List of fictional characters within The Simpsons

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Although The Simpsons is itself a show populated by fictional characters (see: List of characters from The Simpsons), there are also several characters within the show's universe who are fictional to the Simpsons characters themselves (see also: Show-within-a-show).

These include characters from TV and movies, as well as characters who appear on Halloween Treehouse of Horror episodes, which do not follow the show's continuity (if it can be said to have one).

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Contents

Amendment To Be

Sings an homage to 70's Schoolhouse Rock educational songs about himself in "The Day the Violence Died" (3F16), voiced by Jack Sheldon, the original voice of the Schoolhouse Rock shorts.

Alf

ALF appears in the episode "The Springfield Files".

Barney

Barney the Dinosaur appears in two episodes. One in which Homer watches the Barney show and Barney drones, "Two plus two is four, two plus two is four." Homer proceeds to say, "No wonder this show's so popular." In another episode, Barney sings to infants in order to brainwash them into loving "the leader".

Big Bird

Big Bird appears in the episode "", in which Homer defrauds a PBS member station during pledge week. He flies down from the sky and squawks at Homer, making him run in the other direction.

Bender

Bender from Futurama appears in the episode """, he is seen manning one of the telephones in the PBS station. He later appears with voice John DiMaggio in the Episode GABF12 - "Future-Drama"

Care Bears

In the episode The Fat and the Furriest, Homer sees a violent Care Bear wielding an iron bar, product of his fear of bears. When Homer asks if the animal is a Care Bear, he corrects him, claiming that he's an "Intensive-Care Bear."

Duffman

Duffman is the advertising mascot and spokesman for the Duff Beer company. Likely inspired by the Anheuser-Busch Budweiser mascot Bud Man, a character introduced by the company in 1969 and reintroduced in 1989. His voice is provided by Hank Azaria. The mascot has been 'played' by 'real life' Springfieldite Barry Duffman, but up to three Duffmen have been known to be simultaneously present at a single event. On another occasion however, the Duff-Company's owner adresses him as "Sid". His appearances are mostly introduced by his elongated catchphrase "Duffman, ooh yeah!".

Elmo

Elmo has appeared in three episodes of The Simpsons. Elmo briefly appeared as a vengeful cartoon character in "". He reminded Homer, who didn't want to pay for a pledge he made to a PBS phone-a-thon, that "Elmo knows where you live." In "Bart-Mangled Banner", a parody of post-9/11 America, Elmo appeared in a political prison after supporting opponents of George W. Bush; he said, "Elmo go to wrong fundraiser." Afterward, Homer said, "I don't wanna end up like Elmo, hanging himself in prison." In another episode of The Simpsons, a Tickle Me Elmo doll appears in Maggie's nursery. Moe then tickles him, as Elmo slaps him and says "'No' means 'No' for Elmo!"

God

In one episode Homer states that God was his absolute favorite fictional character. He is the only character on the show to be drawn with a normal five-fingered hand (as opposed to the four fingers all other characters possess).

The Grim Reaper (Doug)

In the "Reaper Madness" segment of "Treehouse of Horror XIV", Death comes for Bart. Homer kills Death (in revenge for "Snowball I and JFK"), but is forced to become the Grim Reaper himself as a replacement. Jasper, one of the residents of the Springfield Retirement Castle, later asks Homer "Where's the regular guy? Where's Doug?"

Happy Little Elves

The Happy Little Elves were an animated cartoon within the fictional Simpsons universe. They were crudely animated green elves in simplistic plots aimed at very young children. They starred in several direct-to-video movies. Both Lisa and Maggie were fans of the Elves, much to the disgust of Bart. They were referenced in the early seasons of the show but dropped in later seasons, although Lisa can occasionally be spotted carrying her "Happy Little Elves" lunchbox. They were likely intended as parodies of kids' cartoons such as The Smurfs and the Care Bears.

Appearances:

The Return of the Happy Little Elves — The Tracey Ullman Show short.
unnamed Christmas special — "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".
The Happy Little Elves Meet the Curious Bear Cub — "Some Enchanted Evening".
The Happy Little Elves in Tinkly-Winkly Town — "Saturdays of Thunder".
The Happy Little Elves Meet Fuzzy Snuggleduck — "Homer Alone".

Itchy & Scratchy

Itchy and Scratchy are a super-violent cartoon cat and mouse duo in the style of Tom and Jerry featured on the Krusty the Klown Show. Homer provided the voice for a cartoon dog named Poochie, who costarred with Itchy and Scratchy for a few cartoons (see entry below for Poochie). Bart refers in one episode to several characters from "the short-lived Itchy & Scratchy and Friends Hour": Uncle Ant, Disgruntled Goat, and Ku Klux Klam. In yet another episode, Itchy and Scratchy were substituted with "Eastern Europe's favorite cat and mouse team, Worker and Parasite." Itchy and Scratchy were originally intended only to parody Tom and Jerry, but their cartoon shorts proved very popular and became a regular part of the show.

Malibu Stacy

Malibu Stacy is a doll for young girls, comparable to (and a parody of) a Barbie doll. Waylon Smithers of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant owns the largest collection of Malibu Stacy dolls in the world; he also took a leave of absence from the power plant to produce and star in "Sold Separately," a musical based on Malibu Stacy. Malibu Stacy comes with a wide range of often ludicrous accessories, such as the "Malibu Stacy Lunar Rover".

Stacy was designed by Stacy Lovell, and her life is based on that of her creator. Lovell was in turn eventually dropped by her own company for funneling profits to the Viet Cong. The doll was originally designed to be edible, but while kids didn't much like the taste of dried onion meal, they loved the doll. A second, plastic Malibu Stacy took America by storm. Older Malibu Stacy dolls featured breasts that were so large and pointy that they could poke children's eyes out, and were recalled.

When "Talking Malibu Stacy" dolls were introduced, pushing a button on the doll's back provided a typically vapid catchphrase (such as "Don't ask me, I'm just a girl, hee hee hee"). Lisa fronted an effort to produce a competing doll called "Lisa Lionheart", which would be less stereotypically sexist and more of a positive role model; its sales were disappointingly low, however, because of the simultaneous release of "Malibu Stacy With NEW Hat."

The Talking Malibu Stacy controversy was a parody of the Teen Talk Barbie controversy.

Marvin the Martian

Marvin the Martian appears in the episode "The Springfield Files"

McBain

McBain is a movie action hero and parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger played by Rainier Wolfcastle. McBain movies typically feature many standard action movie clichés, such as a policeman being gunned down just before retirement (see "retirony") and lame one-liners before dispatching enemies. The character's name may be a reference to Ed McBain, the pseudonym under which Evan Hunter wrote his famous 87th Precinct crime novels. The name may also be a reference to John McClane, Bruce Willis' character from the Die Hard films; another theory links the name to an incredibly bad movie where actor Christopher Walken stars as a mercenary prompting a revolution in a South American country, the movie is actually called 'McBain'. Some of his movies include, McBain: Let's Get Silly ("the entire movie is me standing against a brick wall for three hours, it cost 80 million dollars"), Under Cover Nerd and the McBain films up to McBain 4: Fatal Discharge.In the earlier seasons of The Simpsons McBain seems to be doing well in his acting career but when we see him later on in the seasons he is washed up and fat.

McGonigle

Often incorrecly referred to as "McGarnagle", DVD subtitles show the characters name to be McGonigle.

McGonigle is the main character of a television series that parody the "hard-boiled cop" stereotype of action movies. McGonigle is similar in appearance, voice, and behavior to Clint Eastwood's character of Harry Callahan from the Dirty Harry films.

McGonigle appears in two episodes: [1F05] Bart's Inner Child and [1F19] The Boy Who Knew Too Much.

Menthol Moose

Menthol Moose is the cartoon mascot for Laramie Cigarettes, a parody of Camel cigarettes' use of Joe Camel.

Mr. Peabody and Sherman

Mr. Peabody (a dog genius) and Sherman (his "pet" boy) are two fictional characters from the Jay Ward-created TV show Rocky and Bullwinkle. They make an appearance in the Treehouse of Horror V episode twice, most notably when Homer time-travels. Mr.Peabody has a condescending attitude towards Sherman that is highly comical; Mr. Peabody's resposes to Sherman are always met with "Quiet, you." In said episode, Kang & Kodos also take the forms of Peabody and Sherman.

Mr. Sparkle

Mr. Sparkle is a Japanese dishwashing detergent mascot that bears a strong visual resemblance to Homer Simpson. Voiced by Sab Shimono in "In Marge We Trust" (4F18).

Oscar the Grouch

Oscar has appeared twice on The Simpsons, though unofficially and not by name. The first was in 1998 in the episode Trash of the Titans, during the song "The Garbage Man." The second was in 2000 in the episode , in which Homer defrauds a PBS member station during pledge week.

Ozmodiar

Ozmodiar is a parody of the Great Gazoo from The Flintstones and is said to only be seen by Homer Simpson. However, he has been seen speaking briefly to Bart and Lisa.

Poochie

When network executives decided that The Itchy and Scratchy Show needed an "update" to keep the interest of its audience, they devised Poochie, a cartoon dog "with an attitude". After widespread auditions, Homer was chosen to provide Poochie's voice. The character debuted to an unreceptive audience following a massive publicity campaign; he only served to interfere with the well-oiled machine of hyperviolent slapstick that Itchy and Scratchy had perfected over the years. When dissatisfied viewers flooded the network with letters crying for Poochie's immediate removal, if not death, the executives quickly decided to get rid of the character. Homer begged for another chance, insisting that Poochie would grow on the audience; this argument held little weight until the actress who performed voices for both Itchy and Scratchy declared her support for Poochie as well. Homer was shocked, however, when the next cartoon aired: it contained a hastily-animated, retroscripted segment stating that Poochie had decided to return to his "home planet", and that he died when his spaceship crashed.

He has since been seen once in a cameo at a funeral in an Itchy & Scratchy cartoon, and was run over in a Halloween Special. He also continues to be released in Itchy & Scratchy related merchandise.

Radioactive Man

Radioactive Man is a comic book superhero of whom Bart and Milhouse are particular fans.

Ren & Stimpy

Ren and Stimpy appear at least twice in The Simpsons TV-Series.

In "Brother From the Same Planet" there is the animated clip on TV where Ren is eating Stimpy's collection of "furballs and stomach acid"

In "The Front" when Abraham Simpson wins the award for the best cartoon script one of the runner ups is "Ren and Stimpy: Season Premiere" ...although all that appears on the awards show screen are the words "clip not done yet".

SpongeBob SquarePants

SpongeBob SquarePants is one of three gods (Buddha and Jesus beside him) and appears in the episode "She Used to Be My Girl".

Teletubbies

Several episodes of "The Simpsons" contain references to the Teletubbies. Notable episodes include Wild Barts Can't Be Broken where Milhouse not only watches the show but owns a pair of Teletubbies underpants, as part of an angry mob who work for PBS, Days of Wine and D'oh'ses where a character called Gaa Gaa says "hurt everyone" which goes unnoticed because of the character's "cute name", in Lisa the Treehugger the couch gag has The Simpsons as the Teletubbies, and in Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays the Teletubbies make a live appearance in a parody of a Raffi concert, where the Teletubbies serve themselves Tubby custard and the predominantly toddler audience becomes excited at this seemingly simple act.

The Flintstones

A number of episodes of The Simpsons made explicit or implicit references to The Flintstones--- for example, in one episode of The Simpsons ("Marge vs. the Monorail") the starting sequence parodies the opening and theme song of The Flintstones, and in another episode ("Treehouse of Horror XII") Homer and Marge Simpson dress as Fred and Wilma Flintstone in the opening. In addition, the character Barney Gumble from The Simpsons is based on Barney Rubble. Another episode ("Lady Bouvier's Lover") has Mr. Burns greeting Homer, Marge and Maggie as Fred, Wilma, and Pebbles. Homer subsequently says "Yabba Dabba Doo!" when Mr. Burns gives him a box of chocolates. One episode's couch gag even featured the Simpsons running in and finding The Flintstones (as they were originally animated) sitting on the Simpsons' couch.

The Seven Duffs

The Seven Duffs are characters at the Duff Gardens theme park. The "Duffs" are a reference to Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, although Duff Gardens is an obvious parody of Busch Gardens. The Seven Duffs are named Tipsy, Queasy, Surly, Sleazy, Edgy, Dizzy and Remorseful. The only one that has spoken so far is Surly: "Hey, Surly only looks out for one guy...Surly!"

Tipsy McStagger

Tipsy McStagger is the name and mascot of the corporation that wanted to purchase the Flaming Moe's recipe in the episode of the same name. Moe mistakenly thinks there really is a Mr. McStagger.

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