List of Home Improvement characters
This article contains character information for the American television sitcom "Home Improvement". Taylor family. Tim Taylor. Timothy "Tim" Taylor (Tim Allen) – Tim Taylor (born October 1954) is the father of the family. Ever the know-it-all, Tim believes he has an incredibly wide knowledge of tools, electronics and general mechanics. In reality, he is highly accident-prone. He actually does have a significant amount of skill as a general handyman but can be overly confident and prone to spectacular mishaps. He often forgets a crucial step, ignores instructions, makes ill-advised modifications or comes  to inaccurate conclusions. The only exception to this ineptitude is when working on cars, at which he excels. He is left-handed but actually does a great deal of his work with his right hand. Taylor's "arch enemy", so to speak, is the real-life home improvement specialist, Bob Vila. One episode saw Tim competing against Bob Vila in a lawnmower contest for charity. Tim actually installed a jet engine on his machine-which resulted in Tim causing unintended chaos and destruction. Tim hosts a home improvement show called "Tool Time" with his co-host and friend, Al Borland . While Al is his co-host, Al constantly must remind Tim of safety regulations and practices. Tim often ignores Al's advice and this frequently results in an accident. While it is constantly mentioned that "Tool Time" is a limited local home improvement show that sits very high on the channel dial, Tool Time seems to have a very wide audience in the state of Michigan, and is progressively broadcast to more outlets across the Midwest (A season 5 episode has Tim, Al and Bud brainstorming for ideas on how to bring the show into the Chicago markets). Tim often  boasts at his popularity for hosting the show, although many people state that they like Al better. A running gag involves people encountering Tim in public and stating, "Oh, we always watch "Tool Time"...we "love" Al." To which an annoyed Tim would sarcastically reply, "Oh yeah, we "all" love Al." In later seasons, however, it is learned that Tim actually has a higher fan base than Al (except in a Season 8 episode, where Al scores higher than Tim on a popularity poll). Because of the numerous accidents in which he is involved, both on his TV show and  at home, it is a recurring joke that Tim is on a first name basis with the hospital staff and it is often suggested that Tim has special offers available to him for being a repeat customer. Another gag is that "Tool Time" fans believe his many accidents are staged, to show people what "not" to do. However, many of Tim's modified inventions work but are often too powerful, like his new ice cube dispenser, his leaf sucker machine, his gas powered wheelchair and his gas powered garbage disposal. Tim often garbles advice he heard from Wilson and/or otherwise  makes stupid remarks – although on one episode Tim stuns Jill and Wilson by putting forth sound advice of his own. Another running gag is Tim accidentally causing damage or destruction to anything he touches – such as destroying the world's smallest car or running over golf carts with a Marine Corps tank. Tim has an unhealthy obsession with Halloween and Christmas, going to extraordinary lengths to scare others and competing with "Doc Johnson" in the annual neighborhood Christmas lighting contest, which he only won once, although it was more a victory for the boys as they did the decorating while  Tim was out of town. He is also injured every year while working on the Christmas decorations. While Tim has a very good relationship with his wife, he is quick to admit defeat in any conflict they become engaged in. He also works hard to maintain healthy relationships with his three sons, although he relates more closely to Brad than Randy or Mark. Tim is occasionally chauvinistic in attitude, usually putting women down or sometimes seeing them as inferior (but he often must absorb the same insults against men from Jill). A running gag is that every time Tim says  something sexist on "Tool Time", Al holds up a sign displaying the show's mailing address (or in one episode, the phone number) for the women to send in their complaints. He also tends to mock those who are overweight, such as Al's mother or his mother-in-law (until she loses weight) and can be juvenile in attitude on many occasions. Another running gag involves Jill's distaste for his attitude, in that she says "You're pathetic" every time he goes too far. Tim is an avid fan of all the local sports teams: the Lions, the  Pistons, the Red Wings and the Tigers. Many of the plot lines involve the teams and he often wears their memorabilia. He is also a big fan of boxing, the Indy Racing League and tractor pulls. Many scenes take place in the garage during his favorite hobby, working on one of his two hot rods, one of which he built from the ground up and the other an existing vehicle that he restored. While he occasionally considers moving on professionally, Tim remains the main host of "Tool Time" until the final episode of "Home Improvement". Before he was cast on  Tool Time, he worked as a traveling tool salesman. Tim barely graduated from college but later receives an honorary Doctorate from Western Michigan University. He often voices apelike grunts in a range of tones and inflections to convey emotions for comic effect, such as confusion, irritation or pride. His mother is alive for the entire series; however, his father died when Tim was eleven years old. There has always been some disparity between how many brothers Tim has. On several occasions in the later seasons, it is mentioned that Tim has four brothers but in earlier seasons he is stated  to have five, however, seven have been mentioned by name (Marty, Jeff, Rick, John, Steve, Brian, and Danny). Marty and Jeff (& possibly others) made appearances & Steve was mentioned in multiple seasons. Tim always thinks things need "more power" and is often seen wearing sweaters from Michigan-based colleges. Tim thinks he knows everything there is to know about tools. He is also very connected to his tools even once joking that when he dies he would like to be buried with them. Tim is the only character to appear in every single episode. A close second is Jill, who only  missed the second part of the series finale (unless one counts the flashbacks shown). Tim appears in the "Last Man Standing" ninth season episode "Dual Time". It is mentioned that Tim still works with tools like he used to but did not want to do his show “Tool Time” any more and that his neighbor Wilson died. Jill Taylor. Jillian "Jill" Taylor (Patricia Richardson) – Jill (born November 1956) is Tim's wife and the mother of Brad, Randy, and Mark. Jill graduated from Adams High School (taken from an actual high school in Rochester Hills, Michigan) in 1973. Jill is  intelligent, practical, and has a dry sense of humor that doesn't often fly with her family. After she decides that her career is not fulfilling, Jill dedicates herself toward earning her master's degree in Psychology. While she is very motherly and domestic in nature, she is apparently a very bad cook, as Tim and the three boys often make remarks about her cooking. Her strong femininity is often in direct conflict with Tim's masculinity, occasionally leading her to wonder why they work as a couple. Jill comes from a strong military family, and sometimes uses her upbringing  to solve several family squabbles. Her father was a Colonel in the US Army and is referred to as such. Jill has four sisters, all of whom have appeared: Robin, Carrie, Tracy, and Linda. (A fifth sister, Katie, was briefly mentioned by Jill's mother in the season 2 episode, "Much Ado About Nana", and in the season 4 episode, "Quibbling Siblings", but never again.) She often appears overwhelmed at the fact that she is the only female in a family with three sons and no daughter. She appears closest to her youngest son, Mark, as she remarks a few  times that Mark is the only one who still has the ability to be open-minded to accept the things that Jill likes as opposed to being the typical "boy". Early on, she has a temporary job working at a magazine, and later in the series, Jill is a psychology student. She also does a significant amount of volunteer work, especially for the local library. Jill has a strong feminist side and enjoys opera, theatre, and the ballet. She occasionally tries to be interested in sports and tools but always ends up relating to her husband over his buried sensitivity . Jill also considers it her mission to get Tim, Brad, Randy, and Mark to do the right thing. Jill likes to "match-make", with mixed results, as she did set up Al with Ilene, who were together for a few seasons, and Wilson and one of her professors in another successful relationship. She also has a thing for cars – driving at different times an Austin-Healey 3000 (which Tim hates because he doesn't understand British wiring) and a cherry red Chevy Bel-Air Nomad; in two memorable episodes, Jill is furious with Tim for driving her Healey without permission  and for wrecking her Nomad. In other memorable episodes, Jill is extremely angry at Tim when he calls her an "old Hen" on TV and when she finds out he bought $4,000 worth of game tickets for the Detroit Pistons. While she had been the brunt of most of Tim's misogynistic jokes throughout the series, it was actually Jill who did one of the worst things in the show to Tim. In the twenty-fifth episode of season seven, Tim expressed interest in having a fourth child in light of what could've been perceived as a midlife  crisis. Jill went on television shortly after hearing this, stating that she was to go along with his ideas, even if they're moronic and even went as far as calling him fragile. While Tim didn't make it home in time to catch her show, he did tell her that he managed to catch her TV segment at the hardware store with his friends when she returned home. Jill then tried justifying her comments about Tim regarding his demeanor towards women, but Tim noted in response that he only mentioned Jill by name on Tool Time twice. He took  very unkindly to her backhanded comments about something that was serious and personal to him and furiously confronted her about what she said and did when she got home. Jill then realized that she was in the wrong when she re-watched her segment, seeking Wilson's advice shortly after. Brad Taylor. Bradley Michael "Brad" Taylor (Zachery Ty Bryan) – (born January 1981) is the oldest, most athletic, and strongest of the three boys, once seen throwing Randy around when they got into an argument. While all three boys are portrayed as troublemakers at one point or another, Brad gets into  the most serious trouble. He had a run-in with the police after throwing bricks at windows in an abandoned greenhouse, and was once discovered in possession of marijuana, which he admitted to smoking. On the other hand, Brad was the only Taylor son to co-host an episode of "Tool Time", and the one seen doing the most extensive work on Tim's Hot Rod, and is the son to which Tim relates to the easiest. Although he often struggled with his school work, he has extraordinary athletic ability, especially playing soccer. Throughout the series, he was offered numerous  opportunities to make a career out of soccer, including the offer to play for a professional team in England (the fictitious Birmingham Chubbs). This was rejected when his parents refused to allow him to give up college to play professional soccer. Later in the series, despite a knee injury which threatened to put an end to his athletic pursuits, he earned a college scholarship to UCLA. Brad has a prominent attraction to women, including his mild infatuation with "Tool Time"s Heidi Keppert. Brad and Tim enjoy working on classic cars. Brad got along well with Randy, especially early on in  the show. The two are often seen working together to tease Mark, attempting to cover up Brad's actions to keep him out of trouble, or just hanging out together. Brad and Mark don't share many things in common until they get older, especially in the 8th season where they develop a close bond while Randy is away in Costa Rica. Randy Taylor. Randall William "Randy" Taylor (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) – Randy (born February 8, 1982) is the middle child, ultimately the smartest of the three boys, and frequently the most mischievous and especially sarcastic troublemaker. Randy's intelligence eventually  led to him skipping ahead to advanced math and science classes, and was often the cause of sibling rivalry with Brad. Randy inherited Tim's talents as a jokester. Randy in the later seasons is noticeably a lot shorter than his brothers and his height is often made fun of by Brad. Whenever Tim was in trouble with Jill, Randy was always there with a quick remark that would almost always get him in trouble. Although initially sharing mostly the same interests as Brad and his father, throughout his adolescence Randy became very conscious about the environment and civil rights  and became a vegetarian in later seasons. He wrote for the school newspaper, where he concentrated on social and political issues, including criticizing Binford for its pollution record, which led to a fierce disagreement with Tim and Tim's boss. Unlike Brad who dated many different girls, Randy, for the most part, only dated one girl, Lauren, whom he remained with for the rest of the series. Randy is generally the most level-headed son in the family, although because he is an intelligent boy, he was also prone to arrogance, jealousy, cynicism, and sometimes a little prejudice. His father  has a tendency to dislike and mock anything he has no interest in, such as ballet and opera, and Randy inherited this attitude, which ironically puts him at odds with Tim, since Randy has no interest in cars and tools. Out of all the Taylor boys, Randy is the one with the least respect for his father. He once called his father's show "Fool Time", and compared his father to an ape. When Tim brought Brad onto "Tool Time", Randy immediately called it a stupid show and acted hateful towards Tim and Brad. During high school, he wrote a  school article that turned many adults against Tim for Binford's pollution record, threatening his father's reputation, and he bitterly disapproved of Brad's jockish article earning the paper's front page, which was usually occupied by Randy's articles. He does however mend his relationships with them after learning the error of his ways. Unlike Tim and Brad, Randy is not good with his hands and does not enjoy working on crafts or the Hot Rod. Instead, he often relates more with his mother, with whom he shares his intelligence and enjoyment of acting. In the Eighth Season  of the show, Randy leaves for Costa Rica (along with Lauren, who stayed in a nearby town), reappearing in only one episode when he came back for Christmas. On that occasion, Randy felt that so much had changed in his absence that he no longer fit in with the family, although confiding in Wilson aided his feelings. Early on in the show, Brad and Randy were portrayed as "partners in crime". While they did argue like normal brothers, they generally bonded over their mutual enjoyment of teasing Mark. As they got older, they grew apart somewhat, as Randy became more  focused on school and social issues and Brad became more focused on athletics and girls. Early on Randy and Mark generally only get along when united against Brad, though things improved somewhat as they got older. Mark Taylor. Marcus Jason "Mark" Taylor (Taran Noah Smith) – Mark (born March 1985) is the youngest and most sensitive of the three boys. He relates very closely with his mother, especially after the first season. He does not share many interests with his brothers or father, and in the early seasons was often the victim due to his naïveté of some practical joke that  Brad and Randy had thought up on the spot for him. Mark is not a troublemaker, as he doesn't possess a joking demeanor or even a hint of a mean streak. On the rare occasions that Brad or Randy include him on pranks, Mark often blows their cover by responding to someone when he is not supposed to or divulging too much information. This divulging of information not only gets Brad and Randy in trouble, but often Tim as well, especially when he is trying to keep something he said or did from Jill. During adolescence, Mark began to  adopt a more "goth" look and an anti-establishment kind of attitude, the cause of which was founded in his feelings of social isolation. While Mark's darkening demeanor worried Tim and Jill on several occasions, it never turned into anything extremely destructive, although a homemade horror movie he created was a bit more twisted than they expected. His Gothic appearance was gone by the end of the series. Mark enjoys film production and music, took karate and pilot training, and became a proficient cook. During the early seasons of the show Mark is seen in a Cub Scout uniform-"sans  badges. Mark's relationship with Brad and Randy was often adversarial, especially in early seasons as he was often the butt of their jokes, pranks and teasing. While Mark never truly bonded with Randy, in the final season Mark and Brad grew very close as the result of the dynamic of their relationship changing when Randy left for Costa Rica. Mark eventually became taller than Randy in the seventh season. Marty Taylor. Martin Marty" Taylor (William O'Leary) – Marty (born in 1964) is Tim's youngest brother by ten years. As their father died when Marty was just one year old , Tim is the closest thing he knows to a father. Marty was often picked on by his older brothers, much as Mark is by Brad and Randy. He is often seen bouncing from job to job, unable to hold a steady career. For the majority of the show's run, Marty was married to Nancy (Jensen Daggett), and they had identical twin girls, Gracie and Claire. Marty and Nancy separated in season 8. He has his share of sarcastic quips, and can be just as clueless as Tim. Jeff Taylor. Jeffrey "Jeff" Taylor (Thom Sharp) – Jeff is Tim and Marty 's oldest brother (exact age unspecified). He is extremely frugal and suffers from male-pattern baldness, both of which make him a frequent target of Tim's jokes. Like Marty, Jeff has trouble maintaining a steady job. It is mentioned that he has made a number of bad business ventures (such as a drive-thru pet store), was divorced twice, and didn't finish college (as mentioned by Jill's sister in one episode). Jeff eventually makes an investment in Tim's hardware store. Friends of the family. Al Borland. Albert E. "Al" Borland (Richard Karn) – A master plumber and  licensed contractor, Al is Tim's un-hip co-host on the show-within-a-show "Tool Time" and best friend. His personality is an exact opposite of Tim's – he is reserved, quiet, does not show much enthusiasm and has a wide array of professional knowledge concerning tools. Al made frequent suggestions that he should be the host of "Tool Time" instead of Tim. Al does not make as much money as Tim; in fact it is implied that his salary is not very big at all. In the episode, "Brothers and Sisters", Al says that he gets a  very small paycheck. In the episode, "Fifth Anniversary", it is revealed that a big reason why Al was chosen to be Tim's assistant was because Al was the only assistant applicant that was willing to work for the salary that was offered. Al could be characterized as a "mama's boy"; he spent a great deal of time attempting to please his mother Alma – who was severely overweight (though she was never seen). She died from a heart attack near the end of the series after Al asked her permission to marry Trudy. His father was almost 60 when  Al was born. Al was engaged to an orthodontist named Ilene for a time, but they ended up calling off the wedding. He also dated Greta Post who appeared a few times in the series. In a later season, Al met a wealthy exterminator named Trudy. They hit it off and were married on the show's final episode. Al might have been based on Norm Abram of "This Old House" because of the resemblance (flannel shirts, beard, portly, etc.) and the fact that Al does all the "real work" on the "Tool Time" show (much like Norm did on  This Old House). In the episode "No, No, Gadot", Tim and Al were arrested for scalping hockey tickets. In a holding cell, an inmate named George approached them and asked if they were "the guys from that TV tool show", and Tim responded with "why, yes, I'm Bob Vila, and this is Norm". Al has a big brother named Cal who is a physicist, and unlike most male siblings, they had never gotten into a physical fight. Instead, they usually settled their disputes over a cup of tea. In a flashback episode of the "Tool Time" premiere, Al was  noted to be a Pisces and had a clean-shaven face, while Tim had a beard. Al has his own fan club. Like Tim, Al is left-handed and his favorite board games are Parcheesi, Chinese Checkers, Scrabble and Bingo. His favorite movie is "My Fair Lady". One episode had a pet of Al's, a turtle named "Scooter," which Tim accidentally dropped in cement. With his dry wit, Al serves as the show's (both "Tool Time" and "Home Improvement") straight-forward, practical man to the wackier, more outgoing Tim. Beginning at the end of the fifth season, Al  invented a second source of income for himself by inventing a board game based on "Tool Time", which features Tim, Al and Heidi as playable characters. Family, fashion sense, and career. Borland is slightly overweight, and almost always seen wearing flannel, which Tim cracks jokes about consistently. The reason he always wears flannel came from his father, who, when asking young Al to assist in their own various home projects, would put his old flannels on Al to keep him clean or warm. Al wears flannel as a tribute to him after he died. Tim also often pokes fun at  Al's mother, Alma Borland, who is never seen (except her hand and forearm, in season 8), but is apparently severely overweight. In one of the later episodes, Al announces to his mother he is getting married. Immediately afterwards, she screams, passes out, and dies (she was holding a breadstick, which was all that was seen). When hearing the news, the breadstick shook violently and fell over. The coffin, shown at her funeral, is double-wide to keep the humorous tone. Al also has a brother, Cal, who looks and dresses almost exactly like him, though he is a physicist  ("Sisters and Brothers"). In the episode commentaries featured on the Season 1 DVD Set, the executive producers reveal that "Cal" was a fan from Texas who sent his photo in a fan letter. Upon seeing his resemblance to Al, the producers brought him in to be Al's brother, Cal. When Al was younger, he took fencing in school and served in the Navy as a Lt (j.g.) with the Seabees, and although he wanted to see the world, he was stationed in Fallon, Nevada (In the episode where Al mentions this, he uses the shibboleth pronunciationof "Nevada", pronouncing as  a native would: Nev-ADD-ah rather than Nev-ODD-ah. This is uncommon for an outsider, especially someone living in the midwest). After finishing his military service, Al was a construction crane operator (AFL–CIO Local 324), then apparently got certified as a master plumber and carpenter before getting the job on "Tool Time". Al drives a 1984 Mercury Colony Park station wagon (mistakenly identified as a Mercury Marquis wagon on the series) which his mother passed down to him, and has put much time and effort into preserving the vehicle. While Al has similar interests such as cars , he has some rather odd interests, such as being able to deduce different types of wood by smell rather than appearance or texture. Al gets along well with Tim's sons. However, just like Tim, Al has faced problems and needed to seek the advice of Wilson. Outside of his job, Al has made investments such as becoming part owner of Harry's Hardware and marketing a successful board game based on "Tool Time", the object of which is to avoid hospitalization. Al's beard. Al's beard is also a constant joke by Tim. In one episode where "Tool  Time" is celebrating their fifth anniversary show, Al is shown in the first ever episode of "Tool Time" clean shaven, while Tim has a beard. Al's knowledge of tools and home improvement. He generally knows what he is doing more than Tim, and he seems to have a better knowledge of tools and home improvement than Tim. In the first episode of "Tool Time", he was described as a "master plumber" by Tim Taylor. He also is very serious about his job, unlike Tim, who often jokes and messes up the project. Al often speaks fondly of his time  as a U.S. Navy Seabee. Although Tim is the one who messes up most of the projects on "Tool Time", Al is often the one who is blamed for the mishap, or is injured by the mishap. On rare occasions Al would cause a mishap of his own, but these were more due to overcalculating than Tim's attitude of "more power". Despite this, Tim and Al are good friends offstage, and Al often helps out, either by helping with home projects, or by watching his children. Romantic relationships. Throughout the series, Al has had four different sweethearts. In season  one, Al went out with Greta Post, whom he met while she was volunteering to help out during a "Tool Time" show. Al then showed an interest in Jill's friend Karen, but when he learned she was seeing another gentleman, Al took it well and rebounded. He almost went out with Tim's ex-girlfriend Stacey Lewis, however, he wasn't interested in her as much as he thought. From seasons three through five, Al went out with Dr. Ilene Markham, an orthodontist who was the sister of one of Jill's co-workers. They got engaged, but they  decided at the wedding to part ways. Al met a woman named Trudy in season seven and married her in the finale episode in 1999. Dr. Wilson Wilson, Jr.. Dr. Wilson W. Wilson, Jr. (Earl Hindman) – Tim's neighbor and confidant. As a child, his parents did not allow him to speak to his neighbors, so he really likes talking to Tim and Jill. Wilson serves as an all-wise sage in the show, doling out advice to the Taylor family and seemingly always knowing just what to say to solve a problem. While most of his appearances were to  help the Taylors, on seldom occasion someone who was in the extended family, or a nonmember, such as Al, would seek out Wilson's advice. He has traveled the globe and learned much from virtually every culture in existence. He has a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies, studying "extinct languages and forgotten cultures". His house is full of artifacts along with a pet myna bird named Mozart who appeared infrequently. Wilson was married at one point, but his wife Catherine died long before the series begins (in a November 1994 episode, Wilson revealed that month would have marked his and Catherine 's 25th anniversary). At first it was unclear whether "Wilson" was his first name or last, but his full name is revealed as Wilson Wilson Wilson, Jr. In Season 6, it is revealed that his cousins are the Wilsons of The Beach Boys. He has a grown niece named Willow Wilson (China Kantner), who appeared regularly in the seventh season when she moved in with him for a while. His usual greetings are "Well, hi-dee-ho ..." or "Hi ho, there neighbor" or "good neighbor" when greeting Tim, "neighborette" when greeting Jill, and "Taylor lad(s)" when greeting the Taylor boys . A visual gag is that throughout the entire series Wilson's face is never shown in its entirety, originally (and most commonly) with the bottom half obscured by the tall privacy fence that separates the neighbors' yards; this was based on how Tim Allen saw a next-door neighbor when he was growing up. This gag is extended over the course of the series with other objects (or a beard) obscuring the bottom of his face, or the bottom half showing but the top obscured (such as by a mask), or his full face shown but covered by paint. The  audience finally sees Earl Hindman's full face unobscured in the series finale's curtain call. Wilson was mentioned in the "Last Man Standing" episode "Dual Time" having since passed away. Lisa. Lisa (Pamela Anderson) – Binford's first "Tool Girl." A secondary cast member on "Tool Time", Lisa's job was to introduce Tim and Al and to hand them any tool they requested. When Pamela Anderson chose to leave "Home Improvement" to pursue a role on the syndicated series "Baywatch", she was written out of the series after the second season; it was stated that Lisa was training to  be a paramedic. Lisa returns for a guest appearance four years later, having become fully qualified; and applies for (and gets) a job at Detroit Memorial Hospital . Heidi Keppert. Heidi Keppert (Debbe Dunning) – The second "Tool Girl" (beginning in season 3, series regular in seasons 7–8) and a master electrician. Initially, the character was seen only in and around the "Tool Time" set. In later seasons, her personal life increasingly crossed paths with Tim and Al. She gave birth to a daughter (Amy) and suffered marital problems during the show's run. In season 8 episode 24 (Dead Weight), Heidi  reveals to Tim that her breasts twitch when she is nervous. In the last episode of the series, Heidi revealed she was pregnant for a second time. Despite her credentials, Heidi was also "eye candy" for the male audience on "Tool Time", as the outfits she wore typically showed off her figure, particularly her legs and ample cleavage; Tim speculated that many men came to the show just to see Heidi. It is revealed in multiple episodes that Tim's son, Brad, has a crush on her. In seasons seven and eight, Dunning's role on "Tool Time" became such  that she was eventually given main cast billing in the opening credits. Harry Turner. Harry Turner (Blake Clark) – Owner of "Harry's Hardware", where Tim spends a great deal of his time and money, and in which Al eventually became part owner. He is one of Tim and Al's buddies. He is not-so-happily married to his wife Delores (Shirley Prestia), and the couple incessantly bad-mouth one another behind their respective backs, as well as occasionally to each other's face. Harry has four sons, including Dennis (David DeLuise), with whom he has a somewhat rocky relationship , but they reconciled. In one episode Harry tells Tim that he has gotten a vasectomy. In another episode, he suffered a heart attack while mentioning his service in the United States Marine Corps in the Vietnam War (Blake Clark actually served in Vietnam as an Army officer). Benny Baroni. Benny Baroni (Jimmy Labriola) – One of Tim's buddies who hangs out at the hardware store. Benny is a bit of a slacker and notoriously known as a freeloader – his trademark being drinking coffee and eating donuts. Benny has not had a job in years, mainly because he doesn't like  to work. He makes money by gambling and betting on horse races. On one episode ("A House Divided", Season 4.18) While the "Tool Time" crew is fixing up Benny's aunt's house, the structure is blown up due to Benny's negligence and is "not" Tim's fault; furthermore when Tim and his family are moving furniture back into the twice repaired Benny's aunt house, Benny, rather than helping out, lies back on a lawn chair to watch the others do the work. He is also known for being inconsiderate of others; at one point, he even ate  at a soup kitchen regularly to avoid paying for meals. One episode ("The Look", Season 5.07) Tim was selling season Pistons tickets (Tim had 2 tickets for each game and each pair cost $100) and Benny not able or willing to buy any of the tickets kept offering to go to the games with the people who were buying them, even people he didn't even know, so he could go to the games without paying for a ticket. Ironically in a rare instance of performing earnest work, Benny once appeared on an episode of "Tool Time" for "Tim  and Al's Fantasy Kitchen", where he was shown cutting meat inside a walk-in freezer.