Shishkabugs

Lesser Bugs Bunny cartoon with Yosemite Sam as the chef for a fat king who demands Sam make him a dish called hassenpfeffer. But the recipe calls for rabbit and Sam doesn't have one. Then, of course, Bugs shows up and you can figure the rest out from there. This isn't a great Bugs or Sam short but it is watchable enough. The animation is that flat, sketchy style that permeated later Looney Tunes shorts. I'm not crazy about it but I've seen worse. The music is unremarkable. The incomparable Mel Blanc handles the voice work and, while he's still good as Bugs and Sam, there's something uninspired about his voice for the King. None of the gags really works well so it's up to the dialogue to deliver most of the laughs, which it does with some of Sam's funny lines. Overall, it's not up to the high standards fans might expect from a Bugs cartoon but the average viewer will probably enjoy it just fine.

Hasenpfeffer seriously known as a Middle Age Saxon dish. Not so plausible to predict whether it contains a medium size rabbit or not. Yosemite Sam is the only folk who calls Bugs Bunny a "rabbit" when indeed he is a hare and not a rabbit.

Mel Blanc was heard all over the world TVs due to his talent after Clarence Nash of course for making trio-casted characters with his own organic voice. In German, Italian, Russian and Turkish versions there were 3 different voice actors who gave voices to characters in this Bugs Bunny episode. As a non-european or solely English language viewer; I recommend you to check foreign voice translations of Shishkabugs(1962).

In Turkey 🇹🇷 both the 1960s and 1990s voice translations to Shishkabugs mentioned the snorty King's favorite dish "Dubur Ici Dolmasi" instead of Hasenpfeffer. Also the latest Fandom Voice Translation by "Kufurbaz Haydo" 2010 made a cross-reference to the fall of Ottoman Empire which got even funnier to belly-laughs. In real-time Middle Age Ottoman Empire 1600s there were luxury and western-bound throne room failures just like it was mentioned in this episode as well.

Shiskabugs is not one of Bugs or Yosemite Sam's best. The animation is not as colourful or as lush as in the earlier Looney Tunes cartoons, coming across as flat and a little sketchy in places with the King rather poorly drawn. I also thought the gag where Sam brings out the "hassenheffer" for the second time was rather predictable. However, the rest of the gags are funny, mainly revolving around the one with Sam not knowing the ingredients even though he's a cook. The dialogue is very fresh and witty, especially Sam's distaste at the King and Bugs' closing line. The pace is crisp on the whole too. Bugs and Sam's personalities are played to their strengths, seeing Sam as a cook was delightful and suited his personality. Mel Blanc's voices for both Bugs and Sam seems to have deepened, but he still has bags of energy and sure delivers it. I wasn't ever sure what accent he was trying to pull off for the King, sounded like an awkward mix of Cockney and Australian. All in all, a good if somewhat unremarkable cartoon. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This is one of those odd cartoons which tend to stick with you from childhood. What I mainly remembered about it was Mel Blanc's Charles Laughton-type king, an overstuffed glutton with enormous lips and an insatiable demand for hasenpfeffer. When I revisited it as an adult, I was surprised to find how (relatively) recent it was. Clearly, this is a later-period Bugs Bunny cartoon. The whole thing looks and sounds a little chintzy and low-budget, not nearly as lush as the Looney Tunes of previous decades. But you know what? The darned thing still works, namely due to the acting and writing. Blanc is very funny in all three roles here (there are only 3 speaking parts, along with a couple of mute, bumbling guards who add some nice pantomime comedy). I especially liked the opening sequence, with Yosemite Sam making his way up the long, winding path to the castle and grumbling to himself the whole time. I guess the very idea of Sam as a royal chef is funny, since it's so alien to his nature.

One of the latter Bugs Bunny cartoons - and the shortest one ever produced - borrows some plot points from "Slick Hare" and "Roman Legion-Hare". Yosemite Sam is the disgruntled cook to a spoiled king (a caricature of Charles Laughton*) who gets the order to prepare hasenpfeffer, whose main ingredient is rabbit. Guess which rabbit shows up as the potential ingredient! "Shishkabugs" is far from the best Looney Tunes cartoon, but you gotta love the tricks that Bugs plays on Sam (especially after Sam assumes that the dish is now prepared correctly). When Sam invites Bugs in and tells him "the king wants to have you for dinner", it reminded me of the final line in "Silence of the Lambs". It just goes to show why these cartoons were some of the best ever produced.

*Emperor Nero in "Roman Legion-Hare" was also a caricature of Charles Laughton. I wonder if anyone in Hollywood knew of Laughton's sexual orientation back then (he got married to Elsa Lanchester to hide his homosexuality).