''Baggy Pants and the Nitwits'' is a 1977 American

animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...

produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and broadcast on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

Overview

Though the characters appeared together in the show's introduction, they each appeared separately in their own episodes. Each 30-minute episode of ''Baggy Pants and the Nitwits'' contained two segments: one for Baggy Pants and the other for the Nitwits. Baggy Pants is an anthropomorphic

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

mimicking

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

's "

Little Tramp : ''See The Tramp for the character played by Charlie Chaplin''. ''Little Tramp'' is a musical with a book by David Pomeranz and Steven David Horwich and music and lyrics by David Pomeranz. Based on the life of comedian Charles Chaplin and na ...

" character, right down to Chaplin's signature

toothbrush mustache The toothbrush moustache is a style of moustache in which the sides are vertical (or nearly vertical) rather than tapered, giving the hairs the appearance of the bristles on a toothbrush that are attached to the nose. It was made famous by such ...

and walking cane. Similar to Chaplin and the

Pink Panther ''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the classic film ''The Pin ...

, Baggy Pants performed all of his misadventures in pantomime, without a spoken dialogue by any of the characters in his segments. The Nitwits is about an elderly

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

named Tyrone (voiced by

Arte Johnson Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson (January 20, 1929 – July 3, 2019) was an American comic actor who was best known for his work as a regular on television's '' Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In''. Biography Early life Johnson was born January 20, 1929, i ...

) who, by public demand, re-emerged from retirement to again fight crime, taking cases at his own discretion with help from his wife Gladys (

Ruth Buzzi Ruth Ann Buzzi ( ; born July 24, 1936) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She has appeared on stage, in films, and on television. She is best known for her performances on the comedy-variety show ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1968 ...

) and his hopping cane which he called "Elmo" which, among other things, helped Tyrone and Gladys to fly. Johnson and Buzzi adapted and reprised the roles they had originated in ''

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (often simply referred to as ''Laugh-In'') is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to March 12, 1973, on the NBC television network, hosted by comedians Da ...

'', with much of the adult innuendo (including Tyrone's original last name Horneigh) being removed to keep the cartoon

family-friendly A family-friendly product or service is one that is considered to be suitable for all members of an average family. Family-friendly restaurants are ones that provide service to families that have young children. Frequently, family-friendly produc ...

. In the opening titles of ''The Nitwits'' segment, Johnson himself was credited with having "created ''The Nitwits'' for television." The series ran for 13 episodes; as of 2019, it has yet to be released on

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

Episodes

Cast

- Gladys *

- Tyrone

References

External links

* *
Baggy Pants and the Nitwits
at SaturdayMorning.Pop-Cult.com
Baggy Pants and the Nitwits
at Toonarific.com 1977 American television series debuts 1977 American television series endings 1970s American animated television series American children's animated superhero television series Animated television series about cats NBC original programming Television series by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises {{animation-tv-prog-stub