As a running joke, Moe is sometimes seen engaging in unlicensed or illegal activities at the tavern, such as smuggling pandas and an orca in "Cape Feare" and "The Springfield Files", respectively.

Particularly in earlier episodes, the Tavern was frequently prank called by Bart Simpson, who would ask for a gag name which when said by Moe would involve innuendo or insults (e.g., Mike Rotch/"My crotch", Homer Sexual/"homosexual", Ivana Tinkle/"I wanna tinkle", and Seymour Butz/"See more butts").

He is portrayed with a generally disagreeable personality: he has a short, violent temper, a penurious nature, a crass and undiplomatic manner of speech, and a mood that rapidly vacillates between anger, indifference, and suicidal despair (the latter of which has become more apparent in later episodes of the show).

He is also gullible, and Bart's unending chain of successful prank calls to his bar are particularly infuriating to him, inevitably prompting a torrent of Red Deutsch-style threats of gruesome bodily harm in return.

[citation needed] He also is, however, occasionally shown to have a sentimental and caring side to his personality, such as reading to sick children and homeless people, although he is secretive about such behavior.

In his interactions with his various girlfriends, he has also shown genuine selflessness and kindness (as well as an unusual improvement in his disposition), although negative elements of his personality inevitably emerge and ruin things.

Despite this, he has had a number of romantic experiences, including sleeping with his waitress Collette,[8] dating a woman named Renee,[9] and briefly enjoying the company of many women after he had plastic surgery.

Moe's romantic attractions have resulted in run-ins with the law; he has stalked Maude Flanders and other townspeople, he must register as a sex offender, and he has a restraining order placed upon him.

[12] In "Pygmoelian", Moe and his three closest friends assess him as a gargoyle with cauliflower ears, lizard lips, little rat eyes, a caveman brow, and a fish snout, who is not pleasant to look at, listen to or be with.

Teenage Moe is shown again in "She Used to Be My Girl" (2004), where he is depicted working in the school cafeteria, given as his first job "since prison"; Marge is responsible for having him sent back there.

"The Seemingly Never-Ending Story" (2006) depicts scenes set years before the series present in which Moe and schoolteacher Edna Krabappel are shown to have had a brief love affair.

In "King Leer" (2018), Moe's father, Morty, and his siblings, Marty and Minnie, are introduced, and he is shown in flashbacks as a child in Springfield.

The creator of The Simpsons Matt Groening based Moe on Louis "Red" Deutsch, who was made famous when he was repeatedly prank-called by two Jersey City residents.

[23] Comedian Rich Hall, an acquaintance of The Simpsons writer George Meyer, has stated that he believes further inspiration was drawn from himself and that Groening has verified this to him.

Writers Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein found the name in a phone book and gave it to Moe so that he would have the initials M.S., and hence be a suspect in the Burns shooting.

During the time of his audition, Azaria was doing a play in which he had the part of a drug dealer, basing his voice on actor Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon.