Alphonse "Al" Bundy (born November 7, 1948) is a
fictional characterA character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr through its Latin transcription character, the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its...
from the U.S. television series
Married... with ChildrenMarried... with Children or Married with Children is an American sitcom about a dysfunctional family living in Chicago that lasted 11 seasons. The show, notable for being the first prime time television series to air on Fox, debuted on April 5, 1987, and aired its final first-run broadcast on June...
, played by
Ed O'NeillEdward "Ed" O'Neill is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the main character, Al Bundy, on the Fox Network's sitcom, Married... with Children. O'Neill is often cast as a police detective or FBI agent in television shows and films.-Early life:O'Neill was born into an Irish Catholic...
.
He is a slovenly character who finds himself constantly downtrodden by life and forever regretful of the turns his life has taken since the end of
high schoolHigh school is the name used in some parts of the world, particularly in Scotland, Northern America and Oceania, to describe an institution that provides all or part of secondary education...
, when marriage and a broken leg prevented him from playing
college footballCollege football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies. It was the venue through which American football first gained popularity in the United States...
. The character was so popular that it has left O'Neill somewhat
typecastTypecasting is the process by which a film, TV, or stage actor is strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters with the same traits or ethnic grouping....
since the series ended production.
Al Bundy is married to Margaret "Peggy" Wanker Bundy, his lazy, red-haired wife.
Alphonse "Al" Bundy (born November 7, 1948) is a
fictional characterA character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr through its Latin transcription character, the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its...
from the U.S. television series
Married... with ChildrenMarried... with Children or Married with Children is an American sitcom about a dysfunctional family living in Chicago that lasted 11 seasons. The show, notable for being the first prime time television series to air on Fox, debuted on April 5, 1987, and aired its final first-run broadcast on June...
, played by
Ed O'NeillEdward "Ed" O'Neill is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the main character, Al Bundy, on the Fox Network's sitcom, Married... with Children. O'Neill is often cast as a police detective or FBI agent in television shows and films.-Early life:O'Neill was born into an Irish Catholic...
.
Fictional character history
He is a slovenly character who finds himself constantly downtrodden by life and forever regretful of the turns his life has taken since the end of
high schoolHigh school is the name used in some parts of the world, particularly in Scotland, Northern America and Oceania, to describe an institution that provides all or part of secondary education...
, when marriage and a broken leg prevented him from playing
college footballCollege football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies. It was the venue through which American football first gained popularity in the United States...
. The character was so popular that it has left O'Neill somewhat
typecastTypecasting is the process by which a film, TV, or stage actor is strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters with the same traits or ethnic grouping....
since the series ended production.
Al Bundy is married to Margaret "Peggy" Wanker Bundy, his lazy, red-haired wife. He mistakenly asked her to marry him after he got drunk. He has two children: Kelly, a promiscuous, dumb blonde, and Bud, an intelligent but perpetually horny weasel named after a
brand of beerBudweiser is a German adjective describing something or someone from the city of Budweis, a city in Southern Bohemia, Czech Republic. Since 1919 the city has used its Czech name, České Budějovice, as its official name....
. Al lives in Chicago and is the proud owner of a '71
DodgeDodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, sport utility vehicles, and pickup trucks, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
DusterA Duster can be:*A dustrag or cloth used to remove dust from furniture or other objects*A feather duster*A smaller whisk broom or brush*A light coat or housecoat; see Duster *An automobile, the Plymouth Duster...
(although in one episode it is revealed that "The Dodge" is constructed out of the parts of other broken-down, destroyed Dodges). He works as a shoe salesman at the fictional Gary's Shoes and Accessories for Today's Woman in the fictional New Market Mall. Al hates his job, loses it several times throughout the series, yet always ends up coming back to it. While it is suggested throughout the show that Al makes minimum-wage, it is likely an exaggeration, as the Bundys have a rather typical home that would be impossibly out of reach for a minimum-wage worker. However, in one episode, Al is offered early retirement and given a year's pay: $12,000.
It is also worth noting that throughout the series Al is saddled with massive debts, caused by everything from the various disasters he becomes involved in to his wife's spending habits, and yet never seems to miss a
mortgageA mortgage is the transfer of an interest in property to a lender as a security for a debt - usually a loan of money. While a mortgage in itself is not a debt, it is the lender's security for a debt...
payment or have to file for
bankruptcyBankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay its creditors. Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against a debtor in an effort to recoup a portion of what they are owed or initiate a restructuring...
. The "Bundy Will" indebted the "benefactor" with these debts that Al Bundy has incurred and is used as a punishment.
In flashbacks, it is revealed that Al's mother may have been an alcoholic. While pondering his shortcomings over a toothpaste sandwich, he relives a moment where his mother tells him he can become anything while audibly saying "Yeah right, Mom, try saying that when you're sober!". In another similar situation, he asks her if she wants her Bloody Mary.
Most of the show's running gags concern Al. Aside from his bad luck, Al also maintains a "do-it-yourself" attitude whenever something needs fixing in the house; combined with his creativity, poor judgement, and lack of skill, this often results in his falling off the roof or hurting someone else. Al is also shown as being careless about hygiene (Peggy is the one who criticizes him the most, yet she is at least partly responsible for this, as she never does the laundry): he is often told he smells bad, and whenever he goes to a public restroom, he overflows the toilet (he is often seen leaving to the said place with a newspaper tucked under his arm). A running gag is that Al, showers or even brushes his teeth as rarely as he has sex. It is implied that Al is not very well liked by his neighborhood. In "Route 666" Marcy said that when they found out on what was believed to be Al's death, they all started dancing and singing
Ding Dong, the shoe man's dead and called it a
cruel, cruel hoax when they learned it was a false alarm—Al had survived his latest misadventure. Other people pay little to no attention to him and, as a result, his name often ends up misspelled on paychecks, parking spots etc ("Bumby", "Boondy", "Birdy"...).
Despite being a somewhat phlegmatic and slow person, Bundy has a very dry sense of humor; he also has a definite love for his family, though that can still be traded for a fair amount of money. On the rare occasions when he enjoys luxury and money, Al indeed expresses love for his family. An example can be seen in one episode where Peggy and Al receive free first-class plane tickets to New York City from Marcy and are seen sipping champagne and singing "I've Got You, Babe" together. In another episode, Al's Dodge turns up missing and he wants it back to recover an item in the trunk. The item turns out to be a picture of Al, Peg, Bud and Kelly together. This suggests that his distaste for them is spawned merely by his blaming them for his poor quality of life.
Al hates fat women, his job, the prospect of having sex with his wife, his feminist neighbor Marcy D'Arcy, and the French. He loves dirty magazines, free
beerBeer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal grains—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize , and rice are widely...
,
bowling Bowling is a Sport in which players attempt to score points by rolling a bowling ball along a flat surface either into objects called pins or to get close to a target ball. There are many forms of bowling, with one of the most recent being ten-pin bowling and the earliest dating back to ancient...
and "nudie" bars, and often cherishes the glory moment of his past: scoring four touchdowns "in a single game" while playing for the fictional Polk High School Panthers in the 1966 city championship game versus fictional Andrew Johnson High School, including the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds against his old nemesis, “Spare Tire” Dixon (played by
Bubba SmithCharles Aaron "Bubba" Smith is an American actor and former athlete. He was a professional football player in the 1960s and 1970s who became an actor in the late 1970s. Born in Orange, Texas, he attended Beaumont Charlton-Pollard high school in Beaumont, Texas...
in episode "All-Nite Security Dude"). His favorite movie is
HondoHondo is a 1953 western film starring John Wayne. It is somewhat a retelling of Hamlet, in that Hondo kills a young boy's father, marries the boy's mother, and becomes a father figure for the boy...
, and his favorite sitcom is the fictional
Psycho Dad. His favorite magazine is
Big'uns. He enjoys watching sports and dirty movies on television, with his right hand tucked into his pants (he switches to his left hand on Sundays).
Al's talents include playing
baseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond...
,
bowling Bowling is a Sport in which players attempt to score points by rolling a bowling ball along a flat surface either into objects called pins or to get close to a target ball. There are many forms of bowling, with one of the most recent being ten-pin bowling and the earliest dating back to ancient...
,
barbecueBarbecue or barbeque is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, with the heat and hot gases of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of charcoal or a propane gas grill, and may...
ing (wearing an apron that says "Kiss the Cook, Kill the Wife"), and getting into and winning fistfights. He can survive incredible injuries ranging from falling off the Bundy roof while installing a
satellite dishA dish is a type of parabolic antenna designed to receive microwaves from communications satellites, which transmit data transmissions or broadcasts, such as satellite television.-Principle of operation:...
), getting shocked by that same dish, and getting pulverized by a massive woman wrestler (Big Bad Mama from
Gorgeous Ladies of WrestlingGorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, also known as GLOW or G.L.O.W., was a professional wrestling promotion for women, begun in 1986 and continued in various forms after it left television. Colorful characters, beautiful women, and over-the-top comedy sketches were integral to the series' success...
) in
Las VegasLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, fine dining, and entertainment. Las Vegas, which bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, is famous for the number of...
, to jumping from an airplane without a parachute. Al also has an encyclopedic knowledge of sports trivia, which usually demonstrates how he has little interest in anything else.
In season 8, Bundy and his friends founded NO MA'AM, the misogynistic "National Organization of Men Against Amazonian Masterhood". Its "political goals" is to fight the increasing power of women all over society, but the organization tends to just be a social club in which the men in the neighborhood hang out, bowl, and frequent the Jiggly Room. However, there have been instances of actual "political activities" such as kidnapping Jerry Springer; countering a breast-feeding sit-in organized by Marcy with a Beer Belly dance-off; causing a riot over a proposed beer tax; going to Washington to appeal to Congress when Psycho Dad is cancelled; and even forming a short lived misogynistic religion, whose chief theology is blaming all the world's problems on
EveEve is the first woman created by God in the Book of Genesis.Eve may also refer to:-Days:The day before, or the evening before, a holiday, such as:*New Year's Eve*Christmas Eve*St. John's Eve, also called Midsummer's Eve or Bonfire Night...
--the first woman, joining the national guard in which Al receives the 'bronze dumpster'. Al shows great leadership skills, being the organizer of many of NO MA'AM's activist projects, and authoritatively breaking into NO MA'AM members' squabbles with "Order! Order, gentlemen!"
Since there was no final-episode special to provide an epilogue, it is unknown what would happen to Al in the end. However, his guardian angel (
Sam KinisonSamuel Burl "Sam" Kinison was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Kinison was known for his intense, harsh humor...
in the episode "It's a Bundyful Life Part 2") accidentally mentions that at age 60 his stomach gets so
ulcerA peptic ulcer, also known as ulcus pepticum, PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is an ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful...
-ridden that he dies from all the stress of living his life. According to his family funeral plans in the episode "Death of a Shoe Salesmen" he would be buried next to his favorite television actor Fuzzy McGee. When his wife Peggy dies sometime after, she will be stacked face-down on top of him much to the dismay of his original burial plans. In the episode
I Who Have Nothing, according to his will, he'd be buried with all his prized football possessions, leaving just his worthless
Joe NuxhallJoseph Henry Nuxhall was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played most of his career for the Cincinnati Reds...
baseball card to his only-begotten son Bud. To the rest of his family he'd leave a picture of him, posing in his jersey with his football, that would read "To My
Beloved family, have a nice life!"
External links