In the pouring rain, a line of people ran down University Street beneath the giant inflatable crotch of Carl from “Aqua Teen Hunger Force.”@@http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0297494/@@ His bulge marked the beginning of a night of chilled and damp merriment, complete with games, prizes and music care of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim Carnival Tour@@http://www.adultswim.com/@@, local DJs and headliner electronic musician Dan Deacon. Around 3,000 people would attend the event throughout the night.
The Adult Swim Carnival Tour has been traveling to 10 college campuses for the past five years. Alex Marga @@http://www.facebook.com/lifeaswedontknowit@@is an ambassador for the University’s Cultural Forum and has been helping to promote the show to the student body.
“It’s not just about the cartoons, but also about the other stuff they do. For instance, there’s a carnival game based off of ‘Robot Unicorn Attack@@http://www.adultswim.com/schedule/index.html@@,’” Marga said. “This won’t be the last Adult Swim event we hold. We’re in talks about doing separate events aside from the carnival at the University.”
One of the most notable carnival games was called “Smack Up My Uvula.”@@http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21451397/highlight/253054@@ A giant, inflatable four-eyed cat sat stares into space while carnival attendees climbed their way along a rope ladder to the beast’s mouth to “smack up” its uvula. The uvula was a hanging speed bag, and when hit it would emit light to announce your triumph. Unfortunately, below the rope ladder was an inflatable walled pit for you to fall into which had collected water at some point, promising a wet landing.
At a young age, and bereft of any of the signature tattoos and smells that usually mars the leathery flesh of a carnie, Adult Swim events manager and marketing person Sarah Couyoumjian@@http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sarah-grace-couyoumjian/6/282/495@@ was one of those responsible for keeping things running smoothly. Youthful and cleanly, she was definitely not a classic carnie. But this wasn’t just any carnival.
“We’ve been doing more events as Adult Swim has gotten older,” she said. “This carnival is one of my favorite things to do of the year. It has been really fun to give something back to the fans.”
Another of the games had the players strap a giant pointed unicorn horn to the top of their head and leap at a collection of balloons nestled within a cargo net suspended some feet above the ground. The more balloons popped, the more points collected, and those would be applied towards a prize of a tote bag (bearing the sigil of “The Order of the Triad,” from the “Venture Bros.” show@@http://www.venturefans.org/vbwiki/The_Order_of_the_Triad@@), or other bits of loot.
“It was worth going to, I just wish it wasn’t raining,” University student Alex Taylor said@@http://www.facebook.com/TankTAylor13?sk=info@@. He would be one of the many lucky winners of the “Black Dynamite” beer cozy.@@http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190536/@@
Along with your participation in the games, a raffle ticket was handed out to be used for a “cash grab,” in which the winner (she went by the name “Bullet Brain”) would be placed in a vacuum-powered plastic cube and could grab at and keep as much cash that floated by her as she could in 60 seconds. “Bullet Brain” picked up nearly all of it.
“I’ve been doing this for five years, and I’ve never seen anybody clean out the cash booth,” emcee Brad Gibson said.
The line beneath Carl wasn’t for entering the carnival but to get one of the many free T-shirts that were offered. After waiting in line for a good long time, you could pick the size, color and design of the shirt offered with an Adult Swim, show-related design on the front or back as you desired.
Up on stage, they also had audience participatory contests like a dance-off, and a “hairy man competition,” in which a hairy man would gyrate suggestively at two young, attractive women seated front stage center. The names of the men were “Tom-Tom,” “Reaper,” “Sasquatch” and Ed, who won with his excellent stage presence and nipple-centric dance moves.@@oh my god@@
At the end of the night, Dan Deacon@@http://boards.adultswim.com/t5/General-Music-Discussion/Dan-Deacon-Remix-s-Woody-the-Woodpecker/td-p/51538782@@ performed for the crowd in the brisk deluge that did not relent. The crowd continued to dance and paid no heed to the weather.
“I have to say, this is one of the best carnivals I’ve worked,” Couyoumjian said. “It’s pouring down rain, and nobody cares. They’re just out here dancing and having a good time.”