0217 - Bob Terwilliger

He's has many more distinguished outfits than this, but when I picture Robert, I always picture him in a leafy skirt. Maybe that's an issue I have to work on.

This appearance is before his many tattoos of course.

We have seen Bob before, back in "The Telltale Head", albeit with a different hairstyle and a smile in his heart:

But it felt more appropriate to properly cover him here in his more significant debut.

Technically his first spoken line in the show is not performed by Kelsey Grammar, but by Dan Castellaneta. This is pointless nitpicking trivia, but that's why we're all here I suppose.

Bob is a character that I chose to highlight in my "Eye on Springfield" collection as he is a good example of how odd the floating timeline of the show is:

The son part of this is especially fun - his son, introduced in season 17's "The Italian Bob" appears to be older than Maggie, despite being born after her.

Bob is the one of the show's most notable repeat villains, despite only having a significant appearance in ten episodes. This is a testament to how memorable and iconic he is, basically right off the bat. His fantastic design combined with a great performance by Grammar make for a beloved character, one of only two "guest" characters to get their own DVD box cover:

A little note about the music, something I haven't gotten into much here: Bob's theme, played often when he is introduced into an episode, is first used in season 3's Black Widower. The theme is based on the score to 1962's "Cape Fear", a few years before the show parodies this film (and its 1991 remake) outright in season 5's "Cape Feare", sometimes regarded as the greatest episode ever. It is only now that I am realising that this Cape Fear theme throughout Bob's appearances was seeded years before that full episode, perhaps the 1991 remake was more impactful than I initially had thought.

There, I got through the entire post without using the word "sideshow." Aw, crap.

This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.