Carl Carlson

For his biological father, see Wyatt Carlson
For his adoptive father, see Carl Carlson, Sr.
Carlton Carlisle "Carl" Carlson, Jr. (born April 20, 1955) is a recurring character in The Simpsons and a supporting character in The Simpsons Movie. He is a safety operations supervisor from Sector 7G of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, where he works alongside his childhood friends Lenny Leonard and Homer Simpson.
Carl is a self-restrained organized (although not maniac about it, like Frank Grimes) employee and likes to call himself "an urban Lenny". It is hinted in the series that he and Lenny may be more than just friends.
Carl also attended Springfield A&M University and possesses a master's degree in nuclear physics. He also possesses an IQ of 214, making him the smartest adult in the series, second only to Martin Prince. Mr. Burns once implied that he was a war hero.
==Biography==
Carl is an African American Buddhist who apparently grew up in Iceland (he once nostalgically referred to his "Icelandic boyhood"). He holds a master's degree in nuclear physics and is fond of bowling and drinking at Moe's Tavern.
Lenny, Carl and Homer have apparently been friends for most of their lives. Flashbacks show them as friends during childhood and high school, and they all began working at the nuclear power plant around the same time.
===Personality===
Carl often serves as a taciturn, straightforward man to Homer and company, probably because of his harsh but true opinions of others. On one occasion, he makes everyone in Moe's Tavern cry and then turns to the camera, explaining: "See, this is why I don't talk much."Pygmoelian
He is Lenny's best friend, often being seen with him. He is also Homer's friend, and it was shown that Carl's willing to help Homer in several different jobs, such as when he and lenny helped Homer run the private security company SprinShield, a company created due to the police forces incompetence. 
However, Carl is also a person with a coward streak. When Fat Tony and several others criminal chiefs started to aim towards SpringShield due to making a far better job than the actual police, Carl and Lenny, fearing for their lives, literally locked themselves up in one of the station's cells, leaving Homer on his own. Aside, due to Wiggum becoming Police Chief again, this may be one of the reasons SpringShield was shut down.
===Relationship with Lenny Leonard===
There is a constant allusion to homo-eroticism in Lenny's and Carl's relationship, although no one seems to care much about it, particularly Carl. Lenny seems to deeply idolize Carl, yet Carl is usually indifferent or oblivious to the attention.
Lenny once dreamily recalled carving "Mount Carlmore", a huge bust of Carl in the side of a sandstone cliff, during "one wonderful summer". When Homer asks Lenny what Carl thought of it, Lenny replies "You know, we've never discussed it."Half-Decent Proposal
When various characters looked at the stars to "see into their souls" during a blackout in Springfield, Lenny sees an image of Carl, and Carl sees an image of himself."'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky" On another occasion, Lenny and Carl are at the Springfield Baseball Stadium, watching the Kiss Cam, and Lenny says: "Remember when we used to kiss like that, Carl? With our respective girlfriends?" Lenny once said he can't tell apart the remains of his sculpture with Carl's remarking "I don't know where Carl ends and I begin!", An irritated Carl interjects "it's stuff like this that makes everyone think we're gay.""Ice Cream of Margie (with the Light Blue Hair)"
At the same time, there have been many scenes that counter the homoerotic narrative. Carl and Lenny drunkenly suggest to a sober Barney that he will take them to the Playboy Mansion and the Girls College, respectively."The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" Although not seen by the audience, Carl claims to have a girlfriend who is having an affair with one of the VP's at the power plant to feed Carl inside information."Specs and the City" While at a football game, he mentioned planning to give his wife a ring for their anniversary."Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" Carl has been seen with a woman when he attends Homer's marriage class"Secrets of a Successful Marriage" and Homer has mentioned that Carl and Lenny have mistresses they spend time with."Team Homer" In addition, he and Lenny were clearly aroused by the female stars of Lemony Lick-It's A Series of Horny Events when they accidentally stumbled upon the filming of the film, and were also shown to be extremely willing to take up Homer's bribe of giving them roles to buy their silence to Marge, their opting to do the sex scenes with the girls and be the foul-mouth boy, respectively."The Bonfire of the Manatees" In addition, when Homer was describing a movie he saw that weekend regarding a buxom blonde (implied to be the same movie Mr. Burns held disgust over due to her being "naked as a jaybird" for half the film), Carl, alongside Lenny, acknowledged that it was "their kind of film" in bemusement, while also proceeding to oink (alluding to Mr. Burns' earlier claim of how the unwashed masses will "oink for more" regarding oversize breasts and a happy end.)."Homer Defined"
At times, Carl gets annoyed at Lenny. When Carl learns that he is paired with Lenny in a team-building exercise on a power plant retreat, his irritated response is, "Aw, nuts. [brief pause of remorse] I mean...aw, nuts." It should also be noted that earlier in that event, Carl and Lenny, shortly after a fire drill at the plant that went south and thus necessitated the team-building exercise in the first place, got into a huge fight.Mountain of Madness
At one point, when a fire was about to hit the flammable district during Springfield's massive fire, Lenny mentioned that their mother was working there, suggesting they were maternal half-siblings.
Carl and Lenny both have the long-form of their first name as their surnames: Carlson and Leonard.
===Job===
Carl works in sector 7G along with Homer and Lenny. Carl's job position over the course of the series has generally been that of a supervisor, as mentioned in "Blood Feud" and implied by Mr. Burns' high regard for him in comparison to Homer and Lenny. Carl's position may have changed throughout the course of the show however, as he was again promoted to supervisor after Ted, a previous supervisor, left."The Devil Wears Nada"
Carl played bass in Homer's band Sadgasm, which later broke up.
==Non Canon Appearances==
===Video Games===
In The Simpsons: Hit & Run, Carl appears in Level one as the boss for the mission, The Fat and the Furious.
In The Simpsons Game, Carl and Lenny are shown arguing while bird-watching, and having forgotten Lisa and Bart's names when they save Lenny and Carl from logging machinery, even though Lenny and Carl have known them in their whole lives. During a conversation in the Springfield Hub, Carl and Bernice Hibbert are hinted to have had a past relationship that Carl wants to rekindle. He also mentions in this game his support for Obama.
====Future====
In "Future-Drama", Milhouse asks him and Lenny to pull him out between two, but they claim to be ghosts and their spirits in the trees Milhouse or they are alive and jerking him around.
In "Holidays of Future Passed", he and Lenny switched brains because Lenny wanted to back together with his wife, who was sleeping with Carl at the time, but she switched with a monkey on a Japanese game show.
===The Simpsons Guy===
In "The Simpsons/Family Guy" crossover he sits next Cleveland Brown, where they assume that they are the two funny guys in their towns.
==The Guys==
Carl is also part of "The Guys", a friend group which consists of him, Lenny, Homer and Moe.
==Religion==
Carl is a Buddhist, although not a very dedicated one like Lisa (Richard Gere described Lenny and Carl's mediation practices as "way off"). He is sometimes seen in the Christian First Church of Springfield.She of Little Faith
==Behind the Laughter==
===Character origins===
In the early seasons, Carl was rarely seen with Lenny and did not have a consistent voice, but on some occasions, he can be heard with Lenny's voice and vice versa. In "Principal Charming", Carl's name is spelled "Karl"- like Karl from "Simpson and Delilah".
==Trivia==
*In "A Star Is Torn", Carl appears to be Caucasian when he is seen in the audience from behind. This might have been an animation goof.
*In the Italian dub of the show, he speaks with a Venetian accent.
*In "Principal Charming", Carl's name appears to be spelled with a "K" when Homer looks at him in his Terminator mode.
*He has a tattoo of Foghorn Leghorn on his right thigh.
*His last name is a patronymic surname. Carl's adoptive father's first name with a "son" at the end of it, which is a tradition in Iceland (patrilineality is quite rare in Iceland). It should technically be spelled "Carlsson" (with two s's) to show Carl is "Carl's son". (see Icelandic name)
*His IQ is 214, as seen in "Specs and the City".
*Carl has diabetes, which he discovered when eating Grandma Plopwell's Pudding in "They Saved Lisa's Brain".
*In The Simpsons Game, Carl predicts Obama being the U.S. President in 2009 when he and Lenny are trapped under a tree heading for a Conwear belt.
*He is right-handed. However, in "The Springfield Files", he holds a baseball bat with his left hand, trying to riot at Mr. Burns mistaken for an alien on his weekly medication treatments. 
*In "The Dad Who Knew Too Little", it's mentioned that he suffers from severe Schizophrenia.
*In "The Devil Wears Nada", it is revealed he is younger than Homer.
==Gallery==
==Appearances==
==Citations==
==See also==
*Springfield Nuclear Power Plant
*Lenny Leonard
cs:Carl Carlson
de:Carl Carlson
it:Carl Carlson
es:Carl Carlson
fr:Carl Carlson
sv:Carl Carlson
pl:Carl Carlson
pt:Carl Carlson
ru:Карл Карлсон
Category:Springfield Nuclear Power Plant employees
Category:Characters voiced by Hank Azaria
Category:Recurring characters
Category:Adults
Category:American Characters
Category:Major Characters
Category:Business Proprieters
Category:Singles
Category:Citizens of Springfield
Category:Black-Haired Characters
Category:Stonecutters
Category:Tapped Out Characters
Category:Adopted characters
Category:Left-wingers and liberals
Category:Carlson family
Category:Homer Simpson's friends
Category:Characters who swap voices
Category:Democrats
Category:Moe Szyslak's Friends
Category:Barflies
Category:Buddhists
Category:Alcoholics
Category:African-American Characters
Category:Icelandic Characters
Category:Brothers
Category:Movementarians
Category:Barney Gumble's friends
Category:Musicians
Category:NRA members
Category:Homer's workmates
Category:Bart Simpson's Friends
Category:Juniors
Category:Carl Carlson
Category:Season 1 first appearances
Category:The Simpsons Game
Category:The Simpsons Hit & Run
Category:Nerds
Category:Heroes
Category:Siblings
Category:Unlucky Characters
Category:The Guys
Category:Laymen
Category:Main Characters
Category:Recasted characters
Category:Drinkers
Category:Pot Smokers
Category:Black Characters
Category:1955 births
Category:Characters voiced by Harry Shearer
Category:Characters voiced by Alex Désert