History WesternAnimation / SmilingFriends

* DysfunctionalFamily: Pim's revealed to have one when he takes Desmond to meet them. His mom gets into shouting matches with his dad, who's bitter from working in the mines all day. His sister is obsessed with her boyfriend and quite blunt about not liking him, and his littlest siblings mess around the house. The only one who seems relatively normal is his cousin, who at best is good at playing with tabletop skateboards. Pim admits to Charlie that he didn't remember his home life was like this because he hasn't visited since Christmas.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Smiling Faces itself. At first, it sounds like [[PeaceAndLoveIncorporated a shallow business]] destined to turn everyone into a StepfordSmiler, but it's mission to just cheer people up is shown to be completely sincere (especially once you see [[CrapsackWorld how much]] ''[[CrapsackWorld worse]]'' [[CrapsackWorld the world around it is]]). The boss himself, despite his deliberately off-putting appearance and behavior, is otherwise [[BenevolentBoss friendly]] and a loving (if odd) father.

* DarkParody: Of WeHelpTheHelpless cartoons like ''WesternAnimation/CareBears'', where instead of cheering up a moody kid or solving a friendship problem, the characters are essentially told to cure a suicidal man's depression.

* DarkIsNotEvil: The boss, despite his creepiness, is clearly a loving (if odd) father to his baby and his business doesn't seem to have any sinister ulterior motives.

* HeCleansUpNicely: [[spoiler:When Desmond cheers up, all of his hair grows back, his skin becomes nicer with no wrinkles or veins, and he puts on a nice suit.]]

* InMemoriam: [[invoked]]Spoofed. The credits include a slightly distorted picture of animator Adam Paloian, accompanied by the captions "In Loving Memory, Johnathan Q. Shrimpling (2004 - 2017)". Need I remind you of [[AprilFoolsDay the air date?]]

* CastOfSnowflakes: Not only does each character have a unique design, but many are drawn in radically different art styles: Charlie, Alan and Pim are all simplistic {{cartoon creature}}s, the boss and Desmond are drawn with overly-detailed anatomy, Desmond's mother is basically an animated ''doodle'' and one character is even {{rotoscop|ing}}ed. The only "normal"-looking character is Dave.

* CastOfSnowflakes: Not only does each character have a unique design, but many are drawn in radically different art styles: Charlie, Alan and Pim are all simplistic {{cartoon creature}}s, the boss and Desmond are drawn with overly-detailed anatomy, Desmond's mother is basically an animated ''doodle'' and one character is even {{rotoscope}}d. The only "normal"-looking character is Dave.

* GainaxEnding: The pilot ends with the dancing creature from the TV breaking out of the screen, [[MotorMouth rapidly saying "Hello, thank you for watching!"]], with Charlie and Alan [[OhCrap panicking about it and arguing about who should grab it]].

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* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Zig-zagged. Some characters have vibrant colors and cartoony physiology, while the ostendibly human characters possess more realistic skin tones.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Many. Some include the boss and his child, [[spoiler: the suspicious man living in the office walls, and the alien bursting from the tv.]]
* BlackComedy: For starters, the A-Plot consists of two guys trying to convince a man not to kill himself. [[RefugeInAudacity And he keeps the gun to his head the whole time.]]

* CrucifiedHeroShot: [[spoiler: Alan just wanted his cheese.]]

* {{Fingore}}: Alan finds his seventy-fourth paperclip when the bliblie stabs his finger with its bent point. [[spoiler: And then the Bliblies crucify him.]]
* FourFingeredHand: The extra detail of a fifth digit is only added for select instances where a human's hand is in focus. ex. Desmond holding his revolver.

* HeCleansUpNicely: [[spoiler: When Desmond cheers up, all of his hair grows back, his skin becomes nicer with no wrinkles or veins, and he puts on a nice suit.]]
* {{Infomercial}}: [[spoiler: The newly-invigorated Desmond stars in one for his new bliblie extermination business.]]

* NamedworldAndNamedland: Daveland, and amusement park themed entirely around its founder: some guy named Dave.
* StandardOfficeSetting: Downplayed. Most of the scenes in the Smiling Friends building take place in the staff break room. The only office shown is their boss', which is dimly colored and barren aside from the door and the desk.

* TelevisionPortal: [[spoiler: Not so much a portal as a shattered barrier, but the alien on TV goes through it nonetheless.]]

The pilot (titled "Desmond’s Big Day Out") focuses on the titular Smiling Friends, a business with the purpose of putting a smile on their clients' faces. Charlie (Zach Hadel) and Pim (Michael Cusack) have been assigned a job to cheer up Desmond ([[WebVideo/RedLetterMedia Mike Stoklasa]]), a middle-aged man that has lost all purpose in his life. Meanwhile, their coworker, Alan (Michael Cusack), is preoccupied with finding whoever stole his precious cheese and thirty-fourth paperclip.

* {{Fingore}}: Alan finds his thirty-fourth paperclip when the bliblie stabs his finger with its bent point. [[spoiler: And then the Bliblies crucify him.]]

* BigGuyLittleGuy: Charlie and Pim. There’s also Alan and Glem, the lanky red thing with a tie and the small green character that speaks gibberish.

* {{Fingore}}: Alan finds his forty-seventh paperclip when the bliblie stabs his finger with its bent point.

The pilot (titled "Desmond’s Big Day Out") focuses on the titular Smiling Friends, a business with the purpose of putting a smile on their clients' faces. Charlie (Zach Hadel) and Pim (Michael Cusack) have been assigned a job to cheer up Desmond ([[WebVideo/RedLetterMedia Mike Stoklasa]]), a middle-aged man that has lost all purpose in his life. Meanwhile, their coworker Alan ([[Website/{{Newgrounds}} Top Fulp]]), is preoccupied with finding whoever stole his precious cheese and thirty-fourth paperclip.

The pilot (titled "Desmond’s Big Day Out") focuses on the titular Smiling Friends, a business with the purpose of putting a smile on their clients' faces. Charlie (Zach Hadel) and Pim (Michael Cusack) have been assigned a job to cheer up Desmond ([[WebVideo/RedLetterMedia Mike Stoklasa]]), a middle-aged man that has lost all purpose in his life. Meanwhile, their coworker Alan ([[Website/{{Newgrounds}} Top Fulp]]), is preoccupied with finding whoever stole his precious cheese and forty-seventh paperclip.

* BigGuyLittleGuy: Charlie and Pim.

** Desmond's wife left him, she took the kids, and his dog [[DeathByeDespair died of a broken heart]] last Fall. Is it any wonder he's considering suicide now?

The pilot (titled "Desmond’s Big Day Out") focuses on the titular Smiling Friends, a business with the purpose of putting a smile on their clients' faces. Charlie and Pim have been assigned a job to cheer up a middle-aged man that has lost all purpose in his life. Meanwhile, their coworker Alan, is preoccupied with finding whoever stole his precious cheese and forty-seventh paperclip.

* DysfunctionalFamily: Pim's revealed to have one when he takes Desmond to meet them. His mom gets into shouting matches with his dad, who's bitter from working in the mines all day. His sister is obsessed with her boyfriend and quite blunt about not liking him, and his littlest siblings mess around the house. The only one who seems relatively normal is his brother, who at best is good at playing with tabletop skateboards. Pim admits to Charlie that he didn't remember his home life was like this because he hasn't visited since Christmas.

** Desmond's wife left him, she took the kids, and his dog died of heart problems some time ago. Is it any wonder he's considering suicide now?

* DarkParody: Of WeHelpTheHelpless cartoons like ''WesternAnimation/CareBears'', where the characters are given a problem that can't be easily solved.

The pilot (titled Desmond’s Big Day Out) focuses on the titular Smiling Friends, a business with the purpose of putting a smile on their clients' faces. Charlie and Pim have been assigned a job to cheer up a middle-aged man that has lost all purpose in his life. Meanwhile, their coworker Alan, is preoccupied with finding whoever stole his precious cheese and forty-seventh paperclip.

Smiling Friends is an eleven minute cartoon pilot written and directed by internet animators [[https://www.youtube.com/user/psychicpebbles Zach "Pyschicpebbles" Hadel]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkHPqmBsJkws8HbPP1cd_NA Michael Cusack]], which was initially aired by Creator/AdultSwim on April 1st, 2020.

* TelevisionPortal: [[spoiler: Not so much a portal as a shattered barrier, but the alien of TV goes through it nonetheless.]]

* DarkHumor: For starters, the A Plot consists of two guys trying to convince a man not to kill himself.

* InMemoriam: Spoofed. The credits include a slightly distorted picture of animator Adam Paloian, accompanied by the captions "In Loving Memory, Johnathan Q. Shrimpling (2004 - 2017)". Need I remind you of [[AprilFoolsDay the air date?]]

* TelevisionPortal: [[ThankingTheViewer hello thank you for watching :-)]]

* ThoseTwoGuys: Again, Charlie and Pim.