They do wonderful things with words and music, of course. Whereas later cartoon comedies, including Hanna-Barbera’s The Flintstones, turned to talky live-action sitcoms for structure, the great shorts were inspired by silent films from the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. The vast majority of these shorts have a timeless feel today, precisely because their basic premise was so tight. But by and large, the comedic cartoon shorts produced by Disney, Warner Bros., and the like during the Golden Age of American animation achieved classic status by dropping iconic characters with clear-cut motivations into loony but easily understood stories that unspool visually over the course of seven gag-packed minutes.

There’s more to it, of course, as any animation professional would tell you - there are 12 basic principles of animation, after all. The foundations of animated comedy are simple: memorable character animation, an emphasis on visual storytelling, and impeccable comic timing.

Download animaniacs 2020 hulu