Buddy is a cartoon character from the 1930s and a one-shot character in Animaniacs.
However, despite being a hero in the Looney Tunes version, this version is villainous as he appears as the main antagonist of the Season 1 finale episode The Warner's 65th Anniversary Special.
He was voiced by Jim Cummings.
History
Buddy was created in 1929, staring in the cartoon Outback Buddy, in which he plays a ukulele while walking in the outback and singing merrily. However, the director Weed Memlo thought that the cartoon was too boring, and instructed the animator, Lon Borax, to add new characters and make it funnier. At around 2:45 in the morning, Borax, overworked and near insanity, drew up the characters of the Warners known as Yakko, Wakko, and Dot. In the new version, Buddy is seen playing the ukulele again, but this time, the Warners, who walk behind him, nail him with their mallets. The gag is repeated over the years in various Buddy/Warner toons, until Thaddeus Plotz decides to fire Buddy, thinking he was no longer needed, despite the Warners fighting for him, (due to their love of hitting him with their mallets). Buddy eventually became a nut farmer in Ojai, seemingly on good terms with the Warners.
However, years later during the "The Warners 65th Anniversary Special," we discover he in fact hated the Warners for ruining his career and attempted to kill them by planting a bomb under their podium, which would explode during their speech. Later when the Warners was thanking everybody who made them what they are today, they gave a big thanks to Buddy for starting their careers, stating that they wished he could be there with them. Buddy, hearing this, immediately ran out, where the Warners asked him to say a few words. Just as he was about to, Buddy realized he forgot about the bomb as it went off and got blown up, sending him flying into the sky, hitting one of the decorative giant mallets. He then fell to the ground in pain. The Warners lifted the mallet up to say that he hadn't lost his touch, and that the audience loved it, for which Buddy was thankful, they then dropped the mallet back on top of him.
Personality
While it seems that in both on and off screen, Buddy is shown to be a happy, cheery toon who always smiles, even when he's in pain. However during the 65th episode, Buddy (while in cloak form) is shown to be evil and seek revenge on the Warners for ruining his career. However, he reformed after he was moved by the Warners' speech about thanking him for giving them the start of their career.
Trivia
- Buddy is based on a character who had his own series of cartoon shorts at Warner Bros in the mid 1930's; his character was so bland and so boring that Warner Bros. quickly sought to replace him. In real-life, Buddy debuted in 1933, rather than 1929.
- Buddy's debut cartoon having to be reworked due to its dull storyline is likely a reference to what happened to Buddy's real-life debut cartoon, Buddy's Day Out. Warner Bros. considered the cartoon to be so bad that they fired its director, Tom Palmer, and brought in Friz Freleng to re-animate it and make it more entertaining.