Lenny and Carl

Template:Simpsons character Lenford "Lenny" Leonard is a fictional character in The Simpsons, voiced by Harry Shearer. He works at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, and is known for getting various objects stuck in his eyes. Lenny possesses a master's degree in nuclear physics, but is not portrayed as an academic. Lenny seems to be a simple, often naïve blue-collar working man whose best friend is Carl Carlson.

He is also a war hero, a three-time juror and a Buddhist (although he is often shown in Reverend Lovejoy's church, suggesting that he may also be a Christian, although many characters of other faiths appear in the church, such as Apu). During one episode, he showed himself to be an extremely adept guitar player. Lenny was also member #12 of the Stonecutters which was disbanded to form the "No Homers" society.

Statistics

Lenny is unmarried (although in the episode "Sleeping With The Enemy", Lenny remarks that Carl sang at his wedding) and between 35 and 40 years old (born the week of a massive bloody battle in Laos), and weighs approximately 164 pounds (75kg). He looks to be around 5' 11" (1.8m), and is often described as "plain looking". He had plastic surgery when a sudden upswing in the price of power plant stock led to most of the employees (with the exception of Homer) to have a big profit. In one episode it is revealed his real name might actually be 'Lenford Leonard', though the audience cannot be certain if this was just a joke. In "Burns' Heir," however, both Burns and Smithers refer to him as "Leonard." Lenny has said in an episode he was from Chicago, but a non-canon source claimed he was from Kansas City. In the episode "The Seemingly Neverending Story" Lenny reveals one of his other vices aside from drinking at Moe's, which is dressing up like a baby.

He was also known to have a diamond in one of his teeth (shown in "Last Exit to Springfield"), which was snatched by a co-worker when he displayed his toothy smile.

Address

Lenny's address is unknown, although in the episode "Secrets of a Successful Marriage", Homer has played poker at Lenny's house with other pals from Moe's Tavern. The house seems to be a regular middle class home. But in another episode, "Realty Bites", he lived in an extremely rundown house that was falling apart – literally (it was also for sale at the time of appearance). It appears to have just one room with a roof. The wall facing the street falls down with exceptional timing, just when Maude Flanders suggests that she (along with Ned Flanders and Marge Simpson) should look inside the house before buying it. Lenny asks them not to tell anyone how he lives. The house was not seen since, but was humorously referenced in another episode when Marge mentions 'New Years at Lenny's' (where there wasn't even a clock).

Lenny was later seen living in a well-furnished apartment sharing a wall with a jai alai court. Lenny considers the noise of the ball hitting the wall to be a "soothing calmness". In "The Girl Who Slept Too Little", Lenny was once again seen living in a rundown home next to the Stamp Museum, allowing his front lawn to be used as a parking lot. In '"Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife", Lenny is shown again living in a well-furnished apartment, which includes a newly purchased plasma TV. In "Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore", when Mr. Burns announces that he is shutting down the power plant and shifting operations to India, Lenny cries out that he just bought a $3-million house.

Job

Lenny works at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant alongside Homer Simpson and Carl Carlson. In one episode he is promoted to head of the power plant when Mr. Burns loses all his money. He was described as having a "reign of terror", though all we see him do is sit at Mr. Burns' desk and timidly say "work harder" once over the loudspeaker. During this time, Homer did something bad, and Lenny told him to go home and think about what he did. However, Homer forgot what it was that he had done, so he just watched TV instead. Lenny is also considered the second richest man Homer knows. In an episode set in the future, Lenny is once again in charge of the power plant. In the episode "The Wandering Juvie" it is revealed that he also is an undercover agent whose target is Homer. In "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" Lenny is shown at Homer Simpson's funeral as the President of the United States.

In the episode "Secrets of a Successful Marriage", Lenny is in charge of the "How To Chew Tobacco" class at the Adult Education Annex.

It is unclear if Lenny and Carl work in the same section in the powerplant as each other as they are rarely seen. It is implied that Homer has a higher role in the powerplant than them although he is never shown working. When Lenny and Carl were told about Mr. Burns needing blood to live, Carl said he is Homer's supervisor.

In "The Boys of Bummer", it is revealed that Lenny has written a successful series of mystery novels, which even Stephen King called enjoyable.

Friends

Lenny's most obvious friend is Carl Carlson (see below), as they are rarely seen apart. Other friends are Homer and the regulars at Moe's Tavern, including Barney Gumble and Moe Szyslak. In one episode Lenny's friends attempt to throw a surprise party for him at Moe's, which is ruined by Homer, who then sits on a cake shaped like Lenny's favorite barstool, ruining it completely. Homer repeatedly confuses Carl and Lenny, and is on one occasion surprised to learn that Lenny is white and Carl is black. In "Helter Shelter", Homer exclaims, "That's Lenny? I wanted the black one!", in another scene he has, "Lenny = White, Carl = Black," written on his hand. In yet another episode, he drunkenly remarks to Lenny that "I never held anything against you based on the color of your skin". Lenny's name has also been mentioned by Homer in a joke. Homer quips to a lesbian gladiator that "White guys have names like Lenny, whereas black guys have names like Carl." Lenny is well liked by the Simpson family - in one episode, when Homer reports that Lenny has been taken to the hospital as a result of an explosion (a story Homer made up so he could go bowling), Marge and the kids all respond with "Oh no! Not Lenny! Not Lenny!" and build a prayer shrine for him. After the hoax is revealed, Marge says she is just relieved Lenny is all right. This joke is also used as a MacGuffin in certain episodes, for example in an episode with Lisa trying to lose weight, she discovers a cake inscribed "Happy Labor Day Lenny". Another time, a picture of him falls out of Marge's hair. Also Marge seems to have always liked Lenny. She never really speaks about Carl, aside from in "There's Something About Marrying", in which she speaks of them both in response to Homer.

Romantic life

In "Team Homer", Moe asks why Lenny and Carl are not there, to which Homer replies that they do not have time because they're with their mistresses. Lenny is a persistent bachelor who has poor luck with women. In "Marge on the Lam" Lenny shaves the legs of an overweight woman, who calls him an idiot for not shaving in an upward direction. Whether Lenny was in a relationship with this woman is unclear. Carl did mention singing "The Best Is Yet to Come" at Lenny's wedding, but in another episode, Lenny punched Carl for giving a bad speech at his wedding. Marge may have a crush on Lenny as she was once obviously distressed when Homer falsely told her he had been injured. She later was found to have a framed photo of him hidden in her hair. In "Homer the Smithers" he is seen in the opening scenes with an arm around a woman who appears to be his girlfriend. In "Bart Star", it is revealed Lenny had dated Marge. In "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife" it is revealed that he dated a woman in a Woody Woodpecker outfit at a fairground for three months until she left him for the man who cleans the vomit on the roller coaster. Even more confusingly, in one episode where Marge volunteers to help at the church Lenny claims not to even have a wife, after claiming to Carl that he was married to a beauty queen.

Relationship with Carl

Lenny's relationship with Carl is complicated. Carl appears to be the dominant party and generally regards Lenny coolly. Nonetheless, they are constant companions. Despite Lenny and Carl appearing to be best friends, as of the Eighth Season, in the episode "In Marge We Trust", Carl had yet to meet Lenny's alleged beauty-queen wife. It has been hinted several times that Lenny and Carl might be gay. The most notable occurrence is when Lenny tells Homer about Mt. Carlmore, a mountain that he carved Carl's face into during "one wonderful summer". Season 16 contains several hints that they might be gay. In the episode "There's Something About Marrying", Homer runs out of homosexual couples to marry, and speculates that Lenny and Carl might be interested. Marge scolds him, saying that the two need to "work that out for themselves". In the episode "Thank God It's Doomsday", Lenny asks Chief Wiggum if he will be his "rapture buddy", to which Wiggum responds by saying, "What's wrong with Carl? Trouble in paradise?"

Most notably, in "Homer the Moe", when Moe picks a replacement, Lenny says, "Pick me, I'm Lenny," and Carl interrupts with, "Pick me, I'm like an urban Lenny." In the same episode, after he lost his breath inhaling oxygen, Carl asks Lenny to "jump" on his chest. In the episode "Fraudcast News", Lenny publishes a newspaper with the headline: "The Truth About Carl, He's Great." After displaying this, he sheds a tear and states that "it had to be told."

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Lenny and Carl in a Treehouse of Horror episode.

In "Treehouse of Horror XVI" where Lenny dies and sees Heaven, the angels all take the form of Carl. They chorus, "'Lenny! Hurry up! We'll be late for work at the nuclear power plant!" In "Treehouse of Horror XII", after being crushed by a helicopter, Lenny begs Carl to let him die first as he "couldn't bear" to watch Carl die. In several episodes where Lenny reveals his deepest desires, such as when Mayor Quimby switches off the town lights, and Lisa shouts that 'for eons people have gazed into the stars and have seen deep into their souls' - when Lenny looks up, he sees Carl's face in the stars.

In "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story", Moe kicks everyone out of the bar and threatens that if Lenny, Carl, Homer and Barney don't leave, he would "out the one of them that is gay," and while all four of them run away in fear, you can hear someone's voice clearly say "Carl" in response. In yet another episode which depicts a shut down Moe's Tavern, Lenny and Carl have an idea of walking to the gay bar across the street.

In the final episode of season 17, "Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play", Lenny is with Carl at the baseball game and after seeing Homer and Marge on the Kiss-cam remarks to Carl, "do you remember when we used to kiss like that... with our respective girlfriends?"

In the episode "Mountain of Madness" in season 8, the nuclear power plant employees go on a company retreat to promote teamwork in which Lenny and Carl get paired together, to which Carl openly shows signs that he doesn't want to be paired with Lenny. This could be down to the fact the two got into a fight, earlier in the episode, after an evacuation due to a fire alarm.

In the episode "Papa's Got a Brand New Badge" in which Homer offers Lenny and Carl a job as cops, Lenny asks who his partner will be, Homer responds with "How 'bout Carl?", Lenny and Carl both burst out with "Him! No way!"

In the episode "Ice Cream of Margie (With the Light Blue Hair)" in season 18, Lenny ends up inside the combined broken popsicle stick sculptures of Lenny and Carl. He states, "I don't know where Carl ends and I begin!" Carl replies, "See, statements like that are why people think we're gay." This suggests that they're probably both straight.

Lenny may only have a serious case of hero worship with Carl and it may not be romantic. It can also be said when Homer and Lenny go to West Springfield to work in the oil fields, Carl comes along to save Lenny.

In "Behind the Laughter", Lenny and Carl are describing their relationship with each other. Lenny says, "Bart even paid us $1000 to kiss each other!" Then Carl (looking puzzled) says, "Hey, did we ever get that money?"

Political views

Lenny is most likely a Republican, due to the fact he has a tattoo on his chest supporting Bob Dole and Jack Kemp from the 1996 presidential election. However, a few years earlier he had described himself as "politically correct" and that local talk show host Birch Barlow's right-wing views made him feel "uncomfortable". Lenny is also a member and supporter of the National Rifle Association.

However, it is debatable as to whether any of Homer's friends vote and take an interest in politics at all.

Lenny's sensitive eye

Lenny has a very sensitive eye; his doctor states that he is not allowed to get pudding or jigsaw puzzle pieces in it ("Ow, my eye, I'm not supposed to get pudding/jigs in it!"). In "The Old Man and The "C" Student", Lenny also succeeds in getting a spring caught in his eye (the other end of which is caught in Moe's eye). In the episode in which Lenny's eye is recovering from getting pudding in it ("Homer vs. Dignity"), he takes off his eye patch and immediately gets fish innards thrown at it. This has become a running gag – in a later episode Homer makes a photo cube for Lenny and files down the edges so it will not harm Lenny's eye. Lenny, while Homer pokes the corners into his eye, says "it only stings a little." Lenny has also been referenced to having a rubber band shot into his eye. In another episode, a vendor displays the Omnigogs, a pair of safety goggles that will protect the user from the harm of newspaper rubber bands. Lenny is shown turning with a bandaged patch over his eye saying, "It's a little late for Lenny."

Stardom

Lenny once had a small part in a horror film called The Re-Deadening, a horror movie about a doll named 'Baby Button Eyes' who is possessed by the spirit of a psychotic killer. In the movie, Lenny is a gardener who is killed by the doll, who then seems to have sewed buttons on Lenny's eyes, but are actually held on with hot wax. Lenny was also featured in a photo spread in The New Yorker. He also had a television role when Homer's chat show replaced The Krusty the Klown Show, but was immediately fired when he asked for a "small cost of living allowance". In "The Boys of Bummer", Lenny's fame as a writer of mystery novels is mentioned.