Ever since Robot Chicken premiered in 2005, it has attracted a sizable audience who adore the show’s unique comedic style. The Adult Swim program was created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, and deviates from traditional comedy shows by embracing a clunky stop-motion and claymation aesthetic wherein most of the characters are portrayed with action figures. Robot Chicken developed a reputation for its scathing pop culture parody, often going to very dark and bizarre places. The rotating voice cast also added to the anarchy, and even featured celebrity cameos, sometimes playing off-kilter versions of themselves. The last season aired in 2022, but a 30-minute special will premiere in 2025 to celebrate the show’s 20th anniversary.
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Of course, this being Robot Chicken, this will not be a typical anniversary special; Green sat down with ComicBook to discuss the show’s hilarious format.
“The episode that we’ll have coming out this year, we’re doing a half-hour dedicated special on the Discovery Channel. And the idea is it’s a bit of an exploration of reality TV,” the show’s co-creator stated. “But we also can’t help but comment on the fact that reality is kind of a scourge of entertainment in general. There are ideas and philosophies that have become popularized under the banner of entertainment reality that have permeated culture in really unappealing ways.”
Unfortunately for fans, this special does not mean Robot Chicken will return for another full season, as Green has confirmed that the series will mostly stay alive in the form of occasional themed specials.
[RELATED: Robot Chicken to Return for New 20th Anniversary Special]
Despite the show’s niche style and edgy sense of humor, it’s a bit surprising that it lasted this long and attracted such a large cult following. Of course, no one was more surprised than Green; when asked about Robot Chicken’s lifespan, he said, “I had already been working in entertainment for 20 years when I started making Robot Chicken, so it was an unintentional shift. I didn’t set out to become a serious producer; I still really like acting. But by the time we were making a second season, it was sort of undeniable that this was the thing. It was like some side project that I was doing; it was really obvious that this was a show and that we had an audience and we had something to say.”
On its surface, Robot Chicken seems pretty similar to other sketch shows, like Saturday Night Live (which is also celebrating a major anniversary this year), particularly in its use of celebrity cameos. But anyone who’s seen even a single sketch from the series knows that its approach is completely different from any other comedy sketch program.
Green told ComicBook, “We’re not really that kind of show. We don’t necessarily ‘celebrity stunt-cast’ – we just sort of have included a lot of people in the fun of this process. The thing I like as an actor – offering to other actors with Robot Chicken – is you can do anything you want. Your voice is limitless, it’s only limited by your own skill and imagination. But physically, there’s only so many things you can do. I like offering that to other actors, and saying ‘get in there, do whatever!’”
All seasons of Robot Chicken are currently streaming on Max, and the 20th anniversary special will premiere this summer.
Are you looking forward to the Robot Chicken special? Let us know in the comments below!
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Image Credit: Star Trek
