# Whatever happened to Wendel on the Simpsons? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 21, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054 "2003-04-21T15:57:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/21 "2003-04-22T09:36:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Evil Captor \* > \*\*I’d like to see more of Johnny Tightlips. Always good for a laugh, that Johnny. He showed up on a couple of eps but has since not been seen. \*\* He was shot in the episode where Krusty meets his daughter ([Insane Clown Poppy](http://www.snpp.com/episodes/BABF17)). > [@](#): > > Legs: Johnny Tightlips, where’d they hit ya? > Johnny: I ain’t sayin’ nothin’. > Legs: But what’ll I tell the doctor? > Johnny: Tell him to suck a lemon. I don’t know if he died, or if he shows up in later episodes, but there ya go. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/22 "2003-04-22T09:55:13Z")
What I wanna see is more of the Happiest Man In Town. “No, folks, he means himself… but thanks for looking!” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/23 "2003-04-22T12:25:11Z")
Bleeding Gums was only in two episodes, and died in the second one. He was one of my favorite characters. He was voiced by Ron Taylor, who starred on Broadway and won a Tony for “It Ain’t Nothin’ But The Blues.” Taylor was dying of cancer at the time. I miss both Ron Taylor and Bleeding Gums. ---
**Author:** ![AmbulanceChaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4af34b/32.png) [@AmbulanceChaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmbulanceChaser)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/24 "2003-04-22T13:55:57Z")
Jacques the French bowler. I guess he was really a one-shot deal, though he did appear as a background character a few times during the early years, iirc. Anyway: > [@](#): > > Marge: What do you charge for lessons? > Jacques: Twenty-five dollars. > Marge: Twenty five dollars! > Jacques: A forty-dollars value! > Marge: When do we start?’ > Jacques: We have already begun. And then, of course: > [@](#): > > Marge: What’s Brunch? > Jacques: You’d love it, It’s not quite breakfast, it’s not quite lunch, but it comes with a slice of cantaloupe at the end. You don’t get completely what you would at breakfast, but you get a good meal! > Marge: I don’t think so. > Jacques: Marge, darling. There are ten pins in my heart, you’ve knocked over eight. Won’t you please pick up that spare? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/25 "2003-04-22T14:04:15Z")
The real answer on some of these is that during the first two or three seasons background characters were just filled up using the existing model sheets so people like Wendel and Jacques would show up here and there. However, some of those models weren’t really in the style of the Simpsons so those characters were dropped, though you do occasionally see them sneak in. ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/26 "2003-04-22T14:54:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Annie-Xmas \* > \*\*Bleeding Gums was only in two episodes, and died in the second one. He was one of my favorite characters. He was voiced by Ron Taylor, who starred on Broadway and won a Tony for “It Ain’t Nothin’ But The Blues.” Taylor was dying of cancer at the time. I miss both Ron Taylor and Bleeding Gums. \*\* > [@](#): > > - > > Lisa, the blues isn’t about making yourself feel better. It’s about making other people feel worse\* One of my favorite lines of all time and favorite characters. And Bleeding gums singing the Star Spangled Banner still kills me every time. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/27 "2003-04-22T14:55:15Z")
Wendell is injured (possibly a broken arm) on the trampoline in season 5’s episode [Bart’s Inner Child](http://www.snpp.com/episodes/1F05.html). That’s later than I expected to see him show up. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/28 "2003-04-22T15:00:47Z")
Me, I’m waiting for an episode that highlights the Spanish Bee Guy. ---
**Author:** ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/29 "2003-04-22T15:07:42Z")
Is Wendell that guy who looked like he was an albino? If so, it’s correct that he didn’t look right for Simpsons, not including the fact that everyone was yellow and he was chalk white. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/30 "2003-04-22T15:28:57Z")
Yeay, **Aslan2** , that was Wendell. I admit he was kinda goofylookin and out of place, but that was his schtick! He was always ill with something. I remember his first appearance, it was the episode where the class went on a trip to the box factory, I believe, and Bart had to sick next to him. They make the comment that he always throws up on the bus. anyway, they get there safe and sound, and Bart congratulates him. “Way to go Wendel, you didn’t throw up!” With that, Bart pats him on the back, his eyes get huge, then an overhead shot of the bus shows the kids all jumping out the window following a well placed “Huargh!” But yeah, outside of that, I haven’t seen much of him, and was rather supirsed to see his toy just released now. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/31 "2003-04-22T15:30:00Z")
It was his sickness. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/32 "2003-04-22T16:11:37Z")
I saw Wendell on a rerun last night. It was the episode, “Little Girl in the Big Ten”, where Lisa takes gymnastics to pass gym class and hooks up with some college students, then winds up impersonating a college student herself. Wendell appears as one of a group of nerds being shaken down for their lunch money by the bullies, until they’re rescued by “The Sphere” (Bart in his plastic bubble, because he was infected by the “pandavirus”.) The episode is from Season 13, making it far more recent than **KneadToKnow** ’s last sighting. Wendell lives! ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/33 "2003-04-23T00:54:29Z")
As a hijack, did “The Simpsons” ever have an episode where Dr. Monroe was “officially” killed-off, or was it limited to a mention of the “Marvin Monroe Memorial Hospital”? ---
**Author:** ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/34 "2003-04-23T01:11:54Z")
Didn’t the Dr. only appear in that one episode, the one where the family went to therapy and kept shocking each other? While not exactly a lost characther, I do like Captain Mcalister. He should have more episodes based around him. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/35 "2003-04-23T01:42:10Z")
Dr. Monroe also appeared in the episode where Marge takes on the makers of Itchy and Scratchy. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/36 "2003-04-23T01:46:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Didn’t the Dr. only appear in that one episode, the one where the family went to therapy and kept shocking each other? Marge called him on his radio show when she was having problems with Homer in an early episode, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/37 "2003-04-23T02:46:16Z")
Dr Munroe also appeared in the first season episode were the Simpsons got lost in the woods. He was one of the scientists called in to determine whether Homer was a human or a bigfoot. I believe his character was killed off because his voice was very difficult to perform. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/38 "2003-04-29T10:30:38Z")
—In “Bart’s Friend Falls In Love”, the subplot was Homer ordering subliminal weightloss cassettes and getting vocabulary instead. They were read by Dr. Marvin Monroe. “Abbatoir! The _cow_ was _slaughtered_ in the _abbatoir_!” No, there was no episode where he was officially killed off. —Bleeding Gums was in three episodes, including “Dancin’ Homer”, where he took 26 minutes to sing the national anthem. —Jacques reappeared (but didn’t speak) in “Team Homer”, the one where Burns forces his way onto Homer’s bowling team. He was a member of The Homewreckers: four people who had all posed threats to Homer and Marge’s marriage. The other three were Lurleen Lumpkin, Mindy Simmons and Princess Kashmir. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/39 "2003-04-29T14:14:37Z")
Another reason for Wendell’s general absence (along with most of Bart’s other friends) is that during the first couple seasons Bart was the main character, but very soon the focus moved more generally to Homer. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054/40 "2003-04-29T14:29:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Little Nemo \* > \*\*Me, I’m waiting for an episode that highlights the Spanish Bee Guy. \*\* He had a nice run the the “32 Short Stories about Springfield” episode didn’t he? I think it’s time. Bumblebee Man and Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel in a “on-the-road” comedy episode! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-wendel-on-the-simpsons/170054.md?page=3)