“Smiling Friends” has become a very popular show, especially for an adult animated series. I think it’s for a very good reason. Whenever I am feeling down or upset about something, “Smiling Friends” is where I turn to cure my ailment.
This show mainly follows Pim and Charlie, two employees for a company that shares the same name as the show. Each episode loosely revolves around a new job they are given to make someone smile. As the series goes on, it strays further away from this framework, but making people smile in wacky ways is always the underlying mission.
“Smiling Friends” feels unique in its comedy, specifically how the jokes are told. Many reference real-world things that the viewer needs background knowledge to understand.
These jokes even extend to the titles of individual episodes. For example, season two, episode one is titled “Gwimbly: Definitive Remastered Enhanced Extended Edition DX 4K (Anniversary Director’s Cut),” which is a reference to the video game industry’s incessant need to just add words to the end of already long game titles when rereleasing the same game for the eighth time.
There are no laugh tracks in the show either, so it is up to the audience to notice and understand the jokes. I think I share a sense of humor with the creators, so I enjoy a lot of these jokes, and it’s fun to know that there are still things that go over my head.
Season three is currently being released, with new episodes dropping late on Sunday nights on Adult Swim. HBO Max releases the episodes the following day. This weekly release keeps me constantly waiting for more content, especially since each episode is only 12 minutes long — though this length is great for my ever-shrinking attention span.
One of my favorite characters is Mr. Boss, the owner of Smiling Friends Inc. and of one-fourth of Hell, as revealed in “Erm, the Boss Finds Love?” He is one of the oddest characters, always doing something goofy just to snap back to normal at any given moment. It is impossible to get a read on the guy, and I love that about him.
Glep is another classic character. It’s weird to say that he’s comedic relief in a show that is largely based on comedy and jokes, but I think he still fits the bill. Glep doesn’t speak English like the rest of the group; he speaks in gibberish that the characters still somehow seem to understand.
Allan is the last of the main characters in the show. He is the most serious of the group, taking his job in the office very seriously. He seems to be more of an admin doing behind-the-scenes work and rarely goes on jobs, and he is clearly out of practice when he does.
All of these silly characters really work well together. Pim and Charlie are best friends despite being foils of each other, and while most of the screen time revolves around the two, every moment with any of the characters is memorable and hilarious.
“Smiling Friends” is a wonderfully funny show that is easy to digest and keeps getting better as it continues, constantly reinventing its own formula. I can’t wait for the rest of season three, as well as future seasons.
Degear can be reached at [email protected].
