Nasty Canasta
| Nasty Canasta | |
|---|---|
| Looney Tunes character | |
| First appearance | Drip-Along Daffy (November 17, 1951) |
| Created by | Chuck Jones |
| Voiced by |
Mel Blanc (Drip-Along Daffy & My Little Duckaroo) Daws Butler (Barbary Coast Bunny) Jim Cummings (The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries) Kevin Michael Richardson (Duck Dodgers) Jeff Bennett (Looney Tunes: Back in Action) |
| Information | |
| Species | Human |
Nasty Canasta is a cartoon character and antagonist of the Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes series who made appearances in three cartoons. Created by animator Chuck Jones, Canasta is depicted as a tough, hulking, and brutish-looking outlaw (normally with a cowboy theme). Like other similar antagonists in Looney Tunes, he is a typical 'dumb muscle' but is relatively more criminal in his personality and much more intimidating, especially in his nearly superhuman physique and threatening use of his revolver pistols. He was originally voiced by Mel Blanc, with Daws Butler voicing him in Barbary Coast Bunny.
Daffy Duck is about to take a drink at the bar when Nasty Canasta, playing on the flatness of two-dimensional animation, walks in past his 'Wanted' poster. Daffy tries to intimidate Canasta with his gun, but Canasta just bites off most of the gun and swallows it ("Probably didn't have his iron today!"). Canasta then intimidates Daffy with a drink made of various poisons and toxic materials (so 'hot', when two ice cubes are put in, the ice cubes jump out, yelping). Canasta downs the drink with no side effects (other than his hat flipping), and when Daffy gets Porky to take the drink with seemingly no side effects, Daffy downs his as well. A few seconds later, Daffy and Porky exhibit wild side effects, turning green, reciting Mary Had a Little Lamb in childish voice and mannerism, and acting like they're both motorized. Eventually, Daffy challenges Canasta to a showdown in the street. Daffy and Canasta start walking towards each other, the street deserted, when Porky winds up a small British soldier doll and lets it go towards Canasta. Canasta picks up the doll, chuckling, until the doll points its gun at Canasta and fires, sending Canasta to the ground.
The townspeople come out cheering, and Daffy assumes that they are cheering for him, but Porky is the hero of the hour. The next day, Daffy is shown wearing a sanitation worker's uniform and pushing a dumpster, and comments about how he has cleaned up the 'one-horse town'. Porky, now the town sheriff, comments 'Lucky for him it is a one horse town.'
Canasta returns in My Little Duckaroo. When we first see Nasty Canasta he is sitting peacefully at a table playing cards. Upon proclaiming himself the Masked Avenger, Daffy fails to grab the attention of Canasta (stating "Didn't you hear me, I said I was the Masked Avenger. Look, see my mask? It's a very nice mask."), who still sits peacefully at his table dealing cards. Daffy then vies for the attention of Canasta, leaving the scene and returning first as the whip-wielding (and stereotypically Mexican) "Frisco Kid", then in a suit reminiscent of Superman's as "Superguy." Again failing to grab his attention, Daffy suggests other identities he could take, names parodying heroes of the time ("Captain Hideo? The Green Fathom? Mark of Zero? Trick or treat?"), but none interest Canasta. However, after Daffy offers a helpful suggestion to his card game ("Say, why don't you play your red jack on the black queen?"), Canasta challenges him to play cards. Daffy departs and returns in new cowboy garb (sans the mask), confident of victory. What follows is the humiliation of Daffy again and again through different gags and challenges. First Daffy is asked if he plays cards, to which the game is ended abruptly when Canasta cuts the deck with a meat cleaver. Canasta then sends Daffy through the table in response to Daffy's challenge to an arm wrestling match, to which Daffy responds, 'I think you're pretty tough, don't I?'. Porky then suggests to Daffy that he should just arrest him, to which Daffy agrees ('well, you may have something there comedy relief'). But when Daffy puts Canasta in irons and tries to take him away, he finds that he can't move Canasta from the spot he is standing. Daffy then gets annoyed and angry, to which he responds by telling Canasta that he is going to give him a fist beating. His challenge only ends badly for Daffy, as Canasta rips his shirt right off just by flexing his muscles before beating up Daffy, who staggers away broken and defeated, describing Canasta's little red wagon's condition in terms like it was literally a child's broken down toy and announces that he's now going home to mother, before collapsing.
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