Otto Mann

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The Simpsons character

Otto Mann
Age	26 (44, according to his driver's license)
Gender	Male
Hair color	Long, messy, black
Job	Drives the Springfield Elementary School Bus
Relatives	Father: (Unnamed) Girlfriend: Crystal Ex-fiancee: Becky
First appearance	"Homer's Odyssey"
Voice actor	Harry Shearer

Otto Mann (born January 18, 1963) is a fictional character on The Simpsons, voiced by Harry Shearer. He is the school bus driver for Springfield Elementary School and is addressed by Bart as Otto-Man. He is notable for his occasional maniacal driving style, his love of heavy metal music, and his propensity for sounding and acting like a perpetual 1970s teenager. Otto also attended Brown University, where he graduated Sigma.

He has been seen at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings: "My name is Otto, and I love to get blotto!", and in recent seasons we learn that he is a stoner as well. He is often homeless, having been evicted from his apartment and forced to live with the Simpsons in "The Otto Show", and found squatting in the Simpsons' recently-vacated home in "You Only Move Twice".

1 Driving the schoolbus
2 Family
- 2.1 Love of music
3 See also

Otto's ability and competence to drive any kind of vehicle, let alone a school bus, is highly questionable. On "The Otto Show," he tells Principal Skinner that he has a record of crashing his school bus 15 times without a single fatality. On the same episode, he was dismissed from his job when the authorities discovered that he did not hold any kind of license, or any kind of identification at all. (He stated that his identification was the fact that he wrote his name on his underwear; only to discover that he was wearing someone else's). He only attained his driving license thereafter because Patty passed him, and this was despite him completely failing to drive the bus in a restrained and secure manner (she passed him because they shared a mutual hatred of Homer). Otto has also been shown smoking or being under the influence of Marijuana while driving the bus as well. In "Das Bus," Otto crashes the bus full of children into the ocean (though it isn't his fault, he had grapefruit citric acid in his eyes), leaving his passengers to be washed up on an exotic island. Otto himself was seemingly rescued by a Chinese fishing trawler, unaware that its crew were actually planning to enslave him below decks.

In "The Boy Who Knew Too Much," the familiar yellow school bus is replaced by an old prison transport bus with barred windows. Otto uncharacteristically tells the children to "take a seat, before I blow your heads off!". He then apologizes and explains that he has a "Shining thing" going on with this bus, a reference to the Stephen King novel where the main character's surroundings directly affect his personality, causing murderous traits.

His father is a navy admiral, and the two do not get along. His father warned Otto that if he spent all day playing his guitar, his life would amount to nothing. There have been suggestions that this is a reference to Jim Morrison of The Doors, whose father was also an admiral. Otto's look is partly based on (ex Guns N' Roses, current Velvet Revolver) guitarist Slash and also a young Ronnie James Dio.

He was once engaged to a girl named Becky, but at the wedding she revealed she couldn't stand heavy metal after he hired a Poison cover band to play at the ceremony. Marge then told him he had to choose between Becky and his music - he chose the latter, leaving Becky at the altar.

In other episodes Otto has made reference to a girlfriend named Crystal.

Otto jams with Bart

In "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge," Otto is engaged to be married, but when forced to choose between his fiancée and his music; he prefers the latter, dumping her.

Otto's favorite songs include "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath, "Dazed and Confused" by Led Zeppelin, "Frankenstein" by The Edgar Winter Group, "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison, and "Purple Haze" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

In the episode "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star," at a mock-medieval fair at the school, Otto plays a lute solo in the style of Hendrix's guitar solos. He puts the lute behind his head to play it, smashes it, then sets it on fire on the floor (just as Hendrix did on June 18, 1967 at the Monterey Pop Festival).

When Otto is swept out to sea, his last words as he disappears over the horizon are "Zeppelin Rules!".

Otto loves classic metal, and says "New music?! All these bands are just ripping-off Judas Priest". After removing the headphones we see that Otto was actually listening to Judas Priest's song "Living After Midnight" on his own headphones.

When interviewed by Kent Brockman while standing in line at the post office during the April 15th tax rush, Otto thought he was in line for Metallica tickets.

During a U2 concert at Springfield, Otto is the only one who is seated. He is seen briefly and pitifully shouting, "Sit down! SIT DOWN! You're ruining it for everybody!"

He once met Metallica in the episode The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and her Homer and exclaims, "It's Metallica! Am I on drugs?" A lizard in a stoner vision says "You are on drugs, but that is the real Metallica." Otto apparently saved some members of the band from quitting.