fictional character american animated sitcom simpsons character voiced appeared series premiere episode simpsons open fire town drunk springfield huge fan lord best friend desperation alcohol frequent butt jokes episode days wine written stayed sober seasons inspired cartoon character television programs won emmy award voicing characters including seen present simpsons opening credits passed pile leaves holding beloved bottle role simpsons father world war veteran died parade float accident little known mother lives norway served united_states_navy including duty submarine seen season episode simpson tide stated polish mistakenly saying irish drunken born april homer remembers hitler birthday flanders entry springfield film festival star burns states years old episode claims studied dance years including modern tap episodes different reasons alcoholism suggests dedicated student looking forward bright future mind set going harvard_university homer introduced beer day season girl attributes drinking high school girlfriend leaving springfield pursue journalism career homer quartet formed quartet homer called asked join members heard singing beautiful tenor voice tavern replacing group original fourth member kicked won grammy award outstanding soul spoken word album year soon creative disputes arose left group began dating japanese conceptual artist group realized longer popular split rescued tar pit pet elephant gets elephant started business homer commercial homer causing homer lose customers revenge homer widow peak mountain outside springfield homer saw news report showing trapped homer immediately drove mountain rescued friends resolved differences agreed work heat wave hit springfield exact moment driving business episodes brother thou miracle shown drives truck forced spend sober night tavern serving designated driver left town car things guest lecture admission guest lecture likely occurred street corner gag choice suggests father local babies born presumably paid donation resulting artificial documentary film life alcoholic titled won prize springfield film festival ready quit drinking winning festival unfortunately prize received lifetime supply deep space homer trained astronaut nasa alcohol ban quickly regained balance appropriately selected fly reverted old ways presented bottle non alcoholic champagne served uss alongside mother simpson tide days wine watching video drunken antics birthday party resolves sober attends meetings appearance attends helicopter flying lessons revealed fourteenth season episode spelling fast character creation inspired best friend door neighbor animated series writers originally wanted character sidekick door neighbor instead portraying homer best friend decided alcoholic door neighbor instead taking standard sitcom sidekick making possible said creator simpsons writers drew inspiration crazy character played comedian reason writers went direction according sort rule having drinking television source comedy course went right writers patterned character character sitcom cheers early season episodes yellow hair later production season producers changed brown thought hair looked like skin artistic convention stated wanted simpsons yellow hair animation director modeled apartment animators worked shared particularly poster cable table writers originally intended character owner making regard business owner longer explained seasons later owns alley named voice voiced early discovered easy trademark time script called identified best told producers standard voiced time appeared series exception episode homer quartet singing provided member recorded lines members recordings cast cast member singing melody providing backup thought idea early series wrote script wife offered script showrunner jean liked story felt similar script writers working turned waited years offered script updated runner liked changes script eleventh season episode days wine aired april episode directed said interest getting sober writing staff opposed episode felt sober funny commented goofy man child got years left veins long discussion episode end writers decided want return drunk end episode stayed sober seasons animators modified appearance character hair things indicate altered voice character longer seen tavern drinking character new addiction coffee suggested writer producer friends stopped drinking alcohol addicted coffee reception ranked list best movie time recognizing character appearance called funny town drunk pop culture ign ranked fifth list simpsons peripheral characters stating source humor drunken included occasionally let face comedy sake simpsons better drunken author said making sober falls trap stuff simpsons simple sitcom narratives wrapped half hour learns lesson end britain guardian said hailed making drinking source comedy hitherto impossible dream entertainment_weekly placed sixth list best simpsons episodes won primetime emmy award outstanding voice performance voicing characters including episode today clown days wine nominated award merchandising toys created action figures world springfield toy line released august depicts usual appearance second jacket released january toys retail exclusive released july play set song named episode included simpsons album plays role simpsons ride launched universal_studios florida hollywood
Barney Gumble