"Phineas J. Whoopee, you're the greatest!"
Total Television created this Saturday-Morning Cartoon for CBS in 1963 as a response to the famous "vast wasteland" speech given two years earlier by Newton Minow, who was then head of the FCC.
Tennessee Tuxedo, a penguin, and his walrus friend, Chumley, sought to improve their lives in the zoo. Despite gaining helpful information from their friend Phineas J. Whoopee, Tennessee and Chumley still ran afoul of zookeeper Stanley Livingston.
Supporting segments included The Hunter and Tooter Turtle, both repeated from King Leonardo and His Short Subjects, as well as The World of Commander McBragg. The series' voice talent included Don Adams as Tennessee Tuxedo, Bradley Bolke as Chumley and Larry Storch as Mr. Whoopee.
When CBS acquired the broadcast rights to Underdog in 1966, Tennessee moved to ABC, where it aired Sunday afternoons. In syndication, Tennessee Tuxedo ran on its own as a series and as a component of Underdog.
Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales provides examples of:
- The Ace/Parody Sue: Commander McBraggHe can do anything, in his world he's a king!
Or so says the brag of McBragg! - Achievements in Ignorance: Anytime an episode ended with Tennessee doing something right, he did so completely by accident. He's also foiled a few crimes this way, only to get into trouble with Stanley for comitting more crimes in the process.
- Acid Reflux Nightmare: The Halloween Episode "Goblins Will Get You" has Tennessee eating all but two pieces of his Trick-Or-Treat candy before they even make it home and having a dream where a witch forces him and Chumley to get maple syrup from enchanted trees for her.
- Afraid of Doctors: Simply saying the word "dentist" to Chumley will make him leap on the chandelier and refuse to come down. An episode where he has a toothache results in this refusal, causing Tennessee to try some rather bizarre ways to extract the tooth before Mr. Whoopee convinces Chumley to see a dentist.
- All Just a Dream:
- Tennessee's American Civil War dream in "Tell-Tale Telegraph".
- And his pirate adventure in "Admiral Tuxedo".
- Also, flying to the moon in "By the Plight of the Moon".
- The world taken over by robots in "Robot Revenge".
- Animated Series: All of the different shorts are comprised of animated cartoons.
- Be Yourself: The message of the Tooter Turtle cartoons. Tooter never learned, however.
- The Big Board: Mr. Whoopee's 3DBB, which he drags out to provide visual enhancements to his lectures.
- Blind Without 'Em: Zig-zagged in an episode which had Tennessee competing in a bowling match against Jerboa Jump, who tricks Tennessee into thinking he needs glasses. Jerboa gives him a pair of glasses with bottle caps in place of the lenses, rendering him unable to see. Mr. Whoopee then explains how the human eye functions.
- Bold Explorer: Commander McBragg of The World of Commander McBragg, was a now-retired bold explorer who had visited some of the most remote and dangerous parts of the world—at least to hear him tell it.
- Bragging Theme Tune: Zigzagged with the introductory theme for The World of Commander McBragg; though much of the song boasts about the feats of McBragg, it also subtly implies that they may not be true, most prominently in the closing line, "Or so says the brag of McBragg!"
- Butt-Monkey: Stanley Livingston, although he does get the better of Tennessee and Chumley sometimes (even getting them thrown into jail on a couple occasions).
- Captive Audience: Whenever Commander McBragg launches into one of his tales in the Gentleman's Club, his hapless victim starts to object but is pushed back into his chair and is forced to listen to the ridiculous story.
- Catchphrase: "Tennessee Tuxedo will not fail!"; "Quite!" (McBragg).
- Colonel Badass: If any of Commander McBragg's tales are true (which is highly debatable), he would definitely qualify.
- Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: This was the reason Tennessee and Chumley were able to win a boat race in one episode against Jerboa Jump, who was no better than the Trope Namer.
- Didn't Think This Through: Tennessee's Fatal Flaw. While he is by no means stupid, he tends to think very highly of his plans without a second thought. This is also one of the reasons why Tennessee's plans to be rich and famous don't come close to succeeding most of the time.
- Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: Commander McBragg smokes one in his Smoky Gentlemen's Club, and in many of his exploits as a Gentleman Adventurer.
- The Ditz: This was Chumley's role in the story; being silly and gullible enough to fall in line with Tennessee's latest crazy scheme.
- Don't Try This at Home: There are a couple of occasions where Mr. Whoopee will step in and prevent Tennessee and Chumley from continuing with their scheme if he feels that what they're doing is too dangerous.
- Edutainment Show: With the character of Mr. Whoopee serving as a device to teach science lessons to the children watching, this show was an early example of the genre.
- Epic Fail: Shows up at least Once an Episode to foil Tennessee Tuxedo's latest scheme or plan.
- Exploding Closet: Mr. Whoopee's 3D chalkboard is kept there.
- Expy: Commander McBragg displays a great deal of similarity to P.G. Wodehouse's Mr. Mulliner and The Eldest Member. Physically and vocally, he strongly resembles the actor C. Aubrey Smith.
- Fat and Skinny: Chumley and Tennessee form this classic duo, with Chumley the walrus being the dopey fat guy and Tennessee the penguin being the not-so-dopey skinny guy.
- Furry Reminder: Even though Tennessee and Chumley display a lot of human characteristics, they are still animals. This is one of the many reasons for Tennessee and Stanley Livingston's love-hate relationship.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: No matter how many times Tennessee and Chumley drive Stanley up the wall with their antics, he can't seem to keep an eye on them long enough to prevent them from escaping the zoo again and again. (He does manage to prevent it in a couple episodes.)
- Gentleman Adventurer: Commander McBragg. If his tales are to be believed (and that's a big if), he spent his career as a military officer and explorer.
- Get-Rich-Quick Scheme: Most of Tennessee's ill-fated plans start out as this.
- Great White Hunter: One of Commander McBragg's many occupations.
- Herr Doctor: Zo vhat elze kann exshplain a Lizard mit a German aksent?
- Incredibly Lame Pun: At the end of every installment of The World of Commander McBragg, the person listening his story would sum up his story with one of these, with McBragg responding, "Quite!"
- Let Me Get This Straight...: So you say that Tennessee will often restate exactly what someone has just said to him.
- Magic Hat: Mr. Whoopee's animated chalkboard, which also served as The Big Board.
- Misplaced Wildlife: Deliberately averted; Chumley the walrus is at the South Pole because he accidentally traveled there. Not, of course, that Stanley Livingston realizes it when he comes to capture him for the zoo.
- The Münchausen: Commander McBragg. Quite.
- Old Windbag: Zigzagged with Commander McBragg. At first, McBragg's guest attempts to avoid another long, boring tale, but eventually gets sucked into it... and utters the inevitable Incredibly Lame Pun at the end.
- Rain Dance: Chumley attempts one (indoors!) in the episode The Rainmakers, and it does nothing. This is, of course, the lead-in to Professor Whoopee's explanation of what really makes rain.
- Real After All: Whilst "The World of Commander McBragg" shorts generally leave the viewer under the impression that McBragg is at least exaggerating, if not making it all up, there is one exception. In the episode The Giant Bird, McBragg claims to have been adopted by an enormous female bird. At the short's end, he offers his companion a lift; when said companion politely refuses and turns away, he is briefly covered by the shadow of a huge bird — and when he looks back, McBragg is gone and a giant bird's feather is drifting in the wind!
- Recoil Boost: In one of "The World of Commander McBragg" shorts, McBragg uses the recoil on his high-powered rifle (which was responsible for getting him into this mess in the first place) to propel himself out of the pit he had fallen into.
- In another tale, he hefts a cannon single-handedly and similarly uses it as a rocket to propel himself out of danger, and get back to his regiment just in time for a spot of tea.
- One version of the opening theme shows him marching into battle, firing a cannon under his arm, whilst the Bragging Theme Tune sings, "With a cannon in hand, he can lick any man! Or so says the brag of McBragg!"
- Recycled Soundtrack: Some of the background music is recycled Winston Sharples music tracks from his Famous Studios cartoon scores.
- Rhyming Wizardry: As recited by Mr. Lizard the Wizard every time Tooter got himself into a jam.Drizzel, drazzel, drozzel, drome —Time for dis vun to come home.
- Right Behind Me: When Tennessee goes to complain about not getting fresh vegetables, Stanley says he has no time to talk because the Mayor's wife is coming to inspect the zoo, saying that she's a battleaxe. Stanley doesn't realize she was behind him until Tennessee bows to her.
- Running Gag: Every time Mr. Whoopee goes to his badly cluttered closet to get the 3D Blackboard to use as a visual aid, an avalanche of junk falls on him. (In some episodes, Tennessee and Chumley clearly expect this, and cover their ears before the crash.)
- Senseless Violins: Gangster Rocky Maninoff does this; often when he threatens Tennessee and Chumley, claiming if they fail he will play a tune on his "violin," followed by imitating machine gun noises or even taking his machine gun out of his violin case and firing it to prove his point!
- Sequel Episode: One of Tennessee and Chumley's scheme involved the duo trying to start their own coal mine, only to dig under Stanley Livingston's office instead. Several episodes later, that tunnel caused Stanley's office to sink to one side, leading Tennessee to try to fix the foundation.
- Shout-Out: In 1998, when the Houston Oilers moved to Nashville, Tennessee, ESPN's Chris Berman referred to the team as the Tennessee Tuxedos.
- A "blooper" on the game show Whew!: The play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" was written by Tennessee Tuxedo. (Correct response: Williams)
- The Smart Guy: Mr. Whoopee. He seems to know everything.
- Smoky Gentlemen's Club: "The World of Commander McBragg" always started with McBragg in his gentlemen's club, telling a Tall Tale to his fellow members.
- Talking Animal: Except for The World of Commander McBragg, all of the shorts featured these, including the titular stars of the series.
- Tall Tale: The World of Commander McBragg consisted of McBragg (loosely based on Baron Munchausen) telling ridiculous tall tales about himself, including how he carved the Grand Canyon, built the Great Pyramid and dug the Panama Canal. One of them is, quite literally, a "Fish Story". Or so says the brag of McBragg.
- Thermal Dissident: In the pilot episode, Tennessee, unlike other penguins at the South Pole, does not like the cold. When Stanley Livingston shows up, wanting to put Chumley in the zoo because he's a South Pole walrus and therefore unique, Tennessee insists on being taken along as well.
- Three Shorts: The format of the show when it initially aired; at least one Tennessee short, and then a combination of two shorts from any of the three secondary serials - The Hunter, Tooter Turtle, or The World of Commander McBragg.
- Throw the Dog a Bone:
- At the end of "Wreck of a Record", Stanley reluctantly lets Tennessee's folk group sing in the stage show.
- Also, Tennessee and Chumley manage to win the sailboat race in "Sail Ho!" mostly because Jerboa loves cheating so much.
- The Christmas Episode "Tree Trimmers" has Stanley congratulate Tennessee for his unauthorized Christmas tree since it managed to win over the mayor and his wife for a contest.
- Tin Can You Hear Me Now: Done in "Telephone Terrors".
- Villainy-Free Villain: Stanley Livingston. While he can be overly hard on Tennessee, he isn't really a bad guy, he's just strict on some things.
- Warm-Hearted Walrus: Chumley the Walrus is the stalwart sidekick to the motivated penguin Tennessee. Though he speaks with a Simpleton Voice, he's remarkably competent once he's told what to do, and despite being among the largest characters in the series, he's very much a Gentle Giant.
- You Dirty Rat!: Jerboa Jump, although he's technically a kangaroo rat.
