Main Characters
Ren Hoek
Not Ren's natural state, but fitting nonetheless.
"They think I’m crazy. But I know better. It is not I who am crazy - it is I who am MAD!"
An asthma-hound Chihuahua prone to psychotic breakdowns and acts of violence. Whatever he does, expect for it to be somehow materially motivated.
- Anti-Hero: Somewhere between type IV and V, but Your Mileage May Vary.
- Ambiguously Gay: Word Of God says Ren likes human women, but "when you look like Ren, you take what you can get".
- Anti Role Model: Stimpy thinks otherwise, though.
- Ax Crazy
- Catch Phrase: "YOU EEDIOT!"
- "YOU SICK LITTLE MONKEY!"
- "Five bucks!"
- "WHAT EEEZ IT, MAN?!"
- "YOU FAT, BLOATED EEDIOT!"
- "YOU WOOORM!"
- Chew Toy: In the original series.
- Civilized Animal
- Collector of the Strange: Opera records, uncurable diseases, dinosaur droppings, and celebrity wigs.
- Comedic Sociopathy
- Cry Cute
- Deadpan Snarker: Sometimes. "What's so secret about that spot?"
- Dogs Are Dumb: Averted. Ren is rather intelligent and most definitely very cunning.
- Enfant Terrible
- Face Palm: Does this frequently. Best example is in "To Salve And Salve Not" when he does the after going insane for about five seconds and his face cracking and turning blue.
- Freudian Excuse: He explains his tendency to be violent with "the first sensation I felt in my life was unspeakable pain. From then on, I wanted to inflict the pain on others!". He was referring to a doctor who slapped him on the buttocks right after the carriage.
- Genius Bruiser
- Hair-Trigger Temper
- The Hedonist
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Word Of God confirmed that the "heterosexual" part varies depending on what is funnier for a specific episode.
- Humanlike Foot Anatomy
- I Am Not Weasel: he was mistaken for a number of other animals, like a rat, cat and even a mosquito.
- Insane Equals Violent: Sort of averted here. Ren is both insane and violent, but almost never at the same time. It's very scarce for him to perform acts of violence when he's having his psychotic Freak Outs. To the Pain monologues, on the other hand...
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: Something he complains about in "Sven Hoek" and "Stimpy's Fan Club". Also, Stimpy seems to be his only friend and admirer.
- Iron Butt Monkey
- Jerkass
- Kick the Morality Pet
- Large Ham
- Laughing Mad: frequent - John Kricfalusi admitted Billy West did the most extreme laughs, seeing as John isn't a professional voice actor and was unable to laugh madly enough.
- Man Hug: Not very manly in some instances, like "Stimpy's Fan Club".
- The Mentally Disturbed
- Nakama: Stimpy.
- No Respect Guy
- Odd Couple
- Raised Catholic: Revealed in "Ren Seeks Help".
- The Scrooge
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Stimpy's Sensitive Guy.
- Shorter Means Smarter: this varies, of course, due to the Off Modelness of the show - sometimes, Ren would be Stimpy's height, others, he would be noticeably smaller.
- Small Name, Big Ego
- Strong Family Resemblance: Averted with Sven. He has some typical canine traits, but in general resembles Stimpy much more than Ren, both in terms of appearance and personality.
- Ren's father would either resemble Ren physically, albeit taller (Ren Seeks Help), or look more like Sven (Hermit Ren).
- His mother looks like him more.
- Talking Animal
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In the Games episodes.
- Tsundere: Borderline type A.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist
- Villain Protagonist: In The Games episodes and the occasional episodes of Adult Party Cartoon.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Type A with Stimpy.
Stimpson J. Cat
Joy!
Voiced by:
Billy West (original series), Eric Bauza (
Adult Party Cartoon)
"I'm hiding in the closet...like an idiot."
St
eeimpy is an overweight manx cat with little brains (not as extremely little as, say,
Ralph Wiggum) and a big heart. Despite having to deal with Ren's
insanity and violence, he manages to put up with
everything.
- Ambiguously Gay: Prominent in the original series (unlike Ren, he was never portrayed as attracted to any female character), obvious in Adult Party Cartoon.
- Big Eater
- Butt Monkey
- The Caretaker
- Catch Phrase: "Oh joy!"
- Cats are Mean: Subverted. Stimpy is the nicest character on the show.
- Cloud Cuckoolander
- Collector of the Strange: Magic nose goblins.
- Dumb Is Good
- Extreme Doormat
- Fat Best Friend
- Fat Bloated EEDIOT
- Fat Cat
- Genius Ditz: Well, he thinks of and creates his own inventions. Some of which actually work, although their level of usefulness to humanity is unimpressive.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: On Stimpy's side, however, this is highly debatable. He may be either asexual, Bi the Way with no proof, or just down-straight gay. Adult Party Cartoon supports the last implication.
- Humanlike Foot Anatomy: Subverted, as he's toeless.
- I Am Not Weasel: George Liquor has mistaken him for a dog, but didn't change his stance in this matter even after being corrected by Stimpy.
- Iron Butt Monkey
- Mad Scientist: In his spare time, when he's not hanging around with Ren.
- Morality Chain: To Ren, to an extent - we can't be sure due to cases of Depending on the Writer.
- Odd Couple
- The Pollyanna: Except for "Ren Seeks Help", when he finally loses it.
- Reed Richards Is Useless: If Stimpy has the money and genius to make inventions like the Happy Helmet, why doesn't he sell some of them so that he and Ren won't have to keep changing jobs?
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy to Ren's Manly Man.
- Simpleton Voice: Modeled after another famous Cloudcuckoolander, Larry Fine.
- Species Surname
- Stupid Good
- Talking Animal
- White Gloves: Don't ask why he has fingernails over them, though.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Type A with Ren.
Other Recurring Characters
Mr. Horse
"No, sir. I don't like it."
Mr. Horse is perhaps the
Only Sane Man. But he might be the
Ax Crazy one, too. He was a doctor, a psychologist, a psychically unbalanced creep, a war hero, a spokesman for the United Nations, an airplane pilot and many, many more. Who knows what he really is?
George Liquor
Doesn't the grin alone make you want to slap him?
Voiced by: Michael Pataki
"It's discipline that begets love!"
George Liquor is an American so conservative, he thinks Republicans are communists. However, that part of his character was expanded in his own cartoon,
The Goddamn George Liquor Program - in
The Ren & Stimpy Show, he's portrayed as a man with a strong faith in rules and discipline. He's only made 2 appearances on the show, due to the
Nickelodeon execs' absolute condemnation for the character.
Powdered Toastman
Voiced by: Gary Owens
Muddy Mudskipper
Mr. Pipe
The Fire Chief
It's That Man Again
A smarmy, overly-enthusiastic travelling salesman who occasionally crosses paths with Ren and Stimpy. He also serves as the announcer for the Captain Hoek cartoons.
Abner Dimwitt and Ewalt Nitwitt
Kowalski
Wilbur Cobb
A former cartoon producer, first introduced in the episode "Stimpy's Cartoon", to whom the years have not been kind. He showed up in a few other shorts as a stock "rambling, crazy old man" character.
The Shaven Yak
Mrs. Buttloaves
Old Man Hunger
One-Shot Characters
Svën Höek
Jerry The Bellybutton Elf
Sarge
Brainchild
Stinky Wizzleteats
The Ghost
Ralph Bakshi
Yes, THAT
Ralph Bakshi. He appears solely in Fire Dogs II, with Ren and Stimpy hanging out with him.
