Death to Smoochy



""Today we celebrate outstanding achievement in film with me, the fourth leading man from Death To Smoochy.""

- Jon Stewart hosting the 78th Academy Awards, 2006.

""Hello. It's Danny. It's been, um... I guess now a few months since the release of Death To Smoochy, so the mourning period is over.""

- Director Danny DeVito, opening the DVD Commentary.

Death To Smoochy is a 2002 dark comedy film starring Robin Williams, Edward Norton and Catherine Keener. It also features Jon Stewart and Danny DeVito, who is also the film's director. Death To Smoochy is known for its outwardly vulgar and profane humor, particularly Williams' profound cursing outbursts throughout the film.

Williams plays Rainbow Randolph (aka Randolph Smiley), a children's television show host. On-screen, he is a lovable, friendly character, but in his personal life he is almost an antithesis incarnate of himself -- rude, irascible, and with a propensity for violence. Unfortunately for Randolph, his show is canceled after he is caught by the FBI taking bribes from parents to put their kids on his show and he is replaced by another show featuring a purple anthropomorphic rhino named Smoochy (a clear parody of Barney the Dinosaur), played by Norton.

Randolph spirals into depression and poverty, and vows to bring down Smoochy and his show. Throughout the film, Randolph concocts a variety of sadistic and psychotic plots to ruin Smoochy's career, and becomes involved with a gangster named Merv Green (Harvey Fierstein), but his ploys are constantly foiled by the fact that Smoochy really is as sweet and nice as the character he portrays.

The film was a commercial and critical bomb, but like most comedies that fall under that category, it has developed a cult following.

"Sheldon: Oh, you didn't have to get off the phone. Nora: If I didn't, you'd still be here. Sheldon: I am still here. Nora: I'm hoping to correct that"
 * Actor Allusion: Randolph attempts to discredit Sheldon by tricking him into performing at a neo-Nazi rally.
 * Another AHX Shout-Out - Sheldon pointing a gun at Burke and saying "You just fucked with the wrong rhino". Norton's character exclaims "You just fucked with the wrong bull"
 * All Men Are Perverts: We think Nora Wells seems to think about males that way, just until Smoochy blows off steam.
 * Anti-Hero: Or Anti-Villain, depending on how you look at it, but either way, the Irish Mob. Either way, it's heavily implied that despite their violent, criminal way of doing things, they at least have lines they won't cross, unlike the real scum of the universe... children's charity event organizers.
 * Atomic F-Bomb: Randolph's "Motherfucker!" after discovering Sheldon and Nora going out, also counts as Skyward Scream.
 * Berserk Button: Anything related to Smoochy ends up as this for Randolph, including a fundraiser to "Save the Rhinos".
 * Beware the Honest Ones
 * Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Smoochy's songs. They are all bouncy, upbeat tunes, exactly what you would expect on a children's show. Even the ones he is singing to junkies at a shelter. Do not listen to the words, though.
 * Cluster Penis Bomb: The cookie scene. Bonus points for Williams' rant being delivered in front of kids, who crack up hysterically.
 * Concert Climax
 * Contractual Purity: Not in the movie itself, but in-universe; the plot is kicked off when Randolph loses his job by getting caught taking a bribe to get a rich couple's kid participating in the episode. While it's possible that there was some kind of contractual reason he couldn't do that, the only apparent reason for losing the show is that taking a bribe makes him a bad role model.
 * Smoochy's purity is most likely contractual, seeing as how the producer ordered Nora to find someone "squeaky fucking clean."
 * Depraved Bisexual: Randolph, maybe (see Foe Yay, below).
 * Depraved Kids' Show Host: The movie breathes this trope.
 * Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Much of why Randolph is obsessed with Smoochy/Sheldon is because he doesn't believe him to be the genuine Nice Guy and tries to prove it otherwise.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: In-universe example. During Rainbow's opening song -- "Some like to toss, while others to catch" and "One might say grab while the other says snatch."
 * "Golly gee, size doesn't matter when you want some friendly patter."
 * Granola Girl: Sheldon is the Spear Counterpart. He's vegetarian, loves to strum his acoustic guitar, dresses simply even after coming into money, and loves to preach about healthy living.
 * Heel Face Turn:
 * Hope Spot / Ignored Epiphany: Randolph is framed for Spinner's murder, he finds himself hiding in an abandoned building. Here he realizes that he should give Smoochy a chance, believing that an intervention from a former fan of his during his suicide attempt, is a sign from god that he should just move on and admit Smoochy's the better man. However after seeing an ad for the Ice Show which specifically shows Smoochy with Nora, he's back to his Anti-Smoochy ways vowing to tear him apart with his bare hands.
 * The Irish Mob: Played for laughs.
 * Large Ham: Robin Williams, natch.
 * Nice Character, Mean Actor: Rainbow Randolph.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Played with. Of the dozens of entertainers mentioned as characters in the movie, none of them are real. However, at one point, Randolph refers to Smoochy as a "bastard son of Barney." Also, there are a few implications that Randolph is an Expy for Pee-Wee Herman.
 * Non-Indicative Name:
 * Sheldon Mopes, despite all that happens to him, does anything but.
 * And yet, "Burke" Bennett is pretty much exactly dead-on.
 * Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: The basis of "My Stepdad's Not Mean, He's Just Adjusting." However, he tells the kids at the end that if he's ever outright abusive the magic number is 911.
 * Not My Driver: How Randolph got Mopes.
 * Old Shame: Jon Stewart brings this up a lot, almost to the point where you might make the mistake that he's actually proud of the movie but is afraid that liking it will make him not cool.
 * Preemptive Declaration:


 * Rule of Three: While it was well known in the movie, that there were numerous kid show hosts mentioned, both fictional and real life. Only three are shown on screen. Each one with different personality traits.
 * Sheldom Mopes aka Smoochy is a Nice Guy, who wants to make a difference, but also has hidden anger issues whenever he gets pushed too far.
 * Rainbow Randolph is a failed kid show host, who let corruption and greed get to him until his initial bust and is slowly driven insane when he sees Mopes get more fame. But as time goes on he does show he is a good man at heart and is still well loved by some fans.
 * Buggy Ding Dong is considered the low point in kid show host stuff. It really goes to show that Randolph, A man who had framed Smoochy for Nazism is still an upstanding guy compared to Buggy.  Buggy used to be the best kid show host, but unlike Randolph, whose only crime prior to his fine was accepting bribes and not living up to his Iconic status, through his heavy drinking and insane personality; Buggy became a heroin addict and a disgrace which cost him his job.  To make matters worse, while Randolph did have homicidal tendencies against Smoochy, he never tried anything physical in front of the kids. Buggy on the other hand, was planning to snipe Smoochy and while  it was shown early on that his heroine induced narcolepsy caused his eyes to be blurry. This in turn would have him running the risk of shooting a co-star or an audience member by mistake.
 * Sacrificial Lion: Brain damaged he may be, Spinner didn't go out without a fight when he got ambushed by Merv Green's cronies. When they initially grabbed him he was able to punch two of them off. The only reason he died was because they resorted to using a lead pipe and a gun to finish him off.
 * Serious Business:
 * Apparently, kiddie TV shows are full of groupies, graft and corruption in every sense of the word and one honest entertainer can be a massive Spanner in the Works.
 * And God help you if you try to mess with the mob's control of the ice show racket.
 * Skyward Scream: The Atomic F-Bomb mentioned above and another one before that: "God! What does this all mean?"
 * Straw Feminist: Nora Wells, the executive producer for Smoochy the Rhino.
 * Subverted Kids Show
 * Watch Out for That Tree: Rainbow Randolph's victory dance after framing Smoochy as a Nazi is cut short by a wall.
 * Villainous Breakdown: Randolph's story is a major one from beginning to end, but the most prominent is when he confronts Sheldon and Nora at gunpoint. Sheldon tries to calm things down, Nora doesn't take the hold up seriously and even berates and threatens him.  However a combination of