Moe Szyslak

"Oh, geez!"

- Moe's catchphrase

Momar "Moe" Szyslak (pronounced "seez-lack"), also known as Moe the Bartender prior to Season 6, is the proprietor and bartender of "Moe's Tavern", a Springfield bar frequented by Homer Simpson and his friends. He is of Hungarian descent, although himself states to come from a family of Dutch immigrants. He has once stated that he moved to Springfield from Holland.

Moe is portrayed as often irritable and rude to all except his bar friends Homer, Lenny, and Carl, whom he sometimes treats as respected customers as opposed to his everyday drunks like Barney Gumble. His easy-to-lose harsh temper usually turns down women and finding a girlfriend for Moe has therefore been a running joke, from indulged sexual abstinence to unsuccessful suicide attempts to dating generally rejected women.

Biography
Moe Szylak was born on November 24. He either illegally immigrated to the United States from Holland (he reveals his Dutch heritage in "Bart-Mangled Banner") or was born in Indiana. He used to have an Italian accent but no longer uses it, hinting at Italian heritage.

As a child, he played the part of "Smelly", a tough kid, on The Little Rascals until he killed Alfalfa (or rather, an orphan portraying as him) in a fit of rage for stealing his bit and was fired. His first kiss was at 10 with Comic Book Guy. At some unspecified time during his childhood, his parents dropped him off at summer camp, never to return, leaving Camp See-a-Tree as the closest he could call a home. Moe becomes a victim of prank calls when young Marge calls the boys' camp and requests "Elvis Jagger Abdul-Jabbar", Homer's alias. An angry Moe hangs up, turns to the camera and says, "And, uh, that's the origin of that". Moe has stolen many things, perhaps most prominently a bag of gold Aztec coins from a young, aspiring Snake, turning the latter to a life of crime. As a young man, Moe became a professional boxer, going by the names "Kid Gorgeous", "Kid Presentable", "Kid Gruesome", and "Kid Moe." Moe blames his boxing career for making him ugly. According to Moe, his boxing career ended because of politics, and because he was knocked out 40 times in a row. Moe's ugliness got him rejected for a role on the soap opera "It Never Ends". Later plastic surgery nailed him the role before his face was damaged to its original appearance. His current appearance has been described as consisting of "cauliflower ear, lizard lips, little rat eyes, caveman brow and fish snout". After attending bartending school at Swigmore University (a play on Swarthmore College), Moe opened up his own drinking establishment, though often operating on expired, out-of-state, or forged liquor licenses. As an aside, it was revealed that Moe started a cult.

Moe discovered a knack for judging competitions (rather harshly), leading him to a place on American Idol. After a spat with Simon Cowell, he was banned from judging and the state of California. In a previous episode he said he does many things but judging isn't one of them. During Trappuccino, he claimed he was the emperor of Springfield.

Personality
Moe is characterized by a short, violent temper (particularly aiming a makeshift shotgun at customers), coupled with homicidal and suicidal tendencies and a proclivity towards obsessive behaviors. He has low self-esteem and is suicidal, suggesting he may suffer from Major Depressive Disorder. He has an annual Christmas tradition of attempted suicide, but his attempts are comically unsuccessful (landing on a hot-air balloon after jumping out of a plane, for example). He's called the suicide hotline so many times that they've blocked his number.

Moe is especially bitter, keeping an enemies list nearly identical to that of Richard Nixon, with the addition of Barney. He has assumed a leading role in many of Springfield's angry mobs (including, at times, starting mob riots for the sake of doing so), and kidnapping Talking Heads vocalist David Byrne. He has also engaged in bizarre behavior, such as shooting at Carl, robbing Homer of expensive pants, keeping Hans Moleman under his bar's in a subterranean torture chamber, perpetrating insurance fraud, and stalking various townspeople.

This behavior is further exhibited when he becomes the self-proclaimed Emperor of Springfield when the town is trapped in a dome. His leadership is challenged by Barney who throws a Molotov Cocktail at him, which Moe successfully throws back. He once implies that he probably wouldn't continue to be suicidal if Reverend Lovejoy had told him that he had much to live for.

Moe has a strained love life due to his vulgar attitude, especially towards women. Nevertheless, Moe has had a number of romantic experiences, including sleeping with his bartender Colette, dating a woman named Renee, and enjoying the company of many women after he had plastic surgery to correct his ugly appearance. According to The Fight Before Christmas, Moe was in a relationship with singer/songwriter Katy Perry as she was 'into puppets'. He has long been infatuated with Marge Simpson (whom he often refers to as Midge) and has on occasion professed his love for her and tried to win her away from Homer. Moe's romantic attractions have resulted in criminal behavior and run-ins with the law; he has stalked Maude Flanders and other townspeople, he must register as a sex offender, and has had a restraining order placed upon him. Regarding his sex offender status, he also once told Brockman when asked if he is a registered voter that he was a "registered... something" before shifting his eyes. At one point he is seen on his way to a "V.D. clinic". Moe has also proposed marriage to a WNBA mascot, even knowing that the character inside the mascot is Gil Gunderson. He dated a woman named Maya whom he met on the internet and is shocked when she turns out to be a dwarf. He is initially afraid to introduce her to people and he proposes eventually. She almost accepts but he keeps making inappropriate jokes about her height. He even went as far as to arrange a surgical procedure so that he was the same height as Maya but he never went ahead with the operation. He also once dated Mrs. Muntz.

Despite his faults, Moe has been shown to express genuine love and sentimentality, which suggests that he may not be as gruff as he appears. He has a cat named Mr. Snookums, of whom he is very fond. Moe is also kind towards the rats that live in his bar. On Wednesday nights, he reads to the homeless in a local soup kitchen and he also reads to sick children at the hospital. Until it was destroyed, Moe had a fondness for a jar of pickled eggs. He saved the owner of King Toot's music store and his wife from a flaming car. He saved the life of Maggie Simpson (ironically at a time that he was about to jump from a bridge) and took efforts to protect her. Moe engaged in charity work in South America or Africa, using a flying fan to fight forest fires and deliver medical supplies to people devastated by floods. Moe has knowledge of automobiles and dancing.

When Moe noticed that Homer, Apu and Timothy Lovejoy had relationship problems with their wives, Moe fake-threatened to run away with one of them, in hopes that the men would appreciate their wives. He is also rumored to have rescued the Springfield Elementary Model U.N. Club that was stranded on an island. Exactly how is unknown.

Moe's Tavern
Moe is the owner and, except for a few instances where temporary help is hired, the only employee of Moe's Tavern. His most loyal customer is Barney Gumble, with other regulars including Homer Simpson, Lenny Leonard, Carl Carlson, Sam and Larry. Moe is notoriously cheap with his customers, refusing to give them free drinks, or throwing them out when they are out of money (and in one case, calling designated drivers "cheapskates") ). He encourages his customers to drink as much as possible to grow their tab. Barney's tab had to be calculated by NASA; the total came to $14 billion. Moe removed games from the bar, noting that "people drink less when they're having fun".

Moe generally serves Duff beer on tap, having little knowledge of liquors or wines; the liquor bottles visible behind the bar are said to be "painted on," and in one instance, he unknowingly sells an expensive 1888 bottle of Château Latour for a few dollars. He enthusiastically abandons his bar, its regular customers, and his friends when a better opportunity comes along, such as the drink "The Flaming Moe", the opening of his postmodern bar "M", and the conversion of his bar into a family-themed restaurant called "Uncle Moe's Family Feedbag".

Moe is often engaged in shady or illegal activities at his tavern, including smuggling pandas and orcas, hosting Russian roulette games, operating an unlicensed casino, serving liquor without a license (his expired in 1973 and it's only good in Rhode Island as well as being signed by Moe himself), running a speakeasy during Springfield's brief flirtation with Prohibition, and performing unlicensed surgery. While Moe and his bar have gained occasional popularity, the phenomenon tends to be short-lived.

The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase
In the "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase", Moe has his own spin-off, "The Love-Matic Grampa", in which Abraham Simpson dies and his spirit falls into Moe's Love-Matic tester machine, and proceeds to give Moe dating advice to woo a woman named Betty. They both go out on a date, but Moe must visit the bathroom each time to see Grampa, until she discovers his plan. She forgive him for his efforts.

The Simpsons Road Rage
In the video game "The Simpsons Road Rage", Moe is a character that you can unlock later in the game and drive him. In the brief video when you select his car you can see that he is smuggling a panda, which can be seen in an episode. You can also pick him up as a passenger while driving as another character. In The Simpsons Road Rage and The Simpsons Hit & Run video games he says "Newsflash: you suck!"

The Simpsons Hit & Run
In "The Simpsons Hit & Run", Moe is an NPC who appears in his Bar in the Downtown levels, he has several spoken roles both as part of quests and player interactivity. His Sedan with the Rubber Daisy is an unlockable car by completing races in one level.

The Simpsons Game
In the "The Simpsons Game", he is Homer's coach in the level Around the World in 80 Bites, and when he wins, Homer bites off Moe's hand by an accident. He is one of the people Marge can use in Mob Rules to protest the sales of the Grand Theft Scratchy video game to minors. In the level NeverQuest, he is an enemy, and looks like an Orc.

Behind the Laughter
Moe's character was based partly on Tube Bar owner Louis "Red" Deutsch, who was made famous in the popular Tube Bar prank calls when he was repeatedly prank called by two Jersey City residents. These calls were the inspiration for Bart's repeated prank calls to Moe, and Deutch's often profane responses made Moe's violent side. Moe's further inspiration was drawn from comedian Rich Hall, an acquaintance of The Simpsons writer George Meyer. Hall considered being the basis for Moe "an honour". Moe's surname "Szyslak" was revealed in "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)", the writers found the name in a phonebook and gave it to Moe so that he would have the initials M.S., and hence could be a suspect in the Burns shooting. He was designed by Dan Haskett.

Moe was the first voice Hank Azaria performed for the show, redubbing Christopher Collins who initially recorded the character's voice for "Some Enchanted Evening". At the time of his audition, Azaria was doing a play in which he had the part of a drug dealer, basing his voice on Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon. He used the same voice in the audition, and was told by Matt Groening and Sam Simon to make it more gravelly, with it becoming the voice of Moe. Groening and Simon thought it was perfect and took Azaria over to the Fox recording studio. Before he had even seen a script, he recorded several lines of dialogue as Moe for the episode "Some Enchanted Evening". Also in earlier seasons he was seen with black hair instead of his current gray hair. After the episode "When Flanders Failed" where Ned Flanders opened the Leftorium, it is revealed that Moe is Left Handed. During the episode "Bart-Mangled Banner" moe claims to be Dutch, only to stomp out of his bar wearing clogs a few seconds later.

Real name
In "Flaming Moe's", his hired waitress Colette calls him "Morris". Yet, in "The Springfield Connection", Homer discretely hints that Moe's official name is "Momar" and Moe cringes with humiliation. It is implied in "Eeny Teeny Maya, Moe" that he changed his name to Moe so he could keep the sign and the bar's name.

Trivia

 * Moe has syphilis.
 * Moe has Facebook and appears to be friends with Mark Zuckerberg.
 * Moe is implied to have a murderous hatred of the Salvation Army, as when Homer, who was on the run from an unnamed Army Colonel's army unit after he went AWOL during a training session (that nearly killed him), Moe misinterpreted Homer's claims about the Army being after him as meaning the Salvation Army and immediately cocks his shotgun, telling him to take cover.
 * In Italian dubs, Moe has been renamed "Boe". That's because the voice actors thought "Moe" sounded too similar to the southern Italy slang "mo'", meaning "now".
 * Moe's bar-telephone number is "Smithers" spelled with telephone number, so possibly 763-83277.
 * In Moe Letter Blues, we learn Moe is fluent in Chinese.
 * Moe owns a blue truck which he's nicknamed Betsy.
 * Moe is suggested to be part monster. In Moe Goes from Rags to Riches, a yeti gives the rag to his son who turns out to be Moe. While in Lisa Goes Gaga, Moe states that he is half monster and half Algerian