TV Character Profile: Moe Syzlak

Name: Moe Syzlak
Show: The Simpsons
Owner of 'Moe's Tavern'


Moe's past is somewhat mysterious as he variously claimed to be Polish, Italian, Arab, and Dutch as well as being born in Indiana.The many conflicting stories of Moe's heritage on the show are parodied in The Book of Moe, where Moe is seen in several different foreign outfits and commenting on them (often with puns). In Season 4 Episode 3 "Homer the Heretic", Moe's religious views are revealed in his statement, "I was born a snake handler and I'll die a snake handler." Although he was called Morris by his then employee and lover in the episode "Flaming Moe's", it is likely that he was lying and his real name is actually Moammar, as revealed in the episode "The Springfield Connection".
Moe (left) as "Smelly" in The Little Rascals.

As a child, he played the part of "Smelly", a tough kid, on The Little Rascals until he killed the original Alfalfa for stealing his bit (looking into a car's exhaust pipe just in time to get a face full of exhaust), but was never punished for it because Alfalfa was an orphan owned by the studio. At some unspecified time during his childhood (though it is quite likely this happened before he got his role on "The Little Rascals", since that would explain how he came into the studio's possession), his parents dropped him off at summer camp, never to return. In a flashback, he is revealed to have spoken with an Italian accent as a child, but this is contradicted by other accounts of his childhood. In that same episode, it shows the beginning of Moe becoming a victim of prank calls when young Marge calls the boys' camp and asks to talk to Elvis Jagger Abdul-Jabbar, which is what Homer introduced himself as to her. Moe, thinking that she is trying to trick him, becomes angry and hangs up. Then he turns to the camera and says, "And, uh, that's the origin of that."[11] During the time Homer and Marge were in high school, Moe worked in the school cafeteria, as his first job out of prison. Then school journalists, Marge and her friend, Chloe Talbot, caught the young Moe spitting in the cafeteria soup he was preparing. Exposing this, Moe was taken back to jail, yelling "You ain't tasted the last of my spit!", indicating he might spit into some drinks he serve at his bar. In "Eternal Moonshine Of The Simpson Mind", knowing that Homer will not remember anything he says, Moe tells him "I've spit in every drink I ever served you!" before spitting in his drink. Moe was thought to be allergic to pollen; years later, when he found out he wasn't, he made up for lost time by jumping rope. As a young man, Moe became a semi-professional boxer, his ring name constantly changing to suit his deteriorating physical appearance. He started as "Kid Gorgeous" and slowly morphed into "Kid Presentable", "Kid Gruesome", and finally "Kid Moe". Moe blames his boxing career for making him ugly. According to Moe, his boxing career ended because of politics, and because he was knocked out 40 times in a row. Moe's ugliness caused him to audition unsuccessfully for a part in It Never Ends, a soap opera, revealed in "Pygmoelian". His current appearance has been described as consisting of "cauliflower ear, lizard lips, little rat eyes, caveman brow and fish snout" in the same episode. Moe's ugliness has since become a recurring source of humor on the show. For example, in "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind", Moe pauses a video of himself and every frame that is shown reveals a hideous expression on his face (even though he appears normal when the video is playing).