Cletus Spuckler

Cletus Spuckler or Cletus Del Roy (voiced by Hank Azaria) is a character on the long-running animated television show The Simpsons. A stereotypical hillbilly or "redneck" character, he is thin (in fact, one of the thinnest characters on the show), has brown hair in an indeterminate style but shaved in the back, a meager attempt at a moustache, and several fewer teeth than the average Springfield resident. He is nearly always depicted wearing a white tank top or "wifebeater" which exposes a tattoo of a snake and skull on his left arm. In general, he seems to be a fairly good-natured fellow, or perhaps merely oblivious.

Cletus was introduced in an episode of season five, "Bart Gets an Elephant", in which he is shown as one of the "slack-jawed yokels" gawking at Bart's elephant Stampy. (Cletus' voice is slightly deeper in this initial appearance than in later episodes.) This reference gave rise to his best-known name, Cletus The Slack-Jawed Yokel. As he was once introduced in song, accompanied by bluegrass-style banjo music and a follow-the-bouncing-ball:

Some folk'll never eat a skunk

and then again some folk'll,

like Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel!

A short vignette featuring Cletus was shown, followed by the closing verse:

Most folk'll never lose a toe

but then again some folk'll,

like Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel!

More recently, Cletus has apparently suffered from some sort of illness caused by his drinking the mercury out of a thermometer. It has badly affected his memory, but he now whittles what he observes in wood, with a penknife. Chief Wiggum was able to track down Bart Simpson after his unintentional escape from jail through Cletus's wood carving of Bart and Gina Vendetti. Cletus also claimed that he possessed precognitive vision, and indeed his prophetic wood carving of Wiggum being savaged by a bear was fulfilled later in the episode.

Relationship with/to Brandine

Cletus has an ongoing relationship with Brandine, who is generally represented as either his girlfriend or his wife, although the nature of their exact relationship is somewhat vague. It is often implied that the two are siblings (for instance, in "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" at an auto racing event, Brandine remarks "Dang, Cletus! Why'd you have to park so close to my parents?" to which Cletus responds, "They's mah parents too!"). Additionally, in the Season 16 episode "There's Something About Marrying," Homer (ordained as a minister) is preparing to marry Cletus and Brandine. Looking at a form, he asks "Wait a minute... are you two brother and sister?" Brandine replies, "We's all kinda things." To complicate the issue further, Brandine remarks to Cletus in another episode "You're the best son and husband I've ever had."

Children

Cletus seems to be the father of a vast number of children: when he presents Marge with 300 coupons for free pretzels from her pretzel business, he calls out to "Tiffany, Heather, Cody, Dylan, Dermot, Jordan, Taylor, Brittany, Wesley, Rumer, Scout, Cassidy, Zoe, Chloe, Max, Hunter, Kendall, Caitlin, Noah, Sascha, Morgan, Kyra, Ian, Lauren, Q-bert, and Phil." Cletus and Brandine also have a daughter named Condoleezza Marie, who was somehow switched with a bag of sugar that Homer was carrying as part of a parenting exercise, and a daughter named Rubella Scabies, whose middle name was inspired by a word spelled by Lisa in her audition for the annual spelling bee.

Last name

Cletus' last name is likely "Spuckler;" in the episode "Sweets and Sour Marge," Cletus signs this as his name (in surprisingly elegant cursive) to Marge's petition to ban sugar from Springfield, and in "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays" his name is given as "Cletus Spuckler" in a news report. Additionally, a mailbox standing outside Cletus' shack in the video game The Simpsons Hit & Run reads "Spuckler." However, his last name has also been given as "Del Roy", causing some confusion.

Miscellaneous appearances

In the thirteenth-season episode "The Frying Game", when Homer and Marge are sentenced to death, the Simpson children are placed with "foster parents" Cletus and Brandine.

Cletus also managed to secure an undisclosed amount of money from a man identifying himself as "The Leader" after said man left his loyal "flock" made up of conned townspeople via makeshift spaceship and crash-landed on Cletus' roof.

In the episode "Future-Drama", Cletus is Vice President of the United States in a possible future shown by Professor Frink's "astrological video playback machine".

In an issue of a Bongo Comics title, the hillbillies move into Ned Flanders' house while Ned is away recovering from a bad reaction to a flu shot. Lisa falls for one of the Del Roy sons, but discovers that the Del Roy family and the Simpson family are related. She says she cannot date a cousin, although Cletus' boy does not seem bothered by the prospect. It is worth noting, however, that the comic is generally not considered canonical.

Quotes

Cletus: (finding himself up a telephone pole) You know what? I could call my maw while I'm up here. (yells) Hey maw! Get off'n the dang roof!
Cletus: (after breaking his arm) I done spraint mah elbie-bone so that it goes in the oppositty direct-ion!
Cletus: (after breaking his nose) Hey Brandine! I think I done busted my stinkbone!
Cletus: (of Lisa) Hey maw, look at that pointy-haireded little girl!
Judge: Jury, what's your verdict?
Cletus: I believe we was promised five dollars a day. (Baliff gives it to him) Right then. We find the defendant guilty!
Cletus: (as Vice President, speaking on the telephone) You want me to attend the funeral of the Sultan of Brunei? Well, I would consider it my honor. (covers the phone and yells) Hey Brandine! Pack my evenin' britches! We's goin' to Brunei!
Cletus: ''(when sitting in a parental training course- scratches his head) "Da lightswitch?"