Funny Animals Pictures Biography
Mr. Skullhead was a simplified skeleton character based on a sketch Sherri Stoner had been drawing since childhood. The character first appeared as the skull-shaped barrette worn in Elmyra's hair in Tiny Toons. In Animaniacs, he became the star of the “Good Idea, Bad Idea” sketches. The narrator for the sketches was Tom Bodett, the spokesman for Motel 6 who promises to “leave the light on for you.” He also narrated Mime Time, a segment that showed a mime performer getting pummeled just for being a mime.*
Mindy and Buttons were initially cut from the show until Spielberg's kids saw a drawing of the characters and loved them. Mindy's catchphrases were written by another Groundling alumna, Deanna Oliver, and the role was performed by Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson. Here's one of the most famous Mindy and Buttons segments, Le Bouton et el Ballon, an homage to the 1956 French film, The Red Balloon (Le Ballon rouge).
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Although they were strays, cat Rita and sweet-but-dumb dog Runt were voiced by two actors with quite a pedigree. Rita was voiced by Bernadette Peters, who has won two Tonys and been nominated for three Grammys. Runt was played by Frank Welker, whose prolific voice acting career has made him one of the biggest Hollywood stars you've never heard of. Since 1980, the 97 movies Welker has worked on – including the Transformers sequels, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? - have grossed more than $12.9 billion worldwide.
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Les Miseranimals, an animal-centric version of Les Miserables, was a highlight of the Rita and Runt segments. Here's one of Rita's solos from the episode:
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Minerva Mink — originally called Marilyn Mink — was voiced by comedian and actor Julie Brown. Minerva only appeared in a few segments, though, because she was thought to be too sexual for the young audience. In fact, upon the request of Jean MacCurdy, one Minvera segment was recalled, redrawn, and re-shot to decrease the mink's cleavage.
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At the sight of the Warner Bros. studio’s buxom, blond nurse, Yakko and Wakko would always exclaim, “Helloooo, Nurse!” The catchphrase was written by Tom Ruegger for Buster Bunny on Tiny Toons. Since Buster never used it on the show, Ruegger gave it to the Warners instead. Because of the recurring gag, the nurse, who previously had no name, became known as Hello Nurse.
Here are Yakko and Wakko singing about their favorite health care professional:
Ruegger modeled Pinky after Warner Bros. Animation director and artist Eddie Fitzgerald, who had the same sunny disposition, and often said two of Pinky’s catch phrases - “Narf!” and “Egad!” In fact, the character of Pinky was so similar to Fitzgerald that he auditioned for the voice of Pinky. Another notable name up for the part was John Astin, also known as Gomez on the original Addams Family TV show. But when Rob Paulsen auditioned, he gave Pinky a loose Cockney accent, and the producers knew they'd found what they were looking for.
Brain is based on another Warner Bros. Animation artist and writer named Tom Minton. The original designs of the two mice were taken from caricatures of Eddie and Tom drawn by Batman: The Animated Series producer and designer Bruce Timm. So even though the resemblance is uncanny, the look of Brain was not modeled after Orson Welles. The Wellesian voice, however, was no coincidence, and can be attributed to Maurice LaMarche.
An experienced voice actor, LaMarche would often warm up by quoting a legendary recording of a very frustrated Orson Welles trying to lay down a voice-over track for a frozen peas commercial. When LaMarche saw the concept art for Brain, he immediately thought of Welles, and so he just did the impression he’d been honing over the years. The episode “Yes, Always” has a rather extensive, nearly word-for-word reenactment of the Welles outtake, which you can check out in the video below.
Pinky and the Brain got their own spin-off show that ran for 65 episodes from 1995-1998 on The WB. The show followed the two mice as they continued to try to take over the world, but they also had to occasionally save the world from the evil schemes of Snowball, a hamster from the same lab, who was voiced by renowned actor Roddy McDowall.
Eventually, the studio wanted the show to be a little more conventional, so they suggested turning it into a domestic sitcom. They even cast Dick Clark as the voice of a Kramer-esque quirky neighbor. Upset about the move, the writers instead took the opportunity to make fun of the old sitcom cliches, which didn't make the Warner Bros. execs very happy. Soon after, P&B was shuffled to Saturday mornings.
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