List of Rocko's Modern Life characters

This is a list of all the major and minor characters from the animated television series Rocko's Modern Life and the comic book of the same name.

Joe Murray, creator of the series, said that he matched personalities of his characters to various animals, forming a "social caricature."^[1]

Main characters

Main characters in the television show and comic

Rocko

Main article: Rocko

Rocko is a wallaby who emigrated from Australia to the United States. He is 20 years old. He is a sensible, moral, and somewhat timid character who enjoys the simple pleasures in life, such as doing his laundry or feeding his dog, Spunky. He is neat, compassionate, and self-conscious. He wears a blue shirt with purple triangles on it that he has become quite attached to. He doesn't wear any pants. Rocko usually works at "Kind of a Lot o' Comics" (but once worked at Conglom-O where Ed Bighead attempted to make him quit) and his hobbies include recreational jackhammering and pining for the love of his life, Melba Toast. Due to Rocko's benevolence and non-confrontational personality, his kindness is often taken for weakness. He is often taken advantage of by the other characters. Rocko would prefer to live a quiet life, but his reckless friends often throw him into turbulent situations. His most common catchphrase is "______-Day is a very dangerous day", even once saying "Open mic night is a very dangerous night." He is often mistaken for a kangaroo, a platypus, and occasionally a beaver, weasel or even a dog. Rocko has no family name because the writers could not think of a family name that they liked.^[2]

Heffer Wolfe

Main article: Heffer Wolfe

Heffer Wolfe is Rocko's best friend, a happy-go-lucky and not-too-bright steer (a castrated hereford bull) whom he met in high school. Heffer is an absolute glutton and loves to eat and party. His favorite food is "Pasture Puffies." Though he is normally portrayed as being jobless, he has worked as a waiter at a coffee shop, a salesman at a tree farm, a greenskeeper at a golf course, a mail carrier, a manager at a Chokey Chicken restaurant (later Chewy Chicken), a paperboy, and a security guard at Conglom-O-Corp, (the last one causing him to go insane in a reference to The Shining). As his family name suggests, he was raised by a family of wolves who decided not to eat him as a child and adopted him as one of their own; his "birthmark" is actually their plotting lines of how to best divide him up into choice dishes. He is often called a "Big fat cow", a term he (and his father) objects to by saying "steer." His catchphrase, which can be heard in the series' opening credits, is "That was a hoot!"

Filburt Turtle

Main article: Filburt Turtle

Filburt Turtle^[3] is Rocko's other best friend, a neurotic, hypochondriac turtle wearing Woody Allen-style glasses. He started out as a different character, usually seen having many jobs, such as a supermarket cashier and a clerk at the Department of Motor Vechicles, before being written in the storyline as Rocko and Heffer's friend in the second season. He lives in a trailer and earns his money by collecting cans "here and there", and has a penchant for "sauce". Filburt has an extremely weak stomach and even the slightest wrong movements can give him nausea. He tried to be a dentist but failed in his last exam when he turned one of Rocko's teeth into a Giant Mutant Tooth. He turned 21 in the second season episode "Born to Spawn" where he is called to his home island of Kerplopitgoes in order to become an adult. At one point, he also had a Frank Sinatra style singing voice that he nearly became a star with. He eventually started a family with Doctor Hutchison, a bubbly cat with a hook for a hand. One of their children turned out to bear a strong resemblance to Heffer, thanks to his having sat on their egg during the incubation period. Among Filburt's catchphrases are "Oh fish sticks!", "I'm nauseous... I'm nauseous..", and "Turn the page, wash your hands. Turn the page, wash your hands. And then you turn the page, and then you wash your hands..." and,"oh boy."

Spunky

Main article: Spunky

Spunky is Rocko's dog who resembles a Bull Terrier. He has a very high-pitched bark and wags his tail a lot. He's not too bright and will eat anything on sight, including Mr. Bighead's salmon bushes and a moldy slime found in Rocko's refrigerator. He often repeatedly drools into his water bowl and drinks it, only to drool into it again. He is Rocko's only regular pet and Rocko loves him dearly. Rocko will go to great lengths to protect Spunky if he is in danger or about to do something stupid. Spunky is best remembered for falling in love with a mop in the episode "Clean Lovin'", much to Rocko's dismay; Spunky was noted to have used his front paws as hands as he tries to protect the mop. Spunky is also the home of two parasites, Bloaty and Squirmy. Spunky also can do a cool trick but it was not shown.

Ed Bighead

Main article: Ed Bighead

Edward Bighead is a toad, and the husband of Bev Bighead, he is the main antagonist of the show. He lives next door to Rocko, whom he vehemently despises and sees him and his friends as the bane of his existence. In the television show, Mr. Bighead is aggressive and crass towards most people. Ed works at the large corporation Conglom-O. His position with the company is usually in middle management, but it can be any position from assembly-line worker to an executive role, depending on the needs of the episode: according to his nameplate at Conglom-O, his job title is "Toad". As seen in the episode "Sailing the 7 Zzzs", he is a sleepwalker and has the habit of turning into a pirate while sleepwalking and views ordinary people and things as their pirate equivalents; he believed Rocko was an enemy pirate and proceeded to launch various household objects, such as toasters and bowling balls (cannonballs), at Rocko's house (an enemy pirate ship) from a dryer (a cannon). In the comic book, Mr. Bighead works for a similar company headed by Donald Frump, an elephant that serves as a parody of Donald Trump. Ed seems to have very bad luck wherever he goes and thus is very cynical. His catchphrase is "I hate my life."

Bev Bighead

Main article: Bev Bighead

Bev Bighead is Ed's wife. Bev assumes authority in the Bighead household. Unlike her husband, she enjoys the company of Rocko, Heffer, and Filburt. She is a party animal who enjoys cooking and sunbathing nude. There is evidence that she sees Rocko as more than a neighbor and wants to have an affair with him—she has tried to seduce Rocko on more than one occasion, resulting in Rocko seeing her naked numerous times. She also is a possible masochist— she sleeps on sharp objects and has been impaled in the back with a lawn dart by Rocko, but was unaffected by it. At one point, she took over Ed's job at Conglom-O for a week when Ed took a leave of absence due to a nervous breakdown and ran the company very well. Her favorite bedroom pastime with Ed is to make him crack plates in mid-air with his tongue like clay pigeons.

Minor characters

Minor characters in the television show and comic

Bloaty the Tick and Squirmy the Ringworm

Bloaty the Tick and Squirmy the Ringworm are two parasites who live on and in Spunky. Certain episodes and both stories in Issue 6 of the comic book, "Special Disgusting Parasite Issue!", revolve around their Odd Couple-like relationship. They are introduced in the first season episode "Dirty Dog", in which their boss, Mr Ickk, comes over for dinner while Rocko tries to give Spunky a bath. This episode suggests that more than one parasite is living on Spunky, proven in future episodes by huge crowds of insects and even an old-west style town on Spunky's body. One of Bloaty and Squirmy's more well known sayings is "Up, work, home, TV, bed!". In the first story of Issue 6 of the comic, "Bug Out!", the two hop between various pets, trying to find the perfect host. In the second story, "Lice on the Loose", the two again find Spunky, prompting Rocko to take Spunky to a pet store; Bloaty and Squirmy interact with local parasites at the store. Bloaty is voiced by Tom Kenny and Squirmy is voiced by Carlos Alazraqui.

Writer Martin Olson created Bloaty and Squirmy. Olson loved Murray's character designs of Bloaty and Squirmy, and said that he and the crew "had tons of fun recording and singing my nutty "Bloaty & Squirmy Theme Song"."^[4]

Chuck and Leon Chameleon

Chuck and Leon Chameleon a.k.a. The Chameleon Brothers are identical twins, have faux Scandinavian accents and snooty attitudes. They became a running gag, having several odd jobs such as being gym owners, running a client agency for clients who need help to break bad habits (in Rocko's case, nail biting), running a hair salon (Haute Coiffeur), and owning a café. Most, if not all, of these establishments are, by their own admissions, very exclusive (such as for people with "an exclusive amount of cash", as was the case in the episode "Tooth and Nail"). They say that they once worked for a tsar (who resembled Heffer) in the fictional country Balzak before immigrating to America. Chuck is voiced by Tom Kenny, and Leon is voiced by Carlos Alazraqui.

Both brothers appear in the second story of Issue #1 once. They never speak and are never identified by their names.

Dave

Melba Toest's boyfriend, shown in "Love Spanked". Only his feet are seen.

Mr. Dupette

In the television show, Mr. Dupette (voiced by Charlie Adler) is the CEO of Conglom-O, the megacorporation whose motto is "We Own You." Prior to this he is the manager at Super Lot-O Comics in the episode Canned, where he fires Rocko. It is unknown precisely when or how he became the CEO of Conglom-O. Some episodes showing flashbacks to Conglom-O's early years, such as when Ralph Bighead turned down his father's offer of a job at the company, remain consistent with Dupette's original appearance in "Canned", while others depict him as being with Conglom-O during events set well before the events of "Canned."

Dupette is almost always shown picking his nose, although sometimes he has a personal assistant pick his nose for him (most of the time, his right-hand man, Mr. Noway). Despite his official job title of "Slimy Boss" and propensity for firing executives on a whim for the most insane reasons, Dupette is a staunch environmentalist thanks to Rocko's efforts (in the episode "Zanzibar!") and he also secretly enjoys performing as a clown at children's birthday parties (in the episode "Closet Clown"). He is also a golf pro and, as his original job suggests, a big comic book fan.

In the comic book, Dupette appears in the second story of Volume #1 and is never identified by name.^[5] In the comic, an elephant named Donald Frump (a parody of Donald Trump) serves as Mr. Bighead's boss.^[6]

Earl

Earl is a large, mean-looking, purple mutt who looks something like a bulldog. He has yellow eyes, red hair and large lower teeth that protrude from his mouth and wears a spiked dog collar. He was initially homeless, and is occasionally locked up at Dr. HP Marten's Institute for Questionable Experiments, due to his viciousness. Earl enjoys mauling Rocko, Ed Bighead, the fly man, and basically anything else that is alive. He was adopted by Bev Bighead in the second season after his "fairy dogmother" frees him from Martens' lab; Ed hates him and Earl in turn, hates Ed but is loving towards Bev. His vocal effects are provided by Tom Kenny.

After the first season, Earl occasionally appeared.^[7]

Gib Hootsen

Gib Hootsen is Rocko's cowboy uncle and owner of the Lazy R Ranch in The Middle of Nowhere. He appears in "The Good, The Bad, and The Wallaby".

Gladys the Hippo Lady

Gladys the Hippo Lady is a sunglasses-wearing, stretch pants sporting hippopotamus with whom Rocko would often collide with in Season 1 episodes and get in her way. She would utter her catchphrase, "How dare you!" at this juncture, which is always in a deep, manly voice, in total contrast to her unnerving high-pitched voice. In the Season 4 episode, "Dumbbells", she drags Rocko on a "ding-dong ditch" frenzy after catching Rocko, Heffer, and Filbert trying to pull the prank on her and finds it hilarious. In her first episode on the beach, she was briefly very apologetic to Rocko when she asked him to help her apply suncream. Voiced by Charlie Adler.

Gladys appears in the comic book in "This Is A Test!", the second story of Issue #1, and "Remote Controlled", the first story of Issue #4. Gladys appears in the background in "This Is A Test!" In "Remote Controlled", an unidentified passerby bumps into her, causing Gladys to yell her trademark phrase at the man.

Karen Chicken

Karen appears in "To Heck and Back", interviewing at Chokey Chicken, only to be served there. However, she comes back in the end of the episode.

Madam Doreeno

Madam Doreeno is a rhino fortune teller who conjures up Mortimer Khan in "Feisty Geist".

Mortimer Khan

A horse parody of Genghis Khan, he is conjured up by fortune teller Madam Doreeno in "Feisty Geist". In telling Heffer's fortune, he finds that in life Heffer's Mongolian ancestor fell prey to a bribe for food and ruined his plans of conquest, literally leaving them to rake muck as "muckrakers". In swearing revenge, he possesses Spunky and nearly all the things in Rocko's house, finally being trapped in a snowglobe with Filburt's Spirit-Away paste.

Melba Toest

Melba Toest is a mysterious female character who happens to be Rocko's next door neighbor in the television show and comic. Rocko falls head over heels for her but never sees her. Melba's face is never seen in the television show, nor in the comic. In the comic Melba is portrayed as a famous and high-class model for beauty products for the hands and feet.

Really Really Big Man

Big Man or RRBM for short, is an extremely large and strong possibly humanoid superhero. In most episodes that revolve around him, he shows incredible but uncontrollable strength. His superpowers include flight, magic chest hairs, nipples that allow people to see their future (by attaching them to the eyeballs), and super strength. His alter-ego is a cross-gender office worker named "Lois Lame" (a parody of Superman). His catchphrase is "Gaze into my nipples of the future!". He is voiced by Tom Kenny.

Slippy the Slug

In the television show, Slippy the Slug manages the city dump. Before that, he ran a dangerous carnival sponsored by the sewage treatment center called the "Carnival O' Knowledge." After the episode "Carnival Knowledge" Slippy rarely appeared. Murray said that Slippy did not become "fleshed out to my liking."^[8] In his first couple of appearances he was voiced by Dom Irrera and in later episodes by Carlos Alazraqui. In the television show he made occasional appearances after Season 1.^[7]

Slippy appears in the second story of Issue #1 and the first story of Issue #7; in Issue #7 he operates a "Slippy the Slug's Sales for Suckers" booth at the Humongo Comicon.

Wild Pig

He is a very minor character whose catchphrase is, "I'm a wild pig!".

Minor characters only in the television show

Alicia

Alicia, a kangaroo, is the mail carrier in the episode "S.W.A.K." Rocko has a crush on her in the episode.

Ambulance Beavers

The Ambulance Beavers are a running gag. They are 2 beavers who appear when a character is seriously injured. However, instead of taking the character who is hurt off on a stretcher, they take the inanimate object the character was injured on. An example is when Rocko crashes his bumper car at the carnival, the Ambulance Beavers take away the car instead of Rocko. When Rocko's appendix was hurting him, he fell off his jackhammer and they took the jackhammer instead of Rocko. In the same episode, they took Heffer, after they were told to (and they actually got it right), for emergency hippo-suction (liposuction) after he rushed to the hospital with Rocko in tow. Their catchphrase is saying "Hup!" repeatedly, while carrying a stretcher, loading the object on, and driving off to the hospital.

Claudette

Claudette is a wallaby who looks surprisingly like Rocko. She only appeared in the episode, I See London, I See France. A resident of Paris, Rocko fell in love with her at first sight when he saw her as he and Heffer were on a vacation trip to Paris. Rocko had very strong feelings for her, even calling her the, "girl of his dreams." Throughout the episode Rocko chased Claudette through Paris until finally catching up to her (and Heffer) at the Chokey Chicken restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. At the end of the episode, Heffer stated that Claudette probably really likes Rocko, but Rocko denied his feelings for her, stating that he likes Melba Toast.

Crazy Aunt Gretchen Shellbache

She is Filburt Shelbache's crazy old aunt. She never came out of her tank, so as an adult, she has her arms and legs sticking out of it and water sloshing on everyone she passes. She appears in "Sugar Frosted Frights", where it's revealed that she babysat young Filburt and told him all kinds of horror stories about Halloween, contributing to his fear of Halloween.

Dingo

Dingo, appearing in "Wimp on the Barbie", was Rocko's primary bully during Rocko's childhood. In the episode, Rocko explains that he fled to the United States to escape from Dingo. When Rocko's mom calls to tell him that he is coming to visit, Rocko panics, afraid Dingo will come to the United States and continue to bully him there. When Dingo arrives at Rocko's house, he reveals himself as a member of a Hare Krishna-esque cult that opposes all types of violence and that he is now at peace with everyone, and is now known as "Fifi No-No". His ears are also gone when he visits Rocko. He presents Rocko with various gifts (a 3-speed blender, Bacon-in-a-box, and $5) and asks Rocko to punch him in the nose for all the pain and suffering he put on Rocko for years. Rocko is apprehensive at first but does it anyway. As he leaves, Heffer & Filburt ambush him and attack him, unaware of his changed personality. He was voiced by Carlos Alazraqui.

Elkie

Elkie is a beautiful elk who is mostly seen at the elk's club in O-Town. In the episode " An Elk For Heffer", Elkie is befriended by Heffer. Of course, they fall in love. Later in the episode, Elkie is almost eaten by Heffer's family, but Heffer would not let it happen. Elkie is voiced by Linda Wallen.

Filburt and Paula's children

Gilbert, Shelbert, Norbert, and Missy (Voiced by E.G. Daily) are the four children of Filburt and Dr. Hutchison, who all came from the same egg in the fourth and final season of the show. Gilbert and Shelbert look exactly like Filburt while Missy is a miniature version of Hutchinson. Norbert, on the other hand oddly resembles Heffer since he sat on the egg for Filbert. He also believes that Rocko is his mother/father and constantly follows him around. For most of the series, the four are featured as babies; they appear once as teenagers in the episode "Future Schlock."

Flecko

Flecko is a fly, who appears in the episodes "Day of the Flecko", in which he is a prolonged nuisance to Rocko as the latter tries to get to sleep, "Fly Burgers", in which he sues Rocko after feigning serious injury and "Rocko's Happy Vermin" where he saves the rest of his bug friends. He has a glass eye that always falls out. He is the creation of Timothy Björklund and writer Martin Olson. He is voiced by Tom Kenny.

Paula Hutchison

Doctor Paula Hutchison, or Hutch for short, is a feline character on Rocko's Modern Life. Originally a dentist, Hutch has also been a cashier, surgeon, veterinarian, obstetrician, and pharmacist. She has a large smile and very upbeat outlook on life. She has a hook for her right hand which does not hinder her normal activity in any way. She also used the hook to defeat the Giant Mutant Tooth. Hutch took a liking to Filburt and has encouraged him to do various things he's afraid of and eventually married him. Hutch's mother, the widow Hutchison, disallows the wedding between the two because of her belief that "cats and turtles don't mix", a reference to interracial marriage.^{[original research?]} While both Filburt and Hutch's families fight each other, it turns out that Hutch's father Frank Hutchison, who was thought to be dead, is actually a turtle, meaning that Widow Hutchison did not want her daughter to marry Filburt because she did not get along with her own turtle husband. Hutch's catchphrase is "'kay?", said while tilting her head. In "Sailing the Seven Zzz's", Rocko did this in the same fashion. She was the prom queen of O-Town High School.^[9] Hutch also seems to have a number of odd quirks, including the fact that she claimed to keep a baboon heart under her pillow.

The team created Hutchison after Murray attended a press conference for networks to market new seasons of television shows to the press. A reporter asked Murray why the show did not have any "positive female role models." Murray responded by stating that he had no positive role models, that people do not use cartoon characters as role models, and that television shows should not teach lessons. After the conference some Nickelodeon executives told the reporter that they had plans to place female role models in the television show and asked Murray to place an unused character, Magdalane, as a female role model. Murray refused to use Magdalane.^[2] A female executive from Nickelodeon later requested "a professional woman, someone with a good hook." The executive intended for the "good hook" to be a personality trait that attracts viewers; Murray instead gave the doctor a literal hook. Murray and the directors "grew to love her."^[10][11]

Martin Olson, a writer, described the decision when Nickelodeon gave the "okay" for the marriage of Filburt and Paula Hutchison as one of the most memorable moments of the production. Olson said that the executives at first did not like the marriage idea which he came up with in his outline of The Big Question; linear character development did not exist in Nicktoons. Murray convinced the executives to allow for the marriage to occur.^[4] She is voiced by Linda Wallem.

Frank & Widow Hutchison

Frank and Widow Hutchison are Paula Hutchison's parents. The Col. Sanders-esque owner of an ice cream company, he sits in a wheelchair with a nurse accompanying him. He appears in "The Big Answer" and encounters his wife, Mrs. Hutchison (who has two hooks), at Filburt and Paula Hutchinson's wedding. The Widow Hutchison exhibits anger towards him throughout the episode and in the previous "The Big Question" episode.^[9] At the end of "The Big Answer" the Widow Hutchison tells Frank, "Frankie, wait! I still love you!"^[12] Ironically, he is a turtle despite the Widow Hutchison's prejudice against them.

The Hopping Hessian

A parody of the Headless Horseman, The Hopping Hessian is a one-legged ghost from the Revolutionary War who lurks beyond the old Foto-Hut. Gordon The Talking Leg is The Hessian's missing leg who sounds like Johnny Carson and has a face on his foot. He was created by Doug Lawrence in a story by Martin Olson. The Hopping Hessian is voiced by Tom Kenny and Gordon is voiced by Carlos Alazraqui.

Peaches

Pink-skinned and clad in black robes, Peaches is in charge of "Heck", a parody of Hell (which he claims appears infernal "for the tourists"). By taking off his hood, he reveals his head disturbingly resembling cow udders. Despite his menacing appearance and given his authority, Peaches has an "average Joe" tone and likes playing with a paddle ball. He has attempted to lure Heffer into "Heck" several times but has repeatedly failed to do so. Due to his failures, he was punished by being forced to star in his own cartoon show: Peaches' Modern Life. He is a parody of Satan and voiced by Tom Kenny.

When writer Martin Olson created the story for "To Heck and Back", he had "Satan" originally in charge of Heck.^[4] Director Jeff "Swampy" Marsh says Doug Lawrence named Peaches and "never explained the udders (or many other things he thought up) to anyone. It was just funny, and that was explanation enough."^[13]

Pinky

Rocko's cute appendix, who was removed in "Tickled Pinky".

Ralph Bighead

Ralph Bighead is Ed and Bev Bighead's son. He was disowned by Ed for not wanting to work for Conglom-O, so he went to Holl-o-Wood to become a cartoonist. He created a cartoon called The Fatheads (voiced by Charlie Adler), a married couple with obese heads that constantly fight and hit each other with parking meters. The Fatheads were based loosely on Ralph's parents as a sort of retaliation for his awful childhood. Rocko and his friends are big fans of the show. Eventually, he became tired of being a cartoonist and wanted to quit, but was contractually obligated to keep producing cartoons for his company. In an attempt to get around this, Ralph created the intentionally bad cartoon Wacky Delly with the help of Rocko and his friends so it would immediately be cancelled and he could quit his job. Instead, the show became a runaway hit, much to Ralph's dismay. He finally made up with his parents (mainly his father) with the help of Rocko and Filburt and is welcomed back into his family.

Creator Joe Murray provides the voice of Ralph. Writer Martin Olson created Ralph and based the character's personality on Joe Murray's personality; Olson also used the character to satirize Murray's experiences with Nickelodeon.^[4] When Murray created the first episode with Ralph, the directors and artists, enamored with the story, became involved in the production. Olson asked Murray to voice Ralph. On his website Murray wrote, "I don't consider myself a voice actor, but this one I did."^[11]

According to Olson, Doug Lawrence persuaded Murray into yelling "NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER!" as the voice of Ralph. Olson found this humorous as, according to him, Murray "NEVER EVER screamed." Olson describes Murray's voice as "a quiet, thoughtful murmur" and therefore found "Joe as his alter-ego screaming like a nut" to be humorous.^[4]

The Sani-Tours Bus Driver

When Rocko and Heffer go to France, their nervy, crazed, goat-like "Sani-Tours" bus driver takes them on a tour of mundane things such as a garbage can, the ugliest person the driver has ever seen, a fast food restaurant, and ultimately a woman in a red hat. When Rocko requests they visit the Eiffel Tower, the driver becomes angry and yells at him. When Rocko sneaks away from the tour to follow Claudette the bus driver becomes even angrier and borderline homicidal, threatening dire consequences for anyone who dares leave his tour. The driver ends up pursuing them maniacally throughout Paris with his bus, but loses them at their airport, loosing an anguished, "Noooooooooo!" as their plane takes off. He is voiced by Tom Kenny.

Seymour

Crazy old ram who claims he has boils on his butt that are bigger than Rocko. He appears in "Tickled Pinky".

Sheila

Sheila is a fox who appears in "Wallaby on Wheels." Sheila, a fan of roller skating and jackhammering, is a friend of Heffer. Rocko falls in love with her on sight when she appears at the comic book store. At the end of the episode, Sheila starts to like Rocko for saving Heffer.

Mr. Smitty

Mr. Smitty is Rocko's boss at Kind of a Lot o' Comics. He is a purple toad with obvious hair plugs and is always seen smoking a cigar. He seems to either fire Rocko or make his job difficult in almost every episode he appears in, and is even rude to his customers. In the episode "Commuted Sentence," it is revealed that his house is next door to Kind of a Lot o' Comics, and he still drives to work despite being so close. Rocko often refers to Mr. Smitty as "a smoldering old toad," and is the only character in the series that Rocko openly dislikes. His tyrannical, aggressive nature and short temper are apparently the result of "the green button" on his office chair; In the episode "Power Trip," Rocko is temporarily appointed manager of the comic store and, after pressing "the green button" his personality changes to match Mr. Smitty's. He is voiced by Tom Kenny.

Nurse Tammy Mouse

Obnoxious nurse at O-Town hospital in "Tickled Pinky".

Tammy the Pig

Tammy is a member of the female bowling team in "Gutter Balls." She also first appears in "Popcorn Pandemonium", ordering a huge amount of junk food at the concession stand, then getting a diet soda "to watch [her] girlish figure". Later she mistakes Rocko for an usher (they all wear his shirt), and makes him hit a patron with a flashlight.

Tiger

Tiger, a muscular man, was the prom king of O-Town High School. When Filburt sees him accompany Paula Hutchinson, he suspects that Tiger is dating Paula. At the end of the episode, Paula proposes to Filburt and reveals that Tiger encouraged her to propose to Filburt.^[9]

Turdy

Filburt's pet myna bird only appeared in Bye, Bye Birdie. While Filburt is away in hospital recovering from a bout of Hypochondriasis, Turdy is left in the care of Rocko and Heffer. Throughout the day, Turdy causes a series of problems for his caretakers, including beating up Spunky, demolishing the top floor of Rocko's house, and repeatedly flying off to cause trouble for a neighbor with a pet monkey. Rocko eventually tires of this and handcuffs Turdy to his nose, as he sits on the couch to relax. However, the oblivious Heffer leaps onto the couch, accidentally landing on top of Turdy and crushing him to death. When Filburt returns, he accepts the news very well, saying that Turdy's particular species only has a three week life span (only for Heffer to blurt out "Did you tell him I sat on him?"). After an impromptu funeral for Turdy, the annoyed neighbor arrives and gives them a box saying that he "ain't dealing with this anymore." Filburt is overjoyed to find that the box contains baby myna bird/monkey hybrids, and he adopts them as new pets. Turdy's squawks were provided by Carlos Alazraqui.

The Wolfe Family

Cindy Wolfe

Cindy Wolfe is Heffer's sister. Usually a background character, she speaks in a voice reminiscent of a valley girl. She is a parody of female teenagers and their tendency to gravitate towards over-dramatic rebelliousness and unusual fads or phases, such as the time she took a (revealed later to be temporary) vow of silence. She also sometimes wears crazy outfits that are supposed to be "in-fashion" at the time. She goes into fits when she believes that her parents are fighting.

George Wolfe

George Wolfe (voiced by Charlie Adler) is the temperamental father. He does have a rarely seen soft side, such as his secret support of Heffer's joining the Weasel Scouts. He is constantly angry even at his wife and rarely smiles, much like his father. At family dinners, he almost always ends up screaming at another family member or guest. He is also extremely protective of his car, even guarding the keys from the rest of the family with a laser grid security system.

Grandpa Wolfe

Hiram William Wolfe (voiced by Charlie Adler) is the grandfather on George's side of the family. He is very old, and though his exact age is never revealed, he was in his prime in the 1940s or 1950s, according to the second season episode "Cruisin'". This would put him at around 80 to 90 years old. His eyesight, coordination, and bladder control are all suffering, and he cannot chew solid food. He relies on his cane or wheelchair to get around. He hates wallabies and acts hostile towards Rocko, but due to his incredibly poor eyesight he mistakenly believes that Rocko is a beaver. He was also in love with Winfred Wolfe when he attended Ozark Tech.

Peter Wolfe

Peter Wolfe (voiced by Mr. Lawrence) is Heffer's brother. His voice is a deeper, male version of Cindy's and, also like Cindy, parodies rebellious teenage male behavior. He was primarily used for a background character, but also became part of long-running but rarely seen gag that implies that he is a crossdresser.

Virginia Wolfe

Virginia Wolfe is the compassionate mother of Heffer with a nervous facial tic, a thick midwestern accent, and crazed driving skills. Her trademark is to make a strange grinding noise with her teeth. Her name comes from the English novelist Virginia Woolf.

Granny Rocko Rama

Rocko's obnoxious grandmother, who never stops complaining. She always wears sunglasses and uses a walker. She even wears a long dress that matches Rocko's shirt and the same shoes he does. She appears in "Pranksters," but it was revealed that this Granny Rocko was really Filburt in a Granny Rocko suit.

Grandma Wolfe

Grandma Wolfe is the deceased grandmother on George's side of the family. She appears to be very old and bitter and has no soul, as she is spending her afterlife in Heck. In the episode "Heff in a Handbasket," when the devil, Peaches, tries to keep Heffer in Heck for all eternity after Heffer sells his soul and wins a game show, he is stopped by Grandma Wolfe, who refuses to spend her afterlife with Heffer, and she eats Heffer's contract.

Minor characters in the comic book

Children at the campsite

In "I'll Never Go Camping Again", the second story of Issue #7, Rocko recalls his last camping trip as a young wallaby. Two other children at the camp site (the "leader" is a pig named Curly) belittle the frightened Rocko when he is unable to gather fire wood. All three camp members, including Rocko, are frightened by an evil spirit lurking in the woods at the end of the flashback.

Cindy

Cindy is a female turtle who approaches Filburt while he is dressed as "Benito of the Ppmkfpt", a comic book character similar to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Cindy receives a photograph from Filburt at a comic book convention and later announces that she wishes to date Filburt. Cindy appears in "Conned Again", the first story of Issue #7.

Doctor Demento

Doctor Demento, featured in "Dental Hyjinks", the first story of Issue #1, is a sadistic dentist that operates on Rocko's mouth. During the procedure to extract Rocko's rotten tooth, the machine explodes since Demento has a lit match nearby, causing both Rocko and Demento to be hospitalized.

A letter to the editor printed in Issue 3 written by Joey Marchese of Union, New Jersey^{[disambiguation needed ]} described Demento as "spoofed" by Mike Lackey and Rick Parker from the dentist in the first issue of Marvel Comics' Beavis and Butt-head. Mike Lackey responded, describing the similarities as "the strangest of coincidences, perhaps completely the work of planetary alignment or the magnetic resonance of the earth, or maybe the eclipse... Yeah! The eclipse!" He then continued, "ROCKO editor World Famous Mike Lackey looked directly into the sun while shuffling scripts, and...! Yeah, yeah, we don't buy it either!"^[14]

The character has no relation to the radio host of the same name.

Donald Frump

Donald Frump is a white elephant that appears at a party at the Bighead house. Frump is Ed Bighead's boss. Bev Bighead flirts with Frump in an attempt to secure Mr. Bighead's promotion, yet Mr. Bighead scolds Frump for flirting with Bev, ending chances of the promotion. Frump's name is a spoof of Donald Trump, and his appearance is the parody of the "white elephant" concept. Frump appears in "Who Invited You?", the second story of Issue #2.^[6]

Mr. Grunge

Mr. Grunge, the lead singer of the Lollapalosers featured in Issue #4, seems to be incoherent and inept.

Party guests

The guests of Ed Bighead's party, featured in "Who Invited You?", the second story of Issue 2, collectively feel bored. Once Rocko and Heffer appear, the guests enjoy the party. Aside from Frump, only one guest, Harry, is named.

Rosie O'Grazie

Rosie O'Grazie is a female cow that enjoys health food. Heffer falls in love with her in "Eat This! It's Good for You!", the sole story of Issue #3. Heffer eventually realizes that he is not meant to be with her by the end of the story.

Willy D. Weasel

Willy D. Weasel, in "This Is A Test!", the second story of Issue #1, is a reporter for WBUK's Eye Whitless News. Weasel tries to convince Rocko to sell Spunky in exchange for millions of dollars since Spunky acts as a "camera" for television channels around the world.

Proposed characters

Magdalane

Magdalane "Maggie" is Rocko's older sister. The woman has two children, including one boy and one girl.^[15]

Murray included her in early presentations of the Rocko's Modern Life concept. When Murray further developed the concept, he decided that the show would carry more effect if Rocko had no family in O-Town. Murray wrote an episode script, titled "Wake Up Maggie", which portrays Magdalane suffering from narcolepsy. Murray stated that Nickelodeon believed the episode to be "a bit odd" while he believed that the episode was "touching."^[2]

According to Murray, when he attended a press conference for networks to market new seasons of television shows to the press, a reporter asked him why the show did not have any "positive female role models." Murray said that he responded by stating that he had no positive role models, that people do not use cartoon characters as role models, and that television shows should not teach lessons. According to Murray, after the conference some Nickelodeon executives told the reporter that they had plans to place female role models in the television show and asked Murray to place Magdalane as a female role model. Murray said that he refused to use Magdalane and never used her in Rocko's Modern Life.^[2]

References

Nickelodeon portal

1. ^ "Q & A with Joe Murray", Cartoon Network Pressroom
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "Lisa (Kiczuk) Trainor interviews Joe Murray, creator of Rocko's Modern Life", The Rocko's Modern Life FAQ
3. ^ "Born to Spawn," Rocko's Modern Life
4. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Lisa (Kiczuk) Trainor interviews Martin Olson, writer for Rocko's Modern Life", The Rocko's Modern Life FAQ
5. ^ "This Is A Test!", Rocko's Modern Life Volume 1, Issue 1. Marvel Comics
6. ^ ^{a b} "Who Invited You?", Rocko's Modern Life Volume 1, Issue 2. Marvel Comics
7. ^ ^{a b} "March 12, 2010." Joe Murray Studio. Retrieved on March 22, 2010.
8. ^ "September 22, 2008^{[dead link]}." Joe Murray Studio. September 22, 2008.
9. ^ ^{a b c} "The Big Question", Rocko's Modern Life
10. ^ "Rocko Factoid 3", Joe Murray
11. ^ ^{a b} "Character Museum." Joe Murray Studio. Retrieved on August 25, 2009.
12. ^ "The Big Answer", Rocko's Modern Life
13. ^ "Dan Abrams' interview with Jeff "Swampy" Marsh", The Rocko's Modern Life FAQ
14. ^ "That's Life" (Letters to the Editor), Rocko's Modern Life. Marvel Comics. Volume 1, Issue 3.
15. ^ "Rocko's Modern Life" (section). Beck, Jerry, Not Just Cartoons: Nicktoons!