Michael John Kricfalusi ( ; born September 9, 1955),
known professionally as
John K., is a Canadian illustrator, blogger, and former animator and voice actor. He is the creator of the animated television series
The Ren & Stimpy Show, which was highly influential on
animation during the 1990s. From 1989 to 1992, he was heavily involved with the first two seasons of the show in virtually every aspect of its production, including providing the voice of Ren Höek and other characters. In 2009, he won the
Inkpot Award.
Born in Quebec, Kricfalusi spent his early childhood in Germany and Belgium before returning to Canada at age seven. He acquired his skills largely by copying cartoons from newspapers and comic books as a child, and by studying cartoons and their production systems from the 1940s and 1950s. His main influence is Bob Clampett. After moving to Los Angeles in 1978, he collaborated with Ralph Bakshi and worked for Filmation, Hanna-Barbera, and DIC Entertainment on various shows. In 1989, Kricfalusi co-founded the animation studio Spümcø, with which he remained until its dissolution in 2005.
Nickelodeon fired Kricfalusi from Ren & Stimpy due to creative differences and his failure to meet production deadlines; the show continued for three additional seasons without his involvement. Following this, he directed and produced animated television commercials and music videos for entertainers such as Björk and Tenacious D. In the late 1990s, he created the first cartoons made exclusively for the Internet: The Goddamn George Liquor Program and Weekend Pussy Hunt. He returned to television with The Ripping Friends and the adult animation spin-off Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon". Since 2006, Kricfalusi has maintained a personal blog dedicated to cartoons and animation. There, he popularized the term "CalArts style", a pejorative which was later used by others to criticize a perceived widespread 2010s cartoon aesthetic, though he originally used it to refer to a completely different art style.
In 2018, Kricfalusi was accused by two former Spümcø artists of child grooming and sexually abusing them in the late 1990s, when they were teenagers.
Early years
Michael John Kricfalusi was born on September 9, 1955, in
Chicoutimi,
Quebec, Canada
[ to Michael Kricfalusi,][ He spent his early childhood in Germany and Belgium while his father was serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He would watch weekend screenings of European feature-length cartoons such as The Snow Queen at Air Force cinemas. At age seven he returned with his family to Canada. After their return they moved from Montreal to Ottawa in the middle of a school season, and Kricfalusi spent much of his time that year at home, watching Hanna-Barbera cartoons and drawing them. Kricfalusi's interest in golden-age animation crystallized during his stay at Sheridan College, where he attended weekly screenings of old films and cartoons at Innis College held by film archivist Reg Hartt, among them the cartoons of Bob Clampett and Tex Avery, which left a deep impression on Kricfalusi.]
Career
Entering the animation industry
After moving to Los Angeles, Kricfalusi was introduced to Milt Gray by Bob Clampett, suggesting he should join Gray's classical animation class. Gray was working for Filmation at the time, and soon Kricfalusi found work there as well,
Mighty Mouse
The team's most successful project was for CBS, based on the classic Terrytoons character. The series was well-received, and it is considered the forerunner of creator-driven cartoons.[ At the beginning of the second season, Kricfalusi left the show. The production of Mighty Mouse was very different from other cartoons at the time, gaining creative and artistic leeway thanks to the success of the irreverent Pee-wee's Playhouse on CBS a year before. The animators had much more creative input, driven by Kricfalusi's production system that emphasizes artistic contribution in every step of the process, from outline to storyboard to layout to the animation.]
Mighty Mouse was cancelled amidst controversy for allegedly depicting the main character snorting cocaine. Bakshi maintained that neither he nor Kricfalusi had the character sniffing cocaine, and that the character was sniffing the crushed petals of a flower, which were handed to him in a previous scene in the cartoon.
Beany and Cecil
Kricfalusi left Bakshi's studio to work on The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil for ABC, where he teamed up with many of the people who would later work with him on many of his Spümcø projects.[ ABC canceled the show after six episodes, finding the humor not suitable for children's programming.][
]
Ren & Stimpy
Kricfalusi formed Spümcø animation studio with partners Jim Smith, Bob Camp and Lynne Naylor.[ They began working on a pilot for The Ren & Stimpy Show on behalf of Nickelodeon, after the eponymous characters were favored by Nickelodeon producer Vanessa Coffey in a presentation by Kricfalusi. The show came to garner high ratings for Nickelodeon,]
The Ripping Friends
Fox Kids started airing the television series The Ripping Friends in 2001, created by Kricfalusi and Jim Smith. Kricfalusi had previously tried pitching the show in the late 1980s, but networks considered it "too extreme" so did not pick it up.[ One of his contributions to the show was directing the voice-actors, which he "really worked-out" so much that he was afraid he'd give one of them, Harvey Atkin, a heart attack.]
Ren and Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon"
In 2003, Spike TV produced a new show featuring Ren & Stimpy, which was written and directed by Kricfalusi.[ According to Kricfalusi, Spike pushed for more South Park-like themes in the new show. While he was initially pleased with the added freedom afforded to him by Spike, he later expressed disappointment in the series due to its slow pacing and overuse of Toilet humour.]
Other projects
Collaborations with Fred Seibert
After leaving The Ren & Stimpy Show, Kricfalusi consulted, and other Spümcø animators worked for Donovan Cook's 2 Stupid Dogs, which was put into production by Hanna-Barbera president Fred Seibert. The cartoon's credits read "Tidbits of Poor Taste Supplied by John Kricfalusi" for the three "Little Red Riding Hood" episodes: "Red", "Red Strikes Back", and "Return of Red".
Music videos
Kricfalusi directed Icelandic singer Björk's animated music video for the song "I Miss You" in 1997,[ In 2006, Kricfalusi directed two music videos, and served as art director for an animated musical segment. The first music video, for Close but No Cigar by "Weird Al" Yankovic, was released in September,]
Internet cartoons and Hanna-Barbera shorts
Venturing into Internet cartoons, Kricfalusi created Weekend Pussy Hunt in 1996 for MSN, which was billed as "the world's first interactive web-based cartoon".[
]
Cartoon commentaries, magazines, and other media
Kricfalusi contributed several articles in 1993 and 1994 for the magazines Film Threat and Wild Cartoon Kingdom under various aliases.
Commercials and freelance work
Kricfalusi directed commercials for Comcast
The advertising agency Muhtayzik-Hoffer hired Kricfalusi in 2013 for an ad campaign for F'real milkshakes.
Cans Without Labels
In 2012, Kricfalusi funded through Kickstarter a cartoon short entitled Cans Without Labels, starring the character George Liquor (with Michael Pataki reprising the role for the final time before his death in 2010, having recorded his lines beforehand),[ with the initial delivery date of February 2013. The cartoon was due to be screened at the 2016 Annecy International Animated Film Festival for the first time; however, at the last minute it was announced that it was not ready.]
The short received negative reviews for its animation, humor, sound design, storyline and repeatedly delayed production, as well as Kricfalusi's decision to release it following the sexual abuse allegations made against him the previous year. However, some praised Pataki's voice acting performance.
Retirement
In the 2020 documentary , Kricfalusi stated in an interview that he was "officially retired" from the animation industry, "though not by choice".[
]
Influences
Kricfalusi says he is mostly self-taught, having only spent a year in Sheridan College, barely attending class. He acquired his skills largely by copying cartoons from newspapers and comic books as a child, and by studying cartoons and their production systems from the 1940s and 1950s.[
]
His main influence is Bob Clampett,
though he has also cited Chuck Jones, Frank Sinatra, Kirk Douglas,
Michael Barrier, an animation historian, said that Kricfalusi's works "testify to his intense admiration for Bob Clampett's Warner Bros. cartoons" and that no cartoonist since Clampett created cartoons in which the emotions of the characters "distort their bodies so powerfully".
Sexual abuse allegations
In March 2018, former Spümcø employees Robyn Byrd and Katie Rice told BuzzFeed News that Kricfalusi sexually harassed and child grooming them while they were underage.
Documents Rice and Byrd had saved from those years corroborate their stories, and several people who worked with Kricfalusi referred to his sexual harassment as an open secret in the animation industry. Kricfalusi was also reported to possess child pornography on his computer. Though the allegations were eventually reported to the police, they could neither arrest nor investigate Kricfalusi because the statute of limitations had passed.[
]
In response, Kricfalusi's lawyer confirmed that "for a brief time, 25 years ago, he had a 16-year-old girlfriend", but denied that Kricfalusi's "avid pursuit" of Rice was sexual harassment or that he had ever possessed child pornography.[ Kricfalusi released an apology to the women and his fans for his behavior, which he said was motivated by then-undiagnosed bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as "poor impulse control".][ Byrd and Rice criticized Kricfalusi's statement as a non-apology and an attempt to deflect the blame.]
Due to the allegations, Kricfalusi will not be involved in Comedy Central's upcoming revival of The Ren & Stimpy Show, nor will he receive any financial compensation from it.
Filmography
Film
Television
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| Storyboard artist |
| Storyboard artist |
| Storyboard artist |
| Layout artist |
| Layout artist |
| Layout artist |
| Layout artist |
| Character designer |
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| Graphics designer |
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| Ren Höek, Mr. Horse, additional voices | |
| Consultant only |
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| Boo-Boo Bear, Tree | |
| Boo-Boo Bear, Squirrel Boy | |
| Citracett, Jimmy the Idiot Boy, additional voices | |
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| Ren Höek, additional voices | |
Guest voice actor
Episode: "Pinheads" |
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| 2012 | Guest, episode: "The Eric André New Year's Eve Spooktacular" |
Online
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| | |
| | Web short |
| | Web short |
| | Web short |
| |
| |
Music video
Commercials
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| 1993 | | NBC |
| 1996 | "Jimmy and Sody Pop" | Aoki's Pizza |
| "You Want Some?" | Barq's Root Beer |
| 1997 | "Big Bad Wolf" | Nike |
| "Rooster" | Village Pantry |
| 1998 | "Cadbury Land" | Cadbury |
| | Old Navy |
| 1999 | "Treat Your Dog Right" | Wagwells Dog Treats |
| 2007 | | Raketu |
| "Triple-Saurus" | Comcast |
| 2011 | | Adult Swim |
| 2012 | "Bobby Bigloaf" | Stüssy |
| 2014 | | F'real |
| 2015 | | Adult Swim |
| 2016 | | Ultimate Fighting Championship |
Video games
Bibliography
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| 1995, 1997 | Spümcø Comic Book | 4 issues |
Accolades
Notes
Further reading
External links
