# Did Wile E. Coyote ever catch the roadrunner? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 3, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-roadrunner/716712 "2015-04-03T15:56:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bennyray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5daacb/32.png) [@Bennyray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bennyray)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-roadrunner/716712/1 "2015-04-03T15:56:45Z")
In 2011 or 2012 I ran across a DVD titled “Seth McFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy”. It contains some of the funniest, most profane, disgusting, and offensive cartoons I’ve ever seen, and one of the sketches is a roadrunner cartoon where Wile E. catches the roadrunner, cooks him and eats him. This has a profound effect on his life. No more roadrunner to pursue. He has nothing left to live for. He goes downhill, starts drinking, becomes all seedy. He tries to pick himself up by working as a waiter in a restaurant but can’t handle it and gets fired. He’s on the verge of suicide when he gets an epiphany. Then it’s; “if you’ve got a few minutes, I’d like to talk to you about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-roadrunner/716712/2 "2015-04-03T16:05:49Z")
I just checked the Rules. Yes, Chuck Jones had a list of 9 rules for the Road Runner/ Coyote cartoons. And to my surprise, there isn’t one stating Wiley can’t catch the RR. But still, I suspect the toon you’re referring to is non-canonical. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-roadrunner/716712/3 "2015-04-03T16:29:01Z")
[Link to article](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2297/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-road-runner-plus). I blush to admit I didn’t believe there really was an article about this topic until I did the search. Ignorance (about the eclectic subject matter of the Dope) fought. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-roadrunner/716712/4 "2015-04-03T17:09:16Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > [Link to article](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2297/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-road-runner-plus). > > I blush to admit I didn’t believe there really was an article about this topic until I did the search. Ignorance (about the eclectic subject matter of the Dope) fought. O ye of little faith! Know ye not that Cecil has an article about everything in his Storehouse of Human Knowledge including what song the Sirens sang, how many children Lady Macbeth had and who put the bomp in the bompa bompa bomp? He who hath ears let him hear! Go ye and sin no more. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-roadrunner/716712/5 "2015-04-03T17:10:57Z")
I could swear there’s a second classic cartoon in which Wile E. catches the Road Runner but, again, is in no position to actually do anything with him. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-roadrunner/716712/6 "2015-04-03T17:29:20Z")
Someone did produce such a cartoon in the late 1980s. AFAIK, it only aired once. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-roadrunner/716712/7 "2015-04-03T18:42:34Z")
IIRC, the premise is like the one in the column but rather than Wile E. shrinking, the Road Runner grows. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-roadrunner/716712/8 "2015-04-04T02:56:24Z")
Lady Gruoch had one son that we know of, Lulach the Simple, by her prior husband. So, in fact, Shakespeare is right. She had a child, but Macbeth (her second husband) didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![postpic200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@postpic200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postpic200)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-roadrunner/716712/9 "2015-04-05T14:25:14Z")
Yes, in Soup or Sonic Wile E. Coyote does catch the road runner, but he’s shrunk down and can’t do the road runner any harm. ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-roadrunner/716712/10 "2015-04-07T13:27:21Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I just checked the Rules. Yes, Chuck Jones had a list of 9 rules for the Road Runner/ Coyote cartoons. And to my surprise, there isn’t one stating Wiley can’t catch the RR. But still, I suspect the toon you’re referring to is non-canonical. You only _suspect_ that a cartoon parody created by Seth MacFarlane is non-canonical? Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![Qwakkeddup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Qwakkeddup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwakkeddup)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-roadrunner/716712/11 "2015-04-08T01:17:24Z")
Definitely not WB. A friend of my teen years would draw certain cartoon stills, some were wonderfully done. In his version, Wile E. caught the Road Runner, later Mr. Coyote was looking down at his plate of roasted Runner with a sour (BLECH) expression. Caption was something like… " All these years, all that trouble, and THIS is what Road Runner tastes like!?!?" He also had a NSFW that was very naughty, but he didn’t draw that one. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-roadrunner/716712/12 "2015-04-14T00:31:24Z")
I seem to recall a poster back in the 70’s where Wile E. has finished off the remains of the RR, but I suspect that was either produced by MAD or National Lampoon. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-roadrunner/716712/13 "2015-04-14T01:38:50Z")
> [@postpic200](#): > > Yes, in Soup or Sonic Wile E. Coyote does catch the road runner, but he’s shrunk down and can’t do the road runner any harm. IIRC, Wile E. held up a sign that said something like, “OK, wise guys. I finally caught him. Now what?” 🙂 Edit - And now I notice it’s mentioned in the article. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-roadrunner/716712/14 "2015-04-14T02:29:39Z")
There’s an official WB cartoon prior to _Soup or Sonic_ in which the roadrunner is caught, though. In [_The Solid Tin Coyote_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Solid_Tin_Coyote) from 1966, Wile E. constructs a giant robotic coyote that does indeed catch the roadrunner (at 5:09 [here](https://vimeo.com/76734571)). How the roadrunner escapes is unclear, but at least the sadistic little feathered prick shows fear early on. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wile-e-coyote-ever-catch-the-roadrunner/716712/15 "2015-04-14T05:35:41Z")
And here it is. The knock-off is entitled, “Die Sweet Roadrunner, Die”. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/bGoOBSlRbbU/hqdefault.jpg "Wile E' Coyote -Die,Sweet RoadRunner, Die") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGoOBSlRbbU)