Toward the end of its 35th season, “ The Simpsons ” made a move that rankled some fans: It killed a longtime resident of Springfield. Larry the Barfly died in Moe’s Tavern, where he’s been a mostly wordless mainstay since the 1989 pilot. Even longtime “Simpsons” fans would be forgiven for never learning Larry’s name –– Homer and the other Moe’s regulars certainly didn’t know anything else about their drinking buddy, as was made mournfully clear at Larry’s poorly attended funeral.
Top entertainment headlines, all in one place Follow CTV News on TikTok for the stories that matter to you And though Larry made little-to-no impact on Homer and his family over 35 seasons, “The Simpsons” gave him a moving sendoff anyway and even a reason for being. In death, he brings the men of Moe’s together outside of the bar to reaffirm that they do, in fact, like each other — even when they’re not drunk on Duff. After a winding journey to scatter Larry’s ashes at a waterfall they assume he liked (they barely spoke to the man, after all) and narrowly escaping jewel thieves and a fall off of a cliff, the men return Larry’s urn to the place they’re sure he loved: Moe’s.
“How many people were thinking, ‘I like Larry the Barfly,’ before the episode aired? I would say under 10,” said Matt Selman, sardonic showrunner of “The Simpsons,” in an interview with CNN. “But I guess it’s a testament to the episode that after we killed him, people discov.