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| “ | "BURP!" | „ |
| ~ Barney Gumble's famous belching catchphrase |
| “ | Uh oh, my heart just stopped. | „ |
| ~ Barney Gumble |
Barnard Arnold "Barney" Gumble is a recurring character on the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. The character is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared in the series premiere episode Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire. He is the town drunk and he is obese because of it and he is Homer Simpson's best friend. His capacity for alcohol is a frequent butt of jokes on the show. Barney sobered up in the episode "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses", which was co-written by Castellaneta, and stayed sober for several episodes. Barney was inspired by the cartoon character Barney Rubble from The Flintstones and by several barflies from other television programs. In 2004, Castellaneta won an Emmy Award for voicing various characters, including Barney.
Biography[]
Barney was born on April 20, sharing his birthday with Adolf Hitler. His father, Arnie Gumble, died in a 1979 parade float accident along with Sheldon Skinner, Iggy Wiggum, Etch Westgrin, and Griff McDonald, all of whom had served in Abe Simpson's WWII squad, the Flying Helllfish. Barney once had a near-death experience in which he expects to be reunited with "my loved ones, my dad, and that plant I never watered," perhaps implying that he did not get along with his father, though this line could also be interpreted as Barney reuniting with his "loved ones: my dad and that plant I never watered."
As a teenager, Barney showed much potential. He was Harvard-bound until Homer introduced him to beer on the night before they had to take the SATs. He took to drinking after his high-school sweetheart Chloe left Springfield to become a successful TV reporter. He used to have blond hair, but later dyed it brown.
Later on, with Homer, he was a member of The Be Sharps barbershop quartet, in which his stellar Irish singing voice was discovered. Barney showed his artistic side again when he won top prize at the Springfield Film Festival for his moving documentary about his life as an alcoholic, unfortunately titled "Puke-a-hontas".
Mr. Black also hired Barney to act like Krusty the Clown for the campers at Kamp Krusty saying that Krusty has larangytis and a bad back (meaning he won't be saying or doing anything), although Bart was not fooled by his attempt at defaming Krusty (as Barney was poorly disguised as Krusty), and also ends up confirming Bart and the rest of the campers suspicions of Black just "slapped a clown suit on some wine-o" by answering that he is "Krunchy the Clown," as well as declaring for Krusty's return (or as he calls him, "Krunchy")
External links[]
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