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Recap / The Looney Tunes Show S 1 E 14 Newspaper Thief

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The fourteenth episode of the first season of The Looney Tunes Show.

Bugs throws a dinner party and invites his neighbors so Daffy can apologize to them for all the destruction he caused in the neighborhood. This won't be easy, as when Daffy finds out his newspaper has gone missing, he suspects that one of his neighbors is a thief.

This episode features the "Tasmanian Meltdown" Merrie Melodies music video and the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote short, "Gone in 60 Parsecs".


This episode provides examples of:

  • Aside Comment: During his music video, Taz takes cookies from a girl scout without paying.
    Taz: Don't judge me.
  • Bill... Bill... Junk... Bill...: This line in the epilogue:
    Daffy: Bill, junk mail, weird charity, how many renewal notices is that stupid newspaper going to send me?
  • Brick Joke:
    • In this episode's prologue, Daffy tosses a carrot pie that Bugs makes for the dinner party, and it gets stuck to the ceiling, remaining there for most of the rest of episode. In the epilogue, the pie finally falls from the ceiling and lands on Bugs.
    • In the "Tasmanian Meltdown" Merrie Melodies music video, Taz kicks Bugs' barbecue grill into the air. Said barbecue grill lands on Taz at the end.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: When Daffy tries to apologize to his neighbors, he says that he's solly, soggy, and sormy.
  • Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: When Witch Lezah and Yosemite Sam rant to Daffy about all the bad things he's done to them, Granny interrupts, saying that she likes having Daffy as a neighbor, as her life was so boring, and tonight was the most fun she's had in years. She tells Lezah and Sam that they have to admit their street became a lot more interesting when Daffy moved in. Lezah admits that the last Columbus Day was the most memorable one she ever had, and Sam asks Daffy if the rats he released symbolized the colonization of the new world by comparing the Europeans' arrival to an infestation of vermin.
  • Dramatic Drop:
    • Daffy does this with his coffee mug when he discovers his newspaper is missing, believing that one of his neighbors stole it. He does this again with Bugs' coffee mug when he explains the situation to Bugs.
    • Bugs does this with his coffee mug in the epilogue when he finds out that nobody stole Daffy's newspaper and that Daffy simply didn't renew his subscription.
  • Evil Laugh: Daffy does a prolonged, zany one when welcoming the guests to the dinner party.
  • Extreme Omnivore: In the "Tasmanian Meltdown" Merrie Melodies music video, Taz swallows his doghouse whole.
  • Felony Misdemeanor: Daffy spents the whole episode accusing his neighbors of stealing his newspaper and trying to pin down the criminal.
  • Flying Broomstick: Defied; when Bugs comes to Witch Lezah's house to invite her to his dinner party, he sees her holding a broom. He asks her if she's about to go somewhere. Lezah tells him that she drives a mini-van and that she only uses her broom to clean her house.
  • Freudian Excuse: Bugs seriously considers this to be the case for Daffy after Daffy explains to him that he uses his newspapers to build his parade float.
    Bugs: What parade are you in?
    Daffy: I'm not in a parade. I am the parade.
    Bugs: What did your parents do to you?
  • Glad I Thought of It: Daffy says this word-for-word when Porky suggests that he use Bugs' dinner party as a chance to find out who stole his newspaper.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Parodied in the epilogue when the carrot pie that got stuck to the ceiling in the prologue finally comes unstuck and falls on Bugs' head:
    Daffy: Ironic. Done in by his own creation. (As if on cue, Daffys' parade float crashes through the wall and runs him over.)
  • Hypocritical Humor: When Daffy accuses him of stealing his newspaper, Sam takes offense. He insists he's not a thief by listing the various awful things that he actually is (including a shady businessman and a bad friend). He also ends up contradicting himself by saying he does, in fact, steal stuff, only to insist he is no thief.
  • I Can't Hear You: When Daffy accuses Granny of stealing his newspaper, she asks him what a shoe shaper is.
  • I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: Discussed; when Daffy asks Bugs why he (Bugs) cares if their neighbors hate him (Daffy), Bugs tells Daffy that it's because he (Bugs) owns the house they live in, meaning he (Bugs) is responsible for him (Daffy), and someday one of the neighbors will file a lawsuit against him (Bugs) for something he (Daffy) did.
  • Insistent Terminology: Bugs is making carrot pie. Lezah questions if he meant "cake" instead.
  • Long List: Yosemite Sam gives Daffy this line when Daffy accuses him of stealing his newspaper:
    Sam: Yosemite Sam's a lot of things; a liar, a cheat, a false witness, a sore loser, a bad friend, a shady businessman, a blamer, a flimflammer, a hornswaggler, I'm cheap, and I steals things, but I am no thief!
  • Mistaken for Thief: In this episode, Daffy thinks one of his neighbors stole his newspaper. He really just forgot to renew his subscription.
  • Object Ceiling Cling: In the prologue, Daffy accidentally flings a carrot pie onto the ceiling, where it sticks for the rest of the episode. It finally comes down in the epilogue.
  • Pie in the Face: Bugs does this to Daffy with his carrot pie after Daffy continues to accuse his neighbors of newspaper theft after all is forgiven.
  • Potty Emergency: Granny has one when Daffy hosts a mystery game that will reveal who the newspaper thief is. As Daffy sets up the game, she asks him where the bathroom is, and he tells her to hold it. This episode's end tag has Granny, still looking for the bathroom, asking if she found it. Daffy tells her "No! Go home!"
  • Rule of Three: Bugs shows Daffy three flashbacks depicting him (Daffy) ruining holidays. First, he sets off a bunch of fireworks on the Fourth of July, setting Granny and Yosemite Sam's houses on fire. Then, he fires Easter eggs out of a cannon on Easter, breaking Witch Lezah's windows and knocking over a paper boy. Finally, he sets a swarm of rats free on Colombus Day.
  • Serious Business: Daffy thinks that getting his newspaper is more important than anything (he doesn't read it, he makes his parade float with it) and thinks that if it doesn't arrive one day that means someone stole it, which he deems justifiable for a neighborhood intervention.
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: At the end of the episode, it is revealed that nobody stole Daffy's newspaper; he simply forgot to renew his subscription.
  • Stating the Simple Solution: When Daffy explains his dilemma to Porky, Porky asks him why he can't just get another newspaper. Daffy says that it's the principle of the matter. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Daffy forgot to renew his subscription.
  • Suddenly Speaking: Taz has his first speaking role in this show in the "Tasmanian Meltdown" Merrie Melodies music video.
  • Tractor Beam: In the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote short, "Gone in 60 Parsecs", Wile E. finds a flying saucer and uses its tractor beam to catch Road Runner. However, Road Runner still manages to pull Wile E. along while in the tractor beam's hold, causing Wile E. to get tossed about.
  • Tree Buchet: At the beginning of the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote short, "Gone in 60 Parsecs", Wile E. sets this kind of trap for Road Runner using a cactus. Predictably, Wile E.'s the one who gets flung about.

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