Sideshow Bob: Bart Simpson's sworn enemy

CharacterVillainsSideshow Bob

Cultivated, a lover of operetta, and yet obsessed with eliminating a ten-year-old boy: Robert Underdunk Terwilliger, alias Sideshow Bob ("Tahiti Bob" in French), is a bundle of contradictions. On the programme: his beginnings as Krusty's humiliated sidekick, the episode "Krusty Gets Busted" where Bart unmasks him thanks to his oversized feet, the nine rakes of "Cape Feare" when the script called for only one, the prisoner number 24601 borrowed from Jean Valjean, and the voices, from Kelsey Grammer to Xavier Fagnon. Enough to understand why his culture is always his undoing.

Cultivated, refined… and obsessed with eliminating a ten-year-old child. Sideshow Bob is The Simpsons' great criminal genius — and Bart's worst nightmare.

A former sidekick of Krusty the Clown turned public enemy, this recurring character strings together escapes and machiavellian schemes. A profile of a villain as brilliant as he is unlucky.

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Who is Sideshow Bob?

Watch out for the translation trap: the character is called Tahiti Bob in the French version, but Sideshow Bob in the original (and in Quebec). Whose real name is Robert Underdunk Terwilliger, he began as the sidekick of Krusty the Clown: an assistant at first mute and docile, regularly humiliated on air.

But Bob is above all a self-proclaimed genius, a lover of literature, theatre and operetta, whose personality swings between refined intellectual and criminal psychopath. He is recognisable by his palm-tree hair and his oversized feet — a physical detail so hard to animate that it became a trademark.

🌴 No beanie could ever tame Sideshow Bob's palm-tree hair; yours is far more cooperative, and our Simpsons beanies cover it without a fight on frosty mornings.

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Bart's sworn enemy

It all begins in the episode "Krusty Gets Busted" (season 1), where Bob, disguised as Krusty, holds up the Kwik-E-Mart to frame his boss and send him to prison. It is Homer, who had accidentally stepped on the robber's foot during the hold-up, who provides the key clue: the thief cried out in pain, yet Krusty has small feet and would have felt nothing. By striking Bob's foot with a mallet during the live broadcast, Bart unmasks him thanks to those enormous plates of meat.

Ever since, Bob has nursed a stubborn hatred for the brat who brought him down. Regularly released or escaped, he tirelessly returns to Springfield with a single aim: revenge on Bart. An obsession that drives many of his appearances — to the point of making him abandon the wife and son he had found for himself in Italy.

🧦 Stepped on by Homer at the Kwik-E-Mart, whacked with a mallet by Bart on live TV: Bob's enormous feet have taken every blow; yours deserve better treatment, snug and warm in our Simpsons socks.

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The rake gag and "Cape Feare"

The character's high point remains the episode "Cape Feare" ("Lac Terreur" in French, season 5), a parody of the film Cape Fear. That is where his most famous gag appears: Bob steps on nine rakes in a row, the handle flying back into his face every time. Originally the script called for only one — the scene was stretched to nine to fill airtime, and the gag became a cult classic.

The episode contains another great moment: about to execute Bart, Bob grants his "last request" and sings the entirety of the operetta H.M.S. Pinafore, which gives the police time to intervene. His culture is his undoing. Note also his prisoner number, 24601, a nod to Jean Valjean in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.

🧶 Bob's prisoner number, 24601, points straight to Jean Valjean in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables; on the evening you open the book yourself, curl up under one of our Simpsons blankets and read all the way to the end.

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Sideshow Bob's voice actors

In the original version, Sideshow Bob has been voiced since his debut by Kelsey Grammer, who lends him a deep, theatrical voice perfectly matched to his taste for grandiloquence. In the French version, the character shares the same line of actors as Mr. Burns and Krusty: Michel Modo, then Gérard Rinaldi, and finally Xavier Fagnon from season 23.

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Summary table

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FAQ

• Why is he called Tahiti Bob in French and not Sideshow Bob?
  "Tahiti Bob" is his name in the French version; "Sideshow Bob" is the character's original (and Quebec) name.
• Why does Sideshow Bob hate Bart?
  Because Bart unmasked him after he framed Krusty, sending him to prison. Ever since, Bob has been out for revenge.
• Where does the rake gag come from?
  From the episode "Cape Feare" (season 5), in which Bob steps on nine rakes in a row. The scene, written with a single rake, was lengthened to fill time.
• What does his prisoner number 24601 mean?
  It is a reference to Jean Valjean, the hero of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, whose convict number it is.
• Who voices Sideshow Bob?
  Kelsey Grammer in the original version; Michel Modo, then Gérard Rinaldi, then Xavier Fagnon in the French version.

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Conclusion

Brilliant, cultivated and irredeemably unlucky, Sideshow Bob is the great recurring villain The Simpsons never tire of. Between his grandiloquent schemes and his appointments with rakes, he proves that in Springfield even criminal genius always ends up tripping over. The grudge runs in the family, too: his younger brother, Cecil Terwilliger, turns out to be just as devious.

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