Web Animation / Weekend Pussy Hunt

"That is it! I'm funny! But don't you dare laugh at me!"

"Weekend Pussy Hunt was a Film Noir cartoon. We serialized it so that every week there'd be a cliffhanger. Its style was a 1940s live-action film noir movie. and we based one of the characters, Dirty Dog, on one of my favorite movie actors, Robert Ryan. Weekend Pussy Hunt was basically a chase movie, a really dark hardboiled thriller. We started off fooling the audience. We wanted them to think it was like a 1940s Warner Brothers chase cartoon between a dog and a cat, but as we moved on, they got uglier and uglier and uglier. You found out more about who this dog was; he was the king of the underworld animals in the neighborhood. So it becomes this ugly dark film noir kind of a movie."

—John Kricfalusi, discussing the series in an interview for "TV Freak Feature"

Weekend Pussy Hunt is an early web-only flash cartoon made during 1999 for Icebox.com (but was originally produced for MSN in 1997), created and directed by John Kricfalusi. Unlike John's previous flash cartoon, The Goddamn George Liquor Program, it has the distinction of being "the world's first interactive web-based cartoon".

The story is centered around the characters of Cigarettes the Cat (voiced by Eddie Fitzgerald) and Dirty Dog (voiced by John Kricfalusi). After briefly hanging around with George Liquor and Jimmy the Idiot Boy, Dirty is harassed by Cigarettes and his irritating laughter, prompting his wrath and a chase soon after. Cigarettes hides out with his pal Bugs Pussy in a trash can, but quickly learns from him that the dog he was just screwing around with has a much darker side to him than he anticipated, and that him annoying Dirty will have long-term repercussions...

As mentioned in the quote above, the series is a Affectionate Parody of 1940's Film Noir. As one would expect from John K's work, it features his trademark bizarre animation and over the top acting, gross out jokes and unique characters.

Unfortunately, the series was never finished; Icebox.com ran out of funding during production of episode 13, and the entire staff was laid off with four more episodes to go. The flash shorts were eventually taken down, but all of the existing episodes have been uploaded to Youtube (but viewing them comes with a warning, as much of the content is decidedly NSFW).

Cigarettes the Cat would later appear in the music video for Weird Al's song "Close but No Cigar" and Cans Without Labels.

"Weekend Trope Hunt":

• Affectionate Parody: Of 1940's film noir.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Cigarette's girlfriend is quickly won over by Dirty after being very forcefully kissed by him.
• Alliterative Name: Cigarettes the Cat and Dirty Dog.
• Annoying Laugh: Cigarettes uses this ad nauseum early in the short to irritate Dirty. Apparently, Cig's laugh is actually Eddie Fitzgerald's normal, real life laugh.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Dirty's brother, who he has no patience with and isn't above giving a brutal beatdown for talking back.
• The Artifact: The interactive portions in hindsight, now that the original cartoons were taken down and apparently only exist in video format now.
• Ascended Extra: Cigarettes and Dirty previously appeared as nondescript background pets in the aforementioned George Liquor program, before getting voices, actual personalities and a story centered around them here.
• Author Appeal: John K is a huge fan of Film Noir movies and actor Robert Ryan, both of which served as the basis of inspiration for the film noir nature of Weekend Pussy Hunt.
• Big Bad: Dirty Dog, a vicious, murderous womanizer who will carry a grudge to his grave, and spends much of the series trying to find and kill Cigarettes for annoying him so much earlier.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Seen when Dirty Dog French-kisses Cigarettes's girlfriend.
• Black-and-Grey Morality: The main protagonist is a pesky prankster who isn't above annoying other people for kicks (but is otherwise a fairly laid back guy) and the villain is a downright monster in contrast to him.
• Blood Knight: Dirty Dog clearly reaps pleasure from intimidating and killing anybody he can get his paws on, be a cat who got on his nerves, or his own brother.
• Bullying a Dragon: Cigarette annoying Dirty Dog, but he doesn't know he was doing this until later, when Bugs Pussy explains to him just what kind of a sick monster Dirty Dog really is.
• Cain and Abel: Dirty and his younger brother.
• The Cameo: George Liquor and Jimmy the Idiot Boy make brief appearances in the first minute or so, but otherwise have no role in the plot.
• Calling The Older Sibling Out: Dirty's younger brother stands up to him for humiliating him in front of his girlfriend—and Dirty promptly gives him a Death Glare and beats the utter crap out of him.
• Cigarette of Anxiety: Among arriving at his girlfriend's apartment, Cigarettes the Cat appears to get one out of a pack of his namesake, but ends up stuffing all of them into his mouth to smoke at once.
• Cliffhanger: When the episodes originally aired, each one ended on this. Due to the unfinished status of the series however, the final episode ultimately ends with one that won't get resolved.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Dirty Dog starts off seemingly like a typical, easy to frustrate cartoon dog, but we quickly find out just how much of a threat he really is to Cigarettes.
• Darker and Edgier: In contrast to John's other work at the time, Weekend Pussy Hunt is very dark and vulgar, and not remotely kid-friendly at all. By the end, It almost feels like a prototype for Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon".
• Death Glare: Dirty gives one to his younger brother just before beating him up for standing up to him.
• Depending on the Artist: As with all of John's other cartoons, the characters appearances depend on who is drawing them and when.
• Deranged Animation: Not quite as over the top as The Ren & Stimpy Show was, but still full of bizarre, distorted drawings.
• Determinator: Bugs Pussy describes this as a trait of Dirty, and Dirty likewise intimidates Cig by telling him similar;
  Cigarettes: I better get out of here...I gotta hide out till he cools off!
  Bugs: Cools off?! (laughs hysterically) That's a good one! You don't understand—he doesn't cool off, he'll follow you... for YEARS if he has to. He doesn't care. And he'll find you... and he'll (mimes bone cracking) BREAK you. He'll carry a grudge to the grave! YOUR grave!
• Disproportionate Retribution: Dirty wants to kill Cigarettes just for laughing at him and annoying him earlier.
• Double Entendre: Dirty gives this to Cigarettes when he's intimidating him;
  "I've never lost a pussy yet! Don't think you're gonna be the first pussy to slip through my fingers..."
• Downer Ending: The Cliffhanger that that series ultimately ended on involved Dirty Dog cucking Cigarettes, basically stealing the guy's girl from him, and Cigarettes still on the run from Dirty Dog.
• The Dreaded: Dirty Dog, from what Bugs Pussy tells Cigarettes.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Dirty Dog (and a cat that looks similar and likely is Cigarettes) previously made brief, non-speaking appearances in The Goddamn George Liquor Program, as the household pets of George and Jimmy. Dirty and Cigarettes also made a brief, minor appearance in one of the Spumco Comic Books.
• Establishing Character Moment: The first few minutes establish Dirty's short temper, but Dirty shows his real colors in the scene where he torments his younger brother.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Subverted; Dirty Dog does have a visibly pregnant wife and three kids, but after having a fierce argument with his wife about coming home, he hangs up the phone and reveals he has a second wife—and just after having a huge argument with his first wife about he and his family having "honor"!
• Evil Is Hammy: Dirty Dog, who practically steals the show with his unbelievably over the top acting, especially when he's threatening to hunt down Cigarettes.
• Evil Is Petty: Dirty Dog swears bloody, murderous vengeance on Cigarettes simply for annoying him.
• Expy: Dirty Dog has more than a few similarities to another famous dog created by John K, but this is probably a coincidence, as Dirty is heavily based on actor Robert Ryan, one of John K's favorite actors, rather than Kirk Douglas and Peter Lorre, who were Ren's template (Although during the below-mentioned Madness Mantra, Dirty Dog does sound vaguely like Ren during his psychotic screaming episodes, as John K. himself voiced both Ren and Dirty Dog). Bugs Pussy also has a design that vaguely calls to mind Stimpy, but he has a completely different personality and voice characterization.
• Extremely Short Timespan: The entire story takes place in a single day.
• The Faceless: The sentient female leg that Dirty's younger brother is dating.
• Fake-Out Opening/Mood Whiplash: The first part of the cartoon starts off as a somewhat juvenile, humorous cat vs. dog cartoon, but shifts gears midway through to become a dark, melodramatic film noir tale.

• Funny Animal: Almost all of the characters (sans George Liquor, Jimmy, and Cigarette's girlfriend) are depicted as this.
• Furry Confusion: Almost none of the animals are drawn human like at all (in spite of acting human), yet Cigarette's cat girlfriend a human-like figure and is strongly implied to be the owner of her house.
• Gross-Out Show: There are many vulgar gags, many of which make The Ren & Stimpy Show seem tame in contrast.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Dirty Dog has this in spades—and he will carry a grudge to his death if you so much as annoy or laugh at him.
• Hypocritical Humor: Dirty chewing out his wife over the phone for wanting him to come home in the name of preserving his family's "honor" by chasing down Cigarettes...and then hanging up and calling his other wife, getting her a-ok to go after Cigarettes.
• Interspecies Romance: Dirty's younger brother was having a relationship with a sentient human leg.
• Knight of Cerebus: If you can't already tell by the abundance of tropes specifically about him, Dirty Dog is arguably this for the entire Spumco-verse; he makes Ren Hoek look like Jesus Christ in comparison!
• Laser-Guided Karma: Cigarettes certainly enjoyed irritating Dirty in the first few minutes, and he spends the rest of the cartoon paying for every moment of it.
• Left Hanging/No Ending: The series was never finished, so it leaves the ending where Cigarettes runs off from his girlfriends house (with Dirty in pursuit) very open ended.
• Limited Animation: Given that it's one of the oldest flash cartoons ever made, this is in full effect.
• Madness Mantra: Dirty Dog, when he's screaming "I'LL FIND YOU!" to Cigarettes ad nauseum. He says it 15 consecutive times!
• Mature Animal Story: While the cartoon is a comedy with talking animals, none of it is meant to be kid-friendly.
• Mind Screw: In a truly bizarre gag, Dirty dry humps Jimmy the Idiot Boy's leg in the beginning, which prompts the leg to "run nature's course" to give birth to little baby Jimmy-like things.
• Mouth Full of Smokes: Combined with Cigarette of Anxiety when Cigarettes the Cat arrives at his girlfriend's apartment.
• Ms. Fanservice: Cigarette's girlfriend, a buxom, leggy and skimpily dressed cat girl.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Dirty Dog is directly based off of actor Robert Ryan.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Dirty delivers one to his younger brother for basically talking back to him.
• No Name Given: Dirty's younger brother, and Cigarette's girlfriend.
• Not Even Human: Bugs Pussy describes Dirty Dog as this;
  "Dirty Dog ain't...human...he's an ANIMAL! He's a cold-blooded murderer! A cop-killer!"
• Offstage Villainy: While Bugs Pussy describes Dirty as a murderer and cop killer, we don't actually get to see Dirty murder anybody (although he gives his brother one heck of a beatdown), but judging by how terrified Bugs (and later a squirrel that Cigarettes tries to hide out with) is of him, and how malicious we see Dirty act, we take his word for it.
• Oh, Crap!: Bugs Pussy when he figures out Cigarettes was messing around with Dirty, and Cigarettes after Bugs explains to him who Dirty Dog is.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Downplayed, and not really an accent so much as a voice impersonation, but Dirty Dog is voiced by John K. much like Ren was from the first two seasons, but is based on Robert Ryan rather than Peter Lorre. However, during his Madness Mantra, his screaming vaguely begins to sound like Ren's screaming. Dirty Dog himself actually has a different voice during his introductory scene compared to the scene where he beats up his younger brother (Even though John K. voices him in both scenes).
• Precision F-Strike: Bugs Pussy delivers a "FUCK YOU!" to Cigarettes when he scrams, and Cigarettes returns an f-bomb in turn.
• Pun-Based Title: The whole series is really just an excuse to say "pussy" over and over.
• Running Into The Moonlight: The series unofficially ends with Cigarettes running off from his girl's house into the night, with Dirty in hot pursuit.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Bugs Pussy, once he realizes what kind of a mess Cig got himself into with Dirty.
• Secret Other Family: Dirty Dog calls his visibly pregnant wife and three kids to tell them that he's going to be late coming home because he's chasing a cat that made fun of him. After having a fierce argument with his wife about him chasing Cigarettes the Cat, on how much trouble he can get in and refusing to come home, Dirty calls his second wife, who is more supporting of him chasing Cigarettes.
• Serious Business: Dirty Dog explains to his wife over the phone that he considers hunting down Cigarettes this, as it would be an insult to his and his family's "honor" to do otherwise. When she tries to talk him out of it and get him to come home, he angrily refuses—and promptly calls his other wife, who gives him the A-OK.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Not long after we're introduced to Bugs Pussy, a more humorous, smug character, he just as quickly leaves the picture not long after he tells Cigarettes about who and what Dirty Dog is.
• Shout-Out: The name of Bugs Pussy is an obvious nod to Bugs Bunny. He even asks Cigarettes if he's "Still pullin' the old Looney Tunes crap, huh?"
• Spin-Off: Of "The Goddamn George Liquor Program" (which in turn was a Spin-Off of The Ren & Stimpy Show). George Liquor and Jimmy The Idiot Boy even appear briefly in the first episode, but otherwise have no role in the cartoon.
• Take Me Instead: When Dirty confronts Cigarettes in his girlfriends house, Cig finally mans up and surrenders himself to Dirty, as long as he doesn't hurt his girl. His loyalty isn't exactly repaid in the end.
• Thriller: The cartoon was described by John K as being "a really dark hardboiled thriller."
• Thick-Line Animation
• Troperiffic: The entire series has barely above 25 minutes worth of content (and possibly even less if you discount the interactive segments) and never even got finished, yet it is a surprisingly trope-rich cartoon, largely due to its Film Noir narrative.
• A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Apparently when Dirty isn't tormenting others, he's posing as the pet dog of George Liquor and Jimmy.
• You Can Run, but You Can't Hide: Dirty says this almost word for word to Cigarettes, but basically says he can run and hide, but it won't help him anyway.

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