Looney Tunes

"A-ba-dee aba-dee a-ba-dee, that's all folks!"

Chuck Jones and Jim Henson, as seen in Jones' 1990 book Chuck Amuck

Looney Tunes is the collective title for a series of theatrical shorts, originally produced by Leon Schlesinger for Warner Bros. Schlesinger sold his assets to Warner Bros. in 1944, and the studio thus became sole owner of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and other characters The blanket term is often used to encompany the related series, Merrie Melodies, which shared the same artistic team and pool of characters, and more recently, many productions involving the characters.

In 1969, Chuck Jones, one of the Looney Tunes directors, wrote the following letter about Sesame Street to a television critic at the Los Angeles Times:

“The major and most important phenomenon is that no commercial show will ever be quite the same...I have a feeling that Joan Ganz Cooney (Executive Director, Children's Television Workshop) and David Connell (Vice President and Executive Producer) have opened a Pandora's box that will scare the hell out of everybody in TV because the TV-watching child will devour Sesame Street to the last crumb. And if that is true, some network is going to realize that intelligence is just conceivably commercial, which is just so revolutionary, it just might be un-American.”

Muppet Mentions

Looney Tunes #47, the December 1998 issue of the comic book series published by DC Comics, included an 8-page story called "Puppet Regime." The plot involved Daffy Duck's jealousy over the fact that he's not been cast in the new children's film Cuddly Buddies: The Movie. The film stars spoof versions of various children's TV icons, most notably Barney the dinosaur, but also Bananas in Pajamas and, in a two page section, Sesame Street. The street, renamed ABC Sunflower Street, is populated by a collection of "Schmuppets," including a purple Big Bird analogue, an orange Kermit the Frog spoof (whose eye pupils change into different punctuation marks, according to mood), a purple Oscar the Grouch, and a cheerful green monster combining aspects of Elmo and Grover. The scheming Daffy, posing as a health inspector, sucks up the whole bunch into a vacuum cleaner, prompting "Kermit" to shout, "It's not easy being cle-e-a-an!" The collective puppets get their revenge in the tale's final panel.

Appearances

• Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck appeared in Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, with members of the Muppet Babies and other characters.
• Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and Tweety all made a cameo appearance in The Earth Day Special, which also featured a cameo by the Muppets.
• Bugs appeared in an anti-litter music video which aired on Sesame Street.

References

Baby Piggy encounters a scene from Puss N' Booty

• In a Season 14 Ernie and Bert sketch, the duo search for Dr. Livingstone, so Ernie can ask him, "What's up, Doc?" Ernie laughs uproariously and credits Bugs Bunny with the phrase.
• In episode 421 of The Muppet Show, a rabbit closes the show from Statler and Waldorf's box with Porky Pig's famous send-off line, "A-ba-dee aba-dee a-ba-dee, that's all folks!"

• In The Bob Hope Christmas Special (1977), when Bob Hope asks Big Bird who his favorite movie stars are, one of the stars he mentions is the Road Runner.

• The line "That's awful, folks!" was used by Kermit in The Muppets Go to the Movies, after the film breaks in Nephew of Frankenstein.

• In the Fraggle Rock episode "Gone, But Not Forgotten," a parrot says "What's up, Doc?"

• In the Muppet Babies episode "Comic Capers," the song "The Sunday Funnies" incorporates footage from Puss N'Booty (1943), the final black and white Looney Tunes short.

• When Baby Gonzo goes to the imaginary hospital to check on Camilla in "Faster than a Speeding Weirdo," he looks for her in two rooms. The first one is occupied by a large chicken who speaks with a Southern accent about a dangerous chicken hawk (Foghorn Leghorn). In the second room is a bandaged bird who "tawt [he] taw a putty tat", a spoof of Tweety Bird.

• In the Muppet Babies episode "Whose Tale Is It, Anyway?," Baby Fozzie appeared as Farmer Fozzie, who laughs and talks with a lisp like Elmer Fudd. Baby Bean Bunny also dressed up as Bugs Bunny and says, "Neh, what's up, Foz?"

• In the Muppet Babies episode "Eight Flags Over the Nursery," when the babies appear in the movie studio section of the theme park, somebody asks if Baby Piggy is Porky Pig's sister.

• In the Elmo's World episode on balls, the ending line of the TV cartoon is, "That's ball, folks!", a play on Porky Pig's line, "That's all folks!"

• In the Sesame Street song "Don't Touch Me!", a monster sees Benny Rabbit and quotes the Abominable Snowman by saying he'll "hug him and pet and squeeze him!"

• A Wile E. Coyote plush can be seen as a carnival prize in Follow That Bird, in the first shot at The Sleaze Bros. Fun Fair after the cast comes to rescue Big Bird.

• In Love the Earth!, the Bear Scouts are looking for the Blue-Feathered Swallowing Swallow and hear its distinctive call. Following the sound, they find they have been fooled by a rabbit unable to pronounce the letter R. Commenting on the coincidental speech impediment, Baby Bear says he won't be fooled again by the "wascally wabbit."

Connections

• Jack Benny voiced a mouse version of himself and appeared as himself in live-action footage in the short The Mouse That Jack Built.
• Bob Bergen is the official voice of Porky Pig and others.
• Mel Blanc was the voice of many of the characters in the Looney Tunes stable, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Speedy Gonzales, Foghorn Leghorn, and countless others.
• David Bowie appeared in the special Bugs Bunny's Looney Tunes All-Star 50th Anniversary Special.
• Dan Castellaneta played a basketball fan in Space Jam.
• Chevy Chase appeared in the special Bugs Bunny's Looney Tunes All-Star 50th Anniversary Special.
• Bill Cosby appeared in the special Happy Birthday Bugs: Fifty Looney Years.
• Dave Coulier played a gremlin in the Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries episode "The Scare Up There"
• Joan Cusack played Mother in Looney Tunes: Back in Action
• Stan Freberg provided voices in the original shorts, as either Hubie or Bertie (alternating with Blanc), Tosh of the Goofy Gophers, Junyer Bear, Pete Puma in Rabbit's Kin, the Gambling Bug in Early to Bet, the narrator and all voices in Three Little Bops, and others, and reprised several of the roles on Tiny Toon Adventures, Duck Dodgers, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, and assorted specials and videos.
• Danny DeVito provided the voice of Swackhammer in the movie Space Jam.
• Joan Gerber provided the voice of Granny in the short Corn on the Cop.
• Arturo Gil played a dancing Yosemite Sam in Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
• Whoopi Goldberg appeared in the special Happy Birthday Bugs: Fifty Looney Years, and made introductions on the Looney Tunes: Golden Collection Volume 3 DVD set.
• John Goodman appeared in the special Happy Birthday Bugs: Fifty Looney Years.
• Albert Hague played a psychiatrist in Space Jam.
• Jeremy Irons appeared in the special Bugs Bunny's Looney Tunes All-Star 50th Anniversary Special.
• Abe Levitow was an animator in Chuck Jones' unit, working on countless original theatrical shorts and several subsequent compilation features and specials.
• Matthew Lillard played himself in Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
• Bruce Lanoil puppeteered Daffy Duck in green-screen shots and voiced Pepe LePew in the film Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
• Heather Locklear played Dusty Tails in Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
• Rick Lyon puppeteered Baby Bugs Bunny in green-screen shots for the Baby Looney Tunes Video Series.
• Danny Mann voiced the Robo Dog and the spy car in Looney Tunes: Back in Action
• Steve Martin appeared in Bugs Bunny's Looney Tunes All-Star 50th Anniversary Special and as Mr. Chairman in Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
• Laraine Newman voiced various characters on Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries.
• Rob Paulsen voiced Axl, Digeri Dingo, Francis X. Bushlad, and Marvin Martian on Taz-Mania, a casino cat, a crewman, and the sphinx in Tweety's High-Flying Adventure and various characters on Tiny Toon Adventures, The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, and Duck Dodgers.
• Robert Picardo played the Acme Vice President of Rhetorical Questions in Looney Tunes: Back in Action
• Little Richard appeared in the special Happy Birthday Bugs: Fifty Looney Years.
• Will Ryan voiced Papa Bear in Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
• Frank Welker voiced Hector the bulldog, Muggsy, and others on The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, Charles the Dog in Space Jam, K-9 on Duck Dodgers, and Scooby-Doo in Looney Tunes: Back in Action.