''Wonder Showzen'' is an American

adult An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a "minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of ...

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed ...

that aired between 2005 and 2006 on

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to shift its programmin ...

. It was created by

Vernon Chatman Vernon Chatman (born October 31, 1972) is an American television producer, writer, voice actor, stand-up comedian, musician and a member of PFFR, an art collective based in Brooklyn, New York City. He created the television series ''Wonder Showz ...

and John Lee of

PFFR PFFR is a Brooklyn-based production company and art collective consisting of Vernon Chatman, John Lee, Alyson Levy and formerly Jim Tozzi until 2009. The group has been active since 1998. Work The group's portfolio of work includes two al ...

. Described as a

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early eveni ...

for adults, the show's format is a parody of educational

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 ed ...

children's television shows such as ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) and ...

'' and ''

The Electric Company ''The Electric Company'' is an American educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, now known as Sesame Workshop). It was co-created by Paul Dooley, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett. T ...

'' (e.g. use of

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stoc ...

puppetry Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performan ...

, and clips of children being interviewed). In addition to general controversial comedy, it satirizes

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural ...

, war, sex and

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these grou ...

with

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

Development

''Wonder Showzen'' was created by

and John Lee, who originally made an early concept of it back in 1999, and pitched to the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Mad ...

in 2000, but after a few minutes of viewing, executives there quickly concluded it did not fit the network's programming style. However, Viacom was re-branding MTV2 and made ''Wonder Showzen'' part of its new programming lineup. It aired as part of Sic 'Em Fridays, along with '' Dirty Sanchez'' and '' Wildboyz''. The pilot and early concept were named simply "Kids Show". The ''Wonder Showzen'' theme song was also called 'Kids Show'. Reruns of the show also aired on MTV and

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy program ...

. The first episode had animated segments provided by Raw Power, while the rest of the series had animated segments done by Augenblick Studios. Ben Q. Jones, who was a member of the art collective

Paper Rad ''Paper Rad'' was an art collective from approx. 2000 until 2008, based on the East Coast in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Providence, Rhode Island. Known for creating comics, zines, video art, net art, MIDI files, paintings, installations, and ...

, did some animations for the series, before continuing to work with PFFR again on his failed

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

pilot ''Neon Knome'', which was rejected, yet turned a show on Cartoon Network called '' The Problem Solverz'', which Jones himself created. Another notable crew member who worked on ''Wonder Showzen'' was Mark Marek, who also worked on Cartoon Network's '' Mad'' and

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

's ''

KaBlam! ''KaBlam!'' (stylized as ''KaBLaM!'') is an American animated sketch comedy television series that ran on Nickelodeon from 1996 to 2000. The series was created by Robert Mittenthal, Will McRobb, and Chris Viscardi. The show was developed as a fu ...

''; he created ''Yuck, Yuck, Goose, and his sidekick, his Butt'' for ''Wonder Showzen''. MTV released the first season of ''Wonder Showzen'' on DVD March 28, 2006. The second season of Wonder Showzen premiered on March 31, 2006 and had its season-two finale starring Clarence on May 19, 2006 on MTV2. This season was released on DVD October 10, 2006, with an

easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest trad ...

that featured an animation contest. The grand prize was announced as the winner's animation appearing on "the next DVD", but the creators later said a third season was unlikely, and MTV afterward canceled the show.

Cast and characters

Adults

(Chauncey/Clarence/Various Voices) * John Lee (Wordsworth/Him/Various Voices) * Alyson Levy (Sthugar/Various Voices) * Jim Tozzi (Various Voices)

Kids

* Benjamin Krueger * Evan Seligman * Taylor Bedlivy * P.J. Connaire *

Jacob Kogan Jacob Pavlovich Kogan (born May 28, 1995) is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for playing the title role in the 2007 psychological thriller '' Joshua'' and as the young Spock in J. J. Abrams' ''Star Trek''. Life and career Kogan was ...

* Michael Samms * Trevor Heins * Miles Kath * Jasmina Lee * Dominic Payer * Mike Gibbons * Alexandra Rose * Frankie Scapoli * Ryan Soos * Brianna Simpkins * Miles Williams * Pierce Gidez * Madison Rose * Ameerah Moore * Ryan Simpkins * Juliet DePaula *Sam Kaufman

Cameos

Season one

Jon Glaser Jonathan Daniel Glaser (born June 20, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for his work as a writer and sketch performer for many years on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'', creating and starring in the Adult Swim s ...

as Mr. Story in episode 101. *

Flavor Flav William Jonathan Drayton Jr. (born March 16, 1959), known by his stage name Flavor Flav (), is an American rapper and hype man. Known for his yells of "''Yeah, boyeeeeee!''" when performing, he rose to prominence as a founding member of the rap ...

as himself in episode 101, The full "Storytime with Flavor Flav" was cut from the broadcast version of the episode. It still appears however on the Season One DVD. *

Dick Gregory Richard Claxton Gregory (October 12, 1932 – August 19, 2017) was an American comedian, civil rights leader, business owner and entrepreneur, and vegetarian activist. His writings were best sellers. Gregory became popular among the Afr ...

as Mr. Sun in episode 103. *

Amy Sedaris Amy Louise Sedaris (; born March 29, 1961) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. Most recently, she has appeared in both '' The Mandalorian'' (2019–2020) and '' The Book of Boba Fett'' (2022) as Peli Motto. She played Jerri Blank in the ...

as Miss Amy in episode 106. * Christopher Meloni as the Chewties Spokesman in episode 107. *Chris Anderson as Koby Teeth in episode 104. *Madison Rose as herself in episodes 106 and 108.

Season two

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series '' Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix sitc ...

as T-Totaled Timbo in episode 203, Hostage in episode 206, and Junkyard Jessip in episode 207. *

Judah Friedlander Judah Friedlander (born March 16, 1969) is an American actor and comedian, known for playing the role of writer Frank Rossitano on the NBC sitcom ''30 Rock''. Friedlander is also known for his role as Toby Radloff in the film '' American Splend ...

as Crickey in episodes 203 and 207. *

as Dr. Rawstein in episodes 203 and 207. *Darlene Violette as Bettsy Beth Bethanie in episodes 203 and 207. *

Amy Poehler Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy trou ...

as Miss Mary in episodes 203 and 206. *

John Oates John William Oates (born April 7, 1948) is an American musician, best known as half of the rock and soul duo Hall & Oates, with Daryl Hall. He has played rock, R&B, and soul music, acting as a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record produce ...

as himself, singing in the song, "War never solves anything" in episode 206. * Devendra Banhart as himself, singing in the song, "War never solves anything" in episode 206. *

Rick Springfield Richard Lewis Springthorpe (born 23 August 1949), known professionally as Rick Springfield, is an Australian-American musician and actor. He was a member of the pop rock group Zoot from 1969 to 1971, then started his solo career with his debu ...

as himself, singing in the song, "War never solves anything" in episode 206. * Corin Tucker as herself, singing in the song, "War never solves anything" in episode 206. *

Todd Barry Todd or Todds may refer to: Places ;Australia: * Todd River, an ephemeral river ;United States: * Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community * Todd, Missouri, a ghost town * Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporate ...

as Barold Q. Mosley in episode 207. *

Zach Galifianakis Zachary Knight Galifianakis (born October 1, 1969) is an American actor and comedian. He appeared in '' Comedy Central Presents'' special and presented his show '' Late World with Zach'' on VH1. Galifianakis has starred in films including ''T ...

as Uncle Daddy in episode 207. *

Will Oldham Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Flophouse, Palace Br ...

as Pastor Pigmeat in episode 207. * Heather Lawless as Permanently Pregnant Peggy in episode 203 and 207. *Barbara Ann Davison as Cousin Grandma Pervis in episode 203 and 207. *Chris Anderson as Mr. Corn in episode 203

Recurring segments

* Beat Kids – One of the children, most often Trevor, leads a journalistic segment with mostly offensive, humorous questions, ridiculing interviewees at a given venue. The segment appears in almost every episode. * What's Jim Drawing? – Appeared in episode 202 and 206. * Horse Apples – A segment in episode 203, which later expanded into an entire episode in 207, that parodies ''

Hee Haw ''Hee Haw'' is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with the fictional rural "Kornfield Kounty" as the backdrop. It aired first-run on CBS from 1969 to 1971, in syndication from 1971 to 1993, and on TNN from 1 ...

'' and redneck comedy. The latter episode featured several guest actors. * Funny/Not Funny – A series of clips, often depicting violent or macabre images, airs with a chorus of children saying either "funny" or "not funny". * So Now You Know – A parody of " The More You Know", Where kids say questions and a computer shows their answers. It appeared twice on season one and once on season two in episode 205. * Q&A – A series of children each answer a single question. * Breaking News – Features the news reporter. * We Went To... – Children narrate an ostensibly educational trip while old stock film airs. * Clarence's Movies – Clarence the puppet interviews people on the street on a common theme, usually antagonistically or obnoxiously, which is often reciprocated by violence or threats. * Story Time – A special guest reads a story to the children. Guests have included

(as himself although it was unaired),

(as Mr. Story),

(as a hostage), and

(as Ms. Amy). * Mr. Body – A cartoon segment that parodies the

Slim Goodbody Slim Goodbody ("the Superhero of Health", also known as Mr. Goodbody) is a fictional character created and performed by John Burstein. Burstein created the character in 1975. He performs wearing a sometimes white, sometimes peach colored unitard ...

character from the

Captain Kangaroo ''Captain Kangaroo'' is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television progr ...

television series. * D.O.G.O.B.G.Y.N – A cartoon chronicling a dog with the ability to aid in child birth; part of the title derives from a short form for "

obstetrics and gynaecology Obstetrics and Gynaecology (also spelled as Obstetrics and Gynecology; abbreviated as Obs and Gynae, O&G, OB-GYN and OB/GYN) is the medical specialty that encompasses the two subspecialties of obstetrics (covering pregnancy, childbirth, and ...

", and part of it comes from the common domesticated dog. * Tyler, America's Most Perfect Child – A young child with a disturbingly well-mannered demeanor, who often forms statements about how perfect, wonderful and special they are.

Episodes

Series overview

Early concept

Pilot

Season 1 (2005)

Season 2 (2006)

Broadcast

It aired in Canada on

, the United Kingdom and Ireland on MTV Two, MTV and TMF, Australia on MTV, Germany and Italy on MTV Entertainment,

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

MTV Latin America MTV is a Latin American pay television network that was launched on 1 October 1993 as the Hispanic American version of MTV. It is owned by Paramount Networks Americas, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. The channel broadcasts music videos as we ...

and in the Baltics on

MTV Networks Baltic Paramount International Networks (PIN) is the international division of Paramount Global. The division oversees the production, broadcasting and promotion of key Paramount's brands outside of the United States. These brands include Paramount Net ...

. In

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, it aired on Euro D with graphic scenes cut.

Reception

Matt Groening Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip '' Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), '' F ...

, creator of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'' and '' Futurama'' said "Wonder Showzen is so weirdly funny the top of your head will burst and your skull will fly out." Cartoon Network's

, who PFFR would later make shows for, said "It's a show about kids, for freaks, and we love it." The first season holds a 100% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

Home releases

A gift set containing both seasons was scheduled for release on December 12, 2006, but it was cancelled.TVShowsOnDVD.com
/ref> It was announced again almost 15 years later on March 16, 2021 and actually was released, but was just a re-package of the original DVDs without their physical extras. It's also currently streaming o
Paramount Plus

Notes

References

Other sources
Wonder Showzen's page on MTV2.comInterview with The A.V. ClubRotten Library

External links

* * *
Wonder Showzen animated shorts from Augenblick studios
(requires flash).

{{MTV2 original programs 2000s American adult animated television series 2000s American sketch comedy television series 2005 American television series debuts 2006 American television series endings American adult animated comedy television series American television shows featuring puppetry English-language television shows MTV cartoons MTV2 original programming American television series with live action and animation Television series by PFFR Television controversies in the United States American surreal comedy television series