List of Histeria! characters
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[edit] Aka Pella
Aka Pella, voiced by Cree Summer, is the only African-American member of the Kid Chorus. Aka's personality trait is her sassy lingo, often delivering comedically-timed insults to whoever she is currently hanging out with. Compared to her companions, Aka's role on Histeria! was quite minor. Most of her bigger roles came up near the end of the show's run, where she was shown making fun of General Custer at his last stand, and having spitball wars with Froggo during Rosa Parks' bus ride.
[edit] Big Fat Baby and Big Fat Baby Girl
Big Fat Baby (often abbreviated by fans as BFB) is an apparent sidekick to the central character Father Time, frequently accompanying him as he introduces the sketches. In this role, he is a parody of Baby New Year, as he is shown wearing a ribbon dictating the year in which the sketch takes place. He is known for the foul odor he carries, caused by his constant pooping in his diaper. As a result of this, usually in sketches where the show's Kid Chorus is shown annoying a historical figure, one of the kids asks the figure in question to change Big Fat Baby's diaper, pointing out that the last time he had a clean diaper was before something that happened a long time ago.
There is actually more than one Big Fat Baby. At times, several Big Fat Babies appear on screen at once, usually to depict a certain time period such as the American Revolution. In fact, there have even been several Big Fat Baby Girls who differentiate from the males by way of their tanned skin and pink hair bows. In addition, various historical figures who appeared on Histeria!, such as Alexander the Great, King Henry VIII, and the semi-regular character Nostradamus, are always depicted as Big Fat Babies whenever they are shown in their infancy. The big fat baby makes baby noises performed by Luke Ruegger.
[edit] Bill Straitman
Bill Straitman, voiced by James Wickline, is the straight man to the rest of the characters. He often appears as an interviewer and is frequently harassed by World's Oldest Woman.
[edit] Charity Bazaar
Charity Bazaar, voiced by Laraine Newman is female lead of the Histeria! Kid Chorus, and her main personality trait is that she is usually depicted as being very depressed, as shown by her catch phrase, "I'm not happy." She is often seen dressed as an American Pilgrim, sometimes even when the rest of the characters are dressed in their normal outfits.
[edit] Chit Chatterson
Chit Chatterson, voiced by Billy West, is an eccentric commercial salesman whose behavior is not unlike that of Matthew Lesko. Often, Chit takes on a different name depending on the time and place of his sketch. One particular sketch in "The Wheel of History" featured him as Archimedes, the father of geometry - there, he is literally the father of an unpopular boy whose name is Geometry (played by Pule Houser). Chit apparently has a large ego. In an episode where he portrays John Hancock, he hosts a segment about how people write their signatures, stating that he is the kind of egomaniacal person who likes to write his name inappropriately large. (This is in reference to the comparatively large size of Hancock's signature on the Declaration of Independence.)
[edit] Cho-Cho
Cho-Cho, voiced by Tress MacNeille, is a little Chinese girl who is more devious than she looks. Over the course of the show's run, she is shown demanding René Descartes to buy magazines, getting Sergei Eisenstein to screw up on tongue twisters, and pressuring Genghis Khan into buying snacks from her. Cho-Cho is almost never seen without her dim-witted companion, Lucky Bob. Frequently, he carries her stuff around for her, and in other cases, they're also always seen in Miss Information's tour groups; sometimes, Lucky Bob is left behind until Cho-Cho comes back to get him.
Whenever Cho-Cho speaks, "Chopsticks" plays in the background.
Her name comes from cho-cho chicken, a popular Chinese dish prepared with sliced chicken breast and cayote shoots.
[edit] Father Time
Father Time, voiced by Frank Welker, is the 'host' of Histeria. According to one segment, he is the reason the cast 'travels' through time. Father Time has a white beard reaching down to the floor and resembles the character of Maestro from Il était une fois... l'homme.
[edit] Fetch
Fetch is Loud's aptly-named dog, who loves chasing tennis balls and frequently asks the historical figures if they want to play catch with him. He appears to be of the same breed of dog as Hunter from Road Rovers. He is voiced by Frank Welker.
[edit] Froggo
Froggo, voiced by Nathan Ruegger, is notable from the show's Kid Chorus in that he has a low, frog-like voice (hence his name), as well as the fact that he does not have a given last name or a catch phrase. Frequently, Froggo is shown asking the featured historical figures if he can borrow a few seemingly useless items (half of the time they're food related) for needs that he doesn't care to disclose (as he tells Thomas Edison, "you have your inventions, and I have mine"). If he is told he cannot be given these things, he will either go into a frenzied panic or tell the person to not come crying to him later. He apparently has an inventive nature, to the point that he has even written a series of books about the things he can do with these items (in one episode, he shows us a book titled Froggo's 101 Uses for Glue and Tadpoles). He also seems to like goat milk, hot dogs and marshmallows, but hates turnips, as seen on the show, and is also a big fan of Batman. Froggo also has a mature and quiet mind, as he drinks coffee, uses bunson burners, etc.
[edit] Historical figures
Most of the real-life historical figures in Histeria were portrayed as caricatures of real-life celebrities from the modern era. The intent was to make analogies to contemporary individuals in terms of personalities and attitudes. These include appearances of Napoleon voiced by Jeff Bennett, Attila the Hun, Benjamin Franklin voiced by Billy West. Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, both voiced by Maurice LaMarche.
[edit] Kip Ling
Kip Ling, Crooked-Mouth Boy, and Bow-Haired Girl are three generic children who only show up in songs, usually filling in for one or more the usual Kid Chorus members. Unlike the rest of the kids, they do not seem to have any personality quirks. Kip is a nondescript Eurasian boy; he was never actually addressed by name onscreen. His name is likely a reference to author Ruyard Kipling.
[edit] Loud Kiddington
Loud Kiddington is an intensely annoying young boy noted for the extremely loud volume in which he talks, as his name suggests. He is the most recurring of the child characters seen on the show, to the point that he is one of two main characters to have an episode with his name in the title. In that particular episode, "Loud Kiddington's Ancient History", he plays a parody of the typical used car salesman seen in television commercials (specifically Cal Worthington), accompanied by his talking dog, Fetch. Fetch is identical in appearance to Hunter from Road Rovers and loves to chase after his tennis ball. He refuses to eat anything that one would find anything disgusting, as shown in the aforementioned episode. Loud is voiced by Cody Ruegger, the youngest son of Histeria! creator Tom Ruegger. In fact, Tom has stated that Loud's personality is based on Cody, because he "has the tendency to be the loudest kid on Earth".[1]
As a running gag, Loud is sometimes shown keeping watch of something, whilst almost silently muttering "I see it..." repeatedly. When he loses sight of what he's watching, he immediately switches into continuously shouting "DON'T SEE IT!!" Another of Loud's running gags is when he demonstrates the advent of an exceedingly loud-sounding invention or event in the only way he knows how. In these sketches, the viewer is "advised" to turn the TV volume up to its highest setting for maximum effect.
[edit] Lucky Bob
Lucky Bob, voiced by Jeff Bennett, is frequently seen in Miss Information's tour group, accompanied by his best friend Cho-Cho. He also frequently accompanies Cho-Cho in her attempts to sell merchandise. By himself, Bob can be seen screwing up with the easiest questions on a game show, much to the host's annoyance. In spite of the use of the adjective "lucky" in his name, Bob actually seems to have incredibly bad luck. Cho-Cho often gives a different reason for his name each time she is asked why he is called "lucky", such as that the bad incidents that he has gone through in the past have, so far, never happened again. He is apparently a fan of Ed McMahon on The Tonight Show, as most of his dialogue consists of McMahon's catchphrases "Hiyooo!", "Yes, now!", "You are correct, sir!", and every once in a while, "You are correct, oh wise one!".
[edit] Lydia Karaoke
Lydia Karaoke, voiced by Nora Dunn, is an employee for The WB who has been assigned as network censor for the show, and given the show's nature, this can be quite a hassle for her. Often, she interrupts the sketches to complain that what is about to be or has just been shown is inappropriate for children's television. Among these, she has protested usage of curse words in actual expressions and the use of the term "poop deck", as well as informing the viewers that Hannibal was painted incorrectly. She is only doing these things because it's her job, not out of spite. Nevertheless, her job as network censor does not prevent her from occasionally actually taking part in the sketches herself, albeit usually in crowd shots. When actually appearing as a character in the sketches, she can be shown hosting a game show, and even once appeared as Athena (or Minerva) in the song "What's in a God's Name?"
[edit] Miss Information
Miss Information, voiced by Laraine Newman, is a ditzy tour guide who leads a group of tourists through various moments in history, as if the world is her own personal museum. She has a habit of stating incorrect facts; for example, she believes that George Washington was named after the monument, rather than the other way around, because it isn't called "the George Monument." Miss Information is easily forgiven for her mistakes, however, due to the outer beauty she shows. It is because of this that she often appears as a Vanna White-esque hostess in game show sketches. Her name is derived from the word misinformation, as she is always dispensing incorrect knowledge. However, during information segments between sketches with Father Time, she does state correct historical facts. She also has a Southern accent.
[edit] Molly Pitcher
Molly Pitcher is a caricature of Mary Hays McCauly who constantly offers refreshments in the form of water, sometimes parodying the "Got Milk?" advertising campaign. Her personality is based on Martha Stewart.
[edit] Mr. Smartypants
Mr. Smartypants, voiced by Rob Paulsen, is a shy genius who wears exceedingly large pants and spouts various tidbits of knowledge. Despite being seemingly mature, he frequently giggles at crude humor coming from the names he has been chosen to describe (such as stating the name of Thomas Crapper), and he often literally pulls things from out of his pants. These traits, especially the latter, are a frequent victim of the threats by network censor Lydia Karaoke, who seems to greatly distrust him, to the point that in his first appearance, she demands to know just what he's doing in his pants.
[edit] Nostradamus
Nostradamus, voiced by Paul Rugg, is a real-life fortune teller. Predicts the future for the cast and predicts the next segment. As Baby Nostradamus, he resembles one of the Big Fat Babies and exclaims "I predict that I'm gonna make a poopoo in my pants!" His catchphrase is "SHUT UP!" and "I was right!"
[edit] Pepper Mills
Pepper Mills, voiced by Tress MacNeille, is a hyperactive teenager, almost a polar opposite in terms of personality to co-star Charity Bazaar, who is driven to adoration for any and all celebrities. As a result of this, she frequently harasses historical celebrities by asking for their autographs. However, Pepper constantly gets these historical figures mixed up with pop culture celebrities, and it's only when she looks at the autograph she's just been given that she realizes she's made a mistake. For example, she mistakes Joan of Arc for Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. Occasionally, Pepper is a singer in the Kid Chorus.
[edit] Pule Houser
Pule Houser, voiced by Frank Welker, is an overweight kid in the show's cast who takes most of the abuse. As a result of this, he frequently whines, to the point that he will lie on the ground pounding his fists. His name might be a pun on well-known California television personality, Huell Howser.
[edit] Sammy Melman
Sammy Melman, voiced by Rob Paulsen, is a spoof of the smarmy and desperate television executives, namely those who worked for The WB.
[edit] Susanna Susquahanna
Susanna Susquahanna is a little Native American girl with beady eyes and a large gap in her front teeth that gave her a gigantic lisp; given the usages of the letter "S" in her name, it is quite difficult for her to pronounce it properly. Compared to her co-stars, had relatively little screen time, showing up mainly in crowd shots. The first time she was actually prominently featured in a sketch came in a game show sketch in an episode about China. Here, Susanna appears as a contestant opposite Lucky Bob, as Father Time asks them several questions about the Zhou dynasty and becomes increasingly frustrated over their inability to submit a correct answer. Susanna's only other major role was also her biggest role in the "Booney Tunes" sketch.
[edit] Toast
Toast, voiced by Tress MacNeille, is a clueless teenager whose name comes from the idea that his brain is fried like toast. The only things that matter to Toast are surfing, music, TV, movies, food, and other such topics. This is shown by way of a talk show he occasionally hosts, titled Ask Me If I Care (and he usually doesn't). In this role, he brings historical figures to describe what made them famous. Toast, of course, doesn't really care about their exploits, and as a result of their failure to captivate his interest, he always launches his guests into space.
[edit] World's Oldest Woman
The World's Oldest Woman, voiced by Tress MacNeille, is a very old woman who claims to have dated every historical male in history, beginning with Adam in the Garden of Eden. She often makes passes at her male co-stars in the sketches she stars in, frequently Bill Straitman. Occasionally, World's Oldest Woman is cast in sketches as Cleopatra, unless the writers want to portray Cleopatra as attractive, in which case the role is given to Pepper Mills. As Cleopatra, World's Oldest Woman is depicted with a darker skintone. Her theme music uses the same instrumentals as that of the theme song for Slappy Squirrel on Animaniacs. Adding to this, her song is sung by the Kid Chorus (Loud, Charity, Froggo, and Aka) just as Yakko, Wakko, and Dot sang Slappy's theme. She has also portrayed hatchet-wielding temperance movement extremist Carrie A. Nation, to whom she had a striking resemblance.
[edit] References
- ^ Article about Histeria!, written by Helen Lee in October 1998. Retrieved on October 19, 2006.
