Episode #8: "Powdered Toast Man"
Original Production Number: RS06b
Original Air Date: August 15, 1992
Rebroadcast: February 13th 1993
Director: John Kricfalusi
Story: Richard Pursel and John K.
Storyboard: Jim Smith and Bill Wray
John K. (as Ren)
Billy West (as Stimpy)
Gary Owens (as Powdered Toast Man)
Jim Smith (as Mr. President)
Cheryl Chase (as PTM's Faithfull Assistant)
Practically everyone at Spümc (as the accident casualties) -
Frank Zappa (uncensored version: 'as The Pope'; censored version: 'as the funny little guy in the pointy hat')
Frank is the voice of "The pope" on an episode of "Ren and Stimpy" The episode is titled "Powdered Toast-Man". [ed. note: The credits at the end of "PTM" were changed from "The pope" to "The man with the funny white hat".]
The specific episode was Show #8, originally broadcast August 15th 1992, the season premiere of the show's second year. After a sketch called "In The Army" is the "Powdered Toast Man" segment. It is supposedly 8-10 minutes in length. There are two edits of this sketch. MTV showed the full version, and Nickelodeon showed an edited version.
We had the briefest glimpse in the first season. Now we get a day in the life... PTM saves a kitty, the pope, R&S, the President, and the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, sort of. Guest stars Gary Owens as PTM and Frank Zappa as the Pope.
Several cartoons have been nixed by Nick including "Man's Best Friend (starring George Liquor)" and "Dog Show" because they are too "adult." The list seems to continue to grow. "Powdered Toast Man," besides its' political punch at the end, has caused Catholicism to condemn it because of its portrayal of the Pope.
Also note that the as-of-yet unreleased track entitled "Ask Dr. Stupid" is a direct Ren & Stimpy reference. For track info see here.
Synopsis
Disguised as Pastor Toast Man, the cool youth deacon, Powdered Toast Man sits in his government office awaiting calls from those in distress. He rescues hapless citizens—but usually to their detriment. Having saved the president from being stuck in his own zipper, Powdered Toast Man assumes control of the highest office in the land while the president recovers. As president, Powdered Toast Man frees the citizens of their basic human rights and rekindles the oval office fireplace with the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.
Cuts Made By Nick
The scene where PTM burns those "dusty old papers" got unceremoniously snipped from the cartoon when a grand total of three people complained. "I was so repulsed, I couldn't calm down," shrieked Kay Claire, an outraged cartoon watchdog. "I was outraged when I saw that program...I want that cartoon pulled from the air because it has no social value whatsoever," said Claire, who immediately complained to Nickelodoen and the FCC. Marty Vonruden, a spokesman for Nickelodeon, stated that two other people complained about the episode. It was immediately shelved and later censored, but the uncut version was shown regularly on MTV, while the cut version was shown on Nick. "It's a cautionary tale," responds Richard Pursel, who penned the cartoon with John K. "John and I believe that cartoon to be the most moral of any of the Ren & Stimpy shows. It's really just a send up of Super Heros. Besides, it's heathly to question authority—so many people abuse it."
Inside Joke
Powdered Toast Man's glasses, which he wears at the beginning when he is disguised as "Pastor Toast Man" in his job as a government clerk, are first shaped like the almond-shaped ones that have become a John K. trademark. In the next shot he's sporting Buddy Holly-style hornrims.
I bought the new Ren & Stimpy DVD box set of the first two seasons (i recommend it), and there is audiocommentary by some of the Spumco team on the "Powdered Toastman" episode with Frank as the Pope.
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and then frank zappa as the pope, that was a first[Kricfalusi: ]
"yeah frank zappa was a fan of the show, and I was a huge frank zappa fan growin up, i had all his records. and when i found out he was a fan, our mixer, one of the sound engineers, was also mixing some frank zappa records and he uh handed the phone to me one day and it was frank on the line. so frank invited me to his house that weekend.—[other voice: "lucky bastard"] and i went with eleanor blake and frank and his family and i, moon unit and dweezil. we all sat around watching ren stimpy cartoons all afternoon he was laughing all through them and after it was over i asked, 'hey frank, you want to BE in a cartoon?' and he said 'yeah that'd be great' and i said you want to be the pope and he said "yeah i always wanted to be the pope"
------so zappa recorded his lines in his studio
after the line "Quick man! Cling tenaciously to my buttocks!" Zappa ad-libbed the line "Both of them?"
anyone know who that mixer who introduced them might be?
It was Harry Andronis. See
<http://www.united-mutations.com/a/harry_andronis.htm>.
Since the end of the '88 tour, Andronis has continued to help Zappa remix old material (by the end of the tour, the set list totalled nearly 130 tunes). He also has established himself in the world of television, doing Foley work and dialog recording for such shows as Batman, Tiny Toons, Tasmania, L.A. Law, Doogie Howser, and Ren and Stimpy.
YouTube: Powdered Toast Man—The Pope (04:13 min.)
Maintained by Román García Albertos