TripTank
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| TripTank | |
|---|---|
| 250px | |
| Genre | Sketch comedy Animated |
| Starring | Carlos Alazraqui Bill Oakley Wayne Brady Bob Odenkirk Curtis Armstrong Nat Faxon Tom Kenny Rachel Butera Larry David Yotam Perel Rob Yulfo Zach Galifianakis Kumail Nanjiani Brett Gelman Kyle Kinane John DiMaggio Duncan Trussell Joey "CoCo" Diaz |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 18 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) | ShadowMachine Films |
| Release | |
| Original network | Comedy Central |
| Picture format | 1080i (16:9 HDTV) |
| Original release | April 2, 2014 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
TripTank is an American animated television series which premiered April 2, 2014 on Comedy Central.[1]
The show is made up of various sketches, portrayed by multiple animation styles and writers. Although no direct correlation exists between the different stories, a continued theme of dark satire prevails throughout.
Voicing talent includes Carlos Alazraqui, Bill Oakley, Wayne Brady, Bob Odenkirk, Curtis Armstrong, Nat Faxon, Tom Kenny, Rachel Butera, Larry David, Yotam Perel, Rob Yulfo, Zach Galifianakis, Kumail Nanjiani, Brett Gelman, Kyle Kinane, John DiMaggio, Duncan Trussell, and Joey "CoCo" Diaz among others.[1]
Contents
Recurring sketches
Several sketch characters and scenarios recur within the series sometimes inter-spaced throughout the same episode or only once per episode. These include:
- TripTank Reception - A scenario starting Steve (Jonah Ray), the receptionist for the show's animated broadcasters, and the janitor Roy (Eric Magnussen) who sulks around the lobby. The scenes are normally of Steven receiving calls from random people who watched the show, either to praise the show or express distaste for the content. After listening, Steve puts the caller on hold while he "transfers them to that department." There are also segments where Roy talks Steve into doing things that he normally wouldn't by himself.
- Versus - A show hosted by Death, in which two groups of unfairly matched combatants are pitted against each other in a fight to the death. Examples include a 3rd grade soccer team versus the Mongolian Horde.
- Jeff and Some Aliens - A trio of aliens come to Earth and invade the personal space of Jeff (Brett Gelman), who they consider to be the most average man on earth. It is later revealed that their analysis on Jeff is part of their mission to judge humanity to see if it is worthy of survival or extermination by the aliens' overlords. Comedy Central has picked up an animated series based on this segment.[2]
- Suicidal Attention Whore Chicken - A short about a chicken who gets people to do whatever he wants by making suicide threats. Chicken publicly threatens to commit suicide for many reasons that range from gaining publicity, to making himself happier, to just downright pissing people off.
- Dick Genie - A show about a nerdy teenage boy named Billy (Yuri Lowenthal) who has a magical Dick Genie (Kumail Nanjiani) that he is able to summon by masturbating. Dick Genie grants all of Billy's wishes based upon his perverted sexual fantasies. However, when he does this, his wishes always backfire on him and it's not always easy for him to undo his wish.
- Suck it Gary - Three guys (Dana Snyder, Andy Sipes, Matt Mariska) go out of their way and do horrible things to pull "friendly" pranks on a guy named Gary (Paul Reiser). Despite Gary being nice to them, the three guys hate him to the point to blame him for their misfortunes and basically attempt to ruin his life so they can tell him to "Suck it."
- 4:20 - Normally short, even by the shows standards, it shows various people going through seemingly serious situations until they are asked what time it is. A three eyed hippy responds with "4:20" before getting the other sketch characters high on marijuana.
- Bethiffer - A short about an obese teenage girl, Bethany (Nick Swardson), and her friend Jennifer (Ashley Fink), who have misadventures in a shopping mall.
- Flower Teen Kill Team Go - An anime style short about a four girl team of Japanese teenage hitmen sent to Texas to take over the local drug cartels under the guise of transfer students. They also deal with the usual struggles of high school including driver's education and dating.
- Ricky the Rocket - A short of an anthropomorphic rocket (Tom Kenny) whose attempts to help children with their problems ends up with him unintentionally killing people.
- Jerk Chicken - A short of a chicken (Dana Snyder) provoking people with his annoying personality and insults.
Episodes
Season 1 (2014)
| No. overall |
No. in season |
Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Shovels Are for Digging" | April 2, 2014 |
| Ricky the Rocketship takes some friends to the moon, a paranoid and delusional homeless man hosts a talk show, and "the birds and the bees" talk gets an update. | |||
| 2 | 2 | "Crossing the Line" | April 9, 2014 |
| A drunk hobo faces off against six gorillas, a group of friends plots revenge on Gary, and Mr. There's Got To Be A Better Way tries to solve world hunger. | |||
| 3 | 3 | "Game Over" | April 16, 2014 |
| A man falls in love with an artificial vagina, Roy becomes obsessed with a video game, and a cult leader struggles to keep his followers interested in his revelations. | |||
| 4 | 4 | "The Green" | April 23, 2014 |
| A third grade soccer team takes on the Mongolian horde, the aliens help Jeff through a breakup, and Jesus makes a terrible mistake. | |||
| 5 | 5 | "Ahhh, Serenity" | April 30, 2014 |
| A spokesman hawks a device that allows women to pee silently, a trucker has a life-changing experience while on mushrooms, and Billy meets the Dick Genie. | |||
| 6 | 6 | "Candy Van Finger Bang" | May 7, 2014 |
| A Chinese man looks for an American mail-order bride, two piñatas come to a terrifying realization, & Bethiffer goes shopping for lingerie. | |||
| 7 | 7 | "Roy & Ben's Day Off" | May 14, 2014 |
| Larry David has lunch with Larry Flynt, an “Animal Hitman” takes out various pets, and Gary’s day out playing mini-golf with his son is interrupted by pranks on “Suck It, Gary.” | |||
| 8 | 8 | "XXX Overload" | May 21, 2014 |
| Jeff must find someone to have sex with to prevent aliens from destroying the planet, a doctor performs magic tricks while delivering babies, and Bethiffer tries out a virtual reality video game. | |||
Season 2 (2015)
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| No. overall |
No. in season |
Title | Original air date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 1 | "The W.A.N.G." | September 25, 2015 | N/A |
| 10 | 2 | "Let Me Transfer You" | October 2, 2015 | N/A |
| 11 | 3 | "Dirty Talk" | October 9, 2015 | N/A |
| 12 | 4 | "Cold War 2" | October 16, 2015 | N/A |
| 13 | 5 | "Short Change" | October 23, 2015 | N/A |
| 14 | 6 | "Hot Box" | October 30, 2015 | N/A |
| 15 | 7 | "Cereal Interruptus" | November 6, 2015 | N/A |
| 16 | 8 | "Precipice of Yesterday" | November 13, 2015 | N/A |
| 17 | 9 | "Mr. Winchester Goes to Washington" | November 20, 2015 | N/A |
| 18 | 10 | "Steve's Family" | November 27, 2015 | N/A |
Reception
The first two episodes of TripTank were met with very mixed reviews, as the A.V. Club stated: "TripTank is a mixed bag by default. If the good stuff doesn't stick around long enough, the silver lining is that the stinkers and the duds don't last much longer".[3]
General feeling among reviewers was of much the same mind, with some reviewers calling the show "rude and irreverent",[4] while some noted that the better quality sketches were enough to overcome the failure of the negative sketches, and compared the show to Liquid Television.[5]
References
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