Starting in 2001, Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block of programing revolutionized late-night television and featured many classic series. Switching to more adult-oriented programing after a certain hour, Adult Swim syndicates shows as well as producing its own live-action and animated programing.
From maintstays such as Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! to cult classics like Frisky Dingo, the early days of Adult Swim had a lot to offer for viewers. Though some shows faded quickly, others have become long-running classics that still air today.
The Brak Show (2000–03)
Predating Adult Swim's official launch, The Brak Show helped to usher in the new programing block with its unique style of adult humor. Parodying the typical ins and outs of an average sitcom, The Brak Show centered around a cat-like alien named Brak and his strange family and friends.
Though the show started as a straightforward parody of sitcoms, it progressed further into absurdity as the series ran. The flat style of animation was reminiscent of many older cartoons and helped to harken back to the shows that it was parodying. Though the show was eventually canceled and replaced by other original programing, The Brak Show was one of the funniest early experiments in the Adult Swim catalogue.
Frisky Dingo (2006–08)
Before he would go on to create the extremely popular spy parody Archer, writer and actor Adam Reed created a true cult classic of Adult Swim's first decade. Frisky Dingo follows the exploits of an evil super-villain named Killface and the superhero who tries to stop him named Awesome X.
The vagueness of the plot left the show open to explore its concept to hilarious results. By parodying the cliches of superhero movies, Frisky Dingo managed to put its finger right on the pulse of popular culture at the time. Often making very topical references, the show feels like a time capsule of its era. Despite its dated references, the show has lived on as a cult classic since its early demise.
Squidbillies (2005–21)
Squidbillies follows a family of anthropomorphic squids who live in the backwoods of rural Georgia. Their familial strife is at the heart of the show's conflict, though they are also tormented by an evil corporation.
Though poking fun at redneck-like behavior, the show also manages to have a subtle message about the hardships of poverty. The absurdity of the premise is the perfect backdrop for the comedy as well as the interpersonal conflicts between the characters. The show proved to be a tremendous hit for Adult Swim and was one of their longest-running series before it was canceled.
Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law (2001–07)
Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law follows the titular Harvey who is a retired superhero who know works as a lawyer at a firm that is staffed by cartoon characters from the Hannah-Barbera catalogue.
Cleverly repurposing old characters and putting them in new situations was a stroke of genius for the show. The humor often comes from one-off jokes and from seeing the older characters repurposed into super-villains. Though it didn't air a lot of episodes over its run, the show still managed to deliver many memorable episodes.
Home Movies (1999–2004)
Though it failed on another network after only a few episodes, Adult Swim resurrected Home Movies and made it one of the shows in its original lineup. The shows centers around a young boy named Brendon who dreams of being a filmmaker. Together with his friends, Brendon makes home movies in his spare time.
Home Movies, though crudely animated, was one of the most straightforward shows in Adult Swim's lineup. Focusing on the struggles of a young boy who escapes from his daily life through filmmaking, the show is as funny as it is interesting. Though most Adult Swim classics use absurdist humor, Home Movies is strangely grounded in real world conflicts.
Tim And Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (2007–10)
Though most of Adult Swim's best shows have been animated, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! showed the power of live action comedy in short form. Acting like a bizarre series of television programs, mashed together into a mess of absurdity, Awesome Show was unlike anything viewers had seen before.
The use of anti-humor has become synonymous with Adult Swim's programing, and a large part of that was Tim and Eric's unique style. The show jumps from sketch to sketch in such a way that the viewer is hardly able to keep up, but it never fails to illicit a laugh. By simply being the way that it is, the show manages to be funny without inserting jokes that are trying too hard.
Venture Bros. (2003–18)
Parody has always been a surefire recipe for success for Adult Swim and Venture Bros. was a prime example of the formula working to perfection. The show set out to parody the adventure cartoons of the '60s like Johnny Quest but settled into its own action-adventure elements with a dash of humor. The show follows an incompetent family of heroes who work to constantly foil the plans of the super-villain, Monarch.
The show shines because it managed to not only satirize the older shows but also live up to the reputation that those shows have. With a dash of adult humor, the show is still very much like the series that it is trying to lampoon. The humor derives from the constant foibles of the characters and their twisted family dynamic that only gets more absurd as the show goes on.
Space Ghost Coast To Coast (1994–2004)
In the annals of Adult Swim history, few shows had the strange trajectory that Space Ghost Coast To Coast did. Starting off as a piece of Cartoon Network programing, the show was eventually adopted into the Adult Swim lineup. The show is a parody of a talk show that features Space Ghost interviewing real people with a series of strange questions.
Much of the humor comes from the subversion of the format and stands as a funny parody of the cliché of talk shows. There is also a fair amount of humor to be derived from the show's other characters who stand as parodies of the typical personalities found in television production. Though Space Ghost existed before Adult Swim, it quickly became in integral part of the early lineup.
The Boondocks (2005–14)
While most of Adult Swim's shows are silly entertainments, The Boondocks had something to say and did it through humor. The show follows a dysfunctional black family who relocate to a predominantly white neighborhood. Along the way cultural differences lead to many hilarious conflicts between the residents of the town.
Being one of the only Adult Swim programs with a perspective from a person of color, the series stands head and shoulders above a lot of the other shows. Not only is the interactions between the characters hilarious, but they also offer less than subtle commentary about the state of race relations in the United States.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force (2000–15)
Adult Swim is no stranger to absurdity and the seminal classic Aqua Teen Hunger Force is perhaps their most absurd creation of all. The show follows the adventures of a trio of anthropomorphic food items that often get into hijinks and generally annoy their human next door neighbor named Carl.
Despite being a show about living food, the hijinks that are gotten up to are often very human in nature. The potty mouth humor that comes along with their strange adventures only serves to make the absurd premise all the more funny. Not only did the show run for many seasons but it also got its own theatrically released feature film.