This article is about the cartoon series. For the revue musical based on the words and music of Tom Lehrer

Tom Lehrer

Thomas Andrew "Tom" Lehrer is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, mathematician and polymath. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater...

, see Tom Foolery

Tom Foolery

Tom Foolery is a musical revue based on lyrics and music that Tom Lehrer first performed in the 1950s and 1960s.Devised and produced by Cameron Mackintosh, it premiered in London at the Criterion Theatre, directed by Gillian Lynne, on 5 June 1980, where it had a successful run...

The Tomfoolery Show is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 cartoon comedy television series made and first broadcast in 1970, based on the works of Edward Lear

Edward Lear

Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, author, and poet, renowned today primarily for his literary nonsense, in poetry and prose, and especially his limericks, a form that he popularised.-Biography:...

. The animation was done at the Halas and Batchelor

Halas and Batchelor

Halas and Batchelor was an animation company founded by John Halas and his wife, Joy Batchelor. The company started as a small animation unit that created commercials for theatrical distribution...

 Studios in London and Stroud. Though the works of other writers were also used, notably Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...

 and Ogden Nash

Ogden Nash

Frederic Ogden Nash was an American poet well known for his light verse. At the time of his death in 1971, the New York Times said his "droll verse with its unconventional rhymes made him the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry".-Early life:Nash was born in Rye, New York...

, Lear's works were the main source, and characters like The Yongy Bonghy Bo and The Unmbrageous Umbrella Maker were all Lear creations. Some original material was also written based on characters created by Lear, although much of the material was a straight recital of poems and limericks or songs using Lear's poems set to music. A recurring joke had a delivery boy running around trying to deliver a large plant and shouting 'Plant for Mrs Discobolus!'.

The series was produced by Rankin/Bass

Rankin/Bass

Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. , also known as Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, was an American production company, known for its seasonal television specials, particularly its work in stop-motion animation. The pre-1974 library is currently owned by Classic Media,while the post-1974 library is...

, who also made the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (television special) and Frosty the Snowman

Frosty the Snowman

"Frosty the Snowman" is a popular song written by Walter "Jack" Rollins and Steve Nelson, and first recorded by Gene Autry and the Cass County Boys in 1950. It was written after the success of Autry's recording of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" the previous year; Rollins and Nelson shipped the...

.