"The day Luke Ventura can't help out a friend, that's the day he's got something better to do."—Luke Ventura
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| Gender: | Male | |||
| Occupation: | Shoe salesman | |||
| Hair color: | Blonde | |||
| Appeared on: | Married... with Children | |||
| First appearance: | "Unaired Pilot" | |||
| Last appearance: | "Al Loses His Cherry" | |||
| Character played by: | Ritch Shydner | |||
Luke Ventura is one of Al's friends and a coworker at Gary's Shoes & Accessories for Today's Woman.
He was known for actually being polite to the customers. Although he was considerate to the fat women and the old ladies, he had his motives, making money. He reminded Al that when one is paid on commission, one must make the customers feel like royalty. Years after he left Gary's Shoes, Luke was featured in Shoe News for winning an award relating to the shoe industry (although he wasn't seen 'live'). Luke also appears to be more self-confident than Al in that he is secure enough not to let people's insulting remarks about shoe salesmen get to him like they do to Al.
Description
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He was a sly womanizer who was always seducing beautiful women and outperforming Al at sales, reminding Al that both of them were paid on commission. Peg hated him while Al tolerated him, and had invited Luke to Peg's birthday party, possibly to spite her. After Al had a bad fight with Peggy, Luke invites him to spend the night at his apartment. Luke was having a date with a couple of stewardesses; while Luke was sleeping with one, Al conversed with the other attractive blonde stewardess. Although this was an ideal situation for Al to commit adultery with a willing, beautiful woman, he ultimately realized his morals and returned home to Peg.
Luke disappears from the show after the first season, but is mentioned again in the ninth season episode "Pump Fiction," when Al learns from the shoe industry publication "Shoe News" that Luke is being given an award. This would mean either Luke opened up his own shoe store or got another job at another shoe store and did very well at it to win the award. Though he was portrayed to be a friend of Al's at the beginning of the series, after his disappearance he was spoken of as if he had since become Al's rival. Ironically, when Bud asks about Luke Ventura winning the award, Peggy stated he was a polite coworker of Al's, whereas before she could not stand him.
Like the Bundys and the Rhoades, named for a professional wrestler, in this case Jesse "The Body" Ventura, who would go on to be Governor of Minnesota 1999-2003.
