Frisky Dingo's Forumla For Success
The Formula For Adult Swim's Off-Beat Comedy
Frisky Dingo contains no dingos, frisky or otherwise. Regardless of the confusing title, the show's creators gained a cult following before the first season was complete. Why?
What The Heck is Frisky Dingo?
The show premiered October 16, 2006 to gut-pained audiences (that's due to laughing, not some sort of show-induced digestive problems), and carried on for two seasons before attempting to spin-off into a separate season, Xtacles. Unfortunately, the show was not picked up by Adult Swim and the production company, 70/30, has dissolved.
According to IMDB, the original title of the show was "Whiskey Tango," as the program detailed the adventures of a super-team of the same name. "Frisky Dingo" was to be the main villain's taunt to the group. Due to some copyright issue, "Whiskey Tango" couldn't be the name, and so "Frisky Dingo" was adopted (even though the super-team was eventually cut out of the show).
The Formula For Success - Matt Thompson and Adam Reed
Thompson and Reed, known for creating the off-beat show Sealab 2021, took comedy writing in a new direction, using awkward pauses, random situations, and most importantly, overlapping dialogue to create a sense of realism and humor.
Unlike other "random humor" shows like Family Guy, Dingo took each 11 minute episode as a chapter in a long, ongoing narrative rather than use the random inclusion of a guest star or situation as the main focus. Coming in at each episode would leave the viewer momentarily lost, but within a minute it wouldn't matter. The well-spoken super-criminal and completely idiotic millionaire playboy turned costume adventurer proved a great comedic duo, creating the same sort of unsuccessfully-trying-to-kill-one-another pair that has made shows like Invader Zim immediate cult classics.
Thompson and Reed also know how to continue a joke just long enough to turn it into an inside joke in a later episode, using the "continuing narrative" device to make the joke logical as well as hilarious.
The Icing On The Cake - Side Characters in Adult Swim's Frisky Dingo
Many shows that stand the test of time, even if they weren't on the air for many seasons, do so because of a well-defined supporting cast. For example, Arthur Watley is a lowly employee of billionaire/hero Xander Crews until he has giant lobster hands surgically grafted to his arms in order to create "The Dread Lobster," a new villain for Crews to fight (and someone who will sign rights over for an action figure of himself).
What would merely be a one-time gag of the employee who will do anything for most shows (as he looked to be dying from infection), Arthur eventually grows an entire Lobster body, falls in love with Crews' girlfriend, and unceremoniously has his head chopped off at the peak of his own story (right before proposing) and is cut up and turned into a giant lobster stew (as it would be a waste of so much good crab meat). Many examples of this exist, with minor characters rising to gain side-plots to many episodes before being killed and replaced by another character.
The Last Word on Frisky Dingo
Off-beat, wonderfully written dialogue, using a continuing narrative, and a novel approach to character developement are all things that have made Frisky Dingo the cult favorite it is today. Fans can still catch full episodes on AdultSwim.com, and fansite barbarshouse.com serves as the best source for all things Frisky. The Show will be missed, but Thompson and Reed's sense of humor has inspired many other cartoons that regularly appear on Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim."
Frisky Dingo's main villain, Killface
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