George Liquor
Encyclopedia
George Liquor most famous for his appearances on The Ren and Stimpy Show
, is a cartoon character created by John Kricfalusi
and is a mascot for Kricfalusi's defunct animation studio, Spümcø
. Kricfalusi portrayed George Liquor as a patriotic, outspoken, politically conservative blowhard. Kricfalusi described Liquor as his favorite character to animate.
George was voiced by Harris Peet in his first starring episode of The Ren and Stimpy Show and has been voiced by Michael Pataki
since. George Liquor appeared in episodes of The Ren and Stimpy Show, the episodes of The Goddamn George Liquor Program
, comic books, webcomics, internet cartoons, and advertisements. According to Kricfalusi's blog, a new webtoon starring George is currently in development. It will be sponsored by Pontiac Vibe
.
"that he thinks the Republicans
are Commies". George harbors a deep antipathy for the political left
; in one issue of Spümcø's Comic Book, George Liquor becomes enraged after a fish calls him a Democrat
. According to Kricfalusi's "George Liquor Story Bible," George is a middle-aged, crass, religious, ultra-patriotic
American who favors his nephew, Jimmy The Idiot Boy, and tries to teach Jimmy how to be "a Real Man".
Liquor lives in the fictional city of Decentville, USA. George strongly believes in discipline and corporal punishment
; his motto is "it's discipline that begets love". In the two episodes of The Ren and Stimpy Show in which he starred, George treats Ren and Stimpy strictly and tries to make them as disciplined as possible. In an issue of Comic Book, Liquor questions how parents can love their children without spanking
them.
, Kricfalusi's father greatly influenced the character's personality. He said that both Liquor and his father are similar in that "George and my Dad believe strongly in discipline and order and rules. (Especially their own!)" Kricfalusi intended for George Liquor to be an integral character in The Ren and Stimpy Show; Kricfalusi created Ren and Stimpy as Liquor's and Jimmy's pets.
, and directed at his studio, Spümcø. Liquor starred in the episodes "Dog Show" and "Man's Best Friend" and made brief cameos in the episodes "The Boy Who Cried Rat" and "Robin Höek". According to Kricfalusi, Liquor only appeared in a few episodes because those in charge of Nickelodeon at the time hated the character. Ren and Stimpy animator Bill Wray
described Liquor as a character that Nickelodeon "never liked" because the name "Liquor" both was a reference to alcohol and sounded like the words "lick her". Wray said that Nickelodeon disapproved of George but did not forbid Kricfalusi from using the character.
In one of Liquor's starring roles, in the episode "Dog Show", George put characters Ren and Stimpy through a painful process of making the two into perfect pets for a dog show. Before the episode was broadcast, it was censored so that George's last name, "Liquor", was cut from the soundtrack. According to Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons And Blacklisted Animators in America, Nickelodeon has not officially explained why the name "Liquor" was cut from broadcasting. Liquor's other major appearance, the episode "Man's Best Friend", was banned from Nickelodeon
and was not shown on television for years because of its content. In the episode, George makes threats and angry demands to Ren and Stimpy, and in the end of the episode, Ren beats George with an oar. In addition to missing deadlines for Nickelodeon and making too many controversial cartoons, Kricfalusi said that the episode "Man's Best Friend" was the episode of The Ren and Stimpy Show that got him and the Spumco staff fired from the series. Kricfalusi said that "Man's Best Friend" was actually approved for broadcasting by both Standards and Practices and Nickelodeon administrators, but the Nickelodeon staff declined to broadcast the episode when network executives saw the finished product. Wray stated that the episode was "all finished and ready to go" before the cancellation. The episode aired on Spike TV in 2003 as part of Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon
. When Nickelodeon fired Kricfalusi, the network gave him the rights to use George Liquor because the network employees did not like the character. The arrangement with the network also granted Kricfalusi the rights to Jimmy the Hapless Idiot Boy.
, but Kricfalusi decided to move the series to Dark Horse Comics
, as "Marvel wanted to maintain its corporate image, so we moved to Dark Horse, where they have no social conscience". The series was written and drawn by Spümcø co-founders Kricfalusi and Jim Smith and other members of the original Spümcø staff. While with Marvel, Comic Book was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Humor Publication. One story in the first issue of the Dark Horse's Comic Book, George Liquor's Fishing Show, was later made into a webcomic
with sound that was featured on the Spümcø website.
George Liquor starred in the Flash Internet cartoon series, The Goddamn George Liquor Program
, created by Kricfalusi. Premiering on October 15, 1997, The Goddamn George Liquor Program was the first cartoon series to be produced exclusively for the Internet. George appeared on the series with his nephew, Jimmy The Idiot Boy; Jimmy's cousins, Slab and Ernie; Jimmy's love interest, Sody Pop; and George and Jimmy's pet dog, Dirty Dog. Without the control of a network
, the series could be made as Kricfalusi wanted. Spümcø produced eight one-minute shorts. In 1999, The Goddamn George Liquor Program won an Annie Award
for "Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Interactive Production".
in 1997. George Liquor has been used in Kricfalusi's advertisements for the Ultimate Fighting Championship
, and is currently used in ads for the internet communication service Raketu.
for Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo DS. He is seen alongside The Almighty Tallest. (From Invader ZIM)
The Ren and Stimpy Show
The Ren & Stimpy Show, often simply referred to as Ren & Stimpy, is an American animated television series, created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi for Nickelodeon. The series focuses on the titular characters: Ren Höek, a psychotic chihuahua, and Stimpson J. Cat, a good-natured, dimwitted cat...
, is a cartoon character created by John Kricfalusi
John Kricfalusi
Michael John Kricfalusi , better known as John K., is a Canadian animator. He is creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show, its adults-only spin-off Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon", The Ripping Friends animated series, and Weekend Pussy Hunt, which was billed as "the world's first interactive web-based...
and is a mascot for Kricfalusi's defunct animation studio, Spümcø
Spümcø
Spümcø, Inc. was an American animation production company based in Los Angeles, California. The studio produced three traditionally animated series, two Flash-animated cartoon series, two music videos, five animated shorts, and a comic book. The company also went on to produce content for a few...
. Kricfalusi portrayed George Liquor as a patriotic, outspoken, politically conservative blowhard. Kricfalusi described Liquor as his favorite character to animate.
George was voiced by Harris Peet in his first starring episode of The Ren and Stimpy Show and has been voiced by Michael Pataki
Michael Pataki
Michael Pataki was an American character actor.-Early life:Pataki born in Youngstown, Ohio. He attended the University of Southern California with a double major in Political Science and Drama...
since. George Liquor appeared in episodes of The Ren and Stimpy Show, the episodes of The Goddamn George Liquor Program
The Goddamn George Liquor Program
The Goddamn George Liquor Program is a 1997 Adobe Flash cartoon series created by John Kricfalusi and starring the animated George Liquor. Liquor was spun out to his own web-based cartoon during the days when the Spümcø studio had an online presence. Michael Pataki voiced Liquor in the series...
, comic books, webcomics, internet cartoons, and advertisements. According to Kricfalusi's blog, a new webtoon starring George is currently in development. It will be sponsored by Pontiac Vibe
Pontiac Vibe
The Pontiac Vibe is a compact hatchback car that was produced in Fremont, California, in the United States by NUMMI , a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota, and marketed under General Motors' Pontiac brand...
.
Personality
Kricfalusi described George Liquor as "the greatest American" who is so conservativeConservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
"that he thinks the Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
are Commies". George harbors a deep antipathy for the political left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
; in one issue of Spümcø's Comic Book, George Liquor becomes enraged after a fish calls him a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. According to Kricfalusi's "George Liquor Story Bible," George is a middle-aged, crass, religious, ultra-patriotic
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
American who favors his nephew, Jimmy The Idiot Boy, and tries to teach Jimmy how to be "a Real Man".
Liquor lives in the fictional city of Decentville, USA. George strongly believes in discipline and corporal punishment
Corporal punishment
Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...
; his motto is "it's discipline that begets love". In the two episodes of The Ren and Stimpy Show in which he starred, George treats Ren and Stimpy strictly and tries to make them as disciplined as possible. In an issue of Comic Book, Liquor questions how parents can love their children without spanking
Spanking
Spanking refers to the act of striking the buttocks of another person to cause temporary pain without producing physical injury. It generally involves one person striking the buttocks of another person with an open hand. When an open hand is used, spanking is referred to in some countries as...
them.
Creation
George was created by Kricfalusi in 1979 immediately after Kricfalusi saw a building with a sign that read, "George Liquor". Kricfalusi said that the name "George Liquor" was "the coolest name [he] ever heard". According to Kricfalusi's blogBlog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
, Kricfalusi's father greatly influenced the character's personality. He said that both Liquor and his father are similar in that "George and my Dad believe strongly in discipline and order and rules. (Especially their own!)" Kricfalusi intended for George Liquor to be an integral character in The Ren and Stimpy Show; Kricfalusi created Ren and Stimpy as Liquor's and Jimmy's pets.
On The Ren and Stimpy Show
George Liquor’s first official appearances were in episodes of The Ren and Stimpy Show. The Ren and Stimpy Show was a cartoon series that Kricfalusi created, sold to the channel NickelodeonNickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
, and directed at his studio, Spümcø. Liquor starred in the episodes "Dog Show" and "Man's Best Friend" and made brief cameos in the episodes "The Boy Who Cried Rat" and "Robin Höek". According to Kricfalusi, Liquor only appeared in a few episodes because those in charge of Nickelodeon at the time hated the character. Ren and Stimpy animator Bill Wray
Bill Wray
William York Wray is an American cartoonist and landscape painter, notable for his Urban Landscape series of paintings, his many pages for Mad and his contributions to The Ren & Stimpy Show...
described Liquor as a character that Nickelodeon "never liked" because the name "Liquor" both was a reference to alcohol and sounded like the words "lick her". Wray said that Nickelodeon disapproved of George but did not forbid Kricfalusi from using the character.
In one of Liquor's starring roles, in the episode "Dog Show", George put characters Ren and Stimpy through a painful process of making the two into perfect pets for a dog show. Before the episode was broadcast, it was censored so that George's last name, "Liquor", was cut from the soundtrack. According to Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons And Blacklisted Animators in America, Nickelodeon has not officially explained why the name "Liquor" was cut from broadcasting. Liquor's other major appearance, the episode "Man's Best Friend", was banned from Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
and was not shown on television for years because of its content. In the episode, George makes threats and angry demands to Ren and Stimpy, and in the end of the episode, Ren beats George with an oar. In addition to missing deadlines for Nickelodeon and making too many controversial cartoons, Kricfalusi said that the episode "Man's Best Friend" was the episode of The Ren and Stimpy Show that got him and the Spumco staff fired from the series. Kricfalusi said that "Man's Best Friend" was actually approved for broadcasting by both Standards and Practices and Nickelodeon administrators, but the Nickelodeon staff declined to broadcast the episode when network executives saw the finished product. Wray stated that the episode was "all finished and ready to go" before the cancellation. The episode aired on Spike TV in 2003 as part of Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon
Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon
Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" is an animated television series created by an american animator John Kricfalusi for the cable network Spike . The series was an adults-only-revival and spin-off of the original animated series, The Ren & Stimpy Show, which had previously aired on the American...
. When Nickelodeon fired Kricfalusi, the network gave him the rights to use George Liquor because the network employees did not like the character. The arrangement with the network also granted Kricfalusi the rights to Jimmy the Hapless Idiot Boy.
In Comic Book
After Nickelodeon, George Liquor and Jimmy The Idiot Boy starred in Comic Book, a Spümcø comic book series. The comic book series also had appearances of the various characters who regularly interacted with George and Jimmy. The series was launched at MarvelMarvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
, but Kricfalusi decided to move the series to Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
, as "Marvel wanted to maintain its corporate image, so we moved to Dark Horse, where they have no social conscience". The series was written and drawn by Spümcø co-founders Kricfalusi and Jim Smith and other members of the original Spümcø staff. While with Marvel, Comic Book was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Humor Publication. One story in the first issue of the Dark Horse's Comic Book, George Liquor's Fishing Show, was later made into a webcomic
Webcomic
Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
with sound that was featured on the Spümcø website.
On The Goddamn George Liquor Program
The Goddamn George Liquor Program
The Goddamn George Liquor Program is a 1997 Adobe Flash cartoon series created by John Kricfalusi and starring the animated George Liquor. Liquor was spun out to his own web-based cartoon during the days when the Spümcø studio had an online presence. Michael Pataki voiced Liquor in the series...
, created by Kricfalusi. Premiering on October 15, 1997, The Goddamn George Liquor Program was the first cartoon series to be produced exclusively for the Internet. George appeared on the series with his nephew, Jimmy The Idiot Boy; Jimmy's cousins, Slab and Ernie; Jimmy's love interest, Sody Pop; and George and Jimmy's pet dog, Dirty Dog. Without the control of a network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
, the series could be made as Kricfalusi wanted. Spümcø produced eight one-minute shorts. In 1999, The Goddamn George Liquor Program won an Annie Award
Annie Award
The Annie Awards have been presented by the Los Angeles, California branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood since 1972...
for "Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Interactive Production".
In advertisements
After being fired from The Ren and Stimpy Show, John Kricfalusi used George Liquor in Macromedia Flash advertisements in hopes of creating a series with direct sponsorship without a network. Kricfalusi began with free advertisements that he made for Tower RecordsTower Records
Tower Records was a retail music chain that was based in Sacramento, California. It currently exists as an international franchise and an online music store....
in 1997. George Liquor has been used in Kricfalusi's advertisements for the Ultimate Fighting Championship
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport...
, and is currently used in ads for the internet communication service Raketu.
In Video Games
George Liquor makes a cameo in the game, Nicktoons MLBNicktoons MLB
Nicktoons MLB is a baseball game released for the Nintendo DS, Wii, and Xbox 360. The game was developed by High Voltage Software and published by 2K Play...
for Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo DS. He is seen alongside The Almighty Tallest. (From Invader ZIM)