Queer Duck

Queer Duck
Genre
Created byMike Reiss
Directed byXeth Feinberg
StarringJim J. Bullock
Kevin Michael Richardson
Billy West
Maurice LaMarche
Estelle Harris
Tress MacNeille
ComposerSam Elwitt
Country of originUnited States
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes20
Production
Running time3 minutes
Production companyIcebox.com
Original release
NetworkIcebox.com
ReleaseOctober 11, 2000 (2000-10-11) –
May 15, 2002 (2002-05-15)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Queer Duck is an American adult animated web series produced by Icebox.com that originally appeared on the company's website, then later moved to the American cable network Showtime, where it aired following the American version of Queer as Folk.[1] Although far from featuring the first gay cartoon character, Queer Duck was among the first animated series to have homosexuality as its predominant theme.

Like several later television cartoons, Queer Duck was animated in Macromedia Flash. The show was created, written, and executive-produced by Mike Reiss, who also produced network cartoons The Simpsons and The Critic. Queer Duck animation was directed and designed by Xeth Feinberg, in an attempt to be very similar to the animation style of Rocky and Bullwinkle; the theme song was performed by drag celebrity RuPaul. In Canada, Queer Duck aired on Teletoon at Night whilst in the UK it was aired as a short segment as part of magazine show That Gay Show which aired on BBC Choice, the forerunner to BBC Three.[2]

Scholar Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes called the use of the term queer duck as "interesting" and described the show as about a "group of American gay animals" with their personalities seemingly "based on gay white men."[3]

  1. ^ Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 250. ISBN 9781476672939.
  2. ^ "Queer Duck To Air On BBC Choice". Animation World Network. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  3. ^ La Fountain-Stokes, Lawrence (2007). "Queer Ducks, Puerto Rican Patos, and Jewish American Feygelekh: Birds and the Cultural Representation of Homosexuality". Centro Journal: 193, 195, 198. Retrieved July 10, 2020.