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When Cartoon Network began expanding into original content in a big way, Johnny Bravo arrived in the first wave alongside shows like Dexter's Laboratory and Cow and Chicken. But rather than appealing directly to kids with loud, screaming characters, this series instead focuses on a lead that's an overly macho mix of James Dean and Elvis. And when he's not flexing or combing his hair, Johnny Bravo's usually being dealt retaliatory violence by all the unlucky women he hits on. Despite its uncommon approach, this Cartoon Network original ran for a staggering 65 episodes over the course of seven years—and was a very important (but unexpected) launching pad for new Scooby-Doo productions.

This week on What A Cartoon, slick your hair back, forget what you know about appropriate male/female communication, and listen in as we explore the delightfully chauvinistic world of Johnny Bravo. Do The Monkey with us!

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SarahSayid

Finally you covered Johnny Bravo!!!

Adam L. (The_acz)

On the topic of this episode, I have made a big discovery that potentially points to an alternate scene. Way back in April of 2020 during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, my roommates and I got into Cel collecting, and to our surprise one night we stumbled upon an auction for a cel from this very episode. This being one of our favorite episodes of Johnny Bravo we couldn't possibly pass up an opportunity like this to own such a special piece of animation history. We ended up snagging it for just $96, an absolute bargain considering that only 2-3 years later it'd probably go for somewhere around 600-$1200. The cel arrived safely to us with no damage and for the longest time we thought nothing of it...... until my rewatch for this podcast. You see, my roommates and I thought it'd be fun to point out the cel in the episode itself this time around, but to our surprise, it simply wasn't there. Our cel is of Aunt Jebedisa yanking Johnny to her by his shirt, but for most of the end scene in the episode there's no room for this as she's trapped in the chandelier, that is until around 9:16 when she crosses her arms and tells him he's an embarrassment to the family name. The scene then cuts to a closeup shot of Johnny asking if that means he can't visit anymore. My guess is that the scene had Aunt Jebedisa being a bit more agressive towards Johnny, but Partible and company could have possibly been told by censors or executives that they didn't want his Aunt potentially assaulting her own Nephew, so they asked for a retake to make it so that she wasn't touching him. It's also possible that some of the colors for the scene and backgrounds came back a bit off than what's seen in the final version, also prompting a retake. Below is a picture of the Cel we own compared to the scene in the final broadcast version. The composition, backgrounds, and characters all line up pretty well if you ask me. Just makes the safe security of this cel all the more special that we potentially own an even rarer piece of animation than we initially thought.

Deez

Oh we cookin cookin now !!

Sticky Gobbs

If you wanna know where the Elvis Voice is still relevant to young people look up Elvis Orb in TikTok 😂🔮

Ian Stratton

Anyone else remember hearing about a live action Johnny Bravo movie that was supposed to star The Rock back in the early 2000's?

Argent You Glad I Didn't Say Banana

It's crazy how prestige tv and the netflixification of tv have impacted everything. Cartoons need to start having seasons longer than ten episodes and pull away back on the amount of serialized series that follow a narrative through. People, especially children, would rewatch things more if there were more bottle episodes. As an example this is what made SpongeBob like crack distributed over the airwaves. Didn't see the episode before this one and aren't going to be able to see the episode after? Doesn't matter, you have everything you need before you to enjoy the episode. Adding in to the fact there were 40 11 minute episodes made in the first season that all can serve as chances to be a good introduction to the characters and series rather than having to be the first episode of a story.

Dennis K

So happy to hear someone else say that the Carl and Pops seasons are the weaker ones. But on the topic of Suzy, I always thought the joke of her character was that the only woman genuinely interested in Johnny was a little girl.

Nathaniel

Chiseled Johnny Bravo seasons were funnier than the first season. The plots were better crafted and still silly, and the side characters were more rounded

Nathaniel

The episode where Pops started a band is goated. And the exercise machine one

Brian Hortin

Greg does use the name Johnny Bravo for his attempts at solo music in The Brady Bunch Movie in a couple of scenes including one where he is talking to a music executive played by the original Greg, Barry Williams.

mavrick

"If you're lucky you'll be mummified!" what if i'm unlucky?! this song implies terrifying things!

mavrick

I liked Pops

Andrew Link

Don Knotts was also in one of the Scooby Doo video games in the ps2,GameCube era.

yethen

Van Partible was my professor at LMU (I graduated in ‘24 w/ a BA in Animation). He was an amazing teacher and guided us through creating and pitching animated projects. Van seemed to know almost everyone in animation and brought in amazing guest speakers like Dan Haskett, and Candi Milo. Van also screens his short “Mess-O-Blues” to his class once a year, and it’s “never going to be released to public” according to him. He also showed us the Clone High pilot from the late 90s, and gave our class a tour of Titmouse Animation in Burbank. He assigned 10 story pitches and 8 caricatures of people in differing art styles EVERY WEEK. He later explained he assigned so much work to “break us”, and didn’t grade harshly. LMU is a private catholic school, yes. But it’s not a super religious institution: no forced chapel masses or prayer in class. Barley in the top 10 films schools in LA, but it’s probably the #1 catholic school to learn animation.

Rob Z

I remember watching this episode as a kid so vividly - probably like 11 or 12 - and I think this along with the Adam West episode just expanded my feeble child mind with how you could do meta/parody comedy in this way. I'd forgotten it until I watched this episode before the podcast but seeing the joke about Freddie and Daphne splitting up to go bone brought up my feelings as a kid that I was in on the joke, and I think that permanently altered my brain chemistry. So thank you(?) Scooby Doo reruns throughout the 90s for helping indirectly shape my sense of humour.