The characters in the comics were a parody of popular comedy teams. One of the characters is a snake, while the other is a strip of bacon. Other characters in the comic were Criminal District Attorney and Underpants-On-His-Head-Man.[4] Utterances by Snake and Bacon are limited to hissing (on Snake's part) and making bacon-related comments (on Bacon's part) such as "I'm real bacon" and advice such as "Wrap your dog's pill in me."[5] Still, their communications are filled with sexual innuendos.[1]
The characters "highlight what is perhaps Kupperman’s greatest comedic skill—the ability to sell surreal ideas in the most serious way possible, highlighting the humor all the more vividly," according to one reviewer.[6] Kupperman did cartoons for Robert Smigel's TV Funhouse TV series before returning to comic book making with a series for Fantagraphics called Tales Designed to Thrizzle, using many of the characters from Snake 'n' Bacon (including the titular pair) and new characters, such as Hercules ("the public domain superhero") and The Mannister, a man who can transform himself into the shape of a banister.[6]
Kupperman has created several memorable cartoon characters, written for DC Comics, and has been influenced by absurdity and surrealism.[1] Kupperman is said to use absurdist humor that includes straightforward jokes, pointing out through humor the absurdities of the past that just weren't visible to readers at the time, mimicking "silly" directions people put in books about how to use them, and putting famous people in silly situations.[1]
Pilot summary
The title of this episode is "Psst! Wanna See a Crime Scene?" After being woken up by The Green Fairy (Kristen Schaal) in the cold opening, Snake and Bacon (Tim Lagasse) visit a crime scene were a murder took place. Later, a detective (Dan Bakkedahl) shows Snake and Bacon all of the evidence from the scene, as collected by the Police Vac. After examining the evidence, Snake discovers that the murderer was hiding underneath a penny; Snake and Bacon are ordered to attack the murderer, who appears to admire them. Later, the district attorney (David Rakoff) congratulates them for their achievement. It's at this moment Snake has a realization that the district attorney has been flying above them and spying on them the whole time.
Sketches: "The Head", "The Saga of Teen Grandpa", "Toad to Perdition", "Rabid District Attorney", and "District Attorney of a 1000 Faces"
Books
Kupperman, Michael (2000). Snake 'n' Bacon's Cartoon Cabaret. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN0-380-80790-4.[8]
^Richard Pachter "Kupperman's dementedly absurdist comic pastiches may be too smart for Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, which passed on the pilot for his bizarro creation Snake N' Bacon, but this brilliant, anarchic collection of errant dips into the cultural gestalt is laugh-out-loud hilarious. Like stuff that's fearless, brilliant and non-linear? Thrizzle is for shizzle." [Funny, classic and poignant works to savor in Tales Designed to Thrizzle, Vol. 1'] Aug. 13, 2009 Merced Sun-Star