Okay, the show’s been off the air for six years so it’s not exactly a timely question.
I get that the show is a parody of reality shows like The Surreal Life. And I could tell you who most of the characters are parodying.
But I don’t “get” Spanky Ham. I understand the character but what is he supposed to be a parody of? Can somebody tell me who the “real” animated character is that he’s supposed to be based on?
It’s been awhile, but I think he was supposed to be a parody of cheap flash cartoons that tend to get its humor from the stupidity of the character. Basically, Adult Swim stuff like Sealab & Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I’m not sure if there’s a specific character they based him on.
Yeah, he’s a parody of a genre rather than of a specific character, just like Princess Clara and Wooldor.
Porky Pig. Pretty cl-cl-cl-clear to me!
Wooldor is supposed to be a Spongebob ripoff. Not only does he sound like Spongebob and his full name is Wooldor Sockbat but I’m pretty sure they’ve referenced it one or two times on the show.
I’m just not seeing the connection with Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The only character that even comes close would be Shake and even that’s a pretty poor fit. And I don’t see any connection with Sealab 2021 at all - Sealab itself was a parody of the seventies “adventure comics” genre.
I’m also not seeing a connection there either. Both characters were a pig? Porky’s personality and his animation style were completely different from Spanky’s.
Definitely a SpongeBob parody. But also some Stimpy.
It’s kind of a dated reference but he was supposed to represent crass internet Flash animation. At the time it made a lot of sense to me but I am struggling to even provide one example of what I mean.
No, Spanky Ham was neither a parody of Porky Pig nor anything from Adult Swim. He was supposed to be a Flash cartoon from a sleazy internet site, that’s why he was gross, obnoxious, racist & pornographic. It’s also why he was animated the way he was. The others were parodies of:
[ul]
[li]Captain Hero - Superhero cartoons (Superman etc.)[/li][li]Xandar - Cartoon characters from console video games (Link from Zelda mostly)[/li][li]Toot - Early b&w singing & dancing cartoons (Betty Boop mostly)[/li][li]Walldoor - All the absurdist, abstract, trippy cartoons starting in the late 90s (SpongeBob yes, but actually the archetype was first established by Ren & Stimpy)[/li][li]Foxy Brown - The 70s Hanna Barbera ‘live-action’ stuff (i.e. cartoons with people, Josie & The Pussycats, Scooby-Doo etc.)[/li][li]Princess Clara - Beautiful female leads from Disney films (Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty etc.) This is why she was a traditional, old-school racist.[/li][/ul]
In one episode Spanky actually contracts (downloads?) a computer ‘virus’ which causes him to freeze, pixelate & stutter.
Given that they are all three Viacom properties, it’s not that surprising.
IIRC, a character (Clara, I believe) actually calls Wooldoor, Spongebob at one point.
Didn’t the show call Spanky Ham “A Crass Internet Download” or some such? This to me implies that he is more a Miniclip type of thing than A Flash type of thing. (Oh, our internet has grown up so fast!)
That’s the kind of thing I’m looking for. Can anyone provide a link to one of these flash animations so I can see what they’re like? It’s hard to appreciate a parody when you’re never seen the original.
Maybe some of the Joe Cartoon stuff?
There was also Father Tucker, extremely bad taste but hilarious (and most definitely NSFW!!!):
Mr. Wong also comes to mind (same applies, NSFW):
http://www.icebox.com/archive/index.php?id=show&showid=s10
And my favorite, Hard Drinkin’ Lincoln (not as offensive as the others):
http://www.icebox.com/?cat=29
(cut & paste links to view)
I have been racking my brain and the only one I can think of is the one with the Squirrels. Happy Tree Friends? It is funny because when the show was on, I knew exactly what they were going for.
I could have sworn there was a series of flash cartoons that centered around pigs…Maybe it was the late 90s? I can’t remember exactly what they were about but I remember thinking of them when I first saw Spanky. Ugh, it’s driving me crazy now. Does anyone else remember? I know they had their own website and it was a bit violent.