Heffer Steer-Wolfe

" ''

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

'' is a

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...

on the animated television series ''

Rocko's Modern Life ''Rocko's Modern Life'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Nickelodeon. The series centers on the surreal life of an anthropomorphic Australian immigrant wallaby named Rocko and his friends: the eccentric stee ...

'' and the comic book series of the same name.

Tom Kenny Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for voicing the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media. Kenny has voiced many other characters, including Heffer Wolfe in '' ...

provided the voice of the anthropomorphic steer.

Conception and development

Joe Murray, creator of ''Rocko's Modern Life'', partially based Heffer on an adopted friend who enjoyed

bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

sandwiches and "had an interesting take on life."Character Museum
," '' Joe Murray Studio'' Heffer first appeared on an ID spot aired on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

in 1989; the ID spot depicts Heffer as flying out of a television with the MTV logo branded on his

buttocks The buttocks (singular: buttock) are two rounded portions of the exterior anatomy of most mammals, located on the posterior of the pelvic region. In humans, the buttocks are located between the lower back and the perineum. They are composed ...

.Lisa (Kiczuk) Trainor interviews Joe Murray, creator of Rocko's Modern Life
" ''The Rocko's Modern Life FAQ'' Tom Kenny in 2009

Murray originally wrote "Sucker for the Suck-O-Matic" as the pilot episode; the executives decided that Heffer would be "a little too weird for test audiences." Murray, instead of removing Heffer from "Sucker for the Suck-O-Matic," decided to write "Trash-O-Madness," an episode without Heffer, as the pilot episode. Originally, Murray did not include any information about Heffer's origins in his pitch to Nickelodeon. Vince Calandra wrote the Heffer's origin plotline in Season 1. Maestri, George. ''Digital Character Animation 3''
248
Murray auditioned

in a large casting call in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

and chose him as the voice actor for Heffer. Kenny based Heffer's voice on the voice of a nephew of his; at the time the nephew was a teenager. The boy, who was 13 when the Heffer voice started, was the son of Kenny's brother. Kenny said that the voice was " t dead on, but some of his quirks I incorporated into the Heffer audition."Peitzman, Louis.
''Rocko's Modern Life'' Is Finally Out on DVD; We Chat with the Voice of Heffer About the Classic '90s Series
" '' TV.com''. June 21, 2011. Retrieved on July 17, 2011. Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, a storyboard writer, says that Heffer's right eye and left nostril are "notched at the bottom" due to Murray's design style. Marsh added that the animators found keeping the sides straight "a little tricky at first" and that they referred to the design as " Tombstone-shaped."

Character

Best friend of Rocko, Heffer was raised by wolves in O-Town who fattened him up to eat him. Eventually the family grew to love Heffer, so they instead raised him, not letting him know that he was adopted until Rocko accidentally revealed the truth when the Wolfe family invited him for dinner. The mark which Heffer believed to be a " birthmark" on his buttocks is actually the plotting lines showing where the wolves were going to divide him. The Nickelodeon UK page describes Heffer as a "devoted friend" who "loves life." Heffer's lack of fear mostly stems from stupidity instead of genuine bravery.Characters
of ''Rocko's Modern Life'' Page 2, '' Nickelodeon Australia'' The

Nickelodeon South East Asia Nickelodeon is a pan-Asian pay television channel operated by Paramount Global, based in Singapore and broadcast to audiences in Southeast Asia and certain regions in Oceania like Polynesia and Papua New Guinea. The channel was launched on 16 ...

website describes him as an "overgrown slob."Heffer
" ''

'' Despite being obese, he can drive; unlike Rocko he does not wear

seat belt A seat belt (also known as a safety belt, or spelled seatbelt) is a vehicle safety device designed to secure the driver or a passenger of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result during a collision or a sudden stop. A seat belt red ...

s, mostly because the seat belts do not extend enough for him to wear them comfortably. Also he seems to be a hopeless romantic at times as mentioned in " Sugar Frosted Frights," where he asks Filburt's shell while in an eight-ball mode if he will ever find true love. Heffer holds several jobs: tree farmer, greenskeeper at a golf course, mail carrier, security guard, waiter at a café, and cashier. Despite his size, he can be very nimble at times, most notably when he is roller-skating. At the local skating rink, he is known as "The King," and performs his own skating routine at the request of the patrons."Wallaby on Wheels," ''Rocko's Modern Life'' Heffer's biological father lives with a girl cow named Joyce in a trailer in the

Canoga Park Canoga Park is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. Before the Mexican–American War, the district was part of a rancho, and after the American victory it was converted into wheat farms and ...

section of the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

region of

. A shaved and elderly version of Heffer makes a cameo appearance in the series finale of Murray's other show, ''

Camp Lazlo ''Camp Lazlo'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Cartoon Network. The series follows Lazlo, an anthropomorphic spider monkey that goes to a camp called "Camp Kidney", a Boy Scout-like summer camp in Pimpleback M ...

'', as the real scoutmaster. The normal version (animated by Dan Sills) also appears in the alternate ending.

References

External links

TVARK MTV Europe
- Contains original MTV ID Spot (click on Ident-Tribal) {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfe, Heffer Adoptee characters in television Television characters introduced in 1989 Orphan characters in television Rocko's Modern Life characters Fictional cattle Male characters in animated series