99 Fun Facts About Animaniacs

Who created Animaniacs?

Tom Ruegger modelled the three Warners' personalities on his own sons, Nathan, Cody and Luke, and all three boys went on to voice characters in his cartoons.

On which programming block did Animaniacs premiere in September 1993?

Fox Kids ran it on weekday afternoons from September 1993, and the show found fans among adults as well as the children the block was aimed at.

Which filmmaker was the executive producer of Animaniacs?

Steven Spielberg, whose name led the full title 'Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs', was hands-on: at his urging, every episode was given its own original score.

What do Yakko and Wakko shout whenever an attractive woman walks by?

Hello, Nurse! greets the studio's blonde medic above all; the 2020 revival wrote her out, explaining that she had left to join Doctors Without Borders.

Where were the Warner siblings locked away for being too zany?

The water tower is a real landmark on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank; a giant Yakko balloon placed on it to promote the launch was taken down after the studio chief mistook it for Mickey Mouse.

The Warners' design echoes which early animated character?

Felix the Cat, a black figure with a white face, was a loose model alongside Warner's own Bosko and Foxy, so the trio look like relics of the era the story says they come from.

What is the name of the Warner Bros. security guard who chases the Warners?

Ralph, voiced by Frank Welker, is the slow-witted guard the trio always outrun; the revival springs a twist by revealing he is related to the studio's new boss.

What is the surname of the Warner Bros. psychiatrist who tries to tame the Warners?

Scratchansniff, first name Otto, begins with a full head of grey hair and tears it out in frustration during his sessions with the Warners, which is why he is bald.

What question does the Brain ask Pinky at the start of their schemes?

'Are you pondering what I'm pondering?' always draws a baffling reply; one episode, 'The Pinky P.O.V.', replays a night from Pinky's side to show how he gets there.

Which of these is one of Pinky's signature nonsense words?

Narf leads a list that also runs to Zort, Poit and Troz, the last adopted after Pinky noticed it was Zort seen backwards in a mirror.

What is the name of the research facility where Pinky and the Brain live?

Acme Labs is where a gene splicer gave the two caged mice their intelligence; each night they slip the cage there to try, and fail, to take over the world.

In his origin episode, how does Pinky get his name?

From a misheard insult by Brain: in that telling he scoffs that the scientists have less in their heads than he has in his pinky, and the other mouse answers as if called.

What kind of animal is Snowball, the Brain's rival?

A hamster, Snowball grew up as the Brain's friend before the same gene splicing turned him into a rival bent on world conquest; Roddy McDowall voiced him.

In Animaniacs, Squit, Bobby and Pesto parody the lead characters of which 1990 gangster film?

Goodfellas supplied the three leads, while their boss, a send-up of Marlon Brando's Godfather, mumbles so badly that Bobby has to translate for him.

What kind of birds are the Goodfeathers?

Pigeons from New York, the trio are less mobsters than strugglers: most of their cartoons are about coping with the everyday problems of city bird life.

What is the name of the little girl that Buttons the dog protects?

Mindy, a toddler, wanders cheerfully into danger and never notices; Buttons takes the knocks rescuing her, then gets scolded by her parents instead of thanked.

What is the name of Slappy Squirrel's nephew?

Skippy's sunny innocence is the foil to his grumpy aunt's taste for slapstick mayhem; the show's creator cast his own eldest son, Nathan, as the voice.

Slappy Squirrel, who lives in a tree with her nephew, is a grumpy retired what?

Cartoon star Slappy made her name in violent old slapstick shorts and still settles every score that way; writer Sherri Stoner, who voices her, shaped the character.

Rita and Runt, dropped after season one, were what kind of duo?

A cat and a dog: Rita is a sarcastic singing stray, and dim-witted Runt goes through every cartoon convinced his friend is a dog like him.

Which Broadway star provided the voice of Rita in Animaniacs?

Bernadette Peters sang in the role too, so most of Rita's cartoons pause for a Broadway-style number as the two strays search for a home.

What is Chicken Boo's goal in his segments?

To live among humans, the six-foot chicken wears flimsy disguises that fool everyone but one doubter, until the costume slips and the crowd turns on him.

Which two characters does Rob Paulsen voice in Animaniacs?

Yakko and Pinky nearly lost their voice in 2016, when Rob Paulsen was treated for throat cancer; he recovered and returned to both roles for the 2020 revival.

Who voices Wakko in Animaniacs?

Jess Harnell still sings Wakko's songs on stage: since 2016 he has joined his fellow leads on tour in a live concert show of the cartoon's music.

Wakko's voice is a younger impression of which musician?

Ringo Starr's Liverpool accent, pitched younger, makes Wakko the only one of the three siblings who doesn't sound American.

Who voices Dot Warner?

Tress MacNeille was asked to audition because she already voiced Babs Bunny for the same producers and the two characters sounded alike.

Who voices the Brain in Animaniacs?

Maurice LaMarche won the part at his audition and plays it straight: his Brain is no cackling villain but a mouse who honestly thinks he would run the world better.

The Brain's voice is an impression of which film director?

Orson Welles was the actor's own idea: he thought the drawing looked like the director and has described the voice as about two-thirds Welles and one-third Vincent Price.

Yakko's voice and design were inspired by which comedian?

Groucho Marx was the model because the creator built the whole trio on the Marx Brothers; Wakko's look in turn echoes Groucho's brother Harpo.

What accent does Pinky speak with?

Cockney was his voice actor's tribute to British comedy: the accent borrows from the Monty Python troupe and the cast of The Goon Show.

What was the 1999 direct-to-video Animaniacs film called?

Wakko's Wish recasts the Warners as penniless orphans in a fairy-tale town crushed by taxes and stood as the franchise's finale until the revival two decades later.

In the 1999 Animaniacs film, the whole cast races to be first to touch what?

A fallen star lands far from town, and a fairy reveals that the first to touch it will have a heart's desire granted, so heroes, villains and lab mice all set off after it.

In the 1999 Animaniacs film, why do the Warners need money so badly?

To pay for Dot's operation, Wakko leaves town to find work and earns a single ha'penny; the punchline is that the operation turns out to be surgery to give her a beauty mark.

Who was the main composer for Animaniacs?

Richard Stone wrote the theme and led a team of composers steeped in Carl Stalling's Looney Tunes style, recording on the same Warner stage Stalling had used.

Which composer's Humoresques provided the theme for Slappy Squirrel's segments?

Dvořák's Humoresque No. 7 became her signature tune under a plan, suggested by the executive producer, to give every recurring segment its own style of music.

As 'The Great Wakkorotti', Wakko performs classical music by doing what?

Burping: he belches his way through pieces such as The Blue Danube, though the burps were not his own voice actor's but were supplied by another member of the cast.

Which 1990 law pushed the writers to add educational songs like 'Yakko's World'?

The show met the requirement by having the characters meet historical figures and sing about world geography.

Besides its Emmys, which award did Animaniacs win in 1994?

The Peabody board cited it for restoring quality to the daily TV cartoon, on a winners' list shared with The Larry Sanders Show and Mystery Science Theater 3000.

What was the only Animaniacs theatrical short, released in 1994?

I'm Mad, an all-sung squabble on a long car ride to the circus, opened in cinemas ahead of the animated feature Thumbelina and was later folded into the TV series.

In a 1998 spin-off, Pinky and the Brain became the pets of which girl, who smothers animals with affection?

Elmyra Duff was imported from an earlier Warner cartoon at the network's insistence, and the new theme song says so: 'It's what the network wants, why bother to complain?'

Besides children's slots, where was the 1995 Pinky and the Brain spin-off also scheduled?

In prime time on Sunday nights, the mice spent their first season playing to grown-up viewers before settling into children's slots alone.

Which network bought the Animaniacs reruns in 2000, taking them from Cartoon Network?

Nickelodeon bought three Warner cartoons in one deal, so the reruns left the studio's own sister channel for a competitor.

Which streaming service released the Animaniacs revival in 2020?

Hulu gave the revival a two-season order in January 2018 and added the original series to its library as part of the same deal.

What is Thaddeus Plotz's job in Animaniacs?

Studio CEO: the short and short-tempered Plotz runs Warner Bros. all through the original series, but by the 2020 revival he is gone and a successor, Nora Rita Norita, sits in his office.

Which character hosts the revival's 'Math-terpiece Theater' segments?

Dot hosts the segments, in which she teaches math lessons staged as high drama.

Which publisher released the first Animaniacs video games in 1994?

Konami made two different platform games under the same title, one for the Super NES and one for the Genesis, rather than porting a single design.

In the 1990s, adult Animaniacs fans gathered at alt.tv.animaniacs, a discussion group on which early online network?

Usenet's alt.tv.animaniacs drew dozens of posts a day; Warner Bros. staff downloaded and read them, and one episode answered with a caricature of the show's online fans.

Which earlier cartoon, created by the same man, was the hit that led to Animaniacs?

Tiny Toon Adventures also supplied talent: writer Sherri Stoner came across from it, and Slappy Squirrel, whom she voices, grew out of her idea.

In one Animaniacs episode, the Warners help which real monarch repair a castle after a fire?

Queen Elizabeth II is caricatured in 'Windsor Hassle', a spoof of real news: it aired in November 1993, one year after the Windsor Castle fire that its plot sends the trio to repair.

'Yakko's World' sets the names of the world's nations to which traditional tune?

The Mexican Hat Dance carries Randy Rogel's rapid-fire lyric naming the nations of the world, and from 2016 the lead voice actors took it and the show's other songs on tour.

Before antenna-like ears and new noses were added, which animals were the Warner siblings of Animaniacs meant to be?

Ducks were the first plan, until the creator reworked the trio's look while making an episode of his earlier series. Their species has been kept deliberately vague ever since.

A giant Yakko balloon promoting Animaniacs was pulled down after the studio chief mistook it for which character?

Mickey Mouse was who studio boss Bob Daley thought he saw, so the inflatable lasted less than 12 hours. He then had side whiskers added to the brothers' faces to prevent any confusion.

The opening sketch of the first episode of the Animaniacs revival parodies which 1993 film?

Jurassic Park was picked because that franchise had also come back after a long gap. The makers hoped parents who grew up with the Warners would watch the revival with their own children.

The toddler whom Buttons keeps rescuing in Animaniacs shares a voice actor with which famous cartoon boy?

Bart Simpson and the wandering toddler are both Nancy Cartwright. She played the sweet little girl while still voicing Springfield's best-known troublemaker.

Wakko, the middle Warner sibling in Animaniacs who will eat almost anything, has a phobia of what?

Clowns terrify him, a fear that drives the episode Clown and Out. Almost nothing else rattles a boy who happily eats rocks and gum found under a seat.

Why does Wakko lose the quiz-show Daily Double in Animaniacs after correctly singing every state and capital?

His answer wasn't a question, which is the one rule of Jeopardy!, the show the song spoofs. He had wagered all of his money on getting the list right.

The creator of Animaniacs battled network censors for months to air a song about which South American lake?

Titicaca finally got its song after several months of argument with the censors. The lake itself is perfectly respectable, straddling Peru and Bolivia high in the Andes.

In its early years Animaniacs ranked as the second-most popular children's show among ages 2 to 11, behind which series?

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was the only show ahead of it with children. The cartoon also drew grown-ups: in 1995 over a fifth of its weekday audience was 25 or older.

Runt's habit of repeating one word in Animaniacs is a nod to Dustin Hoffman's character in which film?

Rain Man gave him the tic: Runt talks like Raymond Babbitt, the savant Hoffman played. Runt and his partner Rita spent their segments looking for a home and never keeping one.

What does the Brain use to pick the lock of his laboratory cage in Animaniacs and its mouse spin-off?

His crooked tail doubles as a lock pick, which is how the pair get out to hatch their schemes. The kink also tells him apart from Pinky, whose tail is straight.

Buttons, the dog forever saving a wandering toddler in Animaniacs, is which breed?

German Shepherd Buttons narrowly rescues the girl every time, then gets blamed and loses his treat. The 1999 film finally rewards him with a steak for keeping her safe.

Thaddeus Plotz, the hot-tempered man who orders the Warners recaptured in Animaniacs, holds which job?

Chief executive Plotz is squat, money-grubbing and permanently furious at the trio. By the revival he has left the job to a new boss, Nora Rita Norita.

Katie Ka-Boom, the Animaniacs teenager who morphs into monsters when thwarted, was based on whom?

A writer's own daughter was the model: Nicholas Hollander's girl was going through a tantrum phase at the time. Katie's on-screen father looks and sounds like Jimmy Stewart.

Flavio and Marita, a wealthy Spanish couple who appear in Animaniacs, are which kind of animal?

Hippos Flavio and Marita are trailed by a zoologist who tries in vain to protect them. She is a send-up of both Jane Goodall and Joan Embery.

Minerva, an Animaniacs character whose segments ended after the first season, is which kind of animal?

A mink named Minerva was called Marilyn in pre-production. Her segments stopped at the end of the first season, at the same time as those of Rita and Runt.

The showrunner of the Animaniacs revival had previously written for which adult animated sitcom?

Family Guy was his background, and the revival was run like an adult cartoon with a full writers' room. Some critics felt that influence cost the new episodes the charm of the original.

A surge in popularity for Animaniacs on which streaming service in 2016 prompted the revival?

Netflix added the old episodes in 2016 and the audience came flooding back. A rival streaming service then ordered two new seasons before a single episode had been made.

In 1995 Animaniacs became one of five cartoons launching the children's block of which network?

The WB opened its children's block that September with the Warners among its launch titles. The show stayed there until its final episode in 1998.

Alongside its Daytime Emmys, Animaniacs won which prestigious award in March 1994?

A Peabody arrived only months after the premiere. The Annie Awards were less kind: the show's nominations there all ended without a win.

The Animaniacs revival explains the absence of Hello Nurse by saying she left to join which organization?

Doctors Without Borders is the excuse the studio psychiatrist gives for her two-decade absence. The leered-at nurse was judged out of place in a 2020 cartoon, so she never appears.

The hot-tempered member of the Goodfeathers in Animaniacs is modelled on a role played by which actor?

Joe Pesci's volatile gangster inspired Pesto, while his partners Squit and Bobby borrow from Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro. Their plots are mostly about failing at everyday problems.

How do the Goodfeathers in Animaniacs show respect when their mumbling elderly boss appears?

By kissing his foot, the trio honour a boss who parodies Vito Corleone of The Godfather. He mumbles so badly that Bobby usually has to translate.

Which prolific voice actor played Runt, Thaddeus Plotz and Chicken Boo in Animaniacs?

Frank Welker, also the voice of Scooby-Doo and Megatron, supplied the barks, clucks and bluster for much of the cast. His work on the show earned an Annie nomination in 1994.

Which Animaniacs writer, once the live-action model for Disney's Ariel, also voiced Slappy Squirrel?

Sherri Stoner was a writer and story editor who voiced the grumpy squirrel for the whole run. She came back to the role for the revival's final episode in 2023.

Pharfignewton, the object of Pinky's hopeless affection in Animaniacs, is which kind of animal?

A racehorse, she is one of the few animals in the cast who never talks or acts human. Part of her name is a pun on Phar Lap, the champion thoroughbred, and Fig Newtons.

Which British-born film veteran voiced Snowball, the Brain's childhood friend turned rival, in the Animaniacs spin-off?

Roddy McDowall, the chimpanzee Cornelius of Planet of the Apes, played the scheming Snowball. Unlike the Brain, Snowball wants to rule the world for thoroughly malevolent reasons.

What does the Warner sister of Animaniacs keep in her hair even when the siblings wear costumes?

A flower stays in her hair through every costume change and comes off only with her pajamas. Wakko's backwards cap gets the same loyal treatment.

The Warner sister of Animaniacs claims a very long full name that begins with which title?

Princess is only the start: the name runs on through Angelina, Contessa, Louisa and Francesca before ending in "the Third".

Baloney, a dinosaur the Warners cross paths with in Animaniacs, is a parody of which famous character?

Barney is the target: the Warners are stuck on a children's show with the jolly Baloney, who gleefully takes all their abuse. Jeff Bennett voices him, and he returns in the 1999 film.

In the 1999 Animaniacs film, what does the middle Warner sibling finally ask the fallen star to grant?

Two ha'pennies is all he asks for, to the delight of everyone. As the first coin passes from butcher to baker to grocer, it brings prosperity back to the town of Acme Falls.

At the end of the 1999 Animaniacs film, birth certificates found at a hospital reveal the Warners to be what?

Heirs to the throne of the late King William the Good, the trio promptly boot the tyrant Salazar out of the palace. They then grant every townsperson a wish, except the mime.

In the 2005 game Animaniacs: The Great Edgar Hunt, the stolen Edgar statuettes parody which real award?

The Oscars are the target: an overlooked film director steals the statuettes and threatens to melt them unless he gets a lucrative contract. A blimp crash then scatters them across the lot.

In the Animaniacs revival, what kind of creature is Starbox, the tiny captive of a girl named Cindy?

An alien scout, Starbox is supposed to press the button that signals a hostile takeover of Earth. Cindy keeps playing with him instead, so the invasion is on indefinite hold.

Mr. Director, an Animaniacs character who shouts nonsense words when rattled, caricatures which comedian?

Jerry Lewis is the model for the calm, quiet filmmaker who turns whiny and childish when scared. Series writer Paul Rugg supplied the voice.

Which longtime Motel 6 spokesman narrated the Good Idea, Bad Idea segments on Animaniacs?

Tom Bodett voiced over the silent mishaps of the skeleton Mr. Skullhead and the Mime Time shorts as well. He later narrated the 1999 film too.

Which actor voiced Pip Pumphandle, the man who bores the Warners with endless stories in Animaniacs?

Ben Stein voiced Pip in the segment Chairman of the Bored, where his long tales wear the trio down. He returned in the 1999 film as a fairy-like wish facilitator.

The greeting the Warner brothers shout at the nurse in Animaniacs was first meant for which earlier cartoon rabbit?

Buster Bunny was meant to have it as his answer to Bugs's famous greeting, but the writers never found a natural way for him to say it. The phrase itself goes back to vaudeville.

The only Animaniacs theatrical short was released in cinemas in 1994 alongside which animated feature?

Thumbelina failed at the box office, which is why no further shorts followed. A few critics thought the Warners' few minutes outshone the feature they came with.

The lead composer of Animaniacs modelled his scores on the techniques of which classic Looney Tunes composer?

Carl Stalling's approach was the template, and every episode got an original score. The orchestra of about thirty players added a harp for the Christmas specials.

Which instrument did the lead composer of Animaniacs play himself on the first Goodfeathers segments?

Mandolin suited the brief, since those segments were scored in the style of Martin Scorsese's films and The Godfather. Each set of characters was given its own style of music.

Which animator drew the caricatures of two studio colleagues that became Pinky and the Brain in Animaniacs?

Bruce Timm sketched producers Tom Minton and Eddie Fitzgerald, and the show's creator added mouse ears and noses. Minton always seemed to be scheming; Fitzgerald cheerfully agreed with him.

Larry, a third mouse added to Pinky and the Brain at the network's demand, spoofs a member of which comedy act?

The Three Stooges supplied Larry Fine as the model. The writers felt a third mouse spoiled the double act, so his debut simply jams his name into the theme song.

Which longtime nemesis of Slappy Squirrel in Animaniacs speaks with a Yiddish accent?

Walter Wolf, a send-up of the Big Bad Wolf of Disney and Tex Avery cartoons, resents a career spent as her luckless villain. He once took her to court, accusing her of assault.

Which Japanese studio's episodes of Animaniacs became the model for the revival's redesign of the Warners?

TMS Entertainment's episodes were judged the best of the original run, whose animation was shared among several studios. Artist Genevieve Tsai built the new, more angular look on them.

Which 1990s leading man does the Warner sister of Animaniacs swoon over, declaring she would marry him?

Mel Gibson is her weakness, even though she finds it repugnant when her brothers fawn over beautiful women. She reacts to attractive men in much the same way.

Wakko rarely removes his backwards cap in Animaniacs, even in costume; what colour is it?

Red, and it is his trademark: with the cap off he looks very similar to his older brother Yakko. He wears it with a turtleneck and, as he likes to point out, no trousers.

What does the Warner sister of Animaniacs carry around with her inside a tiny box?

Her pet turns out to be a horrifying monster far too large to have fitted inside the box. In one episode, one of these pets ends up marrying a Xenomorph.

In the Animaniacs revival, the Brain gains a new rival for world domination in Julia, who is what to him?

His wife, Senator Julia Brain, turns on him after his attempt to mind-control her into a puppet ruler drives her insane. He had engineered her using the DNA of past First Ladies.

Pinky and the Brain starred in four 2023 shorts made with which online education platform?

MasterClass teamed up with the two mice a month after the Animaniacs revival released its final season. The pair had been the only non-Warner act to appear regularly in that revival.

Which comic actor is the celebrity idol of Wakko, the middle Warner sibling in Animaniacs?

Don Knotts is the star Wakko is a big fan of. His other great love is food: he will eat almost anything, rocks included.