Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon Review

Ren and Stimpys Adult Party Cartoon on The New TNN, formerly Spike TV.

Being a HUGE Ren and Stimpy fan since I was a kid, I was thrilled to hear that they were brining back the Asthma Hound Chihuahua and his faithful pal the cat. I was expecting the same hilarious stuff in the old episodes that aired on Nickelodeon back in the early 90s. The show is billed as 'sick, twisted, and damn funny' and while it may be sick and twisted, it is far from damn funny.

In the premiere episode, Onward and Upward, we find the pair living inside some guys mouth and wanting to move into a better house. Thats not the weird part. Back in the old days, they lived inside a rotting cows carcass, in an RV, and in a cave just to name a few places. What was weird is that the usually implicitly gay couple has now come out of the closet, and not in a humorous way either. In the old days, Ren and Stimpy were sometimes best friends, and sometimes more. This allowed the writers to change their relationship in whatever way made the most sense and was the funniest. Part of why the show worked so well back in the day was that all the 'adult humor' was implied not just spelled out. It was the kind of show that kids could watch and think was funny, while the parents watched and laughed for entirely different reasons.

The other thing that has gone down hill is the writing itself. To my amazement, there was barely any dialogue in the entire episode. The show that used to have more scripted jokes than physical comedy had turned into a bad Terrance and Philip. It was all sound effects and creepy animation and no story. Even the premise was lacking.

At one point, Ren and Stimpy decide to move into a spittoon in a bar, and what follows is much more disgusting than funny. They sit down to learn how to eat dinner like gentlemen, and thus begins a sequence of the most nauseating, revolting, UN-funny shit Ive ever seen.

They begin by eating soup, and soon learn that they have to use the proper silverware. After a couple of minutes, we discover that the green soup is actually snot spit into the spittoon by one of the drunks at the bar. Then later, they decide to have mashed potatoes with gravy, and we get to watch a guy come vomit into the spittoon to make the gravy. Now, I dont know who thinks this is damn funny, but I certainly dont. It is one thing to push the limit of what is outrageous, but it is quite another to go full-on gross out. Other TV shows like South Park have managed to take some pretty gross subjects and make them humorous, but these guys just wanted to see if they could make viewers puke.

I think the people at The New TNN are trying WAY too hard to make something outrageous and not even considering that people need some content too. It is billed as the first network for men but I doubt even the most Jackass-loving of teenage boy could finds this stuff funny. My only hope now is that theyll realize the error of their ways and hire some freaking writers next time!

Some viewer comments about the NEW Ren and Stimpy show from jumptheshark.com.

It jumped tonight on June 26,2003 when TNN (or Spike TV) What the *&*( happened??!?!? I was so glad when John K. finally got to do some episodes, but I was NOT expecting this! They're GAY now!?!? How can this be!?!? They have ruined a piece of my childhood now. Thanks a lot John K., your episodes from 1991-92 were just great, but this episode from tonight just plain SUCKED! This episode might be exciting to all the Spumco hardcore fans, but let me tell you, the general, casual Ren n Stimpy fans who expected it to be like the Nickelodeon run (which make up a lot of the fans) won't like it, the ratings are going to go down the toilet and will return to obscurity.

I loved the new show! And who ever that was who said that he/she was shocked to find out that the characters are gay, must be a idiot! it was so obvious in the original show! they always sleep in the same bed! They never had girls around and there were a lot of implied jokes that maybe the majority of us were just too young at the time to pick up on. but if you look back at it now it was always there. And now that they are able to be uncentered, they have finally came out of the closet! More power to them! Ren & Stimpy Forever!

I remember laughing at this show so hard that I'd cry. It was funny, witty, sarcastic, and often high-brow, all the while through a low-brow veil. Almost British humor ala Monty Python, through this uniquely American animator, John K. Then they fired John K and made Stimpy gay (dressed in women's clothes, episodes pretended they were husband and wife) and all the high-brow humor was gone. John K and SpumCo ROCK FOREVER!

I actually gagged when I saw the "Adult Party Cartoon" when Ren and Stimpy were living in a spittoon, eating boogers, "goobers" and vomit. I prefered seeing the "Classic" cartoon with "Space Madness" myself. Hell, even "Stripperella" was better than the "Adult Party Cartoon" and it had exploding implants!

I beg to differ. Ren and Stimpy have finally made a triumphant return on June 26, 2003. To the previous poster, are you an eediot?!? Even during the Nickelodeon days, John K. said himself that Ren and Stimpy are lovers. Stimpy is head over heels in love with Ren (since he's retarded and loves the abuse), and Ren wishes he could do better and get all the babes but has to settle for boinking Stimpy since he can't get his pectoral implants. (re: Ren's pecs) The homo-erotic humor was always there, albeit more subtle in the nick episodes. I think it's so awesome that he has the freedom now to do more with this aspect of their relationship. My god, I was splitting my sides the entire episodes. This show was never meant for the "nick crowd". John K. is finally in his element. If you don't like gross-out humor, what are you doing watching Ren and Stimpy?!?!? Screw the "nick audience", go back to watching Rugrats or whatever the crap. Ren and Stimpy is the greatest cartoon, EVER! (John K. and his creations are finally reunited! They've got their voices back! Man, I could go on and on about this premiere... Ren being "high class" with his monacles and cigarette, Stimpy with his pinky in the air, Ren being violated by the throat hangy-ball, Stimpy puckering up to the woodchucks bunghole... and... 5 BUCKS!!!!! And the music! Thanks for keeping with the classic soundtrack to this cartoon. Thank you John K. and Spumco for finally trouncing Games Animations and finally bringing us your characters and humor uncensored. May this show go on and on!!! If this show ever did jump during the Nick fiasco, this return is a huge leap back!

I am completely baffled by what I saw on TNN. All Ren and Stimpy fans know that when John K stopped directing the episodes for Nick, the quality changed. I was with great anticipation that I looked forward to seeing the new episodes by Spumco, but what I saw last night was unbelievably awful. If John K is going for some kind of "nausea" factor, it worked - I turned it off after the first two minutes. What made R&S work was its bizarre innocence with an underlying hint of darkness and perversion. Now it is nothing but perverted. I don't get it. Did TNN force this on John K to match their theme of an "adult party cartoon?" This is sad.

Only the first new show has aired, but I hope that any others aren't as gay. While on Nickelodeon in the earliest years, they had to be more creative at hiding things and it was much funnier. Ren was way too nice. Of course, I'll be giving it time and will be watching.

I don't think this show ever jumped the shark. I think that the episodes after John K did gradually get worse, but were never actually bad. I must say, though, that I was pretty disappointed with the whole R&S are gay thing on the new episode tonight. That episode would have been pretty damn good if it weren't for that part. I hope that the other 5 new episodes are better and do not involve the whole gay thing. I have nothing against gays, but it sure seemed stupid to me that they would just go and do that to R&S. The more "adult" content I can deal with, such as the mild language and the grosser content, but why the gay thing? I just don't get it. I sure hope they were really just playing baseball under those sheets.

I waited 8 years for this??? When John K. was canned from Ren and Stimpy, the show gave up the inspired and demented lunacy that made it a cult favorite. With Billy West doing voices for both R&S, the cartoon lacked the back and forth chemistry that drove it. After John K, the cartoon regressed into juvenile gross-out gags, to the point where I gave up altogether, as I think most fans did. So, I was thrilled that TNN was going to show new R&S with John K back. Things were looking up: The same familiar intro from 1992 - Yes! But what's this? No Billy West? Uh oh. OK, Ren (John K.) always was the backbone of the show - maybe a watered-down Stimpy will be OK... Uh, hey.... this is really gross. The disclaimer in the beginning said this cartoon is for F--- Adults - so what the hell is this?? A cartoon full of over the top gross-out gags and NO humor? Frankly, it doesn't matter to me that they're now officially gay, that was hinted at before, but I'm a freaking adult like the title says! What makes them think any adult wants the toilet humor and gross-out gags that appeal to the lowest common denominator? I'm really bummed. That sucked out loud.

The old episodes were so good. I was looking forward to the new ones with such anticipation. What a huge load of crap. I recorded it on my vcr and after about 2 minutes changed the channel, I watched it later and barely got through it. Maybe John K. was fired the first time for good reason. This trash could not have been worse if Ted McGinley had produced, Directed, starred, and drew the animation all by himself.

Let's see, where in the blue hell should I start?! One, I never would have thought that R&S would be gay as a San Francisco picnic basket. I never caught anything homo-erotic about R&S, even back in the 90's, when I was in the hospital, laughing my ass off (while being on Demerol for knee surgery pain) watching "The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen", "Space Madness", and other classics. Why does it seem that our perception of classic movie and TV duos always gets twisted into something perverse? Never once did I see The Lone Ranger & Tonto, Batman & Robin, Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, Martin & Lewis, or Cheech & Chong imply anything other than "Let's make our audiences laugh!". By that premise, was anything going between The Three Stooges? Hell no! They did what they did best; make people laugh. Two, it seems that this cartoon was done by socially maladjusted teenage perverts who REALLY tore, not pushed, the envelope on what cartoons can get away with. Even though the title includes the words "Adult Party Cartoon", I didn't expect this magnitude of a train wreck. As a 30 year old, I know what is and isn't appropriate. Makes me wonder why John K. was fired in the first place. Even Nickelodeon was really pushing the definition of gross-out humor themed cartoons with R&S. A really funny cartoon was ruined by this new direction (or old direction depending on who you talk to).