The Dick and Paula Celebrity Special

Dick and Paula Celebrity Special was a Soup2Nuts animated series that aired on FX from 1999 to 2000. The premise of the show was that Dick and Paula hosted a talk show where famous individuals, usually deceased, talked about their work or what made them widely known. Examples of such guests include Charles Darwin, Marquis de Sade, Oedipus Rex, and Lewis and Clark, among many others. Accompanying the two hosts was a Paul Shaffer-esque keyboard player. This premise bears similarities with that of Steve Allen's Meeting of Minds. The series, like Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, the first season of Home Movies, and Science Court, was animated in Squigglevision, a computer animation technique that caused the edges of people and important objects to vibrate constantly. Also like those series, Dick and Paula utilized retroscripting for much of the dialog, in that a basic outline is given and the actors improvise the dialog. Later, the dialog is edited to a coherent script.

Directed by Tom Snyder, The Dick and Paula Celebrity Special leans on a strong ensemble — Richard Snee, Paula Plum, Andy Kindler — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The series landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about screen titles of 1999.