50 Fun Facts About Homer Simpson

Which annoyed grunt made famous by Homer Simpson was added to the Oxford English Dictionary?

D'oh began as a sped-up version of a drawn-out cry from old Laurel and Hardy films, shortened to suit a cartoon's quicker pace.

Which cartoonist created Homer Simpson and named the character after his own father?

Matt Groening also hid his initials in the design: Homer's hairline forms an M and his right ear a G.

TV Guide ranked Homer Simpson the second-greatest cartoon character ever, behind which Looney Tunes star?

Bugs Bunny took the top spot in that 2002 list; Entertainment Weekly later named Homer the greatest character of the previous twenty years.

In The Simpsons Movie, which animal does Homer Simpson adopt, leading to the pollution of Lake Springfield?

A pig named Plopper is saved by Homer from slaughter at a burger restaurant; dumping a silo of its waste in the lake gets the whole town sealed under a dome.

In the very first Simpsons episode, which job does Homer Simpson take after his Christmas bonus is cancelled?

Mall Santa pay turns out so poor that Homer bets it all at the dog track, which is how the family ends up with its greyhound.

What name does Homer Simpson give the driveway-clearing business he starts after buying a truck at a car show?

Mr. Plow thrives until Homer's best friend starts a rival service and takes his customers; the episode won the show's lead voice actor an Emmy.

What is Homer Simpson's long-held job at Springfield's nuclear plant, despite his habit of sleeping on duty?

Safety inspector is only the best known of his posts: over the show's first 400 episodes, Homer held more than 188 different jobs.

Which actor has voiced Homer Simpson since the character's debut in shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show?

Dan Castellaneta also voices Grampa, so Homer's arguments with his father are one actor talking to himself.

Which famous inventor does Homer Simpson idolise and try to outdo by building gadgets like an electric hammer?

Thomas Edison inspires Homer to quit the plant and invent; his one good idea, a chair that cannot tip over, turns out to be something his hero had built first.

To which state does Homer Simpson flee with his family in The Simpsons Movie after an angry mob comes for them?

Alaska is where Homer had always planned to go if he ever caused a disaster, and the family restarts life there in a remote cabin.

In a Treehouse of Horror story, for which snack does Homer Simpson sell his soul to the Devil?

A donut is all it takes, and he is saved at trial only because a wedding photo shows he had already pledged his soul to Marge.

Which horror film is spoofed when Homer Simpson, a winter caretaker deprived of TV and beer, turns on his family?

The Shining becomes a Treehouse of Horror segment set at Mr. Burns' mountain lodge, where Groundskeeper Willie learns that Bart can read minds.

Which hardworking new colleague is enraged by Homer Simpson's undeserved success in the episode Homer's Enemy?

Frank Grimes snaps when Homer wins applause yet again; mocking Homer's carelessness, he grabs high-voltage wires and is fatally electrocuted.

Which NFL team does supervillain boss Hank Scorpio give Homer Simpson as a parting gift in You Only Move Twice?

Denver Broncos ownership disappoints Homer, whose secret dream was to own the Dallas Cowboys, then the reigning Super Bowl champions.

Which actress voiced Mona, the fugitive activist mother Homer Simpson believed had died decades earlier?

Glenn Close voiced Mona, who went on the run in 1969 after helping hippies wreck Mr. Burns's germ warfare laboratory.

Which actor voices Herb Powell, the car-tycoon half-brother Homer Simpson ruins by designing a disastrous car?

Danny DeVito played the Detroit car boss whose company goes bankrupt after Homer's dream car is unveiled at an unaffordable $82,000.

Which country legend voiced the coyote that guides Homer Simpson through a chili-pepper hallucination?

Johnny Cash played the Space Coyote, who appears after Homer eats fiery peppers at a cook-off and sends him searching for his soulmate.

Which film star voiced Mindy Simmons, the co-worker who tempts Homer Simpson in The Last Temptation of Homer?

Michelle Pfeiffer voiced a new plant employee who bonds with Homer over beer and television, yet he stays faithful to Marge.

Which cult film director voiced the kitsch shop owner whose friendship Homer Simpson rejects in Homer's Phobia?

John Waters guest-starred in an episode that Fox censors first ruled unfit to air; it went on to win an Emmy and a GLAAD Media Award.

Which cut-price surgeon operates on Homer Simpson in Homer's Triple Bypass when Dr. Hibbert's fee is too high?

Dr. Nick Riviera charges just $129.95 and has no idea how to do it, so Lisa calls down instructions from the viewing gallery.

Which rapping, surfing cartoon dog does Homer Simpson voice when The Itchy & Scratchy Show adds a new character?

Poochie proves so unpopular with viewers that he is cut after a single outing, killed off by a hastily added title card.

Which technique was used to show Homer Simpson trapped in a three-dimensional realm in Treehouse of Horror VI?

Computer animation by Pacific Data Images rendered Homer in 3D, and the segment ends by dropping him into the show's first live-action scene.

Which baseball star does Homer Simpson replace as a pinch-hitter in the deciding game of Homer at the Bat?

Darryl Strawberry is the only one of nine hired big-leaguers to make the game; Homer bats for him and wins it by being knocked out by the first pitch.

Which loose garment does Homer Simpson take to wearing after gaining weight on purpose so he can work from home?

A muumuu becomes his daily outfit once he passes 300 pounds, the weight at which the plant classes a worker as disabled.

Which heavyweight champion, a parody of Mike Tyson, does Homer Simpson fight in the episode The Homer They Fall?

Drederick Tatum nearly flattens him; Homer got a title shot only because a medical condition lets him soak up punches until opponents tire.

Which real minor league baseball team took its name from an episode in which Homer Simpson goes on hunger strike?

Albuquerque Isotopes echoes the plot: Homer starves himself after discovering a scheme to quietly move Springfield's team to New Mexico.

Which 1939 Nathanael West novel about Hollywood features a character named Homer Simpson?

The Day of the Locust reached cinemas in 1975 with Donald Sutherland playing its Homer Simpson, a timid bookkeeper from Iowa.

Which Star Wars actor does Homer Simpson rescue from a convention riot before becoming Mayor Quimby's bodyguard?

Mark Hamill agreed to appear only if he could voice a second character too, and ended up preferring that part, a trainer of bodyguards.

Which future late-night host wrote Homer Goes to College, in which Homer Simpson must study nuclear physics?

Conan O'Brien scripted a story in which Homer causes a meltdown during a plant inspection and needs three nerds to tutor him.

Which benefit does Homer Simpson lead a strike to save as union president in Last Exit to Springfield?

The dental plan matters to Homer because Lisa needs braces, and the episode is often cited as the best the series ever made.

Which waitress turned country singer does Homer Simpson manage in the episode Colonel Homer?

Lurleen Lumpkin, voiced by Beverly D'Angelo, falls for her manager; the script is the only one for which the show's creator took a solo writing credit.

Outside which New York landmark is Homer Simpson's car left clamped and covered in parking tickets?

World Trade Center plaza was picked because the producers wanted a spot everyone would know; the episode was later pulled from reruns for years.

What does Homer Simpson gain from the miracle drug Dimoxinil, earning him a promotion in Simpson and Delilah?

A full head of hair gets him mistaken for a young go-getter and made a junior executive, with Harvey Fierstein voicing his assistant Karl.

Which newspaper job does Homer Simpson land after gatecrashing a retirement party at the paper's offices?

Food critic Homer turns so needlessly harsh that Springfield's restaurant owners plot to kill him with a poisoned éclair.

Which best friend of Homer Simpson was a promising student until Homer introduced him to beer?

Barney Gumble had his heart set on Harvard until Homer pressured him into drinking on the eve of his SATs.

Homer Simpson's voice began as a loose impression of which gruff star of the film Grumpy Old Men?

Walter Matthau's growl proved too hard to sustain through nine-hour recording sessions, so the voice was dropped lower and made more flexible.

Which fictional beer brand is Homer Simpson's drink of choice, whether at the bar or on the couch?

Duff grew so famous that real brewers in several countries sold unlicensed versions, leading to legal battles, before an official one went on sale at Universal Studios.

Which real physicist drinks with Homer Simpson and admires his theory about the shape of the universe?

Stephen Hawking was cast because the writers needed someone smarter than every member of Springfield's Mensa chapter; he ends the episode in a bar with Homer.

In the episode HOMR, which object lodged in Homer Simpson's brain since childhood is dulling his mind?

A crayon, the one he failed to sneeze out after pushing sixteen up his nose as a boy, is removed, and his IQ jumps fifty points.

Which Apollo moonwalker played himself when Homer Simpson flew on the Space Shuttle in Deep Space Homer?

Buzz Aldrin shared the flight with Homer, a stand-in picked after NASA sought an average Joe to revive its sagging TV ratings.

Which barbershop quartet does Homer Simpson found in a story that mirrors the history of the Beatles?

The Be Sharps hit the big time with a song Homer wrote after Marge bought a car bumper sticker, and George Harrison turns up as himself.

Which new name does Homer Simpson legally adopt after a TV detective makes his own a laughing stock?

Max Power was the only sensibly spelled name on the list he gave the judge, chosen after the show Police Cops turned its Homer Simpson into a bumbling idiot.

A rare gummy sweet shaped like which famous statue lands Homer Simpson in trouble in the episode Homer Badman?

Venus de Milo in gummy form ends up stuck to the babysitter's trousers; when Homer grabs it she mistakes his drooling for an advance, and a tabloid frenzy follows.

To which planned company town does Homer Simpson move his family when he takes a job at the Globex Corporation?

Cypress Creek looks idyllic and Homer thrives there, never noticing that his kindly new boss is a Bond-style villain bent on seizing the East Coast.

A drawn-out cry by which Scottish Laurel and Hardy co-star inspired Homer Simpson's famous annoyed grunt?

James Finlayson used the sound as a stand-in for a swear word in the 1929 film Men O' War; Homer's version was simply said faster.

In Deep Space Homer, which lifeless object gets the credit for saving the shuttle instead of Homer Simpson?

A carbon rod, which Homer happened to jam into a broken hatch, is all the press will acknowledge; a similar rod had earlier beaten him to a workplace award.

Which Japanese dishwasher detergent has a mascot that looks exactly like Homer Simpson in In Marge We Trust?

Mr. Sparkle's likeness to Homer is pure coincidence: a promotional video shows two firms merging their logos, a fish and a lightbulb.

Which secret society does Homer Simpson join in Homer the Great, only to be hailed as its Chosen One?

The Stonecutters crown Homer their leader because of a birthmark, then quit to form a new club that bans anyone named Homer.

At what kind of business did Homer Simpson land his dream job before Marge's third pregnancy sent him back to the plant?

A bowling alley owned by a friend's uncle could not pay enough to raise three children, so Homer had to beg Mr. Burns for his old job.

Where does Homer Simpson moonlight on the night shift to pay for stabling Lisa's pony?

The Kwik-E-Mart shifts leave him so exhausted that Lisa gives the pony up, deciding her father matters more to her.