Sit Down, Shut Up (2009 TV series)

Characters

• Ennis Hofftard – A cyclist who teaches English and chases women. His catchphrase is "Catchphrases are for losers". He is inept at thinking his plans through, usually causing even more trouble, and he seldom thinks about anything unless it has something to do with a woman or the promise of avoiding work. Ennis has a sexual interest in Miracle, as shown by his interest in seeing her breasts. He is shown to be very talented when it comes to getting women, even being a dating teacher before becoming an English teacher. He has also exhibited on several occasions the internal thought processes of a house cat which he refers to as his "comfort kitty" because he is cowardly. He was influenced by a feeling of failure to live up to his military dad but he later learns that his father was also a cowardly figure who has a comfort kitty of his own.
• Larry Littlejunk – The gym teacher, and the only staff member who can teach; he can be seen as the protagonist for these reasons. He refers to himself as "Larry L." because he is embarrassed by his last name, and his catchphrase is "Why can't someone else teach P.E.?". He is apparently the only qualified teacher, but he lost the science-teacher position to Miracle Grohe because of her "nude" presentation. He is hopelessly in love with Miracle, but at the same time can't stand how airheaded she is, so he insults her instead of telling her how he feels. He has been shown dating other women, but still goes into dazed states when around Miracle. In an early promo for the series, the character was named Larry Slimp.
• Miracle Grohe – A spiritual hippie barefoot science teacher who often brings her infant son Merch to school as she believes that babies should always be with their mothers. Her catchphrase is "Babies are gifts from God. Drummers are creeps." Though she is a science teacher, she believes in things a science teacher wouldn't. She is also very gullible, for example taking the statement "you're too pretty to be in school" as a compliment. It is implied throughout the show that she also likes Larry, but gets angered whenever he doubts her spirituality. Her mother, seen in a flashback, had her as a teenager. She also runs an underground Pillow Fight Club that appears to be worldwide. Comedian Maria Bamford was originally cast as Miracle Grohe but was later replaced by Chenoweth. The executives still allowed Bamford to do some "side voices" on the show.
• Stuart Proszakian – Assistant Principal. His catchphrase is "I need a catchphrase!" Usually smiling and relatively jubilant, he is the most oblivious character in the show, clearly shown when he stated "He is so oblivious he probably doesn't even realize he is talking about himself" when he was talking about himself. Before becoming assistant principal he worked as a prison clown in a Florida penitentiary, and in "Miracle's Are Real," performed a disturbing song for Larry while dressed up as a clown in a black-and-white-striped prison jumpsuit. Stuart has a habit of shortening the word "assistant" to simply "ass" on job titles. He has a sister named Polly, whom he enjoys imitating and even dressing as; he pretends to be her to go on a date with Larry. He seems to be particularly interest in Larry, but as the series progresses, he develops a soft spot for Sue, spending the episode "Hurricane Willard" trying to impress her, performing a puppet show and gifting her with a wireless microphone. It is heavily suggested throughout the series he is completely insane.
• Muhannad Sabeeh "Happy" Fa-ach Nuabar – The secretive custodian. In the first few episodes, he speaks only in Arabic, which is overdubbed by an English translation that also makes comments about Happy as well, similar to a narrator. In later episodes he speaks fractured English and no longer has a translator. He lives in a shack on the school grounds. His catchphrase is roughly translated into English as "I am fond of America", though the way he says it sounds like hatred toward America. The actual words are a mondegreen for "I am fond of America", so it might be a mistranslation on his translator's part. Before he began speaking English on his own, the characters couldn't understand him, leading them to think he said the opposite of what he really said. He is often the subject of stereotypical jokes, as in one episode he is seen walking around with a bundle of dynamite and in a promotional photo, is seen leaking toxic gas into the faculty room. It is also suggested he pees in Ennis' coffee, as when he needed to go to the bathroom he imagined Ennis' coffee mug. He also is implied to think he is cancerous, as shown when he kisses Larry to give him cancer out of spite for disrespecting Miracle's beliefs.
• Andrew LeGustambos – The flamboyant and bisexual drama teacher. His catchphrase is "Speak up." In Spanish, Andrew's last name roughly translates to "he likes both", a reference to his bisexuality. He is in love with both Miracle and Larry, hoping they get together so he could get together with them, though it's rarely shown in future episodes. He later becomes a narcissist after seeing himself in a dress. He resents Jose Canseco, for an incident that happened in his childhood when he played baseball as a child. According to voice actor Kroll, Andrew is a loser amongst losers. Kroll voices him to talk like a "modern day Snagglepuss". In an early promo, the character was named Andrew Sapien.
• Helen Klench – The unappreciated librarian who often gets mistaken for objects such as brooms or toilet brushes, leading her to become angry when people ignore or cut her off. Her catchphrase is "Quiet down!". She seems to have high levels of testosterone, which is balanced out by taking female hormone drugs. Helen is skinny but is considered unattractive in relation to Miracle. In one episode, it was revealed because of her extreme loneliness, she has a habit of falling in love with inanimate objects and lives with a lot of cats. She has a close friendship with Andrew, as the two frequently talk and exchange gossip together. She was an alumnus of Knob Haven High School, where she and Sue formed a musical duo, and she was obese back then.
• Sue Sezno – The "acting" principal of Knob Haven. She got the job due to a mysterious accident involving the last principal and a pair of metal claws. Sue's style is stern, firm and to the point. In her eyes, there are no dumb questions, just plenty of dumb people. As evidenced by her last name, she rarely says "Yes." Her catchphrase is "No." She is also a hypocrite, clearly shown when she stated that she would have quit before firing any of the teachers, just to moments later fire Willard, and again when she pressured everyone to keep the School Fair fair, she cheated during the raffle. She is also shown to be incredibly lazy, giving the bare minimum to Miracle so she could become a teacher again because she didn't want to do the work of finding a new teacher, as well as saving the teachers who suffered a heart attack because she didn't want to have to do the paperwork. This as well as having no care for her fellow staff, as when she saw them have heart attacks, she just gave herself the rest of the day off, as well as planning to blame all of the school's problems on them at a meeting in Washington D.C. It is revealed in the episode "Hurricane Willard", her full name is Susanna Louise Sezno. She is rarely in the spotlight when it comes to love interests, hooking up with Happy in "Back In Time" and becoming impressed with Stuart at the end of "Hurricane Willard."
• Willard Deutschebog – A middle-aged German teacher with very low self-esteem. His catchphrase is, "If I believed in reincarnation, I'd kill myself tonight." He still is highly influenced by his mother for whom he used his position as a driving teacher to run errands. In one episode, he promised to dump his girlfriend because his mom said "she was a whore." In another episode, when presented with the option of a beautiful woman wanting to marry him, he responded, "I'm sorry. I promised my mother I would die alone." He's constantly fretting about his job and is normally homeless to the point where he lives in completely random places. He has a fear of driving that stems from crashing his car into a drive-in theater screen during a sexual experience. To get around, he arranges for emergency vehicles and hearses to pick him up and take him where he wants to go by lying about sickness, fire, or death. Later, after he obtains the position of the school's driving instructor, he begins using the driver training car for his personal transportation. He also doesn't have an e-mail account or a phone. He has a habit of being a blabbermouth. In the 1930s, became infamous for making love with his teacher, and was known as "The Whoop-De-Doo Kid." He also apparently forages the school dumpster for food every day at 3:00. Despite his feelings of isolation due to his mother and terrible social skills, Ennis sees Willard as his closest friend and constantly takes it upon himself to defend him from any perceived taunting. In the episode "Tackin'" it is revealed by Ennis his middle name is either Leonard or Herbert.

  Episodes

Production

Creation and writing

Animation

Casting

Reception

Critical response

Ratings

Cancellation

Syndication