Herb Powell
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Herbert "Herb" Powell is a fictional character on The Simpsons, voiced by Danny DeVito. He is the brother of Homer Simpson, and was introduced in the episode Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, which premiered on February 21, 1991.
Physically, he bears many resemblences to Homer, though he is significantly less rotund and has more hair.
Because many other Simpsons characters are named after landmarks in Portland, Oregon, it is thought that Herb Powell is named for SE Powell Blvd, the road US 26 follows through Portland's east side. (Jamie Powell is another character that has appeared in the Simpsons, but is apparently not related to Herb.)
Character History
Herb was the product of a short-lived affair between Homer's father, Abraham Simpson, and a carnival prostitute. (Abraham explained this to Homer by saying, "She did things your Mother would never dream of doing...like have sex for money.") He was put up for adoption shortly after birth, and the young Homer never learned of his existence. However, Herb found his calling in life, and became a businessman. He eventually founded Powell Motors, a car company based in Detroit of which he remained CEO. His rough childhood and rootlessness always bothered him, however, and his millions did little to alleviate this basic emptiness.Later, after Homer discovered that he had a brother, he sought Herb out. Herb was overjoyed to learn that he had a real family and bonded with his nieces and nephew. Disappointed with the performance of his company's current product-line, and believing that his blue-collar half-brother was more in tune with the average American man's desires, Herb asked Homer to design a new car for his company. Homer managed to virtually duplicate the commercial failure of the Edsel with 'The Homer', a lima bean-coloured 'monstrosity' of automotive oddities: a mish-mash of tailfins, Rolls-Royce grille, several bubble domes, shag carpeting and three horns (all of which played La Cucaracha). Herb lost his entire fortune in the aftermath of this blunder, was forced to sell his company to a Japanese firm (Kumatsu Motors), and became estranged from his brother. (The great irony, of course, is that what Homer had designed was essentially an SUV, which soon after took the market by storm. Evidently, Homer understood the American automotive ethos far better than anyone else did.)
Herb apparently spent the following year in deep poverty, living as a street vagrant. He re-appeared in the episode Brother Can You Spare Two Dimes?, which first aired on August 27, 1992. Having had an epiphany, he briefly settled in the Simpson household (despite his intense and continuing antipathy toward Homer). Herb borrowed some of the family's savings (they felt they owed him that much) and began to develop a device that was able to analyze baby speech and translate it into comprehensible English. Herb built his invention based on the observations he made of Maggie Simpson and it proved to be entirely feasible. He proceeded to mass-produce his new product and managed to regain his fortune ('I'm rich again! USA! USA!'). Herb left the Simpson residence after reconciling with Homer and buying presents for each member of the family.
Herb is apparently unaffected by the 'Simpsons gene', a Y-chromosome defect that reduces the intelligence of male members of the family, as described in Lisa the Simpson. (However, as Homer is apparently super-intelligent when not suffering from constant, acute brain trauma caused by an invasive crayon, perhaps his success was only to be expected.) It may be, however, that the Simpson gene has only limited effects on him; while he initially built Powell Motors into an automotive powerhouse from the ground up, a few scenes in which Herb chews out his executives suggest that the company was in trouble long before Homer came along. Herb also ignored his engineers' warnings about Homer's ineptitude, forging ahead with production of 'The Homer' and committing what Forbes magazine called "the blunder of the century." He was, however, able to bounce back from his mistakes by rebuilding his fortune with the baby translator. No other Simpson male has come close to achieving this level of success, despite Herb's mistakes.
'Unky Herb' has yet to make a third appearance, though Homer glowingly mentioned him in The Heartbroke Kid, and the camera panned to a portrait of him on the wall. It could be assumed that he is a sufferer of Chuck Cunningham syndrome.
It is also worth noting in the Tracey Ullman show short #14 "The Funeral", Homer sits the kids down and tells them that their uncle "Hubert" has died. Herbert may perhaps be a spinoff of that character.
See: Characters from The Simpsons
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