| Waylon Smithers, Jr. | |
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| Gender | 
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| Alias(es) | Smithers (by Mr. Burns) Chuckles (by Larry Burns) Mr. Smithers |
| Hair | Gray/tan Blue (originally) |
| Occupation | Assistant to Mr. Burns |
| Relatives | Parents: Waylon Smithers, Sr. (Deceased) and Mrs. Smithers Boyfriend: Nick Garbo Ex-Wife: Nina (Skalka) Sprungfeld Grandmother: Smithers (Lisa) Simpson (Deceased) |
Waylon Joseph Smithers, Jr., better known as "Mr. Smithers", "Waylon Smithers" or simply "Smithers", (born December 25) is a recurring character on The Simpsons. He is also a minor character in The Simpsons Movie. Smithers is Mr. Burns' deeply devoted personal assistant, executive, and self-proclaimed best friend. Burns, however, rarely views Smithers as worth any sort of genuine warmth or care, and much of the humorous dynamic between the two characters comes from this tension. Early on in the series, it was established that Smithers has a powerful crush on Burns.
Smithers is the highest-profile gay character on the series; he officially came out in "The Burns Cage", although most people in Springfield (and fans of the show) were well aware before this.
Smithers is generally portrayed as a nerd, someone awkward, uptight, and fragile. He is allergic to bee stings and has hypothyroidism, both of which can kill him. He is also lactose-intolerant. He has Springfield's largest collection of Malibu Stacy dolls.
Smithers is the definition of neutral. He definitely doesn't agree with Burns' actions, but he's in love with Burns and will do anything for Burns to like him. However, sometimes he's been hit hard such as in "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)" where Burns says he'll block out the sun, or in "Flaming Moe" where Burns says Smithers means nothing to him. Smithers was once shown to be a baby when Homer Simpson was 12 years old, while in other episodes he was in grade school and high school at the same time as Homer.
His life was also on a floating timeline. He once said he was born 25 years after the 1929 stock market crash, in 1954, yet in a flashback, he was in high school in 1999.
When Smithers was a baby, his real father, Waylon Smithers, Sr., was Burns' assistant until he died of radiation poisoning after saving Springfield from a potential nuclear meltdown. Smithers never learned the true cause of his father's heroic death until Mr. Burns ended up telling the truth to the Simpsons family years later, with Burns instead claiming Smithers Sr. was killed by Amazonian warrior women. Smithers wore glasses even as a baby. In grade school, he was a target for bullies (including Homer Simpson). He was the announcer for the high school gymnastics competition, giving particular emphasis on the male gymnasts over the female gymnasts. Eventually, he became Burns' personal assistant.
As a (not very well) closeted gay man, Smithers has had a crush on Burns for as long as he has worked for him, but Burns is almost always oblivious. Smithers was once married to a woman, but it fell apart when she wanted to have sex with him, and also referred to Mr. Burns as "awful". At one point it was implied that Smithers was linked romantically to John, the owner of Cockamamie's thrift shop. After coming out he later dated Julio, although Smithers' continuing feelings for Mr. Burns interfered with their relationship. Aside from his heavily implied homosexuality, Smithers was also implied to have at least some gender confusion and transvestite tendencies, as, when smoking weed to allow Homer to not violate his vow of never smoking it again, Smithers ended up cross-dressing as Judy Garland and suggesting that Homer pose as Mickey Rooney of 60 Minutes fame until Homer's reference to where Mickey Rooney came from had him realize that Mr. Burns (who had earlier left to take a bath after sweating) had been gone for over an hour, and his asking for bottles of estrogen from Marge during a drug sale claiming it was for "a friend trapped in the body of another friend" (which is implied to be his way of avoiding directly stating that he wanted them for himself), and also his asking Kim Basinger for a copy of the red pumps that she used in LA Confidential, which was implied to be so he could use them to dress up as her.
Smithers collects Malibu Stacydolls, was implied to be a frequent attendee of the StacyCon at San Diego, writes a newsletter about the doll, and was the author of a Malibu Stacy stage musical that played in New Mexico; he played Stacy's boyfriend. In the episode "Lisa the Skeptic", when the people of Springfield believe that an apocalypse is upon them, Smithers takes the opportunity to show Mr. Burns how he feels and kisses him. However, when it becomes apparent the "apocalypse" was just a hoax, Burns still remains oblivious to Smithers' feelings, while Smithers covered up his actions by claiming it was a sign of respect. He also came close to coming out to Mr. Burns during the Do What You Feel Day festivities in the episode "Bart's Inner Child", though he quickly covered himself by claiming he meant that he loved the Hawaiian shirt Mr. Burns was wearing at that time, and then privately lamented that he should have come out to Mr. Burns in the boat house earlier. Despite his crush on Mr. Burns and several times coming close to coming out, he also was shown to be horrified when someone implies they know his sexual orientation, as evidenced by the episode "The Springfield Files", when Mr. Burns, when asking Smithers what he was doing on the weekend, he said "something gay, no doubt", causing Smithers to stammer and be taken aback by the question until Mr. Burns revealed he meant the antiquated definition of gay that meant doing something fun or happy (apparently being unaware of the definition change to be a euphemism for homosexuality), with Smithers then laughing nervously after confirming Mr. Burns' question.
He once owned a Yorkshire Terrier named Hercules. When Mr. Burns convinced Sideshow Bob to run for mayor, it was Smithers who revealed to Bart and Lisaa clue that would lead them to the truth about Bob's not-so-honest victory in the mayoral election, hinting that his reasons were due to Sideshow Bob planning on enacting policies that were oppressive to his orientation. He intended to supply them with the information anonymously, although his efforts were spoiled by Homer driving up and then activating his headlights.
In 1995, when Burns tried to steal oil from Springfield Elementary, although Smithers nominally had Mr. Burns' back, he secretly was disgusted with what Mr. Burns was doing, even going as far as to, after surveying the closure/damages to the Springfield Retirement Castle, Moe's Tavern and Springfield Elementary as a result of his slant drilling operation, sarcastically "congratulate" Mr. Burns for wiping out his "enemies" in thinly veiled contempt, and when Mr. Burns attempted to block the sun from Springfield after stealing oil from the elementary school, Smithers objected and was fired. This droves him into a nightmare of alcohol abuse and Comedy Central viewing. He was the main suspect in the subsequent shooting of Mr. Burns, but he was cleared due to it becoming obvious that, as he had been watching Pardon My Zinger at the time of the shooting, he couldn't have been the one who did it. However, he did, in a drunken stupor, shoot Jasper in his wooden leg while trying to rush home to watch his favorite TV show. No charges were pressed in this case, mostly because Jasper already forgot about it. After Burns is shot, Smithers goes to church where he admits to God he isn’t a Catholic, although he did try to march in the Saint Patrick's Day Parade. Chief Wiggum was listening due to it being a police trap and arrested Smithers, who was later exonerated.He also went behind his boss' back earlier, although a lot more reluctantly, regarding Sideshow Bob as aforementioned. Similarly, after Mr. Burns rejected Smithers' feelings for him despite the latter coming out to him, Smithers quit on Mr. Burns and, due to having come up with the traps in Mr. Burns' office in the first place, also outwitted Mr. Burns by not only dodging all the trap doors Mr. Burns placed in his floor, but also manipulated him into dropping himself.
In "Midnight Rx", Burns cancels his employees' prescription medication plan. After a while, Smithers' thyroid starts to swell because he can't afford his medication. Burns accompanies Homer to Canada in his airplane in order to get Smithers's medicine before he passes on.
Smithers' official job at the power plant appears to be that of executive assistant, which he says is "actually about 2,800 smaller jobs", responsible for monitoring employee attendance, is often a disciplinarian and has won dozens of "Employee of the Month" awards. 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 and a dog.
He was once, however, made the CEO of the Nuclear Power Plant in Burns' stead when Mr. Burns was arrested for stealing paintings from an art museum, a position that is arguably better than vice president, although he hints that he didn't want the job. He initially tried to be an employee-friendly boss, but after overhearing a conversation between Lenny, Carl, and Homer while meeting at Moe's Tavern that revealed that they were abusing his employee-friendly nature to in essence goof off, he became a worse CEO than Mr. Burns (even going as far as to release wolverines in the house instead of hounds). He eventually gave up on the position willingly after Burns was released by Lenny, Carl, and Homer.
Smithers has the largest collection of Malibu Stacy dolls in the World and is the president of the Malibu Stacy fan club. As such, he also implies that he is a regular attendee at the annual StacyCon at San Diego in Airport Hilton with his statement of "Hello, Malibu Stacy Fans. I'll be seeing you at StacyCon '94 at San Diego Airport Hilton."
It was implied once that something laid eggs in Smithers' brain and was considered serious enough of a medical issue that Mr. Burns, who had himself been discharged from the Mayo Clinic with a clean bill of health (relatively speaking) apologized to Smithers about his news, with Smithers himself stating that, since he considered the mere fact that even one egg was laid in his brain was "too many," he would "prefer not knowing" how many eggs were in his brain.
Aside from his suspected shooting of Mr. Burns, as well as any acts he did on Burns' behalf, he also did a very bad thing in a park during the night at one time while Chief Wiggum had been on patrol, although the latter did not arrest him during this time. Wiggum later alluded to this incident when Smithers was unable to wear a hat despite one of the old laws mandating that he wear a hat during the day time, citing that if he didn't arrest him for "that night in the park", he certainly wouldn't have arrested him for what was implied to be a misdemeanor by comparison.
Although he is the sidekick of one of the biggest villains on the show, Smithers has a relatively friendly relationship with the Simpson family. He gets along well with Lisa as well as willingly aided her in tracking down Stacey Lovell, and is good friends with Marge, with whom he has a lot in common. As for Homer, there is usually tension when the two interact (likely due to Homer having bullied him), though after Homer unintentionally knocked Mr. Burns out of a three story office onto the parking deck in an earlier fight with Smithers, the latter proceeded to send a gift fruit basket to Homer and the rest of the Simpson family in gratitude since it allowed Smithers to be re-hired by Mr. Burns (Smithers had earlier been fired in a backfired attempt at ensuring he didn't get upstaged as Burns' assistant due to his pick, Homer, being so terrible at his job that Burns was forced to become self-reliant).