Nickelodeon apparently wanted a show that was a little less weird, and also that came in on deadline, so they took the show away from him. It’s also a shame that it’s all the creation of the singular vision of John Kricfalusi, who lost control of the show after the first seasons. It’s possible that in a world with Tim and Eric in it, The Ren & Stimpy Show will seem completely logical. Although public tolerance for that sort of thing has gone up a bit since the 1990s. And they are, but when too many random things happen, it stops being funny and just becomes a festival of randomness. The same goes for randomness: Some things are supposed to be funny because they come out of nowhere. If you’re not in the right mood, you maybe don’t want to see kitty litter being used as food.
If you’re in the right mood, that’s not entirely incorrect. Or it might be that the guiding aesthetic of the show is that grossness is the same thing as comedy. The Ren & Stimpy Show sometimes goes for grossness over comedy. At least, not more than at any other time. There wasn’t much clinging tenaciously to people’s buttocks. There was a time when you couldn’t go 10 minutes without someone insisting that you not press a red, candy-like button or whiz on an electric fence. It’s also a catchphrase machine, especially in its early seasons. When it debuted in 1991, it was very popular, because it was so unlike anything else on television. There’s a general squeaky-clean 1950s tone, only infected with a great deal of bathroom humor. If it would be funnier to replace the regular models with oil paintings, that’s what happens. Maybe the character designs aren’t traditionally attractive, but there are times when it seems like every frame has been tweaked to deliver the maximum amount of humor.
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