List of The Ren & Stimpy Show characters


Over its five seasons, The Ren & Stimpy Show featured a varied cast of characters, some who appeared in as few as one episode, and some who were practically regulars.

Ren and Stimpy

Ren Höek

Marland "Ren" T. Hoëk is a scrawny "Asthma-Hound" Chihuahua with a fairly long, rat-like, pink tail and tan fur. Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of Animation World Magazine described Ren as "scrawny," "dyspeptic," and "violently psychotic." On some occasions Ren "lost his mind" in a "cumulative process," resulting in Ren becoming, in Goodman's words, a "screaming klaxon, neon-pink eyes dilating into twin novae inches above his jagged, monolithic teeth." Andy Meisler of The New York Times described Ren as "adventurous," "intelligent," and "emotionally brittle."
Kricfalusi originally voiced Ren in a manner that he describes as "a bad imitation of Peter Lorre." Billy West said that he auditioned to play Ren; the creators of the series believed that having West voice Ren and Stimpy would give him too large of a workload. West would, however, take over Ren's voice after Nickelodeon fired Kricfalusi. Kricfalusi would return for the Spike TV episodes and unaired episodes of The Ren and Stimpy Show. In the pilot, Pierre Decelles provided Ren's signature diabolical laughter, while West performed Ren's maniacal laugh in the series.
Kricfalusi complained about Nickelodeon executives requesting for Ren to have "a softer side."
Bill Wray said that Ren was his favorite character to write for; Wray described Ren as "fun" because "you can make him mean." In 1993 he added that, "It drives me crazy when I tell people I work on the show and they always say, 'Make Ren meaner'."

Stimpson "Stimpy" J. Cat

Stimpson "Stimpy" J. Cat is a fat, red and white Manx cat with a large blue nose, purple eyelids, no tail, white gloves with fingernails on them, human-style buttocks, flat feet and a brain the size of a peanut. Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of Animation World Magazine described Stimpy as "obese" and "brain-damaged". Andy Meisler of The New York Times described Stimpy as "barrel-chested" and "good-natured".
Stimpy's trademark facial expression is a blissfully ignorant smile with his tongue flopping out. Most of the time when he gets excited, he says his famous catchphrase, "Oh, joy!" or simply "Joy". He also has a strong attachment to his "first material possession" which is a litter box and even though Ren destroys it, Stimpy always reacts strongly to it by crying, panicking or fainting, though it always appears again in some later episode. Stimpy is named after an art school classmate of Kricfalusi, whose nickname was "Stimpy Cadogen". Billy West, who voiced Stimpy, said that he based Stimpy's voice on a "sped up" Larry Fine of The Three Stooges. West described Stimpy as one of his favorite characters. Eric Bauza voiced Stimpy in the Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" because West believed that the series had no humor and that voicing Stimpy in it would damage his career, as West later said in an interview.
Stimpy likes to create destructive electronic devices and feels a fixation for "sensory pleasures of fresh kitty litter".
Bill Wray described Stimpy as his favorite character to draw. Wray said that Stimpy has "a huge range of emotion".

Mr. Horse

Mr. Horse was one of the most popular characters, appearing in many episodes in a wide variety of non-continuous roles. Mr. Horse has variously been a victim of a fall from a skyscraper, a GI returning from war in love with a sheep, a dog-show judge, a neighbor hiding a dark past, and a tester for Gritty Kitty cat litter. He has also been portrayed as a psychiatrist.
Mr. Horse is anthropomorphic, similar to the title characters—he is physically a full-sized male horse, but he usually stands on two legs and speaks. Mr. Horse is typically depicted as a straight-talking, thoughtful and serious character. He can also be cynical and disgruntled, and on occasion is merely a horse. His catchphrase is "No sir, I don't like it." He in fact does say other things in response to Stimpy in the Gritty Kitty Litter Commercial.

Appearances

Powdered Toast Man , is a melodramatic superhero and a spokesperson for Powdered Toast, the breakfast treat that "tastes just like sawdust". He was based on a Frank Zappa-inspired character called Studebacher Hoch, from the song "Billy the Mountain". The character appeared in various Powdered Toast commercials within The Ren & Stimpy Show, and starred in two of its episodes: "Powdered Toast Man vs. Waffle Woman" and "Powdered Toast Man". Powdered Toast Man hides his true identity behind the disguise of Pastor Toastman, a youth deacon.

Powers and abilities

Powdered Toast Man is endowed with various abilities and like many superheroes, has a mysterious background and an alter ego. The character's catch phrase is "Leave everything to me".
Powdered Toast Man can fly, either by releasing flatulence, or by inserting his head into a special toaster and launching from it, or merely by pushing off from the ground. He also flies backwards. He can hover in mid-air as well. His powers include some offensive weapons: high-velocity raisins shot from his mouth, hyper-corrosive croutons fired from his armpit, butter pats that are launched from the top of his head, and hyper-acidic marmalade from his navel. There are several signals that alert Powdered Toast Man to danger, his tongue phone, the inflation of his briefs, the dissipation of the toast particles in his head, or the reading of emergency messages encoded in slices of olive loaf.
He is apparently made entirely of Powdered Toast, as he can produce fully formed similar toast by flicking his wrist or by separating his head and scraping the interior with a butter knife. His head is therefore depicted as being made of two identical pieces of toast, each complete with a face.
By day, Powdered Toast Man is Pastor Toastman, a "cool youth deacon". His disguise is composed of a pair of thick black spectacles and a pastor's collar, a possible parody of Superman's thinly disguised alter ego, Clark Kent. Pastor Toastman's office also serves as his headquarters, and he is served by a lovely young female assistant named "Catholic High School Girl" and it is strongly suggested that the two have a romantic relationship.

Accomplishments

Most of Powdered Toast Man's accomplishments are dubious and pyrrhic - if he ever succeeds it is usually accidentally, and at the cost of unintentionally inflicting havoc on someone else. Additionally, he fights for the sake of Ignorance and Prejudice.
The product named after Powdered Toast Man is true to its name — toast in powder form. Throwing doubt as to its appeal, toast is usually served warm, but powdered toast is room temperature.
The product comes in a can with an aerated top, allowing the toast to be "sprinkled" out in a manner similar to that of shredded Parmesan cheese. The powder somehow comes together, forming a piece of toast that can be consumed. Perhaps itself a commentary on the obsession of American culture with quickly prepared pre-made foods, it seems to take more time to "make" a piece of cold, sawdust-tasting Powdered Toast than it would to toast a piece of bread.
Powdered Toast is never seen being consumed with butter, jam, or cream cheese, possibly because the fragile nature of the toast could not support such spreads. Though it's "jam-packed with Vitamin F," Powdered Toast doesn't make children smarter.
In the first commercial, at the beginning of Robin Höek/Nurse Stimpy, Ren asks Stimpy, "Isn't he wonderful?" Stimpy then says, "Why, He's TOAST-A-RIFIC!"

Muddy Mudskipper

Muddy Mudskipper is a mudskipper with the voice and personality of a grizzled vaudeville comedian who hosts an afternoon kids' show.
Muddy is an archetype — the old, jaded comedian who is outstanding at being "on" when on stage but sour and dissatisfied off-stage. There are certain parallels between Muddy and Krusty the Clown from The Simpsons — both have television shows that may or may not be for children, both shower their co-stars with abuse, and behind the scenes they are less than pleasant to be around. He calls everyone he meets "a lousy bum".
Besides being a huge television star, Muddy has dabbled in villainy, at one point kidnapping the Pope before being foiled by Powdered Toast Man. His name is a parody of Woody Woodpecker.
The show's theme song plays up Muddy's particular physical traits:
Who's the greatest mudskipper of them all?
Who can skip thru the mud with the greatest of ease?
What kind of wonderful guy?
Who can crawl like a dog without scraping his knees?
Who's got segmented eyes?
It's Muddy Mudskipper!
It's Muddy!
Mudskipper!
It's the Muddy!
Mudskipper show!!!

Appearances

Muddy's lines would also be used as archive recording from these last three episodes for Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker.

Mr. and Mrs. Pipe

Mr. and Mrs. Pipe are a 1950s' sitcom-styled white suburban couple who are seen only from the waist down. Mr. Pipe is typically seen with a pipe and clad in a bathrobe, slippers, and black socks supported by sock-suspenders. He loves to wear rubber nipples on his knees and farts at inappropriate moments. Mrs. Pipe appears to wear a dress and nondescript women's shoes. Their first appearance was The Boy Who Cried Rat, in which Ren and Stimpy got a job catching mice for them. In "Big Baby Scam," it seems they have two children named Eugene and Shawn.

The Announcer Salesman

The Announcer Salesman serves as the multi-purpose loudmouth in the Ren and Stimpy show. Sometimes, he is a salesman Other times, he is a narrator, an announcer, a dog-show judge, a real estate agent, etc. The character is never referred to by any name in the series, but the name of "Hey, It's That Guy" seems to be the official name given by West, who also voiced him. He first appeared in "Space Madness" provoking Stimpy to press the history eraser button. He bears a slight resemblance to the genie from Disney's Aladdin. He had a moustache in "House of Next Tuesday". He was voiced by Billy West.

Haggis McHaggis

Haggis McHaggis is short, bald stereotypical Scotsman. At one point, he was a cartoon star, but low ratings forced him out into the street. Voiced by Alan Young, the same voice actor for Scrooge McDuck.

Wilbur Cobb

Wilbur Cobb is a demented, decaying old man who was once the foremost cartoon producer in the world. He speaks in malapropisms and suffers from a malady that results in body parts falling off. In the episode "Stimpy's Cartoon Show", Ren & Stimpy show Cobb their own film "I Like Pink" in hopes the powerful producer will give them their big break. Voiced by Jack Carter, his final appearance was in "The Last Temptation of Ren", where he was the gardener for God. Spumco originally wanted his name to be Raymond Spum but after the firing of Spumco, Games renamed him Wilbur Cobb after the story editor.

The Fire Chief

The Fire Chief has a psychotic hatred for circus midgets and a penchant for slamming his fire axe into concrete as a response to answering the door. Voiced by Peet, and later by Ralph Bakshi in the Adult Party Cartoon episode "Fire Dogs 2".

Mrs. Buttloaves

Mrs. Buttloaves is a morbidly obese and homely old woman dressed in a bulging pink night gown and hair curlers. She first appeared in "Fire Dogs". She is voiced by John Kricfalusi for the show's first two seasons and subsequently by Billy West.

George Liquor, American">George Liquor">George Liquor, American

George Liquor is an ultra-patriotic American and is so conservative that he thinks Republicans are Communists. When episodes featuring him were aired on Nickelodeon, his family name was edited out. Instead, the scene would pause and a record-scratching sound effect would be played in place of the word "Liquor". Many story pitches featuring Liquor were vetoed by Nickelodeon due to their dislike for the character. After Kricfalusi's termination from the show, the rights to the character were returned to him.
According to Kricfalusi, he's Ren and Stimpy's official owner. He was voiced by Michael Pataki, but Harris Peet voiced him two pre-George characters in "The Boy Who Cried Rat" and "Black Hole,".

Other characters