Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer With Zachary Ryan

Episode Date: September 12, 2018

IGN's Zachary Ryan joins us as we trip out on the series' most psychedelic episodes. After maintaining his status as Pope of Chili Town, Homer goes on a bad trip through his subconscious featuring some of the most lovely art in Simpsons history. A space coyote has us all questioning who is our soulmate, but in the end we all know it's either Marge or short-shorts. Now listen to this podcast, which was carved down from a bigger spoon! This podcast is brought to you by VRV, the streaming network full of cartoons, anime and more. sign up for a free 30-day trial at VRV.co/WAC and help support Talking Simpsons! Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons!

this week's talking simpsons is brought to you by verve do you like streaming classic cartoons like doug anime like jojo's bizarre adventure and dragon ball super original cartoons like b and puppy cat even classics like freakazoid that you won't find anywhere else those are all being carried by verve and you get a 30-day free and service on Talking Simpsons. If you just head to VRV.co slash WAC, check it out. I hardly endorse this event or product. Ahoy, ahoy, everybody. Welcome to Talking Simpsons, where everything looks bad if you remember it. I'm your host, lazy dog dangler Bob Mackie, and this is our chronological exploration of the Simpsons. Who is here with me today?

Henry Gilbert, and I hope I didn't brain my damage. Who else is here? Zach Ryan, and I'm as drunk as a poet on payday. And today's episode is El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer. Well done. Thank you. Why am I here? You are on a quest for knowledge.

Who said that? And the translation of that, by the way, is The Mysterious Voyage of Our Homer, which aired on January 5th, 1997. And as always, Henry will tell us what happened on this mythical day in real world history. Happy 1997, Bobby. Oh, boy. The post office raises the price of stamps to 32 cents. That's how they get you.

Matt Lauer replaces Bryant's Gumbel on the Today Show. That was a mistake. Yes, yeah. And the Spice Girls wannabe debuts in the U.S. after being a huge hit in the U.K. the previous year.

So Matt Lauer has a real Mr. Burns connection in that he has the evil button on his desk, right? He does. Yes, he has the lock the door button

for emergencies, of course. I had forgotten about that. That was the craziest thing. And if you think about it, if you take it apart, someone had to put in an order for that. A maintenance man had to install it. There are so many steps along the way that everyone would know about it. Somebody could have raised a red flag. Hey, why are we doing all this?

Why do you need the sex button? Well, hey, maybe he said, like, if a source tries to run away, I can stop them from doing that. When I'm interviewing them, because I'm sure Matt Lauer did a ton of journalism as the host of the show. It's what he was mostly known for. There's now I look back on like dozens of jokes on 30 Rock that were about Brian Williams being gross and like wanting a glass toilet, for example. And I feel like all of those sex pervert jokes that they gave to Brian Williams were really Matt Lauer jokes.

Thinly veiled Matt Lauer jokes. I think so. You could see that. They were winking and also throwing up at the same time. I feel really bad that Brian Gumbel at the time, now, back then he was made fun of like, oh, what a nerd. Matt Lauer's gonna be so much cooler.

Now we all miss Brian Gumbel. But Gumbel's got out clean. And I don't know what the price of stamps are today because whenever I buy them, they just say forever on them. I think they're 50 cents. Are they 50 cents? I want to say they're upwards of $3 these days.

But that might just be here in San Francisco. How much does a banana cost? And the Spice Girls want to be. What a fun song. I didn't realize that it was out. It was like a hit in the UK for so much longer than it was before it came over here. like a hit in the uk for so much longer than it was but i mean before it came over it was released in the uk in july of 96 so then this was january so i could see you know things really came over a lot slower back then

it's things can be international hits now like immediately like or within a month you'll hear something as big as the spice girls were in the uk would immediately be heard about here you know right you did not need a british style invasion for the spice girl that song was uh banned from my elementary school because our principal couldn't figure out what a ziga ziga meant so yeah she said no one could sing it on campus that could be a racial slur might be or. Or a sex act. Best to be safe and just outlaw this. Just blanket. Yeah. Cancel it. Cross the board. So before we get into the show, our special guest is Zach Ryan of IGN. I think I gave it all away, but Zach, where do you come

from? What do you do? And what's your history with the Simpsons? Well, I come from IGN. That's where you were born. That's right. Yeah. That's how they make journalists. I'm manager of video programming over there. So I do a lot of live show programming and video stuff there. But I've been a Simpsons fan for forever and ever. This particular episode was about when I was most into The Simpsons. I feel like seasons like six, seven, eight, nine

were really my bread and butter years. And then, you know, through syndication and stuff, I caught all the previous episodes and got really familiar with those. But I feel like these four seasons were the ones where I caught all the previous episodes and got really familiar with those. But I feel like these four seasons were the ones where I was like the most into The Simpsons. Okay. And I learned your age before the recording somehow. And I know you don't predate The Simpsons or you do predate The Simpsons.

Yeah, I'm 33. When did you start watching? I'm just curious. Like when were you first aware of it? Well, I remember watching here and there when I was really young, probably like early, early, you know, second season, somewhere around there. But it was one of those things where I'm like, my parents didn't want me to watch The Simpsons, but then my dad would watch it with me and laugh at the jokes, but then say something like, we really shouldn't be watching this. This is bad for you. And it was one of those things where like, by the time I hit probably fifth grade, The Simpsons was in syndication and they would run two or three episodes or two to four episodes a day. And so I could watch them all the time. And it was one of the things

where I caught up sort of after the fact. And then once I realized that the show was still on every Sunday night, I started watching every week. I've noticed with a number of our previous guests, the release in syndication was the second Simpsons boom. In the first and second season, there was Bartmania, but then it kind of died down. And then once it's in, I guess, 94, when it hit syndication, like tons more Simpsons, a whole nother generation of Simpsons fans got into it. When I was in probably fifth or sixth grade, when the Simpsons was in really heavy rotation from the Sacramento area, and they would do blocks of an hour early on in the afternoon

and then an hour later in the evening. And so you could catch four episodes. And at the time, channels like that, local channels would buy lots of syndicated episodes. So you would see a bunch of episodes from the same seasons over and over and over again. So it became this thing where I have this group of friends that we've seen episodes from the same seasons over and over and over again. So it became this thing where like, I have this group of friends that we've seen episodes from season two through,

you know, probably 10, so many times that we can almost talk in Simpsons quotes to each other. Like it's just, it's always been, I credit it as probably the defining factor in my sense of humor. If you're of that very specific generation and you were aware of television and watching it in that era, like a large portion of your brain is devoted to Simpsons. Yeah. I don't think that will ever happen again. Like we are all just from that, like it was still monoculture. We were not all online and wasting our time there.

We were just watching TV and The Simpsons was on forever. I just felt like it was always on. Yeah, it really was. Yeah. Anytime I, in the afternoon after school, I could turn it on, turn on the TV and find an episode of The Simpsons somewhere. So it was saved by the bell, but I have really no memories of was. Yeah. Anytime in the afternoon after school, I could turn on the TV and find an episode of The Simpsons somewhere. So was Saved by the Bell, but I have really no memories of that. Same.

But I guess because it was not memorable in any way. I'm really glad that you said that because I feel like when I talk about Saved by the Bell in that way, people are always like, what do you mean you didn't watch it? It just didn't appeal to me. I watched every single episode of Saved by the Bell five times at least. Oh, me too. But most of it is gone from my brain, except if I see the first scene of an episode,

I'm like, oh, and then Zach meets a girl in a wheelchair, and then he starts dating her, and then he overdoes it by trying to take care of her handicap too much, and then they break up. It all clicks then. Yeah, all our listeners should check out Go Bayside. It's great. It's what we do but for for, say, By the Bell.

And there's only 80 episodes of that show to go around, I think. She had to stop. Then she did them all. And one of the movies. I think she still has to do the second movie. That's true. Hawaiian style. Wedding Hawaiian style.

Like you said, The Simpsons really informed your sense of humor, I guess. Are you super into The Simpsons meme, the meme-ification of the Simpsons these days? I'm not really into memes in general, but I do get a good chuckle out of when the meme was making the rounds, the doctored gifs of Bart hitting Homer with the chair. Yes, those are all so good. Yeah, different items. I thought that was really funny. I think some of the steamed ham things are really clever. I thought steamed hams would never die, but today I was reflecting. I was like, it is dead. It's dead now.

As of this recording, it's been dead for a few weeks. I will say I am known to send the gif of Homer backing through the bushes a lot in an email thread. There's so many uses. I think it's just a gif you can pull up on Twitter now. There's so many of those that are just like, oh, Twitter has this for me. The Smash Brothers smash sound on the Homer in the bathtub scene. Game! That's pretty good, yes.

So this episode, the idea came from George Meyer based on the writing of Carlos Castaneda, a writer who kind of focused on magical realism. And that's what this episode of the second act is really, really involved in. And Ken Keeler, a Futurama fan and now a Disenchantment writer, he is the writer for this episode. But George Meyer tried to do this episode for years. And only under the watch of Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein did it happen. Everyone just thought it was too weird. Well, according to the commentary, he pitched it like in season three.

And we've interviewed other Simpsons writers. They talk about what a daunting pitching room that is of pitching your episode. And if it doesn't fly with James L. Brooks, it kind of doesn't happen. And so this was just one of those lost episodes for a long time. That story really struck me listening to the commentary, which first of all, I think the commentary on this episode sucks. I think it's really bad. I totally agree with you. I also feel bad because Josh Weinstein has his child there who is now like 20 and i'm like oh if only this kid wasn't there but i also feel bad saying that because he's got to take care of his kid but also the kid is asking questions and they're just laughing at the kid and i just want more trivia it derails their conversation but i did think that that was a really interesting story because i could see this the idea that this pitch about homer going

on a psychedelic journey would not fly in season three, but it totally works in season eight. Yeah, and they committed to it, not just in terms of the writing, but the animation as well. So Jim Reardon is like an all-star director. His Homer is the plumpest Homer. He's got the biggest eyes and some of the best acting. But David Silverman has the most experimental stuff in the show. And David Silverman basically did all of the dream world hallucinatory stuff in this episode. And if you see his art online, you can tell when they go way off model in this episode,

that is David Silverman as hell. Well, he made all the rules, so he gets to break them. It's true, yeah. After watching this, I wished we had seen this episode before we interviewed David Silverman, because I kind of just wanted to ask him all about this. I forgot how good it was. I know that we'll get there, but I love the way that Homer transforms

and morphs in and out of himself and kind of combusts and comes back together throughout the course of the second act. I think it's really, really brilliant animation. And he said on the commentary, Silverman says he didn't even leave much of it to Korea. He personally over-animated it more himself than they would normally on a television production, which I think that is why this is the last produced in production season seven,

but wasn't aired until halfway through air season eight, which I would bet there's so much animation quality in this or just like technique that i would think it probably production wise took a little longer than usual if you don't know about david silverman as well he is a regular attendee of burning man so i think all the hallucinogenics in here i don't want to say he's done hallucinogenic drugs but it feels uh authentic in that way as well. I've seen him wear a crazy hat on Twitter, crazy top hat. Yeah, follow him on Twitter as a tubatron, and you'll see a lot of his crazy drawings.

That's usually a dead giveaway to somebody that loves to experiment with psychedelic drugs is when they wear a crazy hat on Twitter. Or they have their own Burning Man camp. There's that too. There's that too. That could be maybe a smaller sign. It was cool that they got George Meyer on this commentary too and he was present for the writing

of it or like in the writer's room but he at that point George Meyer basically never writes episodes I think he's got three credited episodes to his name for the entire decades he's written on the show. I think it's like Bart vs. Thanksgiving one other one and then Brother's Little Helper

from season 10 or 11. Oh, it was Bart's Inner Child. Oh, that was him. Yeah. That's kind of it. So this is also, I would say David Silverman is the best director in Simpsons history. And then right below him is Jim Reardon. So them working together on this episode, it's one of the best looking ones ever.

There's several, even before they go on the hallucination, there's a few scenes that really break the rules of The Simpsons, but in great ways. Yeah. There's some really great stuff in the first act, especially. And I think that this episode, it's really important for me because this was an episode I remember very clearly watching with my dad when I was a kid and him saying things that stuck with me. I remember him describing you know Homer in the second act it's like oh it's like he's on an acid trip and that put some ideas into my head as a child that I was like oh that's what that's like like maybe that would be something that I'd be interested in experimenting or like looking at later but then it also introduced me to Johnny Cash who's like to

this day one of my favorite artists he's a hero of mine too he's he's a fellow arkansan as well johnny cash so that's why i love about him i don't know when i heard people talk about acid as a kid i assumed it was the acid you would see in like uh superhero shows or whatever like they'd be about to dump acid on somebody like it's a good thing no you know uh this is a uh i'm coming at this as uh as ignorant in both cases, I've never read Carlos Castaneda Or done hallucinogenics Like one pot edible is enough For me to be like, I need to lay down

And stop thinking I've never done one of those things I've, I have I don't anymore You really trip out on Carlos Castaneda I've put so many of those books On my tongue and taken a wild ride. But this is a really lame thing to say, I think.

But everyone should just do it once and then figure yourself out, man. Figure yourself out. There's an episode of The Simpsons later in the series where Homer gets a medical marijuana card. That's right, yeah. I remember watching that episode and thinking like, because by that age, I knew what marijuana was.

I knew people in high school that did it. And so when I was watching that episode, I was like, that's by that age i knew what marijuana was i knew like i knew people in high school that did it and so when i was watching that episode i was like that's what that's like i want to do that all the time yeah and imagine my disappointment when i smoked weed for the first time and it was nothing like that i never get the jokes where characters smoke weed and then wildly hallucinate they're in every movie and tv show i think the writers just want them to do harder drugs but they're not allowed so very well could yeah and that's also how they get away with it in this episode that they they originally pitched just like well homer needs to trip for some reason like well it has to be something that a child can't imitate and it isn't illegal

so so the insane asylum peppers yeah it's a fictional pepper so no one can actually hurt themselves with it yes yeah which uh i'll get to it later but him eating those hot peppers like they're coming out the other end did not in a good way even crusty points that out he's years if we're lucky yeah uh but i guess let's get right into the episode with some kicking back oh why did i have to put all this crud in my newspaper. World, the arts, religion. Aha! Here it is, kicking back. Hey, who cut something out of my paper?

Not me. Not me. I'm more of a mail tamperer. Well, don't look at me. Just because I'm holding a pair of scissors. Scissors which I need to, uh, to gussy up these curtains. Hello?

Oh, hi, Lenny. No, why would I need a ride this afternoon? Where's the big annual what? Lenny. Oh, well, if it was big and annual, I'm sure they'd have mentioned it in the newspaper. I think Marge should have just got Homer out of the house into a different location. She has to try way too hard.

He's stupid, but he eventually gets it. Yeah, though, I guess, well, it's set up later that if he were to go outside, he would smell it. Oh, yeah, you're right. He can't leave the house. He can't take him outside. That is very smart. His palate is so refined

that he even detects cumin in the air. That's true. So I think outside is probably a no-go on this one. I love the first-person perspective through the newspaper. Mar just clipped that out of the newspaper so Homer can't read it, and it shows

the camera moves with this newspaper frame around each of the characters. It's so't read it and it shows the camera moves with this newspaper frame around each of the characters it's so funny the staging is great i have to wonder if that was in the script or if the director thought of that either way it's a great setup for a scene the scene would have worked the same if homer put down the paper and then looked accusatory people but instead the scene implies like this is the first time really at me that homer is changing his perspective and looking at different places instead of putting it down and also that lenny lenny is being so nice to call him and that just homer hearing that it's the big annual what it doesn't click for him and he's

like yeah whatever it was and then mentions the newspaper that was tampered with this episode is really great because it has a lot of not necessarily hidden stuff but a lot of just like signage and things that are really funny. And one of the things that I wrote down was kicking back the subtext or the strap line of that piece is 50 ways to waste your weekend, which I thought was really brilliant. That's great. And that, you know, people complain about clickbait now, but that's a clickbait headline in the newspapers. Another subtle joke is no one says it out loud, but after Marge cuts the curtains, then the next shot is her sewing them back together. So conspicuous.

All of these things that are happening around Homer, he doesn't get it. But I think Marge overplays her hand with the cigarettes here. Now, homie, wait! What's wrong with you? What are you trying to hide from me? What's that smell?

Onions? Chili powder? Cumin? Juicy ground chuck? It's chili! Oh, my God, I'm missing the chili cook-off! I'm missing the cook-off! It's going on right now, and I'm missing it! All right, I was trying to keep it from you, but I had a good reason. Every time you go to that cook-off, you get drunk as a poet on payday. Remember last year? Look at me. I'm a puppy pink clown. Oh, well, of course. Everything looks bad if you remember it.

Now, where are my chili boots? Okay, we'll go to the chili cook-off. But I want you to promise me you won't have any beer. Okay, quit nagging me. I won't have any beer. Geez, why don't you have a cigarette or something? I suppose I could. That's some great boot-fully.

You hear those boots squeaking all throughout the scene? Clearly, they can't move too well because he only puts them on once a year. They are chilly boots. Yes. And I also love Marge's innocence of like, I suppose I could smoke a cigarette. It reminds me of the episode

when Homer takes a job with Hank Scorpio and she's drinking the glass of wine. She's like, well, I guess I'll drink this glass of wine. She just needs something to kill time. Faces are so new to her, but everything looks bad if you remember it is such a great line that I think is one of those secret best lines

that no one really ever thinks of. And it always enters my memory when I'm in an argument and you bring up something and that is sort of the response you get in return about the past. It totally struck me watching it now because I probably haven't seen this episode in more than five years.

And it hit me just like you're saying, saying bob like it hit me in such a different way you know now than it did when i was 20 you know yeah you've had adults who would say something of that nature to you without without being so on the nose but with the same intent yeah but i that's also like an anti-nostalgia comment of like no if you remember it it looks bad i also really like homer's little kid animation like i'm missing it yeah and his hands shaking jogging up and down yeah he does the same funny little dance two minutes later in this episode yeah when they get to the chair took off and i think it's so funny that they they use like they like the animators liked that

animation so much of him like dancing around and shaking his wrists like that they used it twice i love his anxiety all throughout the scene homer's just a big kid like that's what's so fun of him dancing around and shaking his wrist like that, they used it twice. I love his anxiety all throughout the scene. Homer's just a big kid. That's what's so fun about him. And that is a huge cotton candy machine that it can fit a nude man. A grown man, yeah. It didn't grind him up in any way.

That's what I was thinking too, yeah. If you've ever looked inside a cotton candy maker, it would just shred you. Yeah, yeah, that's what I was thinking. True. But apparently this is a newfangled cotton candy maker, it would just shred you. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Apparently this is a newfangled cotton candy machine. I love the particulars in that too. When he falls down

and the dogs are licking him, he still is putting beer to his mouth. He's two-fisted. I do think it's odd that A, Marge would ask him to not drink beer, assuming that he wouldn't drink beer, and B, that he agrees to it so readily. He's like, fine, I won't drink beer.

Homer is a man that is motivated by his ability to drink beer. Yeah. So it seems so strange to me that he'd just say, yeah, okay, that's fine. I won't drink beer at the chili cook-off. He's really showing a lot of self-control that I think any other future episode would just throw out have him immediately drink a beer as soon as he gets there one beer please i mean that was well that was a major point in the movie too then homer's like marge tells him why did you do the thing i specifically asked you not to do and then he says you know me i'm imp. I just don't think. And so in this case, though, Homer makes a promise and thinks about having made that promise and won't break it.

I especially getting slightly ahead. But when Marge, for all she knows, Homer did drink when he poured all that beer on his head. I think it's good that Homer still doesn't drink, even though if i was in that situation i might go like she already thinks i'm drinking then fuck it i'm drinking yeah you can have all six of these beers yeah they really want you to feel for homer and try kind of to make marge the bad guy a bit in this episode a little bit though it's more misunderstanding yeah i guess and but she's right to be like homer's humiliated her probably 70 times at this point in the series drunkenly i think lenny was calling, though,

because he wanted them to visit his tent a little bit of Lenny. Yeah, a little bit of Lenny. His handy craftsmanship has not come back. So many characters are running their own chili booths and little craft stands, like Edna Krabappel and Nelson. Yeah, Nelson, I wrote his down. His is Muntz Family Chili. And the subhead there is like,

it takes a week to make months, which I think is so funny. It's so cute. I don't think I would taste that chili. No, definitely not. That seems like a problem. Do you get it? Do you get the pot?

I get it, I get it. It takes weeks. People, listen, this is the first time I got it. Oh. It takes weeks to make months. So it's weeks within a month, but they're saying months. I'm sorry. I just, it never hit me that that's what that thing meant

I don't think I even read the sign before this But don't bag on vegetarian chili I think I want to eat some after this recording It is so good The only time I started eating chili was when I stopped eating meat And it's like oh this is good But it doesn't have greasy brown chuck You can add some if you want

And then just make regular chili I guess I think it's good that uh it's it's good for the plot that lisa just walks away with maggie so that marge marge can just be unhappy alone not caring for the baby also we get to see like how small marge's world is in the kitchen too here oh look at that adorable spice rack. Eight spices. Some must be doubles. Oregano? What the hell? Arch, we're missing the chili. Less artsy, more fartsy. Homer, I happen to like handicrafts much more than stuffing my face.

Fine, I'll come find you when I'm ready to stop having fun. Remember your promise. No drinking. Howdy, howdy, Margin Homer. Oh, my mistake. Homer's not even with you. Probably just knocking back a few refreshments. Thank you for your concern, Helen. Homer isn't drinking today. Oh, I think it's lovely that he said that and that you believed him. Now, Helen, let us not glory in Homer's binge drinking there, but for the grace of God, go as marred

yourself. That's pretty rude. Yeah. Helen sucks. Like, Helen Lovejoy is so awful. Growing up in a small town, growing up in a conservative town, I had friends whose mom was Helen Lovejoy, just really relished in digging into somebody. that gossip, as she said, in Marge and Chains. Actually, this is kind of a sequel scene to Marge and Chains, because when she said that Marge had a drinking problem, like, drinky, drinky motion, which she repeats here.

And she debuted, I believe, in Life on the Fast Lane. Yes. And she showed up during the date with Jacques and Marge. That's right. Wow. And she's always there to, like, catch Marge at her worst. Well, look at Marge here having lunch right. She's always there to catch Marge at her worst. Well, look at Marge here having lunch with a man who's not her husband.

How interesting. See you at church. So the band playing is Ferl Dixon and the Second Helping Boys, I believe. Was it Mike Scully who told us that's his favorite joke or one of his favorite jokes that he wrote? I believe it was Dan Graney. Dan Graney, okay. Yeah, I think it was Dan Graney who took credit for that one. Someone was very proud of that. It is really good.

Ferrell Dixon is such a ridiculous name. Yeah, Ferrell Dixon. I love that, too. You know, they don't get a ton of jokes out of it, but this has a really good country fair vibe. Like, they did a good interpretation of that on a – there's not a ton of jokes to it. It's just like, yeah, it's a fun little county fair with chili cook-offs.

It's very well observed. And I also, I kind of like the interplay between the Lovejoys that they both love being passive-aggressive to Marge, but in different ways that Timothy, he gets to show off being like, oh, I'll save you from Helen because you're going to drink a bunch too, you old lush. He's like, whoa, Timothy. Meanwhile, Homer has arrived at the chili cook-offs. Oh, man, he's here. The dude with the fireproof stomach. Oh.

He said he carved it himself from a bigger spoon. Five Alarm Chili, eh? Mm-hmm. One, two. Hey, what the big idea? Oh, I admit it. It's only two alarm. Two and a half tops.

I just wanted to be a big man in front of the kids. Daddy, are you going to jail? We'll see, son. We'll see. Now, we talked about communicating in Simpsons quotes earlier. I use that Daddy, are you going to jail thing. Whenever I make a minor mistake, I will post it on Twitter.

Like, oh, I'm sorry, I messed up posting this episode, or I got this fact wrong, or whatever, something like that. See, I use the line about, in fact, this might be my line of the show, but they say he carved it from an even bigger spoon. Yeah. It's so, so funny to me on so many levels because A, why would you carve down a spoon

and then carry it around in a little leather pouch? But also the fact that the spoon has so much power over the people at this chili cook-off. Lenny is speaking of it in such reverent tones. He's very impressed by The origin He doesn't even want to say it out loud Quit bagging on the spoon I love both of those lines so much

Let's give that bit there the line I'm down That's the joke I wonder how big a spoon It was at one point too Because he carries it around in a little Leather pouch Just close to his chest Which I guess is still with him big a spoon it was at one point too but the because he carries around like a little leather pouch you know yeah just close to his chest which i guess is still with him on his uh on his journey

later in this episode too so we keep we keep pointing out how bill oakley and josh weinstein love season three of the show they built their seasons on that model and they love referencing it could this be like a secret tie to wonder bet the bat homer carved himself it's built in a similar way as yeah that is true you know i want to correct myself in burns baby burns we said that was the first time burns had a yale joke and there's a yale joke in this too but i was wrong king-sized homer during the exercise he is wearing a Yale sweater. That's right. So that is the first Yale one. I'm sorry I got that wrong, folks. But yeah.

You are going to jail, Henry. We'll see. We'll see. No, that was perfect, Bob. So the Yale joke here is that it is Yale's Saltpeter Chili. So Saltpeter, the old wives' tale Is that it causes impotence But apparently That is not scientifically true

According to my research But it's not good for keeping down the urges No, it's just an old timey It's an old timey preservative That also Burns would use for that reason But that it's proudly I mean, this is just Harvard guys joking About how Yale men are impotent.

It seems like that. That's what they're saying. They're impotent. They have boorish manners. What else? And with the virtual chili, I like that there's, the first time I really noticed, there's a mouthpiece on the chili, too, for that. So you can truly virtually experience it.

And then Homer actually is measuring the alarms of chili in his mouth. Like, his palate is that good for it. I mean, between this and the cumin in the air, I feel like we were learning a lot about Homer's refined palate. And I love, I love that he, he shames Flanders in front of his kids in such a way that this is two and a

half tops. He is humiliating all of them. He really is. He is the Pope of chili town as Wiggum points out later. And I have to wonder, before he showed up, were people asking about him? Was no one sent to summon him in any way? It should be like an hour or two late at this point.

Yeah, he's like the officiator of this whole event. He doesn't seem to have an official tie. Like, he's not a judge there. He's just a jerk who shows up and eats all the chili and insults it. He's a big, fat dynamo. There is a great shot right at the beginning of this sequence where it's Homer's shadow stretched out across the lawn in between all the chili.

And the shot before that are his boots coming down. It's really cool. I think it's really smart the way that they set up his authority over this chili festival. And he's looking down that row of booths like you're looking down the dirt road of an old west town with all the saloons and buildings on the side. It's really well set up.

There's just a ton of Sergio Leone touches to this, including the bad music. That's a really good call, yeah. But the zoom in on Homer's eyes a la Sergio Leone is one of my favorites, too, especially because technically it's off model. Homer's eyes are kind of too far apart and his nose is in the wrong place. But it's such a Jim Reardon drawing that it's off-model. Homer's eyes are like kind of too far apart and his nose is in the wrong place, but it's such a Jim Reardon drawing that it's perfect. The Simpsons will be right back. This right here is a Five five alarm podcast and we thank everybody who is supporting us it is not

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Verve is a streaming service that puts together tons of different channels all under one umbrella, and you can sign up for a 30-day free trial of Verve at vrv.co slash wac. If you go to verve.co slash whack, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial of the service, which is a $60 value only for $9.95 you'll get access to a ton of anime via crunchyroll you get access to original

animations like on the cartoon hangover channel and newest of all they added nick splat to the service which is a ton of the classic 90s nick tunes and live action shows all at your fingertips as part of the service so if you want to check it out for yourself go to verve.co slash whack that is vrv.co slash wac for a 30-day free trial uh we do a quick cutaway to marge it's a i am still trying to deconstruct what this scene is of smithers asking marge to dance because uh it is it is Because I feel like they could have cut this scene And had more story but it's fun to see Smithers having fun But I think he might be getting into just the campiness

Of being here And like his rhinestone And I'm sure like sequined out Cowboy suit or whatever he's wearing With the neon thing on the back that says Hot Nashville Nights Is that a reference to something? Hot Nashville Nights? Somebody out there. I feel like it must be. It has to be. It feels very deliberate that it would be Hot Nashville Nights on the back of it in neon.

I should watch Rhinestone Cowboy again and see if it's a reference to that. But I mean, here's my assumption. The Smithers in his background comes from a honky-tonk world, and how he lived out his love of camp was as a rhinestone cowboy who learned the intricate dances of honky-tonk and he is asking one of these single ladies to dance because he just wants he's got no chance to do these dances and now he finally can here but it's i think it's in in i'm really pulling i like this headcanon. Keep going, keep going. But I think, too, in... So he just wants...

You also can't dance with another man there because that would be uncouth on the dance floor. So he needs to find a woman, and he knows Marge Simpson. He knows she should know, too. It's not a sexual thing between them. And lastly, I think from a joke standpoint in construction why they did this

is because if you just see a guy ask Marge to dance, you think, oh, is this Creepsville? Or is this Marge being hit on unwontedly by a guy? And then when you see it Smithers, you're like, okay, that's not what this is. What is this? I think it's an opportunity for Smithers to do a little peacocking in a completely safe zone. I think you're absolutely right. And I love that he pulls his bolo tie

to light up the neon on the back of his jacket. He wants to show it off. There's one, at least one person in this world is not shitting on Marge at this place. I'm sure he made her feel a little bit better. Well, she's so into it. There's a sound that she makes

when he asks her to, when he shows her the jacket that I've never heard Marge make before. And she goes, woo woo. And I just think it's so funny. I'll play it real make before and she goes woo woo and i just think it's so funny i'll play it real quick yeah do you know how ma'am i wouldn't honk the honk if i couldn't talk the talk wow so marge uh marge uh we learned to mr plow she likes uh fancy jackets with words on them. That's true.

It's one of her kinks, everybody. Don't kink shame. It's normal. As I said, she hasn't discovered her love of exhibitionism yet. That's like two years away.

It's coming up. I also just love Tonk the Tonk. Tonk the Tonk. It's a real Kinkilerism there, it feels like. Or just Futurama-y

type one. Yeah, that is a really Futurama joke. Then we go back to the chili. I think Homer is having Moeurama joke, you're right. Then we go back to the chili. I think Homer is having Moe's hobo chicken chili there when he takes a sip of it. He uses the neck, right?

Yep, he starts with the best part, the neck. But clearly it's not spicy since it's good only for people recovering from surgery. He describes it as pedestrian, which I feel like is so above Homer's typical vocabulary. I love that he saves it for just to put down Moe. Well, he does become a food critic in like four years, maybe. And maybe they were drawing back to this episode for his food tasting skills.

And in that one too, they want to get revenge on Homer. In that case, they definitely want to kill him. In this one, Wiggum wouldn't be sad if Homer was injured by this pepper, but he's not planning to kill him. Let's get this straight. Homer was definitely injured by these peppers. Oh, yeah. Speaking of the history in these scenes here, with Wiggum, there's no setup to it before,

but the second you see Wiggum's anger at Homer, you're like, have they been feuding with his chili for like five years now? Yeah, I mean, it's established from the beginning that this is a recurring thing that Homer goes to. So there has to be some sort of rivalry that's built up over the years that's implied in this scene. That's Simpson. He thinks he's the Pope of Chili Town. Well, this year I am ready for him. Hello, cheap.

Afternoon, Homer. Care for some chili? I've added an extra ingredient just for you. The merciless peppers of Quetzalzaca-Tenango. Grown deep in the jungle primeval by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum. Uh, Wiggy, my chili's getting cold. It is very fun to say Quetzalzaca, Tenango. Yes, yeah.

And to hear like the maraca rattlesnake sound at the end like... It's that dangerous. Yeah. Guatemalan insanity peppers. In the primeval jungles. He's really getting into it. And his tent is like this occult-looking, Lovecraftian horror.

There's like skulls and stuff on the background, isn't there? There's a gargoyle holding a spoon wrapped over him. It's so great. You know, I wonder if, for our standards and practices thing, if they were worried about like,

is this illegal, the pepper summer eating? And if they make it that the police chief is giving it to them, they're like, well, then it can they make it that the police chief is giving it to him, they're like, well, then it can't be illegal if the police chief is giving it to him. So Homer's not breaking any laws either. I just wonder how many nuts they had on drug use in this. In that medicinal marijuana episode,

I remember Al Jean talked very much of like, we made sure it was legal every time he saw Homer smoke it. But even then, they could move the joints towards his mouth, but they couldn't show the lips on it. His kids would have, if you don't show him actually inhaling, kids will never know how to do it. They can never figure it out. They just won't know.

But the poor Homer, though, when he tastes that, it destroys his mouth. He's just screaming everywhere. The animation on the ice cream melting as it approaches his tongue. The heat radiating off of it. And I love the way that the pepper looks. The tiger stripes on the pepper, it's orange and yellow. It's glowing.

Yeah, the way that they animated it it looks hot just to just to look at it yeah it looks sinister they did a really good job of designing that pepper he touches it to his tongue and his whole tongue turns bright orange like it's just instantly too hot to handle well i should say i am not a fan i i haven't i haven't read carlos castaneda i have not done hallucinogenics and not a big fan of spicy stuff either so this is really not the episode for me i kind of am as i think as far as i'll go are ghost pepper things but i'm sure there are peppers above that on the scale but ghost peppers are pretty high on the heat scale i've seen friend of the show dan reichert i really like he's done he's done those ghost pepper challenges i mean

that's a whole volume of youtube is that but one of my favorites he did was with pro wrestling superstar Daniel Bryan, where they both did it. And Daniel Bryan did the thing in wrestling, which is called no selling, which is you just don't show that you're in pain. And so Dan Ryker is just pounding his fist like, I'm in so much pain. And Daniel Bryan's like, I mean, it's hot. Sure. I mean, it's hot. Yeah. I want to go back and say I like Ghost Pepper in salsa i'm not biting into them yes and reviewing video games at the same

time well then that's why you're not a youtube sensation true i really fucked that up uh but it's funny to see that i now that ghost pepper challenges are just a thing it's funny to see homer doing that way beforehand and his insane reaction, his just screaming and running around. And poor Homer, everyone's laughing at him, but they're feeling good that the big jerk has now burned his tongue in front of everybody. There's this amazing frame where Wiggum is sitting in front of the chili pot laughing maniacally and Homer is just running back and forth in and out of frame that is so well put together and so funny just to look at. Like the cauldron he's making that Chilean with that stick he's poking at it is so witch-like.

It's nice and scary. And the foley work on that is really great, too. That bubbling sort of, it sounds like some sort of ichor. I really love it. So Homer runs away. He tries to get relief with beer, and that's when unfortunately he gets caught by Marge and thinks he's drinking again. Just dumps them all on himself not in his mouth and it's one of those

great like uh you know couple problems neither person is wrong but it makes their situation worse like as far as marge knows he's getting drunk and as far as homer knows like marge doesn't give a shit that his tongue is on fire and he's like dying when he when he dumps the beer on himself too it it messes up his three hairs which i think is so great like they get you know swept to one side i think that's really great and the the side hair is like a little saggy a little saggier too and they make the point of showing him turn his head so he actually none of the beer gets in his mouth so he did not drink it all either and uh when they cut back homer is drinking from nondescript cups but there's a pitcher of water in front of him just so you know like no homer is not drinking it's or he's not drinking alcohol they're very careful about that i appreciate it

you promised you wouldn't drink. But I needed! Oh, lousy Wiggum. Now the whole town thinks I'm a chilly wuss. Wait, mister, you're drinking a candle. You don't want to get wax in your mouth, do you? Maybe I do, son. Maybe I do. It's great how Ralph is sort of the voice of reason In this first act

A few times He looks weirdly off model standing next to Homer there too It's a weird, it's a funny Ralph drawing But it's really off model It's not a correct Ralph Apparently that was another note Kids will think it's You can't just have Homer put wax in his mouth

That's honestly deadly Children shouldn't do that. So they had Ralph. It's funny anyway, but they needed Ralph there to be like, hey, no, no, no. Don't put candle. But Homer makes putting wax in your mouth seem really cool, though it would destroy your mouth. And Homer later will take the wax out of his mouth by wiping his mouth.

Just rubbing his mouth. It would also scald you, too. Yeah, yeah. Though, perhaps, again, back to Henry's headcanon, but his mouth is dead from touching the pepper. Oh, you're right.

So he's not feeling that wax at all anyway. And the way he swishes it around like mouthwash and then his spit solidifies, it's gross but it's a little wax sickle and it has to break it off with his hand like it comes out of his mouth he has to break it off with his hand and i remember just howling laughing at that the first time i saw it it was so funny it's like he has a new superpower or something the way he says outstanding

after that is so great oh yeah oh and. Also, according to Reardon2, they had to draw brand new mouth charts for Homer, so the animators overseas would know, like, no, no, no, don't draw his mouth to move the normal way with this language. When he talks, even the animation of him talking like that's even funny, just the way his mouth is

frozen, but it still moves a little. Leading into the next portion, we see him like marching to to wiggum and he's got this dopey open mouth like slack jawed look and it's just pink wax all around his face but clearly has not sealed his throat up right he was really lucky about that yes again you would die don't don't do what homer does kids listen to r. Hey, everybody, look who's back. It's the big baby. Oh, this porridge is too hot. Oh, wow, wow, wow.

Want some more, do you? Well, sure. Heck, it's not my job to talk people out of killing themselves. I love it. Northleet. Good lord, this can't be happening Well, medical logic, steam should be shooting out of his ears His ears if we're lucky Well, chief, don't quit your day job

Whatever that is. Homer got a good burn on him there, too. That was great. Although he kind of burned himself. It was kind of a self-own, too. I actually don't know what your day job is. So I'm trying to think, Henry, did they play these chili pepper scenes at the Simpsons Land restaurants? You know, I don't recall seeing them when we were there.

No, they kind of, that wasn't because it was eating, but it was not a restaurant scene. You know, yeah, I don't recall seeing them when they were there. No, they kind of, that wasn't because it was eating, but it was not a restaurant scene. You know? Yeah. I don't recall that. I think they were always sitting down at a table in the scenes we saw, the Krusty Burger. Without Harry Shearer.

Actually, Harry Shearer was in that scene, so they couldn't have had it since his land. That's why. How strange. Yeah. They made the, that's the deal they made, man. I put the, speaking sergio leone films this is kind of like a miniature sergio leone film too if you've seen say fistful of dollars

it's that clint eastwood's character gets beaten by somebody goes away and then it has in a in his case he gives himself a bulletproof vest okay his, like, a cast iron thing. It was also in Back to the Future 3. Yeah. That's where I know it from. And in this case, Homer comes back with another, like, ingenious way of defeating him, and that's putting his mouth in wax. So, like, in two minutes, they're a little Sergio Leone film as well. That's a really smart comparison.

Like, that's really clever. It's what I was thinking of watching at the and homer's like triumph there just is also just still the blank look on his face ago like having to swallow things when his tongue can't move you can just hear it well he does eat more like a duck and not like a pig as we see him swallowing those entire bear claws homer's enemy that's true As grimy would be disgusted by. Oh, sorry, they were eclairs, not bear claws. And again, like they said medically, steam should be shooting out of his ears

or if you're lucky. His ears if we're lucky. Homer definitely voids his bowels during his trip. That has to have happened. We hear his stomach too. Oh, that stomach sound. Yeah, actually, why don't we just hear that stomach sound? I want to have happened. We hear his stomach, too. Oh, that stomach sound. Actually, why don't we just hear that stomach sound? I want to hear this.

My finest hour. Marge wasn't even here to see it. I don't feel so good. It's Thanos. Thanos. Flanders, you gotta help me. Sure, buddy. I'd be happy to help out.

What can I do? Doodly-doo, doodly-doo, doodly-doo, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly,

doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, doodly-doodly, Goo goo ga joop. Hey, mister, do you need some help?

Let him go, Ralph. He knows what he's doing. I know. And I want my mom to find him. Sorry, we always get some odd pairings on the show, and I really want to see Ralph and Otto hang out. They're both at the same level of intelligence. They're both kind of kids in a way. I mean, Ralph's literally a kid,

but I love seeing them together, and I don't know why. I also think it's really funny that Otto comforts Ralph by telling him that he knows what he's doing. knows what he's doing well i think otto comes off there as like the experienced trippers like no no let's try like otto just watched his shoes talk us a few episodes ago so he's he knows what that's like but that he's like he knows what he's doing which is terrible advice they needed to to save Homer from himself right then. Yeah.

And so one little bit of trivia, the scene where all the Ned mouths are talking, Bill Oakley, one of the showrunners of this time, he made that with his Mac. He edited himself? He did. He gave it to the sound guy and said, make it sound like this. And then they were like, let's just put this in the show. It's fine. So Bill Oakley did sound editing for that little part of the scene. That's really cool. They were really hands-on, by the show. It's fine. So Bill Oakley did sound editing for that little part of the scene. That's really cool. They were really hands-on

by the way. Yeah, well, and so his Gabba Gabba Hey, that is a Ramones reference. And we get an I Am the Walrus reference. Yeah, Google the Jub. And Edna sounds like a Peanuts character because she doesn't talk in this episode other than that, so they didn't have to pay

Marshall Wallace. Saved some money there. I feel like each of those hallucinations are a specific reference to something, but I can't figure out what Nelson's is, and I can't figure out what Barney's is. Because Barney's art style, the way that he's so jagged, it reminds me... I know I've seen it somewhere before, but I can't figure out what it is. I'm pretty sure it's a reference to Ralph Steadman, the Hunter S. Thompson artist. Oh, yeah, that guy could be. I think because if you go back to Selma's Choice, the scene where Lisa is hallucinating

on the Small World parody, the Selma on the boat is very much a Ralph Steadman drawing. So I think that's what he was going for. And I'm sure David Silberman drew that, too. I want to watch an endless gif of the Barney Belch. Oh, you can make one. You can make it. I'm going to. Well, you need to make it.

I don't think I've seen anybody do that Infinity War joke, Bob. This episode goes up in a few weeks. You can do it. I've never even seen that fucking movie. Oh, no. I just know the meme. I know the meme. Oh, the sound of his stomach. That's Dan Castellaneta making that noise. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's also the secret of Pepper challenges, too, that they say like, well, no, putting this in my mouth sucked, but what's really going to suck is in about an hour from now. That's the worst part of this Pepper challenge.

It really comes out that fast? Oh, my God. In some cases. Homer runs off, and when we come back from commercial break, so when the season started, they had some clips from this in the commercial, and when I saw Homer's like liquidness with the real background on him, that made me go like, what could this episode be?

What is this? Yeah, the second act starts with them basically shaking you. You've never seen Homer move like this. You've never seen live action footage on the show. It's outside of that one cowboy black and white footage they had at the beginning of Treehouse of Horror 5. Well, and also when Homer came into the 3D world. Right, right, right. That's it. That's it. There's no transition either. Like you come back from that act break, just slammed right into this like very hallucinogenic sequence. I think it's really smart that they did it that way because it puts you at a level of unease that must sort of equate to Homer's mental state.

Yeah, and the beautiful backgrounds with all the gradients on it, which they just had to do with physical paint then. It wasn't just a thing in Photoshop you did, which is one of the pluses David Silverman talks about they can do now just any time in in digital animation but yeah the the only context they give you and i wonder if that was a choice they did after the fact of like we need homer to say why he's here in case somebody just tuned in at this

point and missed the first act so that's why i asked to say like hey guatemalan insanity peppers oh i see i see that makes makes sense. That's my thought. But his just, God, it also feels like it's animated. Like every frame is a specific. There's no in-betweening or whatever. I don't want to throw around terms that I don't really understand in the world of animation. Right. I mean, it wasn't.

The key frames were not delivered to Korea. David Silverman sat down and drew every frame himself and figured it all out himself. That's incredible. This is a long sequence, too. Yeah, I was surprised knowing that he did all of this himself. There's maybe like, I don't know, two minutes of this crazy animation that we see, possibly more, and it was all one guy.

And here's Homer tripping out, man. Where am I? Shelbyville? Man, this is crazy I hope I didn't brain my damage I better check my pupils His pupils are kind of big in this scene too I don't know if that was a mistake They're inconsistent I noticed

They're not always big His pupils are definitely dilated in a high way. And when he wakes up post-trip, his pupils are that big and then finally refocused down to their normal size. So I think it's intentional that his pupils are all huge. They're breaking the pupil rules, which Matt Groening strictly enforces.

I prefer the big pupils. They're cutesier. Season five pupils are the best pupils. I love when he goes to check out his pupils and he sees his reflection in the water and trips out. And then the way that he walks away from that, he just says, okay. It's such a good read.

And then he does the sunrise, sunset thing, which is just the, I love his little walk back and forth. He's just like sunrise so it's very mused by it's very much the bed goes up bed goes down style joke uh that's so that makes it even weirder when they cut back to everybody leaving the cook-off because you're like oh yeah there's still reality like homer is somewhere else in space but this here's the reality has anyone seen homer marge better you hear it from me than some gossipy neighbor homer made a total jackass of himself oh helen that's enough call off your dog but someone

had to tell her and i got here first zip it please no beer i guess i know what a promise from homer j simpson is worth reverend lovejoy is just as bad as his wife but he also pulls rank on her yes he's just as into judging uh marge and homer as his wife is but he still wants to judge his wife he's got a boss around too yeah it just it sucks that she's so excited to like she even goes so far as to say oh and i got here first yeah she's so excited. She even goes so far as to say, oh, and I got here first. That's so rude. That's so unbelievably rude. I was the first one to shame her.

She's like, hey, I called this, all right? I got here first. I get to be the one to spread this gossip. She's loving it so much. She gets to just ruin Marge's whole day, maybe even the marriage. She's probably thinking to herself, maybe I could cause a breakup here. Have I got that much power? I also think it's really funny that she calls

Reverend Lovejoy Tim. Tim, yeah. Do we hear a lot of his first name before, like season seven and eight? So I did look this up. Okay, thank you. The earliest I could find that he was called Timothy Lovejoy was in Gabbing About God

in the Like Father Like Clown episode in season three. I think they just forgot his name was Timothy. Yeah, I think so. Maybe they looked it up like, well, he needs to call him by his first name. What is it? Oh, it turns out. Then again, if Bill and Josh were such season three fanboys, they might have just remembered. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. They would have known. It's kind of cute that she's like,boys. They might have just remembered this. Oh, yeah. Yeah. They would have known. It's kind of cute that she's like, Tim. She wants to just say it. She's like, oh, come on now. I feel so bad for Homer here, too, that Marge is like, I guess I know what a promise from me. And you just want to be like, your husband might die.

He ran off into nowhere high. He could die. You have to remember, Homer was holding six beers and screaming, but I need it! At March. She has every right to feel that he was wasted and just wandered off somewhere. Or got arrested, as she says later in the car. And then Homer

has an encounter with a helpful tortoise. Hey, buddy! Get back there with the other rocks! Huh? A tortoise? Follow the... This must be why I'm here. Follow the what? Follow the what? Hurry up!

Ow! Get moving, you stupid... When I'm kicking you, that means hurry up! Come on! I love his little muttering, like, when I'm kicking you, that means hurry up. I also love that when he kicks the tortoise, it doesn't just move in the way that you would kick a normal object.

It just shoots off into the distance, and Homer has to follow him all that way. And then when he runs after the tortoise, his running cycle is so weird and slowed down and viewed from this odd perspective it's really great there are no there's no rules to the physics of this world it's so dreamy i feel i've had dreams like that but i don't know if it's because i watched this and then had dreams about like running and then the ground moves faster than my steps are going but it's just And with the kind of like guitar strumming under it, like for each step he's taking is so good.

It's gorgeous. I mean, it's just, this is a gorgeous episode. And we cut back to the kids finding out why Homer's not in the car. I do love Bart's like, time for chili. Come on. It's just the type of bad hat that a child would waste money on

at a thing, and they never wear it again. I also think it's great that Bart gets upset with Lisa because she just doesn't understand his comedic genius, and he's like, where's dad? Dad would get it. This hat is wasted on you. Homer would enjoy the time for chili hat. He would. He'd be laughing still about it, I think. I think if he could zoom in on that hat,

all the numbers would be replaced by the word chili, so everyone would be chili. I like it or a chili pepper perhaps maybe yeah i he couldn't that's a that's just a nasty show you can't have all that now that's too much too much detail but that marge accepts that she just abandoned homer like that's also shows you how pissy is like i'm abandoning him i'm leaving him here if he's drunk he can get home himself i feel like again this has happened before. Oh, yes. She has left him at this place before.

She even thinks that he might come home in a cop car. Right, right. It's happened more than once at this point already. So we get back into the crazy world. Homer with the Mayan pyramid is so great, too. He's like, it's because I kicked you, isn't it? The turtle looks so friggin smug too you know he's nodding his head yeah that's right you kicked me so now you got to climb this giant

pyramid screw you and his uh when homer gets to the top it's really just there's not a joke to it it's just creepy the the faceless march that constantly turns around like another amazing visual effect in this and i love how that's echoed later in the show then she just turns into dust and homer that's where we hear the opening line of homer saying why am i here he just he hate he's sick of being tortured he's been trapped here is probably for in his mind years he's less freaked out and more just like let me out i'm yes what do you want for me let this end uh so then we get a, which unfortunately we have to play the old death jingle. Death stalks you at every turn.

There it is. Death. Jonathan Cash. He's walking the line with the angels now. Jonathan Cash. Known to his friends as Johnny. Yes. And this is all of his, well, all but one of his lines right here in this

kind of long clip. Fear not, Homer. I am your spirit guide. Are ya? There is a lesson you must learn. If it's about laying off the insanity peppers, I'm way ahead of ya. No, I speak of a deeper wisdom. The problem, Homer, is that the mind

is always chattering away with a thousand thoughts at once. Yeah, that's me, all right. Clarity is the path to inner peace. What should I do? Should I meditate? Should I get rid of all my possessions? Are you kidding? If anything, you should get more possessions. You don't even have a computer. You know, I have been meaning to take a spiritual journey, and I would... Hey! Back it off! Sorry. I am a coyote. Look, just give me some inner peace or I'll mop the floor with you.

Good. Your mind is in a state of readiness so listen well to make yourself complete you must find your soulmate soulmate your kindred spirit the one with whom you share an unspoken bond a profound mystical understanding that's it well that's marchge. Big deal. Great spiritual quest, Wolfie. My soulmate is Marge. Is it? So Johnny Cash is dead, and now we're out of cash, jobs, and hope. Is that how it goes? Oh, yeah, yeah.

That conservative meme? That's a good one. I get it. It's not very good. They left out Ritter. And also, Johnny Cash was not a conservative. That's true. He was a Christian, but not a conservative. I do like him.

I feel bad that he has a lot of terrible fans, like a lot of douchey guys about Johnny Cash. And I own a lot of Johnny Cash CDs and stuff like that, especially when it was cool back when Walk the Line came out. And I was like, I want to be a badass rebel like Johnny Cash. Always wearing black. Yeah, no, I look up to johnny cash a lot i think he's uh the movie joaquin phoenix does a good job with it but he's not johnny cash was such a specific person you hear that voice you're like well that no one has that voice it's only him like the second you hear that voice in this episode you're like holy shit they got johnny cash like even more so when you hear justin

audio you know on the show it it strikes me how perfectly cast he is in this role his voice is so perfect for it and on the commentary they talk about how they had potentially wanted bob dylan to do the role as well and i think that would have been a totally different sort of vibe and feeling and you know i i don't know i think that it would would not have been anywhere near as good and i i love Bob Dylan, but Johnny Cash is such a better fit. It would have been a cool get, but I like Johnny Cash's low-key energy and his very distinct voice. I mean, Bob Dylan has a very distinct voice, too, but this is perfect for Space Coyote. And I think we can't go by without pointing out our friend Nina Matsumoto.

She is Space Coyote. So she took her inspiration for her online persona from this episode. In case you don't, if you're a new listener, she's the amazing artist of our Patreon image. She is our cool friend, and she was the guest on the Summer of 4'2 episode. You should be following her on Twitter. And yeah, she named herself after her online persona has been Space Coyote about as long as this episode has existed.

Also, with him versus Bob Dylan, I'm really glad they didn't get Bob Dylan, just because I know from having seen like at least clips from Westerns or other movies that Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan have appeared in of like Johnny Cash was always the better actor. He's a better actor than Bob Dylan. I don't think he discovered Bob Dylan, but he was definitely one of his early boosters. Like I think one of Bob Dylan's first television appearances was on a Johnny Cash TV special, I believe. Space Coyote could only be Johnny Cash to me. It only fits. You brought up the TV specials, Henry,

and I'm wondering, these are all children from the 70s, children of the 70s writing the show. Were they into it because they grew up watching the cheesy Johnny Cash, the reformed Johnny Cash, family-friendly stuff in the 70s i bet it was i mean i'm sure they had a lot of respect for him but that's probably the johnny cash they

know i'm sure also the space coyote design i love his like box nose and he's just like sharp angles he looks like a dream not like a regular simpsons character and they made johnny cash make dog noises that was really him i could hear it in the clip. And just his little laugh, like, sorry, I am a coyote. I am a coyote. My favorite part of that is like, you don't even

own a computer. Yes. The Johnny Cash, that's so the opposite of what you think Johnny Cash would say. Just be like, yeah, spend some time

with your thoughts. He's like, no, you need more distraction. If anything, you need more. I think it's really great that the writers of this episode open the door to Homer having an actual deep

thought in all of this. He says, you know, I have been meaning to go on a spiritual journey, but then he just gets bit by a dog. So it's totally interrupted. Just when you think you're going to get some clarity and some vision on what he's doing in this sort of nether realm, he just gets bit by a dog and completely forgets about it.

He's distracted by his own spirit animal. Yeah, exactly. And you know from this being the show, as a viewer, you know that it's going to be Marge's soulmate. He says it right out of the gate. But they do sow seeds of doubt there well with the

space coyote telling him like, is she? Like, whoa, man man you blew my mind here that's a great end to this whole uh sequence too yes well it ends with the uh that the train coming at him and i love that that also feels like galaxy express it well no actually yes but no so yeah you know what it is galaxy express some people on the internet so like oh it's a soul train reference like no silverman knows anime he referenced lup people on the internet are like, oh, it's a Soul Train reference. Like, no, it's not. Silverman knows anime. He referenced Lupin

on the commentary. If he knows Lupin, he knows Galaxy Express. Lupin 3, as you said. They actually talk about the Soul Train intro on the commentary.

Do they? Yeah. But it doesn't, I re-watched the Soul Train intro when I saw, when I was looking at stuff, I was like, this really doesn't look like it.

I mean, if they said it on the commentary, then it must be. They should have added like a disco or soul beat to the train or something. Make your jokes funnier, Simpsons. That's an order. Well, I do love Homer saying like, oh no, now there's even less. Now there's none. Like, just jump

out of the way. Quit describing how much time you have. Then Homer's trip has come to an end. Hey, get off the course, you bum! Security! Well, golf course. Did I dream that whole thing? Maybe the desert

was just a sand trap. Oh, and I bet that crazy pyramid was just a pro shop. And that talking coyote was really just a talking dog. Hi, Homer. Find your soulmate. Hey, wait a minute. There's no such thing as a talking dog. Hi, Homer. Find your soulmate. Hey, wait a minute. There's no such thing as a talking dog.

Damn straight. The escalation is so perfect. So you can kind of buy it at the beginning. Yes, the sand trap could be the desert, but when you see the pro shop, who would build the pro shop? Who would build a pyramid first and then put a pro shop at the very top of it? Golfers are usually old men.

They're not going to climb all those stairs. It's impossible. And I have to assume Homer is just still coming down from his trip. And when he hears the dog talk, that's just still his imagination. Yeah. And I love the dog's voice though. Hi,

Homer. He's not, they can't afford a celebrity voice. They could have had that be Johnny Cash's voice again, but instead it's like anti-Johnny Cash. We're like, hi, Homer. I like how goofy it is. It's what Homer would think a talking dog sounds like. Yeah.

And I wonder, you know, if Kent Brockman is there, I wonder if this is the same golf course that he played on in the Chanel episode. Could be. Could be the same country club. I kind of just assumed that it was the same, but yeah. They can't have too many in Springfield golf courses. Country club always struck me as more of a Shelbyville kind of thing anyway.

Yeah, that's true. Springfield's not good enough. That's right. On the commentary too, they talked about how this was inspired by a friend of theirs who also woke up after blacking out on a golf course, and the friend apparently found out he wasn't even just in the different town, he was in a different state. He crossed state lines. Yeah. I wonder if that was like another writer on the show there's i wonder how many drugs these writers do man but but i really do wonder that sometimes in in mike reese's book

he talks about how he smoked pot a lot in high in college so i'm just like okay like were all of you guys just smoking pot all the time on The Simpsons or what? So when Homer gets home, first off, we have, I think, my favorite catchphrase of Bart's, which is, I says to Mabel. So then I says to Mabel, I says, Hi, kids. I'll finish this later. Hi, Dad. Where's your mother?

Out back. So anyway, I says to Mabel, I says, Hi, honey. Oh, I guess you're cranky because I didn't come home last night. I'm cranky because my husband got drunk and humiliated me in front of the entire town. He broke your promise, Homer. Oh, honey, I didn't get drunk. I just went to a strange fantasy world. Come on, you gotta believe me. You got to believe me.

You're my soulmate. Don't soulmate me. Okay. One thing I caught for the first time was when Marge turns around. So this is all played on Marge's back, just like in the fantasy. When she turns around to say, don't soulmate me, for two frames of her saying don't, she has like shark teeth. Oh, wow. And you can barely but like you barely see them but it really adds to how angry she is but it's like almost a subliminal thing

but they're there they're sharp shark teeth in her mouth yeah that reminds me of a thing i forgot to mention during the trip scene where when homer is running when he runs away at the end of act one you can see his eyes his pupils move around just a little bit jittery that shows you he's losing it. And it's like for maybe four frames or something, it goes by so fast. But that's another Jim Reardon touch of like these things that your brain barely notices, but inform action. I love that throwaway story that Bart is trying to tell. He says to Mabel, what the hell was he talking about? I really want to know who this friend Mabel is

while he's talking like a 50s housewife. That's so great. It comes off like he's in a Burns and Allen show or something. So I says to Mabel, I says. There's never been a Mabel before in his life. Which now reminds me of the wonderful gravity falls character,

Mabel, who I wonder if that was inspired this month, directly inspired by this episode. I says to Mabel should be Bart's, uh, like catchphrase. I love. So Homer,

I love to Homer's just walk away. Like, okay. Like he's, he knows he fucked up. It's a great pose. Again, big eyes.

Look at those big eyes on Homer Well and the ramification is so clear Because like the very next shot Is Marge sleeping in bed alone And he's got the blanket downstairs On the couch And this is when Homer is realizing He has no soulmates

We don't have anything in common Look at these records Jim Neighbors Glenn Campbell The Doodletown Pipers Now look at her records. Jim Neighbors, Glenn Campbell, the Doodletown Pipers. Now look at her records. They stink. Maybe I had that crazy dream for a reason.

Wherever my soulmate is, it's not here. This is not the first time that we've seen Homer's terrible taste in music. That is true. He has a Castorado christmas and tiny tim and these things i believe jim neighbors especially i was excited to find out the doodle town pipers are real yeah me too i looked it up for the first time today yeah me too i so we we have talked about jim neighbors before i'd hear folks so you don't need to know too much he's kind of awesome i love i love jim neighbors i love gomer pile his his music is uh was not cool not even a little bit glenn campbell that's i'm just a lineman for the county i do love that song i i learned of

that song's existence from the space ghost episode that matt graening did, where Matt Groening quotes Glenn Campbell in their interview, or SpaceGhost asks them, so what do you do? And then Matt Groening says, I'm just a lineman for the county. Oh, that's good. And then multiple other people say Glenn Campbell lines in it, so then the name of the episode is Glenn Campbell. Oh, by the way, as of this recording, this is going to be so dated, but the Alex Jones on Space Ghost clip, whoever put that together, it's amazing. Someone edited in Alex Jones footage as if he's on Space Ghost. And they're all just staring at him. And Zorak is blinking at him. I've not seen that, but that sounds incredible.

Yeah, it's easy to find. Look it up. One thing that I did want to say, so there's that shot of, you know, that pans down from the bedroom into the living room. And this is one of those VHS tricks. Like, you had to have paused it oh yeah seen it you really need to freeze on this yeah but the all the the wires running through their house are labeled uh they're all tapped it's uh nsa fbi atf cia kgb and mci and i thought that was wow i never have caught that i never hit pause on i don't think i really cared

about the nsa 22 years ago. Now it's a big deal. But the Doodletown Pipers, guys. Oh, yeah, back to Doodletown. I was sure that it was a made-up thing until recently. And then when I looked this up, so if you've seen the film A Mighty Wind, the Main Street singers that are in this, which is just the dozens of lame-o singers of folk covers, that's the Doodletown Pipers.

They inspired the Doodletown Pipers right down to their yellow and blue outfits and their kind of cult-like atmosphere. Why would you name your band that? Do you want to be mocked? I think they did. Well, they wanted to be seen as old-timey and okay doodle town and that sounds dirty well it's for the churches would love this though and so they don't have original songs they are a cover group and here's them doing a hard day's night oh no oh god it's already bad.

One more second. Okay, it got a little better, but I was getting sick in the beginning. I hate it so much. I'm a huge Beatles fan. They're by far and away my favorite band. And I'm of the mindset that you probably shouldn't, you just shouldn't cover the Beatles to begin with. Why does everybody do that? That one is especially sacrilegious.

Yeah, it's a lost cause. I remember reading a review that made me realize this when the I Am Sam soundtrack came out. No one remembers that film i do well you shouldn't it was uh that and the other sister it was a big fad and that kind of movie yeah yeah so the soundtrack made the interesting choice of it having all beatles covers and in the reviews of it i remember seeing like it's such a gamble to do a beatles cover because you can't do it better or at least you can't do it in a way that people will think is better, even if you're technically better at it. And so meanwhile,

your chance at failure and people telling you you destroyed one of the greatest songs of all time. So I think the most popular one off of that was Rufus Wainwright's Across the Universe, which is a really good one. It's one of my favorite Across the Universe covers. It's very few and far between that I feel like a Beatles cover is worth shit. No. And there's this weird thing. I realize I'm a little off topic,

but there's this weird nostalgia happening right now for across the universe. The movie? Yeah. Okay. The Julie Taymor film where people from our generation

apparently were just like totally... We watched it in college, I guess. Yeah. And really love it. And it's been making the rounds in theaters again and and uh oh i i hate that movie i think all the covers in that movie suck and it's so twee i just it makes my skin crawl i think uh the one that i dislike the most in that is the mr kite one because it's just that's actually my favorite one i love that one

sing talking i'm just not a fan of Sing Talking. But you like Johnny Cash. I mean... Oh, well, I guess you got me. You got me there. I vaguely remember that movie. Weren't they just way too literal with all of their interpretations?

Everything is so on the nose. She came in through the bathroom window. And there she goes. And there she goes, yes. Or the same with Happiness is a Warm Gun, really is. It's just... I think it's dancers with guns

dancing with PTSDtsd guys measuring the temperature of the gun and and then the end of the movie is is just the song on apple records too it's a lame movie i i it's i'm shocked people like that like they i would watch i am sam again before i would i would put that movie on at the video store. So it came out on DVD when I worked at a video store and I would put it on often just to hear music because the rules were, it had to be a, I played too many Simpsons DVDs at that job until eventually the boss said like, we are a film store and you play films. We do not watch the Simpsons at work. And I was like, damn dude, calm down.

But so the rule was had to be a movie. And you can't really watch a movie, and it's no fun. So I was like, you know what? I just want to hear music. And I put on a ton of different musicals. That was one of them. My favorite was the concert for Bangladesh. Yeah, that's a great one.

It was so great. You've got to skip the Ravi Shankar first 20 minutes. You don't want to bore people in the store. That's what Krusty plays in Father Like Clown. When he visits the Simpsons house, he doesn't want to poor people in the store that's what Krusty plays in Like Father Like Clown when he visits the Simpsons house he doesn't want to leave

that's right and meanwhile in a later episode Apu will play the concert against Bangladesh but enough about that you really brought it

back full circle on that that was really nice I wasn't even trying to but here we are so we come back to an all night furniture store that's a great scene to just again they need to recap shit for the audience and instead of just going with a simple thing like i can't believe marge isn't my soulmate it's him telling what you think is a psychiatrist that information

and instead it's an all-night furniture that. That's the topper. They sign all-night furniture store. Homer is on a search for soulmates. Hey, Bernie, soulmate. Let me buy you a beer. Okay, but I'm not your soulmate. I'm really more of a chum. What about you, Lenny? I'm a crony. I'd say quaint.

Common sympathizer. Compadre. Associate. Contemporary. I'm a well-wisher in that I don't wish you any specific harm. Hmm... Oh? Is this, uh, GBM?

Uh, yeah. I read in the personal you were seeking a soulmate. Well, I also like rainy days in movies. Uh-huh. Uh... No, I don't like that. Don't like that. Or that.

No, it's not that I'm afraid. I'm going to hang up now. Bye-bye. No, I give up. Find your soulmate, Homer. Find your soulmate. Where? Where? This is just your memory. I can't give you any new information.

That joke is, again, one of the secret best jokes. I love it so much. That's close to my line of the episode, too. I think of that so many times. They should say that in all these movies where when they have a memory that then reveals the information, and then it's like, no, that's a memory. That's not what happened. It's not.

I can't reveal any. Johnny Cash also seems to feel bad for me. He's like, yeah it's not i can't reveal any that johnny cash also seems to feel bad for me he's like i'm sorry i can't i can't i can't i i think in this era they're really into uh kearney as an adult so he's he's there drinking at moe's yeah yeah and he's an associate of homer which i think this is a fun little thesaurus thing scene which they probably used a real thesaurus for yeah it's a very harvardy scene but i also like that all those words mean slightly different things so you can if you just go person by person of like pipper thinks he's a contemporary does that what does that mean compared to carl thinking he's an acquaintance like that's kind

of me i was like you should be closer with Carl than acquaintance. What does Barney call him, a chum? A chum. That makes sense. Barney is definitely a chum, yes. And also that Moe is a, Moe's definition of well-wisher is so great, too. He just doesn't want him to get specifically harmed. And this GBM joke

is great. I have to say, Homer gets way more homophobic later in the season. Here he's just like, this is not what I signed up for. He's not like, gross, yuck. He's just like, I'm gonna go now. I like to imagine that the guy on the other end, or the person on the other end, is describing just the most lewd

acts to Homer, and Homer's just like, well, no. He doesn't hang up in disgust. He's like, don't like that. He's kind of considering it like, I wouldn't do that. Yes. And obviously the joke is gay black man. Yes, which my mom had to explain that one for me.

I did not. Now personal ads, that's not how it is anymore. People in personal ads back then had to do those three letters because you paid by the letter in personal ads, folks. Yeah, and the Craigslist personal ads are down now, right? They're just because of all the murder. I thought, well, I mean, that is a risk in personal ads, but I thought it was because sex workers were using it to sell their wares,

and then Craigslist had more of a crackdown on that eventually, which is too bad. It's like, you know, we're a pro-sex worker podcast. I believe so. But anywho, Kearney drinking beer. That was pretty funny, too. So then Homer goes on, like, the show's at least fourth long weekend scene or lost weekend scene. I think it's a little weak.

I mean, the signs are just sort of, like, arbitrary. They're just sort of just the signs are not tied to what Homer's experiencing, really. In the pantheon of awesome Simpsons montages, I feel like this one is pretty low because the signs are very run-of-the-mill or kind of, to borrow a phrase from Homer, sort of pedestrian. It's like

employees must wash hands. Yeah, severe tire damage. Yeah, severe tire damage. Like, what does that even mean? And the places he goes to fun i mean they're just not that i would call them cute gags yeah the kissing fish eating each other that was a future that i say everything's a futurama joke but that seriously was yeah and uh i think they that's why they paid for the janice ian song because like well this this makes it better because you have this song about teenage

girl realizing the cruelties of the world over Homer as a man in his late 30s walking around loveless. It's a cute juxtaposition at least. And Janice Ian got paid, or at least the people who own the publishing rights did. Was that the original song? Yes. Okay, I couldn't tell.

At 17. So that's when Homer thinks he's found who could truly be his soulmate in Earl. Earl at the lighthouse. And he goes a bit mad. Yes, Homer commits crimes here. Big time. Homer should go to jail, but apparently, too, it's a Twilight Zone-y kind of twist. Not really, but this was according to Wikipedia that it's a reference to the Twilight Zone episode,

The Old Man in the Cave. Okay. Which that is a post-apocalyptic episode where it's in the scary far-off future of 1974 where America is in ruins. There's maybe like 500 people left alive. And this guy is running the town and he says, I don't know if we can eat this contaminated food. I have to go ask the old man in the cave. And then the people in the town eventually say, but we want to eat the food. And he's like, no, the old man in the cave says it's contaminated.

And then they eventually oust him as the leader and force him to show them the old man in the cave. And it's really a computer that tests things for him. They then destroy the computer in rage that they've been lied to. Then everyone but him dies from eating the bad food. And then Rod Serling says at the end, like... Pretty weird, huh? Actually, you know what? I'm going to read the line.

Okay. You know that classic Rod Serling catchphrase? Pretty weird. Pretty weird, huh? Boy, that was messed up. Mr. Goldsmith, survivor, an eyewitness to man's imperfection, an observer of the very human trait of greed,

and a chronicler of the last chapter, the one reading, suicide. No. What's the moral? That you're fucked. Like, you can play your Holocaust, we're all dead, and we'll all destroy each other. Again, pretty messed up. Yeah, pretty messed up, huh? don't that you're fucked like your holocaust we're all dead and we'll all destroy each other pretty messed up yeah pretty messed up huh what a twist that we all would kill ourselves

i guess i could see the similarities here of homer also getting angry when he finds out this person who's going to save him is actually just a computer and yeah what does he say when he's running upstairs no more lonely nights for homer and earl yeah for homer and ear when he's running upstairs? No more lonely nights for Homer and Earl. No more lonely nights for Homer and Earl. He's thinking of this great future with Homer and Earl together. He's going to, he is, I guess he sees a platonic time with Earl since he just turned down GBM. Right. Any port in the storm for Homer, which I say comedically. That's right.

It's very topical, yeah. Yes, it's a stormy night here at the lighthouse. The lighthouse keeper! The loneliest man in the world. He'll understand me! Earl. My new friend's name is Earl. Here I come, buddy! No more loneliness for Homer and Earl.

A machine? Earl's a machine? Oh, that's just perfect. Homer's desperate search for a soulmate has yielded a lighthouse-keeping robot. Oh, wow. Hey, look, is that Dad? Either that or Batman's really let himself go. Homer's just reveling in the sarcasm there. Like, that's just perfect.

Oh, wow. And Homer, very helpfully for Lisa's joke, holds that pose for like 10 seconds. Yeah. That's a line that I often say, too, is like, for Lisa's joke, holds that pose for like 10 seconds. Yeah. That's a line that I often say too, is like if somebody's asking, is that X, Y, Z? I'll be like, yeah, either that or Batman's really let himself go.

Most times I'm met with just quizzical looks. People are wrong. Same with when I, back when I did like regular videos at a website, somebody was like, if they told me to say something for a mic test sometimes i would just do like so it says to mabel i said so it's more fun filler than just saying rhubarb or whatever rhubarb so coming up we see captain mcallister right uh piloting a ship

so if you go back to bart's girlfriend when bart walks in and sees jessica singing she's cast in this beautiful light it's the sea captain shining a light on the town instead of the sea. And he says, I hate the sea and everything in it. But now he's on a boat and someone else is fucking up in the lighthouse. So it's a great thing they never ever thought about. Yeah, the hoisted by his own petard. Yeah, but he still knows nothing

about the sea or port or starboard. Yeah, that's such a great... Well, he also has two glass eyes as well. Let's not forget this. That's not a great Yeah Well he also has two glass eyes As well That's true Let's not forget this That's not canon Our matey Nary a warning Like to be seen Tis clear sailing ahead

For our precious cargo Uh Would that be the hot pants sir? Aye The hot pants Well I won't be lonely for long. What's that?

Oh, Homer. Thank goodness you're safe. Marge? I woke up and you weren't there and I was so worried. Really? You were? Oh, yes. So this act three, I love this episode, but I feel as soon as Marge gets there, they have like one minute to finish the episode. And as much as I like the beginning pre-cook-off scenes, I feel like they would have had more time if they started at the cook-off and Marge would have been like, no drinking, Homer. Or got rid of the honk, the tonk scene too, maybe.

I just don't like, I've never liked the resolution of this episode. I love the hot pants. Yeah. I do think it's such a funny throwaway resolution of this episode. I love the hot pants. Yeah. I love the hot pants. I do think it's such a, like such a funny throwaway joke that the ship is just full of hot pants. And like old timey crates. Yeah. But this is something that,

that would kind of plague later seasons of the Simpsons where you'd have this full arc and then they would try to wrap an episode in, in the last 90 seconds. And it would always be this sort of unsatisfying conclusion. And I feel like season eight is where that really starts to happen. You kind of see it at the end of, um, Oh,

the Homer, they fall. Yeah. See it again here too, where it's like, they just shoehorn an ending in the third act. And it's like, it's fine,

but it, you know, I kind of don't buy Marge forgiving Homer this quickly on these, uh, shallow of terms, because from her perspective, he got a rip-roaring drunk, came home-

Embarrassed her. Embarrassed her in front of the entire town, came home like the next day and she's just so willing. Like, I feel, this makes me feel bad for Marge. Well, also, if she wakes up and sees he's not there,

she could rightly assume, and actually, Homer does go to a bar. She's like, well, yeah, he's drinking himself to seem stupid at most. Like, I shouldn't be worried. I guess that's weird because the resolution here,

like the, the catalyst for her going to search for Homer is that she woke up and he wasn't there, but guess what? She woke up and he wasn't there the night before he was sleeping on a golf course. So it's, I,

they could have built a better way. I mean, this is so pedantic of all of us. We should all be ashamed, but it is like, she shouldn't have found homer i mean if anything that spotlight should have been like marge should have seen the spotlight that's homer and she should have left i don't know why they didn't use that as the way to get

marge there instead of using it as the batman joke i guess because that batman joke is just a cut for syndication type jokes just yeah filler that they can easily remove that's not plot-centric. And though Homer's laughing over that music, like in a Kubrick movie, they would play that music over someone losing their mind. It's almost like a Ren and Stimpy scene. Yeah. Like Ren freaking out. And I like how his eyes are bouncing up and down

so you know he's really getting into the cackling. If you want to say, wow, Homer really broke the law here and is murderous, as far as he knows, he is going to kill many people. No, friends. They're all friends. Well, you have to say that, why is Homer extra crazy? You're like, well, he's still coming down for that pepper.

It can take a while. I do think Marge's explanation of her rationale of how she found Homer is really funny, especially the fact that the town slopes in a certain direction guided him to the lighthouse. I do like the jokes, but I want them to be more of like a story mechanic for her to have really known that. Yeah, I also I do like the lowering of the stakes to that. They're like, oh, our precious cargo, because he could have said like living things. But instead,

it's hot pants. It's just hot pants. And also, I love how Homer, in one of his other rates, calls Earth a has-been planet. But it seems like they really do have a connection. Wow, Marge, you really do understand

me. See, I thought we weren't soulmates because we had a fight. Right, and we don't like do understand me. See, I thought we weren't soulmates because... We had a fight? Right, and we don't like the same things. It's like you're from Venus. And you're from Mars. Oh, sure, give me the one with all the monsters. Homer, don't you see?

Our differences are only skin deep. But our seams go right down to the bone. Maybe we do have a... A profound, mystical understanding? Hey maybe we do have a profound mystical understanding hey we do oh march we're number one we're number one in your face space coyote space coyote oh my god the ship will all be killed the lights we gotta get the light back on in your face space coyote another great line and marge's reaction like space yeah so that line about uh men are from mars women are from venus was that uh dan mcgrath or great dan grainy one of the dance yeah yeah uh in our dan grainy

interview he talked about how that was one of the hardest lines they ever had to come up with in his time they had a contest yeah they they just had a come up with in his time. They had a contest. Yeah. They just had a, so they had the line that Marge says. It's a reference to the book, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. I'm sure that's been thoroughly debunked by now. Oh, yeah. Are you telling me the gender norms are not so specific? We've come a long way.

But so they make a reference to that book, but they don't have the punchline for that or whatever was in the script they're like no we need something else and according to graney that they were stuck forced ever trying to think of something and nothing was getting through the room and he says that people started throwing money on the table like whoever can do here i'll give you 20 bucks if you can come up we want to go home want to go home and want to go home. And he said it was George Meyer who finally had the line of, you're the one with all the monsters. That's great.

I think he was like, everyone was so appreciative of George Meyer for like, you saved us. And now that reference is lost to time unless you lived through the 90s. Yes, yeah. I bet you'd at least get an article out of reading that book again and reviewing it today. I bet someone has. I want to check that out we could, you'd at least get an article out of reading that book again and reviewing it today. I bet someone has. I want to check that out.

Yeah, you know what? I mean, let someone else do it is what I'm saying. That feels like a Gawker article. Oh, for sure. A Jezebel. Yeah. Joint. Yeah.

But, so, yeah, Homer's realization, this is like, they're 30 seconds of intensity after just introspection the entire episode. And I do like the cute little visual of the giant light bulb in a normal light bulb container, too. The special light was a 14,000 watt. Something like that. Maybe 40,000 watts. Yeah. It's cute. It's cute.

And that's when they seemingly save the day here. Jonathan Livingston Seagull! We're on a collision course! Hard as starboard! Port? Aye, port. They see us! They're starting to turn!

We did it! We sure did. Soul mate. soulmate. Look at all them hot pants. Hey, who likes short shorts? We like short shorts! That ending is so disturbingly similar to Burns Baby Burns. Yeah.

Where it's like, rush to the end, and then there's a song, and then bam, credits. The song will cover our problems. Yeah, exactly. It seems to me like they use this goofy song to get off the hook of just a bad ending. Yeah, you'll forget about how quickly we wrap this up if we play a fun song at the end. And everyone is dancing. Well, you know, also this kind of has reverberations from the opening to bart after dark this is basically an exxon valdez kind of thing that is true oh yeah except with short shorts and it's mcallister in both cases is the captain oh my god oh my god he continually proves he knows nothing

about being on the open ocean he openly openly hates the sea and everything in it. On the commentary, they love that. I love it too. It's like, they're starting to turn. That's just Homer and Marge like, okay, they're starting to turn. Everything must be fine. Let's just celebrate it. Homer still caused a tremendous amount of property damage.

Yes, yeah. But clearly Wiggum's not going to arrest anybody. He's into hot pants. He got his free hot pants. Apparently everyone is into hot pants in Springfield. They were so overjoyed to find those hot pants. I wonder what these writers would have thought if they knew about yoga pants, because those are the new hot pants and everybody's into yoga pants.

Those are more fun. So the song Who Wears wears short shorts is a 1958 hit of the royal teens wow who crowned them the royal teens uh and they were definitely not what is their jurisdiction any of their so and it was just the exact type of 50s one hit one do you get which is just some old songwriter was like these girls are wearing short pants these days. We ought to write about them. And funny thing about the Royal Teens, I found out, is that they only released singles with B-sides. They never did a full album. Never. They have basically 14 songs to their name. They were so ahead of their time.

That's the aristocracy for you. Lazy. Yeah. And they really had no other hits. but the short, short song, like it was in American Graffiti, it was one of the many hits in there, but when you listen to that song, it is two minutes that is really 20 seconds repeated for two minutes. It's like a ringtone. It's a bad song.

And also, the Simpsons are kind of repeating themselves here because Homer already danced to this song in Homer the heretic you're right i wear short shorts yeah that's right but hey it's george meyer george meyer that was his idea too you're right wow he's ripping off himself here maybe he just loves that song it's a fun song yeah and you know as somebody who i i have a better idea of how many times they don't play the regular credits over it because the music.

Because when they play a different song as the credit music in the episode, I then also make that the end of the podcast. And I've been doing that so much in season eight. It's like they seemingly rarely play the regular song in season eight. I bet these DVDs were very expensive to publish because of all the music rights they needed to buy. Yeah. Especially for this season. That's what I love about The Simpsons

is that Fox will pay the real money for the licensing on DVDs that, like, say, the wonderful, amazing Mission Hill, they, like, we're not paying for REM on this. We're not paying for cake. We're not paying for one cake song that's the opening theme. Yeah, but it doesn't matter we'll just have a bullshit sound like it's saying with married with children married with children is defined by that frank sinatra song but they

couldn't put it on the dvds because it was too expensive i think they republished them and put a big sticker on the on the cover that says now with the theme song or something like that i mean that's good but but hearing those opening strings and the fountain shooting up, that was the iconic. That's such a selling point to people that they'd repurchase or make their purchasing decisions based on the theme song. Now I'll do it. How strange. That theme is on YouTube for free,

but I'm going to fork over my dollars. But I guess that's the episode. I like you guys said that ending, that rushed ending, I don't want it to overshadow the greatness before this especially some of the best and experimental animation simpsons has ever had like in the whole series yeah they they have been going outside of their comfort zone with openings lately and by lately i mean the last decade but what they they still don't get that

experimental within the episode this is really a high high point for how weird and out of sorts they will get to go with it. Yeah, I really love it until the very end. But I still really like the episode. And like you said, Henry, this is the eighth season's Homer Cubed in which let's do a different animation style. Let's color outside the lines. Let's do something experimental and different. And I think it's super successful. It's a great showcase of David Silverman and his talents. And, I mean, they would do scenes within the show that were kind of off and different. And I think it's super successful. It's a great showcase of David Silverman and his

talents. And I mean, they would do scenes within the show that were kind of off and weird, but this is really the peak. They would never get as off and weird as they do in this episode. Yeah. I think seasons probably three through seven, every single episode is a banger. Like every episode is a home run. I think season eight is where you kind of see the cracks start to show up. And this episode is not a bad episode. It's just not great all the way through run. I think season eight is where the, you know, you kind of see the, the cracks start to show up and this episode is not a bad episode. It's just not great all the way through.

And I think that, that especially watching it now strikes me as something that's like kind of important about this episode. Like it showcases a lot of what's really, really great about The Simpsons

and has some of the best animation, but it's also like overall narratively just an okay episode. Yeah. I mean, by the showrunner's own admission, eight is not as good as seven because they were tired.

Right. Like you have all of your energy when you're a showrunner on your first season. But then the second season, you're like, oh my God, another year of like 80 hour weeks. Yeah. Let this joke on there. That joke is fine. Go. And as you're writing season eight, you're still editing season seven so it's just it never stopped i i learned that from

the steven universe book to uh in the art book where they talk about how the first year they could really experiment a bunch because and really get invested in world building because they weren't doing sound mixing or editing or animation tests for the finished episodes at the same time they were writing. So once that starts up, your attention is very divided. The first season of Steven Universe is like three times the length of any of the other seasons, though, isn't it? It's a 52-episode season, yeah.

And then all the ones after that, they do like 26 episodes or so. 25, 26. That's wild. So Zach, you're a special guest. Can you talk about where we can find you? Twitter stuff, podcast stuff, IGN stuff?

Yeah, so you can find a lot of my work on IGN. I am mostly behind the scenes, but every Thursday I am on Nintendo Voice Chat. That's IGN's Nintendo podcast. And then you can follow me on Twitter at ZacharySD

where I tweet a lot about video games and a lot about politics, which I've been told don't mix. So yeah. I think they're a fine mix. Can you actually spell your Twitter name? It's, yeah, it's ZachariasD. So Z-A-C-H-A-R-I-U-S-D. Okay. That's great. Awesome. As for us, we are part of the Talking Simpsons Network. I'm employed by them because I own the

place with Henry, with Henry. We're co-owners, by the way. And this entire network is supported by your money. And if you want to help us out, there's so many great incentives for you. If you go to patreon.com slash TalkingSimpsons and give at the $5 level, there are so many bonus podcasts waiting for you, including exclusive series like Talking Critic and Talking Futurama. Tons of interviews. We've referenced the Dan Graney one twice. And that's on the Patreon. Monthly community podcast, season wrap-ups, deleted scene specials. Henry, what are two really good things that are happening on the Patreon right now at the $5 level at

patreon.com slash TalkingSimpsons? Well, a big one is our most recent interview we did with Dan McGrath, who... The other Dan. He was a writer for seasons four five and six he wrote bard of darkness he wrote boy scouts in the hood and two of the best he co-wrote with greg daniels two of the best ever treehouse segments the devil and homer simpson and time and punishment so good he and he has tons to tell it's not just about his time on the simpsons like how he helped the up who song uh who needs the quickie mark who needs a quickie mark happen, but also him working on Saturday night live, his work on mission Hill,

King of the Hill. He tells us a ton of stuff. You should really listen to that. And also if you're not yet a listener of our sister podcast, what a cartoon you might want to listen to our disenchantment episode. We did where we give the talking Simpsons treatment to mac reigning's newest cartoon which is worked on by many of the people who worked on this episode of the simpsons josh weinstein bill oakley david x cohen ken keeler all the all-stars and yes so that that podcast episode is actually free go over to the what a cartoon feed one thing i forgot to mention

though if you sign up at the five dollar level on our patreon you get every episode of this podcast a week ahead of time and ad-free. And that same goes for What a Cartoon. So you could be listening to next week's Talking Simpsons right now. So make sure you go to Patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons. And if you sign up now, you get a nice little code. You drop that into your MP3 player, podcast player, your Rio Nitrous, your Zune, whatever you use. I don't know if those are compatible anymore, but it makes it so easy to subscribe to our bonus stuff just as you listen to any other podcast henry where can we find you

i'm h-e-n-e-r-e-y-g on twitter you can also follow my tweets for uh rancid politics that you'll hate but also uh no not not true you'll love my politics and also uh any updates on uh new episodes going up and other other Patreon news. As for me, I've been one of your hosts, Bob Mackey. Find me on Twitter as Bob Servo. My other podcast is Retro Knots.

Find it at retronauts.com or look for Retro Knots in your podcast machine. It's a classic gaming podcast. We've been doing it for almost 13 years now. So just go check it out. There's so much waiting for you there. So many topics at retronauts.com. And as for us, we'll see you next week.

Thanks for listening. Our next episode will be the Springfield and as for us we'll see you next week thanks for listening our next episode will be the springfield files and we'll see you then Who wears short shorts? We wear short shorts There's a short short We like short shorts Who wears short shorts? We wear short shot We were short shot Who wears short shorts? We wear short shorts There's a short, short, short We like short shorts

Who wears short shorts? We wear short shots This is just your memory. I can't give you any new information.