# And the most evil sitcom character ever is... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 15, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743 "2008-09-15T21:16:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/1 "2008-09-15T21:16:31Z")
Peter Griffin, I’d say. Last night I saw the Family Guy episode “Long John Peter,” in which the fat man, among other things, murders a man while leading a band of land pirates I’d say he’s cemented his ranking as Earth’s most evil comic lead. Others may disagree, but I’d want cites. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![A\_shameful\_cracka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@A\_shameful\_cracka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_shameful_cracka)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/2 "2008-09-15T21:18:22Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Peter Griffin, I’d say. > > Last night I saw the Family Guy episode “Long John Peter,” in which the fat man, among other things, > > murders a man while leading a band of land pirates > > I’d say he’s cemented his ranking as Earth’s most evil comic lead. Others may disagree, but I’d want cites. 😃 Eric Cartman tricked a kid into eating his own dead parents. Stan from American Dad has killed a lot more people than Peter. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/3 "2008-09-15T21:20:53Z")
> [@A\_shameful\_cracka](#): > > Eric Cartman tricked a kid into eating his own dead parents. > > Stan from American Dad has killed a lot more people than Peter. Stan, at least, confines his killing to terrorists (well, alleged terrorists) and other villainous types. And he was willing to beat his boss to a pulp for breaking his daughter’s heart. He’s nowhere near as evil as Petey. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/4 "2008-09-15T21:24:55Z")
Cartman from South Park easily beats Peter in this contest. Among many, many other examples of his sheer evilness, Cartman has dressed up in a Nazi uniform and tried to inspire Christians overly hyped-up over _The Passion of Christ_ into what he hoped would be an eventual attack on Jews, he pretended to have Tourette’s Syndrome with the aim of getting on national TV and spouting his over-the-top anti-Semitic beliefs (in the guise of being unable to help saying bad things), he tried to get his then-comatose friend Kenny’s life support yanked so he (IIRC) could keep Kenny’s PSP, and finally, an oft-cited example: In the episode [Scott Tenorman Must Die](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Tenorman_Must_Die), the aforementioned Scott humiliates the younger Cartman with a series of tricks, like getting him to pay $10 for pubic hair (Cartman didn’t realize how one typically gets it). Cartman sets up an elaborate scheme in which Scott’s parents are killed, and fed to Scott in chili. (On preview, this has been mentioned.) ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/5 "2008-09-15T21:25:10Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Peter Griffin, I’d say. > > Last night I saw the Family Guy episode “Long John Peter,” in which the fat man, among other things, > > murders a man while leading a band of land pirates > > I’d say he’s cemented his ranking as Earth’s most evil comic lead. Others may disagree, but I’d want cites. 😃 Except Peter isn’t evil, he’s just stupid and rash. Stewie would be closer, but he mostly just wants to be evil. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/6 "2008-09-15T21:30:56Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > Except Peter isn’t evil, he’s just stupid and rash. Stewie would be closer, but he mostly just wants to be evil. Not so much anymore. Now he’s just really, really gay. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/7 "2008-09-15T21:34:16Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > Except Peter isn’t evil, he’s just stupid and rash. Stewie would be closer, but he mostly just wants to be evil. Oh, I’d call Peter evil. He’s not MALICIOUS, but he’s definitely agent of Mephistopheles. That said, I must concede that Eric Cartman takes the top spot. _That_ said, you guys realize this thread is really just an excuse to list evil acts by sitcom characters, right? No need to stop naming NEW nominees just because the winner is foreordained. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/8 "2008-09-15T21:36:45Z")
For evil one should also consider the camouflage that the character exhibits. A misanthropic sort, who is always muttering about the need to kill all the assholes in the world just isn’t hiding things under a bushel. Once his activities become canon, and get noticed by the authorities in his/her world, they will be stopped, and usually within days of the beginning of his/her enlargement. No, the truly evil character is one who sits in the center of a web of deception, letting people bring their problems to him, for him to solve. And which he will use for the furtherance of his own aims. Whether they have anything to do with the situation that he had been asked to resolve, or not. I am reminded of one incident where the villain I am in mind of used a situation of his own devising to blackmail an innocent into giving up the one thing in his life that gave him joy.[sup]1[/sup] For the simple joy of it, every time he is tasked with solving a situation he does so with malice aforethought to provide evidence that his position is indispensable, and to smear the reputations of everyone else around him. Jeeves, is, without doubt, or excuse, the most manipulative and evil bastard to ever grace a situation comedy. 1. So what if Bertie couldn’t **play** the ukelele, he still loved it! ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/9 "2008-09-15T21:54:19Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > I am reminded of one incident where the villain I am in mind of used a situation of his own devising to blackmail an innocent into giving up the one thing in his life that gave him joy.[sup]1[/sup] > > 1. So what if Bertie couldn’t **play** the ukelele, he still loved it! Don’t forget the old Etonian spats… Joe ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/10 "2008-09-15T21:58:03Z")
Does _Barney and Friends_ qualify as a sitcom? Because if it does, I have a nomination in mind. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/11 "2008-09-15T22:03:58Z")
I think this contest should be split into cartoon, and non-cartoon divisions. > [@OtakuLoki](#): > > No, the truly evil character is one who sits in the center of a web of deception, letting people bring their problems to him, for him to solve. And which he will use for the furtherance of his own aims. Whether they have anything to do with the situation that he had been asked to resolve, or not. I think you’re describing Sir Humphrey Appleby. And while we’re throwing out nominations; Louie De Palma. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/12 "2008-09-15T22:20:32Z")
The Great Gazoo is the most evil sitcom character ever. Evidence: 1. He invented a button that would destroy the universe if pressed. 2. He is The Great Gazoo. Any more questions, dum-dums? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/13 "2008-09-15T22:23:44Z")
_“Is that the sound of butting in? Why, it must be Springfield’s answer to the question nobody asked, **Lisa Simpson**!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/14 "2008-09-15T22:24:31Z")
How about Dr. Kelso from _Scrubs_ Mr Burns from _The Simpsons_ ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/15 "2008-09-15T22:45:35Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I think you’re describing Sir Humphrey Appleby. Humphrey’s not evil, exactly. In fact, Humphrey is more amoral. He doesn’t much care what policies he’s implementing, just that his department is run well. As he puts it: > [@](#): > > I have served eleven governments in the past thirty years. If I had believed in all their policies, I would have been passionately committed to keeping out of the Common Market, and passionately committed to going into it. I would have been utterly convinced of the rightness of nationalising steel, and of denationalising it and renationalising it. On capital punishment, I’d have been a fervent retentionist and an ardent abolitionist. I would have been a Keynesian and a Friedmanite, a grammar school preserver and destroyer, a nationalisation freak and a privatisation maniac, but above all, I would have been a stark staring raving schizophrenic! He is, if you’ll excuse the geekiness, a perfect example of Lawful Neutral alignment. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/16 "2008-09-15T22:52:56Z")
How about Newman from **Seinfeld**? He was only a mailman, so his chances to do evil were limited, but do you have any doubt about what he would do if he became dictator of the world? ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/17 "2008-09-15T23:12:22Z")
For cartoon characters, I have to go for Zapp Brannigan. There’s mention of several completely innocent worlds destroyed by him just to further his career and millions of soldiers die during the series due to his incompetence. Also, he slept with his best friend’s widow while he was still warm. Hell, he wasn’t even actually dead. Now, that’s low. As for real life sitcoms… I’ll go for Jane from “Coupling”. She lies during her job as a traffic reporter just so she can drive home more easily. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/18 "2008-09-15T23:33:08Z")
The answer is Cartman, followed by Bender. Everybody else is a pansy. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/19 "2008-09-15T23:40:44Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > The answer is Cartman, followed by Bender. Everybody else is a pansy. Oh, please. Bender WANTS to be evil, but there’s just too much he won’t do. For Zeus’s sake, he was about to sacrifice his own existence for a freaking TURTLE, and every time he yelled “Kill all humans!” he’d whisper “Except Fry” when no one was listening. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743/20 "2008-09-16T00:09:21Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Peter Griffin, I’d say. Also, there’s the time he shot and killed Meg for no reason at all. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-most-evil-sitcom-character-ever-is/463743.md?page=2)