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| | == Personality == | | == Personality == |
| − | [[File:Burp.gif|left|thumb|Barney Burping]]
| + | Joy to the world that Barney Gumble is dead! We BBQ his head Don't worry about the body, we flushed it down the potty, and around and around it goes. And around and around it goes |
| − | Barney is almost always seen in [[Moe's Tavern]], where he is a regular. His desperation for alcohol has been the source of many jokes. He has a quavering, slightly broken voice and a distinctive loud belch (although he sings completely differently, having a beautiful "Irish tenor" type voice), as well as a characteristic [[wikipedia:strabismus|wandering eye]]. He remains friendly and good-natured despite his unfortunate condition. Heavyset, slovenly, and unmarried (though occasionally seen with women), he lives in a very untidy and sparsely-furnished apartment. It has also been implied that he has "lived" in [[Moe's Tavern]]. Barney drinks so compulsively that [[Moe]] had to send his beer tab to [[wikipedia:NASA|NASA]].
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| − | He is occasionally seen doing some sort of menial labor, such as working for his Uncle Al at Barney's [[Bowl-O-Rama]], but has also been the owner of a successful snowplowing business and been employed by NASA as an astronaut. Barney states that he is 40 years old and his first name was revealed to be Barnard, although he also appears to be in the same high school class as Homer in flashbacks <ref>[[A Star Is Burns]]</ref>. When streaking at his high school prom earned him "about a decade's worth of detention", it was hinted that he was either to be held back a year, or had already repeated. He had also ended up having to do court-issued community service with picking up roadside litter where he attacked Principal Skinner [who was trying to cross the interstate with a tank of gasoline for his car at the time] after hallucinating that Skinner was a giant beer can.<ref>[[Lost Verizon]]</ref>
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| − | Barney has survived experiences such as exploding zeppelins<ref>[[Lisa the Beauty Queen]]</ref>, malfunctioning Jet packs <ref>[[Deep Space Homer]]</ref>, and being crushed by a falling table<ref>[[The Boy Who Knew Too Much]]</ref>.
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| − | When alcohol is not readily available, Barney is seen drinking just about anything, such as turpentine, varnish, rubbing alcohol, and brake fluid. Barney is also Homer's best friend. Barney is also friends with Moe, Lenny and Carl.
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| − | === Sobriety ===
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| − | Barney was once forced to remain sober for the drinking night at Moe's when he received the position of Designated Driver that night (Coincidentally on the same night that he was to get free beer from Duffman as a reward.). As revenge, he decided to drive Homer's car to New York City and leave it there <ref>[[The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson]]</ref>.
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| − | Barney once attempted to kick his alcoholism habit. For his birthday, Moe gave him a gift certificate for helicopter flying lessons, not expecting Barney to actually use them. "Can you imagine this tanked-up loser at the wheel of a whirlybird?", Moe asked. This comment, coupled with a humiliating videotape of Barney's actions while inebriated, gave Barney the drive he needed. Barney attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, became sober, and took the helicopter lessons. He became fairly proficient at it, though he admitted he had not yet mastered right turns. This new skill helped Homer rescue Bart and Lisa from a forest fire.
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| − | Unwilling to lose one of his most crucial customers to his tavern, Moe figured out a way to channel Barney's tendency for addiction into a dependency on the caffeine in espressos <ref>[[Days of Wine and D'oh'ses]]</ref>.
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| − | Homer encouraged Barney to drink a beer when he played Ulysses S. Grant in a re-enactment of the Battle of Springfield (though this, surprisingly, did not cause him to become alcoholic again). He briefly sobered up and got back behind the controls of his helicopter to rescue his old girlfriend Chloe from a volcanic lava flow. He was also relatively sober and piloting his helicopter again when helping [[Homer]] take celebrity photographs <ref>[[Homerazzi]]</ref>.
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| − | He stated that the same rehab clinic had "cured him six times," implying that he has been switching between a current and recovering alcoholic <ref>[[Co-Dependent's Day]]</ref>. It's revealed that he's always sober in the morning until he enters [[Moe's Tavern]] <ref>[[Lost Our Lisa]]</ref>.
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| − | During [[Trappuccino]], he was one of the barflies who run into the church, and even later Barney was attending an Alcoholics' Anonymous meeting and went crazy when the coffee ran out <ref>>[[The Simpsons Movie]]</ref>.
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| | == Behind the Scenes == | | == Behind the Scenes == |
Joy to the world that Barney Gumble is dead! We BBQ his head Don't worry about the body, we flushed it down the potty, and around and around it goes. And around and around it goes
Barney was partly based on "Crazy" Guggenheim, a character from Jackie Gleason's American Scene Magazine.[2] Matt Groening noted: "Barney was taking the standard sitcom sidekick and just making him as pathetic as possible. And also there was a sort of unspoken rule about not having drinking on television as a source of comedy. So, of course, we went right for it."[2] In "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses" Barney was sobered up, a move that many staff members were against believing "a wide-awake, freshly showered, sober Barney just isn't as funny as an unkempt, disoriented, drunk one." Castellaneta did not change his voice after the sobering, because "[he thinks Barney's] still got 15 years of booze left in his veins."[2]
The name Barney Gumble is a parody (and near homonym) of Barney Rubble, Fred Flintstone's best friend on Hanna-Barbera's The Flintstones. In several of the episodes of the first season, Barney Gumble's hair was yellow, just like Barney Rubble's hair. He was also born on April 20 1956.
Barney is also a major character on the show and has been central in a few episodes such as Mr. Plow, Homer's Barbershop Quartet, and Days of Wine and D'oh'ses. Barney has also appeared in every single season although in season 19 he made only cameo appearances. In season 2,3,4,5, Barney made lots of speaking appearances aproximately 10-15 episodes, because he was always seen in Moe's. He has appeared in 274 episodes.
