Cletus Spuckler

Cletus Spuckler or Cletus Del Roy (voiced by Hank Azaria) is a character on the long-running animated TV show "The Simpsons". Introduced in an episode of season five ("Bart Gets an Elephant"), as Lisa complains about "slack-jawed yokels" gawking at Bart's elephant, Stampy (in which his voice is slightly deeper than in later episodes), Cletus is a "slack-jawed yokel," (hence his best-known name Cletus The Slack-Jawed Yokel). 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 mustache, and several fewer teeth than the average Springfield resident. He is nearly always depicted wearing a white tank top, or "wifebeater", exposing a tattoo of a snake and skull on his left arm. As he was once introduced in song, complete with a follow-the-bouncing-ball:

Some folk'll never eat a skunk

and then again some folk'll,

like Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel!

Second verse:

Most folk'll never lose a toe

but then again some folk'll,

like Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel!

Generally a good-natured fellow, Cletus has been known to take advantage of others, as when he presents Marge with 300 coupons for free pretzels from her pretzel business. In this episode, Cletus is presented as having 26 children: 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, Phil, as well as a wife, Brandine.

Cletus and Brandine have a daughter named Condolleezza Marie, who was somehow switched with a bag of sugar that Homer had been carrying around for a week. They also have a daughter named Rubella Scabies, whose middle name was supplied by Lisa when she was trying out for the annual spelling bee.

Cletus' last name is likely "Spuckler." At least two episodes (the first being "Sweets and Sour Marge," in which Cletus signed his name [in elegant calligraphy] to Marge's petition to ban sugar from Springfield, and the second being "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays" [in which it appears on the screen in a news report]) give his name as "Spuckler" and in The Simpsons Hit & Run video game, the mailbox outside his shack says "Spuckler." However, his last name has also been given as "Del Roy", causing some confusion.

File:DABF03-Cletus.png

Cletus trying to remember if he still knew how to make his mark.

It is also implied that Cletus and Brandine are siblings, as in one episode they are parked at an auto racing event, and Brandine remarks "Dang, Cletus! Why did you have to park so close to my parents?" to which Cletus responds, "They's mah parents too!" In addition, in the Season 16 episode "There's Something About Marrying," Homer (who has become ordained as a minister) is marrying 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." In a recent episode, Brandine says to Cletus, "You're the best son and husband I've ever had." In the comics the hillbillies move into the Flanders house while Ned is away recovering from a bad reaction to a flu shot, and a feud breaks out. Lisa falls for one of the Del Roy sons, but then discovers the Del Roy family and the Simpson family are related and says she cannot date a cousin (though Cletus' boy doesn't seem to mind). Although it raises a few questions, such as whether Cletus' idiocy is caused by the defective Simpson gene, one must recall that often the comic and show continuities are divergent.

In the season 13 finale, when Homer and Marge were set to die, Cletus and Brandine were to become the foster parents of Bart, Lisa and Maggie. 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 one possible future shown by Professor Frink's astrology machine in Future-Drama Cletus is Vice President.

Kevin Federline, husband of Britney Spears, is often likened to Cletus, while Britney is often compared to Brandine, due to their tabloid exploits.

Quotes

• Cletus: (Finding himself up a telephone pole) "You know what? I could call my ma while I'm up here." (Yells) "Hey ma! Get off 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 ma, look at that pointy-haireded little girl!"