Favor to The Feathered Fiend

As I promised , here is to the other greatest character of all time !
I said that Donald was one of the 2 richest cartoon creations that ever appeared and whoever was following my gallery pretty much guessed who the other one was.
Yeah sure I hear bullshit like " What ? the duck who's Bugs Bunny 's bitch ? He was cool at first but now he is a loser !".
To all these morons I say STFU , pissants. None of you have the talent of the multi-layered cartoon actor himself, Daffy Dumas Duck (and yes I stick with that middle name like CN did when it was truly CN. Also Alexandre Dumas was a badass !), so Humbug to youtube, Tv Tropes and all that smala , NOW the grown-ups are talking .

THIS is also the ONLy article in the entire internet that not only does not complain, but OVERTLY PRAISES Daffy's negative aspects such as greed and jealousy ! Why ? Because people who bash him for that in NEARLY EVERY fucking cartoon blog I came across really got fucking grating to hear and read! Seriously , it's how dark comedy WORKS, Fragnabbit ! Also because , in many ways, I am motivated by ego and jealousy ...
So I figured that they were in need of a serious need of asskicking from the mediterranean audience that I represent and ACTUAL Daffy fans.
And before we start I have to quote Mr Unison for stating THE truth about the duck better than I would've ever done " Daffy is just a highly diverse character who has so much personality until it can't all be portrayed in a single 6 to 7 minutes of film. Simple as that."

The main reason why Daffy is such a great character is his capacity to be funny all on his own. He can be the straight man , the clown ,the trickster or the pratfall guy. He's got a tremendous acting range as a character and can fit in just about any story and STILL be hilarious. THAT is Daffy's main strength : He can literally marry the part ( this, as we will see, can be shown with his interactions with his co-stars or his blending with the environment. That is what makes him complementary to Donald's more constant character ... )
Like any character, Daffy has one limitation : you can't do tragedy with him. His character is comedy itself inside and out and as such, you cannot do something explicitly depressing or sad with him . It has to be a really dark comedy or a tragicomedy to truly work with him (something that makes you both laugh and feel sorry for him. That, kids, is gold comedic writing ...)
Since John Cleese stated (once again , thank you David for the reference ,,,) that the basis of all comedy are the 7 deadly sins, then Daffy is THE LORD OF ALL SINNERS HIMSELF . Let us dive into the duck's delirious selfishness and ego, with the song that describes him best . Music Maestro ! [link]


AVERY'S WACKY DUCKY

Daffy is ,like Mickey, an embryological character. His first output already establishes traits that will never leave him in his entire animated (and printed) life.
He first appears (courtesy of Avery and animated by Clampett) in Porky's Duck Hunt. In it, the little black duck in a energetic and gluttonous ball of ink that breaks the 4th wall and jumps around the lake shouting WOO HOO WOO HOO HOO HOO . The public NEVER saw anything like that before , this was the birth of the first Screwball ever in animation. Tex would also direct the duckling in 2 more cartoons : Daffy Duck and Egghead (where he is given his name for the 1st time ) and Daffy Duck in Hollywood (the first time his full-blown ego leads the story ... if Daffy wants your place he will get it, By hook or by crook !).
Now that the baby is born, the combined input of Clampett, Jones, Freleng, McKimson, Tashlin, and Davis will nurture him to SUPREMACY .


CLAMPETT'S TRICKSTER DIVER


Bob Clampett just happened to be the first director up to bat after Tex. Like any of the other geniuses listed here , Clampett would develop new traits to the duck. The first addition would be an extremely elastic body that pulls any sort of antics with it . Since Clampett was described as having a wild card personality He let the animators go insane and make the weirdest, wackiest cartoons ever. This would affect most of the characterizations in his cartoons : if he had a formula , it was that of the impish critter that would pull all sorts of antics to take down the opponent , and Bob was talented enough to combine pugnacity and likability ...
However , if you take him only on his own, Clampett's Daffy is extremely close to his Bugs Bunny , just with more violent tricks and his nuttiness turned up ...they were both the same basic crazy trickster character that nearly every Clampett hero was. And that is not a bad thing, but this take on its own is not enough to round up the duck.
However Clampett will put the seeds of future aspects for Daffy namely : Egotism, disregard for responsibility , Sthelf preservation and Thespian abilities .
The first appears pretty early in the Daffy Doc (where he literally attempts to butcher Porky to prove he's a good doctor... Because nothing says good medecine than a cuckoo duck with a saw ...) or the Wise Quacking Duck (where he will literallyy have a fucking ball tormenting Mr Meek , just for to satisfy his own craving for entertainment and outright sadism . Yep , Clampett's Daffy is a bastard when he wants to ! Who said he was a nice guy ?) and the second Wise Quacks (where he celebrates being a father by hitting the boose... Hard.)
The latter 2 traits are displayed in Draftee Daffy ( Better go to hell than to War !) and in Clampett's last 2 (and BEST) Daffy cartoons: He steals the spotlight as
Danny Kaye in Book Revue and becomes Duck Twacy in that masterpiece that needs no further presentation !


TASHLIN DASHIN' DAFFY


Ah Tish Tash ! One of the most underrated of the BIG 6 ... And let me tell you his Daffy is also a case worth studying ! He strikes me as the most lustful take and more "adult" update of Clampett's Daffy. He is truly the begining of the lean, mean and sexy Daffy (a trend that we will see in his later 50's design ).
Since Tash did few (BUT EXCELLENT) cartoons , it is better to analyse them all and how is the duck in them .
"Plane Daffy" and "Scrap Happy Daffy" have Daffy fighting Mata Hari (with his own sexiness might I add ) and a nazi goat that tries eating his scrap pile (the results are seen in this picture [link] ). Those cartoons are the ones where the popularity of aggressive characters would skyrocket . WW II was not a time for subtlety , thus it was the age of aggressive tricksters !
Stupid Cupid might be one of his silliest ever XD. Strangely enough , Daffy is here the victim of a creepy Elmer Cupid (3rd creepiest incarnation of Elmer...) and tries to ruffle the feathers of a hen , under the influence of the arrow (though from what I heard , the actual ending got cut , go figure...).
Porky Pig's Feat is just a riot from start to finish: This is when he is purely a friend to Porky but gambles the cash they needed to pay the note (heh , with friends like these ...). He does then the most logical thing : take off and scram. And despite all his tricks and ruses to escape , he and Porky found a bigger fish in the sea ...
Finally Tash's last cartoon is his best, in all his filmography :"Nasty Quacks". Easily one of the top 3 Daffy cartoons ! Once upon a time a kind father gave his daughter a cute little duckling. The `cute little duckling' however, grew up to be a huge feathered bastard who will get his kicks by tormenting the dad with his obnoxious antics. Of course, since the notion of moderation is totally alien to him, Daffy will take advantage of the protection the little girl provides him to do whatever the fuck he wants! And , to our glee, he never deprives himself of such an occasion !
It has been stated that Tashlin's Daffy Duck really is a younger Jerry Lewis (well yes Thad, I am acquainted with your stuff XD. ). I disagree due to one reason only : Daffy is the far better comedian . No comparison ...




DAVIS'S CRAFTY DAFFY


Artie Davis (one of the unsung maestros ) did evidently a handful of Daffy Ducks , and they are more than woth watching (in fact what are you waiting for to do so ?) . What is interesting about Artie's Daffy is that he comes up as the most "reasonable" version . Of course by 'Reasonable' I mean that in his cartoons Daffy takes a lot more time thinking about what he'll do next and think it THROUGH (while most of the time, with other directors, he is way too overexcited or impatient to properly scheme and focus .)
Of course he is still headstrong and absorbed in his tasks and his vision of the world to truly care about what is REALLY going on ( In The Stupor Salesman , he tries to sell something , ANYTHING, to a dangerous criminal without realizing THAT THE GUY WAS A CRIMINAL!). His craftiness comes forth in What Makes Daffy Duck , where he has the opportunity to outwit 2 MORONS XD , or in Holiday for Drumsticks , where he succeeds in "honestly getting" the turkey's food .... a plan that worked way TOO well!
Riff Raff Daffy has him a hobo that has to outwit Officer Porky to find a place to sleep (even if includes snatching the home of a gopher.)
As for the design , Davis's Daffy is mostly "Funny rounded" Daffy , a design that is shared by our next contestant !)


If the 40's had Daffy mostly as a hyper-aggressive trickster , the 50's with the direction of the 3 following directors would shape him into the unrelenting god of all egoists and anti-heroes !



McKIMSON's BASTARD OF A MALLARD


No list would be complete without a few words about the Great Robert McKimson's contribution to the duck!
He is the one that , as an animator , redesigned Daffy to make him taller and more anthropomorphic.(and I love that big fat beak ! It looks hilarious...)
Now I know what you'll say. Isn't his Daffy just a mixture of Clampett's and Jones's ? Nope. Saying that would be belittling the contributions of these 3 geniuses ! McKimson plays on other aspects of Daffy most of the time. If I could sum up McKimson's duck in 2 words it would be Juvenile delinquent. And I mean delinquent! Daffy in these cartoons is so brash and unapologetic that you can't help but admire his "I just don't give a fuck" attitude. In Daffy Doodles, Boobs in the woods and Daffy Duck Slept here , we see him as an energetic trickster who has the time of his life pissing the fuck out of Porky (and he KNOWS he's being a jerk ! But that does not stop him , as long as he is having a ball ! Which is an added value to Clampett's sugar-high ducky, McKimson is more tactful but just as fun-seeking...).
BUT if there is one character trait McKimson perfected it's the con-man act . He knew how to make Daffy a manipulative egotist that knows how pull the strings of more timid or unassuming characters . Some of his best are the salesman Daffy shorts (Fool Coverage or Push Button house or even The high and the flighty where he manages to use the ongoing war between Foghorn and the dog to his own advantage) or even Daffy Duck Hunt, Thumbs Fun and Pest in the house (where he , for a time, took advantage of the meek Porky. What is satisfying is that he does not go unpunished XD ...)
A common trait he has with Jones's Daffy are the greed (in the excellent Ducking the devil) and the miscast Daffy part (Stupor Duck and Boston Quackie come to mind), both used to great effect. BUT, his crowning gem is Birth of a notion: Daffy manages to be a hammy con-man (look at how he acts to trick the dog), a trickster , MURDEROUS for survival and the fall-guy at the very end. Check it, It is an order!


LE CANARD DE FRIZ CONTRE LE SHOW-BIZ


A lot of people talk about the Jones jealous jerk Daffy...Huge mistake here guys ! It is Friz we have to credit here . And yes, I said credit as in Thank for !
Yes Chuck teamed him up with Bugs first, but none of those interactions had Daffy jealous of Bugs ...
Friz first dealt with the duck's competitiveness and lust for stardom in “You Ought to Be in Pictures”in 1940. In this cartoon , Daffy convinces Porky that he has a chance at acting in live-action movies.After Porky reluctantly breaks his toon contract and goes to the WB sound stages, Daffy goes to Leon Sleschinger's office and hams it up to be the new star of Looney Tunes. Friz did add 2 balanced aspects to Daffy : He may be an amoral psychopathic schemer but he is also dedicated to his act and only wants the public to love him (and the other directors would expand on that. Especially the one that will come later in this list ).
To better understand this expansion, you have to know that the early appearances of the duck would spawn so many imitators both outside WB (Screwy Squirrel , Woody Woodpecker...) and inside WB (check Clampett's paragraph ...) that he would not be all that unique or specific. AND by the 50's (and that is what the whiny purists bitch and moan about, cause they can't put in their fucking narrow peanut for a brain ...) , People wanted NEW things: characters that were human and relatable.So Daffy needed a reimagining and the whole idea of making him the silver medal of the studio was a strike of genius !
Of course , the main character trait I love about Freleng's Daffy is the accentuation of shameless self-promotion : His best stuff gives us a Daffy that is either obsessed in getting in Hollywood , Both Literally (Hollywood Daffy ) or figuratively (like in the masterpiece Yankee Doodle Daffy, where he tries to implicitely promote himself by promoting Sleepy LaGoon...). Of course Daffy would never spit at celebrity if it comes too easily (like in the hilarious Golden Yeggs ), and is sly and sadistic enough to manipulate Elmer or Porky (Wise Quackers and Crack Quack come to mind...).
The reason I love Friz's Jealousy trilogy (A star is bored, Show Biz Bugs and A person to Bunny ) is that it shows a Daffy who has fucking ENOUGH of getting squat while the rabbbit got it all ! I mean think about it , after WWII with cartoons like Commando Daffy, he didn't receive any honorary mentions from army camps while Bugs did . In the 40's , Daffy really was this beloved cartoon star and then Bugs , due to his more subtle aggressivity, came out of nowhere and totally stole his thunder. It makes perfect sense that Daffy got insanely jealous ! (well he was already envious of Porky before , sooo keep your "sabotaged the character" to yourself!...).
And even when he's attempting to assassinate Bugs to get HIS place back, he's the most endearing character in those shorts (don't tell you internally never meant to off someone who annoyed you ?) . Also , he is perfectly able to forget his jealousy the moment something nice happens to him (look at how giddy he gets when he's handed a script called the Duck ! ) . So he's not exactly villainous (I mean come on guys , you tell me THIS is OOC and say jackshit when he tries murdering a duckling who took his place? or the way he tried to bomb the little draftsman ? Or trying to butcher Porky ? Double Standard much ?).



JONES'S FEATHERED AVATAR


Now, I know Chuck Jones did a lot of great Daffy cartoons prior to 1948 : My Favorite Duck , Tom Turk and Daffy, To Duck or not to Duck and a Pest in the house are awe-inspiring.
But if I were talking about those , I'd be repeating what has been said previously . So I prefer to insist on the way Jones an Mike Maltese expanded the little black duck .To truly understand Jones's take on Daffy, it's pretty simple : "rational" is just a word for him. THIS Daffy is the duck at his most illogical and deluded.
I guess his eloquence is what makes people say "he is not daffy enough " , but don't listen to such a moronic statement from those moralising hollier-than-thou. If Clampett had Daffy as a duckling in the highest of sugar-highs , Jones had him as the kid who tries proving himself as the best of the best, or at least a mentally sound person, after nonchalantly throwing his meds of the window.
Chuck and Mike did not invent a NEW character (take that wikipedia !) , they took the duck’s physical energy and focused on Daffy's id in a more cerebral way : greed, self-preservation, complete absence of moderation , and a huge passion for are what characterise who I call , without any doubt, Jones's absolute best actor. And no , they did not take the good-natured qualities either (besides , if you want great anti-heroes, flaws are a wonderfully multi-layered subject for exploration... ).
Greed is definitely seen in the excellent Daffy Dilly and You were never Duckier (and no I don't see him as different here than he is in the other Jones cartoons...) or in Ali baba Bunny (and EVEN THEN , his lust for cash is IRRATIONAL ! I mean when the genie shrinks him, a pearl becomes a treasure for him ?! And how would he manage to get all that treasure through a rabbit's hole ?) and Beanstalk Bunny ( Still no jealousy... in fact he doesn't give a damn about the lagomorph until the giant Elmer comes in ! After that , all bets are off and every duck for himself !)
As for self-preservation... well it 's true that we've seen that survival instinct beforehand , but Jones's Daffy is way too careless and overexcited to truly be a preservationist ! To explain this paradox , take a look at the hunter's trilogy :
- First he NEVER estimates Bugs Bunny's patience and subtlety against both him and Elmer... Okay , Daffy is a zany trickster but he never handled a SUBTLE trickster beforehand ... (AND NO ! Daffy is the kind of guy who falls for tricks like that ! Look at Draftee Daffy or Porky and Daffy prior to those... )
- He BERATES a hunter that is pointing a shotgun at him .
- He STILL tries to reiterate the same tactics despite all the lead he's been eating while never being careful about what he says ! Talk about pride ! (Still no jealousy...Oh , and for the morons who said these cartoons are easy to write for , well YOU DO THAT. Just show yer daddy if ya can do better, punks! ).
So generally, he is devoid of true self-control or ... well... control. When he's given said control, he tends to abuse it for his own fun ( the Ducksters being a great example of that ). BUT, he still has a huge advantage over Bugs due to that : adaptability . Even when the deck is stacked against him, Daffy STILL persists no matter what . In Duck Amuck, he had absolutely 0 chance of retaliating but does he give up ? Does he quit ? FUCK NO, he has a public to entertain and THUS the show must go on ! (Which is interesting because in the underrated Rabbit Rampage, you can easily spot Bugs's weakness : Strip him of his CONTROL , and he IMMEDIATELY loses his cool..More on that another time....)
As for the last traits, well, the duck's passion can be seen in his best shorts : namely the parodies! Daffy could not care less if he's the wrong person for the part. He does not play a character , HE BECOMES the character ! These miscast Daffy shorts are crucial to see how versatile a character he has become during a period where he was not all that popular in the USA (ironically , this is the Daffy that foreigners like me think of when we say that he is the best !Loser ? So what, true losers give up ! But not this badass Motherducker ! He may be belittled and spurned by cartoon critics, but he never gives up and doesn't let anything stop him - not Bugs, not Elmer, not his own failures, not even reality...): Robin Hood Daffy, Duck Dodgers , Drip-along Daffy and especially my favorite The Scarlet Pumpernickel.



Another transition , Daffy had a bad run in the 60's (I attribute it mostly to the absence of these guys [link] ... and also to the fact that this little black duck had bills to pay !), everybody will say that . But did it ruin him ? Fuck no ! Do you think 4 bad years could bring down 2 decades of ornithological excellence ?! Especially with what's to come ?!
In the 80's , Daffy comes back with a vengeance and won't fall down ever again !
In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, he squares off against the other titan of all anatidae , Donald Duck, whilst engaged in a piano duel. In 1987, to celebrate Daffy's 50th anniversary, Warner Bros. released "The Duxorcist" as its first theatrical Looney Tunes short in two decades. Daffy also gets 2 compilation features : In 1983, Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island (Not that bad actually...) and in 1988, Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (THE best Looney tunes compilation films).
In the 90's , comic books would be the place where you can find these characters (And yes ...it is the only title I bother reading from DC now...Sweartogod...). In Tiny Toon Adventures, Daffy is a teacher at Acme Looniversity, hero and mentor of student Plucky Duck (who is both slightly more moral than his idol and the soul of the show. Yep, and you can quote me !). He also makes occasional cameos on Animaniacs and Histeria!.
But shouldn't we stop here ? Nope ! Because there are things that Daffy star in and are constantly shoved away : One is Looney Tunes Back In Action (review here [link] ) and the other may be the 2nd best Looney Tunes Spin-off after Tiny Toons



THE DUCK IN SPAAAAAAAAACE !!!


I couldn't disagree more with those who do nothing but slam this series (while praising Loonatics or TLTS... I kid you not !). This series is the kind I only appreciated once I grew up ! It is actually so close to the original spirit of the classics that I am amazed so many cartoon snobs mock it...
What ? People say that Daffy is just a cheap copy of Zapp Braningan ? PFEH Bollocks ! This series has Daffy in an extremly diversified light ! Just like in the classics , he acts differently depending on the situation and different situtions he will get by the hundreds in tjis series ! And bear in mind , Daffy actually acknowledges at times that he is playing the role of Captain Duck Edgar Dumas Aloysius Dodgers , his 4th wall breaking shenanigans are absolutely intact .
The other reason I call BS on the braindead Daffy accusation here is that many episodes show him as being perfectly able to plot, scheme and relish in conflict (see League of Duck Doom to get what I mean ). As for his oblivious demeanor , I think it's because Paul Dini confessed loving A Pest in The House (where, let's face it , Daffy IS oblivious despite doing his best to help... and only making things worse !).Still Dodgers is an awesome take on the duck ! Don't let others fool you about that ..
This show has so many great episodes , a lot of them pay tribute to the aspects brought by the classic directors to the duck , that the list would be too long. But if you want good examples : In Space, No One Can Hear You Rock / The Mark of Xero / I'm Going to Get You Fat Sucker/ Detained Duck / Invictus Interruptus / The Spy Who Didn't Love Me / Samurai Quack / Talent Show-A Go Go and the best of all the series THE FUDD ! Check these out for starters and tell me if my assessment is wrong .. I dare ya !

When that series suddenly came to a halt, it was the last GREAT Cartoon Network series...

But Daffy still survives through the 9th art nowadays, and even then you can not keep the essence of animation down !

So to conclude this lengthy article: [link] .