Angry Dad is a series of Internet cartoons based on the amateur comic of Springfield independent comic book artist Bart Simpson. The animated version, presented by Simpson's Bartoon company (in association with Ay Carumba Entertainment), debuted on BetterThanTV.com in the early 2000s. It became a landmark Internet sensation, at one point in 2002 becoming the Internet's number-one non-pornographic website (according to hearsay). Simpson's own father, Homer, provided the inspiration for Angry Dad, with the character's popularity among his fellow students spurring the development of the web series. Although its production site fell victim to the collapse of the dot-com bubble, the Angry Dad shorts remained a popular hit.
These cartoons highlight Angry Dad's daily life. In one particularly notable feature, he becomes infuriated with the local newspaper insulting him, resulting in his eyes exploding. Another portrays his workplace, a simulation of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, where Angry Dad unwittingly detonates the cooling towers. Even at the dinner table, Angry Dad finds that trying to get ketchup out of a glass bottle results in disaster.
The character briefly saw a resurgence in 2011 when Simpson produced an Academy Award-winning short film based on the Angry Dad cartoons. By then, Simpson described the web cartoon as "semi-autobiographical" because his father legally forced him to say "semi".
Tropes:
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: In the Angry Dad short film, he grows to immense size after being told there's no free refills at a fast food joint. He then proceeds to rampage, and then punch a hole in Hoover Dam and drink the water behind it.
- Berserk Button: Just about everything seems to set Angry Dad off.
- Big Red Button: Which apparently causes the Power Plant's cooling towers to explode.
- Blown Across the Room: By a spraying bottle of ketchup, no less.
- Bullying a Dragon: The Ay Carumba Entertainment Vanity Plate shows Bart Simpson vandalizing a growling Angry Dad's behind with spray paint.
- Butt-Monkey: Angry Dad just can't seem to catch a break.
- During dinner, he shakes a bottle of ketchup that refuses to cooperate. Said bottle sprays him with such force that he goes flying across the room.
- After a particularly bad day, he reads the newspaper to cheer himself up. The very first headline is "YOU SUCK, ANGRY DAD" (which he rightfully calls bullshit on because it's "opinion, not news").
- At work, he pressed the wrong button, causing the cooling towers to blow up. He gets fired for this, and the anger at getting fired causes his head to explode.
- Comically Missing the Point: Angry Dad gets mad at the headline, not because it says he sucks, but because the newspaper placed an opinion piece on the front page.
- Composite Character: Angry Dad himself; a spoof within his universe. Bart Simpson cites him as a composite of his own father and of his sisters' father.
- Crapsack World: The cartoons hint at this.
- Creator Cameo: Bart Simpson himself provides the voice of Mr. Burns in the power plant segment.
- Everything Makes a Mushroom: The cooling towers and Angry Dad's head in the work short.
- Eye Scream:
- When he sees the newspaper proclaiming he sucks, Angry Dad's head inflates in anger. His eyes then pop.
- In a later short, Angry Dad walks along the sidewalk at night and gets stabbed in the eye by the crescent-shaped moon.
- Fat Idiot: Angry Dad.
- The Film of the Series: The Academy Award-winning short film.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Need we say more?
- Incredibly Lame Pun: After Angry Dad punctures Hoover Dam and drinks from its water, he utters "Dam, that's good!".
- Informed Attribute: We only have Angry Dad's name to indicate that he's a father at all, as no members of his family actually appear. On a meta level, this is because audiences are meant to relate Angry Dad to their own dad.
- Jerkass: Angry Dad appears to be, given how much even the slightest things set him off.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- One does have to recognize the difference between opinions and news, especially if they're a news agency.
- While Angry Dad's boss is a caricature of Homer's Mean Boss Mr. Burns, if anyone — much less Angry Dad — had blown up his power plant's cooling towers multiple times; then they should at least be fired.
- Losing Horns: A buzzing, two-tone variation of these play whenever something infuriating happens to Angry Dad.
- That Makes Me Feel Angry: "Argh, I'm angry!"
- Oh, No... Not Again!: Angry Dad yelled this when he accidentally blew up the power plant's cooling towers.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The title character is only known as "Angry Dad", if he even has a name.
- Perpetual Frowner: Angry Dad
- Protagonist Title
- Silence Is Golden: Not counting Angry Dad's roar, the ketchup and night-walking shorts are free of any dialogue.
- Stylistic Suck: The animation matches Simpson's drawings, which are only about as good as the average ten-year-old boy's. Nevertheless, it contributes plenty to the humor of the series.
- Tempting Fate:
Angry Dad: Oh, what a day! Maybe the headlines will cheer me up!Newspaper: (YOU SUCK, ANGRY DAD)Angry Dad: Grr... that's opinion! NOT NEWS!
- Too Dumb to Live: Angry Dad shows signs of this.
Angry Dad: (at his power plant workstation) This job sure is easy. Now to press this button!(The cooling towers outside explode in a giant mushroom cloud)Angry Dad: NOT AGAAAAAAIN!
- Worst News Judgment Ever: Would a newspaper really devote its headline to insulting one normal (albeit angry) dad?
- Your Head A-Splode: Angry Dad's response to being fired by Mr. Burns after blowing up the Power Plant... again.
- Your Television Hates You: Variant. The newspaper’s front page headline is “You Suck, Angry Dad”.
