One thing about Tex Avery’s cartoons: they were never really just for children.

Yes, there were talking animals, slapstick, explosions, and impossible cartoon physics, but sitting right underneath all of that was a layer of humor aimed squarely at the grown folks.

Not explicit, of course. He was working during an era when Hollywood censorship rules were strict, so the jokes had to sneak in through innuendo, body language, double meanings, and exaggerated reactions.

But grown people knew exactly what was being suggested.

That Wolf Was Horny as Hell

You cannot talk about adult humor in Tex Avery cartoons without talking about the Wolf.

Especially in Red Hot Riding Hood.

The Wolf sees Red performing in a nightclub and completely loses his damn mind.

His eyes bulge out.

His tongue rolls across the table.

His heart pounds outside his chest.

He howls.

He whistles.

He practically climbs out of his own skin.

As a child, you might simply think, That wolf really likes that lady.

As an adult?

Oh, you understand perfectly.

That man was lusting.

The entire joke depends on adults recognizing sexual desire and laughing at just how ridiculously uncontrolled his reaction becomes.

The Women Knew What They Were Doing Too

Avery’s female characters weren’t always passive objects in the joke either.

Women like Red were often presented as glamorous nightclub performers who clearly understood the effect they were having on the men around them.

The dresses.

The singing.

The dancing.

The sultry voices.

The little glances.

None of that was accidental.

There was a whole language of sexuality happening without anyone having to say anything directly.

And that was part of the genius of the era.

Censorship forced animators to become incredibly creative about suggesting sex without actually showing it.

Sometimes a raised eyebrow could carry an entire dirty joke.

Drinking, Smoking, Gambling and Nightclubs

Another thing you notice when watching these cartoons as an adult is how thoroughly adult the world around the characters could be.

Nightclubs.

Bars.

Cigarettes.

Liquor.

Gambling.

Cabaret singers.

Men chasing women.

Women manipulating men.

Characters acting drunk.

These cartoons were produced for theatrical audiences, not specifically as Saturday-morning children’s programming.

Adults were sitting in those movie theaters too.

So animators could throw in jokes that children wouldn’t understand but their parents absolutely would.

The kids laughed because somebody got hit over the head.

The adults laughed because they understood why the married man was hiding under the table.

Two completely different jokes happening at the same time.

The Double Entendres Were Everywhere

Tex Avery loved implication.

A character might say something completely innocent on the surface, while the animation made the real meaning obvious.

That was the trick.

The dialogue could pass the censors.

The audience supplied the dirty interpretation.

And sometimes the joke wasn’t even in the words.

It was in a pause.

A stare.

A woman’s walk.

A man’s reaction.

A strategically placed object.

That little beat where the audience realizes, “Ohhhh. I know what they’re talking about.”

That’s classic adult humor.

Marriage Was Frequently the Punchline

Old cartoons also loved jokes about marriage.

Nagging wives.

Henpecked husbands.

Men terrified of being caught looking at another woman.

Bachelors desperate to avoid marriage.

Women desperate to get married.

Husbands sneaking around.

Wives waiting at home with a rolling pin.

By modern standards, some of that humor is dated as hell.

But it tells you something important about who these cartoons were written for.

A six-year-old wasn’t sitting there thinking about marital dissatisfaction.

Their parents were.

And Then There Was Pure Sexual Frustration

Avery loved taking normal human desire and blowing it up until it became completely absurd.

Attraction wasn’t just attraction.

A man’s eyeballs literally shot out of his skull.

His jaw hit the floor.

Steam came out of his ears.

His body shook.

His heart exploded.

That exaggeration became one of the most recognizable visual languages in animation.

Even people who have never watched a Tex Avery cartoon understand what bulging cartoon eyes mean when somebody sees an attractive person.

That visual shorthand didn’t come out of nowhere.

Watching Them as an Adult Is a Completely Different Experience

That’s probably what I enjoy most about revisiting these cartoons.

You suddenly catch jokes that sailed completely over children’s heads.

And you realize:

Ohhhh. These people were filthy.

They just had to be clever about it.

There is something funny about an era when animators couldn’t simply say the dirty joke, so they built an elaborate visual metaphor around it instead.

Sometimes restraint actually made the joke better.

Tex Avery’s adult humor worked because it trusted the audience to understand what wasn’t being said.

Sex.

Lust.

Marriage.

Alcohol.

Jealousy.

Infidelity.

Nightlife.

All wrapped inside a cartoon with talking wolves and falling anvils.

And somewhere in the theater, a child was laughing because the wolf’s tongue hit the floor while every adult in the room knew exactly why it did. 😹