Cover Art

Credits

Directors Seth Green, Matthew Senreich, Tom Root, Douglas Goldstein Starring: Seth Green, Dan Milano, Breckin Meyer, Chad Morgan, Jamie Kaler, Adam Talbot, Seth MacFarlane, Victor Yerrid Screenplay: Seth Green, Matthew Senreich, Tom Root, Douglas Goldstein, Mike Fasolo, Charles Horn, Pat McCallum, Jordan Allen-Dutton, Erik Weiner, Breckin Meyer, Dan Milano, Hugh Davidson, Ross Shuman Country: USA

Essentially the brain-child of Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, Robot Chicken is sketch comedy that comprises of stop-motion animated action figures, puppets and claymation; a kitchen-sink approach where anything that works is thrown into the mix. The style of humour is expectedly quirky; a generally outrageous take on the sort of pop culture parodies and spoofs popularised by South Park, albeit slightly less focused and minus the social conscience. Almost every sickening bodily secretion features at some point: blood, vomit, urine, faeces, pus etc. There are too many sketches to go into much detail – what's more, it's funnier when you don't know what to expect – but some prime examples of the comedy gold being mined are: Alien and Predator on dating show; the Olsen twins get super powers; what really happened to Walt Disney; the fat guy from N'Sync fights in a martial arts tournament; a smurf parody of Se7en…the list goes on and on. Most episodes feature celebrity cameo performances, either as puppets or as guest voices. This could have resulted in a whole lot of Hollywood ego-tripping and circle-jerking, but thankfully, the effect is quite the opposite; most of the cameos are reflexively parodic and such good fun that they never feel contrived or out of place in the irreverent mayhem.

Sketch comedy is generally a hit-or-miss affair, but I'm happy to report that Robot Chicken goes a long way to skewing the balance in favour of hits. Episodes typically run fifteen minutes, so there's very little flab: no jokes are drawn out or laboured and skits are short, punchy and frequently hilarious. Like a sugar-rush to the head, viewing is dangerously addictive; you can probably watch all twenty episodes in one sitting without getting bored and, thanks to the sheer abundance of material, repeat viewing is essential to further enjoyment. Furthermore, both discs are bursting with extras and bonuses: everything from deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes, alternate voice takes, pilot episodes, failed sketches, animators meetings and commentary on the episodes.