Herb Powell

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**Herbert "Herb" Powell**
The Simpsons character

Age	37
Gender	Male
Hair Color	Brown
Job	Former owner and founder of Powell Motors, now manufacturer of baby translators
Relatives	Father Abraham Simpson, Half-brother Homer, half sister Abbie, Nephew Bart, Nieces Lisa and Maggie.
First appearance	Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?
Voice actor	Danny DeVito

Herbert "Herb" Powell is a fictional character on The Simpsons, voiced by Danny DeVito. He is the half-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 resemblances to Homer, though he is less rotund, has a full head of hair, and is significantly more intelligent.

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. (Janey Powell is another character that has appeared in the Simpsons, but is apparently not related to Herb.)

[edit] Character History

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Herb was the product of a short-lived affair between Homer's father, Abraham Simpson, and a carnival prostitute. (Abraham explained this to Homer Jay Simpson 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. He worked his way through college as a janitor and other odd jobs. Eventually, 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 birth 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.

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 a sum of money from Homer which he had recently won for the "Outstanding Achievement Award in the Field of Excellence" (which was a cover for the power plant rendering Homer infertile) 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 so-called "Simpson gene", a Y-chromosome defect that reduces the intelligence of male members of the family, as described in Lisa the Simpson. (However, as Homer has average intelligence 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. His "immunity" from the Simpson Gene might also be from the fact that he grew up as an orphan and was unaffected by an idiotic father-figure like other male Simpsons.

'Unkie 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.

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.