Lil' Bush

Lil' Bush
Created by	Donick Cary
Directed by	Donick Cary
Voices of	Chris Parson Dave B. Mitchell Mara Cary Donick Cary Ann Villella Iggy Pop Kari Wahlgren
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	10 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Donick Cary Jay Karas
Running time	30/11 minutes
Original release
Network	Comedy Central
Release	June 13, 2007 – present

Lil' Bush is a satirical, politically-themed animated television series which premiered on June 13, 2007 on Comedy Central. The series features caricaturized versions of the current world leaders and was created by Donick Cary, initially as content for Amp'd Mobile. The first season episodes each consisted of two story segments, with each segment featuring a musical performance by the Lil' Bush Band.

The second season, which premiered on March 13, 2008, consists of 10 episodes, and features thirty-minute storylines including the musical segment.

Premise

Lil' Bush takes place in an alternate reality version of the present day, where George H.W. Bush is president and George W. Bush ("Lil' George" on the show), along with his cronies (members of George W. Bush's real-life staff), are children attending Beltway Elementary School.Lil Bush also lives in the White House which is armed with nuclear missiles sticking out form the East Lawn of the House. Issues in which the current Bush Administration is involved—for example, the Iraq War—are transferred to the elder Bush, but feature the younger Bush interacting with them in various ways. Also, just as George Bush's father is president, the parents of the other kids are members of the elder Bush's cabinet (all depicted as their present-day real-life adult counterparts, with the exception of the elder Cheney, who is depicted as Cheney with a Darth Vader helmet). The show pokes fun at George W Bush's policies in an indirect manner and provides scenarios that he handles recklessly.

Episodes

Further information: [[:List of Lil' Bush episodes]]

Main characters

• Lil' Bush (George W. Bush), voiced by Chris Parson; the leader of the gang, he often makes choices without thinking about the consequences and is seldom corrected by his friends. Like the real George W. Bush, he enjoys giving people various nicknames. He doesn't seem to understand that Lil' Condi is in fact a girl. He has a crush on the "new girl" at school, who is the future Laura Bush. He refers to her as a "chubby nerd". Additionally, though the show is entitled "Lil' Bush", the character himself is always referred to by the other characters (and in the scripts) as Lil' George.
• George Sr. (George H. W. Bush), voiced by Dave B. Mitchell; the irascible Commander in Chief who acts as somewhat of a straight man to Lil' George. He is shown to be extremely weak physically, and possessing a deep love for saltine crackers. He and Barbara are also swingers and although he loves his wife, he has a specific time scheduled at work for "old people sex" with his secretary. His morals seem to be completely based on voter opinions. He is also seen to be allergic to people who look Asian as seen in the 'Hall Monitor' episode (a reference to when Bush threw up onto the lap of Japan's Prime Minister).
• Barbara Bush, voiced by Mara Cary; the sexually frustrated wife of the President, so much so that she once resorts to having a tryst with Lil' Cheney. She has also admitted to having an affair with Michael Dukakis. She was confused with a polar bear in "Gay Friend". According to George Sr., Barbara Bush was a "frankenstein of presidental parts" added with woman parts that he brought to life, giving her the head of George Washington.
• Jeb Bush, voiced by Dave B. Mitchell; the indestructible but mentally undeveloped brother to Lil' George. His family shows a general apathy towards his well being. This could possibly be because he is able to withstand things that would kill an ordinary person, and sometimes benefits from them, such as being placed in the dishwasher for a bath. It has even been demonstrated that Jeb can withstand a nuclear blast, as he is shown climbing onto a missile about to be fired, and then appearing completely unharmed after the dust clears. In one episode, Jeb was hit in the head with a frying pan and he started talking like a normal person, but also became openly critical of his father's governmental decisions. He would be returned to his "normal" state by getting hit by a frying pan again. (Jeb was voiced by Colin Meloy during his "normal state".) Jeb in many ways is treated like a pet; for example Lil' George has to take him for walks, he is given flea dips, and eats from a bowl with his name on it (often next to the actual family dog Barney).
• Lil' Cheney (Dick Cheney), voiced by Donick Cary; a friend of Lil' George, he growls incoherently ("reh-reh-REH-reh!" like Shy Guy) rather than speaking, with the occasional interjection of a contextually relevant word or phrase ("reh-reh-REH-Massive Heart Attack-reh-reh-REH"); the rest of the characters appear to understand him. He is also an expert in foreign languages, and acts as a translator for the group. As a testament to his deranged violent tendencies, he consumes raw—sometimes living—meat and blood, matched with foods high in saturated fats. His favorite food is mice ("reh-reh-reh-Cheney-snack-reh-reh-reh"). His father appears to be Darth Vader.
• Lil' Condi (Condoleezza Rice), voiced by Ann Villela in Season 1 and Kari Wahlgren in Season 2 [1]; is in unrequited love with Lil' George, she acts as the voice of reason for her friends (though they routinely ignore her sensible advice). She has a huge crush on Lil' George. So much so, that she does his homework for him. She also takes piano lessons for her parents' amusement.
• Lil' Rummy (Donald Rumsfeld), voiced by Iggy Pop; seems to be the only remotely intelligent character on the show aside from Lil' Condi. He also displays a sadistic side, possibly resulting from the fact that he is abused by his father. According to a video on Comedy Central, he is kept around as a scapegoat. This is verified in the show when George Sr. says one way to cover up a scandal is to blame it on Lil' Rummy.

Supporting characters

Lil' Democrats

The series antagonists.

• Lil' Hillary (Hillary Clinton), voiced by Kari Wahlgren (in season 2) [2]; girlfriend of Lil' Bill, she works at an abortion clinic after school "just for fun" and is also suggested to be a lesbian or bisexual after kissing Lil' Condi.
• Lil' Barack Obama, voiced by Tim Meadows; shown laughing at Lil' George, he is "nuked" by Lil' George when he is seen sneaking a joint outside of the White House. He also leads Lil' George's friends after Lil' Bush abandons them for Lil' Tony Blair. He attempts to enlist their help in building a "Home for Humanity" for a single mother, but the gang burns it down (assuming that the plan was to commit insurance fraud) and use the money to buy themselves scooters. He frequently says "Yes we can" to answer questions.
• Lil' Al Gore, voiced by Chris Parson; always encouraging others to be eco-friendly and shown with an extremely eco-friendly house with many inventions created by Lil' Al himself (including a time machine, and an interconnected series of ropes which create a net that "catches dreams," he calls the "internet"). Lil' Bush constantly ridicules him for being slightly overweight (to make everyone else think so) despite the fact that Lil' George is shown to have more body weight than Lil' Al.
• Lil' Nancy Pelosi; shown sewing a flag with rainbow-colored stripes, she is also "nuked" by Lil' George. Voiced by production assistant Martha Cary, who is the show creator's half-sister.
• Lil' John Kerry, voiced by Chris Parson, Lil' Kerry's voice bores Lil' Bush and the gang. He loves ketchup, and says that someday he might marry it.
• Lil' John Edwards; apparently obsessed with hair in reference to Edwards' $400 haircuts.

American politicians

• Lil' Bill (Bill Clinton), voiced by Chris Parson; constantly cheats on Lil' Hillary.
• Lil' Mark Foley, voiced by Dave B. Mitchell; a member of Lil' Laura's prayer group, quite fond of texting.
• Lil' John Ashcroft; shown singing the iconic "Let the Eagle Soar," to very poor reception.
• Lil' John McCain, voiced by Dave B. Mitchell; says "That's the straight talk" at the end of almost every statement, loves chocolate milk. He disrespects Lil' Bush when he's hall monitor. Lil' Bush gets his vengeance by stoking fear of hippies in the school, then detaining John McCain in the back of a nearby Cuban restaurant as part of his anti-hippie security measures. Lil' Rummy then removes his brain with an ice cream scoop, after which he is a mindless zombie who does whatever Lil' Bush wants.
• Lil' Karl Rove, voiced by Kevin Federline. Once the most intelligent student at Beltway Elementary, he hates the Lil' Dems more than the Cronies due to their mocking of his rap styles, which only rhymes "Rove" and "trove." Lives in seclusion and eats nothing but Hot Pockets. If you require his advice, according to Lil' Rummy, "he takes over your brain, until he retires to spend more time with his kids". This is a reference to the reasons why real life Karl Rove retired from the Bush Administration.
• The Ghosts of the Founding Fathers-Later revealed to be the little dems trying to scare the gang a la Scooby-Doo-except for the headless ghost of George Washington, who tried to get his head back from Barbra Bush, then used a Quaker Oatmeal container instead. All horribly murderd by some unkown curse, they tried to teach the gang a lesson about destroying the Constitution.
• Lil' Fred Thompson, voiced by Dave B. Mitchell; an actor in drama class.
• Lil' Rudy Guiliani, nickname is Julie, depicted as a cross dresser and will do anything "to keep the terrorists from winning today."
• Lil' Mitt Romney, tends to flip flop and tries to convert people to Mormonism.
• Tiny Dennis Kucinich, wants to someday fly with pigeons.

Others

• Lil' Laura (Laura Bush): the pudgy object of Lil' George's desire, she never speaks, and at one point goes to a fat camp.
• Lil' Rush Limbaugh, a member of Lil' Laura's Lil' Sinners Club.
• Lil' Ted Haggard, a member of Lil' Laura's Lil' Sinners Club.
• Lil' O.J. Simpson, a member of Lil' Laura's Lil' Sinners Club.
• Lil' Kim Jong-il, voiced by Diane Hsu; The new student at Beltway Elementary, he antagonizes Lil' Bush, who refers to him as "Kitty", as Lil' Bush's mind processes his image as a cat. He expresses a desire to be a Hollywood-type filmmaker, even kidnapping Kevin Costner (voiced by Chris Parson) to star in his latest epic (see Shin Sang-ok). He also collects enriched uranium and is followed around by 2 large thugs named Tito and Gilligan
• Lil' Tony Blair, voiced by Dave B. Mitchell; an effeminate British boy who is on the same cheerleading squad as Lil' George. The two become friends, much to the consternation of both boys' (like Kyle Finkster & Salty Mike) families (Tony's mother is portrayed as the Queen). Barbara Bush uses "being British" as a euphemism for homosexuality, and she is alarmed at the possibility of Lil' George "applying for dual citizenship" and "driving on the wrong side of the road".
• Neil Bush, voiced by Donick Cary; Lil' George's hippie/druggie older brother, who he refers to as both crazy and bisexual (due to the fact that Neil once brought home two Thai prostitutes and one of them was a transvestite). When Lil' George asks for help with scaring the school with Hippies, Neil gives Lil' George a sheet of LSD blotter that looks like the presidential seal so he and his friends can find their inner hippy.
• Lil' Dave Grohl, voiced by himself.
• Lil' Anthony Kiedis, voiced by himself.
• Lil' Flea, voiced by himself.
• Lil' Wolf Blitzer, a caricature of Wolf Blitzer (Host of the Situation Room on CNN). Lil' Wolf Blitzer is the host of the "Situation Homeroom" on "BNN" which is most likely the Morning anouncements in Lil' Bush's school.
• Raul, voiced by Carlos Mencia; a Mexican day laborer hired by Lil' George to do his chores for him. A chemical engineer in his native Mexico, Raul has come to America because he can make more money doing manual labor for hire than he can in his chosen profession back home. Lil' George treats him as a pet, and forgets to feed him as he did with all his other pets, eventually leading to his death.
• Goddy, voiced by Jeff Tweedy. He is mistaken by Lil' George for a member of ZZ Top.
• Satan, voice by Frank Black.
• Lil' Mikey Moore (Michael Moore), voiced by Chris Parson. He made a feature documentary called "Frankfurter 9/11" about how Lil' George tortured the cafeteria staff, a reference to the Abu Gharib scandal.

Critical response

The show has received negative reviews from critics, with Metacritic giving it a metascore of 31/100. A common complaint is that the show comes too late in Bush's Presidency to remain topical. Other complaints include its immaturity and lack of subtlety. On the August 2, 2007 edition of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart showed a clip of Barack Obama stating he had heard of Lil' Bush but not watched it; Stewart then exclaimed, "Join the club!".

Not all the reviews, however, have been negative. The Hollywood Reporter gave the show a glowing review. A review from About.com cited the show's "cleverness and maturity," likening it to a less bloody South Park.. Likewise, in a Netscape review, the show was credited as a political satire which "pinpoints the logical extreme of real life."

Trivia

• Mara Cary, who plays Barbara Bush, is the show creator Donick Cary's mother.
• Nancy Pelosi's maiden name was D'Alsandro, yet on the show she's known as Lil' Nancy Pelosi.
• Ann Villella's Hillary Clinton was pitch-shifted down for comedic effect, and to differentiate it from Lil' Condi.
• This show marks cast member Ann Villella's (Lil' Condi) voiceover debut.
• Due to scheduling conflicts, Iggy Pop was recorded separately from the rest of the cast.
• The show's dialogue was recorded at Margarita Mix Studios, in Hollywood, California.
• Numerous members of the show's writing and production staff provided incidental voiceovers in Season One.
• Actors Chris Parson (Lil' George) and Dave B. Mitchell (George Sr./Jeb) discovered the job for the Amp'd Mobile series version of the show through craigslist.org. Knowing Parson's ability for impressions, Mitchell notified him of the audition. After his arrival at the casting office, Parson was asked to recommend other voice actors since there was limited time to fill the roles. Parson then in turn recommended Mitchell, who altered his recording schedule on a different project to be at the audition. Both actors were hired back for the Comedy Central series.
• Each episode features a musical segment (a la The Archies or Josie and the Pussycats) where the Lil' Bush Band plays a song dressed up as a famous group.
• Chris Phillips, the former drummer for Squirrel Nut Zippers wrote all the music for the show.
• Chris Parson was asked to sing the songs in the voice of Lil' Bush, but these were ultimately not used.
• Actor Dave B. Mitchell's camp counselor voice was modeled on that of actor Crispin Glover, of whom Mitchell is a fan.
• Prior to the show, Dave B. Mitchell was also the voice of the California Cheese "Happy Cows" ad campaign, which began running in 2006.
• Lil' Bush's "ya see, uh" expression was something of a running joke between voice-over performers Chris Parson and Dave B. Mitchell. Parson began using the phrase as much as possible, so Mitchell started adding "ya see, uh" into his performances as well, to indicate that the expression is a family trait.
• Show creator Donick Cary was originally the voice of Lil' Rummy. The network felt the show needed variety voice-wise, so rock legend Iggy Pop replaced Cary's performance. When asked about his involvement musically in the show, Pop explained in an interview that while he is "cheap" to hire for voiceovers, the show could not afford his musical performer fee.
• Iggy Pop recorded all of his dialogue shirtless.
• Chris Parson and Dave B. Mitchell were already good friends prior to their involvement with the show, and often appear together in other projects.
• A number of the staff of Lil' Bush worked together previously on Comedy Central's The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show, including Donick Cary, Jay Karas, James Eagan, Opus Moreschi, Brendan Clifford, and Chyna Dumas.
• In the camp episode, Lil' Bush makes a new friend he calls "Redshirt", a reference to the disposable red-shirted characters killed in many episodes of the original Star Trek.
• The show's animation is done in Bulgaria.
• In the 6th episode, Lil' Cheney makes a reference to The Beastie Boys album Ill Communication by paraphrasing the line, "Ma Bell got the ill communication" as "reh-reh-REH-reh got the ill communication."
• In the episode where Neil Bush, voiced by Donick Cary, guest stars, he is shown as Lil' Bush's older brother. However, in real life, Neil is the third of the Bush children, with George and Jeb being older then him.

References

• Stereogum Article

External links

• Lil' Bush on Comedy Central
• Lil' Bush on Amp'd Mobile
• Lil' Bush The Show at MySpace
• Lil' Bush - Full Episodes Online (Canada)
• Lil' Bush Review at Variety.com
• Media analysis of Lil' Bush on FlowTV.org
• "New episodes of 'Lil' Bush' continue to surprise with surreal but sharp satire," JesterJournal.com