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Elmer J. Fudd is a fictional cartoon character, one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and one of the archenemies of Bugs Bunny. He is one of the series' main recurring villains, along with Marvin the Martian and Yosemite Sam. However, unlike the tyrannical, power-hungry Marvin or the scheming, malevolent Sam, Elmer is dopey and unlikely to do Bugs great harm.
He has one of the most disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon (second only to Bugs himself). His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring himself and/or other antagonizing characters. He speaks in an unusual way (rhotacism), replacing his R's and L's with W's, so "Watch the road, Rabbit," becomes "Watch da woad, wabbit!" Elmer's signature catchphrase is, "Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits", as well as his trademark gloat, "huh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh." The best known Elmer J. Fudd cartoons include Chuck Jones' masterpiece What's Opera, Doc? (one of the few times Fudd bested Bugs, though he felt bad about it), the Rossini parody Rabbit of Seville, and the "Hunting Trilogy" of "Rabbit Season / Duck Season" shorts (Rabbit Fire, Rabbit Seasoning, and Duck! Rabbit, Duck!) with Fudd himself, Bugs Bunny, and Daffy Duck. He is also a billionaire, who lives in a mansion and owns a yacht.
Egghead
Egghead
In 1937, Fred Avery introduced a new character in his cartoon short Egghead Rides Again. Egghead initially was depicted as having a bulbous nose, funny/eccentric clothing and an egg-shaped head (thus the moniker "Egghead"). Many cartoon historians believe that Egghead evolved into Elmer over a period of a couple of years. However, animation historian Michael Barrier asserts "The Egghead-Elmer story is actually a little messy, my sense being that most of the people involved, whether they were making the films or publicizing them, not only had trouble telling the characters apart but had no idea why they should bother trying." Egghead made his second appearance in 1937's Little Red Walking Hood and then in 1938 teamed with Warner Bros.' newest cartoon star Daffy Duck in Daffy Duck & Egghead. In 1938, Egghead continued to make appearances in the Warner cartoons, including The Isle of Pingo Pongo, and A-Lad-In Bagdad. In A Feud There Was (1938) Egghead made his entrance riding a motorscooter with the words "Elmer Fudd, Peacemaker" displayed on the side, the first onscreen use of that name. Egghead shifts from having a Moe Howard haircut to being bald and wears a brown derby, a baggy suit, and a high-collared shirt. Egghead himself returned decades later in the compilation film Daffy Duck's Quackbusters. More recently, he also made a cameo appearance at the end of Looney Tunes: Back in Action and was also given in his own story, which starred him alongside Pete Puma, in the Looney Tunes comic book.
Elmer Emerges
- Egghead's final appearance was in "Believe It or Else".
- In "Elmer's Candid Camera", Elmer was given a new look, in which he was slightly chubbier, had a different design, had a different personality, and appeared alongside a prototype Bugs Bunny. He then appeared in "Confederate Honey" and "The Hardship of Miles Standish". He would get his final design in "Good Night, Elmer"
- Elmer's first official debut, however, was "A Wild Hare" in 1940. It is the first cartoon to feature Elmer in his usual hunting outfit and to feature Bugs Bunny. Shortly after this, they changed Elmer's appearance to look very chubby. After four cartoons and a short two-minute film named "Any Bonds Today?", however, he went back to his original design.
- Some of Elmer's most famous appearances are "A Corny Concerto" in 1943 and "What's Opera, Doc?" in 1957.
- He actually only appeared in about 36 (out of 167) of the original Bugs Bunny cartoons, although he did co-star with other characters in many other shorts, along with several of his own solo appearances, amounting to 62 classic shorts total (75 If you count the Egghead shorts).
- Elmer's wife debuted in 1958's "Don't Axe Me".
Impact on Popular Culture
- The search engine Google has been translated into many languages, some of them for sheer comedic purposes. One of the novelty languages is "Elmer Fudd."
- Comedian and actor Robin Williams also performed a famous sketch where he sang the Bruce Springsteen song "Fire" as Elmer Fudd.
- On the TV show The Big Bang Theory there is a recurring character named Barry Kripke, who talks like Elmer.
- Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh expressed dissatisfaction with Republican candidate Mitt Romney on a September 10, 2012, radio broadcast, by saying, "I know that Romney ticks you off. He might as well be Elmer Fudd as far as we're concerned. We're voting against Obama." This led to jokes about Limbaugh's apparent endorsement of Fudd as a replacement for Romney, as in one YouTube video.[1]
- In the Israeli Eductaional TV series Shuster and Shuster (Hebrew: שוסטר ושוסטר), the main antagonist, Gabriella Bushmitz (גבריאלה בושמיץ), talks like Elmer Fudd.
Other Appearances
- Elmer Fudd made appearances in several television specials in the 1970s and 1980s, and some cameo roles in two of the Looney Tunes feature-film compilations.
- Elmer would also appear frequently on the animated series Tiny Toon Adventures as a teacher at Acme Looniversity, where he was the idol and favorite teacher of Elmyra Duff, the slightly deranged animal lover who resembles Elmer in basic head design, name and lack of intellect. On the other hand, a younger version of him makes a single appearance in the episode "Plucky's Dastardly Deed", and is named "Egghead Jr", the "smartest kid in class".
- Elmer also made cameos on Animaniacs, one in "Turkey Jerky", another in the Pinky and the Brain short, "Don't Tread on Us".
- Elmer also had a guest-starring appearance on Histeria! in the episode "The Teddy Roosevelt Show", in a sketch where he portrayed Gutzon Borglum. This sketch depicts Elmer/Gutzon's construction of Mount Rushmore, accompanied by Borglum's son Lincoln, portrayed by Loud Kiddington. Elmer made another appearance on Histeria!, this time in his traditional role, during a sketch where the bald eagle trades places with the turkey during Thanksgiving weekend, featured in the episode "Americana".
- Fudd also appeared on The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries in the first season episode A Ticket to Crime as detective Sam Fudd; at the end, he took off his clothes and turned into Elmer.
- Elmer appears as part of the TuneSquad team in Space Jam. In one part of the game, he and Yosemite Sam shoot down the teeth of one of the Monstars dressed in black suits while Misirlou is heard in the background.
- Elmer took on a more villainous role in Looney Tunes: Back in Action, in which he is a secret agent for the Acme Corporation. In his scene, Elmer chases Bugs and Daffy through the paintings in the Louvre museum, taking on the different art styles as they do so. At the end, Elmer forgets to change back to his normal style after jumping out of the pointillism painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, allowing Bugs to easily disintegrate Elmer by blowing a fan at him.
- A four-year-old version of Elmer was featured in the Baby Looney Tunes episode "A Bully for Bugs", where he kept taking all of Bugs' candy, and also bullied the rest of his friends. He was also shown with short blond hair. He appeared in most of the songs.
- An even more villainous Elmer appeared in two episodes of Duck Dodgers as The Mother Fudd, an alien who would spread a disease that caused all affected by it to stand around laughing like Elmer (a parody of the Flood in Halo and the Borg in Star Trek).
- In Loonatics Unleashed, his descendant Electro J. Fudd tried to prove himself the universe's greatest hunter by capturing Ace Bunny but settled for Danger Duck instead. Elmer himself also makes an appearance in the form of a photo which shows he presumably died at the hands of a giant squirrel.
- In December 2009, Elmer made an appearance in a Geico commercial where the director tells him to say rabbits instead of "wabbits". He was again voiced by Billy West.
- Elmer Fudd appears in The Looney Tunes Show episode "Best Friends" voiced by Billy West, though only as part of the Merrie Melodies segment, and not part of the main plot. Portrayed as a wealthy businessman coming home after a hard day's work, he sings about his love of "gwiwwed cheese" sandwiches. He later had a brief cameo appearance in "Fish and Visitors" as a weather forecaster briefly exclaiming about the rainy weather and doing his famous chuckle at the end. In "Working Duck", Elmer Fudd appeared as a newsman where he reports that Daffy Duck was fired from his position as a security guard after falling asleep during a nighttime bank robbery where $10,000,000.00 were stolen. Later, Elmer Fudd reports that EnormoCorp went out of business due to the worst business decision in the history of business caused by its CEO Daffy Duck (who succeeded the previous CEO Foghorn Leghorn who retired) where he went with the "Proceed as Planned" choice instead of the "Delay the Merger" choice when he mistook Pete Puma as the new muffin man. As a result of this, Elmer mentioned that 10,000 of it's workers are now out of a job and states that experts fear that the world economy could collapse. Elmer also states that disgraced CEO Daffy Duck could not be reached for a comment. In "A Christmas Carol", Elmer Fudd reports on Foghorn Leghorn's plans to end the heat wave on Christmas. Elmer Fudd later joins the other characters in the Christmas song called "Christmas Rules" at the end of the episode. In "Dear John," Elmer Fudd reports on Daffy Duck winning a spot on the city council. Elmer Fudd later reports on Daffy Duck's apparent death where he supposedly lost control of his parade float and drove into the St. Bastian River. In "The Black Widow," Elmer Fudd reports on the theft of the Hillhurst Diamond from the museum caused by someone called "The Black Widow."
- On February 10, 2012, Elmer starred in the 3-D short "Daffy's Rhapsody" with Daffy Duck, voiced by Billy West, which was shown during the intermission of the film Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.
- Elmer takes on yet another villainous role in Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run, in which he's an agent of Foghorn Leghorn trying to get Lola's perfume bottle because of its ability to make things invisible. He reforms at the end.
- Elmer Fudd appears in New Looney Tunes, voiced by Jeff Bergman, with Bugs Bunny. In one of the episodes he appears in Season 1, he lures Bugs in to help him with his petting zoo, in which he treats the animals very poorly. Another episode has him competing with another ice cream truck business, with Bugs in the plot.
Filmography
Voice Actors
- Arthur Q. Bryan - 1940 - 1959
- Hal Smith - 1960 - 1961
- Mel Blanc - 1940; 1950; 1957; 1972 - 1989
- Billy West - 1996 - 2015
- Jeff Bergman - Box Office Bunny, Happy Birthday Bugs: 50 Looney Years, Bugs Bunny's Overtures to Disaster, Blooper Bunny, Bugs Bunny's Creature Features, Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers, The 1st 13th Annual Fancy Anvil Awards Show Program Special, Tiny Toon Adventures, New Looney Tunes, Looney Tunes Cartoons
- Greg Burson - The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, Tiny Toon Adventures
- Dave Barry - Pre-Hysterical Hare
- Danny Webb
- Roy Rogers
- Jim Meskimen - Bugs & Friends Sing The Beatles[2]
- Tom Kenny - Looney Tunes Webtoons
- Eric Bauza - Looney Tunes World of Mayhem[3]
Gallery
- Main article: Elmer Fudd/Gallery
Notes
- There are various songs where the lead singer vaguely sounds like Elmer including "Sweating Bullets" by Megadeth, and "Someday" by Sugar Ray.
- In 2000, Mark V. McCollum had recorded the song called "Kill The Wabbit" (which is apparently based on the Looney Tunes short "What's Opera, Doc?") and named Elmer being the lead singer as Ozzy Fudd. Live at the Comedy Tonight club in San Francisco 1992 (which is from the VHS tape), Mark is seen on the stage asking the audience, "Speaking of dudes, what would it be like if Elmer Fudd had a punk son? And his punk son was into heavy metal and Ozzy Fudd had a hit video on MTV. Did you ever think what there would be like? I have!", and performing the song as he portrays the voice impression of Elmer.[4] While it is currently unknown whatever happened to Mark V. McCollum, the song is often credited to other bands such as Metallica and Megadeth.