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Robert Smigel: Cartoons
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After that, Smigel got down to the actual reason he was there, promoting the DVD release of his Saturday TV Funhouse cartoon compilation. He showed some of his favorites, including The Cluckin’ Chicken, The Disney Vault and The Ambiguously Gay Duo. He ... screened three shorts that the network has pulled and will never air again, like The Michael Jackson Show, the opening of which is a parody of The Yogi Bear Show.
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[F]or someone who spent the 1960's and 70's ingesting a steady diet of Saturday-morning programming, Mr. Smigel isn't particularly interested in mimicking classic cartoons for their own sake. Their satirical power as comedic source material, he says, comes from ''playing it really straight, subversively mocking them by being really faithful to them.''
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With the success of "The Simpsons," "King of the Hill" and "South Park," Smigel knows he's benefiting from the fact that cartoons for grown-ups are bigger than ever. And he thinks it could have happened sooner -- if networks had been willing to take the chance.
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Smigel’s real talent comes in perfectly emulating the styles of cartoons – largely the cheap Hanna-Barbara talking animal stuff or any number of superheroes. But the stop-action take offs of Christmas specials are just as true.
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The cartoon was an attack on propaganda, but according to Mr. Smigel, the NBC censors told him: "We can't censor this, but we're recommending you're going too far." Mr. Smigel said SNL 's executive producer Lorne Michaels told him, "It's on you, you know. If you want the Jews to hate you, it's your call."
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