Homer Simpson

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Homer Jay Simpson (born c.1956) is a main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is the husband of Marge Simpson and the father of Bart Simpson, Lisa Simpson and Maggie Simpson. Although often portrayed as gluttonous, lazy or simple-minded, there are times when Homer has displayed amazing intelligence. Homer has become a popular character and an American icon. He is, alongside his son, Bart, arguably the show's biggest star and most well known character. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, who changed Homer's voice as the show evolved from the recurring short on The Tracy Ullman Show, reflecting Homer's emotionally adaptive nature.

Homer Simpson embodies a number of negative working class, American stereotypes; he has a low-level job, he is crude, relatively uneducated, overweight, intolerant, inept and a borderline alcoholic. He has a loose sense of reality, but can be capable and quick-witted at times. In spite of his apparently blue-collar status, he has had a number of remarkable adventures, even journeying into outer space as an astronaut.

Homer Simpson popularized the annoyed grunt "D'oh!" (made memorable through Dan Castellaneta's distinctive voice work), which began as an abbreviated form of Jimmy Finlayson's "Dooooh" from the films of Laurel and Hardy. This modern interjection has found enough popular acceptance to be included in the Oxford English Dictionary <ref name=oed>It's in the dictionary, d'oh!. BBC News. 14 June 2001. Retrieved 2 April 2006.</ref>.

In 2002, Homer Simpson placed #2 on TV Guide's Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of all time, after Bugs Bunny.<ref>CNN - TV Guide's 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters</ref> In 2005, Homer Simpson was listed as number 5 on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters, beating out beloved and respected characters like Columbo, Frasier Crane, Hawkeye Pierce and Captain James Kirk<ref>Bravo > 100 Greatest TV Characters</ref>. He is one of only four cartoon characters on the list, along with Eric Cartman (#19) and Rocky & Bullwinkle (#54).

Matt Groening has indicated that Homer is named after and loosely based on his own father, Homer Groening, whose name was also given to Groening's firstborn son.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Family and Friends

Homer was born and raised in Springfield, and is the son of Abraham "Abe" J. Simpson and Mona Simpson. He has a half-brother, Herb Powell, who was an automobile manufacturer before Homer ruined his business. Homer rebuilds his relationship with Herb by letting him stay in his home while Herb invents a machine which translates baby speech to understandable human language, the sale of which rebuilds his fortune. Homer also has a half-sister Abbie, the result of an affair between Abe Simpson and a British woman whom Abe met whilst stationed in Britain during World War II. Homer is nephew to (Abe's brother) Cyrus, who is mentioned in Simpsons Christmas Stories.

Homer married Marjorie Bouvier, who now goes by the name "Marge" Simpson, and fathered three children with her: Bartholomew (Bart), Lisa, and Margaret (Maggie).

With friends Barney Gumble, Carl Carlson and Lenny Leonard, Homer frequents Moe's Tavern (owned and operated by Moe Szyslak) to enjoy a mug of his favourite beverage, Duff beer.

Homer on the television series is a safety inspector at the local nuclear power plant, and like Fred Flintstone, he likes to rush home to watch his favorite TV show start.

[edit] Age

According to comments made on Simpsons DVDs by the writers and producers, Homer's age was initially 36, but as the writers aged, they found that Homer seemed a bit older, so they changed his age to 38. Episodes between seasons 1 - 10 set his age at 36, but episodes in seasons 10-13 mention that he is 38 or 39. To add to the confusion, seasons 14-17 claim Homer again to be age 36.^{[citation needed]} However, in Season 17, Episode 11 Homer states that he is 38 years old while driving Bart to his camp.

Homer does not appear to have a consistent birth-date as it was changed in various shows. For example, in one episode Bart and Lisa mention that Homer was born on January 12th, but in other episodes Homer has been given birth-dates such as May 10th, 1955, May 12th, 1956 or even 17-23-56(sic). In another episode, Homer mentions that he is a Taurus supporting his claims to be born in May but in a later episode, Homer has claimed to be a Capricorn, which indicates a January birth-date. In a subsequent episode, it is mentioned that Homer graduated high school in 1974 indicating he could have been born in 1956.

[edit] History

Homer was raised solely by his father after his mother left him when Homer was about six, and struggled in school. Homer graduated from high school, despite failing remedial science. Prior to graduation, he was told he would be a "shoo-in" for college, but was distracted by a dog with a ham before he could sign his application form for automatic admittance to college. His senior yearbook reveals a lack of interest in sports, other activities, and honors, and his yearbook quote was "I can't believe I ate the whole thing". During high school, Homer fell in love with Marge Bouvier, whom he would later marry (though both would later learn that they had first met as children at summer camp).

[edit] Personality

Homer's personality is one of frequent stupidity, laziness and explosive anger. He also suffers from a short attention span which complements his intense but short-lived passion for hobbies, enterprises and various causes. Homer says of himself, "When I'm passionate about something, I see it through to the end." For example, he converts his garage into a bar to spite Moe, the bartender, spent a whole episode studying and emulating Thomas Edison, convinced all of Springfield that the Rapture was imminent, and attempted to expose a plot to trade Springfield's baseball team out of state by going on a hunger strike.

Homer is prone to emotionalism. For example, he gets very envious of his neighbours, the Flanders, is easily enraged at his son, Bart, and is repeatedly physically abusive towards him.

While Homer has repeatedly upset people and caused all sorts of mayhem in Springfield, these events are usually caused by either his explosive temper or a lack of foresight. Except for expressing annoyance at Ned Flanders, Homer's actions are usually unintentional.

Homer has a sense of humor similar to that of Mel Brooks. Homer tends to derive amusement from the misfortune of others. He thinks the loneliness of his father and Marge's mother is funny, and laughs hysterically at things such as a man getting hit in the groin with a football.

Homer can also be extremely jealous and attention-seeking, often leading to fistfights, such as one with former President George H. W. Bush. After being the center of attention in a yard sale, Homer's thunder is stolen when Bush and his entourage move in across the street. Unhappy with the attention being diverted elsewhere, Homer escalates a hostile situation with Bush after the former president spanked Bart for shredding his memoirs.

Homer is a chronic petty thief and borderline kleptomaniac, stealing from Ned Flanders everything from TV trays to power tools and air conditioners. He has also stolen golf balls from the local driving range, coffee mugs, pens and computers from work, and beer mugs from Moe's Tavern. He is also known to go through his neighbors' trash, scavenging such odds and ends as coat-hangers, copper wire, old newspapers and estrogen medicine.

Despite his vices, he can be a surprisingly good father, husband and friend, selling his ride on the Duff blimp to enter Lisa in a beauty pageant, giving up his chance at wealth so Maggie could keep a beloved teddy bear, using a nuclear pile to threaten a crooked businessman who swindled Bart, giving up his dream job at the bowling alley to return to work at the Nuclear Power Plant in order to afford his third child, risking his own safety to prevent Bart from skateboarding over Springfield Gorge, and even saving Ned Flanders from ruin by advertising Ned's business. He remains faithful to Marge, despite having opportunities to cheat on her with other women.

Despite their differences, it can be argued that Bart is his favorite child. On many occasions , when Homer tells a joke in public, Bart is often the only one who laughs, and does so quite loudly. Also, whenever Homer comes up with a crazy scheme (such as selling grease for money), he finds Bart is the one child who will stand by him. Homer, for his part, stands by Bart and when all others had labeled Bart as rebellious and bad, Homer was the one person who stood up for Bart. Many fans speculate that Homer shows so much favoritism towards Bart because Bart reminds him of a young version of himself. Like Bart, Homer was lazy, unfocused, and largely disrespectful of authority as a child. The two share an enjoyment of simple humor and often find themselves bonding over jokes at someone else's expense, even members of their own family.

In addition, it was also mentioned in the episode How I Spent My Strummer Vacation that he called Bart his favorite because he was "the only one that would pretend to believe him".

[edit] Lifelong Dreams

Main article: List of Homer Simpson's Lifelong Dreams

Throughout the series' of The Simpsons, Homer is written as having many 'life long dreams'. These dreams have appeared during scenes where he is involved in some scheme, or gets another idea. The majority of these wishes are fulfilled in one way or another.

[edit] Musical Interests

Homer loves classic rock acts such as The Beatles, Grand Funk Railroad, Cheap Trick, Queen, U2, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, KISS, The Doors,The Who and Pink Floyd. In one episode, he revealed a lifelong dream to become a rock star, which was fulfilled when he attended the Rolling Stones' Rock 'N' Roll camp, meeting the group. This eventually leads to a temporary group membership and an appearance at one of their concerts.

In "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", we discover that in 1985, Homer was the leader of The Be Sharps, a phenomenally successful barbershop quartet featured on lunchboxes, posters and so forth. After winning a Grammy, the group breaks up over creative differences and waning popularity. At the end of the episode, we see the 'Be Sharps' gathering on the roof of Moe's Tavern to sing a reunion concert which parodies The Beatles' rooftop concert.

[edit] Work

Main article: List of Homer Simpson's jobs

Homer works as a safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant in Sector 7G. He spends much of his time dozing and eating doughnuts, but his job is repeatedly saved by fortuitous circumstances. In the episode "Homer's Enemy", Frank Grimes points out the fact that accidents have doubled and meltdowns have tripled every year since Homer became safety inspector, but this is dismissed by colleagues who like Homer enough to want to keep him around. Homer was only hired after marching into Burns' office and telling him that he would be the perfect spineless employee. Impressed with Homer's lack of will, Burns immediately hired him. Homer once said that Mr. Burns has not fired him even though he "caused three meltdowns and one China Syndrome".

During the episode "King Sized Homer", Homer becomes obese to go on disability welfare, having a computer installed in his house so he can perform his job there. During this sequence, it becomes clear that Homer has no knowledge of several routine critical procedures. Despite his stupidity in various episodes, he occasionally saves the power plant from substantial meltdowns.

Homer is not the only incompetent employee at the nuclear plant; others hold cockfights, play chess on company time, remove emergency procedure posters to make get-well cards, and scream with panic during meltdown alerts and fire drills. He sometimes gets other jobs, often for only one episode for a variety of reasons such as being fired or quitting his nuclear plant job.

During time away from the nuclear power plant homer has had jobs such as ambulance driver, artist, car salesman, monorail conductor, bodyguard, blackjack dealer, food critic, pin monkey at a bowling alley, Springfield Isotopes mascot, Kwik-E-Mart assistant, manager of a country and western singer called Lurleen Lumpkin, Mr Plow and a travelling salesman of his father's aphrodisiac. His success at these jobs varies from very good (pin monkey, monorail conductor, country manager, mascot, snowplow driver) to very bad (sanitation manager, blackjack dealer, travelling salesman and shill for his father's medicine).

[edit] In the Future

Sometimes The Simpsons features episodes or segments set in the future, in which Homer is not much different than he is in the present. Examples of this are "Lisa's Wedding", "Bart to the Future" and "Future-Drama".

[edit] Political Views

Homer generally seems to be an independent, and usually falls somewhere in between Republican and Democrat. In "Sideshow Bob Roberts" he is a fan of conservative talk show host Birch Barlow and votes for Bob Terwilleger over Joe Quimby, but is seen at Quimby headquarters. In "Two Bad Neighbors" he befriends Gerald Ford, and hates George H.W. Bush, though this is more of a mutual personal enmity.

In "The Homer They Fall", when Moe tells how his boxing career tanked due to getting knocked out 40 times in a row and also "politics", Homer memorably grumbles "Lousy Democrats". In "Homer the Great", Homer takes Grandpa Simpson's Communist Party card, so he could be considered a communist and, in another episode, he stated that "in theory, communism works." Many people bill Homer as a Democrat like Matt Groening, who in one Life in Hell comic, where Bongo writes the lists arguments for and against the existence of God, he puts Republicans on the "Against" list.

Homer also once screamed at a television broadcast of Sideshow Bob, "Pinko! Go back to Massachusetts!" In Japan, he expressed dissatisfaction with the family's table at the American-themed restaurant, complaining that they got stuck with "lousy Tax-a-chusetts" when they were seated at a Massachusetts-shaped table.

In at least one episode, Homer claims to not be a registered voter, and in another he let Bart fill out an absentee ballot on his behalf.

More recently, Homer has also voiced his opposition to President George W. Bush. Although he does not mention him by name, in a 2005 episode he goes on a political rant, shouting, "...America's latest military quagmire. Where will it be? North Korea? Iran? Anything’s possible with Commander Cuckoo-Bananas in charge!" <ref>Overspun.com clip archive - Transcript and video of the Commander Cuckoo Bananas segment</ref>

[edit] Height and weight

Homer's birth weight was given in Bart's Friend Falls in Love as 9 pounds and 6 ounces. During the normal time period in which the Simpsons is based, Homer stands at 6'1,<ref>According to the episode in which he gets a physical and in the video game entitled "Simpsons Hit and Run" at the bonus game screen. Although he has mentioned he is not very tall.</ref> and at one point weighed 261 pounds but decided to go on a diet to reach his current weight, 239 pounds. Homer once reached 315 pounds to avoid work by being classified as "disabled".<ref name=ksh>The Simpsons. "King-Size Homer", aired November 5,1995.</ref> The writers of the episode admit that Homer's appearance suggests that he is much heavier than his 'official' weight suggests. <ref>Season 7 DVD commentary</ref>

[edit] Hair

Homer has been bald since the mid 1980s, largely due to the fact that every time Marge was with child Homer would have a nervous breakdown and tear out large portions of his hair.<ref>The Simpsons And Maggie Makes Three, 1995</ref> Another explanation of his hair loss points to an Army experiment. He briefly regained all of his hair in another episode using a hair regrowth formula called Demoxonil, which showed his natural hair colour to be chocolate brown. <ref name=simpsdelilah>The Simpsons Simpson and Delilah, first aired 18 October, 1990</ref> In another episode, he grew two additional hairs while Bart was away at camp, due to reduced stress thanks to Bart's absence. Although he only has two hairs on top of his head, Homer maintains a combover. On several occasions, he has also lost these last two hairs, such as an episode when Mr. Burns pulled them out.<ref name=simpsdelilah>The Simpsons Simpson and Delilah, first aired 18 October, 1990</ref> Homer expresses fright at the prospect of losing his two remaining hairs.

His beard, while usually shaved, remains a constant, rough '5 o'clock shadow'. On several occasions, his beard has been shown growing back within moments of being shaved. He has also let it grow out several times. It is revealed in the episode "Three Gays of the Condo" that he also will resort to using spray-on muzzle for the 5 o'clock shadow look.

Homer has had two hair styles. The first was made up of "U"'s (right-side up and upside down) around the back. Homer's hairstyle was changed by Matt Groening because "it was faster to draw". Homer's current hairstyle is made up of /\/\/\/\ lines around the back. On a side view of Homer's head, two of these bumps (/\/\) and the shape of his ear make up the letters MG, for Matt Groening.

[edit] Diet

Homer is known for his rapacious appetite. His trademark food addiction is doughnuts, but Homer likes many other foods as well. He drinks his favorite beverage, Duff Beer, both at home and at Moe's Tavern.

His love of food does not stop at edible food. In one episode, he spends weeks eating a gigantic hoagie long after it goes bad<ref>The Simpsons, "Selma's Choice", aired January 21, 1993.</ref> and in another he eats obviously spoiled sushi, resulting in his being rushed to hospital. He has also drank crab juice, dish-washing liquid, soy sauce, and eaten Play-Doh, flowers, fancy soaps, Vaseline, lipstick, years old baking soda and dirt. On one occasion, Homer resorts to testing the effectiveness of plutonium by rubbing it on his gums.

Homer responds to seeing food by drooling, by making excited poses, or by saying "Mmm" and then the name of the food in question. Mmm...Doughnuts Like his "D'oh", this trademark has been adopted as a popular snowclone, substituting various items in place of "doughnuts".

[edit] Mental acuity

Homer has a vacuous mind, but he is still able to retain a great amount of knowledge about very specific subjects. He shows small bursts of astonishing foresight, memory, creativity and fluency with many languages in nearly every episode. These bursts, however, are temporary, constantly changing, and frequently self-serving. In one episode, he poses the question "You guys are commies? Then why am I seeing rudimentary free markets springing up everywhere?" to a Chinese adoption agent.<ref>The Simpsons, Goo Goo Gai Pan.</ref> In another, he exhibits considerable knowledge of Iranian Ayatollahs.<ref>The Simpsons. "Two Bad Neighbors", aired January, 1996</ref> Homer also has an encyclopedic knowledge of U.S. Supreme Court Justices.<ref>The Simpsons, Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie.</ref> Even further, when Lisa created a perpetual motion machine, he told her to respect the Laws of Thermodynamics; the second law of thermodynamics (entropy of closed systems) makes such a machine impossible. Additionally, in "Homer and Apu", when Apu proffers 'karmic realignment', Homer justifiably rebukes that "karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos".

In certain episodes he has displayed a polished talent for singing and songwriting, which won him a Grammy with his Barbershop quartet the "Be Sharps." His musical abilities have recurred in other episodes where he has played the piano, classical guitar and the trombone. Upon receiving grammar tapes and listening to them as night, Homer's vocabulary increases dramatically, to the point where even Lisa is unable to understand him. When he stops listening to the tapes, his word power regresses to the point where he cannot even correctly identify a spoon by name. He also once said he subscribes to "Reader's Digest", and loves their articles on how to increase your word power, although he then demonstrates his limited vocabulary again ("That magazine is really, really, really...good.")

Homer is also a surprisingly skilled poker player, although often this is more due to luck than actual ability-when recounting the poker game to his family, Homer stated that "as usual I'm winning and not realizing it", most frequently outplaying Moe ("you do this to me every time!") leaving the hapless bartender to choke on his own rage. However, Homer is a very poor blackjack dealer, constantly busting-which of course makes his one of the most popular tables at the casino where he works.

Homer's physical talents include considerable skill at softball, being able to tell the difference between butter and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, eating massive amounts of food (enough to nearly put one all you can eat restaurant out of business and make the owner of another "sorry he ever saw the likes of me", and also to consume a ten-pound bag of flour when no other food was available), and having a remarkably refined sense of taste, enough to earn him a temporary job as the town food critic and refine the quality of his wife's products when she went into the pretzel business.

[edit] Mental deficiencies

Homer’s brief periods of intelligence are overshadowed by much longer and consistent periods of ignorance, forgetfulness and stupidity.

Homer has an IQ of 55 (however, in real life, an IQ lower than 60 means one is unable to talk properly) and dropping, which is due to his hereditary "Simpson Gene", his alcohol problem, exposure to radioactive waste, repetitive cranial trauma, and a crayon lodged in the frontal lobe of his brain that remained lodged there after inserting sixteen crayons up his nose as a child.

It has been suggested in some episodes that Homer's normal functions do not require the use of his brain, as Homer has at times debated against his own brain. Occasionally, a specific body part is portrayed debating with his brain, such as his face, stomach or liver. In one notable scene Homer's mind actually leaves his body out of boredom, causing him to collapse.<ref>The Simpsons, Burns, Baby Burns.</ref>

Homer is inclined to retreat into fantasy. In one episode, he fantasizes about riding the atomic bomb (à la Slim Pickens in the film Dr. Strangelove). In another episode, he fantasizes about primitive black and white cartoon characters dancing to the tune of "Turkey in the Straw" (à la Steamboat Willie). In one noted episode, he daydreams of going to Germany, "the land of chocolate".<ref>The Simpsons, Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk.</ref>

In the episode <ref>The Simpsons, HOMR</ref> "HOMR", Homer's IQ is boosted to 105 after the aforementioned crayon is removed from his brain. However, his new personality alienates him from his friends, which drives his decision to have the crayon reinserted.

Homer's stupidity often embarrasses Bart and Lisa. They once say that it is sad that Krusty is ashamed of his Jewish roots, but when Homer comes into the room with a plunger on his head, they ask each other what they will change their names to when they grow up and both have already decided. Bart tends to be harder on Homer than Lisa about being stupid and enjoys pointing it out to him. When Bart is told he has to take Homer on a river rafting trip, he has an image of Homer wearing the map as a sailor’s hat. Sure enough Homer folds the map into a hat and wears it on his head (which causes them to get lost when it blows away).<ref>The Simpsons, Boy-Scoutz N the Hood.</ref>

[edit] Health issues

Considering his medical history, Homer is incredibly lucky to be alive. He gains an extra 76 pounds on top of his already obese frame to get on disability welfare in the "King-Size Homer". <ref name=ksh>The Simpsons. "King-Size Homer", aired November 5,1995</ref> Due to his heart problem brought about by his obesity, Homer once required a quadruple bypass surgery. He has broken almost every bone in his body, been shot numerous times, been hit by multiple automobiles, twice fallen all the way down Springfield Gorge, and received countless cuts and bruises (both major and minor), frequently to the cranium. He appears to have developed a near superhuman tolerance to pain and injury, and he is able to quickly heal when hurt (or, at least just in time for the next episode). He has apparently been rendered sterile from prolonged exposure to toxic materials at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Homer also, against his will, gave his father one of his kidneys<ref>The Simpsons Homer Simpson in: "Kidney Trouble"</ref>.

Homer also suffers from several congenital conditions, including a male "Simpson stupidity gene", finger stubbiness (abnormally short and thick fingers) and the "Simpson butt", a large rear end which requires him to wear "balloon seated" pants. Homer sometimes appears to have far-sighted vision, requiring the use of glasses when reading small print (although has been seen using contact lenses on occasion). Moreover, he has what Dr. Hibbert calls "Homer Simpson Syndrome" whereby he has a cushioning layer of fluid around his brain that protects his head from injury (which allowed him a short-lived career as a boxer).

However, given the long episode history, Homer's previous health problems are rarely permanent and are only referenced for comic effect or to advance the plot. For example, when it was determined that Homer's low IQ was due to a crayon embedded in his skull at an early age, it is revealed that despite many head x-rays, Dr. Hibbert failed to detect it due to partly covering the X-Ray with his thumb (following episodes depict Homer's head x-rays with an embedded crayon). Other times, Homer is shown to be graceful and athletic, but again, this is done to suit the needs of the story.

[edit] Religion

As with all things, Homer's knowledge and appreciation of religion is lacking, and he invents or distorts his religious beliefs to suit the needs of a particular moment. He defends his own religion to avoid going to church on Sundays and going to work on religious holidays. In retribution for his sins, Homer's house catches fire, so he recants in fear of an angry God. He is a Christian ("Save me Jebus!")<ref>The Simpsons, Missionary: Impossible.</ref>. At other times he has formed his own religion<ref>The Simpsons, Homer the Heretic.</ref> and even worshipped a waffle.<ref>The Simpsons, Homer Loves Flanders.</ref> Also, he thinks little of church itself. He calls Reverend Lovejoy, "Captain What's-His-Name" and tends to fall asleep in church. Although in one episode he asks the family to sit and pray.

Homer is (usually) a Presbylutheran, as are most of the Springfield townsfolk. Ned Flanders explains that it separated from Roman Catholicism centuries ago over the right for parishioners to come to church with wet hair ("The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star")<ref>The Simpsons, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star</ref>, a right they later renounced. He has also been a hedonist, a Stonecutter, a Movementarian (a parody of Raëlism and Scientology) and a Catholic.

After seeing the movie Left Below, a parody of the novel Left Behind, Homer twice tries to predict the time and place of the Rapture. The first time, the citizens of Springfield believe and follow him, but find no Rapture. He makes an accurate prediction the second time, but no one believes him in time, so Homer goes to heaven alone. He convinces God to delay the Rapture in order to be with his family. (Ironically, he mentions in another episode that God is his "favorite fictional character").<ref>The Simpsons, Das Bus.</ref>

[edit] Education

Homer attended school in Springfield, but never graduated from high school, which was discovered when Marge noticed that he did not get an invitation to their high school reunion. He later earned a GED.<ref>The Simpsons, The Front.</ref> When caught during an employee inspection of the power plant, Homer had to take a nuclear physics course at Springfield University.<ref>The Simpsons, Homer Goes to College.</ref>

[edit] Miscellaneous

"Guy Incognito" is a character who looks like Homer, with a moustache. He sounds like Homer with a snooty accent, and can be seen in the episode "Fear of Flying". Shortly after encountering his doppelgänger lying unconscious on the pavement, Homer is distracted by a passing dog with a "puffy tail".

[edit] Cultural Influence

Due to the success of The Simpsons, Homer has been an influenced in various facets of society, such as the introduction of the word "D'oh" into the Oxford English Dictionary'.<ref name=oed>It's in the dictionary, d'oh!. BBC News. 14 June 2001. Retrieved 2 April 2006.</ref>.

[edit] Advertising

Over the years, Homer Simpson has been increasingly used for promotion of products such as Butterfinger, Doritos, Intel, Reebok, 1-800-COLLECT, Winchell's Donuts, Church's Chicken and Burger King. He has appeared in a MasterCard television commercial with other Simpsons characters such as Apu and Moe.

Homer's likeness and catchphrases are used, along with those of other Simpsons characters, partly to promote the show via print, television and radio, as well as merchandise (such as tee shirts, posters and toys).

[edit] Other shows

Homer sometimes makes cameo appearances in other television shows, as himself. For example, he appears briefly in the Family Guy episode "PTV" where the opening credits of The Simpsons and Naked Gun are parodied, and in an episode of Duckman, dressing as a ghost to scare Duckman and his partner away to eat their donuts, before finishing the episode borrowing Duckman's catchphrase "What the hell are you staring at?". Homer's appearances are not limited to cartoons, as he has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman giving the top 10 reasons why he was excited to be on the show.

Homer also appears in many of the various Simpsons video games as well as in the Simpsons Comics.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Biography from the official Simpsons website
• Homer Simpson Fansite
• the voices behind various Simpsons characters on a talkshow

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