The Funniest TV Animation on YouTube

Thanks to YouTube, I can present a selection of favorite classic and modern animation made for TV. Please note that most include adult-rated content.

TV Funhouse
For at least the past ten years, Saturday Night Live hasn't shown a spark of real inventiveness with the exception of Robert Smigel's occasional animated segments, "TV Funhouse." Smigel actually started with SNL in the late eighties as a writer, then went on to become head writer for Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He came back to SNL in 1996 in a different capacity -- as a cartoonist. TV Funhouse is mostly a spoof of sixties and seventies cheesy limited-animation series typical of studios like Filmation. The Ambiguously Gay Duo is a TV Funhouse cartoon superhero spoof starring vaguely effeminate superheroes, Ace and Gary, as played respectively by Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell. In 2000, TV Funhouse became a shortlived spin-off deries for Comedy Central. (Warning: the following clips have adult content)

The Tick
"The Tick" is another hilarious animated superhero spoof, an adaptation of an alternative comic book series created by Ben Edlund in the late eighties. In 1994, The Tick became an animated series for Fox. It lasted three seasons; then Fox resurrected it as a shortlived live-action sitcom starring Patrick Warburton, Seinfeld's David Puddy.

Mr. Bill
Created by New Orleans animator Walter Williams, "Mr. Bill" is Saturday Night Live's first regular animated segment. Unlike "TV Funhouse", Mr. Bill is stop-action claymation. Predating "South Park's" Kenny, Mr. Bill is a hapless character "murdered" at the end of each segment.

Super Chicken
Jay Ward created "Crusader Rabbit", the first animated series made specifically for television, but he's best known as the creator of Rocky and Bullwinkle. My personal favorite Jay Ward creation is "Super Chicken", his superhero spoof from his series "George of the Jungle." My favorite "Super Chicken" character is Fred, another hapless guy like Mr. Bill.

Beany and Cecil
"Beany and Cecil" was another early animated series made specifically for television. It was created by one of Warner Brothers legendary Looney Tunes directors, Bob Clampett. Actually, it was an animated spin-off of "Time for Beany", a local Los Angeles kids' puppet show. While Beany's animation was limited when compared to Clampett's classic Looney Tunes, it still retained his wild sense of humor.

Yogi Bear according to John K
Mighty Mouse according to John K
Ren and Stimpy
In my opinion, John Kricfalusi is modern television animation's great genius. He's best known for his Nickelodeon series "Ren and Stimpy", a crude, vulgar, subversive and hilarious creation that somehow squeaked past the children's network censors. I've included three John K selections; one "Ren and Stimpy", and his own weird revisionist takes on traditional animated series, Hanna Barbera's "Yogi Bear" and Paul Terry's "Mighty Mouse." In the case of Yogi, only a handful of these were produced, but never made it to air. As for "The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse", executive produced by Ralph Bakshi, the series drew controversy and was cancelled because of alleged drug references in one of the segments.

SOURCES:

"Robert Smigel", Rex Doane, Salon, URL: (http://archive.salon.com/people/conv/2001/04/09/smigel/)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_Funhouse

http://video.movies.go.com/thetick/

http://www.mrbill.com/

http://www.toonopedia.com/suprchic.htm

"Point of View", Mark Evanier, URL: (http://www.povonline.com/cols/COL281.htm)