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| “ | Shh. Be vewy, vewy quiet. I'm huntin' wabbits. Ha ha ha. | „ |
| ~ Elmer's catchphrase. |
| “ | Say your prayers, Wabbit. It's wabbit season. | „ |
| ~ Elmer to Bugs. |
Elmer J. Fudd is one of the main antagonists of the Looney Tunes franchise. He often appears as the archenemy of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. His one-sided rivalry with Bugs and Daffy has become legendary.
Elmer is portrayed as a (mostly bald with a blonde curl above his forehead) child in certain parodies of children's songs and the episode "A Bully for Bugs" in Baby Looney Tunes.
He serves Mr. Chairman and is one of the supporting antagonists in Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
Portrayals[]
- From 1937 to 1939, his prototype Egghead was voiced by Danny Webb.
- From 1940 to 1959, he was voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan.
- In 1940, 1950, 1957 and 1960 to 1989, he was voiced by Mel Blanc.
- In A Feud There Was, his singing voice was provided by Roy Rogers.
- In 1958, he was voiced by Dave Barry.
- In 1960 and 1961, he was voiced by Hal Smith.
- From 1990 to 2001, he was voiced by Greg Burson.
- From 1991-1992 and 2000, he was voiced by Joe Alaskey
- From 1996 to 2015, he was voiced by Billy West.
- In 1990-1993 and since 2014, he was voiced by Jeff Bergman.
- In 2018 and 2021, he was voiced by Eric Bauza.
Biography[]
Elmer is Bugs' arch-nemesis in the Bugs Bunny cartoons and Bugs' most recurring enemy. He is a hunter who wishes to trap Bugs, but the intelligent hare always tricks him and wins. Elmer first appeared in the cartoon "Elmer's Candid Camera". Comedian Arthur Q Bryan provided the character's voice.
Despite being a villain, Elmer Fudd is not very wicked as he has good intentions sometimes. He also respects hunting laws, best shown in the cartoon, Rabbit Fire. Elmer is ready to try and hunt Bugs Bunny (and Daffy Duck, to a lesser extent), his actions often lead to Bugs tricking him in many ways and this infuriates Elmer to the point he has threatened to kill the rabbit - though it's worth noting when Bugs tricks Elmer into believing he has succeeded in this Elmer shows great remorse, suggesting that he does not truly wish to murder Bugs at all. In "Rabbit Fire", he reveals that he is a vegetarian and only hunts for the sport of it.
It’s worth noting that Elmer is actually among the few antagonists to outright defeat Bugs in a cartoon despite his incompetence. He spent entirely of "Rabbit Rampage" tormenting Bugs with the artist's pen (something of a karmic throwback to Bugs doing the same to Daffy in "Duck Amuck"). After the two suffer slippage insanity in "Hare Brush", Elmer undergoes a role reversal with Bugs, convinced they are now in each other's respective roles. The cartoon ends with Bugs arrested over the massive debts "he" has left since Elmer lost his mind while "Bugs" shows relief at least this screwy wabbit won't be going to Alcatraz. He has also been victorious over other protagonists such as Daffy Duck in many other cartoons.
Bugs also used female drag disguises to dupe Elmer. In "Rabbit Fire", Bugs disguises as a female hunter and kisses Elmer in his nose. In "Rabbit Seasoning", Bugs dressed as a sexy young lady and kissed Elmer in his nose again. In the "What's Opera Doc", Bugs disguises as Brunhilde and tricks Elmer again.
In "Rabbit of Seville", Bugs dresses as a temptress and dances for Elmer. In the same short, Bugs offers Elmer some flowers, chocolates and a ring. Happily wanting Bugs to marry him, Elmer dresses as his blushing bride. Delighted, Bugs dresses as a groom and the couple marries. Bugs run with his "beautiful bride" into a long flight of stairs and he throws Fudd into a wedding cake. Bugs and Elmer married again in "Bugs Bonnets", although, this time, Bugs has really fallen in love with Elmer.
Elmer Fudd is famous for pronouncing "r" and "l" as "w", especially when he says "wabbit" and "hewwo". In fact, this trait alone is what many people associate with Elmer: of particular fame is his catch-phrase: "Be vewy, vewy quiet! I'm hunting wabbits!", followed by a signature laugh. It's worth noting Elmer breaks the fourth wall when doing this phrase and talks directly to the audience.
Elmer Fudd is depicted, in all forms, as a human (except in "Beanstalk Bunny", where he is a giant), always bald, and is almost always a hunter of some description. It is debatable how experienced he is since he seems incapable of utilizing skills associated with hunting - though he does have a shotgun and seems to know some basic tracking-skills via identifying "wabbit tracks". He is occasionally depicted as having other jobs, including being a farmer, prospector, surveyor, and even a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Villainous Acts[]
- Attempts to hunt down Bugs Bunny and/or Daffy Duck, and even for the sport of it on many occasions.
- In "A Wild Hare", he encounters Bugs Bunny for the first time and tries to shoot him, only to fail several times, but Bugs dramatically fakes his death to fool Elmer just after Elmer shoots him (though Elmer didn't actually shoot Bugs) and Elmer becomes miserable for what he just did, believing that he killed Bugs. Fortunately, Bugs sneaks up, kicks him in the rear and shoves a cigar in his mouth as Elmer finally leaves in frustration and sobs in defeat.
- In "Looney Tunes: Back In Action", he was one of Mr. Chairman's minions, and he tried to kill Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. In addition, he was also significantly more mean-spirited and dangerous than most incarnations, even admitting at being "secretly evil".
- In the Looney Tunes Show episode "Super-Rabbit", he was one of the villains who tried to defeat Bugs Bunny (Super-Rabbit).
- In a number of New Looney Tunes episodes, he was the leader of The Hazmats, who captured Claudette Dupri who was later rescued by Pepe Le Pew.
- In "Easter Yeggs", tried to kill and make rabbit stew out of Bugs, who was delivering eggs as favor to the Easter Rabbit.
- In "Back-Alley Oproar", he went too far as actually trying to kill Sylvester rather than just merely getting rid of him, because he wanted to sleep, and Sylvester's song was disturbing him, but he makes Sylvester just more sing and annoy him in the process.
- In "Hare Brush", he pretended to suffer from a mental illness to an insane asylum into fooling people from thinking he is a rabbit, only to get away from getting exposed and arrested for tax evasion by an IRS agent as he didn't pay $300,000 in back taxes without filing for his return (adjusting for inflation and given that the cartoon was released in 1955, this is slightly over $2.87 million in modern currency), and ends up framing Bugs for his actions. Which to begin with, is what lead to his company's future-facing a serious threat.
- In "Ant Pasted", he intentionally harasses a group of innocent ants by chucking out firecrackers through their anthills. Amused by their complaints, he throws in more to injure more ants, and break down their anthills into pieces. Causing the ants to declare war against him.
- Maliciously pranks and torments Bugs Bunny throughout despite never being provoked in "Rabbit Rampage", a remake of "Duck Amuck".
- Tricks Bugs Bunny into joining his petting zoo (which is really an animal abuse prison) in "Bugs in the Petting Zoo".
- Scams the public into draining Daffy Duck's lake for his mineral water business in "Wahder, Wahder, Everywhere", and into tricking Daffy Duck into becoming a celebrity to extend summer in "The Duck Days of Summer".
- In the Duck Dodgers episode "The Fudd", he plans to destroy the Sun by manipulating every human being and martian to pair up with his scheme.
- In the Baby Looney Tunes episode "Bully For Bugs", he steals Bugs' candy as he proceeded to harass him and many of his friends.
- In "Rabbit Fire", Daffy Duck lures Elmer to Bugs burrow to shoot Bugs, but Bugs convinces Elmer that it is Duck Season and Bugs and Daffy argue which season it is and Elmer proceeds to shoot Daffy after Daffy declares that it is Duck Season. However, Elmer gets tricked by Daffy disguised as Bugs Bunny and Bugs Bunny disguised as Daffy Duck and Elmer shoots Daffy again. After Bugs and Daffy read a cookbook, Elmer mentions that he is a vegetarian and shoots Daffy for the third time and goes after Bugs and Daffy. Bugs stands up to Elmer and asks why is he shooting with an elephant gun, not before Elmer gets pounded to the ground, which makes Elmer even more angrier and begins to kill both Bugs and Daffy. Eventually, Bugs and Daffy disguise themselves as a female hunter and her dog to fool Elmer, but their disguises fall off and Elmer continues to kill Bugs and Daffy off. Fortunately, after Bugs and Daffy argue what season it is once again, they discover that it is Elmer Season and in a role reversal, Bugs and Daffy proceed to hunt Elmer as Elmer is forced to flee in defeat.
Other Media[]
Batman/Elmer Fudd[]
Elmer Fudd serves as the anti-heroic protagonist of the crossover. He dates Silver St. Cloud until she is supposedly killed by Bugs "The Bunny". He decides to kill Bugs until Bugs claims Bruce Wayne hired him to kill St. Cloud. He shoots Wayne and attempts to kill him but narrowly fails. He later fights Batman, before teaming up to find St. Cloud's killer. It is eventually revealed St. Cloud faked her death to unite Fudd and Batman, to see what would happen.
The Far Side[]
Elmer Fudd appears in a cartoon in The Far Side, where he's fired from a screwdriver factory for his verbal tic "having a subliminal effect" on the workers.
Commercials[]
Elmer Fudd appears in a commercial for Geico insurance, where the host ask, "Could switching to Geico really save you 15% or more on car insurance? Does Elmer Fudd have trouble with the letter R?".
Trivia[]
- Elmer may have been an updated version of another character named Egghead; designed by Tex Avery himself, Egghead looked similar to Elmer, but younger, with a large, bulbous nose, and a voice similar to that of Joe Penner. He appeared in several cartoons from 1937 to 1940, the year where Elmer Fudd made his first true appearance.
- Elmer is Bugs's most classic foe, as he appeared as the main antagonist in the Bugs Bunny cartoons more often than anyone else.
- While Bugs usually manages to outwit, outfox, and-or make a fool of Elmer, he managed to get the better of Bugs in "Rabbit Rampage", "Hare Brush", and maybe "What's Opera Doc?", depending on the viewer's interpretation. He seems to have a lot more luck when his foil is someone else, like Daffy, whom his success rate is about even.
- It is unknown when Elmer became a vegetarian because in the cartoon "Easter Yeggs" he attempts to make stew out of Bugs Bunny, and the cartoon "What's My Lion?" where he prepares a steak for himself (which is promptly stolen by a mountain lion). Notably, "What's My Lion?" was aired long after "Rabbit Fire", the short where he claims to be a vegetarian.
- Elmer's non-threatening disposition was the subject of criticism for many of the Warner Bros creative team, particularly director Friz Freleng, who thought Elmer's mild-mannered and dimwitted personality made it harder to place him against Bugs without the latter coming off as a bully rather than a retaliating trickster. As such several other, more menacing adversaries such as Yosemite Sam and Marvin the Martian were created to take his place. Despite this, Elmer remained a recurring antagonist in many Bugs cartoons, though their rivalry became somewhat more laid back.
- On that topic, the Looney Tunes Cartoons shorts seem to be trying to address this issue since in at least a few of the episodes, Elmer has shown a far worse temper than in the older ones, and has acted in more petty, spiteful and vindictive ways towards Bugs that have made his retaliation seem more justified.
- According to the Looney Tunes fans, there are various songs where the lead singer vaguely sounds like Elmer including "Let's Dance" by David Bowie, "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 sun? And his punk sun 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. While it is currently unknown whatever happened to Mark V. McCollum, the song is often credited to other bands such as Metallica and Megadeth.
- In Family Guy, Elmer Fudd succeeded in killing Bugs Bunny.
- Due to an odd case of censorship, the Looney Tunes Cartoons shorts aren't allowing characters like Elmer and Yosemite Sam to use firearms. Therefore, Elmer is consistently seen without his signature shotgun, and is instead using various other weapons like dynamite, which are oddly considered fair game. However, in Rotund Rabbit, Elmer repossess his signature shotgun.
External Links[]
- Elmer Fudd on the Villains Wiki
- Elmer Fudd on the Heroes Wiki
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