Bugs Bunny Brushed Up On His Toronto Slang & It Sounds Like He Belongs In The 6ix (VIDEO)
Bugs is a Toronto mans at heart.
A still of Bugs Bunny munching a carrot. Right: The CN tower in Toronto
Did you know that Bugs Bunny has roots in Toronto? That's right. The iconic rabbit's voice actor, Eric Bauza, is a Scarborough native, and he has far from forgotten his old stomping grounds.
Narcity recently sat down with Bauza for an exclusive interview, where we explored how Bugs would talk and if he'd grown up in the Greater Toronto Area, and it was a match made in heaven.
"Ehh wha ah gwan son?" Bauza as Bugs said — A popular GTA saying, which originates from Jamaican patois and means "what's going on?"
"Toronto mans lingo, what is a Toronto mans anyway?" Bauza continued, before asking for some "carrot poutine," which would probably be a strong contender for the bunny's favourite meal if he lived in the 6ix.
"I'm dying to try one of those Warden Station's Jamaican beef patties," Bugs also admitted while stoking the flames of the age-old debate surrounding the TTC's best patties.
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Bauza, who resides in the San Fernando Valley these days, opened up about his experience growing up in the GTA, and what he misses about it.
"There's just something comfortable about Scarborough and humbling too you know, like those winters were deadly," he said.
He also revealed a few of his favourite hang out spots from back in the day.
"Scarborough Town Centre, you would find me there in the food court," Bauza recalled. "They used to have a wizard's castle that was like the arcade."
Bauza also talked about how he got started in voice acting, a craft he's been developing since elementary school.
"I always got to credit the teachers in elementary and high school and college for not squashing my creativity but rather nourishing and encouraging it," he said.
"Rather than give me detention for doing voices in class, the teachers would say, 'hey, why don't you just go do those voices in the main office over the PA system and read the, you know, the news or whatever. Just do something useful.' So, I did," he added.
The 416 pride is so strong in the voice actor that he even sported a Looney Tunes-inspired OVO sweater to our interview.
"If I'm going to dress up in anything it's going to be OVO," he said.
To further solidify Toronto in the Looney Tunes universe, we asked Bauza if he would be willing to recite some Drake lyrics, and he nailed it.
The voice actor pulled out the big guns for the request, transforming into a chorus of Tweedy Bird, Slyster the Cat, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig as he recited the lyrics to such classics as "Hotline Bling" and "Hold On, We're Going Home.
Anyone who wants to understand the sheer enormity of Bauza's decade-spanning career in cartoons should check out Teletoon+, a new streaming service that features "almost 20 years" of his work.
"It makes me feel like okay, what I have been doing is real and it's not a fantasy, so people can, all my friends and family can see it," he concluded.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.