The Simpsons: 10 Best Nameless Characters
5. Southern Cracker Manager
Kirk van Houten has come to represent a particular brand of failure in The Simpsons.
A deadbeat through and through, his downward spiral into not-so-glamorous bachelorism begins in the episode “A Milhouse Divided."
Not only does Kirk get divorced and quickly replaced by a hunkier man, he is ungraciously fired from his job at the cracker factory in a scene as hilarious as it is brutal.
The Southern Cracker manager coldly states that “crackers are a family food, happy families”, and that "maybe single people eat crackers, maybe they don't. Frankly, I don't want to to know."
As such, the now unmarried Kirk does not fit in with the company image and must be let go.
The manager, with his eyes obscured behind huge, blank spectacles, and his voice a flabby monotone, make him the perfect personification for an uncaring corporate entity. It's a ridiculous scene, but it still conveys the taboo that surrounds divorce in many societies.
As if it couldn't get any worse, the manager even delivers Kirk a final sucker punch - “I don’t recall saying good luck.”
Ouch.