Cool was a secret agent working at Secret, Incorporated. His chief was called simply Number One, who would send him out against such evildoers as the Owl; Jack-in-the-Box; hat-themed Mad Scientist Dr. Madcap and his green-haired henchwoman, Greta Ghoul; the serpentine Rattler, and Hurricane Harry. Cool tended to defeat his foes through dumb luck (a la Maxwell Smart), but no matter how well he did against his Rogues Gallery, afterward he'd mess things up with Number One, causing Number One to eject Cool from his office.
Each episode had two Cool McCool adventures sandwiching one adventure about his father, Harry McCool. Harry and his brothers, Dick and Tom, were a trio of Keystone Kops-style police officers.
"Troping is my business":
- Animal Motifs: The Owl hoots when he laughs and can fly with the help of two real owls clutching his shoulders. The Rattler, despite having arms and legs, prefers to slither about on his belly, has a forked tongue and a weakness for snake-charming music.
- Animate Inanimate Object: The Rattler usually grew grinning mobile plants for his flunkies, while Dr. Madcap often built sentient flying hats and other headgear to do his bidding.
- Blow You Away: Hurricane Harry has the ability to blow gale force winds.
- Borrowed Catch Phrase: The episode title "Will The Real Coolmobile Please Stand Up?"
- Breath Weapon: Hurricane Harry is an overweight wind bag who uses lung power to create mighty gusts that can blow anything out of his path.
- Bullethole Outline: McCool is often fired at with machine guns that leave him unharmed but surrounded by a corona of bullet holes.
- Cartoon Bomb: One of the favorite weapons of the villains.
- Catchphrase: "Danger is my business," "That will never happen again, Number One," and "When you're right, Number One, you're right."
- After ejecting Cool from his office (via the roof), Number One would often chuckle and say "Love that boy..."
- Cloudcuckoolander: Dr. Madcap and Greta Ghoul and Jack-in-the-Box.
- Cool Car: The Coolmobile can fly and come to Cool 's bidding . . . with varying results.
- Da Chief: Number One sends Cool out on his missions.
- Department of Redundancy Department: A lot of jokes run like this: someone will say something in fancy or elaborate terms, then say the exact same thing in plain English.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Greta Ghoul, Dr. Madcap's significant other.
- The Faceless: Number One. Normally, all one would see of him was one or both arms sticking out from a large chair. One time Cool accidentally sets off a bomb that blasts Number one up to the ceiling, and we get to see the chief's rotund body and wildly-kicking legs in addition to his arms — but his head is embedded in the ceiling and thus still unseen!
- Fat Bastard: Hurricane Harry. Especially when inflated.
- Girl Friday: Number One's secretary, who appropriately enough, is named Friday.
- It Will Never Catch On: Tom's schtick is that (in his unintelligible, mumbled fashion) he correctly predicts that one day some fantastic thing (usually related to the torture the Villain of the Day is wreaking upon them) or device will be commonplace and everyone will love it. His brothers naturally scoff at this.
- Laughing Gas: Jack-in-a-Box's weapons include grenades filled with laughing gas.Cop: Ha ha ha! He's stealin' all our money!
- Mad Scientist: Dr. Madcap alternated between this and Evil Sorcerer.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The Title Sequence with Cool nonchalantly shrugging off multiple attempts by his enemies to kill him makes him seem more like your typical capable, unflappable secret agent than the parody thereof he really is.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Cool McCool's voice was based off Jack Benny, while The Owl's voice was based off Henry Potter (Lionel Barrymore's evil banker from It's a Wonderful Life) and The Owl's occasional partner in crime The Pussycat was based off Mae West.
- Once an Episode: At the end of every episode, Number One ejects Cool from his office after he does something while carrying the Idiot Ball.
- One-Steve Limit: Both Cool's dad and one of his archenemies are named Harry. Since Cool and his dad's segments are totally separate, you don't really notice.
- Outlaw Couple: Dr. Madcap and Greta Ghoul.
- Plant Mooks: The Rattler's crimes usually revolved around his use of these.
- Scary Jack-in-the-Box: The villain Jack-in-the-Box, of course.
- Shout-Out: The title of the episode "Will The Real Coolmobile Please Stand Up?" obviously nods to the catch phrase from the game show To Tell the Truth. Cool himself invokes the phrase when two Coolmobiles show up.
- An episode in which domestic birds defect to the Owl's camp featured a peacock in a TV studio showing its colorful feathers for the camera. The Cool McCool show aired on NBC, home of the now famous peacock.
- Sssssnaketalk: The Rattler spoke like this, though as a Green and Mean villain he combined both serpentine qualities and botanical qualities.
- Spy Fiction: Parodied affectionately.
- Super-Breath: Hurricane Harry's main schtick.
- Theme Naming: Harry and his two brothers.
- Three Shorts: Basically this series followed the ABA format: A was Cool while B was Harry.
- The Unintelligible: Tom, since only Harry could understand him.
- Verbal Tic: Cool has a habit of speaking in spoonerisms.
- Jack-in-the-Box utters phrases with wobbly, drawn-out syllables and almost everything he says is accompanied by his signature laugh ("Arh-arh-arh!").
- Villainous Harlequin: Jack-in-the-Box.
- Villain Team-Up: Although the bridges between Cool McCool's adventures and those of his dad have all the villains teaming up against our hero, "College Of Crooks," the second Cool McCool adventure in the show's final episode, is the only actual story to feature the entire rogues' gallery.
- Weaponized Headgear: Dr. Madcap's hats often contained weapons such as guns or anvils.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: McCool is this both with his memories of his father Harry McCool and with his current relationship with his boss, Number One.
