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The Ant and the Aardvark is a series of 17 theatrical short cartoons produced at DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and released by United Artists from 1969 to 1971.

The cartoons were released by United Artists. Directors included Friz Freleng and Hawley Pratt. 17 theatrical shorts were produced in the original series, and were subsequently featured in various television syndication packages, usually shown with DFE's other characters such as the Pink Panther and the Inspector. Four of the 17 entries (The Ant and the Aardvark, Never Bug an Ant, Scratch a Tiger and Don't Hustle an Ant with Muscle) appear in their television syndication form, complete with an audible laugh track when released onto DVD.

When the Ant And The Aardvark first appeared on The Pink Panther Show (1969), the cartoons gained a tremendous amount of attention; so much in fact that the Ant And Aardvark became a featured part of the NBC series. Even though the series was successful throughout the 1970s, the same 17 cartoons would continue in repeats with no new cartoons ever being produced.

The cartoon follows attempts of a blue aardvark named Aardvark (voiced by John Byner,^[1][2][3] impersonating Jackie Mason) to catch and eat a red ant named Charlie (also voiced by John Byner^[1][2][3] but impersonating Dean Martin), usually doing so by inhaling with a loud vacuum cleaner sound. The character goes unnamed until Rough Brunch, where he states his name is indeed Aardvark. The ant has given him names as well, always beginning with "Old" ("Old Sam," "Old Ben,"...etc.). In The Ant From Uncle, Charlie calls Aardvark "Dad" the entire episode.

The Ant and the Aardvark was also the name of the first cartoon in the series.

In the episodes I've Got Ants in My Plans and Odd Ant Out, the Aardvark tussled against a rival Green Aardvark (also voiced by Byner) with a "tough-guy" attitude, similar to the way Sylvester fought other cats over Tweety in a few of Freleng's earlier shorts at Warner Brothers. Because many Warner alumni worked for DFE, a lot of familiar plots were recycled in the latter studio's cartoons. In Technology, Phooey, the Aardvark utilizes a computer to help think up ideas to catch the ant — very similar in concept to a Chuck Jones short with Wile E. Coyote. This cartoon also features yet another vocal impersonation from Byner, as the Paul Lynde-esque computer. Also, the last short ever made, From Bed to Worse, borrowed heavily from the Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes short, Greedy For Tweety.

There were many minor characters in the series. Among them was Cousin Term the Termite, the unnamed cousin ant, Aunt Minerva (one of the Gi-Ants), Tiny the Elephant (Ant's lodge brother), Tiger (voiced by Marvin Miller), the faceless scientist with a Boris Karloff-like voice, the unnamed nurse (voiced by Athena Lorde), the mischievous dog, the anteater-eating shark, the lifeguard who mistook Aardvark for a dog (he always said, "OFF THE BEACH!"), an unnamed bear that always hurts Aardvark and even a Tarzan character (another lodge brother). Most of the minor characters were also voiced by John Byner.

In German-dubbed versions of the cartoon, the protagonists no longer imitate well-known actors. The male aardvark is transformed into a female anteater named Elise (Eliza). Charlie (voiced by Fred Maire) remains male, but is no longer a Dean Martin parody. Elise is voiced by Marianne Wischmann, one of Germany's most renowned voice actresses.

The German-dubbed versions of the cartoons have gained a huge fan community over the decades ^{[4][dubious – discuss]},^[5] mainly because of Wischmann's incomparable dry and matter-of-fact delivery of Elise's punch lines, as well as the distinctive vacuum cleaner sound Elise makes with the nose. Thus, the cartoons are commonly known under the title Die blaue Elise (Blue Eliza), leaving out the mentioning of Charlie the ant completely.

• Produced by: David H. DePatie, Friz Freleng
• Directed by: Friz Freleng, Hawley Pratt, Gerry Chiniquy, Art Davis
• Story: John W. Dunn, Irv Spector, Dave Detiege, Sid Marcus, Larz Bourne, Dale Hale
• Animation: Warren Batchelder, Manny Gould, Manny Perez, Don Williams, Art Leonardi, Robert Taylor, Bob Goe, Tom Ray, Lloyd Vaughan, Bob Richardson, John Gibbs, Phil Roman, Robert Bentley, Ken Muse, Irv Spence
• Graphic Designers: Corny Cole, Dick Ung, Al Wilson, Lin Larsen
• Voices: John Byner, Marvin Miller, Athena Lorde
• Color Designer: Tom O'Laughlin, Richard H. Thomas
• Title Cards: Art Leonardi
• Musicians: Ray Brown, Billy Byers, Pete Candoli, Shelly Manne, Jimmy Rowles, Tommy Tedesco
• Production Supervisor: Jim Foss
• Coordinator: Harry Love
• Camera: John Burton Jr.
• Film Editor: Lee Gunther
• Music by: Doug Goodwin

The continued popularity of the series has led to at least two revivals as of 2012.

The first revival featured the characters as part on the 1993 incarnation of The Pink Panther. The characters reminaed unchanged, though unlike the original 1969-1971, they do not appear in their own segments but rather are included in segments featuring the Pink Panther (now voiced by Matt Frewer). John Byner returned to voice both Charlie Ant and the Aardvark.

The second revival occured in 2010 as part of Pink Panther and Pals. In keeping with younger theme (the panther is cast as a teenage version of himself), Charlie Ant (who is never referred to as such throughout the series) is a young, urban teenager voiced by Kel Mitchell best known for Nickelodeon's Kenan & Kel. The Aardvark ethnic humor, however, is retained; he is voiced by Eddie Garvar in the style of John Byner's Jackie Mason impersonation.

The shorts were also digitally remastered and issued on its own single-disc DVD collection by MGM Home Entertainment/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in 2007.

Also on January 27, 2009 the shorts were released again as part of a DVD collection entitled Pink Panther & Friends Classic Cartoon Collection by MGM Home Entertainment, a 9 DVD set containing 5 discs of The Pink Panther, 1 disc of The Ant & The Aardvark, 2 discs of The Inspector and 1 disc of Roland and Rattfink.

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