Sylvester the Cat

Sylvester “Sufferin' Succotash!” Gender: Male Type: Sympathetic Predator Comedic Jerk Age: Unknown Species: Anthropomorphic Tuxedo Cat Portrayed by: Mel Blanc (1945-1989) Jeff Bergman (1990-1993, 2011–present) Joe Alaskey (1990-2011) Bill Farmer (1996) Terry Klassen (2001) Jeff Bennett (2003) Status: Alive Media of origin: Looney Tunes

“I never thought, just being a pussycat, could be so complicated.” ~ Sylvester, in "Lighthouse Mouse"

Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr., aka Sylvester the Cat or simply Sylvester, is one of the main characters from the Looney Tunes cartoons. He is the titular villain of the Sylvester and Tweety cartoon shorts, the main antagonist of the Speedy Gonzales cartoon shorts, and the main protagonist of various other cartoon shorts featuring him. In the cartoon series "Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries", he serves as the titular main protagonist.

He often chases Tweety, his archenemy, but sometimes chases after Speedy Gonzales or Hippety Hopper. When depicted with an owner, he is mainly with Granny, but very early on he would be with Porky Pig. He usually fails in his attempts to eat the bird from his owner, Granny (who owns both Sylvester and Tweety as pets), often getting hit by her with a broom or getting punched by Hector. At times, he can be seen to be on the side of good by teaming up with the other Looney Tunes in such features as the 1996 film Space Jam.

Why He Won't Make You Say "Sufferin' Succotash!"

1. He is an amazing cat and one of the most memorable cats in cartoon history. His cartoon, "Birds Anonymous", is one of his very memorable episodes that focus on fighting his addiction to eating Tweety, which goes against his typical goal of eating Tweety like cats generally do towards small avians.
2. He is one of the most verbally expressive and overreacting characters of the cast, whether he expresses fear of being hurt, scoffs towards his opponent's weakness, or him slobbering over the possible recipes that he can cook his victim. It's his mental breakdowns often caused by his inner turmoil and his huge potential in Bathos that do it.
3. The way he pronounces most words with a raspberry lisp is both amusing and very iconic.
4. All of his voice actors do a great job voicing him, making his voice and one-liners extremely entertaining to listen to.
   • Mel Blanc gives him a very amazing vocal performance. Where he shares the exact same tongue lisp as Daffy Duck does, but has a either much deeper/raspier voice or a semi Brooklyn-esque voice. The episode "Birds Anonymous" was considered to be his favorite episode in that he voiced Sylvester due to the drama put into Sylvester's situation that reflects Mel's past struggles with alcoholism.
5. Everything he does and says is hilarious and/or relatable.
   • One of the best and most memorable examples of this is the moment he skulled Foghorn Leghorn for being an insensitive loudmouth, which is hilarious and satisfying to see him bash Foghorn on the head for the first time ever.
6. Speaking of his voice, episodes of him making tuneful improvisations or songs are a joy to watch. Especially since whenever he isn't the typically incompetent predator who antagonizes anyone smaller than him, he minds his own business and basically clowns around as a way to have fun by himself while making tuneful songs due to acting a lot more mischievous and hyperactive similar to Bugs and Daffy in their earlier days, the best example was Sylvester singing "You're Just an Angel in Disguise" in the episode "Back Alley Oproar".
7. He is very talented and clever. As a matter of fact, despite all of his buffoonery, insecurities, goofiness, jerkishness, and shortcomings, he is a whole lot smarter than how his incompetence and mishaps make him seem like a clown.
   • In episodes like "Tweet and Lovely", "Ain't She Tweet" and "The Jet Cage", it shows that Sylvester can be quite the mechanical, technological genius when he puts his mind to it. Whose inventions are his strongest points outside of strategy.
8. He even got his own spin-off series in the 90s!
9. All of his designs are great.
10. He along with Wile E. Coyote, are very iconic, humorous, and sympathetic anti-villains who just want food as their goal.
    • Speaking of which, even during the dark age of Looney Tunes, the relationship he had with Wile E. Coyote in the film "The Wild Chase" was somewhat interesting to see. Considering that Sylvester always chases after Tweety (or is depicted as a heroic pet to Porky), he was chasing after Speedy Gonzales during this era, and his partnership with Wile E. Coyote to do the same type of hunting after them is a mutual goal they both share. In comparison to Wile E. Coyote being his typically underhanded and arrogant self, Sylvester is depicted as an equally underhanded but loyal and affable sidekick to Wile E., as they have a fairly passable relationship as a duo of ineffectual villains.
11. Many of his comeuppances are very iconic and malleable, making his failures enjoyable (sometimes hilarious) to watch.
12. Despite being a bungler, a bit of a jerk, and one of the biggest punching bags alongside Wile E. and many other villains, he is nevertheless a good father to his equally intelligent and much wiser (if spoiled) son, Sylvester Jr.
13. Much like Donald Duck or Tom Cat: He serves as a constant reminder for all of us to be brave, keep searching, hold family close, and never give up no matter how great the odds are against you; in which shows when trying to do his best in old shorts where he was quite ill-starred and prone to an unfortunate event; even when he's forced into an awkward and uncomfortable situation. This was shown to grow character-wise when he isn't just only chasing after Tweety and since Sylvester is a black-furred cat, he is typically characterized as unlucky as a bonus.
    • When he's not suited as a typical antagonist or a supporting antagonist, he can be depicted as a protagonist. As he does his best to protect his people or those he cares about. Prime examples include the oblivious Porky Pig, and even in the Mysteries series; he also protects Granny, Tweety Bird, and Hector from danger regardless of the bulldog Hector bullying Sylvester very often and the latter generally chasing after Tweety, some of which vaguely predates Courage the Cowardly Dog with being a neurotic, goofy & fearful pet who protects his people no matter what.
    • His memorable breakdown in "Birds Anonymous", is very sympathetic and humanizing. As he expresses how he can't help not eating Tweety after trying not to. His most humanizing quote is "I'm weak but I don't care!", which makes you feel for him.
14. He not only has a rivalry with Tweety, but also with Speedy Gonzales, Hippety Hopper, and many more to list.
15. He is one of the most immortal characters in the Looney Tunes universe. As Sylvester died more times than any other Looney Tunes character ever made, specifically in the following episodes: "Peck Up Your Troubles", "I Taw a Putty Tat", "Back Alley Oproar", "Mouse Mazurka", "Bad Ol' Putty Tat", "Ain't She Tweet", "Satan's Waitin'", "Muzzle Tough", "Sandy Claws", "Tweety's Circus", "Too Hop to Handle", "Tree Cornered Tweety", "Tweet and Lovely", "Trick or Tweet", "The Rebel Without Claws", "The Wild Chase", and "Museum Scream".
16. Whenever he isn't treated as some incompetent comic-relief villain whose antics are typically unlucky and related to chaotic mishaps being inflicted on him in episodes like "Bad Ol' Putty Tat", "Tweet Tweet Tweety", and many more to count, he is treated as a sadistic jerk whose mean-spirited actions are very hilarious to watch, and the comeuppances he receives make his antics all the more hilarious (ex. The episode "Rhino Ya Don't"; whose antics were considered a throwback to cartoon characters being sadistic in the 1940s).
17. Many hilarious quotes that includes:
    • “Mother...”
    • “Okay smarties, laugh this off!”
    • “Ahhh Shaddup!!”
    • “What am I gonna do? How naive can ya get? I'll tell you what we'll do, we'll play sandwich.”
    • “A suffering a succotash a! A Tweet bird! A pizza pie, a little feathered paisano that'll make a delicious sandwicha!”
    • “Let'sa face it! As long I'm an Italiano pussycata, I'll eat a spaghett!”
    • “Boy! Acres and acres of Tweety bird, and it's mine! All mine!!”
    • “Fellow members, from now on my motto is: Birds, is strictly for the birds!”
    • “Yes, I did weaken, thanks a lot!”
    • “Sssufferin Sssuccotash, you didn't have to overdo it!”
    • “I'll jump! I've got a choice, aah!”
    • “Fly! Fly faster! Fly harder! Fly, fly!!”
    • “Okay buster! You asked for it!!”
    • “One little bird, just one, just one! Yeah, no one will ever know the difference, no one! No one! Just one, then I'll quit, I'll quit after one, just one. Yeah yeah! Just one! Gotta have a little bird, just one, one lil-”
    • “Yeah, steak. That's juicy porterhouse steak, who what, where, when who? Quick son, run around and pull me out of this mess.”
    • “Yeaehehe, that's the way we cats survive.”
    • “You'll eat your porridge and like it!”
    • “Hold it Sam! Hold it! Just, a second!! Isn't it, silly to jeopardize our, neighborly relations, over this scrawny little bird?”
    • “Awwww no ya, don't! Your dirty, double-crossing scheme didn't work!”
    • “Keep counting buster. I'll, have that mouse, quicker than you can, count up to, Jack Robins!”
    • “Lights out lights on, lights out, I'm a pussycat! Not an electrician!”
    • “Ha Ha! Now, try and stop me, ya mutt! Hahah ha!!”
    • “Ha! At last! There's nooo, guesswork this time! This'll get rid of that dog for good!”
    • “Hmph! It's a good thing that cats got nine lives!”
    • “I'm starved and he's stuffed!!”
    • “Ugh! Smells like liver in here!”
    • “What's the matter? Cat caught your tongue?”
    • “Sheesh! The things I suffer for sustenance!!”
    • “Nobody lifts my lunch and gets away with it!!”
    • “Where's the locksmith when you need one?”
    • “Time for some shuffle bird!”
    • “Pussycat overboard!”
    • “I'm getting too old for this!”
    • “I suppose so, after all, I'm an animal, not a monster.”
    • “Hooo! My red dot is back!!”
    • “How fortuitous! How serendipitous! How propitious! Best class I ever took.”
    • “Uhh.. good luck! Y'know with uh, whatever you're, going, through.”
    • “Get a lot of these un-civilized, beasts!”
    • “Shut your ray pole!”

Bad Qualities

1. He's not much of a threat as a villain, much like Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote, and pretty much many of the villains in the series, he's usually depicted as a hopeless Butt-Monkey that is likely to fail by his own bumbling (or bad luck) as by the actions of the protagonists themselves.
   • Due to Sylvester always bungling his predatory acts, his rivalry with Tweety is usually repetitive, especially in their later team-ups.
   • Worse than his rivalry with Tweety, Hippety Hopper, a baby kangaroo that he believes is a giant mouse, abuses him way too much (even though to be fair, Hippety fails to realize this as he often misinterprets as if Sylvester wants to play roughhousing with him) and Sylvester never succeeds in fighting back a lot of the time.
   • He, alongside Wile E. Coyote and his MGM counterpart Tom from Tom and Jerry, has the same vibe for being a punching bag in a predictable fashion when he typically fails at eating his prey. Sometimes his mistreatment gets taken to the point it goes too far with making him look like a pushover.
2. Even when he's paired with other villains, they tend to make him look like a pushover in comparison to them, prior to Sylvester being too nice towards them because of his unlucky personality (in such ways that even fans of Sylvester would prolly want him to stay maintain his posture as a respectable villain for what he's been through).
   • When he is seen with other antagonists whom he doesn't perceive as rivals for his quarry, he becomes a toady who tries to earn their approval of them, even when they don't show any respect for Sylvester either. He acted as Yosemite Sam's spy in the Christmas special Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales and was Wile E. Coyote's stooge who followed on with each of Coyote's plans to capture the Roadrunner hoping that he would get him Speedy too.
3. Being paired with other characters tend to make him look weak and prone to being easily disrespected.
   • When he was paired with Porky, he was depicted as neurotic, incredibly protective, and understandably attentive to keeping Porky safe from danger, he somehow doesn't speak in these shorts despite showing to have a voice in previous shorts. And Sylvester puts up with the horrific acts in the building before Sylvester saves Porky thoroughly, one time he had to snap some sense into Porky to make him realize how oblivious Porky was (and still is).
   • He's been sexually harassed by both, Pepe Le Pew and Pitu Le Pew from the Mysteries series, two male lustful skunks from two separate shows that all tend to make him look like a pussy (pun intended); as Sylvester often struggles with resisting, saying no and running away from the both of them with fear and paranoia (which to be fair he does run away from most of Pepe's flirtations), all of which made him look horribly vulnerable in a very pitiful and uncomfortable way (the moment Sylvester got put into a ladies dress and the many times Pitu flirted with Sylvester is what made fans ship him and Pepe/Pitu together).
4. He can be a bit cocky, sadistic, sneaky, disdainful, and not as intelligent as he thinks he is (despite actually being fairly clever). Additionally, he's prone to underestimating his opponent's ability to fight back and pays the price for it.
5. Just like Elmer Fudd, he didn't have a good start in his debut, "Life With Feathers".
6. Given that he is a fallible yet persistent predator towards Tweety, he can be comedically mean and jerkish to Tweety sometimes.
   • In shorts like "Catty Cornered"; he is depicted as an anti-hero whose motive he has with saving Tweety is so he can eat him, this would imply that he doesn't show concern for Tweety's safety due to how much he hates him and wanting to devour him for good, and in return, makes Sylvester a ferocious jerk. This is also why some Looney Tunes fans don't like him as much as Tweety.

Trivia

• Mel Blanc stated that Sylvester's voice is based on that of Daffy Duck, plus the even more slobbery lisp it gets and minus the post-production speed-up that was done with Daffy's. Daffy's lisp, as well as Sylvester's, were based on the lisp of producer Leon Schlesinger. He also pointed out that, minus the lisp, Sylvester's voice was fairly close to his own normal voice (a claim that his son Noel Blanc has confirmed).
• Sylvester's trademark exclamation is "Sufferin' succotash!", which is said to be a minced oath of "Suffering Savior". A expression of dismay.
• Sylvester's name comes from Felis silvestris, the scientific name for the European wildcat.
• Sylvester's character design (according to his original creator Friz Freleng) was said to be based on a typical circus clown (evidenced by the messy hair, red nose, and baggy legs).
• Chuck Jones' recurring feline character Claude Cat, who appeared in all the Hubie and Bertie cartoons (except for "Trap Happy Porky" and "House Hunting Mice") throughout the 1940s and the early-1950s, as well as a minor antagonist throughout his subsequent appearances from 1952-1962, bears a striking physical resemblance to that of Sylvester, albeit with yellow fur, a smaller black nose, a bushier tail, and a maroon-colored haircut, although his character designs and exact markings, however, would vary from cartoon to cartoon. Despite this, Claude's original personality in the Hubie and Bertie cartoons greatly contrasts that of Sylvester's, where he was originally a nervous and lazy protagonist feline who often fell victim to Hubie and Bertie's tormenting.
  • Ironically, Claude's later personality in the 1952-1962 shorts is much closer to that of Sylvester's once he permanently took the role of the bumbling antagonistic feline after his pairings with Hubie and Bertie ended after 1951's "Cheese Chasers", with "Mouse-Warming" being the first cartoon to permanently depict Claude in this antagonistic feline role for the rest of his animated career, meaning that from 1952-1962 he became a clone of Sylvester, both figuratively and literally.
  • Interestingly, Claude first debuted in the 1943 film "The Aristo-Cat", exactly two years before Sylvester officially debuted.

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