Daffy Duck (character)

This article is about the character. For other uses, see Daffy Duck.

Daffy Duck
"Who's responsible for this page?!"
Species	Duck (American Black Duck)
Gender	Male
Member of	Tune Squad Looney Builders
Affiliation	Bugs Bunny Porky Pig Elmer Fudd Marvin the Martian Tina Russo
Occupation	None
Father	Unnamed father in The Looney Tunes Show
Mother	Unnamed mother in The Looney Tunes Show
Other relative(s)	One unnamed nephew One descendent, Danger Duck, in Loonatics Unleashed
Marital status	Single
First appearance	LT: Porky's Duck Hunt (1937)
Played by	Mel Blanc (1937-1989) Jeff Bergman (1990-1993, 2011-2018) Joe Alaskey (1990-2014) Maurice LaMarche (1991) Greg Burson (1992-1997) Frank Gorshin (1996) Dee Bradley Baker (1996, 2016-2020) Billy West (1999) Jeff Bennett (2003-2004, 2006) Eric Bauza (since 2018)
Screwball Daffy in Porky's Duck Hunt
Daffy as Duck Dodgers.
File:TTA Daffy.png Tiny Toon Adventures
Space Jam
Baby Looney Tunes (season 1)
File:BLT S2 Daffy.png Baby Looney Tunes (season 2)
Duck Dodgers
File:TLTS Daffy.png The Looney Tunes Show
New Looney Tunes
File:ANL Daffy.png Space Jam: A New Legacy
File:CGI Daffy.png CGI Daffy in Space Jam: A New Legacy
File:LTC Daffy.png Looney Tunes Cartoons
Bugs Bunny Builders
Tiny Toons Looniversity

Daffy Duck is an anthropomorphic duck and a main character of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical shorts, in which he is usually depicted as a foil for either Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig or Speedy Gonzales. Created by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett, he was the first of the new "screwball" type characters that emerged in the later part of the 1930s to replace traditional everyman characters who were more popular earlier in the decade. His voice was originated by Mel Blanc.

Daffy starred in 130 shorts in the golden age of American animation, making him the third-most frequent character in the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons, behind Bugs' 167 appearances and Porky's 153 appearances. Daffy's personality and roles varied with virtually every Warner Bros. cartoon director; Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones notably made extensive use of two versions of the character, depicting him as either a wild, lunatic vigilante or a greedy, fame-seeking foil, respectively.

Daffy has a space hero persona called Duck Dodgers, and his protégé in Tiny Toon Adventures is Plucky Duck.

Character description

Daffy's personality is multifaceted and wildly varies throughout his appearances. Initially, the duck was merely depicted as a zany screwball with an unpredictable mind of his own. Overtime, as the character evolved through the late 1940s to early 50s, Daffy was recast as an intensely egotistical duck who often seeks reputation and validation.

In his "screwball" incarnation, Daffy is known for having a brash, confident, and over-the-top behavior, and is very unrestrained when it comes to having strong emotions, including fits of excitement. He often acts fast in his movement, as he can either go from unassuming to wild in a blink of eye. His common behavioral traits include the tendency to bounce and spin uncontrollably, and shouting "Woo-hoo!" repeatedly in a state of joy. Daffy — in this portrayal — tends to seek in the thrill of provoking others, such as targeting authority figures in an act of rebellion, or exploiting the weaknesses of characters such as Porky Pig. In spite of his perceived insanity, Daffy can occasionally be carefree at times, especially in moments where he doesn't feel provoked.

In the personality developed by Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones, Daffy is portrayed as a self-absorbed an explosive individual with a competitive streak. He is mostly neurotic and determined to find any sort of attention; this aspect is highly evident his jealousy with Bugs Bunny, who he views as one-sided rival. At his most extreme, Daffy is consumed by envy and greed to a fault, making him a constant target of ridicule. Much like his early loony personality, Daffy tends to act very dramatic with a shade of playfulness, but makes up with it by having a complex display of introspective emotion — ranging from insecurity to self-pride. Although not entirely selfish in his goals, Daffy tries to put on schemes in a feeble effort to become sucessful, but can do nothing but backfire himself repeatedly.

Similarly, his physical appearance also varies, but is consistently portrayed as a black-feathered duck with a white ring on his neck. In his early theatrical output from the 1930s, he resembled more of an actual duck with short limbs, narrow beak and pear-shaped body. However, his design slowly took on a more humanoid appearance as he both gained a sleek physique and wider bill in later entries by the late 1940s.

Appearances

TV series

• The Bugs Bunny Show
• Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny & Friends
• Tiny Toon Adventures
• Bugs 'N' Daffy
• The Drew Carey Show
  • 3.28 "My Best Friend's Wedding"
• Duck Dodgers
• Baby Looney Tunes
• The Looney Tunes Show
• New Looney Tunes
• Looney Tunes Cartoons
• Bugs Bunny Builders
• Tiny Toons Looniversity

Movies

• The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie
• The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie
• Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales
• Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island
• Daffy Duck's Quackbusters
• Space Jam
• Looney Tunes: Back in Action
• Bah Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas
• Space Jam: A New Legacy
• Bye Bye Bunny (announced)

Specials

• Bugs and Daffy's Carnival of the Animals
• Bugs Bunny's Easter Funnies
• Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court
• Daffy Duck's Easter Egg-citement
• Bugs Bunny's Howl-oween Special
• How Bugs Bunny Won the West
• The Bugs Bunny Mother's Day Special
• Daffy Duck's Thanks-for-Giving Special
• Bugs Bunny's Mad World of Television
• Bugs vs. Daffy: Battle of the Music Video Stars
• Bugs Bunny's Wild World of Sports
• Bugs Bunny's Overtures to Disaster
• Bugs Bunny's Creature Features
• Bugs Bunny's Lunar Tunes

Shorts

Main article: List of Daffy Duck shorts

• Looney Tunes
• Merrie Melodies

Comics

• Looney Tunes (DC Comics)

Video games

• Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports

Theme parks

• Six Flags
• Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi
• Warner Bros Movie World

Podcasts

• Bugs and Daffy's Thanksgiving Road Trip

Biography

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Daffy Gets Modern

In The Looney Tunes Show, he is Bugs Bunny's freeloading roommate and best friend.

Daffy Sells Out

Daffy has a cameo in the opening of The Drew Carey Show episode "My Best Friend's Wedding," asking the title character for a reporting job, which he is denied because they don't hire ducks. He kisses Mimi Bobeck, who slaps him in return, and as a parting gift to Drew, leaves TNT in his office.

Development

Daffy first appeared in Porky's Duck Hunt, released on April 17, 1937, and directed by Tex Avery and animated by Bob Clampett. Duck Hunt contained a standard hunter/prey pairing, but Daffy (who had barely been more than an unnamed bit player in this short) was something of a new concept to moviegoers: an assertive, completely unrestrained, combative protagonist. Clampett later recalled:

"At that time, audiences weren't accustomed to seeing a cartoon character do these things. And so, when it hit the theaters it was an explosion. People would leave the theaters talking about this daffy duck."

The early Daffy in this short was less anthropomorphic and more or less resembles a normal black duck. In fact, the only aspects of the character that have remained consistent through the years are his voice characterization by Mel Blanc; and his black feathers with a white neck ring. Overtime, when Clampett took over directorial duties on the Daffy shorts, the character was gradually redesigned to look more anthropomorphic, resembling more of a human than a duck.

The origin of Daffy's voice, specifically his lateral lisp, is a matter of some debate. One oft-repeated story was that it was modeled on producer Leon Schlesinger's tendency to lisp. In Mel Blanc's autobiography That's Not All Folks!, he contradicts that conventional belief, writing, "It seemed to me that such an extended mandible would hinder his speech, particularly on words containing an s sound. Thus 'despicable' became 'desth-picable.'"

Gallery

Main article: Daffy Duck/Gallery

Behind the scenes

• Daffy is known to have a middle name of differing accounts:
  • In The Scarlet Pumpernickel, he addresses himself as "Daffy Dumas Duck" when reading his movie script.
  • In the Baby Looney Tunes episode "Tattletale", Granny addresses him as "Daffy Horatio Tiberius Duck".
  • In The Looney Tunes Show, "Armando" and "Sheldon" are jokingly used for Daffy's full name; In "Best Friends," he prefers to use "Armando" because he thought it sounded cool, though he changes back to using "Sheldon" in "Bugs & Daffy Get a Job".
• In Baby Looney Tunes, Daffy is credited as "Baby Daffy."
• Since Teen Titans Go! To the Movies in 2018, the Warner Bros. Animation logo has Daffy coming out of the logo, going crazy, messing with the logo and running around while laughing before hitting the screen and being pulled away by Porky.
  • For the logo's variation in Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge, Scorpion pulls Daffy straight to Hell instead of Porky. The original idea was to have Daffy be stabbed in the head by Scorpion's kunai, although it was rejected by Warner Bros.

In popular culture

• Daffy famously appeared alongside Donald Duck in the 1988 Disney film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, where he is seen challenging Donald to piano duel at the bar.
• In the 1989 film UHF, starring "Weird Al" Yankovic, there is a poster of Bugs and Daffy in his character's apartment.
• In the July 7, 1994 episode of Top of the Pops, a teenage girl wears a Daffy t-shirt while dancing to Aswad's "Shine."
• In The Drew Carey Show episode "Drew's the Other Man," a black and white photo of Daffy is shown during the dance montage to Tower of Power's "What Is Hip?"
• In the Family Guy episode "The Story on Page One," after Meg is blown up by a bomb, she suddenly has a beak, which is turned upside down just like Daffy's in Rabbit Fire.
• In the Only Fools and Horses 2001 Christmas special, If They Could See Us Now, Del catches Rodney wearing a gladiator costume to role-play with his wife who is dressed as a police officer. He is supposed to look like Russell Crowe as Spartacus from the movie Gladiator, which Del agrees with, right before leaving the flat, and immediately says to himself how Rodney looks more like Daffy Duck.
• On June 10, 2003, Daffy, as Duck Dodgers, appears on the NASA Mars Rover Exploration patch.
• In The Big Bang Theory episode "The Excelsior Acquisition," Stuart, owner of the Comic Center of Pasadena, exchanges Stan Lee's home address with Penny to be his date to his cousin's wedding, Looney Tunes #179 is just about visible behind her, with Daffy visible in the character icon.
• In the Batwoman episode "Fair Skin, Blue Eyes," young Ryan visits Galaxy Comics, with Looney Tunes comics in a stand at the front, which includes Looney Tunes #235 and #239 with Daffy on the covers.
• In the 2020 film Sonic the Hedgehog, Tom helps three ducks cross the street, naming them Donald, Daisy, and Daffy.
• In the 2023 film The Flash, the alternate 2013 version of Barry Allen has a Looney Tunes background screen on his computer, which includes Daffy, Sylvester, Bugs, Road Runner, Wile E., and Tweety.
• In the Velma episode "Private Velmjamin," Fred wants to return a nativity miniature model with the Looney Tunes to Father O'Rourke, after Fred briefly became Catholic. Elmer Fudd is baby Jesus, Sylvester as Joseph, Granny as Mary, and Daffy, Porky, and Bugs as the three wise men.

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Full House

• "Middle Age Crazy," "Fogged In," "Working Mothers, "Pal Joey," "El Problema Grande de D.J.," "Blast from the Past," "Nerd for a Day," "Joey & Stacy and... Oh, Yeah, Jesse," "Those Better Not Be the Days," "The I.Q. Man," "Terror in Tanner Town," and "Happy New Year:" A 1986 Looney Tunes poster was added to Joey's bedroom in the second season onwards, featuring Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Sylvester, Road Runner, and Tweety.
• "13 Candles:" Stephanie says to D.J. she and Joey are going to a Daffy Duck film festival, with Joey saying in a Daffy voice, "And after, we'll go out for pizza," spitting in Joey's eye in the process. Joey apologises, but says "Sorry" in Daffy's voice, spitting him in the eye again. Later, Joey says in a spitting lisp that the Daffy Duck festival was "thoroughly stimulating" when asked how it was by Jesse.
• "Take My Sister, Please:" Joey impresses Lisa with his impression of Daffy Duck.
• "Spellbound:" Joey wants Jesse to watch his tape of cartoons for inspiration in writing the former a cartoon theme song, which according to Joey, who speaks in Daffy's spitting lisp, will make Jesse a "Cartoon aficionado."
• "Taking the Plunge:" Joey attempts to intimidate the Queen's royal guard by doing a Daffy Duck impression, and says, "Sufferin' succotash! You, sir, are inscrutable!" Joey gets kicked by the guard in response to his threat.

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Robot Chicken

Main article: Robot Chicken

• "Rodiggiti:" During "8 Carrot," Daffy is the host of Bugs and Elmer's Rap Battle.
• "Immortal:" In the skit "Porky's," Bugs and Daffy mistake a strip club called Porky's for a place that Porky Pig owns, only to be proven wrong. Although they were appalled by what they saw in the strip club, they immediately go back in.