what happens when you take cartoons and sketch comedy and smash it together
kablam yes that's exactly right in the mid 90s nickelodeon would introduce this fun concept in
the form of a tv show kablam set up as a comic book with henry and june here as your vessel in
and out of these individual shows we would jump in between compartmentalizing these bite-sized
bits of entertainment that for me in any case haven't left my brain since so let's kick it back
and take a look at what kablam was all about and why this weird show was such a fun time
drenched in ska music kablam started its run in 1996 lasting four seasons until it turned its
final page in 2000. the show like i mentioned was hosted by two cartoon characters henry and jude
who aside from introducing each segment became their own cartoon in a sense as every break
between the segments their shenanigans would get more and more interesting from it just starting as
back and forth banter they were very crude almost sketch-like characters which truly represents what
this show just is there were many segments featured within the show some that would be
staples of the show in general and some that had either short runs be blocked from having reruns
due to copyright or even another network picking up one of the shorts to become its own full tv
show i swear this show felt like a charcuterie board of ideas sometimes it always reminds me of
those manga sampler volumes when you got chapter snippets of various out or upcoming manga to give
a shot to no one's gonna get that reference why do i do this to myself why am i talking to myself
right now there is no one here i am alone snizz and fondue is one of the show's main staples
having regular segments in the show ending its run about the third season in this show focuses on a
bunch of ferret roommates with snizz and fondue being the main two causing or dealing with the
conflicts and the other two roommates are just usually there and go along with whatever the ride
is that they have to unfortunately be a part of this was the most regular cartoon in terms of what
was ever shown on this show honestly feeling like it could have been its own regular nicktoon then
there was action league now how could you forget this one lasting throughout all of the seasons
this was a playground of weird mashup toys done in part stop motion part hand off the screen holding
the action figure style called chukkamation which is a mix between what i just said and then also
chucking the toys to do something it follows the action league a crime fighting group that consists
of the flesh basically a naked e-man thunder girl it's just wonder woman with a bratz doll head
stinky diver the the name explains itself and meltman he melts there's also the chief who
is used as the slapstick well to be fair they're all used for slapstick comedy relief but they go
out of the way to make sure he gets hurt in some shape or form even more most of their issues
pertain to the dishonorable mayor causing or doing something that causes the conflict of the weak i
love the creativity in this show specifically it feels more like playing with action figures more
so than robot chicken does anymore so the use of real world locations like a pool being inside of
a house a garage a mailbox all of that gave size perspective and feelings of your imagination as
a kid playing with action figures or dolls and sometimes the jokes would get uh out of hand oh
no no twitter has worn me about this not the jar now the path is clear for my no no no no
and now back to kablam on nickelodeon next there was life with loopy another show that lasted
throughout the series that centered around a boy named larry who shares his experiences dealing
with his sister's crazy adventures that caused some sort of mayhem within their household if
you couldn't guess loopy is the sister animated with stop motion and puppet bodies this is another
segment that sticks out so much in a great way the stories are short and sweet and the mixing of the
animation and puppets to real humans always gives me a solid laugh mainly more so when it's a close
cut of their hands doing something and it's just a real hand instead of a puppet hand anymore i don't
know why but it just gets me every time i swear now in a weird way this show kind of reminds me
of angela anaconda and speaking of which did you know that this is where angela anaconda started we
have spoken about the creator of angela anaconda's works before and have mentioned the digimon movie
oddly enough being the main thing that keeps angela anaconda in your memory but yeah the show
had two shorts play in kablam and the show was eventually picked up by fox who wouldn't allow
those episodes to replay anymore through reruns lava was another short on kablam with issues
of inappropriate content that was cut out or edited down when being played during kablam with
copyright issues beyond the initial airings the episodes that featured these shorts edited them
out originally lava's title in france was guano no not that guano there was the one-off anemia and
iodine created by robert skull of rocco's modern life fame following the stories of a goth girl cat
and her skater best friend while it was short it was cool to see that rocco look all over it
my personal favorite though of all the shorts was prometheus and bob a stop-motion claymated simple
series of a purple alien recording himself trying to teach a caveman named bob how to do a myriad of
things and activities usually to the slapstick effect of everything going wrong and prometheus
getting hurt or his belongings destroyed as well as the monkey that hangs out and usually gets
in his own conflicts with the two and the items and technology around it's simple it's basically
silent outside of the grunts and frustration noises oh yeah and monkey noises and we haven't
gotten this type of energy until the classic short series purple and brown which wait a second
i got nothing
like i said these weren't the only shorts these were just the most interesting at
least in my opinion and the most prominently featured over the show's run they were weird
different and weren't afraid to get creative with the animation media a few of the shows could have
translated well into full-fledged nicktoons like snizz and fondue but others like action league now
and life with loopy work really good in small doses when we get them to take the sketch comedy
setup and mix it up by making it all cartoon and animation based is and was an interesting
concept in execution i'd say it did its job well it's memorable i enjoyed watching it now as much
as i did growing up sadly the only real issues for me are noticed as the seasons went on with
what shorts would or would not be chosen for the episodes i do believe in the rotation of shorts
after season 1 specifically bringing in fresh new ideas the only problem was that it would always
rely on those mainstay show names to keep you watching and most every other show was a one-time
short which is fine as well if that's all that was planned for it totally understandable i think just
back then it was harder to understand outside of the main shorts what are these other shorts
so i don't know if that's a me being young and not understanding at the time thing or the show having
a lack of faith in trying new things which let's be honest isn't far from nick's wheelhouse anymore
funny enough the show was planning on multiple spin-off projects first there was a live-action
prometheus and bob film that was announced in 1998 it was rumored that chris farley and david spade
would be cast in the movie due to lack of interest the film project was ultimately scrapped wait you
had those two actors in mind for the roles and you say lack of interest i can't believe we were all
robbed of seeing that anyway it was to be directed by harold zwarte who later went on to direct agent
cody banks the pink panther ii the jaden smith jackie chan karate kid the mortal instrument
kablam is kablamming right back
back
kablam is quebec henry and june themselves had quite an adventure in 1999 there was a television
special that aired on nickelodeon titled the henry and june show it followed the same two
host characters but this time within their own world with guests and a studio audience and them
attending school and all that it was never shown again nothing more was produced and we all pretend
like we saw nothing henry and june however still made appearances during special programming blocks
creating mid commercial break shorts of nicktoon world news henry and june's nicktoon summer and
101 whiz bang as far as reruns of the show after it ended in 2000 it played on the network until
2001. yes what a long lasting rerun life right that is not correct well in 2002 nicktoons our
favorite subject to talk about recently on the channel was born and it happily lived there until
2005 when nick was wilding out with cancellations and stopping reruns they still kept some shorts
as fillers for in-between commercials until they did away with those in 2008 however in 2008 we
did have the nicktoons network 100 greatest nicktoon moments marathon where we would see
kablam return for its final time that is until splat came around showcasing older properties my
generation are nostalgic for with kablam getting some love in 2016 for its 20th anniversary so
that brings us to today how do we watch this show can we watch this show and the answer is
clearly from watching this video yes streaming wise it's on paramount plus and i'm sure many
clips and episodes are all over video sites like here on youtube but what about home media like
actual physical media well i hope you have your vhs players ready and an appetite for two decade
old pizza because tombstone pizza had a promotion where you could get the kablam episode won't crack
or peel on vhs making it the only physical media the show ever had yum the reason behind kablam
endings seem to be from the usual things we point our fingers to lower viewership lower ratings but
something of note to point at as well was the lack of marketability with merchandise this
wasn't spongebob rugrats or anything else at the time it was a hodgepodge of ideas and weird things
that the network couldn't find monetary value in so when all was said and done the show just kind
of ended and was floating along with reruns until the final page was turned and it all went kablam
it's flammable kablam really was such an interesting idea that tied up the tail end of the
90s and entered the new millennium doing something that only 90s tv could pull off later this type
of stuff is mainly seen for an older audience on places like adult swim specifically when it comes
down to different animation styles and trying new things kablam was super influential to the future
of show creation whether networks like that or not showcasing such interesting and unique animation
that weren't found in most traditional cartoons at the time helped give those styles longevity in the
medium i just wish we get to see more of it than we do if you want to change to another channel let
me give you a hand i'd love to know your thoughts on the show did you ever watch it and if so which
short segment was your favorite overall thanks so much for kicking back and strolling nostalgia
lane with me make sure to hit like and subscribe for more content like this follow me on twitter
for updates on content more i'll be back with another video soon but until then later
you