Waylon Smithers (voiced by Harry Shearer) is a fictional homosexual character from The Simpsons. He is the self-proclaimed best friend and personal assistant of Mr. Burns and serves as an executive administrator at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. He is often condescendingly referred to simply as Smithers.

The correct spelling of Smithers' name is Waylon and not Wayland, as some captioners of Simpsons episodes have typed it.

Personal life

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Smithers is divorced and lives alone in an apartment with a Yorkshire terrier named Hercules. He is an alumnus of the Alpha Tau fraternity. His father, Waylon, Sr., worked for Burns until he died saving Springfield from a potential nuclear meltdown ("The Blunder Years").

Over the years there was much speculation about Smithers' sexual orientation. Eventually he was revealed to be gay, but officially he is still "in the closet". Smithers' father, Waylon Smithers Sr. was the assistant of Charles Montgomery Burns at the Nuclear Power Plant. When Smithers Sr. died, the Burns told his son that his father had been killed by a tribe of Amazonian women. This could possibly have resulted in his homosexuality. In reality, his father died as a hero, trying to save the city from a nuclear accident.

In many ways Smithers represents the stereotype of the closeted gay man. He has many gay friends and hangs out at Springfield's gay village, and went on a vacation to a men-only resort. In public, however he remains insecure and uncomfortable with his sexuality, denying it when questioned. In "Secrets of a Successful Marriage," we see a flashback - a Cat on a Hot Tin Roof meets Streetcar Named Desire parody - in which we learn that his brief marriage broke down due to his rejection of his wife's affections. Although he might be regarded as bisexual, he has shown little interest in women since. He visited the "Maison Derriere" burlesque house, but claims this was only because his parents insisted he give it a try, perhaps implying that they do not accept his sexual orientation (then again, this is almost impossible, as Smithers was raised by Mr. Burns after his father died rescuing the town from a nuclear melt-down). The episode "C.E. D'oh" drops another hint when Burns tells Homer that Waylon has been sentenced to 80 years in a Turkish prison for opium possession: "He's doing eighty years on an opium bust. I never saw a man take to a Turkish prison so quickly". In a scene in "Fear of Flying", Homer's favourite record It's Raining Men is ripped and thrown out of the jukebox in Moe's Tavern. The record lands in Smithers' car, in which he is pleasantly surprised. When Bret "Hitman" Hart shouts "Eww! This place has got old man stink!" in The Old Man and the Lisa, Smithers comforts Burns by saying "Don't mind him, sir. You have an enchanting musk".

While he has had other boyfriends – in "Homer's Phobia", he confronts John (guest-voiced by John Waters) after realizing he lied to get out of a date, and in a recent episode he was caught "Car pooling" with Dewey Largo, the music teacher at Springfield Elementary, Smithers' great love remains Burns. His orientation has been characterized by the writers of the show as "Burnsasexual". He periodically has fantasies about his boss: (in "Rosebud", Burns pops nude out of a birthday cake and sings "Happy Birthday, Mr. Smithers" (a parody of Marilyn Monroe's singing the song to John F. Kennedy) and when his computer is turned on, it features a nude Burns saying: "Hello Smithers, you're quite good at turning me on"). He has openly declared his love for Burns at least twice, most dramatically in "Lisa the Skeptic", when, believing the world is coming to an end, Smithers kisses him on the lips; later explaining it to him as "merely a sign of my respect." Burns gets suspicious, but chooses ultimately to dismiss the whole episode. Perhaps because of the large generation gap between the two men (Burns still regards "gay" as meaning happy), Burns has remained largely indifferent or ignorant of Smithers' subtle advances, much to Smithers' frustration; even when Smithers says "I love you" (although in more recent episodes Burns appears to have some wariness). He has a tattoo of himself and Burns on his chest, with the caption 'boss of my heart'. Smithers also considers Burns his best friend. Burns, for his part, mainly seems to view Smithers as a lackey, referring to him as "my lickspittle", albeit one valued for his competence and toadying. He has "rewarded" Smithers' devotion with the "honor" of being buried alive with him after he dies (see below).

His catch-phrase can be heard whenever Burns almost dies in various accidents; he sobs "Oh Mr. Burns! You were too beautiful for this world!". However, Burns never hears him say that because he's always unconscious or M.I.A. at the time.

For all his sycophantic devotion to and adoration of Mr. Burns, however, he has been willing to challenge his employer on at least two occasions; most significantly, in the 'Who Shot Mr. Burns' episodes, his opposition to his employer's various schemes and 'the extreme decline in the quality and quantity of your toadying' saw him being fired (see below). He also covertly resisted his employer's machinations in having 'Sideshow' Bob Terwilliger elected mayor of Springfield in 'Sideshow Bob Roberts', acting as a 'Deep Throat' figure in Bart and Lisa's investigations - his reasons for this were that Bob, a member of the Republican party, possessed ultra-conservative right-wing views that conflicted with Smithers' lifestyle.

Smithers is also supposedly lethally allergic to bee stings. In one episode he is stung by a bee while out for a bike ride with Mr Burns and his body reacts badly, however, in another episode when Mr Burns is bee keeping he states "we should go sir, several bees are stinging me" and is perfectly fine. He needs to take thyroxine due to a thyroid problem.

Smithers has the world's largest collection of Malibu Stacy dolls, is president of the Malibu Stacy Fan Club, and staged 'Malibu Stacy, The Musical'.

In the episode "We're on the Road to D'ohwhere", Smithers was seen purchasing estrogen.

In the 16th season episode "Future-Drama" - which takes place 8 years into the future - Smithers is shown as being on a date with a woman, explaining that he injects anti-gay drugs into his arm every 10 minutes, and then loudly stating "I love boobies!"

Work life

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Smithers' official job at the powerplant appears to be that of a high-level executive, as well as being Burns' private assistant. He is responsible for monitoring attendance among employees, and is often a disciplinarian. Smithers seems to be one of the few truly competent employees at the plant, given that he has won dozens of Employee of the Month awards, an impressive streak broken only once by Homer Simpson. He has often hinted at wanting to be promoted to the position of executive vice president, but Burns has repeatedly squashed this dream, while whimsically bestowing the vice presidency on Homer, a dog, and a monkey; apparently, Burns informally promised Smithers the position so he could get his stem cells. Burns has also refused to make Smithers his heir, insisting that it would be a far greater honor for him to be buried alive in the same casket when he dies.

His role in the series is often that as Burns' comic foil or straight man. Patient and calm, he often tries to talk Burns out of his more outrageous schemes while still being polite and respectful of his boss. Burns routinely takes his anger out on Smithers and rarely praises him, a fact which Smithers just views as a sign he is not working hard enough.

He was fired by Burns only twice, the first being after a heated argument in the 'Who Shot Mr. Burns?' episode. His job with Burns being the only thing that gave his life meaning, Smithers quickly became a drunk and spent all his free time watching Comedy Central. He was ultimately re-hired. The second time was when Homer became his temporary replacement while Smithers went on a much-needed vacation. After Homer punched Burns in frustration, Burns was afraid to go near him. With no one to help him, Burns learned how to do everything - or nearly everything - himself. When Smithers returned, he was no longer needed. He was later re-hired when Burns became incapacitated after a fight Smithers had with Homer (who ruined Smithers' plan to save Burns from a call to his mother and therefore prove his worth).

Smithers' job is actually numerous odd jobs (2800 of them) that he does for Burns. Though he often does Burns' dirty work, such as kidnapping Tom Jones or lying to Congress, Smithers cannot be regarded as a truly evil character, but instead as a victim of his own loyalty to an unpleasant individual. His other duties for Burns include moistening his eye balls, preparing his breakfast, driving his car, assisting with his chewing and swallowing, tucking him in at night, and some light typing. All this indicates that Burns has a seemingly childlike dependence on Smithers.

On the other hand, Smithers seems to have almost a psychological need to serve Burns. In the episode "Homer the Smithers", Smithers was horrified to discover that Homer's incompetence had forced Burns to learn to do many things on his own, no longer needing Smithers to wait on him. Enraged, Smithers physically attacked Homer. All was forgiven when their fight knocked Burns out of a three-story window, putting him in traction and forcing him to be waited on by Smithers. Burns ordered Smithers to give Homer Simpson "exactly what he deserves", and Smithers complied-by sending Homer a large basket of fruit with the words "Thank You". Also, when he was fired by Burns after standing up to him in one episode, Smithers fell into a deep depression, spending his days "drinking cheap scotch and watching Comedy Central."

Trivia

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• In his first appearance in the series, the episode "Homer's Odyssey", Smithers was unintentionally made African-American by the production team in Korea due to a misunderstanding. The studios have stated that Smithers was intended to be yellow, and that his first appearance should be considered extreme sun tan.
• Since the debut of the show, the term 'Smithers' has become a common synonym for a spineless underling.
• According to the DVD commentary track for the episode "I Married Marge", he is said to be named after puppeteer Wayland Flowers, however there is still some speculation that his name may also derive from Wayland Smith, a similarly harassed but indispensable employee. Weyland was the Anglo-Saxon god of blacksmithing (also see Wayland's Smithy).
• The town of Smithers, West Virginia, lies directly across the Kanawha River from the town of Montgomery, West Virginia (as in Montgomery Burns). Also, the remote town of Smithers, British Columbia is just down the Yellowhead Highway from the community of Burns Lake, British Columbia.
• Waylon Smithers is a member of the Republican Party, and in light of his sexual orientation and his willingness to expose Sideshow Bob electoral corruption, on the grounds that Bob had "ultra-conservative" political views, does suggest that he might be a moderate Republican, although he was not seen at the Springfield Gay Republican meeting and has never really publicly taken a position on gay rights issues, except when he tried to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade.
• In the Quebec French-dubbed version, Julien Bessette, who voiced Smithers before he died, was gay too.
• Smithers supposedly has a steel rod in place of his spine, as seen in "Homer the Smithers".
• Smithers is somewhere between 6' and 6' 1".
• It could be assumed Smithers was born around 1954, as in "The Old Man and the Lisa" he says the Wall Street Crash of 1929 happened 25 years before he was born. However, in numerous episodes, Smithers is presented younger than Homer Simpson: once as a baby when Homer was a young boy in "The Blunder Years" and twice as an underclassman to Homer in high school (Homer is seen beating him up in one episode and Smithers keeps score for Homer's ballet in another). It should also be noted that Homer's age also varies over the years, but he is usually listed as born in the mid- to late-1950s. It should be noted that the show exists on a sliding timescale according to the producers(meaning that Bart's birth year would currently be 1996 in order to keep the characters from aging).
• Smithers is the penultimate boss in the Simpsons arcade game. Here, he sports a cape, has blue hair instead of brown, and is actually evil, instead of just being Burns's assistant.

Simpsons characters | Fictional American television characters | Fictional LGBT characters | Effeminate fictional characters

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