Moe's Tavern

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The Simpsons business
Moe's Tavern
Business type Bar
Location Walnut Street, Springfield
Owner Moe
Employee(s) Moe
First appearance "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"

Moe's Tavern (also known simply as Moe's) is a fictional bar seen on the animated series The Simpsons. The bar is named for its owner, Moe Szyslak.

Located on the corner of Walnut Street, its next door neighbor is King Toot's Music Store. Across the street from it is the Moeview Motel and nearby is a factory formerly owned by Bart Simpson (until it collapsed in "Homer's Enemy").

Contents

[edit] Description

Dark and described by Dr. Hibbert's daughter as smelling "like tinkle", the inside of the bar is dank and scant. As female customers are so rare, Moe uses the women's restroom as an office. Moe claims that there haven't been any ladies at Moe's since 1979 (though earlier episodes show otherwise, as Ruth Powers has been seen there many times, as has Mrs. Krabappel). A jar of pickled eggs perpetually stands on the bar which Moe seems to have a strong attraction to as there are several photos of him and the jar behind the bar.

The bar also features a few pool tables (to which Barney Gumble once "made sweet love," then "befouled"), a dartboard, the occasional rat (this can be attributed to the episode "Homer's Enemy" in which Bart's factory collapses, and the rats are then shown to find a new home at Moe's), a love tester (which was briefly inhabited by Grampa Simpson in a fictional spinoff series), a mechanical bull, a racing washing machine and dryer sold to him by Herb Powell, a jukebox, and a television so dirty it appeared to be black and white until Homer wiped it off.

[edit] Influences

Moe's Tavern is based on a real bar called Max's in Eugene, OR. Located right off of the University of Oregon campus on 13th street, Max's is just a few blocks away from the Pioneer Statue (Jedediah Springfield statue).[citation needed]

Moe's Tavern was also inspired by The Fireside bar in Westchester, Los Angeles, California, near Loyola Marymount University, where writer and executive producer David Mirkin received part of his education.

[edit] Products and Services

The bar mostly serves Duff Beer. It has also been seen serving Henry K. Duff's Private Reserve (this is a play on a Portland microbrewery, Henry Weinhard's, Private Reserve)and Red Tick Beer, a beer flavored with dogs. Additionally, the bar serves Anchor Steam, a real-life Californian craft beer. Homer usually drinks Duff, although there have been exceptions -- Homer has ordered and drank Tuborg, and, on one occasion, stated his intention to go to the bar and drink several Anchor Steam beers.

On the Middle East Broadcasting Center on the Arab version of the show, where The Simpsons is known as Al Shamshoon, the characters drink soda at Moe's Tavern because alcoholic beer is forbidden in Islam.

In "Who Shot Mr. Burns?", Moe's Tavern was forced to close down because Mr. Burns' drilling operation near the tavern caused unsafe pollution.

According to the episode "Homer Loves Flanders", Moe's Tavern always closes on Wednesdays, as Moe performs charity work by reading to the homeless at the same refuge where Flanders serves soup.

Moe's may actually be an illegal speakeasy, since in the episode "Pygmoelian" Lenny noticed that the bar's liquor license expired in 1973, was valid only in Rhode Island and was signed by Moe himself (although Moe had intended to get it updated to the current year, the correct state, and real).

Moe's back room has often been the site of numerous illegal operations. Among these are: smuggling pandas ("Cape Feare"), kidnapping Shamu ("The Springfield Files") and running a Deer Hunter-style Russian Roulette game.

In the episode Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass, the Super Bowl is sponsored by Moe's Tavern.

[edit] Employees

Most of the time, Moe is the sole employee of the tavern. However, some minor characters have worked with him when the script calls upon it. In "Flaming Moe's", Moe hired a waitress due to the success of the drink. In other episodes where the bar has enjoyed success, other nameless employees have been seen too (see below Moe's Tavern#Incarnations).

In the episode "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story", we also find out that Montgomery Burns was once an employee of Moe's Tavern after he lost the nuclear plant in a bet. He later found and stole Moe's treasure of golden coins to buy back the plant.

In the episode "Papa Don't Leech", Lurleen Lumpkin works there in order to afford to pay her millions of dollars worth of taxes she owes the IRS.

[edit] Incarnations

Moe's Tavern has been reinvented a few times over the years. During these times, at least, he had many more customers, including women:

  • When Homer's cocktail drink in the episode "Flaming Moe's" was popular, Moe renamed his tavern Flaming Moe's.
  • In "Homer's Barbershop Quartet," a flashback shows the bar with the name Moe's Cavern in reference to the Cavern Club where The Beatles got their start.
  • Moe's was briefly converted into a family restaurant called Uncle Moe's Family Feedbag in "Bart Sells His Soul." Moe reverted it when he was unable to tolerate the family atmosphere.
  • In "My Sister, My Sitter", it appears that Moe has moved to a new location on the Squidport named Moe's Brewing Co. Homer is amazed that Moe's has moved to a fancier place. In fact, it was actually a long tunnel that lead to the original Moe's. A visitor remarked, "Hey, this isn't faux dive. This is a dive," to which Moe replies "You're a long way from home, yuppie-boy. I'll start a tab."
  • In the episode "Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment", during a brief period of Prohibition, Moe's Tavern is converted into a speakeasy. The sign on the front reads Moe's Pet Shop, and the bar and booths flip over to display pet cages when federal agents show up to bust the speakeasy.
  • Moe revamped his tavern for yuppie hipsters, renaming the bar m in "Homer the Moe," a parody of Starwood's "W" hotels.[citation needed]
  • In a flashback in the episode Three Gays of the Condo, it is shown that Moe's Tavern was originally called Meaux's Tavern.
  • In a segment in Treehouse of Horror XV set in 1890, Moe's Tavern is an opium den where various recurring characters are addicted to opium. The opium den is called Mao's because Moe appears to be Chinese.
  • When Homer took out a mortgage on his house to save Moe's, Marge partners up with Moe to revamp the bar as an English pub called The Nag & Weasel in "Mommie Beerest." The pub's sign indicates that Marge is the nag and Moe is the weasel.
  • When Homer convinces the town that the Rapture is coming in "Thank God It's Doomsday", Moe sells his bar to Japanese businessmen who convert it into a sushi restaurant named Tokyo Roe's, a reference to Tokyo Rose, the generic name given by Allied forces during World War II to English-speaking female broadcasters of Japanese propaganda.
  • Back in the 90s in That 90's Show Moe's was a cigar bar. Also, in the back rather than wine bottles there are cigars. Barney was also seen as a cigar addict back then.

[edit] Regular customers

It appears that Moe's tavern has only six regular patrons, Homer, Barney, Lenny, Carl, Sam and Larry. In "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson", Moe pointed out that due to their frequent habit of drunk-driving, "The Springfield Police have told me that 91% of all traffic accidents are caused by you six guys." After hearing this, they started cheering.

Barney Gumble is single, an alcoholic (after being introduced to beer by Homer Simpson as a teenager), and living in an incredibly messy apartment near the state penitentiary (or sometimes right above Moe's bar). Barney arguably remains Homer's best friend. His desperation for alcohol has been the source of many jokes. He remains friendly and good-natured despite his unfortunate condition. In early episodes, he appears to be a parody of Barney Rubble, similar appearance, hair color, clothing color, just much larger in size. In some ways, Barney also resembles Cheers' Norm Peterson, the heavy-set man at the end of the bar. He manages to make a living selling his body for medical experiments, which has led to some interesting changes. Barney has demonstrated considerable talents as a singer, filmmaker, astronaut, orator, painter, helicopter pilot, and snow plow driver, but keeps getting foiled by his various addictions. In "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)", he claims to have five years of modern dance training and six years of tap dance training. He has drunk a can of turpentine, a bottle of brake fluid, a can of varnish, and even a cup of quarters at Mr. Burns' Casino.

In "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses," Barney finally kicked his alcoholism and transferred his addiction to espresso, which led to the disappearance of his trademark belch. He had a relapse in "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can" and was back on the sauce in "My Big Fat Geek Wedding" (in a scene that was a parody of Jimmy Stewart's Harvey). By the end of Season 15, he was back in all his fat, lovable, belching glory. In Co-Dependent's Day he said the same re-hab center "cured" him six times, meaning he may randomly switch between drunk and recovering alcoholic.

Barney's bar tab was so large that Moe had to send it to NASA to get it calculated. It totaled $14 billion. Initially, it was believed to be $70 billion, but that was revealed to be the cost of the Voyager space craft.

[edit] Other regulars

The scene is usually set in Moe's Tavern when Homer Simpson is there. While there, we often see Lenny, Carl and occasionally Charlie, Homer's colleagues at the nuclear plant. Moe's is usually the place where Homer takes newfound friends to hang out, such as Ray Magini or Principal Skinner before his marriage.

The two barflies usually seen are Sam and Larry. Sam always wears a cap and Larry has a balding head. Sam appeared to get shot by Moe in "Worst Episode Ever", but has appeared since. Virtually nothing is known about them, not unlike various barflies on the series Cheers. Simpsons Comics #9 contains "Homer Simpson's Pathetic Pal Barney Gumble: Asleep at the Well", a story about a day in the life of Barney Gumble. In it, Larry is referred to as the ear bender and Sam is the wife dodger. However, the Simpsons comics are generally considered non-canonical.

A small bit of information is revealed about Sam & Larry in The Homer Book though. As it is Homer Simpson's point of view, he says quite a lot of good things about Sam but Larry is talked about being stupid, glum and weird.

See also - Sam & Larry

In the Simpsons: Hit and Run video game, Kearney Zzyzwicz is seen in Moe's drinking beer. He is seen in two different t-shirts. His classic white, and a new orange one. Also visible are Moleman and Bumblebee Man.

Legs, Louie, Lindsey Nagle and Sideshow Mel goes to Moe's often.

[edit] Address and phone number

It was stated in the "Flaming Moe's" episode that Moe's Tavern was on Walnut Street. The phone number would be 764-8437(7), since in "Homer the Smithers," Mr. Burns tried to call Smithers but did not know his phone number. He tried the buttons marked with the letters for Smithers and called Moe's.

In "Principal Charming" Bart is asked to call Homer by Principal Skinner, the number visible on the card is WORK: KLondike 5-6832 HOME: KLondike 5-6754 MOE'S TAVERN: KLondike 5-1239, Moe answers the phone and Bart asks for Homer Sexual. In "Bonfire of the Manatees", however, Homer phones the bar at 355-1337.

In one episode it was shown that Homer could walk to Moe's Tavern from home by traveling a few doors along. This makes little sense, however, as the tavern's wider surroundings have frequently and notably been shown not to include the Simpson's home at 742 Evergreen Terrace.

[edit] External links