Western Animation / KaBlam!

Chris: We crammed more cartoons into a half hour than anyone else.
Will: That was our promise, right?

— Chris Viscardi and Will McRobb, show co-creators, on KaBlam, from Not Just Cartoons: Nicktoons

KaBlam! - "where cartoons and comics collide" - is an Animated Anthology show designed to show off more animated shows (mostly failed pilots and experimental pieces), and the first spin-off of All That.

Running only a half-hour, it crammed in four two-to-five minute programs per episode as well as various miscellaneous animated short series that would come and go. It spawned three spinoffs, Action League NOW! (which was the centerpiece of KaBlam! throughout its run), Angela Anaconda, and Untalkative Bunny. It was masterminded by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, the creators of The Adventures of Pete & Pete (McRobb also wrote for Nick's original Doug and The Ren & Stimpy Show), as well as Robert Mittenthal, who co-created Nickelodeon's incarnation of Double Dare.

It aired on Nickelodeon from 1996-2000, with many episodes left unaired, even when the show reran on Nicktoons TV (a Nickelodeon spin-off that airs any old or failed Nicktoons series).

It was hosted by Henry and June, who resided inside a comic book (which was more notable earlier on; season four toned down most of the comic book references except for "turning the page") in which they frequently broke the fourth wall, mocked cartoon cliches, and got into their own adventures.

Common shorts on the show included:

• Sniz and Fondue, the story of two geeky Funny Animal roommates of indeterminate species (they're Inexplicably Tailless anthropomorphic ferrets). Filmed in traditional animation.
• Action League NOW!, which followed the misadventures of a band of incompetent action figure superheroes. Filmed in a mix of stop-motion and live-action described as "Chuck-imation".
• Life with Loopy, the adventures of Loopy, a spunky girl who gets into bizarre situations, as related by her older brother. Filmed in a mix of stop-motion, puppetry and live-action performed by the short's creators.
• Prometheus and Bob, the practically dialogue-free chronicles of an alien (Prometheus) and his attempts to educate a caveman (Bob), made hilariously unsuccessful by Promethesus's arrogance, a meddling chimpanzee, and Bob's overwhelming stupidity. Filmed in stop-motion, using clay ("claymation").

These appeared in almost every episode, with the exception of Life with Loopy which suffered frequent Schedule Slippage in season two, and Sniz and Fondue when creator Mike Brandon left Nickelodeon in the middle of season three.

Other recurring shorts were:

• Surprising Shorts, which had no recurring characters or plot or art style but seemed to be the overarching title given for a series of one-off cartoons. It appeared occasionally during the first two seasons.
  • There were some one-off cartoons that did not fall under the Surprising Shorts title, but were presented as their own entities.
  • Lava, a recurring series under the Surprising Shorts banner featuring different animals in a distinctive, hand drawn style. These shorts were so short that they would usually appear in addition to the 4 regular shorts in an episode. They have not aired since 2000 due to Nickelodeon having only temporary airing rights. Some episodes containing the shorter shorts still aired with them cut out due to their short length.
• The Off-Beats, a traditionally-animated series created by Mo Willems of Sheep in the Big City and Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, about a group of unpopular kids (plus a talking dog) who don't fit in with the mean-spirited and snooty Populars. But when the Populars pick on the Off-Beats, guess who gets the last laugh 90% of the time? Occasionally replaced Life with Loopy or Sniz and Fondue during the first two seasons. Although it was considered one of KaBlam!'s best shorts, it was the first of the regulars to end because of Willem's creating Sheep in the Big City for Cartoon Network. The concept for the shorts originated from a short Willems did for Sesame Street in 1993 about Grubby Groo (a recurring character in The Off-Beats).
• Race Rabbit, which was a live-action show about a rabbit who races. Created by Scott Fellows, who later made Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Johnny Test, and Big Time Rush.
• JetCat, created by Jay Stephens of The Secret Saturdays and Tutenstein, about a girl with a cat-themed superhero alter ego. It, along with Race Rabbit, replaced Sniz and Fondue when it left and stayed for the rest of the series.
• The Brothers Tiki, about two alien explorers (who look like tiki idols) that get stranded on Earth after their ship is mistaken for a barbecue grill and destroyed. Filmed with puppetry and some bits of stop-motion.

The show has a strong cult following among fans of '90s Nickelodeon, and is currently being considered for TeenNick's The 90's Are All That block, although Nick would have to spend a ton of money for rights from the creators of the shorts in order for the show to air (The only parts of the show Nickelodeon flat out owns are the Henry & June and ALN material). On August 27th, 2016, Kablam! was revealed to air on television for the first time in 10 years on Teen Nick's block, NickRewind celebrating 25 years of Nicktoons.

All episodes can now be viewed legally on Mark Marek's official site (or, following the death of Flash and thus the site's interface, the Wayback Machine - just filter to the word 'kablam' without quotes - episode 42 may seem like it's missing but is actually titled HENRY_JUNE_Special_LR.mov), and 37 of the 48 episodes can be streamed on Paramount+.

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Note: Action League NOW!, Angela Anaconda and Untalkative Bunny have their own pages. Any related tropes should be listed there.

This show features examples of:

• Action Mom: Loopy finds out her mom is a secret agent.
• Aerith and Bob:
  • Prometheus and Bob.
  • Lupecia "Loopy" Cooper and her brother, Larry.
  • One of the Boolies from Race Rabbit is named Zit. His brother's name is the far more normal Winston.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: In the Henry and June shorts, some crowd scenes show people with purple, green, or blue skin, as well as the usual flesh tones.
• Animated Actors: Henry and June occasionally appear to be this, especially in the later episodes.
• Animated Adaptation: The Jetcat shorts were based on the comic book of the same name.
• Animated Anthology: It had three-to-four recurring sketches each week.
• Anime Hair: Henry is shown to have green hair which sticks out in improbable spikes and curves.
• Ancient Astronauts: Prometheus of Prometheus and Bob.
• Art Evolution: Compare the picture of Henry and June above with this image from the first season◊.
  • The animation for Sniz & Fondue also was cleaned up in season two, but that was because they got a new overseas animation department.
  • Life with Loopy also improved after the pilot, "Goldfish Heaven". In the episode, Loopy's hair beads were 2-dimensional (like her head) rather than 3-dimensional, everyone had more square-er shoulders, and Larry had a longer neck. Not to mention the backgrounds were more basic, and the stop-motion was a bit more rough.
• Artistic License – Biology: In one Life with Loopy segment, Larry gets a 190 degree fever. It is impossible to get a fever that high ^note to date, the highest fever ever recorded is 115 degrees, by a 52-year old man in 1980; said person spent 24 days in the hospital and lived to set a Guinness World Record, and if someone somehow did, they'd either be burned to death from the inside or spontaneously combust.
• Award Show: "Resistance Is Futile"
• Baby Don't Got Back: In a Sniz and Fondue, Sniz complains that as a result of his "gluteus minimus", he can't find any jeans that fit him, which prompts Fondue to start a new career as a fashion designer, beginning with him designing a pair of jeans that fit Sniz.
• Bait-and-Switch: Near the end of the Sniz and Fondue short, "Crustacean Sensations", Sniz buys a tainted shrimp from a child's food stand and eats it. The next scene takes place at a funeral, where a coffin is being lowered into a grave, implying that Sniz died from food poisoning. The camera then zooms out to reveal that said funeral is being played on a television show, and that Sniz is alive and watching it from his hospital bed.
• Berserk Button: One episode establishes that Loopy's father is an easy-going guy who doesn't get bothered easily... But when he gets bills he screams loudly out of anger.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: The three characters in Prometheus and Bob are Bob (Big), Prometheus (Thin), and the monkey (Short).
• Birthday Episode:
  • In the wraparounds from "More Happiness Than Allowed By Law", Henry and June celebrate their birthday, which marks the anniversary of when they were first drawn (the episode actually aired a month before the show's actual anniversary). The main plot had June get Henry a present, only for Henry to forget hers.
  • "The Life With Loopy Birthday Gala-Bration" had Henry and June hosting a gala event for Loopy's birthday as the wraparounds, and the majority of the special was a Clip Show compilation that showcased previous Life With Loopy shorts (as well as one new short, "Send In The Clones", which would air a month later on the series' third season premiere).
  • Prometheus celebrates Bob's birthday in the Prometheus and Bob short, "Bob's Birthday".
• Biting-the-Hand Humor: Much fun was had at the expense of "the network" by way of moronic, meddlesome network executive Mr. Stockdale, along with some other gags, such as this one while trying to stop the lazy Mr. Foot from getting fired.
• Black Bead Eyes: Henry's mom, Sniz and Fondue (and most of the others in the short), and everyone in The Off-Beats
• Blind Without 'Em: Betty-Anne of The Off-Beats without her horn-rimed eyeglasses. When asking Tina if she had seen them, her eyesight is so bad she can't even see Tina wearing Betty-Anne's glasses right in front of her.
• Bowling for Ratings:
  • One Prometheus and Bob short is titled "Bowling", where Prometheus tries to teach Bob how to bowl, with the monkey setting the pins up. First, Bob walks across the lane and hits the pins with the ball while still holding it. Then, the monkey won't get off the lane, so Bob tosses the ball into the air. Then, when Bob tries to roll the ball, the monkey gets it to roll off of a ribcage bone. Finally, Bob gets his tongue caught in one of the ball's finger holes and Prometheus has to get it unstuck.
  • In the Life with Loopy short, "Mother Nature Bowl Off", Loopy is awakened by a thunderstorm, and when her mom tells her that thunder is caused by Mother Nature bowling, Loopy takes on Mother Nature in a bowling game. If Loopy wins, then Mother Nature has to lay off bowling for the rest of the summer, and if Mother Nature wins, Loopy has to paint all the leaves brown in Fall. Loopy wins the game when she manages to make a spare from the 7/10 split, but Mother Nature does not take her loss well, and cries so hard that it rains for the rest of the summer.
  • In Fuzzball, the titular character accidentally breaks her father's trophy and goes to the bowling alley in an attempt to win a new one. She is inexperienced and ends up causing a lot of damage to the alley in her attempts to bowl. Eventually, the manager of the bowling alley gives her a trophy just to get her to leave. Unfortunately for Fuzzball, the trophy had a lady on it instead of a man.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: In the episode, "Art + Science = Fun", after seeing the first part of the "Danger Society" episode of Action League Now, Henry worries about the Action League losing to the Danger Society.
  Henry: "They're dead meat! They're toast! They're dead meat on toast!"
• Bullet Seed: Henry and June do this with watermelon seeds in the pilot episode.
• Butt-Monkey: Henry. June has her moments of this too, namely in later episodes where the two had to tussle with other characters messing with them like The Mayor.
• Camera Abuse: Some notable examples:
  • In "The Best of Both Worlds", June attempts to get into the real world by running right at the screen. She ends up smashing against it.
  • Later in the same episode, Henry and June get into a catapult to launch themselves into the real world. They just end up smashing against the screen - and actually crack the glass.
  • In "Won't Stick to Most Dental Work!", June's attempt to make the show more "intimate" involves singing a song while swinging from a series of horizontal bars. She doesn't get very far before smashing into the screen.
  • Several Prometheus and Bob episodes end this way, such as Prometheus' ship crashing into the screen, and a mammoth blowing its trunk so loud it cracks the glass. There are several instances of Prometheus himself deliberately throwing something at the camera (the remote in "Laundry", a rock in "Furniture", a softball in "Softball", etc).
• Cartoon Creature: It's never been confirmed what Sniz & Fondue are. Lampshaded by Henry in "Tastes Like Paper".
  Henry: And speaking of creatures, here are those two fuzzy... what the heck are they, anyway?
  • Word of Dante has it they're ferrets.
• Celebration Miscalculation: The second-season episode "E Pluribus Kablam" opened as a big 100th episode celebration gala, but as Henry and June are opening the star-studded special episode, a stagehand whispers to the two that it's only the 24th episode (in production order, as it was actually the 20th in airing order). Naturally, June blames Henry for it, but among realizing they are being watched they continue it like a regular episode...
  Henry: Hang on tight as we kick off KaBlam's fan-tabulous *cough24thcough* episode extravaganza, here's Sniz and Fondue!
• Censored for Comedy: One episode had Henry being bleeped randomly as a practical joke.
• Charity Motivation Song: In "Hurts So Good", Henry and June host a telethon to raise money for more staples for the comic book they turn. The episode ends with a parody of these types of telethon songs.
• Cheerful Child: Loopy is a very excitable kid who is energetic and eager to play and go on adventures.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Snuppa and Bianca, roommates of Sniz and Fondue, were removed from the main cast of the short after "Great Infestations". Ironically, Snuppa and Bianca were the stars of the original Sniz and Fondue pilot, "Psyched For Snuppa"
• Circling Birdies: One episode has Henry seeing birds when he gets a ton of bricks dropped on him, and the birds escape from the circle and turns the page when June nicely asks them to do the ladder. Henry again sees stars and hears jingling chimes when he gets clonked on the head with a microphone. Henry yet again hears birds and sees stars after getting clonked on the head with an anvil when June demonstrates the sound editing process and adds the birds sound effect. June sees stars and hears birds in The Best of Both Worlds! when she runs smack into the screen. June sees circling comets and Henry sees birds when they dizzy themselves to death when doing a secret handshake. Sometimes just spinning whirls are used.
• Cliché Storm: An in-universe example: when Henry and June try to make the show more epic and action-packed in "Just Chillin'," all the old action/spy tropes are utilized, from fighting a group of ninjas appearing out of nowhere to a Traintop Battle with Jon Voight in a Latex Perfection mask of Mr. Foot. When the show goes overbudget and Henry and June are reduced to popsicle-stick puppets, the ninjas still randomly show up to attack.
• Constantly Curious: Loopy.
• Consolation World Record: At the end of episode 25, Henry tries to break a world record, failed attempts including balancing a baseball bat on his palm for a few seconds and doing one push-up. Then, unknowingly he becomes the first human field goal as Mr. Foot kicks him through a field goal.
• Content Warnings: Being one of the first Nick shows (along with Are You Afraid of the Dark? [which warned viewers of its scary content] and reruns of The Ren & Stimpy Show [which warned viewers of its gross-out humor and cartoonish slapstick]) to be given a TV-Y7 rating when the ratings were introduced in 1997 (the rest were TV-Y and TV-G [the TV-G rating was mostly for the Nick at Nite line-up, which had a lot of old, family-friendly sitcoms], or not rated like game shows and The Kids Choice Awards), a parent warning was shown at the beginning to remind parents of very young children that the show had silly slapstick violence that sometimes went too far. By 1998, they got rid of those.
  Announcer: Sometimes on Kablam! Everything goes Kablam! That's why it's been rated TV-Y7 (In Canada, It's C8).
• Couch Gag: In the first two seasons, Henry's boxers in the "Surprising Shorts" introductions change with each episode.
• Curtains Match the Window: Post Season 1, both Henry and June are drawn with eye colors the same shade as their hair - particularly noticeable, as they are usually not drawn with pupils.
• Dance Party Ending: June throws a panel party before and after the "Life with Loopy" segment in the 1st season episode Not Just for People Anymore.
  • In the end of the 2nd season episode Hurts So Good, Henry and June lead sings The Staples Song with Loopy from Life with Loopy, Prometheus from Prometheus and Bob, The cast of Action League Now!, and Sniz and Fondue.
• Dancing Theme: And a different dance for each season. In the second season, Henry and June dance the Macarena and then tango. In the third and much of the fourth season, they multiply and do a softshoe alongside their duplicates.
• Deranged Animation: A good amount of the shorts.
  • Special mention goes to "Randall Flan's Incredible Big Top".
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: June usually picks on and beats Henry.
• Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help: The eponymous Race Rabbit always stops to help someone put in peril by the Boolies.
  "He's a burning rubber bunny with the need for speed,
  but he's always got time for anybody in need!"
• Early-Bird Cameo: Sheep made his first appearance in the Off-Beats short "Statistics". Sheep's girlfriend Swanky the poodle also made her first appearance in "Paddleball Record".
• Embarrassing Old Photo:
  • In "Cramming Cartoons Since 1627", Henry's mom shows June and her father (and since they're on a show, EVERYONE) pictures of Henry in a Pilgrim costume for his elementary school Thanksgiving pageant. Not to be outdone, June's dad shows off home movies of baby June taking a bath.
  • In "Going the Extra Mile", when Ryan wins a contest to spend the day with Henry and June, he shows the viewers rare footage of the duo when they were little. June is shown in a diaper commercial, while Henry is shown getting kicked by a cow on America's Nuttiest Home Videos, which are embarrassing to them.
• Face Palm: September does this in the Off-Beats episode "Paddleball Record," with both hands/forepaws.
• Failure Is the Only Option: In Race Rabbit, the Boolies repeatedly tried to catch Race and stuff him, but they never succeeded.
• Five-Episode Pilot: Three, actually. Two were televised, one wasn't (it was just to show Nickelodeon what the idea of the show is like)
• Flanderization: Henry started off the series relatively normal. It was only until after the first season that he became the unfunny Butt-Monkey.
  • Some episodes made June a victim of this, as she usually is just a bit of a prankster with an attitude problem, but in some episodes, she's a bossy brat. Depends on the writer, probably. It starts to end in the final season.
• Forgotten Birthday: In "More Happiness Than Allowed By Law". Henry and June are celebrating their birthdays, and June got Henry a really cool remote-controlled car. Guess what Henry got her? Nothing? Yep. She spends the rest of the episode making his life hell until the end, where he makes up for it by giving her a mood ring, and when she puts it on, the color goes from blue for "Sad" to green for "Happy". Until he makes a remark about how expensive it was, and it changes to orange for "annoyed", and then goes to red... Luckily for his sake, June admits to being self-centered and forgives him, and they wish each other a happy birthday.
• Framing Device: The Henry and June segments—a particularly odd choice, seeing as there's no reason for them to be watching animated shorts while living in a comic book. It makes sense when you find out McRobb and Viscardi's original pitch was for a live-action comic book. They 'take you inside and turn the pages' so all the shorts are actually comics in the book as well. Their segments serve a similar purpose to The Cryptkeeper's in his comic.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Some of the wider shots in the Henry and June segments (particularly coming out of a short or the opening) show upcoming 'panels' that reveal the next short or an upcoming exchange.
• Furry Confusion: In the short "Anemia and Iodine", Anemia and her brother Dropsy are both anthropomorphic cats. The focus of the short is Anemia and her friend Iodine trying give ghost cat it's last meal. Said ghost cat is a pet cat.
• Glasses Curiosity: In one episode, Betty-Anne Bongo from The Off-Beats loses her horn-rimmed glasses. The Populars find and hide them from her, with Tina wearing them (she claims she's just "keeping them warm" for Betty). But Tina wears her glasses in front of Betty-Anne, whose vision is so bad without her glasses she can't even see Tina wearing said glasses in front of her!
• Goofy Print Underwear: While Henry introduces the "Surprising Shorts" segment, June pants him revealing colorful boxer shorts. June then says, "Surprising!"
• Grossout Show: Life with Loopy on a few occasions. And some Henry and June shorts.
• Harmless Liquefaction: June once does this (using a magnifying glass against the sun) to both her and Henry in an episode.
• Here We Go Again!: The Sniz and Fondue episode, "Rat in the Hat" involves Sniz borrowing Fondue's hat, resulting in him becoming popular. The episode ends with Sniz trying out another new look, this one being Bianca's hairdo.
• Homicide Machines: Loopy made one (unknowing it was evil) to be her "friend".
• Horrible Camping Trip: In The KaBlair! Witch Project, Henry, June, Mr. Stockdale, Mr. Foot, Henry's mom, and Jimmy McGee go on a company camping trip. Almost immediately, Mr. Foot freaks out after they hear a roaring bear and escapes in the camper, leaving everyone else stranded. Hilarity Ensues.
• Hostile Show Takeover: One episode, "Tastes Like Paper", had The Mayor, from Action League Now!, taking over as director of research to torment Henry & June. And he did it because he wanted to turn the page. When Henry & June bust in on him, he comments: "You were expecting, maybe, Warren Littlefield?" At the end of the episode, H&J get revenge by trampling him with a marching band he hired (which had trampled Henry & June earlier). One of the rare instances of a character from the segments interacting with the main characters.
• I Will Show You X!: Snuppa and Bianca make Sniz and Fondue fight for an action figure they both want. When the two decide to share the action figure instead, this exchange happens.
  Bianca: That's it?
  Snuppa: This is hardly an interesting climax.
  [Sniz and Fondue glare angrily at them]
  Fondue: "Interesting climax"? We'll show you an interesting climax.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Variations on advertising slogans (with a few exceptions). Ostensibly the ad from the back of the comic (as the name appeared after Henry and June closed the book and before the credits).
• Injured Limb Episode: The Off-Beats segment "Betty-Anne's Sprain" has Betty-Anne Bongo sprain her wrist while playing her bongoes. Despite all the attention she gets (including a Grubby Groo Junkyard Sundae), she's depressed since she can't play her bongoes with her right arm in a cast. The Populars are jealous of Betty-Anne's sundae and try faking being injured so they can get a Junkyard Sundae as well.
• Ink-Suit Actor:
  • Dawn looks very much like her voice actress, Julia Mcilvaine (who also voices June).
  • Played with a bit with Henry, as Noah Segan, his voice actor, dyed his hair green for a little while after Kablam! premiered.
• Instrumental Theme Tune: Besides the theme song, some segment themes were instrumentals:
  • "Sniz & Fondue": Both the first season theme (a stock APM piece called "Toys For Boys") and the second through third season themes.
  • "Life With Loopy"
  • "The Louie and Louie Show"
• Lampshade Hanging: Henry and June LOVE doing this.
• Last Note Nightmare: The ending theme to "Action League Now."
• Latex Perfection:
  • The Action League Now episode "Thunder and Lightning" has Thunder Girl unmask Lightning Lady at the end to reveal the Mayor, done by placing a hollow Barbie doll-like head over the Mayor figure's head onto a super heroine figure's body.
  • "Just Chillin'" has Jon Voight wear a Mr. Foot mask in a spoof of Mission: Impossible, as part of Henry and June attempting to make the show more action-packed.
• Lethal Chef: June was actually kicked out of her "Firelog Girls" troop because she's such a terrible cook.
• Limited Wardrobe: Every single character on the show. Larry of Life with Loopy actually had two regular outfits.
• Literal-Minded: Loopy. Most of her theories stemming from this turn out to be right, though.
• Loony Fan: One episode had to do with a fan visiting the set of the show, and constantly annoying Henry and June due to his huge obsession with them. He wears Henry's outfit, June's sweatshirt, and even has his hair blue dyed to match June's hair (either that or it's natural). June constantly refers to him as "Weird Ryan from school", meaning the duo already knew him. The obsessed June fans covered in Even the Girls Want Her could also apply.
• Mad Libs Catchphrase: The Season 1 card for Sniz and Fondue had three rotating phrases before the title: "Holy Fruits!" "Mommy Yes!" and "Snap Me Down!"
• Mama Bear: Henry's mother Lois. Jimmy McGee suffer her wrath after mocking Henry too much.
• The Masquerade: In The Off-Beats segments, the mean and snooty Populars put on large phony smiles and pretend to be very nice whenever an adult is nearby, but Grubby Groo secretly knows they're just hiding their true nature.
• Meadow Run: Happened with Henry and June.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Prometheus is an alien attempting to educate a primitive human, and is named after the Greek Titan who gave fire to mankind.
  • Jetcat flies like a jet and fights like a cat.
  • Gabby McShoutsalot, the race commentator in Race Rabbit, is both gabby and shouts a lot. Likewise, the Boolies are bullies.
• Medium Awareness: Henry and June know very well that they are cartoon characters.
• Medium Blending:
  • Life with Loopy, with two recurring characters being paper-bag puppets and live-action footage occasionally being used.
  • Also in the episode when Henry and June become live-action. And when they became popsicle-stick puppets in "Just Chillin'."
  • "The Adventures of Patch Head" featured live action actors superimposed over drawn backgrounds.
  • "The Brothes Tiki" has scenes filmed with puppetry and scenes filmed with stop-motion animation.
• Milestone Celebration: In-Universe. One episode begins by announcing a ton of guest stars for the show's 100th episode, until it turns out that the show hadn't reached its 100th episode yet.
• Movie-Theater Episode: In the Sniz and Fondue episode, "Celluloid Sins", when the two title characters go to the movie theater, Sniz takes up "plexing", wherein he sees movies without paying or being caught, even going as far as to become a superhero called the "Multi-Plexer". Fondue unwillingly takes the blame for Sniz's actions, until Sniz sees a movie that shows him the error of his ways.
• Multiple Demographic Appeal
• Mundane Made Awesome: Henry and June watch as a stage hand adds a staple to the comicbook complete with drum roll and instant replay.
• Music Video: Occasionally ones from They Might Be Giants, amongst others, using a mixture of live-action and animation.
• The Musical: Henry and June once advertised KaBlam! The Musical in season three... it doesn't exist.
• My Beloved Smother: Henry's mother.
• Network Red-Headed Stepchild: Even during its airtime this anthology show was thrown around the schedule with little promotion or was put in unfavorable timeslots. Once the show was cancelled, Nickelodeon acted as though it had never existed, neglecting to even mention or feature the show in a Thanksgiving promotion showcasing every Nicktoon, the Continuity Cavalcade-laden Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots, or even The 90's Are All That before the block was rebranded as NickRewind. This is all the more glaring as KaBlam is one of the network's biggest Cult Classics. It took more than ten years before it finally was acknowledged and announced to be given airtime on The Splat for the 25th anniversary of the Nicktoons brand.
• "No. Just… No" Reaction: In the Prometheus and Bob short "Spear," Prometheus considers teaching Bob how to use the titular weapon. The monkey walks up to him, grabs his arm and shakes his head. Seeing Bob wildly waving a stick around, and remembering their usual antics, Prometheus agrees and ends the tape there.
• Not So Above It All: Occasionally Prometheus will give up on whatever lesson he's trying to teach and join in on the antics of Bob and the Monkey:
  • "Leverage" has him make a seesaw and play with the Monkey after he's freed from being stuck under a rock.
  • "Laundry" he decides to relax in a hot spring instead of showing Bob how to wash clothes.
• The Nudifier: The clothes-eating moths in The Little Freaks, a one-shot short, and when Henry accidentally used vanishing ink to do his and June's laundry.
• Odd Friendship: Henry is the laid-back Straight Man to the hot-tempered, bossy June, but they're still best friends despite their differences.
• Old-Timey Cinema Countdown:
  • The opening wraparound to "I Just Don't Get It" has Henry presenting his and June's audition tapes for hosting the series. Henry's tape opens with such a countdown showing the numbers 2 and 1, complete with movie projector Stock Sound Effect (despite already being mentioned it's a videotape). Strangely, while June's audition tape opens with the projector sound effect, there isn't any countdown at the start.
  • In the Stewy the Dog Boy short, a stereotypical boring educational classroom film the homeroom teacher shows Stewy's class on the first day of school opens with an actual universal countdown leader displaying the numbers 4, 3, and 2.
• One-Shot Character: A few of the skits only appeared once on the show:
  • "The Louie and Louie Show": Created by Gary Baseman, who would later find more success in Teacher's Pet. Traditional animation.
  • "Anemia and Iodine": Created by Krystine Kryttre and Robert Scull. The latter's involvement means this short has a similar visual feel to Rocko's Modern Life. Traditional animation.
  • "Randall Flan's Incredible Big Top": By Mike de Seve and Brian Mulroney. Traditional animation.
  • "The Girl With Her Head Coming Off": By Emily Hubley. Traditional animation. They also aired as Nickelodeon interstitials.
  • "The Shizzagee". Animated in CG, and the only short to be in this style.
  • "Dave, Son of Hercules": By Crank! It! Out!, the same studio that animated the "Henry & June" wraparounds. Traditional animation.
  • "Emmett Freedy": By Tom Megalis, independent filmmaker whose work has also been seen in Cartoon Sushi. Animated in Stop-motion.
  • "Garbage Boy": By Stephen Kroninger. 2.5D animation
  • "Fuzzball": By Kevin Dougherty. Traditional animation.
  • "The Little Freaks": By 23D Films. Traditional animation.
  • "The Untalkative Bunny": By Graham Falk. Traditional animation. The same short was also featured on Cartoon Sushi, and was later the basis for the Teletoon series of the same name.
  • "Stewy the Dog Boy": By Dennis Messner. Traditional animation. It was a pilot for a series that never got produced due to it being too similar to Disney's then-announced Teacher's Pet.
  • Plus a few music videos: "Hockey Monkey", "Pizza Rocket", "Dr. Worm" and "Why Does the Sun Shine?" (The former two are performed by Jimminy Kroekel and the latter by They Might Be Giants) All traditional animation.
• Opening Narration: "The Off-Beats", "Action League Now!" and "Prometheus & Bob".
• Overly Narrow Superlative: The KaBlammy for best acting while impersonating an egg went to Loopy from "Life with Loopy" and the award for best supporting monkey went to "Prometheus and Bob."
• Overused Running Gag: Henry gets hurt in every episode...and is not afraid to lampshade it.
• Parental Bonus: The two leads being named Henry and June, June's "'Scuse me while I kiss the sky!", and more.
• Playful Otter: Averted with Ed the Educational Otter.
• Potty Dance: Loopy does this due to Larry being in the bathroom too long... he's recently gotten muscular, and is admiring himself.
• Potty Emergency: June gets one in "Won't Crack or Peel!", and Henry gets one in "Timeless!".
• Potty Failure: Henry and June are astronauts in spacesuits in one episode. Henry commented that he needed to use the bathroom and June asks why he doesn't just do what she did: use her spacesuit like a real astronaut. June runs off embarrassed when Henry informs her that they aren't wearing real spacesuits, merely cheap Halloween costumes.
  Henry: I think June just went where no cartoon character has gone before. In her pants!
  • In one short, Fondue is addicted to Solitaire on the computer. He comments that he needs to tinkle, but continues to play. He soon notes he no longer has to go.
• Punk in the Trunk: One of the running gags was that Mr. Foot would throw people Henry and June didn't like into the trunks of cars, to do who knows what with. One episode implies he takes them to the dump.
• Puppet Shows: "The Brothers Tiki" and some parts of "Life With Loopy".
• Readings Blew Up the Scale: The KaBlam Instant Response Meter blew up after viewers watched "A Day In The Life Of Mr. Foot".
• Real-World Episode: Henry and June once entered a door leading to the "Real World", and went live-action for a short time (played by real (and uncredited) kids, but lip-syncing so the voice actors could do their lines, to avoid viewer confusion), until they realized "real world pain".
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The KaBlam hosts, Henry and June, fit this. June is the red to Henry's blue.
• Restaurant-Owning Episode: In "Won't Stick to Most Dental Work!", Henry leaves the show after a feud with June, and opens his own restaurant called Henry's House of KaBoom!. The restaurant is a massive success, but without a replacement co-host, June's career on KaBlam! begins to plummet. When June shows Henry a montage of the good times they had together, the two realize how much they miss each other, and Henry returns to the show.
• Robot Me: One early episode featured a mechanical double of June. While it looked just like the real thing, it didn't have any emotion, avoiding being a Ridiculously Human Robot.
• Samus Is a Girl:
  • Fuzzball, a one-shot character, often dressed and acted like a boy.
    Fuzzball: And by the way, flapjack, I'm not a boy! It's a FASHION STATEMENT!
  • Quite a few fans who watched this show have had this reaction to finding out June was a girl.
• Satellite Love Interest: Dawn's about as deep as a kiddie pool. Her episode ends with her admirer Henry realizing this, and deciding that she's not worth it.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Straight Man Henry and ditzy June in season one.
• Say My Name: In "Harold's Glow-In-The-Dark Brand Butter", the last H&J segment features June shilling the titular butter. Henry is less than pleased, and when he sees her wearing a Harold's Butter uniform, he snaps and lets out a hilariously angry-sounding cry of "JUUUUUUUUUUNE!!!".
  • He also does in the episode where he gets a bad haircut, June "fixes" it, and he discovers her handiwork.
• Scare Chord: Happens a lot in Life with Loopy, even in the short's theme.
• Scout-Out: June is a former Girl Scou- uh, Logfire Girl.
• Series Mascot: Henry and June, which is fitting as they're the hosts. They were even the mascots of Nickelodeon at one point.
• Short Tank: June. She will wear a dress for formal occasions, although it's stated that she doesn't enjoy it.
• Shout-Out: June, despite her age, seems to be a fan of Beavis and Butt-Head, according to a season two episode.
  • And in a Season 1 episode, she appears to be a Jimi Hendrix fan. Before being launched skyward in a chair (it doesn't work out very well), she says "'Scuse me while I kiss the sky!" while Hendrix-style music plays and her eyes light up in psychedelic colors.
  • June's trademark outfit slightly resembles one of the many outfits worn by Stormer, not to mention sharing the same eye and hair color.
• Show Within a Show: Within a show, even. Life With Loopy's Charlie Chicken Show
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Loopy and Larry. Loopy is crazy and adventurous, while Larry is shy and intelligent.
• Ska: The main BGM in the Henry and June shorts.
  • All of the Ska in the series was provided by early 3rd wave ska band, The Toasters, who were billed in the credits as "Moon Ska stompers."
    • The episode "Kablam, James Kablam" features an intern character who dresses in an outfit appropriate for a ska concert, including a t-shirt that says "ska" on it.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: June with Henry.
• Slapstick: Even with Henry taking the worst in punishment, June gets kicked around here and there too. This is even more noticeable in shorts like Action League Now! or Angela Anaconda.
• The Smurfette Principle:
  • June is the only female main character in the wraparounds.
  • Action League NOW!! had seven (or eight depending on Justice (the dog)'s gender that episode) main male characters: The Flesh, Stinky Diver, Meltman, The Chief, The Mayor, and Bill The Lab Guy. Girls? Thundergirl. There was also the lab guy's daughter, but she was annoying and was taken out.
  • Life With Loopy was the most gender-neutral short, although it had a female protagonist. It had 2 main females (Loopy and her mom) and 2 main males (Larry and his dad). The other characters were minor/one-shot characters.
  • Even worse in Sniz and Fondue; the only main female was Bianca!
  • Averted in The Off-Beats, however, where Betty Ann Bongo is the leader of the Off-Beats and Tina is the leader of The Populars.
• Spin-Off: Action League Now!, Angela Anaconda, the Off-beats Valentine's Day special, the Life With Loopy special and the very short lived The Henry and June Show.
  • The show itself is a spin-off of All That.
  • A one-shot short, Stewy the Dog Boy WAS going to become a Nicktoon, but it was shelved when Disney's Teacher's Pet premiered.
    • Speaking of spin-offs, did you know that Sniz & Fondue was a spin-off of the short cartoon "Psyched For Snuppa"?
• Spoof Aesop: "Remember kids, only nimrods choke!" And when your friends are choking, don't do a thing.
  • And also, when you're mad, beat up your best friend!
  • The "moral of the story" for "More Happiness Than Allowed By Law" seems to be, "Don't forget your friends' birthday, or else he or she will torture you".
• Spy Catsuit: Loopy's mom secretly owns one.
• Squeaky Eyes: Henry, June, Sniz, Fondue, and the Off-Beats all frequently have sound effects to go with their blinking.
• Stock Footage: The season one episodes sometimes re-used old clips from the Henry and June shorts, but re-doing the lip syncing so it could match the episode's lines.
• Stop Motion: Action League Now!, Prometheus and Bob, and Life with Loopy.
• Stylistic Suck: Henry and June depending on who you ask.
  • It's taken to an extreme in "Just Chillin'", when the show ends up going over budget as part of trying to be too epic and action-packed, when Henry and June are reduced to popsicle-stick puppets rendered in live-action!
• Take That!:
  • Weird Ryan is probably one to over obsessive fans (which weren't well known when the show was on)
  • Mr. Stockdale seems to be one of Nickelodeon themselves!
• Temporal Theme Naming: August and dog September of The Off-Beats.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics:
  • Loopy (and her mom) are the only major characters with eyelashes.
  • In some episodes, June would usually make a cute face showing her eyelashes (which aren't usually seen, as this is only shown during her "cute act"). Usually her eyelashes are never shown (either due to the art style, or just to show her tomboyish nature), but she's cute enough without them.
• Thickline Animation: Henry and June, Depending on the Artist, along with the Off-Beats.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly one-shot Dawn and tough-talking tomboyish main character June.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In Season 3, June becomes a lot more snarky, indifferent and, while nowhere near villainous, borderline sociopathic. However, she becomes a much nicer person in Season 4.
• Traintop Battle: Seen in "Just Chillin'", as part of Henry and June attempting to make the show more epic and action-packed to improve the viewership, the duo are seen engaged in this at one point, fighting with Mr. Foot who's then Suddenly Speaking and peels off his ape mask to reveal Jon Voight, and there's a tunnel approaching. But then Mr. Stockdale reveals the show has gone over budget and so they are slashing budgets and cutting departments, including the animation budget, resulting in everything stopping right before anyone can be hit by the tunnel.
• Truncated Theme Tune: Starting in season 3, the show intro was shortened a bit. Some of the segments also got shorter intros; "Action League Now!" skipped the character introductions and went straight into "Today's episode...", and "Prometheus & Bob" re-worded its narration to a shorter version. (The longer version reappeared at the most next season, though.)
• Unexplained Recovery: In "Tastes Like Paper", while trying to make the show more action-packed, Henry and June are disintegrated by aliens who take over the comic book. By the next segment, Henry and June are completely fine with no explanation as to how they recovered.
• Ungrateful Bastard: In one Action League Now segment, the heroes have to babysit a kid, who plays cruel pranks on them (such as putting The Flesh into the washing machine and getting Stinky Diver stuck in a VCR). Then he's approached by the mayor and calling for their help. After they stop the mayor and save him, the kid drops a big bowl onto them all.
• Unmoving Plaid: Tommy from "The Off-Beats" was the inspiration for starting the trope page in the first place. The cartoon did that with several other materials, too. September disguises himself as "the President," complete with wig with unmoving hair texture.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: Slightly averted, as in the "Kablammy Awards" episode, June pulls the envelope (it says who won) out of the top part of her dress. However, since she's ten (and flat) it didn't get anything past the radar (unlike SOME stuff).
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Henry and June.
• Vocal Evolution: All the kids in The Off-Beats had lower voices in season two. This also happened with Loopy and Larry of Life with Loopy and more recognizably, by the end of season one, Henry and June. Unlike most shows with kid voice actors, they were (thankfully) never replaced.
  • Even Loopy's parents' voices got lower, Dad at the most, but a bit goofier.
• Wheel o' Feet: Henry & June demonstrate this as "the bongo run".
• Voiceover Translation: The Russian airings uses it.
• With Friends Like These...: Henry and June define this trope.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Mr. Foot never hurts June, except for one time offscreen in "Timeless." Henry, however, is fair game all the time. Although, this might be less from Foot having a code against harming girls and more that he loathes Henry more.
• Writing Around Trademarks: An in-universe example; when Henry opens his own restaurant in "Won't Stick to Most Dental Work!", he mentions in his letter to June that her lawyers wouldn't let him use the KaBlam! name, hence why he had to name his restaurant "Henry's House of KaBoom!".
• You're Just Jealous: Henry says this to June when he thought Dawn liked him.
• Your Costume Needs Work: "In It To Win It" has June meeting with a group of her fans who are dressed up like her, right down to the hair. But when she tries to interview them, they naturally don't believe she's the real June, mock her for her "lousy" costume and imitation, and get rather angry when she keeps insisting that she is the real June.

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