Herman (Herman and Katnip)

Herman (Herman and Katnip) If you thought Gene Deitch's Jerry Mouse, Looney Tunes Charlie Dog, Walter Lantz's Woody Woodpecker, Terrytoons Heckle and Jeckle, Disney's Aracuan Bird or Tex Avery's Screwy Squirrel were extremely insufferable, Herman makes these guys look like lovable scamps and true saints. Gender: Male Type: Overly Sadistic Rodent Age: Unknown Species: House Mouse Portrayed by: Arnold Stang Status: Alive Media of origin: Herman and Katnip

Herman the Mouse is the main protagonist of the infamous Famous Studios show Herman and Katnip. He is the mortal enemy and arch-nemesis to the more clownish and dim-witted Katnip, and he is the leader of his four loyal cousins. He was voiced by Arnold Stang.

Why He's Not The Bravest Mouse We Know

1. He is a straight-up Gary-Stu, one of the most over-exaggerated, overdone, and irredeemably sadistic Gary-Stus ever made.
2. He never, if ever, gets his comeuppance for his cruel actions against Katnip, who is a scapegoat & torture-victim that is always perceived as the villain. Instead, Herman wins in every single episode, making him a total karma houdini on top of that.
3. The show tries to get you to root for him since he is obviously ripping off the heroic ideal of Jerry the Mouse from Tom & Jerry, especially since he is made out to be this protagonist who is keeping his cousins safe from danger and entertaining them in the process. But he is barely well-intentioned and doesn't really have anything we should like about him defeating Katnip daily, especially since Herman always gets carried away with torturing Katnip for being a predator at heart. Much to the point that he usually comes off as more of an irredeemable, detestable sadist and much more of a villain towards Katnip than the titular Katnip is made out to be.
   • This is especially evident where Katnip in an episode would be either sleeping or simply doing his job without bugging anyone while Herman, or even his cousins, are causing trouble around wherever Katnip goes.
   • Speaking of which, there were times when Herman and his cousins act like bullies by making fun of Katnip whether he is not around them or even when Herman is still torturing Katnip, just to make him even more 'likable' than he already was.
4. In fact, he is so recklessly cruel, malicious, and sadistic that he even makes the flanderized version of Jerry look like an angel in comparison.
5. He is also very brutal and manipulative towards his ineffectual archenemy, much to the point that it always comes off as mean-spirited at best, to downright cruel and completely harsh at worst. Especially where the attacks he pulls on Katnip are way too murderous, lifelike and underhanded to come off as morally righteous. To make the matters worse, none of the attacks he pulls on Katnip are funny (or any fun) at all, and instead, they come off as extremely painful, demented and sociopathic, to the point that it makes Herman a lot more worthy of despise and hatred than being forgivable.
6. To make matters worse, he never gives Katnip, a complete schlemiel for a guarding housecat like him, any mercy whatsoever, enough to make Jerry seem very sympathetic to Tom in comparison. Herman often enjoys murdering Katnip or making him suffer for the fact he's a dimwit and a incompetent buffoon. In fact, a large majority of the time has Herman do stuff like sending violent brutes like man-eating sharks or perform tactics for Herman to manipulate and inflict harm onto Katnip, even when it's uncalled for (it's surprising and a miracle for how Katnip survives half of the torture that'd kill ANY cartoon character, even by cartoon logic standards).
   • A couple of good examples with Herman being a sociopathic sadist are the episodes like "Mouseum" and "Mice Meeting You";
     • In "Mouseum", Herman's worst actions he commits despite trying to protect himself from Katnip, is doing things like hopping on top of the wheel Katnip threw knives at and rolls it after Katnip, slicing off segments of his back as well as skinning Katnips fur and skin off of his body until he falls flat and untieing the rope of a hanging burning pot Katnip was attempting to put the fire out underneath it which causes the pot to hit Katnip's head and Katnip's face (as well as the pot) falls ON the fire!! At the end of this episode, Herman even resorts to placing a "Extinct" sign after Katnip fell onto the ground twice so he could poke fun at Katnip, as well as him and his cousins laughing at Katnip being blind and reveling in his misery by laughing at Katnip while he is seen repeatedly slams himself into a bunch of obstacles and running for help. Which is completely offensive and insensitive to actually blind people.
     • In "Mice Meeting You", Herman's worst actions in the episode with doing lethal misdeeds of torture includes tipping over hot tea in order for Katnip's mouth to start burning on purpose to steal a cooked turkey from Katnip, Herman then uses a needle to stab Katnip's rear end, Herman uses a fireman toy car and pushes it to maximum speed so Herman could hit Katnip in the face! (which caused him to slam through a line of dish plates and a cooking long pot fall simultaneously fall onto him!!!), Herman attempts yanking Katnip's throat and choking him as a way to trap with a crane going through the phone (yes really) and most importantly, Herman provides a infamous scene of him tricking Katnip the fact Santa exists so he could go to sleep and it has Herman chainsawing a floor filled with furniture above Katnip for it to drop onto him (presumably killing him on-screen), and the mice celebrate Christmas while HE AND THE MICE USED KATNIP'S DEAD CORPSE AS A CHRISMAS TREE!!!! as well as using his tail to light up said tree! Even for a kids' cartoon, this is also one of the many examples of what makes Herman and the mice come across as unhinged and psychotic degenerates who are so evil and tasteless, they'd probably the type of people who would be laughing at him and rotting on his dead corpse during his funeral for not being alive. Given that he and the mice are clearly shown to enjoy watching him being in pain, and even murdering him on a daily basis.
7. Most of his attempts at humor or making witty lines fail and fall flat on his face because of lacking any real comedic touches with his sayings and one-liners that could make him funny or entertaining (e.g "There is more than one way to skin cat" from the episode "From Mad to Worse" when Herman makes a stereotypical depiction of Chinese people for a quick joke. Even for a cartoon mouse, not only does it prove that Herman has a psychopathic mindset since he's making a murder joke towards cats, but that just comes off as extremely disturbing and offensive considering Herman is a mouse in a kids' show).
8. Because of all these qualities, he mostly isn't likable in any way, shape, or form, unlike Jerry or even his Looney Tunes "counterpart" Speedy Gonzales.
9. His nasally, weird voice that has a vague hinting of a Brooklyn accent in it is very cringeworthy and awkward to hear, as it sounds like an oddball prototype of Mario's voice from Hotel Mario.
   • His singing is very bad, thanks to his accent.
   • Arnold Stang overall does a rather lackluster job voicing him.
10. His design might be passable, but it comes across as unimaginative and lazy just like Katnip and Herman's own cousins, since his design looks heavily derivative to a poorly-done clone of Jerry Mouse's design from Tom and Jerry, albeit with pants and shoes.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Despite being one of the biggest Gary-Stus around, he can be rational and show some common sense towards Katnip's foolishness.
2. He was shown to be briefly likable in shorts that don't revolve around him being against Katnip, especially in some cartoons where he is paired with Henry the Rooster where he helps the rooster stand up against his utterly abusive wife Bertha/Chickenpie. He was also decent in "Campus Caper" and "Cheese Burglar". (Unfortunately, when he is paired with Katnip, he suffered from flanderization and character derailment by becoming more of a ruthless, sadistic jerk than before)
3. While lazy and unimaginative, his design comes off as either cute, poorly done, or just passable, depending on your view.

Trivia

• Itchy from The Simpsons' Itchy & Scratchy Show is based on Herman because of Herman's sadism and his cruel and manipulative tendencies towards Katnip.

Videos

TBA

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