Daffy Duck

*"You're despicable."*
**Daffy Dumas Duck** is an animated cartoon character produced by Warner Bros. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, the character has appeared in cartoon series such as *Looney Tunes* and *Merrie Melodies*, where he usually has been depicted as the best friend and occasional arch-rival of Bugs Bunny. Daffy was one of the first of the new "screwball" characters that emerged in the late 1930s to replace traditional everyman characters who were more popular earlier in the decade, such as Mickey Mouse and Popeye. Daffy starred in 133 shorts in the golden age, making him the third-most frequent character in the *Looney Tunes*/*Merrie Melodies* cartoons, behind Bugs Bunny's 166 appearances and Porky Pig's 159 appearances.

Daffy was number 14 on *TV Guide*'s list of top 50 best cartoon characters and was featured on one of the issue's four covers as Duck Dodgers with Porky Pig and the Powerpuff Girls (all of which are Time Warner-owned characters).

## Origin and history

Daffy first appeared in *Porky's Duck Hunt*, released on April 17, 1937. The cartoon was directed by Tex Avery and animated by Bob Clampett. *Porky's Duck Hunt* is a standard hunter/prey pairing for which Leon Schlesinger's studio was famous, but Daffy (barely more than an unnamed bit player in this short) was something new to moviegoers: an assertive, completely unrestrained, combative protagonist. Clampett later recalled:

"At that time, audiences weren't accustomed to seeing a cartoon character do these things. And so, when it hit the theaters it was an explosion. People would leave the theaters talking about this daffy duck."
This early Daffy is less anthropomorphic and resembles a "normal" black duck. In fact, the only aspects of the character that have remained consistent through the years are his voice characterization by Mel Blanc and his black feathers with a white neck ring. Blanc's characterization of Daffy holds the world record for the longest characterization of one animated character by his or her original actor: 52 years.

The origin of Daffy's voice is a matter of some debate. One often-repeated "official" story is that it was modeled after producer Leon Schlesinger's tendency to lisp. However, in Mel Blanc's autobiography, *That's Not All Folks!*, he contradicts that conventional belief, writing, "It seemed to me that such an extended mandible would hinder his speech, particularly on words containing an *s* sound. Thus 'despicable' became 'des*th*picable.'"

Daffy's slobbery, exaggerated lisp was developed over time, and it is barely noticeable in the early cartoons. In *Daffy Duck & Egghead*, Daffy does not lisp at all except in the separately drawn set-piece of Daffy singing "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" in which just a slight lisp can be heard.

In *The Scarlet Pumpernickel* (1950), Daffy has a middle name, Dumas as the writer of a swashbuckling script, a nod to Alexandre Dumas. Also, in the *Baby Looney Tunes* episode "The Tattletale", Granny addresses Daffy as "Daffy Horatio Tiberius Duck". In *The Looney Tunes Show* (2011), the joke middle names "Armando" and "Sheldon" are used.

## Different interpretations

Virtually every Warner Bros. cartoon director put his own spin on the Daffy Duck character – he may be a lunatic vigilante in one short but a greedy gloryhound in another. Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones both made extensive use of these two very different versions of the character.

### Daffy's early years, 1937–1940

Tex Avery created the original version of Daffy in 1937. Daffy established his status by jumping into the water, hopping around, and yelling, "Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo!" Animator Bob Clampett immediately seized upon the Daffy Duck character and cast him in a series of cartoons in the 1930s and 1940s. The early Daffy is a wild and zany screwball, perpetually bouncing around the screen with cries of "Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo!" (In his autobiography, Mel Blanc stated that the zany demeanor was inspired by Hugh Herbert's catchphrase, which was taken to a wild extreme for Daffy.) Clampett physically redesigned the character, making him taller and lankier and rounding out his feet and bill. He was often paired with Porky Pig.

### World War II Daffy, 1941–1945

Daffy would also feature in several war-themed shorts during World War II. Daffy always stays true to his unbridled nature, however; for example, he attempts to dodge conscription in *Draftee Daffy* (1945), battles a Nazi goat intent on eating Daffy's scrap metal in *Scrap Happy Daffy* (1943), hits Adolf Hitler's head with a giant mallet in *Daffy the Commando* (1943) and outwits Hitler, Goebbels and Goering in *Plane Daffy* (1944). Daffy was "drafted" as a mascot for the 600th Bombardment Squadron.

### Daffy 1946–1952

For *Daffy Doodles* (his first *Looney Tunes* cartoon as a director), Robert McKimson, Sr. tamed Daffy a bit, redesigning him yet again to be rounder and less elastic. The studio also instilled some of Bugs Bunny's savvy into the duck, making him as brilliant with his mouth as he was with his battiness. Daffy was teamed up with Porky Pig; the duck's one-time rival became his straight man. Art Davis, who directed Warner Bros. cartoon shorts for a few years in the late 1940s until upper management decreed there should be only three units (McKimson, Friz Freleng, and Jones), presented a Daffy similar to McKimson's. McKimson is noted as the last of the three units to make his Daffy uniform with Jones', with even late shorts, such as *Don't Axe Me* (1958), featuring traits of the "screwball" Daffy.

### Daffy 1953–1964

While Daffy's looney days were over, McKimson continued to make him as bad or good as his various roles required him to be. McKimson would use this Daffy from 1946 to 1961. Friz Freleng's version took a hint from Chuck Jones to make the duck more sympathetic, as in the 1957 *Show Biz Bugs*. Here, Daffy is arrogant and jealous of Bugs, yet he has real talent that is ignored by the theater manager and the crowd. This cartoon finishes with a sequence in which Daffy attempts to wow the Bugs-besotted audience with an act in which he drinks gasoline and swallows nitroglycerine, gunpowder, and uranium-238 (in a greenish solution), jumps up and down to "shake well" and finally swallows a lit match that detonates the whole improbable mixture. Some TV stations, and in the 1990s the cable network TNT, edited out the dangerous act, afraid of imitation by young kids.

### Chuck Jones' Daffy, 1951–1964

#### Pairing of Daffy and Porky in parodies of popular movies, 1951–1965

While Bugs Bunny became Warner Bros.' most popular character, the directors still found ample use for Daffy. Several cartoons place him in parodies of popular movies and radio serials. For example, *Drip-Along Daffy* (released in 1951 and named after the popular Hopalong Cassidy character) throws Daffy into a Western, while *Robin Hood Daffy* (1958) casts the duck in the role of the legendary outlaw Robin Hood. In *Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century* (1953), a parody of Buck Rogers, Daffy trades barbs (and bullets) with Marvin the Martian, with Porky Pig retaining the role of Daffy's sidekick. Other parodies were Daffy in *The Great Piggy Bank Robbery* (1946) as "Duck Twacy" (Dick Tracy) by Bob Clampett and as *Stupor Duck* (Superman, now a WB property himself) by Robert McKimson.

#### Pairing of Bugs and Daffy, 1951–1964

Bugs' ascension to stardom also prompted the Warner Bros. animators to recast Daffy as the rabbit's rival, intensely jealous and determined to steal back the spotlight, while Bugs either remained indifferent to the duck's jealousy or used it to his advantage. Daffy's desire to achieve stardom at any cost was explored as early as 1940 in Freleng's *You Ought to Be in Pictures*, but the idea was most successfully used by Chuck Jones, who redesigned the duck once again, making him scrawnier and scruffier. In Jones' famous "Hunting Trilogy" (or "Duck Season/Rabbit Season Trilogy") of *Rabbit Fire* with *Rabbit Seasoning* and *Duck! Rabbit, Duck!* (each respectively launched in 1951, 1952, and 1953), Daffy's vanity and excitedness provide Bugs Bunny the perfect opportunity to fool the hapless Elmer Fudd into repeatedly shooting the duck's bill off. Also, these cartoons reveal Daffy's catchphrase, "You're despicable!" Jones' Daffy sees himself as self-preservationist, not selfish. However, this Daffy can do nothing that does not backfire on him, more likely to singe his tail feathers as well as his dignity than anything. It’s thought that Chuck Jones based Daffy Duck’s new personality off of his fellow animator Bob Clampett, who, like Daffy, was known as a shameless self-promoter. In a spoof of the TV shows Superman (Stupor Duck) and The Millionaire (The Million Hare) Daffy tries to be a superhero and then compete with Bugs Bunny for a $1,000,000.00 prize but loses both times because of his own foolishness.

### Solo Daffy

Film critic Steve Schneider calls Jones' version of Daffy "a kind of unleashed id." Jones said that his version of the character "expresses all of the things we're afraid to express." This is evident in Jones' *Duck Amuck* (1953), "one of the few unarguable masterpieces of American animation" according to Schneider. In the episode, Daffy is plagued by a godlike animator whose malicious paintbrush alters the setting, soundtrack, and even Daffy. When Daffy demands to know who is responsible for the changes, the camera pulls back to reveal none other than Bugs Bunny. *Duck Amuck* is widely heralded as a classic of filmmaking for its illustration that a character's personality can be recognized independently of appearance, setting, voice, and plot. In 1999, the short was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

#### Freleng's Daffy

Friz Freleng used the Jones idea for Daffy in *Show Biz Bugs* (1957) that was mainly made up of reused footage from earlier cartoons wherein Daffy's "trained" pigeon act (they all fly away as soon as Daffy opens their cage; repeated reused footage from *Curtain Razor*) and complicated tap dance number are answered by nothing but crickets chirping in the audience, whereas Bugs's simple song-and-dance numbers bring wild applause (reused animation possibly from *Bugs Bunny Rides Again*, *What's Up Doc?*, and *Hot Cross Bunny*).

#### McKimson's Daffy

McKimson made more benevolent use of Daffy; in *Ducking the Devil*, for example, his greed becomes a vital tool in subduing Taz and collecting a big cash reward. However, McKimson also played with Daffy's movie roles. In 1959, Daffy appeared in *China Jones* (a parody of a television series of the day, *China Smith*, starring Dan Duryea) in which he was an Irish private eye with an Irish accent instead of the usual lisp.

### Daffy's pairing with Speedy in 1965–1968

When the Warner Bros. animation studio briefly outsourced cartoon production to DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (DFE) in the 1960s, Daffy Duck became an antagonist (or inconsistent friend) in several Speedy Gonzales cartoons. For example, in *Well Worn Daffy* (1965), Daffy is determined to keep the mice away from a desperately needed well seemingly for no other motive than pure maliciousness. Furthermore, when he draws all the water he wants, Daffy then attempts to destroy the well in spite of the vicious pointlessness of the act, forcing Speedy to stop him. The Warner Bros. studio was entering its twilight years, and even Daffy had to stretch for humor in the period. It's worth mentioning, though, that in many of the later DFE cartoons, such as *Feather Finger* and *Daffy's Diner*, Daffy is portrayed as a more sympathetic character rather than the full-blown villain he is in cartoons like *Well Worn Daffy* and *Assault and Peppered*. The last cartoon featuring Daffy and Speedy is *See Ya Later Gladiator*, in what animation fans call the worst cartoon made by Warner Bros.

## Modern Daffy

Daffy appeared in later cartoons. He was one of many Looney Tunes characters licensed by Warner Bros. to appear in the 1988 Disney/Amblin film *Who Framed Roger Rabbit*. In the film, Daffy (utilizing his original, wacky characterization) shares a scene with his Disney counterpart and rival Donald Duck whilst engaged in a piano duel. In 1987, to celebrate Daffy's 50th anniversary, Warner Bros. released "The Duxorcist" as its first theatrical *Looney Tunes* short in two decades. Daffy Duck also appeared in several feature-film compilations, including two films centering on Daffy. The first was released in 1983, *Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island*; the second came in 1988, *Daffy Duck's Quackbusters*, which is considered one of the *Looney Tunes*' best compilation films and featured another new theatrical short, "The Night of the Living Duck". Daffy has also had major roles in films such as *Space Jam* in 1996 and *Looney Tunes: Back in Action* in 2003. The latter film does much to flesh out his character, even going so far as to cast a sympathetic light on Daffy's glory-seeking ways in one scene, where he complains that he works tirelessly without achieving what Bugs does without even trying. That same year, Warner Bros. cast him in a brand-new *Duck Dodgers* series. (It should be stressed that in this show, Duck Dodgers actually is Daffy Duck due to him being frozen in suspended animation in some unknown incident.) He had a cameo appearance in the *Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries* episode "When Granny Ruled the Earth", first airing on March 27, 1999. Daffy has also been featured in several webtoons, which can be viewed online.

In the television series *Tiny Toon Adventures*, Daffy is a teacher at Acme Looniversity, where he is the hero and mentor of student Plucky Duck. Daffy is shown as a baby in the *Baby Looney Tunes* show, and makes occasional cameos on *Animaniacs* and *Histeria!*. In the show *Loonatics Unleashed*, his descendant is Danger Duck (voiced by Jason Marsden), who is also lame and unpopular to his teammates. In the majority of these appearances, the selfish, neurotic, and spotlight-hungry Daffy characterized by Chuck Jones is the common version.

More recently, Daffy has been given larger roles in more recent *Looney Tunes* films and series. Following *Looney Tunes: Back in Action*, Warner Bros. has slowly moved the spotlight away from Bugs and more towards Daffy, as shown in the 2006 video release *Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas*, where Daffy plays the lead, while Bugs Bunny appears in a supporting role.

However, more recent merchandise of the duck as well as that featured on the official website have been shown to incorporate elements of the zanier, more light-hearted Daffy of the 1940s. Producer Larry Doyle noted that recent theatrical cartoons were planned that would portray a more diverse Daffy closer to that of Robert McKimson's design; however, due to the box office bomb of *Looney Tunes: Back in Action*, these new films ceased production.

Daffy returned to Cartoon Network in *The Looney Tunes Show*, voiced by Jeff Bergman. His characterization here seems to incorporate some elements of Clampett's and Jones' designs while giving him an overall cheery if dimwitted personality. In the show, he has moved out of the forest and shares Bugs's house with him. Unlike Bugs and their neighbors, Daffy has no way of earning money and relies on Bugs for food and shelter. He has tried on numerous occasions to get rich quick, but ended up failing repeatedly. Daffy's one possession he is proud of is his paper-mache parade float, constructed on top of a flatbed truck, which is his main means of transportation. It was destroyed by a car wash incident, and Daffy sought to replace it with a yacht by tricking Porky into giving him the expensive loan, but his less-than-stellar boating skills ended that ambition. His parade float is repaired shortly after. His favorite singing artist is Elton John. While Daffy's greed and jealousy of Bugs remains, it appears to be less antagonistic in this show, and in one episode, Bugs even tells Daffy in spite of his faults, he is Bugs' best friend.

Daffy starred in the 3-D short *Daffy's Rhapsody* with Elmer Fudd that was originally set to premiere before *Happy Feet Two* but instead it debuted prior to *Journey 2: The Mysterious Island*. The short features Daffy and Elmer in the first CG or 3-D depiction of these specific *Looney Tunes* characters. According to Matthew O’Callaghan who directed the short, the audio comes from a 1950s recording for a children's album.

Daffy appeared in the 2015 DTV movie *Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run*.

## Comics

Dell Comics published several Daffy Duck comic books, beginning in *Four Color Comics* #457, #536, and #615 and then continuing as *Daffy* #4-17 (1956–59), then as *Daffy Duck* #18-30 (1959–62). The comic book series was subsequently continued in Gold Key Comics *Daffy Duck* #31-127 (1962–79). This run was in turn continued under the Whitman Comics imprint until the company completely ceased comic book publication in 1984. In 1994, corporate cousin DC Comics became the publisher for comics featuring all the classic Warner Bros. cartoon characters, and while not getting his own title, Daffy has appeared in many issues of *Looney Tunes*.

## Voice actors

* Mel Blanc (1937-1989)
* Mel Tormé (singing voice in *Night of the Living Duck*)
* Jeff Bergman (*Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue*, *Gremlins 2: The New Batch*, *Tiny Toon Adventures*, *Box-Office Bunny*, *(Blooper) Bunny*, *Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers*, *The Looney Tunes Show*, *Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run*, *Mad* (Episode "First White House Down / McDuck Dynasty"))
* Greg Burson (*Tiny Toon Adventures*, *Animaniacs*)
* Maurice LaMarche (*Taz-Mania*)
* Joe Alaskey (*Bugs Bunny's Lunar Tunes*, *Carrotblanca*, *Marvin the Martian in the Third Dimension*, *The Drew Carey Show*, *Tweety's High-Flying Adventure*, *Looney Tunes: Reality Check*, *Looney Tunes: Stranger than Fiction*, *Looney Tunes: Back in Action*, *Duck Dodgers*, *Daffy Duck for President*, *Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas*, various video games)
* Frank Gorshin (*Superior Duck*)
* Dee Bradley Baker (*Space Jam*)
* Jeff Bennett (*Attack of the Drones*)
* Bill Farmer (*Robot Chicken*)
* Kevin Shinick (*Mad* (Episode "The Bourne Leg-a-Turkey / PilGrimm"))

## Other media

* In 1950, Mel Blanc recorded "Daffy Duck's Rhapsody", a comic song written by Warren Foster, Billy May, and Michael Maltese. It appears in the short *Daffy Rhapsody* featuring Daffy and Elmer that was shown prior to *Journey 2: The Mysterious Island*.

* Daffy makes a cameo appearance in beginning and ending of the 1985 film, *Follow That Bird* in a method of wikipedia:Live-action/animated film.

* Daffy plays a piano duet with Donald Duck in the 1988 film, *Who Framed Roger Rabbit*.

* Daffy made a cameo in a 1998 episode of *The Drew Carey Show* in a method of wikipedia:Live-action/animated film.

* In a 1999 Cheetos commercial, Daffy meets Chester Cheetah.

* In 1999, the U.S. Postal Service issued an 33 cent stamp, designed and illustrated by Ed Wleczyk of Warner Bros., featuring Daffy leaning against a rural mailbox with a "that's despicable" look directed a two letters in the mailbox that bear Sylvester & Tweety and Bugs Bunny stamps.

* A poster of Daffy is prominently displayed in Michael Garibaldi's quarters in the science fiction TV series *Babylon 5*. In one episode, Zack Allan jokingly explains to G'Kar that Daffy is the "ancient Egyptian god of frustration." Garibaldi is also shown entertaining Ambassador Delenn with Duck Dodgers in the 24 & 1/2th Century, which she finds difficult to understand when Duck Dodgers accidentally puts his rocket into reverse. In another episode of "Babylon 5", Michael Garibaldi is watching an episode of Daffy Duck entitled *Duck Amuck* in his quarters.

* In *Family Guy*, after holding an exploding bomb from Adam West, Meg has Daffy Duck's bill on the wrong side of her head, moves it to its proper position, and then states, "Of course, you realize this means war!" This scene was supposedly deleted after the contract between MacFarlane and Warner Bros., but is still in regular TV airings of the episode the scene is in.

* A sound clip of Daffy Duck grunting from one cartoon was reused for Linus Van Pelt fidgeting in anger in *Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!)* (1980).

* In *The Office* episode "Diversity Day," Michael signs his diversity form with Daffy's name.

* The Eminem freestyle "Despicable" gets its name from the claim that Eminem is as "despicable as Daffy Duck."

* Daffy Duck has appeared in the following video games: *The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle*, *The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout*, *Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal*, *Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage*, *The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 2*, *Looney Tunes: Marvin Strikes Back!*, *Bugs Bunny: Crazy Castle 3* *Looney Tunes: Space Race*, *Daffy Duck: The Marvin Missions*, *Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time*, *Bugs Bunny & Taz: Time Busters*, *Looney Tunes: Back in Action*, *Bugs Bunny in Crazy Castle 4*, *Porky Pig's Haunted Holiday*, and *Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham*.

## Gallery

*Main article: Daffy Duck/Gallery*

**Other**Video games