Cartoons have come a long way in the past couple of years. What used to be a Saturday morning tradition for toddlers has become a late-night obsession for college students - thanks to "Adult Swim," a block of shows featured on Cartoon Network.
Many who started religiously watching the six-hour-long cartoon lineup actually came across it on accident. After all, if you see a milkshake talking to a "meatwod" and an overweight, white-trash neighbor named Carl, you'd probably stop to watch, too.
"My friend caught it by accident," says video production senior David Guerrero, who is ASU's "Adult Swim" campus representative. "He called me in, and I started watching. It's twisted - not your basic, 'ha-ha' sitcom humor. It's some of the best stuff I've seen on TV."
Which might explain why Guerrero decided to take on the tall task of spreading the word about "Adult Swim."
Sporting "Adult Swim" gear and with a huge stash of goodies in his bag, Guerrero headed out to Mill Cue Club on Friday to give others a taste of "Adult Swim" fever.
"You get your mixture of people," Guerrero says about the crowd. "You have a nice chunk of people who make it clear that they came for the promotion. Then there are others who come up to us and ask us what we're doing and then say, 'Oh, I love "Adult Swim.'"
But for the unsuspecting bar folk who just came out to sip on some brewskis - well, Guerrero will suck them in too.
"There are others there who are like, 'Who are you?' I'll just say, 'Play this game, sucka,' or 'Watch the TV, fool,'" Guerrero says. "We'll drop some knowledge on them, and most of the time they'll end up watching."
While some are oblivious to the event going on inside the bar, others have known about it for a while and eagerly have been anticipating its arrival.
Robert Poirier, 25, lives in Phoenix. He doesn't own a TV, and he has some strong opinions about television in general.
"I think that 99.9 percent of TV is mindless jibber-jabber that works to keep humans occupied long enough to watch commercials," Poirier says.
But that doesn't stop him from getting his "Adult Swim" fix. Poirier jumps on the Web to download episodes of his favorite cartoons every week.
And although he doesn't venture to Mill Avenue very often, Friday is a special occasion.
There are games to be played and prizes to be won. Sealab 2021 clocks, talking Carl bottle-openers, T-shirts, "meatwod" stress balls and magic eight balls were all up for grabs.
Cartoons take over the TV sets, and people wearing masks of Brak (a beloved "Adult Swim" character) dance around in drunken stupors. There is fun in the name of cartoons.
"I came for fun and games," political science senior Hussein Dungarwalla says. "It's early, but there has been a fair amount of fun. I haven't played any games yet, but I'm planning on it. The night has potential."
"It's funny," he says of the cartoon. "Sometimes it's kind of weird. Sometimes its almost too random and strange to even be funny."
But that's what others love about the show so much. So much, in fact, that they dedicate a decent amount of their free time to the cause.
Guerrero has been ASU's campus rep for some time now. He had to fill out an application and interview with Cartoon Network's head honchos to prove his "Adult Swim" dedication. After a glorious victory, Guerrero earned the well-deserved title. The senior's responsibilities include putting on three promotions every semester. He passes out fliers, sets up a location for the promotions and runs the events with the help of one other person he hires.
After the fun and games have ended and the night is winding down, fans walk away with T-shirts and paper masks. They'll go home, pass out and eagerly await the next promotion. But Guerrero's job is nowhere near completion.
"We have to document the whole evening," Guerrero says. "We take photos of the signs and of people playing games. Then we fill out a two-page questionnaire talking about how many premiums we gave away, what was the favorite prize. They get pretty extensive."
Other promotions have taken place at The Vine, Club Rio and the late Mill Avenue Beer Co., but Guerrero says he feels he has had the most success at Mill Cue Club.
'Adult Swim' on the Cartoon Network, Thursday through Sunday from 11 p.m - 5 a.m.
ASU is not alone in having an "Adult Swim" representative at its fingertips. UCLA, UA and a number of other major universities across the country have their own team of super fans, and it's not hard to see why.
"The 'toons appeal to younger people who have an open mind about what entertainment is," the TV-less Poirier says. "If you watch something ludicrous and out of reality, this is the place to get it, as opposed to Jenny Jones."
Reach the reporter at erika.wurst@asu.edu.
