Favourite Classic Animation References in Live-Action

[Jaime_Weinman]

What are some of your favourite references to classic cartoons in live-action movies and TV shows?

Two that come to mind for me are the episode of "Cheers" that had the endless discussion of the Road Runner (Woody: "If the Coyote can afford to buy all those ACME products, why can't he afford to buy something to eat?" Cliff: "It's not that he wants to eat any Road Runner, it's that he wants to eat that particular Road Runner.")

The other was the episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati" where Herb goes to Fantasia and is confused by it; as far as I know it was the first mainstream TV show or movie to reference Fantasia's reputation as a drug-trip movie. I put up the clip on YouTube. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rgxp8t4N54)

[Matt the Y]

Definitely Wile E. Coyote's cameo appearance in the Night Court episode, "Still Another Day in the Life".

Harry: "I find ya guilty of harrassment and, might I add, if you're hungry, go to a restaurant or a grocery store but leave the poor bird ALONE!!!" (Bangs gavel).

Best appearance by a cartoon character in a live-action sitcom EVER!!!! :D

[Matt the Y]

I just remembered another Night Court moment with a reference to a classic WB character.

In the episode, "Educating Rhoda", a psychologically disturbed woman who keeps reinacting scenes and characters from classic movies escapes from holding after an error by the woman Bull is tutoring as guard. Furthermore, Dan ends up dating her... at which point she switches into the persona of a homicidal killer. The rest of the gang comes to his rescue at which point she starts taking on a character from The Maltese Falcon asking for Sam. Since Dan has to play the part of "Sam", he asks which Sam she means (didn't see The Maltese Falcon, did he? :p ) and Mac suggests "Yosemite Sam", prompting Dan to spout out, "OOOOOOHHH! You... CONSARN RABBIT!!!" Needless to say, she responds with, "That doesn't sound like you, Sam!" ;)

[Matt the Y]

And here's another of my favorite classic cartoon refs in a live-action show.

In an episode of In Living Color, at a children's theme park, Wile E. Coyote is supposed to make an appearance. A cast member wearing a Coyote suit reluctantly appears and confesses he wants to be known as "Willie Coyote" from now on! He also loses his temper with a child at the park who walks up to him and says, "Ha. Ha. You'll never catch [the road runner]" and also makes a remark like, "I didn't land on Plymouth Rock! It landed on me!", after which he is konked on the head by a falling rock. Eventually Yosemite Sam makes an appearance at the same park and another child at the park asks both characters if they will sign his autograph book... with two dynamite sticks for pens. Sam complains, "Hey, ya doggone critters! These pens don't even write". KA-BLAM! After the explosion, all that's left are Sam's boots and Wile E.'s feet, even though Sam still says, "Oooh. Ah hates kids!"

[J. B. Warner]

I'm pretty sure that Drew Carey is a big "Looney Tunes" fan, because "The Drew Carey Show" is full of classic WB references. Among the best...

- In one episode, Kate is worried because Drew's dog Speedy keeps growling at her whenever Drew leaves the room. Drew responds with "So, whenever I'm not around, he does something that he wouldn't normally do when I was here? You know, I think I've heard of this sort of thing before...tell me, was it anything like this?" He then proceeds to move Speedy's paws around in a dancing motion while singing "Hello My Baby".
- In another episode, Drew is desperate for money. He takes a piggy bank in the shape of Sylvester and says "Look, Sylvester! It's Tweety between two slices of bread!" He then covers the bank with a towel and smashes it with a hammer, sadly spluttering "I'm deth-picable!"
- Probably the best Looney reference on TDCS was the Season 3 finale, in which Daffy Duck makes a cameo appearance during the first scene. It's a memorable sequence in which he heckles Drew in an attempt to get a job at Winfred-Louder, and there's a very funny bit where he falls in love with Mimi ("Finally, one of my people!"). I believe JPox has a screenshot from this scene as his avatar.

[J Lee]

It's still hard to top the use of the Merrie Melodies' closing theme in the "Mongo likes candy" gag from "Blazing Saddles". Got huge audience laughs when the movie premiered in 1974.

[Madison Carter]

Definitely not a movie for everyone, but there's a great little low-budget horror flick called The Dividing Hour, in which a stoner does a 5-6 minute monologue about Bugs and Daffy dressing in womens clothing and the implications of it.

[Larry T]

Married With Children- there's an episode where Al is trying to get a rabbit out of his garden. His methods to do it are similar to Elmer Fudd's in many cartoons (he even tries explosives as a last resort). At the end of the show, I remember it irising out with Al in the center of an iris, eating a carrot, and the words wrote across the screen, "That's Al, Folks!!"


The Goodies- if anyone here is of age to remember this hilarious BBC show, there were TONS of references to classic cartoons in several episodes, to mention just a few:

-In "Kitten Kong", when the Goodies dress up as mice to catch the giant kitten, there's a point where Bill runs through the office building, scaring an African maid who jumps on a chair as he passes by, yelling "EEEEEEEKKK- THOMASS!!!" :twoshoes:

- In "Invasion Of The Moon Creatures", their pet rabbits, Flopsy and Mopsy, now ruling the planet moon, capture Tim and Bill and electrically torture them into becoming rabbit mercenaries.
Flopsy: "Repeat after me.... Ehhhhhh, What's Up Doc??" :bugs1:
Tim: "Oh, uh, I can do Mickey Mouse.... (in falsetto) Hello, Pluto..." :mickey: *****ZZZAAAPPPPPPP!!!!****

- In "Camelot", Bill is wearing a suit of armour with a helmet that has a large red plume and a long, conical face guard (like a "Black Knight"). At one point, he chases the developers up a tree onto a branch. When he climbs up to push them off, his face guard closes (giving him a sort of beak), he does the "Ha-Ha-Ha-Haaaaaaaaa-hah!" laugh, and pecks the branch off. :woody:

- In "Movies", Bill wants to do a silent movie, Tim wants to do an epic, and Graeme wants to do a Western. After we've been treated to the conglomerate patchwork "epic-adventure-comedy-musical-silent", when the credits roll upward (and they get their clothes caught on the rolling letters, dragging them upwards and offscreen) the episode irises out and "That's All Folks" is written.

- In "Clown Virus", Graeme is trying to get rid of the giant experimental can of tomato soup, by using ACME methods, and with the same results: throwing it off a cliff (so it rolls back and runs him over), catapulting it (so it bounces back up and on top of him), blowing it up (getting blown up himself)...etc.... :coyote:

- In "Cunning Stunts", after Bill decides to kill himself, there's a scene where he stops an oncoming car by placing a black and yellow railway warning arm between himself and the car. Immediately, a speeding train races onscreen and wallops him. :wolfie:

- In "The Race", after Graeme converts the office into a motor vehicle, he drives away from Tim, with a backblast from the tailpipe, turning him into an Al Jolson lookalike a la the goofy ghost in "Jeepers Creepers".

And everyone should be familiar with the movie, Spaceballs, the alien-tearing-out-of-the-stomach scene from "Aliens" is recreated... only once the alien being has totally emerged, he dons a top hat and cane and begins Charleston stepping, "Hello my baby, Hello my honey, Hello my Ragtime Gal...."

[Thad]

It's still hard to top the use of the Merrie Melodies' closing theme in the "Mongo likes candy" gag from "Blazing Saddles". Got huge audience laughs when the movie premiered in 1974.

I actually remember reading there was supposed to be a whole series of gags done in the Bugs Bunny vein to bring Mongo to justice in Blazzing Saddles but didn't make it to the final film.

[Mr. Semaj]

Married With Children- there's an episode where Al is trying to get a rabbit out of his garden. His methods to do it are similar to Elmer Fudd's in many cartoons (he even tries explosives as a last resort). At the end of the show, I remember it irising out with Al in the center of an iris, eating a carrot, and the words wrote across the screen, "That's Al, Folks!!"

That would be one of my favorites.

Few more:

There was a later MwC episode where Kelly is watching Bugs Bunny on TV.


"Oh no, Bugs! Don't go into that mine, it's a trap!


Oh God, I hope this is a rerun."





In Splash, about midway thru the film, when Tom Hanks' character is having a successful relationship with Madison (Daryl Hannah), he's happily singing "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah". Seeing as how the movie was made by Touchstone, Disney's main adult outlet for feature films, it wasn't all that surprising.


In Mrs. Doubtfire, the movie begins with an animated scene (supplied by Chuck Jones), where Robin Williams' character is doing the voice-overs. After a short arguement with the producer, he exits the room, and says, "Ah-bwee-ah-bwee-ah-bwee, Piss off, Jack!"

[J Lee]

I actually remember reading there was supposed to be a whole series of gags done in the Bugs Bunny vein to bring Mongo to justice in Blazzing Saddles but didn't make it to the final film.

When "Blazing Saddles" made it to network TV, in order to entice viewers to watch the edited version after it had run on HBO, those scenes, along with a few others, were put back into the movie. However, once you get past the initial impact of the exploding Candygram done to the tune of "Merrily We Roll Along", that the audience doesn't see coming, the remaining cartoony gags don't have as strong an impact, which is probably why they were cut out of the original release print (the cut scenes apparently are included as extras in the 30th anniverary DVD).

[Chow Hound]

I actually remember reading there was supposed to be a whole series of gags done in the Bugs Bunny vein to bring Mongo to justice in Blazzing Saddles but didn't make it to the final film.

There were, and these scenes were re-instated when it aired on TV for many years. Unfortunately, the scenes didn't make it into the first DVD release (which is the one I have). I don't know if they made it into the later special edition release.

[Cartman]

And of course there's the famous line in Stand by Me where the kids are talking about what Mickey, Donald, and Pluto are but "what the hell is Goofy?":goof:

[CueBallCat79]

If I recall correctly in "E.T" the little alien dude ;) was watching "The Mouse Comes to Dinner" and started screaming (with laughter?) when Tom started to scream.

Or is this not a reference?

[Javeman]

This is one of my favorites. One episode of Newsradio has Mr. James heavily cutting the budgets of the office. He even removes the glass from the window that separates Dave's office from the working area. At one point, Bill and Mr. James walk in opposite directions while crossing the window without glass, Bill says "Mornin' Ralph" and Mr. James replies "Mornin' Sam" and then Mr. James adds "Man, I love that joke."

There's also one episode of Seinfeld where Jerry sings the whole "This is it" theme from The Bugs Bunny Show, to which Elaine adds "You know, it's really sad that all of your cultural knowledge has to come from Bugs Bunny cartoons."

[JPox]

On the Canadian show Corner Gas, there are lots of refrences to Looney Tunes.
There is a conversation about the Duck season/Rabbit season back and forth that "wouldn't work in real life."
-"yes it would"-"no it wouldn't"-"yes it would"-"no it wouldn't"-"no it wouldn't"-"yes it would"-"I guess your right.."

A character worries about being bald. "Alot of men look good bald. Elmer Fudd for example.."

Two characters agree to going jogging. One says to the other, "you wouldn't be able to keep up .." As they are seen jogging down the road, the fast one freezes with a "ding!" with a caption underneath as does the slow one. I can't remember the captions unfortunatly.

:bugs2: :daffy: :befuddled :beepbeep: :coyote:

[JPox]

And of course there's the famous line in Stand by Me where the kids are talking about what Mickey, Donald, and Pluto are but "what the hell is Goofy?":goof:
The main reason I loved House of Mouse is because they made fun of themselves.
Goofy - "I'm ready to take your order Mr. Hades sir."
Hades - "I have a question, what are you? A dog? A man? A man-dog?"
Goofy - "I'm just Goofy."
Hades - "I wouldn't go around advertising that pal.."
:goof:

[Daffysleftfoot]

There was yet another Looney Tunes reference on the most recent Family Guy episode. They were referencing Poltergeist, however this time the entrance to the "other rhelm" was Chris' closet and the exit was Meg's ass. Just for a joke, Peter sticks his head in the closet so that it then pops out of Meg's ass and replies "Hey, I must have taken a wrong turn at Albequerque."

[Dell Comics Fan]

One of my favorite movies (and, I think, one of the most underrated film
comedies of all time) is the 1979 Kirk Douglas western "The Villain," which has
been aptly described by critic Phil Hardy as "a live action 'Roadrunner' cartoon
of a Western. ... Like the cartoon character of the coyote before him, all
Douglas' schemes backfire ..." I haven't seen that movie in over twenty years
but would love to see it again. It also stars Ann-Margret, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Paul Lynde, Foster Brooks, and Ruth Buzzi.

:coyote::beepbeep:

[Lee Glover]

I've know four Looney Tunes references in two BBC sitcoms which starred Rik Mayall (he must be a fan of the LTs, considering the following references and the cartoon-inspired voilence in his shows):

The Young Ones
In the very first episode (I forgotten the title), the episodes ends with a title-card saying "Now There's A Funny Thing..." in the same font as the "That's All Folks" endcap.

In the episode TIME, Rik orders Neil to clean up the kitchen.
Rik: "Just start clening this mess up! Pig!"
Neil: "I don't mind being a pig, because pigs are really intelligent, actually."
Rik: "Oh, are they? Well, tell me Neil, who invented the internal combustion engine? Was it PORKY PIG?

Bottom
In the episode GAS, Richie hears the doorbell buzz.
Richie: "Alright, I'm coming."
(Doorbell buzzes again)
Richie:" Alright! Alright! Who do you think I am? SPEEDY GONZALES?"

In another episode BOTTOM'S UP, Richie & Eddie are trapped on the roof of a shop they were supposed to look after, and sees a customer entering the shop.
Eddie: "What are we going to do about this customer?"
Richie: "Perhaps you should shout down and tell him that some bald-headed LOONEY TUNE has trapped us on the roof for ever, so we're probably unlikely to be popping down to serve him today!"

The Goodies- if anyone here is of age to remember this hilarious BBC show, there were TONS of references to classic cartoons in several episodes, to mention just a few:

-In "Kitten Kong", when the Goodies dress up as mice to catch the giant kitten, there's a point where Bill runs through the office building, scaring an African maid who jumps on a chair as he passes by, yelling "EEEEEEEKKK- THOMASS!!!" :twoshoes:


Out of all the cartoon references I've seen so far, that one is the best. It is one of the funnist moments in KITTEN KONG (that and the sight of the 50-foot kitten knocking down the Post Office tower - a classic comedy moment). :D

Below are some images from that episode, including the infamous :tomcat: & :jerry: reference.

[Bobby Bickert]

Not really a "favorite", but I don't think this has ever been mentioned here...


Towards the beginning of Young Einstein, a farmer picks up a shovel that appears to have had a huge bite taken out of the blade, and says "Oh no! The Tasmanian Devil!". Then we see "Taz"; it's obviously someone in a costume, but it looks just like him, except he's all-black instead of "two-tone". But from there it goes straight downhill; the farmer fires a shotgun and "Taz" runs away (normal running, not spinning like a mini-tornado).

[JPox]

In Scooby Doo 2, there is a scene where Scooby is transformed into an animated Tazmanian Devil.
I figure they included Taz in this movie as a deal for an animated Scooby & Shaggy to appear in Back in Action.

[Patrick McCart]

Scatman Crouther's character in The Shining says "Eh, what's up doc?" to Danny Lloyd. :bugs2:

[J. J. Hunsecker]

Scatman Crouther's character in The Shining says "Eh, what's up doc?" to Danny Lloyd. :bugs2:
Dennis Quaid talks about "wabbits" to Meg Ryan in Inner Space.

A spinning Tasmanian-like monster comes out of the tv in the "It's a Good Life" episode of Twilight Zone: The Movie, complete with the same sound effects. Also the house the characters live in is from a Chuck Jones Hubie and Bertie cartoon. (The one where they scare Claude Cat out of the house.)

[Patrick McCart]

Dennis Quaid talks about "wabbits" to Meg Ryan in Inner Space.

A spinning Tasmanian-like monster comes out of the tv in the "It's a Good Life" episode of Twilight Zone: The Movie, complete with the same sound effects. Also the house the characters live in is from a Chuck Jones Hubie and Bertie cartoon. (The one where they scare Claude Cat out of the house.)

What would a Joe Dante film be without Looney Tunes references?

[Bobby Bickert]

Scatman Crouther's character in The Shining says "Eh, what's up doc?" to Danny Lloyd. :bugs2:


That's actually taken straight from Stephen King's novel; both parents call Danny "doc" throughout the book.

[Bobby Bickert]

Dennis Quaid talks about "wabbits" to Meg Ryan in Inner Space.

Also, the WB sound effect now mainly associated with the Tasmanian Devil spinning, but which goes back at least to "Plane Dippy" and "The Fire Alarm", is heard when the shrinking machine is spinning.