This month’s Card Catalog celebrates the recent announcement that Ketchup Entertainment has acquired the distribution rights to the once cancelled, Coyote vs. Acme – based on the short story by Ian Frazier. Today, let’s take a look at the recent publication from BearManor Media, Dance of the Comedians – 75 Years of the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote – An Unauthorized History, and ask the author, Dan Sendker, some questions.
Dance of the Comedians – 75 Years of the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote – An Unauthorized History, Released in August 2024, is a thorough and passionate history of the titular rivals. In addition to chasing down every single film-related appearance of Coyote and Road Runner, author Dan Sendker explores how the films came to be, what works, what sometimes doesn’t, and why. THis exploration extends to every era – from the original Looney Tune shorts by co-creators, director Chuck Jones and writer Michael Maltese, to the comics that ran from 1940-2024, the the extensive video games lineage, to even obscure media releases like the Cartoon Network’s 2000 media event, The Big Game XXVIII: Road Runner vs. Coyote. Not a single appearance of this pair is left unexamined in this complete and informative 500 page deep dive.
Sendker structures the book chronologically and begins by exploring how the duo’s cartoons even came to be – starting with how The Looney Tunes began in 1930 and eventually exploring how Chuck Jones became a Director at Warner Bros. This book then looks at the multiple ways Jones and writing partner, Michael Maltese, were inspired by, not only the successes of other Looney Tune shorts, but by famous literature to create the predator and prey players. Senker even touches on the mythos related to Chuck Jones’ rules for making Coyote and Road Runner cartoons.
Most of the book is dedicated to breaking down each appearance of the characters throughout their media releases – listing each synopsis, cast and crew listing, gag exploration, and even home media availability of every short of the original 1949-1964 series, the Bugs Bunny/Wile. E. crossovers from 1963, the spiritual spinoffs, Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog, even the Depatie-Freleng and Larriva eras, to modern representations in The Looney Tunes Show, The New Looney Tunes (Wabbit), and Bugs Bunny Builders, just to name a few. Additionally, Sendkey lists hundreds of comic synopses from the over eight decades of comics.
These story summaries are broken up biographies of the animators, writers, and background artists who were a part of Chuck Jones’ animation unit, and these sections are a highlight of the book. In these chapters Sendker shares the story of writers, Michael Maltese and John Dunn. Animators; Ken Harris, Keith Darling, Ben Washam, Phil Monroe, Lloyd Vaughan, Abe Levitow, Dick Thompson, Willie Ito, Bob Bransford, Tom Ray, and Jerry Eisenberg. And layout and background artists; Robert Gribbroek, Peter Alvarado, Philip DeGuard, Maurice Noble, Ernie Nordli, Corny Cole, Bob Singer (who wrote the introduction), and David Rose.
Another one of the strengths of Dance of the Comedians is the author’s robust references to not only other published animation history books, but incorporating research published in online spaces and social media circles. In fact, a lot of the 483 endnotes are a mix of the author’s entertaining and sometimes adult commentary or references to other books, articles, or films to further explore. My only complaint is that the endnotes and not footnotes – bouncing back and forth from the page I was reading to the end of the book was annoying over time. It’s a small quibble that doesn’t detract from the material and work put into this book.
Dance of the Comedians – 75 Years of the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote – An Unauthorized History by Dan Sendker is a tour de force through the film and cultural history of Looney Tunes’ arguably most iconic duo. The author’s passion and enthusiasm for the subjects is on display throughout the book and is an absolute joy to read. Highly recommended.
OS: You open and end the book with a loving homage to your grandmother who you shared a passion for the Coyote and Road Runner with. That being said, what drove you to tackle this project?
Dan Sendker: I grew up in the 90s, a wonderfully unique time when many classic animated characters had milestone “birthdays/anniversaries” celebrated. Commemorative books for Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, and Tweety and Sylvester’s 50th, the debut of Goof Troop, for Goofy’s 60th, a special comic book and sweepstakes contest for Taz’s 40th, a huge Toon Disney marathon for Mickey Mouse’s 70th. Really, the whole decade of the 1990s kicked off with a year-long celebration of Bugs Bunny’s 50th anniversary, which was so over the top that it was parodied in Blooper Bunny. These sorts of celebrations helped make the characters feel more like living, real celebrities. This practice was pretty much over when the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote turned 50 in 1999, and even as a 9 year-old I thought these characters deserved more fanfare.
Fast-forward to 2023, with the Road Runner and Wile E.’s 75th anniversary a year away. I found myself thinking more and more about their unique place in pop culture and American comedy. We still had (at this point) Coyote vs. Acme to look forward to in 2024, and I thought that was a cool way for Warner Bros. to celebrate this milestone. I realized that this would be the perfect time for someone to do a comprehensive, in-depth study of these characters, and I knew that I was the right cartoon nerd for the job!
OS: Is there anything you wish you could have dived into a bit more? Obviously Coyote vs. Acme has had a bunch of positive updates about its release next year, 2026, since the publication of the book, but were there any other topics you would like to expand upon?
Dan Sendker: It was a pretty surreal experience to be working on the book during the breaking news of Coyote vs. Acme’s cancellation. Like I said, the movie was still set to be released when I started writing, so I actually had to completely revise the Coyote vs. Acme chapter to keep up with real-world updates! I’m thrilled that the movie is finally going to be released (thank you Ketchup Entertainment!) even if it means that much of my Coyote vs. Acme chapter is now out of date. Wonderful trade-off!
I initially had plans for a chapter devoted to Chuck Jones’ life and career, much like the mini-bios of the other artists in his unit. But as probably anyone reading this knows, it would be very hard to condense his life in a single chapter. I also think that the story of Chuck Jones is a pretty well-trod path in animation history, and I didn’t want my book to be too repetitive for animation history buffs. I also didn’t want to touch the legendary Jones/Clampett feud, since Bob Clampett has as many diehard fans as Chuck does. So Chuck is more an overarching presence throughout the book as a whole.
OS: You read through a lot of other books and research to compile the information that’s presented here, were there any resources that stuck out for you?
Dan Sendker: Any animation historian has to acknowledge Michael Barrier’s Hollywood Cartoons, Leonard Maltin’s Of Mice and Magic, and Jerry Beck…just Jerry Beck in general! We all owe a huge debt to these three men and their years of hard work and research. Two of the coolest resources I could think of are The Exposure Sheet and Warner Club News, which were in-house newsletters for the Termite Terrace staff. Jerry Beck has graciously uploaded many of these on Cartoon Research, and they are absolute treasures for any Looney Tunes fans. They were very useful for learning about lesser-known names like Bob Bransford and Keith Darling.
OS: I really enjoyed that you take a bit of time in the book to highlight various members of Chuck Jones’ crew – giving biographies, career summaries, and even showing off the many different ways each artist contributed to culture and society beyond their work in animation. I didn’t know, for example, that background artist, David Rose, was a lifelong courtroom sketch artist in Los Angeles. Were you surprised by anything you learned?
Dan Sendker: Oh man, researching the artists in Chuck’s unit was the best. Growing up, you watch these old cartoons and there’s always that second title card with “Animation by…” “Backgrounds by…” and maybe 7 or 8 names that you don’t know. It was very important to me to pay tribute to those names and the lives behind them, and this is by far where I learned the most. One of the coolest things I learned was that Tom Ray met legendary actor James Stewart when they rode the same bus to the Fort MacArthur induction center during WWII. Tom’s daughter Donna was gracious enough to provide me with a photo of the two of them, and it’s one of the things I’m most proud of with the book. I also loved, more than anything, interviewing Bob Singer, Willie Ito, and the recently departed Jerry Eisenberg. It’s very possible that my book is the last animation book that Jerry contributed to before he passed, and it is a huge honor to be able to preserve a brief snapshot of his life for animation history.
OS: There are some areas that, despite your best efforts, there isn’t a lot of information available or is quite simply, missing. Are there any research leads you would like to see others pick up and explore further?
Dan Sendker: I would love more research on the wonderful DC Looney Tunes comics series that started in 1994. Apparently, DC quietly canceled the series after 281 issues a couple months ago. Many of these comics were drawn by David Alvarez, and they did a great job of capturing the look and feel of the classic shorts. It would also be good to learn more about Looney Tunes merchandising and licensing in general. I know Linda Simensky wrote a great piece about this a couple decades ago, but that seems to be it.
OS: Is there a sequel in the works? A comprehensive look at Sylvester and Tweety, perhaps?
Dan Sendker: Maybe! I’m still recovering from writing the first book, but I had a wonderful experience and can easily see myself tackling another someday. Looney Tunes’ centennial will be here in 2030, and I’ll be damned if that milestone comes and goes without SOMEONE writing a book! As for Sylvester and Tweety, Jerry Beck wrote a great book for their 50th anniversary back in 1994: I Tawt I Taw A Putty Tat – 50 Years of Sylvester and Tweety.
