TV Funhouse

– "Saturday TV Funhouse" is the title of a recurring skit on NBC's Saturday Night Live featuring carto..

Type:
TVSeries
Rating:
7.90 / 10
Duration:
30 Minutes
Release Year:
2000
TV Funhouse (2000)

"Saturday TV Funhouse" is the title of a recurring skit on NBC's Saturday Night Live featuring cartoons created by longtime SNL writer Robert Smigel as well as a short-lived spinoff series TV Funhouse that ran on Comedy Central. "TV Funhouse" frequently satirizes public figures and corporations.

In between the host segments, it would show either parodies of 1950s educational films or cartoons most frequently drawn in the flat, limited-animation style of Saturday morning Hanna-Barbera/Filmation cartoons of the 1970s and 1980s. Another frequent target is the classic 1960s "Animagic" stop motion animated holiday specials of Rankin/Bass.

The animation was originally produced by J.J. Sedelmaier Productions for three seasons until Wachtenheim/Marianetti Animation in association with Tapehouse Toons took over primary animation production duties. When featured on Saturday Night Live, the opening features an SNL bumper being torn by a small, white dog, revealing the TV Funhouse screen underneath. A caricature of executive producer Lorne Michaels appears, sees the dog, and yells, "Come back here with my show!" before going after the dog. The closing features Michaels still grappling with the dog over the torn piece of the bumper.

Producing Country:
USA
Release Date:

06 Dec 2000

Language:

English

MPAA Content-Rating:
TV-MA – Unsuitable For Children

This program is specifically designed to be viewed by adults and therefore may be unsuitable for children under 17 years old. It contains content that is unsuitable for children.

Writer:

Robert Smigel

Main Actors:

Doug Dale, Robert Smigel, Dino Stamatopoulos, Jon Glaser

Plot:

In this spin-off of the TV Funhouse cartoons on SNL, our host Doug (Doug Dale) hosts a show on a set that resembles Blue's Clues if it wasn't computerized. He picks a theme for the day (Caveman Day, Western Day, Spaceman Day, Mexicans Day) and encourages his "Anipals" (His animal puppets) to do stuff for the day that corresponds with the theme. Of course, they never do and get themselves in crazy situations like going to a Tijuanese Bordello and Doug is stuck on the set all alone. There's also Robert Smigel cartoons and mock-educational films!

Ratings:
Internet Movie Database:
7.9/10