Latest news with #MichaelCusack
Business Upturn
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Upturn
Smiling Friends Season 3: Latest updates on release date, cast and plot details
By Aman Shukla Published on August 2, 2025, 17:30 IST Last updated August 2, 2025, 09:46 IST Fans of Smiling Friends , rejoice—your favorite bizarre little show is gearing up for another round of madness. After the off-the-wall success of its first two seasons, the animated series from Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack is officially coming back for Season 3, and it's looking more unhinged than ever. Between its surreal humor, unpredictable visuals, and deeply lovable weirdos, Smiling Friends has become a staple for Adult Swim viewers—and now, we're finally getting a peek at what's next. Release Date: When Will Smiling Friends Season 3 Hit Screens? Let's get right to it: Smiling Friends Season 3 is aiming for a Fall 2025 premiere. While there's no exact date pinned down just yet, insiders and studio updates suggest we're looking at a release window somewhere between September and November 2025. That timeline comes straight from updates at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and even Corus Entertainment (which handles Adult Swim in Canada), so it's pretty reliable. If things stay on track, we should see the new episodes rolling out before the year ends. Co-creator Michael Cusack has said the team's workflow is a lot more efficient now—so no more two-year gaps like we saw between Seasons 1 and 2. That said, there's always a slim chance it could slide into early 2026 if any delays pop up, but as of now, Fall 2025 is the target. Oh—and here's the cherry on top: Adult Swim is so confident in the show that they've already greenlit Seasons 4 and 5. So yeah, Pim and Charlie aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Cast: Who's Bringing the Smiles? The gang's all here. The core voice cast is locked in, which means: Michael Cusack will once again voice Pim, Allan Red, Mr. Frog, and a bunch of those background oddballs that pop in and out of episodes. Zach Hadel returns as Charlie, Glep, Gwimbly, and more. Marc M. is back too, playing everyone's favorite unhinged boss—Mr. Boss. And we're getting a new face this season! Comedian Conner O'Malley will guest star in the premiere as Silly Samuel, a character described as 'struggling with his bizarre appearance.' If you've seen O'Malley's brand of chaotic comedy, you know he's going to fit right in. Fan favorites like Mr. Frog are also making a comeback, and word is that characters like Glep and Allan might finally get more screen time. Fingers crossed. And knowing the creators' love for surprise cameos (remember Finn Wolfhard and Gilbert Gottfried?), we wouldn't be shocked to see some unexpected names pop up. Plot Details: What's in Store for Smiling Friends Season 3? Well, it's Smiling Friends —so basically, expect more absolute nonsense in the best way possible. The new season will have 10 episodes, up from 8 in Season 2. Each one will follow the usual formula: Pim, Charlie, Allan, and Glep get called in to help a client, and things spiral into surreal chaos from there. No long-running plotlines, no heavy drama—just short, funny, deeply weird stories you can binge or jump into at random. Visually, Season 3 is also expected to go even harder. The show's known for throwing every kind of animation into the mix—2D, 3D, stop-motion, rotoscoping, live-action—and that's not changing. In fact, the creators have teased even more experimentation, so every episode should feel like its own little fever dream. Ahmedabad Plane Crash Aman Shukla is a post-graduate in mass communication . A media enthusiast who has a strong hold on communication ,content writing and copy writing. Aman is currently working as journalist at
Irish Times
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Scotch Broth – Frank McNally on Michael Cusack's frustrated hope for a pan-Celtic sports alliance
Soon after he helped set up the GAA in 1884, Michael Cusack was also involved in a campaign for a pan-Celtic alliance to link the cultural and sporting traditions of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. One of his confederates in this enterprise was a Dublin-based Scot of socialist leanings, A Morrison-Miller, whose Caledonian Games exhibitions had already been a spark for the GAA. Together, in 1887, he and Cusack founded a newspaper to promote their joint cause: The Celtic Times. Alas, as it is in Ireland, the first item on the agenda in Scottish politics is the split. Thus in May 1887, to Cusack's disgust, Morrison-Miller was expelled from his own Caledonian Games Society by a Presbyterian faction opposed to the Irish outreach programme. Apart from having a stand in Croke Park named after him, Cusack went on to be immortalised by his portrayal as 'the Citizen' in James Joyce's Ulysses. Or at least by the perception that he is the Citizen. READ MORE In fact, like others in the book, the character was a composite of different people. And insofar as Joyce led readers to believe that the bigoted, anti-Semitic Citizen was him alone, Cusack might have had a case for libel had he lived to see Ulysses published. But as Luke Gibbons pointed out to me during the Bloomsday Festival, the same Cusack may also hold the key to one of the continuing mysteries of Joyce's masterpiece: the anonymous postcard with the message, as interpreted by Mrs Breen, wife of the agitated recipient: 'U.P.: Up.' The simplest interpretation is a slang phrase of the time, equivalent to kaput . If a person or thing was 'U.P.: Up', they were finished. Which might indeed be considered offensive, but hardly the basis for the £10,000 libel suit on which Denis Breen is seeking advice. Cusack, meanwhile, offers a different explanation, as Gibbons found out some years ago when tracking down a full set of the original Celtic Times print run. For there, in Cusack's gossip column of 18th June 1887, is the headline: 'U.P. Up'. Underneath it, Cusack reported the 'extraordinary treble-whip meeting' of the CGS that had 'unceremoniously deposed' Morrison-Miller. The piece includes reference to a 'United Presbyterian' faction, punning on their desire to keep up appearances, and ends by declaring: 'The CGS has died a sudden and unprovided for death. R.I.P.' Elsewhere in his newspaper, Cusack detected a part played in the coup by a shadowy organisation called The Irish Times. He suggested it was trying to wrestle control of the CGS in the same way (as he alleged) that the Freeman's Journal had tried to do with the GAA: 'Is the staff of The Irish Times trying to grab the work of Mr Miller's hands, much as the Freeman tried to grab the work of my hands? Answer at once, Mr James Carlyle, manager of The Irish Times. You signed the circular calling the meeting. Read Carleton's 'Rody the Rover,' and you will find that we ought to be very careful to avoid those practices which little by little qualify us to out-Judas Judas.' We don't know if Carlyle took up the suggestion to read William Carleton's novel about double-dealing among Ribbonmen – a militant Catholic movement of the early 19th century. We do know that the same Irish Times manager also was later namechecked in Ulysses, perhaps with mischievous intent. Even as he ponders the 'U.P. Up' mystery, guessing that Alf Bergan or Richie Goulding 'wrote it for a lark in the Scotch House', Leopold Bloom passes The Irish Times, and admiring the success of its small ads operation, credits 'James Carlisle' (sic), the 'cunning old Scotch hunks'. An effect of the internal coup in the CGS was the cancelation of the Caledonian Games planned for 1887 and their replacement by a 'picnic'. According to Cusack, this caused such an outpouring of letters to The Irish Times that the paper could carry only one tenth of them. Among those that made it in was a satirical proposal that the CGS be renamed the 'Scotch Anti-Irish Bun and Lemonade Society'. In his book Joyce's Ghosts: Ireland, Modernism, and Memory (2015), Gibbons suggests a link between the anonymous postcard and the sectarian commercial wars being fought in Dublin in the early years of the 20th century. Those included the setting up of an undercover Catholic Association, to counter Protestant dominance in business. The Denis Breen of Ulysses was a proudly devout Catholic, said to be related to a senior Vatican clergyman. This is a cause for ridicule in Barney Kiernan's pub. When Bloom sympathises with Mrs Breen's plight, the narrator sneers: 'Begob I saw there was trouble coming. And Bloom explaining he meant on account of it being cruel for the wife having to go round after the old stuttering fool. Cruelty to animals so it is to let that bloody povertystricken Breen out on grass…And she with her nose cockahoop after she married him because a cousin of his old fellow's was pew opener to the pope.' If the 'U.P.: Up' postcard was hinting that the pious Breen had secretly joined the United Presbyterians, that might indeed be grounds for a libel case. At the very least, it would explain why his goat was so much – as the expression puts it – up.
Business Upturn
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Upturn
Smiling Friends Season 3: Release date speculation, cast and plot details – Everything we know so far
By Aman Shukla Published on June 12, 2025, 18:00 IST Last updated June 12, 2025, 11:05 IST Smiling Friends , the absurdly hilarious adult animated series created by Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack, has captured a devoted fanbase with its surreal humor and eclectic animation styles. After two wildly successful seasons on Adult Swim, anticipation for Smiling Friends Season 3 is at an all-time high. Here's everything we know so far about the release date, cast and plot details to keep you ahead of the curve. Smiling Friends Season 3 Release Date Speculation As of June 2025, Smiling Friends Season 3 does not have an official release date, but recent updates provide a clearer picture. According to a report from Corus Entertainment, the parent company of Adult Swim Canada, the third season is slated to premiere in Fall 2025 on Adult Swim Canada, with a likely simultaneous release in the United States. Further confirmation came during the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 11, 2025, where Adult Swim announced that Season 3 will air this fall. Additionally, a work-in-progress screening of the season is scheduled for June 11, 2025, at Annecy, attended by co-creators Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack. While an exact premiere date remains unconfirmed, fans can expect new episodes between September and November 2025, aligning with Adult Swim's typical fall schedule. Smiling Friends Season 3 Expected Cast and Characters The core voice cast is expected to return for Smiling Friends Season 3, bringing back the beloved employees of Smiling Friends Inc. Based on previous seasons and confirmed reports, here's who we anticipate: Michael Cusack as Pim Pimling, Allan Red, Mr. Frog, and various characters Zach Hadel as Charlie Dompler, Glep, Gwimbly, and others Marc M. as Mr. Boss Additional voices from recurring actors like Perry Caravello (Simon S. Salty) and Lyle Rath (Mr. Man, IGBG CEO) Smiling Friends Season 3 Potential Plot Details Specific plot details for Smiling Friends Season 3 remain under wraps, but the creators have shared insights into the show's direction. The series will continue its episodic format, following Charlie, Pim, Allan, and Glep as they tackle bizarre client requests at Smiling Friends Inc. Expect the same mix of absurd humor, surreal scenarios, and lighthearted chaos that defines the show. Hadel and Cusack have emphasized that Season 3 will avoid serialization or dramatic tones, staying true to its 'McDonald's of TV' philosophy—quick, fun, and accessible. 'A lot of comedy shows tend to get serious. I don't think Charlie and Pim could cry and anybody would care,' Hadel said at Annecy. The show will likely introduce new clients and fresh challenges, with potential for deeper character development. Cusack noted in March 2025 that the writing team has a sharper grasp of the main cast, promising tighter scripts and better jokes. Ahmedabad Plane Crash Aman Shukla is a post-graduate in mass communication . A media enthusiast who has a strong hold on communication ,content writing and copy writing. Aman is currently working as journalist at
Irish Independent
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Ellen Coyne: Modern GAA has to unravel almost 140 years of sexism before it can claim to be the place ‘where we all belong'
Eight men assembled in the billiards room of Hayes Hotel in Thurles at 3pm on Saturday, November 1, 1884, and created the GAA. The vision Michael Cusack had that day for an organisation that would preserve and protect native Irish sports would go on to become the vanguard of 20th-century cultural nationalism, only growing in fervent tenacity in the wake of Irish independence. The GAA was and always has been an inherently political organisation. The deadly RIC attack on Bloody Sunday 1920 turned Croke Park into a reluctant landmark for the lives lost in the fight for independence. Over a decade later, the GAA would be embroiled in the moral panic of the 'anti-jazz' campaign of the 1930s, which led to the regulation of dance halls — including those owned and run by the GAA. The GAA would, as an extension of the Gaelic League's nationalist campaign, impose a ban on 'foreign' games under a broad Irish social and political agenda that deemed everything native to be pure and everything foreign to be degenerate.
Irish Independent
01-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Mary McAleese named honorary patron at Co Clare heritage site honouring ‘genius' GAA founder
The centre, which is located at the birthplace of the founder of the GAA at Carron in North Clare, is one of the most significant sites of the GAA's history, and hosted a ceremony where Dr McAleese accepted the new title. Also in attendance at the ceremony were the chairpersons of Clare, Munster, Connacht and Ulster GAA, as well as local representatives from Clare County Council, the Burren & Cliffs of Moher Global Geopark, Visit Clare and students of Gaelscoil Mhíchíl Cíosóg Inis and Carron National School. Speaking to the Irish Independent, Dr McAleese expressed her delight at accepting the historic award, hailing Michael Cusack's impact and 'I love this place, it's magnificent, in the sense that the valley is beautiful but also bearing in mind (Michael Cusack) was born in 1847 in a tiny, thatched cottage, to poverty, death destruction and disease all around him. And from that, this little fella at the age of 14, started working at the local national school, made himself into a genius of a teacher and gave us the gift of the GAA – the gift that keeps on renewing itself. 'This place is a meitheal; it's about people giving their best and trying to create something very special in homage and in memory of him, but also as a gift to every generation that encounters the GAA, be it here in Ireland or all around the world where it features. Dr McAleese is the independent chairperson of the integration process between the Camogie Association, the GAA, and the Ladies Gaelic Football Association. As such, her commitment to inclusivity and a sport for all is steadfast, with the former President praising the GAA for its worldwide impact. '(The GAA) is definitely a growth area. Martin and I have been at the European Gaelic Games, the Asian Gaelic Games, our daughter has been to the Middle Eastern Gaelic games – they're everywhere. We've been to them in New York, Sydney, Dubai and honestly, everywhere you go where two or more Irish people are gathered, they recreate that gift that Michael Cusack gave us and bring it to a new audience. It's not just the sport, it's the friendship, the inclusivity, the amateur nature, the generosity of spirit and the kindness to the stranger. 'We met so many people in Rome last year who had never stepped foot in Ireland but had played Gaelic football all over Europe, saying to us what attracted them wasn't just the sport but the welcome.' The ceremony also launched the first trial of The Burren and Cliffs Explorer, a new hop-on hop-off shuttle bus service linking towns, villages and visitor attractions throughout North and West Clare. Operating as a pilot project until August 31, the new service will serve landmark attractions across Clare throughout the summer, and saw Dr McAleese depart the ceremony as its inaugural passenger.
