Birchibald "Birch" T. Barlow is a right-wing conservative talk show host on the radio station KBBL. He also has a show on Fox News.
Fame
On air (and presumably personally), he is a radical conservative, highlighted by his book, "Only Turkeys Have Left Wings". His on air rantings are intentionally engineered to be controversial and to rile up the audience, in order to convince them to call, as do many talk back radio hosts. On his radio show, he declares himself to be "the fourth branch of government" and "the fifty-first state".
Barlow was instrumental in getting Sideshow Bob released, due to sympathy to Bob as well as believing his story about being framed. He was also "accused" by Lisa Simpson of being the true mastermind behind Bob with the implication of Bob simply being a puppet in order to trick Bob into confessing to some of his crimes in court.
Behind the Laughter
Birch Barlow is a parody of the stereotypical right-wing political commentator. Barlow's voice and appearance is modeled after commentator Rush Limbaugh. His name is a possible reference to the John Birch Society, a notorious right-wing advocacy group.
He has also been a customer at Marge's prescription drug-laden "yard sale", a reference to Limbaugh's Oxycontin addiction scandal [1].
In The Simpsons Guide to Springfield, despite his ultra-conservative views, he was shown having dinner at the Shaboom-Kaboom Cafe with Waylon Smithers, John, and Buddy Hodges.
Appearances
Episode – "Sideshow Bob Roberts"
- Episode – "Radioactive Man"
- Episode – "Sweets and Sour Marge"
- Episode – "Weekend at Burnsie's"
- Episode – "We're on the Road to D'oh-where"
- Episode – "You Kent Always Say What You Want"
- Episode – "E. Pluribus Wiggum"
- Episode – "All About Lisa"
- Episode – "The Fool Monty"
- Episode – "Dark Knight Court"
- Episode – "The Kid is All Right"
- – The Simpsons Movie
- Comic story – K-Bart
- Comic story – Radioactive Homer
- Comic story – Sense and Censorability
- Comic story – Dullards to Donuts
- Comic story – X-MAS Marks the Spot!
- Book – The Simpsons Guide to Springfield
- Book – Simpsons World: The Ultimate Episode Guide, Seasons 1-20
- Video game – The Simpsons: Tapped Out
