Steve Urkel

Steven Quincy Urkel is a fictional character on the ABC/CBS sitcom "Family Matters" who was portrayed by Jaleel White. Originally slated to have been a one-time only character on the show, he soon broke out to be its most popular character and gradually became its protagonist. Due to the Urkel character's off-putting characteristics and the way he is written to stir up events and underscore the plot or even move it along, he is considered a nuisance by the original protagonist's family, the Winslows, though they come to accept him over time.
The character is the epitome of a geek or nerd of the era, due to traits such as large, thick eyeglasses, flood pants held up by suspenders, multi-colored cardigan sweaters, saddle shoes, and a high-pitched voice. He professes love for his neighbor Laura Winslow, who is a character in the main family of the series, but this love of his is written as an accent on or trigger for events and crises, and is therefore unrequited until the end of the series.
From the Urkel character's debut through the rest of the series' run, he is central to many of its running gags, primarily property damage and/or personal injury as a result of his inventions going awry or his outright clumsiness. He becomes known by viewers and characters alike for several catchphrases uttered after some humorous misfortune occurs, including "I've fallen and I can't get up!", "I don't have to take this. I'm going home." "Did I do that?" "Whoa, Mama!" and "Look what you did!" (on occasions when someone else caused the damage, though usually the accident was indirectly caused by Urkel).
Character development.
In syndication, Steve Urkel first appeared on the 4th episode of the first season, "Rachel's First Date" (as the show staff wanted to more naturally introduce him to audiences upon repeated viewings). On the 12th episode of the first season, "Laura's First Date", he reappears as a nerdy young boy who takes Laura Winslow out on a date. While he is madly in love with her, Laura finds Steve grating and doesn't return his affection. While intended as a minor character, Urkel became very popular for his oddball antics. He soon became a recurring character, and joined the main cast beginning with the season two premiere "Rachel's Place".
"Family Matters" co-creator Michael Warren named the character after his friend, writer and director Steve Erkel. Due to the show and the character's tremendous popularity during the early 1990s, Erkel encountered difficulties using his own name; he received many prank phone calls from "Laura" asking for "Steve", and businesses found his name to be suspicious. Warren stated that had he known that the character would reappear for years he would not have named him after his friend.
Portrayal.
An archetypal nerd, Steve Urkel is characterized as kind and well-meaning, but bungling and a meddler. He is fiercely protective of and obsessed with his unrequited love Laura Winslow, and this admiration extends to the rest of the Winslow family. However, Steve is comically clumsy and inept and his attempts to help the Winslows usually go awry. This puts him at odds with the family patriarch Carl, who routinely throws Urkel out of his house. He has shown to take responsibility for his own mistakes and reimburses the Winslows for the damages he's done. Steve is close to Mother Winslow who is delighted each time he comes over, much to Carl's chagrin.
Later episodes suggest that Steve's attachment to the Winslows stems from his bad relationship with his own family. Urkel often hints that most of his relatives, including his (unseen) parents, despise him and refuse to associate with him. This culminates in the two moving to Russia without him, whereupon he moves in with the Winslows. The show has also revealed that Steve has at least four relatives who care about him in Uncle Ernie who owns a horse trailer, Uncle Cecil who, despite his gambling problems, visits the Urkel home to keep an eye on him, Aunt Oona from Altoona who is like a mother to him and cousin Myrtle.
Urkel dresses unfashionably for someone his age (he is most commonly seen wearing suspenders, brightly colored shirts, and high water pants) and has a number of eccentric hobbies and interests, including polka dancing and accordion playing. His motor vehicle of choice is the small three-wheeled Isetta. Unlike his friends, he has little interest in popular culture and athletic endeavors. This has caused Myra to be attracted to Urkel himself due to them not being interested in pop culture.
While he is unpopular with his schoolmates, Urkel is a brilliant student and is on a first-name basis with his teachers. He is a genius inventor as well, and his fantastical but unreliable gadgets (including a transformation device and a time machine) are central to many "Family Matters" plots and gags.
Urkel also has an adept sense of lawbreaking which involves peer pressure. This has been explored four times, mainly with Eddie since he often has to learn his lesson the hard way when he finds himself in situations outside his control.
Stefan Urquelle.
During the episode "Dr. Urkel and Mr. Cool", in a takeoff on The Nutty Professor films, Urkel devises a plan to win Laura's heart: transforming his DNA using a serum, which suppresses his "nerd genes" and brings out his "cool" genes. This results in the alter ego known as Stefan Urquelle, played by Jaleel White in more casual attire. Initially, Laura is enamored with the smoother Stefan, but asks that he turn back into Steve when Stefan's self-centeredness makes itself apparent.
Steve improves the formula in the season five episode "Stefan Returns" to reduce its negative effects on his personality, and invents a "transformation chamber" allowing him to become Stefan at will. He would change into Stefan several times – even while dating Myra – but some circumstance would force Steve to turn into his normal self again. With his narcissistic tendencies toned down, Laura falls deeply in love with Steve's alter-ego.
In the seventh-season finale "Send in the Clones", Steve creates a cloning machine and winds up creating a perfect duplicate of himself. Myra is initially excited, but eventually realizes that two Steves are just too much. To clear up the situation, Laura proposes that one of the Steves be permanently turned into Stefan, so that she and Myra can both be with the one they love. This Stefan becomes a recurring character and eventually proposes to Laura in the ninth season. After weighing her choices in the episode "Pop Goes the Question", Laura chooses Steve over Stefan. Stefan departs and is not seen again.
Cultural impact.
In 2010, Westside Middle School in Memphis, Tennessee outlined its dress code policy on sagging pants, asking students to pull them up or get "Urkeled", a reference to the character. In this practice, teachers would forcibly pull students' pants up and attach them to their waist using zip ties. Students would also have their photo taken and posted on a board in the hallway, for all of their classmates to view. In an interview with NBC affiliate WMC-TV, Principal Bobby White stated that the general idea is to fight pop culture with pop culture. One teacher at the school claimed to have "Urkeled" up to 80 students per week, although after five weeks the number dropped to 18.
Ratings effect.
In syndication, Steve is incorporated into the teaser scene of "Rachel's First Date"; his first appearance in the original broadcasts is in the 1989 episode "Laura's First Date", in which Carl and Eddie separately set up dates for Laura for a dance or party (both terms are used in the episode), and the first thing known about him is that he allegedly ate a mouse, and he later makes reference to a mouse when speaking to Carl, implying that it might be true. Prior to Steve Urkel's introduction, the show was on the brink of cancellation due to mediocre ratings. After Urkel was introduced, several scripts had to be hastily rewritten to accommodate the character, while several first-season episodes that had been completed had new opening gag sequences filmed featuring Steve trying to push open the Winslows' front door while the family holds it shut. The addition of Steve immediately helped the show boost its modest ratings. White was credited as a guest star in the first season and became a regular member of the cast in season two.
Jo Marie Payton, who played Harriette Winslow, admitted that she felt the Urkel character had hogged much of the show's attention and disrupted the close family relationship she had formed with the rest of the cast. She experienced increasing burnout over the course of the show and felt that the overbearing focus on Urkel had made the show jump the shark; she very nearly quit when the show moved to CBS but agreed to stay for the first several episodes while a new actress, Judyann Elder, was cast as Harriet. White is one of the few living members of the cast with whom Payton no longer speaks regularly. She nevertheless speaks well of her experiences and appreciates the effect that Urkel had on the show's popularity and thus the residuals everyone receives from the show. Reginald VelJohnson also discussed the focus on Urkel but was much less negative about it than Payton, stating bluntly that all of the cast benefited from the massive success of the show in relation to the fans' love for Steve Urkel, and that he never felt short-changed by this process.
The Urkel Dance.
The Urkel Dance was a novelty dance that originated in the season two episode "Life of the Party". It was based around the character of Steve Urkel and essentially incorporated movements which made the dancer's posture more like his.
The dance was popular enough to appear on another show, "Step by Step", when the Steve Urkel character appeared in a crossover in the season one episode "The Dance".
Jaleel White also performed the song, in character as Steve Urkel, on the 5th Annual American Comedy Awards. Bea Arthur (from "Maude" & "The Golden Girls") joined him on stage to "Do The Urkel," after which she said, "Hey MC Hammer, try and touch that!"
A promotional cassette single of the song that accompanies the dance was produced and distributed in limited numbers. A T-shirt was also produced featuring lyrics and Urkel's likeness.
Rick Sanchez pays some form of homage to The Urkel Dance with "The Rick Dance" in the "Rick and Morty" episode Ricksy Business.
Merchandise.
At the height of his popularity, Urkel's name was branded to several products including a short-lived fruit flavored cereal known as Urkel-Os and a Steve Urkel pullstring doll, which were both released in 1991. There was also a T-shirt line that was created in 2002, but was discontinued shortly after its inception. In 2021 White launched his own cannabis brand that featured a strain called "Purple Urkle".
Reception.
In 1999, "TV Guide" ranked Urkel #27 on its list of the "50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time". In 2004, he was listed at #98 in Bravo's "100 Greatest TV Characters".