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Daniel Mann, also known as Dan the Man, is a supporting antagonist in the Pompeii Pete shorts of The Wacky World Of Tex Avery.
He was voiced by Alec Willows.
Appearance[]
Dan is a tall skinny man with a large chin and sharp nose; his mustache and goatee make him look like a classic villain. He usually has messy hair and tends to wear a red hat with a blue coat as well as black shirt, pants and shoes.
Biography[]
The Wacky World Of Tex Avery, which had little relation to famed cartoonist, Tex Avery, was a cartoon series composed of a series of skits involving a different cast of characters; usually featuring a screwball protagonist and a straight faced antagonist. One of these skits was called Pompeii Pete and featured a time displaced centurion of the same name, annoying a man named Dan in the modern world.
Both Pompeii Pete and Dan the Man would have various jobs throughout the various shorts, the latter usually being a shady businessman or criminal who would begin with the cartoon committing a villainous act; scamming a hospital or robbing a bank. Dan would inevitably run into Pompeii Pete who would annoy Dan to the point of madness by taking his words and puns literally IE: chopping hotel guest Dan's suitcase in half when Dan pointed at it and told Bellboy Pete to "chop chop."
Upon reaching his breaking point, Dan would often try to murder Pete only to injure himself, simply go insane, or simply otherwise ruin his current career. Whilst Dan was typically cast as a amoral character, occasionally he would play a neutral or anti heroic role; a survivor of a zombie apocalypse trying to stop his doorman, Pompeii Pete from letting the living dead into the house and a member of a MIB organization trying to protect Earth from aliens among those roles. Nevertheless Dan would retain his ornery demeanor and heated relationship with Pompeii Pete.
The Pompeii Pete shorts often bore no continuity between them and Dan and Pete never recognized each other. For example, in one short, Dan is a vampire living in castle with his wife and kids, yet in many others Dan is human, single and lives alone in an apartment. Whilst Dan's default name was Daniel Mann or "Dan the Man, he often went by different names in different shorts such as Count Danula or Dan De Jour. On a few rare occasions, Dan would even appear to die (disintegrated by sunlight as a Vampire, eaten by Zombies) only to come back in the next short.
Villainous Acts by short[]
The Dis-Orderly[]
After getting kicked out his apartment for overdue rent, Dan scams his way into a hospital by faking an injury to get free room and board.
Toothpaste Pete[]
In the beginning of the short, Dan robs a jewelry a store and then hides from the police in a dentist office, Pete is working at.
Gangster Rip[]
Danny Boy works as a gangster, beginning the cartoon by assaulting and robbing a man of his wallet.
Just Plane Away[]
Dan is revealed in the beginning of the short, via a phone conversation, to be a crooked lawyer who cheated his own mother.
Gunga Dan[]
Gunga Dan is a poacher that hunts rare and endangered animals. He tries to hunt the last albino tiger in existence and plans to use his servant, Pompeii Pete, as bait.
Pompeii Away[]
Much like just Plane Away, Dan is a ruthless lawyer who mentioned helping his client sue a widow over the phone.
Caddy Whack[]
Dan is a doctor who golfs between ten and four every day, refusing to end his golfing early even though his patient is at risk of falling into a coma.
Count Danula[]
Dan is a vampire called Danula and tries to attack Pizzaman Pompeii Pete when he visits Danula's castle: albeit to gather blood to feed his wife and kids.
Double O Scussi[]
Blodan is an evil mastermind planning to unleash a doomsday plot upon the Earth to take it over; much in the vein of James Bond's archfoe, Blofeld. In the beginning of the short, Blodan freezes a James Bond parody and then ejects him into the shark filled sea.
What, Me Hostage[]
Dan robs a bank and takes Pompeii Pete hostage in this short.
The Running Dan[]
Daniel Mann exhibits a rare diamond in his museum, but secretly plans to burglarize his own museum so he can steal the diamond and sell it on the black market.
Dan the Man Child[]
Burglar Dan decides to infiltrate a rich woman's house via pretending to be an orphan boy so he can rob mooch off her money and inherit her wealth.
Dan's Best Friend[]
Used car salesman Dan tricks an old woman into buying a defective car, however the woman turns out to be a witch and turns Dan into a werewolf as revenge, resulting in Dan pretending to be a dog in veterinarian Pete's clinic to escape an angry mob.
Trivia[]
- In the German dub, he is renamed Bob.
- In the French dub, he is named Dan l'Embrouille, meaning Dan the Confusion, which matches his scamming acts.
- In the Italian dub, he is just named Dan. In the same dub, the voice of Dan is similiar both to Supreme Kai, Raditz and Dyspo's voice.
- He is not to be confused with Dan the Man from the game of the same name.