Shermy (Peanuts)

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"Every Christmas it's the same - I always end up playing a shepherd."

Shermy was an early character in the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles Schulz.

Shermy was often portrayed as Charlie Brown's superior at the things that mattered to Charlie Brown, especially athletics. Though he spoke the only line of dialogue in the first strip and was one of the strip's primary figures in its first few years, he was mainly utilized as a "straight man" for Charlie Brown and soon began to be eclipsed by newer characters who were more developed, such as Linus and Lucy. His disappearance from the strip was even faster and more complete than those of the other early characters, Patty and Violet; as early as the late 1950s his appearances were becoming noticeably rare. Shermy's major physical characteristic was his short, dark hair, which he usually wore in a crew cut.

Shermy had one line of dialogue in the 1965 animated TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas. Upon being cast as a shepherd in the gang's Christmas pageant, he laments, "Every Christmas it's the same: I always end up playing a shepherd."

Shermy pretty much disappeared from the comic strip as a featured character by 1970. He was once referred to by name in a 1977 strip in which Charlie Brown and Lucy are discussing players on their baseball team. Shermy is mentioned as the team's designated hitter, although in his days as a Peanuts regular (which predated the creation of the DH position) he usually played first base.

Shermy is also mentioned briefly in the musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, in the song "The Doctor Is In".

First Peanuts comic strip, featuring Shermy