary someday and mention the exploits of Titey.
The February 10, 2001, episode, "Ray of Light," parodies the controversy over Ray Lewis's involvement in an Atlanta homicide. Although Lewis went on to become the Super Bowl XXXV MVP, he was unable to utter the famous line "I'm going to Disney World!" The skit was involved with Disney "making it up" to Lewis by placing him in various Disney animated movies. Lewis would be shown fleeing the scene of Disney character death scenes, frequently uttering "I didn't see nothin'!" He also did a song stating that he "did not kill no motherf****** lion".
"Bambi 2002," a poke at Disney's penchant for direct-to video sequels at the time, imagines a sequel to the original movie where Bambi's mother turns up alive. The title character fights stylized terrorist types, meets Jared Fogle, and performs a rap music number in the forest. Also in the sketch are moments involving some of Disney's darker issues, as well as some pornographic humor with the unaffiliated film Pokahotass.
On April 15, 2006, Robert Smigel again parodied Disney's home video moratorium policy, as well as Walt Disney's alleged racism and anti-Semitism. When two kids are brought to the Disney Vault by Mickey Mouse, they find Walt's frozen head, several controversial things that were never released, the "very original version" of Song of the South that Walt only screened at parties, and Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog bound and gagged in a chair, Mickey Mouse breaks down and quotes "He wouldn't sell! He wouldn't sell...!" (a reference to a broken deal between The Jim Henson Company and The Walt Disney Company c. 1990 following Henson's death; Disney bought the Muppets franchise in 2004, 2 years prior to the sketch).
NBC special
On April 29, 2006, NBC aired a full-length, 90-minute SNL "best of" special for TV Funhouse. The special was hosted by The Ambiguously Gay Duo interacting with the current SNL cast with a cameo from Jimmy Fallon. [3]
The special was released on DVD October 24, 2006.
Fox Pilot
In 1998, Fox commissioned a pilot from Smigel and Stamatopoulos. An earlier version of what would become Comedy Central's show, "Saturday TV Funhouse" was a dark parody of Bozo, with Smigel playing Prozo, a half-drunk clown. While living in Chicago, Smigel became fascinated with WGN-TV's Bozo’s Circus . [4] He researched old television shows, and with the help of Doug Dale, who played fellow clown Looky, found footage of 1970s children shows such as Gigglesnort Hotel and The BJ and Dirty Dragon Show . After that they started coming up with ideas for the show. [5]
The pilot began with an episode of "Fun With Real Audio." Next in the studio, a character named "Ringmaster Ted" introduces the show and its characters as he stands in front of the audience filled with children and parents. Prozo, “most people’s favorite clown,” played by Smigel; his “kooky pal Looky,” played by Doug Dale; “the mysterious Wizzy,” played by Stamatopoulos; a cat puppet that is licking itself named Furball; and a three-piece TV Funhouse Band, fronted by Floyd Vivino. Some of the segments featured include: Prozo leading the studio audience in song: "If you're Jewish and you know it, clap your hands!" [6] a sketch in which the clowns reenact the Camp David Accords between Bill Clinton, Yasir Arafat, and Benjamin Netanyahu with a trolly full of pies, and an episode of The Ambiguously Gay Duo , among others. A deleted scene showed a sketch featuring Bozo and a speaking outhouse, voiced by Stephen Colbert. [7]
In 2002, Smigel said of Fox declining to show the pilot: "I know this thing is all about 'Fuck the networks! They're idiots! But I don't know...This show has a disturbing element." [6] In June 2009, Just for Laughs sponsored an event at the Lakeshore Theater in Chicago to present the pilot, “I wanted to do the Bozo parody as close to the real thing (Bob Bell) as possible,” Smigel said in the Q&A after, “I didn’t want to do the angry clown thing.” [4] [8]
Comedy Central's TV Funhouse
The spinoff series was somewhat of a twisted Pee-Wee's Playhouse -style children's TV show, hosted by Doug Dale and his "Anipals" puppet friends.
Plot
Every episode had a different theme to it (e.g., "Hawaiian Day" or "Astronaut Day") and saw the Anipals usually getting into some sort of trouble, not wanting to do whatever their happy-go-lucky host had in mind for the day.
The theme song describes this show as the "last cartoon show of the day".
This show didn't show any cartoons from The Ambiguously Gay Duo, The Michael Jackson Show, and/or The X-Presidents despite some of its characters appearing in the theme song.
Production
The Comedy Central version of TV Funhouse premiered in December 2000 and was not picked up for a second season. Interviews with Smigel indicate that Comedy Central believed in the show, but was disappointed in how it went over budget every episode. Smigel has also expressed how difficult the show was and how tedious the puppet-live animal segments were to shoot.
The show was released on DVD July 22, 2008, under the title Comedy Central's TV Funhouse.
Recurring skits
- Wonderman — A parody of Max Fleischer's Superman cartoons that stars Wonderman (voiced by Robert Smigel) who fights a constant crusade to stop crime and get his alias of Henry Moore laid.
- Mnemonics: Your Dear, Dear Friend — A parody of educational films about teaching children using a mnemonic for everyday subjects using age-inappropriate mnemonics to improve their memory. Robert Smigel narrates this segment.
- The Baby, the Immigrant, and the Guy on Mushrooms — Artemis the Cat watches over a baby (voiced by Sarah Thyre), an immigrant, and a guy on mushrooms while the female homeowner (voiced by Sarah Thyre) is away. Artemis works to keep the clueless trio out of any danger which always ends with him getting hurt.
- A Michael Kupperman Cartoon - An assortment of cartoons drawn by Michael Kupperman.
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