The titular character, a retired superhero now making a living as an attorney. Harvey has a tendency to be an idiot, yet often succeeds in winning his cases. Takes 37 cases over the course of the series, with varying degrees of success.
He returns to being a superhero in the final episode to defeat Nitron, but as soon as he's defeated, Harvey is killed by Phil driving a bus over him.
- Adaptation Name Change: In the original show, his real name is Raymond "Ray" Randall. Here, Birdman is his surname and Harvey is his first name. Although in "Deadomutt, Part 2", his police mugshot identifies him as "Harvey R. R. Birdman".
- Amoral Attorney: A very banal example. While a former superhero, he has almost no scruples, and will take on any case with the intent to win.
- Back from the Dead: "Attorney General" reveals that he was revived after Phil ran him over in the series finale.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: Was prison-married to Magilla Gorilla, and had sex with Boo-Boo Bear after getting him acquited in "Death by Chocolate", with Boo-Boo implying in subsequent appearances that he and Harvey are still hooking up to some extent.
- Character Catchphrase: "I'll take the case!"
- Closest Thing We Got: As a lawyer who will take pretty much any case, even clients of his whose cases he lost (ex. Ernie Devlin, Secret Squirrel, etc.) will come back to him because other attorneys refuse to entertain their offers.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Downplayed. He's actually pretty competent most of the time and is probably one of the less eccentric characters of the cast.
- Failed a Spot Check: In the ending of "Attorney General", he fails to notice that his wife was shot in the head in her chair. And in "Birdgirl of Guantanamole", he apparently hasn't seen the incredibly obvious surveillance camera X installed on his wall for a couple of years.
- Major Injury Underreaction: When Reducto shrinks him during one of their court battles, Harvey casually walks up to him (while still tiny) and blasts him in the groin until he reverses the process, all without stopping his speech for the defense.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Compared to everyone else, he's probably one of the only sane men around, although that isn't to say he's completely exempt from being a bit eccentric himself.
Harvey's secretary/pet/animal companion, a purple eagle who's often the
Only Sane Man in the office. Usually serves as a minor character in episodes, but in a couple cases served as a
Deus ex Machina and even got a couple
A Day In The Lime Light episodes, namely one in which he leaves Harvey to work for Vulturo, and another where he spontaneously begins to speak.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Harvey's animal sidekick from his superhero days.
- Your Tomcat Is Pregnant: In "The Devlin Made Me Do It", Avenger apparently lays an egg, making Harvey think he's actually female. Turns out the egg actually belonged to Peter Potamus, who hid it under the bird due to a recent outbreak of lunch thefts.
Voiced by: Thomas Allen
Harvey's clerk, a
Camp Straight ladder climbing sociopath who openly mocks (and at times plots against) Harvey. Often seen hitting on women and going to strip clubs. Later started coming into his superpowers, but despite that, looks out for himself first and foremost. Occasionally displays
Hidden Depths, such as knowing how to speak Japanese or running a Lamaze class.
- Adaptation Name Change: His name was originally Birdboy.
- Camp Straight: He's very effeminate yet only shows interest in women.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Is only ever halfway paying attention, usually dialed into the episode's B-plot, either for a one-off gag or to advance the plot while Harvey is otherwise occupied.
- Murder by Mistake: in "Guitar Control" He accidentally kills Baba Looey with a guitar while trying to see how it worked.
Co-founder of Sebben and Sebben, Phil is Harvey's
Bad Boss and Judy's father (and, much to her disgust, Birdgirl's love interest).
Cloudcuckoolander extraordinaire, he often punctuates his sentences with 'Ha ha!'. A
Running Gag involves his
Eyepatch of Power and how it affects his eyesight. Became the show's
Breakout Character. Later written out of the show due to
Stephen Colbert's commitment to
The Colbert Report by literally being
hit by a bus only to come back for the finale and kill Harvey.
Phil's daughter, Judy is a huge fan of Harvey, to the point of making a costume for her to become Birdgirl to be Harvey's sidekick. Unfortunately, her alter ego causes more trouble that she's worth, especially with Phil unknowingly hitting on her. Later takes over as head of Sebben and Sebben after Phil was
Put on a Bus in
Birdgirl.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Sometimes provides evidence that helps the opposition instead.
- Secret Identity: Well, she thinks her identity is a secret. In truth, it's obvious to everyone but Phil, who is extremely attracted to Birdgirl and is horrified to discover the truth.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: She thinks she's in a straightforward superhero show.
Voiced by:
Joe Alaskey (Season 1), Chris Edgerly (Season 2 onward)
An overweight hippo, Peter Potamus has a reputation for being a lazy womanizer. However, he's often said to be one of the best attorneys Sebben and Sebben has. Later has a few episodes focusing on him, in which he defends Harvey in a lawsuit, becomes an
Hulk Expy, and tries to sue Judy.
- Big Bad: He masterminded the events of Harvey Birdman: Attorney General.
- Boring, but Practical: He prefers to settle cases outside of court. While this doesn't guarantee his clients from consequence as them being declared "not guilty" would, it results in quicker resolutions and he gets paid all the same.
- Character Catchphrase: "Did ya get that thing I sent ya?" The thing is never revealed, and he often asks at inopportune or irrelevant times.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's annoying, selfish and impulsive, but he will occasionally Pet the Dog, albeit in the most obnoxious manner possible.
- Kavorka Man: Despite being an obese purple hippo with poor hygiene and boorish manners, he is frequently found in compromising positions with attractive women around the office.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: He's obsessed with women, to the point of it being his entire character, but, barring one instance of being written up, no one seems to mind his behavior, and women appear quite charmed.
- Running Gag: He claims he can't do what regular people can do because he has hippo hands. This is not true. (It should be noted he had normal fingered hands in the first couple of seasons, then he suddenly gained stumps like a real hippo.)
The Bear
Voiced by: Matt Peccini
A
Running Gag through the show, The Bear doesn't speak at all but is often seen in the background to create a
Funny Background Event. Might have stolen Phil's furniture (or that could just be Phil being crazy).
- Beary Friendly: He's shown to be a nice enough bear.
- Beary Funny: He provides a lot of visual gags.
- Living Prop: He doesn't have an important role in any episodes, nor do most characters ever acknowledge his existence.
- What, Exactly, Is His Job?: His role in the law firm is never explained; his long-deleted character bio on the Adult Swim website even claimed he didn't have his own office.
Initially hired as Sebben and Sebben's new partner, Falcone is later seen constantly getting demoted. He swears revenge on Harvey, first for destroying his robot dog companion, then for taking what Falcone believes to be his rightful position.
Voiced by: Debi Mae West
Introduced as a 'love interest' for Harvey, she seems more interested in all the men who
aren't Harvey. Later enters a marriage with him, Phil, Peanut, the Bear, and her friends Vince and Terry. Still doesn't let that (or pregnancy) stop her from hitting on other men or going on a date with Mentok though.
The lawyer Harvey often comes up against most, Reducto is a paranoid, short green man with an obsession for the miniature. Brandishes a shrink gun which he uses to shrink people. Later
Killed Off for Real for the same reason Phil was written out, but has an
Unexplained Recovery for Attorney General.
- Character Catchphrase: "Back off!"
- Evil Mentor: More antagonistic than evil after he retired from being a supervillain, he still qualifies as this to an extent as Harvey only managed to become a lawyer due to Reducto's night school courses.
- Hypocritical Humor: He's a strong advocate for "guitar control", viewing their very ownership by private citizens as a risk to public safety when he has no compunctions when it comes to using his shrink ray on anyone and anything he feels like.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: in one episode Peanut startles Reducto awake, prompting the half-asleep (and always paranoid) Reducto to panic at the possibility of a "race war" having begun. This didn't stop him from falling for Black Vulcan's ex-girlfriend, mostly thanks to her booty.
Another lawyer Harvey goes up against often, Freezoid is
An Ice Person whose very touch causes ice to form. Tends to be Harvey's
friendliest enemy, but also can lose his temper, yelling 'I'll freeze your ass!'. Later revealed to be partner in his own firm, Freezoid, Zarog, and Skon.
Voiced by: Neil Ross
The first attorney Harvey goes against, Vulturo has a tendency to devolve into incomprehensible gibberish. Once hired Avenger away from Harvey.
Another attorney Harvey goes up against often, Spyro is an aspiring Thespian who often gives his cases a theatrical flair. Had one episode focused on him (well, his body) when Mentok accidentally forgot which body he swapped Spyro's mind with.
The first judge seen on the show, Mightor speaks with a Southern accent and often coughs out unusual things. Tends to not remember anyone's names, and is always on hand to point out double entendres. He's eventually
Killed Off for Real by
The Mafia, apparently because he refused to allow Fred Flintstone to walk. Afterwards, his position as judge is filled by Mentok.
The judge most often presiding over Harvey's cases, Mentok bills himself as a 'mindtaker', which often presents itself as mind reading. A prankster, at least a few episodes are started by his shenanigans. Used to work as a genie and as a mufti. Constantly tries to get the baliff to crack a smile.
- Berserk Button: His courtroom is "mind taking" country and all would do well to remember that. Shado the Brain-Thief sets him off by using his powers to influence the jury then throws fuel on the fire by trying it on Mentok, who responds by helping Birdman win a case Shado was leading against him.
- The Gadfly: Since he already knows the outcome of every case and what decisions everyone will make (usually), he's bored silly by his duties as a judge, which is why he's constantly messing with people using his powers.
- Hanging Judge: Often acts as this, for his own amusement.
- Pstandard Psychic Pstance: Usually does this when taking people's minds.
- Reality Warper: Outside of simple mindtaking, his psychic powers give him free reign to mess with the fabric of the universe.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Occasionally, when he isn't screwing around.
- The Stoner: If the "worrisome amounts of THC" present in the urine sample he gave Avenger are any indication.
- Weaksauce Weakness: The only thing his powers cannot overcome? Tinfoil hats.
Harvey's self-proclaimed archnemesis, an overweight
Manchild still living with his mother and obsessed with getting Harvey's crest, a task given to him by F.E.A.R. years ago. Harvey regards him as a
Loony Fan and tries to stay away from him.
- Affably Evil: He's pretty friendly and laid-back with anyone who isn't Birdman, and even then he's tried to schedule lunches with him in-between trying to kill him.
- The Bad Guy Wins: He successfully gets Harvey's crest in "X Gets the Crest" when he wins it in a game of gin. Harvey tricks him into giving it back at the end of the episode.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: After finally getting Harvey's crest and learning that F.E.A.R. moved to another location and didn't tell him their new address during the intervening thirty years, X dons it himself and becomes a superhero. However, Harvey tricks him into giving it back, and X immediately returns to form, vowing to steal the crest once again.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: X is a pathetic, overweight stalker who constantly fails at his schemes to steal Birdman's crest due to his own incompetence.
- Large Ham: He's prone to randomly shouting at the top of his lungs, rolling his rs, and even bursting out into song.
- Motive Decay: In the original Birdman cartoon, X was tasked to eliminate Birdman and swore to bring back the crest as proof. Now he's just focused getting the crest, and doesn't particularly care about killing Birdman.
- Nice Guy: Outside of his obsession with getting Birdman's crest, he's pretty polite and amiable.
- Stalker with a Crush: His fixation on Harvey seems to go much deeper than simply wanting to claim the crest.
- Took a Level in Badass: Inverted. In his first appearance, a flashback shows he was quite fit, imposing, and content to kill. Thirty years later, he's reduced to an overweight, comical stalker that can barely focus on his objective.
- Took a Level in Dumbass: A flashback in his first appearance shows he used to be imposing and professional. By the time of the show, X is an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain who's too much of an inept Cloudcuckoolander to ever cause any real harm.
- Trrrilling Rrrs: He's prone to doing this, especially whenever he starts talking about Harvey's crest.
