Foghorn Leghorn Rambling / Speech Pattern Parodies

Submission 17,014

Part of a series on Looney Tunes / Merrie Melodies. [View Related Entries]

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About

Foghorn Leghorn Rambling is a series of memes parodying and mimicking the way that the Looney Tunes rooster character Foghorn Leghorn speaks, which itself is a parody of Southern politicians, specifically the 1940s radio character Senator Claghorn. The character's speech patterns, which often contain the phrase "boy, I say boy," and heavy use of the word "boy," became the subject of memes throughout the 2010s and 2020s. In 2024, a meme trend began on X / Twitter known as Foghorn Leghorn Rambling to Anime Characters in which Leghorn is depicted rambling to anime characters.

Origin

Foghorn Leghorn's voice is purportedly inspired directly by the character Senator Claghorn, a southern politician, from The Fred Allen Show, a radio show that aired in the 1940s (Senator Claghorn shown below, top, Foghorn Leghorn compilation, bottom).^[1]

While it's unclear when Foghorn Leghorn's speech patterns first became the subject of memes, online examples date back to as early as April 24th, 2010.^[2] Memes parodying the way Foghorn Leghorn speaks became increasingly popularized throughout the 2010s, often in the way of image macros (examples from 2012 and 2013 shown below).

Spread

On April 12th, 2021, X^[3] user @nflstreet4 posted a meme in which Foghorn Leghorn rants to a character from the anime Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, garnering over 50,000 likes in three years (shown below).

On April 20th, 2024, X^[4] user @Nicchiban_ recreated the meme, garnering over 37,000 likes in two days. On April 21st, X^[5] user @JenukiDa quote-reposted the post, writing, "can we please make it a trend to have foghorn leghorn ramble to random anime characters please," garnering over 39,000 likes and 5,000 reposts in two days. It was reposted to /r/animecirclejerk^[8] that day, garnering over 1,200 upvotes in two days.

The post inspired further examples of memes in which Foghorn Leghorn rants to anime characters. On April 22nd, X^[6] user @Aca_Studios posted a version in which Foghorn Leghorn rambles to Vegeta from Dragon Ball, garnering over 59,000 likes in a day (shown below, left). On the same day, X^[7] user @Jesse_Burg posted a version referencing Evangelion, garnering over 27,000 likes in a day (shown below, right).

Eric Bauza Readings

On April 22nd and 23rd, 2024, Eric Bauza, a Looney Toons voice actor who has voiced Foghorn Leghorn, performed several readings of some popular anime parodies, including Dragon Ball and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End parodies (shown below).

Various Examples

Son, I Say Son, Turn That Lynyrd Skynyrd Up

Son, I Say Son, Turn That Lynyrd Skynyrd Up refers to an exploitable featuring cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn with a Confederate flag telling the viewer to turn the volume up when the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd comes on. It was made on the website Pic Collage by an unknown user. After being shared ironically on Tumblr in 2015, the Cursed Boomer Image was recaptioned by meme creators and shitposters on iFunny and Instagram who inserted their own references like other musicians.