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Willibald Feivel Cornfed, or simply just Cornfed, is one of the main characters of Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man. He is Duckman's endlessly loyal work partner, and his only friend.
Character[]
Cornfed is Duckman's Joe Friday-esque business partner and best friend; loosely based on the character "Greggery Peccary" as portrayed by Frank Zappa in a handful of songs.
Affable, studious, as well as morally and sexually scrupulous, Cornfed is an amazingly talented pig and has specialist knowledge from practically every walk of life. He knows dozens of martial arts and claims to know "200 ways to kill a man".
For roughly the first half of the show's run, Cornfed is a virgin, which contrasts to his popularity among women and earns Duckman's mockery. He loses his virginity to Bernice in order to avoid succumbing to a family genetic disease.
Most of the cases solved by the Duckman Detective Agency are solved by Cornfed, with Duckman usually hurting the case rather than helping. He has had numerous former occupations, such as mailman, truck driver, waiter, plumber, clerk for a Supreme Court justice, member of the Irish Parliament and keyboard player for A Flock of Seagulls.
He has a medical degree from a Peruvian medical school, and was also educated in air conditioner and VCR repair. He is also a Vietnam veteran; this was revealed when a young man claimed to be his son from the War (he was really a con man).
In season 4, it was revealed that Cornfed is a Lieutenant Colonel in the National Guard. Cornfed is the kind of detective and righteous family man that is ideal in contrast to Duckman's obliviousness and crass failure in both arenas (as opposed to others). In fact, he is seen bonding with Duckman's sons miles better than Duckman does.
Official Character Bios[]
DVD Bio[]
In the Duckman DVD collection, Cornfed's character bio is as follows;
- Duckman's Pig Friday and business partner
- Solves most of the agency's cases with little help and more harm from Duckman
- Has held many different occupations as a mailman, truck driver, waiter, plumber, clerk of a Supreme Court Justice, and a member of the Irish Parliament
- Has a medical degree from a Peruvian medical school and is educated in air conditioner and VCR repair
- Is secretly a virgin
Cornfed Pig Loves:
- Duckman
- Good old-fashioned detective work
- Martial arts
- Making esoteric references in response to Duckman's antics
Cornfed Pig Hates:
- When Duckman steals the limelight from him, ignores him, bosses him around and gets physical with him
Cooltoons2.com Character Bio[]
On Klasky Csupo's flash website, Cornfed's bio is given as the following;
Cornfed is a pig who talks like Sgt. Friday on Dragnet, knows dozens of ancient martial arts, and has never gone all the way with a woman. Without him, Duckman would be completely lost. Cornfed deals with all of the elements of the detective agency that Duckman cannot... like getting the clients, paying the bills and solving the cases. Cornfed has also helped Duckman numerous times with his personal life, and has often offered him advice on how to keep his family together and how to avoid the various villains, scoundrels and old ladies who want to see him dead. Cornfed might look mild-mannered, but in his chest beats the heart of a super pig.
Relationships[]
Duckman[]
Duckman's photo of the two of them, as seen in "All About Elliott".
Cornfed is Duckman's extremely loyal and extremely competent partner, which makes up for Duckman's extreme incompetence.
Duckman and Cornfed have a strong and solid friendship, as shown in numerous episodes. Duckman does tend to take advantage of Cornfed and, in turn, Cornfed looks down on Duckman for both his lack of skills and dubious morality.
Cornfed often gets Duckman out of trouble, even having a collection of contingency plans for the situations that Duckman gets himself into. Cornfed will occasionally go on the run with Duckman if necessary, but other times, he makes him fend for himself while devising his own solution.
Duckman has been known to betray Cornfed on several occasions, but Cornfed is always loyal to Duckman. Even when it seems he has betrayed Duckman, it is always part of a clever ruse. Duckman, however, never catches onto this and always believes that Cornfed has finally become unfaithful to him.
Additionally, whenever Cornfed actually does betray Duckman, he feels very remorseful about it, such as in "Noir Gang" (for the most part). Duckman, although seldomly, is also capable of feeling remorseful for his actions toward Cornfed, such as when he realized he'd been hypnotized into trying to kill Cornfed.
Duckman and Cornfed's Introduction[]
Their official introduction to each other changes throughout the series; "The Girls of Route Canal" and several season one episodes establish that they'd first met sometime in their adulthood, however this is later retconned in the season four episode "From Brad to Worse".
In "From Brad to Worse", the two are shown as already-established friends in high school in 1976. Their relationship during this time is similar to what it is in their adulthood: Duckman, who was just as perverted and chaotic as ever, complained to Cornfed about the way of the world and the trouble that he'd get himself into. Cornfed looked out for Duckman, warning him about Principal Dinkler's presence when he knew that Duckman was trying to avoid him. To keep Duckman from being expelled, he even went as far as to reverse the traps that Duckman had set in the principal's office.
When piecing together the true events of The Dinkler Incident as adults at the end of the episode, Cornfed tells Duckman, "I wanted to protect your future. I guess I always knew I'd be a part of it."
It is unknown what the rest of their high school years were like, but due to Cornfed's extensive occupational and residential history, as well as Duckman's traveling job as a photographer, it can be assumed that they parted ways at some point and led very different lives before meeting each other again.
In "The Girls of Route Canal", Duckman and Cornfed met shortly after the death of Beatrice's first husband Richard. She'd been having an affair with Duckman prior to this and, after the funeral, Duckman searched the world just to see her again (despite her being at her house).
While in a New York airport, he came across Cornfed who was a baggage handler at the time. He suggested looking for her at her house and promptly drove Duckman there, as he just so happened to be trucking there for another job anyway.
The truck that Cornfed was driving was an Ajax company truck, which Beatrice suggested naming her and Duckman's first child after since it was "the thing that brought the most happiness into [her] life".
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Cornfed after saving Duckman from being shot the first time.
"A Civil War" is the first episode to depict their introduction, as well as their overall dynamic. In this episode, it is explained that Duckman and Cornfed had first met when Cornfed was working a night shift at a bakery (he was only working there until he graduated astronaut school), where Duckman was a customer. While Duckman was correcting Cornfed on what a baker's dozen consists of, a gunman entered the shop and attempted to shoot Duckman. Cornfed quickly jumped over the counter and took the bullet for him. Duckman, shocked by Cornfed's heroism, invited him to be his partner; Cornfed accepted the offer.
Duckman then assured Cornfed he wouldn't let him die and ran to call 911, however he got distracted by wanting a free sample of the baked goods on display. Duckman began choking, so Cornfed crawled over and saved him again. This caught the attention of the aforementioned gunman, so he shot at Duckman again, to which Cornfed took another bullet for him.
Charles and Mambo Duckman[]
Cornfed, Charles and Mambo putting together an aphrodisiac in "Bonfire of the Panties".
Charles and Mambo more often than not refer to Cornfed as "Uncle Cornfed" or "Uncle Corny." Because of their general distaste for Duckman's behavior, they instead turn to Cornfed as their male role model, idolizing his many skills, knowledge and kindness to those around him.
Cornfed, in turn, sees them as surrogate nephews, and, like Duckman, is very protective of them. More often than not, Cornfed even seems to be able get along better with Duckman's children than Duckman himself.
In "Bonfire of the Panties", Charles and Mambo speak to each other using twin telepathy, and it is revealed that Cornfed also has psychic gifts (that he seldom uses due to a bad past experience with Willard Scott), making him able to speak to them telepathically as well.
Cornfed later talks Charles and Mambo into putting together an aphrodisiac for their father to use. Duckman had gotten very hard-up by not getting any action as of late, making him unbearably irritable.
Ajax Duckman[]
Cornfed and Ajax done with school in "Ajax and Ajaxer".
While Ajax does refer to Cornfed as his uncle, he doesn't do it as often as Charles and Mambo. Also unlike his brothers, Ajax has no problem looking up to Duckman and seeking him out for advice. Nonetheless, Ajax does seem to think of Cornfed as an unofficial member of the family. Cornfed thinks of Ajax as a surrogate nephew just like he does Charles and Mambo, and has the same protective instincts over him.
The relationship between Ajax and Cornfed is developed further in "Ajax and Ajaxer", where Cornfed's intellect is wiped out by an experimental elixir. Cornfed's IQ is equal to that of Ajax's in this episode, and the two get along almost immediately. Ajax felt as if he had finally gained a friend. Unfortunately, the serum would eventually wear off, causing Cornfed to become his knowledgeable self again, much to Ajax's distress. Cornfed told Ajax that they'd still be friends, but Ajax said it wouldn't be the same since they wouldn't think similarly anymore. To make Ajax feel better, Cornfed took Ajax to finally meet his idol, Merv Griffin; this was especially pivotal because any mention that Ajax had made about Merv Griffin throughout the episode was ignored, so Cornfed's act of kindness made Ajax finally feel listened to.
Cornfed also reminds Ajax that being smart doesn't really mean anything; it's more important to be "sweet and kind and loving", which Ajax already is, and anyone would be proud to have a friend like him.
Women[]
Cornfed meeting a woman at a Star Trek convention in "Pig Amok".
Despite the fact that Cornfed has a talent for attracting many women and has fallen in love many times, he remained a virgin throughout most of the series mainly due to his own insecurities and nervousness. Some of the women Cornfed has been involved with have been:
- Sherry: A nymphomaniac who the supercomputer Loretta set him up with. They did sexual things together, like licking whipped cream off of each other, but they never engaged in actual sex.
- Fantine and Cosette: Clients who wanted the help of Duckman and Cornfed to attract better men than they previously were. He was desperate to have sex with them, and although eventually granted the opportunity, he did not.
- Trudy: Cornfed partnered up with her in "About Face" for a double date with Angela and Duckman.
- Mai Lin: A Vietnamese woman he fell in love with during the war. He couldn't remember if they'd had sex, and she told him they had not.
- Princess Fallopia: Cornfed fell in love with her at first sight, although her face was covered at the time. When he does see her face, he loses all feelings for her, as she looks exactly like Ajax.
- A stewardess he dated for over a year. The furthest he got with her was when she hugged him when they broke up.
- An aerobics instructor he never quite made it with.
- A hair dresser
- A golf instructor
- An heiress
- A crossing guard
- A synchronized swimmer
- An ice sculptor
- An ex-nun
- A nymphomaniac who wanted to get back at her parents he got snowed in with one weekend. He got to second base with her.
- Tamara Le Boinque: He fell in love with her, and became rivals with Duckman for her affection. He ultimately chose not to throw away his friendship with Duckman. Has her arrested for her crimes.
- Bernice: She had sex with him to keep him from dying of a rare disease/ancient curse that killed male virgins in his family line. After this he fell in love with her and when she explained she only had intercourse with him to keep him from dying he fell into a deep depression and attempted suicide, but was stopped by Duckman and Bernice.
- Beverly: He and Beverly developed a romance shortly after she came to live with the Duckman family. Duckman was initially upset with this because he wanted to "pound the percale" with Bev.
Beverly Hufnagel[]
Cornfed and Beverly at a bar in "Westward, No!"
Cornfed took a quick liking to Beverly. In "The Tami Show", his face turns red and he starts getting more nervous when she's near.
Beverly starts to return his feelings when she gets to know who he is more during the events of "Westward, No!", much to Duckman's dismay. Cornfed takes her to meet her Aunt Jane who owns a catfish farm in Louisiana, and Duckman forcibly joins them in attempt to put a wrench into the works.
They find that her farm is experiencing financial difficulties. Her hands are fixing to drive the herd to Texas, and it's her last chance to save the ranch where her father and grandfather lived and died. Big Jack McBastard found that Jane had to fire the hands because of assault, so Cornfed, Beverly and of course, Duckman had to drive the catfish to Texas themselves. Otherwise, Jane would lose everything.
All the while, Beverly seems to get increasingly impressed with what Cornfed is doing for his Aunt Jane, and says a girl could get used to a dependable guy like him. But Cornfed notes that he's loyal to Duckman, however the two agree to continue to "fool around" in secret.
Careers and Skills[]
Cornfed using a desktop in "The Tami Show".
Cornfed is a master of all trades, with a wide range of careers and hobbies under his belt, he is an expert in all of them. These include;
- Detective
- Chef (Including in a Tibetan monastery)
- Piano player
- Soldier
- Can sometimes see in 5 dimensions after an electrical storm
- Basketball
- Stamp Collecting
- Mail Sorting
- Secretary Work
- CEO
- Baggage Checker
- Truck Driver
- Expert in freak sleigh accidents
- Actor, with a hit one man show
- Guitar player
- Keyboard player for Flock of Seagulls
- Singer
- Plumber
- Lawyer
- Pastry Chef
- Knows over 201 ways to kill a man
- Graduated with honors from a medical school in Peru
Character Conception[]
Cornfed walk cycle.
Cornfed's role was expanded for the series. In the original comic strips he was not featured in many stories.
He also did not seem to have a relationship with Duckman outside of work and he never interacted with his family. Many of Cornfed's traits, such as his endless areas of expertise were not present in the comic strips. The relationship between him and Duckman was based on that of a couple of friends of Everett Peck's who owned their own business.
His voice actor, Gregg Berger was in Russia during production of the first season and most of his lines were recorded from there over the phone.
Appearances[]
Cornfed makes a speaking appearance in nearly every episode of the series.
Major Cornfed Episodes[]
Season 1[]
Season 2[]
Season 3[]
Season 4[]
- All About Elliot
- From Brad to Worse
- Ajax and Ajaxer
- With Friends Like These
- Duckman and Cornfed in 'Haunted Society Plumbers'
- Westward, No!
Episode Absences[]
Season 3[]
Season 4[]
- You've Come a Wrong Way, Baby (nonspeaking appearance)
Comics[]
- Duckman #0
- Duckman #1: Naked Duck
- Duckman #2: Robo Duck
- Duckman #3: Night of the Living Duck
- Duckman #4: Think Duck
- Duckman #5: The XXX Files
- The Mob Frog Saga #1: Dead Duck
- The Mob Frog Saga #2: Where's Grandma-ma?
- The Mob Frog Saga #3: In the Name of the Duck
Other Appearances[]
- The Case of the Missing Chromosome pilot episode
- Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man series promo voiceover during a WWF Monday Night RAW match
- Duckman: The Graphic Adventures of a Private Dick
Quotes[]
Click here for a collection of quotes by Cornfed!
Gallery[]
Click here to view Cornfed's gallery!
Trivia[]
- Cornfed is somewhat based on Joe Friday, as he knows everything and speaks in a monotone toned voice.
- Despite all his knowledge and abilities, he is actually quite insecure and has low self esteem.
- Gregg Berger stated that Cornfed is one of his favorite roles in his voice acting career.
- Aside from Cornfed, Gregg Berger was also the voice of the Gromble from Nickelodeon's AAAHH!!! Real Monsters, another animated series from Klasky Csupo that premiered in 1994.
| Also Starring |
|---|
| Ajax ● Bernice ● Charles and Mambo ● Cornfed ● Duckman ● Fluffy and Uranus ● Grandma-ma |