Scratchy

Scratchy is a lanky black cat and one half of 'The Itchy & Scratchy Show', a fictional cartoon that the Simpson children watch and that gently parodies the slapstick ultra-violence of classic theatrical shorts like Tom and Jerry. He made his debut alongside his tormentor, Itchy the mouse, in a 1988 short on 'The Tracey Ullman Show' before 'The Simpsons' became its own series. In every episode-within-the-episode, the mischievous Itchy devises some spectacularly gruesome way to dispatch the hapless Scratchy, only for the whole gory cycle to reset next time.

The joke of Scratchy is that, unlike the scheming mouse, he is essentially good-natured and undeserving of his fate — often trying to befriend Itchy right up until the moment things go horribly wrong. Through him, the writers of 'The Simpsons' poke fun at cartoon violence, television censorship and the way children happily absorb the mayhem. Despite being the perpetual loser, Scratchy has become a beloved fixture of the series and a recognisable icon of animation satire in his own right.