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Sideshow Bob / Robert Underdunk Terwilliger
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Male
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Red and wild
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Unknown
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Varies: TV sidekick, Republican, Mayor, Prisoner, former Mayor of Salsiccia
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Brother, Cecil Terwilliger , wife, Francesca Terwilliger, son, Gino Terwilliger
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The Telltale Head
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It is possible that Sideshow Bob is based in part on the character of Dr. Terwilliker from ''
The 5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T ''. Not only are the surnames similar, but Sideshow Bob's accent and countenance bear a superficial resemblance to
Hans Conried 's performance, and both characters have a nemesis named Bart.
Matt Groening has indicated that this character is named after SW Terwilliger Boulevard in
Portland, Oregon .
Bob never anticipated a career in show business. His younger brother
Cecil (voiced by Grammer's ''
Frasier '' co-star
David Hyde Pierce ) auditioned for the role of Krusty's sidekick (having wanted to since the age of five), but Krusty thought Bob's uptight demeanour would make him a better comic foil, and gave him the job instead. It should be noted that Bob was only there to give Cecil moral support.
As the years went on, the highly-educated Bob became increasingly angered at being overshadowed by Krusty's "dilapidated
Vaudeville antics", not to mention Krusty's continual abuse. Finally, he snapped and framed Krusty for armed robbery. He took over the show, making it more upmarket (for example, Krusty's catchphrase "Children, who do you love?" was replaced by the grammatically correct "Whom do you love?") introducing culture, singing
Cole Porter , and reading the classics to his rapt young audience. Although the show earned critical raves - and boffo ratings - his reign was shortlived, as
Bart exposed his plan and landed him in jail.
Since then, he has taken the position of . Bob has been eager to get revenge on Bart for foiling his schemes, but in "
The Great Louse Detective ", when he had the opportunity to kill Bart, he found himself unable to, as he had "grown accustomed to Bart's face". Bob seemingly has become used to the urge to kill Bart, and having his schemes foiled by him, and apparently can't bring himself to end their rivalry.
Bob was briefly married to
Selma (whom he also tried to kill, and in the process uttering perhaps his most famous line, "Soon I will kill you." while massaging her feet), and was the
Robert Mitchum /
Robert De Niro character in the ''
Cape Fear '' sendup episode. He is a staunch
Republican , and was briefly mayor of Springfield. He can sing entire
Gilbert And Sullivan operettas off the cuff, and in
The Italian Bob sang the climax of
Vesti La Giubba without prompt when Krusty fled the stage during his performance of the title role of
Pagliacci . He also has a tendency to step on rakes, as evidenced in "
Cape Feare " and "
Day Of The Jackanapes ". Bob was also married to an Italian woman in the early 2000s.
Bob also has several tattoos, such as "Die Bart Die" (
German , he claims, for "the Bart, the", which led to his being granted parole on the grounds that "
No One Who Speaks German Could Be Evil ") on his chest and one resembling Bart's decapitated head on a skateboard on his back with a word bubble that says "Ouch Man". The tattoos on Bob's fingers parody those of
Robert Mitchum 's character in the movie ''
The Night Of The Hunter '' (whose fingers are tattooed L-O-V-E and H-A-T-E), but, as Simpsons characters have only three fingers (besides the thumb), Bob's finger tattoos spell "L-U-V" and "H-Ā-T".
Bob's brother Cecil has harbored resentment for winning the role of Krusty's sidekick for many years, and during one of Bob's releases from prison, tried to frame him for embezzlement and sabotaging the Springfield Dam. Cecil's plan ended with mixed results: the sabotage did not destroy Springfield as expected, and both brothers took the blame for it. During the same episode it was revealed that Cecil attended
Princeton University for four years (described as "Clown College" by Bob), whereas Bob had already been established as a proud graduate of
Yale (like
Mr. Burns ). Like the two brothers, these Ivy League schools have a long-standing rivalry.
Later on in the series, Bob decides to give himself a fresh start, so he becomes mayor of a village in Tuscany, Italy. He marries an Italian woman and also has a child who is evil just like him. When the Simpson family comes to visit Italy, Bob welcomes them with hospitality. However Lisa, while drunk, reveals Bob's past in America, prompting him to swear
Vendetta on the Simpsons. He and his family pursue the Simpsons, but the Simpsons eventually escape to America with help from Krusty the Klown. He and his family merely walk away, but it is unknown whether they still want to get rid of the Simpsons.
Sideshow Bob appears to be about 5' 11" to 6' 2". The hair makes it difficult to tell, but it appears as if he is almost as tall, if not taller than Homer.
Sideshow Bob is a unique character in ''the Simpsons'' as he only appears in occasional episodes where he is clearly the star. Unlike most other characters, he rarely appears as a "background" character, and almost never has a "minor role" in any episode's plot. This can be explained by the fact that Bob is in prison most of the time, and that his voice actor,
Kelsey Grammer is too busy to devote much time to the Simpsons.
Episodes where Bob appears are thus known by fans as "Sideshow Bob Episodes" because of their unique status.
- " The Telltale Head ": First appearance of Sideshow Bob as Krusty the Klown's much-abused sidekick. Bob only appears briefly on Bart's television and has no speaking lines. His hair is an afro.
- ", and the entire town abandons him and embraces his replacement, the suave, sophisticated Sideshow Bob. However, Bart never loses hope in Krusty and is eventually able to unmask the identity of the real culprit... Sideshow Bob.
- " Bart Gets An F ": Sideshow Bob is amongst the crowd of people joining hands and caroling.
- " Bart The Murderer ": When Bart is thrown in jail, Sideshow Bob is shown as his buffed-up cellmate. However, Bob has no lines and does not do anything to Bart in this cameo.
- " Black Widower ": Selma begins dating her prison pen pal, whom the Simpsons discover is none other than Sideshow Bob. Sideshow Bob declares that he has been reformed by Selma's love, and eventually proposes to and marries her (all to the objection of Bart, who still believes Sideshow Bob is pure evil). On their honeymoon, it is revealed that Sideshow Bob only wants to kill Selma for her insurance money, but Bart manages to unravel his scheme and stop it at the last second, sending Sideshow Bob back to prison.
- ", Bob is seen briefly on Krusty's show. Strangely, his hair is rendered the same shade of Teal as Sideshow Mel 's by an inattentive artist error. He does not have any lines.
- " as a last request, delaying Sideshow Bob long enough for the boat to crash, where a waiting Chief Wiggum arrests him (telling Bob "It's a good thing you drifted by this brothel"). This episode also features the first scene with Bob's slapstick act of accidently stepping on numerous rakes, which hit him in the face.
- "". (Submitted by Andrew Shively).
- " Sideshow Bob Roberts ": Sideshow Bob's outspoken and eloquent conservative viewpoints cause the town Republicans to parole him and get him to run for Mayor against Quimby, where he wins in a landslide (one of the arguments against Quimby being that he agreed with paroling known criminal Sideshow Bob). Sideshow Bob uses his new government power to make the Simpsons family suffer, scheduling their home for demolition and putting Bart in Kindergarten (though this actually makes Bart happier). Lisa discovers that Sideshow Bob won the election by registering dead people to vote for him. Lisa and Bart confront Sideshow Bob with the truth, and Sideshow Bob is arrested and sent back to jail. Pretty much his only case of villainy where no attempt at murder was involved.
- " from the Springfield Air Base, and he threatens to destroy all life in Springfield unless television is permanently cancelled. Krusty violates the cancellation, so Sideshow Bob attempts to detonate the bomb, but it turns out to be a dud ("best before November 1959 "). Sideshow Bob then takes Bart as a hostage and goes off on a kamikaze mission aboard the Wright Brothers' plane to kill Krusty, but is foiled by the frailty of the Wright flyer.
- " Brother From Another Series ": Sideshow Bob is released from prison and enters into a work-release program headed by his brother Cecil. The program is a construction project working on the new Springfield Dam. Bart and Lisa believe Sideshow Bob is planning something terrible, and spy on his every move. The two run across evidence that suggests Sideshow Bob is planning to wipe out Springfield by sabotaging the dam. Eventually, it is revealed that Sideshow Bob really has reformed, and that it is his brother Cecil that is planning on destroying Springfield to frame Bob as revenge for 'stealing' the position of Krusty's sidekick from him (but mostly for the money he made from using cheap materials for the dam). Bart, Lisa, and Sideshow Bob team up to stop Cecil's plan, and Bart even saves Sideshow Bob's life when the dam begins to collapse, causing Sideshow Bob to promise to stop trying to kill him. However, Sideshow Bob ends up taking an equal share of the blame for Cecil's scheme, and both of them end up getting hauled off to jail by Wiggum.
- " Pokey Mom " While in a prison infirmary Bob is seen wearing a full headcast. Later Marge tells Bart that Sideshow Bob would be seeing him real soon. Bart just laughs this off. ("Oh, that Bob").
- " and didn't want to buy blank tapes), prompting him to enact yet another "kill Krusty" scheme, this time by hypnotizing Bart into becoming a Suicide Bomber and killing Krusty on the show. During the inital hypnosis, he continues with his 'Walk into a rake and shudder' act, proclaiming the Rake to be his greatest Arch-Enemy in his life beyond Bart. However, at the last minute, Krusty makes an on-air apology to Sideshow Bob for all the pain he's caused him, causing Sideshow Bob to have a change of heart. Sideshow Bob warns everybody that Bart has a bomb, prompting Krusty's monkey to swoop in and throw the bomb away (the only people hurt are the network executives, whose body parts merge into a T-1000 -like monster). Sideshow Bob and Krusty finally resolve their differences, but Sideshow Bob is still scheduled to be decapitated for his crimes by Chief Wiggum (although the show cuts to the credits before we see the impact). He must have survived somehow, though, because he next appears in:
- " Jr. In the end, Sideshow Bob sneaks into Bart's room and is about to kill him, but finds that he can't do it because he's "grown accustomed to Bart's face" a la My Fair Lady . He later escapes, but not before receiving a number of electric shocks from the misplaced controller of his electronic bracelet.
- Sideshow Bob appears on the promo card for " Large Marge ", but does not appear in the episode.
- A couch gag in " Mobile Homer " featured Bob seated on the couch with the family, disguised as Homer, and then revealing himself by whipping off a Rubber Mask and chasing Bart with a knife.
- ", but Krusty saves them at the last minute. In this episode, it was implied that Bob experimented with Homosexuality while in college. This episode may or may not draw inspiration from The Mayor Of Casterbridge , in which a Mayor has similar familial secrets.
- ''(Bob is writing death messages, and indeed any messages, in blood from his finger while he is incarcerated.)''
''(writing in blood)'' Dear ''Life in These United States,'' A funny thing happened to me... ahhh... ''(collapses)''
''' Snake Jailbird :''' Use a ''pen'', Sideshow Bob.
''(Bob attempts to get up and collapses)''
-''Cape Feare''
- You awful man, stay away from my son!
'''Bob''': Oh, I'll stay away from your son, all right. Stay away ''forever!''
'''Homer:''' ''(cowering)'' Oh no!
'''Bob''': Wait, that's no good... ''(walks away and suddenly comes back)''. Wait, I've got a good one now! Marge, say, "Stay away from my son" again!
No!
'''Bob:''' ''(groans in annoyance)''
-''Cape Feare''
- Hello, Bart. ''(Bart turns to see an old lady in a car.)'' Down here, Bart. ''(Bob is hanging underneath the car, and lets go as it drives away, but not before he hits his head on the bumper)''
'''Bart:''' What do you want?
Oh, come now, what harm could possibly come from lying in the middle of a public street?
''(Instantly, a marching band tramples him, followed by seven elephants bearing banners with the words 'Cape, Feare, Salutes, Hannibal, Crossing, The, Alps!')''
-''Cape Feare''
- But why?
'''Bob:''' Because you need me, Springfield! Your guilty conscience may force you to vote Democratic, but deep down you long for a cold-hearted Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king.
-''Sideshow Bob Roberts''
- Don't you realize what you've done? That man is evil! If only you knew what he was thinking!
''(cut to Bob in his brother's car)''
'''Bob's brain:''' I hope they still make that Shampoo I like.
-''Brother From Another Series''
- Guess who?'''Cecil:''' Maris ?
-''Brother From Another Series''
- Madam your children are no more...than a pair of ill-bred trouble makers'''Homer:''' Even Lisa?'''Bob:''' Especially Lisa! But especially Bart.
-''Brother From Another Series''
- I suppose it will be my job to lead the hooting. ''(mockingly)'' Oh yaah, shake it madam. Capital knockers.
-''Brother From Another Series''
