Tweety Bird

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Tweety Bird

I tawt I taw a puddy tat!
Species Yellow canary
Gender Male
Member of Tune Squad
Looney Builders
Affiliation Granny
Sylvester
Sweetie Bird
Hector
Other relative(s) One descendant, Royal Tweetums, in Loonatics Unleashed
Marital status Single
First appearance MM: "A Tale of Two Kitties" (1942)
Played by Mel Blanc (1942–1989)
Jeff Bergman (1990–2018)
Bob Bergen (since 1990)
Greg Burson (1994–1998)
Joe Alaskey (1995–2011)
Eric Goldberg (1996-2003)
Sam Vincent (2001–2006)
Billy West (2003)
Eric Bauza (since 2018)

Bob Clampett's Tweety
File:S&TM Tweety.png
The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries

Space Jam

Baby Looney Tunes
File:BIA Tweety.png
Looney Tunes: Back in Action

The Looney Tunes Show
File:NLT Tweety.png
New Looney Tunes
File:ANL Tweety.png
Space Jam: A New Legacy
File:CGI Tweety.png
CGI Tweety in Space Jam: A New Legacy
File:LTC Tweety.png
Looney Tunes Cartoons

Bugs Bunny Builders
File:TTL Tweety.png
Tiny Toons Looniversity

Tweety Bird, also known as Tweety Pie or simply known as Tweety for short, is a yellow canary bird and a major character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical shorts. The character was introduced in the 1942 short A Tale of Two Kitties, directed by Bob Clampett. He was first paired with Sylvester in 1947 for the short Tweetie Pie, which was directed by Friz Freleng and won Warner Bros. Cartoons its first Academy Award. Tweety subsequently appeared in 46 cartoons during the Golden Age, made between 1942 and 1964. His voice was originated by Mel Blanc.

Tweety's protégé in Tiny Toon Adventures is Sweetie Bird.

Character description

On the surface, Tweety appears to be a innocent bird with a sweet, endearing personality. He is often presented as a meek character, not wanting to get pursued by Sylvester (or any other cat) and frequently hides behind more protective figures like Hector the bulldog and Granny, who is commonly portrayed as his owner. His cute personality is further emphasized by both his babyish appearance and speech patterns. For instance, he tends to misinterpret the word "pussy cat" as "puddy tat" (or "putty tat" in some instances), or refers to Granny as "Dwanny." Additionally, he normally resides in small homes like a gilded cage or a nest, where he quietly minds his own business away from all sorts of conflict.

Despite his outwardly innocent appearance, Tweety is also shown to be highly deceptive. He knows well when to play as the victim but is often steps ahead, outsmarting his aggressors through a mix of wits, and through the occasional assistance from Granny or Hector. While Tweety has little to do with thwarting Sylvester's ill-conceived plans, he allows them to fall on their own, simply standing by as he watches Sylvester sabotage himself. Unlike other characters in the franchise, Tweety doesn't have a complete character arc, but instead embodies an "innocent child" role to mask his ulterior motives and allowing him to outsmart those who are willing to suppress him.

In the cartoons directed by Bob Clampett, Tweety was initially characterized as a more aggressive bird, willing to do whatever it took to foil his feline adversaries—even going so far as to use violent tactics. However, in the later Friz Freleng-directed shorts, his temper was significantly toned down, though his aggression was still played straight in the early installments Freleng directed. Despite this shift, Tweety still reveals a bit of malice when provoked on occasion.

Additionally, Tweety was originally portrayed as a baby bird of a nondescript species in Clampett's shorts—looking naked and jowly when compared to the more familiar version that Freleng established, who is depicted with yellow feathers and big blue eyes. A few of his cartoons also play on the initial ambiguity of his species, as he was called as a rare and valuable "tweety bird", and "the only living specimen" in cartoons like Tweet Zoo (1957) and Tweet Tweet Tweety (1951). Nevertheless, he was later established and described as a canary, such as in the theme song for The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries.

Appearances

TV series

Movies

Shorts

Comics

Video games

Theme parks

Biography

Debut Series

We're All a Little Looney

The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries

Come On and Slam! and Welcome to the Jam!

Tweety Gets Modern

Going Down the Rabbit Hole

It's Hard Hat Time

Tweety Sells Out

Development

Bob Clampett created the character for what would become Tweety in the 1942 Merrie Melodies short, A Tale of Two Kitties, starring two cats named Babbit and Catstello (based on the comedy duo Abbot and Costello). The baby bird in question had a much different appearance than Tweety's more familiar design; he was more of a generic baby bird with no feathers, in addition to living in an outdoor nest. Tweety in his first appearance also sported an aggressive and saucy personality, as opposed to the sweet (but slightly defensive) attitude he later adopted. On the original model sheet, Tweety was referred to as Orson, a name also given to a bird character seen in Clampett's earlier short, Wacky Blackout.[1]

Clampett would later direct two more shorts starting Tweety. In the second cartoon, Birdy and the Beast, Tweety's name was bestowed on-screen and had been given blue eyes; his design was also refined, appearing more cute than his previous short. In A Gruesome Twosome, Tweety was pitted against a Jimmy Durante-esque cat. The latter short is known to be the last Tweety cartoon that Clampett directed, and the last one before he was paired with Sylvester.

In general, Tweety's mannerisms were based on comedian Red Skelton's character "Junior the Mean Widdle Kid."[2]

Gallery

Main article: Tweety Bird/Gallery

Toys and merchandise

Partnerships

  • On November 15, 2001, Warner Bros. and Sanrio launched the Tweety & Kitty collaboration (Looney Tunes x Sanrio) where Hello Kitty appears with Tweety Bird. The first merchandise in Japan featuring Hello Kitty and Tweety Bird was launched in March 2002, with later releases to other parts of Asia (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore). In a press comment, Kunihiko Tsuji said Sanrio was proud of the collaboration; and saw it as a step for global cooperation similar to Hello Kitty's philosophy that "you can never have too many friends".[3]
  • Official logo of the Tweety & Kitty merchandise line.
    Official logo of the Tweety & Kitty merchandise line.

Behind the scenes

  • Tweety's name is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being an English onomatopoeia for the sounds of birds.
  • Despite the perception people have regarding Tweety's gender, due in part to the long eyelashes and a high-pitched voice, he is male.[4][5]

In popular culture

  • In the 1984 film Gremlins, there is a doll of Tweety in the department store.
  • In the 1989 film Heathers, Heather McNamara tries to act anonymously on the phone to the radio station by calling herself Tweety after looking at her pet bird, even though she had already accidentally revealed herself.
  • In the 1990 film Mermaids, a kid dresses up as Tweety for Halloween.
  • In the 1993 film Wayne's World 2, when Kim seduces Garth by kissing his hand, he starts sputtering random lines from fictional characters, such as Tweety's "I thought I saw I puddy cat."
  • In the sitcom Moesha, Uncle Bernie affectionately called Andell Tweety.
  • In the My Parents Are Aliens episode "The Naked Truth," the recently deceased school budgie was called Tweety.
  • In the 2003 film Rugrats Go Wild, Spike the dog (who can be heard through Eliza's gift) makes fun of Siri the clouded leopard by calling her a pussy cat, and then mocks her even more by saying, "You're a very scary putty tat" in the same manner as Tweety would say to Sylvester.
  • In the Two and a Half Men episode "Big Flappy Bastards," Charlie takes Jake to a toy store to buy an X-Box, which has plush doll of Tweety.
  • In the Arrested Development episode "Switch Hitter," George Sr. mocked Gob's dance by comparing it to that of Tweety.
  • In the Doctor Who episode "Fear Her," a shirt featuring Tweety appears in Chloe's wardrobe as Rose rummages through to investigate the noise she heard.
  • In the pilot of 30 Rock, a poster for The Girl Show has Jenna wearing overalls featuring Tweety.
  • In the The Big Bang Theory episode "The Desperation Emanation," Looney Tunes #189 (featuring Sylvester and Tweety on the cover) is behind Stuart when he talks to the gang.
  • In the Parks and Recreation episode "Bowling for Votes," Ron accidentally lightly gets Tom's finger caught between two bowling bowls. Tom whines so badly that Ann asks if he's a female bird then calls him Tweety Bird.
  • In the Archer episode "Liquid Lunch," Archer says that On the Town was Bea Benaderet's film debut, but when the others don't know who he's talking about, he tries to jog their memories by telling them she was Tweety's Granny.
  • In the Fresh Off the Boat episode "Workin' the 'Ween," Louis dresses himself and Maria as Sylvester and Tweety, respectively, hoping to distract her enough that she doesn't remember she wants her pacifier. He says to her, "I tawt I saw a puddy tat."
  • In the 2023 film The Flash, the alternate 2013 version of Barry Allen has a Looney Tunes background screen on his computer, which includes Tweety, Sylvester, Bugs, Daffy, Road Runner, and Wile E.
  • In the Teen Titans Go! episode "The Great Azarathian Bake-Off," when Mar watches a dog chase Cat, she comments, "I thought I saw I puddy cat," with her Grr responding, "You did. You did see a puddy cat."

The Big Bang Theory

  • "The Bat Jar Conjecture:" Penny tests Leonard and Sheldon's knowledge of pop culture, with one question being "Tweety tawt he taw a what?" Sheldon responds with Romulan, one of the alien adversaries in the Star Trek sci-fi TV and film franchise. They act proud believing they answered correctly.
  • "The Wheaton Recurrence:" Sheldon advises Will Wheaton not to jump on Twitter about his common spare, before getting a strike himself, and then tells Wheaton to "Tweet that, Tweety Bird!"

Full House

Main article: Full House
  • "Our Very First Night:" When Joey sees that his nieces are awake past their bedtime, he rhetorically asks them about if they should be sleeping about Tweety Bird, Big Bird, and Larry Bird.
  • "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," "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.

References

  1. ↑ Beck, Jerry (1991). I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat: Fifty Years of Sylvester and Tweety. New York: Henry Holt and Co. pp. 34–35. ISBN 0-8050-1644-9. Retrieved on February 10, 2025.
  2. ↑ Charney, Maurice (2005). "Animation". Comedy: A Geographic and Historical Guide. Vol. 1. Praeger. p. 143. ISBN 9780313327148. Retrieved on February 10, 2025.
  3. ↑ Raving Toy Maniac - "Hello Kitty teams up with Tweety"
  4. ↑ Beck, Jerry (May 27, 2005). "Tweety – Male or Female?". Cartoon Brew. Archived from the original on December 23, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Looney Tunes - Stars of the Show - Tweety". Warner Bros. Archived from the original on October 1, 2002.
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