Augenblick Studios is an independent
animation studio
An animation studio is a company producing animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales or rentals ...
founded in 1999 by
Aaron Augenblick
Aaron Augenblick (born December 28, 1975) is an American animator, director, and producer. He is the founder of Augenblick Studios, known for his work on '' Ugly Americans'', ''Superjail!'', '' Wonder Showzen'', and ''Golden Age''.
Early li ...
, and located in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York City. The company has created a wide array of animated shorts for television, film, and the Internet, with a target audience typically being adults. Their clients include
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...
,
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
,
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim
Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...
and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...
, the
TED conference
TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...
,
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
,
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
, and
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
.
History
Aaron Augenblick studied animation at the
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design.
History
This school was started by ...
in New York City. After graduating in 1997, Augenblick worked at
MTV Animation
MTV Animation is the animation department of the television network MTV.
History
In 1991, MTV debuted its first full-length animated series, ''Liquid Television'', which helped launch ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' and ''Æon Flux''. MTV establishe ...
on shows such as ''
Daria
''Daria'' is an American adult animation, adult animated sitcom created by Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis, Susie Lewis Lynn. The series ran from March 3, 1997, to January 21, 2002, on MTV. It focuses on the title character, Daria Morgendorffer, ...
'', ''
Downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
'', and ''
Cartoon Sushi
''Cartoon Sushi'' is an adult-animation showcase program that aired on MTV from 1997 to 1998. It was developed by Eric Calderon and produced by Nick Litwinko, and was the successor to Liquid Television. The title screen opening was illustrated by ...
''.
In 1999, Augenblick opened Augenblick Studios in the
Dumbo
''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The fourth Disney animated feature film, it is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, a ...
section of Brooklyn. The first cartoon produced by the company was "Ramblin' Man", an independent short film based on the
Hank Williams
Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...
song. "Ramblin' Man" was released to critical acclaim and was a 2001
SXSW
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...
award winner. Several other independent shorts followed, including "Drunky" (2001) and "Plugs McGinniss" (2003).
The first television production from Augenblick Studios was ''
Shorties Watchin' Shorties
''Shorties Watchin' Shorties'' is an American adult animated comedy television series that aired on Comedy Central from April 28 to December 16, 2004. The show is made up of various short animated clips with audio from comedians' stand up routine ...
'' on Comedy Central in 2004. The show featured animated interpretations of stand up comedy segments from comedians including
Denis Leary
Denis Colin Leary (born August 18, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. A native of Massachusetts, Leary first came to prominence as a stand-up comedian, especially through appearances on MTV (including the comedic song "Asshole (song), Assh ...
,
Patton Oswalt
Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is known as Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and for narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–present) as ...
,
Louis C.K.
Louis Alfred Székely (; born September 12, 1967), known professionally as Louis C.K. (), is an American stand-up comedian, screenwriter, actor, and filmmaker. C.K. won three Peabody Awards, three Grammy Awards, six Primetime Emmy Awards, and a ...
,
Dane Cook
Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He has released six comedy albums: ''Harmful If Swallowed''; ''Retaliation''; '' Vicious Circle''; '' Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garde ...
, and
Mitch Hedberg
Mitchell Lee Hedberg (February 24, 1968 – March 30, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian known for his surreal humor and deadpan delivery. His comedy typically featured short, sometimes one-line jokes mixed with absurd elements and non seq ...
. In 2004, Augenblick Studios produced the animated content for two seasons of PFFR's
Wonder Showzen
''Wonder Showzen'' is an American adult sketch comedy television series that aired between 2005 and 2006 on MTV2. It was created by Vernon Chatman and John Lee of PFFR.
Described as a children's television series for adults, the show's format ...
on MTV2. Augenblick created short segments, motion graphics, and illustrations for the show.
In 2006, they created the faux-documentary ''
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...
'' for Comedy Central, which was an official selection of the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
. In 2007, Augenblick Studios animated the short "Lying Rhino" for the feature film comedy ''
The Ten
''The Ten'' is a 2007 anthology comedy film directed by David Wain and cowritten by Wain and Ken Marino. It was released through ThinkFilm. The film was released on August 3, 2007. The DVD was released on January 15, 2008. It is an internationa ...
''. In 2008, the studio completed 11 episodes of ''
Superjail!
''Superjail!'' is an American adult animated television series produced by Williams Street. It follows the events that take place in an unusual prison. The pilot episode aired on television on May 13, 2007, and its first season began on September ...
'' for the Adult Swim programming block on Cartoon Network. They also created several short cartoons for ''
Yo Gabba Gabba
''Yo Gabba Gabba!'' is a children's musical television series created by Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz. The series is about five costumed toys come-to-life and their friend DJ Lance Rock ( Lance Robertson). It is co-produced by Magic Sto ...
'' on Nickelodeon.
Augenblick Studios created 31 episodes of the Comedy Central series ''
Ugly Americans
Ugly American or similar may refer to:
*''The Ugly American'', a 1958 novel by William Lederer and Eugene Burdick
* ''The Ugly American'' (film), a 1963 film starring Marlon Brando, based on the 1958 novel
*Ugly American (pejorative), a term used ...
'' which aired between 2010 and 2012. In 2011, the studio also created a video for the track "Another Tattoo" on Weird Al Yankovic's album ''
Alpocalypse
''Alpocalypse'' is the thirteenth studio album by American parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on June 21, 2011. It was the seventh studio album self-produced by Yankovic. The musical styles on the album are built around parodies and pa ...
''. In 2013, they worked on a cartoon short for ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'', with ''SNL'' writer
Zach Kanin. In 2015, Augenblick Studios collaborated with
Animation Domination High Def on ''
Golan the Insatiable
''Golan the Insatiable'' is an American animated television series that originally aired on Fox on November 23, 2013 along with '' Lucas Bros. Moving Co.''; it officially premiered on January 11, 2014. It was created by Josh Miller and developed ...
'', a primetime half-hour series for
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
. In 2015, Augenblick Studios animated a new TV series written and created by
Tyler, the Creator
Tyler Gregory Okonma (born March 6, 1991), known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the founding members of the music collective Odd Future.
Okonma self-released his debut mixtape Bast ...
called ''
The Jellies!
''The Jellies!'' is an American adult animated sitcom created by Tyler, the Creator and Lionel Boyce for Cartoon Network's late-night programming block Adult Swim. The show was revamped from a series of the same name which was previously feature ...
'' which premiered in 2017. Augenblick Studios also did additional animation for the Cartoon Network animated series ''
MAD''. The Netflix series ''
Losers'', released in March 2019, features animated segments created by Augenblick Studios.
In January 2016, Augenblick Studios announced it is producing its first animated feature film, ''The Adventures of Drunky''. The R-rated comedy stars
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in independent films and also as a character actor portraying a wide variety of roles both comedic and dramatic in films such as '' Lawn Dogs'' (199 ...
,
Jeffrey Tambor
Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom ''The Ropers'' (1979–1980), as Hank Kings ...
,
Steve Coogan
Stephen John Coogan (; born 14 October 1965) is an English actor, comedian, producer and screenwriter. He is most known for creating original characters such as Alan Partridge, a socially inept and politically incorrect media personality, which ...
, and
Nina Arianda
Nina Arianda Matijcio (born September 18, 1984) is an American actress. She won the 2012 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance as Vanda Jordan in ''Venus in Fur,'' and she was nominated for the 2011 Tony Award for Best Actres ...
. Its release date was slated to be 2018, but was stalled due to Jeffrey Tambor's sexual harassment allegations. On September 24, 2021, it was stated that the film will be completed in 2022.
''Death Hacks'', was released on Snapchat on August 29, 2020. The company produces ''
Teenage Euthanasia'' which started airing on Adult Swim in September 2021.
In 2021, was established as a children's animation division with Augenblick and Daniel Powell as co-founders.
Filmography
Television
Feature films
Short films
Music videos
References
God v. Devil v. ‘Drunky' In New R-Rated Animated FeatureAugenblick Studios and Tyler the Creator Launch "The Jellies"Augenblick Studios Animates "The Ten"
External links
*
{{Authority control
American animation studios
Mass media companies established in 1999
Companies based in Brooklyn
1999 establishments in New York City
Adult animation studios
American companies established in 1999
Privately held companies based in New York City