<Tr> <Th> Gender </Th> <Td> Male </Td> </Tr> <P> 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 . </P> <P> The cartoon follows attempts of a blue aardvark named Aardvark (voiced by John Byner, impersonating comedian Jackie Mason), to catch and eat a red ant named Charlie (also voiced by John Byner, but impersonating Dean Martin), usually doing so by inhaling with a loud vacuum cleaner sound . The character is essentially unnamed; in the episode Rough Brunch, he claims his name is simply "Aardvark ." Charlie Ant gives his nemesis a variety of names as sly terms of endearment (Ol' Sam, Ol' Ben, Ol' Blue, Claude, Pal, Buddy, Daddy - O). In several bumper sequences of The Pink Panther Show, he is called "Blue Aardvark ." </P> <P> The Ant and the Aardvark series was originally released by United Artists . Seventeen 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 . Most of the 17 entries appear in their television syndication form (complete with an audible laugh track added by NBC - TV) on the video on demand service Amazon Video . </P>

Who did the voice of the aardvark in pink panther