The Simpsons includes a large array of supporting characters: co-workers, teachers, family friends, extended relatives, townspeople, local celebrities, fictional characters within the show, and even animals. The writers originally intended many of these characters as one-time jokes or for fulfilling needed functions in the town. A number of them have gained expanded roles and have subsequently starred in their own episodes. According to the creator of The Simpsons, Matt Groening, the show adopted the concept of a large supporting cast from the Canadian sketch comedy show Second City Television.
Agnes Skinner
Agnes Skinner (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is the mother of Principal Skinner and first appeared in the first season episode "The Crepes of Wrath" as an old woman who embarrassingly calls her son "Spanky". However, as episodes progressed, the character turned bitter. She is very controlling of her son and often treats him as if he is a child. She hates Edna Krabappel due to her son's feelings for the other woman. Agnes has married four times. Several Springfield residents (including the Simpsons) are afraid of her. When "the real Seymour Skinner" arrives in Springfield, Agnes ends up rejecting him in part because he stands up to her, but also because unlike Skinner/Tamzarian, her biological son is independent and does not need her anymore, while Skinner immediately reverts to a good-for-nothing without her.
Agnes' first name was revealed in the seventh season episode "Bart the Fink". Before that, the character was known as "Mrs. Skinner". In the beginning of the series, the writers made several references to Agnes and Seymour's unhealthily close relationship as similar to that of Norman Bates and his mother. In "Boy Meets Curl", it is revealed that Agnes' resentment towards Seymour may have begun even before her son was born â€" during the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Agnes competed in the pole vaulting event while 9-months pregnant. When Seymour makes his first kick, he hits the bar, thus, making Agnes lose and subsequently crushing her dreams. However, this would contradict the earlier episode when it is revealed that Seymour is not her birth son. In "Grade School Confidential", it is revealed that Agnes enjoys collecting pictures of cakes that she cuts out of magazines, a hobby she began in 1941. She does not like to eat them, however. In the twenty sixth season episode "Sky Police" she mentions that she has a brother Stevie.
Akira
Akira works as a waiter at The Happy Sumo, a Japanese restaurant in Springfield. He first appeared in the second season in "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish". Actor George Takei originally voiced Akira in "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish". Since Akira's speaking role in "When Flanders Failed", Hank Azaria has voiced the character, doing an impression of Takei for the voice.
Allison Taylor
Allison Taylor (voiced by Winona Ryder, Pamela Hayden) is in Lisa's class but skipped a grade and has a lot in common with Lisa. She first appeared in "Lisa's Rival", in which Lisa feels threatened by Allison's talents and abilities. During a school competition Lisa has Bart sabotage Allison's Tell-Tale Heart diorama with a cow's heart in a box and hides the original diorama beneath a floorboard. Wracked with guilt, Lisa returns Allison's real diorama. Lisa and Allison both lose to Ralph Wiggum and his Star Wars figurines. Afterwards, Lisa apologizes and the two make amends. Allison has had a few speaking roles after that and has been friends with Lisa, Janey, Sherri and Terri at school.
Anastasia
Anastasia is a white tiger that performs in casinos with Gunter and Ernst. She debuts in "$pringfield", where it is explained she was captured from the wild by Ernst and Gunter. She reappears in "Viva Ned Flanders", performing in Las Vegas. In "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons", Gunter and Ernst lose her.
Arnie Pye
Arnie Pye (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is a disgruntled, somewhat eccentric helicopter traffic reporter for Springfield's KBBL-TV (Channel 6). He dislikes pompous anchorman Kent Brockman, with whom he often gets into arguments on the air. Brockman once snarled that Pye was a "jackass", with Arnie responding that he believes Kent's soul is "as black as the ace of spades". He sometimes attempts to join the action himself, such as his attempting to hit a fleeing Homer Simpson's car with a shoe in Children of a Lesser Clod. His appearance and name are inspired by Pulitzer winning journalist Ernie Pyle.
Arthur Crandall and Gabbo
Arthur Crandall and Gabbo (both voiced by Hank Azaria) are a puppet and ventriloquist who start their own TV show that is in competition with Krusty the Clown's. The show is a huge hit that ruins Krusty's career, but Bart then ruins Gabbo's future by capturing him making a rude comment on TV. The pair are later reduced to low-paying work such as a show at an Indian casino. The pair mainly appeared in season four's "Krusty Gets Kancelled" but they also appeared in "Bart to the Future", "Homerazzi", "All About Lisa" and The Simpsons Movie. (See The Great Gabbo.)
Artie Ziff
Artie Ziff is a narcissistic Internet entrepreneur who is infatuated with Marge Simpson, his former high school classmate. He is voiced by Jon Lovitz, except for a brief appearance in "The Front" (1993), in which he was voiced by Dan Castellaneta. Animator David Silverman based Ziff's appearance and body language on a former high school classmate.
Ziff first appears in "The Way We Was" (1991), in which he takes a young Marge Bouvier to senior prom. When Artie tries to grope her in his car, Marge rejects him and drives off, encountering Homer on her way home. In adulthood, Artie tries repeatedly to coerce Marge into choosing him over Homer, with Patty's encouragement as she saw him more as the ideal husband for her sister.
In "Half-Decent Proposal" (2002), Marge learns that Artie is extremely wealthy, having made his fortune in computers by inventing an adapter that turns dial-up modem handshaking noises into easy-listening music, and she reluctantly accepts a $1 million offer to spend a weekend at his mansion to pay for an operation Homer needs to cure his extremely loud snoring. Homer assumes the two are having an affair, but Artie admits that he could not win her over. Artie begins to acknowledge that his selfishness is to blame. In "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner" (2004), the Simpsons discover Artie hiding in their attic after he squandered his money and started an accounting scandal at his company, Ziffcorp. Artie manages to scapegoat Homer but he eventually confesses his guilt to the authorities when Marge berates Artie for his poor character and she reveals that his own selfish behavior are the real reasons why no one likes him. After that, Artie is comforted by Selma; both spend the night together, and, as a result, and Artie turns himself in. He was last seen about to be assaulted by angry prisoners after he doused their cigarettes with a squirt bottle, and has not appeared in any canon episodes since.
In "Treehouse of Horror XXIII" (2012), Bart time-travels to 1974 and happens upon Marge, who is still a high school student. After he warns her not to marry Homer, Bart returns to 2012 and finds that Marge has married Artie, with Bart now named Bartie Ziff, and having inherited Artie's curly hair. Marge leaves Artie after she instantly falls in love with a host of time-traveling Homers. She says seeing them made her realize she had married the wrong man.
Baby Gerald
Gerald Samson, better known as Baby Gerald, also known as "the one-eyebrowed baby", is Maggie Simpson's archenemy, known for his large unibrow. He makes his first appearance in "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song", where Lisa refers to Baby Gerald as Maggie's rival. On a few occasions, Gerald has been shown being pushed in a stroller by his mother outside the Simpson house as in "Lady Bouvier's Lover", as the two babies glare at each other. He was also featured in the Simpsons theatrical short The Longest Daycare. The character's name was revealed in the episode "The Canine Mutiny". In "The Blue And The Gray" and "Papa Don't Leech", a possible romantic attraction between Maggie and Gerald is hinted at. Baby Gerald appears in the show's current title sequence (as of 2014).
Benjamin, Doug and Gary
Benjamin, Doug and Gary (voiced by Harry Shearer, Hank Azaria and Dan Castellaneta, respectively) are geeks that were once Homer's dormitory roommates at Springfield University. Gary carries a calculator on his belt and uses ear medicine, Doug is overweight and wears a pocket protector, and Benjamin wears horn-rimmed glasses. The writer of "Homer Goes to College", Conan O'Brien partially based them on three guys he went to college with, who, he said, were "incredible nerds". Director Jim Reardon used a caricature of animator Rich Moore and colored it black for Benjamin.
Bernice Hibbert
Bernice Hibbert (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is Dr. Julius Hibbert's wife and is loosely based on the Clair Huxtable character from The Cosby Show. The Hibberts have three children, two boys and a girl. Nevertheless, her marriage is on the rocks; she refuses to kiss her husband, even in front of an entire audience. Her drinking has been joked about on several occasions. She fainted when she read that "Prohibition" had been introduced to Springfield and attends Springfield Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
Bill and Marty
Bill and Marty (voiced by Harry Shearer and Dan Castellaneta) are two radio show hosts and DJs on Springfield's own radio station KBBL. Bill is middle-aged and balding, while Marty is younger and has a full head of hair. They are responsible for giving Bart his elephant, Stampy, although they were surprised when Bart wanted Stampy, because they thought he would choose the other prize, $10,000. When Mr. Burns monopolized the local media in "Fraudcast News", he fired the duo, but they have returned to the job in later episodes.
Billy
Billy (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is Troy McClure's assistant who appeared in "Lisa the Simpson", and "Bart the Mother". He was supposed to appear in more episodes but due to the death of McClure's voice actor Phil Hartman, he was retired along with McClure. He is a child who appears in Troy McClure's educational films. He appears in the films "Birds: Our Fine Feathered Colleagues", and "Someone's in the Kitchen with DNA". A similar child named Jimmy (who at one point McClure also calls Billy) appears in "The Meat Council Presents: 'Meat and You: Partners in Freedom'" in the episode, "Lisa the Vegetarian".
Birch Barlow
Birchibald "Birch" T. Barlow (voiced by Harry Shearer in "Sideshow Bob Roberts" and by Maurice LaMarche in "You Kent Always Say What You Want"). He is a conservative talk show host on the radio station KBBL, who in voice and appearance is modeled after Rush Limbaugh. As of "You Kent Always Say What You Want", he also has a show on Fox News, and serves as a parody of Fox News' conservative bias.
On his radio show, he declares himself to be "the fourth branch of government" and "the fifty-first state". He authored the book Only Turkeys Have Left Wings. Barlow plays an important part in the episode "Sideshow Bob Roberts", in which Sideshow Bob, while jailed, calls Barlow on his radio show, giving Bob an outlet to voice how the prison treats him unfairly. Barlow, knowing Bob is a fellow Republican, sympathizes with his complaints, and influences the rest of Springfield to as well. This leads to Bob's prompt release and ensuing mayoral election-rigging.
Barlow appears in the episode "We're on the Road to D'ohwhere" as a customer at Marge's prescription drug-laden "yard sale", a reference to Limbaugh's Oxycontin addiction. Most recently Barlow appears with other Springfield Republicans in the episode "E Pluribus Wiggum", in which he tells Lisa to make Ralph Wiggum decide whether he wants to run for President as a Republican or a Democrat.
Bleeding Gums Murphy
Bleeding Gums Murphy Hibbert (voiced by Ron Taylor and Daryl L. Coley) is a jazz musician, idol, and mentor of Lisa Simpson. His real first name has never been mentioned, though Murphy claimed his nickname came from the fact he had never once been to a dentist. His significant roles were in the episodes "Moaning Lisa" and "'Round Springfield", although he appears in other episodes such as "Bart the Daredevil" (where he is yellow), "Dancin' Homer", "Old Money", "Flaming Moe's, "Bart Gets an "F"", "Radio Bart", and "Lisa's Pony". In "Dancin' Homer", he was voiced by Daryl L. Coley. In "'Round Springfield", it is revealed that at one point he had enjoyed a fairly successful career, releasing an album ("Sax on the Beach") and appearing on Steve Allen's The Tonight Show, as well as one of the Cosby children's four grandfathers on an episode of The Cosby Show; but quickly lost his money feeding his $1500-a-day habit of purchasing and smashing Fabergé eggs. He taught Lisa to display her emotions through music, prompting Lisa to hold him as an important figure in her life. His last appearance was in "'Round Springfield", when, after Bart ends up in the hospital, Lisa wanders off to find Murphy dying in a nearby ward. He explains about his life, family, and work to her, as well as giving her advice for her upcoming school performance, giving her his saxophone. When Lisa returns, she finds out that Murphy has died from circumstances which are never revealed. No one, except for Lisa, attends Murphy's funeral. Lisa realizes that despite being gone physically, he still is alive in her. It is strongly hinted that Murphy and Doctor Hibbert are long-lost brothers, most notably by Murphy's quote: "I don't really have a family. All I had was a little brother who grew up to become a doctor. He used to laugh at the most inappropriate times." Hibbert laughs inappropriately (as he always does) and says, "Hey, I've got an older brother that I'll never see. He's a jazz musician or some such. Oh well, bye, bye." Bleeding Gums Murphy is loosely based on Blind Willie Johnson, at whose feet the young Bleeding Gums character learned. The voice of Bleeding Gums Murphy was provided by Ron Taylor, while his saxophone playing is provided by Dan Higgins. As a sign of respect for the character, Murphy has been a fixture of the extended opening sequence of The Simpsons since the second season. Originally, even after his death, Bart would skateboard past him on the street. In "The Great Wife Hope", Murphy is mentioned and supposedly, according to Carl, he is still alive, after Homer asks Carl if he knows Drederick Tatum. Carl takes offense, saying that just because he is African American, he does not know every other African-American in Springfield, of whom there are very few, anyway. Carl then says that he met Drederick Tatum while he was at a party with Dr. Hibbert at Murphy's house.
Blinky
Blinky is a three-eyed orange fish featured primarily in "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish". Likely mutated by toxic waste from the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant pouring into the river, Blinky became a major news story when he was caught by Bart Simpson. Mr. Burns defends the fish, arguing that his extra eye is merely the next step in evolution. Mr. Burns goes to the Simpsons' house for a meal to boost his race for governor. Marge, a supporter of Burns' opponent Mary Bailey, deliberately serves Blinky for dinner. Mr. Burns spits the fish out and subsequently loses the election. Blinky was briefly seen again in episodes "Homer's Odyssey" and "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in 'The Curse of the Flying Hellfish'". Blinky also made a brief appearance in an underwater section of the tube-way Fry travels through in the pilot episode of the animated series Futurama, which was created by The Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Blinky also appears in an episode of Futurama's seventh season titled T.: The Terrestrial; Blinky is seen in a fish bowl on Jrrr's desk.
Blue Haired Lawyer
Mr. Burns' Lawyer also known as "The Blue-Haired Lawyer" (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is Springfield's most prominent and powerful lawyer. He first appeared in the second season episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car". He is known for his blue hair and nasal New York accent. He also occasionally appears to serve as a prosecutor. Unlike Lionel Hutz or Gil Gunderson, he is competent, although not necessarily ethical. He has served as Mr. Burns' head lawyer, helping him out with threats of the Power Plant closing down and of Burns losing his money. He is a member of the Springfield Republican Party. His clients often tend to be antagonists of the Simpsons. The Blue Haired Lawyer also played a very important role in Bart's emancipation in "Barting Over".
The character's demeanor and Castellaneta's voice for the character are based on Roy Cohn, best known as Joe McCarthy's chief counsel during the Communist witchhunts in the 1950s. Animator Jim Reardon modeled the character's appearance on actor Charles Lane.
Booberella
Booberella is a buxom television host who speaks with a Romanian accent. She is a parody of Cassandra Peterson's character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Booberella's television show is a spoof of Elvira's Movie Macabre, a horror film anthology series. Booberella first appears in the episode "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can", in which Bart and Homer watch her show. Booberella's name alludes to Vampirella (Forrest James Ackerman's comic book vampire character) and to the 1968 cult film Barbarella, which stars Jane Fonda in the title role.
Brandine Spuckler
Brandine Spuckler (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is the wife of Cletus Spuckler. Brandine and Cletus are depicted as stereotypical yokels. Throughout the series, outlandish theories that the two are siblings, boyfriend and girlfriend, mother and son, or father and daughter, have been suggested, with Cletus simply stating "they're all kinds of things". In one episode, she is apparently the daughter of Cletus and an alien. She has suffered from rabies, and admitted to being illiterate. More recently, Brandine is shown fighting in the Iraq War. She comes back revealing Cletus is the father of only two of the kids, casting doubt over the paternity of all the other children. Assuming that all of the children believed to be Cletus' are also hers, Brandine has 45 specifically named children. Brandine and Cletus were married by Homer during his brief stint as a minister. On April 27, 2008, more is revealed about Cletus and Brandine in an episode entitled "Apocalypse Cow"; Brandine had married Cletus at the age of 13, having been married four times previously. Brandine has had several low-level jobs, such as working for Dairy Queen, a strip club, and an infantryman for the U.S Army. She's also been in prison, where she developed a liking for indoor plumbing which the Spuckler homestead lacks.
Brunella Pommelhorst
Brunella Pommelhorst (voiced by Maggie Roswell in "Moaning Lisa" and Tress MacNeille in other episodes) is the gym teacher at Springfield Elementary School. She first appeared in "Moaning Lisa", although her name is not mentioned until "The PTA Disbands" (when a little girl left hanging on the gymnastic rings after the teachers walk out due to a strike calls for "Mrs. Pommelhorst" to let her down). Her name is a play on pommel horse, She has blond hair and usually wears a whistle and takes a tough-as-nails approach to teaching. In "Little Girl in the Big Ten", she decides that because of the oath she took on Xena, she has to fail Lisa but decides to let her make it up by taking private lessons. In "My Fair Laddy", she takes a leave of absence to get a sex-change operation and will return as "Mr. Pommelhorst", the new shop teacher and is replaced with Coach Krupt.
Bumblebee Man
The Bumblebee Man (initially voiced by Dan Castellaneta and later by Hank Azaria) is the star of a Mexican Spanish-language television sitcom on Channel Ocho, in which he dresses in a bumblebee costume and performs slapstick comedy. In the episode "Team Homer", his bowling shirt bears the name "Pedro", though he is informally referred to as "Chespirito". He works at the same studio as Kent Brockman. His first appearance was in "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie". Bumblebee Man is rarely seen to take off his costume, even when by himself; the sole exception is the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield", in which his private life is shown. In this short segment, he is portrayed as innately clumsy rather than simply acting as such.
In general, Bumblebee Man only speaks in simple, over-enunciated (and inaccurate) Spanish sentences. His catchphrases of choice are typically "¡Ay, ay, ay, no me gusta!" ("I don't like it!"), "¡Ay, ay, ay, no es bueno!" ("That's not good!") and "¡Ay, Dios no me ama!" ("God doesn't love me!"). Quite commonly, his phrases will be intentionally sloppy Spanish. For example, in the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield", there are several words used that are not real (such as "wudpequero" for "woodpecker", rather than the correct pájaro carpintero). The crude Spanish is used so that English-speaking viewers would still understand what was being said. On occasions, he also speaks English, such as briefly in "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington". In "Bart Gets Famous", he anchored the news with an articulate English accent, filling in for Kent Brockman, who would not report the news because he did not get his cheese Danish, which Bart stole to give to Krusty.
Bumblebee Man is a caricature parody of El ChapulÃn Colorado, a character created and portrayed by Mexican television comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños (a.k.a. "Chespirito"), and his show consists of simple skits, often involving heavy slapstick. The staff have said that whenever they watched Univision, this character was "always on", thus they created Bumblebee Man, who is also always on the air when the Spanish-language channel is depicted. His costume was based on one used in the Saturday Night Live sketch "Killer Bees".
In 2003, Azaria won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for voicing Bumblebee Man, and various other characters.
C.H.U.M.
C.H.U.M. (voiced by Dan Castellaneta), short for Childlike Humanoid Urban Muchacho, is a robot that Martin Prince built in "Fat Man and Little Boy" for a science fair at Springfield Elementary School. In "Future-Drama" Martin dances with it at the prom in the future and the robot activates the self-destruction mechanism. In "Gorgeous Grampa", Bart hit C.H.U.M. over the head with a folding chair and then proceeded to climb to the blackboard ledge and jump on the robot, breaking it. In "Looking for Mr. Goodbart" appears catching a Rattle Snitch on Peekimon Get on Frank Grimes' grave.
Capital City Goofball
The Capital City Goofball (voiced by Tom Poston) is the mascot for Capital City. His appearance seems to have been inspired by the mascot of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team, the Phillie Phanatic. The costume is a creature with a baseball body, with a blue Capital City T-shirt, yellow arms and legs, a long flat-ended nose, tufts of fur at the side, a red hat with two springs, two costume eyes that look in either direction, and two more eyes that peek outside the mouth. The Capital City Goofball first appeared in the episode "Dancin' Homer" and shared the stage with Homer. After that, he is absent until Homer to the Max, where he walks past the Simpsons window alongside Mr Largo when Lisa talks about TV shows rewriting or dropping characters that appear early on. In "Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade", the Capital City Goofball represents Capital City in the state legislature; he spent $80 million out of his own pocket to win the seat, and now is leading an effort to change the state's embarrassing, Confederate-symbol centered state flag. With the death of Tom Poston in 2007, the character was reduced to making minor background appearances and usual honking sounds, and has not spoken since "Bart and Lisa vs. the Third Grade".
Captain Lance Murdock
Captain Lance Murdock (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is a professional stunt devil who appeared more in the early days of the show rather than the newer episodes. He first appeared in "Bart the Daredevil" which featured him in more scenes than other episodes. He later appeared in "I Married Marge", "Selma's Choice", and "Viva Ned Flanders". He was most recently featured when Krusty was flicking channels on his TV in "Today I Am a Clown". He also appears in Lisa's lecture about Lake Springfield in The Simpsons Movie sitting in the audience. His stunts often end in disaster, such as in "Viva Ned Flanders", and "Bart the Daredevil", where he states that he has broken every bone in his body after a failed stunt. His signature bike is the Suicycle and he has his own action figure complete with an ambulance.
Cecil Terwilliger
Cecil Underdunk Terwilliger (voiced by David Hyde Pierce) is the younger brother of Robert Underdunk Terwilliger, a.k.a. Sideshow Bob. His first appearance was in the season 8 episode "Brother from Another Series", where it was revealed that Bob only got the job as Krusty's sideshow ten years ago because Cecil, who had always wanted to be a children's entertainer, failed his audition. He later became Springfield's "Chief Hydrological and Hydrodynamical Engineer" although he planned to blow up the new Hydroelectric dam he was building, so that nobody would know how cheaply it was made. Cecil kept most of the building money for himself, making it look as if it was his brother. However, Sideshow Bob, Lisa and Bart worked together to successfully foil him. Eventually, after losing the money, Cecil attempted to kill Bart which Bob never could, but ironically, this was foiled by Bob himself. His second appearance was in the season 19 episode "Funeral for a Fiend", where, following Robert's death, he convinced Bart to go to his cremation. It turned out, though, that Sideshow Bob faked the whole thing in another elaborate plot to kill Bart. He is voiced by David Hyde Pierce, who also plays the younger brother of Sideshow Bob's voice actor Kelsey Grammer in Frasier. Cecil's mannerisms and his relationship with his brother are also loosely based on Niles and Frasier's relationship in Frasier. Later, he appears in "O Brother, Where Bart Thou?".
Cesar and Ugolin
Cesar (voiced by Harry Shearer & Hank Azaria) and Ugolin (voiced by Dan Castallaneta) are a nephew & uncle pair of stereotypical Frenchmen who in "The Crepes of Wrath" make Bart a slave to their winery "Chateau Maison" and put anti-freeze in his wine. In "Lisa the Greek" they watch TV in their apartment & in "To Courier with Love" they are leather makers who try to kill an endangered blue snake that Homer was supposed to send them to pay for a trip to France, they try to capture it on their own & fail.
They take their character names from Cesar and Ugolin, father and son in the films Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources.
Charlie
Charlie (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) works at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant as the 'Dangerous Emissions Supervisor'. He was briefly replaced by Mindy Simmons, but she got fired afterwards due to alcoholism and disruptive behavior. His first appearance was in "Life on the Fast Lane". He was briefly out of work due to an unnamed on-the-job injury, where he collected workers' compensation, however future episodes show him back to work. He has a wife and two kids, as well as a sister with a wooden leg (which Charlie used as a lucky bat). In "The Trouble with Trillions", Charlie tells Homer (who is working undercover) that he has plans to overrun the American government due to their stalling on making HDTV available; he is soon arrested by FBI agents for conspiracy. Dan Castellaneta said that he did "an imitation of Lenny" (voiced by Harry Shearer) for the voice.
Chase/Pyro
Chase, also known as Pyro, (voiced by Hank Azaria) is an American Gladiator. He is a parody of the real-life Gladiator Nitro. He first appears in the episode "A Milhouse Divided", dating Luann after her divorce. Their relationship ends when she is caught cheating with his own best friend, Gladiator Gyro. He also appears in "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken", "Mom and Pop Art", "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily", "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge", "Day of the Jackanapes", "A Star Is Born Again" and "The Bart of War".
Coach Lugash
Coach Lugash (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is a gym instructor who coached Lisa in the season 13 episode "Little Girl in the Big Ten". He has anger problems and later makes brief appearances. Springfield Elementary gym teacher Brunella Pommelhorst mentions that he defected into East Germany from the West.
Coach Krupt
Coach Krupt (Hank Azaria), the new gym teacher at Springfield Elementary School following Miss Pummelhorst's departure in order to have a sex-change operation. He is obsessed with the game Bombardment and plays it relentlessly. Can be seen in season 20's "How the Test Was Won" training the students for their standardized tests and hurling rubber balls at those who give wrong answers and has since made minor cameos in later episodes. He has a wife, daughter, and son.
Cookie Kwan
Cookie Kwan (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is an Asian American real estate broker who first appears in the Season 9 Simpsons episode "Realty Bites". She is the stereotypical competitive woman with a thick Asian accent that she has been trying to lose since she was a child. She touts herself as being "number one on the West Side", although she also works on the East Side. She is very aggressive toward anyone she deems a threat to her business, evidenced by when she threatens Gil Gunderson. She once attempted to seduce Ned Flanders, has had an illegitimate baby with Mayor Quimby, and has flirted with Homer. She is friends with Lindsey Naegle. She is a Republican. She is played by MacNeille with a strong and harsh stereotypical Chinese accent.
Corporal Punishment
Corporal Punishment is a cast member on The Krusty the Clown Show. Once a group of protesters started booing Krusty so he threatened to bring out Corporal Punishment, who then stomped onto the stage. He later appeared as back up on many other Krusty shows. When Krusty fakes his death, he was at his funeral. Corporal Punishment first appeared in the episode "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge" as the enforcer for the show. He is a large man and is always seen in military uniform.
Crazy Cat Lady
Eleanor Abernathy (voiced by Tress MacNeille), better known as the Crazy Cat Lady, is a woman with the appearance and behavior of a stereotypical mentally ill person. She first appears in "Girly Edition". Abernathy is always surrounded by a large number of cats, and in every appearance she screams gibberish and/or throws cats at passersby. She gives Lisa one of her cats, Snowball V, who looks exactly like her original Snowball II. Despite appearing older by her white hair and careless appearance, she is the same age as Marge, Homer and Moe.
Abernathy was once a bright, vibrant young woman whose dreams came to a tragic end. When she was eight, Abernathy wanted to be a doctor and a lawyer because she believed a woman can be whatever she wants to be if she just sets her mind to it. At 16, she began studying for law school, and by 24 she earned a law degree from Yale Law School and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School. Sadly, when she turned 32, Abernathy suffered from psychological exhaustion, became an alcoholic, and sought solace in her pet cat. Eight years later, the once-promising young doctor/lawyer has now become a raving, cat-hoarding lunatic. Abernathy briefly reverts to her sanity and high intelligence thanks to some pills that she shows the Simpsons, but after Marge points out that the pills are actually Reese's Pieces candy, Abernathy abruptly resumes her deranged behavior. When participating in a mayoral election, she lucidly discusses topics such as health care, economy and public education in between her screams and gibberish.
In the episode "Eeny Teeny Maya Moe", Abernathy reveals that she once owned a cat with Moe Szyslak after he says that there "Is a much creepier guy right next to me." from a public library computer. She yells "You know I'm a woman!" and also that their cat had kittens; she then proclaims that "These are yours!" and insanely throws three cats at him. She is also seen in "The Blue and the Gray" flirting (and swapping animals) with another mentally ill person carrying dogs, who has been affectionately nicknamed 'Crazy Dog Man'. In the episode "A Midsummer's Nice Dream", Abernathy is shown to be a hoarder. After Marge helps her clean up her house, she begins speaking normally and wearing proper clothing. Later, in an attempt to fix Marge's new hoarding problem, Abernathy reverts to her crazy self, reclaiming all of the hoarded junk and calling her cats back to her.
In the episode "Monty Burns' Fleeing Circus", Abernathy shows she has an opera-quality singing voice.
Crusher and Lowblow
Crusher (also referred to as Joey) and Lowblow are a pair of stereotypical henchmen often found in the employment of Montgomery Burns as he prefers the hands-on touch you only get with hired goons. Crusher's first appearance was in the second-season episode "Blood Feud" where he is seen escorting Homer off the premises of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. The two seem to be on first name terms as Homer calls him Joey. Their first appearance together was in the episode "Last Exit to Springfield" when the two of them kidnap Homer and take him to Burns Manor. They introduce themselves as "hired goons" The pair rarely had speaking roles and were often used as Mr Burns' henchmen (and the henchmen for The Blue-Haired Lawyer as seen in the beginning of "Lisa the Beauty Queen" and several scenes in "Lady Bouvier's Lover").
Database
Database or Data (voiced by Nancy Cartwright, Tress MacNeille, and Pamela Hayden; real name Kyle according to "Yellow Subterfuge") is a nerdy student who attends Springfield Elementary School. He first appeared in the episode "Bart's Comet" as a member of "the Super Friends". He has since had speaking parts in several episodes. He is usually seen with his fellow nerd Martin Prince. Database is a common target for Nelson, Dolph, Jimbo and Kearney. Database is part of the group of boys who invade Shelbyville in "Lemon of Troy". He is one of the Pre-Teen Braves in the episode "The Bart of War". He is a member of the school band, as seen in "The PTA Disbands". Database is known for his annoying, nerdy voice which is supplied by Nancy Cartwright. Database's father is shown in "Lemon of Troy", although he utters no dialogue and is only in the background and has not appeared since that episode. Matt Groening has stated that Database is his least favorite character in the show.
Dave Shutton
Dave Shutton, voiced by Harry Shearer, is a reporter for The Springfield Shopper. Writer John Swartzwelder named Shutton after a friend of his. His first appearance was in "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish". Since then, his roles have become less relevant and have been reduced to short appearances. According to "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)", Kent Brockman does not like Dave Shutton and thinks he is unprofessional.
Declan Desmond
Declan Desmond (voiced by Eric Idle of Monty Python fame) is an odd and skeptical English documentary filmmaker who has directed several films, including "Do You Want Lies with That?", "American Boneheads: A Day In The Life Of Springfield Elementary", "Growing Up Springfield", "Ain't No Mountain: A Blind Man Climbs Everest", and "The Spy Who Learned Me". Growing Up Springfield is his most notable documentary. It follows the lives of the inhabitants of Springfield, starting when they were in third grade and continuing every eight years. Desmond appeared in the episodes "'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky" and "Fat Man and Little Boy" and his Growing Up Springfield series were featured in the episode "Springfield Up".
The Desmond character appears to be loosely based on British director Michael Apted, who is known for his Up series of documentaries following groups of individuals as they age.
Dewey Largo
Dewey Largo, voiced by Harry Shearer, is the music teacher, whom Lisa credited with proving that any piece of music could have the soul sucked out of it. Like most of the staff of Springfield Elementary, Largo has long since lost all passion for his job as conductor, and cares little for creativity or music anymore. He is always seen in the opening sequence, teaching his class and throwing Lisa out of his band class when she plays a tune on her saxophone. His last name, Largo, is also an Italian word for a slow, broad, musical tempo, likely a reference to the fact that he can make any piece of music uninteresting. He is a lover of the music of John Philip Sousa, and is incredulous when Lisa suggests the school band plays something different.
He has not played a large role in the series, but was originally intended to be an uptight foil for Lisa and her non-conformist ways. After the first few seasons, Mr. Largo was rarely seen. However he has since resurfaced as a recurring character in the seventeenth season, making appearances in several episodes after. In the 17th season, in the episode "Homer's Paternity Coot", it is revealed that Largo was accepted to the Juilliard School, but never got the letter as it was frozen atop Mount Springfield. He ended up at Springfield Elementary instead. In season 22's Elementary School Musical, after attending a performing arts camp, Lisa is warned by Mr Largo that he also attended one as a child, and that they just "fill your head with sugarcandy dreams that can't come true". A recurring gag since the 17th-season episode "See Homer Run", are allusions that Largo is gay. The 22nd-season episode "Flaming Moe" confirmed that Largo is gay and in a relationship with an older man. In "Eeny Teeny Maya Moe", Dr. Nick mistakenly makes Mr Largo shorter, instead of Moe. It is implied Dr Nick was about to give Moe the sex-change operation that was originally meant for Largo, as he is heard to cry: "I look nothing like Julie Newmar!". My Fair Laddy reveals that he is considered the second least important employee of the school after Willie, as he is demoted to groundskeeper after Willie leaves.
Disco Stu
Disco Stu, real name Stuart Discothèque (voiced by Hank Azaria), is a man who is mentally stuck in the disco era. He is normally featured wearing a rhinestone-encrusted leisure suit. Stu was introduced as the punchline to a joke in "Two Bad Neighbors". In a garage sale, Homer attempts to sell a jacket on which he had once tried to write "Disco Stud" in rhinestones, but having made the letters too big he did not have room for the final "d". After Marge remarks that nobody would ever want to buy a jacket that read "Disco Stu", another customer recommends it to Stu, but Stu replies, "Disco Stu doesn't advertise." Stu's speech pattern is similar to that of Duffman, also voiced by Hank Azaria; he speaks in the third person, often referring to himself as "Disco Stu" (emphasizing "Stu" and then pausing before saying anything else; whatever follows usually rhymes with "Stu"). According to "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation", Stu actually is aware disco is dead, does not like disco music at all, and worries that his personality may make him a "one-note guy". He got an annulment from Pope John Paul II after a brief marriage to Selma Bouvier. In "How I Wet Your Mother", Professor Frink created a device that allowed people to enter the dreams of others. He stated he had already used the device "To cure another Springfielder of his particular obsession" at which point Stu walked into the frame in khakis and a collared shirt saying "Normal Stu likes normal things." In "Homer Scissorhands", Stu is seen attending a ball alone, saying his girlfriend isn't feeling well. She is then seen arriving arm-in-arm with Krusty the Clown. In the episode "Springfield Up", it is revealed that in his younger years, he had a budding career as a sea captain, going by the name of "Nautical Stu", and only finds the joy of disco music when Marge puts some on while taking his picture for his captain's license.
Show runner Bill Oakley described the original Disco Stu as "an old, wrinkly John Travolta". Stu was originally to be voiced by repeat guest star Phil Hartman. However, when the animators remodeled the character, Hartman was not available to dub the voice and so Hank Azaria took over the role. Out of 25, IGN named Stu the 24th top peripheral character in The Simpsons.
Doctor Colossus
Doctor Colossus, voiced by Hank Azaria, is a supervillain and mad scientist who resides in Springfield. He has light blue skin and wears a white laboratory coat, gloves and goggles. Doctor Colossus is a minor character and usually only appears in the background. The character first appeared in the episode "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy".
Dolph Starbeam
Dolph Starbeam, voiced by Tress MacNeille (though on "The Telltale Head", Dolph was voiced by Pamela Hayden, while Tress MacNeille voiced Jimbo Jones), is a bully and student at Springfield Elementary School. Dolph is recognized by his asymmetrical haircut which covers one eye; he wears cutoff shorts and basketball shoes. He is a 17-year-old, left-handed 6th grader, and does not talk as much as the other bullies. He usually comes across as very intelligent and speaks a variety of languages including Esperanto, Swahili, and Klingon.
It turns out Dolph is Jewish and attends Hebrew school; in "White Christmas Blues", he is seen enjoying an American Jewish Christmas Day tradition (eating Chinese food) alongside Krusty the Clown, Rabbi Herschel Krustofsky, Krusty's agent, and Krusty's monkey sidekick, Mr. Teeny. Despite the fact that he appears to be wholly Caucasian, in the episode "Little Big Girl" he shows up to multicultural day with a disked lower lip, suggesting some African or South American descent. He lied to his friends about not having a bar mitzvah, later claiming it had been "just [for] family", to a suspicious Kearney. Dolph once mentioned the fact that he has two fathers. He has self-esteem issues, as illustrated in "The Fool Monty", when he pretends a dazed, amnesia-suffering Mr. Burns is "that guy at the youth center who really believes in [me]". Dolph engages in a pretend dialogue with Burns, before breaking down and running away in tears. Dolph was named after one of Matt Groening's classmates from Lincoln High School, Dolph Timmerman, who Groening stated was not a bully but a cool guy.
Drederick Tatum
Drederick Tatum (voiced by Hank Azaria) has appeared in several episodes. He is a professional boxer and the reigning world heavyweight champion. He features prominently in the episode "The Homer They Fall", in which Homer takes up boxing and is lined up as an opponent for Tatum, soon to be released from prison. The fight proves one-sided, and Homer is rescued by Moe just as he is about to be knocked out by Tatum. Tatum grew up in Springfield, but in "Flaming Moe's" he calls the city "a dump" and says "if you ever see me back there, you know I really messed up bad."
The 1984 Olympic gold medalist, he first became world champion after defeating Watson in the heavily promoted "Bout to Knock the Other Guy Out", a fight Homer and his friends watched on his illegal cable hookup. He was so feared inside prison, he could stop riots just by telling the rioters to "shut up". Tatum also appears in "Bye Bye Nerdie". Lisa tests her nerd spray on him, which forces Nelson Muntz to involuntarily get up and start punching Tatum, to little effect. A sobbing Nelson tries to apologize but Tatum rolls up his sleeves and declares "you leave me little recourse".
Tatum is a parody of Mike Tyson, with a high-pitched lisping voice, a menacing demeanor, a criminal record, financial problems, and a tendency to make pseudo-intellectual comments like "I insist that you desist" and "your behavior is unconscionable". He also has an unscrupulous manager named Lucius Sweet, who closely resembles Tyson's promoter and manager Don King. Indeed, in "The Homer They Fall", Homer notes that Sweet "is as rich and famous as Don King, and looks just like him". King and Tyson were asked to appear in the episode but declined. Paul Winfield, who played King in a 1995 Tyson biopic, took the role instead.
Duffman
Barry Duffman, better known as Duffman and voiced by Hank Azaria, is a recurring character who, according to Chris Turner, "embodies all the self-importance and over-statement of contemporary marketing." He is the mascot for the fictional Duff Corporation that sells Duff Beer, and is based on Budweiser's former mascot Bud Man. Duffman is a muscular actor, dressed in a superhero costume who spouts slogans while he thrusts his hips. Duffman's thrusts were first acted out by Brad Bird. His catchphrase, "Oh, yeah!", is a nod to the Yello song "Oh Yeah", which many advertisers began to use when Ferris Bueller's Day Off made it a hit. While loyal to his corporate sponsors, in the season 15 episode "Co-Dependent's Day", Duffman reveals he is ashamed of betraying his Jewish heritage by doing a Nazi-esque performance at Oktoberfest ("This reich will last a thousand beers! Oh, ja! [muttering]: I do this, and I'm Jewish."). In the season 17 episode "Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play", it was revealed there were two other Duffmen working (but it is kept a secret so as not to disillusion children). "Jaws Wired Shut" revealed that all the actors who have played Duffman have died ("Duffman can never die; only the actors who play him"), which sheds some light on the so-called continuity error in which Duffman was referred to as "Larry" in "Pygmoelian". Howard K. Duff called him "Sid", in "Hungry, Hungry Homer", and in "Old Yeller Belly", he self-identifies (while out of character) as "Barry Duffman". In "Waiting for Duffman", in which Duffman retires temporarily and is replaced by Homer, his name is Barry Huffman.
There are also international, culture-specific versions of Duffman for the overseas markets. Duffmensch, the German version of Duffman, wears a blue pickelhaube helmet and blue spandex lederhosen with a dark leather waistbelt with beer-can holders that look like ammunition pouches. He uses the German language slogan Oh Ja!. The Canadian version of Duffman (seen on the label of Le Duff, the Canadian version of Duff) wears a Mountie uniform and uses the French-language slogan Mais Oui! They are still played by the American Duffman and have his mannerisms.
Eddie
Eddie, voiced by Harry Shearer, is one of the Springfield police officers. He first appeared in the first season episode "There's No Disgrace Like Home". Like Lou, he does not have a surname. He is not as smart as Lou. In "Bart vs. Thanksgiving", Eddie was animated to Lou's voice and Lou was animated to Eddie's.
Elizabeth Hoover
Elizabeth Hoover is a second grade teacher at Springfield Elementary, voiced by Maggie Roswell and Marcia Mitzman Gaven while Roswell was involved in a pay dispute. Miss Hoover has been worn down by her years in the public school system, and in "Lisa Gets an "A"" implies that she frequently drinks during lunch. In the episode "Lisa's Substitute", she thought she had lyme disease. She is very apathetic and bored with her job. She is often seen smoking even while teaching, once even under a "No Smoking" sign in the assembly hall. Her desperate attempts to regain her stability include rushing out of class to recite "Calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean" with her eyes closed, getting into her car and driving off on two occasions, and even letting Ralph teach the class after she was granted tenure and therefore free to do almost anything she wants.
Fallout Boy
In the series, Fallout Boy first appears in a 1950s Radioactive Man serial film shown at a comic book convention in the episode "Three Men and a Comic Book". However, unlike many Simpsons characters, he has only made a handful of appearances since. While Radioactive Man is a broad parody of many superheroes, most obviously containing elements of Batman and Superman (and the comic incorporates an origin story similar to Marvel's Hulk), among others, Fallout Boy is mainly a parody of Robin (with his costume, references as being the 'young ward' of Radioactive Man, and his younger age and sidekick status) with elements of Spider-Man (his fictional comic book origin, for example). His catchphrase is "Jiminy Jillickers!"
Fallout Boy also appears in a real-life comic book titled Radioactive Man, published by Bongo Comics (a comic created in part by Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons). In these comic books, Fallout Boy's real name is Rod Runtledge, he has a brother named Dodd. They live in Zenith City. Rod is a high school nerd living with his aunt, Aunt June. Fallout Boy was an average book worm, until one day, he was at a Radioactive demonstration, where he met up with Claude Kane. A tall piece of machinery fell towards them. Claude grabbed Rod and jumped over the rail, Claude holding onto the machine. The machine came to life, and as the ray passed through Claude, who became Radioactive Man, it hit Rod. Rod then got a pint-sized version of RM's powers and became Fallout Boy.
In the episode "Radioactive Man", Milhouse was chosen over Bart to play Fallout Boy in the Radioactive Man movie to be filmed in Springfield. Rock band Fall Out Boy took the name of this character after, when they asked a concert audience what band name they should have, a fan shouted "Fallout Boy!"
Francesca Terwilliger
Francesca Terwilliger is voiced by Maria Grazia Cucinotta, is the wife of Robert Underdunk Terwilliger, better known as Sideshow Bob. She first appears in the season 17 episode "The Italian Bob", when Sideshow Bob moved to Italy to get away from Bart for a fresh start. He became the mayor of a small Tuscan village and married Francesca, with whom he had a son called Gino, although Sideshow Bob never told her, or indeed anyone about his murderous past. However, when the Simpsons visited Italy, Lisa got drunk at a feast and told the whole town of the things he had done. After being thrown out of his village, Bob swore a vendetta against the Simpsons, which Francesca encouraged, saying they brought dishonor to the whole family. She helped her husband try (and fail) to kill them at the Colosseum. Her second appearance comes in the season 19 episode "Funeral for a Fiend", in which Sideshow Bob fakes his own death in a convoluted plot to kill Bart.
Frank Grimes
Frank "Grimey" Grimes (voiced by Hank Azaria) was a 35-year-old everyman and consummate professional; his professionalism is repeatedly contrasted with Homer Simpson's idiocy. He is introduced in "Homer's Enemy". After several failed attempts to expose Homer's stupidity and irresponsibility, Grimes makes one final attempt by tricking Homer into entering a nuclear power plant design contest intended for kids. After Homer is declared the winner, Grimes snaps, declaring that he can also be as lazy and moronic as Homer, and should be able to get away with it just as Homer does. As he runs amok through the plant, Grimes â€" declaring that he does not need safety gloves, simply because he is Homer Simpson â€" grabs two high-voltage wires and is fatally electrocuted. As a final inadvertent insult, Homer sleeps through the funeral and amuses the assembled mourners with his insensitivity, who laugh as Grimes's coffin is lowered. Grimes has been referenced in several later episodes, first in "Natural Born Kissers", where Homer finds an old pamphlet to Grimes's funeral. In "Treehouse of Horror XII", Grimes is one of the faces on the Wailing Wall. His tombstone appears in "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" and was also kicked by Homer in "My Mother the Carjacker". His son, Frank Grimes Jr., sought to avenge his father's death by killing Homer in "The Great Louse Detective". In the non-canon season twenty-eight episode "Treehouse of Horror XXVII", the ghost of Frank Grimes will join Sideshow Bob's army of the Simpsons' enemies. His tombstone can also be seen in the new opening sequence for the show (during the flash through the town from Marge and Maggie in the car to the front of the Simpsons' house, Ralph Wiggum can be seen playing in the dirt in front of the tombstone).
Frankie the Squealer
Frank Savioz, nicknamed "Frankie the Squealer" (voiced by Dan Castellaneta), is a member of the Mafia and associate of Fat Tony. However, he does not appear to be very useful to his colleagues in criminal activity due to his uncontrollable habit of squealing (he claims that "it makes [him] feel big"), even squealing on himself one time. On several occasions, the mob has attempted to kill him for his squealing, though they have repeatedly been unsuccessful. Frankie first appeared in the episode "Insane Clown Poppy" where his squealing habits are introduced after he squeals on himself for squealing.
Gil Gunderson
Gil Gunderson, a.k.a. Ol' Gil, is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared in the ninth season episode "Realty Bites" as a real estate agent with Lionel Hutz's Red Blazer Realty. He is a spoof of actor Jack Lemmon's portrayal of Shelley Levene in the 1992 film adaptation of the play Glengarry Glen Ross. (Lemmon himself voiced a character similar to Levene in the eighth season episode "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson".) Show runner Mike Scully said that the writers thought that Gil would be "a one-shot thing". "Castellaneta was so funny at the table read doing the character [that] we kept making up excuses in subsequent episodes to put him in", Scully said. Writer Dan Greaney said it was a great take-off on Levene to make Gil more desperate than he was. Even so, the writers like to write Gil with "a little bit of the old sparkle" left in him.
Since the retirement of the character Lionel Hutz (after voice actor Phil Hartman's death), Gil has been working as the Simpsons' lawyer in later episodes, though he has appeared in that role much less frequently than Lionel did (most scenes where one of the Simpsons is in court have either made their attorney an anonymous figure or simply ignored him or her). Gil's work history includes many unsuccessful sales jobs, a position where he committed theft and was busted by the IRS for it, another job where he lost the entire company payroll at a Las Vegas casino, and a 2009 stint when he was hired by the Springfield Police Department after he was able to free Chief Wiggum after he handcuffed himself to his desk. He always gets fired, often for just being incompetent but sometimes out of bad luck (he lost his job at Costington's when he refused to take back a gift he had sold to Lisa so that the CEO's granddaughter could have it, and Marge fires him from her Mother Hubbard's Sandwich Shop for no real reason). His way of selling is disastrous, as he is usually very unconfident, naturally bumbling, and tends to come off as needy, especially as he almost always refers to himself in the third person, as "Ol' Gil". In "Natural Born Kissers" it was mentioned that Gil lives in a balloon, and he's seen in "Rise of the Guardians" noting that he resides in the city's sewer system. In 2006, "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II", the only episode to center on Gil, won a Writers Guild of America Award in the animation category.
Gino Terwilliger
Gino Terwilliger, voiced by Tress MacNeille, is Sideshow Bob and his wife Francesca's toddler son. He has the same bizarre hair as his father and his paternal grandmother, as well as the same hatred for Bart Simpson. He first appears in the season 17 episode "The Italian Bob", when Sideshow Bob moved to Italy to start a new life, without anyone knowing, not even his own family, about his murderous history. That is, until Lisa became drunk at a feast and told the whole town everything, even though the Simpson family had promised not to mention anything since Bob fixed their car. The Simpsons flee the town, with Gino and his parents in hot pursuit. When they finally corner the Simpsons at the Colosseum, Gino is seen to be extremely agile and adept with a knife, as well as having a taste for violence; so much so, in fact, that Bob is heard to whisper to Francesca: "I don't want to brag, but he's evil at an eighth-grade level." Unfortunately, for him, they were saved by Krusty, who needed some people to help him smuggle antiquities. Gino makes his second appearance in the season 19 episode "Funeral for a Fiend", where it is mentioned that after leaving Italy, he and his parents toured around London for a while before sneaking into America on a train. He, and all of the other members of Bob's family played a part in a complicated plan to finish off Bart for good. However, they were foiled by Lisa Simpson and were arrested by Chief Wiggum.
Gloria
Gloria Dickson, voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus is Snake's girlfriend. She is a meter maid. She first appears in "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love", dating Mr. Burns. She ends up leaving him to return to her ex-boyfriend Snake. Gloria visits Snake in prison in "I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", and refuses to do whatever he asks of her. She appears once again in "Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes", where she is now pregnant. However, in "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words", they have broken up. Then, in "Wedding For Disaster", they apparently got married.
God
God, voiced by Harry Shearer, has had many appearances in the series, including "Homer the Heretic", "Thank God, It's Doomsday", and "Pray Anything". He also appears in the opening sequence. He is portrayed in the traditional depiction of the Abrahamic God: a gray-haired man in a white robe with a booming voice. In most episodes, only his beard is seen. One of God's distinctive features is that he and Jesus are the only two The Simpsons characters to have been drawn with five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot. According to showrunner Al Jean, "The Simpsons is one of the few shows on TV where God is not only very real, but he's a kind of vengeful Old Testament God."
Grady
Grady is voiced by Scott Thompson. He is Julio's lover. In "Three Gays of the Condo", Marge finds a note that says she wanted to dump Homer before they get married. This upsets Homer and he finds a new place to live. Julio and Grady needed a third person in the apartment. He agrees to stay with them. Later, Homer loves Marge again; he moves out. Before Homer moved out, it is revealed Grady loves Homer. Homer runs away saying "I will only hurt you!" Grady and Julio make small appearances in several other episodes.
Greta Wolfcastle
Greta Wolfcastle, voiced by Reese Witherspoon, is the daughter of action movie star Rainier Wolfcastle. She first appeared in "The Bart Wants What It Wants" when Milhouse develops a crush on her, yet Bart goes out on a date with her instead. After Bart decided he was becoming too needy, the two broke up, which causes Milhouse to go back to Canada with Greta & the two get in a fight during a curling game.
Gunter and Ernst
Gunter Schmidt and Ernst Hammerstein, Las Vegas-style entertainers voiced by Harry Shearer and Hank Azaria, are obvious parodies of Siegfried & Roy: they speak with German accents, their act involves magic and white tigers, and one has black hair while the other has bleached-blond hair. The duo appear in "Viva Ned Flanders", "$pringfield", "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons", and "Jazzy and the Pussycats". In "Jazzy and the Pussycats", they are seen at Amber Simpson's funeral. In video game The Simpsons Game, it is revealed they performed at an aquarium.
In a case of life imitating art, the 1993 episode "$pringfield" (the first episode featuring Gunter and Ernst) depicts the duo being savagely mauled by their trademark white tiger, Anastasia. Ten years later, the trained white tiger Montecore dragged Roy Horn off-stage by his neck during a performance at The Mirage. According to the DVD commentary on this episode on the Simpsons season five DVD set, the part where Gunter and Ernst get attacked is considered "the greatest prediction" the Simpsons ever made, but it was "bound to happen" considering how the tiger was treated.
The Happy Little Elves
The Happy Little Elves are a parody of The Smurfs, who appeared more often in the show's earlier episodes, e.g. watched on videocassette in "Some Enchanted Evening". They are a favorite of Maggie Simpson. Bart, however, hates them; he mainly refers to them as either "those stupid elves" "The Crappy Little Elves", or "The Little Green Idiots". Their movies include Return of The Happy Little Elves, an unnamed Christmas movie as seen in Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, The Happy Little Elves Meet The Curious Bear Cubs (Some Enchanted Evening), The Happy Little Elves in Tinkly Winkly Town, and The Happy Little Elves meet Fuzzy Snuggleduck (which was listed as an R-rated movie along with Thelma & Louise and The Erotic Awakening of S on Rancho Relaxo's cable system). They were first mentioned in a short on The Tracey Ullman Show entitled "Scary Movie". The most recent appearance they had was in Lisa Simpson, This Isn't Your Life in November 2010. In more current episodes, they appear as wall decorations in Maggie's and Lisa's rooms. They were also seen in The Simpsons Ride.
Helen Lovejoy
Helen Lovejoy (née Schwartzbaum), voiced by Maggie Roswell and Marcia Mitzman Gaven, is Rev. Lovejoy's judgmental and gossipy wife, and the mother of Jessica Lovejoy. She introduced herself in the episode "Life on the Fast Lane" as "the gossipy wife of the minister". Her catchphrase is "What about the children?! Won't somebody please think of the children!?" which she always says among a crowd when something bad is happening in the city. In "Wedding for Disaster", the Parson implies Helen is a transgender woman who used to be named Harold Schwartzbaum. In "E Pluribus Wiggum", it is revealed that Helen is a Republican (she is seen at the Springfield Republican meeting, which takes place in a scary castle atop a hill). In the "Treehouse of Horror XX" story, "Don't Have a Cow, Mankind", it is revealed that Mrs. Lovejoy is Lisa's godmother.
Herman Hermann
Herman Hermann, voiced by Harry Shearer, is the owner of Herman's Military Antiques. In reply to a question by Bart, he insinuates that he lost his arm when he stuck it out the window of a school bus. In the episode "To Cur with Love", he is seen in a flashback losing his arm hitchhiking when he is sideswiped by an animal control van. A brilliant military tactician, Herman was instrumental in Bart's victory in water balloon combat against Nelson and in the negotiation of the peace treaty between the two combatants in "Bart the General", which is his first and most significant appearance.
He is friends with Abraham Simpson, to whom he sold a fez, claiming it was previously owned by Napoleon; Herman then advertised Abe's old hat as "the hat McKinley was shot in". He also tried to sell counterfeit jeans out of the Simpsons' garage, but was foiled by Marge Simpson in "The Springfield Connection". He once captured Chief Wiggum and Snake and held them hostage, but was accidentally knocked out by Milhouse with a medieval mace, rescuing them. He is always seen a somewhat dangerous character, dressing in military fatigues, and speaking in a slow, gravelly voice (he is also often seen with an unlit cigarette in his mouth). In the opening credits of a later episode the billboard reads, 'Herman's Military Antiques (and guns)'. It is revealed and mentioned at various points that he keeps a loaded shotgun under the counter, and has various other firearms at his disposal.
Harry Shearer does an impression of George H. W. Bush for the voice. Herman's facial appearance is modeled after Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder. The original idea behind Herman, said Groening, was that each time he appeared, he would give a different explanation for how he lost his arm. However, the second joke, involving Herman having stuck his arm in a ball return at a bowling alley, got cut, and the writers never pursued the idea.
Jack Marley
Jack Marley is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, with a voice resembling Droopy Dog. He is a former worker at the Nuclear Plant who was forced to retire with a lavish retirement party. He tries to get out of it by saying his job was all he had, since he never married and his dog died, but Mr. Burns' hired goons threw him out anyway. He is seen in "Marge in Chains" at the court as the foreman of Marge's trial. He is later seen in "Simpson Tide" mopping the floor and informs Homer he is off the hook when all the Naval Judges leave, having been indicted in various scandals. He possibly lives in the Retirement Castle and is rarely seen in the series.
Jamshed Nahasapeemapetilon
Jamshed "Jay" Nahasapeemapetilon, voiced by Nancy Cartwright, Utkarsh Ambudkar for adult voice, is Apu's nephew and Sanjay's son. When he is left in charge of the Kwik-E-Mart alone, he pulls out a gun, scaring Jimbo, Kearney and Dolph. In "Much Apu About Something", he's a young adult and is now called "Jay". After Sanjay retires, he gives his share of the store to Jay and turns the Kwik-E-Mart into a healthy food market called Quick & Fresh.
Janey Powell
Janey Powell, voiced by Pamela Hayden, is a classmate and friend of Lisa Simpson. Janey first appeared in "Moaning Lisa" and is Lisa's closest friend. She has been at Lisa's sleepovers, and Lisa is seen watching cartoons at her house on numerous occasions. Her description on The Simpsons POG set described her as "Lisa's fair-weather friend". Though she is sometimes seen spending time with Lisa, other times she teases her along with the other children. She is not portrayed as being nearly as intelligent or nerdy as Lisa. Janey may have had a crush on Milhouse Van Houten, who has a crush on Lisa. She enjoys reading babysitting books and hates ice cream.
Jasper Beardly
Jasper Beardly (voiced by Harry Shearer) is one of the older residents of Springfield, often portrayed as Abraham Simpson's best friend. They have been friends since their youth, as seen in "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)". His most distinguishing features are his ultra-low, gravelly voice and very long and hard beard. Jasper made his first appearance in "Homer's Odyssey". He is a veteran of World War II, but (according to the episode "Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play") he attempted to avoid the draft by disguising himself as a woman. He stayed in Springfield to play in the local women's baseball league, along with his friend Abe, who was also avoiding the war but was exposed during a game. In a deleted scene, it was shown that Jasper was the town pastor, prior to Reverend Lovejoy. He briefly served as substitute teacher of Lisa's class during which time he confiscated everything made of tin, got his beard caught in a pencil sharpener and threatened paddling for minor infractions such as looking out the window or talking out of turn.
In the subplot of the season nine episode, "Lisa the Simpson", Jasper put himself in crude "suspended animation" in the Kwik-E-Mart's freezer, and under advice from Dr. Nick Riviera, Apu kept him frozen. When Jasper's frozen form became popular with customers, Apu started exploiting the spectacle, and transformed the Kwik-E-Mart into a special interest store dealing with weird items, or perfectly ordinary ones which had been made out to be abnormal, called the Freak-E-Mart. Jasper was accidentally unfrozen, and stepped out into what he thought was a future world, just as Apu was considering selling him to the Rich Texan. In the episode "I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" Jasper mentions he is a diabetic (which would explain why he has a wooden leg, as seen in part two of the "Who Shot Mr. Burns" two-parter, though past episodes, such as "Boy Scoutz 'n the Hood", "A Streetcar Named Marge", and "The PTA Disbands" all show that Jasper's legs are real).
In The Simpsons Super Spectacular #13, published by Bongo Comics, it is revealed that in the 60's, Jasper was part of a group called 'the League of Superheroes', under the name Super Jasper. He fought crime alongside the Komedian (Krusty the Clown), Betty Firecrocker (Jacqueline Bouvier), and the original Pie Man (Abraham Simpson).
Jay Sherman
Jay Sherman (voiced by Jon Lovitz) is a critic who was the main character of The Critic. In "A Star is Burns", he came to Springfield to be a judge during the film festival. In "Hurricane Neddy", he was a patient at the Calmwood Mental Hospital. He also apparently became a regular patron to Moe's Tavern. Sherman was originally the main character on The Critic, which was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss. His appearance in "A Star is Burns" was a crossover to promote The Critic which made its FOX debut after the episode. The Critic was later canceled.
Jebediah Springfield
Jebediah Obadiah Zachariah Jedediah Springfield (a.k.a. Hans Sprungfeld) is the founder of the town of Springfield. He is voiced by Harry Shearer. According to legend, Jebediah Springfield and his partner Shelbyville Manhattan led a band that left Maryland in search of "New Sodom" due to a misinterpretation of the Bible, but they parted ways over political differences: though both men are devoted to chastity and abstinence, Manhattan wanted to let people be free to marry their cousins if they wish, which Springfield strongly opposed. It was then that Manhattan went on to found the rival town of Shelbyville, taking half of the settlers with him.
Springfield had many famous quotations, such as "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man". He also wears a coonskin cap. The Springfield Marathon commemorates an occasion on which he ran across six states in order to avoid his creditors. In "The Telltale Head", Bart beheaded the statue, thinking that this would make him more popular. In reality, the town became depressed and angry, leaving Bart to endure "The Tell-Tale Heart"-style guilt before replacing it. This episode is referenced in multiple Simpsons video games such as The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants, where the statue's head serves as a power-up item, or The Simpsons: Road Rage and The Simpsons: Hit & Run, where characters can kick or ram Jebediah's head off the statue.
Many Jebediah legends have been debunked during the run of the series. For instance, "The Telltale Head" repeatedly refers to Jebediah killing a bear with his bare hands, but on the news, Kent Brockman reveals that recent historical evidence suggests the bear actually killed Jebediah. On an expedition to Springfield's historic "Fort Springfield", Bart uncovers other inconsistencies in the Jebediah legend, such as that he fought at Fort Ticonderoga the same day as the first Whacking Day.
Most of Springfield's biography is revealed in the 1996 episode "Lisa the Iconoclast", wherein Lisa Simpson discovers Jebediah Springfield's biggest secret: he was formerly a bloodthirsty pirate named Hans Sprungfeld, who once brawled with George Washington and lost after Washington crushed Sprungfeld's genitals in one of his sets of iron false teeth. Sprungfeld fled and changed his name in 1795 to hide his identity. He was well known for his "silver tongue" (literally; a metal prosthetic tongue, his original tongue having been bitten off by a Turkish pirate in a grog house fight). Before he died of diphtheria, he wrote his confession on a scrap of canvas that he hid in a fife. The canvas scrap formed the "missing piece" of the famously incomplete 1796 Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington; Sprungfeld picked it up during a fight against Washington which occurred while the latter was having his portrait painted. Lisa decides not to reveal this secret to the people of Springfield, seeing that the myth of Jebediah has brought out the good in everyone and that the true story will cause them to lose hope and morale within themselves.
Jimbo Jones
Corky James "Jimbo" Jones, voiced by Pamela Hayden and originally by Tress MacNeille in his first appearance in the first season episode "The Telltale Head" is a bully at Springfield Elementary who wears a purple knit cap and a black T-shirt emblazoned with a menacing skull. He is a 6th grader and is 18 years old and is often seen hanging out with Dolph, Kearney, and sometimes Nelson. He is acknowledged as the leader of the gang of bullies in Nelson's absence. He enjoys intimidating his schoolmates and shoplifting. It is hinted that he comes from a well-off family, most notably in season six's "The PTA Disbands" when â€" with the school closed for a teacher's strike â€" he and his mother watch soap operas and sip tea together in a well-furnished living room. In season four's "New Kid on the Block", he briefly dates Laura Powers until she leaves him for crying in front of Moe after Bart exposed his true personality by prank-calling him. In season seven's "Bart the Fink", Bart discovers that Jimbo's real name is Corky. In one episode, it is revealed that he is bald on top, with hair around it. Jimbo's other known aliases are Jamesbo, Dr. J and Hector Gutierrez. In season eighteen's "24 Minutes" it is revealed that his mother's name is Carol. Jimbo is a portmanteau nickname for executive producer James L. Brooks. Jimbo runs for mayor in the Season 17 episode "See Homer Run", with a campaign slogan of "Tough on Nerds. Tougher on Dorks".
Johnny Tightlips
John "Johnny Tightlips" Cevasco, voiced by Hank Azaria, is a member of the Mafia and associate of Fat Tony. He says very little, for fear of being accused of being a "squealer", but his reticence is so extreme it backfires, becoming unhelpful to everyone, including Fat Tony and Cevasco himself. In "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson" he tries to help Fat Tony in taking away Marge's earnings from her 'Pretzel Wagon' franchise. In "Insane Clown Poppy", there is a shoot-out in Fat Tony's mansion and Tightlips is shot by accident. When asked where he's injured, he says "I ain't sayin' nuthin'!", and when asked what to tell the doctor he says, "Tell him to suck a lemon".
Jub-Jub
Jub-Jub is Selma Bouvier's pet iguana and was originally owned by Aunt Gladys. He was first seen in "Selma's Choice". Gladys gives Jub-Jub to Jacqueline Bouvier, who is highly unattached to him. As a result, she later passes him on to Selma. Selma once said that Jub-Jub will eat her remains after she dies. The name Jub-Jub was coined by then-writer Conan O'Brien. He often said nonsensical things around the office for no apparent reason, one of which was "Jub-Jub". (There is, however, a Jubjub bird in "The Hunting of the Snark".) Fans of Sports Radio 1310 in Dallas voted that Jub-Jub be the new nickname of morning radio host George Dunham. O'Brien, on October 17, 2007, mentioned his creation of Jub Jub and asked Joe Buck, the play-by-play commentator of the MLB World Series on FOX, to say it during his broadcast. O'Brien promised $1,000.00 to the charity of the announcer's choice. On October 24, 2007, during Game 1 of the 2007 World Series, Buck called field level reporter, Chris Myers, "our own little Jub-Jub". Jub-Jub was used as the first Twitter hash tag for O'Brien's "Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour" in 2010.
Judge Constance Harm
Judge Constance Harm, voiced by repeat guest star actress Jane Kaczmarek, is a harsh, unforgiving disciplinarian. She enjoys creating cruel punishments for criminals in her court and frightening them with a miniature guillotine on the bench. Her name is a play on "constant harm". The character is a parody of Judge Judy. In "On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister", she reveals she has a husband. Although Judge Snyder resolves court cases, Judge Harm has mainly been used for handing down negative verdicts, such as sentencing a family member to prison. She also appears in "Brawl in the Family", "Barting Over", "The Wandering Juvie", "Brake My Wife, Please" and "Chief of Hearts".
Judge Snyder
Judge Roy Snyder, voiced by Harry Shearer, is a Springfield judge known for his lenient punishments and somewhat unorthodox rulings (as in the episode "Sweets and Sour Marge", when he bans sugar from Springfield). The character was originally named "Judge Moulton", but show runners Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein did not know that, and called him "Snyder". His appearance is modeled on Robert Bork. Snyder's skin color has gone back and forth between yellow and brown repeatedly throughout the series. His skin is currently brown.
"Just Stamp the Ticket" Man
"Just Stamp the Ticket" Man/Manfred Thomas (voiced by Hank Azaria) appeared in a number of earlier episodes, but was never named. This man first appears in "When Flanders Failed" when he goes to the Leftorium to get his parking validated because it is the only store that does it without requiring a purchase. Ned Flanders says he is "right as rain, or, as we say around here, left as rain" but the man bluntly responds "Just stamp the ticket". His next appearances is in "Homer Alone", when the Squeaky Voiced Teen tries to hand him a flyer he brushes him off by saying "Don't touch me". In a later episode, "Mr. Plow", he tells Barney Gumble (who is handing out flyers dressed as Lullabuy$'s Big Baby) that he "sickens" him. He reappears again in "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", at the Springfield Swap Meet, he derides Marge's "cool" wishbone necklaces, stating he doubted his "son or daughter is that stupid". The character also appears in the episodes "Homer Loves Flanders" (who tells Homer that, if Homer actually went to work for eight days instead of camping out outside the ticket window for football tickets, he would have earned enough to get his tickets from a scalper), "Homer and Apu" (as one of the angry customers in the beginning of the episode), "Bart of Darkness" (in which he punched a hippie for singing "Sunshine On My Shoulders" during a town-wide heat wave) and "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy" (in which he punches Homer in the face for questioning his ability to sexually satisfy his wife).
Julio
Julio (voiced by Hank Azaria) is a homosexual who is attracted to Grady, although Grady breaks up with him. He is employed as a barber. According to "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind", Julio is from Costa Rica, though this is contradicted in "The Burns Cage" which states he is from Cuba. He later married Tada, and has an affair with Duffman. He also is a photographer and takes photos of Marge and her friends. He is seen attending First Church of Springfield. In the episode "E Pluribus Wiggum", he attends a Democratic Party meeting. In "The Burns Cage" he starts dating Smithers, but breaks up with him after realizing that Smithers is still in love with Mr. Burns.
Dr. J. Loren Pryor
Dr. J. Loren Pryor, voiced by Harry Shearer, is the school psychologist. He is based on an early design for Seymour Skinner, and first appears in "Bart the Genius" where he decides to send Bart to a school for gifted children after Bart cheats on a test. Bart later approaches him to request returning to Springfield Elementary. In "Bart Gets an F", he tells Bart that he may have to repeat the fourth grade. He appears again, discussing Bart's problems at school and Lisa's special gift in a flashback sequence of "Lisa's Sax". In this episode he also inadvertently reveals that Milhouse Van Houten possesses "flamboyantly homosexual" tendencies. Pryor does not appear again for several years until the episode "See Homer Run", in which he tells Lisa that she is going through a developmental condition.
Kearney Zzyzwicz
Kearney Zzyzwicz ( JEEZ-witch), voiced by Nancy Cartwright, is one of Springfield Elementary's many bullies. He is a 5th grader and has a buzz cut, and wears a torn white T-shirt, blue shorts, and studded wristbands. Although he looks and sounds to be around Jimbo and Dolph's age, Kearney is actually older (a latter-day episode revealed that Kearney is 19 years old, though, according to his voice actress, Nancy Cartwright, Kearney is actually 14). He is the only Springfield Elementary School student who remembers the Watergate Scandal and the 1976 Bicentennial (according to Principal Skinner), was in Otto the bus driver's third-grade class (according to Otto), owns a car (even though he rode the school bus on "A Milhouse Divided", "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife, and Her Homer", and "How the Test Was Won"), regularly shaves, has custody of a child from a divorce, is old enough to vote in a general U.S. election (despite the fact that he may be a felon), was sent to prison (though "Marge Be Not Proud" and "Lisa the Skeptic" depicted Kearney in juvenile hall), and pays taxes.
In "She of Little Faith", it is revealed that Kearney dated Jimbo's mother, Carol. In the same episode, it is revealed that he is on the church council of the First Church of Springfield and is "a teenager and the parent of a teenager" (implying that the son he introduced in "A Milhouse Divided" may also be older than his outward appearance, though past episodes also imply that Kearney is not a teenager). Despite being of the legal age in the United States to purchase and drink it (as seen in "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer"), Kearney often relies on (or tricks) Homer into procuring alcohol for him and his friends, as seen in "The Springfield Connection" when Homer tells Marge that he's double-parked because he's buying beer for "those kids over there", "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" when Kearney applies for the nanny job and Homer tells him that he keeps some Schnapps in Maggie's crib, and "Last Tap Dance in Springfield", in which Kearney tricks Homer into driving him, Dolph, and Jimbo to the liquor store to buy Jack Daniels and "a carton of smokes" by impersonating Marge, and once used a fake ID (which Apu overlooked, as he was too depressed about being deported to care that Kearney was committing a crime-and ultimately asked him about getting one for himself-as seen in "Much Apu About Nothing").
Kearney's last name (Zzyzwicz) was revealed in a computer file in season 18's "24 Minutes". Prior to that episode, Kearney's surname was never mentioned. Kearney's newly revealed last name implies that he may be of Polish descent, or may also be inspired by the town of Zzyzyx. In "Bart Gets a 'Z'", he can be seen sitting in the back row of Bart's classroom, implying Kearney is a fourth grader. His father was shown on the season eight episode "The Homer They Fall", but in "O Brother, Where Bart Thou?", Kearney reveals that both his parents are incarcerated and they only meet when the prison and insane asylum have their annual mixer.
Kearney Zzyzwicz Jr.
Kearney Zzyzwicz Jr. is voiced by Nancy Cartwright. He is the son of Kearney. He first appeared in the school bus when Kearney was mentioning his divorce. He is also seen building a sand castle and sitting on Gil's lap. He later appeared in the town square in the season 26 episode Covercraft.
Kirk van Houten
Kirk Evelyn van Houten is voiced by Hank Azaria. He is the father of Milhouse, and the remarried husband of Luann van Houten. He is friends with Homer Simpson. Kirk bears an identical resemblance to his wife, and wears glasses just like her and their son. He first appeared in the season 3 episode "Bart's Friend Falls in Love", but it wouldn't be until season eight's "A Milhouse Divided" that Kirk would be portrayed as a stereotypical middle-aged male loser and deadbeat dad. Much of his character revolves around his extreme emotional depression after his divorce from his wife Luann. Luann got custody of Milhouse when they divorced, but Kirk has visiting rights and is often seen with Milhouse in later episodes. The Van Houtens remarried in the nineteenth season episode "Little Orphan Millie". In that episode it was established that Kirk is of Dutch ancestry and has a feud with the members of the family that have a Danish ancestry. Kirk previously served in the U.S. Army, and attended Gudger College. Kirk's mother apparently is of Greek ancestry, based on the nineteenth-season episode "Husbands and Knives", in which Milhouse says, "But that's the money Yiayia Sophia gave me for Greek Orthodox Easter!" Kirk is Dutch on his father's side, which mean his name is spelled incorrectly, and the 'van' should be lower-case.
According to Luann, Kirk was not a very good provider, and she had to borrow money from her sister to make ends meet and steal donated clothes from the town's church so she could have a wardrobe. When Luann demands a divorce, Kirk is all too happy to oblige. Unfortunately, he loses his middle-management job at Southern Cracker, a job given to him by Luann's father, as a result. Kirk briefly attempts a career as a singer-songwriter, recording a demo tape of an original song titled "Can I Borrow A Feeling", with mediocre results. Later, he attempts to get back together with Luann by singing the song to her. Luann does not reciprocate Kirk's feelings.
Kirk reveals in "I Am Furious (Yellow)", in which he visits his son's school on career day, that he was currently employed as an assistant to the guy who puts fliers under people's windshield wipers. Kirk also had a job standing on the curb holding a sign directing people to a condo development and worked as a scarecrow protecting a soy-bean crop, which resulted in his eye being gouged by a crow. Since being fired from the cracker company, Kirk seems to be unable to maintain a steady job. He once shouted at Luann that she had to keep up the alimony payments she owed him, and he has been seen at the Springfield unemployment office, perhaps suggesting that alimony and unemployment benefits are his only steady sources of income. Kirk was put in jail in the episode "Pranksta Rap" for "kidnapping" Bart which he greatly enjoyed due to him being envied by women and fed three meals a day. In The Simpsons Movie, Kirk is briefly seen attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
Azaria has stated that Kirk is "a bad Milhouse impression".
Legs and Louie
Max "Legs" Legman, voiced by Karl Wiedergott (formerly voiced by Hank Azaria), and Louis "Louie" Walters, voiced by Dan Castellaneta, are the two Springfield Mafia hitmen who accompany Fat Tony at all times. The two lack any real definitive characteristic and are almost always seen together. Legs has a dark blonde short haircut and raspy voice. Louie has a slight black afro and a more high-pitched, even squeaky tone. Castellaneta based the voice on actor Joe Pesci, one of the several references to Goodfellas used in the episode "Bart the Murderer". Louie says that tear gas is "[his] one weakness", though this is likely an embellishment. Dan Castellaneta was nominated for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 2011 for the voice of Louie, Homer Simpson, Barney Gumble, and Krusty the Clown thanks to the episode "Donnie Fatso".
Leopold
Leopold John, voiced by Dan Castellaneta, is Superintendent Chalmers' assistant. He is a large, surly, snarling man who frequently speaks through clenched teeth, and is one of the few characters on The Simpsons to have eyebrows. When Principal Skinner has to be temporarily replaced, Leopold stomps in, issues several threats, and terrifies the children by making them think he is the replacement, and then suddenly politely introduces the actual substitute, Ned Flanders. The children then collectively sigh with relief. The gag was repeated when Marge Simpson becomes a substitute teacher in the episode "The PTA Disbands". Leopold often refers to the children of Springfield Elementary as "little freaks".
Lewis
Lewis Clark is an African American character and one of Bart's friends and classmates at Springfield Elementary School. He can be seen playing the bassoon in the opening sequence of the show. He is usually seen with his best friend Richard. Although one of the most minor characters in the show, Lewis was shown in earlier seasons as part of Bart's main circle of friends, although his time with lessened as the series progressed. Despite this, Lewis still appears frequently in scenes involving the Springfield children, and occasionally speaks. While Lewis has never had significant dialogue, he has been voiced by Nancy Cartwright, Jo Ann Harris, Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, and Russi Taylor throughout the series. Lewis's seeming insignificance to the show is underscored in the episode "Das Bus", in which Bart mistakenly calls him "Wendell". When corrected, Bart replies, "Just tell Wendell I said Bye."
Lindsey Naegle
Lindsey Naegle is voiced by Tress MacNeille and first appeared in the eighth season episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show". In that episode, she had no name and was known only as "The Generic Female TV Executive". She appeared again in "Girly Edition", also as a generic female TV executive (only her hair and facial features differed from her first appearance). In "They Saved Lisa's Brain", she was introduced as "Lindsey Naegle", a member of the Springfield Chapter of Mensa, and has since become a recurring character. The writers modeled Naegle on a number of network executives that they have encountered while working on the show.
The character's surname comes from Hollywood talent agent Sue Naegle, president of HBO Entertainment and wife of Simpsons writer Dana Gould. Writer Matt Selman chose the first name "Lindsey" because he thought it sounded like the name of an annoyingly talkative woman. Naegle-like characters have appeared throughout the series, such as the OmniTouch Rep from "Make Room for Lisa" and Laramie executive Mindy from "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)". In "Blame It on Lisa", it is revealed that she frequently changes jobs because she is a sexual predator. Chris Turner, author of the book Planet Simpson, called Naegle "an excellent allegory for the modern corporate age: you don't see through her because there's nothing else to see." Her political allegiances are not concrete: In "You Kent Always Say What You Want", she is shown at the Republican Party headquarters; in "E Pluribus Wiggum", she is conversely depicted as a Democrat. In "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens and Gays", she is seen to lead SSCCATAGAPP's anti-youth campaign, declaring, "Children are the future, today belongs to me!"
Ling Bouvier
Ling Bouvier (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) is Selma's adopted daughter. In Season 16's "Goo Goo Gai Pan", Selma experiences menopause symptoms and becomes concerned that she will never fulfill her dream of being a mother. After an unsuccessful kidnapping attempt of one of Cletus's children, she takes up Lisa's proposal to adopt a baby from China. Since China does not allow unmarried people to adopt children, Selma convinces Homer to pretend that he is her husband. Although she succeeds in getting a baby from the adoption agency in Beijing, it is later discovered that her marriage to Homer is fake and Ling gets taken away from her. The Simpsons attempt to kidnap Ling back, but run into a confrontation with the head of the adoption agency, Madame Wu. Selma entreats her to let her keep the baby, to which Madame Wu agrees. Since then, Ling has made several appearances on the show including as Maggie's playmate in "Rome-old and Julie-eh". In Season 24's "The Changing of the Guardian", she has grown to a preschooler and shown as precociously talented, able to play musical instruments and practice painting.
Lois Pennycandy
Lois Pennycandy is the executive assistant to Krusty the Clown. She swayed Krusty into visiting Bart after he saved Krusty from jail time, and later reunited him with his estranged father the Rabbi Hyman Krustofski. She was at Krusty's side during the auditions in which Robert Terwilliger became Krusty's new sidekick, and was at Krusty's "funeral" when he was presumed dead after crashing his private plane into a cliff. In a phone conversation, Marge once asked her, "How can [Krusty] hurt someone who loves him so?" While looking at a framed photo of Krusty, Pennycandy replied, "Oh, Mrs. Simpson, I've wasted my womanhood asking that same question." Her only speaking roles are in "Like Father, Like Clown" and "Krusty Gets Kancelled", in which she was voiced by Pamela Hayden. Her name alludes to both Miss Moneypenny from the James Bond series and the actress who originated the role, Lois Maxwell. Although rarely featured on the show, she has been a recurring character in the Simpsons comic book series.
Lou
Lou, voiced by Hank Azaria, is the most intelligent of the Springfield police. Lou is the police sergeant and a competent officer of the Springfield Police. He is a foil to Chief Wiggum, and often takes the time to point out Wiggum's mistakes. Lou has been shown to resent Wiggum, and is aware of his chief's ineptitude. Lou was married to a woman named Amy. Al Jean and Mike Reiss named Lou after Major League Baseball player Lou Whitaker. Azaria based Lou's voice on actor Sylvester Stallone's. Though he has nearly always been African-American, Lou was mistakenly animated with yellow in "There's No Disgrace Like Home" and his other first-season appearances. In "Bart vs. Thanksgiving", Eddie was animated to Lou's voice and Lou was animated to Eddie's.
Luann Van Houten
Luann Van Houten is voiced by Maggie Roswell. For the period from 1999 to 2002, during which Roswell left the show, she became a primarily nonspeaking character. Since the season 8 episode, "A Milhouse Divided", Luann was depicted as a promiscuous single mother, who pushed her successful love life in the face of her ex-husband, Kirk. She first appeared in "Homer Defined", as a concerned mother who barred Milhouse from being Bart's friend due to Bart being a bad influence. She wears glasses and has blue hair, traits she shares with her husband and son. Her mother is Italian and beat Milhouse whenever he spoke English. Milhouse explains to Lisa that he had to become fluent in Italian for this reason as he used to spend summers with his grandmother. He claims his grandmother's abuse caused him to become a bed wetter. In Lemon of Troy it is revealed that Luann originally came from Springfield's bitter rival, Shelbyville, but moved to Springfield early in life, presumably with her father, as her mother remained in Italy. In "A Milhouse Divided", it is revealed she has a sister (from whom she borrows money, as her husband does not provide for her at all), but whom we never meet. In Marge Be Not Proud, Bart turned to Luann for motherly comfort after Marge has become distant with him.
Luann was married to Kirk for several years, giving birth to a son, Milhouse, yet the marriage was an unhappy one. After an argument over a game of Pictionary, she left Kirk after he remarks he cannot draw "dignity", since he gave it up when he married her. Although Kirk found the new liberty of a single life tough, Luann uses her newfound freedom to live life in the fast lane, advising Marge to forget everything she thought she knew about her, to which Marge replied that she really did not know anything about Luann at all. Luann began dating American Gladiator Pyro shortly after her divorce with Kirk for a few seasons, but was caught cheating on him with his best friend, "Gladiator Gyro". When Apu Nahasapeemapetilon was a bachelor, Luann was one of his bachelorettes. In "Milhouse of Sand and Fog", it is revealed that Luann had also gone out with Disco Stu as well and had begun a relationship with Captain MacAllister.
In "Milhouse of Sand and Fog" the Van Houtens reunited. Since then, they are often seen together (although in the episode "Ice Cream of Margie (with the Light Blue Hair)", Kirk was seen with Milhouse at a single father's outing, indicating the couple had split up, yet again). As of "Little Orphan Millie", they are remarried. The most recent appearance of these two was in the 2014 episode "The War of Art", in which Kirk and Luann sell a painting to the Simpsons, which later turns out to be a forgery of a valuable piece.
Lucius Sweet
Lucius Sweet is voiced by Paul Winfield and is modeled after Don King. He is the former boxing manager for Moe Szyslak and current boxing manager for Drederick Tatum. He learned Homer's talent when Homer started boxing people like Boxcar Bob. He asked Moe for him to fight heavy weight champ Drederick Tatum. They made a deal for Homer to make three rounds against Tatum. When Homer was fighting he couldn't even make one round which ticked him off and declared Moe was a loser. He has a speaking role in "The Trouble with Trillions". He later appeared a few more times in the series and The Simpsons Movie. He is on the Springfield Wall of Fame.
Luigi Risotto
Luigi Risotto, voiced by Hank Azaria, is the proprietor of Luigi's, a Springfield Italian restaurant. He is a parody of the "Italian pasta/pizza chef" stereotype (and in fact is on a bowling team called "The Stereotypes", along with Cletus Spuckler, Captain Horatio McCallister, and Groundskeeper Willie), but seems to be aware of his status as a stock character. He is polite to his customers and treats them with respect when they order and then loudly insults and belittles them to his cook Salvatore, apparently unaware that they can hear him from the kitchen. In the episode "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas", he reveals that he does not speak Italian, only Italian-accented English. It is hinted that Luigi is an illegal immigrant, even though he tried to run for mayor, telling Springfielders, "I make-a you the good government, just how-a you like it!" The animators copied Luigi's appearance from a chef that was on the front of a pizza box.
Lunchlady Doris
Lunchlady Doris Freedman, voiced by Doris Grau up until her death, and now voiced by Tress MacNeille, is a sardonic chef for Springfield Elementary. She can frequently be seen serving deeply unpleasant meals made from horse testicles, grade-F meat (made of circus animals and filler), beef hearts that have been on the cafeteria kitchen floor, shredded newspapers, and ground up gym mats, due to school budget cuts. She made a handful of appearances acting as a school nurse. In "Whacking Day", Doris took the job as school nurse to earn two paychecks, but in "'Round Springfield", she reveals that she was put in the position of school nurse because of school budget cuts (even having the belligerent Scottish janitor, Groundskeeper Willie, as a French teacher). In "Team Homer" it is suggested she is the mother of the Squeaky-voiced Teen.
In "The Simpsons Comics", when asked by Milhouse on the school's new chat show, 'Moments with Milhouse' (formerly 'Moments with Martin') why the school meals are so bad, Doris admits that a third-grader had once mistakenly eaten her beloved hamster, and she had 'sworn culinary revenge ever since'.
After Grau's death in 1995, Lunchlady Doris was retired out of respect for over 10 years. Due to the delay between recording some episodes and the time they actually air, Grau's voice was included in episodes airing as late as 1997 such as "Lisa's Sax". Lunchlady Doris is seen as a silent background character until she speaks in the 18th season during "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer", where she is voiced by Tress MacNeille, season 19's "The Debarted", where she is again voiced by Tress MacNeille but with a different voice, and season 20's "Father Knows Worst". Lunchlady Doris has been seen dating Hans Moleman.
In "Dark Knight Court", Groundskeeper Willie refers to her as "Lunchlady Dora". According to Simpsons writer Michael Price this name change happened out of respect for Grau's passing.
Lurleen Lumpkin
Lurleen Lumpkin (voiced by Beverly D'Angelo) is an aspiring country singer who is initially managed by Homer in "Colonel Homer". Homer discovers her in a redneck bar in the middle of nowhere and is amazed by her voice. He decides to help her launch a singing career, much to the chagrin of Marge. Grateful for Homer's help, she becomes attracted to him and tries to lure him with an erotic song called "Bunk with Me Tonight". Homer, who had been ignorant of this, suddenly realizes that managing Lurleen could hurt his marriage, so he quits as her manager. A saddened Lurleen sings a song called "Stand By Your Manager".
Lurleen's next appearance is in "Marge vs. the Monorail", a much rougher-looking Lurleen, voiced by Doris Grau, makes a brief appearance, in which it is revealed that she had been to the Betty Ford Clinic and "spent last night in a ditch". In this episode her voice sounds the same as Lunchlady Doris, rather than her soft, Southern voice she had when she was first introduced. In "Krusty Gets Kancelled", she is again briefly seen in the center square of Springfield Squares.
The nineteenth-season episode "Papa Don't Leech" follows up on her story with her moving into the Simpsons' home and taking a waitress job at Moe's in order to pay a $12 million tax bill. In this episode she is again voiced by Beverly D'Angelo, who also wrote the songs. She has a father named Royce "Boss Hogg" Lumpkin, who was never supportive of her and was missing for years. Marge undertakes efforts to find him and reunite him with Lurleen. As soon as it happens, Lurleen writes a new, upbeat composition called "Daddy's Back", but Royce sells the song, taking the writing credits for himself (but altering some lyrics) to the Dixie Chicks. Lurleen confronts Royce and reveals the truth to the Dixie Chicks, who assault him with their musical instruments and invite Lurleen to join their tour. Lurleen ends up engaged to a man who looks very much like Homer and tours as an opening act for the Dixie Chicks.
Dr. Marvin Monroe
Dr. Marvin Monroe (voiced by Harry Shearer) is a psychotherapist who first appeared in the first-season episode "There's No Disgrace Like Home". Homer pawns the family television in order to afford a session with Monroe for him and his dysfunctional family. The failed attempt at therapy culminates with the Simpsons electroshocking each other endlessly, to the point of causing a blackout. Unable to help the Simpsons, Monroe refunds double what the Simpsons paid, and the Simpsons buy a new TV.
Monroe appears in "Some Enchanted Evening" in which 70% of that episode's original animation had to be redone, although the scenes involving Monroe were mostly untouched, said co-director David Silverman. The script of "Some Enchanted Evening" describes Monroe as "a heavy, chain-smoking, compulsive eater." The original idea behind the character, said Matt Groening, was that he was born Marilyn Monroe and was "very caught up over that", which is why he became a therapist. Monroe's voice is based on psychiatrist David Viscott's. Among Monroe's works is Dr. Marvin Monroe's Guide to Etiquette, which Bart receives as a birthday gift in "Radio Bart".
Since the seventh season, the character Monroe has been retired. This is because voicing the character strained Harry Shearer's throat and, eventually, the voice became too annoying for Groening, which, he acknowledges, is the point. The character's retirement was marked by the broadcast of a Dr. Marvin Monroe Memorial Hospital over Lou's walkie-talkie in "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)". Since then, several references to Monroe being dead have been made: a glimpse of his gravestone in "Alone Again, Natura-diddily", a Dr. Marvin Monroe Memorial Gymnasium seen in "Bye Bye Nerdie", and a trivia interstitial in the "138th Episode Spectacular" regarding which popular characters had recently died. However, Monroe is seen alive in the fifteenth season in "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife" purchasing a copy of Marge's novel, The Harpooned Heart, stating simply that he had "...been very sick" when asked about his long absence by Marge. He was later seen as a ghost, claiming that he was "stuck in limbo" in "Treehouse of Horror XXV".
Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon
Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon is the wife of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon and the mother of their octuplets. She first appeared as a little girl in Apu's flashback in the seventh season episode "Much Apu About Nothing", in which Apu tells her that he is sorry that their arranged marriage will not happen, before getting on a plane departing for the U.S. to pursue the American Dream. Her first adult appearance is in the ninth season episode "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons". She claims Fried Green Tomatoes is her favorite book, movie, and food. She has excellent culinary skills, demonstrated by her ability to make a wide variety of dishes using only chickpeas, lentils, and sometimes rice. Apu is seen to be very romantically awkward, as well as quite distant from Manjula, and he previously told her that it was customary in America to work long hours, seven days a week, and to never see your wife. In another episode he dons a blonde wig, intending to ditch his family and return to India under the name Steve Barnes.
In "The Sweetest Apu", Apu has an affair with the Squishee lady. After Homer discovers this, he and Marge confront Apu, who caves under the guilt and vows to apologize to Manjula, who sets him a number of grueling tasks in penance.
Writer Richard Appel had pitched the idea of Apu marrying years before he wrote "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons" for season nine. For that episode, it took several attempts by the character designers to model Manjula because making women look appealing in Matt Groening's drawing style is hard for the animators to do. Writer David Cohen named Manjula after a friend of much of the staff. Manjula was voiced by actress Jan Hooks from seasons 9 to 14, by Tress MacNeille in season 15 (only one appearance) and by Maggie Roswell thereafter. Manjula appeared in the season 26 episode "Covercraft" but did not speak.
Martha Prince
Martha Prince, voiced by Jo Ann Harris (Season 1&2) Russi Taylor (Season 3-present), is the wife of Martin Prince Sr. and mother of Martin Prince. Martha attempted to sell Martin's extremely valuable Star Wars merchandise to Comic Book Guy for an extremely cheap price. She was warned by Bart and Milhouse and decided to not to do so. It was hinted by Martin that she shoplifts a lot, "stuff she doesn't even need". She was responsible for all of the guests getting sick at Martin's birthday party, by serving diseased oysters instead of cake, with the exception of Bart (who fed his oysters to Martin's pet cat), Lisa (who feigned sick to get out of the boring party) and Principal Skinner and Mrs. Krabappel (who were having a romantic encounter in Martin's kid-sized playhouse).
Martha Quimby
Martha Quimby is the wife of the Mayor of Springfield Joseph Quimby. She wears a pink outfit and a pillbox hat similar to the outfit worn by Jackie Kennedy on the day of the Kennedy assassination. According to Mayor Quimby, the couple met while Martha was working at the "Maison Derrière", a local burlesque house. She first appeared in "Bart Gets Famous", when she walks in on Mayor Quimby in bed with another woman, an event she laughs off when he defends himself with "I didn't do it." She is humiliated when Marge accidentally uncovers her husband's lothario ways in "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas" and kicks Marge and her friends out before they can have tea. Martha Quimby is voiced by Maggie Roswell.
Martin Prince
Martin Prince Jr. is voiced by Russi Taylor. He is a 4th grade student at Springfield Elementary School, is Bart Simpson's classmate (and a temporary tutor on "Bart Gets an F"), Lisa Simpson's rival in intelligence, and Nelson Muntz's favorite target for bullying. He is academically brilliant, a teacher's pet, and is portrayed as a stereotypical nerd, with enthusiasms for science fiction and role-playing games, and a poor fashion sense. In some episodes, it is also implied that Martin may be a closeted homosexual.
Martin is the son of Martin Sr. and Martha. He has an IQ of 216 (which was thought to be Bart's IQ). As the class nerd, he unwittingly becomes the perfect target for ruthless bullying at Springfield Elementary School. He is a member of the Springfield band, and is often seen with a French horn. Martin's most famous catchphrases are "Behold!" and "Excelsior!" In The Simpsons Movie, Martin gets revenge for all the years of bullying by hitting Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney with a plank of wood. In "Dial 'N' for Nerder", Bart's prank causes Martin to fall off a cliff, which he survives (although Bart and Lisa think he is dead and try a cover-up).
Martin Prince Sr.
Martin Prince Sr. is the father of Martin Prince, and husband of Martha Prince. He is a stockbroker in Springfield and was shown bringing his son to work on "Go To Work With Your Parents Day", where Martin made over $1 million trading soy futures (and subsequently lost all but $600). He appears to be a nerd much like his son, and has a slight lisp. Martin Sr. was also one of the fathers who traveled in Ned Flanders's RV to locate their sons in Shelbyville. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta.
Mary Bailey
Mary Bailey is the Democratic governor of Springfield's state. She is voiced by Maggie Roswell. She ran against Mr. Burns in "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish", winning in a landslide after Mr. Burns spit out a piece of baked Three eyed Fish during a photo-op at the Simpsons' home. Mary Bailey would later appear briefly in the episode "Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade" when Bart and Lisa's class visit Capital City. They show Bailey their class projects (designing a new state flag). Mary Bailey wails in disgust after unfurling Lisa's flag: Bart had redesigned it to look like a butt, with "Learn to Fart" underneath. She appears in "The Seven-Beer Snitch" where a prison is built out of a defunct concert hall. She decides to release all the abused prisoners to a garbage barge where they would "bare-knuckle box until one of you emerges as king of your floating hell".
Mary Spuckler
Mary Wrestlemania Spuckler is one of Cletus and Brandine's many children. She is voiced by Zooey Deschanel. She first appeared in "Apocalypse Cow", in which she befriends Bart when he joins the 4-H club. Later in the episode, after Bart frees his cow, Lou, from the slaughterhouse, he brings him to Mary's home, where he discovers that she is Cletus' daughter. However, after Mary agrees to take Lou, much to her and Bart's dismay, Cletus informs Bart that to them, a cow is a token of marriage. After some convincing from Lisa, Bart agrees to go along with the wedding in order to prevent Lou from being sent back to the slaughterhouse. However, before Bart and Mary can be wed, Marge crashes the wedding, and on her influence, Bart calls it off.
Mary later reappeared in the twenty fourth season episode, "Moonshine River". In it, she is deemed as Bart's last hope in his quest to find true love (in the form of one of his many former dates). When Bart arrives at the Spuckler house, Cletus informs him that she ran away after he scheduled her for marriage again. Her brother, Dubya, tells Bart that Mary ran away to New York City and gives him her address. After Bart and the rest of his family travel to The Big Apple, he eventually finds her at her address, and discovers that she has matured, becoming slightly taller and slimmer, and also learns that she now works as a writer and has a performance option on Saturday Night Live. Mary and several citizens of New York sing a song for Bart, and the two realize that they truly love one another.
Before they can kiss, Cletus arrives, having somehow found out where Mary is, and asks her to return home. Mary accepts, but while at the train station, she and Bart take advantage of Cletus's distraction to flee to another departing train. Mary tells Bart that there will be more Mary Spucklers out there, and gives him their first kiss before she leaves. The family and Cletus arrive, with Cletus demanding where Mary is heading for, but Bart, not wanting to ruin his last chance at true love, refuses, and Cletus then accepts the fact that he must let his daughter go. Mary reappeared again in the season, in the episode "Love is a Many-Splintered Thing".
Maude Flanders
Maude Flanders, voiced by Maggie Roswell and temporarily by Marcia Mitzman Gaven between 1999 and 2000, when Roswell did not work for the show, was the first wife of Ned Flanders, and the mother of Rod and Todd. While she was not employed outside the home, Maude was a busy homemaker and advocate for children, whose innocence was often sullied by cartoon violence, liberal education, and the insidious influences of popular culture. Although she spent much of her free time in prayer, reading the Bible, and helping out her husband at the Leftorium, she let her hair down for the occasional dinner parties at the home of her neighbors, the Simpsons. Homer often made statements insinuating his attraction to Maude. In the second-season episode "The War of the Simpsons", Homer ogled Maude's cleavage at a dinner party, which resulted in him and Marge going to marriage camp.
In the season eleven episode "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily", Maude was killed by a T-shirt cannon at the Springfield Speedway when Homer ducked at the last second to pick up a bobby pin on the ground. She was knocked off the grandstand and her timely rescue was delayed because Homer had parked in the ambulance zone. Ned was devastated by her death. This kill off was decided by the show's producers in order to open new story lines for the episode, while the character was voiced by Marcia Mitzman Gaven at that time.
Roswell returned to The Simpsons in 2002 after reaching a deal with producers to allow her to record her lines from her home in Denver. Since returning, she has voiced Maude in flashbacks and as a ghost.
Maude's ghost appears in the opening sequence for "Treehouse of Horror XIII", and during the credits of "Bart Has Two Mommies" she is seen in heaven with Bob Hope and God. She appears through flashbacks in "Dangerous Curves", "Take My Life, Please", "Postcards from the Wedge" and "Fland Canyon". She had a small role in "Treehouse of Horror XXII". She also appeared as a ghost in the couch gag for S23 episode "Them, Robot".
Mayor Quimby's Bodyguards
Mayor Quimby's Bodyguards are two large and expressionless men in dark suits and sun glasses. They are usually seen flanking the mayor at town meetings, but sometimes they are appear as members of a crowd. On one occasion they neglected their duties while admiring passing clouds, oblivious to Quimby being in danger. This resulted in their being temporarily replaced by Homer. When Cookie Kwan presented a baby that she claimed was Quimby's, the mayor passed it off to one of the bodyguards and tells him to raise the child as his own. The bodyguards put shades on the baby.
Ms. Albright
Ms. Teresa Albright is voiced by Tress MacNeille. She is the First Church of Springfield Sunday school teacher, who is constantly forced to deal with the children's questions about the more difficult to explain aspects of religion, leading her to yell "Is a little blind faith too much to ask?". She first appeared in "The Telltale Head". She speaks with a soft Southern accent. She appears to be good friends with Helen Lovejoy and is occasionally seen in the background of various episodes as well as in church scenes (such as in the episode titled "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star").
Miss Springfield
Miss Springfield (voiced by Pamela Hayden) is a beauty pageant winner, who first appears in "Whacking Day". She is the lover of Mayor Quimby, and is seen several times in bed with him. She only appears with the sash and the crown of Miss Springfield. She has a distinctive, high-pitched voice, which Quimby had originally not heard due to nearby air traffic drowning her out during their romantic encounters, and regrets naming an opera house after her once he hears it.
In "Mayored to the Mob", she is one of two women escorting Mayor Quimby to a convention. Since then, she is often seen escorting him to Springfield events such as conventions, recitals, and plays. In one episode, it is revealed she is illiterate. Quimby scolds her for lying about her graduating from "typing school". She then admits she has trouble with the space bar. In "Smoke on the Daughter", she appears (and claims to be) pregnant, and Quimby believes he may be the father.
Mr. Costington
Mr. Bruce Costington, voiced by Hank Azaria, is the president of Costington's Department Store. He first appeared as "Chairman" in the season nine episode "Trash of the Titans", in which he invented "Love Day", and later in "Homer vs. Dignity". He is one of very few characters on the show who has eyebrows. Costington's catchphrase is "You're fiiired!", delivered while shaking his jowls. In "The Boys of Bummer", he hires Homer with a jowl-shaking "You're hiiired!" Homer has worked for him on three occasions: as a Thanksgiving Day Parade Santa Claus, mattress salesman, and model for top-brand jeans. He also employs the Yes Guy, who is seen working at the store in most of his appearances. Although he is usually generous, he can sometimes be insensitive. He has admitted to having a shoe-sniffing problem, and is still banned from the shoe department in his own store.
Mr. Teeny
Louis "Mr. Teeny" Toot, also known as Joseph Teeny and voiced by Dan Castellaneta, is Krusty's trained chimpanzee who frequently appears on the show. He first appeared in "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge". Like Krusty, he is a heavy smoker, and often seems depressed off-stage. He is sometimes seen as Krusty's driver and butler. Teeny's uncle was former head monkey at the ministry of tourism in Brazil. Three other monkeys have died while working for Krusty known by the same name. Krusty once said he missed the third Mr. Teeny and the current one couldn't hold a candle to him. In the episode "Day of the Jackanapes" Teeny saves Krusty from a bomb that Sideshow Bob has attached to Bart. His mother's name is Toot-Toot, and she refers to him as Louis when they are reunited in "Bart Has Two Mommies". Teeny also was a writer for the "Good Guy Awards" and quit after being insulted on-stage by Krusty. He is an immigrant from Brazil and has been deported but was returned. He wears a pink hat and bow tie but has also been seen in a tuxedo and golden encrusted thong. Krusty has implied that if he can not find a human willing to donate a lung when he gets cancer, he is planning on harvesting one from Mr. Teeny. As of "Wedding For Disaster", there have been seven Mr. Teenys.
Mrs. Glick
Alice Glick is an elderly shut-in for whom Bart did chores in "Three Men and a Comic Book"; he didn't get paid very well, so he started to hate her. She had a brother named Asa, mentioned in the same episode, who died during World War I; he was killed by his own grenade, which he held for too long while naming off the men in his company (His last words were, "This one's for you, Kaiser Bill. Special delivery from Uncle Sam and all the boys in "D" Company: Johnny, Harrison, Brooklyn Bob, and Reggie. Yeah, even Reggie! He ain't so stuck up once you get to kno--"). Doctor Hibbert once confessed to leaving his car keys inside her. She is occasionally seen in the background of various episodes, often with a toothless laugh. She is a stereotypical lonely old woman, who spends her days "watching her stories". She was originally voiced by Cloris Leachman and later by Tress MacNeille.
She later dies from a heart attack caused by Bart and Martin's robotic seal on the episode "Replaceable You". Her final scene is dancing with Jesus in Heaven.
Mrs. Muntz
Mrs. Marilyn Muntz, voiced by Tress MacNeille, is Nelson's mother. Nelson receives his trademark laugh from her. Early on in the series, Nelson would mention his parents and it became apparent that Mrs. Muntz doesn't care much about her son. In "A Milhouse Divided", Nelson tells Milhouse that his mom is addicted to cough drops, which is why his father left the family. Mrs. Muntz works at Hooters in "Bart Star", but was fired in a later episode for gaining weight. She owns a dilapidated house and is depicted as a jailbird, a prostitute, a stripper, et al.
In "'Tis the Fifteenth Season", she appears, telling Nelson that his father simply did not like him, and he left with her golden tooth. Nelson's mother was fully introduced in "Sleeping with the Enemy", after years of being mentioned. A loud, high-pitched contemptuous woman, she neglects her son. She implies she misses Nelson's father (who, depending on episode, is either divorced from Nelson's mom, went insane and never came home, or was forced to work as a sideshow freak after suffering a peanut allergy). At the end of the episode, Nelson and his parents reunite, and she gets a job as Lady Macbeth with "the third director she slept with". Since then, she is often seen around in Springfield. Curiously, in Season 18's "The Haw-Hawed Couple", she appears with brown hair. As revealed in "Dial 'N' for Nerder", Nelson refers to her as Mrs. Muntz. She has a brief appearance in The Simpsons Movie, at the end of the sequence where Bart skateboards to the Krustyburger in the nude.
Nahasapeemapetilon octuplets
The Nahasapeemapetilon octuplets are the children of Apu and Manjula, four boys and four girls. Called: Anoop, Nabendu, Sandeep, Gheet, Uma, Poonam, Pria and Sashi.
Old Barber
Jake the Barber originated in one of the Tracey Ullman shorts, "Bart's Haircut". In the short, he cuts Bart's hair not to his liking and Bart tries several ways to hide it. Dan Castellaneta, who voiced the Old Barber in that short and in subsequent episodes in the series, based the voice on comedian Bob Elliott's.
The Old Barber made his last appearance in the twelfth season episode "Lisa the Tree Hugger". He was voiced by Harry Shearer in that episode. David Silverman had to create a model sheet of the Old Barber for Jim Reardon, who directed "22 Short Films about Springfield". Before then, there was no model sheet for the character.
Old Jewish Man
Asa Hassan, a.k.a. Old Jewish Man, or Crazy Old Man (according to "Krusty Gets Kancelled") (voiced by Hank Azaria), is Abraham Simpson and Jasper Beardly's friend. Mayor Quimby once referred to him as "Old Jewish Man"; also, a list of heart recipients in "Homer's Paternity Coot" listed him as "Old Jewish Man". He speaks with a stereotypical Yiddish accent and curses in Yiddish in one episode. He is apparently friendly with Krusty the Clown and Krusty's father, according to "Simpsons Christmas Stories". He is often seen yelling at people, and as seen in "Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores", owns a store called Zip Boys, a parody of Pep Boys. He once had a brief period of stardom after his act of dancing on a street corner singing "The Old Gray Mare" with his pants down became a hit on television. In "Natural Born Kissers", it was revealed that he worked as a studio executive during the making of Casablanca and suppressed an alternate ending to the film. He observes that the quality of studio management has changed over the years. In "Love Is a Many Strangled Thing" he dies from overexerting himself while dancing (though this does not stop his ghost from dancing), but in "Replaceable You", he is alive.
Opal
Opal (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is a talk show host. This celebrity is based on Oprah Winfrey and her eponymous television show. She first appears in "Ice Cream of Margie (with the Light Blue Hair)" where her segment on successful women depresses Marge, who feels her life of chores and child-raising has left her without any purpose. She later appeared in the back-to-back nineteenth season episodes "Husbands and Knives" and "Funeral for a Fiend". Marge is a fan and was interviewed by Opal after achieving success through her chain of Shapes gyms for women.
Otto Mann
Otto Mann voiced by Harry Shearer is the school bus driver for Springfield Elementary School. Otto is notable for his maniacal driving style (which, along with never getting a driver's license, cost him his job on the season three episode "The Otto Show"), his love of heavy metal music, drugs and his propensity for sounding and acting like a perpetual 1980s teenager. In early seasons he is often used as a friend and confidant to Bart, despite their age difference. Later seasons, however, usually only depict him as a passerby citizen of Springfield who does drugs (mostly marijuana and hallucinogens). He is a (last-minute) member of Homer's bowling team, the "Pin Pals". Otto is a skilled guitarist, and (momentarily) takes pride in the fact that this was the only thing he achieved during high school. In "The Otto Show" and "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge", it is revealed that Otto is a military brat (his father was an admiral in the Navy) and the two do not get along at all. In season 18's "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer", Otto reveals that he and Kearney were in the same third grade class, implying that Otto, much like Kearney, is older than his outward appearance would have others believe.
The Parson
The Parson (voiced by Hank Azaria) is a charismatic major leader of the Presbylutheran faith practiced in Springfield. He is a close friend to Reverend Lovejoy. His world spiritual headquarters is in Michigan City, Indiana. His appearance and mannerisms are similar to those of Bing Crosby.
Patches and Poor Violet
Patches and Poor Violet are two of Springfield's orphans, voiced by Pamela Hayden and Tress MacNeille, respectively. Introduced in "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace", Patches gives the dollar they were saving to Bart, which was their vitamin money. They have since had appearances in "I'm Goin' to Praiseland" and "Simple Simpson", but are seen in many other episodes. Poor Violet often has a cough, while Patches seems to vaguely resemble Tiny Tim from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Their skin color is not the "healthy" yellow of the Simpson family, but rather a more sallow, sickly tone.
Plopper
Plopper, also known as Spider-Pig (a play on the popular fictional character Spider-Man) and Harry Plopper (a play on the popular fictional character Harry Potter), is a pig who first appears in The Simpsons Movie. Plopper has since become memetic, gaining popularity in the real world and on the internet, especially his theme song "Spider-Pig", which peaked at number 23 in the UK Singles Chart. The pig is voiced by Tress MacNeille. Plopper has also made appearances in the episodes and comics, and also appears in the reanimated opening sequence, featuring in the pan across Springfield.
Plopper's first appearance is in the movie, where he stars in a TV ad to promote Krusty's new burger, The Clogger. After the filming is completed, Krusty orders the pig to be killed. Homer becomes upset about this, and immediately adopts him. Homer then spends a lot of time with Plopper and neglects Bart. Later in the movie, Homer is seen making the pig walk on the ceiling whilst singing "Spider Pig", a parody of the Spider-Man theme song. Homer later calls him Harry Plopper, and the pig is seen with glasses and a lightning bolt-shaped scar, based on the character Harry Potter. Homer then creates a large container in which to put Plopper's "doodles", which he dumps in a lake and pollutes the whole area, leading to the shutdown and almost destruction of Springfield (which Homer doesn't want to return to).
At one point in the movie, the Simpsons' house is completely destroyed after being sucked into a sinkhole in their backyard. This may lead to the assumption that the pig is killed in the movie. However, during the 2007 San Diego Comic Convention, an official Simpsons Panel revealed that there was a scene at the end of the movie involving the pig that was cut which later appeared on the DVD. This removed sequence is a slightly alternate ending of the movie when the townspeople are rebuilding the Simpsons' house and involves Plopper, Blinky: the-Three-Eyed-Fish, and Santa's Little Helper painting a dog house. During the following TV seasons, Plopper makes a few more appearances including a main role in the 2017 episode Pork and Burns.
Poochie
Poochie is an anthropomorphic dog voiced by Dan Castellaneta and Alex Rocco that appeared in "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show". When network executives decided that The Itchy and Scratchy Show needed an "update" to keep the interest of its audience, they devised Poochie, a cartoon dog "with an attitude." After widespread auditions, Homer was chosen to provide Poochie's voice. The character debuted to an unimpressed audience following a massive publicity campaign; he only served to interfere with the well-oiled machine of hyperviolent slapstick that Itchy and Scratchy had perfected over the years. When dissatisfied viewers flooded the network with letters crying for Poochie's immediate removal, if not death, the executives decided to get rid of the character. Homer begged for another chance, insisting that Poochie would grow on the audience; this argument held little weight until the actress who performed voices for both Itchy and Scratchy declared her support for Poochie as well. Homer was shocked, however, when the next cartoon aired: it contained a hastily animated, retroscripted segment stating that Poochie had decided to return to his "home planet", and that he died on the way there.
He has since been seen once at a funeral in an Itchy & Scratchy cartoon featured in "Little Big Mom". In "Treehouse of Horror IX", he skateboards in the road and gets run over by Scratchy driving a car. However he survives only to have his skateboard fall from the sky and hit him in the head. He continues to be released in Itchy & Scratchy-related merchandise such as T-shirts in "Fat Man and Little Boy". A matrix Poochie appears in "Kill Gil Vols. 1 & 2" during the Krusty on Ice show, and a Poochie balloon appears in the cartoon in "Funeral for a Fiend". Poochie reappeared in The Simpsons Game as a boss on the Grand Theft Scratchy level.
Princess Kashmir
Princess Kashmir is the belly dancer who first appears in "Homer's Night Out" (and was the first woman who almost ruined Homer's marriage to Marge as Marge saw Homer dancing with her as a bad example for Bart in how to treat women). She dated Apu in "Lisa's Pony", dated Apu's brother Sanjay on a few occasions, is seen dancing with Otto in the episode "Flaming Moe's", and with Chief Wiggum in the episode "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment" (which also shocked and offended the women in town, much like what happened with Homer).
She has appeared in two couch gags (the one on "Marge vs. The Monorail, in which the Simpsons sit on the couch, followed by three rows of recurring extras and secondary characters, and the Sgt. Pepper album parody on "Bart After Dark" and the original airing of "The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochy Show"), and is seen dancing on the stage in the Maison Derrière in the episode "Bart After Dark". Her nickname is 'Queen of the Mysterious East'. Her real name is Shauna Tifton, and also goes by April Flowers when performing in strip clubs. According to the DVD commentary for the season eight episode "Bart After Dark", Princess Kashmir was originally going to be an actual bachelor party stripper on her premiere episode, but the FOX censors at the time objected (though they had no problem letting Princess Kashmir tell Bart that she works under the name "April Flowers" when she performs at strip clubs). She was also seen in The Simpsons Movie during a crowd scene.
Principal Dondelinger
Harlan Dondelinger, voiced by Harry Shearer, was Springfield High School's principal, first seen in the episode "The Way We Was", a flashback to Homer and Marge's senior year in high school. He later appeared in the episode "The Front" at Homer and Marge's high school reunion and teaches night classes to ease the pain of his wife's recent death. He appeared in "Half-Decent Proposal" when Artie Ziff, Marge's high school prom date, recreated their prom. Dondelinger made his most recent appearance in the twentieth season episode "Take My Life, Please", in which it is revealed that he rigged the high-school senior class presidential election against Homer, after hearing that the students were going to vote for Homer as a joke. Upon finding out, Homer was angry with Dondelinger, who claimed that he had only done it to spare Homer's feelings. Homer's anger escalated when he dug up the ballot-box, only to find out that he actually won, making him Class President.
Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky
Hyman Krustofsky was the father of Krusty the Clown who first appeared in the third season episode "Like Father, Like Clown". In this episode, in season fifteen's "Today I Am a Clown", and season twenty-one's "Once Upon a Time in Springfield" he is voiced in those episodes and others by comedian Jackie Mason and sometimes by Dan Castellaneta.
In "Like Father, Like Clown", Rabbi Krustofski had been estranged from his son for twenty-five years, having disowned Krusty when the young man chose to become a clown rather than follow the family tradition of becoming a rabbi. Years later, after much exchanging of Talmud passages between Bart and the Rabbi, Bart read a quote from Sammy Davis Jr. admiring the Jews, which finally convinced Rabbi Krustofski to accept his son for his career in entertainment. He and Krusty reunited on the air of Krusty's show. The episode "Like Father Like Clown" is a parody of the film The Jazz Singer. The parody was writer Jay Kogen's idea. He thought it would be a funny parallel â€" and a chance to do a lot of easy jokes â€" if it were a clown instead of a singer who gets rejected by his father. The character's casting was fitting in that the real-life Mason, like Krusty, also came from a family of rabbis but instead became a comedian.
Rabbi Krustofski later conducted Krusty's Bar Mitzvah in "Today I Am a Clown", admitting that he had not previously, out of fear that the young Krusty would just make fun of the whole thing. In "Clown in the Dumps", Krusty comes to him for advice and he dies when telling Krusty that his jokes were "Eh".
Jackie Mason won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his performance as Krustofski in "Like Father, Like Clown" in 1992. The Phoenix named Mason one of the show's 20 best guest stars.
Rachel Jordan
Rachel Jordan (voiced by Shawn Colvin) is the lead singer of Kovenant, a fictional Christian rock band. She is first seen in "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily", when she befriends the widower Ned Flanders. She appears towards the end of the episode singing the song "He's the Man" while the organist at the church was on a much needed vacation. The song was featured on The Simpsons: Testify. She returns in "I'm Goin' to Praiseland". She stays at the Flanders' house with Ned, and leaves briefly after Ned attempted to mold her in the image of his deceased wife Maude only to have her think Ned is using her and runs off. At the end of the episode, she returns and has a date with Flanders. She has not made an appearance since.
Radioactive Man
Radioactive Man is a fictional comic book superhero. The character was heavily featured in the episodes "Three Men and a Comic Book" and "Radioactive Man". Within the Simpsons universe, he was created by Morty Mann. He has been portrayed in many media since his debut in Interesting Stories #27. The first issue of Radioactive Man appeared in 1952. He was featured in at least one 1950s era black-and-white serial, sponsored by Laramie Cigarettes. There was also a campy early 1970s television series resembling Batman. This version was played by an actor named Dirk Richter, who was allegedly murdered in a brothel some time after the show ended, a parody of George Reeves and the controversy surrounding his death. In the episode "Radioactive Man", a Hollywood studio attempted to film a Radioactive Man movie in Springfield. The movie starred Rainier Wolfcastle as Radioactive Man. The role of Fallout Boy, Radioactive Man's sidekick, was cast from local children and went to Milhouse Van Houten. The movie was never completed due to budget overruns caused by constant price-gouging by Springfield vendors, and Milhouse snapping from the pressure of the role, and refusing to continue to portray Fallout Boy. A last-ditch attempt at replacing Milhouse with Mickey Rooney fails, and the movie is cancelled.
Outside The Simpsons, the Radioactive Man character also appeared in a real comic book series based on him that was first published by Bongo Comics in 1993. The Bongo comics expanded more on the character, including his powers, giving him several which parodied those of Superman including super speed, flight, and the power to fire beams of "clean, nuclear heat" from his eyes. In the comics, his regular personality, "Claude Kane III" is seen as a useless layabout. Claude's main love interest, journalist Gloria Grand, has little interest in him, and dismisses him as a 'rich kid'. The character has also appeared in issues of Simpsons Comics and Simpsons Super Spectacular, and in the 1992 video game Bartman Meets Radioactive Man.
Rainier Wolfcastle
Rainier Luftwaffe Wolfcastle (voiced by Harry Shearer) is an action hero star and a close parody of actor/bodybuilder/politician Arnold Schwarzenegger. This basis has been drawn out over the series. Wolfcastle is a native of Austria, as is Schwarzenegger; he got his start as a child acting in national commercials, most notably for the bratwurst company Fritz Schnackenpfefferhausen. Wolfcastle's wife is named Maria, just like the real Schwarzenegger's now separated wife Maria Shriver. Maria is a member of the political Quimby dynasty. Like Schwarzenegger, Wolfcastle is an active member of the Republican Party and owns a Hummer. In the episode "The Boy Who Knew Too Much", Bart Simpson tells Wolfcastle that his "last movie really sucked" (along with Chief Wiggum's line of "'Magic Ticket' my ass, McBain!"), alluding to Schwarzenegger's then-recent film Last Action Hero, which performed poorly at the box office. Wolfcastle owns a restaurant named Planet Springfield, a parody of Planet Hollywood, which Schwarzenegger co-owned with other celebrities. Wolfcastle has starred in many action movies, most notably the McBain series (a parody of action movies such as Die Hard) and the movie of Radioactive Man, a loose parody of the Batman television series. When clips of the McBain films are played in the order in which they aired, they form a mini-movie with a full storyline. The credits of the mini-movie had captions, "But McBain will be back in You Have The Right To Remain DEAD" parodying the early James Bond movies along with the style of music traditionally used in those films. Wolfcastle's more recent movies have gained less renown, and he is even forced to do comedies and even standup comedy. Wolfcastle has made appearances as an Academy Award presenter, a celebrity spokesperson, and a celebrity judge. In a recall election of Mayor Quimby, Wolfcastle ran for his seat. He has a daughter named Greta who had a crush on Bart in the episode "The Bart Wants What It Wants".
The writers invented Wolfcastle as the action hero McBain for the episode "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?". Because they liked the scene involving the character from that episode, they used him again in "The Way We Was", which was recorded and aired before "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" The McBain films satirize clichés of action films. The character was originally named McBain, until an actual film called McBain was released in 1991. That film's producers refused to allow the show to use the name, so "Rainier Wolfcastle" became the name of the actor playing the McBain role. Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson, doubles as Wolfcastle when Harry Shearer is absent from table reads.
In The Simpsons Movie, a characterization of Schwarzenegger is the President of the United States. He is very similar to the design of Wolfcastle but with more wrinkles under his eyes and a different hairstyle.
Rich Texan
Richard O'Hara, mainly known as The Rich Texan (voiced by Dan Castellaneta). He is a stereotypical rich, callous but gregarious businessman and owner of the Springfield Atoms football team and the fictional Simpsons version of the Boston Celtics, which he lost to Mr. Burns in a poker game at Billionaire Camp in the episode "The Burns and The Bees." He is an active member of the Springfield Republican Party and speaks with a heavy Texas drawl. His morality can wildly vary from episode to episode; he can sometimes be selfish and sadistic, and at other times polite and friendly. In the fifth-season episode "$pringfield" (the Rich Texan's debut, though a similar character once appeared in the season two episode "Old Money"), Homer addresses the Rich Texan as Senator, although this was never again referenced. Rich Texan sports a bolo tie and a white cowboy hat. He is also obsessive-compulsive, as revealed in "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story". He claimed in "Marge's Son Poisoning" that he enjoys moonlit walks on the beach; in the same episode he held Homer and Moe at gunpoint while forcing them to walk with him after the duo carried out a deception on him.
He is well known for pulling out a pair of revolvers and firing them into the air while yelling "Yee Haw!" whenever he is happy or excited. He was briefly incarcerated due to one of his stray bullets hitting a Texas Ranger. He has a gay grandson, as revealed in "Million Dollar Abie" and a daughter named Paris Texan (who looks and acts like hotel heiress Paris Hilton). In the episode "Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Three Times", it is revealed that the Rich Texan is originally from Connecticut, despite his brash, stereotypically Southern persona (parodying the fact that although former president George W. Bush is most closely associated with Texas, he was actually born in New Haven, Connecticut).
Richard
Richard is a gray-haired student at Springfield Elementary School and is one of Bart's friends. He is first seen in "Bart the Genius". He is usually seen with his best friend Lewis and has a leather jacket and a shirt with a small diamond embroidered on the center. Richard appears frequently in scenes involving the Springfield children, and in the early seasons was often involved with mischief. He's been voiced over the course of the series by Nancy Cartwright, Jo Ann Harris, Pamela Hayden and Maggie Roswell. In early seasons he and Lewis were commonly seen hanging out with Bart and Milhouse, but in recent years they are mostly seen in the classroom and in crowd scenes. He had a brief speaking part in "The Haw-Hawed Couple", in which he was voiced by Pamela Hayden. His hair color changes from black to gray, to brown, and then to blue throughout the course of the show. However, in Simpsons Comics, his hair always appears gray.
Rod Flanders
Rod Flanders is voiced by Pamela Hayden. Rod is Ned Flanders' ten-year-old son. Rod prays often; first thing in the morning and last thing before bed. He prays for God to watch over him and his younger brother, Todd, as well as for the success of his father's business. He also prays for all of the other children like his neighbor Bart Simpson, who do not pray for themselves. Ned has described Rod's hobbies as including "being quiet during trips, clapping with songs and diabetes". Rod's largest role was in "Bart Has Two Mommies", where he obtains new climbing skills and rescues Bart from a chimpanzee atop a church. This episode also reveals that Rod thinks of Marge as the most fun he has had since his mother died.
In earlier episodes ("When Flanders Failed" and "Dead Putting Society"), Rod is overshadowed by his younger brother, who plays parts in both. In "'Tis the Fifteenth Season", he mentions that he is "jealous of girls 'cause they get to wear dresses'", suggesting nascent transvestism. In a "freeze-frame gag" in the episode "Homer Badman", Rod is stated to be the younger Flanders child. In the flash-forward episode "Bart to the Future", Flanders justifies lending Bart money as a gesture of goodwill despite Bart's having apparently helped both Rod and Todd to come out as gay.
Roger Meyers Jr.
Roger Meyers Jr. (voiced by Alex Rocco, later by Hank Azaria) is the current Chairman of I&S Studios, and is the son of Roger Meyers Sr. He distributes the cartoon, which is frequently criticized by parents because of its violent nature. He is a jaded and selfish businessman who has nothing but contempt for the children who comprise his audience. In the episode The Day the Violence Died, when I&S Studios is bankrupted following their trial against Chester J. Lampwick, when Bart and Lisa are too late in providing information that could save the company, he tells them condescendingly, "Great, mail it to last week when I might have cared. I've got cartoons to make."
He has an obnoxious and short tempered personality. This is displayed in his contempt for the writers of Itchy and Scratchy when Abe Simpson becomes the flavour of the month, going as far as physically abusing a fired writer and sending Lisa and Bart a letter filled with explicit and rude language in the process. And again when holding auditions for the voice of Poochie. After first hiring Otto, he then chooses Troy McClure, telling Otto, "Take a hike you bum", when seconds earlier he was "perfect".
In "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", he creates Poochie in an attempt to bring the show's ratings back up. Homer is asked to voice Poochie, and does so. The show's ratings plummet, and Poochie is despised. He is nearly killed off in the next episode (after only one appearance), but ends up being dubbed over to have returned to his own planet (and died on the way). In The Simpsons Arcade game mobile, he appears as a boss in the Springfield Mall and uses an axe, a mallet, and bombs that look like Itchy and Scratchy.
Ruth Powers
Ruth Powers is the Simpsons' next-door neighbor, introduced when she moves to their neighborhood in the episode "New Kid on the Block". She is divorced and has a daughter, Laura Powers. According to "New Kid on the Block", Ruth divorced her husband because his career got in the way with his family life, but in "Marge on the Lam", Ruth tells Marge that all her husband ever did was "eat, sleep, and drink beer" and never gave her money for child support (which led to Ruth stealing her husband's convertible). She is usually seen as a background character, sometimes in events that occurred even before she moved next door (such as the baby shower for Maggie in "And Maggie Makes Three"). She even continues to be a background character despite her later imprisonment. She nearly always wears a red headscarf. In the episode "The Cartridge Family" she was part of the NRA. She was voiced by Pamela Reed in her first two speaking appearances. David Mirkin said that Pamela Reed would always give great performances and that he does not know why they did not use her more.
The episode "Marge on the Lam" features Ruth and Marge going on the run from the law in a stolen convertible in a light parody of Thelma & Louise. Ruth makes an appearance in the episode "Strong Arms of the Ma", as a huge female bodybuilder, advising Marge (who is taking up weightlifting) to use steroids. It is also revealed in the episode that Ruth Powers went to jail and entered a beauty contest in which she was named "Miss Mexican Mafia." Her daughter, Laura, has not been seen after "New Kid on the Block".
Sam and Larry
Sam and Larry, also known as "Barfly #1" and "Barfly #2", are two regular patrons of Moe's Tavern. Their first appearance is in "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". Virtually nothing is known about them, except that Sam always wears a cap and glasses and Larry has an orange jacket and a balding head and either looks extremely drunk or very depressed. Sam has spoken only a few times throughout the series; on the season three episode "Lisa the Greek", Sam asks Homer what he bet on outcome of the Super Bowl, and in "Radioactive Man" he simultaneously says "That makes sense" to Moe, along with others at the bar. In "Worst Episode Ever" Sam is shot in the back by Moe, for trying to pay in Sacagawea dollars. Larry also rarely speaks, except simultaneously with Sam, Barney Gumble and Homer Simpson in "Radioactive Man" and in fantasy sequences (in "Marge Be Not Proud", Larry utters a garbled, "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" after Bart receives a soiled wig during Bart's image of spending Christmas in juvenile hall and in "Simpson Tide", Larry grumbles, "This stupid machine took my money!" when Apu was thinking of his loved one â€" in this case, his Kwik-E-Mart cigarette machine that steals money and does not dispense cigarettes).
Sanjay Nahasapeemapetilon
Sanjay Nahasapeemapetilon (Hindi), voiced by Harry Shearer, is Apu Nahasapeemapetilon's younger brother and uncle of Apu's eight children. He has a daughter named Pahusacheta (who performed in a beauty pageant) and a son named Jamshed (who, despite his young age, can wield a shotgun and run The Kwik-E-Mart when Apu is not there to do so). Sanjay has a wife, as he asked Apu to promise not to sleep with her if he dies (Apu's response to this request was a cheery "I promise nothing!"). Sanjay was shown as Apu's business partner at the Kwik-E-Mart in the earlier episodes. "I'm with Cupid" was his final speaking appearance until "Covercraft". However, he has appeared as a background character in "Moe Letter Blues", "Homer at the Bat" (as pitcher for Fort Springfield), and The Simpsons Movie. Sanjay can also be seen in the season nine episode "Dumbbell Indemnity" on a sign outside "Stu's Disco" that reads, "You Must Be This Swarthy To Enter".
Sarah Wiggum
Sarah Wiggum (née Kanickee), voiced by Pamela Hayden. She is the gentle wife of Chief Wiggum and mother of Ralph Wiggum. She first appeared in the fourth season episode "Duffless". Like Bernice Hibbert and Martha Quimby, she is one of the less notable characters who hardly ever speaks; however, in The Simpsons Game she only ever says "Clancy!", whether hit by or in Marge's mob. In the episode, "A Star Is Born Again", at the Jellyfish Dance, Clancy mentions she was more beautiful at that moment than the day he arrested her, to which she giggles in reply. He then mentions he only planted the crystal meth on her so she would "notice" him. Sarah (according to Clancy) is his "home force" and he affectionately calls her "Poppin' Fresh". In the episode, "Grade School Confidential", she immediately dials the authorities to Clancy's command. Ralph apparently gets his appearance from her, as the two look very similar. According to "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind", Marge does not like Sarah at all and tried to keep her from Homer's cruise party.
Scott Christian
Scott Christian (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is a newsreader from the early seasons of the show. Originally, Christian and Kent Brockman shared the anchor desk equally, but eventually Brockman started to become the more commonly used anchor. In his final appearances, Christian was used mostly when Kent was in the field and an introduction was needed. His final speaking appearance was "The Boy Who Knew Too Much", save for one syllable in "Radioactive Man". Christian was supposed to be permanent anchor, always filling in for an absent Brockman, but was quickly phased out as the show progressed. He briefly appeared (with red colored hair) with the other Springfield celebrities in the season 18 episode "Homerazzi" and made an appearance in "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?".
Sea Captain
Captain Horatio Peter McCallister, more commonly known as "The Sea Captain", created by Conan O'Brien and voiced by Hank Azaria. Azaria modelled the voice on actor Robert Newton, who played pirates in several movies. The writers' "love of sea talk" is what inspired them to invent the Sea Captain. His character is based on the stereotype of sailors and pirates, including the stereotypical pirate catchphrase, "Yarr!" He is a member of the Springfield Alcoholics Anonymous and has a peg leg in which he keeps liquor. In "The Bart of War" he uses his wooden leg to have a vicious sword fight with Sideshow Mel's bone. He is commonly referred to simply as "the Sea Captain", though when he took the witness stand in "New Kid on the Block", Lionel Hutz clearly addresses him as "Captain McCallister".
The Sea Captain is always seen holding a corncob pipe and squinting (because he has at least one glass eye, though once he was seen tapping both of his eyes stating he has two glass eyes). He also has an artificial leg. As an entrepreneur, McCallister is equally incompetent. On several occasions, he acknowledges his incompetence with a depressed: "Yarr, I don't know what I'm doin'." Although he once states under oath (in "New Kid on the Block") that he is not a real sea captain, at various occasions in later episodes he is indeed shown captaining a ship (even though "Bart's Girlfriend" revealed that he "...hate[s] the sea and everything in it" during the part where he watches ships crash). His restaurant, The Frying Dutchman, is a failing business venture that does not generate enough income to support its owner. During the episode "Mr. Plow", the Captain pitches his 90 track sea shanties CD set in a commercial, which aired on Public-access television cable TV channel 92. In the episode "Lisa Gets an "A"", the captain appears as a penniless bum. When seeing Homer and Marge walking Homer's pet lobster at the beach, he approaches them and claims that he runs a "small academy for lobsters". However, when Marge refuses to send the lobster away to "some snobby boarding school", McCallister asks her for spare change instead. It is implied that he may be bi-sexual; in the episode A Star is Born-Again, he responds to what he believes as Ned Flanders showing interest in him with, "Are you hitting on me? Because I don't do that.....on land."
His only main roles were in episodes "New Kid on the Block" and in "The Wettest Stories Ever Told". In the former, Homer sues his restaurant The Frying Dutchman because they kicked him out at the restaurant's closing time before Homer had eaten all he could eat. In the latter, he cannot bring the Simpsons their food for numerous reasons like the "chef having problems with tonight's special", which was an octopus. He then ignores the family while playing pickup basketball games with the restaurant's staff.
Shauna Chalmers
Shauna Chalmers is a rebellious, promiscuous teenager who is Superintendent Chalmers' daughter. She is usually portrayed as Jimbo's girlfriend, but in "The D'oh-cial Network" she apparently sent a message to everybody promising to make out with them. In "Beware My Cheating Bart", she has a relationship with Bart.
Sherri and Terri
Sherri and Terri Mackleberry, both voiced by Russi Taylor, are identical twin sisters with long purple hair and pale skin. They perpetually reinforce their identities as twins, with things such as making up their own 'twin' language. They are in the same class as Bart at Springfield Elementary School. In "Homer's Odyssey" it is revealed that their father is Homer's supervisor at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. He fires Homer for causing an accident while waving to Bart from a cart during a school tour of the plant. Homer, however, has the last laugh when he is promoted above the twins' father to safety inspector by his boss Mr. Burns. Their mother is shown in "Bart Sells His Soul" and looks just like her daughters. Sherri is two seconds older than Terri; they share their birthday with Rod Flanders. In one episode when it seemed if Springfield was going to be lost in a nuclear explosion, it was Sherri â€" rather than Terri â€" who was picked for survival by Principal Skinner.
The girls themselves dress identically, reinforcing their "twin-ness". They are quite snobbish, and never miss an opportunity to berate Bart. Bart appears to have a crush on one of them, as admitted in "Hungry, Hungry Homer". Sherri referred to Bart as an ugly, smelly dork, but was persuaded by Homer to go on a date with Bart after he told her that she could not do much better. Sherri stated that Terri had a crush on Bart in "Bart Star". Another time, in "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder", Homer openly addressed Sherri as "the girl Bart has a crush on". In "The Way We Weren't", they introduce a cousin who has a crush on Bart. In "The Blue and the Gray", it was revealed that they were actually conjoined triplets, and that the third triplet is seeking revenge. The third triplet is seen by Marge in "The Daughter Also Rises", but they suggest that she may only be hallucinating. In "Lisa's Substitute", they nominate Bart as the class president.
Sideshow Mel
Melvin Van Horne, better known as Sideshow Mel (voiced by Dan Castellaneta), is Krusty the Clown's sidekick. He replaced Sideshow Bob after Bob was incarcerated for framing Krusty for armed robbery. Mel's hiring was never explicitly shown in the series and his full name was only revealed when he announced himself while trying to solve the mystery of who shot Mr. Burns in the episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)" and in the episode "All About Lisa" on the portrait of Sideshow Mel in the past. He first appeared in "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge", shortly after Sideshow Bob was sent to prison, filling the exact role that Bob once did. Little is known about Mel. He is a Cornell University graduate, and a former Gulp 'n Blow employee (during the time that Krusty's show was cancelled and Bart and Lisa set out to create a comeback special). Sideshow Mel is revealed, in the episode entitled "All About Lisa", to have been the winner of the prestigious Springfield Entertainer of the Year award. The intoxication of applause made him reduce himself to ridiculous behavior for laughter, which he compared to doing heroin and checking email. Sideshow Mel uses a slide whistle to communicate on camera, just like Bob. When not in character, Mel speaks in a grandiose English/Received Pronunciation accent (Castellaneta's play on Kelsey Grammer's character, Sideshow Bob) and owns poodles. When Springfield inhabitants form an angry mob, Mel often takes a leading role. Mel wears a bone in his hair that has been used as a weapon. In "22 Short Films About Springfield", Mel reveals that he got the bone stuck in his hair by trying to dig gum out with it. In "Homerazzi" it was revealed that Mel was in a bitter custody battle and that he has a son, who looks just like him except without a bone in his hair. In "I'm with Cupid", he reveals he has a wife named Barbara, who appears in "Realty Bites" where they are bowling in a house that Marge tries to sell to them. She is revealed to be giving birth in the episode "All About Lisa", suggesting that Mel has at least two children. She looks like a European woman, and has light hair. It has been suggested that Mel is very wealthy, able to afford betting thousands of dollars on football regularly.
Sideshow Mel is often subject to abuse by Krusty, just as Sideshow Bob was before him. Such occurrences include 'Krusty's Slide', where he is forced into a mixture of pudding, pickle brine and laundry detergent, a tub of rancid Béarnaise sauce and a tub of refried beans; another unseen one is in "Krusty Gets Kancelled" where he states that Krusty once poured liquid nitrogen down his pants and cracked his buttocks with a hammer. In the episode "Day of the Jackanapes", it is shown that Krusty can remember Sideshow Bob's name, but not Sideshow Mel's.
Squeaky-Voiced Teen
Squeaky-Voiced Teen, a.k.a. Pimple-Faced Teen, real name Jeremy Freedman (voiced by Dan Castellaneta), is one of few teenagers on the show and is perpetually trapped in a series of entry-level jobs, usually working at Krusty Burger (as a cashier, a cook, or, in the case of "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy", a supervisor in charge of training new employees), the grocery store (as a bagboy, as seen in "Selma's Choice" and "Simpson Safari"), or at a movie theater (as either the ticket master, concession stand clerk, or usher; in the video game The Simpsons: Road Rage he also talks about cleaning out the urinals). The Squeaky Voiced Teen has acne, and his voice is in the process of breaking. The Squeaky Voiced Teen's personality is shy, pathetic, miserable, and awkward. He is often concerned about others and usually reports them to his boss; however, when he very rarely is the boss himself, he seizes opportunity and becomes stubborn and evil. Beginning with "Team Homer", it is revealed that the Squeaky-Voiced Teen's mother is Lunchlady Doris (who disowns him after he mentions that he cannot give a bowling lane to his own mother on League Night).
Castellaneta lifted his voice for the character from actor Richard Crenna's as Walter Denton in the sitcom Our Miss Brooks. Several different models of Squeaky-Voiced Teen have been used throughout the series, featuring counterparts in Mexico, Australia, and England. Steven Dean Moore uses them all as waiters at the ice cream parlor the Simpsons eat at in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge". Matt Groening called Squeaky-Voiced Teen his second favorite "unnamed" character after Comic Book Guy, whose name was finally revealed to be "Jeff Albertson" in the episode "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass". He is also seen in the pre-show of The Simpsons Ride as one of the ride operators.
Stampy
Stampy is a male African elephant first appearing in the episode "Bart Gets an Elephant". Bart wins the elephant in a radio contest called "KBBL Is Gonna Gimme Something Stupid". As a prize, Bart was offered either an elephant or $10,000 in cash, with the elephant option as a joke. Bill and Marty had anticipated all winners would opt for the cash and were caught off guard when Bart chose the elephant. With the prospect of being fired looming, they eventually get Bart an elephant. Bart decides to name the elephant Stampy, who soon starts to cause trouble and costs a large amount of money in upkeep. Anxious to escape this, Homer offers Stampy to a wildlife reserve. However, on his realization that he will get nothing in return, he elects to sell Stampy to local poacher and ivory dealer, Mr. Blackheart. Homer later changes his mind after Stampy rescues him from a tar pit. Stampy likes peanuts and putting people in his mouth. He does not like other elephants, as can be seen when he is first introduced to the wildlife reserve.
Stampy is alluded to in other episodes. At Apu's wedding, Bart sees Apu riding an elephant. Bart comments that he wishes that he had an elephant. Lisa responds, "You did. His name was Stampy. You loved him." Bart simply replies, "Oh, yeah." Stampy also appears in "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace" in Bart's water dream, and made a second (and more important) appearance on season 14's "Large Marge", where he was involved in an attempt to restore the public opinion of Krusty the Clown. Stampy also attacks a bear in the final scene of "The Fat and the Furriest", but then the bear fights back by hitting Stampy on the head with a club several times, much to Stampy's dismay. Stampy also appears in The Simpsons Movie, where he cracks the dome that covers Springfield, prompting the government's drastic decision to implement Option No. 4 as a solution to the Springfield Problem.
State Comptroller Atkins
State Comptroller Atkins, voiced by Hank Azaria, is the comptroller of Springfield's state. In "Lisa Gets an "A"" he is sent to deliver the basic assistance grant to Springfield Elementary after Lisa cheats on a test and raises the school's GPA up to the state's minimum requirement. Otto's impersonation of Atkins suggests that he is of Canadian origin. He appears later in "Saddlesore Galactica", where he moderates the elementary school band competition at the state fair. He plans to give Lisa the unusually large good sportsmanship award until he hears her brand the first-place band "cheaters" for using glow-sticks in their performance. Atkins' most recent appearance was in "Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts" where gives Chalmers his job back. He is also on Lisa's list of "interesting adults" in "Moe'N'a Lisa".
Steve Mobbs
Steve Mobbs, voiced by Hank Azaria, was the founder of Mapple. He is a parody of Steve Jobs. He appeared in "Mypods and Broomsticks". When Mobbs was giving an announcement, Bart made a prank and made it look like he was insulting his customers. He also appears in "A Tree Grows in Springfield" where he is dead and shows off the MyPad in heaven. Steve Mobbs' death is a reference to when Steve Jobs died.
Superintendent Chalmers
Superintendent Gary Chalmers, voiced by Hank Azaria, is the superintendent of Springfield's school district. He first appears in the episode "Whacking Day". Chalmers is a strict and largely humorless man, with a short temper and low tolerance for disorder or rule-breaking; his general manner and personality are like those of a military officer. Whenever he visits Springfield Elementary, some sort of disaster strikes. He produces extreme anxiety in Principal Skinner, who offers increasingly improbable stories to explain what is happening. He is also known for seeming to be in complete disbelief of these improbable stories, but ultimately winds up actually believing them, teasing Skinner and the audience that he may actually take some action. Chalmers is known for throwing open the doors to the room and bellowing "SKINNER!!!", to which Seymour stammers "S-Superintendent Chalmers!" His catchphrase has caused some paranoia in Skinner (as seen in "Lisa's Date with Density"). On a few occasions, he says Skinner's name this way when absolutely nothing has gone wrong, implying that he either pronounces Skinner's name this way by habit, or does it on purpose to scare him. In "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words", he even pronounces the words "skimmer" and "dinner" in a similar manner to Skinner's name, who mistakes it as Chalmers wanting his attention. However, Chalmers does on at least two occasions show a fondness for Skinner. In "The Debarted", both Skinner and Chalmers are lost in the foam of a massive explosion resulting from the mixture of Mentos and Diet Coke, he screams Skinner's name and upon not receiving an answer, says it again in a softer manner. Skinner then replies to which Chalmers tells him in a frightened voice, "Don't ever scare me like that again."
In "How Munched is That Birdie in the Window?", when Edna uses a pigeon to taunt Skinner about how much better her life is without him, Chalmers shows compassion for Skinner and even offers his friendship, but unfortunately, Edna reveals that she had an affair with Chalmers, leaving Skinner angry and forcing Chalmers to flee. In "Lisa Simpson, This Isn't Your Life", it is revealed that Chalmers has nothing personal against Skinner and that he is aware that the antics within the school are a result of the students' reckless nature and the teachers' indifference, but he can only scold Skinner because he would have to face the ire of the parents or of the teachers' union if he tries to chastise anyone other than Skinner.
Chalmers' own competence and dedication to his job are questionable. He lets Ned Flanders allow the school to descend into anarchy when Flanders is principal, freely admitting that he had fired Skinner for far less, explaining simply that "Skinner really bugged me." He seems disturbingly unconcerned with the school's decline, stating that American public schools are already on the decline and will most likely end up just like Springfield Elementary (or worse) and tells Bart to sit back and enjoy the ride (though Chalmers does fire Flanders for mentioning God in a public school). He also promotes people based on personal bias as opposed to actual competence, promoting Principal Holloway, described by Skinner as a "drunk" and by Chalmers as a "pill-popper", to assistant superintendent after getting run over by a tractor driven by Bart and blaming Skinner for letting it happen. In the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield", he mentions he is from Utica, New York (though "The Old Man and the 'C' Student" revealed that he was from Intercourse, Pennsylvania). He has also mentioned that he attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.
In several episodes, such as "Bart the Fink", Chalmers is seen dating Agnes Skinner (much to Seymour's chagrin), although in other episodes, he mentions he is married. His first name is revealed to be Gary in "Yokel Chords" and in "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken", and it is revealed that he is a Spanish immigrant "Señor Chalmers". In the DVD commentaries to "22 Short Films About Springfield" and "Grade School Confidential", it is noted that Superintendent Chalmers seems to be one of the few "normal" characters on the show and is frequently alone in his awareness of the show's zaniness (much like one-shot character Frank Grimes from "Homer's Enemy"). In "Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts", Chalmers mentions that he was once married and is now a widower. In the episode "Replaceable You", it is implied that Chalmers wears a toupee (according to Dolph's science project, a toupee detector).
"Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts" is the first (and so-far, only) episode in which Superintendent Chalmers is given a protagonist role. In the episode, Chalmers is challenged by Principal Skinner to get Bart interested in learning, and finds it in the form of teaching him about Teddy Roosevelt. After an unauthorized school field trip, Chalmers is fired for letting Nelson fall off a cliff, but is re-hired and given the title of Super-Duper-Intendent.
In The Simpsons Movie, in addition to appearances in crowd scenes Superintendent Chalmers is shown in attendance at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting on Day 97 under the Dome. He is one of those who panics when a book thrown from outside the meeting room smashes through a window and knocks over the Bunn-type coffee maker, apparently destroying the last of AA's coffee supply in Springfield.
He is from Utica, New York and has a daughter named Shauna Chalmers who has dated Bart Simpson and Jimbo Jones.
Todd Flanders
Todd Flanders is Ned Flanders' eight-year-old son, voiced by Nancy Cartwright. His voice is based on Sherman's from Peabody and Sherman. Todd is the most impressionable member of the Flanders family. When exposed to profanity, he himself starts to curse ("Hell, no" and "I said I don't want any damn vegetables"). When Moe Szyslak loses his temper at Uncle Moe's Family Feedbag, Todd responds with "Ow, my freaking ears!" prompting the Flanders to leave, after Ned comments that Moe's foul language is more at home at Denny's (in most international versions, "Denny's" is replaced with "McDonalds"). Whether due to immaturity or a means to break away from his parents' (his father's especially) relentless sheltering, whenever Todd comes into contact with anything outside his family and their pious ways, such as the time he was tricked into eating a Pixy Stix by Bart Simpson, he turns aggressive. Todd can play the violin quite well, and is a part of the Springfield Elementary School band (despite that later episodes do not show Rod or Todd Flanders as Springfield Elementary School students, before it was revealed that they attended a Christian school before their new step-mother Edna Krabappel enrolled them in Springfield Elementary). "Dead Putting Society" reveals that Todd is good at mini-golf and capable (presumably unlike his brother), although much less willing than Bart, to defy his father.
Üter Zörker
Üter Zörker, voiced by Russi Taylor, is an overweight German foreign exchange student with a sweet tooth, and strange habits such as offering his already-licked lollipops to others as a sign of friendship, and eating marzipan candies (called Joy Joy) fortified with iodine. He was left behind on the Civil War field trip, according to the season six episode "The PTA Disbands", but was back in school, playing in the band in the season eight episode "Lisa's Date with Density". His subsequent disappearance from the show for a significant period of time has become a running joke. In "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?" his biological parents from Germany asked Skinner where their missing son was, and in "24 Minutes" he is seen stuck in a cobweb in the school air vents. It is revealed in the episode "Jazzy and the Pussycats" that he can play the trumpet quite well. He even makes a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory diorama, but eats it before it can be graded in "Lisa's Rival". During the school science fair in the season 23 episode "Replaceable You" Kearney has a human skull on display with a sign on it that reads, "Is This Üter?" In the German dub of the show, Üter is an exchange student from Switzerland.
Warden
The Warden voiced by Charles Napier is the prison warden of both Springfield Prison and Springfield Juvenile Hall. He first appears in the episode "Pokey Mom" as the announcer of the Springfield Prison rodeo, as well as sitting in on Jack Crowley's parole hearing. He is shown as a very strict bureaucrat, and has little compassion for the prisoners under his control. He releases Crowley into Marge's care after she vouches for him. He reappears in "The Wandering Juvie", now in charge of the juvenile detention center, which he runs just like a prison.
A sign in his office reads "HIS JUDGEMENT COMETH AND THAT RIGHT SOON", which is a reference to Warden Norton from The Shawshank Redemption.
Vanderbilts
The Vanderbilts are an elderly rich couple who are frequently shocked by Homer's antics. They first appear in "Saddlesore Galactica" where Mr. Vanderbilt breaks his monocle after being shocked. This gag is reused in "A Tale of Two Springfields". In "Homer vs. Dignity", Mrs. Vanderbilt is shocked by Homer Simpson's antics twice. In "The Frying Game", Mrs. Vanderbilt is shown as friends with Mrs. Bellamy, Mrs. Glick and Agnes Skinner. They are a parody of the actual Vanderbilt family.
The Weasels
The Weasels are fraternal twin bullies at Springfield Elementary School and Nelson's henchmen, despite being in the 2nd grade with Lisa Simpson. They first appeared in "Bart the General". They are almost identical except for their skin colors (one is white and the other is black) and their outfits. The White Weasel (voiced by Susan Blu in Bart the General and Nancy Cartwright in later appearances) wears a red T-shirt, tan shorts, and red shoes and the Black Weasel (voiced by Jo Ann Harris in "Bart the General" and Pamela Hayden in later appearances) wears an orange T-shirt, tan shorts, and orange shoes with tan soles (although in his first appearance, his outfit was a yellow T-shirt, green shorts, and yellow shoes with green soles). While only continuing to serve Nelson on very rare instances after much earlier seasons, the Weasels still appear frequently throughout the series, sometimes in scenes involving the other bullies yet primarily as background characters, especially in Lisa's 2nd grade class. During the episode The Winter of His Content in Season 25, it is revealed that the Weasels now attend Shelbyville Elementary School.
Wendell Borton
Wendell Borton is a perpetually nauseated and very pale boy with worried eyes and curly hair. He first appears in "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" although his first speaking appearance is in "Homer's Odyssey". He becomes especially sick on field trips, with a tendency to become even paler than usual. He makes frequent appearances at the school nurse's office at Springfield Elementary School. A classmate of Bart Simpson, Wendell is most often seen with classmates Richard, Lewis, and Martin. He voted for Martin Prince, thus making Bart lose in the class election, and ensuring Martin's victory. He is one of the few characters whose hair is the same color as his skin. Throughout the series, Wendell has been voiced by Jo Ann Harris, Pamela Hayden, Nancy Cartwright, and Russi Taylor.
Mr. and Sylvia Winfield
The Winfields are an elderly couple who live next door to the Simpson family early in the series and often complain about how crude and uncivilized the Simpsons are. They first appear in the season one episode "Homer's Odyssey". The couple appear in the season two episodes "Simpson and Delilah" and "Bart's Dog Gets an F", as well as the season three episode "Separate Vocations". The couple eventually move to Florida in the season four episode "New Kid on the Block" and have not been seen since.
Wiseguy
Raphael, a.k.a. Wiseguy, is voiced by Hank Azaria. He first appeared as the chauffeur hired to take Homer to the prom (despite that Marge was going with Artie Ziff) in the second season in "The Way We Was", but he has held numerous other jobs in the series. Simpsons sound editor Bob Beecher commented on alt.tv.simpsons that, "He doesn't have one name. His character's name always fits the scene so he's gone by many names, 'Clerk', 'Shopkeeper', etc. But in the script the direction given to the voice is 'Wiseguy Voice'. So call him 'Wiseguy' if you want." Azaria does a Charles Bronson-impression for the voice. In "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious", Al Jean and Mike Reiss had Azaria voice a Simpsonized Charles Bronson as a reference to this. As with his profession, the character's physical appearance varied widely with regards to hair and facial features for a number of years, with the voice being the only constant; eventually, he was standardized as a balding, greying man with a moustache. Wiseguy has been dubbed "The Sarcastic Middle-Aged Man" by the show's Internet fans. In "Day of the Jackanapes", Sideshow Bob calls Wiseguy by the name "Raphael".
Yes Guy
The Frank Nelson Type, also known as "The Yes Guy", is voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He first appeared in season ten's episode "Mayored to the Mob" as the maître d'hôtel at the Springfield Dinner Theater. He is a character known for bellowing "Ye-e-e-s?!" in a falling, then rising intonation, and appears to be highly eccentric in both his speech and appearance. The Yes Guy is a tribute to the recurring Frank Nelson character from The Jack Benny Program, I Love Lucy, and Sanford and Son, whose trademark greeting in all his characters was a loud, drawn-out "Ye-e-e-s?!" Inexplicably, the original character could always be found working behind the service counter of whatever shop Benny or Fred Sanford might be patronizing, and his Simpsonian counterpart is similar.
In the Yes Guy's first appearance, Homer asks why his voice is always stretched, and the Yes Guy replies by saying "I had a stro-o-o-oke". He also appears in "Homer vs. Dignity". He works at Costington's department store, works as juror number twelve of the Springfield Panel of Jury, and as an executioner at Springfield Penitentiary. Homer refers to him as "that jerk that goes 'Ye-e-e-es?'". A Brazilian version of him was seen in "Blame It on Lisa", uttering "Si-i-i-m?!" ("Yes" in Portuguese).
See also
- List of characters in The Simpsons
- List of guest stars on The Simpsons
- List of one-time characters in The Simpsons
References
- Bibliography