Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's
the most gorgeous girl of all?
Hello, nurse.
Hey, guys.
So part of partnership that I've created on the channel
means that I get to bring people in that know a little bit more
about certain things than maybe I do.
I got another idea.
Let's play what happened to the Warners.
What happened to the--
And instead of trying to convince you that, well, I
know these things, sometimes it's
better off to let an expert take charge.
So while I love Animaniacs, I'm going
to let someone come in who loves them even more.
Thanks, Tyler.
I am so excited to be doing this.
My name is Drew.
And I'm here to tell you about the genius of Animaniacs.
Animation plays a fundamental role
in our understanding of comedy, as it is often
the first time we, as children, are introduced
to the concept of humor being delivered through narrative.
It is a rich landscape where vibrant artwork collides
in amusing and surreal storylines
designed to make us think, laugh,
and feel in ways that we are unable to access in our day
to day activities.
These storylines are laden and often saturated
with visual jokes, physical humor, and rapier wit.
Now find your seats!
Got my seat.
Got mine.
Here's mine.
They will form the building blocks of a sense of humor
that we will carry with us for the rest of our lives.
There isn't an animated show that does this quite as well
as the Animaniacs.
Animaniacs transcends the generational divide
that is often present when it comes
to animated shows tailored for children.
The show achieves its broad appeal
by rooting the frenetic and wacky behaviors of its ensemble
cast of lovable lunatics into one simple concept--
reality.
Animaniacs is a show about real life
told through the lens of absolute ridiculousness.
At its core, Animaniacs is an absurd and hyperactive series
of vignettes, which, at times, almost
feels like it's closer to Saturday Night Live
than it is to a more traditional animated series.
Each episode is stuffed with jokes that range from
low-hanging toilet stuff--
Excuse me.
Go around the other way.
(SHOUTING) I have to potty!
--to some extremely high-brow and even adult humor.
I found Prince.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
No, no, no.
Fingerprints.
I don't think so [GRUNTS]
Every segment takes a little bit of time establishing a base
reality before launching into wacky antics.
An example of this is how Pinky and the Brain
always begin with the mice back in the lab and in their cage
before revealing their world domination plans.
This moment almost never lasts more than 2 to 3 minutes
in any given Pinky and the Brain episode,
but it's absolutely essential to the humor that comes later.
The Warners are consistently interacting with human beings
and celebrities, as well.
The Warners' hijinx often come at the expense
of well-known people who actually
existed, from Michelangelo to William Shatner.
(SINGING) Baa, baa, black sheep.
Animaniacs isn't set in some random forest
or a nondescript farm somewhere.
It's set in Burbank, California, a very real place
in a very real world.
Every character has their own bit or game,
as some might call it.
We have the Warner siblings, Yakko, Wakko,
and Dot, who sort of serve as our guides
to the Animaniac universe.
When they aren't preoccupied with their own stories,
they are there to break the fourth wall
and add a layer of context to the material presented
so that it can be understood by basically
anyone with the cognitive capacity to follow a story.
There's a little of each Warner in all of us,
and that's what makes them such efficient stewards
of our viewing experience.
Yakko is confident, quick-witted, and sharp.
Wakko is indulgent, impulsive, and lazy.
Dot is responsible, kind, and often the voice of reason
through the show's chaos.
The supporting cast is full of characters
that feel oddly familiar to us, as they are presented almost
as a pastiche of various character tropes, which are
surprisingly adult in nature.
In fact, a lot of the characters here
are based on films and actors that
were popular with people who would have been raising
their children in the '90s.
Pinky and the Brain, two lab rats
hell-bent on world domination with a heavy-handed nod
to Orson Welles.
What are we going to do tonight?
The same thing we do every night, Pinky--
try to take over the world.
The Goodfeathers are a parody of the mafia films
in the '90s, as portrayed by Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta, and Robert
De Niro.
Oh, now I'm a heavy hitter.
I'll give you a heavy hit in the head.
Here!
Take that!
I'll give you a big!
Oh, come on!
Ah!
Slappy Squirrel is a disgruntled former cartoon star
whose entire attitude is an homage to Laverne
and Shirley's Penny Marshall.
Gotta watch my figure.
Hey, somebody's gotta watch it.
[LAUGHS]
Rita and Runt are essentially the Abbott and Costello
of the bunch.
What's a human good for, anyway?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
They pet you when you're sad.
They smack you when you're bad.
When you couple this post-modern take on familiar tropes
with such a wide range of comedic styles,
you ensure that your show can be enjoyed by anyone.
Kids can be drawn to the more overt sight
gags and wacky antics, while adults
will be able to appreciate the show's incredible wordplay
and more nuanced written humor.
It's an incredibly difficult line to walk,
and Animaniacs seems to be able to do it in a way that
almost seems effortless.
With every character, Animaniacs makes a promise to its viewer
and always follows through on that promise.
We are promised that the Warners are
going to get the best of Ralph the Security Guard.
We are promised that Buttons is going to save Mindy
from certain danger.
We are promised that Pinky and the Brain
are going to have their plans foiled.
Mime Time is going to result in a mime getting injured.
Chicken Boo is going to be Chicken Boo.
The consistent fulfillment of these promises made to us
by the writers of Animaniacs creates an almost
anticipatory response during the title cards of each segment.
With each episode filled with anywhere between three and five
segments, we get a consistent and repeated feeling
of excitement and anticipation, which is followed through
on every time.
It's an incredibly rewarding thing to experience.
We know what to expect at almost every turn of Animaniacs,
and it's this level of familiarity
that makes watching an episode feel so great.
The show is like watching someone do the same Mad Lib
over and over again, in a sense that we
know where all the blanks are, but have
no idea how the writers intend to fill them.
It's exciting, fun, and engaging.
With the Warners, we know that a human
is going to present them with some type of problem
or obstacle.
Blank 1-- we know that Warners will attempt to solve
this problem or obstacle.
Blank 2-- we know that eventually the human character
is going to become crazed with frustration
over having to deal with them.
Blank 3-- we are often treated to a musical number
of some sort.
An optional fourth blank, if you will--
we know where our characters are going to end up.
But the fun is in how we get there.
Animaniacs is truly about the journey, not the destination.
The show lets you know it, too.
There's a carefree attitude behind every episode,
which really adds to the hilarious
escapism it provides for us.
Unlike the Looney Tunes, in which every character seemed
to be confined to the same endless loop
of predictable behaviors, characters in Animaniacs
were driven by diverse perspectives,
objective opinions, and philosophical points of view.
That's really where the soul of Animaniacs lives.
When you look at a Looney Tunes cartoon like,
let's say, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
It's pretty cut and dry.
The coyote fails at killing the Road Runner,
and then everyone goes home.
Yes, it's classic, and, yes, it's hilarious,
but there's no real depth here.
When you look at an Animaniacs episode,
you can see that each individual segment
is driven by deeply philosophical and emotional
choices made by the characters.
Yakko Warner sings songs about the meaning of existence.
The Hip Hippos are about high society and classism
and fitting in.
You have such a quaint lower-class look to you.
Shoot me.
Pinky and the Brain is a story of power, greed,
and narcissism.
Slappy Squirrel is about aging and callousness in the face
of youth and endless optimism.
Chicken Boo is about a Chicken Boo.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[GRUNTS]
He did it!
[CHEERING]
Animaniacs takes the essence of slapstick cartoons--
the mouth smashes, the dynamite, all the over-the-top,
delightfully absurd and completely insane sight gags--
and combines them with fully developed characters
that we can connect with on an emotional and philosophical
level.
Animaniacs is a true reminder of how artistically deep
a children's cartoon can be, while at the same time
being hilarious, irreverent, and wild.
We get drawn in visually with these catching,
familiar-looking characters, we laugh at the slapstick humor,
our minds are stimulated by the show's wit,
we are dazzled by a variety of musical numbers,
and we are satisfied time and time again.
Animaniacs is a show about human existence
told through a variety of different lenses.
Each lens gives us a look into various elements of life
that we experience everyday and takes them
to hilarious extremes, to the point of it being almost
therapeutic to watch at times.
It reminds us that, sometimes, the best thing for you
to do when things start to seem daunting
is to stop taking things so seriously and start having fun.
Well, that's it for today's video, guys.
It's been really fun doing this.
And I hope you guys enjoyed it.
And if you're a fan of Nerdstalgic,
why not subscribe and hit the bell,
so you don't miss any future Nerdstalgic content.
Goodnight, everybody.
And relax.
[MUSIC PLAYING]