Louie De Palma

Louis "Louie" De Palma is the dispatcher for the Sunshine Cab Company. He was played by actor Danny DeVito.

Childhood
Louis Robert De Palma was born to Gabriella De Palma and an unnamed father on November 18, 1940. Not much is known about Louie‘s childhood, except that his father died when he was very young. In 1959, when Louie was at senior Prom, he was told that he was gonna dance with his crush, only to find out that they set out a high-chair for him, in attempt to mock and belittle him about his short stature.

Adulthood
Before becoming a dispatcher, Louie was the highest booking cab driver at the Sunshine Cab Company. We later find out that this is because he often used cheats to run up the meter, such as driving around the location in circles multiple times, as well as never stopping the meter. After his dispatcher (Mr. Mackenzie) was promoted to boss, Louie (because of his high bookings) was promoted to dispatcher. He also used cheats to get more money in his higher position of power from the cabbies, such as taking some of the cabbies booking money and putting it in his pockets for later. After Louie was promoted, Alex Reiger became the Sunshine Cab Co.’s biggest booker, though Louie has proven time and time again that he books up to $100 more on average than Alex (though Alex acquires a much larger sum in tips). In his first year as dispatcher, Louie hired Latka Gravas, who, even though Louie often mistreats him, remains Louie’a favorite person in the garage (besides himself). Louie went on to hire Bobby Wheeler and Tony Banta. During the first season, Louie reluctantly hires Elaine O’Connor-Nardo and John Burns as cabbies. In season three, Louie’s mom gets married to a man named Mr. Fujimoto, much to Louie’s chagrin.

Personality
Louie is a mean, foul mouthed, offensive, grumpy dispatcher, and besides being a deuteragonist of the show, he is also a primary antagonist to the cabbies. Besides being mean to Bobby, Tony, Latka, Alex, and Jim, he is probably the worst to Elaine. He had been accused of both sexually and physically harassing Elaine on multiple accounts, one of which got him temporarily fired and almost taken to court. He is also sometimes abusive of his mother, getting into multiple arguments with her and calling her names, one time even “hitting her teeth”. But, despite how awful and horrid Louie can be, he is deep-down a nice-ish person, and cares about his friends. Although, we have only seen him truly open up with Alex, Latka, and Elaine.