Waylon Smithers
Mr. Burns' devoted, long-suffering executive assistant.
Waylon Smithers Jr., usually just Smithers, is the executive and personal assistant to Mr. Burns, owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, and is usually treated unfairly by him. Harry Shearer voices him. He first appeared in Homer's Odyssey, though his voice is heard in the premiere, Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.
Quick Facts
- Series
- The Simpsons
- First major
- "Homer's Odyssey"
- First date
- January 21, 1990
- Creator
- Matt Groening
- Voice
- Harry Shearer
- Full name
- Waylon J. Smithers Jr.
- Gender
- Male
- Occupation
- Consummate executive and personal assistant to Mr. Burns at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant
Facts from the source article.
Background
Smithers' loyalty to Burns was inspired by the way many Fox executives and staff behaved toward Barry Diller, and his first name came from the puppeteer Wayland Flowers. Sam Simon suggested that Smithers be gay and in love with Burns, and for years the show played this as a running gag of hints and double meanings until he came out as gay in the season 27 episode The Burns Cage (2016). He was colored black with blue hair in his first appearance, a mistake Matt Groening said the producers could not afford to fix. In Who Shot Mr. Burns? Burns fires him, and he becomes a prime suspect.
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