List of Animaniacs characters

This is a list of characters in the 1993 Warner Bros. animated television series, Animaniacs, and its 2020 revival.

Animaniacs had a large cast of characters, most of whom appear here.

The Warner Siblings (Animaniacs)

The Warner Siblings (or just simply the Animaniacs, as referred to by the show's fans and the media) are small, silly, mischievous dog-like siblings of unknown origin and the central titular characters of the series; they generally introduce and identify themselves as "the Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister)". Their species is never made clear: this has been satirized several times, most prominently in the song "What Are We".[1] While no writer or creator has confirmed the idea, Dot's name has implied that they may also be derived from "Warner Brothers" itself: Yakko's position as de facto leader can be symbolized as the prominence of "Warner", Wakko being the younger brother can be seen as the prominence of "Bros", and "Dot" may simply come from the period found at the end of the title of the company.

  • Yakko Warner (voiced by Rob Paulsen) – Yakko is the wise-cracking, smart-and-fast-talking, oldest sibling—at 14 years old—who usually acts as the leader of the trio. He gets his name for his talkative nature being generalized as loquacious. As per his age and consequent obsession with girls, Yakko is responsible for most of the adult humor, saying "Goodnight, everybody!" after a joke that only adult viewers will understand. Yakko wears pants that are "smokey topaz" with a black belt. Animator Tom Ruegger's son Nathan is known for being the inspiration for Yakko.
  • Wakko Warner (voiced by Jess Harnell) – Wakko is the middle sibling—at 11 years old—who has a Liverpudlian accent, huge appetite and magical "gag bag" full of tricks. He earns his name for being the most outrageous in physical comedy—and supposedly the least intelligent—though Wakko has claimed it to be "middle kid syndrome" in the episode "Survey Ladies". Wakko wears a candy apple red backwards baseball cap and a pale blue turtleneck sweater. His "Great Wakkorotti" segments also see him belching professionally to classical music. His belches were provided by Maurice LaMarche.
  • Dot Warner (voiced by Tress MacNeille) – Dot is the cute and (more often, particularly as of the revival and its theme song) sassy youngest sibling—at 10 years old—who is more easily relaxed than her brothers, but proves on numerous occasions that she can be just as wild as they are. Her full name is "Princess Angelina Louisa cantessa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the third"; she also despises being referred to as "Dottie", threatening anyone who does so with death. She wears a pink skirt with a marigold daisy ribbon around her ears.

Supporting characters
  • Dr. Otto von Scratchansniff – The German-accented WB studio psychiatrist, voiced by Rob Paulsen, who attempts to force the Warner siblings to be less zany. He often loses patience with the Warner kids and freaks out—his first chronological interaction with them sees him pulling out his hair until he achieved his characteristic baldness[2]—but then becomes fonder of and takes more responsibility for them, occasionally acting as a father figure; the Warner siblings are clearly shown to be annoying him on purpose, but are also very fond of him. In the revival's season 1 finale's first sketch "Hindenburg Cola", Otto successfully pranks the Warner siblings in his return only to fall victim to the titular beverage; he still claims the revival will allow him victories every now and then.
  • Hello Nurse – A buxom blonde WB studio nurse who also appears in other occupations and is voiced by Tress MacNeille, over whom various males—particularly the Warner Bros, Yakko and Wakko—fawn.[3] Her appearance usually prompts the Warner brothers into affectionate greeting of "Hellooooooo, nurse!" occasionally accompanied by leaping into her arms and/or big kisses, although sometimes any number of all three WB siblings use the same gag on other characters. Hello Nurse appears in a few Slappy cartoons as a running gag. In Animaniacs: Wakko's Wish, it is learned that her "mean IQ (is) 192" and she laments that she is respected for her looks and not her mind (except by Yakko and Wakko, ironically).[2] The phrase "Hellooooooo, nurse!" was initially meant to be a catchphrase for Buster Bunny on Tiny Toon Adventures as a counterpart for Bugs Bunny's "Eh, what's up, Doc?", but the writers could not find an appropriate way for him to use the phrase organically; of course, the phrase did not originate there, having been used decades earlier in vaudeville shows.[4] Creator Tom Ruegger shared on Twitter that the character's name is Heloise Nerz and she has German heritage.[5] The era of the revival would deem Hello Nurse inappropriate, and so she is fully absent, with Dr. Scratchansniff providing the in-universe explanation of her joining Doctors Without Borders in the intervening two decades.[6]
  • Ralph T. Guard – A dim-witted WB Studios security guard, voiced by Frank Welker, who is usually the one to recapture the Warner siblings and confine them to the Warner Bros. tower. He first appeared in Tiny Toon Adventures as the Fat Guard.[7] Despite retaining his stupidity in the revival, he takes advantage of the Warner's lack of 2020 technology to contain them briefly.
  • Thaddeus Plotz – The squat, hot-tempered, money-grubbing CEO of Warner Bros., voiced by Frank Welker.[2] His portrait is a prominent decoration of the CEO's office. He is not present in the reboot, as he has left his position at Warner Bros. sometime during the Warners' 22-year period of absence.
  • Nora Rita Norita – Plotz's successor in the new season, voiced by Stephanie Escajeda.[8] Though as stern and short-tempered as Plotz, she takes the Warner Siblings' zaniness more passively; she is also obsessed with her health so as to maintain her slender frame, being seen on a treadmill in her first appearance and going into a frightening laughing fit when accused of eating stolen donuts in a later episode.

Pinky and the Brain
Main article: Pinky and the Brain

Pinky and the Brain are two white mice kept in a cage at ACME Labs, voiced by Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche, respectively. The Brain is serious, the leader, and constantly devising plans to conquer the world. He resembles and sounds like Orson Welles. Pinky is eccentric and unintelligent but loyal to the Brain. In 1995, they were spun off into a cartoon series of their own. As of now, they are the only non-Warner Siblings segment to regularly appear in the 2020 revival series.

Supporting characters
  • Billie – A female white mouse, voiced by Tress MacNeille, who appeared in "The World Can Wait", "Brain Noir" and "You'll Never Eat Food Pellets In This Town Again!".
  • Pharfignewton – A female white racehorse who Pinky fawns over, voiced by Rob Paulsen and Frank Welker. Her name refers to Phar Lap, Fig Newtons and Fahrvergnügen, the latter an advertising slogan used by Volkswagen.
  • Julia (formerly J37 and then Julia Brain) – A female, tannish, genetically altered lab mouse and ex-wife of the Brain, voiced by Maria Bamford, who appears in the 2020 revival, first appearing in "Mousechurian Candidate". She was mutated by Brain using the DNA found on artifacts of past First Ladies of the United States to be his candidate for the position as he attempts to run for president. However, the public finds her more favorable and write her in instead, and Julia then defies Brain's schemes after finding them immoral. During a presidential debate in Nashua, New Hampshire, Brain attempts to control her using a neural implant in her left ear, but she overcomes his control through her own will. However, she cannot remove the device and it malfunctions, continuously giving her electric shocks. She then flees, abandoning the debate and her candidacy. Although Pinky and the Brain assume that she has reverted to her primal, feral state, it is revealed that she has set up a hideout in a log and is spying on them to eventually get her revenge.

The Goodfeathers

The Goodfeathers are an Italian American trio of pigeons: Squit (gray), Bobby (turquoise), and Pesto (lavender), who were voiced by Maurice LaMarche, John Mariano and Chick Vennera, influenced by Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci's roles in Goodfellas.[9]

Supporting characters

Slappy Squirrel
  • Slappy Squirrel – A grumpy old cartoon veteran, voiced by series writer Sherri Stoner impersonating Penny Marshall, who lives in a tree with her nephew Skippy Squirrel.[10] The music played during her segments is an excerpt from Antonín Dvořák's "Humoresque No. 7".
  • Skippy Squirrel – Voiced by Nathan Ruegger, Slappy's grand-nephew, whose chipper personality is the opposite of his aunt's.[11] His character varies from slightly naive ("Slappy Goes Walnuts") to innocent ("Bumbie's Mom") to complicit partner of Slappy ("Critical Condition").

Supporting characters
  • Walter Wolf – Slappy Squirrel's longtime nemesis, voiced by Frank Welker in his first appearance and later Jess Harnell for the remainder of the series; is a parody of the Big Bad Wolf characters of Disney and Tex Avery. In "...And Justice For Slappy", he has an adult grandson.
  • Sid the Squid – A villain, voiced by Jack Burns, who appeared in five Slappy cartoons: "Hurray for Slappy", "Scare Happy Slappy", "Rest in Pieces", "Macadamia Nut", and 'Star Warners"
  • Beanie the Brain-Dead Bison/Beanie The Cereberally Challenged Bison – A villain similar to Pete Puma, voiced by Avery Schreiber, who appeared in "Hurray for Slappy", "Scare Happy Slappy", "Rest in Pieces", "Macadamia Nut", and "Star Warners"
  • Stinkbomb D. Bassett – A foe of Slappy, voiced by Jonathan Winters, who appears in "Smell Ya Later"
  • Bumpo Bassett – Stinkbomb's grandson, voiced by Luke Ruegger (the younger brother of Nathan Ruegger), who also appears in "Smell Ya Later"
  • Candie Chipmunk – Slappy's self-centred neighbour, who appears in "I Got Yer Can". An excerpt of the "Dance of the Reed Flutes", from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, plays whenever she appears. She is voiced by Gail Matthius in the style of Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Chipettes.
  • Baynarts "Charlton" Woodchuck – A cartoon director and former child actor who appears in "Nutcracker Slappy"
  • Codger Eggbert – A parody of Roger Ebert, voiced by Chuck McCann in "Critical Condition" and Billy West in "Hurray for North Hollywood (Part II)"
  • Lene Hisskill – A parody of Gene Siskel, voiced by Maurice LaMarche in "Critical Condition"
  • Doug the Dog – A large bulldog and villain, voiced by Frank Welker in "Slappy Goes Walnuts"
  • Vina Walleen – An old friend of Slappy, voiced by Tress MacNeille in "Bumbie's Mom"
  • Daniel Boone – The self-proclaimed "best frontiersman that ever lived", voiced by Jim Cummings in "Frontier Slappy"
  • Duke – A school bully, voiced by Corey Burton in "Bully for Skippy"
  • Ms. Butley – Skippy's guidance counselor, voiced by Tress MacNeille in "Bully for Skippy"
  • Reef Blunt – A foe of Slappy and the chairman of the Federal Television Agency, who wanted everyone involved in children's television to follow the new strict guidelines, which includes decreasing amounts of cartoon violence and increasing education for three hours each day, much to the misery of Yakko and Slappy. He was voiced by Rob Paulsen in "Bully for Skippy"

Rita and Runt

These segments, along with "Minerva Mink", were discontinued at the end of Season 1 (in part, because of Bernadette Peters' salary). Welker remained a series regular, voicing other characters. Rita and Runt returned as minor characters toward the series' end. They also appear as minor characters in the feature-length direct to video Animaniacs animated film Animaniacs: Wakko's Wish.

Rita and Runt are a vagabond stray duo that get into many scraps and adventures. They are often searching for a home, but are back as strays by the end of the episode. In Animaniacs: Wakko's Wish, they are shown finally being accepted in a home, a result of Wakko's wish for two ha'pennies, which caused several characters to receive their heart's desires.

  • Rita (voiced by Bernadette Peters, with vocal effects by Frank Welker) – Rita is a funny, aloof and intelligent cat that sings.
  • Runt (voiced by Welker) – Runt is a dim-witted dog who thinks that Rita is also a dog like himself and who constantly uses the word, "definitely" a lot when speaking (for example, "Rita, you're a good dog. Definitely a good dog!"). This verbal tic, as well as Runt's speaking style, is a reference to Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man.

Supporting characters
  • Dr. Phrankenstein – A stumpy female mad scientist, voiced by Adrienne Alexander in "Phranken-Runt"
  • Scout– Dr. Phrankenstein's creation, voiced by Frank Welker in "Phranken-Runt"
  • Mr. Squeak – Dr. Phrankenstein's pet rat in "Phranken-Runt"
  • Mrs. Mumphead – An eccentric old lady, voiced by Paul Rugg, in "No Place Like Homeless"
  • Crackers the Parrot – Mrs. Mumphead's pet parrot, voiced by Frank Welker in "No Place Like Homeless"
  • Kiki the Angry Ape – An ill-tempered gorilla, voiced by Frank Welker, who appears in "Kiki's Kitten"
  • Mr. Politician – A parody of Ross Perot, voiced by Frank Welker, who appears in "Icebreakers"
  • Missy "Ma" McCoy – An elderly farm cat, voiced by Tress MacNeille

Buttons and Mindy

Buttons is a German Shepherd Dog who watches Mindy when her parents are away. His vocal effects are provied by Frank Welker. Mindy, voiced by Nancy Cartwright, is a young girl who constantly wanders into trouble without even being aware of it. Buttons haplessly struggles with various dangers and narrowly rescues Mindy, only to be blamed and punished for her misbehavior. There is no consistency or continuity in the storytelling; most episodes each feature Mindy's family living in a different setting and portraying them as different sorts of people (i.e. costumed superheroes, mer-people, cave people, etc.). In Animaniacs: Wakko's Wish, Buttons is rewarded with some good steak instead of being punished.

Supporting characters
  • Mindy's mother – In brief off-camera appearances, her face is never shown and she is usually called "Lady" by Mindy in the series; in Animaniacs: Wakko's Wish, Mindy finally calls her "Mom".
  • Mindy's father – His face is also never shown; Mindy usually calls him "Mr. Man".

Katie Ka-Boom

Katie Ka-Boom is a teenage girl voiced by Laura Mooney,[12] who morphs into various violent, destructive monsters when things do not go her way. She lives with her parents and her little brother named Tinker. Katie is the only member of her family who has blonde hair while the rest of her family are brunettes. The premiere Katie Ka-boom segment was also a Chicken Boo crossover, in which Katie morphs into a green Incredible Hulk-like monster when initially told her new boyfriend (who is also the student council president, class valedictorian and the school's star wrestler) is a giant chicken, and then morphs into a monster made of fire when she herself realizes that he is a giant chicken and ends their relationship.

In the reboot episode "Good Warner Hunting", Katie is seen with the previous cartoon characters and her appearance suggest that she is now an adult.

Supporting characters
  • Tinker Ka-Boom – Katie's little brother, who is five years old and in kindergarten. He wears a blue shirt and red hat like Wakko.
  • Mr. and Mrs. Ka-Boom – Katie's parents. Mr. Ka-Boom is voiced by Rob Paulsen and was modeled after actor James Stewart. Mrs. Ka-Boom is voiced by Mary Gross.

Minerva Mink

Minerva Mink is an attractive young mink, voiced by Julie Brown, who was called Marilyn Mink in pre-production.[13]

Supporting characters
  • Newt – The faithful dachshund of his lazy owner, who also appears in "Puttin' on the Blitz" with Rita and Runt as "Schnappsie". Voiced by Arte Johnson (Newt) and by Frank Welker (Schnappsie).
  • Wilford B. Wolf – A nerdy wolf who becomes a handsome werewolf every night of the full moon, voiced by Peter Scolari. His werewolf alter-ego is built like a Chippendales dancer and dresses like one, and he is very affectionate to Minerva. Minerva once asked him about his werewolf changes and when will the next full moon come, Wilford answers that it comes every 28 days, to which she implied "Good things are worth waiting for."

Guest characters
  • Mr. Director (voiced by Paul Rugg) – A recurring character that is a caricature of the late Jerry Lewis who always speaks in a whiney childish-like tone, he often spurt out nonsensical words like "Flamiel", or "Freunlaven", and also shouts out "LAYdee!".
  • Miss Flamiel (voiced by Tress MacNeille) – The studio's strict teacher who Plotz hired as a way to control the Warner siblings' behavior (which obviously failed). Whenever someone does something wrong or incorrect in front of her, she gets out a red marker and writes "F" on their forehead. In other episodes, she is less strict, while the Warners are cooperative as shown in "Wakko's America" where she hosts a game of Jeopardy!, and Wakko, who lands the Daily Double, wagers all of his money to name all 50 states and capitals. Wakko does so, but fails because he answers in the form of a song and not a question.
  • The Baby Bluebird ("Birdie") – Voiced by Cody Ruegger. Debuts in the “My Mother the Squirrel”, believing Slappy to be his mother.
  • Chicken Boo – A six-foot-tall chicken, voiced by Frank Welker and is often considered as an antagonist. He wishes to live as a human, so he wears flimsy disguises, usually just a hat or a coat, which somehow always fool everyone - except for one person who no one believes. Unlike other animal characters, Boo cannot talk and acts almost exactly like a real chicken, making his disguises all the more absurd. At the end of each episode, his disguise falls apart, and he is exposed as a giant chicken. This causes all of his previous supporters to turn against him (after the person who was originally not believed says "I told you he was a giant chicken!") and usually run him out of town. In the revival, it's revealed that in the years since the original show's end, he has greatly improved his disguising ability to the point that he can legitimately appear as a human, even being able to speak English when disguised.[14] However, he was apparently not supposed to appear in the revival as he was, according to the Warners, the least popular character in the show (with Yakko screaming, "Bottom of every fan list!").[14] In revenge, Boo disguised himself as a hunter named Dr. Walter Grubb and hunted down the original Animaniacs cast (except for Pinky and the Brain) in revenge and supposedly killed them, although they were later revealed to all be alive and run Boo out of the Warner Bros. lot.[14]
  • Steven Spielberg (voiced by Frank Welker in the original, Andy Milder in the revival) – The show's executive producer, often mentioned by the cast, although he has made a small amount of physical appearances.
  • Colin (the Randy Beaman Kid) – A wide-eyed boy who tells improbable stories which allegedly happened to his (never-seen) friend Randy Beaman. He comes out of his home with an object in hand that he fidgets with while he tells the story (the object is usually not related to the story) and starts off with "One time...okay, see, one time..." and then tells his story while playing with whatever he has. When he is finished, something will usually happen to the object that he is playing with (like an ice cream cone melting or a baseball going through someone's window), and the kid will finish with "'kay, bye.", then turn around and walk back into his house without another word.
  • The Flame – A child-like candle flame, voiced by Luke Ruegger, who is present at important historical events and teaches fire safety.
  • Flavio and Marita – Also known as the Hip Hippos, a wealthy, Spanish hippo couple voiced by Frank Welker and Tress MacNeille (singing voices done by Wendy Knudsen for Marita and Ray McLeod for Flavio).
  • Dr. Gina Embryo – Zoologist who studies the Hip Hippos and tries in vain to protect them, a parody of both Joan Embery and Jane Goodall, voiced by Tress MacNeille.
  • Mr. Skullhead – A mute skeleton seen in the "Good Idea-Bad Idea" segment narrated by Tom Bodett and a parody of Edward Scissorhands. Initially introduced on Tiny Toon Adventures as a creation of Elmyra, based on the little skull in her bow.
  • The Mime – A nameless mime who appears in "Mime Time", also narrated by Bodett.
  • Mary Hartless – A parody of Mary Hart, voiced by Valri Bromfield and Tress MacNeille, who appears as a newsreader with a variety of hairstyles in "Hurray for Slappy", "Chairman of the Bored", "Bubba Bo Bob Brain", and "Critical Condition".
  • Death – The archetypical Grim Reaper with black robe, skeletal appearance, scythe and speaks in a Swedish accent. In "Meatballs or Consequences" the Warner siblings challenge him to a game of checkers, reminiscent of the chess game with Death in Ingmar Bergman's 1956 The Seventh Seal.[15][16]
  • The Narrator – The offscreen narrator (voiced by Jim Cummings) whose voice resembles Cummings' voice for WD’s Winnie the Pooh, who appears in "Nighty-Night Toon", "Gift of Gold", and "Warners and the Beanstalk".
  • Francis "Pip" Pumphandle (voiced by Ben Stein) – A man who tells long and boring stories and bores the Warners in "Chairman of the Bored". He also appears in the Pinky and the Brain episode "Star Warners", and returns in Animaniacs; Wakko's Wish as a Desire Fulfillment Facilitator.
  • Bugs Bunny (voiced by Greg Burson in the original) – An anthropomorphic wisecracking, carrot-loving rabbit and one of the biggest cartoon stars at the Warner Bros. studio.
  • Daffy Duck (voiced by Greg Burson in the original, Eric Bauza in the revival) – An anthropomorphic greedy, self-centered duck and one of the biggest cartoon stars at the Warner Bros. studio.
  • Nils Neidhart (voiced by Fred Tatasciore) – An immensely muscular, narcissistic, and vindictive European athlete with a massive ego, whom the Warners have so far squared off against twice in the reboot. He prides himself on his muscles and laughs off those he assumes to be weaker than him.
  • Starbox and Cindy (voiced by Danny Jacobs and Eleanor Johnson, respectively) – Starbox is a miniature alien whose job is to press a button to signal a hostile takeover of Earth. Unfortunately, he is captured by a kind-hearted girl named Cindy who plays with him and talks of nonsensical and slightly surreal things; as a result, the invasion is put on indefinite hold. The voice acting suggests that most of Cindy's dialogue is taken from Johnson's legitimate conversations with animation placed over it.
  • The Incredible Gnome in People's Mouths (voiced by John DiMaggio) – Once a narcissistic CEO, he has been transformed into a rage-driven gnome who goes inside people's mouths and tells others what they really think; comically popping out to scream. Once his job is done, he walks off into the sunset, a lá The Incredible Hulk.

References
  1. What are we? (episode 6). 20 September 1993.
  2. "De-Zanitized". Animaniacs. Season 1. Episode 1. 1993-09-13. FOX Kids.
  3. "10 Most Intelligent Animaniacs Characters, Ranked Dumbest To Smartest". ScreenRant. November 10, 2020.
  4. Cronin, Brian (2018-03-25). "15 Times Animaniacs Snuck By Censors (And 1 Time They Got Caught)". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  5. "Tweet". twitter.com. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  6. "Hindenburg Cola". Animaniacs. Season 1. Episode 13. 2020-12-06. Hulu.
  7. "A Christmas Plotz". Animaniacs. Season 1. Episode 49. 1993-12-06. FOX Kids.
  8. "Suspended Animation". Animaniacs. Season 1. Episode 1. 2020-12-06. Hulu.
  9. "The Animaniacs Revival Needs to Leave THESE Characters in the '90s". CBR. August 23, 2020.
  10. Slappy Squirrel at Don Markstein's Toonopedia Archived from the original on June 4, 2017.
  11. Nguyen, Hanh (May 31, 2017). "'Animaniacs': The 12 Characters Who Need to Return to the Revival, Ranked".
  12. Katie Ka-Boom at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015.
  13. "The Animaniacs Character Deemed Too Sexy for the 1990s Cartoon Classic". CBR. August 29, 2020.
  14. "Episode 5: Good Warner Hunting / No Brainer / Ralph Cam". Animaniacs. Season 1. Episode 5. November 20, 2020. Hulu. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  15. "CULTURAL REFERENCES GUIDE for ANIMANIACS (CRGA)". Webcitation.org. Archived from the original on October 25, 2009. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  16. sfan64 Added Jul 25, 2007 All my reviews (2007-07-25). "Meatballs or Consequences Season Episode Guide on". Tv.com. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
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