Time doesn’t pass by in Springfield, so the characters from The Simpsons don’t really age, but that doesn’t mean their ages are not confusing. Such is the case of Moe Szyslak, whose age has been a mystery to viewers for years. Created by Matt Groening, The Simpsons began as a series of animated shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987 before being developed into a half-hour prime time show and making its official debut on Fox in 1989. Since then, The Simspons has become the longest-running American sitcom, and even though the quality of the series has been in decline for years, it shows no signs of stopping soon.
The Simpsons follows the daily adventures of the title family and their friends (and a couple of enemies) in the colorful town of Springfield. Among those is Moe Szyslak, the irritable owner and bartender of Moe’s Tavern and thus a close friend of Homer. In addition to the tavern, Moe owns other businesses, as are Moe’s Bagels in Colorado and Moe’s Express in the food court area of the Springfield Mall, and he has also been involved in some not-so-honest businesses. Moe has been through a lot, and his appearance does hint at him being older than Homer and Barney, how exactly how old is he?
Moe’s backstory is complicated and some details are unclear, such as where he was born – he either illegally immigrated to the US from the Netherlands, as he once revealed he has Dutch heritage, or was born in Indiana and later moved to Springfield (wherever it is). However, and unlike other characters from The Simpsons, Moe Szyslak does have a proper birthdate: November 24, 1927. Given that the characters never age (as seen with Bart and his many 10th birthdays), this means that, by the time The Simpsons made its official debut, Moe was 62 years old, and has stayed that way for decades, while Homer has been between 36 and 40 years old (as his age has changed a couple of times throughout the series).
As mentioned above, Moe has gone through a lot, and his life hasn’t been easy, which explains why he always seems to be in a bad mood and is often rude to his customers and pretty much everyone around him. He has a strained relationship with his father and siblings after an incident that drove his father to close all his mattress stores, and he was also a child actor, playing “Smelly” in The Little Rascals... until he killed Alfalfa and was fired. At some point, he was dropped off at summer camp and his parents never came back for him, so camp was the closest he could call home. Years later, Moe became a professional boxer and has blamed his boxing career for making him ugly, though in another episode, a very young Moe was stepped on by an elephant, leaving him looking as he does now. All this and more have driven Moe to attempt suicide multiple times, to the point where his unsuccessful attempts have become a running joke.
Moe might not look his age except for his hair (although there are different hair colors in the world of The Simpsons that don’t necessarily point at the characters’ ages), but he went through a lot before the series began, which definitely hints at him being much older than Homer. At this point, it’s unlikely The Simpsons will give Moe a family and a stable life, as his rudeness and bad luck with women (and life in general) have become running gags, but he will surely continue living through more adventures either alongside Homer or caused by him.