Augenblick Studios is an independent

animation studio An animation studio is a company producing animation, animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales ...

founded in 1999 by

Aaron Augenblick Aaron Augenblick (born December 28, 1975) is an American animator, director, writer, and producer. He is the founder of Augenblick Studios, creator of '' City Island'', and known for his work on '' Ugly Americans'', ''Superjail!'', '' Wonder Sh ...

, and located in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York City. The company has created a wide array of animated shorts for television, film, and the Internet, with the target audience typically being adults. Their clients include

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

, the TED conference,

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, and

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

. Their logo features a moonshine bottle with wings.

History

Aaron Augenblick studied animation at the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

in New York City. After graduating in 1997, Augenblick worked at

MTV Animation MTV Animation is an American animation studio and the animation department of the television network MTV. The department's parent company is MTV Entertainment Studios, which is owned by Paramount Global. MTV Animation gained substantial popular ...

on shows such as ''

Daria ''Daria'' is an American adult animation, adult animated sitcom television series created by Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis, Susie Lewis Lynn. The series ran from March 3, 1997, to January 21, 2002, on MTV. It centers on the titular character, D ...

'', ''

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

'', and '' Cartoon Sushi''. In 1999, Augenblick opened Augenblick Studios in the

Dumbo ''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American Animated film, animated Musical film, musical Fantasy film, fantasy Comedy drama, comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film i ...

section of Brooklyn. The first cartoon produced by the company was "Ramblin' Man", an independent short film based on the

Hank Williams Hiram "Hank" Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. An early pioneer of country music, he is regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of the 20th century. W ...

song. "Ramblin' Man" was released to critical acclaim and was a 2001

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

award winner. Several other independent shorts followed, including "Drunky" (2001) and "Plugs McGinniss" (2003). The first television production from Augenblick Studios was '' Shorties Watchin' Shorties'' on Comedy Central in 2004. The show featured animated interpretations of stand up comedy segments from comedians including

Denis Leary Denis Colin Leary (born August 18, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Born in Massachusetts, he first came to prominence as a stand-up comedian, especially through appearances on MTV (including the comedic song " Asshole") and th ...

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His acting roles include Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–2023) as adult ...

, Louis C.K.,

Dane Cook Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He is known for his use of observational comedy, observational, often blue comedy, vulgar, and sometimes black comedy, dark comedy. He released six comedy ...

, and

Mitch Hedberg Mitchell Lee Hedberg (February 24, 1968 – March 23, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian known for his surreal humor and deadpan delivery. His comedy typically featured short, sometimes one-line jokes mixed with absurd elements and non s ...

. In 2004, Augenblick Studios produced the animated content for two seasons of PFFR's Wonder Showzen on MTV2. Augenblick created short segments, motion graphics, and illustrations for the show. In 2006, they created the faux-documentary ''

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...

'' for Comedy Central, which was an official selection of the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. In 2007, Augenblick Studios animated the short "Lying Rhino" for the feature film comedy ''

The Ten The TEN is a track and field meeting held at the JSerra Catholic High School track in San Juan Capistrano, California, United States. Since 2023 it is a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver level meetingthe third-highest level of international ...

''. In 2008, the studio completed 11 episodes of ''

Superjail! ''Superjail!'' is an American adult animated television series created by Christy Karacas, Stephen Warbrick and Ben Gruber for Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. It follows the events that take place in an unusual pr ...

'' for the Adult Swim programming block on Cartoon Network. They also created several short cartoons for '' Yo Gabba Gabba'' on Nickelodeon. Augenblick Studios created 31 episodes of the Comedy Central series '' Ugly Americans'' which aired between 2010 and 2012. In 2011, the studio also created a video for the track "Another Tattoo" on Weird Al Yankovic's album '' Alpocalypse''. In 2013, they worked on a cartoon short for ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'', with ''SNL'' writer

Zach Kanin Zachary Kanin is an American writer, producer, and cartoonist. He is a former '' SNL'' staff writer and the co-creator, producer, and writer of '' Detroiters'' and '' I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson''. Early life and education Kanin ...

. In 2015, Augenblick Studios collaborated with Animation Domination High Def on '' Golan the Insatiable'', a primetime half-hour series for

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

. In 2015, Augenblick Studios animated a new TV series written and created by

Tyler, the Creator Tyler Gregory Okonma (born March 6, 1991), known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has been cited as an influential figure in alternative hip-hop during the 2010s. Tyler beca ...

called '' The Jellies!'' which premiered in 2017. Augenblick Studios also did additional animation for the Cartoon Network animated series '' MAD''. The Netflix series '' Losers'', released in March 2019, features animated segments created by Augenblick Studios. In January 2016, Augenblick Studios announced it is producing its first animated feature film, ''The Adventures of Drunky''. The R-rated comedy stars

Sam Rockwell Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for playing troubled police officer Jason Dixon in ''Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'' (2017). He was nominated i ...

Jeffrey Tambor Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American retired actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom ''The Ropers'' (1979–1980), as Hank ...

Steve Coogan Stephen John Coogan (; born 14 October 1965) is an English-Irish actor, comedian, screenwriter and producer. His accolades include four BAFTA Awards and three British Comedy Awards, and nominations for two Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Aw ...

, and Nina Arianda. Its release date was slated to be 2018, but was stalled due to Jeffrey Tambor's sexual harassment allegations. On September 24, 2021, it was stated that the film will be completed in 2022. ''Death Hacks'', was released on Snapchat on August 29, 2020. The company produces '' Teenage Euthanasia'' which started airing on Adult Swim in September 2021. In 2021, was established as a children's animation division with Augenblick and Daniel Powell as co-founders. The company has produced two seasons of '' City Island'' on

PBS Kids PBS Kids (stylized as PBS KIDS) is the branding used for nationally distributed children's programming carried by the U.S. public television network PBS. The brand encompasses a daytime block of children's programming carried daily by most PBS ...

Filmography

Television

Feature films

Short films

Music videos

References

God v. Devil v. ‘Drunky' In New R-Rated Animated Feature

Augenblick Studios and Tyler the Creator Launch "The Jellies"

Augenblick Studios Animates "The Ten"

External links

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{{Authority control American animation studios Mass media companies established in 1999 Companies based in Brooklyn 1999 establishments in New York City Adult animation studios American companies established in 1999 Privately held companies based in New York City