Gil

Occassional character on The Simpsons.

A nervous, wiry, middle-aged salesman--and a very bad salesman at that. Has been seen trying to sell computers to Principal Skinner after Lisa Simpson cheated on a test, which raised the school's test scores enough to earn more funding--Ralph Wiggum is seated at the computer when Lisa and Skinner walk in, and Gil pushes for Skinner to purchase the insurance plan (These things'll rust right up on 'ya).

Perpetually low on self-esteem and fearful that he won't be able to bring home the bacon, "Good 'Ol" Gill always refers to himself in the third-person at least once, as an aside: "Close the deal, Gil! Close the deal!"

Gil also appears as a salesman in an episode where Homer Simpson goes to the car dealership--Gil, of course, loses the sale to a coworker, even after pleading and explaining that his wife's going to leave him if he doesn't get it.

Poor Gil has had many jobs in his sad life time. Some of these include:

• Realtor at Red Blazer Reality
• Salesman at Goody New Shoes
• Used Car Salesman
• Coleco Computers Salesman
• Part-time Bodyguard
• Car Dealer at O.K. Car-Ral
• Salesman at Señor Ding-Dong's Doorbell Fiesta
• Kwik-E-Mart Janitor
• Telemarketer for the Springfield Shopper sales department
• Attempts to sell Amway during an AA meeting

"Honey, you should have seen me with my last customer, I ...no, but I came so close. This guy was as ... Whose voice is that? Is that Fred? ... Aw, you said it was over ... No, don't put him on -- Hello, Fred, h-hi."

As a point of reference, Gil is a reference to Jack Lemmon's character in Glengarry Glenross. He is the ultimate frazzled, over-the-hill salesman who can no longer cut it. Gil (in my opinion) seems to be out there to replace all the bit characters that Phil Hartman (RIP) played. Hell, in a very recent episode (was it the one with the "duff book of world records episode?), Gil is now even a lawyer (since there is no more Lionel Hutz for the Simpsons to use for legal advice).

Just to add to the list of tribulations that Gil has been subjected to - when Homer and Marge have their sex-in-public-places fetish, they destroy poor Gil's hotplate when they make a hasty escape from the police in the used-car lots hot-air balloon.