Shawn Spencer

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Shawn Spencer
First appearance Pilot
Information
Age 28
Occupation Fake Psychic Detective
Family Henry Spencer (father)
Portrayed by James Roday,

Josh Hayden, 11,

Liam James
Created by Steve Franks & Andy Berman

Shawn Spencer is a character on the American television dramedy Psych played by American actor James Roday. He poses as a psychic and works as a private detective who often consults with the police. Born in 1978, Shawn possesses extraordinary powers of observation, honed by his father's persistence from as early as age 11, which he now uses to solve crimes under the guise of being a psychic. His father, a former policeman, disapproves of his job and his posing as a psychic, but he is secretly proud of his son. Shawn and his best friend Burton Guster, nicknamed Gus, both had crushes on Meredith Baxter Birney (Elyse Keaton on Family Ties) as children, though Shawn claims his infatuation with her was only in that she was the mother of Alex P. Keaton, apparently a personal hero.

Although he and Gus often have disagreements, they have clearly been friends since early childhood. Shawn knows exactly how to manipulate Gus, and often has to catch him up (smugly) with what he calls the "remedial course", but he hesitates to act on anything without consulting him. Also, in flashbacks to his childhood, it's revealed that Shawn felt that Gus was cooler than himself, and was jealous that Henry seemed to respect him more.

Shawn investigating.
Shawn investigating.

In 1985, Shawn learned from his father that "sometimes...all you gotta do is turn something upside down to make it rightside up."

In 1986, during a class trip to the zoo, Shawn teased nerdy classmate Trish Connors until she retaliated by throwing a tennis ball at him. She missed, and the ball bounced into the ostrich pen, where one of the birds tried to swallow it. Henry accused Shawn of committing the prank despite Shawn's claim to innocence, but Henry's colleague (and Trish's father) Brett Connors believed Shawn. Though he appeared to know that Trish was to blame, Shawn didn't get her into trouble. In 1987, Shawn was the lucky 1,000,000th customer at a grocery-store chain, winning gift certificates and a new bicycle.

In 1987, Henry takes Shawn (dressed as a police officer) and Gus (dressed as Lando Calrissian) trick-or-treating on Halloween night, but refuses to allow them to eat any of their candy until it has been x-rayed. On the way to the police station, Henry gets sidetracked by a call to Wispy Sunny Pines Mental Healthy Facility where a girl named Sherry Craddock tries to jump to her death from room 413, resulting in them starting the "Scary Sherry" urban legend. Sherry Craddock was actually pulled from the window by an off-duty Henry.

In 1989, during an eighth grade spelling bee, Shawn intentionally fed an incorrect spelling of "aggiornomento" to Gus, who subsequently lost the competition. Shawn's justification was that winning the spelling bee would have earned Gus a brainy label that would have haunted him through adolescence, whereas by losing, Gus was able to be smart and popular. That same year, Shawn was taught the fine art of the stake-out when Henry caught their neighbor stealing their morning newspaper.

Also in 1989, Shawn asked his father for a dog; Henry initially claimed Shawn was not mature enough to care for a dog, but Shawn demanded a chance to prove his father wrong. Henry conceded, and agreed that if Shawn could build a proper doghouse, he could have a dog. Shawn worked on the project for a day, produced an initial result that failed to meet Henry's high standards, and gave up. Shawn finished the doghouse 17 years later, in exchange for his father's help in obtaining lab results that helped solve the murder of Elvin Cavanaugh.

Shawn attended Leland Bosseigh High School in Santa Barbara, California from 1990 to 1994, and currently lives at 632 E. Washington Avenue in Santa Barbara. In 1992, Shawn's mother left the family, though the exact nature of her departure is currently unknown. In 2006, Shawn successfully parlayed his flawless recall into a consulting job with the Santa Barbara Police Department, under Interim Chief Karen Vick, as a "psychic detective"; he and Gus also opened the eponymous detective agency, Psych. Their "first real client" was Raylene Wilcroft, who hired Shawn and Gus to contact the spirit of her dead husband, David Wilcroft, in an attempt to locate a missing $3.6-million from the Holby Bank robbery in 2002.

Shawn's seemingly random stream of consciousness often betrays the far-reaching logical connections that his observational skills allow him to make. He explains Robert Dunn's condition to Gus by referencing the Flying Nun, which starred Sally Field, who played the multiple-personality-afflicted title character in Sybil. He also hybridized movie quotes voiced by James Earl Jones in two separate films (The Lion King and the Empire Strikes Back) when addressing a cougar: "Simba, I am your father."

He seems to be developing a crush of his own on Junior Detective Juliet O'Hara though he doesn't admit it to her.

[edit] Work History

Shawn has held many and varied jobs in his uneven career, including working concessions at six consecutive Major League Baseball All-Star Games:

[edit] Psych cases

[edit] Trivia

  • Shawn and/or Gus rate people's hair at least once every episode.
  • Shawn has perfect pitch, which is especially amazing since he is also tone deaf (Seemingly an Oxymoron).
  • Shawn's favorite food is pineapple.
  • To date, Shawn and Gus have accumulated 37 stitches, three broken legs, seven cracked ribs, four chipped teeth, two dislocated shoulders (one each), four or five second-degree burns, a concussion, and some kind of skin condition after being chased through some cacti.
  • Shawn has no feeling in his left heel.
  • He won the Best End of Summer Tan while lifeguarding on Pacific Emerald Cruise Lines.
  • Shawn seems to have perfect accuracy with a pistol, as seen in the Pilot episode.
  • Shawn and Gus unwittingly started the "Scary Sherry" urban legend when they saw what they believed to be a girl named Sherry Craddock jump to her death on one Halloween night.


  Psych
v • d • e
Episode list
Shawn Spencer • Burton "Gus" Guster • Henry Spencer
Head Detective Carlton Lassiter • Junior Detective Juliet O'Hara • Interim Police Chief Karen Vick
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