The Brothers Grunt

The Brothers Grunt
Genre	Black comedy Surreal humor Off-color humor
Created by	Danny Antonucci
Written by	Dennis Heaton Danny Antonucci Rod Filbrandt
Directed by	Danny Antonucci
Voices of	Doug Parker Jennifer Wilson Danny Antonucci Julie Faye Phil Hayes Terry Klassen Ed Hong Louie David Mylrae Drew Reichelt Lee Tockar
Theme music composer	Patric Caird
Composer(s)	Patric Caird
Country of origin	Canada
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	35 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	a.k.a. Cartoon MTV Networks
Distributor	Paramount Television
Release
Original network	MTV
Original release	August 15, 1994 (1994-08-15) – April 9, 1995 (1995-04-09)
Chronology
Related shows	Ed, Edd n Eddy

The Brothers Grunt is a Canadian animated comedy television series that originally aired from August 15, 1994 to April 9, 1995 on MTV. The series centered on Frank, Tony, Bing, Dean and Sammy, an ensemble cast of pale, rubbery humanoids distantly related to human beings, all of them ostensibly male, wandering around in their underpants, in search of their lost brother Perry.^[1] The series had a short run and was met with generally negative reception.

Overview

Premise

The series centered on an ensemble cast of pale, rubbery, and constipated-looking humanoids with prominent varicose veins distantly related to human beings, all of them ostensibly male, wandering around in their underpants. Their main food staple is cheese; nevertheless, they are able to eat other foods and dishes (at least potatoes: see episode #23, "Not My Potato"). Their single parent is a giant, mute aquatic individual, called Primus Gruntus Maximus, to whom they are born as embryos inside skin warts, much in the way of the Surinam Toad (see Pipa pipa). They live in a monastery in the wilderness. A group is formed, composed of most of the survivors of their species, in a quest to bring back one of their kind, Perry, who has abandoned his involuntary position of "Chosen One" (leader of their order) and is now living the "high life" among human beings (who seem to deal with the bizarre nature of the grunts by ignoring them and pretending everything is normal).

Characters

The main characters were named after famous vocalists of the 1950s: Frank (Sinatra), Tony (Bennett), Dean (Martin), Bing (Crosby), Sammy (Davis Jr.), and Perry (Como), all voiced by Doug Parker.

Main

• Frank
• Tony
• Bing
• Dean
• Sammy
• Perry - A Grunt that became the chosen one in the pilot episode: The Ceremony.

Major

• Gruntus Poobah - (Doug Parker) The leader of the brotherhood of grunt, he serves as the show's host and explains the plot before each episode. He also appears often in flashbacks when the grunts are in a troubled situation giving them advice.
• The Dıflash Queen - (Jennifer Wilson) A Turkish Queen that appeared in the episode: Scrub Me Sammy.
• Gruntus Primus Maximumus - (Doug Parker) A floating giant and the male parent of all living members of the grunt species, All Grunts are born, or hatched, from warts on his back.
• The Dıflash Queen's İgnam lamp - (Jennifer Wilson) A Turkish lamp belonging to Sammy.
• The Smein - (Doug Parker) A Nazi German skunk that appeared in the lost episode: Hunt for Grunts.
• Krischmäßante - (Doug Parker) The Smein's best friend skunk.
• Santa Claus (or St. Nicholas or especially Kris Kringle) - (Doug Parker) An obese present bringer that appeared in the lost episode: The Grunts Who Came for Turkey.

The characters that would become The Brothers Grunt were first seen in one of MTV's numerous 30-second promos. This particular promo consisted of close-up shots of the at-the-time-unnamed character's faces who seemed to be straining to do something (veins in their heads would bulge, the characters would squint and grunt) until the scene cut to the MTV logo landing in a pool of sludge followed by a satisfied "Ahhhhh" (suggesting that the characters were suffering from constipation and the MTV logo was the 'turd' as it were). It is unclear when this promo aired if the storyline and characters for The Brothers Grunt had been developed already or if it had been developed into its own show after the success of the promo, in the wake of Beavis and Butt-head.

Cast

• Doug Parker
• Jennifer Wilson
• Danny Antonucci
• Julie Faye
• Phil Hayes
• Terry Klassen
• Ed Hong Louie
• David Mylrae
• Drew Reichelt
• Lee Tockar

Network run

The show began in 1993 when the MTV ad for The Brothers Grunt aired. At the time Danny Antonucci had animated several MTV ads to find work outside of International Rocketship Ltd., who he had worked for since 1984. Although Danny enjoyed the success of Lupo The Butcher, he wanted to leave International Rocketship Ltd. and start his own animation company. The result was a.k.a. Cartoon, which began on April 1, 1994. The studio began as a way to locate his work for The Brothers Grunt after an MTV executive liked his MTV ad so much he asked him to turn it into a television series.

Reception

The Brothers Grunt had a short run and was met with generally negative reception from critics. Kenneth R. Clark of the Chicago Tribune said that, with the series, MTV "created the most repulsive creatures ever to show up on a television screen" and "accomplished the seemingly impossible."^[2] Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times called the show "an effortful, sophomoric half-hour that leaves the viewer longing for the refined good taste of Alice Cooper."^[3] In their book North of Everything: English-Canadian Cinema Since 1980, William Beard and Jerry White called the series a "failure".^[4] The show was often compared to Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, an animated series that aired on MTV's sister channel, Nickelodeon. Gábor Csupó, co-creator of Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, rejected these comparisons, claiming that his show was more character-driven, while The Brothers Grunt was an idea-driven series, also pointing out that both shows have different visual styles.^[5] When looking back on the series, creator Danny Antonucci stated that the series "didn't really do too well", also saying that the show has since become MTV's "dirty little secret".^[6]

Episodes

Note: All episodes directed by Danny Antonucci

Season 1 (1994)

Season 2 (1994)

Season 3 (1994)

Season 4 (1995)

See also

• 1995 in television

References

External links

• The Brothers Grunt at the Internet Movie Database
• The Brothers Grunt at the Big Cartoon DataBase