Get a Job
1985 · 10m · Canada
Directed by Brad Caslor
Genres: animation, comedy, musical
Cartoon job-seeker Bob Dog prepares a résumé, motivates himself, and braces for interviews while the doo-wop song 'Get a Job' plays. Brad Caslor's animation makes the hunt entertaining.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A doo-wop song doing the heavy lifting for a dog's job search? It's almost too cute, and yet Caslor's restraint keeps it from collapsing into saccharine—the animation lets the absurdity breathe instead of winking at it.
Caslor's 1985 short sits confidently in the lineage of Tex Avery comedic timing and NFB's tradition of witty character animation; the formal decision to let the song's rhythm dictate the edit creates a model of how music and movement should speak together.
The genius move here is how Caslor uses Bob Dog's physical stillness—those moments between motivational peaks—to make the waiting and dread register as comedy, turning budget constraints into emotional precision.