Goodfeathers
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The Goodfeathers are characters in the cartoon TV series Animaniacs that were obvious pigeon parodies of Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci's roles in Goodfellas. They lived atop a park statue of Martin Scorsese in New York City, and spoke with distinct 'New Yawk' accents. Their rival gang is made up of sparrows.
The Goodfeathers often parody other movies, such as Taxi Driver, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Raging Bull, Boyz n the Hood,The Birds, and Rocky. An Al Martino sound-alike sings their theme song to the tune of "That's Amore".
The segments featuring the 'Goodfeathers' were notable for parodying a variety of Mafia films, despite the fact that most of these films wouldn't be considered suitable for the show's supposed young audience. This helped give Animaniacs a touch of sophisticated comic credibility that would make it popular among older audiences.
A toy of the Goodfeathers on a three seated bicycle was given out in a promotion for Animaniacs in McDonalds Happy Meals in late 1994.
Main Characters
Squit (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) would often do Ray Liotta-esque voiceovers starting with "As far back as I can remember...." to open the shorts. He is the most obedient and loyal of the three to the Godpigeon, but he usually ends up getting beaten by Pesto, for no real good reason. He also appears to be the most cheerful of the group (probably the only cheerful one), as he is more often than not grinning toothily.
Pesto (voiced by Chick Vennera) has a temper. During each episode (sometimes more than once), Squit would say something innocent to him, often a direct compliment, and he would invariably misunderstand, take offense and go off on a rant similar to Pesci's famous "Am I a clown to you? Do I amuse you?" bar scene. But rather than laughing or blowing if off like in the movie, Pesto would soon scream "Dat's it!", and proceed to thoroughly whallop Squit. Despite the fact that Pesto's anger comes from misinterpreting a word that Squit says (such as "swell" "optimist" or "eloquent"), his interpretation is often no less offensive than Squit's meaning. Pesto seems to be a sociopath of some sort, as he occasionally attacks Squit for no apparent reason. Like his voice actor, Chick Vennera, each of Pesto's eyes are a different color (the same colors as the eyes of Dizzy Devil from Tiny Toon Adventures)
Bobby (voiced by John Mariano), as his name suggests, is a composite of Robert De Niro's most popular characters (such as Travis Bickle, Jake LaMotta, and Jimmy Conway) He seems to be the brains of the operation. Bobby is more of the leader in the group, and it is his job to keep Pesto from killing Squit, even if he has to get involved in the fight. Unfortunately for Squit, however, Bobby usually finds the beatings hilarious, but there are occasions where he keeps Pesto in check just by glaring at him, mainly because Pesto's temper gets all of them into trouble.
The Girlfeathers are their female counterparts. One, Sasha, is Squit's girlfriend and Pesto's sister, her temper being just as flare-fire as his is. Lana is Bobby's girl, a sultry-voiced parody of the Cathy Moriarty character from Raging Bull, and lastly Kiki, Pesto's girlfriend, is the stereotypical dumb-blonde.
The Godpigeon, their boss, is an obvious take on Marlon Brando's Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather : morbidly obese, waddling, and delivering his lines in an incomprehensible Sicilian mumble, forcing Bobby to translate for Squit, Pesto, and the viewers. However, Squit has a very minimal understanding of the Godpigeon's language, misinterpreting certain syllables. On the occasions when Bobby is not around, the Godpigeon's speech is translated via subtitles. Also, upon appearing, the Godpigeon will stick out one talon, prompting the Goodfeathers to bend over and kiss it, reminiscent of kissing the Godfather's rings. He often officiates at the local birds' 'weddings' and ends up crying with emotion. His real name is Solley - a take on Sal Tessio in "The Godfather", which was first revealed by Bobby in the first episode, as Squit is introduced to the Godpigeon. The name was also credited in the Sega Genesis Animaniacs video game.
Known Episodes
- The Beginning (aired 09/16/1993)
- West Side Pigeons (aired 09/28/1993)
- The Boids (aired 10/12/1993)
- Ta Da Dump, Ta Da Dump, Ta Da Dump Dump Dump (aired 10/15/1993)
- Hiccup (aired 11/03/1993)
- Raging Bird (aired 11/15/1993)
- Girlfeathers (aired 02/14/1994)
- With Three You Get Eggroll (05/09/1994)
- We're No Pigeons (aired 09/17/1994)
- Miami Mama-Mia (aired 11/05/1994)
- Pigeon on the Roof (aired 11/05/1994)
- Bad Mood Bobby (aired 11/12/1994)
- Boids on the Hood (aired 09/14/1996)
- Birds on a Wire (aired 11/14/1998)
References in Pop Culture
- In a scene for the film Bolt, Bolt is seen talking to 3 pigeons who greatly resemble the Goodfeathers.
