Hello Nurse (running gag)

Hello Nurse! is a running gag in the original Animaniacs and one of Yakko and Wakko's catchphrases. Whenever Hello Nurse or another attractive girl walks in the room, Yakko and Wakko both go "Hellooooooo Nurse!" and go nuts over the girl. Dot just criticizes them for doing that, but whenever an attractive guy comes in, she does the same thing. This is a running gag that has happened throughout the entire series. Another variant of it, "Goodbye, Nurse!" is also used as a departure phrase (such as in a end credits stinger to conclude an episode).

History

This phrase originated in vaudeville. It was originally going to be Buster Bunny's catchphrase along the lines of Bugs Bunny's "Eh, what's up, doc?" but the writers could not find a way for him to use the phrase.

Productions Featured

Animaniacs (Original Series)

• "De-Zanitized": Yakko and Wakko do the Hello Nurse gag for the first time in the series when Dr. Scratchandsniff brings the nurse into the room. Hearts are in their eyes and they imagine going on dates with her. Dot imagines doing it with Dr. Scratchandsniff and kissed him at the beginning of the episode.

• "Cookies for Einstein": When Wakko sees a hot Swiss girl go by he says "Helloooo Swiss Nurse Miss!"

• "Taming of the Screwy": Wakko says, "Hello nurse!" when Dr. Scratchansniff brings out The Nurse so they can practice greeting people for the party.
  • When The Warners are practicing to eat dinner and the Nurse walks in as their servant, they do the hello nurse thing. Dot begins to criticize them, but then stops herself because she doesn't even want to bother doing so.
  • At the party, Dot says "Helloooo Mr. Lethal Weapon!" and then kisses him. Later on, Yakko and Wakko appear in a bowl of milk in front of Catwoman and say "Helloooo Kitty!"

• "Temporary Insanity": Yakko says "Hello Nurse!" when he gets the phone and picks it up.
  • When Mel comes in while Dot is putting everyone on hold Dot says "Hellooooo Mel!"

• "Piano Rag": When Hello Nurse stands over Yakko with a net, Yakko slams the door while saying "Goodbyeeeeeeeeee Nurse!" This was also used as the closing tag for episode 7.

• "Bumbie's Mom": Hello Nurse cameos, with Yakko, Wakko, and Dot cameoing immediately after Slappy asks the Nurse for a sedative and the two brothers saying, "Helloooooo Nurse!"

• "King Yakko": Yakko suggests to Prime Minister Nurse repeatedly over the course of the cartoon that he would like to get personal with her, though only saying "Hellooooo Prime Minister Nurse!" in the beginning.

• "Garage Sale of the Century": A couple of girls walk past the Warners while they are standing still in front of the garage with an angry and confrontational Pa Bear, which the brothers respond to with their signature "Helloooo Nurse" and Dot responds to with a testy look. Wakko tries Pa Bear's remote control which he's discovered can manipulate the movement of things he points it at, but Dot stops him from doing so.

• "Space Probed": Dot was put on a device unveiling her thoughts on the screen then when she saw herself with a man she does it. Then aliens do that when they saw a female creature on the screen. Later on, Yakko thinks of Hello Nurse on the spaceship, which causes her to appear and lead him to the control room (against her will of course).

• "Meatballs Or Consequences": When Yakko ask the Grin Reaper if they could watch the adult channel, he and Wakko said "Helloooo Nurse".

• "Hearts of Twilight": They manage to sneak in Yakko "Helloooo Large Nurse!" on appearance of the fat woman in the shoe shop.
• "Plane Pals", Yakko and Wakko said this when Bloski called for the stewardess.
• "Hercule Yakko", Yakko and Wakko said this, when they saw Minerva Mink. Dot also said this to a muscular man.

• "I Got Yer Can": Yakko and Wakko said to the prize showing woman, "Hello Nurse".

• "Moon Over Minerva": Minerva gets the same reaction from most of the male animals as Nurse does from the Warner brothers. To contrast, Wilford's werewolf form gets the same reaction from most of the female animals (including Minerva) like Mel Gibson gets from Dot.

• "Baghdad Cafe": Slappy (obviously very confused by this episode) gets the Iraqi guard to boost her onto his arms and says "Helloooooo... Nurse." She then looks back on the script with a quizzical expression on her face, and remarks that she doesn't get it.

• "Boot Camping": Dot said to the captain of boot camp, "Hello Nurse!" and Yakko ask him if there's a ladies camp next door with a Hello Nurse.

• "Casablanca Opening": Dot said this to Bogie and proceed to kiss him, causing the director offscreen to shout, "Cut!"

Dot proceeds to kiss Bogart during the "Casablanca Opening".

• "Fair Game": The Warners said Hello Nurse to the prize showers.

• "Survey Ladies": A couple of girls walk past them. "Hellooooo, 90210s!" say Yakko and Wakko.

• "Windsor Hastle": When the Warners first see the Queen of England, they shout "HELLOOO, QUEEN!" They also kiss her on the cheek, making it the same ritual as with Hello Nurse herself.

• "A Christmas Plotz": Yakko, in role as the ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come, says "Hello, nurses!" when they converge on Plotz and Yakko.

• "The Warners and the Beanstalk": The Warners spot the harp, and do the Hello Nurse gag with hearts in their eyes shouting, "Hellooooo, Harp!", at which point Yakko remarks that she's a dream, Wakko says she's a princess, and Dot points out that she's a woman with a harp stuck to her back.

• "Meet Minerva": Yakko and Wakko appear and said this when they saw Minerva.

• "The Warners 65th Anniversary Special": There was discussion on the Hello Nurse gag.

• "Deduces Wild": When the Warners show Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Waston the picture of the cast of Baywatch, they all said "Hello Nurses on the beach!"

• "A Hard Day's Warners": After the Warners left from the fan they came back through the curtain and said "Hello Nurse!" and the fans started chasing them.

• "The Kid in the Lid": According to the story, Wakko and Dot kiss the boy and girl and said "Helloooo, Nurse!"

• "This Pun For Hire": When Minerva arrives, Yakko and Wakko go crazy and said "Helloooooo, gorgeous mystery lady"

• "Star Truck": Mr. Spock saw Uhura come through the door and says "Hellooo Nurse!"

• "The Girl with the Googily Goop": When meeting Googi for the first time, Yakko and Wakko say "Hellooooo Googi!".

• "Hello Nurse (song)": This mostly used the gag during the song what rhymes with nurse.

• "Cutie and the Beast": During the Dot song, Yakko and Wakko pop out of a pocket of long underwear and said to the woman "Hello Nurse".

• "From Burbank with Love": When Dots sees Municipal Bond, She says "Hello Nurse." with her eyes like triple o seven's logo.

• "A Very Very Very Very Special Show": A bunch of men on the beach were attracted to Hello Nurse. Towards the end after Hello Nurse told Yakko and Wakko that they didn't win the award, they said this to her.

• "Acquaintances": When the Warners made it to New York they shout "Hello Statue of Liberty!". Later when Yakko asks "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego gonna live?", Carmen Sandiego passed by and Wakko says "Hellooo Nurse!"

Pinky and the Brain

• "Star Warners": First, Wakk Skylicker says "Hellooo little nomad nurse" to Mindy when she brings 3-Pinky-O and Brain-2-Me-2 to his farm. Then, when watching Dot's transmission, Wakk remarks "Hellooo, girl who looks just like my long-lost-sister-nurse!" Later on, Yakko said "Hello interplanetary nurse" when he rescues Minerva from her shackles. Then at the medal ceremony, Yakko and Wakko shouted "May the Nurse be with you!"

Animaniacs (Reboot)

• "Anima-Nyet": When the Warners go to Russia, they observe Yakkov greeting a female Russian nurse with "Hellooooo, female medical professional!" and questions the humor of it. The director states that women aren't smart enough to be nurses.

• "Hindenburg Cola": A reversal of the usual format. This time, Dot, dressed as a doctor, is the one who says this catchphrase to her brothers, who are in scrubs. They in turn reply with "Hellooooooo Doctor!"

Film

• Wakko's Wish: In the song "If I Could Get My Wish then I'd Be Happy" during Hello Nurse's part as she mentions about her brain, Yakko and Wakko shouted "HELLOOOO BRAIN!" much to the Brain's lack of amusement. Later on, Hello Nurse has created a new soda bottle as they shouted this phrase out. They do that again for the third time after the narrator states she became the new CEO of Scratchy Cola.

Trivia

• In the Histeria! episode "Better Living Through Science", Loud Kiddington, Froggo, and Toast shout "Hello nurse!", accompanied by a snippet of the Animaniacs theme, at the end of the Florence Nightengale sketch.