Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood With Patrick Cotnoir

Episode Date: January 22, 2025

Recover from your own Squishee hangover with our guest Patrick Cotnoir (George Lucas Talk Show, Hey, That's Me: A Commentary Podcast). In a story not affiliated with The Boy Scouts of America, Bart joins the Junior Campers and learns to love rubber knives & animal traps. Somehow that strands Bart in the ocean with Homer and a pair of Flanderses in another adventure full of memorable moments, be they sugar-related or that Borgnine guy. So don't do what Donny Don't does—listen to this podcast! Support this podcast and get over 200 ad-free bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow the official Twitter, @TalkSimpsonsPod, not to mention Bluesky and Instagram!

This podcast is brought to you by patreon.com slash talking Simpsons head there to check out exclusive podcasts like talking Futurama Talk King of the Hill the what a cartoon movie podcast and tons more I hardly endorse this event or product? Ahoy, ahoy everybody and welcome to Talking Simpsons where it's always sponge bath the old folks day I'm one of your hosts the proud tv trivia patch wearer bob mackey And this is our chronological exploration of the Simpsons who is here with me today as always. Keep cool Henry Gilbert, be in the podcast but not of the podcast. And who is our special guest on the line? I'm a man who can be exchanged for goods and services Patrick Cottner.

And this week's episode is Boy Scouts in the Hood. Oh man, how are we supposed to kill the rest of the afternoon? You mustn't kill time boys, you must cherish it. Boy Scouts in the Hood. This episode originally aired on November 18th, 1993, and as always, Henry will tell us what happened on this mythical day in real world history. Oh boy Bobby, Meat Loaf tops the charts with I'd Do Anything For Love, but I Won't Do That, Adam's Family Values tops the box office, and Nirvana Films its MTV Unplugged. I think I didn't see Adam's Family Values until the VHS release. Even though I saw the first one, theaters enjoyed it. I didn't make the time for it

I'm the same way. I did like it. I will have the controversial opinion that for a long time I was a values is better guy. I flip back. I flip back to the originals better I want to know if anyone else is on my side out there. I like values I didn't see it in theaters because I was unfortunately a year and a half years old. Oh Darn, so sorry guys. But you could have darn, that's too bad. You could have still been taken to the movie, you could have still ruined it for everybody. I would have been a real, what's the word, pubert? Puberty, yes. Little known pubert. You played pubert in the film. I did, I still kept the mustache. I never shaved the

mustache. I remembered liking values more maybe at first because there was something as a kid that I didn't like that Fester, like wasn't Fester the whole movie and it felt like we're wasting Fester time because Fester is so fun. I love Fester and then it's like, well, is he Fester, isn't he? But then the sequel, the last time I watched it,

my main thought was, I think it was smart that they had Pugsley do very little because he's the least funny person in the movie. But all I could notice is Raul Julia like laying in bed for a lot of the movie because he's very sick Not his fault obviously, but once you're aware of the reality you understand why Gomez is not standing too often But then I guess right after this he'd be M bison So he's really given it his all in these final few months of his life for his kids Yep to earn as much money for his kids as that film says via come to us to rile Julia That meatloaf song. I love that song. I listen that so much as a kid

That was before I learned that like Jim Steiner Steinman Steinman that he wrote like all of these songs I loved like that were all these like operatic silly Broadway style rock songs yeah my parents were a real meatloaf in the car couple so I heard the bat of hell album a lot and then this one a ton and I think meatloaf came up in one of our podcasts so I just put bat out of hell on Spotify and it was all coming back to me every lyric is etched into my head all these songs about sex in a car that I was listening to when I was eight and bopping along to I met meatloaf at a Red Sox game one time well he was there he was throwing out the first pitch my dad and I were walking

around before the game and he was just like walking around which doesn't feel right like it feels like they should have had him somewhere but he was very nice I don't know I'm glad he was a nice guy. You see him on reality shows, and he seems like he might have some problems. And now you think about time, as we do on this show often. That was like the big Meatloaf comeback album. Like, oh, he was big in the 70s, and now he finally

has a new one. This is the equivalent of someone from 2008 who was popular comes out with a new album now. I don't like that. I don't like that. I don't like that idea. Well, I mean, I guess speaking of old music, yes, the Nirvana MTV unplugged. I never watched it while Kurt Cobain was alive.

I didn't really watch or get into any Nirvana music past the biggest pop songs until after his passing. So I've never watched it where it doesn't feel like, ooh, it's eerie and you're thinking about the tragic end of his life. Yeah, I wasn't into Nirvana because I was a little bit too young, but the next year for Christmas, unsolicited, my parents got me their Nirvana Unplugged

album, the album version of this. I think my parents thought this kid could stand to be a little cooler. So it was just basically like, happy birthday or sorry, Merry Christmas, son. Here's some Meat Puppets covers for you. I should have sued MTV over that because you listen to some of those songs,

he's plugged in, that's an electric guitar. Like they're faking it. A man who sold the world, that is not an acoustic version of that song. We'll have to have the musical scientists check this out. Report back to us. That's everything that happened in the week this episode of the simpsons aired and joining us for the first time is patrick Kotner he is the producer and co-host of the george lucas talk show and co-host of the new podcast

Hey, that's me. Welcome to the show patrick. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it So psyched to be here always happy to talk about the simpsons and this feels like the best place to do that You know public. I can't think of a better one. Yeah, no, I think this is the spot. So thank you so much for having me. I'm here, I'm in my grandparents' basement, a place I have not spent a lot of time in the last 15 years, probably. So it's very weird to be like recording something that I watched a lot as a kid in a place where

I was a lot as a kid, you know? It feels appropriate. Our listeners can't see this, but he clearly is in a grandma and grandpa's basement. There's wood paneling, there's photos of, what I guess are countless memories scattered across the wall. Yes, yes, yes, and countless photos of me,

too many photos of me in things that I don't remember doing. I couldn't think of a better place either with this episode is about childhood memories comes up so much in our podcast But you know, we just did the episode tis the 15th season and in that one There's an entire bit about DVD commentaries on the Magnum PI DVD set and we were just bemoaning like oh, there's no more commentaries There's no more DVD commentaries and how and then boom here comes a podcast that gives us what we're asking for. Here it is.

That's what I've coasted with green writer Brian Lynch, who wrote the Minions movies and Secret Life of Pets and First Puss in Boots, a whole bunch of really great movies. And we were talking about this. This has been an idea that I'd been pushing around for a long time because I, like you, like grew up with commentaries and Simpsons commentaries were like a huge part of that. And we really missed them And there's so many people out there now who never got to talk about certain movies. So it's been really fun to like Reach out to people that I think are cool

Who I want to hear their stories from our first episode was I don't know if you guys have seen the doc tickled David Ferrier stock. I'm aware of this it rules. It's the best it's about a guy I don't want to spoil too much But he finds out about like underground tickling videos that have been circulating on the web that are like maybe weird fetish things But not really sure and he just goes down a rabbit hole Finding out like what is the deal with these who is funding them all these things. It's amazing. It's the best I think it's on Netflix right now But this week coming out as of recording in a few days, Candy Clark is doing American

Graffiti, which is genuinely crazy. Like, you know, nominated for an Oscar for it. We've got a lot of really cool people, not just actors and directors, but like costume designers and writers and directors and, you know, like really rad people that I think people will be excited to hear from. I'm just glad somebody is picking up the commentary slack because these things are really not available on streaming services. If you go to Disney Plus, slide on over to the extras tab. Sometimes there'll be a separate video that is just the video with the commentary track.

They don't have the technology to just lay in a new track apparently, but yeah, very rarely. I think like with the Toy Story movies, a few of those commentaries are online the Simpsons movie I think one of the commentaries is online. Is that true Henry? Oh, yeah No, not the TV show But yeah the movie has the writer and the writer group and director commentary one with Brooks on it where they also it is a novel commentary where They do just press pause to tell long story

So it's actually longer than the movie, but it doesn't have the other commentary that's on the DVD, which is only the animators, which I wish that was on every Simpsons episode. Yeah, we were talking with Patrick. We mentioned this on previous podcasts, but the Simpsons commentaries really end at season 19. The DVD said, I think they released it maybe in 2018. That was the last release, and it barely snuck out. As the Disney deal was happening, it barely snuck out like as the Disney deal was happening It barely snuck out and we said it before but according to Al Jean commentaries were recorded for that FX app

Which is now defunct, but those commentaries never made it the old ones were led onto the service But they never populated the newer episodes with whatever commentaries they did and at this point We've been doing the show for ten years somebody on the Simpsons staff has to be a listener on some level We are asking you please release the files. Let the world hear them. I feel like I guess my reasoning for it I've come to now why they, Simpson specifically wouldn't have it or why Disney would be scared of it is that I think Disney, despite being like the biggest company in the world that can

like never lose and makes all of the money and owns most things. They are incredibly timid about things and at least from a legal standpoint and cared like what if Al Jean on a commentary said, you know, we actually got the idea for this from this movie. And then some lawyer like the worst lawyer will say, Oh, well that means that you're going to be sued that you stole this idea. So never put that in there. It's just such a shame. It's a shame that it can't just be released on some podcast feed somewhere. You know what I mean? Like, don't even put it on Disney Plus. Just put it somewhere else that like, I don't know.

It's lame. And that's sort of the reason why, you know, we want it to do is because like there's so many of these things that also like get lost to time. You know, there's criterion additions that like don't exist time. There's criterion additions that don't exist anymore. There's DVDs that just go out of print or hundreds of dollars. And you're like, why not just make this as publicly available as you can? Because it's crazy that the bonus features for everything did not port over to streaming services.

I guess that's a, like, you're paying for, I don't know. Are you paying people for that? Does that just belong to the studio at some point? I don't really, are you paying people for that? Like, does that just belong to the studio at some point? I don't, I don't really understand the logic behind if you own this, why not also just release it? You know? It makes little sense. I also think like that streamers want everybody to stream everything all of the time. So it's like, well then wouldn't they get a ton of rewatches of, you know, every episode of Bojack Horseman if it had commentary on every episode then that's just it's more hours logged by Netflix yeah I don't get

it either but you're keeping it alive thank you so much that's the goal that's the goal we'll see hopefully people listen to it it's called hey that's me a commentary podcast it's wherever you can find it it's on like YouTube too which I guess is a place that people listen to podcasts I didn't know that but we put ours there and then they're almost immediately taken down because we included copyrighted music. So some of them are there and it's a good way for people to kind of find us and get into the Patreon and the podcast feed. But it's rough out there on YouTube. Yeah. We're also on Patreon. Patreon is a whole new world for me. And I applaud people

like you who have Patreons because trying to figure out what the different tiers should be in different add-ons and like what people will actually care about is such a Interesting, you know mind exercise to be like what would you pay for? What would I pay for? It's been a whole new thing and I don't know if I figured it out yet But hopefully we basically had to quit our jobs and then think about the patreon for a month before launching it So it is like a massive undertaking. I can't wait. I can't wait, I'm so excited. And this is season 5, so we have yet another new writer to talk about, somebody who we've encountered on other shows, and that writer is Dan McGrath.

Let's talk about him. Yes, it's time to talk about Simpsons writer Dan McGrath. So first of all, I want to say, if you want to hear us talk to Dan McGrath himself for a solid hour, we interviewed him for the Patreon way back in 2018. That's patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons. So I'll steer everyone to that for the more in-depth stuff and I'll just lightly go over his biography in this podcast. But one of these days we will put more of our interviews on the free feed, but for now we have a lot of them behind the Patreon paywall. Yeah, we have so many great ones on there. And this was the one when McGrath was a hookup thanks to another Dan.

First, we interviewed Dan Grainy, and then he sent us in the direction of Dan McGrath, which was very nice. And the two Dan's of that era, still in contact with each other. Yeah, I totally forgot how we got in touch with Dan McGrath, because for being a Simpsons guy, he was not super prolific on the show. So we can talk about that. In total he wrote two full episodes, they're both great. There's this and then season six's Bard of Darkness, though he collaborated with Greg

Daniels to write two Treehouse of Horror segments. Number one was The Devil and Homer Simpson which we covered. And the next one is Time and Punishment which is my personal favorite. And this will not be the end of him working with Greg Daniels, don't worry. Is that your number one Treehouse is time in punishment? I think you have a cool poster for it even or like original art by Bill Morrison. Hands down yeah I have the art Bill Morrison did for it must have been like a DVD release or something of some treehouse horror things but he did the

Homer Jurassic Park art an ad for that so I have to frame that still many things need to be framed here. Oh hey I feel you I got there's still I still have to frame the original art I have of Bill Morrison's for Go Simsonic with the Simpsons I have that as well I've been meaning to do it. So let's get two things out of the way here yes Dan McGrath went to Harvard and yes he did write for the Harvard Lampoon but he only worked his way up to vice president so we're very disappointed in Dan McGrath he He could have been president, but something got in the way. The standards were lacking in this season of Simpsons that they hired a vice president

of the Lampoon instead of only presidents. So McGrath started his television writing career as a writer for SNL, first as a contributor at the end of the 1990-91 season, and then as a full-time writer for the 1991-92 season. And I believe that is the first season I watched live as a very little kid, like a nine-year-old. So we talked to him, I think he talked about a few of the sketches he wrote. One of them was the Levi's Three-Legged Jeans fake ad, which is something my mom really got a kick out of. I love that one. Yeah, we've, I, you know, I've learned this from our, our pal Mark Malkoff's late night

podcast that when he has on SNL writers, he's really doing a great thing of just asking them, what did you write? Because those credits aren't out there. It's even more opaque. Who wrote what than it is on The Simpsons, where you can at least have a name of the script's writer, even though that doesn't tell you who wrote every joke. I always like finding that out in terms of sketches. So after that season of SNL, he joins the Simpsons towards the beginning of production season four as an editor, a story editor. And during our interview with him,

he told us that his first day in the writing room was writing the that's good, that's bad scene for Trias of Horror. I believe that's two? No, it's three. That's three, that's three, right. So I guess it was after the animation came back and they were making new jokes

out of the footage they had available. Yeah, yeah, I believe the story was that they were able to like borrow the new season five staff to give them help on rewriting the very late stuff that was changed up in that. And that is maybe is the best or top five ADR jokes the Simpsons ever did. Yeah.

Basically just because you really can't tell it's ADR. Yeah. And it's just the repetition. It's so much funnier than anything else. Like especially potassium benzoate. That's bad. So his Wikipedia page appears to be written by him or maybe one of his people, because there's, there's jokes worked into it, which is something I always like. So his page says he was quote unquote fired

twice from the Simpsons. And that seems true. So he remains a story editor from the beginning of season four all throughout season five. And by the way, the story editor on a traditional sitcom is the lowest rung. I think it's like story editor, staff writer, producer, executive producer, et cetera, et cetera. So there is a hierarchy. So he remains pretty low on the hierarchy. And then he sticks around through the first half of season six as an executive story consultant. So given what consultant means in TV writing, it sounds like he was doing his old job but not full-time. And if we had to guess, it sounds like Dan McGrath did not get

along with David Merkin many people did not many people didn't stick around long in his era well let's say a few people didn't stick around but that was odd for a Simpsons writer to leave after one year we talked about Bill Canterbury leaving Dan McGrath as a guy who barely stuck around for a year as well and I remember from our interview he didn't really want to talk about why he left the show and of course we were polite and we didn't push back against that. So it just sounds like something he does not want to dig up. Yeah, yeah. It sounded like something that his, you know, perhaps he wants to

leave it in the past and then move on and then not, you know, cause he's he had a, he had a post-Simsons career. That's great. It's not his only thing, but so I get not wanting to think about it. Yes. But if I were to guess, probably there was probably friction with him and David Merkin, I would bet because well, I just, David Merkin was the boss then. So if you're going to have friction with somebody, it would probably be your direct manager if you're having friction then.

Yeah. And it's not like he stopped writing for television and TV animation. So it seems likely, but that's just our thoughts on this. It's not reality. So, where does he go after the Simpsons? Well, to a sitcom no one has heard of, his first gig is being a co-producer on the early WB one-season gym-based sitcom Muscle. If you remember this sitcom, let us know in the comments, but it's one of those shows that launched with the WB that did not go on to become a Wayans Brothers or a something else I can't remember. You know I had hitched my wagon to the first night of UPN where I was like I'm gonna watch the first episode of every show that's on the first night of UPN so you know I watched the the Richard Grieco like Lorenzo

Lamas type show I forget what that even name, I watched Platypus Man. I remember that and all in the run up to watching Star Trek Voyagers premiere episode. But when it came to the WB, I think I was a little more hands off on it waiting until the kids debut that I think in 96 with Superman and whatnot. Yeah. I didn't really watch any of the WB primetime shows. I think they just conflicted with other things I was already watching. So yeah, he was on that sitcom.

It doesn't last. And then afterwards, he writes a handful of episodes of Muppets Tonight, weirdly enough, a show that should be on Disney Plus, but isn't. And then he goes on to be a supervising producer on Mission Hill with his old Simpsons pals, Bill and Josh. He writes two episodes there. He writes Kevin Loves Weirdie and plan nine for mission Hill. And yes, as a reminder, we did cover all of Mission Hill

on our Patreon at Patreon.com slash talking Simpsons, including the episodes that were not made. Yeah, we went over the unproduced episodes as a whole episode and then interviewed Bill and Josh about it. And I'm very happy that when we got to interview Demograff, I could tell him that I married a gay man from space episode that he wrote of Mission Hills one of my favorite like TV episodes of anything ever and it's something I I still love to watch my husband I have I have a

framed copy now of talking about frame things I have a framed copy now of that script that I got Bill and Josh to sign when they when they came to Seattle we need to get track down Damograth and get his signature on that thing that I got Bill and Josh to sign when they came to Seattle. We need to track down Dan McGrath and get his signature on that thing. I'll fly to New York just for that. Well, he was in New York when we talked to him six years ago. Who knows where he lives now? I think he might be.

Let's move on, though. So after Mission Hill's very short run, McGrath is the executive producer on the little scene David Spade cartoon, Sammy. And then he also writes two episodes of the PJs. Now that Sammy has been made available, I've never actually looked into it. We spent about five or maybe seven years

on our Patreon and on our podcast saying, we must find Sammy, track down the episodes of Sammy. Now Sammy is whatever erud of Sammy is out there and I never even bothered watching it. Someday we gotta do a Sammy what a cartoon, it's true. We gotta catch back up with that. But the show that Dan McGrath really thrives on is King of the Hill. He joins the staff at the beginning of season seven

and goes on to write some of the best and funniest episodes from that series back half. So in total, he writes 11 King of the Hill episodes. So he's on that show for, I think, six or seven years. No, he is a great King of the Hill writer. I just look up the names of episodes when we get to them in our podcast history on it. I can't wait.

And it was funny in our interview with him too, as I recall. He mentioned that he was told he writes a great Hank when he thinks Hank is a jerk. And he was like, well, you think I write him good? I think his character's a jerk. Yeah, I think even on the interview he said, ah, Hank is such an asshole.

That's what he said, yes, yeah. That's right. Check out the interview. We sound so much younger. And finally, his last TV gig was as a story editor on the first season of Gravity Falls. I probably do to, it was Josh Weinstein on that? Yeah, Josh worked on it as an higher level thing.

I like, because Alex Hirsch is a huge Simpsons fan. Right. So he, having Simpsons that on your resume, I think definitely made Alex Hirsch want to work with you. And he goes into more detail about this in our 2018 interview, but after leaving the world of TV writing, I believe he's getting more involved in the world of theater.

Apparently this is another passion of his and he directed a lot of plays while at Harvard, though I can't really find out about what he's currently doing in that world. I know where to look for movie credits and TV credits. I don't really know where to look for what is going on in the world of off-Broadway or even smaller kind of performances. I'm not sure really where to look and his name did not pop up searching for a demographic, theater, demographic, theater director, et cetera, et cetera. So was he working on some theatrical production of Metropolis or something

when we last talked to him? Was that demograph? In 2018, yeah, when we asked him, he was mentioning he was working on on an update to Metropolis in I couldn't I think he was think I would bet he was trying for the stage as well. But I think I recall him saying he wanted it to be like a more dramatic hour long too, but it was also like, you know, about how it reflects society now and less about the socialist commentary in it and other things. Yeah, but I wonder what, you know, obviously it's been six years since then and there hasn't been something yet, but it is hard to sell a TV show.

So I understand. Yes. Yeah. We'll be on the lookout for more of Dan in the future because we love his yet, but it is hard to sell a TV show. So I understand. Yes. Yeah, we'll be on the lookout for more of Dan in the future because we love his work. But he just proves that you can be fired from The Simpsons twice and still go on to have a great career in TV writing. He sure can. Even in legitimate theater, as Homer would say.

Mm-hmm. Interesting. You bring up Damograth too, Bob, because his original script draft is out online and that I was able to refer to on this. It's April 29th, 1993 is when it's dated. Just to give you a real sense of when they were working on this. And it's always helpful to have the full like a version of the script, though

this is definitely sometimes first drafts are pretty similar. I'd say this is almost 50% different that I only will note the biggest changes Yeah, it could be it's just his first sitcom script and that it needed to be changed a lot I'm guessing because he came from SNL. Yeah, I think so and it's definitely Longer than a Simpsons script like page count wise like it felt longer You see where all the cuts go and of course, you know, Merkin is a very experienced TV writer He has a strong hand in reshaping scripts as showrunner. That's a hallmark of his time on the show.

So how do you feel about that first draft versus the draft that made it to air? Is there stuff that you miss from the first one? Do you think in some of these first drafts, I find more jokes that I'm like, oh, that was funny. And they cut this to this one. Only had a couple of jokes that I was like, oh, that was funny. Or in most cases, it's an improvement. I also think that McGrath, for his first animated script, wasn't really thinking of the animation as much.

And I really think Jeffrey Lynch and his team made some jokes so much funnier than they were on the page just through staging. Like, for example, Homer swinging back and forth through the shot for it made it 10 times funnier. But I'll note the biggest one, but's about McGrath not on the commentary. It is one of those comments, speaking of commentaries, it's a fun one, it's always fun when the actors are there, but the voice actors don't remember the episode as much so they are kind

of just like going, oh isn't that funny, isn't that funny. That's what Yardley and Dan are doing on this one. I feel like starting in season five, maybe just because David Merkin is in the room and he just likes to laugh and enjoy what's in front of him without explaining too much, everyone is just laughing at all the jokes in season five so far. Just a lot of people just enjoying the show,

which is fun to hear, although not super informative sometimes. Well, also, Merkin's always performing, and I think you said it before, Bob, that he is one of the least earnest people out there. He's always funny, but he rarely says something without making it a joke at the end. Yeah one absolutely needless detail I want to point out This is Boy Scouts in the hood and there is a hyphen between boy and Scouts which tells you it is a parody of the Song title not the movie title the movie title has no hyphens there. I said my piece

Wow, okay, I didn't know that. That's why people come to this podcast. Yes. This is what they're looking for. And this does remind me, we had a copy of Boys in the Hood, the movie in our home. It was recorded off of HBO by a friend's mom. And on the spine, the title said Boys and the Hood. Like they're trying to find a magic hood or something. B.O.Y.S., by the way, no Z. When I was last in Los Angeles I went to the Academy Museum

and they had a whole boys in the hood section like a little exhibition of it. It's been there forever. I live in LA and I've been to that museum a few times and like they've got costumes, they've got props, they have like the movie basically playing on a loop there. It's crazy. It's very funny the movies that they choose to highlight at that museum But that is seemingly one of the ones where it's like oh most people have heard of it if not seen it there Sometimes you walk into a room. You're like. I don't know what this movie is. I've never heard of it Why is this the thing they chose to highlight, but it's a good room in there Yeah, I can't see Henry as Lisa walking through the museum saying hey wait a minute. There was no hood in boys in the hood I

Marveled at I think it was ice cubes Raiders hat was on display among other things so of course well There were two things I loved on the top floor at the time was the John Waters entire exhibit of so many amazing things Including a sell from his episode of The Simpsons. But then it was like nerd Nirvana that I didn't go there for Star Wars things. Of course I love Star Wars and all that, but walk into the room and the first thing I see on the first floor is how they filmed the Millennium Falcon and there's a Millennium Falcon right there and just to think out a loop of how they did the special effects. I was like, I was so happy and content to see him all this stuff my favorite thing in that John Waters exhibit

I'm sorry to derail this but they had the child from Seed of Chucky the doll Hey, right. It was something where you're like, this is crazy that this is in the Academy Museum You know what? I mean, it was so exciting I was not expecting but yeah They also were playing his Simpsons clips in like the clip package, the John Waters clip package, which is you think they have so many things to choose from. I was surprised that they picked that, but it was cool. Now it was great.

They had a whole section on like John Waters, the guest, like cameo actor, like a whole section. Yeah. If it's still on display, it's worth seeing by the Academy Museum. Just a lot of fun. Well, speaking of things that feel like a museum, an arcade, these don't exist anymore. Although, hey, in Seattle,

I just went to two lovely pinball bars. I went to Shorty's and Jupiter Bar, where I saw many winners don't use drug screens. You know, barcades actually are making, they are so present, at least in the hipster towns we live in and visit, that arcades feel more present now than ever actually.

Though they're full of people our age, not children. No children are allowed. There's drinking, there's adults, there's salacious pinball machines. Do you think kids still like arcade games? Because it does seem like it's become such an adult thing. Is that exciting for kids anymore? I don't know. I was just hanging out with one of my childhood friends to ask them, like, so what do kids like these days? Specifically, like, what does your kid even do? Like, they play games

and it's like their kid. And this friend of mine is a gamer. Like he's covered video games for a long time. And I asked him, like, what is your kid like? And he's like, Oh, my kid just loves Roblox and he's now started playing GTX because his friends are and he also like the kid has not gotten into Star Wars he's 12 a 12 year old boy not into Star Wars and partially it's because oh that's the thing your dad loves and has a million Legos of like I don't like yeah bad generation I'll say it yeah Patrick I have not seen I go to pinball bars in Portland arcades the ground control in quarter world in Portland I see kids there with their parents the kids don't seem to be having a great time

And if they're playing a game it is like the arcade version of doodle jump or fruit ninja something they've done on a phone I feel like that's their entryway, but maybe they like pushing the buttons, but they don't actually like engaging with the games. That's so interesting. I guess it's because home video games are so much more accessible now for kids. You know what I mean? It felt like something new and exciting when you'd go to an arcade, because I didn't have an Xbox or a PlayStation at that point. But now it's on your phone, it's on your computer, it's on your iPad, it's on your Xbox at home So it's maybe it's we have that at home. Why would I do that here? You know and not to go too far into this I also think most of the games that kids play are designed to make them little gambling addicts and

The arcade games and the pinball games they're made to be very adversarial So they're not getting like a constant little trail of awards that will lead them to giving a thing money They're just losing immediately and just kind of being confused by the process. I think sure. Oh, yeah I can see a kid playing original Donkey Kong now and like dying in like five seconds because it's a rough game And it's like well, okay put your new quarter in right now It's like but this didn't give me like my check-in sign up bonus for playing Donkey Kong. I did my daily quest I got 50 Donkey Gems. Well this return to the Noiseland arcade is making a comment on the first all of the movie

video games at the time. This is something that is much clearer in the script but it is there on screen that the gag is all the kids are lined up to play an aliens video game and a Terminator video game. Yeah, that's not clear enough I just noticed that this time and I thought oh did they not have a gag for these arcade machines? But I guess it was leading up to my dinner with Andre. Yeah, it's in support of oh all the kids are lined up for these popular Movie adaptations and then only a dork like Martin would be lined up for my dinner with Andre I watched the episode twice today, and I did notice that. So that just shows that it's not clear enough.

And in the script there's one extra joke that there's also a game machine that is for the TV show Dinosaurs but nobody's lined up for it because it's that unpopular. They were so mean to Dinosaurs. A fine show. They really hated Dinosaurs. I feel like there's multiple dinosaurs jokes on this show that they did not like it. Why do you think that is? I think they just saw it as a ripoff Yeah, they definitely saw it as ripping them off when really if you watch the show, it's like if it rips off anything It's all in the family like Interesting they felt like they were being stolen from and now this would have been if the joke in season 3 was oh

They stole our show the joke in season 5 is and nobody even watches this shit anymore But there's far more episodes of the dinosaur show than anybody thinks of usually yeah There's like six seasons or something like that. It's a lot at least five They're playing the my dinner with Andre gamer by they I mean just Martin because he's a little nerd And it is such a funny bit that you play as Wallace Shawn And can he defeat Andre Gregory in this conversation about the philosophy of life and death and in very existence You know ace attorney is not much different than this They would invent just games where you're exchanging dialogue, and have to choose the right option. They didn't know that so

this is ahead of its time. As a game design three options is tough like just trenchant observation, bonmo or tell me more like that's just you need a little more. Well also I mean you told us earlier that you watched the movie today right? Yes yeah. Do you feel like that's an accurate representation of that movie? Because I have not seen the movie. Bob, have you seen it? I have not seen it. Okay, so you're the expert here.

Well, all right, well yes. I hadn't seen it in a good while, and now that I'm older than Wallace Shawn is in the movie. And by the way, his character, he plays himself, and Andre Gregory plays himself too, so I'm not forgetting his character name. It is Wallace Shawn, he is Wallace Shawn. Rex the Dinosaur, I think, is his name. First. First off it's funny watching it because it came out in 83

and you realize this is what made Wala Shahn like known much more. The reason he's in The Princess Bride which I watched a million times as a kid is because I'm sure because of this movie like he literally I do the point at the screen meme when he says inconceivable. Like he says, it's inconceivable to me that people would do it. And I was like, ha, that's why he did it. It is a very, very interesting film to it is real time conversation at a dinner table at a fancy New York restaurant between a man in his fifties who just is a theater director and while Sean who is 36 and considering his life and they're like what what does it mean to be alive? What is life like? I mean it

leaves you with a ton of thoughts like I would suggest anybody like give it a watch because it is like almost I don't know like it takes you to a place of philosophy like you philosophize while you're watching it and also it's for crazy here was one of my biggest takeaways in 1983 they're complaining about the degradation of society. They're like, oh, people used to watch these plays that were so great and now the plays that are popular now are like garbage.

Like everybody just settles for things that are bad. And they're talking about how like art is bad. In 1983 is what they're saying. It's crazy to hear. Now, Henry, did they get dessert or is that for the sequel? There was our teaser like at the end No, unfortunately, they talked so long it closed down the restaurant and they forget to order desserts They do not have dessert to my knowledge. I

Wonder if they considered a sequel. I wonder if they ever were like should we do a legacy cool cuz Andre Previn died 2019 were like should we do a legacy cool cuz Andre Previn died 2019 So there was like plenty of time within that legacy cool territory to like do a my dinner with Andre and maybe bring in someone Younger too, you know, I'm sure they could have but that would have gone against like while the characters I guess they would have had a lot to say but it's it's impressive I guess that while a Sean didn't do that idea and yeah go with it I did see the wall of Sean said that he's like, oh, people think that character is me, but I wrote the whole thing and I could have played either character.

But as a game, you would spend most of it listening to Andre speak because it's like an 80-20 conversation. Like it's more of like a monologue that then Woleshawn engages with and like after the first hour and 10 minutes. And I will say an indie game designer made a playable version of this. So the designer Gumpy Fiction in 2022 made a playable My Dinner with Andre video game. It takes about 20

minutes to play through. You can actually play through it in a web browser, but it retains all of these graphics. It's as if it was made for the Game Boy as well. So it's very neat. It took this long for someone to make this a reality. Now the video game also, it'll lead you to believe that they sit at like a center table that it's easy to see him. No, they sit at a corner table off to the side with like a mirror in the corner.

So, cause the director, Louis Maul staged it so you can see a character's face reacting in a mirror when this conversation happening. I mean, as far as like a film, yeah, it's like it's a beautiful film to see just like two men having a conversation for a long time and being served their dinner as they speak. Does the dinner look appetizing? It looks pretty good. Yeah, they go to a nice place though. Wallace Shawn is right that chicken he has served looks too small. He's paying big money for that chicken.

Patrick, you lived in New York for a long time maybe if you watched it the New Yorkiness will touch you in a different way maybe I'll yearn for my days in New York by being like oh I remember the small chicken I used to get when I would go out I was not a fancy dinner guy that often it was rare so I don't know if I would actually have the connections to that world that they do just like wallace Sean you need an Andre to pay for your dinner Exactly exactly if anyone look and this is an open offer for anyone listening if anyone ever wants to pay for my dinner I will never say no

So keep that in mind that goes for anybody after this then we get to rip from the headlines Panamanian strong man, which is all about Manuel, Norga, which even in the script, it just calls the character Manuel Noriega, just to make it totally clear. King Kong style figure. Except you're him, you play as him. Though I don't know how Bart can win this game. Yes, well Bart can't win because the joysticks don't exist. There's an animation error where he's holding onto nothing

in two different shots. It's great too that it ends with HW Bush, because it even is the winners don't use drugs thing, which was omnipresent in arcades in our youth. It's extra funny because of course at the CIA, like George HW Bush loved Manuel Noriega until he didn't. He was one of our best friends. That winners don't use drugs thing,

I was looking into it and it wasn't a mandatory thing, but it was one of those things where if video game companies agreed to put it in their games, the government would not start looking into games and arc wasn't a mandatory thing but it was one of those things where if video game companies agree to put it in their games the government would not start looking into games and arcades and everything so it was a preventative measure but yeah from 1989 to the year 2000 I believe was when it was phased out even after William S. Sessions left the FBI they still retained the attract mode screen I have no memory of Winters don't use drugs I I guess we weren't super into going to arcades as a kid, just because we didn't have one in our town.

But I just have no, I'm reading the Wikipedia page on it right now. The next time you go to a barcade, start up, let's say, the Konami Ninja Turtles game, the original one. You're gonna see it, I think. Wow. Yeah.

Or Simpsons Arcade, you'd see it on Simpsons Arcade. And maybe, honestly, maybe that's how the adult men writing this cartoon were aware of it from playing the Simpsons arcade game Yeah, yeah, it was at the beginning of that and yeah, by the way, William S sessions died in 2020 from being 90 years old That was the cause of death After Bart instantly loses there is another good line from the script I noted which which is Millhouse said, wow, you almost made it to Honduras. Like, that's a funny line. It's such a David Merkin thing to imagine that if you even say out loud, you're out of money, like the surveillance state is watching you at all times and is going to throw you

out if you have no more money. Like that to me feels extremely David Merkin that you're being watched at all times. And America is so commerce focused that if you have no money to spend you do not exist anymore Yes, he loves portraying hyper capitalist police states. Yes. Yeah It's one of his favorite satirical things and I love it about Merkin stuff and then the extra bit that it is the squeaky voice Teen who represents that too. Hey, he leaves this job soon after to work on the oil rig. He's getting around in this episode. Ah, you're right.

Man, this is a double squeaky voice, isn't it? Yeah, this episode is bookended by squeaky voice team. Do you think he's got multiple jobs? He's trying to make ends meet. Is that what's going on or do we think he got fired after he kicked them out and then got the job on the oil rig? I bet there's a lot of turnover at the arcade.

Yeah, maybe he wanted a job where he didn't have to deal got the job on the oil rig. I bet there's a lot of turnover at the arcade. Yeah, maybe he wanted a job where he didn't have to deal with the public as much. Sure. I mean, I have to imagine there's a lot of turnover on the oil rig, too. That's not a job you stick around. Well, if they just opened it, maybe get a bonus for being at the start of the opening. The script cuts so many things from this part here of like Bart and Milhouse trying to kill time.

They play a game of kick the can that stops when they dent the can and they're like, oh, I don't think you're supposed to dent the can. So they just stop and they do a license plate counting game, but they get sad because they're just counting cars full of kids going off to do fun things and it makes them depressed. And then they say, what did your dad do when he was born? And they flash back to Homer watching laughing as a kid and seeing Nixon on the census will be right back. The Simpsons will be right back. Thursday Bart's becoming a junior camper.

You're just in time for his sponge bath the old folks day. On The Simpsons Thursday at 8 7 central. Hey everybody this is Henry Gilbert and I welcome all the Donnie Do's and Donnie Don'ts to this week's podcast. And a big thank you to our guest this week, Patrick Cotner of the brand new podcast, Hey That's Me, a commentary podcast, as well as a producer and a host on the George Lucas talk show and tons of other cool stuff. It was so awesome to have Patrick on, especially to talk about his new podcast.

Hey, that's me, Patrick. Thank you so much for coming on this week, and we would love to have you back. And if you're a fan of this podcast, you should know that Talking Simpsons is only possible thanks to listeners like you who support us at Patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons. Folks, they not only get to hear these podcasts without any ads like this one, and a week early, they also get tons of bonuses for just five bucks a month every month they get a new episode of talking Futurama and a new episode of talking of the hill us covering Futurama and King of the hill just like we do an episode the Simpsons and we've done that

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animated feature film as in depth as we do an episode of the Simpsons. We closed out 2024 with talking about frozen the Disney film that changed everything for the modern era of Disney musicals, and we had a whole lot of fun talking about that. And then this month in January, we're starting it off on the other side of the spectrum. We're talking about 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the film that started everything for Walt Disney feature animation. And that's just the most recent out of six full years of what a cartoon movie. We have covered all of the Disney Renaissance, many Pixar films,

many other recent Disney films, but also tons of anime like lots of Studio Ghibli movies, My Kiki's Delivery Service or Porco Rosso, and even our longest podcast ever, four and a half hours about who framed Roger Rabbit. See everything you're missing out on, hundreds of hours of exclusive podcasts that are only at Patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons today get all the ad free bonuses right now. So this is where Hobo tells them and they are called Hobo in the script, you mustn't kill time and says can I get loaded. That's a great, that's why I wanted it to be the opening line.

Then we flash to Homer in our first clip where we all learn about money and peanuts together. Ah, finally a little quiet time to read some of my old favorites. Honey roasted peanuts. Ingredients. Salt, artificial honey roasting agents, pressed peanut sweepings. Mmm. Homer, I have to go out to pick up something for dinner. Steak? Money's too tight for steak. Steak?

Eh, sure, steak. Ah, the last peanut, overflowing with the oil and salt of its departed brothers. Uh-oh, something's wrong. Hmm. Ow, pointy! You slimy! Uh-oh, moving. Uh-huh. Oh $20 I wanted a peanut

$20 can buy many peanuts explain how money can be exchanged for goods and services Yeah, that whole bit is gold and something tells me internally they thought it was one of the funniest moments because that moment is clipped out and put on the first Simpson CD as a sketch, basically. That's in Songs in the Key of Springfield? Yes, yes. So this entire sketch, that's why every line reading is etched into my head even more than other episodes because it was just one of, I think, a few sketches, as it were, they jammed on that first album. I got that album at the library in town and I

put it on my first iPod when I got it and I used to listen all the time so when that showed up and when they were singing you know Springfield Springfield later in the episode it was weird that both of those things were on that album did the album come out soon after this episode came out? I think it was, oh, it's 1997, so it's almost four years later, yeah. I wonder why they used both of them. Man, yeah, I mean, I guess it gets you,

it sort of gets you into the reason they sing the song later. I mean, Homer's delivery is just so great, and by Homer, I mean Dan Kesselman. Ingredients. He's so excited to read them off. by Homer, I mean Dan Kesselman. Ingredients. He's so excited to read them off. The way he goes, pressed peanut sweepings. He's almost saying it through his teeth,

and he's like, oh, I love it so much. We have in this episode pressed peanut sweepings and later chewable gum flavored product. I love both of those approximations of food. And an artificial honey roasting agent, which is like, can't you just have honey roasting? Nothing is real about these peanuts. Talk about great posing like Homer in front of this table full of books.

You're not noticing the peanut canister right there. And then when he picks it up, it's like, Oh, they didn't cheat it. That he pulled it off screen. Like it was right there and you didn't see him. It is through animation, like making it funnier.nier I mean this also is Homer a new low in intelligence like the peanut misses his mouth he doesn't know what it is and then he doesn't know what money is for like why you'd have a buddy or want it and it all ends with him slipping on the peanuts that. Oh, and also talk about a good example

of rewriting a joke to make it funnier. In the script, it is kind of funny because when Marge says money's too tight for steak, then Homer's second thing is to say tiny steak, and then Marge rolls her eyes and walks away. But him just saying steak with the same delivery twice, like he didn't hear what she said, and Marge just rolls her eyes like okay. I think it's more that Homer refuses to hear the

word no and Marge is just concerned. She seems a little concerned with her reaction just like oh. Also in the script when Homer finds the $20 originally he starts talking to it calling it 20 Ena and gives it a girl's voice and said, I'm gonna take you on a date to the flea market. And then he loses it and there's also a long chase scene of him running through an activist sit-in and a bank robbery and missing it. There's so many details in this. I'm like, this was a 40-minute episode in this first draft, really. Do we think they just didn't tell him how many pages the script should be or was he just like I'll just write a bunch and then they can cut what they don't like? I think we've heard that from first time writers on the simpsons they would

turn in an 80 page script and then get yelled at and have to go back and revise it. Maybe the guidelines weren't clear in these early years of the show. I assume over time they would be told here's how long an outline should be here's how long the script should be. Well, it's gotta be down to a science at this point. And we follow the flying bumblebee music of the $20 bill. It ends up with Bart and Milhouse. And this is another great concept for the show,

which is childhood memories turn into a funny story of how when you're a kid, it used to be you'd find a $20 bill and you would feel rich. You're like, I can do, even in 1993, $20 felt really big to me. Like not as big as a hundred, but it felt pretty big. It's the perfect amount for a kid in 1993. That's what like a relative would usually put in a card

at Christmas, like a $20 bill. And now I don't know, you hand a 20 to a kid, do they think, they can't buy much of anything with that. No, they're gonna say, these aren't Robux, you piece of shit. Ha ha ha ha. Kids want a $20 Robux card, that's what they want. Or 50 really, or maybe Fortnite bucks as well.

Actually, yeah, 20 bucks is Fortnite. Excuse me, they're called V-Bucks. Yeah. V-Bucks, I'm so sorry. Henry, you play Fortnite, how many V- many V bucks have you spent I did just spend? $20 of V bucks to get Peter B Parker from into the spider-verse I did do this I've never spent a dollar in fortnight, and I'm truly so proud of myself I know I would probably have a better experience if I was spending money in it But I like that it can be free and I never want to because I know it's a slippery slope

You know well, I've been pulled into fortnight the shooting stuff is kind of fun to me I like that it can be free and I never wanna, because I know it's a slippery slope, you know? Well, I've been pulled into Fortnite. The shooting stuff is kind of fun to me, but honestly, I do actually like the play. My husband and I have done it for playing like the rock band equivalent in it now, and the songs. They're a lot of fun. There are no instruments yet.

We haven't invested in the new instruments and the old ones don't work with it. There's like 12 different games in Fortnite that I'm like, I can't get involved because I know it will ruin my life And you got to play fortnight to learn the plot of Star Wars movies Yeah, oh, yeah. Yes, the secrets are revealed we find out how he returned sure you can read that to the dead speak But if you want to know what they said when the dead speak you gotta play fortnight and want to know what they said when the dead speak you gotta play fortnight and

spoilers it's not that exciting no you don't have to play it you didn't miss that much there's a reason they cut it from the movie so what do they do with their $20 bill well they strut their way into the quickie mart and they want to order an all syrup super squishy which I have been a person who controls an ice machine and the syrup is what the syrup is. Unfortunately, you can't control that. I have moved around my share of those syrup boxes though from the back room to hook them up.

Yeah, Poo would have to cut open a syrup bag. Yeah, I mean, that's a funny scene too, but then that one lets you do like basically a Star Trek engine room scene of him trying to control it Have you ever just had the syrup straight up? No, I mean honestly the scent of the syrup just makes me feel like I'm 20 again and working at the concession stand And I just feel miserable so no I I do really love the Coke freestyle machine

Which is the closest you can get to having an all syrup super squishy I? style machine, which is the closest you can get to having an all syrup super squishy. I can't count every dollar Bart spends in this one because it seems like if everything costs the dollar that he does, that would explain how they can do everything. But look, as they say later, cartoons don't have to 100% reflect reality. They get good seats at cats later. Yeah. Yeah. Also during this Sanjay is being robbed. I mean he's shocked at an all syrup super squishy. And if they hadn't cut this line, this would be referenced as like, oh, did Simpsons predict Oppenheimer or whatever? Because when Apu is running the machine, he says, I have become Shiva, destroyer of worlds. But after they make syrup squishy, they basically get high in this next scene.

Oh, she won't hold! She's breaking up! All done. If you survive, please come again. It's so thick! If you survive, please come again. Whoo-hoo! It's so thick! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Cough, cough, cough! Your turn, Bart. Pfft!

Whoa, that's good squishy. Whoa! What's it like, Bart? Bart? Bart? Blub-blub- credit to the animators for accurately lip syncing all of that Nancy Cartwright speaking in tongues. It's so perfect. Man, the animation on Milhouse's face when he does it's so funny. His eyes are so tiny when the glasses come off. It made me laugh a lot.

I also love the animation of seemingly the straw is lodged into his throat. It's like stabbed into his throat. Which I haven't had a McDonald's milkshake in forever but are they still that thick? That's what I think of is the straw that can't get anything into it was the McDonald's milkshakes I haven't had one in so long I couldn't tell you same here I don't know yeah I remember you're usually just like excavating pockets of air when you're having a McDonald's milkshake you're just like kind of sucking out the milkshake but then you're leaving a big like hole in it and it's got to work

your way around it's too much work honestly. Nice milkshake they just give you a spoon anyway to work through so. The hearing it is isolated audio it really sounds to me like Bart is like taking a big toke on a doobie. It just is like whoa that's good squishy. Also just Nancy Carlright and Pamela Hayden they're both doing such good jobs here of just like just like the limited it all of their noise is so good I assume you guys have talked a lot about Pamela Hayden recently Yes, assume right with all the news that's coming out on a recent community and news podcast We did talk about her stepping down from the role of Millhouse. Yes. Do you think they're going to recast?

Do you think Millhouse will be retired? What does your guys take? I'm sorry to repeat stuff if you've already talked about it Oh, they will absolutely recast just because he's such a vital character Even if Pamela Hayden died in a plane accident or something. They would still say well millhouse is too important We have to keep millhouse alive But I feel like they have to be auditioning right now if they have not already found the next millhouse I'm hoping everything is cool with when it happened like it was presented as like oh Congrats on your retirement and all this stuff. But we have seen in the past, like with Alf Clausen,

they gave a nice thank you goodbye to, and then the lawsuits happened. You find out it wasn't such a nice goodbye. So I'm hoping we're not just getting the corporate cover for Pamela Hayden leaving. She at least made the video, right? Didn't she make a goodbye video? No, they used archival footage of her

from older interviews. Oh, interesting. Now, she did post it on her Instagram, so it's not like she didn't do it, but yeah. Interesting. Though now hearing her, not that I didn't appreciate her before, but hearing Milhouse now, I'm just like,

yeah, we didn't know how good we had it with Pamela Hayden. If in her 36 years of working on Simpsons, if she made even the amount that Harry Shearer makes on one episode of Simpsons, I'd be surprised honestly. She was certainly underpaid for whatever she was paid. Including here she has to sing his Mill House and go crazy Broadway style. And I have only watched the song that this is parodying from On the Town. I've never watched the full Gene Kelly film.

I bet it's really good. I bet it's really good. I've never watched it either. I don't know if it's referenced that much outside of this in The Critic. Yeah, it is crazy. I think 18 months later in season two of The Critic, they do It's a Terrible Town in the episode lady hawk and it almost feels like

They should have been telling each other like hey, we kind of just do this on Simpsons last season. It looks like you're ripping us off If you want to watch on the town, it's on to be right now for free with ads I've never seen it. I am looking at the cast list right now and uncredited Sid Melton as spud and it made me want to watch the movie just because I like the name Sid Melton and I like the name spud I've only seen the opening which is seeing the men in their late 30s Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra and another guy pretend to be fresh-faced young sailors who's like oh boy we've never seen New York City before we only got 24 hours in

here also to hear Frank Sinatra go like boy what's in New York City before, we only got 24 hours in here. Also to hear Frank Sinatra go like, boy, what's in New York City? I wonder. You know, a part of getting old is getting furious when younger people discover things that have existed for a long time. And that's how I felt in 2019 when everyone younger than me was discovering cats. And I thought, well, we were making fun of cats.

We were making fun of cats constantly. Where were you? Oh, you weren't born. Okay, well, nevermind. Yes. I apologize. Cats was mocked for so long. It was an entire character trait of one of the leads in Caroline in the city.

She is in cats and she hates doing it. Like that's just how ubiquitous making fun of cats was in the nineties. Everybody was sick of it. And now the movie really has replaced how people talk about cats like it became a notoriously memorable movie and how like shitty it is that movie boy I have actually seen cats live twice whoa Turing yes once as a teen in Florida and then a production in Berkeley that a friend gave me free tickets to that's my cover story for it.

I did not pay to see Cats a second time. It's got a couple good songs in it. It's fun. Came out a very similar time to Rise of Skywalker. They should have put some cat stuff in Fortnite. We really missed out. They could have put a cut song or something in Fortnite. It would have been great.

If McCavity was a skin in Fortnite, I think it'd be even bigger. They should include the famous snot drip from cats That director he's like, oh we have all the bodily fluid, you know Like give it tear on Anne Hathaway and Les Mis Well, I'll do it even better with the snot bubbles and cats and everybody's gonna love it even more I mean a snot bubble gun is not far away from something you would get in fortnight I mean a snot bubble gun is not far away from something you would get in for me Well also from the New York D York song Patrick I was gonna ask since you used to live there is the Bronx up in the battery down is the song

Let me think back to my days there. Yes. I think the battery is down and the Bronx is up Look, don't come at me if I'm wrong guys, you know, I was there yesterday, but I think that is true Yes I did see in the on the town Wikipedia the MPAA refused to let them use the word hell of a in that song So they had to change it to wonderful. Oh Wow I'm getting the neutered version of that song in it. So Barty Miller singing. It's a hell of a town He's being accurate to the Broadway version as opposed to the filmed version. Take that potty mouth back to Broadway.

We also see that Gummy Joe has now upgraded to Toothless Joe and he owns his own candy company. This is the bubble gum flavored chewing product which is made at the same place as the artificial honey roasting agents I think. It's great. And this also leads to one of the best mm's in the series, mm, free goo, as Homer just touches a pile of pink goo

and puts it in his mouth, and he loves it because it's free goo. There's so many great jokes in this. We are really lingering on it, but it's like almost film noir when the city starts spinning in front of them and a poo's head appears and starts laughing at them. He's become evil. He's laughing at their pain knowing what will come next

Is that a reference to something it feels like it has to be something specific sort of like how There are just so many tropes that it's hard to draw an origin point to it Just I think the guy wandering down the street and like seeing the signs superimposed I think that's from Lost Weekend But there's so many other ones where I can't draw it back to one single origin. When the guy laughing at him, it feels like Pinocchio, but the ringleader doesn't have a face superimposed on it. So the specific shot that I can't think of, but this is just, it is a boozy like Bender

from a Hays Code film. And I do love Barney takes a drink and even it fucks him up. Like, I don't know where you magic pixies came from but I like your pixie drink. Another of my favorite lines. And so Bart wakes up the next morning with the remorse of the sugar junkie in our next clip. I had the remorse of the sugar junkie.

Oh, I don't remember anything. Really? Not even this? Ah! Oh, no! I must have joined the junior campers! The few, the proud, the geeky. Ha-ha-ha! Boy, a man on a squishy bender can sure do some crazy things. Oh! Uh-oh! Not again! on the squishy bend who can sure do some crazy things. Oh, not again. Barney's joined the Merchant Marines a couple times.

I feel like some part of this is based on, I wouldn't call it an urban legend, just a story you would hear of people getting drunk and then signing up for service. Maybe it doesn't happen anymore but it it was kind of a verging on a stereotype. Yeah. Yeah. Like a 24 hour recruitment office and you were like, Oh no, I signed up for the, I joined the army after all. I would be like the, well actually no, stripes is just, they're like bored and join the army.

If I remember the opening to stripes correctly, they don't get, it's not drunkenness. It gets them in the army. I don't even know if 24 hour recruitment centers still exist, right? I don't know if I've ever seen one. Trying to even think if we've ever seen a recruitment center in general.

Well, I've been looking for them, but. They're usually at nerdy conventions I go to, like you love retro video games, why don't you join the Navy? Does that sound fun? Oh God? Yeah, that the some branch of the military usually has a standard most like conventions You go to a comic-con your tax dollars are paying for that space or even like in fairs Like I feel like our towns fourth of July festival used to have

Stands all the times that places like that But I don't know if I've ever seen a brick and mortar recruitment center. For a press event once I went to a bull riding contest and the border patrol agency had a signup section there and were the main sponsors of it. Like it started with a full on commercial, like joined to the border patrol. I was like, yeah, that felt really fiscistic to me. I have to say they were next to the rodeo clown recruiter Now the rodeo clown far more respectable job, I like that Lisa's rubbing it in on Bart for his hangover

So I also love the shot such a funny drawing the way Bart is like front-facing But it kind of his face is obscured by his belly as he looks down in total shock like it's such a funny composition Jeffrey Lynch again. He's one of my favorite directors at this time he's so good. Patrick did you know that Jeffrey Lynch will go on to be one of like the top special effects animators working on Sam Raimi films for a while including the Spider-Man's? No I didn't know that. He almost directed Drag Me to Hell. Wow. It was started as a project for Jeffrey Lynch to get to direct is like almost like a you know after Rami worked with him so long. He's like, oh, you know what? I'm working on this project Jeffrey would be a great one to do it But eventually it just ended up being a Sam Raimi project second unit director on Oz the great and powerful, too

Hmm his Wikipedia page is interesting because he also has a because I guess he's done so many like commercials work He has a clients section that is like Bristol Meyer Squibb, Merck and Company, Highmark, like all of these like really high profile fancy companies. I didn't know that. Yeah, he's also a Brad Bird buddy. I guess that would explain why he worked on Ghost Protocol. Yeah.

Now in the original script, they had a different way of avoiding the heavily copyright protected name the Boy Scouts. It was called the Young Rangers. And I, junior campers, much funnier dork name. Yeah, yeah. And they make a point to point out in the episode not affiliated with Boy Scouts, this

is a completely different thing. And in the title Boy Scouts is with a Z, so you know, different thing entirely as well. Patrick, did you have much experience with any like friends in the Boy Scouts at the very least? Yeah I had friends I was never one I never had any interest my sister was a Girl Scout which I feel like is different than a Boy Scout like they weren't camping they weren't you know going on rapid trips or anything like that but my best friend I think became an Eagle Scout like I had a few friends who like went through the whole thing and were good with outdoorsy things but I was

saying in and watching DVD commentaries you know. Yeah it's a big difference between those two people. My sister was a Girl Scout for a while did the whole thing and was in it probably through I don't know end of elementary school or something maybe middle school. I had multiple friends in Boy Scouts who did it all and they liked it they had a good time. I don't know how much of it was parents having them do it versus them actually wanting to do it But yeah, shout out to Alex Peabody Ever talk them with that kid likes his bookie look. I did. Yeah, I was a big taunter I was a real bully. No, but I do remember I thought the Boy Scouts were nerds

I was always like well that sounds like that sucks. I don't want anything to do with that I don't know if I ever would like say that to their face or just heavily imply it You know was never my thing never even crossed my mind that I would want to join it in my brain It sort of fits the same spot as sports because I'm like I never want to do sports like I got pushed into doing sports when I was a kid, but it was never something that like Ever was something that like ever was something that I would sign up for on my own and Boy Scouts filled that same gap.

Yeah, I think I felt bad for the kids that had to stay after school for Boy Scouts because I was just going home, eating delicious meal, playing video games, watching TV, and it felt like you're just doing more homework. Same way about sports. But at one point in my life, between Boy Scouts and summer camp,

those two things were portrayed as just a universal child activity. So at a certain point in my life, I assumeouts and Summer Camp those two things were portrayed as just as you know universal child activity so at a certain point in my life I assume I'll be doing both of these my mom had to tell me well these things cost money so you're not going to be doing them and you can do free things after school but then I decided I'll just come home look I only did cool things like being the section leader in the marching band or being the president of the drama club those were the only really cool hip things that I was into. I had an Eagle Scout friend I did.

And another friend who was, he made it to Eagle Scout too. Actually I knew two Eagle Scouts. I'm pretty sure the second guy, that second guy, he did use it as like an on ramp into like, okay, I'm gonna join the Navy next. And he was like, you know what, when you join the Navy, after 20 years, you get to retire and get an awesome pension. And I remember saying to like, well, when you're 38, you're going to retire.

Yeah, right. 38. He has been retired for like four years now getting a nice government pension. I believe he is on top of that pension. He's using his government thing to work at some other like government affiliated company and get the, so you know what jokes on me. I laughed at him he's 20 years in the Navy paid off and you quit your job for a patreon yes

yeah who wins you know I'm on year 15 of podcasting I think in five years the government will stop paying me or start paying me to stop that's the jobs program we need if they want to fix young men, that's the job program. So we come back from the break. Bart is trying to find a way out of this and everybody's got opinions. Okay, look, I made a terrible mistake. I wandered into a junior camper recruitment center, but what's done is done. I've made my bed and

now I've got a weasel out of it. I know you think the junior campers are square and uncool but they also do a lot of neat things like sing-alongs and flag ceremonies. Marge, don't discourage the boy. Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals. Sep the weasel. love that SEPTA weasel line because I just heard it used on the Monday Night Football Simpsons that just happened. Like it was used accurately. In general, Mina Kimes, the commentator on that very good Simpsons references she had lined up. I watched a five minute video of her talking about her prep for it that she spent months writing down Every quote from the show she could think of and then put it into like, okay

If this play happens then use this quote this play that play Yeah, I give her a lot of credit for doing her homework But I also give her a lot of credit for being 39 years old, which is the perfect age to know all of this stuff Was that a one-time thing are they going to do that more? I think it's a one time a year thing that Disney does. They did it with Toy Story last year and they did it with Simpsons this year. So I think it's just one time. And before that they were doing it with other shows but with different sports.

There's a cartoon called Big City Greens and they were commentating I believe on hockey. There's a hockey game they were commentating on. Isn't there a Spongebob? They did like the Super Bowl with Spongebob too? Yes. That's obviously not Disney. Yeah Nickelodeon did that and it was the Spongebob voice actors doing commentary as well so it sounds dorky but I've said this on other podcasts if they did this when I was a kid I would have watched sports it is a great gateway to get kids in the sports. And the bit of Marge like, uncool when she lists the things that makes them cool.

And I love her delivery because it sounds like Kavener is playing it that even Marge doesn't believe in flag ceremonies actually being cool. She's like, in flag ceremonies. Like she's like a little deflated describing what she thinks is cool. And we head back to the school. We see that Milhouse when he was on his sugar rush that he got a dirty word

Shaved into the back of his head. We don't get to see what it is And then he's gonna get his head shaved which sadly you do hear stories like this of kids who are Said to have inappropriate hair at a conservative school in the US and then their hair is cut against their will at school Like it's funny in a comedy but not so much in real life. It feels like it should be illegal. Right? It feels like something that should not be allowed. But I guess if you're paying to go to a private school then you give up those rights? Well, hair is a privilege, not a right. Everybody agrees with Skinner now. It's true. Though just like how they use the wrong knot in the show

I will say that Millhouse is in the next scene with all of his hair still on his head Maybe he talked Skinner out of it Okay, do you see him from the back? No, but I seem like he was I assume Skinner You know that's true, but I did assume Skinner was shaving his entire hair He brought up his dad's connections at the cracker factory and Skinner backed off. And as they walk away, Bart then is getting bullied. And I just love that the mind games of the bullies that they want to play keep away and he doesn't care. They let him know that he will be hurt way worse if he doesn't pretend to want to have his uniform back. Nancy's delivery is so good there too

and Pamela Hayden is Jimbo saying that too. I don't appreciate her enough as Jimbo. Now I do. We're down to Jimbo too. Do we need to cast for Jimbo as well? Yeah, you know that really is the thing with any of these recastings. Like when they just lost Rucy Taylor they could count on Grey Griffin. She can do Sherry and Terry and Martin and also Grey Griffin is one of the best voice actors around too. But can they find an LA based regular voice actor who can come in that often and do Jimbo and Milhouse that well and all the other characters she does too. Have you guys had Grey on this show? No, we have not.

No, we would love to. Oh, you should. Grey's great. I heard her on the Scott Hasn't Seen podcast and she has the craziest stories. I won't just tell the entire story she tells on the podcast. I'll tell people listen to it. Yeah. But she has a story about knowing Tupac Shakur.

Yes. Grey's had the wildest life if you want great Let me know we'll talk later Yeah, she's had an insane life and it's very funny how her and Scott were like friends in high school and stuff and whenever Scott's Like my friend gray It just doesn't feel like that they grew up the same way because she's like I knew Tupac and then Scott is like I was a gigantic theater nerd you know they feel so different but she's so cool and she's been Daphne for decades on top of a million other voices she's been Daphne on Scooby-Doo for decades and now is one of the Simpsons

regulars and I would assume for as long as she wants that job she'll be one of the Simpsons regulars this is the nice thing about having on a professional talent coordinator on the podcast. And a talent coordinator who likes having Simpsons people on, you know, because there's so many of them. Any other notable Simpsons people? Yeah. Mike Reese did George Lucas talk show years ago, pre-COVID. Yardley Smith did a show of mine mine at dynasty typewriter in la who else?

Oh, matt selman just did one. Oh cool. Yeah, I've sort of been going through at christy nangle brody gupta I know Tony Rodriguez who just got cast. He's Julio. No, we know him too. Yeah, Tony's great But yeah, it's sort of just you know, whoever I can sneak into a show somewhere I just met David Silverman recently. That's's awesome It's a very name-droppy sentence I'm about to say David Silverman is very good friends with Michael Giacchino who I know a little bit and Whenever I see Michael Giacchino David Silverman is also usually there But we just hung out a bunch at my friend's birthday party and I was like peppering him with the nerdiest animation questions Including about the show and I was like, do you just get tired of people asking you questions about the show?

And he's like, no, I love talking about it. So I felt very free to just be like, OK, here we go. One, two, three, just like asking all the questions I wanted to. And he was great. He's fantastic. But that's the thing about shows like this is like, it's these people's lives and it's been their lives for like 35 years, you know? So they've it's it's not even a job anymore It's just like a large chunk of their own life in general

And there's so many of them in LA that it's easy to get them to come talk about things that various different live shows if they're In the area just because people like hearing stories about the Simpsons because it's a part of so many people's lives Yeah, you know? That's so cool. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so Bart, meanwhile, sees the wonderful privilege of being a junior camper, which is missing a quiz.

I love how this is laid out, because she should be saying, that's right, Martin, but when she goes like, oh, actually, no, but that's a good idea. It undercuts sitcom writing so intentionally. It's so funny. I love this Warren kitty who never comes back. He's such a adorable little wimp. Hey, I've been there at times feeling like Warren

as a kid of just like the instant anxiety of like, wait, I have two different responsibilities. Like, no, I'm supposed to, I have to also, oh, but the quiz, ha, ha. Like it is interesting that Warren doesn't come back because as I was watching this episode I was like I must just not remember that he is around a lot But he feels like a guy who would come back because they built such a specific character for him, you know What makes him an udder not you know the same like udder becomes a thing?

Yeah, why didn't they get war in fever after putting Warren in? Now's the time they still have time bring him back season 37 Pitch to Christine Angler Yeah, yeah, we need to find out why Warren's dad is in prison God yeah, he has so much interior life like there's so much to learn about war I Love the reveal that like Bart in two seconds of learning that you don't have to take the quiz He is putting on his uniform. Yeah, he's sort of hopping on one leg and he's like his shirt It's a really funny pose

Jeffrey Lynch now I think macroning might be a little complainy on this Commentary because he said he likes proscenium staging just flat staging to communicate the joke effectively Jeffrey Lynch Love love shooting down at characters, loves shooting up at characters, and loves shooting different angles of characters. It's that dynamism that leaves the show at a certain point, I feel.

Greening seems close to admitting he feels like he's wrong for always wanting that, and Merkin agrees they both want that. But you see in this episode, it's like these jokes are funnier by, I guess, maybe the ways in this episode, it's like these jokes are funnier by, I guess maybe the reason they want that kind of staging of the flatter, like just have it more direct and obvious a joke is to give an animator less chance to screw it up if they don't do it right. But if you're a

great animator and director, they could be trusted more to have crazier angles. Like you're right, Bob, losing that dynamism, at some point, it does affect the show. Do you think they feel more free to complain about that kind of stuff because Jeffrey Lynch is not on that commentary? I think so, but also, they can be pretty rude to the animation while the director is there.

Sure. I remember Mark Kirkland's first episode he did, he's there Like with Matt graining and it's you know, they're recording the commentary about ten years later Yeah, and Matt grainy's just going like I don't like that Homer mouth. That's right. Then Mark Kirkland's like, yeah I remember you said that then too. I'm sorry Well, like a lot of directors will say well, I'll go fix that now Yeah Even on this commentary actually graining is complaining about the pupil size again, which me and you have said, this is

from the anti-vision studio. I love their huge pupil size. Big, huge eyes, big, huge pupils. I love it. Matt Graning, though, wants his pupils smaller under control. Doesn't like it being too cute. You're wrong, Matt. You heard it here. You're wrong. Bart arrives at his alternative to testing which he finds out it's sponge bath the old folks day and Jasper is important to demand stay above the equator not into the he just he's like finding sponge bath me but I I have set ground rules here kids and Bart runs off and great posing on that too that his neckerchief gets caught in the door and strangles

himself and knocks him out yeah it's a hard stage direction to even write down I'm posing on that too, that his neckerchief gets caught in the door and strangles himself and knocks him out. Yeah, it's a hard stage direction to even write down because he leaves the room, slams the kerchief in, and then from the other side of the door we realize he chokes himself out and then the knot slides down the crack. You could follow Bart to the outside, but it is more fun to not see it. Just like Homer feeling around under the couch, like Silverman says on the commentary, you know, originally we showed the things he's touching, but it was funnier to just see his facial reaction instead. Bart wakes up and you know, we talked about

all these other characters, this unnamed heavier boy. I feel like if this was a season, even nine episode, this would just be Uter or another named regular child of their collection. Do we want to name him? I'm going to say Danny. Glenn. There's no Danny in this episode. I'm going to say Glenn. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. I like that he wants to keep getting on Bart's mouth. He's like, should I keep doing it? As Bart reawakens to Junior Campers, this is where he learns the dorkiness inherent in it, but it finds a way in as well. Now, just breathe into him every three seconds. Make sure you form a tight seal around his mouth. Should I keep doing it? Well, sir, just apply a smidge and a peanut butter to an ordinary pine cone.

You got yourself a makeshift bird feeder, sir. I'm outta here, man. Okay, now everybody take out your junior campers' pocket knives. You guys get to play with knives? Oh, cool. A spork. Don't hurt me. Sorry, Bart. That's a netty no-no. You're not allowed to handle a pocket knife till you read this booklet on knife safety and pass a test. Well, who needs a cruddy knife anyway?

Again, the unnamed kid saying, don't hurt me, and seeing his spork, another just amazing one. This reminds me, we are clearly out of the golden age of children enjoying knives. When I was 12, I got such a great Swiss Army knife for Christmas. I carried it around with me everywhere. I used it everywhere except for a certain day, September 11th. That's when the knife could no longer be carried with me. And I brought this up because I wish I had a pocket knife. It would come in handy so often. And my wife tells me, just take it off your key chain when you fly. And I know I'll forget. I don't know I'll be so pissed off when they take my knife away.

I've never had a pocket knife. Have you, Henry? No, they do seem so useful, but at the time I wasn't gifted one as a kid. Oh, no, wait, no. I think I was gifted one as a kid, actually. I just remember liking, yeah, because it had the little knife and the bottle cap opener thing on it. But no, I didn't use it enough

I never got one as an adult men of course Yes after 9-eleven I was 19 at 9-eleven and after that it's like well It's not so useful to have anymore walk around now There are metal detectors at every concert and every convention you go to and I don't want there to be a scene when a knife Is pulled out of my back? Yeah, I'm not gonna to stab Weird Al, I appreciate his music. Those are usually the people that do that kind of thing though. They're the ones who appreciate it too much, you know?

I don't think my parents trusted me with a knife. Not that I ever like did anything bad with it, but I liked to figure out how things worked and I liked like taking things apart and figuring it out. I had a, it was a little electronic like Yoda that you could talk to and he would talk back to you and I fully like pulled the skin off of his head to like just see the robot moving around and so I think my parents were like absolutely not where you're not giving him a knife no matter what because he'll just break all of his own toys which was stupid in retrospect they saw you as a Donnie Don't type who's gonna be doing that to a cat

On the subject of Star Wars Patrick you're also a a parks fan Yes, who likes going to the parks I and by that I mean theme parks and this spork bit reminded me Do you have opinions on the galaxy's ed sports and how good they were and how they're not around anymore? Yes, I did like them. I liked them, I missed them. The one thing I wish that was better on them from what I remember is I wish that they were deeper. I wish they were a little more fork and a little less spoon.

Does that make sense? No, I'm totally on board. It should be at least half fork. Those little nubs aren't doing anything for anybody. Not enough. Yes, I agree. The tines could doing anything for anybody not enough yes I agree the tines could be deeper it's true I like the galaxy's edge food a lot and I feel like whenever I go with a friend who has never either been to Disney World or been to galaxy's edge I'm always like let's eat

in the docking bay because I think there's a lot of good stuff in there I took my mom and stepdad to the docking bay and also the ogus cantina we had a good time in it but I was so sad they don't have the sporks anymore and for a time they were selling the sporks like you could buy them because people were stealing the sporks because they are nice metal forks yeah but now they don't even sell them anymore and you don't get to eat with them i was looking on ebay 30 bucks a pop for some of them oh wow yeah i'm looking on here there's a reddit. I guess it's from a year ago. It says sporks have returned Somehow the sports return Is there a reason why they got rid of them? Do you think and I assumed it was people were just taking him too much?

Yeah, like we can't be trusted with nice things Wow. There's a metal spork and a preview opening guide on eBay for $80 and it's 45% off what it was, so it clearly wasn't selling. Yeah, I would love to have them back. I like sporks. It's cute on the commentary, Arley Smith thinks they made up sporks for the episode. Oh, yeah.

She led a spork-free life until, I don't know, 2004, when she discovered they were real. Simpsons predicted sporks. I think the first time I encountered a spork was at KFC, I think. That's where they gave me a spork there for mashed potatoes. They are fun.

They should replace spoons, you know, if you have a deep enough one, I think. KFC did love sporks. You said that, and I like, I remembered that too. We had them in our elementary school growing up. So it was probably around the same time that I was noticing them at KFC. I learned recently from my Filipino husband that in his culture growing up, it's not knife and fork, it's spoon and a fork to get things around.

So Henry, he was playing knifey spoonie as a child. So I always thought, oh, a spork can just make it then just one utensil. That's all. Or two sports. Well, actually, Hey, you talk about knifey spoonie. This is the first time they do a crocodile Dundee reference in the show in this knife celebration. It's good, but you really can't beat knifey spoonie. Once knifey spoonie exists.

I just looked down on this joke. Though I love the pronouncement of down I go though. This is the second time they've said it to this time it's happening in real life instead of in Bart's fantasy of seducing a prison. Yeah, that's right, okay Which that sounds weird out of context But it was only to save his mother that he was seducing a prison and the warden thought he was an adult woman named Bartina That's right They loved adding Tina because wasn't it 20 Tina too. That's right. Yes. adding Tina, because wasn't it 20 Tina too? That's right.

I also always forget, I remember the Mole Man side of this. I always forget that it's the knife fight between Mole Man and Moe that's about to happen. For not using a coaster. Moe is about to stab Mole Man to death. I would assume he does right after Bart walks away. Once Mole Man is down, then Moe finishes the job with his knife. Yeah, there's so many knife-related things happening in this span of two city blocks. I love Bart's line at the end of all this.

I got the clip here. Oh, hi Bart! I'd gladly share these sweet cookies with you. If only you would help me remove this ribbon here's a knife Oh, thank you. Now. Let's all share the goodness This man's appendix is about to burst luckily I have my trusty pocket knife Stand back It's so interesting just listening to the show. Like the man whose appendix is getting taken out, that noise that he makes doesn't even sound human.

Like the, ah, it either sounds like a monster or some kind of animal. And I never would have noticed that if I was watching it along with it. I love the sound effect of the explosion off screen. I mean, it's just so great that Bart at the end of all of these, like this series of sketches goes, seems like everywhere I look, people are enjoying that. He's starting to notice he's in a written TV show. And also the appendix exploding off-screen, like that too is just such an insane, insane detail.

Oh, and then also Martin gets to play out a fun scene and he instead just has his cookie stolen instead of having it be the end of a little guidance thing. And this leads to the 10 do's and 500 don'ts of knife safety with don't do what Donnie Don't does. Great little pile of words. You got that out in one take too. I want to be clear for the listeners. That was not a retake. We didn't have to come back to do it again Homer's arrival and his little dance for wiener patrol is also so great too I mean this is Homer just being the older brother of Bart like this is not him being his dad anymore That is like just tucking him in another great just like lie. I Will say in the original script it is slightly more pronounced that Homer is annoyed.

Like Lisa will say it later that the reason Homer's being such a jerk isn't just that he is a bully but it is that he sees that Ned is becoming the father figure for Bart and he doesn't like it. Like Lisa says it to his face like because actually in the Bart Center child episode there's the scene where Lisa goes oh well this is why you're doing this, Bart. This is why you're sad that everybody's acting like you. There's a similar scene here in the original script where she explains to Homer, this is why you're mad at Bart being in the Junior Campers

because Ned has replaced you as his father figure. To hear it's just meanness from Homer, Homer thinks Bart's a nerd for being in the Junior Campers. He's a tellman. Just an asshole bully. And Bart actually studies for a test and passes it, getting the rank of Pussy Willow, which that line isn't even in the script. So unfortunately it looks so ADR. I think they changed it from something else. But Ned saying Pussy Willow to Bart in a congratulatory manner is so funny.

I have to think it's funnier than whatever the old line was. And so Bart as a rubber knife, he's about to quit again, but then he learns that he can torture people with bear traps. In the original script, he also Bart learns how to use a blow gun on Homer, but we don't get that here. And ooh, floor pie, another great pronouncement. And that's what I said like Homer going in and out of frame like that makes it ten times funnier it's all in the state. The dog eats it as he's out of frame so when he comes back he's sad. He must be swinging so far. Yeah.

Because that dog takes two or three bites to get that pie down so he is all the way up on the other side of the ceiling coming back and also Bart must have like tethered that line to a very strong foundational beam of the whole the support beam that's so funny that scene and the hole in the driveway the animation is very very funny on Bart had to have like gotten a like you know a drill and a backhoe to make that hole in the ground but that time Homer at least gets to eat the pie so he isn't even mad. And after this, then Bart becomes a cartoon podcaster

when watching Itchy's Grouchy. They laughed at the TV trivia badge in 1993. That's a vital skill you need to become a working adult. That's true. We should be walking around with podcasters badges as well. How you get a Patreon? I guess that is what patreon is Here's Bart has some notes on a cartoon

The guys who wrote this show don't know squat it should have tied scratchy's tongue with the taut line It's not a sheetband. Oh Bart cartoons don't have to be 100% realistic That's not in the script. It was an extra thing after the first draft. So I feel like we've also lost knot knowledge as a culture, because if you read about old true crime cases, there are so many instances where, oh, the killer used this kind of a knot.

So it's clearly this guy. It's like, I know the knot involved in tying my shoes. That's where it ends for me. I don't even know how to do a double knot. Sheet pants? No way. My husband does know how to tie a tie, just a regular tie thing,

and he was teaching me this weekend because we went to a formal occasion for wearing ties, and it was just so hard for me. I was just like, okay, will my fingers do this now? I'm proud to report that after, I don't know, 16 years of annually putting on a tie and looking up YouTube tutorial, the last time I did it, I did it on my own.

Congratulations. I don't know if it looked good, but I didn't need another man to show me. I use one specific YouTube tutorial. It's a guy who uploaded this video in like 2008. It's monetized. He has ads on it. It's like 33 seconds long, but he has like, I think it's he has ads on it. It's like 33 seconds long

But he has like I think it's 75 million views on it And I'm like this guy has retired just based on this one like 35 second video of him tying a tie from his YouTube ads It's really impressive and I'm very jealous of him See Bob now the true crime Equivalent of saying like oh this person this was tied this way then he must have been in the Navy or whatever Now the equivalent is just this person googled how to build gun or how to like that's true crime It's so boring now because everyone has cell phones It's like oh your cell phone told me you're at this location at this time

So you're under arrest because you're the murderer the end That is boring how did you write a new Law and Order these days episode with all of these ways you're tracked? All the mysteries I read are pre-cell phone. I don't get how it works post-cell phone. That's why all our great directors make all these movies that are just period pieces now. Like they just don't want to write a story

where a cell phone exists anymore. When was the last time Wes Anderson did a movie where somebody could have a cell phone in their hand? Was it Darjeeling Limited? And even then they're on a trip so I think they're remote in that way and they don't have their cell phones. It must be right. I'm trying to go through... I don't even know when Darjeeling Limited takes place. I think it's modern. I think it was... well okay if I remember the tie-in film for that with Natalie Portman in it that the Jason Schwartzman brother He plays an iPod in it like an iPod

Playlist is a plot point because I think also Apple gave him some money or something for it So that one definitely was in in then modern times But actually that might be pre smartphone that I think Google is not telling me when this takes place. All it says is that Hotel Chevalier? Which is the short takes place two weeks before the movie. So that doesn't really help either. See Google is useless.

You needed a Reddit page for this to tell you. You're right. But yeah, this is why cell phones, they make everything boring now in plotting purposes. I love that the show is just shoving it in your face like, yes, cartoons, they don't have to be 100% accurate like Homer can just walk by the window and it doesn't matter viewer It's really funny quit complaining, but I will never listen to that. We never will This is where Bart you see that Bart is broken through. He is now Saluting Ned and talking like him like he has been fully

Taken in by the junior camper lifestyle. Ned pill. Ned pill. Yes. And his fantasy about Homer just becomes the reality in the third act, except he doesn't say does much. Yeah. Bart actually conceives it very well here.

And this is where we get our big guest star of the episode. And I, as a kid had big guest star of the episode. And I, as a kid, had no clue who this guy was, even though he is one of the funniest voices. And this got me ready for a life of late period of his career, where I experienced him several times, including as a regular on the single guy. Oh really? It's funny. It's like a tiny detail that I don't notice all the time when I watch this, but he is coming out of the bathroom Yeah

He just took a nasty bowel movement and is now coming up. Yes. Let's hear our big guest star I'm sure you kids know me best as sergeant fatso Judson in from here to eternity as Sergeant Fatso Judson in From Here to Eternity. Yay! How's jerk practice, boy? Did they teach you how to sing to trees and build crappy furniture out of useless wooden logs? Huh? Ow!

Stupid poetic justice. Actually, we were just planning the father-son river-refting trip. You don't have a son. Look, Homer won't want to go, so just ask him and he'll say no. Then it'll be his fault. I don't want to go, so if he asks me to go, I'll just say yes. Wait! Are you sure that's how this sort of thing works? Shut up, Brain, or I'll stab you with a Q-tip.

Dad, I really want you to come on this trip with me. So yeah, Ernest Borgnine kind of dressed like his character in Mikael's Navy, the titular Mikael with his little sailor cap on and everything. But I feel like most people in our modern age know him best for playing Mermaid Man on SpongeBob SquarePants, the demented senior citizen character back when that was still a thing you could do. I really don't think you can do that anymore. I would be considered ageist I guess but I think the 90s were rich with insane old people characters He's so good as mermaid man and all of his screaming and yeah, well I remember when he passed away

As a trending topic every post was about mermaid man Yeah, nobody mentioned anything other than no one mentioned his role as grandfather in Merlin shop of mystical wonders? I looked up like okay when was this in relation to appearing on The Simpsons and that movie at least came out in 1996 so within three years of doing The Simpsons he also did the story framing device of the cobbled together film that was on Mystery Sunset. Although I will add that the cartoon Big City Greens has a demented old person, but she's given far too much dignity for my taste. Voice by Wendy Malick that shows you her aging into that role. Is that Wendy Malick on Big City Greens as the grandma? Oh wait no, I'm getting confused with Owl House.

And that character seems like a more of a middle-aged character on Owl House. He's like an evil witch. Yeah, but he's so good on Spongebob. Him and Tim Conway are really, really funny. I have no idea how many episodes they were in. Like you could tell me it was three episodes and I'd be like, okay, sure. Yeah.

I remember I had a Spongebob video game that they were in, which felt really special, but I was like, oh wow. They got Conway and Borgdine to be in this video game and it was really exciting. I think there were five or six. We covered one of those for our sister show, What a Cartoon, and when I saw it, you know, when it first started, I was like, these are funny characters. Now when I go back, it's funny because it's just a dark joke of a deluded old man whose mind has gone being supported by his friend, his elderly friend.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it's 15. 15. Okay, wow. That's a lot. I thought it was much much smaller amount but wow I was looking at his Wikipedia looking at like late-era board nine just to see like what was going on towards the end and I completely forgot when I was in college I went to college in Manhattan and we used to go wait out for SNL a bunch and we would like wait on the street for

tickets he was in a what-up with that that I was there for and I have zero. It was a Brian Cranston Kanye West episode and he was there with Morgan Freeman which is like that's pretty good. I have no worry of it. I'm just imagining explaining to earn his Borg night and how like a video game works and how to record a thing for a cut scene. Press the square button, SpongeBob. Have you guys seen the clip of him on, I think it's Fox and Friends? Yes.

Oh, his tip for longevity. That's one of the best. He was a fan of self care, let's say. I love that it's like, it's a stage whisper he says like it's like you're supposed to hear it even though I don't know if he actually meant for it to be heard but it's so funny. Yeah look it up look it up folks. Yeah the Borgnein here they seem to nicely imply that he didn't know what the Simpsons was either. He took the job and then I saw an unsourced on Wikipedia quote,

well it was sourced but then I couldn't go to the source page. It was from an old interview with Hank Azaria where apparently Hank Azaria was like, oh yeah, he had no clue what this was. But he had grandkids who liked it. I think that was the story. The grandkids are always the end. I don't know, like Patrick, in talent coordination, how important is it, children or grandkids in getting people on something? Man, that's a good question. I feel like it has happened a few times. I'm trying to think of a specific one.

That does happen where you're like, oh, my son told me this would be fun, or my daughter, you know. I work on a lot of shows that have very niche, very rabid fan bases, you know? Whether it's the Chris Gethard Show, or like Ask Hat at UCB, or the George Lucas show, something like that. So it's like, oh my nephew knows what this is and he said I have to do it or my kids do. Because I

also like booking, you know, older actors, older directors, stuff like that where I'm just like, what's this guy up to? He clearly has stories, come do this show, whatever. So it does come in handy sometimes I also do want to point out. I did look at earnest IMDB. He was in three spongebob video Oh, wow, he liked work, which is he like to work. He liked he liked Yeah, I was gonna say unfortunately the grandparents are the people who were 20 when the Simpsons debuted our modern grandparents God no, I Modern grandparents I actually I guess they're probably might be older than Ernest Borgnein was in the 90s at this point You guys will he was pretty old you will be our generations mermaid man of part. I hope so

It depends whoever's mind goes first gets to be mermaid man Yeah I went to Comic Con San Diego one year and bought pencil sketches from the animators from SpongeBob and I have Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy like storyboard pencils up on my wall from their first episode. Oh great. That's nice. Also another great moment of parodying bad sitcom writing that you know in a sitcom the

point is to have like oh a misunderstanding makes two people do things they don't need to do. Bart is setting it up the normal way of saying well if I ask I ask him to go and he says no, then it'll be his fault. Homer has no reason not to say no, but he just says, Oh, then I'll, I'll just say yes for no reason just to make him go to a thing he doesn't want to go to. And they both just let it go. And yes, also Borgorg-Nine has only one line in that original script. So I do think that once they knew they got him, they're like, let's give him like 10 more things.

None of the Borg-Nine stuff after he comes out of the bathroom is in the original script. So interesting. You might have mentioned it in the writer's corner, but it was all Dan McGrath when it came to getting Borg-Nine just because he thought it would be funny. And it was. Did he know him or it was just a cold reach out? I don't think there was an established relationship he just thought like this is not one of the

hottest shows on TV what if Ernest Borg-9 was the guest star? yeah I mean that was hot in that moment I feel like that fits the Abe Vagoda on Conan thing too you know where they're like who's a funny name? First of all, it has to be a funny name, an older actor that we could pop in here and like use their name because we think it's funny. It is funny. Now the older character actors are like the people who are on Saturday Night Live and they is like, Oh, Dana Carvey. Oh, is that random? It's Dana Carvey. Yeah. So the rafting trip is about to begin. Borg night is slowly deflating as he's explaining it and then Homer sees

First they try to get a boat and the raft just sinks and I love Y'all I don't know what I'm doing like no extra joke to it. Just he's like, yep I've got my character completely And you know what Homer's mad he gets partnered with Ned all those other Dads are shaking each other's hands getting to know each other. It's Homer's fault for not talking to them first and trying to partner off before Ned comes over. It's Homer needs to be more outgoing. Just like how there were no known children in the junior campers. There are no known fathers here. I think in just a few years they would have worked in more jokes.

Like let's say Kirk is there with Milhouse. Yeah, how is Kirk not here I mean I part of it I guess is that they want Bart to have no known friends at it like if it's Bart and Millhouse both join the junior campers then that's a different story though then again Rod being part of it does not matter until act three. And it is Rod the script says it's Rod so I was like okay which one is this officially is it Rod or Todd it's right I wonder why it's not both of them though I think at this time it's well actually though at first I was

gonna say it's because that's who like age range Bart is teamed up with but that's not how it is in the junior putting one it is it is hard boy the part in the dead putting society I think so I do think it's the younger one. Yeah. So Homer and Ned join up and they get in the raft together. I love that Homer, the first time he actually is mad at Bart is like, you are not my son when he hears him laugh at... just laugh at an observation Ned makes. I just love how the joke makes no sense. It's like they're called rapids and not slowpids. Well, rad doesn doesn't mean fast I'm explaining the joke, but I like how just stupid it is instead of hey, there's a new mexico is homers Realization it's a similar dumb line, but it's like a dumb line That takes a little more thinking where homer is looking at the map and then he giggles ha

They drew alaska bigger than texas Like they were stupid to draw it that way because obviously everybody knows Texas bigger than Alaska, which no, Alaska is twice the size of Texas. That so it's a, it takes a little extra thinking that instead of just, there's a new Mexico. His reading on it is so funny too. Like putting the emphasis on new like that is- He's never heard of New Mexico before.

He just thinks there's a new one. Yeah. Homer also in classic jerk ass style. He's never heard of New Mexico before, he just thinks there's a new one. Homer also in classic jerk-ass style, he loses the map and then just lies like, I don't know, but good thing one of us thought to bring a map. There's not really a lot of gags on the Krusty map, it's very well rendered, I love the drawing of it. And it actually has plot purpose too, which is great writing. Has anyone made one of those that you can buy on Etsy or something like that?

Because that feels like very much, you know, good way to get money out of people. I'm sure it's happened and I bet one of the Simpsons books included something like that with jokes added to it. You know, for that map and also for the Donnie Don't book, the artists on the Simpsons are just like great at animating, but when they are told like do graphic design for a book or a map like it's gorgeous graphic design to Homer is no help they're about to head in a fork in the road and Ned names the four authors of the New Testament and he decides to go with John so and in the script it's underlined to make it clear like John is his pick so I guess if you want to add that to your Simpsons trivia night, which of the four authors

does Ned trust the most of the New Testament? It's John. It's the John the Apostle. As they spread off or as they head off in the opposite direction of everybody else, Borgnein says, where the sissy and the bald guy go? I'm glad they gave him more lines. Seemingly this saves their lives because they would have just been murdered in the other stuff that happens to the rest of the- Yeah, Jason would have killed Bart and Homer and Rod and-

But they would have had the pocket knife. Oh, that's true. They could have fended off Jason. Yeah. Oh yeah, so I guess you're right. Homer killed all of them in that way I suppose if we know one weakness of Jason, it's a tiny knife When you think about it every choice Homer makes up until he can smell the burgers is Wrong and gets everyone closer to dying. Wait, that's why we never saw that other kid Oh Warren is dead his ones. His throat was cut ear to ear along with Ernest Borgnei. That's right they're all in the crime scene of Camp Crystal Lake. Homer and Ned they are in a disagreement about where the rapids are taking them. They're

getting sent out to sea and Homer says wrong again. You let the current take you back to land and they just go farther and farther and farther and we find out later They're in the Atlantic Ocean. So Springfield is on the East Coast somewhere or at least within radius to go on a day trip to a Body of water that can be sent out into the Atlantic Ocean. So... Cartoons don't have to make sense. What? No.

No. The hugeness, the vastness of the ocean going out on the little doh, so great too. More great posing and staging. And then in one of my favorites, returns from an axe break ever. Yes, yeah. I love the reveal that he's just,

I mean, because it's a closeup of Homer, then they pull out, you see all the ice cream cones and like suckers dancing with him and this has been memed a lot within the past couple years it was one of the newer things that was being memed a lot yeah I love this use of the Archie song sugar sugar in our next clip here Do do do, oh honey honey, do do do do do do. You are my candy girl. You are my candy girl. You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you,

you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you,

you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, Give me some water to wash them. Again, Homer, we have to ration the water carefully. It's our only hope. Oh, pardon me, Mr. Let's Ration Everything, but what do you think we're floating on? Don't you know the poem, water, water everywhere, so let's all have a drink. Homer, no! Oh, what does it matter? We're doomed!

Wrong! We're saved! Sea gulls always stay near land. They only go out to sea to die! Aaaaaah! Woohoo! See that, boy? Your old man was right! Not Flanders!

We are doomed! In your face, Flanders! On the commentary, David Merkin points out they're just doing every possible joke about being on a raft. Lost on a raft. And they do hit everything. And they're all just so back to back to back to back. We cut away to Marge once. And it feels weird because it's just so much raft material up in this third act. I mean, I love every second of this. Like, the way Homer throws away the headphone of the Walkman, like, it makes it even shittier. It's like, it's not his.

It was Rod's. Like, he stole a child's Walkman and threw it away just because the battery's died. And that must be the hardest rock that Ned allows Rod to listen to. Yes, yeah. I mean, hearing about sugar, actually, that has to be a filthy thing dirty for a rod no sugar

I Like that he says galore at one point when the music is dying down He's just like sugar galore like if you listen to it again Again something I didn't notice while I was watching it, but only only listening to it The the slowing down of Homer's voice singing along with it like yeah That you're watching this the first time and you come back for commercial and it's over dancing impossibly dancing with all of his sugary friends How long do you think they're gone do they say how long it's been oh I want it feels like it

I mean if they don't have water So I mean they have very little water Homer's been washing his socks a lot So I guess you can gauge it based on that but their clothes end up in tatters Yeah, cuz when Marge calls chief Wigum, what's he say? They have to go week before the yeah, so it hasn't been a week Well, we do see Wigum and the police on a police search boat later So that would make you think that it has been at least a week that the police actually are about to go out until they get the cold cuts. And also the way well I've certainly taken off my headphones and thought like now I have to face stupid reality again. I've thought though using an entire canteen of water to wash his socks again like now that is pure Chris Peterson. Yeah.

socks again like now that is pure Chris Peterson. Yeah. Yeah. That and also Homer misremembering the rhyme of the ancient Mariner to think it means yeah drink sea water. It's great do it something that does make me extremely uncomfortable while I'm watching this is when Homer gets the beard a little bit. You know he's got like a little bit more stubble. I really don't like it. It really makes me feel weird and just like it his face feels too furry for me But it was something that both times I watched I was like no I never need to see that again. I'm good

Thank you so much. Why it's upsetting to see Ned's unkempt mustache to her. Yeah Well, actually, I guess we have cause to play another jingle here though because as we see a dead seagull Although I will say the seagull died of natural causes so this is a non-violent fitting death for a seagull. Yes Patrick that's the jingle we play when there's violence towards birds in the show but you're right Bob this is about as happy a peaceful an end as seagulls gonna get they fly out to the middle of the ocean and just fall in.

They live a very long life. Is that a real fact about seagulls? I don't think so. Although you hear the things about like when an animal is ready to die, it just goes off alone somewhere. So maybe it's based on that. I do love Homer's triumphant like,

see, your old man was right, we are, dude. And also Dan Kesslin had a sound of like like just a dying seagull is so good too. We then cut back to the smarter rafts after Homer also eats all of the rations when he's trying to portion them out so he's wasted all the water and food like he's killing them much faster. We cut to the smart rafts and I believe it was this and Tiny Tunes referencing it that made me, by the time I was 15, I ran a deliverance and watched it to get these references. It let a lot of cartoons get away with dirty jokes if a character would just say squeal

like a pig. You know, Saturday morning cartoons. You can just play dueling banjos on a cartoon and you know that it's later as a grown-up You're like oh, they're getting away with a joke about sexual assault But the most disturbing thing that movie is seeing Ned Beatty with braces. What's going on there adult braces? Well, you know Burt Reynolds without a mustache is also yeah, I don't care for that either yeah, yeah It's very much like the Homer with the beard either. Yeah. Yeah. It's very much like the Homer with the beard. Yes. Yeah. I don't want to. I haven't seen Deliverance in a long time though. But if it's I feel like it's only remembered for it being the cheat sheet to filthy jokes and comedies. It's good. I would

recommend watching it again. I like I mean you know it's not a fun movie to watch but I like it and I will say so you see all of the dads and their kids together in this scene going like shush as they're going through the Deliverance scene when we next see Ernest Borgnein, he is the only adult there So I think it's the deliverance guys that kill all the men. They're picking them off one by one. Yeah kill all the men. They're picking them off one by one. Yeah. Or if you want to say the happiest version you can think of is like, oh, that doesn't happen to them. They all survive deliverance and then the bear kills all the other dads and only earn his boy. Oh yeah, there's three cutaways to them. Yeah. The only adult man in the bear scene is Borgnite. So that's why my first thought is like oh that they died in the deliverance scene there He does make it through the bear though Borg night survives it. He's a scrappy guy told the bear stories from the set of Marty

See I watched it my dinner with Andre for this I should watch Marty I should I've already scream he won an Oscar for that role in Nancy Cartwright's book She mentions when she recorded with Borg nine for this that like she was a Marty super fan and much like all of us with David Silverman that she peppered him with Marty questions. So then we cut to Margin, the sisters and I can see why they didn't do more of this because Patty and Selma imagining Homer's death I think is a little less fun when she also has to go like, oh, but also Barts dead too for this imagination. Hey this is another compliment to DVD commentaries I only got that thanks to the DVD commentary that it's supposed to be like a sound match of Marge going to the ancient sound I didn't get that. They weren't happy

with how it turned out so it doesn't really match up unless somebody's telling you that's the joke. Well here you can listen to it in our next clip as we hear about a flare gun raffle. A church picnic flare gun firing. I keep telling you lady your husband and son have to be missing for a week before we can start searching. I'd like to help sooner. I would but but we're very, very busy down here. Heesh. King me. Still no help.

You know, it is cougar season, and those things don't mess around. A rescue plane, get the flare gun. This ain't one of your church picnic flare gun fire and splanders this is a real thing don't all right well that's okay when they come to rescue him they'll rescue us don't the way that plane catches him before he can even like get to the water

now all the rescue planes think there's a hostile wrath in the ocean that's why they're left alone there's two good jokes cut from the script here one is that after the flare gun explosion they then pass by a cruise ship and they're waving down the cruise ship. But the cruise ship is an alcoholics anonymous no booze cruise that includes Lionel Hutz and Quimby. And when they see the raft, they both think they're seeing an hallucination from detox. So they don't believe it. That's good. And the other joke is that they don't believe it. That's good. And,

and the other joke is that they didn't do in the full episode, they don't do the joke of Homer imagined somebody as a piece of food because he's so hungry. They didn't do that. That's in the script. Homer puts his arm around Bart to hug him and he sees his arm is a sandwich. And then he looks at Ned, but Ned is a beautiful woman instead of a sandwich and then Homer's brain says not horny hungry and then he sees Ned is like an ice cream sundae instead.

It turns from a beautiful woman. It's like Homer's brain has to tell him you're doing a different cartoon joke here. Yeah I could see that those both of those being part of this episode for sure Yeah, it's that but again. It's it's an overlong script. I think is why it got cut but So this is after all of this they've been Are almost saved by dolphins, but they're just there to laugh at them You're all going to die save the subtitles You say the font on the subtitle made me laugh

Just because it is I think it was the greening fun Yeah, it is, but it's just funny to like see it in the context of the episode. You know yeah Yeah, I don't think they always do that with the subtitles do they this is when Ned can take no more They also did cut a bit where Ned loses his faith in God, but then he hallucinates Abraham comes down from heaven, but refuses to save all of them because he wants to leave Homer behind and Ned won't do it. He won't leave Homer behind. And then when his vision stops, he's like, oh no, there is a God, but he's a jerk. God, there's a lot cut out of this. Yeah. This is fantastic Harry Shearer acting here. Here's our chance. Dolphins always help humans lost at sea. Come back! Come back!

Oh, we're done for. We're done for. We're done diddly done for. We're done diddly doodly done diddly doodly done diddly doodly letters that part of it. Thank you Homer. I don't know what It's better to be Sorry Sorry You see anything yet? Nothing captain somebody took all the beer and cold cuts. Oh, that's it Diddley. Diddley. You see anything yet? Nothing, Captain.

Somebody took all the beer and cold cuts. That's it. I'm not even casting off until we go to the store. The final Diddley was an ad lib, so clearly they were in the same room together. You lose that magic when they do it remotely and separately in recordings, but I get it. The people get more famous, more rich. They get mansions in France than England. Come on, Harry. Come back to LA Harry we miss you. He had to come back to film spinal tap to in theater soon

No, they filmed that in Louisiana. They did. Oh, of course they did tax-baked I would guess and Harry lives there so he lives though, right? That's why I think so. Yeah That's right out of the it's the American city. He lives in my god got in England I guess if I was 82 years old I'd want the rock star mockumentary filmed in my backyard Think he's actually 81. He turned 81 in December. I believe hey happy birthday Harry a Man who acted with Mel blank as a child actor. I mean that's how on the Jack Benny show It's insane. I guess that makes it when you think of it that way you're like yeah, it makes sense that he's 80 You know but in my brain he feels

Persistently like 55 60 somewhere around there, but that doesn't make sense I still think of Hank his area is the young guy at the show, and he's like in his late 50s. He's 60 Six both he and yardley are 63 babies. I. They both ventured into their 60s together, finally. Wow. Homer slaps him 17 times in a great parody of the slapping sense into somebody's scene that Homer has to slap him 17 times for it to work. I mean, these days, hey, cops waiting to get food and snacks before they do anything. I think that's pretty realistic.

Now they have to rely on the vast spy networks, President McDonald's, to catch criminals. That lets them do two in one. It's like, well, if we were going to McDonald's anyway, then maybe they'll tell us where to find somebody. So Homer, they're down to their last doodle. Homer is the one given the responsibility of, though I don't think he can blame it on Homer this time, unless they told him, now you tied the fishing line, right Homer But let's say it was just a faulty fishing line when the fish goes away with the doodle

Also, Godspeed little doodle is another great great line Then they're covered in fog as death is approaching They're all about to die and and this is where Homer has a little gift for Bart as they're about to die. Homer's father-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law-son-in-law I stole it from that Borg-9 guy. Don't worry, kids. I'll take care of him with my trusty... Uh... Uh... Uh...

Hmm. Dad, I know I've been a little hard on you the last couple of days. If I had the strength to lift my arms, I'd give you a hug. Thanks, boy. Now be careful when you- oops! Dad, don't take this wrong, but your expression doesn't fill me with confidence. Out of all of the things, it's a magnifying glass that makes the whole of the book. The sun is blasting in through that fog. I love the close-ups with every bounce of the close-ups on the characters gasping. It's great cutting back and forth with a knife to the faces. It's so effective.

Do we think it was the same audio? It sounds like the same audio. It might be. Oh, of each gasp? Yeah. I don't know. Can I go back and he's do sure Yes to me it didn't read as a cheese doodle or read as a bean yeah, I think they got the coloring off

I don't think it was that's what I yeah, it looks like a little food pellet really Yeah It should be longer. Yes, I think too. It should be finger-lick orange and orange. Yeah, you're right doesn't read strong enough Sorry guys just give it a note on if you guys are listening at the Simpsons. I'm so sorry to You know here you're talking about trying to guess it how long the time frame is Bart said it right there I've been a little hard on you the past couple days, so that would imply. It's just been two days They've been stuck on that rap couple could be five Sure sure well it also maybe It's just been two days they've been stuck on that route. Couple could be five.

Sure, sure. Well, and also maybe the couple days only started when Bart said, at least Ned is trying. What have you been doing? So maybe there was like three days before that. I just love every sound Ernest Boyd and I make. It's like, get it. Him getting deflated twice in this episode, very funny. And so they're about to drown they're gonna die

But Homer finally saves the day with his nose he learned that there was a crusty burger on an offshore oil rig and Thanks to the fog they can't see it, but he can direct them to it using his nose like Homer's Scent actually gets in there and they head in there And this is where there's the great joke about like these are unmanned oil rigs like I kept telling you. He's really hands-on he's pacing back and forth he's waiting for some customer to come in and hey we see Peaky Boy's team there behind the counter. Yeah I guess that I just love that he speaks like it's more of his old-timey

you know professional way of like I'm really taking a bath on this one like he sounds like Jerry Lewis really is what I'm saying. I feel like if anyone has the answer to this it might be you guys do you know how many jobs squeaky boys teen has had over the course oh god there has to be feels like there has some wiki entry or something but I feel it has to be over a hundred at this point I'll say this about the Simpsons wiki the entry for this episode is shorter than the regular Wikipedia entry and I was disappointed. There's like two main Simpsons wikis. There's the fandom one and then like Simpsons wiki. I'm on Simpsons.fandom.com is the one that I'm looking at.

Well you know that does have multiple tabs on it though so you might find a little more on the other tabs. Oh I didn't even see those tabs. Now I see them now. You're right. Well, hey, me and Bob, we know from experience, fandom websites are terribly built and hard to navigate. Though also my complaints about those Simpsons wikis are, and hey, good work. I have used them as well for help on things. So like, I can't complain too much, but I will say a lot of their reference pages are written by British people who don't know American culture who then go like, this might be a reference to this old British thing.

And I want to just shake whoever wrote this to be like, I'm sorry, the Simpsons did not watch this sitcom you're talking about. Like it's not similar to that. They keep referencing EastEnders. I don't understand. So they barge in to the Krusty Burger and if you listen here you can see them putting in the moral of the story or like the emotional, what should be the emotional catharsis of Bart apologizing to Homer but the show steamrolls it immediately.

Yeah that's another great mercantouch where I feel like another showrunner might have made some meat out of this, no pun intended you know this connection, but Homer's like go away I Don't want this catharsis. I'm so hungry and Then our guest star is about to be murdered Let's hear the happy ending for everybody, but Ernest Borg died Taking a bath on this we tried to tell you these are unmanned oil rigs. Close the damn thing down. No one's ever gonna come. Give me 700 crusty burgers! You want fries with that?

You did it, Dad. You saved us. I'm proud you're my father. Go away. Eating. Well, it sure is lucky we stumbled upon this old abandoned summer camp. Yeah. How about a song? Yeah, yeah, yeah. There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name. B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B- We are the

Great ending. I love how Ernest Borgdine says summer camp instead of summer camp. His blood curdling scream is great too. They were having fun making an Oscar winning actor sing bingo and scream and pretend to fight a bear. And all those noises, the defeated noises when he can't find the knife. They were like, let's get everything out of him that we can while he's here. We've got him for an hour. He didn't realize how much screaming he'd be doing as Mermaid Man in six years, let's say. And Caslanetta says he is the one playing the guitar. Like he actually is a real, apparently

can play the guitar, at least to that extent, like campfire playing. Good, so. It's the full Borg9 performance. You're getting guitar and vocals. But yeah, in the original script, Homer says the moral of the story is the lesson here is that it's dangerous for fathers and sons to be together too much. That's good too. Most of the cut jokes are very, very good. Hats off to Dan McGrath.

Yeah, Dan McGrath wrote a great script. He really did. I think they shaped it into something that could work for 22 minutes, but every cut thing I put in there, there were a couple that were like, oh, that wasn't as funny. So I didn't keep it in or I didn't write it down to mention it. But there were many, many good things. Again, it's like, I'd say at least 40% different in the script, percentage-wise, for sure. And they do note then on the commentary that like, it's basically Homer says the Carl's

Jr. catchphrase at the time of, don't bother me, I'm eating. Which I think think was a very brief I don't recall seeing that but I think they're worth for it you can find them on YouTube I pulled them up they're not very interesting it's just like this was a like right before they did the Paris Hilton ad I think so that kind of erased everybody's minds of previous Carl's Jr. ads I think though of course I do not respect the brand Carl's jr. I grew up as a hearty boy We never had either of them has Carl's jr. And now is that in your grandparents neighborhood? No nothing

Northern Connecticut has neither of these I think I've no I don't think I've had Carl's jr. I was gonna say that but then I realized It was Jack in the box thinking about so I genuinely think I've avoided both of them my entire life Give it a try someday. You'll see it's slightly different from all other burger places slightly. Do you think it's good? I know this is not doughboys. Oh Well, I can tell you Patrick that whenever I had hearties as a kid. I thought this is a lower tier I would be having a better time at McDonald's or Burger King. That was just my takeaway sure Yeah, if it were up to me the the breakfast biscuit is my favorite. Breakfast biscuit of the brands. And is it because it's the greasiest and the saltiest? Maybe. Sure. Almost certainly it is. But if

you put in front of me a Chris sandwich, a McRiddle or a bacon, egg and cheese from Hardee's, I would say you can only have one. I would pick that Hardee's one. But now burgers though, I'd rather have a Burger King burger, the Hardee's burger. Or Wendy's. Wendy's is good too. I'm a Wendy's boy.

You know, it's almost lunchtime during this recording, so. That's why, yeah. Let's talk more about the food we wanna eat right now. I wish I had 700 crusty burgers in front of me. This is a wacky, wacky episode, but it's so full of funny things Yeah, yeah, I like how it's very murkiny and that it's a bunch of very funny gags Some that are way over the top and there's no points and when it tries to make a point the point is immediately executed It packs so many things in like in my brain when I when you said this episode that this was over gonna watch

The majority of it was him in the Boy Scouts basically, you know And I just did not remember that whole first section where he's not a part of it and it's crazy that they fit that much into 22 minutes because I Feel like on any other show the Boy Scout thing would be 21 of the 22 minutes There's no B plot at all. It just, everything like the first act, it sets up the fact that he joins in the second act, he makes progress in the scouts, the third act, he has his outing.

It's like all just one big good story. Yeah, the third act really is just people being stranded on a boat, which could be done for any reason in an episode. But he happened to be a junior camper before doing that. But yeah, I mean, this is also full of like 800 memeable moments in it. Like every, I mean, this is also full of like 800 memeable moments in it. Like every line is funny, every moment is funny.

And yeah, a great episode and a fantastic first outing of writing non-sketched television by Damograaff, for sure. This was the season five was the first season I had on DVD. Good choice. I bought it, you know, pretty early on when it came out because we never really watched it growing up. I don't know, I think it was my parents had been sucked into the like,

Simpsons are bad, stay away from the Simpsons, you know that kind of thing. So I don't know why it's the season that I bought. I genuinely think it was because Conan was in it and I think I was like, oh I wanna see Conan. So that's the one I will start with. But I don't know why. I've since filled in other pockets, you know?

But this was the number one. Got it at Target. I mean, as a commentary fan, the Conan commentary was a one to be prize. Yeah, of course. Of course. Well, I have a right here. Mine is in the other room, and I'm not Monkey D. Luffy

or Mr. Fantastic. I can't just grab it. Whichever nerdy thing you need for a reference there, American or Japanese. But thank you so much for being on the show, Patrick. Please let us know where we can find you online and more about your podcast. Yeah, totally. So just started this podcast, like I said,

it's called Hey That's Me, a commentary podcast. We have guests on who are talking about movies or TV shows that they worked on and they're doing commentaries on things that they never got to do commentaries on. You could find all the links at heythatsmepod.com. We have a Patreon. It's patreon.com slash commentary. All the info's there. We're on all the social medias, but you should follow it. It's a very fun show and I've had a really good time doing it. A lot of animation coming up. Here, let me spoil one for you. Oh, we had the guys who wrote the last Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie,

Mutant Mayhem, Dan Hernandez and Benji Samet and that's a really really fun one. We've got a ton coming up that are really cool. I love that movie I want to hear more about. I'm guessing there was just no physical release or anything like that. There is, I believe there's a commentary from the director on it. Ah okay but not the writers. But not the writers, yeah. Which, it's a really interesting one, just to hear how you work around IP and such established IP,

and they made that into its own thing, and I think that movie frickin' rules. So it was really cool to hear their turtles fandom, what they could and couldn't do in that movie, just working around all of the, you know, tiptoeing through what a big IP brings to the table. Well, me and Bob love learning about the rules put upon writers of IP. I love it. It's really some of our favorite research.

Yeah. What else? Oh, you can you can find George Lucas Talk Show as a show I do with Conor Ralph and Griffin Newman. Griffin's been on this show before. George Lucas Talk Show dot com. It'll bring you to all the links. We have some live shows coming up. I don't know when does this come out? This is mid-January. Okay, so if you're in the Bay Area, we'll be at San Francisco SketchFest and February 1st, I believe and then February 2nd

we've been doing these live reads of the Star Wars movies at Dynasty Typewriter here in Los Angeles. And at SketchFest, we're doing a live read of the Holiday Special, which is going to be very silly and very crazy. We've got a really good cast doing it. And then that Tuesday, which I think is February 4th at Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles, we're doing two George Lucas talk shows with some cool guests that I'm working on locking down right now. But yeah, social media, Kottner on Instagram, Patrick Kottner on everything else basically.

I love the George Lucas talk show as well. And you get to see so many amazing things on there, be it Paul F. Tompkins sharing the stage with Kel Mitchell and doing a scene from the episode three or hearing multiple people who worked at Lucasfilm in the 80s tell the craziest stories about George Lucas. It's really great. Yeah. It's a very fun weird show and we've been really lucky to have some cool people. We just did as of this recording two nights ago we had Padma Lakshmi on David Cross was on and we really got into this was the big thing with the David Cross episode. He does a pratfall in one episode and leaves his foot up in the air as he falls in Arrested Development

and Connor talked to him I think for 20 minutes about that fall. Just like figuring out how he did it, why he did it, you know, were there padding on the ground, stuff like that. But that was the main thrust of that one episode. And just getting to ask cool people the dumbest questions you can think of is... That is on the level of talking about the miscolored cheese doodle. Yes. Yeah.

Absolutely. That's our cheese doodle. But yeah, working on too many things. So I'm sure if follow the socials you'll see everything else. But check it all out. It's all fun weird stuff. Well, thank you so much, Patrick. This was a great first time having you on.

Thank you again. Happy to come back anytime. Let me know. Awesome. Thanks so much to Patrick for being on the show. Please check out his podcast, but as for us, if you want to check out more of what we do and get all of our podcasts ad free

and one week ahead of time, as well as a ton of bonus podcasts, head on over to patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons and sign up for only five bucks a month. And when you do, you'll get access to over seven years worth of Patreon exclusive content. That includes episodes about Futurama and King of the Hill and the Critic, Mission Hill, Batman the Animated Series and that also gets you one new episode a month of both talking Futurama and talking of the

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And what is that Henry? Bob is talking about our, what a cartoon movie podcast. That's our premium podcast where you talk about an animated feature film every month. And this last month we talked about frozen perfect for this wintery time of year. One of the biggest Disney films in recent history. The month before that we covered eight crazy nights to be in the holiday

spirit. And we have done over six years of these ad free super long podcasts that are usually five or six hours long. We've covered the entire Disney Renaissance. And we have done over six years of these ad free super long podcasts that are usually five or six hours long. We've covered the entire Disney Renaissance, all of the Toy Story movies, a ton of Studio Ghibli films, a ton of other nineties and eighties classics as well, like Space Jam, even junk like Shrek. We've covered so many awesome things in there that you can hear over six years of it at

patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons for 10 bucks a month. You get the entire back catalog and a new one each month, plus all the other ad free podcast Bob was just talking about at the $5 level. Once more, that's at patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons. And I've been Bob Mackie, one of your hosts. You can find me on Blue Sky and many other places as Bob Servo. And my other podcast, by the way way is called RetroNauts that is a classic gaming podcast all about old video games. You can find that wherever you find

podcasts or go to patreon.com slash RetroNauts and sign up there for two full-length bonus episodes every month. And Henry what about you? You can find me on Twitter and BlueSky at H-E-N-E-R-E-Y Y G. I'm talking Henry on Instagram. If you want to keep up with me and all my views on things in this new year. And if you're following both me and Bob on those places, you should also be following at talk Simpsons pod because that is the official Twitter blue sky and Instagram account of talking Simpsons at talk Simpsons pot keeps you in the loop for new podcasts, new announcements, our schedules.

If we have a live show going on, things happening on Patreon, you know about it first if you follow at Talk Simpsons Pod. And you can find all of our previously released free episodes at TalkingSimpsons.com. Thanks so much for listening folks. We'll see you again next time for season 15's Marge versus Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples,

and Teens and Gays, And we'll see you then. What's in the bag, Worse? Oh look, campers, pampers! Keep away! Keep away! Yeah, whatever. You better pretend you want your uniform back, twerp! Keep away! Keep away!

Oh no, woe is me. My precious uniform.