60 Fun Facts About King of the Hill

Who co-created King of the Hill with Mike Judge?

Daniels had written for The Simpsons and later co-created the American version of The Office; Judge credited him as co-creator rather than 'developer'.

In which fictional Texas town do the Hills live?

Judge has also described the town as 'a town like Humble', a Houston suburb, and its entrance sign in one episode lists a population of 145,300.

What does Hank Hill sell for a living?

Hank's enthusiasm for the fuel is nearly religious, and the propane industry came to see him as a positive image for the business.

What is the name of the company Hank works for during the original run?

In the revival Hank ends up as the company's manager and majority owner after coming home from Saudi Arabia.

Which actress voices Bobby Hill?

Adlon later created and starred in the FX series Better Things.

What subject does Peggy Hill teach as a substitute at the start of the series?

Her actual command of the language is terrible, which is how a school field trip to Mexico turns into a kidnapping charge.

In which US state was Peggy Hill born?

She grew up on the family cattle ranch there, and her strained relationship with her mother comes up repeatedly.

Bobby is a student at which Arlen institution?

The school's principal, Carl Moss, played centre on Hank's own high-school football team.

What kind of performer does Bobby dream of becoming?

His comedy hero is 'Celery Head', a thinly veiled parody of Carrot Top.

Luanne Platter is related to the Hills how?

She moves in after her mother stabs her father with a fork in a fight that tips over their trailer.

Which of Hank's neighbours is a chain-smoking conspiracy theorist who works as an exterminator?

Greg Daniels added the conspiracy angle in his rewrite of the pilot; Judge's first draft had the neighbours as generic 'snaggle-toothed hillbillies'.

What alias does Dale use to hide his identity from the government?

He collects unemployment cheques under the fake name, and his look was modelled on Hunter S. Thompson.

Who is Joseph Gribble's biological father?

Practically everyone in Arlen knows except Dale, who once suspected an alien of being Joseph's real father.

How long did Nancy Gribble's affair with the local 'healer' last?

Redcorn is officially her 'healer', giving massages for headaches, and he ends the affair out of respect for Dale once they become friends.

What is Bill Dauterive's job?

Mostly he shaves recruits, but he can replicate Hank's flat-top when Hank's regular barber goes senile.

What was Bill's nickname in his high-school football days?

He was a star fullback who set the Arlen High touchdown record, and an entire episode is spent getting it back after it is broken unfairly.

What is Boomhauer's first name?

It is finally spoken aloud by a Canadian neighbour in season 13, and his driver's licence in the finale reads 'Boomhauer, Jeff'.

What job does Boomhauer turn out to have, revealed only in the last moments of the Fox finale?

An open wallet shows the badge; an early episode had claimed he was an electrical engineer on workers' compensation.

From which country did Kahn and Minh Souphanousinphone emigrate?

Kahn lived in Anaheim before moving to Arlen, and Minh's father is a general in the Laotian army who disapproved of the marriage.

What is Connie Souphanousinphone's actual first name?

She is Kahn Souphanousinphone Jr., a straight-A violin prodigy who becomes Bobby's first girlfriend.

How did Cotton Hill lose his shins?

His feet were reattached to his knees, which explains the stilted walk and the short stature.

How many men does Cotton claim to have killed in the war?

Pronounced 'fitty'. The count is dubious, but his presence at some of the Pacific's bloodiest battles is confirmed and his uniform carries the Medal of Honor.

What does Cotton name the son he has with his second wife Didi?

Known as G.H., the name implies the original Hank was not good enough; Bobby delivers the baby himself in season four.

What breed is the Hills' dog Ladybird?

She is named after Lady Bird Johnson, and Hank claims her mother helped track down James Earl Ray.

Which medical condition of Hank's made Bobby's conception difficult?

His half-brother Junichiro turns out to have exactly the same problem, along with the same job title and the same 'BWAH!'.

In which unlikely place was proud Texan Hank Hill actually born?

He spent his first three days in New York City, a fact he treats as a source of shame.

What brand of beer do Hank and his friends drink in the alley?

A real San Antonio brewery of the same name partnered with Hulu to release a King of the Hill-inspired beer for the revival.

Which NFL team is Hank devoted to?

He has said he could also root for the Texans, since they play in the other conference and would only clash in a Super Bowl.

How old did Mike Judge finally make Hank after Fox pushed back on the 49-year-old he had drawn?

A network executive wanted 32, the age of Fox's average viewer; Judge sent back the identical drawing and split the difference.

Which real Dallas suburb where Mike Judge once lived helped inspire Arlen?

Arlen is an amalgam of Garland, Richardson, Arlington and Allen, though Judge has also compared it to Humble near Houston.

Which Mike Judge character is Hank often compared to in voice and appearance?

Judge originally thought about making Hank Anderson's son, but Fox refused to tie the show to Beavis and Butt-Head as a spinoff.

Which band performs the opening theme 'Yahoos and Triangles'?

The Arizona band's tune was re-recorded by bluegrass guitarist Billy Strings for the revival's opening credits.

In what year did King of the Hill premiere on Fox?

It launched as a midseason replacement, sandwiched between The Simpsons and The X-Files, and was an immediate hit.

How many episodes did the original Fox run produce across its 13 seasons?

Four episodes from the last season never aired on Fox at all and premiered in nightly syndication in May 2010.

In the pilot, why is Hank investigated by a social worker?

The Little League injury looks like a beating to an overzealous outsider, setting up the show's recurring theme of Arlen versus meddling authority.

Which country music legend does Bobby accidentally hit with a golf club in season one?

Hank idolises him, which makes the episode 'Hank's Got the Willies' doubly painful.

How does Hank punish Bobby for smoking a cigarette in a gas-station bathroom?

The plan backfires when Bobby, Hank and Peggy all end up hooked.

In 'Peggy the Boggle Champ', what event tempts Hank away from coaching Peggy at the state championship?

It is the Ninth Annual Dallas Mower Expo, and Hank has to choose between his wife's big day and riding mowers.

Which jazz musician promotes Mega Lo Mart and plays a concert there in the season-two finale?

Mangione voices himself; his hit 'Feels So Good' plays constantly, and Dale later finds him living secretly inside the store.

Which character dies in the Mega Lo Mart explosion?

Luanne's slacker boyfriend later returns as 'Buckley's angel', a visit that steers her toward a born-again-virgin programme.

How does Peggy end up seriously injured in the season-three finale 'As Old as the Hills'?

Cotton later helps her learn to walk again in exchange for help securing a plot in the Texas State Cemetery.

In the season-six premiere, what class does Bobby accidentally end up taking at the YMCA?

He learns to kick attackers in the groin and tries it on Hank; the episode won Pamela Adlon an Emmy.

The show's only Emmy for a voice performance was won for which episode?

She won Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 2002; the series itself won Outstanding Animated Program in 1999.

How many Primetime Emmy Awards did King of the Hill win?

Both came from seven nominations, and TIME named the show one of the 100 greatest TV series of all time in 2007.

Which Seth MacFarlane spin-off took King of the Hill's Fox time slot after its 2008 cancellation?

Fox later reversed itself enough to air a proper finale in September 2009, then let four finished episodes go straight to syndication.

In the Fox finale 'To Sirloin with Love', what talent of Bobby's finally bonds him with Hank?

He gets recruited by a college meat-examination team, and the closing shot has father and son at the grill together.

On which streaming service did King of the Hill return in August 2025?

All ten episodes dropped at once, and the season set a five-year record for an adult animation premiere on Hulu and Disney+.

Where had Hank and Peggy been working before returning to Arlen in the revival?

Hank worked for Aramco in Dhahran, came home eight years after the original finale, and picked up an unlikely taste for soccer.

In the 2025 revival, what does adult Bobby do for a living?

The restaurant is Japanese-German-American and co-owned with Chane Wassanasong, the kid who once beat him up at a slumber party.

Who took over voicing Dale in the revival after Johnny Hardwick's death?

Hardwick had recorded six episodes before he died in August 2023; Huss already voiced Cotton and, originally, Kahn.

Which comedian became the new voice of Kahn in the revival?

Lauren Tom kept voicing both Minh and Connie, as she had since 1997.

How big are Peggy Hill's famously oversized feet?

Size 16 on the right and 16 and a half on the left, and Bill, who has a foot fetish, finds them very appealing.

Which real-life figure was Buck Strickland's appearance and manner modelled on?

Down to holding meetings from the bathroom and picking up bloodhounds by the ears in a photograph.

How much settlement money did Lucky win after 'slipping on pee-pee at the Costco'?

He got the nickname from the windfall and blew most of it customising his truck; he was voiced by Tom Petty.

In the revival, what percentage of the vote wins Dale the office of Mayor of Arlen?

Against a huge field of candidates. He resigned 36 hours later, saying he had no faith in a system that would elect him.

What was the name of Luanne's Christian puppet show on public-access TV?

The cast are the barnyard animals at the Nativity, somehow including a penguin and an octopus; Hank once had to play God in a live broadcast.

Which dish is an example of the Hill matriarch's habit of renaming ordinary recipes after herself?

Apple Brown Peggy is another; the habit is adding or swapping ingredients in ordinary dishes and claiming them.

Which rock star voices Lucky Kleinschmidt, the snaggle-toothed layabout Luanne marries?

Other guest voices over the run included Meryl Streep, Alan Rickman and Texas Governor Ann Richards.

Mike Judge has likened Arlen to Humble, a suburb of which Texas city?

Arlen is otherwise a mash-up of Dallas–Fort Worth suburbs such as Garland, Richardson, Arlington and Allen.

Which network, already airing Judge's The Goode Family, was rumoured to rescue the show in 2009?

ABC president Steve McPherson quashed the idea in January 2009, saying he had no plans to pick it up.