Happy Tree Friends

Genre	Animation Black comedy Splatter Comedy horror Alternative grunge punk-metal
Created by	Dave Grohl Krist Novoselic Pat Smear
Developed by	David Geffen
Directed by	Seasons 1–2: Dave Grohl Seasons 2–5: Krist Noveselic
Creative director(s)	David Geffen
Starring	Dave Grohl as Cuddles, Lifty, and Shifty Courtney Love as Flaky, Giggles, Petunia, and Cub Krist Novoselic as Lumpy and Splendid Pat Smear as Lumpy and Splendid Chad Channing as Toothy and Handy Jason Everman as Fliqpy and Pop Chris Cornell as Sniffles Eddie Vedder as Russell Jerry Cantrell as Disco Bear Kim Thayil as Nutty Scott Weiland as Lifty and Shifty Ben Shepard as Russell Francis Bean Cobain as Lammy David Geffen Mime, The Mole, Mr. Pickels, and Cro-Marmot do not speak
Composer(s)	Nirvana
No. of episodes	144 (total: 151+) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	John Evershed Deirdre O'Malley Edward Noeltner
Producer(s)	David Ichioka
Animator(s)	Aubrey Ankrum Rhode Montijo Kenn Navarro
Running time	1–5 minutes
Distributor	Mondo Media
Release
Picture format	Flash animation quality (1999-2005) 480p (2007-2009) 1080p (2009-2016) 2160p (2023-present)
Original release	December 24, 1999 (1999-12-24) – present
Other websites
Website

Happy Tree Friends is an American adult animated web series. It had achieved a cult following on YouTube. Montijo, Navarro, Graff, Ankrum also serve as the as showrunners.

Despite the childlike art style of the series and having a colorful cast of characters, the show would often have the animals go through very violent situations, complete with detailed gore. These twists happen during each episode, which was met with surprised and positive reactions and reviews. The portrayal of death in Happy Tree Friends is usually very extreme and anatomically correct, the special effects are oftem more vivid and of exaggerated detail.

The official music videos are comparable to that of Nirvana (the short cartoon featured on their song "Smells Like Teen Spirit"), Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam. The series is also referenced in the music video "Carpal Tunnel of Love" by rock band Fall Out Boy, in which the members are designed like the animal characters by the webseries' staff. The band members end up dying in the music video by a tow cable.

The program has little to no speech. When the characters do speak, their words are severely garbled. It is easy to tell what each character's reaction is, but their words are very hard to understand. According to its website, the idea for Happy Tree Friends was created by Rhode Montijo when he drew a yellow volkswagen rabbit, that may have evolved into the character of Cuddles, on a piece of paper and wrote "Resistance Is Futile" underneath it.

A Happy Tree Friends spin-off called Ka-Pow! premiered on September 2, 2008. One of the characters was also featured in a video titled "YouTube Copyright School", which curiously enough is not intended to be as twisted and gory.

Cast

• Kenn Navarro as Cuddles, Flippy, Lifty, Shifty
• Dana Belben as Giggles, Petunia, Cub
• Ellen Connell as Giggles, Petunia, Cub
• Lori Jee as Giggles, Petunia, Cub
• Rhode Montijo as Lumpy, Splendid
• David Winn as Lumpy, Splendid
• Warren Graff as Toothy, Handy
• Michael "Lippy" Lipman as Nutty
• Aubrey Ankrum as Flippy, Fliqpy, Pop
• Nica Lorber as Flaky
• Peter Herrman as Disco Bear
• Sarah Castelblanco as Mime (audible noises)
• Jeff Biancalana as Russell
• Francis Carr as Russell
• Mark Giambruno as Lifty, Shifty
• Liz Stuart as Sniffles
• Renée T. MacDonald as Lammy

Characters

• Cuddles the Rabbit has lemon yellow fur, a light goldenrod yellow tail, light goldenrod yellow hair, light pink cheeks, light yellow ears, a light yellow belly marking, and light yellow soles. He wears pink bunny slippers.
• Giggles the Chipmunk has salmon fur, taffy pink ears, a seashell belly marking, salmon soles, and a lavender blush head marking. She wears a red head bow.
• Toothy the Beaver has light purple fur, a purple tail, purple pizzazz ears, a light purple belly marking, and light purple soles.
• Lumpy the Moose has sky blue fur, canary antlers, and royal blue soles. He wears a light blue t-shirt and light blue pants.
• Petunia the Skunk has navy blue fur, midnight blue ears, a light cyan belly marking, light periwinkle soles, a frosted mint head marking, and a medium blue and light periwinkle tail. She wears a pink flower accessory and a pine scent air freshener.
• Flippy the Bear has aqua green fur, spring green ears, honeydew soles, and yellow green eyes. He wears a green beret, a military shirt, and dog tags.