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Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the
World is a Canadian stop motion animated sitcom created by Q. Allan
Brocka, who also acts as director.[1] It is a
spin off from Brocka's 1999 short film of the same name,[2] and
debuted on the LGBT focused Logo
network in July 2007[3] and on
the Canadian Teletoon's late-night
programming block "The Detour" that
October. The show premiered in the UK on E4 on 17 September 2008 and in January
2010 on Virgin 17 in
France.
After the first season aired Logo renewed the program for a
second season, which debuted on November 11, 2008.[4] [5]
The animation of the original Rick & Steve shorts were done
using Lego blocks and figures,
prompting a lawsuit from the company.[6] Though
the series no longer uses Lego blocks, it still draws comparison to
both them and those by Playmobil.[7][8]
It is produced by Toronto-based production studio, Cuppa
Coffee Studio.
Overview
The show follows the lives of three gay couples—the titular Rick
and Steve, Chuck and Evan, and Dana and Kirsten—as they live in the
fictional gay ghetto of West Lahunga Beach and
interact with their friends and family. The title is ironic, as all
three of the main couples have typical "couple issues" — including
Steve actively seeking a three-way with Rick and another man,
Kirsten and Dana deciding to have a baby with Rick's sperm, and
Chuck and Evan simply trying to be together despite a 31 year age
difference between them.
The show is noted particularly for its use of an adult-oriented
and "politically incorrect" style of
humor, similar in some respects to that of South Park and
Family
Guy.[9]
Characters
Main
- Rick Brocka, Jr. (voiced by Will
Matthews): Steve's 30 year old Filipino American genius husband.
He's a homemaker/computer programmer who's "obsessed with
cleanliness and science fiction" and a member of the West Lahunga
Beach chapter of Gay Men-zuh. He is insecure about
his relationship with Steve and prone to overanalyzing minor
slights, but very kind and loving. He generally holds the role of
the show's everyman
figure. [10] His
nickname from Steve is Piggy.
- Steve Ball (voiced by Peter Paige): Rick's 33 year old husband.
Steve is a well off real estate broker, despite not being very
bright. He's more than a little fixated on his appearance, spending
hours in the gym at a time, but personally sees no problem with
that. Despite his love for only Rick he seeks a more exciting sex
life. Rick and Steve's pet names for each other are Daddy (Steve)
and Piggy (Rick).[11] His
nickname from Rick is Daddy.
- Kirsten Kellogg (voiced by Emily Brooke
Hands and Jessica-Snow Wilson): Kirsten is 28, Rick's best
friend from college and Dana's wife. She's considered a lipstick
lesbian, though she has been confused for a boy often in her
life. She is an artist and also manages Chick Sticks, a sex toy
store.[12]
- Dana Bernstein (voiced by Taylor M. Dooley):
Kirsten's angry 32 year old bulldyke wife. A project manager with Habitat for Humanity, Dana is misanthropic, misandric and quick to
hurl insults, particularly at Steve, but is willing to help Rick
and Steve with household repairs when the need arises. She's also
in touch with her Jewish heritage, but only in a political
sense.[13] She
has a strained relationship with her divorced parents, Saul and
Marlene, and had a brother, Dick (the only male she genuinely
liked), who was killed when he won the gold medal in gymnastics at
the Olympics and a stray javelin struck him while he was on the
medal podium.[14]
- Chuck Masters (voiced by Alan Cumming): Chuck
is 50 years old and Steve's best friend and Evan's boyfriend. He is
both HIV-positive and paralyzed from
the left testicle down—putting him in a wheelchair. The two are
only tangentially connected; he was hit by a car while leaving the
clinic after receiving his positive test result. Chuck is an angry,
yet truthful, individual.[15] In
"Mom Fight", it is revealed that he is a gold-star gay (a gay man
who was never with a woman). He had sex with a woman in the same
episode, and discovered he may be a bisexual.
- Evan Martinez (voiced by Wilson Cruz): Evan is
Chuck's 19 year old vacuous kept boyfriend. He's addicted to a multitude
of drugs, to the point that forgetting to take them for a day
completely messes up his system. He's also the most superficial and
trendy of all characters and loves to spend time in clubs.[16]
- Condoleezza "Condi" Ling (voiced by Margaret Cho): West
Lahunga Beach's resident fag
hag, or "alternative lifestyle companion" as she prefers to be
called. She is responsible for turning 17 men gay (the first being
Rick) and becomes suicidal whenever this happens. Because of this,
she is on numerous anti-depressants as well as anti-psychotics.
However, she still puts on a cheery exterior when she parties every
night with Evan, whom she has tried to steal from Chuck.[17]
- Dixie (voiced by Lori Alan): Kirsten and Dana's baby. The
original plan was for Kirsten to bear the child after being
artificially inseminated with Rick's sperm — but after Steve was
offended that his sperm was apparently not good enough, straining
his relationship with Rick, the two secretly decided to
both provide sperm for the sample, and then in the process
of bringing the sperm home to impregnate Kirsten, Dana accidentally
got pregnant when she spilled it on herself. Dana spends almost
three weeks in labour before Dixie is finally born, and names her
daughter in memory of her deceased brother Dick (who would go by
the name Dixie when in drag). Dixie appears to have paranormal powers,
possessing the ability to telekinetically attract
objects that are out of her physical reach.
- Pussy (voiced by Liza Del Mundo):
Rick and Steve's cat, Pussy is so smart that she sometimes talks to
people. She's jealous of Dixie getting all the attention that used
to be lavished on her, and frequently plots to get rid of the baby
so she can reclaim her rightful place in the pecking order.
However, at other times she is shown to be helpful and generous,
often suggesting the perfect solution to a seemingly intractable
problem or leading the humans to important information that's been
hidden from them. Like Dixie, she also appears to have paranormal
powers, possessing the ability to conjure a snowstorm — in Southern
California — after overhearing another character's wish for a white
Christmas.[18]
Family
- Joanna (voiced by Lorna Luft): Steve's mother, she is a former
Southern belle
who is newly divorced from a different ex-husband each time she
appears. Almost all of her ex-husbands have been named Carlton. She
is outrageously racist and homophobic — in her first
appearance she is persistently oblivious to the fact that Steve is
gay, even going so far as to convince herself that Rick is a woman,
and in her second, she is determined to break Rick and Steve
up.
- Minda (voiced by Liza Del Mundo): Rick's
mother. Doting, gay-friendly and seemingly psychic, she can tell
that Joanna put dog excrement in her adobo just by smelling it through the phone, and
frequently calls with the answers to questions she hasn't been
asked yet. She is happily married to Rick's father, although he has
never been seen saying anything but "Huh?"
- Uncle Bakla (voiced by Alec Mapa): Rick's uncle and Minda's brother.
Flamboyantly and effeminately gay, he is only too happy to hook up
with Rick's rice queen ex-boyfriend Hunter. Minda
wishes Rick were more flamboyant like her brother.
- Charo Martinez (voiced by Wilson Cruz): Evan's
mother. Despite being born and raised in California, she speaks
with a strong Mexican accent.
She gave birth to Evan as a teenager, so she's still only in her
early 30s despite having a 19-year-old son. In the Season 2 finale,
when a Homeland Security agent is in town to deport people who look
like illegal immigrants whether they are or not, Chuck undertakes a
My Fair
Lady-style project to protect her by transforming her into
Hillary Clinton.
Friends
- Ebony and Ivory (voiced by
Liza Del Mundo and Lori Alan): An interracial lesbian couple, even
more hyper-PC than Kirsten
and Dana. They named their baby Echinacea, and refuse to learn what gender
she/he is so that she/he can discover that for her/himself.
- Michaela (voiced by Q. Allan Brocka): Dana's
ex. Even butcher than Dana, she is twice the height and width of
any other character on the show, and is constantly plotting to
break Kirsten and Dana up so that she can get back together with
Dana. In the episode "Its Raining Pussy" she mistook a stun gun for a sexual toy;
however, she ended up enjoying it and considered it to be "The
greatest bang I ever had!"
- Tyler (voiced by RuPaul): An African-American
friend of Steve's from the gym, he is exasperated by Steve's latent
racism ("You're totally racist. I mean, I'm one of your best
friends, and how many episodes have I even been in?") and the
unconscious homophobia of their straight gym partner
J.P. (voiced by Darryl Stephens).
- Bodiless Mute Blind Latina Lesbian in a
Wheelchair is a disembodied head whose inarticulate
mumbles are translated by her live-in nurse Jessica (voiced by
Margaret Cho).
Other
minor characters
- Falaysha is an African-American drag queen who
tends bar at Antoine's Fissure. She also appears as an usher at
Steve and Dana's fake wedding, and as the Wicked Witch in a Wizard of Oz
parody.
- Dylan Ram-Brick is a leatherstud porn star. Rick and
Steve once brought him home for a three-way, and discovered that he's
actually a female-to-male transsexual. He's also
Falaysha's roommate.
- Franz Nerdlinger (voiced by Q. Allan Brocka):
The head of Gay Menzuh, he's a nerdy scientist obsessed with
comics.
- Anderson Pooper (voiced by Billy West): An
outrageously sensationalist anchor on the local news channel. He
usually serves in brief standalone gags seen when one of the
characters is watching television, although in one episode his
exposé on lesbian gang violence is central to the storyline.
- Hunter (voiced by Billy West): Rick's
ex-boyfriend. He is exclusively attracted to Asian guys, to the
point that he's physically incapable of even seeing a
non-Asian person if there is an Asian around. Ironically, he seems
unable to tell the difference between an Asian and a Latino. He
owns virtually all of West Lahunga Beach's Chinatown.
- Dr. Hunk (voiced by Billy West): A handsome
doctor at Ursula Rodriguez Memorial Hospital who makes all the boys
swoon.[19]
- Skanky Housewives is a television
soap opera sometimes seen in brief standalone gags when a character
is watching television. It features housewife Mary Jane (voiced by
Jessica-Snow Wilson), her son Timmy (voiced by Will Matthews) and
an omniscient narrator (voiced by Liza Del Mundo). The program's
website has named the actors within the Rick and Steve
universe as "Calamity Penn-Phillippe-Pitt-Stapleton" playing Mary
Jane[20] and
"Dakota Montana" playing Timmy[21],
although these names have never been stated in the show
itself.
Guest voices have included Mitch Morris, Mark Hamill, Jm J. Bullock, Jill Bennett, Lance Bass, Andy Dick, Jai Rodriguez, George Takei, Laraine Newman,
Bruce Vilanch,
Margaret Cho and
Robert Gant. Liza
Del Mundo, Billy West and series creator Q. Allan Brocka voice
minor characters in virtually every episode.
Episodes
DVD
releases
| DVD title |
Release date |
| Region 1 |
Region 2 |
Region 4 |
| Season 1 |
August 28, 2007 |
October 27, 2008 |
March 19, 2009 |
| Season 2 |
March 3, 2009 |
TBA |
October 15, 2009 |
Awards
A minor controversy arose in 2008 when Carlo Nardello, an
executive with the Italian RAI Television
network, criticized Salerno's Cartoons on the Bay animation
festival for including a Rick & Steve screening in its
2008 program. However, Rick & Steve went on to win the
festival's Pulcinella Award for best series of the year.[22]
Casting director Gillian O'Neill won the Casting Society of America's
Atrios Award for Outstanding Achievement in Casting - Animation TV
Programming in 2008 for her work on Rick & Steve.[23]
References
- ^
"Rick & Steve Do
Outfest". Logo. http://www.happiestgaycouple.com/index.jhtml?c=v&m=45. Retrieved
2007-11-26.
- ^
Southern, Nathan. "Overview". The New York
Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/408515/Rick-and-Steve-the-Happiest-Gay-Couple-in-All-the-World/overview. Retrieved
2007-11-26.
- ^
Finley, Adam. "Rick and Steve hit Logo in
July". TV Squad. http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/06/14/rick-and-steve-hit-logo-in-july/. Retrieved
2007-11-26.
- ^
"Logo Announces Full Slate of
Gay Animation". The Advocate. November 2, 2007. http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid50146.asp. Retrieved
2007-11-11.
- ^
"Logo's Fall 2008 Gay TV
Calendar". Logo. http://www.afterelton.com/TV/page/fall2008gaytvgrid.
- ^
"Boy Culture, Seattle, and
the actors and models of LA". GayCities. http://www.gaycities.com/outthere/74/boy-culture-seattle-and-the-actors-and-models-of-la/#more-74. Retrieved
2007-11-29.
- ^
Watercutter, Angela (June 21, 2007). "Lego My Gay-go". Blog.Wired.com. http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2007/06/lego-my-gay-go.html. Retrieved
2007-11-29.
- ^
Dargis, Manhola (May 21, 2006). "CalArts: The School With
Antz in Its SquarePants". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/movies/21darg.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Organizations/M/Museum%20of%20Modern%20Art&pagewanted=all. Retrieved
2007-11-29.
- ^
""Rick & Steve": Animated
gays and their lesbian friends", afterellen.com.
- ^
"Welcome Wagon: Meet
Rick". Cast of Characters. LOGO. http://www.happiestgaycouple.com/index.jhtml?c=v&m=4. Retrieved
2007-11-27.
- ^
"Welcome Wagon: Meet
Steve". Cast of Characters. LOGO. http://www.happiestgaycouple.com/index.jhtml?c=v&m=6. Retrieved
2007-11-27.
- ^
"Welcome Wagon: Meet
Kirsten". Cast of Characters. LOGO. http://www.happiestgaycouple.com/index.jhtml?c=v&m=9. Retrieved
2007-11-27.
- ^
"Welcome Wagon: Meet
Dana". Cast of Characters. LOGO. http://www.happiestgaycouple.com/index.jhtml?c=v&m=10. Retrieved
2007-11-27.
- ^
Season 2, episode 1
- ^
"Welcome Wagon: Meet
Chuck". Cast of Characters. LOGO. http://www.happiestgaycouple.com/index.jhtml?c=v&m=18. Retrieved
2007-11-27.
- ^
"Welcome Wagon: Meet
Evan". Cast of Characters. LOGO. http://www.happiestgaycouple.com/index.jhtml?c=v&m=17. Retrieved
2007-11-27.
- ^
"Welcome Wagon: Meet
Condi". LOGO. http://www.happiestgaycouple.com/index.jhtml?c=v&m=80. Retrieved
2008-12-09.
- ^
"Welcome Wagon: Meet
Pussy". Cast of Characters. LOGO. http://www.happiestgaycouple.com/index.jhtml?c=v&m=22. Retrieved
2007-11-27.
- ^
Welcome Wagon: Meet Dr.
Hunk
- ^
Welcome Wagon: Meet Calamity
Penn-Phillippe-Pitt-Stapleton!
- ^
Welcome Wagon: Meet Dakota
Montana!
- ^
"Cartoons on the Bay -- The
Opera", Animation World, April 24, 2008.
- ^
IMDb
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