Hazbin Hotel is an American adult animated musical comedy television series created by Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano.

The pilot episode, released on YouTube on October 28, 2019, was made entirely by freelance animators and was mainly financed by Medrano's Patreon followers.

[12] With the help of her devoted manager and girlfriend, Vaggie, and their reluctant first patron, pornographic film actor Angel Dust, she is determined to make her dream become a reality.

But when her proposal on live television goes awry, her plan attracts the attention of the powerful "Radio Demon" Alastor who, despite finding her belief in redemption laughable, wants to help Charlie run the hotel for his own amusement.

[30][31] Another comic entitled "A Day in the Afterlife (The Radio Demon)", which focused on Alastor's daily life in Hell, was posted to the website on October 19, 2020, containing sixteen pages.

[32] In February 2020, Gabriel C. Brown, Alastor's pilot singing voice, covered the songs "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" and "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" in character.

[38] "Addict" is an animated music video released on July 17, 2020, on Medrano's YouTube channel,[39][40][41] based on and featuring the Silva Hound song of the same name.

Tito W. James of Comicon.com described the video as giving viewers a "deeper look" at the lives of Cherri Bomb and Angel Dust, and praised the "world of Hazbin" for being "paradoxically provocative and empathetic".

[81] Reviewer Sean Cubillas for CBR praised the show for "quirky, ambitious, and dark humor" and some of the "fastest, wittiest, and raunchiest dialogue ever seen in independent animation.

The website's consensus reads: "A hellzapoppin' musical series swathed in hot, vibrant colors, Hazbin Hotel is worth a booking.

[84] Erik Piepenburg of the Los Angeles Times said the show's universe is a "brazenly colorful, queer-inclusive and fast-paced mishmash" with "outlandish grotesque scenes and copious potty mouths", along with "a Broadway pop score".

[87] Petrana Radulovic of Polygon described the series as a "character-driven musical with an overarching driving plot and a lot of deep world-building", also noting that it features "multiple female and queer leads".

He claimed the series has hit-or-miss gory humor and disorienting camera angles, but overall has stellar music, skillful voice actors, and a "balanced charm to round out its hellish setting", and called it a "sweet, raunchy time" that many adults will like.

[91] In contrast, Alison Herman of Variety said that although the series has a "feel-good backstory belied by its grim premise" and original idea that's "easy to root for", it pays less attention to cosmological details or motivations of the protagonists.

She said the series has retrograde morality, gets lost in "its chaotic, contradictory atmosphere," and is not far along enough to "function as a full season of TV", comparing it unfavorably to The Good Place.

[93] Kristy Puchko of Mashable described the series as a "perky pink cartoon show about sinners and singing", but argued that the first three episodes are "unremarkable" to newcomers, and said that the dialogue is jarring when compared with an animation style which "seems to be aping Disney XD", as well as saying it is "not satisfyingly subversive".

[94] The New Hampshire Union-Leader criticized the series as having an "utterly confusing backstory/mythology", frantic action, overall calling it a "headache of a show", as well as stating the dialogue sounds "more adolescent than shocking".

[95] Following its release, Hazbin Hotel set a new streaming record for Prime Video, becoming the largest global debut in viewership for a new animated title on the platform.

[106] Some media outlets noted intense fan interest in the character Lucifer Morningstar, the king of Hell,[107] who hadn't "physically appeared in any Hazbin Hotel work" prior to the show's first season.

[112] Scholar Ben Mitchell described the series as "sensationally popular" and an effective use of Patreon to subsidize the show's art "through monthly tiered payments".