List of Moral Orel characters
Encyclopedia
The following is a list of characters featured in the American
stop motion animation
series Moral Orel
.
Most of the characters' names are references in some way to the stop motion animation process.
s and makes short animated movies with them. In his attempts to remain moral, he listens to Reverend Putty's sermons very closely. Even though he's very attentive and always means well, Orel tends to misinterpret the minister's teachings, leading to chaos for both him and the town.
One of the show's aspects has been Orel's slow awakening to the flaws of the people around him as well as expanding his personal belief system beyond the rigid fundamentalist Christian doctrine of the town. In "Praying", Orel defies his father's orders and uses Buddhist meditation to deal with his stress. In "Charity", Orel became a full-fledged drug addict. While in "Orel's Movie Premiere," Orel (perhaps without realizing the implications) uses rather harsh portrayals of the people around him in his home movies, most notably portraying his father as a sadistic, drunken snarling wolf (which in turn led to Dr. Potterswheel asking Clay if he was molesting his son to make him see him as such a monster).
After the disastrous sequence of events in the two-part season two finale "Nature," Orel loses all respect for his father. When Clay shoots Orel in the leg in a drunken state, followed by drinking the disinfectant (Clay: "This may sting a little") and subsequently denying fault for the incident (Clay: "Oh, I don't remember that, so that means it's not my fault"), Orel not only tells his father for the first time that he hates him, but when asked if he shot a bear that had wandered into their camp whilst Clay was passed out, Orel lies and states that it was Clay who had shot it in order to deny him the joy of fatherly pride. Later on, after "Hunting" Orel is seen still being polite and cheerful towards the townspeople, but becoming incredibly emotionally distant towards Clay: "Nesting" shows Orel being completely indifferent to Clay's threats of punishment in his study, completely in contrast to the audible gulp that took place in previous situations of the similar. As a result of the shooting (and likely Dr. Potterswheel's incompetent job in healing the leg), Orel gets a permanent limp, which Dino Stamotopolus said would have been kept throughout the series had it continued (and is indeed shown in the show's final scene of an adult Orel). Orel has yet to realize the flaws of the people in Moralton including his mother and his whole family (including his grandparents), though this is partly because Orel refuses to see anything but the good in people.
In the series finale, Orel realizes the exact nature of his father's relationship with Coach Stopframe, but the realization doesn't bother him much and a substantial bond between them develops. It's also shown that at the end, despite the apparent collapse of his family, Orel ultimately becomes a much better man than his father ever was, marrying his childhood sweetheart Christina Posabule and maintaining a loving, happy family with two kids and a puppy, unlike his still unhappy parents.
Orel is voiced by Carolyn Lawrence
.
As a child, Clay was the only surviving child of his parents, as his mother's drinking, smoking and fun-loving lifestyle (including riding roller coasters, jumping on a trampoline, and horseback riding) caused her to miscarry ten of Clay's unborn siblings before he was born (largely because Clay's mother spent all of her pregnancy with Clay praying for his safety). Clay's mother was a religious zealot, who spoiled Clay rotten and instructed him in the various "lost commandments" of Moses. This created tension with Clay's father, who was outright neglected by his wife in favor of his son, to the point that he was forced to eat his son's leftovers. Clay's life collapsed however when he faked his own death as a prank on his mother, causing her to have a fatal heart attack. Clay's father (who was not deeply religious) never forgave Clay for his part in his mother's death and emotionally shunned his son, ultimately telling him that he's "not even worth it" upon an initial refrain from slapping him. This deeply affected Clay, causing him to seek out his father's abuse as a means to gain any sort of emotional response and validation. The two formed a casual hatred towards each other and blaming each other for the death of Clay's mother. His love for his mother would develop into an Oedipus Complex
many years later, shown in "Nesting." His father gives his gun to Clay saying he is ending the male Puppington tradition of passing along the gun to one's first born son, because it is tainted with blood. Not wanting to feel responsible for his mother's death, Clay says he'll keep the tradition going only to fail terribly with Orel during the hunting trip. The trip was meant to have a father and son bonding rather than killing animals, but because of Orel's large love of animals, Clay drinks very heavily to suppress his anger, the trip turns into a complete disaster that ended with Orel getting shot in the leg by Clay. Clay would shirk any responsibility and instead lay it all on Orel, having been extremely drunk on rubbing alcohol at the time.
When Clay was in his early twenties, he was much similar to Orel, shown to be a rather mild figure who wanted to spend his days studying the Bible and drinking apple juice, showing he had a chance to have a happy life. While attending a wedding, Clay met Bloberta Hymentact. Bloberta asked about his family, Clay said "my parents are dead," not telling her the truth about his father Arthur being alive. The two went to the wedding reception together, where Bloberta introduced Clay to liquor. She believed that alcohol relaxed people for the better (mainly because that's what it had done to her father), and even used a religious justification ("Jesus drank") in order to get him to drink. Alcohol caused a massive switch in Clay's personality, turning him into a womanizer and drunken partier and ultimately caused Bloberta to punch him unconscious in order to keep him from flirting with other women. Afterwords, Bloberta lied to Clay, telling him that he passed out and that she looked after him while he was unconscious. She then pressed him to marry her, citing that he needs someone like her to "help" him. Clay agreed, but by this point the damage was done as Clay was now a full-blown alcoholic who spent most of his wedding flirting with other women, getting drunk, and ultimately getting arrested after the wedding for driving under the influence.
Clay largely hates his family, not remembering his children's names or caring when one of his children (Shapey) is briefly switched with another child (Block). This is taken to an extreme in the episode "Numb" when he assumes Shapey and Block are a liquor-induced hallucination. He is rather misogynistic, believing that women differ from men in the ability to fulfill themselves solely through tending to their husbands. He later reveals that it sexually arouses him to watch her do such chores, ultimately leading him to partake in voyeuristic swinger-style
housekeeping. He is close friends with Coach Daniel Stopframe, who secretly lusts after Clay and the two constantly border on a homoerotic relationship. It has been shown that Stopframe is Clay's chief enabler as far as feeding his dependency on liquor and went as far as to seduce and impregnate Bloberta in order to be near him. The series creators have stated (in the introduction skits during season 3) that Clay is not actually a homosexual: similar to how he drowns his emotional problems with alcoholism, Clay is a sexual deviant, and his affair with Coach Stopframe just happens to be the current kink he's fixated on (i.e. it could just as easily have been swinging, bondage, etc.).
He will often bring Orel into his study to discuss various misdeeds Orel often does after dealing out "a good belting" to the boy. The lessons usually have little to do with the actual damage he caused, usually focusing on "the lesser of two evils". For example, when confronting Orel for raising the dead, Clay is more concerned with the fact that Orel created naked zombies (by removing their clothes prior to resurrecting them) than for actually creating zombies. Also, when Orel develops an unintentional addiction to crack cocaine
, he is punished by Clay for speaking slang rather than smoking it. "Nesting" however, reveals that Orel has become completely indifferent to his fathers threats.
He also has a collection of firearms in his study, including a Heckler & Koch PSG1
sniper rifle and what is revealed in "Nature Pt.1" to be an extensive arsenal
. During a mostly unsuccessful camping trip with Orel, a drunk Clay rants violently about how awful his life is and then accidentally shoots Orel but denies any responsibility. He sinks even lower when, in "Honor", it is revealed that he continues to blame Orel for the injury, telling anyone who asked that it had happened because his son was either clumsy or had gotten in the way.
While Clay tries to maintain the facade that his life is perfectly happy, he is ultimately a pathetic, cruel, self-pitying, misogynistic
, emotionally immature and self-centered man who no longer cares for anyone but himself. He rants harshly about life and relationships and he feels that he's never in control of his own life. He is ill-equipped to deal with life's problems and takes out his anger and frustration on his family, friends, and the town. He doesn't know what love really is, he can't recognize it when he see it. He never realizes what he had until it was too late, like Orel's love until he shot him causing Orel to hate him. He hates and fears the reality about his life and himself. He mocks and ignores anyone who tells him he is wrong, including Orel and Bloberta. During a drunken rant he makes certain comments that may indicate he realizes the current state of his life is his own fault.
Clay often complains about his "stinking dead end job" and being "buried in paperwork". In the penultimate episode, it is revealed, even to Orel's surprise, that Clay is actually the Mayor of Moralton. On a document in his office his full name is shown to be Mayor Clayton Middleinitial Puppington.
In "Honor" Clay finally (though indirectly) admits his feelings for Coach Stopframe, in front of his wife, and children. Stopframe, however, coldly refuses him, saying it's "too late" and Clay leaves dejected and defeated. A picture of him and Bloberta both frowning is seen on the wall in Orel's home in the final scene, a stark contrast to Orel and Christina.
He is voiced by Scott Adsit
.
Bloberta and Clay have a dysfunctional relationship, with Bloberta often shown to be emotionally abusive towards Clay, taunting him over his drunkenness and failures as an adult. When Orel gets in trouble, she lets or demands Clay to deal with Orel's problems. (Due to the fact she deeply doesn't know how to handle the problems herself.) She deeply wants attention and affection. She also withholds sex from her husband, going so far as to force her husband to sleep in a separate bed next to her own, with a partition titled 'Lust Guard' placed between them. She won't look at Clay if he's barefooted. She won't look at him if he's not decent. One episode where Bloberta thinks Reverend Putty is fully aware that Clay didn't want Shapey during Church. The argument causes Clay to walk out on Christmas. Orel never understands why his parents separate and about Bloberta's affair. To avoid embarrassment for their incompetence, the two reunite out of concerns what will the people of Moralton think if they separate. Orel is the only person in Moralton who is unaware that Clay and Bloberta are in a toxic relationship. The two remain together out of denial, thinking no one knows how horrible their marriage really is.
The episode "Numb" revealed that Bloberta hasn't had a proper orgasm in years and has mutilated her genitalia using various power drills and even a mini-jackhammer as a dildo. She tries to find a sex partner but was turn down by various men, reminding her of her childhood. When asked by Orel why she married Clay, she simply responds "Why not?" mimicking her wedding vows instead of giving an actual reason, only to break down crying once she left Orel's room indicating that Orel is noticing the truth about the family's problem that Bloberta and Clay were avoiding, denying, and keeping the truth from Orel and Shapey.
During the first season, the only joy in life is her second son Shapey, who was the result of an extramarital affair Bloberta had with Orel's bisexual gym teacher Coach Stopframe. Bloberta spoiled Shapey rotten, largely though as a means to silence his constant temper tantrums. However, when Clay found out the truth about Shapey, Bloberta began to turn her illegitimate son away, ultimately not noticing that he was accidentally switched with another child for several months before retrieving her son.
She shows little love to Orel, not even getting upset when Orel is accidentally shot and never confronts Clay about the incident. But she does seem to show some concern by being supportive of him in activities and in "Honor" she did ask Clay if Orel should be with them while caroling. She mirrors Clay's denial about her life. When there's a problem Bloberta orders Clay to deal with it even when Orel gets in trouble she orders Clay to handle it instead of her. Orel doesn't know that Bloberta created this family dysfunction. Throughout the series it is apparent that she deeply regrets marrying Clay, that she and Clay are poor parents, is running away from her life's problems, and their marriage is a lie; but she does nothing about it, concerning herself only with how it would appear in the eyes of the townspeople if they split up. She mirrors Clay's inability to deal with life's problem and take it out on Clay whenever she makes a mistake. Her downfall is really her feelings, loneliness, desperation, rejection, and the problems she can't handle.
In "Honor", she is none too pleased when Clay admits his love for Coach Stopframe. In the final scene, she is shown in a picture on the wall, still with Clay, both older and frowning, implying they are still unhappily married.
The her maiden surname "Hymentact" is a crude wordplay on "hymen" and "intact", referring to how her hymen was "intact" before being married.
She is voiced by Britta Phillips
.
In the Season Two episode "The Lord's Prayer" he was accidentally replaced by Block Posabule, son of the Puppington's new neighbors. Clay seemed to notice the difference, but he shrugged it off and has shown no further interest in the matter due to his selfishness, and belief that the "double child" is an alcohol-induced hallucination
. No one else in either family noticed, apart from Orel and Block's sister Christina—despite the Posabules moving away, taking Shapey with them, inadvertently leaving Block in his place, at the end of the episode. However, in several recent episodes such as Repression, Orel bluntly tries to tell his father "That's not Shapey," but is ignored. The main difference between the two is their hair color (Block is a redhead, while Shapey is blonde) and head shape (Shapey's head is round while Block's is more thin); their behaviors are much the same (although Block is often in a happier mood and rarely does he scream). In the episode "Numb", Bloberta finally figures it out after going through a family album. When she goes to the Posabule's house to retrieve him, Mrs. Posabule gives back Shapey and abandons Block after he shows love for Bloberta, forcing her to take care of both of them. The two bond to one another instantly. At the end of the episode "Sacrifice", Shapey speaks calmly for the first time, telling Bloberta, "Mommy, when I'm thirsty, it feels how I feel when I'm alone."
In "Honor" they are both shown as having calmed down significantly, with pictures of them in the final scene showing Shapey becoming a police officer, and Block becoming a firefighter.
They are both voiced by Tigger Stamatopoulos, the daughter of show creator and executive producer Dino Stamatopoulos.
She has a weak heart, and when Clay fakes his death as a prank, she breaks down, asking God to take her instead. When Arthur reveals that Clay is still alive, she believes it to be a miracle. The shock proves too much for her heart, and she dies of a heart attack. Clay, when drinking, is seen to reflect on the events of that night. He uses his mother's "lost commandments" to teach Orel when he does something wrong, and has them mounted on plaques around the walls of his study. Her death is shown to have affected Clay deeply, and his love for his mother has subsequently crystallized into an Oedipus Complex
.
When Clay plays his prank, Arthur notices the half-empty bottle of ketchup and realizes that Clay is merely faking, shaking Clay until he stops. When Angela dies, Arthur becomes openly bitter towards Clay. He often refers to Clay's "murder" of his mother, and passes Ol' Gunny to him not as part of the tradition, but because it is "tainted" with Angela's blood. Both Arthur and Clay hate each other because of Angela's death (which is meaningless hatred). His previous disregard of Angela's fundamental views seems to have developed into full atheism (as he said to the men bringing his wife's dead body to the hospital truck that there was no heaven
and was the only one not praying during Angela's funeral).
Soon after Angela's death, Arthur prepares to smack Clay, but holds back, claiming Clay to be "not worth it". From then on, Clay begins thinking of corporal punishment as a show of love, a show that he is worth it, and takes every opportunity to earn it. His father gives his gun to Clay saying he is ending the male Puppington tradition because it is tainted with blood. Not wanting to feel responsible for his mother's death, Clay says he'll keep the tradition going only to fail terribly with Orel during the hunting trip.
Years later when Clay is an adult, Bloberta ask about his family, Clay said "my parents are dead", not telling her the truth about Arthur being alive all these years.
Also, one episode Orel got birthday money from his grandfather (Arthur), irritating Clay.
Throughout the series Clay fails to make peace with his father, and his father never forgives Clay about Angela's death.
According to Scott Adsit, had the series continued beyond the third season, Arthur Puppington would have become a regular member of the show's cast, returning to live with Clay after learning that he was dying from a terminal illness. Arthur would be the only parent figure to Orel. Bloberta would not be pleased about Clay's lie about his father being dead. Clay would have proven Arthur right about Clay being ultimately a pathetic, oafish, self-centered man who has no love for anyone other than himself. Orel and Arthur would've started to get along with each other.
Years later, Bloberta mirrors her mother's habits by showing favoritism towards Shapey. Another habit is bossing Clay around. Bloberta denies this. In "Honor" Bloberta shows that she tries to be better than her mother by wanting to have Orel in the family choir.
Bloberta may have realized that she did her mother a favor by leaving the Hymentact family. Mrs. Hymentact may be glad that Bloberta is gone. Throughout the series, Bloberta failed to stand up to her mother.
She is Orel's grandmother, but it is not shown that the two of them have ever met.
Raymond is Orel's grandfather, although the two appear never to have met.
It's possible that Mrs. Hymentact had an affair with someone else just like Bloberta had her affair with Coach Stopframe.
He would be Orel's uncle, but it is not suggested that he and Orel have ever met.
.
he received from Nurse Bendy on his wife's (nonexistent) infidelity. Later in the series Joe insults him over his affair. His last name "Fakey" is a reference to the fact that he is essentially a fake or false husband, due to his affairs. It could also reference the fake love for his wife or their fake marriage. He was originally voiced by Jay Johnston
but is now voiced by David Herman
.
.
Unlike the rest of the town's residents, Coach Stopframe is portrayed as a rather nihilistic figure within the community. He has been shown to be willing to pray to both God and Satan
in order to get what he wants, including engaging in Satanic rituals
in an attempt to make the track team run faster. Indeed, he often keeps his personal crucifix on his wall tilted on its side, to demonstrate his flexibility regarding his religious beliefs.
As a bisexual, Stopframe is shown to be indiscriminate in his sexual practices. Besides sleeping with Bloberta Puppington (whom he later rejected when she tried to resume their affair) and openly lusting after Clay Puppington (whose alcoholism Stopframe encourages), the Coach is once seen with three women and a dog. He is also referenced to being a pedophile, as he watches the boys showering so closely he noticed Orel's "personal" piercing and takes Orel to be a sacrificial virgin; much to the horror of the town's Satanist sect, for whom Satanism is more of an excuse to hold parties and gorge themselves on fatty foods. Stopframe is a fan of gothic erotica
.
In "Honor" Daniel becomes increasingly disillusioned with Clay, genuinely disturbed that Clay accidentally shot his own son in the leg but shirks all responsibility for it. Daniel shows himself to actually be a very competent parent figure to Orel, including buying him hot chocolate, teaching him to ice-skate without his crutch and even decorating a Christmas tree. In an insightful moment, Daniel tells a despondent Orel that if Clay has anything worth honoring, it's the fact that he created Orel. Near the end, when Clay (through Orel) finally admits his feelings for Daniel, Daniel coldly refuses him, having finally realized how shallow and pathetic Clay is.
He was originally voiced by Jay Johnston
but is now voiced by Scott Adsit
.
, who, while being very affectionate toward each other, usually pay Doughy cash to get out of their hair, lock him outside the house and hide the key so they can have sex without their son around. "Courtship" also reveals that Mr. Creepler, the ice-cream man, has a crush on him; a situation that he plays to his advantage, getting Creepler to finance gifts for his own crush; his teacher, Miss Sculptham. He has never been seen without his beanie
and has rapid mood swings from despondent
to cheerful. In "Trigger", it was revealed that he has a gift for marksmanship, evidently stemming from his belief that he and his actions don't matter. Doughy's final appearance in the series revealed a growth spurt as he appeared more mature, he and Orel also began to spend a lot less time together as of the 3rd season. He is voiced by Scott Adsit
.
"Dumb" gives at least a small indication that his violent tendencies may stem from his home life. His father is advanced in age and is implied to have Alzheimer's. This apparently leaves Joe afraid of both old age and getting old. He also has a sister, who has an oddly deep, masculine voice, and is largely apathetic to what Joe does. She's completely unfazed when Joe severely beats up their father after learning that his mother, who supposedly died during childbirth, is still alive. His search for her ultimately leads him to Nurse Bendy, and while it isn't explicitly stated that she is indeed his mother, the two do form a close bond. They're last seen skating together in "Honor", happily accepting their new lives as mother and son.
Despite his lack of interest in the town's oppressive Protestant religion, he has been known to mock other children over "religious retardation" and appears to be one of the few—if only—people in Moralton to be aware of, or willing to recognize, the rampant hypocrisy of the towns people, as hinted in "Orel's Movie Premiere" where he verbally mocks the gathered adults.
He is voiced by Jay Johnston
.
" students are "taught" at a pre-school level by a teacher who frequently leaves the class unsupervised for extended periods. Tommy and the students use this time to read science and philosophy books. Orel was assigned as Tommy's "Brain Buddy," to help him get to and from school and assist him with basic learning; help that Tommy does not actually need. While he seems somewhat irritated by this treatment, Tommy doesn't begrudge Orel, saying "at least his heart's in the right place." He is voiced by Britta Phillips
.
.
to a childlike state at home. She plays house with her teddy bears and calls them her "family," acting out her fantasy of being a loving mother in a stable relationship. She does this because she suffers from incredible loneliness and isolation. She is afraid that people only care about her for "dirty, awful things," and wants someone who recognizes that she is "a real person" and feels sad and afraid in addition to "happy thoughts". She has a psychotic breakdown when she knocks her "hubby" onto herself while cleaning up some mustard. She begins screaming, believing that he too is attempting to have sex with her. He then falls over, knocking some milk onto her, vaguely resembling semen
. Her story in "Alone" ends with her sobbing uncontrollably in a corner, believing now that even he only wants her for sex. She is having an affair with Principal Fakey, though she seems completely uninterested in him and expresses no pleasure—or even acknowledgment—when they have sex. She has gonorrhea
. In "Dumb", it's implied that the school bully, Joe Secondopinionson, is her son, whom she was forced to give up at birth. After a surprisingly touching sequence where she and Joe bond, she throws her stuffed teddy bear "Sonny" in the trash, no longer needing the childish fantasy substitute now that she has a real son. It is heavily implied (she was forced to move out because of Joe, her sister calling Joe her half brother, her general fear of the father figure and fear of sex) that she was molested by Joe's father. This may be the cause of her delusions. In the final episode, she and Joe are seen happily ice-skating together.
She is voiced by Britta Phillips
.
Library, and arguably the primary antagonist of the series. She is a puritanical individual who spends her time censoring and destroying books she considers immoral (i.e., nearly all of them). The initials of her full name are FCC, a reference to the Federal Communications Commission
. She also fights very hard to keep children away from "filthy thoughts," whether it is tracking kids who are reading about Renaissance art or leading protests against the offending individual. She frequently leads protests in front of the local movie theater, even protesting such movies as The Ten Commandments
and The Wizard of Oz
. Despite her elderly appearance, she is in truth, only 40 years old. In "Help," it is revealed her hair was originally black, and that Bloberta was part of her protest group and Bloberta tried to be as clever as her, but to no avail. Censordoll makes terrible mistakes about people like Fakey's wife would last forever but ending horribly because of Fakey's affair and throwing her out. Her own indulgences got her in trouble in "Offensiveness" when natural birth eggs
, her favorite food, became outlawed and she was forced to find black market substitutes for her craving, thus falling into hypocrisy. She herself however has been shown to violate her own code of ethics if it means getting what she wants. For example in "Nesting" and "Alone" despite her strong aversion to nudity and premarital sex she uses her body to get the eggs she craves. It is revealed in "Alone" that Censordoll's obsession with chicken eggs is due to that she does not possess human eggs herself: when she was an infant her mother had surgery performed on her that removed her reproductive system (it is not clear whether this was for a legitimate medical reason, or some sort of religious motivation). As such, she considers herself to be immaculate and has a messianic complex regarding her importance within Moralton (this was shown in the opening sequence of "Nesting," as Censordoll's hand was shown moving the clouds away in God's place). In "Nesting," Censordoll embarked upon a scheme to seduce Clay Puppington, offering to be his mistress, using the fact that she was unable to produce children and manipulating his Oedipal feelings towards his dead mother, to convince Clay of her potential as his mistress. She was voiced by Jay Johnston
in the first two seasons and by Scott Adsit
in the third season. Her final appearance is in the last episode, "Honor".
He is sexually aroused by physical pain and injury, especially in regards to female patients of his, as shown in "Numb" when he displays a sexual interest in Bloberta Puppington when she injures herself by using a jackhammer as a dildo. After she heals and gets rid of the jackhammer, however, he loses all interest and refuses to even look at her. This fetish is likely his reason for becoming a doctor, despite his complete ineptitude. One episode where he proven to be better than Clay, when Clay tries to pick a fight he, Papermouth, and Putty walk away after seeing how pathetic Clay really is. He is voiced by Scott Adsit
.
In "God's Image," due to Orel taking the Reverend's sermon of God making people in his own image too literally, the Figurellis become the subjects of a very odd form of racism. The town becomes segregated between the Figurellis and everyone else and the term "Figgers" enters into use. However, despite the town leader's best attempts to make the family miserable, the Figurellis end up more or less becoming the most well-off members of Moralton... at least until the episode ends.
He was voiced by Jay Johnston
in the first two seasons and by Mark Rivers
in the third season.
and becomes friends with him, even agreeing to hear his weekly pleas for her to go to church. Later, when Orel was having trouble relaxing, she gave him some incense and a record of Buddhist chants so that he could meditate, which succeeded in helping him. It is revealed in "Be Fruitful and Multiply" that her mother, a crazed spinster
named Gladys Foamwire (who was known for her religiosity even in Moralton) stole Reverend Putty's tissue box and used his sperm to impregnate herself. The rest of her childhood is described by Stephanie as "uninteresting," though her heart was broken when she was in high school; her first love (the mother of Orel's friend Doughy) turned out to be using her in order to get the attention of her future husband. After reuniting with her father, they have since maintained a healthy father-daughter relationship, one of the few, if not the only such relationship shown to actually work. She is voiced by Britta Phillips
.
—of becoming devil worshipers
. He is never seen without a smile on his face and a gun in his hand. In the Halloween episode he horrifies them at the possibility of them becoming Buddhists
, yet cheers them up by explaining that Jesus guides his bullets into the brains and lungs of criminals, followed by cheerfully waving around his gun and shouting "Pow, pow, pow!" In private it is revealed that Papermouth is quite wealthy but also lonely due to his wife Florence leaving him due to his cowardice shown when Orel resurrected the dead, in which is fellow police officer, Officer Ochunk, was killed by Doughy's recently resurrected grandfather. One episode where he proven to be better than Clay, when Clay tries to pick a fight he, Putty, and Potterswheel walk away after seeing how pathetic Clay really is.
who recently died in a Moralton jail and that he raped and impregnated Miss Sculptham.
His last name is a reference to his pedophilia. He is voiced by Dino Stamatopoulos
.
members are the Christeins. They are a stereotypical Jewish family in all but religion—complete with nasal New York accents and a warped combination of religions. They show their new-found faith by wearing kippah
's with crosses on them, mix in Yiddish expressions with praise for Christ, have menorahs separated in half (later revealed to be a key unlocking a secret passage to the attic) and offer up a variety of non-kosher treats and Jesus-shaped matzah. Despite their conversion to Christianity, the Christeins are treated with scorn by the townfolk—the family can be observed shifting uncomfortably when Putty warns threateningly that the local church could have been a synagogue
if there was no Jesus and Mr. Figurelli once declares, "lousy Jew...for Jesus!" Two family members explored so far are Junior Christein—a boy who is in Orel's grade and is an exceptionally talented singer—and his Uncle Bernie, who is an influential figure on Broadway
. It could be that Mr. Christein regrets the family's conversion to Christianity, as in one episode, he was saying how he regretted flushing his money down the toilet. Mr. and Mrs. Christein are voiced by Scott Adsit
and Britta Phillips
.
with the only possible solution being to educate him with God and Moralton-style Christian values. He later becomes a popular conservative radio talk show host. He derides anti-fundamentalist Protestant theories and facts such as the existence of dinosaur
s and evolution
, yet during an interview he is confronted with his own odd past and reverts back to his primal instincts. Causing general havoc for the town, he is cornered and put into a freezer where he is forgotten and becomes frozen yet again. In the future, he will apparently be found by a young boy named Zorel, who bears a striking resemblance to Orel. He is voiced by Scott Adsit
.
She is voiced by Britta Phillips
.
.
He is voiced by Dino Stamatopoulos
.
, Poppet by Britta Phillips
, Christina by Carolyn Lawrence
, and Block by Tigger Stamatopoulos.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
stop motion animation
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
series Moral Orel
Moral Orel
Moral Orel is an American stop-motion animated television show, which originally aired on Adult Swim from December 13, 2005 to December 18, 2008...
.
Most of the characters' names are references in some way to the stop motion animation process.
Orel Puppington
Orel is the main character of the show. He is an 11 (later 12) year old boy whose quest is to be moral and good, which drives most of the plots of the episodes. He collects religious action figureAction figure
An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...
s and makes short animated movies with them. In his attempts to remain moral, he listens to Reverend Putty's sermons very closely. Even though he's very attentive and always means well, Orel tends to misinterpret the minister's teachings, leading to chaos for both him and the town.
One of the show's aspects has been Orel's slow awakening to the flaws of the people around him as well as expanding his personal belief system beyond the rigid fundamentalist Christian doctrine of the town. In "Praying", Orel defies his father's orders and uses Buddhist meditation to deal with his stress. In "Charity", Orel became a full-fledged drug addict. While in "Orel's Movie Premiere," Orel (perhaps without realizing the implications) uses rather harsh portrayals of the people around him in his home movies, most notably portraying his father as a sadistic, drunken snarling wolf (which in turn led to Dr. Potterswheel asking Clay if he was molesting his son to make him see him as such a monster).
After the disastrous sequence of events in the two-part season two finale "Nature," Orel loses all respect for his father. When Clay shoots Orel in the leg in a drunken state, followed by drinking the disinfectant (Clay: "This may sting a little") and subsequently denying fault for the incident (Clay: "Oh, I don't remember that, so that means it's not my fault"), Orel not only tells his father for the first time that he hates him, but when asked if he shot a bear that had wandered into their camp whilst Clay was passed out, Orel lies and states that it was Clay who had shot it in order to deny him the joy of fatherly pride. Later on, after "Hunting" Orel is seen still being polite and cheerful towards the townspeople, but becoming incredibly emotionally distant towards Clay: "Nesting" shows Orel being completely indifferent to Clay's threats of punishment in his study, completely in contrast to the audible gulp that took place in previous situations of the similar. As a result of the shooting (and likely Dr. Potterswheel's incompetent job in healing the leg), Orel gets a permanent limp, which Dino Stamotopolus said would have been kept throughout the series had it continued (and is indeed shown in the show's final scene of an adult Orel). Orel has yet to realize the flaws of the people in Moralton including his mother and his whole family (including his grandparents), though this is partly because Orel refuses to see anything but the good in people.
In the series finale, Orel realizes the exact nature of his father's relationship with Coach Stopframe, but the realization doesn't bother him much and a substantial bond between them develops. It's also shown that at the end, despite the apparent collapse of his family, Orel ultimately becomes a much better man than his father ever was, marrying his childhood sweetheart Christina Posabule and maintaining a loving, happy family with two kids and a puppy, unlike his still unhappy parents.
Orel is voiced by Carolyn Lawrence
Carolyn Lawrence
Carolyn Lawrence is a American actress and voice actress best known for her long-running-role as Sandy Cheeks on SpongeBob SquarePants.-Life and career:...
.
Clay Puppington
Clay is Orel's strict father who tries to keep his home in line with a 1950s style of living. This masks the fact that Clay is an abusive alcoholic who hates his job as mayor of Moralton, his marriage, and his father.As a child, Clay was the only surviving child of his parents, as his mother's drinking, smoking and fun-loving lifestyle (including riding roller coasters, jumping on a trampoline, and horseback riding) caused her to miscarry ten of Clay's unborn siblings before he was born (largely because Clay's mother spent all of her pregnancy with Clay praying for his safety). Clay's mother was a religious zealot, who spoiled Clay rotten and instructed him in the various "lost commandments" of Moses. This created tension with Clay's father, who was outright neglected by his wife in favor of his son, to the point that he was forced to eat his son's leftovers. Clay's life collapsed however when he faked his own death as a prank on his mother, causing her to have a fatal heart attack. Clay's father (who was not deeply religious) never forgave Clay for his part in his mother's death and emotionally shunned his son, ultimately telling him that he's "not even worth it" upon an initial refrain from slapping him. This deeply affected Clay, causing him to seek out his father's abuse as a means to gain any sort of emotional response and validation. The two formed a casual hatred towards each other and blaming each other for the death of Clay's mother. His love for his mother would develop into an Oedipus Complex
Oedipus complex
In psychoanalytic theory, the term Oedipus complex denotes the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrate upon a boy’s desire to sexually possess his mother, and kill his father...
many years later, shown in "Nesting." His father gives his gun to Clay saying he is ending the male Puppington tradition of passing along the gun to one's first born son, because it is tainted with blood. Not wanting to feel responsible for his mother's death, Clay says he'll keep the tradition going only to fail terribly with Orel during the hunting trip. The trip was meant to have a father and son bonding rather than killing animals, but because of Orel's large love of animals, Clay drinks very heavily to suppress his anger, the trip turns into a complete disaster that ended with Orel getting shot in the leg by Clay. Clay would shirk any responsibility and instead lay it all on Orel, having been extremely drunk on rubbing alcohol at the time.
When Clay was in his early twenties, he was much similar to Orel, shown to be a rather mild figure who wanted to spend his days studying the Bible and drinking apple juice, showing he had a chance to have a happy life. While attending a wedding, Clay met Bloberta Hymentact. Bloberta asked about his family, Clay said "my parents are dead," not telling her the truth about his father Arthur being alive. The two went to the wedding reception together, where Bloberta introduced Clay to liquor. She believed that alcohol relaxed people for the better (mainly because that's what it had done to her father), and even used a religious justification ("Jesus drank") in order to get him to drink. Alcohol caused a massive switch in Clay's personality, turning him into a womanizer and drunken partier and ultimately caused Bloberta to punch him unconscious in order to keep him from flirting with other women. Afterwords, Bloberta lied to Clay, telling him that he passed out and that she looked after him while he was unconscious. She then pressed him to marry her, citing that he needs someone like her to "help" him. Clay agreed, but by this point the damage was done as Clay was now a full-blown alcoholic who spent most of his wedding flirting with other women, getting drunk, and ultimately getting arrested after the wedding for driving under the influence.
Clay largely hates his family, not remembering his children's names or caring when one of his children (Shapey) is briefly switched with another child (Block). This is taken to an extreme in the episode "Numb" when he assumes Shapey and Block are a liquor-induced hallucination. He is rather misogynistic, believing that women differ from men in the ability to fulfill themselves solely through tending to their husbands. He later reveals that it sexually arouses him to watch her do such chores, ultimately leading him to partake in voyeuristic swinger-style
Swinging
Swinging or partner swapping is a non-monogamous behavior, in which both partners in a committed relationship agree, as a couple, for both partners to engage in sexual activities with other couples as a recreational or social activity...
housekeeping. He is close friends with Coach Daniel Stopframe, who secretly lusts after Clay and the two constantly border on a homoerotic relationship. It has been shown that Stopframe is Clay's chief enabler as far as feeding his dependency on liquor and went as far as to seduce and impregnate Bloberta in order to be near him. The series creators have stated (in the introduction skits during season 3) that Clay is not actually a homosexual: similar to how he drowns his emotional problems with alcoholism, Clay is a sexual deviant, and his affair with Coach Stopframe just happens to be the current kink he's fixated on (i.e. it could just as easily have been swinging, bondage, etc.).
He will often bring Orel into his study to discuss various misdeeds Orel often does after dealing out "a good belting" to the boy. The lessons usually have little to do with the actual damage he caused, usually focusing on "the lesser of two evils". For example, when confronting Orel for raising the dead, Clay is more concerned with the fact that Orel created naked zombies (by removing their clothes prior to resurrecting them) than for actually creating zombies. Also, when Orel develops an unintentional addiction to crack cocaine
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
, he is punished by Clay for speaking slang rather than smoking it. "Nesting" however, reveals that Orel has become completely indifferent to his fathers threats.
He also has a collection of firearms in his study, including a Heckler & Koch PSG1
Heckler & Koch PSG1
The PSG1 is a semi-automatic rifle designed by the German company Heckler & Koch of Oberndorf am Neckar.-Development:...
sniper rifle and what is revealed in "Nature Pt.1" to be an extensive arsenal
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
. During a mostly unsuccessful camping trip with Orel, a drunk Clay rants violently about how awful his life is and then accidentally shoots Orel but denies any responsibility. He sinks even lower when, in "Honor", it is revealed that he continues to blame Orel for the injury, telling anyone who asked that it had happened because his son was either clumsy or had gotten in the way.
While Clay tries to maintain the facade that his life is perfectly happy, he is ultimately a pathetic, cruel, self-pitying, misogynistic
Misogyny
Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny...
, emotionally immature and self-centered man who no longer cares for anyone but himself. He rants harshly about life and relationships and he feels that he's never in control of his own life. He is ill-equipped to deal with life's problems and takes out his anger and frustration on his family, friends, and the town. He doesn't know what love really is, he can't recognize it when he see it. He never realizes what he had until it was too late, like Orel's love until he shot him causing Orel to hate him. He hates and fears the reality about his life and himself. He mocks and ignores anyone who tells him he is wrong, including Orel and Bloberta. During a drunken rant he makes certain comments that may indicate he realizes the current state of his life is his own fault.
Clay often complains about his "stinking dead end job" and being "buried in paperwork". In the penultimate episode, it is revealed, even to Orel's surprise, that Clay is actually the Mayor of Moralton. On a document in his office his full name is shown to be Mayor Clayton Middleinitial Puppington.
In "Honor" Clay finally (though indirectly) admits his feelings for Coach Stopframe, in front of his wife, and children. Stopframe, however, coldly refuses him, saying it's "too late" and Clay leaves dejected and defeated. A picture of him and Bloberta both frowning is seen on the wall in Orel's home in the final scene, a stark contrast to Orel and Christina.
He is voiced by Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit is an American actor, writer and improvisational comedian. He is currently co-starring as Pete Hornberger in the hit NBC comedy 30 Rock and worked in the Adult Swim stop-motion animation programs Moral Orel and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole.-1990s:After attending Columbia College Chicago,...
.
Bloberta Puppington
Bloberta (nee Hymentact) is Orel's mother. The forgotten and shunned middle child of a family choir (forbidden from participating due to her mother's blatant favoritism for her older sister and her younger brother), she was her mother's the least favorite child due to her terrible voice. Out of desperation and loneliness, Bloberta manipulated Clay Puppington into marrying her, largely as a means to escape her family and to be accepted alongside her friends who were also engaged. Unfortunately, her friends' marriages turn sour in the near future just like her own (meaning she got married for nothing). She is a strict, stereotypical housewife known for her obsessive-compulsive cleanliness (she once complained about her cleaning product containers being dirty). She acts like she never drinks before which is really a lie. At her wedding, when Reverend Putty said, "Will you take this man to be your husband?" she replied, "Why not?" The episode "Help" revealed that Bloberta turned to cleaning as a replacement for drinking, as a means to cope with her mother's disdain for her. This is revealed during the couple's first date after Bloberta introduces Clay to liquor (thinking drinking will make him a better person; Bloberta reasons with Clay by saying, "Jesus drank" in order to get him to drink) and watches him make a fool of himself, and her, in public. By introducing Clay to alcohol, she unwittingly ignites all of his repressed problems that show themselves in the form of serious alcoholism. Also they only just met when they got married. After they marry her life is even more unhappy than before.Bloberta and Clay have a dysfunctional relationship, with Bloberta often shown to be emotionally abusive towards Clay, taunting him over his drunkenness and failures as an adult. When Orel gets in trouble, she lets or demands Clay to deal with Orel's problems. (Due to the fact she deeply doesn't know how to handle the problems herself.) She deeply wants attention and affection. She also withholds sex from her husband, going so far as to force her husband to sleep in a separate bed next to her own, with a partition titled 'Lust Guard' placed between them. She won't look at Clay if he's barefooted. She won't look at him if he's not decent. One episode where Bloberta thinks Reverend Putty is fully aware that Clay didn't want Shapey during Church. The argument causes Clay to walk out on Christmas. Orel never understands why his parents separate and about Bloberta's affair. To avoid embarrassment for their incompetence, the two reunite out of concerns what will the people of Moralton think if they separate. Orel is the only person in Moralton who is unaware that Clay and Bloberta are in a toxic relationship. The two remain together out of denial, thinking no one knows how horrible their marriage really is.
The episode "Numb" revealed that Bloberta hasn't had a proper orgasm in years and has mutilated her genitalia using various power drills and even a mini-jackhammer as a dildo. She tries to find a sex partner but was turn down by various men, reminding her of her childhood. When asked by Orel why she married Clay, she simply responds "Why not?" mimicking her wedding vows instead of giving an actual reason, only to break down crying once she left Orel's room indicating that Orel is noticing the truth about the family's problem that Bloberta and Clay were avoiding, denying, and keeping the truth from Orel and Shapey.
During the first season, the only joy in life is her second son Shapey, who was the result of an extramarital affair Bloberta had with Orel's bisexual gym teacher Coach Stopframe. Bloberta spoiled Shapey rotten, largely though as a means to silence his constant temper tantrums. However, when Clay found out the truth about Shapey, Bloberta began to turn her illegitimate son away, ultimately not noticing that he was accidentally switched with another child for several months before retrieving her son.
She shows little love to Orel, not even getting upset when Orel is accidentally shot and never confronts Clay about the incident. But she does seem to show some concern by being supportive of him in activities and in "Honor" she did ask Clay if Orel should be with them while caroling. She mirrors Clay's denial about her life. When there's a problem Bloberta orders Clay to deal with it even when Orel gets in trouble she orders Clay to handle it instead of her. Orel doesn't know that Bloberta created this family dysfunction. Throughout the series it is apparent that she deeply regrets marrying Clay, that she and Clay are poor parents, is running away from her life's problems, and their marriage is a lie; but she does nothing about it, concerning herself only with how it would appear in the eyes of the townspeople if they split up. She mirrors Clay's inability to deal with life's problem and take it out on Clay whenever she makes a mistake. Her downfall is really her feelings, loneliness, desperation, rejection, and the problems she can't handle.
In "Honor", she is none too pleased when Clay admits his love for Coach Stopframe. In the final scene, she is shown in a picture on the wall, still with Clay, both older and frowning, implying they are still unhappily married.
The her maiden surname "Hymentact" is a crude wordplay on "hymen" and "intact", referring to how her hymen was "intact" before being married.
She is voiced by Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips is an American musician, songwriter, actress and voice actor. She is best known as the singing voice of the title character of Jem and as one half of the duo Dean and Britta, with her husband Dean Wareham...
.
Shapey Puppington and Block Posabule
Shapey is Orel's half-brother and biological son of Coach Daniel Stopframe. Shapey is a seven-year-old boy with the mentality of a three year old: he acts out, throws tantrums when not getting his way, and screams, shouts and rarely speaks any complete sentences, usually speaking in one or two word screams ("Drink!", "Mine!", "Cake!", "Shut up!"). He was even still breastfed by his mother until he was finally weaned off. His parents, Clay and Bloberta, spoil him rotten in order to stop him from screaming as way to prove that they are good parents (although judging from Shapey's behavior, they are (seemingly) unknowingly and ironically proving the opposite). Orel often tries to discipline his brother and stop him from doing something dangerous, but his parents scold him for that. Running gags in the show would be that Shapey would often play with various dangerous items (such as putting a BB-gun in his eye, putting hardware tools in his mouth) and constantly asking his mother to breastfeed him.In the Season Two episode "The Lord's Prayer" he was accidentally replaced by Block Posabule, son of the Puppington's new neighbors. Clay seemed to notice the difference, but he shrugged it off and has shown no further interest in the matter due to his selfishness, and belief that the "double child" is an alcohol-induced hallucination
Hallucination
A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
. No one else in either family noticed, apart from Orel and Block's sister Christina—despite the Posabules moving away, taking Shapey with them, inadvertently leaving Block in his place, at the end of the episode. However, in several recent episodes such as Repression, Orel bluntly tries to tell his father "That's not Shapey," but is ignored. The main difference between the two is their hair color (Block is a redhead, while Shapey is blonde) and head shape (Shapey's head is round while Block's is more thin); their behaviors are much the same (although Block is often in a happier mood and rarely does he scream). In the episode "Numb", Bloberta finally figures it out after going through a family album. When she goes to the Posabule's house to retrieve him, Mrs. Posabule gives back Shapey and abandons Block after he shows love for Bloberta, forcing her to take care of both of them. The two bond to one another instantly. At the end of the episode "Sacrifice", Shapey speaks calmly for the first time, telling Bloberta, "Mommy, when I'm thirsty, it feels how I feel when I'm alone."
In "Honor" they are both shown as having calmed down significantly, with pictures of them in the final scene showing Shapey becoming a police officer, and Block becoming a firefighter.
They are both voiced by Tigger Stamatopoulos, the daughter of show creator and executive producer Dino Stamatopoulos.
Angela Puppington
Angela was Clay's mother, and utterly devoted to her son. She held him well above her husband Arthur, to the point of serving Arthur Clay's leftovers from his dinner plate. She had ten pregnancies before Clay (Clark, Clarissa, Clementine, Clara, Clarice, Clea, Clancy, Clarence, Clinton, and Clondike), but lost them all from her smoking, drinking, and participation in high impact activities during pregnancy (apparently not realizing these were what lead to the miscarriages). During Clay's pregnancy, she devoted all her time to prayer, forgetting such other things. She considers Clay her miracle child, and is a devout fundamentalist to the point of believing that "there are no accidents, only evil and miracles." Clay's mother was a religious zealot, who spoiled Clay rotten and instructed him in the various, fabricated "lost commandments" of Moses. The word "dead", or words that contain that sound ("loaded", "ended"), startle and upset her after having to face the deaths of so many unborn children; she is quick to admonish her husband ("don't you say that word!") if he dares to utter any word with a similar sound, even if it only has the "-ded" suffix.She has a weak heart, and when Clay fakes his death as a prank, she breaks down, asking God to take her instead. When Arthur reveals that Clay is still alive, she believes it to be a miracle. The shock proves too much for her heart, and she dies of a heart attack. Clay, when drinking, is seen to reflect on the events of that night. He uses his mother's "lost commandments" to teach Orel when he does something wrong, and has them mounted on plaques around the walls of his study. Her death is shown to have affected Clay deeply, and his love for his mother has subsequently crystallized into an Oedipus Complex
Oedipus complex
In psychoanalytic theory, the term Oedipus complex denotes the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrate upon a boy’s desire to sexually possess his mother, and kill his father...
.
Arthur Puppington
Arthur was Clay's father. He once had a great relationship with his wife Angela, but she became obsessed with her "miracle child" Clay when he was born, neglecting Arthur. He begrudgingly deals with it, pining for the times they had before Clay's birth. He attempts to pass "Ol' Gunny" on to his son, but Clay proves too afraid to hold the revolver. He is not deeply religious and more sane than anyone else in his family.When Clay plays his prank, Arthur notices the half-empty bottle of ketchup and realizes that Clay is merely faking, shaking Clay until he stops. When Angela dies, Arthur becomes openly bitter towards Clay. He often refers to Clay's "murder" of his mother, and passes Ol' Gunny to him not as part of the tradition, but because it is "tainted" with Angela's blood. Both Arthur and Clay hate each other because of Angela's death (which is meaningless hatred). His previous disregard of Angela's fundamental views seems to have developed into full atheism (as he said to the men bringing his wife's dead body to the hospital truck that there was no heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
and was the only one not praying during Angela's funeral).
Soon after Angela's death, Arthur prepares to smack Clay, but holds back, claiming Clay to be "not worth it". From then on, Clay begins thinking of corporal punishment as a show of love, a show that he is worth it, and takes every opportunity to earn it. His father gives his gun to Clay saying he is ending the male Puppington tradition because it is tainted with blood. Not wanting to feel responsible for his mother's death, Clay says he'll keep the tradition going only to fail terribly with Orel during the hunting trip.
Years later when Clay is an adult, Bloberta ask about his family, Clay said "my parents are dead", not telling her the truth about Arthur being alive all these years.
Also, one episode Orel got birthday money from his grandfather (Arthur), irritating Clay.
Throughout the series Clay fails to make peace with his father, and his father never forgives Clay about Angela's death.
According to Scott Adsit, had the series continued beyond the third season, Arthur Puppington would have become a regular member of the show's cast, returning to live with Clay after learning that he was dying from a terminal illness. Arthur would be the only parent figure to Orel. Bloberta would not be pleased about Clay's lie about his father being dead. Clay would have proven Arthur right about Clay being ultimately a pathetic, oafish, self-centered man who has no love for anyone other than himself. Orel and Arthur would've started to get along with each other.
Mrs. Hymentact
Bloberta's mother, the unnamed Mrs. Hymentact is the domineering matriarch of the Hymentact family. She leads the rest of the family, with the exception of Bloberta, in a family choir. Mrs. Hymentact blatantly favors her oldest daughter and youngest son over middle child Bloberta, going so far as to ban Bloberta from singing in the family choir in favor of her older sister, saying "You know we don't need two sopranos." She keeps everyone in line and reacts to the slightest misstep with loud screaming, having completely crushed the spirit of her husband Raymond in this way. Bloberta and her father fail to stand up against Mrs. Hymentact, instead seeming to have resigned themselves to lives thwarted and dominated by her.Years later, Bloberta mirrors her mother's habits by showing favoritism towards Shapey. Another habit is bossing Clay around. Bloberta denies this. In "Honor" Bloberta shows that she tries to be better than her mother by wanting to have Orel in the family choir.
Bloberta may have realized that she did her mother a favor by leaving the Hymentact family. Mrs. Hymentact may be glad that Bloberta is gone. Throughout the series, Bloberta failed to stand up to her mother.
She is Orel's grandmother, but it is not shown that the two of them have ever met.
Raymond Hymentact
Bloberta's father, Raymond constantly shakes and is never seen without a drink in hand. His domineering wife has crushed his spirit, and he is completely afraid of her, reacting at even a glare with "I'll shut up!" He deeply cares for Bloberta, and sneaks to her room to console her when she feels left out, although he is jittery the whole time, worrying that his wife will catch him (implying as to how much Mrs. Hymentact doesn't like Bloberta). Despite his obvious fear and shortcomings, Bloberta believes that her father's drinking helps to make him a better person and seeks to set that same standard for Clay. However, her plan backfired badly. Bloberta may or may not realize that drinking is the real reason why her father, Clay, herself, and most of the town are weak people. One thing Raymond is right about (that his wife will never agree with) is that nobody is "perfect".Raymond is Orel's grandfather, although the two appear never to have met.
Modella Hymentact
Bloberta's older sister, who is the sole soprano in the family choir. One of Mrs. Hymentact's favorite children. Although she is Orel's aunt, the show contains no suggestion that the two have ever met. She is voiced by Jeanette Baity.Lunchbox Hymentact
Bloberta's younger, red-headed, freckled brother, who is a part of the family choir. He is also rude. His mother hits him in order for him to be quiet. It is possible that "Lunchbox" is a nickname or genital-related euphemism; when Bloberta enters the room and begins to sing along, off-key, with the rest of the family, Mrs. Hymentact first asks Modella if it was she who sang out of tune. Modella denies this, to which Bloberta's mother replies "Well, it certainly wasn't our little Lunchbox here!", suggesting that Bloberta's brother has progressed far enough in the stages of puberty to be unable to sing in so high a register; i.e., his testicles have descended and he has a "lunchbox"; a slang term for adult male genitals.It's possible that Mrs. Hymentact had an affair with someone else just like Bloberta had her affair with Coach Stopframe.
He would be Orel's uncle, but it is not suggested that he and Orel have ever met.
Reverend Rod Putty
Rod Putty is the minister for the local church and wears a very obvious toupee. He is a very lonely and bitter individual who is held in both high esteem and disdain by the citizens (case in point: his house is egged on Halloween). His disdain for God often finds its way into his sermons, and he has a coffee cup in his office stating "I hate my boss," though sometimes it says "...and then you die," and read "...Jesus and the ass you rode in on" in "Innocence." His resentment stems from being a prematurely balding virgin. Putty has also displayed some racist tendencies, such as leading the segregation of the Figurellis and showing no interest in dating non-white women. The episode "Elemental Orel" implies that he was planning to use the money from the church collection plate to hire a prostitute. Eventually, he is approached for a lunch date by Stephanie, Moralton's resident punk-rocking piercing shop proprietor. Thinking he is about to get lucky, he is soon devastated to learn that she is his daughter, resulting from a spinster stealing Putty's semen from a "used" tissue while he is asleep. Putty is slightly more rational than the rest of the townspeople, though of course, this is only relative to the blind fanaticism of most Moralton residents. As the seasons have gone on, his character has evolved to a more laid-back and more accepting person, to the point he is accepting of his daughter's lesbianism and has even been imparting fatherly advice and joking around with her. This reaches a further level when he admits to Stephanie that her high school "relationship" with Doughy's mother was unfair to her. Unsurprisingly, he is the only one who notices that while Orel is a good person, and means well, the faulty advice he and the other adults of the town give him always leads to him taking it to a high extremes, creating havoc in the town. One episode where he proven to be better than Clay, when Clay tries to pick a fight he, Papermouth, and Potterswheel walk away after seeing how pathetic Clay really is. He is voiced by William SalyersWilliam Salyers
William Lewis Salyers is an American actor and voice actor. He is known as the voice of Rigby on Regular Show and the voice of Reverend Putty and Mr. Little on Moral Orel. He has also had roles in the film Bedazzled and the television series Judging Amy...
.
Principal Fakey
Fakey is the principal of Diorama Elementary. While he attempts to run the school according to his community's strict moral code, he himself has been having an affair with Nurse Bendy for some time. His wife is completely unaware of this, and Fakey felt extreme guilt over his deception until receiving advice from Orel in "Repression". He is now in denial concerning the affair, and has thrown his wife out of the house, blaming the gonorrheaGonorrhea
Gonorrhea is a common sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The usual symptoms in men are burning with urination and penile discharge. Women, on the other hand, are asymptomatic half the time or have vaginal discharge and pelvic pain...
he received from Nurse Bendy on his wife's (nonexistent) infidelity. Later in the series Joe insults him over his affair. His last name "Fakey" is a reference to the fact that he is essentially a fake or false husband, due to his affairs. It could also reference the fake love for his wife or their fake marriage. He was originally voiced by Jay Johnston
Jay Johnston
Jay Johnston is an American actor and comedian best known for his work as a writer and cast member on the HBO sketch comedy series Mr...
but is now voiced by David Herman
David Herman
David Herman is an American actor, comedian and voice actor best known as an original cast member of MADtv and for his role as Michael Bolton in Office Space. He is also known for his voice roles on television programs such as Futurama and King of the Hill.- Biography :David Herman was born in New...
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Miss Agnes Sculptham
Agnes Sculptham is Orel's school teacher. Bored and uninterested, she leads Orel's class through half-hearted field trips and lectures. Most of the information she imparts is heavily slanted in religion and absent in basic facts. She often does the bare minimum required from her though in "Courtship", she mercilessly manipulates students smitten by her into giving her expensive gifts. It is revealed in "Alone" that she was raped by Mr. Creepler and impregnated by him, and gave herself an abortion (as heavily implied by the bloody coat hanger she fixes), but she still shows borderline obsession over him as she had her first orgasm because of him. She is also apparently obsessive compulsive, as evidenced by her need to turn the light switch on and off and engage and disengage her deadbolt lock many times in quick succession. The moments of obvious pains she shows in "Alone" indicate her self-done abortion may have severely damaged her internal organs. Her last name is a play on the words "sculpt" and "them." As a teacher she is responsible for sculpting the children into something acceptable in the eyes in Moralton society. According to the show's creators, had the show continued past cancellation, they would have shown that her abortion failed and had her give birth to a girl. She is voiced by Britta PhillipsBritta Phillips
Britta Phillips is an American musician, songwriter, actress and voice actor. She is best known as the singing voice of the title character of Jem and as one half of the duo Dean and Britta, with her husband Dean Wareham...
.
Coach Daniel Stopframe
The coach at Orel's school, Daniel Stopframe is an effeminate and rather self-absorbed bisexual man who is obsessed with Orel's father. His obsession led to the Coach having a brief affair with Orel's mother, whom he impregnated with her second child, Shapey.Unlike the rest of the town's residents, Coach Stopframe is portrayed as a rather nihilistic figure within the community. He has been shown to be willing to pray to both God and Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
in order to get what he wants, including engaging in Satanic rituals
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
in an attempt to make the track team run faster. Indeed, he often keeps his personal crucifix on his wall tilted on its side, to demonstrate his flexibility regarding his religious beliefs.
As a bisexual, Stopframe is shown to be indiscriminate in his sexual practices. Besides sleeping with Bloberta Puppington (whom he later rejected when she tried to resume their affair) and openly lusting after Clay Puppington (whose alcoholism Stopframe encourages), the Coach is once seen with three women and a dog. He is also referenced to being a pedophile, as he watches the boys showering so closely he noticed Orel's "personal" piercing and takes Orel to be a sacrificial virgin; much to the horror of the town's Satanist sect, for whom Satanism is more of an excuse to hold parties and gorge themselves on fatty foods. Stopframe is a fan of gothic erotica
Erotica
Erotica are works of art, including literature, photography, film, sculpture and painting, that deal substantively with erotically stimulating or sexually arousing descriptions...
.
In "Honor" Daniel becomes increasingly disillusioned with Clay, genuinely disturbed that Clay accidentally shot his own son in the leg but shirks all responsibility for it. Daniel shows himself to actually be a very competent parent figure to Orel, including buying him hot chocolate, teaching him to ice-skate without his crutch and even decorating a Christmas tree. In an insightful moment, Daniel tells a despondent Orel that if Clay has anything worth honoring, it's the fact that he created Orel. Near the end, when Clay (through Orel) finally admits his feelings for Daniel, Daniel coldly refuses him, having finally realized how shallow and pathetic Clay is.
He was originally voiced by Jay Johnston
Jay Johnston
Jay Johnston is an American actor and comedian best known for his work as a writer and cast member on the HBO sketch comedy series Mr...
but is now voiced by Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit is an American actor, writer and improvisational comedian. He is currently co-starring as Pete Hornberger in the hit NBC comedy 30 Rock and worked in the Adult Swim stop-motion animation programs Moral Orel and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole.-1990s:After attending Columbia College Chicago,...
.
Doughy Latchkey
Doughy Latchkey is Orel's best friend. He is very God-fearing and always tries to look out for Orel though he usually just follows Orel's lead. He is very fearful and not very bright; as a result, he is often indecisive and has consistently fails to stand up for himself when pressed (such as letting Orel and Joe throw rocks at his dad's car). In "Courtship," Doughy's home life was revealed: his parents had Doughy when they were very young, and as such, still act like teenagers. His last name, "Latchkey", is a reference to the severe neglect Doughy suffers from his parentsLatchkey kid
A latchkey kid or latchkey child is a child who returns from school to an empty home because his or her parent or parents are away at work, or a child who is often left at home with little or no parental supervision.- History of the term :...
, who, while being very affectionate toward each other, usually pay Doughy cash to get out of their hair, lock him outside the house and hide the key so they can have sex without their son around. "Courtship" also reveals that Mr. Creepler, the ice-cream man, has a crush on him; a situation that he plays to his advantage, getting Creepler to finance gifts for his own crush; his teacher, Miss Sculptham. He has never been seen without his beanie
Beanie
A beanie is a head-hugging brimless cap with or without a visor that was once popular among school boys.-Description:In the United States of America, beanies are made by triangular sections of cloth joined by a button at the crown and seamed together around the sides.They can also be made from...
and has rapid mood swings from despondent
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
to cheerful. In "Trigger", it was revealed that he has a gift for marksmanship, evidently stemming from his belief that he and his actions don't matter. Doughy's final appearance in the series revealed a growth spurt as he appeared more mature, he and Orel also began to spend a lot less time together as of the 3rd season. He is voiced by Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit is an American actor, writer and improvisational comedian. He is currently co-starring as Pete Hornberger in the hit NBC comedy 30 Rock and worked in the Adult Swim stop-motion animation programs Moral Orel and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole.-1990s:After attending Columbia College Chicago,...
.
Joe Secondopinionson/Bendy
Introduced as Coach Stopframe's nephew in "Loyalty", Orel was asked to be Joe's "Bible buddy". Orel is too blind to see through Joe, because Clay never teaches Orel right from wrong and never shows him how to see through people. He is a hellion and sociopath, frequently committing petty acts of vandalism, theft, and, most often, bullying. He is also a homophobic, as he is very uncomfortable around homosexuals and spent most of his first appearance beating two gay boys with a baseball bat. He insults everyone in Moralton right in front of them. The reason he keeps getting away with it because the town is too incompetent to do anything about it just like when they are unable to handle Orel's problems. The town way of saying, "He's not my kid. Not my problem.""Dumb" gives at least a small indication that his violent tendencies may stem from his home life. His father is advanced in age and is implied to have Alzheimer's. This apparently leaves Joe afraid of both old age and getting old. He also has a sister, who has an oddly deep, masculine voice, and is largely apathetic to what Joe does. She's completely unfazed when Joe severely beats up their father after learning that his mother, who supposedly died during childbirth, is still alive. His search for her ultimately leads him to Nurse Bendy, and while it isn't explicitly stated that she is indeed his mother, the two do form a close bond. They're last seen skating together in "Honor", happily accepting their new lives as mother and son.
Despite his lack of interest in the town's oppressive Protestant religion, he has been known to mock other children over "religious retardation" and appears to be one of the few—if only—people in Moralton to be aware of, or willing to recognize, the rampant hypocrisy of the towns people, as hinted in "Orel's Movie Premiere" where he verbally mocks the gathered adults.
He is voiced by Jay Johnston
Jay Johnston
Jay Johnston is an American actor and comedian best known for his work as a writer and cast member on the HBO sketch comedy series Mr...
.
Tommy
Tommy is Orel's former classmate and friend who had difficulty accepting the unquestioning religious teaching that the school provided. Because he attempted to provide scientific rather than religious answers on his schoolwork, he was labeled as "retarded" by the school and placed in the "Special Education" class, where all such "religiously retardedMental retardation
Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...
" students are "taught" at a pre-school level by a teacher who frequently leaves the class unsupervised for extended periods. Tommy and the students use this time to read science and philosophy books. Orel was assigned as Tommy's "Brain Buddy," to help him get to and from school and assist him with basic learning; help that Tommy does not actually need. While he seems somewhat irritated by this treatment, Tommy doesn't begrudge Orel, saying "at least his heart's in the right place." He is voiced by Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips is an American musician, songwriter, actress and voice actor. She is best known as the singing voice of the title character of Jem and as one half of the duo Dean and Britta, with her husband Dean Wareham...
.
Mr. Armature
Dale Armature is the temporary music and drama teacher at the school. Formerly the stand-up bass player for the folk trio "The Crucifolk," Dale became a teacher after his married bandmates (Lily and Leaf) essentially fired Dale by way of disbanding "Crucifolk" in order to continue on as a duo. Six months later and sporting a beard, he has turned his efforts to Broadway theater with offerings like "Crooning Jesus," but they are ignored. Very nervous and excitable, his most noticeable feature is that he has only one eyebrow (because he plucks out his eyebrows when he is nervous or irritated) and has an unrequited crush on Lily. He is voiced by Dino StamatopoulosDino Stamatopoulos
Dino Stamatopoulos is an American television comedy writer, actor and producer who has worked on Mr. Show, TV Funhouse, Mad TV, The Dana Carvey Show, Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O'Brien...
.
Nurse Nursula Bendy
Nurse Bendy works for Doctor Potterswheel, and is also the school nurse at Alfred G Diorama Elementary School. Though apparently a registered nurse, she is very inattentive and lacks even rudimentary medical knowledge, exemplified in the episode "Grounded" when, after an unconscious Orel opens his eyes, she says, "At least his eyes are alive." She also seems generally dimwitted or at least uninterested, prompting the doctors to frequently order her to "sit outside and look pretty," though this may just be an example of Moralton's rampant misogyny. In "Alone," she is revealed to possibly be suffering from paranoid delusions, and regressesRegression (psychology)
Regression, according to psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, is a defense mechanism leading to the temporary or long-term reversion of the ego to an earlier stage of development rather than handling unacceptable impulses in a more adult way...
to a childlike state at home. She plays house with her teddy bears and calls them her "family," acting out her fantasy of being a loving mother in a stable relationship. She does this because she suffers from incredible loneliness and isolation. She is afraid that people only care about her for "dirty, awful things," and wants someone who recognizes that she is "a real person" and feels sad and afraid in addition to "happy thoughts". She has a psychotic breakdown when she knocks her "hubby" onto herself while cleaning up some mustard. She begins screaming, believing that he too is attempting to have sex with her. He then falls over, knocking some milk onto her, vaguely resembling semen
Semen
Semen is an organic fluid, also known as seminal fluid, that may contain spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize female ova...
. Her story in "Alone" ends with her sobbing uncontrollably in a corner, believing now that even he only wants her for sex. She is having an affair with Principal Fakey, though she seems completely uninterested in him and expresses no pleasure—or even acknowledgment—when they have sex. She has gonorrhea
Gonorrhea
Gonorrhea is a common sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The usual symptoms in men are burning with urination and penile discharge. Women, on the other hand, are asymptomatic half the time or have vaginal discharge and pelvic pain...
. In "Dumb", it's implied that the school bully, Joe Secondopinionson, is her son, whom she was forced to give up at birth. After a surprisingly touching sequence where she and Joe bond, she throws her stuffed teddy bear "Sonny" in the trash, no longer needing the childish fantasy substitute now that she has a real son. It is heavily implied (she was forced to move out because of Joe, her sister calling Joe her half brother, her general fear of the father figure and fear of sex) that she was molested by Joe's father. This may be the cause of her delusions. In the final episode, she and Joe are seen happily ice-skating together.
She is voiced by Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips is an American musician, songwriter, actress and voice actor. She is best known as the singing voice of the title character of Jem and as one half of the duo Dean and Britta, with her husband Dean Wareham...
.
Walt Gluegun
Walt Gluegun is the school bully who torments the other kids, even Orel and Doughy. Orel thought he could make friends with Walt after hearing the song "Turn The Other Cheek" by Presbo the Clown. Walt responded by giving Orel a few punches. Orel's clothes were smudged with his blood and his mother always washed them. Later, Orel's father lectured him about how to fight. When Walt was about to pound Doughy, Orel punched Walt hard in the face and he fell to the floor, followed by a kick in the face as he continued to sing "Turn The Other Cheek". As with most (i.e. all) advice given to him, Orel took things too far and punched not only other kids but even beat up his own father.Ms. Censordoll
Francis Clara Censordoll is the town librarian, employed at the Thomas BowdlerThomas Bowdler
Thomas Bowdler was an English physician who published an expurgated edition of William Shakespeare's work, edited by his sister Harriet, intended to be more appropriate for 19th century women and children than the original....
Library, and arguably the primary antagonist of the series. She is a puritanical individual who spends her time censoring and destroying books she considers immoral (i.e., nearly all of them). The initials of her full name are FCC, a reference to the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
. She also fights very hard to keep children away from "filthy thoughts," whether it is tracking kids who are reading about Renaissance art or leading protests against the offending individual. She frequently leads protests in front of the local movie theater, even protesting such movies as The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (1956 film)
The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American epic film that dramatized the biblical story of the Exodus, in which the Hebrew-born Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince, becomes the deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. The film, released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956, was directed by...
and The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
. Despite her elderly appearance, she is in truth, only 40 years old. In "Help," it is revealed her hair was originally black, and that Bloberta was part of her protest group and Bloberta tried to be as clever as her, but to no avail. Censordoll makes terrible mistakes about people like Fakey's wife would last forever but ending horribly because of Fakey's affair and throwing her out. Her own indulgences got her in trouble in "Offensiveness" when natural birth eggs
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
, her favorite food, became outlawed and she was forced to find black market substitutes for her craving, thus falling into hypocrisy. She herself however has been shown to violate her own code of ethics if it means getting what she wants. For example in "Nesting" and "Alone" despite her strong aversion to nudity and premarital sex she uses her body to get the eggs she craves. It is revealed in "Alone" that Censordoll's obsession with chicken eggs is due to that she does not possess human eggs herself: when she was an infant her mother had surgery performed on her that removed her reproductive system (it is not clear whether this was for a legitimate medical reason, or some sort of religious motivation). As such, she considers herself to be immaculate and has a messianic complex regarding her importance within Moralton (this was shown in the opening sequence of "Nesting," as Censordoll's hand was shown moving the clouds away in God's place). In "Nesting," Censordoll embarked upon a scheme to seduce Clay Puppington, offering to be his mistress, using the fact that she was unable to produce children and manipulating his Oedipal feelings towards his dead mother, to convince Clay of her potential as his mistress. She was voiced by Jay Johnston
Jay Johnston
Jay Johnston is an American actor and comedian best known for his work as a writer and cast member on the HBO sketch comedy series Mr...
in the first two seasons and by Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit is an American actor, writer and improvisational comedian. He is currently co-starring as Pete Hornberger in the hit NBC comedy 30 Rock and worked in the Adult Swim stop-motion animation programs Moral Orel and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole.-1990s:After attending Columbia College Chicago,...
in the third season. Her final appearance is in the last episode, "Honor".
Doctor Potterswheel
Quentin Xavier Potterswheel is an elderly doctor in charge of the local hospital. A staunch Protestant, he is very quick to declare various diseases as "God's Will" and hides his incompetence by withholding medical treatment to patients, causing them to die. It is implied that this led to the death of his own wife, as he allegedly refused to treat an infection his wife had, opting to give her pain killers instead. (One episode where Clay mentions about it). Indeed, Potterswheel often hides behind his religion to shirk responsibility whenever a patient of his dies (he even considers taking responsibility for the patient's death as a sign of egotism). He does have basic medical knowledge but often forsakes it (even though most of the medicines he has could have save most of the patients in the hospital) for blind faith. His morals are questionable, he has a nurse who has no medical qualifications or interest in her own job, has been seen disposing used needles in an unsafe manner and once accepted blood from a clearly drug-crazed and under-aged Orel.He is sexually aroused by physical pain and injury, especially in regards to female patients of his, as shown in "Numb" when he displays a sexual interest in Bloberta Puppington when she injures herself by using a jackhammer as a dildo. After she heals and gets rid of the jackhammer, however, he loses all interest and refuses to even look at her. This fetish is likely his reason for becoming a doctor, despite his complete ineptitude. One episode where he proven to be better than Clay, when Clay tries to pick a fight he, Papermouth, and Putty walk away after seeing how pathetic Clay really is. He is voiced by Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit is an American actor, writer and improvisational comedian. He is currently co-starring as Pete Hornberger in the hit NBC comedy 30 Rock and worked in the Adult Swim stop-motion animation programs Moral Orel and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole.-1990s:After attending Columbia College Chicago,...
.
Mr. Figurelli
Sal Figurelli is an Italian man of modest means. His character is defined by his perpetually chipper and sunny attitude that never falters even in the most trying of circumstances (like being pummeled by a drug-crazed Orel or having his house fire-bombed). He has held a variety of jobs. At times he is running a grocery store; in another episode, he runs a cat grooming business and in Holy Visage he drives a bus. At his store he sells a variety of goods, from eggs to placate Censordoll to "hard milk" and various wares geared towards exploitation of private concerns. He is not above exploitative labor practices, child labor for example (as seen in "Charity" when he hires Orel as his delivery boy for twenty-five cents an hour plus whatever he makes in tips), and his home life as portrayed in "Maturity" is very unstable. Later in the series he engages with prostitutes.In "God's Image," due to Orel taking the Reverend's sermon of God making people in his own image too literally, the Figurellis become the subjects of a very odd form of racism. The town becomes segregated between the Figurellis and everyone else and the term "Figgers" enters into use. However, despite the town leader's best attempts to make the family miserable, the Figurellis end up more or less becoming the most well-off members of Moralton... at least until the episode ends.
He was voiced by Jay Johnston
Jay Johnston
Jay Johnston is an American actor and comedian best known for his work as a writer and cast member on the HBO sketch comedy series Mr...
in the first two seasons and by Mark Rivers
Mark Rivers
Mark Rivers born 26 November 1975 in Crewe is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward from 1994 until 2006 notably for Crewe Alexandra and Norwich City.-Career:...
in the third season.
Stephanie Foamwire-Putty
Stephanie is the heavily pierced punk proprietor of Moralton's lone sex and piercings shop. Despite her outside appearance, she is quite a warm and caring person and one of the most rational people in Moralton. She once gave Orel a Prince Albert piercingPrince Albert piercing
For other uses of "Prince Albert", see Prince Albert The Prince Albert is one of the more common male genital piercings...
and becomes friends with him, even agreeing to hear his weekly pleas for her to go to church. Later, when Orel was having trouble relaxing, she gave him some incense and a record of Buddhist chants so that he could meditate, which succeeded in helping him. It is revealed in "Be Fruitful and Multiply" that her mother, a crazed spinster
Spinster
A spinster, or old maid, is an older, childless woman who has never been married.For a woman to be identified as a spinster, age is critical...
named Gladys Foamwire (who was known for her religiosity even in Moralton) stole Reverend Putty's tissue box and used his sperm to impregnate herself. The rest of her childhood is described by Stephanie as "uninteresting," though her heart was broken when she was in high school; her first love (the mother of Orel's friend Doughy) turned out to be using her in order to get the attention of her future husband. After reuniting with her father, they have since maintained a healthy father-daughter relationship, one of the few, if not the only such relationship shown to actually work. She is voiced by Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips is an American musician, songwriter, actress and voice actor. She is best known as the singing voice of the title character of Jem and as one half of the duo Dean and Britta, with her husband Dean Wareham...
.
Officer Roger Papermouth
Officer Papermouth is one of Moralton's police officers. Very devout, he lists God and Jesus as his partners as he goes out to fight crime and takes time to lecture kids on the dangers of HalloweenHalloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
—of becoming devil worshipers
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
. He is never seen without a smile on his face and a gun in his hand. In the Halloween episode he horrifies them at the possibility of them becoming Buddhists
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, yet cheers them up by explaining that Jesus guides his bullets into the brains and lungs of criminals, followed by cheerfully waving around his gun and shouting "Pow, pow, pow!" In private it is revealed that Papermouth is quite wealthy but also lonely due to his wife Florence leaving him due to his cowardice shown when Orel resurrected the dead, in which is fellow police officer, Officer Ochunk, was killed by Doughy's recently resurrected grandfather. One episode where he proven to be better than Clay, when Clay tries to pick a fight he, Putty, and Potterswheel walk away after seeing how pathetic Clay really is.
Mr. Creepler
Cecil Creepler is the town's ice-cream man. Very soft-spoken, he can be found roving about the town in his ice cream truck at all hours of the day or night, selling a variety of Bible-themed frozen treats. In Courtship it is revealed that he is a pedophile with a fixation for Doughy, whom he attempts to lure into the back of his truck with promises of ice cream and other gifts. In Alone, it was revealed that he was a serial rapistRape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
who recently died in a Moralton jail and that he raped and impregnated Miss Sculptham.
His last name is a reference to his pedophilia. He is voiced by Dino Stamatopoulos
Dino Stamatopoulos
Dino Stamatopoulos is an American television comedy writer, actor and producer who has worked on Mr. Show, TV Funhouse, Mad TV, The Dana Carvey Show, Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O'Brien...
.
The Christeins
The town's only Jews for JesusJews for Jesus
Jews for Jesus is a conservative, Christian evangelical organization that focuses on the conversion of Jews to Christianity. Its members consider themselves to be Jews – either as defined by Jewish law, or as according to the view of Jews for Jesus. Jews for Jesus defines “Jewish” in terms of...
members are the Christeins. They are a stereotypical Jewish family in all but religion—complete with nasal New York accents and a warped combination of religions. They show their new-found faith by wearing kippah
Kippah
A kippah or kipa , also known as a yarmulke , kapele , is a hemispherical or platter-shaped head cover, usually made of cloth, often worn by Orthodox Jewish men to fulfill the customary requirement that their head be covered at all times, and sometimes worn by both men and, less frequently, women...
's with crosses on them, mix in Yiddish expressions with praise for Christ, have menorahs separated in half (later revealed to be a key unlocking a secret passage to the attic) and offer up a variety of non-kosher treats and Jesus-shaped matzah. Despite their conversion to Christianity, the Christeins are treated with scorn by the townfolk—the family can be observed shifting uncomfortably when Putty warns threateningly that the local church could have been a synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
if there was no Jesus and Mr. Figurelli once declares, "lousy Jew...for Jesus!" Two family members explored so far are Junior Christein—a boy who is in Orel's grade and is an exceptionally talented singer—and his Uncle Bernie, who is an influential figure on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. It could be that Mr. Christein regrets the family's conversion to Christianity, as in one episode, he was saying how he regretted flushing his money down the toilet. Mr. and Mrs. Christein are voiced by Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit is an American actor, writer and improvisational comedian. He is currently co-starring as Pete Hornberger in the hit NBC comedy 30 Rock and worked in the Adult Swim stop-motion animation programs Moral Orel and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole.-1990s:After attending Columbia College Chicago,...
and Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips is an American musician, songwriter, actress and voice actor. She is best known as the singing voice of the title character of Jem and as one half of the duo Dean and Britta, with her husband Dean Wareham...
.
Link McMissons
Link McMissons is a once-frozen prehistoric caveman found during a forest scout trip who Orel quickly befriends. However, the caveman violently wrecks a church bake saleBake sale
A bake sale is a fundraising activity where baked goods such as doughnuts, cupcakes and cookies, sometimes along with ethnic foods, are sold. Bake sales are usually held by small, non-profit organizations, such as clubs, school groups and charitable organizations...
with the only possible solution being to educate him with God and Moralton-style Christian values. He later becomes a popular conservative radio talk show host. He derides anti-fundamentalist Protestant theories and facts such as the existence of dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s and evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
, yet during an interview he is confronted with his own odd past and reverts back to his primal instincts. Causing general havoc for the town, he is cornered and put into a freezer where he is forgotten and becomes frozen yet again. In the future, he will apparently be found by a young boy named Zorel, who bears a striking resemblance to Orel. He is voiced by Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit is an American actor, writer and improvisational comedian. He is currently co-starring as Pete Hornberger in the hit NBC comedy 30 Rock and worked in the Adult Swim stop-motion animation programs Moral Orel and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole.-1990s:After attending Columbia College Chicago,...
.
Ms. Florence Papermouth
This woman is a minor character in the series, and has only been seen on a few occasions. In "Sundays", an episode in which she takes a major part, it is revealed that she was married to Officer Papermouth until she grew tired of his cowardice and left him. She seems to have an eating disorder stemming from constantly diminishing self-esteem. She is seen in church sitting next to her attractive roommate, Dottie (who seems happy with her own appearance and actively puts Florence down, which would lead to her attempting to dull the pain by eating.) In one episode, she was seen being brought to tears by protesters who booed her and postulated that God hated her because she was fat. She is fixated on Reverend Putty and finally enjoys relations with him only to suffer humiliation when Putty cries out Dottie's name in climax.She is voiced by Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips is an American musician, songwriter, actress and voice actor. She is best known as the singing voice of the title character of Jem and as one half of the duo Dean and Britta, with her husband Dean Wareham...
.
Dolly Forghetti
This is a minor character, seen in the episodes "Sundays" and "Sacrifice" as the owner of Forghetti's Bar, where Clay and Daniel are often seen. Her character is upbeat and positive despite the growing argument between Clay, Putty, Papermouth, and Potterswheel. She eventually becomes so frustrated with Clay's inappropriate comments concerning women that she breaks a glass and storms out of her own bar. She is voiced, like many other female characters, by Britta PhillipsBritta Phillips
Britta Phillips is an American musician, songwriter, actress and voice actor. She is best known as the singing voice of the title character of Jem and as one half of the duo Dean and Britta, with her husband Dean Wareham...
.
Mr. Nohammers
Mr. Nohammers is the owner of Nohammer's Hardware. Despite his name, his store, rather obviously, has a large amount of hammers. He is very noticeably jittery, twitching constantly. He dreads receiving phone calls, as it is assumed that he constantly gets calls asking about whether his shops carries hammers. Due to his paranoia on this, his shop is completely covered with hammers and signs declaring "We have hammers!" In the episode "Numb" he is shown having a possible attraction to Bloberta, with him reaching after her when she begins walking away.He is voiced by Dino Stamatopoulos
Dino Stamatopoulos
Dino Stamatopoulos is an American television comedy writer, actor and producer who has worked on Mr. Show, TV Funhouse, Mad TV, The Dana Carvey Show, Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O'Brien...
.
The Latchkeys
Carl and Kim Latchkey are Doughy's parents. They've been together since high school and continue to behave that way long after they have left. Carl was and acts like a stereotypical jock and makes lewd and immature jokes while Kim is a vapid individual who thinks of nothing more than her and Carl's amusement. Kim had a brief fling with Stephanie but that was only a joke to her. As a result of their immaturity, they severely neglect Doughy, either giving him money to leave the house or forget to let him in so that they can have sex. They're so oblivious to their son's existence that Carl once threatens to beat Doughy up after finding him alone with Kim, thinking Doughy was trying to steal her.The Posabules
The Posabules are a family who are, in almost every respect, identical to the Puppingtons, with the exception of slight differences with hair, clothes, and voices. The most prominent member of this family, Christina, is essentially a female counterpart of Orel, and they fall in love over this. Block is also a member of this family and is Shapey's counterpart. When the Posabules moved to Moralton in the Season Two episode, The Lord's Prayer, Clay and Bloberta initially got along very well with their counterparts Art and Poppet, respectively, until they learned they were "the wrong type of Protestants" (the Posabules advocated "forgiving debt" while the Puppingtons advocated "forgiving trespassing" in differing versions of The Lord's Prayer), and have since developed a mutual grudge against one other. Orel and Christina's feelings for each other, however, remained completely unchanged and despite their parents refusing to let them see one other, they would rebelliously sneak out at night to meet. The Posabules moved away at the end of the episode, accidentally switching Shapey and Block, though only Orel and Christina noticed at first. Since then, they crossed paths with the Puppingtons twice more in Season Three: once by Orel in Closeface as an excuse to see Christina (only to be abruptly turned away by her still-embittered father), and again by Bloberta in Numb to actually retrieve Shapey though Block was rejected when he showed love for Bloberta. At the end of Closeface, Orel and Christina secretly went to the Arm's Length Dance with each other, where they are the only ones that are enjoying the dance. In the series finale Honor, an adult Christina is shown to be happily married to Orel, though it is unknown if both of their parents have made peace. Art is voiced by Scott AdsitScott Adsit
Scott Adsit is an American actor, writer and improvisational comedian. He is currently co-starring as Pete Hornberger in the hit NBC comedy 30 Rock and worked in the Adult Swim stop-motion animation programs Moral Orel and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole.-1990s:After attending Columbia College Chicago,...
, Poppet by Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips
Britta Phillips is an American musician, songwriter, actress and voice actor. She is best known as the singing voice of the title character of Jem and as one half of the duo Dean and Britta, with her husband Dean Wareham...
, Christina by Carolyn Lawrence
Carolyn Lawrence
Carolyn Lawrence is a American actress and voice actress best known for her long-running-role as Sandy Cheeks on SpongeBob SquarePants.-Life and career:...
, and Block by Tigger Stamatopoulos.