(pronounced ''SIZZ-lack'', as opposed to the
Polish pronunciation, ''SHISS-lack'') is a
Fictional Character on the
Animated Series ''
The Simpsons '',
Voiced by
Hank Azaria . Moe is the proprietor and the only bartender of '''Moe's Tavern''' ("Where nobody knows your name"—a
Spoof on the ''
Cheers ''
Theme Song , "Where Everybody Knows Your Name") , the regular drinking hole of
Homer Simpson ,
Barney Gumble , and others. Moe is most famously noted on the show for his short, violent temper and
Homicidal and
Suicidal Tendencies .
Hank Azaria says Moe's voice is based on
Al Pacino with a sore throat.
Moe's full name is or '''Morris Szyslak''' (as stated by his waitress in "
Flaming Moe's "). His
Ethnicity is unclear, with several jokes in individual episodes suggesting different ethnic backgrounds. During one episode, his "inner child" speaks to him with a heavy Italian accent. In addition, after hearing his inner child, he puts both his hands on his cheeks and yells "Mamma Mia". In the commentary to "
Who Shot Mr. Burns " Part 1, the creators revealed the last name Szyslak was given to him so he had the initials M.S. and could be suspected of being the one who shot Burns.
Moe is typically single, although he had a girlfriend once for a short time named Renee (voiced by
Helen Hunt ; "
Dumbbell Indemnity "), as well as a girlfriend in the short "
The Love-matic Grampa ". He once had an affair with and was in love with
Edna Krabappel and is possibly continuing the affair as of Season 17 ("
The Seemingly Never-Ending Story "). However, one love he has kept true to his heart since Season 5 ("
Secrets Of A Successful Marriage ") is that of
Marge Simpson , whom he commonly pet-named "Midge." Moe told Marge that he did not just like her, but that he actually ''loved'' her, in Season 16 ("
Mommie Beerest ") but she explained that Homer will always be her true love. It was also during this episode where he angrily declared that "One thing Moe Szyslak has never had is a partner. Nor a wife, a friend, a chum, a casual acquaintance, a pen pal, a parrot, a meaningful conversation, a brief hug, or eye contact."
Moe regularly threatens his customers, friends, and complete strangers.
Homer, Barney, Lenny, Carl and two rarely-speaking barflies named Sam and Larry are virtually his only customers. This has not stopped him from periodically banning them (especially Homer) however, for offenses ranging from going to other bars to Homer's "hero-phobia," displayed when he brought
Lisa in with a speech denouncing
Jebediah Springfield . He always lets them back in eventually, however.
Along with Homer, Moe is indirectly responsible for Barney's business after finding out that coffee was Barney's replacement
Addiction .
Adding to Moe's awkward and usually creepy behavior are his obsessive tendencies. He's been known to stalk people around Springfield, such as the local mail lady, various celebrities, and
Maude Flanders . "
Moe Baby Blues " (Season 14) features a scene when Moe sneaks into
Maggie Simpson 's bedroom at night and admits that he personalized her room with a video camera and baby monitor. However, it was revealed that his intentions were harmless, and he only wanted to protect her. More recently, it was proven that Moe stole Homer and Marge's wedding albums and had replaced all of Homer's photos with pictures of himself, fantasizing that he is married to Marge. He did this in his bar while singing "Here Comes the Bride". This is a possible reference to Season 16 ("
Mommie Beerest ")
Moe claims his annual Christmas tradition is constantly attempting
Suicide . He does, in fact, support this statement by trying to kill himself in nearly every Christmas episode of
The Simpsons . However, all of these attempts backfire somehow, leaving Moe alive and even more depressed.
Moe does have a gentle side, however, having been known to read
Books for sick children and
Homeless people (he threatened
Ned with violence should he reveal this fact). Moe has shown a love for the rats who occupy the bar, and has named one 'Cinnamon.' In "
Moe Baby Blues ," when Moe was contemplating suicide by jumping off a bridge, he unexpectedly saved the life of
Maggie Simpson and then found meaning to his own life by looking after her. In return, Maggie shows a lot of
Affection towards Moe... perhaps even more so than her own father as she quite obviously favors Moe's company. This may not be helped by the fact Homer has a tendency to forget about Maggie's very existence whereas Moe treats her like she's special. This has been Moe's most prominently redeeming feature to contrast his usual questionable behavior.
Moe has used his bar as a front for a number of illegal businesses, including a
Panda -smuggling ring, a
Killer Whale smuggling ring, a
Russian Roulette game (in an homage to ''
The Deer Hunter ''), an unlicensed
Casino , and a
Speakeasy during a brief period in which Springfield enforced
Prohibition . He has also helped to ransack all Springfield science institutes, and even (accidentally) broke into his own bar to steal the cash register amidst a townwide riot. When Homer informed him his pants were expensive, Moe ordered him to give them to him at gunpoint, saying "Yeah, I rob now." He operates as an unlicensed
Surgeon , using his own bar as a surgery, as it says on his card "That's right, I'm a
Surgeon ."
His claim to fame was the "Flaming Moe," a lit specialty drink whose secret ingredient is
Krusty The Klown brand
Cough Syrup . The "Flaming Moe" provided the bar with its one brief era of incredible success. It stood to make him a fortune, until Homer, the true inventor of the drink, exposed the secret ingredient, allowing several competitor knockoff drinks to spawn.
Moe is frequently the victim of prank telephone calls from
Bart Simpson , often followed by a violent threat of vengeance from Moe. Bart's calls to Moe have asked for:
- Maya Buttreeks (''my a butt reeks'')
- Anita Bath (''I need a bath'') (Both this and Maya Buttreeks were used by Bart as fictitious children's names when Moe was applying as a Substitute for Bart's Class in "The PTA Disbands")
- I.P. Freely (''I pee freely'') (Channel 6 anchorman Kent Brockman also uttered that name when inquiring about a source after reading the story: "A fistfight is in progress in downtown Springfield. Early reports indicate, and this is very preliminary, that one of the fighters is a giant lizard.")
- Oliver Klozof (''all of her clothes off'') (Marge heard Moe's vengeance threat; this name was also heard in an episode of '' City Guys '')
- Ollie Tabooger (''I'll eat a booger'') (backfired; Homer was running the bar at the time and didn't understand the joke)
- Jacques Strap ('' Jock Strap '')
- Seymour Butts (''see more butts'') (This is also used in Futurama and a real-life actor with a Similarly Pronounced Name )
- Homer Sexual (''homosexual'') (Principal Skinner heard Moe's vengeance threat)
- Mike Rotch (''my crotch'') (This clip can be heard in "Weird Al" Yankovic 's song "Phony Calls.")
- Bea O'Problem (''B.O. problem'')
- Amanda Huggenkiss (''A man to hug and kiss'')
- Hugh Jass (''huge ass'') (backfired; there was a Hugh Jass present, was in the Flaming Moe episode when the bar was crowded)
- Ivana Tinkle (''I wanna tinkle'') ("I want to urinate" in plain English)
- Moe Lester (''molester'') Moe asks for the customer, then stops and says, "wait a minute, that's me!" (suggesting that "Lester" is Moe's middle name)
- Heywood U. Cuddleme (''hey would you cuddle me?'') (This prank call was done on a Telegraph , as the Simpsons were living in a house from 1895 when Bart did this one. A somewhat more genteel variant of "Heywood Jablome".)
- I'm a stupid moron, with an ugly face, and a big butt, and my butt smells, and I like to kiss my own butt. (When, in a Halloween episode, Bart had a '' Twilight Zone ''-esque power to transform people effectively blackmailing Moe into saying it despite the obviousness of the prank.)
- Stu Piddiddiot (''stupid idiot''); Isobel Ringing (''Is a bell ringing?''); Al Coholic (''alcoholic''); I. M. Adope (''I'm a dope'') (some of the prank calls Bart makes in the video game, )
Homer once called and asked for "Eura Snotball" (''You're a snotball''), the gag intentionally backfiring so Homer can threaten Moe.
Mr. Burns once tried to call
Smithers when he was on vacation and typed in SMITHERS (764-8437 7)on his "telephone machine". Asking for "Smithers, first name Waylon", Moe presumed it was a prank and threatened him.
- Appears in The Simpsons comic series and Bart Simpson comic series.
- Stars in his own comic series with Maggie Simpson : ''Maggie & Moe Mysteries'', appearing in Bart Simpson Comic #24 and Simpsons Comics #144.
- Is a playable character in the racing video game "The Simpsons: Road Rage".
is located on the corner of Walnut Street, neighboring King Toot's Music Store. Across the street was a factory formerly owned by
Bart Simpson , until it collapsed. The inside of the bar has a few pool tables and a dartboard. It is very dank and "smells like
Tinkle ." Because female customers are so rare, Moe frequently uses the women's restroom as an office. Moe claimed that there haven't been any ladies at Moe's since
1979 (though earlier episodes show otherwise). A jar of pickled eggs perpetually stands on the bar. In "
Who Shot Mr. Burns ," Moe's Tavern was forced to close down because Mr. Burns' slant-drilling operation near the tavern caused unsafe pollution. It was stated in the "
Flaming Moe's " episode that Moe's Tavern was on Walnut Street. The phone number would be 764-8437, since in "
Homer The Smithers ," Mr. Burns tried to call Smithers but did not know his phone number, and tried the buttons marked with the letters for SMITHERS. The bar serves
Duff Beer and Red Tick Lager, a beer flavored with dogs.
Moe's Tavern is based on a real bar called Fireside. It is located near )
On the
Middle East Broadcasting Center on the Arab version of the show, where ''The Simpsons'' is known as ''Al Shamshoon'', they drink soda at Moe's Tavern because alcoholic beer is forbidden in
Islam .
His bar features a love tester (which was briefly inhabited by
Grampa Simpson in a fictional spinoff series), a bull-riding machine, a racing washing machine and dryer sold to him by
Herb Powell , and a pool table, to which Barney Gumble once made sweet love.
Moe's Tavern has been reinvented a few times over the years. During these times, at least, he had many more customers, including females.
It appears that Moe's tavern has only six regular patrons, namely Homer, Barney, Lenny, Carl, Sam and Larry. Moe once pointed out that due to their frequent habit of drink-driving, "92% of all traffic accidents in this city are caused by you six guys."
See Also: Barney Gumble
Barney Gumble is single, an alcoholic (after being introduced to beer by
Homer Simpson as a teenager), and living in an incredibly messy apartment near the state penitentiary (or sometimes right above Moe's bar), Barney arguably remains Homer's best friend. His desperation for alcohol has been the source of many jokes. He remains friendly and good-natured despite his unfortunate condition. In early episodes, he appears to be a parody of
Barney Rubble , similar appearance, hair color, clothing color, just much larger in size. In some ways, Barney also resembles "Norm" from
Cheers , the heavy-set guy at the end of the bar. He manages to make a living selling his body for medical experiments, which has led to some interesting changes. Barney has demonstrated considerable talents as a singer, filmmaker, astronaut, orator, painter, helicopter pilot, and snow plow driver, but keeps getting foiled by his various addictions. He has drunk a can of turpentine, a bottle of brake fluid and even a cup of quarters at Mr. Burns' Casino.
In "
Days Of Wine And D'oh'ses ," Barney finally kicked the alcoholism and transferred his addiction to espresso, which led to the disappearance of his trademark belch. He had a relapse in "
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 ''). By the end of season 15, he was back in all his fat, lovable, belching glory.
Barney's bar tab was so large that Moe had to send it to
NASA to get it calculated. Though the initial number Moe gave was actually the cost of a space craft, Barney's was still in the billions.
The scene is usually set in Moe's Tavern when
Homer Simpson is there. While there, we often see
Lenny Leonard ,
Carl Carlson and occasionally Charlie, Homer's colleagues at the nuclear plant. People with problems also stop by for advice (i.e.
Apu 's romantic gifts,
Principal Skinner 's cold feet at the altar, etc.).
The two
Barflies usually seen are Sam and Larry. Sam always wears a cap and Larry has a balding head. Sam appeared to get shot by Moe, but has appeared since.
A small stage stands at one end and has been host to a few performances
Barflies named Sam and Larry, the owner of King Toots, all the characters in the show voiced by
Jon Lovitz drinking at once, a man with glasses that are out of focus, an unnamed person who has a
Cowlick and easily passes out, a
Homosexual man who was under the impression that it was a
Gay Bar , a woman from Seasons 2-4 have appeared, and Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo (a man seen in ''
The Last Temptation Of Homer '' who's name Homer uses as an alias and Moe insults the name, Shabadoo bursting into tears and running out of the bar).
