The Most Popular ‘Simpsons’ Characters Who Barely Got Screentime

In the comedy world, it’s always best to leave your audience wanting more, which makes me wonder what the rest of the Simpsons franchise has been doing for 34 years.

The Simpsons is legendary for its long list of side characters who engrained themselves in the internet’s collective consciousness through just a handful of unforgettable lines. However, as is the case with anything Simpsons, the show’s imposing 750 episode catalog makes so many of the early season side characters seem positively inconsequential in the grand scheme of the Simpsons universe. Still, in terms of cultural impact, a single-episode arc in 1995 may very well be better at endearing a character to the greater Simpsons fandom than multiple seasons’ worth of appearances in the modern era. After all, many fans may have no idea that a character voiced by Kerry Washington replaced Edna Krabappel as Bart’s fourth grade teacher in Season 33.

Over in the Simpsons subreddit this past weekend, fans assembled their list of favorite Simpsons side characters whose popularity exceeds their screen time by an outrageous margin. Here are their picks…