"I just wanted my Goddamn cheese!" - Allan, "Desmond's Big Day Out"
Allan Red is the deuteragonist of Adult Swim's animated television series Smiling Friends.
He is a tall, red Critter employed at Smiling Friends Inc., often seen taking inventory around the office.
He is voiced by co-creator Michael Cusack, who also voices Pim in the same show.
Appearance[]
Body[]
Allan is a tall, red Critter with long, thin limbs and a slouched, oblong body. He has a prominent nose, large almond-shaped eyes, and a slight overbite.
Clothing[]
Allan is usually only seen wearing a light blue necktie. Starting with season two, it becomes noticeably wrinkly.
In "A Silly Halloween Special," his costume resembles the Joker's clown outfit from Joker (2019).
In "Frowning Friends," he dons the rival company's darker blue security uniform.
In "Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back," the necktie is switched out for a scarf of the same color.
In "The Smiling Friends Go to Brazil!," he wears a blue polo shirt with tan cargo shorts.
In "Pim Finally Turns Green," he wears a blue speedo at the beach.
He's also shown putting on contact lenses each morning in "A Allan Adventure."
Personality and traits[]
Allan is generally uptight and deadpan, often playing the role of the straight man amidst the antics of other characters. He is somewhat callous, unemotional, socially awkward, and amoral, often indifferent to many situations and blunt in describing his priorities and how he views others. He is also shown to have a sassy side, as evidenced in "The Magical Red Jewel (aka Tyler Gets Fired)," when he chastises Charlie over failing to keep Mr. Boss’s son Jason from dying, referring to Charlie as a “yellow son of a bitch” who was “talking [his] ear off.”
Allan exhibits traits of an obsessive or hyper-fixated individual, as seen in "Desmond's Big Day Out," when he obsesses over a missing paperclip, and also when he spends all day searching for his missing piece of cheese from his stash in the same episode. In general, Allan is shown to be a bit impatient, highly organized, apathetic, and somewhat eccentric. He obsessively keeps things in order, prioritizes company objectives, fixates on small things, acts selfishly, and shows disinterest in many of the situations he finds himself in. Despite this, he seemingly has a somewhat active social life, as seen when he's seen waking up next to an attractive woman.
Additionally, Allan is shown to be considerably intelligent as noted in "Pim Finally Turns Green" when Charlie compliments Allan's intelligence for his idea of taking Rotten the Snowman to a colder environment so that he doesn't melt, to which Allan responds by mentioning how he built the nuclear-powered rocket boots that Mr. Boss flew away with earlier in the episode.
Compared to Pim’s optimism and Charlie’s cynicism, Allan's priorities are more self-centered when it comes to his duties as a Smiling Friends employee. In "Gwimbly: Definitive Remastered Enhanced Extended Edition DX 4K (Anniversary Director’s Cut)," the sole reason why he decides to assist Pim in helping Gwimbly smile is because he wants the homeless mascot to stop panhandling. In "Frowning Friends," he joins Frowning Friends Inc. simply because they have a better 401K.
Allan has a somewhat bizarre method of talking that diminishes his ability to portray sarcasm, which often makes the words he speaks come off as sarcastic regardless of the tone he uses. This vaguely-sarcastic speech results from his tendency to not soften specific hard consonants in words that would usually be softened in normal speech (such as empathizing the "g" in "-ing")
Background[]
Allan lives at 2211 Meep Boulevard, Apartment 4E, Pennsylvania, USA. His apartment complex is seen in "A Allan Adventure."
Allan keeps worms in the Smiling Friends building for his compost in the fridge when Pim tried to eat them, thinking they were peanuts in "Shrimp's Odyssey."
His exact job position at the office isn't known, but it's been speculated by fans that Allan's job at Smiling Friends Inc. is their accountant/inventory manager, due to his love of organization and taking inventory at the office. It’s also possible he just deals with any type of paperwork overall for the company. This is supported when he’s shown trying to file the company’s insurance while on vacation in "Pim and Charlie Save Mother Nature".
Relationships[]
Friends/allies[]
- Smiling Friends Inc.
- Mr. Boss (employer)
- Pim Pimling (co-worker)
- Charlie Dompler (co-worker)
- Glep (co-worker)
- Gwimbly
- Plilford
- Rotten the Snowman
- Building Inspector
- Maurine
Enemies[]
- Mr. Landlord (arch-nemesis)
- Bliblies
- Armzo
- Gwimbly (formerly)
- IGBG CEO
- DJ Spit
- Sasquatch
- Skeleton Pirate
- Brittney
- Mole Man
- Triplets
- Green Halloween Witch
- Spider Allan (imaginary counterpart)
Trivia[]
- In the director's commentary of the Smiling Friends Season 1 DVD, Zach mentions that Allan's name was actually spelled "Allan" on their scripts, but was unintentionally changed to "Alan" after it was misspelled in episode descriptions and captions on HBO Max.
- Later in the director's commentary Zach also reveals Allan's last name as 'Red'.
- Allan's name may possibly be a reference to the word "allantoid", which means "shaped like a sausage", like Allan is.
- Allan may have scoliosis, as shown by the squiggly detail on his back in certain scenes. This was theorized via a post on the Smiling Friends subreddit.
- Following up this theory is a comment underneath said post stating that 'Dr. Monster' (mentioned in Erm, the Boss Finds Love?) is a chiropractor.
- Some of the comments point out that the spinal condition the original post describes is actually kyphosis (hunchback), not scoliosis.
- Allan usually talks in nasal-like tone, but whenever he screams in pain or horror, his voice becomes deep and guttural.
- Some suspect (joking or not) that Allan may be a reference to or based on the Icelandic Starer, a creature of folklore featured on an Oneyplays video.
- To date, the only episode Allan is absent from is "Charlie, Pim, and Bill vs the Alien."
- Allan is implied to be autistic, considering he portrays many autistic traits. Fans have theorized on it and most of them agree with the theory, and even if it's not intentional, it's theorized he still most likely has OCD.
- Like Charlie, Allan is also implied to be queer, as he thought Mole Man's penis looked delicious. Additionally, in the episode "Pim and Charlie Save Mother Nature", he overtly flirts with Mr. Boss and eventually licks crumbs of cookies off of his chest.
Season 1[]
- 101: "Desmond's Big Day Out" - Lead role
- 102: "Mr. Frog"
- 103: "Shrimp's Odyssey"
- 104: "A Silly Halloween Special"
- 105: "Who Violently Murdered Simon S. Salty?" (post-credit only)
- 106: "Enchanted Forest"
- 107: "Frowning Friends"
- 108: "Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back"
- 109: "The Smiling Friends Go to Brazil!" - Lead Role
Season 2[]
- 201: "Gwimbly: Definitive Remastered Enhanced Extended Edition DX 4K (Anniversary Director’s Cut)" - Lead role
- 202: "Mr. President"
- 203: "A Allan Adventure" - Lead role
- 204: "Erm, the Boss Finds Love?" - Lead role
- 205: "Brother's Egg"
- 207: "The Magical Red Jewel AKA Tyler Gets Fired" - Lead role
- 208: "Pim Finally Turns Green"
Season 3[]
- 301: "Silly Samuel" - Lead role
- 302: "Le Voyage Incroyable de Monsieur Grenouille" (post-credit only)
- 303: "Mole Man" - Lead role
- 304: "Curse of the Green Halloween Witch" - Lead role
- 305: "Pim and Charlie Save Mother Nature" - Lead role
- 306: "Squim Returns"
- 310: "Charlie's Uncle Dies and Doesn't Come Back"