2000 / Video / Flash character comedy

3 Drunk Flies

Three flies, one beer can, and a frog who did not volunteer for the bit.

The original is off-site. HAHrchives preserves the story and a route back to it.

Three blue cartoon flies sitting on top of a beer can in Joe Cartoon’s 3 Drunk Flies
Image shown from its documented source.

What happened

Three blue cartoon flies drink from a beer can and turn their attention to a nearby frog. The short keeps its premise tiny and lets the flies’ increasingly obnoxious behavior supply the gag.

Where it came from

Joe Shields released 3 Drunk Flies through his Joe Cartoon web-animation catalog in 2000, introducing the wisecracking fly character later known as Superfly.

Why it mattered

3 Drunk Flies is a compact example of early web animation turning a simple gross-out premise into a repeatable character format. It shows how a creator-run cartoon site could build familiarity one short at a time before feeds and video platforms standardized discovery.

How it spread

The cartoon circulated as a linkable Flash short in Joe Cartoon’s independent-web catalog, where its compact setup and recurring character fit the era’s send-this-to-someone comedy.