Tad Gupty

From DariaWiki

Tad Gupty is the youngest child of the Gupty family. He is the son of Lester and Lauren Gupty and the younger brother of Tricia Gupty. The family first appeared as background characters in "Malled." Their main focus comes from the episode "Pinch Sitter," when Daria babysits them. (Quinn usually babysits them, but convinced Daria to do it because she had a date.)

Like Tricia, Tad is well-behaved to the point that Daria finds them unnerving. He is able to easily recite lessons his parents have taught him about why television commercials and compacts discs are corporate scams. Instead, Tad enjoys such wholesome activities as flossing and shining people's shoes. He and Tricia usually get along, though they bicker a bit (she at one point calling him a "know-it-all"). Daria accidentally makes him cry at one point by asking what he would do if two adults told him opposite things. However, with Jane's help, she is eventually able to entertain and, in her words, "deprogram" them by the end of the night, and both claim she is their favorite babysitter.

Tad has another major role in the episode "I Loathe a Parade," where he gets lost during the Homecoming Parade. Daria and Tom find him and attempt to locate his family, only for him to slip away from them as well. It turns out that he saw his family and went to join them, and the Gupties thank the pair for taking care of him. His parents had reprogrammed him by this point, as he's back to his pre-Daria self. He also gets into an argument with Sandi Griffin for using animal-tested makeup.

According to Daria, Tad is six year old during the events of "Pinch Sitter" and seven during "I Loathe a Parade."

Tad is voiced by Glenn Eichler's son under the pseudonym of Miles Purinton. He and Tricia are based on two children Anne D. Bernstein used to babysit for, according to "Guestward Ho!"

In the Daria Day marathon, Daria and Jane imply something bad happened to the Gupty kids "after this episode made them stars."

Tad in fanfiction[edit]

Aside from appearing in numerous alternate universe retellings of "Pinch Sitter":

  • Tad appears alongside Tricia in Wouter's one-off comic "The Story of Count Ickula" in which Daria twists the story of Count Dracula in such a way that it's about skin care, rather than a blood thirsty vampire.