Creed Bratton Painted Himself Green for Smiling Friends — and the Dye Would Not Come Off

Creed Bratton covered his entire body in green paint for a guest appearance on Smiling Friends, and some of that colour was still on him a month later.

The episode, titled "Le Voyage Incroyable de Monsieur Grenouille," appears in the third and final season of the absurdist comedy, which airs on Adult Swim. It earned the show its first-ever Emmy nomination, for Outstanding Animated Program, putting it alongside long-running institutions like The Simpsons (Deadline).

Smiling Friends, created by and starring Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel, follows Pim and Charlie, two employees at a company whose job is to help unhappy people smile. The show blends animation with live-action segments, and Bratton's cameo is one of the latter: he appears covered head to toe in green body paint, talking to a cartoon frog. Adult Swim's official YouTube channel highlighted the appearance in a "Season 3 Cameos" video posted in January 2026 (Adult Swim YouTube).

The paint, it turned out, was not a one-day commitment. Hadel said Bratton was painted green all over and still had traces of it the next day, when he was due on set to film a movie (Deadline). That film was "Primetime," an A24 crime thriller starring Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen, the host of To Catch a Predator (Deadline).

The green lingered far beyond that shoot. Cusack said Bratton told a friend that during a doctor's checkup roughly a month later, the doctor noted his skin was still slightly tinged green. Bratton attributed it to paint that never fully came off (Deadline).

When the Emmy nomination was announced in July 2026, Bratton took to Instagram to congratulate the Smiling Friends crew, describing himself as the "amphibious father" of Mr. Frog — a nod to his green-painted role in the nominated episode (Instagram).

Smiling Friends' third season is its last, making the Emmy nomination a capstone for a series that built a cult following through its chaotic, mixed-media style. Adult Swim's schedule page lists episodes continuing to air in August, including repeats of "Mr. President" and "Important Episode of Smiling Friends" across several dates (Adult Swim Schedule).

For a show that delights in the absurd, a guest star who literally turned himself green — and stayed that way — fits right in.