Garfield

First Appearance: June 19, 1978^[1]

Garfield is Jon's orange cat. Among his personality traits are his laziness, his cynicism and sarcasm, his hatred of Mondays, his tendency to be annoyed by Jon's dog Odie, his love for lasagna,^[2] and his hatred of Nermal.^[3]

In February 2017, a dispute arose on the talk page of the character's Wikipedia page as to the character's gender. Although other characters have persistently referred to Garfield with male pronouns, owing to comments that the character's creator, Jim Davis, made in 2014 to Mental Floss, in which he said, "Garfield is very universal. By virtue of being a cat, really, he's not really male or female or any particular race or nationality, young or old. It gives me a lot more latitude for the humour for the situations." Davis explained that although Garfield is neither male nor female, he does use male pronouns.^[3]

Jon Arbuckle

Jon Arbuckle is Garfield and Odie's owner.

First Appearance: June 19, 1978^[1]

Lyman

First Appearance: August 7, 1978^[4]

Last Appearance:

• As a regular: April 24, 1983
• Cameo in the tenth anniversary strip: June 19, 1988

In The Garfield Show episode "Long Lost Lyman" (season 3), effort is made to explain what became of the character in continuity. Lyman is said to have left Odie with Jon, before moving away to work as a wildlife photographer in a distant jungle. When Jon learns that Lyman disappeared while searching for a mythical Bigfoot-like creature, Jon, Garfield, and Odie travel to the jungle to find him. The "Long Lost Lyman" version of Lyman has round eyes resembling Jon's, rather than the dot-eyes of his traditional comics design, and is voiced by Frank Ferrante.^[5]

Odie

Main Article: Odie

Odie is a yellow-furred, brown-eared dog that resides with Jon and Garfield. The name came from a commercial written by Davis, which featured Odie the Village Idiot. Davis liked the name and reused it.^[6] Odie's main characteristic is his general "lack of intelligence and naiveté", which in general lets Garfield come out on top of their pranking.^[7][8][9] In "one glimpse at Odie's secret life" the dog is shown much more sophisticated when alone, and Davis lets "Odie get Garfield back every few months."^[8][9] While Garfield's "playful mistreatment" of Odie is a persistent element of the comic,^[8] some strips make clear that "deep down he knows he loves the little scamp".^[9] Odie has been considered a "much-loved",^[8] "lovable and adorable" and "fan-favourite" character. Jessica Jalali from Screen Rant saw in Odie and Garfield "an iconic duo that made it hard to separate one from the other".^[9] Librarian and cartoonist Katy Kavanagh saw Odie as "the comic relief" used to create humor in opposition to Garfield, who is "represented as the curmudgeon".^[10]

First Appearance: August 8, 1978^[11]

Pooky

First Appearance: October 23, 1978

Pooky is Garfield's toy bear that was found in a drawer by Garfield. Garfield often carries Pooky around and makes him interact with Jon.

Dr. Liz Wilson

First Appearance: March 14, 1979

On Garfield and Friends, Liz was voiced by Julie Payne, occasionally appearing in the first two seasons and once in the fourth season. In the live-action/animated movies, she is played by Jennifer Love Hewitt. Her first, albeit brief, television appearance was on the second TV special, Garfield on the Town.

In The Garfield Show, she is once again voiced by Julie Payne.

Nermal

First Appearance: September 3, 1979

Nermal is a small grey male tabby cat with thick eyelashes. Despite being an adult cat, he is smaller than most and prefers to call himself "the world's cutest kitten". Nermal was first introduced as Jon's parents' kitten.^[12] A recurring theme is Nermal's persistent annoyance of Garfield, which usually results in any number of retaliation by Garfield; mostly by attempting to mail Nermal to Abu Dhabi, which he has done over 74 times.

In Garfield and Friends, he is played by Desirée Goyette. In Garfield: The Movie, Nermal is portrayed as a Siamese cat in the neighborhood, and is voiced by David Eigenberg. Nermal is voiced by Jason Marsden in The Garfield Show, as well as in the films Garfield Gets Real, Garfield's Fun Fest, and Garfield's Pet Force.

Arlene

First Appearance: December 17, 1980

Arlene is a pink cat with thick eyelashes, large lips, and a gap between her two front teeth. She is a love interest for Garfield and is often made fun of by him for her tooth gap.

In the Garfield film, she appears as a (purple shade) Russian Blue cat, voiced by Debra Messing. In Garfield Gets Real, Garfield's Fun Fest, Garfield’s Pet Force, and The Garfield Show, she is played by Audrey Wasilewski.

Squeak

Main Article: Squeak

First Appearance: October 30, 1984

On Garfield and Friends, the character was originally named Floyd and voiced by Gregg Berger, who also reprises the role in The Garfield Show.^[13]

Mom

First Appearance: February 13, 1980

Dad

First Appearance: February 13, 1980

In The Garfield Show, he is voiced by Frank Welker.^[14]

Aunt Gussie

First Appearance: August 14, 1981

Aunt Gussie was a relative of Jon's who he and Garfield would occasionally visit. Although portrayed as a stereotypical old woman, Gussie often indicates that she lives a less-than-reserved lifestyle, such as teaching slamdancing for extra money. She often acts mean to Garfield, to where Garfield comments that Gussie used to double-date with Lizzie Borden. Gussie also harbors a crush on John Travolta.

Grandma

First Appearance: January 25, 1982

Jon's grandmother appears in Garfield's Thanksgiving and A Garfield Christmas Special, in which she is voiced by Pat Carroll.

Doc Boy

First Appearance: May 17, 1983

In A Garfield Christmas Special, he was voiced by David Lander.^[15]

Doc Boy also appears in six episodes of The Garfield Show, with Lander reprising his role.

Garfield's mother

Garfield's mother first appeared in the animated specials Garfield on the Town and Garfield: His 9 Lives. She has since made several cameos in the comic strip, including a December 1984 story that is a loose adaptation of Garfield on the Town. She also appeared once on Garfield and Friends, in an episode called "The Garfield Rap." Sandi Huge provided her voice in the specials.

Garfield's grandfather

First Appearance: November 10, 1980

Garfield's grandpa first appeared in the strip on November 10, 1980.

In Garfield on the Town, a different-looking, rougher maternal grandfather is seen living with Garfield's mother. Whether the comic strip's version is Garfield's paternal grandfather has not been explicitly clarified.

Herman Post

First Appearance: July 19, 1978

Jon Arbuckle's mailman is a character seen in the first four seasons of Garfield and Friends. In "The Mail Animal", he is fired because his boss, the postmaster, perceives him as being weak-willed. However, Garfield treats the postmaster even worse, resulting in the postmaster begging Post to return to work.

In The Garfield Show episode "Mailman Blues", he goes on vacation to Hawaii. Before Post goes on vacation, he warns his replacement, Stu, about Garfield, describing him as a "monster". While Herman Post is on his vacation, Garfield torments Stu. However, Stu quits, and Herman returns early only after receiving a raise. He reveals that this has happened every year for 13 years.

In Garfield and Friends, the mailman is voiced by Gregg Berger.^[13]

Irma

First Appearance: June 9, 1979

Binky the Clown

First Appearance: September 17, 1986

A television personality noted for his extremely loud and piercing greetings, most notably "HEEEEEEEY, KIDS!" He appears to be a parody of Bozo the Clown, and in the cartoons shares an exaggerated raspy voice with the Bob Bell portrayal of Bozo. He is often compared to Krusty the Clown from The Simpsons, who is also portrayed with an exaggeratedly raspy voice, based on Bell's.^[16]

The character first appeared in the animated TV special Garfield's Halloween Adventure.

He was first mentioned in the comic strip on March 13, 1985. Other clowns are seen prior to this mention, but appear to be different characters. Binky was first seen in the comics on September 15, 1986, then appeared in person on September 17, 1986.

The Big Vicious Dog

First Appearance: September 12, 1995

Hubert and Reba

Hubert and Reba are an elderly couple who live near Jon. Hubert is often portrayed as an older man, while Reba is often either unseen or tending to household chores. The couple made an appearance in Here Comes Garfield. In the animated cartoon, Hubert is portrayed as hostile towards Garfield and Odie, after Garfield tore up their yard and knocked flowers and dirt on Hubert's head. He calls the animal shelter personnel to remove them. In the strips, Hubert is less hostile towards Garfield.

The Buddy Bears

A trio of bears that sing and appear in multiple episodes of Garfield and Friends. They are named Billy, Bobby and Bertie Buddy Bear. Their appearances usually involve them trying to educate their viewers and other characters, such as agreements, friendship and sweetness, but they are usually disturbing and contradictory at best. They have their own in-universe TV show called the Buddy Bears Show.