Herman Hermann

Herman Hermann
Gender/Sex
Status
Hair Color	Brown
Occupation	Owner of Herman's Military Antiques
First episode appearance	"Bart the General"
Portrayed by	Harry Shearer

“The key to Springfield was always Elm Street. The Greeks knew it. The Carthaginians knew it. Now you know it.”

―Herman

“God closes a door, he opens a gunshop!”

―Herman

“Looks like the spider caught himself a couple of flies!”

―Herman to Snake & Chief Wiggum

Herman Hermann, voiced by Harry Shearer, is the owner of Herman's Military Antiques. He dresses in military fatigues. He's an insectivorian.

Herman in the Simpsons' garage selling counterfeit jeans.

Arm

Herman has only one arm. He told Bart that the other arm was lost by sticking it out of the window of a moving bus (hailing) and it was torn off by a truck driving in the other direction. It was also implied it was him, as Ms. Krabappel said not to do it because a kid once lost an arm that way, while on a bus. However, in To Cur, with Love, it was revealed that he stuck it out on a street while trying to hail a car, resulting in the arm being torn off by a passing dogcatcher truck driven by Chief Wiggum.

Role in The Simpsons

Herman's not a very important and known person in Springfield, but he'll often participate in large mobs and crowds.

In Homer Goes to Prep School he appears as a member of the Preppers (People who believe society will end at any moment).

Talents

He's a skilled military tactician, though his sanity's somewhat questionable (Bart considered him "a little nuts", while Abraham Simpson actually said he was "out of his mind"). Herman was instrumental in Bart’s victory in water balloon combat against Nelson, and the negotiation of the peace treaty between the two combatants.

Friends

He's friends with Abraham Simpson, to whom he sold a fez hat, claiming it was previously owned by Napoleon. He also claimed that he owned "the hat McKinley was shot in". He also has a mysterious friend called Zed, who presumably is the same Zed as in the movie Pulp Fiction; a homosexual rapist. Herman was a member of The Stonecutters, and possibly the "No Homers" club. He was also a poker buddy of Homer Simpson.

Criminal Activities

He once sold counterfeit jeans out of the Simpsons' garage, and held Homer hostage when he stumbled upon his job. He was foiled by Marge Simpson, though he wasn't put in jail because the evidence was stolen by the Springfield PD.

He once captured Chief Wiggum and Snake Jailbird and held them hostage. He also attempted to hold Kirk Van Houten hostage to silence him, but was thwarted (accidentally) by the latter's son Milhouse,

Herman

wielding a flail.

Behind the Laughter

Harry Shearer does an impression of George H. W. Bush for Herman's voice. Herman's facial design is modeled after the show's most prolific writer John Swartzwelder, who created the character. The writers had originally planned for Herman to give a new explanation for how he lost his arm every time he appeared. However, the second joke, involving Herman having stuck his arm in a ball return at a bowling alley, got cut, and the writers never pursued the idea thereafter.

Appearances

Note: The episodes where Herman has an actual role are in bold.

• Episode – "Bart the General"
• Episode – "Bart Gets Hit by a Car"
• Episode – "Old Money"
• Episode – "Bart the Murderer"
• Episode – "Flaming Moe"
• Episode – "Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk"
• Episode – "Radio Bart"
• Episode – "Lisa the Greek"
• Episode – "A Streetcar Named Marge"
• Episode – "Marge vs. the Monorail"
• Episode – "Homer's Barbershop Quartet"
• Episode – "Rosebud"
• Episode – "Homer the Vigilante"
• Episode – "Homer the Great"
• Episode – "A Star is Burns"
• Episode – "The Springfield Connection"
• Episode – "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)"
• Episode – "22 Short Films About Springfield"
• Episode – "Much Apu About Nothing"
• Episode – "Homerpalooza"
• Episode – "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)"
• Episode – "Burns, Baby Burns"
• Episode – "Bart After Dark"
• Episode – "My Sister, My Sitter"
• Episode – "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment"
• THOH – "Treehouse of Horror VIII"
• Episode – "Trash of the Titans"
• Episode – "The Last Temptation of Krust" (In Moe's Tavern)
• Episode – "When You Dish Upon a Star"
• Episode – "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken"
• Episode – "Homer to the Max"
• Episode – "They Saved Lisa's Brain"
• Episode – "Monty Can't Buy Me Love"
• Episode – "Brother's Little Helper"
• Episode – "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder"
• Episode – "Children of a Lesser Clod"
• Episode – "Treehouse of Horror XII"
• Episode – "Half-Decent Proposal" (Seen at Artie Ziff's prom)
• Episode – "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge"
• Episode – "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation"
• Episode – "The Strong Arms of the Ma"
• Episode – "Simple Simpson"
• THOH – "Treehouse of Horror XV"
• Episode – "See Homer Run"
• – The Simpsons Movie
• Episode – "Lost Verizon"
• Episode – "Coming to Homerica"
• Episode – "Chief of Hearts"
• Episode – "To Cur, with Love" (flashback)
• Episode – "Homer Goes to Prep School"
• Episode – "Pulpit Friction"
• Episode – "Four Regrettings and a Funeral" (Church)
• Episode – "Steal This Episode"
• Episode – "Opposites A-Frack"
• Episode – "Simpsorama"
• Episode – "Walking Big & Tall"
• Episode – "Halloween of Horror"
• Episode – "Simprovised"
• Episode – "The Old Blue Mayor She Ain't What She Used To Be"
• Comic book – Clip Clip Hooray!
• Comic book – Comic Fan No More

• 1	The Simpsons: Tapped Out

Video game – The Simpsons: Tapped Out

Trivia

Herman's early designs for Bart the General

• In the Simpsons Comics #100 - Clip Clip Hooray!, Herman reveals that he tells people that he lost his arm in an accident, but actually wore it down to a nub by drawing so many comics.
• According to "Homer's Odyssey", it's possible Herman's the person who got his hand cut off by the truck, or like he said in "Bart the General" as a kid, he could have had his hand stuck in between the bus doors.
• His password is "Let me in you idiot".
• He's a Stonecutter.
• He is left-handed.

Gallery