Craig “Spike” Decker and Mike Gribble took cartoons out of context and created a market where none had existed.

Spike and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the University Union Ballroom. Known collectively as Spike and Mike, the duo originally began their careers in the 1970s by founding Mellow Manner Productions, Inc., an avenue for promoting rock bands.

In 1977, after promoting an animation festival, Spike and Mike’s focus shifted entirely to promoting animated films.

Spike and Mike decided to create a touring event of animation, dubbed The Spike and Mike Festival of Animation.

“We were promoters, entrepreneurs, counter-culture-ers, finding and premiering the best animation that has ever existed,” Decker said. “We used guerrilla marketing. We were unique.”

The pair originally began showing classic animation, but eventually started a new brand dubbed “Sick and Twisted” in 1990.

The new brand came about due to many submissions from animators and directors for the festival being adult-oriented humor.

“We used to do a show, the original festival, for all ages,” Decker said. “A lot of Wallace and Gromit and Pixar in the original shows.”

The Sick and Twisted festival, however, was aimed at a different audience; full of dark and gross-out humor.

“They were submissions that wouldn’t program to an audience of all ages,” Decker said. “It was a brand that was edgy, with sexual content or violent scenes. Sick and Twisted. Truly deranged and sick and twisted.”

The Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation, which now tours the county, premiered at UC Berkeley in 1990. It created a paradigm shift in how animation could be viewed.

“We were taking animation out of the context of being family fair, showing that there’s a place for adult animation as well,” Decker said.

Both the Classic Festival of Animation and the Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation were held annually until the 2000s at San Diego Comic-Con in La Jolla, Calif., when the Classic Festival was discontinued in favor of the Sick and Twisted Festival. Both Decker and Gribble would host these festivals and would take the stage to introduce the films being shown.

“Mike was always master of ceremonies,” Decker said. “A real character. I would construct films.”

Both Decker and Gribble would do promotions on college campuses, going on the road and getting into antics.

Decker, however, described himself and Gribble as slightly more down-to-earth than their personae would lead an audience to believe.

“We’re former hippies. Individuals. People that have tried to find their own way,” he said. “We’re unique, creative, out of the norm. We’re out of the established way of doing something.”

After Gribble’s death in 1994, fewer films were produced by Decker and more films were simply acquired from other animators and directors and shown at the festival.

“We haven’t produced for a number of years,” Decker said. “We’re so well-known as a brand, we get tons of submissions, and we acquire films from all over the world.”

Many famous names have either had their start at Spike and Mike’s Classic Festivals, or have taken part.

Nick Park’s “Wallace and Gromit” and Mike Judge’s “Beavis and Butthead,” in the form of the short “Frog Baseball,” had their premieres at the Festival.

Pixar’s Andrew Stanton, director of “Finding Nemo” and “WALL-E,” and John Lasseter, director of “Toy Story,” have contributed.

Matt Stone and Trey Parker of “South Park” fame had a piece featured, along with many other famous or independent animators.

While Gribble’s passing has affected Decker, the quality of the festival has continued to improve.

“Personally, it’s a lot harder,” Decker said. “It was a yin and the yang situation; always good to have the counterpart to humor. It’s harder with him gone, obviously. The amount of films and the notoriety is stronger than then, and hence the variety and content has improved. The shows have gotten better.”

Ron Lethcoe, senior studio art major, saw the festival at last year’s International San Diego Comic Convention.

“Yeah, it’s pretty crazy,” Lethcoe said. “I’m not going to lie. I don’t remember a lot of it, but it was pretty insane, a lot of crazy stuff.”

Zenia Diokno, the programs supervisor of UNIQUE, said the Crest used to show the festival every year. She said the event will be fun.

“It’s always been a good energy in the crowd. They feel free to shout at the screen,” Diokno said. “We thought (Spike and Mike) would fit the college atmosphere. It’s something a little bit different.”

Decker pointed out that the films that will be featured at Sac State are a good selection. The short films include the Breehn Burns and Jason Johnson-created Internet series “Doctor Tran,” which has been popular enough to produce an Internet meme and originally premiered at a Spike and Mike festival.

Also included in the lineup is Brad Neely’s “Cox and Combe’s Washington,” a film that makes George Washington out to be larger than life in a rap. Kurt Nellis’ “Proper Urinal Etiquette,” which explains which urinal to use in any given situation, will also be shown.

Decker believes the lineup to be a good one, showcasing the humor of Spike and Mike’s brand.

“A real variety of great, great humor,” Decker said. “It’s quite a show, a hell of a show.”

Cole Mayer can be reached at [email protected]