So I talk about quite a few things on here, most of them with varying levels of popularity. So what better way to grab people’s attention then with good old 2000s nostalgia. So I wanna talk about Ed, Edd, n Eddy, a favoite show of mine from my childhoo- wait, Ed, Edd n Eddy came out in the 90s, fuck!



Ed, Edd n Eddy is one of the greatest cartoons in, probably of all time. I know for a fact that it’s my favorite show. Where other famous shows tried and failed, Ed, Edd n Eddy succeeded. Spongebob is good, but it had some rough years. The Simpsons is alright, but it is in desperate need of euthanization right now. Hell, limiting it to the network Ed, Edd, n Eddy aired on, other Cartoon Network properties like Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack weren’t even safe from going bad. Everyone hates Powerpuff Girls 2016 and Samurai Jack had a disappointing finale (Season 5 was shit. Sorry, not sorry). But Ed, Edd, n Eddy was different. It was pure. Okay, in all honesty, Ed, Edd n Eddy is not a perfect show by any means. It has a weird look to it and pretty cynical level of humor that would really only appeal to a specific category of people. Those looking for… morals. Ugh. But Ed, Edd n Eddy never seemed to go down the path of having bad continuations, bad seasons, and a satisfying conclusion. And yet it wasn’t a grand tale or a generation defying show. It was just a really well made show that people remember fondly, created by a Canadian on a dare because his friends thought he couldn’t make a kids show. And it’s only about some asshole kids in a cul-de-sac trying to get some Jawbreakers. What made this stand out from the rest in my eyes? Well, to focus on that, let us focus on the title characters. Let us talk about the so called Ed, Edd n Eddy.

Part 1: Edd, The Brains



Edd with Two D’s, better known by his nickname Double D, is the brains of the group and the voice of reason for the other two Eds. Whenever a plan needs to be worked out or a crazy invention needs to be made, Double D is the one who usually comes up with the creations and quickly. There’s just something I found amazing about the idea of taking random stuff around your house or in the trash and making items out of it, and this show delivers in full. Creating bikes out of trash cans or giant gumball machines out of junk or an entire city out of boxes. Double D is the more reasonable of the group, not having the heart to do any of the ill will stuff that Eddy or Ed would take part in, but is more than enticed by the sweet treats that are Jawbreakers. Just seeing Double D’s scientific and cleanliness, almost bordering on OCD, personality clash with Eddy’s ruthless desire to fuck with the kids or Ed’s imbecilic mishaps really adds a character between the group. It helps having a sort of straight man among the Eds to help go along with the crazy shenanigans they get roped into.

Part 2: Ed, The Muscle



Ed is the muscle of the team and the bonafide bone headed idiot. Look up any clip of Ed, Edd, n Eddy and the first character you will always come across is Ed doing something so bizarre that it bounces back and becomes hilarious. Seeing the reactions of everyone around Ed as he does something insane like eating his mattress hole or slamming his head into dirt for fun just adds to the humor. But Ed is also there to add slapstick to the show. People have compared this to the Three Stooges and Ed very much resembles that ideology. Always doing something to physically hurt the two by accident like smashing an entire house on Eddy. There are so many amazing gags with Ed that go to the absolute absurd that it’s impossible not to laugh at. I was not expecting to laugh as hard as I did when I went back to this show, but I was so happy that it was not only as funny as I remember, but even funnier. Even the overly told jokes like sliding on the soap and all that stuff. Of course, all the jokes don’t just come from Ed’s antics, but we’ll get to those later.

Part 3: Eddy, the Manipulator



Debatably the main character of the show, Eddy is the leader of the team and is the mischievous, manipulative scam artist that comes up with all the plans for the Eds in get rich quick schemes. The fact that Eddy can gain the ire of the kids in the cul-de-sac in one episode but completely persuade them in the next episode just shows that he isn’t doing this with just a dumb idea in mind. He’s more than capable of tricking them when he can. He’s kind of the perfect salesman. And just as crooked as one too. No matter how poorly made or humanly unethical the scams are, Eddy is never quick to judge or try it out because all he wants is that sweet sweet twenty five cents. Of course, not all the episodes are about scamming the kids. Some times, Eddy tries to gain their attention by being the best like besting Rolf in a contest or being more injured than Jimmy just because if he’s not the center of attention, then that’s no good. This may stem from some sort of childhood trauma, but… I’m getting ahead of myself. So we got our three protagonists. And with that, we get the premise of our show. Make a plan to scam kids, execute plan, plan goes horribly wrong either due to mishaps or doings of other characters and the Eds fail once again. Most episodes go like that but never once get tiring, because of the other cast of characters. But before we talk about the characters of the kids, let’s talk about the character of the cul-de-sac. And yes, I’m really calling this thing a character.

Part 4: The Cul-De-Sac



The setting of the show itself is just as important as the characters that live within it. There are very few settings in this show. You got the cul-de-sac, a construction zone building more houses, the trailer park just on the other side of the nearby woods, a park, and a picket fence. These are places you could probably find in your childhood home. I know they were around my area growing up as a kid. Hell, I had a few cul-de-sacs in my local town. The setting of Ed, Edd, n Eddy fits well with the theme it’s going for. This small cast of characters just hanging around a town on summer break, doing what they usually do, knowing each of their different personalities around the town, with each one having their own relationships with the other kids. The fact that we don’t see any other characters besides these kids really adds to that small world feel that I’m sure a lot of kids had when they were little. Or, you know, it’s all purgatory and these kids are really dead, if you really wanna go down that route. Sheesh, even the animals are rare in this world aside from the farm animals and a few random bugs and dogs here and there. But, the Cul-De-Sac just adds one of the many spices of flavor to this show. Let us talk about the cas- Wait, I forgot to talk about the other stuff!

Part 5: Animation and Sound



The animation in this show is unlike any of the other cartoons that were around at the time. Sure, it didn’t have the ugliest style, but something about it was so unique. Colors had strange skin colors without looking like something out of Doug, as well as having tongues that were purple, green and blue. It’s said that the creator gave them these colored tongues as a creative thing because some people in the studio were eating candy that changed their tongues a different color and he thought it would add to the style. But the most unique thing is the outlines, how they vibrate ever so subtly. They move just enough for you to not get distracted but it gives off an old cartoon vibe to it. I heard they had to trace two lines of animation over it to get that effect and it’s a really nice effect. It adds to the childlike world of this show. But the real kicker for this show, the real thing that gives Ed, Edd n Eddy it’s comedic edge is the use of sounds. The music in this show is a real banger, having this soft jazz tune. Playing cello, jazzy trumpets and that damn drum playing out the sick rhythm of the characters just walking down the street. It helps add to the show’s visuals when its just showing off a scene with no character voices. But the sound effects itself. If you know anything about Ed, Edd n Eddy, it’s the damn sound effects. Rarely do you hear the same two sounds effects in a scene. It will have such a library of sound effects and all of them are used at just the right time for the perfect comedic effect. It’s so hard to describe the genius use of sound effects without giving a visual example, so if you have no idea what I mean, look up some random Ed, Edd n Eddy clips, listen for the sound and you’ll see what I mean. Cartoons today still use the style of using sound effects for comedic timing, as recently as the independent cartoon project Hazbin Hotel (May do an article on that some day). But I’ve held off on it long enough. Let’s get on with the characters of this show. Let’s talk about the resident of the Cul-De-Sac

Part 6: The Cast



The Ed, Edd n Eddy roster is not massive, but what we have is just enough to create a memorable cast of characters. Some of the fan favorites would be Rolf, a foreign kid who does farm work and always shouts about his strange traditions from his country, stuff as weird as carving a tree stump with his pants off to finding comfort inside of a giant clam. The insanity of Rolf’s traditions are almost as bizarre and laughable as Ed’s stupidity. Another fan favorite would be Johnny, the socially inept weird kid of the neighborhood who is always carrying around his wooden plank companion, Plank, who may be alive, maybe not, but regardless, Johnny has managed to convince others that Plank is a living entity. Johnny’s sheer carelessness and just doing what he enjoys while messing around with other people’s things comes off as humorous in it’s own way. You got the other characters in the show as well, the pretty girl Nazz, Ed’s loud mouth sister Sarah and her friend, the unlucky wimp Jimmy, the cool kid in town Kevin, and the dreaded Kanker Sisters, the rivals to the Eds that cause the most misfortune for the Eds and pretty much the other kids. Each of these kids are no different than the ones you’d find in your own childhood town. Yeah, it all comes back to what you saw as a kid. This is the kind of show you can watch and feel nostalgia for despite it not really being based around the show but just thinking back to your childhood and going, “Oh yeah, I remember that one kid that talked to a pet rock” or “Yeah, that one kid on the bike was kind of a dick, wasn’t he?”. But there is one complaint I always here and I think this is what will lead to the true genius that is Ed, Edd n Eddy. When I was a kid, I was always told that characters like Sarah or Kevin were just unlikable characters. Each character has a different level of tolerance to the Eds. Most of them will humor their crap until push comes to shove, but Kevin and Sarah are far less likely to trust what comes out of their mouths, sometimes ready to throw down. And despite that, I never really found myself disliking any of the characters, but as a kid, I didn’t know why. But as soon as I got older, I realized why it was that I didn’t mind it. And that is because the Eds are not good people. In fact, they are the bad guys in this show.

Part 7: The Morally Grey



Time to put those years of Jr. High English to good use. There is this thing you are told about called the morally grey in high school. This means that the protagonist may not be a good person. In cartoons at the time, stuff like The Powerpuff Girls, Courage the Cowardly Dog and Samurai Jack, we were used to selfless heroes, some more brave than others, that were willing to do good because it was the right thing to do. But the morally grey teaches you that just because you are the protagonist, that doesn’t mean you’re supposed to be the good guy. A lot of crime movies or, a modern example, Joker, is proof of it. They are the protagonist, the characters we follow and understand. But they are not good people on a moral level. The Eds are not good people. Sure, one of the Eds are more just than another, but regardless, they are scam artists, liars, a danger to the kids in the cul-de-sac, and just greedy. This was the first instant I had as a kid to main characters that weren’t heroes. In fact, this was the first instance of characters that were actually awful people. And despite that, despite them being bad people, I still enjoyed them. I loved their antics and enjoyed the friendship that the Eds had. I came to love the random mishaps that they would get into, and I wasn’t ever too upset when they got their inevitable punishment by the episodes end. And yet, a part of me would at least want them to win. I knew they were in the wrong and I knew they had no right to deserve it, but a part of me did want them to win just once. And that dream became a reality.

Part 8: The Movie



Like all good things, they have to come to an end. Ed, Edd n Eddy, after six seasons (Kinda, the six season was just two episodes that weren’t aired originally), the show was to end with a movie in 2009. In the movie, the Eds make a scam so horrendous that the whole cul-de-sac is after them. In need of hiding, the Eds go on a search for Eddy’s older brother, who was mentioned as the coolest guy in the world, who everyone in the cul-de-sac feared and respected. The show touched on the relationships of the other characters, including the friendship of the Eds, and we finally get to see a new face. After ten whole years, a new character shows himself, Eddy’s Brother joins the battle and he is an absolute piece of fucking shit! Constantly bullying Eddy in a way that not even the kids of the cul-de-sac would justify. But here, we learn that Eddy has always been living in his brother’s shadow, ever since he was little. This movie has a lot of instances where Eddy and Double D get into serious questions about their friendship and… man, I just came to talk about a funny movie. I didn’t expect to get hit with these kinds of emotions. But after Eddy admits that this was all a ruse just to get the respect that his brother had, he apologizes for his actions and is finally accepted by the kids. After ten years, they were finally able to do it. And the movie and thus the series ends on a happy ending and thus, concludes the show.

This entire article was one big nostalgia trip for me. I was not expecting to enjoy going back to this show as much as I did. Ed, Edd n Eddy was a beloved show, not just by me but by many other people. It was Cartoon Network’s longest running show and still holds the title to this day, won any awards and critical praise and had so much recognition. It wasn’t a show with a deep story or a great message. It was nothing but a bunch of kids in a neighborhood just doing what kids do, and that’s all it needed to be. Ed, Edd n Eddy is my favorite cartoon of all time. There are shows that I know are better than this, from a writing perspective, animation perspective and even from a humorous perspective. But nothing will ever capture that sense of childlike wonder and nostalgia that this show did, even if it was a wacky experience all around… Oh yeah, it also had that one video game that came out, but that’s something completely different subject to another time.