Bernard "Barney" Gumble (born April 20) is a character on The Simpsons, voiced by Dan Castellaneta. Barney is the Springfield town drunk, the most prominent of several alcoholic Springfielders and Homer Simpson's high school best friend.

Character origins
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The name "Barney Gumble" is a parody (and near homonym) of "Barney Rubble" of Hanna-Barbera's The Flintstones. Barney Rubble is Fred Flintstone's best friend. An earlier comic strip character from the 1920s was Barney Google. In several of the episodes of the first season, Barney's hair is yellow. Originally, Barney was the best friend of Homer, but in recent seasons, he has been replaced by Lenny and Carl in that role.

Personality traits
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Barney is almost always seen in Moe's Tavern, where he is a regular. His desperation for alcohol has been the source of many jokes. He has a quavering, slightly broken voice and a distinctive loud belch (although he sings in a completely different voice, rather like Jim Nabors), as well as a characteristic wandering eye. He remains friendly and good-natured despite his unfortunate condition. Heavyset, slovenly, and unmarried (though occasionally seen with women), he lives in a messy, sparsely-furnished apartment while he is also seen living at Moe's Tavern. He is occasionally seen doing some sort of menial labor, such as working for his Uncle Al at Barney's Bowl-O-Rama, but has also been the owner of a successful snowplowing business and been employed as an astronaut. In the episode "A Star is Burns", Barney states that he is 40 years old and his first name was revealed as Barnard, although he also appears to be in the same high school class as Homer in flashbacks, with Homer's age always stated somewhere in the 30s.

Life story
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Barney is presumably at least half-Polish and half-Norwegian, since his mother comes from Norway. In Treehouse of Horror XVII episode Barney said "I'm Irish" (Moe punches him) "Oh wait, I'm Polish". His father, Arnie Gumble, died in a 1979 parade float accident along with Sheldon Skinner, Iggy Wiggum, Etch Westgrin, and Griff McDonald, all of whom had served in Abe Simpson's WW II squad. Barney once had a near-death experience in which he expected to see his father (as well as a plant he'd never watered) in the afterlife, noting that he would be reunited with "my loved ones, my dad, and that plant I never watered."

Barney is generally portrayed as being Homer Simpson's best friend, known from when they were at school (where Barney was Harvard bound until Homer gave him a beer the night before his SAT). Barney first appeared in the episode 7G08, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", in which he worked as a department store Santa and gave Homer a tip for winning at the dog track. The season 1 DVD for the series indicates that the script writers originally intended for Barney to be Homer's next-door neighbor.

As a teenager, Barney showed much potential until Homer introduced him to beer. Later on, with Homer, he was a member of The Be Sharps barbershop quartet, which introduced his splendid singing voice. It was heard again in "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" and in "Mommie Beerest". Barney showed his artistic side again in the episode 2F31, "A Star is Burns", in which Barney won top prize at the Springfield Film Festival for a moving documentary about his life as an alcoholic, unfortunately titled "Puke-a-hontas".

Barney served in the United States Navy Reserve for a short time, as a submariner on the USS Jebediah (3G04, "Simpson Tide") with his own mother as his superior officer.