Sleepy characters?
March 4, 2008 11:22 AM   Subscribe

What fictional characters or real people would you say are defined by their sleepiness or tiredness?

My Google-fu was failing me. Is there an obvious source for this kind of information?
posted by kepano to Society & Culture (66 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
The Prince who is supposed to marry Princess Vespa in Spaceballs.
posted by nitsuj at 11:24 AM on March 4, 2008


Sleeping Beauty
posted by ReiToei at 11:25 AM on March 4, 2008


Rip Van Winkle.
posted by o0dano0o at 11:25 AM on March 4, 2008


The Dormouse.
posted by Coatlicue at 11:26 AM on March 4, 2008


That dwarf....you know, he's one of the seven Dwarves? I can never remember his name....oh man....there's Grumpy, Dopey....but I can't think of the perpetually tired one! Oh man, what is his name?!?

Oh that's right, it's Sleepy.
posted by Grither at 11:27 AM on March 4, 2008


Sleepy, one of the 7 dwarfs.
posted by ReiToei at 11:27 AM on March 4, 2008


Maybe narcolepsy is not quite the same as sleepiness, but perhaps this would be useful: Narcolepsy in popular culture.
posted by dixie flatline at 11:28 AM on March 4, 2008


Ronald Reagan.
posted by otolith at 11:30 AM on March 4, 2008


That one dwarf, Sleepy, from Snow White.
posted by Wild_Eep at 11:30 AM on March 4, 2008


Snorlax?
posted by ArgentCorvid at 11:30 AM on March 4, 2008 [2 favorites]


Mr. Vargas
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:31 AM on March 4, 2008


Garfield
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:33 AM on March 4, 2008


This page cites Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Napoleon, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison and George W. Bush as being "nappers," but they don't have any sources.
posted by otolith at 11:34 AM on March 4, 2008


Joe in Dicken's The Pickwick Papers.
posted by lucia__is__dada at 11:34 AM on March 4, 2008


Slowpoke Rodriguez (Speedy Gonzalez's cousin)
posted by bluefrog at 11:37 AM on March 4, 2008


Oblomov.
posted by languagehat at 11:38 AM on March 4, 2008 [3 favorites]


Gonzales! Sorry
posted by bluefrog at 11:38 AM on March 4, 2008


Eeyore?
posted by sweetkid at 11:39 AM on March 4, 2008


Ed, from Cowboy Bebop.
posted by saladin at 11:41 AM on March 4, 2008


Lucia beat me to The Pickwick Papers!

The Dormouse at the Mad Hatter's tea party in Alice in Wonderland.
posted by prefpara at 11:43 AM on March 4, 2008


Al Pacino's character in Insomnia. Or maybe that was a lack of sleepiness that was his problem.
posted by SpacemanStix at 11:46 AM on March 4, 2008


Jeff from The Wiggles.
posted by headspace at 11:47 AM on March 4, 2008 [3 favorites]


Bedtime Bear, of the Care Bears
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 11:51 AM on March 4, 2008


Droopy Dog? I forget if he was actually sleepy/tired or just kind of low-energy.

Stellan Skarsgard's character from the original Insomnia.
posted by hihowareyou at 11:54 AM on March 4, 2008


The main character in Taxi Driver.
posted by Melismata at 11:55 AM on March 4, 2008


Lazy Smurf
posted by kimdog at 11:56 AM on March 4, 2008


OH! And, the doctors on ER. Wasn't the pilot all about how Marc Greene couldn't catch any Zs?
posted by prefpara at 11:57 AM on March 4, 2008


Droopy, Lazy Smurf
posted by necessitas at 11:58 AM on March 4, 2008


Cace Pollard, protagonist of William Gibson's excellent novel Pattern Recognition, spend much of the book jetlagged, which is gorgeously described.
posted by donovan at 12:03 PM on March 4, 2008


Macbeth?
posted by Soliloquy at 12:03 PM on March 4, 2008


John Lennon - a real person - has at least two Beatles songs about being sleepy. I'm Only Sleeping (youtube) and I'm So Tired. (youtube)

The I'm Only Sleeping article goes into further detail about how Lennon generally liked to stay in bed.
posted by kpmcguire at 12:06 PM on March 4, 2008


The "Mexican" mouse character from Tom & Jerry (?) who is always seen taking a siesta in his sombrero and poncho on the sidewalk. Goofus of Goofus and Galant. (The latter may be more lazy than sleepy.)
posted by wowbobwow at 12:07 PM on March 4, 2008


The Narrator/Tyler Durden in Fight Club.
posted by baphomet at 12:09 PM on March 4, 2008


Bedtime Bear from the Care Bears
posted by cadge at 12:10 PM on March 4, 2008


Rowan Atkinson's character in Rat Race.
posted by lou at 12:14 PM on March 4, 2008


mr. lazy
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 12:16 PM on March 4, 2008


sleepy pete?
posted by mattbucher at 12:17 PM on March 4, 2008


Harriet Tubman was narcoleptic.
posted by chara at 12:17 PM on March 4, 2008


River Phoenix's character in My Own Private Idaho is narcoleptic.
posted by headnsouth at 12:22 PM on March 4, 2008


Dagwood Bumstead.
posted by expialidocious at 12:23 PM on March 4, 2008


Sleepy Sam, the castle guard in J P Martin's Uncle books.
Swelter, the cook in Gormenghast.
posted by scruss at 12:24 PM on March 4, 2008


Ralph Roberts, the lead character in Stephen King's Insomnia. There was also Vic Hitler, the narcopeltic comedian, on Hill Street Blues.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 12:26 PM on March 4, 2008


scruss, negative on Swelter. He was fat but not sleepy. Drunk, the first time we see him, but aside from that...
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 12:27 PM on March 4, 2008


Oblomov?
posted by trip and a half at 12:31 PM on March 4, 2008


Beetle Bailey.
posted by ND¢ at 12:40 PM on March 4, 2008


Nemo!
posted by klangklangston at 12:44 PM on March 4, 2008


Jeff Goldblum's character in Into the Night.

Griffin Dunne's character in After Hours.

Wikipedia, Narcolepsy in popular culture
posted by kirkaracha at 12:48 PM on March 4, 2008


The version of Sleeping Beauty in Shrek III
posted by amtho at 12:48 PM on March 4, 2008


Buster Bluth. "Wow, we’re just blowing through nap time, aren’t we?"
posted by yeti at 12:50 PM on March 4, 2008 [1 favorite]


The Somnambulist from The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari.
posted by munchingzombie at 12:52 PM on March 4, 2008


Was sleepiness a defining characteristic of Jughead Jones? I know he was always hungry, and kinda lazy, but he seemed to sleep a lot in the Archie comics of my youth.
posted by Shepherd at 1:00 PM on March 4, 2008


Response by poster: Thanks for all the excellent answers! It seems Ask MeFi really is the best place for this information.
posted by kepano at 1:01 PM on March 4, 2008


Sleepwalker from Marvel Comics.
posted by bettafish at 1:03 PM on March 4, 2008


The Lotus-eaters – there is no joy but calm.

When the Sleeper Wakes by H. G. Wells might not quite fit, as the protagonist... wakes up and has adventures... but everything hinges on the fact that he was asleep for thousands of years.
posted by prefpara at 1:16 PM on March 4, 2008


Nemu, in the extraordinarily good anime series "Haibane Renmei".

She was named that because in her cocoon dream, she was sleeping. It comes from this kanji: which is the root for the verb "nemuru" to sleep.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 1:46 PM on March 4, 2008


The San Francisco Chronicle's Little Man.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 2:05 PM on March 4, 2008


Most working mothers?
posted by Thorzdad at 2:12 PM on March 4, 2008


Buster Bluth. "Wow, we’re just blowing through nap time, aren’t we?"

Ha, I thought of that too, although I don't know I'd say he's "defined' by it. "Man, it's tired in here."
posted by hihowareyou at 2:45 PM on March 4, 2008 [1 favorite]


Mr. Hurst in Pride and Prejudice?
posted by Jazz Hands at 2:51 PM on March 4, 2008


The pre-cogs in Minorty Report.
posted by hot soup girl at 2:56 PM on March 4, 2008


The Guy from Half-Baked
posted by SBMike at 2:57 PM on March 4, 2008


Vick Hitler, the Narcoleptic Comedian. From Hill Street Blues.
posted by legotech at 3:07 PM on March 4, 2008


What about Peter Fox from Fox Trot (comic)?
posted by SisterHavana at 3:08 PM on March 4, 2008


Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.
posted by tew at 3:43 PM on March 4, 2008


Remus Lupin from Harry Potter was often described as sickly and tired looking.
posted by Meagan at 4:41 PM on March 4, 2008


The House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe is full of all kinds of people with sleep disorders, especially the narcoleptic Sarah who can't tell her dreams from reality.
posted by exceptinsects at 11:19 PM on March 4, 2008


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