History Main / HalfWittedHillbilly

* ''Film/ItRunsInTheFamily1994'': Also known as ''Film/MySummerStory'', the largely-forgotten sequel to ''Film/AChristmasStory'' referred to the other half of Jean Shepard's memoirs that resulted in the iconic film. In the memoir and the film, the Bumpus clan are nothing but Half-Witted Hillbillies who move into a place, turn it into a dump, and leave after the bills pile up. To further hammer home the lack of sophistication they had, they still used outhouses despite their home having indoor plumbing, and one of the Bumpus members, as a feat of strength, destroyed the stairway to the main door, which none of them bother to rebuild.

* ''Film/MySummerStory'' (AKA It Runs In The Family): The largely-forgotten sequel to ''Film/AChristmasStory'' referred to the other half of Jean Shepard's memoirs that resulted in the iconic film. In the memoir and the film, the Bumpus clan are nothing but Half-Witted Hillbillies who move into a place, turn it into a dump, and leave after the bills pile up. To further hammer home the lack of sophistication they had, they still used outhouses despite their home having indoor plumbing, and one of the Bumpus members, as a feat of strength, destroyed the stairway to the main door, which none of them bother to rebuild.

* The ''Hillbilly Moment'' segment of ''Series/TheAmandaShow'' made a RunningGag of this trope. The female Hillbilly would tell the beginning of the knock-knock joke, and when the male asked "who's there," he'd get hit in the head with the item mention in the joke's beginning. Then both would laugh and declare "that's a good one". They were both portrayed with low intelligence, but the boy Hillbilly deserves special mention for falling for the [[OnceAnEpisode same joke every episode]].

** ''Island'' has [[HomeschoolerKids Ezekiel]], who, in addition to having a farm background, [[TheDitz isn't shown to be the sharpest knife in the drawer]] (although [[HiddenDepths outside material]] depict him as BookSmart).

** ''Island'' has Ezekiel, who, in addition to having a farm background, [[TheDitz isn't shown to be the sharpest knife in the drawer]].

%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!

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[[quoteright:320:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cletus_8.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:320:The Inbred Ignoramus, Exhibit A: Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel.]]

One of the more common [[StockCharacter stock characters]], the Half-Witted Hillbilly is the unrefined, uneducated, backwards yokel found in fiction. While they technically can come from any predominantly rural region, in American pop culture they're most commonly portrayed as hailing from the DeepSouth, UsefulNotes/{{Appalachia}}, or the more sparsely populated areas of Texas and the Southwest.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': The O'Neil clan most certainly fit this bill due to the fact that the brother that talks to Trevor has the typical drawl and the family consists of nine brothers and a boatload of grunts. Yet, they have a capable meth operation and a working relation with the Los Santos Triads which could've made them [[SouthernFriedGenius Southern-Fried Geniuses]] had they not pissed off the wrong guy.

** Lucky, who debuted amongst a menagerie of other rednecks in the episode "The Redneck on Rainey Street" is a prominent example as a guy whose family had had shotgun marriages, and his primary income consists of frivolous lawsuits.

* ''Film/LoganLucky'': The Logan brothers and Joe Bang actually [[SouthernFriedGenius avert this]] by competently pulling off a heist. Bang's brother Sam and Fish also don't do anything that would screw the heist proper, they just happen to lag a bit behind in the use of technology and are easily convinced to join with a lie.

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* Curt and Pun'kinhead Martin from the old ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTtunes'' cartoon short "Hillbilly Hare" found themselves matching wits with Bugs Bunny... but find that they were unarmed the whole time.

Compare TheIdiotFromOsaka, which is a similar concept in Japanese media, and TheBogan, its equivalent in Australia. Contrast SouthernFriedGenius. May overlap with the CountryCousin, FarmBoy, FarmersDaughter, GoodOlBoy, or SouthernFriedPrivate.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': The O'Neil clan most certainly fit this bill due to the fact that the brother that talks to Trevor has the typical drawl and the family consists of nine brothers and a boatload of grunts. Yet, they have a capable meth operation and a working relation with the Los Santos Triads which could've made them [[Main/SouthernFriedGenius Southern-Fried Geniuses]] had they not pissed off the wrong guy.

''WebVideo/{{Nightmare Time}}'': The Metzger Clan, from the episode "Perky’s Buds" are a family of Half-Witted Hillbillies, especially the children of the family, Louie, Carl, and Lars, who make crude jokes to harass Emma and Ziggs as they work. As the episode continues, they cross further and further into Hellbilly territory, attempting to kill the two by [[spoiler: burying them up to their necks and running them over with a wheat-cutter]].

'''The Genuinely Disabled''': Rural characters who actually suffer from a true mental illness or disability tend to be edge cases at best. They tend to have more nuanced, fleshed-out, sympathetic portrayals than most instances of this trope, possibly to avoid the risk of attracting "DudeNotFunny" reactions. While characters like Film/ForrestGump or Karl Childers from ''Film/SlingBlade'' may technically fit most or all of the description on paper, they fill different roles in the story.

'''The Country Bumpkin''': This is perhaps the broadest category of Half-Witted Hillbilly. They may be portrayed as a bit backwards, BookDumb, or remarkably gullible/naive, but generally not incredibly stupid. May or may not be a fount of [[SomedayThisWillComeInHandy homespun wisdom and/or esoteric knowledge about obscure subjects]]. May be [[CripplingOverspecialization extremely capable in the right environment or situation]], or even a GeniusDitz who can whip up ImpossiblyDeliciousFood with only a possum and some veggies. Very commonly overlaps with the KindheartedSimpleton as many Country Bumpkins are generous and hospitable, whether due to social mores, religious convictions, or innate goodness. While their foibles are generally PlayedForLaughs, most Country Bumpkins tend to receive positive-to-neutral portrayals.

'''The Backwoods Bigot''': This variation of the trope is portrayed as "stupid" not because of mental acuity (or lack thereof), but specifically due to their social or political prejudices. Much more common in PoliticalCartoons than elsewhere, but do appear in other mediums on occasion. Tends to cross over with InsufferableImbecile, SmallTownTyrant and PoliticallyIncorrectVillain.

'''The Inbred Ignoramus''': The Inbred Ignoramus tends to encompass [[LowerClassLout all the worst stereotypes of rural America]]: [[AddledAddict perpetually drunk and/or on drugs]], [[MisanthropeSupreme misanthropic]], TooDumbToLive, unemployed and/or criminal, etc. May have some redeeming characteristics, [[AlwaysChaoticEvil but generally not]]. If the character is not [[InbredAndEvil canonically inbred]], you can bet that the joke will be made at some point. These characters tend to be proof that rural people are still on many people's list of AcceptableTargets.

'''The Half-Witted Hellbilly''': This is what happens when the Half-Witted Hillbilly crosses over with HillbillyHorrors. Very frequently overlaps with the Backwoods Bigot and Inbred Ignoramus variants.

* The Hillbilly Bears, from ''WesternAnimation/TheAtomAntShow'', featured a lazy mumbler as the head of the Rugg household but can fire a rifle with the best of them. His children have punny names--Shag (son) and Floral (daughter).

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Lucky, who debuted amongst a menagerie of other rednecks in the episode "The Redneck on Rainey Street" is a prominent example as a guy whose family had had shotgun marriages, and his primary income consists of frivolous lawsuits.

* The Kanker Sisters from ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' encompass a myriad of redneck stereotype, such as living in a trailer park with a single mother and [[spoiler:turning out they're inbred]]. May is the most obvious with her Southern accent, buck-teeth and easily being the dumbest of the trio. They also torment the neighborhood kids and sexually harass the protagonists, making them a trio of half-witted hellbillies.

* ''{{ComicBook/Preacher}}'' has a family of one-eyed inbred hillbillies who are among the most kind-hearted. The others are definitely in the HillbillyHorrors genre, including a trio of cave-dwelling cannibals and a compulsive rapist of AnythingThatMoves (and some things that don't, including a birthday cake).

[[folder:Comic Book]]

* Mostly averted in ''ComicBook/{{Hillbilly}}', where all the human characters in the FantasyAmericana setting are some variety of hayseed, but most are [[BookDumb perfectly intelligent, if uneducated by modern standards]]. However, the hero, Rondel, occasionally finds himself truly exasperated by the almost deliberate stupidity of some of the people he's trying to protect.
-->Some folks is [[FunetikAksent ignernt]], and that's all there is to it.

* Joel and Rufus from ''ComicStrip/GasolineAlley''.
* ComicStrip/SnuffySmith is a dumb, lazy moonshiner whose popularity led to him becoming the ''de facto'' star of the comic, all but completely ousting Barney Google, the original protagonist.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* Ma and Pa Kettle, originally supporting characters in the novel and film ''The Egg and I'', reached BreakoutCharacter status and starred in their own wildly popular series of films. The Kettles are a hillbilly couple with 15 children, and neither of them are exactly geniuses... but that makes them ideal for the comedic fish-out-of-water plots of their films.
* Film/ErnestPWorrell is an easygoing, good-natured, dim-witted Southerner originally created to hock various products on TV commercials in the South, but his popularity eventually led him to his own series of films. The character's charm and slapstick comedy helped launch the career of Creator/JimVarney.
* The film version of Film/ForrestGump is an edge case, being Genuinely Disabled. Still, he does satisfy many aspects of this trope, being that his folksy charm and humorous misunderstandings are a major part of the character's appeal.
* ''My Summer Story'' (AKA It Runs In The Family): The largely-forgotten sequel to ''Film/AChristmasStory'' referred to the other half of Jean Shepard's memoirs that resulted in the iconic film. In the memoir and the film, the Bumpus clan are nothing but Half-Witted Hillbillies who move into a place, turn it into a dump, and leave after the bills pile up. To further hammer home the lack of sophistication they had, they still used outhouses despite their home having indoor plumbing, and one of the Bumpus members, as a feat of strength, destroyed the stairway to the main door, which none of them bother to rebuild.

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': In "Just Remember the Red River Valley", Miss Brooks, Mr. Boynton, Mr. Conklin and Walter Denton try to get jobs with Deacon Jones' square dance troop. The deacon was looking for teachers to tutor "the hillbilly kids" during the summer at a salary of $500 a month (in 1954). According to a friend of Mr. Boynton, the deacon was looking for teachers who could relate to the children and double in the square dance act. This results in Miss Brooks and company pretending to be hillbillies. Unfortunately, ''Mr.'' Jones, ''State Inspector of Schools'', chooses that moment to pay a visit to Madison High School.

%%* The Music/RandyNewman song "Rednecks" parodies this trope.
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* The Hillbilly Bears, from ''WesternAnimation/TheAtomAntShow'', featured a lazy mumbler as the head of the Rugg household but can fire a rifle with the best of them. His children have punny names--Shag (son) and Floral (daughter).

* Curt and Pun'kinhead Martin from the old Creator/WarnerBros cartoon short "Hillbilly Hare" found themselves matching wits with Bugs Bunny... but find that they were unarmed the whole time.
** Other cartoons that featured hillbillies include "When I Yoo Hoo" (climaxing in a cockfight), "A Feud There Was" (with Egghead going as Elmer Fudd, peacemaker) plus "Backwoods Bunny" and "The Dixie Fryer" with Elvis and Pappy (two hillbilly hawks).

Compare TheIdiotFromOsaka, which is a similar concept in Japanese media. Contrast SouthernFriedGenius. May overlap with the CountryCousin, FarmBoy, FarmersDaughter, GoodOlBoy, or SouthernFriedPrivate.

* The infamous ''[[Series/TheXFiles X-Files]]'' episode "Home" featured a family of mutants that was the result of generations of incest. Like the Deliverance rapists, [[TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether this family was not meant to be funny]].

* The Swedish group Rednex assumes the identities and dress style of ''extremely'' [[FakeAmerican stereotypical American hillbillies]], and their biggest hit, "Cotton-Eyed Joe", is a [[SpeedyTechnoRemake techno rendition]] of an old Southern folk song. Suffice to say, the band doesn't exactly exude intelligence or dignity.