Animation fandom with receipts.
What A Cartoon! pairs lively recap with production context, personal memory, and sharp fan argument. Its episodes move from jokes and impressions into detailed readings of animation choices, industry history, voice performances, and why a cartoon still sticks.
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What A Cartoon! is animation criticism with the windows open. It is quick, conversational, and packed with the kind of detail that comes from watching cartoons as both entertainment and historical evidence. The show moves across animated movies, TV episodes, bonus feeds, and themed side series without treating any of them as lesser material. Disney, Adult Swim, Futurama, Superman, Batman, Henry Selick, Roald Dahl adaptations, and oddball 1990s design choices all fit inside its range. A typical episode starts with a riff, then settles into a structured tour of what the cartoon is doing. Sometimes that means release dates and industry context. Sometimes it means voice acting, background signs, restaurant layouts, character design, old publication art, or why a villain dominates a movie that barely gives anyone else enough story. The conversation is affectionate, but it has teeth. Sleeping Beauty can be praised for beauty while being called thin. James and the Giant Peach can be admired for the labor hidden inside its strange creature designs. Ha Ha You Clowns can become a discussion of generic strip-mall comfort, family ritual, and very specific vocal comedy. Superman: The Animated Series opens a darker lane, using a wrongful-conviction plot to talk about planted evidence, journalism, public certainty, and institutional cruelty. The Batman coverage lingers on Joker psychology and why certain writers make him feel like a precise kind of bully rather than just a chaos machine. The show’s strength is the way it keeps turning a small observation until it becomes legible. A line reading becomes character analysis. A casting deal becomes animation-business history. A childhood memory becomes evidence for why a gag works. The result is warm, dense, and opinionated without sounding sealed off from casual listeners.
Made for: For animation fans who like recap, production history, pop-culture context, and opinionated close reading in the same conversation. It especially suits listeners who enjoy Disney, Adult Swim, superhero cartoons, Futurama, and animated films.
What sets it apart: The show’s edge is its mix of fast banter and genuinely specific animation analysis. It does not stop at plot summary; it keeps asking how a voice, design choice, adaptation decision, or industry move changes the way a cartoon plays.
From the creators of Talking Simpsons comes What A Cartoon!, an audio exploration of every cartoon ever! Join hosts Henry Gilbert and Bob Mackey (as well as several guests) for an in-depth look at a different episode of a different cartoon every week!
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Bob Mackey and Henry Gilbert make cartoons legible through close observation, cultural context, and a keen ear for performance.
Bob Mackey and Henry Gilbert turn individual cartoons into close scene-by-scene conversations, pairing sharp visual observation with production context and cultural history.
Bob Mackey and Henry Gilbert can make you inspect a cartoon strip-mall restaurant like a crime scene.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Selick's bugs bring animation labor into a conversation about Dahl's illustrations and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Bob Mackie and Henry Gilbert revisit James and the Giant Peach through Henry Selick's 1996 film and the Roald Dahl book behind it. They place the adaptation beside The Nightmare Before Christmas, which Selick directed earlier, and talk about the drawings that shaped how they…
A funny, careful look at how strange voices and a generic restaurant make "Bomber Jacket" feel specific.
What A Cartoon! frames Ha Ha You Clowns' "Bomber Jacket" as a tight example of why the Adult Swim series clicks for Bob Mackie and Henry Gilbert. Much of the fun sits in their attempt to pin down Joe Capa's odd voice work, especially the repeated "My bombo" bit.
A reported $10 million sequel payday leads to talk of casting, actor pay and celebrity commercials.
Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz give this discussion its hook. The hosts say the actors apparently had no sequel clauses, then renegotiated for $10 million each, split between an upfront payment and a later one.
A sharp Superman rewatch about planted evidence, public certainty, and a case that can fool even Clark Kent.
What A Cartoon! treats "The Late Mr. Kent" as a grim Superman story about how planted evidence can harden suspicion into public certainty. Bob Mackie and Henry Gilbert follow Bowman framing Walker while Clark Kent, uncomfortably, starts to feel the pull of the case against him.
A Futurama discussion turns audience Q&As and second Simpsons movie chatter into a precise comic grievance.
Talking Futurama pairs Bob Mackey and Henry Gilbert with Chris Wade for a loose, funny pass at "Lure Reconcilable Indifferences," with the strongest stretch coming from their panel talk.
A funny, pointed read on how The Laughing Fish turns the Joker's bully logic into comic menace.
The Laughing Fish gives Bob Mackie and Henry Gilbert a clean path into the Joker's appeal: his cruelty reads as comedy because it obeys the warped logic of a bully who keeps changing the rules.
A tiny bomber-jacket crisis leads to sharp talk about generic spaces and Joe Kappa's voice work.
What A Cartoon!'s review of Ha Ha You Clowns' "Bomber Jacket" frames the episode around a tiny problem that everyone treats like a personal catastrophe.
Bob Mackey and Henry Gilbert revisit Beavis and Butt-Head's fire panic, early episodes and cartoon connections.
Bob Mackey and Henry Gilbert use this extended free preview of What a Cartoon Movie to talk through Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe and the history behind it.
Mike Muncer and a different guest dissect two horror films per episode, by subgenre.
Hosts Bob Mackey and Henry Gilbert preview the 2022 Beavis and Butt-Head movie 'Do the Universe' on Paramount+.
A preview of a podcast episode discussing the 1942 Disney film Bambi, its history, and visual beauty.
A preview of a podcast episode discussing the history and significance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first American animated feature film.
A preview of a podcast episode about the making of How to Train Your Dragon, covering its origins as a British book series and its troubled production at DreamWorks.
Hosts Bob Mackey and Henry Gilbert of 'What A Cartoon!' analyze the Adult Swim series 'Haha, You Clowns'.
Bob Mackey and Henry Gilbert preview their Big Hero 6 episode of What A Cartoon Movie, closing the 'summer of 2010s Disney' after Winnie the Pooh, Wreck-It Ralph, and Zootopia.
What A Cartoon Movie uses James and the Giant Peach to trace Henry Selick’s 1996 adaptation through Roald Dahl’s career, Disney’s support, and the lack of modern production materials.
What A Cartoon!
What a Cartoon!
The hosts of What a Cartoon Movie introduce their annual Disney classic review, this time discussing Sleeping Beauty and its iconic villain Maleficent.
A bonus New Year's episode of Talking Futurama discussing the episode 'The Late Philip J.
Bob Mackie and Henry Gilbert place Superman: The Animated Series' 'The Late Mr.
Chris Wade says he came to Futurama in 1999, after missing The Simpsons’ peak because he was born in 1988 and not allowed much adult TV until the late 1990s.
Batman: The Animated Series's "The Laughing Fish" gets discussed as an adaptation of Detective Comics #475 and #476, with 1978 credits to Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, and Terry Austin.
A preview of the Futurama movie 'Bender's Big Score'.