Taz-Mania is an American animated sitcom produced by Warner Bros. Animation from 1991 to 1995, broadcast in the United States on Fox Kids where it stars the Tasmanian Devil.
Similar to other Warner Bros. cartoons of its time, such as Animaniacs and Tiny Toon Adventures (both of which were created by Taz-Mania co-developer Tom Ruegger), Taz-Mania frequently broke the fourth wall, and often made jokes showing that Taz could actually speak perfectly normally when he wanted to. The title song is performed by Jess Harnell and Jim Cummings.
Contents
Premise
The show follows the adventures of the Looney Tunes character Taz the Tasmanian Devil in the fictional land of Tazmania (based on Tasmania). The intro indicates that in this rendering of Tasmania "the sky's always yellow, rain or shine".
Characters
Tazmanian Devil family
Taz the Tazmanian Devil (voiced by Jim Cummings) is the central character of the series and appears in every episode. Taz is the older brother of Molly and Jake. Taz is uncouth, feral, dirty, always hungry, and suffers aquaphobia, though he is less aggressive and more caring than his original incarnation. He works as a bellhop at the Hotel Tazmania.
Jean Tazmanian Devil (voiced by Miriam Flynn) is Taz, Molly, and Jake's loving, hard-working mother. Many episodes circle around her speaking on the phone and running through a long list of chores she has created for herself.
Hugh Tazmanian Devil (voiced by Maurice LaMarche impersonating Bing Crosby) is Taz, Molly, and Jake's suave, friendly, and logical father. Hugh likes orange juice (a reference to Crosby being a famous pitch-man for orange juice), golf, and bowling and he will often over-explain things to the point where he will say "blah-blah-blah, yackity schmackity".
Molly Tazmanian Devil (voiced by Kellie Martin) is Taz and Jake's 16-year-old sister. Despite being more composed than her brother, she often shares his wild and aggressive nature, though in a more sibling-rivalry sense.
Jake Tazmanian Devil (voiced by Debi Derryberry) is Taz and Molly's crazy, hyperactive, cute, and imaginative little brother, who idolizes Taz.
Dog the Turtle (vocal effects provided by Rob Paulsen) is Taz, Molly, and Jake's pet turtle, who acts like a dog.
Drew Tazmanian Devil (voiced by Maurice LaMarche impersonating Bob Hope) is Taz, Molly, and Jake's good-humored, cool, zany, and lovable uncle. Like Hugh, Drew enjoys golf, bowling, telling jokes, and heading out on road trips (often forcing Taz into joining them) in spoofs of Hope and Crosby's Road to... film series of the 1940s and 1950s.
Hotel Tazmania staff
Bushwhacker Bob (voiced by Jim Cummings impersonating John Cleese) is Taz's arrogant, incompetent, intimidating, and cranky boss who is Hotel Tazmania's hotel manager. As the owner of the Hotel Tazmania, he is a misanthropic snob, who rarely does any actual work, preferring to leave any and all tasks to his staff. His demeanor is inspired by that of Cleese's Basil Fawlty, protagonist of the British sitcom Fawlty Towers.
Mum (voiced by Rosalyn Landor) is Bushwhacker Bob's mother who is much more patient and intelligent than her son. Despite her son being the hotel manager the Hotel Tazmania, Mum is the proprietor of the establishment. She is often quick to embarrass her son despite her comments typically being true.
Constance Koala (voiced by Rosalyn Landor) is an enormous but gentle and humble koala who is the maid at the Hotel Tazmania. She is quite fond of singing and dancing, despite her dancing often causing unintentional destruction. She is in the same dance class that Molly takes when Taz tries ballet.
Mr. Thickly (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is an optimistic, genial, and fun-loving wallaby whose exact job title is unspecified. He considers himself a jack-of-all-trades, always prefacing the activities he does with Taz with an exclamation that he's "an expert". He enjoys doing favors for Taz, but his ineptitude usually results in chaos.
Outback characters
Digeri Dingo (voiced by Rob Paulsen) is a conceited dingo. He and Taz share a mutual love for bottle cap collecting. A scavenger, treasure hunter, and chronic collector, he often takes advantage of Taz's strength and ferocious nature to hunt rare treasures. Typically after he gets what he wants, he still berates Taz for bringing it back in a tarnished condition. On occasion, Digeri would also get some type of comeuppance when his plans fail like getting attacked by the same marine life that attacked Taz or getting annoyed by Taz's family. His name is a play on the digeridoo.
Wendal T. Wolf (voiced by Jim Cummings impersonating Woody Allen) is a neurotic Tasmanian wolf who is desperate for any type of friendship. He resembles a shorter and recolored version of Wile E. Coyote. When not being hunted by Taz, he usually drives him crazy in his efforts to befriend him. In his first appearance, it is revealed that Wendal doesn't taste good to Taz causing him to regurgitate Wendal.
Francis X. Bushlad (voiced by Rob Paulsen) is a white-skinned, red-haired aboriginal boy of the Mudpeople Tribe in a diaper-shaped loincloth who unsuccessfully hunts Taz as a rite of manhood. Despite their tribal society, his entire tribe behave and speak like well-educated, posh businessmen. His name recalls silent movie star Francis X. Bushman.
Chief Felton (voiced by Jim Cummings impersonating Jim Backus) is the leader of the Mudpeople Tribe and Francis' father.
Bull Gator and Axl (voiced by John Astin and Rob Paulsen respectively) are two alligators who unsuccessfully try to trap Taz for the enjoyment of zoo-going children around the world (as a rather weak pretense to the massive financial gain the endeavor will grant them). Bull is the leader of the duo, always acting in a happy and upbeat attitude even while reprimanding Axl. Axl is Bull's hunter-in-training, constantly naïve, though often subject to Bull's "corrections" (typically in the form of a mallet smashing). They vaguely resemble Laurel and Hardy.
Hamilton Butkis "Buddy" Boar (voiced by Jim Cummings) is a wild boar who acts like a yuppie-type Hollywood talent agent. He is often seen talking on his mobile phone to anyone who calls him up and is best friends with Taz. Though Buddy tends to take advantage of Taz at times, he does not seem to treat him nearly as badly as Digeri Dingo, Mr. Thickley, and the Platypus Brothers do. In "I'm Okay Your Taz", Buddy is revealed to still live with his mother. He was established early in the show, but was seemingly ill-received, reflected in several fourth wall-breaking moments by the show's characters. As such, Buddy's appearances were uncommon. His later appearances suggest he was promoted to the show's producer after he was considered to be an unliked character on the show proper as mentioned by the receptionist in "Willy Wombat's Last Stand" and he later attempts to direct an episode featuring Bull and Axl with catastrophic results in "Retakes Not Included".
Looney Tunes characters
The following Looney Tunes characters appear in this show:
Bugs Bunny (voiced by Greg Burson), in "A Devil of a Job", appears as a deus ex machina, driving a souped-up jeep out of a quicksand pit, saving Bushwhacker Bob and Mr. Thickley. In Willie Wombat's debut episode, Willie phones Bugs for advice about how to handle Taz.
Daffy Duck (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) is seen riding along with Bugs in the jeep in "A Devil of a Job" as their souped-up jeep emerges from the quicksand pit that Bushwacker Bob and Mr. Thickly were in. He tells Bugs "I told you this was the left at Albuquerque".
Yosemite Sam (voiced by Maurice LaMarche), after Willie phones Bugs for advice, is called by Taz in "Wacky Wombat". He is never actually seen and expresses surprise that Taz has his own show by asking "Ain't you retired yet?"
Sam Sheepdog (voiced by Jim Cummings), in one episode, was working as a sheepdog. Taz, working as a temporary agent for carnivorous predators, substitutes for Ralph Wolf and attempts to steal sheep from Sam's pen (a bit of character confusion was at play here, as at one point Sam suggests "I thought I was a bit too hard on that coyote last week").
Foghorn Leghorn (voiced by Greg Burson), because of his name, was mistaken for hotel critic F.H. Leghorn by Bushwhacker Bob in "Gone with the Windbag".
Beaky Buzzard makes a cameo in the show where he's seen relaxing on his nest.
Marvin the Martian (voiced by Rob Paulsen) once comes to Earth on vacation in "The Man from M.A.R.S.", glad his plans to destroy it failed. His attempts at relaxation are thwarted by Taz's noisy behavior, cajoling him into wanting to destroy Earth again, and his actions indeed cause Earth to explode due to a temporal anomaly.
Road Runner makes a cameo appearance in the show and is caught by Taz. Taz is then about to eat him, but lets the bird go after Axl and Bull try to kidnap Taz.
Episodes
Episodes are copyright 1991 (1–15), 1992 (16–47), or 1993 (48–65); note that this does not always correspond with when they originally aired. The series premiered on September 7, 1991, and ended on May 22, 1995.
Video games
Five video games based on the show were made, two by Sega for the Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, and Game Gear, and three by Sunsoft: one for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and two for the Game Boy. In 1996, Naughty Dog developed the first four installments of the Crash Bandicoot video game franchise that was heavily influenced from the TV series.
Episode status and home media releases
Three VHS tapes were released in 1993. After the show ceased running on Fox Kids, it was rerun on TNT, for a short time on TBS in 1996–1997 (before and after the Time Warner/Turner merger) as part of their Disaster Area block, and has also been rerun on Cartoon Network, making it the first Warner Bros. Animation series to air on that network. Its sister channel Boomerang started airing reruns of the series on July 15, 2023.
Reruns of the series currently aired on MeTV Toons since February 2, 2026, and then it was one of the 100 Warner Bros.-owned animated series that added to the Fox Corporation-owned FAST/AVOD streaming service Tubi on March 1, 2026.
A DVD containing the first four episodes of the series was released in Europe in April 2010, whilst later released in the UK in 2011 under the title "Taz and Friends" as part of the Kids' WB "Big Faces" series.
A DVD containing the 5 to 8 episodes of the series was released in Europe in July 2019, whilst later released in the UK in 2019 under the title "Taz and Friends, Volume 2" as part of the Cartoon Network "Big Faces" series.
On May 14, 2013, Warner Home Video released Taz Mania – Season 1, Part 1: Taz on the Loose on DVD in Region 1 for the first time. Season 1, Part 2 was released on August 6, 2013. On June 19, 2020, the third season was announced for a DVD release on August 25 under the company's Warner Archive Collection division.
Other appearances
In the Duck Dodgers episode "M.M.O.R.P.D.", one of the forms that Duck Dodgers turns himself into is Axl Gator. In this brief appearance, Axl Gator's vocal effects are reprised by Rob Paulsen. Taz himself appears with Dodgers in the episode "Deathmatch Duck".
Molly makes cameo appearances as a student of ACME Looniversity in the Tiny Toons Looniversity episodes "Skulls and Sillybones" and "Twin-Con".