Waylon Smithers, Jr.

Waylon Smithers redirects here. For his father, see Waylon Smithers, Sr..

"That's Homer Simpson, one of your (nickname) from sector 7G."

―Smithers' catchphrase

Waylon J. Smithers, Jr. Artwork of Waylon Smithers, Jr. by Matt Groening

Character Information Gender: Male ♂ Status: Alive Age: Early 40s Hair: Gray Occupation: Assistant to Charles Montgomery Burns, Supervisor of the sector 7-G Relatives: Father: Waylon J. Smithers, Sr. (deceased) Mother: Unnamed Adoptive father/Guardian: Charles Montgomery Burns Ex-wife: Unnamed First appearance: "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" (voice only) "Homer's Odyssey" (in person) Voiced by: Harry Shearer

Waylon J. Smithers, Jr. (better known as "Mr. Smithers" or simply as "Smithers") is Mr. Burns personal assistant, executive, and self-proclaimed best friend. He is openly gay as he came out, but due to how poorly he hid his sexuality most people knew that beforehand.

Biography

Smithers' father, Waylon Smithers, Sr., worked for Burns until he died of radiation poisoning after saving Springfield from a potential nuclear meltdown, making Mr. Burns the closest thing to a father figure he knew. In high school, he was beaten up by bullies (including Homer Simpson), while he was the announcer for the high school gymnastics competition. Eventually he became Mr. Burns' personal assistant.

As a (not very well) closeted gay man, he has had a crush on Mr. Burns for as long as he as worked for him, but Burns has never caught on. He was previously married to a woman (a southern belle, given her accent and personality), but it fell apart when, shortly after an injury with his leg, and his then-wife wanted to have sex with him, his then-wife referred to his true love, Mr. Burns, as "awful". At one point it was implied that he was linked romantically to John, the owner of Cockamamie's thrift shop. He collects Malibu Stacy dolls, writes a newsletter about the doll, and was the author of a Malibu Stacy stage musical that played in Arizona; he played Stacy's boyfriend. He once owned a Yorkshire Terrier named Hercules. When Mr. Burns convinced Sideshow Bob to run for mayor, it was Smithers who revealed to Bart and Lisa a clue that would lead them to the truth about Bob's not-so-honest victory in the mayoral election, hinting that his reasons were due to Sideshow Bob planning on enacting policies that were oppressive to his orientation.

In 1995, when Mr. Burns attempted to block the sun from Springfield after stealing oil from the elementary school, Smithers objected and was fired. This drove him into a nightmare of alcohol abuse and Comedy Central viewing. He was the main suspect in the subsequent shooting of Mr. Burns, but he was cleared. However, he did, in a drunken stupor, shoot Jasper in his wooden leg while trying to rush home to watch his favorite TV show. No charges were pressed in this case. It is unknown as to what religion he practices, although it is heavily implied that he is Protestant, as he goes to a confessional stand (which is primarily a Catholic practice), and before making the confession, he admits to God that he is not a Catholic, although he did try to march in the Saint Patrick's Day Parade.

Mr. Smithers' character folder seen in the Hall of Records.

Smithers' official job at the power plant appears to be that of executive assistant, which he says is "actually about 2,800 smaller jobs", responsible for monitoring employee attendance and is often a disciplinarian and has won dozens of "Employee of the Month" awards. He has often hinted at wanting to be promoted to the position of executive vice president, but Burns has repeatedly squashed this dream, while whimsically bestowing the vice presidency on Homer and a dog. He was once, however, made the CEO of the Nuclear Power Plant in Burns' stead when Mr. Burns was arrested for stealing paintings from a museum, a position that is arguably better than vice president, although he hints that he didn't want the job. He initially tried to be an employee-friendly boss, but after overhearing a conversation between Lenny, Carl and Homer while meeting at Moe's Tavern that revealed that they were abusing his employee-friendly nature to in essence goof off, he became a worse CEO than Mr. Burns (even going as far as to release wolverines in the house instead of hounds). He eventually gave up on the position willingly after Mr. Burns was released by Lenny, Carl and Homer.

Smithers has the largest collection of Malibu Stacy dolls in the World and is the president of the Malibu Stacy fan club.

Personality

Smithers has been implied to be gay several times despite not declaring it himself. He has several gay friends and frequents Springfield's gay village. When he was arrested for trying to get opium for Mr. Burns, he is implied to be gay when Mr. Burns says to Homer "I've never seen someone taken to a Turkish prison so quickly." and goes on a vacation to a male-only resort. Smithers is shown to be quite passionate for Mr. Burns. Smithers has occasional fantasies about Burns, like dreaming he is on his bed and suddenly Mr. Burns appears flying through the window. When he turns his computer on, it shows a nude Burns saying "Hello Smithers. You're quite good at turning me on" Smithers has declared his love for Burns on some occasions, such as kissing Mr. Burns on the lips after saying "Oh, what the hell!", believing the world was ending, later explaining it to him as "merely a sign of my respect". Another hint of Smithers sexuality is when he seems to have been dating John, a gay man.

Burns has remained largely ignorant of Smithers' devoted adoration. Burns himself has been involved with several women, much to Smithers' frustration, like when Mr. Burns fell in love with Marge and with a woman called Gloria. Smithers was noticeably disgusted when Burns started looking for a female companion. Burns, for his part, views (and refers to) Smithers as a lackey, albeit a highly valued one for his competence and toadying. He has "rewarded" Smithers' devotion with the future "honor" of being buried alive with him after he dies. Smithers has been shown to be somewhat dependant on his relationship with Burns, like the occasion when Burns orders Smithers to take a vacation and Homer is hired as a temporary replacement. When Homer loses his temper and punches Burns in the face, Mr. Burns learns to become self-reliant and this results in Smithers being fired. Smithers decides that he needs to be Burns' assistant and eventually gets his job back. For all his sycophantic devotion to Mr. Burns, Smithers has been willing to challenge him on some occasions. He opposed his employer's various evil schemes Burns fired him. As a result of his firing, Smithers became a "hideous drunken wreck" and when Mr. Burns was shot later, Smithers thought he might have done it while he was drunk. When it was proven that he had not, Smithers seemingly forgave Burns and demanded that the culprit be brought to justice, offering a reward for the capture of the perpetrator.

Relationships

Smithers' romantic interest has largely been aimed at Mr. Burns who appears oblivious to Smithers' affections. Smithers entered a relationship with Julio after quitting from his job, however it was apparent that Smithers was not over Burns so Julio ended it. It's been implied that Smithers had a thing with Mr. Largo.

Non-canon

The contents of this article or section are considered to be non-canon and therefore may not have actually happened or existed.

Future

Smithers as a robotic dog

As seen on Professor Frink's future machine, at age 58, Smithers injects himself with medicine every 10 minutes to become straight (upon taking the injection he waves his arms in the air and shouts "I loves boobies!"). At age 65, he thawed out Mr. Burns and had his 17 stab wounds to the back cured. He attended Lisa Simpson's wedding with him. At age 1,000,050, his head is on a robotic dog body and follows Mr. Burns' head everywhere.

The Simpsons: The Arcade Game

Smithers appears in this game as the first boss of the final level, as well as one of the main antagonists. Smithers, presumably under Mr. Burns' command, broke into a jewelry store to steal a diamond. As he and his fellow henchmen were making their escape, he (quite literally) bumped into the Simpson's family, causing him to lose the diamond, and for Maggie to catch it. Because of this setback, Smithers ends up kidnapping Maggie and, after a few misadventures, Smithers makes it back to the Nuclear Power Plant, although not without the Simpsons family following him. He then fights the Simpsons family, remarking "Welcome to my world!" He lobbed several explosives at the family. When sensing that he would soon lose, he opened his cape, revealed to be filled with explosives, cackling maniacally only to react in shock as he discovers that the explosives had activated, causing him to be caught in the explosions. For unknown reasons, Smithers in this game actually sounds much higher pitched than in the regular series (most of the other characters usually have more or less the same voices in the game).

The Simpsons Game

In The Simpsons Game, level "Lisa the Tree Hugger", Smithers was involved in Mr. Burns' plan of trying to cut down the entirety of Springfield Forest, and is comforting him about doing better next time when the plan fails due to Lisa and Bart's interference, as well as phoning some goons to beat up Al Gore. In Mob Rules, he appears as one of the people Marge can use to protest the sales of the Grand Theft Scr