John Kricfalusi

**Michael John Kricfalusi** (/ˌkrɪsfəˈluːsi/; born September 9, 1955), known professionally as **John K.**, is a Canadian illustrator, blogger, and former animator who is best known for creating the animated television series *The Ren & Stimpy Show*. From 1989 to 1992, he was heavily involved with the first two seasons of the show in virtually every aspect of its production, including providing the voice of Ren Höek and other characters.

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Born in Quebec, Kricfalusi spent his early childhood in Germany and Belgium before returning to Canada at age seven. He acquired his skills largely by copying cartoons from newspapers and comic books as a child, and by studying cartoons and their production systems from the 1940s and 1950s. His main influence is Bob Clampett. After moving to Los Angeles in 1978, he collaborated with Ralph Bakshi and worked for Filmation, Hanna-Barbera, and DIC Entertainmenton various shows. In 1989, Kricfalusi co-founded the animation studio Spümcø, with which he remained until its dissolution in 2005.

Nickelodeon fired Kricfalusi from *Ren & Stimpy* due to creative differences and his failure to meet production deadlines. Following this, he directed and produced animated television commercials and music videos for entertainers such as Björkand Tenacious D. In the late 1990s, he created the first cartoons made exclusively for the Internet: *The Goddamn George Liquor Program* and *Weekend Pussy Hunt*. He returned to television with *The Ripping Friends* and the adult animationspin-off *Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon"*. Since 2006, Kricfalusi has maintained a personal blog dedicated to cartoons and animation. There, he coined "CalArts style", a pejorative used for a widespread 2010s cartoon aesthetic.

In 2018, Kricfalusi was accused by two former Spümcø artists of grooming and sexually abusing them in the late 1990s, when they were teenagers.

## Early years

[1]
Michael John Kricfalusi was born on September 9, 1955, in Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada

### Entering the animation industry

After moving to Los Angeles, Kricfalusi was introduced to Milt Gray by Bob Clampett, suggesting he should join Gray's classical animation class. Gray was working for Filmation at the time, and soon Kricfalusi found work there as well,

### *Mighty Mouse*

The team's most successful project was *Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures* for CBS, based on the classic Terrytoons character. The series was well-received, and it is considered the forerunner of creator-driven cartoons.

*Mighty Mouse* was cancelled amidst controversy for allegedly depicting the main character snorting cocaine. Bakshi maintained that neither he nor Kricfalusi had the character sniffing cocaine, and that the character was sniffing the crushed petals of a flower, which were handed to him in a previous scene in the cartoon.

### *Beany and Cecil*

Kricfalusi left Bakshi's studio to work on *The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil* for ABC, where he teamed up with many of the people who would later work with him on many of his Spümcøprojects.

### *Ren & Stimpy*

Kricfalusi formed Spümcø animation studio with partners Jim Smith, Bob Camp and Lynne Naylor.

### *The Ripping Friends*

Fox Kids started airing the TV series *The Ripping Friends* in 2001, created by Kricfalusi and Jim Smith. Kricfalusi had previously tried pitching the show in the late '80s, but networks considered it "too extreme" so did not pick it up. He considers the episodes he was involved in to be experimental.

### *Ren and Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon"*

In 2003, Spike TV produced a new show featuring Ren & Stimpy, which was written and directed by Kricfalusi.

### Other projects

#### Collaborations with Fred Seibert

After leaving *The Ren & Stimpy Show*, Kricfalusi consulted, and other Spümcø animators worked for Donovan Cook's *2 Stupid Dogs*, which was put into production by Hanna-Barbera president Fred Seibert. The cartoon's credits read "Tidbits of Poor Taste Supplied by John Kricfalusi" for the three "Little Red Riding Hood" episodes: "Red!", "The Return of Red" and "Red Strikes Back".

#### Music videos

Kricfalusi directed Icelandic singer Björk's animated music video for the song "I Miss You" in 1995,

#### Internet cartoons and *Hanna-Barbera* shorts

Venturing into Internet cartoons, Kricfalusi created *Weekend Pussy Hunt* in 1996 for MSN, which was billed as "the world's first interactive web-based cartoon".

#### Cartoon commentaries, magazines, and other media

Kricfalusi contributed several articles in 1993 and 1994 for the magazines *Film Threat* and *Wild Cartoon Kingdom* under various aliases.

#### Commercials and freelance work

Kricfalusi directed commercials for Comcastand Voice over IP company Raketu

The advertising agency Muhtayzik-Hoffer hired Kricfalusi in 2013 for an ad campaign for F'real milkshakes.

#### *Cans Without Labels*

In 2012, Kricfalusi funded through Kickstarter a cartoon short entitled *Cans Without Labels*, starring the character George Liquor (with Michael Pataki reprising the role for the final time before his death in 2010, having recorded his lines beforehand),

The short received negative reviews for its animation, humor, sound design, storyline and repeatedly delayed production, as well as Kricfalusi's decision to release it following the sexual abuse allegations made against him the previous year. However, some praised Pataki's voice acting performance.

### Retirement

In the 2020 documentary *Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story*, Kricfalusi stated in an interview that he was "officially retired" from the animation industry, "though not by choice".

## Influences

[3]
Kricfalusi says he is mostly self-taught, having only spent a year in Sheridan College, barely attending class. He acquired his skills largely by copying cartoons from newspapers and comic books as a child, and by studying cartoons and their production systems from the 1940s and 1950s.

## Sexual abuse allegations

[4]
In March 2018, former Spümcø employees Robyn Byrd and Katie Rice disclosed to BuzzFeed that Kricfalusi sexually harassed and groomed them while they were underage.

In response, Kricfalusi's lawyer confirmed that "for a brief time, 25 years ago, he had a 16-year-old girlfriend", but denied that Kricfalusi's "avid pursuit" of Rice was sexual harassment or that he had ever possessed child pornography.Kricfalusi released an apology to the women and his fans for his behavior, which he said was motivated by undiagnosed bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as "poor impulse control".

Because of the allegations, Kricfalusi will not be involved in Comedy Central's upcoming reboot of *Ren & Stimpy*, nor will he receive any financial gain from it.