REGULAR SHOW

There are plenty of anthromorphic animals on cartoons -- but they seldom get into such surreal situations as frequently as they do on Regular Show. This cartoon may look like it's for kids, but its strange, dry sense of humor is more geared for adults.

The main characters are Mordecai (J.G. Quintel), a bluejay, and Rigby (William Saylers), a raccoon. These friends live together and work (or avoid working) as groundskeepers at a park. In their spare time they sit around and play video games, punch each other in the arm, and try to be cool. Rigby also tends to get in trouble, while Mordecai has a crush on Margaret (Janie Haddad Tomkins), a red bird who works as a waitress. Their boss is Benson (Sam Marin), best described as an uptight humanoid gumball machine. Pops (Sam Marin), son of the park owner, is a childlike and happy man with a giant round head who likes Mordecai and Rigby. There's also the short, obnoxious "Muscle Man" (Sam Marin), who hangs out with High-Five Ghost, a floating ghost with a wrist and hand sticking out of his head. And finally there's Skips (Mark Hamill), an immortal ape-like being who can fix anything and skips everywhere he goes.

And I haven't even gotten to the really weird stuff yet.

While most episodes start off fairly normally, things almost always get pretty twisted. Mordecai and Rigby enter a music competition -- and get visited from their future selves (who are rock stars). Mordecai and Rigby's game of "punchies" escalates to martial arts-style epic battles. Rigby's quest to eat a giant in an hour to win a hat that says "It's Eggscellent" winds up with Rigby in a coma, Mordecai performing a training montage of egg eating (to Bonnie Tyler's "Holding out for a Hero"), and a challenge out of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. When the characters enter a bowling competition, they wind up battling magicians and Death for their very souls. When Mordecai accidentally butt-dials Margaret, he and Riggy wind up facing the "Keepers of the Voicemail, Guardians of All Messages Throughout History," shown below.And it's not uncommon for characters to die during the episodes, but come back by the end. And Mordecai and Rigby remain slackers, unaffected by all the weirdness and still happy hangin' with each other.

Regular Show is odd -- and oddly appealing. This show is very unpredictable, yet it remains at heart about two friends trying to slack off, have fun, talk in sync, and watch each other's back --even in the midst of insanity and while ragging on each other. The voices are good (I could've sworn Mordecai was voiced by David Wain; my bad), the strange characters are somehow more realistic (the frustrating boss, the happy-but-oblivious guy, the rude co-worker) than those on many other cartoons, and there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. So check out Regular Show.

(And the punk unicorns are gone as well. For now...)

Overall grade: B

Reviewed by James Lynch