The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show

The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show is an Animated Comedy television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation and aired in 1995^[1] as a spin-off of the show Marsupilami. The show was Disney's attempt to create a more "Edgy" cartoon in the vein of The Ren & Stimpy Show and Rocko's Modern Life.

Premise

This animated series actually follows three different cartoon scenarios along with a few other segments.

Shnookums and Meat!

This segment involves a cat named Shnookums (voiced by Jason Marsden) and a dog named Meat (voiced by Frank Welker) who did not get along very well. Their owners are unseen stock characters only viewed from the neck down and named (appropriately enough) Husband & Wife (voiced by Steve Mackall and Tress MacNeille). Husband is always referring to their home as their "domicile" before the two leave their pets in charge while they are away.

Pith Possum: Super Dynamic Possum of Tomorrow

A spoof of the Batman comics (not unlike Darkwing Duck, only more extreme in its spoofing) with the superhero Pith Possum (voiced by Jeff Bennett) and his sidekick Obediah the Wonder Raccoon (voiced by Patric Zimmerman) fighting crime in Possum City when called by Commissioner Stress the Gorilla (voiced by Brad Garrett). Pith Possum's true identity is lowly tabloid copyboy Peter Possum. Pith Possum fights various enemies with his recurring one being a mad lumberjack named Dr. Paul Bunion (voiced by Jim Cummings). Pith Possum (even when in his true identity) also has developed a crush on a female human reporter named Doris Deer (voiced by April Winchell). It was stated that Pith Possum was an ordinary lab opossum until he gained ultra opossum-like abilities upon an experiment gone wrong. The titles of the episodes are completely unrelated to their contents but rather (usually) over the top titles always using the word 'dark' or 'darkness' and often with the words 'black' and 'night' (e.g., The Phantom Mask of the Dark Black Darkness of Black, Return of the Night of Blacker Darkness, Return of the Dark Mask of Phantom Blackness, etc.). Jim Cummings provided the narration in most episodes.

Tex Tinstar: The Best in the West

A parody of Wild West serials involving the cowboy Tex Tinstar (voiced by Jeff Bennett), his horse Here Boy, and Tex's friends Smelly Deputy Chafe (voiced by Charlie Adler), Percy Lacedaisy (voiced by Corey Burton), and Floyd the Insane Rattlesnake (voiced by Jess Harnell) who always get into trouble when pursuing a group of outlaws called the Wrong Riders consisting of Wrongo (voiced by Brad Garrett), Ian (voiced by Corey Burton in a homage to Paul Frees character Inspector Fenwick from Dudley Do-Right), and Clem. The end of each episode ends in a cliffhanger for next week (not unlike the serials or "Rocky and Bullwinkle"). Jim Cummings narrated each installment.

Episodes

Cast

• Charlie Adler - Chafe
• Jeff Bennett - Pith Possum/Peter Possum, Tex Tinstar
• Corey Burton - Ian, Percy Lacedaisy, Krusty Rustknuckle
• Jim Cummings - Narrator. Dr, Paul Bunion, Mr. Kane, Ralph Bear (in "Return of the Night of Blacker Darkness"), Supper Squirrel (in "Dark of the Darker Darkness"), Caped Cod (in "The Light of Darkness")
• Brad Garrett - Commissioner Stress, Wrongo, Super Water Buffalo (in "Son of the Cursed Black of Darkness"), Shirley Pimple (in "Bride of Darkness")
• Jess Harnell - Lieutenant Tension, Floyd the Insane Rattlesnake, Polite Coyotes, Easter Bunny Imposter (in "Phantom Mask of the Dark Black Darkness of Black"), Al Dog (in "Return of the Night of Blacker Darkness"), Power Weasel (in "The Light of Darkness"), Bat Guy (in "The Light of Darkness")
• Steve Mackall - Husband
• Tress MacNeille - Wife
• Jason Marsden - Shnookums
• Frank Welker - Meat
• April Winchell - Doris Deer, Registration Lady (in "The Light of Darkness"), Wowee Woman (in "The Light of Darkness")
• Patric Zimmerman - Obediah the Wonder Raccoon

Crew

• Bill Kopp - Creator, Writer, Producer, Voice Director
• Jeff DeGrandis - Director, Co-Producer
• Jamie Thomason - Voice Casting

Production

Shnookums and Meat was created and written by Bill Kopp,^[1][2] who also created Toonsylvania and Mad Jack the Pirate. The show was directed by Jeff DeGrandis. Kopp was the voice of Eek! The Cat and Yuckie Duck from The What-A-Cartoon! Show on Cartoon Network.

Segments on "Marsupilami"

Shnookums and Meat originated as a segment on Disney's 1993 series Marsupilami. Five episodes were shown on that series, and were later run again as part of the actual Shnookums and Meat series in 1995. These episodes were:

• "Kung-fu Kitty"
• "I.Q. You Too"
• "Night of the Living Shnookums"
• "Something Fishy"
• "Jingle Bells, Something Smells"

Broadcast history

The show aired on The Disney Afternoon on Mondays between January 2, 1995 and March 27, 1995 in the timeslot normally occupied by Bonkers. Reruns were later shown on Toon Disney. The Tex Tinstar segments were shown out of order on the Disney Channel UK in 2003 to fill the then frequently gapped schedule. The show last aired on Friday, July 6, 2007, on Toon Disney during the Mega Jam block.

Reception

The show had received very mixed reactions upon its initial release. Some enjoyed the artistic design and humor of the show, while many criticized it due to it copying the designs and humor of John Kricfalusi's designs and characters in Ren and Stimpy.

Similar series

Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of Animation World Magazine described The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show as one of two The Ren & Stimpy Show "clones", with the other one being 2 Stupid Dogs.^[3]

References

External links

• The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show at the Internet Movie Database
• The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show at Retrojunk
• The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show at TV.com