Main Trio | Supporting Characters | Kids | Wendle-Caswell Family | Sumowski Family | Other Characters
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Clarence Wendle
Voiced by: Skyler Page (season one), Spencer Rothbell note , Nick Pitera (singing voice, "Jeff Wins"), Tom Kenny (superhero Clarence, "Goldfish Follies")
The titular, happy-go-lucky main character of the series.
- Affectionate Nickname: Chad tends to call Clarence "Buddy".
- All-Loving Hero: A more lighthearted version of this trope. He makes friends with everyone, from obvious jerks like Belson to the Odd Friendship he struck up with Old Clarence in "Neighborhood Grill." Goes together with Friend to All Living Things listed below, and exemplified in "Zoo" when he explains to Belson that everything is like a baby dolphin to him.
- Berserk Button: Messing with his recess is a way to bring out a side of him not normally seen.
- Beware the Nice Ones: In "Lil Buddy", Clarence became an even bigger delinquent than usual all because he missed one recess. He had done some unkind things before this episode, but only out of ignorance.
- Big Fun: A chubby little ball of fun.
- Big "NO!": He says one in "Gilben's Different", after he was pressured from by everyone.
- Butt-Monkey: When sometimes gets himself into situations he can't get out of, such as trying to deal with an unmended friendship.
- Cannot Keep a Secret: Has trouble keeping Jeff's secret in "Jeff's Secret". However 'trouble' in this case means that things keep getting in the way of him blurting it out for everyone to hear. He calls his mom and says he should be able to tell the secret if he wants to, and rather than listen to his mom telling him to respect Jeff's wishes he tries to arrange circumstances so he can tell it in a way so that it won't be made a big deal.
- Children Are Innocent: Clarence is incredibly naive and trusting.
- Crossdresser:
- Briefly, in "Clarence Gets a Girlfriend".
- He dresses as a stereotypical Eighties girl in "Belson's Sleepover" to lure Belson out of hiding.
- Characterization Marches On: Clarence wasn't The Ditz in the first ten or so episodes of season one.
- Cloudcuckoolander: From sending written invitations before introducing himself to being asked to shave another kid's head to cracking open a piñata filled with bees, it's safe to say that Clarence has strange ideas about making friends and having fun.
- The Ditz: He’s not a very bright person.
- Does Not Like Spam: He hates the new "Cinnamon Ranch" sauce, so much that he basically writes an elaborate Fan Fic about how the stuff brainwashes anyone who eats it and mutates them into alien chickens.
- Easily Impressed: Clarence goes out of his way to find marvel in everything, even the unappealing activity of trash disposal.
- Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: Clarence's speech pattern is this in the 1st season. He drops this in later episodes.
- Fan Disservice: Clarence gets the most amount of shirtless scenes. There's also some episodes of him pantless, which includes having his buttcrack shown from time to time.
- Fat Idiot: He's obese and not extremely stupid, just not as bright as his friends and classmates.
- Flanderization: Clarence being naive and clueless was always his main personality trait, but earlier episodes had him being an imaginative child. Overtime, though, his naivety became exaggerated in the second half of first season where he became more stupid, and became a Karma Houdini and Idiot Houdini, getting into trouble-making, especially with Sumo, and will often get away without facing any consequences or punishment. However, he goes back to his original characterization in Season 2.
- Foil: Clarence to Belson. Both have mothers who care about them but while Belson's mother lets him get away with everything and is a pushover, Mary is sweet but stern with Clarence. They both also have missing fathers, though Clarence's dad is out of the picture for unknown reasons (implied to be divorce) and he has a "Chad" to replace him while Belson's dad isn't around only because of work and he has no fraternal substitute. Clarence is also an optimist who loves everything while Belson is a pessimist who sees others as below him.
- Friend to All Living Things: In "Rise and Shine", he feeds the raccoons in the neighborhood, and tries to help a mountain lion to escape from a park ranger's tranquilizer gun. In "Pretty Great Day With a Girl", he's greeting every dog in the neighborhood as he passes by.
- Freudian Trio: The Id.
- Fun Personified: Everything about the kid screams "good times."
- Gasshole: Clarence can be this. In "Nature Clarence", he farted up Joshua's nose, and in "Detention", he ripped a very huge one in class in order to get into detention. He also farted in "The Breakup", "The Boxcurse Children", and "Freedom Cactus".
- Heroic BSoD: Clarence has one when he misses recess and "kills" his Lil Buddy doll. This results in virtually changing everything in his life and becoming even more of a juvenile delinquent than he was before.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Sumo.
- Idiot Houdini: In episode where accidents happen, he usually pays no attention to it and doesn't receive any punishment.
- Jerkass Ball: Even this kid can have a few selfish moments.
- In "L'il Buddy", all because he missed recess, he became an emo causing trouble. Belson gave him praise for his change in personality.
- "Where the Wild Chads Are" had him deliberately ditch Chad's camping supplies so he can see Chad as he pictured him. Results were... idiotic.
- Kiddie Kid: There are some occasions where he exhibits the same kind of Innocently Insensitive behavior a toddler would have.
- Kindhearted Simpleton: He's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he makes up for that with his kindhearted personality.
- Nice Guy: A stand out example. He doesn't seem to have a bad bone in his body.
- No Sense of Personal Space: He likes to stand real close to people.
- Protagonist Title: "Clarence" is the series' title and his name is "Clarence".
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive to Sumo and Manly to Jeff.
- Shipper on Deck: To Sumo and Chelsea, after they kissed in "Too Gross For Comfort".
- Shirtless Scene: Takes off his shirt a lot, and he's shown to have a shirt tanline.
- Took a Level in Dumbass: In the 2nd half of Season 1, Clarence becomes even dumber.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Rough Riders Chicken.
- Two First Names: Either "Clarence" or "Wendle" can be used as a first name.
- Vocal Dissonance: He'd be expected to have a high-pitched, nearly-pubescent boy voice, but he speaks in a Speech Impediment indicative of Elmuh Fudd Syndwome.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Always sees the positives in everything.
- Would Hit a Girl: He punches Malessica numerous times in "Slumber Party", though in a way intended to be playful (but still a little too hard).
Jeffrey "Jeff" Randell
Voiced by: Sean Giambrone
One of Clarence's best friends. He is very uptight.
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: "Detention" sees Jeff immediately abuse his power as hall monitor upon his induction as he allows the kids in detention to throw a massive party.
- Berserk Button:
- Don't ever steal Jeff's fries.
- Don't break his toys either.
- And if things don't go by his way, he won't take it well. "Average Jeff" was a good example of this.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He's more well mannered than Clarence and Sumo, tends to give anyone respect, and has good intentions, but if anything works against him, he will be unafraid to attack anyone if they try to provoke him at that point.
- Butt-Monkey: It's usually when he's put into situations courtesy of Clarence and/or Sumo, or when he's just the No-Respect Guy.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Sees himself as this but see below.
- Endearingly Dorky: In the earlier episodes more so, but given the touch of social awkwardness, Jeff is this at times.
- Entitled Bastard: Has a nasty habit of thinking he deserves things, such as a turn on Belson's new game system or being put in the advanced class.
- Freudian Trio: The Superego.
- Flanderization: He went from being an OCD, yet well-intended boy with a set of standards and morals that he lived by, to being a self-centered, narcissistic, egotistical jerk that would use Clarence as a pawn to help him get attention from all of the other kids, who don't find him cool or that interesting at all. However, the second and third seasons made him less of a jerk, sticking to his original roots of being moral to subjects, and had gotten used to Clarence and Sumo's hijinks.
- Hates Being Touched: Jeff is a huge germaphobe and immediately disinfects himself after being touched.
- Incredibly Lame Fun: His Imagine Spot in "Man of the House" has him tying Clarence and Sumo up so he can clean the house.
- Insufferable Genius: A mild example. He is so prideful of his maturity and intelligence, that he grows flustered whenever someone else advances before him, like when Clarence has a girlfriend.
- It's All About Me: Jeff has a tendency to think about himself more than others.
- Jerkass Ball: It's pretty downplayed, but there are some episodes where he's more egotistical and arrogant.
- "Average Jeff" has him trying everything he can to be in the Quill class, even tried to bribe Ms. Baker which didn't work.
- In "The Big Petey Pizza Problem", he's distraught when Gilben was having his own birthday party at the same place as his, and he was worried that everyone would leave his party for Gilben's. Near the end, his name on the cake was not added, and it said "Happy Birthday, Gilben & companion" and he politely asked they fix "Companion" to "Jeff", only for it to be changed to "George" instead. What does he do next? Immaturely blow the candles out before the kids could finish "Happy Birthday". Wow.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Jeff can be quite a control freak and selfish at times along with spouting some pretty hurtful things, but it's more than clear that he does care about Clarence and Sumo.
- Neat Freak: Due to being Terrified of Germs, he prefers everything to be tidy and in order.
- Nervous Wreck: Jeff is jumpy.
- Not So Above It All: He willingly gets into some of Clarence and Sumo's schemes, and he's been directly responsible for a few of the trio's antics.
- A regular occurrence is for Jeff to end up acting much worse than Clarence or Sumo after spending the episode preaching against them.
- Obsessively Organized: Jeff in a nutshell. He's absolutely terrified over the prospect of any inconsistency.
- Out-of-Character Moment: The usually clean and well-behaved Jeff has loosened up a bit in "Dinner Party", as he does not stop anyone from going into Breehn's attic, and is actually intrigued by it (thinking Breehn's parents might be hiding something). Perhaps even he finds the party boring.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Shows no embarrassment in wearing a pink apron in the kitchen or doing housework.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive to Clarence and Sumo.
- Skewed Priorities: He's absolutely desperate for success in life, having once prioritized cleaning Clarence's eyes in Puddle Eyes just so the trio would have a chance at winning the vision bee, and receives a What the Hell, Hero? moment from Ms. Baker in Average Jeff for outright claiming that he wants his future to be better than those of his friends.
- The Smart Guy: While Sumo is quick and nimble, and Clarence is The Big Guy, Jeff is the brains of the trio.
- Stealth Pun: Jeff has a square head to match his square personality.
- Terrified of Germs: He Hates Being Touched because of his fear of germs.
- Tritagonist: Fills this role when playing Straight Man to Clarence and Sumo.
- Vocal Evolution: His voice has started to crack and become deeper beginning in Season 2 due to his voice actor being in the middle of puberty. He still tries to speak in a higher resonant.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: He's basically an uptight college student trapped in a body of a grade-schooler.
Ryan "Sumo" Sumouski
Voiced by: Jason Marsden (Pilot), Tom Kenny
Clarence's best friend. A bald, raspy-voiced kid who lives in a trailer with his large family.
- Amazon Chaser: Had a crush on the tomboyish Chelsea note and in "Attack the Block Party" he finds himself entranced by something on TV that has bodybuilding surfer girls in it.
- Big Eater: He'll even eat a dead frog.
- Butt-Monkey: It's mainly when he's mistreated by his old brothers or when he sometimes gets into reckless situations he brings on himself.
- Charlie Brown Baldness: It's mostly stubble after he and Clarence shaved it off.
- Cloudcuckoolander: When he and Clarence first meet, the first thing they do together is shave Sumo's head. And thus, a lifelong friendship is formed.
- Cute, but Cacophonic: An adorable weirdo, with a voice akin to Zorak, SpongeBob SquarePants if he was a chain smoker, or Beavis.
- A Day in the Limelight: "Dream Boat" gives us a day in the life of Sumo.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Subverted; he's rarely called Ryan, not even by his teacher and parents.
- Deuteragonist: Well, he is Clarence's best friend.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: In "Pretty Great Day With A Girl", he didn't seem to mind being around Belson, but in the rest of the series, he DESPISES Belson with a passion.
- Freudian Trio: The Ego.
- Flanderization: He was originally a well-intentioned, streetwise kid who had no intention of being a troublemaker. He later becomes a borderline insane freak and a troublemaker who along with Clarence will go through all kinds of hell just to start trouble for everyone. Later, though, his characterization would go back to the original, at least somewhat.
- Hates Baths: To the point that his mother uses them as a punishment. He seems fine with showers, though.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Clarence.
- Hot-Blooded: He can match both Clarence's energy and Jeff's hotheadedness.
- Jerkass Ball: In some episodes like "Birthday" and "The Break Up"
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He may be a bit rude, but his heart is in the right place.
- Keet: This guy is full of energy.
- Large Ham: He loves to chew the scenery, occasionally literally.
- The Lancer
- Le Parkour: He is incredibly agile, being able to effortlessly jump and flip off walls.
- Massively Numbered Siblings: One of twelve siblings. 10 brothers and one sister.
- Motor Mouth: He's a fast talker, and never shuts up.
- No Indoor Voice: He yells a lot.
- Nonindicative Name: Sumo sure is puny for someone with that name.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name is Ryan, but everyone calls him "Sumo". Even his own father calls him by his nickname.
- Only Sane Man: Surprisingly. But with Jeff being a complete neurotic and Clarence coming off as naive, he's the closest thing to a voice of reason the trio has.
- Running Gag: He starts getting all weird looking whenever he gets distressed, frustrated, or sometimes even minding his own business.
- Running on All Fours: He'll do this occasionally.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly to Clarence and Jeff.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: Kisses Chelsea in the heat of their argument.
- Smarter Than You Look: He's a lot more clever and resourceful than his wacky behavior lets on. He's particularly snarky around Jeff when the latter's being an Insufferable Genius.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: He and Clarence are closest in the trio since they both share the same interests in crazy and weird activities.
- Vocal Dissonance: Has a deep and gravelly voice.
- Younger Than They Look: He has the raspy voice of an older person in a 9 year old body.
