The Simpsons' Secret Identity
It might not have been as hype-worthy as the Seinfeld episode in which Cosmo Kramer divulged his first name, or as sly as Mr. Big being outed as a "John" on the final episode of Sex and the City.
But after 14 anonymous years and dozens of episodes on The Simpsons, "Comic Book Guy," the surly, waddling Dungeons & Dragons aficionado (voiced by Hank Azaria) finally disclosed his real name — Jeff Albertson — during the show's post-Super Bowl episode earlier this month.
Jeff Albertson?
Those expecting an obscure nod to sci-fi history or a quirky shout-out to comic-book fan boys ("Louis Lane" was one guess circulating on the Internet) may have been disappointed. But
Simpsons executive producer
Al Jean doesn't think there's any identity crisis here.
"We just thought it would be funny to throw it away and give him a normal name after all these years," he says. "There's nobody he's named after. It just sounded like a good name for the guy. We purposely made it as nondescript as possible." A nerd by any other name would smell as sweet.
