Fictional character from The Simpsons franchise
Fictional character
Willie Sean Moran MacDougal
, better known as
Groundskeeper Willie
, is a recurring character on
The Simpsons
, voiced by
Dan Castellaneta
. He is the head
groundskeeper
and
Janitor
at
Springfield Elementary School
. Willie is almost
feral
in nature and is immensely proud of his Scottish origin. He is easily identifiable by his red hair and beard, as well as his aggressive temperament and thick, stereotypical
Scottish accent
. Formerly Swim Teacher Willie.
Role in
The Simpsons
[
edit
]
Willie is the groundskeeper and janitor at
Springfield Elementary School
and lives in a shack on the school premises. He is a Scotsman with an aggressive temper. Willie is an uncouth and unpleasant character, though essentially harmless. His personality is depicted as being incompetent, drunken, slow-witted, and quick to anger for little or no reason. Willie has shown antipathy to both his employer,
Principal Skinner
, and
Bart Simpson
, who frequently plays practical jokes on him. In the alternate continuity of "
Treehouse of Horror VI
", his spirit plots revenge on the students of Springfield Elementary after getting burned to death by their parents' actions.
Due to the deliberately inaccurate continuity of the series, he has claimed to be from various parts of Scotland during the series, most recently
Kirkwall
in the
Orkney Islands
in the 2012 episode '
The Daughter Also Rises
'. This settled the previous continuity problem in which Willie had been stated to be a supporter of
Aberdeen F.C
, and to have lived in
Glasgow
. In early episodes, Willie's father was said to be dead. However, his parents were later introduced in "
Monty Can't Buy Me Love
", and lived near
Loch Ness
; which is near
Inverness
. In "
The Girl Who Slept Too Little
", it is revealed that he has a cousin, "Grave Digger Billy". In
Dark Knight Court
he describes himself as a "Scottish Old Believer Presbyterian" who "hates Easter" as some conservative
Presbyterians
reject Easter
as a man-made feast on the basis of the
regulative principle of worship
.
[1]
Willie plays a supporting role in most of his episodes, but he was a main character in the episode "
My Fair Laddy
", where
Lisa Simpson
introduced him to high culture as a science project.
In a
running gag
in each of the three segments of the episode "
Treehouse of Horror V
", Willie tries to help the main protagonists, but is struck in the back with an axe by a different character each time, a reference to
Dick Halloran
's death in
Stanley Kubrick
's
The Shining
, of which the first segment, "
The Shinning
", is a direct parody.
Willie has a troubled and distant relationship with his parents. In the episode "My Fair Laddy", Willie recalls his birth and how his abusive father told him he would never amount to anything in life and would be lucky if he grew up to be "garbage".
On two occasions, Willie frames Bart for pulling pranks that Bart would normally pull. In "
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star
", he unleashes a giant pie of rats on the Springfield Elementary medieval festival to get revenge for being cast as the
village idiot
and his cruel treatment. Skinner is quick to blame Bart and expels him. Willie is never shown being found out as the culprit, but it can be assumed that he is eventually found out after Bart is enrolled in Catholic school and earns his way back into Springfield Elementary. In "
Dark Knight Court
", Willie causes hundreds of eggs to be splattered at the Springfield Easter celebration out of inbred hatred for the holiday. Bart is put on trial for the incident, only to be acquitted when Willie is caught and turned in by Lisa and Mr. Burns (as Fruit Batman).
Character
[
edit
]
Groundskeeper Willie's first appearance was in the season two episode "
Principal Charming
", first broadcast on February 14, 1991. Originally, the character was written as simply being an angry janitor; his Scottish accent was added during a recording session.
Dan Castellaneta
, who voices several other characters including
Homer Simpson
, was assigned to do the voice. Castellaneta did not know what voice to use and
Sam Simon
, who was directing at the time, told Castellaneta to use an accent. He first tried a
Spaniard
's voice, which Simon felt was too
cliched
. He then tried a "big dumb
Swede
", which was also rejected. For his third attempt, he used the voice of an angry Scotsman, which was considered to be more appropriate and was used in the episode.
[2]
[3]
Originally thought by the directors to be a one-off appearance, Willie has since become a recurring character.
[4]
Matt Groening
later revealed that the character was based partially on Angus Crock, a
kilt
-wearing chef from the sketch comedy show
Second City Television
, who was portrayed by
Dave Thomas
[5]
and
Jimmy Finlayson
, the moustachioed
Scottish
actor who appeared in 33
Laurel and Hardy
films.
[6]
A recurring joke, which was first shown in "
Radio Bart
", is that Groundskeeper Willie appears to have an average build with a
beer belly
, but upon removing his shirt he is incredibly muscular.
[7]
One of Groundskeeper Willie's trademarks is a gruffly-spoken insulting retort, which take the writers a long time to come up with, although they do not consider them that funny.
[8]
Cultural impact
[
edit
]
Groundskeeper Willie's description of the French as "
cheese-eating surrender monkeys
"
[9]
from the episode
"
'Round Springfield
" has become widely used, particularly in the run-up to the
war in Iraq
.
[10]
The newspaper
New York Post
used the phrase "Surrender Monkeys" as the headline for its December 7, 2006 front page, referring to the
Iraq Study Group
and its recommendation that U.S. soldiers be withdrawn from Iraq by early-2008.
[11]
The line was "most likely" written by
Ken Keeler
.
[12]
The phrase "Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys" has also been used by
Jeremy Clarkson
and
Anthony Bourdain
.
In 2009, Willie was added to the "Famous Glaswegians" webpage of
Glasgow City Council
, based on his line in "
Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious
". A spokesman for
Aberdeen F.C.
disputed Glasgow's claim to the character, citing the episodes
"
'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky
" and "
The Dad Who Knew Too Little
".
[13]
[14]
In Season 23 Episode 13 "
The Daughter Also Rises
", first aired in 2012, it was finally stated that Groundskeeper Willie is from
Kirkwall
in
Orkney
, therefore ending this dispute.
[15]
In September 2014, Groundskeeper Willie featured in an official video in which he endorsed a vote for
Scottish independence
in an
upcoming Scottish referendum
, and put himself forward to lead a potentially independent Scotland while standing in front of the
St. Andrew's Cross
with a tattoo on his chest that read: 'Aye or Die!'.
[16]
Following the result of the referendum where the Scottish electorate voted to remain as part of the
UK
, the producers released an image of Willie now standing in front of a
Union Jack
flag, looking depressed with his "Aye or Die!" tattoo replaced with a picture of
the Queen
and empty bottles of
whisky
with a newspaper featuring Former
UK Prime Minister
Gordon Brown
, who was widely credited with giving the "No" campaign a last-minute boost.
[17]
Reception
[
edit
]
In 2006, Groundskeeper Willie was named the fourth-best peripheral character in the history of the show by
IGN
,
[18]
who said "high-points for the character were being trained to be civilized, wrestling a wolf that was let loose in the school and becoming a substitute for the French language teacher ? 'Bon jourrr! You cheese-eating surrender monkeys!'" IGN also named "
My Fair Laddy
", the only episode which centres around Willie, the best episode of the seventeenth season.
[19]
Jim Slotek of
Sun Media
called Willie the ninth-best
Simpsons
supporting character, and also made a Top Ten quotes list, which included Willie's quote "Och, back to the loch wi' ye,
Nessie
", from "
Selma's Choice
".
[20]
The Times
reported in late-2005 that "he is the most instantly recognisable Scot in the world: better known than
Billy Connolly
or
Ewan McGregor
, even
Sean Connery
." The same article quotes
Simpsons
creator
Matt Groening
as saying "We wanted to create a school
janitor
that was filled with rage, sort of our tribute to angry janitors all over the world".
[21]
Merchandising
[
edit
]
Three Groundskeeper Willie action figures were created by
Playmates Toys
for the
World of Springfield
series: Willie depicted in his usual appearance, released in 2001 in wave 4;
[22]
"Ripped Willie", released in 2002 as part of wave 8;
[23]
and "Kilted Willie", released in 2003 in wave 14.
[24]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"The Regulative Principle of Worship"
.
Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland
. Retrieved
21 March
2022
.
- ^
Reiss, Mike (2002).
The Simpsons season 2 videocassette commentary for the episode "Principal Charming"
(DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^
Reiss, Mike; Klickstein, Mathew (2018).
Springfield confidential: jokes, secrets, and outright lies from a lifetime writing for the Simpsons
. New York City: Dey Street Books. p. 104.
ISBN
978-0062748034
.
- ^
Kirkland, Mark (2002).
The Simpsons season 2 DVD commentary for the episode "Principal Charming"
(DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^
Horne, Marc (July 21, 2007).
"Groening lifts toilet lid on the real-life Groundskeeper Willie"
.
Scotland on Sunday
. Retrieved
2007-08-02
.
- ^
Simon, Jeremy (February 11, 1994). "Wisdom from The Simpsons' 'D'ohh' boy". The Daily Northwestern.
- ^
Weinstein, Josh (2003).
The Simpsons season 3 DVD commentary for the episode "Jean, Al"
(DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^
Weinstein, Josh (2004).
The Simpsons season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Badassss song"
(DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^
Sound recording of Groundskeeper Willie's line
Archived
2012-05-01 at the
Wayback Machine
About: Political humour
. Retrieved on December 27, 2006
- ^
Wimps, weasels and monkeys ? the US media view of 'perfidious France'
The Guardian
. Retrieved on December 27, 2006
- ^
Lathem, Niles (December 7, 2006).
"Iraq 'Appease' Squeeze on W."
New York Post
. Retrieved
April 3,
2015
.
- ^
Mentioned in
The Simpsons
Season 6 DVD Commentary for the episode
"
'Round Springfield
".
- ^
"Famous Glaswegians"
. Glasgow City Council. Archived from
the original
on November 4, 2005
. Retrieved
June 16,
2009
.
- ^
Horne, Marc (May 24, 2009).
"Civic war centres on Simpsons star"
.
Scotland on Sunday
. Retrieved
June 16,
2009
.
- ^
"Groundskeeper Willie is from Orkney ... and he was 'torn apart' by Uppies and Doonies"
.
The Times
. 3 February 2012
. Retrieved
15 August
2022
.
- ^
Davies Boren, Zachary (14 September 2014).
"Groundskeeper Willie declares support for Scottish independence, volunteers to lead the new country"
.
The Independent
. Retrieved
27 July
2020
.
- ^
"The Simpsons Groundskeeper Willie gutted after Scots 'No' vote"
.
Daily Mirror
. 2014-09-20.
- ^
Eric Goldman; Dan Iverson; Brian Zoromski (2006-09-06).
"Top 25 Simpsons Peripheral Characters"
.
IGN
. Archived from
the original
on October 31, 2007
. Retrieved
2007-06-08
.
- ^
Goldman, Eric; Dan Iverson, Brian Zoromski (2006-09-08).
"The Simpsons: 17 Seasons, 17 Episodes"
.
IGN
. Retrieved
2007-08-02
.
- ^
Slotek, Jim.
"
'Simpsons' makes jump to big screen"
.
Sun Media
. Archived from the original on 2013-01-15
. Retrieved
2007-08-02
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link
)
- ^
Turpin, Adrian (October 23, 2005).
"The strange world of Oor grown-up Wullie"
.
The Times
. London
. Retrieved
2007-08-02
.
- ^
"Series 4"
. The Simpsons Action Figure Information Station. Archived from
the original
on 2013-08-27
. Retrieved
2008-11-04
.
- ^
"Series 8"
. The Simpsons Action Figure Information Station. Archived from
the original
on 2013-08-27
. Retrieved
2008-11-04
.
- ^
"Series 14"
. The Simpsons Action Figure Information Station. Archived from
the original
on 2013-08-27
. Retrieved
2008-11-04
.
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