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Regular Show premiered on Cartoon Network on September 6, 2010. The cartoon features best friends Mordecai (a six-foot-tall blue jay) and Rigby (a hyperactive raccoon). The two are groundskeepers at a park owned by Pops, a humanoid-looking lollipop who has spent his entire life there. The job is so deadly dull that the two friends will do anything they can to avoid it. This doesn't go over well with their boss Benson (an anthropomorphic gumball machine) but their efforts often result in insane escapades that delight Pops.

My Two Cents

Ask me how much I love my 8 year-old son busting moves while rapping, "Don't look at our crotches while we synchronize our watches!" I bet you can guess how much. However, there's nothing salacious or malicious about Regular Show. The show is pure silliness. So silly and irrelevant, in fact, that I wonder how creator J.G. Quintel even thought of it.

He is certainly able to channel his inner boy because he speaks volumes to the one I live with. Perhaps it's because he was so young when he created Regular Show; like all inspired cartoons (South Park, Family Guy) Quintel originally produced Regular Show as a short while attending the California Institute of the Arts. Those are two cartoons I really dig (well, Family Guy in the beginning). I'm hoping I will laugh as much at, um, regular episodes of Regular Show as I do at the commercials. Because the inner child in me loves chanting to my kids at breakfast, "Milk. Cereal. Combine!"

Regular Show looks simple, with light, bright colors and lots of landscape in the background.

The stories are simple, with conflicts arising when the boss yells too much or someone has a run of bad luck.

But looks can be deceiving. Regular Show is full of subtle humor, characterization and storytelling. An episode begins with some small dilemma but ends in supernatural consequences. Regular Show is a little bit Beavis and Butt-Head, a little bit Superjail with a dash of anime thrown in.

In some ways Regular Show is very regular. You've got slackers with heart, a controlling boss, an oblivious rich guy and the friends who make it fun. Where Regular Show isn't regular is that the cartoon walks the line between kids' TV and more adult fare, sometimes leaning more toward the latter.

I enjoy Regular Show and I laugh a lot. I do, however, have trouble looking at Skips. That nose is too much like a cleft lip for me.

Characters

The characters on Regular Show are varied to the extreme, with some based in reality and some created from pure imagination. Mordecai (the blue jay) and Rigby (the raccoon) have been best friends since childhood. They love to push each other's buttons and are very competitive with one other. But they also watch each other's backs, come up with stupid ideas to have fun, and sometimes even find the time to do actual work.

See also: Regular Show Picture Gallery

Mordecai
Mordecai acts more like a typical blue jay of 22 years. He is more mature than Ribgy, with a developing sense of responsibility and decency, often calling out Rigby for doing wrong.

Rigby
Rigby has the natural selfishness of a teenager, pulling pranks and looking out for himself, until Mordecai lays out the dire consequences to his actions.

Benson
Benson is a micro-managing gumball machine who happens to be Mordecai and Rigby's boss. He is always on Mordecai and Rigby's case, even on the rare occasions when they are actually working. Benson acts like he runs the park, even though it technically belongs to Pops. He does not actually live in the park; at closing time, he commutes to his small, sad apartment somewhere in the city.

Pops
Pops appears vaguely human, but is actually a lollipop from Lolliland. He has spent his entire life in the park and has never so much as set foot outside its borders. He sees Mordecai and Rigby has his playmates, so he would never stand to have them fired. He is also quite sensitive for someone his age and may break down in tears like a little girl when emotionally slighted.

Skips
Skips is a Yeti and the park's most hard-working and competent employee. He keeps everything running smoothly. Zen-like and thoughtful, he has the wisdom that comes with his advanced age and rarely speaks unless he's got something very important to say. Skips doesn't know how to walk or run; he only gets around by skipping. He's a master handyman and can fix just about anything Mordecai and Rigby wind up breaking.

Muscle Man
Muscle Man is very macho, always trying to make people feel bad. This guy is a complete jerk. However, Muscle Man often messes up the wording of his insults and winds up accidentally making fun of his own mom.

Margaret
Margaret is a red robin in her 20s. She works as a waitress at the coffee shop across the street from the park. Mordecai has a huge crush on her and is always finding excuses to take coffee breaks when she's working. Margaret gets a kick out of Mordecai and Rigby, who add some spice to her humdrum days on the job.

High Five Ghost
Muscle Man and High Five Ghost are another team of groundskeepers at the park, and they are Mordecai and Rigby's rivals. The two teams are constantly at odds, always trying to pull pranks on each other.

Eileen
Eileen works at the coffee shop with Margaret. She's a clever mole who's been dating Rigby.

Thomas
Thomas is a goat, who is the park's intern. He doesn't appear in every episode, but he's become a fan favorite.

See also: Regular Show Season 6 Recap and Review

Cast

The cast includes newbies and veterans alike, including one actor I would never have guessed.

• Creator J.G. Quintel as Mordecai and High Five Ghost
• William Salyers (Moral Orel) as Rigby
• Sam Marin as Benson, Pops and Muscle Man
• (Surprise!) Mark Hamill (Star Wars, Robot Chicken) as Skips
• Janie Haddad Tompkins as Margaret
• Roger Craig Smith (Marvel's Avengers Assemble) as Thomas

Creator

Regular Show was created by J.G. Quintel and produced by Cartoon Network Studios. The series was nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program in 2011. J.G. Quintel was regular writer for The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack and Camp Lazlo.

Awards

2015 - Nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program

2014 - Nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program

2013 - Nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program

2013 - Nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Animated Program

2012 - Nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program

2011 - Nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program