Peter Potamus is one of those Hanna-Barbera characters who has lived two completely different cultural lives. In 1964, he was a cheerful purple hippo flying around the world in a hot air balloon with his monkey sidekick. In 2000, he was reinvented on Adult Swim as a sexually inappropriate attorney with a Brooklyn accent and the catchphrase “Did you get that thing I sent you?”
Both versions are canonically the same character. Hanna-Barbera characters contain multitudes.
Quick facts: Peter Potamus and His Magic Flying Balloon aired in syndication from 1964 to 1967. 27 episodes total, each containing three segments (Peter Potamus, Breezly and Sneezly, and Yippee Yappee and Yahooey). Peter was voiced by Daws Butler in the original series. He was later revived on Adult Swim’s Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (2000-2007) as a recurring character with a wildly different personality.
What Is Peter Potamus?
The premise: Peter Potamus is a big, friendly, purple hippopotamus who travels the world in a magical hot air balloon that can also TIME TRAVEL with a dial spin. He’s accompanied by his sidekick, So-So the monkey. Together they get into adventures across Egypt, France, Morocco, Ancient Rome, and basically anywhere the writers wanted to set an episode that week.
When Peter gets in trouble, he uses his “Hippo Hurricane Holler” — a powerful hurricane-strength breath blast that knocks enemies away or solves whatever problem is in front of him. It’s the kind of simple superpower that makes for tight 7-minute cartoon segments. Setup, trouble, holler, problem solved, roll credits.
The Three Segments of the Show
Like most Hanna-Barbera anthologies of the era, Peter Potamus and His Magic Flying Balloon was actually three shows in one. Each episode had three segments:
Peter Potamus and So-So
The headlining segment. Peter and So-So fly around the world (and through time) having adventures. Peter is voiced by Daws Butler doing a Joe E. Brown impression. So-So is voiced by Don Messick. The duo has a similar dynamic to many other Hanna-Barbera “big character + small sidekick” pairings — think Yogi and Boo-Boo, but with a hippo and a monkey.
Breezly and Sneezly
The Arctic segment. Breezly Bruin is a clever polar bear (voiced by Howard Morris). Sneezly Seal is his perpetually sneezing companion (voiced by the legendary Mel Blanc). Together they spend every episode trying to sneak into a US Army base in the Arctic, getting caught, and trying again.
Their antagonist is Colonel Fuzzby, voiced by John Stephenson. The dynamic is essentially “Sergeant Bilko in the Arctic with animals.” Loose, fun, formulaic.
Yippee, Yappee and Yahooey
The Three Musketeers segment. Three dogs serve as royal guards for a perpetually irritated short king. Yippee (voiced by Doug Young), Yappee (voiced by Hal Smith), and Yahooey (Daws Butler doing a Jerry Lewis impression). Their hats, swords, and rivalry-among-friends dynamic are direct Musketeers homage.
The three-segment format was Hanna-Barbera’s standard for syndicated anthology shows in the 60s. Magilla Gorilla used it. Quick Draw McGraw used it. The Yogi Bear Show used it. The format let the studio fill 22 minutes of TV time with three different mini-shows, multiplying their available content.
Daws Butler and the Voice Work
Peter Potamus’s voice is a Joe E. Brown impression by Daws Butler. Joe E. Brown was a classic Hollywood comedian known for his wide, distinctive mouth (he played the millionaire Osgood at the end of Some Like It Hot). Butler’s impression gave Peter Potamus an instantly recognizable voice that was part of the character’s appeal.
Butler also voiced Lippy the Lion (another Hanna-Barbera character) using essentially the same Joe E. Brown impression. Voice actors at Hanna-Barbera frequently reused voices across characters, often just changing the accent slightly. Butler was doing this constantly — same voice for Snagglepuss as for Mudsy from The Funky Phantom (a Bert Lahr impression), same voice for Peter Potamus as for Lippy the Lion.
The Hippo Hurricane Holler
Peter Potamus’s signature move. He shouts loudly enough to create a hurricane-strength wind that blows enemies away. It’s the cartoon equivalent of Goku’s Kamehameha, except dumber and 1964-er.
The Hurricane Holler is also a pun. “Hippo” + “Hurricane” + “Holler” is the kind of name a Hanna-Barbera writer in 1964 came up with on a Tuesday afternoon. It’s perfectly tuned for kids who would yell “HIPPO HURRICANE HOLLER!” at recess for the rest of the week.
Peter Potamus’s Cartoon Network Era
Like many Hanna-Barbera characters, Peter Potamus appeared in multiple ensemble shows after his original run ended in 1967:
- Yogi’s Ark Lark (1972) — TV movie featuring most of the Hanna-Barbera lineup
- Yogi’s Gang (1973-1975) — Peter joined Yogi’s environmentalist crusader squad
- Laff-A-Lympics (1977-1979) — competed for “The Yogi Yahooeys” team in Olympic-style events
- Yogi’s Treasure Hunt (1985-1988) — recurring crew member
- Various Hanna-Barbera ensemble specials — scattered appearances
This is the standard pattern for second-tier Hanna-Barbera characters. They cycled through the studio’s recurring ensemble shows for decades, keeping their names alive even when they didn’t have their own series.
The Harvey Birdman Reinvention
The Adult Swim reinvention: Peter Potamus was reimagined on Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (Adult Swim, 2000-2007) as a sexually inappropriate, deeply unethical attorney at Sebben & Sebben law firm. The new version had a Brooklyn accent, was constantly hitting on every woman in the office, and made his catchphrase “Did you get that thing I sent you?” — referring to creepy email forwards he kept distributing. He was voiced by Joe Alaskey early on and Chris Edgerly later.
This version of Peter Potamus is, for an entire generation of adult animation fans, the ONLY version they know. The 1964 hippo with the flying balloon is completely irrelevant to people who came of age with Adult Swim. The Harvey Birdman version is the canonical Peter Potamus for them.
Harvey Birdman’s whole comedic premise was taking forgotten Hanna-Barbera characters and giving them adult, dysfunctional personalities. Peter Potamus was one of the most committed reinventions on the show. He went from cheerful kids’ cartoon to creepy office HR nightmare without missing a beat.
“Did You Get That Thing I Sent You?”
Harvey Birdman gave Peter Potamus a catchphrase that became genuinely iconic in adult animation circles. “Did you get that thing I sent you?” — delivered with leering Brooklyn-accent menace — became shorthand for “creepy coworker who sends inappropriate forwards in 2002.”
The cultural moment: Harvey Birdman aired during the peak era of office email forwards being a workplace plague. Peter Potamus’s catchphrase was a perfect parody of the specific type of coworker everyone in 2002 office life had to deal with. The joke landed harder for adults watching Adult Swim than the original character ever did for kids in 1964.
In Season 3 Episode 6 (“Return of Birdgirl”), the animators changed Peter’s character design to give him stumps instead of hands. It became another running gag — the show acknowledged the design change in dialogue and committed to it.
Peter Potamus in Jellystone!
Like many forgotten Hanna-Barbera characters, Peter Potamus has appeared in the HBO Max series Jellystone! (2021-present). The Jellystone! version sits somewhere between the original cheerful 60s character and the chaotic adult Harvey Birdman version, fitting the show’s general “Hanna-Barbera characters as small-town residents” framing.
If you want to see Peter Potamus active in 2026, Jellystone! is the easiest place to find him.
The Full Voice Cast
The original 1964 voice cast was Hanna-Barbera’s full A-team:
Daws Butler — Peter Potamus, Yahooey
Don Messick — So-So the monkey
Mel Blanc — Sneezly Seal (yes, THE Mel Blanc, also Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety, etc.)
Howard Morris — Breezly Bruin
John Stephenson — Colonel Fuzzby
Doug Young — Yippee
Hal Smith — Yappee, The King
Mel Blanc working on a Hanna-Barbera show is notable. Blanc was primarily a Warner Bros. voice actor (he created the iconic Looney Tunes voices), but he did occasional work outside the studio. His Sneezly Seal performance is one of those rare crossovers.
Why Peter Potamus Endured
Most Hanna-Barbera characters from 1964 are barely remembered. Peter Potamus is one of the exceptions, partly because:
- His name is catchy and alliterative (“Peter Potamus”)
- His design (purple hippo, safari hat, balloon) is distinctive
- The Hippo Hurricane Holler is the kind of catchphrase that sticks in kids’ heads
- His ensemble appearances kept his name circulating through the 70s and 80s
- The Harvey Birdman reinvention gave him a totally new adult fanbase in the 2000s
- The Jellystone! revival put him back on streaming in the 2020s
Most Hanna-Barbera characters get one moment in the sun and then disappear. Peter Potamus has had multiple cultural moments across six decades.
The Show’s Writing and Direction
Peter Potamus was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera themselves across 23 of the 27 episodes. The writing team included Warren Foster (a Hanna-Barbera mainstay), Tony Benedict, and Dalton Sandifer. The show is a pure product of the Hanna-Barbera house style at its 1960s peak.
By 1964, Hanna-Barbera had become Hollywood’s biggest TV animation producer. Peter Potamus was part of their syndication push — instead of relying on network commissions, they sold their shows directly to local TV stations, giving them more creative control. Peter Potamus and His Magic Flying Balloon was one of the shows that proved this business model worked.
Where to Watch Peter Potamus
As of 2026, the original Peter Potamus show has scattered availability. Some episodes are on Boomerang (the Hanna-Barbera streaming service) and Max’s classic catalog. YouTube has fan-uploaded episodes that come and go.
For the Harvey Birdman version, all four seasons of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law are typically available on Max and various Warner Bros. streaming destinations. That’s where the Adult Swim Peter Potamus lives.
For Jellystone!, HBO Max has all available seasons.
The Peter Potamus Legacy
The honest take: Peter Potamus is a minor Hanna-Barbera character with major staying power. The 1964 original is solid 60s anthology comedy, nothing groundbreaking. The Harvey Birdman version is one of Adult Swim’s most committed character reinventions, and the catchphrase “Did you get that thing I sent you?” has outlived almost everything else from the show. The Jellystone! version keeps him in circulation today.
For a purple hippo with a balloon, that’s a pretty robust cultural footprint. Peter Potamus is proof that Hanna-Barbera characters keep finding new lives long after their original shows end.
The two Peter Potamuses: If you ask someone over 60 who Peter Potamus is, they’ll describe a flying hippo with a balloon. If you ask someone who watched Adult Swim in the 2000s, they’ll describe a creepy office attorney with stumps for hands. Both answers are technically correct. That’s the magic of Hanna-Barbera’s deep catalog — these characters get reinterpreted by every generation that revives them.
So, which Peter Potamus do you know better — the 1964 kids’ show original or the Harvey Birdman office creep version? For me, it’s 100% the Harvey Birdman version. I went years thinking “Peter Potamus” was an Adult Swim original before I learned about the 1964 source. Tell me which one came first for you.
