- “Hi, Everybody!”
- ―Dr. Nick's catchphrase[src]
Dr. Nicholas Riviera M.D. is a quack physician who studied at dubious medical schools, although he claims to be "just as good as Dr. Hibbert M.D.". He is inventor of Juice Loosener and Sun & Run.[1] Dr. Nick faints in the Simpsons Movie but appears in several episodes after that and it was confirmed by Al Jean that he had not died like many first thought.
Biography
Riviera is of Hispanic descent, and in the European Spanish dub he is specifically given an Argentinian accent. He has a medical degree from Hollywood Upstairs Medical College (where he apparently spent much of his time using his ability to acquire prescription drugs to impress a succession of attractive women back in the 1970s), and a great deal of luck. Thus far, none of the patients he has swindled, maimed, or given useless or dangerous medical advice seems to have sued him (although a few have come after him in person. For example, a large angry man once grabbed him, and Nick says "Well if it isn't my old friend Mr. McGregg — with a leg for an arm and an arm for a leg"; the man literally has an arm where a leg should be and a leg where an arm should be [2]). Dr. Nick is a stereotypical shady, immoral doctor who performs medical procedures for money with little or no regard for medical ethics, or their patients' well-being. He was once seen digging up corpses in the graveyard for body parts, presumably to use in operations on patients [3].
Hi, everybody!
He is seen taking a citizenship test, implying he is not a citizen of the United States [4]. Some of his exclamations hint that he may be Argentinian, though there is no direct evidence of this. In Homer's Triple Bypass, he watches a video on how to perform open-heart surgery and is disgusted by all the blood, implying that he may be haemophobic.
His degrees read "Mayo Clinic Correspondence School", "Club Med School", "Female Body Inspector" and "I went to medical school for four years and all I got was this lousy diploma" [5]. He frequently appears on infomercials, pitching all sorts of bizarre medical offers, and has often turned his operations into TV spectacles. He is also shown as an inventor/huckster (in the style of Ron Popeil) on the television show I Can't Believe They Invented It! His "Walk-In Clinic" is based at; 44 Bow Street. Its phone number is 555-NICK. He can also be called at 1-600-DOCTORB ("The B is for 'Bargain'").
He has operated on the Simpson family a couple of times (when they cannot afford Doctor Hibbert) notably when Homer needed a heart bypass. Lisa Simpson attended the live audience for the operation and saved the day by guiding the obviously clueless Dr. Riviera through the operation. He also worked with Doctor Hibbert as anesthesiologist during Bart's appendectomy but was of little help as he first failed to anesthetize Bart and subsequently passed out from the leaking gas.
Nick Riviera is crushed by a large shard of glass in The Simpsons Movie
Cheating on test
During Trappuccino in the Simpsons Movie Dr. Riviera was impaled by a large shard of glass and says "Bye everybody!" and then "faints," making him one of the few casualties of the Trappuccino incident.
Goofs
Colored with blue hair instead of black
Colored with light brown hair instead of black
Episode – "Rosebud" While mob is leaving- Episode – "Lost Verizon"
- Episode – "Judge Me Tender"
- Episode – "A Midsummer's Nice Dream"
- Episode – "Replaceable You"
- Episode – "To Surveil With Love"
Non Canon Appearances
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The contents of this article or section are considered to be non-canon and therefore may not have actually happened/existed. |
Video Games
In The Simpsons Road Rage, he says "Send Me to the Hospital, I Pretend I work there".
A mission in The Simpsons: Hit and Run involves Bart seeking Dr. Nick's monkeys who have run away due to Dr. Nick's treatment of them. He also says a number of things if a player runs him over, such as "Hey! You drive as well as I practice medicine!" and "Don't come crying to me if you need a sex change!" He also appears in the bonus mission for level three, where Lisa retrieves Principal Skinner's 'personal items'. Dr. Nick says,"Hello, little girl! Here is the principal's anti-fungal cream!"
In The Simpsons: Tapped Out, He is a premium character, you can buy him for 90 donuts.
He can be seen wandering around Springfield in The Simpsons Game. Lenny may accuse him of putting his artificial heart in upside down, to which he will claim he is just a wandering thinker.
Behind the Laughter
The character design of Dr. Nick is based somewhat on Gábor Csupó, of Klasky Csupo studios, who was originally from Hungary—the animators mistakenly believed Hank Azaria was impersonating Gabor, when in fact the voice was actually a bad imitation of Ricky Ricardo from I Love Lucy.[6]
His name came from George Nichopoulos, nicknamed Dr. Nick, Elvis Presley's personal physician who indicted on 14 counts of overprescribing drugs to Presley and several other patients.
He also has a sign in the new HD opening theme that says "If I kill you, you don't pay".
His Business
Catchphrase
Dr. Nick is notable for his exclamation upon entering a room of “Hi, everybody!”, which is immediately followed by a response of “Hi, Dr. Nick!” from the other characters present with varying degrees of enthusiasm. There was an Austrian version of Dr. Riviera in the episode "Margical History Tour", where he portrays the doctor of the ailing Mozart, played by Bart, and his exclamation is "Guten Tag, everybody!" Another variation is an episode where Mel Gibson says, "Hi, everybody!" and Dr. Nick responds with "Hi, Mr. Gibson." Another episode featured a Jewish version of Dr. Nick during Homer's flashback to the first Christmas. Dr. Nick says: "Shalom, everybody!" In Lisa the Simpson Dr. Nick greets a refrigerated Jasper Beardly with "Hi frozen body!" when entering the Kwik-E-Mart.
Appearances
- Episode – "Bart Gets Hit by a Car"
- Episode – "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment"
- Episode – "Saturdays of Thunder"
- Episode – "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show"
- Episode – "Marge in Chains"
- Episode – "Homer's Triple Bypass"
- Episode – "'Round Springfield"
- Episode – "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)"
- Episode – "King-Size Homer"
- Episode – "22 Short Films About Springfield"
- Episode – "Much Apu About Nothing"
- Episode – "The Springfield Files"
- Episode – "Lisa the Simpson"
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror IX"
- Episode – "Insane Clown Poppy"
- Episode – "Sweets and Sour Marge"
- Episode – "Lost Verizon"
- Episode – "Trilogy of Error"
- Episode – "Weekend at Burnsie's"
- Episode – "Marge Gamer"
- Episode – "Much Apu About Nothing"
- Episode – "The Homer They Fall"
- Episode – "I'm Goin' to Praiseland"
- Episode – "Margical History Tour"
- Episode – "The Girl Who Slept Too Little"
- Episode – "Take My Life, Please"
- Episode – "Lost Verizon"
- Episode – "Judge Me Tender"
- Episode – "A Midsummer's Nice Dream"
- Episode – "Pulpit Friction"
- THOH – "Treehouse of Horror XXIV"
- – The Simpsons Movie
Video game – The Simpsons Road Rage
Video game – The Simpsons: Hit and Run
Video game – The Simpsons Game
Video game – The Simpsons: Tapped Out (unlockable)
Citations
- ↑ Whacking Day
- ↑ Homer's Triple Bypass
- ↑ The Girl Who Slept Too Little
- ↑ Much Apu About Nothing
- ↑ Bart Gets Hit by a Car
- ↑ The Simpsons Season 4 DVD commentary for Homer's Triple Bypass