This is a list to celebrate those extremely minor characters that are hilarious enough to become major characters (or get their own spin-off maybe). The criteria is pretty strict. This isn’t the minor characters (no Moe, Krusty, or Burns on this list). This isn’t even for the sub-minor characters (Luigi, Jasper, and Sanjay don’t belong here). They can’t have had an entire episode centered around them (no Brad Goodmans, Laura Powers’s, Birch Barlows, or Dwight David Diddlehoppers here). They can’t even have appeared in more than one episode no matter how minor they were which takes out The Just Stamp the Ticket Man (“When Flanders Failed,” “Homer’s Barbershop Quartet,” “Bart of Darkness,” among others), Fantastic Dan (“Bart Carny,” “I’m With Cupid”), and Sebastian Cob (“Marge vs. the Monrail,” “Treehouse of Horror XV”).
Yes, this list is just for the throw-away one-time single joke characters.
Honorable Mention: Mrs. McFierly (“Sideshow Bob Roberts), Humphrey the hat-wearing talking camel (“Bart Carny”), Homer’s cousin who shoots birds at the airport for a living (“Lisa the Simpson”), and Stuart the Duck (“The Last Temptation of Homer”).
20. Gummy Joe. Appeared in “Last Exit to Springfield.” He’s a grizzled nineteenth century miner type at the power plant union meeting. The dental plan helped him keep his one tooth, which he calls “Old Chomper” and uses to open soda cans.
19. Lurleen’s Latest Boyfriend. Appeared in “Papa Don’t Leech.” Since we saw Lurleen Lumpkin in season three’s “Colonel Homer,” she has had three marriages to men who look very similar to Homer. In this episode we get to meet the possible “number four.” Homer thinks he’s “a keeper.” Notable quote: “Need a hundred bucks for beer.”
18. Suck-Up the Vacuum. Appeared in “Black Widower.” He’s up for the Emmy against Sideshow Bob, but he can’t attend the award show because he’s filming a movie in Spain… and he’s a vacuum.
17. Bort. Appeared in “Itchy and Scratchy Land.” While looking through the personalized license plates, Bart finds no “Bart,” but instead a “Bort.” To his surprise there is a small boy in the shop named Bort, and a middle-aged man. (Later on in the episode, the gift shop runs out of “Bort” license plates.)
16. Large-Nosed Man. Appeared in “Trash of the Titans.” In Homer’s campaign speech for Sanitation Commissioner, he asks the crowd about how terrible it is to pull that last disgusting tissue from the bottom of the trash can. A man with a comically large nose says, “I’ll say!”
15. Tibor. Mentioned in “Marge Gets a Job.” The foreign power plant worker (not to be mistaken with Zutroy) who Homer blames for all of his mistakes. Later Smithers comments that “that idiot Tibor” lost the key to Marge’s office.
14. Mr. McGreg. Appeared in “Homer’s Triple Bypass.” Mr. McGreg was at one point given some kind of surgery by Dr. Nick that resulted in him having “a leg for an arm, and an arm for a leg.”
13. Donny of Donny’s Discount Gas. Appeared in “In Marge We Trust.” Instead of that pesky nine-tenths, he sells gas for eight-tenths. He helps in the Simpsons finding of Ned who is trapped in a zoo. Notable quote: “I see a lot of things.”
12. Pops Freshenmeyer. Appeared in “Team Homer.” When Mr. Burns accidentally wrote a check for bowling he needs Smithers to get to the bottom of it. Burns was hallucinating during the time in which he wrote the check. On the memo of the check he wrote: “To my friend Pop’N'Fresh.” Smithers runs this information through the computer and finds that Pop’N'Fresh could either be Homer Simpson or a janitor, Pops Freshenmeyer.
11. The Little Guy. Appeared in “The Twisted World of Marge Simpson.” “The Little Guy,” so dubbed by Homer, is a member of the Japanese Mafia. When the Japanese Mafia starts fighting the Springfield Mafia with Fat Tony, “The Little Guy,” stands there doing nothing. Homer wants to stay and watch because he wasn’t doing anything, but you could tell he was going to, “and you just know it’s gonna be good.” Just after Homer and Marge enter the house, they hear a loud high-pitched scream, followed by a couple of thuds. Later he flies through their kitchen window and apologizes.
10. and 9. Warren and Gordy. Appeared in “You Only Move Twice.” Warren and Gordy are two of Bart’s classmates in the remedial class in Cypress Creek. Warren is there because he starts fires, and Gordy moved there from Canada and they thought he was slow, “eh?”.
8. Joey Jojo Junior Shabadoo. Appeared in “The Last Temptation of Homer.” When Homer is attracted to a new co-worker he makes up a name in order to ask Moe for advice. That name is “Joey Jojo Junior Shabadoo.” Moe says that that’s the worst name he’s ever heard. A nervous-looking man (Joey Jojo) at the end of the bar runs out crying and Barney calls after him.
7. The David Cohen-esque Writer. Appeared in “The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie Show.” David Cohen was a writer for the Simpsons (and co-creator of Futurama). The David Cohen-esque Writer is a writer for the Itchy and Scratchy Show who supposedly resembles David Cohen. When Otto sees that the new Itchy and Scratchy script includes a talking dog he asks them what they were smoking when they came up with that. The David Cohen-esque Writer responds, “We were eating rotisserie chicken.”
6. The Human Fly. Appeared in “Homer’s Barbershop Quartet.” He’s a nerd climbing a building during the Be-Sharps rooftop concert and sadly gets no attention for his efforts. Notable quote: “Aww… come on! I stayed up all night dying my underwear.”
5. Sideshow Raheem. Appeared in “I Love Lisa.” An “angry, angry young man” who was Krusty’s sideshow for a period in some psychedelic time, probably the seventies. When Krusty has to bonk him with a mallet, Sideshow Raheem says, “I wouldn’t.”
4. The “Persuasive” Detective. Appeared in “Cape Feare.” Sideshow Bob is writing threatening letters to Bart, so Homer and Marge enlist the help of a detective who tells them that he can be very persuasive, but Sideshow Bob refuses to leave town. Notable quote: [whiny voice] “C’mon! Leave town… I’ll be your friend. Oh, you’re mean!”
3. and 2. Two Guys from Kabul. Appeared in “New Kid on the Block.” They’re two angry guys who run a very unsuccessful restaurant called “Two Guys from Kabul.” When they finally get a call for an order they wrestle over the phone. Notable quote: “Sometimes I think you want to fail.”
1. Matt Groening. Appeared in “The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular.” Portrayed as a drunken old man with an eye patch and bolo tie. Notable quote: “Get outta my office!”
Television
Lists, The Simpsons
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