History WesternAnimation / Animaniacs

->''"Dateline: Hollywood, 1930, the Warner Bros.' 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!"''

We're Animaniacs!"'']]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/animaniacslogo.png]]

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

The animation was done by 8 studios: Wang from Taiwan (35 half-hours), Akom from South-Korea (24,5 half-hours), TMS from Japan (22 half-hours), StarToons from Chicago (10,5 half-hours), Freelance from New-Zeeland (4,5 half-hours), Koko from South-Korea (2 half-hours), Philippine from Philippines (1 segment) and Varga from Hungary (1 segment).

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[Look at the Warner Brothers! MyFriendsAndZoidberg (and sister)]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[Look at the Warner Brothers!]] [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg (and sister)]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[https://youtu.be/YhkdY3O-AEc It's time for Ani-mani-acs!]]\\
And we're zany to the max!\\
So just sit back and relax!\\
You'll laugh 'til you collapse!\\
We're Animaniacs!"'']]

[[foldercontrol]]

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* TotalDrama/TropesJToR
* TotalDrama/TropesSToZ

[[folder: #-A]]
* FiveFiveFive: In "Moby or Not Moby", Captain Ahab has a "Have You Seen This Whale?" sign asking people to call 555-harpoon.
* AbsentAnimalCompanion: A RunningGag is Dot keeping a monster in a box as a pet, but she has a different pet each time.
* AbsurdlyLongLimousine: At Slappy Squirrel's "Lifetime Achievement" award ceremony, Slappy and Skippy arrive in one.
--> '''Slappy:''' Oh. The bowling-in-a-limo gag? ''(turns to the camera)'' We're stretchin' for the comedy here, folks.
* AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal: Slappy only wears a hat (and also a scarf in ''Wakko's Wish'').
* ActorAllusion:
** The short "Sir Yaksalot" has a segment that parodies ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' movies and Kaiju films in general, where the Warner siblings attempt to get help against the dragon from a council used to dealing with giant monsters, complete with their voices being (poorly) overdubbed. Franchise/PerryMason is among them, referencing Raymond Burr's role in the localized versions of some of the Godzilla movies.
** Minerva's personality is that of a ValleyGirl - which her voice actress Julie Brown was known for mocking in her stand-up routines.
** 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/Gremlins2TheNewBatch another character named Brain, and from a film owned by Warner Bros., no less]].
* AdamWesting: Creator/AdamWest voiced the Caped Crusader in the "Boo Wonder" sketch. It has to be noted that Creator/DCComics has belonged to Creator/WarnerBros since 1967, which is why there was minimum WritingAroundTrademarks in the entire sketch.[[note]]Except for the use of a substitute for The Joker, almost everything else is lifted directly off Batman itself[[/note]]
* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: The ''Literature/CaseyAtTheBat'' spoof "Mighty Wakko at Bat" initially follows the poem's premise with its own words, though Wakko is jeered instead of cheered because he's not strong enough to hold the bat. He hits the ball and the outfielders being too DistractedByTheSexy courtesy of Minerva Mink and Hello Nurse keeps them from catching it. But the ball is caught at home plate before Wakko can get there, and he is initially declared out during the last stanza ("Oh, somewhere in this favoured land...") until he pops up from the large dirt pile under home plate and is declared safe.
* AdaptationalHeroism: The Creator/LeeVanCleef and Creator/EliWallach lookalikes in the sketch "The Good, The Boo And The Ugly" are recast as a pair of ordinary law-abiding citizens, very much unlike their [[Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly outlaw counterparts]].
* AffectionateParody: Quite a few shorts were done in the style of the cutesy, musical cartoons of the 1930s.
* AllMenArePerverts: Hello Nurse gets attention from almost all the male characters; Minerva's cartoons are built entirely around the premise.
* AllPsychologyIsFreudian: Dr. Scratchansniff.
* AllWomenAreLustful: Although Dot would roll her eyes at the boys going gaga over hot ladies, she would be proved NotSoAboveItAll as soon as an attractive man was in view (especially Creator/MelGibson). Minerva Mink as well turned into just as big a pervert as her own admirers when confronted with her best friend's cousin.
* AlterKocker: Walter Wolf.
* AlternativeNumberSystem: Done subtly. Snow White imprisons Dot for being too cute, and Dot counts the time in hashmarks that [[FourFingeredHands only have four strokes each]].
* AmbiguouslyBi: In ''Raging Bird'', Squit admits to thinking Prettyboy Robin is cute, and also attempts to kiss Pesto in celebration of Bobby's victory.
* AmbiguouslyJewish:
** Yakko, who is obviously modeled on Groucho Marx, especially the voice and the [[FascinatingEyebrow eyebrows]]. And, of course, ''Yakov'' is the Yiddish version of ''Jacob'', which was the real first name of studio co-founder Jack Warner. Interestingly, Yakko's sister Dot came off as only very vaguely Jewish (she was reportedly inspired by the Jewish actress Fanny Brice), while little brother Wakko had no identifiably Jewish traits at all (his voice actor based the middle Warner's voice on a younger version of Music/RingoStarr). However, the cartoons "'Twas the Day Before Christmas," "Little Drummer Warners" and "Noel" reveal that the kids celebrate Christmas.
** Slappy Squirrel, with her New York accent, use of YiddishAsASecondLanguage, and occasional jokes about menorahs and bat mitzvahs – though like the Warners, she and Skippy also celebrate Christmas. Meanwhile, her archenemy Walter Wolf is a full-blown Yiddish-accented AlterKocker.
* AndStarring: In the episodes with Rita and Runt segments, the cast list would say at the end "And Creator/BernadettePeters as Rita". (Hey, she won a Tony®, so she ''deserves'' a special place.)
* AnimatedActors: The Warners are an unusual example of actors ''playing'' actors. In other words, they are actors who live on the Warner Studio Lot and perform skits, in-universe. But even this premise about them living in the tower, tormenting Dr. Scratchansniff, etc. is scripted, as the theme song makes clear. On top of that, they [[MediumAwareness know they are cartoons]].
** The theme song also, however, mentions that "the writers flipped/we have no script/why bother to rehearse?", so whether or not anything is scripted at all within the confines of the show itself is debatable. It is still all an act, though.
** Slappy Squirrel takes the gag a bit further -- as a ''retired'' animated actor, she calls in favors with her old coworkers, reminisces about when cartoons used to be 'good,' etc.
* AnimatedAnthology: An extremely good example.
* AnimationBump: Out of the eight studios that worked on the show, Creator/TMSEntertainment, Creator/StarToons, and Creator/WangFilmProductions tended to yield the most fluid results.
* AnimatedOuttakes: In the episode "Cutie and the Beast", Dot keeps blowing her opening line. We see take after take being shot until she gets it right, and they have to skip ahead to later in the script because they took up too much time.
* AnimatedWorldHypotheses:
** The Warner siblings are aware that they're cartoons. In fact, they once sang a parody of the MajorGeneralSong called "I am the Very Model of a Cartoon Individual".
** Slappy is also aware that she and the others are cartoon characters. In "Bumbie's Mom," after seeing a parody of ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'', she reassures a sad Skippy that the deer's mother didn't really die, since cartoon characters never do. She demonstrates this by blowing a passerby up, only for him to survive.
* AnswerToPrayers: When candy shop owner Flaxseed refuses to offer a donation of candy to an orphanage, the head nun leaves, but returns with her sister nuns to try and persuade him, only to find him menacing the Warner's. Flaxseed reminds the angry nuns that they're not allowed to use physical violence, which the head nun acknowledges. Instead, she calls for prayer, and the Notre Dame football team shows up to do violence on their behalf.
* AnvilOnHead: It even has a theme song.
* AppealToObscurity: Combined with WhosOnFirst in "Piano Rag":
-->'''Yakko:''' Very Pete Townshend-esque.
-->'''Dot:''' [[Music/TheWho Who]]?
-->'''Wakko:''' Exactly.
* ArtShift: The entire episode "Back in Style" is full of this: The Warners keep being inserted into various Saturday morning cartoons throughout the '60s-80s, so we get visual parodies of ''WesternAnimation/YogiBear'', ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids'', none of which are drawn or animated in the usual Animaniacs style.
* ArtEvolution: The animation quality got better and better as the series went on.
* ArtisticLicenseGeography: "Puttin on the Blitz" is guilty of this way too many times.
** At the end of "Puttin on the Blitz", set in UsefulNotes/{{Poland}}, as the train to Paris departs from Warsaw, there are some tall mountains (presumably Tatras) in the background. The thing is, the ''real'' Tatras (and any Polish mountains, for that matter) are ''impossible'' to be seen from Warsaw, no matter how one tries.
** Also, the country's outline in the beginning is the modern one, not the correct, Interwar outline.
** The map also has Ukraine separate from the USSR.
** Germany on the map has its modern borders, without Pomerania, Silesia and East Prussia.
** Finally, taking a train to Paris amid World War II isn't exactly the smartest thing to do when the Nazis are invading Europe and want your race exterminated. The Polish girl and her father would need to travel through Axis territory.
** The "Yakko's World" song omits several countries, such as Wales, names Asia (which is a continent), and refers to Korea as a single country when it's actually two separate countries, officially known as the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and more commonly known as North Korea and South Korea (although both nations consider the other to be illegitimate, so this is mistake is legally correct in both Koreas). It makes the same mistake with Ireland, referring to simply "Ireland" when Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are two different countries. The show lampshaded the mistake in "Please, Please, Please Get a Life Foundation," with an Internet user pointing out that "Technically Tibet was not a country." Of course the entire segment was pointing out that people obsessing over minor mistakes in cartoons should stop worrying about it and just get a life... [[LateToTheRealization wait a minute]].
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: During the Presidents episode, Woodrow Wilson's section has the main characters marching in military uniforms past various World War 1 campaigns, such as Gallipoli, the Somme, and Verdun. The United States didn't take part in any of these battles, and only entered the war in 1917. Particularly confusing as the US did participate in several famous battles late-war, such as the Spring Offensive, Aisne, Hamel, and the Hundred Days.
* ArtisticLicenseReligion: In the episode "Home on De-Nile", Rita runs the risk of being sacrificed in Ancient Egypt. People offered sacrifices ''to'' cats; cats weren't offered ''as'' sacrifices. Killing a cat incurred the death penalty.
** Surprisingly averted. During the Hellenistic Period cats were systematically bred for the express purpose of mummification and sacrifice to the gods.
* AsHimself: Former figure skater and now commentator Dick Button appeared in Episode 74 to commentate, alongside Dot, Yakko's attempt to sing all the words in the English language.
* AsideGlance: Yakko and Slappy are prone to giving aside glances (when they don't just start snarking to the audience directly.)
* AttackAttackRetreatRetreat: The army from the cover of ''Film/AFewGoodMen'' wind up doing this against the T-Rex from the cover of ''Franchise/JurassicPark'' during "Video Revue".
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Quite a few characters, but WesternAnimation/{{Pinky| And The Brain}} gets special points.
-->'''Pinky:''' ''(distracted by a parody of'' Series/{{Jeopardy}}) What is "Narf"? What is "Poit"?\\
'''Brain:''' What is "inordinately short attention span", Alex?
* AwesomeButImpractical: Subverted by "Wakko's Gizmo," which seems pretty pointless at first but turns out to be successful in helping Wakko order a pizza. Then ''double''-subverted when it's revealed that ordering the pizza was just another step in the process, and that the real objective of Wakko's machine is to [[spoiler: cause an action figure to sit on a whoopee cushion, making a farting noise and causing Wakko to laugh hysterically]].
-->'''Yakko''': You should see how he brushes he teeth!
[[/folder]]
[[folder: B]]
* BadlyBatteredBabysitter: Buttons the dog, to ButtMonkey levels most of the time.
* {{Balloonacy}}: This is shown happening to Buttons and Mindy in "The Monkey Song": first as a FunnyBackgroundEvent before returning as a BrickJoke.
* BarefootCartoonAnimal: Minerva Mink and Creator/HowardStern parody Howie Tern. The Warners themselves can cross between this and HalfDressedCartoonAnimal.
* BaseballEpisode: The episode "Mighty Wakko at the Bat"
* BasedOnATrueStory: Buddy's backstory in the "The Warner 65th Anniversary Special" is actually based on a real thing and a real character. Buddy's first shorts were considered so dull and bland that Warner Bros refused to accept his first two cartoons, which got the original director fired. They had to bring Friz Freleng in to re-edit and condense them into a single short.
* BasementDweller: The "examples" in the short about the "Please, Please, PLEASE Get a Life" Foundation. Thirty-something men? Check. Obsessing over the minutiae of the show? Check. GeekPhysiques? Check. Interestingly, they're shown using the Internet to vent their rage; given that the show debuted in the mid-90's, this was new technology at the time.
* {{Bathos}}: The lyrics of the song that's [[SuspiciouslySimilarSong Suspiciously Similar]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 "Circle of Life"]] playing in the background of "The Tiger Prince" are a great deliberate example.
-->''Ever since we could think for ourselves\\
We wondered what will happen to us\\
But it can't be foretold\\
What the future will hold\\
If you'll get rich or get hit by a bus''
* BattleDiscretionShot: Slappy spends the entire episode "Bully for Skippy" circumventing Congress' new anti-animated violence bill by building a giant machine that maims a bully plaguing Skippy and a U.S. Senator off-screen, so as not to show any actual violence.
* BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible: This is seemingly the Warner's mission in life aside from simply keeping themselves entertained.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor:
** "Dot's Quiet Time" sees the titular character traveling all over the world in an effort to find a silent, peaceful spot to do some reading. She finally finds one at the top of Mount Everest, sits down, turns a few pages... then realizes that it's ''too'' quiet. Dot promptly pulls out a boombox and starts [[DiegeticSoundtrackUsage blasting the theme song]].
* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: The Warner Siblings:
** Yakko — Brains; The quick-witted leader.
** Wakko — Brawn; The most destructive one, and the most likely to use a mallet.
** Dot — Beauty; The "cute" one.
* BellyDancer: Shown rather briefly in "Plane Pals".
* BerserkButton:
** Say the word "cat" around Runt, and he'll suddenly be alert and exclaiming, "CAT?? WHERE'S THE CAT??" Despite the fact that his partner Rita ''is a cat to begin with''. This usually leads to DogsAreDumb.
*** "A cat? Oh no, Rita is a dog, she's definitely a dog."
*** "Definitely, definitely a dog!"
** Never give Wakko an "F." Or is it 'never write on Wakko's hat'?
** Pesto's [[HairTriggerTemper easily irritated by the entire universe,]] but ''particularly'' by Squit.
** Never call Dot 'Dottie'. Call her Dottie and ya die.
*** But Yakko got away with this in "The Three Muska-Warners" and "The Big Wrap Party Tonight".
*** As well as the Bob Hope expy in the 65th Anniversary Special. Justified because Dot was asleep and didn't hear him.
** Katie Ka-Boom's berserk button is... well... anything her parents do, say, imply... or fail to do, say or imply.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Played straight with the Warner sibs, but also played with: the sibs really can't bring themselves to harass genuinely nice people, even if they're naturally annoying - the sibs will endure the annoyingness while hoping the person will go away on their own. So, the sibs actually ''beware the nice (annoying) ones''!
* BigBallOfViolence: A classic Looney Tunes gag adopted into Animaniacs. Pesto uses this every time his Berserk Button is pushed.
-->'''Pesto''': DAT'S IT!!!
* BigBrotherInstinct: When Wakko [[TheLastStraw dies after eating too many Swedish meatballs]], you better believe Yakko literally goes to Hell and back to rescue him. (Dot, too, of course, but she's Wakko's ''little sister''.)
* BigEater: Guess who "packs away the snacks"? [[spoiler:Wakko.]]
* BilingualBonus: "Taming of the Screwy" has one in Japanese. The following could refer to the overpopulation in Japan noted at the time, [[TheTokyoFireball how Tokyo gets destroyed and rebuilt constantly throughout all media]] [[Franchise/GodZilla or a certain radioactive kaiju]]... no wonder the Japanese investors laugh at the end.
-->'''Yakko:''' 東京はとても面白い所ですね。[[note]]''Tokyo wa totemo omoshiroi tokoro desu ne?'' (Tokyo is an very interesting place, isn't it?)[[/note]]
-->'''Investor:''' ぜひいらっしてください。[[note]]''Zehi irasshite kudasai.'' (By all means, please visit!)[[/note]]
-->'''Yakko:''' まだ行き場所があればね。[[note]]''Mada iki basho ga areba ne.'' (If there's still a place ''to'' go, eh?)[[/note]]
** For Spanish/French, there's a few lines in the song ''Macadamia Nut''. An example:
-->''Hola que pasa you grande sack o' grainia'' (Hello, what's up, you big sack o' grainia?)
-->''Qui a coupé le fromage, we abstainia'' (Who cut the cheese? We abstainia.)
-->''Lava tus manos, por favor, Macadamia.'' (Wash your hands, please, Macadamia.)
** There was also one episode with a Buttons and Mindy short, as well as the theme song for that episode, done entirely in French.
* BirdPoopGag: Implied when the Goodfeathers claim they'll "dive-bomb" Mr. Plotz's new car and splatting is heard offscreen.
* BirthdayEpisode: Wakko's birthday in "Clown And Out".
* BitingTheHandHumor: Quite frequent during the earlier episodes on Creator/{{FOX}}.
-->'''Miles Standish:''' Begone, pests, and give me the bird!\\
'''Yakko:''' We'd love to, really, but the FOX censors won't allow it.
-->'''Yakko:''' It's that time again.\\
'''Dot:''' To make the Fox censors cry?
** Another instance, blink and you'll miss it, but during "Phranken-Runt", we get a shot of Phrankenstein's brain-in-a-jar shelf. The jar which contained by far the smallest is labeled "TV Network Executive Brain."
*** Made even funnier by the fact that a few bars of [[StealthPun We're In]] [[MoneyDearBoy The Money]] can be heard when the camera lingers on it.
** The most audacious example is in the opening credits, where they announce they have ''Pay-or-Play Contracts'', a contract where they don't even need to work to get paid!
** One of the "Wheel of Morality" segments had Wakko and Dot complain about it, only to go a complete 180 on their opinion when Yakko informs them that the Wheel of Morality was the network executives' idea.
** The biting didn't stop once the show moved to Kids' WB!. In fact, one of the credit gags parodied the slogan at the time, "Big Kids Go First!", by saying "On The WB, Big Kids Go First - In Real Life, Big Kids Sleep In". Another credit gag stated "Be The First Kid On Your Block - To Watch Kids' WB!".
* BittersweetEnding: Nearly every Buttons and Mindy short ends with Buttons being chewed out by Mindy's parents for breaking a house rule as a result of keeping Mindy safe. However, Mindy does hug Buttons and assures him that she loves him afterwards.
* BlackComedy: "Good Idea, Bad Idea”, quite often.
* BootCampEpisode: One of the Warner Siblings has them discovering boot camp (Dot thinks it has to do with fashionable footwear), which they mistake for summer camp. HilarityEnsues. (No, this time in the usual ironic sense).
* BorrowingTheBeatles: In "Back in Style", one of the older cartoon shows that the Warners appeared on was a show starring [[WesternAnimation/TheBeatles The Feebles]], who sing a song that's [[SuspiciouslySimilarSong Suspiciously Similar]] to "Day Tripper".
-->She was a night traveler\\
One way passport, yes!\\
It took us quite long to get wise\\
But we got wise!
* BottleEpisode: "Ups and Downs", featuring Wakko and Dr. Scratchansniff stuck in an elevator for the majority of the short.
* {{Bowdlerise}}:
** Reruns of "Moon over Minerva" edited Minerva's low-cut outfits to show less cleavage.
** "Broadcast Nuisance" had a lot of content that didn't make it to the final airing; for instance, Dan Anchorman's name was originally Slam Fondlesome. Also, there was another minute worth of the Warners tormenting him, as well as several other altered lines (like calling him a "big fat dope"). Most of the latter edits were done to make the Warners seem less hostile. However, the edited version only airs in America, and the original uncut version still airs overseas.
** Happened with one of the songs on the first soundtrack album. In the animated version, the song "Be Careful What You Eat," about the complex chemicals that go into most prepackaged foods, the song used BlackComedy at the end to hint at what could happen if you eat too much processed food. The soundtrack version threw out that last verse for something much more ordinary and {{Anvilicious}}.
** The President's original lyrics were changed from "John F. Kennedy, he gets shot/so Lyndon Johnson took his spot" to "John Kennedy had Camelot".
** Nickelodeon were terrible with it, having a specific version of the titles, removing most of the individuality, and putting in several blatant references to Nickelodeon, including a 'special' re-edited version of the variable line gag, using "Nickelaney" instead of '''''all''''' the gags.
* BreadEggsBreadedEggs: Exaggerated 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]].
* BreadEggsMilkSquick: "Good Idea, Bad Idea".
* BreakingTheFourthWall. Well, more like ''Pulverizing'' The Fourth Wall.
** Especially in the Warner shorts, in which one might say there are ''two'' [[MindScrew missing/broken fourth walls]], with one that fits the premise of the show (that they are children who live on the WB Studio and perform skits) and one that goes even beyond that (such as Dot's profanity-laden rant in ''Cutie and the Beast'', or the cold ending, in which they plan to go out and get cappuccinos, in the same episode). Your mind will explode if you try to make [[RuleOfFunny too much sense of it]].
* BubblePipe: Yakko "puffs" on a soap-bubble pipe while parodying highbrow intellectuals in "Disasterpiece Theater." He uses it again in "Broadcast Nuisance", "Go Fish", and "The Panama Canal."
* BurningWithAnger: Katie Kaboom.
* ButtMonkey: Scratchansniff, Rita, the Brain, Pinky, Runt, Buttons, The Mime, Mr. Skullhead, Chicken Boo, the Goodfeathers, Charlton Woodchuck, Walter Wolf, Sid the Squid, Beanie the Bison, just about any non-main character... in other words, most of them, not surprising given that this ''is'' a WB cartoon.
** There's also a good deal of IronButtMonkey, since these characters are, for all intents and purposes, immortal (although we learn in "Meatballs or Consequences" that the Warners do have souls).
** The most common formula for the Warner shorts involved them finding and latching onto 'a Special Friend,' which pretty much meant that some JerkAss was in for six minutes of hilarious torment.
* ButtSticker: Twice:
** "The Boids" with the director, Alfred Hitchcock, sitting on the Goodfeathers. Then they're shown stuck to his butt.
** "Pitter Patter of Little Feet" During the night when the Brain tries to escape, he falls on the floor. And when the hippos go to look for him, Flavio slips and the Brain is found on his butt.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: C]]
* CallBack:
** The Package conversation from "The Sound of Warners" contains one to PottyEmergency:
--->'''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:''' "[[{{Double Entendre}} I've got a package for you]]"? Excuse me?\\
'''Dr. Scratchansniff:''' Oh, look who's talking, Mr. PottyEmergency.
** "Yakko's World" ends with Yakko mentioning Sudan; when Yakko sang every word in the English language, he ended with Zaire.
** When Dot can't say her full name in "Cutie and The Beast", Yakko says it, prompting another reference to "Yakko's World".
---> '''Dot:''' Oh thank you, Mr United States-Canada-Mexico-Panama.
** In "Bingo", Wakko hands Dr. Scratchansniff a soda when he mishears him saying "I-30!" as "I'm thirsty!". The soda in question? Abyss Boy, the catalyst to Wakko's PottyEmergency.
* CallingYourNausea: In "Bumbie's Mom", Slappy and Skippy are on a plane when Skippy announces he's airsick. When he feels the need to vomit, Slappy advances the episode to the next scene with them on a bus, canceling out his nausea.
* CallingMeALogarithm: Pesto routinely misunderstands Squit, resulting in a BigBallOfViolence.
* TheCameo:
** Taz showed up twice at the end of "Draculee, Draculaa" and a more major role in "Cutie and The Beast".
** WesternAnimation/PrivateSnafu gets his head shaved in "Boot Camping".
** Also: Fifi La Fume, Hamton J. Pig, Babs and Buster Bunny (no relation), Plucky Duck, Shirley the Loon and Dizzy Devil from ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' occasionally appeared as well.
** WesternAnimation/ElmerFudd makes an appearance in "Turkey Jerky".
** Elmyra cameos once or twice, and has a full guest appearance in "Lookit the Fuzzy Heads".
** ''WesternAnimation/TheDoverBoys'' are the smart-alack chorus in "Frontier Slappy" and "Magic Time.
** Used quite often InUniverse where shorts dedicated to one set of characters would find another set of the cast (typically the Warners) running through) - often ending in [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment BLAMs]].
** Bugs, Daffy, Tweety, Porky, Yosemite Sam and Foghorn Leghorn show up in "The Warners 65th Anniversary Special".
** Sylvester and Tweety appeared in "The Big Wrap Party".
** [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Batman and Robin]] make a very quick cameo at the end of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" to rescue Yakko, Wakko, and Dot from Queen Titania.
** WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}} [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2v8sz_freakazoid_shortfilms once wandered in]] looking for his set.
** The homeless father toward the end of "The Gift of Gold" was the poor construction worker who first found [[WesternAnimation/OneFroggyEvening Michigan J. Frog]].
** During Dot's constant journey for some quiet time to read her novel, she tries to do so in Scotland. But then gets disturbed by bagpipes played by the very same bagpiper that challenged Bugs Bunny to a game of golf.
** Bugs, Daffy and both baby and regular Plucky appear in "Video Review".
** Fowlmouth makes a voice-only appearance in "Meet Minerva".
* CannotTellAJoke: One time, okay see, one time there was a character in ''Animaniacs'' who was a small boy who told stories about stuff that had happened to his friend Randy Beaman and the stories were always told in a near-monotone and in one long run-on sentence and at the end he'd recite the punchline in the same way and you wouldn't be sure if he'd reached it or not. Okay, bye.
* CaptainErsatz[=/=]{{Expy}}: The Warners are based heavily on the Creator/MarxBrothers, with bits and pieces from other characters: Dot shows roots from Gilda Radner, and Wakko shows influences from Music/RingoStarr.
** Slappy's {{jerkass}} behavior in her old cartoons (which she gleefully indulges any time she meets her old nemeses) gives her an uncanny resemblance to [[Creator/TexAvery Screwy Squirrel]]. She also appears to have Music/BarbraStreisand's interpretation of [[Theatre/FunnyGirl Fanny Brice]] in her ancestry.
** The Brain bears some pretty clear similarities to Creator/OrsonWelles, most notably the voice, which actor Creator/MauriceLaMarche describes as "65% Orson Welles, 35% Creator/VincentPrice".
** In "One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock", there are basically elderly versions of WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry, WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker, Wally Walrus, WesternAnimation/MightyMouse, {{WesternAnimation/Goofy}}, WesternAnimation/MinnieMouse and WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck at the retirement home Slappy is staying at.
** The stork in "Pitter Patter of Little Feet" has the same voice and mannerisms as [[WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures Concord Condor]].
* CaptainObvious: The Japanese dub turns "Citizen Kaney" into "This is a sled."
* CardboardPal: The Warner Brothers (and Dot) create nodding dummies of themselves to allow them to sneak off a boring chat show that they are hosting.
* CardboardPrison: The WB Water Tower for the Warners.
* CartoonCreature: Yakko, Wakko, and Dot.
* CartoonyTail: The Brain has a tail like a real mouse, except it is kinked in a way that it looks like stair steps. TruthInTelevision to an extent; in labs where many mice are handled on a frequent basis, kinks occasionally occur due to careless handling.
* CassandraTruth: Every Chicken Boo short has a naysayer that sees through Boo's disguise and points out that he's a giant chicken. The naysayer is rarely believed until Chicken Boo ends up blowing his cover, which prompts the naysayer to show up and say "[[IWarnedYou I told you that guy was a chicken!]]"
* {{Catchphrase}}: There were several.
** Yakko and Wakko had "Hello, Nurse!" and its variants.
** Yakko had "Goodnight, everybody!"
** Yakko also had [[ThisMeansWar "Of course you know, this means Warners."]], though his siblings joined in on at least one occasion.
** Less often, when another character would provoke the siblings or anyone in general, Yakko would point them out as their "new best friend," implying the same thing as the above.
** Dot had variations on "I can't help it if I'm cute," as well as "Wanna see my pet?"
** Wakko had "Faboo!"
** Slappy had "You remind me of..." (See below.)
** Skippy had "Spew!!" as an UnusualEuphemism.
** Mindy had "OK-I-love-you-bye-bye."
** The Brain had the running gags that started with "Are you pondering what I'm pondering?" as well as a CassandraTruth: "We are two lab mice engaged in the early stages of a plot to conquer the world." Also: "Stop that, or I shall have to hurt you."
** Pinky's catch phrases were largely of the VerbalTic variety, most notably "Narf!"
** Pesto's usual one was the running gag (and homage to ''Goodfellas)'' that started with "What are you saying?" or "What do you mean by that?"
* TheCatCameBack: The Warners did this to practically everybody they tormented. This was inverted in "Survey Ladies" and "Chairman of the Bored," in which ''they'' are tormented by ubiquitous characters.
* CatsAreSuperior: Rita and Runt, a cats-rule-dogs-drool OddFriendship.
* ChangingChorus:
** In "The Monkey Song", the only consistent line in the chorus is "I don't know what to say! The monkeys won't do!", and even that gets changed to "We don't know what to say! The Warners won't do!" at the end.
** In "Shnitzelbank", each chorus is a list of items pointed out in the previous verse, followed by "O de schone, o de schone, o de schone schnitzelbank."
* ChaoticCarRide:
** The premise of the song "I'm Mad," which features Dr. Scratchnsniff trying to take the Warners on a day trip in his car. Unfortunately Yakko and Dot are apparently at each other's throats while Wakko has a litany of complaints that combine to make Scratchy lose his mind. All set to a fun song that was probably the bane of parents from the 90s to the early 2000s.
** In "The Carpool", the Warners annoy the man in the back seat so much, he has them trade seats, including him sitting in a bagel and cream cheese, and getting pummelled by the seat in front severely reclining. Wakko gets carsick, but it's ok, he won't throw up in the car... because he already did. Eventually they reach the transit center, and it's revealed the Warners didn't need to get anywhere, and only carpooled to get perks at the studio.
* ChessWithDeath: In "Meatballs or Consequences", an parody of ''Film/TheSeventhSeal'', the Animaniacs play checkers (as Dot and Yakko say that chess is unknown to them) for Wakko's life with Death. (The Warners win, but they blatantly cheat, and for some reason, Death fails to notice). They play to stay together, which [[ExactWords Death interprets as taking all three]], but Death finds them too annoying to keep dead.
* TheChewToy: Squit. Even Bobby usually laughs at Pesto's abuse towards him.
* ChildishOlderSibling: The middle Warner sibling, Wakko, is much more of a ditzy goofball than his younger sister, Dot.
* ChildrenDoTheHousework: In "One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock", Skippy Squirrel takes care of his aunt Slappy after she gets driven insane from watching too many talk shows, forcing him to take care of all the housework. This leaves him exhausted to the point of falling AsleepInClass, which causes his teacher to worry about him.
* ChristmasCarolers: One of the "Good Idea, Bad Idea":
-->'''Good Idea''': Singing Christmas carols to your neighbors.\\
'''Bad Idea''': Singing Christmas carols to your neighbors...on the Fourth of July. ([[DisproportionateRetribution said carolers are blown up with dynamite]])\\
"The End."
* ChristmasEpisode: There were three.
* CircusEpisode: "I'm Mad" combines this with RoadTripPlot. Dr. Scratchansniff takes the Warners on a long car trip, only to struggle greatly because the Warners are fighting and arguing like bratty little kids the whole way. When they reach their destination, which turns out to be a circus, the Warners finally stop fighting and brighten up. We then skip to the end of the day, with the Warners and Dr. Scratchansniff returning to the car, and the Warners talk about how much they enjoyed their time at the circus. But then, the moment they start to drive away, [[HereWeGoAgain the Warners start fighting again]].
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Wakko, on more than one occasion.
** Pinky as well, especially after Brain says "AreYouPonderingWhatImPondering"
** Runt has his moments, too.
* CityPeopleEatSushi: Alluded to in the episode "Hooray for North Hollywood", where sushi is portrayed as the go-to lunch for all the power brokers of Tinseltown.
* ClipArtAnimation: "The Presidents Song" utilized this in an intentional [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Terry Gilliam-esque manner]], "animating" old portraits and photographs of the past presidents.
* ClusterFBomb: Dot drops an intentionally unintelligible one (complete with bleeps) during the ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' parody, after screwing up her OverlyLongName gag one too many times.
-->'''Yakko:''' That's my cute little sister who said that! ''(blows a kiss)'' Goodnight everybody!
* ColdOpen: Before the theme song, most episodes start with "Newsreel of the Stars" which explains the origins of Yakko, Wakko, and Dot. When it retired, it mainly started with short sketches or a wraparound segment that is a framing device.
* ComicalOverreacting: The Katie Kaboom and Minerva Mink shorts both relied on comical overreaction.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint:
** A common gag. Wakko and Pinky are particularly prone to it.
---> '''Wakko''' ''(aboard a plane):'' Hey, Mister! What's ''this''?\\
'''Passenger:''' It's a vomit bag.\\
'''Wakko''' ''(opening it):'' Ah, phoo! I got gypped! There's none in here!
** In the "Chicken Boo" segments, the person wise to Chicken Boo's disguise often insists "He's a chicken, I tell you! A giant chicken!" Occasionally, the people who disbelieve this claim are implied to assume that the person meant "chicken" as in "coward".
* TheComicallySerious: Principally the Brain and the Narrator of "Good Idea, Bad Idea," although any character playing the 'straight man' would generally qualify as well.
* CompanyCameo: The show as a whole centers around various animated characters who are employed by Creator/WarnerBros and work on their movie lot, but none moreso than Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, who regularly introduce themselves as the Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister). This also results in the company's logo appearing in various locations, most prominently on the water tower that the Warner siblings make their home, which appears at the beginning of the show's theme song.
* CompanyCrossReferences:
** One of the lyrics in "I Am The Very Model Of A Cartoon Individual" mentions several other Warner Brothers cartoon characters: Tweety Bird, Daffy Duck and Babs and Buster Bunny.
** In "PottyEmergency", a poster of Gossamer from ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' is seen outside the movie theater. In the coloring book adapting the same episode, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are seen as posters.
** In the episode "Take My Siblings, Please", Wakko sings the theme to ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'', which is also a Warner Brothers cartoon.
** The cast of ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' show up in "The Big Wrap Party Tonight".
* ComplimentBackfire: The Goodfeathers RunningGag is that [[HairTriggerTemper Pesto]] always takes Squit's compliments as insults and proceeds to beat him up afterwards.
* TheCon: In "Garage Sale Of The Century", Papa Bear is obviously scamming his neighbors and others out of their money by overcharging for crappy and broken items, and refusing to give them refunds. They all end up reporting Papa Bear to the police in order to get their money back.
* ConformingOOCMoment: During some crowd scenes such as the theme song, the Mime (who never speaks due to his occupation, besides an occasion when he said, "[[ElSpanishO Le ow]]...") can be seen singing along with the others. His voice can't be heard, though.
* ContinuityNod: In the ContinuitySnarl entry below, it mentions a cartoon where old vaudeville actors reminisce about the Warners. One of them mentions that 'once they pantsed 'Jimmy Cagney' something had to be done. James Cagney expy aside, later on in the 65th Anniversary episode, WesternAnimation/FoghornLeghorn notes that the Warners seemed to favor bothering Jimmy, and it turns out they did in fact pants him.
* ContinuityPorn: "Big Wrap Party Tonight".
* ContinuitySnarl: The original explanation that the kids have been locked in a water tower for 63 years is contradicted in a later episode showing various older Hollywood stars reminiscing about spending nights on the town with them - and these photos are in ''black and white'', meaning those nighttime adventures almost surely took place before 1993. Did the Warners actually escape many times, but the studio succeed in covering up their existence until the '90s? If so, how was that accomplished? Did they massively bribe all the people in those nightclubs?
** The 65th Anniversary Special gives it a retcon--the tower had to be cleaned/repaired every few years or so, letting the Warners out for a single day for the work (they just didn't stay in the studio--Plotz says he has no clue where they went and we're later shown them at a disco club, the Berlin Wall, and so on).
* ConveyorBeltODoom: The accidental version happens to Mindy and Buttons in "Up the Crazy River", where Mindy, oblivious as usual, sidesteps out of the way at the last possible second. As always, Buttons comes off the worst for it.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: In one episode, Satan threatens to torture the captive Warner siblings by forcing them to listen to "whiny protest songs from The Sixties." They scream in terror.
* CoolOldLady: Slappy Squirrel.
* CornyNebraska: A short starring Runt and Rita has the two wind up in Nebraska, much to Rita's dismay but Runt's delight. The following song has Rita express all of the things she desires that aren't in Nebraska, while Runt continues going on and on about the corn.
--> Rita : ''[singing]'' Just to be fair, I wanna ask ya: What's so great about Nebraska?
--> Runt : It's... da... ''[stops singing]'' Corn! Definitely da corn!
* CouchGag:
** The second to last line of the opening song is interchangeable with several other lines, all of which rhyme with "Animani--". [[note]]For re-runs on Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}, the line was changed to "[[ShamelessSelfPromoter Nickel]]-ayni!" for every episode, while [[Creator/DiscoveryFamily The Hub]] just used the generic "Here's the show's namey" for most episodes.[[/note]]
** The closing credits would also have various {{credits gag}}s that changed from episode to episode, plus the occasional closing joke after the credits finish. Episode 65 deserves special mention for the sheer number of {{credits gag}}s.
%%* CourtroomEpisode: "La La Law".
%%* CowboyEpisode: "The Good, the Boo and the Ugly"
* CreditsGag: During the first two seasons, Kathryn Page would be listed under an obviously-fake role of some kind. In the final three seasons, this was replaced with a more general credits joke that would just have a quick one-liner.
* {{Crossover}}: Within itself, and with ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' when they ran concurrently. One episode in particular was dedicated to this: every segment featured characters from different shorts going through the typical plots of their own cartoons. Mindy was paired with Brain, who attempted to create a revolting stink bomb while babysitting her; Rita and Pinky shared a (very brief) short wherein the cat, quite logically, ate the mouse; Pesto and Runt tried to find themselves a decent home, only to be doomed by the pigeon's short temper; Katie Ka-Boom brought her new boyfriend "C.B."--that is, Chicken Boo--over for a date, and became furious when her family pointed out that he was a chicken; Dot briefly took over Slappy's tree and blew up the audience with a bomb for [[BerserkButton calling her Dottie]]; and Slappy herself (along with Flavio the Hip Hippo in a cameo as Skippy) joined the Warners in their own cartoon, where she lost all patience for their zany antics and wordplay and ended up using her traditional arsenal of bombs.
* CuckooClockGag:
** The short "No Time for Love" is about a cuckoo bird who tries to woo a canary in a nearby cage, which is hard for him to do because he's attached to his base, always has to go back into his clock after the bell tolls, and has to wait a whole hour to come out again.
** Zigzagged in the episode "One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock". While Slappy's titular cuckoo clock is for the most part relevant to the plot of the episode, there are a few gags associated with it, such as it going off the second time to signify that Slappy has lost her marbles from watching too many talk shows, and the clock falling on one of the rest home's patients' heads, making the bird pop out of their mouth.
* CulturalTranslation: The German dub changes from Hello Nurse playing Chopin without rehearsing, to playing Brahms, to fit the rhythm of the song about her better.
* CurseCutShort:
** In the song "I'm Cute":
--->'''Yakko and Wakko:''' She's becoming a pain in the-\\
'''Dot:''' -''[[DoubleEntendre but]]'' I'm also real nice...
** Also the Dot song in Cutie and the Beast:
--->'''Man:''' This song makes me want to curse! (hits his finger with a hammer) F-\\
'''Yakko:''' (grabs man's mouth) Please move on to the next verse!
* CutTheJuice: Dot tries this in "Our Final Space Cartoon, We Promise", [[SubvertedTrope but it doesn't work]].
* CutenessProximity: Dot has used this to her advantage on more than one occasion.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: D]]
* DamnedByAFoolsPraise: Slappy tells Skippy that all that junk food has rotted his brain, and adds "No wonder you like that ''WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}}'' show."
* ADayInTheLimelight: "The Warner 65th Anniversary Special" features the comeback of one of the original WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes stars, "Buddy"--as a ''villain'', no less! And voiced by Creator/JimCummings!
* DeadpanSnarker: All the Warner siblings, The Brain, Slappy Squirrel, Rita, Bobby...
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: In the sketch "Mobster Mash", the Warners pretend to be waiters and harass the Godfather Don Pepperoni. Part of this is saying the things on the menu two different ways. "What'll it be? Calamari or the squid? Pasta or the noodles? Red sauce or marinara? Zucchini or squash? Ham or prosciutto? Drink or beverage?"
* DependingOnTheArtist: The show had a passel of different animation studios working on it, often leading to examples of this trope. One of the most blatant examples was the short "Be Careful What You Eat". It was animated by [=StarToons=] but the first minute looks nothing like the studio's usual style (in fact, it looks more like something Creator/{{AKOM}} would put out). According to Creator/JonMcClenahan, this minute was animated by somebody on the west coast that the studio didn't usually employ and to this day, he refuses to say who it is out of respect.
* DerangedAnimation: When Katie Ka-Boom becomes a monster, it gets pretty freaky.
* DetectiveDrama: "This Pun for Hire" and "Hercule Yakko".
* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: In "Take My Sibling, Please", Wakko sings the WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures theme before getting tired of it, and instead sings his show's theme on the way over the troll bridge.
* DisgustingPublicToilet: The cartoon "Potty Emergency" has Wakko desperate for a place to relieve himself. He tries a gas station, where the owner says he hasn't cleaned the restroom in a year (and gives an EvilLaugh). Despite his desperation, Wakko still finds that too gross to use.
* DisproportionateRetribution: In "I Got Yer Can", Slappy drives Candie the chipmunk insane via psychological warfare because Candie wouldn't let Slappy put her soda can in Candie's trash can.
** In a Christmas edition of the "Good Idea, Bad Idea" segments:
--->'''Good Idea:''' Singing Christmas carols to your neighbors. ''[shot of carolers singing in front of a house in the snow]''\\
'''Bad Idea:''' Singing Christmas carols to your neighbors... on the Fourth of July. ''[residents of said house use dynamite to blow up the carolers]''
** Another holiday-themed "Good Idea, Bad Idea":
--->'''Good Idea:''' Going trick-or-treating on Halloween. ''[Mr. Skullhead and kids receive candy from a neighbor]''\\
'''Bad Idea:''' Going trick-or-treating on St. Patrick's Day. ''[A man dressed in stereotypical leprechaun attire emerges and punches Mr. Skullhead across the yard]''
* DistractedByTheSexy: Happens to Newt in when he try to catch [[MsFanservice Minerva Mink]] and is victim of her beauty. To his credit which would make him a {{Determinator}} as well?.
* TheDitz: Runt and the Studio Guard Ralph are the ''recurring'' examples. They even had the same voice.
* DIYDentistry: In a "Good Idea Bad Idea" segment, Mr. Skullhead demonstrates why serving as your own dentist is a bad idea, especially if it involves drilling.
* DogsAreDumb: Runt. He even thinks Rita is a dog herself. Occasionally subverted in that Runt will sometimes see the danger before Rita, such as when Cleopatra was going to drop her into a bonfire as a ritual sacrifice.
* DogsHateSquirrels: In the episode, "Slappy Goes Walnuts", one of Slappy Squirrel's archenemies is Doug the Dog, a bulldog who guards a walnut tree, which Slappy wants to collect walnuts from for her walnut fig-dough.
* DogsLoveFireHydrants: In "Potty Emergency", Wakko sees a dog trying to use a fire hydrant.
* DontLookDown:
** Invoked in "The Big Candy Store" when Flaxseed climbs an impossibly high shelf.
--->'''Dot:''' Don't look down! [[MotorMouth You might fall and hit your head and die and]] [[BloodyHilarious your brains would leak out aaaaaall over!]]
** Also in ''Wakko's Wish''.
--->'''Yakko:''' Whoa! Just don't look down!\\
'''Wakko:''' Do you get vertigo?\\
'''Yakko:''' No.\\
'''Wakko:''' Me neither.\\
'''Yakko:''' Yeah, I've seen [[Film/{{Vertigo}} that movie]] three times, and I ''still'' don't get it.
* DownerEnding: "The Ballad of Magellan", which is to be expected, considering the real Magellan did not survive the journey.
* DrillSergeantNasty: One appears in "Boot Camping".
* DriveInTheater: The setting for "Drive Insane".
* DrivingUpAWall: In the Animaniacs stew segment "Mindy and The Brain", Brain finds himself chased by a lawnmower and attempts to escape it by climbing up a tree. The lawnmower ends up following him up to his surprise.
-->'''Brain:''' This is most unexpected.
* DueToTheDead: PlayedForLaughs and HypocriticalHumor in a Slappy Squirrel skit where Walter Wolf fakes his death. Skippy's watching Slappy's old cartoons and laughing at Walter's AmusingInjuries, but when he hears the news he does an about-face and verbally attacks Slappy for tormenting him in those toons.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: E-F]]
* EarlyBirdCameo:
** Most of the regular characters have cameos in the first episode, even though all the cartoons in that episode star the Warner siblings and the others wouldn't get their first full-length cartoons until at least an episode or two later.
** A young Walter Wolf appears as Slappy's co-star in the old cartoon she watches at the beginning of her debut, "Slappy Goes Walnuts," and she also mentions Sid the Squid and Beanie the Bison. They wouldn't appear in the "present" until "Hooray For Slappy" in Episode 16.
* EarsAsHair: Dot.
* EasyEvangelism: Spoofed in "A Very, Very, Very, Very Special Show."
* EdibleAmmunition: Shows up now and then.
* EducationalSong: Lots, including songs for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvy0wRLD5s8 all the U.S. presidents]] up to UsefulNotes/BillClinton (who was president at the time), [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNUDDaEOvuY the 50 states and their capitals]], and of course, the famous [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDtdQ8bTvRc Nations of the World]] song. See also the EdutainmentShow entry below.
* EdutainmentShow: Despite Yakko's claim that the Wheel of Morality was the ''only'' thing that "adds boring educational content to what would otherwise be an entertaining program!" ''Animaniacs'' regularly took a moment to teach its audience. They have been used as teaching material, and there is even testimony of them aiding history students as far as college-level.
** How many normal kids' cartoons would bother to do a surprisingly accurate and funny translation from Late 16th Century English to Modern English of the Yorick speech from ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' when they could easily make a nonsensical version?
** They had songs relating from everything to the solar system to every President of the United States at the time of production (ending with Hillary - uh, UsefulNotes/BillClinton[[note]] This is one of a very small number of times where Creator/StevenSpielberg personally intervened to change a cartoon. The lyrics originally had "Clinton, first name Hillary" for the Clinton entry; Spielberg, a friend of the Clintons, forced them to change it to "the Clintons, Bill and Hillary" because he didn't like jokes implying that Hillary was really running things, a common trope at the time [[/note]]).
** Parodied outrageously in "A Very, Very, Very, Very Special Show", where virtually every line is Yakko, Wakko, or Dot giving a soapbox on various issues (the dangers of second-hand smoke, walking instead of driving, not littering, not treating women as sex objects, not being violent, practicing a healthy diet and exercise). They were shamelessly shilling to win the lucrative "Humanitarian Animation" award but lost anyway, at which point they [[HypocrisyNod immediately did all the things they rallied against.]]
** ''United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru...''. It's a shame that "Yakko's World" missed a few.
*** It's worth noting that the map in "Yakko's World" had the Soviet Union on it, simply referred to by Yakko as "Russia," even though the Soviet Union had officially disbanded in 1991.
* EldritchAbomination: Dot's "pet".
* ElvisLives: A favorite RunningGag. He turns up in "Space Probed," hanging out with Bigfoot and Amelia Earhart; is standing in a long cafeteria line in "Windsor Hassle"; and is pulled out of Wakko's gag bag while Wakko is rummaging through it in "Potty Emergency."
** One of the stingers saw the Warner Trio saying goodnight to one another, offscreen. It ended with:
-->'''Yakko:''' Good night, Elvis.\\
'''Elvis:''' Thank you very much, but I don't want anyone to know I'm here.
** And from The Wheel of Morality: "Elvis lives on in our hearts, in his music, and in a trailer park outside Milwaukee."
** In "Wakko's America", Wakko tells us that Elvis hung out a lot in Nashville.
* EmergencyTaxi: One of the ways Dali Llama tries to escape the Warner siblings is hailing a cab (keeping in mind he lives in the mountains of India). However, the Warners were also in the cab with [[NotMyDriver Dot driving.]]
* EnlightenmentSuperpowers: Wally Llama, a Dalai Lama {{Expy}}, attempts to get away from the Warners by meditating, transporting himself up among the clouds with the mantra "Llama, llama, llama..." Unfortunately for him, the Warners reached Enlightenment too.
* EpisodeTitleCard
* EquippableAlly: One scene features Dot using Wakko as a gatling gun to shoot malted milk balls at a candy store owner.
* EveryoneHatesFruitcakes: Fruitcakes being given to Mr. Plotz is a running gag in the episode "A Christmas Plotz," which he rejects because he hates fruitcake (and has an whole office full of fruitcakes that were given to him). It gets to the point where he thinks that Dot, who is disguised as a gift box when she enters as the Ghost of Christmas Present, is probably another fruitcake, which she is insulted by ("fruitcake" being a term for an insane person). At the end of the story, after he has reformed, instead of sending a turkey to Ralph's house, Plotz tells the Warners to buy the biggest fruitcake they can find and send it to Ralph's house. They bring a gigantic fruitcake the size of Ralph's trailer house using a helicopter and drop it, where it lands on top of Plotz. Listening to Plotz's screams underneath the fruitcake, Wakko replies that "We'll have you out of there by Easter." The trope is possibly subverted given that the Warners don't seem to mind the task of eating the giant fruitcake (although Wakko is an ExtremeOmnivore so saying he doesn't mind fruitcake isn't saying much).
* ExactWords: A favorite gag of the Warners is interpreting things to the ''word'' of a statement rather than the spirit.
** Plotz accidentally hires the Warners as his temporary secretaries and tells Dot to file a stack of documents. Once left to their own devices, Dot pulls out a giant nail file and begins to ''file'' down the stack of paper.
** When Wakko is visiting a dollar store, he asks the cashier what every little thing is worth. The cashier eventually blows up and yells that everything in the store is a dollar. Wakko thanks him and proceeds to load ''everything'' in the store into a shopping cart while leaving a dollar at the cash register.
* ExpositoryThemeTune:
** Both the main ''Animaniacs'' theme and the introductory tunes for the "Rita and Runt" and "Pinky and the Brain" shorts qualify.
** "Baloney & Kids" parodies the RealLife ''Series/BarneyAndFriends'' theme.
--->Baloney is our friendly friend\\
That we made up ourselves\\
He likes to play and sing all day\\
[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment That we made our ourselves]]
* TheFaceless: The Nazis are this in Puttin On the Blitz. We see their bodies and hear them speak however.
* FairestOfThemAll: Literature/SnowWhite was no better than her WickedStepmother. She had the dwarfs abduct Dot for being the cutest of the all. [[spoiler:In the end, after Snow is defeated, Dot had the MagicMirror covered so it'd be no longer able to have anyone DrivenByEnvy.]]
* TheFakeCutie: Dot takes pride in being "the cute one", but she's hardly the innocent type.
* FanDisservice: The very first thing shown in the "Macadamia Nut" video is Ralph the Guard dancing suggestively with his fat gut hanging out of his shirt.
* {{Fanservice}}: Provided mainly by Hello Nurse and, in her few appearances, Minerva Mink.
* FanserviceExtra: Some women that are not the two above-mentioned. Special mention to Yakko's ChorusGirls that he summon in two episodes.
-->"I love cartoons!"
* FantasticRacism: Pretty much the whole point of Chicken Boo cartoons is everyone turning against the title character when it turns out that he is indeed a chicken.
* FemaleFelineMaleMutt: Rita and Runt.
* FightingBackIsWrong: In one Slappy Squirrel episode, Skippy is constantly being picked on by a school bully. Slappy suggests fighting back, but Skippy refuses because of his counselor telling that is the wrong thing to do and instead tries everything his counselor suggests to him. When nothing the counselor suggests works, Skippy gives up and gets Aunt Slappy to [[SubvertedTrope help him get back at the bully]], and the end result not only stops the bullying, but the bully also [[DefeatMeansFriendship becomes Skippy's friend]]. When the chairman of the FTA and Skippy's counselor arrive to lecture Slappy, she deals with them too.
* FireAndBrimstoneHell: "Hot, Bothered, and Bedeviled".
* FluffyTheTerrible: Most of Dot's "Pets" when she does the "Wanna See My Pet?"
* FollowTheBouncingBall: The two sing-along VHS tapes (''Animaniacs Sing-Along: Yakko's World'' and ''Animaniacs Sing-Along: Mostly in Toon'') were yet another example of sing-along collections with the lyrics written on screen. Some songs used the trope's name, while others would highlight the words as they were sung, and some even used a mixture of both methods. In some pretty unusual cases, "Yakko's World" and "All the Words in the English Language" had the words crawl upwards one at a time (due to both being {{List Song}}s), and "Wakko's America" and "The Presidents" used neither "bouncing ball" method, instead opting to highlight the state and capital or the president names, respectively.
* FoodSongsAreFunny: "Be Careful What You Eat"
* FormulaBreakingEpisode:
** 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.
* FourFingeredHands: The entire cast.
** Though hands have been seen to turn five-fingered on a close-up, or [[SuddenAnatomy sometimes a character will grow a pinky while counting]].
** There's also a really weird instance where a judge points as the Warners and asks, "What is the meaning of this?" Yakko replies, "That's a finger. You have five of them on each hand." In that instant, the judge has five fingers, but is seen to revert to being four fingered afterward.
** Averted with King Salazar, who is always shown with five-fingered hands.
* FreezeFrameBonus: In "Garage Sale of the Century", a large crowd of people charge Papa Bear's lawn to get their refunds. Among (and on top of) them are [[WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures Babs and Buster Bunny, Dizzy Devil]], and [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Batman]].
* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: Zig Zagged. During the Fox Kids era, it was rare that all the characters appeared in the same room together interacting with each other, with there only being a select handful of episodes featuring the entire cast. However, once the series moved to Kids! WB, while still focusing on individual segments/characters, episodes featuring the whole cast became more prominent (such as "Gunga Dot", "Mighty Wakko at the Bat", Dot - The Macadamia Nut", etc).
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In other character sketches you can see Yakko, Wakko and Dot being chased by Ralph as a brief (*ahem*) RunningGag.
** Also, in the background of the song "The Ballad of Magellan" when they reach Argentina, there's a sign that says: "Coming soon: Music/{{Evita}}".
** In the Quake Song when Buttons is saving Mindy from a collapsing wall; Wakko and Dot can be seen behind it with crowbars and hammers.
* FunWithForeignLanguages: One episode was French-themed, including a rendition of the opening theme in French and a subtitled "Buttons and Mindy" segment. While the "Rita and Runt" segment ''was'' in English, it was their parody of ''Theatre/LesMiserables'', which of course took place in The French Revolution.
* FunWithSubtitles: The short "Space Probed" has the Warners kidnapped by an alien, who talks in an alien language with subtitles, which the Warners are fully aware of and can even manipulate (such as turning "THESE ARE TYPICAL EARTH CREATURES" into "ARE THESE TYPICAL EARTH CREATURES?").
[[/folder]]
[[folder: G]]
* GagNose: In the episode "Back In Style", the Warners are on a parody of WesternAnimation/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids called "Obese Orson" that has a literal example of this trope. One of the characters is "Hooknosed Harold" who has a running gag of his nose hanging so low that it keeps getting in his mouth.
* GameShowAppearance:
** {{Downplayed|Trope}} in "Wakko's America". Their teacher organizes a ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}''-style quiz in-class, where he ''sings'' the 50 U.S. states and their capitals. [[spoiler: He loses because he doesn't sing it in the form of a question.]]
** In another episode, the Warners ended up on a quiz show, and were constantly guessing "Isaac Newton" for the answers...except for the questions actually ''about'' Isaac Newton.
** They once ''hosted'' a game show that parodied ''Series/YouBetYourLife'' in one short skit.
** The ''Jeopardy!''-style show ''Gyp-Parody!'' also figured in the Brain's very first attempt in-series to take over the world.
-->"Go ahead, Brian." [[AccidentalMisnaming "That's Brain."]]
* {{Gasshole}}: Wakko, especially in the Great Wakkoroti shorts, where he basically plays the role of a concert vocalist using nothing but belches.
** A single installment had Wakko nearly lose his voice and "perform" by squeezing together his hands to make fart noises. Except for the last note.
* GenreThrowback: To the slapstick and goofball comic stylings of WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes[=/=][[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]], minus the fourth wall.
** Which is really saying something, considering how often those classic shorts [[BreakingTheFourthWall broke the fourth wall]] themselves.
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* GettingReadyForBedPlot: The skit "Nighty-Night Toons" has a rhyming narrator, parodying ''Literature/GoodnightMoon'', and is about the whole cast getting ready to go to bed.
* GiganticGulp: Wakko drinks from a huge cup of soda labelled Abyss Boy at the movie theater, then promptly has a PottyEmergency. The same drink also appears again in "Bingo" when Wakko mishears Dr. Scratchansniff say "I-30" as "I'm thirsty!".
* GleefulAndGrumpyPairing:
** The Warners are annoyingly cheerful, while Dr. Scratchensniff is a NervousWreck who has to put up with them, much to his frustration.
** Pinky is cheerful and carefree, Brain is grumpy and irritable. They are still this in their own show, ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain''.
** Slappy Squirrel is a sarcastic and resourceful old lady while her nephew, Skippy, is a nice and happy young boy (even if he does adopt some of his aunt's mannerisms as the series progresses).
** Runt is a happy-go-lucky KindheartedSimpleton, Rita is aloof and sarcastic.
** Out of the Goodfeathers, we have the cheerful and naive Squit and the cranky, short-tempered Pesto. The latter always beats up the former.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Wally Llama snaps when he realises that he doesn't know why hot dogs and hot dog buns are sold in different quantities. Of course, he'd just spent seven minutes in the company of the Warners with their deliberately annoying meter running at 100%, which could not have helped.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Used in "Valuable Lesson" when Attila the Hun attacks the two censors that have spent the entire short nagging the Warners about the violence in their cartoons. The carnage happens entirely off-screen, but Yakko's remark that [[TakeThat the censors came in handy after all]] indicates that the censors didn't survive.
* GrandFinale: ''WesternAnimation/WakkosWish''.
* GratuitousForeignLanguage: A spoof of the "Macarena" (Macadamia Nuts) contained the phrases "Donde Kielbasa Creator/{{Nintendo}}," "qui a coupe le fromage," and "Lava tus manos por favor."
* GroupieBrigade: Lampshaded in an episode, where the Warner Brothers and the Warner Sister Dot are in the middle of a parody of ''A Hard Day's Night'', and sing "We are running from our fans".

[[/folder]]

[[folder: H]]
* HairTriggerSoundEffect: One episode has the Warner siblings facing a terrifying troll, whose very mention is always accompanied by an organ sting.
* HairTriggerTemper: Pesto, for [[Creator/JoePesci obvious reasons]]. Katie Kaboom, too.
* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: Most of the furry characters.
* {{Hammerspace}}: Wakko uses his most often.
* HammerspaceHideaway: Dot had a special box in which she keeps a gigantic monster. The Warner brothers themselves can pop out of incredibly small places as well.
* HammerspacePoliceForce: In the Slappy Squirrel short "Little Old Slappy from Pasadena", Slappy Squirrel races through town in her car at great speed and causes indirect harm to passersby. At the end of the short, she returns home only to be surrounded by police ready to turn her in for exceeding the speed limit and being a public nuisance.
* HandbagOfHurt:
** From the intro: "Goodfeathers flock together, Slappy whacks 'em with her purse.”
* HarmlessLiquefaction: In one of the "Animator's Alley" segments in episode 42, all three of the Warners melt from the sheer boredom of [[RamblingOldManMonologue Cappy Capbarnhouse's long-winded tangents]].
* HeartBeatsOutOfChest: Yakko and Wakko got through this when they see Hello Nurse for the first time. In "Moon Over Minerva," the titular Mink goes through an interesting variant; Each beat causes her head to expand, until it detaches from her body, [[LosingYourHead nearly floating away]] before she pulls it back down.
* HeadTurningBeauty: Hello Nurse, the source of the former {{Trope Namer|s}} (it is her actual name), and Minerva Mink cause this reaction to men. However Yakko and Wakko generally have this reaction to every beautiful woman. Minerva Mink is also a prime example of the variant in which the one guy who has the same effect on her that she has on men is completely uninterested.
* HereWeGoAgain:
** "Bumbie's Mom" [[https://youtu.be/VRgARYdDxro ends with a sendup]] of ''Film/OldYeller''.
--->'''Slappy''': (''AsideGlance'') Fade out already, we got the joke!
** The ending of "Sound of Warners".
** At the end of "Roll Over, Beethoven", with said composer having forcibly ejected the chimney sweeping Warner siblings from his house (though they have just given him the melody for his famous Symphony No.5), they look at their list of clients to see whose chimney they're due to clean next - Creator/VincentVanGogh. Wakko picks a nearby sunflower in the hope that it might cheer the guy up a bit.
** The end of the repeated "Yakko sings all the words in the English Language" scenes is Dot announcing that next week, Yakko will sing all of the numbers, starting with one. Yakko, who only barely got through the English dictionary, promptly faints upon hearing this.
* HeroicBSOD: Wally Llama in his self-titled short, after insisting he knows the answer to EVERY question, goes nuts when he doesn't know the Warners' question of why hot dogs come in packages of eight and their buns come in ten.
* HerrDoktor: Dr. Scratchansniff is a psychiatrist and he speaks in a vaguely Austrian accent.
* HiccupHijinks: The main plot of two shorts, one revolving around Squit, the other around Wakko.
* HideAndNoSeek: Yakko and Dot hide on Wakko's birthday. He meant to seek them out, but got distracted by the Jerry Lewis-like clown who came to visit the water tower.
* HiddenBackupPrince: Yakko.
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Mindy is smack-dab in the middle of growing up under some extremely neglectful conditions, though being a toddler, she's blissfully unaware of it so far. Buttons is the one who [[BadlyBatteredBabysitter takes most of the physical and verbal abuse]], though.
* HisNameReallyIsBarkeep: The constant exclamation of "Hello Nurse!" whenever she appears onscreen became so ingrained in her character that by the end of the series, her first name is literally "Hello" and her last name is literally "Nurse."
* HistoricalInJoke: The Warners often interact with figures like Music/LudwigVanBeethoven and UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein and [[BeenThereShapedHistory become the inspiration for some of their famous works.]] (E=MC^2 is ACME backwards with Wakko's skewed penmanship of the letter A.)
* HollywoodBoardGames: In [[Recap/AnimaniacsEpisode11 "No Pain, No Painting"]], the Warners engage in a game of ''TabletopGame/{{Pictionary}}'' with a stuck-up, EccentricArtist Creator/PabloPicasso. The siblings start drawing in the yet-unknown cubist style, which {{iron|y}}ically gets them criticized by Picasso for their lack of artistic aptitude. Meanwhile, they have no problem figuring out what Picasso's drawings are illustrating because he is, well, an accomplished artist nonetheless. Seeing that he's losing, Picasso decides to draw in a more realistic fashion, stopping the Warners in their tracks. After the game, Picasso decides to adopt the siblings' funny style as his own, discovering at last the art style he's been pursuing the whole episode.
* HollywoodCalifornia: The water tower and the surrounding area are a nod to Burbank.
* HonestyAesop: In "We're Not Pigeons", the Goodfeathers are hunted down by a young Owl who is trying to hunt pigeons. To avoid being hunted, Pesto and Bobby tell the Owl they're macaroni birds and that pigeons look different from them. Squit warns Bobby and Pesto that lying to the Owl will get them in trouble, but Bobby and Pesto don't listen to him. After the Owl catches WesternAnimation/PepeLePew, a SewerGator, and an elephant, the Goodfeathers confess that they're pigeons, but learn from the Owl that the Owls have made a deal with the Godpigeon not to hunt the Goodfeathers. Unfortunately for them, the Owl captures them anyway, believing that since they lied to him about being macaroni birds, they're probably lying to him about being the Goodfeathers.
* HouseAmnesia: Happens to Einstein during a heated argument with the Warners in "Cookies for Einstein".
* HumanlikeHandAnatomy: Any animal character in ''Animaniacs'' and ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' except Runt and Buttons (two "non-anthro" dogs), Pharfignewton (a "non-anthro" horse) and Minerva Mink (a mink [obviously] with somewhat human-like feet). The Goodfeathers, Godpigeon, Girlfeathers, and Chicken Boo have FeatherFingers instead.
* HumiliationConga: Downplayed:
-->(to Ralph) ''We're so sad we have no time together''\\
''Just to drop an anvil on your head''\\
''And stuff your pockets full of dynamite...''\\
''Then tie you to a rhino's head!''
** This was the Warners' general shtick, probably best seen in The Monkey Song.
* HurricaneOfPuns: Mostly, in the Warners and the Slappy segments, but taken up to eleven in "This Pun for Hire".
* HyperspaceArsenal: By all of the Warners quite often, but it's pointed out specifically in "[[MajorGeneralSong I Am the Very Model of a Cartoon Individual]]":
-->'''Yakko:''' From this bag here, why, I can pull most anything imaginable,\\
like office desks and lava lights and Bert who is a cannibal.
* HypocriticalHumor:
** Yakko and Wakko's "Hello, Nurse!" is often followed with a disparaging "Boys - go fig." from Dot. And then comes a muscular man...
** Also:
--->'''Yakko:''' (aside) The stuff they're getting away with on kids' shows these days...
** In the '''Please Please Please Get A Life Foundation''' skit, they talk about people obsessing over miniscule background details that have been inserted into cartoon shows (specifically their own), talking about how they need to get a life... details that they themselves put into the show in the first place. They even lampshade their inclusion of such trivial details within the short, encouraging people to "call us ''before'' you rewind to see what was in the room in the opening shot!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder: I]]
* IAmNotShazam:
** The three main characters are actually called "the Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister"), not "Animaniacs." A first-time viewer might be a little confused because the opening theme song has them repeatedly shouting "We're Animaniacs!" However, this is really just a descriptive term (kind of like a bunch of people shouting "We're human beings!") and applies to ''all'' the show's characters, not just the Warners.
** There's an arguable in-universe one in "The Panama Canal" (sung to the tune of "The Erie Canal.") Yakko is a ship captain crossing from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and he mentions that his ship is named "Hal" (to rhyme with "Canal," of course). After the ship makes it safely through the canal, the sailors shout "Thank you, Hal!" - and Yakko takes the credit, implying that "Hal" is ''his'' name. So either Yakko believes that he and his ship are somehow psychically connected, or [[AnimatedActors he is playing a character named Hal in-universe]] and named the ship after himself.
* IWantSong: Every time Rita sings a song, it's about how much she wants a home or thinks she's found one.
* ImprovisedParachute: In "Operation: Lollipop", Buttons uses a mailbag as a parachute.
* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: The show is sometimes called "Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs".
* IncessantChorus: The national anthem of Anvilania, which is such a boring dirge that it is used as a weapon later on.
* InflatingBodyGag: One episode began with Wakko drinking a huge root beer float, expanding, and floating back onto his seat afterwards... then he got hiccups. He also inflated with air in the first episode.
* InformedAbility: Played with (for laughs) by Chicken Boo, who has a different one every time he appears. He's a karate champ! He's a master strategist! He's a great ballet dancer! He's the sexiest man in Hollywood! (He ''did'' turn out to be a two-fisted dealer of frontier justice, though.)
* InkBlotTest: The series pokes fun at this often enough given that Dr. Scratchansniff fits into the role of the stereotypical psychologist. The first episode "De-Zanitized" has him giving Dot the test. When Dr. Scratchansniff gives the test to Yakko, every picture looks like "girls". (Except the last one, a completely black page that reminds him of "[[BreakingTheFourthWall The next cartoon!]]")
-->'''Scratchansniff:''' YOU ARE OBSESSED WITH GIRLS!
-->'''Yakko:''' Hey, you're the one showing me all the sexy pictures.
* InkSuitActor: Pip Pumphandle, based directly off his voice actor Ben Stein.
* InsignificantLittleBluePlanet: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_J5rBxeTIk Yakko's Universe]], which seems to be a {{Homage}} to the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWVshkVF0SY Universe Song]] from ''Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife''.
* InsistentTerminology: Whenever someone addresses the Warner brothers, Dot (or someone) will pipe in, "And the Warner ''sister''."
** Also, "Call me 'Dottie', and you die."
* InterspeciesRomance:
** The Warner Brothers and Sister, [[CartoonCreature from an ambiguous species]], keep getting lustful for other species, especially humans.
** In the Minerva Mink segments, animals from many different species and [[SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism anthropomorphic levels]] get the hots for her, and in the comics even humans, while Minerva gets the hots for hunky males no matter the species.
** Rita's song lyrics and body language seem to indicate that she has romantic feelings for Runt. Runt, naturally, is completely oblivious.
** In the short ''West Side Pigeons'', Squit (pidgeon) falls in love with Carloota (sparrow).
** In the short ''Wings Take Heart'', there's a romance between a male moth and a female butterfly.
** In the short ''Katie Ka-Boo'', Katie (human girl) gets a new boyfriend, but it's Chicken Boo [[PaperThinDisguise disguised]].
* IsThisThingStillOn: An episode from 1996 ends with the Warners badmouthing the people in the end credits, not realizing until the very end that we've just heard them saying all that.
** Especially amusing in that some of the people they badmouth are their own voice actors.
* ItsWhatIDo: Stinkbomb D. Bassett (one of Slappy's enemies) explains why dogs chase squirrels:
-->'''Stinkbomb:''' It's our sworn duty to chase 'em, catch 'em and shake 'em like rag dolls!\\
'''Grandson:''' Why?\\
'''Stinkbomb:''' I dunno. It's what we do.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: J-L]]
* JawDrop: The show uses this a lot.
** In the episode "Meet Minerva", this is a squirrel's reaction to seeing the title character clad in nothing but a towel.
** At one point in the ''Pinky and the Brain'' short "The Brain's Apprentice," not only does Pinky's jaw drop, but also his nose and his eyes.
* JeopardyIntelligenceTest: The first ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' short had Brain go on the quiz show "Gyp-Parody!" in order to raise enough money for a device to TakeOverTheWorld. He gets every single question right, but bombs the final question and loses everything. Of course, the answer to the final question was [[Series/TheHoneymooners Ralph Kramden]], which Brain would have known [[NotNowKiddo if he had listened to]] [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Pinky]] earlier in the episode.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
** Slappy hates to admit this, but she does care for her nephew Skippy.
** Mr. Plotz appears to hate the Warners, but he does harbor some respect for them. He'll even enlist their help on occasion when the pressures of running a major studio become too much for him.
** Much of the humor from the "Pinky and the Brain" shorts derives from Brain's constant verbal and even physical abuse of Pinky, but he also takes a paternal stance toward his lesser partner. (And Pinky admires Brain in return, once referring to him as "very honest and hard-working.")
** Rita [[DependingOnTheWriter sometimes]] falls into this trope, particularly in "When Rita Met Runt" and "Smitten With Kittens."
* JesusWasWayCool: One short in a ChristmasEpisode features a medley of Christmas carols, with the Warners playing the shepherds in the nativity story. In something of a meta-example, it's one of only two shorts that they ''don't'' treat as an excuse for irreverent havoc.
* JuryAndWitnessTampering: A Slappy the Squirrel short has Slappy accused of cartoon violence against Walter Wolf. Slappy's defense consists of describing how she basically blasted Walter to smithereens, leading the jury to find her...not guilty, at which point it's revealed that Slappy rigged explosives under the jury's seats.
* JustDesserts: Befalls a {{Jerkass}} magician duo in "Magic Time".
* KangarooCourt: In one episode, Slappy is put on trial for "assault with intent to squash" on her nemesis Walter Wolf. Given that the judge and jury are all wolves, Skippy is understandably afraid that Slappy is gonna get railroaded. Slappy tells Skippy not to worry, as she's got "a dynamite case". That is to say, she's wired the jury box with explosives, and gets off without a hitch.
* KarmicProtection: The Warners were only truly malevolent to the bad guys, which justifies a lot of the mayhem they cause. Even people who were annoyed by them but otherwise good characters would ultimately get the Warners' help in the end. One episode even lampshaded it and discussed it, when a kid watching at home wondered why the Warners weren't doing more to the antagonist.
** One episode had them frustrated because a character they wanted to get rid of (a ''[[Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic Sound of Music]]'' style Creator/JulieAndrews {{Expy}}) did nothing to invite retribution. [[spoiler:In the end, they sicced [[ScrewballSquirrel Slappy Squirrel]] on her.]] [[BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork Problem solved]].
** Still, a lot of what the Warners do could be needlessly cruel to the point of making them unsympathetic, such as stripping Otto in the "Schnitzelbank" song or leaving the woodchuck in the toilet in "Kid in the Lid"... until you remember that [[spoiler:everyone's an actor; hardly any of what takes place is "real"]].
** One cartoon ''was'' cut because they were too malicious.
* KarmicTrickster: From a proud Warner Bros. tradition. Both the Warners and Slappy Squirrel enjoy taking the air out of [[JerkAss Jerkasses]]
* {{Kevlard}}: The Hip Hippos are very fat and also very durable, which comes in handy given their less than stellar common sense.
* KnowsAGuyWhoKnowsAGuy: Yakko explains in song why he is now the king of Anvilania:
-->'''Yakko''': I'm the cousin to the sister / Of son's niece's brother / Of the uncle's daughter's father / Of the nephew's sister's mother / And my grandpa's only cousin / Was the King's daughter's sibling, / But they're all gone,\\
'''Crowd''': So that is why\\
'''Yakko''': I am now your king!
* KnowYourVines: In "Sound of the Warners" After using the bathroom in a bush, Dr. Scratchansniff gets an awful itch, because he was in a poison oak bush.
* LampshadedDoubleEntendre: "Goodnight everybody!"
* LampshadedTheObscureReference: In a short where the Warner Bros (and the Warner sister) met Rasputin. They did a pun between "Anastasia" and "anesthesia", and Dot said "Obscure Joke. Ask your parents".
* LastSecondWordSwap: 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!
* LateToThePunchline: Most people who saw the show as kids. Seriously, watch it as an adult and embrace the [[{{Demographically Inappropriate Humour}} revelations]].
* {{Leitmotif}}: Just about every character had one. Nicely shown off in the last short: The Animaniacs Suite.
** Certain actions warranted their own theme music too. For example, a character eating was usually accompanied by "Shortnin' Bread" and a character cleaning something would be accompanied by "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush". This is an obvious callback to [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Carl Stalling's]] work.
** Hello Nurse's leitmotif (a sultry drumbeat) is an interesting case, where hers was started by Wakko in the first short ("Dezanitizsed") just to screw with the audience in true Warner fashion, but has since stuck with the character ever since.
* LimitedAnimation: Parodied in "Back in Style". Rumor has it that, in a rare subversion, the animation kept being sent back to AKOM because it came out looking ''too good''.
** Thanks to uneven animation, Creator/VargaStudio's "When You're Traveling" and most of Creator/FreelanceAnimatorsNewZealand's shorts tend to fall into this quite often.
* LionKingLift: There's a spoof of the ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' where Yakko is the one to lift Simba, only to drop him off Pride Rock.
-->'''Yakko''': [[CrossesTheLineTwice Oh, I thought they landed on their feet]].
* ListSong: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0y8jkfXoX8 Yakko's World]]", among others.
* LittleGuyBigBuddy: Rita and Runt; also arguably WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain and Buttons and Mindy.
* LocalReference: When Rita and Runt go to Poland in "Puttin on the Blitz", Rita sings that it doesn't look like Burbank, more like Van Nuys. (Both are cities in the UsefulNotes/LosAngeles Area. You can guess which one has higher property values).
* LocationSong: "Yakko's World" is a ListSong listing every country in the world.
* LoopholeAbuse: The candy store episode has Flaxseed save himself from the nuns about to attack him by pointing out they aren't allowed to resort to violence. They actually agree with him and pray for assistance, which brings the Notre Dame football team to the store so they can do it instead. Nothing stops the nuns from allowing sympathetic souls to take action they want to but their vows prevent them from doing.
* LosingYourHead: Happens to Minerva Mink in "Moon over Minerva" (see HeartBeatsOutOfChest above).
* LustfulMelt: Happens to Minerva in both her cartoons, and to Dot and some aliens in "Space Probed".
[[/folder]]
[[folder: M]]
* MadHatter: All three main characters, in the tradition of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' and similar cartoons. ''"We're not monkeys, we're just cuckoo! Don't know what to say the Warners won't do!"''
* MadwomanInTheAttic: Yakko, Wakko and Dot were locked in a water tower for decades for being too zany.
* TheMafia: The Goodfeathers are an AffectionateParody of ''Goodfellas'' and mob films in general. And, naturally, are TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily.
* MagicPants: Taken in an unusual direction in "Moon Over Minerva." Whenever Wilford changes into his [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent hunky werewolf form]], his pants actually ''shrink''.
* {{Malaproper}}: A source for so much of the humor.
* ManChild: Ralph and Mr. Director (an {{Expy}} of Jerry Lewis), but special mention goes to Hercules in the "Hercules Unwound" episode, whose whining about Zeus making him do the 12 Labors is reminiscent of a teenager complaining about unpleasant chores.
* MarsNeedsWomen: All three of the Warner siblings. Although they seem to see themselves as more or less human-ish.
* MeaningfulName:
** Dr. Scratchansniff's German last name is Freudlos, a double pun; it literally means "joyless", but it's also a reference to yet another psychiatrist...
** Yakko and Wakko. Wakko, a play on "wacko", as in someone who is a little whacky (strange or crazy), and Yakko, a play on "yakking away" or talking incessantly. Yakko almost never shuts up.
* MediumAwareness: Mostly Slappy and the Warners. Slappy beats the Warners here:
-->'''Skippy:''' But that was in a cartoon! [[ThisIsReality This is real life!]]\\
'''Slappy:''' *AsideGlance* Don't tell him, he might crack.
* MemorialForTheAntagonist: Played with in "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]].
* MickeyMousing: ''Animaniacs'' actually had orchestral accompaniment - very, very rare for a televised cartoon series - and took full advantage of that.
* MimeAndMusicOnlyCartoon: "The Brain's Apprentice" and a couple of the {{Retraux}} Warners shorts.
* MisplacedWildlife: In the "Tiger Prince" cold open, there are tigers substituting for lions in Africa... because they're parodying ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994.''
* MissXPun: This joke:
-->'''Dr. Scratchansniff:''' You're misinterpreting!\\
'''Yakko:''' ''[with a beauty pageant model]'' No, ''this'' is Miss Interpreting!\\
'''Wakko:''' ''[also with a model]'' This is Miss Understanding!\\
'''Dot:''' And I'm mis''terious''.
* MockyMouse: The ''Slappy Squirrel'' segment "One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock" has Slappy wind up in a nursing home after losing her memory, with the other senior citizens there being elderly spoofs of classic cartoon characters. Three of them are Rhena Rat (spoofing Minnie Mouse), Doofy (parodying Goofy) and Quacky Duck (a Donald Duck ersatz).
* ModestyTowel The episode "Meet Minerva" start with Minerva Mink walking out of home with just a towel (and another for the head), causing a [[HeadTurningBeauty head-turning reaction]] (Tex Avery-styled) to males of every species, before bathing naked in a lake. Then again, this trope was applied to Ms. Mink every chance the writers got in the comics.
* MonsterClown: A birthday-party clown is viewed this way in-universe in "Clown and Out" (by two characters who are afraid of clowns), but he's actually a very nice guy.
* MoodWhiplash:
** There was one serious Slappy cartoon in which Slappy was put away in an asylum and Skippy was taken away by social services, and... to say that this episode was just an ''example'' of this trope is an understatement. The mood jumped up and down OVER AND OVER again, to the point of being a highly compressed intra-episode version of CerebusRollerCoaster. It leads in with a comedic stretch where Slappy is driven mad by watching too many daytime talk shows (Jerry Springer etc.), which she can't stand. Then her madness is played for laughs for a while. Then Skippy takes her to the doctor, and even amidst there being a few gags in the scene, suddenly it starts portraying realistic consequences of her going insane. Then it just keeps REPEATEDLY ALTERNATING between playing it for laughs and [[PlayedForDrama portraying the tragic real consequences of a kid's aunt losing her mental faculties.]] Then she suddenly gets better and escapes the asylum for a happy ending. Then as a ContinuityNod in later episodes she references that now she actually LIKES those talk shows.
** "The Ballad of Magellan" really makes us feel sympathy for the man, after which The Great Wakkorotti is brought in for comic relief.
* MookFaceTurn: Several shorts involved Dot escaping from confinement by convincing the prison guard on duty with her cuteness.
* MoralGuardians: A frequent target of the show.
** "Valuable Lesson" is centered around this.
** "Bully for Skippy" involved an obnoxious senator imposing standards on cartoons to make them "safe and educational" for children. That same episode had Skippy repeatedly beaten up by a bully after following ineffectual advice from his guidance counselor. When Slappy and Skippy finally do use violence (cartoon violence) on the bully and it works, the senator and the counselor are both livid. Slappy's response to both their complaints is to use the machine the senator had sent to her, which carries out all cartoon violence [[GoryDiscretionShot off screen.]] Naturally, they both concede to Slappy's methods when they emerge as charred, beaten wrecks.
* MrExposition: {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by Slappy.
-->"Doug the Dog!? But he hates you, Aunt Slappy! He's been trying to eat you for years!!\\
"Thank you, MrExposition."
* MultipleDemographicAppeal: Was specifically designed for this. Kids will laugh at the potty jokes and the slapstick, but there's still plenty of {{Parental Bonus}}es to keep the adults entertained.
* MusicalEpisode:
** Rita and Runt have at least one song per short. There are also numerous episodes that parody Broadway without those two characters that still act as musical episodes. Combining the two, one extended Rita and Runt segment is basically a parody of ''Theatre/LesMiserables''.
** Episode 82 consists entirely of episodes based around music: "Wakko's 2-Note Song," "Panama Canal," "Hello Nurse," "The Ballad of Magellan," "The Return of the Great Wakkorotti," and "The Big Wrap Party Tonight." It even includes the extended theme song.
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: Dot is one of the few inversions in western animation that ''willingly'' introduces ''herself'' as this trope on a ''regular basis.''
* MythologyGag: Or more of a coincidence that was taken advantage of. Many animated shows only run for 65 episodes, a number deemed large enough for syndication. Animaniacs was originally to be no different, and it turned out that the fictional backstory of the Warner siblings had already established their debut as being around 1929, 65 years prior to the finale's broadcast. The episode thus played up the number, revolving entirely around a "65th Anniversary Special" tribute to the Warners.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: N]]
* NaiveAnimalLover: A sketch ("The Hip Hippos") involved a Jane Goodall {{Expy}} maintaining vigilance over a pair of City Slicker, {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le (because of their obesity) IdleRich hippos. The RunningGag was her seeing them in ([[NotWhatItLooksLike what she believed to be]]) danger and try to save them, only for the hippos to come out of the stunt all right and [[BadlyBatteredBabysitter her hurt in some comedic fashion (with them not even noticing she was there)]].
* TheNapoleon:
** Mr. Plotz, the WB CEO.
** Eli, a character in a Chicken Boo sketch.
* NighInvulnerability: Baloney the dinosaur just ''laughs'' off anvils much to the horror of the Warners. He can actually be harmed though, through the most mundane method you can imagine. Literally. [[NotSoInvincibleAfterAll If you imagine him in pain and suffering that's what happens.]] But the Warners don't properly catch on.
* NoahsStoryArc: There was at least one sketch called "Noah's Lark" that went like this. [[WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures Buster and Babs Bunny]] walked up and stated they were no relation, so Noah let them on, along with the Hip Hippos.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: ...at least not by name.
** Several notable public figures of the period were hilariously parodied in the show with such gems as [[Creator/RogerEbert Codger Eggbert]] and Lean Hisskill, as well as the Iraqi dictator Sodarn Hinsane.
** The "Used Cow Salesman" in 'The Warners and the Beanstalk' is basically Pat Buttram.
** The clown in "Clown and Out" is pretty much Jerry Lewis in whiteface and a silly outfit.
* NoFourthWall: Was central to its humor, and is some of the best PostModernism ever put in kids' comedy TV.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Buttons goes to enormous lengths, risking his own hide to keep Mindy from harm. Every episode ends with Buttons getting in trouble over some (Generally minor) misbehavior he performed in the course of his duties.
* NoPunctuationPeriod: And that's why the writers created [[CuteAndPsycho Katie Kaboom]] to explain to innocent little children why their big sister chucks a psycho for NO JUSTIFIABLE REASON WHATSOEVER once a month. Basically, their explanation was TeensAreMonsters.
** '''''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWcNcJuTHVo "I'm Not Overreacting!! I'm a Teenager!!"]]'''''.
* NoirEpisode: The episode "This Pun for Hire" with the Warners do a film noir parody, taking every cliché and killing them with many bad puns. Feature Scratchansniff and Ralph as villains and also Hello Nurse (and, after, Minerva Mink) as FemmeFatale.
* NonSequiturThud: Happens a lot, this being a cartoon.
** '''Slappy:''' *waking up suddenly* I'd like to buy a vowel!
** And in another episode:
--->'''Death:''' *after falling off a cliff* I'll have the linguine with clams...
** In "Frontier Slappy":
--->'''Daniel Boone:''' ''(after attempting to break down Slappy's door, only to fail and bump his head on a tree)'' Daniel Boone was a great big guy!
* NotAllowedToGrowUp: The Warners' in-universe backstory states they were drawn in 1930, essentially making them all 80, and yet, none of them are geriatrics. It's particularly odd in that the Skippy and Slappy Squirrel segments make it quite clear that cartoon characters do age.
** Maybe it's because cartoon characters come from their creators' imaginations, so it depends on whether they were ''imagined'' as characters that age. The Warners come from the era of monochrome, where cartoon characters were kind of simple/crude, while Slappy seems like she's more from the 40's, as a more realistic character.
** Slappy throws a bit of a [[AgeWithoutYouth grim skew]] on it though in the short 'Rest in Pieces'. Though she and her old co-stars are clearly getting on in years, she tells Skippy that she knew [[spoiler:Walter wasn't dead]] because 'there is no dying in the world of cartoons'.
* NothingIsScarier: We never see the faces of the Nazis in "Puttin On The Blitz."
%%* NotSoImaginaryFriend
* NotWhereTheyThought: In the episode "Meatballs or Consequences?", TheGrimReaper takes the Warner siblings to a dimension where he will officially make them dead if they lose a board game. Dot wonders if the place is Ohio.
* NunsAreFunny: The candy store episode had the Warners tormenting a stuck-up store proprietor named Flaxseed after he refused to donate candy to a orphanage run by nuns. After driving him nuts, Flaxseed finally gets hold of Wakko and Dot... only for the nun from before to come back with reinforcements. They're about to kick his ass before Flaxseed points out that nuns aren't supposed to resort to violence. So, the nuns proceed to pray, and the Notre Dame college football team shows up to pummel the living crap out of Flaxseed.
-->'''Head Nun:''' Our prayers have been answered!
[[/folder]]

[[folder: O]]
* OddNameOut: Dot. She's the only Warner sibling whose name [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers doesn't rhyme with the others'.]]
** And let's not forget their voice actors: [[Creator/JessHarnell Jess]], [[Creator/TressMacneille Tress]] and [[Creator/RobPaulsen Rob]].
* OdeToFood:
** "Ice Cream" is about different types of ice cream.
** "Be Careful What You Eat" is about food ingredients, which, despite the title, aren't all bad (it even includes beta carotene, a ''nutrient'').
* OffModel: There were eight, count them, EIGHT animation companies that worked on the show; [[note]] Those studios are Creator/TMSEntertainment, Creator/{{AKOM}}, Creator/WangFilmProductions, Creator/StarToons, Creator/KokoEnterprises, Creator/FreelanceAnimatorsNewZealand, Creator/PhilippineAnimationStudioInc., and Varga Studios.[[/note]] all had different drawing and animation styles (and that does not even count the studios that TMS used under contract [[note]]these included Creator/NakamuraProductions, Creator/AjiaDo, Creator/TatsunokoProduction, Creator/KyotoAnimation, Creator/AnimeSpot, Creator/TokyoKids, Creator/MizoPlanning, Creator/SpectrumAnimation, Creator/FlyingDragon, Creator/StudioJungleGym, Creator/OhProduction, Creator/MagicBus, Creator/StudioJunio, Creator/StudioNue and Creator/FarEastern (the latter also working with Wang). All of them uncredited.[[/note]] However, almost all of them used TMS' style).
** Mostly with segments animated by Creator/FreelanceAnimatorsNewZealand, [[http://legion1979.tumblr.com/post/49399216720/yakko-can-you-conjugate-episode-16 take a look]].
** [=StarToons=] tended to dip into this, as well with the Slappy the Squirrel intro and "Wakko's America", though not to the extreme as Freelance, as well as [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools tending to make the animation even more expressive]]. Unfortunately, the same can not be said about shorts like "The Big Candy Store" or "Wally Llama".
** AKOM, of course. Though it's the more bland and uninteresting animation and sometimes horrific, rather than cartoonish, expressions as opposed to poor drawings as was usually the case with the studio.
** Many of the later episodes (such as the "Hooray For North Hollywood" two-parter and "The Carpool) fall deep into this.
** Happened occasionally with TMS's episodes as well, as several of their shorts went though numerous subcontractors and animation teams. For instance, "Taming of the Screwy" was given to Creator/TatsunokoProduction and the end result wasn't pretty[[note]]The animation is far below TMS' usual standards of liveliness and comes off looking like a low-budget late 80s anime at times, the Warners' noses are too small through most of the cartoon, and in one scene an object (a plate with a lobster claw, in this case) teleports from one spot to a slightly different spot between frames[[/note]]. "Roll Over Beethoven", "Home on De Nile" and "H.M.S. Yakko" are also guilty of this.
** The show was also so expensive that it couldn't afford character layout drawings. The animators instead blew up the storyboard panels to ten-field size so they could be registered to the animation pegs. Some of the more exaggerated board drawings would end up getting animated, resulting in weird proportional shifts. The [[WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain other]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}} Spielberg/Rugger]] [[WesternAnimation/PinkyElmyraAndTheBrain shows]] also did this, with similar results.
* OffscreenTeleportation: Often employed by the Warners. Performed ''on'' the Warners by the survey ladies ("Would you like to take a survey?")
* OhGodWithTheVerbing: Mr Director speaks like this.
* OldFashionedRowboatDate: Dot briefly fantasizes about going on one with Dr. Scratchansniff, and creeps herself out, in "De-Zanitized".
* OldShame: The Warner trio themselves, InUniverse; The company sealed them (and the cartoons which featured them) away in the early 20th century, refusing to release them because they (both the characters and their films) were nonsensical. Even in present time, they're trying to keep them locked up.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted with Kiki the Girlfeather and Kiki the gorilla from the Rita and Runt episode, "Kiki's Kitten."
* OnlySaneMan: Whoever is the one person that knows Chicken Boo is a giant chicken -- except in the Franchise/{{Batman}} parody... in which Batman, voiced of course by Creator/AdamWest, was the only one who '''didn't''' see through the Boo Wonder's PaperThinDisguise.
* OpeningNarration: Done via a DeliberatelyMonochrome (with a [[SplashOfColor splash of tomato red on the Warner's noses]]) newsreel called ''Newsreel of the Stars'', used to explain the Warner's genesis, how they got loose, drove the world insane, [[OldShame humiliated the studio executives,]] and became [[SealedEvilInACan sealed chaos in a can.]]
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: As seen in "Moon over Minerva," the light of a full moon turns the nerdy Wilford Wolf into a Fabio-esque hunk.
* OutOfFocus: Most of the characters got reduced screentime in favor of more Warners and Slappy cartoons in the Kids WB era seasons. They tried fixing this in season 4, only to go back to focusing on the Warners and Slappy in season 5. Pinky and the Brain have gotten their own show at this point. In Rita and Runt's case, it was getting expensive to fly Rita's voice actress to the studio.
* OverlyLongName:
** Professor Otto von Schnitzelbuskrankengescheitmeier from the song "Schnitzelbank." It gets lampshaded during of the verses ("Is das nicht ein incredibly long name to have to try and say?").
** Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fana Bo Besca III - but you can call her Dot. [[BerserkButton Call her Dotty and you die]].
* OverlyLongGag: [[ShapedLikeItself Who's on Stage?]]
* OverlyPrePreparedGag: At least three Warners shorts are examples of these:
** "Wakko's Gizmo" has Wakko showing his siblings a giant Rube Goldberg contraption that ends up pushing a whoopee cushion.
** "The Party" has the Warners inviting everyone up to the water tower for a party. Thaddeus Plotz at first refuses to go, but then they mention that "Steven" will be there. The party is a disaster, and Plotz keeps intending to leave, but the Warners remind them that "Steven" will be disappointed. At the end, "Steven" finally shows up... Steven Pudner, that is, a schlubby fat nerd the Warners met on the Internet. Of course, Plotz was expecting Creator/StevenSpielberg. Yakko lampshades this, saying, "Was that a long way to go for a gag or what?"
** "Our Final Space Cartoon, We Promise!" is set up as yet another parody of ''Film/TwoThousandAndOneASpaceOdyssey'', with AL replacing HAL. At the end, when AL begins humming "Hail to the Chief", the Warners realize AL is really UsefulNotes/AlGore.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: P]]
* PaperThinDisguise: Exaggerated with Chicken Boo. Every sketch opened with a new group of people (Hollywood actors, Confederate soldiers, people in a karate tournament, etc.) singing the praises of Boo---who, as a reminder, is a six-foot tall chicken with absolutely ''no'' anthropomorphic features--who would then show up in the absolutely flimsiest of disguises (such as an extremely small mustache, a robe and headband, or a hat and wig). [[TheCassandra Exactly one person]] would realize Boo's true nature and try to tell everyone one about it ("HE'S A CHICKEN, I TELL YOU! A GIANT CHICKEN!") only to be disregarded. When Boo's disguise inevitably came off, the entire group would react in shock, and the chicken would be forced to move on to find another bunch to join.
* 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 UsefulNotes/{{Usenet}}. Reading that after having seen the show will likely as not have you in stitches from all the LateToThePunchline moments.
* ParentalNeglect: Mindy's parents, which is probably why she never calls them "mom" and "dad" like they want her to (except in ''Wakko's Wish'') and instead calls them "Lady" and "Mr Man", something she might refer to a stranger as.
* {{Parody}}: Anything from ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'' to ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' to ''Series/BarneyAndFriends'' to ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' (naturally, Barney was ''far'' more frightening).
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjOePNFRFRU Oyyyyyyyyyyy, Macadamia!]]
** [[MajorGeneralSong We Are The Very Model Of]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Zy6UcA8GA Cartoon Individuals!]]
* TheParodyBeforeChristmas: This show has "The Day Before Christmas", in which Ralph, with a sleigh drawn by the gangster pigeons, delivers presents to the Warner siblings.
* ParodyMagicSpell:
** A Pinky and the Brain episode had "Charlie Sheen, Ben Vereen, Shrink to the size of a lima bean!".
** From their Shakespeare "translation":
-->'''Witches:''' Double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble.\\
'''Yakko:''' Loosely translated, "Abracadabra".\\
'''Dot:''' Fillet of a fenny snake, in the cauldron boil and bake.\\
'''Yakko:''' "Let's cook a snake." Start with my agent.
* ParodySue: The musical number "Hello Nurse" is all about this trope.
* PatterSong: "I Am The Very Model Of A Cartoon Individual," {{Parody}} of Gilbert and Sullivan's [[MajorGeneralSong "I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major-General]]. To make the parody more blatant, it was sung [[Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance to a pirate]]. A good amount of songs in the Animaniacs songbook are patter songs, including their most famous one of all, "Yakko's World."
* PhraseCatcher: "Hello, ''Nurse!''" Guess who this is usually said to.
* PimpedOutDress: In the episode [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU5it18wMAk "King Yakko"]], Hello Nurse plays the prime minister of the kingdom, and she wears a magenta dress with [[PrettyInMink ermine trim]] and a blue cloak.
* PinkIsErotic: Minerva Mink gained infamy for her overly sexual design and in the cartoon, she's proven to be so attractive that all the males are aroused by the sight of her. In the episodes, she wears a pink [[ModestyTowel modesty towel]], a pink and purple dressing gown, and she is surrounded by pink flowers.
* PinPullingTeeth: In "I Got Yer Can", an EscalatingWar with Slappy Squirrel causes Candie Chipmunk to do this; terrifying a pair of nuns before blowing herself up.
* PintsizedPowerhouse: The robots in "The Brain's Apprentice". A single one can raise a standard fridge off the ground.
* PlatonicLifePartners: Rita and Runt.
* PlaneAwfulFlight: In "Plane Pals", an obnoxious executive has the bad luck of sitting next to the Warners, who decide to make him their "special friend" for the flight.
* PlayingCatchWithTheOldMan: Played for laughs in Good Idea, Bad Idea. The Bad Idea is playing catch using grandpa as the ball.
-->'''Good idea:''' Playing catch with your grandfather. ''[Mr. and Grandpa Skullhead toss a ball back and forth]''\\
'''Bad idea:''' Playing catch, [[AmbiguousSyntax with your grandfather]]. ''[Mr. Skullhead and a teen toss Grandpa Skullhead back and forth; Grandpa falls to pieces in midair]''
* PlotHole: Provides the page quote from a sketch of Shakespere's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" being translated for kids.
--> Puck (played by Yakko): And this weak and idling theme, no more yielding, but a dream!
--> Dot (the translator): There is a hole in this plot you could drive a truck through.
* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: The episode "Spell-Bound" is presumably one to ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' as a test to see if the sketch could work as its own show. This is made apparent because of the entire episode being a half-hour ''Pinky and the Brain'' cartoon with the only connections to ''Animaniacs'' being cameos by Slappy Squirrel and the Goodfeathers.
* PottyDance: See below.
* PottyEmergency: {{Trope Namer|s}}, for the segment of episode 26 where Yakko, Wakko, and Dot are at the movies and Wakko drinks from [[GiganticGulp an insanely large cup of soda]] and spends the rest of the short desperately looking for a bathroom. Wakko also has this happen on a car trip in "I'm Mad!" and when he gets scared of the cartoon world in "The Girl With The Googily Goop". It also happens in 2 Creator/CartoonNetwork promos [[note]] One where the Warners are going into other shows on the channel and one where Wakko is watching a barber cut someone's hair[[/note]] as well as the Kids WB Kooky Karolfest promo "We Flush You A Merry Christmas".
* PottyFailure: Lampshaded. In the episode with Rasputin, at the end when the moral of the day is revealed to be "Brush your teeth," Dot says, "That makes me feel all warm and squishy. Either that or I need to wear diapers." In episode 35, she said "That makes me feel all warm and squishy inside. Either that, or I sat in something."
* PoundsAreAnimalPrisons: Rita and Runt first met in one of these, and "Les Miseranimals" opens with Runt escaping from one.
* ThePrankster: Slappy Squirrel and the Warner Brothers both waver between this trope and being {{Karmic Trickster}}s.
* PrecociousCrush: Yakko & Wakko's iconic crush on Hello Nurse. Dot also has one on Creator/MelGibson.
* ProWrestlingEpisode: "Fake"
* PreviouslyOn: The first episode aired on Kids' WB! opened with a parody of this trope.
* PunctuatedForEmphasis: "I! AM! '''[[{{Satan}} SATAN!!!]] [[EvilLaugh MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!]]'''"
* PunWithPi: In one episode, the teacher Ms. Flamiel has a textbook called "Mathematics: Easy as [Pi symbol]."
[[/folder]]
[[folder: R]]
* RaidersOfTheLostParody: An early episode wound up with Yakko directing Mr. Director through a few movie parodies. In one, Mr. Director was "Illinois Smith" and utterly failed with the whip - first he ends up tying himself up with the thing, then when he gets free he cracks it and it gets caught on the set rafters, bringing them down on him.
** "I think it's a not-working whip."
* RailCarSeparation: In "Whistlestop Mindy", Mindy strays onto the mail car of a train. When Buttons chases after her, Mindy pulls out the bolt that keeps the mail car coupled to the passenger coach, causing the two cars to separate. Buttons grabs the couplings of the two cars to keep them together and lets Mindy walk across him like a bridge. When Mindy gets to the passenger car, Buttons puts the bolt back in the couplings.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: UsefulNotes/BillClinton playing the sax in the intro is ''not'' a NonSequitur; he really did play the sax while he was an active politician, [[https://youtu.be/a_WuGDYawFQ as seen on]] ''Series/TheArsenioHallShow''.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: The "Please Please PLEASE Get a Life Foundation" was written using actual nitpicks from a newsgroup-made reference guide (the [[http://webspace.webring.com/people/cu/um_4922/crg/ Cultural Reference Guide for Animaniacs]]) verbatim. The show's writers even e-mailed the people who wrote that guide for permission to use their quotes. The show's run coincided with the early days of wide Internet access, and in those days (early to mid 1990's) most online discussions were done in newsgroups.
-->'''Will Bell:''' (founder and maintainer of the CRGA) Several months ago I received email from [writer] Peter Hastings asking for copies of the CRGA by email and snail mail, which I provided.
** A group of these fans were subsequently invited to the studios to see the short before its broadcast premiere, as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1W-wnh__DM shown in this E! news segment from 1995]].
*** After the short was screened for the fans, one fan pointed out an error in the short's quoting of one of the nitpicks. From memory. This was met with incredulity by the staffers and no surprise at all by the fans.
** During the brief point in time when it looked unlikely that UsefulNotes/BillClinton would serve a second term, the creators hedged their bets by changing the theme song lyrics from "While Bill Clinton play the sax" to "We pay tons of income tax".
* RecurringExtra: The Hip Hippos.
%%* ReferenceOverdosed
* RefugeInAudacity: So much.
** In "Hot, Bothered and Bedeviled," the Warners take a wrong turn at Kennebunkport and end up in Hell, tormenting Satan. The same episode features Saddam Hussein plunging into a lake of lava and three demonic stand-ins for Music/TheAndrewsSisters singing a jazz tune about eternal damnation.
** An in-universe example in the "Baghdad Cafe" portion of the Animaniacs Stew episode, the villain-of-the-week is "Sodarn Insane" - presumably the same guy. The Warners mistake him for the headwaiter, but the part of Dot is being played by Slappy, who sees no reason not to cut directly to ComedicSociopathy:
--> '''Slappy:''' And I'm Princess Louisa Francesca... y'know what: forget it. I'm done. Have some dynamite down yer pants.
* RegionalRiff: In "Yakko's World", as Yakko mentions Japan, the famous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_riff "Asian Riff"]] is briefly interpolated into the melody of the song.
* RememberTheNewGuy: The backstories of the Warner siblings and Slappy Squirrel were that the Warner siblings were created as Buddy's co-stars in an attempt to spice up his bland cartoons and Slappy is a retired Looney Tunes star.
* ReminderOfImpossibility: Provides the page quote.
** In one Slappy episode, Slappy and Skippy are dealing with a dog named Stinkbomb. After climbing their tree, Stinkbomb follows them up. Leave Slappy to bring up one important fact that Stinkbomb forgot about. Dogs can't climb trees.
** One instance of Buttons protecting Mindy has him following her up a tree. After she tells him that dogs can't actually climb, he immediately falls.
* TheResolutionWillNotBeTelevised: The DirectToVideo movie ''WesternAnimation/WakkosWish'', an AlternateUniverse medieval fantasy with a semi-serious plot that ultimately gave all of the characters in the series resolution despite the fact they were all removed from their traditional settings.
** One could also consider it a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover -- while the characters were all in the same show, they rarely all interacted in the same place.
* {{Retraux}}: The "lost" shorts.
* RhymingTitle: Used in several episodes:
** "Guardin' the Garden"
** "Scare Happy Slappy"
** "Smitten with Kittens"
* RhymingWithItself: At the end of the "Wakko's America" song about 50 states and their capitals:
-->Sacramento, California; Oklahoma and its City;\\
Charleston, West Virginia; and Nevada, Carson City.
** For the more grievous example see HumiliationConga.
* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: The hippos.
* RightBehindMe: In one episode the Warners proceeded to trash talk the people working on the show [[note]]including their own voice actors[[/note]] as the credits rolled, not realizing that their microphone was still on.
** Slappy subverts this in the very first short featuring her, whipping out a club to hit the eavesdropping Doug the Dog [[OffhandBackhand without even looking at him]].
* RightWayWrongWayPair: The "Good Idea, Bad Idea" shorts.
* RoommateCom: The Warners appear in in-verse show ''Acquaintances'', which is a parody of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' (a prime example of Roommate Com).
* RougeAnglesOfSatin: Played for laughs at the end of the Get A Life sketch. The anal-retentive nerd points out they intentionally misspelled The "Please Please Pleese Get A Life Foundation" just to see if we were paying attention.
* RudeHeroNiceSidekick: The show uses this trope a lot:
** The Brain is a condescending InsufferableGenius, while Pinky is a MinionWithAnFInEvil who still likes and admires Brain, no matter how much abuse he gets from him. They are still this in their own show, ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain''.
** Slappy Squirrel is a cranky old lady. Her sidekick in all her segments is her nephew, the cheerful and adorable Skippy.
** Rita is an arrogant and sarcastic cat who is always accompanied by dimwitted BigFriendlyDog Runt.
* RuleOfFunny: A given on this show in general, but lampshaded in the Slappy short "I Got Yer Can", when Skippy drops an anvil on Candie Chipmunk apropos of nothing, justifying it to his aunt with a nonchalant "Who cares? Anvils are funny."
* RunningGag: Again, too many to count. Notably "Wanna See My Pet?", the Warners being chased by Ralph in the background of other shorts, and Yakko announcing "Good Night Everybody!" if something even ''remotely'' suggestive was said.
** A short-lived one was used in both "This Pun For Hire" and "Anchors A-Warners": A character says "No no no." Yakko in the first instance and Dot in the latter instance asked the character to repeat that. The character again said, "No no no." Then each replied, "I ''love'' that!"
** What about the dragon!? The dragon! The dragon! The dragon! The dragon! The dragon!
*** Would someone please stop this man from saying "Dragon"?
[[/folder]]
[[folder: S]]
* {{Satire}}: The show loves to take aim at and spoof many of the most popular topics of the day, including poiltics, history, and Warner Bros itself.
* ScaryScienceWords: Enforced in the song "Be Careful What You Eat". It's meant to make kids beware of what they're eating and ScareEmStraight by reading out the ingredients with long words such as "bisulphate". In reality, [[ArtisticLicense not all of these ingredients are bad for you]]-- in fact, some, such as "beta carotene" and "lactic acid", are ''good'' for you.
* ScaryShadowFakeout: Subverted in one of the Randy Beaman stories:
--> "One time Randy Beaman was alone in his bed, and he was in the dark, and he saw some shadows and thought it was Dracula, but his mom said it was the coat hanging on the rack, and he turned on the light and it really was Dracula."
* TheScottishTrope: In "Sir Yaksalot", Yakko get so annoyed by people saying the word "dragon" that everytime somebody says it, an anvil will be summoned to drop on their heads.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Fairly regular.
** The Warner Brothers attempted to escape "Balony and Friends" multiple times, but for once their efforts were fruitless.
** Slappy had a strong distaste for cameos and would regularly threaten to leave.
** Dot's feeling out of it in "Gimme the Works," so the Warners decide to walk off the set and end the thing early. She's not feeling any better in their second short that episode, "Hercules Unwound," but in that case the cartoon goes on without them.
* [[SealedEvilInACan Sealed Chaos in a Can]]: The Warners were created in TheThirties, but their cartoons were nonsensical, they caused havoc all over the studio and they drove their creator insane, so the bigwigs locked them in the Water Tower [[Film/TheSandlot until FOR-E-VER]]. The series starts in TheNineties when they finally make their escape, and as the theme song suggests, numerous attempts to lock them back in there are foiled time after time, to the point where most people seem to just leave them to their business, give the tower a wide berth and hope they don't cross their path.
* SeashellBra:
** Averted with Mindy in the episode "Mermaid Mindy" (because she is just a little child) while implied with her mother (that we see just from behind).
* SecondEpisodeIntroduction: "The Monkey Song", the second total short in the series, introduces literally every single secondary and minor supporting character in the series, some pantomiming what they'll be doing for the rest of the series. The third short, "Good Night, Toon", slightly fleshes out some more of their personalities.
* SecretChaser: One in every Chicken Boo short.
* SeeminglyProfoundFool: The basic premise of the Chicken Boo shorts, though there were rare moments where Chicken Boo showed actual competence at his supposed job.
* SelfDeprecation:
** "The Warners' 65th Anniversary Special". The crux of this episode is Warner Bros. acknowledging just how awful cartoons featuring the character Buddy were.
** "Valuable Lesson" has a scene where Attila the Hun storms into Warner Bros. Studios while shouting "Crush Warners!" A guard based on Creator/DonKnotts witnesses Attila and remarks "Must be from one of our affiliates."
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: In the episode "Taming of the Screwy," Mr. Plotz is holding a banquet for foreign investors, and said investors want to meet all of the workers at the Warner Bros. studio, including Yakko, Wakko, and Dot. Under his orders, Dr. Scratchansniff manages to convince the Warners to keep their lunacy under control so they can attend the banquet... only for Mr. Plotz to force them out of the banquet after they meet the investors regardless because he doesn't trust them ''not'' to screw things up. Snubbed and insulted, the Warners return to the banquet and ruin it in their usual KarmicTrickster fashion. In a nutshell, if Mr. Plotz had just let them stay since they were behaving, the entire thing would have gone off without a hitch.
* SensationalStaircaseSequence: In "A Christmas Plotz", the Warners play the Spirits of Christmas in Yet Another Christmas Carol. When Yakko, as the Spirit of Christmas Future, makes his entrance, it's as a flashy musical number in a stairway flanked by beautiful chorus girls.
* SexierAlterEgo: Wilford B. Wolf in the Minerva Mink short "Moon Over Minerva". The geeky wolf [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent turns into a hunk under the light of a full moon]].
* SexySilhouette: Minerva Mink (in a nice ParentService).
* ShaggyDogStory: The premise of the "Randy Beaman story" shorts.
* ShakingTheRump: The Macarena parody "Macadamia Nut" features some Grade-A booty shaking from Dot, Hello Nurse and Minerva Mink.
* ShockinglyExpensiveBill: In "Anchors A-Warners", The Warners run up Dr. Scratchansniff's room service bill to [[spoiler: $26,590. He screams and starts swimming to China]].
* ShooOutTheClowns: The Rita and Runt shorts, while not without their humor, were noticeably darker in tone. Yakko, Wakko and Dot either made their cameos early on or didn’t appear at all.
* ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/{{Animaniacs}} Has its own page]]. The show slightly dates itself with a lot of early 90's and other contemporary-at-the-time references, but it also abounds in references dating back to the dawn of television comedy.
* ShownTheirWork:
** "Yes, Always" is based on a recording of Creator/OrsonWelles trying to do a commercial, and criticising the director trying to give him feedback. It's taken almost verbatim, except for the profanity in the original recording.
** "Win Big" has Brain losing on ''[[Series/{{Jeopardy}} Gyp-Parody!]]'' when he gets the final question wrong after wagering his entire earnings, and he is not invited to come back on the next game. On the actual show, no champion is crowned if neither contestant finishes Final Jeopardy! with a score above $0.
* SirVerbALot: In one episode, Yakko, Wakko and Dot are given the titles "Sir Yaks-A-Lot", "Sir Waks-A-Lot" and "Lady Dots-A-Lot".
* SitOnTheCamera: In episode "The Boids" with the director, Alfred Hitchcock, sitting on the Goodfeathers. Then they're shown stuck to his butt.
* SmarterThanYouLook:
** The Warners. They can perform and explain Shakespeare; name every country, as well as every American state and capital, and every President, from memory; and generally make frequent references to science, history, literature, politics, and a host of other subjects. At the same time they act as if they haven't half a brain between them whenever Dr. Scratchansniff tries to talk to or explain something to them. They are completely insane, but they are ''geniuses''.
** WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain. One is a genius, the other is insane. But which is which? The one who tries to take over the world every single night? Or the one who "accidentally" foils his mad schemes every night with his convenient mask of idiocy?
* SoapPunishment: In "Roll Over, Beethoven", Yakko, Wakko and Dot do this to Beethoven after he describes himself as a 'pianist'.
* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Minerva Mink's intro song is her singing in the shower about how difficult it is to be so pretty.
-->'''Minerva Mink''': It's not as easy as ya' think, to be a gorgeous mink!
* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: [[TearJerker Tear-jerkingly]] averted in the Slappy cartoon "One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock".
* SolidClouds: When the Warners try to convince the giant from ''Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk'' to try [[Literature/GreenEggsAndHam gold eggs and meat]]:
-->'''Yakko:''' Eat them, eat them, on a cloud.
-->'''Giant:''' Oh, all right, for crying out loud! [eats it] Mmm! Gold eggs and meat I do not hate.
-->'''Yakko:''' [[TheLastStraw But now that cloud won't hold your weight]] [Giant falls through cloud]
* SomethingElseAlsoRises:
** Whenever Yakko and Wakko saw an attractive woman like Hello Nurse, their normally bent ears and tails would stiffen and shoot up.
** Every male who encounters Minerva Mink falls prey to this, especially in the comic.
* SoundtrackLullaby: When the Warner siblings fall AsleepInClass, "Rock-a-Bye Baby" plays in the background.
* SpaceJews: Yakko, Wakko, and Dot portrayed [[BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins Native Americans]] on at least two occasions.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: Parodied. In "The Taming of the Screwy", Film/ThelmaAndLouise show up at the stars' party. They arrive by dropping out of the sky in their car.
* SpinOff: ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' (and to an extent, ''WesternAnimation/{{Histeria}}'' - two of that show's characters [[EarlyBirdCameo debuted on this show]]).
* SpitTake: In the Chicken Boo sketch "The Good, The Boo And The Ugly", Eli spits out his spaghetti ([[VisualPun Get it? "Spaghetti Western"?]]) after the bartender tells him that the "Man with No Personality" is a giant chicken. [[CassandraTruth Of course, he doesn't believe her.]]
* SpoofAesop:
** An especially brilliant use, an almost OncePerEpisode gag using the Wheel of Morality.
--->''Wheel of Morality, turn turn turn, tell us the lesson that we should learn!''\\
'''Yakko:''' ...If you can't say anything nice, you're probably at the Ice Capades.\\
Early to rise, Early to bed, makes a man healthy but socially dead!\\
You ''can'' teach an old dog new tricks, but you can't teach Music/{{Madonna}} [[TakeThat to act]].\\
Don't chew with your mouth full.\\
People in glass houses should get dressed with the lights off.
** The ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' parody "Super Strong Warner Siblings" mimicked that show's earnest, AndThatsTerrible-style post-show morality lessons:
---> '''Yakko:''' Remember, kids, playing with giant bugs ''isn't'' cool. If somebody asks you to play with a giant bug, just say no! ''That's'' cool.
** Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/WakkosWish'', where the Wheel provides the (non-ironic) moral of the movie.
* {{Squick}}: In-Universe Example. One of the lessons provided by the Wheel of Morality is "Never ask what hot dogs are made of." and Yakko winces while reading it.
* StandardSnippet: Despite Warners having access to a huge music publishing library that was made of good use in the original Looney Tunes shorts, the only frequently quoted song is "We're in the Money" from ''Film/GoldDiggersOf42'' used to represent money or millionaires.
* StealthPun: The Wheel of Morality has a "[[Series/WheelOfFortune Bankrupt]]" space...[[note]]Not really a reference to ''Wheel of Fortune''. Just morally bankrupt.[[/note]]
** ...and while the cartoons never showed them hitting it, the comic book did.
** "Warner Bros." = "Warner Brothers" + a "dot".
* StickySituation: In the Warners' 65th anniversary special, Daffy Duck recalls the Warners' first solo cartoon where they had flypaper stuck on their fannies, which he admitted, was funny for an animated short, but this went on for eight hours!
* TheStinger: After the credits, the door to the water tower swings open, and a character delivers one last joke of some sort.
* StopHavingFunGuys: The parody of ''WesternAnimation/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids'' in "Back in Style" has all of the characters telling the Warners that fun is bad, and that it's better to "preach pro-social values until they spew out everyone's ears and all over the ground".
* StrawFan: Of the AffectionateParody version, in the "Please Please Pleese[[labelnote:*]] If you were upset by this misspelling, ''you need this foundation's help!'' [[/labelnote]] Get a Life Foundation"
* StrictlyFormula: Most characters have a very strict plotline attached to their shorts. The quality of the writing usually depends on how much can be done with that given formula.
** The Warner sibling shorts: the Warners encounter a StraightMan (which could be anything from a celebrity to a HistoricalDomainCharacter to a mythical or literary figure), whom they drive insane with their zany LiteralMinded antics.
*** Occasionally the formula is inverted by the Warners encountering someone ''even more annoying'' than them, and they are the ones driven insane.
** The Pinky and the Brain shorts: Brain comes up with an elaborate ZanyScheme to take over the world while Pinky [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} absent-mindedly]] tags along. The scheme backfires either due to Pinky's idiocy or Brain making some fatal mistake, so Brain has to return back to the drawing board to come up with a new scheme.
** The Buttons and Mindy shorts: Mindy's mother trusts Buttons to take care of Mindy, who [[StrayingBaby wanders around]] while Buttons suffers AmusingInjuries. The French episode shows that the formula doesn't need to be in English to work, and the caveman episode proves that it doesn't even need an ''intelligible language''.
** The Chicken Boo shorts: Chicken Boo wears a PaperThinDisguise to blend in with a group of humans, which fools everyone except [[OnlySaneMan one guy who points out he's a giant chicken]]. Then, following some zany antics, the disguise falls off and the angry mob chases away Chicken Boo.
** The Katie Ka-Boom shorts: Katie does something ordinary for a teenager when one of her family members presses her BerserkButton, which makes her turn into [[HulkingOut a giant monster]] of some sort. The family flees in terror until Katie calms down and the conflict is resolved.
*** The episode "Katie Ka-Boo" [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs combines]] the above two formulas: Chicken Boo disguises himself as Katie's boyfriend, and Katie's little brother enrages her by pointing out that her boyfriend is a giant chicken.
* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption: When going to Dracula's Castle.
-->'''Yakko:''' We're not that stupid. [[FunctionalGenreSavvy We just know the plot.]]
* StupidlyLongFillerSound: "Macadamia Nut," which is "The Macarena" with parody lyrics, has the cast break out in a giggling fit. Slappy Squirrel, as implacable as ever, has to ask "What's so funny?" Several characters emits lengthy "uhh"s, trying to explain the joke. Yakko gives a drawn out one solo, before giving up and beginning the third stanza. Viewable [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZKzq_fKops here]] at the 02:48 mark.
* SubvertedCatchphrase: At the end of "Meet John Brain", there's a twist on Brain's usual catchphrase, "The same thing we do ''every'' night, Pinky: Try to take over the world":
--> '''Pinky''': Why, Brain? What are we gonna do tomorrow night?\\
'''Brain''': ...You know.
* SuckinessIsPainful: In "Video Revue", "bombs" (bad movies) were treated as weapons grade ordinance and would explode after falling off the shelves. [[TakeThat Yes, names were named]].
* SuddenlySpeaking:
** The Mime, Chicken Boo and Buttons (all ordinarily voiceless) can be seen singing along with everyone else in the opening credits when the characters shout "We're Animaney, totally insaney!"
** We also see the mime move his lips in ''Wakko's Wish'', and he actually says something in "Les Boutons et le Ballon". "[[spoiler: [[GratuitousFrench Le Owwwwww]]]]".
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Dr. Scratchansniff's fear aversion therapy includes repeating a few "comforting" phases.
--> A clown will is my friend. A clown [[MonsterClown will not bite me and throw me in the basement]]. A clown [[ShoutOut is not]] [[Literature/{{It}} a big spider]].

[[/folder]]
[[folder: T]]
* TakeThat: If it's in public media, it's a target. Nothing, NOTHING is safe (not even the fans), though Disney and network censors are choice victims.
-->'''Yakko:''' It's that time again.
-->'''Dot:''' To make fun of the Disney Channel?
** In "Sound of Warners":
--->'''Dot:''' Why don't you go bug the kids in ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop''?
** In "Deduces Wild," some of the items they're searching for in a scavenger hunt are...
--->'''Wakko''': A happy postal worker.\\
'''Dot''': Edible fruitcake.\\
'''Yakko''': A funny episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}}''.
** In "Slappy Goes Walnuts", after trying Skippy's favorite sugary cereal, Slappy says...
--->'''Slappy''': No wonder you like that ''WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}}'' show. That junk's rotting out your brains there!
** At the end of "Rest in Pieces", when Skippy asks Slappy how she knew that Walter Wolf was faking his death, she tells him that cartoon characters never really die, but she considers ''Bonkers'' an exception.
** One really obscure take that is aimed at a vintage Disney short, "Playful Pluto", specifically the [[OverlyLongGag famous flypaper sequence]] that it's known for. The skit involved the Warners in one of their early works, "Flies in the Ointment" , where they get flypaper stuck to their butts, and the film ran for ''[[LeaveTheCameraRunning eight hours]]''.
** [[https://animaniacs-references.tumblr.com/image/48295615903 The dog]] that Slappy abuses during "Bumbie's Mom" appears to be based on Pluto.
** In "No Face Like Home", the surgeons make Slappy unconscious by making her watch Creator/AlanAlda movies. Slappy says she'd rather get whacked in the head with a hammer.
** "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 Hanna-Barbera was still a separate entity from Warner Bros. at the time.
** Every one of Chicken Boo's disguises is based on a historical figure (Baryshnikov, Beauregard) or a fictional pastiche (the Jock, the Western Gunslinger, the Frontiersman) that is renowned as a masculine archetype. Their more accurate biographies and portrayals, however, are less than flattering; like Boo's disguises, if you look past the surface, you're likely to lose some respect for the person or pastiche he portrays.
** The series loves to take swipes at Disney. For instance, in "Jokahontas", the ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'' parody is merely jabbing Disney for milking the cash cow of using the same plotline for all its female heroines (like Ariel and Belle).
* TakeThatAudience: The famous "Please, Please, Pleese Get a Life Foundation" sketch made fun of their PeripheryDemographic (which features geeks rattling off ''Animaniacs'' trivia and nitpicks [[RealLifeWritesThePlot culled from an actual list found on a newsgroup]]).
** The cartoon was previewed for a group of hardcore Internet fans who made a pilgrimage to the studios. Afterwards, one of them pointed out an error in one of the quotations from the list - from memory. The response: "It's very layered, isn't it?"...that is, after the producer picked his jaw up off the floor.
* TeamDad: Dr. Scratchansniff sometimes takes on this role with the Warners, particularly in the short, "I'm Mad", where he tries to take them on a long road trip only to try and keep Yakko and Dot from arguing and Wakko from complaining the whole trip.
* TheTeapotPose: The Brain does this involuntarily in the episode "Pavlov's Mice", thanks to Pavlov conditioning him to sing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leG-fwexjvA "I'm a little teapot"]] and pose like a teapot (one hand at his hip like the handle, and the other raised like the spout) when he hears the sound of a bell.
* TeensAreMonsters: Katie Kaboom literally turns into a monster OncePerEpisode, and spends most of it as one.
* TerribleTrio: Dr. Scratchansniff and Hello Nurse join Ralph in chasing the Warners in one episode.
* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Marita of "The Hip Hippos" segments is a perfect example, differing from her husband Flavio because she's colored purple and wears a bow and lipstick.
* ThatMakesMeFeelAngry:
** The end of "I'm Cute", where Dot expresses anger over her brothers for ruining her song.
** Throughout the entire song "I'm Mad."
* ThemeTuneRollCall:
-->We're Animaniacs\\
Dot is cute and Yakko yaks\\
Wakko packs away the snacks while Bill Clinton plays the sax\\
We're Animaniacs\\
Meet Pinky and the Brain who want to rule the universe[[note]]Meet Ralph and Dr. Scratchansniff, say hi to Hello Nurse(Pinky and the Brain had their own show by that point)[[/note]]\\
Goodfeathers flock together, Slappy whacks 'em with her purse\\
Buttons chases Mindy while Rita sings a verse\\
The writers flipped, we have no script, why bother to rehearse
* ThemeTunelessEpisode: "The Warners' 65th Anniversary Special" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock" do not open with the ''Animaniacs'' theme song, as the first was presented as a special event InUniverse and the second was a PoorlyDisguisedPilot.
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Done with Slappy Squirrel in "Bumbie's Mom," after Slappy has cheered Skippy up from the trauma of ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}} Bumbie]]'', on the plane ride home they watch the in-flight movie, which turns out to be ''[[Literature/OldYeller Old Yellow]]''. Slappy gives an OhCrap face when we hear the titular dog being shot, and then she flatly comments "Uh-oh," not amused by what's about to happen ([[HereWeGoAgain Skippy bawling loudly again]].)
* ThisIsReality: Happens in other shorts, such as "Smell Ya' Later" and "Turkey Jerky," where the villain finds themselves suspended in mid-air somehow, only for the other characters to point out the impossibility and causing them to plummet to the ground.
* ThreeAmigos: Yakko, Wakko and Dot, naturally.
* ThrowThePin: There's a short where the Warners are being put through military training, and their sergeant is instructing them about grenades with the line "Pull the pin and then throw it". Wakko, naturally, throws the pin.
* TiredAfterTheSong: In "All the Words in the English Language", Yakko is already a bit out of breath by the middle of the song, is straight-up tired towards the end, and nearly falls asleep, but then he wakes up and says, "Zaire!" completing the song.
* TitleDrop: Given that the show can go to levels of meta, the show's title is mentioned at least in almost every episode featuring Yakko, Wakko, and Dot.
* TokenMinority: the Warners are Maltese, Dr. Scratchansniff is German, Goodfeathers are Italian and Flavio and Marita are Spanish.
* TooHotForTv: In a rare case of self-censorship, the staff retired the Minerva Mink shorts after only two episodes because the sexual undertones were ''too'' blatant.
* TooLongDidntDub: In the Latin American Spanish dub of the short "I'm Mad", Wakko's line "Gotta use the potty, better stop the car!" is translated into "Tengo que ir al baño para la potty"[[note]] "I gotta get to a bathroom soon to use the potty!"[[/note]]. This is justified, as the Spanish word for "potty", "orinal", also happens to be the word for "urinal".
* TooSpicyForYogSothoth:
** The Warners themselves, repeatedly.
** Also Baloney (a [[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney]] CaptainErsatz), a CaptainErsatz of Maria from ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'', and the dangerously affectionate [[AndCallHimGeorge Elmyra]] from Tiny Toons Adventures have proven too much for the Warners. Notably, the Warners escape Elmyra by enticing her to follow Mindy, due to Mindy's cuteness. Cue AmusingInjuries, and [[ThrowTheDogABone Button's relief]].
* ToothyBird: The Goodfeathers. Chicken Boo often averts this, except in some cases when he shows expressions.
* ToTheTuneOf:
** "The Warners Lot Song" is a parody of the ''Series/GilligansIsland'' theme song.
** "Yakko's World" is to the tune of The Mexican Hat Dance.
** "Wakko's America" is to the tune of Turkey in the Straw.
** "The Presidents Song" is to the tune of William Tell Overture.
* TrailerParkTornadoMagnet: There was a short called "The Brave Little Trailer", in which the title character battles a tornado that always attacks the trailer park he inhabits
* TrickedIntoSigning: There's an episode where the Warners are taking the place of Plotz's sick secretary. So one of them gives Plotz a few documents to sign, hiding among them a check for 80 billion. He then shouts to his brother and sister "We're rich!" Plotz takes the check away, to which the brother merely says "We're poor!"
* TruncatedThemeTune:
** When the show aired on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons, a shortened intro was created that just consisted of these lyrics: "It's time for ''Animaniacs'' / And we're zany to the max, / So just sit back and relax, / You'll laugh 'til you collapse! / We're Animaney, / Totally insaney, / Nick-a-laney, / ''Animaniacs'', those are the facts!"
** Instead of the regular clips they were set to, Nickelodeon set the lyrics to different clips making the lip-syncing off-key To keep the shortened intro on the same key, they pitched up the first half of the intro. But because they didn't re-record the intro, the Warners' voices were pitched up and sound effects like Dr. Scratchansniff's laughter are still heard confusing viewers (who took notice) who didn't see the show on Creator/KidsWB, Creator/FoxKids or Creator/CartoonNetwork.
* TruthInTelevision:
** A lot of skits, especially of the Warner trio, mimic real-life situations that happen to real people (some, even, on situations that happened to the writers themselves). Though they're incredibly exaggerated, there's always that one line where you hear it and think, "Oh, that is ''so'' true."
-->"''Would ya like to take a survey?''"
-->'''Nanny:''' You must be Dit.\\
'''Dot:''' That's ''Dot''.\\
'''Nanny:''' Dot. Right. Wikkie!\\
'''Wakko:''' Wakko.\\
'''Nanny:''' And ''you'' must be...\\
'''Yakko:''' ({{deadpan| snarker}}) This oughta be good.\\
'''Nanny:''' ''Petey-pie!''
-->'''Dr. Scratchansniff:''' Hello, we are stuck in an elevator, and we are late for an appointment with Mr. Plotz.\\
'''Voice on Intercom:''' Ooh, that's bad. Okay, you sit tight and we'll get you out in a minute.\\
Ten hours later...\\
'''Voice on Intercom:''' You still in there? It was our indication that you got out.\\
'''Dr. Scratchansniff:''' Really? What gave you that indication?\\
'''Voice on Intercom:''' That's...just the indication we had.
** And of course, the entire premise of "Bumbie's Mom."
** The absurd event that triggers Slappy's antics in "I Got Yer Can" ("Please don't throw your trash in ''my'' trash can.") came from that exact thing happening to one of the writers.
** And of course there's ''Buddy'' in the ''Warners 65th Anniversary Special'', who was a real WB cartoon character in the 1930s and yes, his cartoons were infamous even back then for legit being ''incredibly boring.''
* TummyCushion:
** "Drive Insane" Wakko and Dot lay on Frau Hassenfeffer; Dot even tells her she's comfy.
** "Hollywoodchuck" Charlton Woodchuck reads a book while lying on a grizzly bear's stomach while shooting a movie.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: U-V]]
* UnexplainedAccent:
** Wakko has a Liverpudlian brogue for absolutely no damn reason -- at least not one ever explained on the show.
** He was actually based specifically on Ringo Starr. Still, that's not an in-universe explanation.
*** Given the nature of the Warners (cartoon characters come to life) that may very well be an in-universe explanation.
*** Interestingly, he's the one that sings the states and capitals. He's the only Warner that does not have an American accent.
* UngratefulTownsfolk: In "The Good, the Bad and the Boo", a wild west town's residents offer to make Chicken Boo their new Sheriff if he captures the bad guy who's terrorizing them. Boo manages to honor his end of the deal but, once his human disguise falls off, they turn on him, release the bad guy and chase him away.
* UniversalAdaptorCast: Cartoons take place anywhere and everywhere. The Warners bugging Einstein, Picasso, or Beethoven? Pinky and the Brain as Pavlov's mice? Slappy vs. Daniel Boone? Mindy and Buttons in {{Prehistoria}}? The Goodfeathers as WWI carrier pigeons? Chicken Boo as a Civil War general? Rita and Runt in ancient Egypt? Yes, all those and more!
* UnPerson: [[{{Backstory}} The "Newsreel of the Stars" segment]] explains that a sort of ''damnatio memoriae'' was ordered against the Warners after they were imprisoned in the water tower -- their films were locked in the vault never to see the light of day, and the studio employees were sworn against ever after publicly acknowledging their existence. It ''was'' successful, [[SealedEvilInACan if only for 63 years.]]
* UnusualEuphemism: The Goodfeathers often use "coo" as a swear word, such as "coo you" or "coo off".
* UranusIsShowing: At the end of "The Planets".
-->'''Yakko''': Well, there you go! That's our solar system.\\
'''Wakko''': You forgot Uranus.\\
'''Yakko''': Goodnight, everybody!
* VertigoEffect: Occasionally done with Buttons the moment Mindy escapes.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The ''Warners 65th Anniversary Special''. While his creation didn't lead to the creation of the Warner Brothers, ''Buddy'' is actually a very real cartoon character created in 1933 and his cartoons were particularly infamous even ''back then'' for being insanely boring. Also, they indeed brought another animator to try and spice things up after his first cartoons failed.
* VerySpecialEpisode:
** "The Little Drummer Warners" has Yakko, Wakko, and Dot go back in time to first-century Bethlehem to witness the birth of the baby Jesus (religion always a controversial subject for kids' cartoons, for various reasons). You'll notice they are unusually low-keyed and respectful - at least until they start performing "The Little Drummer Boy" and suddenly turn it into a 1940s-style swing number. (Hey, [[RuleOfFunny they had to do]] ''[[RuleOfFunny something]]'' [[RuleOfFunny wacky]].)
** "One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock" as well, in which Slappy Squirrel suffers a nervous breakdown after watching too much daytime TV and has to be sent to a nursing home. This eventually results in Skippy being taken away by a CPS agent. The whole thing reminds one of an older relative going senile, seeing how it was based on Tom Ruegger's memories of visiting his aunt in a nursing home.
** Also parodied in one episode opener. The opener begins with a subdued Yakko and Dot, talking about how the upcoming episode was a very special episode, and how it had special meaning to all of the cast, with both sounding very earnest... until they get to TheReveal about what made the episode so very special...
-->'''Wakko:''' [[HalfDressedCartoonAnimal I'm not wearing any pants!]]
** {{Parodied|Trope}} in "A Very Very Very Very Special Show". The Warner siblings try to win a humanitarian award, so they preach throughout the whole cartoon about smoking, violence, sexism etc. Once the award goes to a different cartoon, the Warners instantly revert back to their normal selves and go against everything they were preaching.
* VictoriasSecretCompartment:
** Ms. Flameil keeps a red marker in her bra, apparently. Also a rare example of a not particularly attractive woman making use of this trope.
--->'''Yakko:''' Ooh, what else do you have in there?
** This is where Minerva Mink keeps the key to her diary.
* VisualPun: "[[InsistentTerminology It's not a joke]], it's a ''visual gag''."
* VocalEvolution: All three Warners went through this. Yakko originally had more of a "tough guy" sound; Wakko originally sounded more like Music/RingoStarr; and Dot was higher-pitched. Also, Skippy's voice got deeper as Nathan Ruegger aged, to the point that some of the last Skippy/Slappy segments have him pitch-shifted.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: W-Z]]
* TheWarRoom: Parodied in a episode where the Warners get pulled to Camelot to deal with a dragon that's causing havoc across the kingdom. Yakko calls his siblings to the War Room, then asks King Arthur where the War Room is. When Arthur says they don't have one, Wakko [[{{Hammerspace}} pulls one out of his bag]]. Inside is a setup that would make any general or MadScientist envious, with monitors on every wall showing the rampaging dragon and at the bottom a group of military leaders and scientists around a table debating whether to destroy the dragon or capture it for study. The Warners decide to forget the War Room after that.
* WasntThatFun: Wakko in the episode "Ups and Downs", after the maintenance men raise the elevator he and Dr Scratchansniff are trapped in and drop it really quick:
-->"Wasn't that neat?"
* WeaponizedLandmark: The Warners weaponized the Warner Bros. water tower in "Super Strong Warner Siblings."
* WeHaveForgottenThePhlebotinum:
** When Dr. Scratchansniff and Wakko were [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAfWZ4nq5Mo stuck in an elevator]] (in probably the only instance where Wakko was the StraightMan).
-->'''Dr:''' You've got to get us out of here! Do something big and silly from your [[HyperspaceArsenal gaggy bag]]!\\
'''Wakko:''' I didn't bring it!\\
'''Dr:''' (Searching Wakko frantically) "But you ALWAYS has your gaggy bag!! Where iz it?!? GIVE ME YOUR GAGGY BAG!!"
* WhatAreYouInFor: Rita asks Runt this when they first meet in the city pound. Runt's answer is "peeing on the floor".
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman:
** The number of times Chicken Boo has been ostracized just for being a chicken, regardless of whether he was any good at his job before being unmasked...
** Reminiscent of the Chicken Boo shorts, Brain running a successful campaign to become president only to be ridiculed when the people find that he is a mouse.
* WheelOFeet: Subverted in "Draculee, Dracula" -- at one point the Warners rev up with this to start running, but then just walk off instead of darting.
* WheelOfDecisions: The Wheel of Morality.
* WholePlotReference: Far too many to count.
** Among those that haven't ''already'' been listed, ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' and Disney's ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' are some of the most notable examples. They also did an entire parody on Disney movies in general, and ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'' in particular.
** And a Rita-and-Runt full-on musical parody of ''Theatre/LesMiserables'', and the Goodfeather parodies of ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' and ''Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof''.
* WhosOnFirst:
** Just with 1960s band names instead of baseball players. i.e. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY7_ZwgoeJM "Who's on stage?" "Yes." "So Yes is on stage?" "No, Yes isn't at this concert."]]
** They also get a bit more mileage out of the same gag in "Piano Rag":
--->'''Yakko:''' Very Pete Townshend-esque.\\
'''Dot:''' [[Music/TheWho Who]]?\\
'''Wakko:''' Exactly.
** There was another one involving Wakko participating in Dr. Scratchansniff's bingo game:
--->'''Dr. Scratchansniff:''' Now our first combination is...B4!\\
'''Wakko:''' Before what?\\
'''Dr. Scratchansniff:''' I29.\\
'''Wakko:''' Oh, no you're not! You must be at least 50! Really, 29.\\
'''Dr. Scratchansniff:''' Oh nein. Oh nein.\\
'''Wakko:''' O9? Bingo!
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Wakko and Plotz are both so terrified of clowns that the mere presence of one in "Clown and Out" makes them uncharacteristically nervous.
** The Topps trading card game reveals that Wakko's biggest fear is having a PottyEmergency. It also mentions that Chicken Boo is scared of being revealed to other people as actually being a chicken, while Rita is afraid of heights.
* WilyWalrus: In the episode "Bumbie's Mom", a walrus lady complains when Skippy starts crying in the theater, and she's very rude about it. However, [[GoodIsNotNice Slappy]] quickly shuts her up.
* TheWitchHunter: On one "Rita and Runt" segment set in Colonial Salem, Massachusetts, a witch hunter is after Rita, claiming she's a witch's {{familiar}}.
* WormInAnApple: In the episode "Guardin' the Garden", after much trouble with Slappy, the serpent in the GardenOfEden finally gets its tail on an apple to feed to Eve. However, she declines when she spots a worm sticking out of it. The serpent only barely realizes in time that the worm is actually a lit fuse and that the apple is a bomb.
* {{Wormsign}}: In "Draculee, Draculaa", the Warner siblings leave a trail as they reach Transylvania during a failed attempt to go to Pennsylvania and Yakko explains and he and his siblings know they aren't [[WesternAnimation/BugsBunny bunnies]] but it's a Warner Bros tradition. In the end, they try to go to Pennsylvania that way again but end up in Tasmania.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: In "The Big Candy Store", Flaxseed manages to grab Wakko and Dot by their scruffs and hoists them up to his eye level. Unfortunately for him, the nun from earlier shows up with her convent as backup in a second attempt to get donations from the candy store, and thinks he was abusing them. Wakko and Dot happily roll with the assumption by fake-crying to get Flaxseed to let them go.
* WraparoundBackground: Seen in the WesternAnimation/YogiBear parody of "Back in Style".
* WrongParachuteGag: In a BootCampEpisode, while plummeting towards the ground with their {{Drill Sergeant| Nasty}}, the Warners tell him that they took the liberty of washing the sheets he stores in his backpack. He pulls the cord and a duck headed flotation device comes out.
* WunzaPlot: "Boo Wonder": One's a human, the other's a chicken. Together, they fight crime!
* XylophoneGag: Subverted and lampshaded by Slappy [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JRUQMS1suk here]].
** "Old gag. New twist."
* YankTheDogsChain: "Whoopi-ti-yi-yo, oh, ghost of Magellan, the East Indies islands were ''right over there!''"
** Chicken Boo. Just when you think he's about to succeed, his disguise comes undone at the worst possible moment.
* YetAnotherChristmasCarol: Starring Mr. Plotz in the Scrooge role, Ralph the Guard as Bob Cratchit with his son Ralph Jr. in the Tiny Tim role, Slappy as Jacob Marley and the Warner siblings as the three ghosts. The main difference from the original ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' is that rather than having the Tiny Tim character die, Ralph Jr. vows revenge on Plotz for firing his dad and in the hypothetical future [[spoiler:grows up to take over the Warner Bros. studio, with Plotz working as the security guard. Ralph Jr. fires Plotz in a similarly callous manner to the way Plotz fired his dad]].
* YodelLand: "Schnitzelbank".
* YouAllMeetInACell: Rita and Runt first meet in the pound.
* YouAreWorthHell: "Meatballs or Consequences."
* YouHaveToBelieveMe: Every Chicken Boo short has one character who points out the PaperThinDisguise and is scorned.
* YouRemindMeOfX: Pretty much Slappy's {{Catchphrase}}.
* YouSayTomato: Mr. Director discusses this trope.
-->Take the word 'animal'. Transpose the letters 'n' and 'm' and you get 'aminal'. That, in a nutshell, is comedy.
** [[DontExplainTheJoke An aminal is a kind of chemical compound.]]
* YoureCuteWhenYoureAngry: Yakko says this to Dot after he and Wakko piss her off during "I'm Cute". Considering how seriously she takes her cuteness, it works.
* YouSexyBeast: In the Minerva Mink short "Moon Over Minerva". A geeky wolf, named Wilford B. Wolf, would turn into a hunky Fabio-like wolf when exposed to the full moon. Minerva won't give his geeky self the time of day, but she goes crazy for his moonlit self. Needless to say the short is pretty heavy on the {{Fanservice}} for both the male and female audiences.
[[/folder]]

* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: Although the series has an EnsembleCast, it's rare that you see all the characters interact with each other, since the focus was on individual segments/characters or groups of characters most of the time. There have only been a select handful of episodes that feature the entire cast in the same room together (such as The Monkey Song, Gunga Dot, Dot - The Macadamia Nut, etc).
** Averted with Animaniacs Stew

* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: Given how it's a show with a large cast of characters, it's not surprising how not all of the characters interact with each other. Most segments are self-contained, and the ones that do feature all of the characters together only show them interacting with characters that are in their respective segment.
** Averted with Animaniacs Stew.

-->''We're Animaniacs\\

Meet Pinky and the Brain who want to rule the universe\\

The writers flipped, we have no script, why bother to rehearse\
** Another variation of the theme song includes Ralph, Dr. Scratchansniff, and Hello Nurse while leaving out Pinky and the Brain, who had their own series by that point.

* 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, who had their own series by that point.

* SexyWalk: Hello Nurse does this a lot: Minerva Mink, almost constantly.

* AnimationBump: The animation quality got better and better as the series went on.

The animation was done by 8 studios: Wang from Taiwan (35 half-hours), Akom from South-Korea (24,5 half-hours), TMS from Japan (22 half-hours), StarToons from Chicago (10,5 half-hours), Freelance from New-Zeeland (4,5 half-hours), Koko from South-Korea (2 half-hours), Philippines (1 segment) and Varga from Hungary (1 segment).

On January 4, 2018, Creator/{{Hulu}} picked up the streaming rights for this show, ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'', and ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' while ordering two new seasons of ''Animaniacs'' direct to series. The [[WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020 revival]] premiered on November 20, 2020, with the Warner Siblings and the fan favorite Pinky and the Brain returning from the original series.

** "Yes Always" is based on a recording of Creator/OrsonWelles trying to do a commercial, and criticising the director trying to give him feedback. It's taken almost verbatim, except for the profanity in the original recording.

** "Dot's Quiet Time" sees the titular character traveling all over the world in an effort to find a silent, peaceful spot to do some reading. She finally finds one at the top Mount Everest, sits down, turns a few pages... then realizes that it's ''too'' quiet. Dot promptly pulls out a boombox and starts [[DiegeticSoundtrackUsage blasting the theme song]].

** "Dot's Quiet Time" sees the titular character traveling all over the world in an effort to find a silent, peaceful spot to do some reading. When she finally does find one, she sits down and turns a few pages...then realizes that it's ''too'' quiet. Dot promptly pulls out a boombox and starts [[DiegeticSoundtrackUsage blasting the theme song]].

-->--'''Newsreel of the Stars''' opening cutaway, [[https://youtu.be/2bpozVvY574?t=60 extended version]]