Warner Archive Collection has unleashed all 52 episodes of Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har on Blu-ray, and if you’ve never heard of this show, don’t worry—you’re not alone.
This 1962-63 Hanna-Barbera gem flew under the radar even by Hanna-Barbera standards, but it deserves way more love than it’s gotten.
Here’s the setup: Lippy is a lion who acts like a used car salesman on a three-day coffee bender. He’s broke, he’s hungry, and he’s convinced the next harebrained scheme is definitely going to work out this time.
Voiced by Daws Butler (the man behind Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, and about half of your childhood), Lippy has that classic fast-talking huckster energy. He’s the kind of guy who could sell you a timeshare in a dumpster and make you feel good about it.
His sidekick is Hardy Har Har, a hyena who—and this is the joke—never laughs.
Instead, he shuffles around muttering “oh dear, oh my” while contemplating every horrible thing that could possibly go wrong. Mel Blanc voices Hardy with the energy of someone who just got their insurance bill, making him sound like Eeyore’s even more depressed cousin.
These two are inseparable despite having absolutely nothing in common except being perpetually homeless and starving. Lippy sees opportunity everywhere. Hardy sees disaster. They’re both usually right.
The beauty of this series is its simplicity.
Each episode follows roughly the same pattern: Lippy spots something that looks like food or money, drags a reluctant Hardy into some ridiculous plan, everything goes spectacularly wrong, and they end up right back where they started—broke, hungry, and somehow still friends.
What’s impressive is that this formula stays fresh across all 52 episodes. The writers throw these guys into every situation imaginable. They’re cowboys in the Wild West. They’re castaways on desert islands. They crash country clubs. They try their luck at racetracks. No matter where they go, Lippy’s optimism and Hardy’s doom-and-gloom predictions create comedy gold.
The real magic is watching Butler and Blanc work. These are two of the greatest voice actors who ever lived, and they’re clearly having a blast. Butler gives Lippy this irrepressible energy—you can practically hear him grinning through every terrible plan. Meanwhile, Blanc makes Hardy’s misery so entertaining that you want to give the poor guy a hug and a sandwich.
Here’s the thing about Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har: it knows exactly what it is. These aren’t elaborate cartoons with complex plots or hidden meanings. This is pure, distilled character comedy. Take two personalities, slam them together repeatedly, and watch what happens.
It’s the same dynamic that’s worked since the dawn of comedy—the optimist and the pessimist, the schemer and the worrier, the guy who says “what could go wrong?” and the guy who can list exactly what could go wrong in alphabetical order. Laurel and Hardy did it. Abbott and Costello did it. Every buddy comedy ever has done some version of this, and Lippy and Hardy do it beautifully.
The writing is snappy, the gags are solid, and most importantly, you actually care about these two weirdos. Sure, Lippy’s plans always fail, but you admire his determination. And yeah, Hardy complains constantly, but he never abandons his friend. There’s genuine heart underneath all the slapstick.
This show was part of The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series, which also gave us Wally Gator and Touché Turtle and Dum Dum. None of these became household names like The Flintstones or Yogi Bear, but they represent Hanna-Barbera at their creative peak, cranking out quality cartoons like it was nothing.
What’s kind of amazing is that this studio was producing The Jetsons and Top Cat around the same time while also keeping these syndicated shows going. The sheer volume of good cartoons they pumped out in the early ’60s is staggering.
If you’re a Hanna-Barbera completist or Gen X-er, this is a no-brainer. If you love classic voice acting and want to hear two masters at work, absolutely grab this. If you enjoy character-driven comedy and can appreciate a good pessimist/optimist pairing, you’ll have a great time.
Even if you’ve never heard of Lippy and Hardy, give them a shot. These are funny, well-crafted cartoons that hold up surprisingly well for being over 60 years old. The humor is timeless because it’s based on character, not topical references or dated pop culture jokes. A lion with terrible ideas and a hyena who expects the worst? That’s funny in any decade.
The complete series in one collection means you can binge all 52 episodes and watch these two knuckleheads stumble through adventure after adventure. It’s comfort food for animation fans—familiar, satisfying, and consistently entertaining.
Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har is one of those forgotten gems that deserves to be rediscovered. It’s got great characters, stellar voice work from two legends, and enough charm to overcome its relative obscurity. Warner Archive continues doing the lord’s work by bringing these classic Hanna-Barbera shows to Blu-ray, and this one’s a winner.
So pour yourself a bowl of cereal, settle in, and enjoy 52 episodes of a lion and a hyena being terrible at everything except making you laugh. Sometimes that’s all you need.
