best post-season 8 Simpsons recurring character

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Simpsons_characters

pretty much the only non-terrible ones here are from season 9 imo (Duffman, Gil, Patches and Poor Violet)

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Gil Gunderson - Unsuccessful salesman. 19
Duffman - Spokes-mascot for Duff Beer. His real name is Barry Duffman 15
Crazy Cat Lady - Mentally ill owner of many cats. Name revealed as Eleanor Abernathy in "See Homer Run" 4
Ginger Flanders - Ned Flanders's "Vegas wife 2
Patches and Poor Violet - Orphans 2
Yes Guy - Service industry 1
Rachel Jordan - Lead singer of the Christian Rock band Kovenant (Shawn Colvin) 1
Cookie Kwan - Real estate agent. 1
Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon - Apu Nahasapeemapetilon's wife 1
Johnny Tightlips - One of Fat Tony's henchmen. 1
State Comptroller Atkins - State comptroller 1
Boobarella - Host of late night TV monster movies 1
Mr. Costington - President of Costington's Department Store 1
Gino - Sideshow Bob's toddler son 0
Dr. Velimirovic - Plastic surgeon 0
Amber Simpson - Homer Simpson's deceased "Vegas wife." 0
Ling Bouvier - Selma Bouvier's adopted daughter from China 0
Shauna Chalmers - Jimbo's ex Superintendent's daughter 0
Coach Lugash - Gymnastics instructor 0
Declan Desmond - Documentary filmmaker (played by Eric Idle) 0
Judge Constance Harm - Springfield judge (Jane Kaczmarek) 0
Francesca - Sideshow Bob's Italian wife 0
Frankie the Squealer - Informant for Fat Tony 0
Gloria - Snake's pregnant girlfriend (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) 0


soref, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 16:35 (nine years ago)

Duffman

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 16:39 (nine years ago)

I like the various jobs the writers had Ol' Gil end up at, like Senor Dingdong's Doorbell Fiesta.

Wants to impose Sriracha law in America (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 16:45 (nine years ago)

Ol' Gill.

ælərdaɪs (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:01 (nine years ago)

voted for Johnny Tightlips cause he's in season 3's company

PappaWheelie V, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:05 (nine years ago)

I don't remember Dr. Velimirovic at all, though looking at his wiki entry I have seen a couple of episodes he appears in

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/1/12/Dr._velimirovic.png/revision/latest?cb=20100727094538

soref, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:07 (nine years ago)

Patches and Poor Violet make me laugh, but I only know their first appearance.

jmm, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:26 (nine years ago)

so many classics

i will never not say "he's got a heart as big as my booooobs" in a stupid voice given the slightest window of opportunity

you can't drowned a duck (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:31 (nine years ago)

ol' Gil was Jack Lemmon at first right?

kurt schwitterz, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:31 (nine years ago)

Gil is classic, Duffman is thrusting in the direction of total classic

you can't drowned a duck (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:32 (nine years ago)

yeah, Gil is basically Lemmon's character in Glengarry Glen Ross

you can't drowned a duck (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:32 (nine years ago)

love patches and poor violet but voted for Manjula bc i can't believe she didn't show up until season 9

flappy bird, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:36 (nine years ago)

Gotta be Gil

Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:37 (nine years ago)

http://download.lardlad.com/sounds/season15/dohbot18.mp3

you can't drowned a duck (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:40 (nine years ago)

yeah, Gil is basically Lemmon's character in Glengarry Glen Ross

lol Youtube fite:

Gil is actually based on Willy Loman from Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. In this story Willy (Gil) chases the American dream, but the reality is that the dream is only an illusion; not everyone can obtain the American dream.

REPLY: It's a spoof of jack Lemmon's portrayal of Shelley Levene in the 1992 film adaptation of the play Glengarry Glen Ross

Nope.

REPLY: Yep.

It is very true that this is a spoof of Shelley Levene from "Glengarry Glen Ross", However Glengarry Glen Ross itself was influnced largely by Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. According to the CAMBRIDGE Companion to Literature (A highly reputable academic source for Contemporary literature) Glengarry Ross is like an updated and caustic version of Arthur Miller's Death of a salesman.

According to the "letter to the editor" in the actual BOOK of the play, David Mammet (The author of the play Glengarry Ross), picks up where death of a salesman left off. See, Willy was begnning to realize the american dream was dead; Mammet, just picked up where Milller left off: "The american dream IS dead".

In math, we simply cut out the middleman Glengarry as such:

Gil=Glengarry=Death of a salesman

Therefore, via transitive property, Gil= Death of a salesman.

Wants to impose Sriracha law in America (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 18:19 (nine years ago)

Duffman can't die, only the actors who play him!

I know hoes that know Ali Farka Toure (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 18:25 (nine years ago)

the pretzel franchise episode (one of the weaker in season 8 imo) has jack lemmon playing basically his ggr character, who is not gil, and then the next season the new character gil who is basically that jack lemmon character appears

lazy rascals, spending their substance, and more, in riotous living (Merdeyeux), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 18:55 (nine years ago)

Merdeyeux otm

you can't drowned a duck (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 20:02 (nine years ago)

Gil, no question.

Of the others, can't really think of any standout bits. The one about Mr. Costington being banned from his own store's ladies department due to "a shoe sniffing problem" is pretty good, though.

I might still think Crazy Cat Lady was funny if she'd only been used the one time.

rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 20:14 (nine years ago)

p sure i saw all of this season, only remember Gil Gunderson

The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 20:51 (nine years ago)

don't think I ever saw this character:

Ling Bouvier - Selma Bouvier's adopted daughter from China

but please someone reassure me this isn't handled as awfully as im imagining it was

ælərdaɪs (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 20:55 (nine years ago)

Crazy Cat Lady is the absolute worst. All of Tress MacNeille's vocal performances are so overbearing and one-note and self-satisfied. I guess fans have a higher tolerance for her than I do, but her increased role on the show is very heavily linked with its decline in my mind.

Evan R, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 21:21 (nine years ago)

cookie kwan is the absolute worst character

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 21:22 (nine years ago)

Pretzel episode has my favorite Fat Tony line ever:

https://frinkiac.com/meme/S08E11/1103885.jpg?b64lines=IFlPVSBIQVZFIDI0IEhPVVJTIFRPIEdJVkUKIFVTIE9VUiBNT05FWS4=

https://frinkiac.com/meme/S08E11/1104085.jpg?b64lines=QU5EIFRPIFNIT1cgWU9VIFdFJ1JFIApTRVJJT1VTLCB5b3UgaGF2ZQoxMiBob3Vycy4=

yeah I've probably referenced this bit a hundred times

such a great episode

frogbs, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 21:22 (nine years ago)

cookie kwan is the absolute worst character

Not coincidentally, she is also voiced by Tress MacNeille. Ditto Agnes Skinner, who went from being a funny very minor character to an insufferable drag. I can't stand the indiscriminate shouting.

Evan R, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 21:26 (nine years ago)

I feel like no actor would have really been able to make Cookie Kwan, Crazy Cat Lady, Lindsey Naegle etc work, regardless of how talented they were. (Naegle not an option in the poll b/c she first appeared in season 8)

soref, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 21:29 (nine years ago)

and I think her Agnes Skinner performance is good, but yes, the character worked much better in small doses

soref, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 21:30 (nine years ago)

xp I also can't imagine one making them worse though

Evan R, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 21:31 (nine years ago)

eh, the problem with cookie kwan is not the choice of voice actor

ælərdaɪs (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 21:32 (nine years ago)

This is obv Gill but let's at least have a round of applause for the real comptroller

meh 😐 (wins), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 21:32 (nine years ago)

http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Nookie_Kwan

Jonathan Frink (speaking on phone with Homer): Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing?
Cookie: This is my cousin, Nookie Kwan.
Nookie: I'm number one on the east side!
Frink: Oh gay-layvin.

jmm, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 21:36 (nine years ago)

possibly should have made this post-season 9 rather than season 8, which would have left us with:

State Comptroller Atkins - State comptroller
Boobarella - Host of late night TV monster movies
Ling Bouvier - Selma Bouvier's adopted daughter from China
Shauna Chalmers - Jimbo's ex Superintendent's daughter
Declan Desmond - Documentary filmmaker (played by Eric Idle)
Francesca - Sideshow Bob's Italian wife
Frankie the Squealer - Informant for Fat Tony
Ginger Flanders - Ned Flanders's "Vegas wife
Gino - Sideshow Bob's toddler son
Gloria - Snake's pregnant girlfriend (Julia Louis-Dreyfus)
Judge Constance Harm - Springfield judge (Jane Kaczmarek)
Rachel Jordan - Lead singer of the Christian Rock band Kovenant (Shawn Colvin)
Coach Lugash - Gymnastics instructor
Amber Simpson - Homer Simpson's deceased "Vegas wife."
Johnny Tightlips - One of Fat Tony's henchmen.
Dr. Velimirovic - Plastic surgeon
Yes Guy - Service industry

I guess either Homer or Flanders' Vegas wife would be the pick from those? also, I just remembered that Cletus had a daughter who appeared in several episodes (and was apparently voiced by Zooey Deschanel?), she doesn't appear on that wiki list for some reason. I doubt anyone would vote for her anyway.

soref, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 21:45 (nine years ago)

re: the "Yes Guy": I have never seen a TV show where Frank Nelson appears and only know about him via modern day references in stuff like the Simpsons - would I find the Yes Guy funny if I had seen some of Nelson's work? or would he still be rubbish?

soref, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 21:48 (nine years ago)

plz watch some Frank Nelson AND LET US KNOW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7cML2elJIY

The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 21:53 (nine years ago)

Cookie Kwan is terrible and racist but so is Apu

kurt schwitterz, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 21:58 (nine years ago)

Duffman ("This brown patch could use a little H2-OH YEAH!"), but Manjula and Coach Lugash have their moments. (And my fondness for the Gravity's Rainbow episode probably explains why I like Lugash.)

write sed fread (Leee), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 21:58 (nine years ago)

Apu is a racist caricature that the show had the good sense (in its peak years, at least) to develop into a real character.

rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 22:22 (nine years ago)

I've watched some Frank Nelson now, and have come to the conclusion that Nelson was funny but the "Yes Guy" is still unfunny.

soref, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 22:29 (nine years ago)

And I heart Agnes Skinner, though I see, at best, one new episode of the show per season at this point.

rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 22:33 (nine years ago)

the Frank Nelson thing reminds me how many of the voices on the show are basically impressions of old actors or comedians (or started out that way at least, before evolving into something different e.g. Homer's voice starting out as a Walter Matthau imitation). I remember hearing Bob & Ray for the first time and realising that the voice of the man who shows Bart's class around the box factory is essentially Castellaneta doing Wally Ballou

https://deadhomersociety.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/bart-gets-famous14.png

soref, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 22:46 (nine years ago)

Old Gil in a landslide. Yes Guy is the worst Simpsons character and the embodiment of the show's decline.

chap, Wednesday, 14 September 2016 10:58 (nine years ago)

I might still think Crazy Cat Lady was funny if she'd only been used the one time.

Yeah, agree with this. She's a sight gag, not a character.

chap, Wednesday, 14 September 2016 11:00 (nine years ago)

I would bet there's a whole episode centred around CCL in a latter days season.

chap, Wednesday, 14 September 2016 11:00 (nine years ago)

would actually be into that if it involved her opening a cat cafe and eventually shaming the whole town over mental health negative stigmatisation

nashwan, Wednesday, 14 September 2016 11:27 (nine years ago)

When she was eight, Eleanor Abernathy was a smart and ambitious young girl who wanted to be both a lawyer and a doctor "because a woman can do anything". She was studying for law school at 16, and by 24, she had earned an MD from Harvard Medical School and a JD from Yale Law School. However, by 32, suffering from burnout, she had turned to alcohol, became obsessed with her pet cat, and would randomly take to cutting pieces of her own hair. By the time she was 40, she had assumed her present state as a drunken, raving lunatic.[1] She once shared a cat with Moe.[2]

chap, Wednesday, 14 September 2016 11:30 (nine years ago)

i did like ccl's first appearance, mostly for how she throws not just a single cat, but an armful of cats all at once

lazy rascals, spending their substance, and more, in riotous living (Merdeyeux), Wednesday, 14 September 2016 11:35 (nine years ago)

I admire Duffman's appearance in "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" - "I was just giving it to your wife." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpkVhyj_xpE

However I voted Ginger for asking Ned to Irish up her coffee.

there is water at the bottom of the ocean (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 14 September 2016 13:11 (nine years ago)

Trivia Edit
The Crazy Cat Lady has a Mayan ancestor who throws chameleons instead of cats.

"How far can we stretch this joke???"

jmm, Wednesday, 14 September 2016 14:17 (nine years ago)

one of the things about having a static set of characters and other such fixed points over a long period of time is that it increasingly feels less like 'the simpsons' and more like simpsons fanfic done by people who don't have a great understanding of the show

lazy rascals, spending their substance, and more, in riotous living (Merdeyeux), Wednesday, 14 September 2016 14:24 (nine years ago)

This poll really hits home what an aberration Gil is. All of these other late-addition characters are dire.

The Grumple from that Gil-centric Christmas episode was pretty great too. (Jesus that episode is already 10 years old!)

Evan R, Wednesday, 14 September 2016 15:35 (nine years ago)

Gil just over Duffman, but both are essentially one-joke characters that just happen to survive having their joke repeated a bit more than Crazy Cat Lady (who is a scream as a one-time, unexpected throwaway oddity). To be honest I'm amazed Cat Lady and Gil showed up this late, and that Disco Stu debuted in 7. The rest of these I either cringe or draw a blank, or both.

Silence, followed by unintelligible stammering. (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 14 September 2016 16:02 (nine years ago)

The Crazy Cat Lady has a Mayan ancestor who throws chameleons instead of cats.

Okay, I actually chuckled at this idea. I've never seen it, but this was evidently just a quick gag in a Treehouse of Horror ep, for which I give a lot more leeway than creating a backstory for her alcoholism.

Wants to impose Sriracha law in America (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 14 September 2016 16:52 (nine years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Thursday, 15 September 2016 00:01 (nine years ago)

This really hits the nail on the head with what makes new Simpsons bad. The same tired joke done over and over, rarely improved. I think Duffman may have gone the way of crazy cat lady. At least I still get a kick out of the Yes Guy.

PastoralCollage, Thursday, 15 September 2016 01:21 (nine years ago)

don't think I ever saw this character:

Ling Bouvier - Selma Bouvier's adopted daughter from China
but please someone reassure me this isn't handled as awfully as im imagining it was


I'm not sure if I've seen her either, but fwiw she is apparently based on Dana Gould's own adopted daughter

los blue jeans, Thursday, 15 September 2016 01:51 (nine years ago)

I voted Boobarella. Good old Gil is fine as far as he goes, but he doesn't go very far.

a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Thursday, 15 September 2016 02:13 (nine years ago)

I find it astonishing that Gil, Duffman and Yes Guy are from after season 8!?

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Thursday, 15 September 2016 03:05 (nine years ago)

Most all of these are pretty one note, even if its a funny note, like Johnny Tightlips or Coach Lugash. I will go for Duffman I guess.

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Thursday, 15 September 2016 03:10 (nine years ago)

Did Manjula ever get any good lines?

nashwan, Thursday, 15 September 2016 09:22 (nine years ago)

I will go for Duffman I guess.

DUFFMAN, WILL DEFINITELY, GOFORYOU!

write sed fread (Leee), Thursday, 15 September 2016 22:29 (nine years ago)

OH YEAH.

write sed fread (Leee), Thursday, 15 September 2016 22:29 (nine years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Friday, 16 September 2016 00:01 (nine years ago)

I forgot about Mr. Costington, he was pretty funny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmlhr9-Jb2w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5vnUFRvz04

soref, Friday, 16 September 2016 00:13 (nine years ago)


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