Jeff Boomhauer

Season 1 - 13
Season 14+

Name

Jeff Boomhauer III

Gender

Male

Hair

Blond

Age

41-42

49-50

Job

Texas Ranger

Freelance Handyman

Relatives

Boomhauer Family

Dr. Boomhauer (father)
Mrs. Boomhauer (mother)
Patch Boomhauer (younger brother)
Meemaw (grandmother)
Katherine Hester (ex-girlfriend)
Nurse roleplayer (ex-girlfriend)
Ice Cream Lady (ex-girlfriend)
Marlene (ex-girlfriend)
Rhonda (ex-girlfriend)
Suzette (ex-girlfriend)
Luke Jr.'s mother (girlfriend)

Debut

"Pilot"

Voiced by

Mike Judge

Vince Gill (singing voice)^[1]

Jeff^[2] Boomhauer III, universally referred to as Boomhauer, is best known for his long-winded, fast-paced speech. He is voiced by series creator Mike Judge.

Appearance[]

Boomhauer stands at 6'0",^[3] making him taller than Bill and Dale, but shorter than Hank. He has hazel eyes, platinum blond hair, orange-tinted tan skin, and a strong somewhat rectangular chin. He is somewhat lanky but with a minor paunch. By the time the Hills have moved back to Arlen, Boomhauer's face now features a visible amount of wrinkles, but he otherwise appears the same.

Boomhauer is typically seen wearing a dark gray shirt, blue jeans, and work boots. He also has a watch on his left wrist.

Personality[]

Boomhauer is highly astute and often gives advice to his friends. He is also a frequent voice of truth, owning up to the wrongdoings of the group despite not always acting appropriately himself. Since his speech pattern is not understood by most people, his confessions are usually ignored.

Character[]

Boomhauer is a longtime friend of the Hill family and hangs out in the alley drinking beer with Dale, Bill, and Hank. He is famous for his rapid pattern of muddled, nearly-incomprehensible speech. It appears to be genetic, as his grandmother, brother, and other Boomhauer family members speak the same way. He also peppers his speech with lots of "dang ol's" and "dadgums," often punctuating clauses with "man." It is revealed in "A Fire Fighting We Will Go" that Boomhauer actually sees himself as speaking clearly and everyone else speaking with his trademark speech pattern.

Boomhauer is a Texas Ranger (although he's never seen acting as such) and confirmed bachelor with a taste for fast cars, women, and tiger-print thongs. He drives a 1968 Dodge Coronet. In high school, he had an infamous mid-60s Mustang named "Ms. Sally" but had to get a new car after Hank, Bill, and Dale accidentally drove it into a quarry while playing a prank on him. While attending high school with the three others, he played on the football team as the starting quarterback, though he did not reach the same level of infamy as Hank and Bill. His idol is Wilt Chamberlain (probably for both his athletic prowess and for his famous luck with women), and he is allergic to macadamia nuts.

Boomhauer in "A Fire Fighting We Will Go", reading a magazine

Boomhauer's friends seem to consider him a source of good advice. He has a good relationship with Hank but occasionally loses his patience with Dale's insanity (calling him "Gribble"), but seems to be close to him, as its revealed in an episode that he and Dale leave every year on a Memorial Day fishing trip, disguised as Boomhauer going to a family reunion and Dale going to a UFO convention. They presumably don't invite Bill and Hank since Bill can get on both their nerves with his stupidity and Hank's inflexibility towards having fun. He is frequently the voice of truth and reason in their group, but since these confessions are barely understandable, they often go unheeded, unless another character repeats what he said as though agreeing with him. He also proves to be rather cultured in one episode, calling Hank "ignorant" after Hank makes derogatory comments about modern art, and referencing Marcel Duchamp's famous Fountain and Dadaism.

Romantic life[]

Although considered something of a playboy by his neighbors, in "I'm with Cupid", Bobby discovers that Boomhauer’s secret weapon for attracting women is merely barraging women until one finally agrees to go out with him, though he typically succeeds in the end. Ironically, despite his propensity for one-night stands, Boomhauer has trouble getting over break-ups with women he is attracted to on an emotional level. When his ex-girlfriend Katherine Hester left him and went off to college, Boomhauer spent two days sitting in his hot tub. When he meets a jogger whom Bill lusts after, he spends several days (and nights) with her and gathers the courage to ask her to marry him, offering his Meemaw's ring. To his horror, she had been sleeping with another man and had only been dating him for the sex, much like he had done to many women before. Adding insult to injury, she admitted that she hadn't understood much of what he'd said since they met and mistakenly referred to him as "Boomhauser." Crushed, Boomhauer goes speeding down the street crying while blasting the radio in his car. Bill, no stranger to experiencing heartbreak himself, manages to pull Boomhauer back from the brink of desperation and motivates him to live life again, returning to the dating scene with a newfound understanding of the pain of being used for sex and abandoned afterwards. This led him to begin toning down his usual womanizing ways to the point of apologizing to one of his old flames and, eventually, find a steady girlfriend with a son, Luke Jr., whom he genuinely tries to be a good father figure towards.

Trivia[]

Boomhauer's voice was based on an angry voice message that Mike Judge received on his answering machine that he thought was complaining about his previous show, Beavis & Butthead (the man was complaining about Looney Tunes' time slot; to which he referred to it as "Porky's Butthole"). In the Pilot, the way that Boomhauer talks to the social worker complaining about the neighbors' dog ("I've bin callin' y'all people better than a month now...") is lifted directly from this voicemail.^[4]^[5]
In Season 4, Episode 23 ("Transnational Amusements Presents: Peggy's Magic Sex Feet"), it is revealed that Boomhauer has known Peggy for longer than Hank has, presumably being the one who introduced the two, though this is never elaborated on.
Even with his trademark speech impediment, Boomhauer sings clearly when he sings Bluegrass music. ("The Bluegrass is Always Greener")
In "Hank's On Board", Boomhauer confesses to his friends that he dyes his hair.
The only episode that Boomhauer does not appear in is "An Officer and a Gentle Boy", which also lacks Dale and Bill.
Boomhauer is said to be missing a pinkie toe ("Straight as an Arrow"), though this does not appear in the actual animation.
Throughout the entirety of the show's original run, Boomhauer's job was intentionally kept vague, often dropping small noncommittal hints as to his profession. In the series finale, there is a closeup on his open wallet on his bedroom dresser, revealing a Texas Ranger badge, indicating he is a Texas Ranger.
Boomhauer has a video-camera in his bedroom for videotaping sex.
Out of all the adults in the series, Bobby interacts with Boomhauer the most (not counting his parents). This could be because Boomhauer is the most helpful and advice worthy of the others, Dale being too paranoid and usually offering terrible advice, and Bill's advice usually backfiring to make Bobby more miserable than he was before.
Boomhauer is a skilled banjo player. He indicated that he can also play the accordion. ("The Bluegrass is Always Greener")
He is a skilled painter, which is demonstrated in "Naked Ambition" when Boomhauer paints a Van Gogh-esque self-portrait.
While Bobby is looking at Hank's yearbook, Boomhauer is nicknamed "Wheels" in the "Too Cool For School" photograph. ("What Makes Bobby Run?")
In the episode "Luanne Virgin 2.0", Hank says that he needs to borrow Boomhauer's limo, although this was never actually seen.
In the episode “Queasy Rider,” it is revealed that Boomhauer became a fan of the NFL’s Houston Texans.
Out of everyone in the main cast, Boomhauer has the least amount of episodes centered on him as the primary focus.
In "Uh-oh, Canada", Boomhauer is eventually able to speak French-Canadian after living in Guelph, Ontario for a Summer.