Did The Simpsons Retire a Major Character After Nearly 30 Years?

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Oh yeah, the rumors are true. 

In the thirteenth episode of its thirty-seventh season, The Simpsons said goodbye to a familiar face. Barry Duffman, the actor who played the energetic spokesperson for Duff Beer, announced his retirement as the brand’s mascot.

Duffman burst into Homer’s house and excitedly shouted his signature catchphrase: “Oh…yeah!”

“Not anymore, actually,” he continued. “The Duff Corporation has retired that character forever. All the old forms of advertising are now passé. Corporate spokesmen, print ads, TV spots. Today’s kids can’t even sing the jingles.”

In the episode “Seperance,” a parody of the show Severance, Duffman showed up trying to get Homer to work for a company called EOD. However, he wasn’t in his usual Duffman costume. Instead, he dressed like Mr. Milchick (played by Tramell Tillman) from Severance, signaling that he’s completely done with being a mascot.

Duffman made his first appearance in the 1997 episode “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson,” instantly recognizable with his signature look: a Duff beer cap, sunglasses, cape, bodysuit, and a beer-themed utility belt. Throughout the series, he’s been voiced by Hank Azaria and is famous for enthusiastically shouting his catchphrase, “Oh yeah!”

Fans were disappointed when Duffman left, with one person posting on X (formerly Twitter), “Noooooooo not Duffman!!! My favorite beer guy ever.”

Someone else playfully said, “Thanks for three decades of dedication to Duff! Hope your retirement fund brings you lots of joy, Duffman.”

Even though Duffman is a well-loved character, actor Hank Azaria has admitted it’s actually one of his least favorite roles on The Simpsons. He voices many characters on the show, including Moe, Chief Wiggum, and Comic Book Guy, but doesn’t enjoy playing the beer mascot as much.

He told Conan O’Brien in 2020 that facing Duffman was incredibly difficult, saying, ‘Duffman will beat me quickly.’ He admitted he always saves Duffman for last because he really doesn’t look forward to it.

Azaria added, “It actually does hurt, but I am not complaining.”

The mascot is retiring just a few months after The Simpsons removed another long-running character, Alice Glick, from the show. Glick was the organist at Springfield’s First Church.

Despite a previous storyline that suggested her death, the show’s executive producer, Tim Long, stated that the character had definitively left the series.

He told People magazine that while Alice the organist’s music will live on, she has unfortunately passed away. He used a folksy expression to emphasize the finality of her death, saying she was ‘dead as a doornail’.

Want to discover more fun facts about The Simpsons? Read on to learn all about this incredibly popular and long-lasting cartoon!

The Simpsons began as short animated segments on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987. Creator Matt Groening originally considered adapting his Life in Hell comic strip, but decided against it. He quickly sketched the Simpson family while waiting for his meeting, and that became the basis for the show.

Matt Groening decided to base his characters on his own family, using ‘Bart’ instead of his own name. He chose ‘Bart’ because it’s a playful rearrangement of the letters in the word ‘brat’.

The shorts quickly became the highlight of The Tracey Ullman Show, and producer James L. Brooks, who had hired Groening, understood they deserved their own program. He successfully negotiated a deal with Fox guaranteeing complete creative freedom for the show, ensuring the network wouldn’t interfere with its content.

The Simpsons’ signature yellow color wasn’t a deliberate choice at first. Matt Groening explained to the BBC that an animator suggested it, and he immediately knew it was perfect. He wanted a color that would instantly catch viewers’ eyes while channel surfing, making it easy to identify the show. “When you’re flipping through channels,” he said, “a flash of yellow will let you know you’re watching The Simpsons.”

The first complete episode, titled “Some Enchanted Evening,” didn’t air until May 1990. It was the final episode of the first season, and its release was delayed due to animation issues. Originally planned for a fall launch, the show finally premiered on December 17th.

Matt Groening designed the Simpsons with very specific silhouettes in mind. This meant giving each family member unique hairstyles and head shapes so they’d be instantly identifiable, even just from their outline.

Matt Groening asked Danny Elfman, the lead singer and composer of Oingo Boingo, to write a theme song with a classic, retro feel for the show’s opening. Remarkably, Elfman composed this now-famous piece – considered by many to be his most successful work – in just two days.

The show starts with a long opening sequence designed to reduce the amount of new animation needed each week. However, three things do change with every episode: the message Bart writes on the chalkboard, the song Lisa plays on her saxophone, and the final couch gag, which sometimes runs longer depending on the episode.

Matt Groening decided to set ‘The Simpsons’ in a town called Springfield because it’s a very common city name – found in at least 29 states. He later told Smithsonian Magazine in 2012 that the name was inspired by Springfield, Oregon, which is near where he grew up in Portland. However, he deliberately kept the location of the fictional Springfield vague, hoping viewers would believe it was their Springfield – and it worked!

The Bush family didn’t enjoy the show. In October 1990, First Lady Barbara Bush famously called it “the dumbest thing [she] had ever seen.” The show’s writers responded with a letter from Marge Simpson, who pointed out the family was doing their best. Mrs. Bush later apologized for her remark.

In early 1992, while campaigning for re-election, President George H.W. Bush stated he wanted to help American families be more like the wholesome Waltons family and less like the mischievous Simpsons. In the very next episode of The Simpsons – a rerun – the show responded with a scene where the family watches Bush’s speech, and Bart quips, “Hey, we’re just like the Waltons. We’re praying for an end to the depression, too.”

For much of its history, the show aired on Sundays and was a reliable hit. However, after a very successful first season – becoming one of Fox’s highest-rated programs – the network decided to move it to Thursdays, hoping it could compete with the then-number one show, The Cosby Show. It stayed on Thursdays until its sixth season, when it returned to its original Sunday timeslot.

Yeardly Smith, who voices Lisa Simpson, is unique among the show’s main actors because she consistently plays just one character.

For the first 13 episodes of its second season, Fox and the show’s creators intentionally kept the voice actors’ roles a secret, even closing recording sessions and avoiding photos of the performers. However, with the episode “Old Money,” the network finally revealed which actors voiced each character, giving the cast the recognition they deserved.

For many years, the six main actors on the show earned just $30,000 per episode. In 1998, after a disagreement with the network – which even threatened to recast the show until the creator, Matt Groening, intervened – their pay was significantly raised to $125,000 per episode. Later, in April 2004, the cast went on strike for a month, refusing to participate in script readings, hoping to receive a larger share of the show’s increasing profits. This resulted in another salary increase, bringing their earnings to between $250,000 and $360,000 per episode.

In 2011, Fox nearly canceled the show due to high production costs. To avoid cancellation, the cast agreed to a 30

Matt Groening, the creator of the show, actually provides the baby sounds for Maggie. When Maggie surprisingly said her first word – “Daddy!” – in 1992, the producers asked legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor to record the line.

The 1990 album The Simpsons Sing the Blues featured the hit single “Do the Bartman,” which many people thought was written by Michael Jackson. While creator Matt Groening initially said Jackson’s friend, Bryan Loren, was the sole songwriter, Groening later admitted in 1998 that Jackson actually co-wrote and co-produced the song. However, due to contractual obligations, Jackson couldn’t receive official credit. When Jackson appeared as a guest on the show, he was listed under the name John Jay Smith, and his character’s singing was performed by a voice double, Kipp Lennon.

Oh my gosh, you will NOT believe this! Everyone knows Michael Jackson did a voice on the show, but Dustin Hoffman also guest-starred! Can you believe it?! He was Lisa’s substitute teacher, Mr. Bergstrom, but he was so worried about being known for a cartoon that he used a fake name! It was ‘Sam Etic’ – get this – a pun on ‘Semitic’! Seriously, the lengths these legends went to! I’ve been a fan forever and I just found this out. It’s amazing!

The striking resemblance between Krusty the Clown and Homer Simpson was intentional. Creator Matt Groening originally wanted to explore the idea that the show was about a child who didn’t respect his father but idolized a clown who looked just like him. They even considered a storyline where Homer was secretly working as Krusty, but it proved too complex for the show and was ultimately dropped.

In a 2003 episode of The Simpsons, Homer’s email address was shown as ChunkyLover53@aol.com. Interestingly, the episode’s writer, Matt Selman, had actually created the account beforehand. Almost immediately after the episode aired, the inbox was flooded with so many messages that it reached its storage limit.

Though now recognized in the Oxford English Dictionary, Homer Simpson’s famous “D’oh!” is originally written in show scripts as just “annoyed grunt.” Dan Castellaneta, who has voiced Homer for over thirty years, reveals he created the sound by imitating the “Doooooh!” exclamation used by Jimmy Finlayson in classic Laurel and Hardy films.

I’ve been a lifelong Simpsons fan, and one of the most fascinating details I’ve noticed is how almost every character only has four fingers. It’s a really consistent stylistic choice! But it’s always struck me that the only character ever shown with five fingers is… God. It’s a subtle thing, but it’s often pointed out by fans and it’s a pretty clever little detail, hinting at a higher power.

The show has a surprising talent for foreshadowing events. Back in 2000, an episode jokingly predicted that Donald Trump would one day be president and leave the country in financial trouble. Even earlier, in 1998, the show featured a storyline where 20th Century Fox was part of Disney – something that actually happened 19 years later.

In 1992, Sheri Ullman sued Fox, arguing that her show had been instrumental in making The Simpsons a hit and that she deserved a portion of the profits. However, the court dismissed her claim.

Back in 1997, Fox and Pepsi teamed up to create a full-scale replica of the Simpsons’ house as part of a contest. The house, located in Henderson, Nevada, had four bedrooms and covered 2,200 square feet. Surprisingly, the winner – a retired factory worker from Kentucky – chose a $75,000 cash prize instead of taking ownership of the house, which had cost $120,000 to build. The house was eventually sold in 2001 after its distinctive colors were removed.

The show is now available in Japanese, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French (both standard and Quebec versions), and Arabic. To make it suitable for viewers in Arabic-speaking countries and respect Islamic customs, some changes were made: Homer drinks soda instead of beer, eats Egyptian beef sausages instead of hot dogs, and is known as Omar Shamshoom.

The voice actors who dubbed Homer and Marge into French, Philippe Peythieu and Véronique Augereau, first met while auditioning and later married ten years after their initial meeting.

28. Homer is the only character who has dialogue in every single episode.

In 1999, Time magazine named Bart Simpson to its list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. He was the only cartoon character to make the list.

Watching all the episodes of this show, as they’ve aired over the past three decades, would take more than 14 straight days.

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2026-01-06 23:50