Is the above name at all familiar to you?
No?
Well, there was a time many years ago when John Kricfalusi, aka John K, created and oversaw a cartoon show that was, IMHO, an absolute delight. The show was Ren & Stimpy and one of its funniest bits, the bonkers “Happy Happy Joy Joy” song…
The show was extremely silly bordering on psychotic and, for me anyway, was absolutely hilarious.
Now comes the following, presented on Jezebel.com and written by Hazel Cills…
This bit of news, one in a very long line of such very sad, stunning, infuriating bits of news regarding men in high positions behaving very badly (and that’s putting it in the nicest terms possible) was also…
Not all that surprising to me.
Why?
If you scroll down the above article and reach the comment section, you’ll find a comment made by yours truly regarding this situation. Understand, I have no “inside knowledge” unique to me regarding this situation. I have never met (at least to my knowledge) the man or any of the people involved in this story.
What I did have to say was the following:
I too loved the first run of Ren & Stimpy and was sad when it was done. Then, the show was revived and had a more “adult” bend and I recall seeing a “behind the scenes” video with John K. and a few of his staff working on some new concept for the show and…
…damn…
He just seemed soooooo damn… creepy.
I’m going by (likely) fading memory, but he was talking to either one or two women on the staff and showing them some concept art he created for some new character a -again, my memory may be foggy here- chicken. The chicken was plucked and looked like male genitals and John K. was giggling about its name (I forget that completely but it was some sexual double-entendre).
The women he was with were laughing but they seemed, to me, really uncomfortable… then again, it could have been me watching the whole spectacle.
As I said, I had such a creepy vibe from seeing that clip. The subsequent Ren & Stimpy show was pretty horrid and that was the last I ever cared for John K. and his stuff.
The bottom line?
The news of John K.’s alleged behavior isn’t all that surprising to me, given the very uncomfortable feeling I had following seeing the above video.
Bear in mind, the reason this video was presented was to promote the then new Ren & Stimpy show. For me, anyway, all it did was make me real uncomfortable regarding John K.