Russell

Name: Russell Gender: Male Animal: Sea Otter Episode Count: 23 TV Count: 3 Kill Count: 3 Deaths: 15 First Appearance: Whose Line Is It Anyway? First Death: Whose Line Is It Anyway? First Victim: Lumpy from Get Whale Soon Voice Actor: Jeff Biancalana (2002 - 2005), Francis Carr (2006 - present) Russell is one of the main characters in the Happy Tree Friends series.

Character Bio


A pastel green sea otter with typical pirate accessories like a Jolly Roger's hat, a striped red/white shirt, a hook, an eyepatch and two wooden peglegs. He enjoys fishing, sailing and eating seafood, one of his animal instincts, especially mussels, which was why he was named Russell. He also likes kite flying and even runs his own fast-food restaurant (Mime to Five). Some fans mistook him as a cat because of his whiskers and his appetite for fish, but he's really a sea otter. His hook started off on his left hand, but later on, it is on the right hand for the rest of the series. Russell's initial character design depicted him with a five o'clock shadow, though since his early appearances, it seems as though he shaves regularly.

He stopped having a five o'clock shadow since Get Whale Soon. Typically, his vocabulary consists only of "Yar", though in the episode Get Whale Soon, he also says things like 'Aha!' and 'Huh?' In the episode A Sight for Sore Eyes, he was heard apologizing to The Mole after he accidentally bumped into him.

Sometimes, when put in a scary or violent situation, Russell will go insane and start laughing in a crazy manner and his eye turns into the color of gray, as seen in Get Whale Soon and Snow Place to Go. Because Russell spends most of his time in the water, he is rarely seen with the other characters, though he does appear in a few episodes with Lumpy, although nowadays he seems to appear with all the others as well. His deaths usually involve sea animals or getting impaled.

From the episode, Sea What I Found, when Russell woke up and went to his closet to change his peglegs, it is evident that his legs are partially amputated. He is the second character to wear pants. Also, he's the fourth character without visible ears as seen in his Internet shorts introduction when he took his hat off for a few seconds. Russell wears a stripy undershirt when he goes to sleep. He lives in a big pirate ship shaped treehouse and sleeps on a hammock.

Since he only has one eye and his vision is becoming blurry, he's recommended to wear a contact lens as seen in A Sight for Sore Eyes.

He appeares to be friends with Lumpy in Sea What I Found. He has also been seen with Nutty and Handy in Ipso Fatso, Disco Bear in The Wrong Side of the Tracks and Sniffles in Double Whammy Part 1. And in Can't Stop Coffin he was seen playing baseball with Cuddles, Toothy and Cro-Marmot

During the internet series, he died in almost every episode he appeared in. So far, the only internet episode he survived in was Can't Stop Coffin. During the TV series he has survived in A Sight for Sore Eyes, The Wrong Side of the Tracks, Mime to Five, Chew Said a Mouthful, See What Develops, Easy Comb, Easy Go, and Double Whammy Part 1.

Starring Roles

 * Whose Line Is It Anway?
 * Off the Hook
 * Get Whale Soon
 * Sea What I Found
 * Snow Place to Go
 * A Sight For Sore Eyes

Featuring Roles

 * Class Act
 * Remains to be Seen
 * The Wrong Side of the Tracks
 * Who's to Flame?
 * Mime to Five
 * See What Develops
 * Idol Curiosity
 * In a Jam
 * Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow
 * Can't Stop Coffin

Appearance Roles

 * From Hero to Eternity
 * Ipso Fatso
 * Concrete Solution
 * Chew Said a Mouthful
 * Aw, Shucks!
 * Easy Comb, Easy Go
 * Double Whammy

Occupations and Careers
1. Fisherman - Whose Line Is It Anyway?; Sea What I Found

2. Treasure Hunter - Sea What I Found

3. Sanitation Engineer - Who's to Flame?

4. Fast-Food Restaurant Owner - Mime to Five

5. Ship Deck Swabber - Idol Curiosity

6. Carnival Booth Operator - Double Whammy

7. Lead Guitarist - In a Jam

8. Fish Market Trucker - Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow

Seen on Computer and on TV

 * 1) Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Impaled through mouth by a swordfish.
 * 2) Off the Hook: Hits a seamine and explodes.
 * 3) Get Whale Soon: His head is impaled on a ship's mast.
 * 4) Class Act: Dies in an explosion.
 * 5) Remains to be Seen: Dies in a truck crash, revived as a zombie, and run over with a lawn mower by Lumpy.
 * 6) From Hero to Eternity: Sinks into a whirlpool and burned by lava.
 * 7) Ipso Fatso: Sliced to pieces by flying glass shards (along with Nutty).
 * 8) Concrete Solution: Possibly dies when bridge collapses.
 * 9) Sea What I Found: Suffers decompression sickness, causing his muscles to expand through his skin.
 * 10) Who's to Flame?: Gets impaled by sharp and pointy objects.
 * 11) Snow Place to Go: Eaten by an orca.
 * 12) Idol Curiosity: Drowns when a boat he's connected to sinks.
 * Aw, Shucks!: Crushed by a huge piece of popcorn.
 * 1) In a Jam: Electrocuted by an electric guitar and blown to dust.
 * 2) Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow: Dies in a truck explosion.

Additional

 * 1) Overkill DVD box set: Possibly killed in the explosion from Flippy's bomb. (Death not seen)

Seen in arcade Games

 * 1) Fire Escape: Fell to his death.

Seen on Computer and on TV

 * 1) Chew Said a Mouthful: A bucket of hot water splashes on him, painfully burning him by Nutty.
 * 2) A Sight for Sore Eyes: He puts on Nutty's googly eye, mistaking it for his contact lens, and his vision reddens.

Number of Kills

 * Cuddles – 0
 * Giggles – 0
 * Toothy – 1 (Snow Place to Go)
 * Lumpy – 1 (Get Whale Soon)
 * Petunia – 0
 * Handy – 0
 * Nutty – 0
 * Sniffles – 0
 * Pop – 0
 * Cub – 0
 * Flaky – 0
 * The Mole – 1 (Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow)
 * Disco Bear – 0
 * Lifty – 0
 * Shifty – 0
 * Mime – 0
 * Cro-Marmot – 0
 * Flippy – 0
 * Splendid – 0
 * Generic Tree Friends – 0
 * Others – 0

Trivia

 * Russell's hooks and eye patch often change places between and within episodes.
 * Russell is the first character to have a bonus episode in the DVD, First Blood. Plus, he is seen only as a black silhouette on the back of the First Blood DVD case with a big white question mark.
 * Russell and Petunia are the only Happy Tree Friends with realistic human names.
 * Russell, Lumpy, Flaky, Handy (and Sneaky from Ka-Pow!) are the only characters without visible ears.
 * Russell, Mime and Cro-Marmot are the only characters without secret information from the "Collect Them All" section, even though Russell appears in the bonus episode in the "First Blood" DVD.
 * In Can't Stop Coffin, Russell seems to have trouble trying to throw a ball with his hand hook since the ball gets stuck on it. It appears that he isn't good at throwing with his left hand.
 * He owns his own fast food restaurant in Mime to Five.
 * It is proven that Russell doesn't have ears as seen in Whose Line Is It Anyway? He got excited that he hooked a fish and his hat flew up a few seconds to reveal he doesn't have any ears. His character introduction for the first season shows him take off his hat and eat a clam that was under it. There are no visible ears, reinforcing the notion that he doesn't have any.
 * It is shown that Russell, while one of his eyes is covered with an eyepatch, has poor vision in the other eye in A Sight For Sore Eyes
 * It's been evident in the episode In a Jam that Russell probably lost his eye and wears the eyepatch over it (which is the reason Cuddles got his part in the band).