Pepé Le Pew (character)

Pepe Le Pew, often shortened to just "Pepe" (although he is referred to as "Henry" in his debut), is a fictional character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies film-short series. An anthropomorphic, French skunk, Pepe is continuously in search of romance, but is inhibited from getting it by his smell, self-delusion, and overly persistent manner. Pepe is stereotypically French in the same way that Speedy Gonzales is stereotypically Mexican.

Concept
Pepe Le Pew cartoons typically feature the amorous polecat pursuing what he believes is a "female skunk." Usually, however, the supposed female skunk is actually a black cat (retroactively named "Penelope Pussycat") who has had a white stripe painted down her back, often by accident (such as by squeezing under a fence with white paint). Usually, Penelope runs away from Pepe because of either his putrid odor or overly assertive manner, but the skunk won't take "no" for an answer and hops after her at a leisurely pace.

Role-reversals
In a role-reversal, the Academy Award-winning short For Scent-imental Reasons ends with an accidentally painted (and, at this point, terrified) Pepe being amorously pursued by a love-struck Penelope (who has been dunked under dirty water, leaving her with a ratty guise as well as a developing head cold that has completely clogged up her nose). Penelope locks him up inside a perfume shop, hides the key down her chest, and proceeds to turn the tables on the now-imprisoned and effectively odorless Pepe.

Subversions
To be added.

Production
To be added.

Cameo appearances

 * Pepe was going to make a cameo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but was later dropped for reasons unknown.
 * Pepé makes several cameo appearances in the 1990 series Tiny Toon Adventures as a professor at Acme Looniversity and the mentor Fifi La Fume. He appears briefly in The Looney Beginning and has a more extended cameo in It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special. The segment Out of Odor features Elmyra Duff disguising herself as Pepé in an attempt to lure Fifi into a trap, only to have Fifi begin aggressively wooing her.
 * Pepé also makes cameo appearances in the Histeria! episode When America Was Young and in the Goodfeathers segment We're No Pigeons, in Animaniacs.

In Modern Media

 * In the 1995 animated short Carrotblanca (a parody/homage of the classic film Casablanca) both Pepé and Penelope appear: Pepé (voiced by Greg Burson) as Captain Renault and Penelope (voiced by Tress MacNeille) as "Kitty Ketty," modeled after Ingrid Bergman's performance as Ilsa. Unlike the character's other appearances in cartoons, Penelope (as Kitty) has extensive speaking parts in Carrotblanca.
 * In The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, in the episode, Platinum Wheel of Fortune, when Sylvester The Cat gets a white stripe on his back, a skunk immediately falls in love with him. This is not Pepé, but a similar character identified as "Pitu Le Pew." However, he does say, "What can I say, Pepé Le Pew is my third cousin. It runs in the family." Pepé would later appear in the episode "Paris is Stinking", where he pursues Sylvester who is unintentionally dressed in drag. Pepé would appear once more in Tweety's High-Flying Adventure, falling in love with both Sylvester and Penelope (Sylvester had gotten a white stripe on his back from Penelope as they fought over Tweety), actually showing a preference for Sylvester.
 * Pepé was, at one point, integral to the storyline for the movie Looney Tunes: Back In Action. Originally, once Pepe_Back_In_Action.jpg Bunny, Daffy Duck, D.J., and Kate arrived in Paris, Pepé was to give them a mission briefing inside a gift shop. Perhaps because of the group receiving their equipment in Area 52, Pepé's scene was cut, and in the final film, he plays only a bit part, dressed like a police officer, who tries to help D.J. (played by Brendan Fraser) after Kate (played by Jenna Elfman) is kidnapped. However, some unused animation of him and Penelope appears during the end credits, thus giving viewers a rare glimpse at his cut scene, and his cut scene appears in the movie's print adaptations. Pepé also appears in Space Jam, where his voice has curiously been changed into an approximation of Maurice Chevalier, as opposed to more traditional vocalization.
 * In Loonatics Unleashed, a human based on Pepé Le Pew called Pierre Le Pew (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) has appeared as one of the villains of the second season of the show. Additionally, Pepé and Penelope Pussycat appear as cameos in a display of Otto the Odd, in the series. In the episode The World is My Circus, Lexi Bunny complains that "this Pepé Le Pew look is definitely not me" after being mutated into a skunk-like creature.
 * A 2009 Valentine's Day-themed A-T&T commercial brings Pepé and Penelope's relationship up to date, depicting Penelope not as repulsed by Pepé, but madly in love with him. The commercial begins with Penelope deliberately painting a white stripe on her own back; when her cell phone rings and displays Pepé's picture, Penelope's lovestruck beating heart bulges beneath her chest in a classic cartoon image.
 * Pepe has appeared in the The Looney Tunes Show episode Members Only voiced by René Auberjonois. He also made a short cameo appearance with Penelope in the Merrie Melodies segment Cock Of The Walk sung by Foghorn Leghorn. He appeared in his own music video Skunk Funk in the 16th episode That's My Baby. He also appeared again in another Merrie Melodies segment You Like/I Like sung by Mac and Tosh. His first appearance in the second season was in the second episode, entitled, You've Got Hate Mail, reading a hate-filled email accidentally sent by Daffy and later re-appeared in A Christmas Carol.
 * Pepe made a cameo in a MetLife commercial in 2012 entitled, "Everyone." In it, he was shown hopping along in the forest and when he sees his love-interest, Penelope uptop the back of Battle Cat, he immediately hops after her.

Voice
Pepe speaks with a phony French accent, often using a mixture of English and French words. This voice has been provided by all the following people:


 * Mel Blanc (1945 - 1989)


 * Maurice LaMarche (Space Jam, Looney Tunes: Back In Action: The Game)


 * Bruce Lanoil (Looney Tunes: Back In Action)


 * Joe Alaskey (Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas)


 * Billy West (some video games)


 * Greg Burson (Carrotblanca, Tiny Toon Adventures)


 * Jeff Bennett (Dancing Pepe)


 * Frank Welker (The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries)


 * Rene Auberjonois (The Looney Tunes Show)

Film
In October 2010, it was announced that Mike Myers will voice Pepe in a feature-length, live-action/animated film based on the character.

Quotes

 * "You know, eet eez possible to be too attractive!" ~For Scent-Imental Reasons
 * "'I'm playing eet too cool, non?"
 * "Non, non, non. Not 'pew.' Le pew. 'Pepe Le Pew's' my name." ~Really Scent
 * "Vair are you, my leetle Mona Lisa? I'm going to collect you!" ~Louvre Come Back To Me!
 * "Lovely view, eez eet not?"
 * "Le bow wow wow! Le bow! Le wow! Le rowr. Le [Tarzan-like yell]! A screech to you eez jungle love, non?" ~Past Perfumance
 * "Julio, Julio, herefore art me, Romiette." ~Past Perfumance
 * "Ah, my leetle, Shvedish meatball, eet eez love at first sight, eez eet not, no?" ~Wild Over You
 * "Coffee, tea, or moi?" ~Carrotblanca
 * "Baby darla!!"
 * "Vi eez eet zat vennever a man eez captured by a voman, all he veesh to do eez get avay?" ~Little Beau Pepe

Trivia

 * Pepe and Penelope are possibly the first to get frozen by Otto The Odd in The Hunter, in which the skunk is, once again, trying to woo the cat.