List of recurring characters in The Simpsons

The following is a list of recurring characters in The Simpsons. The Simpsons includes a large array of supporting characters: co-workers, teachers, family friends, extended relatives, townspeople, and local celebrities. 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 is the mother of Seymour Skinner and first appeared in the first season episode "The Crepes of Wrath" as a kindly old woman who embarrassingly calls her son "Spanky". However, as episodes progressed, the character turned bitter. She is very harshly controlling of Seymour, and treats him like a mother would a small child, once grounding him because he did not say who was at the door after answering it, when it was "The Sugarman". She loathes Edna Krabappel. Agnes has married a total of four times, once with Skinner's father, Sheldon Skinner, and following Sheldon's death she then married three more times, each time, to a tow truck driver. Several Springfield residents (including the Simpsons) are afraid of her. In "Worst Episode Ever" she has a brief romantic relation with the Comic Book Guy and even sleeps with him, despite his size and her age. When Agnes' real son, "the real Seymour Skinner" (Martin Sheen) arrives in Springfield, Agnes turns him away, unhappy with her new living situation, largely because the true Seymour Skinner is a man who can stand up to Agnes and make his own decisions. Although she appears to not care for Skinner, it turns out she really loves him, although she denies it in "Large Marge". In the 1920s, Agnes worked as a wing walker.

Agnes's 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 relationship being similar to that of Norman Bates and his mother's in the film Psycho. Tress MacNeille voices Agnes.

Akira
Akira, first seen in the second season in "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish", is a waiter at The Happy Sumo, a Japanese restaurant in Springfield. In "When Flanders Failed", Bart trains under Akira at his martial arts academy. Homer, Bart, and Lisa go to The Happy Sumo to ask Akira about the Mr. Sparkle box in "In Marge We Trust". In "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?", Akira, Luigi, the Sea Captain, and other Springfield restaurant proprietors plot to assassinate Homer for giving their restaurants bad reviews.

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 is Lisa's classmate, introduced in the Series 6 episode Lisa's Rival. Allison is as smart as (or smarter than) Lisa, younger (having skipped a grade) and, like Lisa, a young master of the saxophone.

At first, Lisa is happy to have a friend as brilliant as she, but eventually Lisa becomes jealous of having a true rival in the school. Regardless, Lisa tries to be her friend. To Lisa's chagrin, Allison wins first chair saxophone in the school band, Ralph starts asking her for answers and Allison's father thinks Lisa is juvenile in comparison. Tensions climax during Springfield Elementary's annual "Diorama-rama" competition. Allison makes a diorama of The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, showing the protagonist going insane while a section of the floor "beats" mechanically. With Bart's help and prodding, Lisa sabotages Allison's entry by switching Allison's diorama with one containing a cow's bloody heart. When Principal Skinner sees the result, he criticizes the diorama and questions Allison's overall qualifications. Lisa, overcome with guilt, confesses to the switch. Lisa and Allison lose the competition to Ralph Wiggum, whose diorama consists of a box of Star Wars action figures, still in their packaging. objects of sentimental value to Principal Skinner. In the end, Lisa and Allison put aside their differences and become friends.

In later episodes, Allison appears as a background character. Originally voiced by Winona Ryder, she has subsequently had a few small speaking parts, with her voice provided by Pamela Hayden. She appears to be on good terms with Lisa.

Artie Ziff
Artie Ziff (Jon Lovitz, Dan Castellaneta) was first seen as Marge Simpson's high school prom date with "busy hands" in the first Homer-Marge flashback episode. He returns in a later episode where he is revealed to have become a nerdy, self-centered and pretentious software billionaire. He offers a million dollars to the Simpsons for one weekend with his childhood love, Marge. Ziff returns for the last time in "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner", where after he gives his bankrupt company to Homer, Homer is taken away by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission as they believed he was the real owner. Ziff later turns himself in (after a romantic encounter with Selma Bouvier), where he is extinguishing other prisoners' cigarettes with a spray bottle. Marge told the children to say goodbye to Artie, as they may never see Ziff alive again. He is Jewish; and apparently believes this is why he is so unpopular (when Marge angrily asks if he knows why everyone hates him, he innocently says "Anti-Semitism?". )

Animator David Silverman based Ziff's appearance and body language on a man he went to high school with named Mark Eisenberg.

Baby Gerald
Baby Gerald, also known as "the monobrow 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 one another. They were, however, able to put aside their differences in "Papa Don't Leech," in which we see Maggie reaching Baby Gerald via play telephone in order to share with him Lurleen Lumpkin's song of woe. On one occasion, Homer mistakes Maggie for Baby Gerald. Gerald has a history of causing large scale public incidents and was once rescued by Bart's mail-order dog, Laddie. Mayor Quimby once remarks, "Baby Gerald, we can't help but wonder what mischief you'll get into next". Gerald once spilled a shovel full of sand over Snake Jailbird's face. Baby Gerald acts in the supermarket scene of the opening credits as of episode 430, "Take My Life, Please". The character's name was revealed in the episode "The Canine Mutiny".

Benjamin, Doug, and Gary
Benjamin, Doug, and Gary are voiced by Harry Shearer, Hank Azaria, and Dan Castellaneta, respectively. 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". Because time was short, director Jim Reardon used a caricature of animator Rich Moore and colored it black for Benjamin. Benjamin, Doug, and Gary are dorm roommates at Springfield University. Benjamin wears horn-rimmed glasses, Doug wears a pocket protector, and Gary carries a calculator in his pocket.

Bernice Hibbert
Bernice Hibbert is voiced by Tress MacNeille. She is Julius Hibbert's wife. She enjoys watching violent car crash movies. She has two boys and a girl with Julius, and laughs like her husband. Her marriage with Julius is on the rocks. Bernice refuses to kiss Julius, even when an entire audience is looking at them; Julius remarks how unaffectionate she can be. Her drinking has been joked about on several occasions; she faints when she reads that prohibition had been introduced to Springfield and attends Springfield Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Bleeding Gums Murphy
"Bleeding Gums" Murphy (Ron Taylor, Daryl L. Coley ), was the jazz musician, idol, and mentor of Lisa Simpson. His significant roles were in the episodes "Moaning Lisa" and "'Round Springfield", though he appeared 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. At one point he had enjoyed a fairly successful career, releasing an album ("Sax on the Beach") and appearing on Steve Allen's Tonight Show  but quickly lost his money as he bought and consumed several Fabergé eggs. He had 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" after Bart ends up in the hospital, Lisa wanders off to find him 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 Bleeding Gums has died from circumstances that are never revealed. No one, except for Lisa, attends Murphy's funeral. Lisa soon learns that though he may be gone, he still is alive in her. It was strongly hinted that Murphy and Doctor Hibbert are long lost brothers, most notably by the 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 then laughs inappropriately 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 Lemon Jefferson. 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 Simpsons opening sequence since the second season. Originally, even after his death, Bart would skateboard past him on the street. In the revamped title sequence, introduced half-way through the twentieth season, a portrait of him hangs on the wall of the music room.

Blue-Haired Lawyer
Burns's Lawyer, also known as "The Blue-Haired Lawyer", is voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He first appeared in the second season episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car". He is Springfield's most prominent and powerful lawyer, known for his blue hair and nasal New York accent. He is one of the few Simpsons characters to have a pasty-colored face. He also occasionally appears to serve as a prosecutor. Unlike Lionel Hutz or Gil Gunderson, he is a competent (though not necessarily ethical) lawyer. He has served as 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. He represented The Walt Disney Company in "Lisa the Beauty Queen" and tried to shut down the school carnival, citing infringement (but he and his goons ended up getting beaten by Principal Skinner's martial arts skills from being a Green Beret). His largest role was when he assisted in Bart's emancipation. He also represents the estates of Charlie Chaplin and Jimmy Durante. In "Papa Don't Leech", he helps Lurleen Lumpkin (Beverly D'Angelo) win her trial. He also appears as Marge's lawyer in "Behind The Laughter".

The character's demeanor, as well as Dan Castellaneta's voice for the character, are based on lawyer Roy Cohn. Animator Jim Reardon modeled the character's appearance on actor Charles Lane.

Brandine Spuckler
Brandine Spuckler is voiced by Tress MacNeille and is the partner of Cletus Spuckler. Brandine and Cletus are depicted as stereotypical hillbillies. Throughout the series, the two are shown to be brother and sister, boyfriend and girlfriend, mother and son, and father and daughter. She is apparently the daughter of Cletus and an alien, making Cletus a polygamist. She has suffered from rabies, and admitted to being illiterate. She once interviewed for a job as a stripper. More recently, it's shown Brandine is 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 her 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 priest, even though Cletus treats the family pig better than her. 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, and had married four times before that. She was briefly under consideration as a foster mother to Bart and Lisa.

Charlie
Charlie is voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He works at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant as the 'Dangerous Emissions Supervisor'. He was briefly replaced by Mindy Simmons, but she got fired afterwards. His first appearance was in "Life on the Fast Lane". He was briefly out of work due to a 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. 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. Dan Castellaneta said that he did "an imitation of Lenny" (voiced by Harry Shearer) for the voice.

Coach Lugash
Lugash (voiced by Dan Castellaneta), is a gymnastics instructor, and has only appeared in Children of a Lesser Clod and Little Girl in the Big Ten (although he can briefly be seen in The Simpsons Movie). He has a thick Romanian accent, and a large, brown curled moustache. He says he came into the United States in 1983 by cartwheeling over the Berlin Wall (though in a later episode, it was revealed that Lugash defected into East Germany). He is very harsh, and regularly attends anger management classes. His harsh but effective training techniques helped Lisa achieve a high standard of gymnastic ability. He also has a habit of confiscating his students' cats and dogs, only giving them back when the student has accomplished a physical task, although he once refused to give a girl her dog back and instead gave her a cat, saying that her dog "is cat now." Lugash's character may be based on Olympic gymnastics coach Béla Károlyi, known for his harsh temper and strict instruction methods.

Cookie Kwan
Cookie Kwan (Tress MacNeille), is an Asian American Realtor. She is the stereotypical competitive Asian. 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 whom she deems a threat to her business, evidenced by when she threatens Gil Gunderson. She had once attempted to seduce Ned Flanders, had an illegitimate baby with Mayor Quimby, and flirted with Homer. She is friends with Lindsey Naegle. She is a Republican. In her younger years, she had gone to Camp Land-A-Man with Patty and Selma Bouvier, Helen Lovejoy, Luann Van Houten, and Marge Simpson.

Crazy Cat Lady
Eleanor Abernathy (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 the episode Girly Edition; Lisa questions how someone who loves animals so much can be considered crazy and is then bombarded by cats. She is always surrounded by a large number of cats, and in every appearance she screams gibberish and/or throws cats at passers by. Kent Brockman later reveals her true name to be Eleanor Abernathy. She gives Lisa her cat, Snowball V, who looks exactly like her original Snowball II. She briefly becomes sane in "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass" thanks to some pills that she shows the Simpsons but returns to her bizarre behavior after Marge mentions the pills are Reese's Pieces. With medication, she is very intelligent. When participating in a mayoral election, unlike the other candidates, she discusses situations such as health care, economy, and public education in between her screams and gibberish.

In the 18th season episode Springfield Up, which flashes back to the childhood of various adult Springfielders, it is revealed that she actually has a somewhat tragic life story. When she was eight, she was a smart and ambitious young girl, similar to Lisa Simpson, who wanted to be both a lawyer and a doctor "because a woman can do anything". She was studying for law school at sixteen, and by twenty-four she had earned a MD from Harvard Medical School and a JD from Yale Law School. However, at 32, she suffered exhaustion, turned to alcohol, and became obsessed with her pet cat. By the time she is forty, she assumes her present appearance and behavior.

Database
Database first appeared in the episode "Bart's Comet" as a member of "the super friends". He has since had speaking parts in several episodes. His real name is not known, and he is usually seen with his fellow nerd Martin Prince. Database is a common target for Nelson, Dolph, Jimbo, and Kearney. Database's father is shown in Lemon of Troy, although he never speaks and is only in the background; he has since not been seen. Database was part of the group of boys who invaded Shelbyville in Lemon of Troy and was also part of the Pre-Teen braves in the episode The Bart of War. He is seen in The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show where he asks Homer, "On the Itchy & Scratchy CD-ROM, is there a way to get out of the dungeon without using the wizard key?" He's part of the school band as seen in The PTA Disbands. Principal Skinner also chooses him, as well as Lisa Simpson, Martin Prince, and Milhouse to head the CTU operation in "24 Minutes". Database is voiced by Nancy Cartwright. He is Matt Groening's 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 (and most relevant) appearance was in the season two episode Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish. Since then, his roles have become less relevant and have been reduced to cameos and appearances in crowd scenes. His latest speaking appearance was in "Old Yeller Belly", when he hooks Santa's Little Helper to the world of Duff Beer. According to "Who Shot Mr. Burns", Part 2, Kent Brockman doesn't like Dave Shutton and thinks he's unprofessional.

Disco Stu
Disco Stu, 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". 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). 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 is a Roman Catholic, having gotten an annulment from Pope John Paul II after a brief marriage to Selma Bouvier. In his younger years, he had a budding career as a sea captain, going by the name of "Nautical Stu". He is seen flirting with Marge in "Little Big Mom", but retreats immediately after discovering she has kids. In the episode Dumbbell Indemnity, Homer and Moe enter a nightclub called 'Stu's Disco', which may or may not be owned by Stu.

Stu was originally voiced by repeat guest star Phil Hartman. However, when the animators remodeled the character—show runner Bill Oakley described the original Disco Stu as "a black, wrinkly John Travolta"—and Hartman was not available to dub the voice, Hank Azaria took over the role. Out of 25, IGN named Stu the 24th top peripheral character in The Simpsons.

Dr. Marvin Monroe
Dr. Marvin Monroe is a psychotherapist, who first appears 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 shocking 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.

Since the seventh season, Monroe has been retired. That 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 an interstitial in the "138th Episode Spectacular". However, Monroe is seen alive in the fifteenth season in "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife" to purchase a copy of Marge's novel "The Harpooned Heart", stating simply that he's "...been very sick" when asked about his absence by Marge.

Dolph
Dolph (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is part of Jimbo Jones' gang of bullies (along with Kearney Zzyzwicz, and occasionally Nelson Muntz, and Bart Simpson). Dolph is recognized by his asymmetrical haircut which covers one eye and wears cutoff shorts and Chuck Taylor All-Stars style basketball shoes. He is left-handed and appears to have a hunch back. He looks to be 14-15 years old, but it is said in some episodes that he is in sixth grade, which would make him twelve (that or he's been held back once or twice). He does not talk as much as other bullies. His full name is Dolphin Starbeam, indicating his parents may have been hippies. He speaks a variety of languages including Klingon. It turns out Dolph is Jewish and attends Hebrew school. He lied to his friends about not having a bar mitzvah, later claiming it had been "just family", perhaps suggesting he may lead a double life. He has also mentioned the fact that he has two fathers. Dolph is named after Dolph Timmerman, a high school classmate of Matt Groening. Matt has been quoted as saying " Timmerman is not a bully, but a really cool guy."

Eddie and Lou
Eddie and Lou, voiced by Harry Shearer and Hank Azaria, are Springfield police officers. They first appeared in the first season episode "There's No Disgrace Like Home". The two do not have surnames, "kinda like Cher"; in his younger years, Lou referred to himself as "Lou the cop". The two say they like being cops because "you get to run red lights, park wherever you please, hot and cold running chicks and when you go home at night, you know you've made a difference".

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. In the episode "Pranksta Rap", Lou mentions that he has been writing negative letters to the editor under the pen name "Worried in West Springfield", calling for Wiggum's resignation. Lou was married to a woman named Amy. In "The Bart of War", it is shown that Lou is divorced from his wife, and Eddie has been seeing her occasionally. Lou is a Democrat. Lou starred in "Stop or My Dog Will Shoot", where he is featured prominently as the new owner of Santa's Little Helper. The episode reveals Lou has a girlfriend named Charquelle, and is very independent. Instead of going to University, he joined a grunge band with Homer, Lenny, and Carl. Lou is much more developed as a character than Eddie, and almost nothing is known about Eddie but it is believed that Wiggum considers him the graceful one and can't understand why he is single.

Al Jean and Mike Reiss named Lou after Major League Baseball player Lou Whitaker. Azaria based Lou's voice on actor Sylvester Stallone's. Lou originally appeared yellow in "There's No Disgrace Like Home". In "Bart vs. Thanksgiving", Eddie was animated to Lou's voice and Lou was animated to Eddie's.

In 2001, Hank Azaria won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for voicing Lou and various other characters in the episode "Worst Episode Ever".

Frankie the Squealer
Frankie the Squealer, 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 episode Insane Clown Poppy where his squealing habits are introduced after he squeals on himself for squealing. He is taken to a room by Louie and Legs who tie him to a chair and beat him up. Homer witnesses how Louie and Legs beat up Frankie and tell him to "never squeal again", almost immediately, Frankie squeals again by saying "Did you know that Fat Tony's first name is Marion?", after he says that, Legs says "You just don't get it, do ya?" and proceeds to keep beating up Frankie.

Gil Gunderson
Gil Gunderson 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". "Dan Castellaneta was so funny at the table read doing the character," Scully elaborated, "we kept making up excuses in subsequent episodes to put him in." Writer Dan Greaney said that 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.

Gil is at the pinnacle of bad luck and misfortune. In nearly all his appearances he utterly fails at what he does. This is usually due to being shown up by a superior co-worker, or through one of his own random acts of stupidity (such as pointing out the paint on a car he's about to sell comes off with rain water). However, despite his misfortunes, he always comes back the next time as if nothing had happened, albeit something bad would inevitably befall him again. He often refers to himself in the third person, as "Ol' Gil".

The only time he's showed to be a success (granted, by cheating) was in the episode "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words" in his ability to do crossword puzzles. He plays on Lisa's sympathy by seeming utterly incompetent in the game, stating that he would get his mind working by throwing around a few Q's and Z's. At this, he drops his glasses. When Lisa goes to pick them up, she realizes that there are no lenses in the glasses, but by the time she turns around, Gil has finished the puzzle. He has also shown some competence as an attorney and a real estate agent. However, he also manages to lose these careers either on or off-camera.

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.

Gloria
Gloria (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." She made a silent appearance in "The Old Man and the Key" beside her boyfriend at a drag race. 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. Also in The Simpsons Movie she is seen walking after the dome is put over Springfield.

God
God, voiced by Harry Shearer, has had many appearances in the series, including "Homer the Heretic", "Thank God It's Doomsday", and a quick scene with him, Buddha, and Colonel Sanders in "Pray Anything". He is portrayed in the traditional depiction of the Abrahamic God in the Western world: a gray-haired Caucasian man in a white robe with a booming voice (though it is revealed in "A Star Is Burns" that he speaks in "Flanderese", responding to Ned Flanders' "Thanks, God!" with "Okely-dokely!"). His face is only seen in a picture owned by Homer in "Pray Anything" (though this was likely an artist's depiction), a picture owned by Ned Flanders in "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily", and the opening sequence for "Treehouse of Horror XVI". In all other episodes, only his beard is seen as the camera only films him up to the shoulders (God is a head taller than everyone else in the Simpsons universe). His body is usually surrounded by a glowing light, though not always. He does not seem to be all-knowing; for instance, when referring to his son, he states that he does not know "what you people did to him" but "He hasn't been the same since". Also, in the Treehouse of Horror XIV segment "Reaper Madness" Homer tricks God by dressing Patty up as Marge. In the episode "Simpsons Bible Stories," where stories in the Bible are played by Simpsons characters, Ned Flanders plays the character of God in the story of Adam and Eve while Homer and Marge play Adam and Eve. In this episode, God's voice sounds like that of Ned Flanders; and while he is not actually seen we do see God's arm pop out of a cloud wearing Ned's trademark green sweater. One of God's distinctive features is that he is the only Simpsons character to be drawn with five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot, though not always (there have been scenes where God has only four fingers like everyone else in the show).

Grady and Julio
Grady and Julio (Scott Thompson and Hank Azaria) are a gay couple who become Homer's flatmates when he leaves Marge in "Three Gays of the Condo". Julio reappears in "There's Something About Marrying", marrying another man, and in "I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" as one of the hostages, and makes brief speaking cameos in "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" and "E Pluribus Wiggum". In "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words", Grady gets Homer to break up him and Julio.

Helen Lovejoy
Helen Lovejoy, 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." In the episode "Marge in Chains", she promises to "use [her] gossip for good instead of evil." When she was younger, she went to Camp Land-A-Man with Marge Simpson, Patty and Selma Bouvier, Luann Van Houten, and Cookie Kwan. A younger Helen Lovejoy is seen getting low marks as she did not put her forks in order. In the episode "E Pluribus Wiggum" it is seen that she is a Republican. 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.

Herman
Herman, voiced by Harry Shearer, is the owner of Herman's Military Antiques. He has only one arm; he tells Bart that the other arm was lost when he stuck it out the window of a moving bus. 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 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, though he was not put in jail because the evidence was stolen by the Springfield PD. He once captured Chief Wiggum and Snake and held them hostage (in an homage to a scene from Pulp Fiction), but was thwarted (accidentally) by Milhouse Van Houten wielding a flail. The writers were pleased that Herman already existed as otherwise they would have had to create a character for his scenes.

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 Larson
Jack Larson was a slick spokesman and now president for Laramie Cigarettes and once owned the Springfield Isotopes. He also was the spokesperson in a commercial for the Little Miss Springfield pageant, with Laramie cigarettes as the main sponsor. This advertisement was seen by Homer while watching TV at Moe's Tavern, as seen in the season four episode, "Lisa the Beauty Queen". Lisa did not win but was given the position after the first winner was struck by lightning (conducted by the beauty queen's crown and scepter). He was also seen in "Bart the Murderer", calming the crowd after a truckload of Laramie Cigarettes were stolen by Fat Tony and the Springfield Mafia (much to his distaste).

Janey Powell
Janine "Janey" Powell, voiced by Pamela Hayden, first appeared in Bart the General and was once Lisa Simpson'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" and this is probably an accurate description. Though she is sometimes seen hanging out 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. In one episode where Lisa and other girls were playing a party game with candle wax to predict the careers of their future husbands, Janey is dismayed to have her wax form the shape of a dustpan.

Jasper Beardly
Jasper Beardly (voiced by Harry Shearer) is one of the elder residents of Springfield. His most distinguishing features are his ultra-low, gravelly voice and very long beard. Jasper made his first appearance in "Homer's Odyssey", but did not speak until the episode "Bart the General" when he argued with Abe over the newspaper. He is a veteran of World War II. Jasper also tried to avoid the draft by disguising himself as a woman and staying in Springfield to play in the local women's baseball league, along with his friend Abe, who was also avoiding the war (according to the episode "Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play"). However, Grampa's attempts to dodge the war were unsuccessful, and he was eventually assigned to the Flying Hellfish. In the parade scene of "Lisa the Iconoclast", Jasper is seen in uniform, wearing a shoulder patch resembling that of the 2nd Infantry Division.

In the subplot of the season nine episode, "Lisa the Simpson," Jasper was put 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 (or "Frostillicus," as Apu renamed him) 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. According to a deleted scene from the Season Eight episode "In Marge We Trust", it was revealed that Reverend Lovejoy succeeded Jasper as Minister of the First Church of Springfield. In the episode "I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" Jasper mentions he is a diabetic. His left leg is prosthetic, as revealed in "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)" (though it wasn't made apparent in such past episodes as "A Streetcar Named Marge", when Jasper was able to stretch his legs during the audition for "Oh, Streetcar!", and "Boy Scoutz N The Hood", when Jasper was shown naked in a tub during "Sponge Bath the Old Folks' Day"). Jasper is also blind, as revealed in "Homer the Vigilante" and "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show".

Jasper serves as a scab substitute teacher during the teachers' strike in "The PTA Disbands". As a teacher he threatens paddling as a form of corporal punishment, however his class is quickly dismissed when his long beard gets caught in a pencil sharpener.

Jebediah Springfield
Jebediah Obadiah Zachariah Jedediah Springfield is the founder of the town of Springfield. He is voiced by Harry Shearer. Springfield, along with his partner Shelbyville Manhattan, led a band that left Maryland in search of "New Sodom" (a misinterpretation of the Bible), but they parted ways over political differences: Manhattan wanted to found a town where people were free to marry their cousins, but Springfield wanted a town devoted to chastity, abstinence, and a flavorless mush called "rootmarm", so Manhattan went on to found the rival town of Shelbyville.

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. The video game The Simpsons Road Rage references this episode: if one rams the statue while playing, the head will fall off. This can also be done in The Simpsons Hit & Run where Bart or Apu can kick or ram Jebediah's head off. In the video game Bart's Nightmare, Bart imagines himself being attacked by Jebediah heads. In The Simpsons Game in the second level stationed at a museum, a commentary played throughout the museum mentions when Lisa revealed his true name and nature then says "forget I said that."

On an expedition to Springfield's historic "Fort Springfield", Bart Simpson uncovered inconsistencies in the Jebediah legend, such as that he invaded a Native American village the same day as the first Whacking Day. In "Lisa the Iconoclast", Lisa Simpson discovered Jebediah Springfield's biggest secret: he was actually a bloodthirsty pirate and enemy of George Washington, whom he fought with and lost after Washington crushed Springfield's genitals in a set of iron false teeth. He was named Hans Sprungfeld, and had 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, 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 portrait of George Washington; Springfield picked it up during a fight against Washington which occurred while the latter was having his portrait painted. In the end of the episode Lisa was about to reveal this secret to the people of Springfield when she gave up, seeing that the myth of Jebediah has brought out the good in everyone.

Jimbo Jones
Corky James "Jimbo" Jones is voiced by Pamela Hayden but was originally voiced by Tress MacNeille in his first appearance in the first season episode "The Telltale Head". . He wears a purple knit cap and a black T-shirt emblazoned with a menacing skull (resembling the logo of Zero Skateboards). He can often be seen hanging around Nelson, Kearney, and Dolph, and he is generally acknowledged as the leader of this clique. He enjoys intimidating his schoolmates and shoplifting. Despite his reputation as a bully and delinquent, it is suggested he is a Christian and he will sometimes morally object to certain actions. It is hinted that he comes from a well-off family, most notably in season six's The PTA Disbands when — with the school closed for a teacher's strike - he and his mother watch soap operas and sip tea together in a very nice living room. A running joke with this character is that his mother, called Carol, is said at various points to be sexually available, possibly working as a prostitute. She sometimes walks around topless, which impresses Jimbo's friends. In season seven's Bart the Fink, Bart discovers that Jimbo's real name is Corky (though in season eight's Lisa's Date with Density, Nelson refers to Jimbo as "James" when Nelson is defending Lisa, implying that this could be his real name or a middle one). Jimbo is named for executive producer James L. Brooks. Jimbo can now be seen in the new Simpsons opening sawing the head off the Jebediah Springfield statue (along with Kearney Zzyzwicz), which lands on Ralph Wiggum's head.

Johnny Tightlips
Johnny Tightlips, voiced by Hank Azaria, is a member of the Mafia and associate of Fat Tony. He says very little, which spares him from accusations of being a "squealer," but his reticence tends to be unhelpful to others and even himself. 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'em to go suck a lemon." He is so determined to say as little as possible that he even refuses acknowledge whether he has a mother. The character was supposedly inspired by Frank Gusenberg, who after being shot 22 times by Al Capone's men declared "Nobody shot me." when questioned before dieing of his wounds.

Judge Constance Harm
Constance Harm is voiced by repeat guest star actress Jane Kaczmarek. She is a harsh, unforgiving disciplinarian. She enjoys creating cruel punishments for criminals in her court. She might be a transsexual based on her statement in "The Parent Rap": "you remind me of me, when I was a little boy". Her name is a play on "constant harm". The character is a parody of Judge Judy. Judge Harm first appears in "The Parent Rap", and a season later in "Barting Over", assisting in Bart's emancipation. In "On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister", she revealed she has a husband. Her most recent appearance was in "Rome-old and Juli-eh", telling Homer that he could not file for the "cool kind" of bankruptcy that he was expecting to solve all his problems. 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", "The Wandering Juvie", and "Brake My Wife, Please". Judge Harm is not to be confused with the unnamed female judge from earlier seasons who was voiced by Maggie Roswell.

Judge Roy Snyder
Roy Snyder is voiced by Harry Shearer. He is a Springfield judge known for his lenient punishments. 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 son was repeatedly run over by Lionel Hutz.

Kearney Zzyzwicz
Kearney Zzyzwicz (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) is one of Springfield Elementary's many bullies. He has a buzz cut, and wears a white torn shirt along with studded wristbands. Although he looks and sounds to be around Jimbo or Dolph's age, he is revealed to be much older. He was in third grade with Otto Mann, celebrated the United States Bicentennial, remembers the Watergate scandal, owns a car, regularly shaves, went to prison (though in Marge Be Not Proud, Kearney was seen in Bart's juvenile hall fantasy), and has custody of a child from a divorce. According to the season 13 episode, She of Little Faith, Kearney dated Jimbo's mother (which led to him getting beaten up by Bart and the rest of the bullies). 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 son of a teenager" (despite evidence from past episodes that prove that Kearney is not a teenager and that his son from "A Milhouse Divided" is not teenaged). He often relies on (or tricks) Homer into procuring alcohol for himself and his friends (as seen in The Springfield Connection and Last Tap Dance in Springfield), though it is implied that Kearney is of age to buy alcohol for himself (as seen in El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer, where he is briefly seen in Moe's Tavern). It's also heavily implied that Kearney has no job nor receives any means of income (in "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II, Kearney asks a department store Santa for a vibrating video game chair for Christmas and Kearney's son tells his father that they can't afford it), though Kearney had a temporary job as a camp counselor in the season four episode, "Kamp Krusty", along with Dolph and Jimbo.

Kearney's last name was revealed (in a computer file) on the season 18 episode, "24 Minutes". According to the season eight episode, "Lisa's Date with Density", Kearney drives a Hyundai (though in A Milhouse Divided, he was seen riding the bus with his school-age son) and in "Treehouse of Horror XIX" he is a registered voter (can be seen walking out when Homer goes in to vote). In Mypods and Boomsticks, it is revealed that Kearney may be questioning his sexual identity when, as the bullies prepare to beat up Bart's new friend, Bashir, he remarks, "I'm going to punch extra hard, because I secretly think you're cute." In the same episode, it is also revealed that Kearney is part of a cult that recognizes Moe Szyslak as their god.

In Bart to the Future, Kearney is a member of Lisa's secret service when she is President of the United States. In Future-Drama, Kearney is made vice-principal of Springfield High School and isn't the hardened thug he once was. Kearney's voice resembles Nelson Muntz from the early seasons of The Simpsons. Kearney can now be seen in the new Simpsons opening sawing the head off the Jebediah Springfield statue (along with Jimbo Jones), which lands on Ralph Wiggum's head.

Legs and Louie
Legs, voiced by Karl Wiedergott (formerly voiced by Hank Azaria), and Louie, voiced by Dan Castellaneta, are the two Springfield Mafia hitmen who accompany Fat Tony at all times. Fans often get the two confused due to neither of them having any real definitive characteristic and because they are almost always seen together. Legs has a short haircut and raspy voice. Louie has a slight afro and a more high-pitched, even squeaky tone. He says that tear gas is "[his] one weakness," though this is likely an embellishment.

Louie's appearance and mannerisms are strongly evocative of the character actor Frank Sivero, who has played gangster roles in films such as Goodfellas and The Godfather Part II. It has also been established that Joseph Kennedy, father of President John Kennedy, had something to do with Legs acquiring his nickname, though this is never properly explained. Legs is an accomplished mob surgeon as referenced in "Trilogy of Error", where he sews Homer's thumb back on as a part of Lisa's science project.

Lewis
Lewis is an African American character on The Simpsons. His best friend is Richard and he can be seen playing the bassoon in the opening sequence of the show.

Although one of the most minor characters in the show, Lewis appears frequently in scenes involving the Springfield children, and occasionally speaks. He is usually seen with Richard. Lewis is perhaps best known for his exclamation of "In your face, fishwife!" when the children broke curfew to watch the horror movie The Bloodening at a drive-in cinema in Wild Barts Can't Be Broken. He also failed to vote for Bart Simpson (along with his other classmates) when he stood for class president, helping to ensure his defeat to Martin Prince. He is often considered Bart's second best friend after Milhouse, and he is Bart's only African-American friend.

While Lewis has never had significant amounts of dialogue, he has been voiced by Nancy Cartwright, Jo Ann Harris, Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, and Russi Taylor throughout the series.

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 only known (at least on the Internet) as "The Generic Female TV Executive". She appeared again later in "Girly Edition", also as a generic female TV executive (only her hair and facial features differed from that of her first appearance). In "They Saved Lisa's Brain", she was introduced as "Lindsey Naegle", as 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 come in contact with while working on the show. The character gets her last name from Sue Naegle, Hollywood talent agent, 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 prototypes 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, the 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."

Lois Pennycandy
Lois Pennycandy is the executive assistant to Krusty the Clown. She swayed Krusty into visiting Bart Simpson, the child who 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 sideshow auditions where Robert Terwilliger became Krusty's new sideshow, and was at Krusty's "funeral" when Krusty was presumed dead after crashing his private jet into a cliff. In a phone conversation with Marge Simpson, Marge asked her, "How can [Krusty] hurt someone who loves him so?" Pennycandy replied, "Oh, Mrs. Simpson, I've wasted my womanhood asking that same question", while looking at a framed photo of Krusty the Clown. At a bachelor charity auction for the Springfield Fire Department, she combined her bid with four other women to share the same bachelor. Her only speaking roles are in "Like Father, Like Clown" and " Krusty Gets Kancelled." She was voiced by Pamela Hayden. Pennycandy made her most recent appearance in "G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)" dressing Krusty in an anti-PETA fur coat.

Luigi Risotto
Luigi Risotto is voiced by Hank Azaria. He is the proprietor of Luigi's, a local 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 often treats his customers rudely, insulting and belittling them. In the episode "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas", he reveals he does not speak Italian ("I speak-a, how you say, fractured English. It's what my parents spoke at the home."). It is hinted that Luigi is an illegal immigrant, even though he tried to run for mayor, telling Springfielders, "I make you the good government, just how you like it!" The animators copied Luigi's appearance from a chef that was on the front of a pizza box.

Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon
Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon (Bengali मंजुला নাহাসাপিমাপেটিলন) is the wife of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon and the mother of their eight children. 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. She claims that Fried Green Tomatoes is her favorite book, movie, and food. She has excellent culinary abilities, demonstrated by her ability to make a wide variety of dishes using only chickpeas, lentils, and rice. She is also one of Marge's best and only friends.

In "The Sweetest Apu", Apu has an affair with a Squishee lady. After Homer discovers this, he and Marge confront Apu, who caves into 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 has been voiced by Jan Hooks and Tress MacNeille.

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 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis 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, but apparently forgives him, laughing when he defends himself by saying he "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.

Mary Bailey
Mary Bailey is the 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. She was Mayor of Springfield before Joe Quimby.

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 yells in disgust after unfurling Lisa's flag. Bart had redesigned it to look like a butt with "Learn to Fart" underneath. She also 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."

Mr. Costington
Mr. Costington is voiced by Hank Azaria. He is the president of Costington's Department Store. He first appeared in the season nine episode "Trash of the Titans" as "Chairman", where he invented "Love Day", and later in "Homer vs. Dignity". He is one of very few characters on the show to actually have eyebrows.

Costington's catchphrase is "You're fiiired!". In "The Boys of Bummer", when he hires Homer, he says "You're hiiired!". Homer has worked for him on three occasions: as the Thanksgiving Day Parade Santa Claus, as a mattress salesman, and a model for top-brand Jeans. He also seems to have employed the Yes Guy as he works at the shop in most of his appearances. In Kill Gil, Volumes I & II, he fires Gil for giving Lisa the Malibu Stacy set he had put aside for his (Costington's) daughter. In "Crook and Ladder" Mr. Costington thanks the volunteer fire department for putting out the fire in his store.

Mrs. Glick
Mrs. 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. 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", and plays the pipe organ at the church. She was originally voiced by Cloris Leachman and later by Tress MacNeille.

Mrs. Muntz
Mrs. Muntz is voiced by Tress MacNeille. She is Nelson Muntz's mother. Nelson receives his trademark laugh from her. Early on in the series, Nelson would often mention his parents, and it was often implied that Nelson's mother does not care for him. In "A Milhouse Divided", Nelson tells Milhouse that his mom is addicted to cough drops, which is why his father left the family. In "Bart Star", Nelson says he doesn't want to bother his mom at work after his dad offers to take him to Hooters. In a later episode, he explains that she was fired for getting too fat. She owns a dilapidated house and is depicted as a jailbird, a whore, a stripper, or something similar. She was first heard (but not seen) in the Season 10 episode "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" when Nelson goes to break curfew and she yells, "We're out of Skoal!"

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 Nelson. She implies she misses Nelson's father. At the end of the episode, the three Muntzes reunite, and she receives a new job as Lady Macbeth, with "the third director she slept with" ("I don't have to take my top off, but I do anyway!"). 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 even refers to her as Mrs. Muntz. In "Any Given Sundance", Nelson creates a film about his strained relationship with his mother and how her life has gone downhill and shows no signs of improving.

Ms. Albright
Ms. Albright is voiced by Tress MacNeille. She is the First Church of Springfield Sunday school teacher. She speaks with a soft Southern accent and appears to be somewhat intolerant; when referring to Bart when he was tempted to convert to Roman Catholicism, she said "I heard he’s Catholic now. And her (Marge) husband too." She appears to be good friends with Helen Lovejoy. She is occasionally seen in the background of various episodes as well as in church scenes (such as in “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star”). She also appeared in The Simpsons Movie.

Old Barber
The Old Barber originated in one of The Simpsons shorts created by Matt Groening, which aired on The Tracey Ullman Show, "Bart's Haircut". In the short, he cuts Bart's hair not to his liking and then Bart tries several ways to hide it. Dan Castellaneta voiced the Old Barber in that short and in subsequent episodes in the series, and based the voice on comedian Bob Elliott's.

The Old Barber later appears in The Simpsons in "Simpson and Delilah" cutting Homer's hair. In "Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk", Homer daydreamed spending the $25 he earned from selling his stock on a hair cut from the Old Barber. In "Radio Bart", the Old Barber shaves Bart's hair for his birthday, and in "22 Short Films About Springfield", he cuts gum out of Lisa's hair. The Old Barber made his most recent appearance in the twelfth season episode "Lisa the Tree Hugger", paying Bart for his work in hair. 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
The Old Jewish Man, (sometimes called the Crazy Guy, Crazy Old Jewish Man [according to Internet fans], or Crazy Old Man [according to "Krusty Gets Kancelled"]) is Grampa Simpson and Jasper Beardley'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 Jewish accent, and curses in Yiddish in one episode. He is apparently friendly with Krusty the Clown and Krusty's father, as the three of them have been seen walking along a street singing the ditty "Even though we're not gentile / We'll get together for a while/ To shoot the breeze/ And eat Chinese/ Cause Christmas eve is here. Oy! " at Christmas. He often yells at people, and as seen in "Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores", owns a store called Zip Boys, a parody of Pep Boys (although the Treehouse of Horror episodes in which the short was featured are not considered Simpsons canon). 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", he was revealed as having worked as a studio executive during the making of Casablanca, having hacked on a later suppressed happy ending, with a question mark that left the door open for a sequel, and the It's a Wonderful Life "killing spree ending". He observes that the quality of studio management has changed over the years. At the time of the Casablanca blunder, they "was just dopes in suits. Not like today!" He had a brother named Irving who died and who he misses a great deal.

Patches and Poor Violet
Patches and Poor Violet are two of Springfield's orphans. Patches is voiced by Pamela Hayden and Poor Violet is voiced by Tress MacNeille. Introduced in “Miracle on Evergreen Terrace,” Patches gives the dollar they were saving to Bart, which was their vitamin money. They have since had cameos 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. In the Simpsons Comics, the family accidentally adopted Poor Violet and she spent one month with the family. Meanwhile, Patches showed Bart around the orphanage (à la Oliver Twist).

Princess Kashmir
Princess Kashmir, real name "Shauna Tifton" (and goes by "April Flowers" when she regularly performs at strip clubs), is an exotic dancer. She was introduced in the first season episode "Homer's Night Out". She is voiced by Maggie Roswell. Bart, using a toy spycam at a restaurant, captures an image of a drunk Homer cavorting with the belly-dancer at a stag party. The incriminating photo is distributed all over town, making Homer famous, but also getting him in trouble with his boss at work (who really wants his advice on how to attract women) and threatening his marriage to Marge. He apologizes to Marge after she kicks him out, but, fearing that Bart will see Homer's picture as a sign that it is okay to treat women like sex objects, Marge makes Homer find Princess Kashmir so he can apologize to her in front of Bart.

In "Lisa's Pony", Shauna once dated Apu before his marriage to Manjula, and was also seen with his brother Sanjay. She was in two couch gags: the one from "Marge vs. the Monorail" where everyone in town sits in front of The Simpsons after they make it to the couch (in the couch gag, Shauna is depicted with black hair instead of brown and is dressed in her Princess Kashmir belly dancer outfit) and the ones from "Bart After Dark" and the first airing of "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" where the living room is a detailed replica of the album cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (where she is also shown dressed in her Princess Kashmir belly dancer outfit). She is on the Homewreckers bowling team in "Team Homer". As an in-joke, she dances in the burlesque house in "Bart After Dark", and in so doing lures Homer from picking up Bart at the house. She also appeared in "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment", dancing with Chief Wiggum at Moe's Tavern (wearing a red bra top, short shorts, and white boots). She is also a regular on the game show Springfield Squares, as seen in "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder". In the episode "Flaming Moe's" she is seen danced on a tabletop with Otto. Her most recent appearance is in "Homerazzi", in a celebrities club with Sideshow Mel.

Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky
Hyman Krustofsky is the father of Krusty the Clown. He first appeared in the third season episode "Like Father, Like Clown". In this episode and in season fifteen's "Today I Am a Clown", he was voiced by comedian Jackie Mason.

In "Like Father, Like Clown," Rabbi Krustofsky had been estranged from his son for several years. He disowned Krusty when the young man chose to become a clown when Krustofsky had wanted him to follow the family tradition of becoming a rabbi. Years later, after much exchanging of Talmud passages between Bart Simpson and Rabbi Krustofsky, Bart read the Rabbi a quote from Sammy Davis, Jr. admiring the Jews, which finally convinced Rabbi Krustofsky to accept his son for his career in entertainment. He and Krusty reunited on the air of Krusty's show. The episode 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—and a chance to do a lot of easy jokes—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 rejected his destiny in order to become a comedian.

Jackie Mason won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his performance as Krustofsky in "Like Father, Like Clown" in 1992. The Phoenix named Mason one of the show's 20 best guest stars.

Rich Texan
The Rich Texan is voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He is a stereotypical rich, callous but gregarious business owner. He is an active member of the Springfield Republican Party and speaks with a heavy Texas drawl. In the fifth season episode “$pringfield” (the Rich Texan's debut), 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 has stated in "Marge's Son Poisoning" that he enjoys moonlight walks on the beach; in the same episode he held Homer and Moe at gunpoint while forcing them to walk along with him after being tricked by the two. 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, and once in "Pray Anything" he went over the top and lost his mind after doing something generous for Ned Flanders. He has a gay grandson, as revealed in "Million Dollar Abie" and a daughter named Paris Texas (who looks and acts like hotel heiress Paris Hilton). In "Midnight Towboy", he revealed he suffers from pogonophobia (the fear of beards and moustaches); he then promptly shoots at least one man dressed as Santa Claus. In the episode "Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Three Times", it is revealed that he is originally from Connecticut, a likely reference to George W. Bush who was born in Connecticut, but raised in Texas and uses Texas iconography.

Richard
First seen in Bart the Genius, Richard is a gray haired student at Springfield Elementary School and is one of Bart's close friends. He is usually seen with Lewis and has a leather jacket and a shirt with a small diamond embroidered into the center. As one of the most minor characters in the show, Richard appears frequently in scenes involving the Springfield children, and in the early seasons was often involved with mischief. Throughout the series, he has been voiced by Nancy Cartwright, Jo Ann Harris, Pamela Hayden and Maggie Roswell. This is because he rarely speaks and thus has no specific voice actor.

In the early seasons he was commonly seen hanging out with Bart, Lewis and Milhouse, but in recent years he is only seen in the classroom and in crowd scenes. He had a brief speaking part in The Haw-Hawed Couple, where he was voiced by Pamela Hayden. His hair color changes from black to grey, to brown, and then to blue throughout the course of the show. However, in Simpsons Comics, his hair always appears gray.

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. 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 (she is seen wearing a headband in "Mayored to the Mob"). In the episode "The Cartridge Family" she was part of the NRA. She was voiced by Pamela Reed in her first two speaking appearances.

The episode "Marge on the Lam" features Ruth and Marge going on the run from the law in a stolen convertible, a parody of Thelma & Louise. Ruth makes a special appearance in the episode "Strong Arms of the Ma", advising Marge (who is taking up weightlifting) to use steroids. She reveals during her time in prison, she was "Miss Mexican Mafia". In The Simpsons Movie, she is seen in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting along with Barney Gumble.

David Mirkin said that Pamela Reed would always give great performances and that he does not know why they did not use her more.

Her latest appearance was in the season 20 episode "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words", she is shown at the crosswords tournament.

Sam and Larry
Sam and Larry, also known as "Barfly #1" and "Barfly #2", are the two barflies usually seen at 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 once throughout the series; on the season three episode "Lisa the Greek", Sam asks Homer who he bet on during the Super Bowl. Larry hasn't spoken, except for in fantasy sequences (i.e., the "Christmas in Juvenile Hall" on "Marge Be Not Proud" and the fantasy sequence on "Simpson Tide" where Apu thinks of his cigarette machine and Larry says, "This stupid machine took my money!"). Sam was presumably shot on "Worst Episode Ever" after paying for his beer in Sacagawea dollars, but has appeared (albeit rarely, since Sam and Larry have been replaced by Lenny and Carl) in episodes after this.

Sanjay Nahasapeemapetilon
Sanjay Nahasapeemapetilon (Bengali संजय নাহাসাপিমাপেটিলন) is voiced by Harry Shearer and is Apu Nahasapeemapetilon's younger brother. He has a daughter named Pahusacheta and a son named Jamshed. Sanjay has a wife, as he asked Apu to promise not to sleep with her (Apu's response to this request was a cheery "I promise nothing!"). He occasionally runs the store with Apu, but he is not there all the time. He is also hinted to be a Hindu like Apu.

Sarah Wiggum
Sarah Wiggum (née Kanickee) is voiced by Pamela Hayden. She is the wife of Clancy 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 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. In the Season 19 episode, "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind", Marge tells Homer that she does not like Sarah Wiggum, though there is no further information as to why Marge feels this way.

Sea Captain
Horatio McCallister, also known as "The Sea Captain", is voiced by Hank Azaria. Azaria modeled 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 literal "wooden 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.

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'." His restaurant, The Frying Dutchman, is a failing business venture that does not generate enough income to support its owner. 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. He attacked a giant squid in "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", looking for gold he believed was in its belly. He once also proposed to Mr. Burns in the episode $pringfield(Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling) an expedition around the Cape Horn, "and return with spices and silk, the likes of which ye have never seen." When Burns angrily reminds him that this was a casino that he's building, he replied, "Arr...can you give me five minutes?"

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 can not bring the Simpsons their food for numerous reasons like the "chef having problems with tonight's special", which was a squid. He later offers to bring them food from another restaurant; Marge asks if he could bring food from Red Lobster but he says "yar, not that good a restaurant". He then ignores the family while playing pickup basketball games with the restaurant's staff. His rare appearances are referenced in The Simpsons Game, where The Sea Captain tells Bart and Lisa "I almost never appear this much in the series", before hurriedly adding "of events that constitute your lives" when the children seem confused by his statement.

In "I'm with Cupid" it's hinted Captain McCallister has homosexual tendencies for living so much time on the sea with only seamen, although in "Bart's Inner Child" he takes pictures of Selma and Patty naked and "A Star Is Born-Again" he says he "does not do that sort of thing... on land". In "Faith Off", it is said that he actually suffers from chronic depression, and seeks the help of Bart.

Sherri and Terri
Sherri and Terri, voiced by Russi Taylor, are identical twins with long purple hair. They perpetually reinforce their identities as twins. 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, had the last laugh when he was promoted above the twins' father to safety inspector. Their mother is shown in "Bart Sells His Soul" and looks just like her daughters. Sherri was born first; they share their birthday with Rod Flanders. It is shown in "Homer's Odyssey" that the twins are half black, as their father is African-American and their mother is Caucasian.

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. One of the twins stated that her sister had a crush on Bart in "Bart Star". Another time, in "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder", Homer openly addressed Terri as "the girl Bart has a crush on".

Snake Jailbird
Snake is voiced by Hank Azaria. He is Springfield's resident recidivist felon, always getting arrested but rarely appearing to stay in jail. He speaks with a "Valley Boy" accent, mixed with a hint of middle-class English that belies his criminal status. He is partial to fast cars and fast women, and has a knack for reckless abandon. He had a car called Li'l Bandit, which Homer won at a police auction (as seen in Realty Bites).

Snake first appeared in the season two episode "The War of the Simpsons" as one of the partygoers during Bart and Lisa's wild house party. His name was first mentioned by Sideshow Bob in "Black Widower" when Sideshow Bob was saying goodbye to his prison friends after being granted parole. The character was originally named Jailbird. The animators assigned him to the role of Snake in season three's "Black Widower" and the character has gone by that name ever since. Whenever Snake appears in prison, his prison number is always 7F20, the production code of the episode in which he first appeared. Hank Azaria's voice for Snake was based on a roommate he had while in college.

In the episode "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story", Lisa tells a story in which Snake refers to himself as Professor Jailbird, an Indiana Jones-like archeologist who turned to robbing convenience stores as revenge for the theft of valuable coins he had excavated. Snake attended Princeton University, and turned to a life of crime during his year off. Snake also apparently attended Middlebury College, as he robs Moe's Tavern to pay off his student loans and is shown wearing a Middlebury shirt in "22 Short Films About Springfield". He also played lacrosse at Ball State University, according to Treehouse of Horror IX. He has a casually hostile relationship with Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, whose convenience store he robs so frequently that Apu considers the continual robberies perfectly normal. He is often used as a cutaway foil for Apu; often, when Apu mentions his absence from the Kwik-E-Mart, Snake is shown robbing it, with various snide remarks. In the episode "Marge in Chains", he literally "shoplifts", stealing the entire Kwik-E-Mart shop via a flat-bed truck, declaring "I'm taking this thing to Mexico!". In "Yokel Chords", he and Apu are seen in psychiatrist's office, bickering about Snake's robberies and shootings in the manner of an unhappily married couple. Snake also has a son named Jeremy, who looks just like him (who was introduced in "Pygmoelian") and likes to steal bicycles. Unlike his father, Jeremy is rather timid as seen in The Seemingly Never-Ending Story. Snake has another child on the way; however, it has been implied he and the mother--Gloria--are no longer an item. In a Simpsons comic, Snake has a young daughter, who is also into theft.

Squeaky-Voiced Teen
Squeaky Voiced Teen, also known as Jeremy Friedman (voiced by Dan Castellaneta), is one of few teenagers on the show and is perpetually trapped in a series of dead-end jobs that do not lead him anywhere, usually working at Krusty Burger (as a cashier), 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 an usher). He is seen working in many establishments before being fired or quitting. The Squeaky Voiced Teen has acne vulgaris, 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 demanding.

The Squeaky Voiced Teen has appeared in two couch gags: one for the season 12 episode "Worst Episode Ever" where, as a valet, he pushes a couch in for The Simpsons to sit on, but walks off angrily when he doesn't get a tip, and again in "The Lastest Gun in the West" where he makes out with a blond teenage girl on the couch before The Simpsons come in and scare the two of them. In "Fraudcast News" he attempts to commit suicide because Fox cancelled Futurama. In "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays", he loses his squeaky voice to "become a man," after Lindsey Naegle suggests that the adults "kill every child...-friendly thing in town." Seymour Skinner refers to the character as "Jeremy" in a deleted scene on The Complete Fifth Season DVD. In "The Bart of War", he is seen fighting the Sarcastic Middle-Aged Clerk character (another character with a series of dead-end jobs). He appears on the 10th season DVD box on both the front and side, as well as the plastic cover for the limited edition Bart Simpson head box. In the episode "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy" the teen is referred to as 'Old Man Peterson' and 'Mr. Peterson' by Grampa while working for him.

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. 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.

Üter Zörker
Üter Zörker, voiced by Russi Taylor, is an overweight German foreign exchange student with a sweet tooth, and odd 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. 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 parents asked Skinner where their missing son was, and in "24 Minutes" he is seen stuck in a cobweb in the school air vents. In the German version of the show Üter is an exchange student from Switzerland. His uncle is a proud owner of a bubblegum-factory in Düsseldorf (respectively a chocolate factory in Basel in the German version). It is revealed in the episode "Jazzy and the Pussycats" that he can play the trumpet quite well. He even made a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory diorama, but he eats it before it can be marked in "Lisa's Rival".

Wendell Borton
Wendell Borton is a perpetually nauseated and extremely pale boy with worried eyes and curly hair, who first appeared in Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire. His first speaking appearance was in Homer's Odyssey. He makes frequent appearances at the School Nurse's Office at Springfield Elementary School. He is a classmate of Bart Simpson, though he is most seen with classmates Richard and Lewis, and voted for Martin Prince, thus making Bart lose in the class election, and ensuring Martin's victory. He cannot keep any food down, most notably corn dogs, french fries, mystery meat, Gorditas, the McRib, chicken wings, sausage, liver, tapioca, and tofu. He becomes especially sick on field trips, with a tendency to become even paler than usual. He once died in a freak accident with a pencil in a Treehouse of Horror episode (which are not canonical to the main series). He is one of the few characters (like Bart, Lisa, & Maggie) whose hair is the same color as his skin. Although a friendship with Bart is hinted (Bart choosing to say his apparent last words to him in Das Bus), Wendell is commonly mistaken for Lewis, despite the difference in their skin color.

Throughout the series, he has been voiced by Jo Ann Harris, Pamela Hayden, Nancy Cartwright, and Russi Taylor. This is because he rarely speaks and thus has no specific voice actor.

Winfields
The Winfields were an elderly couple who lived next door to the Simpson family and often talk about how crude and uncivilized the family is. They first appeared in the Season One episode "Homer's Odyssey". The couple eventually moved away to Florida in the Season Four episode "New Kid on the Block", which was also their last speaking appearance. The couple appeared in the Season Two episodes "Simpson and Delilah" and "Bart's Dog Gets an F", in which the wife is named Sylvia. She also had a small speaking role in the Season 3 episode Separate Vocations when she mistakenly thinks Bart is being arrested. The couple also appear in the opening credits of The Simpsons during the segment where Marge and Maggie pass many characters while driving home. A woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Mrs. Winfield appears in The Simpsons Hit & Run. Matt Groening named the Winfields after friends of his.

Wiseguy
Wiseguy is voiced by Hank Azaria. He first appeared as the chauffer in the second season in "The Way We Was". 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. 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 his real name, "Raphael".

A Wiseguy action figure, under the name "Sarcastic Man", was released in September 2003 in the World of Springfield series.

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΄ at the Springfield Dinner Theater. He is a character known for bellowing "Yeeeees?!" in a falling, then rising intonation, and appears to be highly eccentric in both his speech and appearance. In his first appearance, Homer asks why his voice is always stretched, and the Yes Guy replies by saying "I had a stroooooke". 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 the Springfield Penitentiary. Homer refers to him as "that jerk who always goes Yeeeees!" A Brazilian version of him was seen in "Blame It on Lisa", uttering "Siiiiim?!". He 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 "Yeeeees?!" 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.