- “If anything goes wrong, just dial 911. Unless it's an emergency.”
- ―Wiggum[src]
- “Cuff 'em, Lou.”
- ―Wiggum's unconfirmed catchphrase
Commissioner Clancy Wiggum is the head of police of the Springfield Police Department. He is an extreme stereotype of a lazy police officer (copper). Comissionner Wiggum is morbidly obese, straightforwardly indecent, ignorant, incompetent, and really lazy, with a fondness for doughnuts and "Chintzy Pop" (a fictional popcorn that is based on Jiffy Pop). While he pretentiously feigns authority, he has little regard for individual rights or even public safety. He is disturbingly uninformed and flaunts his power, albeit with good intentions most of the time. He is part Irish.[2] His pants are size 56.
He, along with the rest of Springfield's government and Springfield police force, is also corrupt, having asked for or taken bribes several times. An example of this is he can skip any crime if he is bribed, like being notably solicited Troy McClure and Homer Simpson for bribes in exchange for "looking the other way" to their criminal activities. When Bart bribed him with stolen wedding presents, he told him to read his badge and, at the bottom of the badge, was the caption "Cash Bribes only".[3] He has a strained friendship with Mayor Quimby, as the two men vie to have control over the city, which once lead to a serious argument in regards of who takes over during an emergency on the Monorail crisis. Wiggum claims to have compromising photographs of the mayor. Mayor Quimby argued back saying, "you don't scare me; that could be anyone's ass"! This strained relationship may help to explain why Commissioner Wiggum has retained his job, despite his inability to do any of his duties.
He is often assisted by his more intelligent (but still quite lazy and often rather cocky) "top cops" Eddie and Lou. He is completely ignorant of Springfield's laws, makes up his own laws on the fly and often quotes sayings from the police handbook which cannot actually be found in the book ("like the book says, if you can't beat them, join them"). According to The Bart Book, Clancy is also in the SPD Bomb Squad, which is in fact just him in a hockey mask.
Biography
Clancy Wiggum was possibly born in Ireland.[4] However, he also seemed to spend at least some part of his early childhood in Maryland, as he mentioned he used to sell ribbons there with his father, Iggy Wiggum. Iggy was a WWII veteran who died in a parade float accident in 1979, along with Arnie Gumble, Sheldon Skinner, Etch Westgrin, and Griff McDonald, all members of Abe Simpson's Flying Hellfish.[5] He did, however, grow up in Springfield and was among the same class and age group as Homer Simpson, Lenny Leonard, Carl Carlson, Barney Gumble, and possibly Marge Simpson. At an early age, Wiggum played cops and robbers with Homer and other kids his age, showing a clear ambition to become a police officer.
At the age of 16, he was a hall monitor at high school, and possibly had a part-time security guard job at Springfield State University. Wiggum was present at the University's germ research labs (Prof. C. Montgomery Burns was chairman at the time) when Mona Simpson and the hippie activist group she was part of sabotaged the germ experiments. Wiggum, who had suffered from asthma prior to that, was cured by antibiotics that the group released to kill the germs, and helped Mona Simpson escape the police when she was on the run twenty-five years later to return the favor. Near the beginning of the school year in 1978, Commissioner Wiggum, then a drug officer, was investigating Lenny, Carl, and Homer for taking marijuana, and had his sniffer dog, Sergeant Scraps, sniff Homer to see if he had weed: Sergeant Scraps succeeded in sniffing drugs on Homer, and, to even Wiggum's shock, attacked Homer by biting him in the crotch (as he placed his joint in that area) and started throwing him around like a throw-rug.
In 1985, Commissioner Wiggum was involved in the barbershop quartet called the "Be Sharps". Wiggum was a member with Homer Simpson, Seymour Skinner, and Apu. However, a talent scout, who showed interest in the Be Sharps, didn't like Wiggum as a performer. Consequently, he was thrown out of the group. When auditions were held to find a replacement for Wiggum, he attempted to be reselected for the quartet. He wore a disguise under the name Dr. Doolittle, but was found out.[6]
Early attempts to get into the Police Force when he was a teenager were unsuccessful on account of his asthma, so when it had been cured he could then pursue his ambition to become a professional police officer. Having entered the Police Academy by age 24, Wiggum managed to work around his many shortcomings and finally become a full fledged officer. By the age of 34, he had managed to work his way up to the position of Police Chief of Springfield. He eventually was promoted to Commissioner after Bart's hoax kidnapping case. It is implied that Wiggum managed to overcome his shortcomings with coaxing methods such as great skills with back massages and charm to get the position of Chief. But he actually received the job when the frustrated former Chief resolved to give it to the next person he met, which was Wiggum. Another explanation is when mayor Quimby said that he made Wiggum the police chief so that the law would not be enforced to the letter. This may also explain why Commissioner Wiggum has somewhat of a feud with Mayor Quimby, such as getting into a serious argument about Mayor Quimby in regards to Marge's arrest,[7] blackmailing Mayor Quimby with incriminating photos,[8] and even trying to arrest Mayor Quimby for corruption charges.[9] Regardless, Wiggum had accomplished his childhood ambition.
Wiggum weighs about 360 pounds and is 5'9" tall.
Other than his job as Police Commissioner, he is also the coach for the Mighty Pigs Hockey team. He is also implied to have a gambling problem, with a tendency to bet on the other team even when his team won.[10]
Family
Beside his late father, Clancy is the husband of Sarah Wiggum, whom he met when he was arresting her for possession of drugs that he planted on her to "make her notice him", and is the father of second grader at Springfield Elementary, Ralph Wiggum. He has a cousin named Mark, who went to Pennsylvania State University, he was a "fat kid... played a lot of Tetris". He has a deceased brother-in-law named Fred Kanickee (to which he arrested the man responsible for killing him, Dr. Ecoyan, as soon as the voters overturned the assisted suicide law), an uncle who (according to Wiggum) died of "crotch dot", and an unnamed brother who, after attending military school, presumably went crazy and now "owns and operates a famous cave". He also says he has a sister which is completely bald like Sphynx cats.
Non canon
Future
It is shown in Professor Frink's future machine that Wiggum will, along with Lou and Eddie, become a Robo-Cop like machine-officer with a rotisserie in his stomach.
Video-games
The Simpsons: Hit and Run
Wiggum appears several times in The Simpsons Hit and Run video game. The first time was during Level 2, where he attempts to arrest Bart for buying illegal fireworks (he used his son Ralph Wiggum as bait to arrest people buying illegal fireworks as part of a sting operation), intending to place him under five life sentences of community service, but he fails to catch his quarry, although he later seems to forget this as he tells Bart that Herman's Military Antiques was robbed of a radio recently, and suggests, although not completely sure, that the skid marks from tires would probably lead to the culprit. He later appears in Level 3 when he is trying to bust Snake Jailbird under the Three Strikes Law, but hasn't gotten any evidence yet due to his being a "very, very bad cop." in his own words. Lisa manages to help him collect evidence to put Snake away in exchange for information in regards to her brother's whereabouts. However, he makes a bigger role in The Simpsons: Hit and Run - Level 4, where he first asks Marge to collect some donuts which are falling out of a Lard Lad Donuts truck due to suffering a severe case of sugar withdrawal in exchange for giving her information about cropcircles, and secondly when he races Marge to 742 Evergreen Terrace after she destroyed several trucks of Buzz Cola (he was deeply upset at Marge for doing so due to Buzz Cola being the only thing that allowed him to "gain the courage to take his shirt off in the station locker room").
The Simpsons Game
Wiggum appears at the end of Bartman Begins to take Principal Skinner away for having the three teenagers rob the museum. He also appears as one of the contestants in the Duff Ultimate Eating Challenge in Around the World in 80 Bites. He appears as one of the enemies in Mob Rules, where he tries controlling the mob, mainly by blockading key parts of the town but, in the Xbox and PS3 versions, helping try and protect the statue in the town square. He can also be heard speaking through his megaphone throughout the level.
He can also be found in the police station during free roam.
Other
Chief Wiggum has his own spin-off show in "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase", "Wiggum P.I." He is fired from the Springfield force for corruption and moves to New Orleans to start working as a private investigator, with Skinner as his partner. Wiggum and Ralph live in a boat house, and Ralph is kidnapped by a villain called Big Daddy. He later finds his son, and Big Daddy escapes.
Behind the Laughter
Voice
Wiggum is voiced by Hank Azaria on a gruff tone similar to Moe's, however a bit higher and faster. Azaria first based his voice for Wiggum on David Brinkley (first season) but soon switched it to an Edward G. Robinson impression.
Name
His surname "Wiggum" is Matt Groening's mother's maiden name. As "a conscious pun" Wiggum was designed to look like a pig. In the episode "Marge Gamer", his Earthland Realms alter-ego looked much like his real-life self, only with a pig nose, tail, etc. Many Springfieldianites, like Sideshow Bob, have made fun of his pig-like appearance with taunts such as "Chief Piggum".
Relationship with Ralph Wiggum
Ralph did not become the son of Clancy Wiggum until the episode "I Love Lisa", where Ralph asks for advice from his dad about his crush on Lisa. The writers decided that making Ralph Chief Wiggum's son made sense due to similar body types and levels of intelligence.
Trivia
- In the Italian version of the show, he speaks with a Neapolitan accent, and his last name was changed to Winchester for unknown reasons.
- Wiggum is very sensitive to poison oak and after contacting, he immediately collapses from an allergic reaction.
- Wiggum's catchphrase,"Cuff 'em, Lou" could be a reference to the original Hawaii 5-0, where Mc Garret says, "Book 'em, Danno"
- The Wiggum surname came from Marjorie Groening's (Matt Groening's mother) maiden name.
Appearances
- Episode – "Homer's Odyssey"
- Episode – "The Call of the Simpsons"
- Episode – "The Telltale Head"
- Episode – "Homer's Night Out"
- Episode – "Krusty Gets Busted"
- Episode – "Simpson and Delilah"
- Episode – "Dead Putting Society"
- Episode – "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish"
- Episode – "The War of the Simpsons"
- Episode – "When Flanders Failed"
- Episode – "Bart the Murderer"
- Episode – "Homer Defined"
- Episode – "Like Father, Like Clown"
- Episode – "I Married Marge"
- Episode – "Radio Bart"
- Episode – "Lisa the Greek"
- Episode – "Homer Alone"
- Episode – "Homer at the Bat"
- Episode – "Separate Vocations"
- Episode – "Black Widower"
- Episode – "Kamp Krusty" episode
- Episode – "A Streetcar Named Marge"
- Episode – "Homer the Heretic"
- Episode – "Lisa the Beauty Queen"
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror III"
- Episode – "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie"
- Episode – "Marge Gets a Job"
- Episode – "New Kid on the Block"
- Episode – "Homer's Triple Bypass"
- Episode – "Marge vs. the Monorail"
- Episode – "Selma's Choice"
- Episode – "Brother from the Same Planet"
- Episode – "I Love Lisa"
- Episode – "Duffless"
- Episode – "Last Exit to Springfield"
- Episode – "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show"
- Episode – "The Front"
- Episode – "Whacking Day"
- Episode – "Marge in Chains"
- Episode – "Krusty Gets Kancelled"
- Episode – "Homer's Barbershop Quartet"
- Episode – "Cape Feare"
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror IV"
- Episode – "Marge on the Lam"
- Episode – "Bart's Inner Child"
- Episode – "Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood"
- Episode – "Homer the Vigilante"
- Episode – "Homer Loves Flanders"
- Episode – "Bart Gets an Elephant"
- Episode – "Bart of Darkness"
- Episode – "Treehouse of Horror V"
- Episode – "Bart's Girlfriend"
- Episode – "Lisa on Ice"
- Episode – "And Maggie Makes Three"
- Episode – "Homie the Clown"
- Episode – "Homer vs. Patty and Selma"
- Episode – "A Star is Burns"
- Episode – "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds"
- Episode – "The Springfield Connection"
- Episode – "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)"
- Episode – "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)"
- Episode – "Radioactive Man"
- Episode – "Bart Sells His Soul"
- Episode – "Lisa the Vegetarian"
- Episode – "Treehouse of Horror VI"
- Episode – "Mother Simpson"
- Episode – "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming"
- Episode – "Team Homer"
- Episode – "Two Bad Neighbors"
- Episode – "Bart the Fink"
- Episode – "Lisa the Iconoclast"
- Episode – "Homer the Smithers"
- Episode – "A Fish Called Selma"
- Episode – "22 Short Films About Springfield"
- Episode – "Burns, Baby Burns"
- Episode – "Lisa's Date with Density"
- Episode – "Hurricane Neddy"
- Episode – "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)"
- Episode – "The Springfield Files"
- Episode – "Brother from Another Series"
- Episode – "My Sister, My Sitter"
- Episode – "Grade School Confidential"
- Episode – "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment"
- Episode – "The Canine Mutiny"
- Episode – "The Old Man and the Lisa"
- Episode – "In Marge We Trust"
- Episode – "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase"
- Episode – "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson"
- Episode – "The Principal and the Pauper"
- Episode – "Treehouse of Horror VIII"
- Episode – "Bart Star"
- Episode – "Lisa the Skeptic"
- Episode – "Realty Bites"
- Episode – "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace"
- Episode – "Bart Carny"
- Episode – "The Last Temptation of Krust"
- Episode – "Dumbbell Indemnity"
- Episode – "Lisa the Simpson"
- Episode – "This Little Wiggy"
- Episode – "Lost Our Lisa"
- Episode – "Trash of the Titans"
- Episode – "Natural Born Kissers"
- Episode – "Treehouse of Horror IX"
- Episode – "When You Dish Upon a Star"
- Episode – "D'oh-in' in the Wind"
- Episode – "Mayored to the Mob"
- Episode – "Viva Ned Flanders"
- Episode – "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken"
- Episode – "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday"
- Episode – "Maximum Homerdrive"
- Episode – "Marge Simpson in: "Screaming Yellow Honkers""
- Episode – "Make Room for Lisa"
- Episode – "Simpsons Bible Stories"
- Episode – "Mom and Pop Art"
- Episode – "The Old Man and the "C" Student"
- Episode – "Monty Can't Buy Me Love"
- Episode – "They Saved Lisa's Brain"
- Episode – "Beyond Blunderdome"
- Episode – "Brother's Little Helper"
- Episode – "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?"
- Episode – "Treehouse of Horror X"
- Episode – "E-I-E-I-D'oh"
- Episode – "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder"
- Episode – "Eight Misbehavin'"
- Episode – "Take My Wife, Sleaze"
- Episode – "Faith Off"
- Episode – "Saddlesore Galactica"
- Episode – "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily"
- Episode – "Last Tap Dance in Springfield"
- Episode – "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge"
- Episode – "Behind the Laughter"
- Episode – "Lisa the Tree Hugger"
- Episode – "Homer vs. Dignity"
- Episode – "The Great Money Caper"
- Episode – "Skinner's Sense of Snow"
- Episode – "Pokey Mom"
- Episode – "Worst Episode Ever"
- Episode – "Tennis the Menace"
- Episode – "Day of the Jackanapes"
- Episode – "New Kids on the Blecch"
- Episode – "Hungry, Hungry Homer"
- Episode – "Trilogy of Error"
- Episode – "I'm Goin' to Praiseland"
- Episode – "Simpsons Tall Tales"
- Episode – "The Parent Rap"
- Episode – "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love"
- Episode – "The Blunder Years"
- Episode – "Brawl in the Family"
- Episode – "Sweets and Sour Marge"
- Episode – "Half-Decent Proposal"
- Episode – "The Bart Wants What It Wants"
- Episode – "The Lastest Gun in the West"
- Episode – "Tales from the Public Domain"
- Episode – "Weekend at Burnsie's"
- Episode – "Gump Roast"
- Episode – "The Frying Game"
- Episode – "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge"
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror XIII"
- Episode – "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation"
- Episode – "Large Marge"
- Episode – "The Great Louse Detective"
- Episode – "The Dad Who Knew Too Little"
- Episode – "The Strong Arms of the Ma"
- Episode – "Pray Anything"
- Episode – "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can"
- Episode – "'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky"
- Episode – "Three Gays of the Condo"
- Episode – "Brake My Wife, Please"
- Episode – "The Bart of War"
- Episode – "Moe Baby Blues"
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror XIV"
- Episode – "My Mother the Carjacker"
- Episode – "The President Wore Pearls"
- Episode – "The Fat and the Furriest"
- Episode – "Today, I Am a Clown"
- Episode – "'Tis the Fifteenth Season"
- Episode – "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens and Gays"
- Episode – "I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot"
- Episode – "Margical History Tour"
- Episode – "Smart and Smarter"
- Episode – "Co-Dependent's Day"
- Episode – "The Wandering Juvie"
- Episode – "My Big Fat Geek Wedding"
- Episode – "Simple Simpson"
- Episode – "The Way We Weren't"
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror XV"
- Episode – "All's Fair in Oven War"
- Episode – "She Used to Be My Girl"
- Episode – "Fat Man and Little Boy"
- Episode – "Midnight Rx"
- Episode – "Mommie Beerest"
- Episode – "Pranksta Rap"
- Episode – "There's Something About Marrying"
- Episode – "On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister"
- Episode – "Mobile Homer"
- Episode – "The Seven-Beer Snitch"
- Episode – "Future-Drama"
- Episode – "Thank God It's Doomsday"
- Episode – "The Bob Next Door"
- Episode – "In the Name of the Grandfather"
- Episode – "Chief of Hearts"
- Episode – "Homer Scissorhands"
- Episode – "500 Keys"
- Episode – "To Cur, with Love"
- Episode – "Gorgeous Grampa"
- Episode – "Dark Knight Court"
- Episode – "Pulpit Friction"
- Episode – "The Fabulous Faker Boy"
- Episode – "Dangers on a Train"
- Episode – "Homerland"
- Episode – "Luca$"
- Episode – "Days of Future Future"
Video game – The Simpsons Road Rage
Video game – The Simpsons Skateboarding
Video game – The Simpsons: Hit and Run
Video game – The Simpsons Game
Video game – The Simpsons: Minutes to Meltdown
Video game – The Simpsons: Tapped Out
- Comic book – The Amazing Colossal Homer
- Comic book – Comic Fan No More
- Comic book – Fangs for Nothing!
- Commercials – Hard Times
Gallery
Flashback Contradictions
Citations
- ↑ The Bob Next Door
- ↑ In the Name of the Grandfather
- ↑ The Wandering Juvie
- ↑ In the Name of the Grandfather
- ↑ Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish"
- ↑ Homer's Barbershop Quartet
- ↑ Homer Alone
- ↑ Marge vs. the Monorail
- ↑ They Saved Lisa's Brain
- ↑ Lisa on Ice
Springfield Police
| |||
---|---|---|---|
Chief Wiggum ● Lou ● Eddie | |||
Animals | |||
Bobo ● Officer Sniffy ● Laddie ● Scraps | |||
Former Cops | |||
Marge Simpson ● Gloria ● SpringShield: (Homer Simpson, Lenny Leonard, Carl Carlson) ● Santa's Little Helper |
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