0099 - Dr Marvin Monroe (Patreon)

If it weren't for Lou and Eddie, Dr Marvin Monroe would probably be the most important character introduced in this episode. Which is strange to me, as for many years I associated him only with this episode. He is a central figure in the final third of the episode - especially in the early classic shock therapy scene - and as a result I had him as primarily a character in this episode, and barely taken notice of him in later episodes, even though he appears a few times as one of Springfield's cast of characters.

He has a radio show, he appears on the Kent Brockman hosted show "Smartline", he even helps determine whether Homer is bigfoot or not, despite having had him as a patient. Despite this, I always thought of Dr Monroe as the guy from the family therapy episode and little more. I'd be interested if anyone else thinks this way, pinning a regularly appearing character to only one appearance in their mind.

Then of course, there is the issue of his death:

In season 7's "The 138th Episode Spectacular", it is unceremoniously revealed that Dr Marvin Monroe died at some point. This was a shock to a young David. I remember Bleeding Gums Murphy's death - there was a whole episode about it - but I had no memory of Dr Monroe dying. I had assumed I had missed an episode or, even worse, it had not aired in the UK! But this was not the case.

Monroe's death seems to have stemmed from the fact that the hospital is named the "Marvin Monroe Memorial Hospital", and that his death is not addressed on screen beyond that. The show commits to this further with a gym named after him, and even going so far as to show his gravestone in the Season 11's infamous "Alone Again, Natura-Diddly":

The real reason for the retirement of the character was that Harry Shearer hated doing his voice and supposedly Matt Groening hated the voice too. So, no more Marvin Monroe.

UNTIL:

Because the Simpsons writers are merry pranksters, Marvin returns as unceremoniously as he died. Nothing more is explained, he's just...back. As far as I can tell , he is still rarely used beyond this.

In "Treehouse of Horror XXV", Marvin's status is addressed directly, by making him a ghost stuck between life and death.

but obviously this is NON CANON as it occurs in a Treehouse segment. BOY THIS IS CONFUSING. Is it also confusing that Monroe can be seen as "Lost in action" in the background of a "Treehouse of Horror XXVII" segment, even though this is also NON CANON? AAAAARGH.

In season 29's "Flanders' Ladder" we see a comatose Bart imagining Mr Monroe as a ghost, so I think I am going to conclusively answer the question "Is Dr Marvin Monroe alive or dead?" with "Yes."

After a bunch of absolute nobodies, it feels good to have so much to say about a character. I didn't even have room to mention how his name is meant as a weird Marilyn Monroe reference. Hey did you know that the next character is the one hundredth? I bet we'll have just as much to explore with whoever they are, right? Right?

This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.