History WesternAnimation / BirdsAnonymous

* YourTelevisionHatesYou: And your radio too. After Sylvester turns on the TV, he sees a chef cooking turkey; he turns on the radio in a desperate effort to distract himself, and the playlist features "Bye Bye, Blackbird" and "When the Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin' Along."

Winner of the UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestAnimatedShortFilm, it is also included in ''The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes'', amazingly the only cartoon to hold both distinctions. Widely regarded as Friz Freleng's greatest cartoon, Creator/MelBlanc also felt that this was his finest acting performance.

* ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere: Poor Sylvester just can't catch a break.

* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Unlike other cartoons, Sylvester genuinely ''wants'' to give up his bird-eating addiction and not eat Tweety. He goes out of his way to try to stave off temptation and even handcuffs himself to a radiator to keep his distance. Though he does eventually break down and give into temptation, it's only after a sleepless night and hours of agony--but for all that, Tweety still calls him "a bad ol' puddy tat," despite Sylvester actively trying to keep the canary safe.

* NoSympathy: Tweety's final line (and thus the short's) is him dismissing the two cats struggling with their addiction (and Sylvester in the middle of one of the rare times when he's trying to protect him) as two "bad ol' puddy tats".

In this animated short, Sylvester is chasing after Tweety as he always does, when he is interrupted by an unnamed cat (later {{retcon}}ned into "Clarence" in Looney Tunes comics) who brings him to a group called "Birds Anonymous" which consists of cats trying to kick their bird habit. Sylvester pledges sobriety, stating that "birds is strictly for the birds," but falls off the wagon and chases after Tweety again. His sponsor tells him that cats and birds can live together in harmony, and kisses Tweety to prove it -- whereupon the sponsor also breaks down and tries to eat Tweety. This time Sylvester intervenes, and the short ends with Tweety saying "Like I said before: Once a bad ol' puddy tat, always a bad ol' puddy tat!"

-->''[Fake UsefulNotes/{{Ital|y}}ian accent]'' "After-a basting, you find your bird will come out golden-a brown. Every succulent morsel will simply melt-a in your mouth. See how easily the white-a meat-a slices, eh? Yum, yum! Doesn't that-a look..."

* RecoveredAddict: At a meeting of Birds Anonymous, Sylvester meets cats who have managed to kick the bird habit.

* DrugsAreBad: At the BA meeting various cats tell stories of their bird addictions.

* HypocriticalHumor: Sylvester's sponsor mouths all the BA platitudes but breaks down instantly after kissing Tweety, at which point Sylvester tries to tell ''him'' to get a hold of himself and tries to restrain him.

-->'''Striped Cat:''' I was a three-bird-a-day pussycat until B.A. helped me.\\
''[Applause from other cats.]''\\
'''Brown Cat:''' Being on a bird kick cost me five homes. B.A. helped me solve my problem. ''[Pats a bird that's just landed on his shoulder.]''\\
''[More applause.]''

* DescentIntoAddiction: Lampshaded by Sylvester's sponsor at the start of the film.

* ShoutOut: The short is a spoof of the gritty "message films" popular at the time, down to its unusually dark tone.

-->(Fake UsefulNotes/{{Ital|y}}ian accent) "After-a basting, you find your bird will come out golden-a brown. Every succulent morsel will simply melt-a in your mouth. See how easily the white-a meat-a slices, eh? Yum, yum! Doesn't that-a look..."

* BigDamnHeroes: Sylvester's sponsor stops him from eating Tweety by filling his mouth with alum (shrinking his mouth as a result).
** Sylvester himself gets to be one when his sponsor falls off the wagon and tries eating Tweety himself--he grabs the raging cat and holds him down shouting "CONTROL YOURSELF!," giving Tweety time to escape.
* BringTheAnchorAlong: Sylvester handcuffs himself to a radiator to keep himself from getting Tweety. But when he can't restrain his urges any longer, he just charges at Tweety, yanking the radiator off the wall.

* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Unlike other cartoons, Sylvester genuinely ''wants'' to give up his bird-eating addiction and not eat Tweety. He goes out of his way to try to stave off temptation and even handcuffs himself to a radiator to keep his distance. Though he does eventually break down and give into temptation, it's only after a sleepless night and hours of agony--but for all that, Tweety still calls him "a bad ol' puddy-tat," despite Sylvester actively trying to keep the canary safe.

* TheRemake: An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSylvesterAndTweetyMysteries'' reused the Clarence character and the cold turkey motif; the difference was that it took place at a monastery where a cult of cats take a vow not to eat birds. Sylvester has just as hard of a time sticking to that rule as in ''Birds Anonymous''.

* YourTelevisionHatesYou: And your radio too. After Sylvester turns on the TV, he sees a chef cooking turkey; he turns on the radio in a desperate effort to distract himself and the playlist features "Bye-Bye, Blackbird" and "When the Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin' Along."

''[[[LoudGulp Sylvester swallows hard.]]]''

''[Sylvester swallows hard.]''

* ShoutOut: The short is a spoof of the gritty "message films" popular at the time, down to its unusually dark tone.