Pepé Le Pew - Looney Tunes Wiki (2024)

Pepé Le Pew is an anthropomorphic French skunk and one of the recurring characters of the Looney Tunes animated franchise. He is a romantic, yet egotistical Casanova who usually goes in constant search for romance, but his foul scent, self-delusion, and overly persistent mannerisms inhibit his efforts. Pepé's target of love is usually a female black cat (namely Penelope puss*cat), whom he mistakes for another skunk due to a white stripe painted on her back. His voice was originated by Mel Blanc using a French accent.

Pepé's protégé in Tiny Toon Adventures is Fifi La Fume.

Character description

Pepé is a black and white skunk defined by his amorous, yet narcissistic personality. Although he presents himself as a charming individual looking for "l'amor" (love), he is oblivious of his foul scent, which crops up as a running gag of his many apprarances; side characters encountering skunks (either Pepé, or any cat like Penelope) would run away from their smell and/or skunk-like appearances in a lot of his cartoons. Pepé's odor is one of the contrubiting factors of his constant rejections by Penelope (or "la belle femme skunk fatale," as Pepé to several times).

Apart from his stench, another weakness Pepé attributes is his sheer persistance. His aggressive flirting and general overconfidence are opposite to the cat's refusal to be in a relationship with him. Pepé would attempt to use his romantic efforts onto Penelope, such as sharing his kisses at her, but would instead be treated with the cat escaping from his grasp; and sometimes, if rarely, get his own comeuppance through slapstick violence. He either has no sign of narcissistic injury or never loses his motivation to pursue Penelope, no matter how many times he gets rebuffed.

Appearances

TV series

Movies

Shorts

Comics

Video games

Biography

Le courts métrages animés

We're All a Little Looney

Come on and Slam! And Welcome to the Jam!

The Baby Looney Tunes Way

Back in Action

Pepé Gets Modern (sort of...)

The Skunk Who Loved Me

Pepé in the Funny Pages

Pepé Sells Out

Pepé briefly appears in the Animaniacs episode "Yakko Amakko," when an unseen animator draws him in the scene. When the animator erases him, Pepé pleads not to because he does not like the void.

Development

Pepé Le Pew was the creation of director Chuck Jones and writer Michael Maltese; Jones loosely based his personality on his fellow Termite Terrace colleague and writer, Tedd Pierce, a self-styled "ladies' man" who reportedly always assumed that his infatuations would be reciprocated.^[2] In the short documentary, Chuck Jones: Memories of Childhood, Jones told an interviewer (albiet jokingly) that he actually based Pepé on himself, except he explained that he was shy around girls.

When Pepé's personality was developed fully in his own cartoons, Mel Blanc based the skunk's voice on French actor Charles Boyer, who played the character Pepé le Moko in the film Algiers (1938); itself an adaptation of the French film Pepé le Moko (1937).^[3]

Controversy

Gallery

Main article: Pepé Le Pew/Gallery

Toys and merchandise

Behind the scenes

• In French dubbings, Pepé is called "Pépé le putois," possibly due to it being a pun on "puer" (to stink), and because the French word for skunk is "moufette," which is perceived as a feminine word. He also speaks in an Italian accent due to it being associated as a "Latin lover" accent in France; it was more pronounced in the French dubs of his original appearances.^[4]

In popular culture

• In the Full House episode "Danny in Charge," Joey does an impression of Pepé Le Pew while speaking to a skunk that he and Jesse encounter.
• In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode "Eyes on the Prize," when Will comes into the kitchen wearing a bathrobe after not being able to shower, Geoffrey asks him to stand downwind, to which Will apologises for smelling like Pepé Le Pew.
• In the "Odour Zone" storyline of Fleetway's Sonic the Comic #72, the anthropomorphic skunks of the Underground Movement speak in a French accent similar to Pepé.
• In the Moesha episode "Labor Day Jammy," Moesha refers to her younger brother, Myles, as Pepé Le Pew.
• In the Gilmore Girls episode "Kill Me Now," Drella asked the French Michel for help by calling him Pepé Le Pew.
• In the audio commentary of the Stargate SG-1 episode "Unending," writer Robert C. Cooper nicknamed Teal'c Pepé Le Pew when he gained a white streak in his hair.
• In the My Dad the Rock Star episode "Call of the Wild," a skunk resembling Pepé appears inside of the Zilla mansion, when eldest sister Serenity notices that many wildlife animals have been living in her home.
• In a game of "Questions with Wigs" of the December 12, 2005 episode of the American Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Ryan wears a skunk wig and imitates Pepé while flirting with Colin as one of the leads of Charlie's Angels.

• My Dad the Rock Star

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

• "Kimmy Makes Waffles!:" Idiot Randy discusses with a cat whether or not a skunk could be fooled by a white line painted across a cat.
• "Kimmy Meets a Drunk Lady!:" Titus calls Kimmy "Peppy Lew Pew," after being too peppy in the morning for him.

References

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