Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

No Celebrities Were Harmed / Western Animation

Go To

  • An episode of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius features a sleazy Hollywood director (actually Professor Calamitous in disguise) who happens to look exactly like Quentin Tarantino. Well, the director's given name is Quentin Smithee. It's kinda obvious.
    • And recurring alien antagonists, Zix, Tee, and Travlotron are parodies of Jon Lovitz, Mr. T, and John Travolta respectively.
  • The Adventures of the Gummi Bears episode "For a Few Sovereigns More" had Duke Igthorn hire bounty hunter Flint Shrubwood to hunt down the eponymous bears. He also looks and behaves just like Clint's Man With No Name.
  • The Mayor of Elmore in The Amazing World of Gumball is a caricature of Donald Trump who wants to "deport" the Wattersons. The frayed blond hair also gives him some resemblance to Boris Johnson, a British politician who was Mayor of London (where The Amazing World of Gumball was produced) for most of the show's history.
  • Roger from American Dad! is another Paul Lynde impression.
  • The American Dragon: Jake Long version of Santa Claus kind of sounds like Rodney Dangerfield.
  • Animalympics had this for the various news commentators and a few athletes. Henry Hummel borrows mannerisms from Henry Kissinger, Barbara Warbler is rather obviously Barbara Walters, and Lodge Turkell is Howard Cosell. On the side of the athletes, Bolt Jenkins is reminiscent of John Travolta's character from Saturday Night Fever, and Joey Gongalong is obviously Muhammad Ali as a Boxing Kangaroo.
  • Animaniacs did this repeatedly, but with a great deal more skill:
    • Yakko Warner steals gags, quips, and sometimes entire plotlines from Groucho Marx, with Wakko occasionally filling in as Harpo. Wakko himself is basically Ringo Starr most of the time.
    • Mr. Director, a recurring foe, is clearly Jerry Lewis.
    • The Brain, megalomaniac mouse extraordinaire, is based on voice actor Maurice LaMarche's excellent Orson Welles impersonation. (To the point that, as a treat for Moe, the short "Yes, Always" was an adaptation of an obscure but infamous recording session in which Orson's ego went ballistic on a pair of inept producers while taping a commercial for frozen peas.)
    • The Goodfeathers were parodies of Ray Liotta's (Squit), Robert De Niro's (Bobby), and Joe Pesci's (Pesto) characters from Goodfellas; their boss, the Godpidgeon, is an extreme parody of Marlon Brando as The Godfather.
      • Given Liotta's eerie vocal resemblance to Jack Nicholson, many younger or naive viewers probably thought that Squit was supposed to be a Nicholson character.
      • Bobby also had elements of his character from Taxi Driver ("Are you talkin' to me?")
      • The series also contained many other references to the works of Brando, DeNiro, and Pesci, as well as numerous other gangster movies.
    • Runt was an imitation of Dustin Hoffman's character from Rain Man; Rita was Bernadette Peters doing herself.
    • In one episode of the series, the Warners push the buttons of a scowling television journalist named "Dan Anchorman," who bears a striking resemblance to ABC's Sam Donaldson. The Donaldson connection was made even more explicit by the character's name in the original script: Slam Fondlesome. Because of Executive Meddling over that supposedly risque name, they had to go back, change the name, and redub some of the dialogue. Dan is eventually pushed into a television set and forced to fight a blond professional wrestler named "Bulk Logan."
    • Ralph the studio guard is apparently based on Ralph Bakshi.
    • Howie Tern, insult-hurling radio show host. No explanation required. (Given how brutal the Warners usually are to obnoxious jerks, he actually got off relatively easy.)
    • World-famous movie critics Lean Hiskel and Codger Eggbert.
    • In one "Rita and Runt" segment sending up both Les Misérables and Sweeney Todd, the Thenardier/Todd character is clearly based on John Cleese as Basil Fawlty doing a bad French accent and another Rita and Runt with Stradivarius features a character who looks and sounds like F. Murray Abraham in a plot that mirrors Amadeus.
  • On Archer, Chef Lance Casteau is an obvious rip-off of Anthony Bourdain (with a bit of Gordon Ramsay thrown in) and, to top it all off, is actually voiced by Anthony Bourdain.
    • Also, Rachel Harris's movie star character is reminiscent of Gwyneth Paltrow
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender has The Boulder, a parody of both The Rock and Hulk Hogan, down to being a Third-Person Person. He's even voiced by actual wrestler Mick Foley. In fact, the Rock himself was considered to voice him before scheduling conflicts prevented him to accept it, so his good friend Foley voiced him instead.
    • The Legend of Korra has a business magnate named Hiroshi Sato, who started as a shoe-shine boy and, thanks to a loan from a generous benefactor, was able to develop the Satomobile, now manufactured on assembly lines. Yes, he is Fantasy Henry Ford. Like Ford, he has sympathies with a not-so-morally upstanding group; Ford was a notorious anti-Semite, Hiroshi hates all benders and actively backs the Equalists, a violent anti-bending movement.
  • Betty Boop: Betty was based on Helen Kane.
  • Biker Mice from Mars has quite a few. The original series had Evil Eye Weevil who is a skeleton-like thing (he's a parody of Elvis Presley and Evil Knievel) and The X-Terminator who is a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lawrence Limburger has a sister who is named after Latoya Jackson (one of Michael Jackson's siblings) and the "Loogie Brothers" who are based off two characters played by Dana Carvey and Keaven Nealon on Saturday Night Live. The 2006 revival has a villain named Ronaldo Rump who is a parody of multimillionaire Donald Trump (including the toupee and the multimillion dollar building franchise), he has a British cousin named Sir Richard Brand Something (a parody of Virgin Group company owner Sir Richard Branson). There's also a character that bears a resemblance to Rodney Dangerfield. Doctor Catorkian sounds suspiciously like Boris Karloff.
  • Birdz did this in nearly every episode with the names (e.g. "Steven Spielbird"), and sometimes went even further by actually showing their in-universe avian expy (one episode has a "Whippoorwill Smith" who's basically a bird version of, well, Will Smith).
  • Shows written and produced by Loren Bouchard tend to avert this trope, not being much concerned with people who are famous within or outside of the show's universe. One exception is Boyz 4 Now, a Boy Band from Bob's Burgers. Their name bears obvious similarities to Boyz II Men, while Boo Boo (Louise's crush) publicly departs from the band in a way parallel to Zayn Malik splitting with One Direction.
  • From The Boondocks:
    • Ed Wuncler III and Gin Rummy are rather obviously George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld as scheming, shiftless frat boys. Ed III's grandfather, Ed Sr, is based heavily on Prescott Bush (though there's also a bit of a paradox there because Ed Sr.'s grandfather was named Prescott himself.)
      Ed Wuncler I: "In 30 years, that boy will be the president of the United States. And he'll still be a fucking idiot."
    • Rapper Thugnificent is based heavily on real-life rappers Ludacris, Ice-T, and Kanye West. Thugnificent's buddy Macktastic looks like Taboo of The Black Eyed Peas.
  • BoJack Horseman goes so far as to name its perky, clean-shaven recurring male host character "A Ryan Seacrest Type" (first name A Ryan).
  • Bratz has the pop icon "London Milton" whose name is a clear play on Paris Hilton.
    • Another episode involves a singer named "Aloncé".
    • There's also a recurring character named "Byron Powell", a judge from "America Rocks".note 
  • Celebrity Deathmatch brutally and beautifully averts this trope, both literally and figuratively. Not only is it a show about Exactly What It Says on the Tin, a lot of its humor is rooted in viciously mocking its combatants' foibles, scandals, and Tabloid Melodrama.
  • Centaurworld: In "My Tummy, Your Hurts" Glendale's stage persona adopted when she gives a motivational speech - in particular the clothes, messy bun and deep voice - very much resembles Elizabeth Holmes.
  • Bruno Bullnerd from ChalkZone was not voiced by Brad Garrett, but his voice sounds like a raspy version of Brad Garrett. Jeff Bennett also uses the same voice in The Buzz on Maggie (as Malvin's Dad) and Regular Show (as Ticket Guy).
  • In Chaotic we have Peyton. One of the four main characters, who is very similar to a teenage version of Jack Black in both his appearance, speech and demeanor.
  • Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers features several examples of this trope.
    • Fat Cat, one of the show's Big Bads, is sort of a feline Vincent Price, or Sydney Greenstreet.
    • Stan Blather, a recurring background character, is a monotone news anchor who is a barely-disguised stand-in for Dan Rather.
    • In "Kiwi's Big Adventure", a kiwi chieftain speaks with the mannerisms and catch phrases of Ed Sullivan.
    • In "Pie in the Sky", the villain's guard dogs are both based on Jack Nicholson. To the point of actually being named "Jack" and "Nichols".
    • Canina LeFur, a guest star in "A Chorus Crime" and "They Shoot Dogs, Don't They?", is based on — and actually voiced by—Carol Channing.
    • In "The Luck Stops Here", Kismet is basically a feline Bette Davis.
  • Gil from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: The Series talks in a voice that bare great resemblance to Fozzie Bear.
  • Code Lyoko has a thinly veiled James Cameron expy, the Small Name, Big Ego and alien movie to boot.
  • Codename: Kids Next Door has had a few villains that parody famous characters, such as "Toiletnator" (Terminator), "Tony Clownarelli also known as Godclown" (Marlon Brando as The Godfather), "Count Spankulot" (Dracula). Father's voice was patterned after Kirk Douglas.
  • Courage the Cowardly Dog:
    • In "Car Broke, Phone Yes", featured an alien with speech patterns similar to Andy Kaufman.
    • The Snowman speaks in an imitation of Sean Connery's voice, and his episodes even have a few shout-outs to James Bond. Voice actor Paul Schoeffler's Connery impression was so spot-on that it fooled many viewers into thinking it really was Connery playing the character.
      • Paul Schoeffler also voiced Jeeves Weevil and the Goose God in pitch-perfect impressions of Tony Jay and Tim Curry, respectively (and, like Snowman, fans thought Jay and Curry actually did voice those characters.) Schoeffler also voiced the Clutching Foot in an Edward G. Robinson impression.
    • In the episode "House Calls", the Bagges' new neighbor, Dr. Von Orbison, is almost a dead ringer for Roy Orbison.
    • The Computer's voice greatly resembles that of David Warner.
    • The Duck Brothers sound exactly like Ringo Starr (and once again, the voice actor Will Ryan's impression was so uncanny that fans assumed for years that Ringo really was their VA.)
    • Robot Randy talks like Christopher Walken.
    • The Flan King sounds like Peter Lorre with a slightly altered accent (sounding more Spanish than Eastern European) and even looked like Lorre if he were fatter and had red hair.
  • The Critic is the Trope Namer, as the end of episode disclaimer has Jay Sherman saying "Celebrity voices are impersonated. No celebrities were harmed in the filming of this episode." For specific examples, Jay's boss and network honcho Duke Phillips is a parody of Ted Turner. Jay himself is a pastiche of Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert (who played themselves in one episode). Also, his buddy Jeremy Hawke is said to be a combination of Paul Hogan and Mel Gibson.
  • Dan Vs.: Barry Ditmer from "Technology" is a parody of Steve Jobs, running a large tech corporation, stealing credit from his partner, and taking on many of the late idiosyncracies.
  • Darkwing Duck:
    • The Liquidator, a supervillain made entirely of water, sounded like Ed Wynn's "Perfect Fool" trying to talk underwater. Actually, the voice actor intended to make Liquidator sound like a really annoying TV ad pitchman (hence the character's Punny Name).
    • The gangster Steelbeak had a voice that combined Edward G. Robinson's sneer and Jon Lovitz's smarminess.
    • The electricity-themed villain Megavolt had more than a whiff of Peter Lorre about him.
    • The character of Darkwing himself included a vocal tribute to Daffy Duck, whose basic personality traits Darkwing sharednote .
  • An unusual nonhuman example in The Deep (2015): "Lonesome Jim", the last Floreana Island tortoise in the episode of the same name, is based on "Lonesome George", the last Abingdon Island tortoise.
  • A recurring character in Dennis And Gnasher Unleashed is Dennis's hero, the wilderness survival expert Grizzly Griller, based on Bear Grylls.
  • DePatie-Freleng Enterprises':
    • The Ant and the Aardvark cartoons featured John Byner voicing both of the title characters, using voices based on Dean Martin and Jackie Mason, respectively.
    • There's also Pelvis Parsley on Pink-A-Rella, one of The Pink Panther shorts.
  • Doozy Bots, a much-maligned attempt at trying to appeal Gundam to Westerners with SD Gundam designs that got shelved before it ever got the chance to be official, had Woody Allen and Gary Coleman of all people as part of the cast. That is to say, it had two children comic-relief characters based on them, respectively named Brandon and Tag-Along.
  • Mr. Bone from Doug had a voice that was very close to that of Barney Fife from The Andy Griffith Show, as well as Fife's blind obsession with following rules, no matter how trivial.
  • The Fairly OddParents!:
    • Jorgen Von Strangle from is likewise another animated Schwarzenegger clone, down to his physique and Teutonic accent. (His name is taken from the similar actor Jean-Claude Van Damme.) Curiously, there's also an actor called Arnold Schwarzengerman (appearing in a superviolent remake of Hamlet).
    • The character of Big Daddy is a parody of James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano.
    • April Fool's nasally voice and "what's up with that?" comedic style are a lot like those of Jerry Seinfeld.
    • Sylvester Calzone
    • Britney Britney
    • Countless characters in the movie Channel Chasers.
  • Family Guy:
    • Stewie's voice is based on Rex Harrison.
    • The makers of the show said that Peter basically is Michael Moore (hence the inspiration for their farting contest skit).note 
    • Peter and Lois' vocal inflections resembling Archie and Edith Bunker from All in the Family, which is also spotlighted in the intro which is an over-the-top version of the intro of Family.
    • The Disabled Professor, whose name is apparently Steve, is an ersatz Stephen Hawking, with a similar Machine Monotone voice.
    • The Season 8 episode "Hanna Banana" –- itself a sendup of teenage pop stars –- portrays Miley Cyrus straight ... until it is revealed that she is a robot.
  • Elvis Criddlington from Fireman Sam is clearly based on Elvis Presley, right down to the fact that he sings and loves rock 'n' roll.
  • In the "Hatrocks and the Gruesomes" episode of The Flintstones, the Hatrocks are a parody of The Beverly Hillbillies, the Gruesomes are a parody of The Addams Family and The Four Insects and their "bug music" is a parody of The Beatles.
    • The show did this regularly. Examples include "Alvin Brickrock", "Ann-Margrock" (voiced by Ann-Margret herself), "Hum Along with Herman" (Based on "Sing Along with Mitch"), and "The Beau Brummelstones" (voiced by the actual band The Beau Brummels who performed their song "Laugh Laugh" on "Shinrock", a reference to "Shindig" which, like this show, aired on ABC).
  • Two of the supporting superheroes in Freakazoid! — The Huntsman, who is modelled upon Charlton Heston, and Lord Bravery, an obvious pastiche of John Cleese.
  • Futurama:
    • Elzar, the recurring Neptunian chef is a thinly veiled impersonation of TV chef Emeril Lagasse. Zapp Brannigan was originally cast with comedian Phil Hartman in the role; when Hartman died before the show began, Billy West did Zapp's voice in the style of Hartman as a tribute. Incidentally, the protagonist Phillip J. Fry, also voiced by Billy West, was named after Phil Hartman.
    • Zapp's whole character is a parody of William Shatner. Not to mention his hair.
    • "Decision 3012" features Chris Travers, a thinly veiled but heavily romanticized parody of Barack Obama.
    • Robot Devil's voice is based on Hans Conried as Captain Hook in Peter Pan.
  • Colonel Kit Coyote of Go Go Gophers is inspired in look, voice and mannerisms by Theodore Roosevelt.
  • Gravedale High:
    • J.P. Ghastly III's voice is heavily based on that of horror icon Peter Lorre.
    • Sid the Invisible Kid has a tendency to do impressions of famous people, most frequently doing an impersonation of Howard Cosell whenever he acts as an announcer and even spending the entirety of the episode "Night of the Living Dad" impersonating Elvis Presley.
  • Gravity Falls:
    • Old Man McGucket's younger self is based off of technological entrepreneur Steve Wozniack.
    • Bill Cipher's voice was based on that of David Lynch.
  • The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy has several. Their version of Dracula is based on Redd Foxx, Grim’s favorite Horror Host Atrocia is just a red-haired Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Hoss Delgado is a combination of Snake Plissken and Ash Williams, Grim's lawyer Harvey sounds just like Christopher Walken and, in one episode, the kids get a helper monkey who sounds and acts like Kevin Spacey. Specifically in Se7en. No, Really.
  • Hanna-Barbera were fond of these in their television shows. For instance, Yogi Bear is Art Carney, and Super Snooper is Ed Gardner from radio's Duffy's Tavern.
  • Several of Hasbro/Sunbow's Merchandise-Driven cartoons from the 1980s (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Transformers: Generation 1, Jem, Inhumanoids) feature a tabloid reporter named Hector Ramirez, an obvious Geraldo Rivera parody.
  • An episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983) featured a scientist character who looked and sounded exactly like Jimmy Stewart.
  • The Edutainment Show Histeria!, from the same studio as Animaniacs and sharing many of the voice actors, would transform historical figures without well-known voices and mannerisms into parodies of recognizable celebrities:
  • Zoey and Chloe Stilton from Horseland look, act, and sound almost similar to Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton, respectively. Also note their surname "Stilton" sounds like "Hilton".
  • The Jack Rabbit Story: Easter Fever featured anthropomorphic animal comedians named Don Rattles (Don Rickles as a snake) and Steed Martin (Steve Martin as a gnu).
  • The Jackie Chan Adventures episode "And He Does His Own Stunts" has a Leonardo DiCaprio substitute. The same episode indicates that Jackie Chan is not a film actor in the show's universe. Conversely, Uncle and Tohru are John Wayne fans.
  • Jem was affected by this trope as well. All guest musicians in the "The Jem Jam" were based on real 1980s personalities. Dominic was based on a young Michael Jackson, Roland Owens was Stevie Wonder, Ron Cox was Mick Jagger, Lena Lerner was Tina Turner, Luna Dark was Cyndi Lauper, and Johnny Deacon was Bruce Springsteen.
    • The two-part Hollywood Jem episode involves Jem getting nominated for an Oscar-like award for the movie she made at the beginning of the first (technically secondnote ) season. The other nominees include Sigourney "Reaver", "Meryl Saint", and "Geraldine Pathos"note 
  • On Jimmy Two-Shoes, Samy's Companion Cube puppet Humphrey von Sidekick has a voice patterned after Bing Crosby.
    • Several famous actors cameo briefly, non-speaking, in the episode "But is it Taz?"
  • Johnny Bravo:
    • Johnny's voice and speech patterns are a parody of Elvis Presley, most notable in the way he says "Oh Momma". In the pilot episode, he went as far as to deep fry a peanut butter and banana sandwich.
    • Later seasons featured Johnny's idol Squint Ringo, a laughably transparent parody of Steven Seagal.
    • The mayor of Aron City was also based on Bill Clinton
  • Prevalent in the Golden Step-Ahead Video, Journey Through the Jungle of Words. Besides one of the lead characters being a dog named Groucho Barx, there's also a zebra that talks like Ed Wynn, a ghost that speaks like Boris Karloff, and an elephant that sounds like W. C. Fields.
  • Kim Possible:
    • Britina, MC Honey, Heather, the Holson twins, the Caustic Critic host of "American Starmaker" and Camille Leon, among others.
    • One Trapped in TV Land episode had a pink haired spy fighting Kim over a device. Who could that be?
  • From King of the Hill:
  • Warner Bros., with its Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series, was among the earliest in the entertainment genre to produce and release animated shorts that featured celebrity clones, caricatures and cameos, starting in the early 1930s. Examples abound:
    • Many famous crooners of the era, several times each. These have included everyone from Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra to Elvis Presley.
      • Crosby -– whose likeness was depicted in the mid-1930s "Bingo Crosbyana" and "Let It Be Me" –- took none too kindly to either short, since he was portrayed as a coward, and threatened to sue. No legal action ever went anywhere, however.
      • The Elvis parody comes in the 1959 Bugs Bunny short "Hare-Abian Nights," where an intimidated Elvis look-alike (Elvis Pretzel) sings "Hound Camel," a parody of "Hound Dog"; the unimpressed Sultan — whom we later see is Yosemite Sam — quickly drops Pretzel into a crocodile tank via Trap Door.
      • Another late '50s entry, "Dog Tales", featured various gags set at a dog show. In addition to another Elvis parody, one of the highlights was "Victor Barky" a piano-playing Great Dane ("The Great Dane" being a popular nickname for Danish musician and comic Victor Borge).
        "I will now play "Clare De Lune". English translation, "Clear the Saloon".note 
    • The Honeymooners was the basis of many Ralph Kramden/Jackie Gleason parodies. One of the first cartoons to pay homage to the character was "Red Riding Hoodwinked," a Tweety and Sylvester cartoon with the usually cheerful Granny filling the role. The Bugs Bunny cartoon "Half-Fare Hare" has a pair of hoboes resembling Ralph and Ed encountering Bugs on a freight train they're riding and pursuing him for a meal. Then there was an entire series of cartoons, called "The Honeymousers", that featured mouse versions of Ralph, Ed, Alice and Trixie (almost always trying to avoid the housecat).
    • Cat versions of Abbott and Costello were named "Babbitt" and "Catsello," Tweety's first antagonists.note 
    • Jack Benny, and the cast of his radio show, played themselves as mice in a Looney Tunes one-shot, "The Mouse That Jack Built".
      • "I Love to Singa" has the talent contest hosted by "Jack Bunny". Also, the main character introduces himself as "Owl Jolson".
      • Casper Caveman, in "Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur", is another clear Jack Benny expy.
    • Humphrey Bogart, as one of Warner Bros.' biggest live-action stars, was a popular source of inspiration:
      • In the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Eight-Ball Bunny," Bogart -– recalling his character and signature line from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre -– makes several unexplained appearances in the movie as Bugs is trying to rescue Playboy Penguin, who had become accidentally separated from his troupe (the Ice Frolics). The line "Pardon me, but could you help out a fellow American who's down on his luck?" is almost directly from the film. (Almost. The line is, "Hey, mister, can you stake a fellow American to a meal?")
      • Bogey and "Baby" (Lauren Bacall) can also be seen in 1947's "Slick Hare".
    • Several shorts featured caricatures of other WB stars such as Edward G. Robinson and Peter Lorre.
      • Carrotblanca, a 1990s send up of Casablanca, features Tweety doing a Lorre impersonation as Ugarte.
    • The 1937 cartoon "The Woods are Full of Cuckoos" revolved around a radio program performed by animal versions of then-famous radio and film personalities, including Jack Benny and Fred Allen.
    • "Wideo Wabbit," a sendup of mid-1950s TV shows, features parodies of Groucho Marx ("You Beat Your Wife," a play on the show You Bet Your Life), Liberace (as "Liver-ace") and Ed Norton (another Honeymooners parody).
    • "Daffy's Inn Trouble": At one point in this 1961 cartoon (which co-stars Porky Pig), the duck tries wooing customers to his hotel by doing a Mae West vamp act. A group of irritated customers are hardly amused, and show their disgust when the record he was playing skips by throwing rotten tomatoes at him.
    • "The Last Hungry Cat": An Alfred Hitchcock Presents parody features a Hitchcock-type bear introducing the cartoon and interacting with Sylvester.
    • In "Hare Conditioned" (1945), Bugs Bunny is chased by a department store manager who looks and sounds like "The Great Gildersleeve". Bugs eventually lampshades this, commenting that he sounds "just like that guy on the radio: the Great Gildersneeze". The manager is very surprised and flattered to hear this.
    • One short features news reports on the radio done by "Walter Windshield".
    • The two crows in Friz Freleng's "A Hop, a Skip and a Chump" (1942) are avatars of Laurel and Hardy.
  • The Loud House:
    • In the episode "For Bros About to Rock", Lincoln, Luna and Clyde go to a concert to see SMOOCH, a blatant parody of KISS.
    • Luna's musical idol, Mick Swagger, is obviously based on Mick Jagger.
  • The M.A.S.K. villain Sly Rax has a Jack Nicholson-like voice. As does Shipwreck from G.I. Joe.
  • Walter Lantz had a series of "Maw and Paw" shorts in the 1950s, which were based on the live-action "Ma and Pa Kettle" comedies.
  • An episode of MTV's The Maxx had a cop from out of town who looked (a little) like Humphrey Bogart and sounded (a lot) like William Shatner. The cop was The Savage Dragon in the original Maxx comic, but could not be used on the show since Erik Larson held the copyright for the character.
  • The only character in Metalocalypse that is admittedly based after a celebrity◊ is Nathan Explosion, based after George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher. One troper still believes he bears a closer resemblance to Peter Steele. Also, though it's denied, Murderface looks a lot like Geezer Butler.
  • Mighty Mouse:
    • "Goons From the Moon" features a radio broadcaster patterned after Walter Winchell.
    • A Filmation episode has Oil Can Harry as rock star Mick Jaguar.
    • The Bakshi episode "Mighty's Tone Poem" featured a quick scene with a cartoon version of Merv Griffin. The antagonist of "The Bride of Mighty Mouse" was patterned after Cary Grant. The episode "Don't Touch That Dial" had two examples: the Mister E figure was a hybrid of Ed Sullivan and Mr. T, while the Rocky of the "Rocky and Hoodwinkle" bit was a caricature of Rocky Balboa.
  • My Goldfish is Evil: Bubbles sounds a lot like Tim Curry, doesn't he?
  • My Gym Partner's a Monkey:
    • The main antagonist Bull Sharkowski, whose vocal and speech mannerisms could only bring Mike Tyson to mind.
    • In one episode, there's an entertainer named Burt Rivendale who is clearly based on David Letterman, even resembling him right down to the gap tooth.
  • Knight Shade, a singer pony from the original My Little Pony cartoon, appears to have been based on Michael Jackson.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, being a more comedic version of the franchisenote  has several examples:
  • The main character of My World And Welcome To It was a thinly disguised version of author James Thurber, which makes sense since the series was based on Thurber's writings published under that title.
  • Phineas and Ferb: "Nerd of a Feather" has a TV executive named Jeff McGarland, who is a parody of Seth MacFarlane and is even voiced by him, as Dan Povenmire had previously worked on Family Guy.
  • An episode of The Proud Family featured an American Idol-type talent show where hopefuls audition to be the next star. Subverted with "The Real Randy Jackson" as he is voiced by Randy, the actual brother of Michael Jackson but also acts as if he's doing a Michael impression and Percival (voiced by Tim Curry) is similar to Simon Cowell.
    • There's also recurring character Wizard Kelly, who appears to be based off of Wizard Kelly.
  • Razzberry Jazzberry Jam:
    • The Shock’s sunglasses and double top hats are obviously modeled on Slash, although his mannerisms make it clear that the writers weren’t familiar with how the actual Slash acts.
    • One episode also features one "Mixmaster Flash"
  • From Regular Show:
  • The Ren & Stimpy Show:
    • Ren is based on Peter Lorre. Yes, Lorre again. John Kricfalusi has gone on record as saying Ren is the unholy lovechild of Lorre and Kirk Douglas. And a little Burl Ives. Ironically, Burl Ives also gets a treatment, as "Stinky Wizzleteats," the singer of Stimpy's favorite song, "Happy Happy, Joy Joy." It's said that Ives was offended... not at the parody, but that Kricfalusi and company hadn't invited him to voice the role himself, allowing him to take a sledgehammer to the "beloved childrens' entertainer" persona he had built up — in Real Life, Ives hated children.
    • Stimpy's voice is based on Larry Fine of The Three Stooges.
  • One of the recurring villains in Robotboy is Ronald Rump, a parody of Donald Trump.
  • Mok, the Big Bad of Rock & Rule, had Mick Jagger's features and David Bowie's fashion sense.
  • In an episode of Rocko's Modern Life, they show an aerobics instructor who is obviously based on Richard Simmons. As said aerobics instructor was played by Richard Simmons, this is more likely a case of Ink-Suit Actor.
  • Sabrina: The Animated Series provides some more examples.
  • Sanjay and Craig: An episode from Season 2 has Anthony Gourmand, and said season's finale has Street Dogg. Ironically, both characters are voiced by the actual people!
  • On Disney's The Shnookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show, the Polite Coyotes (Tex Tinstar segment) were patterned after the Beatles.
  • The Simpsons:
    • The Simpsons actually became famous early on for being one of the first cartoons to regularly subvert this trope by having celebrities voice themselves as characters, starting with Tony Bennett in the 1990 episode "Dancin' Homer." At first these characters merely made cameos, but as time went on whole episodes began to be written around them. This resulted in a mild Celebrity Paradox when Alec Baldwin portrayed himself and then, in a later episode, a completely fictional character.
    • Chief Wiggum was initially an impression of Edward G. Robinson. This gets a lampshade in several episodes: "The Day the Violence Died", a trial episode where cartoon maker Roger Meyers, Jr. talks about this very trope; "Bart Gets an Elephant", where Wiggum dismisses a liquor store robbery report with "Yeah, right. And I'm Edward G. Robinson!"; and "Simpsons Bible Stories", where in the Moses story Wiggum stands in for Robinson's character in The Ten Commandments. Robinson's role in The Ten Commandments was also referenced in the episode "Homer Loves Flanders": "Where's your Messiah NOW, Flanders?!" Finally, in the "Treehouse of Horror XIX'' segment "How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertising" Wiggum meets the ghost of Robinson.
    • Lou the cop's voice is based on Sylvester Stallone. (Though Lou is black.)
    • Dr. Julius Hibbert is a send-up of The Cosby Show's Dr. Cliff Huxtable (and, to a lesser extent, of Bill Cosby himself).
    • Mr. Burns' voice was based on that of Ronald Reagan.
    • Kelsey Grammer stated that he based Sideshow Bob's voice on Ellis Rabb.
    • Dr. Frink is an impression of Jerry Lewis. This was brought full circle in the "Treehouse of Horror XIV" segment "Frinkenstein", where Lewis voiced Frink's dad. Not to mention he himself points out that a cartoon character at a convention is a ripoff of Jerry Lewis.
    • Rainier Wolfcastle (who plays the character McBain) is a not-so-subtle imitation of Arnold Schwarzenegger. (This was made all the more obvious when The Movie used Schwarzenegger as a character — and his appearance, characterization, and voice were nearly identical to those of Wolfcastle.)
    • Mayor Quimby is a send-up of the Kennedy family in general, but most closely based on Edward (Ted). He also borrows traits from other politicians such as Michael Dukakis.
    • Magicians Gunter and Ernst = Siegfried and Roy. In "$pringfield", the duo were attacked by one of the exotic cats used in their act, which actually happened to the real Siegfried and Roy later on. When asked about the parallel, the writers said, in effect, "it was bound to happen sooner or later."
    • Talk show host Opal = Oprah. Right down to her massive audience gift giveaways.
    • The announcer for the Springfield Isotopes baseball team is a dead ringer for longtime Dodgers announcer Vin Scully. Similarly, football-related scenes often feature an announcer who sounds like Keith Jackson.
    • Gil, the perennially unsuccessful salesman, is based on Jack Lemmon's Glengarry Glen Ross character. Lemmon himself voiced a similar character in "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson".
    • Hank Azaria has claimed that Moe's voice was based on a bad Al Pacino impression. Matt Groening has stated that Moe's appearance was based on Rich Hall.
    • The voice of Herman (voiced by Harry Shearer) is based on George H. W. Bush. Other viewers might suggest Jack Nicholson or Gary Sinise.
    • The "Yes Guy", also known as "that jerk who always goes 'Yeeeeessss?'" is a pastiche of a recurring character portrayed by Frank Nelson on various older sitcoms, most notably The Jack Benny Program.
    • In "Sideshow Bob Roberts", we're introduced to conservative talk-show host Birch Barlow, an obvious sendup of Rush Limbaugh.
    • Heavyweight boxing champ Drederick Tatum and his manager Lucius Sweet are send-ups of Mike Tyson and Don King, respectively. This is lampshaded in the episode "The Homer They Fall":
      Homer: You know Lucius Sweet?! He's one of the biggest names in boxing! He's exactly as rich and as famous as Don King, and he looks just like him, too!
    • Also lampshaded with bearded children's folk singer Roofi. A graphic during a TV news report of a riot at a Roofi concert reads "Raffi denounces Roofi".
    • The Parson looks and sounds suspiciously like Bing Crosby.
    • Judge Constance Harm is a parody of "Judge Judith" Sheindlin, particularly in her tough reputation and snarky demeanor when a litigant tried to bluff their way through her questions.
    • Booberella is based on Elvira.
    • Anger Watkins is derived from ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith, complete with No Indoor Voice.
    • Troy McClure was a mash up of B-Movie mainstays Troy Donahue and Doug McClure, the latter of which thought the character was hilarious.
    • Paris Texan, the daughter of Rich Texan is an obvious parody of Paris Hilton, and a pun on Paris, Texas, as well.
  • Ron the Rent-a-Cop from 6teen can best be described as equal parts Christopher Walken and Clint Eastwood.
  • Solar Opposites: In "The Quantum Ring", two of the magicians who came to visit the family were non-speaking caricatures of Penn and Teller. They later get killed for trying to kill Korvo.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • In the Animated Adaptation of Soul Music, the witch who runs The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday is modelled on Auntie Wainwright who owns the junk shop in Last of the Summer Wine; Volf Volfssonssonsson, the Hubland barbarian, is The Ahnold; CMOT Dibbler is based on Private Walker, the spiv from Dad's Army; and Crysophrase the Breccia ton is Don Corleone if he was made of rock. Robert Selacchi's apprentice assassin is modelled on former UK politician Michael Portillo, and is even named "Miguel Portiyo" (he was No Name Given in the book).
  • South Park loves averting this trope; one of their defining characteristics is their parodying of celebrities by name. To the point where the 200th episode involves every celebrity they've pastiched suing the residents of South Park for collectively ridiculing them. Though in Season 20, when Herbert Garrison is elected President of the United States as a substitute for Donald Trump, the parallel is anything but subtle.
  • In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Sleepy Time", Gary’s voice in his dream is influenced by that of Richard Haydn, best-known as the Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland.
  • Almost any cartoon featuring a sporting event will have a sportscaster or commentator blatantly ripping off the late Howard Cosell. (Futurama switched that one up by featuring celebrity imitator Rich Little's severed head imitating Cosell — and having Little actually do the voice.) Like the Record Needle Scratch and the above-mentioned Senator Claghorn, one wonders, do any of the kids these days know exactly who is being parodied?
  • "Monster expert" Dr. Jelly Goodwell in Star vs. the Forces of Evil is an obvious parody, at least in appearance and demeanor, of Jane Goodall.
  • SWAT Kats has David Litterbin — an obvious play on David Letterman.
  • The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries:
    • The episode "Keep Your Pantheon" depicts the Greek god Zeus as a caricature of Charlton Heston.
    • "The Rotha Khan" has Rotha Khan speak in a voice impersonating John Wayne. He even says "pilgrim" at one point.
  • In TaleSpin, Rebecca Cunningham is a lot like Kirstie Allie's Rebecca character of "Cheers" in that she's the responsible one to the dashing rogue.
  • Madney Speer on Tara Duncan who's, y'know, supposed to be like that "Hit Me Baby, One More Time" singer (but the character looked more like P!nk circa 2000, and her song sounded very ''Best of Both Worlds''-ish)
  • Taz's dad in Taz-Mania was blatantly based on Bing Crosby right down to the nice glass of Ooooooo.J. And his brother Drew is Bob Hope, leading to several Road to ...... parodies.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) had McDonald Trump, who made a fortune selling very expensive and very small pizzas.
  • The Large Ham screaming of The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight from The Tick was said by Maurice Lamarche in the book The Magic Behind the Voices to have been a nod to his friend Sam Kinison.
  • Tiny Toon Adventures:
    • Shirley the Loon was based loosely on Shirley MacLaine, or at least on her public image as a new age kook.
    • However, though you might think one-shot "Julie Bruin" falls here, she is actually voiced by Julie Brown (not "Downtown", the other one).
    • In "Stand Up And Deliver", Babs gets a spot at a comedy club's open mic night, but gets serious Performance Anxiety whe she has to come on after Robin Killems.
  • Spike the bulldog, in the Tom and Jerry series, has a Jimmy Durante-like voice.
  • In the Total Drama franchise, celebrity host and sometime contestant Blaineley, who is something of a Fergie Expy — particularly in hair colour (blonde), full name (they both share the name "Stacey"), and in singing style ("Blainerriffic", from one of the World Tour Aftermaths, which in title, beats, parts of its rhyming scheme, and "I Am" Song nature, derives considerable inspiration from "Fergalicious").
    • Several of the contestants are basically cartoon teenage versions of celebrities and reality show stars. Owen and Scott are based on Richard Hatch and Russell Hantz of Survivor, Anne Maria is a parody of Snooki (her label is even "The Jersey Shore Reject"; similarly Mike's Vito personality is meant to be The Situation), and Sugar is very clearly meant to be Honey Boo-Boo. Likewise, Dakota is parody of Paris Hilton, Sam is Seth Rogen, Beardo is described by the creators as Reggie Watts mixed with Michael Winslow, and Jasmine is based on Bindi Irwin.
    • This extends to the hosts as well, with Chris himself being a blatant spoof of Jeff Probst, (with elements of Joe Rogan) while Chef is a parody of Samuel L. Jackson.
  • One episode of Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race features a woman who is clearly supposed to be Björk, but no one refers to her by name.
  • Totally Spies! was particularly bad with this. In fact, one episode centered around a number of knockoffs of Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Britney Spears, etc., and the villain was Milan Stilton.
  • An episode of The Transformers involved a science fiction movie starring "Harold Edsel" and "Karen Fishhook", who bore suspiciously strong resemblances to Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, respectively. Interestingly, about twenty years later, Ford would make a more overt Transformers appearance: Hasbro produced a "Star Wars Transformers" toy line, with Han Solo as one of the featured characters. Even more interestingly, is what happened much sooner than that. In The Transformers: The Movie, Susan Blu, who voiced Karen Fishhook, would also provide the voice of one of the franchises most popular female characters, Arcee. Word of God has actually gone on to describe Arcee's character design as being "the robotic equivalent of a naked Princess Leia", the character Fisher is best known for.
    • Transformers also employed more conventional impressions: Cosmos' voice was essentially a heavily-modulated Peter Lorre (again...), while Hound's voice actor was a dead ringer for Jimmy Stewart. Both G1 and Animated Shockwave's voices are based on David Warner, specifically his performance as Sark from TRON (in fact, his voice actor, Corey Burton was even hired to take up Warner's role as Sark in Kingdom Hearts II), Optimus Prime's voice is based on John Wayne, and Rumble's and Frenzy's voices were based on Al Capone and Leo Gorcey.
      • Lampshaded in the Luke Ski filk song The Ballad of Optimus Prime, where Luke takes a line to complain about Hot Rod's role: "We wanted John Wayne, and they gave us Judd Nelson!"
    • Even Animated has this going on, with Ultra Magnus' voice being a rather good imitation of Robert Stack (who, not-so-coincidentally, played the original Magnus in the 1986 movie), and Ironhide being Corey Burton's best approximation of Huell Howser. Swindle's mannerisms are modeled after those of Ron Popeil, and Mixmaster sounds suspiciously like Joe Pesci (which is played up in a Whole Episode Reference to Home Alone). Highbrow has a similar accent, mustache, and gap in his tooth to Terry-Thomas. Grandus sounds like another Paul Lynde (and Screams Like a Little Girl). Rattletrap sounds a lot like Lou Costello (which may or may not have been the inspiration for Rattrap's accent, though it's at least less obvious with him).
    • Tracks is based on Jim Backus' performance as Thurston Howell in Gilligan's Island, Red Alert was supposedly based on Richard Nixon, and Mirage was based on Dean Martin.
  • Mouldy Milk in The Trash Pack webseries is made to sound like Matthew McConaughey.
  • An episode of Uncle Grandpa had English Muffinz, a stand-in for Justin Bieber, but as he's English instead of Canadian, he could also double as a parody of One Direction.
  • Celebrity caricatures were common in several of the Van Beuren Studios cartoon shorts, such as Honey Bear dressing up as Mae West and Gandhi making a cameo in "Croon Crazy", and a bird in "A Little Bird Told Me" being named Walter Finchell, a play on the famous radio star Walter Winchell.
    • An anthropomorphic horse who pops up in "Galloping Fanny" is obviously based off of Mae West.
    • The buzzard who turns his head into that of Jimmy Dirante in "On The Pan".
    • "Cupid Gets His Man" features a character who is a caricature of W. C. Fields.
  • The VeggieTales in the House episode "Bob and the Awesome Frosting Mustache" featured a mustachioed grape named Tom Celeriac, who was an obvious parody of that of Tom Selleck.
    • The countertop scenes in one episode of the original VeggieTales series (specifically Pistachio: The Little Boy That Woodn't) spoofed Extreme Makeover: Home Edition wherein a scallion look/soundalike of Ty Pennington renovated the countertop set.
  • The Venture Bros. has many characters based on real people. To wit:
    • In the second-season episode "Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?", the character of President Breyer is an obvious pastiche of George W. Bush (Bush-Breyer, get it?) with some Bill Clinton thrown in for flavor. Oddly enough, George W. Bush's down-home Texas mannerisms and dearth of intellectual rigor combined with Bill Clinton's lack of personal boundaries come off to make the character seem more like Lyndon Johnson than either Clinton or Bush.
      • Speaking of whom, The Revenge Society later picks up married couple Lady Hawk Johnson and Lyndon Bee. And yes, they do look and sound exactly like President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife "Lady Bird" Johnson.
    • Henry Kissinger as Doctor Henry Killinger. Although, no one is sure whether Kissinger has a Magic Murder Bag or not.
    • Brock Samson's trainer and mentor, Col. Hunter Gathers, bears a striking similarity to gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. After his sex change he bears a striking similarity to gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson with a pair of really big fake tits.
    • The yard sale episode featured a nameless supervillain looking suspiciously much like Elton John browsing for dirty magazines.
    • Colonel Horace Gentleman is basically Sean Connery with a dash of William S. Burroughs thrown in.
    • Dr. Orpheus is a rather obvious caricature of Vincent Price, which fits with his also being an Expy of Doctor Strange (see comic book folder).
    • Lloyd Venture, Rusty's grandfather and founder of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, is Theodore Roosevelt through and through, including physical appearance, dress, and unique manner of speaking.
    • Mr. Brisby is a jaundiced view of Walt Disney, differing only in that he appears to have been limited to a wheelchair for the past twenty years, as opposed to having died and been kept frozen in the basement of Tomorrowland.
    • When 21 and 24 finally see each other out of costume, they comment that they look like Kevin Smith without a beard and Jerry Seinfeld with a unibrow, respectively.
  • One Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch story involves a country singer named "Johnny Crash".
  • Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa:
    • Bat Blastagun's voice was a clear impression of Jack Nicholson.
    • One-shot character Dr. Wolfenstein from the episode "How the West was Shrunk" sounded like Boris Karloff.
    • Copycat is clearly based on Dean Martin, sharing his appearance and voice.
    • Red Mantle and Dragon are heavily implied to be Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper respectively, as they were musicians who were recruited into the Guild prior to getting on a plane, with their deaths faked. it's unclear if the same offer was extended to Ritchie Valens
  • Winx Club: Iginio Straffi stated the Winx girls are each based on a female celebrity. Bloom is based on Britney Spears, Stella is based on Cameron Diaz, Flora is based on Jennifer Lopez, Musa is based on Lucy Liu, Tecna is based on P!nk, and Aisha is based on Beyoncé.
  • Wonder Pets! sometimes has this. In one episode they save a group of musical insects known as The Beetles (who are bug versions of Paul, John, George and Ringo), and in another they meet up with the Rat Pack which are three rats named Sammy (Sammy Davis Jr.), Blue Eyes (Frank Sinatra) and Dino (Dean Martin). And in "The Wonder Pets Save the Hound Dog," they save a baby hound dog whose father is a dog version of Elvis Presley, who wears a pair of velvet booties and loves peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
  • In World of Quest, the titular Quest isn't voiced by Patrick Warburton, but it certainly sounds like he's voiced by Patrick Warburton.
  • Voices based on Ed Wynn's famous "Perfect Fool" character...

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top