Line #17 Creator/JohnKricfalusi


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3	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Much_Biggerk_1080.jpg]]
4	[[caption-width-right:250:John K with [[WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow his two most famous creations]].]]
5	[floatboxright:Influences: Creator/BobClampett, Creator/TexAvery, Creator/ChuckJones, Creator/HannaBarbera, Creator/RalphBakshi, Creator/KirkDouglas, Creator/PeterLorre, Film/TheThreeStooges]
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7	->''"Everybody's ugly in real life. You just have to look close. Look inside anybody's nose."''
8	-->-- '''John K''', [[http://filmthreat7.blogspot.com/ "Film Threat #7"]]
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10	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, leaving Kricfalusi, as of the 2020s, a polarizing figure in the medium's history.
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12	Born in [[UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} Chicoutimi, Quebec]], Kricfalusi attended Sheridan College for exactly one semester in 1978 before getting expelled for poor attendance. After moving to UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, he spent several years bouncing around various animation studios, most notably working for Ralph Bakshi on his mid-1980s ''[[WesternAnimation/MightyMouseTheNewAdventures Mighty Mouse]]'' revival. However, Kricfalusi openly hated most of the projects he worked on, and generally split from these studios acrimoniously. Having burned too many bridges to keep getting animation work, Kricfalusi founded the illustration company Spümcø. Around this time, the cable channel Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} put out a call for creator-driven cartoons -- "Franchise/{{Nicktoons}}" -- and Spümcø was one of the first on their call list.
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14	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 ''ComicBook/SpumcoComicBook'', a customarily surreal and grotesque series starring ''Ren and Stimpy'' secondary George Liquor and his nephews Slab, Ernie and Jimmy the Idiot Boy.
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16	In the late '90s, Spümcø returned to animation production and created several smaller projects, most notably the web cartoon ''WebAnimation/TheGodDamnGeorgeLiquorProgram'', a series of one-minute vignettes notable as 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 series ''WesternAnimation/TheRippingFriends'', which Kricfalusi considers a bit of an embarrassment, for Creator/{{Teletoon}}.
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18	Kricfalusi's next major project saw him return to ''Ren and Stimpy'' for the raunchy revival, ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpyAdultPartyCartoon''. Now with carte blanche to do whatever he wanted, Kricfalusi cranked everything about the series up to eleven, taking a somewhat transgressive children's cartoon and heading full speed into AnimatedShockComedy territory. Unfortunately, this new project would also be plagued by ''even longer'' [[ScheduleSlip production delays]] than its predecessor. The show was canceled after three episodes following unanimously negative reception from critics and fans.
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20	In 2012, Kricfalusi attempted to produce an indie short, ''WesternAnimation/CansWithoutLabels'', through Kickstarter. The project [[TroubledProduction could not have been more of a disaster]]. Communication with backers was minimal, delays were constant, and the money was terribly mismanaged. The short ''was'' eventually released, albeit seven years after the fact, and was met with abysmal reception over the poor quality of its animation as well as its content.
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22	By this time, Kricfalusi's reputation for mismanaging projects and being an abrasive, caustic personality was public knowledge, and had already damaged his career to the point that a comeback was very unlikely. In March 2018, former Spümcø employees Robyn Byrd and Katie Rice publicly accused Kricfalusi of grooming them, multiple instances of statutory rape, and possession of child pornography -- some of which featured himself as the abuser -- and several of Kricfalusi's coworkers came forth to support their claims. While Kricfalusi was never taken to court due to the statute of limitations, his reputation took such a tremendous hit that he announced his semi-retirement from animation soon thereafter.
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24	Not to be confused with fellow Canadian and Music/{{Steppenwolf}} lead singer John Kay, nor with Florida pop singer John K. or American actor Creator/JohnKrasinski.
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26	His personal blog can be found [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com here]].
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28	-----
29	!!Shows He Has Worked On / Works Of His Include:
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31	* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5mFb-ciiNQ Ted Bakes One]]'': Indie short.
32	* ''The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle'': Storyboard artist.
33	* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Smurfs\|1981}} Christmas Special'': Layout artist.
34	* WesternAnimation/TheSnorks: Layout artist on the first season. He was apparently kicked off for "drawing too flat." ([[{{Irony}} This coming from Hanna-Barbera.]])
35	* ''ComicBook/RichieRich'': Layout artist for the second season.
36	* ''WesternAnimation/PacMan'': Layout artist.
37	* ''The Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour'': Layout artist for ''Laverne & Shirley with the Fonz'' segments.
38	* ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'': Layout supervisor. One of the few 80s shows he worked on that he ''didn't'' hate. His style is strongly present in the episodes: "[=SuperGeorge=]", "S'No Relative", "Dance Time", "Hi-Tech Wreck" (which is his directorial debut), "Haunted Halloween" and "To Tell the Truth".
39	* During his time at Hanna-Barbera, he contributed a pornographic [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Flintstones]] parody comic to issue #9 of Creator/RobertCrumb's ''Weirdo'' magazine under the alias of Billy Bunting.
40	* ''WesternAnimation/HeathcliffAndTheCatillacCats'': Character designer during the first season. He stated that the only fun part was coming up with new character designs.
41	* ''WesternAnimation/GalaxyHigh'': Graphics.
42	* ''[[WesternAnimation/MightyMouse Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures]]'': Senior director during the first season, and directed eight episodes himself. [[labelnote:List]]"Night on Bald Pate", "Me-Yowww!", "Night of the Bat-Bat", "Scrappy's Field Day", "The Littlest Tramp", "The League of Super-Rodents", "The Ice Goose Cometh", "Mighty's Benefit Plan"[[/labelnote]]
43	* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr9j26dD7so The Thing What Lurked in The Tub]]'' (short): Character and background color key assistant.
44	* ''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 ''Film/CoolWorld'', in which Kricfalusi had no involvement.
45	* ''Film/TroopBeverlyHills'': designed the AnimatedCreditsOpening.
46	* ''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 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.
47	* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'': Did some early design work while the show was in DevelopmentHell. Credited as a model designer in "Who Bopped Bugs Bunny?"
48	* ''Harlem Shuffle'', a music video by Music/{{The Rolling Stones\|Band}} from their album ''Music/DirtyWork''.
49	* ''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 Spümcø.
50	* ''WesternAnimation/TwoStupidDogs'': Provided "tidbits of poor taste" for the "Red" episodes spoofing ''Literature/LittleRedRidingHood''.
51	* ''WebAnimation/TheGoddamnGeorgeLiquorProgram'': A series of one-minute shorts revolving around George Liquor, Jimmy the Idiot Boy and an ensemble cast including Liquor's nephews Slab and Ernie. Notable for being the very first cartoon series to be made using UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash and the first cartoon series created exclusively for the internet.
52	** The cast of this program also appeared in the short lived comic series ''ComicBook/SpumcoComicBook''.
53	* ''WebAnimation/WeekendPussyHunt'': A SpinOff of the George Liquor program, being another early UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash cartoon. Remains incomplete (as with much of Kricfalusi's work) due to budgetary issues.
54	* ''What Pee Boners Are For'': Flash animated short starring Slab and Ernie.
55	%% NOTICE: Do NOT link to or create a page for "What Pee Boners Are For". It has explicit nudity that violates the site's content guidelines.
56	* {{Animated Music Video}}s for the ''Music/TenaciousD'' songs "Fuck Her Gently" and "Classico". According to Katie Rice, John didn't actually do any work for the former at all-- it was made in entirety by younger staff at the studio, and John didn't even watch it until 5 years after it was finished.
57	* ''WesternAnimation/TheRippingFriends'': intended to be a SpiritualSuccessor to ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' but Canadian television standards forced him to keep the characters on-model and recycle drawings, two things he is very much against, and [[CreatorBacklash he hates what it became]].
58	* ''Yoake no Mariko'' ([=PS2=] JPN): Designed and animated the characters in the intro, although he dismissed his work on it as "pretty bland."
59	* ''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.
60	* ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpyAdultPartyCartoon'': Creator and voice of Ren Höek. While initially highly-anticipated, the series rapidly mutated into a [[TroubledProduction production disaster]], with only three episodes (out of the ordered six) completed on-schedule and at the cost of the series' entire multimillion-dollar production budget. Following the ordeal, Carbunkle Cartoons (which had provided animation for both the revival and many of the original series' most acclaimed episodes) sued Kricfalusi due to the latter's failure to pay the studio for their services, forcing Spümcø to declare bankruptcy and close in 2005. Kricfalusi's future work would resultantly be largely independent.
61	* ''I Miss You'': Music video for Music/{{Bjork}}, from her album ''Music/{{Post}}''.
62	* Three [[WesternAnimation/JohnKsYogiBearShorts Yogi Bear shorts]].
63	* Two made-for-tv short based on WesternAnimation/TheJetsons. He made his directorial debut while working on the '80s revival.
64	* Heartaches: A flash series in the works of his.
65	* He Hog The Atomic Pig: An animated feature idea that he attempted to pitch. An incomplete animatic (with several shots fully inked and colored) is available online.
66	* One particularly deranged [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Simpsons]] couch gag (A link [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2011/10/simpsons-amid-interview-longwinded.html on his blog about making it]].)
67	** He returned to make [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB03kM8kbHs another one]] for "Treehouse of Horror XXVI".
68	* [[Music/StraightOuttaLynwood "Close But No Cigar"]] music video for Music/WeirdAlYankovic.
69	* WesternAnimation/CansWithoutLabels (2019): An animated short funded with Kickstarter.
70	* WesternAnimation/FreeBirds: Did preproduction work on the film, and posted much of his art for it [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/ on his blog.]]
71	* Doing art for Music/MileyCyrus's Bangerz tour.
72	* Doing short animated commercial bumpers for Creator/AdultSwim.
73	* ''[[Film/HappyHappyJoyJoyTheRenAndStimpyStory Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren And Stimpy Story]]'': Interviewee.
74	-----
75	!!John Kricfaluci's works provide examples of:
76	%%As with all Creator/ pages, trivia tropes about the creator specifically are to be posted here, not a Trivia/ page, as they technically are InUniverse in the case of the person's career.
77	%%However: As with all Creator/ pages, items that could go on a specific work's trivia page go there, not here.
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79	* AlanSmithee:
80	** The ''Ren and Stimpy'' episode "Nurse Stimpy," which John was wholly dissatisfied with, is credited to Raymund Spum.
81	** He contributed a Flintstones parody comic to issue 9 of Creator/RobertCrumb's ''Weirdo'' magazine under the alias of Billy Bunting, a reference to the literary character [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Bunter Billy Bunter.]]
82	** He also wrote notoriously inflammatory reviews of ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/WereBackADinosaursStory'' under the name Tom Payne, animator and historian.
83	* AlternateDVDCommentary: He did commentary for the Ren and Stimpy [=DVDs=], including some episodes after he was fired from the show.
84	* AnimatedMusicVideo: Made several, as listed above.
85	* ArtEvolution: While he had always drawn and animated with his trademark style, his move to 2D computer animation with Flash clearly had an effect on it, as he was recreating the same type of cartoons he had previously made with a set of tools not at all intended for it. Once UsefulNotes/ToonBoom came along, allowing him to do paperless hand-drawn stuff, he vowed never to animate on paper again.
86	* AuthorAppeal: [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/09/kirk-greatest-hollywood-actor.html Kirk Douglas]].
87	* BreakthroughHit: ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'', without a doubt. Though his notorious reputation brought about by the same show meant he would ultimately remain a OneHitWonder.
88	* BrokeTheRatingScale: He reviewed ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs'' on [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2009/09/review-of-meatballs.html his blog]], giving it a rating of "zero" despite liking a few things about it, such as the visuals. [[DamnedByFaintPraise He adds that this was actually a good score, as he usually gives negative numbers to recent animated films.]]
89	* CareerResurrection: He attempted this when he tried to launch a new Florida animation studio in 2018, but it backfired when he was forced to shut down the studio, and then blacklisted from Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Nickelodeon, when news broke out of his sexual predator behavior.
90	* CastOfSnowflakes: His cartoons are full of them, almost all based on people or actors Kricfalusi had observed throughout his life.
91	* CloudCuckooLander: The characters in his work all seem pretty insane or dysfunctional.
92	* ColorContrast: He has written many blog posts detailing how to properly use color contrast in animation. He has also noted how anime is brimming with good color mixers (an unusual break from his general dislike for modern animation).
93	* ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch: A rather infamous one regarding ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': under the pseudonym Tom Paine, he bashed the show before it aired, even admitting he hadn't watched a full episode (supposedly out of spite to Tom Ruegger and the staff of ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' due to CreativeDifferences).
94	* CreatorBacklash: For a guy infamous for his haughty critiques of popular cartoons, the one artist he seemed to be hardest on was himself:
95	** 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 "embarrassing 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.
96	** He is not fond of ''WesternAnimation/TheRippingFriends''.
97	** He disliked how he was (supposedly) [[ExecutiveMeddling forced to add]] strong adult themes to ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpyAdultPartyCartoon''.
98	** He dismissed his contributions to the video game ''Yoake No Mariko'' as "pretty bland".
99	* CreatorBreakdown: According to William Wray, a [[TraumaCongaLine combination]] of John losing ''Ren and Stimpy'', letting the show's success go to his head ''and'' losing his longtime girlfriend Lynne Naylor during its production were all factors in his career gradually spiraling downhill from then on. The fact that he was trying and failing miserably to cope with bad memories of his rough childhood (which often [[RealitySubtext seeped into the show itself]]), was suffering from two undiagnosed mental illnesses (including bipolar disorder) and was a heavy alcoholic did ''not'' help with this.
100	-->"As far as I know what seemed to trigger the real acting out was the loss of his long time girlfriend, the rise of his power/fame and then the loss of Ren And Stimpy. This trifecta of emotional highs and lows seemed to open him up to a kind of total recklessness and plunged him into a bitter take no prisoners martyrdom. Spumco truly became the John K. House of worship, free of voices of reason. I do think he was brilliant and original visionary who was smart enough to know he needed a unique as him crew of artists and writers to make R and S great, but after he cracked, he forgot he had a great team, great timing in a low ebb in the Animation world, a great new network that believed in him and gave him the world and the love of millions of fans."
101	* 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, Spümcø, 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 the studio was immediately sacked once news about his sexually predatory behavior came to light in March 2018, [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor destroying what little he had left of a career.]]
102	* DarkerAndEdgier: His cartoons in contrast to what else was coming out in the 90's -- what other cartoon of the early 90's can you name where characters go through nightmarish psychodramas, brutally beat up someone for playing mind games with them, or pluck the roots of teeth from their gums? His work after the original Ren and Stimpy tends to crank up the vulgarity and adult subject matter even more, and far more than even most modern adult cartoons are willing to go.
103	* DependingOnTheArtist: Kricfalusi allowed his artists to experiment with their own individual styles on the show, as a callback to how Creator/BobClampett allowed his animators to deviate from the official character model sheets to make a specific pose or expression.
104	* DerangedAnimation: He considers this to be the main appeal of cartoons - the biggest reason he got into the animation industry was to bring this back to what he considered the less interesting cartoons of the '80s.
105	* DevelopmentHell: His last project, ''WesternAnimation/CansWithoutLabels'', reached its goal on Kickstarter in 2013, but wasn't finished and released until 2019.
106	* DigitalDestruction: The TropeNamer is one of his articles which goes into how the "restorations" of older cartoons were actually making them ''worse'' than before. He apparently wrote the articles in response to poor "restorations" of the ''Ren and Stimpy'' DVD boxsets brought on by DVNR.
107	* DVDCommentary: He did several commentaries for the second and third volumes of the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Golden Collection series, but refused to do any more of them due to his complaints about the DigitalDestruction in those sets. Strangely, he supplied one more commentary for the fifth volume. He also supplied some commentaries for the official ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' DVD sets, and Thunderbean's WartimeCartoon sets. Obviously, he also provided commentaries for ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' DVD sets, even for the episodes he didn't work on.
108	* {{Fanservice}}: His works, especially his post-Ren and Stimpy works, are loaded with curvy and busty, often skimpily dressed or occasionally nude girls, and he considered sexy girls to be an important part of cartoons. See "Naked Beach Frenzy" for just one example of this.
109	* FlipFlopOfGod: On Ren And Stimpy's sexuality.
110	** He has been quoted as saying that he didn't know or care if they were gay (saying it was [[ShrugOfGod "none of his business"]]), but it's pretty clear that they are if APC is anything to go by.
111	** He usually said that they are only gay "when [[RuleOfFunny it's funny]]."
112	* GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld: Nickelodeon owned the rights to ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'', so they continued production without Kricfalusi after they terminated his contract. He actually got another chance to helm control of his creation when he was brought back for the ''Adult Party Cartoon'' revival, but it was the last time he would have any official involvement with the franchise, as it has been confirmed that, in light of the statutory rape scandal, the Comedy Central reboot is being made without any involvement from Kricfalusi whatsoever.
113	* GrayAndGreyMorality: You won't be finding much clear cut morality in his works. All of his characters are either batshit crazy or have some serious vices or personality flaws that cause conflict between each other.
114	* GrossoutShow: The TropeMaker is ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow''. He took this up to eleven in Adult Party Cartoon. He eventually became tired of gross-out gags and wished to focus more on personality and acting in his cartoons.
115	* GrossUpCloseUp: Pioneered the use of this in ''Ren and Stimpy''.
116	* HeAlsoDid:
117	** This [[MindScrew insane]] [[https://youtu.be/cTZ7XZIiT7o?si=FOpHXWW4JqcJdRga music video]] with Music/{{Bjork}}.
118	** Provided [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZOSybWPvc0 animation]] for Music/MileyCyrus' 2013-14 ''Bangerz'' tour.
119	** Did [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtMU8nvZzOs this video]] for the Music/WeirdAl song "Close But No Cigar".
120	* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: He loved mining hardass child-rearing for all the comedy it is worth, especially in the form of "traditional" fathers like George Liquor and Anthony's Dad.
121	* HomoeroticSubtext: A John K trademark. Used all over his cartoons, especially Ren & Stimpy. He was a specialist on finding such content in other cartoons, particularly Disney films.
122	* KeepCirculatingTheTapes:
123	** Since his predatory behavior came to light, it's very unlikely that any of his cartoons (aside from ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'') will ever see an official re-release in the future.
124	** This goes double for any of his independent projects, since these are still owned by him personally, and it's very unlikely anyone would pay royalties to officially release them; let alone Kricfalusi's family wanting to inherit them in the future.
125	* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: His cartoons from around the 2010s and onward abandoned the famous pose to pose LimitedAnimation and gross out humor style of Ren and Stimpy in favor of a ''very'' loose, downright surrealistic style of animation and humor, and rarely if ever had anything resembling plots or narratives. He claimed after he got to watch a ton of early 1930s cartoons, he had simply grown bored with his old style and decided to go in a different direction.
126	* LineOfSightName: George Liquor was named for a liquor store that he and a colleague walked past in Los Angeles. John was immediately inspired to create a character around the name. Similarly, Rev. Jack Cheese was named after his culture shock of discovering actual jack cheese after coming to America (jack cheese is not available in Canada).
127	* LyingCreator: To say the least, many of his stories about Spumco and his career in animation had been called into question by his animation contemporaries, especially in regards to his views on the history of Ren and Stimpy.
128	* MagnumOpusDissonance:
129	** He is best remembered for Ren and Stimpy, but Kricfalusi considered George Liquor to be his strongest character.
130	** While he is as critical of APC as the next guy, he considered the APC episode "Altruists" to be the best episode of Ren and Stimpy he has ever made. Needless to say, the fandom disagreed with him. Hard.
131	* RatedMForManly: His works are shamelessly chauvinistic and go out of their way to play this up as part of their un-PC nature. It should come as no surprise since Creator/KirkDouglas is Kricfalusi's idol, as well as the fact that Kricfalusi is a big fan of FilmNoir and the absolutely brutal 90's period of [[UsefulNotes/UltimateFightingChampionship UFC.]]
132	* RealitySubtext: His cartoons are full of this, and he made no mystery that many of his cartoons were based on or otherwise inspired by real life events.
133	** ''Ren and Stimpy'' premiered at the tail end of the AIDS crisis, and a big part of its controversy was American parents not only finding the show disgusting but fearing the ramifications of children laughing at bodily fluids at a time when most of the country was outwardly afraid of them. Kricfalusi, being the type of guy who considered vulgarity to be the most human source of comedy, made this a big part of the show's appeal.
134	** It's no accident that many episodes of his iconic show are centered around Ren's mental instability, considering the eventual discovery that Kricfalusi suffers from both bipolar disorder and ADHD, both of which he [[TheAlcoholic self-medicated with alcohol]].
135	** All of his depictions of [[AbusiveParents abusive or overly-stern father characters]], especially George Liquor, were Kricfalusi's way of venting his anger at his own hyper-masculine father. The cartoons in which they appear are largely based on the ways that his father bullied him as a child. The elder Kricfalusi even voiced Ren's father in "Ren Seeks Help."
136	** "Fire Dogs II" has been described by Kricfalusi as being a documentary about what it was like working with Creator/RalphBakshi.
137	** "Stimpy's Pregnant" was based on a combination of a very early story pitch for a Ren and Stimpy episode and the real life pregnancy of Spumco artist Annmarie Ashkar Mccarty.
138	** On a more tragic note, his cartoons saw an influx of jailbait characters in the fifteen years that he was courting (read: raping) numerous teenage girls.
139	* ReclusiveArtist: After his predatory behavior towards women and teens came to light in March 2018, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere he deleted almost all of his social media accounts]] and disappeared from the public eye. Kricfalusi's only work since then has been the infamous ''WesternAnimation/CansWithoutLabels'' short. However, Kricfalusi later appeared in the ''Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren and Stimpy Story'' documentary, which was released in 2020.
140	* RoleEndingMisdemeanor: Kricfalusi's notoriously bad temper and abrasive demeanor resulted in this trope more than once for him, and eventually destroyed his career outright:
141	** While the envelope-pushing content of ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' already made his relationship with Nickelodeon rocky, it had less to do with Kricfalusi's firing than he insists. Rather, it was the network's thinning patience with Kricfalusi's tactless attitude and refusal to cooperate. The [[TheLastStraw misdemeanor in question which got him fired]] was the more mundane crime of sending Nickelodeon executive Linda Simensky a StronglyWordedLetter saying [[MyWayOrTheHighway episodes would "cost what they cost and take as much time as necessary."]] [[SarcasmMode Surprisingly]], Simensky took this less as it was intended and more as sign that she needed to fire John from the show before things got even worse.
142	** 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 reluctantly decided to shut down 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.
143	* ScheduleSlip: Nearly every production he has been involved with has been fraught with production delays. While he insisted that episodes of ''Ren and Stimpy'' were withheld from broadcast because executives forced him to tone down the vulgar content, those present claim that it was more often because he refused to move forward with production on anything if it wasn't 110% to his liking. Inversely, ''Cans Without Labels'' was held up for ''six years'' for seemingly no other reason that he lost interest and didn't feel like finishing it until his backers started hounding him about it.
144	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Once the sexual abuse allegations came to light, Kricfalusi quickly decided to shut down all of his social media accounts except for Facebook.
145	* SignatureStyle: Grossout gags and surreal cartoon drawings, often combined with "psychodramas" (as Nickelodeon called them), although he eventually moved on from grossout humor after getting tired of using it.
146	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: His works land on the Cynicism end of the scale, especially in ''Ren and Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon''. He had no tact when it came to discussing offensive subject matter or the hardships of life and of being a cartoonist. His definition of a real cartoonist (using cartoonists like Virgil Partch and Robert Crumb as examples) was that it required you to be a hard-edged, salty person who has a no nonsense outlook on life, but plays its hardships and the faults and hypocrisy of humanity for laughs. This, more than any other reason, is why he was in favor of cartoon animation of the kind like Fleischer and Warner Bros. did as opposed to that of Disney, whose worldview and style of cartooning is as far as you can get from that kind of abrasive outlook. Heck, one of the unfinished episodes for ''Adult Party Cartoon'' was called "Life Sucks", and it was every bit as nihilistic as you would expect.
147	* SlidingScaleOfRealisticVersusFantastic: All of his works land on the Surreal end of the scale, especially his cartoons from 2010 and on.
148	* SurrealHumor: His works relied on this kind of comedy as much as they did vulgar gags. Take for example the living duck bill gag in "Altruists" or the visual gags present in the music videos he animated on. His works from 2010 and on played up the surrealist gags and animation even more.
149	* TaughtByExperience: Nearly all of his skills as an animator are self-taught from tirelessly studying classic cartoons. The closest formal education he had was one semester at Sheridan College, from which he was expelled for poor attendance.
150	* TechnicianVersusPerformer: Split right in the middle. He strongly believes that you should be a very skilled artist to be an animator, but also believes that said skills should be in the service of entertaining an audience, and not just focusing solely on refining your skills in craftsmanship.
151	* TheTwelvePrinciplesOfAnimation: He feels only the first five (Solid Drawing, Appeal, Exaggeration, Staging and Timing) are truly essential principles, and pointed to shows like WesternAnimation/RogerRamjet to prove that no matter how low budget your animation is, you can still make a great cartoon using these principles alone. With that said, he started experimenting with full animation in the name of funny movement, due to becoming bored with pose-to-pose animation like he did on ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpy''.
152	* VulgarHumor: All of his work was very, very much in favor of this and playing shocking, politically incorrect subjects for laughs. Ren and Stimpy is most famous for this due to its GrossoutShow nature, but his work after that cranked it up even further. In an interview discussing ''ComicBook/SpumcoComicBook'', he made it clear that his intention for it was to completely spit in the face of political correctness.
153	-->"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."
154	* WellDoneSonGuy: He has a rather infamous complex regarding his father ([[JockDadNerdSon who was a hyper-masculine man's man who hated that his son became a cartoonist]]) which bled into practically everything he worked on.
155	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
156	** During the 1980's when Kricfalusi was working on ''Mighty Mouse'', Creator/RalphBakshi had recognized Kricfalusi's talent. Bakshi and Kricfalusi were planning on teaming up to do an animated film called "Bobby's Girl". [[TeenDrama Which was set to be a parody of the teen comedies during the time]]. However [[Creator/TriStarPictures TriStar]] [[ExecutiveMeddling canceled the project]]. But artwork of this proposed project can be seen in the [[http://www.amazon.com/Unfiltered-Complete-Bakshi-Behind-Mighty/dp/0789316846 Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi]] book. It's interesting to think what Kricfalusi's career would have been like if he were a film director, not a creator of television shows.
157	** He went into Creator/DreamWorksAnimation to pitch a movie, and came back with an ExecutiveMeddling [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2009/07/ideas-arenas-modern-way-to-write.html horror story]].
158	** When Kricfalusi was first fired, many cartoons he was working on were left on the cutting room floor. It's interesting to think how his career and show would have gone if he hadn't have been fired.
159	*** One of the scrapped projects in particular was a pilot for a Disney animated series called ''Green Monkeys''. This is ironic because he often bashes Disney.
160	** The kickstarter campaign for ''Cans Without Labels'' proposed a campaign for a follow-up short starring Sody Pop as a stretch goal. 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.
161	** In the early 2010s, he started putting together a new studio in Florida, which would be quickly destroyed (and this was ''before'' the hebephilia accusations).
162	* WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings
163	** Kricfalusi used to host regular AIM chats with the fandom, and post Q&A sessions on certain ''Ren & Stimpy'' message boards. Some chats and question sessions went well, at least at first. However, after a large amount of "heckling" and being drowned out with constant clamoring requests of "Do you like this show? What do you think of this show? What's your opinion on anime?", etc. (mostly done for the purpose of troll-baiting his opinionated statements against animated shows he didn't like), with even moderation not helping matters of people getting somewhat out of hand, he dropped this method of communication altogether.
164	** He later created [[Blog/JohnKStuff his own self-moderated blog]] to talk about various subjects and drawing and animated character theories, and did participate in comment discussions there. He has restrained himself from making as many overt statements about cartoons he does not like quite as much, having focused more of his attention on simply praising the inspirations he does admire.
165	** After the hebephilia accusations first came to light, he shut down all commenting on his blog, deleted his Twitter account, and to this day, he only sporadically active on Facebook, where the only thing he does is try to sell his art via Shopify and his old blog, and he deletes any comments and blocks any users that challenge him about the scandal.

Context Creator / JohnKricfalusi