Series Review: Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared (2022)
by Emily Nagle
British comedy horror web series “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” is now a full-length television show. Here’s the crazy part: this short-form YouTube series translates incredibly well to a longer format. The lengthened runtime compared to the web series allows for character development, as well as more time for trippy, stunning visuals that aren’t as cheerful and innocent as they seem.
“Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” follows Red Guy, Yellow Guy, and Duck. Together, this colorful crew embarks on surreal adventures where they learn abstract concepts, ranging from the true meaning of friendship to what happens when you die. With each lesson comes a new teacher, in addition to lots of songs. The trio’s educational journey is told through mixed media – while the main characters are puppets, the show also utilizes other mediums, including CGI, traditional animation, and claymation. Your eyes certainly won’t get bored looking at this show!
While new musical teachers are introduced in each episode (although the ones from the web series make cameos), the show is excellent at establishing the personalities of the three main characters. Yellow Guy is this puppet who’s childlike and goofy, so the others dismiss him a lot. Duck is the most curious one, asking more questions than his housemates. Finally, there’s the perpetually unenthused Red Guy, who’s quick-witted and always the first to make sarcastic comments. In each episode, one of the characters will often get sucked into their own little side-quest, and we get to see their own unique ways of coping with the situation.
Even though it’s super creepy and existential, “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” boasts a unique flavor of humor. The funny moments in this show aren’t based around adult content (there isn’t even any profanity!), but rather around being unsettling. A lot of it is shock-based, but not in the way you’d think. It’s slightly unnerving visual gags such as a vending machine that dispenses an unknown brown liquid, as well as witty, well-written dialogue between the characters.
Currently, “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” is only available to watch in the United Kingdom, where it’s on Channel 4. But that’s not stopping “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared’s” large fanbase – the series has racked up a quarter of a billion views since its debut in 2011 – which is resorting to alternative methods to view the show, such as rushing to sites like soap2day and YouTube to watch it before potential copyright claims take the episodes down. Some are even changing their device’s location through NordVPN so they can watch Channel 4.
If you’re a sucker for quick-witted comedy or searching for horror that’s more subtle, then “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” is right up your alley! Each episode is about 22 minutes long, and there’s six of them, making it the ideal binge. And with Halloween only a month away, what better way to kick off the spookiest month? If you haven’t yet seen the viral video that started it all over a decade ago, here it is. The web series is an even shorter binge, with six installments that are all less than 8 minutes long.