Misterjaw

Plot

Misterjaw, voiced by Arte Johnson, is a blue great white shark who wears a purple vest with white collar, a black bow tie, and a black top hat. He leaps from the water shouting 'HEEGotcha!' or 'Gotcha!' at unsuspecting people, who flee in terror. He speaks with a German accent and mispronounces words, such as saying 'ka-nucklehead' for 'knucklehead'. His sidekick is a green-scaled catfish with a brown bowler hat and a Brooklyn accent, named Catfish and voiced by Arnold Stang.

Catfish calls Misterjaw 'Boss' or 'Chief'; Misterjaw addresses him as 'pal-ly', 'fella', or 'sonny' when pleased, and 'dumbkoff', 'ka-nucklehead', or 'macaroni brain' when annoyed. He sometimes mistakenly calls him 'Dogfish' before correcting himself. Their main goal is to catch Harry Halibut, voiced by Bob Ogle. In some episodes, they are pursued by Fearless Freddy the Shark Hunter, voiced by Paul Winchell.

All entries were directed by Robert McKimson, with co-direction from Sid Marcus. The music was composed by Doug Goodwin, and a brief version of the John Williams Jaws theme was used. No shorts contained credit information; only the series title, episode title, 1976 copyright, and end titles were shown. All episodes include a laugh track.

Production notes

Misterjaw was the last of five cartoon series included in the MGM Television distribution package. Alongside Hanna-Barbera's Jabberjaw, it was one of two shark cartoons created to capitalize on the Jaws phenomenon. By July 2005, the series was airing regularly on Cartoon Network's Boomerang in the United States, alongside The Pink Panther Show and other DePatie-Freleng works. All episodes had aired on Boomerang by 2006, though three were trimmed: scenes from "Beach Resort" and "Monster of the Deep" were cut, as was the ending of "Holiday in Venice." The show also went by the titles Mr. Jaws and Catfish.

In the episode "Little Red Riding Halibut," Misterjaw says "Verrry interesting..." after peeking into a picnic basket Harry Halibut had booby-trapped with mousetraps. That catchphrase originated with actor Arte Johnson, who voiced Misterjaw, on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. In the 1980s, the series aired on South African television as a morning cartoon called "Grootbek en Katvis," dubbed into Afrikaans.

Did You Know?

• The complete series was digitally remastered and released on a two-disc Blu-Ray/DVD collection by Kino Lorber on April 24, 2018.
• Misterjaw Cartoon Festival Featuring Monster of the Deep was released on VHS in 1987 as part of the 'Viddy-Oh for Kids' line.