The Nutty Squirrels were a scat singing imitation of Alvin and the Chipmunks that had a Top 40 hit with the song "Uh-Oh". The Squirrels actually preceded the Chipmunks on television in an animated cartoon, but with much less success.

After the Chipmunks' initial success in 1958, plans were almost immediately made to make them into an animated cartoon series. Unfortunately, there were some initial art direction snags (specifically with the character designs) and the show was delayed. This gap resulted in a race between the Chipmunks and an imitative group created by jazz musicians Don Elliott and Alexander "Sascha" Burland , which they called the Nutty Squirrels.

Both musical groups featured the defining sped-up voices, but Ross's Chipmunks favored popular music while the Squirrels favored jazz. Ultimately, the Squirrels made it to television first (appearing in September 1960), but they were not as popular as the originals (at least partly because of the less popular nature of jazz music at that time) and quickly faded from view. The singing was more interesting and sophisticated, but it was not enough as the Chipmunks had such engaging personalities.