Few cartoon characters are as iconic or influential as the Looney Tunes gang. Starting in 1930, the Looney Tunes shorts introducing the world to an array of characters who would become some of the most memorable and recognized characters in pop culture history. This colorful cast would continue to appear in shorts, series and feature films like Space Jam for years and years to come.
Regardless of when you were introduced to the Looney Tunes, they were also able to provide some great laughs. There were so many fantastic characters, each with their own hilarious traits and quirks. Take a look back at these cartoon icons with our list of the funniest Looney Tune characters.
Yosemite Sam
Bugs Bunny has had a lot of adversaries in the cartoons, but Yosemite Sam is one of the toughest. Usually depicted as an Old West outlaw or prospector, this short, mustachioed man has a real hatred for the famous rabbit. Sam has a short temper and often explodes with rage when he doesn’t get his way.
Sam is one of the funniest looking members of the Looney Tunes crew. The character design is part of the reason he’s so funny, and watching this ridiculous little man bounce around in anger while firing his six-shooters wildly is always good for a laugh.
Tasmanian Devil
The Tasmanian Devil—or Taz, as he later became known—was far from a prominent character in the Golden Age of the Looney Tune cartoons. He appeared in only a handful of shorts, mostly seen as an antagonist or bothersome character to the main character. However, years later, the character’s popularity began to grown until Taz became one of the most popular of the Looney Tunes.
Taz is a ferocious yet sometimes kind animal who is often shown to be pretty mindless. Unlike some of the other more memorable characters, Taz doesn’t speak but only grunts and growls. His humor comes from his destructive nature in his endless search for food.
Sylvester
Sylvester the cat is one of the main antagonistic characters on the Looney Tunes. Most of the characters can be separated into categories of the more cunning heroes and the villains who always lose. Sylvester certainly belongs in the latter category. Most of the cartoons featuring Sylvester show the nefarious cat’s attempts to captures Tweety Bird for his latest meal. Despite always failing miserably and painfully, Sylvester is never dissuaded from his goal. He gets a lot of laughs thanks to his strange sense of confidence and his exaggerated lisping way of talking.
Porky Pig
The stuttering way Porky Pig closes off the show with “That’s all folks!” is still quoted all these years later, and that’s just the beginning of why the character is great. Porky is one of the most innocent and sweet Looney Tunes characters. While the other characters are always getting into all sorts of adventures, Porky is mild-mannered which makes his hijinks that much funnier.
Porky is often seen as a sidekick or secondhand man to the lead character, but he still provides plenty of laughs himself. He is a great partner to Daffy, as he proves to often be much more competent and level-headed.
Marvin The Martian
Bugs Bunny’s adversaries are usually seen as incompetent, loud, and dim-witted characters. Marvin the Martian was pretty much the exact opposite; perhaps one of the Looney Tunes most quiet characters, Marvin is a small alien creature who has proven to be one of the franchise’s smartest characters.
Marvin doesn’t fall for the same simple gags and tricks that Bugs other enemies do which creates a great dynamic for them. With his soft voice, tiny stature, and hilarious movements, Marvin is another Looney Tunes character whose popularity is continuing to rise after all these years.
Foghorn Leghorn
While Marvin the Martin manages to be funny with few words, there’s something inherently humorous about loudmouths. In terms of Looney Tunes characters, Foghorn Leghorn ranks as one of the loudest of all. With a thick and hilarious southern accent, this tall and plump chicken loves nothing more than the sound of his own voice.
The southern persona is put to such funny use as Foghorn goes around spouting off his apparently great knowledge to anyone that will hear it. He thinks of himself as a great teacher to the younger chickens, though usually ends up causing more trouble than solutions.
Elmer Fudd
Like every great hero, Bugs Bunny needs a villain for the audience to cheer against. Therefore, there would be no Bugs Bunny as we know him without Elmer Fudd. These two characters are forever linked and have shared endlessly entertaining adventures together.
Elmer is a slow and dull hunter who is always gunning for Bugs, often doing more damage to himself in the process. Despite always trying to kill a beloved cartoon icon, Elmer is flat-out funny, from the childish way he acts and talks, to the ease with which he falls for Bugs’ schemes. He always has the audience laughing right along with his famous chuckle.
Wile E. Coyote
Though a coyote of few words, Wile E. Coyote has nonetheless provided us with many hearty laughs over the years. He is famous for his constant pursuit of the ever-evasive Road Runner and his increasingly ridiculous methods of capturing the bird.
Even though we know it is coming every time, watching him put so much effort into acquiring his latest contraption and setting another trap, only to have it horrible backfire is always funny. His breaking of the fourth wall just as he’s about to be crushed by a boulder or fall off a cliff is still funny to this day.
Bugs Bunny
Perhaps only Mickey Mouse can rival Bugs Bunny as the most famous cartoon character of all time. He has been the poster boy for the Looney Tunes cartoons for many years and for good reason. His unique and fun characterization makes him an extremely likable hero who is always easy to cheer for.
Bugs is a laidback, smooth operator surrounded by frantic, angry, and less intelligent people. His sarcastic and biting humor stands out among the rest of the Looney Tunes characters. He has so many classic one-liners and gags that it’s no wonder he’s gone down as one of the greatest pop culture figures of all time.
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is far from the smooth operator that Bugs Bunny is. In fact, he is the exact opposite of Bugs. Though he is often the hero of his story, he is usually less intelligent than everyone else, constantly making the situation worse for himself, and often failing at whatever he tries. All that only makes him funnier.
With spitting, lisping way of talking is instantly recognizable and adds to his persona as an obnoxious character. He thinks highly of himself but rarely accomplishes anything. Seeing him and Bugs interacting is always a treat as his high-strung nature is in perfect contrast to calm and collected Bugs.