Animaniacs rivals Rocko's Modern Life in terms of the sheer amount of radar-breaking as far as 1990s kids' cartoons are concerned. The show packed in a large amount of "adult-friendly" jokes during its run. In general, "Goodnight, everybody!" (i.e., "Time to go to bed, kids!") is a good sign that they just pissed off the BS&P again. In fact, the creators themselves say they didn't know how they got away with all of the risqué jokes.
You needed only watch the opening titles that kicked off this show every day to get a taste of the Warners' envelope-pushing. Specifically, "There's bologna in our slacks!" - with Yakko's baggy trousers being pulled open and slices of bologna tossed into his crotch. Not too bad...until you remember what "bologna" can be a euphemism for...
When asked by a large Swiss woman in "Drive-Insane" if they bite, Dot says, "Not unless you want us to."
And then when Wakko ate her earring, guess where his hands were? Not to mention that when they locked Scratchy out of the car and were terrorizing his date, Yakko was hugging the lady with a very pleased look on his face. When you consider where his head was...
In their version of Jack and the Beanstalk, Wakko plays the girl-harp, electing a sound that could charitably be called laughter, and ending in "That tickles!", but sounds rather like something else, if you know what I mean.
Yakko: Number-one Sister, dust for prints! (time passes; pan over to Dot carrying The Artist Formerly Known As Prince Dot: I found Prince! Yakko: No, no, no, fingerprints! Dot: (stares briefly at a grinning Prince, then back at Yakko) I don't think so. (tosses Prince out a nearby porthole)
And they were just short of blatant in "King Yakko":
Prime Minister Nurse: Your Highness, it's time to meet your Cabinet. Yakko (to an actual cabinet): Hi there, how are you doing? Prime Minister Nurse: Sire? Yakko: Wait 'til we're alone...
And if you don't get what all the fuss is about, well: 'sire' is a slang term for having kids. And in order to have kids, you need to... well, you know.
Also from that episode: Hello Nurse does a curtsy and asks "May I present myself?" — and as she's doing this, Yakko and Wakko are looking up her dress.
Cardinal: King Yakko, your throne. Wakko: The throne? How do you lift the lid? Dot: Since when do you lift the lid?
One of the favorite gags is Yakko and his sibs reacting with horror to a word that only sounds dirty:
Beethoven: I am Ludwig Van Beethoven! Vorld famous composer, und pianist! Yakko: You're a WHAT?! Beethoven: A PIANIST! Yakko: (smooch) Goodnight everybody! Beethoven (confused): But zat is vat I am! A pianist! Yakko: I think we've heard enough out of you! (proceeds to wash out his mouth with soap)
And also:
Yakko: Hey, did you know there's P. P. on your smock? Pablo: THAT STANDS FOR PABLO PICASSO!
When the Warners are forced to attend educational classes:
Teacher: Yakko, can you conjugate? Yakko: Who, ME? I've never even kissed a girl. Teacher: No, no, no! It's easy. I'll conjugate with you. Yakko: (to the audience) Goodnight, everybody! Teacher: You don't understand. I'll go to the board and show you. Yakko: (to the audience) Don't look.
In one episode, Dr. Scratchensniff got a parking ticket and Yakko was his legal representation in traffic court. There was a bit of a running gag that was obvious enough for us kids to get:
Judge: Have you subpoenaed the witness? Yakko: Have I what? Judge: Subpoenaed! Subpoenaed! Have you subpoenaed the witness?! Yakko: I most certainly have not! You should be ashamed of yourself for even suggesting it! (later, while he's questioning the meter maid that gave the ticket) Yakko: Why did you give Dr. Scratchensniff a ticket? Meter Maid: His parking meter had expired. That's a violation of the Burbank Penal Code. Yakko: The what? Meter Maid: The penal code! The penal code! Yakko (to the judge): You know, the two of you oughta get together.
In the Rita and Runt short "FrankenRunt", Rita sneaks into the lab and crawls up the operation table where Runt was strapped to. She also crawled under the sheets then pops her head out above Runt to face him.
Rita: Having fun?
Also, this exchange later in the same episode:
Runt: Gee, that Dracula sure was a weird guy. Rita: What was with that bat fetish, anyway?
Two words - Minerva Mink. When a character gets created for the sole purpose of doing an homage to the old Tex Avery "Wolfy" shorts and their over-the-top Wild Takes, it's bound to have some crap getting past the radar.
There were a few scenes when Hello Nurse would be called to escort the Warners away; Yakko and Wakko would sometimes be staring at her breasts.
Or:
Yakko (practicing a polite greeting with Hello Nurse): "How do you do...that thing with your mouth?!"
In one episode, the Warners constantly foil a hunter's attempts to shoot their pet turkey.
Yakko: We're not pheasants! We're not even birds! But I'd like to give you a bird! Here! (Wakko stuffs a turkey down his jacket)
Also done in "This Pun For Hire" while fighting over a bird statue.
Minerva Mink: Give me the bird!
Dot: We can't, it's a family show. note The Nickelodeon rerun cuts off "it's a family show", making the joke more subtle, but it can still be seen as an adult joke.
How did this get past the radar in "Taming of The Screwy"?
(while the Warners screw around with a statue of Dr. Scratchansniff) Wakko: Oh, look! A giant Pez dispenser! Dr. Scratchansniff: Stop playing with my bust! (beat) Yakko (aside glance): Mmm-wah! Goodnight, everybody!
It's not just the Warners getting in on the action. In "Slappy Goes Walnuts", a video explained:
"Squirrels like to hide their nuts in many odd places where the sun doesn't shine on them."
THIS episode, "My Mother The Squirrel", is this trope all over. Highlights include this gem:
Slappy: (having had enough of the baby bird hiding under her butt) "This thing is starting to become a pain in the... well,youknow."
And:
Skippy: You want me to bring him back to his nest?
Slappy: No, Skippy... I'm actually starting to enjoy it.
Skippy: Goodnight, everybody!
In "Wakko's America", Wakko gets a Daily Double in classroom Jeopardy!. When asked if he wants to wager all of his money or part of it, he answers with "I'll blow the whole wad!" As he said it, the facial expressions on Yakko and Dot made it seem like even they weren't sure they'd get away with it.
'Course, it could have been missed because "blow the wad" is also real gambling slang.
Even outside of gambling, it's a standard English idiom, and the term comes from the way old firearms would have to be reloaded.
"Heidi Heidi Heidi Fleiss!"
There's a really quick shot of Wakko sipping from a straw stuck in a barrel labeled "Grog" during "The Ballad of Magellan." That's right, a children's cartoon show managed to include a Funny Background Event that beer commercials still aren't allowed to depict.
Dot's worst "Where the hell were the censors on this one?" moment was in the Pocadotas bit:
John Smith (holding his hand out to shake Dot's): This is how we say "hello." Dot (with an expression and tone that screams suggestiveness) Wanna see how we do it? Yakko: (mmm-wah) G'night everybody!
Also in that short:
Dot: [I'm] painting with the colors of the passing wind. Wakko: Did you say 'passing wind'?! Dot: OH FOR THE LOVE OF HUMANITY, DO NOT GO THERE!
There is also the moment from "The Three Muske-Warners" where Yakko is doing a presentation on Squeezie Cheese and Dot is dressed in a showgirl's outfit with a blonde wig while presenting an oddly phallic shaped bottle of cheese paste, she then hugs it and it sprays up in the air.
The Warners have defeated today's villain by casting him into a giant chocolate Easter bunny, so they donate him/it to the children's home, where he's carried off by a crowd of children. Then:
Yakko: "Wait 'till they get to the creamy filling!" (waggles eyebrows)
"Oh Lake Titicaca, yes Lake Titicaca / Why do we sing of its fame? / Lake Titicaca, yes Lake Titicaca / 'Cause we really like saying its name! Titicaca!"
Come on you guys! We're gonna play "truth or dare."
A censor tells GoogilyGoop to take off her suggestive outfit — cue "Goodnight, everybody".
From the same short, Wakko's nose has sprung to life and has taken residence in Googily Goop's picnic basket, Wakko asks if she's seen his nose and she replies "Oh do you mean the cherry? It's right in here" as she pulls out a pie which the nose pops out of and the censor tells her to watch what she says.
In "Temporary Insanity", Wakko eats Mr. Plotz's paperweight.
Thaddeus: And give me back my paperweight! Wakko: Okay, but you'll have to wait a while.
In "Take My Siblings, Please", there's a scene where Yakko summons a group of busty chorus girls to "romp" with him. Bad enough already, but then comes a later bit where all the ladies are walking away groaning in exhaustion. Yakko, being Getting Crap Past the Radar personified, just has to make it sound even worse.
Yakko: C'mon! One more romp? I'll even get in front this time!
Wakko's interaction with the troll in the episode has a couple of... well... endowment jokes.
Wakko: Warner Brothers would be very unhappy with you. They'd sue your pants off. (Pulls troll's trousers, snapping them back, troll grabs crotch area and moans in pain)
Wakko: You should eat my brother. He's way meatier than I am (Cut to the Chorus girls tiredly walking away from Yakko's romping)
Same episode, Wakko excuses himself (before Yakko summons the chorus girls)
Wakko: My bottom's sore from all this romping.
And before that, Dot chides the troll saying that she can't be eaten because she's a little skinny thing. Her dress falls down exposing her underwear, then she pulls it back up quickly with a giggle .The troll seemed to enjoy that as well.
In a parody of the poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas":
Dot: The stockings were hung so our names clearly showed. Wakko: In the hopes that old Santa would leave a big load! Yakko: G'night everybody!
At the closing sketch of the "The Warners Escape" tape, Yakko and Dot give a lecture on a medical condition that Wakko's been suffering from. He's been complaining about pains in his eye, ear, and a tooth, out of which they've pulled cartoons. When they ask him for a closing statement, he replies:
And then there's the "Package" conversation. Unfortunately, the video was pulled, but it went something like this:
Dr. Scratchansniff: As you know, when nature calls, you have to pick up the phone and say "Hello, I got your message. I've got a package for you."
Wakko: "I've got a package for you"? Excuse me?
Dr. Scratchansniff: Oh, look who's talking, Mr. Potty Emergency.
Wakko: Yeah, but I never said "package"!
Yet another example:
Hello Nurse: (singing) I don't know what to say, the monkeys won't do,
Yakko: For a nickel I'll give you a clue (winks at the audience)
In "Garage Sale of the Century", Wakko has broken Papa Bear's (the same Papa Bear who appeared in a series of Chuck Jones cartoons unofficially known as "The Dysfunctional Bear Family" cartoons) garage opener and he tells him he can fix it, when he puts it back together he experiments with it and discovers he can move things up and down. Two women in skirts walk by. He gives a sly smile and wiggles his eyebrows, pointing it at them. Before he can press the button Dot stops him and says "That'll be enough of that." Yakko says "Every boy needs a hobby."
This gem:
Yakko: So tell me about your hamster, Petey was it?
Miles Standish: Oh Petey, how I didist loved that hamster so! I took him to bed with me every night, you know.
Yakko: (whispering to the audience) Goodnight, everybody!
After one of his traps for Slappy backfires, Walter Wolf is sewing the crotch in his overalls (while still in them). Slappy tells him to watch where he's sewing.
During "A Christmas Plotz", Yakko (as the Ghost of Christmas Future) performs an elaborate musical number, complete with chorus girls:
"Let me know when those costumes get heavy!" (growls suggestively)
Even earlier, Yakko talks with one of the chorus girls during the musical.
Yakko: Hellooonurses! Say, why don'tcha stop by the Warner Tower so I can show you my stamp collection?
Chorus Girl: But Yakko, you don't have a stamp collection!
One Slappy Squirrel short featured Slappy arguing, with her usual aplomb, with a boorish woman in a movie theater.
Boorish Woman: Well, I never! Slappy: Well, you should; it's fun!
During the song, "A Quake, A Quake" Yakko makes this clever pun.
Yakko: Whose fault? Whose fault? The San Andreas Fault! 'Cause Mr. Richter can't predict 'er kicking our asphalt!
"Potty Emergency": Everything in Wakko's mad search for the bathroom certainly qualifies, including Wakko seeing water-related things, such as a man using a hose on his lawn, kids drinking from a water fountain, and a man serving lemonade (which spills on the ground).
Let's not forget all the offscreen crotch grabbing going on in that episode every time Wakko thought he finally found a place to potty!
At one point in "Meatballs or Consequences", the Warners ask The Grim Reaper if he'll be their father and they suggest fun things to do together; at one point, Yakko mentions watching the adult channel together — a suggestion that gets Yakko and Wakko to wiggle their eyebrows suggestively and shout "Hello Nurse!"
This little bit from "Slappy Goes Walnuts":
Skippy: That was just like in "Prehistoric Slappy"!
Slappy: Actually, it was "Cave Girl Slappy", 1932, directed by Piz Peeners; ah, but let's not be anal...
"Anal" in this sense is short for "anal-retentive"—meaning, "Overly meticulous" or "Prone to making detailed corrections." Not sexual, but still a bit vulgar.
How 'bout the name "Piz Peeners"? They weren't even trying to hide that one (although offhand I'd say they couldn't have gotten away with it in a universe without Friz Freleng).
"What's it like to be the sexiest man in Hollywood?" The censors were slaughtered by Jason.
In the Goodfeathers episode "Ta Da Dump, Ta Da Dump, Ta Da Dump Dump Dump" Pesto accuses Squit of calling him ditzy when he said dizzy. When he rants about being called a "dim witted blondebombshell here to titillate him," he inflates his chest to an enormous size.
Goodfeathers segments occasionally use "coo" in place of dirtier words - in "Goodfeathers: The Beginning," Pesto even says "hey, coo you!"
In a Tiny Toons cameo from "Noah's Ark," Noah is checking in the animals two-by-two, and has this conversation:
Buster & Babs: Buster and Babs Bunny. No relation.
Noah: Let's hope not, this is a family show.
Upon finding out the Warners are in Hell, Wakko tears his way up a spiral staircase back to Earth, gathers up a snowball and then heads back down and tosses it onto the ground, where it promptly melts.
Wakko: They were right — it didn't have a chance!
And then Yakko's "Freeze Frame," which proceeds to freeze Hell over.
While it might not have been all that bad back then, the episode where the Warners tunnel into hell and pester Satan (who is named as such) in a children's show would most likely never be allowed today.
In the Pinky and the Brain segment "Meet John Brain", Larry Kling is interviewing Suzanne Slimmers on her "Thigh Monster" invention. When asked how she stays so thin, she replies, "Thigh Monster, of course!" She then demonstrates how to use it: she presses her elbows between it, making her breasts bounce in the process. Kling remarks, "I could watch this for hours!"
In one of the Slappy shorts, we see the Warner Kids sitting in a tub in one scene. Dot screams at the fact the camera is on her in the tub, and Wakko just looks up smugly and says "Uh oh, I think I feel a bubble coming on..."
No, it's Super Buttons. And I heard he's not housebroken.
(Crowd runs away screaming)
There was one of the Shakespeare scenes (the one with the three witches) where Dot got away cleanly after saying "hell" (in "Hell broth"). There hasn't been anything said about it ever being censored, something even David Xanatos didn't get away with!
Done literally in the "Branimaniacs" skit, after mentioning how the cereal will give you that "get-up-and-go" feeling:
Skippy: ...I gotta get up and go.
Slappy: I'll race ya.
And in "Baloney and Kids":
Baloney: (after a buxom assistant has brought a blackboard onscreen) Wanna sing the Imagine Song? Yakko: Uhhh.... not really. Say, is that cute girl coming back? Baloney: Cute girl? Goshems, Yakko, I don't know what you're talking about! Yakko: There's a shocker... (grins and winks at the audience)
In "Our Final Space Cartoon, We Promise" they not only make a blatant butt joke but lampshade how much the show's getting away with. When the Warners wake up from suspended animation:
Computer: Please, return to your sleeping chambers. The process does not begin until we are close to Pluto. Yakko: No thanks. If I sleep any longer, I'll be close to Goofy. Wakko: Just as long as we don't get too close to Uranus. Dot: (pulls a disgusted face) I thought we discussed cutting that line. Yakko: We did.
"Survey Ladies":
Yakko: So what are we going to get Dr. Scratchy? Dot: Ooooooh, how about an outfit from Oedipus Rex Men's Wear? Yakko: Nah, his mom would hate those. ——
as far as 1990s kids' cartoons are concerned. The show packed in a large amount of "adult-friendly" jokes during its run. In general, "Goodnight, everybody!" (i.e., "Time to go to bed, kids!") is a good sign that they just pissed off the BS&P again. In fact, the creators themselves say they didn't know how they got away with all of the risqué jokes.
