Sonny the Cuckoo Bird is the cartoon mascot for Cocoa Puffs, a General Mills-produced cereal. He often appears in its television commercials. In the commercials, Sonny attempts to concentrate on a normal task and ends up coming across some reference to Cocoa Puffs themselves (usually described by the adjectives "crunchy, munchy, chocolatey") and bursts with enthusiasm, exclaiming, "I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!" He was designed by Gene Cleaves in 1962, but a new design was chosen in 2004. The old design can be seen on many retro shirts sold in stores such as PacSun and Delia's. As of 2005, Sonny was voiced by Tex Brashear. He was formerly voiced by Larry Kenney, who voiced Lion-O in the cartoon Thundercats. Sonny's name comes from the original format for the commercials, in which he was paired with his Grandfather. Rather than proper names, they always referred to each other as "Gramps" and "Sonny." When the Grandfather was dropped from the ads, "Sonny" remained as the character's name.
Parodies
In an episode of Comedy Central's animated show Drawn Together, a character with Sonny's likeness was shown at a hospital wearing a straitjacket, repetitively stating his desire for "f**king puffs". An episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends was titled Cuckoo for Coco cards, a parody on Sonny's phrase "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs". In the television show Family Guy, the titular character, Peter Griffin, tries out for a Cocoa Puffs commercial for the part of Sonny the Cuckoo Bird. When he is trying to read his lines, he says, in full costume, "I'm ca-ca for Cuckoo Puffs!" The director of the commercial says, "No, dammit! Take 26!" in an extremely frustrated fashion. Also, in an issue of a Futurama comic, a group of birds resembling Sonny are under forced work. one of the birds exclaims:"I cant take it! i'm going cu-cuckoo over cocoa! parodying both sonny and his catchphrase.
