Zach Hadel ( ;), known by his pseudonym psychicpebbles, is an American

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

, animator, writer, director, and voice actor. He and Michael Cusack are the co-creators and co-stars of the

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 ...

animated series ''

Smiling Friends ''Smiling Friends'' is an adult animation, adult animated television series created by Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack (animator), Michael Cusack for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim, which revolves around the surreal misadv ...

.'' He is also known for his

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

animations, for being a co-host of the

Let's Play A Let's Play (LP) is a video (or screenshots accompanied by text) documenting the playthrough of a video game, often including commentary and (in some cases) a camera view of the gamer's face. A Let's Play differs from a video game walkthrough ...

web series ''

OneyPlays Christopher Luke O'Neill (; born 21 November 1990), also known by his Internet pseudonym Oney () or OneyNG, is an Irish YouTuber, animator, cartoonist, video game designer, musician, and voice actor. He is known for his Flash animations and being ...

'', and for his iconic nasally voice.

Early life

Hadel grew up in

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

and began his animation career by uploading

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a mostly discontinuedAlthough it is discontinued by Adobe Inc., for the Chinese market it is developed by Zhongcheng and for the international enterprise market it is developed by Ha ...

animations to

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 ...

, later transitioning to

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 ...

. He enrolled in college to learn

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

, but immediately dropped out before attending any classes. A self-taught animator, Hadel has stated that shows such as ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

'', ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'', ''

Dragon Ball Z ''Dragon Ball Z'' (''DBZ'') is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part of the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986 ''Dragon Ball'' television series and adapts the latter 325 chapters ...

'', ''

Beavis and Butt-Head ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated Animated sitcom, sitcom created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, Stupi ...

'', and ''

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 ...

'' inspired his animation style.

Career

His short-form independent cartoons became popular online, such as his animated video responding to overuse of the "

arrow in the knee "I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took an arrow in the knee...", or simply "arrow in the knee", is a quotation and Internet meme that originated from '' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim'', an action role-playing video game developed by Bethes ...

" meme from '' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim'' which went viral in 2011. Along with fellow Newgrounds animator Chris O'Neill, Hadel created the popular web cartoon series ''Hellbenders'' featuring exaggerated versions of O'Neill and himself, which was picked up for a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

by Adult Swim but ultimately not pursued after several years in

development hell Development hell, also known as development purgatory or development limbo, is media and software industry jargon for a project, concept, or idea that remains in a stage of early development for a long time because of legal, technical, or artistic ...

. Hadel also collaborated with O'Neill to make a short animated video parodying the ''

Kony 2012 ''Kony 2012'' is a 2012 American Short film, short documentary film produced by Invisible Children, Inc. The film's purpose was to make Ugandan cult leader, war criminal, and International Criminal Court, ICC fugitive Joseph Kony globally know ...

'' documentary; the video went viral, receiving over 1.7 million views within its first weekend. Hadel was a member of the YouTube group ''SleepyCabin'' and co-hosted ''SleepyCast'', a comedy and discussion podcast hosted by former Newgrounds animators that launched on August 30, 2014. , his YouTube channel ''psychicpebbles'' has 1.6 million subscribers and 222.28 million views. Hadel animated a segment of Seth Rogen's Hilarity for Charity with

Justin Roiland Mark Justin Roiland (born February 21, 1980) is an American voice actor, animator, writer, and producer. He co-created the Adult Swim animated sitcom ''Rick and Morty'', for which he voiced the protagonists Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith from 2013 ...

, co-creator of ''

Rick and Morty ''Rick and Morty'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated science fiction Animated sitcom, sitcom created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The series follows the misadvent ...

''. Roiland later appraised the animation as his most transgressive joke. Hadel and Roiland also appeared alongside animator

Alex Hirsch Alexander Robert Hirsch (born June 18, 1985) is an American animator, writer, producer, and voice actor. He is best known as the creator of the Disney Channel and Disney XD animated series ''Gravity Falls'', for which he voices its characters G ...

on h3h3's livestream podcast for charity where they raised over $100,000 for

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

relief. Hadel hosted the podcast ''Schmucks'' from 2017 to 2019, where he interviewed fellow entertainers such as Michael Stevens,

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 ...

, Jon Jafari, and

Ethan Klein Ethan Edward Klein (born June 25, 1985) is an American-Israeli YouTuber and podcaster. He is the host of the '' H3 Podcast''. He first found fame with the YouTube channel h3h3Productions, created by him and his wife Hila Klein. Life and car ...

. In 2018, Hadel storyboarded for ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' for the season 11 episode " The Grill is Gone".

''Smiling Friends''

On April 1, 2020,

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 late-night

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

block premiered the pilot episode of Hadel and Australian animator Michael Cusack's animated adult television series, ''

''. The series follows Pim and Charlie, two employees of the titular

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

missioned with making people smile. The series premiered with a full season marathon on January 9, 2022, and later debuted 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 ...

. Adult Swim announced that the show would be renewed for a second season on February 9, 2022. Adult Swim renewed the show for a third season on June 13th, 2024.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Video games

Sourced from Hadel's IMDb page and YouTube channel.

Notes

References

External links

psychicpebbles
*
thepsychicpebble on YouTube Archived
from the original on June 15, 2010
psychicpebble on NewGrounds Archived
from the original on November 24, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hadel, Zach 1993 births Living people American male voice actors American comedy YouTubers Newgrounds people Web series producers YouTube animators YouTube channels launched in 2009 American surrealist artists Flash artists Animators from Kansas YouTubers from Kansas