David Cooper

0324 and 0325 - Bill and Marty

Added 2024-04-15 08:00:00 +0000 UTC

It felt strange to separate them, so Bill and Marty get a post together!

As I alluded to back when we covered "Bart Gets An F", Bill and Marty have already gotten a mention prior to this, and I thought it was interesting that they were kept consistent 6 episodes later!

In this amount of time they've gone from being "two grown men who can't get enough of each other" to displaying some animosity, which will only increase as the series continues, with Bill referring to Marty as "dead weight" in season 4's "Mr. Plow":

or when Marty accidentally plays the Monster Mash twice in "I Love Lisa."

Their most significant appearance is season 5's "Bart Gets an Elephant", in that they get to actually meet Bart and homer for a scene, although Bill looks a little different.

Many of their appearances are audio only (which makes sense), and they're really fun to listen to - Dan and Harry voice them, and their comedy/radio backgrounds mean that while they are making fun of jovial light-hearted radio banter, its also a spot on impression of it.

As time goes on, Bill and Marty are used less. When the writers want to use the radio to make a commentary, they will often make up a more specific parody for their point, such as making a Howard Stern type in season 10's "Monty Can't Buy Me Love".

Radio isn't as big a part of people's lives as it used to be, but whenever I do catch a live broadcast, it's clear that it hasn't really changed since the 90s - fun chit-chat to fill the time between songs. Bill and Marty may have had less appearances as time goes on (they only have about 20 total, far less than I expected), but they seem as relevant as ever.

This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.