''Saturday TV Funhouse'' is a segment on NBC's '' Saturday Night Live'' featuring cartoons created by ''SNL'' writer

Robert Smigel Robert Smigel (born February 7, 1960) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, producer, and puppeteer, known for his ''Saturday Night Live'' " TV Funhouse" cartoon shorts and as the puppeteer and voice behind Triumph the Insult Comic D ...

. 101 "TV Funhouse" segments aired on ''SNL'' between 1996 and 2008, with one further segment airing in 2011. It also spawned a short-lived spinoff series of ''TV Funhouse'' that aired on Comedy Central.

Production

Programmed to air between the host segments of ''Saturday Night Live'', ''TV Funhouse'' parodied such genres as 1950s educational films, Saturday morning

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

/ Filmation cartoons of the 1970s and 1980s, and the 1960s stop motion holiday specials of Rankin/Bass. Any episodes of ''Saturday Night Live'' that has ''TV Funhouse'' in it would be listed by the announcer as "A cartoon by Robert Smigel". The animation was produced by

J.J. Sedelmaier J. J. Sedelmaier is an American animator, illustrator, designer, author and film director/producer, known for co-creating (with Robert Smigel) the " Saturday TV Funhouse" segment—including ''The Ambiguously Gay Duo'' and '' The X-Presidents''� ...

Productions for its first three seasons until Wachtenheim/Marianetti Animation took over primary animation production duties.

Recurring ''SNL'' ''TV Funhouse'' skits

* Fun with Real Audio - This sketch presented animated scenes to found, real-life audio tracks. * The All-New Adventures of Mr. T - A parody of the Ruby-Spears animated series ''

Mister T Mr. T (born Laurence Tureaud, May 21, 1952), is an American actor. He is known for his roles as B. A. Baracus in the 1980s television series ''The A-Team'' and as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film ''Rocky III''. He is also known for his dis ...

''. This cartoon depicts Mr. T (voiced by Tracy Morgan) as desperate to find work after 10 years, aggressively auditioning for unlikely parts such as classical theatre and tampon commercials with help from Jeff Harris (voiced by

Andrew Daly Andrew J. Daly (born April 15, 1971) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He starred as Forrest MacNeil on the Comedy Central series ''Review'', and had a supporting role in the HBO comedy series '' Eastbound & Down'' as Terrence Cutler. H ...

), Kim Nakamura (voiced by Ana Gasteyer), Spike O'Neill (voiced by

), and Bulldozer the Bulldog. Whenever he encounters obstacles such as directors telling him auditions are already over, he simply responds with the phrase "Ain't got time for jibber-jabber, I need work!" Mr. T also throws in different advice during his dialogue like "Drink your milk", "Stay in school", "Don't do drugs", and "Eat all your greens". After getting the employment, he would often mix up of all his advice to his companions when stating how one could get work as Bulldozer barks after that. *

The Ambiguously Gay Duo ''The Ambiguously Gay Duo'' is an American animated comedy sketch that debuted on ''The Dana Carvey Show'' before moving to its permanent home on ''Saturday Night Live''. It is created and produced by Robert Smigel and J. J. Sedelmaier as part ...

- A parody of the comic book

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

duets. The vaguely

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

superheroes Ace and Gary (voiced by Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell respectively) fight crime in Metroville while their adversaries like Bighead (voiced by

) and Dr. Braino (voiced by Stephen Colbert) try to figure out their true sexuality. Bill Chott provides the narration for this cartoon. All the shorts were re-written from '' The Dana Carvey Show''. In the live-action version on the ''SNL'' episode hosted by Ed Helms, Jon Hamm and

Jimmy Fallon James Thomas Fallon (born September 19, 1974) is an American comedian, television host, actor, and writer. He is known for his work in television as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' and as the host of the late-night talk show ''The Ton ...

play Ace and Gary while Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell played Dr. Brainio and Bighead. * The Anatominals Show - A parody of a Yogi Bear–type

–style cartoon where Kogi

Bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

, Pook Bear, Mindy Bear, Sheila

Coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...

, Betsy Cow, and other animal characters are anatomically correct even when they are confronted by the

park ranger A ranger, park ranger, park warden, or forest ranger is a law enforcement person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands – national, state, provincial, or local parks. Description "Parks" may be broadly defined by some systems in thi ...

during attempts to take picnic baskets. Both episodes were interspersed with scenes of Lorne Michaels (voiced by

) expressing deep disappointment with the show or trying to prevent visitors to

Studio 8H Studio 8H is a television studio located in New York City in the United States. The studio is a part of NBC Studios, the home of the NBC television network, located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. It is most notable for housing the live broadcast of '' ...

from seeing the cartoon. * The Michael Jackson Show - A parody of

cartoons, highlighting the misadventures of Michael Jackson (voiced by Dino Stamatopoulos) and his odd friends. Included in his rag-tag entourage are his talking

common chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close r ...

Bubbles Bubble, Bubbles or The Bubble may refer to: Common uses * Bubble (physics), a globule of one substance in another, usually gas in a liquid ** Soap bubble * Economic bubble, a situation where asset prices are much higher than underlying fundame ...

, an aged

Emmanuel Lewis Emmanuel Lewis (born March 9, 1971) is an American actor, best known for playing the title character in the 1980s television sitcom ''Webster''. Personal life Lewis was born in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Midwood High School in 1989. H ...

, a talking anthropomorphic llama whose just called Llama, the living skeleton of Joseph Merrick the Elephant Man (voiced by

impersonating

Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced song ...

), a zebra with a

pushmi-pullyu This is a list of characters from the ''Doctor Dolittle'' series of children's books by Hugh Lofting and movies based on them. Most of the characters were introduced in the first book, the 1920 novel ''The Story of Doctor Dolittle''. Humans Docto ...

design, the sentient and speaking arm of

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

, and a sentient urn containing Marilyn Monroe's ashes. Michael's friends often try to get him not to do stuff with little boys which goes comically awry for them. Sometimes when he gets satisfied with a little boy or the aged Emmanuel Lewis, Michael Jackson would have the same reactions that Quick Draw McGraw character Snuffles would have when he gets his dog biscuit. The theme song is to the tune of '' The Yogi Bear Show''. *

The X-Presidents ''The X-Presidents'' is an NBC/''Saturday Night Live'' '' Saturday TV Funhouse'' cartoon created by Robert Smigel and animated by J. J. Sedelmaier Productions. Plot This cartoon features the four former American Presidents who were still alive ...

- A parody of Hanna-Barbera/ Filmation cartoons from the 1970s. This sketch features former

US Presidents The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. The officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government and ...

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

, Jimmy Carter,

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

, and

George H.W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; p ...

(all voiced by Jim Morris) as crime-fighting superheroes imbued with

superpowers A superpower is a state with a dominant position characterized by its extensive ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined means of economic, military, technological, political and cultural st ...

by a " hurricane-powered dose of radiation" received at a celebrity golf tournament. Each of their wives is a member as well. Bill Clinton, despite his status as a living former president, is not a member since he did not receive the hurricane-powered dose of radiation, as he was in office during the initial incident.

Disney parodies

The February 10, 2001 episode, "Ray of Light," parodies the controversy over Ray Lewis's involvement in an Atlanta homicide. Although Lewis went on to become the Super Bowl XXXV MVP, he was unable to utter the famous line "

I'm going to Disney World! "I'm going to Disney World!" and "I'm going to Disneyland!" are advertising slogans used in a series of television commercials by The Walt Disney Company that began airing in 1987. Used to promote the company's theme park resorts in Florida and C ...

" The skit was involved with Disney "making it up" to Lewis by placing him in various Disney animated movies. Lewis would be shown fleeing the scene of Disney character death scenes, frequently uttering "I didn't see nothin'!" "Bambi 2002," a poke at Disney's penchant for direct-to video sequels at the time, imagines a sequel to the original movie where Bambi's mother turns up alive. The title character fights stylized terrorist types, meets Jared Fogle, and performs a

rap music Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

number in the forest. Also in the sketch are moments involving some of Disney's darker issues, as well as some pornographic humor. On April 15, 2006, Robert Smigel again parodied Disney's home video moratorium policy, as well as Walt Disney's alleged racism and

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. When two kids are brought to the Disney Vault by

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

, they find Walt's frozen head, several controversial things that were never released, and Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog bound and gagged in a chair, Mickey Mouse breaks down and quotes "He wouldn't sell! He wouldn't sell...!" (a reference to a broken deal between The Jim Henson Company and The Walt Disney Company circa 1990 following Henson's death; Disney bought the Muppets franchise in 2004, 2 years prior to the sketch).

NBC special

On April 29, 2006, NBC aired a full-length, 90-minute ''SNL'' "best of" special for ''TV Funhouse''. The special was hosted by The Ambiguously Gay Duo interacting with the current ''SNL'' cast with a cameo from

.Ambiguously Gay Duo & Fellow Saturday TV Funhouse Shorts Special Slated , AWN , Animation World Network
/ref> The special was released on DVD October 24, 2006.

Comedy Central series

The spinoff series was somewhat of a twisted '' Pee-Wee's Playhouse''-style children's TV show, hosted by Doug Dale and his "Anipals" puppet friends.

Plot

Every episode had a different theme to it (e.g., "Hawaiian Day" or "Astronaut Day") and saw the Anipals usually getting into some sort of trouble, not wanting to do whatever their happy-go-lucky host had in mind for the day. The theme song describes this show as the "last cartoon show of the day". This show didn't show any cartoons from ''The Ambiguously Gay Duo'', ''The Michael Jackson Show'', and/or ''The X-Presidents'' despite some of its characters appearing in the theme song.

Production

The Comedy Central version of ''TV Funhouse'' premiered in December 2000 and was not picked up for a second season. Interviews with Smigel indicate that Comedy Central believed in the show, but was disappointed in how it went over budget every episode. Smigel has also expressed how difficult the show was and how tedious the puppet-live animal segments were to shoot. The show was released on DVD July 22, 2008 under the title ''Comedy Central's TV Funhouse''.

Recurring skits

* Wonderman — A parody of Max Fleischer's

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

cartoons that stars Wonderman (voiced by

) who fights a constant crusade to stop crime and get his alias of Henry Moore laid. * Mnemonics: Your Dear, Dear Friend — A parody of educational films about teaching children using a mnemonic for everyday subjects using age-inappropriate mnemonics to improve their memory.

narrates this segment. * The Baby, the Immigrant, and the Guy on Mushrooms — Artemis the Cat watches over a baby (voiced by Sarah Thyre), an immigrant, and a guy on mushrooms while the female homeowner (voiced by Sarah Thyre) is away. Artemis works to keep the clueless trio out of any danger which always ends with him getting hurt. * A Michael Kupperman Cartoon - An assortment of cartoons drawn by Michael Kupperman.

Episodes

Cast

* Doug Dale - Doug

Anipal Voices

Tommy Blacha Thomas Blacha (born August 25, 1962) is an American voice actor, writer, and producer. He is known working for shows such as ''Metalocalypse'', ''Da Ali G Show'' and ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. Career Blacha started as a local Chicago Co ...

— Hank * Doug Dale — Jeffery * Matt Davis * Jon Glaser — Hojo *

Jonathan Groff Jonathan Drew Groff (born March 26, 1985) is an American actor and singer . He began his career on Broadway, rising to prominence for his portrayal of Melchior Gabor in the original production of '' Spring Awakening'' (2006-2008), for which h ...

* Jackie Hoffman *

David Juskow ''David Juskow'' (sometimes credited as ''Dave Juskow'') is an American comedian, writer and actor. Juskow is perhaps best known for such televisions shows and films as ''Men of a Certain Age'', ''Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist'', ''TV Funhou ...

— Larry * Susan Krause * Frank Simms *

— Fogey, Xabu, Rocky, Terrence *

Brian Stack Brian Stack may refer to: * Brian Stack (comedian) (born 1967), American actor, comedian, and writer * Brian P. Stack (born 1966), New Jersey senator * Brian Stack (prison officer) (1935/36–1984), shot by the IRA See also * Brian Stock (born 19 ...

— Mr. Whiskers (first episode) * Dino Stamatopoulos — Chickie, Mr. Whiskers

References

External links

*
Some of the ''TV Funhouse'' episodes
{{Comedy Central animation 2000s American adult animated television series 2000s American satirical television series 2000s American sketch comedy television series 2000 American television series debuts 2001 American television series endings American adult animated comedy television series American adult animated television spin-offs American television shows featuring puppetry English-language television shows Comedy Central animated television series Comedy Central original programming American television series with live action and animation Saturday Night Live sketches Saturday Night Live in the 2000s