Barney Rubble

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Barney Rubble
Barney Rubble.png
Species Human
Gender Male
Affiliation Fred Flintstone
Wilma Flintstone
Hoppy
Great Gazoo
Mr. Slate
Occupation Quarry worker
Police officer[Note 1]
Works for Slate Rock and Gravel Company
Bedrock Police Department[Note 2]
Goals Follow Fred on his schemes
Father Bob Rubble
Mother Flo Rubble
Brother(s) Dusty[Note 3]
Other relative(s) Pebbles Flintstone, daughter-in-law[Note 4][Note 5][Note 6]
Marital status Husband to Betty Rubble
Son(s) Bamm-Bamm Rubble
Grandchildren Roxy and Chip Rubble[Note 7][Note 8]
First appearance TF: "The Flintstone Flyer" (1960)
Played by Daws Butler (1960, pilot pitch, 1961)
Mel Blanc (1960-89)
Hamilton Camp (1986-88)
Frank Welker (since 1990)
Rick Moranis (1994)
Stephen Baldwin (2000)
Kevin Michael Richardson (2000-22)
Paul F. Tompkins (2022)
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The Flintstone Kids
90s Barney.png
I Yabba-Dabba Do!
Moranis Barney.png
The Flintstones
Baldwin Barney.png
The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
DC Barney.png
The Flintstones
YDD Barney.png
Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs

Bernard "Barney" Rubble is a caveman and the secondary character of the Flintstones animated franchise. He is the husband of Betty, and the best friend and next-door neighbor of Fred Flintstone. He is usually accompanied by Fred, assisting him with his numerous schemes that usually end up backfiring the two. His voice was originated by Mel Blanc (not counting Daws Butler in the pilot pitch).

In the beginning, Barney's source of income was something of a mystery, although he was shown to be unable to hold a permanent job. In later incarnations, Barney was given the same job as Fred, working as a construction worker for Mr. Slate.

Unable to conceive children, Barney and Betty adopted an infant son, Bamm-Bamm.

Character description

“ 2,500 people in Bedrock, and I had to pick this pebblebrain for a neighbor.
― Fred Flintstone, The Flintstones, "The Flintstone Flyer" (1960) 		”

Barney is a short caveman with a beard stubble, blonde hair, and slightly thick eyebrows. His eyes are depicted as either two dark circular outlines (as seen in seasons 1-5 of The Flintstones) or two black dots (as in the show's 6th season and some subsequent media). He usually wears a ragged, brown loincloth with an X-shaped string in front of it.

As a friend of Fred Flintstone, Barney spends most of his days getting caught up in his constant get-rich schemes, but is somewhat oblivious of the current situation. When Fred hatches a plan, Barney would usually showed his agreement by laughing and saying, "Uh hee hee hee... Okay, Fred." or "Hee hee hee... whatever you say, Fred." He is generally good-natured and jovial, and likes to crack up a little joke on his best pal (namely his weight). Barney is more good-natured than Fred is, and isn't usually prone to be as emotional as him. Although Fred and Barney are considered best pals, there would be times when the latter loses his patience with Fred on occasion. An example would be in the season one episode "The Swimming Pool," where they have a feud over a pool they built in their backyards.

While a lot of Fred's schemes land Barney in trouble with his wife Betty, the latter is a very devoted husband of the Rubble family. When he is inside of his house, he usually spends his time taking good care of both Betty and his adoptive son Bamm-Bamm.

Barney's interests include bowling, playing pool, poker, and golf. He is also a member of the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes, a private club of which he and Fred hang out. Furthermore, he is shown to be a talented pianist and drummer at times.

The subject of Barney's occupation (or lack thereof) was never explained in the original show, though it is implied that he didn't have a permanent one to begin with. Subsequent spin-offs suggest that he worked at the Slate Rock and Gravel Company along with Fred; possibly in an office role. The first instance of him working for Mr. Slate was in the 1970s TV specials and in The New Fred and Barney Show. During Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm's teen years, both he and Fred were briefly part-time officers for the Bedrock Police force, as seen in The Flintstone Comedy Show.

Appearances

TV series

Movies

Specials

Shorts

Comics

Books

Video games

Theme park rides

Biography

Highs and Lows

Not much of Barney's life growing up is known within the original series. But what is known was that in the episode "Feudin' and Fussin'", he had known Fred as his friend since infancy. They would go together on strolls as babies and even being on the same sports teams together back in their high school days, all the while getting into constant shenanigans.

Barney and Fred would first meet their future wives Betty and Wilma in their teen years, at the Honeyrock Hotel in the episode "Bachelor Daze" (although the previous episode "Fred Strikes Out" implies they may have met before then, likely a part of retroactive continuity). Fred and Barney had previously worked at bellboys of a fancy hotel, until they discover the two girls (who also worked at the hotel as maids), but due to a misunderstanding when both parties were sitting in the rich guests' cars, each pair of friends thought the other was rich.

The two parties, who they have discovered through first love, were too afraid to pursue their relationships further out of fear that they would be exposed as lowly hotel workers. The girls had fallen in love with the two men, but were afraid to tell them the truth, believing Fred and Barney would dump them otherwise.

Soon after, their boss, Mr. Stonyface, revealed the truth to the two of them while they danced at the masquerade ball, and were all fired and seemingly the end of their summer flings. This catches the attention of Wilma's mother, Mrs. Slaghoople, had visited to see Wilma's supposed rich boyfriend took them home the next day, but was mad at Fred after she discovered the truth about him. Fred, however, seemed to make amends with her and the couples by acting as the wheels to her car.

Afterwards, Barney and Betty were formally proposed to one another some time after Fred married to Wilma, most likely a few years after they first met.

Fred and Barney on the Laff-a-Lympics

Celebrating another 50 years! 50 years of fun!

Barney Sells Out

In the Captain Planet and the Planeteers episode "Who's Running the Show?," to get in Fred Lerner's TV studio unnoticed by the Eco-Villains, the Planeteers dress like mucky versions of the Flintstones and Rubbles. When they are revealed to be in costume, an instrumental version of "(Meet) The Flintstones" plays, and Wheeler leads the other Planeteers into the mission by announcing "Okay, Planeteers, time to do our yabba-dabba-duty." Ma-Ti is dressed in Barney's loincloth. Gi is dressed in Betty's dress, although they don't act like a couple.

Barney appears alongside Fred in pirate form in the Duck Dodgers episode "Shiver Me Dodgers".

In the end credits gag of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy episode "Modern Primitives," Billy somehow turns up in the past on the Rubbles' doorstep, with Barney answering. When Billy talks, his modern talk is incomprehensible to Barney's understanding.

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Barney in the Funny Books

Development

Barney's personality was based on Ed Norton, a main character portrayed by Art Carney in the 1955 sitcom The Honeymooners. Like Barney, Norton is a care-free person who follows orders from his neighbor and best friend, Ralph Kramden (who was the basis for Fred Flintstone), and would occasionally pull out a snarky remark to Ralph in exchange for his loudmouthed comments.

In the first season of The Flintstones, Barney (as voiced by Mel Blanc) originally had a nasally New Jersey accent, but soon dropped it in favor of a deeper one. His early vocalization eventually returned in the 2001 movie The Flintstones: On the Rocks, as voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.

Gallery

Main article: Barney Rubble/Gallery

Toys and merchandise

Main article: Barney Rubble/Toys

Behind the scenes

  • While Mel Blanc was recovering from a near-fatal car accident in 1961, Daws Butler (who previously voiced Barney in the pilot pitch) briefly stepped in his place for a few season two episodes. Mel resumed the role shortly thereafter until 1989.

In popular culture

WARNING: The following section contains content that may be seen as mature or offensive to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.
Main article: List of pop culture references to Flintstones
  • In the movie Rage!, it begins with Cal being woken up by his daughter leaving the TV on which is playing the episode "The House Guest," with the theme song and the opening scene of Fred telling Barney he is driving them to the Quicky Car Wash.
  • In the film Better Off Dead, as Lane finds a parcel for a DIY space shuttle and reads the front page of a newspaper about a suicidal New Yorker, dialogue from The Flintstones episode "Little Bamm-Bamm" plays in the background, specifically when Fred says goodnight to Barney and Betty, leaving them to wish on a shooting star, but when Lane looks at the TV, when Barney is supposed to tell the audience that he can bet that they know what the couple wished for, Lane imagines Barney asking him if he could take Beth out on a date, followed by his signature laugh.
  • In the TV special The Joe Piscopo New Jersey Special, in a nightclub that is supposed to be in Hollyrock, California, Joe Piscopo plays Fred presenting The Flintstones: The Lost Episodes, with Danny DeVito as his co-host, Barney. They show a clip from one of their favorite never-before-seen episodes, which involves Fred and Barney discussing Fred's anger over 18-year-old Pebbles dating a Neanderthal. After finding a note from Pebbles about getting engaged, they foot peddle away in Barney's car to find her. Back in the present, Fred and Barney say, "Yabba-dabba-doo," and get the audience to sing along with them a very truncated version of the theme song.
  • In Watchmen Issue #6, Gerald Anthony Grice has two German Shepherds called Fred and Barney.
  • In the Married... with Children episode "Married... with Prom Queen: Part 1," when Peg ignores Al after he puts his foot down about going to the class reunion, Al questions his role as the father of the house, listing Robert Young, Fred McMurray, and even Fred Flintstone, having his day once or twice, and asks Peg if she doesn't think he is the man that Fred Flintstone is. A little later, Steve tries to make Al feel better by saying that a school reunion is for others to make fun of their classmates for not amounting to anything, before realising his mistake. Al tells Steve off by saying that Barney Rubble wasn't much but at least he was supportive.
  • In the Parker Lewis Can't Lose episode "Science Fair," Mikey mentions how he tried to lure out the missing Jerry by planting a bottle of Flintstones Vitamins, with the Barneys removed.
  • In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode "Knowledge Is Power," Will criticizes Geoffrey while he dances to "The Thieving Magpie," by saying that if he wore a Barney bobblehead it would be like watching The Flintstones on Ice.
  • In the Cheers episode "Home Malone," while babysitting Frederick, Sam puts on The Flintstones, with the episode being about Barney getting stuck in a mailbox. While Sam watches, Frederick locks himself in his bathroom, and then Sam locks himself out the bedroom when he leaves through the window to get to the bathroom from the outside. By the time they both make it back into Frederick's bedroom again, The Flintstones episode is over.
  • In the movie Adventures in Dinosaur City (aka Dinosaur), there is a parody of The Flintstones called Dino Saur. In the intro to Dino Saur, a goofy-looking caveman pops up for instance who resembles Barney.
  • In the intro of the Tiny Toons Adventures special Tiny Toons' Night Ghoulery, Hamton is dressed like Barney during the lyrics, "At Acme Looniversity we earn our toon degree."
  • In the Salute Your Shorts episode "Sponge's Night Out," when Z.Z. sees Sponge sneaking out at night for his date, she calls him Orville Redenbacher, and when she sees Budnick and Donkeylips following, she calls them Fred and Barney.
  • In The Ren and Stimpy Show episode "The Scotsman in Space," Haggis MacHaggis has a seizure after seeing that his eggs were overdone and does Barney's distinctive laugh before dying.
  • In "Episode 11" (season 5) of Heartbreak High, Mr. Bailey discovered that one of the students had signed the fake name of Barney Rubble for the clean-up volunteer work.
  • In the film Ocean's Eleven, when Basher explains the trouble he had to Danny's crew, he speaks in Cockney rhyming slang, claiming they are in trouble, but confuses things when he rhymes it with Barney Rubble.
  • In the film Mr. Deeds, Longfellow offers Emilio some Cocoa Pebbles (with Fred and Barney on the box) for breakfast, but he turns them down.
  • In the Sabrina the Teenage Witch episode "The Competition," Hilda taught Amanda an incantation by saying "Double, double, boil and trouble. Dress the cat-like Barney Rubble." A generic cloth then proceeded to magically appear around Salem, who then remarked that he looked better than John Goodman, who actually played Fred, not Barney, as Barney was played by Rick Moranis.
  • In the That 70s Show episode "What Is and What Never Should Be," Kitty mentions how they don't make a pill for menopause, so she had to take a Flintstone Vitamin, instead, which she remarked knew wouldn't work when it's shaped like Barney Rubble.
  • In the Third Watch episode "Firestarter," Cocoa Pebbles (featuring Fred and Barney) appear on a breakfast aisle in front of Bosco, where Bosco helps patrons escape a grocery store that has just been set on fire.
  • In the Duck Dodgers episode "Shiver Me Dodgers," two pirates who resemble Fred and Barney are in a line to audition to be a member of Long John Silver XXIII's crew.
  • In The Sopranos episode "Irregular Around the Margins," Agent Grasso criticizes Carmela to his FBI colleagues, saying she is a good-looking woman, but chooses to "fuck Barney Rubble [Tony Soprano]."
  • In the Malcolm in the Middle episode "Dewey's Special Class," Lois says goodnight to Hal and Craig, who have formed a dance team, calling them Fred and Ginger. Craig then says to Hal he thought it was Fred and Barney.
  • In the According to Jim episode "The Hunters," Jim believes he is a natural born hunter, a caveman even, which is probably why Dana calls him and her brother Fred and Barney when they succeed after their hunting trip to prove themselves.
  • In the film Son of the Mask, baby Alvery switches the TV onto this episode, with a couple of scenes included. The first one is when Fred is knocked in the stomach with an extended plunger while he and Barney hold signs of their kids. When the camera moves away from the TV, Barney's voice can also be heard in the background.
  • In the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "One Hundred," Frylock becomes Fryboy in a Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! parody, but his face was transformed to resemble Barney's.
  • In "Episode 18" (series 7) of the UK BBC One quiz show Pointless, the first round of questions that fell into the "Cartoon" category is Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters, with host Alexander Armstrong showing an image of several of them together. The contestants have to be able to pick out all the obscure characters that 100 anonymous public people had been able to guess. Contestant Sarah picks Betty Rubble. Cohost Richard Osman circles Betty and reveals that her maiden name is Bricker. This surprises Armstrong, who says Betty must have been thrilled when she met her husband, who Osman and Armstrong both said shall remain nameless so as not to accidentally help the contestants. In the end, however, nobody chose Barney, who would've scored 64 points from the anonymous public who knew him.
  • In the Mad episode "2012 Dalmatians/Grey's in Anime," the skit "2012 Dalmatians" had Fred and Barney make cameos as caveman bones in the Museum of Natural Mystery.
  • In The Middle episode "The Shirt," Mike gets a lot of jokes when suddenly wears a Hawaiian t-shirt instead of his usual flannel shirt. After they go on a double date with another couple, Mike complains about all the jokes they made, which Frankie says it's unusual, the same way if Fred Flintstone walked around Bedrock in something other than his "leopard man-dress" he wouldn't get any remarks from Wilma, Barney, and Betty.
  • In the Archer episode "Liquid Lunch," Archer says that On the Town was Bea Benaderet's film debut, but when the others don't know who he's talking about, he tries to jog their memories by telling them she was Mrs. Barney Rubble.
  • In the Fresh Off the Boat episode "Workin' the 'Ween," Evan said that he and older brother Emery were going as Fred and Barney for Halloween, but their father wanted them to stay in pants to give out candy at the door.
  • In the Avenue 5 episode "Eight Arms No Hands," in complaining towards Rav, Mia refers to Doug as "Barney fucking Rubble."
  • On the January 16, 2023 episode of Good Morning America, anchor Robin Roberts made a light hearted jab towards colleague Sam Champion's new hairstyle, which she compared to Barney's.
  • In the sixth episode of Jeopardy! UK (2024), the question in the category of "Partners in Rhyme" for £200 was, "One was an American astronomer who gave his name to a major space telescope and the other is Fred Flintstone's best friend." The answer was "Edwin Hubble and Barney Rubble."
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Drawn Together

Main article: Drawn Together
  • "Lost in Parking Space Part Two:" While Fred is being brutally tortured at Hot Topic, he cries out for Barney to help him.
  • The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!: Toot travels to Bedrock where she has an affair with Barney which leads to her conceiving Bamm-Bamm, who she gives birth to later. Barney breaks things off with Toot after he works things out with Betty.

Family Guy

Main article: Family Guy
  • "Peter's Got Woods:" When Brian is busy on another date with his new girlfriend, Peter tries to replace him with Barney. We then see Peter at the Rubbles', where he is waiting for Barney to finish in the toilet, so they can go play darts. Barney is using a pelican as a toilet, and makes a joke about his predicament. A sheep later made a similar joke after hearing Meg was on her period. MacFarlane voices Barney.
  • "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air:" Fred and Barney attend the inaugural ball of the Quahog Men's Club, where Fred reveals to Barney that he accidentally caught sight of Betty undressing, who saw Fred, but continues anyway, giving way to Fred's e-rock-tion. Bergman voices both Fred and Barney.
  • "Griffin Winter Games:" Peter rifles through his winter coat he hasn't in a year to find the things he never threw away, including a Flintstone Vitamin he didn't take because he didn't like Barney.
  • "Pawtucket Pat:" When Brian announces that he's got a new job as an online journalist for The Hog, Peter reacts negatively because it's one of those of those sites with the online quizzes asking you what fictional TV character you are, which according to Lois, he always gets mad by it because he gets Barney Rubble. Peter rhetorically asks if he gets mad then why does he laughs the way he does, taking off his glasses, revealing his eyes to be two dots, and laughing exactly like Barney, disproving his point.
  • "Cootie & the Blowhard:" Stewie believes he has cooties, which he controls by taking huge quantities of a "Flintstones cocktail," which is dozens of different colored Flintstones Vitamins, which include seventeen Barneys, 18 Wilmas, and some Bamm-Bamms just to keep things moving.

  • You think you have a crap job.

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Full House

  • "Working Girl:" Joey wants to borrow Jesse's credit card to purchase the Barney Rubble Bath Collection from the Shopping Network, but has to referee between an argument between Jesse and Rebecca. Once it is over, he desperately asks for a credit card so he can also get the Bamm-Bamm soap-on-a-rope. When Jesse gives him his, Joey says, "Thanks, Fred," in Barney's voice.
  • "Happy Birthday, Babies, Part 2:" Joey is dressed like Barney for Michelle's Flintstones-themed birthday party. He also does Barney's voice and laugh, too.
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Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures

  • "Scrappy's Field Day:" In the prehistoric past, two dinosaurs resembling Fred and Barney fight. The Barney-looking dinosaur even has his distinct laugh.
  • "Don't Touch That Dial:" Al Jetstone's best friend and neighbor is called Buddy Dribble, who is an even more stupid-looking version of Barney, in a spoof called The Jetstones.
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The Ren & Stimpy Show

Main article: The Ren & Stimpy Show
  • "The Scotsman in Space:" During Haggis's meltdown after Ren and Stimpy overcook his eggs, he laughs like Barney.
  • "Jerry the Jellybean Elf:" As the guests leave Ren and Stimpy's party, Fred takes this cue to join them, telling Barney off-screen, "Come on, Barney, let's blow this pop stand," Barney responding, "Right behind you."
  • "Aloha Höek:" The last scene ends in a dramatic with Stimpy holding the dead body of Ren, when suddenly Stimpy's watch goes off. In reality, Stimpy and Ren are just costumes worn by two Soviet spies who vaguely resemble and sound like Fred and Barney, respectively. Fred (or Yuri) says he misses his wife, as they go back to their sub.
  • "My Shiny Friend:" When Ren kicks out Stimpy for being glued to the TV at night, Ren walks Stimpy past a photo of Fred and Barney they have on the wall.
  • "Stupid Sidekick Union:" Ren's sidekick audition casting call includes a parody of Barney, but has Fred's black hair. Barney begins to laugh, but Ren immediately cuts him off and shouts, "Been done. Next!" He has E.F. on his shirt which may be a reference to artist Eddie Fitzgerald who worked on the show as an artist and also laughed a lot.
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The Simpsons

Main article: The Simpsons
  • Barney Gumble is partly based on and a near homonym of Barney Rubble. In the first season, he also had blond hair (which was later changed to brown), and was originally intended to be Homer's neighbor.
  • "Sideshow Bob Roberts:" When Sideshow Bob is elected the new mayor, he uses his power to send Bart to kindergarten, where he guesses correctly the shape of a triangle and is rewarded with first choice of a toy to play with, which is a talking Flintstones phone, which includes Barney on one of the buttons, but Bart chooses to hear Fred's voice.
  • "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase:" At the end of the episode, one of the new season 9 storylines that Troy McClure previews is about a character named Ozmodiar who only Homer can see, a parody of the Great Gazoo who only Fred and Barney can see.
  • Simpsons Comics #55 - "Duff Daddy!:" In a Pebbles cereal commercial homage, Homer is lying in a hammock drinking Duff Beer, when the drunken Barney Gumble comes over dressed as Barney trying to trick Homer into giving him his beer, by saying Betty needs to borrow some, and calls him Fred. But Homer tells him to stop calling him Fred and to leave.
  • "HOMЯ:" When Lisa is confused from watching an anime, Bart says that cartoons don't have to make sense, with Ozmodiar popping up only for Bart to see him agree. He then pops up after Homer gets everybody fired while the plant is brought up to code and calls him a "dumb-dumb," which is what Gazoo would call Fred and Barney, particularly Fred.
  • "Mobile Homer:" While taking the RV by themselves, Bart and Lisa find a "Flintstones Fun Map" (which has the Flintstones, Rubbles, their pets, and Gazoo) instead of a real map.
  • "In the Name of the Grandfather:" An Irish tourist attraction consisting of a large pile of stones is called Blarney Rubble.
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Footnotes

  1. ^ In The Flintstone Comedy Show (1980-1981).
  2. ^ In The Flintstone Comedy Show (1980-1981).
  3. ^ The Flintstone Kids.
  4. ^ I Yabba-Dabba Do! (1993).
  5. ^ Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby (1993).
  6. ^ A Flintstone Family Christmas (1993).
  7. ^ Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby (1993).
  8. ^ A Flintstone Family Christmas (1993).

References

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