Kent Brockman
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| The Simpsons character | |
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| Age | 51 |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair Color | White |
| Job | News anchorman |
| Relatives | Daughter: Brittany Wife: Lois Sister: Unnamed |
| First appearance | Krusty Gets Busted |
| Voice actor | Harry Shearer |
Kent Brockman is one of the recurring fictional characters from The Simpsons, and is voiced by Harry Shearer. He is a local TV news "personality" for the fictional KBBL-TV (Channel 6).
[edit] Profile
Brockman hosts the KBBL weeknight news (Scott Christian is the weekend news anchor and Kent's fill-in) as well as Smartline, a local current affairs show and Eye on Springfield which focuses mostly on Springfield's entertainment news. His character bears a striking resemblance to Los Angeles news anchor Jerry Dunphy. Another well known anchorman, Lloyd Robertson from Canada (CTV), may be the model for Kent.
Brockman represents the worst of his profession; frequently judgmental, careerist to the point of absurdity, and more than willing to film a schmaltzy, emotion driven puff piece for the sake of a few extra ratings points. He has been seen throwing tantrums because he cannot find certain snack foods, and once blithely announced that the boom operator on his news programme was being fired the next morning (for which he took a clout on the head from the angry soon-to-be-ex-employee). He seems to command excessive levels of power within Channel 6, even having a segment of the news programme to air his own (usually highly reactionary) opinions on current issues called My Two Cents. Despite all of this, he has won a string of media awards, but is most proud of his unspecified trophy from Del Monte.
Brockman has a preteen daughter and a preteen son, and has jealously mentioned his sister, who is a White House correspondent for CNN.
At one point, he was fired for using the acronym "SOB" on air but was later rehired for unspecified reasons.
On one notable episode, Brockman won the multi-million-dollar ($130 million) state lottery jackpot and left the news desk while still on the air. But, he remained a news anchor because he is under contract, though he also admitted that he likes making $500,000-a-year. He also mentioned to traffic reporter Arnie Pie (with whom he has an ongoing feud) that he made some smart investments when Pie complained about the size of Brockman's house.
In a flashback to the 1960s in the episode Mother Simpson, we see that when he started out in television his name was Kenny Brocklestein and he can be seen wearing the Hebrew Chai symbol as a gold medallion around his neck in the episode Dog of Death after he had won the state lottery, suggesting Jewish ancestry. However, the comics say his name is Brock Kentman, though the comics are never treated as canon.
Brockman owns a collie named Jessica, whom he had "fixed".
He is also characterized by using news-speak in everyday language, for example, "This just in, go to hell!"
It is said that Brockman was based on Dunphy and fellow L.A. News legend Hal Fishman. There are episodes, however, in which he appears to emulate both Ted Koppel and Walter Cronkite. He also bears a resemblance to Ted Baxter, the airhead news anchor from Mary Tyler Moore, played by Ted Knight.
Brockman drives a blue Mercedes-Benz S420, which he can be seen washing in the opening credits of Eye on Springfield.
In one of The Simpsons comic books, Kent Brockman is accosted by some extortionists, who threaten to reveal that his real name is Brock Kentman.
Brockman's most famous phrase, repeated in various guises on internet message boards and within popular culture is "And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords", is used on the episode Deep Space Homer where Brockman transmits live footage from the space shuttle cabin in which Homer has clumsily released thousands of ants into zero gravity aboard the Space Shuttle. A lone ant drifts by the news camera, and Brockman's hilarious overreaction is to announce that Earth will soon be invaded by giant space ants. He continues his broadcast by stating: "One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves." Later on in the episode, he re-pledges his allegiance back to planet Earth. Another notable quote is "I've said it before and I'll say it again, democracy simply doesn't work". In 'Tis the Fifteenth Season Kent Brockman is a cardboard figure on the Channel 6 Thanksgiving dinner because he is in a rehab clinic according to Krusty.
[edit] 2006 US Midterm elections
The phrase "I, for one, welcome our Democratic overlords" was used in several conservative blogs after the 2006 US Midterm elections. The blog Exurban League is thought to be the first to have used this reference to Kent Brockman's phrase "I for one welcome our new insect overlords".
Other conservative blogs used it included The Corner (Blog) at the National Review. The trend was documented in a Blog post on The New York Times' Caucus Blog.
