Smiling Friends (2021–2024) Review

“Absurdity with a purpose 😈😂🌳”

This reveiw goes out to my friend Maddie, she loved this show just as much as I did.


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Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers, shall we?

Season 1:

Season 2:

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Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

Smiling Friends is one of those shows where describing the plot feels almost pointless, because it’s less about story and more about the weird ride it takes you on. The premise: a small company called Smiling Friends Inc. whose job is to bring happiness to people. Simple enough… until you realize their assignments involve suicidal shrimp 🦐, cursed forest demons 🌲, hyper-realistic 3D abominations, and Satan’s spoiled son.

On paper, that sounds like the setup for another try-hard “adult” cartoon. But what makes Smiling Friends so good is that it isn’t mean-spirited. It doesn’t punch down. It’s absurd, chaotic, and often grotesque — but it’s also oddly wholesome. This isn’t “haha trauma and sex jokes because edgy.” It’s “haha what if a guy dressed in blackface ruins a demon’s monologue and then we smash cut to silence.”

The balance is what makes it so special.


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Character Rundown

Charlie Dompler (Zach Hadel) – The cynical, deadpan half of the duo. His “why am I here” delivery makes him the secret heart of the show. He’s basically us.

Pim Pimling (Michael Cusack) – The overly optimistic, squeaky-voiced partner who wants to believe in everyone. His goofy design (bright pink skin, nose like a balloon 🎈) contrasts perfectly with Charlie’s beaten-down demeanor.

Mr. Boss (Marc M.) – The green blob who runs Smiling Friends Inc. He looks like a children’s mascot left out in the sun 🌞, but somehow he’s competent enough to keep the company afloat.

Alan (Chris O’Neill) – The red, short-fused co-worker who always seems one inconvenience away from committing arson 🔥.

Glep (Harry Partridge) – A tiny blue… whatever he is. Half Minion, half gremlin. Sometimes funny, sometimes unsettling, but always bizarre.

Supporting Weirdos – Satan’s son Desmond, Shrimp the movie critic, Forest Demon Tristan, and dozens of one-off nightmares. The show treats every new character like they just wandered in from another genre.


Visually, every character looks like they were designed with three crayons and a dare. The crude shapes, inconsistent line work, and occasional hyper-detailed close-ups give the show its unpolished, chaotic charm.


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Pacing / Episode Flow

Episodes fly by at just 11 minutes each ⏱️, which is perfect. No gag overstays its welcome. It’s like an absurdist sketch show disguised as a sitcom. Season 1 establishes the tone with standout episodes like:

Mr. Frog (cancel culture satire with a deranged frog mascot).

Shrimp’s Odyssey (a suicidal shrimp voiced by Mike Stoklasa from RLM).

Enchanted Forest (Halloween special with Tristan the demon).


Season 2 expands the insanity with:

Gwimbly (a mascot with too much lore).

The President’s Doctor (a man obsessed with bones 💀).

Perfect Circle (a bizarre art episode that plays like a rejected Cartoon Network pilot).


The flow is unpredictable in the best way. You never know if you’re going to get sitcom banter, a horror short, or a surreal art piece.


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Pros

The animation style is chaotic genius. It blends MS Paint ugliness, Newgrounds-inspired exaggeration, and random bursts of photorealistic horror.

Comedy that isn’t mean-spirited. Unlike Rick and Morty or Big Mouth, the jokes don’t rely on gross-out edginess. They’re absurd situations taken deadly seriously.

Perfect runtime. 11 minutes per episode = no filler, all punchlines.

Memorable characters. Pim and Charlie are the perfect odd couple — they shouldn’t work, but they do.

Here’s a pro, this right here is one my favorite scenes in the show. Its of a guy named Professor Psychotic trying to flirt with a girl.

Hello im Professor Psychotic! Im making an egg! Using my DNA in my evil laboratory!

Lolololo yep thats an attempt at trying to flirt if ive ever seen one.

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Cons

If you don’t vibe with absurdist humor, you’ll be lost.

Some jokes (like Tristan’s demon rant) may push the envelope of “is this okay?” but the show always undercuts them in absurd ways instead of leaning on cruelty.

The short runtime means some episodes feel like sketches rather than fully fleshed stories.



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Final Thoughts

Smiling Friends succeeds where so many adult cartoons fail: it remembers that adult animation doesn’t have to mean wall-to-wall sex jokes, gore, and cruelty. It can be weird, experimental, and surreal without being hateful. The show feels like a lost relic of late-night Adult Swim during its golden era, while also being modern enough to keep fresh.

It’s not “ha-ha edgy.” It’s “ha-ha absurd.” And that’s why it works.

Rating: 10/10 for both seasons.


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Spoiler Warning ⚠️

From here on out, we’re diving into specific gags and moments.


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Spoilers

The Halloween special is one of the greatest showcases of Smiling Friends’ absurd brilliance. Pim and Charlie venture into the woods to meet Tristan the Forest Demon, who starts with this menacing, dramatic monologue about eternal torment and the fall of mankind. His design is creepy but goofy: glowing eyes, twisted horns, a voice like he’s auditioning for a metal album.

Then—bam. A random guy in sloppy blackface makeup stumbles in. No setup. No explanation. Just there. Tristan’s demonic gravitas shatters as he breaks character mid-rant, confused and offended. “Wait, what the hell is that supposed to be?”

Pim bolts in panic, Tristan gives chase, and it escalates into absolute chaos: Tristan is mistaken by a crowd for being the guy in blackface, and the mob immediately turns on him. They lynch the actual demon because they think he’s being racist. The joke is so wrong on paper, but the delivery is absurd enough that it loops back to being brilliant. The demon — an embodiment of evil — isn’t taken down by holy water, or exorcism, or our heroes. He’s taken down because society misidentifies him as doing a tasteless bit.

Woah is tjat black face dude?

I just love that this demon who’s literally about to kill Pim, has to set the record straight that hws not doing black face, he takes offense to that.

That absurdity works because the show doesn’t gloat in cruelty — it’s mocking the randomness of human reaction and the fragility of “scary” setups. Tristan goes from big-bad forest demon to helpless punchline in seconds, and the audience is left howling at the tonal whiplash. It’s shocking, uncomfortable, and yet hysterical in a way few shows could ever pull off.

Other highlights across both seasons:

Mr. Frog’s meltdown on live TV where he yells “I’M NORMAL!” before biting someone’s face.

Charlie accidentally killing Satan’s son Desmond in episode one, and the show just rolling with it.

Gwimbly being revealed as a cheap cash-grab mascot that Pim still treats like he’s Pikachu.

Shrimp at the bar muttering “life’s just not worth living,” while Charlie half-heartedly tries to stop him. It’s bleak, but hilarious because of the delivery.

The President’s doctor rambling about bones for so long it circles back from creepy to funny to creepy again.

Any time Alan opens his mouth. His rage is so disproportionate it feels like a parody of gamer rage compilations.


The absurdity is the point. Characters scream, deform, switch art styles mid-episode, or suddenly shift into claymation. It feels unstable, dangerous, but never cynical.


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Smiling Friends vs. Rick & Morty

Here’s the key difference:

Rick & Morty builds its humor on cruelty, cynicism, and shock value. The characters are often irredeemable, the jokes revel in trauma, and the vibe is “the world sucks and you’re dumb for caring.”

Smiling Friends says, “yeah, the world is bizarre and broken, but Pim and Charlie are still trying.” Even if they’re cynical or goofy, they care — and that tiny sliver of heart makes all the difference.


That’s why Smiling Friends feels fresh. It remembers that “adult animation” doesn’t have to equal “mean-spirited.” It can be funny, grotesque, absurd, AND uplifting all at once.