TV Funhouse
Encyclopedia
Saturday TV Funhouse is the title of a recurring skit
on NBC
's Saturday Night Live
featuring cartoons
created by longtime SNL writer Robert Smigel
as well as a short-lived spinoff series TV Funhouse that ran on Comedy Central
. TV Funhouse frequently satirizes
public figures and corporations.
In between the host segments, it would show either parodies of 1950s educational films or cartoons most frequently drawn in the flat, low-budget style of Saturday morning Hanna-Barbera
/Filmation
cartoons of the 1970s and '80s. Another frequent target is the classic 1960s "Animagic
" stop motion
animated holiday specials of Rankin/Bass
.
The animation was originally produced by J. J. Sedelmaier Prod. for three seasons until WM Animation took over primary animation production duties in the 1999–2000 season. When featured on Saturday Night Live, the opening features an SNL bumper (featuring the host of that week's show) being torn by a small, white dog, revealing the TV Funhouse screen underneath. A caricature of Lorne Michaels
appears, sees the dog, and yells, "Come back here with my show!" before going after the dog. The closing features Lorne Michaels still grappling with the dog over the torn piece of the bumper.
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 often be shown fleeing the scene of classic Disney character death scenes.
Bambi 2002, another poke at Disney, imagines a sequel to the original movie where Bambi
's mother turns up alive. The title character fights stylized terrorist
types 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 pornographic humor.
On April 15, 2006, Smigel again parodied Disney's practice of supposedly "vaulting" their films, as well as their alleged past racism and anti-Semitism. This segment briefly circulated on YouTube
until April 17, 2006, when all were removed due to copyright claims.
aired a full-length, 90-minute SNL "best of" special for TV Funhouse. The special was hosted by The Ambiguously Gay Duo, Ace and Gary, with a cameo from Jimmy Fallon
.
The special was released on DVD October 24, 2006.
-style kiddie show, hosted by Doug Dale
and his "Anipals" puppet animal friends. 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 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.
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
featuring cartoons
Animated cartoon
An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
created by longtime SNL writer Robert Smigel
Robert Smigel
Robert Smigel is an American actor, humorist, comedian and writer known for his Saturday Night Live "TV Funhouse" cartoon shorts and as the puppeteer and voice behind Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog.-Early life:...
as well as a short-lived spinoff series TV Funhouse that ran on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
. TV Funhouse frequently satirizes
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
public figures and corporations.
In between the host segments, it would show either parodies of 1950s educational films or cartoons most frequently drawn in the flat, low-budget style of Saturday morning 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...
/Filmation
Filmation
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...
cartoons of the 1970s and '80s. Another frequent target is the classic 1960s "Animagic
Rankin/Bass
Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. , also known as Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, was an American production company, known for its seasonal television specials, particularly its work in stop-motion animation. The pre-1974 library is currently owned by Classic Media,while the post-1974 library is...
" stop motion
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
animated holiday specials of Rankin/Bass
Rankin/Bass
Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. , also known as Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, was an American production company, known for its seasonal television specials, particularly its work in stop-motion animation. The pre-1974 library is currently owned by Classic Media,while the post-1974 library is...
.
The animation was originally produced by J. J. Sedelmaier Prod. for three seasons until WM Animation took over primary animation production duties in the 1999–2000 season. When featured on Saturday Night Live, the opening features an SNL bumper (featuring the host of that week's show) being torn by a small, white dog, revealing the TV Funhouse screen underneath. A caricature of Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels, CM is a Canadian-American television producer, writer, and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.-Early life:...
appears, sees the dog, and yells, "Come back here with my show!" before going after the dog. The closing features Lorne Michaels still grappling with the dog over the torn piece of the bumper.
Recurring SNL TV Funhouse skits
- The X-PresidentsThe X-PresidentsThe X-Presidents is a NBC/Saturday Night Live Saturday TV Funhouse cartoon created by Robert Smigel and J. J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc., that features former American Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George Herbert Walker Bush as a superhero team. This recurring sketch...
– features former US PresidentsPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Gerald FordGerald FordGerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
, Jimmy CarterJimmy CarterJames Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, and George H.W. Bush as crimeCrimeCrime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
-fighting superheroes, imbued with superpowersSuperpower (ability)Superpower is a popular culture term for a fictional superhuman ability. When a character possesses multiple such abilities, the terms super powers or simply powers are used...
by a "hurricane-powered dose of radiation" received at a celebrity golfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
tournament. Each of their wives is a member as well. Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, 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. In one episode, Clinton is shown unsuccessfully attempting to establish himself with the cabal. The X Presidents has been adapted to comic books by Random HouseRandom HouseRandom House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
Comics. Reagan himself is no longer a member of the X Presidents but does appear as an Ex-X President. With Ford's death in late 2006, it is apparent that he too is now an Ex-X President.
- The Ambiguously Gay DuoThe Ambiguously Gay DuoThe Ambiguously Gay Duo is an American animated comedy sketch that debuted on The Dana Carvey Show before moving to its permanent home on Saturday Night Live. It is created and produced by Robert Smigel and J. J. Sedelmaier as part of the Saturday TV Funhouse series of sketches...
– the vaguely homosexual superheroes Ace and Gary (voiced by Stephen ColbertStephen ColbertStephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
and Steve CarellSteve CarellSteven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
respectively; in the live-action version on the SNL episode hosted by Ed HelmsEd HelmsEdward Paul "Ed" Helms is an American actor and comedian known for his work as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as Andy Bernard on the US version of the sitcom/mockumentary The Office and for his role as Dr. Stu Price in The Hangover films.- Early life :Helms was born and raised...
, Jon Hamm and Jimmy FallonJimmy FallonJames Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host. He currently hosts Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs Monday through Friday on NBC...
play Ace and Gary while Stephen ColbertStephen ColbertStephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
and Steve CarellSteve CarellSteven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
play two of the villains). All the shorts were re-written from The Dana Carvey ShowThe Dana Carvey ShowThe Dana Carvey Show is an American sketch comedy television show that aired on ABC during the spring of 1996. Dana Carvey was the host and principal player on the show while Louis CK served as head writer....
.
- The New Adventures of Mr. TMr. TMr. T is an American actor known for his roles as B. A. Baracus in the 1980s television series The A-Team, as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film Rocky III, and for his appearances as a professional wrestler. Mr. T is known for his trademark African Mandinka warrior hairstyle, his gold jewelry,...
– a parody of the Ruby-Spears animated series, The Adventures of Mr. TMister T (TV series)Mister T was an animated series that aired on NBC from 1983 to 1986. A total of 30 episodes were produced during the first two seasons, with the final season consisting entirely of reruns...
, depicting the former The A-TeamThe A-TeamThe A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...
star, as desperate to find work, aggressively auditioning for unlikely parts such as classical theatreTheatreTheatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and tamponTamponA tampon is a mass of cotton or rayon or a mixture of the two inserted into a body cavity or wound to absorb bodilyfluid. The most common type in daily use is designed to be inserted into the vagina during menstruation to absorb the flow of menstrual fluid...
commercials.
- The Michael Jackson Show – a parody of typical Hanna-BarberaHanna-BarberaHanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
productions, highlighting the misadventures of Michael Jackson and his odd friends. Included in this rag-tag crew are an aged Emmanuel LewisEmmanuel LewisEmmanuel Lewis is an American actor, best known for playing the title character in the 1980s television sitcom Webster. He is tall. Lewis graduated from Midwood High School in 1989 and then Clark Atlanta University in 1997...
, an anthropomorphic llamaLlamaThe llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since pre-Hispanic times....
, his chimp Bubbles, and the living skeleton of Joseph Merrick (The Elephant Man)Joseph MerrickJoseph Carey Merrick , sometimes incorrectly referred to as John Merrick, was an English man with severe deformities who was exhibited as a human curiosity named the Elephant Man. He became well known in London society after he went to live at the London Hospital...
.
- Anatominals – a parody of a Yogi Bear type Hanna-Barbera style cartoon where the animal characters are anatomically correct.
Disney parodies
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 XXXVSuper Bowl XXXV
Super Bowl XXXV was played on January 28, 2001 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida to decide the National Football League champion following the 2000 regular season. The American Football Conference champion Baltimore Ravens defeated the National Football Conference champion New York...
MVP
Super Bowl MVP
The Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award, or Super Bowl MVP, is an award presented annually to the most valuable player of the Super Bowl, the National Football League's championship game. The winner is chosen by a fan vote during the game and by a panel of 16 American football writers and...
, he was unable to utter the famous line, "I'm going to Disney World!
I'm Going to Disney World!
"I'm going to Disney World!" and "I'm going to Disneyland!" are advertising slogans used in a series of television commercials by The Walt Disney Company that began airing in 1987...
" The skit was involved with Disney "making it up" to Lewis by placing him in various Disney animated movies. Lewis would often be shown fleeing the scene of classic Disney character death scenes.
Bambi 2002, another poke at Disney, imagines a sequel to the original movie where Bambi
Bambi
Bambi is a 1942 American animated film directed by David Hand , produced by Walt Disney and based on the book Bambi, A Life in the Woods by Austrian author Felix Salten...
's mother turns up alive. The title character fights stylized terrorist
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
types 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 pornographic humor.
On April 15, 2006, Smigel again parodied Disney's practice of supposedly "vaulting" their films, as well as their alleged past racism and anti-Semitism. This segment briefly circulated on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
until April 17, 2006, when all were removed due to copyright claims.
NBC special
On April 29, 2006, NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
aired a full-length, 90-minute SNL "best of" special for TV Funhouse. The special was hosted by The Ambiguously Gay Duo, Ace and Gary, with a cameo from Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon
James Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host. He currently hosts Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs Monday through Friday on NBC...
.
The special was released on DVD October 24, 2006.
Comedy Central series
The spinoff series was somewhat of a twisted Pee-Wee's PlayhousePee-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...
-style kiddie show, hosted by Doug Dale
Doug Dale
Doug Dale is an American actor, best known for hosting the Comedy Central series TV Funhouse. Doug was also involved in the Happy Happy Good Show, a Chicago sketch show featuring Robert Smigel, Bob Odenkirk and Conan O'Brien...
and his "Anipals" puppet animal friends. 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 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.
Episodes
- 1–1 – "Western Day" (December 6, 2000)
- Doug must wrangle up his own fun when the Anipals ditch him to head for high times south of the border in Tijuana.
- 1–2 – "Hawaiian Day" (December 13, 2000)
- Doug and Rocky the Fish have a luau all by themselves while the Anipals help Chickie rescue his 95th son, Jason, from a cult.
- 1–3 – "Christmas Day" (December 20, 2000)
- The Anipals tap Doug's spine to extract his Christmas Cheer. After one of Chickie's sons helps to turn the cheer into powder, the Anipals snort it and get addicted to powdered Christmas cheer.
- 1–4 – "Mexicans Day" (December 27, 2000)
- The Anipals appear on the Sally Jessy Raphael show to help an endangered lizard get laid, leaving Doug to celebrate Mexicans Day with a tequila worm and a Puerto Rican Mexican-food deliverer.
- 1–5 – "Caveman Day" (January 3, 2001)
- The Anipals compare New Year's resolutions: Hojo wants to learn to play the saxophone, Chickie hangs out with his brother with Tourette syndromeTourette syndromeTourette syndrome is an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder with onset in childhood, characterized by multiple physical tics and at least one vocal tic; these tics characteristically wax and wane...
, and Fogey must resist eating his own poop. Meanwhile, Doug builds a dinosaur skeleton out of baby back ribs, and Rocky the Fish takes a group of kids to visit a cookie factory.
- The Anipals compare New Year's resolutions: Hojo wants to learn to play the saxophone, Chickie hangs out with his brother with Tourette syndrome
- 1–6 – "Safari Day" (January 10, 2001)
- Part 1 of 2 The Anipals travel to Atlantic City to visit Fogey's old friend, Triumph, the Insult Comic DogTriumph, the Insult Comic DogTriumph, the Insult Comic Dog is a character puppet best known for mocking celebrities. Triumph was identified in the early appearances as a Yugoslavian Mountain Hound, hence his distinct Eastern European accent . As his name indicates, Triumph's comedic style is almost exclusively insult comedy...
, where Chickie falls in love with a chimp-stitute.
- Part 1 of 2 The Anipals travel to Atlantic City to visit Fogey's old friend, Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog
- 1–7 – "Astronaut Day" (January 17, 2001)
- Part 2 of 2 Still in Atlantic City, the Anipals attempt to "unstick" Triumph before his big show. Meanwhile, Doug tries to achieve weightlessness.
- 1–8 – "Chinese New Year's Day" (January 24, 2001)
- The Anipals ditch the Funhouse to enter the lucrative, glamorous world of lab animals, as Doug celebrates Chinese New Year's Day and makes fireworks with a panda.
- This being the final episode, the set was struck by detonating a puppet panda (full of innards for realism) on the set, splattering everywhere. Staged as a satirical accident, Doug replied after with resignation: "cut."