Carl Carlson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Simpsons character

Carl Carlson
Age	39
Gender	Male
Hair color	Black, wooly
Job	Assistant of Homer Simpson at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant
Relatives	has mentioned a family on several occasions but none ever seen
First appearance	Homer's Night Out
Voice actor	Hank Azaria

Carl Carlson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. Along with Lenny, Carl is not just Homer's co-worker (sometimes identified as Homer's supervisor) at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant but one of his best friends since childhood, and he likes to call himself "an urban Lenny". He also attended Springfield A&M University.

Carl is an African-American, and a Buddhist with a master's degree in nuclear physics, fond of bowling and drinking at Moe's Tavern. (Carl demonstrates his talent for science in the episode Fat Man and Little Boy).

1 Character origins
2 Origins
3 Personality
4 Romantic Life
5 Popularity at the Plant

In the early seasons, Carl was rarely seen with Lenny and did not have a consistent voice - on some occasions, he can be heard with Lenny's voice and vice versa. In an early 1991 episode, Principal Charming, Carl's name is spelled "Karl". Homer may not have known how to spell Carl's name properly, as Homer was facetiously depicted as having a visual field resembling a Terminator-like readout device which seemed to spell everything else correctly, indicating that the writers originally spelled the name as "Karl".

Carl was raised, or at least born in Iceland. An article purporting to give Homer's NFL predictions on Foxsports.com claimed that Carl was from Cincinnati, but such claims are considered non-canon ([1]).

Carl is one of the few characters on The Simpsons who is not extremely stupid or strange. He often serves as taciturnly straight man to Homer and company, probably because of his harsh opinions of others, as seen when he makes everyone in Moe's tavern cry and then turns to the camera, explaining: "See, this is why I don't talk much."

In Bonfire of the Manatees (aired 11 September 2005), we learn that Carl has a tattoo of Foghorn Leghorn on his thigh.

There is a constant allusion to homoeroticism in Lenny's and Carl's relationship, although no one seems to care much about it. In Half-Decent Proposal, Lenny dreamily recalls carving "Mount Carlmore", a huge bust of Carl in the side of a hill, during "one wonderful summer". In another episode, 'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky, various characters look at the stars to "see into their souls". Lenny sees an image of Carl, and Carl sees an image of himself. In another episode, Lenny recalls Bart offering Carl and Lenny $1,000 to kiss, and Carl asks Lenny, "Hey, did we ever get that money?" (Although this was in the non-canon Behind the Laughter episode, where the characters are shown as actors portraying themselves). However, in the episode Ice Cream of Margie, Lenny says he can't tell apart the remains of his sculpture with Carl's remarking "I don't know where Carl ends and I begin!", Carl then says "it's stuff like this that makes everyone think we're gay." At times, Carl gets annoyed at Lenny. In Mountain of Madness, when Carl learns that he is paired with Lenny in a team-building exercise on a power plant retreat, his irritated response is, "Aw, nuts. I mean... aw, nuts."

Carl is (or has been) married, as indicated when he wanted to give his wife a Super Bowl ring for their anniversary in one episode. He and many other characters may purposely be given inconsistent personal lives to mimic the vagueness that usually surrounds supporting characters, and to annoy nitpicky fans.

Mr. Burns appears to prefer Carl to Lenny, as Burns orders Homer to hurl pudding at Lenny, but protests when Carl is hit with the pudding, and says, "What are you doing, man? That's Carl!" People generally seem to have a higher regard for Carl (e.g., Marge was impressed when Carl knew Rod and Todd Flanders had his blood type, exclaiming "Wow, Carl!"). Although Homer sometimes cannot distinguish Lenny and Carl (as he once wrote on his hand, "Lenny = White, Carl = Black"), he tends to prefer Carl when he says, "This is Lenny? I wanted the black one!" However this is rather an anomaly because when the Simpsons hired an English nanny, Homer asks who her last employers were. When told Lord and Lady Huffington of Sussex, Homer turns to Marge and asks:

Homer: "Marge, do we know him?"
Marge: "No."
Homer: "C'mon, isn't he the guy I know? The black guy?"
Marge: "That's Carl."
Homer: "Oh yeah!... So you worked for Carl, eh?"