Editing Sideshow Mel

:''Sideshow Mel redirects here. For the chocolate, see [[Sideshow Mel (chocolate)]]''
{{Quote|Lisa, applause is an addiction, like heroin - or checking your e-mail.|Sideshow Mel|All About Lisa}}
{{Character
|name= Melvin Van Horne
|image= [[File:Melvin Van Horne.png|200px]]
|gender= {{Male}}
|hair= Green
|status=  Alive
|job= Children's entertainer<br>TV personality
|relatives= '''Wife:''' [[Barbara Van Horne]]<br>'''Son:''' Unnamed<br>'''Father:''' Unnamed<ref>"[[The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants]]"</ref><br>'''Sister:''' Unnamed<ref>"[[Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play]]"</ref>
|appearance= "[[Itchy and Scratchy and Marge]]"
|voiced by= [[Dan Castellaneta]]
}}

'''Melvin Van Horne''', better known as '''Sideshow Mel''', is [[Krusty the Clown|Krusty]]'s sidekick on [[The Krusty the Clown Show (TV Show)|The Krusty the Clown Show]]. 
When not in character, Mel speaks in a grandiose/posh Shakespearean accent and owns poodles.

== Biography ==
Mel joined the cast of [[The Krusty the Clown Show (TV Show)|The Krusty the Clown Show]] to replace Sideshow Bob in April 1990, who was sent to prison for attempting to frame [[Krusty the Clown|Krusty]] for armed robbery the previous month. It seems that Krusty unceremoniously replaced Bob with someone even stranger-looking than he was.

Sideshow Mel uses a slide whistle to communicate on camera. When not in character, Mel speaks in a grandiose British/Shakespearean accent and owns poodles. His main accomplishment so far has been successfully removing [[Waylon Smithers]] from suspicion of having shot [[Mr. Burns]].<ref>[[Who Shot Mr. Burns?]]</ref> Off-screen, Mel is generally very eloquent, educated, poetic and intelligent, with a beautiful singing voice-it is implied that, as with Sideshow Bob before him, his true talents are wasted on Krusty's show. When Lisa Simpson won the "Entertainer of the Year Award"; it was revealed that Melvin also won the award previously for his portrayal of Biff in Death of a Salesman, but his desire to keep his stardom eventually led him to become the sidekick he is today.<ref>[[All About Lisa]]</ref> He was once forced to conduct an orchestra of kazoo-playing monkeys. When he pleaded with Krusty to not force him to do it, Krusty simply shouted at him to "shut up and conduct!"

=== Religion and Education ===
Little is known about Mel. He is a Cornell University graduate and an Atheist (though he is occasionally seen at the Presbylutheran church). It is also shown that Mel could be a recovering alcoholic as he had attended several Alcoholic Anonymous meetings.

=== Hair ===
Aside from the bone, Mel has curly green hair in a sort of beehive-like style similar to Marge's only shorter and rounded at the top,his hair also appears to be "fashioned/poised/set" in an upward position because it seems to sit atop his head showing that he has no sideburns or even a hair "tail".  Mel perpetually wears a bone in his hair which may or may not be permanently affixed. He once warned [[Lisa Simpson]] not to use a bone to try and get gum out of her hair, as he did and it became permanently stuck there.<ref>[[22 Short Films About Springfield]]</ref> However, he was once seen removing the bone and using it as a weapon during a duel. When Springfield was trapped under a dome by the EPA, he was also seen removing the bone and whacking it at the dome.<ref>[[The Simpsons Movie]]</ref> Bart also took the bone out of his hair pranking [[Martin Prince]]. He indicated that he could feel meteorological conditions in the bone, such as incoming storms.<ref>[[Skinner's Sense of Snow]]</ref> Before he got his bone, Mel was famous in both London and Hollywood and was able to comb his hair.

=== Disabilities ===
[[Bart Simpson]] found out that Mel is lactose-intolerant. Krusty once poured liquid nitrogen down Mel's pants and cracked his buttocks with a hammer.

=== Family ===
He may be married to or living with a woman named [[Barbara Van Horne|Barbara]] with whom he wished to purchase a house from [[Marge Simpson]].<ref>[[Realty Bites]]</ref> Mel once complained that Barbara no longer pleasured him with the French Arts.<ref>[[I'm With Cupid]]</ref> Mel also has a son (that looks exactly like him but has no bone in his hair) who's name was/is never mentioned directly or indirectly. Mel's last name of Van Horne may suggest his family is of Dutch/Afrikaner origin.

Krusty reveals to Mel that he has been secretly dating Mel's wife, and that he wants to dump her after 11 years since the thrill is gone.<ref>[[The Great Wife Hope]]</ref>

=== Other jobs ===
After Krusty's show was cancelled following the rise of Gabbo, Mel worked at a taco stand where he initially refused Krusty's pleas to return to his show.

He was the jury foreman for the [[Mona Simpson]] trial. The jury was sequestered at a Quality Inn which "more than lived up to its name." <ref>[[My Mother the Carjacker]]</ref>

== Appearances ==
{{Incomplete}}
{{scroll|
*{{ep|Itchy & Scratchy & Marge}}
*{{ep|Old Money}}
*{{ep|Brush With Greatness}}
*{{ep|Separate Vocations}}
*{{THOH|Treehouse of Horror III}}
*{{ep|Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)}}
*{{ep|My Sister, My Sitter}}
*{{ep|The Frying Game}}
*{{mov}}
*{{ep|The Wettest Stories Ever Told}}
*{{ep|All About Lisa}}
*{{ep|The Fool Monty}}
*{{ep|Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts}}
*{{ep|The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants}}
*{{ep|Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson}}
*{{ep|Moe Goes From Rags to Riches}}
*{{bon|Comic Fan No More}}
*{{bon|Hanukkah at Schtickfair}}
*{{bk|The Krusty Book}}
}}

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Mel.jpg|Mel's natural hair
File:SideshowMelSon.jpg|Mel's son
File:Mel and Barbara.jpg|Mel's wife
</gallery>

== References ==
{{Images|Sideshow Mel}}
<references/>

{{Stonecutters}}
{{Krusty the Clown Show}}
{{Krusty Comeback Special}}
{{Simpsons characters}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Horne, Melvin}}

[[Category:Recurring characters]]
[[Category:Male characters]]
[[Category:Adults]]
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Krusty's sideshows]]
[[Category:Characters voiced by Dan Castellaneta]]