Character Spotlight: Lenny Leonard and Carl Carlson (& Barflies)

...minus Barney, he's getting his own later.

Archived Spotlights:

Krusty the Clown
Moe Szyslak
Bart Simpson
Itchy & Scratchy
Police Chief Clancy Wiggum


For more in depth instructions, you can see Krusty's topic or any of the topics from Chief Wiggum and before. In short, talk about anything to do with the character. Their future, what you think of them, hypothetical theories, satire, idle talk, quotes, favorite scenes, character analysis trivia, anything at all as long as it has to do with the character!

After Wiggum's very interesting topic, we come to a pair you guys may find a little lighter than the characters we've spoken about before. But still, you never know. Maybe like the others, we'll find something a little more in them than we thought. This topic highlights "the guys!", Lenny and Carl.



Two of Homer's best friends since childhood, they have remained good friends all the way to the middle of their lives. Lenny and Carl may not be as heavy a presense in the show as much as some of the other characters, but they're undeniably an essential part of it and Springfield nonetheless. Lenny, the quirky but calm and relaxed everyman, and Carl...the quiet observer with an occasional two cents to put in. They have a surprising amount of quotes in the series despite being such underdogs in the show, and come on...Homer wouldn't quite be what he is today without his barfly buddies.

Although, are they just friends...or is there something else perhaps?

Yes, this week's spotlight may be a bit more challenging than the others before it. They are very light characters on discussion, but there are still some things..such as their very friendship and the implications that have been brought up more and more by fans and the series itself. I just love Lenny and Carl, the way they fight and quirrel...but ultimatly stick together so close reminds me a lot of a pair of friends I used to know. To me they've always brought a kind of chill, humility to crowd scenes and conversations. They're not overly zany or wacky even today, nor are they boring background characters...they're just there. I have a feeling this topic will become more of an appreaciation topic than a really deep discussion, but nonetheless they still deserve it I think.

Lenny and Carl folks.

Oh yeah, if you have something you can talk about these guys or anyone at the Power Plant too here. Whatever that may be..lol

I, um, don't have much to say on this issue. They're almost a stereotype of the modern working man, being somewhat stupid, lazy but yet succesful. They drink beer, but not really to be rid of their problems. They seem happy with their lives, and enjoy themselves doing whatever they do. Lenny has always seemed friendlier to me.

Poor effort Mr. Chanezzar.

For some reason I always imagine Sam Simon looking like Barfly Sam even though I've seen photographic evidence to the contrary

Often times Carl seems to be the more dominant one in their relationship with Lenny being the goof and Carl being the smarter sarcastic one. like this joke in mountain of madness for example.
Lenny: Did you hear something
Carl: No
Lenny: Did I hear something
Carl: I don't know

There's also been the implication, that Carl doesn't really like Lenny that much and nay even a bit of an egotist.
Carl's "aw nuts" reaction to being paired up with Lenny in Mountain of Madness. The joke in Scuse me while I miss the sky where Lenny see's a constellation of Carl, and Carl see's a constellation of..... Carl. I think they did the same joke with the mountains in Half-decent Proposal.

Lenny seems to have a friendly admiration for Carl, most noticeable in Half-Decent Proposal. They do make for very good ancillary characters, giving Homer a couple of relatively "normal" characters to interact with while at work and at Moe's. I do like how neither of them is terribly exaggerated.

Looking at them seperately, Carl is actually strangely dependent on Lenny--at least in terms of the show. Carl has very few scenes where he isn't with Lenny, and his best moments are always shared with his bud.

Lenny, on the other hand, has been used (with great success, I might add) as a source of random humor. Examples include numerous glossies and framed pictures of Lenny, "There's been a lot of talk about Lenny," "I'm going to punch Lenny in the back of the head," "Not Lenny!," and more.

As for the barflies, they're really more props than anything. Though I do think it's interesting that in the earlier seasons, they were there to give Moe's a depressing feel, while nowadays they aren't around much any longer (probably to coincide with the slightly less dank feel of Moe's today).

Lenny = White
Carl = Black

...more later...I'm off to work.

Originally Posted by TriforceBun

As for the barflies, they're really more props than anything. Though I do think it's interesting that in the earlier seasons, they were there to give Moe's a depressing feel, while nowadays they aren't around much any longer (probably to coincide with the slightly less dank feel of Moe's today).

This should be discussed somewhere else, but I think that it is a little funny that as Moe's has gotten fewer regulars, it has gotten less depressing

I think the movie or the last season of the show should give us an conclusive answer on the question on weither they're gay or not.

There weren't even hints of them being gay in the earlier seasons, they talked about having wives and the like. But they haven't been seen or even heard of much so it is safe to presume that any spouses were dropped. I like them as characters and I find them funny. And I like the bits of humour when it seems the the Simpsons see Lenny as a bit of a hero, although Mr. Burns prefers Lenny.

IMO, usually when they appear their task is to reflect what Homer is doing or feeling, be kind of counterparts for Homer with whom he can have a dialogue. But of course they also appear as independent characters, Homer's work buddies with whom he socializes at work.

Anyway, scenes in the plant or at Moe's wouldn't be the same without them.

I just noticed how few epis actually revolve around the 2. 3-4 at the most?

The rest of the time, they're either in SNPP, Moe's, or somewhere Homer is [like a riot] and get a few lines.

"Nothing like a depressant to chase the blues away."

Lenny and Carl have zero episodes to their name. The biggest role they've played is 1/3 of Margical History Tour, as Lewis and Clark. Mainly, they're there as work/bar buddies for Homer, or the occasional one-liner.

They are incidental characters. That is, people for Homer, Barney, Mr. Burns, Moe or whomever the episode focuses on to talk to. They set up jokes or plotlines and get the occasional one-liner.

One character like them that is no longer seen is Charlie. (The guy who got sucked into the tube) He was funny; I wish they showed him more often.

Originally Posted by Marge For President

There weren't even hints of them being gay in the earlier seasons, they talked about having wives and the like. But they haven't been seen or even heard of much so it is safe to presume that any spouses were dropped. I like them as characters and I find them funny. And I like the bits of humour when it seems the the Simpsons see Lenny as a bit of a hero, although Mr. Burns prefers Lenny.

I got something to say on this. Personally, I think the thing with them being gay is more of a meta joke than an actual, serious fact thrown in. Reason for that is if you look at it from the writers' point of view...these characters are basically two characters in one. Lenny shows more individual traits and is generally a little more capable of existing on his own, but in general I bet you anything they're basically counted as one character.

Thats what the whole joke is I think. Its sort of a subtle poke at the fact each of them are their own world. Its hard to explain..but they're just really, really close friends because they're basically different sides of one character. lol

Of course you could interpret it as a sort of satire of some kind...maybe that the person you least suspect harbors hidden feelings or something. Its just ambiguous enough for you to come to your own conclusion about it, but I still lean towards that first one. Its just a big screw you joke to the audience. XD

And Charlie! The guy with the glasses, and his story of miraculous escape right? I do miss that guy too, he was funny for some reason although he got next to no lines.

"Remember when we used to kiss that way...with our respective wives?"

Lenny and Carl are insepparable, or at least, Carl rarely exists sepparate from Lenny. The whole "gay thing" is largely the writers playing with how close the two are.

It's ironic that Carl, the most selfish of the two, is actually more dependent on Lenny as a character than Lenny is on him. Lenny, as mentioned before, is more developed, and is occassionally present on his own and has had a few fun moments.

While on the topic of Lenny: his bad eye is occassionally referenced, and often damaged. In "Homer vs. Dignity" he got to doses of pudding and fish guts in it, in "Saddlesore Galactica" he got a horseshoe to the eye, a picture cube (with the corners filed down) in "Tis the Fifteenth Season", and "jigs" from a jigsaw in "Three Gays of the Condo".

i love how one minute they are best friends and the next carl is pissed off to be paired with lenny...

they are great in the stone cutters episode

"It's a secret."
"Shut up."

I really don't know what else to add right now...I'm drawing a pretty big blank in the meaningful conversation department.

Originally Posted by Fionn

"Remember when we used to kiss that way...with our respective wives?"

Lenny and Carl are insepparable, or at least, Carl rarely exists sepparate from Lenny. The whole "gay thing" is largely the writers playing with how close the two are.

It's ironic that Carl, the most selfish of the two, is actually more dependent on Lenny as a character than Lenny is on him. Lenny, as mentioned before, is more developed, and is occassionally present on his own and has had a few fun moments.

While on the topic of Lenny: his bad eye is occassionally referenced, and often damaged. In "Homer vs. Dignity" he got to doses of pudding and fish guts in it, in "Saddlesore Galactica" he got a horseshoe to the eye, a picture cube (with the corners filed down) in "Tis the Fifteenth Season", and "jigs" from a jigsaw in "Three Gays of the Condo".

Yeah that is a pretty good point.

One funny thing about Lenny's character is that he seems to be one of the most, if not the most reasonable person in all of Springfield...maybe more so than even Lisa or Marge some of the time. But the funny thing is that it doesn't seem like even he himself realizes it, but usually his advice or opinion of whats going on is pretty spot on even if its indirectly.I mean...I can remember a handful of Lenny's scenes but I'm having trouble remembering one with just Carl.


Its almost like he's an extention of Lenny's character. Well..there's that one scene were Carl upset everyone, then said to the camera "See, thats why I don't usually say anything.". Even if it was breaking the fourth wall I cracked up at that a bit because of the meta humor in that.

Heck, maybe if Lenny is reasonable...Carl is the most aware man in the Simpsons world. Just barely opens his mouth and everyone's crying in self pity. lol

The only scene with Carl was the one that ended with a line like "this is why I don't say much"

Originally Posted by Kiyosuki

I got something to say on this. Personally, I think the thing with them being gay is more of a meta joke than an actual, serious fact thrown in. Reason for that is if you look at it from the writers' point of view...these characters are basically two characters in one. Lenny shows more individual traits and is generally a little more capable of existing on his own, but in general I bet you anything they're basically counted as one character.

I think I'd probably agree with this. I don't really have a problem with any of the gay jokes about them, they're not really the jokes involving Lenny and Carl the most, but they're ten times better than any of the jokes where Lenny gets something in his eye.

Originally Posted by Kiyosuki

Personally, I think the thing with them being gay is more of a meta joke than an actual, serious fact thrown in.

I totally agree with this. Lenny & Carl suffer from the "Bert & Ernie" syndrome that plagues a number of heterosexual male friendships on sitcoms. Hetero-lifemates, to quote Kevin Smith, if you will. I don't think it was ever a planned subtext of the relationship, but after fans started commenting (because the "gay" jokes are just too hard for some people to resist ;-/ ), they started writing it into the show, kind of tongue-and-cheek, sort of like how Scrubs has always portrayed JD & Turk.

One of my favorite couch gags from recent years featured a progressive timeline of family photos -- showing Homer aging, dying young, being subplanted in the Simpson family portrait by Lenny, then Marge was subplanted by Carl, and finally a robotic Homer replaces Lenny & Carl to join Marge and the kids. It would just make sense that if Homer did actually die, Marge would choose to marry Lenny above all the other men in Springfield.

As others have stated, Carl is clearly both the more dominant, yet dependent personality. He wears the pants, so to speak, but at the same time, he can never be without Lenny -- kind of like Lucy & Ricky's relationship in "I Love Lucy" -- Ricky always claims to be the boss, but you know he would never exist without Lucy. It helps that it has been established over time how much everyone loves Lenny (especially The Simpsons).

Their friendship is a pretty singular aspect on the show -- save Bart and Milhouse (or to some degree, Mr. Burns and Smithers) -- they always have each others back, even if they sometimes fight. Most longtime friends really do have Lenny/Carl moments of "I really can't stand looking at you right now" mixed in with "Oh Carl, I can't bear to see you die first."

Lenny and Carl at their finest -- during the Stonecutters episode when they outrank Mr. Burns so they get to kick him around.

Incredible acting skillz!

So here's a funny thing, Lenny seems to have the most unstable living situation of anyone in the world. How many places has he lived at over the course of the series?

In some episodes he's living in a shack practically, and in others he has an awsome apartment.

That's just inconsistent writing and isn't worth dissecting for meaning.

I wasn't going for meaning Thompson...just asked how many places he's lived at. It changes with every episode he appears in.

But now that you bring it up...I was going to try this time. lol

Okay, I thought of something not too long ago after reading this thread. This is going to be almost hilariously hypothetical so keep that in mind, its just fun idle talk. But what if Lenny's one of those people that isn't what they make themselves out to be? Think about it...usually he lives in these nice places but then there was that one time in the shack where he was taken by surprise.


"Please don't tell anyone how I live!". What if...just a huge what if that really is how he lived and all the other nice places he lives at were temporarilly rented or something to make people think he lived better off? Another thing that kept coming to mind was Lenny's disastrous...at times almost imaginary love life. All these girlfriends he has and constantly talks about, yet we rarely actually see any.

Then there's the fact that although he's usually very calm, he can get really emotional at random times. Maybe he's a really big loser who puts on a big front, that seems to be working. "No, not Lenny!"

Ah man, I admit that this is all silly and far out there even for me. Although it makes a strange amount of sense.

But being more serious, I don't think the thing with his home is necessarilly inconsistent writing more than it is a running joke. I remember he's been shown living in a dump one other time, yet in Bangalore he said he bought a 3 million dollar house. He's just a mysterious guy I guess.

I remember from somewhere that he was some kind of war hero or something, when is that said in the series?

I think Lenny and Carl are a slightly less retarded Lenny and Squiggy

There certainly ain't a lot left unsaid.

Did Lenny's eye issues come up?

That we see LEnny shaving his presumed one-time wife's legs?

That we see Carl's wife only in "Succesful Marriage" and at church in "Sand & Fog"

Lenny was originally across the street & down from Homer in a dilapidated house, then moved to an apt sharing a wall w/ a jai alai court, where he still was in "Your Wife" - but he was also living in a house across town from Homer in "Slept too Little"

Carl's voice was modelled on a sharper "Lenny the Mouse" from the old Looney Tunes; Lenny was based on oneof the Bowery Boys whose name escapes me.

Dan says Charlie was his version of Lenny. Charlie still appears regularly at the plant, but rarely speaks. He was in the tableux at Moe's at the close of "Doomsday".

Lenny's had a tatoo of a flag on his chest, but its been gone since. His age has also fluctuated- recently his "birthday's edition of Life magazine indicated he was born in the seventies!

Sam & Larry still regularly in the bar scenes. They've been all in black at Moe's's wake in "Beerest", and spraying beer on the gang in "Baby Blues". "Three Gays" demonstrates that, back when Moe first opened the bar, Sam had no hunchback - he 'earned' it at the bar. They've spoken, too - Sam asks Homer what he's got riding on the Super Bowl in "Greek" ("What a gambler!"), both deny being Homer's soul-mate in "Viaje" ("Companion." "Sympathizer.") What's nice about them is that they were very crazy-looking off-model characters from the first season, which were slightly streamlined and retained in the model pack - and they stilll appear. They are the adult equivalent for Homer as Richard & Lewis are for Bart. One writer was nto have joked that the end of the series should reveal that these two are the real characters that control the Simpsons universe, or that the whole show is a drunken tale they tell at a bar.

I think it's cool that even though they are mentioned by name in the complete guide, their names have never been uttered during the show

Originally Posted by Roger Myers III

Sam & Larry still regularly in the bar scenes. They've been all in black at Moe's's wake in "Beerest", and spraying beer on the gang in "Baby Blues". "Three Gays" demonstrates that, back when Moe first opened the bar, Sam had no hunchback - he 'earned' it at the bar. They've spoken, too - Sam asks Homer what he's got riding on the Super Bowl in "Greek" ("What a gambler!"), both deny being Homer's soul-mate in "Viaje" ("Companion." "Sympathizer.") What's nice about them is that they were very crazy-looking off-model characters from the first season, which were slightly streamlined and retained in the model pack - and they stilll appear. They are the adult equivalent for Homer as Richard & Lewis are for Bart. One writer was nto have joked that the end of the series should reveal that these two are the real characters that control the Simpsons universe, or that the whole show is a drunken tale they tell at a bar.

God that would be the biggest mindblow of all time. Thats a pretty interesting comparison though, maybe Sam and Larry...and Richard and Lewis are the same people, one group is meant for the "adult world" while the other is for he "children's world". They're the secret hosts of one big, gigantic human experiment that stars the whole town a la the Truman show or Time Out of Joint. lol Its so twisted and warped an idea that I could almost see it being seriously considered.

Sam is the one with the hat, right?