Did Dale Secretly Know About John and Nancy Redcorn on ‘King of the Hill’?

Some King of the Hill fans refuse to believe that Dale Gribble couldn’t see how badly John Redcorn was playing him for a fool, but others aren’t so convinced — Dale knew that “Licensed New Age Healer” was screwing around with his mower.

The suspicious paternity of young Joseph Gribble is one of the oldest jokes in Mike Judge’s masterpiece about a simple Texas town and its simple Texan inhabitants — some more simple than others. Despite Dale being suspicious about everything from the moon landing to a possible connection between the U.S. Postal Service and the Red Cross to the existence of Hawaii, 13 seasons and 259 total episodes of King of the Hill came and went without Rusty Shackleford ever getting wise to the fact that Mrs. Shackleford was shagging her masseuse, and that the only “headache” she needed healing was Dale himself.

King of the Hill fans recently took to Twitter to discuss a fan theory that suggests Dale Gribble was aware of his wife Nancy’s infidelities, choosing to ignore the affair between her and John Redcorn while raising their illegitimate child as his own instead of breaking up the family. 

As if that’s any more believable than Joseph Gribble’s real father being an alien.

It’s not unheard of for a cuckold to keep quiet about his cuckoldry despite knowing full well what his wife is doing behind his back. Some victims of infidelity would rather maintain the relationship and keep the family together rather than lose their loved ones, as well as their dignity. In Dale’s case, it’s easy to see why it might be in his best interest to look the other way — after all, Nancy is the breadwinner of the family, Joseph loves his pops and looks up to him despite the lack of family resemblance and Nancy constantly sneaking off for a “massage” gives Dale plenty of time to plan his next scheme or hunt his next bounty.

However, Judge is, above all else, a comedy writer, and there may be no better joke in all of King of the Hill than Arlen’s resident conspiracy theorist failing to “connect the dots in his own life,” as the above dissenter noted. Also, in terms of sitcom dynamics, it wouldn’t make sense for the crew of alley drinkers have two men with utterly tragic love lives — Bill has given himself enough heartache and self-pity for the entire town.

Sadly, when King of the Hill returns with a Hulu revival sometime in early 2025, Dale will likely not be returning as his voice actor Johnny Hardwick passed away back in 2023. As such, the Dale-Nancy fan theorists will never get the proof that Dale knew his wife was unfaithful that they desire. But a lack of evidence never stopped a good conspiracy theory before.