Nick Riviera
Nick Riviera
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Character Information
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Nick Riviera, M.D. (voiced by Hank Azaria) is a quack physician (although he claims to be "just as good as Dr. Hibbert"), and a satiric reference of doctors trained in dubious medical schools. Specifically, his name may derive from that of Elvis Presley's personal physician, George C. Nichopoulos, who was also referred to as "Dr. Nick". He could possibly be the second recurring character to die and not return.
Profile
Riviera is of Latin descent (in the European Spanish dub he's given an Argentinian accent) and has a medical degree from Hollywood Upstairs Medical College (there he apparently spent much of his time using his ability to acquire prescription drugs to impress a succession of attractive women back in the 1970s), and a great deal of luck; thus far, none of the patients he has swindled, maimed, or given useless or dangerous medical advice seems to have sued him (although a few have come after him in person, for example in "Homer's Triple Bypass" a large angry man grabs him, and Nick says "Well if it isn't my old friend Mr. McGregg - with a leg for an arm and an arm for a leg"; the man literally has an arm where a leg should be and a leg where an arm should be). Dr. Nick is a stereotype of shady, immoral doctors who perform medical procedures for money with little or no regard for medical ethics, or their patients' well-being. In the episode "Much Apu About Nothing", he is seen taking a citizenship test, implying he is not a citizen of the United States. Some of his exclamations hint that he may be Romanian, though the show offered no direct evidence of this.
On the episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car", his degrees read "Mayo Clinic Correspondence School", "Club Med School", "Female Body Inspector" and "I went to medical school for four years and all I got was this lousy diploma". He frequently appears on infomercials, pitching all sorts of bizarre medical offers, and has often turned his operations into TV spectacles. He is also shown as an inventor/huckster (in the style of Ron Popeil) on the television show I Can't Believe They Invented It! His "Walk-In Clinic" is based at 44 Bow Street. Its phone number is 555-NICK. He can also be called at 1-600-DOCTORB ("The B is for 'Bargain'")
He has operated on the Simpson family a couple of times (when they cannot afford Doctor Hibbert) notably when Homer needed a heart bypass. Lisa Simpson attended the live audience for the operation and saved the day by guiding the obviously clueless Dr. Riviera through the operation ("Homer's Triple Bypass"). The character design is based somewhat on Gábor Csupó, of Klasky Csupo studios – the animators mistakenly believed Hank Azaria was impersonating Gabor, when in fact the voice was actually a bad imitation of Ricky Ricardo from I Love Lucy.
Dr. Nick may have been killed in The Simpsons Movie when the dome covering Springfield is destroyed, raining shards on the town. One impales Nick. His last words of the movie (and maybe his animated life) were “'bye, everybody!”
Catchphrase
Dr. Nick is notable for his exclamation upon entering a room of “Hi, everybody!”, which is immediately followed by a response of “Hi, Dr. Nick!” from the other characters present (although in the episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part 2", all Mr. Burns could say was “Homer Simpson" – but with the cadence of "Hi, Dr. Nick”: "HO, mer simp-SON!" – to which Dr. Nick replied “OK, that was a little strange…”) There was an Austrian version of Dr. Riviera in the episode Margical History Tour, where he portrays the doctor of the ailing Mozart, played by Bart, and his exclamation is "Guten Tag, everybody!" Another variation is an episode where Mel Gibson says, "Hi, everybody!" and Dr. Nick responds with "Hi, Mr. Gibson." Another episode featured a Jewish version of Dr. Nick during Homer's flashback to the first Christmas. Dr. Nick says: "Shalom, everybody!"
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