History Trivia / SmilingFriends

* ShrugOfGod: At a convention, when asked about a certain extra (the red-haired girl with glasses who showed up in both the halloween party and Charlie's funeral) because to the fan it was odd that an extra like that would be in the latter to begin with, Chris and Michael declared (made up on the spot) that the character was now semi-canonically Charlie's girlfriend. And that she might have died in a road roller accident between seasons 1 and 2.

** Many sources mistakenly say that Mip's design is based on Creator/RalphBakshi's adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings''. He was actually based on Creator/RankinBassProductions' adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/TheHobbit'', though given that many mix up both Tolkien adaptations due to them being released around a similar time period, the confusion is understandable.

* ApprovalOfGod: Someone had made an edit of the 'S-S-S-Secret Room' clip from "Who Violently Murdered Simon S. Salty?" where Pim and Charlie suddenly kissing passionately after the line, claiming it was a deleted scene from the episode, Zach Hadel has seen the edit and laments that he didn't come up with it first.

* ApprovalOfGod: Someone had made an edit of the 'S-S-S-Secret Room' clip from "Who Violently Murdered Simon S. Salty?" of Pim and Charlie suddenly kissing passionately after the line, claiming it was a deleted scene from the episode, Zach Hadel has seen the edit and laments that he didn't come up with it first.

* FakeNationality: Australian Michael Cusack uses an [[FakeAmerican American accent]] for Alan, while American Zach Hadel uses a [[FakeBrit British accent]] for Mip and a Hispanic accent for DJ Spit.

* ProductionPosse: Several Website/{{Newgrounds}} and Website/YouTube creators, many of whom have collaborated with Zach and Michael in the past, have lent their talents to the show, including Marc M., [[WebVideo/OneyPlays Chris O'Neill]], Creator/DavidFirth, Creator/HarryPartridge, Joshua Tomar, Creator/MickLauer, Lyle Rath, and Creator/JamesRolfe.

* NoBudget: {{Downplayed}}, the budget of the first season (which consists of nine 11 miniute episodes) was around 2 million dollars, which is the budget for only one episode of WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy.

* ProductionPosse: Several Website/{{Newgrounds}} and Website/YouTube creators, many of whom have collaborated with Zach and Michael in the past, have lent their talents to the show, including Marc M., [[WebVideo/OneyPlays Chris O'Neill]], Creator/DavidFirth, Creator/HarryPartridge, Joshua Tomar, Mick Lauer, Lyle Rath, and Creator/JamesRolfe.

* IKnewIt: Several fans have correctly predicted prior to "The Smiling Friends Go to Brazil" that the cast [[spoiler:wouldn't actually get to vacation in Brazil like the [[NeverTrustATrailer synopsis and marketing]] suggests, instead being stuck in the airport for most of the special due to some mishap or misunderstanding, which is exactly what happens in the special (with the mishap/misunderstanding in question being that Pim forgot to book a hotel when he was supposed to, as he thought Alan was gonna do it)]].

* StudioHop: Animation duties went from 6 Point Harness and Creator/StudioYotta for the pilot, to [[Creator/BentoBoxEntertainment Princess Bento]] for the series proper. However, Yotta would return for "The Smiling Friends Go To Brazil."

* StudioHop: Animation duties go from 6 Point Harness and Creator/StudioYotta for the pilot, to [[Creator/BentoBoxEntertainment Princess Bento]] and Goblin Caught on Tape for the series proper.

* NoBudget: According to Zach, the entire first season cost less than a single episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. At the time he made that comparison, the per-episode cost of ''Family Guy'' was widely reported as $2 million. However, the following should be considered before assuming an apples-to-apples comparison:
** An episode of ''Smiling Friends'' runs 11 minutes, half as long as an episode of ''Family Guy''.
** The biggest expenditure on ''Family Guy'' is actor salaries, which is reported as $100,000 per episode for each of the regulars (Creator/AlexBorstein, Creator/SethGreen, and Creator/MilaKunis; presumably Creator/SethMacFarlane makes more, since he voices ''several'' main characters and is also a producer on the series).[[note]]This is the second-highest salary paid to ''any'' voice actors, behind the cast of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.[[/note]] Co-creators Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack voice most of the main characters themselves, or enlist their online animator friends to voice side characters and presumably pay them scale, if that.
** The "entire first season", depending on how you count, is either eight or nine episodes, meaning the per-episode budget is as much as $250,000. Cutting ''Family Guy'''s budget in half for runtime after deducting $400,000 (probably more) for the actors' salaries brings you to $800,000, which is considerably more than ''Smiling Friends'', but not as outrageously so as first assumed.
** Even a lot of these remaining costs wouldn't apply to ''Smiling Friends'', including a writers' room (Hadel and Cusack write every episode themselves), studio overhead (they operate out of their homes), and the very high clearance costs ''Family Guy'' has to pay to use copyrighted images, music, and trademarks in each CutawayGag.
** $250,000 or even $200,000 for eleven minutes of content is not a lavish Hollywood budget, but it's comfortably above the "indie" bracket. Stretching that out to feature length puts you well into the seven figures.

** The grease puddle is ''not'' voiced by [[Webcomic/{{Sonichu}} Chris-Chan]]; it is voiced by Creator/HarryPartridge (who's a BigNameFan of ''Sonichu'') doing an ''impression'' of Chris-Chan.

* NoBudget: According to Zach, the entire first season cost less than a single episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. At the time he made that comparison, the per-episode cost of ''Family Guy'' was widely reported as $2 million, much of which goes to the actors' salaries.

* OutOfHolidayEpisode: Not only did "A Silly Halloween Special" and the Christmas themed "Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back" not come out around their respective holidays, but they came out the very same night along with all the other episodes. While the originally planned release in mid November would've put the Christmas episode as coming out in December (unless they all debuted in one night like they ultimately did in January) the Halloween episode still would've been some time after the holiday.

** The grease puddle is ''not'' voiced by [[Webcomic/{{Sonichu}} Chris-Chan]]; it is voiced by Creator/HarryPartridge doing an ''impression'' of Chris-Chan.

* PlayingAgainstType: Zach Hadel is mostly known for his DerangedAnimation and being a CloudCuckoolander on ''WebVideo/OneyPlays''. His character Charlie is an [[UnfazedEveryman unusually]] [[TheSlacker calm]] StraightMan.