Herb Powell
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Herbert "Herb" Powell is a fictional character on The Simpsons television show introduced in the episode "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?", which premiered on February 21, 1991. Physically, he looks similar to Homer, except that he is somewhat less fat, and has significantly more hair.
Because many other Simpsons characters are named after landmarks in Portland, Oregon, it is thought that Herb Powell is named for SE Powell Blvd, the road US 26 follows through Portland's east side.
Herb (voiced by Danny DeVito) is Homer Simpson's half-brother, a product of a short-lived affair between Homer's father Abraham and a carnival prostitute. (Abraham justified this to Homer by explaining, "She did things your Mother would never dream of doing...like have sex for money.") He was put up for adoption shortly after birth, and was kept secret from Homer. However, Herb pulled himself up from the bottom, working his way up and eventually founding Powell Motors, a car company based in Detroit of which he was CEO. He always found an emptiness in his life, however. Later, after Homer was told of his existence, he sought out Herb and tracked him down. Herb was overjoyed at learning that he had family and bonded with his nieces and nephew. Disappointed with his company's current product line and believing his blue collar brother was more in tune with the common American man's desires, Herb unwisely asked Homer to design a new car. Homer managed to virtually duplicate the commercial failure of the Edsel with "The Homer," a lima bean-colored mish-mash monstrosity of automotive oddities such as tailfins, a Rolls-Royce like grille, bubble domes, shag carpeting and three horns all of which play La Cucaracha. Herb lost his entire fortune, sold his company to a Japanese firm, Kumatsu Motors and became estranged from his brother.
Herb apparently spent the following year living as a street vagrant. He re-appeared in "Brother Can You Spare Two Dimes?," first aired on August 27, 1992. He briefly settles in the Simpson household despite his intense dislike of Homer due to the car fiasco. Herb borrows some of the family money to develop a device that can analyze baby speech and translate it into comprehensible English language. Herb tests his invention on Maggie and it proves to be functional. He proceeds in the distribution of his new product and thus manages to regain his fortune. Herb then left the Simpson residence after reconciling with Homer and buying presents for each member of the family.
Herb is apparently unaffected by the "Simpsons gene", a Y-chromosome defect that reduces the intelligence of male members of the family, described in "Lisa the Simpson".
"Unkie Herb" has yet to make a third appearance, though Homer glowingly mentioned him in "The Heartbroke Kid", and the camera panned to a portrait of him on the wall.
See: Characters from The Simpsonsde:Herbert Powell fr:Herbert Powell