Commander McBragg

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Commander McBragg was a cartoon character who appeared in short segments produced by Total Television Productions and animated by Gamma Productions. These segments first appeared on the Underdog animated television show from 1964-1973, and have appeared in some syndicated prints of The Bullwinkle Show and Uncle Waldo's Cartoon Show. The segments opened with an image of a revolving globe and the title "The World of Commander McBragg." In each episode, the Commander would buttonhole a hapless member of his gentleman's club, relate some story filled with unlikelihoods and outright impossibilities, always concluding with a hairbreadth escape. Example: McBragg would point to a map on the wall and say to an unsuspecting colleague: "There! Zanzibar! Did I ever tell you about the time I ..." The person listening to the story would, despite his initial reticence, become very engaged in the exciting tale, and at its conclusion compliment the Commander on his cleverness, to which he would always respond "Quite."

The deep, gravelly voice of Commander McBragg was provided by veteran voice talent Kenny Delmar, best known for his stammering Non-Stop Talking on the old Fred Allen radio show. The character of McBragg is based upon C. Aubrey Smith, a famous English actor. Smith played roles in films upon which McBragg was drawn as a caricature. The stories, more often than not, were either taken directly from, or were imitations of, the Baron Münchhausen stories of Rudolf Erich Raspe. Other influences include the early animated character Colonel Heeza Liar, the subject of a number of animated shorts created by John R. Bray, and directed by Walter Lantz, who would later become better known for the Woody Woodpecker franchise.

Commander McBragg appeared in an episode of The Simpsons, "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story," acting as the judge for a scavenger hunt between Montgomery Burns and the Rich Texan, both eccentric millionaires in the same gentleman's club, known in the episode as "The Excluder's Club," named for being very exclusive.