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The Simpsons co-executive producer Tim Long has said he is “sorry if some fans are upset” by the death of long-running character Larry the Barfly.
Larry Dalrymple was killed off during Sunday’s (21 April) episode “Cremains of the Day”. He died as he lived, on a stool at Moe’s Tavern.
Long, who has worked on The Simpsons since season 10 in 1999, explained the decision in an email seen by Variety.
“I’m sorry if some fans are upset, but we really wanted to use Larry’s death as a way to show that even the most peripheral people in our lives have dignity and worth, and that we really shouldn’t take anyone for granted,” wrote Long.
“To paraphrase Shakespeare, nothing became Larry’s life like the way he left it: drunk, lonely, and with a butt full of sapphires.
“To me, it’s sort of fitting that some fans are taking Larry’s demise as hard as Homer and his friends do. It’s just a measure of how much the show still means to people. I mean, nobody would have been upset if the Flintstones had killed off the Great Gazoo. If anything, they would have been thrilled.”
Long added: “The episode is about a lot of things, but mostly it’s about the fear of death. Simpsons characters have always had unusually rich emotional lives, and this episode is really about their anxiety over ‘what comes next’ (and I don’t mean Krapopolis).”
Krapopolis is a Dan Harmon-created animation that airs after The Simpsons on Fox.
Long concluded: “What I think is bittersweet about this episode is that it took Larry’s death to make Homer and his friends appreciate him – and each other.
“Again, we’re sorry if anyone is upset about Larry’s demise – we certainly didn’t kill the character off lightly. But I also have to point out that Larry was never really one of the show’s breakout stars. I don’t remember any kids wearing a ‘Larry’ t-shirt, or doing a ‘Larry the drunk lonely barfly’ dance. It would have been cool if they had.”
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Larry the Barfly appeared in the very first Simpsons episode, the 1989 Christmas special “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”.
He rarely spoke but when he did he was voiced by Harry Shearer, who also provides the voices for several major Simpsons characters including Mr Burns, Ned Flanders, and Waylon Smithers.
Other Simpsons characters to have been killed off over the years include Bart’s teacher Edna Krabappel, who was written out of the show following the death of her voice actor Marcia Wallace in 2013.
