Daffy's Fun

Daffy's Fun is a Canadian children's television series, which is about a duck named Daffy and his son Sleepy LaGoon who solve everyday problems on his house. It aired from March 2, 1992 until December 29, 2006. It was produced by Cheryl Wagner and Robert Mills, directed by Wayne Moss, Robert Mills and Steve Wright. It premiered on March 2, 1992 in Canada and on January 9, 1995 in the United States on Boomerang stations across the country. The program was also broadcast on Treehouse TV from 1997 to 2011.

## Synopsis

Each episode contains numerous standard elements that take place throughout the episode.

### Clock Stretch

In each show, Daffy performs an exercise routine he calls the Clock Stretch.

Other oft-repeated elements include reading a story to Sleepy, who sometimes either chooses a story to hear, gives Daffy a book and oversized glasses, or turning on the lights for Daffy; encounters with the goofy gophers who live under the couch; visits to different places in DuckTown, songs that emphasize the episode's lessons or themes, and a trip to Sylvester Cat's garden. Here he encounters Tweety Bird; Porky Pig, the local mail-delivery pig, who travels on a unicycle; and of course, Sylvester himself. The conversation with Sylvester is often used as the episode's teachable moment, where Sylvester offers Daffy advice or lessons, often with the help of Porky Pig, who delivers gifts and messages from Egghead or Elmer Fudd.

### 10 Second Tidy

Towards the end of each show, Daffy finds his belongings cluttered on the floor and says, "Hey! Who Made This Screwy Little Mess?", the camera would then zoom in on either Daffy or Sleepy in which he asks it was either him or Sleepy then the camera would quickly pan up and down as a way of saying yes, then Daffy explains it's only fair for them to clean it up, and she performs a fastest clean-up routine called the Ten Second Tidy.

All episodes end with Daffy and Sleepy having a nap and sometimes reminding the viewers to remember the rules on today's episode. After Daffy and Sleepy go to sleep, a large crescent moon with a duck beak rises above the starry background behind the couch and the credits then roll over a lullaby version of the theme song, ending with Daffy doing a short role-play of "Peter And The Wolf" by saying "And the duck jumped out for swallowed alive!"

In seasons 1–3 (and in one episode of Season 5), there is the Alphabet Game segment, where a certain letter is shown on a giant alphabet block and Daffy uses certain words beginning with that letter and also makes the letter's shape with his body to get the viewers to guess the letter. In season 7, Daffy and Sleepy play the Dream Game and Sleepy gives out the letter that the dream starts with and provide what they will be dreaming about. In season 6, Daffy and Sleepy go to Duck School where Sleepy learns the alphabet as well as numbers.

Along with the lessons and problem solving sequences, the show also emphasized imaginative play. Episodes often take place in the context of a visit to Ducktown, such as Sylvester's Cabbage Club Cooking School and Porky's Pig Chi Dojo and Dancing School. Additionally, Daffy is gifted in the art of classical dance and runs Daffy Duck's Dance Academy. Starting in Season 7, Daffy makes more frequent trips to Ducktown, and he volunteers at the Ducky Day Camp, where he teaches young ducklings games, songs and stories. This imaginative play was also demonstrated through dress-up games and through Daffy's mountain, in which she imagined the adventures of The mountain climbers. Shown first as a human-sized mountain climbing family, in Daffy's imagination they would become a family of regular-sized characters, whose nonverbal but high-energy activities were shown in high speed and with a musical background in the style of old silent movies.

Two Goofy characters—small, puppeteered gopher creatures that lived underneath Daffy's couch—also appeared in many episodes of the show. Although Sleepy discovered the gophers early in the first season, for most of the show's run Daffy didn't believe that there were gophers under the couch.

## Characters

### Daffy Duck

Daffy is a screwy little duck lead of the series, portrayed by Joseph Mazzello from 1992 to 2002 and Elliot Page in 2006. He is a young duck living with his duclking, Sleepy LaGoon, in their house, on the eponymous Ducky Couch, an oversized green floral couch. He frequently reads stories to Sleepy, always performs a Clock Rug Stretch, and likes to visit Sylvester Cat. Egghead (in seasons 1–5) or Elmer Fudd (from season 6 onward) frequently send Daffy postcards and gifts by mail, which Porky Pig delivers on his unicycle. Daffy is gifted in the art of classical dance and runs Daffy Duck's Dance Academy. Another gift he possesses is the unusual skill to clean just about any mess up in ten seconds, which he calls the Ten Second Tidy.

Initially, Daffy was bossy and stubborn, even when Sleepy disliked it, and he was too young to visit Ducktown, but starting from 2006, Daffy makes frequent trips to Ducktown to visit Sylvester's Cabbage Club Cooking School and Porky's Looney Chi Dojo and Dancing School. The trips to the first location help teach Daffy how to cook. The trips to this second location indicate that he practices martial arts. Daffy also takes Sleepy to Ducky Day Camp and helps out with the other young ducklings. This third location is similar to kindergarten.

### Sleepy LaGoon

Sleepy LaGoon, the sidekick of the series, is Daffy's duckling. Daffy found his in a barrel with a sign marked "Free to a good home", and adopted him. He is puppeteered by Bob Stutt.

He believes that gophers really exist, despite Daffy's disbelief. His favorite food is donuts. He only speaks by cartoon bubbles, and usually answers Daffy's yes or no questions by either nodding or shaking his head.

### Additional Characters

**Mac and Tosh** (puppeteered/voiced by Bob Stutt and Robert Mills): they are the twin goofy gophers who live under the Ducky Couch. Only Sleepy is aware of their existence, and he always does her best to protect them so he can play with them.

**The Mountain Climbing Family**, **Hans** (Fred Stinson), **Sven** (Jani Lauzon), and **Anneliese** (Jackie Harris [seasons 1–2], Suzanne Merriam [Season 3–5]), **Yeti** (Chris O'Brien [Season 3-5]): A very silly family who live inside of Daffy's mountain. They appeared from Seasons 1–5.

**Sylvester Cat** (Jeff Bergman): Daffy's cat and next-door neighbor who loves him and Sleepy. He comes from the "old country" and has a daffy accent. Sylvester also likes growing in his garden and he lives inside a wagon with Tweety, his bird.

**Tweety Bird** (puppeteered by Simon Buckley): Sylvester's bird, who was introduced in Season 2. Likes to play pranks on the others and sometimes tries to get out of getting flea-baths.

**Porky Pig** (Bob Bergen): The local pig courier who makes deliveries to Daffy from Egghead or Elmer Fudd. He can be quite goofy at times and a bit clumsy. He also hates lying and being dishonest.

**Egghead** (Edward Furlong): Daffy's travelling child who likes to make an entrance whenever he visits. He appears in Seasons 1–5.

    **Michigan J. Frog** (Gary Farmer): A close friend who lives in Ducktown. Appears in two episodes in Season 2.

    **Elmer Fudd** (Joey Luthman): Daffy's travelling kid who appears in the show's last two seasons.

## Production

The show was originally produced by Radical Sheep Productions with Owl Television (later Owl Communications), then Canadian children's television network YTV and WITF-TV Harrisburg, with a run of 65 episodes. In 2000, the previous episodes were produced with Benny Smart, a US children's television production company, Tadpole Kids and Treehouse TV, a sister channel of YTV, and Nashville Public Television. At the end of this show (previously produced with Benny Smart), a companion guide appears for the viewers to learn about it.

From 1992 to 2002, the show was filmed at Wallace Avenue Studios in Toronto, and in 2006, it was filmed at Toronto's Studio City.

Radical Sheep Productions and Amity Entertainment, in association with Treehouse TV and Nashville Public Television, produced 22 additional episodes, which debuted on American Public Television in 2006.

## Broadcast And Syndication

In the United States, the series was syndicated by American Public Television to public television stations in that country, most of which were affiliated with Boomerang, starting on January 9, 1995 and ending in February 2007, with reruns airing until May 2009. In Canada, it was shown on Treehouse TV until it ceased broadcasting on February 27, 2011. Currently, all episodes can be viewed on Amazon Prime, Vudu, Tubi, the FilmRise app, and YouTube.

## Home Media

Time-Life Video was the main home media distributor for Daffy's Fun, releasing the series under Time-Life Video's children's label, Time-Life Kids. VHS releases were also released on May 10, 2000 by Goldhil Video.

Daffy's Fun has five DVDs featuring Elliot Page. The DVDs and VHS tapes that feature Joseph Mazzello are now out of print, but can be found on certain websites such as Amazon.com.

On July 30, 2013, TGG Direct released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. Seasons 3-7 were released on August 6, 2013.

## Merchandise And Other Media

Throughout the years, several merchandise has been sold under the show's banner such as videotapes, DVDs, books, dolls, toys and puzzles.

### Album Releases

Several albums of the original songs written by JP Houston and performed by the cast were released on August 9, 2005 by Time-Life, as well as Naxos Music.

### App Releases

In 2015 and 2016, Radical Sheep, in association with Sticky Brain Studios, released some apps based on the series.

* **Just Ask Sleepy**- Released April 1, 2015, this app allows the player to ask Sleepy any question, and she can communicate to the player via her thought bubbles.
* **Goofy Fun**- Released April 1, 2015, this app features the dust bunnies Mac and Tosh playing hide and seek. The objective for the player is to help them find each other by navigating through paths.
* **Clock Rug Time**- Released May 18, 2015, this app features Daffy and her clock rug stretch routine. Daffy can set the time for the player in both analog and digital. This app can also be used as an alarm clock. The app can also display the weather and temperature based on location.
* **Sleepy's Big Day**- Released May 17, 2016, this app focuses on Sleepy and her big first day in Ducky Day Camp with the use of activities for the player.

## This Hour Has 22 Minutes

On the October 18, 2016 episode of *This Hour Has 22 Minutes*, in a segment discussing the 2016 duck sightings, Loonette made an appearance as the show's "duck correspondent." This marked the character's first television appearance in a decade since the show's finale in 2006 and the first time Joseph Mazzello had portrayed Loonette on TV since her departure in 2002.

### Tours

Daffy's Fun has had a few live shows at Londonderry Mall in Edmonton, Alberta and sometimes in Calgary and rarely in Regina, Saskatchewan.

### Daffy And Sleepy Live Theatrical Tour

In 2007, a live theatrical production entitled *Sleepy's Fool Moon Festival* toured in Canada. The show included Daffy, Sleepy, Sylvester, Porky and others. The show was produced by Koba Entertainment and presented by Paquin Entertainment Group.