Bumblebee Man

Bumblebee Man
The Simpsons character
First appearance	Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie
Voiced by	Hank Azaria
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Actor
Relatives	Wife: Unnamed, divorced

The Bumblebee Man, voiced by Hank Azaria, is a fictional character in The Simpsons who appears on a television show on "Channel Ocho" dressed in a bumblebee costume. In the episode "Team Homer," his bowling shirt bears the name "Pedro". He works at the same studio as Kent Brockman.

Biography

The Bumblebee Man (initially voiced by Dan Castellaneta and later by Hank Azaria) is the star of a Mexican Spanish-language television sitcom on Channel Ocho, in which he dresses in a bumblebee costume and performs slapstick comedy. In the episode "Team Homer", his bowling shirt bears the name "Pedro", though he is informally referred to as "Chespirito". He works at the same studio as Kent Brockman. His first appearance was in "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie". Bumblebee Man is rarely seen to take off his costume, even when by himself; the sole exception is the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield", in which his private life is shown. In this short segment, he is portrayed as innately clumsy rather than simply acting as such.

In general, Bumblebee Man only speaks in simple, over-enunciated (and inaccurate) Spanish sentences. His catchphrases of choice are typically "¡Ay, ay, ay, no me gusta!" ("I don't like it!"), "¡Ay, ay, ay, no es bueno!" ("That's not good!") and "¡Ay, Dios no me ama!" ("God doesn't love me!"). Quite commonly, his phrases will be intentionally sloppy Spanish. For example, in the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield", there are several words used that are not real (such as "wudpequero" for "woodpecker", rather than the correct pájaro carpintero). The crude Spanish is used so that English-speaking viewers would still understand what was being said. On occasions, he also speaks English, such as briefly in "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington". In "Bart Gets Famous", he anchors the news with an articulate English accent, filling in for Kent Brockman, who would not report the news because he did not get his cheese Danish, which Bart stole to give to Krusty.

Bumblebee Man is a caricature parody of El Chapulín Colorado, a character created and portrayed by Mexican television comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños (a.k.a. "Chespirito"), and his show consists of simple skits, often involving heavy slapstick. The staff have said that whenever they watched Univision, this character was "always on", thus they created Bumblebee Man, who is also always on the air when the Spanish-language channel is depicted. His costume was based on one used in the Saturday Night Live sketch "Killer Bees".

In 2003, Azaria won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for voicing Bumblebee Man, and various other characters.

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Character origins

Bumblebee is a caricature of "El Chapulín Colorado" ("The Red Grasshopper"), a character created and portrayed by Mexican television comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños (aka "Chespirito"), and his show consists of simple skits, often involving heavy slapstick. In several DVD commentaries, the shows producers say that whenever they watched Telemundo, this character was always "on", and then they created Bumblebee Man, who is also always "on".

Character traits

Bumblebee Man never takes off his costume, even when by himself; the sole exception is the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield", in which his private life is shown. In this short segment, he is portrayed as innately clumsy rather than simply acting as such. In the end, his house is destroyed and his wife leaves him.

In "Bart Gets Famous", he speaks with an articulate British accent, but this was mentioned in an episode commentary as a mistake. In general, Bumblebee Man only speaks in simple, over-enunciated (and inaccurate) Spanish sentences. His catchphrases of choice are typically “¡Ay, ay, ay, no me gusta!” (“I don’t like it!”), “¡Ay, ay, ay, no es bueno!” (“That’s not good!”) and “¡Ay, Dios no me ama!” (“God doesn’t love me!”)

Quite commonly, his phrases will be intentionally sloppy Spanish. For example, in the episode "22 Short Films about Springfield", there are several words used that are not real (woodpecker in Spanish is not "wudpequero"; it is "pájaro carpintero"). The crude Spanish was used so that American viewers would still understand what was being said

In the Simpsons comics, he claims to be Belgian, though the comics are not considered canon.

In the Mexican Spanish-language version of the show, the humour of Bumblebee Man (known in this version as hombre abejorro in the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, or el hombre abeja in Spain) relies on the fact that he wears a gigantic bee costume and frequently engages in physical comedy; there has been no effort made to translate his speech to another language. However, in the European Spanish-language version, he speaks with an over-the-top Mexican accent. The Japanese version leaves Hank Azaria's performance untouched.