Dumbland is a crude, stupid, violent, absurd series. If it is funny, it is funny because we see the absurdity of it all.
— David Lynch
Dumbland (2002) is an eight-part Flash-animated "sitcom" written, directed, voiced and animated by David Lynch, which premiered on his official website. As the above quote from him points out, it is notable for being crude both in design and content.
The series follows the misadventures of a foul-tempered, foul-mouthed, violent, hard-drinking, flatulent neo-Neanderthal (known as Randy on Lynch's official page) as he lashes out at neighbours, helicopters, salesmen, electrical appliances, doctors, insects, and his own dysfunctional family in what appears to be your average suburban setting.
However, because this is a David Lynch production, weirdness ensues.
Dumbland contains examples of the following tropes:
- And I Must Scream: Randy's fate in the final episode. He's trapped in a full-body cast, and the ants are crawling in there with him.
- Ax-Crazy: Randy. In a rare moment of serenity in episode 4, Randy even acknowledges that he "likes to kill things".
- Bad People Abuse Animals: The episode in question mostly consists of Randy and his friend discussing how much they like killing animals. His friend also describes mounting the heads of all the animals he kills.
- Berserk Button: That FUCKIN' HEE-LICOPTER!
- Bestiality Is Depraved: Randy's neighbour is embarrassed to admit that he fucks ducks.
- Bloody Hilarious: The entirety of episode 5, where Randy tries to remove a large stick out of a guy's mouth, and brutally mutilating him in the process.
- Broken Record: Randy's son, as he is bouncing on a trampoline, repeatedly says "My teeth are bleeding!" as, well, his teeth bleeds. He says this in a weirdly cheerful manner, mind you.
- Busby Berkeley Number: The kickline of hallucinatory singing ants in the final episode.
- Deranged Animation: One of the hallmarks of the series.
- Eye Scream: "You poked his eye out! You poked his eye out!"
- Gasshole: Randy. Also, his unnamed friend in episode 4, and Uncle Bob.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Just about everything and anybody sends Randy into a foulmouthed rage.
- Keet: Randy's hyperactive son, who keeps yelling the same thing over and over.
- Larynx Dissonance: Randy's intimidating mother-in-law speaks in a deep, threatening growl. All the characters are voiced by Lynch, usually artificially pitch-shifted.
- Mushroom Samba: In the final episode, Randy's attempts to use bugspray to get rid of the ants in his house result in him inhaling a lot of the spray and hallucinating that the ants are singing about how much he sucks.
- Nervous Wreck: Randy's wife is in constant fear of her abusive husband, her dialogue consisting mainly of yammering and shrieking.
- Palate Propping: The man with a stick caught in his mouth in episode 5. How it got in there, we never learn.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Virtually all of Randy's dialogue consists of obscenities. Randy's mother-in-law swears a lot, too.
- Stylistic Suck: The animation consists entirely of sketchy line drawings. Case in point: Randy's son is essentially just an outline of a body with a face.
- "The Villain Sucks" Song: The ants' song.When we look at you, we see an asshole
(Chorus) Ass! Hole! Ass Hole!
When we look at you, we see a shit head
(Chorus) Shit! Head! Shit! Head!
When we look at you, we see a dumb turd
(Chorus) Ass! Hole! Shit! Head! Dumb! Turd!
