Shenanigans & Stout is a shared story world built around an animated web cartoon and a darker comic novel: three Irish friends, a rural village finding its rhythm after rebellion, and Michael’s Pub—the place where trouble is retold, grudges soften, and somebody always orders another pint.
They are archetypal without being caricatures: the cynic, the farmer, and the romantic. Their chemistry is the engine of the world.
Gruff, observant, and perpetually unimpressed. Paddy has survived enough foolishness to recognize it immediately—and usually has the perfect deadpan remark when everyone else catches up.
Under the sarcasm is history. In the novel, his routines, old grudges, and memories reveal a man carrying loneliness far more quietly than he carries a pint.
Comic function: the look, the pause, the line that ends the argument.
A hardworking farmer whose enthusiasm occasionally exceeds his competence. Loyal, boisterous, and usually the first man laughing—even when the joke is on him.
Fergus connects the pub to the land: family, sheep, muddy boots, stone walls, breakfast tables, and the practical rhythms that keep a village alive.
Comic function: the friend who says “that could work” just before it absolutely does not.
Charming, musical, and blessed with limitless confidence. Declan approaches romance, dancing, and life itself convinced that everything will somehow work out.
His fiddle gives him genuine talent; his judgment ensures talent never prevents catastrophe. He brings youthful energy to Paddy’s cynicism and Fergus’s grounded warmth.
Comic function: starts with swagger, ends on the floor, returns tomorrow undeterred.
The two formats are intentionally different in tone, but they share the same people, places, humor, history, and emotional DNA.
Fast, warm, visual, mischievous. Short adventures turn everyday village life into a setup for calamity: bad dances, farm mishaps, romantic miscalculations, pub wagers, runaway ideas, and Paddy witnessing all of it.
Atmospheric, bittersweet, darkly funny. The same routines reveal their deeper purpose. A missed pint matters. An old photograph matters. A feud can hide a heartbreak for decades.
More than a location, the pub is the social hearth of the story. People arrive from farms, shops, roads, homes, and old arguments. Inside: amber light, dark wood, music, damp coats, porter, gossip, and the comfort of familiar faces.
The setting draws from rural Irish villages: farmland pressed against town life, stone boundaries, wet streets, close social circles, and a landscape that makes everybody’s business feel only a short walk away.
The central trio works because they are surrounded by people who remember yesterday, will hear about tonight, and will absolutely bring it up tomorrow.
Publican and steward of the village’s unofficial living room. His family’s pub gives the world continuity and a reliable gathering place.
Not merely targets of romantic comedy: they are neighbors, daughters, shopkeepers, wives, dancers, and often the quickest people in the room to see through Declan.
Maggie and Kathleen ground Fergus in domestic life, farming, breakfast-table humor, and the obligations beyond the pub.
The novel’s wider ensemble includes Finn, the young writer and romantic; Colm, the postman tied to Paddy’s past; clergy, shopkeepers, musicians, and regulars who make the village feel lived in.
The visual language should feel historical without feeling dusty: cinematic, stylized, painterly, readable, and welcoming enough that the audience wants to walk into the pub.
Amber firelight, dark stained wood, cream foam, worn wool, brass, and shadow.
Muted greens and browns, wet stone, cool grey skies, turf, sheep fields, and soft overcast light.
Strong silhouettes, readable expressions, period clothing, personality-first posture, and just enough exaggeration for animation.
A tiny problem becomes an unnecessary plan. The plan collects friends. Confidence rises. Reality intervenes. Somebody falls down, says the wrong thing, or discovers an old truth. Eventually, the story reaches Michael’s Pub—where it becomes communal folklore.
Deadpan reactions, escalating misunderstandings, physical mishaps, failed romance, farm logic, and village gossip.
Men who rarely speak plainly about affection nevertheless show up, check on one another, buy the first pint, and notice an empty chair.
The period lives in the background: old grievances, inherited businesses, religious ritual, changing Ireland, and people carrying private histories into ordinary evenings.
Interconnected animated web cartoon + novel, sharing a common world, cast, visual identity, and story mythology while allowing each format its own tone.
Character comedy, historical fiction, dark comedy, friendship drama, village ensemble.
A fictional rural Irish village centered socially around Michael’s Pub.
The audience can come for the pint-and-a-laugh chaos of Paddy, Fergus, and Declan—and stay long enough to discover why these people and their rituals mean so much to one another.
A highly visual, character-first Irish story world that can support short animation, longer-form narrative, character art, behind-the-scenes development, and recurring social content.
Follow the latest character art, worldbuilding, animation progress, novel updates, and whatever questionable idea Paddy, Fergus, and Declan get into next.
If you enjoy the world we’re building, you can help support future animation, artwork, writing, and development through Ko-fi. Every pint helps keep Michael’s Pub open a little longer.
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Chad McRae is a software engineer, AI engineering leader, independent game developer, and storyteller whose creative work often blends technology with character-driven worldbuilding. Shenanigans & Stout brings those interests together in a fictional Irish village built to support both animated comedy and a darker, more reflective novel.
The project grew from McRae’s fascination with Irish landscapes, village life, storytelling traditions, and the emotional weight carried by ordinary routines. His approach combines writing, visual development, AI-assisted creative tools, software, and iterative animation workflows to build a world that can move between humor and melancholy without losing its identity.