Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - Bart Gets Famous

Episode Date: May 10, 2017

After an uneventful trip to the box factory, Bart becomes a huge fad in one of the most meta (and best) episodes ever. Listen to this week’s podcast where repetitiveness is our job, our job, repetitiveness is our job…

Hey, this is Hank Azaria. You're listening to Talking Simpsons on Laser Time. I didn't know that was a thing. This week's Talking Simpsons is brought to you by Audible, and you listeners can go to audibletrial.com slash lasertime and get started with a free 30-day trial and get a free audiobook. I heartily endorse this event or product. ahoy hoy everybody welcome to talking simpsons guaranteed to be more entertaining than a box factory i am your host bob mackie and i'm speaking up in case any of you are wearing towels and this is the laser time podcast network's chronological exploration of the simpsons who

else is here with me as always and henry gil, and since this has nothing to do with boxes, I'll just shut these blinds. And who else? I didn't do it, dancer, Chris Antiston. That's right. And today's episode is Bart Gets Famous. Big off with a face. And this episode aired on February 3rd, 1994. And as always, Chris will tell us what happened on this mythical day in history.

Oh my god! My favorite character in Citizen Kane, Joseph Cotton, is dead. Mrs. Doubtfire. You didn't do Oh Boy Bobby. Oh my bad. You're depriving the audience of the Oh Boy Bobby they come to this podcast for. Excuse me, let me reset. Oh my god!

Oh Boy Bobby. Wow. Low energy Wow Low energy Low energy Joseph Cotton is dead Wow My favorite Citizen Kane character

He's in love with cigars Mrs. Doubtfire Has turned the world On to transgendered hijinks Lilith reunites With Frasier On the show Of the same name

And AOL says Computers are so overloaded That it must limit The number of customers During peak evening hours I couldn't hear you Because you were shouting What happened to Joseph Cotton

Is he dead? He died. Oh. Yeah, well, those nurses kept him alive for a real long time. They snuck him cigars and booze and stuff? It wouldn't happen to have a cigar. Oh, please watch Shadow of a Doubt, my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie. Joseph Cotton, I think it's 1945.

Beautiful, beautiful movie. Great, fantastic. I won't tell you what happens. It's great. He's in it. He's good. Yes. Just trust him on that. But this is quite an episode of the Simpsons I think this is one of the most

metal ones they have ever done it really is and I was talking with you earlier Henry I feel like so we get a lot of new writers in this season and they're really kind of making the most of ideas that were either squandered or not made the most of in earlier seasons and I feel like this is them expanding upon the monkey's paw Halloween segment in which the Simpsons become famous. And it's more commentary about the state of the show, the state of Bart losing his place as the show's star, and sort of the commentary on him being just a catchphrase.

I get the gags from that episode confused with being in this episode. Yeah, you get gags about the Simpsons fame, but you also get jokes about... He's on a t-shirt! Not in this. Yeah. Well, you get gags about the Simpsons fame, but you also get jokes about. Simpsons on a t-shirt. Not in this episode. But you also get jokes about the soullessness of television production. That's true.

David Merkin hates TV. Yeah. And you see it all here. And I think they also have an extra level of distance because, especially with Merkin running the show, almost none of the people on the writer's side who were involved in the peak years of popularity are still there. So it's people from the outside who are on the outside looking into The Simpsons, joking about the time it was most popular in seasons one and two.

Yeah. I mean, they are now maybe number 34, number like 52 in the ratings. That still means 18 million viewers. I mean, more than any show would ever get now times five. Without a football. This is an incredible episode. It's beautiful. Directed by Susie Dieter. First ever.

The first ever female director on The Simpsons. She was Mark Kirkland's assistant director for a lot of episodes. He was sort of her mentor. She is great. She would go on and do things like Futurama. Her stuff is always good. Her episodes are always really good. I remember remember she's pretty funny on commentaries too especially on the critic crossover episode john lovitz i was just like john lovitz quit hitting on her

yeah i i feel like i don't know if she was actually if i don't know everybody watching me hit on this girl good i don't know which way she swings but but she joked with him of just saying but what if i'm gay i don't want to just say i think he might have just been making too many gay jokes yeah that might have been it but yes suzy deeter as bill oakley said in our interview she was the lone woman on the director's staff back then that they worked with and she was she's. Like, she has a very workmanlike quality, I'd say, and really good acting, I think. And we see a Twister Mouth in this episode,

which sort of caught me by surprise. I forgot that Twister Mouth, yes. And I say this every time it happens. This could be the last one. I think we're getting to the last Twister Mouth. It might be. I think we have to make a YouTube compilation. I really want...

I was thinking about at least a Frankie Eye compilation. We can hide it because I only want to see them in slow motion. See how the nose gets over there. How the jaw dislocates. We never talk about the chalkboard gags, but I did want to mention this one. It's a reference to the one-armed man. Bart is saying that he won't blame something on the one-armed man. And that is a reference to The Fugitive Witch.

The Fugitive. Film of The Fugitive. The Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones film. man and that is a reference to the fugitive film of the fugitive the harrison for tommy lee jones film that came out in 93 and was getting oscar buzz in early 1994 when this episode aired so that's why i got one for tommy lee jones tommy lee jones every outhouse steakhouse and pancake house found them house of pies it's also one of those things that like everything you watched in this period referenced the fugitive yes it did it was huge and like unlike a lot of other popular movies from 1993 i don't ever see it anymore i had to go out of my way to watch it again it's still really fun i gotta watch it it's really good and i just a movie based on a tv show that is really good and won oscars it's probably

why they keep doing it probably one of tommy lee jones most iconic roles of all time yeah i mean he'd been in a lot of movies before then, but it made him famous, that one. And he pretty much would just play that character the rest of his life. Because if you remember, he's in No Country for Old Men, and I forget that.

He's kind of the same guy, like the no-nonsense-like dude. Yeah, the same guy, but like four years older. And remember they made this sequel without heirs and four, just U.S. Marshals, that it's basically Fugitive again,

except Wesley Snipes is the fugitive, and Joey Pants is in it too. Interesting. I totally forgot about that. So this episode opens with Bart whistling an annoying but familiar tune. Holy shit, this is fun. Bart, I'm asking you not to whistle that annoying tune.

You have all mine, Mama Dunce. Why are you so happy? Yeah, you kids got to go to school. I got to go to work. The only one who has it easy is Marge. And then she's scrubbing the floor immediately to their rights. I feel like Bart humming the theme lets you know immediately this is a very meta episode. Oh, yeah.

Commentary on the entire show with that theme but and according to simpson's wikia the show's theme had just been rated one of the most annoying by tv guide yeah like that same year they do mention that on the commentary which i think is unfair yeah it's ridiculous it's a very pleasant theme song and uh for plot purposes though for the entire first act bart is wearing his lucky red hat which is this the last appearance of the lucky red i looked this up so uh he wore it last in brother can you spare two dies season three again they're pulling from season three they love it and it would not be seen again until 2000's insane clown poppy really this is the last lucky red hat appearance damn until

2000 yeah and previously we saw it in Call of the Simpsons. Yes. When they thought Bart was dead because they found his hat. So we see the same thing here. When he washed it with a Homer shirt. Yeah, it's most famous in Star Craving Dad. Yeah, that's right. It's the one that turned Homer all of the clothes pink with his Lucky Red Hat.

It's so weird how that comes back so fucking conveniently. Well, Mike Reese jokes about it that he said he heard newer writers joking like, oh, why don't we put Bart in his lucky red hat? What's the origin of the hat? Yeah, I mean... And then Mike Reese is like, guys, I'm right here. I made up that hat.

I'm now thinking of other references. Also, in Homer Alone, when they're bugging Marge in the morning, Bart asks where his hat is. It's behind the toilet. It's behind the toilet. Yes. We remember these things, people.

That's why we're here. That's why we're doing it. And Lisa is having a fantasy. I love this fantasy. We remember these things, people. That's why we're here. That's why we're doing it. And Lisa is having a fantasy. I love this fantasy. It's a really good sequence. Impaled on my Nobel Peace Prize. That's what it is. How ironic.

Yo. Lise. Lise. Come back, Lise. Come back. Why? I'm so much happier here. It makes it just a cut above a normal flashback.

That is the Nobel Peace Prize is a disc. You're saying that like I don't have one. Laser time, ladies and gentlemen. Not a pyramid. But I believe Obama was given one preemptively. Like, don't start wars. Have one of these. They gave him an award for not.

He became peaceful by not being George W. Bush. That's true. And whoever follows the current president, well, I think they'll give him like two peace prizes. But Lisa is writing her memoirs and is including uh many of her achievements including having a facts of life reunion including long time holdout 2d all right let's get into this you okay so you loved our 20 minutes on hogan hogan's heroes set your set your faces to stun as we talk about the facts of life shows i grew up around and don't know anything about look i barely watched the facts in life. This is one of those shows I grew up around and don't know anything about. Look, I barely watch the facts of life. In case you didn't know,

Facts of Life was actually officially a different stroke spin-off. It was about a group of girls who live in a dormitory in an all-girls school and you had Joe, Tootie, and two other ones. I was kind of, I think

that was one of my first TV crushes, The Tomboy. Joe the Tomboy joe the tomboy yeah yeah and think of that what you will it was a very popular show ran for about eight years it's true and uh one thing i remember so i watch this a lot with my sister growing up and then much later maybe five years later watching married with children they were never meaner to anything than facts of life yeah ever there were so many anti-facts of life jokes and it was mostly about the girls being fat i don't know anything else about the show really mean to the i honestly it's not fair

of like no oh you're young actresses you're child actors who all go crazy and die yeah but let's make fun of your looks now and those i mean in this the behind the scenes story is those girls were not treated well the ones who are putting on weight. They're growing up on television famous while going through puberty and have all this money. That's a lot for a kid to manage in addition to their weight and jokes about it. Well, the poor Kim Welchel was sent to fat camp. Oh, you're right. You're supposed to be the sexy one on this show. You got to get skinnier.

And even Joan Rivers called them the fats of life on the emmys to their faces but that's what joan rivers did baby yeah she roasted them they didn't realize how mean that was to poor children then and now maybe it wasn't that fair but so so they did not have a reunion until 2001 they and future lisa it. Well, Joe was the lone holdout of the original cast when they did the 2001. I loved her. But it was because she was, well, the producers were nice in saying

she was busy with another show, which she was. She was on a Lifetime show. But also at the time she was like, I don't want to be defined by Joan. I'm not going to play this character. Fair enough. At first they were going to say Joan was dead,

and they were all going to her funeral. Is this like a kayfabe reunion? So instead they said, no, Joe just couldn't make it, so her daughter came instead. But it was a reunion done in the fiction of the facts of life. It was a fictional reunion. It was a reunion special that aired on ABC and the Wonderful World of Disney in 2001.

Did George Clooney and his wonderful mullet come back? No, it was only the four girls. It wasn't even one of the late... The cousin Oliver of the show was not invited back. Was like the head mother of that place dead? Yes, she was. Charlotte Ray? She was still around.

Charlotte Ray was still around then. She was still around in 2011 when they did their last group reunion that was not in a special. I think she was on Gilbert Gottfried's podcast. It was a really good episode, too. The facts of life. That was really bad. But the last interesting thing about the 2001 Reunion movie was that filming began on September 10, 2001.

And that was also why Joe couldn't even make it for one small scene because they couldn't fly to Canada to film it. I can't imagine being on set like, oh, we're back, nothing could go wrong. Oh, what's happening? I see no problem with watching the news.

I have the same feeling when I go, so this is a slight tangent, which I know you guys love, but when I look up screenshots for video games on this database we can access

called Games Press, I think it is. I'll go to old games I'm doing research on and be like, oh, you uploaded these screenshots of Kingdom Hearts on September 10th. I bet you thought your little jokes were so funny.

And having worked on that side of things, that was probably in an Excel sheet for like eight months. Oh, yeah. Wow, the campaign doesn't seem as important right now. No, it's like an even bigger screenshot of Sora. And so, Kim Victoria Field, she played Tootie, who you may remember her from Fox's Livin' Single,

which she was on at the same time this episode aired. Wow, really? She was quite the babe. Hubba hubba. Hubba hubba. So there. That wasn't too long on the facts of life. We played the entire theme song, and let's hear from Joe.

We brought her in. Theme song written by the late Al Thicke. You gotta show, you gotta know. It's life, you gotta know. Look, now this boring-ass facts of life shit, let's start talking about something more exciting like the tour of the Springfield Box Factory. Preemptively, I have to say, this rivals the steam ham scenes

as my favorite Simpsons thing, and it's even longer. The story of how two brothers and five other men parlayed a small business loan into a thriving paper goods concern Is a long and interesting one And here it is It all began with the filing of form 637-A The application for a small business or farm

Many interesting and important things have been put into boxes over the years Textiles, other boxes, even children's candy. Do any of these boxes have candy in them? Well... Will they ever? No, we only make boxes to ship nails. Any other questions? When will we be able to see a finished box, sir?

Oh, we don't assemble them here. That's done in Flint, Michigan. Have any of the workers ever had their hands cut off by the machinery? No. And then the hands started crawling around and tried to strangle everybody? No, that has never happened. And he popped eyeballs. I'm not sure what kind of factory you're thinking of. We just make boxes here. Everything, so, sorry Chris.

This is one of my favorite characters ever now. I mean, I love the way this escalates in terms of boredom. Seymour Skinner is so happy. Everyone's like, oh, the box factory again. And he's just so tickled. He and Martin are really into this. But as I said before on the show, I love boring characters because their jokes are the most specific and the most laser focused. It's hard to make boring things funny.

But it gets more and more boring as the scene goes on. I love the tour of his office, too. It's like all this line. And in this room. And then we go right out the door. Oh, they took that out. Yes, it is like all the other ones. My favorite thing in that is just the story

of two brothers and five other men. Five other men. And the voice he's doing is Bob Elliott, Chris Elliott's dad from Get a Life. That's his voice. And in real life, too. I mean, he was part of a comedy duo called Bob and Ray,

and Bobott sounds like that i think he just recently died he was hanging in there in his late 90s but that voice you could hear i'll get a life i love it so very much i i love that bart is so excited for the for this field trip and then it turns out to be the box factory which is the worst and then that edna edna becomes one of the kids too she's She's like, I hate this so much. Not the box factory again, Seymour. Not the box factory again, Seymour. And Otto, so we see a foreshadowing of the Poochie episode.

So Otto, on the way to the box factory, they drive by Toy Town, the fireworks testing range, and the slide factory. So there was no fireworks factory yet, but they're almost there. Nowadays, kids will be thankful just to live in a town with one factory in it. That's not in Flint, Michigan. Yes, the shipping of unfinished, like they can't even finish boxes there. It's like, yeah, it's not even a box factory. They just ship flattened boxes. It is a fucking cardboard factory.

Yeah, and look, so kudos to Susie Dieter, but those boxes moving along in Conveyor Bell, I've never seen more fluid animation on The Simpsons in my life. It's just so beautiful and perfect. And I do like the joke about television rotting your brain to fantasy of just like, I'll just be like Lisa and escape into fantasy.

Instead of going to the box factory. Just that he can't imagine anything because of television. It's so good. And I loved his little TV. As a kid, I always dreamed of having a little TV. It's the first piece

of data technology here. Yeah. I wanted so bad, but I could never get one. Because I think Sega made like eight of them. It was a TV tuner for your Game Gear. You would need to buy stock in the Duracell company to power that thing, though. The only thing I took from my considerably wealthy grandfather's house when he died is he had a black and white sony watchman oh nice it

was like rear projection like it projected a black and white image onto a piece of cloth through glass and you can hold it in two hands that was that you had to do that and i thought i thought it was the coolest thing and he died and i took it and like two years later it's like we're cutting out over the air transmission so i still have it it it can't it literally can't do anything don't hold it in your crotch unless you want flipper babies the only thing the only thing i can do with it there have been some flipper it is the only place the only thing i own where i can get authentic static from because like static doesn't exist i missed the actual tv static you're right and another uh important note is that the building they're in for the box factory is uh after the Klasky Chupo building, which was just a rundown shitty L.A. building.

I'm sure that was like a carpet factory at some place in the 30s or something. They love Noxon Klasky Chupo. They have so many. I think they say, again, the building that Sideshow Luke Perry flies through is also modeled after the Klasky Chupo building. And in Krusty Gets Cancelled. And in his office that he has a calendar with boxes on it. Yes, I forgot about that. What I think is a paperweight shaped like a box or it's just a little box on his...

No, it's just a box. There's so many details like his shitty windowless office that's just stark and depressing inside. And they just have to walk through a line. But then they reveal that the box factory is right next to the Channel 6. That's right. Which is not Krusty Lou's studios exactly. No, I mean, they're all over the place with, like, is Krusty

bigger than Itchy and Scratchy? Is Krusty an international celebrity? Is it just a Springfield celebrity? I mean, they kind of rewrite it for whatever they need to be. Yes, and then Bart's escape through the laundry basket was so great too it is i just one of those like mercanty undercutting expectations the oh the last thing i want to say about the boring stuff though is that those episodes credited to john schwartzwelder while oakley weinstein were writing all these other episodes it feels so oakley and weinstein the specificness of it i mean they keep more

schwartzwelder stuff than they do with other writers, but as Bill Oakley even told us, maybe 33% of a script credited to a writer is that writer's actual jokes. You know, I don't want to say it's definitely them, but it feels very much like the Oakley and Weinstein funny boringness. I feel like there was a lot of mean opportunities for John Schwarzwalder jokes that weren't met. That's true, yeah. It could have been crazier, too.

I think he goes for crazier over being funny while being boring. Well, when Homer shows up, Captain Wacky is in town. I've said this a million times. I'm giving this one the line of the show, or one of them I had listed. That's the joke.

Bart disappears from the factory. They can't find him. They have to call Marge. She runs out of the shower, can't... Bart disappears from the factory. They can't find him. They have to call Marge. She runs out of the shower. Can't get to the phone in time. And of course, that leads to the next scene, calling Homer at the power plant. Just a minute.

Don't hang up. Hello. You'll have to speak up. I'm wearing a towel. Just a great non sequitur. Have we seen the showers at the plant before this? Yeah. Okay.

It's when they're talking about watching the Dread and fight it that's right homer's place but it's such a good joke and it's even better that they acknowledge it for no reason with that yeah i'm wearing a towel just because it's ridiculous enough of the like hello and he's wearing a towel that's funny and also he's showering at work yes but then just to drive it home to like homer's naked at work and only wearing a towel just so he says like i'm wearing a towel and where how did he hear the phone even i feel it's like it sounds like something that joke was pitched and then a writer managed to top it like it would be really cool if we put that in yeah i did uh so as a kid who dreamed of how they made television bart going to the tv station was amazing to me like is this how they make it make television? It's a very Pee-wee's Big Adventure version of TV

in which everything takes place in one building. There are just different sets. It's like, here's your Western set. Here's your space set. If you don't remember Pee-wee's Big Adventure, they're shooting a Christmas film with Wayne from The Wonder Years, a Twisted Sister music video, and a fucking Godzilla movie without Zorro's permission.

Yeah, and Tarzan. And Tarzan. They're filming all that at the same time and that's why i love that it was a child's idea of what a film it's just like i love that in in shows now where they're it's the back lot i'm walking by a a showgirl and then a and then a guy in a toga every time every time despite not needing it for any movie made in the last 20 years a camel a camel will walk by in the back lot. I mean, we also have the return of the I didn't feel like it guy.

He's like, I wish I was dead. Well, that's a little later. It's in the first act. So we get to see Bumblebee Man, and I think this is non-canonical. Bumblebee Man does not speak English. We see his home life in 22 short films about Springfield, where he is a Mexican-American,

or wherever he lives. I guess he lives in Springfield. And always wears a bumblebee suit. But not here. He's on Studio... What's it? Channel 6? Channel 6, yeah. Channel 6 Studios lot. Ay, ay, ay! No me gusta! I'm sorry. I'm really

not comfortable with this, Ethan. What's the matter, love? It's just... It's the same old tired gags, isn't it? I mean, let's give the audience some credit. How about a giant mousetrap? I love it! And we know from previous episodes, he's from Channel Ocho, not Channel 6. Channel Ocho, what the hell is that?

I'm kidding, I'm not gonna lie. Yeah, I don't appreciate that. And then the best use of Bart's lucky red hat ever leads to another line of the show. A perfect dumb Homer moment that he puts this together in his head. I would give this line of the show. A perfect dumb Homer moment that he puts this together in his head. I would give this line of the show but I repeat it all the time but never

with the specifics. Do you feel like it's taking off of the Star Trek con thing? It's kind of con but it's also damn you all to hell. And four scenes in the Wolverine movie. Origins Wolverine. First Wolverine movie. He might have fallen the camera pans up. Origins Wolverine, not to be specific. First Wolverine movie. I love this.

He might have fallen into one of these machines! Oh my god, that's his lucky red hat! He's a box! My boy's a box! Damn you! A box! I love the sinister music. Also, just like Homer thinks

if you fall in a box machine, you become a box. And then Homer, the dance voice is stretching like, box! And the animation too, when he's shaking Skinner like, you're gonna fall into one of these machines, like the way

Skinner shakes on when he's pointing. It's really good. Yeah, so good. But actually, Bart is on the studio set wandering around. Krusty is really bad in this episode. But I love Krusty in this episode because, again, he's any entertainment figure the Simpsons need. So in this episode, he's not only an egotistical star, he's also a mogul manager type. He's like the most jaded person in the world, too. But astounding amount of cynical business savvy.

But I love the Danish lines. Oh, it's great. Because Bart steals Kent Brockman's Danish. Well, because Bart takes the last Danish, and then he needs to get a new one, so he takes Kent Brockman's. Ah, heck. Now where am I going to get a Danish?

Here's a Danish, Krusty. Gimme, gimme, gimme. Ah, that's Danish. Where'd you get it? I stole it from get a Danish. Here's a Danish Krusty. Gimme, gimme, gimme. Now that's Danish. Where'd you get it? I stole it from Kent Brockman. Great. He didn't touch it, did he?

No. Good job, kid. What's your name? I'm Bart Simpson. I saved you from jail. I reunited you with your estranged father. I saved your career, man. Remember your comeback special?

Yeah, well, what have you done for me lately? I got you that Danish. And I'll never forget it. So good. Also, when he steals the Danish from Ken, he goes, yoink, and Ken goes, yoink. That was the most overt recognition of them, of the Simpsons loving the word yoink. Yeah. What's so gross about Kent?

Like, what does Krusty know about Kent that he's like, I don't want to eat anything Kent Brockman type? There's so many different things you can infer about Kent Brockman. One, he's a coward. Two, he's an egotistical asshole. And then lightly that he is so unapproachably right wing and temperamental on set. I love that. I love that part about him. If he loses his Danish, he won't work.

Yeah. And he's like, he's yelled about not having his Danish. And this is him on air. Yeah, I know I'm on. But I don't care. I don't read the news until I get my Danish. Go ahead. Try to find a replacement.

A powerful tidal wave in Kuala Lumpur has killed 120 people. I get my Danish. Go ahead. Try to find a replacement. A powerful tidal wave in Kuala Lumpur has killed 120 people. Hey, Chihuahua! Did I need to tell you who replaced Ken Brockman? Did you get that last part? I'm pretty sure it's Bubble B. Go. I know I've taken that, too, of the way Krusty goes

like those non-word answers. I'm sure you have. You've heard me do it. Like if you ask like, so Henry, did you do that? I was like, yeah. Henry, did you bring back my DVD? Henry, you going to that party? Like, yeah.

That's the one. That's exactly what happens. So did we get to the part where Krusty throws Bart the towel? His big clown hand. I didn't think it worked well in audio because we just referenced that in a Laser Time episode

about Super Bowl commercials. I do have a link to it if you want to play. It just doesn't play well in audio. There's no audio. We should describe what the Mean Joe Green... It's a Mean Joe Green Coke commercial

where like... I love the overtly sincere songs from these old commercials. Thank you. I love the overtly sincere songs from these old commercials. That's the way it should be. I like to see. Thank you. The whole world smiling with me. Coca-Cola as life. Have a Coke and a drink.

Thanks, Mean Joe. Smile. I forgot how much I love the song and that thing. I mean, you would see parodies of this all over the place. I know Family Guy did one. I'm sure The Critic probably did one. I mean, you would see parodies of this all over the place. I know Family Guy did one. I'm sure The Critic probably did one. I wasn't alive to see this on television, but I've seen so many parodies, I instantly understand.

I mean, it was a 1980 commercial during the Super Bowl, and it's one of the most memorable ones ever because it was used to... It is kind of a heartwarming commercial that it did very well. They played it internationally, I found out, even though nobody outside of America knows American football or would even know Mean Joe Green, who is just a defensive tackle.

He was famous, but he wasn't that famous. What does he actually mean? I don't know. Well, he was known for being a rough defensive tackle. If I get the position wrong i'm sorry sports people but they'll let us know i wouldn't have gone out of that he was known for being a rough player but this was in his last season he played all the way through the 70s this was one of his last seasons if not his last and it changed the perception of him as mean oh you're fun and that's also why it's an effective commercial of this

mean guy that the kid is afraid of, but wants to thank him. And he's like, hey, this Coke made me special. Because of this Coke, I care now. I care. And Joe Green is still alive, believe it or not, which is for an NFL

player who got beaten to shit. I mean, we still have like six days before this post, right? Oh, boy. Drives into oncoming traffic with his granddaughters in his car. Well, he still is currently, and he actually, this year for a special during the Super Bowl, around Super Bowl weekend, he reunited with the former child actor from the commercial. And he's like 50 now, right? Yes, yeah. And he also jokes that,

so for the shot, the kid gives Mean Joe Green his Coke, a full Coke. Mean Joe Green drinks it all on camera. And so he talks about, in the filming of it, he's like, I drank a full Coke every take.

Oh my God. Speaking of Rick and Morty. He would think, yeah, he would go like, good job and kuala lumpur if you don't know is the capital of malaysia but the joke there is that ken brockman couldn't read the word he didn't recognize the word and in the recent history there have from my research in the recent history they have had

floods in kuala lapore but no tidal waves in recent history that i could find online i also want to point out that uh crusty not remembering bart is a very burns like turn because they have to say okay for this story to happen crusty can't know who bart is or remember because there's too much baggage attached so bart kind of goes through his history with crusty and, and Krusty's like, what have you done for me lately? So I like how they sort of address that immediately because Krusty should know who Bart is. He really should by this point. Krusty, in Father Like Clown,

he needs to be reminded of Bart's existence, but once he is, he's like, okay, I remember that kid. I mean, at least, okay, you saved him from murder. You saved Krusty from going to jail for shoplifting. Shoplifting, right, not murder. Why did I think murder? Okay, I remember that kid. I mean, at least, okay, you saved him from murder. You saved Krusty from going to jail for shoplifting. Shoplifting, right, not murder. Why did I think murder? Okay, sorry. And then we have the reunited with the father,

and then we have the comeback special. At least those three. There have been more instances where they interacted. Camp Krusty, where they hung out in Tijuana. I mean, there's just so many Krusty and Bart meetings. And this joke will kind of be redone again, but in the itchy and scratchy episode with Chester J. Lampwick, where they name all the things they did to help Krusty, and then Lester and Eliza reconnect him with his estranged wife. And they're like, what? I didn't even know about that.

So I like that it's them recognizing the show has a long history already, but they just need to reset. For plot purposes if crusty knows who bart is and the episode doesn't work the same yeah i'm guessing mrs penny candy must have quit that week or was on vacation or something she would have been his personal assistant we saw the last of her a long time ago unfortunately she would reappear in a background scene i guess some years with no lines yes so where are we now i think so the start of the start of the next episode the start of the next act is a great intro of the act break of bar homer arriving with the box like marge i have something i need to tell you i have some

terrifying bone chilling news and bart comes in to tell the family that he's been offered a job and his reaction to homer is kind of like my reaction to people when I go home. I love it. Political talk starts. But for now, I got a job in the show business. From now on, I'll be helping Krusty the Clown after school. No, Bonnie, you're only 10. I got a weekend job helping the poor and I'm only 8.

It's not a job. It's a waste of time. What can poor people pay you? Nothing. What satisfaction do you get from helping them? None. Who wants to help poor people anyway? Nobody. So, anyway,

can my mom, can I take the job? The cricket adds a lot. It looks on the children's faces. In this audio-only version, I never noticed this cricket before. It's always there, but when his voice drops out, it pipes up a bit and you can hear it. Just so you know, kids, you're not supposed to be like Homer. No.

You're not supposed to be sounding like him. So I swear I've heard on other commentaries, they've said that charity speech had been given unironically by John Schwarzwalder before. Or that he'd said that about recycling, too. They've said in the past that he said, actually, there's more rainforest now than ever. That does sound like John Schwarzwelder before that they'd said, or that he'd said that about recycling too. They've said in the past that he said, actually, there's more rainforest now than ever. That does sound like John Schwarzwelder. John Schwarzwelder sounds like a bit of a conservative troll. Actually, that was another thing. Al Jean joked in a commentary that John Schwarzwelder, right after the election of Bill Clinton,

said, soon enough, I'm hanging from a tree. Yeah, they're going to lynch Bill Clinton for some reason. Actually, insured people get sick more than uninsured people. But that's what we love about John Schwarzwald. He's like a cranky, fun guy. And one of my favorite jokes, look, white dude, fine. I'll take that criticism. But I'm also Italian.

I will not apologize for being white, Chris. I'm also Italian, and I never, ever get stereotyped in shows and when I do I am so fucking happy. And my friends use it as in jokes to describe me. I've been called Pepe after this. I love it. I love this clip. What a wonderfully old stereotype.

I remember my first after school job. I was in a band. Hello everybody. I'm Archie Bell and I'm also the Drells. We got a new song called Tighten Up and this is the music you tighten up with. Hey, what's

the matter you? You crazy kid. You chasing away my piece of ass. Fuzz off, Giuseppe. Go for the face. Still pretty good at playing. I think the Italian organ grinder joke is gone. Yeah, I mean, this character would become Luigi, too. Maybe in the 70s, organ grinders, you'd see some of them.

Sometime in the early 80s, Italians were made officially white people. I don't know who did it or who made the decision. Homer is a one-man band. If you don't know what that is, just Google it. You'll see it. When did that dry up? When that fad? I wonder. To me, the flashback seems like it takes place in the 1920s, but I don't know.

Maybe this was happening in the 50s. Homer was playing a contemporary song. If that was Homer's first job when he was, say, 14, then we know that he was 18 in 1974, so that would make this 1970. Everything he said here for years sounded like gibberish. Archie Bell and the Drells.

Archie Bell and the Drells is a band that made this song called The Tighten Up, and it's, goddammit, if it isn't one of the coolest songs ever made in the universe. And why don't we take a quick break and hear that song. Let's do it. Call to tighten up. This is the music we tighten up with. First tighten up on the drum. Come on now, drummer.

I want you to tighten it up for me now. Oh, yeah. Tighten up on that bass now Turn it up Yeah Now let that guitar fall in Oh yeah Turn up on your organ now

Yeah You do the diner Yeah now Now look here. Come on now. Now make it level. The Simpsons will be right back. 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 electricireland.ie. I hope you guys are enjoying this showbiz focused episode of The Simpsons. I know I did. I really, really liked this episode, but you're going to, in a little bit, you're going to get to see, basically,

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That movie is My Blue Heaven. Oh, I love that movie. And it's weird. I love it, even though there is literally nothing in that movie to love. I remember seeing it so many times on the rental shelf of my local video store and being like, well, I like Steve Martin, but he looks like a real tool on this cover and like... He's a former Mafia dude.

Very specific former Mafia dude. Oh, he's supposed to be Henry Hill. It's allegedly Henry Hill. It is a secret sequel to Goodfellas. Yeah, the comedy story of Henry Hill after Goodfellas. Yeah, sequel, you're right. But before he became Hank Hill.

But without giving him any money. Yeah, before he went to the... What? Getting out of the Mafia and opening a propane dealership. I always wanted to be a gangster. They carried my mother's grocery home. You know why?

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You'll help us live, and we'll do our best to help you never be bored again. It's impressive how well homer still plays tighten up while being attacked by that song is to play half that song is like solos from other members of the band he's still playing three of his like six instruments homer should have stayed in that job like that's a really good job for him it's funny that after staring at homer after the charity speech they then also stare at him after he's like a gig son job is called a gig yeah and they're just like anyway there have been previous episodes in season five where homer says something crazy and no one acknowledges it they just move on yeah so uh or marge just goes as somebody who is living a dream of theirs of being say going from a person who plays video games to writing about video games. I wish I was dead.

I know the both sides of that feeling of just like the fresh-faced person who starts, who then is like, we're pretty lucky, aren't we? And then being on the other side of seeing the fresh-faced person who starts who then says, we're pretty lucky, aren't we? I wish I was... I am the Danish guy. There's one big myth, and that's in the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. What happened to the boy who got everything he wanted? What? He lived happily

ever after. No. That's actually never, ever, ever the case. And you know how I know that? Every biography I've ever seen. And even being able to do this for a living, which I love every single day, but the guy saw me beforehand. I was so dumb and punch drunk and tired. I could barely form words.

I don't know how I'm getting this together. So that message, that message is you will eventually hate this. And this is, this is actually, I recognize this now. It's kind of an arc in many Simpsons episodes of they usually start Act 2 getting the job they think they love. And then the following scenes are them falling out of love with.

That's true, yeah. And this is another of those. My moral of life is that you can't be satisfied with something unless you have degrees. And that has to mean that eventually you'll be dissatisfied with satisfaction. Otherwise, you're not evolving or growing or changing why am i talking about this i also like crusty i love crusty's reaction to his horrible toilet i don't know what i was thinking last night but and as right when bart's getting disenfranchised with all of show business and this wonderful montage uh crusty stops him at the exit door. Bart, I need to use you in a sketch.

You want me to be on the show? It's just one line. Mel's supposed to say it, but he's dead. Dead? Or sick. I don't know. I forget. Anyway, all you got to do is say,

I am waiting for a bus, and I hit you with pies for five minutes. Got that? I am waiting for a bus. Makes me laugh. Let's go. Yeah, Bart gave Sideshow Mel a cheese sandwich. And just having cheese in his mouth, his lactose intolerance is so violent.

Just having cheese in his mouth gave him violent diarrhea. But he spits out. He didn't swallow. Yeah, he didn't even swallow it. I want to yell at you some more. Dan Castellan is screaming. You little rapscallion. He is so good in this episode as Krusty and Homer and Sideshow Mel.

It's cheese in the sandwich. And, oh, also, the phone call. I see you have a clip of it. The clue reference. This was the one as a kid I love when he gets the call from Krusty in class. Yes, yeah. That is really good. Okay, kids, open your books to page 60.

Yes, Krusty. Bart, I need to get your fingerprints on a candlestick. Open your books to page 60. Yes, Krusty. Bart, I need to get your fingerprints on a candlestick. Meet me in the conservatory, chop chop. Don't worry, everything's going to be all right. And this is 1994, so part, most of the joke is Bart has a cell phone now. Yes. And he uses it for Krusty. A boy pulling out his cell phone in class was a strange thing back then.

That a 10-year-old would even have a cell phone. But I love that joke because you get a clue reference in there. But it is a funny turn on just like, I felt like that joke, probably even in 94 but then a million times of, the celebrity accidentally killed someone and is trying to cover it up. This is even pre-O.J. Simpson. So to add the extra turn of its clue instead of just him going like,

I may have killed an escort or whatever. I like that joke a lot better. And then they even have a joke too about basically TV writers complaining how credits are on TV, which is pretty shitty. And that was the first time their credits were fucked with. Now, I don't watch a lot of cable TV anymore. I haven't had cable in like a decade. But now they do this weird thing where it's like the credits are shrunk

the credits the credits are shrunk down to the corner of the screen and they start before the show actually ends the new show yeah and they're literally illegible it should be illegal if you're in a writer's union to have your credits displayed like that i only remember that from mr show that there's an episode where they fuck with all the credits yeah they, they're like drawn on or whatever. And the Writers Guild said, you can't fuck with the writers credits. Yeah. That is not, you're not allowed to do that. That's verboten. They cannot be, you cannot even make a joke about it. And on an

HDTV, I could finally see Bart Simpson's name in there. Oh, really? It is. One of my favorite ever Simpsons made up names is Betty Symington. Betty Symington. I love also we get a taste of Nelson's bizarre morality. That's for wasting teachers' valuable time.

That's for taking credit for someone else's work. I saw it coming from miles away. But I love Nelson does that and then walks away to reveal Homer's been watching the whole time. Yeah, just like, you just punched my son. Yeah, it was a great reveal of Homer behind there. Oh, and then it's Bart signing the things at the Krusty event.

Over there. I love you, Krusty. Over there. And the first appearance of Monstromar, which is really like Costco or Sam's Club. We'll see that in Homer and Apu next. Oh, yeah. That's in the very next episode. Krusty shows up to all these appearances, sits on a stool, and stares longingly while

smoking a cigarette. And phone culture has ruined me to such an extent. Like, you can sit still? Yeah. Yeah human being enjoy cigarettes oh my god and we have again barney uh impersonating someone else before he was impersonating crusty and and camp crusty now he's barred oh wait no we didn't talk about how i didn't do it happen i haven't so bart is put in the sketch to replace mal all he has to say is, I'm waiting for a bus. And instead, he knocks over everything and says what is probably, at that point, Bart's, like, 18th best catchphrase. But they make that the catchphrase.

I am waiting for a... I didn't do it I loved I wanted to include that laughter just because having done so many of these and gotten so many of these clips that The Simpsons does reuse its audience laughter on occasion

but like this is my second favorite crowd laughing sequence after the smug white people of the Garrison Keillor. Oh, yes. Those are both great crowds. It's a different crowd reaction laugh

with an awesome audience shot. And this is actually like a shortened form of a line he had in Moaning Lisa when he's playing the punch-out game with Homer where he said, I didn't do it. There's no way they can prove anything. Which you'd also hear as like a voice sample in the Deep, Deep Trouble song. That's right.

I think of that more than the episode it was in. Well, that's because it was a catch. The Simpsons kind of washed its hands with all the t-shirt catchphrase. Well, Bart's top phrases were like, don't have a cow, man. I'm Bart Simpson. Who the hell are you? I carumba. Underachiever and proud of it.

And Bartman. Bartman only existed in merchandise. He appeared once in Three Men and a Comic Book, but he was not a character in the show at all he was in a video game too but it was just a fun merchandise idea well because batman was so big in 89 yeah it was like here's a popular thing with another popular thing it was pre-family guy featured in my facebook photo as a like genuine 1991 corkboard thing that i ruined for an anti-trump rally come at me bro i love that shot of bart looking at the audience you get the real feel like so good a star is born yeah it really is just but even for me as a dumb old school animation nerd pre-computers the lighting effect there it's the

kind of like there's a lot of things that you won't see in with computer animation but the whatever the effect is that they create light casting upon Bart is something you literally can't see again. It takes extra work because they have to do a second pass or a second layer of animation or actually use a light and film that. Like, there's a lot going on. Whenever they have, like, a layer of shadows, there's an intentionality behind that.

Sometimes, like, brighter or darker paint to convey light. It just doesn't need to happen anymore. Same with, like, when they Same with when it was ink and paint and they had a sunset. It's like, that's a gradient that had to be airbrushed by somebody likely. And all the skin tones changed too with the sunset too.

So yeah, I just love the physicality of this artwork. But I Didn't Do It catches on. It's sweeping the nation. Though Krusty thinks that duh isn't going to be his reaction. Another great, this is such a stilted arched line. Another great you not have. Meta joke on how

the scene was supposed to go. Remind me never to let you on stage again, kid. Some people got it. Some people don't. And you, my young friend, do not have. Hold on. I want to finish this thought outside. It's that kid! It's the I didn't do it guy!

He's mine! I own him! And all the subsidiary rights! I feel like in modern times, the I Didn't Do It kid is someone who has a really popular tweet. And, like, they didn't expect their tweet to be really popular. They had, like, 29 followers. And once they hit, like, 10,000 retweets, they're like, contact my agent to use this tweet in your news story.

Or, like, contact my agent to interview me about this tweet. Or a vine star oh the vine stars are all dead the vine mansion burned down I'm an agent from Unilad we really loved you god yeah actually a vine star now is like a dated reference I mean read the expose on the vine mansion

on vine street full of vine stars they're all horrible but also the vine star is like we should be paid more for this, right? We shouldn't keep doing all this for free. And then Twitter's like, nah. Vine house? Vine house.

So then Krusty starts squeezing it for all it's worth. Why, this rickety ladder in front of this door is the perfect place for this priceless Ming Vaz. Eh? Eh? I didn't do it. Thank you. Thank you. And now, the I Didn't Do It Dancers!

They're like in Living Colors Fly Girls, and I believe in Living Col color was still on the air it was it was at its peak so this is a duel i think this is a a real joke aimed at snl and in living color and and other sketch shows that just got by on a sketch that hit out of nowhere like okay we're gonna say that catchphrase every time for now we have the sketch now we just have to change out who who Fire Marshal Bill is talking to or who the church lady is talking to but it is functionally the same sketch

I did like every Matt Foley sketch though like what will he break through next what was the one with him in spin class remember that one I think that was one of the sad ones where he was like actually drugged out of his mind

and should not have been on TV. That is an episode hosted by Martin Lawrence and musical guest Crash Test Dummies. If you want to go back in time for the

Best Matt Foley sketch, it's the one with Christina Applegate and David Spade. I want to live in a van down by the river. Well, you'll have plenty of time to do that.

I love when he picks up David's face and says like, wrestle around and then David Spade has to like grab his face like, I can to do it. I love when he picks up David Spade's face and says, like, wrestle around. And then David Spade has to, like, grab his face. Like, I can't laugh. They can't stop themselves from laughing at Chris Farley. But Phil Hartman is just on. Like, he's like, no way.

I'm not laughing. I'm Phil Hartman. Great sketch created by Bob Odenkirk. Yeah, Bob Odenkirk was the first. Matt Foley, not Dave Foley. Which explains why Matt Foley is so angry. And Midwestern. Yes, it's like, this guy's angry in a Bob Odenkirk way.

God damn it! Refined by Robert Smigel. But through the lens of the fat Chicago-ness of Chris Farley. Beautiful, beautiful. Read the Chris Farley show. It's one of the best. It gives you a real history on that, too. Makes you want to go back in time and save him, too.

I just had a depressing revelation that we've lived way longer without Chris Farley than I have with him. We all have. And I just love that guy so much. But he had catchphrases sort of Bart's in Bart's A Sweeping the Nation.

Even Apu was saying it. Don't move, dude. This is totally a gun. I think you didn't do it. Oh! Reminds me of a more innocent time when a catchphrase hits and everybody can just say it. There's no judgment

by people like me. I'll admit it. I'll admit it. Also, so we have Quimby. Previously with the Gabbo episode, he used the, I'm a bad little boy to get out of the allegations that he killed his opponent his political opponent now he uses another catch and it works on everybody but we can assume maybe not his wife until now honey joe how could you i uh didn't do it

good good nancy laughter there that is officially the first appearance of mrs quimby and do we know his name was joe before this that's obviously joe kennedy oh of Mrs. Quimby. Do we know his name was Joe before this? That's obviously Joe Kennedy. Oh, Diamond Joe Quimby. You're right. I think it's his first appearance. Sorry about that. The best use of it is Patty and Selma. I didn't do it. This is the third time that this building has burned down because someone has been smoking

in bed. I didn't do it. The guy's... I never heard the help me before but the guy still stuck in the fire is cracking up I feel like they added that in after the fact because his mouth doesn't really move but I feel like also at this time maybe it was dying out but people dying from

smoking in bed seem pretty common around this era more people were smoking though he didn't die but like my friends my first friends like move out of their house lost their house to falling asleep smoking oof yeah it turns out uh smoking cigarettes plus what couches couches couches falls in between the two cushions sets both on fire slowly lights that's also your coffin and yep so when i was a kid i read my i read at least a couple nice celebrity biographies. And so I totally could identify with this.

Oh, this is a Bart biography, but it's not even about him. I know I read one on Hulk Hogan that I was like, this is fake. This isn't Hulk Hogan's life. He had another crazy Homer line that no one acknowledges. Him being gay for Oliver North. So weird. He was just poured into that uniform. The Oliver North trial was about the

Iran-Contra affair. He should be dying in jail. That's my political comment for this episode. Yeah, if you're looking for any hope of rationality from the current political situation,

didn't work before, probably won't work this time. And speaking of SNL, that's actually one of my favorite William Shatner ones of the mute marine about Oliver North who refused to say anything

at the Oliver North trial. That was what the Mute Marine... I don't recall. Yes. That too, right? Yes, that was when we got to see how knowledgeable Ronald Reagan was and laid in his... With all those holes in his brain. Look, anyway...

Even more dated, a weird MC Hammer reference. He's odd. I didn't do it. I didn't do it. Weird MC Hammer reference. It is odd. Hey, proper. Love that line. We have like two MC Hammer references in a row with the Homer the Vigilante and this. Because Hammer wasn't not big at all. Even in his original horribly 90s parachute pants form. I think Hammer Mania was officially dead in 92.

Was it? I'm pretty sure. He was pretty close to be. The Hammer Man show had been canceled on ABC Kids in the morning. This is how we do. What's coming? I mean, Adam's family. Oh, you're right.

This is how we do it. It's not Hammer. Don't stop the show. We have to pray just to make it today. But anyway, the Hammer... Too legit. Yeah, the too legit was his second one, his sophomore hit. But people have kind of been like, oh, he's corny now.

And he's not too far away from trying to rebrand himself as a tougher guy wearing an Atlanta Falcons jersey. Before going full preacher. It's true. We are in the bay area we can visit the abandoned hammer mansion price no man can say yeah overlooking oakland to inspire each one's behind the music um but the greatest behind the music ever was that one but it's it is a weird hammer joke because they're just listening to his music it's not making fun of hammer i think it's making fun of it is making fun of the yellow album and and simpson sing the blues that's what i thought

yeah i could be making fun of like vanilla ice and how usually oh you just took another song and just added your own thing to it maybe love the word proper because i proper i loved hammer that's like my first cd i bought uh wayne's world soundtrack second simpson sing the blues third mc hammer wow um please hammer don't hurt him yeah don't hurt them i was a big big fan and just i Wayne's World soundtrack, second, Simpsons Sing the Blues, third, MC Hammer. Wow. Please, Hammer, don't hurt him. Yeah, yeah. Don't hurt them. I was a big, big fan. I never heard him say proper.

I don't know what that's attributed to, but I love it. He's the master of ceremonies, so he can say whatever he wants to. And then right after that is when Barney is posing as Bart on the phone. Yes, oversaturation to the extreme. I have to pay to see my own grandson. That's the Democrats for you. Leave him away. $5 or call him 24 hours a day on Bart Chat.

Bart Chat. Are you Bart? Here I am. I didn't do nothing. Isn't it I didn't do it? Yeah, whatever. Wouldn't it be cheaper to just have a recording of Bart like on the Lori Hart hotline? Yeah.

That is how they did it with literally every other hotline. I am so Crunchy the Clown. It's basically the same joke. It's Crunchy the Clown. I just love how they just hire this wino to fill these roles. Everybody staring at Bart in the classroom is such a perfect way of doing fame like of it of explaining fame that it's just you're in class and you're trying to learn and everyone is staring at you it's it's just the visual of everyone looking at part also my

favorite ever simpson shit post just of this it's and then it pulls back and instead of bart in the chair it's burns from the sitcom with his yes face. And he yells yes and like, yeah, that's like my favorite line ever. I never thought I'd say this, but shouldn't we be learning something? Say the line, Bart. I didn't do it. Yay! That's probably one of the best images for this episode.

It is great. And then we have Homer commenting upon the phenomenon. It's soap! Yeah. I mean, so we should mention Steve Urkel. He was the one-time character on Family Matters named after a friend of a writer on the show. Oh, I didn't know that.

And it ruined that guy's life, obviously. Of course. And the audience reacted to him so much that the show was eventually built around this one-time nerd that visited the show. Family Matters was supposed to be a story of just a black middle-class family in America. It was supposed to be a boring black sitcom.

That's what I love about Family Matters. So it starts off as, what about this middle-class black family and their struggles of everyday life? Season 8. What if there were potions and wizards and magic and he could turn into a robot and Bruce Lee and occasionally they get shrunken down

and attacked by an evil puppet? What then? Even with Urkel, it started out, well, he kind of loves Laura, but the school thinks he's a nerd. And on 302010, we just talked about the episode. Well, in the second to last season, Urkel invents time travel

and they go back to pirate times. And I will say, the chemistry between Jaleel White and Reginald L. Johnson is amazing. It's just like Marklin Baker and Bronson Pinchot on Perfect Strangers. They are great together as these characters. Fuck everyone else in that entire show.

Them together is like magic, even in the crappiest episodes. If you grew up watching Family Matters, the cast was huge, and every year, you'd just see a child fired so Jaleel White could get more money. And it eventually got awkward.

The Winslow's shrunk to three people. Jaleel White kind of experienced the carrot top effect, where he's like, I'm going to bulk up and no one will make fun of me anymore in real life. But Urkel on the show was also buff, and you could see his enormous package through his tight pants it is true yeah and well also voice of sonic never want to let that go i felt bad for waldo that he was brought in he was eddie's friend waldo he's like no you're supposed to be the funny idiot they're like nasty stevens

the funny one here waldo roldo faldo yesda. Yes, Waldo Rodolfalda. That Key and Peel sketch is so great about how Jaleel White slash Urkel took over the show on the series and just ruined it or made it better. And I believe Family Matters was savvy enough to make a joke where

a character, over the credits, a character confuses Reginald L. Johnson for James Avery, the dad on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and he shows up on the show. I remember that, yes. And I was like, this is amazing. Like, the two large black dads are finally appearing on the same show. James Avery is about a foot

taller than Reginald Vell Johnson. That's true, but they're so huge and powerful. Yes. Also, I did hate about the Stephen Urkel character that he was, I'm wearing you down. I'm wearing you down. And he did wear her down. She marries him in the season series finale.

I totally missed that. But what's wrong with liking cheese? Cheese is great. I will die on this hill. Anyway, why are we talking about Urkel? This is why. Come on, Lisa, say something funny. Like what?

Oh, something stupid like Bart would say. Baka baka or wooza wazzle. Something like that. Forget it, Dad. If I ever become famous, I want it to be for something worthwhile, not because of some obnoxious fad. Obnoxious fad? Uh, don't worry, son. You know they said the same thing about Urkel?

That little snot boy. I'd like to smack that kid. Homer wants to just turn his violence onto Urkel. That little snob boy. I'd like to smack that kid. Homer wants to just turn his violence onto Urkel. Look how quickly it turns. He made this point. Smack that kid. Like Urkel. With his Urkel-os.

This is really great, and I'm glad this is the perfect kind of thing for us to talk about an hour into the episode. Bart gets to go on a talk show. What talk show? Conan O'Brien. hour into the episode uh bart he gets to go on a talk show what talk show conan o'brien so um it's really funny because around the same time in the real world there is a joke on the critic where jay goes to his favorite restaurant but he is bumped from his table by conan o'brien and the joke there is nobody knows who conan o'brien is and i'm sure the writers thought his show would have been canceled by that point in time yes everybody figured it would be canceled in case

you somehow don't know the history of Conan, the short version is that he was a writer on The Simpsons for seasons 4 and 5. The writer on SNL got tired of that, got out of that contract to go work on The Simpsons, and Lorne Michaels was like, there's an opening after Letterman's leaving. Letterman's leaving.

Well, they wanted many people to take it. They thought they could get Jerry Shandling or Billy Crystal. None of them wanted to work nights every night. Conan is my letterman. He's my favorite talk show host. But it's a testament to how fucking powerful Lorne Michaels is. He liked Conan.

Nobody knew who he was. I mean, and everybody was sure it would be over. And he constantly joked on the show of like, this has the worst ratings. No one watches it. They're not popular. I think they stopped talking about it after seven years the show finally wasn't at the risk of cancellation but he talks

about the first two years like it was week to week and exhausting and letterman even came back to nbc to be on the show because like they're really gonna fuck with this kid i gotta help i started watching conan when it started when i was like 11 and it blew my mind it was like proto mr show comedy they would have like fake guests on and they would do these amazing sketches where Conan would take his desk out onto the streets of New York but it was just a giant elaborate green screen bit

talk to a clutch cargo Bill Clinton exactly just like so many like very formative things for me so it always brings me back to that time recording these shows seeing his original set too finding out that he was also involved in the simpsons was like years later i'm like man i was really right to love this guy well and and they made his original set because they were animating it like right around when it premiered and so they made his original set and conan's on

the commentary and he even talks about like god that old set that first set looks so they i love it though i love it sweaty it's that mr show like did you paint mold on on purpose like why does it look like it looks like a 70s rec room but yeah 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 electricireland.ie. What Bart says feels like an ad.

He says he's going to be on the show. He's like, just watch the Conan O'Brien show. You'll find out. I feel like that is an on-the-nose ad. You can actually have a clip of Bart saying, watch the Conan O'Brien show. It's twice where they say, late night with Conan O'Brien. They tell you the time slot, and they show you the logo. And you know nobody paid for it.

It was just a nice favor they were doing for their buddy. I do enjoy Homer's joke. After Leno, I'm all laughed out. Acknowledging Jay Leno sucks in 1994. Homer two-fisting sandwiches while paid for it. It was just a nice favor they were doing for their buddy. I do enjoy Homer's joke. After Leno, I'm all laughed out. Acknowledging Jay Leno sucks in 1994. Homer two-fisting sandwiches while he says it. Acknowledging the time slot. I love that. And that the concern was, if we make this joke, not only will people might not get it,

but the show might not exist to get if we make it. Conan jokes, it would have aired after he was canceled in the way that there were jokes about James Dean in movies after he died. Famous speedster. Famous speedster James Dean. Here's the clip. It's lovely. What the hell are you reading books for? I'm doing the Conan O'Brien show and I want to have some

intelligent stuff to talk about. Don't forget to say I didn't do it. Dad, there's more to me than just a catchphrase. How do you figure, boy? Watch the Conan O'Brien show. You'll see. All right, but after Leno, I'm all left out, you know.

You know, Conan, I have a lot to say. I'm not just a one-line wonder. Did you know that a section of rainforest the size of Kansas has burned every single... Just do the line. I didn't do it.

Great material. We didn't do it. Great material. We'll be right back. Sit perfectly still. Only I may dance. I do love that. I love the joke, but it gave me the faulty perception that Conan danced out to break. He doesn't dance out to break.

I haven't watched him regularly in like 15 years, but he did dance a lot during his monologues. He would do the string dance where he like cut the strings on his, like the fake strings on his body parts. Even that's like 12 years in Conan. Yeah. But he did like,

he was very animated. I think like he was never afraid to make a fool of himself, which is why the show was so interesting. The only reason, the only way I can really describe what I love about Conan that it was just like

low budget cartoon starring real people. Yeah, yeah. That was mostly what the show was. If a streaming network like Hulu which NBC owns could just put all

of the old Conans on there I would watch all of them and relive the 90s. I think they struck a deal with a TBS show knowing that like if we don't do anything

with them there's no money to be made not doing anything with them and licensing them to the new shows. So remember they used to have to like show stills

on the TBS Conan O'Brien show. That's right. This is what we used to do. Find this on YouTube, but I think they started playing clips of the show. I remember in the summer that Syphil and Ollie was on MTV, I would stay up to watch Syphil and Ollie

and like, well, it's over. Conan's on. Let's give that a watch. That was a good summer for me, too. I remember the good summer of watching television. It was like Space Ghost and Syphil and Ollie and also Conan. You better watch. That was a good summer for me, too. I remember the good summer of watching television. Yes. It was like Space Ghost and Cifal and Ollie. I was so happy Comedy Central made a big deal out of it.

They would rerun last night's Conan O'Brien at 7 p.m. the next day. That's right. It was bliss for me. That was so short-lived, but I was so happy. I mean, in the 90s, I watched the 80s David Letterman on E! And that's how I saw every Chris Elliott sketch and stuff like that. All the stuff I miss. Stupid pet tricks.

All the things that you hear about but never see. The Sonny and Cher reunion. And all the Larry Bud Melman stuff. Then Bart dreams of what his fame is going to be as a one-hit wonder, and he dreams of Match Game 2034. He must judge a couple living people, too. So there's Match Game 2034. Honestly, it feels like the pilot for Futurama.

Everyone is dressed like Futurama characters and there is a head in a jar that is kept alive. That's Kitty Carlyle. Still alive? No, she died in 2007 in 1994. Well Farrah Fawcett definitely didn't make it to 2034. She died in 2009. I can give you the ages of all the people still alive on this podcast. A day after

Michael Jackson and was totally, like a day before Michael Jackson was totally overshadowed same day like they made a special for her of like her last days and cancer is like no Michael Jackson pull that life magazine off the shelf Michael

Jackson sucks to be you I guess but so here are all the people on the show in 2034 here's how old they would be Billy Crystal would be 86 one interesting thing is that they predicted his beard I

just have to say that's true I mean He didn't have the beard then, he hasn't now It was a foregone conclusion But Farrah Fawcett, Majors O'Neil Varney They predicted she would marry Jim Varney, a.k.a. Ernest I love that And he died in 2000, she died in 2009

Lonnie Anderson will be 88 in 2034 Famous ventriloquist Spike Lee will be 77 I think Lonnie Anderson transitioned to ventriloquy I guess that's a joke, yes. Instead of being like a blonde bombshell, but that's all the ages of the people. Spike Lee will probably live till that date, so we might

see him on Match Game 2034. But there is currently a Match Game show on NBC right now, and they had Kitty Carlyle there because she was a regular on the original Match Game in the 70s and also most famously on To Tell the Truth.

Oh, you're right. She was one of the constants on that. She was really a singer and stage performer by trade who then on TV just became a TV personality from pretty much the birth of television. I do love that. I don't know why, but let's start the game. Well, Kitty Carlyle was, I think,

the most famous movie, to me, she was in was A Night at the Opera, the Marx Brothers film. Oh, you're right. She's in a Marx Brothers film. Yes. We are talking. And she lived until 2007, 10 years ago. 95, man. That's crazy. So before the scene we love, there's one thing I want to point out. In this scene where people are walking on Krusty's back, David Silverman is in the background playing the tuba.

Oh, wow. He plays the tuba in real life. His name on Twitter is Tubatron. Please follow Tubatron. He will retweet, like, ancient 30-year-old sketches he did for scenes you know and love. I love that. I love it. He's like, hey, I found this little drawing from the Butterfinger commercial.

This Butterfinger commercial. Pretty crazy, huh? I mean, David Silverman seems like the chillest dude. He goes to Burning Man every year and has his own camp. He's living the dream, man. It's amazing. I love it. Go, David Silverman. I mean, I'd love to talk with him someday. That would be great.

But Marge, I think the third time in the show, has another you're making people happy line. Twice with Homer and this time with Bart. But I'm this person as an entertainer now. I used to be worried about selling out, but every time I hit on something... Listen, I've accepted

if people want you to do something, do it. You're making them happy. Don't worry about if you're short-selling yourself or whatever. My job is to make people happy and laugh. That is an entertainer's job. If they're attacking you for your politics, you're not doing your job well as an entertainer. So where's Boneswa?

Let's hear Boneswa. Oh, yeah. I have to look up another French word just to do that character. I think we should almost retabulate and make this line of the show. It's framed and delivered so well. I'm not going to play the sound effect, but I love it. I know you feel a little silly saying the same four words over and over, you shouldn't you're making people happy and that's a very hard thing to do you're right mom i shouldn't let this bother me i'm in television now it's my job to be repetitive

my job my job repetitiveness is my job i going to go out there tonight and give the best performance of my life. The best performance of your life? The best performance of my life. That is so offensively great. It is really good. I love how much they rub it in. So Marge has given this speech twice before. Once in Blood Feud about how Homer should be happy that he saved Mr. Burns' life.

Another one in Flaming Moes that you're making people happy. And in this one, it's the same thing. So Marge is really just like seeing the true value and just like being a good person with some like, some kind of talent or some sort of giving quality. So when they get to the show and Bart is ready to perform, Krusty's leap onto

the spotlight is the most, is so David Silverman-y. I can't tell if it's Silverman or Brad Bird because Brad Bird gets a crusty scene now and then. The finger points, you know? It might be Brad Bird. I don't know. It felt more Silverman-y to me. He loves a finger pointing up in the air.

He loves moving around fingers. I'm going to say it's up in the air until we contact both of them. My bets on Silverman, Bob's vote is for Brad Bird. Hashtag Brad Bird, boys boys if you agree with me. There's a lot of alliteration happening right now. Spit everywhere. And hashtag Silver is the man for me.

I'm just stealing a Doughboys book now. I was stealing from the Doughboys as well. Great podcast, by the way. I'm very confused. But nobody likes it when he finally does it because the spell is off. The fad is over. Like the salivating dogs you are. If you had to examine it, Bart's not a great actor.

And when he wasn't acting, it was funny. And then when he's trying, this happens to me all the time. I never thought of it. When I try and do something funny, it has to happen by accident, organically. That's just the internet. When we work in a business, we're going to make this go viral. I'm like, you don't get to decide that. You throw it out there.

Something goes viral because it tends to do something unexpected or horribly humiliates someone. You can't plan viral content for the most part. Executives love hearing that, too. You tell them it can't go viral. Just make an incredibly popular thing. What's so hard about that? That's why we hired you.

I work at a website. Another of my all-time favorite lines is, The Clown Show has been put on hiatus for retooling. Immediately, there's an announcer. The live show, put on hiatus for retooling. Immediately. There's an announcer. The live show, by the way. For retooling. Ladies and gentlemen, the clown show.

Mine is just ancient showbiz terms. I love that. What happened? Oh, don't worry about that. You're just finished, that's all. Finished? That happens all the time. That show business for you.

One day you're the most important guy who ever lived. The next day you're some schmo working in a box factory. I heard that. Boy, show business is kind of cruel, isn't it? I heard that. And then it just, the door has like no entry on it, just to make it clear. You can't come back. You're forbidden from show business. You've ruined your one chance it's over for you and yeah that when he looks at the guy the box

factory i wondered if that was implying like this guy was he was an i didn't do it guy once too and now he works at a box there is a little fiction there that crusty knows who that is yeah it reminds me of uh deep cut a strangers with Candy episode, where in the town, wherever Flatpoint is, you settle by working at the artificial plant plant. And it's like the safest thing, but it's the most joyless, hateful job. But it's just there for you if you settle. And that sort of reminds me of the box factory. But he doesn't want to fail. Dreams are for fools.

Dreams are for fools. Show rules that we should have done that instead. We would have been done a year ago. Talking strangers. I mean, yeah, we should have done that instead we would have been done a year ago. Talking strangers. I mean yeah we've been done in under a year. We just had to seal the name

before Chris Hardwick did. Yes. Yeah it's true. We had to get on it first. You're not a nerd you're buff. Get out of here. So you have too many muscles

to be a nerd. I disagree. And then they end with like another insanely meta moment. I don't remember getting all the meta jokes in the show. It just shows how established it was at this point,

how it had such a strong identity. I love all the Bart merchandise. It sort of reminds me of the B-Sharps merchandise, all the Bart stuff. The Bart doll he holds in his hand is exactly a doll. That existed. The Burger King doll. And Bender will eat his shorts in a thousand years.

I not only got this joke real hard, like I am on, out of my seat, oh my God, I can't believe they're acknowledging all this. It made me realize

that certain characters had catchphrases and I didn't know it. That even sound effects are catchphrases. Well, and it's Simpsons recognizing they also use catchphrases.

I think it's them saying like, we're not better than catchphrases. We do it all the time. Yes. I love this. I saved these for you, Bart. You always have them to remind you of the time when you were the whole world's special little guy.

Thanks, Mom. And now you can go back to just being you instead of a one-dimensional character with a silly catchphrase. Ay caramba! Idley-ho! Excellent. If anyone wants me, I'll be in my room. What kind of catchphrase is that?

I think they missed the poos. Thank you, come again. Thank you, come again. There could have been a few more, but with season one era merchandise, you can see them struggling to figure out things for marge and lisa um one of the ones i remember in like spencer's gifts or wherever i was seeing simpson's shirt at the time lisa's catchphrase on merchandise was a

penny saved as a pony earned which she would never say on the show no but they had to they're like okay what's it about lisa she likes ponies she likes ponies i guess and uh she's thrifty who knows but with marge uh i remember this one t-shirt and like poster it was her, what's it about Lisa? She likes ponies. She likes ponies, I guess, and she's thrifty. Who knows? But with Marge, I remember this one t-shirt and poster. It was her guide. What's the one where they go to Mr. Burns' place? No disgrace like home. She's holding a Jell-O mold that looks like her hair. Jell-O mold.

And she says, I made it myself. So I guess it's supposed to be gross or something. I forget what it is. But, I mean, the mmm doesn't really translate well to written language you can't put that on the well same with suck suck it's thwuck thwuck yes it's like this does remind me of them trying to i mean if you buy lisa merchandise what is even on it anymore i would bet it would be something about her being a vegetarian i think or jazz and in the arcade game her her catchphrase is embrace nothingness, which I love.

That should have been the t-shirt catchphrase. Homer says, hello. That was a great episode. I love that one. It's A plus, man. It's savage on entertainment. It's just like, oh, it's a cutthroat business that will chew you up and spit you out and no one will care. Written by people in show

business so they're right they know it better than anybody and that crusty is great in his cruelty i love that and yeah and i mean we are so self-indulgent on this podcast but i wish we could have played the entire like two and a half minute box factory sequence of just like the announcement the drive there the like tour the tour around his desk. Everything is just like, again, it is just like perfect comedy like the Steam Ham scene. It uses the family well. It uses a bunch of tertiary characters to make important points. It introduces a major new character

in a lot of scenes. It's awesome. It's so great. To me, it's A plus perfect Simpsons. It's so good. And this is a great episode. One of the best of the season, I think. Even if it is kind of up its own butt in terms of being a comment about itself and show business, I feel like it still tells a great story about Bart. And we will see him become famous again later in the show.

And it works on a small-town scale. In other later episodes, they will literally send Bart to Hollywood and have the Hollywood experience. But this is in a small-town scale. So they could still keep it Springfieldian while still making it obviously about Hollywood and fame in general. Awesome. So that was a great episode, everybody. Thank you for listening to Talking Simpsons. I've been your host, Bob Mackie.

You can find me on Twitter as Bob Servo. I also write for the website Fandom about video games. Go to fandom.com to read my stuff there. And my other podcast is Retronauts. It's a classic gaming podcast. Every Monday at RetroNauts.com or search for RetroNauts in your podcast machine or iTunes or whatever.

Every week is a new podcast about a new subject. Look up our Bart vs. the Space Mutants episode if you want to get a taste of the Talking Simpsons crew on RetroNauts. Is there another Simpsons episode coming up? Yeah, we're doing Bart's Nightmare soon, so look for that one too. If you're listening this way after the fact, it already exists, so good for you. And

if you don't care about old Simpsons games, look up any topic. We've probably done it. We've done like a 90-minute episode about it. Go to retronauts.com or look for Retronauts in your podcast machine. Everybody else? I'm H-E-N-E-R-E-Y-G on Twitter, and that's where you can follow me. I also want to say a big old shout-out, well, to multiple

people. First off, we asked people to give new reviews on iTunes. We had several very nice new ones, and I'd love to see some more on iTunes reviews. They really do help the show beyond other ways you can help it, which I'll get to in a second. But one person who really helps the show is Eric Nagel, our bestest buddy in the world. He, if you were shocked by the opening of this episode and the plug by Hank Azaria, that's all thanks to Eric Nagel. So I just want to thank you again

of the It's Eric show on well, it's a podcast now too, not just on Sirius XM. And of course this podcast is supported by Patreon.com slash LazerTime. And it's where the entire first season of talking simpsons lives as well as our seasons two three and four wrap-ups give those a listen

folks yeah thank you so much in laser time laser time podcast.com it was the show that sort of kick-started some of this stuff we have a patreon patreon.com slash laser time you made talking simpsons reality so those are the people who get season one at the cost of just five bucks a month you can access 13 exclusive talking simpsons episodes as well as a three exclusive uh talking simpsons season wrap ups we talk about what happened in between seasons and uh stuff that won emmys the highest rated stuff and some really weird minutiae commercial i'm out of words all kinds of stuff so thank you so much for listening we'll be back next week with Homer and Apu. See you then. Wow.

Infotainment.