Lenny Leonard
Lenford "Lenny" Leonard
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Character Information
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Lenford "Lenny" Leonard is a character voiced by Harry Shearer. He works at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and possesses a master's degree in nuclear physics, but is not portrayed as an academic. Lenny seems to be a simple, often naïve blue-collar working man whose best friend is Carl Carlson.
He is also a war hero, a three-time juror and a Buddhist (although he is often shown in Reverend Lovejoy's church, and is the only person other than the Flanders in church when the town is brainwashed by a cult, suggesting that he may also be a Christian, although many characters of other faiths appear in the church, such as Apu), although he may be like Lisa and goes to church out of Respect for other religions. During one episode, he showed himself to be an extremely adept guitar player. Lenny was also member #12 of the Stonecutters which was disbanded to form the "No Homers" society.
Contents
Statistics
Lenny is unmarried (although in the episode Bart of War, Carl Carlson says that he sang at Lenny's wedding) and between 35 and 40 years old (born the week of a massive bloody battle in Laos), and weighs approximately 164 pounds (75 kg). His parents are unknown, though according to Homer in Simpsons episode 24 Minutes Lenny said his dad was Hulk Hogan, though Homer said it was a lie. His comments in Midnight Towboy about Stalin putting his grandmother in a labor camp suggest that at least one of his parents and/or grandparents is an immigrant from the Soviet Union. He looks to be around 5' 11" (1.8 m), and is often described as "plain looking". He had plastic surgery when a sudden upswing in the price of power plant stock led to most of the employees (with the exception of Homer) to have a big profit. In one episode it's revealed his real name might actually be 'Lenford Leonard', though the audience can't be certain if this was just a joke. In Burns' Heir, however, both Burns and Smithers refer to him as "Leonard." Lenny has said in an episode he was from Chicago, but a non-canon source claimed he was from Kansas City.[1] In the episode The Seemingly Never-Ending Story, Lenny reveals that one of his other vices aside from drinking at Moe's is dressing up like a baby. In episode, Midnight Towboy it is revealed that Lenny's license plate on his green two door hatch back is "DUI GUY."
Address
Lenny's address is unknown, although in the episode Secrets of a Successful Marriage, Homer has played poker at Lenny's house with other pals from Moe's Tavern. The house seems to be a regular middle class home. But in another episode, Realty Bites, he lived in an extremely rundown house that was falling apart – literally (it was also for sale at the time of appearance). It appears to have just one room with a roof. The wall facing the street falls down with exceptional timing, just when Maude Flanders suggests that she (along with Ned Flanders and Marge Simpson) should look inside the house before buying it. Lenny asks them not to tell anyone how he lives. The house was not seen since, but was humorously referenced in the episode "Homer to the Max" when Marge mentions 'New Years at Lenny's' (where there wasn't even a clock).
In Helter Shelter, Lenny was seen living in a well-furnished apartment sharing a wall with a jai alai court. Lenny considers the noise of the ball hitting the wall to be a "soothing calmness". In The Girl Who Slept Too Little, Lenny was once again seen living in a rundown home next to the Stamp Museum, allowing his front lawn to be used as a parking lot. In Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife, Lenny is shown again living in a well-furnished apartment, which includes a newly purchased plasma TV; this episode also shows that he still lives next to the jai alai court. In Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore, when Mr. Burns announces that he is shutting down the power plant and shifting operations to India, Lenny cries out that he just bought a $3-million house. Lenny is absent from the episode Hobbies.
Job
Lenny works at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant alongside Homer Simpson and Carl Carlson. In one episode he is promoted to head of the power plant when Mr. Burns loses all his money. He was described as having a "reign of terror". During this time, Homer did something bad, and Lenny told him to go home and think about what he did. However, Homer forgot what it was that he had done, so he just watched TV instead. Lenny is also considered the second richest man Homer knows. In an episode set in the future, Lenny is once again in charge of the power plant. In the episode The Wandering Juvie it is revealed that he also is an undercover agent whose target is Homer. In The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace Lenny is shown at Homer Simpson's funeral as the President of the United States (though this is through Homer's imagination).
In the episode Secrets of a Successful Marriage, Lenny is in charge of the "How To Chew Tobacco" class at the Adult Education Annex.
It is unclear if Lenny and Carl work in the same section in the power plant as each other as they are rarely seen. It is implied that Homer has a higher role in the power plant than them although he is never shown working. When Lenny and Carl were told about Mr. Burns needing blood to live, Carl said he is Homer's supervisor.
In The Boys of Bummer, it is revealed that Lenny has written a successful series of mystery novels, which even Stephen King called enjoyable.
Friends
Lenny's most obvious friend is Carl Carlson (see below), as they are rarely seen apart. Other friends are Homer and the regulars at Moe's Tavern, including Barney Gumble and Moe Szyslak. In one episode Lenny's friends attempt to throw a surprise party for him at Moe's, which is ruined by Homer, who then sits on a cake shaped like Lenny's favorite barstool, ruining it completely. Homer repeatedly confuses Carl and Lenny, and is on one occasion surprised to learn that Lenny is white and Carl is black. In Helter Shelter, Homer exclaims, "That's Lenny? I wanted the black one!", and in another episode he has, "Lenny = White, Carl = Black," written on his hand. In the episode How I spent me summer vacation, he drunkenly remarks to Lenny that "I never held anything against you based on the color of your skin". Lenny's name has also been mentioned by Homer in a joke. Homer quips to a lesbian gladiator that "White guys have names like Lenny, whereas black guys have names like Carl." Lenny is well liked by the Simpson family - In the episode Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder, when Homer reports that Lenny has been taken to the hospital as a result of an explosion (a story Homer made up so he could go bowling), Marge and the kids all respond with "Oh no! Not Lenny! Not Lenny!" and build a prayer shrine for him. After the hoax is revealed, Marge says she is just relieved Lenny is all right. This joke is also used as a MacGuffin in certain episodes, for example in an episode with Lisa trying to lose weight, she discovers a cake inscribed "Happy Labor Day Lenny". Another time, a picture of him falls out of Marge's hair. Also Marge seems to have always liked Lenny. She never really speaks about Carl, aside from in There's Something About Marrying, in which she speaks of them both in response to Homer.
Romantic life
In Team Homer, Moe asks why Lenny and Carl are not there, to which Homer replies that they do not have time because they're with their mistresses. Lenny is a persistent bachelor who has poor luck with women. In Marge on the Lam Lenny shaves the legs of an overweight woman, who calls him an idiot for not shaving in an upward direction. Whether Lenny was in a relationship with this woman is unclear. Carl did mention singing at Lenny's wedding, but in another episode, Lenny punched Carl for giving a bad speech at his wedding. Marge may have a crush on Lenny as she was once obviously distressed when Homer falsely told her he had been injured. She later was found to have a framed photo of him hidden in her hair. In Bart Star, it looked as if he was dating Marge, but he was just relaxing his arms on the bench above him, while Marge was checking out Homer. In Homer the Smithers he is seen in the opening scenes with an arm around a woman who appears to be his girlfriend. In Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife it is revealed that he dated a woman in a Woody Woodpecker outfit at a fairground for three months until she left him for the man who cleans the vomit on the roller coaster. In one episode where Marge volunteers to help at the church Lenny confessed that he lied to Carl about being married to a beauty queen.
Relationship with Carl
Lenny and Carl are constant companions. Despite Lenny and Carl appearing to be best friends, as of the Eighth Season, in the episode In Marge We Trust, Carl had yet to meet Lenny's alleged beauty-queen wife. However in the episode Ice Cream of Margie (With the Light Blue Hair) in season 18, Lenny ends up inside the combined broken popsicle stick sculptures of Lenny and Carl. He states, "I don't know where Carl ends and I begin!" Carl replies, "See, statements like that are why people think we're gay" indicating that they identify themselves as straight (Their being straight was also implied in "The City of New York vs Homer Simpson" when Lenny and Carl shouted drunkenly that they wanted to go to the Girls College and the Playboy Mansion, respectively and in Bonfire of the Manatees he walks into the Simpson house where the Mafia are filming an adult film and says the two women's names toward them, showing he recognises them therefore suggesting he watches straight adult films). Lenny may only have a serious case of hero worship with Carl and it may not be romantic.
- In the episode There's Something About Marrying, Homer runs out of homosexual couples to marry, and speculates that Lenny and Carl might be interested. Marge scolds him, saying that the two need to "work that out for themselves".
- In the episode Thank God It's Doomsday, Lenny asks Chief Wiggum if he will be his "rapture buddy", to which Wiggum responds by saying, "What's wrong with Carl? Trouble in paradise?"
- In the episode Fraudcast News, Lenny publishes a newspaper called "The Lenny-Saver" with the headline: "The Truth About Carl, He's Great." After displaying this, he sheds a tear and states that "it had to be told."
- In Treehouse of Horror XVI where Lenny dies and sees Heaven, the angels all take the form of Carl. They chorus, "Hurry up, Lenny! We'll be late for work at the plant!"
- In several episodes where Lenny reveals his deepest desires, such as when Mayor Quimby switches off the town lights, and Lisa shouts that "for eons people have gazed at the skies and seen into their souls" - when Lenny looks up, he sees Carl's face in the stars (which Carl also does).
- In the final episode of season 17, Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play, Lenny is with Carl at the baseball game and after seeing Homer and Marge on the Kiss-cam remarks to Carl, "Remember when we used to kiss like that, Carl? With our respective girlfriends." They then discuss what happened to them. Apparently one turned out to be a prostitute and one died.
- In Behind the Laughter, Lenny and Carl are describing the Simpsons tendency to spend large amounts of money. Lenny says, "Even Bart was throwing dough around. He paid me and Carl a thousand bucks to kiss each other!" Then Carl (looking puzzled) says, "Hey, did we ever get that money?". Suddenly, they both look upset.
- My Big Fat Geek Wedding features Carl reflecting that "Marriage is gonna be great. Now you'll have someone who'll rub your back - without being asked" while glaring at Lenny, who sighs "Oh, not this again." Carl then responds "Yes this again."
- In Half-Decent Proposal, when Homer and Lenny are leaving Springfield forever, they drive past a mountain with Carl's face carved in it. Lenny calls it "Mount Carlmore" and says he carved it one beautiful summer. Later on, when Artie Ziff's helicopter comes to rescue Homer and Lenny from a burning oil field, Lenny is hesitant to go saying "There's nothing on that helicopter for me" to which Carl appears and responds "Don't be so sure!" and Lenny gasps and swoons "Carl Carlson!"
- In the Episode The Way We Weren't, Homer tells Lenny and Carl about his encounter with an unknown girl (Marge) through the kitchen flaps. Carl replies "Oh man, someday, love will come sliding down my chute."
- In The Simpsons Movie, as Homer and Marge start the first dance at their wedding, Lenny and Carl are shown with arms slung around each other.
- In season 18 episode Little Big Girl Carl states that they have the same mother when a major fire is closing in on her work.
Lenny's sensitive eye
Lenny has a very sensitive eye; his doctor states that he is not allowed to get pudding or jigsaw puzzle pieces in it ("Ow, my eye, I'm not supposed to get pudding/jigs in it!"). In The Old Man and The "C" Student, Lenny also succeeds in getting a spring caught in his eye (the other end of which is caught in Moe's eye). In the episode in which Lenny's eye is recovering from getting pudding in it (Homer vs. Dignity), he takes off his eye patch and immediately gets fish innards thrown at it. This has become a running gag – in a later episode Homer makes a photo cube for Lenny and files down the edges so it will not harm Lenny's eye. Lenny, while Homer pokes the corners into his eye, says "it only stings a little." Lenny has also been referenced to having a rubber band shot into his eye. In another episode, a vendor displays the Omnigogs, a pair of safety goggles that will protect the user from the harm of newspaper rubber bands. Lenny is shown turning with a bandaged patch over his eye saying, "It's a little late for Lenny."
Stardom
Lenny once had a small part in a horror film called The Re-Deadening, a horror movie about a doll named 'Baby Button Eyes' who is possessed by the spirit of a psychotic killer. In the movie, Lenny is a gardener who is killed by the doll, who then seems to have sewed buttons on Lenny's eyes, but are actually held on with hot wax (this was clearly a Child's Play parody). Lenny was also featured in a photo spread in The New Yorker. He also had a television role when Homer's chat show replaced The Krusty the Klown Show, but was immediately fired when he asked for a "small cost of living allowance". In The Boys of Bummer, Lenny's fame as a writer of mystery novels is mentioned, these novels are commented enjoyable by Stephen King.
Future
At age 53, Lenny owns a super pet. When Milhouse (with giant muscles) gets trapped between two trees, he and Carl leave him there.
Appearances
Springfield Nuclear Power Plant
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