Histeria!

For the professional wrestler, see Histeria (wrestler).

Not to be confused with Hysteria.

Histeria!
Format	Animated series
Created by	Tom Ruegger
Voices of	Frank Welker Tress MacNeille Jeff Bennett Laraine Newman Luke Ruegger Cody Ruegger Nathan Ruegger Maurice LaMarche Billy West Cree Summer Paul Rugg Rob Paulsen
Theme music composer	Richard Stone John Philip Sousa
Composer(s)	Richard Stone Steve Bernstein Julie Bernstein Tim Kelly Gordon Goodwin
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	52
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Kids' WB
Original run	September 12, 1998 (1998-09-12) – March 31, 2000 (2000-03-31)

Histeria! is an American animated series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Unlike other animated series produced by Warner Bros. in the 1990s, Histeria! stood out as the most explicit edutainment program in order to meet FCC requirements for educational/informational content for children.

Histeria! was featured on Kids' WB from 1998 to 2000. Kids WB continued to air reruns until August 30, 2001. It was to be WB's most ambitious project since Animaniacs. Like the aforementioned, there were 65 episodes that were originally going to be made, but due to being $10 million over budget, only 52 episodes were completed before production of the series was being canceled in November 1998. More recently, the show was featured on In2TV, first from March to July 2006, and then returning in October of that year. In January 2009, all of the episodes were taken off the site. No DVD set has yet been announced.

Histeria! may have been influenced by 1978 French TV series Il était une fois l'homme (Once Upon a Time... Man). The French series featured the familiar series cast reappears as the contemporary figures of every historical time. Another possible influence is the 1988 miniseries This is America, Charlie Brown, which featured the cast of Peanuts interspersed within various events in American history.

Histeria! has since became a cult favorite, gaining a modest fandom; fan-creations can be found on the Internet and at fansites.

Summary

Like other animated series produced at the time by the Warner Bros. animation, Histeria! derived most of humor from its slapstick comedy and satire, with the distinction of combining historical figures and events. Episodes would commonly feature a large cast of children and typecast adults in comedic skits and song parodies, e.g. the cause of the American Civil War sung to the tune of the Brady bunch theme.

Characters

The hosts

• Father Time (Frank Welker) is the 'host' of Histeria, allowing the cast to 'travel' through time. He is dark skinned, has a long beard and is shown to get quite irritated by the Kid Chorus when they fail to get their facts right. This tends to irritate Loud Kiddington who often screams 'SHEESH,WHAT A GROUCH!' after he is out of sight.
• Big Fat Baby (Luke Ruegger) is the egg-shaped sidekick to Father Time, frequently accompanying him as he introduces the sketches. He is known for the foul odor he carries, caused by his constant defecation in his diaper, which is constantly stated to have been unchanged since ancient times.
• Miss Information (Laraine Newman) is an aptly named ditzy tour guide who leads a group of tourists through various moments in history, as if the world is her own personal museum. As her name suggests, she is constantly getting her facts wrong and sometimes coming up with some demented logic to justify her statement (for example, she believes the Washington Monument is not named after George Washington because it is not called the George Monument).
• The World's Oldest Woman, voiced by Tress MacNeille, is a very old woman who claims to remember when air was invented. She also claims to have dated every historical male in history. She seems to have a particular romantic interest in Bill Straitman.

The Kid Chorus

• Loud Kiddington is a young boy so named for the extremely loud volume in which he talks. He often performs "dramatic reenactments" of loud moments in history, such as the Big Bang and the creation of dynamite; with each of this, the viewer is told to turn up the TV volume "for maximum effect." Sometimes, he also keeps watch of something by almost silently muttering "I see it, I see it..." when it is in sight and then switching to screaming "DON'T SEE IT! DON'T SEE IT!" when he loses sight of it. He is voiced by Tom Ruegger's son, Cody Ruegger, and the character's personality is based on Cody because he "has the tendency to be the loudest kid on Earth".
• Charity Bazaar (Laraine Newman) is the female lead of the Histeria! Kid Chorus, and her main personality trait is that she is usually depicted as being very depressed, as shown by her catch phrase, "I'm not happy." She is willing to take a stand for animal rights, can be easily tempted with promises of being given cookies, and hates doing math homework.
• Froggo (Nathan Ruegger) is a short blonde-haired boy in the Kid Chorus with a low, frog-like voice, hence his name. He often asks historical figures for two seemingly useless items that he can actually make an invention out of, though he does not always receive the requested items. He is also shown to have a large appetite, but dislikes turnips, and in "Americana", it is shown that he is a big fan of Batman.
• Aka Pella (Cree Summer) is an African American member of the Kid Chorus who uses sassy lingo, often delivering comedically timed insults to whoever she is currently hanging out with. Unlike most of the other girls in the Kid Chorus, she is a tomboy and tends to be able to be a voice of reason to the group.
• Pepper Mills (Tress MacNeille) is a hyperactive teenager driven to adoration for any and all celebrities. She constantly gets historical figures to give her autographs, and is then shocked to learn they are not the pop cultural celebrities she has mistaken them for. She also occasionally hosts an interview show titled Pepper's Pep Rally. She seems to be incredibly fast and will pop up and scream until the person she is pestering agrees to give an autograph.
• Toast (Tress MacNeille) is a clueless teenager whose name comes from the idea that his brain is fried like toast. His name is also due to the fact that his skin is perpetually sunburnt. He hosts a talk show titled Ask Me If I Care, in which he invites historical celebrities to tell him what they are famous for, only for him to eventually eject them into the sky (sometimes even into space), because he never does care about what they are telling him. He also once mentions having a rock band, which he names Nasty Head Wound, and also mentions that he has an uncle named Melba.
• Cho-Cho (Tress MacNeille) is a little Chinese girl who is more devious than she looks. Always accompanied by Lucky Bob, she likes to follow people around, refusing to leave them alone until they buy what she is selling. Her dialogue is almost always accompanied by "Chopsticks" as the background music.
• Lucky Bob (Jeff Bennett) is a boy with a very noticeable overbite. He tends to speak with a dim-witted drawl. He usually only speaks when agreeing with something another character has said (regardless of whatever they said), using Ed McMahon catchphrases such as "You are correct, sir," "Yes now," and "Hi-yo!"
• Pule Houser (Frank Welker) is an overweight kid in the show's cast who tends to take abuse and is prone to pitching fits.
• Susanna Susquahanna (Tress MacNeille, later by Lauren Tom) is a little Native American girl with beady eyes and a large gap in her front teeth that gave her a gigantic, Sylvester-like lisp.
• Kip Ling, Chipper the Crooked Mouth Boy, and the Bow-Haired Girl are three additional Kid Chorus members who usually only show up in the songs or in crowd shots. They do not seem to have any distinguishing characteristics like the rest of the group.

Others

• Bill Straitman (Tom Kenny) is the straight man to the rest of the characters.
• Mr. Smartypants (Rob Paulsen) is a shy genius who wears exceedingly large pants and spouts various tidbits of knowledge. In a piece of irony, he harbors romantic feelings for Miss Information.
• Chit Chatterson (Billy West) is an eccentric commercial salesman.
• Fetch (Frank Welker) is Loud's aptly named dog, who loves chasing tennis balls and frequently asks the historical figures if they want to play catch with him. He appears to be of the same breed of dog as Hunter from Road Rovers.
• Lydia Karaoke (Nora Dunn) is an employee for The WB who has been assigned as network censor for the show, and given the show's nature, this can be quite a hassle for her. Often, she interrupts the sketches to complain that what is about to be or has just been shown is inappropriate for children's television.
• Sammy Melman (Rob Paulsen) is a spoof of the smarmy and desperate television executives.
• Molly Pitcher constantly offers refreshments in the form of water.

Most of the real-life historical figures in Histeria were portrayed as caricatures of real-life celebrities from the modern era. The intent was to make analogies to contemporary individuals in terms of personalities and attitudes. These include appearances of Napoleon voiced by Jeff Bennett, Attila the Hun, Benjamin Franklin voiced by Billy West. Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, both voiced by Maurice LaMarche. Nostradamus, voiced by Paul Rugg, later by Tom Kenny often predicts the future for the cast and predicts the next segment.

Episodes

Season 1 (1998-1999)

No.	Title	Airdate	Summary
1	Inventors Hall of Fame	September 14, 1998 (1998-09-14)	Wraparounds: The hall of fame presents Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, J. Robert Oppenheimer and Thomas Crapper. Alexander Graham Bell is introduced to the modern telephone system. With Loud Kiddington's help, Thomas Edison gets an idea of inventing a light bulb. J. Robert Oppenheimer and Toast discuss the Manhattan Project: An Atomic Bomb. Alexander goes crazy about the modern telephone system and seeks Thomas Watson's help. Mr. Smarty Pants introduces the engineer of flushing toilets Thomas Crapper.
2	The U.S. Civil War - Part I	September 15, 1998 (1998-09-15)	Abe Lincoln provides a monologue, and gives a Histeria version of the Gettysburg Address. The Histeria gang also listens in to the Hits of the 1860s and The Emancipation Proclamation Hoedown.
3	The Attack of the Vikings	September 16, 1998 (1998-09-16)	The gang sings about being a Viking, play see it/don't see it, and Meet the Vikings with Bill Straitman.
4	The Wild West	September 17, 1998 (1998-09-17)	The Histeria gang presents The Billy the Kid show, sings about the gold rush, meets the Earps, and learns about the Pony Express
5	The American Revolution - Part I	September 18, 1998 (1998-09-18)	The gang listens to George Washington give his monologue, visits Molly Pitcher, and attends the Showdown at York.
6	The Know-It-Alls	September 21, 1998 (1998-09-21)	The gang meets Nostradamus, and René Descartes, while discussing the Chicken or the Egg?
7	The Renaissance	September 22, 1998 (1998-09-22)	The gang meets Leonardo Da Vinci, see masterpieces of the Renaissance, and explore the book formerly known as "The Prince".
8	The U.S. Civil War - Part II	September 23, 1998 (1998-09-23)	The gang dives back into the Civil War and sings about it, darns the torpedoes, and visit Abe's Tall and Geeky Shop.
9	Really Oldies But Goodies	September 24, 1998 (1998-09-24)	Its a musical trip to Egypt as the gang sings about mummies, slaving on the pyramids, and sees the Epypt musical "Cats".
10	The American Revolution - Part II	September 25, 1998 (1998-09-25)	Histeria takes another look at the American Revolution as the gang listen's to George Washington sing a duet with his wife, attend the Boston Tea Party, and see Midnight Line.
11	A Blast in the Past	September 26, 1998 (1998-09-26)	The gang visits the Vomitorium, listen to the Big Fat Twin Babies sing, and meet Romulus and Remus.
12	China	September 28, 1998 (1998-09-28)	The gang takes a pop quiz and joins the Confucius Group again.
13	Tribute to Tyrants	September 30, 1998 (1998-09-30)	The gang meets Attila the Hun and hears more from Miss Information
14	The Montezuma Show	October 2, 1998 (1998-10-02)	The gang visits the Sacrificial Well, stops in on The Order of the Eagle, and browse the Inca Shopping Network.
15	Great Heroes of France	October 6, 1998 (1998-10-06)	The gang meets Joan of Arc, sing the Invasion song, and Purchase Louisiana.
16	The Terrible Tudors	October 8, 1998 (1998-10-08)	The gang plays Name Thy Cure, and tell the tale of the Tudors.
17	The Wheel of History	October 9, 1998 (1998-10-09)	The gang spins the Wheel of History and visits four places in history.
18	When Time Collides	October 10, 1998 (1998-10-10)	The gang looks at the United Nations and honors another Great Women in History.
19	Around the World in a Daze	October 12, 1998 (1998-10-12)	The gang explores explorers exploring the world. Columbus and Magellan.
20	Histeria Satellite TV	October 16, 1998 (1998-10-16)	Tune in to Histeria! Satellite TV for looks at various points in history.
21	General Sherman's Campsite	October 17, 1998 (1998-10-17)	The gang pays a visit to General Sherman's Campsite to learn more about Civil War times.
22	Return to Rome	October 23, 1998 (1998-10-23)	The gang takes a day and looks at how Rome was built and sings about it of course.
23	The Russian Revolution	October 24, 1998 (1998-10-24)	The gang takes a look at Stalin and the Soviets.
24	Inventors	October 30, 1998 (1998-10-30)	The gang once again digs into the Inventors Hall of Fame to honor Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson among others.
25	Megalomaniacs	October 31, 1998 (1998-10-31)	The gang takes a look at some of the big bad guys of history. Note: Two versions of this episode exist: a sketch about Custer's Last Stand — in which the kids mistakenly believe he is running a custard stand — replaced a sketch depicting the Spanish Inquisition as a game show called "Convert or Die", hosted by Tomás de Torquemada after a complaint from the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, who claimed the sketch "[taught] children to reject Catholicism". It has since been restored on In2TV.
26	Hooray For Presidents	November 3, 1998 (1998-11-03)	The gang meets President Lincoln again and explores even more Presidents.
27	The Thomas Jefferson Program	November 7, 1998 (1998-11-07)	Thomas Jefferson leads the fun when the gang learns handwriting from John Hancock, and makes a flag with Betsy Ross
28	More Explorers	November 13, 1998 (1998-11-13)	More from the Confucius Group and learn why one should never explore without the Discoverer Card.
29	Super Writers	November 21, 1998 (1998-11-21)	Ernest Hemingway and Mark Twain join forces to bring writing to the world in Histeria! style!
30	History Of Flight	February 6, 1999 (1999-02-06)	The gang meets the Wright Brothers and parks in the No Parking Zone
31	Presidential People	February 13, 1999 (1999-02-13)	A heavy musical look into the lives and doings of more presidents.
32	Writers of the Purple Prose	February 20, 1999 (1999-02-20)	Famous writers Samuel Butler and William Shakespeare and see Marry had a Little Lamb 2000.
33	Histeria Around the World I	February 27, 1999 (1999-02-27)	The gang learns the complete an unabridged history of Greenland, Antarctica, and New Zealand and play Ask Me If I Care.
34	When America Was Young	March 6, 1999 (1999-03-06)	Daniel Boone and Benedict Arnold star in their own shows depicting the Revolutionary War and The Western Frontier.
35	Loud Kiddington's Ancient History	March 13, 1999 (1999-03-13)	The gang sees the First Wheel, sing about the names of the Gods, and see an Olympic Moment.
36	Super Amazing Constitutions	March 20, 1999 (1999-03-20)	The Constitution gets a Histeria! overhaul and the gang meets Andrew Jackson and fire when they see the whites of their eyes.
37	Better Living Through Science	March 27, 1999 (1999-03-27)	The gang takes The Road of Invention to see what goes up, must come down and witness great moments in medicine.
38	The Dawn of Time	April 3, 1999 (1999-04-03)	Histeria! takes a scientific twist and looks at the dawn of time where only the World's Oldest Women knows much about. Dinosaurs included.
39	Music	April 17, 1999 (1999-04-17)	Histeria! looks at music and wonder "Music to Who's Ears?" with Mozart. Plus, Big Fat Baby and twin sing a jingle.
40	World War II	April 24, 1999 (1999-04-24)	Histeria! introduces the Freedom League and learns why there is nothing to fear from Franklin D. Roosevelt.
41	The Teddy Roosevelt Show	May 1, 1999 (1999-05-01)	Histeria! meets Teddy Roosevelt and explores the canal of Doom.
42	Communuts!	May 8, 1999 (1999-05-08)	A twisted Histeria! look at communists including wraps from Winston Churchill and Will Rogers.
43	Americana	May 15, 1999 (1999-05-15)	A patriotic look at American lifestyles now and how they used to be and pay a visit to Berry Ding Live.
44	20th Century Presidents	May 22, 1999 (1999-05-22)	A Histeria! look at president Nixon and John F. Kennedy along with a little scandal called Watergate then Rally At The Beach with Pepper!
45	Histeria Around the World II	June 5, 1999 (1999-06-05)	The Great Woman World leaders therapy group and the Pastry War along with another round of Ask Me If I Care with Gandhi.
46	Histeria Goes to the Moon	July 17, 1999 (1999-07-17)	Its one small step for man and one giant laugh for Histeria! as they set foot on the moon with Neil Armstrong and Apollo 13.

Season 2 (1999-2000)

No.	Title	Airdate	Overview
47	Return to China	September 20, 1999 (1999-09-20)	More historical sketches regarding China are shown, such as the construction of the Great Wall of China and the Cultural Revolution. Plus, Yin and Yang are presented as superheroes!
48	France	September 24, 1999 (1999-09-24)	The gang meets Nostradamus and a guy named Louie. Napoleon also appears (many size jokes ensue). And don't forget to take the Tennis Court Oath.
49	North America	October 1, 1999 (1999-10-01)	Its a wild look at North America! Stops include Canada, Klondike Acres and Mayberry. That is to say the Histeria! Mayberry.
50	Heroes of Truth & Justice	January 17, 2000 (2000-01-17)	Histeria! takes a march with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and boycotts Busses and attend the trial of the century witch Socrates.
51	Euro-Mania	March 24, 2000 (2000-03-24)	Its off to Europe to witness the Renaissance and a scrapple at the chapel with another round of "Ask Me If I Care" with Charlemagne.
52	Big Fat Baby Theatre	March 31, 2000 (2000-03-31)	Take a look at random moments in history through the eyes of Big Fat Baby.

Cameos and cultural references

An integral part of the program was its use of popular culture to demonstrate historical events. Among the numerous pop culture references the show used during its run:

• The Looney Tunes characters made occasional cameos
• In "The Wild West", Father Time is shown watching Animaniacs on TV. Also, in "Really Oldies But Goodies", the kids sing to the Animaniacs theme tune when introducing Alexander the Great, and the Pinky and the Brain theme music can be heard during an offscreen mummification, specifically at the point mentioning the removal of the brain.
• An episode spoofs the Justice League with Franklin D. Roosevelt as Batman and Truman—played by Loud Kiddington—as Robin. Eleanor Roosevelt appeared as Wonder Woman, Winston Churchill as Superman, and Joseph Stalin appears as Blanka.
• Superman makes cameo appearances in "The Inventors Hall of Fame - Part 1" and "When Time Collides!"
• The Siege of Yorktown is covered like the Super Bowl, including commentary by John Madden.
• Washington's crossing of the Delaware River is told as a poem to the tune of The Night Before Christmas.
• In the episode "The Russian Revolution", Pepper Mills confused Lenin with famous singer and Beatle John Lennon, and made a joke about Beatle Ringo Starr. Additionally, Karl Marx is portrayed as a lampoon of Groucho Marx.
• A song about William Howard Taft is sung to the tune of the Theme from Shaft.
• A musical number about Theodore Roosevelt and his anti-trust campaign was sung to the theme of Ghostbusters. Roosevelt was depicted as a 'Trust-Buster'—complete with tan flight suit and proton pack—busting various analogies for trusts, including giant piggy banks and J. P. Morgan.
• The show's theme music is the march, Manhattan Beach, by John Philip Sousa.
• Occasionally, the show's theme song is replaced by a parody of the theme song to another television show. Among those are the intros to Saturday Night Live, The Addams Family, The Simpsons and Mister Ed.
• Loud Kiddington once spoofed Green Eggs and Ham with George H. W. Bush who famously announced he did not like broccoli. In this sketch, Loud chases Bush with a plate a broccoli while trying to convince him to eat it.
• In "The Renaissance" episode, Leonardo da Vinci spoofs the 1960s Batman series under the alias "Renaissance Man".
• At the end of a sketch debating their existence, King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, and Sir Galahad opt to retreat, shouting out "Run away!" like in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. A sketch based on the Boston Tea Party borrows wholesale from the Cheese Shop sketch from an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
• In "The Russian Revolution", Charlie Chaplin makes a brief cameo appearance in the black and white film example as his signature character The Tramp. However, he is holding a bumbershoot instead of a cane.
• In a bit about Lewis and Clark, Clark Kent makes an appearance as Clark (but sounds like Dean Martin), and the character of Lewis is modeled after comedian Jerry Lewis. In the same episode, the film Deliverance is also parodied.
• In "The American Revolution of Abe Lincoln," Abraham Lincoln spoofs the show Seinfeld called Abe-Feld with Allan Pinkerton as Cosmo Kramer, George B. McClellan as George Costanza, and Jefferson Davis as Newman.
• In "Hooray for Presidents", the song about Bill Clinton and how he became president was to the theme of The Beverly Hillbillies. In the same episode, there was a sketch about the Lincoln Bedroom that had several celebrity cameos from Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, Bill Cosby, Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump, Christopher Walken, Clint Eastwood, Ted Turner, and Bill Clinton.
• The episode "General Sherman's Campsite" is a parody of Pee-wee's Playhouse.
• Larry King Live was spoofed as Barry Ding Live, complete with appearances by Kato Kaelin.
• Julius Caesar is depicted as Frank Sinatra, accompanied by Dean Martin as Mark Antony and Sammy Davis, Jr. as Gaius Cassius Longinus.
• Christopher Walken reappears in another episode, where physicist and inventor Nikola Tesla is depicted as Johnny Smith, Walken's character from The Dead Zone.
• One of the Civil War episodes pitted Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and General Sherman against Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson on a gameshow parody of Family Feud to find out the reason behind the civil war.

See also

• Tiny Toon Adventures
• Animaniacs
• Freakazoid!
• Toonsylvania
• Once Upon a Time... Man

External links

• Histeria! at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Histeria! at the Internet Movie Database
• Histeria! at TV.com
• Encyclopedia Histeria!
• Histeria! at Animated Lust
• Histeria! Episodes which were directed by Mike Milo