Review of Bugs & Daffy’s Thanksgiving Road Trip from Warner Bros.
I remember a number of years back, my older brother found a Mel Blanc vinyl record in a thrift shop. The record included short stories of va...
I remember a number of years back, my older brother found a Mel Blanc vinyl record in a thrift shop. The record included short stories of various Looney Tunes characters, call it a proto-audio drama. While, to my knowledge, this never truly became an aired audio drama, it gave a taste of how well these characters and voices could work in this medium. And now, as Warner Bros. follows Disney’s lead at creating audio drama versions of their vast list of IPs, at long last, a true Looney Tunes audio drama has been published.
Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, both voiced by Eric Bauza, star in the 4-part Looney Tunes Presents: Bugs & Daffy’s Thanksgiving Road Trip. Despite the mouthful of a title, the series is nearly flawless in my eyes (or ears).
As someone who grew up on the antics of Bugs Bunny and his friends (and enemies), my sense of humour has been strongly influenced by their comedic stylings. Jimmy Dunn, one of the titular characters of my own audio comedy series, The Jimmy, Sam & Tommy Show, was influenced directly by a classic early era of Daffy Duck cartoons.
Suffice it to say, a Looney Tunes audio drama had me interested from the get-go. The series follows Daffy’s quest to become a more famous thanksgiving bird than the turkeys he loathes. In each of the four episodes Daffy tries to prove how great he is through some sort of competition (be it baking or football) or breaking into an industry (fashion or otherwise). Bugs usually has to step in and use his quick wit to fix up the inevitable messes Daffy has made.
There are plenty of standard Looney Tunes type jokes we’ve seen on screen in various iterations before, but don’t let that repetition deter you. Half the fun is how they will come up in a new way. Plus, several of the jokes are audio specific, such as Daffy asking whether this a “union” production, pointing out “they’re not even drawing us this time!”
Save for one flatulence joke, the show stays on course with clean humour that is appropriate for all ages. While listening to episode 2 in my car, I nearly had to pull over as I was crying laughing at the jokes.
In a dreary and confusing year, filled with a lot of disheartening global news, I have to say this was a ray of sunshine. I haven’t laughed this hard at an audio drama in a long, long time. It’s a free show, so go subscribe and listen with your family, you won’t regret it!
Here’s hoping that Warner Bros. makes more audio adventures with our favourite Looney Tunes!
- Bugs & Daffy’s Thanksgiving Road Trip was produced in partnership with Story Pirates Studios
- Produced by Sam Bair and Peter McNerney
- Directed by Lee Overtree
- Executive producers, Lee Overtree and Benjamin Salka
- Written by Minhdzuy Khorami
- Original score by Jack Mitchell
