Spike and Mike

Spike and Mike [logo]My initial fascination with wanting to experiment with claymation began with the infamous clay animated series, Wallace and Gromit by Nick Park. I remember seeing it for the first time at Spike and Mike’s Animation Festival in downtown Riverside, California.

According to Spike and Mike Online, Mellow Manor Productions, Inc. was formed by proclaimed hippies Mike Gribble and Craig “Spike” Decker (infamously known as the duo Spike & Mike). Their production company was aptly named after the famed Victorian House that resides as a historical landmark in Riverside, California.

The original purpose of MM Productions was to support and promote underground bands with animated shorts. Eventually their love for animated shorts blossomed into full-time positions looking for the next latest and greatest talent in the industry. After receiving shorts from the likes of Nick Park, Tim Burton and a handful of other animators, Spike and Mike cultivated an animation festival called “Spike and Mike’s Twisted Animation Festival”.

It was the home to otherwise repulsive and adult in nature cartoons and spawned the birth of a little known duo called Beavis and Butthead. According to the site, Spike and Mike served as executive producers for B&B long before the characters gained a cult following on MTV and introduced South Park as well.

To say the show was “fun” would be not saying enough. In fact in all of the times my family and I attended the showings of Spike and Mike’s Animation Festival I can tell you that not only was it fascinating watching the shorts (which were edgy at the time) but the “pre-show” was just as fun. I can remember Mike Gribble tossing a football around with attendees lined up for the next showing.

Before the show began Mike would bring out the infamous concert beachball. Watching the ball bounce and float across the crowd was awesome and if you happened to get the chance to hit the ball you felt like you were a part of something grand. Without Mike Gribble there to introduce the show and entertain the guests I can honestly say it wouldn’t have been the same.

To think that two former hippies from Riverside, California formed a simple animation festival that eventually grew into an eagerly anticipated event is an achievement that deserves recognition.

Sadly in 1994, Mike Gribble, at the age of 40, died of pancreatic cancer leaving behind a legacy that I will always remember.

For all of you trivia buffs; Dale Gribble’s (the character from King of the Hill) last name pays homage to the late Mike Gribble.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 1st, 2004 at 12:10 pm and is filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

9 Comments

  1. bud said:
    September 1st, 2004

    Those were the days…two little boys and their Dad going to Wallace and Gromit, and the other strange creations. Do you remember playing frizbee with Mike in front of the RCC playhouse before the show began??? I do!

  2. Greg said:
    September 1st, 2004

    That’s a very interesting post. I had no idea. I’m a huge King of the Hill fan.

    I’m glad you set up an archives page, I’ve found some cool stuff by browsing the titles list. I also managed to stumble across your Sideville fund on dropcash somehow. Are you still planning on giving out t-shirts for donations? I’d love to have one.

  3. kartooner said:
    September 1st, 2004

    Greg: Thanks, when I started this blog it was mainly used for trivia with a few meaningful posts. Now it’s just the opposite as I’m writing posts with more content.

    How odd that you found my Dropcash fund. You’re a regular Sherlock Holmes, Greg. I haven’t even announced that officially :) It’s more or less a self-funding campaign to get this show on the road. To be honest, I need to pick up some art supplies and sketch out these characters and get cracking on the official site. Speaking of which, I need to make it XHTML/CSS compliant.

    I figured a minimum donation of $10 (more or less) from a handful of people would help and throwing in those gifts prevents any guilt on my end.

    I’ll put up a sign-up box on the page and notify people when the site and Dropcash campaign goes live.

  4. chopsocky said:
    September 6th, 2004

    Spike & Mike also have a Sick & Twisted festival of Animation. I guarantee you will pee your pants laughing…. Doesn’t that sound like fun?

  5. kartooner said:
    September 7th, 2004

    Mark: I need to pick up a few of the Sick and Twisted DVDs.

  6. Harlan said:
    September 3rd, 2005

    Hello, I went to about four festival of animation shows at Landis auditorium in the latter part of the 80’s, and saw an animated show that blew my mind! maybe you remember it, I thought it was the best draw animation I ‘ve seen, the Title of the animated film was “The fly” (as seen from the eys of the fly). Is it possible to get a copy or to see the film again?

  7. KLJ said:
    September 25th, 2005

    I worked for Spike and Mike for years and was lucky enough to get to know Mike very well. He was something special that’s for sure.
    I describe adventures with this company on my blog at http://www.allmyjobs.blogspot.com.

  8. kartooner said:
    September 25th, 2005

    KLJ: Thanks for sharing Keith. I’ll be perusing your archives to learn all about Spike and Mike.

    Also, I really like the concept for your site/blog, so much in fact that I’ve been thinking about doing something similiar. :)

  9. KLJ said:
    October 22nd, 2005

    Cool. If you do a similiar site or blog let me know and I’ll link ya up. If you have a couple of stories you’d like to put up on my site I am now putting up guest stories. I’d love to run yours.
    Peace.

Leave a Reply