Bart Simpson's classmates

CharacterBart's classmatesSchool

Four background pupils, names nobody remembers and a gag about their own anonymity. Wendell, Database, Lewis and Richard have populated Bart's class since the show began. This profile gathers the boy who is permanently sick on school trips, the nerd Matt Groening publicly named as his least favourite character, the farewell scene where Bart calls Lewis "Wendell", the boy whose hair colour changes across the seasons, and the 2013 class register that finally gave half the school's extras a full name.

They put their hands up, fill the rows and take the bullying since 1989 — and you would be hard pressed to name them: meet Bart Simpson's classmates.

A profile of four background pupils the show eventually took seriously.

---

Wendell, the school-trip invalid

Wendell Borton is the very pale and permanently nauseous boy at the elementary school. He appears in the show's very first episode, in 1989 — silent.

His first line comes in the third episode, and establishes the character immediately: it is the school coach trip to the nuclear power plant, and Wendell inaugurates there the gag that will follow him for thirty-five years. Ever since, every class outing is a threat to his stomach.

🥪 Wendell spends the school coach trip to the nuclear power plant mostly fighting off nausea; for your own outings, your packed lunch travels in our Simpsons lunch bags, and hopefully you handle the coach better than he does.

One clarification is needed, because the error circulates widely: Wendell is not an albino. Reliable sources describe him only as very pale, with hair the same shade as his skin — a rare graphic quirk in the show.

---

Database, the unloved nerd

Unlike the others, Database has not been there from the start: he only appears in season 6, in "Bart's Comet" (1995), as a member of a geek club whose name parodies an American cartoon of the 1970s.

Bespectacled, a member of the school band, he is the bullies' natural target — Nelson as much as Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney — and the logical companion of Martin Prince. He is also part of the children's commando that invades Shelbyville in the lemon tree episode.

---

Nobody's favourite character

Database holds a record he could have done without: Matt Groening publicly declared him his least favourite character in the whole show — the remark appears in two audio commentaries on the season 6 box set.

The creator of The Simpsons did not just invent Springfield, then: he also installed a pupil there whom he regrets. It is hard to imagine a more thankless fate for an extra.

---

Lewis and the anonymity gag

Lewis is one of the very few African-American pupils at the school, and Richard's inseparable companion. The show handed him the best possible gag about his own status as an extra.

In a season 9 episode, Bart, convinced he is about to die, says goodbye to his classmates — and calls Lewis "Wendell". Corrected, he tries again. The character is so minor that the hero himself does not know his name: this is the show laughing at itself.

---

Richard, the man with the changing hair

Richard is the boy in the leather jacket, Lewis's best friend. His case is unique of its kind: he is a character whose model sheet was never stabilised.

His hair colour changes across the seasons — from black to grey, then brown, then blue — with the show never explaining itself. And to this day he still has no surname.

🧥 With no surname and hair that shifts from black to blue over the seasons, Richard is first and foremost the boy in the leather jacket; in your wardrobe, our Simpsons jackets play that same part, the signature piece people know you by.

---

The class register that gave them a name

It took until 2013 and a simple class register, in a season 25 episode, for the show to deliver the full names of half its school extras.

That scene is where Lewis's surname and Database's first name come from. A delicious detail: the same episode calls Wendell by a different surname — an episode error acknowledged as such, his established name remaining Borton.

---

The classmates' voice actors

None of the four has a regular actor: they are voiced in rotation by the show's regular voices, depending on the episode.

The best example concerns Database: his nasal voice is notably that of Nancy Cartwright — that is, the actor behind Bart, Nelson and Kearney. She therefore voices both the tormented nerd and several of those who torment him.

🎧 Spotting Nancy Cartwright, the actor behind Bart, beneath Database's nasal voice takes a good ear and earbuds snugly in place; between episodes, our Simpsons AirPods cases keep them safe in your bag.

On the French side, no voice is documented for any of the four pupils.

---

Summary table

---

FAQ

• Who are Bart's classmates?
  Four recurring background pupils: Wendell Borton, Database, Lewis and Richard, all in Bart's class at Springfield Elementary School.
• Why is Wendell always sick?
  It has been his running gag since the show's third episode: he throws up on every school trip. Contrary to what is often written, he is not an albino, just very pale.
• Who is Matt Groening's least favourite character?
  Database. The show's creator said so in two audio commentaries on the season 6 box set.
• Why does Bart call Lewis "Wendell"?
  It is a gag about the anonymity of the extras: saying goodbye to them, Bart gets the name wrong, and Lewis has to correct him.
• Do they have surnames?
  Wendell's is Borton and Lewis has a surname revealed during a class register in 2013. Richard still has none at all.

---

Conclusion

A chronic invalid, a nerd disowned by his creator and two inseparables one of whom does not even have a name: Bart's classmates form the human scenery of the Springfield school. And the show has never resisted the pleasure of mocking their invisibility.

↑ Back to top