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This article contains spoilers for “The Simpsons” season 37, episode 13, “Separation”.
One of the benefits of being an animated television series like “The Simpsons” is that you don’t need to grow your characters with each new season. Bart (Nancy Cartwright) and Lisa (Yeardley Smith) Simpson are still kids at Springfield Elementary School, while Homer (Dan Castellaneta) is still the safety inspector for Sector 7-G at the nuclear power plant. Major changes are largely relegated to cultural reference points as the series enters a whole new decade. Continuity doesn’t really matter in a series where no one really ages. But every once in a while, “The Simpsons” will make bold decisions that stick in the future. Think about when the show killed off Maude Flanders in a mean-spirited T-shirt cannon accident in Season 11 (“Alone Again, Natura-Diddily”) and stuck with it. These kinds of events are usually spaced out, but season 37 brought major changes one after another.
Earlier in the season, church organist Alice Glick dropped dead in front of an audience of Springfield patron saints (“Sashes to Sashes”). Last week’s episode (“¡The Fall Guy-Yi-Yi!”) not only made Bumblebee Man (Humberto Vélez) a real character, but showed its origins in detail. This week’s episode (“Seperance”) saw another big change with one of Springfield’s most memorable supporting characters, that of Duffman (Hank Azaria). First introduced in the banned episode of season 9 “New York City vs. Homer Simpson”, Barry Duffman remained an athletic mascot for Duff Beer, who often spoke in the third person. He was often recognizable by his red hat, tights and Duff beer belt. With his final appearance, not only does another Duffman piece arrive, but the last one we’ll ever see on “The Simpsons.”
Duffman has had enough of this wonderful but outdated Duff character.
In “Seperance”, Duffman attempts to recruit Homer to work for EOD (Enthusiasm on Demand), a shady company specializing in deceptive influencer marketing, after easily winning over a crowd. It is in the Simpsons’ living room that Duffman reveals that the Duff Company removed the beer mascot due to a lack of cultural significance. “All the old forms of advertising are now outdated. Corporate spokespersons, print ads, TV spots. Kids today can’t even sing the jingles,” says Duffman. He spends most of the episode trying to win Homer over to EOD’s side, itself a parody of Ben Stiller’s famous science fiction series, “Severance”. But even after Duffman leaves the company at the end of the episode, he never gets his iconic mascot outfit back. Our favorite beer-guzzling hypeman is officially retired.
Duffman was originally conceived as a parody of Budweiser’s Bud Man, who was usually depicted as a sort of superhero in red tights. But given that the Anheuser-Busch brewery hasn’t used the outdated mascot in ages, it shouldn’t be surprising that “The Simpsons” is putting it out to pasture, too. The supporting character has always held a strange place in the show’s history, given that he has died at the hands of other characters throughout the series’ run. Although this could potentially be explained since the Duffman mascot’s mantle has been occupied by different people. In this case, Barry would be the last Duffman to don the tights and live to tell the tale. Now who wants party?
Season 37 of “The Simpsons” is currently streaming on Hulu.
