History WesternAnimation / TheRenandStimpyShow

'''Ren:''' Shut up, you fool! How do we know we can trust them?\\

->'''Ren:''' '''At last I have control of TV Tropes! Are you receiving me?'' Welcome to our secret headquarters.\\

->'''Ren:''' At last I have control of TV Tropes! Are you receiving me? Welcome to our secret headquarters.\\

* PseudoSanta: The Great Shaven Yak. He comes on "Yak Shaving Day" to deliver presents (shaving scum, mostly) to people who hang dirty diapers from the walls, fill their dad's boots with coleslaw, and leave a pot of shaving cream next to the bathroom sink.

* {{Catchphrase}}: "No, sir, I don't like it"; "YOU EEDIOT!"; "Happy happy, joy joy!" and others.
** The funny thing is that those weren't even ''intended'' as catchphrases.
* The CatDogDichotomy of the CatsAreMean & DogsAreDumb: [[InvertedTrope Reversed]], Ren the dog is an {{Jerkass}}, and Stimpy [[BuffoonishTomCat the cat]] is the [[KindheartedSimpleton simpleton]].

''"I do hereby promise only to read ''The Ren and Stimpy Show'' page, to make under-leg noises during the good scenes, to wear unwashed lederhosen, every single day, of the rest of my life!"''\\

* AndIMustScream: The happy helmet will make you happy ''twenty-four hours a day, '''against your will'''''. With you being ''perfectly aware'' the whole time that you shouldn't be so damn happy.
** In "Bass Masters", [[{{Irony}} a fish reels Ren with a fishing hook and mounts him on a wall]] labeling him "Dumb Bass".

* GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul: The infamous Happy Helmet.

Who in their right minds would give a mainstream animated series to Creator/JohnKricfalusi, the erratic and enigmatic Canadian animator known for causing chaos throughout the '80s with his attempts in putting out a [[GrossoutShow grotesque]], almost obscene art style which played up every body hair, pimple, bulging vein, oozing sore, lump of unsightly fat, and pock-marked butt cheek, whilst proudly flaunting around showing off the most disgusting and disturbing parts of internal anatomy?

'''Ren:''' Shut up you fool! How do we know we can trust them?\\

'''Ren''': That's it! You're in our secret club. Alright Stimpy, they're okay, [[JustForFun/DescribeTopicHere show 'em the stuff]].

''"I do hereby promise only to read The Ren and Stimpy Show page, to make under-leg noises during the good scenes, to wear unwashed lederhosen, every single day, of the rest of my life!"''\\

''"I do hereby promise only to read The Ren and Stimpy Show page, to make under-leg noises during the good scenes, to wear unwashed lederhosen, [[JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife every single day, of the rest of my life!]]"''\\

''"I do hereby promise only to read The Ren and Stimpy Show page, to make under-leg noises during the good scenes, to wear unwashed lederhosen, every single day, of the rest of my life!"''\\

Stimpy: We can make them take the oath!\\

->'''Ren''': At last I have control of TV Tropes! Are you receiving me? Welcome to our secret headquarters.\\

'''Ren''': Shut up you fool! How do we know we can trust them?\\

Ren: Perfect, the oath! Put your hand on the screen, and repeat after me...\\

Ren: Perfect, the oath! Put your hand on the screen, and repeat after me.\\

'''Ren''': That's it! You're in our secret club. Alright Stimpy, they're okay, [[DescribeTopicHere show 'em the stuff]].

Who in their right minds would give a mainstream animated series to Creator/JohnKricfalusi, the enigmatic Canadian animator known for causing chaos throughout the '80s with his attempts in putting out a [[GrossoutShow grotesque]], almost obscene art style which played up every body hair, pimple, bulging vein, oozing sore, lump of unsightly fat, and pock-marked butt cheek, whilst proudly flaunting around showing off the most disgusting and disturbing parts of internal anatomy?

[[RefugeInAudacity The show was over-the-top in every way imaginable.]] In its visuals, even traditional AnimationTropes were taken up a notch; characters frequently [[{{Hammerspace}} Temporarily Atomise]] things the size of a nuclear submarine, and NonFatalExplosions generally take out at least one state. Even its dialogue was pulled up to eleven -- Ren didn't so much talk as scream threats and insults in other people's faces. And that's not even counting its macabre tone -- in ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'', even a standard {{sitcom}} plot such as "Ren is jealous that Stimpy has a fan club" could become a tale of operatic angst and rage. And just when you thought you've seen everything, it gives us an almighty TearJerker tale about a ''sentient fart cloud!''

However, friction between Nickelodeon execs and Kricfalusi -- mostly over Kricfalusi's attitude and penchant for late work -- eventually led to his removal from the show in 1992. Production was then absorbed by Nickelodeon itself (via its inhouse studio Games Animations) as most of the original staff gradually left in disgust over Kricfalusi's firing. The show was cancelled in 1995 after 52 half-hour episodes.

The series lived on through a Creator/{{Marvel}} ComicBook series published from 1992 to 1996, alongside a brief early-2000s reboot (with Kricfalusi on board) for adult audiences called ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpyAdultPartyCartoon'', which was... well, polarising, to say the least.

!!This show provides examples of:

Well, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} did, and the result was ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'', which detailed the adventures of an [[InvertedTrope inverted version]] of the [[CatDogDichotomy cat and dog duo]], consisting of a [[CloudCuckoolandersMinder smart]], yet [[TheMentallyDisturbed mentally unbalanced]] and [[SociopathicHero psychopathic]] chihuahua named Ren Höek and his feline sidekick, a [[ThePollyanna cheery]] but BuffoonishTomCat named Stimpson J. Cat who often makes Ren [[EnragedByIdiocy angry with his eediocy]].

* OffModel: One of the most prominent aspects of the show in its first two seasons was John's strict rule that the animators were forbidden from ever drawing the same expression or pose, or drawing any character the exact same way twice. Note that this isn't the typical definition of Off Model (i.e. in that it's bad drawing) so much as it was John's way to breaking his animators out of bad habits and to keep them from falling into formula acting and drawing--although many sloppy drawings did get into the show, which John considers among the many mistakes ''Ren & Stimpy'' made, and hence why he discourages his students from studying his cartoons.
--> "Staying on model is only for wimps and communists" -- Creator/JohnKricfalusi
** Not to mention there were many studios behind the animation process, including Creator/RoughDraftStudios (in their first project) and Creator/CarbunkleCartoons[[note]]Mr. Big Cartoons in Australia, Creator/WangFilmProductions in Taiwan and effects company Creator/MetrolightStudios also had hands in the production[[/note]].

The show was an overnight sensation, and its approach inspired many other successful shows in its wake -- such as ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'', ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', and ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' -- [[FollowTheLeader to follow its example]], whilst its... ahem, ''infamous'' imagery pretty much [[TropeMaker invented]] the GrossoutShow genre.

The show was an overnight sensation, and its' approach inspired many other successful shows in its wake -- such as ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'', ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', and ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' -- [[FollowTheLeader to follow its example]], whilst its... ahem, ''infamous'' imagery pretty much [[TropeMaker invented]] the GrossoutShow genre.

One of the first three Franchise/{{Nicktoons}}, which premiered alongside ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' on August 11, 1991, and third to premiere, ''Ren & Stimpy'' broke the mould in many ways. Kricfalusi and his crew were uncompromising in their ambition to diverge from [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfAnimation the boring, cheaply-animated and moral-heavy programming they despised working on for years]] by setting out to make cartoons funny again. Plots for episodes were devised using [[{{Storyboard}} storyboards]] rather than written scripts (modelled after how [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]] cartoons had been made), and the layout stage was prioritised, allowing focus on visual humour and expressive character acting.