Which Pixar Cars short first introduced the Mater’s Tall Tales series?

Rescue Squad Mater first introduced Pixar’s Mater’s Tall Tales series.

The short debuted in 2008 as the opening installment of Cars Toons: Mater’s Tall Tales. It presents Mater recounting an exaggerated story in which he serves as part of a rescue squad. The humor comes from the gap between Mater’s ordinary identity in Radiator Springs and the heroic adventures he claims to have experienced.

The series continued with shorts that place Mater in wildly different roles, including a stunt performer, a bullfighter, and a secret agent. Each story uses a framing device in which Mater tells Lightning McQueen about his supposed past, often insisting that the events really happened.

Rescue Squad Mater can be confused with later shorts because the titles all attach Mater’s name to a profession or adventure. Tokyo Mater, for example, is also an early and well-known entry, but it follows Rescue Squad Mater in the series. The shorts were produced for television and home-video distribution rather than as theatrical feature films.