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Hey Joel is an American adult animated television series that aired on VH1 in 2003. It is about Joel Stein, the host of a three-minute rock-star interview show on VH1 called "3 minutes with Joel". However, he is anything but respectful to his famous guests, often badgering them with aggressive, pointless, irreverent, and often insulting questions.

Jon Cryer provides the voicing for the part of Joel. His coworkers include Michele (Daphne Rubin-Vega), his producer, on whom he has a crush; Kevin (Jacob Tierney), his production assistant; Leif (Josh Alexander), his nemesis, who is VH1's star; and Z (Nancy Giles), the all-business head of programming. The band Fountains of Wayne performs their own original compositions for the show, and appear as animated characters during the musical sequences.

The complete series was made available on DVD on June 24, 2008.

Episodes

1. "Judgement Day"
2. "Tattoos and Taboos"
3. "Dream"
4. "Guitar"
5. "Dark Week"
6. "Big Rack Attack"
7. "Business Affairs"
8. "Joel Sells Out"
9. "Book'd"
10. "The Ur-man and the Seal"
11. "Hockey"
12. "The Niece"
13. "Project Televisionary"

Reception

Saying the television series "simply isn't very good", Waterloo Region Record's Joel Rubinoff stated, "Blending elements of Martin Short's big-headed Jiminy Glick and Larry David's narcissistic super-geek on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Hey Joel's attempts at cheeky satire are amusing in small doses but too often come off as grating and overwrought."

Toronto Star television critic Rob Salem wrote about the show, "Does the whole add up to the sum of its parts? Well, yes and no. Given the entire music industry as source for satire, you would hope there would more of that and less of the intentionally annoying Stein." Emily Hutton of The Hamilton Spectator praised the show, writing, "I would definitely check out this show if you get Bravo, because it has the sarcastic humour (think David Spade as a cartoon) that many people enjoy."

References

1. Pacienza, Angela (June 2, 2003). "Hey Joel talks up the nonsense of celebrity TV". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
2. Faulkner, Rob (2003-06-03). "Stein's TV show on tonight". The Hamilton Spectator. Archived from the original on 2024-03-22. Retrieved 2024-03-22.
3. ^ Hutton, Emily (2003-06-02). "Joel finds home on Bravo; New show, airing tomorrow night, is based on cartoon character of a Time columnist". The Hamilton Spectator. Archived from the original on 2024-03-22. Retrieved 2024-03-22.
4. Rubinoff, Joel (2003-06-03). "Face it, Joel isn't that funny; But you can watch real comedians in interesting documentary, Next Big Thing". Waterloo Region Record. Archived from the original on 2024-03-22. Retrieved 2024-03-22.
5. Salem, Rob (2003-05-31). "Hey Joel". Toronto Star. EBSCOhost 6FP0707327411.

External links

• Hey Joel at IMDb
• "How I Nearly Killed VH1" Time magazine article by Joel Stein

• 2003 American television series debuts
• 2003 American television series endings
• 2000s American adult animated television series
• 2000s American animated comedy television series
• 2000s American musical comedy television series
• 2000s American workplace comedy television series
• American adult animated comedy television series
• American adult animated musical television series
• American flash adult animated television series
• American English-language television shows
• VH1 original programming
• Television series by Curious Pictures
• Television series by Lionsgate Canada