Smiling Friends

Created byWritten byDirected byStarringTheme music composerChris O'Neill^[2]Ending theme"Brown Smile" (composed by Chris O'Neill)ComposerBrendan CaulfieldCountry of originOriginal languageEnglishNo. of seasons2No. of episodes10ProductionExecutive producersProducersEditorsRunning time11 minutesProduction companiesOriginal releaseNetworkAdult SwimRelease10 January 2022 (2022-01-10)^[3] –
present

Smiling Friends is an animated sitcom created by Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack for Cartoon Network's night-time programming block Adult Swim, which revolves around the surreal misadventures of a small company and its four employees dedicated to spreading happiness.

The pilot episode aired April 1, 2020, unannounced as part of Adult Swim's annual April Fools' Day event alongside the premiere of Cusack's other series, YOLO. On May 19, 2021, Adult Swim ordered a full season that was initially set to premiere in late 2021.^[4] A panel dedicated to the series was held during the Adult Swim Festival on November 12, 2021, where co-creator Zach Hadel mentioned the show will premiere "within a few months", pushing the release schedule ahead to 2022.^[5] The first season contains nine episodes, including the pilot and an 11-minute special.^[6][7][8] The first season eventually premiered on January 10, 2022, with Adult Swim airing all episodes of the season, except for the special, in one night despite initial plans for a weekly release.^[9][3][a]

The series received positive reviews, and was renewed for a second season on February 9, 2022;^[10] the season premiere aired on April 1, 2024,^[11] with the rest of the season officially set to premiere on May 12.^[12][13]

Premise

The series follows the day-to-day lives and misadventures of a business dedicated to bringing happiness to its customers. A quartet of employees: cynical Charlie, optimistic Pim, deadpan Allan, and minute Glep, along with their eccentric superior Mr. Boss, try to help out the troubled people who call their company's hotline; this usually proves to be more challenging than anticipated due to the often deep-seated nature of their clients' problems.

Voice cast

Main

• Michael Cusack as Pim Pimling / Allan^[14] / Mr. Pimling / Bliblie / Demon / Fairies / Grim / Ketchup / Mr. Frog / Pepper / Amy Pimling / Mrs. Pimling / Rex / Warren Buffett / Jeremy / James / Groxia's Wife
• Zach Hadel as Charlie Dompler / Glep / Bliblie / Boss Baby / DJ Spit / Desmond's Mum / Gnarly / Mip / Mr. Frog Fan / Mr. Peanut / Ronald Reagan / Salt / The Century Egg / The Devil / Charlie’s Grandma / Glep's Grandchild / Gwimbly
• Marc M. as Mr. Boss / Guy at Airport / additional voices

Recurring

• David Dore as Party Bro / Forest Demon
• Mick Lauer as Bug / Guy at the Gym / Crazy Cup / Elf / additional voices
• Erica Lindbeck as Assistant / Jennifer the Barista / Mustard / The Princess
• Chris O’Neill as Smormu / Mr. Frog Auditionee
• Hans van Harken as Jimmy Fallon / Priest / Hell Faces / Billy^[15] / additional voices
• Rodrigo Huerta as Guy In Line / Jacob the Goblin / Devils / additional voices
• Joshua Tomar as Centaur / Grandpa Glep / Cop / Count Groxia / Troglor / additional voices
• Harry Partridge as Smormu Announcer / Grease / 3D Squelton

Guest

• Mike Stoklasa as Desmond / himself
• Finn Wolfhard as Man Living in Wall / various Bliblies
• Nick Wolfhard as Graham Nelly / various Bliblies
• Tom Fulp as Alpha
• Jane Badler as Celebrity Show Host
• David Firth as Shrimp
• Dylan "Chills" as Patron
• Jason Paige as Dream Singer
• Perry Caravello as Simon S. Salty
• Monica Franco as Charlie's girlfriend / Waitress
• Jim Knobeloch as Mystery Show Host
• Clyde Boraine as Policeman
• Lyle Burruss as Mr. Man / CEO
• Gilbert Gottfried as God
• James Rolfe as himself

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2022)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Animation directed/led by	Storyboarded by	Original air date [16][a]	US viewers (millions)
1	1	"Desmond's Big Day Out"	Jake Ganz	Zach Hadel & Michael Cusack	April 1, 2020 (2020-04-01) (April Fools' Day preview) January 10, 2022 (2022-01-10) (series premiere)	0.31[17]
Pim and Charlie are called to help Desmond, a suicidal man who keeps a gun pressed to his head at all times. He eventually cheers up a little when taken to an amusement park, but he goes on a depressing ramble that causes the optimistic Pim to suffer a paralyzing existential crisis. Meanwhile, Allan finds his piece of cheese missing and follows a trail into the office's walls, where he is met with an infestation of small creatures called "bliblies." Upon returning, the Friends and Desmond find the office overrun, and Desmond experiences pleasure when he kills a bliblie, inspiring him to start an extermination service and boosting his spirits. Note: This is the series' pilot episode. It was aired as part of Adult Swim's annual April Fools' Day event, and would later air with the rest of the episodes as part of the series premiere.
2	2	"Mr. Frog"	Georgia Kriss	David Hootselle	January 10, 2022 (2022-01-10)	0.31[17]
The illustrious career of famed celebrity Mr. Frog is put in jeopardy after he attempts to eat a TMZ reporter. Pim and Charlie are tasked with rehabilitating Frog; first, the two try to get him to quit drugs cold turkey and have him donate money to the city (which goes awry when Frog accidentally slices off the hands of the city comptroller during the ceremony), then by getting him to use "sleeping pills" given to him by Charlie, only for a lucid Mr. Frog to say something extremely offensive on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, causing his career to be irreparably damaged. Glep is hired as Frog’s replacement on his television show, but the show's ratings-obsessed producer finds his ordinary behavior too "toxic" and forces him to tone himself down. The show’s audience reacts with disgust to the reboot during its filming. Frog then appears in the studio to apologize and ends up eating the producer for refusing to rehire him, getting the public's love back and becoming rich enough to host the show himself.
3	3	"Shrimp's Odyssey"	Georgia Kriss	Jakub Zieba	January 10, 2022 (2022-01-10)	0.30[17]
A preview asks the audience to vote via text message on whether or not the character "Smormu" is added to the Smiling Friends. Pim and Charlie are tasked with helping Shrimp, a reclusive gamer who has recently lost his girlfriend Shrimpina. Pim goes to set her and Shrimp up on a blind date at her place of work, but ends up falling in love with her. Meanwhile, Charlie tries to help Shrimp look more presentable for the date, but to little avail. Pim tries to take the date for himself, but feels guilt when he sees Charlie and a miserable Shrimp nearby. He shows Shrimpina to Shrimp, only to realize that she is not actually Shrimpina, nor had Shrimp ever met the woman, but she falls for Shrimp regardless despite his unappealing nature. Smormu, revealed to have been added, dances for Pim to try and cheer him up. A brief post-credits scene shows that Smormu has died.
4	4	"A Silly Halloween Special"	Georgia Kriss	Michael Dockery & Jason Kruse	January 10, 2022 (2022-01-10)	0.25[17]
In a live-action sequence, a disheveled Robert Stack-like host comments on the horrors of the unknown and introduces the episode. At the company Halloween party, The Boss sends Pim into the nearby woods to collect wood, only for him to get lost and eventually be attacked by a forest demon. It chases him back to the building, where the partygoers mistake its skin tone for blackface and brutally attack and kill it, The Boss using its body for the wood he needed, then complimenting Pim on finding the "firewood" and declaring Halloween "saved" as he then eats the demon's arm raw. Back in live-action, the man concludes the greatest horrors come from the mind, only to be told to move by a cop and revealing he is not wearing pants.
5	5	"Who Violently Murdered Simon S. Salty?"	Bob Dorian (uncredited)	Mark Sheard	January 10, 2022 (2022-01-10)	0.23[17]
Getting dinner at a Salty's fast food restaurant, Pim and Charlie find founder Simon S. Salty dead in a back room. They quickly call the police, only to be told they had to move the murder investigation division to a separate company due to budget cuts; they then get a call from an on-vacation Mr. Boss revealing they, in fact, were the police's new division. They then interrogate his team of living mascots, all of whom display alarmingly unhinged behavior. Eventually they recover security footage from a discontinued "century egg" mascot, finding that while everyone was recorded having attacked Salty, he had ultimately died in the first place of a heart attack from his own unhealthy food (ironically while eating what he said would be his last burger before changing his lifelong eating habits) and that all of his mascots had separately attempted to kill him for their own reasons, unaware that they were attacking a corpse. The mascots leave the restaurant and immediately begin to cause chaos. In a post-credits scene, the Friends bury the discontinued mascot in China as he requested, only for Charlie to dig him back up when Pim wonders what he tasted like.
6	6	"Enchanted Forest"	Georgia Kriss	Jakub Zieba	January 10, 2022 (2022-01-10)	0.21[17]
A princess of the nearby Enchanted Forest calls the Smiling Friends to help her smile for a portrait. Pim and Charlie accept, only for them to get sidetracked by a hobbit-esque forest dweller named Mip. Charlie undertakes several quests despite his apathy towards it beforehand, causing Pim to accidentally kill Mip in a jealous struggle. Remorseful, he and Charlie take the box Mip wanted to give to the princess to honor his memory, only for her to reveal Mip was her stalker and that the box is a bomb, which she throws out the window before it would explode and kill them all. Nonetheless, the princess smiles upon learning of Mip's demise. In a post-credits scene, back at the office, Charlie has an allergic reaction to a "potion" Mip had urged him to drink on a quest, claiming it was a cure for headaches.
7	7	"Frowning Friends"	Bob Dorian (uncredited)	Michael Harris	January 10, 2022 (2022-01-10)	0.21[17]
A rival company called the "Frowning Friends," run by a pair of lookalikes named Grim and Gnarly moves in across the street and is extremely successful at spreading gloom. Grim and Gnarly besmirch the Smiling Friends' reputation when they begin making the town miserable, and Pim and Charlie's attempts to reverse the situation prove feeble. As the company's profits plummet, the Boss has a psychotic break. He attempts to assassinate Grim, causing him to beg for his life in front of his supporters, revealing his nihilistic worldview to be a fraud and causing the Frowning Friends to shut down. The Boss convinces Grim and Gnarly to smile for the first time, only for them to be killed by passing "Renaissance men" on horseback, to the consternation of Pim and Charlie.
8	8	"Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back"	Bob Dorian (uncredited)	David Hootselle	January 10, 2022 (2022-01-10)	0.22[17]
On Christmas Eve, Pim and Charlie are tasked with fetching a Christmas tree. They argue about the latter's negative attitude until a Christmas tree falls on Charlie and gruesomely kills him. He awakens in Hell, finding it frozen over because Satan is suffering from a bout of depression. After traveling to Satan's castle, Charlie strikes a deal with him; if he can make Satan smile, he must send him back to Earth. Satan realizes torturing Charlie gives him pleasure and tries to back out on their deal, only for God (Gilbert Gottfried) to save Charlie, reveal the whole thing was a test, and send him back to Earth, nude, during his funeral. An elderly Glep, narrating the episode the entire time, informs his grandson that the story is true and Christian Hell is actually real, wishing the audience a Merry Christmas.
9	9	"The Smiling Friends Go to Brazil!"	Paul Ter Voorde	Michael Dockery, Michael Harris & Mark Sheard	August 6, 2022 (2022-08-06)	0.27[18]
The Smiling Friends arrive at the Brazilian airport, ready to unload at the hotel, however Pim forgot to book the hotel, thinking it was Allan’s duty. He calls the hotel to try and book, but the hotel tells him that they are fully booked as Mardi Gras is currently occurring. The crew get seated at an airport restaurant and try to figure out where to go. They call The Boss to try and get some help, but he has nothing. Ultimately, the gang accepts that they chose a bad time to come to Brazil and head to catch the next flight back home, unaware of a plane that's about to crash into a mountain in the background. This entire aforementioned sequence of events is presented as a single shot.

Season 2 (2024)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Storyboarded by	Original air date	US viewers (millions)
10	1	"Gwimbly: Definitive Remastered Enhanced Extended Edition DX 4K (Anniversary Director's Cut)"	Paul Ter Voorde	James Cunningham, Michael Cusack, Michael Dockery & Zach Hadel	April 1, 2024 (2024-04-01) (April Fools' Day preview) May 12, 2024 (2024-05-12) (season premiere)	TBD
Pim and Allan try to help washed-up video game mascot Gwimbly by getting his parent company to make him a new game. The CEO refuses and they decide to make the game themselves, leaving him enraged that they are using his intellectual property without his permission. As he hunts them with the mascot of the company's new games, Troglor, the trio discover that Gwimbly's nemesis is busy with everyday life and his sidekick had died of a fentanyl overdose. James, Gwimbly's violent and burly fanboy, breaks into the Smiling Friends office after the latter accidentally doxxes the building via a Cameo call and forces Charlie to do increasingly degrading things to make him smile, culminating in him tearing Charlie's nose off. As the CEO chases Pim, Allan and Gwimbly into the office, James kills him. Pleased by the murder, James smiles and leaves, while Gwimbly and Troglor join a crossover fighting game together, with Mr. Boss also joining as a playable character. In a post-credits scene, James laments his abusive patterns, seemingly revealing a love for Charlie.
11	2	"Mr. President"[19]	Michael Cusack & Zach Hadel	TBA	May 12, 2024 (2024-05-12)	TBD
Pim and Charlie get recruited to help make the President of the United States smile.
TBA	TBA	"A Allan Adventure"[20]	Michael Cusack & Zach Hadel	TBA	TBA	TBD

Production

Smiling Friends was created by animators Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack, noted for their individual successes as content creators for Newgrounds and YouTube. Already well-acquainted with each other online, the pair conceived the idea for the show in 2017 whilst dining at Gus's Chicken in Burbank, California, where Cusack, who is based in Melbourne, Australia,^[21] was visiting at the time. Hadel stated in an interview that the pair's goal for the show was to base it around "a group of loveable characters, with a simple kind of concept, which we could take anywhere we wanted to." They settled upon the premise of a hotline for people who were unhappy, which became "the connective tissue that made it all click together." However, Hadel stated that although "the company is an important aspect of the show, it’s really the springboard. We have episodes where it’s not even about the job at all." The pair singled out South Park and Seinfeld as amongst the show's biggest influences. The duo developed the show's art style as a 50/50 blend of their own individual styles, though Cusack noted that his own drawings tend to go through a "final Zach gloss".^[22][23] Early in development, the series went under the working title Little Helpers, with an entirely different cast.

Hadel and Cusack pitched the series to Adult Swim which subsequently greenlit production on the pilot in 2018. Hadel had previously attempted to sell his and Chris O'Neill's webseries Hellbenders to the network, but the project was not picked up while an independently produced pilot was shelved during production. Meanwhile, Cusack created the Rick and Morty short Bushworld Adventures which premiered during an April Fools stunt on the network in 2018, and also created the series YOLO: Crystal Fantasy which premiered on August 10, 2020.

The Smiling Friends pilot, which the pair consider the first official episode, aired on Adult Swim on April 1, 2020, to positive reviews^[24] and became the most viewed episode of any show on the network's website.^[10] The network subsequently ordered seven additional episodes in May 2021. Serving as showrunners, Hadel and Cusack were hands on in all aspects of production, from writing, storyboards, character designs, final animation and sound design, which the duo considered unusual for an adult animated series. According to Hadel, the budget for the entire first season was equivalent to that of a single episode of Family Guy (an estimated US$2,000,000).^[23][25]

The show is primarily animated in Australia by Princess Bento Studio, which is a joint venture between the Australian media company Princess Pictures and the American animation studio Bento Box Entertainment. The studio has additionally worked on Cusack's other animated series, such as season 2 of YOLO and the Hulu original series Koala Man.

Adult Swim renewed the series for a second season on February 9, 2022.^[26]

On May 18, 2022, Hadel announced on Twitter that a special would be released sometime before the second season.^[27] A listing for an episode titled "The Smiling Friends Go to Brazil!" appeared on Rotten Tomatoes on July 21, and was confirmed by Hadel and Cusack at Adult Swim's San Diego Comic Con panel the next day. It aired on August 6, 2022. Lead-in promotion to the episode purposely suggested a more conventional vacation episode than what was actually presented, with a poster of the Smiling Friends relaxing on a Brazilian beach,^[28] and a summary suggesting that the episode would be about the gang relaxing in a beautiful Brazilian beach town.^[29]

During Adult Swim's panel at New York Comic Con in October 2023, it was confirmed that the second season would premiere in 2024, and would include a variety of animation styles, such as stylized 2D, 3D, stop motion, and live-action content.^[30]

Broadcast

The pilot initially premiered on Adult Swim in the United States and Canada on April 1, 2020, during the network's April Fools premiere event.^[31]

The series officially premiered on January 10, 2022, at 12:00 a.m. with the episodes "Mr. Frog" and "Shrimp's Odyssey". The rest of the series was then broadcast in an unannounced premiere marathon in its entirety starting from 12:30 a.m. followed by a repeat at 3:00 a.m. The episodes would re-air with two separate episodes airing in the intended premiere slots for the following 4 weeks afterwards, including another marathon on the night of February 13, most likely to pick up viewers tuning away from the end of Super Bowl LVI, as well as to promote the series' availability through HBO Max and the recent news of renewal for the series.^[32]

In Canada, the series premiered simultaneously on Adult Swim with new episodes airing weekly. The series later premiered on E4 in the United Kingdom on January 21, 2022, and Adult Swim in France on January 24, 2022.^[33][34]

The series was made available to stream on HBO Max in the United States and StackTV in Canada on February 9, 2022.^[35][36]

The second season began with the season premiere airing on April Fools Day 2024 during the annual Adult Swim April Fools Day prank, with three episodes from season 1, remade with various types of puppetry, shown prior. The remaining second season episodes are scheduled to premiere beginning May 12.^[12][13]

Home media

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released the first season on DVD and Blu-ray on August 29, 2023.^[37]

Reception

Lex Briscuso of New York Magazine praised the show’s tone and animation style, particularly its use of "unnerving close-up cuts and creepy supporting character design".^[38] Margaret Lyons of The New York Times praised the show's humor and compared it favorably to Aqua Teen Hunger Force.^[39] Noah Dominguez of Comic Book Resources also made this comparison, and additionally praised the show as "unique" and commended its "bizarre humor" and "surrealist tone."^[24]

Notes

References

External links

• Smiling Friends at IMDb
• Smiling Friends at Adult Swim