With its pilot episode alone, Smiling Friends conquered the internet, with its firm grip on the pop culture zeitgeist only tightening with every new episode. Created by Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel, the show has broken many boundaries when it comes to animation and the relationship between internet darlings and television production.
Now that the show is getting a second season, fans will flock to Adult Swim and HBO Max to relive the adventures of Charlie, Pim, and the gang. That said, there are some facets of the show that fans may have either forgotten or just not noticed altogether.
The Boss' Voice
Mr. Boss, the owner and, well, boss of The Smiling Friends, breaks the mold for traditional boss characters. Unlike the usual boss characters, Mr. Boss is a pretty nice guy, but there is always an understated menace to the character that occasionally peaks its head above the parapet.
One facet of the character that some fans may not have picked up on is the fact that Mr. Boss' voice actor, Marc M. of Sick Animation, uses two separate voices for the character. Most of the time, The Boss has a light, kindly voice, but on occasion, he will slip into a more sinister southern drawl.
Remnants Of The Pilot
Smiling Friends' first episode, which did a great job establishing the world and the style of the show, is among the best sitcom pilots ever. That being said, not everything that the team had planned for the pilot made it to air.
In an interview on The Create Unknown, Cusack and Hadel revealed that the original plan was for Charlie and Pim to take Desmond to a beach where a group of dead dolphins who were killed by an oil spill littered the sands. The setting was eventually changed, but Cusack and Hadel were so enamored with a particular sketch of a dead dolphin that it was incorporated into Mr. Frog's animal "sanctuary" in the second episode.
Newgrounds Guests
Both Cusack and Hadel got their start on Newgrounds, a haven for fostering the greats of internet animation, with many Newgrounds veterans being brought in by the two to work on Smiling Friends. Simultaneously, several Newgrounds personalities got to play characters in the show.
It all began with Newgrounds founder Tom Fulp making a cameo in the pilot voicing Pim's sister's boyfriend, but soon, a cornucopia of Newgrounds greats appeared on the show. Some notable examples include David Firth, of Salad Fingers fame, playing Shrimp in "Shrimp's Odyssey," as well as OneyNG himself, Chris O'Neill, playing the late Smormu in the same episode.
Celebrity Guests
Along with the Newgrounds creators, Smiling Friends' creators have some celebrity friends, with many appearing on the show. However, one philosophy Hadel has mentioned is to make it so that fans will not immediately realize who the celebrity guest star is.
It started with Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard and his brother Nick playing characters in the pilot and ended with James Rolfe, The Angry Video Game Nerd himself, playing a role in the finale. The biggest name the show had gotten thus far is Gilbert Godfried, who plays none other than God in the last episode.
The Renaissance Men Make Their Presence Known
While this is not necessarily something fans would have forgotten and is more something that they just would not have noticed, it is a story that is too compelling not to tell. In an example of foreshadowing that paid off, the episode "Frowning Friends" begins with Charlie and Pim taking part in casual banter about a group called The Renaissance Men, only for that same group to turn out to be a group of templars who arrive at the end of the episode, kill The Frowning Friends, and leave.
Production on "Frowning Friends" was a nightmare, so much so that Cusack and Hadel had a video call to hash out what the opening and closing gag would be for the episode just as the deadline was drawing near. After going through a few options like a newly discovered moon or a falling satellite, Hadel just casually mentioned The Renaissance Men, and the rest was history.
Pim's Brother
One of the things that make Smiling Friends so special is the tiny little details in the background of scenes. In the pilot, Charlie and Pim take their client Desmond to a family dinner at Pim's family's house, and things do not go well.
Amid the chaos, Pim's brother darts across the room in the background, but a tiny detail makes this fact all the funnier. As pointed out by The Create Unknown, there is a photo on the wall of Pim's brother running, implying that this is something he does constantly.
The Origin Of Mip
Mip is a character who plays a key in the episode "Enchanted Forest," as his interference in Charlie and Pim's quest to make the princess of said Enchanted Forest smile affects Pim deeply. However, if the character's look is familiar to a viewer, they are likely a hardcore Tolkien fan.
His design, whose animation was handled by Harry Partridge, is a dead ringer for a character from the Rankin/Bass animated Hobbit movie, none other than Bilbo Baggins. Though he is nowhere near as noble as the hero of The Shire, his smoother, more classic movement adds to one of Smiling Friends' best episodes.
No Hugging, No Learning
The "no hugging, no learning" mantra, which Seinfeld helped pioneer, not only made the show funnier, it also made the characters more relatable. Jettisoning the saccharine sappiness that plagued sitcoms of the time, as well as the generic life lessons that were also prevalent, helped Seinfeld stand out, but it also made an impression on Cusack and Hadel.
While Smiling Friends is not the only show in the modern day to take on such a mindset, its use of it helps it, much like Seinfeld back in the day, stand out from other shows on its home at Adult Swim. Though the characters are a bit more wholesome than the likes of Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer, they will not be known for hugging or learning anytime soon.
Some Oddly Realistic Dialogue
There are bizarre flashes of realism to the lads at The Smiling Friends office, as while the situations they find themselves in are somewhat outlandish, there is a sincerity to their interactions and ways of responding to their problems. In his interview with The Create Unknown, Hadel mentioned that he loved giving the characters realistic conversations.
"Everybody's had that moment where you're trying to show your friend something on YouTube, or on...like, there's five or six people around sometimes, and you're showing somebody a cool video, and nobody's paying attention. And your like, 'Yeah, you can turn that off. I wasn't even watching it.'" It is a similar situation to what loads of people have experienced, so it is interesting to see Smiling Friends hold up a microscope to that.
Mixed Media Animation
Though its digital 2D animation is at the forefront, Smiling Friends has utilized numerous animation styles in only one season. In just eight episodes, the show has utilized rotoscoping, stop-motion, 3D animation, and more, all to comedic effect.
Not only that, but the show has also employed live-action segments, with a few notable examples being for the opening and closing gags of "Mr. Frog" and "Shrimp's Odyssey." Smiling Friends has received a good deal of acclaim, but its use of more than just one style of animation deserves far more praise than it gets.