Homer Simpson

"D'oh!"

- Homer's catchphrase

"Why you little...!"

- Homer's catchphrase

"Woo hoo!"

- Homer's catchphrase

"Mmm... (Insert Food Name Here) *Drooling*"

- Homer's catchphrase

"Stupid Flanders!"

- Homer's catchphrase

"Lisa! Cut off that infernal racket!"

- Used when Lisa plays her saxophone.

"Let's all go out for frosty chocolate milkshakes!"

- Used during the Tracey Ullman shorts.

Homer Jay Simpson (born May 12), also known as Homie , Home-boy , Colonel Homer , Dancin' Homer , Homer Thompson , Max Power , Cornelius Talmadge , El Homo, and The Pie Man, is the main protagonist of The Simpsons. He is the father of the Simpson family. Homer is an overweight, lazy and ignorant individual, but is strongly devoted to his wife and children. Despite this and his below average intelligence, Homer has shown moments of great intellect, and can be a caring parent and husband at times.

Homer works as a low level safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, in Sector 7G, although he is often incompetent and mostly sleeps on duty and eats the doughnuts that are provided. He spends a great deal of his time at Moe's Tavern with his lifelong friends Barney, Carl, Lenny, and bartender Moe. At home he can often be found sitting on the sofa mindlessly watching TV while snacking on food and drinking Duff. Homer is the only son of Abe and Mona.

Biography
Homer Jay Simpson was born in Springfield as the third child of Abraham Simpson, and the only child of Mona Simpson. In 1960, Homer experimented to see if he could push fifteen crayons into his nose, which resulted in one being lodged into his brain and being responsible for his current low-average intelligence.

He was raised on the Simpsons farm by his parents until they were forced to move out in 1963 due to Homer spooking the cows by jumping out of a bale of hay and scaring them into giving sour milk, causing the bank to foreclose it. At some point during his childhood, Abe seemed to feed beer to Homer Simpson, but he quit drinking beer until he was older upon Barney's suggestion after he caused a multi-car pileup in his playschool car. In the late 1960s, while Homer was between nine and twelve years of age, Mona went into hiding following a run-in with the law. However, before she started protesting, she took Homer and her husband to the Woodstock Music Festival, where Homer ended up briefly adopting the Hippie lifestyle (and Abe Simpson attempted to send him off to the Vietnam War as punishment for wanting to be a Hippie, but obviously failed given Homers age at the time).

In 1966, Homer, along with Lenny, Carl, and Moe Szyslak, went over to a deep gorge for a nice swim, but the water was drained. When investigating why the lake was reduced to a muddy pit, he stumbled upon a decomposing corpse inside the pipe, greatly traumatizing him and leading to his occasional overeating.

Homer attended Springfield High School and fell in love with Marge Bouvier in 1974. After high school, Homer and Marge bought an apartment at Springfield Place. During this time, Marge gets a letter accepting her into college. To pay for her tuition, Abe gives him a job at Simpson Lazer Tag as well as this, along with Lou, Lenny and Carl, Homer is part of a barbershop quartet. When Marge becomes infatuated by her professor, Homer changes the band's name to Sadgasm and they invent grunge music. Marge realizes that she really loves Homer, and she goes back to him. In 1979, Marge became pregnant with Bart (after discovering this, Homer tore out half of his hair). At this time Homer was working at Sir Putt-A-Lot's Merrie Olde Fun Centre, turning the crank that spins the windmill. The two got married in Shotgun Pete's 24 Hour Wedding Chapel, a small wedding chapel across the state line. They spent their wedding reception alone at a truck stop, before ending up at the Bouvier House, where they lived at the time. After failing to get a job at the newly built Nuclear Power Plant, Homer left Marge to find a job by which he could support his family. He went to work at a taco restaurant called the Gulp 'n' Blow, until Marge found him and convinced him to return home with her. As a result, Homer confronted Mr. Burns and secured a job at the Plant. Two years after Bart was born, Marge became pregnant with Lisa in 1981 (after discovering this, Homer tore out all but three strands of his hair), shortly before the couple bought their first house. Homer's second leap to stardom was his success as the lead singer and songwriter for the barbershop quartet The Be Sharps, even winning a Grammy (he later complains that a Grammy isn't worth winning). During his time with the group, Homer was frequently absent from home, which put stress on his marriage. After the group broke up due to creative differences, Homer went back to Springfield to continue his old life.

Some time in the late 1980s, Homer drew up a budget so that he could work at his dream job, a pin monkey at Barney's uncle's bowling alley. The budget included buying regular toilet paper and that only one of the kids could go to college. Unfortunately for Homer, Marge became pregnant with Maggie in 1988, shortly after he started his new job, and not being able to support his family, he went back to the Nuclear Plant. Since then Homer has started many jobs, including being a professional astronaut for NASA, but has ended up back where he began at the Nuclear Plant. He has nearly caused the destruction of Springfield a couple of times, after a nuclear meltdown at the plant and polluting Lake Springfield with his pet pig's (and his own) waste.

Jobs
"(To his safety rally) Friends, you have come to depend on me as your safety watchdog so you won't scrape yourself or stub your toes or blow yourselves up. But you can't depend on me all your life. You have to learn that there's a little Homer Simpson in all of us, and I'm going to have to live without your respect and awe. The only reason I'm telling you this is I'm going to be leaving you, but don't worry. I have just been appointed the new safety inspector at this very plant with a big, fat raise!"

- Homer Simpson

When first joining the Power Plant, Homer had a nameless job handling plutonium. He was fired by Sherri and Terri's father, who was his supervisor, for creating a deadly gas leak. He was later re-hired to safety inspector for Sector 7G, after complaining about the safety of the plant itself. Ironically, the accidents that occur at the plant have doubled every year since Homer was made safety inspector.



Homer rarely attends his job, and yet hardly gets fired, and always has his job waiting for him when he wants to return. He has impulsively quit occasionally to pursue other careers, although he always ends up losing or quitting these jobs. On one occasion, Homer has misinterpreted a threat about losing his job as a hint that he can take the following day off.

Homer had also signed to be Santa Claus, which lead to no money pay.



Appearance
His appearance is that of an overweight balding man. He has a perpetual five-o'clock shadow that will reappear virtually in seconds if he ever shaves, and at one point just popped back in instantly complete with a 'pop' sound effect. Despite his overweight status, and hate for exercise, he has on occasion shown surprising physical prowess and agility for a man of his stature, such as when training for Whacking Day and he hits several pop-up Snakes with kicks and even back-flipping. His baldness is contributed by several factors. Upon finding out whenever Marge was pregnant, he would tear out a substantial amount of his hair. Another contribution is working at the nuclear plant for so many years that the exposure to radioactivity has caused most of his hair to fall out. Another frequent topic on Homer's obesity is his large butt which is often joked about by Bart.

Personality
"(To Lisa) Now, you lost someone special and it hurt. I never lost anyone special to me. Everyone special to me is under this roof. It's true. Now, you'll have lots of special people in your life. There's probably a place they hang out and the food is good, and guys like me are serving drinks. Maybe I can't explain all this, but I can fix your dollhouse. At least I'm good at monkey work. You know, monkey? You know what I mean? I can hold these nails in place with my tail."

- Homer Simpson

"Marge, I have always carried myself with a certain quiet dignity. Tonight, you robbed me of it."

- Homer Simpson

"How dare you talk about Ned Flanders like that. He's a wonderful, kind, caring man. Maybe even more so than me. There have been times when I lost patience with him, even lashed out at him, but this man has turned every cheek on his body. If everyone here were like Ned Flanders, there'd be no need for Heaven. We'd already be there."

- Homer Simpson

"Look, Marge. You don't know what it's like. I'm the one out there putting his ass on the line. And I'm not out of order. You're out of order! The whole freakin' system is out of order. You want the truth? You want the truth? You can't handle the truth! 'Cause when you reach over and put your hand into a pile of goo that was your best friend's face, you'll know what to do! Forget it, Marge. It's Chinatown!"

- Homer Simpson

Homer's personality is one of frequent stupidity, dimwit-ness, selfishness, laziness, and explosive anger; one might say it is that of the "Average Joe". He also suffers from a short attention span which complements his intense but short-lived passion for hobbies, enterprises and various causes.

Homer is prone to emotional outbursts; he gets very envious of his neighbors, the Flanders family, and is easily enraged at his son, Bart, and strangles him in an exaggerated manner. His trademark phrase to strangling Bart, "Why you Little...!" and on one occasion, "Why you little bastard!". He also spanks Bart sometimes and, in one case, Lisa. One time, he was too busy to spank them, so he told them to go to their rooms and spank themselves. He shows no compunction about this, and does not attempt to hide his actions from people outside the family, even showing disregard for his son's well being in other ways, such as leaving Bart alone at a port, or allowing Bart to go court for skateboarding naked on his dare when all he would have to do is attend a 1 hour parenting class signifying not only his disregard for Bart but his extreme laziness.

While Homer has repeatedly upset people and caused all sorts of mayhem in Springfield, these events are usually caused by either his explosive temper or lack of foresight. Except for expressing annoyance at Ned Flanders, Homer's actions are usually unintentional. Most of his explosive anger is targeted on Bart, because of something stupid or bad he had said or done. Despite their disadvantages, these common outbursts saved Homer from dying of a pent-up rage-induced heart attack.

While Homer's stupid antics often upset his family, he has also performed acts that reveal him to be a surprisingly loving father and husband, such as selling his cherished ride on the Duff Blimp and using the money to enter Lisa in a beauty pageant so she could feel better about herself, giving up his chance at wealth to allow Maggie to keep a cherished teddy bear; spearheading an attempt to dig Bart out after he had fallen down a well, even though he hates doing physical labor and arranging a surprise second wedding with Marge to make up for their lousy first ceremony, even going so far as to hire one of The Doobie Brothers as part of the wedding band and getting a divorce from Marge, essentially making their second wedding a "real" one.

Homer tends to derive amusement from the misfortune of others. He is a chronic thief and borderline kleptomaniac which ranges from petty to grand theft, stealing everything from TV trays to power tools and air conditioners, even an entire room of the Flanders House from Ned Flanders. He has also stolen golf balls from the local driving range, office supplies (including computers) from work, and beer mugs from Moe's Tavern.

Homer has a vacuous mind, but he is still able to retain a great amount of knowledge about very specific subjects. He often shows short bursts of astonishing insight, memory, creativity and fluency with many languages! Homer is also extremely confident; no matter how little skill or knowledge he has about anything he tries to do, he has no doubt that he will be successful. However, his brief periods of intelligence are overshadowed by much longer and more consistent periods of ignorance, forgetfulness and stupidity. Homer has a low IQ due to many factors: his hereditary &quot;Simpson Gene&quot;, his alcohol problem, exposure to radioactive waste, repetitive cranial trauma, and the crayon lodged in the frontal lobe of his brain. He also implied that he would have been at least a bit smarter and more athletic, if not by a substantial amount, if his father had tried to give him encouragement rather than beat him down. The crayon in his brain is possibly the largest causal factor in his stupidity. It is also implied Homer repeated second grade, most probably due to the Simpson Gene kicking in at that time plus the crayon lodged in his brain.

Homer's intelligence was said to jump up fifty points when he had the crayon removed, bringing him to an IQ of 105, slightly above that of an average person (though he showed far above average intelligence), but he went back to his old self when he had it reinserted, presumably lowering his IQ back down to its original 55. This IQ score is, however, likely a joke or oversight on the producers' part, as someone with an IQ of 55 would be unable to look after themselves and would be classified as severely mentally handicapped. Also from the level of intelligence he showed it's much more likely that his IQ was boasted to 135-155. Despite his handicap, Homer does have a degree of long term, calculated planning of what might happen, such as when, shortly before taking his "forget-me-shot" from Moe Szyslak, requested for their anniversary party to have a Moon Jump, due to realizing exactly what will happen afterwards.

Homer has at times debated against his brain. Occasionally, a specific body part such as his face, stomach or liver is also shown debating with his brain. In one notable scene Homer's mind actually leaves his body out of boredom, causing him to collapse. Homer is also inclined to retreat into fantasy, such as daydreaming of Germany as &quot;the land of chocolate&quot;.

Homer's attitudes toward woman, romance, and sex are occasionally shown. While Homer's marriage with Marge is occasionally strained, it seems generally happy. Despite this, Homer is often tempted with other women, and usually shows no qualms with gawking at (and drooling over) attractive women. Homer almost had an affair with Mindy Simmons, but ended up not wanting to. He has made the occasional remark denoting his attraction to other women (including his neighbor's wife), even in front of Marge on an occasion, but always shows his devotion to Marge in the end.

Religious Beliefs
Despite attending church every Sunday, Homer is not completely religious, and it is likely that he only attends church because he knows that Marge would be hurt and shocked if he did not. He does not seem to practice Christian morals and frequently sleeps in church, much to the annoyance of Reverend Lovejoy. He also admitted that in addition to sleeping in church, he also mentally undresses the female churchgoers. He often mispronounces the name of the Christ, calling Him "Jebus". In the Simpsons Movie before entering church, he says, "Relax, those pious morons are too busy talking to their phony-baloney God."

Despite this he is a Christian and willingly attends church after Ned, Apu and Krusty saved him from a house fire.

However in "The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed" Homer thinks that he is the Messiah due to Jerusalem syndrome.

Homer had actually met God face to face several times and has even gotten permission from Him in a dream to skip church.

Alter-ego
Homer became a superhero named Pie Man when the Rich Texan makes Lisa cry. He chucks pies in the faces of evildoers or people who deserve to be pied, uses the basement as a Pie Cave and his car as the Piemobile. Bart is his sidekick as Cupcake Kid. He also tried to don a graffiti alias as "El Homo", which was meant to be a Mexican take on his name, but erased it when he realized the alias was Spanish for homosexual.



Physical Prowess
Homer's skills seem to vary greatly. Sometimes Homer can find it difficult to run to smallest distance before passing out from exhaustion, and other times he has exceeded the prowess of gold medal Olympians. He can have trouble understanding the simplest of concepts to being able to build a functional robot with a working A.I. His physical strength is just as random: At times he is too weak to even kill a fly by punching it, while at other times he is able to lift a motorbike above his head, and use it as a sword effortlessly.

Additionally, in his youth Homer was once a very talented gymnast, even catching high school Marge's eye with his ability. Unfortunately, his father's lack of faith in him caused him to blunder in front of the entire school, which promptly led to the end of his career.

Endurance
Homer has repeatedly survived things that could easily kill other people. His well padded stomach allowed him to survive direct cannon fire to the stomach with no immediate injuries, though later it was found that repeated fire had destroyed his stomach which could have killed him.

Homer's skull is a quarter inch thicker than the average skull (dubbed "Homer Simpson Syndrome") that protects him completely from cranial injury up to a certain point allowing him to be beaten by normal folk with no effect but can be hurt by significant force such as getting punched in the face by the world heavyweight boxing champion or falling repeatedly down Springfield Gorge.

Homer is constantly ending up in sticky situations, such as being caught in a fire on at least four occasions, almost drowning, animal attacks and more. In some episodes, he "almost dies" twice, and in one episode, Frank Grimes's son was trying to murder Homer, and all through the episode Homer ended up in situations that would normally kill a person.

Homer is no stranger to pain. He gets hurt in one form or another in almost every episode, and frequently breaks bones and ends up in hospital. He has also needed several life-saving operations, such as a triple bypass and suffering four simultaneous heart-attacks. In one episode, Marge gets concerned at how much Homer almost dies as a result of sticky situations and begs him to get life insurance, where we find out he's also had three strokes and is therefore uninsurable.

Music
One skill that remains somewhat constant throughout the series is his musical talent. Homer can play the guitar amazingly well, play the piano like a natural, and became an accomplished singer and songwriter. He has been part of several bands which were all extremely popular. He won a Grammy for barbershop, numerous golden records for his grunge band, which is a music style he also invented, and was able to help Lisa win a music contest using songs he wrote for her. While laying on his back Homer possesses a powerful operatic voice that while at hospital stops crying babies and even revives a flat-lined patient, leading him to become a wildly popular opera star.

Language
Like Bart, Homer is a polyglot, someone with the ability to pick up languages fairly quickly, perhaps even a hyper polyglot (a polyglot fluent in more than six languages). He has been shown to speak Spanish, Chinese, Penguin and when he and Bart were imprisoned in Japan for a seemingly short amount of time he was able to speak the language fluently by the time he left. He was also able to pick up a few Indian words by watching Apu and Manjula argue.

Defying the laws of science
In addition to being able to accomplish what no man of his health and standing could, Homer has been able to accomplish things that defy all logic and reason whatsoever. Such as causing cornflakes and milk to burst into flames and cause a nuclear meltdown in a testing van despite no fissionable materials being present in it at the time.

Leadership
Also, although Homer is consistently depicted as being unpopular his entire life, he has been able to incite a mob on multiple occasions. He has incredible sway over crowds and is able to motivate people for just causes, such as shutting down the nuclear plant, and also to calm down an angry mob- something very difficult to do- such as when he prevented the destruction of Springfield's burlesque house. Like Bart, he is almost always made leader in whatever bizarre situation he comes across, although, unlike Bart, that leadership isn't always appreciated, such as when Homer becomes the leader of the Stonecutters, which shortly afterwards causes all the members to quit.

Homer also is a proficient bowler. He once bowled a perfect game, leading to short-term fame for him.

Health
Homer is 36, fat, and so unhealthy that his life expectancy is only 42.

Homer while varying in physical ability from episode to episode has been consistently portrayed as a binge drinking, over eating, accident prone dare devil who puts absolutely no thought into what his actions will cost him, all of which has made it impossible to get any form of insurance which concerns his health.

Homer is in hospital in at least one episode every season, and has had several life saving operations not including the one for his triple heart bypass and subsequent installation of his pacemaker which he needed after his artery's were clogged with cholesterol.

Years of working in a sub standard nuclear facility has left his blood irradiated enough to show up on an x-ray, as well as having rendered him sterile.

Homer loves food, he can almost always be seen eating far more than any one man could possibly eat alone. His favorites are foods which he knows are bad for him, and will blatantly refuse healthy food such as oatmeal and fruit in favor of fatty meals. He was once willing to die upon eating a poisoned éclair despite knowing it would kill him, only to throw it away in horror when Lisa claimed it was low fat.

Homer once grew to 300 pounds so that he could go on disability for work.

Homer also seems to have problem with his sound sense as the result of attending rock concert too much at his youth time. His lack of hearing could be the reason why he didn't pay attention at any words anyone said. Both Bart and Homer have problem with concentration.

Hair Loss
There are multiple theories on how Homer lost his hair. One theory suggests that Homer ripped out some of his hair when he realized Marge was pregnant with Bart, then more when he found out she was pregnant with Lisa, and all but the last few hairs when he found out she was pregnant with Maggie.

Homer also volunteered for an army experiment because he didn't want to have dinner with Marge's sisters. The army doctor attempted to warn him that the side effects of the experiment were "hair loss, giddiness and the loss of equilibrium" but Homer ignored him.

Another theory is that Homer's hair was once squirted with some kind of acid, thus causing permanent hair loss.

Romantic
Despite being married to Marge, throughout the entire show Homer has had a number of romantic encounters.

Marge Simpson
Homer is the husband of Marge Simpson. They met when they were younger without learning who each other was before meeting again properly in high school. They have had three weddings. Before the show. The two have a very strong marriage which has survived cheating, amnesia and many arguments. They have been in love since high school. In addition, both Homer and Marge managed to leave a key party in time as soon as they discovered what a key party was (although not without Homer taking the key jar with them, presumably to find his car keys).

Mindy Simmons
Mindy Simmons was an attractive employee at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant who has nearly everything in common with Homer. They attended a conventions together and nearly had an affair. After Homer turned her down, he later says that she "hit the bottle pretty hard and got fired."

Lurleen Lumpkin
Lurleen Lumpkin is a waitress who Homer helped in launching a successful singing career. She attempted to seduce him with no success. She's been married multiple times to men that all look like Homer.

Amber
Amber was a waitress at a casino in Las Vegas and was Homer's Vegas wife. Homer accidentally married her when he and Ned Flanders got drunk. Ned married the other waitress at the casino named Ginger. Doing the only decent thing they could, they ran for it. The family managed to get her drunk and made her marry Abe, which made her run back to Vegas. Amber died after a drug overdose.

Julia
When Homer becomes a famous Opera singer, he attracts the attention of horde of fans including a stalker by the name of Julia. She confesses to Homer that she is his to do with as he wants, becoming his personal assistant and attempting to seduce him at every turn. When he proclaims that his heart belongs to Marge she attempts to kill him with no success.

Moe Szyslak
"I could never stay mad at you, Moe. After all, you get me drunk."

- Homer, on Moe

Moe is the owner of Moe's Tavern and is thus Homer's main supply of beer, making him a very important person in Homer's life. Homer spends a lot of his time talking to Moe in his tavern and seems to go to him whenever he has a problem. Homer has also helped Moe with his love life. Moe has told Homer before that he is his best friend and they both seem to be in understanding that the two are "life partners." Despite this, Moe once risked Homer's life in exchange for a shot at being a notable name in the boxing community again, but in the end his friendship for Homer proved stronger than his dream and he literally flew in and saved Homer from being beaten to death during a match. Even so, Moe has been known to point a shotgun at Homer for various reasons (see "Pygmoelian" and "The Parent Rap").

Barney Gumble
Barney Gumble is one of Homer's best friends. They were both born in 1954 making Homer the same age as Barney. They have been friends since childhood (one time getting drunk from Abe Simpson's beer and "wrapping Homer's wagon around a tree") but have been best friends since high school. Homer was the one who first convinced Barney to try beer and inadvertently caused him to throw away a potential life at Harvard and instead become an alcoholic.

Lenny and Carl
Lenny and Carl are Homer's co-workers at the Nuclear Power Plant, and they knew Homer back in their childhood. They are Homer's most frequent companion(s) at Moe's Tavern, after Barney.



Monty Burns
Homer has been depicted as friends with Monty Burns on many occasions, such as when they got drunk together at a baseball game or were on a bowling team together. On the other hand, Burns has also sworn eternal vengeance against Homer on just as many occasions, and even more so than that Burns seems to be unable to remember who Homer Simpson is (a running gag on the series) despite the fact that almost all of his major life events are related in some way to Homer. Usually, Homer is afraid of Burns and acknowledges his presence with a scream, but it has been shown that once the two warm up to each other they get along famously until Homer inadvertently does something to end the friendship.

Ned Flanders
Ned Flanders is Homer's perfect neighbor whose belongings are usually "borrowed" by Homer and never given back. Homer takes obvious advantage of his push-over neighbor and is usually an avid participant in the one-sided rivalry the two have going on, although Ned sometimes gets caught up in Homer's taunts (such as when the two pit their sons against each other in a put-put tournament). It has also been hinted that Homer lusts after Flanders' wife, Maude (now deceased). Homer enjoys insulting Flanders and making his life more difficult, which Flanders all takes in stride. Even so, Homer has genuine feelings for his neighbor; he feels truly guilty when he causes Flanders' business to sink and takes it upon himself to save the Leftorium, he makes it his personal duty to revive Flanders' love life after Maude passes, and he also invites Flanders to his barbecues and other events with genuine enthusiasm. He has also acknowledged that Ned is his best friend, referring to him once as "Stupid Best Friend Flanders". Homer loves to see Flanders struggle because he perceives the Flanders' lives to be the unobtainable perfection that he will never have, and he especially loves beating Flanders, but he hates when Flanders is totally crushed. There are also incidents where Homer inadvertently causes harm to Flanders. A notable example of this is when Homer ends up unwittingly releasing a radioactive ape into Flanders' house after the ape in question tricked Homer, resulting in it occupying the attic. This incident also resulted in Flanders having to report it to Chief Wiggum at the Police Station, a report caught on CCTV camera and eventually acquired illegally by Jeffrey Albertson.

Apu
Apu and Homer are good friends; their families get together for dinners and they regularly have conversations when Homer is purchasing some confection at Apu's Kwik-E-Mart. When Apu lost his job at the Kwik-E-Mart he stayed with the Simpsons, Apu's wedding was also held at the Simpsons, and when Apu needs help with some problem the wacky solution and implementation usually include Homer (ex. Stealing Apu's children from the zoo, letting Apu use Homer's family as his own when his mother visits to dodge having to go through with an arranged marriage).

Clancy Wiggum
Clancy Wiggum is a friend of Homer and he and Homer have shown their relationship in "Chief of Hearts" episode when Homer gave sandwiches to him. They have been friends since. Even before then, they also were at the very least acquaintances, notably being invited to BBQs by Homer, as well as Homer and Wiggum, alongside the other townspeople, often plotting to do things when they are annoyed at recent events (such as their wives pushing them away because of Apu overindulging his wife for Valentines Day, and the events of the Presidential Election in Springfield).

Children
Homer's relationship with his children fluctuates greatly from episode to episode.

Bart
Bart and Homer's relationship is a strange one indeed; Homer has threatened Bart with murder before, yet at other times, the two get along better than anybody else. Homer usually refers to Bart as "the boy" and has mentioned spanking and beating Bart before. All that is ever shown, however, is either Homer growling and lunging for Bart, chasing him, or else strangling him. Homer was held in a mental hospital once due to his aggression with Bart, although, once the doctors realized that Bart was in fact real they released him. It is implied that Bart is the reason that Homer is bald. Homer blames most of his misfortunes on Bart and is the disciplinarian of him in the family. As a result, Bart usually takes advantage of his father's stupidity to humiliate him (as he does with most authority figures). Because of their often turbulent relationship, Bart commonly refers to Homer as Homer instead of Dad, especially when Bart is making fun of him. Homer has also implied that he wouldn't mind if Bart changed 100% and that he isn't very attached to him as he is. However, Homer also frequently shows genuine care for Bart and has expressed that he loves him, in spite of their differences and treatment of one another. He truly is ashamed whenever he embarrasses Bart and he tries to be a better father to Bart than Abe was to him, for example, he overly supports Bart when he is on the football team because his father never once supported him. Homer has even risked his life to impress Bart, such as taking a cannon ball to the stomach because he realized that doing so caused Bart to idolize him. He was even willing to jump across Springfield Gorge to help Bart understand the stupidity of risking one's life for short-lived thrills and glory.

Homer and Bart share the same sense of humor and adventure and therefore are almost always partners during wild escapades, such as when Homer became a truck driver or when they were arrested together in Japan. They spend a lot of time together watching TV, yet Bart doesn't view Homer as a father figure, and although they spend a lot of time together, Homer doesn't take much of an interest in his life. Whenever Homer does partake in a father-son activity with Bart, it is usually to beat Flanders at something, although, interestingly, Homer is truly offended when Bart gets a "big brother" to spend time with. Although Bart oftentimes acts resentful of Homer, he really loves when his father shows an interest in him, in fact, when he cheated on an IQ test and was labeled a genius, consequently winning Homer's affection, he was reluctant to admit he had cheated (even though he was miserable at school) simply because he didn't want things to go back to how they had been with Homer. Homer's greatest fear is Bart becoming a homosexual.

Lisa
Homer is very protective of Lisa and shows a soft side to her that Bart has never seen. She is his little girl and when Homer disappoints her or makes her sad he will oftentimes go to the end of the earth to make things right. Homer sometimes does activities with Lisa which he doesn't enjoy simply to make her happy, such as attending the ballet. That being said, Lisa and Homer do not get along very well. When Homer does accompany Lisa on such intellectual trips he oftentimes embarrasses her, usually by either falling asleep, saying something rude or unintellectual, or else displaying disgusting habits (itching his butt, burping, etc.). When Lisa becomes upset, Homer can't usually figure out what it is he did wrong. They have little to talk about because of their differences in interests and intellectual caliber, so Homer far prefers to do things with Bart and leave Lisa alone.

He is often annoyed by her love of music and constantly yells at her to tell her to stop making a racket. Lisa is also the moral center of the family, which leads to further clashes between her and Homer, who doesn't really care about the ethics of the various situations he has been involved in. Lisa's intelligence is likely the largest cause that Homer and her do not get along better. Whenever Lisa does make an attempt to protest or explain something to her father, she usually uses such advanced vocabulary that Homer simply nods and replies, "Yes, sweetie," even though it makes no sense whatsoever in the context of the conversation. However, Homer is very proud of Lisa's intelligence and will brag about it to friends and co-workers. Although he is often insensitive to her and her needs (once turning her room into a cellular tower without a second thought and then forcing her to bunk with Bart- also without a second thought) Homer does try to be a good father and puts her happiness above anything else, for example, when he was first told that she was gifted and that she should find a mental stimulation to help with her gift, he gave up the $200 dollars the family had saved for a new air conditioner to buy her her saxophone instead.

Maggie
Homer forgets Maggie exists—frequently. Once, when talking about their "two" children, Marge interrupted and told Homer that they had 3 children, to which he replied that the dog didn't count as a child. Similar dialogue is recurrent throughout the series. Also, whenever Maggie is referred to by her full name, Margaret, Homer has no clue as to who is being referenced. When Homer does try to interact with Maggie, he oftentimes frightens her unintentionally.

Homer is highly irresponsible with Maggie, often giving her unsafe things to play with and once completely losing her because she crawled out of her crib. Maggie was an accident baby (as was Bart and Lisa) and having her meant that Homer had to quit his dream job at the bowling alley and instead take his job back at the nuclear power plant so that he'd make enough money to support a third child. This was not ideal for Homer because he had only recently quit from the power plant in a very rude and flamboyant fashion. When he returned, Smithers and Burns had a good gloat that he was crawling back and, to further depress him, installed a plaque dead center in front of his desk that read, "don't forget, you're here forever." Because of all this, Homer fiercely resented the prenatal Maggie, but, as soon as he first laid eyes on her, he immediately fell in love. There are no baby pictures of Maggie in the Simpson household because Homer hangs them "where he needs the most cheering up"-- at work. In his office, he has created a mural of Maggie's baby pictures which strategically cover up one half of the N and the entire T of don't, the GET of forget, the YOU'RE, the E of here, and the FOREVER on his plaque with pictures of Maggie, so that it reads "do it for her." It can be argued from this that Maggie cheers up Homer more than his other two children. Although they don't communicate well, Homer and Maggie share a special bond and he loves her deeply. Maggie's first word was "daddy" which he couldn't hear.

Future
In 2013, Homer's and Marge's relationship has finally ended after Homer blew the family savings on an underwater house. She started dating Krusty the Clown, and eventually, Homer fought him to win her back. Homer was beaten, but Marge still decided to go back to him.

Treehouse of Horror deaths

 * 1) Treehouse of Horror VI Intro: Hung along with Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie.
 * 2) Treehouse of Horror VII Intro: Killed by the Grim Reaper while trying to get to the couch along with Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie.
 * 3) Treehouse of Horror VIII Intro: Electrocuted on the couch along with Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie.
 * 4) Treehouse of Horror IX Intro: Hit by Marge's car.
 * 5) I Know What You Diddly-Iddly Did: Attacked by the werewolf Ned Flanders.
 * 6) Life's A Glitch, Then You Die: Dies after escaping the ship going towards the sun because of no oxygen in space.
 * 7) Treehouse of Horror XI Intro: Killed by an angry mob along with Marge, Bart and Abraham.
 * 8) G-G-Ghost D-Dad: Chokes to death on a piece of broccoli.
 * 9) The Fright To Creep And Scare Harms: Shot by Moe, who took the time machine immediately afterward.
 * 10) Treehouse of Horror XIV Intro: Shot by Marge twice.
 * 11) Treehouse of Horror XV Intro: Cooked by Kang and Kodos and eaten by their boss, along with Marge, Lisa and Maggie.
 * 12) The Ned Zone: Shot by Ned thrice.
 * 13) The Day The Earth Looked Stupid: Killed in Kang and Kodos' invasion.
 * 14) Heck House: Cut to pieces by his own hammock.
 * 15) Treehouse of Horror XIX Intro: Sucked into a voting booth and shot out of it.
 * 16) How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertising: Head blasted off by the deceased Krusty the Clown.
 * 17) Treehouse of Horror XX Intro: Decapitated by monsters at a Halloween party.
 * 18) War and Pieces: Possibly dies from sliding down in the Drops and Rises game.
 * 19) Tweenlight: Falls from a great height when not able to fly back home as a vampire bat.
 * 20) Dial D For Diddly: Choked to death by God.
 * 21) Treehouse of Horror XXIII Intro: Crushed by a giant foot.
 * 22) Oh The Places You'll D'oh!: Impaled by an umbrella by Maggie.
 * 23) Freaks No Geeks: Announced to have died in a newspaper, along with Babe Ruth and Stalin.

Creation
Matt Groening first conceived the Simpson family in the lobby of James L. Brooks' office. He had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts, and had intended to present his Life in Hell series. When he realized that animating Life in Hell would require him to rescind publication rights for his life's work, Groening decided to go in another direction. He hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, with Homer being named after his father. Homer then made his debut with the rest of the Simpsons clan on 19 April 1987 in the Tracey Ullman short "Good Night". He was the first character to speak in the series. Homer's middle initial "J", which was revealed to stand for "Jay", was a "tribute" to Bullwinkle J. Moose from Rocky and Bullwinkle, a show Matt Groening loved as a child. According to Matt Groening, the whole family was designed so that they would be recognizable in silhouette.

Voice
Homer's voice sounds different on the shorts than the later half-hour show. Dan Castellaneta's earliest portrayal began as a loose impression of Walter Matthau, but developed into a more robust and humorous voice during the second and third season of the half-hour show, allowing Homer to convey a wider range of emotions. Castellaneta changed the voice, as he could not sustain his Matthau impression for the 9-10 hour long recording sessions and had to find something easier. During an interview with the cast of the show on Inside the Actors Studio, Castellaneta stated that Homer's voice was based in part on his own father who often spoke with an exuberant tone.

Catchphrase

 * Homer popularized the annoyed grunt "D'oh!" (made memorable through Dan Castellaneta's distinctive voice work), which began as an abbreviated form of James Finlayson's annoyed "Dooooh" in Laurel and Hardy films and other comedy shorts. This modern interjection has found enough popular acceptance to be included in the Oxford English Dictionary.

He also popularized the catchphrase "Mmm...". Many examples of other "Mmm...s" are "Mmm...candy", "Mmm...pointy" from or "Mmm...hug". He has used it less lately.

He also has another catchphrase: "Woo Hoo!" He says this when something goes right for him. When something goes wrong for him he says, "D'oh!"

Reception
On May 30, 2003, Homer was made an honorary citizen of Winnipeg, Canada, in recognition of Matt Groening's father Homer Groening, who is believed to be from the Manitoba capital.

Homer placed second on TV Guide's 2015 Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters, behind Bugs Bunny. In 2005, Homer was listed fifth on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters, one of only four cartoon characters on that list. British TV viewers voted him as the greatest TV character of all time. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly placed Homer ninth on their list of the "50 Greatest TV icons".

The Simpsons has been recommended for use in the teaching of sociology to modern-day college students. The journal Teaching Sociology appraised it as "particularly effective for illustrating sociological themes and encouraging critical thinking among today's undergraduates". The non-academic book The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer includes a chapter analyzing Homer's character from the perspective of Aristotelian virtue ethics, whatever that is.

Homer was ranked the second greatest cartoon character by TV Guide, behind Bugs Bunny, and was voted the greatest television character of all time by Channel 4 viewers. For voicing Homer, Castellaneta has won 4 Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance and a special-achievement Annie Award. In 2000, Homer and his family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Homer Simpson syndrome
A 5-year study of more than 2,000 middle-aged people in France found a possible link between weight and brain function, dubbed the "Homer Simpson syndrome". Results from a word memory test showed that people with a BMI of 20 (considered to be a healthy level) remembered an average of nine out of 16 words. Meanwhile, people with a BMI of 30 (inside the obese range) remembered an average of just seven out of 16 words.

Merchandising
Homer's inclusion in many Simpsons publications, toys, and other merchandise is evidence of his enduring popularity. He has played central roles in the Simpsons Comics series. The Homer Book, written about Homer's personality and attributes, has been published and is commercially available. Numerous other items such as bottle openers, alarm clocks and other merchandise are widely available for purchase.

Quotes

 * "I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T! I mean, S-M-A-R-T!"
 * "You tried your best and you failed miserabley, the lesson is never try!"
 * "In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics!"
 * "Here's to alcohol... the cause of and solution to all life's problems."
 * "Donuts. Is there anything they can't do?"
 * "Internet? Is that thing still around?"
 * "I don't apologize. I'm sorry Lisa, but that's the way I am."
 * "I hope I didn't brain my damage."
 * "I won't sleep in the same bed with a woman who thinks I'm lazy! I'm going right downstairs, unfold the couch, unroll the sleeping ba--uh, goodnight."
 * "Operator! Give me the number for 911!"
 * "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand."

Trivia

 * His social security number is 568-47-0008.
 * Homer has an email address on AOL called Chukylover53, and this email belongs in fact to Simpsons writer Matt Selman, and can be emailed to receive Homer style replies.
 * His blood type is B positive, as explained in "Blood Feud."
 * Homer's earmuff size is XL.
 * Homer often writes fist like.
 * Sometimes he is seen wearing a pair of specs whilst reading.
 * It is implied in Homer's Triple Bypass that Homer's bloodstream has a continuous regulation of radioactivity, as Dr. Hibbert was explaining to Marge Simpson that they injected Homer with a Radioactive Dye to see his circulatory system from an X-ray until he learns that the nurse hadn't even injected the dye yet (resulting in Hibbert saying "good lord" in a shocked manner).
 * He seems to be almost exactly the same as Peter Griffin, whom appears in Family Guy, which premiered 10 years after The Simpsons began. In "Treehouse of Horror XIII," one of his clones was Peter Griffin.
 * Homer owns the Denver Broncos, despite wanting to own the Dallas Cowboys.
 * It is believed that Homer is diabetic as mentioned in "That '90s Show". However if this was true, Homer would most likely be dead because he has never been seen taking insulin and the amount of food that Homer eats would just ensure that would already be dead by the point the episode That '90s Show was shown.
 * In "Fear of Flying," it is shown his favorite song (at the time) was "It's Raining Men".
 * Homer has, in fact, died twice. As shown in "Homer's Triple Bypass," when he died of a heart attack, but was revived when Mr. Burns mentioned a ham. And again in "Million Dollar Maybe," when he was trying to calm himself down after stressing about being rich and not being able to tell Marge, but was revived when he realized he was dead and made a desperate attempt to return to his body. He dies the most times (now 20) in the Treehouse of Horror segments, but they are non-canon.
 * According to "The Blunder Years," his constant eating was a direct result of his trauma from finding Waylon Smithers, Sr.'s corpse.
 * Homer was originally supposed to have an illegitimate, long lost daughter in the episode that would have become Insane Clown Poppy, but the writers decided to change it to having Krusty have the long lost illegitimate daughter instead in order to not make the plot too far fetched for it to be canon.
 * Originally, Bart was the character the show focused on, but by season four they focused more on Homer.
 * Homer also has a fear of sock puppets.
 * Homer is on Facebook.
 * He looks like his father when he is dehydrated.
 * Homer has been shot 3 times.
 * He is the only character that has had dialogue in every single episode.
 * Homer weighs between 239-300 lbs.
 * In all Simpsons video games where you can play as multiple characters, Homer is always the first unlocked character.
 * In "Trilogy of Error" Homer had his thumb cut off. However it was sutured by one of Fat Tony's helpers as Lisa's Science Fair Project.
 * Homer's side burn and ear used to say M + G for Matt Groening.
 * Homer has, in fact, aged. In several episodes, he is described to be 39 years old. However, in a recent episode, Homer claimed that he was 40. Besides him, no other character in the series has aged despite all the years that have gone by.
 * Homer only has an IQ of 55.
 * Homer shares his middle initial J with a character Philip J. Fry from Futurama, Matt Groening's second successful show, but unlike Homer whose initial actually means Jay, Fry's was never defined.
 * Throughout the series Homer has shown to be highly patriotic. He has also displayed a small form of Nationalism by insulting other countries, making fun of their culture and its people, as well as putting his country ahead of all others.
 * In Rednecks and Broomsticks, Homer has shown to have a strong sense of taste by being able to taste Moonshine inside the town's water reservoir. His taste buds could, to some extent, be compared to that of a wine taster.
 * In the previous season, his old taste buds got burned off exposing new ones in Father Knows Worst when he ate a fire kabob.
 * Homer starts out as a false antagonist in The Simpsons Movie when he makes Springfield the most polluted city in the history of the planet. However, he later has an epiphany when he realizes that other people are just as important as him and saves everyone from being blown up by Russ Cargill.