The Annoying Orange

This article is about the online series. For the television series, see The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange .

Annoying Orange
Current logo of Annoying Orange
Genre	Comedy Joke Humour Suspense Pun Off-color humor
Created by	Daneboe
Written by	Spencer Grove Daneboe Robert Jennings
Directed by	Daneboe Robert Jennings Kevin Brueck
Voices of	Daneboe Robert "Bobjenz" Jennings Kevin Brueck Aaron Massey Justine "iJustine" Ezarik Kevin "Nalts" Nalty Toby Turner Various guest stars
Composer(s)	Dane Boedigheimer The Convictions Emma Kenny Event Banditt Kevin McLeod iLife Sound Effects
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	196 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Daneboe Aaron Massey Kevin Nalty
Producer(s)	Kevin Brueck
Running time	1-6 minutes
Production company(s)	Gagfilms
Distributor	Google
Broadcast
Original channel	YouTube
Original run	October 9, 2009 – present
Chronology
Related shows	The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange
External links
Website

The Annoying Orange is an American comedy web series created by former Minnesota film student and MTV production assistant Dane Boedigheimer in 2009. It stars its creator as an anthropomorphic orange who annoys other fruits, vegetables, and various other objects by using insulting, rude, and sometimes crude-humored jokes.

Despite the show's negative critical reception, the show's popularity after its first episode led it to become the subject of a TV series, a video game, a range of toys, and a t-shirt line. Other accessories, such as costumes of the series characters, have also appeared on the market.

Plot

The show is centered on Orange (voiced by Dane Boedigheimer), who resides on a kitchen counter with other objects such as his best friend Pear, a Bartlett pear (also voiced by Boedigheimer). Other fruits include Passion, a (female) passionfruit played by Justine Ezarik, a grapefruit, a tiny apple known as Midget Apple (though he prefers the name Little Apple), a small marshmallow, and an elderly lemon named Grandpa Lemon, all of whom were not main characters until later episodes. Most episodes consist of Orange heckling other characters until they meet a sudden and gruesome end, usually by evisceration with a chef's knife (although the implements used to cut them up range from a blender to a toy pinwheel). Usually, Orange tries to "warn" them before it happens, blurting out the weapon-in-use, such as "Knife!"

Orange has several recurring mannerisms. He often begins an episode by repeatedly yelling "Hey, (name of character)!" until the character responds. Orange also often refers to the character as something that plays on the object's name or appearance (such as calling Grapefruit "Apefruit"). If he does not like an object, he will often say, "You're an apple!", even if the object is not (e.g., a tomato). Orange uses various tactics, such as telling rude and offensive jokes, burping, and making childish noises with his tongue, to get attention.

Despite what other fruits and objects think, Orange often cannot control his tendency to be "annoying," and his friends believe that he means well. In one episode of the Web series, a "life coach", Mango, tells Orange that he uses his annoying nature to try to cope with the destruction of the fruits he tries to make friends with. In any case, Orange can almost always find comfort in the company of his friends.

Characters

From left to right: Little Apple, Pear, Orange, Grapefruit, Passion Fruit, Marshmallow and Grandpa Lemon.

Main

• Orange is the lead protagonist and main character, appearing in every episode since the series began on October 9, 2009. He has yellow teeth, grey eyes, and a braying laugh. He is known for his annoying puns which he uses in every episode, although hardly any of the fruits seem to find his puns amusing. His standard reply, uttered after being taken to task for being so annoying, is, "I'm not annoying, I'm an orange!"
• Pear made his initial (albeit brief) appearance in the first episode, before becoming a regular character since the episode "Passion of the Fruit". He is a Bartlett pear who inhabits the same kitchen counter as Orange, his best friend. Despite their friendship, he is often annoyed by Orange, and initially wants to die early on, although he subtly warms up to Orange's antics afterwards. Pear tries to help others maintain control, and is depicted as more intelligent than Orange.
• Passion Fruit (voiced by YouTube vlogger iJustine), or simply "Passion," first appeared on February 19, 2010 in "Passion of the Fruit". Passion is offended by insults, attempts to settle issues, and scolds Orange and other characters. Unbeknownst to Passion, Orange has a crush on her. She has a twin sister named Mandy, who appeared in "Wishful Thinking," that is in love with Pear.
• Midget Apple was first seen in the episode "Crabapple" on August 6, 2010. Also voiced by Boedigheimer, he is a tiny Red Delicious apple. A friend of Orange, Pear, Passion, and especially Marshmallow, he dislikes being called "Midget Apple", preferring the term "'Little Apple".
• Marshmallow debuted in the episode "Annoying Saw 2: The Annoying Death Trap" on September 24, 2010. He is a small, childlike, squeaky-voiced marshmallow that becomes friends with Orange in the episode. Marshmallow is typically presented as cheerful and happy, and claims to love "puppies, and unicorns, and bunnies, and rainbows, and clouds, and kittens, and bunnies, and rainbows." The character is shown to absorb significant damage to his body, from cuts, fire, and throwing stars, but still emerges largely unscathed. Despite his cuteness, size, and cheerfulness, when something or someone angers him, he tends to act destructively, both towards his friends and the area around him. Marshmallow's gender is highly debatable among fans, though his theme song refers to him as a "he".
• Grapefruit (voiced by Robert Jennings) first appeared in "Passion of the Fruit" as Orange's archenemy. He often engages in juvenile insults with Orange. The character was killed by Knife in his debut, but became a recurring character after being resurrected as part of the Frankenfruit monster in "Frankenfruit."
• Grandpa Lemon (played by Kevin Brueck) is an elderly, forgetful lemon who has a habit of falling asleep at rather odd and annoying times. First appearing in "Grandpa Lemon" on June 4, 2010, he is unfazed by Orange's taunts about his memory loss and sleeping habits. Sliced in half by Knife in his debut, he became part of the Frankenfruit monster in Frankenfruit, and has become a recurring character ever since.

Recurring

• Knife (voiced by Kevin Nalty) was initially introduced simply as a kitchen tool in "Annoying Orange". He appears when Orange announces his presence, proceeding to slice up the other fruits and vegetables. His first appearance as a character was in "No More Mr. Knife Guy." Knife is shown to be at odds with his role in the series, hating his life because of how he is used. His mortal enemy is a knife sharpener due to the pain involved. However, he is replaced by Squash in more recent episodes.
• Liam the Leprechaun (played by Robert Jennings) first appeared in the episode "Luck o' the Irish" as a bad-tempered leprechaun, who loses his pot of gold to Orange. Orange tends to call him "Jolly Green Giant." Crushed by his pot of gold at the end of the episode, Liam is currently a recurring character, and is also the title character of a former spin-off series on his own YouTube channel. He still continues to return to the Annoying Orange series as a recurring character.
• Squash (voiced by Dane Boedigheimer) has appeared in quite a few episodes over 2011-2013. He is similar to Knife, only the fruits get squashed to death, not cut to death, and seems to be a replacement for him. When he lands on a fruit (or other food), he usually exclaims "Eww-hoo-hoo, gross!" He also appeares as a main fruit in an episode on certain occasions.
• Voice (voiced by Dane Boedigheimer & Robert Jennings) is a voice who is the newsreader of The Annoying Orange. He first appears in "The Annoying Trailer", doing a trailer of upcoming Annoying Orange episodes, and then in "Picture Contest", he tells everyone that there is no new episode that week. He also appears in "Picture Contest Winners!", "Mystery Guest", "Million Clones", "The Sitcom", "Annoying Valentines (Sitcom Version), the 'Orange Through Time' series, "Fruit For All", "Juice Boxing (Sitcom Version), "The Voodoo You Do (Sitcom Version)", the 'Ask Orange' series, "Epic Rap Battles of Kitchenery", "Annoying Orange 2.0", "Marshmallow Pic Contest Winners!", and the 'President' series.
• Dane Boedigheimer, (voiced by Himself), is the director of The Annoying Orange who appears in "Hey YouTube", as a cameo appearance, and he also appears in We Will Rock You, "Buddy Cops", "Bacon Invaders", "U Can't Squash This", "OMG", "2012 Kills", "Random Cuts" and "Iron Apple Teaser Trailer" as a clip in the 'Fruity question of the day, along with "Once Upon An Orange". Dane Boedigheimer also wields the knife and other weapons used for killing food in most of the episodes, however, his face is not to be seen, nor his voice heard.
• Copper Lincoln (voiced by Robert Jennings), is a childlike bronze action figure who was originally a penny until he was thrown in the "Magic Clam" (voiced by Toby Turner), a clam that made everything thrown inside him larger. Copper Lincoln appears in "Ask Orange #3: A-Toying Orange!, "Ask Orange #4: Master Chef!" and "Magic Clam." He has also appeared in The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange in Welcome to My Fruitmare as a cameo screaming and in the episode Fruitvengers once again screaming cameo. Copper Lincoln also was a statue in the statueroom in the episode Dr. Strange Plum.
• Mushroom (Robert Jennings), Mushroom appeared in In the Dark, but then gets killed by Mario. Although killed, Mushroom makes background cameos - Buddy Cops 2: Stachehouse, Broccoli Obama Presidential Video and Dumb Ways to Die.
• Flipper, dolphin from an old tv show.

Background

Main article: Daneboe

Creator Dane Boedigheimer (right).

Before The Annoying Orange, Boedigheimer had done many talking food videos for his channel and other sites including JibJab. He said in an interview that the idea for The Annoying Orange was a combination of the talking food videos, puns and special effects he came up with and did before. The original video was planned to be title The Annoying Apple, but when he started animating the video he found it easier to put features on an orange than an apple and make it clear.

The Annoying Orange video was initially meant to be the only one on YouTube. However, many viewers requested more videos, and after the 4th one, Boedigheimer decided to make a full-time series. Following the success of the series, he created a channel dedicated to The Annoying Orange under the name "Annoying Orange" on January 11, 2010.

Reception

The series was rated as the most viewed web series of February and March 2010 by Mashable, with over 52 million views. On April 26, 2010, the series had over 108 million views on YouTube. In June 2010, the channel had received 137 million views. By August 13, 2010, it received had 1 million subscribers. On June 2011, the channel was ranked as the eighth most subscribed and 30th most viewed, with more than 2,000,000 subscribers. On January 13, 2012, the series hit 1 billion channel views and 2.3 million subscribers.

Despite the show's popularity, it has received primarily negative critical responses. Liz Shannon Miller considered the show to be "annoying for many reasons." In the web series column Pass the Mustard, Ned Hepburn called the show "pure, pure unfunny, highly concentrated, in droplet form, just purely nonsensical riffing from an Annoying Orange." Hepburn concluded, "the Annoying Orange series is one of the few that I had a physically bad reaction to. It was horrible." 411mania.com called the show "idiotic" and "creepy as hell", while other publications have referred to it as "third grade humor." However, among internet audiences, the show has garnered generally positive reviews, as opposed to the critically negative ones.

The success of the series had also received attention of Fargo advertising agency H2M, who, in 2006, created its own “Talking Orange.”, which is the spokesman for an ad campaign for the North Dakota Department of Transportation. Both of the two characters were two anthropomorphic oranges with ties to the Fargo-Moorhead area. Despite only slightly resemblancing the “Talking Orange”, the Annoying Orange was looked by H2M’s attorneys into the matter as an intellectual property issue. Boedigheimer stated of not watching the “Talking Orange” videos before he was told about the disagreement, also believing that the characters weren’t very similar.

Merchandise

Since late 2011, The Collective has produced many accessories, toys and clothing with toymaker The Bridge Direct and clothing retailers such as JCPenney, Shopko and rue21. On November 10, 2011, GeekDad announced a giveaway for an Annoying Orange T-shirt from JCPenney and a toy from Toys R Us. GeekDad started taking entries through Friday at 11:59 PM. The Collective also announced a partnership in December of that year with costume manufacturer Rubie's Costume Company to produce children and adult Halloween costumes and accessories featuring characters such as Orange, Pear, Marshmallow, and Midget Apple from the web series.

Games

Main article: Annoying Orange: Kitchen Carnage

A video game developed by Bottle Rocket Apps named Kitchen Carnage was released for the iPod Touch and iPhone on April 7, 2011. The game was later released in HD for the iPad on April 30, 2011, and for Android devices on July 23, 2011. Players throw various produce items across the kitchen at a series of blenders and other kitchen utensils.

TV series

Main article: The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange

External links

• The Annoying Orange official website
• The Annoying Orange official YouTube channel
• The Annoying Orange on Blip

Achievements
Preceded by MysteryGuitarMan	Most Subscribed Channel on YouTube Ranked 8th as of April 2011	Succeeded by collegehumor