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Barnard Arnold " Barney" Gumble Sr. is a recurring character in the American animated series TV series The Simpsons. He is voice acting by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".
Barney is the town drunk of Springfield and one of Homer Simpson's friends. His loud belches and desperation for alcohol serve as frequent sources of humor on the show, though Barney sobered up in the Season 11 episode "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses" before relapsing three years later. Barney was inspired by the cartoon character Barney Rubble from The Flintstones and by several from other television programs. In 2004, Castellaneta won an Emmy Award for voicing various characters, including Barney.
Barney can be seen in The Simpsons opening credits since 2009, passed out under a pile of leaves (but still holding his beloved bottle of Duff Beer) and being awoken by Bart Simpson skateboarding over his stomach, causing him to let out his trademark belch.
Two episodes give different reasons for his alcoholism. "Mr. Plow" suggests that Barney was a dedicated student looking forward to a bright future. He had his mind set on going to Harvard University, until Homer peer pressured him into drinking beer the day before the . Season 16's "She Used to Be My Girl" attributes his drinking to his high school girlfriend Chloe Talbot leaving Springfield to pursue a journalism career.
In "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", Barney formed a barbershop quartet with Homer, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, and Seymour Skinner called the Be Sharps. Barney was asked to join when the other members heard him singing in a beautiful tenor voice in the restroom of Moe's Tavern, replacing the group's original fourth member, Chief Wiggum, who had been kicked out. In 1986, the Be Sharps won a Grammy Award for Outstanding Soul, Spoken Word, or Barbershop Album of the Year. Soon, creative disputes arose, and Barney left the group in all but name when Yoko Ono. The group realized that they were no longer popular and split up.
Barney was rescued from a tar pit by Bart's pet elephant Stampy in "Bart Gets an Elephant" and he also started a snowplowing business rivaling Homer's in "Mr. Plow". Barney's commercial defamation Homer, causing Homer to lose his customers. As revenge, Homer fooled Barney into plowing a driveway on Widow's Peak, a treacherous mountain just outside Springfield. When Homer saw a news report showing that Barney had become trapped in an avalanche, Homer immediately drove to the mountain and rescued Barney. The friends resolved their differences and agreed to work together. However, a heat wave hit Springfield at that exact moment, driving them both out of business. However, in the episodes "O Brother, Where Bart Thou?" and "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace" it is shown that Barney still drives his Plow King truck.
After being forced to spend a sober night at Moe's Tavern serving as designated driver, Barney left town in Homer Simpson's car to, among other things, give a guest lecture at Villanova (although, by his own admission, the guest lecture could just have likely occurred on a street corner). He ultimately abandoned the car in New York City and returned to Springfield after a two-month absence. A gag in "Selma's Choice" suggests that Barney is the father of many local babies born through (presumably, paid) donation of semen and the resulting artificial insemination.
Barney made a documentary film about his life as an alcoholic, titled Pukahontas. It won the top prize at the Springfield Film Festival. He was ready to quit drinking after winning the Festival, but the prize he received was a lifetime supply of Duff Beer. In "Deep Space Homer", Barney trained to become an astronaut for NASA. Under their alcohol-ban, he quickly regained his balance and diction and was quite appropriately selected to fly with Buzz Aldrin. However, he reverted to his old ways when he was presented with a bottle of non-alcoholic champagne. Barney served in the United States Navy Reserve as a on the USS Jebediah, alongside his mother, in "Simpson Tide".
In "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses", after watching a video of his drunken antics at his birthday party, Barney resolves to get sobriety. He attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, cleans up his appearance, and attends helicopter-flying lessons. He remains sober by the episode's end, though his alcoholism is replaced by an unhealthy dependence on coffee. It was revealed in the fourteenth season episode "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can" that he had relapsed.
In some early first season episodes, Barney had yellow hair. Later in the production of that season, the producers had it changed to brown, because they thought that his hair looked like his skin;Jean, Al (2001). Commentary for "Some Enchanted Evening", in The Simpsons: The Complete First Season DVD. 20th Century Fox. in addition, during an artistic convention of the show, Groening stated that he wanted only the Simpson family to have yellow hair. Animation director Rich Moore modeled Barney's apartment on one he and several other animators who worked on the show shared, particularly the Farrah Fawcett poster and the cable spool table.Moore, Rich (2001). Commentary for "Homer's Night Out", in The Simpsons: The Complete First Season DVD. 20th Century Fox. The writers originally intended for the character to be the owner of Barney's Bowl-A-Rama.Groening, Matt; Jean, Al; Silverman, David (2001). Commentary for "Life on the Fast Lane", in The Simpsons: The Complete First Season DVD. 20th Century Fox. However, after making him "pathetic", they could not regard him as a business owner any longer, and it was explained seasons later in "And Maggie Makes Three" that his Uncle Al owns the alley and named it after him.Groening, Matt; Silverman, David (2005). Commentary for "And Maggie Makes Three", in The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season DVD. 20th Century Fox.
After a long discussion about how the episode should end, the writers decided that they did not want Barney to return to being drunk at the end of the episode. Barney stayed sober for several seasons. The animators modified the appearance of the character, straightening his hair, among other things, to indicate his sobriety. Castellaneta altered his voice for the character by no longer slurring. Barney was still seen at Moe's Tavern, but only drinking . The character's new addiction to coffee was suggested by writer-producer David Mirkin, who has friends who stopped drinking alcohol and became addicted to coffee.
Britain's The Guardian said that Barney "should be hailed for making compulsive drinking a source of comedy on US TV, a hitherto impossible dream." Entertainment Weekly placed "Mr. Plow" sixth on their list of the best 25 Simpsons episodes in 2003. In 2004, Dan Castellaneta won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for voicing several characters, including Barney, in the episode "Today I Am a Clown". "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses" was nominated for a PRISM Award in 2001.
Character
Creation
Barney was inspired by Barney Rubble, Fred Flintstone's best friend and next-door neighbor from the animated series The Flintstones.Groening, Matt (2001). Commentary for "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", in The Simpsons: The Complete First Season DVD. 20th Century Fox. The writers originally wanted the character to be Homer Simpson's sidekick and next-door neighbor, but instead, while still portraying him as Homer's best friend, they decided to make him an alcoholic. Ned Flanders would become the next-door neighbor instead. "Barney was taking the standard sitcom sidekick and just making him as pathetic as possible," said Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons. The writers drew further inspiration from Crazy Guggenheim, a character played by comedian Frank Fontaine on The Jackie Gleason Show. Part of the reason the writers went in that direction, according to Groening, was because of "a sort of unspoken rule about not having drinking on television as a source of comedy. So, of course, we went right for it." The writers also patterned the character after Norm Peterson (George Wendt), a character from the sitcom Cheers.Castellaneta, Dan; Groening, Matt; Jean, Al; Moore, Rich; Reiss, Mike; Silverman, David (2003). Commentary for "Flaming Moe's", in The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season DVD. 20th Century Fox.
Voice
Barney Gumble is voiced by Dan Castellaneta who said he drew inspiration from Mr. Magoo's nephew Waldo on the 1957 record album Magoo in Hi-Fi where Waldo was voiced by Daws Butler as well as a little big Frank Fontane's Crazy Guggenheim. Early on in the show, Castellaneta discovered that it was not easy for him to do Barney's trademark belch every time a script called for it, so he identified his best belch and told the producers to make that the standard, the belch also appears on an episode of The Pitts.Jean, Al (2002). Commentary for "Blood Feud", in The Simpsons: The Complete Second Season DVD. 20th Century Fox. Castellaneta has voiced Barney every time he has appeared in the series, with the exception of the episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", in which some of Barney's singing is provided by a member of The Dapper Dans, who recorded lines for all four members of the Be Sharps. Their recordings were intermixed with the cast's, often with a cast member singing the melody and the Dapper Dans providing backup.Martin, Jeff; Reiss, Mike (2004). Commentary for "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season DVD. 20th Century Fox.
Sobriety
Castellaneta thought of the idea of Barney sobering up early in the series. He wrote a script together with his wife Deb Lacusta. They offered their script to showrunner Al Jean. Jean liked the story, but felt that it was too similar to a script the writers were already working on, "Duffless", so he turned it down. Castellaneta and Lacusta waited several years and offered their script, which they updated, to then-show runner Mike Scully, who liked it and had them make a few changes.Affleck, Neil; Castellaneta, Dan; Lacusta, Deb; Maxtone-Graham, Ian; Meyer, George; Scully, Mike (2008). Commentary for "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses", in The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season DVD. 20th Century Fox. Their script became the eleventh season episode "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses", which first aired April 9, 2000. The episode was directed by Neil Affleck, who said that he had "a vested interest in getting Barney sober." However, some of the writing staff was opposed to the episode as they felt Barney sober would not be funny. Castellaneta commented, "He's still a goofy man-child...he's still got 15 years of booze left in his veins."
Reception
Filmcritic.com ranked Barney 18th on their 2008 list of "The 21 Best Movie Alcoholics of All Time". Recognizing the character for his appearance in The Simpsons Movie, Filmcritic called him "the most awesomely funny town drunk in pop culture". IGN ranked Barney fifth on their list of the "Top 25 Simpsons Peripheral Characters" in 2006, stating that, "he's been a dependable source of humor through his many drunken asides, burps included...Occasionally he's sobered up...But let's face it, for comedy's sake, The Simpsons is better off with a drunken Barney mouthing off at Moe's." Author Chris Turner ( Planet Simpson) said, "Making Barney sober falls into the trap of all the stuff The Simpsons satirizes, all those simple sitcom narratives where everything is wrapped up in half an hour and everyone learns a lesson in the end."
Merchandising
Playmates Toys created three Barney Gumble action figures as part of the World of Springfield toy line. The first one, released in August 2000, depicts Barney in his usual appearance. The second, Barney in his Plow King jacket from "Mr. Plow", was released in January 2003. The third, a Toys "R" Us retail exclusive, was released in July 2003 as part of a Be Sharps play set. The song "A Boozehound named Barney" from the episode "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" was included on the Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons album. Barney plays a role in The Simpsons Ride, launched in 2008 at Universal Studios Florida and Hollywood. During the pre-show, Barney appears in a suit of the character Scratchy to entertain the people waiting in line, but he staggers around drunk and drinks in public, which led to Krusty firing him for drinking on the job. Barney later reappears during the ride portion where he appears outside Moe's Tavern, letting out his signature belch as the Simpson family chases an enlarged Maggie through Springfield.
External links
Categories: Animated Characters Introduced In 1989, Characters Created By Matt Groening, Fictional Alcohol Abusers, Fictional Aviators, Fictional Drivers, Fictional Singers, Fictional Unemployed People, Male Characters In Animated Television Series, The Simpsons Characters, Television Characters Introduced In 1989, Fictional Polish People, Male Characters In Sitcoms
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