This is a list of all the major and minor characters from the animated television series Rocko's Modern Life and the comic book of the same name.
Joe Murray, creator of the series, said that he matched personalities of his characters to various animals, forming a "social caricature.""Q & A with Joe Murray", Cartoon Network Pressroom
Overview Character Portrayed by Appearances First Trash-O-Madness Season 1 Spunky's Dangerous Day Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Static Cling Main characters Rocko Rama (né Wallaby) Carlos Alazraqui "Trash-O-Madness" colspan="7" Spunky colspan="7" Heffer Wolfe Tom Kenny "A Sucker for the Suck-O-Matic" rowspan="3" rowspan="3" colspan="4" Edward "Ed" Bighead Charlie Adler "Canned" colspan="4" Beverly "Bev" Bighead "Canned" colspan="4" Filburt Shellbach (né Turtle) Mr. Lawrence "Canned" colspan="4" Dr. Paula Hutchison Shellbach Linda Wallem "Rinse & Spit" colspan="3"
Main
Rocko Rama
Voiced by: Carlos Alazraqui Rocko Rama (né Wallaby) (is a wallaby who emigrated from Australia to the United States.) He is the titular main protagonist of the show. He is a sensible, moral, and somewhat timid character who enjoys the simple pleasures in life. He is neat, compassionate, and self-conscious. Rocko wears a blue shirt with purple triangles, shoes, and no pants. Rocko works at "Kind of a Lot O' Comics" and his hobbies include recreational jackhammering and pining for the loves of his life. Due to Rocko's benevolence and non-confrontational personality, his kindness is often taken for weakness. He is often taken advantage of by the other characters. Rocko would prefer to live a quiet life, but his reckless friends often throw him into turbulent situations. His catchphrase is "[a particular occasion like garbage or laundry] day is a very dangerous day." and even once saying "Open mic night is a very dangerous night." He is often mistaken for a weasel, a kangaroo, a platypus, a beaver, or even a dog. The name "Rocko" is mononymous because the writers could not think of a surname that they liked."Lisa Trainor interviews George Maestri, the story writer for Rocko's Modern Life," The Rocko's Modern Life FAQ He is 20 years old."Lisa Trainor interviews Joe Murray, the creator of Rocko's Modern Life", The Rocko's Modern Life FAQ
Spunky
Voiced by: Carlos Alazraqui Spunky is Rocko's pet bull terrier. He has a very high-pitched bark and wags his tail a lot. He's not too bright and will eat anything on sight including Ed Bighead's salmon bushes and a moldy slime found in Rocko's refrigerator. He often drools into his water bowl and drinks it, only to drool into it again. He is Rocko's only regular pet and Rocko loves him dearly. Rocko will go to great lengths to protect Spunky if he is in danger or about to do something that is bad. Spunky is best remembered for falling in love with a mop in the episode "Clean Lovin'", much to Rocko's dismay, Spunky was noted to have used his front paws as hands as he tries to protect the mop. Spunky is also the home of two parasites, Bloaty and Squirmy.
Joe Murray, creator of Rocko's Modern Life, originally designed Spunky to be a dog more brain dead than the dog in his film My Dog Zero, complete with drooling and crossed eyes. Murray later decided that the scenario could "limit the storytelling," so he gave Spunky "a little more intelligence, but not much.""Character Museum ," Joe Murray Studio Spunky also stars in his own game, Rocko's Modern Life: Spunky's Dangerous Day.
Heffer Wolfe
Voiced by: Tom Kenny Heffer Wolfe (né Steer) is Rocko's best friend, a happy-go-lucky and not-too-bright steer whom he met in high school. His appearance is basically just a big, round, yellow bullock who wears red dungarees. He has two horns and a green tuft of hair on the top of his head. Heffer is an absolute glutton who loves to eat and party. His favorite food is Pasture Puffies. Though he is normally portrayed as being jobless, he has worked as a waiter at a coffee shop, a salesman at a tree farm, a greenskeeper at a golf course, a mail carrier, a manager at a Chokey Chicken restaurant, a paper boy, and a security guard at Conglom-O-Corp. As his family name suggests, he was raised by a family of wolves who decided not to eat him as a child and adopted him as one of their own; his "birthmark" is actually their plotting lines of how to best divide him up into choice dishes. He is often called a "Big fat cow," a term he objects to by saying "steer." His catchphrase, which can be heard at the end of the series' opening theme, is "That was a hoot!" He is 22 years old.
Filburt Shellbach
Voiced by: Mr. Lawrence (speaking voice) and Tom Kenny (singing voice) Filburt Shellbach (né Turtle) "Born to Spawn," Rocko's Modern Life is Rocko's best friend, a neurotic, hypochondriac turtle. He started out as a different character, usually seen having many jobs, such as a supermarket cashier and a clerk at the Department of Motor Vehicles before being written in the storyline as Rocko and Heffer's friend in the second season. He lives in a trailer and earns his money by collecting cans "here and there" and has a penchant for "sauce". Filburt has an extremely weak stomach and even the slightest wrong movements can give him nausea. He tried to be a dentist, but he failed in his final exam when he turned one of Rocko's teeth into a Giant Mutant Tooth. He turned 21 in the episode "Born to Spawn" where he is called to his home island of Kerplopitgoes in order to become an adult. At one point, he also had a Frank Sinatra style singing voice that he nearly became a star with. He eventually started a family with Dr. Hutchison, a bubbly cat with a hook for a hand. One of their children turned out to bear a strong resemblance to Heffer, thanks to his having sat on their egg during the incubation period. Among Filburt's catchphrases are "Oh, fish sticks!", "Oh, boy.", "I'm nauseous...I'm nauseous..." and "Turn the page, wash your hands. Turn the page, wash your hands. And then you turn the page, and then you wash your hands."
Ed Bighead
Voiced by: Charlie Adler Edward "Ed" Bighead is an anthropomorphic middle-aged cane toad and the husband of Bev Bighead. He is also the main antagonist of the show. Joe Murray said that he based the Bigheads on a group of neighbours who lived next door to Murray during his childhood. Murray described the neighbours as "grumpy and pissed about everything." Joe Murray hated his neighbours. The general concept involving characters with large heads originated from a comic, written by Murray, named "Rizzo the Art Director.""July 28, 2009 ." Joe Murray Studio. Retrieved on July 28, 2009. This character is also green due to Joe Murray's dislike and disassociation for the color.
Ed Bighead lives next door to Rocko, who he despises and sees him and his friends as the bane of his existence. In the television show, Ed is grumpy and crass towards most people. He works at the large corporation Conglom-O, where has he worked since 1961. His position with the company is usually in middle management, but it can be almost every position from assembly-line worker to an executive role depending on the needs of the episode. According to his nameplate at Conglom-O, his job title is "Toad". As seen in the episode "Sailing the Seven Zzz's", he is a sleepwalker and has the habit of turning into a pirate while sleepwalking and views people and things as their pirate equivalents, he believed Rocko was an enemy pirate and proceeded to launch various household objects such as toasters and bowling balls at Rocko's house from a dryer. In the comic book, Ed works for a similar company headed by Donald Frump, an elephant that serves as a parody of Donald Trump. Ed seems to have bad luck wherever he goes and thus is very cynical. His catchphrase is "I hate my life."
He had an estranged relationship with his child born as Ralph, who created a show called "The Fatheads," which was loosely based on the Bigheads. Ralph also becomes a cartoonist instead of following Ed's footsteps at Conglom-O, which caused Ed to deny he had a "son". Ralph eventually came out as transgender under the name Rachel in Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling and although Ed was not accepting at first, he later accepted the transition.
Bev Bighead
Voiced by: Charlie Adler Beverly "Bev" Bighead is a female character of the series. She is a Harvey Fierstein-esque raspy-voiced cane toad and Ed's wife. Bev assumes authority in the Bighead household. Unlike her husband, she enjoys the company of Rocko, Heffer, and Filburt. She is a party animal who enjoys cooking and sunbathing nude. There is evidence that she sees Rocko as more than a neighbor and wants to have an affair with him and she has tried to seduce Rocko on more than one occasion, resulting in Rocko seeing her naked numerous times. She also is a possible sadomasochist—she sleeps on sharp objects and has been impaled in the back with a lawn dart by Rocko, but was unaffected by it. At one point, she took over Ed's job at Conglom-O for a week when Ed took a leave of absence due to a nervous breakdown and ran the company very well. Her favorite bedroom pastime with Ed is to make him crack plates in mid-air with his tongue like clay pigeons.
Bev is also an incredibly compassionate toad, having taken Earl the vicious dog in when she forces him into a submissive posture for digging out their yard, she falls in love with him and likewise, which is strange for Earl. Earl and Ed then vie against one another for Bev's attention and approval, which Ed ultimately loses due to his underhandedness. Fortunately, Earl is gone in subsequent episodes and his adoption is for the most part retconned through the rest of the series.
Recurring
Dr. Paula Hutchison Shellbach Voiced by: Linda Wallem Dr. Paula Hutchison Shellbach, or Hutch for short, is a yellow cat that works as dentist, Hutch has also been a cashier, surgeon, veterinarian, obstetrician, and pharmacist. She jokingly admits she left her job as a dentist because she was "Getting tired of looking down in the mouth!" and as a surgeon when she admits she "Just couldn't cut it!" She has very big teeth when she grins and very upbeat outlook on life. She has a hook for her right hand which does not hinder her normal activity in any way. Her hook was also used to defeat the Giant Mutant Tooth. Hutch took a liking to Filburt and has encouraged him to do various things he is afraid of and eventually married him. Hutch's mother, Widow Hutchison, disallows the wedding between the two because of her belief that "cats and turtles don't mix" citing their status as natural enemies. While both Filburt and Hutch's families fight each other, it turns out that Hutch's father Colonel Frank Hutchison, who was thought to be dead, is actually a turtle, meaning that Widow Hutchison did not want her daughter to marry Filburt because she was trying to protect her.