- 6 weeks ago
From “What’s Up, Doc?” to “That’s All, Folks!,” Looney Tunes built an entire comedy legacy on repeatable absurdity. Join us as we revisit the timeless catchphrases, escalating rivalries, and slapstick setups that kept Bugs, Daffy, Foghorn, Sylvester, and the rest of the gang endlessly funny for generations of fans.
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00:00Duck season! Wabbit season! Wabbit season! Duck season!
00:04Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the timeless visual jokes,
00:10iconic catchphrases, and absurdist comedic setups that define the Looney Tunes
00:14and have kept audiences rolling with laughter decades later.
00:18Might I inquire to ask him, what's up doc?
00:26Number 20. Turn off those lights!
00:28When Looney Tunes first entered our lives,
00:30many people were living through the scary reality of World War II.
00:34These little fireflies here are gonna stage a practice blackout.
00:39Looks like they're set to go.
00:41Okay, lights out!
00:45Rather than ignoring that tension,
00:48Termite Terrace turned frightening home front rules into comforting comedy.
00:51Viewers became familiar with their tunes barking the familiar order.
00:55Airwade! Lights out! Total blackout!
00:57Hey, now's our chance. Come on.
01:03Turn off those lights!
01:05Street lamps, glowing eyes, and even the moon would snap shut,
01:09as though the entire world had been caught leaving their neighbors in potential jeopardy,
01:13or really just being a nuisance.
01:14By mocking strict blackout drills,
01:17these shorts turned a frightening wartime rule into something kids could laugh at,
01:20giving them a little room to breathe when the real world offered very little.
01:24As all the gravy,
01:27now ain't that a blankin' shine?
01:32Put out those lights!
01:36I will name him George,
01:38and I will hug him, and pet him, and squeeze him.
01:41Literary parody might not be the first thing you expect from classic cartoons,
01:44but this affectionate gag proved absurdly durable.
01:47I will name him George, and I will hug him, and pet him, and squeeze him.
01:53Inspired by Lenny from George Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men,
01:56the joke features an unnaturally oversized brute,
01:59most famously Hugo the Abominable Snowman,
02:01scooping up a smaller animated companion with suffocating tenderness.
02:05What makes it so hilarious is the disparity between the giant's soft-hearted affection,
02:10and the sheer physical agony inflicted on the victim.
02:23No matter how many times someone gets squeezed like a stress toy while being renamed George,
02:28watching their desperate attempts to squirm out of smothering pet love is top-tier physical comedy.
02:33I will name him George, and I will hug him, and pet him.
02:36Oh, sure. I know I'm a lauf, but I'm a live lauf.
02:40And I will give him security, and I will keep him warm like a mother hen.
02:46Number 18. Fortunately, I always keep my feathers numbered.
02:51Violets are blue.
02:56Somebody knocked.
02:58Southern charm meets cartoon catastrophe whenever Foghorn Leghorn takes a direct hit.
03:03After an explosion or getting plucked by his rivals,
03:06you'd think the rooster might finally lose his cool.
03:08Nope.
03:09Instead, Foghorn calmly reveals that he keeps his feathers numbered
03:13for just such an emergency,
03:15before putting himself back together like he's restocking an office supply cabinet.
03:20Fortunately, I keep my feathers numbered for just such an emergency.
03:25There's something ridiculous about watching a character get blown apart
03:29and respond with the efficiency of a man who has prepared for any inconvenience.
03:33His plumage may be scattered across the screen,
03:36but Foghorn's ego remains firmly in one piece.
03:39Catastrophe, apparently, is just another item on his to-do list.
03:52Running out of things to binge watch?
03:54Fortunately, we always keep our feathers numbered for just such an emergency.
03:57We've got you covered.
03:59Head over to Ms. Mojo's 24-7 live stream.
04:01Scan the QR code on screen to join us live for non-stop pop culture fun.
04:06Number 17.
04:06Andale, andale.
04:07Arriba, arriba.
04:08Arriba, arriba, hija.
04:10Andale, andale, ole, ole, ole, andale.
04:12Hello, pussycats.
04:14You looking for a nice fad mouse for dinner?
04:17Arriba, arriba, hija.
04:18Few catchphrases carry as much kinetic energy as that of the fastest mouse in all Mexico.
04:23Whenever faced with a trap, Speedy Gonzales unleashes his rallying cry and suddenly becomes a mouse-shaped blur.
04:29As a character defined by incredible speed and his mission to rescue slow or trapped mice,
04:35his dialogue is practically required to keep pace with him.
04:39Arriba, arriba, andale, andale.
04:42Arriba, arriba, andale.
04:43This catchphrase doesn't exactly leave much room for standing around.
04:46The rhythm itself seems to push everything forward, matching Speedy's frantic energy perfectly.
04:51And to be fair, if we knew cheese was nearby, we wouldn't need to be told Andale, Andale twice.
04:57I am luring!
05:04Gracias, pussycats.
05:07Number 16.
05:08Marvin the Martian trying to blow up Earth.
05:10Villainy is often loud and menacing, but Marvin the Martian flips that trope on its head.
05:18Oh, oh, I'm going to blow up the Earth.
05:21Nah, well, he sure picked a nice day for it.
05:24Decked out in a Roman helmet and basketball sneakers,
05:27Marvin calmly plots global annihilation with the mild irritation of someone trying to see around a badly parked car.
05:34He simply explains that Earth must be destroyed because, for instance, it...
05:39Even better, his schemes keep going wrong, leaving this conqueror quietly frustrated while everyone else survives the day.
05:46Watching Marvin approach planetary destruction with impeccable manners is half the fun.
05:51He isn't trying to rule the galaxy because he's evil.
05:54He has his reasons and priorities, apparently.
05:56Where's the kaboom?
05:58There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom.
06:02Number 15.
06:03Big Chungus.
06:04Long before it exploded into an all-conquering internet meme,
06:08this moment in the 1941 short Wabbit Twubble was already a masterpiece of petty trickery.
06:13Welcome to Jealous Stone, Doc.
06:15A restful retreat.
06:17Oh, brother.
06:18To mock Elmer Fudd's rotund frame, Bugs temporarily inflates his own body,
06:24striking goofy poses while talking down to his bewildered hunter.
06:27The sheer absurdity of Bugs shapeshifting purely to insult his adversary captures the rabbit's unapologetic, instigating spirit.
06:38Decades later, the internet rediscovered the oversized bunny and dubbed him Big Chungus,
06:43turning a quick five-second character parody into an enduring symbol of Looney Tunes' legacy and internet culture.
06:49Even LeBron James had an encounter with Big Chungus.
06:52All right, yeah.
06:53Now say, I'm hunting wabbits.
06:55And try to chase me.
06:57Number 14.
06:58Taking a wrong turn at Albuquerque.
07:00Every great travel nightmare begins with bad directions,
07:03but leave it to Bugs Bunny to make subterranean navigation a disaster.
07:07I knew I should have taken that lift toying at Albuquerque.
07:09Whenever Bugs decides to dig his way toward a vacation in Florida or Pismo Beach,
07:14he pops up somewhere less relaxing.
07:16Burning desert?
07:17Wrong turn.
07:18Polar ice cap?
07:19Also wrong turn.
07:20Bugs checks his map and casually delivers the explanation.
07:25I knew I should have taken that lift toying at Albuquerque.
07:29While the landscape changes from one impossible location to another,
07:32Bugs remains composed,
07:34as though getting lost across half the planet is simply part of the itinerary.
07:38Apparently, the scenic route includes several climate zones.
07:41Honestly, we can all learn from Bugs how to roll with life's punches.
07:45And somehow I always forgot to take that lift toying at Albuquerque.
07:49Number 13.
07:50Taz's insatiable hunger.
07:52Taz arrives in a roaring whirlwind,
07:54devouring, well, anything and everything
07:56before anyone has time to ask what exactly he thinks is on the menu.
07:59Eats tigers, lions, elephants, buffaloes, donkeys, giraffes, octopuses, rhinocosaurususes, mooses, ducks.
08:06Rabbits.
08:06Rabbits?
08:07It doesn't say rabbits here.
08:11Then Bugs Bunny gets involved,
08:13and suddenly that bottomless appetite becomes a very useful weapon.
08:16An inflatable raft?
08:17Down it goes!
08:18An explosive decoy?
08:20Delicious!
08:21A fake turkey dinner?
08:23Taz is already halfway through it.
08:24The beauty is watching this beast repeatedly fall for the most obvious bait imaginable.
08:29I'm a monkey, and monkeys are definitely not on your menu.
08:39He can demolish a landscape in seconds.
08:42Put something vaguely edible in front of him, and off he goes.
08:45Call him many things, but a picky eater definitely isn't one of them.
08:59Number 12.
09:01This means war!
09:03Diplomacy has its limits, and in the Looney Tunes universe,
09:06crossing that line triggers one of the most famous declarations in animation history.
09:11Of course you realize this means war.
09:14While it's most frequently linked to Bugs Bunny drawing a line in the sand,
09:17this classic line, lifted straight from Groucho Marx,
09:20was brandished by multiple characters whenever they were pushed past the brink of sanity.
09:24Whether it's Daffy Duck spitting mad, or Bugs shifting into calculated payback mode,
09:29uttering,
09:29Of course you know, this means war!
09:33signals an immediate tonal shift.
09:35The moment those words drop, somebody has chosen violence,
09:38and it's probably gonna involve dynamite.
09:40In Looney Tunes, Diplomacy apparently ends where the Acme catalog begins.
09:45Now whose response, I say,
09:47who's responsible for this unwarranted attack on my person?
09:53Aha!
09:58Of course you know, this means war.
10:01Number 11.
10:02The Exploding Piano Gag
10:03Believe me if all those endearing young charms.
10:06Slapstick comedy rarely gets more meticulously timed
10:09than the exploding piano gag featured in shorts like Ballot Box Bunny and Showbiz Bugs.
10:22No, that's not it!
10:24Try it again!
10:25The setup is simple.
10:26An adversary rigs a piano with dynamite set to explode when Bugs hits a specific note.
10:31There's just one problem.
10:33Bugs keeps hitting the wrong note.
10:34Again and again.
10:36Eventually, the furious antagonist storms over,
10:39shoves Bugs aside,
10:40and slams down the correct key themselves.
10:43Boom!
10:45Boom!
10:46No, no, you stupid rabbit!
10:48Like this!
10:53The payoff comes from watching Impatience do all the work.
10:57Bugs survives because he cannot or will not play the song correctly,
11:00while the villain's need for musical accuracy blows up in his face.
11:04Boom, you stupid rabbit!
11:06Like this!
11:14Number 10.
11:16Michigan J. Frog Sings
11:17This top hat-wearing amphibian only appeared in one Golden Age cartoon.
11:22Everybody do the Michigan ride!
11:25Everybody likes the Michigan ride!
11:28Yet he not only emerged as an iconic character,
11:31but supplied one of WB's most memorable running gags.
11:35In 1955's One Froggy Evening,
11:37the seemingly simple frog springs to life with the boisterous voice of nightclub singer Bill Roberts.
11:43Hello, my baby!
11:44Hello, my honey!
11:45Hello, my ragtime gal!
11:47Send me a kiss, my wire!
11:50Baby, my heart's on fire!
11:52The problem is, he'll only perform for one unfortunate soul,
11:56who is determined to share the frog's gifts with the world, for a profit.
11:59With each failed attempt, the man digs himself deeper into debt.
12:04Counting his losses, the man abandons Michigan,
12:07only so another unsuspecting schmuck can repeat the process.
12:10The gag continued in Tiny Toons and 1995's Another Froggy Evening,
12:14paving the way for Michigan to become the WB's mascot for a period.
12:18We were sailing along on Moonlight Bay
12:26Number 9.
12:27Foghorn Leghorn Rants
12:28Foghorn Leghorn started as a supporting player,
12:32being the target of the chicken-hunting Henry Hawk.
12:34I say, what's going on here?
12:37Well, I don't stand there with your beak open.
12:39Say something!
12:40It wasn't long until Foghorn stole the spotlight,
12:43ranting his way to top billing.
12:45Going forward,
12:46most shorts revolved around Foghorn finding new ways to antagonize the barnyard dog.
12:52Unlike some other Looney Tune rivalries,
12:54these two were almost equally matched,
12:56leaving us to wonder who would come out on top.
12:58Whoever won,
12:59we could always count on one thing,
13:02Foghorn going on a tirade,
13:04complete with an,
13:05I say,
13:05or that's a joke, son.
13:07Now that,
13:08I say,
13:08that's no way for a kid to be wasting his time,
13:11reading that long-haired gobbledygook.
13:14No,
13:15Looney Tune loved the sound of his own voice more,
13:18driving others to do everything in their power to shut him up.
13:22Sometimes,
13:22even the cartoon itself would cut Foghorn off mid-rant.
13:25My pa used to tell me shut up and I'd shut up.
13:28I wouldn't say nothing.
13:29One time darn near starved to death.
13:31Wouldn't tell him I was hungry.
13:33Number 8.
13:34Yosemite Sam swearing.
13:36Yosemite Sam was often compared to his creator,
13:39Frizz Freeling.
13:40What's up?
13:41Why,
13:42you ornery full of bear and critter?
13:44There's just one of them there train robbery holdups.
13:47Rarely was either the tallest man in the room,
13:50but both had fiery tempers that could blow the roof off.
13:53Of course,
13:54given the haze code,
13:55Sam couldn't say certain curse words that might have been more common around Termite Terrace.
14:00The red-hot outlaw would become synonymous with his own brand of swearing,
14:03from racking fracking to rassifrassin'.
14:11We especially love the short From Hair to Air,
14:15where Sam must keep his temper under control.
14:17Although,
14:18he can't resist letting a few non-obscenities slip.
14:30For the most part,
14:33Sam's colorful vocabulary doesn't require a bleep button,
14:36but he does know a few legitimate curse words.
14:40Remember that time he went to H-E double hockey sticks?
14:42I'll get the critter this time.
14:44I'll send him to hell.
14:46Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, pardon my language.
14:48Number 7.
14:49Everyone wanting to get away from Pepe Le Pew.
14:52Nowadays,
14:53Warner Brothers likes to pretend that Pepe doesn't exist.
14:56Killies?
14:57Ah,
14:58une belle femme sconc creole.
15:01Whether it's 2026 or 1945, though,
15:04one thing remains consistent.
15:06Everybody wants to distance themselves from Pepe.
15:09For humans,
15:10it's because of the French skunk's stench,
15:12which he's oblivious to.
15:13The clueless Pepe also can't tell the difference
15:16between a fellow skunk
15:17and a black cat with a painted white stripe.
15:20You will be my blushing bride.
15:23Oh, how sweet.
15:24You are blushing for Pepe.
15:27Ha, ha, darling.
15:28You will love Paris.
15:29Although Pepe's pursuit of Penelope Pussycat
15:31has divided modern audiences,
15:33critics often overlook one element of this running gag.
15:36Things rarely work out for Pepe.
15:38Sometimes he ends up alone.
15:40Other times,
15:41Penelope turns the tables on him,
15:43sending Pepe running for the hills.
15:44There's still humor to be found in Pepe's cartoons,
15:47as long as you remember that he is a cautionary tale.
15:50No, no, please, mon cherie.
15:52Do not erase me, the boy.
15:54She is cold and dark.
15:56Number six, I'm hunting wabbits.
15:59Often cast as a hunter,
16:01Elmer Fudd opens many of his shorts
16:02addressing the audience.
16:04Shh, be very, very quiet.
16:07I'm hunting wabbits.
16:09By now, we all know why we have to be quiet.
16:12He's hunting rabbits,
16:13or as Elmer would say, wabbits.
16:15Elmer has almost always struggled
16:17with pronouncing his R's and L's,
16:19substituting them for a W.
16:21Although Elmer has no problem
16:23identifying wabbit tracks,
16:25bugs can easily deceive him
16:27with an attractive get-up.
16:28Once the wig comes off,
16:30hunting season is back on.
16:31I'll kill the wabbit!
16:34A wise storm!
16:36As much as Elmer wants to catch himself a wabbit,
16:39there's an element of remorse
16:40whenever he seemingly does bugs in.
16:42This goes to show that at his core,
16:44Fudd is a sympathetic fellow,
16:46yet he suffers from the fatal flaw
16:48of never learning his lesson.
16:50Oh, what have I done to you, old friend?
16:54Number 5.
16:55I taught I taught a putty tat.
16:57Sylvester has a couple of rivals,
16:58on more than one occasion
17:00mistaking Hippity Hopper for a giant mouse.
17:02But you cannot top his futile pursuit of Tweety.
17:05I taught I taught a putty tat.
17:07Sylvester actually wasn't the first putty tat
17:10that Tweety saw in his 1942 debut.
17:12I taught I taught a putty tat.
17:15I did.
17:16I taught a putty tat.
17:19However, a classic duo was born
17:21in the Oscar-winning Tweety Pie,
17:23which first paired the cute canary with Sylvester,
17:26or Thomas as he was called here.
17:28As adorable as Tweety and his catchphrases are,
17:31he's not as innocent as he looks or sounds.
17:34He always takes delight in seeing Sylvester
17:36get his comeuppance,
17:37usually at the hands of Granny.
17:38The dynamic finds an unlikely balance,
17:41as we don't want to see Tweety eaten.
17:43Yet we feel bad whenever Sylvester is left saying,
17:46Suffer and suck-a-tash!
17:48Suffer and suck-a-tash!
17:50You didn't have to overdo it!
17:52Number 4.
17:53Coyote vs. Roadrunner
17:55Like Sylvester, we empathize with Wile E. Coyote,
17:58but not to the point that we want him to succeed.
18:00Sometimes I feel very sorry for the coyote.
18:04Sometimes I wish he'd catch him.
18:07Told through visuals and sound,
18:08Virtually every short follows a classic formula
18:11with the coyote's pursuit of the roadrunner backfiring.
18:14Although the speedy bird is his target,
18:16the coyote's true enemies are the ineffective Acme Corporation,
18:20his own obsessive nature, and gravity.
18:22Acme, the only Batman outfit worn by bats.
18:27Chuck Jones had several rules concerning these characters.
18:31A standout being,
18:32the coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.
18:36Perhaps nothing was more humiliating
18:38than repeatedly hearing the roadrunner utter,
18:40Beep beep!
18:41before darting off.
18:49Even when Wile E finally caught the roadrunner in 1980's Super Sonic,
18:54he's left on a humiliating note rather than a triumphant one.
18:57Number 3.
18:58Duck Season, Rabbit Season
18:59Although Daffy frequently clashes with Bugs,
19:02the egotistical Duck is his own worst enemy.
19:05Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Hunting Trilogy
19:08where Daffy repeatedly sets himself up for failure.
19:11While outwitting Elmer Fudd isn't much of a challenge,
19:14Daffy is never a match for Bugs' clever wordplay.
19:17That, sir, is an immitigated fabrication.
19:20It's rabbit season.
19:22Duck season.
19:23As the two go back and forth on whether it's rabbit season or duck season,
19:27Daffy inevitably falls victim to pronoun trouble and reverse psychology.
19:31I say it's duck season, and I say fire!
19:35Just when Daffy thinks that he's won,
19:38he finds his bill on the wrong side of his head.
19:40Whether Bugs and Daffy are competing over stardom or survival,
19:43you can expect the competition to end
19:45with the duck staring down the sly rabbit,
19:47telling him that he's despicable.
19:50You're despicable!
19:52Number 2
19:53Ebbity, ebbity, ebbity, that's all, folks!
19:55Porky Pig first stuttered his way into the hearts of audiences in 1935,
20:00establishing himself as Termite Terrace's star character.
20:04Listen, my children, and you shall hear!
20:08Although his popularity would eventually be surpassed by Daffy and especially Bugs,
20:13Porky still got the last word.
20:14Porky may have the most famous outro of any cartoon character,
20:18bursting from a drum and attempting to say the end.
20:21That's all, folks!
20:24As is often the case with Porky, though,
20:26the sentence ultimately goes in another direction.
20:29Porky might not have been the first Looney Tune to say that's all, folks,
20:32but he made the line his own with a signature delivery.
20:35Since then, many others have attempted to take Porky's place,
20:39including Michael Jordan.
20:41However, nobody closes a cartoon quite like Porky does.
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21:15Number 1.
21:16Yeah, what's up, Doc?
21:17While a few prototype versions of the character had already appeared,
21:221940's A Wild Hair is widely considered the first true Bugs Bunny short.
21:29What's up, Doc?
21:30In addition to Bugs' newly refined look and Mel Blanc getting the voice down,
21:34director Tex Avery suggested a line that would go down in history.
21:38Avery based the line on an old Texas saying,
21:40although he hadn't planned on turning it into a catchphrase.
21:43Okay, woman, now I got you.
21:49What's up, Doc?
21:50What's up, Doc was only made more iconic thanks to Bugs' carrot munching,
21:53a gesture that's said to have been based on Clark Gable in It Happened One Night.
21:57Bugs immediately won over audiences with these three words,
22:01becoming a staple of his cartoons.
22:03Ironically, though, he's only encountered a few characters who can identify as Doc.
22:08Hello, don't say it.
22:09What's up, Doc?
22:10He said it.
22:11What's your favorite Looney Tunes running gag?
22:13Let us know in the comments.
22:14That's all, folks.
22:16Bye-bye.
22:17Bye-bye.