Airdate: September 24, 1993
Opening Line: "Here's The Show's Name-y"- Dot
King Yakko is the tenth episode of Animaniacs, a full-length musical episode detailing Yakko, Wakko, and Dot's exploits as Yakko becomes the king of Anvilania.
- Anvil on Head: Seeing as the Warners are now in charge of a country that produces them, this one's a given. This episode even provides the page image.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Played for laughs—Yakko, being a young boy, is primarily concerned with flirting with Prime Minister Nurse, getting a less boring national anthem, and using his kingly power to play games and make people make funny faces. He only gets serious when Dictator Umlaut declares war.
- Umlaut also takes note of it, thinking a child being in charge of Anvilania will make taking it over easier.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Dictator Umlaut should really have thought through his wish to have Anvilania's anvils a bit more carefully...
- Black-and-White Morality: Unlike the film it's based on, the episode has the Warners as pure heroes and leaders, with Yakko genuinely wanting to do "the best that I can do" as king and barely abusing his power while Umlaut is an evil dictator who covets Anvilania's anvils and goes to take over the second he assumes weakness. While the siblings mess with their subjects a little, they're nowhere near as bad as they can get even in other episodes.
- A Day in the Limelight: Hello Nurse gets a pretty substantial role in this episode, even if it is as the Margaret Dumont-esque comedic foil to Yakko's quips.
- Don't Call Me "Sir": Yakko dislikes being called "Your Highness."
- Double Entendre: The episode is full of them, especially between Yakko and Prime Minster Nurse.P.M. Nurse: Sire?Yakko: Wait til we're alone!
- Eat the Camera: Parodied (of course) at the end of the first act. Umlaut lets out an Evil Laugh and the camera zooms into his mouth. Once it goes black, we hear him saying in a muffled voice "Get that camera out of my mouth!"
- Evil Gloating: Lampshaded by Yakko, saying it's in Dictator Umlaut's contract.
- Exact Words: Dictator Umlat says he wants Anvilania's anvils. The Warners oblige him with many Anvilanian anvils... on his head.
- Go, Ye Heroes, Go and Die: Yakko addresses his army with "I'm not going to lie to you. Some of you might not come back from this battle. And the rest of you? Definitely won't." Naturally, as he goes on about potential horrible death, the army abandons him.Dot: Maybe you should have lied just a little.
- I'm Going to Disney World!: Yakko starts to say this at one point, but gets interrupted.
- Impossibly Tacky Clothes: The intial uniform design Dot comes up with for the Anvilanian army.
- Dictator Umlaut's outfit for the ball, a garish purple, red and gold number that makes the Warners assume he's a hired clown.
- Innocently Insensitive: As innocent as the Warners get, anyway, but initially they think Dictator Umlaut's name is "Dick Tater" due to how the announcer over-emphasized both syllables of his title.
- Mistaken for Clown: Dictator Umlaut storms into Yakko's kingdom in an extravagant outfit with a Regal Ruff and a red cape. The Warners assume he's their court jester and beg him to do tricks, frustrating him.
- Mistaken Identity: The Warners initially assume Umlaut is a clown hired for their party.
- Musical Episode: Several songs and even short moments of singing are in the episode, particularly "Let the Anvils Ring."
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Played for Laughs. After stopping Umlaut from destroying Anvilania, the Warners end up doing so themselves after ringing a giant anvil.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed:
- Perry Coma is a parody of crooner Perry Como.
- The Anvilanian jester is based on Bob Hope.
- No-Respect Guy: Dictator Umlaut, as befitting an opponent of the Warner siblings. Outside of a formal ball announcement and minor interactions with his own army, no one treats him with any respect and the Warners bulldoze him in every conversation and confrontation.
- Parlor Games: Yakko suggests playing Musical Chairs with Umlaut.(To the Tune of... "Pop Goes the Weasel") You never know when we're gonna stop
We might go on forever
You could get sick waiting for us
Or we will stop—- When it ends in a tie, they switch to "Pin the Tail on Mr. Tater".
- In the war room, Yakko randomly plays Simon Says.
- Punny Name: Dunlikus, aka "Dun [doesn't] Like Us"
- Regal Ruff: Dictator Umlaut wears an extravagant military outfit with a ruff when he comes to speak with Yakko. This causes him to be Mistaken for Clown by the Warner siblings.
- Repeat After Me: During his address to the people, Yakko does various goofy faces and noises, which his citizens gladly repeat.
- Rimshot: Yakko says, "I stand before you, because if I stood behind you, I couldn't see you", followed by a rimshot from Wakko, but none of the citizens react to this bad joke.
- Rousing Speech: Horribly subverted when Yakko's speech to the army is all about how they'll likely die in agony, leaving him, Wakko, and Dot as the only people willing to fight.
- Running Gag: Dot showing someone her "new fall line" of polka-dot dresses, to which they question "Polka-dot?" which she takes as a reason to polka.
- Perry Coma, national treasure of Anvilania, singing the boring national anthem and putting people to sleep. The Warners end up weaponizing his third appearance.
- Umlaut's unique helmet has earflaps that prevent him from hearing. While this does save him from Perry Coma, Yakko gets sick of the gag and Umlaut throws the helmet away after the third time.
- The royal fool getting crushed by an anvil. The third time it happens, Umlaut is now the fool.
- Ruritania: Anivilania, a tiny nation known for its only major export, anvils. It's anvil-shaped and shares a border with another example, Dunlikus.
- Shout-Out: Beauty and the Beast are seen dancing by during one of the "Polka-dot?" gags.
- In a repeat of a joke from the Tiny Toons Christmas Special, Dot suggests for the new uniforms that their underwear should be worn outside their pants.
Dot: Hey, it worked for Madonna. - Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: Wakko rhymes "friend" with "hand" which only sort of works due to his accent rendering the latter as "hend". His siblings are not impressed.
- Take That!: "Perry Coma"'s singing is so dull it puts people to sleep. Also, the Jester can't tell the punchline without reading the next cue card.
- Tangled Family Tree: Yakko's explanation of why he's taking the throne is complicated with several double or triple-backs, but the final stanza says his grandfather's cousin "was the king's daughter's sibling" or a sibling to the princess, indicating Yakko and his siblings are the first cousins twice removed of the last royals, or thereabouts. On the other hand, given he claims the cousin in question is his grandfather's only cousin which makes no sense if they have a sibling, Yakko might just be making it up as he goes.
- This Means War!: Umlaut says this, unfortunately, his arms were raised up, so Yakko quips, "I thought that meant 'touchdown.'" Also declared by the Warners and people of Anvilania when Umlaut declares he'll invade, which the Warners also re-purpose as "This means WAR...ners!"
- To the Tune of...:
- "Let the Anvils Ring" has a section set to "Old MacDonald" (with the anvils playing "E-I-E-I-O").
- Wakko and Dot suggest a new national anthem set to "My Old Kentucky Home".
- Trojan Horse: A Trojan Anvil in this case, which contains the singer of the boring Anvilanian national anthem to put the opposing army to sleep.
- Underestimating Badassery: Umlaut really underestimates the Warners...especially since they now have access to a lot of anvils.
- War Is Hell: Referenced by Yakko, who declares that war is not only "pointless" but "dangerous and stupid."
- Whole-Plot Reference: to Duck Soup with some minor changes:
- Yakko is the rightful heir to the throne as opposed to being appointed by a rich person for a loan. Portraits of the royals in a hall leave no doubt they are indeed related.
- Yakko and his siblings never take any insult to anything Dictator Umlaut says to them and Umlaut is the one to declare war after Yakko refuses to unilaterally surrender his nation at the ball.
- There are no spies involved, to keep the focus on the Warners.
Closing Tower Gag: "Goooooooodbye, Nurse!"- Yakko, Wakko, and Dot
