# China, IL (2011)

> Two brother professors and their dysfunctional colleagues at America's worst college stumble through absurd, neglected academic duties in this adult animated comedy.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/36428

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 30
- Episode runtime: 11 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, comedy
- Created by: Brad Neely
- Network: Adult Swim
- Cast: Brad Neely, Greta Gerwig, Hulk Hogan, Jason Walden, Jeffrey Tambor, Gary Anthony Williams, Chelsea Peretti, Hannibal Buress
- TMDB rating: 7.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2058221/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: mild
- Tone: absurdist, irreverent, deadpan, chaotic, breezy

## Synopsis

China, IL (2011-2015) is an American adult animated comedy created by Brad Neely for Adult Swim. Spanning three seasons and thirty short episodes of roughly eleven minutes each, it follows the Professor Brothers, Steve and Frank Smith, voiced by Neely himself, as they and their faculty colleagues wander through the worst college in America. Their daily engine is the gap between academic duty and their urge to avoid it, whether that means slamming drinks during lectures or inventing excuses to skip class. Pony Merks, voiced by Greta Gerwig, and Hulk Hogan as The Dean add further chaotic voices to the ensemble, with Jeffrey Tambor as Professor Cakes rounding out the faculty. Each installment is built from rapid, jarring non sequiturs, crude gags and deadpan cutaways that keep the mood breezy, irreverent and gleefully nonsensical. The series is set in a present-day American campus with no fixed era, and its tone sits between surreal and cynical. Fans of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sealab 2021 and Space Ghost Coast to Coast will find the same anarchic energy, dense absurdity and adult-swim bluntness here.

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