David Cooper
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BONUS! Corporal Punishment
🕑 Added 2024-06-18 08:00:00 +0000 UTCThis is a strange one! If you were to ask me to list every Simpsons character before I started this project, I absolutely would have remembered Corporal Punishment eventually, but I'm not sure he ever gets a line or anything more significant than a cameo.
Maybe he is a good example of how deep I was in the Simpsons cult, that this one-note character somehow left enough of an impact that I considered him to be an essential, if minor, part of the fabric of the show.
He makes a few other appearances, so let's so that thing I do sometimes where I track them all down:
"Like Father, Like Clown" (Season 3)
"Marge vs. the Monorail" (Season 4) (top right)
"Krusty Gets Cancelled" (Season 4)
"Bart's Inner Child" (Season 5)
"Bart Gets Famous" (Season 5)
"Bart the Fink" (Season 7) (He has a brief cry here, we'll have to figure out if that counts as a line by then!)
"Pulpit Friction" (Season 24)
"Clown In The Dumps" (Season 26)
I also suspect that one of the reasons he lingered in my memory is because he is namechecked, and has a few notable appearances, in Simpsons Comics #28, an issue I definitely had as a child.
A lot of mileage out of someone who doesn't speak and is only intended as a threatening presence to children.
BY THE WAY this scene also features the first appearance of another significant Springfieldian, and is even referred to by name:
But as he has no line, and only makes a brief noise with his slide whistle, we will save his proper coverage for a later date.
This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.
Comments
David Cooper
The beard comment is interesting! I'll have to keep an eye on that. I can think of a couple coming up that have it, but one of them is literally Homer's half-brother so that's a gimme. We'll see! Thanks for the action figure info! Very interesting. Really shows how memorable this guy was, that he was deemed worthy of merchandising. The deeper I go on this project, the more tempted I am by random eBay splurges on stuff like that. But I will remain strong...for now.
Alexander Hale
Could CP be one of the last characters to appear with the early seasons/quickly phased out 'Homer beard'? As you know, I love to pipe in with 'did you know they made an action figure of this guy?' and CP is no exception. While he was cruelly left out of the extensive Playmates World of Springfield line (I'm sure they would've managed to squeeze him into wave 19 or 20 - lines 17 and 18 were scheduled to feature such heavy hitters as Richard, Lewis, Arnie Pie, and Sanjay) there are actually TWO Corporal Punishment figures out in the world; first in rubber form in 2003, as part of a 'bendable/poseable' Krustylu Studios 6-pack (alongside Krusty, Mel, Bob, Bart in a Krusty shirt, and Mr Teeny) then again in 2005 in miniature form in a similar set which featured the exact same characters PLUS Tina Ballerina(!!!) and Homie the Clown! I have the Mr Teeny from the latter set as he's approximately the right size to stand next to WOS Krusty and co. I'm kinda tempted to acquire both CPs now (eBay has them for low low prices). CP and Tina Ballerina also both made it into Tapped Out, but who didn't? (Charlie and Martin Prince Sr, that's who!)
