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Otto Mann |
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This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008) |
| The Simpsons character | |
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| Otto Mann | |
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Job | Drives the Springfield Elementary School Bus |
| Relatives | Father: Admiral Mann Mother: Unnamed |
| Voice actor | Harry Shearer |
| First appearance | |
| The Simpsons | "Homer's Odyssey" |
Otto Mann is a fictional character on the animated TV series The Simpsons, voiced by Harry Shearer. He is the school bus driver for Springfield Elementary School.
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Otto, who is of German descent, is notable for his maniacal driving style, his love of heavy metal music, and his propensity for sounding and acting like a perpetual 1980s teenager. He also has a habit of describing things as "gnarly".
He has been seen at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings: "My name is Otto, and I like to get blotto!" He is a stoner as well (he smokes with Homer in "Weekend at Burnsie's" and he was seen smoking a joint in "Strong Arms of The Ma" and a bong in The Simpsons Movie). It has also been implied that Otto used other drugs like heroin and LSD (in "Homerpalooza", during Peter Frampton's show, he has a hallucination in which his shoes talk to him; in another episode, his urine test was full of dangerous substances, with only trace amounts of actual urine). In the episode "The Otto Show" it is revealed that he can play the guitar very skillfully and he says that is all he did in high school. He is often homeless, having been evicted from his apartment and forced to live with the Simpsons in "The Otto Show", and found squatting in the Simpsons' recently-vacated home in "You Only Move Twice". It is also implied that he sleeps in the school bus on several occasions. His worldly possessions are (or were) nothing more than the clothes on his back, a couple of old "Psycho" magazines and a jar of mustard which Otto was unaware he had. In the commentary for "Bart the Daredevil", it is revealed that the writers planned to name him "Otto Mechanic", but the joke never appeared in an episode.
His name is a joke on the Ottoman Empire's name, as well as Bart's tendency to greet him with "Otto, man!" His look is based on former Simpsons writer Wallace Wolodarsky. In the episode "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge", when Otto puts on a top hat to propose to his girlfriend, Becky, he looks similar to Velvet Revolver and former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash; this could as well be intentional, due to Otto's love for rock music.
Otto's ability and competence to drive any kind of vehicle, let alone a school bus, is highly questionable. On "The Otto Show", he tells Principal Skinner that he has a record of crashing his school bus 15 times without a single fatality. On the same episode, he was dismissed from his job when the authorities discovered that he did not hold any kind of license, or any kind of identification at all. (He stated that his identification was the fact that he wrote his name on his underwear; only to discover that he was wearing someone else's). He only attained his driving license thereafter because Patty passed him, and this was despite him completely failing to drive the bus in a restrained and secure manner (she passed him because they shared a mutual hatred of Homer). Otto has also been shown smoking or being under the influence of marijuana while driving the bus, and in "The Seven-Beer Snitch" his urine test contained "crack, smack, uppers, downers, outers, inners, horse tranquilizers, cow paralyzers, blue bombers, green goofers, yellow submarines, LSD Mach 3" and trace amounts of human urine. In "Das Bus", Otto crashes the bus full of children into the ocean (in this particular instance, it isn't his fault; he has grapefruit citric acid in his eyes), leaving his passengers to be washed up on an exotic island. Otto himself was seemingly rescued by a Chinese fishing trawler, unaware that its crew was actually planning to enslave him below decks. In "Homerpalooza" he accidentally drives into the auto wrecking yard crushing it into a scale model of the bus. Once he met with Metallica after their bus had broken down. Before actually meeting them he asked himself, "Am I on drugs?" and a little green dragon on his dashboard replied, "Yes you are, but that really is Metallica."
In "The Boy Who Knew Too Much", the familiar yellow school bus is replaced by an old prison transport bus with barred windows. Otto uncharacteristically tells the children to "take a seat, before I blow your heads off!". He then apologizes and explains that he has a "Shining thing" going on with this bus, a reference to the Stephen King novel where the main character's surroundings directly affect his personality, causing murderous traits.
His father is a Navy Admiral, and the two do not get along. His father warned Otto that if he spent all day playing his guitar, his life would amount to nothing. There have been suggestions that this is a reference to Jim Morrison of The Doors, whose father was also an Admiral. He was once engaged to a girl named Becky, but at the wedding she revealed she couldn't stand heavy metal after he hired a Poison cover band to play at the ceremony. Marge then told him he had to choose between Becky and his music - he chose the latter, leaving Becky at the altar. In other episodes Otto has made reference to a girlfriend named Crystal, though this could be a joke about crystal meth.
Otto's love of music is referenced throughout the show, especially that of classic rock, heavy metal and hair metal. He meets Metallica when their tour bus broke down in Springfield and offered them a ride. But that was turned down as Bart had then hijacked the school bus, and Metallica found Hans Moleman to be a "real fan."
In the beginning of The Simpsons Movie, Otto is seen at a Green Day concert along with several other characters from the series. Oddly enough, Otto is the only one sitting down in a chair and saying to the other fans, "You're ruining it for everyone!", like he did in Trash of the Titans at the U2 concert.
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