The series follows the Cuylers, an impoverished family of anthropomorphichillbilly "mud squids" living in the Georgia region of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The series revolves around the exploits of Early, a lazy, ornery alcoholic and frequent criminal. Early's son, Rusty, is good-natured and eager for his father's approval. The eldest Cuyler, Granny, is very old and has many health problems, but nevertheless is quite resilient. Lil, Early's sister, is a hairdresser, sex worker, and meth cook who is often found unconscious in a pool of her own vomit. Early's friend, Sheriff, is the friendly, incompetent sheriff, often tasked with arresting Early. Early's employer, Dan Halen, is an evil exploitative robber baron.
The series also airs in syndication in other countries and has been released on various DVD sets and other forms of home media.
Setting and premise
Squidbillies follows the exploits of the Cuyler family and their interactions with the local populace, which usually results in a fair amount of destruction, mutilation, and death. Despite their many crimes, the Cuylers often go unpunished by their friend, Sheriff (born Sharif), as they are the last individuals of a federally protected endangered species, the "Appalachian mud squid". They live in the fictional Dougal County in the North Georgia mountains. Dougal County is impoverished, with little amenities or industry, save for the exploitative Dan Halen Sheetrock International. The show often satirizes the history and culture of the American South, including the Lost Cause, slavery, religious fundamentalism, segregation, political conservatism, bigotry, racism, and poverty. In the words of The New York Times, the show takes "backwoods stereotypes" and turns them into "a cudgel with which to pound maniacally on all manner of topical subjects."
The series has its origins in 2003, when Mike Lazzo, former vice president of Adult Swim, asked to develop a project around the title Squidbilly's, about which he speculated during a conversation with his colleagues about Hanna-Barbera's Squiddly Diddly character. In July of the same year, Matt Maiellaro and Pete Smith produced the first script of the pilot episode, but it was scrapped, and over 35 scripts were written by Maiellaro, Smith, Dave Willis, Jim Fortier, Matt Harrigan, and Mike Lazzo over the course of a year. Later, Lazzo approved and commissioned a screenplay by Dave Willis and Jim Fortier, who decided to base the plot and related characters on the stories of the two creators who both grew up in Conyers, Georgia. According to vice president Keith Crofford, development of the first season was delayed due to a lack of ideas, revealing that the pilot episode was scheduled to air in December 2004. The original budget of the pilot episode was about $1100.
Country musician Unknown Hinson voiced lead character Early Cuyler until his firing in 2020
On March 25, 2004, the series was announced to be in production with a first season consisting of seven episodes planned. Adult Swim later showed short clips from the first episode during San Diego Comic-Con and Dragon Con in 2004. The series was announced as in development with as many as 96 episodes, that the pilot episode would air on November 7, 2004, and that the official broadcast would take place in January 2005. On November 4, 2004, three days before the pilot episode was scheduled to air, the animated special Anime Talk Show aired, featuring future Squidbillies star Early Cuyler, along with Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Sharko from Sealab 2021, who are interviewed by Space Ghost. The special was later placed as a bonus feature on the first DVD volume of Squidbillies. The pilot episode was heavily promoted to air on November 7, 2004. On that date, however, Adult Swim decided to air the first episode of Perfect Hair Forever unannounced due to the incompleteness of the Squidbillies episode.
In March 2005, Adult Swim announced that a six-episode first season would air from September of that year alongside 12 oz. Mouse and Perfect Hair Forever. An unfinished version of the pilot episode aired on April Fool's Day, later revealed by a bumper that it would be completed in five weeks. On October 16, 2005, after being posted on the official website two days earlier, the episode aired alongside the rest of the season.
Writing
Matt Maiellaro contributed to the development of the pilot episode of Squidbillies, occasionally writing for the series.
The series was written primarily and entirely by Jim Fortier and Dave Willis, who are sometimes aided by other writers such as Casper Kelly and Will Shepard, who send their scripts to the creators. Other producers or animators occasionally took part and wrote additional story elements, including Matt Harrigan, Matt Maiellaro, Pete Smith, and Lear Bunda. In 2016 longtime show producer, Alan Steadman also became a regular writer on the series.
The delay in production of the pilot episode was partly the result of a lack of ideas on the part of the writers, who had subjected it to multiple rewrites between the commission of the series and its actual scheduled debut. Over 35 screenplays were written by Maiellaro, Smith, Willis, Fortier, Harrigan, and Mike Lazzo in the course of a year. Originally, the names of the protagonists Early and Rusty were to be Arvee and Donny, respectively, but they were changed by Smith and Fortier in an attempt to renew the creators' original ideas. During the development of Squidbillies, the creators also working on the development of Perfect Hair Forever, inserting and moving some concepts and characters between the two animated series.
Animation
Radical Axis provided animation for the series through season six.Awesome Inc animated the series from seasons seven to 13.
The series' animation, described by Willis as Beavis and Butt-Head style, is based on Adobe Flash and takes a week to complete. The main software adopted for the series' animation is Macromedia Shockwave Flash, which allowed in later seasons to more easily change the resolution format to render the broadcast in high definition. An average episode took about 700 working hours to complete.
Until the sixth season, the task of animating the various scripts and characters was entrusted to Radical Axis, while from the seventh onwards to Awesome Inc. The reason why the characters are drawn so crudely was not due to the budget, which was still substantial compared to that of their previous work Space Ghost Coast to Coast, but was by design; in fact, according to Jim Fortier, if the series had been drawn differently, therefore cleaner and sharper, it would not have been fun.
Production times for animation and various changes made to episodes could take up to eight weeks. Unlike traditional series, no storyboards or particular animations were produced, and the preproduction product was not sent abroad to be further modified; in fact, the production took place exclusively in Atlanta, with between five and seven animators. According to animator Alex Barrella, by the 12th season, animations and episode designs were generally completed in a few weeks to a maximum of a month, before being revisited and saved. After being animated, the episodes were edited with Adobe After Effects for the final composition. Regarding subsequent seasons, Barrella stated that he wanted to resume the style of "the first three seasons of Aqua Teen Hunger Force", to increase the irreverent tone of the series.
Wallpapers
The series' backgrounds and colors were created by artist Ben Prisk at Primal Screen in Atlanta. According to Mike Lazzo, who supervised Prisk's work, he wanted to base his backgrounds on folk art. Together with Fortier and Willis, Prisk worked about a year and a half to develop the animation style of the backgrounds, trying to adapt them to the previously designed characters according to line widths, layers, and texture complexity. The backgrounds were characterized by the lack of right angles and confusing perspectives. Prisk's works were created in acrylic, revisited with gouache and spray paint, and finally composed on Adobe Photoshop. Each wallpaper took around 12–15 hours to process and complete.
On August 16, 2020, Unknown Hinson was fired from the series for controversial comments towards the Black Lives Matter movement and country singer Dolly Parton. A response was posted on Facebook by Baker, claiming that being fired from Squidbillies ruined his life. The response was later deleted. The 13th and final season of Squidbillies premiered on November 7, 2021, with Baker being replaced by comedian Tracy Morgan.
"Action Plan" Tim Andrews voiced the homicidal GPS in "Fatal Distraction" (Season 5, Episode 7)
Fred Armisen voiced Miguel in "Take This Job and Love It" (Season 1, Episode 2) and Office Politics Trouble" (Season 1, Episode 6), Jesus in "Giant Foam Dickhat Trouble" (Season 2, Episode 5) and Hippie Killed With Chainsaw in "Earth Worst" (Season 3, Episode 6).
Rachel Dratch voiced a Hippie Woman in "Earth Worst" (Season 3, Episode 6)
Eric "Butterbean" Esch voiced himself and sang the national anthem in "Condition: Demolition" (Season 3, Episode 9)
Mick Foley is uncredited for voicing Thunder Clap in "Anabolic-holic" (Season 4, Episode 4)
Kevin Gillespie voiced himself in "Asbestos I Can" (Season 6, Episode 1)
Phil Hendrie guest-starred in "Lean Green Touchdown Makifying Machine" (Season 5, Episode 9)
Jason Isbell performed the theme song in "The Pharaoh's Wad" (Season 6, Episode 8) and voiced the new reverend Kyle Nubbins in "Greener Pastor" (Season 10, Episode 7), later going on to be his official V.A.
David Jackson of the Japanese country group Western Crooners voiced a Japanese war veteran and a documentary narrator in "The Appalachian Mud Squid: Darwin's Dilemma" (Season 3, Episode 10)
Jonathan Katz is uncredited for voicing The Rapist in "Government Brain Voodoo Trouble" (Season 2, Episode 1).
Riley Martin voiced the Horseman of Pestilence in "Armageddon It On!" (Season 3, Episode 13) and a voice inside Dan Halen's head in "Pile M For Murder" (Season 3, Episode 19)
Ralphie May (as Sweet Dick May) voiced PNUT in "Thou Shale Not Drill" (Season 8, Episode 7). This was the second 30-minute episode in the series' history.
JD McPherson voiced a prisoner in "Dove in an Iron Cage" (Season 11, Episode 1)
The Mighty Ohba of the Western Crooners provided the Japanese voice dub of Early Cuyler in "Snow Daddy" (Season 6, Episode 6)
Larry Munson provided the Voice of God on "Armageddon It On!" (Season 3, Episode 13)
Amber Nash voiced Prosperity in "Lipstick on a Squid" (Season 10, Episode 1)
Chad Ochocinco voiced himself in "Lean Green Touchdown Makifying Machine" (Season 5, Episode 9)
Tara Ochs guest-starred in "Lipstick on a Squid" (Season 10, Episode 1)
Patton Oswalt (as Shecky Chucklestein) voiced the One-Eyed Giant Squid in "Survival of The Dumbest" (Season 2, Episode 12)
Paleface voiced a guy at a bar in "Green and Sober" (Season 7, Episode 4)
Mike Schatz voiced the Prosecutor in "Terminous Trouble" (Season 2) and the Scientist in "God's Bro" (Season 4).
Billy Joe Shaver performed the theme song in several episodes and voiced a customs agent and a TV announcer in "Trucked Up!" (Season 6, Episode 10)
Brendon Small wrote and played the "Rusty Shreds" metal pieces in "Mephistopheles Traveled Below to a Southern State Whose Motto Is 'Wisdom, Justice and Moderation'" (Season 3, Episode 5). He also voiced Dr. Jerry in "Family Trouble" but was listed in the credits as "Donald Cock".
Todd Snider performed the main title in "Fatal Distraction" (Season 5, Episode 7) and as a rabbit in "America: Why I Love Her" (Season 5, Episode 10) and voiced a lobster in "Clowny Freaks" (Season 5, Episode 8)
Paul Stanley voiced himself in "Fatal Distraction" (Season 5, Episode 6)
Jared Swilley voiced himself in "Granite Caverns" (Season 8, Episode 1)
T-Pain voiced himself in "Asbestos I Can" (Season 6, Episode 1) and performed the theme song in "Trucked Up!" (Season 6, Episode 10).
Larry Wachs voiced a clown in "Clowny Freaks" (Season 5, Episode 8)
Jesco White voiced Ga-Ga-Pee-Pap Cuyler in "Dead Squid Walking" (Season 5, Episode 3)
Mamie White (Jesco's real-life sister) voiced Krystal's cousin in "The Many Loves of Early Cuyler" (Season 5, Episode 2)
Widespread Panic performed the main title theme and voiced themselves in "Need for Weed" (Season 5, Episode 1)
Jon Wurster (as Roy Ziegler) voiced Dakota the Hippie in "Earth Worst" (Season 3, Episode 6) and Skyler The Blue Blood Sucking monster in "The Tiniest Princess" (Season 2, Episode 12).
Musical guest performances
Drive-By Truckers performed in "America: Why I Love Her" (Season 5, Episode 10)
Jackyl performed "Raised By Jackyl" in "America: Why I Love Her" (Season 5, Episode 10)
Rhett Miller performed as an al-Qaeda representative with a hook hand in "America: Why I Love Her" (Season 5, Episode 10)
Soilent Green performed the main title theme on "Lerm" (Season 4, Episode 1)
Split Lip Rayfield was credited in writing Rusty's bluegrass Hell Jams in "Mephistopheles Traveled Below to a Southern State Whose Motto Is 'Wisdom, Justice and Moderation'" (Season 3, Episode 5)
In January 2012, a free 35-track soundtrack was released on the Adult Swim music site entitled The Squidbillies Present: Music for Americans Only Made by Americans in China for Americans Only God Bless America, U.S.A.
Another album, entitled Squidbillies Double Platinum Gold, was released on vinyl in July 2019.
The series is also available on HBO Max since September 1, 2020. However, seasons 1–12 were removed from the platform in 2023. These seasons are expected to return to the streaming service soon, with "Gimmicky Magazine Show Spoof Parody About Dan Halen" returning to its regular fit-to-screen format.
