After being rejected by Saturday Night Live and before he would find major success on television’s In Living Color and hit films such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, a relatively unknown and somewhat hyperactive comedian named Jim Carrey would get his television feet wet as the subdued star of a quirky little sitcom/cartoon hybrid called The Duck Factory.

Debuting in 1984 on NBC, The Duck Factory was the nickname for a low-budget animation studio called Buddy Winkler Productions, producers of the cartoon, The Dippy Duck Show. Their newest hire is a young and inexperienced animator named Skip Tarkenton (Carrey) a recent and somewhat naive new arrival to Hollywood.  Skip soon learns that he is a little too innocent for his big new surroundings and his co-workers aren’t about to make things easier for him. He must contend with Marty the writer, Nancy the editor, Wally the voice artist and Brooks, a fellow animator.

With an ensemble cast that included veteran actors Jack Gilford and Clarence Gilyard, as well as the iconic cartoon voice man, Don Messick (Bamm-Bamm, Scooby-Doo, Boo-Boo Bear, to name a few) as Wally, it seemed that Jim Carrey’s unique comedic talents might propel the show to hit status. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. Real life Hollywood didn’t prove any less daunting than the one portrayed in the show and The Duck Factory was cancelled after 13 episodes.

Don’t worry about poor little Jim Carrey though, he managed to find a few other venues for his particular brand of comedic antics and things worked out just fine.