Hank Hill

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For Hank's half-brother, also named Hank, see
G.H. Hill. For the mobster turned informant, see Henry Hill
.
Hank Hill
Luanne Platter (niece by marriage)
SpousePeggy Hill
ChildrenBobby Hill
ReligionMethodism (Christianity)
NationalityAmerican

Henry Rutherford "Hank" Hill (Born April 15)

Arlen, Texas, with his family and works as the assistant manager of a local branch of Strickland Propane. He likes to drink beer, typically Alamo brand, in the alley behind his house with his friends. He is voiced by series creator Mike Judge.[3][4] The Economist described Hank Hill as one of the wisest people on television,[5] and in 1997 Texas Monthly included him on its annual list of the most influential Texans.[6]

Development

When Mike Judge submitted the pilot script and drawings for King of the Hill to the Fox network, network executives advised him that Hank Hill should be younger than 49 years old, as Judge had described the character. Judge received a phone message from a network executive who told him that Hank's age should be 32, the same age as the network's average viewer. Judge later said, "I got all angry, and then I was like, 'Well, wait. It's just a drawing.' So I just went back with the same drawing and said, 'Okay, he's 34.'"[7]

Hank has been compared to Tom Anderson, the "disapproving old man" who is a neighbor of the title characters on Judge's earlier series Beavis and Butt-Head.[8] Television columnist Frank Wooten of The Post and Courier has written, "Hank still looks and sounds like a young Mr. Anderson (beleaguered, baffled Korean War veteran of 'Beavis and Butt-head'). But he's more in touch with contemporary reality (sort of) -- and funnier."[9] Throughout the show's run, Hank's character's personality appears to primarily be built around the image of the all American, authoritarian family man. In a 2006 interview, Judge said, "Originally I was going to have Hank be his [Mr. Anderson's] son. I was kind of thinking we'd tie it into "Beavis and Butt-Head" as a sort of spinoff or something, but Fox said no."[10] Greg Daniels, another creator of the program, has said that Hank Hill is "based on a lot of neighbors I've had… He's upset about how America is changing, and he doesn't know what to do about it."[11]

Character biography

Early life and family

Hank Hill was born at

Hank Gets Dusted", Hank is shown to be the cousin of ZZ Top bassist and vocalist Dusty Hill
.

Hank is an

Bill Dauterive, Dale Gribble, and, (to a lesser extent) Boomhauer
. Most openings of King of the Hill start with Hank, Dale, Bill and Boomhauer all agreeing to something before the action kicks in, drinking from Alamo branded beer cans. A running joke throughout the series is an angry Hank yelling "I'm gonna kick your ass!" This is just a threat; he rarely, if ever, harms anyone, though he has literally kicked at least two people in the posterior out of anger (an acupuncturist in "Hank's Unmentionable Problem" and Jimmy Wichard in "Life in the Fast Lane: Bobby's Saga"). Hank's honesty and naivety often get him in unpredictable and troublesome situations. Ultimately, Hank cares for the people around him, particularly his family and friends and is always out to do what is right. One characteristic that Hank shows is when he lies to someone, he turns his head or looks around the room.

Working life

Hank is a known workaholic and workplace overachiever who sells "

Buck Strickland. Examples of this devotion to work are seen in "Little Horrors of Shop," where Hank admits to taking the day off for Bobby's birth despite not being sick (and voluntarily coming in that Saturday to make up for it); in that same episode, he shows great discomfort at taking a mandatory two-week vacation (fearing that he might be "found dead, not working") and struggles to fill his time off with other activities. In "Hank and the Great Glass Elevator," he refuses to leave work 10 minutes early on a Friday, instead sitting patiently at his desk until exactly 5:00 despite having no work to do. In "Hank's Back", he refused to go on Worker's Compensation after injuring his back on the job, despite repeated attempts at suggesting too much work will make him sloppy. Despite this hypervigilant work ethic, in "Hank Gets Dusted" he does imply he would have taken bereavement leave when his hero Tom Landry
died, expressing dismay that he went into work anyway because he believed his cousin Dusty Hill was simply making up the news as a practical joke. When Hank gets a phone call in the middle of the night, he often immediately starts with the Strickland slogan, "Strickland Propane, taste the meat, not the heat", showing his dedication to his work. Hank also has a habit of announcing himself as "Hank Hill, Assistant Manager, Strickland Propane", even in situations where it has nothing to do with his work such as when called on to give a speech as Patch Boomhauer's best man at his wedding rehearsal dinner. Hank's family is well aware of his devotion to propane; he refers to the gas as 'sweet lady propane', acknowledging that he and his wife Peggy have an agreement on the matter. Peggy herself has referred to herself as a 'propane wife'.

He was briefly promoted to manager when Buck's wife/ex-wife (affectionately referred to as "Miz Liz") temporarily took over Strickland Propane. Hank was also briefly promoted to manager by Buck Strickland while helping Buck rebuild a house for

Kahn
bought stake in) and continue to take verbal abuse. He also threatened to quit unless Buck fired a new employee who was making crude jokes and sexual innuendo (eventually in frustration, Hank actually dragged the new employee into the washroom and washed his mouth out with soap). Hank's work ethic extends past his occupation. He is a noted DIY enthusiast. The meticulous detail to which he maintains his home was reflected when he opted to submit it for Parade of Homes.

Hank looks up to Buck, who calls Hank "Ol' Top". And Hank keeps a somewhat idyllic picture of Buck, even though he recognizes his boss's many shortcomings (excessive gambling, alcoholism, womanizing, and a general lack of principles). Hank must frequently clean up his boss's unsavory "situations": bailing him out of jail, facilitating his vices, and performing suspicious errands. In one episode he went as far as covering up Strickland's illegal

A Fire Fighting We Will Go
," Bobby questions Hank about his new job as a volunteer fireman, in which Bobby says he is surprised because Hank always seems to exaggerate and make a big deal about being a propane salesman.

Personal life

In the first episode of the series, his wife

Connie
taking their clothes off since, up until that time, Hank was uncertain of Bobby's interest in girls. From his eccentricities, Hank often says of Bobby, "That boy ain't right. I tell you what.”

Hank suffers from a fictional

narrow urethra
, a topic Hank is sensitive about and often becomes annoyed about if brought up to people outside the immediate family.

Hank was on the high school football team (as were Bill, Boomhauer, and team towel manager, Dale). He was a running back and led the league in rushing (his record remains unbroken). He had a promising career until he snapped his ankle in the state championship (although this cost Arlen the game, he is still celebrated for "taking them to State"). This incident exacerbated Hank's already-restrained emotionalism, as he saw it as punishment from God for doing a celebratory dance after scoring a touchdown earlier during the game. After graduating from high school, he went on to work as a salesman at Jeans West, a clothing retailer, until Buck found that he was a good salesman and hired him at Strickland Propane, where he taught Hank everything about propane and propane accessories. According to his neighbor Dale, he also had a brief stint as a tractor salesman.

Although his career in propane is later shown to have started with a chance meeting with Buck Strickland, in episode "Order of the Straight Arrow", a flashback to 1965 shows younger Hank, Dale, Bill and Boomhauer on a scouting trip, talking about what they're going to do when they grow up. Hank says, "I'm going to sell propane and propane accessories... if my grades are good enough," which is confusing since he met Buck at Jeans West, although it can be explained if Hank mistakenly puts in his adult passion for propane into memories from his childhood, or it may have been possible that Hank had to work at Jeans West due to a tight job market and his goal of working in propane was finally realized with the sale to Buck. This same episode reveals that boys entering the Order are 12 years old, which would give Hank a birth date of sometime in 1953. In the second-season episode, "Hank's Dirty Laundry," Hank himself states his birth year as 1953.

Hank drives a red

Ford Ranger (1983 or 1993 model depends on the episodes) after it was destroyed by a train, despite trying to make it last as long as mechanically possible. Both trucks have manual transmissions while the Ranger carries a bed mounted toolbox for times when Hank takes his truck out on Strickland-related business. He gives great love and affection to his lawn and his bloodhound
, Ladybird. In one episode, Peggy is bitter for throwing a special birthday party for Ladybird but not for herself, where it is implied in some episodes she believes Hank spends more time with Ladybird and being house proud than he does with her, as suggested in another episode where he mourns over his sub-par lawn compared to his neighbors, remarking. "I put so much work into this, my sweat, blood, tears, all the tender feelings I've kept from my family."

Hank's idol is

boyband
music namely due to their lack of explicit lyrics compared to obscenity-filled rap and failing to understand the demographic the music was meant for.

Hank is 6'2", as shown on his driver's license.

Personality

Much of the humor of the show results from the collision of Hank's deeply conservative manner, nature, and philosophy with the world and people around him.

Luanne
), but he has a healthy relationship with his wife, as well as the rest of his family, except his father. He believes passionately in hard work, honesty, tradition, responsibility, and convention (he refuses to leave work early, even so much as 10 minutes early on a Friday); and is a proud Texan and American always trying his best to see others, regardless of culture, for their personal character. He is, however, a highly respected authority among his friends and family, who often seek his help and advice, knowing that he will always advocate doing the right thing in the right way.

Hank is against charcoal, butane (which he refers to as a "bastard gas") and the use of propane alternatives (such as electric water-heaters, heaters, stoves and ovens). Hank believes that propane is the best source of fuel and is known to try to "convert" people to propane use. When niece

Luanne Platter uses charcoal on burgers at a barbecue, Peggy and Bobby find them delicious and eat them all: they are horrified to learn that they enjoy charcoal grilling. Hank's love for propane is sometimes shown in an ironic juxtaposition with his love of all things Texas, for example being introduced to mesquite
, a traditional Texan barbecue wood, by his immigrant neighbor Kahn.

One of Hank's most treasured hobbies is the care he takes over his

Riding mower, a mower he also covets to the point when the Mason Corporation undertook the focus group discontinuing his model in favor of a new one, he managed to point out all the flaws in the engineering and convince the group the mower was inferior. In the episode "King of the Ant Hill" with Cinco de Mayo approaching, Hank purchases an exorbitant new lawn of Raleigh St. Augustine sod for $1.25 per square foot, which Dale destroys with fire ants
as an act of revenge to Hank for terminating his exterminating services. Just as Hank is about to attack him to a physical fight in payback for ruining his lawn, Dale redeems himself by saving Bobby from the fire ants, who attacked him for confining them. His friends and neighbors gifted him with a few square feet of new Raleigh, albeit only enough to cover a small fraction of his front yard. When he converted his back yard into a putting green, he installed kikuyu grass. In only one episode did Hank purposely allow his lawn to die; when water restrictions and a drought forced Hank to run for public office on a platform opposing the city water policy which wasted more water than it saved. He later discovered Kahn was bribing the water department employee to keep his lawn green and Bobby blackmailed him to keep Hank's lawn from dying. Refusing to be corrupt, he ceased watering. Hank has also states that he has held back "tender feelings" towards his family in order to focus on the lawn.

Hank resides in a single-story

rancher, which he claims has historic value. He is a noted do it yourself
(DIY) enthusiast and prides himself on homeownership, to the point where he completely distrusts repairmen and refuses initially to call them during times of crisis, even during a few incidents where he was unable to solve the problem on his own. He is skilled in home repair, lawn and garden and automotive repair. He meticulously obeys virtually every building code in the city ordinance. He gets a great deal of joy engaging in home repair and his level of skill (and attention to detail) was repeatedly shown to exceed that of workmen he employed.

Hank is also a follower of sports. He is a huge fan of

soccer, claiming to Bobby "I didn't think I ever needed to tell you this, but I would be a bad parent if I didn't; soccer was invented by European ladies to keep them busy while their husbands did the cooking". He also hates tennis and appears to hate ice hockey
as well.

While more of a stereotypical Southern redneck in earlier episodes, for example, idolizing

Texas flag or a potted cactus
. With barely a thought, he chooses the cactus, thereby sparing the flag.

He is for the most part an outspoken

labor unions
.

In nearly every episode, Hank and his friends Dale, Bill, and Boomhauer will stand about in the alley behind Hank's house, drinking Alamo beer and discussing the events of the day. When consensus is reached and at breaks in the conversation, they will give short words of agreement, such as "yup" or "mm-hmm". He considers his wife his best friend and feels that physically punishing children is wrong; he is verbally strict, but not directly abusive. In the episode "Sleight of Hank", it was revealed that Hank has a huge dislike for magicians after seeing

chiroptophobia
, the fear of bats.

Political parties aside, he is very conservative and old-fashioned, being largely ignorant (and disdainful) of new trends; several episodes involve him reluctantly dealing with subjects outside of his comfort zone, such as

boybands, etc. Despite his discomfort with change and unfamiliar or awkward social situations and milieus, when his involvement is unavoidable, Hank repeatedly shows the ability to adapt to[17]
(and even learn from
Jumpin' Crack Bass", Hank made the mistake of purchasing crack cocaine he assumed was fish bait; when his liberal lawyer explained that virtually everyone including then-President Bill Clinton has consumed drugs, Hank comments, "Not my president! I voted for Dole!", referencing the 1996 election
.

Hank is not entirely unbending in his habits. One of them is his discovery and embrace of organic meat in the episode "

McMansions
, and running for city council on a platform of removing low-flow toilets, in part, because they wasted more water than they saved. Similarly, he seems to believe in global warming, as when Dale commented on how warmer temperatures could lead to a citrus industry in Alaska, Hank responded "We live in Texas. It's already 110 in the summer, and if it gets one degree hotter I'm gonna kick your ass!" Despite his un-worldly outlook and occasional naiveté, he has been shown to be very clever in various scenarios. These include outwitting a rapacious lawyer who was attempting to sue Strickland Propane for an injury suffered on its premises by making it appear as though the injury occurred in his own law office, and forcing a veterinarian who was requiring costly and unnecessary tests for a soldier's cat to desist (in poetic irony, Hank began informing the vet's demanding clientele of an unneeded, but slightly superior, imaging machine the vet was unwilling to invest in). Hank also got the see-no-evil parents of a youngster who was bullying him to exert discipline by having Bobby behave exactly like their son toward them.

Hank can be gullible, as for 25 years he bought vehicles (five cars) at sticker price from Tom Hammond's dealership, thinking they were a great deal and Hammond was a true friend. He has also been tricked because of his relative ignorance concerning drugs or subcultures. Hence he once mistakenly bought vials of crack cocaine believing they were fishing bait and in a time of stress took a hit of marijuana because he thought it was a cigarette. He once introduced a woman named Tammy Duvall (voiced by Renée Zellweger), who later turned out to be a prostitute, to several business associates, she gifted him with a feather-tipped hat while driving his father's vintage Cadillac leading to the community to thinking that he was a pimp much to his horror. This led her former pimp, Alabaster Jones (voiced by Snoop Dogg), to believe he was her new pimp, a role he was forced to act out to rid her of him.

In "

head lice
in the present (an affliction caused by Bill trying to meet the school district's head lice lady). He had the name removed out of disgust, but eventually had a jailhouse tattoo of it put on to show Bill that the two were still friends.

Hank thinks very highly of Texas. He thinks that Texas is superior to all other states in the U.S or at least

Hollywood. (This is a play on the stereotype of exaggerated Texas pride.) In the episode "Returning Japanese Part 1", Hank says "Peggy, I've already chosen the country for our summer vacation, America. And the state, Texas. And the town, Denton. I don't care what their police did to that cyclist. It's still a great town." Later in the episode, he also says to his father Cotton, "Dad, there is no other place I'd rather be," after Cotton said, "Hank, you work at a gas station; fuel this thing up and fly me back to Texas!". A recurring gag throughout the series is Hank's contempt for big cities and urban areas, once comparing a youth-oriented shopping center to "Hell, or Dallas", and, regarding San Antonio
, asking "Why would anyone want to live there?" as he and Bobby watched a weather girl screw up on camera.

Character analysis

Describing Hank physically, Jo Johnson has written, "In keeping with [Mike] Judge's tradition of subtlety, the character of Hank Hill is only slightly overweight, not to satisfy the stereotype of the boorish husband, but because he eats a lot of meat and drinks a lot of beer."[20]

Palmer-Mehta notes that Hank's "fervor for selling propane and propane accessories is nearly apostolic."[21] During their development of the character, the show's writers did substantial research on the propane business. Over time, members of the propane industry came to view Hank Hill as a largely positive image.[22]

Ethan Thompson writes that although Hank Hill is similar to other sitcom father figures, such as Archie Bunker from All in the Family, he is different due to his "ability to acknowledge that the values and beliefs he grew up with are no longer sufficient to guide him in his roles as father, husband, friend, and employee."[23]

New York Times contributor Matt Bai discussed Hank's political perspective in 2005, writing, "[L]ike a lot of the basically conservative voters you meet in rural America ... Hank never professes an explicit party loyalty, and he and his buddies who sip beer in the alley don't talk like their fellow Texan Tom DeLay. If Hank votes Republican, it's because, as a voter who cares about religious and rural values, he probably doesn't see much choice. But Hank and his neighbors resemble many independent voters, open to proposals that challenge their assumptions about the world, as long as those ideas don't come from someone who seems to disrespect what they believe."[24]

In 1997, Texas Monthly included Hank Hill on its annual "Texas Twenty" list of "the most impressive, intriguing, and influential Texans". He was the first "non-human" to make the list. An accompanying mock interview described him as "perhaps the most recognized Texan in the world".[6][25][26]

Ten years later, Associated Press television critic Frazier Moore described Hank as "more than ever ... a man on the spot, torn between squabbling, widening extremes. . . the man politicians always glorify in campaign speeches, but conveniently forget once they win: the ordinary guy, just trying to get by." Moore opined that Hank "was a remarkable invention 10 years ago" and the fact that the show was "still funny and savvy" a decade later was "even more notable".[27]

Appearances in other media

Besides King of the Hill, Hank has made cameos on other shows, including:

Program Episode References
The Simpsons "Bart Star" [28][29]
"Missionary: Impossible" [30]
"Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays" [31]
"The Ten-Per-Cent Solution" [32]
Family Guy "Petergeist" [33]
"Bigfat" [34]
"
All About Alana
" 		[35]
The Cleveland Show "
Cleveland Live!
" 		[36]
"
Das Shrimp Boot
" 		[37]
South Park "Cartoon Wars Part II"

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ a b Season Five, Episode Ten: Yankee Hankie (at time 04:42 of 22:30) Birth Certificate has his name listed as Hank Rutherford Hill
  2. ISBN 978-1538103784
    .
  3. ^ "King of the Hill/Hank Hill character bio". Fox Broadcasting. Archived from the original on 2008-10-15. Retrieved 2008-10-30.
  4. ^ "King of the Hill". IMDb. Retrieved 2008-10-30.
  5. ^ "Help not wanted". The Economist. 2008-04-10. Retrieved 11 March 2013. One of the most unjustly neglected films of the past few years is Mike Judge's "Idiocracy". Mr Judge is the genius behind Beavis and Butt-Head, two of the most disgusting creatures on television, and Hank Hill, one of the wisest.
  6. ^ a b "The Texas Twenty". Texas Monthly. September 1997. Retrieved 2014-09-26.
  7. ISBN 9780292778290
    . Retrieved 2013-03-11.
  8. National Review Online
    . Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  9. ^ Wooten, Frank (1997-04-27). "Yadda, yadda, yadda: 'Seinfeld' bounces back". The Post and Courier. Charleston, S.C. pp. 1–D. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  10. ^ Rahner, Mark (2006-01-24). "Catching up with Mike Judge, the mind behind "Beavis," "Office Space"". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  11. New York Times
    . Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  12. ^ Season 6, episode 11, Unfortunate Son Cotton Hill "The only uniform he ever wore was the boy scouts" Hank " I made it to Eagle Scout...."
  13. ^ "King of the Hill Showed that Conservatism Can Thrive on Prime Time". National Review. 2015-04-25.
  14. ^ "'King of the Hill': The Last Bipartisan TV Comedy". The Atlantic. 2016-02-22.
  15. ^ Bai, Matt (2005-06-26). "'King of the Hill' Democrats?". The New York Times.
  16. ^ "10 episodes that made King of the Hill one of the most human cartoons ever". The A.V. Club. 3 July 2013.
  17. ^ "Pretty, Pretty Dresses," "Ho Yeah!," "Joust Like a Woman."
  18. ^ "Aisle 8A," "Queasy Rider," "Hank's Back."
  19. ^ "Hank's Dirty Laundry," "The Son Also Roses," "Lady and Gentrification."
  20. ISBN 9780773539792
    .
  21. S2CID 219641922
    .
  22. ^ Richesson, Brian (1 February 2009). "Farewell, 'King': 'King of the Hill' is leaving a lasting impression on the propane industry". LP/Gas. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 2014-09-26 – via HighBeam Research.
  23. S2CID 194026643
    . Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  24. ^ Bai, Matt (2005-06-26). "'King of the Hill' Democrats?". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  25. ^ Patoski, Joe (24 September 2014). "Television: Hank Hill: Like other suburban Texans, he's a real character". Texas Monthly. Retrieved 2014-09-26.
  26. ^ Hayward, Susana (14 December 2007). "Long Live the King". The Texas Observer. Archived from the original on 28 March 2015. Retrieved 2014-09-26 – via HighBeam Research.
  27. ^ Moore, Frazier (27 January 2007). "The Return of the 'King'-- In 11th season, Hank Hill still clings to how things should be, taking a stand on his patch of turf". Associated Press in The Commercial Appeal. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 2014-09-26 – via HighBeam Research.
  28. ^ "Bart Star". The Simpsons. Fox Broadcasting Company.
  29. ^ "BBC - Programmes categorised as Comedy".
  30. ^ "Missionary: Impossible". The Simpsons. Fox Broadcasting Company.
  31. ^ "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays". The Simpsons. Fox Broadcasting Company.
  32. ^ "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution". The Simpsons. Fox Broadcasting Company.
  33. ^ "Petergeist". Family Guy. Fox Broadcasting Company.
  34. ^ Harnick, Chris (15 April 2013). "Worlds Colliding". Huffington Post.
  35. ^ Byrne, Craig (1 May 2022). "Family Guy Tonight: Elizabeth Gillies & Hank Hill in "All About Alana"". KSiteTV.
  36. Cleveland Live!". The Cleveland Show. Fox Broadcasting Company
    .
  37. Das Shrimp Boot". The Cleveland Show. Fox Broadcasting Company
    .

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hank_Hill&oldid=1213631064"