History WesternAnimation / Animaniacs

The animation was done by 8 studios: Wang (35 half-hours), Akom (24,5 half-hours), TMS (22 half-hours), StartToons (10,5 half-hours), Freelance (4,5 half-hours), Koko (2 half-hours), Philippines (1 segment) and Varga (1 segment).

* {{Bathos}}: The lyrics of the [[SuspiciouslySimilarSong Suspiciously Similar]] version of [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 "Circle of Life"]] that plays in the background of "The Tiger Prince" are a great deliberate example.

* {{Gainaxing}}:
** Hello Nurse is sometimes animated this way.
** [[FanDisservice So was the Queen in "Windsor Hassle".]]

* KarmicTrickster: From a proud Warner Brothers tradition. Both the Warners and Slappy Squirrel enjoy taking the air out of [[JerkAss Jerkasses]]

* ThemeTuneRollCall: "Come join the Warner Brothers and the Warner sister Dot", followed later by "Meet Pinky and the Brain who want to rule the universe / Goodfeathers flock together, Slappy whacks them with her purse / Buttons chases Mindy, while Rita sings a verse". Another variation of the theme song includes Ralph, Dr. Scratchansniff, and Hello Nurse while leaving out Pinky and the Brain.

** "Back in Style" has the Warners loaned out to guest-star on parodies of ''WesternAnimation/YogiBear'', ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'', ''WesternAnimation/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}}''. During all their guest appearances, the Warners riff the cartoons for their cheap animation and bland plots and also inflict injuries on the characters. In the case of the ''Yogi Bear'' and ''Scooby-Doo'' parodies, they count as Take That and not SelfDeprecation because Hannah-Barbera was still a separate entity from Warner Bros. at the time.

->''"Dateline: Hollywood, 1930, the Warner Brothers' studio, home of the biggest stars in tinseltown! Here at the studio's new animation department, the artists toiled endlessly to come up with cartoon stars, ultimately creating three new characters: the Warner Brothers and their sister Dot! Unfortunately, the Warner kids were totally out of control and sent the animators running to the hills! The trio ran amok throughout the studio creating utter chaos. Finally, they were captured. The Warners' films — which made absolutely no sense — were locked away in the studio vault never to be released! As for the Warners themselves, who made even less sense, they were locked away in the studio water tower also never to be released! Publicly, the studio has disavowed all knowledge of the Warners' existence to this very day... when the Warners escaped!"''

* UranusIsShowing

* BreadEggsBreadedEggs: Taken UpToEleven in "Survey Ladies," in which Yakko, Wakko, and Dot are accosted at the mall by two elderly women with [[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents Midwestern accents]] who are stopping random passersby to ask them poll questions("Wouldja like ta take a surr-vay?!" they keep asking.) The first question is "Do you like beans?" The second question is "Would you like to see a new movie starring George Wendt (the actor who played Norm Peterson on ''Series/{{Cheers}}'')?" And then after that come a seemingly infinite number of questions that all combine the themes of beans and George Wendt in various ways. ("Would you like to see George Wendt eating beans in a movie?" "How many beans do you eat at George Wendt bean-eating movies?" "Do you like to eat beans with George Wendt?", etc.) The poll-takers continue annoying the Warners - and various other characters - throughout the cartoon, and are [[OffscreenInertia still rattling off questions as the cartoon ends]].

* HurricaneOfPuns: Mostly, in the Warners and the Slappy segments, but taken UpToEleven in "This Pun for Hire".

* SpiritualSuccessor:
** To ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'', which was also produced by Amblin Entertainment. More to the point, just as ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' was a reimagining of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', ''Animaniacs'' was something of a {{Deconstruction}} of Tex Avery's cartoons.
** All things considered, it was less a successor to WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes as much as it was a straight-up continuation: short cartoons with lots of slapstick, pop culture references and politically incorrect humor with a wide cast of funny cartoon animals. One could argue that Steven Spielberg used his money and power to recreate the working environment which allowed for those kinds of cartoons to be made the same way Music/MichaelJackson used Neverland Ranch to live the childhood he never had.
** It was produced about twenty years after another ostensibly-for-kids-actually-for-all-ages, vaudeville-inspired variety show known as ''Series/TheMuppetShow.''

* ParentalBonus: To the point where watching this show as a child and watching it years later as an adult are [[LateToThePunchline completely different experiences]]. While the show is well known enough for {{Demographically Inappropriate Humour}}, there is also a high amount of pop culture references, political commentary, and references to current events that virtually no child would be familiar with, but a grown-up sure would. As noted over in RealLifeWritesThePlot, there was actually a list of all the {{Parental Bonus}}es compiled by fans on Website/{{Usenet}}. Reading that after having seen the show will likely as not have you in stitches from all the LateToThePunchline moments.

-->''When you have a lot of time to kill, log on to Wiki/TVTropes!''\\

** In the Japanese dub, Creator/SatomiKoorogi's role as Mindy could be an allusion to her role as [[Manga/CrayonShinChan Hima]], another toddler; Likewise, Creator/KenichiOgata (Brain), previously dubbed [[Film/Gremlins2ANewBatch another character named Brain, and from a film owned by Warner Bros., no less]].

** In the Japanese dub, Creator/SatomiKoorogi's role as Mindy could be an allusion to her role as [[Manga/CrayonShinChan Hima]], another toddler.

* {{Corpsing}}: In Episode 41's "Good Idea/Bad Idea" segment, Tom Bodett noticeably laughs when reading the line "Bad idea: Whistling while you eat."
* CourtroomEpisode: "La La Law".
* CowboyEpisode: "The Good, the Boo and the Ugly"

* MemorialForTheAntagonist: Played with in "[[Recap/AnimaniacsEpisode72 Rest In Pieces]]". [[spoiler:Slappy Squirrel and her nephew Skippy attend the funeral of Walter Wolf, Slappy's life-long ArchEnemy. While the audience learns that Walter is actually [[FakingTheDead faking his death]] as part of his plan to trap Slappy, and so does Slappy later on, Skippy and the rest of the attendees don't know this, so Slappy's attempts to expose Walter come across to them as her making a mockery of his funeral]].

* ThePrankster: Slappy Squirrel and the Warner Brothers both waver between this trope and being KarmicTricksters.

* AngstWhatAngst: yakko,wakko and dot doesnt show being angry,sad , bitter or psychologically broken after being lock up in the water tower against their will for a long time.

* Angst?WhatAngst?:yakko,wakko and dot doesnt show being angry,sad , bitter or psychologically broken after being lock up in the water tower against their will for a long time.

* PantyShot:
** Often of Dot, who wears either white or pink panties.
** Ms. Butley in the "Bully For Skippy" segment. As she and Reef Blunt are each grabbed and picked up from behind, and by the hemline of their clothes by a mechanical claw, Ms. Butley's skirt is lifted from the back and she's shown to wear lace-trimmed, white panties.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: Some of the sketches featured ''none'' of the usual cast. One notable example is "The Flame", a mostly-serious cartoon entirely about a candle flame watching UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson write the Declaration of Independence.
** Even the "regular" cast can do this, such as the Rita and Runt segment "Puttin' on the Blitz", set in World War II Poland, and "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena," a straight-up music video of the song's original recording with Slappy in the titular role.

** Also: Fifi La Fume, Hamton J. Pig, Babs and Buster Bunny (no relation), Plucky Duck and Dizzy Devil from ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' occasionally appeared as well:
** Fifi appears as a perfume store owner in "Survey Ladies".
** Hamton appears on a drawing on Tex Avery’s drawing board in "Newsreel of the Stars".
** Babs and Buster appear in "Noah's Lark".
** Baby Plucky appears in "Guardin' the Garden", "Survey Ladies", "Video Review" and "Les Boutons et le Ballon", [[ShoutOut repeating the elevator gag]] from the ''Tiny Toon'' episode "Going Up". What's weird about his cameo in "Video Review" is that when he and Daffy fall into the pot of the ''Film/DuckSoup'' video cover, Plucky reverts back to his regular age.

** Sylvester, Tweety and the Tiny Toons appeared in "The Big Wrap Party".

** Shirley the Loon appears in "Critical Condition".