Kimmy Gibbler
On the television
sitcom Full House,
Kimberly Louise "Kimmy" Gibbler was
D.J. Tanner's best friend and the Tanners' next door neighbor. Gibbler was portrayed by
Andrea Barber. While the character was just a recurring guest star early on, she soon became part of the main cast in response to the success of
Steve Urkel on
Family Matters.
Kimmy is an
enigma. A couple of the household's members Joey (who interestingly speaks to Kimmy only twice during the series) and Rebecca tolerate her, while Danny, Jesse, and especially Stephanie can't stand her. Michelle is probably in the former category of tolerating. However, D.J. really likes her. Whether it's because she can live on the edge a little by hanging around her, or because she gets to practice her natural leadership skills and guide her, is uncertain. It's probably more a desire to help Kimmy, though there is a little of the edge, too. For instance, it's revealed in a later episode that when they were thirteen, Kimmy and D.J. hitchhiked to Berkeley on Halloween. D.J. has also prevented Kimmy from getting way too wild, such as when Kimmy got drunk at a party and D.J. brought her home for the night ("Under the Influence").
She is mentioned in the first episode, but we first see her in the third, when D.J. tells Stephanie "Kimmy's not an airhead, she just doesn't like to think." Kimmy's schoolwork was always average at best, and she copies off D.J. all the time. While no mental challenge is ever mentioned, it is of course possible that she had one. However, bad grades are only part of the Kimmy Gibbler persona. Her tastes in clothing and other things was quite strange at times. Her parents didn't pay much attention to her, it appears, as they paid for her to go on a trip to the
Walt Disney World Resort with the Tanner family, and in one episode, her mom even punished her by grounding her over at the Tanners.
D.J. met Kimmy in kindergarten, but the math from another, later episode speaks of a friendship going back to when they were nine or so. It is imagined that age nine is when their being best friends started; perhaps this coincided with her moving next door. This is quite possible, because in one early episode, Kimmy remarks that her family would live in a place for about five years, trash it, and then move out. Mentions of roller blading in the living room and such lead one to believe that is true, while since they lived next door all eight years, something - most likely owning the home instead of renting - led them to take better care of it so they wouldn't have to move out. And, what would cause them to have the money to buy the house next to the Tanners? That is not certain, but the speculation is as wild as Kimmy's
1970s clothing, and one suspects the answer may be as weird as Kimmy herself.
Stephanie in particular can't stand Kimmy, who in turn teases her back quite a bit in the early seasons. Kimmy is not above teasing the other Tanners, too, calling Jesse "Hairboy" because of his perfect hair at times, and calling Danny "Mr. T." and going so far as to play "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" on their piano in the episode after Danny and Vicki broke up. However, the Tanner's biggest fear is her removing her socks (her feet in general) as her stinky feet are her biggest means of torture for anyone.
However, underneath that comical, joking exterior is a true friend who is as much a support for D.J. as D.J. is for her. One imagines her as a wonderful support for D.J. in the weeks after Pam died; in fact, Danny isn't quite as annoyed by her the first couple seasons, perhaps remembering how she helped D.J.. And, despite some arguments over the years - such as when D.J. fired Kimmy from her sports reporting job on the school paper for writing a gossip column instead, or when D.J. forgot her sixteenth birthday because it was also her six month anniversary of being with Steve - Kimmy remained a faithful and trusted friend right up to the end, when she brings D.J.'s boyfriend Steve to the Tanners' doorstep so he can escort D.J. to her senior prom.
Kimmy has nicknames for everyone in the Tanner household (except D.J).
* Danny: Mr. T, Stringbean
* Jesse: Hairboy
* Becky: Mrs. Hairboy
* Stephanie: Squirt, Blondie
* Michelle: Squirt Jr.
* Nicky and Alex: Twin Terrors, Squirts
