SAFER:
"That was Ren and Stimpy, right?"
WALT:
"Yes...that was it. The title escaped me somehow. Anyways...Donald introduced me to some of his staff members. One of whom was a fella dressed in these cat-ear glasses...and a very flashy bowling shirt. He introduced himself as John...uh...Chrysanthemum...or something like that..."
SAFER:
"You mean Kricfalusi?"
WALT:
"You're right...'Kricfalusi'...I apologize. Now, John right off the bat did not make a good impression. In fact, I thought he was incredibly rude and disrespectful to me while the other fellas from Trump's staff were much more courteous. John was the one who claimed to have created the characters. Later on, another staff member, Bob Camp, told me privately that he felt he deserved more credit."
SAFER:
"On your staff, you have several folks that worked with John at other places, right?"
WALT:
"Yes, that's true. Daniel Abbott, who was with me on the night of the encounter with Trump, came to us from Universal in '88. Daniel told me he worked with John a bit before that on a picture about...I think it was the one with the girl who sings a rock n' roll band or something. Daniel also said that John did not stay on that picture in question for too long. Apparently, John left abruptly after a big fight broke out over the appropriateness of a scene, I was later told, was supposed to show the girl scantily clad but wound up on the cutting room floor."
SAFER:
"Getting back to the incident with Trump and the gang, did he get the chance to actually show you their work?"
WALT:
"Yes. From the very get-go I wanted to give this little project a chance, yet I couldn't help but cringe. Firstly, one the characters I was later told was supposed to be a dog, but he looked more like one of those hairless mole rats. Secondly, I must admit that the segment with the cat building a helmet to cheer up his pal had me rethinking all the scary scenes from my own films..."
Clip from THE REN AND STIMPY SHOW; Courtesy of USA Network Group and Trump Manhattan Television.
"...the second segment was the turning point, but in a negative way unfortunately. In that segment, the dog kept refusing to brush his teeth until they all fell out. Once he started plucking out his nerve endings towards the end of the piece, I finally had enough. I had to tell Donald to turn the damn thing off about five times. Because of his child-like demeanor, it took the fifth time, and for me to raise my voice, for Donald to listen. Perhaps I must've overreacted because some of Trump's boys were reduced to tears...except for John."
The exact moment from Ren's Toothache that pushed Walt over the edge.
SAFER:
"Would Ren and Stimpy be something you'd show to a six or seven year old?"
WALT:
"If Diane and Sharon were still that age, I would've said no, but they are now adults. If that show had launched decades earlier, I would've come out against it much more staunchly. Nowadays, I recognize that the onus should be more on grownups to monitor what their children watch."
I have many thoughts about this segment in particular...
1: With all due respect, this whole tidbit gives me the primal urge to SNAP JOHN K'S NECK IN HALF FOR MAKING WALT WITNESS THIS SERIES! And I actually like the show sometimes!
2: If Walt found Stimpy's Invention too scary for kids, and Ren's Toothache very disgusting, then I would actually have liked to hear his opinion on the time Ren dressed up as Mickey Mouse for a Tom and Jerry-esque episode. Or, at least, what Hanna and Barbera had to say about it.
3: Let us all be glad that Kricfalusi has been dead and especially hated for years before this lost interview premiered, because I'm pretty sure that he would have been lynched once again by animation fans across the world if he was miraculously still alive.
Also, I'm happy that I get to know in full detail about the Oswald movie. Or at least, a good recap of the story of its development.
