Tito Puente

This article is about the Tito Puente character. For the real-life musician and guest voice actor, please see Tito Puente.

Tito Puente 250px

Character Information Gender: Male ♂ Status: Deceased Age: 72 Hair: White Occupation: Jazz Musician, Bandleader First appearance: "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)" Voiced by: Himself

Tito Puente is a Latin-American jazz musician and bandleader who was a music teacher at Springfield Elementary School for a brief time. He was also a suspect in the attempted murder of Charles Montgomery Burns.

History

When Groundskeeper Willie struck oil in the basement of Springfield Elementary, the faculty, staff and students made a number of budget proposals based on the revenue that the oil well was expected to bring in. Lisa Simpson proposed that the school begin a jazz program and hire Tito Puente to be the instructor, saying that Puente was "ready to give up the drudgery of the professional mambo circuit and settle into a nice teaching job." Principal Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers quickly approved the proposal, and Puente said he was looking forward to the opportunity.

The opportunity vanished, however, when Mr. Burns beat the school to the oil, tapping the deposit via a slant-drilling operation and thus robbing the school of all of the prospective income from the oil. Skinner announced that the school was cancelling all of the previously approved budget proposals, and in fact would have to eliminate non-essential programs such as music in order to pay for the construction and demolition of the oil derrick. The announcement angered Puente, and he later said in a phone conversation with Lisa that he wanted to settle Burns' hash. When Burns was shot, Puente's anger at losing the teaching job ("He robbed the school of Tito!") provided him with a possible motive.

While investigating Burns' shooting, Chief Wiggum learned that Puente had vowed to take revenge on Burns. Wiggum then visited Puente's jazz club to question him. Puente readily admitted to wanting revenge, but said that "[setting Burns'] soul afire with a slanderous mambo" was a more fitting, and more thorough, vengeance than simply shooting him. To demonstrate his point, Puente and his Latin Jazz Ensemble performed the song "Señor Burns", which Wiggum enjoyed. After the song was over, Wiggum said he believed that Puente was innocent, and added, "I hope all our suspects are this much fun."

Appearances

• Episode – "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)"
• Episode – "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)"

References

The Simpsons characters

The Simpsons and relatives Jacqueline Bouvier • Patty Bouvier • Selma Bouvier • Abraham Simpson • Bart Simpson (Bartman • El Barto) • Homer Simpson • Lisa Simpson • Maggie Simpson • Marge Simpson • Mona Simpson Jub-Jub • Plopper • Santa's Little Helper • Snowball II Around Springfield Kumiko Albertson • Ms. Albright • Jasper Beardley • Benjamin • Blue-haired lawyer • Shauna Chalmers • Comic Book Guy • Crazy Cat Lady • Larry Dalrymple • Doug • Eddie • Maude Flanders • Ned Flanders • Julio Franco • Jonathan Frink • Gary • Alice Glick • Barney Gumble • Gil Gunderson • Constance Harm • Bernice Hibbert • Julius Hibbert • Julius Hibbert's daughter • Julius Hibbert's oldest son • Lionel Hutz • Jacques • "Just stamp the ticket" man • Princess Kashmir • Hyman Krustofsky • Akira Kurosawa • Cookie Kwan • Grady Little • Lou • Helen Lovejoy • Jessica Lovejoy • Timothy Lovejoy, Jr. • Barry Mackleberry • Jerri Mackleberry • Jack Marley • Horatio McCallister • Milo • Hans Moleman • Marvin Monroe • Eddie Muntz • Mrs. Muntz • Bleeding Gums Murphy • Lindsey Naegle • Nahasapeemapetilon octuplets (Anoop • Gheet • Nabendu • Poonam • Pria • Sandeep • Sashi • Uma) • Apu Nahasapeemapetilon • Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon • Sanjay Nahasapeemapetilon • Old Jewish man • Ruth Powers • Gareth Prince • Gloria Prince • Joe Quimby (Mayor Quimby's body guards) • Martha Quimby • Raphael • Luigi Risotto • Nick Riviera • Sam • Gerald Samson • Agnes Skinner • Roy Snyder • Spuckler children (Dubya • Whitney) • Brandine Spuckler • Cletus Spuckler • Squeaky-voiced teen • Strawberry • Disco Stu • Moe Szyslak • Kirk Van Houten • Luann Van Houten • Clancy Wiggum • Sarah Wiggum • Yes Guy • Artie Ziff Celebrities Bill and Marty • Booberella • Kent Brockman • Bumblebee Man • Scott Christian • Duffman • Matt Groening • Krusty the Clown • Lurleen Lumpkin • Troy McClure • Sideshow Mel • Roger Meyers, Jr. • Arnie Pye • Pyro • Dave Shutton • Jebediah Springfield • Miss Springfield • Drederick Tatum • Mr. Teeny • Rainier Wolfcastle (McBain) Springfield Elementary School faculty and students Chuck Berger • Black weasel • Wendell Borton • Gary Chalmers • Lewis Clark • Database • Lunchlady Dora • E-mail • Rod Flanders • Todd Flanders • Ham • JJ Hibbert • Elizabeth Hoover • Sophie Jensen • Jimbo Jones • Edna Krabappel • Coach Krupt • Dewey Largo • Sherri Mackleberry • Terri Mackleberry • Otto Mann • Audrey McConnell • Nelson Muntz • Nell Nicholson • Brunella Pommelhorst • Janey Powell • Martin Prince • J. Loren Pryor • Report Card • Richard • Dolph Shapiro • Becky Shorter • Nina Skalka • Seymour Skinner • Cosine Tangent • Allison Taylor • Milhouse Van Houten • Wanda • Ralph Wiggum • Groundskeeper Willie • Hubert Wong • Yellow weasel • Jaffee Ziswhisky • Üter Zörker • Kearney Zzyzwicz Blond-haired boy with glasses • Brown-haired boy • Buck-toothed boy • Buck-toothed girl • Girl with glasses • Lewis look-alike • Long haired girl Springfield Nuclear Power Plant Blinky • Charles Montgomery Burns (The Hounds) • Carl Carlson • Charlie • Lenny Leonard • Waylon Smithers, Jr. • Smitty Villains Sideshow Bob • Frankie the Squealer • Herman Hermann • Snake Jailbird • Kang Johnson • Kodos Johnson • Legs • Louie • The Rich Texan • Hank Scorpio • Johnny Tightlips • Fat Tony Other characters Capital City Goofball • Jesus Christ • Santa Claus • Devil • Fallout Boy • Itchy • God • Leprechaun • Richard Nixon • Poochie • Radioactive Man • Scratchy Families The Simpsons • The Bouviers • The Flanderses • The Hibberts • The Krustofskys • The Lovejoys • The Spucklers • The Van Houtens • The Wiggums • The Muntzes Miscellaneous Doppelgängers • Fictional characters • LGBT characters • Animals • Deceased characters • Crossover characters • One-time characters • Recurring characters • Non-canon characters