The Simpsons turns 23 today, so here are 5 of the best once-off characters

Can you believe it's been 23-years to the day that the very first full episode of The Simpsons was shown on air? To commemorate the day we thought we'd give some recognition to the best once-off characters.

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Frank Grimes

It would be hard to compile a list of the best once-off Simpsons characters without mentioning Frank ‘Grimey’ Grimes. Grimey simply couldn’t come to terms with how Homer’s life was so great even though he had little education, while Grimey, who was well educated, had a pretty crappy existence.

Grimey first appeared in Season 8 of The Simpsons but his name would reappear time and time again on tombstones.

Lyle Lanley

The biggest swindler to ever grace the streets of Springfield had to be the monorail sales man Lyle Lanley.

With his smooth talking and sophisticated sales pitch (it was a catchy song) Lyle convinced the town to hand over $3,000,000 for a completely unnecessary and shoddily built monorail. Thankfully, Lyle’s crooked ways caught up with him in the Season 4 episode when his flight to Tahiti was rerouted to North Haverbrook – one of the towns previously visited by Lyle and his shoddy workmanship.

Rex Banner

Another famous once-off character to come from Season 8 was Rex Banner, the man tasked with finding the illusive ‘Beer Baron’. Banner was the US Treasury officer in Washington, D.C. before being sent to Springfield to uphold Prohibition.

He was a hard-ass cop out for justice, but this to-and-forth with Homer will live on as one of the funniest moments in Simpsons' history.

Very Tall Man

We asked for your help on Facebook in finding the top five once-off Simpsons characters and 'The Very Tall Man' proved very popular indeed – so how could we say no? The Very Tall Man – that’s the only name he’s given – drives around town in his small, but affordable, car while teaching bullies a lesson.

He appeared in the Season 7 episode titled “22 Short Films About Springfield”.

The Simpsons - Tall Man in Car from Lucas Smitch on Vimeo.

Hank Scorpio

The ultimate number 1 once-off Simpsons character has to be the nuclear power plant owner, Hank Scorpio.

We unanimously agreed here in the office that he was our top once-off character and you guys reiterated that fact over on Facebook with over 100 likes given to the man himself. He first appeared in (surprise, surprise) Season 8 and he’s one of the only characters that we think a spin-off would work for… you'll have to excuse the quality of the video below.