While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it’s pretty clear when a character has been copied. Characters take inspiration from all kinds of places like Eric Cartman from South Park was inspired by Archie Bunker from All in the Family, something Matt Stone and Trey Parker have admitted. That said, Cartman is not an obvious Archie Bunker clone. That’s not the case, however, for these five comedic knock-offs.
Aunt Blabby
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson clips in 2025 mainly consist of Carson’s interviews. He excelled at having funny, memorable interactions with guests.
In contrast, you never see the sketch comedy elements from his Tonight Show because they’re from a different time and age pretty poorly. One such character that was popular then but not so much now is the old lady persona Aunt Blabby, who is far from an original idea.
Instead, it was a direct copy of Jonathan Winters’ old lady character Maude Frickert right down to having the same wardrobe, same voice and same sweet-yet-snarky comedy conceit.
Foghorn Leghorn
One of the funniest characters from Looney Tunes is the loudmouth rooster Foghorn Leghorn. Known for his garrulous insults, cutthroat asides and endless Southern colloquialisms, Foghorn Leghorn’s cartoons stand as some of the funniest Looney Tunes shorts ever.
That said, the character was lifted nearly wholecloth from a radio character from The Fred Allen Show named Senator Claghorn, played by The Fred Allen Show announcer Kenny Delmar. The only real difference between the characters is that Claghorn was a senator while Leghorn was a rooster. They even had the same turns of phrase like “That’s a joke, son!” and beginning sentences by saying “I say…” The similarity in the names is no coincidence either, as Foghorn Leghorn’s name was an acknowledgment of its inspiration.
The Flintstones
While they were both successful in their own right, The Flintstones is an exact clone of The Honeymooners.
Fred Flintstone was a direct lift of Jackie Gleason’s Ralph Kramden as an overweight, blue-collar loudmouth who loves to bowl. Wilma Flintstone also leans very hard into Audrey Meadows’ Alice Kramden in her take-no-guff-from-her-husband attitude.
Perhaps the most obvious rip-off is Barney Rubble for Ed Norton as the chuckling, dim-witted best pal. Barney’s voice was even closer to Art Carney’s than Fred’s was to Gleason.
One of the creators of The Flintstones even admitted to the theft. While Joseph Barbera always claimed the similarities were a coincidence, his partner William Hanna once said The Honeymooners “influenced greatly what we did with The Flintstones. The Honeymooners was there, and we used that as a kind of basis for the concept.” Gleason even considered legal action over the matter, but decided against it, reasoning that he didn’t want to be blamed for getting a beloved show kicked off the air.
Snagglepuss
Hanna-Barbera also got into some legal hot water with their pink puma character Snagglepuss. Snagglepuss was lifted from Bert Lahr, who is best known for playing the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz but had an entire comic persona that didn’t involve him wearing fur.
Lahr even brought legal action when Snagglepuss endorsed Kellogg’s products. Lahr argued that the endorsements could lead the general public to thinking he endorsed the products, so Hanna-Barbera was forced to adjust the commercials and state that it wasn’t Lahr voicing the character.
Top Cat
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera strike again with Top Cat, a con-artist cat based upon the voice and mannerisms of the Sgt. Bilko character from The Phil Silvers Show.
Voiced by Arnold Stang, Top Cat began as a direct imitation of Phil Silvers’ character, but the show’s sponsor forced a change, so it became somewhat based upon Silvers’ voice. Never a great sign when the sponsor gives you beneficial editorial notes.
It really makes one wonder if Hanna-Barbera would have been nearly as successful if they had to develop an original character.
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