Editing Sylvester the Cat (section)

==Personality and catchphrases==
Like [[Daffy Duck]], Sylvester is known for having a sloppy [[lisp (speech)|lisp]]. To emphasize the lisp, as with Daffy's catchphrase "You're des''th''picable", Sylvester's trademark exclamation is "''Sufferin' [[succotash]]!''", which is said to be a [[Minced oaths in literature|minced oath]] of "''Suffering Savior''". (Daffy also says "Sufferin' succotash!" on a few occasions.) A common gag used for both Sylvester and Daffy is a tendency to go on a long rant, complaining about a subject and then ending it by saying "Sakes".

Sylvester shows a lot of pride in himself, and never gives up. Despite (or perhaps because of) his pride and persistence, Sylvester is, with rare exceptions, placed squarely on the "loser" side of the ''Looney Tunes'' winner/loser hierarchy. He shows a different personality when paired with [[Porky Pig]] in explorations of spooky places, in which he does not speak, behaves as a scaredy-cat, and always seems to see the scary things Porky does not see and gets scolded by him for it every time.

For the most part, Sylvester has always played the awkward antagonist role, but he is sometimes featured playing the protagonist in a couple of cartoons while having to deal with the canine duo of [[Spike the Bulldog and Chester the Terrier|Spike and Chester]] after being chased around. In 1952's ''[[Tree for Two]]'' (directed by [[Friz Freleng]]), Sylvester is cornered in the back alley and this would result in Spike getting mauled by a [[black panther]] that had earlier escaped from a zoo without Spike and Chester knowing about it. In the 1954 film ''[[Dr. Jerkyl's Hide]]'', Sylvester pummels Spike (here called "Alfie") thanks to a potion that transforms him into a feline monster. Both times after Spike's ordeal, Sylvester would have the courage and confidence to confront Chester, only to be beaten up and tossed away by the little dog.

Perhaps Sylvester's most developed role is in a series of [[Robert McKimson]]-directed shorts, in which the character is a hapless mouse-catching instructor to his dubious son, [[Sylvester Junior]], with the "mouse" being a powerful baby [[kangaroo]] named [[Hippety Hopper]] which he constantly mistakes for a "giant mouse". His alternately confident and bewildered episodes bring his son to shame, while Sylvester himself is reduced to nervous breakdowns.

Sylvester also had atypical roles in a few cartoons:

* ''[[Kitty Kornered]]'' (1946), a [[Bob Clampett]] cartoon in which a black-nosed, yellow-eyed Sylvester was teamed with three other cats to oust owner [[Porky Pig]] from his house.
* ''[[Doggone Cats]]'' (1947), an [[Arthur Davis (animator)|Arthur Davis]] cartoon where Sylvester is teamed up with an orange cat (later reused as Sylvester's brother Alan in ''[[The Looney Tunes Show]]'') to torment a dog named Wellington the Dog as he delivers a package to Uncle Louie.
* ''[[Catch as Cats Can]]'' (1947), another Davis cartoon that portrays Sylvester as a simple-minded cat with a dopey voice. While the cartoon essentially follows a cat-vs-canary plot, it takes a different approach as Sylvester is persuaded to eat the canary (caricatured as [[Frank Sinatra]]) by a green parrot (caricatured as [[Bing Crosby]]).
* ''[[Back Alley Oproar]]'' (1948), a [[Friz Freleng]] cartoon (actually a remake of the 1941 short ''[[Notes to You]]'') wherein Sylvester pesters the sleep-deprived [[Elmer Fudd]] by performing several amazing musical numbers in the alley and even a sweet [[lullaby]] ("go to sleep... go to sleep... close your big bloodshot eyes...") to temporarily ease Elmer back to [[dream world (plot device)|the dream world]], though ''very'' temporarily.
* ''[[The Scarlet Pumpernickel]]'' (1950), a [[Chuck Jones]] cartoon in which Sylvester plays the [[Basil Rathbone]]-like villain to [[Daffy Duck]]'s [[Errol Flynn]]-esque hero.
* ''[[Canned Feud]]'' (1951), another Freleng cartoon in which Sylvester tries to retrieve a can opener from a mouse out of fears he would starve to death. Unlike most cartoons, the mouse is portrayed as an instigator of the conflict or antagonist rather than Sylvester himself.
* ''[[Red Riding Hoodwinked]]'' (1955), another Freleng cartoon where Sylvester co-stars with an absent-minded [[Big Bad Wolf]] in which each not only tries to get their particular "prey" (Sylvester vs. Tweety and the Wolf vs. Little Red Riding Hood) but they both nearly come to blows with each other playing "Grandma". ("You're musclin' in on my racket!")
*''[[A Taste of Catnip]]'' (1966). a [[Robert McKimson]] cartoon that Sylvester cameos in. When [[Daffy Duck]] blows up a [[catnip]] factory in Mexico, Sylvester and other enraged cats beat up Daffy.

In the [[television series]] ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'', Sylvester appeared as the mentor of [[Furrball]]. He also starred in ''[[The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries]]''. In the series, he plays the [[Narration|narrator]] at the beginning of episodes.