Morris "Moe" Lester Szyslak (pronounced /'sɪz.læk/) is a fictional character on the animated series The Simpsons, voiced by Hank Azaria. Moe is the proprietor and bartender of "Moe's Tavern", a Springfield bar frequented by Barney Gumble, Homer Simpson, Carl Carlson, Lenny Leonard and others.

Moe's ancestry is of uncertain origin, being noted throughout the series as Polish, Italian, and Dutch. His ancestors supposedly included the bartenders of the Russian tsar [1].

Moe Szyslak either immigrated to the United States [2] or was born in Indiana [3]. As a child, he played the part of "Smelly", a tough kid, on The Little Rascals until he killed Alfalfa for stealing his bit and was fired. Also, as a child, his parents dropped him off at summer camp, never to return to pick him up. [4] As a young man, Moe became a professional boxer, going by the names "Kid Gorgeous", "Kid Presentable", "Kid Gruesome", and "Kid Moe". Moe blames his boxing career for making him ugly. This ugliness caused Moe to audition unsuccessfully for a part in "It Never Ends," a soap opera.

After attending bartending school at Swigmore University (a play on Swarthmore College), Moe opened up his own drinking establishment, "Moe's Tavern." [5] As an adult, Moe's life centers around running Moe's Tavern where, except for the few instances where he hires temporary help, he is the only employee. His most loyal customer is Barney Gumbel, with other regulars including Homer Simpson, Lenny Leonard, Carl Carlson, Sam, and Larry. Moe is notoriously cheap with his customers, refusing to give them free drinks, or throwing them out when they are out of money.

Moe generally serves Duff beer on tap, having little knowledge of liquors or wines; the liquor bottles visible behind the bar are said to be "painted on," and in one instance, he unknowingly sells a bottle of Château Latour for a few dollars. He enthusiastically abandons his bar, its regular customers, and his friends when a better opportunity comes along, such as the drink "The Flaming Moe", the opening of his postmodern bar "M", and the conversion of his bar into a family-themed restaurant called Uncle Moe's Family Feedbag.

Moe is often engaged in shady or illegal activities at his tavern, including smuggling pandas and orcas, hosting Russian roulette games, operating an unlicensed casino, serving liquor without a license (his expired in 1973), running a speakeasy during Springfield's brief flirtation with Prohibition, and performing unlicensed surgery in his bar. All of which must surely make him an ideal owner for a Bloodbowl team.

Moe's temperament is characterized by a short, violent temper, coupled with homicidal and suicidal tendencies and a proclivity towards obsessive behaviors. These traits are exhibited in his behavior, including frequently attempting suicide (including an annual attempt on Christmas), keeping an enemies list nearly identical to that of Richard Nixon, assuming a leading role in many of Springfield's angry mobs, kidnapping Talking Heads vocalist David Byrne, using his b-boy skills for self-defense, shooting at Carl with a shotgun, robbing Homer of expensive pants, keeping Hans Moleman under his bar's floorboards in a subterranean torture chamber, perpetrating insurance fraud [6], and stalking various townspeople.