History Main / OwlsAskWho

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Absolutely Babulous," Peter greets his family one morning with an owl on the shoulder, which he denies he stole from the Pewterschmidt mansion's enclosed owlery. After Lois asks Peter "What were you two talking about last night?" the owl hoots, prompting Peter to reply "Yeah, who?" This gag is repeated before Peter gets bored with the owl and decides he's returning it to the owlery.

** In ''The Goodies and the Beanstalk'', various animals join the Goodies in the "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" song. Naturally the owl does the "Who".

--->'''Blathers:''' Whooo...WHO?

A subtrope of WhosOnFirst. Compare AnimalSpeciesAccent and PokemonSpeak.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

'''Ryan:''' ''[{{corpsing}}]'' No! No, Col! That's wrong.\\

* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'': The Milton Berle episode features [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdFRuJpEFEs Zelda Rose and her singing owl]] performing "Who?" from the 1925 musical ''Sunny''. Naturally, the Owl sings all the "Who"s.

* The "America's Best" owl commercials were originally based on an inversion of this, with the humans constantly asking "who?" and the owl responding eloquently to their questions, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPybavTSjCc as seen here]]. Later commercials dropped this element.

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'': The Milton Berle episode features [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdFRuJpEFEs Zelda Rose and her singing owl]] performing "Who?" from the 1925 musical ''Sunny''. Naturally, the Owl sings all the "Who"s.
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* A canine version occurs in ''Series/TheGoodies'' episode "Frankenfido", in which a dog called Cuddly Scamp is a contestant on ''Series/Mastermind''.

* ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske'': This happens to Wiske in "Het Witte Wief", with the Dutch version of the joke ("Hoe"). She continues answering the ''Hoe''s [[OverlyLongGag for half a page]] before finally realizing she's talking to an owl.

* Quite a few ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fan works do this, inspired by the RunningGag of the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E24OwlsWellThatEndsWell Owl's Well That Ends Well]]".

* ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'': When Briar Rose talks to her animal friends, the owl naturally goes "hoo?", which she takes as a question.

* This joke, which became a popular [[MemeticMutation meme]] on TikTok:

--> For with maidenly blush, and accent mild, the jenny-ass answers "She-haw".

--> '''Owl''': What.
--> '''Sabrina''': Huh?
--> '''Owl''': What.
--> '''Sabrina''': [[LampshadeHanging Aren't Owls supposed to say "who"?]]
--> '''Owl''': What?
--> '''Sabrina''': Never mind.
--> '''Owl''': I'll tell you what. Beware of the green tornado.
--> '''Sabrina''': What?
--> '''Owl''': Whooo...
--> '''Sabrina''': I give up.

'''Phoenix:''' You mean "Who am I?". Phoenix Wright, with a "Ph" and a "W".\\

* In [[https://draconian62.tumblr.com/post/658179527864909824 this]] ''Petfoolery'' comic, a girl comes across an owl, and asks if it has seen her brother. Naturally, it says "Who", except it wasn't making owl noises - it was legitimately asking her ''who'' her brother was, telling her that she needs to provide more information.
* In ''Webcomic/RealmOfOwls'', the city of Buffet used to just be called "Hoo" and later "Hoohoo", but both were deemed too confusing because each of those words had at least 400 different meanings to the owls who live there.

* In ''WebVideo/KidTimeStorytime'', Hooty the owl speaks in "hoo"s, so sometimes people think he's asking, "Who?".
* ''WebVideo/ScootertrixTheAbridged'': Episode 24 starts with Twilight having purchased Owlowiscious and making plenty of owl puns, including "Who?" This comes back to bite her in the flank in "Scootertrix The Epilogue: Twilight's Punishment", when she is kidnapped by a parliament of owls who are mad at her for purchasing an owl and making owl puns, especially "Who?", because [[NWordPrivileges "it's our word!"]] Her punishment is [[spoiler:being subjected to horse puns for 24 hours]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' segment "Woodstock Slappy", Slappy wants to know which band is playing. Skippy tells her [[Music/TheWho Who]] is playing, leading to a confused back and forth between the two where Slappy keeps asking about the band and Skippy keeps answering "Who". About a third in, Slappy notes that Skippy is beginning to sound like an owl.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandes'': In "Squawk in the Name of Love", after the family parrot Sergio got dumped by his ostrich girlfriend Priscilla, Carl tells him to just find another bird to date. Sergio has tried, but [[TerribleIntervieweesMontage it never went well]]. In one case, it's because she "just didn't listen".

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Absolutely Babulous", Peter greets his family one morning with an owl on the shoulder, which he denies he stole from the Pewterschmidt mansion's enclosed owlery. After Lois asks Peter "What were you two talking about last night?" the owl hoots, prompting Peter to reply "Yeah, who?". This gag is repeated before Peter gets bored with the owl and decides he's returning it to the owlery.
* ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'': One of the gag bloopers in "Mistakes Will Happen" is an owl that not only goes "who", but also "where" and "when".
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleRascals'': In "Rascals' Revenge", as the kids approach the abandoned house:

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MerrieMelodies'' short "A Day at the Zoo", the narrator introduces "the wise owl", who immediately asks "who?". The narrator explains that he is the wise owl and the owl, put on the spot, retreats to his nest while responding with "oooooh!"

** Used as a RunningGag in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E24OwlsWellThatEndsWell Owl's Well That Ends Well]]", Owlowiscious' "hoo" is understood as the question "Who?" most of the time.

'''Spike:''' Okay, "Who", "Owlowiscious", whatever. I'm Spike, okay? Look! All you need to know is that I'm number one and you're number two. Got it?\\

** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E23InspirationManifestation Inspiration Manifestation]]", at first, Spike's conversations with Owlowiscious seem like a reprise of their first meeting, [[IntelligibleUnintelligible but eventually he starts responding to what the owl is saying]].
* Played with in the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Wizard of Odd". Stacy Hirano's counterpart in Oz is an owl with a human head. While nobody answers her call of "Hoo", this is a CastingGag as Stacy's voice actress is [[Creator/KellyHu Kelly]] '''[[FunWithHomophones Hu]]'''.

* At the end of the Creator/WalterLantz Productions short "Scrambled Eggs", Peterkin tries to shift blame for mixing up the birds' eggs. First he blames the squirrels, prompting the skeptical owl to intimidatingly ask "who?". Nervous, Peterkin changes his story to blame the chipmunks, earning himself another "who?" from the owl. He can't come up with someone else to blame before the birds attack him, knowing quite well Peterkin's the perpetrator.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore", Bart is sad over Milhouse having moved away. Marge encourages him to go play with Lisa, telling him, "You'll be like an owl, saying, 'Milhouse ''who''? Milhouse ''who''?" [[LamePunReaction Bart isn't amused.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In the episode "Mimic Madness", [=SpongeBob=] has done so many impressions of everyone he talks do he becomes a shapeshifter from the chest-up, but he undergoes a ShapeshifterIdentityCrisis and flees into a cave not sure who he is. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTJOKYx4aWo He sings a song about this]], starting with him doing an owl impression.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TUFFPuppy'', one of Professor Bird Brain's henchmen is an owl who only ever says "Who?". This naturally results in some WhosOnFirst jokes, infuriating Bird Brain repeatedly.

--> But do not laugh at the jackass wild, for there is method in his he-haw:\\
For with maidenly blush, and accent mild, the jenny-ass answers "She-haw".

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'': The Milton Berle episode features [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdFRuJpEFEs Zelda Rose and her singing owl]] performing "Who?" from the 1925 musical ''Sunny''. Naturally, the Owl sings all the "Who"s.

* ''Literature/TheBakersDaughter'' relays how the titular character became an owl. After [[RuleOfThree promising a beggar bread three times and breaking said promise each time]] when she finds the bread impossibly big for what she thought she'd be parting with. The third time, however, she realizes things aren't adding up and stammers out "Who...? Who...?" as she is confronted by the beggar, who actually was a fairy [[SecretTestOfCharacter who was testing her]]. The fairy replies that she'll repeat those words until death and [[BalefulPolymorph turns her into an owl]].

* Parodied in ''SabrinaTheTeenageWitchBratAttack'', where Sabrina meets a talking owl while in the [[StorybookEpisode storybook world]].