Chemistry:Hank Hill

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Short description: Fictional character
For Hank's half-brother, also named Hank, see G.H. Hill.
Hank Hill
King of the Hill character
Hank Hill as he appears in the original run of the series (1997–2010)
First appearance"Pilot" (1997)
Last appearanceScript error: No such module "Formatted appearance".
Created byMike Judge
Greg Daniels
Designed byMike Judge
Voiced byMike Judge
Information
Full nameHank Rutherford Hill[1]
GenderMale
OccupationSeller of "propane and propane accessories"
Retired (revival episodes)
Family
  • Cotton Hill (father)
  • Tilly Garrison (mother)
  • Didi Hill (stepmother)
  • Chuck Garrison (stepfather)
  • Good Hank "G.H." Hill (half-brother)
  • Junichiro (half-brother)
  • Rita (cousin)
  • Dusty Hill (cousin)
  • Luanne Platter (niece by marriage)
SpousePeggy Hill
ChildrenBobby Hill
ReligionMethodism (Christianity)
NationalityAmerican

Hank Rutherford Hill is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Fox animated television series King of the Hill. He lives in the fictional town of Arlen, Texas, with his family and works as the assistant manager of a local branch of Strickland Propane. He likes to drink beer, typically Alamo brand, in the alley behind his house with his friends. He is voiced by series creator Mike Judge.[2][3] The Economist described Hank Hill as one of the wisest people on television,[4] and in 1997 Texas Monthly included him on its annual list of the most influential Texans.[5]

Development

When Mike Judge submitted the pilot script and drawings for King of the Hill to the Fox network, network executives advised him that Hank Hill should be younger than 49 years old, as Judge had described the character. Judge received a phone message from a network executive who told him that Hank's age should be 32, the same age as the network's average viewer. Judge later said, "I got all angry, and then I was like, 'Well, wait. It's just a drawing.' So I just went back with the same drawing and said, 'Okay, he's 34.'"[6]

Hank has been compared to Tom Anderson, the "disapproving old man" who is a neighbor of the title characters on Judge's earlier series Beavis and Butt-Head.[7] Television columnist Frank Wooten of The Post and Courier has written, "Hank still looks and sounds like a young Mr. Anderson (beleaguered, baffled Korean War veteran of 'Beavis and Butt-head'). But he's more in touch with contemporary reality (sort of) -- and funnier."[8] Throughout the show's run, Hank's character's personality appears to more primarily be built around the image of the all American, authoritarian family man. In a 2006 interview, Judge said, "Originally I was going to have Hank be his [Mr. Anderson's] son. I was kind of thinking we'd tie it into "Beavis and Butt-Head" as a sort of spinoff or something, but Fox said no."[9] Greg Daniels, another creator of the program, has said that Hank Hill is "based on a lot of neighbors I've had… He's upset about how America is changing, and he doesn't know what to do about it."[10]

Character analysis

Describing Hank physically, Jo Johnson has written, "In keeping with [Mike] Judge's tradition of subtlety, the character of Hank Hill is only slightly overweight, not to satisfy the stereotype of the boorish husband, but because he eats a lot of meat and drinks a lot of beer."[11]

Palmer-Mehta notes that Hank's "fervor for selling propane and propane accessories is nearly apostolic."[12] During their development of the character, the show's writers did substantial research on the propane business. Over time, members of the propane industry came to view Hank Hill as a largely positive image.[13]

Ethan Thompson writes that although Hank Hill is similar to other sitcom father figures, such as Archie Bunker from All in the Family, he is different due to his "ability to acknowledge that the values and beliefs he grew up with are no longer sufficient to guide him in his roles as father, husband, friend, and employee."[14]

Much of the humor of the show results from the collision of Hank's mildly conservative manner, nature, and philosophy with the world and people around him.[15][16][17][18] However, despite his history of leaning towards Republican political candidates, which has included frequent praise of George W. Bush throughout much of the series (despite a brief period skepticism after Bush gave him a "limb" handshake),[19] it would be revealed in season 14 that Hank also eventually voted for Barack Obama.[20] After having lived in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Hank takes a liking to soccer after having disliked it for many years.[21]

Reception

New York Times contributor Matt Bai discussed Hank's political perspective in 2005, writing, "[L]ike a lot of the basically conservative voters you meet in rural America ... Hank never professes an explicit party loyalty, and he and his buddies who sip beer in the alley don't talk like their fellow Texan Tom DeLay. If Hank votes Republican, it's because, as a voter who cares about religious and rural values, he probably doesn't see much choice. But Hank and his neighbors resemble many independent voters, open to proposals that challenge their assumptions about the world, as long as those ideas don't come from someone who seems to disrespect what they believe."[22]

In 1997, Texas Monthly included Hank Hill on its annual "Texas Twenty" list of "the most impressive, intriguing, and influential Texans". He was the first "non-human" to make the list. An accompanying mock interview described him as "perhaps the most recognized Texan in the world".[5][23][24]

Ten years later, Associated Press television critic Frazier Moore described Hank as "more than ever ... a man on the spot, torn between squabbling, widening extremes. . . the man politicians always glorify in campaign speeches, but conveniently forget once they win: the ordinary guy, just trying to get by." Moore opined that Hank "was a remarkable invention 10 years ago" and the fact that the show was "still funny and savvy" a decade later was "even more notable".[25]

In other media

Besides King of the Hill, Hank has made cameos on other shows, either officially or in pop culture, including:

Program Episode References Appearance
The Simpsons "Bart Star" [26][27] Official
"Missionary: Impossible" [28] Pop Cultural
"Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays" [29]
"The Ten-Per-Cent Solution" [30]
"Pretty Whittle Liar" [31]
Family Guy "Petergeist" [32]
"Bigfat" [33] Official
"All About Alana" [34]
The Cleveland Show "Cleveland Live!" [35]
"Das Shrimp Boot" [36]
South Park "Cartoon Wars Part II" Pop Cultural

See also

  • List of King of the Hill characters

References

  1. ↑ Season Five, Episode Ten: Yankee Hankie (at time 04:42 of 22:30) Birth Certificate has his name listed as Hank Rutherford Hill
  2. ↑ "King of the Hill/Hank Hill character bio". Fox Broadcasting. http://www.fox.com/kingofthehill/bios/index.htm. 
  3. ↑ "King of the Hill". IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118375/. 
  4. ↑ "Help not wanted". The Economist. 2008-04-10. https://www.economist.com/united-states/2008/04/10/help-not-wanted. "One of the most unjustly neglected films of the past few years is Mike Judge's "Idiocracy". Mr Judge is the genius behind Beavis and Butt-Head, two of the most disgusting creatures on television, and Hank Hill, one of the wisest." 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "The Texas Twenty". Texas Monthly. September 1997. http://www.texasmonthly.com/content/texas-twenty-3. 
  6. ↑ Macor, Alison (2010). Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids: 30 Years of Filmmaking in Austin, Texas. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 258. ISBN 9780292778290. https://books.google.com/books?id=eBQ_FGDKiSkC&q=%22hank+hill%22&pg=PA258. Retrieved 2013-03-11. 
  7. ↑ Forsmark, David (2009-02-23). "Over the Hill?". National Review Online. http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/226930/over-i-hill-i/david-forsmark. 
  8. ↑ Wooten, Frank (1997-04-27). "Yadda, yadda, yadda: 'Seinfeld' bounces back". The Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.): pp. 1–D. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QiFJAAAAIBAJ&dq=hank-hill%20mr-anderson&pg=1813%2C4878681. 
  9. ↑ Rahner, Mark (2006-01-24). "Catching up with Mike Judge, the mind behind "Beavis," "Office Space"". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.com/html/entertainment/2002757676_mikejudge24.html. 
  10. ↑ Strauss, Neil (12 January 1997). "New Stop on the Map of Animated America". New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/12/arts/new-stop-on-the-map-of-animated-america.html. 
  11. ↑ Johnson, Jo (2012). ""Won't Somebody Think of the Children?": The Nineties Subversion of the Animated Mother". in Elizabeth Podnieks. Mediating Moms: Mothers in Popular Culture. McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 63. ISBN 9780773539792. https://books.google.com/books?id=3DPT3Z7lAWIC&q=%22hank+hill%22+%22king+of+the+hill%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA63. 
  12. ↑ Palmer-Mehta, Valerie (2006). "The Wisdom of Folly: Disrupting Masculinity in King of the Hill". Text and Performance Quarterly 26 (2): 181–198. doi:10.1080/10462930500517899. 
  13. ↑ Richesson, Brian (1 February 2009). "Farewell, 'King': 'King of the Hill' is leaving a lasting impression on the propane industry.". LP/Gas. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-195134558.html. 
  14. ↑ Thompson, Ethan (2009). ""I Am Not Down with That": King of the Hill and Sitcom Satire". Journal of Film and Video 61 (2): 38–51. doi:10.1353/jfv.0.0029. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jfv/summary/v061/61.2.thompson.html. Retrieved 15 March 2013. 
  15. ↑ "King of the Hill Showed that Conservatism Can Thrive on Prime Time". 2015-04-25. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/417462/king-hill-showed-conservatism-can-thrive-prime-time-scott-whitlock. 
  16. ↑ "'King of the Hill': The Last Bipartisan TV Comedy". 2016-02-22. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/02/king-of-the-hill-the-last-bipartisan-tv-comedy/470025/. 
  17. ↑ Bai, Matt (2005-06-26). "'King of the Hill' Democrats?". The New York Times. https://mobile.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/magazine/king-of-the-hill-democrats.html. 
  18. ↑ "10 episodes that made King of the Hill one of the most human cartoons ever". 3 July 2013. http://www.avclub.com/article/10-episodes-that-made-iking-of-the-hilli-one-of-th-99687. 
  19. ↑ Kong, Inkoo (August 8, 2025). "Hollywood's Conservative Pivot". The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/08/18/king-of-the-hill-tv-review-hulu. Retrieved October 31, 2025. 
  20. ↑ "Kahn-scious Uncoupling". Hulu. https://www.hulu.com/series/king-of-the-hill-52b8dd8a-eff2-4ed2-9b8d-7c0039df1c53. 
  21. ↑ Valentine, Evan (August 5, 2025). "King of the Hill Reveals Hank's Biggest Change After Living in Saudi Arabia". https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/new-king-of-the-hill-hank-change-soccer/. 
  22. ↑ Bai, Matt (2005-06-26). "'King of the Hill' Democrats?". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/magazine/26WWLN.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0. 
  23. ↑ Patoski, Joe (24 September 2014). "Television: Hank Hill: Like other suburban Texans, he's a real character.". Texas Monthly. http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/television-%E2%80%A2-hank-hill?fullpage=1. 
  24. ↑ Hayward, Susana (14 December 2007). "Long Live the King". The Texas Observer. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1412136791.html. 
  25. ↑ Moore, Frazier (27 January 2007). "The Return of the 'King'-- In 11th season, Hank Hill still clings to how things should be, taking a stand on his patch of turf.". Associated Press in The Commercial Appeal. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-21769564.html. 
  26. ↑ "Bart Star". The Simpsons. Fox Broadcasting Company.
  27. ↑ "BBC - Programmes categorised as Comedy". https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season9/page6.shtml. 
  28. ↑ "Missionary: Impossible". The Simpsons. Fox Broadcasting Company.
  29. ↑ "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays". The Simpsons. Fox Broadcasting Company.
  30. ↑ "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution". The Simpsons. Fox Broadcasting Company.
  31. ↑ "Pretty Whittle Liar". The Simpsons. Fox Broadcasting Company.
  32. ↑ "Petergeist". Family Guy. Fox Broadcasting Company.
  33. ↑ Harnick, Chris (15 April 2013). "Worlds Colliding". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/15/king-of-the-hill-family-guy_n_3085531.html. 
  34. ↑ Byrne, Craig (1 May 2022). "Family Guy Tonight: Elizabeth Gillies & Hank Hill in "All About Alana"". KSiteTV. https://www.ksitetv.com/family-guy/family-guy-tonight-elizabeth-gillies-hank-hill-in-all-about-alana/228349/. 
  35. ↑ "Cleveland Live!". The Cleveland Show. Fox Broadcasting Company.
  36. ↑ "Das Shrimp Boot". The Cleveland Show. Fox Broadcasting Company.

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