''The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show'' (also known as ''The New Adventures of Tom and Jerry'') is an American

animated television program 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

Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1962. Filmation's founders and pr ...

for

MGM Television MGM Television Worldwide Group and Digital (alternatively Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television Group and Digital, commonly known as MGM Television and then-known as MGM/UA Television; common metonym: Lion) is an American television production/dis ...

featuring the popular cartoon duo

Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...

. The show first aired on September 6, 1980 on CBS and continued until December 13, 1980. Its episodes were eventually added to syndicated ''Tom and Jerry'' packages in 1983. Episodes of the show also occasionally appeared on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

and Boomerang.

Description

The series is the fifth incarnation of the popular Tom and Jerry cartoon franchise, and the second made-for-television production. The series was notable in being the first attempt since the closing of the MGM studio in the 1950s to restore the original format of the cat and mouse team. After the original 114 theatrical shorts run of the

William Hanna William Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator and cartoonist who was the creator of ''Tom and Jerry'' as well as the voice actor for the two title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the ani ...

Joseph Barbera Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera. Born to Italian im ...

directed series, the characters were leased to other animation studios which changed the designs, and eliminated all of the supporting characters. The previous made-for-TV series, '' The Tom and Jerry Show'' was produced in 1975 by Hanna and Barbera under their own studio under contract to MGM, but it had made the cat and mouse friends in most of the episodes due to the reaction against

violence in cartoons Cartoon violence is the representation of violent actions involving animated characters and situations. This may include violence where a character is unharmed after the action has been inflicted. Animated violence is sometimes partitioned into c ...

. This series was able to restore the familiar slapstick chase format, and reintroduced not only

Spike and Tyke ''Spike and Tyke'' is a short-lived theatrical animated short subject series, based upon the American bulldog father-and-son team from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoons. The characters first appeared in the ''Tom and Jerry'' seri ...

and Nibbles (here named "Tuffy"), but not Mammy Two Shoes who was retired from the cartoons in 1953 for portraying a Mammy archetype. Half-hour episodes would consist of two Tom and Jerry shorts in the first and third segments, plus one Droopy short in the middle segment, also often featuring some other classic MGM cartoon characters such as Barney Bear. Spike from Tom and Jerry was used in many of these Droopy episodes as well, filling in for the other "Spike" bulldog created by

Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, animation director, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American a ...

for the old Droopy films, who was not used as a separate character here. The villainous wolf from the classic series was also included, and named "Slick Wolf", though with the series produced under the "Seal of Good Practice" code, the title character from "

Red Hot Riding Hood ''Red Hot Riding Hood'' is an animated cartoon short subject, directed by Tex Avery and released with the movie ''Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case'' on May 8, 1943, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1994, it was voted number 7 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons ...

", where the Wolf debuted, would not reappear. The show's opening begins with Tom chasing Jerry through a blank yellow screen. They continue chasing, as all of the other stars build a giant "Tom & Jerry" sign (similar to the second opening of ''Tom & Jerry Kids''). The familiar rotating executive producer credit of Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott briefly runs as Tom chases Jerry past the screen, knocking things over and running over others along the way. After the opening sequence, the wraparound segments, hosted by Droopy, would begin. He would start by painting the whole background with a single large brush stroke and he and the other speaking characters would engage in brief comedic sketches (like Droopy's opening poem in one of them "Roses are red, violets are blue, painting's my job, that's what I do; cute and somewhat wet"). In addition to the use of

limited animation Limited animation is a process in the overall technique of traditional animation that reuses frames of character animation. Early history The use of budget-cutting and time-saving animation measures in animation dates back to the earliest commerci ...

, the show was characterized by a very limited music score; all of the short, both Tom & Jerry and Droopy segments, used the same stock music, mostly created new for the series but consisting of only a handful of largely synthesized tunes, either with minor variations or played at different speeds or pitches. This did match the chase scenes, but gave the episodes a very monotonous soundtrack, making these episodes "stand out" to many ''Tom and Jerry'' viewers when they aired. Where the original series and the third series by

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...

would have favorable endings for Tom occasionally, this series followed the second series by

Gene Deitch Eugene Merril Deitch (August 8, 1924 – April 16, 2020) was an American illustrator, animator, comics artist, and film director who was based in Prague from the 1960s until his death in 2020. Deitch was known for creating animated cartoons ...

in almost never having definite "wins" for Tom. Also similar to the Deitch films is the character design. The Droopy episodes would usually feature Slick and sometimes Spike being antagonists to Droopy. Barney had miscellaneous roles, such as being the boss of movie studio guard Droopy in "Star Crossed Wolf", and a frightful companion to Droopy in a haunted house in "Scared Bear". The show was originally going to be called ''The Cat and Jam Comedy Show''.

Voice cast

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

and Filmation head Lou Scheimer provided the voices for the first six episodes. Welker voiced Spike, Tyke (in "The Puppy Sitter"; the character was silent in the wraparound segments), Droopy, Slick, Barney, Tom's owner and other characters. Lou Scheimer voiced Tom, Jerry, Tuffy (erroneously giving him an adult voice, although his voice sounded appropriately higher and childlike in the wraparound segments before "Droopy's Restless Night", "Pest in the West", "Getting the Foot", "Old Mother Hubbard" and "The Great Mousini"), Slick in the wraparound segments before "Droopy's Restless Night", "Invasion of the Mouse Snatchers", "The Incredible Droop", "Incredible Shrinking Cat", "When the Rooster Crows" and "School for Cats", Barney in the wraparound segments before "Pest in the West", "The Incredible Droop", "The Plaid Baron Strikes Again", "Incredible Shrinking Cat", "When the Rooster Crows", "School for Cats" and "Pied Piper Puss" and "The Incredible Droop", Spike in the wraparound segments before "Invasion of the Mouse Snatchers", "Scared Bear" and "School for Cats" and "School for Cats", and other characters. From the seventh episode onward, Welker voiced Droopy, while the other male characters in the Tom and Jerry and Droopy segments (including Spike, Slick, Barney and Tom's owner) were voiced by Scheimer. Welker's voice was also heard in the eighth, 12th, 13th and 14th episodes as Nibbles, Slick, Barney and other characters. Additional voices were done by Lennie Weinrib,

Norm Prescott Norman Prescott (January 31, 1927 – July 2, 2005) was co-founder and executive producer at Filmation Associates, an animation studio he created with veteran animator Lou Scheimer. Life and career Born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston ...

, Jay Scheimer, Erika Scheimer and other voice actors, with Jay, Erika and other actresses voicing the female characters, although Welker voiced two of them and Lou Scheimer voiced twelve of them. *

–

(episodes 1–6),

Tuffy Tuffy is a given name or a family name. Tuffy may refer to: Businesses * Tuffy Auto Service Centers, an American vehicular repair franchise * Tuffys & Tuffets, an Australian brand of underwear Fictional characters * Tuffy (''Tom and Jerry' ...

(episode 8), Droopy, Slick (episodes 1–6, episode 12, episode 14), Barney Bear (episodes 1–6, episode 8), additional voices (episodes 1–5, episode 8, episodes 13–14) * Lou Scheimer –

Tom Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

Jerry Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...

Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter F. Hamilto ...

(wraparound segments, episodes 6–15), Tuffy, Slick (wraparound segments, episodes 7–15), Barney Bear (wraparound segments, episode 4, episodes 7–15), additional voices *

– Additional voices (episode 6, episode 11) * Jay Scheimer – Additional voices (episode 2, episode 6, episode 12) * Erika Scheimer – Additional voices (episode 1, episode 6) * Lennie Weinrib – Additional voices (episode 3, episode 14)

Episodes

Home media

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

currently owns the rights to ''The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show'' via Turner Entertainment. However, due to the show's negative reception and legal issues involving

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

outsourcing the animation to

, Warner Bros. has no plans for a DVD box set of the show. However, one episode, "Jerry's Country Cousin", did surface on the 70th anniversary DVD collection in 2010. All 30 ''Tom and Jerry'' segments of this incarnation (along with 8 ''Droopy'' segments) are available on the Boomerang app.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tom and Jerry Comedy Show

Comedy Show Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...