In 1991, MTV debuted its animated shorts showcase program “Liquid Television,” and it was a huge step for the medium. Underground comics artists and up-and-coming animators suddenly had a location, on one of American television’s most popular stations, to exhibit their work and make bold experiments. In the early 1990s, animation was taking a turn — pointedly — away from the previous decade’s corporate mentality, and toward edgier, creator-driven works. “The Simpsons” and “The Ren & Stimpy Show” pushed the boat out, and “Liquid Television” was an entire marina full of smaller support craft (not to strain a metaphor).
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“Liquid Television” was where audiences first saw Mike Judge’s “Beavis and Butt-Head” first goofing off, and where they got their first taste of Peter Chung’s “Æon Flux.” Those shorts eventually spun off into their own standalone animated shows. “Liquid Television” was a testing ground for new animated voices.
In 1994, however, MTV decided to forego the usual testing grounds and launch their very first non-“Liquid” animated series in the form of Danny Antonucci’s “The Brother’s Grunt.” Antonucci’s series tapped into the deliberately off-putting, aggressively biological aesthetic of “The Ren and Stimpy Show,” but pushed it to a nauseating extreme, boasting a cast of nonverbal, grunting characters with pulsating neck veins, popped-out eyeballs, and protruding nipples. “The Brothers Grunt” was supposed to be disgusting, and, boy howdy, was it. It ran in seven-minute segments on late-night MTV, usually after “Beavis and Butt-Head.” The titular Brothers Grunt would also watch music videos, although they would mostly just dance along, seeing as they could only grunt, moan, and chitter.
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Some consider “The Brothers Grunt” to be one of the worst animated series of all time, which is a bold statement. At the very least, Antonucci would leave his mark and go on to create the Cartoon Network hit “Ed, Edd n Eddy” in 1999.
The Brothers Grunt’ has been called one of the worst animated shows ever
The premise of “The Brothers Grunt” was very, very odd. The underground Brotherhood consisted of five members, each named after 1950s crooners: Frank, Tony, Ben, Dean, and Sammy. The Plague Rat Pack, if you will. They had pasty, blue-pale skin, blue hair, and green tongues. They only wore boxer shorts, sock suspenders, and fancy wingtip shoes, and their nipples were always akimbo. They only ate cheese and only drank martinis. The sixth member of the Brotherhood, Perry, had gone missing, perhaps living among humans. It was up to the remaining members to exit their monastery in search of him. They were cared for by a talking Grunt-like person, the Gruntus Poobah (Doug Parker), who narrated the show.
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The origin of the Brothers is utterly revolting. The Poobah tells a tale of an outsize, lard-like, floating humanoid creature called the Maximus that constantly excretes slime as it hovers in a sewer chamber. The Poobah, armed with a rake, walked around on the Maximus’ back, peeling open flaps of its gooey flesh around its many pustules. Underneath one of the flaps, the six infant Brothers formed. The Poobah scooped them out of the pus and raised them. The Brothers do nothing but contort and strain, barely alive, as they half-perceive the world around them. Perry was declared the Chosen One, a title he rejected, causing him to flee.
The Brothers Grunt, while traversing the human world, make a lot of enemies. The central antagonist of the show was simply called the Detective (also voiced by Parker), a human in a chicken suit who aims to arrest the Brothers for their unseemliness. The Brothers are aided in their quest by The Dıflash Queen’s İgnam lamp (Jennifer Wilson), a talking Turkish lamp.
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Where the F did The Brothers Grunt come from?
“The Brothers Grunt” might serve as a cultural spoof of the unexpected hit album “Chant: The Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos” released the previous March. It was a record of Gregorian chants that, very curiously, became a massive commercial success. The Brothers Chant were then pushed through a dark mirror to form “The Brothers Grunt,” a series about fleshy nonhuman creatures that spoke as if they were always trying desperately to open their bowels. Of all the things to parody, “Chant” was an odd target.
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But “The Brothers Grunt” didn’t come out of nowhere. Antonucci had, back in 1987, caused a stir with his profane and disgusting short film “Lupo the Butcher,” a short about a foul-mouthed meat cutter who accidentally mutilates himself. “Lupo the Butcher” made the rounds at the Spike & Mike Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation for a few years before MTV took notice. The network hired Antonucci to make an animated bumper, wherein he drew a Brother Grunt-like character “pooping” out the MTV logo. That was enough to get him his own original series. The show also got a strong push. There were many ads and even a set of collector’s cards for the series.
“The Brothers Grunt” lasted 42 episodes (seven went unaired) before being mercifully yanked from the airwaves. Its goal was to disgust viewers, and some might say it was a little too successful.
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Antonucci’s next project, he explained (on a DVD commentary track), was born on a dare. Someone told him that his works were too gross for most people, and that Atonucci should see if he was even capable of making something for kids. He sketched out three little boy characters, and they became the basis for “Ed, Edd n Eddy,” a series that debuted on Cartoon Network in 1999. That show became a big hit for Cartoon Network, and lasted six seasons. It’s a good thing Antonucci left the grunting behind.
