Humor District

If you grew up during the eighties, or even the early nineties, you are familiar with some of the greatest cartoons to ever be made. These cartoons include He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Transformers, and, of course, Thundercats. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was already revamped for the new millennium, Transformers is a successful film franchise, and now Thundercats is being brought back by Cartoon Network. This is the first new Thundercats series in many years, and no, Avatar does not count as a Thundercats spinoff.

Cartoon Network recently premiered the trailer for the new Thundercats series, and it looks amazing. There is definitely an anime style to the characters, which may or may not be preferred by some, but it cannot be denied that this series looks epic. The music definitely helps as well. It will be great to see Lion-O back in action, along with Panthro and Tygra. I also predict a new generation will be helped to puberty and some confusing thoughts by Cheetara, who is drawn about as slutty as any cat/woman hybrid I’ve seen on Cartoon Network. The only possible downside is apparently Snarf has been included in this new series. Oh well, it still looks good. Enjoy the trailer below.

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H. Jon Benjamin is not a household name, but it should be. If you enjoy watching hilarious cartoons with grown up jokes, then you have probably heard H Jon Benjamin’s voice. He has worked with big names in comedy such as Demetri Martin, Sam Seder, and David Cross, and has appeared in live action shows such as Rescue Me as well. His unique voice, perfect timing, and dry sense of humor make him one of the most entertaining television personalities alive today. That’s why it is not surprising he has been involved in so many shows, and here are some of his best.

Jason and Coach McGuirk in Home Movies

Home Movies was one of the best shows to ever be aired on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, and H. Jon Benjamin was the one who brought it together. He lent his voice talents to arguably the two funniest characters on the show, 7 year old booger eater Jason, and the heavy drinking Coach McGuirk. He varies his voice enough that I had to double check to make sure he was actually doing both of those characters. The amount of laughs both of these characters cause just confirmed they were the work of H. Jon Benjamin.

Sterling Archer in Archer

Archer is one of my “can’t miss” shows, and has proven to be a huge hit for F/X. H. Jon Benjamin plays the main character, Sterling Archer, a suave, heavy drinking super spy. The kicker is that Sterling Archer is not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he somehow manages to get the job done in his own bumbling and hilarious way, cutting down all who stand in his way with witty one-liners. Archer really exemplifies H. Jon Benjamin’s dry sense of humor, and has some very intelligent jokes to boot.

Bob Belcher in Bob’s Burgers

H. Jon Benjamin also voices the lead character on Fox’s newest animated show, Bob’s Burgers. Like Archer, Bob’s Burgers plays off of H. Jon Benjamin’s dry sense of humor and perfect sense of comedic timing, but the content of the jokes is toned down a little bit. After all, Archer is a late night program. That doesn’t detract from Bob’s Burgers though, as H. Jon Benjamin proves he can make just about any show entertaining. It is a credit to his ability as a voice actor (along with the writers and others involved in the creation of Bob’s Burgers) that he can make a poorly drawn show about a fat, balding guy who runs a burger joint with his family into an absolute laugh riot.

F-Bomb in Rescue Me

In one of his rarer live action roles, H. Jon Benjamin played the pimp F-Bomb on the show Rescue Me. This wasn’t a huge role, but dammit, he was one of the most entertaining pimps I have ever seen. This role also proved that H. Jon Benjamin isn’t just a voice actor, but he can do live action acting just as well. The fact that he held his own in a live action role while acting opposite Denis Leary is a testament to H. Jon Benjamin’s acting skills.

Various Roles in Human Giant

H. Jon Benjamin is not just a hilarious actor, he is also a hilarious writer. He demonstrated this best with various sketches he did on MTV’s comedy show Human Giant. It also helped that he was working with other great funny men Aziz Ansari and Paul Scheer. These sketches are the perfect embodiment of H. Jon Benjamin’s offbeat sense of humor, and he got pretty creative with some of them. While Human Giant is no longer on the air, H. Jon Benjamin has continued to do comedy sketches with various groups, and for that we thank him.

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Seth MacFarlane is essentially a household name these days. He has been wildly successful in the television industry and has an hour and a half of his shows on Fox alone. He has taken cartoons and made them enjoyable for an older audience, while never losing sight of the hilarity of a good fart joke. Let’s take a look back and see how Seth MacFarlane got to where he is today.

The Early Days

Do you remember the old Cartoon Network shows like Johnny Bravo, Dexter’s Laboratory, and Cow and Chicken? Seth MacFarlane worked on all of them. Before he was a big time executive, he was a simple writer and animator. Yeah, Seth MacFarlane can draw too. It is almost like some sort of conspiracy where Seth MacFarlane got into our heads when we were younger by working on the cartoons we enjoyed, and then used that to create cartoons we’d enjoy after we grew up. He is a devious one.

Family Guy

Seth MacFarlane also worked on creating a series entitled The Life of Larry and Steve. Larry and Steve was about a man and his intellectual dog. If this sounds familiar it is because it is the idea that would be turned into Family Guy. Seth MacFarlane proposed the idea to Fox and received a $50,000 budget to create the pilot episode. It took half a year to make, but it was worth it. The unique blend of irreverent and often juvenile humor has proved to be extremely entertaining. Family Guy can definitely be crude at times, but it is always enjoyable. It’s immense popularity opened up many doors for MacFarlane, allowing him to create other spin-off series and Family Guy related project. He has also stated plans on making a Family Guy feature film, saying he would like it to be a musical. Seth MacFarlane is all about those musicals.

American Dad

American Dad is another show about an animated family. Seth MacFarlane created American Dad in 2005, and much like Family Guy, it caught on fast. The combination of a morally ambiguous alien and overzealous but unintelligent CIA agent living together has brought forth many laughs. While American Dad has not had the same success as Family Guy, it has done well and brought Seth MacFarlane brand new buckets of of crisp hundred dollar bills for when his Family Guy money gets wrinkled.

The Winner and Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy

Seth MacFarlan steered away from animation and it didn’t go well. He tried to create a live action series called The Winner starring Rob Corddry, about some guy trying to get with some girl. It got canceled pretty fast and, unlike Family Guy, fans did not demand to see it picked up again. This was just a minor setback for MacFarlane, as in 2008 he got right back on track. First, he signed a $100 million contract with Fox and became the highest paid television writer in the world. He also created the web series Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy that was wildly popular and later released on DVD.

The Cleveland Show

The Cleveland Show is a direct spin-off from Family Guy which sent the only African American resident of Spooner Street back to his hometown of Stoolbend. This diverse cast features African Americans, Appalachian Americans, Frat Bros, and Bears. It turned out to be another winning combination for Seth MacFarlane as The Cleveland Show was received well and is going strong. Appalachian Americans is the polite term for hillbillies by the way.

The Future

Seth MacFarlane is currently working on a movie called Ted, about a man and his Teddy Bear. Expect lots of dirty jokes and a hard “R” rating from this one. As previously mentioned, he is also interested in making a Family Guy movie for theatrical release. It can’t be said with any certainty what the future holds for Seth MacFarlane, but chances are he will remain ridiculously successful and spend his days swimming in money.

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