43 Fun Facts About Adult Swim

In Adult Swim's original pool bumpers, what did the lifeguard shout through a megaphone?

'All kids out of the pool': the early bumpers used grainy footage of elderly swimmers at public pools, with the logo dropping in over freeze-frames.

On what date did Adult Swim officially launch?

Adult Swim launched on September 2, 2001, a Sunday night on Cartoon Network, nine days before the September 11 attacks.

Which head programmer conceived Adult Swim?

Mike Lazzo, Cartoon Network's head of programming, conceived the block and ran its Williams Street studio until he retired in 2019.

What does the name 'Adult Swim' refer to?

The original bumps showed elderly swimmers at public pools while a megaphone-wielding lifeguard yelled 'all kids out of the pool'.

What was Williams Street, the studio that programs Adult Swim, originally called?

Ghost Planet Industries was renamed Williams Street after the Atlanta street where the studio is based.

Which show opened Adult Swim on launch night with an episode that its original network, UPN, had shelved?

Home Movies, Brendon Small's show about a kid filmmaker, opened the block; UPN had dropped it after five episodes in 1999, and its first season used Squigglevision.

Which anime was the first broadcast on Adult Swim, on the night it launched?

Cowboy Bebop aired on the block's first night in 2001; the space-western anime went on to become a fixture of the block for years.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force follows three anthropomorphic fast-food items. Which three?

Their human neighbour Carl provides most of the friction; every episode was written and directed by Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro.

How did Sealab 2021, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Harvey Birdman first reach the air in December 2000?

They were 'stealth' premieres, slipped unannounced into Cartoon Network's 4 a.m. slot in December 2000, nine months before the block launched.

Sealab 2021 recycled animation from a 1970s environmental cartoon by which studio?

Hanna-Barbera made the original Sealab 2020 in 1972; Adam Reed and Matt Thompson, later of Archer, redubbed its footage with new dialogue.

Which actor voices the title character in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law?

Gary Cole, Office Space's Bill Lumbergh, voices Harvey Birdman, the 1960s superhero turned bumbling attorney.

Which cancelled Fox sitcom did strong Adult Swim rerun ratings help revive in 2004?

Family Guy's Adult Swim reruns drew such strong ratings that Fox ordered new episodes, which began airing in May 2005.

Robot Chicken, co-created by Seth Green, is animated using what?

The twelve-minute sketch show has won six Emmys and did a Star Wars special voiced by George Lucas himself.

Which Adult Swim series about the Cuyler family of north Georgia ran for 13 seasons?

Squidbillies ran from 2005 to 2021 over 13 seasons; Unknown Hinson voiced patriarch Early Cuyler for most of the run.

Metalocalypse centres on which fictional death metal band?

Dethklok is so popular that the show calls it the world's seventh-largest economy; creator Brendon Small wrote and played the band's music.

Which Adult Swim series, created by Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer, ran seven seasons over fifteen years?

The Venture Bros. ran from 2003 to 2018, was cancelled in 2020, and wrapped up with the 2023 film Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart.

The Boondocks, based on Aaron McGruder's comic strip, follows the Freemans in which fictional suburb?

Woodcrest is the white suburb where Huey and Riley Freeman move in with their grandfather; the fourth and final season was made without McGruder.

On January 31, 2007, Boston police mistook LED signs of which Aqua Teen characters for bombs?

The Mooninites, Ignignokt and Err, were on LED placards promoting the Aqua Teen movie; Cartoon Network general manager Jim Samples resigned over the scare.

How much did Turner Broadcasting and its marketing firm agree to pay after the Boston Mooninite panic?

$2 million: Turner and marketing firm Interference Inc. paid $1 million toward the emergency response and $1 million in goodwill funds.

Which 2007 sketch series brought Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim's anti-humour to the block?

Awesome Show, Great Job! ran five seasons from 2007 to 2010; regular guests included Zach Galifianakis, John C. Reilly and Bob Odenkirk.

Which cult 2003 film did Adult Swim air, sex scenes blacked out, as a 2009 April Fools' prank?

The Room, Tommy Wiseau's notoriously inept 2003 drama, aired on April 1, 2009, with its sex scenes cut.

Which defunct anime block did Adult Swim revive as a 2012 April Fools' stunt, then permanently?

Toonami returned on April 1, 2012, as a prank, then came back for good that May, hosted by the robot TOM, voiced by Steve Blum.

Which comedian co-hosted The Eric Andre Show for its first four seasons?

Hannibal Buress was Eric Andre's deadpan co-host from the 2012 debut; he stepped back in season 5 and was briefly replaced by a lookalike, 'Blannibal'.

Who created Rick and Morty?

They met at Harmon's Channel 101 short-film festival; Adult Swim cut ties with Roiland in 2023.

Which two actors took over the voices of Rick and Morty from season seven?

Ian Cardoni (Rick) and Harry Belden (Morty) debuted in the season 7 premiere in October 2023, chosen as soundalikes after the original voice actor was dropped.

Which McDonald's item came back because of a Rick and Morty joke?

Szechuan sauce, a 1998 Mulan tie-in, came back after Rick's obsession with it in the season 3 premiere; McDonald's shipped 20 million packets in February 2018.

Which Rick and Morty episode won the show's first Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program?

'Pickle Rick', the season 3 episode in which Rick turns himself into a pickle, won the 2018 Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program.

Too Many Cooks, the viral 2014 short, first aired at what time in Adult Swim's Infomercials block?

4:00 a.m.: Casper Kelly's 11-minute parody of sitcom credits aired in the Infomercials slot on October 28, 2014, and went viral within days.

Which Adult Swim online show involved hosts narrating over footage of the Williams Street fish tank?

FishCenter Live, a daily livestream from 2014, had hosts chatting and taking viewer calls over live footage of the office fish tank.

Primal, the dialogue-free series about a caveman and a T. rex, was created by which animator?

Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack, made Primal; Spear and Fang lose their families in the opening episode.

What is Checkered Past, launched by Adult Swim in August 2023?

Checkered Past is a nostalgia block of classic Cartoon Network shows such as Ed, Edd n Eddy and Courage the Cowardly Dog; the name nods to the network's checkerboard logo.

When the Griffins' show left Adult Swim in September 2021, how long had it been on the block?

18 years: the Griffins' reruns joined the block in April 2003 and signed off in September 2021.

Which Adult Swim executive, co-creator of Harvey Birdman, became the block's president in 2020?

Michael Ouweleen, who co-created Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law with Erik Richter, took over as president of Adult Swim in 2020.

Adult Swim's original theme 'D-Code' remixed a tune by which Latin jazz musician?

Tito Puente, the 'King of Latin Music', wrote the mambo that 'D-Code' sampled for the original swimming-pool bumps.

To what time did Adult Swim move its weekday start in 2014?

8:00 p.m.: on March 31, 2014, the block's weeknight start moved up an hour from 9 p.m., squeezing Cartoon Network's evening schedule.

Which rapper hosted the 2020 April Fools' night of sneak peeks played between casual games?

Post Malone hosted the April 1, 2020 stream, playing games between previews that included new Primal, Dream Corp LLC and Tigtone episodes.

When the Saturday-night anime block debuted in February 2002, what was it called?

Adult Swim Action launched on Saturday, February 23, 2002, carrying anime such as Yu Yu Hakusho, while Sunday nights were branded Adult Swim Comedy.

From which date were Adult Swim's Nielsen ratings recorded separately from Cartoon Network?

March 28, 2005: from that night Nielsen tracked Adult Swim as its own network, so its late-night ratings no longer counted toward Cartoon Network.

How did Adult Swim's 2007 April Fools' 'premiere' of the Aqua Teen movie actually play out?

Those two minutes had long been on the film's website; the theatrical release followed 9 to 12 days later.

On April 1, 2018, Toonami broke its policy by airing anime in what form?

The block ran in Japanese with English subtitles: FLCL Alternative's first episode got a stealth subbed premiere, and the film Mind Game aired subbed too.

'Bushworld Adventures', the 2018 Rick and Morty parody by Michael Cusack, sends the pair where?

Australia: Michael Cusack's crudely drawn short drops Rick and Morty into the bush on a trip to Bendigo, aired unannounced on April 1, 2018.

Adult Swim's deliberately silent tribute bumpers show only what?

The memorial bumps show just a name with birth and death years, in plain white type on a black screen, with no music.

Where was the 2022 Adult Swim Festival Block Party held?

Philadelphia hosted the 2022 Block Party in August; the festival had begun in Los Angeles in 2018.