Bumblebee Man
Yaritza Burgos
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Character Information
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Yaritza Burgos/Pedro (or The Bumblebee Man), is the star of a Spanish-language television sitcom on "Channel Ocho", in which he dresses in a bumblebee costume and performs slapstick comedy.
Contents
Personal life
Costume
Bumblebee Man never takes off his costume in public, and almost never in private. The sole exception is a short segment showing his private life. In addition to being seen costumeless, Bumblebee Man is shown as being genuinely clumsy rather than simply acting as such. In the end, his house is destroyed and his wife leaves him [1].
Language and Nationality
Bumblee Man was once shown speaking with an articulate British accent [2]. In general, however, Bumblebee Man only speaks in simple, over-enunciated (and often inaccurate) Spanish sentences. His catchphrases of choice are typically “¡Ay, ay, ay, no me gusta!” (“I don’t like it!”), “¡Ay, ay, ay, no es bueno!” (“That’s not good!”) and “¡Ay, Dios no me ama!” (“God doesn’t love me!”). Quite commonly, his phrases will be intentionally sloppy Spanish: For example, saying "wudpequero" for "woodpecker," when it's actually "pájaro carpintero" [3]. Marge was once up late watching Bumblebee Man on TV and saw him confessing that he didn't know any Spanish until he joined Mexican television and that he was actually Belgian[4].
Behind the Scenes
Character Origins
Bumblebee is a caricature of "El Chapulín Colorado" ("The Red Grasshopper"), a character created and portrayed by Mexican television comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños (best known by his pseudonym "Chespirito"), and his show consists of simple skits, often involving heavy slapstick. In several DVD commentaries, the show's producers say that whenever they watched Telemundo, this character was always "on", and then they created Bumblebee Man, who is also always "on".
In Other Languages
In the Spanish-language version of the show, the humour of Bumblebee Man (known in this version as hombre abejorro in the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, or el hombre abeja in Spain) relies on the fact that he wears a gigantic bee costume and frequently engages in physical comedy; there has been no effort made to translate his speech to another language. However, in the Spanish-language version, he speaks with an over-the-top Mexican accent. The Japanese version leaves Hank Azaria's performance untouched.
Appearances
References
- ↑ 22 Short Films About Springfield
- ↑ In "Bart Gets Famous." This was mentioned in an episode commentary as being a mistake.
- ↑ Season 7 DVD Commentary - "22 Short Films About Springfield" - The crude Spanish was used deliberately so that American viewers would still understand what was being said.
- ↑ Simpsons Comic #110
