Celebrate Bugs Bunny's 75th birthday by watching his 50th!

Today marked the 75th anniversary of Bugs Bunny, who made his debut in Tex Avery's 1940 classic A WILD HARE.  And there's plenty of points around the web celebrating such on occasion, so instead of just bringing up Bugsy, why not check out the festivities the last time he had an important birthday? 

1990's HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BUGS: 50 LOONEY YEARS is about as ridiculous as TV specials get, filled with guest stars (Seriously, look at this cast of guest appearances) and containing very little content about the guest of honor himself.  In fact, much of it is presented as though Bugs is an  actual person with an acting career rather than, well, going into the actual history of his animated exploits.





Here's what you get:

Little Richard singing "That's not all, folks, we want more!" with a cavalcade of the guest stars you'll be seeing -- you know, animation staples like Jon Voight, Fred Savage and Harry Anderson. 

"Pro-Daffy Duck protesters" (including "Moonlighting'"s Allyce Beasley) opposed to the Bugs Bunny event. 

An "Entertainment Tonight" profile of the rascally rabbit, which serves as a full "biography" of Bugs' rise to fame claiming that he grew up in Brooklyn and was soon discovered and became a superstar.

Shatner. 

Fake talk show segments featuring Joan Rivers, Geraldo Rivera and Phil Donahue and Sally Jesse Raphael.

A montage of a cross-dressing Bugs backed by Robert Palmer's "Simply Irresistable."

A shirtless Chuck Norris working out.

A very strange conversation between Bill Cosby and Raven Symone that I'm not sure Symone is aware is being filmed.

Dan Quayle jokes.

Milton Berle in a bunny outfit claiming that he's the real Bugs Bunny.

Shadoe Stevens shilling for Acme products.

Hulk Hogan.

Tex Avery, Frank Tashlin, Mel Blanc and Fritz Freling are mentioned in passing, and Freling and Chuck Jones have brief interview segments, but for the most part, it's fully committed to the idea that Bugs Bunny is a real-life being, forcing the concept into as many deeply committed gags as it possibly can while tossing out as many random (and usually unidentified) vintage Warner Bros. cartoon clips as it can. 

There are moments of brightness, such as a clever Daffy Duck segment in which he meets his agent and clips of Mel Blanc recording Bugs' voice, but most of it is just random footage of Bugs and celebrities paining themselves to come up with something original to say.

Happy birthday, Bugs!   I hope your 75th is much better than your 50th.