Summary

Smiling Friends returns May 12 at midnight on Adult Swim, airing new episodes to bring joy to the world.
Co-created by Cusack and Hadel, the show features quirky characters and laughs for a good time.
Catch the season two premiere, then stream new episodes on Max or purchase digitally starting May 13.

After more than two year since it was announced, Smiling Friends will return for a second season on Sunday, May 12 at midnight on Adult Swim. As part of Adult Swim’s annual April Fools’ Day programming, which always includes some fun surprises, three episodes of the show aired re-creating Smiling Friends in various styles of puppetry, followed by a surprise airing of the season two premiere episode, “Gwimbly: Definitive Remastered Enhanced Extended Edition DX 4k (Anniversary Director’s Cut).”

The synopsis for the second season reads as follows:

In season two of Smiling Friends, Pim, Charlie, Zongo, Allan and Glep continue their mission to bring happiness to the world, whether it’s a washed-up retro video game character, a troubled marriage, or even the president of the United States.

The quarter-hour comedy is co-created by Michael Cusack (YOLO: Crystal Fantasy) and Zach Hadel (Hellbenders). Beginning May 13, new episodes of Smiling Friends will be available to stream on Max and to purchase on Digital.

“HELLOOO EVERYONE HOPE YOU WATCH THE NEW SEASON OF ‘SMILING FRIENDS’ AND THE SMILING FRIENDS PUPPET SHOW,” said Cusack and Hadel in an all-caps statement. “IT’S GOING TO BE SOOOOO COOL AND FUN AND HOPE YOU WATCH!!!!!!!”

Related Exclusive: Michael Cusack and YOLO Silver Destiny Stars Discuss Season 2 of Adult Swim Comedy Cusack, Sarah Bishop, and Todor Manojlovic discussed Australian humor and their Adult Swim comedy series as it nears the season two finale.

Adult Swim’s April Fools’ Tradition

This is just one of many April Fools’ programming blocks from Adult Swim, which has been doing it for two decades. The prank that started it all was simple but hilarious — mustaches were drawn on every character in every episode aired on the night of March 31 and morning of April 1. For a few years, they included Tommy Wiseau of the legendary cult classic The Room in between episodes with surreal interstitials. They even brought back TOM and Toonami.

One year, in anticipation of the upcoming preschool programming that would follow Adult Swim, the network had very young children dub over the lines of typical Adult Swim shows like Family Guy and Rick and Morty, with the intros recreating characters of each show as babies. They even included the horror-preschool crossover character Pibby and her friend Bun-Bun in every episode aired throughout the night one year, affecting (or infecting) other characters with a demonic spirit.

Pilots often premiere during the April Fools’ specials, and both of Michael Cusack’s shows, Smiling Friends and YOLO: Crystal Fantasy, have premiered in these programming blocks. So it’s great to see Smiling Friends continuing the tradition.

Watch Smiling Friends