Nick’s ‘Pig Goat Banana Cricket’ Brings Adult Comics to Kids’ TV

Johnny Ryan and Dave Cooper’s profane comic sensibilities are cleaned up for the kids in Nickelodeon’s new series, Pig Goat Banana Cricket.

Premiering July 18 and holding down the 10:30am Saturday morning slot, the 26-episode absurdity follows the eponymous animals, fruit, and insect, who live in a treehouse amongst the walking fruit, sea creatures, robots and more that make their home in a fantastical metropolis called Boopelite City.

Although the series is based on their comic from Nickelodeon Magazine, chance are probably quite good that you’ll see nothing resembling the riotous adult themes and visuals found in Cooper’s Puke and Explode or Ryan’s Angry Youth Comix. But Pig Goat Banana Cricket still carries the imprimatur of those transgressions, which should go over well with maturing viewers used to lighter versions of it in new TV series like Adventure Time and old classics like The Ren & Stimpy Show.

Whereas both artists have deep underground comics credibility, Pig Goat Banana Cricket marks their first full-time animation project. However, both have previously worked in animation: Cooper contributed design work to Futurama, while Ryan’s designing and writing appeared on Cartoon Network’s Mad series.

Produced by Burbank’s Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Pig Goat Banana Cricket is something of a risky come-out for both of them. It will be interesting to see whether their profane sensibilities can successfully translate into the world of Saturday morning cartoons.