History Creator / JohnKricfalusi

In 1991, ''The Ren and Stimpy Show'' was unleashed upon the world. Its VulgarHumor, violent {{slapstick}} and DerangedAnimation simultaneously made it an immediate controversy and a huge hit with audiences who, like its creators, longed for the kind of jokes and visuals which were previously only seen in Golden Age-era theatrical cartoons. It went on to become one of the most popular and influential cartoons of the decade, making Spümcø superstars of the animation world. Unfortunately, despite (or rather because of) its popularity, Kricfalusi's habit of biting the hand that fed him continued and his perfectionism worsened, famously [[ScheduleSlip delaying episodes anywhere from several months to a year]]. At the peak of the show's popularity, he and his studio were [[ExecutiveMeddling fired from production]] and the show continued production in-house at Nickelodeon's own animation studio. Now removed from its main source of revenue, Spümcø was subsequently reduced to a skeleton staff largely consisting of Kricfalusi and a cluster of defecting ''Ren and Stimpy'' alumni mainly upheld by residual income from the series; the studio's main project during this period consisted of the ''Spümcø Comic Book'', a customarily surreal and grotesque series starring ''Ren and Stimpy'' secondary George Liquor and his nephews Slab, Ernie and Jimmy the Idiot Boy.

In 1991, ''The Ren and Stimpy Show'' was unleashed upon the world. Its VulgarHumor, violent {{slapstick}} and DerangedAnimation simultaneously made it an immediate controversy and a huge hit with audiences who, like its creators, longed for the kind of jokes and visuals which were previously only seen in Golden Age-era theatrical cartoons. It went on to become one of the most popular and influential cartoons of the decade, making Spümcø superstars of the animation world. Unfortunately, despite (or rather because of) its popularity, Kricfalusi's habit of biting the hand that fed him continued and his perfectionism worsened, famously [[ScheduleSlip delaying episodes anywhere from several months to a year]]. At the peak of the show's popularity, he and his studio were [[ExecutiveMeddling fired from production]] and the show continued production in-house at Nickelodeon's own animation studio.

Over the next few years, Spümcø would create several smaller projects, most notably the groundbreaking web cartoon ''WebAnimation/TheGodDamnGeorgeLiquorProgram'', the very first animated cartoon created with UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash ''and'' the first animated cartoon created exclusively for the internet. Spümcø also produced the superhero spoof ''WesternAnimation/TheRippingFriends'', which Kricfalusi considers a bit of an embarrassment, for Creator/{{Teletoon}}.

** The kickstarter campaign for ''Cans Without Labels'' proposed a campaign for a follow-up short starring Sody Pop if ''Labels'' was finished. While ''Cans Without Labels'' was eventually finished, the fact that its release happened well after the revelation that he had sexually abused underage girls made it very unlikely anyone would fund a short created by him starring a blatant jailbait character.

* CareerResurrection: He attempted this when he tried to launch a new Florida animation studio in 2018, but it backfired when he was immediately fired from the studio, and then blacklisted from Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Nickelodeon, when news broke out of his sexual predator behavior.

* CreatorKiller: The failure of ''Adult Party Cartoon'' ensured he would never helm another mainstream cartoon show again, and the subsequent lawsuit with Carbunkle Cartoons over them not getting paid for work on it drove his company, Spumco, into bankruptcy. Kricfalusi was forced to stick to animation odd jobs like music videos and TV bumpers from then on. He attempted to launch a new cartoon studio in Florida, but it didn't end well as he was immediately sacked from the studio once news about his sexually predatory behavior came to light in March 2018, [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor destroying what little he had left of a career.]]

** After Kricfalusi's [[https://www.buzzfeed.com/arianelange/john-kricfalusi-ren-stimpy-underage-sexual-abuse?utm_term=.dvZvXMkKv#.xd1QbAqkQ sexual predator behavior towards his underage female employees came to light]] in March 2018, he was immediately fired from the new cartoon studio he tried to launch in Florida, and it is safe to say that his career momentum has been completely sapped for good. Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}, Creator/CartoonNetwork and Creator/AdultSwim have already stated that they will never work with him again in light of this news.

** In the early 2010s, he started putting together a new studio in Florida, from which ''he'' got fired before anything could be produced (and this was ''before'' the hebephilia accusations).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'': Layout supervisor. One of the few 80s shows he worked on that he ''didn't'' hate. His style is strongly present in 7 episodes: "[=SuperGeorge=]", "S'No Relative", "Dance Time", "Hi-Tech Wreck" (which is his directorial debut), "Haunted Halloween", "To Tell the Truth", and "Boy George".

* ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpyAdultPartyCartoon'': Creator and voice of Ren Höek.

** Kricfalusi has been critical of his early work, particularly on ''[[WesternAnimation/MightyMouse Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures]]'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow''. He even warned his fans to not study his cartoons, but rather all of his influences--"For everything I did right, there were a ton of mistakes." He also disliked having to talk about his "[[AccidentalInnuendo embarrasing 80's flat period]]"--referring to his really early artwork, specifically. He is also not proud of his tenures on many 1980's cartoon shows such as ''WesternAnimation/TheSnorks'', ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'', etc.

** He disliked how he was (supposedly) [[ExecutiveMeddling forced to add]] [[RatedMForMoney strong adult themes]] to ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpyAdultPartyCartoon''.

-->"There's this whole fucking Creator/BarbraStreisand movement to make people pretend they're not human; that they don't have human desires and they don't say human things in real life, and all it does is frustrate your natural urges. Eventually we're all going to become mass murderers. We're suppressing everything that comes natural to us. If there is any place where you should let out all of your frustrations, it's entertainment. Everybody has evil dirty thoughts. Most men love [[HarsherInHindsight pretty girls; you're not supposed to love pretty girls anymore, which is like *insane*.]] If you hate all that stuff, you should buy our comic book. Our comic book is all about humanity. It's about the things that you really think about but you're afraid to say to anybody."

-->"There's this whole fucking Creator/BarbraStreisand movement to make people pretend they're not human; that they don't have human desires and they don't say human things in real life, and all it does is frustrate your natural urges. Eventually we're all going to become mass murderers. We're suppressing everything that comes natural to us. If there is any place where you should let out all of your frustrations, it's entertainment. Everybody has evil dirty thoughts. Most men love pretty girls; you're not supposed to love pretty girls anymore, which is like *insane*. If you hate all that stuff, you should buy our comic book. Our comic book is all about humanity. It's about the things that you really think about but you're afraid to say to anybody."

** This [[MindScrew insane]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybDX_5hQ6So music video]] with Music/{{Bjork}}.

* ''The New Adventures of WesternAnimation/BeanyAndCecil'': Producer and director. Suffered an infamously intense form of TroubledProduction due to creative conflicts between Kricfalusi (himself hand-picked by Bob Clampett's family to continue the series) and ABC (who objected to the numerous scatological gags Kricfalusi inserted into the show), resulting in network-appointed editor Creator/ChuckLorre ([[Series/TwoAndAHalfMen yes]], [[Series/TheBigBangTheory that]] [[Series/YoungSheldon one]]) quitting in frustation midway through production and only six episodes attaining completion before the show's cancellation. The acrimonious nature of the show's production did, however, incense Kricfalusi (alongside fellow crew members Bob Camp, Lynne Naylor and Jim Smith) to form Spümcø.

* ''The New Adventures of WesternAnimation/BeanyAndCecil'': Producer and director. Suffered an infamously intense form of TroubledProduction due to creative conflicts between Kricfalusi (himself hand-picked by Bob Clampett's family to continue the series) and ABC (who objected to the numerous scatological gags Kricfalusi inserted into the show), resulting in network-appointed editor Creator/ChuckLorre ([[Series/TwoAndAHalfMen yes]], [[Series/TheBigBangTheory that]] [[Series/YoungSheldon one]]) quitting in frustation midway through production and only six episodes attaining completion before the show's cancellation.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'': Creator and [[DescendedCreator voice of Ren Höek]] from the show's inception until his firing in 1992 midway through production of the show's second season; resultantly, only the series' first nine half-hours (out of 52) were produced and fully delivered by Spümco.

* ''The New Adventures of WesternAnimation/BeanyAndCecil'': Producer/Director

* ''WebAnimation/TheGoddamnGeorgeLiquorProgram'': A series of one-minute shorts revolving around George Liquor, his nephews Slab and Ernie and an ensemble cast including Jimmy the Idiot Boy and Liquor's pet Dirty Dog. Notable for being the very first cartoon series to be made using UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash and the first cartoon series created exclusively for the internet.

* AlternateDVDCommentary: He did commentary for the Ren and Stimpy [=DVDs=], including some episodes after he was fired from the show.

* CausticCritic: John is notorious for his extremely harsh critiques of any animation he sees as subpar or uninteresting, even extremely popular ones.

* ThePerfectionist: To put it mildly. John is known for having ''very'' high and exacting standards for his work and would force animators to redraw scenes dozens of times until he was satisfied.

* ''Bobby's Girl'': A proposed animated horror feature which he would have been made with his mentor Creator/RalphBakshi. It never got off the ground, unfortunately, although a handful of its basic elements were (very broadly) redeveloped into Bakshi's later film ''WesternAnimation/CoolWorld'', in which Kricfalusi had no involvement.

Michael John Kricfalusi[[note]]pronounced as "kris-fa-LOO-see"[[/note]] (born September 9, 1955), also known as John K., is a Canadian animator best known as the creator of ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow''. Throughout TheNineties, he was famous for his brand of [[DerangedAnimation insane]] and [[DependingOnTheArtist insanely-animated]] cartoons which borrowed heavily from 1940s-era [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]] shorts and was [[FollowTheLeader hugely influential]] on TV animation during the decade's [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation animation renaissance]]. Unfortunately, his equally well-known dictatorial, hyper-demanding directing style and erratic personality would significantly complicate his place in the animation scene and, ultimately, signal the downfall of his career in the following decades, leaving Kricfalusi, as of the 2020s, a polarizing figure in the medium's history.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'': Creator and [[DescendedCreator voice of Ren Höek]] from the show's inception until his firing in 1992 midway through production of the show's second season; resultantly, only the series' first nine half-hours (out of 52) were produced and fully delivered by Spümc&oslash.

Michael John Kricfalusi[[note]]pronounced as "kris-fa-LOO-see"[[/note]] (born September 9, 1955), also known as John K., is a Canadian animator best known as the creator of ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow''. Throughout TheNineties, he was famous for his brand of [[DerangedAnimation insane]] and [[DependingOnTheArtist insanely-animated]] cartoons which borrowed heavily from 1940s-era [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]] shorts and was [[FollowTheLeader hugely influential]] on TV animation during the decade's [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation animation renaissance]]. Unfortunately, his equally well-known hyper-demanding directing style and erratic personality would significantly complicate his place in the animation scene and, ultimately, signal the downfall of his career in the following decades, leaving Kricfalusi, as of the 2020s, a polarizing figure in the medium's history.

* ''Bobby's Girl'': A proposed animated feature which he would have been made with his mentor Creator/RalphBakshi. It never got off the ground, unfortunately.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'': Creator and [[DescendedCreator voice of Ren Höek]] from the show's inception until his firing in 1992 midway through production of the show's second season.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'': Creator and [[DescendedCreator voice of Ren Höek]] from the show's inception until his firing in 1992.

* ''WebAnimation/TheGoddamnGeorgeLiquorProgram'': Notable for being the very first cartoon series to be made using UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash and the first cartoon series created exclusively for the internet.

* ''WebAnimation/WeekendPussyHunt'': A SpinOff of the George Liquor program, being another early UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash cartoon.

* He Hog The Atomic Pig: An animated feature idea that he attempted to pitch.

Michael John Kricfalusi[[note]]pronounced as "kris-fa-LOO-see"[[/note]] (born September 9, 1955), also known as John K., is a Canadian animator best known as the creator of ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow''. Throughout TheNineties, he was famous for his brand of [[DerangedAnimation insane]] and [[DependingOnTheArtist insanely-animated]] cartoons which borrowed heavily from 1940s-era [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]] shorts and was [[FollowTheLeader hugely influential]] on TV animation during the decade's [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation animation renaissance]].

** Kricfalusi has been critical of his early work, particularly on ''[[WesternAnimation/MightyMouse Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures]]'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow''. He even warned his fans to not study his cartoons, but rather all of his influences--"For everything I did right, there were a ton of mistakes."

* OldShame: ''WesternAnimation/TheRippingFriends''. He also disliked having to talk about his "[[AccidentalInnuendo embarrasing 80's flat period]]"--referring to his really early artwork, specifically. He is also not proud of his tenures on many 1980's cartoon shows such as ''WesternAnimation/TheSnorks'', ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'', etc.

* DoingItForTheArt: The whole reason Kricfalusi became a cartoonist was to bring back the [[DerangedAnimation wacky, anarchic, overall cartoony animation]] to the mainstream and put a stop to the stiff, soulless, formulaic TV animation that was prevalent at the time.

* He Hog The Atomic Pig: A animated feature idea that he attempted to pitch.

* WesternAnimation/CansWithoutLabels (2019): An animated short he used kickstarter to fund.

** The ''Ren and Stimpy'' episode "Nurse Stimpy," which John what wholly dissatisfied with, is credited to Raymund Spum.

* AuthorAppeal: [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/09/kirk-greatest-hollywood-actor.html Kirk Douglas]]

Over the next few years, Spümcø would create several smaller projects, most notably the groundbreaking web cartoon ''WebAnimation/TheGodDamnGeorgeLiquorProgram'', the very first animated cartoon created with UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash ''and'' the first animated cartoon created exclusively for the internet. Spümcø also produced the superhero spoof ''WesternAnimation/TheRippingFriends'', which Kricfalusi considers a bit of an OldShame, for Creator/{{Teletoon}}.

* OffModel: Kricfalusi took this trope to the extreme -- he never used model sheets beyond establishing a general idea of what the character looked like, and made it a literal rule to never, '''ever''' draw a character the same way, or with the same expression or pose more than once. He believes that characters ought to have just a few general rules on how they appear, and the rest should be up to the artists to exaggerate them as they see fit. Note that he does '''not''' mean "Draw Badly" -- he still has his artists use essential skills like construction and line of action, because as he pointed out, ''something'' about the drawing has to make sense, or the artist will have no control over their work. Also subverted in that his animators were still expected to follow his layout drawings to a tee.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs Christmas Special'': Layout artist.

* ''VideoGame/GoGoHyperGrind'': Co-producer, as he was pre-occupied with Adult Party Cartoon to work on the game and dismissed his involvement on the game and assumed young cartoons who draw 'tude "worked on it when he wasn't looking". Concept designs were done by Gabe Swarr, Jim Smith and Eddie Fitzgerald with additional/final designs by ATLUS', Masaki Shimizu.

* "Close, but No Cigar" music video for Music/WeirdAlYankovic.