There are endless debates about if it is possible to separate the art from the artist.
Particularly in the world of film and television, where even if subscribing to the auteur theory, the finished product is the sum of so many parts. Director. Writer. Actors. A crew of technicians each lending their own unique expertise.
Should the action of one disregard the effort of all others?
And yet...it is still a concept I find hard to grasp...and I find it hardest with a show I truly loved as a child and whose creator I idolised.
The Ren & Stimpy Show created by John K
I first saw Ren & Stimpy while holidaying in Brisbane and watching Channel 10's Big Breakfast hosted by Tim Bailey. It was the wrestling episode with Ren as 'Mad Dog Höek' and Stimpy as 'Killer Kadoogan'. I vividly remember a cut away to a giant pulsating wart on the toe of an opposing wrestler, which Ren (I think) chomps down on with his teeth, the screen awash with a spray of green pus.
It was graphic. It was gross. And it was genius. I was hooked from that point on.
The first blow of my Ren & Stimpy fandom was John K's unceremonious dumping from the original series. I sided with the mad Canadian bastard responsible for this work of art, and avidly avoided the non-John K 'Games Animation' produced efforts (which were terrible). I followed John K's studio Spumco through various flash animation efforts, short-lived Fox action series The Ripping Friends, his gorgeous glossy 'Comic Book' with Sody Pop and Jimmy the Idiot Boy and the inevitable waaay saucier Ren & Stimpy revival 'Adult Party Cartoon'
The second big blow of my Ren & Stimpy fandom was John K being exposed as a pedophile with a 2018 buzzfeed article detailing the experiences of animators Robyn Byrd and Katie Rice who were groomed by John K in their early teenage years.
I haven't watched Ren & Stimpy since. It is just too...stained.
Happy Happy Joy Joy is a great doco covering the highs and lows of Ren & Stimpy and John K. Detailing the meteoric rise, where the show became one of the highest ever rated on Nickelodeon and spawned an industy of creator driven television animation. It explores the traumatic second season where the show spirals out of control under the weight of massive overspends, missed deadlines and an ever increasingly insane John K, drunk on his own power and refusing to loosen the reins even a little. Ulitmately John K is fired and a messy power struggle ensues with fellow animator Bob Camp taking control, which given the circumstances, even though John K is a collosal asshole, does still feel like a betrayal. The third part of the doco showcases the John K of the here and now, with a hefty dosage of accountability for his actions.
This has unprecedented access with so many of the Spumco crew, including Bob Camp and Chris Reccardi, plus Nick executive (and in some ways the 'Mom' of Ren & Stimpy) Vanessa Coffey. She does ellicit sympathy and the show would not exist without her bravery in pushing for the product, although I do feel Coffey stakes a little too much claim over the creative element in her interview. John K was an asshole, but he was also the creative genius behind the show.
Robyn Byrd presents her account of her abuse from John K and the big 'get' of the documentary, in a move that is a bigger PR disaster than Prince Andrew's Newsnight interview, is an interview with John K himself, cutting a sad sad figure in a 'mutton dressed as lamb' tight shirt and obviously dyed hair, giving a sickly non-apology for his grooming actions and a poor-me account of his failed animation career, with not an ounce of self reflection.
It is going to ruin your childhood but this is an essential watch and for me - the only way I am comfortable to watch any Ren & Stimpy content again. There are plenty of brilliant clips here, including the nightmare inducing Ren's Toothache (the snap and ping of those nerve endings 😬) and the inspired genius of the 'Happy Helmet' in Stimpy's Invention.
There are endless debates about if it is possible to separate the art from the artist.
Particularly in the world of film and television, where even if subscribing to the auteur theory, the finished product is the sum of so many parts. Director. Writer. Actors. A crew of technicians each lending their own unique expertise.
Should the action of one disregard the effort of all others?
And yet...it is still a concept I find hard to grasp...and I find it hardest with a show I truly loved as a child and whose creator I idolised.
The Ren & Stimpy Show created by John K
I first saw Ren & Stimpy while holidaying in Brisbane and watching Channel 10's Big Breakfast hosted by Tim Bailey. It was the wrestling episode with Ren as 'Mad Dog Höek' and Stimpy as 'Killer Kadoogan'. I vividly remember a cut away to a giant pulsating wart on the toe of an opposing wrestler, which Ren (I think) chomps down on with his teeth, the screen awash with a spray of green pus.
It was graphic. It was gross. And it was genius. I was hooked from that point on.
The first blow of my Ren & Stimpy fandom was John K's unceremonious dumping from the original series. I sided with the mad Canadian bastard responsible for this work of art, and avidly avoided the non-John K 'Games Animation' produced efforts (which were terrible). I followed John K's studio Spumco through various flash animation efforts, short-lived Fox action series The Ripping Friends, his gorgeous glossy 'Comic Book' with Sody Pop and Jimmy the Idiot Boy and the inevitable waaay saucier Ren & Stimpy revival 'Adult Party Cartoon'
The second big blow of my Ren & Stimpy fandom was John K being exposed as a pedophile with a 2018 buzzfeed article detailing the experiences of animators Robyn Byrd and Katie Rice who were groomed by John K in their early teenage years.
I haven't watched Ren & Stimpy since. It is just too...stained.
Happy Happy Joy Joy is a great doco covering the highs and lows of Ren & Stimpy and John K. Detailing the meteoric rise, where the show became one of the highest ever rated on Nickelodeon and spawned an industy of creator driven television animation. It explores the traumatic second season where the show spirals out of control under the weight of massive overspends, missed deadlines and an ever increasingly insane John K, drunk on his own power and refusing to loosen the reins even a little. Ulitmately John K is fired and a messy power struggle ensues with fellow animator Bob Camp taking control, which given the circumstances, even though John K is a collosal asshole, does still feel like a betrayal. The third part of the doco showcases the John K of the here and now, with a hefty dosage of accountability for his actions.
This has unprecedented access with so many of the Spumco crew, including Bob Camp and Chris Reccardi, plus Nick executive (and in some ways the 'Mom' of Ren & Stimpy) Vanessa Coffey. She does ellicit sympathy and the show would not exist without her bravery in pushing for the product, although I do feel Coffey stakes a little too much claim over the creative element in her interview. John K was an asshole, but he was also the creative genius behind the show.
Robyn Byrd presents her account of her abuse from John K and the big 'get' of the documentary, in a move that is a bigger PR disaster than Prince Andrew's Newsnight interview, is an interview with John K himself, cutting a sad sad figure in a 'mutton dressed as lamb' tight shirt and obviously dyed hair, giving a sickly non-apology for his grooming actions and a poor-me account of his failed animation career, with not an ounce of self reflection.
It is going to ruin your childhood but this is an essential watch and for me - the only way I am comfortable to watch any Ren & Stimpy content again. There are plenty of brilliant clips here, including the nightmare inducing Ren's Toothache (the snap and ping of those nerve endings 😬) and the inspired genius of the 'Happy Helmet' in Stimpy's Invention.
