born (
April 20 or
June 15 ,
1967 ) is a fictional character on ''
The Simpsons '', voiced by
Dan Castellaneta . He was born on
April 20 of an indeterminate year, and is the same age as
Homer . Barney is the
Springfield Town Drunk , the most prominent of several
Alcoholic Springfieldianites. He 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 in a completely different voice, rather like
Jim Nabors ). He remains friendly and good-natured despite his unfortunate condition. Heavyset, slovenly, and unmarried (though occasionally seen with women), he lives in a messy, sparsely-furnished apartment while he is also seen living at Moe's Tavern. 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 snow ploughing business and been employed as an astronaut.
It is told that he is at least half-Norwegian, since his mother comes from
Norway . He has spoken about his father in the past tense, once expecting to see him (as well as a plant he'd never watered) in the afterlife.
Barney is generally portrayed as being
Homer Simpson 's best friend, known from when they were at school (where Barney was
Harvard bound until Homer gave him a beer the night before his
SATs ), although they have the occasional fall-out during the series. Barney first appeared in the episode 7G08, "
Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire ", in which he worked as a department store Santa and gave Homer a tip for winning at the dog track. The season 1 DVD for the series indicates that the script writers originally intended for Barney to be Homer's next-door neighbor.
As a teenager, Barney showed much potential until Homer introduced him to beer. Later on, with Homer, he was a member of
The Be Sharps barbershop quartet, which introduced his splendid singing voice. It was heard again in "
Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious " and in "
Mommie Beerest ".
He has gotten involved in several altercations at Moe's with various visiting celebrities: after severely criticizing
Joe Frazier , the two men stepped outside, with Frazier victorious in the fight. Barney was more successful with
Wade Boggs , knocking him unconscious after an argument over who was England's greatest
Prime Minister , with Barney arguing it was
Lord Palmerston but Boggs preferring
Pitt The Elder .
In the episode 9F07, "
Mr. Plow ", Barney was inspired by Homer's Mr. Plow business to have his own snow removal service, calling himself the Plow King and buying a snow removal truck much bigger than Homer's. He even got
Linda Ronstadt to sing on his commercials. "We've been looking for a project to do together for a while," he explained. He took away all Homer's customers and earned the key to
Springfield (off Homer). Homer eventually fools Barney into travelling to "Forbidding Widows' Peak" to plow through the snow for a $1000 bill, but is caught in an avalanche. Homer ends up saving Barney, they become friends again and team up, only to find the snow melting, and Homer's truck repossessed. Barney is seen driving his plow as the Plow King once again in
Miracle On Evergreen Terrace .
Barney showed his artistic side again in the episode 2F31, "
A Star Is Burns ", in which Barney won top prize at the Springfield Film Festival for a moving documentary about his life as an alcoholic, called "Puke-a-hontas". Also in 2F31, Barney's first name was revealed as Barnard. Since
Montgomery Burns caused Moe's Tavern to close down, (2F16, "
Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part I"), Barney became a major suspect for shooting Burns after Burns blocked the sun (despite his easygoing nature, Barney apparently carries around a
Derringer at all times).
Barney served in the
United States Naval Reserves for a short time, as a submariner on the USS Jebediah (3G04, "Simpson Tide") with his own mother as his superior officer.
In the episode BABF14, "
Days Of Wine And D'oh'ses ", Barney kicked the 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 boozehound at the wheel of a whirlybird?", Moe asked. Barney went to
Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, became sober, and took the helicopter flying lessons. He became fairly proficient at it, though he admitted he only knew to make left turns. This new skill helped Homer rescue Bart and Lisa from a forest fire. Unwilling to lose a customer, Moe figured out a way to transfer Barney's addiction to espresso, which led to the disappearance of his trademark belch. He had relapses in "The Blunder Years" and "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can" and was back on the sauce in "My Big Fat Geek Wedding" (in a scene that was a parody of
Jimmy Stewart 's ''Harvey''). Homer also encouraged Barney to have a beer when he played
Ulysses S. Grant is a reenactment of the
Battle Of Springfield (though this, surprisingly, did not cause him to become alcoholic again). By the end of season 15 he was back to his old, alcoholic self. Early in season sixteen, though, he briefly sobered up and got back behind the controls of his helicopter to rescue an old girlfriend from a volcanic lava flow.
- Although probably done for comedic effect, it should be noted that if a recovering alcoholic like Barney really did have just one drink, it could potentialy reprecipiate the spiral of Alcoholism . In the episode " The Sweetest Apu ", Barney is inexplicably fine.
- Barney pre-deceases all of his friends.
- If Barney went to High School with Homer, then he would be around Homer's age: somewhere between 36-40.
- In some of the earlier episodes, Fish bones can be seen flying out of Barney's mouth when he belches.
