Lionel Hutz

Lionel Hutz
The Simpsons character
Information
Voiced by	Phil Hartman
Gender	Male
Occupation	Lawyer
First appearance
The Simpsons	"Bart Gets Hit by a Car"

Lionel Hutz is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He was voiced by Phil Hartman, and his first appearance was in the season two episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car". Hutz is a stereotypical ambulance chasing lawyer in Springfield with questionable competence and ethics. He is nevertheless often hired by the Simpsons. Following Hartman's murder in 1998, Hutz was retired out of respect; and his final speaking role was in the season nine episode "Realty Bites" five months earlier.

Role in The Simpsons

Personality

Lionel Hutz is an inept ambulance chaser and, according to Lisa Simpson, a "shyster" whom the Simpsons nonetheless repeatedly hire as their lawyer (a fact remarked on by Marge Simpson in a typically self-aware aside), mostly because Hutz is the only legal counsel the Simpsons can afford.^[1] His legal practice, located in a shopping mall, is named "I Can't Believe It's a Law Firm!" and also offers "expert shoe repair." He often tries to entice potential clients with free gifts, including a "smoking monkey" doll, a pen that looks like a cigar, an exotic faux-pearl necklace, a business card that "turns into a sponge when you put it in water,"^[2] and even an almost-full Orange Julius he was drinking from himself.

Hutz is characterized as both a grossly incompetent lawyer and an unethical individual in general. This, along with his greed in wanting half of the money, was supported in Bart Gets Hit By a Car in his first appearance. Hutz is disliked and mistrusted by both Marge and Lisa whom see him for the person he is inside: especially when he along with Homer made Bart lie about the extent of his injuries. Marge later testified against Hutz out of spite for hiring Dr. Nick, a quack doctor with a shady reputation, along with making Bart lie about his injuries and being in intense pain, when he was fine. Hutz' incompetence and greed is also well noted by his rival, the Blue Haired Lawyer. In the episode "Marge in Chains" he describes the following as his "problem" with Judge Snyder:

Well, he's had it in for me ever since I kinda ran over his dog... Well, replace the word "kinda" with the word "repeatedly" and the word "dog" with "son".

Hutz is a recovering alcoholic. Also in "Marge in Chains", he hastily leaves the courtroom after handling a bottle of bourbon in order to consult his sponsor, David Crosby. He then gives his closing statement, unaware that he is not wearing any pants and thinks that Clarence Darrow was "the black guy on The Mod Squad". Beyond practicing law, he also tries his hand at selling real estate, reasoning that it was a natural move as most of his clients ended up losing their homes anyway,^[3] and out of desperation for work, babysitting, where he produces a switchblade upon awakening suddenly, and also burns all of his personal documentation in the Simpsons fireplace, claiming that "Lionel Hutz" no longer exists and he is now "Miguel Sanchez".^[4] His other alias is "Dr. Nguyen Van Phuoc". He also ran a shoe-repair business out of his law office. Hutz's incompetence and financial desperation sometimes lead him to resort to rooting through dumpsters, claiming it is client-related.^[5] Hutz was briefly married to Selma Bouvier, although this storyline is not shown in an episode and instead mentioned in Selma's Choice. However, this was only because he needed a relative to be married so he can get his hands on Aunt Gladys' money. When he was caught forging Gladys' signature by Marge and Lisa, Hutz is forced to properly read the will and give Marge's family Gladys' inheritance. Hutz has also been known to use a phone booth as an office.

Hutz does not seem to care about conflict of interest; in "A Streetcar Named Marge" he represents clients in a lawsuit against the producer(s) of a local production of A Streetcar Named Desire for not giving them any roles in the play, although he had a role himself.

Another display of his incompetence takes place in "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" when, while representing a French waiter who is accusing Mayor Quimby's nephew Freddy of battery, he is surprised when the opposing counsel mentions that Hutz's client is an immigrant (despite the client's French accent). Hutz then demands that his client tell him everything from then on. He also misunderstands simple legal terms like "mistrial" and "lawyer."^[6]

Cases won

Although Hutz loses most of his cases, he does win several cases for the Simpsons. In "Bart the Murderer", he represented Bart when the latter was suspected for the supposed murder of Seymour Skinner, and the charges were dropped when Skinner reveals himself to be alive. In "New Kid on the Block", he represents Homer in his case against the Sea Captain and the Frying Dutchman restaurant over its "All You Can Eat" offer ("The most blatant case of fraudulent advertising since my suit against the film The Never Ending Story").^[7] He also wins a case for Bart Simpson in "The Day the Violence Died", by proving that Itchy was created by an old man named Chester J. Lampwick—though the deciding factor of the case is mainly proven by Bart's footwork to collect the crucial piece of evidence, rather than Hutz's competence. Hutz initiates the trial with zero credible evidence.^[8] In "'Round Springfield", Hutz successfully sues Krusty the Clown after Bart consumes a jagged metal Krusty-O from a box of cereal, resulting in an inflamed appendix. After winning the case, Hutz gives Bart only $500 of the $100,000 settlement.^[9] In "Sideshow Bob Roberts", Hutz wins a case against Sideshow Bob, who was mayor at that time, for electoral fraud, in which Bart and Lisa found evidence connected to it.

The only other case technically won by Hutz was in "Treehouse of Horror IV", where he represents Homer against Satan (represented as Ned Flanders). In a purportedly-deleted scene for this episode, as subsequently seen in "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular", Hutz's slogan is "Cases won in 30 minutes or your pizza is free". After he thinks he has lost the case, he gives the Simpsons their pizza. However, Marge informs him that they did win. Then, he tells them that the box was empty anyway. In the video game The Simpsons: Hit & Run, billboards can be seen around Downtown Springfield promoting Lionel Hutz's free pizza offer.

Retirement

After Hartman's death in 1998,^[10] Hutz and Hartman's other main character, Troy McClure, were retired out of respect.^[11] The last episode to feature Hutz speaking was the season 9 episode "Realty Bites". Since the Simpson family frequently appears in court, other characters have represented the Simpsons in legal matters since Hutz's retirement. For example, in "Sweets and Sour Marge", the equally-incompetent Gil Gunderson stepped in. The Blue Haired Lawyer—who is just as unethical yet very competent - has also served as the family's attorney. Following Hartman's death, Hutz appeared infrequently in clip shows and flashbacks, as well as crowd scenes, but only in non-speaking roles. His last appearance in the series was in the season 12 episode "A Tale of Two Springfields". Hutz and McClure still appear in Simpsons Comics.

Reception

Entertainment Weekly named Hutz as one of their 15 favorite fictional television and film lawyers.^[12]

References

External links

• Lionel Hutz at the Internet Movie Database