Pinky and the Brain... And Larry/Where the Deer and the Mousealopes Play is the 3rd episode of the 3rd season of the Pinky and the Brain spin-off series and the 28th episode overall. It originally aired on September 13, 1997.
Pinky and the Brain... And Larry[]
Animation by Wang
Plot[]
Pinky and Brain try to take over the world... with a new mouse, Larry. But can a third mouse really fit in with Pinky and the Brain? Should there even be a "Larry" in the mix?
Crew[]
- Written By Gordon Bressack and Charles M. Howell IV
- Directed By Russell Calabrese and Liz Holzman
Songs[]
Trivia[]
- For the episode, the theme song was modified to fit in fast acknowledgements of Larry (done by Rob Paulsen using a Yakko-type voice). The shots of Larry in the intro were drawn by episode director Russell Calabrese.
- Larry Fine impersonator Billy West voiced Larry (using pretty much his Stimpy voice).
- This episode was made to both meet and lampoon the demands of Kids' WB! to add additional characters (see below).[1]
- Brain's "Yin and the Yang" dialogue is directed at The WB itself to further criticize the demand for a third character.
- At the end of the cartoon, Larry leaves Acme Labs and pursues a singing career under the name "Art." He is seen performing "The Smells of Loudness" with a caricature of Paul Simon. Larry's name change spoofs Art Garfunkel and his duet with Simon spoofs their Simon & Garfunkel act, as well as their hit song "The Sound of Silence."
- A mouse named Zeppo is a parody of Zeppo, the middle man of the Marx Brothers, appears at the end of the cartoon. The ending chorus was even modified to fit in fast acknowledgments of Zeppo.
- Larry later appears in "The Pinky And The Brain Reunion Special" and the Animaniacs reboot cartoon "The Flawed Couple."
Three Stooges References[]
- Larry is an obvious parody of Larry Fine, the middle man in the Three Stooges, which Larry also plays.
- The Three Stooges theme song, Three Blind Mice, plays often in this episode. It is also the title card theme for this cartoon.
- In one scene, Brain gets wallpaper on his head, making him look like Moe Howard, a member of the Three Stooges. This is more obvious since each of them is supposed to represent a Three Stooge, Brain: Moe, Larry: Larry, and Pinky: Curly.
- The idea of Brain, Pinky, and Larry posing as wallpaper hangers references that many cartoons featured The Three Stooges doing odd jobs.
Quote from Russell Calabrese[]
- "I think this was my first Directed by credit (Shared with Liz Holzman. She moved up to producer and I moved up as Director to take over the WORLD.. er uh I mean her crew.) I drew all the added Larry scenes in this episode opening. The hard part was hooking up the original truck out on the closing door at the end to the new scene with Larry. Warner Bros. rule at the time was we had to always finish on 35mm film so, we couldn't just add Larry in video editing. It was all shot on film with no video help. One of my favorite episodes."
- — Russell Calabrese[2]
Goofs[]
- When Pinky charges at Brain with the wallpaper in the White House, Larry's eyes briefly turn pink.
- Right when Brain kicks Pinky, his eyes briefly turn white.
Gallery[]
Pinky, Brain n Larry
Where the Deer and the Mousealopes Play[]
Animation by Akom
Plot[]
Pinky and Brain pose as a mythical endangered species, the Mousealopes, to gain complete control over Pittsburgh and its steel mills. Meanwhile, they gain the attention of Del Monte, whose campaign team schemes to exploit the duo's plight to give Dole an advantage on his public image. It all goes horribly wrong when Brain attempts to evict the people of Pittsburgh.
Crew[]
- Written By Tom Sheppard and Wendell Morris
- Directed By Russell Calabrese and Liz Holzman
Songs[]
Trivia[]
- The Mousealopes are a parody of the mythical Jackalopes.
- The film Deer Hunter is parodied when Brain and Pinky flee from hunters, who are caricatures of the film's stars Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken (voiced here by John Mariano and Jeff Bennett).
- The name of the steel mill is Remmington Steel, a reference to the show Remington Steele.
- Near the end of the "Pittsburgh's For Mousealopes Only" song, Brain is seen shedding a tear. This is a nod to Iron Eyes Cody, who did the same thing in PSAs for Keep America Beautiful.
- The UNCF slogan "A mind is a terrible thing to waste" is once again spoofed when Brain says "A mousealope is a terrible thing to waste."
- Marlon Brando's 1973 rejection of his Oscar to make a statement about the poor treatment of Native Americans is spoofed here, with Brando refusing his award during this cartoon due to the poor treatment of the the Mousealopes.
- Mr. Clown makes a cameo and runs over Brain with his unicycle.
- The banquet hall where the Oscars are held is the same one used for the Dorothy Chandelier Pavilion in the Animaniacs episode "The Warners' 65th Anniversary Special."
Production Notes[]
- "Pinky and the Brain... And Larry" was conceived during a period of pressure from The WB to retool the series into more of a sitcom with additional characters for primetime. Writers Charles M. Howell IV and Gordon Bressack spent an evening discussing the demands and different comic duos and trios, with a realization about how Larry Fine didn't have much to do compared to the other Stooges. This discussion lead to the creation of this episode and the third mouse himself — Larry. Howell then pitched the episode to series creator Tom Ruegger in the elevator the next day, who found the modified theme song in particular to be hilarious.[3]
- There was initially some confusion on how to record the "And Larry!" interjections during modified theme song with voice director Andrea Romano and Rob Paulsen. While Paulsen was experimenting around with the performance, Bressack had suggested that he use a "Yakko- type voice but not really Yakko" and it clicked.[4]
Cast[]
| Voice Actors: | Character(s): |
| Rob Paulsen | Pinky, Additional Voices |
| Maurice LaMarche | The Brain, Zeppo, Additional Voices |
| Jim Meskimen | Del Monte |
| John Mariano | Robert De Niro Hunter |
| Jeff Bennett | Christopher Walken Hunter, Martin Sheen |
| Tress MacNeille | Mousealope Calf, Additional Voices |
| Frank Welker | Fred Foppel |
| Billy West | Butler... And Larry |
References[]
- ↑ Burns, Ashley and Schildhause, Chloe. (2016, January 10). The Behind-The-Scenes Story Of The Rise And Fall Of Pinky And The Brain. UPROXX. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
- ↑ Comment from Russell Calabrese's YouTube channel on Pinky and the Brain... And Larry- Opening.
- ↑ Animanicast Episode #185- PINKY AND THE BRAIN… AND LARRY (Featuring Charles M. Howell IV) (See 1:00:20 - 1:01:59)
- ↑ Animanicast Episode #185 - PINKY AND THE BRAIN… AND LARRY (Featuring Charles M. Howell IV) (See 1:02:00 - 1:04:50)