50 Fun Facts About Adult Swim

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

The logo appeared over freeze-frames of the pool footage; the theme was a remix of a Tito Puente mambo.

On what date did Adult Swim officially launch?

The launch was delayed five months from an original April Fools' Day target; the first show was a shelved episode of Home Movies.

Which head programmer conceived Adult Swim?

He rejected the names 'Parental Warning' and 'Parental Block' before landing on the swimming-pool reference.

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?

Mike Lazzo and Keith Crofford ran the in-house studio for most of its existence, both retiring in December 2019.

Which 1994 talk-show parody was Williams Street's first series?

It reused Hanna-Barbera animation and moved to Adult Swim on the block's launch night in 2001.

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

Lazzo yelled 'Buy it!' after two episodes; season one was animated in Squigglevision.

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

The Saturday anime block that followed in 2002 was branded Adult Swim Action.

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?

Schedules listed them only as 'Special Programming' while Space Ghost was on hiatus.

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

Adam Reed and Matt Thompson, later of Archer, created it; the original was Sealab 2020.

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law was a spin-off of which Adult Swim show?

Its co-creator Michael Ouweleen became president of Adult Swim in 2020.

Which Fox sitcom about the Griffins of Quahog did Adult Swim reruns help revive in 2004?

Fox announced the revival less than a year after the block began airing it, and it stayed on Adult Swim for 18 years.

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 Cuylers, hillbilly 'mud squids' in Georgia, ran for 13 seasons?

An unfinished pilot aired as the 2005 April Fools' prank instead of Robot Chicken.

Metalocalypse centres on which fictional death metal band?

By the end of season two the band ranks as the seventh-largest economy on Earth; creator Brendon Small wrote and played the music.

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

It was cancelled in 2020 and wrapped up with the 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?

The fourth and final season was made without McGruder's involvement.

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

Turner paid $2 million in amends and Cartoon Network's general manager Jim Samples resigned.

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

Half went to the city and half to goodwill funds; the signs were promoting the Aqua Teen movie.

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

Regular guests included Zach Galifianakis, John C. Reilly, Bob Odenkirk and Tommy Wiseau.

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

It was followed by a Tim and Eric episode starring the film's director, Tommy Wiseau.

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

It is hosted by the robot TOM, voiced by Steve Blum, and now runs Saturday nights.

Which comedian co-hosted The Eric Andre Show for its first 42 episodes?

He was replaced by 'Blannibal', played by James Hazley, for five episodes.

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?

Producers promised 'soundalikes' with no other changes to the characters.

How did Adult Swim premiere Rick and Morty's third season on April 1, 2017?

'The Rickshank Rickdemption' ran from 8 p.m. to midnight and led McDonald's to bring back Szechuan sauce.

Which McDonald's item returned in 2018 because of a Rick and Morty joke?

Rick's obsession with the Mulan tie-in dip in the season 3 premiere sparked the demand.

By the end of 2025, how many Primetime Emmys for Outstanding Animated Program had Rick and Morty won?

It won in 2018 and 2020 from three nominations, and has two Annie Awards too.

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

Casper Kelly's parody of sitcom credits mutates through a slasher film and sci-fi; it was re-run at midnight for a week after going viral.

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

A 2015 April Fools' prank overlaid its 'Coin Hunt' game on a six-hour Aqua Teen marathon.

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

Spear and Fang lose their families in the opening episode; it was Cartoon Network Studios' first full production for Adult Swim.

Smiling Friends follows the employees of what kind of organisation?

Its pilot aired unannounced on April Fools' Day 2020 alongside co-creator Michael Cusack's YOLO.

For its 2021 April Fools' 'Adult Swim Junior' prank, what did Adult Swim do to Rick and Morty and Aqua Teen episodes?

'Total Rickall' became Rick and Morty Babies and 'Revenge of the Mooninites' became Aqua Child Hunger Force.

What was the twist of Adult Swim's 2016 April Fools' Day stunt?

Promos hyped a prank all night while regular programming ran; only the online streams swapped their hosts.

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

Its name nods to Cartoon Network's checkerboard branding; a puppet Brak appeared during Cartoon Planet reruns in 2024.

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

A special bumper had Adult Swim characters waving goodbye to the Griffins; the show returned in January 2025.

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

Lazzo's retirement had been announced by a bumper on air in December 2019.

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

Melbourne musician Dust Devil reworked 'Mambo Gallego' for the pool-footage bumps.

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

It has since crept to 5 p.m., giving it more daily airtime than Cartoon Network itself.

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

New episodes of Primal, Dream Corp LLC and Tigtone were among the previews.

Adult Swim's 2017 ARG had viewers solving weekly bump puzzles on Twitter to rescue what?

The campaign began with a cryptic 'transmission' during a Rick and Morty episode.

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

Sunday nights were branded Adult Swim Comedy; anime was confined to Saturdays by 2009 before Toonami's 2012 revival took over.

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

The same day the block gained an extra hour, running until 6 a.m.

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 stealth premiere of FLCL Alternative and the film Mind Game aired subbed, and the logo switched to Japanese script.

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

They hunt for a green cube left at Bendigo, while all the night's nature bumpers were Australian-themed.

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

Some are jokes, like one marking the lifespan of NFTs as 2021-2021 and a Sherman Hemsley tribute two years late.

In which year did Adult Swim create its indie-focused game publishing division?

Adult Swim Games published outside indie titles until 2024 and operated through 2026.

Where was the 2022 Adult Swim Festival Block Party held?

The annual festival of music, comedy and panels began in 2018; highlights were streamed to YouTube.