110 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?

Arlen is the fictional Texas town the Hills call home; their house on Rainey Street and the alley beside it are where Hank and his friends gather.

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?

Strickland Propane is Hank's employer for the entire Fox run; he is its assistant manager under owner Buck Strickland, whose erratic management he constantly covers for.

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?

Peggy is a substitute Spanish teacher whose own Spanish is notoriously poor; in 'Lupe's Revenge' her class trip to Mexico ends with her charged with kidnapping a girl.

In which US state was Peggy Hill born?

Peggy was born in Montana and raised on her family's cattle ranch there; her prickly relationship with her rancher mother resurfaces whenever the Hills visit.

Bobby is a student at which Arlen institution?

Bobby attends Tom Landry Middle School, named for the legendary Texas football coach; its principal, Carl Moss, is a regular foil for Hank and Peggy.

What kind of performer does Bobby dream of becoming?

Bobby dreams of becoming a prop comic; his comedy hero is 'Celery Head', a thinly veiled parody of Carrot Top.

Luanne Platter is related to the Hills how?

Luanne is Peggy's niece, the daughter of Peggy's brother Hoyt Platter; she moves in after her mother stabs her father with a fork in a trailer fight.

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

Dale Gribble, Hank's paranoid next-door neighbour, is the alley's resident conspiracy theorist; he runs a one-man exterminating business and is rarely seen without a cigarette.

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

Dale's go-to alias is Rusty Shackleford; he uses it on paperwork, on the phone and with anyone he suspects of working for the government, and his look was modelled on Hunter S. Thompson.

Who is Joseph Gribble's biological father?

John Redcorn, Nancy's long-time 'healer', is Joseph's biological father; practically everyone in town knows except Nancy's husband, who once concluded that aliens had fathered the boy.

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

The affair ran 14 years, with Nancy's chronic 'headaches' as the cover for her healer's house calls; it ends in the season-four episode 'Nancy's Boys'.

What is Bill Dauterive's job?

Bill is a sergeant who works as an Army barber at Fort Blanda, mostly shaving recruits; he can reproduce Hank's flat-top when Hank's usual barber can no longer manage it.

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

As his high school's star fullback Bill was 'The Billdozer', holder of the school touchdown record; in 'Bills Are Made to Be Broken' Hank gets it restored after it is unfairly beaten.

What is Boomhauer's first name?

Boomhauer's first name is Jeff; it goes unspoken for twelve seasons until a Canadian neighbour calls him by it in the season-13 episode 'Uh-oh, Canada'.

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

The finale's last shot opens Boomhauer's wallet to reveal a Texas Ranger badge, the only confirmation of his job in the entire Fox run.

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?

Cotton's shins were shot off by Japanese machine-gun fire in World War II, in the Pacific; surgeons reattached his feet to his knees, hence his stilted walk and short stature.

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

Cotton boasts of having killed fifty men, 'fitty' as he says it, a tally he repeats at every opportunity; the count is dubious, but his combat service is not.

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

Cotton names the boy Good Hank, 'G.H.' for short, a pointed dig implying the first Hank was not good enough; Bobby ends up delivering the baby himself.

What breed is the Hills' dog Ladybird?

Ladybird is a purebred Georgia bloodhound, as Hank proudly tells anyone who asks; he claims her mother helped track down James Earl Ray.

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

Hank has a narrow urethra, diagnosed in 'Next of Shin', which is what made conceiving Bobby so difficult; his half-brother Junichiro turns out to share both the condition and the 'BWAH!'.

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

In 'Yankee Hankee' Hank learns he was born in a ladies' room at Yankee Stadium, making him a native New Yorker rather than a Texan, a revelation he treats as shameful.

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

Alamo is the fictional Texas beer Hank and the alley crew sip from cans in nearly every episode; the brand's name nods to San Antonio's famous mission.

Which NFL team is Hank devoted to?

Hank is a devoted Dallas Cowboys fan; in 'Hank's Cowboy Movie' he shoots a promotional video to lure the team's training camp to his hometown.

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?

Judge once lived in Garland, a Dallas suburb, and it is the real town most often cited as the model for the show's setting, with nearby Richardson also mentioned.

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

Hank's voice and look grew directly out of Tom Anderson from Beavis and Butt-Head, the grumbling neighbour; Judge voices both characters, and Anderson is widely read as Hank's prototype.

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

The Refreshments, a Tempe, Arizona rock band best known for 'Banditos', recorded the instrumental 'Yahoos and Triangles' for the show's opening credits.

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

King of the Hill premiered on Fox on 12 January 1997 as a midseason entry, airing right after The Simpsons, and drew big ratings from the start.

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

The Fox run totalled 259 episodes across 13 seasons; the final four were never shown by Fox at all and debuted in nightly syndication in May 2010.

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

In the pilot Bobby gets a black eye from a baseball at a Little League game, and social worker Anthony Page takes the bruise for evidence that Hank beats him.

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

Willie Nelson, voicing himself, takes a stray golf club to the head from Bobby in season one's 'Hank's Got the Willies', horrifying Hank, who idolises him.

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

In 'Keeping Up with Our Joneses' Hank makes Bobby smoke a whole carton to sicken him off cigarettes; instead 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?

At the Dallas Mower Expo Hank is drawn to the riding mowers while Peggy competes across town; he has to choose between her big day and the machines.

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?

Buckley, Luanne's slacker boyfriend and a Mega Lo Mart employee, dies in the store's explosion; he later reappears as 'Buckley's Angel', helping Luanne pass her beauty-school exam.

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?

Bobby mistakenly enrols in a women's self-defence course at the YMCA, learns to kick attackers in the groin, and promptly uses the move on Hank.

Which episode won the 2002 Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for Bobby's voice actress?

Bobby's voice actress won the 2002 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for 'Bobby Goes Nuts', the season-six premiere, the only voice-acting Emmy of the Fox run.

How many Primetime Emmy Awards did King of the Hill win during its original Fox run?

The original run won two Primetime Emmys from seven nominations: Outstanding Animated Program in 1999 and a voice-over award in 2002; TIME listed the show among its 100 greatest series in 2007.

Which Seth MacFarlane series took over King of the Hill's Fox time slot in 2009?

The Cleveland Show, a Family Guy spin-off, inherited King of the Hill's Sunday-night slot when it premiered in September 2009, the same month Fox aired the King of the Hill finale.

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

Bobby's gift for grilling and grading beef gets him onto a community-college meat-judging team, and the Fox run closes with father and son at the grill together.

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

The revival's 14th season premiered on Hulu on 4 August 2025, with all ten episodes released at once rather than weekly.

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

Hank spent years working for the oil giant Aramco in Saudi Arabia; the revival opens with him and Peggy flying home to Texas, Hank having picked up an unlikely taste for soccer.

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

Adult Bobby is a chef at a Dallas restaurant, a Japanese-German fusion place he runs with childhood rival Chane Wassanasong as his business partner.

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

Toby Huss, already the voice of Cotton and, in the original run, of Connie's father, took over Dale; Johnny Hardwick had recorded part of the revival before his death in August 2023.

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

Ronny Chieng, the Malaysian-born stand-up and Daily Show correspondent, became Connie's father's new voice for the revival, while Lauren Tom kept voicing Minh and Connie.

How big are Peggy Hill's famously oversized feet?

Peggy wears a size 16 shoe, with one foot a half-size bigger than the other; in 'Peggy's Magic Sex Feet' her feet make her an unwitting internet fetish star.

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

Buck Strickland's manner echoes Lyndon B. Johnson: he conducts business from the bathroom and keeps an office photograph of himself hoisting a hound by the ears, both famous LBJ habits.

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

Lucky's $53,000 settlement for slipping in a Costco restroom is the windfall behind his nickname; he lives off it rather than work, which horrifies Hank when Luanne falls for him.

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 Manger Babies is Luanne's public-access puppet show about the animals at the Nativity, a cast that somehow includes a penguin and an octopus.

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

Spa-Peggy and Meatballs is ordinary spaghetti with Peggy's name stuck on; Apple Brown Peggy is another example of her habit of relabelling everyday dishes as her own inventions.

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

Tom Petty voiced Lucky from 2004 until the Fox finale; Lucky, whose real name is Elroy, marries Luanne in 'Lucky's Wedding Suit' after she becomes pregnant.

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

Humble is a suburb of Houston, and Judge has said the show's town is 'a town like Humble'; most of the show's other real-world touchstones are Dallas-area suburbs.

Which network was rumoured in early 2009 to be picking up King of the Hill?

ABC, which was about to launch Judge's The Goode Family, was the rumoured rescuer, but ABC president Steve McPherson said in January 2009 he had no plans to pick it up.

Luanne Platter of King of the Hill is named after a combo plate at which real cafeteria chain?

Luby's serves the LuAnn Platter, a popular combination plate that gave the character her name. The series returns the favour with a lookalike cafeteria called Luly's.

Which Hollywood star voiced Patch, Boomhauer's womanising younger brother, in King of the Hill?

Brad Pitt voiced Patch Boomhauer, who talks in the same rapid-fire mumble as his brother and gets engaged to his brother's old flame.

Which rapper voiced Alabaster Jones, the pimp who mistakes Hank Hill for a rival?

Snoop Dogg played Alabaster Jones, who comes to town looking for Tammi, a new colleague of Hank's voiced by Renée Zellweger.

Pro-Pain, a video game Hank Hill gets hooked on in King of the Hill, is a knockoff of which series?

Grand Theft Auto is the target of Pro-Pain, whose hero is modelled on Hank himself. His habit starts while he is protesting a school scheme that lets failing gym students play video games.

Which stand-up star voiced the traffic school teacher who becomes Bobby Hill's comedy mentor?

Chris Rock voiced Roger Sack, known as Booda, whose advice Bobby misreads so badly that Booda has to win over an enraged crowd on his behalf.

Which Buffy the Vampire Slayer star voiced the classmate who breaks Bobby Hill's heart?

Sarah Michelle Gellar voiced Marie in And They Call It Bobby Love, which won the 1999 Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program.

Luanne's boxing career in King of the Hill leads to a bout with which heavyweight champ's daughter?

George Foreman and his daughter Freeda both voiced themselves, after Luanne learns that Buck had paid all her earlier opponents to take a dive.

Bobby Hill's comedy idol in King of the Hill is a thinly disguised parody of which red-haired comedian?

Carrot Top got his stage name from a swimming coach's nickname for his red hair; Celery Head is the idol Bobby hopes to follow to fame in New York.

Which ex-president appears in King of the Hill working on a building site alongside Hank Hill and his boss?

Jimmy Carter is building a Habitat for Humanity house when Buck promotes Hank to manager, and Hank's emotional thanks to his boss do not sit well with his own father, Cotton.

Which Sister Act actress has voiced Peggy Hill since King of the Hill first went on air?

Kathy Najimy, who played Sister Mary Patrick in Sister Act, won an Annie Award in 2001 for voicing Peggy.

Which Office Space actor voices both Bill Dauterive and Buck Strickland in King of the Hill?

Stephen Root, the mumbling Milton of Mike Judge's film Office Space, plays both the lonely divorced neighbour and the hard-drinking, hard-gambling Buck.

Which Clueless actress voiced Luanne Platter throughout King of the Hill's original run on Fox?

Brittany Murphy also voiced young Joseph Gribble until season five, when Breckin Meyer took over as the character shot up six inches.

Which pop-punk trio voiced the teenage garage band that takes on Hank Hill and friends at paintball?

Green Day's three members voiced Cane Skretteburg and his bandmates, who humiliate Hank's side in their first paintball game before losing the rematch.

Hank Hill's cousin Dusty, who voiced himself in King of the Hill, was the bassist of which band?

ZZ Top's Dusty Hill is given Cotton's prized Cadillac, enters it in a demolition derby, then makes peace with Hank by having it repaired.

Which ailment is Bobby Hill diagnosed with after eating chicken livers at a New York-style deli?

Gout strikes Bobby in the same episode in which an X-ray of Hank's colon becomes the main attraction at an art museum.

Peggy Hill accidentally kidnaps a girl named Lupe on a school field trip to which country?

Mexico is where Peggy's poor grasp of the local language lands her in trouble, while back home a police officer keeps pulling Hank over just to spend time with him.

In King of the Hill, Cotton Hill plots to steal which Mexican general's wooden leg from a museum?

Santa Anna's leg is Cotton's planned bargaining chip with the DMV after he loses his driving licence. The real prosthetic was captured in battle and kept in the United States as a war trophy.

Cotton Hill's last wish is for his ashes to be flushed down a toilet once used by which general?

George S. Patton once used the toilet in question, and Hank carries out the request after a box of his late father's belongings arrives with a list of bizarre final wishes.

Cotton Hill's death in King of the Hill follows severe burns and an allergic reaction to which food?

Shrimp triggers the reaction after a war flashback sends Cotton falling onto a restaurant grill, in the Emmy-nominated episode Death Picks Cotton.

Which Texas politician voiced herself in King of the Hill as a love interest for Bill Dauterive?

Ann Richards, the former governor, takes up with Bill after he shoulders the blame when his friends moon her on a day trip to Austin.

What name did a heavily medicated Luanne first want to give her baby girl in King of the Hill?

Lasagna was her pick because it was the couple's favourite food; once the hospital painkillers wore off, she chose a more conventional name.

The writer Fox paired with Mike Judge to develop King of the Hill came from which animated series?

The Simpsons veteran rewrote Judge's pilot and created Luanne and Cotton, which so pleased Judge that he shared the creator credit with him.

Which Stranger Things actor voices Hank Hill's teenage half-brother in the King of the Hill revival?

Finn Wolfhard plays the boy, who was only a baby in the original run and has grown into a withdrawn 13-year-old with no father figure.

Peggy Hill poses as a nun to teach at a Catholic school, but what denomination are the Hills?

Methodist is the family's church, and Peggy spends the episode fearing that lying about her religion will cost her her immortal soul.

Which later Fox cartoon shares a universe with King of the Hill, right down to the Mega-Lo-Mart?

Bless the Harts was created by Emily Spivey, a former King of the Hill writer who names the older series as her major influence.

Luanne moves in with the Hills after her mother stabs her father with what during a drunken fight?

A fork was the weapon in a fight that tipped the family trailer over, and it landed her mother in prison for assault.

What happens to Hank Hill after he walks in on his mother and her new boyfriend at Christmas?

He goes blind from the psychological shock of seeing the pair on his own kitchen table, with Carl Reiner guest-starring as the boyfriend.

Cans of which product, worn by Hank Hill in a belt holster, were sold to promote the revival?

WD-40 came in commemorative cans sold at The Home Depot, recalling a scene in which Hank uses a small holstered can to loosen the lid of a regular-sized one.

After the local paper fires her over a scathing article, Peggy Hill starts a career in which field?

Real estate beckons when the head of the agency she attacked in print is so impressed by her audacity that he hires her.

Lucky refuses to marry Luanne in King of the Hill until he has obtained what?

A GED matters to him as part of a firm personal code, and Peggy, sure he is holding Luanne back, feeds him wrong answers so that he flunks.

At a Nashville festival, Peggy Hill accuses which country star of stealing a song she wrote?

Randy Travis played himself as the accused, in an episode packed with country cameos from Vince Gill to Martina McBride.

Which band plays a prom in King of the Hill after Bobby poses as a pupil with a kidney disorder?

No Doubt's prom gig is the prize in a radio station contest, which Bobby helps the older students win by passing himself off as one of them.

In King of the Hill, Bobby undergoes tests to find out whether he is the reincarnation of what?

A Buddhist lama named Sanglug is the candidate, and the idea that his son could be the holy man reborn makes Hank deeply uncomfortable.

Hank Hill claims that the mother of his dog Ladybird helped catch which infamous assassin?

James Earl Ray is the fugitive Hank names in the season-one episode Westie Side Story; Ladybird herself, to Hank's sorrow, never has puppies.

In the episode Hank's Back Story, a doctor prescribes Hank Hill a prosthetic version of what?

His buttocks have wasted away, a condition the doctor calls diminished gluteal syndrome, and the shrunken muscles are putting pressure on his spine.

What does Hank Hill mistakenly buy to use as fishing bait, leaving him facing possible jail time?

Crack cocaine gets him into such trouble that his only way out is to prove the drug really can work as fish bait.

Peggy nominates Bobby for which honour in King of the Hill, only for Hank to win and bungle it?

Carrying the Olympic torch through his home town for the 2002 Winter Games falls to Hank, who was not even the one put forward for it.

Mike Judge based Boomhauer's rapid mumble in King of the Hill on what kind of message he received?

An angry voicemail from a man complaining about Judge's earlier MTV cartoon supplied the rhythm of Boomhauer's speech.

On which street do Hank Hill, his family and most of his beer-drinking neighbours live?

Rainey Street is home to the Hills and the other major characters, and the alley behind Hank's house is where the four friends gather to drink.

Nancy Gribble starts King of the Hill in which on-air job at the local station Channel 84?

Weather reporter Nancy, a former pageant winner, later moves up to the anchor's chair at Channel 84.

Bill Dauterive of King of the Hill grew up with his cousin Gilbert in which US state?

Louisiana gave Bill his Cajun heritage: he speaks Creole as well as English, and the old family home there stands in a bayou.

Where is Luanne Platter enrolled as a student during the early seasons of King of the Hill?

Beauty school leaves its mark on the Hill home: Peggy is horrified to find Bobby kissing the plastic practice head that Luanne uses for class.

King of the Hill's straight-A overachiever Connie Souphanousinphone is talented at which instrument?

Violin is one of many things Connie excels at under her father's very high standards, though in truth she works hard for her own sake.

Which rival of Hank Hill in a ten-gallon hat quit to open a crooked fuel company across the street?

M.F. Thatherton was first voiced by Burt Reynolds, and he lures customers to Thatherton Fuels with centrefold models rather than service.

Which gun-toting priest is the hero of a telenovela that King of the Hill's characters love?

Monsignor Martinez, voiced by Mike Judge, was even given a live-action pilot of his own, which was scrapped before airing and only later resurfaced among collectors.

Which deep-voiced, shaggy-haired classmate of Bobby Hill drily states the obvious after any event?

Stuart Dooley, voiced by Mike Judge, is also the class bully, and Peggy earns a fearsome reputation when she spanks him for humiliating her.

What is the name of Bill Dauterive's ex-wife, whose leaving he never gets over in King of the Hill?

Lenore is voiced by Ellen Barkin, and one Christmas a deluded, despairing Bill starts dressing in drag and impersonating her.

What is the first name of Hank Hill's kindly mother, a collector of miniatures who moved to Arizona?

Tilly took up collecting miniatures because they cheered her during her unhappy marriage to Cotton, whom she eventually divorced.

Which actress voiced Esmé, the matriarch of Bill Dauterive's dwindling family, in King of the Hill?

Meryl Streep played Aunt Esmé in an episode that also cast all three members of The Chicks as Bill's relatives.

Which film star voiced Yogi Victor, the teacher whose yoga classes heal Hank Hill's injured back?

Johnny Depp's Yogi Victor gets results, but the cure backfires when Hank's insurer uses the yoga to argue he is abusing workers' compensation.