‘The Simpsons’ Producer Apologizes for Surprise Death: ‘We Certainly Didn’t Kill the Character Off Lightly’
variety.comMichael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “The Simpsons” fans are still reacting to the surprise death of Moe’s Tavern regular Larry Dalrymple — aka Larry the Barfly — on Sunday’s episode, “Cremains of the Day.” And “The Simpsons” co-executive producer Tim Long has the explanation for why the show did it. “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,” Long wrote in an email shared with Variety. “To paraphrase Shakespeare, nothing became Larry’s life like the way he left it: drunk, lonely, and with a butt full of sapphires.” In the episode, Moe discovers Larry dead in the bar.
Per the episode’s logline: “When someone in Homer’s life passes away, he and guys from Moe’s go on a roadtrip to scatter the ashes… but will their friendship die as well?” Larry had been a background character on “The Simpsons,” seen in Moe’s Tavern since the show’s very first episode in 1989, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.” The balding character rarely spoke, but was voiced by Harry Shearer. “To me, it’s sort of fitting that some fans are taking Larry’s demise as hard as Homer and his friends do,” Long said. “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. “The episode is about a lot of things, but mostly it’s about the fear of death.
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