Sideshow Mel
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| The Simpsons character | |
 |
|
| Melvin van Horne (Sideshow Mel) | |
| Age | 36 |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Turquoise |
| Job | Assistant to Krusty |
| Relatives | Sister: Unnamed Wife: Barbara Father: Unnamed, deceased Son: Unnamed |
| First appearance | "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge" |
| Voice actor | Dan Castellaneta |
Sideshow Mel, full name Melvin van Horne (voiced by Dan Castellaneta), is a character on the animated TV show The Simpsons. Sideshow Mel has served as Krusty the Klown's sidekick for more than a decade, replacing Sideshow Bob after Bob was incarcerated from framing Krusty for robbery. He is often seen in the mobs of people throughout greater Springfield. His role seems to be that of summing up the group's sentiments in a line.
Mel's hiring was never explicitly shown in the series. He first appeared shortly after Sideshow Bob was sent to prison, filling the exact role that Bob once did. The gag seems to be that Krusty unceremoniously replaced Bob with someone even stranger-looking than he was.
Little is known about Mel. He is a Cornell University graduate and an atheist (though he is occasionally seen at the Presbylutheran church).
Sideshow Mel uses a slide whistle to communicate on camera. When not in character, Mel speaks in a grandiose British/Shakespearean accent (Castellaneta's play on Kelsey Grammer's character, Sideshow Bob) and owns poodles. His main accomplishment so far has been successfully removing Waylon Smithers from suspicion of having shot Mr. Burns. Off-screen, Mel is generally very eloquent, educated, poetic and intelligent, with a beautiful singing voice-it is implied that, as with Sideshow Bob before him, his true talents are wasted on Krusty's show. In one particularly humiliating episode, he was forced to conduct an orchestra of kazoo-playing monkeys. When he pleaded with Krusty to not force him to do it, Krusty simply shouted at him to "shut up and conduct!"
Mel perpetually wears a bone in his hair which may or may not be permanently affixed: in "22 Short Films About Springfield" he warned Lisa Simpson not to use a bone to try and get gum out of her hair, as he did and it became permanently stuck there. However, in another episode, he removed and used it as a weapon during a duel. In "Skinner's Sense of Snow", he indicated that he could feel meteorological conditions in the bone, such as incoming storms.
Bart Simpson has found out that Mel is lactose-intolerant. Krusty once poured liquid nitrogen down Mel's pants and cracked his buttocks with a hammer.
He may be married to or living with a woman named Barbara, who may or may not be Krusty's sister (as referenced in "Colonel Homer") with whom he wished to purchase a house from Marge Simpson in the episode "Realty Bites." In the episode "I'm With Cupid" he complains that Barbara will no longer pleasure him with the French Arts.
After Krusty's show was cancelled following the rise of Gabbo, Mel worked at a taco stand where he initially refused Krusty's pleas to return to his show.
He was the jury foreman for the Mona Simpson trial in "My Mother the Carjacker". The jury was sequestered at a Quality Inn which "more than lived up to its name."
| Preceded by Sideshow Bob |
Sideshow of Krusty the Clown 1990 – 1990 |
Succeeded by Sideshow Marge |
| Preceded by Sideshow Marge |
Sideshow of Krusty the Clown 1990 - 2010 |
Succeeded by Sideshow Ralph Wiggum |
