Recap / The Looney Tunes Show S 1 E 18 The DMV

The eighteenth episode of the first season of The Looney Tunes Show.

Daffy has to pass a driving test in order to get his driver's license when runs a stop sign while taking Bugs to the movie theater and his parade float gets impounded. The same thing happens to Lola when she runs a red light and doesn't have her driver's license, and Porky, whose driver's license expires. First, they must pass the written exam, then they must pass the driver's exam, with Yosemite Sam as their driving instructor.

This episode features the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote short, "Remote Out of Control".

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This episode provides examples of:

• Brick Joke: At the beginning of this episode, Daffy tells Bugs to leave his wallet at home so that he can pay for his ticket at the movies. At the end of the episode, when Bugs tries to drive Porky home, he gets pulled over by the cop for crossing the double yellow lines. When the cop asks to see his driver's license, Bugs remembers that he left his wallet at home, and Porky's car gets towed.
• Butt-Monkey: Porky, as usual. When he tries to pick Bugs up from the DMV, he gets pulled over for talking on a cell phone while driving (which he voted to become illegalized). He has to go to the DMV to get his driver's license renewed when he discovers it's expired, and he doesn't even get to take the driving portion of the exam, as both times he tried to pass the written portion, he got a perfect score, but Daffy and Lola swapped their exam papers with his.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • After failing to get a ride home from Lola and Porky, Bugs calls Speedy, asking him if he has a valid driver's license. Speedy does, but when he arrives at the DMV, Bugs discovers that Speedy's car is only small enough for a mouse to drive and ride in.
    Bugs: How am I supposed to get in that?!
    Speedy: Get in it? All you asked was if I had a valid driver's license and to meet you at the DMV. You wanted a ride? I'm not a taxi driver, man! I'm in the middle of a lunch rush!
  • After Porky fails the written portion of his driving exam a second time, Porky vows to stop driving from now on, saying that only honest, responsible, law-abiding citizens who know the rules of the road deserve driver's licenses. Bugs decides to drive Porky home, but in the process of trying to find a way out of the DMV, he crosses the double yellow lines and gets pulled over. The cop asks Bugs for his license, only for Bugs to remember that he left his wallet at home at Daffy's request. After Porky's car gets towed, Bugs decides to walk home.
• Disguised in Drag: At the beginning of this episode, Daffy disguises himself as a schoolgirl in an attempt to get a student's discount at the movie theater. He tries this again in the end of the episode - the cashier isn't fooled.
• Donut Mess with a Cop: Discussed and averted; when Daffy gets pulled over by the cop for running a stop sign, he insults the officer, saying he didn't recognize him from away from the donut shop and accusing him of arresting innocent citizens since he can't catch real criminals. This cop takes his job seriously and asks Daffy for his driver's license, as he's not allowed to drive a vehicle without one.
• Drive-Thru Antics: Bugs calls Porky as the latter is ordering a meal from a fast-food restaurant. Porky lies to Bugs that he's picking up his dry cleaning when the drive-thru attendant asks him "Would you like fries with that?". Porky jokes to Bugs "Why would I want fries with my dry cleaning?", then says "Jumbo fries." to the drive-thru attendant.
• Drives Like Crazy: Both Daffy and Lola. The main reason they pass the driving portion of the exam is because Yosemite Sam is their driving instructor. While Sam takes his job very seriously, due to his short stature, he can't see over the windshield. Thus, Daffy lies to him about scoring 100 when his driving exam is over. The second time, Sam tries to remedy this by sitting in a child's booster seat (which is embarrassing for him because he's an adult), but he gets so traumatized by Lola's driving (which includes stunts such as evading a landing plane and a train, driving backwards, and jumping off a drawbridge) that Lola is able to pass herself.
• Driving Test: This episode focuses on Daffy, Lola, and Porky taking their driving tests. Porky's license expired, while Daffy and Lola were so clueless, they didn't even know they needed licenses. Porky failed his written tests because even though he got every answer right, his first test got swapped with Daffy's (maliciously) and his second got swapped with Lola's (accidentally). Daffy and Lola wound up grading themselves on the test, but for different reasons; Sam was their driving instructor, but was too short to see out the window for Daffy's significant-but-slow errors, and while he got a booster seat for Lola's test, she drove like crazy and he was in shock of it.
• Embarrassing Old Photo: While she goes through her purse for her driver's license, Lola pulls out a picture of Bugs in the shower. She finds this photo cute, but Bugs slaps his head upon seeing it.
• File Mix Up:
  • Daffy trips Porky and switches his test paper with Porky's so he can pass the written portion of his exam. Daffy passes because Porky answered every question correctly, while Daffy answered B for every question.
  • After Porky takes the written portion of his exam a second time, he runs into Lola, and the two drop their exam papers. This time, Lola passes due to Porky's perfect score, while Porky fails because Lola wrote "I love Bugs" on her exam paper.
• Goo Goo Getup:
  • Early in this episode, Daffy unsuccessfully tries to get Bugs to wear a diaper when they go to the movie theater because babies get into the theater for free.
  • In the epilogue, Daffy dresses himself as a baby in an unsuccessful attempt to see a free movie.
• Hello Again, Officer: A traffic cop pulls over Daffy and Bugs (the latter a passenger in the car) and finds out the former doesn't have a driver's license. Not too long after, when Bugs gets a ride from Lola, they are pulled over by the same traffic cop only to find out that Lola doesn't have a license either. Later, when waiting for Porky to pick him up, Porky is pulled over for talking on a cell phone while driving, and when Bugs discovers it's the same cop, he sheepishly waves at him. At the end of the episode, when Bugs is the one finally pulled over for crossing a double yellow line, Bugs greets the officer, "Hello again."
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • When Porky arrives at the DMV to pick up Bugs, the cop pulls him over for talking on a cell phone while driving, saying it's become illegal since July 1st. Porky then slaps his head and says "I voted for that!"
  • In the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote short, "Remote Out of Control", Wile E. attaches a bomb to his RC car in an attempt to destroy Road Runner. Unfortunately, the car stops moving because the batteries in his remote run out of power. When Wile E. tries to hide from a safe distance, the car catches up to him because Road Runner found a compatible remote with working batteries in it.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • At the beginning of the episode, Daffy tells Bugs to leave his wallet at home, because today he's going to be the man who wears the pants in their relationship. This is despite the fact that Daffy has disguised himself as a schoolgirl to get a student's discount, and just seconds later, he comes back to get his purse.
  • After Lola picks up Bugs, he tells her what happened earlier. Upon hearing Bugs' story, she chides Daffy for being an irresponsible driver by driving without a license. As she says this, she runs a red light, gets pulled over by a cop, and discovers that she was also driving without a license.
  • When Daffy goes to retake his test, he runs into Lola. When he asks her what she's doing there, she tells him she doesn't have a driver's license. He tells her "Irresponsible" despite the fact that he also had to go to the DMV because he didn't have a license. He also says this to Porky when the latter has to go to the DMV when his driver's license expires.
• Idiot Houdini: Daffy and Lola cheated on the written portion of their driving exams and drove like crazy, but still managed to get their driver's licenses, while Porky, who answered every question correctly on his written exam, didn't even get to take the driving portion.
• Low Clearance: When Speedy is on his way back to Pizzarriba, Daffy drives the DMV's training car over Speedy's mouse-sized car, destroying the sign for Pizzarriba that hangs above it.
• "Metaphor" Is My Middle Name: After Daffy fails the written portion of his driving exam the first time (since he marked C for every answer), he asks the teacher what he thinks the "D" in "DMV" stands for. When the teacher tells him "Department", Daffy says that "Department" is his middle name; "Daffy Department Duck".
• Mythology Gag: In the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote short, "Remote Out of Control", Wile E.'s attempt to destroy Road Runner with a bomb on his RC car is foiled by the batteries in his remote control running out of power. This actually happened to Wile E. a few times in the Energizer Bunny commercials when he was hired by the Supervolt battery company to destroy the Bunny.
• Pet the Dog: After Wile E.'s bomb explodes on him, Road Runner sends an RC ambulance to Wile E. to take him to the hospital.
• Snakes Are Sinister: In the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote short, "Remote Out of Control", Wile E. uses an RC car to catch Road Runner. He instead ends up catching a snake, which bites him on the nose.