The Brothers Grunt

The Brothers Grunt
Genre	Black comedy Surreal humor Off-color humor
Created by	Danny Antonucci
Developed by	Dennis Heaton Danny Antonucci
Written by	Dennis Heaton Danny Antonucci Rod Filbrandt
Directed by	Danny Antonucci
Voices of	Doug Parker Jennifer Wilson Danny Antonucci Julie Faye Phil Hayes Terry Klassen Ed Hong Louie David Mylrae Drew Reichelt Lee Tockar Camella Rhodes Kevin Hayes
Opening theme	"The Brothers Grunt" by Brendan Whelan and Geoff Whelan
Composer	Patric Caird
Country of origin	Canada United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	42 (7 unaired)
Production
Executive producer	Danny Antonucci
Running time	4-7 minutes
Production company	a.k.a. Cartoon
Original release
Network	MTV
Release	August 15, 1994 – April 9, 1995
Related
Ed, Edd n Eddy

The Brothers Grunt is an adult animated comedy television series, and the earliest series made by Ed, Edd n Eddy creator Danny Antonucci. It originally aired from August 15, 1994, to April 9, 1995, on MTV. It centers on five humanoids, named Frank, Tony, Bing, Dean and Sammy, who are in search of their lost brother Perry. The series had a short run and was met with a generally negative reception, with many considering it one of the worst animated TV shows ever made.

Overview

Premise

The series centered on an ensemble cast of pale, rubbery, twitchy, yellow-eyed, green-tongued and shirtless humanoids with prominent bulging varicose veins, often leaking various noxious bodily fluids, all of them ostensibly male, wandering around in their boxers. Their main food staple is cheese; nevertheless, they are able to eat other foods (at least potatoes, according to the episode "Not My Potato"). Their single parent is a large, floating, mute and fat male humanoid called Primus Gruntus Maximus, to whom they are born as embryos inside skin warts, much in the way of the Suriname Toad (see Pipa pipa). They live in a monastery in the sewer.

A group is formed, composed of most of the survivors of their species, in a quest to bring back one of their kind, Perry, who has abandoned his involuntary position of "Chosen One" (leader of their order) and is now living the "high life" among human beings (who seem to deal with the bizarre nature of the grunts by ignoring them and pretending everything is normal).
In music video segments that are intervened with some episodes, supervised by Kathy Karp, there are additional animated portions of the main characters grunting.

Characters

The main characters were named after famous crooners of the 1950s: Frank (Sinatra), Tony (Bennett), Dean (Martin), Bing (Crosby), Sammy (Davis Jr.), and Perry (Como), all voiced by Doug Parker.

Main

• Perry – a hunchbacked Grunt who became the chosen one in the pilot episode, but escapes due to the pressure of such a title.
• Frank – constantly bites his lips and cares the most about finding Perry.
• Tony – always faces upward due to his broken neck.
• Bing – the largest of the brothers.
• Dean – smiles constantly and is the most easily distracted of the brothers.
• Sammy – a Grunt who puckers his lips due to his lack of teeth and is in love with a lamp.

Major

• Gruntus Poobah – (Doug Parker) The leader of the brotherhood of grunt, he serves as the show's host and explains the plot before each episode. He also appears often in flashbacks when the grunts are in a situation, giving them advice.
• Ringo – the Poobah's mute Middle Eastern assistant who has to carry him around on his back due to his grotesque obesity. He also gives him massages and, as shown in the unaired episode "Black Balled Grunt", acts as his muscle.
• The Dıflash Queen – (Jennifer Wilson) A Turkish Queen that appeared in the episode "Scrub Me Sammy".
• Primus Gruntus Maximumus – (Doug Parker) A floating fat and mute giant and the male parent of the grunts. All grunts are born or hatched from warts on his back.
• The Dıflash Queen's İgnam lamp – (Jennifer Wilson) A Turkish lamp belonging to Sammy.
• The Smein – (Doug Parker) A Nazi German skunk that appeared in the lost episode "Hunt for Grunts".
• Krischmäßante – (Doug Parker) The Smein's best friend skunk.
• Santa Claus (St. Nicholas or especially Kris Kringle) – (Doug Parker) An obese present bringer that appeared in the lost episode "The Grunts Who Came for Turkey".

The characters that would become The Brothers Grunt were first seen in one of MTV's numerous 30-second promos. This particular promo consisted of close-up shots of the then-unnamed character's faces who seemed to be straining to do something (veins in their heads would bulge, the characters would squint and grunt) until the scene cut to the MTV logo landing in a pool of sludge followed by a satisfied "Ahhhhh" (suggesting that the characters were suffering from constipation and the MTV logo was the 'turd' as it were). It is unclear when this promo aired if the storyline and characters for The Brothers Grunt had been developed already or if it had been developed into its own show after the success of the promo, in the wake of Beavis and Butt-Head.

Production

The show's origins can be traced back to 1993 when the MTV ad "Grunt MTV" aired. At the time Danny Antonucci had animated several MTV ads to find work outside of International Rocketship Ltd., who he had worked for since 1984. Although Danny enjoyed the success of Lupo The Butcher, he wanted to leave International Rocketship Ltd. and start his own animation company. The result was a.k.a. Cartoon, which began on April 1, 1994. The studio began as a way to locate his work for The Brothers Grunt after MTV executive Abby Terkhule liked his MTV ad so much, he asked him to turn it into a television series. In production order, each episode of the show would consist of three to four segments.

Reception

The Brothers Grunt had a short run and was met with generally negative reception from critics. Kenneth R. Clark of the Chicago Tribune said that, with the series, MTV "created the most repulsive creatures ever to show up on a television screen" and "accomplished the seemingly impossible." Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times called the show "an effortful, sophomoric half-hour that leaves the viewer longing for the refined good taste of Alice Cooper." In their book North of Everything: English-Canadian Cinema Since 1980, William Beard and Jerry White called the series a "failure".

Comparison to Aaahh!!! Real Monsters

The show was often compared to Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, an animated series that aired on MTV's sister channel, Nickelodeon. Gábor Csupó, co-creator of Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, rejected these comparisons, claiming that his show was more character-driven, while The Brothers Grunt was an idea-driven series, also pointing out that both shows have different visual styles. When looking back on the series, creator Danny Antonucci stated that the series "didn't really do too well", also saying that the show has since become MTV's "dirty little secret".

Episodes

Note: All episodes directed by Danny Antonucci

No.	Title	Written by	Storyboard by	Original air date
1	"The Ceremony"	Danny Antonucci and Dennis Heaton	Hilary Phillips	August 15, 1994
2	"Make Mine a Grunt"	Danny Antonucci and Dennis Heaton	Mike Grimshaw	August 22, 1994
3	"The New Fish"	Danny Antonucci and Dennis Heaton	Russell Crispin	August 29, 1994
4	"Where Angels Fear to Grunt"	Mike Grimshaw	Hilary Phillips	September 5, 1994
5	"Viva Grunt Vegas"	Rod Filbrandt	Greg Sullivan	September 12, 1994
6	"Scrub Me Sammy"	Danny Antonucci and Dennis Heaton	Russell Crispin	September 19, 1994
7	"The Detective"	Sam Johnson & Chris Marcil	Russell Crispin	September 26, 1994
8	"If I Could Grunt to the Animals"	Rod Filbrandt	Hilary Phillips	October 3, 1994
9	"Grunt Moments in History"	Unknown	TBA	November 7, 1994
10	"Perry Molo"	Unknown	TBA	November 14, 1994
11	"Tony and Salsa"	Unknown	TBA	November 21, 1994
12	"A Call to Grunts"	Unknown	TBA	November 28, 1994
13	"Clean Up in Aisle Grunt"	Unknown	TBA	December 5, 1994
14	"Land of the Midnight Grunt"	Unknown	TBA	December 12, 1994
15	"Close Encounters of the Grunt Kind"	Unknown	TBA	December 19, 1994
Guest Stars: Mike Judge as Beavis and Butt-Head.
16	"The Scent of Grunts"	Unknown	TBA	December 26, 1994
17	"Paging Dr. Grunt"	Unknown	TBA	October 10, 1994
18	"Perry's Appliance Repair"	Unknown	TBA	October 17, 1994
19	"Timmy's Best Friend"	Unknown	TBA	October 24, 1994
20	"No Quest Today"	Unknown	TBA	October 31, 1994
21	"Eat My Grunt"	Dennis Heaton	Mike Grimshaw	January 2, 1995
22	"They Stole Tony's Veins!"	Dennis Heaton	Rod Filbrandt	January 9, 1995
23	"Not My Potato"	Dennis Heaton	Russell Crispin	January 16, 1995
24	"Squeal Like A Grunt"	Jono Howard	Angus Bungay	January 23, 1995
25	"The Big Crapple"	Mark Sawers	Russell Crispin	January 30, 1995
26	"Grunt Fare"	Mark Sawers, Dennis Heaton and Danny Antonucci	Rod Filbrandt	February 13, 1995
27	"Sammy in a Varicose Vein"	Rod Filbrandt	Hilary Phillips	February 6, 1995
28	"To Hell with Bing"	Unknown	TBA	February 20, 1995
29	"Cream Style Tony"	Unknown	TBA	February 27, 1995
30	"The Ugly Gruntling"	Unknown	TBA	March 5, 1995
31	"5 Card Grunt"	Unknown	TBA	March 12, 1995
32	"The Stench of Grunts"	Unknown	TBA	March 19, 1995
33	"Grunt Games"	Unknown	TBA	March 26, 1995
34	"Requiem for a Sammy"	Unknown	TBA	April 2, 1995
35	"Smells like Dean Spirit"	Unknown	TBA	April 9, 1995

Unreleased episodes

These episodes are unreleased, but have been uploaded to YouTube in June 2019 by YouTube user Oecobius33. Three of these episodes might have been produced, but are currently unconfirmed.

No.	Title	Original release date
36	"Perry Come Home"	11 June 2019
37	"Bring Me the Head of Perry the Grunt"	11 June 2019
38	"Black Balled Grunt"	11 June 2019
39	"Perry's Off Day"	11 June 2019
40	"Tony & Lace"	11 June 2019
41	"The Filling of the Shorts"	11 June 2019
42	"Poobah Blues"	11 June 2019
43	"Hunt for Grunts"	Unconfirmed
44	"Friends! Romans! Grunts!"	Unconfirmed
45	"The Wedding"	Unconfirmed

Merchandise

Fleer released in 1995 trading cards based on the series, as part of the MTV Animation Fleer's Ultra set. The show's theme song, written by Brendan Dolan and Geoff Whelan, was featured in Television's Greatest Hits: Volume 7, which was released in 1996 by TVT Records' soundtrack imprint, TVT SOUNDTRAX.

There were also few tshirts, boxer shorts, socks and calendars sold to promote the show between 1994 and 1995.

See also

• 1995 in television
• List of television shows considered the worst