is a
Fictional Character in the
Animated Series ''
The Simpsons ''. The character is voiced by
Nancy Cartwright . Ralph Wiggum is the son of Police Chief
Clancy Wiggum , and a classmate of
Lisa Simpson at the
Springfield Elementary School . Ralph is a good-hearted child, but has severe learning and social difficulties, which are evidenced by his tendency to utter hilarious and stupid sayings - such as "I bent my
Wookiee " and "I'm going to live with my underground grandma" - throughout the course of the show. Sometimes the things he says are ridiculously obvious - these sayings include such things as "You're Lisa's brother!". While his lines can be hilarious, they can also sometimes point out rather painfully obvious points that may go over the heads of most due to their simplicity. Like many characters on the show, Ralph Wiggum is a
Caricature of a
Stereotype -- in this case, he is a caricature of the "weird kid" archetype. Ralph's reactions to various things can vary between slightly odd, to downright puzzling. Like with most of the characters on the show though, it is vaguely hinted that Ralph may be more complex than he appears to be at first glance. He has a slight
Crush on Lisa, though her feelings for him are best described as platonic pity. This was the basis of the episode ''
I Love Lisa '', in which Lisa notices that Ralph has received no Valentine's Day cards and gives him one of her own out of sheer pity. However, Ralph mistakes this act for something more.
Ralph is arguably one of the show's most popular and beloved characters. With his bizarre, albeit rather interesting personality and his hilarious commentary, he is one of the most recognizable of Springfield's citizens. Show creator
Matt Groening has stated that Ralph is one of his personal favorite characters on the ''Simpsons''.
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It is debatable whether Ralph suffers from a simple
Learning Disability , is socially awkward or is actually borderline
Schizophrenic , as evidenced by his hearing voices (such as the
Pyromaniacal Leprechaun , ''see quotes, below'' ) or his preparation of tacks and
Crayola crayons sandwich for his father. While he is quite obviously a bit slow when it comes to grasping things and learning, he does not seem to be mentally
Retarded as he is quite capable of speaking and acting perfectly normally. Ralph is an
Only Child . This coupled with his social awkwardness could attest that Ralph is rather merely the class oddball, the one that never fits in and never seems to speak much sense. He may not be quite as simple as he may seem at first, as it has been implied in various episodes that Ralph is pretty lonely being the odd one out. He has a lot of
Imaginary Friend s, one of which is named "Wiggle Puppy" who flies by wagging his tail. As
Chief Wiggum remarks, "That dog has had some amazing adventures." While he is generally cheerful there are occasional moments where he seems dismayed at his inability to fit in.
However, he possesses a surprising talent for
Acting and
Performing Arts in general. At the end of ''I Love Lisa'', Ralph astonished Lisa and others with his performance as
George Washington in a school play (he actually impressed quite a few people, including Lisa's aunt, Selma, who commented "Now, there's a real man"). This was one of the only times Ralph displayed a more serious and depthful personality, as his performance was an emotional outlet brought on by Lisa breaking his heart on national television earlier by revealing the truth about the Valentine card. The two reconcile after however and agree to be friends. He is also poached from Lisa's
Newspaper "The Red Dress Press" by the
Chicago Tribune who give him his own column, "Ralphings." In ''
Last Tap Dance In Springfield '', Ralph is forced to be a part of a dance class. He's the only boy in the class, much to his dismay. Despite this and his awkward appearance however, he proves to be quite a skillful dancer and impresses the class instructor. In one of the Simpsons comic strips, an art teacher claims that Ralph is an unexpected genius as he often speaks in
Haiku , although even these comments are just as random as ever. In the comic ''Faking the Band'', Ralph becomes part of a band and is the only one who can sing quite well. Ralph's implied artistic gift could be a possible explanation for his general weirdness, as Ralph has quite an imagination as well as shown in various episodes. Whatever his case may be is left up to viewer's interpretation.
Despite his odd behavior and mind boggling social ineptitude, Ralph is quite friendly when one has the patience. He often accompanies either Lisa or Bart on various misadventures along with others as well, and is rarely intentionally mean or vindictive. In ''
This Little Wiggy '', Bart is forced to spend a day with Ralph since Marge feels sorry for him when he is picked on in the beginning. While Bart is at first less than thrilled with this, he genuinely has a good time with Ralph during their time together. Although he still does not seem to be able to fully comprehend all of Ralph's behavior by the episode's end, Ralph seems to be included in many of his little group's various activities. The few times Ralph is somewhat mean, he doesn't seem to fully comprehend the meaning of his words...usually going with the general flow of the class or group. He seems often very willing to help someone in need, so despite the awkward outcome of this often he is good intentioned.
A typical "Ralph moment" occurs when his class is doing craft activities, and
Miss Hoover tells him to "please stop eating the paste." He is regularly bewildered by the teasing he receives when he reveals his ignorance to his more clued-in classmates. A more typical use of Ralph in later seasons is having him present at a major event, and having him comment on the situation in his own unique and awkward way. His
Cat 's name is Mittens, which is strange because he considers that word to be a "swear." Ralph also has a
Pine Cone which he claims is his "baby brother."
As the series has progressed, many state that Ralph has moved away from being merely an awkward child with a hidden gift to more of a dim-witted one-liner background character. (In one such instance, in the 15th season episode ''
Simple Simpson '', at the beginning of the episode when an ad is shown for a bacon company having a contest parodying ''
Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory '', they show a shot of pigs going into a slaughterhouse to be slaughtered, and Ralph was on the conveyer belt with the animals.) It is quite noticeable that Ralph's more endearing qualities of clueless
Innocence and implied depth have appeared far less, but although he does appear less frequently compared to before this has not stopped him from being one of the ''Simpson's'' more unique characters.
When Ralph originally appeared on the Simpsons, he was not associated with the Wiggum family (he also had a different voice & personality). He was actually envisioned as a mini-Homer. It was later on in the series that the writers decided that he would be perfect as the son of Police Chief Wiggum. While he shares his father's somewhat round body shape, Ralph's facial structure takes after his rarely seen mother Sarah Wiggum.
In the game ''
The Simpsons Hit And Run '', the Wiggum family lives right down the road from the Simpsons, which explains his ease of travel to the Simpsons' house and his bed washing in front of their house when
Cecil ,
Sideshow Bob 's brother, blew up the Springfield Dam. Like several other secondary characters from ''The Simpsons'', Ralph Wiggum has a cult following. This may be attributable to his frequently bizarre
Non Sequitur s and endearing simplicity. He is a favorite character to feature on merchandise such as clothing and stickers, often with one of his more famous one-liners. Nancy Cartwright appeared on the
Conan O'Brien show, and when it is mentioned that Ralph is one of the characters she voices the crowd went quite noticeably wild. Much more so than when her other characters are mentioned, which only continued when she began to quote Ralph. This is an example of how Ralph is one of the most popular characters on the long-running animated series.
The band
Bloodhound Gang released a song called "Ralph Wiggum" dedicated to the Simpson character. The song is uniquely comprised solely of many of Ralph's famous quotes, with the
Chorus being ''I'm a pop sensation!'' and Clancy telling Ralph ''Ralphie, get off the stage sweetheart.'' Another band,
Trillium Circle has a member named Ralph Wiggum, presumably a
Pseudonym .
Ralph's future is perhaps the murkiest and most vague of all the Springfield kids of the show. Due to the timeless nature of the show, it is never certain if any of these future depictions are indeed canon. Each of the future stories have some gaping inconsistencies, and as they are glimpses into the future they may or may not be how things turn out exactly.
- In '' Future-Drama '', Ralph is briefly seen at the high school prom, just as socially awkward as before. Due to Nelson spiking the punch, Ralph becomes intoxicated by accident and sees rather unusual Hallucinations . Ralph is very much an older version of his younger self here, complete with the same hair.
- In '' Bart To The Future '', Ralph is Bart's "drinking buddy", and is also his roommate at a seaside apartment. Apparently, Ralph pays for it almost exclusively, as Bart is too lazy. They have a music band that does not seem to be going anywhere, and after they are both evicted from their apartment Ralph says goodbye to Bart in a disgruntled fashion. He does however, seem to stick with him in the end. This future depiction of Ralph is somewhat interesting, as Ralph acts a little more focused and intelligent although he is still prone to his usual random behavior from time to time. Ralph also has a full mop of thick light brown hair in this episode.
- Perhaps the most vague and mysterious sight of Ralph in the future is in '' Lisa's Wedding ''. He is not seen on screen in this future episode, but in a news broadcast where it is stated that celebrities are being arrested in a Witch Hunt -like manner for "being dangerous", a list of the names of all the arrested celebrities scrolls up the screen (not easily visible unless one were to slow down the video using a VCR/DVD player) and one of which is "Sideshow Ralph Wiggum". (akin to Sideshow Bob , Sideshow Mel , etc.) This would coincide with Ralph's gift for performing, but aside from his name nothing else is revealed about the escapades of Ralph Wiggum in the future as of yet.
- Before any implications of Lisa marrying Milhouse were introduced, Lisa's worst-case scenarios always had Ralph in his place. None of these are real, of course.
