Insomniac Ren

"Insomniac Ren"
The Ren & Stimpy Show episode
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 18
Directed by	Steve Loter
Story by	Bob Camp Jim Gomez Vince Calandra
Original air date	January 21, 1995 (1995-01-21)
Guest appearance
Alan Young as Haggis MacHaggis

"Insomniac Ren" is the eighteenth episode of the fourth season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on January 21, 1995.

Plot

Ren and Stimpy sleep early so they can wake up early to golf the next day, but Ren is annoyed by Stimpy plucking his eyelashes, clipping his overgrown toenails, as well as his cleaning of his eyes and nose; he forces Stimpy to quickly finish his hygienic routine before bed. The toilet overflows and he commands Stimpy to jiggle the handle.

Ren just could not sleep because of Stimpy's childish antics, but he had fallen asleep when Ren tries to scold him. Stimpy initially snores normally, but they eventually get louder and louder, distressing Ren; his attempts to plug Stimpy's nose with soap and a plunger do not work. He decides to sleep on the living room, on a long couch he bought for Stimpy to watch television; the peace and quiet however do more damage, as Ren can hear everything, from the clock ticking and his heartbeat to a mite munching on the couch's fibers. He returns to his room as he cannot handle the multitude of small noises.

As time goes on, Ren continuously becomes more delusional, believing Stimpy to be asleep simply because he's stupid, all while Wiegenlied plays in an ironic way in the background. Stimpy imagines having equally stupid offspring who suckle his body, with an infantile Ren being the runt of the litter who is allowed to suck Stimpy's finger. Ren appears to chastise Stimpy for dreaming and making him unable to sleep, frightening the offspring, after which he beats up Stimpy; Ren has no knowledge of the dream's content and wakes up Stimpy.

Stimpy tries to make Ren a glass of milk, but the refrigerator is nearly empty with only three cockroaches playing cards on a can of sardines. He obtains a mysterious liquid which has a sedative effect on Ren, only for him to vomit them out when he reveals the liquid to be camel saliva. He then reads Ren a story, which turns out to be a fictitious Edgar Allan Poe horror novel; Ren had hid himself under the bed, horrified by Stimpy's grotesque storytelling techniques. He decides to sing Ren a lullaby as a last resort, dressing up as a one-man band and loudly sings one, making Ren's problem even worse while he sleeps in the middle of the performance.

It is 6 a.m. and Ren is still tortured from his insomnia, breaking his alarm clock; his friends Mr. Horse, Muddy Mudskipper and Haggis MacHaggis are annoyed by this. Ren offers $5 to everyone who can make him unconscious, which the three friends and Stimpy gladly oblige. They beat Ren into a coma with their golf clubs before going on with their arrangement, ending the episode.

Cast

• Ren – Voice of Billy West
• Stimpy – Voice of Billy West
• Mr. Horse – Voice of Billy West
• Muddy Mudskipper – Voice of Harris Peet
• Haggis MacHaggis – Voice of Alan Young
• As followed

Production

"Insomniac Ren" is the first episode in the series to be directed by Steve Loter, a newcomer with little prior experience in direction. He struggled while working at Games Animation, due to its highly demanding workplace culture, if not as toxic as before series creator John Kricfalusi was fired. This episode is Mr. Horse's first speaking appearance after Kricfalusi's firing, so Billy West replaced him as the character's voice actor.

Reception

American journalist Thad Komorowski rated the episode three out of five stars.

Books and articles

• Dobbs, G. Michael (2015). Escape – How Animation Broke into the Mainstream in the 1990s. Orlando: BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1593931100.
• Komorowski, Thad (2017). Sick Little Monkeys: The Unauthorized Ren & Stimpy Story. Albany, Georgia: BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1629331836.