Proud Family | Friends and Neighbors | Proud Extended Family | Others | One-Shot Characters
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The Kellys
Wizard Kelly
Voiced by: Aries Spears
An incredibly wealthy, very smart, and famous businessman who made his fortune playing professional basketball.
- Accidental Misnaming: He likes to call Zoey "Susie" no matter how many times Zoey corrects him.
- The Ace: A legendary basketball player with enough money to own the city and everything in it.
- Affably Evil: He's a legitimately friendly guy who would love to help you... just as long as you can pay him. The episode, "The Altos" had him helping the others punish the Altos in the end, and he genuinely loves and cares for his wife and son. This depends on what episode you watch, as he's sometimes more Faux Affably Evil or just a plain old Jerkass.
- Always Someone Better: He's everything Oscar tries and fails to be.
- Berserk Button: Downplayed. He doesn't rage, but he hates being corrected and even fired Zoey from her movie theatre job because she corrected him.
- Catchphrase:
- "It all started with an orange basketball."
- Companion Cube: His basketball, due to him being a retired basketball player.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's much more benign than most examples, being mostly content with total domination of the city, but still incredibly sleazy, always trying to rip off others to make himself wealthier if he can, and likes to screw his employees out of due credit for achievements.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Not evil per se, but the Wizard is the biggest jerkass in the show. The few times his son, Little Wiz Junior, does appear, it's clear the Wizard does love him. He kicked the people who accused his son of stealing out of his house and spent millions of dollars to help his son win a school election.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even the Wizard knows how despicable Sista Spice truly is. He's also disgusted with all the times Oscar cheated in his contests. He's a big jerk, but he doesn't believe in committing fraud.
- Evil Counterpart: Downplayed. Not evil per se, but if you take Oscar, remove his redeeming qualities and status as a walking punchline, and add "rich" and more "smug" and "jerkass", you have Wizard Kelly.
- The Faceless: He's so tall that his face is always "off-camera". All we ever see is his mouth. In the revival, some of his other appearances have the top half of his face obscured by shadows with only his mouth shown.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the movie, we finally get a glimpse of his face for a split second, right before he gets splattered with peanut butter.
- Friendly Enemy: He is usually nice to the Prouds sometimes.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: He towers over his wife, Ginger Snaps
. - It's All About Me: It's hard to find a moment when he isn't thinking about himself. Heck, he even thought The Wiz was about him.
- Jerkass: He's somewhat of a bully sometimes to the main characters Penny and Oscar, and he is also a narcissist.
- Jerkass to One: He often acts like a jerk toward anyone that isn't his family. However, he particularly loves to be-little Oscar every chance he gets.
- Jerk Jock: He is a basketball player and is a narcissistic jerk.
- Karma Houdini:
- Though he gets splattered with peanut butter in The Movie.
- "Juneteenth" features him remorselessly ordering cops in full riot gear to break up the kids protesting against Christian A. Smith being honored as the town founder when he was in fact a ruthless slave owner. This leads to almost everyone in the main cast getting rounded up and thrown in jail. While a month later the Wizard's shown officiating a ceremony to have the city renamed "Emilyville," there's no indication that his reputation or public standing suffered in any way for having a bunch of teenagers and their parents brutalized by police and thrown in jail.
- Large and in Charge: Wizard Kelly is the head of Wizard Kelly Enterprises, and he’s so tall the camera can never get his full face.
- Large Ham: Whenever the Wizard is on camera, expect him to always chew the scenery, y'all.
- Leitmotif: His theme music resembles Isaac Hayes's main score from Shaft.
- Malicious Misnaming: The Wizard often calls Oscar names like "Oliver Prune" or "Orenthal Proud", though he sometimes gets his name right, implying that he's doing it just to irritate Oscar (unlike when he refers to Zoey as "Suzie", which seems to be out of ignorance or apathy rather than malicious intent).
- Narcissist: Who else names a city after himself? (The city is called Wizardville, though the revival's now calling it Smithville, which is its original name, implying that Kelly only bought temporary naming rights.) Not to mention he plasters his name over all the city's products, pushed out Oscar in favor of plastering his name four times on a scavenger hunt competition advertisement, rewards any attempt to correct his errors with immediate job termination of employees, and always tries to work contracts and agreements to make himself wealthier. He even thinks that The Wiz was named after him.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: He appears to be based on basketball star Magic Johnson (his first name, status as a former basketball player, wealth, and fame) and musician R. Kelly (his last name, speaking voice, and speech patterns).
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In "Bad Influence(r)", you know he’s desperate and paranoid when he has to ask Oscar for a favor, going as far as paying him a bagful of money to rein in Penny, who is going down the warpath and can potentially cancel him at a whim.
- Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: The Wizard is always composed when he talks, if not a bit smug, in contrast to Oscar, who's always so loud-mouthed towards him.
- Rich Bitch: A male example.
- The Rival: To Oscar, with a dash of Unknown Rival because the Wizard doesn't seem the least bit interested in hashing things out. At least until Louder and Prouder, where he is more openly antagonistic towards Oscar.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: In a very real sense, he owns the city. It was once called Wizville, for Pete's sake.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: He is this towards the Prouds, especially Oscar.
- Third-Person Person: He usually refers to himself as "The Wizard Kelly".
- Verbal Tic: He regularly ends sentences with "y'all". "Wedding Bells Blues" even established that it made it into the name of one of his restaurants, while the official name of the wrestling event he once held in Kokaua Town had "Y'all" at the end (as relayed by Pleakley, of all characters).
- Vocal Evolution: By Louder and Prouder, his voice has gotten much deeper.
Ginger Snaps Kelly
Wizard Kelly's attractive wife.
- Flat Character: Ginger Snaps doesn't get much screentime in the series and is only there as Wizard Kelly's wife who could've ended up with Oscar.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: She's this with her husband, Wizard.
- Ms. Fanservice: Very attractive and wears clothing that shows off her body a lot.
- Ship Tease: Somewhat. She did flirt with Oscar in one episode.
Wizard "Lil' Wiz" Kelly Jr.
Voiced by: Aries Spears
Wizard Kelly's son.
- Everyone Has Standards: Despite being willing to bribe his way to becoming class president and being as smug as his dad, not even Lil' Wiz would resort to mudslinging to get an edge in the votes. His father on the other hand...
- Gonk: Not ugly per se but compared to his parents, Lil' Wiz does look a bit off (mainly the shape of his head).
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Lil' Wiz may be very arrogant like his father but he is definitely a lot nicer than his dad. Lil' Wiz always treat his girlfriends well and there are lines not even he would cross.
- Lean and Mean: Lil' Wiz is very skinny and has the arrogance of a rich boy.
- Like Father, Like Son: Lil' Wiz takes a lot from his father. From his Verbal Tic to being Third-Person Person.
- Morality Pet: To his father, the Wizard. The Wizard is one of the biggest jerkasses in the show, but he does show genuine love and affection for his son. He kicked the people who accused his son of stealing out of his house and helped Little Wiz win the middle school election by spending millions.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: As stated above, his full name is "Wizard Kelly Jr." but everyone (including his father) calls him by "Lil' Wiz."
- Rich Jerk: Not as bad as his dad but he still uses money to get what he wants and acts very arrogant because of it.
- Third-Person Person: Like with his father.
- Verbal Tic: Also like with his dad, he often ends his sentences with "ya'll."
Merlin Kelly
Voiced by: Courtney B. Vance
Wizard Kelly’s father.
- Evil Laugh: When he confronts Suga Mama about Giselle signing the contract with him, he gives off a baritone evil laugh towards her as he gloats.
- The Faceless: Just like his son, Merlin is very tall and the most you will ever see is his mouth or forehead.
- It Runs in the Family: Apparently, everyone in the Kelly family take after him, who is an arrogant, shifty man.
- Posthumous Character: It’s heavily implied Merlin is long dead by the time of the series.
Others
The Gross Sisters
"You know the drill: hands up, cash out!"note
Voiced by: Raquel Lee (Nubia)
Three sisters who constantly bully Penny and her friends into giving them their money.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: They have blue hair, blue skin, and wear blue overalls. It's revealed that the reason the girls are blue is due to them being ashy.
- Big Little Sister: Olei is the youngest but the biggest, Nubia is the middle child who is the tallest, and Gina's the oldest despite being the smallest.
- Big Sister Bully: Nubia towards Olei and Gina.
- Big Sister Instinct: "Makeover" shows that Nubia has a protective streak for her sisters, threatening to beat up Penny and her friends if they don't do a good job with giving Olei a makeover.
- Big, Thin, Short Trio: Olei is the biggest, Nubia is the slimmest, and Gina is the shortest.
- Brawn Hilda: Olei is tall and pretty stocky-looking thanks to her slouched over posture. In "Makeover", it turns out she actually doesn't fit the trope, as she's pretty slim in more form-fitting clothes.
- Break the Cutie: Olei when she becomes conflicted between choosing Nubia or Penny in "Makeover".
- The Brute: Olei is the largest of the trio and thus main muscle, so Nubia usually has her show her strength if Penny or others don't cooperate.
- The Chew Toy: Olei is easily the most oppressed of Nubia’s sisters.
- Catchphrase: From Nubia: "You know the drill: Hands up, cash out!"
- She also often says "Is that all you got?" whenever she steals a small sum of money from someone.
- Cute Bruiser: They’re a trio of girl bullies. It’s inevitable.
- Cute Mute: Olei and Gina don’t talk, but it further adds to their endearing traits.
- Depending on the Writer: How bad they are whenever they appear. They're consistently shown as an unpleasant Gang of Bullies but can go from sadistic and overly cruel to willing to help the main cast out and capable of genuine Pet the Dog moments with no prompting.
- The Dreaded: Dijonay fears them so much that she wouldn't dare snitch on them.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite being cruel and abusive towards her sisters, Nubia does love her family and vice versa.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- In "Pulp Boot Camp", the Gross Sisters refuse to house Penny after she escapes from boot camp, figuring that while they're bullies, the fact that Penny was sent to boot camp makes her a hardened thug. Nubia outright says they don't deal with real criminals, which makes Penny feel guilty about what she’s become.
- All of them are quite disgusted to see Wizard Kelly Jr. sleeps with a stuffed animal while sucking his finger.
- In the Louder and Prouder episode "Father Figures", they will bully Maya and her brother on the sole basis that their fathers make a lot of money, not because they just have two daddies.
- Gang of Bullies: A trio of bullying sisters who have been taking money from their peers since they were young.
- Hidden Depths: They can sing really well, but they don’t want to pursue a music career because there are too many crooks in the music business. However, in Louder and Prouder they've formed a rap group and intend to become professionals.
- Ironic Name: Their first names are based on skincare products: Nivea, Neutrogena and Olay. The irony comes from them being so ashy that their skin appears to be blue.
- Jerkass: That's what expected from bullies, however, Olei might be more a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- Jerkass Has a Point: The Gross Sisters are a gang of thugs who love to steal money from others. However, in one episode, they didn't want to hang out with Penny who then decided to be a "bad girl" and do things that not even they would do. As Nubia pointed out, Penny, at the point, has been considered a straight on criminal.
- Karma Houdini: They hardly ever pay for stealing money from Penny and her friends. This is probably due to how Adults Are Useless. That, and “Snitches get stitches” is in effect with them. Even Dijonay isn’t dumb enough to rat them out.
- Leitmotif: They are typically accompanied by an instrumental hip-hop track when they show up.
- Nonstandard Character Design: They're the only characters with blue skin.
- Pet the Dog: They have moments that show they're not completely heartless.
- In "The Party". They don't show up to torment Penny... they actually want to have some fun, and not at anyone's expense. This is especially saying a lot considering that Penny's actual "friends" ditched her just to attend LaCienega's party over Penny's.
- Suga Mama is one of the only people they genuinely admire and respect.
- Papi also won them over during the episode where the kids had to live in different cultural homes. Apparently Papi liked them enough to teach them Spanish, with Gina once using his signature laugh.
- Nubia takes a moment to comfort Bebe and Cece in "Tween Town" when they start to miss their parents and Suga Mama.
- They develop respect for Penny in The Movie when they see her fighting Dr. Carver on TV, which Nubia calling Penny, “hardcore".
- Politically Correct Villain: They clarify they aren't homophobic, that they steal from everyone just the same.
- Pragmatic Villainy: In Louder and Prouder, the reason they extort Penny less is because she and her friends produce next to nothing, so they have to aim for kids whose families have higher income.
- Punny Name: Gross is a real surname in addition to the gang's name describing their personalities. Then there's the fact that they're so ashy that their skin is blue.
- Rough Overalls: All three always wear overalls and they put the 'rough' in them
- Sassy Black Girl: Nubia is the only one who speaks and has a lot of sass as well.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Olay, who in better clothing also appears thinner and taller as well.
- Spoiled Brat: Nubia doesn’t just bully and steal from other kids, but even her own family.
- Third-Person Person: Nubia refers to herself and her sisters as the “Gross Sisters” when they speak to others.
- Terrible Trio: A Barbaric Bully trio.
- Tomboy: They seem to be the most obvious case in the show, given that their rather neutral dress and that they're engaged in sports.
- Tomboyish Voice: Nubia has a deep, raspy voice.
- Vocal Dissonance: A weird example, as it applies to characters who don't actually have voices—Olei and Gina can occasionally be heard laughing; Olei, the big giant girl, has a high-pitched girlish giggle while Gina, the tiny one, is a very clear case of Evil Sounds Deep. And when they sing, Gina is the bass.
- Voice for the Voiceless: Nubia speaks for her sisters, who never say a single word at all.
- The Voiceless: Olei and Gina don't have a single line throughout the series. The most they do is occasionally grunt or laugh. Only Nubia does the talking.
Ms. Rhonda Hightower
"Quiet please."
Voiced by: Patricia Belcher
The principal of Willie T. Ribbs Middle School. While normally a meek and delicate lady, she isn't afraid to raise her voice to get her students in line.
- Adults Are Useless: Heavily suggested given how the Gross Sisters (and other minor bullies) are allowed to run rampant with their schemes yet she does nothing to punish them.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: She has the presence of a mouse but can turn into a ferocious tiger when reclaiming order and attention.
- Black Boss Lady: She's African American and the head honcho of Penny's middle school.
- Flowery Insults: She can get pretty creative when insulting her students.Mrs. Hightower: I said QUIET YOU FUTURE HAMBURGER FLIPPERS!!...Thank you!
- Hidden Depths: Some of her insults to her students, such as referring to them as future hamburger flippers, suggests her confidence in their future might be rather low.
- Running Gag: She raises her voice every time she has to calm down a chattering crowd to get her attention.
Frankie White
Voiced by: Aldis Hodge
One of Penny's classmates from Willy T. Ribbs
- Jerkass: Frankie is rude and crass towards others, and easily gets jealous of other boys who takes the girls' attention away from him. In the Louder and Prouder episode "Father Figures", he's one of the students who bullies Maya and KG for having two dads.
- Jerk Jock: Frankie is a sports jock with a jerkish, sexist attitude who gets overly competitive.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: He's Penny's main rival when it comes to sports. Frankie is civil to her usually, but he doesn't show her enough respect when she decides to play against him in any sport.
- Straw Misogynist: Frankie often mocks the idea of girls playing sports, and even after Penny beats him at football, he refuses to let a girl beat him at basketball in Louder and Prouder.
The Talking Baby
Voiced by: Ron Glass
A red-nosed talking baby that torments Oscar.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He only talks when Oscar is around and torments Oscar, then acts like a regular baby around other people.
- Creepy Child: Even without the talking and the strangely un-childlike behavior, he's pretty strange looking.
- Enfant Terrible: He's an evil genius in the making, the true extent of which is never shown.
- Hate Sink: Unlike Wizard Kelly, there's nothing redeemable about this character, and he's solely made to be despised for his treatment on Oscar.
- Jerkass: He constantly torments Oscar and gets him into embarrassing situations.
- Karma Houdini: He never gets punished for his unprovoked jerkass behavior towards Oscar.
- Manipulative Bastard: He plays Oscar better than most adults, if only because Oscar never learns not to underestimate him.
- No Name Given: His real name is unknown.
- Vocal Dissonance: The fact that he has an unusually deep voice for a baby only makes him even creepier.
Al Roker
Voiced by: Al Roker
A TV weatherman who also happens to have powerful, wish-granting powers and serves as a minor antagonist in the series.
- Adam Westing: A bizarrely mean-spirited variant, the real-life Nice Guy TV weatherman Al Roker plays the decidedly less nice TV weatherman Al Roker.
- The Atoner: Enforced. Due to his actions in "Tween Town," Roker's bosses forced him to make it up to Penny in "Twins to Tweens." He is a lot more cooperative this time around but of course that's mainly due to not wanting to lose his powers. It's implied the rules are still in effect, and he's required to add reasonable provisions to the wishes people make, like a trial period.
- Bald of Evil: By the time of Louder and Prouder, he’s completely bald to keep him up to date with his real life appearance at the time.
- Deal with the Devil: His first appearance seemed to imply he's the Devil and the revival revealed the Devil to be his superior.
- Fat Bastard: A very portly man who happens to love making other people's lives miserable. Of course, this was how Roker looked in real life at the time of his debut. By Louder and Prouder, he's trimmed off.
- Faux Affably Evil: Al Roker acts nice and polite on the outside but inside, he's a very manipulative and cruel man.
- Jackass Genie: Has the powers of a genie and is most certainly not a nice guy. Especially on how much he mocks and belittles Penny.
- Jerkass: Whoo boy is he ever... This a guy who was eager to have babies work into slavery.
- Reality Warper: Roker appears to have genie-like powers that allow him to change the lives of others, appear in and out of the television set at will, and hear someone call his name from miles away. Turns out that these powers were given to him by his bosses.
- Self-Deprecation: It's TV weatherman Al Roker playing a version of himself that's a Jackass Genie Bitch in Sheep's Clothing. It can only be this trope.
- Would Hurt a Child: Roker has no qualms over having babies work in his factory.
Buff Man
Voiced by: Kevin Michael Richardson
A recurring, nameless muscular character who serves a different role each time he appears. Typically, he's a security guard.
- The Ahnold: He's a caricature of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and speaks with a thick Austrian accent. To add to the reference, you'll sometimes hear him say “I'll be back”.
- No Name Given: He's a nameless, generic character used to fill whatever character role the plot demands, though one of his incarnation's names is Klaus.
- Super-Strength: He's strong enough to lift an entire house.
- You Don't Look Like You: When the character returns in Louder and Prouder, he has a wider face and wider body frame with blond hair instead of brown, but he does now look a lot closer to the archetype he's based off of.
Buffarina
Voiced by: Cree Summer
Introduced in the revival, Buffarina is the short, but no less intimidating assistant to Dr. Payne and sometimes serves as a bouncer in the Wizard Kelly Theater.
- Berserk Button: Mispronouncing her name. Oscar pays for this when he calls her "Buffalo".
- Brawn Hilda: She has masculine features such as very large muscles and a deep voice.
- Distaff Counterpart: She serves essentially the same role as the recurring buff, accented Ahnold character who assumes different roles depending on the episode, except she does have a name.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: She can't be any taller than four feet but that doesn't stop her from tossing Oscar around like a rag doll with one hand.
- Third-Person Person: Buffarina speaks like this in all of her appearances.
Shuggie
Voiced by: Cee Lo Green
A talking giant panda who is introduced in the revival. He lives at the local zoo.
- Anthropomorphic Zig-Zag: While he can communicate with most people, the zookeeper he tried to scold in "Curved" only heard animalistic growling.
- Beary Friendly: He's a giant panda who quickly befriends Penny.
- Talking Animal: He inexplicably has the ability to talk to humans. (And sing, too!)
