Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - Bart's Girlfriend

Episode Date: September 13, 2017

It's Scotchtoberfest season and love is in the air. Bart meets Jessica Lovejoy, and is smitten when he realizes she's also a bad kid. But it turns sour almost immediately. So put on your new glasses (even if you miss your old glasses) and listen to this week's podcast!

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, hoy, everybody, and welcome to TalkingSimpsons, where we blind our opponents with luxury. I'm your host, Bob Mackie, and I hate the sea and everything in it. And this is the Laser Time Podcast Network's chronological exploration of The Simpsons.

Who else is here with me today? Henry Gilbert, and records from that era are spotty at best. Who else is here? Smart, beautiful, and a liar, Chris Antistad. I'm the perfect woman, and today's episode is Bart's Girlfriend. Class, I want you to welcome back our prodigal son. What's prodigal? And today's episode aired on November 6, 1994, and as always, Chris will tell us what happened on this mythical day in real-world history.

Oh my god! The unforgettable sci-fi franchise that launched a thousand spinoffs is number one in the box office, and I needn't even tell you what it is. George Foreman becomes the oldest heavyweight champion at the age of 45 in a little franchise called Donkey Kong Country, launches on the Super Nintendo. Wow, man. Wait, what is that movie? Exactly. Stargate.

Damn, Bob. Really? Yes, it's totally Stargate. My smart-ass answer was right. I can't believe it. Oh my god. Do yourself a favor and Google Stargate spinoffs and

introduce yourself to a world you never knew existed. There is more footage of Stargates than there is for, like, The Matrix. Yep. And Star Wars. There are more spinoffs than Law & Order and CSI combined. I choose to view them as a MacGyver alternate universe,

where MacGyver finds Stargates and antics happen. We talked about it. It was actually funny on 302010. I wasn't on one of the two episodes, but two episodes in a row the last episode airs in 2007 and in 1997 the show premieres of

just a regular Stargate, not even the spin-off Stargate Atlantis. Not even the board games and extended universe. People have mentioned Donkey Kong Country because I feel like I've neglected games the whole year. This is like the most exciting year for video games ever. 94, yeah. Super Metroid, where like Doom 2 has just come out. Final Fantasy 6.

Yeah. Sonic and Knuckles. Mother 2 in Japan. Yeah, it's insane. I feel like I neglected my post in the news by not mentioning it. Well, Donkey Kong Country was a huge, huge deal. It kept the Super NES alive in America probably an extra two years. Another 18 months.

It definitely killed the Genesis. I mean, the Genesis still stood strong, but it definitely made the SNES the winner of the console wars by tricking people into thinking they snuck a CGI workstation into their Super Nintendos. Well, and the Genesis killed itself, I'd say, too, in 94. They're like, we need 17 different systems. We don't need just one. Let's fool the... The 32X just launched.

Yes. In 1994. So it's been... I think maybe it's because I was mad woke during that point, but I think 94 was the craziest years in video games. Yes, like Jaguar, CDI, 3DO 3do just anything could happen competition all over the place and a bunch of great franchises launch and get new entries hi and the george foreman grill uh probably made george foreman richer than any yeah call invent help all of his uh family of georges profited from that 70

that's one of my favorite jokes on 30 Rock is when Tracy Jordan reveals he has two sons named Tracy named after him and then his third is George Foreman. I think five kids named George Foreman. That's not a joke. There's loving yourself and then

there's, you just go a little too far. I'm creating an army of future me's. And there was a great episode of King of the Hill, actually, where it was like Hank Hill squaring off against George Foreman in terms of grilling techniques. Whoa. Yes, it's great. I missed that one. And speaking of King of the Hill, the writer of today's episode, Jonathan Collier, is amazing.

I'm looking at his IMDB history and everything like that. He was a key figure on King of the Hill. Start with the Simpsons stuff. He wrote episodes like The Springfield Connection, Marge Becomes a Cop, Lisa the Iconoclast, that's the Hans Sprungfeld episode, Curse of the Flying Hellfish,

the Grandpa episode, World War II episode. And before that, he wrote for David Letterman. And after The Simpsons, he went on to be one of the key figures in forming King of the Hill. Yes, he left The Simpsons in 1997 to work on the first season of King of the Hill with Mike Judge and Greg Daniels. Greg Daniels worked with Collier on the seasons of the Simpsons, and I think he knew a good guy when he saw him and took him on.

Jonathan Collier worked on King of the Hill for 10 seasons. Amazing, yeah. And he wrote the episode Husky Bobbyby which was the one we saw live yeah we saw the entire cast read it in san francisco amazing that made me want the show to come back immediately and the only rumor is that it might oh god i bet it will those those reunion things every time a festival hosts a reunion type thing like that they all walk away from it like hey we should do more of these like i think that if want to love SF Sketch Fest, you should love it just for that. They will pay everybody to be in the same room.

And they can't, unless they all really hate each other, they can't not make a new show. They were clearly in love with each other and also kind of drunk. Especially Dave Herman. Well, they were like, we just came from dinner and we had a lot of fun at dinner. Did you drink your dinner, sir? And also, though, Collier left the show to go to Mike Judge's big show,

The Good Family, which I think aired two episodes. Out of like six? They made 13. 13, wow. It was an animated series. So they got to animate

the whole thing. I will say, Jonathan Collier wrote one of my favorite King of the Hill episodes, Peggy's Magic Sex Feet, in which Peggy unwittingly becomes

a foot fetish model. That's a great episode. You take my wife's feet off your internet. Only I may jerk off to those stems. She's so sad. She's like, oh, I thought you just liked my feet and it empowered other women.

And then, the craziest thing with Jonathan Collier is that he spent the last five years working on Bones. Like he was one of the lead people on Bones. So making more money in his life, I'm guessing. And he worked on Monk for a long time, too. So like a mystery thing going on with him. Yeah, Monk was probably his transition into like, oh, you proved you could write a mystery show.

Show me black and white footage of a World War II propaganda film and tell me it's Bones. No choice but to believe you. Going to his Twitter, it's all like, well, it's goodbye to Bones, everybody. We just wrapped the last episode and here we're at Comic-Con with the Bones crew talking about Bones. I was like, all right. I think all the Wings jokes from The Simpsons could easily be Bones jokes today. Yeah, totally.

I was just re-watching the third season of BoJack Horseman, and they have multiple Bones jokes in there. Because Mr. Peanutbutter wants to watch Bones, and then his wife is saying, I love Bones! I think that show's not about what you think it's about, Mr. Peanutbutter. And then he's watching a clip of the show, and they're just like, boy, you love Bones so much, we should make you nickname Bones. So the other thing we should mention before we start is the guest star in this episode. Oh, Jesus Christ. Meryl Streep.

The overrated Meryl Streep, according to our president. Oh, that's right. Very overrated. Sad. I trust his judgment completely. But yeah, Meryl Streep plays Jessica Lovejoy. And unlike Winona Ryder, they didn't pitch her voice up, which I felt was a smart decision. And I'm wondering, why did they ever pitch Winona's voice up?

Was it too deep or something? I think because she just did a straight read, whereas if I can't... She's putting on a little girl's voice. Again, I knew this was Meryl Streep because I've read that, but I never think of her when I see the episode. It doesn't sound anything like her. No, no. And I don't know, this is uncomfortable to say this, but she's, like, playing a sexy-ish little girl. It's fucking odd now. A little seductress

maybe. Chris with pubes finds this odd. Even on the commentary, they're kind of talking around like, boy, this is a great design. I like this type of woman, but well, it's a weird line that the episode draws anyway of like that Bart is going on dates.

He is 10, she is 10. It's just weird even to be like, oh, a date for my 10-year-old and his girlfriend at 10. It all feels a little strange, but this is one of those episodes where you just have to expect you are projecting adult relationships

onto children, not pre-sexualizing children. Right. It's a tough line, but you know that they're in kind of a type of story of the evil girlfriend and that she's but she's so great at it like meryl yeah i guess what meryl streep's wonderful at everything this is a great character and uh when

david merkin came to the simpsons he came to the simpsons with this idea like what if bart fell in love with a woman or a girl rather who was more evil than him because david merkin says he loves evil women he's attracted to evil women. So he gave this idea to Jonathan Collier, and Jonathan Collier and James L. Brooks basically sat in a room and broke the story down before he wrote it, and he said that was one of the most amazing experiences in his life.

A young writer being asked to work with James L. Brooks to sort of figure out a story. That's amazing. Well, and listening to the commentary, there's some revealing mentions of their own personal relationships where David Merkin, who has apparently never been married, he's just like, I can never find a girl evil enough for me. And then, meanwhile, Matt Groening says, well, you know what you should do is find a nice girl and then annoy her enough until she's mean. Try gaslighting Ann Coulter.

You should do fine. Well, Matt Groening also was speaking of a divorce like he went through a divorce during the show that's right but anyway back to meryl streep i think meryl streep is just she's one of the best actors they've ever had on the show and she really gave herself to the performance she is astonishing comedy yeah and i only recommend angels in america because she plays multiple roles in it and like just didn't she's a male jewish rabbi like orthodox rabbi in the movie and i could not tell really wow and i could not tell and this is yet other than that this is like no idea no idea watching the episode who is this what the fuck i heard an amazing story about her from just a recent thing of like i would not forgive her at her age to be like Robert De Niro of just not like,

I just coast. I'm Robert De Niro. I don't need to try. But this story was from Diablo Cody. Somebody poop on my head in a PG-13 comedy. Stella Streep-a-chino. But Diablo Cody was talking about the movie she just made with Meryl Streep, Jenny and the Rockets or whatever.

The one where she's playing. Yes, the Rockstar. Yeah, the Rockstar one. And Meryl, she tells like, oh, we hired Meryl Streep, Jenny and the Rockets or whatever, the one where she's playing the rock star one. And she tells like, oh, we hired Meryl Streep, and Meryl's like, well, I need to take a month off to learn to play the guitar. So in that movie, she's naturally playing the guitar, which no one would falter if they faked it and just put

it in. But that's Meryl Streep. And the previous joke about Meryl Streep on the show was a parody of a Calvin Klein obsession cologne. It was called Meryl Streep on the show was a parody of a Calvin Klein obsession cologne. It was called Meryl Streep's Versatility. It's not like Streep for cheap. And meaning that she is very good. The joke is Meryl Streep's great.

As this episode proves. Yeah. And they talked about how much they love seeing her and working with her on this. And also that, I think it was Bill Oakley mentioned it in our interview, but it's something I heard many times, is that she had kids and the kids would love her being on The Simpsons, so she did it. That's how you get the big stars in the 90s. It's so weird.

I don't know anything about Meryl Streep personally, and maybe, like, I was watching Five Came Home, great Netflix documentary, and it's hard to recognize her real voice because she's so iconic in so many different roles. It's true. She's the narrator of the whole thing, and I'm like, who is this?

Ah, duh. And I also know Nancy Cartwright's book, she she talked about the recording that the recording mainly was just her and meryl that wasn't a group thing but normally they do solo recordings but i think you could definitely tell the extra quality of nancy recording the bart lines with meryl and that nancy says she was starstruck and didn't want to get didn't want to bother her for an autograph but she says after the recording was over meryl asked her for an autograph because she's like, my kids would not forgive me if I didn't get Bart Simpson's autograph. That's great. So every story is that Meryl Streep is only positive and that she is the greatest.

She's known Mary Tyler Moore. I have no idea how. R.I.P. So, yes, this episode starts off with sort of an anachronistic game of cowboys and Indians. Or, sorry, cowboys and Native Americans. Yes, and that they're doing it in the Veterans Park in honor of some veterans. And there's also, like, rather dated dances with Wolf Skag. Right.

It's like, yeah, yeah, we get it. Talks too much. And that Ralph is eating his caps, which, that seems dangerous. But, yes, they are playing a game. I ate all my caps. Throw down your weapons and kiss the prairie, cow dorks. Why do we have to play

this corny old game anyway? I brought my jacks. I got twosies. That's not fair, Nelson. They didn't have the Kilmatic 3000 back then. Hey! Records from that era are spotty at best! Yeah, Milhouse shows up and nerfs them all. I like how...

Sorry, Nelson shows up and nerfs them all. I like how Nelson, he's a bully, but he loves getting people on technicalities. You see, epidermis means your hair. That's true. In season 6, he's a real pedant about things, too. Those are the worst kind of bullies, actually. He even does it in the movie. Say global warming's a myth.

Or a study is needed. I like that. It makes him different from Jimbo will just punch you. Those guys have no brains. He hits you with facts. I like that I never had a nerf gun that actually hurt people, but those things when, the thing is they're not supposed to hurt people, but Bart just falls over getting hit.

With that little ping pong ball. Yeah, and great sound by Nancy there. And then also those caps, like, I was afraid to have a cap gun as a kid because they made too much noise. They, like, scared me. I was like, ah! It's actual gunpowder, and that's what that is i can't i can't believe they still tell me yes well especially now uh you know kids are kids have been literally killed by the police for playing

around with a toy gun so i feel like cap guns are not as popular now the most traumatic thing one of the most traumatic things i remember as a a little kid, we were born right before the mandatory orange tip on guns. We all had gray zappers, I think. Yeah. But, like, I had a cap gun, and I was firing it, and an old man was walking down the street at my friend's house, and I pointed towards him, and he just fell to the ground. The children are ours.

I'm seven. And he was like, never, ever, ever do that. And I told my parents about it. I'm like, yeah, you crazy? And now I'm like, you're fucking crazy. You gave me this. This guy believed a kid could have a gun. What other country does that happen in?

Yes, exactly. We have to move. You're all crazy. That's not my fault. Yeah, toy guns are no fun to have in a country as scared of people and guns as we are. And I want to know what that old man went through. That's the first time it came to his head. This seven-year-old is going to kill me.

Yeah, I know. Maybe. I got killed by some kids in Da Nang. So Milhouse would rather play Jax instead of that corny old game. And I remember I had the same experience, kind of like the reverse experience of Milhouse, actually, where I would see people play Jax on old cartoons and old TV shows and movies and stuff. I didn't know how you actually played. And we got them as a party favor at a birthday party when I was a kid.

And I tried. I was like, this sucks. Jacks are awful. No one bought solo jacks. You always got them in poppers, like those Christmas poppers. Yeah, or in those birthday party fun packs so all the other kids can get jacks. You're supposed to bounce the ball and pick up one jack at a time and play again bounce the ball pick up two before the ball can hit the ground and swallow all of them yes and then feed them your cats well that shows you how bad millhouse is at it that he

celebrates like twosies which is like that's the second worst thing you can do at it like you're you're supposed to get twosies and i think too it's a joke that millhouse would want to play that i think jacks is seen as a more feminine game. When I looked up rules for Jax, all the descriptors were, and then she will pick up the ball, and her will. I think it's a non-gendered game. I think it's a lame old game. Yes. That really needs an anime.

Some guy spiking the ball like 900 feet in the air. Oh, man, competitive Jax anime? Yes. Chris, we've got to pitch this to somebody. Get TMS on the phone. Crunchy Roll is just down the street. I, we've got to pitch this to somebody. Get TMS on the phone. Crunchyroll is just down the street. I think we've got a chance there. Well, I've said records from that era are spotty at best.

I've said that so many times. It is such a great comeback to people like, those are spotty at best. When do we get to my favorite part of this? Oh, okay. Then I don't have the sound for it because it's just the music. It's just the music. It's beautiful.

As of this recording, R.I.P. Alf Clausen. Well, he's not dead, but yeah. He's not dead, but his career is. It's in a shifting position. We are recording this, let's say, four days before this goes live on Patreon. But as of this recording, Alf Clausen just got fired from the simpsons in his words and then the meanwhile the simpsons producers say no he's transitioning to a different role

he will have a quote ongoing role in the show which to me says they're trying to fix a bad pr thing of getting rid of him and i think he's not doing original compositions anymore that's why i think no i having what i do watch the recent shows. It's part of... One of my problems with it is those flourishes of music don't happen very often. Yeah. And at this point,

when they do, you should have an archive to go to. But this... Ah, my time to shine. This is a Planet of the Apes, very specific Planet of the Apes reference. Yeah. And I remember we talked about

when the Burns head on the robot and the barking smithers dog, people were like, that's Planet of the Apes. No, it's this exact same musical theme music yeah that they but it's more it's slightly evocative of jerry goldsmith's planet of the ape score but not really that thing is just like yeah but it's a great planet of the ape sequence because it's it's something i don't think i got for years because if you hadn't seen the movie it's a I don't think I got for years. Because if you haven't seen the movie, it's a very specific sequence,

running through the cornfields. Yeah, in 94, I had seen it. So I could recognize it. I love how directly they do it. It's just like, no, the children are put in nets. They are put in chains and collars. And Kirk Van Houten has a horse. Yes, yes.

Beating him down with cattails through the cornfield. Just a wonderful sequence in the opening of Planet of the Apes. And it's just amazing that Alf Clausen could just make, could you make a Simpsons-style parody of the Planet of the Apes theme for this scene? Yeah, but we don't have to have a Cape Fear-style argument because it's not that close to anything in the original. Trust the guy with four vinyl editions

of the Planet of the Apes soundtrack. You're the authority now. Someday there'll be a video up on youtube.com slash lasertime. You'll learn everything you'll ever need to know about Planet of the Apes someday. Also, as a kid, though though i did not get the jewish joke of shlomo time for your violin lesson that just every every gentile is being called to church but shlomo has to go to his violin lesson and it is the old jewish man voice as well that hank is here not the crazy jewish man i hope but i I love this episode. This episode resonated

with me as a kid because I was knee-deep in Catholic school, and this episode is bashing Christianity left and right. I love the smash cut from Marge saying, you kids need to go to church to learn about morals and values, and immediately it's this horrifying account of people getting their eyes gouged out and other people feeding from the blood or the

gore. Not a real Bible quote, by the way, but fucked up stuff happens in the Bible all the time. Oh, yes, yeah. Well, I love when people say, they quote Leviticus to say, like, well, the gays should be killed. It's like, you can't do anything in Leviticus. You can't eat a cheeseburger. Yeah, like, your life is, Leviticus has a lot of time dedicated to how do you properly slice up a goat after killing it. Technically, we can't even go to the bathroom.

Yeah, so, oh, I meant to mention, too, when they're getting caught by their parents, I appreciate the continuity from the animators. Nelson's dad is Nelson's dad from the last scene in the Peppy episode. Oh, okay. The one is like, my son will go to the winner is Nelson. Thanks, Dad! Pele's acting in soccer camp yes that's right

that's right and uh march is a real scold for the first few minutes of this episode then she pretty much drops it but she's anti-troll yeah well yeah it's i i can't believe that she it's a funny visual of her looking at the troll like awful awful hair it's like this is not the marge of the show okay do you want me to tell you everything you've ever heard about troll dolls? I want to know about troll dolls. It's a great camera angle first, though, with her giant hair pulling back from the camera. Yeah, her hair versus the hair. It is a highly...

I'm a troll man. It's a highly trendy doll, but it's distinctive in that it has had multiple trends. It has been white-hot trendy three times since the 1950s. Yeah, this is sort of a 70s throwback when they were talking about trolls in this era of The Simpsons, right? Yes. I remember people in school having troll dolls. Yeah, 1992, I think the troll craze was in full swing. I have a dumb commercial from it that's super boring.

I wish my violin was an electric guitar. Oh my god, I remember this. I wish my jungle gym was really a jungle. Oh my god I remember this I hate having done this much research It was created by a Danish woodworker who couldn't afford to get his kid a toy

His last name was Dam so he created a company called Dam Things Wow They still are the licensors of trolls over there but like

it was popular in the Europe in the 50s all over the place in the late 60s, early 70s. It became popular again in the mid-90s. And if you're our age, the Trolls had to have... Treasure Trolls are the only Trolls that have a jewel in their tummy. They have to have a jewel in their tummy. So you know the wish works. But these things were fucking everywhere.

Either old ones or new ones. And there was a 2016 movie with Justin Timberlake. His DreamWorks bought the almost worldwide rights to the troll doll. I forgot about that movie. I remember those jeweled trolls, and it made them different from old trolls. Yes, that's how you knew you had a new one on a decaying piece of plastic. And if I really must punish animation fans, I'm just going to bring this up, Chris. Thank you.

They did have a 1992-93 cartoon show, Magical Super Trolls, the worst theme song ever. They're for boys, too, you know. Magical Super Trolls. Who are these? Me, I wonder. We're first on column skim. These say they're champs. Perfect in tight size.

Gotta love these guys. Yuck. Yuck. They didn't even animate. They didn't make new animation for the opening. That is cheap. The opening's a clip show, so you know you're in trouble. Actually, Chris, what I was thinking of, I don't know if there was a cartoon.

I think there was, but there was a video game called Stone Warriors, and they're like, trolls are dying. Let's give boys in the trolls. So they're sort of like Ninja Turtles. Make the power range. If you've ever heard of the game Dudes with Attitude, it is a reskinned trolls game. Ah, I see. That cartoon is presented by Rusty Toyline.

So many people have distributed troll dolls and they have a distinctive look. All I'll say about it, do yourself a favor, Google Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle trolls because they got them too in the mid-90s. They should be... You want to smother it to death

before seeing it again. But what do you do? You blow on their hair to make a wish or whatever? I think so. You pull back their hair and you make a wish. That's how I remember it anyway. Or you stick your tongue in their butt. Yeah, I just thought it was funny as a kid to have a toy with a butt on it.

My toys don't normally have naked butts. That's funny. I didn't see the movie, but I bet they don't have the balls to have naked trolls. I highly doubt that. I think, too, that that was one of those, like, the European-ness of it. That they're just like, yeah, in Europe they don't care if you have a naked troll toy. They just hand it to you, which I like. Okay, but so then we get, I also like that this episode gets straight to it.

They're like, no, here is Jessica. They don't waste a lot of time on other stuff. Much like us. Ten minute discussion on troll dolls. I think you can see the james l brooks influence just how well told the story is just how how great the beats are in the story no time is wasted story either i love that too it is a real sitcom trope but they make it work in this too of just like lovejoy is a character you've seen for since season one but now he's finally

like and i also have a child by the way like yeah's got a wife. It would be weird if the minister didn't procreate. I'm glad they treated it this well, because as a kid, I kind of fantasized about Simpsons plot lines, and Bart getting a girlfriend was something I had thought of. But if they hadn't done it in six seasons, it needed to be special. No B-plots, get a great Elizabeth Taylor-esque guest star. He couldn't date Laura Powers. No, but I think now he's

had eight girlfriends at this point yeah i know he had sarah silverman and raymier wolfcastle's daughter which then turned into an episode where they go to canada and apparently when people when we called another clip show the worst episode ever somebody mentioned to me an episode i had no idea happened where bart technically impregnates a 15-year-old. I have no fucking clue. Oh, my God. This apparently really happened. We'll get to it before we die.

But, yes, it's love at first sight for Bart. And now my daughter Jessica, who has just returned from boarding school, will read the same passage I just read. I noticed a few of you weren't paying attention. Wow, there is a god. I'm telling you, the light would work better if it pointed out to sea. Shut up. I know what i'm doing i hate to see and everything in it a dumb joke saved by my favorite line of the entire show that's great i also get a little bit of the uh runner joke sort of where somebody points something out to a character they just say

shut up shut up yeah except they didn't end with shut up which is a very murky thing of like shut up i love that mcallister hates the sea but also that he's very callously murdering people like those people who's crashed that boat are dead he's a restaurant manager he's not a sea captain that's also way out of his league and andy has two glass eyes so there's there's a lot to deconstruct with uh with old captain mccallister there which is his name it is not c captain it is captain mccallister horatio i believe it is i think so yes yeah and as a kid i didn't really get this but now as an adult the idea of putting yourself out there to say uh to introduce yourself to somebody you're attracted to and being immediately shut down. It's so real and painful, this scene. Yep.

Hi, I'm Bart Simpson. I was incredibly moved by your reading. I don't think God's words have ever sounded so plausible. Thanks, Art. Um, I have to go over here now. I just love it. Thanks, Art. here now i just love that thanks all right and they just turn like takes two little steps to turn her back to him and just that i like back to back to you that bart says there is a god while he's in church so obviously he doesn't believe and then to say he never thought it sounded so

plausible again being like no church is bullshit like I'm at church because my family made me come. But it was dumb. He could possibly buy into religion if Jessica was spouting it. If a pretty face said it. And also, the ADR line is good. But I think it's because they realized it would be weird if Bart was just walking silently towards her. But my long search is finally over, which is funny for a 10-year-old to say. Yes. And actually, right after this, we get a scene of bart and agony in the living room talking to lisa or maybe in the bedroom or

whatever and this uh really reminds me of king of the hill like bart is a little bobby hillish in this episode he's never been more wounded or more sensitive and putting himself out there like i can see how jonathan collier could bring this sort of attitude to bobby hill self-aware as a cartoon character that's who yeah yeah and and it does remind me of how a little bit of just how Bobby works with like Khan Jr. and also the episode where Bobby, I think it was when he was dating Sarah Michelle Gellar. A vegetarian. Yeah, yeah. What are you talking about?

What are you talking about? We got it. King of the Talk? King of Talk in the Hills. Talk in the Hills. We'll work got it. King of the talk. King of talking the hills. Talking the hills. We'll work on it. Still workshopping that. But I think Lisa in general is great in this episode because an episode about an evil woman could easily fall into a lot of bad places of aren't women all crazy?

Like, isn't everybody a crazy bitch or whatever? They could easily fall into that. Perfect for Bart. Removing the sex angle from that kind of dynamic makes this less sexist. In fact, I don't even think this is a sexist episode at all. And it's also directed by Susie Dieter, who I had the only woman director at the time. I think she probably, maybe she helped a little bit with that in just characterization and acting on her. Yeah. I mean, I think all Jessica wants out of Bart is the chance to make more mischief and be

shielded from any sort of responsibility. Yeah. But I like that Lisa gets to be kind of a sounding board and be like, no, I agree this woman is bad or this girl is a bad person and I'm a good person. And so Bart thinks that he's too bad for her, thanks to what Lisa says. And so he decides to go back to Sunday school. So it's the return of the Sunday school teacher. Does she have a name?

Miss Albright. I had to look it up. I don't know when she was named that. They said it once, and I don't know when, but it was an early episode. Yeah, but this is the first time we've seen her since Homer's triple bypass. Wow. it was an early episode yeah but this is the first time we've seen her since homer's triple bypass the uh the line of like uh you get to do whatever you want most in in heaven and i also like the continuity of the ten commandments are still in the classroom which which i feel like in a christian that's so old testamenty i still feel like in a christian school it'd be a bunch of jesus stuff not the ten commandments you'd be surprised some Some people demand it in their courthouse.

Yeah, that's true. I was wrong. And that's also where we got the opening line of the prodigal son returning. Yes, I found that funny because that is like the one story you tell to every kid in Catholic school. It's like the most used story. It's all about forgiveness. It's about forgiveness. Yeah.

Well, actually, I read it up here. The prodigal son is from Luke 15, verses 11 through 32. It's a story Jesus tells, but it's about an old man with two sons. The younger son leaves and wastes all of his money and then comes back home while the elder son stays and works on the place. And when he returns home, he thinks his father is going to shame him. And instead, his father welcomes him back in open arms father is going to shame him and instead his father welcomes him back in open arms he has to forgive him or his god will punish him putting you on all bible research from here on out i'm doing none of that i i didn't like reading i didn't have to

look at story up henry i knew the whole thing well yeah i told you i i do think this this is a very good interpretation of elisa's sunday schools i briefly went to as a kid. Like the smaller class size, your own personal desk, drawing Jesus and maybe putting wheels on him. Yes, he did not have wheels. And the sign joke that the Sunday school is established 1 AD was a cute joke. And basically

the perfect scenario for Bart to be bad is set up where he gets a replica of David's sling, but it's not a sling, it's a slingshot in this case. And this just shows Bart cannot resist attacking a giant adult ass. We saw Chalmers, his giant ass got attacked. Seymour Skinner, his giant ass got attacked with a tomato.

Exactly. And season seven's team, Homer, he will do the same thing, or think of doing the same thing to corrupt Bopple's ass. His school uniform prevents him from doing it. And I really like them hanging a lantern on this perfect scenario for Barsley. He's like, I'll just busy myself in this filing cabinet. He's like, I'll find something to do in here.

Just to stay still forever. Yeah, I love this line. You know, the great thing about Sunday school is we're finally learning something we can use. Yeah, so true. I have to turn my chair this way now. Somehow I gotta convince her I'm a good person. All right, I have to sit here and behave no matter what. Okay, class, we have a special treat today for Pass Around.

A replica of the slingshot David used to slay Goliath. While you kids are looking at that, I'll just busy myself in this file cabinet. Oh, that's great. Must fight Satan. Make it up to him. Later. You know, I was considering staying after school and helping teacher clean up. Do you ever think anything you don't say?

It's such a great shutdown. Do you ever think anything you don't say? It's the story of every one of my courtships. But to Bart's credit, just didn't give up. You shut me down, I'm out of town. Well, once she sees the true Bart is when she realizes she can use him. I mean, like him. But that he's...

It also is such a dweeby thing to say of, like, helping teacher clean up. He even, like, sort of infantilized his delivery of that, you know? Like, sounding like a very little kid. Really creepy. Like a goody-goody. And, well, I love that he can't stand

being good that long, and he has to even, like, rub dirt on on himself i'm all tense in my chestal region chestal area which i was trying to look for this specific commercial that would be from i couldn't really find one but it was definitely like a jerry lewis sort of uh phrasing like oh my chest area okay see i saw it as like those 80s and 90s commercials that just has somebody sitting down like, my sinuses are so tense and I feel all this fatigue in my chestal area. Well, you know what you need is Excedrin or like Anacin or the, I remember the two, well, it's forever immortalized in Wayne's world, but I definitely remember the ads of like these two yellow pills.

Just perfect. A little yellow. Different. The Simpsons will be right back. Hi all you listeners. I'm sure you're excited to be celebrating scotch toberfest but i have to let you know some important information this episode is brought to you by patreon.com slash talking simpsons that's right patreon.com slash talking simpsons is how we afford to do this every week because of support from listeners like you and there's so many things you get if you do that beyond the satisfaction of knowing that you're supporting

bob and myself pay our rent while doing this job no what you get for just five dollars a month are a ton of extras including every episode of talking critic there have been over 10 so far multiple exclusive interviews that are only on there including including our newest one with Bill Oakley, where he reveals to us a ton of information and secrets about his time on the show, as well as deleted scenes in the season wrap-ups for seasons 5, 4, 3, and 2 of Talking Simpsons, not to mention the entire first season of Talking Simpsons as well. And if you give $10 a month, you get access to our premium

videos that include the video version of the deleted scenes commentary, as well as the unaired pilot for The Simpsons, and our first steps into archiving the original shorts of The Simpsons starting at the very beginning.

Oh my gosh, that's all so much stuff. How can you resist? You can't. That's the important part. Oh shit, and you get every episode of Talking Simpsons a week early and ad-free. How awesome is that? Just sign up at patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons, but I'm sure you will enjoy this. Do you miss your old glasses? Well, the best fix for that is a new t-shirt. That's right. Talking Simpsons has its own t-shirt and you can get it

for yourself. Where? Well, it's at shirtsickle.com and you can just find it listed in the podcast section of the website, which makes wonderful high-quality t-shirts. It's from the same people who make pro wrestling tees, if you're a connoisseur of those like me. But I have my own shirt of the Talking Simpsons shirt. It's amazing. It's inspired by the logo for Eye on Springfield, designed by our wonderful

friend of the show, Nina Matsumoto. And you can get one of your own at shirtsickle. like popsicle but shirt sickle or if you want to just get directly to the page you can go to tiny.cc slash talking shirt that will take you directly to the store page for just $19.99 plus tax and shipping you can get your own talking simpsons shirt in a beautiful sky blue and it it ships relatively internationally, so be sure to check if it goes to you, even if you're outside of the United States. That's the Talking Simpsons shirt at Shirtsicle.com or tiny.cc slash Talking Shirt.

Check it out. Hey, this is Hank Azaria. You're listening to Talking Simpsons on Laser Time. I didn't know that was a thing. 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. This week's podcast is also brought to you by the scent of red fruit loops and audibletrial.com slash talking simpsons. If you love podcasts, you will probably love listening to audiobooks, and you can get a free one and a 30-day trial at audibletrial.com slash Talking Simpsons, where signing up will help support the show. What would we suggest you check out there? Well, you

could listen to all the brand new episodes of Dr. Katz that are on there. So many great comedians who are currently popular, and some from the old show. Or, if you're inspired by the joke in this week's episode you could download the sarah plain and tall audio collection read to you by glenn close come on how can you beat that and you can get that book for free if you sign up at audibletrial.com slash Talking Simpsons.

You like Lazer Time shows? Then you might like Bonus Time, Lazer Time's weekly bonus show exclusively on Patreon.com slash Lazer Time. Here's a taste of what you've been missing. More Idaho shit. Bunch of fucks in RVs

sitting out and reading books. What a bunch of dorks. No. I always say I've never in my life thought about retirement. I was just like, holy shit, that looks awesome. That motherfucker can leave and go wherever he wants and gets a chillerize all day. I'm tired of this shit. I've got to start looking towards retirement.

Mine is I'm either going to move to Orlando or Anaheim and just be full on Disney vlogger. I'll be a 70-year-old Disney vlogger. I'll be a 70 year old Disney vlogger. Yeah, I'll be in Dave and Buster's every day. You'll have your own secret menu and you'll get your own red car. Hey Jessica, how's it going? Yep, it's dinner time. Oh, bring me the number three. This Frozen Babies thing is just ruining everything

that's important at Disney. I'm saving Assassin's Creed for retirement. I feel like by the time I'm old enough to retire, there'll be 40 of them. I'm like, I haven't even touched one. But I suppose it's just starting now. That's me in Game of Thrones. Yes.

Finally get into it. 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. Part comes upon Scotch-toberfest, which I love this so much. Oh, this joke is so good. No, the kilt was only for day-to-day wear. In battle, we'd done the full-length ball gown governed in sequence. The idea was to blind your opponent with luxury. There's no more to what God gave me, you puritan pukes. upon it with luxury. Ha. Ah!

There's no more than what God gave me, you puritan pukes. That'll hold me. At least till I get my hands on some kind of explosives. Congratulations, Simpson. You just fell for our sting and won yourself three months' detention. There's no such thing as Scotchtoberfest. There's not?

You used me, Skinner! You used me! Just so great by Dan there, this screaming of, It is great. I think you can see the writers falling in love with Willie. Yeah, just like burns and if you look at skinner uh during that you use me scene he looks kind of sad like oh boy i went too far it does feel bad like that's that's great animation there i don't know i wonder if the

animators of the writers were just like oh skinner should feel bad that willie they went out of their way to make the most supple ass in simpsons oh man groundskeeper willie what is some uh well groundskeeper willie he keeps it pretty fit and tight in general so you would definitely think supple ass in Simpsons history. Oh, man. Groundskeeper Willie. Well, Groundskeeper Willie, he keeps it pretty fit and tight in general, so you would definitely think his butt would be in good condition. He's very toned. I wonder what he's working with from the other side, though. It made that woman pass out,

so I wonder if it's big time. I bet it looks like an albino elephant over there. I think Springfield Elementary's budget is being wasted on this team of Secret Service agents for Skinner that the guy dresses up as a tree and grabs Bart and they pop out of bushes with them strapped to their heads with guns. It's so weird seeing all

those guns pointed at Bart too. And yes, there is no such thing as a Scotch-toberfest until there was. In 2001, New Orleans started a real Scotchotch tober fest but it's really all about drinking scotch it's just about the celebration of the alcohol scotch so not even a celebration of scottish culture which you think it willie's scotch tober fest they'd be doing

caber tosses you know eating haggis haggis good for what ails you three months detention too is not a lot to give bart for what he did yeah forcing and i also like when i like to imagine that when willie is screaming you used me he is still bottomless yes his penis is still flapping in the wind yes was three months detention what skinner originally gave bart in uh the boy who knew too much uh yeah and then he made it four months yeah three months seems to be the standard Bart punishment. Yeah, it's where he starts from. And yeah, I said it over, but that was Mission Impossible music there. And so then Jessica saw that happen, and she doesn't exactly say it's because I'm mischievous,

but this is obviously when she realizes she wants to be with Bart when she sees him be this evil. I saw the way they set you up. That was really unfair. Want to have dinner at my house tonight? Really? Sure. Great. We eat at seven.

There's only one thing to do at a moment like this. Strut! It's real music here. Great animation, Suzy Dieter. Yes. This is a great-looking episode. So, that reference, it is a Saturday Night Fever reference because that music is the song BG's Stayin' Alive played over the iconic opening scene of John Travolta struttin' down the street, all excited and so 70s.

We talked about this off mic. You're totally right about it, though. Yes, yes. So, what people don't know is that there was a sequel to it in 1983. Directed by Sylvester Stallone. Directed by Sylvester Stallone. John Travolta is in the greatest shape of his life. It is the gayest movie I've ever seen.

Yes. He's gorgeous. He's in the gayest shape of his life, too. Well, it's so crazy, too, that Sylvester Stallone, his films are not known for their homoeroticism. Even his workout scenes, they... They're taking place on separate continents. Yes, and to me as a gay man,

I don't particularly feel like sexual interest in seeing the dudes work out. Well, that's not totally true. In Rocky III, when they are hugging in the water together, that's pretty funny. As a straight man, I'm all over that. But somehow when you put that training montage stuff through the lens of John Travolta,

it gays it up. But he's in amazing shape in this. And so in the film staying alive his character goes to broadway wants to be a professional dancer okay no uh and and he makes it but he at the end of the movie and in the final dance sequence he breaks from what they're supposed to do and does an incredible dance and everyone applauds him and they're like you did it and you truly are the greatest dancer and he gets back together with his girlfriend and so the movie is over he's like he is he is so satisfied he just kissed his girlfriend and there's only one thing to do

at the end of the movie what i want to do you know what i want to do strutting Good way to end the movie To end the movie with a callback to the iconic intro Of the original And the name of the movie is Staying Alive Which is the song And it's also

Got no balls on me But it's also amazing to look at Just as this is what Times Square looked like in 1983 I love old New York That ending would be weird if he took the music away That he's clearly not hearing He's just like, I'm gonna strut He walks away silently

Like, what's his problem? Like, wait, and his girlfriend doesn't follow him No, she's like, I wanna walk away alone That's amazing So that was him Pizza place closes in five minutes And yeah, but Stayin' Alive was Well, it actually did make a profit, but it's famously a bad, bad movie. And so that's what they were referencing there with the struts.

You know, it's a great bad movie to watch together if you want to watch it. And I also found out half of the soundtrack is Bee Gees. The other half is Frank Stallone. Oh, boy. Dr. Disco, I believe, is one of the tracks. He's great on Twitter, by the way. Follow Frank Stallone for all of your political updates. So, again, that is explaining this reference properly.

It is not exactly Saturday Night Fever. It is a reference to a Saturday Night Fever reference. It's in the Feververse. I want to go back to the way Meryl Streep says her lines there. Like the way Jessica says, she talks like a 90s kid in a way. I feel like it's an affectation Streep. It's like, that was really unfair. Like there's a tiny bit of Valley Girl in her voice, which I really like.

But also it's a very forced, arched way she's doing it of knowing, like, that was really unfair. Like, she knows what she's saying. Like, it is a very manipulative way she's saying it. That's a great reading, and it fools Bart. Who would know that Streep is a great actress? And I'm sure she invited Bart to dinner just to get a rise out of her parents. Because she knows, like, he can't resist being bad. Yeah, well, and lovejoy can't not

know reverend lovejoy already knows bart knows bart is bad and uh but then we get a a cute scene which is also the rest of the um references clips that i'm gonna have to play but it's three back to back here i can't believe my little boy is already going on his first day. Sunrise, sunset. Sunrise, sunset. Cats in the cradle and the silver spoon. Yes, we have no bananas. Oh, that's sweet, Homer. Our son is growing up, isn't he?

No, it's not that. Didn't you hear? They have no bananas. They have no bananas today. That really reminds me of the scene from Secrets to a Successful Marriage in which Homer goes through like four movie references in the course of a conversation. Yes.

Just mixing them all up. And I think it would almost be a lame joke on some shows to be like that he thinks that the song We Have No Bananas is about how people have no bananas and it makes him sad as a fat guy but but dan castellanet is acting of the crying and the tears like have no bananas today didn't you hear uh but all right so those three songs back to back just for the record uh the first one is for fiddler on the roof sunrise sunset which is the uh takes place during a wedding and it is the parents

reflecting on where is the little girl i cared for so it is a fitting song for homer to think about us child growing up but here's the here's the sunrise sunset part Sunrise, sunset Swiftly flow the days So that's where that one is from. Then I barely even need to play it. It's the classic Harry Chapin song, Cats in the Cradle, again about... I hate this song. Well, let's give it a listen real quick.

And the cats in the cradle and the students move Little boy blue and the man in the moon. When you're coming home, Dad, I don't know when, but we'll get together then. What's your problem with this song, Bob? It's corny. Yes, it is corny. It's corny as hell. Yeah, it's become synonymous with a father fetishizing his son.

Well, and also guilt. It's about fatherhood guilt of like no i work too hard and i but i miss you i wish i just think father-son relationships are bullshit in general you don't need them yeah they're off the table uh i just heard this song used beautifully if you haven't watched the entire show delocated this is a spoiler for delocated but i love delocated on the final episode of delocated. This is a spoiler for Delocated. Oh, I love Delocated. On the final episode of Delocated, the main character is brainwashed to murder his son and does murder his son. I haven't seen this. He strangles his son to death on camera. And they played this song,

they paid for the master version of this song to play over him murdering his son that's probably why it only aired once i'm guessing yes yeah this is expensive i mean it was made by the wonder shows of guys so it's not surprising it got that dark but i was like jeez i was like you really it's so funny too because he again strangles to death his son who had been on the show since the first episode so it's then killing off a major character i saw a skam mitzvah yeah but then when the epic but then he kills him and then it goes to commercial break. And when they go to commercial break, they just show the eye dent for Delocated, and they put the silliest music they can on it, just like strangle, silence.

That's a very PFFR move. It's beautiful. And then lastly, we have Yes, We Have No Bananas, which here is the song from a 1923 recording. Yes, we have no bananas. We have no bananas today. Why, we drink beans and onions, cut budgets and billions.

He's listing all the other things. Write down any thought, put it to a trombone, and you're a millionaire. Put that in a dystopian first-person shooter. I don't mean to do this. Oh, did you? I know it from a commercial. And the commercial, it's very vague and fuzzy. And, hey, contribute.

TalkingSimpsons.com, put it in the comments. It is about a monkey who is turned down from a certain product. And it ends with, we have no bananas today. And the monkey is turned away from whatever the product was. I can't remember what it was. And I have to imagine that's what Homer is referencing. Not a big troll at jam. We brought up Donkey Kong Country earlier.

I remember this song title being in magazines as like a pun or something on every Donkey Kong Country coverage. I hate us. Well, the plot of Donkey Kong Country and most Donkey Kong Country games is he loses all of his bananas. He has no bananas. He has no bananas. Now, apparently the origin of this song is a hilarious joke about immigrants. Oh, good, good.

Well, so it was written in the early 1920s and it is about immigrant grocers who, because English isn't their first language, they go, yes, before saying anything else. Like, if you ask them a question, they go like, yes, we have no bananas. So it is a comedic construction of a sentence to say yes, and then you're saying, oh, yes, we don't have this, instead of saying, no, we don't have this. So it is a hilarious joke about people who are esl and it's funny that now uh all californians say yeah no you know you know yeah instead of you know yeah no yeah yeah you have to say both before we start a sentence and but it was written by the song was written by a jewish immigrant about greek immigrants punch down as hard as you can to rise to the top uh so those

are all the three songs back to back explained i hope you listeners have learned something there so then oh i did i did have something dumb okay there's not a clip of it because i obsessed over it it was it's bart at the table or do you have that clip no no no at the table where he makes it i've heard a funny thing from a young man named oh i do have yes well well so first off i love that lovejoy is immediately suspicious about bart it's a great role for lovejoy to play of the angry dad i i like that especially it's like what's four times three like uh or bart has to and then also you can impress a lot on that scene with like he might know bart's reputation or i love my interpretation he knows homer's reputation yeah i don't want homer's kid in my house well that they're all distrustful when

he talks about like well in my family they're just like yeah we know your family and they also don't like bart's aspiration becoming become a rocket sled olympic champ well i just love i love helen lovejoy does her typical passive aggressive responsegressive response to somebody. Well, I don't think that's real. I didn't know that was a sport in the Olympics. And then Bart just, like, slams her back. Oh, I love the Martin thing. Okay, so yes, then we get a reference to something rivaled, no doubt, from Fox. Speaking of charming, watching Fox last night, I heard a rather amusing story.

This character named Martin was feeling rather randy, and he was heard to remark... Don't you ever come near my daughter again. Never have I heard such gratuitous use of the word but. But, but, but... Make him stop. Make him stop. You're bad, Bart Simpson. No, I'm not. I'm really... Yes, you are! You're bad, Bart Simpson. No, I'm not. I'm really... Yes, you are. You're bad. And I like it.

I'm bad to the bone, honey. Let's go find some fun. But your father said... Oh, told the rev. I was going to my room to say my prayers. Smart, beautiful, and a liar. So much better than that Sarah Plain and Tall. So I love Bart classing up his language to describe a Martin Lawrence routine.

He was feeling rather Randy. Randy. And he was heard to remark, yeah. It was great acting on Nancy to go like, Randy. Yeah. I thought we were just going to talk about Newbery award-winning Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia McFarlane. Sure, yeah. That's what I'm talking about.

1985 book. I feel like this is one of the many books kids are forced to read that scare them away from reading. It's just like, you like books, right, kids? Sure. How about this story about an Ingrarian family in the late 19th century? Dig into that. My sister loved it. It became a series of books, and I think a TV miniseries was playing close to it. Yeah, it's weird, too, that it is became a series of books and i think a tv yeah yeah it's weird

too that it's about it is about a mail-order bride and who falls in well but they have to do that thing in all stories about arranged marriages of just like oh but then they legitimately fall in love after he buys her and it's a totally it's a totally equal partnership which i can tell you from uh extended family experience, that is not how mail order bride situations go. It is not an equal. There's little equality, if any, in those situations, in my experience. Poor Sarah Plain et al. going off crying.

That is not what happens in the book. She is accepted by her family. I think the book really is about how children you give the book to kids who need to get used to having a new parent after a divorce or something. Sort of like how Charlotte's Web is like, hey, your aunt died. Read this. It's about a spider who also dies. Yeah, and so it's really about the

kids who are just like, no, this new person can't replace mom and even if you think she will, she's never coming back because Sarah doesn't like us. No. I'm not calling her mom her name is molly yeah exactly but uh but seeing them directly reference martin was pretty funny because it was their old time slot pal it was and that's like if you watch the simpsons in this era it was awesome to see because to me martin martin lawrence's show martin is inextricably tied to The Simpsons. To further drive home the point, of course, Chris brought a clip in.

Oh, boy. And before Danny DeVito guest stars. And he's got a big surprise. I bet you're all wondering what lies under this sheet. Not really. We peeked inside while you were in the john. On an all-new Simpsons. Then, how they got together is a love story.

Grab my head. But how they stay together. Step, I want you out still is a comedy martin laura stars in the series premiere of martin whoa and how he sexually harassed her off the show is not funny at all no damn gina that i really sexually harassed but i think in hindsight martin is a really good show i don't't think... Oh, yeah, yeah. One, there weren't a lot of shows starring African-Americans. And two, this was really broad. It was, yeah.

As I grew into teenage and surly, I'm like, ah, this is hack. And now it reruns on MTV2 and BET. He plays a drag character in the show. Yeah, he plays like 16 other characters. Yeah, it's true. It's a very Eddie Murphy style thing. It's awesome. And it holds up very well.

And to Fox's credit, taking chances on shit like that and putting it after The Simpsons, which shouldn't have the same audience, but it did. We all watched Martin. I did. Because it came on after The Simpsons. And on August 27, 1992, it started after The Simpsons. I had to. Usually, the channel would be changed in my house.

But sometimes I would watch Martin, and I'd definitely see the commercials. But there maybe was a person in the house, but sometimes I would watch Martin, and I'd definitely see the commercials, but there maybe was a person in the house who didn't want to watch Martin in my house. Well, what I tried to look up, I'm like, let me find the controversial moment that this is referencing. And in my memories of Martin, it's not very controversial. It's not, he wasn't very rivaled. However, he was on Def Comedy Jam simultaneously and had a theatrical movie.

He was a filthy comedian. He was a filthy comedian. He got banned from SNL the year, like, right around. He cleaned it up for the sitcom, though. Well, I mean, the censors weren't

going to let him. Yeah, but there was nothing. I couldn't find anything objectionable, like, anybody campaigning against the sitcom. Right, right. I just remember he was

just always horny on the show. Yeah. Maybe that's what Bart was telling. He was feeling rather randy. It's something I can barely get. Is it the critic that has the joke let's see what's on the bottom yeah that's a critic well and i also like i watch fox what are you talking about martin did a great thing on his show too that i think a lot of most comedians do on their show which is just i love this comedian what is has hit it big and they're

going to use their sitcom to elevate other comedians. Like Tracy Morgan was a recurring character on the show of this homeless scammer dude who sold. It's like, hey, I got a bunch of watchers who show up at the barbershop or just be in Martin's kitchen and be like, yeah, hey, I got all this stuff I'm going to sell you. And it was funny. It was funny. And also, yeah, the actress who played Gina was really great and it's very sad.

First mega- one of my first big mega-crushes. Oh, yeah, she's gorgeous. And she's also in Little Shop of Horrors. That's true. Oh, God, I love Little Shop. We're going to do

a karaoke night soon and I have got to give myself a note of like, I want to sing like three Little Shop of Horrors songs. I think I killed Grow For Me last time. I will give that award to myself.

Please grow for me. So the montage after Jessica reveals her true colors to Bart, I have a feeling, and it's not just a feeling, it has to be true, that the choice to make a Pulp Fiction style musical choice had to come much later than what was written. Way late. Because the movie just came out three weeks ago.

It could not have been written. I wonder what the original choice was. Was it Bad to the Bone? Was it another song? I wonder if it was when the Dick Dale style music, which again, Big Up's Dove Clausen making that wasn't exactly the song that's in Pulp Fiction. Yeah, it's like a style parody of it. Yeah, it was definitely a style parody of the Dick Dale surf rock song that defines Pulp Fiction.

But when that song ends, then it goes into traditional... Sweeping. Sweepy. I wonder if that was the music the entire time. So you have two theories here. One, they made a joke about a trailer. Yeah. It is possible you were really into Reservoir Dogs and were anxiously waiting for the new Quentin Tarantino film.

Otherwise, I would say it's just a coincidence. There was not time to see Pulp Fiction. I think it was a choice made in editing. It would have been like a month. I bet it was a month.

I bet it was the same way they do ADR. Just like, oh, that track doesn't work, take it out. I just think they wouldn't make a change that late. Well, they definitely say on the commentary

it is intentionally Pulp Fiction music. And Pulp Fiction was white hot so they're like, if we write a Pulp Fiction thing, people aren say on the commentary it is intentionally Pulp Fiction music. And Pulp Fiction was white hot so they're like, if we write a Pulp Fiction thing, people aren't going to see it for a year. And we didn't

because that was 22 short films about Springfield. We just looked this up for, I forget what, maybe it was this show, that it did premiere at Cannes. Yes. Cannes a little while ago.

So maybe a Simpsons writer was somewhere in France seeing the movie as it premiered. I'm with Bob. I think it was a late editing choice of just pre and if there

was no Pulp Fiction we would have heard a different song there I think but it's great and the the pranks they play are just the general mischief not the crimes I think Jessica is easing him into her criminal beliefs I though whenever I see a gym with a window on it i think of them eating ice cream in front of the fat people they're still tp'ing stuff what up what a harmless thing what a

harmless prank i never see tp up in trees anymore me neither but i say you see a ton of youtube videos of people getting punched in the face it's a prank bro like you go tp something you horny adolescent prank is now i pretended my friend was dead and uh scared everyone well i want to point out that we've seen this episode i think in this room we've probably all seen like 30 times we're forgetting the great twist is like bart doesn't think he's nice enough to be jessica's boyfriend but it turns out jessica is worse than him that's the twist that we all sort of just internalize because we know the story so well the beautiful thing in the middle that all bart needed to be was himself like his yeah to attract jessica, but then we find out that we start to see the bad side of being Jessica's boyfriend.

No way would a minister's daughter go out with you. Oh yeah, I'll prove it. Hey, Jessica. Yes? Am I supposed to know you? Jessica, we just... That's for besmirching an innocent girl's name! Why?

I'm sorry, Bart. You know my parents can't find out about us. And besides, if it's secret, it's even more exciting. I guess. Hey, you wanna go skateboarding? Um, actually, I was hoping I could sit down

for just a second. Come on. It would be fun. Wow. Now I have the energy to do anything. Just give me two minutes. Boy. I got to say, really accurate observation of what it's like to be punched in the stomach.

I haven't gotten punched very much in my life. I don't know how I've avoided it. But I remember, and I think Brett Elson said this on a Laser Time or a podcast. He's like, I was a smartass to everybody, but it took someone hitting me to learn I can't just say whatever I want to people. And that happened to me. It's like someone said something to me. I said the most smartass thing ever. I was like,

that was really clever. Punch right in the stomach. The pain wasn't as bad as going, I don't know, Woody Vaughn most. Yeah, so this is all the comeback I have. But I like that nelson uses be smirch that's for be smirching on innocent girls i use be smirch because of that line two bullies who would just walk through the hall every time they'd see me walk through the hallway they just punch me in the gut as hard as they could man i i more got like taps in the balls which has the same reaction of just like not a hard punch in the balls, but just the light taps.

Like, oh, I'm down. It sucks. I'm not an authority on my childhood, but I think I had a growth spurt, and that hurt me. Did you stand out more? Yeah. Well, I became an awkward person, awkward-looking person. And then also, if you're using prison logic, hey, that's a big guy.

If I take him down, no one will fuck with me. Look at all the cigarettes yeah well and i i also like the reality of in a in a in a cartoon getting a kiss would have been like oh i feel much better and say he's like no i need to and i also just like her exasperation when he says like give me two more minutes like yeah and it doesn't make you dwell on the uh what is trading trading uh physical favors for yeah it's true it's that that's the most sexual their relationship kind of gets a hand holding it's all very innocent though you know it is all very innocent they didn't open their mouths did they no but yes and the the way

it's the the undercurrent of it there is just like one she's using sex to make him do things he doesn't want to do and then two the uh if it's secret it's even more exciting that that edge to it uh and then i didn't get a ton of clips from it because it's mostly visual but the skateboarding sequence is some of the best animation ever i think i watched it three times when i was re-watching this episode for the podcast it's just amazing i love how it escalates too it's very well it's very well animated lots of great jokes wonderful silhouette where i guess they can't hurt bart as bad as they hurt homer and bart the daredevil yes yeah watching him bounce down the uh the asphalt on the silhouette like oh no ball bearings i'm like dude how do you animate ball bearings interacting with a

skateboard in this universe and they did it they wisely just did it just did a close-up it's incredible the and it's such a murkany style of increasing things of like, oh, I'm definitely going to slip on this oil. Oh, no, I didn't. Okay. Ball bearings. Oh, no. Then, oh, it's glue. Cool.

It'll stop me. No glue. Then what will stop me? Then a single, he makes it fine over all those things. A single sunflower seed dropped by an ant knocks him over. And then the glue comes in. I did get the clips of the glue people because I just love their way of talking.

I love it. They're immediately answering Bart's query like, the glue will save me. No, it won't. The glue will slow me down. Any glue leaking? No, that glue ain't going nowhere. Nothing's ever going to stop me. Oh no!

There goes the glue after all! No! Fun, huh? Sounds a bit like E.T. The bubbles on that glue is beautiful. The way the bubbles explode out of that glue is so great. And apparently Jessica made it down the hill on skates. She must be an accomplished skateboarder.

Well, that's what I do like that about this. It wasn't that Jessica wanted to hurt Bart while keeping herself safe. She also did it. And she survived all those things, too. She skates down through the glue. Oh, we missed one of my favorite jokes. It's so subtle you can barely register it as a joke.

Bart is looking over the hill saying, I think it's too steep. And Jessica says, you can't trust your perception at this altitude. So she's saying, yes, we are up very high.

That was a great line. Yeah. At this altitude. It's something that irritates me about cartoons from this era where every kid is an accomplished skateboarder. Trust me,

I grew up, every kid had a skateboard. Pretty much everybody sat and lied down on it because nobody knew. No one could skate like Bart. Yeah, like after I an accomplished skateboarder. Trust me, I grew up, every kid had a skateboard. Pretty much everybody sat and lied down on it because nobody knew, no one could skate like Bart. Yeah, like after I watched

The Simpsons, somebody I knew had a skateboard, I stood on it and I was like, well, this is not working out for me. I'm just leaving the skateboard behind. Why did they let me do this?

This deck is cool and I'll put it in my room to make it look like I skateboard and then we'll just never do it. Okay, I made an executive decision and I call this the line of the show. Totally understandable. I didn't even remember it was from this episode. That's the joke.

Have you noticed any change in Bart? New glasses? No. He looks like something might be disturbing him. Probably misses his old glasses. I guess we could get more involved in Bart's activities, but then I'd be afraid of smothering him. Yeah, and then we'd get the chair. That's not what I meant.

It was, Marge. Admit it. It's a very odd and creative low-key scene, just to work the parents in. It is a great... It could go in any episode, so I didn't remember it being here. Totally. If you didn't see Bart walk in with the cat glued to him,

you wouldn't know it was from this episode. It's true. It is an easy scene to remove. It feels like a kind of scene that would be deleted in syndication just to fit in another commercial. And Bart never really goes to Homer and Marge in this episode for advice. And it explains why they're not involved in giving him advice either. But just that Homer is so unconnected from Bart that he, one, doesn't recognize Bart, doesn't wear glasses, has never worn glasses.

Well, actually, he did in the Mindy episode, but that he also didn't get new glasses and that also no kid would be missing their old glasses and And we'd be like, probably Mrs. Old Glasses. I think the most alarming thing is that he knows Marge wants to kill Bart, but he's kind of okay with it. Like, we're both on the same page about smothering Bart. It was Marge. Yeah, if the glasses line didn't come before smothering, I feel like that would be the memorable line from this. But it is. When we talk about Simpsons lexicon, Simpsons shorthand, all motherfuckers, if I come over here and I can't find my glasses, probably Mrs. Old Glasses.

You can't say the word glasses around most of my friends. It's a great way if you're talking about somebody having a changing mood in your life, you just feel like probably Mrs. Old Glasses.

It's like, oh, did that guy quit his job? Probably Mrs. Old Glasses. In this scene though, but they're also eating this gray sludge. I think it's also like from Lisa's rival,

Homer had leftover sugar sludge. It's very disgusting. It's really hurting their teeth yeah uh okay so then we get into the part where now it is being established that jessica is worse than bart and that is where the pretty poison references start coming in uh mostly when she's twirling the baton a little later but in case you don't know pretty poison is a campy 1968 classic starring anthony perkins and tuesday wells where anthony perkins is an ex-con who just got released from a mental institution and he is uh on parole his parole officer is watching him and seeing if he'll get into something bad then he meets this like perky young blonde girl who's like the captain of the cheerleading squad or whatever.

And it turns out she is more sadistic than him. And she talks him into murdering her mother and becoming a killer. And it's all about the campiness of seeing this cute blonde girl, played by Tuesday Weld, murder people and be super evil. And the film even ends with her finding the next victim and anthony perkins going to jail and her getting away with it so it's uh it's a fun little movie i i watched

several clips for it and a great lengthy trailer for it on youtube i would look it up i couldn't find a specific like direct scene for it jessica and the tuesday world character aren't exactly the same especially not in look they're not Jessica's based on Simpson's artist daughter. They couldn't get the look down. I forget which person it is. Yeah, just her swoop of raven hair is a great look for her, and her evil eyes, her shifty eyes. And I also think that it's a nice touch of Jessica that she knows to make Bart's hand be the one on the fire alarm, because if they dust for Prince, they're not going to find hers.

And Willy is attacked by the wee turtles. No one will save him. They're too quick. 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.

I felt like that was a callback to just the Treehouse episode just before of him failing to save someone. I definitely conflated them. I thought this season was all about Willie getting murdered for a little while. Willie has a lot of great bits in just this episode. Yeah, I forgot in the same episode of Scotchtoberfest as him getting, the wee turtles were too quick for him. Somehow he's covered in turtles biting him. So what's up with this Milk Dud line?

Okay, well, let's hear it first. I can't believe it, Bart. I'd always thought Jessica was so sweet. She's like a Milk Dud, Lise. Sweet on the outside, poison on the inside. You gotta give her up. No, no, wait, hear my plan. Put up with her for seven more years.

Then we'll get married. Once the first baby comes along, she's bound to settle down and start treating me right. After all, I deserve it. I love that description of a toxic relationship. Yeah. Which I think works no matter the gender of the person in it. This is not like just about, oh, what if a woman is a bad partner? But just the way he goes like, hey, listen to, just hear my plan. I'll put up with this for seven more years.

But when we have a kid, they'll treat me nice. And after all, I deserve it. Yeah, denial. That way of thinking of like, I deserve it. Like a person who doesn't respect you now won't respect you more if you do what they want. If you be a complete doormat. They're projecting a few like adult feelings onto Bart. I feel like that idea, that awful idea is like

this person's out of control, but I love them still. But once we have a baby, it'll all be fine. They'll settle down. I'm sure they'll be a good parent. No, it does not work. But Milk Duds. They have the malt on the inside, right? No, caramel. That's Whoppers. Oh, those suck.

I'm pro-Milk Dud, anti-Whopper. Me with Whoppers, I feel like after three Whoppers, I like them. And then on the fifth Whopper, I'm like, ugh, sick of this malt taste. It tastes like rotten Easter. Yes. It turns out chocolate and chalk. Not a good combination. But Milk Duds, okay, I have to tell you guys, in the early 90s, Milk Duds were not as good as they are now.

They did improve the caramel in them. But back then, they were like, well, one, my mom hated Milk Duds because they did rip out a filling of hers. They are meant to destroy your teeth. They are technically caramel first and foremost. Their name, they're being derived from dud, that not all of them are the same shape. So they're all technically rejects.

I thought this meant they weren't explosive. They couldn't legally be described as coated in chocolate until recently because it wasn't. was oil and oh yes chocolate yeah but brown oil but the reaction to eating a milk dud you can't chew it you think you can but you can't just don't so you have to suck on it until but that's also why it feels like poison on the inside because the experience of you suck on the milk dud until the chocolate is gone and then you're just left with a very like not sour but a more tart caramel like it is not a very sweet caramel it won't dissolve fast enough either no it feels like a choking

hazard like am i gonna die if i swallow the wrong way milk milk duds are dangerous i feel like or they especially were back then the the caramel was not as gooey or malleable, this caramel is much better now. You kids today have better Milk Duds. There's so many better caramel candies than Milk Duds out there. Name one. Caramello. Okay, that's right. Twix.

Rolos, yeah. Rolo, Tony Browntown. They're all great. I was driving through Nevada, found a fucking huge sugar baby, and wondered where they'd been my entire life. I'm more of a Mary Jane fan. Or a Bitto Honey. Yeah, I know. Bitto Honey.

All of the... 420 Bob. They're titanium-based candies. And then you get Lisa describing her ideal bad boy, and it was interesting to see Lisa get lost in fantasy, which hadn't happened in a few episodes, but definitely was a Merkin-y thing. Is this Langdon i don't he's a langdon auger type yeah well this guy is too old to be langdon auger langdon is a classmate of hers this is a guy who seems like

he's like 13 or 12 probably doesn't enjoy puzzles no and he's certainly not bookish and actually i was going to mention it at the end of the episode, but I'll say it now. That is the kid on the bike that picks up Jessica. Yeah, of course. It is him. This was the first time I ever noticed it was the kid from the library. And he's a James Dean type, right? Yes, totally. But it's perfect that Lisa's bad crush will end up with Bart's bad girlfriend.

It's perfect. But I like that they show that lisa can't uh that even she is susceptible to falling for a bad person then we get one of the like the greatest fuck you jokes they ever did on the show of the calendar sequence it's like a minute of like xing through the whole calendar like and you're thinking oh three months have passed and he's like if i could just make it through all these days and just the circling of the x i always conflate this with uh duffless but they don't do a calendar joke in duffless no and duffless it is just him going a whole month the joke is that he can't he's shaking

his hand is shaking on the last day and i love the squeaky marker foley and whenever whenever they use a squeaky marker it's so great and i like the very subtle joke Itchy & Scratchy calendar is so cheap it is the same picture every month. That's from the movie, right? Yeah, yeah. I thought so, yeah. That's right. It's when he's hacking them up when he can't wait for them to go through the thing. I think it's less a joke about the cheapness of the calendar and more of an artist saying,

I'm not drawing like 13 different images that no one will see. I feel like I read it as the Itchy & Scratchy company is too cheap. And then we get a nice callback to Ned's womanly voice from Bard of Darkness. That is disturbing. The mouth movements are all off on Ned's singing. I wonder if it was a different song at first instead of just... But it's beautiful. And then Homer's shake and bake coupon thing in the collection plate.

That's cute. They're blessed. Yes. And then Bart has decided to break up with Jessica, and she does not take it very well. Stealing from the collection basket is really wrong. Even I know that. Oh, fine. You just lost your cat.

I'll just take that. Everyone turn around and look at this. What is it? A Unitarian? Now just relax. For once, you didn't do anything wrong. Just explain yourself and everyone will understand. I took the money. Yes, we know. He confessed. Okay.

Stop him. He's. Okay. Stop him. He's headed for the window. I just love that. I took the money. Yes, we know. He confessed. Okay. I have to say, I went to Catholic school, as I said before on the show.

My family didn't go to church, so I had to sit through a lot of masses and not really being into it. Me too, yeah. And the two highlights of any mass were, one, getting up to shake people's hands. It's like, I get to stand and talk to people for a second. The second one was seeing a huge basket of money being passed around. Like, oh, look at all that money. And just feeling the temptation like, will anyone see me take the money?

But I never did. It's a lovely notion that no matter how bad you are or how atheist you are, everybody knows how bad it is to steal from the collection plate because it's not about where it's going, which probably should be taxed. It's an honor system. It's the intent of the people.

I don't know. It's just one of those things. No one would steal from a collection plate. It's one of those things you can still depend on. The 90-year-old usher is not going to see you do that. It's nice to establish the line for Barth. It's very clear. No, this is wrong. He's disrespected religion the entire time. He only wants to be a petty thug,

not a criminal. Yeah. And I also do love how Streep says, you just lost your cut. Like it's a nice little, like sing song. You just lost your cut. And so then the entire town hates Bart,

which this, I love this line too. It's great. Boo! Die a little! Rock! Leave! Get all the money from the church collection plate! which this i i love this line it's great slow down man slow down i love that guy uh so the first guy to yell crook was uh rich more and one of the guys coming out to shake his hand a fist at bar was david silverman i did recognize the david silverman but not the rich. Rich Moore is one of the nerds. But this wasn't, was this African American Rich Moore or white Rich Moore? It's the white version of, was it Gary?

No, Stu? No, no, Bob, you're right. It is Gary. Doug is the one who looks like me. I just steal your money from the Strickland. Because he'd run out of, it would have been repetitive for him to also call Bart a thief. He has to say a different thing because he's the third joke. But I also did like Homer barely paying

attention to Bart and him not obviously telling that Bart was lying when he said he didn't know who stole it. So then we get the most direct Pretty Poison reference where she is taunting Bart while twirling her baton. It's great acting with the baton too. So good. We've got to talk. Listen, thanks for not turning me in.

That was sweet. Well, it seems like if you really care for me, you should come forward. Oh, don't you see? It's because I care for you that I can't come forward. That doesn't make any sense. All right, then I just don't feel like it, okay? Jessica, you're really beautiful, but you are not very nice. Duh.

You know, with the way you're treating me, why should I protect you? Because if you tell, no one will believe you. Remember, I'm the sweet, perfect minister's daughter, and you're just yellow trash. Huh? I do like the hickish re, just to underline the yellow trash. Huh?

And this is one of those weird con flicks in the Simpsons world that sometimes they refer to themselves as white but for a joke they will sometimes replace the white with yellow and calling someone yellow trash instead of white trash is the joke there as well well he wanted his skin to look it's yellowest for laura yes yeah and that's when lisa decides to finally help barn i also did love the way Jasper just pops up. Dave.

Yeah, in the treehouse. How do you get up there? And I think it's interesting that Bart thinks 108 IQ is impressive. In a fifth grade reading level. Yes, which for Bart is much smarter than him, but it's definitely not smarter than Lisa. Which I think is why Lisa ultimately wins this. And I like her line of, I eat Froot Loops for breakfast. And I like the specificity of red Froot Loops. Because of, I eat Froot Loops for breakfast. And I like the specificity of, like,

red Froot Loops. Because those are my favorite Froot Loops. Fuck the green ones. I would save the red Froot Loops for last. I was like, yeah, you kids today, man, you have it bad in this case. Because, like, when I first was having Froot Loops, I remember it as just red, yellow, orange.

Then green came in. Yeah, and same with, yeah, Trix. I didn't want that green flavor around my sugar. Get it out of here. As my dad described it, like there used to be rules that you couldn't put that kind of dye in food. Somewhere along the line, we deregulated all that.

We got all the colors of the rainbow. I'm sure we're all fine. Yeah, no, we're all good. Five shrinks your dick. Bart is strapped down like Hannibal Lecter in a scene reminiscent of Mr. Burns in Homer Goes to College, correct? When they're willing him into court? No, no.

And he's bribing the judge? From Monorail. Oh, Monorail. Okay. Monorail is when he bribes the judge. But it is a reuse of, they've already done a Science of the Lambs reference. And now in late 1994, Science of the Lambs is two years old. Three years old.

It's in the 91. Oh, right. It's 91. So, yeah, it's an old reference of this but everyone has made yes yeah i i kind of wish they'd come up with a better thing than strapping with how subtle all the references are across the board like you really have to be a fan of planet of the apes or what was the other one well i mean the pretty persuasion of the staying alive or pulp fiction but this one was like no draw them like that wait not the staying alive reference

that was pretty on the nose can't miss miss that one. Okay, that's true. So obviously I didn't go to enough churches, but I didn't know what an offertory reading was when that's what Lovejoy introduces. Lisa is doing the offertory reading, which is the next one after. It's the one to set up. There are so many readings. There's like the homily, that thing.

I don't know. Who cares? And I do like that Lovejoy's love of his daughter makes religion take a back seat. When Lisa says, doesn't the Bible say this? He's like, I'm thinking somewhere in the mind. Judge not, lest ye be judged. And this is great. Great acting from Yardley here when she demands everyone to confess, as well as amazing animation, especially.

Susie Dieter on the commentary says she's proud of it and she should be. The camera turn from Lisa sideways to then behind her back to everybody else in the crowd is such a beautiful shot. Yeah, and Lisa is trying to do a very Perry Mason

stock lawyer scene where it's like, I will guilt the person into confessing, but Jessica has no guilt. She's evil. There is someone among us with a guilty conscience.

After much soul searching, I decided it would be wrong of me to name names. But I urge that guilty person here, under the eyes of God, to come forward to confess and save yourself from the torment of your own personal hell!

I smelled some marijuana smoke in Vietnam! I was the one that cancelled Star Trek! I left my Porsche keys inside Mrs. Gl Vietnam. I was the one that canceled Star Trek. I left my Porsche keys inside Mrs. Glick. I am talking to the collection money thief. Only you can come forward and end this injustice. Oh, what the heck. It was Jessica Lovejoy.

If you search her room, I am certain you will find the money to the little girl's room another great mob i i love that lisa in a very non-perry mason way just like yeah forget it it's her i'm gonna name her dr hibbert is wearing a stethoscope in case any audience member is like who is that and why why would he leave his car keys in a person? Did he insert? So I did some research on that. According to a 2013 article, up to thousands of times a year, doctors leave things in patients. Usually like clamps and stuff. There was a horrible story of a woman getting a sponge left in her that then grew to the size of it filling up her entire stomach.

It was some horrifying stuff. Meanwhile, I love that Skinner's big guilt in Vietnam is that he accidentally smelled marijuana smoke when everyone was doing drugs all the time. That was like the lightest drug. Yes. Okay, so who canceled Star Trek? I did a little research into this. There was a really good io9 article which basically just

reports on this book uh there was a trilogy of book series that went the most in-depth into the history of star trek ever of the first series and the explanation of who canceled star trek is a difficult one one and the third season is way worse and it had a stripped down budget and gene ronberry wasn't as invested all those dumb like we're on roman planet we're on nazi planet we're on gangster planet or a million bottle episodes as well and so that was one of the problems but it was also that it was on the friday night death slot at nbc which is when nobody watched television then and so the the ultimate person who can be blamed for it might be jerry lewis because they were on the friday night well we did kill him

he was on the friday night that slot they wanted to move it to monday but they would take laughing slot and the laughing people said no we don't want that so they thought well on tuesday night we have a very poorly rated show the jerry lewis show we should replace it with star trek and jerry lewis said in my contractual agreement i have to be on this night and if you move me to friday you will owe me a lot of money and nbc was like all right fine and they just kept airing it until they canceled it and so if jerry lewis had played ball star trek could have moved to tuesday and maybe gotten better ratings and had a fourth season so not grandpa but jerry lewis is the man who

canceled star trek man i didn't know this i i was very interesting to find that out this was the first time i'd learned it as well but uh he's kind of like uh once you get past the impression most people do him he's kind of an one fascinating asshole oh yeah it's amazing i i heard these great clips of him from the j Lewis show where people would try, they would say they just bought something and he'd always have to one up. He's like, oh, I have that. And I have the next one too. Oh no, my color is so much better than that.

It's one of my favorite bits on Animaniacs was how I was introduced to the Jerry Lewis. Like the serious. Yeah. And that's the serious side. And Freakazoid will always lapse into being like serious Jerry Lewis. I love the serious Jerry voice he does. Like, what is this? What are we doing here?

The episode. We've had so much fun here today. The episode that was Apocalypse Now meets the production of The Day the Clown Cried was incredible. I was thinking about that. The amount of cultural literacy children had to have to find anything funny. The Simpsons, Animaniacs, The Critic. Like, how did we know this stuff? And our kids today expected to know any of this shit. Well, weons, Animaniacs, The Critic. How did we know this stuff? And are kids today expected to know any of this shit?

Well, we're going to do a... You'll be on it. The Lazer Time show about the Looney Tunes. You can kind of pick that up through weird osmosis. It loses its referential quality and just becomes part of that show. Yeah, yeah. I can see that.

Well, as a kid, I liked the sound of Freud and Levin. Freud and Levin. Freud and Levin. So LisaLavin. Freud-Lavin. So Lisa's very lucky that Jessica didn't hide the money better. Like, hiding the church money under her bed

was probably a mistake. My line of the show is what Mo says when he finds it. That's the collection money. Oh, yeah. Smells like church. I guess it's obvious

what's happened here. Bart Simpson has somehow managed to sneak his bedroom into my house. That's also great. Bart Simpson has somehow managed to sneak his bedroom into my house. That's also great. Well, come on. Use your imaginations. No, Dad.

I did it. It's your classic cry for attention. Well, young lady, I suppose we brought you home from boarding school a little prematurely. I was expelled, Dad. Remember the pipe bomb, the glee club brawl? Remember the school chapel collection plate? Exploding toilets for the day. Come on, Dad.

Attention to me. I'm going there. And we never see Jessica again. By the way, that doesn't mean she doesn't pop up in character packs or in the background somewhere. She's never a character again. We've never seen. I like that. We get some explanation for Jessica is just a sociopath,

I think, but the lack of attention from love, joy, and him just completely ignoring these problems, especially when she reveals, I stole from a collection plate before. The exact same thing happened. She did this crime before and he still refuses to believe it.

That's pretty out there. And then she's just like, pay attention to me. Yeah. She's just literally screaming that. But I like the concept of like, oh yeah, something can smell like church.

That's true. Like incense-y. Look that, it's bringing in the sheaves. Sheaves. Yeah, not sheep. Just wanted to say that. Oh yeah, the sheaves.

Sheave a bundle of grain. Is that? Did they sing that when Bart had sheep. A bundle of grain. Not sheep. Did they sing that when Bart had to be a babysat? Rod and Todd. Yeah, Rod and Todd singing. And also... Iron helps us play. Yes.

And I believe in Ned's shooter fantasy. He's singing that as well as he walks up. Yeah, that's right. He's like whistling it or whatever. No, he's whistling it. Yeah. He's not singing it. Yeah.

So then everybody lightly apologized to Bart, though not freeing him. No, he's still strapped up like Hannibal Lecter. Don't worry about it. It's like, yeah, it's not singing it. Yeah. So then everybody lightly apologized, though not freeing him. No, he's still strapped up like Hannibal Lecter. Don't worry about it. It's okay. And then we get to the ending. As Merkin puts it in the commentary, and it's true, he wanted no one to learn a lesson here. And so nobody. Because we already shipped one Springfield Elementary love interest off to a boarding school.

Just do it again. It's true. It's stanky. Come to watch boarding school. Just do it again. It's true. It's stanky. Come to watch me suffer? I just wanted to let you know that even though this was a difficult experience, I really learned a lot. I'm a little wiser and a little less naive.

Well, I learned that I can make men do whatever I want. Well, don't you see, Jessica, that you really haven't learned. Would you finish scrubbing these steps for me? Will I? Hey, Jessica. Coming. Poor sucker.

It's amazing what some guys will do for a pretty face. Not me, though. Wait till she sees the second-rate job I do on these stairs. I had to cut it short. He laughs for like five seconds. There's a lot of cackling. Again, guys, don't be a doormat. You won't win any points.

Will I? That he immediately proves he learned nothing like i learned something i didn't and then he immediately unlearns what he learned and that jessica also learned nothing other than she's like yeah i can do what i want yeah and and that she's gonna do it with this next guy and i also love one last compliment to the animators the way when jessica says i can make boys do whatever i want the way she moves her finger back and forth on the brushes like that is of a manipulative, conniving person. It's like faux innocence almost. It's beautiful.

And that Jessica probably has murdered someone by this point or at least destroyed a few men. In her adult life. I think she's dissolved someone in acid. Yes. acid yes and actually i got this i get pretty poison mixed up with the film pretty persuasion which was a mid-2000s film about a girl who actually does look designed the same as jessica lovejoy in a pink outfit with black hair and she is manipulating everybody just to become famous and it's all about fame and in the film james woods basically plays james woods actually he said so many racist things in it that you're just like but at the time you're like boy james

woods a good actor and i'm just like i think that's just james woods is he dating a 15 year old you gotta make it no i mean you can assume he wants to fuck his daughter i see but anyway that was such a great ending like bart's laughter this this is a really great episode i love it clear through line didn't need a beast plot just beautiful yeah again it feels really king of the hilly it's a like a low

key character study without a lot of antics it's just very focused on Bart's relationship and Bart not learning anything about relationships actually yes yeah yeah

so everybody thank you so much for listening this has been talking Simpsons I've been your host Bob Mackey you can find me on Twitter as Bob Servo my other podcast is retronauts

every Monday at retronauts.com a new classic gaming episode and occasionally an episode on Friday. If you're new to Retronauts, I dare you to pick a topic that you're interested in and download that corresponding episode and you should like it. And you can look for that in any podcast machine or device. Just look for Retronauts. We will be there.

We've been there for 11 years, goddammit! And Henry can tell you more about Talking Simpsons Patreon. Yes! Follow me on Twitter at H-E-N-E-R-u-y-g and uh you know this is supported by patreon.com slash talking simpsons where we do a lot of good work there and if you want to support us you get a ton of things that are honestly too long to list though hopefully at this point if you listen to us on the free feed you've heard our preview episode of all the great interviews we've been doing recently just five dollars a month we'll get you access to literally dozens of hours of content you won't find anywhere else it's right there and we thank everybody who supports us so again patreon.com slash talking simpsons chris

yeah you can find all that on laser tent podcast.com including the show that sort of started it all but if you like the way we break apart reference here as of this recording we haven't done it yet but we're doing that with the looney tunes it's been a really hard thing to research because jesus christ we do it on the simpsons because many of you have seen these episodes without you know you weren't born when they came out none of us were born the looney tunes came out so this has been really hard for me uh so we'll see how many we can get for you it's pretty illuminating that if we think simpsons invented this style of humor holy shit they did not not at all Looney Tunes were doing it in the 30s

but listen to that that show and on 30 2010 the show that looks 30 20 and 10 years ago to that week in history mostly pop culture there is a Simpsons thing brought up and you're gonna hate it oh I bet I will well thank you so much for listening folks we'll be back next week with Lisa on ice. See you then.

Wow. Infotainment.