31 Facts About Waylon Smithers

Waylon Smithers first appeared in "Homer's Odyssey", although his voice could be heard in the series premiere "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".

Waylon Smithers is the consummate executive and personal assistant of Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's owner Mr Burns, and is usually treated unfairly.

Waylon Smithers proposed that Smithers should be gay and have an undying love for Mr Burns.

Waylon Smithers was colorized in his first appearance as black with blue hair.

Waylon Smithers is the loyal, obedient and sycophantic assistant to Mr Burns, and the relationship between the two is a frequent running gag.

In many ways, Waylon Smithers represents the stereotype of a closeted gay man.

Waylon Smithers began thinking of Mr Burns as his commander shortly after his birth.

Mr Burns remained largely ignorant of Waylon Smithers's devoted adoration, much to Waylon Smithers's frustration.

Mr Burns himself has been involved with several women and, in "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love", Waylon Smithers is noticeably disgusted when Mr Burns starts looking for a female companion.

Waylon Smithers has "rewarded" Smithers's devotion with the future "honor" of being buried alive with him after he dies.

Waylon Smithers has been shown to be somewhat dependent on his relationship with Burns.

Waylon Smithers decides that he needs to be Mr Burns's assistant and eventually gets his job back.

Waylon Smithers does appear to be one of the few people at the power plant who is seemingly competent at their job as opposed to the lazy, oafish underlings such as Homer Simpson and the senile Mr Burns, who is often out of touch with the modern times.

Waylon Smithers has often hinted at wanting to be promoted to the position of executive vice president, but Burns has repeatedly squashed this dream, while whimsically bestowing the vice presidency on a dog.

Waylon Smithers has the largest collection of Malibu Stacy dolls in the world, and is the president of the Malibu Stacy fan club.

In "Werking Mom", Smithers makes a silent cameo as a drag queen named 'The Mysterious Waylon'.

Mr Waylon Smithers was partly based on how numerous Fox executives and staff members acted towards Barry Diller.

The idea for Waylon Smithers's orientation was pitched by Sam Simon, who proposed that Waylon Smithers should be gay, but the writers should never draw too much attention to it and should try to keep it in the back of their heads.

Waylon Smithers is voiced by Harry Shearer, who is the voice of Mr Burns.

The name Waylon Smithers, coined by Mike Reiss, was first used in "I Married Marge" and comes from the puppeteer Wayland Flowers.

Waylon Smithers made his first appearance in "Homer's Odyssey", which was the third episode of the first season, although he can be heard over a speaker in The Simpsons series premiere "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".

David Silverman has claimed that Waylon Smithers was always intended to be "Mr Burns' white sycophant", and the staff thought it "would be a bad idea to have a black subservient character" and so switched him to his intended color for his next episode.

Silverman retconned this error by saying that Waylon Smithers had a tan from a recent holiday in the Caribbean.

The first appearance of a yellow Waylon Smithers was "There's No Disgrace Like Home", the fourth episode of the first season.

Waylon Smithers is an obedient and sycophantic assistant to Mr Burns.

Al Jean, who thinks of Waylon Smithers as being a "Burns-sexual", felt that had Mr Burns been a woman, then Waylon Smithers would not be gay.

The sequence shows Burns flying towards him and Waylon Smithers looking happy, but originally it went on for a few seconds longer.

Mostly in the early seasons, Waylon Smithers had a catchphrase, which comes from a recurring joke that Mr Burns never remembers who Homer Simpson is.

In September 2015, it was confirmed by Jean that Waylon Smithers would come out to Mr Burns in a season 27 episode.

Waylon Smithers was made into an action figure, and four different versions were included as part of the World of Springfield toy line.

In 2003, a series of figures exclusive to Electronics Boutique was released, and a set of one Mr Burns figure and two different Waylon Smithers toys based on the episode "Rosebud" were included.