If you don't find jokes about humping robots, monkeys with AIDS or the violent dismemberment of what looks like your childhood toy collection funny, then Cartoon Network's "Robot Chicken" is not for you.
Despite all this, "Robot Chicken" is still going strong and winning Emmy awards after three seasons.
This might come as a surprise, as the controversial, stop-motion, sketch-comedy series isn't what one would call sophisticated.
Their Emmy is for its intricate animation techniques, as the show points out after a two minute sketch in which two characters take turns farting on each other.
The 25 episode season, which originally aired in two installments, will be available to own on DVD today.
The show's 10 minute running time has become TV gold in the age of the YouTube video with skits running no longer than the stint of a TV commercial.
It's a fitting comparison considering that the show started out as a web project.
The brainchild of Seth Green and Matt Senreich began comprising animated shorts in 2000, released online under the name "Sweet J Presents."
The two eventually pitched the idea of a series to Cartoon Network, but co-creator Matt Senreich explained in an interview that the studios weren't so crazy about the name.
"They didn't like 'Sweet J Presents,' so we submitted over 60 titles to the network and they all got rejected," Seinrich says.
" 'Robot Chicken' was a name we got from a local Chinese restaurant menu and we loved it. Then we realized we screwed ourselves because then we'd have to come up with a reason for the show name," Seinrich said.
While the show may seem juvenile due to the intense animation process, much effort goes into the scene behind the camera. The show utilizes a painstaking animation technique, which is called "stop motion animation."
The technique has been used in such classics as "Wallace and Gromit," "A Nightmare before Christmas" and "Gumby."
It involves manipulating a stationary object to seem as if it's moving on its own, a process that used to be done by hand and can now be executed with computer software.
Classic cartoon characters are mutilated while the show puts pop culture in a blender as segments about Smurf villages turn into jokes about Hurricane Katrina.
Senreich explains just how some of these ideas get through the writing process, one that involves a round table meeting of comedic mad scientists including himself, Seth Green and their two head writers.
These ideas then need to be approved in a 3-1 vote or they are confined to the cutting room floor.
"We try to justify why we don't like a skit, but at the end of the day, it's just people with a different sense of humor," Senreich says. "And we hope our sense of humor is the same as everyone else's out there."
Once these ideas are cleared, they are placed on index cards with an average episode rendering fifteen unfiltered ideas.
From there, decisions are made based on the amount of figures needed to be produced for the sketch. This includes the amount of toys, sets and original hand sculpts needed to be made and ordered.
This process is fitting for Senreich, a self-described "geek," who began working for Marvel comics at age fifteen.
He is proud to tap into the "geek culture" by representing his upbringing while he "plays with toys for a living."
It also allows Senreich to personally meet some of his own heroes.
The show has had a wide variety of marquee celebrity guests including George Lucas and Senreich's personal favorite pair, Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise.
Speaking on behalf of his show's success, Senreich is grateful for all of its achievements and remains modest.
"It's become a running joke that at the beginning of every season, we're going to be canceled and we're renewed," Seinrich said. "I'm just hoping it won't be now so Cartoon Network can keep paying my bills for longer."
Seinrich believes the show will have lasting success like that of "The Simpsons."
"We're just gonna keep working on it as long as we can, and we're not bored," Seinrich said. "Right now, we're just having a lot of fun doing it. In a perfect world, maybe it turns into a 'Saturday Night Live' that is around for a really long time, with different people coming in. But for right now, we've got to enjoy it."
A full interview transcript with Matt Senreich can be found online on the Collegian Arts Blog. Pete Rizzo can be reached at prizzo@student.umass.edu.
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