''Smiling Friends'' is an

adult animated An adult is an animal that has reached full growth. The biological definition of the word means an animal reaching sexual maturity and thus capable of reproduction. In the human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and ...

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

created by

Zach Hadel Zach Hadel ( ;), known by his pseudonym psychicpebbles, is an American YouTuber, animator, writer, director, and voice actor. He and Michael Cusack are the co-creators and co-stars of the Adult Swim animated series ''Smiling Friends.'' He is a ...

and Michael Cusack for

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 ...

's nighttime programming block

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...

and 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 ...

, which revolves around the surreal misadventures of a small charity and its four employees dedicated to spreading happiness. The show utilizes a wide variety of different art styles and animation techniques, which include but are not limited to stylized

traditional animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawing, drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation of the 20th century, until there wa ...

computer animation Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating Film, moving images. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both still images and moving images, while computer animation refers to moving images. Virtu ...

rotoscoping Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, live-action film images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper. This pr ...

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

flash animation Adobe Flash animation (formerly Macromedia Flash animation and FutureSplash animation) is an animation that is created with the Adobe Animate (formerly Flash Professional) platform or similar animation software and often distributed in the SW ...

, and

live-action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games or ...

. The pilot episode aired April 1, 2020, unannounced as part of Adult Swim's annual April Fools' Day event alongside the premiere of Cusack's other series, '' YOLO''. On May 19, 2021, Adult Swim ordered a full season that was initially set to premiere in late 2021. A panel dedicated to the series was held during the Adult Swim Festival on November 12, 2021, where co-creator Zach Hadel mentioned the show would premiere "within a few months", pushing the release schedule ahead to 2022. The first season contains nine episodes, including the pilot and an 11-minute special. The first season eventually premiered on January 10, 2022, with Adult Swim airing all episodes of the season, except for the special, in one night despite initial plans for a weekly release. The series received critical acclaim and a

cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...

, and was renewed for a second season on February 9, 2022. The season premiere aired on April 1, 2024, with the rest of the season beginning to air on May 13. On June 13, 2024, Adult Swim renewed the series for a third season. The third season was previewed at

Annecy Annecy ( , ; , also ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, regi ...

on June 11, 2025. On the same day, it was announced the show was renewed for a fourth and fifth season.

Premise

The series follows the misadventures and shenanigans of Charlie Dompler and Pim Pimling, two employees of the Smiling Friends, a

charitable company A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

dedicated to bringing joy and happiness to its clients. Pim is overtly optimistic and eager to help people with their problems, whilst Charlie is usually more cynical and pragmatic. They are sometimes assisted by their coworkers, the meticulous Allan Red, the enigmatic, diminutive Glep, and their eccentric supervisor Mr. Boss. Misadventure ensues, as the strange and often deeply troubled characters they are tasked with helping prove challenging and thrust them into bizarre situations.

Voice cast

Main roles

* Michael Cusack as Pim Pimling / Allan Red / Steven Pimling / Mrs. Pimling / Amy Pimling / various Bliblies / Mr. Frog / Meep Foundation Lady / Imp / Ketchup / Fun Twins / Pepper / Witch / Fairies / Grim /

Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist who currently serves as the chairman and CEO of the conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway. As a result of his investment success, Buffett is ...

/ Rex / Jeremy / Hell Faces / James / Skeleton Pirate / Professor Daniel Psychotic / Fat #1 / Tanning salon guy / Secretary Critter / Squiggly Miggly / Aliens / Pim's Wife / Pim's Children / NORAD Officer / additional voices *

as Charlie Dompler / Glep / Jason / Desmond’s Mom / Screaming Bird / various Bliblies / Mr. Frog Fan / Salt / The

Century Egg Century eggs (), also known as alkalized or preserved eggs, are a Chinese dish made by preserving duck, chicken, or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime, and rice hulls for several weeks to several months, depending on the pr ...

/ Mip / Gnarly / DJ Spit / Mr. Peanut /

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

/ Charlie’s Grandma /

Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...

/ Grandson Gleppie / Gwimbly / Count Groxia's Wife / Plilford / Mr. Landlord / Fat #2 / Homunculus / Duncan / TV Alien / Allan's Partner / additional voices * Marc M. as Mr. Boss / Airport Guy / Construction Goblin /

Bill Nye William Sanford Nye (; born November 27, 1955) is an American science communicator, television presenter, and former mechanical engineer. He is best known as the host of the science education television show '' Bill Nye the Science Guy'' (1 ...

/ Tree / additional voices

Supporting members

* Mike Stoklasa as Desmond / Purple Alien * David Dore as Party Bro / Forest Demon / Armzo *

Erica Lindbeck Erica Lindbeck (born May 29, 1992) is an American voice actress best known as the third voice of Barbie in the eponymous media franchise, succeeding Kelly Sheridan in 2015 and being succeeded herself by America Young in 2018. She also works w ...

as Assistant / Jennifer the Barista / Mustard / Princess of the Enchanted Forest / Brittney * Rodrigo Huerta as Guy In Line / Jacob the Goblin / Devils / Food Delivery Guy / Jombo / Secret Service Agents / additional voices * Chris O'Neill as Smormu James Carter / Mr. Frog Auditionee / Yeti * Hans van Harken as

Jimmy Fallon James Thomas Fallon (born September 19, 1974) is an Americans, American comedian, television host, actor, singer, writer, and producer. Best known for his work in television, Fallon's breakthrough came during his tenure as a cast member on the ...

/ Priest / Hell Faces / Bill / Alien / additional voices * Mick Lauer as Bug / Guy at the Gym / Crazy Cup / Elf / additional voices * Harry Partridge as Smormu Announcer / Grease / 3D Squelton / William Worm * David Firth as Shrimp / Fillmore * Monica Franco as Zoey / Waitress / Wendy Worm * Joshua Tomar as Centaur / Grandpa Glep / Police Cop / Count Groxia / Troglor / OfficeCrap Boss / U.S. Air Force Jet Pilot / Bigfoot / additional voices * Lyle Rath as Mr. Man / IGBG CEO / Renaissance men

Guest roles

Introduced in Season 1

Finn Wolfhard Finn Michael Wolfhard (born December 23, 2002) is a Canadian actor, musician, and film director. He is known for playing Mike Wheeler on the Netflix series ''Stranger Things'' (2016–present). He also played Richie Tozier in the horror film ...

as Squatter / various Bliblies * Nick Wolfhard as Graham Nelly / various Bliblies *

Tom Fulp Thomas Charles Fulp (born April 30, 1978) is an American programmer. He created the website Newgrounds and co-founded the video game company The Behemoth. Fulp has been credited with "changing the landscape of the Internet forever" by kickstart ...

as Alpha * Chills as Patron *

Jason Paige Jason Paige (born January 6, 1969) is an American singer, writer, record producer and actor best known for singing the first theme song for the English version of the ''Pokémon'' television series. Early life and education He is an alumnus o ...

as Dream Singer *

Gilbert Gottfried Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried (February 28, 1955 – April 12, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian and actor, best-known for his exaggerated shrill voice, strong New York dialect, his squint, and his edgy, often-controversial, sense of humor. Hi ...

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

Introduced in Season 2

Joel Haver Joel Haver (born February 13, 1996) is a Canadian YouTuber and filmmaker who produces comedic content and frequently uses rotoscope animation. Early life Haver was born on February 13, 1996 in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Canada. He grew up in Belc ...

as Doug * Marc Winslow as Pim's Spanish voice * Edson Matus as Charlie's Spanish voice *

Rich Evans Richard Evans may refer to: Artists * Richard Evans (designer) (born 1945), English artist for record album covers * Richard Evans (portrait painter) (1784–1871), English portrait-painter and copyist Entertainment * Dik Evans (born 1957), ...

as Brown Alien *

Jay Bauman Red Letter Media, LLC is an American film and video production company operated by independent filmmakers Mike Stoklasa, Jay Bauman, and Rich Evans. It was formed by Stoklasa in 2004 while he was living in the Scottsdale section of Ashburn, Chicag ...

as Police Alien * TruVoice Peter Adult Male #1 as Oscar-Jester / various Spamtopia citizens *

Dana Snyder Dana Snyder (born ) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his voice roles of Master Shake in ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force'', Granny Cuyler in '' Squidbillies'', Baby Ball on '' Ballmastrz: 9009'', and other roles in various Adult Swim ...

as Rotten the Snowman

Live-action human actors

Jane Badler Jane Badler (born December 31, 1953) is an American-Australian actress and singer. She is known for her role as Diana, the main antagonist in NBC's science fiction series '' V'' between 1983 and 1985. Following this, she had roles in the primeti ...

as Celebrity Show Host * Jim Knobeloch as Mystery Show Host * Clyde Boraine as Policeman * Perry Caravello as Simon S. Salty * Mike Stoklasa as Himself (split second frame) *

James Rolfe James D. Rolfe (born July 10, 1980) is an American YouTuber, filmmaker and actor. He is best known for creating and starring in the comedic retrogaming web series, ''Angry Video Game Nerd'' (2004–present). His spin-off projects include review ...

as Himself (split second frame) * Mike Bocchetti as President Jimble * Doug Walker as Daniel the Demon Slayer * Abed Gheith as Tyler

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2022)

Season 2 (2024)

Production

''Smiling Friends'' was created by animators Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack, noted for their individual successes as content creators for

Newgrounds Newgrounds is an American entertainment website founded by Tom Fulp in 1995 and owned by Newgrounds.com, Inc. The site hosts user-generated content such as games, films, audio, and artwork. Fulp produces in-house content at the headquarters and ...

and

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. Already well-acquainted with each other online, the pair conceived the idea for the show in 2017 whilst dining at Gus's Chicken in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

(during a visit from Cusack, who is based in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

). Hadel stated in an interview that the pair's goal for the show was to base it around "a group of loveable characters, with a simple kind of concept, which we could take anywhere we wanted to". They settled upon the premise of a hotline for people who were unhappy, which became "the connective tissue that made it all click together". However, Hadel stated that although "the company is an important aspect of the show, it's really the springboard" and that they "have episodes where it's not even about the job at all". The pair singled out ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...

'' and ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...

'' as amongst the show's biggest influences. The duo developed the show's art style as a 50/50 blend of their own individual styles, though Cusack noted that his own drawings tend to go through a "final Zach gloss". Early in development, the series went under the working title ''Little Helpers'', with an entirely different cast. Hadel and Cusack pitched the series to

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

, which greenlit production on the pilot in 2018. Hadel had previously attempted to sell his and Chris O'Neill's web series ''Hellbenders'' to the network, but the project was not picked up while an independently produced pilot was shelved during production; O'Neill would later compose the ''Smiling Friends'' theme song. Meanwhile, Cusack created the ''Rick and Morty'' parody ''Bushworld Adventures'', which premiered as an

April Fool's Day April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool " at the recipient. Mas ...

stunt on the network in 2018, and also created the series '' YOLO'', which premiered in August 2020. The ''Smiling Friends'' pilot, which the pair consider the first official episode, aired on Adult Swim on April 1, 2020, to positive reviews and became the most viewed episode of any show on the network's website. The network subsequently ordered seven additional episodes in May 2021. Serving as showrunners, Hadel and Cusack were hands on in all aspects of production, from writing, storyboards, character designs, final animation and sound design, which the duo considered unusual for an adult animated series. According to Hadel, the budget for the entire first season was equivalent to that of a single episode of ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...

'' (an estimated US$2,000,000). The show is primarily animated by Studio Yotta and Princess Bento Studio, a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between the Australian media company Princess Pictures and the American animation studio

Bento Box Entertainment Bento Box Entertainment, formerly known as Bento Box Animation, is an American animation studio and entertainment company located in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2009 by executive producers Scot ...

. The studio has additionally worked on Cusack's other animated series, such as season 2 of ''YOLO'' and the

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

original series ''

Koala Man ''Koala Man'' is a superhero animated sitcom created by Michael Cusack for Hulu. Developed by Cusack, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit, the series premiered on January 9, 2023 on Hulu in the United States and on Disney+ in Australia. the series ...

''. Since Cusack lives in Australia and Hadel lives in the United States, the show is produced remotely. Adult Swim renewed the series for a second season on February 9, 2022. On May 18, 2022, Hadel announced on Twitter that a special would be released sometime before the second season. A listing for an episode titled "The Smiling Friends Go to Brazil!" appeared on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

on July 21, and was confirmed by Hadel and Cusack at Adult Swim's

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

panel the next day. It aired on August 6, 2022. Lead-in promotion to the episode purposely suggested a more conventional vacation episode than what was actually presented, with a poster of the Smiling Friends relaxing on a Brazilian beach, and a summary suggesting that the episode would be about the gang relaxing in a beautiful Brazilian beach town. During Adult Swim's panel at

New York Comic Con The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to comics, Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, Film, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. With an attendance of 200,00 ...

in October 2023, it was confirmed that the second season would premiere in 2024, and would continue to explore a variety of animation styles, such as stylized 2D, 3D, stop motion, flash animation, rotoscoping, and live-action content. On June 13, 2024 at

Annecy International Animation Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring ever ...

, it was announced the series was renewed for three additional seasons.

Broadcast

The pilot initially premiered on Adult Swim in the United States and Canada on April 1, 2020, during the network's April Fools premiere event. The series officially premiered on January 10, 2022, at 12:00 a.m. with the episodes "Mr. Frog" and "Shrimp's Odyssey". The rest of the series was then broadcast in an unannounced premiere marathon in its entirety starting from 12:30 a.m. followed by a repeat at 3:00 a.m. The episodes would re-air with two separate episodes airing in the intended premiere slots for the following 4 weeks afterwards, including another marathon on the night of February 13, most likely to pick up viewers tuning away from the end of

Super Bowl LVI Super Bowl LVI was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2021 NFL season, 2021 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2021 Los Angeles Rams season, Los Angeles ...

, as well as to promote the series' availability through HBO Max and the recent news of renewal for the series. In Canada, the series premiered simultaneously on

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

with new episodes airing weekly. The series later premiered on E4 in the United Kingdom on January 21, 2022, and

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

in France on January 24, 2022. The series was made available to stream on

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

in the United States and

StackTV StackTV (stylized in all-caps as STACKTV) is a Canadian subscription video streaming package offered by Corus Entertainment. It was announced on June 3, 2019 and was originally offered through Amazon's Prime Video Channels; the offering launche ...

in Canada on February 9, 2022. The second season began with the season premiere airing on

April Fools Day April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool " at the recipient. Mas ...

2024 during the annual Adult Swim April Fools Day prank, with three episodes from season 1, remade with various types of

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

, shown prior. The remaining second season episodes were premiered beginning May 12.

Home media

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

released the first season on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

on August 29, 2023.

Reception

Lex Briscuso of ''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...

'' praised the show's tone and animation style, particularly its use of "unnerving close-up cuts and creepy supporting character design". Margaret Lyons of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' praised the show's humor and compared it favorably to ''

Aqua Teen Hunger Force ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force'' (also branded with different #Alternative titles, alternative titles for seasons 8–11), is an American adult animated television series created by Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro for Cartoon Network's late night progra ...

''. Noah Dominguez of ''

Comic Book Resources ''CBR'', formerly ''Comic Book Resources'', is a news website primarily covering comic book news, comic book reviews, and comic book–related topics involving movies, television, anime, and video games. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publicat ...

'' also made this comparison, and additionally praised the show as "unique" and commended its "bizarre humor" and "surrealist tone."

Notes

References

External links

* *
Smiling Friends
at

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

'' {{Adult Swim original programming 2020s American adult animated television series 2020s American animated comedy television series 2020s American animated television series 2020s American black comedy television series 2020s American sitcoms 2020s American surreal comedy television series 2020s American workplace comedy television series 2020s Australian animated television series 2022 American animated television series debuts 2022 Australian television series debuts Adult Swim animated television series American adult animated comedy television series American adult computer-animated television series American animated sitcoms American English-language television shows American flash adult animated television series American stop-motion adult animated television series American television series with live action and animation Australian adult animated comedy television series Australian animated comedy television series Australian English-language television shows Australian television series with live action and animation Television series by Williams Street Television series created by Michael Cusack (animator) Television series set in 2021 Television series set in 2022 Television series set in the 2020s Television shows set in Pennsylvania