Pepé Le Pew voice for the character closely resembles the one he used for "Professor Le Blanc", the harried violin instructor on "The Jack Benny Program". Pepé Le Pew's cartoons were dubbed in French; in the French version ("Pépé le putois"), Pepé speaks with a heavy Italian accent. His voice is a parody of Yves Montand. Chuck Jones first introduced the character (originally named Stinky) in the 1945 short "Odor-able Kitty" (see "Variations"), in which he was revealed to be a married American skunk named Henry who had been faking his French accent. For the remaining cartoons Jones directed, Pepé retained his accent,
What a Cartoon! of a theatrical cartoon, with each film being based on an original storyboard drawn and written by its artist or creator. The series first aired on February 20, 1995, and the shorts were promoted as World Premiere Toons. During the original run of the shorts, the series was retitled to "The What a Cartoon! Show" and later to "The Cartoon Cartoon Show" until the final shorts aired on August 23, 2002. The project served as the launching point for multiple Cartoon Network animated television series, including "The Powerpuff Girls" (1998–2005), "Dexter's Laboratory", "Johnny Bravo", "Cow and Chicken", "Courage the Cowardly