Yosemite Sam is the one of the main antagonists of the Looney Tunes franchise. He is Bugs Bunny arch nemesis that Bugs can duke it out with than Elmer Fudd and replace him as his new nemesis. In fact, he is the antagonist originally designed to be a replacement of Elmer Fudd when it became apparent that Bugs Bunny's continual defeat of the dimwitted hunter was verging on Bugs being a bully - so they went about creating a deliberately more villainious individual in the form of the explosive, bad-tempered, and violent Yosemite Sam, though Yosemite Sam fared no better against Bugs Bunny and was soon to become hopelessly tricked by the rabbit continually - as is the fate of allLooney Tunes villains. He became Bugs's other arch nemesis and a better opponent to him.
Yosemite Sam is usually depicted as a human cowboy with a fiery temper and a hatred of rabbits to match. He is also very trigger-happy and will start firing his [trademark] revolvers, rifles, flintlock guns, etc. at any moment, he isn't the brightest of villains though - in fact he can probably be considered extremely stupid at times and is easily tricked into humiliating and/or painful situations. Like any good villain Yosemite Sam keeps coming back despite his continual failings but he doesn't seem to be any wiser for it, still falling for the same old tricks - of course this is a trait common to many cartoon villains, not just Yosemite Sam.
Sam has also been given names like Square-Deal Sam, Sea-goin' Sam/Sam the Pirate (his name in France instead of Yosemite Sam), Sam-Duke of Yosemite, Riff-Raff Sam, Sam Schultz, Sam Von Schmam the Hessian, Yosemite Sam of Outer Space, K'chutha Sa'am, and many other aliases.
Jobs[]
Pirate: In Captain Hareblower, Yosemite Sam is a pirate and fights Bugs Bunny to try to capture the rabbit's ship. This is one of the rare episodes where Sam triumphs over Bugs.
Cowboy: In Wild and Woolly Hare, Yosemite Sam is a legendary gangster cowboy who takes over towns, through intimidation. One day Bugs Bunny challenges him to a gunfight. After Bugs wins the gunfight, Yosemite Sam decides to rob a train. Bugs however boards and hijacks the train to save it; Yosemite Sam as a running gag, orders Bugs to get off by the time he counts to a specific number but just when he reaches his final number he always runs into something like a tunnel wall, telephone pole and falls off a bridge.
Rival[]
Sam has, on several accounts, attempted to rid himself of his arch nemesis, Bugs Bunny, but he has never succeeded, due to the brilliant cleverness and cunning of Bugs. No matter how many times he tries, Sam always seems to experience some form of pain or humiliation when he challenges Bugs. Bugs likes to call him Sam.
In one of the more recent episodes, it is revealed that the reason Sam hunts Bugs in a majority of his episodes is because after dying from falling out of a plane, the Devil agreed that if Sam bring him Bugs he will allow him to live again. Each time he fails and should have been fatally injured, his return is because the Devil revives him to give him a "second chance".
Tiny Toones[]
Sam is voiced primarily by Jeff Bergman on Tiny Toon Adventures. Joe Alaskey voices him in Gang Bustersand Best of Buster Day. Maurice LaMarche voices him in Two-Tone Town. Charlie Adler voices him in The Wide World Of Elmyra.
Yosemite Sam briefly appears in the Season 1 premiere The Looney Beginning, during Bugs' song about Acme Looniversity. He is seen in Exploding Cakes Class. Also in the episode, Buster disguises himself as him in order to get the stolen scripts back from Montana Max.
Although he does not appear in The Wheel O' Comedy segment Win, Lose or Kerplowie, but his face is shown before his name without "I" and "E" is shown, as Monty was about to say that his mentor's name is missing "I" and "E".
In Gang Busters, Sam appears as the judge and jury (which only consists of Yosemite Sam clones), whom have Buster on trial (with an obnoxious Plucky as his lawyer) for stealing a slushie machine (which was stolen by Monty and his gang, who framed Buster with the crime). They find Buster guilty, as well as Plucky, and sentence them to reform school.
In The Wide World Of Elmyra episode segment, Turtle Hurdle, Yosemite is driving on a newly built highway and spots Tyrone the Turtle trying to get across it. He tries to run him over, but when he misses, he reverses and makes several more unsuccessful attempts to squash him. A disappointed Sam remarks, "Dag-raddit! I missed!," as he drives away.
In the Looniversity Daze episode segment, The Learning Principal, Sam is the teacher of Class Clowning 101. As he tries to teach the class, Buster Bunny plays tricks on him, and when Sam finds out, he sends Buster to the principal's office. After having a talk with Bugs Bunny, who controls the Great and Powerful Principal, Buster continues to play pranks and eventually gets an A+ in class clowning.
Sam appears brifely in the Music Day episode segment, The Horn Blows at Lunchtime, when the Acme Looniversity students are having a food fight over who "cut the cheese." He exclaims, "Great horny toads!" as Sneezer continues to practice his trumpet, while at the same time, eating Limburger cheese. Embarrassed, Sam says, "Uh, pardon."
In the Best of Buster Day episode segment, Compromising Principals, Yosemite Sam is Vice Principal and holds a Student of The Day Contest, in which the student on his or her best behavior will win free Weenie Burgers for the rest of their life. The reason being is because he is under consideration for a new job as Vice Principal at Miss Conduct's Advanced School of Immaculate Manners. Buster and his friends are worried that if Sam gets the job, he will be replaced with someone competent, and they won't be able to get away with anything. Throughout the cartoon, they misbehave behind Sam's back and cost him his promotion.
Trivia[]
- Yosemite has a vast criminal History.