Yakky Doodle, like many of his fellow Hanna-Barbera characters, started out as a supporting character that got their own line of shorts. Yakky's cartoons specifically were a supporting slot to Yogi Bear.
Yakky (voiced by Jimmy Weldon in a manner suggesting Donald Duck), is a small duck who doesn't have a Momma and often gets himself into adventures — a lot of which involve someone trying to eat him, usually Fibber Fox or Alfy Gator (both voiced by Daws Butler). His best friend is a dog named Chopper (voiced by Vance Colvig).
Tropes:
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Chopper just wears a neck tie. Alfy wears only a collar and bowtie.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: In his establishing supporting roles, Yakky was occasionally more blue and black, and even once purple and black.
- Affectionate Parody: The episode "Ha-Choo to You" is a take-off on "Little Red Riding Hood," with Chopper as the sick grandma Expy, Yakky as the red-hooded heroine stand-in, and Fibber filling in as the vulpine villain.
- Beach Episode: Chopper and Yakky enjoy a day at the beach in "Beach Brawl" until Fibber shows up trying to catch the duck.
- Bedsheet Ghost: "The Most Ghost" is a Haunted House episode, one where Fibber is seen covering himself in a bedsheet, posing as a ghost to try and scare away Chopper and have Yakky all to himself.
- The Bully: Yakky gets picked on by an older schoolkid in "School Fool," prompting Chopper to disguise himself as a student to protect the duck.
- Character Catchphrase: Yakky was originally prone to asking "Are you my Mama?" to dubious candidates for that role. This was later dropped.
- Character Signature Song: Yakky is frequently heard singing the old Vaudeville song "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay." Usually badly.
- Civilized Animal: Chopper, Alfy, and Fibber count as examples. They fulfill their species roles (the last two as predators), live outside (or in Chopper's case in a doghouse), and tend to behave like animals. However, the first two are examples of an Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal while Fibber is a Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal — and they do talk.
- Expy:
- In Tom and Jerry, Hanna and Barbera had pretty much made a template in Little Quacker to the point that very similar little ducks popped up among various HB cartoons until this more firm Yakky Doodle character emerged.
- Much, much later, Yakky would get an expy of his own in Hard Luck Duck, a segment on the 'What A Cartoon! Show.
- The song “Disco Duck” by Rick Dees And His Band Of Idiots describes a character who morphs into a duck on the dance floor. He sounds a lot like Yakky and even uses the word “Mama” similarly.
- Fractured Fairy Tale: The episode "Ha-Choo to You" is a take-off on "Little Red Riding Hood," with Chopper as the sick grandma Expy, Yakky as the red-hooded heroine stand-in, and Fibber filling in as the vulpine villain.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Fibber Fox does not handle the Voices Are Mental element in "Mad Mix Up" very well. He not only begins acting like a dog (as one might expect, given that he had his personality switched with Chopper's), but also a duck.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Fibber wears only a sweater.
- Heel–Face Turn: The episode "Foxy Proxy" sees Fibber morph from an enemy trying to eat Yakky to being his protector. The turning point occurs when he finally captures the duck, puts him in a pot, and sticks him in the oven. When he hears Yakky banging on the pot lid and crying out for his mama, Fibber emotionally relents saying, "Oh, I can't do it! I — I can't!" He even saves Yakky from another fox in the episode!
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Yakky often tries to sing, but always does so badly. In the episode "Duck the Music," his lack of ability to do so is the main plot point, when his terrible crooning drives a neighborhood cat crazy. Yakky seems to have a particular predilection for the old Vaudeville song "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay."
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Alfy Gator is clearly based on Alfred Hitchcock. He even explains his duck traps as Hitchcock would introduce an episode of his show. In addition, the voice of Fibber Fox is close to that of Shelley Berman, while Chopper's is modeled on Wallace Beery. Not to mention that Yakky sounds quite a bit like Donald Duck.
- Outlaw: Yakky encounters an old west outlaw in "Baddie Buddies", and he naively destroys his criminal career while pursuing his friendship throughout the entire short.
- Poorly Disguised Pilot: While Yakky himself appeared in one (the Yogi Bear short "Slumber Party Smarty"), Hanna-Barbera had hopes for Alfy Gator to be a star of his own line of shorts. This never came to fruition.
- Protagonist Title: The show is named after the title character.
- Ring Around the Collar: Yakky is unusual in that he has a naturally-occurring neck feature that facilitates animation shortcuts, a colored ring of feathers. The other recurring characters all have more traditional examples: Chopper (necktie), Alfy Gator (collar and bowtie), Fibber Fox (top of a sweater).
- Rogues Gallery: Fibber Fox, Alfy Gator, and a cat who talks just like Fibber all try to cause trouble for Yakky.
- The Rustler: In the short "Baddie Buddies", Yakky encounters a rough and tough wild west outlaw and cattle rustler, who despite claiming to be a merciless cutthroat has too much of a soft heart to shoot an innocent duck, so he lets Yakky wander on unharrassed. Yakky, thinking that he's cool, repeatedly tries to befriend the man, to the outlaw's annoyance since Yakky is distracting him from his criminal acts and putting him at risk. After Yakky finally gets him imprisoned, the two do wind up spending some time together in jail.
- Talking Animal: Yakky is a rare example of a Hanna-Barbera Three Shorts character who fits this trope. He does not wear clothing, lives outdoors, and behaves almost like a real duck would, except he talks (to both humans and other animals).
- Three Shorts: Traditionally the third for The Yogi Bear Show.
- Villain Team-Up: "Hasty Tasty" is the only episode in which both Fibber and Alfy appear. They eventually join forces to try and capture Yakky but aren't successful, given that they can't suppress their urges to compete with each other as they try to get the duck all for themselves. They cancel out each other so effectively that Yakky for once doesn't even need Chopper's protection!
- Voices Are Mental: In the episode "Mad Mix Up," a mad scientist switches Yakky and Chopper's personalities. The voices go with them.
- What the Fu Are You Doing?: Subverted when Yakky thinks he has mastered the art of judo in "Judo Ex-Expert" after taking a mail-order course and tries to use his "skill" to protect himself against Fibber. Needless to say, Yakky's feeble attempts are ineffective — so Chopper steps in to surreptitiously help the duck flip Fibber.
