I believe the origin of it was in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men - the 1981 TV adaptation of it, with Randy Quaid speaking the line to Robert Blake is the version with which I’m familiar, but maybe Randy patterned his version after the cartoon. [swg]
I wouldn’t be surprised if Looney Tunes pulled it from a classic like that. The only one I’ve read so far was Grapes of Wrath. (Can you believe it? a teenager’s already read Grapes of Warath) May have to try Mice and Men,