Nation of Animation is a cartoon book club podcast for all ages! Join lifelong cartoon fans Ryan Stevens and Brooke-Erin Smith every other week as they discuss classic cartoons through a modern lens and celebrate everything cartoons have to offer!
Listeners, is it perhaps the case that you ain't happy? And in fact, you're feeling sad? Well don't worry, because this week we do indeed have sunshine in a bag as we unpack the awesome animated super-band, Gorillaz! We talk Blur, the convoluted lore of these cartoon musicians, their own eras, eclectic music tastes, and more!
REAL WORLD RECS:
Brooke: Monopoly GO!
Ryan: 'The Bright Sword' by Lev Grossman
Follow our bluesky @nationofanimation (https://bsky.app/profile/nationofanimation.bsky.social), our Letterboxd @NationAnimation (https://letterboxd.com/NationAnimation/), and our Instagram and @cartoonbookclub (https://www.instagram.com/cartoonbookclub/?hl=en), and follow our hosts
@thebrookesmith
and
@ryanwithcheese on Twitter
http://brookeerinsmith.com http://ryangstevens.com
&
Support secret projects on Venmo @nationofanimation
BIG THANKS TO: Jacob Menke for our theme
Follow them @menkemaster
&
Urvashi Lele for our art
Learn more about Urvashi Lele's animations by visiting http://www.sirpeagreenstudios.com and follow their endeavors on instagram at @sirpeagreen and @maisonaudmi
12 Aug 2026
Wall-to-Wall WALL-E
We discuss Pixar's crowning achievement, WALL-E! It's about a little robot with big dreams, big robots with little empathy, and future space-baby people. We analyze the secret sauce that makes this movie so good: character designs, musicals, Real Human Being Fred Willard, and much more!
PLUS in this week's animation news, a special ad sponsor (not for us -- not yet!), a bizarre upcoming movie, and an, uhhh, *impassioned* plea for anime from one cartoon fan in Texas.
MOVIES DISCUSSED:
WALL-E (2008), dir. Andrew Stanton
REAL WORLD RECS
Brooke: Widow's Bay on Apple TV+
Ryan: The Backrooms, dir. Kane Parsons
Follow our bluesky @nationofanimation (https://bsky.app/profile/nationofanimation.bsky.social), our Letterboxd @NationAnimation (https://letterboxd.com/NationAnimation/), and our Instagram and @cartoonbookclub (https://www.instagram.com/cartoonbookclub/?hl=en), and follow our hosts
@thebrookesmith
and
@ryanwithcheese on Twitter
http://brookeerinsmith.com http://ryangstevens.com
&
Support secret projects on Venmo @nationofanimation
BIG THANKS TO: Jacob Menke for our theme
Follow them @menkemaster
&
Urvashi Lele for our art
Learn more about Urvashi Lele's animations by visiting http://www.sirpeagreenstudios.com and follow their endeavors on instagram at @sirpeagreen and @maisonaudmi
29 Jul 2026
King of the Hill Returns Again
It's the Return of the King! King of the Hill's second season (and 15th season overall) is here, so we finally discuss its miraculous resurrection from last year. How has the Hill family grown up? What has life had in store for our dear Bobby Hill? What the hell is Dale Gribble doing these days?
EPISODES DISCUSSED:
Season 14 Episode 1 - 'Return of the King'
Season 14 Episode 2 - 'The Beer Story'
Season 14 Episode 6 - 'Peggy's Fade-Out'
Season 14 Episode 9 - 'No Hanks Left Behind'
REAL WORDS RECS
Brooke: A BIG surprise!
Ryan: A RELATED surprise!
Follow our bluesky @nationofanimation (https://bsky.app/profile/nationofanimation.bsky.social), our Letterboxd @NationAnimation (https://letterboxd.com/NationAnimation/), and our Instagram and @cartoonbookclub (https://www.instagram.com/cartoonbookclub/?hl=en), and follow our hosts
@thebrookesmith
and
@ryanwithcheese on Twitter
http://brookeerinsmith.com http://ryangstevens.com
&
Support secret projects on Venmo @nationofanimation
BIG THANKS TO: Jacob Menke for our theme
Follow them @menkemaster
&
Urvashi Lele for our art
Learn more about Urvashi Lele's animations by visiting http://www.sirpeagreenstudios.com and follow their endeavors on instagram at @sirpeagreen and @maisonaudmi
Who has been a guest on Nation of Animation
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Jacob Menke
Urvashi Lele
Richard Williams
Burny Mattinson
Robert Zemeckis
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
14 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 61 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
93
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
71
Contact Nation of Animation
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about Nation of Animation
Who hosts Nation of Animation?
Ryan Stevens and Brooke Smith host the show. Published by Nation of Animation.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes monthly, based on its RSS feed.
Does Nation of Animation take guests?
Yes. Guests have been identified in episode analyses.
Host of Nation of Animation?
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