Characters from the 1996 version of The Nutty Professor and its sequel Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.
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The Klump Family
Prof. Sherman Klump
"Sometimes, when you want something so so bad, you do just about anything to get it."
Played by: Eddie Murphy
"You know it's funny, how you get used to certain things in life. You get used to being overweight. I did. You even get used to people making fun of you. Somewhere along the line, I got used to being alone. And I just don't want to be alone anymore."
The main protagonist of the films. He's very intelligent and very kind, but he's not comfortable with his looks. He invents a potion to make himself thin turning him into a thin man called Buddy Love. However, the potion doesn't last long and Sherman creates more. When Sherman becomes Buddy, his appearance doesn't just change, his personality does too.
- Acrofatic: During his exercising montage, he gains a realistic degree of agility.
- Big Eater: To the point where it makes him extremely uncomfortable with his own body.
- Black and Nerdy: He's African-American and a highly-intelligent college professor.
- Catchphrase: "Oh my goodness."
- Cool Teacher: Sherman is very popular as a college professor as he's genuinely nice and is passionate about his job. The only one who speaks badly of him is Dean Richmond, mainly because he's sick of his experiments and tries to replace him with Buddy Love as soon as possible.
- Dogged Nice Guy: He has a history of being this.
- Fatal Flaw: Sherman's insecurities are the source of conflict since they lead him to do incredibly dangerous things to himself
- Embarrassing Nickname: "Joe College", courtesy of his brother, Ernie Klump.
- George Jetson Job Security: Sherman seems to be fired in each movie before being hired again later.
- Heavy Voice: Like the rest of the Klump family, Sherman has a much huskier voice than Buddy; dropping back into it is even an early sign of his transformations, alerting Buddy that he's losing control of Sherman's body again.
- Loved by All: Due to being a Nice Guy and a brilliant scientist, barely anybody holds any resentment towards Sherman, who is adored by his students and coworkers alike. This is evident by how many of his students greet him at the start of the first film as he walks to class.
- Mama's Boy: Lives with his parents despite being a very intelligent college professor.
- Morality Pet: He becomes this to Cletus in the sequel. Thanks to having more screen time, Cletus shows that he does love his son and that he's very proud of him.
- Nice Guy: Sherman is a very friendly and polite man, and is a brilliant scientist to boot. He does suffer from insecurity regarding his weight, but barely anybody else judges him for it.
- Straight Man: Sherman is the only one of all the Klump males who behaves the most decent and most respectfully and is always good intentioned in all of his blunders.
- Took a Level in Dumbass: Played for Drama: Removing Love from his DNA damages his genes, causing his intelligence to decline. He can't teach his class, has trouble articulating words, and is a bit of a bumbler. Towards the end of the movie, he loses his memory, and breaks up with Denise, not wanting to burden Denise by being dumb. He is able to recover his brilliance by reabsorbing Buddy.
- Virgin in a White Dress: Gender-Inverted: Grandma Klump mentions that because "Sherman's never had relations", he can wear a white tuxedo.
- Weight Woe: Despite being well-loved, he is very insecure about being obese, which is what leads him test his experimental weight loss serum on himself. By the end of the first movie, he overcomes his insecurities over his weight, which does stick for the sequel.
Cletus "Papa" Klump
Played by: Eddie Murphy
"If I want to put a trumpet in my ass and run around this restaurant and blow, then 'Hallelujah! Yankee Doodle!' that's my business!"
The father of the family. Says whatever he wants and does what ever he wants, that includes farting at the dinner table when there's guests. Constantly argues with Grandma.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Cletus doesn't hold back his obnoxious personality even when company is over. It doesn't help that he is under the impression that Sherman is getting married to Carla when he brings her over for dinner.
- Appeal to Nature: He's angered by how everyone is trying to lose weight, because everyone is supposed to be different sizes.
- Berserk Button: Mentioning his performance issues in the bedroom.
- Big Damn Heroes: At the end of the second film, Cletus forces Sherman to drink from a water fountain contaminated with Buddy’s DNA, by dunking his head into it. This act of fatherly love restores his son’s intelligence.
- Big Eater: All of the Klump family are this, but he appears to be the biggest of them all, as indicated by him having the largest meal at his "retirement" dinner.
- Deadpan Snarker: Mostly when dishing insults to Grandma.
- Gasshole: A mild example; he's more acerbic than outright assholish, but he more than fits the gassy part of the trope. He openly demonstrates his gasshole tendencies on both family dinner scenes in the first movie, resorting to deliberately breaking wind and utterly destroying any tracks of conversation that preceded it. Much to Ernie Junior's vast amusement.
- Grumpy Old Man: Somewhat in the first film; justified in the second film, thanks to the combination of his getting laid off from his job, and his impotence.
- Jerkass: Mostly aimed towards his mother-in-law, though he tends to argue with his wife about minor things, and loudly proclaims his right to break wind at the table.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Cletus tells Sherman that he's not going to be happy until he accepts who he is and how fat he is.
- While he may be very rude and boorish, he does have a valid point that people shouldn't talk about things like colon cleansing or masturbation at the dinner table.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Clearly cares a lot about his family, no matter how much he may mouth off at them.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- The Loins Sleep Tonight: A subplot of the second film involves his depression over a recent job loss, and how it is having a negative effect on his bedroom life.
- Manchild: He dresses like a gigantic toddler at home, and farts to troll his wife.
- Nice Guy: Played with in the second film, as he shows his softer side more openly.
- Papa Wolf: When Jason reveals that Buddy Love is trying to kill Sherman, he reveals that he brought a knife.
- Potty Failure: When he craps his pants by accident after trying to fart in the first family dinner scene.
- Took a Level in Kindness: In the second film, he's shown to be much friendlier and genuinely supportive of Sherman's career.
- Troll: Cletus is definitely one of these, whether it be insulting Grandma Klump or farting at the dinner table.
- Rambling Old Man Monologue: Sherman unwittingly sets him off on one after he mentions that he's trying to avoid the calories in the fat and skin of the chicken dinner they've prepared.
Anna Pearl "Mama" Klump
Played by: Eddie Murphy
"Hercules! Hercules! Hercules!"
The mother of the family who gets over excited.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: She doesn't help matters when arguing with Cletus about where they Sherman and Carla will get married.
- Berserk Button: Cletus saying bad things about her mother and farting loudly during dinner.
- Catchphrase: "Fabulous!", "Sherman! Sherman! Sherman!" and "Hercules! Hercules! Hercules!" usually with her clapping.
- Mama Bear: When Jason reveals that Buddy Love is trying to kill Sherman, she reveals that she brought her razor.
Ernie Klump Sr.
Played by: Eddie Murphy
"Happy day, happy day, happy day, my ass."
Sherman's brother, and the father of Ernie Jr.; unlike Sherman, he has a rather surly demeanor. He is proudly blue-collar and constantly jibes at his brother's college background.
- Big Brother Bully: Downplayed. He's kind of a grump to Sherman but other than that, he's quite supportive of him.
- The Generic Guy: He's the Klump family member who we know the least about, other than that he seemingly takes more after his father, whereas Sherman takes more after their mother. An off-hand comment to Grandma (and Ernie Jr.'s mother not being seen or mentioned in either film) also indicates that he's divorced.
- Good Is Not Nice: While he isn't a villain by any means, Ernie always has a sour attitude for no apparent reason.
- Jerkass: His general attitude doesn't exactly make him a nice person.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Ernie mentions that Sherman can eat more heartily if he exercises, which Sherman takes to heart.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: At the end of the second film he sings at Sherman's wedding. He breaks down and says "I love you, Joe College!"
Grandma Klump
Played by: Eddie Murphy
"Keep insultin' me." [picks up a knife] "I'll toss this between the crack of your ass."
Anna's mother, and a very horny Grandma who is always at war with Cletus.
- Cool Old Lady: The way she pulls a dinner knife and prepares to throw it at Cletus, you'd better believe it.
- Dirty Old Woman: While she talks about sex a lot in front of Carla in the first film, it's taken up to eleven in the second when she orders a stripper for Denise's batchelorette party, and then forces herself on Buddy when she mistakes him for said stripper.
- False Rape Accusation: After Grandma strips off her clothes, she threatens to scream if Buddy doesn't give her a kiss.
- Fan Disservice: That garage scene with Buddy.
- Jerkass: She could be considered one because of how she not only talks the most crass of all the Klumps, but also because she is the least classy and is most crude and vulgar of them all. Even with the way she always insults Cletus and making them verbally always at each other's throats trading back and forth personal insults which always bothers Anna (Sherman's mother). Not to mention how vulgar she is by going as far as the stunt she pulls on Buddy Love thinking that he is a male stripper which actually is bad enough to gross out a vulgarly perverted man like him to the point of making him vomit. These along with all the examples with her show you that she has the least moral conduct of all the Klumps.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Murphy admitted that she's a parody of comedy pioneer Moms Mabley.
- Rambling Old Man Monologue: Gender-Inverted.
- Troll: Loves needling Cletus about his performance issues.
Ernie Klump Jr.
Played by: Jamal Mixon
Ernie's son and Sherman's nephew- Embarrassing Nickname: Mama Klump calls him "The Baby".
- Fat Slob: He chugs ice cream from the machine, much to his father and Mama's disgust.
- The Hyena: While he's normally quiet, he'll be left in stitches when Cletus farts or when Grandma begins talking about having relations.
- Junior Counterpart: To Ernie Klump.
- The Silent Bob: He has no dialogue in the first film, apart from laughing at his grandfather's flatulence. His only lines in the second film are "Hey, how come Uncle Sherman is talking funny?" and "Now, that's cool. That's real cool." In an extended version of the restaurant scene, he says "How are you doing, Mr Issac?"
Supporting Characters
Buddy Love
"I can't believe I'm so thin! You ever just feel thin? I am thin!"
Played by: Eddie Murphy
"Sherman, you needed me! I taught you to be confident! You needed me, Sherman! Sherman, no matter what, no matter what... you got to strut."
Sherman's alter ego. He seems to be the answer to all of Sherman's problems until he takes over Sherman's life. In the second film he's separated from Sherman's body in an experiment, and gains his own body after a mishap involving a dog.
- The Ace: He's got all of Sherman's intellect, and none of the qualities that hold Sherman back. Though in the second film, his occasionally acting like a dog occasionally proves troublesome, and ultimately leads to his downfall.
- Adam Westing: Buddy is an exaggeration of the fast-talking, foul-mouthed troll character Murphy's known for.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the original Buddy was pretty obnoxious and conceited but doesn't do anything villainous. In this film, Buddy starts out this way, but starts to become truly evil as the film progresses, eventually attempting to make the transformation stable and permanent which would cause Sherman's identity to be entirely consumed and replaced by that of Buddy (as opposed to Sherman's being killed outright).
- Beauty Is Bad: To contrast with the homely yet kind-hearted Sherman, Buddy is handsome yet very cruel and selfish.
- Evil Laugh: Has a very loud one that he lets out whenever one of his plans comes to fruition.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: In the second film, he goes out of his way to use Sherman's youth serum to secure his own path to fame and fortune, while sabotaging Sherman's attempted demonstration of it so Buddy's presentation will look better. In the end, he's finally defeated when Sherman uses the same youth formula to regress Buddy back to an embryonic state so he can be reabsorbed.
- The Hyena: Initially he acts like this deliberately so as to annoy Reggie Warrington, but soon starts doing it unironically, mostly whenever he gets one up on someone.
- Jerkass: Initially he's not so much this as brash and overconfident. As time goes on, however, he starts becoming more outright evil, to the point of eventually plotting to permanently change Sherman into Buddy, essentially 'killing' his original persona.
- Large Ham: Just watch the scene where he throws a tantrum at Carla when he arrives to the club an hour late.
- Laughably Evil: Even as it becomes clear that he's actually villainous he's such a colossal ham that even his worst antics still have an element of humor to them.
- Line-of-Sight Name: A janitor calls him "buddy" while trying to get his attention. He gives this name to Carla when introducing himself. As he gazes at her, he can only think of one possible surname: Love.
- Literal Split Personality: In the second film, Sherman's attempts to extract the genes responsible for Buddy's personality in him results in Buddy manifesting his own body, albeit with a few dog traits mixed into his original persona.
- No Indoor Voice: He speaks with a loud voice.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Buddy is an egotistical, boisterous, and hedonistic sociopath with a dangerously aggressive side; he's also incredibly petty and childishly selfish, at times coming across more like a comically rebellious teenager. Ironically, he's finally defeated when Sherman tricks him into ingesting a dose of youth formula, regressing him into infancy.
- Sexier Alter Ego: Like his 1960s counterpart, he's a lot more confident, charismatic and outgoing. However, he also has the benefit of shedding over half of Sherman's body mass.
- Taking You with Me: A spiteful version. Knowing that Sherman will continue to degrade without reabsorbing him, Buddy exhausts and destroys himself fleeing Sherman after being reduced to genetic slime until he completely melts away.
- Testosterone Poisoning: Literally, in fact. The formula spikes his testosterone considerably. At first, this just makes him the bold, outgoing ladies' man that Sherman isn't, but later—as his T-levels turn dangerous—he becomes a vain, violent bully.
- Troll: Being Sherman's hedonistic id, it's not surprising that he takes pleasure in getting on peoples' nerves.
- Villain Protagonist: At first, until it becomes clear that he's a completely separate persona and plans to take over Sherman's life.
- Xanatos Gambit: Upon developing his own ego and persona, Buddy leaves a video message for Sherman, mocking him for his appearance and mild- mannered nature, knowing that Sherman's confidence would be so destroyed that he'd willingly turn back into Buddy rather than remain himself or become so enraged and disgusted with Buddy that he would destroy all the samples of his serum just to prove him wrong and then resume drinking his diet protein shake which Buddy had earlier replaced with the serum. Sherman chooses the latter but either way, Sherman would revert back to Buddy and grant Buddy the chance to enact his plan to take over their shared body permanently.
Carla Purty
Played by: Jada Pinkett-Smith
Sherman's girlfriend in the first film.- Leg Focus: How the audience — and Sherman — is introduced to her, as we see from Sherman's POV as he looks up from the floor (where he was picking up a sweet wrapper) and looks up her legs to the rest of her body.
- Meaningful Name: Purty sounds a lot like "Pretty", which fits given how attractive she is.
- Punny Name: A little more on-the-nose than her 1960s counterpart, with her name being even closer to "Pretty".
- Put on a Bus: The second film indicates that she and Sherman decided that they were Better as Friends, and that she returned to Chicago.
Denise Gaines
Played by: Janet Jackson
"You reach over here again, you're gonna pull back a nub."
Sherman's girlfriend, and later fiancée and then wife, in the second film.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: By the end of the second film, she gets married to Sherman, who weighs probably more than twice as much as she does.
- Male Gaze: Sherman stares at her cleavage at the beginning and he gets what appears to be an erection (which turns out to be Buddy erupting from his crotch).Reverend: If anyone knows why these two should not be married, let them speak now. Or forever hold his penis."
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Aside from one or two minor differences in her character and backstory- she's implied to have been a former childhood friend of Sherman's, and is a fellow professor instead of a grad student- she's essentially the same character, note-for-note as Carla.
- Unfazed Everyman: Gets along just fine with the obnoxious overweight Klump family.
Dean Richmond
Played by: Larry Miller
The greedy Dean at Welman College who hates Sherman and makes fun of his weight.- Berserk Button: Mentioning his unfortunate incident with Petey the hamster.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: Cruelly inverted with a giant hamster.
- Black Comedy Rape: When the tainted serum turns Petey the Hamster into a giant monster, Dean Richmond tries to sneak out under the cover of a lady's fur coat. Petey immediately mistakes him for a female hamster and the inevitable result is broadcast live on TV.Grandma Klump (while watching with the rest of the family): That man ain't gonna never be right again."
- Butt-Monkey: Mildly so in the first film, where this is limited to his unknowingly drinking coffee laced with hamster droppings and then getting a "The Reason You Suck" Speech from Buddy near the end. Much more pronounced in the second film, courtesy of his encounter with Petey.
- Deadpan Snarker: Shown in his first scene with Sherman, where
- Dean Bitterman: Zig-zagged; while he does show a lot of the jerkish qualities associated with this trope, most of the time it's aimed specifically at Sherman, mostly because of how many rich donors his mishaps have driven away.
- Jerkass: While he does acknowledge Sherman's ability as a scientist, he also doesn't hesitate to poke fun at his weight, or threaten to fire him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite this, he did ally with Sherman Klump to stop Buddy Love from stealing the patent for the fountain of youth formula in the climax of The Klumps and was visibly saddened when it seemed that the genius-level Sherman he'd come to know and, if occasionally, appreciate, was going away forever.
- Professional Butt-Kisser: Harland Hartley actually calls him a "professional butt kisser."
- Took a Level in Kindness: To a point; he's still occasionally harsh to Sherman in the second film, but he's also more willing to acknowledge Sherman's expertise where before he focused on Sherman's mistakes. Notably, much of the harshness only takes place after the Petey incident, and he's still willing to help Sherman stop Buddy despite this.
Jason
Played by: John Ales
Sherman's assistant
- Butt-Monkey: Holds this role in the first film, where he gets taken on a dangerously fast ride through Hollywood Boulevard by Buddy as he reverts to Sherman, then gets locked in a storage closet by Buddy, and then gets involved in a punch-up with him at the end. Less so in the second film, where Dean Richmond more holds this role.
- Only Sane Man: Shares this role along with Carla in the first film, and Denise in the second. He's usually the person who points out the danger that Sherman's experiments are putting him in.
- Undying Loyalty: Helps Sherman out of the various problems he brought upon himself.
Reggie Warrington
Played by: Dave Chappelle
"Enough! Silence! I can't take this shit no more. Now, you done talked about me enough, boy! I tried to be peaceful, but now it's time for Reggie to 'karatasize' your ass!"
A loud and obnoxious insult comedian who performs at the nightclub "The Scream" who publicly humiliates Sherman for being fat.
- Berserk Button: He doesn't take kindly to being upstaged by Buddy Love.
- The Bully: Crosses the line from being a caustic comedian into this when he goes from quickly poking at people's flaws to insulting and belittling Sherman non-stop.
- Hypocrite: He loves making fun of people, but doesn't take kindly when people make fun of him.
- Hypocritical Humor: He's an ugly man with rat-like facial features, messed up teeth and a ridiculous hairstyle, but his entire act consists of mocking the appearance of others.
- Jerkass: One could have argued that his insults were just him doing his job, but his behavior towards Sherman and him resoritng to physical violence when Buddy gets the better of him pushes him well into this trope.
- Large Ham: He's quite full of himself.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After needlessly embarrassing Sherman, he gets even when Buddy roasts him terribly before upstaging his live. Then when Reggie snaps, Buddy manages to overpower him and throws him into a piano.
- Meaningful Name: Named after Reginald Hudlin and his brother Warrington, who he allegedly had a falling out with after appearing in Boomerang.
Lance Perkins
Played by: Eddie Murphy
"I'm a pony! I'm a pony!"
A crazy TV workout guy who is based on Richard Simmons.
- Catchphrase: "Yes, I can!" He encourages anybody who wants to lose weight to say this.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Lance Perkins is a parody of Richard Simmons.
Issac
Played by: Gabriel Williams
"Well, if it isn't the world's oldest living Negro! Hey, how's things going on the Underground Railroad, Isaac?"
— Papa Klump
Grandma's boyfriend in the second film.
- The Voiceless: He has no dialogue.
