''Tom Goes to the Mayor'' is an American adult animated series created by

Tim Heidecker Timothy Richard Heidecker (; born February 3, 1976) is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician. Along with Eric Wareheim, he is a member of the comedy duo Tim & Eric. He has also appeared in films, including '' Bridesmai ...

and

Eric Wareheim Eric Alexander Wareheim (; born April 7, 1976) is an American comedian, actor, writer, director, musician, and winemaker. He is best known as one half of the comedy duo Tim & Eric, alongside Tim Heidecker. He also had a recurring role on the Netf ...

for

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 ...

's late night programming block,

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 ...

. It premiered on November 14, 2004 and ended on September 25, 2006 with a total of thirty episodes.

History

''Tom Goes to the Mayor'' began as a web cartoon on timanderic.com. It was popular enough to get a web sequel, in which

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series ''Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix sitcom ...

guest stars.

Bob Odenkirk Robert John Odenkirk (; born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker best known for his role as Saul Goodman on ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and its spin-off ''Better Call Saul'' (2015–2022). For the latter, he has re ...

noticed the show's potential, and began producing it for Adult Swim. Adult Swim has described ''Tom Goes to the Mayor'' as "one of the most polarizing shows" they have ever had, indicating that viewers "either love it or hate it."

Overview

Tom Peters (

) has just moved to Jefferton, an unpleasant, rundown town filled with strip malls and buffets. Episodes usually focus on Tom going to the mayor (

), hence the title of the show, with various ideas for business and civic endeavors, and the Mayor tweaks those ideas and causes them to backfire in horrible and destructive ways, leaving Tom to answer for them. The show features a crude but distinctive

limited animation Limited animation is a process in the overall technique of traditional animation that reuses frames of character animation. Early history The use of budget-cutting and time-saving animation measures in animation dates back to the earliest commerci ...

style made by taking

photo A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now crea ...

s of the cast with different

facial expression A facial expression is one or more motions or positions of the muscles beneath the skin of the face. According to one set of controversial theories, these movements convey the emotional state of an individual to observers. Facial expressions are a ...

s and

body language Body language is a type of communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Th ...

. The photos are then filtered using the "

photocopy A photocopier (also called copier or copy machine, and formerly Xerox machine, the generic trademark) is a machine that makes copies of documents and other visual images onto paper or plastic film quickly and cheaply. Most modern photocopiers u ...

image filter An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...

Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Microsoft Windows, Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas Knoll, Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the indu ...

, resulting in

monochromatic A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or color scheme, palette is composed of one color (or lightness, values of one color). Images using only Tint, shade and tone, shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or Black and wh ...

blue and white images resembling

Ditto machine A spirit duplicator (also referred to as a Rexograph or Ditto machine in North America, Banda machine in the UK, Gestetner machine in Australia) is a printing method invented in 1923 by Wilhelm Ritzerfeld that was commonly used for much of the ...

copies. There are some

live-action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

scenes, usually on a

television set A television set or television receiver, more commonly called the television, TV, TV set, telly, tele, or tube, is a device that combines a tuner, display, and loudspeakers, for the purpose of viewing and hearing television broadcasts, or using ...

within the show. Many characters, segments, and content from ''Tom Goes to the Mayor'' have resurfaced in ''

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' is an American sketch comedy series created by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, which premiered February 11, 2007 on Adult Swim and ran until May 2010. The show features surreal and often sa ...

'', including the Channel 5 Married News Team, the Cinco Company, Gibbons, and even a live-action version of ''Tom Goes to the Mayor'' used as an opening for the episode "Pepperoni".

Characters

* Tom Peters (

) – Tom Peters (né Pickle) is a 32-year-old

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

whose ideas are often turned into disasters due to continuous inept interference from the mayor. Tom comes across as weak-willed, timid and lacking in self-esteem, never calling out the mayor on his irrational behavior and allowing himself to be used and manipulated by everyone he comes into contact with. He is often taunted by his stepchildren (from wife Joy's previous marriage), not to mention the rants he receives from Joy. Tom has no apparent job (besides "local entrepreneur") and drives a Maluch that has severe emission problems. A common running gag on the show is that despite Tom's name being very simple, it is nearly always misspelled when written out, such as "Tom Petres", "Thom P. Tiers" and "Taumpy Tearrs." Another running gag to the show is Tom mispronouncing words; for example, when presenting his

résumé A résumé, sometimes spelled resume (or alternatively resumé), also called a curriculum vitae (CV), is a document created and used by a person to present their background, skills, and accomplishments. Résumés can be used for a variety of re ...

to the Mayor, he pronounces it as "resume". He also never uses profanity and instead uses phrases like "shirt", "crickets", etc. – even going so far as to refer to a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

as a "darn". His first wife was a woman named Pat, who is now married to her husband Cal. * The Mayor (

) – The Mayor is a superficially friendly yet childish and sadistic man who often spends his working days watching the TV in his office. He often uses a condescending tone when speaking to Tom. He usually gains control of Tom's suggestions for the community and twists them into embarrassing and bizarre situations. According to the

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

website, he has served Jefferton for the past twelve years, due to family connections, low voter turnout, and a strange local law which gives the mayor thirteen-year terms of office. However, it is worth noting that the Mayor has been in office since the Pioneer Island Theme Park burned down "20 years ago." The Mayor is married and has three sons. Throughout the series, the Mayor has displayed traits such as stupidity, insanity, selfishness and even wickedness. * Joy Peters ( Stephanie Courtney (voice),

Michael Q. Schmidt Michael Quentin Schmidt (born April 20, 1953) is an American film and television actor and Fine Arts model. According to '' Film Threat'', he "has become a much-in-demand presence thanks to his versatility and his willingness to take roles to w ...

(live action)) – Tom's obese, greedy and angry wife. She is very domineering and arrogant towards Tom and is a selfish and uncaring mother to her sons. Although her master bed is large, she makes Tom sleep on a cot off to the side. She is often seen hogging their computer—which she uses to chat with strange men—to the point where it impedes Tom's business schemes. Joy is gluttonous and it's mentioned she likes to eat "

trough Trough may refer to: In science * Trough (geology), a long depression less steep than a trench * Trough (meteorology), an elongated region of low atmospheric pressure * Trough (physics), the lowest point on a wave * Trough level (medicine), the l ...

-style" instant meals. * Tom's stepsons – Brandon, Brendon and Brindon are Joy's idiotic, destructive and deformed-looking children from her first marriage, who became Tom's stepsons. Renamed after a re-birthing process. * Jan Skylar (Tim Heidecker) & Wayne Skylar (Eric Wareheim) – "the ''only'' married news team in the tri-county area" are newscasters on Channel 5. After the series finished Jan and Wayne Skylar became recurring characters on ''

'' and '' Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule''. * The City Council (

Craig Anton Craig Ward Anton (born August 28, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his roles as Mr. Pettus in ''Lizzie McGuire'' and Lloyd Diffy in '' Phil of the Future''. Early life Anton was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, ...

& Ron Lynch) – Jefferton's

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

, who often meet at Gulliver's Buffet. They try to be the voice of reason when the mayor presents them with insane and nonsensical plans, but they don't put up much of a fight due to their overall unenthusiasm. * Gibbons (

Brian Posehn Brian Edmund Posehn (; born July 6, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, voice actor, musician, and writer. After numerous appearances as a television guest star, Posehn acquired his first major recurring role in HBO's '' Mr. Show wi ...

) – Tom's old "friend" from

junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...

, who suffers from a height disorder and speaks in monotone. Despite claiming to be friends, Tom will often uncharacteristically lose his patience with Gibbons and start to bully him. * Renee the Receptionist ( Stephanie Courtney) – The Mayor's bored

receptionist A receptionist is an employee taking an office or administrative support position. The work is usually performed in a waiting area such as a lobby or front office desk of an organization or business. The title ''receptionist'' is attributed to ...

. *

often appears as various characters in many episodes, sometimes appearing in live-action instead of sketched.

Episodes

International broadcast

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, ''Tom Goes to the Mayor'' previously aired on

Teletoon Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and " cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts ...

Teletoon at Night Teletoon at Night (stylized as TELEToON AT NiGHT and formerly known as Teletoon's Adult Block, The Detour On Teletoon and Teletoon Detour) was a Canadian English language late night programming block that aired on Teletoon, which is owned by Tel ...

block and later G4's

Adult Digital Distraction Adult Digital Distraction (ADd) is a block airing on G4 Canada. Similar to Adult Swim and Teletoon at Night, Adult Digital Distraction airs mature comedies. It parallels the American counterpart's ''Midnight Spank'' block. Its programming consist ...

block. The series currently airs on the Canadian version of Adult Swim.

Home media

On April 3, 2007 the entire series was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

. In addition to being available on DVD, ''Tom Goes to the Mayor'' is also available on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

References

External links

* *
Tim and Eric.com
{{Williams Street 2004 American television series debuts 2006 American television series endings 2000s American adult animated television series American adult animated comedy television series American stop-motion adult animated television series English-language television shows Adult Swim original programming American television series with live action and animation Television series based on Internet-based works Television series by Abso Lutely Productions Television series by Williams Street Tim & Eric