Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - Homer Alone

Episode Date: June 29, 2016

Marge can’t take the drudgery of motherhood any longer, leaving the rest of the family to fend for themselves in this Rancho Relaxo of podcasts…

Ahoi hoi everybody and welcome to Talking Simpsons where Richard Dean Anderson is in our dreams every night, at least mine. I am your host Bob Mackie, who else is here with me today? Child of Danger man Henry Gilbert. Awesome. And? Meddling with cords Chris Antista. That's what you're doing.

And today's episode is Homer Alone, which aired on February 6, 1992. And Chris, what happened on this mythical day in history? Funny you should ask, because bam! Oh my god! Russian President Boris Yeltsin is on a whirlwind tour of the U.S. to improve relations. Intel announces a partnership with Japanese company Sharp to create more of those increasingly popular flash storage mediums. And new kids on the block make a surprise appearance on the Arsenio Hall show to disprove allegations of lip syncing. Wow, that was in the air because of Milli Vanilli, correct?

Yes. Everybody had to prove it. But that's how, don't you feel really old? Like that was, they lip sync? Yeah. Everybody lip syncs. Yeah, because. Everybody lip-synced. Nobody cares. If you're dancing around, you can't sing an entire song.

Yeah, guess what? When Britney Spears did her pole routine, no one really thought she was singing. Wait a minute. Unless you have extreme, like the best cardio ever, you can't do that. That's why, I mean, opera singers stand in place. They don't dance around. Bruce Springsteen grunts, never moves his feet. And he sweats all the time.

I've heard that Henry Rollins in his performance sweats so much that they have to change out the microphone because he shorts out the mic. He's just holding it and shouting into it. So important announcement. This is the 50th episode of The Simpsons, which means it's the 50th episode of Talking Simpsons. We've done 50 episodes. It's our 50th recording. It's a full year, I guess. If you count the bonus episode on Patreon, by the way, that's 51.

That's right. We have a season two wrap up. And if you haven't heard it, how can I convince you? It's great. It's fantastic. And a whole hour of trivia about season two and commercials and ads and all kinds of great stuff. It's perfect. But wow, already at 50.

Man, I feel like it'll be soon enough that Bart takes Santa's little helper to school and Skinner gets fired. Great. I love that one. And this episode starts off with some fantastic animation. Dude. Roadrunner-style intro. I loved it. Chucky Jones, baby.

Chucky Jones. No one calls him that. Don't do it. Yes. I loved it in that moment as a kid because there were so many references on The Simpsons. It just flew over my head. But here was one I knew the second it was there. Excellent point.

Excellent. Because like this and Raiders, I'm like, I get that. Such great animation. And doing slow motion in animation is the most intensive, time-consuming, expensive thing you can do. And they do it in this episode on a TV budget. It's great. Now, a behind-the-scenes thing about this episode is it's called Homer Alone. And there's like one joke that's a visual reference to home alone really but it well yeah when homer

sees maggie is gone he does the clap oh wow i totally missed but it's also written by david m stern right brother of daniel stern co-star in home alone is he perry or mar the tall one who screams when the i I forget the characters. You know Marv? He screams with the spiders on his face. Oh God, yeah. We're the wet bandits. Well, I know who Joe Pesci is, but I didn't know the character's name. But they talk about it behind the scenes. It was at that time my dad and I were closer

than ever before. That's Daniel Stern. Too bad Kevin Arnold wrote that he became a burglar. That's really sad. Behind the scenes, David M. Stern was known as the guy who got the women. He wrote this very Marge-centric episode. I believe his

first one was Principal Charming. He will go on to write Selma's Choice. The one with Jub Jub. The introduction of Jub Jub. I think Marge has been pretty poorly utilized this season. The show's getting really great. Very much so. But they're really building on her character, especially with this episode. And if you see her in season two, she is just like, this idea is bad.

Her catchphrase was, mm. Yeah, exactly. I'm here to a transition between jokes. But I love, she's not the butt of this joke, but I love it so much. Especially Dancast and the other rambling. Just to emphasize how Marge is going slowly crazy due to the pressures of life and family. Where's my lucky red cap? Mom, where's my

lucky red cap? Mom, I hate those commensal things. Marge, I split my pants again. Can I have two sandwiches today? Make some bologna sandwiches. Two slices of bologna. One at a time! One at a time!

Double bologna! Double bologna! Don't forget a time! Double bologna! Double bologna! Don't forget to make a double bologna! This was a famous episode in our family because my mom constantly referenced Rancho Relaxo. Oh, did she? Yeah, she would say, like, I need to go to Rancho Relaxo.

It was her way of saying, I'm very stressed right now. I'm unhappy. I want to leave. Now, definitely she was expressing her want to not be in a relationship with my father anymore. I was getting that. It took another 30 years. It was a slow boil on that.

Only 25, I suppose. But she always referenced Rancho Relaxo. She dreamed of going to Rancho Relaxo or a similar type thing. And now I want to go back in time and like I was a 10-year-old. I couldn't probably save up the money for it anyway. But I was also a spoiled, selfish 10-year-old and I wasn't going to anyway. You could have just, I don't know, ironed your own pants. I have no idea what your mom did for you.

But I could have pressured my dad into doing it. Though my dad would only spend money on himself. But anyway, I was wondering though if this episode got you to empathize with your mom. Because the idea of a housewife was still very strange to me because all my friends had moms that work my mom worked so i knew my mom worked hard i had one friend with a mom that was a housewife and it felt so strange like does this still happen but i don't know if either of your moms were just housewives no my mom worked all the time though my dad still put on her the expectations like you raise the kids the woman's work and you

make food and you do the laundry and this house not being clean is your expectation but at the same time she still was expected to do a job like it's a shitty deal yeah it's a real shitty i'm sorry if i said just the housewife because that's a huge responsibility yeah i mean this is emphasizing how big a job it is and i i didn't see it a lot i only i I saw it in cases like The Simpsons if you have more than two kids a housewife is kind of necessary unless you have a lot of money for daycare unless you can constantly cart people

I mean even remembering like what time elementary school and middle school they're wildly different you would be driving around for the first three hours of your day and the last three hours of your day period that's what you do I mean that's why one of our friends the only friend we have who has kids, he has two kids now, that he's a stay-at-home dad. And it's needed.

And his wife, unfortunately, has a high enough paying job that they don't need a double income, but most people aren't that lucky. How did Bart leave his hat behind the toilet? How did Marge know that? That's a great little joke, though. It's also very disgusting. Behind the toilet. It's a lead-in to the George Costanza joke

where you take your shirt off. Take it off. It's great. It's great. Try it. And then Homer loves double baloney. He wants double baloney. Double baloney.

Double baloney. I love Dan Castellan. It's his light improv here. Double baloney. All he is is louder than normal, which is hilarious. That happens later when they're all talking when she comes back, too. I love it. Yeah, I did love that.

Those are huge pimentos, by the way. I'm disgusted. If you can pop them out like that. Second episode in a row with bologna featured. I hate bologna. I hate it, man. I like most lunch meats. Again, this is a chronological breakdown of The Simpsons. One of my goals is to capture every single Phil Hartman character

no matter how small, and he just pops up on the radio early on as a nameless character. Oh, this miserable stress headache. Feels like there's a rat in my brain. It's time for another Bill and Marty Classic Crank Fall.

Hello, is this Mr. Justin Sherman? Yes. Sir, your wife is dead. Oh, God, no. That's right. She just walked through a plate glass window. There's blood everywhere. I just talked to her. Oh.

I love that that's part of what's driving Marge crazy. The morning zoo. There are so many things leading up to this, like Bart and Lisa missing the bus, fighting in the backseat, Marge going across town to find the right bowling shop. I don't know what Nick is telling you. Also, I noticed that the second Nick in the background is a signed picture of Jacques from season one. Albert Brooks. I wonder if Marge looked at that on her way out and like, what I could have had. What am I doing?

I wonder if Jacques is still free. I also implore all of our listeners to go frame by frame to that Marge freakout animation. It's so cool. It's beautiful. It's horrifying. There are drawings of Marge you'll never see again. With that spoiled milk on her, too. Yeah.

I think, yeah, Marge's freak out. They do it so well. Like, I felt, like, I felt tension watching it. I don't think I did as a kid, but I think, like, I recently had to, like,

prepare to go on vacation for, like, two weeks and, like, that's sort of how I felt. Like, everything that, what, oh, God, I'm so tired. I've been preparing everything.

Oh, someone stole my credit card. Wonderful. This is awesome. The whole world is going to speak. Oh, the IRS didn't get my money. Great! I have 12 hours

left in town. This episode also uses a device they would use many times. The swirling heads around a character repeating things, like O.J. Morphean Flobo. Or it's Chilbyville Ogdenville, North Haberville. And they often repeat those heads when they need to kill time.

And one of my favorite recurring yet underutilized characters, Arnie Pye in the Sky, reporting when Marge just stops her car on the bridge. This is Arnie Pye with Arnie in the Sky. We've got big problems on the Springfield Memorial Bridge, people. Traffic going way back in both directions. And look out at the corner of 14th and Elm because I just dropped my bagel. It was weird how Ken Brockman just sort of teleported into the helicopter. They have a petty spat like in the middle of the news.

This is Ken Brockman reporting live from Arnie Pye's traffic copter. But I can assure you this is no mere morning traffic report. Hi. Face the facts, Arnie. An overworked and underappreciated housewife has snapped and parked her car on the bridge, refusing to budge. Did you notice that Wiggum has blue hair in here? It's his first consistent blue hair. It was black in the last episode.

That's totally right. Yeah, they finally got Wiggum the right color. Yeah, it is finally correct. He also just had a note of the distressed mother police tape. Yeah. Because I didn't get as many sound effects as I normally would from this because there are a ton of visual gags. Please go watch this episode. I did

like the bits in the traffic. Like the gangster saying, there's a body in the traffic. I didn't get that. I didn't get that fat Tony. Why wasn't that fat Tony? Was it Joe Montanian? Yeah. He wasn't their set gangster anymore. And then I like the cuteness of

Krusty and Mr. Teeny hanging out like, there's chocolate everywhere. But Krusty sounded wrong. He sounded like a much older Krusty. It was a little higher pitched. It wasn't exactly right. And I also did like when Homer finally arrives, Eddie and Lou they laugh and they're like,

ah. I like that little bit there. I do enjoy a Wiggum telling Homer what to say, like, tell her you love her. I like that little bit there. I do enjoy a Wiggum telling Homer what to say. Like, tell her you love her. I made a note of that. This is the last time Wiggum is smarter than Homer. Because it's pretty much set up that the stupidest person in the town is Wiggum. He's the only person dumber than Homer.

He was the one who, in the start of season five, he's the one who'll think it's a ghost car! And that's why they can't use that dynamic between him and Quimby anymore, which they only use in two episodes because Wiggum is too stupid to be that character anymore. I was just going to say that, not just as an excuse to play the sound effects. I do love this scene. It's a great argument. But yeah, he has to be smart enough

to throw these fucking 1940s cliches. You're writing a text, your butt can't cash. Beautiful sketch of Phil Hartman and John Lovitz where they're yelling at each other at an old movie studio. It's so great. Tell us if it's right. Evergy Robinson versus JFK, essentially. Don't you worry, Mr. Mayor. This little bird will be cracking rocks.

Let me just say, but Marge is pulled out of it. She emerges from the car only to be arrested. She is immediately arrested. Also, when Homer says, maybe we can snuggle, and everybody laughs. But Marge emerges from the car only to be arrested. She is immediately arrested. Also, when Homer says, maybe we can snuggle, and everybody laughs, it's the first ha-ha in forever. I feel like we haven't heard a ha-ha in a while. Definitely happened before.

Which is when we're going to get a deluge of ha-has soon. They overdo ha-ha. Marge is in jail, but it looks like Springfield is sympathetic. Don't you worry, Mr. Mayor. This little bird will be cracking rocks by the end of the week. Wiggum, you glorified night watchman, let her go. But she broke the law. Thanks for the civics lesson.

Now listen to me. If Marge Simpson goes to jail, I can kiss the chick vote goodbye. And if I go down, you're going to break my fall. Word to the wise, Quimby. Don't write checks. Your butt can't turn. Hear me loud and clear, Wiggum. You bite me, I'll bite back. You talk of the wise quimby don't write checks your butt can't turn hear me loud and clear wiggum you bite me i'll bite back you talk the talk quimby but do you walk the walk i hereby declare today to be march simpson day in the city of springfield

they're like trained seals toss my fish and watch them slap their fins together i love that scene it's it's like in a dark room with goons standing behind each one of them. And it cuts right to Quimby giving that speech. You can see Wiggum looking like, ugh. And they really have a poor thoughts of politicians here. He just immediately is like, yeah, I'm selling you out. I'm getting your approval right now. But, yeah, they would have a similar,

they'd have the scene of the chick in the crying game is really a man. I mean, man, wasn't that a great movie? In the one Marge actually goes to jail. They have that scene together. And they'll have the last one of these scenes, as I recall, was in the monorail episode. They argue over like, no, I'm the oneail episode they argue over like no i'm the one in

charge wait no i'm the one in charge i wish that kept up yeah i like that homer after the things he's like all's well that ends well it's like time to bury these problems like your problem's done we fixed it and that's when march sees the rancho relaxo commercial on tv yeah i didn't want to grab that just because i grabbed too much troy mcc describing Rancho Relax. Oh, it's great. The one thing I really love about this episode, it's going to sound weird, I like the way Julie Kavner says, vacation. Oh, I missed that. It's slightly vaginal. I don't know

what accent that is, but it comes up a lot in She Had Scratchy Land. Vacation. You know, if I may talk about my terrible family again. If I may talk about my family again, my dad was always worried of like, oh, you want to take a trip without me? That's when you'll leave me.

Yeah, I'm like that all the time. We see how codependent Homer is. Like, oh, you're going to divorce me? I'm a poor guy trying to live his dream as my girl has gone out and got a graduate degree and a good job. And every time she goes anywhere, I'm like, this is where she decides.

She learns, comes to her senses. senses well in my dad's defense my mom did probably hear from all of her family when he's not around like why leave him leave him like he was probably right to be suspicious of that but troy mcclure will tell you about rancho i love rancho relax oh hello and welcome to Rancho Relaxo. I'm Troy McClure. You might remember me from such films as Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die, and Gladys the Groovy Mule. But today you'll see me in my greatest role, your video tour guide to Rancho Relaxo. Our tour starts in your very own room, where Relaxo Vision offers you the latest Hollywood hits. And after midnight, the finest R-rated movies Europe has to offer.

Ooh la la. Today's selections are... Thelma and Louise, A Happy Little Elves Meet Fuzzy Snuggleduck, and The Erotic Awakening of Est. So, there's a lot to take out there but i think the the softcore porn at this point had moved far beyond european sex films like no what no they were watching like red shoe diaries and stuff they were watching emmanuel i feel like it's a cut rate operation no emmanuel was totally on cinemax yeah okay you're right he had a series like three years later and you own space yeah and make it on space this all happened no yeah but the erotic adventures of s i mean the erotic during this era. She had a series like three years later. Manuel in Space. Yeah, Manuel in Space. This all happened.

No, yeah, but... The erotic adventures of S. What does that mean? The erotic awakening of S. I believe it's a reference to the story of O. Yeah, it was the first BDSM book

or something. It was. It popularized BDSM in America, but it was a... And it was just like... It was a lightly kinky film. If you watched it today,

you'd be like, what? Why do people freak out about this? I feel out of the loop on BDSM. You guys need to show me the way. Can we do it on mic? I mean, lightly kinky film like if you watched it today you'd be like what why do people freak out i feel out of the loop on bdsm you guys need to show me the way i'm like i mean it was it was the usual bdsm just the male side of the fantasy of like yes this woman likes being beaten and have horrible things i didn't realize that tied up well hey you know i don't if that is what won the sub the sub

and the dom have important aspect of it I'm not judgmental in there but I think it's not surprising that the one where the woman was the sub was the one got much more popular than where the man was the dom that's even been in Fifty Shades of Grey it continues to this day which though Story of O I think

makes people said like makes Fifty Shades of Grey look so tame by comparison it is mom mom porn, essentially. But also, in the original script, Marge was going to go to a motherhood institute. They pitched it out, and they didn't like it. It just had a fatherhood institute. Maybe that is it, that they realized it would be redundant. So then they came up with Rancho Relaxo.

It's great to see Marge by herself enjoying herself. I feel like if she went to the Institute, we'd see more harried mothers and it would be a lot of jokey stuff. It'd be jokes there instead of finding out what Marge's interior life is like. And this wasn't in the Troy McClure clip, but in the commercial Marge watches, I swear in the hot tub, they drew that woman topless. Like they don't show her nipples, but unless she's wearing a very low-cut, like, top, she's topless in there. Well, animators are all pervs. Yeah, yeah. But it's just one of those things, like, how'd this get through?

This would never air even, like, two years later. We can't see butt cracks anymore. They're illegal. We have Bart and Lisa going to Patty and Salma's, which I think is a great life-and-health-style, like, slow observational scene. In which, like, I remember as a kid, like, going to a strange house. Everything strange house everything is boring the TV's boring the food is all strange and you just want to leave and I like the first scene with Bart and Lisa eating we can see all the locks on the door in the background like they are trapped in this apartment it's very claustrophobic it's all dark well I I'm sure this was done as a plot device but, is that how bad Homer is at his capability

of taking care of the children? I think Marge realized that three kids is too, I mean, Maggie was gonna go with Patty and Selma. It was just gonna be

Homer by himself. I love Maggie's strength. Like, it's impossible. A baby has, like, Sweet Pea would have that strength.

It's one of my favorite comedic moments. I don't know if it works well in audio. Maggie really doesn't want to leave the house. Maybe she should just stay with you.

Are you sure that's wise? Uh-huh. I'll probably trade her for a beer and a nudie magazine. For your information, I can take care of my... See? Got her in the first bounce. But I do love the specificity of Patty and Selma's life. Not only do they say,

we've got six months of maternity leave, we're never going to use you. that they like they have lived alone but they've lived together for so long that in the same bedroom too of just like i wouldn't want to sleep in the same bedroom as my twin that is a little creepy and but and then also that they live such horrible single lady lives of it it forever turned me off to like before i even would have tried it clamato mr pibb and soy milk though i am an almond milk fan but that was the yeah that was of course they're like oh what a gross single tongue sandwiches tongue sandwiches and mr pibb and clamato is who likes clamato gross and i thought it was a joke when i first heard about

it i was sure it was a joke i love how bleak and awful their cheap apartment is. There is not a single window in that apartment. It's just so claustrophobic and stifling and gray. I know. And I do, when Marge leaves at the train station. Oh, I got that. All aboard for Shelbyville, Badwater, Kennelskull, Festy Grounds, and Retro Relaxo. Goodbye, homie.

Goodbye? Where's my clean underwear? Check the dryer. How ofteno. Goodbye, homie. Goodbye? Where's my clean underwear? Check the dryer. How often should I change Maggie? Whenever she needs it. March! March! How do I use the pressure cooker?

Don't! That's my line of show. How do you use the pressure cooker? Don't start now using the pressure cooker. Just don't touch it. Order out every night. I don't care. That was a great choice.

It's the worst thing Homer could possibly operate, causing the most damage. I couldn't use a pressure cooker. I would never touch that thing. I would give it line of the show. There's so many things. In the middle of the show is just lines. One that are catchphrases between me and my friends. Yes.

Two that cracked me up when I was 12. Three that cracked me up as an adult. I don't know. I could burn through them real fast. Sure. This, as a little kid, Barney visiting, I thought was hysterical. It is still great. Hi, Barney.

Thanks for keeping me company. No problem. Wow, wow. If it isn't little Bart. Remember your Uncle Barney? Hey, Homer, let me hold him. All right, but just be careful. Whoa.

Someone smells stinky! Wow, it's me. That is a kid. That's a perfect kid joke. It's great, yeah. I like how Homer doesn't correct Barney. Like, no, this is Maggie. It'll be Bart again when you come over in four years.

I mean, that is something I fear of being, you know, someday I'll see the kids like, oh, I thought you were four. I'm 10 now. Oh, Jesus Christ. Time moved forward. I don't like this. I also miss when Homer and Barney were just friends. Yeah. I feel like in a year or two, he would just be the drunk in the room to make one joke after a bunch of things happen.

That's true. They keep forgetting in the early seasons, they remember they were old buddies, and when Homer has someone to hang out with, it's Barney first. But Lenny and Carl really took that spot. Lenny and Carl would have been the ones to come over in a season seven. You do remember there's

a decade period where if Homer's in a bar, Barney couldn't be there because he got sober. Yeah, I hate that. Thanks, Dan Castellaneta and his wife for writing an episode where he sobers up. Their friendship is so sweet, especially how Barney wants to make him omelets. He really wants to make Homer omelets.

Some kinds of cheese! The Simpsons will be right back. How we use electricity can be The Simpsons will be right back. EV tariffs, solar panels, and much more. Making your usage clearer, your trips greener, your home cozier, and your world brighter. Find our net zero hub at electricireland.ie. You like Lazer Time shows? Then you might like Bonus Time, Lazer Time's weekly bonus show exclusively on patreon.com slash lazertime.

Here's a taste of what you've been missing. I went to minor league baseball game yeah it looked like good seats they were excellent seats and you know what they serve for food there because i've been to the fucking giants game they have like six things they had hot dogs bratwurst cheeseburgers veggie burgers potato salad uh famous bratwurst, and beer. It's $28. How much do you think we got? All of it. I'll ruin it.

Spoiler. All of it. Free. As much as you wanted. For $28? And guess how much beer? You get these three tickets in your wristband for three free beers. Nice.

All local breweries. Wow. And I rented a ticket. It's like this weird community of like lovable enormous lesbians who who just live this who live madison mallard games and like and they're like i gotta take off anybody want my beer tickets she says to everyone and then the kid and then kids turn around like i don't need mine either and then like handing out their beer tickets and i drank i like i got to a point where like i couldn't get drunk on beer anymore but i i just drank so much beer 29 get bonus time laser times weekly full-length uncensored and ad-free patreon exclusive

podcasts as well as weekly full-length movie commentaries wrestling and cartoon video commentaries physical rewards the first season of Talking Simpson, and more at patreon.com slash LazerTime, starting at just five bucks. You'll help us live, and we'll do our best to help you never be bored again. Is this the first mention of Patty and Selma's love for MacGyver? I think it is.

I think we've never heard of it. It would be an important plot point later this season. Best MacGyver ever. Richard Dean Anderson will be in my dreams tonight. Thank God we're bringing this up right when MacGyver's coming back. Yeah. Oh, wait, it is? Yes.

Holy crap. On the back of MacGruber? It looks really weird. Yeah. Okay. He looks more like MacGruber than he looks like MacGyver. Wow. He's really young.

It was a dated reference then because MacGyver is a mid-80s show and its final episode would air months after this episode. That is the only episode of MacGyver I have ever seen. The final episode? I forget what it was, but that year, God, I wish I could probably go through it on 302010 at some point, but every NBC show that I'd grown up, that's air quotes because I'm really young and it feels like these things have been on the air for eternity, but all these five- to seven-year-old shows were ending within two weeks on NBC.

And that was one of them. Man, what a bloodletting in NBC. It was. And I think the joke here is everything about Patty and Selma's life is just steeped in mediocrity and blandness, and this is the thing that they would enjoy because it was not a great show. I mean, now we can look back at it ironically

for the cheese factor, but they were enjoying it sincerely and getting off on Richard Dean Anderson. Yeah, what a great adventure. He finally figured it out. Who would have thought it? See, there's so many things I wanted to clear the line of the show.

Homer's lullaby cracks me up that he doesn't know a simple lullaby. Merry Christmas days be nice. Goodnight my little pork chop. That is sweet though. They say in the commentary he was meant to be animated drunk. He's supposed to be drunk

in that scene. He got drunk with Barney and that's how he didn't see her leave. I wonder if he left Maggie at home and went to Bose. He's supposed to be drunk in that scene. He got drunk with Barney and that's how he didn't see her leave. I wonder if he left Maggie at home and went to Bo's. That's probably why Barney came over. Somebody got the booze. He couldn't find the car seat. So they misanimated it, but I think that's even darker of just like, I'm taking

care of this baby, but why not just get drunk with my friend? It's my only chance. The director was like, I regret not drawing a beer can in his hand, but I'm like, would that have been too dark of a drunk Homer tucking in Maggie? I think so. Also, Patty's horrible snoring. As somebody who is a terrible

snorer, I wonder if Patty just has undiagnosed sleep apnea and now she can get a CPAP machine. Make even more noise. Well, but it's a long, quieter white noise instead of just the snoring. I love Bart holding up her brassiere and going, Ay, caramba!

Yeah, that's great. I've never seen a blackhead. But you know who I'm giving line to the show to? I guess we're skirting over that Maggie misses Marge and completely disappears. And she runs away, which is a very Shorts-era Maggie thing to do. There was a two-parter across two Tracy Ullman episodes of Maggie's right away and it was just silly adventures of her

getting into things that would have killed her. It was very cartoony. It feels very like an old school cartoon where there are a lot of premises based on this like a baby just like traveling and almost dying. I believe Baby's Day Out was based on that old premise. That horrible movie. Yeah, I think the movie introduction of Verne Schroyer. He had to play the baby.

Oh, dear God, that poor man. If you look at those scenes, they're kind of amazing, like these car accidents in Times Square and this little baby standing there,

and that's Verne Schroyer. No wonder he peed on reality TV. It's real life, everybody. I want to just take one episode to give line of the show to just the unnamed workers

of Springfield because they crack me up. Ah, yes. That's the joke. First, the hairdresser. She sees Marge's hair, but it's just a hairdresser giving her a very similar hairstyle. So, what's

the verdict? Oh, dear God. I can't even put a bag over my head. Yes, you can. It's no disrespect. Yes, you can. This is totally just me-centric. Another line of the show. That's the joke.

Hello, governor. Move job while you white. Don't touch me. That's the Just Stamped the Ticket guy. Yeah, it's Just Stamped the Ticket telling that. Who I do think, you said it before, I think, but he becomes Surly Duff. Like he's kind of, yeah. No, you're right. You're right. In the same voice. Yes I think, but he becomes Surly Duff. Like, he's the same face. No, you're right.

You're right. In the same voice. Yes, I love the cadence of Surly Duff. But that is squeaky voice teen, which I checked it on Wikipedia, and they say it on a previous episode, but I swear this is the first. Really?

All right. Well, this felt like the first true squeaky voice teen to me. I don't. There have been squeaky voice guys, but voiced by, like, okay, there was the one where the manager at the

movie theater the manager of the movie theater is a pimple voice pimply face teen but it wasn't squeaky voice. I thought it was

somebody in a fast food thing. But it was also that he had like the teeth he had the teeth thing that the overbite that squeaky voice

teen has as well. So Lube Job While You Wait just for me, became, and I'm very sorry, shorthand with my friends, went for all British people. And that's, I don't, whenever we hear an accent,

Lube Job While You Wait. Just don't touch me. I do like the incongruity of Buckingham Palace meets an oil change place. Yeah, that's great. I do. It's a perfectly Springfieldian idea. Yeah, and I really love when Homer visits Patty and Salmas

and they won't let him in through the apartment. And she's like, don't steal any light bulbs. He looks around, he's visiting his own children to find his other lost child. I think their hope is that if Marge were to die on that trip, that they wouldn't have to give him back to Homer. Though, Bart and Lisa should have thought something was wrong when he says, have you seen Maggie?

They should have had more questions than just like, no, we haven't. Okay, bye. Again, I love this take. Come on, kids. It's time to rub Aunt Patty's feet. It's such a long shudder. That shuddering animation is great, though. It's great.

I'm skirting the lost baby hotline. Another season three Simpsons hotline joke. Hello, I'd like the Department of Missing Babies. Please hold. Baby, come back. Listen, baby. You can blame it all on me. I don't know that singer.

I should have looked that one up. I just love that scene. And it's an expensive joke, but a fun one. I really like that. But I like how they wash over it. But Homer committed a crime. Yeah, totally. He's in jail for this.

And also, I did like the joke where he says, time of your night, I am feeding, looks at his watch, ha, ha, ha. But being almost three hours late to feed your baby seems like a very big risk. Yeah, babies just need so many calories. Also, the band is Player, who wrote that song. Ah, thank you. But it doesn't matter because Marge isn't there, because she's still at Rancho Relaxo with Troy McClure. By now you've seen what Rancho Relaxo has to offer.

But remember, we can't tell you how to have a good time. You have to tell us. As I said to Dolores Montenegro in Calling All Quakers, have it your way, baby. Great quote. It's just the imagery that congers in my mind, whatever the dramatic situation is with the Quakers. Calling All Quakers.

And I do love when he's on the hang glider. He just pauses for a second to wave back at the camera like yeah bye yeah he managed to stop wind and momentum altogether just to wave back at the camera it's funny that marge would watch them and louise when within two years she will reenact the entirety of it with that's amazing when somebody is mentioned when i thelma louise is mentioned to me i still think that's a line from the film. Let's go, Thelma. Hey, Louise. I do not believe that's ever said in the film. I don't think so.

I think that was just their shorthand to let you know what she was watching. But I like that you're right. Henry Homer had committed a crime, and the show acknowledges that. But if Wiggum's ineptitude. You're the man who reported the lost baby? Yes. Can you describe her? She's small.

She's a girl. Bingo! Oh, Maggie! Not so fast. You're wanting on three counts of criminal neglect. You bought my baby. Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you. Mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah.

Ha, ha, ha. Sucks. Just don't do it again, you big lug. I love that. By the end of this episode, both Homer and Marge should be in prison for what they've done. I mean, I don't know if Marge should be in prison, but they would probably put her in prison in a modern situation. But he has an actual crime ready to charge Homer with. But also, I love that she's a baby.

She's a girl. Bingo. Bingo. That's 51% of all babies? They just hands her off. I loved his, like, aw, shucks you big luck. Which is the reaction, if Homer was a woman, that's what the reaction was supposed to be normally. And so he's still bashful and being kissed by Homer. And he's just so happy.

And it was more dark to me now than it was when I saw it as a kid. Homer talking through how to tell Marge that Maggie is dead. That is dark, yeah. You should assume Maggie is dead. Here's the best ways to explain this. I mean, this is a very economical scene, and they don't have much time left, but it's funny how Wiggum is like, hey, you're the guy that your wife was stuck on the bridge. Why is your baby missing now?

Your whole family should be exterminated. It's been a month here, and I really think I should arrest you this time. Springfield has like four cops and they all have to tend to you within two days. When I think of relaxing, I do think back to Marge's list of things like hot fudge sundae, chocolate chip cheesecake, bottle of tequila.

I love that line. I like seeing Marge cut loose and not be so reserved and have fun, but it involves being alone. This is a side of her the writers forget the sexy hair sequence marge is legit sexy i mean that's it's kind of said to me like when they're like how can we get in touch with marge she's the mom she's not interesting well what if we made her

sexy that's the only angle you can find like that's why i give david hemster tons of credit that like he found something to do with her life no it was i loved her just the yeah no but her sigh of relaxation was i mean it was kind of a visual joke but it was also just like a nice character moment she slowly sinks into the bathtub and pops back up and her hair just falls to the side it's a very beautiful piece of animation it speaks to how much she does because she prepares her hair that way on purpose every day in addition to flushing bowling balls and poking out fermentos from bologna. And did you notice that they snuck in again?

Boo! Oh, jeez! Yeah, the season one. Oh! Boo! Oh, jeez! There's gotta be a name for that somewhere. I call it the bow. The bow. But then he gets Maggie back, tapes her down, and he goes to get Marge.

Kicks the kids into the car yeah i love that it's that's another just great visual joke just like yeah again this is it's a bit this episode is a visual delight yeah we don't talk about mark kirkland as much as the other directors but he's great i still think he's great maybe not as uh as as like stand out in terms of how he draws characters yeah and he doesn't have a character that's his like Like David Silverman knows he does the best Homer, the best Krusty, all that stuff. But he definitely he's he's a workman like guy at his job. And he has done I believe he had directed more episodes than anybody. Yeah.

And Brad Bird is on this commentary and he talks about how he had to like break Mark out of doing these Hanna-Barbera things because he worked in the shitty animation minds. He was not a stranger to television animation. He's like, no, we can do camera angles. We can do lighting. We can do this and that. We can spend our money smartly. Brad was one of the lucky ones that he got to come up through Disney.

He was one of a late Disney guy. And so, yeah, the difference between that and... CalArts fella? Yeah, he was a CalArts guy too. And also, I believe Susie Dieter was one of the assistant directors on it and worked on a lot of the Marge scenes, and she would go on to be a great director in her own right

and who would go to work on The Critic. I think one of her most famous episodes of The Simpsons would be the one where Bart dates Meryl Streep, or Meryl Streep plays the... I know she did Bart Gets Famous as well. Ah, actually, that's his best one. This is a stupid observation. I have nowhere else to put it, if you don't mind. Go for it.

Marge flopping on the bed after she's done hula dancing. Looks like she's in the same outfit as Lisa in her introduction in the first episode. Oh, yeah, except they color in her grass skirt, so it's not just like flesh. You don't just see flesh-colored child vagina. God, Simpsons. If we haven't said it before, please watch Family Dog, the Brad Bird TV special. Yeah, it's really cool. You can see how that informed the Simpsons look in terms of moving the camera, doing smart angles.

Watch the Family Dog Amazing Stories. Yeah, not the cartoon. I can't vouch for this show. Not the TV series. It's not available in any format, is it? Yeah, I don't know. Barely any of it is. But the other one won an Oscar.

It was Oscar nominated, I believe. I can't recall if it won an Oscar. If it exists, I'm going to find it better. That and Sammy. Yeah, I... Which I did go on a search for this weekend. And Fruitless? Leave me alone.

I missed the line earlier, but I did also love complicated phone directions of just press 9 on the phone, then the pound sign, then 4A3, and we'll do the rest. It's kind of funny how Marge is having a conversation with Troy, and he's following her through. It feels like that show, The Heart She Holler, where one of the characters is a series of videotapes.

For every occasion, they can all talk to him. I love The Heart She Holler so much. Please watch that. It's disgusting, though, but you've been warned. That's pretty much it for the episode. That's a sweet ending. I love the ending. The callback to the over-talking never leave again never leave again hi did you miss me

i missed you too oh and from now on i hope you'll help me out a little more than you used to you got it sweetheart you have enough blanket Well, I could use a little more. And sometimes I want a little time to myself. And I expect you to help. Mom, I think I speak for everyone in this bed when I say you have nothing to worry about. Now let's

just try and get a little shut-eye, okay? Hmm. Nice little Maggie eye gag at the end. Yeah, this is one of of the after Lisa's Pony I think this is the second episode where their eyes and their teeth glow in the dark in your classic cartoon you know it's a sweet ending but it is a lie

they don't help her she's put upon by the next episode well Bart cuts her off like let's just go to bed like this is not gonna happen yeah we're not really doing this it's still a codependent relationship and we're gonna use you but I and I think I look back on my time as a, and I wish I had been a better son to my mom. And I really took her for granted. And this episode filled me with sadness over my own youth, Miss Ben youth.

I have different feelings towards my mother. She took too much time out of her own life to invest in me and then put a lot of pressure on me to do a bunch of shit that I didn't really need or want to do and still does. And then makes it seem like it's my fault. I don't get that guilt. My mom just worries all the time about me, and that's kind of her thing. But it's like, did you want something to eat? No, I just ate. Well, I made you food.

You don't want to eat your food? Like, would you just stop? Like, i'm trying i'm on i'm literally on a conference call that's a hard game yeah yeah that's a hard game i guess it's probably not appropriate for this show anyway if you can recommend a therapist uh can't east on twitter but yeah this this was a really good episode i can't i can't remove it from my memories of my mom but it's also just a great episode and shows you that marge can't be fun yes like yeah she she can be just as good of a source of funniness as anybody else.

And something I love about these season three episodes is they believe so much in these stories that there is no B story. It's like we're going to tell one story. And I mean, Homer and Maggie is a B story, but it's directly related to what's happening. Yeah, they don't just come together at the end, you know. Yeah. Oh, and I did one other thing i wanted to praise was the animation of when homer is doing his puppet show and then santa's little helper bites his hand the animation of like it's so fluid of him just putting his hand around like he's in so much pain you feel

and i love maggie clapping when that happens at the end it's a great little comic strip jokey moment i really enjoyed it so thank you so much for listening everybody i've been your host bob mackie if you want to find me you can look at me up on Twitter as Bob servo I also write for us gamer dot net and something awful calm and you can listen to my other podcast retronauts to classic gaming podcast comes out

every week you can find that a retronauts calm or us gamer dot net everybody else where can we find you what do you make laser town podcast calm a bunch of articles a lot of cartoon stuff has cartoon stuff For me there as of late A lot being like to a month Jesus But also the Lasertime podcast

If you like this show I can't imagine we don't share some humor sensibility Give it a shot It's largely retro focused But a lot of pop culture And then there's also 302010 Which is a pop culture portal Into the past 30, 20, and 10 years ago to that week.

That seven-day period. A recent laser time delve deep into Bart's long time working on the Butterfinger ad campaign. My favorite 302010, so I can mention it. Everything on the show had, like, Cable Guy is the middle for 96 and has all the other actors in it. Because 86 the same week was Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Matthew Roderick and Cable Guy is the middle for 96 and has all the other actors in it. Because 86 the same week was Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Matthew Roderick and Cable Guy. Also Jack Black in Nacho Libre.

I bet Kevin Bacon is connected to all of them in Sinister Web. He probably is. Ben Stiller is a much better Kevin Bacon. So this is brought to you by Patreon. Patreon.com slash LazerTime. That's where the entire firstvin bacon yeah so this uh is brought to you by patreon patreon.com slash laser time that's where the entire first season of talking simpsons is so if you're a new

fan and you're like hey they started at season two we didn't start with season two we just kept the first 13 to the loyal patreon listeners and you can be one of them five dollars a month gets you access to it and if you uh start there now there should be just scroll back through some of the most recent posts you'll see a big picture of black smithers from season one that's where the links to all the season one episodes are and you can download them as well as our season two wrap-up which was incredible such a good episode the secret the secret hidden nazi short that you don't know about probably the greatest it was even i learned something about the simpsons that day i outnerded everybody thanks so much for listening folks we'll be back next week when edna kerboppel falls in love later Wow. Infotainment.