Insomniac Ren

Plot

Ren and Stimpy go to bed early to wake up for golf, but Ren is irritated by Stimpy's bedtime hygiene habits, including plucking his eyelashes, clipping toenails, and cleaning his eyes and nose. Ren forces Stimpy to finish quickly, then a toilet overflow requires Stimpy to jiggle the handle. Ren cannot sleep due to Stimpy's childish antics, but Stimpy falls asleep when Ren tries to scold him. Stimpy's snoring grows louder, and Ren's attempts to stop it with soap and a plunger fail.

Ren moves to a living room couch, but the quiet amplifies small noises like a ticking clock, his heartbeat, and a mite eating the couch fibers, driving him back to his room. As time passes, Ren becomes delusional, believing Stimpy sleeps because he is stupid, while Wiegenlied plays ironically. Stimpy dreams of stupid offspring suckling him, with an infantile Ren as the runt sucking his finger; Ren appears in the dream to chastise Stimpy, frightening the offspring and beating Stimpy, then wakes him.

Stimpy tries to make Ren milk but finds only three cockroaches playing cards on a sardine can. He gives Ren a mysterious liquid that sedates him, but Ren vomits it upon learning it is camel saliva. Stimpy reads a story that turns out to be a fictitious Edgar Allan Poe horror novel, causing Ren to hide under the bed. Stimpy then sings a loud lullaby as a one-man band, worsening Ren's insomnia while Stimpy sleeps through the performance.

At 6 a.m., Ren breaks his alarm clock, annoying his friends Mr. Horse, Muddy Mudskipper, and Haggis MacHaggis. Ren offers $5 to anyone who can make him unconscious; the three friends and Stimpy beat him into a coma with golf clubs before proceeding with their golf arrangement.

Production

"Insomniac Ren" is the first episode directed by Steve Loter, a newcomer with little prior directing experience. He struggled at Games Animation due to its demanding workplace culture, though it was not as toxic as before series creator John Kricfalusi was fired for his toxic behavior and the episode "Man's Best Friend" that the network pulled from airings. Tom McGrath, later a director of DreamWorks films including Madagascar, Megamind, and The Boss Baby, provided storyboards for the episode.