Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - Brother From Another Series With Nina Matsumoto
Episode Date: October 31, 2018Simpsons artist extraordinaire and our good friend Nina Matsumoto is back, and she's bringing her deep love of Frasier with her for this Sideshow Bob classic. We meet Cecil (who sounds a lot like Nile...s Crane) as he takes in the seemingly reformed Sideshow Bob in this anti-mystery story. All that plus smell hounds, Maris, and the surprising Japanese title of this episode. We're super excited for this one, especially Bob, but especially Henry! Support this podcast and get dozens of bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! This podcast is brought to you by the streaming network VRV: home to cartoons, anime, and so much more! Visit VRV.co/WAC to sign up for your FREE 30-day trial and kick a little money back to your friends at the Talking Simpsons Network!
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Ahoy, hoy, everybody. Welcome to Talking Simpsons, home of coveralls that don't quite
cover all. I'm your host, the
hydrological and hydrodynamical Bob
Mackey, and this is our chronological
exploration of The Simpsons. Who else is here with me today?
Henry Gilbert, and no society in history has ever considered a podcaster a colleague.
And on the line we have...
I'm Nina Matsumoto, and I'm all murdered out.
And today's episode is Brother from another series.
I hope they still make that shampoo I like.
Today's episode aired on February 16th, 1997 1997 and as always henry will tell us what
happened on this mythical day in real world history oh my god oh boy bobby francis mcdormand
wins big at the sag award thanks to fargo wheel of fortune officially switches over to digital
letters from the classic ones that used to be turned and scientists in scotland announced that
they have cloned an adult mammal producing a lamb named dolly wow so the most important thing here
wheel of fortune i i liked it i liked it more when i didn't know what pat sage i thought about
things yes uh he's he's up there with chuck woolery where you're like really that's who you
always were about the pat sage i think i'm gonna look look this up later. He's like a James Wood style monster online.
Okay.
He's so smiley and nice guy looking.
Well, he's a big time conservative.
He's a good host guy.
Though he is, I don't know if he has committed the crimes
that James Woods has,
but they are matching conservative dudes though.
I will say that, Pat Sajak.
I wonder how Vanna White feels about her job.
It doesn't need to be there. Maybe she was getting repetitive stress injuries from turning those
those huge letters around in her wrist yeah kind of nice on her wrist she was a sex symbol for for
a time and i bet she gets paid pretty big like i think more people watch that show for her than
pat sajak really i don't know how it's programmed up in your neck of the woods nina but wheel of
fortune is the easier,
dumber thing that leads you into Jeopardy.
You're like, okay, I'm going to watch Wheel of Fortune
and feel kind of smart, and then
watch Jeopardy, and then I'll feel super
dumb because I'm not as smart as these
contestants. I don't know how it would work in Canada.
Don't you have to buy more vowels?
They just give you all those U's.
It should be a Canadian Wheel of Fortune.
The fortune is spelled with F-O-U-R-T-U-N-E the right way.
I couldn't handle that.
I could not handle that.
And Dolly, Dolly the Sheep, right?
Yes.
After this period in time, we'd see so many parodies of this, so many satires of this.
But isn't this when shortly after Bill Clinton put in the books like no cloning humans?
Yeah, though I have to assume that has happened already.
We just don't know. There like a hitler farm somewhere yeah i was wondering why we haven't
seen too many cloned animals is that why i want to see all the failed dolly clones
that's somewhere some horrible dungeon actually that scene in uh alien fat alien alien resurrection
one of the bad aliens yeah there we go yeah you're not really narrowing it down
did you see that basketball scene thing that was getting shared on the internet recently?
No.
So in the movie, to prove that Sigourney Weaver's Ridley has now been perfectly cloned and she's a super badass now,
she is going to do a behind-the-back, no-look basketball throw to go into the net.
And she said she'd been practicing for months ahead a little movie shoot to do it for real,
but she hadn't really been making it.
So they go to film it that day.
Ron Perlman is there and other people who are in the movie,
they're like, and so what are you?
And she just like walks all in character, no look,
throws it behind her back.
And it just like swish,
just the perfect behind the back throw as she's walking.
And Ron Perlman breaks character go like, oh, my God.
And this just went online?
It was on the DVDs, but it just got like virally shared in the last month or so.
Did they play that whistling Harlem Goldfathers theme while she did it?
They should have, but it was a French director.
I don't think he understood.
She was using a freaking ladder.
That scene could have like segued into Space Jam. Aliens playing basketball.
Instead, it was just a weird pilot for Firefly, really, because it was a Joss Whedon script.
Oh, yeah, that's right.
So our guest today is Nina Matsumoto. Nina, you were on our Summer of 4Foot2 episode.
In case people don't remember who you are, can you give them a brief refresher?
Yeah, so I was on Summer of 4Foot2, and In case people don't remember who you are, can you give them a brief refresher? Yeah, so I was on Summer of 4Foot2
and oh, it's good to be here again.
Yeah.
Although, Harry, long time no see.
Bob, nice shirt.
Thank you.
Although, Nina's in Canada.
Nina's in Canada because she's afraid of getting shot
like some kind of wuss.
No, I'm calling in because it's thematic to this episode.
Oh, you're right whoa i i thought
ahead you see no i just couldn't afford the plane tickets to go down to berkeley again but uh that's
because i'm an artist i can't afford plane tickets like that i work for fangamer i do a lot of game
shirt designs and up until a few months ago i was also a regular penciler for bongo comics doing
simpsons comics that's gone now unfortunately oh but you still you are a
artist extraordinaire not just on the simpsons but also on your own original stuff like sparks
right yeah i also uh earlier this year i released sparks written by my friend and frequent
collaborator ian boothby who's written tons and tons of simpsons comic scripts it's about two cats
that dress up as a dog to save people because nobody takes cats
seriously. And it's published through Scholastic, so you can find it pretty much anywhere. Any kind
of brick and mortar books chain, Amazon, whatever, wherever you buy books from. Libraries. Ian likes
to look up various libraries to see if all of our copies of Sparks are checked out. And he says
they often are. That's great. that's really cool man it's great
to hear well and you're in case people don't know you're also a frequent collaborator with us you've
done some amazing art for the like the header on the on the patreon and also uh your newest work
was this poster for us that was a lot of fun to work on so i'm glad you gave me total free
main on that like i loved the halloween episode so much so i had so a lot of fun to work on, so I'm glad you gave me total free reign on that. I loved
the Halloween episode so much, so I had so many ideas. I wanted to work Voodoo Donut in there
somehow, though, because you were doing a Portland show, and it just felt fitting to do The Devil and
Homer Simpson, because that's also part of... It is not, but they were there. Yeah, they were there.
They were around. Yes, they made it better, I swear. swear And also She did two shirts for us
Yes
Yeah
There's a brand new shirt
That just went up on the
Well it's brand new
At the time of this recording
But if you're feeling
Like Halloween style
It is a black t-shirt
That calls upon
Our classic death jingle
We're going to be hearing it
A lot soon
And always
But not in this episode
That's true
Thank goodness
Yeah
That's because John mahoney isn't
here yeah yeah i was gonna say if you do that episode then and he just passed so we'll get to
it in about five years that episode uh season 19 yeah five six years that means you can't kill him
but yeah you guys were close with that springfield files episode episode though. Yeah. Jimi passed away, but Mulder
and Scully are still with us. He's alive in my
heart. He's trapped in there. Yeah, but the guy who
played Mulder's dad died
shortly after the release of the episode. That did happen.
Well, he was on the episode, so our hands are clean.
You have some Vancouver opinions
about it. I know this is delaying talking
about Frasier, but you do have
Vancouver opinions about X-Files,
don't you? Yeah, because the X-Files
were filmed in Vancouver
at least the first few seasons, and it was
like the pride of Vancouver, and it
was cool watching the show because you could recognize
all the locations they used. But then
David Duchovny complained about the rain, and
the show got moved to LA, and
the whole city turned on David Duchovny
like Springfield style. We didn't chase
him out with like torches and pitchforks.
We can't light torches here
because they get put up by the rain right away.
It's a bad town for a mob.
Yeah, but apparently his house got egged at one point.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, and people were like slamming him in newspapers.
Yeah, I don't think we've gotten,
well, maybe we might've gotten over that actually
because they did come back here for the new season.
And now nobody wants them because, P.U., those episodes stink.
Yeah, I was disappointed by those.
Are they going to make a new season?
Do you know?
I think they're done again for now.
Yeah.
Done again.
I think season 12 didn't really work out.
And also, I believe it's Gillian Anderson is very much on the record of like i've had enough thank you oh really well you never know though it might come back in like
another 10 years they're both still live in another 10 years i bet they'll do it again
they're both very good looking too yeah yeah they age really well in 10 years there will be no new
ip things will be that bad it will all be revivals of things you never liked in the first place i
want to talk about a scandal behind this episode though that i just discovered whoa that will not blow your mind it's
very boring but i want to ask bill oakley about this in person or perhaps through twitter to get
a real answer so so this episode on the dvd menu it's called brother from another series in the dvd
booklet it's called the brother from another series on wikipedia it's called brother from
another series on itunes it's called Brother from Another Series.
On iTunes, it's called The Brother from Another Series.
So I don't know what the actual title of this episode is.
It is referencing the movie The Brother from Another Planet.
And that is what Brother from the Same Planet in season four was referencing.
And they already did it.
Yeah.
But there is no...
Henry's typing.
Henry, there is no definitive answer.
Every source is different.
Every official source is different. And I'm losing my my mind i don't know what the official title is some sources drop the some include the i was just curious what the simpsons world
simpsons world has brother brother brother yeah it's very strange and i don't know what's up with
this the brother the the brother the brother but yes. The brother, the. The brother. But yes,
even in, so in the season four parody of the title, they drop the the, it's just brother
from the same planet. We'll get to it when it comes, but I also have more controversy I want
to put on top of this episode. Nina is here because of her Frasier expertise. In fact,
she told me she wanted to be on this. And so I watched this episode, then I watched a couple
of Frasiers and now I can't stop talking like Frasier.
I'm going to try to not do that on the show.
So Nina.
You can't resist.
I know, I know.
But Nina, what is your connection with Frasier?
Yeah, so I am a huge Frasier fan.
Not a single nanosecond of the show was relatable to me in any way,
but I still loved it.
I wonder how well this show would fly in today's eat the rich world, though.
I think they'd need a little more.
Well, it is a bit of a class play, though,
because the dad is lower class.
They make fun of rich people.
Yeah.
Yeah, and they have that conspicuous go-go 90s money
that I'm sure Frasier Niles would be just like
eating at a poor house in this modern decade.
Yeah, like once it came out, Syndication,
I watched it every single day.
It was Frasier and then Seinfeld back to back in Syndication.
I also watched like all the new episodes all the way up to the finale.
I have a weird penchant for mashing it up with Final Fantasy for some reason.
This is my true form.
I had another friend who is also a big Frasier fan, also a big Final Fantasy fan.
And we came up with an idea for Final Fantasy VIII meets Frasier Donjinshi
called Maybe I'm a Crane
where Squall calls into the show asking for
relationship advice about
Rinoa and Frasier invites the whole cast
to his apartment.
And there's like mix-ups
classic Frasier mix-ups like
Frasier referring to his ex-wife Lilith as
a witch and so all the
people think they're a sorceress.
So when she arrives, Cypher kneels before her and asks to fulfill his romantic dream.
I'm getting all of this and I hope our listeners are too.
I still have this document on my computer.
It's like FF8 Frasier.
And if I had the time, I would draw this because I'm all for this idea still.
And then like four years ago, I photoshopped a screenshot of Final Fantasy VI
where they're battling
the two cranes on the airship
and I replaced the cranes
with Frasier and Niles.
Oh, you did that?
I saw that being passed around recently.
I didn't know that was yours.
Yeah, some other guy
uploaded it recently.
Okay.
It was making its rounds on Twitter.
That's son of a gun.
Yeah, so I retweeted mine again
saying like,
I'm seeing this around Twitter
and just wanted to retweet this.
Actually,
when Twitter gave us the ability to retweet our own tweets that was the very first thing i retweeted i'm like people need to see this again and normally if someone else like repost something i made and
it gets popular i don't i don't care but this one i would not let this guy have this one this was
like my baby well we're talking about uh frazierzier's money, the crane millions, as it were.
And it makes sense.
The show ended at the perfect time because Frazier was pulling in that fat terrestrial
radio money.
Frazier would have a podcast and would be giving you offer codes for Casper mattresses
now.
Frazier 2018 with podcasts.
I like it.
It's kind of similar to when we talked to Mike Reese about how could the critic come back when
his job doesn't exist anymore. It's a similar situation for Frasier, I think. I watched Frasier
diligently. I hadn't really thought, I was a huge fan at the time. I hadn't watched an episode of
it in over a decade, but it was like weekly viewing for me on usually, I believe Tuesday
was its home night after right
and that's like how they extended the must-see tv banner it took over like four nights at some
point yeah but i i watched it quite a lot i love the show going back to it now uh re-watching
episodes for this i forgot like how super duper gay it was because like not just that david hyde pierce and john mahoney were
both uh closeted gay actors at the time of the show but also that like the writing staff was
quite gay and so many jokes were about innuendo mix-em-ups about being gay and also bulldog the
actor who played bulldog also openly gay at the time it's funny nina recommended me two episodes
to watch for this and funnily enough they were both about dinner parties. And I swear, I probably 97% of episodes of Frasier
are about dinner parties, because I've been watching a lot of like modern streaming shows
and cartoons. And it was kind of surreal to go back into a sitcom be like, oh, they can't leave
this set. They're stuck on this set for like 20 minutes. And what are they going to do on this
set? It was kind of a weird mindset to get back into yeah that's what i love about that show though like i think a lot of
it is written by people with theatrical backgrounds at least the actors have a lot of theatrical
backgrounds so the way it's done it's very much like a stage show and usually bottle episodes
yeah and especially the the dinner party was one of the ones i recommended to bob that's a very
generic title for a facial episode because that's yeah like you said like a court like one of the ones I recommended to Bob. That's a very generic title for a Frasier episode because, yeah, like you said, most of the episodes are about dinner parties or planning a dinner party.
I just like that.
I think it keeps things simple.
I just prefer bottle episodes in general with sitcoms.
Even with Seinfeld, I like the episode The Restaurant on the table.
I think it's because I like stage shows in general.
Maybe that's why I had such an
affinity towards Frasier. It is kind of odd. I've been reading a lot about Frasier lately,
and I think at some point Kelsey Grammer just became Frasier because he was like executive
producer on the show. And he really only has like one mode of acting. So it's funny to hear him on
the commentary. Number one, he does a very Frasier style thing and gets mad that they didn't keep his
take where he said an-historic
Instead of a-historic
And he was really mad about that
But then he was doing like, this is how I do Sideshow Bob
Sideshow Bob sounds like this
Unlike my normal voice, it sounds like this
No, you're just doing
The Kelsey Grammer voice
Although one of the craziest things I've heard
So Kelsey Grammer had a bit of a problem with the sauce
Also he's a real pound hound, as you call him yeah and uh he has now has his ex what he has his wife's
name tattooed above his um genitals to remind himself to not cheat that is well that's also
insane because in one of the few kelsey grammer starring films down periscope oh my god in that film his character has something tattooed
on his penis as well boy it's very weird life imitating art for every kelsey grammar i confused
that movie with the mchale's navy movie and you never want to be confused with the mchale's navy
movie i watched down periscope because i liked fraser that much i came to it for him and for
harlan williams oh my god he was like a poor man's French steward.
He acted like a whale.
So he wasn't as quinty-eyed?
Yeah, his eyes are just more open.
Yeah.
But yeah, no, Frasier, I rewatched some classic Frasiers ahead of this to get back into the
Frasier mindset.
Ooh, which ones?
So I watched one of my favorites as a kid kid which i see now because it was the gayest
ones but it was the matchmaker where fraser accidentally asks out his new boss who is a man
when he thinks he's trying to set up a date between daphne and this man it's so funny when
everybody else realizes it before fraserier, especially when Niles finds out
and the guy asks him,
are you upset that I'm trying to date your brother?
And Niles just takes a very long take.
He's like, no, no, not at all.
So that one.
And I watched Moon Dance, the episode where-
Ooh, that's a fan favorite.
Yeah, Daphne.
Basically no Frasier in that episode.
And Daphne teaches Niles how to dance.
And it's the one of their most sexually charged ones.
And it actually directed by Kelsey Grammer that episode.
Oh, wow.
So that's why he was gone.
Yes, yeah.
And then the last one I watched was a season seven favorite of mine, A Czar is Born, which is about the antiques road show and them thinking that
they're related to a czar nicholas but instead they're related to the scullery maid who stole
from the czars i do remember that one and that one's hilarious actually that one touched me the
most re-watching it because i thought it was just about embarrassing them through their lineage but
it's really about how what touched me now is it
was them connecting with their father over a show because the simpsons was that for me too they
connect with their father over the antiques road show and for me like simpsons duck man those were
the only things i connected with my father on which we had almost nothing in common otherwise
well watching it again i noticed like the two episodes I was watching,
like Frasier was trying to get laid. And then I realized like, oh, he was always trying to
get laid in every episode. I think that was the counter how gay the show was. Like, no, Frasier,
Frasier wants it. He wants women in every episode. He's going after it.
I recommended The Dinner Party and To Kill a Talking Bird.
I don't remember that one. Which one's that?
Oh, I have to say Dinner Party is about a failed dinner party.
It's sort of Frasier and Niles.
You don't say.
I mean, it's all in the title, but it's Frasier and Niles are both setting up a dinner party
and they each have their own weird conditions on how they want it to go.
It ends up not happening, but it's all about their relationship with each other
and how people think it's weird that they do everything together and to kill a talking bird thankfully no bird
death it still plays on the idea that birds are annoying and bad pets which i am against
that stereotype i'm here to fight it i didn't see it that way but that was so niles moves into this
nice new apartment uh and he gets a uh cockatoo and it gets stuck to his head. And I've got to say, David Hyde Pierce is a great actor with a,
I can tell he's terrified of this bird just by his body language,
but he's great at it.
I can definitely tell, but he's great at acting with a bird on his head
for about 10 minutes.
David Hyde Pierce, re-watching these gave me so much appreciation.
Not that no one else is working hard at that,
because I think everybody's great.
Especially re-watching, I'm wow ross is perry perry gilpin's ross is so good oh yeah but david hyde pierce is such a fantastic like he is the most cutting sarcastic like snarky guy ever
but then also when they need physical comedy he excels at it every time they're a real mark lynn baker and bronson pincho
of the 90s that's a good way of putting it i was a big perfect strangers fan as well oh wow
maybe i just like that kind of dynamic yeah i know david hyde pierce is one of my favorite
comedic actors of all time and i would watch anything with him in it i even watched that
caroline the city episode where you guessed it he was the cat super fan on that show wow i remember that caroline in the city again how gay how i think
caroline in the city was the only more gay must-see tv show than this and what i liked upon revisiting
this is that it was a very 90s thing to have the male character pining after somebody at news radio
they get out of the way in like three episodes which i love yeah but in in fraser i think they want you to not be sympathetic to niles because he's such like a callow wuss he's
so pathetic he's also creepy but with friends uh i think they might be like oh come on ross get it
together man that's me on the screen right there when ross sucks ross should be in prison
henry i wanted to ask you as someone who also watched and followed Frasier how did you feel
when Niles and Daphne finally got together um by that point I was so I think it was like season
six no seven when they finally and it's the finale of season seven when they finally got together
and by that point I was so used to the will they won't they stuff of I was well versed in it not
just from news radio and friends but I had now watched every sitcom a million times over because i had no life but i was glad they finally did it
because i was in the mood of like it's been seven years you can't you can't keep toying around with
this for this long you gotta shit or get off the pot and i think when they realize they're at seven
years they're like we only have so many years left on the show if we put them together and it doesn't
work hell we only have a
few more seasons anyway so and i thought it worked out fine but i mean by that point the series had
gone into a little bit of a decline anyway not that the the last years were bad or anything but
i was i was fine with it how did you feel i was glad that it happened but i also wish it was more
near the end of the series because i feel like once you get those two together,
or in any show where there's like a will they or won't they thing going on,
once you get them together, it's like, well, that's it, I guess.
And anything that happens afterwards is not going to be as good as,
you know, all the fans have imagined what would happen afterwards.
But I do like how at the very end, well, spoiler for Frasier in case.
After the time jump.
They watch the show afterwards, but how Daphne gave birth to their child and they named it after David.
David Angel.
Oh, right.
Yeah, the executive producer of Fasher who died during the September 11 attacks.
Yeah, he was on the plane, right?
Yeah, him and his wife were on the first plane that hit one of the Twin Towers.
Yeah, that's right.
Wow, I had completely forgotten that.
Man, now watching it again, I just love the theatricality of the show and just how many
great lines they just get out of wordplay.
Just in the moon dance one, it was Niles complaining about not getting a date or something.
And he's just complaining.
And then Daphne says, why?
And then he says, wouldn't you?
Wouldn't you?
When I revisited some of the episodes, I was like, man, this show is really well written.
It really holds up.
Very much so, yeah.
Well, it's great that The Simpsons eventually got around to doing a Frasier parody because
in the early years of the show, they were all about parodying Cheers, which we didn't
even mention.
Frasier is a spinoff of Cheers. And I'm sure when Frasier started, people were like,
why Frasier? Why not Norm? Why not Carla? Why not Cliff? People, I don't think, had a lot of faith
in this show, on this idea of spinning off Frasier. And Cheers was a much bigger show than Frasier.
Actually, I looked up the stats of Frasier. And at this time, it was a modest hit on par with The
Simpsons. It was pulling the same amount of of viewers it wouldn't be until the late 90s 99 and 2000 were the biggest years
of the show we got up to like number five and four in the ratings at this point it was around
number 10 so it was never like a number one like home improvement or seinfeld or friends but it
was always sort of a modest sort of prestige hit for nbc that won them emmys constantly like oh yeah almost 30 emmys that's comedy yeah and
the acting ones too a ton of acting emmys just over and over and it was a bit of serendipity
that they got kelsey for sideshow bob because with sideshow bob in 1989 the joke is this carnival
buffoon secretly is a high class well-spoken uh you know elite kind of guy who like reads the man
in the iron mask the children and they
didn't know that oh he was going to be the star of a huge sitcom in just four years when they hired
him to do sideshow bob well because all those guys go off to nothing after their sitcom ends
they either just cast checks or then they appear on less popular things like i mean george went
just became professionally norm in his life at all times which which, hey, great job if you can get it.
I'm not saying he's getting lazy.
He's great in the black or white video.
But yeah, Frasier just became the anchor for a just as good sitcom as the perfect Cheers.
Like even Ted Danson was just like, you know what?
I want to make a Jonathan Swift movie.
That's what I want to do next.
Oh my God, you're right.
Nina, do you have any Cheers knowledge? Are you aware of the pre-fraser canon
oh yeah i used to watch cheers too i didn't watch it as extensively as fraser there were a lot of
the the earlier seasons i couldn't get into as much like i'm more of a rebecca era fan than a
diane era fan ah but diane is the closest that's that Frasier's in on the show
that's true
she was dating Frasier and he was supposed to be
a one time character and then he kind of
exploded into this thing
I don't know if this record has been broken but at one point
he had a record for most Emmys won
on different shows as the same character
because he won an Emmy for Frasier on Cheers
Frasier on Frasier
and Frasier guest appearing on Wings
that's right.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think he had an Emmy for, or sorry, the record for playing the longest character consecutively.
But I think that's been broken.
I'm not sure by who or which character.
Maybe it's Dan Castellaneta or something.
I mean, The Simpsons would have broken it for sure.
Yeah, Frasier only ran 11 seasons.
Boo.
The Simpsons will be right back.
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but this episode is after re-watching it again and i probably said this was sideshow bob
roberts that that was my favorite but now after re-watching brother or the brother whichever it
is it is my favorite sideshow bob now and i don't think it'll ever be topped by future one i i have
to agree it's also funny that again this is season eight uh in season seven and eight josh
weinstein and bill oakley the showrunners are changing a lot of things a lot of status quo things because like all showrunners of the simpsons are
like well this show will be around for like two more years at most so let's just do all the crazy
stuff we want to so in this episode sideshow bob is reformed and the curveball that we all forget
about is up until like the third act you're supposed to think sideshow bob is going to do
something evil once again and uh it's not a surprise anymore because I've seen this 40 times,
but that was supposed to be a surprise
that Cecil is the villain all along.
Man, back then,
Sideshow Bob was my absolute favorite character.
He's since been replaced by Superintendent Chalmers.
But I still love Sideshow Bob a lot.
And as a huge Sideshow Bob fan
and a huge Frasier fan
and a really huge David Hyde Pierce fan, this episode was just a dream come true for me.
I could not have asked for anything better.
And I wonder how people who never watched Frasier felt about this.
I would hope it at least opened the doors for Frasier enjoyment watching this show.
It's so fan service-y, though, to Frasier fans.
Yeah, and I mean, I think Ken Keeler is sort of a real-life Niles Crane.
If you hear him on commentaries,
he's got a PhD.
He knows way too much
about everything high class,
so I feel like they chose
the perfect guy to write it.
Also, he was watching
a lot of Frazier,
which is why he wanted
to write this episode.
It was also like a huge get
to get David Hyde Pierce
on the show.
In our first Bill Oakley interview,
you asked if this was
supposed to be
closing the door
on Sideshow Bob,
like another finale type thing,
like they'd written for other people.
And Bill said, no, he was like, no,
we knew he'd come back sometime.
But this really is a last episode for Sideshow Bob.
Like he goes back to jail, but he still,
he doesn't say I am definitely evil again.
Yeah.
And I think they wanted to open the door for David Hyde Pierce to come to come back for them to work together which wouldn't happen until season what was it
again 19 yes in 2007s what's it called again i just watched it last night a funeral for a fiend
it's actually i thought it was great outside of the first act which is all about tivo jokes
which i guess was good at the time but i never had a tivo i didn't really connect with it but
um it's a fun episode john mahoney's in it playing sideshow bob's dad yeah he's actually kind of the weakest part there
because he's like i don't think he has a real handle on the character and also it's where they
bring in sideshow bob's mom which they don't really spend much time with her and she's no
offense to tress mcdeal but she's not played by a famous person which wouldn't you want to get
perry gilpin or j Leaves to play that character?
That would make sense.
I guess there wasn't enough time
to give her anything to do,
but I have one final production note.
I know this is going on so long
with all this information,
but we have a new director on board
for this episode, Pete Michaels.
So this is going to be
pretty interesting, folks.
He started as a background layout artist
on the first Treehouse of Horror in 1990.
So at this point, he's been on the show for like seven years.
2003's Break My Wife, Please was his last episode as a director.
And he also directed a bunch of Family Guy episodes in both the older and newer seasons,
like pre-time skip and post-time skip, where Peter works out, he's stronger, he's got new enemies.
And he was a supervising director on Family Guy as well, I think.
He was.
And he was also, before Wes Archer took over in season three, he was supervising director on Rick and Morty for the first two seasons.
He directed all the episodes of Adult Swim's show Hot Streets, which I've never seen, but it's apparently like a Justin Roiland production company.
Justin Roiland is the creator of Rick and Morty, and his production company made Hot Streets.
I've not heard of this show.
Apparently that was made in the hiatus between Rick and Morty seasons or something like that.
Because they had a lot of downtime.
And he's currently supervising director on something called Future Worm.
It's a Disney XD show.
And it's also sort of Roiland adjacent.
Well, good for him.
He also, I think he worked on Rocco's Modern Life too, didn't he?
Yeah, Rocco, Rugrats, the whole McGill.
Though I was shocked to see that this was his first Simpsons.
I guess he must have left the Simpsons at some point
and then come back before he directed this first episode.
I think he just...
I was looking at all of his IMDb credits for the Simpsons,
and throughout the years, he rises in stature
in terms of the role he's given.
So background layout artist is the first thing he did of the role he's given so background layout artist
is the first thing he did eventually he's like doing character layouts and assistant directing
and then directing well he does a great job because this involves uh it really runs the
gamut but it does run the gamut because he has to do these very like urbane theatrically staged
scenes between cecil and bob but also he has to do giant action scenes and disaster
movie moments in the show.
Yeah, I wonder if he did some of the layouts himself in this, because there are some really
cool shots in this, especially near the end when Cecil Bob is chasing Barclaysa through
the stairs.
There's some really elaborate laid out shots there with a bunch of stairs going up and down and crisscrossing each other and you only see each shot for like a second
i'm like man imagine working on that that one uh background for so long and you only see it for a
second in the show yeah that chase scene is a real uh standout for me in this episode i feel so bad
on the commentary for peter because they're they as rightly they should be they are very excited
they got kelsey for his first simpsons commentary but pete michaels is there and he's trying to talk
about the animation but then like kelsey just comes in and says something like well let's keep
get back to talking to kelsey i mean oh no yeah it's well that's the animator should be used to
that by now unfortunately yeah i feel bad for him now, though. Pete Michaels.
He's heard so many things he could have said.
Or raised a finger, opened his mouth,
and just kind of meekly put it back down
when Kelsey started saying things
with his theatrical voice.
There's a great moment on an earlier commentary
where I think it's Rich Moore.
Everyone wants to stop talking about Conan O'Brien.
And he was just like, yeah, Conan did this.
Conan did everything.
Conan drew this.
Every Conan O'Brien episode, the just like yeah Conan did this Conan did everything Conan drew this every Conan O'Brien episode the commentaries are just about
Conan and especially when he's on the
commentaries they don't talk about the
episode at all yeah everyone loves him
he's the funniest guy ever and hey we
interviewed his roommate former roommate
I would now this makes me want to
definitely interview Pete Michaels
someday he's he's high on my list now
after this,
and especially all of his jobs.
Like, Simpsons is just part of it.
But I think I'll lightly talk about Family Guy
if we ever talk to him.
By the way, speaking of Kelsey Grammer,
do you think he has an accent?
He has something going on with the way he speaks.
I think so.
It's a little received from the theater. Yeah yeah what kind of accent is that it's a
snob yeah just classic mid-atlantic snobbery nobody talks like that anymore you have to sort
of put it on but um i love on the show on frazier he gets he and niles they hang out in the fancy
circles of seattle which is just like i'm not seattle's a major city i'm sure do have high society, but it just feels weird to be like, we're in Seattle high society.
It just doesn't feel the same as like New York or Boston high society, I suppose.
I was in Seattle recently.
I didn't see any Frasers walking around.
I saw me though.
That's true.
You are very non-Fraser like me, I have to say.
But yeah, actually, I remember this is going
on so long more more Kelsey Grammar stuff that he is so he is he is Frasier I remember watching him
on Conan O'Brien like in the 90s and he was getting mad it's like I I am so angry when people
say culinary it's culinary it's you say culinary like Jesus dude you're you're intense about these
pronunciations but yeah I don't know it's it the kelsey grammar accents but it's so fun to watch walk around and yell at my bird like like frazier oh louis really i think kelsey just
does more drugs than frazier really that's true i think that's also why they wrote multiple episodes
where frazier gets high off of something that isn't just drugs but they're like that's another
of my favorites is the one where uh frazier gets super sick and gets on heavy medication and
then niles takes over his show and then he goes crazy like he's trying to take over my shoe no
i love that one uh so much i can't remember him getting high on any other episode though
that's the only one that comes to mind for me it's drunk but yeah that might maybe is the only
one where he gets i gotta say uh if you want to do the frazier impression make sure you're
sitting down i'm kind of lightheaded because that really works out your diaphragm.
Oh, really now?
I'm projecting.
Well, all right.
Why don't we get into the episode?
Oh, yeah.
Simpsons.
Minute 45.
It's time to get into, what's this one again?
The Frasier episode?
Brother from another series.
Or the brother.
I really am lightheaded.
I got to take breaks between my Frasier impressions.
Well, time to get off of Frazier and on
to the Johnny Cash reference
train.
Live from Springfield Penitentiary's
fabulous big open area in
Cell Block D, it's the
Krusty the Clown Prison
Special.
I slugged some jerk in
Tahoe. They gave me one to three
My high-priced lawyer sprung me on a technicality
I'm just visiting Springfield Prison
I get to sleep at home tonight
Hey, hey, I kid
I kid cause I love
I tell ya, the best folk in the world are prison folk.
I really love how artless that final lyric is.
He just wants to twist the knife.
I get to sleep at home tonight.
He even does like a hand whisper over his mouth like,
Hey, let me let you know, I get to sleep at home tonight.
And one thing I noticed about this scene for the first time
is that Krusty is clearly not playing the guitar
and it's not an animation mistake or just poor timing. And one thing I noticed about this scene for the first time is that Krusty is clearly not playing the guitar.
And it's not an animation mistake or just poor timing.
In fact, the guitar is still going when he lifts his hand up to his mouth to do the little aside.
I get to sleep at home tonight, which is, it's fun.
But I just noticed now, like, oh, he's not even doing it.
Well, Krusty's that fake.
I never noticed that before, but I guess it was intentional.
It's like lip syncing, but with a guitar.
And Krusty is all dressed in black which is a reference to johnny cash and this is specifically a reference to his live from
folsom prison album that he did though he also did a tv special he didn't do so he did an album
but not a tv special from folsom prison then he did a sequel from San Quentin, which was a live show showing
the prisoners in the audience. So this is kind of a mashup of them. Krusty Song, clearly a reference
to the Folsom Prison Blues, which here is Johnny Cash singing that song at Folsom Prison.
Hello, I'm Johnny Cash. No!
I hear the train a-comin'
It's rollin' round the bend And I ain't seen the sunshine since
I don't know when
I'm stuck in Folsom Prison
And time keeps dragging on
I love that song so much.
The parody is so pitch perfect too.
Yeah.
Perfect.
The slugsome guy in Tahoe
instead of shot a man in Reno.
It's classic.
But it's important to note
that Johnny Cash
had not gone to prison
at that point.
He was arrested
for I think smuggling drugs
into Mexico
or out of Mexico.
Pills.
Yeah.
He was arrested but never put in jail. And apparently that song Folsom Prison Blues arrested for i think smuggling drugs into mexico or out of mexico pills yeah uh he was he was
arrested but never put in jail and apparently that song fulsome prison blues was recorded in 1955
and it is a very like boring white guy album to like but i do like it i love it it's like you
can just smell the men it's like it just smells sweaty and you can just hear it just so raucous
i'm not a boring white guy and i still love that album. It's so good.
I'll allow it.
The Folsom Prison Blues, I most recently heard it
being performed by a guy at the farmer's market
which is not very appropriate.
But it was still cool
and I'm glad I get to talk a little bit
about Johnny Cash because I wasn't on the
Space Coyote episode.
People were asking, where's Nina?
I know, where's Nina?
I want to talk about
Greystone Chapel
because that's also
from the Life from
Folsom Prison album.
It's one of the more
interesting stories
to come out of there
because it was earned
by a prisoner
called Glenn Shirley
and Cash received
a recording of it
the night before the show
and he's like,
I got to perform this,
which he did,
but unfortunately
when he performed it,
he named the guy
and that did not make him very popular
to the other inmates.
Oh, no.
In fact, it was probably like when Reverend Lovejoy
praises Bob at the church later in this episode.
Wow.
I wonder if that's intentional.
But I didn't know that part of the story.
Same here.
Yeah.
So he had a hard time in prison due to that.
And then when he got out,
he did not have a good time um in society
afterwards and he committed suicide ultimately but then johnny cash paid for his burial oh that's
great that's good at least yeah man the the joaquin phoenix movie leaves that out just love any call
back to johnny cash i wonder if they were writing this while they were trying to get johnny cash to
play this bass coyote cash on the brain which one ran into the other? Well, you know they wanted Bob Dylan first.
Maybe when they got Johnny Cash,
we should then start with the Johnny Cash thing.
I guess it just came organically
because they needed to have Sideshow Bob
in there somewhere.
The prison thing fits.
Yeah, that's true.
And Krusty.
So it makes sense
if you have a celebrity at the prison.
I saw Walk the Line when it came out.
I don't remember a damn word of it,
but I'm glad Walk Hard came out of that. It was a parody way too smart for its audience,
and it didn't do well at all. But it's so good, and the music is so good too. And John C. Reilly
is amazing in that movie. What I liked about Walk the Line compared to, say, Ray, was that
Joaquin Phoenix sings the songs in there, as opposed to in Ray, when Jamie Foxx does everything,
he's playing the piano for real, but they just play, they overdub him with the original songs.
It's like when Marty McFly performs at the dance. It's like, whose voice is that?
So, you know, I kind of like the authenticity more in Walk the Line, where Joaquin Phoenix
actually sings the songs. Though it's also kind of distracting, authenticity more in Walk the Line where Joaquin Phoenix actually sings the songs.
Though it's also kind of distracting because you're like, well, I'm watching a cover band here of a guy imitating Johnny Cash while it's an Oscar-worthy imitation.
But it's Oscar nomination worthy.
And in 2018, we don't have Cash, Hope, or Job.
So I'd have to say that again.
This also is a very speedy.
They talk about how they deleted.
Actually, Ken Keeler is so excited on the commentary to find out one of his
deleted scenes is on the DVD,
but this is such a fast episode.
They,
they have to cram in so much.
And so that includes getting to sideshow Bob immediately and having him
recap himself right there.
Hey,
Hey,
it's my old TV sidekick sideshow Bob.
Why?
I haven't seen you in years.
What have you been doing with yourself, Bob?
Well, Krusty, as you may remember,
after I tried to frame you for armed robbery,
I tried to murder Selma Bouvier.
Let's see, I rigged the mayoral elections,
I tried to blow up Springfield with a nuclear device,
and I tried to kill you.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
And whenever I could find a spare moment,
I've tried to murder Bart Simpson.
Ha, ha, ha, ha!
He said tried.
Someone should
really go up there and talk to him.
Ah.
Oof.
Homer.
Oh, all those stairs.
Oh, you have nothing to worry about, honey.
Your mother's right, Bart.
Sure, you're the one who ruined all of Sideshow Bob's criminal scheme.
We're very proud of you, by the way.
And sure, he's probably so insane with rage that he'd butcher you horribly if he could.
But he's safely locked away.
In a medium security prison.
For life.
Unless he gets out somehow.
Which is impossible.
Or so you think.
Except he's done it so many times before.
Usually the device to explain who Bob is to the viewer is Homer being stupid.
Like, oh, sideshow Bob.
But now it's just Bob directly talking to the audience about all he's been up to.
And this time Homer remembers everything and is actually kind of proud of Bob.
It's like, you know what?
He's done a lot this sideshow, Bob guy.
Is medium security prison actually a thing?
I don't think so.
I think it's either just minimum or regular or maximum.
I guess there's maximum security, minimum security, and I guess the in-between is medium, I suppose.
It's just normal.
Yeah.
Normal security.
Yeah, I never heard the term medium security prison before this episode.
I also think that Bob got off pretty lightly for attempting to mass murder
the entire town with a stolen nuclear device from the government like that's
just instant treason death penalty right we never really hear what his sentence was
march says he's in there for life oh life got it yeah he did try you're right and there's there's
no award for attempted chemistry is there and i love crusty's reaction like, yeah, yeah, I remember.
It's like, I tried to kill you.
And so when you know the secret of this episode and that Bob actually feels bad about it,
he's not proudly listing his schemes or saying it to threaten Krusty or Bart.
He's saying it to be like, yes, these are the things I did.
That's all in the past.
There's a lot of things he says in this episode. The way way he delivers his lines it makes no sense when you know that he's
innocent there's a point are you saying it's so ominously there's a point during his explanation
where crusty pulls the mic away and he pulls it back like no i'm not done yeah that is great too
not meaning it as a reference but i've I've definitely seriously said all those stairs in real life.
I couldn't remember which episode it was
until this happened.
I was like, yes, it's great.
I thought it was Sherry Bobbins in my memory
until we got to this one.
There are many scenes of someone telling Homer
to go upstairs and comfort someone
and him complaining about it.
He hates it for every...
I also thought all those stairs
was when Marge sends Larry Burns and Homer
out the door.
Right, yeah.
I live in the third floor of my building, but oftentimes I'll use the stairs because that can be faster than using the elevator.
Waiting for the elevator and then taking up there can take a while.
Yeah, my apartment complex, it takes a little bit of time, too.
I'll take the stairs down, up with something in my hands and i'm like i'll wait
for this elevator i uh all those stairs mentality then enters into my brain we get a really nice
smash cut of the next scene here and sideshow bob is an unstoppable killing machine i once was lost, but now am found.
Was blind, but now I see.
Well, that was lovely, Robert.
You other cons could benefit from his shining example.
Not really, Reverend.
Your praise is going to get me beaten up.
Oh, I'm sorry, Bob, but your transformation is truly inspiring.
Yes, I'm a good, good man.
You know, it's hard to believe this model prisoner could be the same monstrous fiend who once ran for mayor.
It's a pleasure to have recommended you for the work release program. Me?
I'm touched.
I really am.
But you'll never find anyone willing to hire a five-time loser like me.
I already have.
It's funny that out of all the crimes for Lovejoy to underline, he underlines running for mayor.
Not the same monster who tried to kill the Simpsons or tried to blow up the town.
I love that.
I noticed that this time. That misdirect is great.
Yeah.
And the way he just like inhales quickly to be like,
think of that line I just said, ran for mayor.
Anyway, I kind of want to see more of the friendship between Timothy Lovejoy
and Bob Terwilliger too.
But again, the great mislead, which Bob should not have this intention of,
yes, I'm a good man.
Yeah, it's so great!
Because it makes, it's the show
fucking with you! He's just saying
that and then they play his music like, no, he's
not, no, he's not. Oh, I guess it gets
worse. It really does.
And they also
get Kelsey singing out of
the way early. They're like, well, we gotta have him
sing all the time.
Don't we? He's Sideshow Bob.
His voice is amazing.
Originally, later in the episode,
it didn't take place at a dam.
It took place at an opera house.
So I imagine they wanted more singing in there.
That sounds like a Ken Keeler touch.
More of a Frasier-y touch, too.
Exploding opera house.
But they probably would have tried to cram in too
many songs in there i'm glad they went with the damn because it allows more of these snobs versus
slob stuff that makes a great frazier episode as well that's what's so special about frazier
is that in slobs versus snob stuff you're almost always the heroes are the slobs but on fraser it is no you're with the
snobs and you can't wait for these your heroes to be humiliated on some level through their snobbery
i might be getting ahead of myself but in fraser it's niles who looks down on fraser
because fraser does a radio call in therapy show and niles uh looks down upon that he calls it
his mctherapy yes yeah The drive-through window of therapy.
It's kind of the opposite in this episode.
That's true. He always looked... Well, in both cases, Bob and Frasier are entertainers,
and Cecil and Niles look down on that, but actually are jealous of it.
That's a good point. Yeah, in Niles' case, multiple times he's taken over the
show in Frasier's place, and he likes it. So, I think it's a good, most things for Niles are
driven by jealousy, I think. Niles has a better job at his job too, I believe, at Frasier's job.
Yeah, I think so. Though Niles makes more money on his private practice, I think.
Do we ever see Niles practicing psychiatry?
We always see Fraser doing it, but...
There were a few.
Okay.
Do we ever see his office?
I think he has an office in his house.
I think we've been to his house a couple times and have seen his office there.
Just like on Growing Pains.
Well, I built another set.
Well, hey, let's stop talking about Cecil and hear from him.
Cecil?
Is it really you?
Hello, brother.
I'm happy to see you.
But it's been ten years.
We haven't spoken since the...
Unpleasantness?
You mean Arthur Fiedler's wake?
No, no, no.
I mean our falling out.
Oh, that. That's ancient history.
Let's make a fresh start. Come work for me.
But this is wonderful.
You do know I used to have a...
problem with trying to kill people.
Goodness, I had no idea.
For you see, I have been on Mars for the last decade,
in a cave, with my eyes shut and my fingers in my ears.
Touché, Cecil.
I'm aware of your felonious past, but you are still my brother,
and blood is thicker than bread and water.
You don't have to worry about me, brother.
I'm all murdered out.
Praise the Lord.
So Ken Keillor is just writing Frasier fanfic for about half the episode, but it's great.
There were three Simpsons writers who wrote for Frasier.
That's right.
Jay Kogan was one of them.
David Isaacs and Ken Levine.
Yeah.
Jay Kogan did the first Sideshow Bob episode, too.
But none of them worked on this episode.
No, they'd gone on by that time.
I think what happened, in the case of Jayay kogan he and his writing partner partner wally
walidarski they just they had signed a deal a production deal after leaving simpsons but nothing
really came of it and i think they just like professionally split and kogan just took on
whatever you know staffed up on a writing on a writing staff somewhere and walidarski directed
sorority boys oh god we've been over this though yeah
by the way the pronunciation of the name cecil or cecil how do you say it i only hear this come up
when people play final fantasy 4 i always said cecil because of this show when playing exactly
yeah i i said cecil because uh he was named for cecil fielder but uh the character the character
on final fantasy yeah i didn't know that well well
shit then we got to call him cecil yeah but i mean cecil is more of the the high class
pronunciation actually they talk about it on the commentary like there was a a cecil cecil
decision to be made he had to choose one or the other well it's funnier it makes it all the
funnier when wiggum shows up and calls him Cecil at the end. It works.
It lets you know that's the low class stupid way of saying it, apparently.
Actually, I looked up where the name comes from,
and it's derived from the old Welsh name Cecilt.
It's like S-E-I-S-Y-L-L-T,
derived from the Roman name Sextilius,
which sounds like something Zapp Brattigan would come up with.
Oh, yeah. It's like sexlexia
actually
the reason why
super deep
reference time
everybody
the reason why
Cecil in Final Fantasy 4
is named after
Cecil Fielder
is because
the Hanshin Tigers
signed him
in 1988
oh my god
so he went over
to Japan
wow
yeah and he was
a big star over there
so that's why
secret sports nerdery?
Oh, yeah.
I mean, the battle system in Final Fantasy is referenced.
It was based on F1 racing.
Wow.
Oh, no.
I think sports on my video games.
Yeah, yeah.
And football.
Man, I didn't know he played for the Honshin Tigers.
They're my Japanese baseball team favorite only because Urusi Yatsura, the lead character of that
Lum, who has tiger print bikini, she has done, they've made like mashup toys for her and
the Hanshin Tigers.
So.
God, this is, uh, Frasier and Weeby stuff is happening on the same episode.
Um, actually it's Urusei Yatsura.
I'm sorry.
Yeah.
Urusei.
Uh, Arthur Fiedler.
Yes.
He was a conductor for the Boston Pops Orchestra.
Died in 79.
It's not really anything, but it's just like, this is something that Frazier and Niles would
go to.
They would go to the wake for a famous conductor because they are those kind of people.
So, I think I figured out, though, why they would call that unpleasantness. It is because they are such snobs that they would look down upon Arthur Fiedler as the
conductor of the Boston Pops, because that is orchestral versions of pop songs, which
a couple of snobs like the Terwilliger brothers would definitely look down upon.
That is true.
I assume something bad happened at the wake, but I also like that. Yeah, looked up arthur fielder on wikipedia there's this line that says
fielder was sometimes criticized for over popularizing music that son of a bitch how dare
he music is trendy these days it shouldn't be it's all thanks to fielder or fiedler i i love
cecil's niles s delivery of like oh really because i've been living on mars
like it's just ultra snarkiness at bob is so great and in from the beginning you can hear him
him say for me you'll be working for me he even says it there just so he lets bob knows what his
place is and that is below his little brother bob gets
released and the reaction from the town is very fitting because now he has tried to kill everyone
in springfield he has not just tried to kill bart and crusty and the simpsons family but the entire
city of springfield but this speech is wonderful by bob here How can you even think of releasing Sideshow Bob?
He's just faking it to get out of jail.
He's a maniac.
Bob is no maniac.
He explained his reasons for trying to kill us
all, and I assure you, they
were perfectly sane.
My friends,
please. I make
no secret of my past,
but isn't our system of justice based on the idea that a man can change?
I have the boys check into that
I know I don't deserve another chance
But this is America
And as an American, aren't I entitled to one?
Probably
Can't you find it in your heart just to let me live and work in peace?
So that probably is David Hyde Pierce.
That is my controversial thing here.
I think it sounds like Hank Azaria.
Absolutely.
Yeah, sorry, please go ahead.
No, no, you were bringing it up.
On the commentary, they say it's David Hyde Pierce.
Yeah, they say on the commentary it's David Hyde Pierce.
I had always believed that for the longest time,
that it was that too.
And I bet he recorded it in the studio.
But I think they wanted, they changed it and re-recorded it.
I think on the commentary, Kelsey Grammer remembers that David Hyde Pierce recorded
that probably.
And Josh Weinstein is not going to interrupt the commentary to say, we actually re-recorded
it with Hank Azaria.
I want to say that there was a temp track because David Hyde Pierce was not there when
they needed him to be, and he came in later to record his lines. Maybe Hank Azaria stood
in for certain things. And that is the take they use. He might have recorded probably,
but if they were so close that someone couldn't tell and the editor couldn't tell, then maybe
they just selected Hank on accident thinking it was David because it's three syllables.
But to our trained ears,
it definitely sounds like Hank Azaria.
Nina, please, please weigh in on this.
We're not crazy, right?
I have opinions on this.
Probably.
I feel like it's a Mandela effect
because I knew that David Hyde Pierce
wanted to do a background voice like that
and they said that he did that.
So in my head,
I always remember David Hyde Pierce's voice saying that.
But then when I rewatched it last night, I was like, that doesn't sound like David Hyde Pierce at all.
I'm thinking maybe it's him, but they pitched it up so it doesn't sound like Cecil.
Well, I have it isolated.
Oh my God, Henry.
We're through the looking glass, people.
So listen to this here and is this hank is area or is this david hyde
pierce doing a voice because david hyde pierce could be doing a voice that isn't the standard
voice you hear from him aren't i entitled to one probably aren't i entitled to one probably
that's hank's area entitled to one probably that's hank'saria yeah sounds like hank it really does it but so my theory is that
david hyde pierce did record that but they went with a hank azaria one and they simply on the
commentary did not correct kelsey grammar because he's their big famous guest or they they think it
is david hyde pierce they could just be like it's one word it's probably him and the editor
might have thought like oh this take is better is better. I won't tell them.
Or this take is David Hyde Pierce, but it's actually Hank.
I wish it was David Hyde Pierce.
I could totally imagine him saying that one word.
With so much energy.
It would have been funny.
But that is so Hank's area on the track.
We're going to talk to Bill Oakley soon.
We're going to shake him by his lapels and say, tell us.
Yeah, I want to hear the lost David Hyde Pierce track probably now.
But in that sequence, there's two great sign gags or like text gags in it I love.
One, the newspaper headline, Maniac to Live in Brother's Apartment.
And the other one, Crime Yes, Criminals No.
Well, I like the sign gag before that, which is, please only visit your convict.
Oh, that's a good one.
I like your making mistakes yes so many great sign gags there they just go right by i this almost feels like foreshadowing for
wiggum's uh disregard for the law but when he wants to check with the police that's that that's
not what the prison system is for to rehabilitate people i love that line and it's great how quickly
bob flips the crowd in fact in the shot of them leaving the prison in the car someone who's
already painting proud home of sideshow bob on springfield sign like he immediately wins them
over to the point where someone is painting that on the town sign uh then we get another great like
anti-mystery moment of bart you hear the classic Bob theme,
the Cape fear theme,
and it's Bart watching in horror.
And you think the theme is for you,
but it's like,
it's about,
it's not about how Bob got away with something.
It's how Bart sees the whole situation.
That's why the music is playing.
And then when he,
he says that if only you could hear his internal,
what he's thinking
right now that's when you that should be the moment to the audience like no he's he's he's
innocent these bob bob has no plans he's he's he's a changed man he's thinking about shampoo
which i've never really i've never prized a shampoo so much that i would be sad if it went
out of print i was gonna ask if like what kind of shampoo do you like, and do you care at all?
What kind of shampoo do you use, either of you?
I do care.
I will keep buying the same one.
My shampoo of choice, if the listeners would like to know,
is Head & Shoulders Straight Shampoo.
You're just admitting you have dandruff now, Henry.
No, I don't.
Selsun Blue.
Are you shitting for them?
Well, it's the green apple scent, too. I just like that. I like sc. Selsun Blue. Are you shilling for them? It's the green apple scent too.
I just like that. I like scented shampoos.
Bob? Fans of me know I have thick, luxurious
hair, so only the best are my locks.
And I use Aussie Mega Moist
formula and conditioner.
Mega Moist? Wow.
Nina, what about you since we're sharing shampoos
here? Well, I have incredible horse
strength hair, so it doesn't really matter, but
I go with a
treys ma line that adds weightless volume nice do you ever feel like indulging in like the really
good stuff like the good shampoo and then you see the price you're like nah i'll stick to my three
dollar bottle i i do get fancy haircuts uh when i get my haircut and they do use the good shampoo
and it feels so good but it's also they try to sell it to you when you're done you're like that's
80 oh yeah that's 80 dollars i know they're trying to push that stuff on you they're like pushers
still on you were cursed they gotta upsell you you gotta try this and this and this and
i whenever i get my haircut which is not very often that's why it's so long they'll say like
oh i'm gonna use this product in your hair and you'll be feeling really nice and i'm just like
okay yeah yeah like i don't care because i don't even ask for uh hair drying or like ironing anymore because it's just gonna get messed up as soon as i wash it
anyway it's just like time wasted i just want to get out of there once my haircut is done yeah i
want to end all the small talk trying to explain what podcasts are talking that's the worst i have
total salon anxiety yeah no that's why i get a haircut about once a year
i the last one was in december and uh my uh very effeminate hair cutter joked that he was shaving
a wookiee when he was cutting my hair which i was like okay i've never seen you with really long
hair you know i never get it is certainly not uh my hair can't compare to your length of hair, Nina.
But I usually, I will go with it until it's past my shoulders.
And at that point, I'm like, no, I just, because it's just wild.
I don't do anything with my hair.
I just let it get really long and just kind of push it to the sides out of my face.
Actually, we're about to go recording this ahead of our LA podcast trip that you're going to hear it after we're back.
I am considering getting a haircut before the LA trip.
Bob, do you think I should?
Do it.
Okay.
At least before the live show.
I've been thinking about cutting my hair.
I feel like it's too long sometimes.
Is it hard to deal with that kind of length?
It really is.
I mean, people listening to this can't tell, but it goes down to nearly my butt.
Wow. because like I mean people listening to this can't tell but it like goes down to nearly my butt wow yeah and um I like keeping it long because when I do uh when I do muay thai if my hair is short it's hard to keep it out of my face but if it's long I can just braid it all up in several
braids and tie it back and that's perfect when it's shorter though it's it's harder that's the
only thing keeping me from cutting it short sideshow bob should value his shampoo as well
because he has quite a lot of hair yeah god uh so when we come back from the commercial break
we basically get a scene from fraser which they are so upfront with it with a title card so i
guess if you haven't seen fraser this would confuse you but every act begins with a title card with like a clever thing written on it now make yourself at home
perhaps a glass of bordeaux i have the 82 chateau de tour and a rather indifferent rose on segla
i've been in prison cecil i'll be happy just as long as it doesn't taste like orange drink
fermented under a radiator that would be to the tour then. That's just a scene
from Frasier.
It really is, yeah.
And Ken Keeler...
Super indulgent.
Apparently,
Ken Keeler
bought and read
an entire book on wine
to write that one joke
and he proudly expensed it
at the end of the year.
That's funny.
I'm not a wine guy.
I mean, hey,
if you give me
free wine,
I'll drink it for sure.
But my favorite wines are the ones that, much like beer beer are the ones that taste least like the thing they are
like a rosé or chardonnay i like wine that tastes like dirt and wood i'm not even kidding
super dry yeah yeah i'm not even kidding yeah i'm not super into the sweet stuff and i'm glad that
i'm not snobby about wine i could drink an $11 bottle and that's totally fine with me.
I think a $100 bottle would be totally wasted on me.
Pearls before swine.
Yeah.
No, that's how I felt at my mom's wedding to my stepdad a few years ago.
She, one of her high school friends growing up, owns a napa valley winery and so she just she kind of catered the place with
wine and just brought like a dozen or so bottles of their wine and that was the most i'd ever drank
wine just to be like well it's all free and it's so good glug glug glug like i i like red wine fine
enough but you know guys i have a sweet tooth compared to compared to you it's true like i
think i'm not a wine snob and I don't really drink wine that often,
but I can definitely tell at this point the difference between a $15 bottle
and, like, Carlo Rossi in a box or jug.
But that's as far as it goes.
Like, anything more than, like, $20, I just wouldn't know.
Okay, I don't drink boxed wine.
I did some wine research for this, actually.
Oh, really?
So, yeah, Chateau Latour, 1982.
I looked up how much that costs.
Maybe it was less expensive
back when this episode was made,
but I saw it being priced at $1,730.
Ooh, I'm guessing it was still pricey 20 years ago.
Yeah, Chateau Latour, 2001 is $670.
Still up there, but not as insane as nearly $2,000.
I looked up wine reviews. Man, there's
so much purple prose in there.
As you can imagine. Oh boy.
Like the notes and the forward and
all the mouthfeel.
Spit it in a bucket when you're done.
Yeah, they probably didn't even
drink it. So the Chateau La Tour
1982, one of my favorite reviews
was, one of my all-time favorite Bordeaux, massive but elegant, explosive but complex.
In short, a paradox wrapped in an enigma.
Oh my god.
So this wine is Nelson?
That's very similar to bad video game reviews I've read.
It's so, they're the same.
Okay, yeah, so I was also looking for
low-scoring reviews for wine to see what they're like.
I couldn't find any
for the Chateau Latour. I guess it's too premium.
But the Chateau Rosan
Segla, it's
merely $105.
So yeah, real prison wine there.
And
on December 31st,
2012,
DavidF90210 wrote 88 points lame oh man harsh harsh that's kind of the only review he left on the site i want that in a magazine just one word on
the page lame uh yeah but it's 88 points out of 100 that's still pretty high yeah i guess it's 88 points out of a hundred that's still pretty high yeah i guess it's like game scores
nah i just love the idea of upper class uh wine tastings being this high society thing when
everyone's just spitting into a pail and i like a good wine tastings you just drink the wine like
when my mom came out here we went to napa valley and my mom was like i can't eat i can't drink this
much wine so she gave me all of her wine like halfway through the trip and i got fucking hammered oh my god it was a good wine it was good wine yeah
it was really good wine so um yeah are there a lot of wineries down there oh yeah like napa
valley isn't too far from us and that's sort of like one of the more famous wine areas in america
yeah though uh they technically can't make champagne because it's not from the champagne we've seen wayne's world yes
yes okay but uh you know this is the first time i've thought thought about this headcanon here but
how could cecil afford all that stuff on his salary i think he's been embezzling for a long
time before this plan i don't know engineers make a lot of money i guess a lot but he has like a
wine he has like a wine
cellar in his apartment. It's also an
apartment in Springfield. I guess that's
low on the totem pole. It's not
like a high rise in Seattle where you
can somehow see the Space Needle.
That's impossible from where they are.
It's like in Japan where everywhere
you are you see Mount Fuji. Yep.
And the Tokyo Tower. And some
Sakura trees no matter what season
uh i gotta give credit to alf clausen too for that orchestration of a frazier style simpsons
music was oh yeah that was perfect i wanted them to like draw the springfield skyline
like how frazier does that with seattle and i found out cooling towers yeah i found out it's
a different color every season they changed the
color of the line I
didn't know that wow
I'm looking for all
Ukraine heads out there
we had a quick cut to
Bart praying for the
death of Sideshow Bob
which I agree with
Homer but really Bart
should turn to
witchcraft if he wants
to pray for death don't
don't don't ask God I
agree we have another
this are you saying
kids turn to
witchcraft, Henry?
I'm just saying.
I mean...
It gets better results.
I fully endorse this plan.
It is almost Halloween.
It's okay to say things like that.
Turn your back on God, listeners.
So we have this amazing Bob and Cecil scene.
I have in two parts here.
Their dinner is amazing.
More Frasier fanfic.
Well, I suppose I should ask you what you do if I'm to be working
with you. For me, Bob.
For me. I am Springfield's
chief hydrological and hydrodynamical
engineer. Hydrological
and hydrodynamical. Talk about
running the gamut. Snigger all you
like, Bob. Thank you. I believe I shall.
But you'll find one
gets more respect as a humble civil servant
than as a homicidal maniac or a clown's sidekick.
Aha! I knew it. You're still angry that Krusty picked me instead of you.
I can't imagine what you mean.
Oh, come now. You wanted to be Krusty's sidekick since you were five.
What about the buffoon lessons? The four years at clown college?
I'll thank you not to refer to Princeton that way.
The point is, you obviously still blame me for what happened at your audition.
I forget we get, oh, come now.
Oh, really?
Not anymore.
It's probably just straight up Frasier.
Yeah, yeah.
Now, this is exactly the, so many Frasier episodes have Niles saying, I don't know what you mean.
And then Frasier's like, oh, come on,
you all remember what happened in seventh grade. And then we get amazing Sideshow Bob lore that
was never explored before, which is another Oakley and Weinstein touch. Like, what is the
story behind X? And they tell the story. I love that. I love Cecil, Alpha, Ing, Bob.
And then we also get some more Ivy Leaguer-y here, which with Princeton.
So we already had them bad-mouthing Yale because it's all Harvard writers writing the show.
So they make Bob a Yale-y.
Cecil also has to go to the Ivy League, but he has to go to the one.
Like Princeton is jealous of Yale and Yale is jealous of Harvard.
But like Harvard is the top.
So Princeton is just, there has to be one rung below Yale there.
And so I,
I think Princeton is a very clever choice.
And,
uh,
I,
at least according to the wikis,
uh,
maybe Nina can confirm this or not for me in the Frazier verse.
Huh?
Niles is a Yale graduate and went to Cambridge in England.
And then meanwhile,
Frazier went to Harvard.
So that is their background
in the Frazierverse.
Yeah, I think you're right.
I think that's one of the reasons
why Niles looks down on Frazier.
Well, because he went to,
I mean, there's American Ivy League
and then there's going to an English,
like being a Rhodes Scholar.
That's above the Ivy League.
Ivy is so much higher quality over there.
They've been growing it longer.
But God,
I'm calling Princeton Clown College.
I love that. And the buffoon lessons.
And in the flashback
to how Bob got hired by Krusty,
we do see a nice older grab
for a character.
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There's Miss Penny Candy, Krusty's formerly kind of heartbroken assistant who's sort of
pining for him, but he's very difficult with her.
The lost secretary, Miss Penny Candy.
And God knows the last time she appeared.
Probably, boo, boo.
I have no idea.
They might have done a whole episode about her at this point god i think they just secretly killed her
off maybe maybe lisa the beauty queen i think she might be in the background of bark gets famous
okay yeah but not speaking well okay so she was in bart the fig she did appear there
and in i guess she was at the funeral that's where penny candy was silently and she's
silent here too she also oh i think she dates apu in the two miss nahasa pima pedalons when he's
uh on his uh raw dog and bitch oh that was disgusting i'm sorry so when when oh henry but when, Oh, Henry. And, uh, and then in GI annoyed grunt,
that was her most recent appearance,
which,
uh,
what season was that?
And she's in the Simpsons movie.
I'm sure she's like,
just,
it's,
it was,
that was 12 years ago.
I don't think any of these are speaking roles,
by the way.
I think her last speaking role was crusty gets canceled.
I don't remember her dating a poo at all.
Or she maybe was just in the audience of,
of single women glaring at mo that could also
be he could be but yes it was a nice poll and also for some reason uh a guy that looks like
bobby the dean from homer goes to college is really i think they just were pulling random
characters that guy that guy looks cool let's let's get him in this he looks like he'd be a
network guy who'd approve of a person applying so the flashback is so great i i love also they
cut into it with cecil's whimpering which really lets you appreciate his face and like how he looks related to bob but
he has his own specific features to his glowering face like i love his kind of upturned crescent
nose crescent moon nose to bob's kind of like more waterfall type nose i'd say his design is so good
and it's obviously based off David Hyde Pierce.
Yes.
But it works so well for some reason.
I mean, Sideshow Bob looks nothing like Kelsey Grammer,
but somehow they made Sideshow look somewhat like David Hyde Pierce,
and it just works so well.
I had read that David Hyde Pierce was first just hired
just because he looks like he would be Kelsey Grammer's brother.
Yeah, that's exactly what happened.
You have thinning hair too.
Frasier doesn't have or didn't have a brother in Cheers lore.
Like he said, he was an only child.
They weren't planning on a brother character at all for Frasier.
But then the casting director found David Hyde Pierce and she brought a photo of him
and was like, we got to use this guy as a brother or something.
I mean, look at him.
And they were like, oh oh my god it looks just
like kelsey grammar and that's how they they created the character of niles in cheers lore
isn't his dad dead and they hit he has a child with uh lilith frederick still exists in the
he's a deadbeat dad oh he is he does say that his dad is dead uh at one point in cheers but they also
uh explain that in fraser uh when uh sam malone
visits seattle and they do a whole episode about him he sees fraser's dad and says i thought you
said he was dead and fraser said like oh we had an argument that day i like i see they they care
about their own reality there they talk their way out of it but the brother thing was totally retcon
they didn't explain that at all i didn't realize until doing some phrasal research this time that how
humorously they named the episodes when a cheers character would come back i think they just called
them the story where sam returns or the one or comes to town like they they were just up front
about it like okay we're trying to goose the ratings with this with a cheers guest appearance
it's just over and over again what they're trying to do i'm sure you guys brought this up but uh in
fear of flying it's so weird when they had that whole cheer scene but they didn't have kelsey
grammar yeah that was odd i'm sure they could get a maybe just like well it'd be weird to have
sideshow bob's voice coming out of another character that's true it's by the way fraser
as a show does exist in the simpsons universe is there are they
watching it oh yeah the dog from fraser's gonna ride the dolphin from sequels oh my god from uh
the boy who knew too much wow man and in a future episode i don't know which season but i think uh
homer says something like he says such a bob sounds just like fraser from cheers fraser from
fraser and uh fraser from down paris no not frazier whatever sergeant
from down periscope wow man i not that's one of the bob episodes i have not seen i wonder if bob
and cecil have seen frazier and we're kind of weirded out like they look just like us
that's that's an episode where the simpsons get a next door neighbor who looks just like bob
and bart is convinced that he's Sideshow Bob in disguise,
but the family won't believe him.
I haven't watched it.
I just saw it when I looked it up.
I love everything about this flashback here.
Thanks for driving me, big brother.
These giant clown mitts are extremely hilarious,
but they do make it difficult to shift gears.
That's the title of Irma Bombeck's latest, isn't it?
Number 73, you're next.
Make with a laugh laugh.
Hey, children, meet me, Sideshow Cecil. Next. I have prepared a pie in the face take.
All right, knock yourself out, kid. Hal? Free comedy tips,
Lick. The pie gag's only
funny when the saps got
dignity. Like that guy.
Hey, Hal, pie job for
Lord Autumnbottom there.
Oh, dear.
That guy's
a genius.
He's going to change the way we think about getting hit by pies.
Chumley, you're hired.
When that pie hit your face, I saw my dreams explode in a burst of cream and crust.
But I suppose I should thank you.
After all, it led me to my true calling. Cecil, no civilization in history has ever considered chief hydrological engineer a calling
Yes, yes, the Cappadocian's fine
So season 8 is teaching us a lot about the word dignity and how important it is
Dignity!
But what does it look like?
I think I've seen that Simpson shitpost of him saying
If he's got dignity like that guy And then it points to Kirk with the dignity picture.
So Bob references Irma Bombeck, and she was a humor columnist. She's been dead for about 24 years now, but she was sort of like a Dave Barry type, writing humorous columns that collected in books, and the books would have names like, if life is a bowl of cherries, what what am i doing in the pits and the grass is always greener over the septic tank um there you
go that's some peggy hill isms right there i think a lot of peggy hill's musings were based on
herma bombeck actually uh all i know about behavior i learned in loman's dressing room
yeah yeah that's our animal behavior i didn't do it justice r.i.p erma bombeck i can see why uh
bob terwilliger looks down on it i just want to call him fraser in this episode to see why fraser
looks down on erma bombeck but the this origin is great like it is pulled from those classic
stories you hear in hollywood of like a person who is cast in a role was just somebody's friend
who came to the audition and they're not the real
at there they weren't even planning to play this classic character that you would think i i there
was a similar story about that with like woody harrelson being cast as woody that's right and
that's the uh the star of grizzly man that guy timothy treadwell almost was cast in that same part and not getting that part and
losing it to woody harrelson is part of what drove him to become a quote-unquote animal expert and
woody harrelson still not eaten by a bear yet yep uh and joel hodgson mystery science theater
stole hodgson could have played woody but he didn't want to do any sitcoms oh yeah people
were shopping him around in the early 80s like this guy's hot let's let's get him in a sitcom
but he didn't want to be Woody.
He could have been.
You know, there were sitcoms to be on than Cheers.
But then he'd have been that forever and he wouldn't have had his own thing.
It's true, yeah.
I'm Mr. Science Theater in that universe.
By the way, there's a story that my friend and Simpsons comics writer Ian Boothby really should tell.
But when he was a teenager, he auditioned for a Canadian show,
like a small part in that show.
And this guy wasn't his friend, but this other guy got the part.
It was between him and this other guy.
And the other guy got the part.
And that guy's name was Keanu Reeves.
Oh, wow.
Wow.
What Canadian show?
I guarantee it was on Nickelodeon in the 80s.
Hanging In.
Wow. 1984. That's a little different. I guarantee it was on Nickelodeon in the 80s. Hanging In. Wow.
Team Client, 1984.
That's when I was born.
That was one of the shows Nickelodeon didn't buy from Canada to put on the air.
Yeah, I guess so.
I was thinking it was You Can't Do That on Television, but no, I didn't know.
Keanu Reeves being on that show would have been a trivia thing I'd know by this point.
I would recall him getting slimed.
I don't know.
Everyone knows about Alanis Morissette.
The Canadian accents on those shows,
when I rewatched any clips of it,
the Canadian accents on it are wild.
I don't know how I never noticed them as a kid.
I don't notice those things.
It's hard for me to pick out Canadian accents
until an American points it out and I listen closely.
I'm like, yeah, I guess I can kind of hear
a slight difference from
my American friends like do you think I have a
Canadian accent oh yeah
really I do
I mean maybe our listeners can weigh in but there
are some there are some like vowel shifts
I'm detecting I'm not offended I have
no idea what I sound like
I heard a little in your story
in the earlier in the episode
oh yeah I've been made fun of that before.
You're right.
Not by you guys.
By other people.
My cool American friends.
How do you say the word H-O-U-S-E?
House.
There you go.
What?
I just said house.
No, you said it right.
The correct American way.
Really?
I like too that you see that Show bob when he gets cast you see the hate that will eventually
lead him to framing crusty the clown but the adulation and positivity that first made him
take the job you're like so this is why bob did the job for as long as he did though he eventually
will come to hate it so much that he frames crusty the clown for armed robbery yeah i mean before
this it was you would always think,
why would Bob be in this role?
He's clearly not fit for this role.
But now you see,
this really fills, like, what's the last
puzzle piece in, I guess, for Bob?
I actually did know who the Cappadocians
were when this episode aired.
What? Well, it was because
thanks to good old tabletop
role-playing games. Oh my god. Inquerade, one of the vampire clans, aka races you play in the game, is the Cappadocians.
And they are known for being some of the oldest and most deathly looking of vampires
that have the biggest trouble fitting in in normal human society.
But boy, can they build a canal.
They've got a lot of old magic, that's their thing.
Not water-based, though, I won't say.
Were they based on the actual Cappadocians at all?
Yes, they're meant to be.
They're called that because they are a clan of vampires
who have been alive since that time and were part of that old civilization i feel like a jock right now wait so can you tell
us a bit about the cabot oceans well i i more so played as nosferatu the masquerade i mean real
cabot oceans oh no i know nothing about that apparently this is accurate uh they had to find
a civilization that would actually have built waterways and canals and stuff like that. So they did research.
Ken Keeler, I'm sure, was cracking the books, expensing war books.
They were known for making tons of underground cities, apparently.
Cappadocia is a region in Turkey, or what we now know as Turkey.
And one of their bigger cities goes down 60 meters.
And it was built large enough to hold 20 000 people
wow it's insane yeah it had things like like capitals and stables and wine presses even
that really is a calling man and you can visit the city too if you go there i think like half
of it is like off limits but still if you want to give a visit like a crazy underground society
there's no one living there right now i I think. Except for the mole people.
But we can talk about this
sometime.
We can have our next
live show there.
By the way,
the Vampire of the Masquerade,
isn't that the one where
you fight with
rock, scissors, paper?
No, no.
You use ten-sided die
in this one.
It's not a rock, paper, scissors.
Well, maybe in LARPing,
but this was tabletop.
Oh, I was thinking
the LARPing version.
Yeah, I think in LARPing you have to use rockop. Oh, I was thinking the LARPing version. Yeah, I think in LARPing, you have to use rocks as paper when you fight.
Yeah, you can't really roll dice in LARPing.
I never LARPed, I will say that.
Not that I'm judging.
Sorry, I thought you were a LARPing vampire.
No, no, it was a tabletop RPG.
I had a character sheet and my bag of ten-sided dice.
Because I was going to say, if you're the Cappadocian in Vampire the Masquerade,
could you only use rock?
Good old rock.
Nothing beats that.
Back to the Simpsons.
Well, so, we get another great scene of Bob
finding out what his job is.
There it is.
The future site of the Springfield Hydroelectric Dam.
Just the thought of all that raw, surging power makes me wonder why the hell I should care.
Because you'll be supervising the construction crew.
Oh, great. Whenever a woman passes by, I suppose it will be my job to lead the hooting.
Oh, yeah. Shake it, madam. Capital knockers.
Come on, Bob. This is your chance to show the people of Springfield you can hold down an honest job.
He's planning something evil.
I know it.
Must have something to do with the town's water supply.
Maybe he's going to pee in the river.
Nah, that's not his style.
Who is that?
What?
It's Bart Simpson.
Hello, Bart.
He's just a little shy because I've tried to kill him so many times.
I really enjoy that line reading from Milhouse.
It's just one line in the entire episode, he just screams it.
So maybe he's going to pee in the river.
Had to give it his all.
Speaking of only having one line,
so we just recorded Great School Confidential not too long ago, and Homer is barely in it.
Homer's barely in this one, too.
Yeah.
They just get a few jokes out of him.
It's kind of funny to see how much self-control they have that Homer doesn't take the show over.
It's a rare one nowadays when Captain Wacky doesn't completely take it over.
But I also love Cecil's quick, like, just is like, I understand.
Why the hell I should care?
I love that.
That's very much a nihilism.
Yeah, nihilism.
Nihilism, not nihilism.
That's different.
Yeah.
And we can't pass up capital knockers.
Capital knockers.
Shake it, madam.
I love Milhouse's reply, too, because it shows you why Bart and Lisa don't invite him on their mysteries.
Because they're just like, this is why you don't get to come.
You have nothing helpful to say.
We head back to the Pimento Grove last seen in A Fish Called Selma.
By the way, before we go on to that, have you ever been to a hydroelectric dam?
I have driven by the Hoover Dam, but I did not go inside it for a tour.
Even though I always dreamed of it after watching Beavis the Butthead do America but I did not go inside it for a tour, even though I always dreamed of it after watching
Beavis the Butthead do America.
I am not. It's not too far from you.
The Hoover Dam? Relatively.
I mean, it's a
drive. It's a bit of a drive.
But yeah, it's not too far. Have you?
I've taken a tour of the Hoover Dam.
It was okay.
I've also
been to Niagara Falls
and that place is crazy
because like you get up there and there's so much
static electricity in the air your hair
stands on its end
I want to check that out
that sounds the next time I'm in
upstate New York I'm going to check that out
I was only on the Canadian side apparently the American
side is better
I don't know how it's better I just hear from people like oh yeah the American side is better. Really? I didn't know there was a difference. I don't know how it's better.
I just hear from people like, oh, yeah, the American side is so much better.
You can bring your gun.
Not from Americans, but Canadians as well.
There's more stuff to do, I guess.
Bring your gun.
That was good.
Fire at the falls.
Apparently, the American side gets more electricity as well.
That's us.
We're taking the lion's share.
We claim the good side of the falls.
All the jerks are on the other side.
But yeah, the Pimento Grove, it's the Olive Garden of Springfield.
Oh, come on.
The Olive Garden?
No, well, I mean just in name.
Pimento, Olive Grove.
Oh, okay.
Got it, got it.
Oh, is that what it's a play on?
That's what I always say.
A grove is a garden and a pimento is an olive.
That makes sense, Henry, but it's such not an Olive Garden restaurant.
You're right. It's supposed to be a little ritzier than that but no the name
that's why it's called that it's a classier version oh you're right okay now it all makes
sense we've unlocked it all yeah and then edna krabappel is the hottest gal in town
and you only get one shot at her which uh she's she's a little roz-esque here too as well that
she's just like you know she enjoys a healthy sex life, and people judge her for that, which they shouldn't be.
I don't believe that you only get one shot with her, though.
I mean, Lionel Hutz had at least two, right?
He's a smooth talker.
Yeah.
He's the law-talking guy.
I also like that Edna was so excited about the date with Bob that she tells all the class about it and even where they're going. And that, yeah, Bart is getting a bit intense here with him chasing after Bob. But
I mean, it makes sense. He's tried to kill him five times.
It's a fun role reversal where the viewer is supposed to think, well, now Bart is the one
who's stalking Bob and Bob is innocent. But again, the curveball has not been thrown yet.
I think this next segment here, I think it's line of the episode,
don't you think? Yeah, it's all
so good. And I say this Bob line
every day. His reading is so
great.
That's the joke.
Hello, brother.
All's well, I trust? It most certainly
is not. The workmen you've
given me don't know their asses from the hole in the ground
they accidentally blew yesterday. Come now,
you speak as if they were a gaggle of slack-jawed
yokels. Mr. Terwilliger,
come quick. There's trouble
down to the cement mixer,
sir. See, Cousin Merle
and me was playing fetch with
Geach. That's our old smell
hound. And...
Geach gone to heaven, Mr.
Terwilliger.
Oh, Cousin Merle, really.
Temper, temper.
You know Cousin Merle ain't been quite right lately.
I'm telling you, Cecil, I can't take much more of this.
Rustic workmen who've turned the Sanijan into a smokehouse.
Coveralls that don't quite cover all.
And a psychotic little boy who will not stop hounding me this little boy right here
sometimes i wish this dam would burst and bury this cursed town oh god yeah so the mix of a high
and low class my favorite line of the show is oh cousin merle really i say that to all everyone at
all times every day when i when i'm outraged about something or disappointed.
That's like the best line to say in a Kelsey Grammer voice.
Yeah.
It's the perfect reaction of just like,
of barely contained rage in a person who's failed you.
He calls him Cousin Merle.
Cousin Merle.
I'm surprised Cousin Merle never came back.
Engage, don't go to to heaven Mr. Twillager
Also is it cement or cement
Which is the right pronunciation
It's cement but it's a real
Beverly Hillbillies touch
They called their swimming pool the cement pond
That's right
Dribble down to the cement mixture
It's also just great that they
Never before had a scene between
Bob and Slack John Yokel Eccles.
They're so funny together.
He's trapped with these low-class dudes who have their butts exploding out of their pants.
They're smoking meat in the porta-potty, which sounds disgusting.
That's part of Cecil cheaping out on the construction.
Oh, you know what?
You're right. It all makes sense according to his plan. Just the lowest skilled workers. disgusting oh that's part of cecil uh cheaping out on the construction oh you know what you're
right it all it all makes sense according to his plan just yeah the lowest skilled workers and also
if his plan is to torture his brother who he hates surround making him work directly with all these
slack john yokels definitely works there too he knows he's driving bob crazy it's all it's all an
intricate design by cecil to to really hurt his brother there it sees
he is quite the super villain in this episode as far as we know cecil isn't on site much
yeah he's just bob he's just collecting that money leaving it up to bob leaving it in an
open briefcase in the office that's his one failing as a planner it's a real uh
landly thing i don't know why i keep this lying around i was gonna say he didn't draw out his That's his one failing as a planner It's a real Lyle Landley thing
I don't know why I keep this lying around
I was going to say he didn't draw out his plans
At least he's lying Lyle Landley
That's his Princeton education
Coveralls that don't quite cover all
Cover all
And the sproing on it makes it even funnier
Why was he not wearing any underwear?
He's too simple for that.
He wouldn't wear, he ran out undies.
He doesn't have any.
And again, on the commentary, whenever they see an ass, they lament that they can't show an ass anymore.
This is recorded freshly after the Janet Jackson nipple gate that scandalized American broadcast television.
That single line that creates the ass crack is very obscene.
Oh, it's so disgusting.
And also just their geech, their old smell hound.
That is so funny.
Smell hound.
The poor, it's so funny, you forget to feel sad that a dog is dead.
Yeah, I normally don't like animal cruelty jokes,
but it is so outlandish and the stuff surrounding it is so hilarious.
I try to see if there's any case of a dog being covered in cement or concrete i couldn't find anything i found a cat covered
in concrete the cat's okay don't worry what really they shaved him yeah oh okay well good
apparently but they found him just in time he became an even stronger stone cats
no man can defeat they need grant which i think is from granite uh so bart and lisa are
not giving up on their search though bart tricks are thinking they're gonna go to dairy queen which
as somebody who likes to talk about dragon quest on twitter every time i tweet about dq somebody's
like i like dairy queens well i'm like i get it it's i'm tired of getting these dairy queen jokes
replies to my Dragon Quest.
As long as you're not one of those freaks who calls it Drakwe.
Drakwe?
No!
We're in America, Henry!
What about the people who would call it Dragon Warrior?
Oh, well, they can go to hell.
Bob, it's not just the weeby choice, but calling it Drakwe prevents people from saying Dairy Queen to you.
I will say there is a Simpsons reference
in Dragon Quest XI.
I haven't gotten to this yet.
There is?
When you try to steal,
one of the sound effects that plays
is the guy going yoink.
Oh, that's great.
Oh, man.
Nina, you play Final Fantasy XIV.
Every third quest is a Simpsons reference, right?
Oh, yeah.
It's so great.
I love the localizers of Final Fantasy XIV.
They have so many good references in there.
So many obscure Simpsons references.
One of them is just like,
one of them I think is called like Dial R for Regicide.
Yes, that's my favorite one.
I was going to bring that up.
Yeah.
Oh, so good.
Final Fantasy XV has a first annual Montgomery Burns Award
for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence.
Really? Wow.
Finally, our people are writing localizations.
When I worked on a localization project, I did put Simpsons lines in it.
This podcast is all about the overlap of the Venn diagram of Weebs and Simpsons fanatics.
That's what this show is.
I try to cram in Simpsons references whenever I can.
Actually, do you know the process of applying to be a localizer for Final Fantasy XIV?
Not just that, but any Square Enix localization job.
You got to know a guy?
No, you have to write essentially a fanfic.
That's part of the process.
Because you want to know if you can write prose well.
Interesting.
Or how well you know the lore.
Because that is important knowledge when localizing this stuff.
I actually recently made some Dragon Quest XI Simpsons memes.
Oh, neato.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
I've been retweeting those.
The slime slots
and how incomprehensible it is.
The Dragon Quest XI also has
incredible localization.
Like, there's a town that only speaks in haikus.
It's crazy.
I made a Dragon Quest XI Simpsons meme
about the horrible music in the game.
It's a reference to the Here are two
It's like here are two town themes
But there are a dozen towns in this game
Here are two town themes
That's better
I love that
This is the less popular of the two that I made
But one of the ones I made was
The whole family shouting at Marge
Doing the Rubik's Cube
And they're saying
Spin the middle slime goo eyes oh boy but uh in this case we're talking about dairy queen
and uh if the scene before this wasn't line of the episode this would be line of the episode for me
madam your children are no more than a pair of ill-bred troublemakers.
Lisa, too?
Especially Lisa.
But especially Bart.
If he crosses me one more time,
just once more,
well, I can't be held responsible for my actions.
Well, I hope Bob fed you
because I ate your dinners.
I know it's hard to accept, Bart, but face it.
Sideshow bob has changed
no he hasn't he's more the same than ever and i know where the evidence is there's only one place
it could possibly be bob's trailer at the construction site that's even better let's go
there what were you thinking the haunted mine god kelsey grammar is like choking on it's not like
especially but i love that line so
much i referenced that a lot actually uh especially after this especially after this episode came out
um i would say especially this but especially something else and that's one of those things
that makes you sound like a crazy person if they don't know what you're talking about
why are you saying it that way this person doesn't know how to use the word especially
ken keeler was saying uh that the page, it makes no sense.
It all comes out in the reading.
So they were happy Kelsey Grammer got it.
But we missed one ultra deep reference.
So when Bart and Lisa are rummaging through the dumpster, guess what, folks?
It's not a dumpster.
It's a Trash Co. waste disposal unit.
Dumpster rain is top of the line.
And Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein are huge season three fans.
So Trash Co co is prominently
displayed on the dumpster that's amazing isn't that great i totally missed that you're right
you're sorry it's the first time i caught that i was like they wouldn't just put trash co on that
for any other reason it's the green design the same as the auto was living in too wow so uh
cecil's also buying inferior waste disposal units to throw the garbage away in.
No, I might have drawn a dumpster, or not, a garbage disposal unit in a Bongo comic once.
And I probably put Trashco on there.
You've got to put Trashco on any kind of waste disposal unit.
People need to know that dumpster is a brand name, people.
It's not the name of it.
Respect brand names i had
this conversation with british people about how they call like a band-aid a plaster and i told
them like no you call it by the most popular product that the thing is that's what you call
it you don't call it a plaster come on don't stop saying cello tape it's weird yeah come on
it's scotch tape let's all make fun of the Scottish together.
Yeah, scotch tape.
It's cheap.
Just like scotch people.
I don't get pedantic over brand name versus generic name,
but I do find it weird how the South calls pop Coke,
no matter what it is.
It's the same way of thinking.
That's how we did in South, though.
I don't drink soda
so i did not have cause to order a coke because i wasn't drinking it anyway wait a minute nina
did you say pop no i you said pop it's on the recording uh no this has been recorded yes i
thought we had a nice chat about this episode no no no this is all being monetized but uh did
they say pop in canada yeah we say that up here okay okay yeah i had to get that out of my vocabulary because i was ridiculed for saying oh really i
don't know if it's all of canada it might just be a bc thing in ohio it's definitely pop interesting
yeah bart and lisa do some investigating which this is one of the silliest parts not just the
way sideshow bob says something the way no one would ever say
something of like your children are no more then a couple yeah same with like there's no reason for
him to bust into his own trailer so angrily that's great i love that they don't explain at all and
he just calmly opens the door lights are on yeah i well he seems to be mad of like who's in here
but i guess he's kind of at the end of his rope.
He's had a very tough like month working on this dam, I guess.
And it is funny.
He does have anger issues.
He really does.
And at the end of one of the investigation scenes, Bart promises Lisa they'll go to a
water slide.
And they kind of do at the end of this episode.
It's true.
Bart was as good as his word.
Bob catches Bart and Lisa and he ch chases after them who left the lights on
who's in here cleetus cousin merle big hungry joe
i think you may have spotted us
you too
be careful there's hydroelectricity in there
It's nice of Bob to warn them
It's showing that he is reformed
Big hungry Joe
That's another great reading
Everything sounds great when Kelsey Grammer says it
Any relation to mumbly Joe?
Mumbly Joe
They're both of the kind of horse apples type guys
What about big shirtless Ron?
Big shirtless Ron And Big Shirtless Ron.
And the second helping boys, too.
Well, we never saw Big Hungry Joe.
It's just a name.
And Pete Michaels and his team does an amazing kind of,
I don't want to say Scooby-Doo style chase,
but it's just such a great chase scene of them running from every direction possible.
It's very MC escher style staircases
going all over the place so many good layouts that you only see for a second each and that
action version of bob's theme song is so good yeah and i love the one the one like two second
shot of bob's head popping up into the frame as bart and lisa run behind it's very it is very
scooby-doo silly yeah i feel like hard days night should be yeah i could see that i wonder if they
had like a licensed song there and then instead of
yeah no let's just go with this. You need the classic Bob theme. And so he corners them without
intending to he corners them in a threatening manner. Give it up Bob we found the money.
Where did that come from? I've never seen that money before in my life. Then you must have had your eyes closed when you embezzled it. I told you, I'm not a criminal anymore. You want to know what I've
been up to? Here's a clue for you, Jack. 100,000 tons of reinforced concrete.
It's completely hollow. What happened to all the concrete?
You cut back on building materials and kept all the money for yourself.
That's what happened.
Get him, Lise!
I love that.
It's like a Batman cue, very briefly.
And Bob just holds her back gently.
Yeah, Lise attempted to punch Bob there.
It's basically me when my usual Muay Thai partners are around.
And of course to fight someone a foot taller than me
it's very Spaceballs I always
reference that or when Mr. Burns
is fighting that big guy and he says
you're going down my friend
I'm going to talk about me fighting people
oh that's funny
but my theory for this episode is
the first time I'm watching this my theory
is Bob breaking
the dam is what caused it to explode
later him like just pounding the concrete and then realizing it's all cheap and falling apart that is
like the catalyst that caused it all to break so secretly it was bob that flooded the town wow i
never thought of it that way i like that because i feel like it would have obviously that dam was
only going to stay functional for like days maybe weeks, if it was completely hollow.
You know, as part of his plan, if he employed all those hillbillies, they won't ask questions about how obviously this is not a complete dam and there's no concrete in there.
It works there, too.
Yeah, I think that he just had to show off.
And I love his line, too, of just telling Bart off, like, here's a clue for you, Jack.
He drops the upper class sensibilities.
And then we get Cecil's dramatic reveal, which he is loving this here.
Let's stop bickering and get out of here.
This dam could collapse at any minute.
One minute past sunrise, to be precise.
Cecil? Once I blow up the dam, there'll be no
evidence of missing concrete, and I walk away with 15 million. But everyone will know you did this.
Perhaps. Or perhaps they'll blame the master criminal. You know, the one who's been working
at the dam and has a grudge against Springfield? Now, I know Cousin Merle has had his troubles
with the revenuers, but he's happy with how it's the money. Speaking of which, hand it over. I love how proud of himself he is about this.
It's his first real evil scheme, and he's happy with how it's going off.
Anytime Niles had the smallest success in Frasier, he was just as smug.
So it really fits.
Not only does he brag about it, but he also, like, he's pointing a gun at children,
which is a real line for Cecil to cross.
He's fine with murdering them.
Like, that's just how evil he is.
I know.
I was like,
I guess he has no qualms
about children
like ending up
in his family revenge plot.
That's how evil he is.
He might be more evil
than Sideshow Bob even.
I think he should have
started off with lesser evil
because he's really
just going in
full bore on this
and he's going too far.
Like,
I think this is his
first evil plan
to date.
And he's doing
pretty good at it.
His scale,
the scale of his
first evil plan is much bigger than doing pretty good at it his scale the scale of his first evil
plan is much bigger than bob just framing somebody for armed robbery by the way when you watch this
episode did you suspect cecil at all no no way this was a surprise for me i don't think so but
i remember that that uh maris joke being in the commercials so i mean in retrospect i would give
it away like why would Bart be doing this to the
brother but I think they did keep it a
secret for the most part but the Maris
joke was too good and of the moment to
not put in a commercial so they had to
leave that in there yeah I've been
watching Simpsons season 8 in in
Japanese for reasons so I watched this
in Japanese and the episode titles were
different and this one is called the man
who fooled Sideshow Bob and it's huge So I watched this in Japanese and the episode titles were different. And this one is called The Man Who Fooled Saisho Bob.
Spoilers.
And it's huge spoilers.
But it is like we were making jokes in DMs.
It's like it is the very anime tradition of spoiling what happens in the episode.
It's so true.
Presumably you've read the Simpsons manga ahead of time years ago.
You know what's going to happen.
They just did that on My Hero Academia where they're like the name of the next episode is the big three appear i was like i think i would have rather been
surprised by the appearance of the apparently very crucial to the plot characters of the big three
anime openings always spoil things too like if it's a series that hinges on the characters
finding uh other characters who join their cause you see all of them in the opening right away.
Yeah, in MHA, they do that every time.
In the season, I'm like,
well, he hasn't fought that guy yet from the opening.
When's he going to fight him already?
Or JoJo.
Well, I think with the JoJo anime,
they just assume everyone's watched,
has read the JoJo comic in Japan.
So we'll give away everybody becomes friends
and they join up with each other.
Has anyone done an anime style Simpsons opening yet?
Oh, I'm sure.
I've seen like steamed hams as the Evangelion opening.
I'm sure it's happened.
I'll have to look that up.
So he abandons them.
And I also do love this just as a concept too,
that Bart and Lisa team up with Sideshow Bob to solve a crime is such a cool
inversion,
which is season seven and eight,
Bill Oakley,
Weinstein,
Josh Weinstein.
They're all about inversion inversions of the Simpsons tropes at this point.
And this is such a major moment here.
I forgot to mention, I'm planning to blow up the dam with you inside. Well, obviously, such a major moment here. Ta!
I forgot to mention,
I'm planning to blow up the dam with you inside.
Well, obviously.
Oh, it's hopeless.
Utterly, utterly hopeless.
Oh, I see.
When it's one of my schemes,
you can't foil it fast enough.
But when Cecil tries to kill you,
it's hopeless.
Utterly, utterly hopeless.
Well, if you kids aren't going to foil him, I'll have to do it myself.
So they jam a piece of timber or whatever, lumber rather, into the turbine.
They go down the slide.
It's, you know, it's almost too underplayed, the moment of Bart accepting to trust Bob.
Where he's like, what the hell? Like, instead of saying...
Well, it's very fast-paced.
Yeah, it's true.
It's true.
They had to really speed it up.
But then when they go through it, this is just a very short clip, but Yardley's voice
acting here, I love so much.
This is kind of my line of the show.
Let's go again.
Let's go again.
No!
Come on, children.
Let's go thwart my brother
i'm on the top of the world looking down down on creation and the only explanation i can find
yeah i think my favorite some of my favorite simpsons lines are yes and no. Yes. And no!
That Lisa is completely out of breath.
But she's shocked the part even says that.
So she has to go like, no!
It's a super happy, fun slide.
Actually, this trope of the heroes team up with the villains
to go up against a greater evil is one of my favorite tropes.
I don't know what they call it,
but that's also one of the reasons why i love maximum carnage spider-man teams up with carnage and his offsprings i don't know why i just like that so
much it's a classic it's also very anime but i guess it's just sort of like uh the hero of a
thousand faces just like it's on every story yeah well in say classic manga and anime like dragon
ball i think in those cases it was like akira toriyama just likes the old villain so much that in every story. Yeah, well, in, say, classic manga and anime like Dragon Ball,
I think in those cases
it was like Akira Toriyama
just likes the old villains
so much that once
they're defeated
he doesn't want to
get rid of them.
So it's like, well,
Piccolo should just
keep hanging around.
He's not going to win
any more fights
because everybody's
power leveled over him.
He can be a good
babysitter, though.
He is the best dad.
Piccolo's the best dad.
Vegeta and Piccolo
are my two favorite Dragon Ball characters. Maybe that's why, because of the whole villains team with the best dad. Piccolo is the best dad. Vegeta and Piccolo are my two favorite Dragon Ball
characters. Maybe that's why, because of the whole
villains team of the heroes thing.
They're like the ultimate examples.
I think so, yeah. I love
Piccolo. Piccolo Jr., to be specific.
So Henry wants to talk about the
Carpenters. Yeah, well, I mean, Bob,
me too. So the Carpenters,
the brother and sister musical
team, I love them so much.
And this is Cecil singing their classic song, Top of the World, which Bob has a little clip here. explanation i can't find is the role that i've found ever since you've been around
okay i love the carpenters so much like unironically they their music just it's so
poppy and fun but also and then you can think of all the darkness behind it.
They're so tinged with melancholy and sadness, but sung in a poppy way. I mean,
the life of Karen Carpenter is a very sad one, and it comes through in her music,
which is though trying to sound peppy and happy. Like one of their most popular songs
about Yesterday Once More is just about how
depressed she is listening to the radio. But David Hyde Pierce, they just asked him to sing
something, ad-lib something like, you know, you're whistling, you're humming, you're singing a tune
while you're unfurling this fuse. And that's what he chose. So I don't know if they had to clear that
or what. They probably had to pay something. It's enough of it. I feel like you got to pay money.
But you're a big Carpenters fan too,ina no actually um i don't know not that i
hate them or anything i just don't know much about them i do know this song very well though because
the carpenters has they've been popular in japan for decades yes for some reason especially this
song last time i was in japan uh 2016 in kyoto like i was walking around and off in the distance I heard the Cutie Honey theme song
So I followed that sound
And this is a normal occurrence
In Japan by the way
So I followed it and came across a band outside a department store
Performing all kinds of famous retro anime songs
I was like oh this is cool
I'll watch this for a while
I was watching and I recorded some
Of their performance and then they did
Top of the World for some reason.
It has something to do with anime.
I think it was used as an opening for a drama series once.
Yeah, Japan just loves it.
It's like a karaoke staple.
I guess they find it easy to sing because it's slow enough and it's easy to pronounce the words.
Yeah.
And this whole episode, I was wondering how Japanese viewers felt about it
because it's so Frasier heavy
and Frasier has been brought to Japan
it's called
Soria naize Frasier
in Japanese which Lucy translated as
what are you talking about Frasier
or get out of here Frasier
I don't know why they called it that
to make it sound wackier I guess
so I was wondering
what do Japanese viewers get out of this episode because some of the references I don't know why they called it that to make it sound wackier, I guess. So I was wondering, man,
what do Japanese viewers get out of this episode?
Because some of the references
were just taken out entirely,
like the whole marriage thing.
So I bet the viewers in Japan were delighted
when Setsuo started singing Top of the World.
They were like, ah, I get that reference.
So in the Japanese version,
does Frazier call Niles like Niles Nissan
or Niles Kun?
How does that work?
Oh, I think he just says Sessilu.
Yeah, I think Cecil calls him Nissan.
Oh, I meant in the Japanese version of Frasier.
Oh, I've not watched Japanese Frasier.
If I could find a copy, I would love to.
I have a feeling they didn't dub it, though.
I want to hear how Frasier sounds like in Japanese, though.
No, they did dub it.
I found the dub actors on Wikipedia.
Oh, whoa.
Now, the Carpenters Japan thing, I was thinking of that immediately, too, because I've watched
multiple videos on YouTube that are Carpenters concerts in Japan.
They're selling out Budokan.
They're huge.
And when I've been in Japan on a couple of like vacations i've heard it just played
in you know mall settings and stuff or just over the radio and when i go to karaoke rooms there
they have much deeper list of carpenter songs than i get in american ones because i like i
want to sing goodbye to love and that song's not at american ones but same with weezer there's way
more weezer songs i've seen at tokyo karaoke rooms than i've seen at san francisco i want to sing the
weezer b-sides of karaoke they're never there so just this just in everybody yeah our crack
research team hi it's me uh they just discovered a clip of japanese frazier henry it's in the slack
channel let's check it out i have no no idea. I'm not part of Slack.
Let me in.
You'll have to listen.
Or just like,
talk to me.
You'll have to tell us
who is talking, Henry,
because I can't watch this
along with you.
Okay.
Frazier talking.
That's dad.
Definitely.
Okay.
Oh, Cousin Merle, Nani.
Oh, actually, wait.
I skipped ahead a little bit.
Let's hear Niles.
That's nice.
So, Boku no Pantsu?
Where are your pants?
He's saying that it was a classic Niles distracted by Daphne scene
I don't know what he said there exactly
Well there you go folks
That's Frasier in Japanese
Okay Saisho Bob in Japanese
Sounds pretty close to him
But Cecil sounds terrible
I found
I can't play the clip for you But I'll find a way to record it and you can see.
Sure, I'll insert it right here. That was a good clip.
I enjoyed the clip.
I like the little joke that Lisa asked Bob if he knows how to disarm a bomb.
Because just because you, they're touchy things doesn't mean you know how to disarm it.
But Bob is correct that he's been a
super villain so long that he would have picked it up and his last episode was all about bombs
yeah he actually wired together an entire bomb to almost kill every human being in springfield it's
kind of got a look over that yeah the you don't spend 10 years as a homicidal maniac without
learning a few things about dynamite that line uh, Kelsey Grammer said on quite a few talk shows,
that's his favorite Sessile Bob line.
And, you know, the dynamite fits too.
Cecil would have access to dynamite
with his ability to buy building materials.
It's true, and Bob references the hole they blew in the ground.
Yeah, it all fits.
Foreshadowing.
But as they're disarming the bomb, Bart, I guess, takes it upon himself to stop Cecil,
which they should have had a scene where they mentioned they're going to split up and do this.
But Bart confronting Cecil is a great moment.
Plunger, check.
Hard hat, check.
$15 million and a gun, check.
Mate.
Goodbye, Bob.
No!
Guess who?
Meris?
Oh, shoot!
Bob, look! at last i'm going to do what bob never could kill bart simpson by throwing me off a dam
isn't that a little crude for a genius like you oh i suppose it is if anyone asks i'll lie
excellent so there is a deleted scene that you can watch with us when we get to the deleted scene special for this season.
The best deleted scene ever.
It's so great.
So in the shot of the money going over the dam, you see a tiny house somehow built next to the waterfall.
Well, you know who lives there?
Hans Mole Man.
Of course.
So the gun falls and then the money starts like drifting down.
So Hans Mole Man picks up the gun and he goes, and then the money starts falling. He goes, thank woman picks up the gun and he goes and then the money starts falling he goes thank you god now hand over the rest of it nice and easy
that's it so he's god is he thinks god is giving him money but he's holding a gun up to this guy
so god will give him the rest of the money it's so good i'm sad they couldn't leave it in there
it is weird because you see in one shot you see the house and then like briefly you see the house
and a tiny hans mole man so unless you're unless you see the house, and then briefly you see the house and a tiny Hans Moll man.
So unless you're really looking, you might be,
if you are really looking rather, you're going to be confused.
Why is a house there for no reason?
But yeah, they cut a scene.
Just a whole idea of sticking up God.
Yeah.
And Ken Keillor said it's his favorite thing he's written for The Simpsons.
And he was so mad that he did not make it onto the air.
He's so happy to hear that it's not going to be on the DVD.
It's like, I've never heard a man as happy as Ken Keeler is there about that.
Which I think that's another weird thing on the commentary that I think Kelsey and Ken Keeler are Skyping in.
I think they're both remote.
So it makes it even weirder.
Yeah, I wanted to talk a bit about Maris.
Yes.
So that is such a fan service-y joke, and I was absolutely delighted by it.
But it made me wonder, like, how well known was Maris outside of the Frasier bubble?
I mean, you would need to know, I guess there was enough of a monoculture where they would assume you would know who Maris was.
And Frasier wasn't its sixth or fifth season at that point.
So you would know enough about fraser just by like
osmosis to understand the maris joke it's like and on other shows there are jokes about a character
who you never see their face or you they just never appear uh like on married with children
a very classy show the joke was you would never see uh peg's mother she'd be visiting but you'd
never see her yeah a beastly sound off camera. Or Vera on Cheers.
Yeah, yeah.
Niles' wife.
Maris was just the Vera of that world.
Yeah, Maris was Niles' wife and then later ex-wife.
And they keep making jokes about how cruel and tiny and frail she is.
She's like a Mr. Burns.
Except you never see her.
And the whole joke is that you never see her.
But apparently they wanted a scene where Cecil is talking to a character named Maris in this episode.
And they actually sent the script to this episode to Frasier writers so they can have a look over it.
And that's the one thing they asked them to change.
They were like, take out this Maris character.
She can't ever be seen.
Yeah, Ken Keillor seemed pretty heartbroken in that the joke is we are going to show you maris
but it's not the maris you want to see it just a maris and that's the joke it's not the maris of
seattle but they thought this is better yeah they thought that would be going too far but i like
this joke and again that made into the commercial but i think in a vacuum that scene you don't know
why bart's doing that so well clearly they counted on people to know that maris referenced so well
enough that you'd know it in a commercial that they and the idea that like not only that he
thinks it's maris because his eyes are covered and he's like well this could be anybody i never see
maris is that you like so apparently uh it's a good thing that cecil and bob never watched
frazier because the parallels would just disturb them also i wanted to ask nina and henry too uh
so david hyde pierce is not in a lot of stuff post frazier not in a lot of high profile stuff
but he did play a villain in the 2010 movie the perfect host which i thought was a pretty good
movie not super great it's a good like netflix movie yeah he plays a very similar character to
niles except he's a psychopath and it's great it's really fun so niles yes he's he's less anxious i think oh i and i love david hyde pierce in wet hot american summer
and the ancillary materials too god he seemed like he was too big to be in wet hot american
summer well there are a lot of big actors in there though i i like that feel that uh pierce
just does what he wants to do he's like he he, after you're on a sitcom for that long,
you,
unless you are not careful at all with your money,
you should be set for life just from residuals alone.
So just take what jobs you want to that point as an actor.
And I mean,
he's been doing a lot more live theater since then when he won his Tony.
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For a Broadway production, that's when he publicly came out as if we all didn't know,
but he thanked his partner on stage when he won his Tony Award.
So that was when I found out that he's like, Niles does Broadway now?
That's why he's not
in stuff anymore?
I haven't seen
The Perfect Host.
Is that a dramatic role?
Yeah, yeah.
It's a thriller.
It's pretty good.
Okay, yeah.
You don't see him
in dramatic roles very often.
Usually he just plays
comedy roles
and he pretty much
is just Niles
whenever he does his roles.
But that's fine.
He does it well.
Like the character he plays in A Bug's Life
is Niles.
The dog man in Treasure Planet.
Yeah, yeah. I forgot about that.
I guess this got him into voice roles.
Yeah, you're right. He did a lot more after that.
I've seen him in
a dramatic role before. He was on
The Outer Limits, if you remember that
show, the modern version of The Outer Limits.
And by modern,
you mean 90s.
Yes.
90s is modern, right?
Sure.
I hope so.
I remember those were
the sexy Outer Limits
that were on Showtime, right?
Yeah, I love The Outer Limits,
the 90s one.
That was also filmed here.
Really?
Oh, wow.
Yeah, and there's a whole episode
he was in.
He played, I think,
a criminologist.
He created this device that made people think that, or made inmates think yeah and there's a whole episode he was in he played i think a criminologist um he created
this device that made people think that or made um inmates think that uh they were given the death
penalty and they were like put to death and then they come out the simulation and they realize that
they have a second chance at life and they become reformed and then he um puts a prisoner through it
and uh the guy dies so he ends up going to prison himself and it's just very depressing and dark.
Wow.
Yeah.
It seems like mostly these days,
like the perfect host is his last movie and that's from 2010.
And it seems like mostly he just does a few TV episodes a year and then he's
just doing Broadway all the time.
So his most recent Broadway role,
it was in Hello Dolly.
And he won the,
he was nominated for three,
a Tony award rather for
best actor in musical i would say about a sheep uh dear god i know it's not but we can only hope
this reminds me of the most one of the most recent thing kelsey grammar did which was a netflix movie
that i only watched the trailer for so he plays the estranged father of kristin bell and it's
about them reconnecting and i'm
like you know that's not a bad staff but i then watching the trailer i realized what the movie
actually was a long-form commercial for a cruise line because it takes place entirely on a cruise
ship and it is about how close they got on this cruise and all i forget the name of the cruise
line if it was uh norwegian or caribbean but
it was right there just every shot i'm like here's the cruise ship here's the cruise ship i was like
so so kelsey grammar and kristin bell took it a vacation and made a netflix movie one thing down
periscope uh part two above water oh they got my letters but uh so you might not know that it's
just more trivia because we're throwing it out there.
And I totally forgot about this, but it comes up on podcasts sometimes,
is that Kelsey Grammer produced a sketch comedy show.
Ah, yes.
And the great Paul F. Tompkins was in it, and Mary Lynn Rice Cub,
and also Caitlin Olsen was in it as well.
And apparently it was not fun, says Paul F. Tompkins.
Yeah, PFT was not the biggest fan of it, I think.
Well, they had to film it in England, which already sounds like a pain in the butt.
And it was replaced by American Dad, which is now in its 14th season.
But not on Fox.
That's a good show.
I look forward to it.
What a cartoon.
Someday of American Dad.
Easily my favorite Seth MacFarlane show because he's barely involved.
It's do or die time for Bob and Bart and Bob saves the day.
And now to kill you,
there may be a slight ringing in your ears.
Fortunately,
you'll be nowhere near them.
I guess this is it.
Thanks anyway.
You know,
I could snip the wires.
We'd fall to our deaths,
but we'd save the entire town.
But how would you like to do something incredibly noble?
Do we have to?
Yes
Ah
Ah
Ah
You you you saved my life bird yeah i guess this means you can't ever try to kill me again huh
oh i don't know about that joking joking so bob is really like a wily coyote in this scene
like he should have just died.
His pelvis should have exploded.
His spine snapped in half.
Yeah, but I love the way like Bart sort of rotates him around the pipe to get off of him.
Because his legs are locked in place.
And somehow Bart like just summons like the strength of someone trapped under a car to pull Bob up onto that little ledge.
But it's all fun.
It's fun.
I'm not complaining.
It's really fun.
It was an adrenaline rush.
He almost died.
So he's got all this strength.
If you want to hear people.
I like the noises Bob makes when he hits his crotch.
Oh yeah.
And Sideshow Bob is funny too.
Any pain to Sideshow Bob is great.
Oh,
and right before that,
I do love that Bart tries to beat Cecil the way he beats Bob by appealing to
his pride.
But Cecil is like, like oh I can just lie
about this forget it I'm not going to tell anybody I didn't kill you the right way and then just
throws him off to his death and that should I mean that's the finale of Bob's characters right there
Bart saying I guess you can't ever try to kill me again can you like that's it like there yeah
he saved his life this was the last sideshow bob episode
as much as i love sideshow bob they resisted it as a finale they resisted it for five years but
then they eventually did it but yeah that that is the end not only is it bart bob saves bart
bart saves bob and bob attempts fight actually he doesn't save the city because it does collapse but
he attempts to save the city the city he tried to kill before.
It's true.
Nothing they do in the third act matters in the end, because the dam bursts anyway, and Bob is accused anyway.
And they're lucky that it's a cartoon flood that just washes away immediately.
It seems like the only damage that was done to just the area around the dam.
Hans Molman's dead.
Well, the Wiggum House was destroyed.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
But that was it, apparently.
For a brief moment, he was very rich.
Oh, poor Hans. He just can't.
I want to talk about the worst dam disaster in history.
Oh, really? Which one was it?
It happened in China.
And I want to talk about it because up until more modern times
I mean actually modern
2005
18 years ago
It wasn't very well known because the government
Tried to cover it up
They tried to cover up just how disastrous it was
It happened during the Chairman Mao regime
That was in 1975
So it was in the Banshao
They were the Banshao and Shementon Reservoir Dams Reservoir Dams was not the Banshao, they were the Banshao and Ximantan Reservoir
Dams. Reservoir Dams was not the best Tarantino
movie. But it was a clay dam
or they were clay dams made in the 50s
and one of China's foremost
hydrologists kept criticizing
the government's dam building
policies, but they didn't listen to him and
he was removed from their project.
So he warned them. But in 1975,
thanks to a huge typhoon,
the dams burst.
And it killed around 171,000 people.
26,000 were from the flooding
and 145,000 were from starvation
and epidemics that followed.
And 11 million people lost their homes
and the government tried to hide it.
And it was covered up mostly until 2005.
Wow.
So it happened in 75 and not uncovered until 2005.
It's amazing.
And also the typhoon that caused them to burst was called Typhoon Nina.
But no relation.
No relation.
The worst damn disaster.
Oh, man.
Jeez.
Instead, and this gave me a bad idea of what damn bursting so i go like no it's just water it's just like when you you imagine it being clean
water in the real world not in in like it is in cartoons instead it is uh filthy water that
doesn't drain anywhere and uh pretty bad yeah this one the only person affected with
ralph seemingly i guess although in the uh so the ralph scene is a replacement scene for a scene
that they cut in which uh homer instead of going opening the door and seeing ralph he opens the
door and starts shaking the tree and fish falls out he catches it in a bucket that's funny yeah
yeah i wonder why they cut that out i mean it's not that many more seconds i mean
ralph's an easier joke i guess instead of the fish the fish takes longer if you're trying to
say potty humor yeah yeah yeah you do get a wet the bed joke uh so then we get another incredibly
ridiculous scene which i love it's it's from the same way of thinking as especially, but especially.
You've brought shame to this family, Cecil.
Oh, I don't relish having to write the Christmas letter this year.
Nor I to read it.
You know, Bob, all this time I thought you were a bungler,
but destroying a city is far tougher than I thought.
Here's your man, Chief.
Cecil? I think not This looks like the work of crazy old Sideshow Bob
No, Chief, Bob's innocent
It's the truth
The truth, huh?
That sounds like the testimony of crazy old Lisa Simpson
Cecil just voluntarily confessed, Chief
Well, that's some good work, Lou
You'll make Sergeant for this
Uh, I already am, Sergeant, Chief
Perhaps you are But I say Bob goes back to jail.
But surely, I mean, I caught Cecil.
Maybe so. But Lou here says you were resisting arrest.
No, I didn't, Chief.
Quiet, Lou, or I will bust you down to sergeant so fast it'll make your head spin.
It really reminds me of the Wiggum arresting Bob in Cape Fear, too.
He keeps fucking up.
It's true.
But this one is so...
Wiggum has no reason to do this.
It is that he is filled with the spirit of the reality of the show, which says that Bob
cannot be a free man.
He has to go back to jail.
So Wiggum is just fulfilling his role in the universe.
And no matter what is told to him, he's still like, nope, he still has to go back to jail it's the end of the episode bob goes back to jail that's what
happens that's just what happens on the show and the way it though it there's it's so cruel so cruel
that bob has to go back to jail for no reason he's an innocent man you kind of feel but by all means
he should be in prison yeah he, he should have stayed there.
I guess ultimately he did try to destroy the entire town and kill Krusty and kill Bart.
I mean, the nuke thing again, I said, is like, that's hanging for treason already.
So I could see, in a way, this has upset his parole.
If it's a work release program program his job doesn't exist anymore so though it's also
darkly real of the police saying uh you're under arrest why ah resisting arrest i got you like that
yeah that resisting arrest is the easy gateway into police abuse of power the crazy old lisa
simpson that's a great line too crazy old lisa simpson and uh both, so like both Lou and Wiggum call him Cecil.
So I guess they weren't all on the same page about Cecil.
I also, I like that Cecil has this great line,
a jokey line admitting that it's harder to kill everybody than he thought.
But also it is a confession in front of the police.
Like, I love that they are recognizing like, no, that jokey line he said
was a confession of guilt. Like he said it. I kind of want to see the trial that takes place
after this. It happens very fast. They're back in jail soon. So after the flooding of Springfield,
we then get the big farewell line, which I had forgotten this. I'd listened to the commentary
before, but I didn't know this. I'd forgotten this until rewatching it with the commentary that Brad Bird had
laid out the scene of them in the police car together.
Yeah.
He loves Sideshow Bob.
And I think for every Sideshow Bob episode,
probably up till this one,
he wanted to do at least one scene per episode.
So that's the one he did.
Until Brad Bird entered the world of CG animation,
he apparently always insisted in animating at least
one scene of his movies he did of like he as director you know you're drawing all the time
but he took pride in like picking a scene that would be his to animate and he had he had done
that on all of the bob episodes and he also did it like on in Iron Giant the scene he animates himself is the
scene where Hogarth drinks cappuccino and it's shaking the whole time that that was Brad Bird's
animated scene it's a great scene I kind of want to hear Kelsey Grammer in a Brad Bird animated
film now yeah how hasn't that happened yet Kelsey Grammer should do way more voice roles he was
really good in Anastasia Kelsey Grammer played the fat friend of Don Bluth's
boyfriend. Oh, okay.
This goes back to the czar
thing. Oh, of Don Deluise.
If you don't know Don Bluth's boyfriend thing, just Google it.
You'll see what I'm talking about. Wait, Don
Bluth's boyfriend? Basically,
it's referring to the exact same kind of character
design he gives to all his male and female
friends. Oh, I see. Okay.
I thought you were outing Don Bluthier.
No.
I see.
He's a friend of the guy voiced by John Cusack in Anastasia.
Apparently he plays Vladimir.
Yes, that's his name.
That's the name of the character.
More of that Russian czar ancestry thing
that just follows Kelsey Grammer around to his role.
And Hekaziri is in that movie, too.
He was Bartok.
And it's funny that in Toy Story 2,
he played a very Sideshow Bob style character
in that he was the goofy guy on the show,
but then off the show,
he was the secret,
very well-spoken schemer.
You are so right.
Yeah.
Stinky Pete.
I haven't seen that movie.
What?
I haven't seen any of the Toy Stories.
That is shocking to me.
They didn't make it to Canada.
Check him out.
The three Toy Story movies, they're quite good.
Is the third one bad?
No, it's the best.
I hear a lot of conflicting opinions about that.
It's my favorite.
I like two the best, but three is also very good.
I think one has one of the most perfect scripts ever for a movie.
Three made me cry in the theater like twice,
though that's because I am a man child who loves his things
like i forget what joke i'm ripping this off from but i've i've seen this car comic strip on on
twitter of somebody about to throw something away and then they say like but what if toy story was
real that sometimes bothers me when i'm cleaning out clutter. Toy Story is creating a generation of hoarders.
But yeah, here's our outro here.
But you can't do this!
I saved the
children's lives! I'm
a hero! Tell them they'll live
to regret this. You'll live
to regret this!
Oh, thanks a lot. Now I look crazy.
There they go. Two criminal geniuses locked away together.
Who knows what diabolical schemes they might concoct.
I'm older. I get the top bunk.
Oh, puppy cock. I called it at the arraignment.
Ouch.
So, when do they bring us the menus?
That would be Frasier and Niles in prison, too.
Absolutely.
It looks so painful the way niles hits his the way
cecil hits his head on the bars there yeah ouch yeah so i looked up uh bob's bunk preferences
from like the past episodes oh so black widower top bunk cape fear he also has a top bunk uh but
seisho bob's last gleaming from last season, he had the bottom bunk, but the guy in the top bunk kept him up watching TV.
That's right.
Maybe that's why he...
Oh, Vanessa Redgrave!
By the way, next time you watch that scene,
check out that guy's head.
He has a haircut you could sort of watch too.
Oh, just like Johnny Unitas.
Well, before this episode ends,
we can't neglect the fact that
there was a vehicle for Kelsey Grammer,
an animated vehicle that we all know and love gary the rat 12 amazing episodes of the kothkess
nightmare of a lawyer that turns into a rat and it was sort of like the bojack horseman of its day
not really i'm sorry no it's nothing like it how dare you no i never watched a second of it. I just remember it in the commercials on Spike alongside Stripperella and Ren and Stimpy's
adult cartoon party.
Back when the pedophile came back to ruin his creation.
Yeah.
And I was like, oh boy, this is awful.
What's on after this?
Oh, it's something even worse.
Yeah.
Stripperella at least had the best.
Honestly, it's the best of those three.
It had the best animation.
And I stand by Pam Anderson's ability to produce television shows she's good she is good at doing that uh that's stan lee stripperella henry come on pam anderson made that show it was not it was
not stan lee as much as i love kelsey grabber and david hyde pierce both as actors i do want to hear
them in more voice roles yeah they they they should be cast in more. It
sounds like they're just very choosy, I guess, or maybe they're not getting the offers, you know,
but now there's been, I know Kelsey Grammer shut it down, but there has been a real revival of
Frasier in the last few years. Like on Twitter, like I've not just seen, you know, Nina's art
gets stolen and passed around, but I've seen tons of people share all these new thoughts on Frasier, like to let you know how big
it's getting again, just through people streaming it on Netflix or Hulu. If you go to YouTube,
when I tried to search for best, like Niles lines or whatever, there were dozens of videos created
now by the content factories of like
five times niles really owned frazier or really yes oh my god i want to see like a loud mouth
gamer youtube personality style guy but with frazier frazier should be streaming now yes he's
he's got a twitch stream that's what he should be doing. Speaking of streaming,
we don't get Frasier
on Netflix Canada.
Oh, I'm so sorry.
Yeah.
We have all the Frasier.
All of it.
Dang it.
You don't even watch it.
I, you know,
I'm going to be watching
a lot more Frasier again
after this.
I assumed your socialist...
It's still really good.
I assumed your socialist
government would distribute
Frasier to the people
in the mail or something along with your health care because we spell it with a u
then that's true yeah but i do want to see fraser streaming that's awesome
his son now they could cast a famous person to be frederick now and
fraser moves in with his son frederick it writes itself i mean they're in a world with fuller house and girl meets world
they should they could definitely bring fraser back on netflix i think uh i think kelsey grammar
is asking price is a little higher than bob saget and dave coulier though just a little bit i don't
know if i would want to see like a 70 year old horny fraser oh i still haven't found the one
well because he the show ended with him maybe getting with laura linney but they still haven't found the one. Well, because the show ended with him maybe getting with Laura Linney,
but they still didn't really give him a happy ending, right?
No, it's like ambiguous what happens to him afterwards.
I would want him to be with Laura Linney.
That's a good pairing.
This was, for a time, the final Sideshow Bob appearance.
He didn't appear again for five years until the Al Jean written episode,
Day of the Jack and Apes, which completely ignored any reformation here.
It is all about Bob trying to kill Bart again and use Bart as a Manchurian
candidates type killer to kill Krusty live on television.
I remember it being funny, but at the time I was very angry that they overwrote
the canon.
And that's how I felt.
At least didn't work in like a one drop line in there about why Bob is back
to his old tricks again or whatever.
And why Cecil isn't back or why they weren't in the same prison anymore.
All that stuff.
I do like that Cecil comes back,
even if it meant more Sideshow Bob episodes.
That's just the Frasier fan in me.
Yeah.
The season 19 one where he comes back,
it's specifically the 10th one.
So I think that's why they wanted to make it extra celebratory
and have the entire Terwilliger family.
Oh my God, season 19?
So 11 seasons later, they bring him back.
And Cecil did, yeah.
I mean, I was going to say, hey, bring me back for that episode,
but it's going to be a while, isn't it? We got like five years, I think say hey bring me back for that episode but it's gonna be
a while isn't it you got like five years i think we'll make it yeah but uh it might be dead by then
we all might be dead oh yeah that's jingle for me we'll be in prison after fox sues us but uh
yeah it was sort of like a mini fraser reunion because fraser had been off the air for like
about three years so it was cool to see everybody back again doing doing their stuff or the very least moho and that i of bob trivia in that one they do answer that his mother's maiden name is
underdunk which is why that's his middle name and that she was a famous stage actress of shakespeare
so that's that's the background on on mrswilliger. And I think before that, there was the episode, The Italian Bob, in which he has a wife and a son now.
And they're in that 10th episode as well that Cecil comes out.
The Cecil, maybe it's just because I'm now the biggest fanboy of David Hyde Pierce, but the Cecil scenes are my favorite in that.
David Hyde Pierce just like kills it every time he's on screen. Actually, my favorite joke in that episode is Bob has set
Bart to be burned alive inside of a coffin, and it's moving pretty slow. And then when he wants
to speed it up, he moves the lever to speed it up. And the original setting it was on was gloating
speed. My favorite joke, I just watched this last night, is Cecil and Bart need to pass the time,
so Cecil explains how to play Botticelli, and halfway through he realizes how boring it is.
Look it up, it's an amazingly boring sounding game, Botticelli.
I believe in Simpsons comics, Cecil comes back somehow, and I've actually read these, but I think he becomes friends with Lisa, because they find they really have similar interests.
And they don't need to pay
David Hyde Pierce a nickel exactly I guess that's one reason why they can bring out so many characters
in Simpsons comics you don't pay anybody but on a certain level of canon it's not exactly 100%
counts those yeah I know it's just the comics actually on the Simpsons wiki uh Frasier and
Niles both have entries because they appeared in the comics.
Perhaps the Simpsons were watching Frasier at some point in the 20 plus years of Simpsons comics, but they were drawn in Simpsons style.
Let me tell you, Kelsey Grammer is horrifying in Simpsons style.
I saw that too. And yeah, I was like, they look a little bit off.
And I was wondering if, I don't know who drew it, but I was wondering if they based it off of Frasier in that Silent Cheers parody.
I think he was a lot,
a lot,
he had a lot more hair than he did on the show
Frasier at that point.
I love that caricature of Frasier in that Cheers parody,
but they just had to like trim his hair
and take out the beard.
And when you do that,
it doesn't look like him as much,
I guess.
That's right.
He'd have a beard for almost all of Cheers or most of it. it yeah so then he shaved it off well i that's re-watching
these i liked watching the uh the first two seasons of fraser when he had kind of his mullet
and then i think it's the third season where he just like he chops it off he knows it's it's
getting too old to have his mullet and he needs i like the mullet i like i i prefer his mullet look but i i get why i get
why kelsey grammer would know it's not it's fashionable in 1995 to have a mullet as it once
was yeah but it's just good character design i also like uh superman with a mullet so maybe i
just like not against that one fortunately kelsey grammer's hairline did not cooperate with the
mullet idea by the way henry do you remember how frazier and niles got their names no their mother had lab rats that's right oh my god when
they find they found her journal and they think she's talking about them but she's talking about
the lab rats uh it's a classic frazier moment so nina any final thoughts about this episode i i
love it again uh it did feel like
closing the book on bob and like uh bill oakley and josh weinstein like we said they were like
well the show has like a few years left after we leave so who cares they who knows if kelsey
who knows if kelsey grammar will come back let's give bob a graceful exit but yeah i really enjoy
this one i think it is the best and i do i love fraser a lot i remember now now i remember oh yeah
fraser is really good i'm to watch more of it now.
This episode was great.
I absolutely loved it.
It still holds up.
And even if you're not a Frasier fan, I think it's just a really, really solid episode.
And Cecil is a great character, heightened by the voice performance of David Hyde Pierce, who is awesome.
And yeah, I watched some Frasier for the first time in years preparing for this recording.
And it still holds up.
It's still really good.
So if anyone out there has not seen Frasier,
I highly recommend it.
And it's funny, we're getting into really like weeby nerdy things and talking about Frasier.
I was actually watching Frasier
while playing Dragon Quest XI today.
So two birds, one stone.
No, I stand by this is now,
sorry, Sideshow Bob Roberts.
I think this is now my favorite.
I think Sideshow Bob Roberts is my favorite plot, like Bob plot.
And all the political stuff is amazing.
And I love vampire Republicans.
That's hilarious too.
But David Hyde Pierce's Cecil just puts this over the edge.
And the complexity, it gets overlooked, I think, because David Hyde Pierce is so great in this.
But the complexity of plotting by Ken Keeler to make an anti-mystery and a misdirect that you think it is a Bob mystery and it is not is so well done that this, I think, is the ultimate Sideshow Bob episode.
And it's one of Ken Keeler's few episodes that is not a controversial one.
Was there any controversy
when this came out?
I don't believe so.
I think everybody loved it, yeah.
I'm sure someone called it the worst episode ever.
I think objectively Cape Fear
is a better Sideshow Bob episode,
but this is still my favorite.
Yeah, animation-wise,
my favorite Sideshow bob episode is cape fear and
it's hard to beat the rake joke in uh it's true bob as well yeah but then again bob is written
to be like even more insane as robert de niro played in uh cape fear so yeah he's a bit different
in that episode it's true he just i mean it's funny even on the commentary they're like sideshow
bob is a diabolical genius his plan is to just get onto a boat
and stab a small boy to death.
But yes, thank you for listening to Talking Simpsons.
It's been a long one,
but we hope we taught you a lot about Frasier
and perhaps yourself.
Nina, please let us know where we can find you,
what you're doing, how we can help you
and give you money
and fund all your cool stuff that you're doing.
Yes, I'm SpaceCoyote on Twitter. That's SpaceCoyote
with an L at the end instead of an E.
And if you go to Fangamer.com, click on
the Artist and Group tab to the right
and click on SpaceCoyote, you can
see my collection there. Most recently,
I did shirts for The Messenger, Dead Cells,
and Dark Souls. I recently launched
my online store as well. So if
you go to shop.spacecoyote.com,
you can get prints of Oni Girls
I like to draw once in a while
and an enamel pin I made
of a skull filled with ramen.
Yeah, those Oni Girls are amazing.
I need to get some of those.
Thank you.
Yeah, and if you're thinking
of buying any of that stuff,
please do.
It'll justify me making more prints
and more pins.
And we also have two of Nina's T-shirts
that we sell.
Heck yeah. You can find them on shirtsickle.com that's uh like popsicle but with shirt in it or if you want the
quick way to get to it if you go to tiny.cc slash talking shirt you can see the first one nina did
last year of the ion springfieldification of our logo on a beautiful sky blue.
And if you go to tiny.cc slash SimpsonsDeathShirt,
you can get the brand new one Nina just made for Halloween-style celebration of the death jingle as a t-shirt.
It's such great art, Nina.
You did an amazing job.
It says on it, Death stalks you at every turn.
It has a skeleton that kind of
looks like Maggie, but it isn't. It's a
different character that we own entirely.
So, we really
love it. It's a pineapple.
Yes. Pineapple skeleton, yes.
Pineapple skeleton. I can't wait to get mine.
So, check out those shirts. You'll help us and you'll help
Nina if you buy one of those. Or buy two.
Hey, buy them for your whole family.
Just in time for Halloween.
Yeah. And as for us, we are supported
by our wonderful Patreon and all the
great patrons who give us money at
patreon.com slash TalkingSimpsons. Please
go there. Check it out if you want to help the show.
You also get all kinds of bonus stuff. We have so many bonus
episodes that you can only hear if you're a patron
at the $5 level.
Henry, what are two of the most recent
cool things we've done
that are only for patrons?
Well, you should listen to our very recent interview
with Nina's old boss, Bill Morrison,
the former creative director of Bongo Comics,
who helped co-found the Simpsons comics in the 90s
and has drawn a million Simpsons drawings as well.
You maybe didn't know they were Bill Morrison,
but when you were looking at that box art of Bart versus Space Mutants,
that was a Bill Morrison art, and he tells us all about working on those.
You guys have probably talked to Bill more than I have at this point.
Perhaps.
But if you go to patreon.com slash TalkingSimpsons and give it the $5 level,
you'll also get every episode of this show a week ahead of time and ad-free,
and the same goes for our sister show, What a Cartoon.
So yeah, check it out. Patreon.com
slash TalkingSimpsons. As for
me, I've been one of your hosts, Bob Mackie. Find me
on Twitter as Bob Servo.
And I have another podcast, you might know
about it. It's called Retronauts. It's a classic
gaming podcast. We've been doing it since 2006
for Christ's sake, so there's gotta be
something we talked about that you like, so go to
retronauts.com or look for Retronauts in your podcast machine uh check out the show subscribe
to it mayhaps maybe leave us a review we'd really appreciate it and i think you'll like it henry
how about you i'm h-e-n-e-r-e-y-g on twitter follow me there for updates on all the podcasts we do
when new ones go live and when we have special live shows as well but you should check out updates
for that too usually at h-e-n-e-r-e-Y-G on Twitter and where I'm also retweeting Nina's art.
But H-E-N-E-R-E-Y-G on Twitter.
Follow me there.
Thank you so much for joining us, folks.
We'll see you next week for My Sister, My Sitter.
See you then.
Ta. What do you do with tossed salads and scrambled eggs? A world full of circles and doughed with scrap eggs.
The blues is always calling, tossed salads and scrambled eggs.
They're taking me down, yeah, to salads and scrambled eggs.
What do you do with tossed salads and scrambled eggs?
A world full of circles and no square face.
The blues is always calling just salads and scrambled eggs.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Just salads and scrambled eggs. Hey baby, I hear the blues are calling
Tossed salads and scrambled eggs
And maybe I seem a bit confused
Yeah, maybe, but I got you pegged
Ha ha ha ha ha
But I don't know what to do
With those tossed salads
and scrambled eggs.
They're calling again.
Scrambled eggs
all over my face.
They're making me ya ya.
Tossed salads
and scrambled eggs.
They're calling again.
Good night, Seattle.
We love you.
I think I wet my bed.