Adult Swim Puppeteers 'Smiling Friends' For Its April Fools’ Day Prank
Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Williams Street?
Season 2 of Smiling Friends did arrive on Adult Swim Sunday night as announced it would. But not exactly. Everyone knew something was fishy that there would be a “new” episode at what was April 1 at midnight, the start of April Fools’ Day. Were the festivities going to start after the episode? That’s what a 12:13 AM YouTube livestream start surely implied. So what happened? Puppets, lots of puppets. All kinds of puppets.
It kicked off with an airing of the second episode, “Mr. Frog”, with fully constructed felty puppets. It was followed by “Shrimp's Odyssey", with a mix of sockpuppets and live actors. This matched what the guides had perfectly, even if what was onscreen was a completely different version. Third was the final of the original 8 episodes spammed on premiere night “Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back", done with a more marionette and described as Papier-mâché style, with the devil also played by a guy in costume. The episode previously partook in 2022’s festivities, as the corruptions affecting Pibby’s world affected it as she looked for her friend Bun-Bun. It’s certainly not the only episode to double-dip for April Fools, as Rick and Morty “Total Rickall” not only was affected by Pibby’s malevolent force, but got an Adult Swim Junior dub the following year. It should be noted that 2024 marked the fourth time in five years that Smiling Friends has been directly part of such. The pilot originally premiered on the day in 2020, and last year a segment was similarly reanimated in generative AI so horrific it was pivoted away from, because it was done to mock it. Notably, the “Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back" listing was a half hour slot. But why?
Well, because it was a mask! The festivities were capped off with the genuine article, the season 2 premiere "Gwimbly: Definitive Remastered Enhanced Extended Edition DX 4K (Anniversary Director’s Cut)" directed by Paul Ter Voorde starring a very polygonal pixely figure modeled like a Nintendo 64/Playstation era character. Admittedly I probably should’ve been taking notes to give a better idea of the story buuuuut after the episode aired the network announced in a Happy April Fools bumper when season 2 will properly premiere and you can watch the episode yourself. It’s May 12, at midnight and will be followed by another new episode, “Mr. President”. From there, it’s weekly solo premieres, with “A Allan Episode” on May 19. Next day Max postings because of course. It’s a 2020s Adult Swim series. Once the premiere announcement was made, they ran all four episodes back, going in backwards order. The livestream was cut off in the midst of “Shrimp's Odyssey" and subsequently privated, while the three puppeted episodes were immediately uploaded together as their own video. A two-minute sneak peek of “Gwimbly” was also uploaded.
Created by and starring Zack Hadel and Michael Cusack as most of the characters including leads Pim and Charlie, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that it was made possible by the Adult Swim Center for Puppetry Farts. It’s definitely one of the best Adult Swim April Fools’ stunts. They may not have done all-nighters for a while, but this year’s stunt was still top notch.
