"Acrobatty Bunny" is a 1946 Looney Tunes short staring Bugs Bunny. It is the first Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Robert McKimson.
When the circus comes to town, it sets up right on top of Bugs' burrow. Unfortunately, when he goes upstairs to complain about the racket, he finds himself facing a lion who wants to eat him. Bugs spends the remainder of the cartoon teasing the lion and leading him on a painful chase through the circus' big top.
"Acrobatty Bunny" provides examples of:
- Bad Vibrations: All the ruckus above Bugs' burrow as the circus is setting up - especially the wagons and elephants stomping around - cause tremors that shake Bugs off his bed.
- Elephants Are Scared of Mice: When the lion tries to use an elephant to break into the cage to get him, Bugs takes out a wind-up toy mouse to scare the elephant. The elephant reacts by grabbing Leo with his trunk and using him like a flyswatter.
- Elevator Gag: Bugs' burrow has an elevator that winds along the entrance tunnel.
- Human Cannonball: Bugs tricks the lion into the cannon for the human cannonball act. The lion gets stuck, and when the cannon fires, it bursts apart, leaving part of it around the lion's waist like a hula skirt. The dazed lion dances as Bugs plays the ukelele for the Iris Out.Bugs: We're also available for picnics, lodge meetings, children's parties, and smokers!
- Self-Restraint: After the lion gets out of its cage, Bugs locks himself inside the cage so the lion can't get him.
- Shout-Out:
- Upon finding himself inside the lion's mouth, Bugs shouts "Pinocchio!"
- Bugs paraphrases from Richard Lovelace's poem "To Althea, From Prison". (The actual line is "Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.")Bugs: Iron bars do not a prison make... but they sure help, eh, Doc?
- Tempting Fate: After escaping from the cage, Bugs teases the lion by clanging a plank on the bars. Then he happens to clang the plank on the lion's teeth as he stands on the open gate.
