Elmer Fudd - Looney Tunes Wiki (2024)

Elmer J. Fudd is a major character and antagonist in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical shorts. He often appears as the archenemy of Bugs Bunny, who he aims to hunt in many occasions. However, he would end up being foiled by both Bugs' wise tricks and his own gullibility. He is known for his speech impediment, replacing his Ls and Rs with Ws instead. Elmer's catchphrase is, "Shhh. Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits," as well as his trademark laughter. Being one of the few characters to not have their voice originated by Mel Blanc, it was instead originated by Arthur Q. Bryan.

He is one of the few human characters that appear in the main cast, alongside Yosemite Sam and Granny.

Elmer's protégé in Tiny Toon Adventures is Elmyra Duff.

Character description

Elmer is one of Bugs Bunny's most recurring antagonists, usually portrayed as a big-game hunter armed with a double-barrel shotgun. However, Elmer is slow-witted and is largely seen as a foolish, timid "nimrod" who cannot deal great harm to the rabbit. As such, Bugs uses his incompetence as an advantage to foil Elmer and his schemes.

Elmer is also the type of person who is "afraid of someone going to interfere him," as director Chuck Jones had described him,^[2] although he does share some moments where he tries to be meanacing or a genuine threat.

Elmer-speak

He speaks with an unusual speech impediment, in which he nearly vocalizes [r] and [l], pronouncing them as [w] instead, when he would talk in his slightly raspy voice. This trait is prevalent since his official debut in Elmer's Candid Camera, where the writers of the cartoons would give him lines filled with these letters to further exaggerate his nebbish qualities. An example of would be in the 1942 short The Wacky Wabbit, in which he says the line, "Thewe's something awfuwwy scwewy going on awound here." Some of the others lines given to Elmer include doing Shakespeare's Romeo as "What wight thwough yonduh window bweaks!" (in the 1944 short, Stage Door Cartoon), or Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries as "Kiww the wabbit, kiww the wabbit, kiww the wabbit...!" (in 1957's What's Opera, Doc?). Animation historian Leonard Maltin describes Elmer's speech patterns as "Elmer Fudd-ese".^[2]

Ironically, part of the joke is that while he is incapable of pronouncing words correctly, he address own first name right. Occasionally, Elmer would properly pronounce an "r" or "l" sound, depending on whether or not it was vital for the audience to understand what the word was. In The Old Grey Hare, for instance, he clearly pronounces the "r" in the word "picture".

Appearances

TV series

Movies

Shorts

Comics

Video games

Biography

Wabbit Season

We're All a Little Looney

Come On and Slam! and Welcome to the Jam!

Elmer Gets Modern

Going Down the Rabbit Hole

Elmer Gets Retro

Elmer Sells Out

Development

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Gallery

Main article: Elmer Fudd/Gallery

Toys and merchandise

Behind the scenes

In popular culture

• In the Seinfeld episode "The Bubble Boy," George quotes Jerry on his answering machine that his girlfriend (who's in the room) laughs like Elmer Fudd sitting on a juicer. Jerry then argues that it was a compliment and talks like him.
• In the March 20, 1993 (Miranda Richardson/Soul Asylum) episode of Saturday Night Live, Rob Schneider appears in the Weekend Update sketch defending cartoons after the FFC ruled out that they should not be considered educational. Schneider counters that kids learned "Ride of the Valkyries" from this short, although he then says that Elmer Fudd wrote it, instead of Richard Wagner. He then sings "Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!" to the march of "Ride of the Valkyrie."
• In the 2011 animated DTV film Batman: Year One, when Selina is enraged that there are no jewels inside of the toys, after stealing them from Commissioner Loeb's collection, she throws an Elmer doll at the TV.
• In the Fresh Off the Boat episode "License to Sell," Louis said that Eddie looked like an Indian Elmer Fudd with his hunting cap.
• In the Velma episode "Private Velmjamin," Fred wants to return a nativity miniature model with the Looney Tunes to Father O'Rourke, after Fred briefly became Catholic. Elmer is baby Jesus, Sylvester is Joseph, Granny is Mary, and Daffy, Porky, and Bugs are the three wise men.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

• "Did the Earth Move for You?:" Geoffrey mockingly comments on Will saying he "wuvs" his new girlfriend on the phone by saying, "Isn't that romantic? He's quoting Elmer Fudd."
• "Be My Baby Tonight:" Will picks up a cookie that Geoffrey apparently made to look like Elmer Fudd.

Full House

• "The Return of Grandma:" It is a Saturday morning and Stephanie wants to watch Bugs Bunny, but Joey who would prefer to watch Yogi Bear, says Bugs Bunny is kid's stuff and that every episode is the same. He then does impressions of the usual routines of Elmer and Yosemite shooting at him. Joey thinks Bugs has a death wish and wonders why he even pokes his head out his rabbit hole. Despite this, Stephanie thinks it's less boring than watching Yogi always steal picnic baskets.
• "But Seriously Folks:" In his return to standup comedy, Joey does an impression of Elmer Fudd when he says that people sound and like Elmer after having just woken up, especially if you have to answer the phone.
• "D.J.'s Very First Horse:" After tricking Stephanie into thinking a barn horse could talk, Joey says he will make it up to her by showing her a talking duck that sounds like Elmer Fudd, and then proceeds to say in Elmer's voice, "Quack, quack, quack. Hewwo."
• "Jingle Hell:" To help Jesse with his cat food jingle commercial, Joey warmed up by doing cartoon impressions such as Elmer when he said, "Hewwo." This was also followed by Yosemite Sam.

References

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