Cool Videos: Ren & Stimpy creator John K. directs Simpsons couch gag

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Things were not always rosy between early-90s animation staples “Ren & Stimpy” and “The Simpsons.” The creator of the former, John Kricfalusi, had taken some pot shots against “The Simpsons” in the press saying that the series succeeded despite some shoddy animation and poor writing. (“The Simpsons” would later fire back in the episode “The Front” about Bart and Lisa writing an episode of “Itchy & Scratchy.”)

Apparently Kricfalusi and “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening have buried the hatchet as John K. directed the opening credits “couch gag” for this past Sunday’s episode. Said Kricfaluski in an interview with Cartoon Brew, “Matt Groening and Al Jean [executive producer] asked me to do it. They showed me an opening that Banksy did that satirized the animation production assembly line system in Korea and told me it was really popular, so they wanted to do something similar with me….This project was the most fun I’ve had in years.”

What results is…well, John K. at his most manic. Apparently the only note he received was “Do we need so many reaction poses of Bart?” but the rest is pure Kricfalusi. I understand what he was attempting with the segment, but I’m not sure that it really works. It’s obviously quite abstract but to what point? It seems more an experiment in a particular style of animation and I love that John K. is still doing his thing but didn’t leave all that impressed. Take a look below and let me know what you think.