Dr. Julius Hibbert

**Sons:** Dr. Hibbert's First Son, Dr. Hibbert's Second Son, Dr. Hibbert's Third Son
**Daughters** Dr. Hibbert's First Daughter
Dr. Hibbert's Second Daughter

### Voiced by

Harry Shearers

**Dr. Julius Murphy Hibbert, M.D.**, better known as **Dr. Hibbert**, is Springfield's most prominent and competent doctor, though he sometimes makes no effort to hide or make light of his high prices. Hibbert is very good-natured, and is known for finding a reason to laugh at nearly every situation. He is often assisted by Dr. Nick Riviera.

## Biography

Dr. Hibbert is the Simpson's kind-hearted family doctor, a genius, a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Mensa member. As an undergraduate, it is inferred that he was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. Hibbert is noticeably less dysfunctional than just about everyone else, though he does have a bizarre tendency to chuckle at inappropriate moments. He also gives questionable solutions to certain medical problems. For example, when Maggie saved Homer from drowning, he replied to Marge's question about how a baby can save the life of a full-grown man, saying "It's very simple. When an adult's life is in danger, a child can summon superhuman strength!"[1] When Homer challenged Red Barclay to eat the "Sir Loins-A-Lot" steak in a contest, Marge feared that Homer might choke on a part of the steak, while Dr. Hibbert claimed that since being 12% owner of The Slaughterhouse (the restaurant they were eating at), his dietary advice suggests "the occasional eating contest". However, when Red dies from "beef poisoning", he attributes the cause to another restaurant.[2] He also runs Dr. Julius Hibbert, M.D. Family Practice to which he showed Lisa a video about DNA.[3]

   There are hints that Dr. Hibbert is not above dubious medical practices either. After Marge talks him out of buying an unsuitable house, he tells her if she ever need a prescription, "no questions asked..." On another occasion, he buys one of Bart's T-Shirts with the legend "DO NOT RESUSCITATE" remarking that it could get him out of some sticky situations. When he realized that Marge was initially unenthusiastic about having a third child, he implied that a healthy baby could bring in as much as $60,000 on the black market. Hibbert covered for himself against Marge's horrified reaction by saying that if she had replied any other way, she would be sent to prison, claiming that it was "just a test".[4] In addition, Dr. Hibbert often has problems of what he should say to the patients, sometimes making the situation seem far worse than it actually was. A notable instance is when, after Bart was injured from a pool-dive gone awry, he told Bart "I'm sorry, but that leg's gonna have to come off", implying that Bart's broken leg will need to be amputated, only for him to correct himself and state that his wet bathing suit has to come off.[5]

Despite his seemingly honest and good-hearted personality, there is evidence that he is, at heart, a committed mercenary. Hibbert announces to Homer that his heart operation will cost $30,000. When Homer has a heart attack in front of him in response to this news, he says, unmoved, "I'm afraid it's now $40,000" (hinting that instead of a triple bypass, it became a quadruple bypass).[6] After Homer's baby-proofing business eliminates child injuries in Springfield, Hibbert is seen holding a cooing infant and complaining that there are not any scratches on him, and he has got boat payments.[7] Hibbert is once shown as running an "H.M.O" ("Hibbert's Money-Making Organization").[8] He has also been interviewed on television sporting a baseball cap and chain blatantly advertising the wares of pharmaceutical companies. The "interview" ends with him joining in a choreographed raunchy dance routine with several attractive female dancers promoting Pfizer products.[9] He is a committed Republican and attends Springfield's Republican meetings alongside Mr. Burns and Rainier Wolfcastle.[10] Hibbert also freely wears fur coats, believing that while fur itself may not be murder, "paying for it sure is!"[11]

While Hibbert is usually competent and responsible, it was once suggested that he did not have a legal license in medicine, since when Lisa was going to say who has been practicing medicine without a license (who is actually Homer), Hibbert tugs his collar nervously.[12] In addition, he once tricked Homer into signing a malpractice waiver, after his medication caused Bart to lose his hearing, by making him "test out his signature" on the waiver.[13] It has also been strongly hinted that his habit of inappropriate laughter at times is the result of a current morphine addiction.[14]

There is some evidence of serious incompetence on the part of Doctor Hibbert. It is once revealed that the reason the crayon in Homer's brain was never discovered was because he covered up the crayon with his thumb, thereby suggesting he was not even looking at Homer's x-rays before picking them up.[15] Also, Doctor Hibbert once checks Sideshow Bob's pulse before pronouncing him dead, then he throws Bob's hand away because he is touching a dead person.[16] There were also instances where he came up with creative solutions to get his patients to undergo medical treatment, only for it to backfire horribly. A notable instance is where he had various townspeople disguise themselves as him to tail Bart so he could give him a Flu Shot, but ended up as a consequence banned from the library for a very lewd action that Moe Szyslak did while acting as one of his doubles.

His hairstyle has varied over the years (Afro, dreadlocks, Mr. T-style Mohawk, etc.), appropriate for the time period. At least one of Hibbert's cars is a green Mercedes-Benz G500,[17] he also had a silver Volvo 850 sedan,[18] and he once mentioned his Porsche keys.[19] He was seen muttering angrily over a "rusty tailgate" on a generic-looking station wagon.[20] His hobbies include Judo.[21]

He and his family live next to the Wiggum family.[22]

Dr. Hibbert supposedly attended Johns Hopkins University, and evidence indicates he was probably born in Alabama. To pay for medical college, he performed as a male stripper under the pseudonym "Malcolm Sex", claiming he would "satisfy the ladies by any means necessary". He has since been seen running an adult education class in "How to Strip for Your Wife", which Homer briefly attended.[23]

### Personality

Hibbert is recognized by his deep, bombastic voice and signature jovial chuckle, usually at inappropriate times such as delivering bad news to a patient. Whilst most doctors are supposed to empathetic and serious, Hibbert finds mostly everything to be funny. However, there have been a few instances where even Hibbert himself didn't find something to be funny. For example when he was given a T-Shirt at a speedway racetrack and was unamused after reading the fine print, amazing his wife who noticed he usually laughed at everything. Also, when he expelled Homer from his male stripping class, Homer asked if he was going to chuckle but Hibbert replied in a serious tone "there's nothing to chuckle about".

Hibbert's practices are usually sought out by the rest of Springfield's citizens as he is one of the few licensed and experienced doctors in the town but until recently some have found his medical advice and Hibbert himself to be dubious. His suggestion to cut off Homer's other thumb when his right one was severed to gain symmetry on nth hands led Marge to believe that Hibbert was "losing it".

His ambiguity in medical practices is also displayed by how he constantly assures that his patients are well-funded before he helps them, rather in backhand or sneaky ways such as telling an unenthusiastic Marge about her third baby that it will cost 60,000 dollars to raise a healthy child and judges her next action to treat with her based on her reaction to this news, claiming she would be in jail if it went differently. He was also prepared to suck Marge through a tube from his ceiling if she didn't have insurance and when Homer had a heart attack following the news that his quadruple bypass will cost 30,000 dollars, raised it to 40,000 after the heart attack. Hibbert is willing to use backhand tactics to make sure he is not sued when his medical duplicity catches up with him such as tricking Homer into signing a form that absolves him of consequence for Bart going deaf, after Hibbert had ruthlessly hunted him down to inoculate him in the first place and when he sneakily validated Marge's parking so he could not be sued for submitting the sane Homer to electro-shock therapy.

He has two brothers, both of them long-lost from birth, Hermano Hibbert who was the head of Shelbyville orphanage and Bleeding Gums Murphy who ironically met with each other in hospital and described themselves but failed to realize the connection

### Family

Dr. Hibbert is married; he and his wife Bernice have five children, three sons and two daughters. They have never been named in the series. When his entire family is seen together, they appear to be similar to *The Cosby Show*,. His marriage seems to have some problems according to some moments together, such as being filmed by the "Kiss cam" at the stadium and Hibbert saying they don't like public relations. Also, there are hints that, at the very least, he was unfaithful to his wife, as Dr. Hibbert once hosted, or at the very least participated in, a Key party, where it is implied that he was paired up with Luann Van Houten, and attempted to get a departing Homer and Marge to stay by saying "Come on, you're missing all the sex!"[24]

It is implied that he and Bleeding Gums Murphy are long-lost half-brothers; Hibbert says he has a long-lost brother who is a jazz musician, and Murphy says he has a brother who is a doctor that chuckles at inappropriate times, but somehow the two don't put these clues together.[25] Hibbert also bears a striking resemblance to the director of the Shelbyville orphanage, who mentions a personal quest to find his long-lost twin to an indifferent Homer.[26]

He owns a poodle called Rosa Barks who was impregnated by Santa's Little Helper. Unhappy with a litter of greyhound/poodle puppies, Dr. Hibbert leaves the puppies in the care of the Simpsons. Lisa and Bart distribute the puppies around Springfield. The known recipients of the puppies were Krusty, Snake and Groundskeeper Willie.[27]