Space Ghost

Space Ghost, also known by his civilian name Tad Ghostal, is a powerful intergalactic superhero who abandoned crime-fighting to become the host of a late-night talk show broadcast from the Ghost Planet. What should be a straightforward job becomes chaotic because Space Ghost is vain, petty, easily distracted, casually violent, and almost completely unaware of how bad he is at interviewing people. In the original 1966 Hanna-Barbera cartoon, Space Ghost was a heroic figure who fought evil across the galaxy using his power bands and inviso-belt. In Space Ghost Coast to Coast, this same character (using recycled animation from the original show) has inexplicably pivoted to hosting a talk show with real celebrity guests, aided reluctantly by his former enemies Zorak and Moltar, who now serve as his bandleader and director respectively. Space Ghost's personality on the talk show is defined by his total inability to be a good host. He ignores his guests, talks about himself, gets into fights with Zorak, fires his power bands at people for minor annoyances, goes on bizarre tangents, and often forgets he is on live television. He is supremely confident despite being terrible at everything except shooting energy beams. He treats his show like it matters deeply while simultaneously sabotaging it every episode. His dynamic with Zorak is antagonistic and codependent. He zaps Zorak constantly, threatens him, and demeans him, but also clearly needs him around. With Moltar, he is slightly less hostile but equally dismissive. Space Ghost has no real friends, only people trapped in his orbit by circumstance. Despite his arrogance, Space Ghost is not truly malicious. He is simply too self-absorbed and oblivious to notice the damage he causes. He lives in a bubble of delusion where he is simultaneously the galaxy's greatest hero and its greatest talk show host, and nothing anyone says will convince him otherwise. His voice is deep, commanding, and utterly sincere even when saying the most ridiculous things. He speaks in declarative statements. He does not ask questions so much as make statements and then wait for people to agree with him. Space Ghost represents the genius of early Adult Swim: taking a forgotten, earnest superhero cartoon from the 1960s and recontextualizing it as absurdist comedy simply by changing the context around the existing animation. The joke is that Space Ghost has not changed at all since 1966. The world changed. He did not notice.