60 Fun Facts About King of the Hill

Who co-created King of the Hill with Mike Judge?

Daniels had written for The Simpsons and later co-created the American version of The Office; Judge credited him as co-creator rather than 'developer'.

In which fictional Texas town do the Hills live?

Arlen is the fictional Texas town the Hills call home; their house on Rainey Street and the alley beside it are where Hank and his friends gather.

What does Hank Hill sell for a living?

Hank's enthusiasm for the fuel is nearly religious, and the propane industry came to see him as a positive image for the business.

What is the name of the company Hank works for during the original run?

Strickland Propane is Hank's employer for the entire Fox run; he is its assistant manager under owner Buck Strickland, whose erratic management he constantly covers for.

Which actress voices Bobby Hill?

Adlon later created and starred in the FX series Better Things.

What subject does Peggy Hill teach as a substitute at the start of the series?

Peggy is a substitute Spanish teacher whose own Spanish is notoriously poor; in 'Lupe's Revenge' her class trip to Mexico ends with her charged with kidnapping a girl.

In which US state was Peggy Hill born?

Peggy was born in Montana and raised on her family's cattle ranch there; her prickly relationship with her rancher mother resurfaces whenever the Hills visit.

Bobby is a student at which Arlen institution?

Bobby attends Tom Landry Middle School, named for the legendary Texas football coach; its principal, Carl Moss, is a regular foil for Hank and Peggy.

What kind of performer does Bobby dream of becoming?

Bobby dreams of becoming a prop comic; his comedy hero is 'Celery Head', a thinly veiled parody of Carrot Top.

Luanne Platter is related to the Hills how?

Luanne is Peggy's niece, the daughter of Peggy's brother Hoyt Platter; she moves in after her mother stabs her father with a fork in a trailer fight.

Which of Hank's neighbours is a chain-smoking conspiracy theorist who works as an exterminator?

Dale Gribble, Hank's paranoid next-door neighbour, is the alley's resident conspiracy theorist; he runs a one-man exterminating business and is rarely seen without a cigarette.

What alias does Dale use to hide his identity from the government?

Dale's go-to alias is Rusty Shackleford; he uses it on paperwork, on the phone and with anyone he suspects of working for the government, and his look was modelled on Hunter S. Thompson.

Who is Joseph Gribble's biological father?

John Redcorn, Nancy's long-time 'healer', is Joseph's biological father; practically everyone in town knows except Nancy's husband, who once concluded that aliens had fathered the boy.

How long did Nancy Gribble's affair with the local 'healer' last?

The affair ran 14 years, with Nancy's chronic 'headaches' as the cover for her healer's house calls; it ends in the season-four episode 'Nancy's Boys'.

What is Bill Dauterive's job?

Bill is a sergeant who works as an Army barber at Fort Blanda, mostly shaving recruits; he can reproduce Hank's flat-top when Hank's usual barber can no longer manage it.

What was Bill's nickname in his high-school football days?

As his high school's star fullback Bill was 'The Billdozer', holder of the school touchdown record; in 'Bills Are Made to Be Broken' Hank gets it restored after it is unfairly beaten.

What is Boomhauer's first name?

Boomhauer's first name is Jeff; it goes unspoken for twelve seasons until a Canadian neighbour calls him by it in the season-13 episode 'Uh-oh, Canada'.

What job does Boomhauer turn out to have, revealed only in the last moments of the Fox finale?

The finale's last shot opens Boomhauer's wallet to reveal a Texas Ranger badge, the only confirmation of his job in the entire Fox run.

From which country did Kahn and Minh Souphanousinphone emigrate?

Kahn lived in Anaheim before moving to Arlen, and Minh's father is a general in the Laotian army who disapproved of the marriage.

What is Connie Souphanousinphone's actual first name?

She is Kahn Souphanousinphone Jr., a straight-A violin prodigy who becomes Bobby's first girlfriend.

How did Cotton Hill lose his shins?

Cotton's shins were shot off by Japanese machine-gun fire in World War II, in the Pacific; surgeons reattached his feet to his knees, hence his stilted walk and short stature.

How many men does Cotton claim to have killed in the war?

Cotton boasts of having killed fifty men, 'fitty' as he says it, a tally he repeats at every opportunity; the count is dubious, but his combat service is not.

What does Cotton name the son he has with his second wife Didi?

Cotton names the boy Good Hank, 'G.H.' for short, a pointed dig implying the first Hank was not good enough; Bobby ends up delivering the baby himself.

What breed is the Hills' dog Ladybird?

Ladybird is a purebred Georgia bloodhound, as Hank proudly tells anyone who asks; he claims her mother helped track down James Earl Ray.

Which medical condition of Hank's made Bobby's conception difficult?

Hank has a narrow urethra, diagnosed in 'Next of Shin', which is what made conceiving Bobby so difficult; his half-brother Junichiro turns out to share both the condition and the 'BWAH!'.

In which unlikely place was proud Texan Hank Hill actually born?

In 'Yankee Hankee' Hank learns he was born in a ladies' room at Yankee Stadium, making him a native New Yorker rather than a Texan, a revelation he treats as shameful.

What brand of beer do Hank and his friends drink in the alley?

Alamo is the fictional Texas beer Hank and the alley crew sip from cans in nearly every episode; the brand's name nods to San Antonio's famous mission.

Which NFL team is Hank devoted to?

Hank is a devoted Dallas Cowboys fan; in 'Hank's Cowboy Movie' he shoots a promotional video to lure the team's training camp to his hometown.

How old did Mike Judge finally make Hank after Fox pushed back on the 49-year-old he had drawn?

A network executive wanted 32, the age of Fox's average viewer; Judge sent back the identical drawing and split the difference.

Which real Dallas suburb where Mike Judge once lived helped inspire Arlen?

Judge once lived in Garland, a Dallas suburb, and it is the real town most often cited as the model for the show's setting, with nearby Richardson also mentioned.

Which Mike Judge character is Hank often compared to in voice and appearance?

Hank's voice and look grew directly out of Tom Anderson from Beavis and Butt-Head, the grumbling neighbour; Judge voices both characters, and Anderson is widely read as Hank's prototype.

Which band performs the opening theme 'Yahoos and Triangles'?

The Refreshments, a Tempe, Arizona rock band best known for 'Banditos', recorded the instrumental 'Yahoos and Triangles' for the show's opening credits.

In what year did King of the Hill premiere on Fox?

King of the Hill premiered on Fox on 12 January 1997 as a midseason entry, airing right after The Simpsons, and drew big ratings from the start.

How many episodes did the original Fox run produce across its 13 seasons?

The Fox run totalled 259 episodes across 13 seasons; the final four were never shown by Fox at all and debuted in nightly syndication in May 2010.

In the pilot, why is Hank investigated by a social worker?

In the pilot Bobby gets a black eye from a baseball at a Little League game, and social worker Anthony Page takes the bruise for evidence that Hank beats him.

Which country music legend does Bobby accidentally hit with a golf club in season one?

Willie Nelson, voicing himself, takes a stray golf club to the head from Bobby in season one's 'Hank's Got the Willies', horrifying Hank, who idolises him.

How does Hank punish Bobby for smoking a cigarette in a gas-station bathroom?

In 'Keeping Up with Our Joneses' Hank makes Bobby smoke a whole carton to sicken him off cigarettes; instead Bobby, Hank and Peggy all end up hooked.

In 'Peggy the Boggle Champ', what event tempts Hank away from coaching Peggy at the state championship?

At the Dallas Mower Expo Hank is drawn to the riding mowers while Peggy competes across town; he has to choose between her big day and the machines.

Which jazz musician promotes Mega Lo Mart and plays a concert there in the season-two finale?

Mangione voices himself; his hit 'Feels So Good' plays constantly, and Dale later finds him living secretly inside the store.

Which character dies in the Mega Lo Mart explosion?

Buckley, Luanne's slacker boyfriend and a Mega Lo Mart employee, dies in the store's explosion; he later reappears as 'Buckley's Angel', helping Luanne pass her beauty-school exam.

How does Peggy end up seriously injured in the season-three finale 'As Old as the Hills'?

Cotton later helps her learn to walk again in exchange for help securing a plot in the Texas State Cemetery.

In the season-six premiere, what class does Bobby accidentally end up taking at the YMCA?

Bobby mistakenly enrols in a women's self-defence course at the YMCA, learns to kick attackers in the groin, and promptly uses the move on Hank.

Which episode won the 2002 Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for Bobby's voice actress?

Bobby's voice actress won the 2002 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for 'Bobby Goes Nuts', the season-six premiere, the only voice-acting Emmy of the Fox run.

How many Primetime Emmy Awards did King of the Hill win during its original Fox run?

The original run won two Primetime Emmys from seven nominations: Outstanding Animated Program in 1999 and a voice-over award in 2002; TIME listed the show among its 100 greatest series in 2007.

Which Seth MacFarlane series took over King of the Hill's Fox time slot in 2009?

The Cleveland Show, a Family Guy spin-off, inherited King of the Hill's Sunday-night slot when it premiered in September 2009, the same month Fox aired the King of the Hill finale.

In the Fox finale 'To Sirloin with Love', what talent of Bobby's finally bonds him with Hank?

Bobby's gift for grilling and grading beef gets him onto a community-college meat-judging team, and the Fox run closes with father and son at the grill together.

On which streaming service did King of the Hill return in August 2025?

The revival's 14th season premiered on Hulu on 4 August 2025, with all ten episodes released at once rather than weekly.

Where had Hank and Peggy been working before returning to Arlen in the revival?

Hank spent years working for the oil giant Aramco in Saudi Arabia; the revival opens with him and Peggy flying home to Texas, Hank having picked up an unlikely taste for soccer.

In the 2025 revival, what does adult Bobby do for a living?

Adult Bobby is a chef at a Dallas restaurant, a Japanese-German fusion place he runs with childhood rival Chane Wassanasong as his business partner.

Who took over voicing Dale in the revival after Johnny Hardwick's death?

Toby Huss, already the voice of Cotton and, in the original run, of Connie's father, took over Dale; Johnny Hardwick had recorded part of the revival before his death in August 2023.

Which comedian became the new voice of Kahn in the revival?

Ronny Chieng, the Malaysian-born stand-up and Daily Show correspondent, became Connie's father's new voice for the revival, while Lauren Tom kept voicing Minh and Connie.

How big are Peggy Hill's famously oversized feet?

Peggy wears a size 16 shoe, with one foot a half-size bigger than the other; in 'Peggy's Magic Sex Feet' her feet make her an unwitting internet fetish star.

Which real-life figure was Buck Strickland's appearance and manner modelled on?

Buck Strickland's manner echoes Lyndon B. Johnson: he conducts business from the bathroom and keeps an office photograph of himself hoisting a hound by the ears, both famous LBJ habits.

How much settlement money did Lucky win after 'slipping on pee-pee at the Costco'?

Lucky's $53,000 settlement for slipping in a Costco restroom is the windfall behind his nickname; he lives off it rather than work, which horrifies Hank when Luanne falls for him.

In the revival, what percentage of the vote wins Dale the office of Mayor of Arlen?

Against a huge field of candidates. He resigned 36 hours later, saying he had no faith in a system that would elect him.

What was the name of Luanne's Christian puppet show on public-access TV?

The Manger Babies is Luanne's public-access puppet show about the animals at the Nativity, a cast that somehow includes a penguin and an octopus.

Which dish is an example of the Hill matriarch's habit of renaming ordinary recipes after herself?

Spa-Peggy and Meatballs is ordinary spaghetti with Peggy's name stuck on; Apple Brown Peggy is another example of her habit of relabelling everyday dishes as her own inventions.

Which rock star voices Lucky Kleinschmidt, the snaggle-toothed layabout Luanne marries?

Tom Petty voiced Lucky from 2004 until the Fox finale; Lucky, whose real name is Elroy, marries Luanne in 'Lucky's Wedding Suit' after she becomes pregnant.

Mike Judge has likened Arlen to Humble, a suburb of which Texas city?

Humble is a suburb of Houston, and Judge has said the show's town is 'a town like Humble'; most of the show's other real-world touchstones are Dallas-area suburbs.

Which network was rumoured in early 2009 to be picking up King of the Hill?

ABC, which was about to launch Judge's The Goode Family, was the rumoured rescuer, but ABC president Steve McPherson said in January 2009 he had no plans to pick it up.