John Redcorn


John Redcorn III is a character in the Fox animated series King of the Hill. He is addressed or referred to as "John Redcorn" or "Mr. Redcorn" by every character in the series, and very rarely just "John" or "Johnny".
A former roadie for Winger and "Licensed New Age Healer", John is Nancy Gribble's Native American masseur, her lover of 14 years and the biological father of Joseph Gribble. Both Dale Gribble and Joseph are completely unaware of this, although it is obvious to everyone else in the neighborhood due to the time John Redcorn spends with Nancy and the close resemblance between Joseph and John Redcorn. John Redcorn has a sister, who Nancy seems to assume told everyone about their affair. A recurring gag is that whenever Dale makes a comment about being Joseph's father, John Redcorn shows up. It is mentioned in season 5, episode 4 that John Redcorn is a member of the Anasazi tribe.
In episode 38, Peggy Hill, still oblivious to the relationship between John Redcorn and Nancy, goes to him for help with a real headache. When Hank confronts John Redcorn, John Redcorn says he would never "heal" Peggy the way he heals "the wives of others", implying that he is somewhat known as a womanizer.
John Redcorn drives a tan Jeep Wrangler and becomes the lead singer of the band Big Mountain Fudgecake, for which Lucky Kleinschmidt plays guitar and Dale is briefly the manager. Following the breakup of the band, John Redcorn begins singing toned-down solo acoustic children's versions of his songs at the Strickland company barbecue and becomes instantly popular. It was revealed that Big Mountain Fudgecake got back together near the end of the episode "Earthly Girls are Easy". When driving, he is often heard playing Pat Benatar songs, including the hits "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" and "Heartbreaker". He is also notable for playing music from the band Foreigner, such as "Hot Blooded" and "Double Vision".
John Redcorn is often seen reading a book about Native American rights in North America, entitled This Land is Our Land. A recurring gag is that when he begins speaking about matters related to Native traditions and their spiritual meanings, his long black hair is dramatically whisked up in a breeze. Despite his dedication to his heritage, it has sometimes backfired on him. When Bobby Hill becomes interested in Native American rights, John Redcorn seems pleased. However, Bobby discovers that John Redcorn's tribe engaged in cannibalism, which then causes a mortified John Redcorn to have to explain to everyone how that practice was discontinued centuries ago.
As a recurring gag, Dale sees several signs of the affair, but always draws the wrong conclusions. On one occasion, he finds him trying to sneak inside to have sex with Nancy, but thinks he is trying to steal his mower; when Dale reports having a vision of a Native American making love with his wife and Joseph being handed to him, he then assumes that means he is part Native American himself; when John Redcorn says straight to a TV camera that "I slept with Hank's best friend's wife for thirteen years" with Dale inches away, Dale thinks he means Bill's wife and not his. John Redcorn's access to Nancy is caused primarily by Dale ignorantly allowing him to be her masseur and often trusting her to him to keep her away from other men who may have affairs with her. It is revealed in Season 6 that Dale believes John Redcorn to be gay, which partially explains his contentment with letting him be alone with his wife so often.
John Redcorn has a predictably difficult relationship with Dale; though he considers him a good man, he is jealous of his relationship with Nancy and Joseph, and exasperated by how Dale's eccentricities influence Joseph. He seems depressed that he was not more a father to Joseph, which is later partially resolved when Nancy reveals to Joseph that since they all are "from the Earth", John Redcorn and Joseph are in fact related. In "Nancy Boys", after Dale helps him with a lawsuit against the Federal government, John Redcorn calls Dale "a true friend" and cites this as a reason for agreeing to split up with Nancy; he made a similar comment to Hank regarding Peggy in an earlier episode. However, later in the series in the episode "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow", he would attempt to reconnect with Nancy.
John Redcorn and Joseph are especially estranged. Whenever John tries to engage Joseph and introduce him to Native American practices and rituals, Joseph doesn't show any interest. He is often bored and creeped out by John Redcorn. John Redcorn shows special interest into forging a real bond in Spin The Choice, to no avail—until Nancy takes Joseph aside and sets him straight. It's implied she finally told him and he starts to take John Redcorn as a mentor by Vision Quest. John Redcorn has had a long-time desire to be a professional musician and he forms a band. When the band isn't very good and doesn't take off, Dale re-works his image as a performer of children's songs and establishes himself as "The Native American Raffi", as Dale puts it. Soon, John Redcorn prospers.
In the season 12 episode, John Redcorn finds out he had a daughter, named Kate and a son named Drew, by a woman named Charlene during the same period that he was having an affair with Nancy. John Redcorn had forgotten about it since, and Nancy was not happy when she learned about his double affair. Charlene then falls for Bill Dauterive and had moved her family in with him; likewise, Kate and Joseph fell for each other, which disturbed all the characters aware of the children's shared parentage. At the end of the episode, Charlene and her two kids leave Bill and move in with John Redcorn, although they are never seen or mentioned for the rest of the series.