$10 will provide a family in need with a full Thanksgiving dinner.
Make a DonationSteve Allen Theater, at the Center For Inquiry West (Los Angeles, CA)
Imagine a world where a children's show has a cast of characters that have more psychological disorders than you do. Add the mind-numbing debauchery of the worst, most poorly animated cartoons from the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Then throw in the wry commentary you came to love from "Mystery Science Theater 3000," and what have you got? Cartoon Dump!
Event summary prepared by the Goldstar Editorial Team.
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Do yourself a favor. Spend a little extra money on a cab, and get good and baked before the show. It's enjoyable without it, but with it, it's just a hoot.
Quirky, edgy fun! If you like cheese, spread this event onto your favorite cracker. The cartoons were deliciously oh so bad with cheap animation, stupid scripts, and plenty of "what were they thinking?!" moments. Interspersed between the cartoons, there were skits and songs by a live troupe which included Mystery Science Theatre 3000's Frank Conniff. I especially liked Frank's depressed character's recommendation of a book called, "God's Just Not That Into You." They brought in a guest comedian (whose name escapes me at the moment) who was pretty funny. My husband and I had a great time and would recommend this show. By the way, although the cartoons were G-rated, "Cartoon Dump" is not for kids due to language in the live part of the show.
SOOOO much fun! laughed the whole night! cheese fest all the way!
The name of the show is more than a little misleading as I was expecting to see a lot more in the way of cartoons. Of the five or so cartoons shown this evening, only two felt like they belonged. The rest just felt like filler.
The rest of the show was a blast and more than made up for the lack of cartoons!! The comedienne was good, the actors were great, the songs were funny...a great big, yummy wagon wheel o cheese.
A one and done for me, though. I would easily recommend the show to those that I KNOW have a soft-spot for such fare.
Hated it. Walk out before it was over. Rarely ever do that. Normally, my philosphy is "If I pays, I stays.
But not this time Henrietta.
Conceptually wise, good idea. But the execution was just that an execution. Wasn't funny most of the time. Only one of the characters in the live skits seemed in character. Most of the jokes were done in a dead pan style with distinctly adult oriented gallows humor, kind of like Marvin the depressed robot from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".
Hardly the takeoff on the childlike humor, there supposed to be doing.
It was contrived, and boring and seemed put together pretty much on the fly with an improvisational quality that might have seemed funny in the privacy of somebody's living room providing they had very sophomoric and witless taste.
So if that's your cup of tea, my brother, my sister, check it out.
Otherwise you'd better off to stay home and watch Smack Down
Wrestling. It's problably a lot funnier.
My companion and I have mixed feelings about this event. It wasn't exactly what we expected, but what we saw was pretty darn funny! The cartoon clips are shown interspersed with live skits from an acting troop and a comedian (sorry we couldn't remember his name). We both felt there was great potential for this kind of theater and plan to attend again to see how it develops. In brief, the cartoons are so bad they are funny and the comedic acting talents of some of the cast are worth the cost of admission. Our only caveat, is that this is NOT a young person's activity. This is definitely for the 30 and over crowd.
This was a great show! Acerbic and funny, but NOT appropriate for children.
Wow... just... WOW. I am totally coming back, and bringing friends, and this show just needs to happen more often! I hope you have room for all of my friends next month!
It was okay. I would have prefered just seeing the cartoons without the routines in the middle. They weren't really that clever or funny. The night was saved by guest star Patton Oswalt. He was absolutely hilarious. That alone made the evening worthwhile.
Cartoon Dump was pretty entertaining. It consisted of five cartoons interspersed with comedy bits and a walk-on performance by a stand-up comedian (well, more of a hunched-over comedian) who had been a contestant on Last Comic Standing. The musical ditties sung on stage were sometimes overly long but the live interludes between cartoons were otherwise reasonably timed.
I believe all of the cartoons were from the 60s. My favorite was "Sir Gee Whiz on the Other Side of the Moon," a leprechaun with a Scottish accent who could make adults pass out with his magic wand so that he could seduce little girls to come back with him to the far side of the moon -- for what reason was left unstated. Sir Whiz's sidekick was a character named Señor Ropo, a length of rope with a mustache and a sombrero. It was so bad on so many levels that it was funny.
Quirky fun!
Very fun! Guest comedian Patton Oswalt was awesome, Frank and company were fabulous. I brought a friend and was unsure as to how his reaction would be to this type of humor (I've seen the show before) and he laughed a lot. The cartoons are just... just... BAD! But in a funny way! Hoping that there are some new "sponsors" next time I see the show. :)
The venue is great and the show was AWESOME!!!
I've gone 3 times now, and enjoy it more each time. It's campy and the cartoons are awful (of course), but the whole audience gets into the spirit and it's great.
This second-anniversary show was amazing. Some great (horrible) new cartoons, and Dave (Gruber) Allen was an excellent guest star. Congratulations to everyone involved on the anniversary!
This was fun but pretty uneven - just like mystery science theater 3000 - imagine that... I think it might have worked better if the cartoons were moderated as they were being shown rather than after they were finished.
Michael Rayner & Patton Oswalt were great. The cartoons & banter between the cast were not my kind of humor, unfortunately, but the crowd in general seemed to be having a good time.
No Patton Oswalt ... but a good time nonetheless ... A few more cartoons would have made this better ...
Great fun! The cartoons were so bad -- but great bad. The performers were terrific! This was the second time I saw the show. It won't be the last!
I go every month, and it's always a blast.
Funny, edgy, alternative, referential. Perfect for nerdy boomers and every gen xer!
Great fun for any fan of MST3K-type entertainment.
This is an absolutely hilarious show from beginning to end.
It was not what I expected. I will not attend this event again.
Go see Cartoon Dump!
It was great!
great fun! A surreal experience!
The cartoons are god-awful which makes them hysterical. We laughed most of the night and on the way home.
The production does not lie when they say they have some of the worst cartoons ever made. The songs and acts between each cartoon was quite entertaining. Don't bring your kids to this event because there is some foul language and inappropriate items spoken about.
Fantastic event. Very adult humor for the live action kiddie cartoon funtime host/ess between cartoons. I especially liked the kickoff of the show where the producer/main guy/whatever explains the background and points out little things to look for. It was superb and the theater is very DIY and cozy feeling so not like a big creepy production. Parking is plentiful right behind the theater too. I think I'll go back and test to see if it's fresh enough to see more than once. I hope so.
This was the second time I attended this show and it was great again. I plan to go back next month for their two year anniversary show.
Go experience Cartoon Dump!
I've been wanting to attend this show for months and months and finally had the chance to. WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT! The premise is great--an alternative children's show in which awful cartoons are shown in tandem with wacky skits from human hosts with dubious taste. Too bad the execution was so lousy and amateurish.
The cartoon portions were mildly entertaining--they were "bad," but, truth be told, not the excruciating howlers that I expected. The problem with the show primarily resides in the "hosting" of Erica Doering (playing chipper personality Compost Brite) and Frank Conniff (playing a depressed Owl). They simply aren't that engaging or funny. Conniff's deadpan and ironic owl is just not a good fit for this type of material. He saps energy from the show at every turn.
As a duo Doering and Conniff don't have enough energy, sass, wit or chemistry to really keep the evening afloat. As the night wore on I dreaded the return to their schtick at the expense of more cartoons. They also sang half a dozen ditties, which were mildly amusing in terms of the lyrics, but their near total incompetence as singers just made for irritable listening. Mediocre performances like this make you realize how truly brilliant Paul Rubens is.
I've enjoyed many shows at the Steve Allen Theatre, but I would not recommend this one to anyone, even diehard cartoon lovers. The show just isn't that funny, even though it fancies itself as such. Definitely skip it.
It was okay. It wasn't what I thought. But I had an okay time.
Best fun I had with my girlfriends. No expectations-no regrets, ridiculously funny in a should not be funny way.
It was fairly funny, but to be honest I was expecting more cartoons. Think there was only 5 or 6. The Ragaholic character character needs to do a bit more prep work. Really was disappointed there wasn't more cartoons. Worth the price of a discount ticket for a Tuesday night diversion, however!
Yes, really bad cartoons. But they only show about 6 and then in between are little skits that end up creating a bizarre evening.
OY! Left a funny taste in my mouth. I felt the opening show producer talked too much about the cartoons we were going to see, almost like giving away all the small nuances that would have been more hysterical had we not been told prior to viewing. The 3 'cartoon' actors who did skits/dialogue in between the cartoons made the night go uncomfortably slow. But what made me appreciate them was when they brought out Jay London from 'Last Comic Standing'; his self deprecating humor really had me wanting the 3 actors to come back and relieve him. The cartoons shown were remotely funny, definitely should have shown more than 4. I suppose the other reviewer was right, I needed to be baked to fully enjoy this show.
Arrive early if you want a seat. The show was standing room only, we got there late so were standing outside the main door, a few actually pulled up chairs in the main room.
The show's format was intro, live act, cartoon, live act, cartoon, etc. True to the advert. The show had some of the absolute worst animation I've ever seen. I thought I had a scale big enough to measure the animation world being a fan of the genre. I found it necessary to extend my yardstick bottom end...at least 2 meters. Anything that bad deserves to be laughed at. For the live: F*cked up characters, well played. Each a cartoonish poster child of neurotiscm e.g. Woodsy the clinically depressed owl, Buf fer the bitch cartoon historian badger, abused by her father. etc.
I laughed hard at times and was disgusted at others, it's genre of comedy that celebrates victim/depressive mindsets and underachievers I don't really identify with. But they surprised me at times, going so cynical/twisted/low than I could have expected.
They had a guest 'comedian'. Which was an awkward form of comedy. Word play was amusing in a Steven Wright way:
e.g. I'm addicted to prescription...glasses.
A net positive unique experience. I'd probably go back next month.
My husband and I have been to Cartoon Dump in the past but paying full price. It was great to pay half price this month. Jimmy Pardo was hilarious, and the cartoons were superbly awful. The only bad thing is that the banter and songs done by the two actors has remained the same since we started going. We'd just like to see some new banter and songs.
Completely wacky. Dysfunctional children's show on crack. I loved it.
We absolutely loved this event! We didn't quite know what to expect, and here's what we got: Essentially, it was like being a kid in the audience of a warped, dysfunctional, very adult Saturday morning cartoon show. There were characters who sang and told self-depricating jokes that segued into the most horrible cartoons. In the middle of it all, comedian Greg Proops did a standup routine that was very funny. It was an extremely fun show, a bit different, and definitely worth going to, month after month. We look forward going again!
Tips are provided by Goldstar members and Center for Inquiry - West. Goldstar is not responsible for their content or accuracy.
November 25 features special guests Patton Oswalt (making amends for missing last month) and Michael Rayner (balancing a wheelbarrow on his face).
Imagine a world where a children's show has a cast of characters that have more psychological disorders than you do. Add the mind-numbing debauchery of the worst, most poorly animated cartoons from the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Then throw in the wry commentary you came to love from "Mystery Science Theater 3000," and what have you got? Cartoon Dump!
Cartoon Dump! is a result of an alliance between noted author/producer/cartoon scholar Jerry Beck and writer/producer/comedian Frank Conniff (TV's Frank from "Mystery Science Theater 3000"). Hosted by Compost Brite (Erica Doering), Cartoon Dump! boasts a beguiling cast of characters who will bring laughter and joy into the hearts of borderline schizophrenics and catatonic acidheads the world over. It's a kids' show that's not for kids, but for adults who are emotionally and developmentally damaged kids at heart.
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