Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - Bart Gets an Elephant

Episode Date: June 21, 2017

This week the boys go into one of the all-time greats, where Bart wins something stupid and the family must cope with it! We have a ton of stories to share in this loooooong episode, so settle in, it's going to get stampy.

This week's episode of Talking Simpsons is brought to you by you. That's right, we're on Patreon now, so head on over to patreon.com slash talking simpsons. For as little as $5 a month, you can help our show and get all kinds of great extra content on top of that. We've got a ton of great bonus content waiting for you right now, so head on over to patreon.com slash talking simpsons today. I heartily endorse this event or product. Ahoy, ahoy, everybody. Welcome to Talking Simpsons, where we hate life and ourselves. I'm your host, the fresh Bob Mackey and this

is the Blazertime podcast network's chronological exploration of the Simpsons. Who else is here with me today? Henry Gilbert and don't praise the machine. And who else? Mr. Cleanser Chris Santista. Awesome and today's episode is Bart gets an elephant. Stop remembering TV and get back to work. No, we do. Yeah, we'll never stop doing that, Marge. Come on, Marge. And what a thing to say, I want to say up front, this is my favorite episode of all time. All time? Wow, holy cow. This is the top ten

for me. I had an inkling of that when we started doing this, and I remember I recorded this. I downloaded a torrent to get the episode so I wouldn't fuck over the people anymore by playing the syndicated versions. They demand recorded this. I downloaded a torrent to get the episode so I wouldn't fuck over the people anymore by playing the syndicated versions. They demand those cuts. I accidentally did this the first episode of the fifth season

because alphabetically, according to my torrent, this is the first episode. So then I watched it again. I'm like, no, I'm very comfortable now having watched it three times recently knowing that I'd say this by the time we got to it. This is my favorite episode of all time. It is great.

And also, it aired on march 31st 1994 and chris will tell us what happened on this mythical day in real life history oh my god ah john grisham's the client is on the top of the bestseller list mariah carey's without you dominates the charts and the mighty ducks are back in d2 judgment day wow i thought it was cruise control it's just the mighty i remember mighty ducks 2 that they had to. It's the classic second sports movie thing where they have to, like, up the problems. And then also, actually, the story of Wild Thing in the second major league and the story of Emilio Estevez in Mighty Ducks 2 are both the same. That is bizarre.

The brothers doing the same film? Yeah. Well, they both got fancier and yuppier, and they slicked back their hair. They're like, I'm a business guy. You've changed, man. So was Emilio still on board for D2? Yes. Did he leave for D3?

He's in D3, but not the main star anymore. I mean, he's still not. He's in half of D2. The kids really take over in D2. I really miss Emilio. He had a nice time in the sun. It seems like he's secretly awesome. He at least seems like he has dealt with stardom better than Charlie Sheen, who shockingly isn't dead. I wish him well.

I am not wishing. Let me tell you, listeners. I am not wishing death upon Charlie Sheen. Oh, the opposite. I hope he lives forever. And he treats women so well. Fun fact about Charlie Sheen. The first word he ever said on film is drugs.

Ferris Bueller, right? That's a great role for him. This episode is, as Chris said, it's great. It's a super gag-driven episode. Two of the best creative forces working together. Writer John Schwarzwalder and director Jim Reardon. What has John Schwarzwalder done before? He has done, help me, I'm drawing a blank here.

What have we mean so far the Simpsons Simpsons right and uh well this season he did Rosebud that's right and uh he's he's the most prolific Simpsons writer he has written I think now Matt Selman I think is past him just yeah because John Swartzwell eventually left to write books and they're all great the John Swartzwell wrote 68 episodes of the Simpsons back when that meant something. Is it still one of the most by a credited writer? A single credited writer? I'd say I believe he's behind Matt Selman now,

but he's done that name. But after Matt Selman came back to the show. Well, Matt Selman never left. He's been there for like 14 years now. He's had a longer tenure than old John Schwarzwalder. He also did The Cart family he did he did a whacking day i believe yeah dog of death he's done all the uh he's done most of the animal related ones i guess that's the most fun thing about it it's a very grounded episode outside

of the elephant somehow makes the idea of getting an elephant real grounded it instantly brings the reality it it reminds me similarly to how they dealt with um deep space homer which is this is a crazy idea let's ground this as much as possible and so the reality of like well what would having an elephant in your backyard actually be i mean there are absolutely scenes that completely break reality and are just a cartoon but there's other ones of like no an elephant would do that and it would destroy things. And for me, it's perfect Homer because the episode should be about Bart,

and it's not about Homer, but he's in every scene. He's an idiot, constantly gagging. There are great Homer lines throughout. Yeah, even like getting wee giddily thrown out of a radio station. He appears for no reason. It makes every scene better.

Yeah, and this is very much like David Merkin taking a formula like a boy and his dog. Like, you know how animals do not behave like animals on TV shows or movies. This animal behaves very much like an animal, a non-domesticated animal, who doesn't give a shit about what you want from him. And that's another thing. It's just a perfect thing you can only do in a cartoon. Yeah. But it doesn't...

I guess if you had a trained elephant, you could afford it for an entire shoot you could do this on gome and broodman but you couldn't get it to pull you into its mouth nor would you want to they you'd maybe get the elephant for one scene like a home improvement would do stunts like that like he'd be in a tank or he'd a snake would climb on him so they do stunts like that but they couldn't it wouldn't be the full episode i'll tell you every time we stumble upon a line of the show because it happens like nine times. Oh, yeah. I've got several thousand lines of the show. I have quite a lot of clips here.

The episode begins with a very grounded thing of a filthy house. The Simpsons house has never looked this bad, though. You know, in my house, a little dirty, too. My current apartment. Are you still living in the Marvel comic book apocalypse of your broken shelf? I picked up those, but I don't know. I need to take the underpants out of my fridge. What were those doing there?

You know, you just take them off. It's hot. But, yes, Marge is not happy with how dirty the house is. Oh, I did also. The Homer bowling ball for a second. I was like, oh, is this the same Homer ball from Life in the Fast Lane? I didn't see a liquid setter. Was that Charlene? No, no, no.

The Life in the Fast Lane was when Marge was given the ball that said Homer on it for her birthday. But that was a blue bowling ball. This is a black one. Sorry, Charlene was the name of the putter, not the ball. I apologize. I'm quitting. I'll show you Charllene also when she makes them breakfast i thought it was so weird that they they it's like they're throwing the waffles over their shoulders you know it was a weird bit of animation but there

were like pieces of pizza stuck to the ceiling so maybe that's just how they eat sometimes there's footprints on the ceiling whatever lands in their mouths they eat also when they come in i love that homer also says hey hey, mom. Yeah. Homer is one of the children in this episode. Like, he is rarely the dad. But they may have plans for today, including trying to find a Martian or drinking in a drinking contest. Playing in a little, what's it called again? The Little White Girls Blues Quartet?

Yes. There you go. But Marge has other plans. Well, gotta go. But Marge has other plans. Well, gotta go. Me too. It's hard for us to leave when you're standing there, Mom. Push her down, son. No one's going anywhere. We're going to clean the whole house from top to bottom.

Oh, dear God, no. I love push her down, son. Push her down. It's just so simple. Like, well, push her down. Push her down it's just so simple like well push her down push your mother down she's in the way and I actually have another

one last maybe Simpsons anecdote from my youth that I haven't said yet oh boy and I don't want to get too long on it did you push your mother down no okay

no but a lot of it I felt a lot of it was from this episode and it's really weird to talk about but like I got I got kicked out of a bunch of schools, and I got pushed into this small private school after I was out of schools. To be kicked out of? Yes, after all the public schools would not take me anymore. I'm in this little school, and I just decided to be cool and teenage.

For a whole year, I didn't talk. I didn't talk at all. Were you a teenager or emulating teenagers? I was a teenager. I didn't talk at all. Were you a teenager or emulating teenagers? I was a teenager. I was a huge dick. There's people who I still see from there who like remember it.

It's really, it's still embarrassing. I just didn't talk unless I was forced to. I would call it a social experiment, Chris. That covers it up a lot better. And the school was so small I got over it the next year

and I started speaking to people again and I didn't remember at the time but people would look at me like it was really weird. I spoke in homerisms. And a lot of homerisms of like, I can't really describe it or do the impression well enough of like, and then I talk like this all of the time. And everything I said sounded like the way Homer sounds to me in this episode. And it was a good three months.

I'm like, I'm talking now. Why is everybody treating me so strangely? It was just a real weird memory that was awoken within me. Just hearing the, push her down, son. Push her down. The calm Homer. The calm Homer. Very calm, matter-of-fact Homer.

I talked like that for a full semester and didn't really care what people thought of me but everybody looked at me really weird it's it's hard talk i've never talked about this i never heard about this yeah and i don't know i don't have anything else to say about it thank you for sharing that uh but it's just such a weird memory maybe that's why this this show this episode stuck with me so much i don't i don't know but the uh i also like that marge locked the door and seemingly that will prevent them from ever leaving. It's a very Bond villain line of I think you'll find an escape is impossible.

She's kind of shot from underneath with her arms crossed. A shadow cast over her. It's great. A very well laid out episode as well. Yeah, Jim Reardon is bringing it. Reardon does an amazing job. Reardon's one of the best. But I get this joke mixed up with the one from the Christmas episode where Bart is trying to run away.

And Marge is like, you can't get away from me. I spent 23 hours a day here. And then Homer blocks Bart's exit. I was like, I get those two Bart's trying to escape jokes. Only Homer is not colluding with Marge this time. Well, because Homer, again, is one of the kids. And so when they're trying to share their responsibilities and take a room now each one of you take a floor and get started i call the basement fine

i love the flexibility of the dough there when homer offers up the basement they're like okay he's like dough he's not he's not sure if it should be mad or not Yeah and then he realizes very soon He should be mad I was definitely Bart being forced to clean It was just like can we just move I don't want this I'll live and fill I don't want to clean That he Recognizes Tennessee Ernie

Ford on the radio And knows that it's Ernie's like You're telling me Ernie He's a very worldly child should Should we get into the song? I mean, we do have to explore the history of everything The Simpsons references. So the original version of the song, the one we hear is 1955, Ernie Ford's version. Tennessee Ernie Ford. Famously from Tennessee, I should add.

Did Bill and Marty say the wrong song name? No, no. They don't name that song in the next scene. They say it's Take This Job and Shove It, but it is the end of 16 Tons. But the original version is from 1946 performed by Merle Travis. And I feel like this is more authentic. It comes from his family's crushing experiences in coal mining. That 16 Tons line is from his brother writing home to him. And I think his father is like, I can't die.

I owe my soul to the company store. He's like, I am too in debt to be dead. Here's the original. You load 16 tons. And what do you get? You get another day older and deeper in debt. St. Peter, don't you call me because I can't go. I owe my soul to the company store.

That's like a spoken word section here. Yesterday there's a man, a Kentucky coal miner that pertinently owes his soul. And a bit about Amway. So yeah, I mean, that is not as like, the finger snaps aren't there, the voice is not as appealing, but it's more authentic to this guy's life experience. I still don't get, what is 16 tons? Load 16 tons of coal and all you get is older and more in debt he's talking about the kentucky coal mines yeah and the jobs that are

coming back yeah that was a popular song in the 40s but i think it's no coincidence the ernie one is more popular because it still covers the misery of working till you're dead yeah but it's a little snappier literally snappier in that he is snapping the whole time through the song. And it's not so much a folk rock activism as it is. Like, doesn't working suck? Yeah, it's more just,

it takes out some of the activist nature of it. But it's, I knew that song because it was on my DTV VHS of, see, in the mid 80s, Disney was ready to repurpose classic cartoons by pairing them with hit songs capitalism sucks kids it's not i need to find them again my hard drive crashed i had the hannah barbara version i had those two those were worse yes hannah barbara rocks i believe they were called because the hannah barbara ones i remember being confused because they had things

i'd never seen. Like, if they had a Donald cartoon, I was like, I probably have seen this, or it's a Donald cartoon like any other. But when they had clips of Yogi Bear's movie, it's set to I'll Be Watching You. It's insane. I was just like, what is this? Where's this from? What cartoon could this be from of the Hanna-Barbera? It's Hey There, Jogi Bear from 1964. this from? What cartoon could this be from of the Hanna-Barbera?

It's Hey There, Jokey Bear from 1964. Holy shit, I've done this too long. Yes, so in case you don't know, the company's storyline is a reference to, not the book, but the book explains it a lot. Read The Grapes of Wrath. You'll get an understanding of what this culture was like, where it's like, oh, come work for us.

Live in our camp. You won't get paid in money. We'll pay you in script, and you can buy things at our store, like food and things you need to live. We'll overcharge you and underpay you so you get crusty land fun bucks for uh for working yeah you make less than a livable wage like well you better it sounds like you better work more if you want to make those pancakes i just want to say before i forget

i feel remarkably fortunate i know someone from my peer group named merle and it makes cousin merle really it makes me astonishingly happy to know that he's Asian. Like, what was happening in Florida? The Donald cartoon they adapted was Donald's Gold Mine, if you want to look that one up. Donald's Gold Mine. Well, if you need a bunch of footage of him with mine carts and

getting 16 tons of things. I think why we're all so obsessed with cartoons is because the animation of the 1940s to the 1960s, some of it was able to hold up in the face of modern animation. It was so bad until around the realm of The Simpsons. So they'd repurpose it and package it in shitty ways like Hanna-Barbera Rocks and DTV. And Blam.

And Blam. The worst is Blam. Does Blam still exist? No. Can you explain what Blam is to our listeners? Blam! It was a really awful It was like turning old cartoons into fail videos

Into like It's a bad reference But MXC Oh yeah Which was like the Red Bull version of America's Funniest Home Videos Oh man I hope this asshole doesn't get hit by a train Whoops a daisy Bing bing bang bang

Hanna-Barbera sound effects Oh fuck he sure did And like that's He's dead now. But it was that with old Disney cartoons. But I do know the reason those cartoons

have been restored in HD and not even released is because of Blam. Thank you, Blam. To repurpose them for television for Blam, they were restored. And we have yet to be able

to buy them or watch them yet. But back in the day, yes, they licensed popular music and recut old Yogi Bear, Donald Duck cartoons to popular music to sell them again to people because there was no YouTube and what were you going to do? And as a kid, finding out the idea of a company store and having my mom explain what soul-crushing debt was, I was like, boy, this is depressing. Or as a kid, I didn't know what depression was. I mean, it was creeping around the corners well just like woody guthrie i'm pretty sure merle whatever his name was it was an activist using folk rock just kind of not folk rock folk songs merle travis to

spread his message of why capitalism i was just talking i didn't mean don't vote republican and when speaking of cartoons homer has very cartoon logic that a leaf blower will clean up his thing like i i just i love it's one of those millions of jokes they have in the simpsons just like if he was in a daffy cartoon using a leaf blower would send all the trash out the window it's how woody woodpecker would clean something exactly but leaf blowers makes no sense to me in in real practice either just like shuffling filth around yeah and being the loudest anything could be just to move. Because a rake would be boring.

No. You'd have to move your elbows more. I don't own a home. I don't do yard maintenance anymore because I grew up doing that shit. Oh, me too, yeah. But I don't understand the leaf blower because usually, like, blow the leaves off the driveway. Like, to have your driveway pretty? Who gives a shit?

What if the neighbors see it? Drive over the leaves at one mile an hour. And as somebody who could never throw away a calendar, I am definitely touched by this line. All done. You're not done. I want you to throw away these old calendars and TV guides. Are you mad, woman?

You never know when an old calendar might come in handy. Sure, it's not 1985 right now, but who knows what tomorrow will bring. And these TV guides. So many memories. Gomer upset Sergeant Carter. Oh, I'll never forget that episode. Pile! Shout, Sam!

Pile! Shout, Sam! Pile! Shout, Sam! Shazam. Stop remembering! Shazam! Shazam. Stop remembering TV and get back to work. What's the point of all this cleaning? Are we so vain?

Man, you can really just feel the acoustics in that room Dan was in. At this point in the show, we're hearing a lot of Homer just screaming at the top of his lungs. I think they really loved hearing Dan do this. I hope Dan enjoyed it, but it was so great of just homer homer making pronouncements at the top of his lung like are we so vain and i did hate throwing out calendars because it's just like but the calendars look so cool there's so many cool pictures i do have a 1989 alf calendar on the wall over there because it is astonishing well after a certain amount of time the years line up again you can reuse them i think it's like 17 years i forget what it is in the melmac holidays but

yeah i think also too was that i was raised my mom loves calendars she she loves them more than me i will i can't start the year without at least my simpsons calendar and maybe one more calendar my mom buys a calendar for every room of the house so she gets a terrible idea you always know what day it is and and it's a cool way to just have art up on the wall that's what i realized when my girlfriend bought a studio ghibli calendar and it allowed you to slot in you know whatever picture to any month you want it and we could have to figure that out for ourselves there's 16 things to choose from and it just occurred to me like yeah this is the only commercial mainstream way anybody sells you art.

If you just want, there's either the shitty Walmart poster or you could find the thing that you like that has a calendar and you can look at a different, gorgeous picture of it every day, every month. So you have to tell the kids

about Gomer Pyle. I knew that was going to happen. I just want to say, this is a joke I've accepted not having any frame of reference for. Well, first off, I like it. I'm so glad you're going to get into it. I like the stance that you would never keep a TV guide, though I also would keep those not having any frame of reference well well first off i'm so glad you're gonna get into it i i like

the stance that you would never keep a tv guide though i also would keep those for a while but that the tv guy could never explain they would poorly explain what an episode's plot is to you and then second i think this is how the simpsons thought people remember all tv which is the five seconds of a show they ever saw. And this show is in opposition of that. This proves that TV is always remembered. But yes, Bob, explain Gomer Pyle to us. I think we went over it before. A lot of listeners like my description of him as an ambiguously gay rube in the Army.

The name of the show was Gomer Pyle USMC. It aired from 64 to 69 and is a spinoff of The Andy Griffith Show. Here's the thing. I haven't watched it in 25 years probably. I've never seen this. I said he was ambiguously gay in my description at first. That's wrong. He is so gay in the show and that's

fine. I was so gay. If you were this gay in 1964 in the Army you would have been murdered. But I was watching clips and it was like golly sergeant carter i didn't know it was bayonet practice today that's what he sounds like i mean everybody just thought he was a dandy yeah they're like oh what a dandy i'm sure his wife loves it they have dead different words for it but um so shazam was his catchphrase in the show when he was like surprising golly become a superhero yes he became super

gomer but jim neighbors would eventually be known more for his singing career and it all started with the a song about the word shazam which was a novelty record sung by jim neighbors holy shit and he would eventually become like a spiritual song singer like sing great spiritual hits i i don't associate the word the name jim neighbors Gomer Pyle, so yeah, I'm fascinated to hear that. I get to learn. I've never heard this novelty song before either. I went to see a gypsy woman late last night Told her everything I do, it never works out right

I gave her all my money, nearly 40, 11 cents She said, you need a magic word to give me confidence Just say Shazam Zip, zap, man, you gotta put a whammy on You can rule the world or walk into the Pentagon I don't know what's wrong with me, but I like that song. That song's fun. You can walk into the Pentagon if you say Shazam. Trust Gomer Pyle. This predates the show? No, it's 65. The show's fun. You can walk into the Pentagon if you say Shazam. Trust Gomer Pyle. Walk into the Pentagon. Yeah.

This predates the show? No, it's 65. The show's 64. So this was in the middle of Gomer Pyle madness in America. Vietnam really hurt that show, too. Yes, I am. That it was still going on as Vietnam. I was like, well, these Marines are going to get sent to Vietnam at some point. But the...

I just... Yeah, I love that anything could be a novelty song back then. Like, this is a line in a show. It will sell 500,000 records. And the Jim Neighbors did just become a singer after the show ended. And he would, like, for the longest time, he sang. He's a son of Indiana. And so at the Indianapolis 500, he would sing some song at the start of it.

Let's say the National Anthem. And that he would also bring his boyfriend the start of it, let's say the national anthem. And that he would also, he would bring his boyfriend there, but they just never talked. It was just one of those things like, let's not talk about it. That's my manager. I think he came out in his 80s, almost kind of recently. Yes, everybody knew that there's a classic, I can't explain the whole thing, but look up Jim Neighbors Marries Rock Hudson. It's a very old story in gay Hollywood. But the point is, he was always, he was in the closet but everybody knew but it's kind of like

barry manilow but it's also like he comes from such a different time i don't begrudge him being in the closet oh no no i mean you deal with a lot of things same with george takai telling we were watching something and paul lynn came on like really nobody knew or like or they just didn't care i think the thing is a Or they just didn't care. I think the thing is a lot of people didn't know what gay was because they were protected from it on purpose. Which is why when you talk about teaching... Maybe the fucking catchphrase of the 1950s, just don't give it another thought. Basically, that kind of falls through to today where people are like, don't teach my kids.

I don't want them to know about what gayness is because they might become gay i grew up when a mainstream preacher would call that a children's show puppet is gay so it's very hard to imagine don't watch teletubbies because that one might be gay well i think the feeling in the 60s probably was just like you just don't talk about that those are the dirty people in their sex clubs and and the police will deal with them it was in the 70s of more of the gay liberation movement of people just being out and proud not not in secret in shame that was the gay pride movement was born out of that of being like we're not ashamed anymore obviously the arts will attract people who are different and that includes gay people and there were tons of people

who just had to be in the closet even though part of their appeal is kids not to be tied to their queerness you know half of 1970s game shows are just gay jokes yeah and the public seem to eat them up and i don't get it when paul lind is saying like i send bernard reynolds over to my place like everybody knows everybody should know what he's saying. It's all unspoken. I remember Bobcat Goldthwait had this great joke about it. He said that all these families go to Las Vegas and see Cirque du Soleil shows, which could not be queerer. And that they could even see two Cirque du Soleil performers, like two men, kiss each other at the end.

And they're like, oh, what good friends they are. They're good buddies. Actually, one of my favorite more modern Simpsons jokes, like Elmer being danced in the face. Oh, yeah, that's great. Remember, before you say Shazam, put a whammy on it. By the way, she didn't invent the word Shazam. Shazam, at the very least, first appeared in Captain Marvel's first appearance in Wiz Comics number one,

and Shazam is the word said by Captain Marvel to transform young billy batson into the powerful captain marvel who was the second most powerful character also superman more importantly uh gypsy is not pc which shows what a rube gober pile actually hasn't been informed yet uh man jim neighbors is still alive we need to we better protest his house he's actually i've said this the previous time. We talked about your neighbors on the show, but he is alive in part because he got a liver transplant that was found for him by his good friend, Carol Burnett.

Aw. They're all buds. We get one Clinton joke though. Yeah, boy. The second appearance of Clinton in the flesh. Yes. Clinton. In Springfield.

It shows you what the joke of Clinton was then of like, Clinton jokes in 94 were either fat jokes or he's lazy. And it was like Hillary's actually doing all the work. Or he's always holding a saxophone. It is forever imprinted in Animaniacs opening. Because he was on Arsenio once doing that. Once playing the saxophone. Look, it is silly political theater but when you're used to boring old dudes a guy playing an elvis song on a saxophone feels inventive especially when he's competing against an old man who married his

grandmother like it looks it looks pretty cool i remember a president uh who used to reference jay z songs back in the day seemed like a thousand years ago. Oh boy, does it. But Schwarzwalder was not a fan of Clinton as Al Jean talked about on commentaries that he was basically the troll of the writers room saying like, they're gonna take him out of town in a noose and then all the other liberal writers are like, no,

he's not. Clinton's good. I like to imagine the backstory of this joke. Mo found out Clinton was in town playing with the White Girls Blues Quartet. He had Barney drive him around so he could yell out the window get back to work you know that's that is also something why why of all the people mo could get to drive him barney would be the last person i want to do that but they just wanted mo to scream it but they didn't know who should drive of course it would be barney but also mo has no friends so only barney would drive him and the person who cared the most about what presidents did on their weekends is currently president.

He's golfing up a storm. God bless him. They are being very mean to Trump now in the current online cartoons. Oh, those are bad. I hate those. But they were real mean to Clinton. Not real mean, but they were mean to Clinton. He literally looks at the camera in one episode says i'm a pretty crappy president and in one episode he has sex

with real honest no fooling pigs they say he fucks pigs so they do all that with him but then when it's not to say they didn't make fun of republicans that time but did you ever see like w on the simpsons during his no like they didn't directly make fun of W. I'm sure I said this before on an episode but Al Jean in a commentary said well you know people were always up and down about if they liked him or not so we weren't sure if it was okay but my answer is no it doesn't matter what people think or the

Simpsons do what you want like you always do. Or always did. I just don't think it was there was a lot of comedy to mind. His administration was hilarious. I think that was where the funny stuff was i think there's dick cheney jokes in the simpsons there are they did make fun of cheney but they never touched george w that often he was just ever a slack jaw simpleton like but i mean what better i mean they could make so many good jokes about slack jaw yokels oliver stone could

have made a better movie with it that's true um okay so Back to the show. Whenever I do... Whenever I rarely clean up things and look at cleaning products, I do think of getting doped up by them and losing my mind like Homer does. I couldn't help but think of the awful movie Food Fight, which we did... Henry and I worked on a Lazer Time article about animated product placement in animation,

which is a very... It hasn't happened a lot, but we got everything we could think of. That is a great hate watch. But Food Fight being the Roger Rabbit of products. If Roger Rabbit was animated like a PlayStation 1 cutscene,

yes. But Mr. Clean is there in that movie, and that's all I could think of. And Jemima Twinkie, the kid, Chester Cheeto, Pelican.

The Vlasic Pickle. I have a Vlasic Pickle. I'm not Groucho Marx at all. He was Groucho Marx at all. And making all those deals, I think, is the only reason it had to come out. But it may be one of the worst animated things that has ever been officially released.

And from people who make movies, the best excuse for why it sucks, he literally accused someone of sabotage. They stole our better movie. It deserved to be stolen and dipped in acid. And again, Charlie Sheen. And this is, yeah. Charlie Sheen is the lead voice. And Miley Cyrus is in it, too. No, it's not Miley Cyrus.

It's the Disney star before her. No, the one on... Oh, Hilary Duff? Yeah, Hilary Duff. Oh, Hilary Duff. Yeah, I forget their interchangeable name. But, so Homer gets high right after Marge gets high. Like, the episode after Marge gets high and Homer loves Flanders.

Now Homer's getting high off of fumes. I have had that reaction too of reading a thing that's like, well, the sell-by date's now. Nah, shove it. I'm eating this. I did that with mayonnaise recently. I still can't get over it. I haven't done that after 32.

Boy, this chicken, it should still be good. I don't want to waste it. No, after I finished making it, I was like, nah, I'm going to throw this good. I don't want to waste it. No. After I finished making it, I was like, nah, I'm going to throw this out. I'll just be paranoid about it all night. It's easier to do if you don't eat meat. Less things will kill you. All right.

Now, this is the propaganda I don't like, Bob. I've been trichinosis-free since 1983. But Homer is freaking out, and I love Marge's reaction. I must destroy you. And I love Marge's reaction. So that is definitely David Silverman animation. You can tell because their version of Mr. Clean, when Marge yells at Homer and the rest of the mascots, he's like errantly rubbing his finger on his knee like shyly. Whenever there's finger acting, it's always David Silverman.

We should say these mascots came off the products and to life. So we have these scrubbing bubbles known as Bubble Off in the show, the turtle from Terrapin Wax, and Mr. Cleanser, who is Mr. Clean. There's one guy this night, they don't even bother giving the product a clever name, it's just Cleanser. And I'm sure it comes from somewhere. I tried to look it up. I don't recognize the logo. No, I feel like that's like an old one for Ajax or something. A very old cleaning thing that caused cancer back then.

Unless I'm downloading a giant file of old radio shows. I'm sure it's in one of the 9 000 cartoons for the 40s or 30s where product logos come to life and do things at night you know there's like that with like books and food and things i i love dan's acting of yelling quieter like but then and the margins reaction is so great it's like she has genuine concern and then homer's like nothing and he's like then stop screaming so loud if it's nothing. He's like, okay. And just his lesser acting, too, of struggling less.

I bet that all the animated hallucinations seem to agree. It's like they're on board. They all want to kill him. Well, they're playing it down. They're not screaming anymore either. The Simpsons will be right back. How we use electricity can be smarter, cleaner and greener. At Electric Ireland, we can help guide you there.

You see, our new Net Zero Hub has all you need to know about smart meter plans, EV tariffs, solar panels, and much more. Making your usage clearer, your trips greener, your home cozier, and your world brighter. Find our Net Zero Hub at electricarland.ie. Patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons has gone live. Yes, Bob Mackie and me, Henry Gilbert, have quit our crappy jobs and have gone to start doing Talking Simpsons full time. And we can do it with your help. Would you like to hear every episode a week before they premiere on iTunes and Stitcher?

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You like LazerTime shows? on laser time i didn't know that was a thing you like laser time shows then you might like bonus time laser times weekly bonus show exclusively on patreon.com slash laser time here's a taste of what you've been missing joe hoxton says my best memory is definitely bush gardens in williamsburg virginia my dad was able to coax us into going on to a ride called the big bad wolf i've been on that the first time i didn't go on the big bad wolf yeah but i asked my parents to buy me a hat that says i conquered the big bad wolf dave you're a liar i felt like such a shit and then i remember vividly that our car broke down and the tow truck like oh you want to sit up in the front of the tow truck i like thought that would be awesome and i left my hat in the tow truck and i asked my parents like let's go back to the tow truck i like, oh, you want to sit up in the front of the tow truck? I thought that would be awesome. And I left my hat in the tow truck. And I asked my parents, like, let's go back to the tow truck.

I forgot my hat. And my parents were like, we're not getting that hat. I didn't even know why you didn't go on the ride, you shit. And then I did the next time. And it was really cool. Get bonus time, Laser Time's weekly, full-length, uncensored, and ad-free Patreon-exclusive podcast. As well as full-length movie commentaries, wrestling and cartoon video commentaries, the first season of Talking Simpson,

and more at patreon.com slash lasertime, starting at just five bucks. You'll help us live, and we'll do our best to help you never be bored again. That American Gothic joke doesn't make much sense really unless they actually look that up i looked it up i mean they have what you would think is a print of american gothic in their home but bart is absent-mindedly cleaning while listening to the radio there's great animation of that paint smearing it's like a great effect so he is removing paint from what is i guess a painting of that and then when it says it's a cute joke but it would imply that the simpsons had the original painting so grant wood it says if you're reading this you rub you scrub too hard grant wood is the artist of america original artist

of america painting from 1930 meant to i meant to look that up an american gothic obviously the classic uh fx show of a man and a woman on a farm an older man an older woman with a pitchfork and it's like this is americana of the 30s it's harder to google now that that show exists chris you're right that's the first 19 hits is there american gothic show there's a show yeah yeah you're thinking of american horror story and gotham honestly there are so many TV shows that if you just say a phrase that's somewhat known, like if you said The Mick, you'd be like, hey, that's a racial story. No, no, that's a show. Or that if you Google American Crime, you might not find American Crime Story.

Two shows that are, well, we're on the air. There's too much TV. But I do like that in Springfield, even in this episode, the radio knows the exact worst song for you to hear in any moment. Like that fits the thing. And this is really where we get into Bill and Marty, who have been great characters in the show. But we had seen them before. Like they were in the Spinal Tap episode.

You see them on screen interviewing Spinal Tap. Lock-a-doodle-doo. You're listening to Bill and Marty. Love Bill and Marty so much. But I think Bill and Marty normally are just a great excuse to have Harry and Dan riff with each other. I wonder how much of their stuff gets written. What does that mean?

Which one is the stupider one? Is it Bill or Marty? It's the guy without the non-balding guy. Is that Bill or Marty? I think that's Marty. Because I want to say this characterization was played up also in I Love Lisa. I'm not sure if they kept the characters the same in terms of their dynamics. No, yes.

Totally the same. But one was denser. He was the one. It was Harry's voice who was marty who kept playing the the dead weight marty yeah that's bill who would say that and that is the the bald one dan and yeah and so he was the one who kept playing like dog got it like it's playing man monster man let me hear some bill and all right so bill and marty is doing they're doing a contest that doesn't really make sense. They call you. Instead of making you call them, they call you for a contest.

And Bart's trying to win. So he first gets Grandpa, who's having heart palpitation. And Bart hangs up on him. So he's dead. No more Grandpa and the Simpsons. Why would Grandpa call his family's home in case of an emergency? I mean, he's confused. And then there's a great bit where Bart is eating the chocolate ice cream out of the Neapolitan ice cream.

A great callback to Radio Bart, where Homer is trying to get the chocolate ice cream out of Neapolitan stuff. And then KBBL, they first call the cops and it doesn't work. No, no, no, don't. A little to the left. I love this show. No, no, no, don't. Ah! Ah! A little to the left. I love this joke. Ah, that's the stuff. Oh, I'm sorry.

The phrase is, KBBL is going to give me something stupid. Pretty weird. Let's try one more number. Yellow. KBBL is going to give me something stupid. Well, hot dog, we have a wiener. Yellow. I won, is going to give me something stupid. Well, hot dog, we have a wiener. Yellow.

I won, I won. You win your choice of $10,000, or what's our gag price this week, Bill? A full-grown African elephant. Well, all that money sounds mighty tempting, Marty, but I think I'm going to have to go with the elephant. He's taking the elephant instead of the money. I love that. Just deadpan read of what's happening i think like i think of uh game shows like let's make a deal where uh you choose a door and there's a donkey behind it you don't get that

donkey that belongs to the tv station it's all very what a donkey voucher i would bet you sign a contract when you enter into the studio that at least says you don't really get that prize and we also live in a world where you know now, I think thanks to that Oprah incident where she gave everyone gets a car, where like everyone, so I got a car, and I got a giant tax bill and a registration bill for this thing I didn't want or know I was

getting. I mean, you can still sell that car. No, I think it changed the way prizes were given. There's like a waiver you have to sign in order to get into an entry. You couldn't just be cold called. i found this out about who wants to be a millionaire that so that it is actually true that when you win you become a millionaire they don't actually give you a million dollars they give you a million dollars plus whatever the tax amount would be so that you would you would have a million dollars after taxes so they literally do like no the name

of the game is real you do become a millionaire so you don't you get more than a million dollars after taxes so they literally do like no the name of the game is real you do become a millionaire so you don't you get more than a million dollars just the after tax final anecdote so oh one thing one thing before we move on uh i've been watching these episodes lately with headphones on i'm picking up a lot of things i miss without wearing headphones it's bizarre it is there's still some sound stuff you can miss if you're you're right like from capturing the sounds i've noticed that all over. Like audio jokes I never picked up on. And I'm seeing a lot of like intentionality behind the sound effects.

So in the scene preceding this one where they get done cleaning the house and Marge is like, isn't it so great? Our house is clean. And the door swings back and forth and the kitchen is immediately trashed. You can hear birds chirping in the background. It's daytime. In this scene, you purposely hear crickets chirping to show you the passage of time we don't need that in any way it's not important that this scene takes place at night but it's there because someone thought like let's make this a nighttime scene add the sound effect so wow and you can

hear in the background of that totally i you know it's it's that's that's right i i felt bad for marge that the place gets dirty that fast again but that is how it is with cleaning it feels like to me yeah i really got in touch with this episode too as a kid because when i was 10 we moved to a new city it was my first move and and well actually when i was eight and it was hard for me like i didn't i lost all my friends i had to make new friends and i'm not great at making friends yeah i moved when i was nine had a similar experience and so i got obsessed with the local oldie station. I would listen to it all the time. And my Bill and Marty were Randy and Spiff.

You did Spiff. Actually, they were working in Atlanta. They were at the top oldie station in Atlanta until 2006 at a point when the oldie station was no longer profitable. Was it closed for retooling? Well, then they got shifted over to a news station, but they're like, no, you're the morning radio goofballs. You're not news guys. I don't know if folks will have those anecdotes growing up.

My parents wouldn't let me have a TV, so I grew up my whole life listening to Bill and Marty's, spent the other half of my life making fun of people like Bill and Marty's, but it's out of genuine affection. I think that's why I love them so much i listen to them all the time i listen to the radio and sometimes you just hear a format change that was juvenile will back that ass up like that guy was not hired for this station no but his contract's still going and so i mean and it was kind of a ritual then of listening to it on the way to school like it was the morning radio that you'd that could be drive time or it could be kids in on the way to school or the way back from school

and that randy and spiff were so big that in the georgia dome which is a huge place where they play the football the football in atlanta every year randy and spiff would have an oldies concert where they'd have they'd bring back in the nineties, uh, in the early nineties, these stars of the fifties and sixties to sing a few of their songs. They're like, it's Herman and the hermits.

They're going to play this live. And then, uh, Chubby Checker was amazing. Like Chubby Checker, he only did it for like 10 minutes, but he had so much energy that they had to go like, can you believe it?

Chubby Checker. Oh my God. Like, so different. I much energy that they had to go like, can you believe it? Chubby Checker. Oh my God. Like, so I love that. And it was Fox was the name of the radio station. And I went to several like, like openings of an Ace Hardware or whatever, just to go there to get prizes. Like here's, I got a Fox Frisbee at this one.

I got a Fox key chain. Oh boy. I touched Spiff. I thought the radio was way bigger than it was. I won a ton of stuff off the radio because I was always adamant about paying attention when you needed to call and the phrase that pays.

I went to a Warped Tour from 1996 to 2001. I have never paid for a ticket. I won them off the radio every single time as did at least six of my friends because we made it a point to call into the radio station me yeah my mom also she won several things from the radio it was it's tons of fun and now i do sound like an old man talking

about in my day the radio we called it i can i can place it i called in and won i'm like what do i win like a cd we're giving away and And like, which one? And it was fucking Crazy Town Butterfly with like a hole punch through it. So I can't take it back. Come, come, my lady. Then again, like us calling into radio station, being obsessed with that as kids. Is that not the PewDiePie of our childhood? I would, when I was old enough to find beer, maybe not buy it, we would listen to the radio out on a porch while we drank. And I would call in every night to try and entertain the DJ

and I was on the radio a lot. Wow. But I didn't know that they would edit it and then they would play it way later in the night because I would curse a lot. Though actually, I just heard my stepdad last year,

he saved it for me. He called in to a station of like stump the, it was stump the guy thing of just like, can you get more questions right than my co-host and he won and he won you won tickets to we have audio evidence of you calling in a time being made fun of by tom sharpling yes yeah that is that's a little different but yes that you still do it yes yeah i have a clip on my youtube account of john hodgman

making fun of me for about 10 minutes on that same show yeah i first called in to talk to john hodgman but mainly you're gonna get made fun of on that show but minutes. On that same show, yeah. I first called in to talk to John Hodgman, but mainly you're going to get made fun of on that show. But I've met Tom Sharpling in person. You got made fun of by Greg Universe. At Archie Comics. You got to listen to this thing called books. Yes.

I was like, did you read this book? I was like, well, I read Cavalier and Clay. He's like, it's a book about comics. He did give you the business i said well um i read the brief wondrous life of oscar wow he's like that's also about comic books i was like oh that's also about dominican republic but this is going to be our longest episode let's get back to that phone call the part's on kid wants the elephant we don't have a damn elephant don't whisper into the mic kid the elephant's a gag prize. Nobody takes the gag

prize. You want the cash. I want the elephant. Hey, hey, hey. Stick it to the man. No, wait. We'll call you back. Bart, with $10,000 we'd be millionaires. We could buy all kinds of useful things like love. Or double-ply windows.

They look just like regular windows but they'll save us 4% on our heating bill. Well, they will. Great line reading. That's why those crickets are there for that moment of silence. That's why the crickets are there. That makes a lot of sense. I love how just Julie Kavner is reading that and the deflation halfway through.

On our heating bill. On our heating bill. I'm so old now that I immediately connect with percent over 20 years it's not march march is very uh practical there but lisa normally you think lisa would be into the environmental cause of that but she she is immediately getting into her anti-animal cruelty thing which is which is great but i also the response to her just like they also go to your room as in they're putting her in a cage but the it is a repeating season five is full of jokes of one character says something and everyone else stares at them yeah so that was that was

another they don't acknowledge it yeah also in real life when you hang up on a person who is you're in the middle of getting a prize, you lost that prize. I was going to say Homer invalidated the contest by hanging up on Bill and Marty. It's also funny to think that by turning down $10,000, Bart actually cost them probably more than $10,000. I didn't look into it. I don't know what an elephant costs. You probably can't buy one legally anymore. Well, they talk about how like his food

bill was 300 this day the amount of damage stamp people do we're getting ahead of ourselves but bart goes to kbbl which is i think this is the first time we have been inside kbbl like we've never seen the inside well oh there was spinal tap yeah yes spinal tap but also uh talking about god oh yeah i've been about god. Bart is now at KBBL and Bill and Marty first are shocked that he doesn't care that they'll get fired. But then they're ready to make a deal. We think we know how your mind works, Bart.

So how about this? We pay your principal $10,000 to pull down his pants and keep him down for the rest of the school year. I'll do it, Bart. No. Okay, okay. What if we use the 10,000 to surgically transform Skinner here

into some kind of a lobster-like creature? Now, wait just a minute. That wasn't discussed with me. Gentlemen, I am not leaving without my elephant. Hey! Whee! Where's my elephant?

Where's my elephant? Where's my elephant? Where's my elephant? Where's my elephant? Hey, they're playing the elephant song. I love that. Reminds me of elephants. Season five is really devoted to stripping dignity from Skinner at every chance. And he is so destitute.

Or just desperate. He's like, i'll do it park ten thousand dollars he'll be humiliated for the rest of the school year this is march is at least like three months in in uh simpsons time he'll walk around with his pants down you know he's well he's a guy who in a couple episodes he will lose a pair of underpants and can't buy them but can't buy more i needed those really. Really needed those. I really did. First off, that Homer in the bed, just the little thing that Homer picks up some piece of paper and then just walks into the studio and is doing something while they're talking. He's on the microphone, like in the background. Oh, I missed that.

Wow. And then Homer's reaction of wee for being thrown out was great. You wouldn't really know he was there until he's thrown out funnily. I love this episode. And that it's basically the same joke as he did say well a lot, as reminds me of elephants. But I love that reminds me of elephants line. And so this was the research I did, Bob.

The one clip you didn't get. What is that song? It's not just any old song they're singing over. And it's not Baby Elephant Walk, which they've used before. No, it is Francis Lye's A Man and a Woman. Really? All instrumental, correct? From what? Genesis? From the film of the same name, A Man and a

Woman, or Un Femme et Un... Oh, wait, sorry. Or Un Homme et Un Femme. But it was a 1966 French new wave film about two widowers who fall in love and it's it's it's just a kind of a lot of like meet cute it's a romantic comedy but a black and white one and so would it surprise you this radio station is struggling by playing french instrumentals

the version music the version the show sounds like the like roller skating rink version all organ i mean this is kind of close to it but there's a million covers of it it's just called a man and a woman but yes uh francis lie is the uh maker of it so that it took a little digging to find it but that is the song that is forever now known as the elephant song it's not it's a gift to mascots it does feel like something they would have done like have the baby elephant walk so if you think outrage culture is a new thing now this this whole section here i'm steaming mad about outrage culture henry but every this this proves how ample it was then like in the 80s in the 70s in the 60s something would be a popular target to

be mad of and for everybody's hate and that is what happens with bill and marty the i love the paper of a lie of like straight a student won't get elephant but that's so great and it's i mean it's like people just had different channels to funnel their rage through like the mail yeah not not tweets that we're just doing mail at this time so this is supposedly a parody of bonfire of the Vanities. Yes. Really? The last time I remember my parents reading the same book. Oh, okay. Bonfire of the Vanities. I just remember the movie being a huge flop.

But yeah, this is also a very pre-9-11 joke about letter bombs, which I don't think Simpsons would have joked about later. I like how she's setting them off by touching them with a pointer. She's not that scared of them. This is the DJ-3000. It plays CDs automatically and it has three distinct varieties of inane chatter.

Hey, hey, how about that weather out there? Whoa, that was the caller from hell. Well, hot dog, we have a wiener. Man, that thing's great. Don't praise the machine. If you don't get that kitten elephant by tomorrow, the DJ3000

gets your job. Looks like those clowns in Congress did it again. What a bunch of clowns. How does he keep up with the news like that? Is that Marty? That was Marty. Okay, so stupid.

I think if this episode had been made five years later, that would have been Lindsay Nagle. I feel like she's very much a Lindsay Nagle, the heartless executive type. But she's in the right here. Before they crystallized the character of Lindsay Nagle as the Tress McNeil voice even, which that wasn't, that they have Lindsay Nagle types all around there. Most women in charge are in that kind of mold though she is absolutely right of just like this is you are a burden to our radio station by not giving

this kid i read it as being in professional turmoil your jobs were never safe if your job is to get an elephant or you're fired no job is safe really no job is safe and you need to embrace that people but two things i want to say i like this is the first time 3,000 was applied to something instead of 2,000 to denote futuristic thing. We've seen 2,000 things before in The Simpsons, but I'll take 3,000. Within The Simpsons, yes, but Mystery Science Theater, 3,000. But 2,000 was a very, very popular thing to add to things. Like, Get a Life did it. Some episodes were named blank 2,000.

I think almost every second season episode was. Maybe I'm wrong. I love that shit. popular thing to add to things like get a life did it some episodes were named blank 2000 i think almost every second season episode was maybe i'm wrong i love that shit i love i miss when people call things like the blank 2000 because we're coming up to 2000 so it's so it's so in the future can you imagine the year 2000 also dj 3000 is just clear channel now there are no real local stations it was all consumed thanks to bill Clinton. Thanks a lot, bro. I mean, he didn't know what would happen. Sure, yeah. But every radio station is now just a clear channel thing that's given content every day.

It was a big bummer to just try to request a song in a station. And they would just... I tried to... Me or a friend tried to do it. And they just told me, like, we know what our songs are in the next three hours. We have licensed 200 songs. We cannot play a song that we have not licensed. It'll never happen.

I lived through the era of radio stations dying, and I had favorites. 107.9 The End, it was a Cleveland station, but they were all alternative rock. They turned into R&B, and then they turned into Clear Channel horseshit. The best thing I can recommend to that, there's an episode of Marin

where he becomes obsessed with local DJs, and they talk about their lives of having to nomadically pull up roots every year and go change when a station changes format. I'm obsessed with shit like that. I love old DJs. I really do. Well, you know, you mentioned. They used to be tastemakers and freelance comedians,

and that doesn't really happen anymore. I don't think. Well, you mentioned Tom Sharp playing in The Best Show. That is where his roots are. We're doing that. And he used to, now it's a podcast, but he used to be for over a decade. He was on WFMU, which is one of the biggest independent radio stations that needs a pledge drive twice a year to stay open. But they just play what they want.

And they have albums on shelves that they then take them off and play them. That's really cool. But that's artisanal radio. You only get that radio because people directly pay for it like they would on, say, a Patreon perhaps. I would always do that with Patreon. But I just thought the podcast Comedy Bang Bang, formerly Comedy Death Ray, was a radio show. Which is why the early episodes have songs in them. Like cool like weird novelty songs that scott ackerman would put in so and i miss that you know you hear those original ones you miss that live element a little bit

but uh the comedy bang bang is still a great show that actually it's funny you mentioned that i was about to bring up comedy bang bang the tv show because it was a running joke that uh scott ackerman would just look to the camera and say, I think the circus must have just came through town in Washington, D.C. because they're missing all their clowns. Or somebody called the circus, I found all their clowns in Congress. And I just love that. It's such like a centrist way of like just saying, oh, the whole of Congress sucks, right?

These clowns in washington can you believe them i prefer man cave more like a man's grave that's that's my favorite but the but yeah just that that idea of like what a bunch of clowns i think like being a boring centrist like all politicians are bad just lame i i always think of that as lame uh political commentary that would be acceptable on the radio like i'm just like, what a bunch of clowns. What a, I, God,

I love that joke so much. They don't explain it, but somehow Bill and Marty get an elephant and drive off immediately. And the, the elephant's arrival is, was a reference I got as a kid. Like, Oh,

that's Jurassic Park. That's the first real Jurassic Park. Yeah. Simpsons. Yeah, I don't know. Again, we talk about,

well, me being pop culture. Whoa. Jurassic Park reference in The Simpsons? Yeah. That's true, yeah. I don't know. Again, we talk about, well, me being pop culture woke. Jurassic Park is the first phenomenon I was on board with from the beginning. And it was nice to see. And we talked about it with the T2 parody in Homer Loves a Poo. Like a movie. I got that. I got that.

I didn't know the Hitchcock joke. I didn't know the Right Stuff joke. Well, these are younger writers referencing things that they just saw. Though, I thought it was mean to Al Gore. He doesn't look like an elephant but it was a funny thing that does look like al gore but that also stampy immediately puts bart in his mouth and there's some consternation on the commentary too that like matt grating says elephants aren't carnivorous they don't but i look this up there have been man-eating elephants in the past. They are isolated incidents. Like there's a story of this rampaging elephant in some rural village in India.

They kill it when it's rampaging, and they find in its stomach flesh. And there's also been times like you're more likely if an elephant's going to kill you, they're going to trample you, not stick you in their mouth. I have seen one of the first DVDs I bought was one of those things off TV, banned from television. And the rampaging elephants, I'm like, yeah, I never realized how easily they can murder you with no effort. Yeah, I mean, it's the dangers of working with animals. I'll recommend that restored Alamo Draft House version of Roar, where you can see an elephant really hurt Tippi Hedren, but it also throws a boat into the air with its trunk

and then kicks it. There's no way they choreographed that. The elephant just did it. One of Matt Groening's bizarre hang-ups about things that are not allowed like the fish winking at the end of The War of the Simpsons. Animals must behave accurately because this is a cartoon, damn it!

I don't know what to give him credit for and criticize him for because the show is yeah his control helped the show not be shitty his control guided it and and really helped out but that you know you take the good with the bad with that stuff and that is partially like why the show gets stiffer animation too i would put that sum to to to greenings just rigid feelings on which you know hey it's his show man yeah so the elephant has arrived it's destroying things and people aren't too happy about it but homer has i love this quote so much hey you elephant lift me up on your back man Bart! Cool! He tried to kill me. I really think this is a bad idea.

Marge, I agree with you in theory. In theory, communism works. In theory. Whenever I, as a college kid, talking about theoretical communism or if it could work in some countries, I would always think of this like in theory like you just sound you sound smart by saying smart but you have no argument no yes in theory so one thing i noticed in this show is uh for the first time is act one ends with

stampy arriving and the animals running away they pick up over the horizon stampy stampy roars again they dash off that was not the original act break the original act break was bart saying i think i'll call him stampy because there's a weird fade to black which we never see after season one so i feel like that was the original act break and you're so right yeah totally i totally missed that because it is a a fade out and then fade into the same shot and it's very confusing i guess they felt like one was a better act break than the other. Yeah, a better joke to go out on me. Yeah, though I think I'll call him Stampy.

It's maybe not as funny as the visual of animals looking over the horizon. Yeah. But him getting his name is a good story beat. That's just such a great shot and perfectly representative of what you'll never see in The Simpsons again. Yes. Yes. But this, he's just smashing everything. Well, no, no.

The animal's running away. Oh, yes. The animal's behaving differently. A tracking shot going over to the side. And it doesn't look... Yeah, proportionally, it doesn't look great at all. But it's like, I love the idea of getting an elephant and scaring the... The animal should know where the horizon is from the human's perspective.

I fired a bottle rocket off in front of our terrier, and it ran three miles away. Oh, my God. Had to pick her up at the pound. It thought the world was ending, Chris. Exactly. And I wish that was a bee joke. I wish it was played up more,

because I love every second of the animals trying to compete with Stampy. Well, this is Jim Reardon, and there's no wonder he went to Pixar after this. I mean, he's a great, talented guy. Lisa is trying her best to stop Stamp Stampy. Well, this is Jim Reardon, and there's no wonder he went to Pixar after this. I mean, he's a great, talented guy. Lisa is trying her best to stop Stampy from being hurt, and I love when she tries to feed him. It's great.

Oh, yeah, but first, because she has the same dejected delivery as Marge with the windows. Yes, exactly. Here you go, Stampy. Eat it slow. It has to last for... You ate it too fast.

Maybe if we tied it down so it couldn't move it wouldn't get so hungry you can't do that dad it's cruel oh everything's cruel according to you keeping him chained up in the backyard is cruel pulling on his tail is cruel yelling in his ears is cruel everything is cruel so excuse me if i'm cruel stampy does respond to that but it feels like that joke about helping the homeless people So excuse me if I'm cruel. Stampy does respond to that, but it feels like that joke about helping the homeless people when Bart gets famous. What'd they do for us? Nothing.

It's just his speech. And again, I feel like that's a John Schwarzwalder speech. Everything is cruel. I'm seeing a lot on the news now. More responsibility is not my problem. I love Homer's practicality of just like, well, tied him down and he couldn't move then he wouldn't be as hungry it's like i i didn't get the clip but homer takes him to moe's and just the way may moe it goes like you really take advantage of me he's like shut up shut up that happened uh with the nasa guy too i think this is like another anti sitcom thing from merkin and like instead of saying a clever thing to moe he just like shut

up and then the scene ends it's great then they take Stampy to an arboretum to eat all that foliage. A tree place. Yeah, it did. That taught me the word arboretum. My mom is a big fan of arboretums. Every time she, well, she's going to stop that now, but whenever she'd visit me in Berkeley, she would go to the Berkeley Arboretum. I've never been.

I should go there. If you like looking at trees and places. Boy, do I. It's just too expensive to have Stampy. Oh, I also did love Homer. Homer's freak out. That also felt like a very David Silverman thing. Like, he's killing him.

Stop him. Those drawings were definitely Silverman. Yes. But it sounds like Stampy, it's not so cheap having an elephant. Hey, what's with them? I think they're trying to get some attention. Oh. Good luck.

Look at these bills. Chain for elephant. Shots for elephant. Oversized decorative poncho. Technically it's for a giraffe. But I think I can let it out a little. Well, these bills will have to be paid out of your allowance. You have to raise my allowance to about $1,000 a week.

Then that's what I'll do, smart guy. Homer really should have kept the card from Marge on the Lamb. Yeah, he should have. Don't do anything Bart says card. He must have lost it. But just the animals right across the room on a ball. And the disdain in his voice. Good luck, cat.

Why is Homer so mad? Is he not getting attention either? He's like, good luck around this place getting attention. That is one of my favorite lines in the history of the show. He's just angry for no reason. Good luck. Anyway. Oh, and right before this, there's a great little gag of Bart being tucked in by Stampy

and then eaten by Stampy and then put back. Thanks, Bart. That our shitty crappy boss had a job Bob and I used to work at. Not no more. He had a cell from that scene of putting bark back in his i showed it i saw months into i think bob only saw the key car let's steal that only but it we it's like hiding behind a door in his makeshift dumb office it should be a meeting room instead of an office you asshole yeah it's like you're a rich idiot

i appreciate this you don't yeah so it's unless it's a recreation maybe it is because he never told us this is the original but i think it is it is the cell and the background it is and it's him being placed back in there i'll be shocked if it's the background i would have talked with that guy about the simpsons but i said hi to him in the hallway he pretended not to see me and then talk to somebody else so yeah what a cool dude that guy was man but anyway i just i now can't look at that scene without thinking of my me coveting well now i can't henry thank you i'm sorry homer is letting these kids ride people ride the elephant to finance its food which like a dollar and two dollars in 1994 prices is too low for

riding an elephant another favorite line of mine. Well, that was never five feet. This is the first time I noticed that kid doesn't move afterwards. He's unconscious. They don't animate him waking up. And the mother argues about the price. That was never five feet. She doesn't care about the kid anymore.

All of it is so great. Did you ride an elephant? Never, never. I've done it a billion times and i don't know why and i can't remember where it just wasn't like we're living in a year when the circus is gone like i don't know where you'll be able to get close to an elephant no no not not necessarily not that's yeah that's a good thing cruel if you care about elephants then you may be like i'm baffled by it like how many times like i of riding elephants. I did it so much. I mean, an animal smart enough to mourn the dead doesn't want to give you a fucking ride.

I don't know. Consider, like, if your dog asked you for a piggyback ride, you'd do it all the time. I would, yes. Or when you were so little, you could ride a big dog. That would be fun, too. I love picking up kids. I might do it. Get permission first.

That came out wrong. But this scene also has a first appearance. Real line of the show. Okay, this is the line of the show. Let's hear that line of the show jingle. That's the joke. That animal of yours is certainly bad tempered. Yeah, well, you'd be grumpy, too, if you were taken out of your natural habitat and gawked at by a bunch of slack-jawed yokels.

Hey, Mo, look at that pointy-haired little girl. Lisa's face in this shot. So, I love that. That's Cletus's first appearance with no name. He wouldn't be named Cletus until Home Sweet Home, Dim Dudley Doodley, or whatever it's called in season seven. I couldn't believe you said that whole thing. Is that the first accurate title?

Yes, that is. Yeah, and that is the season premiere of season seven. That was the first Oakley and Weinstein one. So he was always slack-jawed Yokel in the script. Just like Snake was Jailbird. Yeah, exactly. But for the joke of Homer saying, let's stop the fussing and the feuding. I love you, Paul.

I love you, Cletus. That was when his name became Cletus. I feel like you can say this about a lot of Simpsons characters on the show. This is my favorite never used character. And then it became my character I don't ever want to see again. What time and how burned? Well, they overused him to an extent, I suppose. But he was so great.

I use a lot of him from Simpsons movie all the time. My time to shine. They also retconned his name. He was given a last name, Cletus Delroy, which eventually became Cletus Spuckler, which is a much better white trash man. Which means out there in the Simpsons universe, there's a Qbert Spuckler.

That makes me so happy. And so Cletus got to become... Them discovering Cletus was like, oh, we can do every redneck joke we've ever wanted. Hey, Maul. Hey, Maul. Yeah, I like how it always starts with, oh, we can do every redneck joke we've ever wanted. Hey, Mom. Yeah. Hey, Mom. Yeah, I like how it always starts with,

hey, Mom. Yeah, or eventually he would be having sex with his sister. If you can watch that joke and remember that Cletus doesn't exist, it's the greatest fucking joke you've ever seen in your life. Born a hairy little girl.

It's framed so well, and Lisa looks so pissed. We eventually got the Cletus extended universe Brandine Diabetti I mean they're all there his 19 children his 19 children

including Rumor and Scout Scout yeah both Demi Moore and Bruce Willis' children yeah I love I love Cletus so much

at least in the first 10 years I love Cletus quite a lot and his and that also tells you why in his 22 short films appearance, he is Cletus, the slack John Yokel. So Homer thinks he's made money,

but it still isn't enough to even pay those bills. I should have got it. I love him saying, don't humiliate me in front of the money. And so he tries to change the prices, and as usual, Homer does it all wrong of too high. Too high, and I just noticed in the shot, he rewrites the sign, and the sign is facing Flanders Hedge.

Yeah. Well, and when he looks around for the people gone, it's just slow reaction of looking in every direction, like, where did everyone go? And then he tries to renegotiate the price in a pretty funny scene with the millhouse house by house um millhouse saw the elephant twice and wrote him once right yes but we paid you four dollars well that was under our old price structure under our new price structure your bill comes to a total um seven hundred dollars now you've already paid me $4,

so that's just $696 more that you owe me. Get off our property. The most assertive Kirk... This town is full of deadbeats. The most assertive Kirk Van Houten has ever been. Question, though. Did he talk in Bart's Friend Falls in Love? Yeah, yeah.

Okay, I thought so. Because Lou Anne Van Houten says, he's up and full of beads and then kirk shows up to say something else i forget i know we talked because i remember because i just heard hank his area say like where'd you get that voice from he's like i'm just copying pamela yeah he is like i'm doing an impression of millhouse as his dad and like it blew my mind when he said that that is just an impression of millhouse he would. He would actually not be named Kirk until the Halloween episode in season six when he's complaining about Milhouse eating two spaghetti dinners.

But in a cut line, but it's still established he was Kirk. Nobody wants that Kirk. It's Kirk. Kirk. But you're right. That was the most assertive he's ever been. Get off our property. But that shot was so great, too.

It's just one static shot. They don't cut into anything. And so you get the real feel of the emptiness of Milhouse's kitchen. They're just staring at Homer as he continues to spell bullshit. And I just love that next... I kept it in there, just to Homer's line. Like, this town is full of deadbeats. It's just like these dozens of houses that nobody will give them anything.

He's trying to extort people. So it's time to get rid of that elephant. And so they're trying to find somebody to take him the line of well he well he is and he isn't i need it today am i wrong to think that he wants to have sex with that elephant is that what he wants that elephant for i never read that i don't the first time at first i thought okay so at first i thought it was just a non-sequitur of just somebody saying if you're trying to sell them your car, you're trying to sell them anything in a garage sale,

they're just like, well, it is and it isn't. I thought it was him haggling over an elephant. It was haggling, but haggling doesn't work on Homer because he has no idea. Yeah, I think it was just like Homer doesn't know how to haggle. He doesn't know the elephant business firsthand. You do know you're the only one that went a thousand miles with an elephant for sale. You have all the marbles. He likes peanuts. This was the first time where i thought i read it as that the guy was

like i i'm probably you would feel nothing you can move into an elephant's vagina and uh worth fucking then we meet stampede's eventual savior unnamed the unnamed person carry at the elephant sanctuary that is somehow local to springfield or local enough and i just love homer's reaction to the idea of charity is just like so your bid is zero like that's that's all all over can think of with charity is just like so you're saying you want me you got to give me nothing and thank you and then we meet uh somebody who is ready to get this is so great another great fox joke too but it's not only because I loved Fox at the time

because they were different and weird and more rivaled and the Simpsons had made a ton of jokes about Fox. Now that we know who Rupert Murdoch is this joke reads

a little more like no you really really did hate your boss. Yes. Though I'm also going to warn you I cut out the part where the animals talk

but they do say we love you during this. Dad I think he's an ivory dealer. His boots are ivory, his hat is ivory, and I'm pretty sure that check is ivory. Lisa, a guy who has lots of ivory is less likely to hurt Stampy than a guy whose ivory supplies are low. Mr. Blackheart? Yes, my pretty. Are you an ivory dealer?

Little girl, I've had lots of jobs in my day. Whale hunter, seal clubber, president of the Fox Network, and like most people, yeah, I've dealt with a little ivory. He does have the name of a Captain Planet villain. Mr. Blackheart. I just love that. First, like, Mr. Blackheart. Yes, my pretty.

Yes, my pretty. Seal clubbing. They didn't just single out fox they singled out a specific individual of president there hasn't been a lot of other presidents i mean i'm sure they hated barry diller too if he was still around yeah they they hated all their bosses who wouldn't but um but season five is so filled with so many knocks at fox they really and then you know you got to give it to, maybe Fox couldn't stop them because they had a no notes rule, but like they were,

I don't think you could, the shit we read about how executives being angry can cancel a show. Like, I don't think you could pick on the Fox network this much. Well, Married with Children did a lot. I mean, it's like the family

would get into Fox network viewing positions. They would hold hands and hold up foil to get the Fox Network. And they would make jokes about Fox all the time. Well, and it would kind of top out when Rupert Murdoch would finally just be on the show and call himself a billionaire tyrant. Well, he would be in prison first, played by Dan Castellaneta.

Yeah. And then he would also appear again in a way too winky joke, but it did make me laugh of him saying, You've saved my network. Wouldn't be the first time. I think he's in jail with Sideshow Bob. He's like, I own 30% of that network. Yes, yeah, he is in jail with Sideshow Bob. And Bart even doesn't want Stampy to get sold. And so he helps Stampy escape, who immediately hits him and just runs away.

Breaks the fence. Yes, he just immediately abandons him. I do wonder what Ned's original line was. You could tell the mouth moves were way off for that four elephants at the apocalypse. Yeah. It was a funny line. I like that line better than the other obvious ADR of, this is like that fat man I used to ride to work.

Yeah, it's an okay. I mean, it doesn't really fit with the mouth flaps, but apparently from the commentary, it was a joke about Mr. Burns' bones sliding out of his hips or something like that. It was a very awkward position he was in. You could tell he was in pain. You know, I half believe Dave Silverman.

That's the real joke. I feel like the animator would remember a line he had to draw way more than a writer. How we use electricity can be smarter, cleaner, and greener. At Electric Ireland, we can help guide you there. You see, our new Net Zero Hub has all you need to know about smart meter plans, EV tariffs, solar panels and much more. Making your usage clearer, your trips greener, your home cozier and your world brighter find our net zero hub at electricarland.ie but also i i i feel like no that can't be the line right but yeah i think

jim reardon do look popped out they do jim reardon was not on this commentary i want to say he was probably working on wally at this time he likely was yeah then when homer finds out i i just again they have him scream again in this episode, and it's so great. They're in love with him screaming around this time. Mom! Dad! Bart and Stampy are gone!

Oh my lord! I bet it's because of that horrible ivory dealer, Dad. He took Bart too? That wasn't part of our deal, Blackheart! That wasn't part! Wow, Dan Castaneda is really bringing it this week. And then Homer thinks he's in an action film, just being like, that wasn't part of our deal!

So good. The Blackheart doesn't come back. I aspire to be angry enough to scream out a window. So they try to find Stampy, and there's a tornado also wreaking havoc that's confusing them. And there's a weird joke, kind of a Wizard of Oz-style style thing where Patty and Selma are caught

in the tornado but they enjoy it because wind is blowing up their skirts. It's kind of gross. Well yeah they had to get some sort of extra joke in there but obviously the visual of two women in a rocking chair staying in a... that's the same thing Dorothy sees on her way to Oz when the twister picks up her house.

It's got Patty and Selma. I'm not into cross-dressing. Hell, I don't want to wash the jeans I'm wearing right now. But if I could wear something where the wind could constantly touch my genitals, I think I might do it. You can do it, Chris. It's called a utilikilt.

Yeah, there you go. I read, I'm sorry, I forget the funny woman who said this, but she said, guys, you don't need to bother with utility kilts. Just say you like wearing dresses. It's cool. Dresses are fun. It doesn't have to be a heavy denim version of that. I'm down. I'm down. Instead, they're like, no, it's a tough thing.

A kilt, like tough guys in Scotland. Can we start out with a wind hole? A wind hole to touch my dick? You can make your own, Chris. But Marge is not alarmed. Marge is in my pants. It's a one-off joke, but there's no comment from Marge. Like, my sisters are in a tornado. my sisters are masturbating with a tornado like they kind of are you're right but i i do love that just joke of like we'll just follow the destruction like no we can't follow the destruction because it's a tornado and then you have another very murky joke

of avoiding the smashed glass for it to then just be thrown in a dumpster and smashed anyway. For the second episode in a row, Wiggum literally becomes Edward G. Robinson. Like, I'm Edward G. Robinson. We did cover that in a previous episode, right? We just did. That's why we were done in just the last episode in Homer Loves Flanders. I remember looking into the clip of Edward G. Robinson that, yeah, see? It doesn't sound anything like that.

It's been warped and ruined. We're just used to Hank Azaria's bad version of it that became a great new character. It's kind of like how Dana Carvey's George W. Bush, or sorry, George Bush, doesn't sound a lot like the actual George Bush. It's like, yeah, very much like an exaggeration of his little tics. Thousand points of light.

But yeah, the original Edward G. Robinson read was like, you're not going to think of my brother, see? That's it. That's where this whole impression came from. After learning where that where's Messiah now came from. I think they're just doing a version of Billy Crystal doing. They're doing a telephone version of a person's voice.

Speaking of politicians like George H.W. Bush. I love this joke so very much. It's all true. The elephant going through the place, going through the conventions of both Republicans and the Democrats. First off, goes to the Republicans. Everybody cheers because the elephant is the animal, the mascot of the Republicans. And the signs are, we want what's worst for everyone. Yes.

And we're just plain evil. Now, Henry, you're not being political. You're telling a joke that happened on The Simpsons, right? Yes. I don't think the comments are going to make a distinction. Is it safe to say we agree with this joke? I would agree with that joke. And I'll say I agree with the Democrat joke, too. Oh, me too, especially after the last election.

We hate ourselves and we can't govern? We can't govern. We hate life and ourselves. True, even then. Yeah, I guess that is to find being a progressive. I don't like this. I was at the bank for three hours. I know. That sucks. But was at the bank for three hours. I know.

That sucks. But it's just such a great joke. And you already have the joke of the elephant being cheered by the Republicans and booed by the Democrats. But it's those signs that are just perfect that it is. And even 23 years later, the joke still works. I see that meme everywhere. I see it posted everywhere. It's perfect.

And it is truly a centrist joke. Those are pointed and good mockings of both political parties in America. And then comes, I love this joke too so much, also because I feel like when I was a kid, my parents would mention working in a peanut factory as some lesser thing or whatever. But this peanut factory joke is so great this guy uh this guy's hubris and wanting to i could so identify with wanting to be just like

i told you so it's so swartzwellian just this joke the setup the endless setup for this joke after so after the elephant runs through the republican democrat convention he is heading towards the peanut factory this is the moment we feared, people. Many of you thought it would never happen, but I insisted we spent two hours every morning training for it. You all thought I was mad. Many of you requested to be transferred to another peanut factory.

But now, we... This is so great. I kind of want an episode about this guy and his endless peanut factory elephant drills. Yeah, who's to say he couldn't have been reused as often as Slack John Yokel? He premieres in this episode, too. You don't even have to future-proof peanuts all that much.

They're still around, baby. Peanut factory, he's probably haven't changed all that much in 24 years. It's a great joke, but I think I like this guy because he reminds me of Hank Hill. He takes his kind of crappy job way too seriously, and it hurts everyone around him. You requested to be transferred to other peanut factories. How many peanut factories are in Springfield? How skilled is the labor? And that you have two hours every day to plan for what happens when an elephant comes in there.

Yeah, you're right. It's such a Schwarzwaldian thing of like building up this thing not even directly saying it you have to know you have to infer that this guy's greatest nightmare was that an elephant was going to storm his peanut or it happened before it happened to him before yeah it creates i love does seem worldly i love jokes like that that creates more story to it and more background that you have to I hate over-discussing a joke, but this joke is a fucking wonderful comedic onion. I love it. It's so good. I love that joke so much.

And then pretty soon after, Bart is looking for Stampy in another reference. Stampy! Stampy, where are you, boy? I never read this before. Because I know what Henry's going to play. Yes. Okay, so Bob, this was a clip he sent. If you're watching Nickelodeon in the mid to late 80s,

and this show would be just filler. They would have Dennis the Menace and things like this. It seems cruel now. If you're watching SpongeBob, and they cut to like a 1960s black and white sitcom. Yeah, yeah. I know. Dennis the Menace was amazing compared to this.

Lassie was the... Let's just hear the theme song. Lassie! Let me see if I can still do this. Lassie! Do I know everybody's name? Starring June Lockhart. June Lockhart.

Hugh Riley. John Provo. John Provo says Timmy and of course... And of course Lassie. What's up with the touching Lassie love theme? Also June Lockhart, total babe. Dude, this... I only realized that...

Did you know the second Lassie movie he fought Nazis? No. Lassie was so fucking huge that we did a laser time all about shows that aired after the Super Bowl. And it's my favorite bit of trivia with Lassie. Lassie's the first. Wow. The biggest show the world could think to show after the Super Bowl was Lassie. Wow.

Lassie the show about a black and white show about a collie who could sense water and find children from billions of miles away. It was a smart, helpful dog that would always help Timmy. Is it presumptuous to want to save this for the Laddie episode? I did a lot of... We'll dig into it more. We'll do it again. People will forget. But I did Lassie research.

That's two years from now. I did Lassie research. The character is sort of a public domain character from the 19th century, just like the Lassie figure. But it was immortalized in a 1940 book, then a 1943 movie, and then several movies after that, and then a TV show from 1954 to 1973. It was one of the biggest shows ever, and it was syndicated all over the place. And if you had Nickelodeon before, I don't think they had original programming. I mean, they would get the closest. The closest thing to original would be the stuff they got from Canada, like Pinwheel

or You Can't Do That on Television. We talked about that on a recent Laser Time, You Can't Do That on Television, but that alone wasn't their show and built the tone and foundation of their network. But they were at least new things that were made, same with Cut It Out. What was that show? Out of Control. Out of Control.

Mainly, Canada in english shows like danger mouse yeah those were their newest program count ducula yeah in banana mom you were watching a bunch of fur and programming but i must say uh the season 5 mst3k episode the painted hills is a lassie movie it's insane let me tell, there were 591 Lassie episodes. That's like an anime almost. Simpsons has a beat now. Yeah, but like by 20 episodes. Wow.

And I keep hearing people saying, oh, it's the longest running cartoon, longest running show. It's not. I don't know why they keep saying Simpsons is. There's a show in Japan called Sazae-san. Yeah, Sazae-san. The creator will not let it be released in any format. It will only air on TV, but it's been running since the 60s. Yes.

For 50 years. Is that the one where I was working at Capcom? I think it's about a Japanese housewife. Okay, never mind. Well, actually, yeah, that's funny you say that, because I had read this in books before of calling Sazae-san the Japanese Simpsons, or that it was like they had trouble bringing the Simpsons over there because they're like, well, yeah, I have Sazae-san the Japanese Simpsons or that it was like they had trouble bringing the Simpsons over there because they're like, well, we already have Sazae-san.

But I heard the same thing actually from friend of the show and listener, Daniel Fide, eh, Daniel, who he has lived in Osaka for years and years now, has a family there, is married to a Japanese wife, and he said that when they came to America to go to Universal Studios and he was so excited to be the simpsons area and that his wife didn't understand it and or she was like oh it's like saze san like this is daniel if i'm telling the story wrong correct me but so even it is a standard

thing to be like oh yeah saze san is the simps Simpsons of Japan or the closest equivalent. I think Kran Chin-chan is probably more like the Simpsons. Well you've only seen Bart's ding dingus once. It's a great milestone for the Simpsons have run this long but I do episodes of Laser Time a show sort of like this but based on a topic and Japan

constantly shits over every milestone because everything you think has been done first. The first cartoon made into a movie. The first cartoon made into live action. The longest running show. They did it all first. Always. One last Sazae-san tidbit.

It's running from October 5th, 1969 to the present. Episode 7600 plus. So The Simpsons, you've got to run for 10 times longer to beat Saze-san I can't even do the math in my head is that a weekly show or a daily show? I think it's been running every week like every long run anime for 50 years. So the creator will never let it be anything but a TV show

That's a stipulation I don't know why What would you do with it now? The complete series a fucking forklift brings a DVD case to your house The difference though between America. How America works with adaptations and the way they do in Japan is that Adapt-A-Manga, almost everybody owns their work. Akira Toriyama's name, and he's involved in every Dragon Ball thing because he owns Dragon Ball Z.

He doesn't own the animation exactly, but he owns the characters, and you can't make more Dragon Ball Z without his involvement. And that's how it is with the majority of anime series and animation in Japan. So that guy having that much control to say what you can't do with it, I'm not shocked. There's lots of people who have that. There's reasons. Here's a quick one. Bob and I is one of our favorite manga artists who did the series Monster, 20th Century Boys, Pluto, Urasawa-san.

Viz in America wanted to publish 20th Century Boys five years earlier than they did. But they weren't allowed to because the artist said, this can't be publishing at the same time as Monster in America because people will see that my art looks so different and I don't want that. Wow, I didn't know that. And they just did it. They're like, well, I guess we'll just sit on this license for five years and publish it when nobody's buying it. I just imagine meetings at the Simpsons like,

we would like to stop. That's not up to you. And just one last note, it says they saw the creator die, but they're still honoring her wishes to never make merchandise or release it in any format. So there you go. So Simpsons, you got a lot of catching up to do.

Japanese Bill Watterson. So they end up at the Springfield Tar Pits, which are the La Brea Tar Pits. And let me tell you, I learned a lot of things about the La Brea Tar Pits I didn't know before. I knew it from... The movie Volcano? Actually, because it was also featured in L.A. Noire, the video game. It is! That's right.

It's amazing. But I'd always assumed that that is hot tar and you would die if you touched it it isn't it is fake you don't want to touch that tar it's gross you never want it on you but it's not it's room it's it's earth temperature it is but is it real tar um well actually no it's more like petroleum and tar for it's from the earth it's not something they make or die no no It's just seeping garbage out of the earth. But there is a whole museum next to it because they did dig out fossils, as they mentioned in the episode. And they put the fossils in there.

So this was another L.A. fixture being put into Springfield. It really is. If I ever, next time I go back to L.A., maybe I'll finally see those La Brea Tar Pits, just to say I've done it. But, Henry, what if you see a deer? Don't! A deer! A female deer.

Just a great one-off joke. Sound of Music. It is very cute. Really good, and I've still never seen Sound of Music. I thought that joke was like, I feel like I was waiting for that to happen. Well, even if you hadn't seen Sound of Music, I feel like in my music class in school,

we sang that song. It's a great children's song. And a great Kids in the Hall sketch. Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do. Yeah, yeah. Ti! Yeah, that Kids in the Hall, that is the best parody of it ever.

I love that one so much. But yeah, so the simpsons have arrived they finally found bart at the tar pits and stampy stampy stampy's missing other elephants but homer still won't give him back and now homer's about to be hoisted by his own petard dead he's sinking oh get a rope bart no that's okay i'm pretty sure I can struggle my way out. First, I'll just reach in and pull my legs out. Now I'll pull my arms out with my face. I love the bubbling there. I just like the idea of pulling your arms out with your face.

And then he doesn't even close his eyes. Like, his eyes are open as he dunks his head in. Like, to just choose to dunk your head into tar is crazy. Somebody had to tell, because I don't know why. I grew up in Florida swimming in both oceans and freshwater constantly. I open my eyes in everything. And just recently, this lake in Oakland isn't a lake. It's where sewage runs into.

My girlfriend's like, don't open your fucking eyes in there. Are you crazy? You now have all the hepatitis. The water tastes more like tea than anything I've ever been in. Pulling your arms out with your face might be the stupidest Homer's been to this point. It might be a new plateau has been hit on stupidness. But maybe that's it. It's not jerk Homer, but he is peak stupid.

I enjoy him calmly explaining his bad plan, just going through the steps. Pulling going through the steps with my face and this was another thing i found out about it like at the liberia tar pits if you had a hot enough flame you could get the tar on fire because there's enough methane around there but you actually a lighter won't exactly light it on fire unlike what happens to barney which is his second appearance in the show i love this light yeah thanks steppy that's definitely adr yeah he's been lit on fire in denny's it's like wow it's so good oh well it's the first time he's ever smoked a cigarette yes he's never smoked but you can just assume he would by his lifestyle it It doesn't, like, why would he care to not smoke?

I feel like they wouldn't be able to do that joke again now, just like, well, Barney can't smoke. It's still astonishing to me when I think about it a lot, about how taboo smoking has become in everything, considering how ubiquitous it was. It's Patty and Selma's trademark. That'll give the show a different rating on television

as we move forward. Yeah, like TVMA. Which, hey, people should be smoking less. I'm not against not showing smoking less. I don't smoke cigarettes. It's just one of those

weird things. I mean, I guess because I used to smoke, but it'll drive a line into everything ever made. Yeah. More so than almost an aspect ratio

of black and white. You'll know that it's before this time. Rewatching the Ghostbusters recently, the first movie, like everyone is just smoking. Everyone smokes.

And nothing is called attention to it. I didn't even remember it. I've seen the movie a thousand times and I didn't remember anybody smoking. Nobody even says to Ray,

like, put out your cigarette or whatever. It's just like, yeah, Ray is hanging out and he's smoking. In Disney movies, I recognize it as weird and I wish someday I would...

I just want to do a reenactment of the Disney PSA. You buy those movies on Blu-ray, and I still do. There's a giant one-minute thing with all their animated characters smoking. This is bad. Don't do this. I mean, I grew up in a household full of smokers. I don't mind if you smoke the listener,

but whenever I'm behind someone walking around outside, I hate them with all of my heart. It's like, you're just going to let this burning ash fall behind you? That's great. I get to smell this too? Awesome. I'm on board for all of this. It's almost like hot coals burning in virgin sacrifices in volcanoes. It feels like a very...

I'm holding a vape pen because I've been a smoker for over half my life. Not judging. You've been vaping for a while, though, now. When was the last time you smoked a cigarette? Do you know? I did. I've told that story a bunch,

but I did because I was watching Casablanca drinking straight whiskey out of a glass, just like Humphrey Bogart. Yeah, just like Humphrey Bogart. And then my roommate went out to have a cigarette, and that scene where he's lamenting in an empty bar about Rick, about everything that's happened, and he went to to have a cigarette. That scene where he's lamenting in an empty bar about Rick, yes, about everything that's happened. He went to go smoke a cigarette.

I'm like, this is the most 4D movie I've ever been in. I asked my roommate, would you go out and smoke another cigarette? He said yes. Then I asked him, got another one in you? He's like, no. He threw me his pack of cigarettes. I'm like, yeah. It was awesome. I'm free of this burden because i smoked two cigarettes that night to

watch casablanca drink whiskey and i never had one again and then boke looked at you and said here's looking at you chris that really does data too because i remember when your roommate all the fat italians in all the world with a nerdy ass room and simpsons action figures falling all over a recording studio you had. You had to emulate me. So Stampy saves Homer's life and actually Homer is as stupid as when he calls him a feline. This is one of my favorite lines.

Well actually I didn't get the feline line but this is when Homer decides to keep Stampy. I guess it wouldn't be right to sell Stampy after he saved my life. And the boy seems to have some sort of relationship with him. Thanks, Dad. On the other hand, who's to say what's right these days? But with all our modern ideas and products...

All right, we'll give the stupid elephant to the stupid animal refuge. Yay! It's the quick point, and the boy seems to have some sort of attachment. It's an incredibly funny joke made better by the animation. And Homer's only just picking up on this, really. Like, I guess the boy likes him too. It is not only secondary, third or fourthiary to whatever his priority or feeling is about Stampy. I love, I also love that line, the empty argument, like, what with all our modern ideas and products.

And Homer would love to be part of the music scene, have his teeth made into piano keys. There's too many great lines. I know. This is long enough already. This is the best episode. I pitied Henry while watching this. I'm like, Henry, every line is great. How could you not capture everything?

This is why we're an hour 37 in our recording right now. Well, so they drop off Stampy at the place. The refuge. And that's one of the last lines. Stampy straight up kills those elephants. He knocks them out. That one guy is not moving, that one elephant. I guess he could be unconscious. And then it's revealed that Homer and Stampy have more in common than we thought.

Well, animals are a lot like people, Mrs. Simpson. Some of them act badly because they've had a hard life or have been mistreated but like people some of them are just jerks stop that mr simpson i kept it that whole way because like he doesn't say words like he's just like that that's homer could be shoving him for that joke but it's way funnier I kept it that whole way because he doesn't say words. Homer could be shoving him for that joke, but it's way funnier that he is also head-butting him. For me, it was always way funnier to assume he's learning how to be a better jerk from an elephant. He never thought to do this before. Oh, that's a good reading.

I love the line, some elephants are just jerks, because I also own an African animal, an African gray parrot. I've had him for 15 years. We get along wonderfully. But he's sort of like a cat in which a dog will be like, you're bigger than me. You're my boss now. And a cat doesn't care about you, but it's too lazy to get in trouble. A bird is like, I'm a bird doing bird shit. I don't care what you're up to.

I'm not going to listen to you. I got plans, buddy. Because he's like halfway domesticated. I mean, parrots are not really domesticated. But it's interesting. But I think of that line when he's being bad. Some animals are just jerks. He's like, why won't you go to bed? Why won't you listen to me? That's beautiful.

This scene fascinated me as someone who has been looking at buying animation cells, especially Simpsons animation cells, a cartoon I maybe know better than anything else, and how tightly this dude is framed. I remember watching this, not remembering the Homer butting the head.

You're like, is there something wrong with the cropping on this? And just having to remember that this is someone zooming in on a cell they have to animate, and everything around it. So when you watch it now in full screen, it looks like, I want my money back.

This is cut wrong. But that's the original framing of the joke or it's also like to look on your hd tv and see the shadows of cell paint on in this shot you can see the shadows of the cells way more uh it looks it looks bad i love those imperfections i love the physicality of cell animation what infuriated me when fx clipped it to make it widescreen like no, no, guys. Just keep the aspect ratio. Macarini hates it, too.

I don't know why they couldn't even listen to him. He owns The Simpsons. I don't know why they couldn't do it. TV's already did it, which was, like, expand, like, the latter couple of inches on the side where, like, not a lot of the action is framed. But what a fuck this scene. Yeah. He would have been, like, way wider than he was before.

Sorry, the refugee fellow yes refugee fella i'll stop talking uh three beers in so one last thing about this the stampy would make a return i'm going to say i'm gonna wag my finger at the simpsons wiki because they say like stampy appeared in like five other episodes like no an elephant was there it was drawn to be an elephant they credit it's not supposed to be stampy is like the background with six elephants on a ball. One of them was Stampy. What the fuck are you talking about? In Bart's dream, after he drinks all that water, he sees an elephant, and that's Stampy.

It's an elephant. It's not identified as Stampy. I think Stampy comes back by name once or twice. In the season 14 episode, Large Marge, where Marge gets breast implants accidentally. I have not seen this. Jesus Christ. It was 2002, so it's actually not that new. And it's actually

animated by Jim Reardon. He's the director of the episode. It's a 2002 episode where Marge gets large breasts, but the other plotline is that Krusty has become very unpopular. Bart says that he should save Milhouse from a fake trampling from an elephant, and he got Stampy back to fake trample Milhouse,

except Stampy then goes wild and puts Homer, Milhouse, and Bart in his mouth at the same time. And the only thing that distracts him long enough for Krusty to remember the safe word to get Stampy to let them go is Marge flashing her boobs. And then Krusty says, look at those mugumbos. And then Stampy remembers that's his safe word. And it's a very. Just a great use of Marge, I think. Really gives her a lot of dignity. Something to do.

I've seen worse episodes. I have too, but I hate that one. But in 2002 it makes me wonder, it was probably before they recorded the commentary for this, but just them going back to an old episode like, we could just bring this doesn't have to be any old elephant. It can be Stampy. Maybe it was Reardon

saying we should make this Stampy. I directed this other episode almost a decade ago. And it was written by Ian Maxton Graham. It was actually one of the first episodes of Al Jean's return to the series um anyway so that was the next appearance to stampy which again i can say in my mind i can't not think of large marge as a new episode but it's like 15 years it's getting into 15 years old there was enough time in between large marge and now than there was between large Marge and Stampy. There were only eight years between Large Marge and Stampy.

We've got so many more episodes to do. We want to do it forever, everybody. This has been Talking Simpsons. I've been your host, Bob Mack. You can find me on Twitter as Bob Servo. My other podcast is Retronauts. You can find that at retronauts.com or just search for Retronauts in your podcast device app or what have you.

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