Steven tried to bribe him with 50 dollars to get all the channels for free and he refuses the money, but accepted with the condition that they should be hang out as friends. Also at some point of his life he developed a lisp speech impediment.Ĭhip first met Steven Kovacs (the movie's protagonist) when he first installed his cable in his new apartment. The company fired him for stalking customers, but he remained undeterred and still used his profession and his knowledge as a cable guy to make friends. Later in his life he became a cable installer for an unknown cable company. Babysitter' which was what she called the television, which is effectively what raised him. The Cable Guy was raised in a neglectful home by his mother who worked nights and told him to stay near 'Mr. But when Steven Kovacs moves into his apartment, he picks the wrong cable guy! This guy doesn't want fifty bucks, he wants a friend for life and won't take no for an answer! Steven is about to learn that there's no such thing as free cable. Slip the cable guy fifty bucks and you'll get the movie channels for free, it's a well honoured urban ritual. He also likes to joke around, judging by the many times he always teased Steven by sounding serious but then telling him he was just messing with him. He suffered mainly from loneliness because of his childhood neglect which is why he was too over keen to make friends, making bad decisions (such as stalking) in the process and when Steven gently turned him down, he went insane and began a series of vengeful acts. The Cable Guy claimed that his real name was 'Ricky Ricardo' but this is undoubtedly another television reference because he does the Ricky Ricardo laugh and says 'Babalú' from I Love Lucy after this. He was known under various aliases from tv sitcoms, his most used one was Ernie 'Chip' Douglas which were the children's names from My Three Sons, other names included Larry Tate (Bewitched), The Big Ragoo also known as Carmine (Laverne and Shirley) and Murray Slaughter (the Mary Tyler Moore show), George Jetson (The Jetsons) and Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek). His real name is never actually revealed, not even in the credits.

Mac walters and that other guy