In 2001, Cartoon Network changed the world of animation forever with the debut of its late-night programming block Adult Swim. Featuring original series with mature content that’s not appropriate for younger viewers, Adult Swim played a huge role in transforming the short-sighted perception that cartoons are only for kids.
Over the course of the last twenty-plus years, Adult Swim has become a thriving institution that’s produced close to one hundred original series. Their scope has expanded beyond animation, proving that live-action shows can be just as strange and surreal as cartoons. All of this adds up to a staggeringly diverse and bizarre collection of programming that feels more like a curated art gallery than a television network.
I’ve been a fan of Adult Swim since I was a teenager and my love for the channel has only increased over the years as streaming has made their incredible library of content more accessible than ever. I’ve seen at least snippets of just about every show they’ve produced and I’ve watched at least twenty-five Adult Swim series in their entirety.
With so many memorable and unique shows to consider, it wasn’t easy narrowing things down to a top ten. In fact, it was so difficult that I had to include two honorable mentions. But if you’re a fan of animation, hallucinatory visuals, and dark comedy, then every single one of these series should be on your watch list.
Honorable Mentions
For whatever reason, Dream Corp LLC was almost completely overlooked during its three-season run. That’s a shame because it’s one of the funniest, trippiest, and most unique shows to ever air on the network. The series takes place sometime in the future at a dream therapy facility in a run-down strip mall. In this mysterious office, Dr. Roberts enters patients’ dreams to help them confront psychological issues, with help from his mostly incompetent staff.
While the interactions among the staff and patients provide some good laughs, the real hook of this show is the psychedelic and immersive dream sequences, rendered in stunning rotoscope animation. In addition to being visually spectacular, these scenes allow the writers to explore lots of common and relatable mental health issues in a way that feels fresh and cathartic. In many cases, Dr. Roberts is actually able to cure his patients of their ailments – assuming the recklessness and stupidity of his staff doesn’t kill them before he has the chance.
11. Xavier: Renegade Angel
This is a show that’s nearly impossible to describe – you just have to see it to believe it. From the twisted mind of Vernon Chatman, Xavier: Renegade Angel is truly one of the weirdest and most experimental cartoons to ever air on television. It follows the adventures of Xavier, an eternally confused pseudo-shaman with deep-seated emotional issues who wanders around aimlessly, attempting to spread philosophical wisdom and right wrongs wherever he goes.
In reality, what Xavier mostly does is cause total chaos and destruction for anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path. But attempting to summarize the plot of even an individual episode in this series is futile – the show whips through themes and storylines at a breakneck pace, packing every frame of animation and line of dialogue with so many jokes that you’ll need multiple viewings to catch them all.
Xavier: Renegade Angel only lasted for two brief seasons, but the series actually feels perfect and complete as is, like a mysterious light that clicked on and burned out before anyone could figure out where it came from.
Top Ten
10. Black Dynamite
Based on the live-action film released in 2009, Black Dynamite is a glorious homage to the Blaxploitation films that were popular in the 1970s (when the show is set). It focuses on ex-CIA agent and political revolutionary Black Dynamite (yes, that’s his government name) as he fights the forces of racial oppression. He’s joined by the fierce and sexy Honeybee, timid wannabe pimp Cream Corn, and smooth-voiced serial rhymer Bullhorn.
The show isn’t quite consistent enough to make it into Adult Swim’s top tier, sometimes leaning too heavily on obvious or outdated pop culture references – but the highs are very high and the weaker episodes are still entertaining. Overall, the colorful cast of characters, hilarious, action-packed storylines, and stylish animation make Black Dynamite a show to remember.
9. Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
One of the first series to air on Adult Swim, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law remains a timeless classic with one of the highest joke-per-minute ratios of any show that I’ve seen. The concept is nothing short of brilliant, resurrecting an obscure and long-forgotten Hana-Barbera character (the superhero Birdman) and turning him into a semi-competent lawyer who defends other old Hana-Barbera characters in court.
These characters he defends range from icons like Fred Flintstone and Yogi Bear to more obscure figures like Wally Gator and Secret Squirrel. Most hilarious of all, the defendant’s crimes are always connected to the legacy of the character, often in a satirical way. For example, Scooby-Doo and Shaggy are arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence of marijuana, while the Jetsons travel back in time from the future to sue the past for destroying the planet.
As if these storylines weren’t hilarious enough, the show is filled to the brim with blink-and-you’ll-miss-them sight gags, clever wordplay, and recurring jokes that keep popping up throughout the series. While the content may seem a bit tame compared to more recent Adult Swim shows, the humor has lost none of its impact.
8. Superjail!
More than earning the exclamation point in its title, Superjail! may be the most violent cartoon ever made. It’s also nonsensical even by Adult Swim’s standards, with the plot completely unbound by any rules of logic or continuity. Depending on the type of viewer you are, you may find this frustrating or thrilling – for me, it’s undoubtedly the latter.
The setting of Superjail! is never entirely clear. All we know is that it takes place in a seemingly endless prison that’s located inside of a volcano in another dimension. The jail is intended for only the most violent and deranged criminals, with the staff taking an alternative approach to rehabilitation that seems to mostly result in catastrophic riots breaking out nearly every episode.
These riots are the show’s signature element, elevating the creation of sustained chaos and brutality into an art form. It’s all rendered in some of the most unique and eye-popping animation that I’ve seen – but Superjail! wouldn’t be a classic if the mayhem was all it had going for it. The series also features memorable and hilarious characters including the childlike but sociopathic Warden, his anxiety-ridden accountant Jared, sadistic transsexual prison-guard Alice, and a sentient machine that guards the prison named Jailbot.
7. Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
A lot of people don’t realize it, but Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim changed the comedy landscape with this wild sketch show when it premiered in 2007. Completely unlike anything seen on television before, the show helped popularize cringe comedy and anti-humor through its radical deconstruction of familiar tropes and formatting. Tim and Eric themselves have described it as “the nightmare version of television,” which feels like a perfect tagline.
It’s hard to describe a show that essentially invented a new style of comedy, especially one that breaks virtually every rule when it comes to presentation and structure. Without a doubt, their disorienting and often extremely uncomfortable humor isn’t for everyone. I’ve encountered lots of people who loathe Tim and Eric’s comedy, though even the biggest detractors will admit you can’t mistake their work for anyone else’s.
I’ll leave it at this – if you want to know what it might feel like to be stuck in a shitty motel room on acid, flipping through public access TV while feeling alternately amused and horrified by what’s on the screen, this is the show for you.
6. The Eric Andre Show
Of the many comedic personalities to swim in Tim and Eric’s wake, Eric Andre is the only one who’s managed to match and at times exceed the achievements of his influencers. While he undoubtedly owes a debt to their lo-fi visual aesthetic and surreal, cringe-inducing comedy style, he’s managed to establish a personality that’s uniquely his own with this unhinged fever dream of a talk show parody.
Every episode begins with Andre recklessly destroying the set, often hurting himself in the process, before everything is shoddily put back together behind him just in time for the show to start. He then typically launches into a painfully bad and unfocused monologue while taking criticism from his perpetually unamused co-host Hannibal Burress (the perfect calming counterbalance to Andre’s over-the-top insanity).
The rest of the content alternates between street pranks that Andre pulls on unsuspecting New Yorkers (trust me, these go way further than any type of prank show you’ve ever seen) and interviews with celebrity guests who usually aren’t in on the joke. These interviews, which feature Andre torturing and trolling his guests without ever breaking character or acknowledging the satirical nature of the show, have produced some of the most riotous moments I’ve ever seen on television.
Much like Tim and Eric, a wave of imitators have already tried to replicate the success of Eric Andre’s style – but none of them can recreate the magnetic personality and manic energy that make him such a joy to watch.
5. Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule
Among the many entries in the ever-expanding Tim and Eric universe, this show stands as their crowning achievement for me. It focuses on the unforgettable character of Dr. Steve Brule, brilliantly played by John C. Reilly in what I consider to be his best performance in a long career filled with highlights. The character frequently appeared as a guest on Awesome Show and became so popular that he eventually got a series of his own.
I don’t even know where to begin in describing this character and how uproariously funny he is. The format is extremely simple, with Brule focusing on a particular topic for each episode and embarking on various misadventures related to it. He also frequently interviews experts who have knowledge of the topic without breaking character, leading to genuine bewilderment on their part.
But the real hook of the show is the main character himself. Honestly, I could watch this guy read the phone book and never stop laughing. The way he looks, the unique way he mispronounces words, his child-like naiveté…all of these qualities and more make him a classic character who I never grow tired of watching. While the series has been over since 2016, I can’t help but hope that we haven’t seen the last of Dr. Steve Brule.
4. Metalocalypse
I didn’t expect to like this show since I’m not a fan of metal music. As it turns out, Metalocalypse is one of the funniest and most addicting cartoons that I’ve seen. And while I generally wouldn’t listen to it outside the context of the show, I’ve even grown to appreciate the ultra-heavy original songs that pop up throughout the series.
Metalocalypse tells the story of the fictitious metal band Dethklok, a group that has achieved such overwhelming international success that they’re described as the seventh largest economy in the world and are allowed to maintain their own police force. Their fans are so devoted that they sign pain waivers before entering a show, legally absolving Dethklok of any injuries or deaths that occur. Despite this immense power and influence, the members of the band are unimaginably stupid and tend to unleash disaster and destruction wherever they go.
The concept is undeniably silly, but the show commits to it admirably and never lets the humor get stale. Most importantly, all 5 band members are iconic: singer Nathan Explosion, lead guitarist Skwisgaar Skwigelf, rhythm guitarist Toki Wartooth, bassist William Murderface, and drummer Pickles. Rounding out this classic group of characters is the band’s manager and financial advisor Charles Foster Offdensen (CFO), who’s frequently exasperated by the group’s antics but remains tirelessly dedicated to protecting them.
While Metalocalypse can easily be enjoyed as just a pure comedy, it became more plot-driven over the course of the series, developing a surprisingly complex and mysterious mythology around the band involving an ancient prophecy about the end of the world and a vicious monster called Salacia. Criminally, the story was left unfinished when the show was canceled in 2013 – but ten years later, we finally got a definitive conclusion in the form of a movie called Army of the Doomstar.
I can’t say that the film is the home run finale I’d hoped for, as it suffers from some pacing issues and feels lacking in the signature humor that defined the series. However, it accomplishes the most important goals of tying up loose ends in the plot and giving the show’s loyal fanbase some much-needed and well-deserved closure for these dumb, toxic characters who we all grew to love so much.
3. The Boondocks
One of the most shocking and daring satires to ever air on television, animated or otherwise, The Boondocks is bound to offend people with its unapologetically honest take on racism in America. A casual viewer coming across the show will likely feel horrified by the constant N-bombs and outrageous stereotypes on display. But if this viewer were to stop and actually watch the show, they’d see the larger purpose of what creator Aaron McGruder and company are doing.
The Boondocks is deliberately over-the-top and offensive in order to rub your nose in the ugliness of racism – but it doesn’t do this in a way that feels preachy or lecturing. Instead, the show’s perspective feels authentic and insightful, managing to find humor in even the most horrible issues while still forcing you to think about them.
The series is largely plotless in following the exploits of the Freemans, a Black family that moves into a wealthy and mostly White suburb called Woodcrest. The main characters are brothers Huey and Riley (both voiced by Regina King), who live with their grandfather Robert (John Witherspoon). Huey is a deep-thinking political revolutionary who acts as the voice of reason on the show, while Riley is an ignorant wanna-be thug and Robert is a former civil rights activist who just wants to take it easy in his final years.
Also part of the unforgettable cast are whitewashed district attorney Tom DuBois, moronic rapper Thugnificent, and best of all, crusty old racist Uncle Ruckus – one of the most complex and hysterical characters ever created. These characters, along with the searing political commentary and anime-inspired visual aesthetic, make The Boondocks a cartoon for the ages.
2. Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Aqua Teen Hunger Force is one of the earliest and longest-running series to air on Adult Swim. Though the show was canceled in 2015 after eleven seasons and a theatrical film, it remains one of Adult Swim’s most popular shows and was recently revived for another movie (the fun but somewhat forgettable Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm), with a twelfth season now supposedly on the way.
The show follows the exploits and misadventures of three talking fast food items that live together in a small house in New Jersey. They are the shallow and narcissistic Master Shake, the intelligent and practical Frylock, and the innocent but naïve Meatwad. The trio is frequently joined by their human neighbor Carl, a pathetic loser who appears to spend all of his time masturbating and watching sports. All four of these characters are immediately lovable and hilarious.
To say that the show makes no sense is an understatement. Beyond a lack of continuity between episodes, there’s no real rules or sense of logic even within a given episode. For example, characters often die brutally before reappearing without explanation and random objects frequently explode without warning for no apparent reason. This creates a thrilling and unpredictable dynamic where it truly feels like anything and everything can happen at any time.
In response to the detractors who argue this show has no purpose or merit, I would argue it is the best symbolic representation I’ve ever seen of the randomness of existence. Consider the ending of a season 2 episode when Master Shake is arguing with Carl and Carl’s head suddenly explodes. Meatwad asks, “Why’d he do that?” and Shake immediately replies: “Why wouldn’t he?”
I can’t think of a better scene to summarize the unique, surreal humor of this show – and I can’t think of a better show to start your journey into the wonderful world of Adult Swim.
1. The Venture Bros.
Arguably the most ambitious and well-written American cartoon ever made, The Venture Bros. maintained an astonishing level of consistency and continuity throughout its seven-season run. The show features an overwhelmingly large group of characters in a highly-detailed universe that feels like it’s always expanding. In fact, the history and lore of the show’s world are so impressively established from the beginning that it feels like the series has been on forever, even when you just start watching it.
While it’s fruitless to try to summarize even a fraction of the characters and plotlines in The Venture Bros., the show focuses on Dr. Thaddeus “Rusty” Venture and his twin sons, Hank and Dean. Dr. Venture is essentially a projection of who Jonny Quest might’ve become as an adult after a childhood of being dragged around the globe on death-defying adventures with his selfish and abusive super-scientist father. Meanwhile, Rusty is now unwittingly damaging his own sons in the same way that he was traumatized as a child.
Other noteworthy characters include the Venture family’s ultra-violent bodyguard Brock Samson (voiced by Patrick Warburton in arguably his best role), butterfly-themed super-villain The Monarch, his sexy but deep-voiced partner Dr. Girlfriend, and theatrical necromancer Dr. Byron Orpheus. These characters represent just the tip of the iceberg, as the story seemingly introduces a new classic character every episode.
The Venture Bros. is a difficult show to describe or make sense of to a newcomer. The series is ultimately a loving deconstruction of cartoons, comic books, and pretty much everything pop-culture obsessives like me were raised on. In a way, it re-contextualizes your childhood from the perspective of an adult, creating moments of powerful emotion and nostalgia in the midst of non-stop laughs.
I was heartbroken, along with many other fans, when the series was cancelled in 2020. But thankfully, creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer were given the opportunity to conclude their story with a movie released earlier this year, given the phenomenal title Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart.
While a proper final season would’ve obviously been ideal, the movie maximizes every second of its 84-minute runtime to deliver just the right balance of action, humor, surprising revelations, and emotional closure. It may not be how the creators planned to wrap up their show, but it feels like a near-perfect ending regardless and solidifies The Venture Bros. as a classic that will stand the test of time.