Kahn Souphanousinphone

Kahn Souphanousinphone, Sr. is a fictional character on the animated series King of the Hill. He and his wife Minh and daughter Connie live next door to the Hills. Kahn works in the Information Technology industry as a system analyst.

An immigrant from Laos, Kahn represents the new American trying to blend into the melting pot of Arlen, Texas. Like many immigrants, Kahn is preoccupied with achieving "the American dream." In his case, this means succeeding financially, having his daughter excel academically, and keeping up with the Joneses (or the Hills, as the case may be). Kahn brags about his material possessions and puts down his neighbors, calling them names like "hillbilly" and "redneck." He also has an affinity for '80s pop music. Kahn idolizes Ted Wassanasong, an Asian-American even more affluent than Kahn. However Kahn doesn't realize that Ted, and presumably most of the Asian community, dislikes him (he and his wife have forbidden their son to date Connie). Kahn's greatest fear is that his daughter might marry Bobby Hill, who embodies everything Kahn dislikes about white Americans.

Kahn quietly respects Hank, and is aware that Hank is in many ways his equal, which makes Kahn respect him even more. Although Kahn frequently disparages Hank's blue-collar values and tastes, and almost never socializes with him, in one episode Kahn confesses that Hank is his best friend. When a thuggish neighbor moved into their neighborhood, Hank formed an alliance with Kahn to drive him out.

Kahn is a non-practicing Buddhist. He also gets very irritated when people ask him if he is "Chinese or Japanese", and was forced to constantly remind Hank and the rest of his neighbors about his Laotian heritage when he first moved into the neighborhood.

Trivia

 * Kahn is an anagram of Hank and plays off a common Laotian name, Kham. His last name is a distortion of the word sousaphone, made to look Laotian.
 * Kahn said in the episode "The Bluegrass is Always Greener" that Luang Prabang is his hometown, and that he pushes Connie so that he can return there and show her off.
 * Kahn's widowed mother, professional domestic Laoma Souphanousinphone, briefly dated Bill Dauterive. Kahn was horrified enough to learn she desired to work in Bill's house (or as Kahn called it "that filthy cracker shack!"), but when he discovered the two were a couple, he fainted ("Maid in Arlen").
 * Much to the dismay of Hank, Kahn uses mesquite and/or charcoal to barbecue with instead of "clean-burning, energy-efficient" propane.
 * He escaped from Laos by stealing government license plates and driving to Thailand.
 * Kahn's license plate reads "KINGKAHN".
 * In "Shins of the Father", Cotton Hill is the only person who reconises Kahn as Laotian.
 * Fellow Laotian Ted Wassanasong calls Kahn a banana (yellow on the outside, white on the inside) in the episode "Orange You Sad I Did Say Banana?" because he and his family have abandoned their Laotian traditions for an American lifestyle.
 * The first Souphanousinphone family car was a blue Toyota Van, (in one episode it was a fifth generation Nissan Maxima that he traded in for a downsized 80s Chevrolet El Camino), and it was replaced with a Chevy Tahoe, despite being crushed by Bill Dauterive's stolen tank.
 * Kahn and Hank will both deny their children dessert as punishment, but neither one believes in spanking, which Kahn describes as "barbaric" (Westie Side Story).
 * Being from a former French colony, Kahn speaks French fluently.
 * The voice actor for Kahn (Toby Huss) also appeeared in Reno 911: Miami, using an identical voice.