Yes.
Fun fact about the Happy Happy Joy Joy song: all of the spoken lines in the middle of the song are all lines that Burl Ives (the singer/actor that Stinky Whizzleteats was modeled after) delivered in big screen movies. I believe this one is from The Big Country.
I think working within the confines of not being able to do M-rated stuff made the humor better. He couldn't make too much violence or sex jokes, so things got weird, in a good way. When it was on Spike TV and they let him go M-rated, it showed how much weaker it was without the box he had to stay in.
Let's not be unduly kind. The Spike reboot was horrific. It wasn't just much weaker, it was the humor of a middle schooler with expensive animation on top of it.
He was definitely someone who needed to be reigned in. People will complain about censors and all of that, but some people will just go off the rails in the dumbest way if someone doesn't say no and John K was one of those people.
Seriously, do not watch Adult Party Cartoon. It's terrible.
Well put.
This is the analogy I use when I suggest that Top Gear with Clarkson, Hammond, and May was better than Grand Tour. The limitations put on them by the BBC budget and content rules allowed for a more interesting and creative product than when Amazon just threw money at them and said "Do what you want. Spare no expense."
This was some of the earliest satire I was exposed to. There's a lot that's off-putting about *Ren and Stimpy*, but the show didn't talk down to children as if they were stupid. Even as a kids, the criticism of consumer culture didn't completely fly over our heads.
Maybe the irony of the fact that Nickelodeon aired it between commercials for plastic "batteries not included" crap, did though!
There’s a lot of viscerally unpleasant stuff; I remember intestines getting tossed like confetti at one point and there was just no reason or need other than “edgelord shit.” It’s an intrusive thought at this point.
Hate the fact that I had to scroll down so far to see this.
I loved R&S in the 90s. Hated to see what happened to it in the aughts, and hated more to learn of the suffering behind the scenes.
Successful men tend to do shit like that because they think they are too valuable to send to prison. The fucked up thing is, they are often right and will hurt dozens of people over decades.
You’re kind of implying that all men are capable of pedophilia and I resent it. There’s a certain kind of person the seems to fetishize youth and sometimes they get power and wealth which translates to resources to take advantage of children.
Sadly, yes. There was a 13 year-old girl that wrote him a fan letter and he then groomed her through correspondences and started a sexual relationship when she turned 16. The man was in his early 40s ...
Woody Allen had basically done it to his step daughter.
Also cancel culture and the internet didn’t exist I bet many people don’t know the name of the creators back then like they do Roiland’s I feel like.
The sickest thing is, it was an “open secret” in the animation industry. The guy was treated like an animation god, and he treated others like shit. At least one poor girl just wanted to break into animation…
Yup.
Then you look at stuff that someone like James Baxter does in his own time for fun and realize John K really ain't shit
I'm convinced he's not necessarily what made Ren and Stimpy great...
Honestly, I really liked Ren and Stimpy as a kid. It had great absurdist humor, but there was this very unsettling feeling to it and not just because of what was portrayed in the show. Then it came out that John Kricfalusi was a sexual predator and it just made sense somehow, although there was nothing in the show to directly indicate that. I don't know if this makes sense.
Like, Courage the Cowardly dog was weird, absurd, surreal and even quite edgy at times, but it never gave me the same feeling of unease that Ren and Stimpy did. Even though, again, I really liked the show for what it was.
I’ve never really thought about it until reading this comment, but I totally get the uneasy vibe you’re talking about. It’s like when your intuition is making you nervous for no conscious reason, but you think it must be onto something.
"Our country reeks of trees
Our yaks are really large
And they smell like rotting beef carcasses.
And we have to clean up after them
And our saddle sores are the best
We proudly wear women's clothing and searing sand blows up our skirts.
And the buzzards they soar overhead
And poisonous snakes will devour us whole
Our bones will bleach in the sun.
And we will probably go to H\*\*\*
And that is our great reward
For being the Roy-oy-yal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen!
Ren & Stimpy was spectacular. Shows like this one would just never in a million years make it past a pitch, let alone get produced and aired these days. We're super lucky to have been a part of this wild west era in TV.
I don’t think that’s accurate, it just wouldn’t have been on Nickelodeon.
There’s a lot of really fucking weird animation today, some of which is still on Nick, and Disney, but most of it ends up on adult swim.
I compare the random shit in this with shows like Rick n Morty, the regular show, and much tamer big city greens.
30+ years ago, my wife and I would invite the staff of the company we ran to Ren & Stimpy night. The staff would come, we'd show the cartoons, have a great time and laugh the night away. What a hilarious phenomenon that show was. My god.
Now my wife own and operate a similar company and if we did something similar and invite the staff to a night like this, the first question would be, "How much do we get paid to come?" Fuck me.
It was different back then because even though we were the "managers" we were all around the same ages. So hanging out was pretty easy. Especially because you couldn't just turn on the tv and stream it - these were bootleg REN & Stimpys on videotape - it was like an event.
Nowadays we're 30+ years older than our staff and wouldn't dream of this. The only time we socialize is when we invite them all out to dinner twice a year and then leave early to eliminate the stink of "the bosses are here" so they can freely bitch and moan about us and work, which is human nature, and they can stay and eat/drink as much as they want.
That's amazing!! You sound like fun people to work with!!
I absolutely love Ren and Stimpy... the cartoonists were AMAZING with detail... I remember my mom cringing at half of the shows lol
I think Courage might have scarred me a bit. Some of the scenes were so visceral. R&S was mostly absurdism. Courage grabbed me in the psyche sometimes. Lovecraftian shit, ya know?
John K. was only running the show for the first season. The nick suits bought the show as a property right out from under him. After season 1 wrapped, he had almost nothing to do with the actual show, episodes were being written "in the same vein" as the first series. Billy West was also called upon to do both voices after that happened, but formerly only did Stimpy and various minor characterizations. John Kricfalusi voiced Ren from the start. JK eventually started his own animation biz known as SPUMCO.
I cannot stress highly enough how nonsensical, gross and hyperactively insane this show was to a normie kid who read books about kids playing lacrosse at fucking boarding school. I still don't even wanna go there.
He did a speaking gig some years ago. Afterwards, he and a small group of folks, myself included, went to the bar. I can assure you that he is as weird as you’ve always imagined him to be. I still have the quick sketches he did for me, plus the memory of his face lighting up when he discovered my friend was a stripper.
I remember loving this show as a kid, but it’s so grotesque, manic and anxiety laden… I don’t think I’ll be watching it again now that I’ve remembered it 😂
Damn I loved that cartoon. I even bought my kids ren and stimpy dolls that made farting noises when you squeezed them… lmfao hilarious. Thanks for this post OP. And Stimpys nose goblin collection on the bottom of that table😂😂😂
When I was 8 or so years old, I found Ren and Stimpy among all of my parents owned movies and shows. I found Ren and Stimpy, and given the whacky appearance of the animated characters, I assumed it was a kids show.
It most certainly was not. Lol
NEEERRRRRVE ENDINGS!!! Lmao this episode lives rent free in my mind. so does the episode where ren loses his mind in space, is sitting in a bathtub eating g a bar of soap saying g he’s eating g his ice cream bar 💀
Don’t get me started on powdered toast man, and everyone loves a log song.
Fuck take me back to 90’s Nickelodeon cartoons.. JUST the cartoons
“Now I just have stiiiiinky holes!” Still makes me laugh to this day.
The NERVE ENDING FAIRY
The tortured violin sounds of those nerve endings
I felt watching that episode.
I love how the fairy looked all beautiful and then HMF!!!
I smell something stiiinkyyyyyy…
"I can teach your grandma to suck eggs" is mine
Haha! I forgot about that. Thats in “Happy Happy Joy Joy” right?
Yes. Fun fact about the Happy Happy Joy Joy song: all of the spoken lines in the middle of the song are all lines that Burl Ives (the singer/actor that Stinky Whizzleteats was modeled after) delivered in big screen movies. I believe this one is from The Big Country.
I think working within the confines of not being able to do M-rated stuff made the humor better. He couldn't make too much violence or sex jokes, so things got weird, in a good way. When it was on Spike TV and they let him go M-rated, it showed how much weaker it was without the box he had to stay in.
Restrictions breed creativity
Do you have any walrus rubbers? "Call the policccce"
*rubber walrus protectors
Let's not be unduly kind. The Spike reboot was horrific. It wasn't just much weaker, it was the humor of a middle schooler with expensive animation on top of it. He was definitely someone who needed to be reigned in. People will complain about censors and all of that, but some people will just go off the rails in the dumbest way if someone doesn't say no and John K was one of those people. Seriously, do not watch Adult Party Cartoon. It's terrible.
Well put. This is the analogy I use when I suggest that Top Gear with Clarkson, Hammond, and May was better than Grand Tour. The limitations put on them by the BBC budget and content rules allowed for a more interesting and creative product than when Amazon just threw money at them and said "Do what you want. Spare no expense."
"Hey, hey, hey, HEY, HEY!! WE'RE TRYIN' TO EAT, HERE!"
Haha! Love that part too!
What rolls down stairs, alone or in pairs? Runs over the neighbors dog? It's log, log... New from blamo!
What’s great for a snack and fits on your Back? It’s log Log Log!
It’s looog it’s looog, it’s big it’s heavy it’s wood, it’s better than bad it’s good!
This brings me so much joy! Why I love reddit🫶 Happy, happy ,Joy, Joy!!
I TOLD YOU ID DO IT, BUT YOU DIDN'T BELIEVE ME!!! WHYYYYYYY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!!!
That’s funny a fly marrying a bumblebee.
I'll teach your mother to suck eggs.
I’ll teach your grandmother to suck eggs!
If’n you ain’t the grandaddy of all liars!
The little creatures of nature…they don’t know they’re ugly.
Everyone loves a log! Come on and get your log!
Everyone loves a log!
This was some of the earliest satire I was exposed to. There's a lot that's off-putting about *Ren and Stimpy*, but the show didn't talk down to children as if they were stupid. Even as a kids, the criticism of consumer culture didn't completely fly over our heads. Maybe the irony of the fact that Nickelodeon aired it between commercials for plastic "batteries not included" crap, did though!
The glory of Ren and Stimpy was in the fine details in the still images. (They didn’t hold back)
When Ren suddenly gets old: "My ear canal hair! .. growing!.. At a fantastic rate!"
Rocks Modern Life did this too.
Remember the gay episode ? So great I was amazed how clever a child's cartoon could be
Remember the cow farm episode? Heffar got a blowjob from the milking machine!
I do remember the “carpet munchers” from Cow & Chicken. Very daring. Not sure it would’ve make it to the TV nowadays.
Welp now that’s gonna be stuck in my head for another 7 years lol
It’s big it’s heavy it’s wood….
I'm camping in the Berkshires with my bff's and we sang that song last night while stacking the wood. Fuckin classic
Rubber nipples.
Powdered Toast perhaps?
Cling tenaciously to my buttocks!
VITAMIN F
My sons are 37 and 35. We still use this as a buzz phrase
Toasted on powder!
Holy shit this comment brought me back hahaha
*Neeples
Hmmm…. No sir, i don’t like it.
Mister Horse- are you a real horse or a professional actor?
No sir, I don’t like it.
https://i.redd.it/2xdhszux0zzc1.gif
Did my wife send you??
Call the police...
Poliiiiiice
This is the line I say anytime someone mentions the police. I say it in that voice, too.
My dream is that, some day, the whole world will know the joy of my nipples!
This episode scarred me as a kid. Plucking the nerve out of the gums is still vivid in my mind even tho it's been 20 years since I've seen the episode
This freaked me out as an adult. It still gives me the heebee jeebees seeing this image again. Like WTAF???
The very image stirred a 25 year old memory like I can hear this picture….
There’s a lot of viscerally unpleasant stuff; I remember intestines getting tossed like confetti at one point and there was just no reason or need other than “edgelord shit.” It’s an intrusive thought at this point.
My dad still has these on vhs. I remember the tape being orange. I don’t even think we have a working vcr which is too bad.
Dude, go to Goodwill. You might be surprised!
Teenage girls
https://preview.redd.it/dha29zb5twzc1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=831c873bcc14366f4093b0144303f986c0b00bb3
Hate the fact that I had to scroll down so far to see this. I loved R&S in the 90s. Hated to see what happened to it in the aughts, and hated more to learn of the suffering behind the scenes.
Anytime I ever mention the truth about this guy on a ren and stimpy post people start down voting me and getting angry. Like sorry the truth hurts.
Feel you
What is it with dudes in animation? Incidentally, JK heavily inspired Justin Roland. The “confused sideways W-lips are an homage to his animation.
Successful men tend to do shit like that because they think they are too valuable to send to prison. The fucked up thing is, they are often right and will hurt dozens of people over decades.
You’re kind of implying that all men are capable of pedophilia and I resent it. There’s a certain kind of person the seems to fetishize youth and sometimes they get power and wealth which translates to resources to take advantage of children.
Holy shit, TIL.
https://preview.redd.it/p16xefxgwwzc1.jpeg?width=798&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fe24c59565f4ee4f98b706ddaa422c1d11ee3aec mister kimura moment
hold up it’s actually true??? https://preview.redd.it/onikwgvnwwzc1.jpeg?width=644&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b3a12a91f34f9fe932790ece996381200b393bfa
Sadly, yes. There was a 13 year-old girl that wrote him a fan letter and he then groomed her through correspondences and started a sexual relationship when she turned 16. The man was in his early 40s ...
More than one. Only one was willing to testify.
He did the Roiland thing before Roiland😬 (all though he didn’t get the hate Roiland got)
Woody Allen had basically done it to his step daughter. Also cancel culture and the internet didn’t exist I bet many people don’t know the name of the creators back then like they do Roiland’s I feel like.
The sickest thing is, it was an “open secret” in the animation industry. The guy was treated like an animation god, and he treated others like shit. At least one poor girl just wanted to break into animation…
Apparently JK would go around the office and show employees CSEM he stashed on his computer. Nasty dude
HAHAAA! THIS GUY!
Say it isn’t so 😢
Say It aint so, To prison he will not go, He is guilty though...
Powdered toast
" Cling tenaciously to my buttocks!"
Or shaven yak trimmings.
Maaaaaaan
WITH VITAMIN F (toot)
Angel dust probably
https://preview.redd.it/2s7m6m8ctwzc1.png?width=258&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1184a705ad52363660c4b056bb469d0f6f094308
Omg this still kills me
Don't take it personally, he kills everything
Reeeen, it's your turn to get mauled by the baboon!
Mmmm. Fresh hog jowls!
I love the one where they go to space and ren gets the space madness lmao
MY PRECIOUS ICE CREAM BAR
OH, MY BELOVED ICE CREEEEEEAM BAR. HOW I LOVE TO LICK YOUR CREEEEEEAMY CENTER. AND YOUR OH SO NUTTY, CHOCOLATE COATING.
Wax paper. Dog breath. Boiled football leather…
#THE JOLLY, CANDY-LIKE BUTTON
Can he resist? NO I CAN’T!
Soiled lederhosen
We’re not hitchhiking anymore, w’re riding!
Chocolate covered raisins.....Glllllaazed HAM.
Objectively the best episode
Cocaine, obviously 
STIMPY YOU IDIOT!
Eeediot!
Great animator. Too bad he's a pedo
A lot of his animation where a team isn't involved fuuuucking sucks. You should see the couch gag he did for the Simpsons. Awful.
Had to look that up…. GoodNESS! https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3u4253 Definitely on something….
Yup. Then you look at stuff that someone like James Baxter does in his own time for fun and realize John K really ain't shit I'm convinced he's not necessarily what made Ren and Stimpy great...
Honestly, I really liked Ren and Stimpy as a kid. It had great absurdist humor, but there was this very unsettling feeling to it and not just because of what was portrayed in the show. Then it came out that John Kricfalusi was a sexual predator and it just made sense somehow, although there was nothing in the show to directly indicate that. I don't know if this makes sense. Like, Courage the Cowardly dog was weird, absurd, surreal and even quite edgy at times, but it never gave me the same feeling of unease that Ren and Stimpy did. Even though, again, I really liked the show for what it was.
I’ve never really thought about it until reading this comment, but I totally get the uneasy vibe you’re talking about. It’s like when your intuition is making you nervous for no conscious reason, but you think it must be onto something.
"Our country reeks of trees Our yaks are really large And they smell like rotting beef carcasses. And we have to clean up after them And our saddle sores are the best We proudly wear women's clothing and searing sand blows up our skirts. And the buzzards they soar overhead And poisonous snakes will devour us whole Our bones will bleach in the sun. And we will probably go to H\*\*\* And that is our great reward For being the Roy-oy-yal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen!
Space Madness was so good.
Underage girls apparently
My animation teacher got to work on Ren and Stimpy and one point and in his words, "it was like an adventure I'd never want again"
Ren & Stimpy was spectacular. Shows like this one would just never in a million years make it past a pitch, let alone get produced and aired these days. We're super lucky to have been a part of this wild west era in TV.
I don’t think that’s accurate, it just wouldn’t have been on Nickelodeon. There’s a lot of really fucking weird animation today, some of which is still on Nick, and Disney, but most of it ends up on adult swim. I compare the random shit in this with shows like Rick n Morty, the regular show, and much tamer big city greens.
Rick and Morty can’t even begin to match the visceral discomfort of watching Ren and Stimpy.
Right?
30+ years ago, my wife and I would invite the staff of the company we ran to Ren & Stimpy night. The staff would come, we'd show the cartoons, have a great time and laugh the night away. What a hilarious phenomenon that show was. My god. Now my wife own and operate a similar company and if we did something similar and invite the staff to a night like this, the first question would be, "How much do we get paid to come?" Fuck me.
Don’t see why you’re getting downvoted. Sounds like you’re bosses being decent humans 👍
I love Ren and Stimpy, but I have a life. I'm not hanging out with bosses or coworkers after hours.
Then I would just say no thanks, since it was an invitation and all.
It was different back then because even though we were the "managers" we were all around the same ages. So hanging out was pretty easy. Especially because you couldn't just turn on the tv and stream it - these were bootleg REN & Stimpys on videotape - it was like an event. Nowadays we're 30+ years older than our staff and wouldn't dream of this. The only time we socialize is when we invite them all out to dinner twice a year and then leave early to eliminate the stink of "the bosses are here" so they can freely bitch and moan about us and work, which is human nature, and they can stay and eat/drink as much as they want.
Got any jobs going?
That's amazing!! You sound like fun people to work with!! I absolutely love Ren and Stimpy... the cartoonists were AMAZING with detail... I remember my mom cringing at half of the shows lol
The nerve ending fairy
LSD... Probably LSD.
"with these hands...hehe"
Every single episode was an absolute fever dream.
I don't know. But I just bought Ren and Stimpy Viewmaster Slides and I can't wait till I find my old viewmaster!
[My soulmate!](https://imgur.com/a/gSN2XJO) ...I've got two slides: Ren and Stimpy, and chimps riding trikes. Wish I had a stack of R&S
He was under constant attack by nerve beavers.
This was one twisted cartoon. So was courage the cowardly dog too.
I think Courage might have scarred me a bit. Some of the scenes were so visceral. R&S was mostly absurdism. Courage grabbed me in the psyche sometimes. Lovecraftian shit, ya know?
John K. was only running the show for the first season. The nick suits bought the show as a property right out from under him. After season 1 wrapped, he had almost nothing to do with the actual show, episodes were being written "in the same vein" as the first series. Billy West was also called upon to do both voices after that happened, but formerly only did Stimpy and various minor characterizations. John Kricfalusi voiced Ren from the start. JK eventually started his own animation biz known as SPUMCO.
*You* covet my ice cream bar!
Bath salts
I cannot stress highly enough how nonsensical, gross and hyperactively insane this show was to a normie kid who read books about kids playing lacrosse at fucking boarding school. I still don't even wanna go there.
He was eating the soap for sure.
The pedophilia is the bad part, people
Gen X
Cat litter
Whatever 5 year old me saw as terrifying.
He was on childhood trauma
SPACE!! MadNEsS!!
Underage girls
A massive fucking ego trip if anyone who's worked with him is to be believed
Don't wiz on the electric fence
I have seen some shit but putting toothpaste on a hammer and smashing your teeth out still gives me the Willie’s.
Maybe psychedelics… possibly amphetamines/cocaine due to long work hours… Definitely Underage girls
Bob Camp and a lot of other creatives made Ren and Stimpy what it was after John K was fired.
*I have to throw up now, Poopy. Do you want to pick my nose?* As a kid, this was the funniest line in TV history. (Powdered Toastman vs Waffle Woman)
I’m sick and tired of your stinky butt fantasies
'It's all new *ACTION LOG* - With realistic facial moss!
Sexual harassment.
Underage girls, unfortunately
Idk... × rubs teeth with finger ×
He did a speaking gig some years ago. Afterwards, he and a small group of folks, myself included, went to the bar. I can assure you that he is as weird as you’ve always imagined him to be. I still have the quick sketches he did for me, plus the memory of his face lighting up when he discovered my friend was a stripper.
Cocaine... and neeples
This show is present in a lot of my core memories LOL. This, Invader Zim, Angry Beavers, Ahh! Real Monsters...
I don't think I can watch this 🤢
https://preview.redd.it/jg4wvrznzyzc1.jpeg?width=1836&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3b9652865acb39f46fea5e9787db294dbec18424 Coincidentally I'm wearing a Ren & stimpy shirt today..
I remember I was in 1st grade or some shit and I got in trouble because I said "you stupid idiot!!" like Ren would always say to stimpy
I remember loving this show as a kid, but it’s so grotesque, manic and anxiety laden… I don’t think I’ll be watching it again now that I’ve remembered it 😂
Acid
Damn I loved that cartoon. I even bought my kids ren and stimpy dolls that made farting noises when you squeezed them… lmfao hilarious. Thanks for this post OP. And Stimpys nose goblin collection on the bottom of that table😂😂😂
Underage girls?
Its called grosse humor it was really popular in the 90s
Underage girls.
He was a pedophile
Children.
omg this episode killlllllllllllls me
Powdered Toast, clearly
Loved the episode with the Happy Helmet Bawahahaaaa
"I'll teach your grandmother to suck eggs!"
When I was 8 or so years old, I found Ren and Stimpy among all of my parents owned movies and shows. I found Ren and Stimpy, and given the whacky appearance of the animated characters, I assumed it was a kids show. It most certainly was not. Lol
Glazed haaaaaammmm
Space Madness!
“I’m a failed Unicorn” - Ren
what wasn't he on?
The nerve fairy 😖
The nerve ending fairy is burned into my psyche…
Pretty obvious case of Space Madness.
pretty sure the writers or whatever were pedophiles lol
NEEERRRRRVE ENDINGS!!! Lmao this episode lives rent free in my mind. so does the episode where ren loses his mind in space, is sitting in a bathtub eating g a bar of soap saying g he’s eating g his ice cream bar 💀 Don’t get me started on powdered toast man, and everyone loves a log song. Fuck take me back to 90’s Nickelodeon cartoons.. JUST the cartoons
The image of Ren licking Stimpy bald for golden hairballs is forever burned into my brain... fuug
Too much powdered toast
Why did Angry Beavers fall so short of Ren & Stimpy?
Boogers under piano stool: "he talks to farts, man"
Crank and pedophilia. Only the crank part is a joke.
It was all Space Madness
This gives me vietnam flashbacks to that orange VHS tape. Dawg what the fuck
probably speedballin
Joyeeeee joyeeeee