[4] A panel dedicated to the series was held during the Adult Swim Festival on November 12, 2021, where co-creator Zach Hadel mentioned the show would premiere "within a few months", pushing the release schedule ahead to 2022.

[14] The series follows the misadventures and shenanigans of Charlie Dompler and Pim Pimling, two employees of the Smiling Friends, a charitable company dedicated to bringing joy and happiness to its clients.

He cheers up a little when taken to an amusement park, but subsequently goes on a nihilistic rant, causing the optimistic Pim to suffer a paralyzing existential crisis.

They then put him on "sleeping pills" given to him by Charlie, only for a lucid Mr. Frog to say something extremely offensive on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, getting him completely blacklisted from the industry.

Frog then appears in the studio to apologize and ends up eating the producer for refusing to rehire him, regaining the public's love and becoming rich enough to host the show himself.

However, Pim ends up developing feelings for Shrimpina and tries to steal the date for himself, but changes his mind once he sees Charlie with a miserable Shrimp at the agreed upon meeting spot and reluctantly reintroduces the two.

An elderly Glep, who has been narrating the episode the entire time, informs his grandson that the story is true and that Christian Hell is real before wishing the audience a Merry Christmas.

In a post-credits scene, Mr. Boss (who obtained 25% of Hell following Brittney's death) and Satan argue over fence line property boundaries.

The hosts (Mike Stoklasa and Rich Evans) implore Pim and Charlie to vaporize a populated planet as a "prank", promising to take them home if they do and threatening to place them in an eternal torture chamber if they refuse.

They reluctantly comply, only for the aliens to reveal that the planet was devoid of life, the torture device was fake, and the ship can't fly backwards, rendering them unable to return home.

As the Friends leave for a trip to the beach, Pim realizes he can take Rotten by putting him inside a cooler, but he melts when another beachgoer accidentally knocks it over.

In a post-credits scene, the Friends question the logistics of Rotten's new state of being before he consumes a boat and sends a tsunami towards the shoreline as horrified beachgoers evacuate.

Smiling Friends was created by animators Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack, noted for their individual successes as content creators for Newgrounds and YouTube.

Already well-acquainted with each other online, the pair conceived the idea for the show in 2017 whilst dining at Gus's Chicken in Burbank, California (during a visit from Cusack, who is based in Melbourne).

[31] Hadel stated in an interview that the pair's goal for the show was to base it around "a group of loveable characters, with a simple kind of concept, which we could take anywhere we wanted to".

appeared on Rotten Tomatoes on July 21, and was confirmed by Hadel and Cusack at Adult Swim's San Diego Comic-Con panel the next day.

[50] Lex Briscuso of New York Magazine praised the show's tone and animation style, particularly its use of "unnerving close-up cuts and creepy supporting character design".

[51] Margaret Lyons of The New York Times praised the show's humor and compared it favorably to Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

[52] Noah Dominguez of Comic Book Resources also made this comparison, and additionally praised the show as "unique" and commended its "bizarre humor" and "surrealist tone.