The lovable idiot is my favorite character trope, and it's been pointed out that my favorite character in most of my favorite comedies is the stupidest one. So, for this blog, I came up with a list of 10 characters whose most defining trait is that they are very stupid, and who are inherently lovable. To rank them, I rated them both on idiocy and loveability and averaged the scores. And now, without further ado, we shall begin Mandie's countdown to THE MOST LOVEABLE MOST IDIOT TV CHARACTER OF ALL TIME (based on shows that I watch and could think of off the top of my head).
10. Reese Wilkerson - Malcolm in the Middle
You'll notice I gave Reese a last name, while it's a what-state-do-the-Simpsons-live-in running joke on this show that the family doesn't have a last name. In the series finale, when they announce Malcolm at graduation, there's some mic feedback over his last name. However, apparently in an early season, Francis showed a badge or name tag or something that showed his last name as Wilkerson. I didn't catch that, the writers probably thought no one did, but there is the internet, so canonically the family's last name is Wilkerson.
Dumbest Act of Reese
Reese is constantly putting himself and others in peril with his stupidity. He purposely sunburnt his entire (yes, entire) body, hoping he could peel the skin off in one piece and this would somehow help him achieve immortality. He got in a prank war with Malcolm that ended with him being in a body cast. He's destroyed a stained glass window and set an RV on fire. His greatest accomplishment was joining a local pack of stray dogs and working his way up to alpha status.
The best display of Reese's stupidity, though, is the episode where Dewey is about to take an intelligence test. Malcolm is afraid Dewey is a genius, and doesn't want his little brother's social status ruined by being put in advanced classes (well, that's what he said, I think he just couldn't handle another genius in the family), so he has Reese take the test for Dewey. This results in Dewey being put in a remedial class/sweatshop. Reese is so stupid that he failed an intelligence test designed for someone five years younger than him.
I mean, it's not unprecedented. There's also an episode where Lois is praising some doodles that she believes toddler Jamie did, and then Reese walks by and grabs it, saying, "Oh, you found my homework."
Smartest Act of Reese
It only comes up in a few episodes, but Reese is a culinary genius. The episode where they discover his genius, though, brings me to why he ranked so low in my loveable idiot list, despite his stupidity. He doesn't rank very high on the loveable scale.
When Reese enters a cooking competition, he sabotages all the other contestants' entries. Hal tries to have a talk with him afterwards, as he shows no guilt whatsoever.
Hal: How would you feel if you were that woman whose dish you ruined?
Reese: Fat?
Hal: Do you not have any empathy?
Reese: What's empathy?
Hal: It's where when someone else feels bad, you feel bad too.
Reese: Then why would anyone want empathy?
Why We Love Reese
So we've established he's a destructive sociopath, so why do we love Reese? We love him because he's arguably the funniest character on a funny show. Justin Berfield plays the role in a way that's wide-eyed and innocent rather than menacing. And you kind of have to root for someone who has no real friends, is completely inept with girls, and is the stupidest member of a family of very smart sons. We want to root for the underdog. And speaking of dogs ...
9. Jerry Smith - Rick and Morty
Oh. When I started writing that sentence, I thought Mr. Peanutbutter was next. That would have been a good transition. You can skip to #8 to experience the power of the great transition I wrote.
But, yeah, Jerry is not QUITE as dumb or QUITE as loveable as my following entries.
Dumbest Act of Jerry
Like Reese, Jerry is the dumbest member of his family, dumber even than Morty. This leads him to be deeply insecure and easily manipulated.
This is nowhere more evident than in the episode where Rick, Morty, and Jerry are placed in a very obvious alien-generated simulation with the end goal of getting the formula for concentrated dark matter. Even though the other characters are speaking stiffly in monotones, and the radio is playing "human music," Jerry thinks nothing is amiss. He goes to pitch his first ad campaign, which is "Hungry for Apples?" (a ripoff of "Got Milk?") and doesn't notice that the only sentences everyone he encounters are saying are "Yes," "Looks good," and "My man." He's so excited he thinks he sold a pitch that he goes home to make love to his wife, which he somehow doesn't realize is an immobile computer simulation.
This won't even be the last time Jerry is accidentally brought along on an adventure and made perfectly content by an obviously fake version of his wife. In a later episode, they have to drop Jerry off at a "Jerry Day Care" when they realize he stowed away in Rick's spaceship. The multiverse Jerrys in the day care are placated by a giant Beth puppet that says things like "I love you, Jerry" and lets him use the remote control.
Anyway, back to the simulation episode. After having sim sex (I believe it was called "Woohoo" in the game "The Sims,"), Jerry has a conversation with his flickering simulated boss, only capable of saying "Yes" with the exact same inflection, that leads him to believe he has won a major advertising award.
Jerry is shattered to find that the most meaningful day of his life was a simulation, but he still tries to pitch "Hungry for Apples?" after returning to real life. He's immediately fired.
Smartest Act of Jerry
While Jerry is frequently unemployed, his wife is a horse surgeon. One day, Jerry and Beth hit a deer. Beth is determined to save the deer, but it turns out the deer had just been shot by a hunter who claims the deer is his property. When Beth is mocked that she probably couldn't save the deer anyway, Jerry sees that she is about to snap.
But then who should show up but the Cervine Institute, who will transport the deer across state lines so it can be operated on by the best deer surgeon in the country. Beth's ego is bruised as they give up and drive home, but Jerry has a surprise. The Cervine Institute were buddies of Jerry, and Beth is going to perform the surgery herself. It's one of the smartest things Jerry has ever done, and as someone who thrives when someone strokes his ego, no matter how improbable the circumstances are (see: "Hungry for Apples"), you can see how he would be so sensitive to how fragile his wife's ego is, as well.
Why We Love Jerry
Jerry is the everyman on this show. He was plunged into chaos when his wife's absentee father showed up and started involving the family in his sci-fi adventures, and he knows he's a dummy and doesn't have a leg to stand on. At one point, he asks Rick to have pity on the dummies of the universe.
That said, Jerry doesn't do a whole lot to help with most situations. Granted, when he tries to, it never goes very well. And, because he gets tossed too few bones, he tends to become an egomaniac at the cost of common sense and even his own family when it does happen. For example, in one episode during the season where Beth and Jerry are separated, Jerry dates a sexy alien bounty hunter. He wants to break up with her, but tells her that it was his kids' idea that they break up, putting their lives in danger.
Still, Jerry ... tries He's relatable. And that's why we're happy when he does get tossed a bone. Speaking of which
8. Mr. Peanutbutter - BoJack Horseman
Doggy doggy what now?
Dumbest Act of Mr. Peanutbutter
Most of the characters on BoJack are people, or people who look like animals. For example, Princess Carolyn is a cat, but she doesn't really have any feline mannerisms and her species rarely comes into play. Mr. Peanutbutter, however, is pretty much half dog, despite his sculpted abs and V-neck T's. He growls at his own reflection, thinking it's another dog. He has to wear a cone after going to the doctor. He hasn't been this nervous since that time Diane was vacuuming on the Fourth of July and he had to take a bath and there was a stranger in their yard.
It's hard to nail down Mr. Peanutbutter's dumbest act. A lot of the stupid things he does can be attributed to the fact his brain seems to be half dog, but he also goes in on a lot of really stupid business ventures (often in collaboration with a character I'll cover later) and is incredibly bad at reading people. All his relationships fail, and it's not because he doesn't listen, it's because he misinterprets everything. All the women he dates are smarter than he is. I mean, everyone is smarter than he is.
But perhaps what takes the cake is when Mr. Peanutbutter is running for governor and decides that the race for governor will be decided by a literal race ... a ski race. And he neglected to remember that he doesn't know how to ski.
Mr. Peanutbutter literally stumbled into superstardom when he accidentally walked in on a live taping of a 90's sitcom and the studio audience liked him more than they liked the actors on the show. So, it makes sense he would think he could stumble into politics, even though he has no opinions on things like fracking and gun control and doesn't really even know what they are, but will go along with anything if people will tell him he's a good boy.
Smartest Act of Mr. Peanutbutter
Man, the things I thought I would be writing about when I pursued an advanced degree in English. But anyway! The smartest act of Mr. Peanutbutter is his ability to be an incredibly supportive friend when it counts. And I'm going to specifically call out his actions in the season 4 episode "Stupid Piece of ****."
BoJack has been going through a difficult family situation that results in him throwing his senile mother's beloved doll out the window, running out on his family, and drunkenly stumbling into Mr. Peanutbutter's home, which is currently campaign headquarters. Mr. Peanutbutter gives his staff the day off because BoJack clearly needs a friend day, and takes over the task of getting the doll back and mending things with BoJack's family.
When BoJack expresses fears he will "BoJack things up" and how he can't stop thinking about the stupid things he's done, Mr. Peanutbutter tells him, "Well, if by BoJack things up, you mean, showing up and being the life of the party and then having a laugh with your good friend Mr. Peanutbutter ..."
The thing is, BoJack is a TERRIBLE friend to Mr. Peanutbutter. For the entire first season, he was aggressively trying to steal Mr. Peanutbutter's girlfriend Diane.
When BoJack says he doesn't know if he deserves to be loved, Mr. Peanutbutter says, "I don't know anything about balancing a state budget or how a bill becomes a law. I don't know a lot of things. But I do know this. Everybody deserves to be loved."
It's what BoJack needed to hear, it's what a lot of us do, and it's one of the most touching scenes in the entire series.
Why We Love Mr. Peanutbutter
Dogs are man's best friend, and Mr. Peanutbutter is everyone's best friend. He's constantly enthusiastic and optimistic, even when dealing with things way out of his depth. He'll join any passion project any of his friends are working on and try his very best at it.
Really, this is a character who wants to love everyone and wants everyone to love him, for better or worse. The worst thing he did, other than a fracking disaster that killed multiple people or potentially endangering the entire state of California, was cheating on his girlfriend Pickles with his ex Diane. And then handling the situation in the worst way possible. Hence the ding on his loveability rating. And hence why he rates lower than
7. Terry Opposites - Solar Opposites
Dumbest Act of Terry
Terry escaped a planet that was hit by a meteor because he pretended to be the Pupa expert. He knows absolutely nothing about the Pupa and is constantly asking other members of his crew, "Well, am I supposed to be the Pupa expert around here? ... Oh, right."
However, this cold open might be his dumbest moment.
Terry, like the next entry on this list, is barely literate, but he is an alien, so he gets a pass. That's why when he was trying to turn his friend's fiancee into a cool girl using the "Rad Awesome Terrific Ray," he ended up turning her into a rat, but he gets a pass on that too because that's pretty misleading. And that time he got the whole family hopelessly lost in the woods trying to drive the kids to camp, he also gets a pass on that, because he'd had a couple tiki drinks.
Okay, Terry does a lot of dumb stuff. But we love him.
Smartest Act of Terry
In the episode "The Lake House Device," Korvo discovers a way to deliver letters to Terry from the future and uses it to manipulate Terry into becoming smarter and more productive. However, he eventually breaks Terry, turning him from our favorite loveable idiot on the show into a homicidal maniac.
Terry then, of course, kills the entire family and goes on to live a long, full life, including an Up-style married-and-then-wife-dies montage. But then, he does something incredibly brilliant and sends Korvo a letter that will arrive exactly before he was broken, stating, "If you're ever being chased by a very handsome homicidal maniac, TURN LEFT." Bringing the family back to life in that reality.
I mean, he also uses a word-of-the-day calendar to attempt to become literate, and he has pretty clever T-shirts, but in my mind this is the smartest thing Terry has ever done.
Why We Love Terry
I mean, Terry's done some not great stuff. He pretended to be something he wasn't in order to escape a doomed planet, but, hey, he got away with it. He conspired with Korvo on how to kill the kids when they found out summer break existed and they just couldn't deal with them being home all summer. But, he's not evil, he's just, well, dumb, and never really thinks too far ahead of the current moment. He's constantly smiling, and he's always down to party. And, for a guy whose entire planet was destroyed by an asteroid, he has zero emotional baggage. Unlike my next entry ...
6. Charlie Kelly - It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
It's time to talk about Charlie! But that's fine, because he won't realize that we're talking about him. And in case you were wondering, the way he expresses his "wild card" persona ends up being cutting the brakes in a van full of gasoline.
Dumbest Act of Charlie
Well, where do we start. He eats chalk and drinks paint, though his favorite food is milk steak. He believes in ghouls, leprechauns, and the Nightman. He gets stung by a copious amount of hornets when he tries to suck honey out of a hornet's nest. But possibly the most common joke about Charlie is that he is illiterate. And that leads me to possibly the dumbest thing Charlie has ever done. When the gang is hosting a dance competition at their bar, Charlie puts the prize for winning the contest as "Paddy's Pub." He thought that he was saying he had "pride" in Paddy's Pub, and he almost cost everyone their livelihoods.
It's not the only time his illiteracy has hurt business at the bar. In one episode, we find out he'd been putting a "Closed" sign up every day because he thought it said "Coors" and wanted to advertise the delicious beer they had.
Smartest Act of Charlie
Charlie is a janitor, and you wouldn't think he'd be a very good one, because he lives in squalor with Frank, in a studio apartment where he pees in a bucket and has eight cats that sleep in his sink, and also because the bar is constantly infested with vermin. There's the aforementioned hornet's nest, there are the silverfish, and Charlie's job seems to consist mainly of bashing rats.
Except for one day a year. The annual health inspection, which is Charlie's time to shine. And you find out that not only does he know his **** as a janitor, but him springing into action last minute is the only reason this bar hasn't been shut down. The episode "Charlie Work" is an amazing showcase for Charlie Day as it's essentially a half-hour monologue as he runs around the bar ensuring everything is up to par and distracting the inspector from things that aren't. The rest of the gang doesn't seem too concerned, because, hey, they always pass the health inspection. But, who's doing all the work?
Why We Love Charlie
So ... the reason Charlie ranks in the bottom half here, despite being the third stupidest person on my list, is that ... there are a lot of not so loveable things he does. From his incredibly creepy stalking of the waitress, to his faking cancer, to the general mean-spiritedness he and the gang share toward anyone outside of the gang.
But, we love Charlie because, hey, he's our wild card. He's a 40-year-old child living a life we could only dream that someone would find fulfilling, but he seems to be loving it. Whether he's staging a musical, running around dressed as Green Man, crawling around pretending to be a worm, or exploring the sewers, Charlie does exactly what Charlie wants. And when we need some escapism, he's a character that makes us feel like maybe facing reality is optional. If he can believe he's a master of karate and friendship for everyone, why can't we?
Anyway. That's the bottom five. Get ready for even more love and even more stupidity in my next blog! I think "get ready for even more love and even more stupidity" was my bio when I did online dating.
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