15 Funniest Bugs Bunny Cartoons, Ranked

May 19, 2024, 3:50 p.m.

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15 Funniest Bugs Bunny Cartoons, Ranked

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Summary Bugs Bunny, voiced by Mel Blanc, remains a hilarious and iconic character loved for his clever tricks and sarcasm.

Bugs Bunny always outsmarts his opponents with his smart-mouthed antics, although he appears in plenty of different situations.

Bugs Bunny's classic cartoons, from Halloween-themed antics to chases with Elmer Fudd, continue to entertain audiences with clever gags.

Bugs Bunny appeared in over 160 short films between 1940 and 1964, and his best moments are still just as funny decades later. Voiced by the legendary Mel Blanc, Bugs was an icon during the golden age of American animation, and he became the official mascot of Warner Bros. He has since appeared in dozens more movies, TV shows and video games, proving that audiences have never tired of his tricky antics. He will almost certainly return in the new Looney Tunes movie, The Day the Earth Blew Up.

Bugs Bunny plays many roles. He is a musician, an athlete, a drag performer, and so much more. The tough-talking bunny from Brooklyn is an extremely versatile character, but he almost always outsmarts his opponents before chomping down on a carrot with a sarcastic remark or two. Other classic cartoon characters are known for being on the receiving end of repeated punishment, like Wile E. Coyote and Tom Cat, but Bugs is a winner, and he's someone who the audience want to see win.

Looney Tunes shorts are available to stream on Max.

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15 Broom-Stick Bunny (1956)

Bugs knocks on Witch Hazel's door on Halloween

Bugs Bunny appears in a few Halloween-themed cartoons, and Broom-Stick Bunny is one of the best. As Bugs goes trick-or-treating dressed as an ugly witch, he knocks on the door of a real witch who prides herself on being the ugliest witch in the land. Witch Hazel shows up in a few other cartoons alongside Bugs Bunny, and her dark magic makes her a supernatural alternative to Elmer Fudd. In Broom-Stick Bunny, her potions and spells all backfire and even her magic mirror becomes a problem.

14 Water, Water, Every Hare (1952)

Bugs has to outrun Gossamer in a mad scientist's lab

Water, Water, Every Hare starts with Bugs Bunny's rabbit hole being flooded, but this is just the set-up for a visit to the lab of a mad scientist, who needs some kind of brain to put in his enormous robot. To catch Bugs, he unleashes his monster, who he refers to as Rudolph, although Looney Tunes fans will know him as Gossamer. Bugs and Gossamer's fight is replete with clever gags, but Water, Water, Every Hare saves the best for Bugs' confrontation with the scientist, as they are both drugged by ether, and they engage in a slow-motion chase.

13 Baseball Bugs (1946)

Bugs takes on an entire baseball team single-handedly

Modern audiences probably think of Bugs Bunny as more of a basketball player than a baseball player, thanks to his appearances alongside Michael Jordan and LeBron James in the Space Jam franchise. However, Bugs steps up to the plate in Baseball Bugs, where he takes on an entire team of mean brutes by himself. Bugs' smart mouth gets him into trouble, and any other character would likely be swiftly humiliated to teach them a lesson, but not Bugs. He's rarely the butt of the joke. Bugs is the people's champion, so, of course, he takes a bus across town and climbs a skyscraper to pluck a flyball out of the air.

12 Hare Trigger (1945)

Bugs and Yosemite Sam have a Wild West showdown

Bugs Bunny did some things during the war that he should regret, but he also appeared in a few great cartoons that didn't contain harmful racial stereotypes and misguided war propaganda. Hare Trigger is one of these cartoons, as Bugs tries to stop Yosemite Sam from hijacking a steam train. Bugs and Sam have a delightful back-and-forth with plenty of bullets flying through the air, but the highlight is the live-action stock footage of a saloon brawl which appears in one of the train cars. The fast pace is key to Hare Trigger, both for the comedy and the action.

11 Rhapsody Rabbit (1946)

Bugs plays a piano concerto

As Bugs Bunny tries to get rid of a pesky mouse, Rhapsody Rabbit resembles a classic Tom and Jerry cartoon in some ways. In fact, the Liszt piece which Bugs plays is the same one which Tom plays in 1947's The Cat Concerto, which caused a plagiarism controversy between Warner Bros. and MGM. Controversy aside, Bugs is in fine form in Rhapsody Rabbit. The music enhances the jokes, and the jokes, in turn, highlight certain aspects of the music. The animation is outstanding here, as each note that Bugs plays on the piano is the correct one, whether he's using his fingers or his ears.

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10 Rabbit Rampage (1955)

Bugs feuds with his animator

Rabbit Rampage was made in 1955, but its fourth wall-breaking meta humor seems incredibly current. Looney Tunes characters often have a word with the audience, but Rabbit Rampage takes things to another level, as the entire film revolves around Bugs arguing with his animator. There are a lot of clever jokes as the animator draws Bugs into different situations and erases parts of his body. The funniest jokes are those that treat Bugs as a worker for Warner Bros. rather than a character, like when Bugs goes on strike for better working conditions.

9 Long-Haired Hare (1949)

Bugs commands an orchestra for a pompous opera singer

Bugs Bunny gets in an altercation with a self-important opera singer who keeps destroying Bugs' musical instruments. Bugs is not the type of rabbit to take such treatment lying down, so he decides to pay Giovanni Jones back at his big performance. Bugs' typical antics are as funny as ever, but the moment that he strolls confidently into the orchestra pit disguised as the conductor is even better. Even if the reference to Leopold Stokowski has aged poorly, it's a pleasure to see Bugs with his head held high as the musicians whisper "Leopold" to one another in reverence and disbelief.

8 Rabbit Seasoning (1952)

Bugs and Daffy Duck get hunted by Elmer Fudd

Following on from the hilarious Rabbit Fire, Rabbit Seasoning once again sees Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck competing to avoid Elmer Fudd's gun. Daffy's incessant anger makes him the perfect foil to Bugs, who is usually so sarcastic and intelligent. They've been a great duo over the years, and Daffy should appear in the upcoming Bugs Bunny movie that has been rumored. Rabbit Seasoning also features a great meta joke, as Bugs once again tries to fool Elmer by dressing as a woman. Daffy screams at Elmer incredulously, refusing to believe that he thinks this rabbit in a skirt is a human woman.

7 Bugs & Thugs (1954)

Bugs gets held hostage by a couple of gangsters

Bugs and Thugs parodies classic gangster movies. The don has a big hat pulled low over his eyes, resembling Peter Lorre or Edward G. Robinson in some ways, while his bumbling henchman is even more oafish and inept than the usual gangster movie heavies. Bugs Bunny gets into a getaway car, mistaking it for a cab, and he is taken hostage by the two crooks. It's a great parody, but the ending is what makes Bugs and Thugs so memorable. First, Bugs imitates an Irish police officer to scare the gangsters away, then a real Irish police officer comes in and repeats the fabricated conversation word-for-word.

6 Rabbit Of Seville (1950)

Bugs gives Elmer a haircut

Making use of the light and playful overture to Rossini's The Barber of Seville, Bugs Bunny turns the tables on Elmer Fudd when the hunter chases him into an opera house. In front of a full house, Bugs and Elmer continue their chase all over the stage, with Bugs incapacitating Elmer for long enough to sit him down in a barber's chair and do his best impression of Figaro. Rabbit of Seville subverts the usual trope of Elmer falling in love with Bugs whenever he's wearing a dress. Bugs throws a wedding dress on Elmer, and he immediately plays the role of a blushing bride, until he is dropped from the top of the theater.

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5 The Wild Hare (1940)

Bugs Bunny's debut

The Wild Hare is Bugs Bunny's first official Looney Tunes appearance, and he looks a little different than he normally does. It took a couple of years for Bugs' design to become the iconic version that people know and love today. In The Wild Hare, his nose is a little bigger and his cheeks are smaller, but he still has the same cocky attitude. Bugs Bunny's real first appearance came a little earlier, but The Wild Hare solidifies who he is as a character very early on. This is a classic Bugs Bunny story, as he outwits the hapless Elmer Fudd, and it's a very strong start for the character.

4 Tortoise Beats Hare (1941)

Bugs challenges Cecil Turtle to a race

Tortoise Beats Hare shows a completely different side to Bugs Bunny, but it's still one of his funniest appearances. This short came in Bugs' early years, so his character was still being figured out. Years later, Bugs became known as a perennially cool customer, but he is aggressive and antagonistic in Tortoise Beats Hare, as he challenges Cecil Turtle, in his first appearance, to a race. This is one of the very few occasions when Bugs is the one being outsmarted. The highlight is when Cecil breaks the fourth wall to tell the audience that the rest of the cartoon will pretty much repeat the same patterns.

3 What's Opera Doc (1957)

Elmer chases Bugs through a Wagnerian opera

What's Opera Doc is usually considered among the best cartoons of all time, let alone the best Bugs Bunny cartoon. It's testament to its quality that laughter isn't necessarily its primary focus, but it's still hilarious. The title is a play on Bugs Bunny's iconic catchphrase "What's up, doc?" The story puts a new twist on the classic format of Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs, as they run through a Wagnerian opera, complete with striking dramatic sets. What's Opera Doc uses the visual grandeur and epic music of opera to stage yet another Elmer and Bugs chase, thereby deconstructing the overblown pomposity of the form.

2 Bully For Bugs (1952)

Bugs takes on the role of a matador

Bugs Bunny takes a wrong turn somewhere underground and finds himself in the middle of a bullfighting ring, caught between a matador and an enormous black bull. As he does so many times with Elmer Fudd, Bugs turns a potentially deadly situation into an opportunity to torment his oppressor. Bully for Bugs piles up visual gags one after the other. The bull gives Bugs a new type of opponent to face, so the writers unleash their creativity with a fast-paced barrage of jokes, which ends with a Rube Goldberg-inspired finale. Bugs soaks up the adulation of the crowd, as well he should.

1 Rabbit Fire (1951)

Bugs, Daffy and Elmer at their absolute best

The funniest Bugs Bunny cartoon is another chase with Elmer Fudd, but Daffy Duck joins in too. This is the first of three similar shorts in the "hunting trilogy", and it remains the best. This was the first cartoon to crystallize Daffy's character as an angry, self-serving narcissist, as he tries to lead Elmer directly to Bugs' rabbit hole, but he is soon unstuck by Bugs' quick wit. Unlike most Bugs Bunny cartoons, Rabbit Fire gets most of its laugh from the dialogue, not the animation. The "duck season/ rabbit season" exchange has been honored by many other cartoons, but never bettered.