Komorowski Thad - Sick little monkeys : the unauthorized Ren & Stimpy story

Why devote so much time and energy to writing a book about The Ren & Stimpy Show ? I am sometimes kept awake at night pondering that very question. The short answer is that dead men made almost all of the cartoons I like best. There are still books waiting to be written about those cartoon makers and studios and I may possibly get to them someday. But if you are going to expend a gargantuan amount of time writing about something, write about your own time.

I was part of the generation that grew up on the original Nickelodeon broadcasts of Ren & Stimpy. Sadly, I did not recognize its exceeding brilliance in those days. I was actually far more critical as a child than I am now (if it was anything but Looney Tunes, it was garbage). As I began my serious animation studies in my early teens, I realized, upon revisiting it, that Ren & Stimpy was an anomaly: it was the only television cartoon I could actually take seriously.

Elitism though it may be, no other television show, animated or otherwise, combined everything I loved about the arts and sciences like Ren & Stimpy did. I had to know everything possible about this strange being and immediately discovered that the backstory was just as exciting and insane as the show was. Unfortunately, most of the existing histories of the show, online or in print, were conspicuously incomplete or biased and littered with misinformation. You know, I thought, maybe someone should write a book about this show.

It was around this time I came into contact with Bob Jaques. In his spare time, when he is not busy being one of the worlds greatest living animators, he is an animation historian and expert of all things Popeye. After hearing some of his absolutely bonkers stories about working on Ren & Stimpy, most of which have remained untold until this book, he suggested that I harvest my youthful energy into researching the show and writing about it. That pretty much clinched it. I had to be the first one to seriously write about this show the proper way. Bobs consistent assistance, knowledge, and moral support throughout this project were essential to its completion. I can never thank him enough.

Sound knowledge of Ren & Stimpy, the art of animation, and its history and industry is not a prerequisite to reading this tale, although it would be highly advisable to not pick up this book as a complete novice. I have tried to do everything in my power to make this as accurate, entertaining, and readable a book as possible. Time will tell if I was successful. Regardless, in spite of its many imperfections, this aims to be the go-to book for anyone looking for information on Ren & Stimpy. Going by my own tremulous experience assembling it, it will probably remain the only book on the subject.

Frank Young is someone else largely responsible for this books existence. I had been putting off actually getting down to writing this book for ages interviews were being conducted and new documentation was coming in all of the time and I stupidly chose to focus on completing college instead. It was only when I enlisted Frank as my copyeditor that the writing process sped up considerably. His appreciation of all the art forms and sound mastery of the written word made him the ideal collaborator.

Before you go any further, you should know up front that animation legend John Kricfalusi, beyond being the central character of this story, had nothing to do with the making of this book. I am afraid I have only myself to blame. Our Internet brickbats were typical of many he has had with former friends, fans, and colleagues. He called me a stupid kid for disagreeing with him. I called him an asshole. Wash, rinse, [hwarf?] repeat. Smart move, eh? The lesson learned is maturity a lesson I have had the privilege to learn again and again. Then again, if maturity and handling things the right way were guiding principles in the lives of the artists discussed in this book, Ren & Stimpy would not exist.

Fortunately, John K. has been so generous with making his words and knowledge vocal that getting his voice firsthand was inconsequential getting others recollections was far more important, simply because no one else had taken the trouble to do so. As reception to this book will undoubtedly prove, memory can be fleeting and should be taken with a grain of salt. Thankfully, through thorough research, I was able to utilize the information within my dozens of interviews effectively. Not only was there an overwhelming pattern to the interviewees answers, there was steady corroboration that told a clear story. Combined with a sizable library of earlier interviews by other writers, press clippings, and studio documentation, what you are reading is a first in animation history: a colorful, diverse, and highly accurate account of one of the most fascinating stories in twentieth century animation.

Over the years I researched and wrote this book, more than sixty people consented to interviews regarding their involvement with the shows and films I have written about. Many recanted their commitment to an interview. Others simply stopped responding once they saw, from my questions, that this book was not going to be light reading.

I regret that not every person listed here has been represented in the book equally. Some are not even quoted at all. If they have been omitted in the text, it is due to my own narrative and journalistic shortcomings, not because of anything they had to say. Regardless, each of the following people has my gratitude for allowing me to conduct an interview with them, either through e-mail, over the phone, or in person.

Nathan Affolter, Kelly Armstrong, Howard Baker, Craig Bartlett, Jerry Beck, Ed Bell, Elinor Blake, Wil Branca, Kent Butterworth, Bob Camp, Cheryl Chase, Vanessa Coffey, Sherm Cohen, Mark Colangelo, Robert Ryan Cory, Nick Cross, Chris Danzo, Stephen DeStefano, Paul Dini, Arthur Filloy.

Colin Giles, Jim Gomez, Steven Gordon, Mary Harrington, Tom Hay, Ron Hughart, Bob Jaques, Dan Jeup, Michael Kerr, Mike Kim, Tom Klein, David Koenigsberg, Mitchell Kriegman, Doug Lawrence, the late Carl Macek, Jamie Mason, Will McRobb, Brian Mendelsohn, Helder Mendonca, Bob Miller.

Joe Orrantia, David Pietila, Chris Reccardi, Jordan Reichek, Chris Ross, Chris Sauve, Don Shank, Linda Simensky, Libby Simon, Roy Allen Smith, Greg Stainton, Steve Stefanelli, Byron Vaughns, John Vincent, Teale Wang, Billy West, Scott Wills, and Ron Zorman.

In addition, Jim Ballantine, Charlie Bean, the late John Dorman, Greg Duffell, Reg Hartt, Mark Kausler, Mike Kazaleh, Warren Leonhardt, Jamie Oliff, Marc Perry, Richard Pursel, Jim Smith, and Carey Yost all provided helpful information through correspondence.

Interviews and recollections, of course, cannot provide a completely accurate account of what happened, but studio documentation can. I profusely thank Jim Ballantine, Jerry Beck, Chris Danzo, Bob Jaques, Mark Kausler, and David Koenigsberg for their generosity in sharing various pieces of archival paraphernalia.

And you cannot write about films properly without actually seeing them. Assembling an entire collection of a TV show barely twenty years old in its complete, undeterred form is a harrowing feat if the rights holders choose to not do them justice when they issue them to home video. Greg Method and Mike Russo deserve accolades for their fandom, which compelled them to preserve every single original airing of Ren & Stimpy and then some. Should a legitimate box set of the show ever surface, we owe it to their diligence to know what to look for in it and what to whine about.

Michael Barrier, Jerry Beck, Rodney Bowcock, Charles Brubaker, Craig Dauterive, Kurtis Findlay, David Gerstein, Bob Jaques, Charlie Judkins, and Jack Theakston read all or parts of the manuscript and offered many helpful suggestions.