Grunt

Lore & Background

The Brothers Grunt are a group of sextuplets born from a single wart on the skin of the Gruntus Primus Maximus, a large, floating, mute and morbidly obese male humanoid. Their main food staple is cheese and martinis, though they can eat other foods like potatoes. They live in a monastery in an unspecified location in the American wilderness, which the sewers lead to. The Grunts are practically silent characters, whose speech mostly consists of grunts with occasional subtitles, so most of the humor relies on physical comedy, particularly the Grunts enduring heaps of physical abuse. The series had a short run and was met with a generally negative reception, with many considering it one of the worst animated TV shows ever made.

In Their Own Story

The series centered on five of the sextuplets—Frank, Tony, Bing, Dean, and Sammy—on a quest to bring back their sixth brother, Perry, who has abandoned his involuntary position of "Chosen One" (leader of their order) and is now living the "high life" among human beings. The humans seem to deal with the bizarre nature of the Grunts by ignoring them and pretending everything is normal. The Grunts are able to bend, twist and contort their bodies into various forms. Their signature attire is boxer shorts and wingtip shoes. The series originally aired from August 15, 1994, to April 9, 1995, on MTV.

Reader's Guide

The main characters are named after famous crooners of the 1950s: Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Perry Como, all voiced by Doug Parker. Frank constantly bites his lips and cares the most about finding Perry. Tony always faces upward due to his broken neck. Bing is the largest of the brothers and appears the least often. Dean smiles constantly and is the most easily distracted. Sammy puckers his lips due to his lack of teeth and is in love with a lamp. Perry is a hunchbacked Grunt who became the chosen one in the pilot episode, but escaped due to the pressure of such a title. The series' main antagonist is The Detective, a balding police detective who chases down the Grunts in a multi-episode story arc after Frank was arrested for swallowing a microphone.

Did You Know?

• The Brothers Grunt is the earliest series made by Ed, Edd n Eddy creator Danny Antonucci.
• The main characters are named after famous 1950s crooners: Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Perry Como.
• The Grunts are born as embryos inside skin warts on the Gruntus Primus Maximus, much like the common Surinam toad.
• The series originally aired on MTV from August 15, 1994, to April 9, 1995.
• The Grunts' speech mostly consists of grunts with occasional subtitles, hence the name.