Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - Homer Loves Flanders With Libby Watson

Episode Date: July 9, 2025

"Don't worry, Bart; it seems like every week something odd happens to the Simpsons. My advice is to ride it out, make an occasional smart-aleck quip, and by next week we'll be back to where we started from, ready for another wacky adventure." - Lisa Simpson Homer and Ned become fast friends, but Homer's oafish behavior slowly grates on Ned's benevolent Christian attitude. Will Homer's lack of boundaries push Ned into a killing spree, like he's done with so many others in the past? Our guest: Libby Watson from the What's All This Then podcast Support this podcast and get over 200 ad-free bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow the official Twitter, @TalkSimpsonsPod, not to mention Bluesky and Instagram!

This podcast is brought to you by patreon.com slash talking simpsons head there to check out exclusive podcasts like talking Futurama, talk king of the hill, the what a cartoon movie podcast and tons more. I hardly endorse this event or product. Ahoy, ahoy everybody and welcome to Talking Simpsons, the podcast that's sacrilegious. I'm one of your hosts, the Killbot Factory Supervisor, Bob Mackie, and this is our chronological exploration of the Simpsons, who is here with me today as always Head of the fruit punch advisory board Henry Gilbert and who is our special guest on the line? I'm Libby Watson and this time I will be the nacho man and this week's episode is Homer loves Flanders

Hey, look, Homer's got one of those robot cars! One of those American robot cars. This episode originally aired on March 17th, 1994, and as always, Henry will tell us what happened on this mythical day in real world history. Oh my god! Oh boy Bobby, Super Metroid is released for the Super Famicom, Ace of Bases The Sign tops the billboard charts, and Naked Gun 33 1 3rd is number one at the box office. And all of these hold up except for that one joke about Anna Nicole Smith in the Naked Gun film.

Yeah. I will gladly revisit any of these pieces of media. As we've said on many an episode, The Crying Game was a great film that was also the cheat, cheat for films to make very transphobic jokes. It's quite unfortunate. And TV shows also did a lot of, I think it's, no, The Simpsons sort of did

Crying Game jokes, but the critic did like three of them, I think. Right. Yeah. I remember Quimby talking about it. But yeah, Dinkum 33 and a third, other than that, like I watched that a million times. Seriously, like one million times on TV. I definitely watched Naked Guy as a kid,

but I don't remember anything about it. So that's definitely something I should revisit. Yeah, I feel like maybe I only saw the second movie in full until last year when I watched the first one all the way through, and I did like it, but I wanna warn everyone, the last 25 minutes is just baseball jokes. That's all it is.

And I think people forget that element of the film. It's all a bunch of very different kinds of jokes up until that point, and that's kind of like a bummer, but there's still some funny stuff in that part. I really respect, you know, maybe I sound old now, but I feel like it doesn't happen anymore where someone gets to make a movie and they just make, they just do the thing that interests them. They just do the thing that makes them laugh, you know

And if that is 25 minutes of baseball jokes, then sorry That's what you're gonna get and we're on the brink of the Nicky gum coming back and it's weird that Liam Neeson is 15 years older than Leslie Nielsen was in the first movie. That's how aging has changed I didn't know that. Yeah, he's in his seventies. I think less than Wilson was like 57 or something in the first movie. That's how aging has changed. I didn't know that. Yeah, he's in his 70s, and I think Leslie Nielsen was like 57 or something in the first film, or 55. Did they pick Liam Neeson because it sort of sounds like Leslie Nielsen? Oh yeah, I think it's just to confuse people.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's extra funny that he would be, if the trailers are to be believed, he is written as the son of Frank Drebin, which would make no sense based on his natural accent or his age or anything. Oh God. Yes. Ace of Bases the sign.

It was huge in America and Europe. It was like the European invasion. It was like ABBA for the nineties. I think it was or ABBA. I forget how it's officially said. I always grew up saying ABBA, which says nothing of how it's officially said or you know said in Sweden or whatever But I do hear Americans say ABBA a lot like I'm wonderful I vote ABBA and by the way just to lay out the math on this

Leslie Nielsen was 62 in the first naked gun and Liam Neeson is 72 upon the release of the reboot That's really funny and strange What a world also Also I should look more into this but like Ace of Base is the sign. I feel like there's like secret conservative messaging to it. It definitely sounds like it is about a well what an American would call a welfare queen. I don't know what they would call it then. But I thought that was the conspiracy theory behind all

that she wants. Is another baby? Yeah, yeah. You're right, that's that one. The sign, I also heard the, it's like, I saw the sign is about like becoming a neo-fascist or a crypto-fascist. I had seen that too. I'm seeing this is all poppycock Henry. Oh, okay. Balderdash even.

Humbug. Well good, good. Not true. We should not throw out these speculations on the air. I'm just asking questions about things I've heard. And what's with these vaccines? We're gonna figure this out in the next 90 minutes. Well, I'm doing my own research, so.

And yes, I made sure to say the Super Famicom for Super Metroid because it's released in Japan this week. It'll be four weeks later in the United States. Release what many have called the best game on the Super Nintendo. Very good, and RetroNauts has about 17 episodes about it, if you want to know more about this little game. Honestly, it was too complex for me when I was 12.

I really only played it in earnest on, like, Game Boy Advance, I feel like, remake or something. But definitely, it was an A.U.T.S. playthrough for me. I rented it and was like, it was way too complex for me. You know, I've never played a Metroid game at all. My only experience of Metroid is playing as Samus in Super Smash Brothers, so I feel enormously out of my depth here. Well, the great news about this game is that it's the best Metroid game,

it's very available, and it's about five hours long. So it's not asking a lot from you. Yeah, yeah, no, I could bash that in one stream, easy peasy. So that's everything that was going on in this magical time of 1994. And joining us once again is Libby Watson from the What's All This Then podcast. Welcome back to the show, Libby. And Libby last joined us for season 13's Sweets in Sour Marge. That's right, an episode I remember almost nothing about.

So well done, my brain, for correctly ditching information that I no longer have any use for. Thank you so much for having me back. Very nice to be here as always. I only recall Ben Stiller and a giant candy ball made of people. Right. Ben Stiller's in that one. Wow. I forgot. Springfield's the fattest town. That's right. That's right. Yep. That's right. Yeah. I love that, you know, we and many people on podcasts that you're on, you're always asked what do British people think of this or that or this? And now you have a whole podcast series just for that.

That's right. Yeah. The idea is sort of explaining little weird bits of Britain to, well, mostly to Americans, but also to everybody, to ourselves. You know, my cohost Charlotte and I both grew up in England, but have not lived there for, I think she moved away about six years ago and I moved away. Oh golly. It will be 13 years this year. So the longer the podcast goes the Less right I will have to expound upon British stuff

So really excited to see how long the podcast goes and how mad British people will get several years down the line run Like oh, I kind of can't remember, do they drive on the left or what? I don't know. We'll see. Well, that just means in 11 years I can rip off your idea and make a podcast with Henry about living in America. Yeah, absolutely. Great idea. Honestly, it's quite a rich vein. The whole like, you know, Hey, these two countries kind of similar, but also kind of really different. Let's talk about that. You know, we say lift.

What's that about? Maybe if you ever see us's talk about that. You know, we say lift, what's that about? Maybe if you ever see us do an episode titled, you know, episode 700 lift, you know, we'll be running out of ideas. You missed out on our Simpsons go to London episode from earlier in the season, which lets you not have to comment on Tony Blair or a very famous transphobe.

But the one question I want to ask on that is, they say in that episode that British candy is super sweet and like that is that sounds like a load of bollocks. I mean, it's definitely different to American candy. I have a lot of opinions about certainly I think British candy and chocolate. One of the things that, you know, Britain still has over America and, you know, in terms of food, it's really one of the only things we got going for us. I wouldn't say it's necessarily super sweet. I would say British, I mean Cadbury, I guess is kind of a little sweeter than Hershey, but it's also just better. If you're an American, you'd be kind of wilding out to criticize almost any other country's food for saying it's very

sweet or sugary. I think that was just trolling by Dave Merkin. But also Libby, did Henry fail by asking about candy and not sweets? Oh, wow. Well, you know what? I've been here long enough that that stuff just kind of passes me by now. I'm fully Americanized. And I say, I want some candy rather than,

oh, I'd love some sweets. Yeah, Dave Merkin, he's a big time anglophile of UK comedy like Python and the Young Ones and that really, he tried to remake the Young Ones in America, like that was in the late 80s, but it was too, because he was trying to do something too. Could you imagine anything even like half as crazy as the Young Ones on like network American television in the late 80s? Absolutely not. I need to look into that. That for sure could be an episode because that's, I mean, honestly, there are so

many funny examples of American TV trying to import British ideas. Like, obviously, The Office is the big success, but then you have stuff like Peep Show where they keep trying to bring it and it doesn't work and they keep trying and then keep trying. Definitely think a whole series on failed American imports of British television would be a fine idea. Yeah. On our other podcast, we recently talked about the two failed American red dwarf pilots. I can't imagine anything less likely to succeed

with an American sensibility than red dwarf. That's so funny. Well, we'll keep you in mind though, Libby, for a few years from now when we cover the Ricky Gervais written and starring episode of The Simpsons. Oh, my God. I think I'll be dead actually when that happens. That was in the Office slash Extras era when I found him delightful until he was set free

on his own and then you realize, well, maybe not. Yeah, I mean our mutual friend and former guest of this podcast, Brendan James, has a very good article about what happened to Ricky Gervais that he wrote for The Baffler a while ago. Because we both love The Office and we both love you know not necessarily defend every joke in but find very funny the XFM shows that he did you know they were they were very funny and you know obviously I think Stephen Merchant you know may be funnier but you can't can't deny there's some really funny stuff in that what the fuck happened to him

you know it's kind of crazy the fall off. It is very funny that the biggest podcasting pioneers are Ricky Gervais and Adam Carolla. I know! And we're about to lose Marc Maron. That's true, yeah. We are. Yeah, it's a real changing of the guard type situation. Very sad. But this episode is a perfect episode of Simpsons. Just as good as the Simpsons get, I would say.

I totally agree. When you said, do you want to do Home and Love Slanders, I was like fucking yes. Because I, yeah, I agree it's a want to do Home and Love Slanders? I was like, fucking yes. Because I, yeah, I agree. It's a perfect episode is one of those ones where I think I remember watching it again as an adult. And it being one of those ones that made me sort of go like, holy shit, The Simpsons is the best TV show. Like, this is so, so good. The stuff in it that is just, I mean, we'll talk about it, but some of the jokes that I just sort of like couldn't believe I had never noticed, you know, like going back to it as an adult. Yeah, this is one I would always love watching as a kid.

I would be excited when it would come on TV because it has some of the darkest, most violent jokes in the series, a lot of slapstick and a lot of like, they're finally pushing Ned into the rage circle, which they'll have a lot more fun with in Hurricane Nettie but it's fun to bring him out of his comfort zone and ask like what will get Ned to cross that line? Absolutely, yes. One of the funniest things. I mean that whole concept of like extremely nice, extremely Christian man driven to the brink by this sort of like icon of American stupidity is really really funny.

Well this episode also is written by a brand new writer to The Simpsons. And yes it's time to talk about a little guy named David Richardson who is on the commentary but doesn't get to say a lot because David Merkin really takes over any commentary he's on. So if there's a writer who's not as you know extroverted as Conan you're not gonna get a lot to say. Wes Archer says very little on this commentary, too David Merkin always takes up a lot of space on commentaries. He also whether right or wrong He often will say oh I came up with this idea

I came up with that idea which I mean he is the head writer and what gets put in the episode usually is what his Call is but also I always wonder like every one of these it was your idea I mean, I believe it in this episode with the the bushes thing for sure But yeah, I think he's just confident to pitch everything that's on his mind, but that's David Merkin for you He gets results. Damn it. Yeah, we're talking about David Richardson today And I'm not sure if we missed reporting on his death, but he did pass away in 2021 at the age of 65 So maybe we mentioned and talked to the audience I didn't bother digging through my notes to find out but So maybe we mentioned it and talked to the audience. I didn't bother

digging through my notes to find out, but in case we miss it, I apologize. But he's one of those guys like Frank Mueller, where he's not a major Simpsons writer. So you kind of hear about it way after the fact. And also like he seemed like a quietly retired guy. And it's one of those things where you, you probably only learn about it because his official obituary gets published and Hollywood reporter a deadline or something. David Richardson, he first got his feet wet in the world of sitcom writing in 1990 with the show Grand.

And in case you don't know what that is, this was a two season primetime soap opera parody that aired on NBC. So he was a writer and story editor for that show. When it ended, he jumped to the sitcom Empty Nest, and when that ended, he jumped over to the short-lived Gracie film sitcom Phenom. So he was already a known quantity in the James L. Brooks-iverse at this point. I think I've only heard of Grand because of it being referenced on commentaries. It was Frank Muleau on that too right was that when grant came up

yeah apparently it was a very smart funny and subversive satire but just completely unavailable officially in any capacity and then that phenom angle on it is funny too because like that makes me think that perhaps phenom gets cancelled early or I mean phenom does get cancelled and maybe when it gets cancelled it turns out the like hey you owe us X number of phenom scripts we're not going to do on your contract. But fortunately, Gracie has another show we can move you over to. Could be. Yeah, it could be like Frank Muehler or somebody from phenom worked on The Simpsons after phenom. I forget who it was, but that could be his situation. But I was a phenom

viewer. I watched every episode of phenom, probably because it ends with the Gracie Films logo. You tuned in late one day and we're like,om probably because it ends with the Gracie Films logo. You tuned in late one day and were like, whoa, look at that, the Gracie Films, it must be good. A sitcom about a burgeoning tennis star? So this is his only Simpsons and he wasn't a freelancer. He was a supervising producer for about half of season five. So either he didn't get along with David Merkin and he's on the commentary. So he probably got along with David Merkin or he got a better offer from NBC to write for the John Larroquette show Which is where he went next but I think Henry your speculation which I never even considered might be correct that he was writing for phenom and had to finish out a contract or

There was a spot for him on the Simpsons to finish out that contract with Gracie film So that could be the case here. I would bet that's somewhere in the mix of like filling out a contract, but also too, I would think, you know, we mentioned it at season five, they had to rebuild and then they lose Conan. So they need to rebuild even more. I would have assumed he was just a freelancer if it wasn't for the producer credits, which means he would have been a writing producer for at least part of this season.

Based on him being on the commentary, I would not think he quit because he hated Dave Merkin or Dave Merkin hated him because they're there. And he worked on Phenom with John Vede and Frank Mueller, so I assume that they got him in on The Simpsons. It sounds very likely to me. At least vouched for him. And well, also too, like another, I think, aspect of this is a lot of writers stay because they love writing for The Simpsons.

They like writing for the best show and there is a prestige to it. But it still isn't a WGA show at the time, nor does it pay awesome. And it has very late nights. Meanwhile, it's like a joke now. But the John Lerriket Show was like a big major show when it debuted. John Lerriket won like a million Emmys on Night Court and so now he's getting his own series. Yeah it was a great show. I remember watching that very adult show. It was a very depressing show because he was a recovering alcoholic who I think

ran a bus station or something. I just remember it was like there was a rivalry between the John Larroquette show and news radio. Like they didn't, the news radio writers did not like the John Larrichette show writers did vice versa. I remember hearing that on news radio commentaries. Well both shows should have survived. So yeah, David Richardson he wrote this. He was on The Simpsons for half of season five with the John Larrichette show and had a pretty prolific career after the mid-90s. He wrote for shows like Soul Man which was the What if Dan Aykroyd Was a Preacher sitcom.

He also wrote for Malcolm in the Middle, the sitcom Ed. In case you forget what Ed was, Michael Ian Black played a funny neighbor on it, I believe. That's the Ed sitcom. Ed had some, I think I watched one episode once, but I think it had some Pete and Pete people, right? Wasn't it a Pete and Pete creator or two Pete and Pete creators were on it? I never watched it, but a friend says,, Oh, Michael Ian's blacks on this. That's back when you could like Michael Ian black and he was funny, but not sure

who exactly was behind the show, but it lasted way longer than you thought it would. It's like a four season show. I remember an early podcast I listened to was Michael Ian black and the star of ed reviewing candy together. Like that was like an early podcast. Yes. Tom Kavanaugh. That's right, yes, yeah.

Mike and Tom eat snacks, right? Yes, that was the name of it, yeah. Back when that's what podcasts were, you got drunk and talked about video games, or you ate weird candy, or both. And it's a 40 minute podcast as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that just unlocked the memory

because the podcast was called Mates. Mike and Tom eat snacks. Again, back when MIB on Twitter was a fun guy instead of a guy who screamed at anyone to the left of Nancy Pelosi. And can't stop talking about how great the McCains are. We get it. Yeah, ugh, terrible.

Anyway, yes, I never watched an episode of Ed. I was unaware that Richardson wrote for all those episodes too. I wonder, is Ed streaming anywhere, I wonder? Crazy, I'm looking up, now this, we're getting way off topic here, but this is Talking Simpsons. Mike and Tom Eat Snacks is still kind of going on, but not really because they had an episode in 2023, but that was their first episode in like a

year. So they're digging back into the snacks. This is like the primordial doughboys basically, Mike and Tom Eat Snacks. If MIB didn't do it, I remember that podcast now that like, Michael Ian Black is making fun of him for just being in Yogi. Like he was in the Yogi Bear movie when they were recording it. Well, we're gonna record an entire podcast series

about mates very, very soon. Don't you worry about it. We're not off topic. So yes, Dave Richardson, yes, he wrote for the sitcom Ed. I called it a shitcom, I apologize. I'm sure it's very good. That was a slip of the tongue. Two and a half. I called it a shitcom, I apologize. I'm sure it's very good. That was a slip of the tongue. Two and a half men, which is a shitcom.

And also his final role was on Netflix's F is for Family. And because of that, Simpsons writer Michael Price wrote a nice little tribute to David upon his passing. So this is what Michael Price says, and I quote, I first met David in 2000 when he was my boss on What About Joan?

And I never forgot how great he was as a writer, a showrunner, and a friend. When I had the chance to become a showrunner myself on Fs4Family, he was the first person I called to add to the staff. From day one of the show, he was my right hand, always pitching great jokes, masterful with story, and just a great, great guy. His fingerprints are on every frame of our show, and his loss is immeasurable to me. So that is from a Simpsons writer, Michael Price. Oh, that's so sweet. Wow. I really enjoyed F is for Family.

I didn't watch the last couple seasons. I need to get on that. That's so nice that like, you know, it's where his, Michael Price got to hire his favorite writer friends to work on stuff. But that's also, speaking of another late writer who we interviewed, Reed Harrison was like, he wasn't a writer on F is for Family,

but a character is named after him also as credit to one of his friends too. He's a real friend of the show. Yeah, so RIP to David Richardson, and I feel like, I don't wanna be morbid, but I feel like you and I need to create a spreadsheet of dead Simpsons people because the 2020s are shaping up to be a tragic decade for Simpsons writers and performers.

Now it might be because the show was about to turn 40 years old. That could be a huge element of why so many people are passing away, but I don't like it. I'm again it. I was thinking about this recently because when we were recording this Alf Clausen had just passed away and he lived a very long life. He was not a young man when he got hired to the Simpsons. So, but yeah I was thinking about how when we were kids it felt like most of the people who were on the original Flintstones were either dead or dying.

And now the Simpsons feel so much older than the Flintstones now, even though it is not. We're still on Homer one. I think when we were growing up, we were probably on like Fred three. That's cause Dan Caslenetta lives a much healthier life than Alan Reed. But yes, RIP David.P. David Richardson.

And this one was pitched by Conan O'Brien. They say it was the last episode idea he came up with. What a great assignment for a new writer. Here is a Conan O'Brien pitch. You get to write it. I'm sure it was very fleshed out. I'm sure this was one of the best first scripts you could ever write for a TV show. And I guess it was his only script, so he decided to go out on top. It's a perfect like Conan catching what it would be a great idea. You take a dynamic that is thoroughly established in the series and then reverse

it. What if Homer finally loves Flanders and now it's actually hell for Ned to be friends with a silly sitcom character who ruined your life by being funny. Sort of fun when a show kind of earns the ability to do that by having done so many episodes you know like you really have to work to make that because if they did that you know like season two or whatever it just doesn't hit as hard as doing it after doing five seasons of like well guess what bitch now we love Flanders what does that look like you know? And I think if you're watching this 31 years ago and you don't know the title of the episode, which was a very common thing, you're not going to know the title. It is misleading. I think you might think at first, oh, Ned is going to be really annoying because that's kind of what they're establishing up front.

But then Homer ends up being the annoying one and that's the curveball. And I think we all forget about that curveball because we've internalized so much of this over the past three decades. And in season two, late season two, they did, you know, When Flanders Failed, which was like the first big Homer and Ned episode, but it's more of a regular sitcom episode. The leftorium stuff like makes it bigger and, but it is more of like Homer finally like gets one over on Ned and realizes he was being too mean and tries to save him and it's a sweet ending. This episode is all about making fun of that style of episode in an extremely meta way. Absolutely. No, that's such a good point. I hadn't thought about that comparison. It really is just a completely different way of making a show, I guess. It's just a completely different style of humor.

The Leftorium episode is funny. There's definitely funny stuff in it, but yeah, I guess the jokes are more incidental. Yeah, you can see how far we've come because in the Leftorium episode, Homer is imagining bad things that could happen to Ned, and it escalates to Ned's death, and Homer goes, eh, too far, and he backs up his fantasy. In this episode, he is about to murder Ned. Yeah. He's cold blood. And this episode is directed by Wes Archer, one of the very first animators on Simpsons.

It's like perfect animation the whole time. Like this is a great script, but there are including one truly iconic joke in this episode that is funny because it was animated perfectly. Like it is the difference between a good episode of Simpsons and a great one is stuff that Wes Archer and his team did in this episode. That's so interesting, yeah.

I mean, absolutely. Again, now you say it, I can think of so many little animations that are really, really good. The pool table breaking is really, really good. The pool table breaking. It's really, really funny. The episode begins after a cute little couch gag where everybody is a black void inside of their bodies, which they split in half.

It's much funnier than if they were like full of blood and guts or if it was a gross joke. Treehouse of Horror, this would be a bloody bisection, but here, it's clean cuts all the way. Yeah, that Treehouse of Horror where they turn be a bloody bisection, but here, it's clean cuts all the way. Yeah, that Treehouse of Horror where they turn inside out scared the fuck out of me, and I didn't like watching it. Even to this day, I kind of don't like looking at them all turned inside out, because it scares me so much.

Didn't they even make action figures of those guys, I want to say, I think. Oh, you'd have to make, like, what, six new ones if you count Willie? Oh, that's true. Yeah, you know have to make like, what, six new ones if you count Willie? Oh, that's true. Yeah, you know what? Then I'm pitching one to Jack's Pacific now that they should in the next.

Do you want to go out of business, Jack's Pacific? We saw what happened to Super 8. What if you went even more niche? Then we get the ION Springfield logo very quickly. Again, this is the first one we're recording after the passing of Alf Clausen, so it is where I'm appreciating the music every second of the episode even more than I usually was but god the Ion Springfield music is

great I love it I love the killbot factory too it's off to an amazing start now I believe that's no longer sensationalists I'm just like completely I bought into the idea it is both sensationalist but also like it is about the military is scary Which is the opposite of what the news does now and then of like aggrandizing the American military So it's about like the killbot factory the government calls it the army again. Just a perfect joke You know thinking about how many times I've watched this episode over the years, that still makes me laugh so much. God.

David Merkin, this whole season, I feel like it's every episode or almost every episode where they use Kent Brockman to make fun of scaremongering media. I love it every time. They find a new thing every time with it too. Yes, absolutely. Totally. A really, really good running bit. And then we hear about going to be

the Springfield Adams versus the Shelbyville Sharks. This is the first appearance of the professional football team of the Simpsons of Springfield, which similar to the isotopes owned by Mr. Burns and nuclear powered theme. Yeah, you know, they really don't do anything with the Adams again until season 28, the town episode, and the guest on that episode, among many, Mike Mitchell. Oh, right! No way! He plays a Bostonian, Bostonite, whatever the term is. Wait, Mitch playing a guy from Boston?

How the hell did they come up with that one? And he's designed to wear a Patriots hat? I mean, come on, it should be a Celtics hat, really. Yeah, come on, these guys, it looks like they're not even watching the Doughboyz video episode. You know like they're not even watching the doughboys video episode You know, they just don't have as many well, I guess the next season on Fox by September Fox has the NFL so maybe that's when they start doing NFL jokes It's either directly tied into the NFL or they just use NFL team names and don't show them like in the Super Bowl episode

It comes later. Hmm. Interesting. That makes sense. And this is also where another Perfect Line I love, which was because of me, they have a warning. Oh, God. That's this episode. Yes, you're right.

Jesus Christ. What a line. It's the first of many things that I just see screen capped and posted as replies on Blue Sky or Twitter. I mean, it's the sign of a perfect Simpsons episode where it's like you constantly are going, wait, that's in this episode? Cause you think of them, just got Homer's pride

and like because of me, they have a warning. I know exactly. We're putting a microscope on this first scene, but there's so much great stuff in it. I just love the touch of Bart being upside down on the couch because I remember that being an option as a kid, I'm bored. Let's sit on the couch a different fun way.

And I like when they do that sometimes with the kids on the show. Yes. I think in The Simpsons and in other cartoons about kids, some of the funniest stuff or, you know, in this case, not necessarily a joke in itself, but like some of the best stuff is like kids being kids and like the weird stuff that they do and that they think is important, you know? Well, that's the kind of style that like this is why Wes Archer goes on to be such an accomplished Like he's the series director of King of the Hill after this and for Rick and Morty after that and it's little things like that that you could lay out this scene

Exactly the same if Bart is just sitting normal like the joke would be performed to the same and you'd be doing your job, right? But instead of Bart be upside down and then he flips upright to scam Homer, that makes it more visually exciting. Yeah, no, you're so right. Yeah, Homer gets scammed out of it for a wig, but you know what, he's happy about it because he's going to finally replace Marge as he's dreamed of.

He does have to purchase a large wig, which I think is an essential part of that joke. That's right, oh, you're right. It is a regular wig with a large wig. You're right. God. I haven't even thought about that. Like, is the wig itself as large? Like, the hair is large? Or the headpiece is large?

Like, do you have to have a large head? In which case, having a regular-sized head would be pointless? I guess it implies the wigs are priced by just the amount of hair on them. Right, right, exactly. Also, like, you know, second, the iconic wig joke in The Simpsons, the first being the wig sphere, which when I- I love wigs. My husband and I drove through Knoxville on a road trip a few years back and I did make

sure to take a photo of the wig sphere. I had to have that for my personal records. There's so much wig humor. Two other jokes I can think of, Bart's nightmare about being in juvenile hall and one of the kids gets a soiled wig. And then when Kirk Van Houten dates Starla, she asks for the keys to his car so she can change wigs. Well, and then of course, George H.W. Bush with the hair. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, wigs are funny. Oh, and let's not forget Bart dancing with the wig on and Homer thinks he's gay. Oh my God. Yep, absolutely, wow. They won't do toupee humor, but I agree, wigs is an elevated version of the toupee joke. Totally, totally. They resist taking the toupee off of Skinner for so long,

but they eventually give in. So we then cut to Homer waiting in line. He waited the entire time, second in line. I also think of that Just Damp the Ticket guy line over and over again too when I'm like wait I have more money than time now. Why am I doing this theory? Yes Though I'm about to stand in line just seven hours from now. Sorry nine hours from now I'm gonna be standing in the line for my switch to at Best Buy Oh, wow

I'm very luckily snagged a pre-order from GameStop, which, and actually Bank of America blocked the transaction as fraud when it tried to go through last week. I woke up at 4am and checked my phone and like sat up bolt upright to fix it. Cause I was like, I have to get my Switch too. I guess they were like, oh honey, you can't put a Switch on a business card. That doesn't make sense. But you know, I did in the end convince them that it was fine. I have to wait until Monday. Oh, that's disgusting.

I'm sorry. There are no other video games. It sucks. I can't play anything else. I am lucky that Best Buy is like two blocks from me, and they let you just pick up your pre-order at 9 p.m. for a lineup here. Oh, that's huge.

Yeah, absolutely. I had two other safety pre-orders made, which if you hear the Dough Boys on a podcast mention they have Switch 2s, that's because I hooked them up with them. Oh, that's so nice, wow. Like the angel of the podcasting community. Henry, in exchange for? Well, hey, you heard me,

I have two other planned appearances for the Talking Simpsons on them this year, so that's, no, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Oh. Well, I mean, it's implied. I want free advertising. Oh, shit. I think they'll mention that, I mean,

we got free advertising every time they talked about a huge hog on Forrest Tucker, they made sure to say, Talking Simpsons told us about Forrest Tucker's huge hog. Well, that's great. Wow, there we go, there we go. But yes, Homer, unfortunately, gets scalped by a scalper who gets all 30,000 tickets for free.

That touch up also is so good. Which is just like, sure. Yeah, it makes a funnier accent. That guy worked for it though, for that million dollars worth of tickets. He was in line for eight days. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, no, you don't have to do that anymore.

You just set up a freaking bot on the computer now, I think. I actually don't know how ticket scalping on Ticketmaster works, but I assume it uses a bot. You know, scalpers take every good ticket immediately, but then on top of that, I've heard this in two ways about like live music tickets lately, which is one, no matter, the artists who actually do want to price their tickets fairly and not ridiculous,

is meaningless because if they make them like a $50 ticket, they'll already get scalped and turn into a $200 ticket, and no normal person paid $50 anyway. Though now the other side of it apparently is that a lot of stars are like, and festivals are having slow ticket sales and canceling tour dates and stuff, but I mean, it's because tickets are insane. Like nobody wants to pay $500 for a bad seat to see Beyonce. Well, maybe some people do, but that's a lot of money. Yeah, apparently many people do. Yeah. But you've really got to be pretty committed. I mean, we're very spoiled in LA. We have a lot of nice venues and stuff. So my husband

and I go to live music fairly frequently, but the amount that I consider normal to pay for tickets has really gone up, but we amount that I consider normal to pay for tickets has really gone up, but we're not going to see Beyonce-level stars, so I don't think we've ever paid more than $100 for a ticket. Homer is screwed out of those tickets, and then we get a mean joke about Bobby McFerrin.

But three years after Don't Worry, Be Happy. That now his new song is that he needs money. I do think this is tied to or Snopes says that as early as 1992 there was the urban legend that Bobby McFerrin had committed suicide. Like that was one of those like Richard Gere type urban legends going around which is, this is what Snopes figured too.

Everybody, it's a fun thing, well fun, it's a fun mean thing to say to each other, oh you know the don't worry be happy guy? He actually killed himself, that's how sad he was. That's how you did Twisted Humor in the 90s, is came up with something like that, yeah. But he was doing great because in 1993, he did the opening theme to Son of the Pink Panther,

which everyone loves. Wow, I mean, that's big, yeah. I feel like In Living Color probably got to this joke about two years earlier. I don't have the ability to check, but I'm just going to assume they did. Also, I wonder if people were influenced by the fact that in the Don't Worry, Be Happy music video, he plays a stockbroker character who does jump out of a window. So maybe that put the idea in people's heads. It's a cursed video. Robin Williams is in it.

And another guy who, always forget that bald guy with glasses who's in it. I'm sure he's like a comedian, comic character actor I would have heard of back then. But this is where we get our first clip as Homer tries to win a contest. Still waiting for that caller. Oh, we have a winner, what's your name, sir? Ned Flanders. Oh, not Flanders, anybody but Flanders. win a contest. I've got two tickets to paradise.

I've got two tickets to paradise. Excellent guitar riff. near near near near near near near near near near near near Excellent guitar riff Oh, I love how much that wastes time I adore that That is one of the things I wrote down as one of my favorite jokes in this episode because I mean it's definitely like very sort of season 4, season 5 humor where you know they're starting to do this slightly more absurd stuff.

Him announcing that to no one is so funny. It does also rub in just how long they spent on the joke that he also has to comment on it. It's great. It's a great David Merkin style joke. I love that it's Bill and Marty, they are lame radio DJs who then play the obvious song, like you won two tickets,

then they play two tickets to paradise. And then the way Homer then the way Homer's like the animation it's more perfect animation like you see him go from sad to then just getting into the song and forgetting why he's sad to going along with the guitar riff. It's very like when he is trying to make Maggie happy by putting the box on his head and he's like no my box is exactly the same dynamic where he's just completely lulled out of, you know, one emotion with something extremely simple. Since we last talked about this, Eddie money has passed away in 2019 and he attempted a Broadway jukebox musical that I don't think went very far of his songs that was called Two Tickets to Paradise.

I mean, it couldn't be anything else, could it? And now we have no hope, no jobs, no cash, and no money. Yes. We go from this to Homer is sad, and this is where Bart learns about the genetic issue that Lisa will identify later, as all Simpsons men are failures. And this is also where in our next clip

they start building up more Shelbyville had been mentioned before and appeared in previous episodes but this I believe is where the rivalry storyline really begins. What's so special about this game anyway? It's just another chapter in the pointless rivalry between Springfield and Shelbyville. They built a mini mall so we built a bigger mini mall. They made the world's largest pizza, so we burned down their city hall. Yeah, they swore they'd get us back by spiking our water supply.

But they didn't have the guts. The walls are melting again. Personally, I think I'm overdone. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. God, if you really are God, you'll get me tickets to that game. Hi, the le-ho neighbor.

Want to go to the game with me? I got two tickets. Why do you mock me, oh Lord? Oh, my, that's not God. That's just a waffle that Bartossed up there. Oh, I know I shouldn't eat thee, but. Oh, mmm, sacrilegious. Oh, everything perfect there, everything.

Two immortal jokes back to back, and secret writing room lore is snuck in. That's right, Libby, have you heard about the caramel on the ceiling of the Simpsons writer's room? No, I hadn't. So. We spent about four collective hours talking about it with Simpsons writers, so I think we've fully established

the details, all known details about it. Yeah, you guys are like the owners of the oral history of the caramel on the ceiling. You know, we could, with not much editing, we could easily construct together an oral history on it from four different interviews. We make $30. Sell it on paper. Yeah, exactly. Yes, actually, shame on you, listener, if you never check out our interviews with people,

because if you listened to our Mike Reese one back in 2018, he gave us the most complete answer, as well as being stymied, I say, at our question, because he had no idea anybody even knew about this. And he was like, I can't believe you're asking about this. Nobody knows this. So we had heard many things out there. We'd always wanted to know because of jokes like this, but we had heard competing things.

It was Butterfingers. It was caramels. Here's what Conan O'Brien once said to Ed Sheeran. I remember we all chewed up some caramel and put it together into a big blob and mashed it up into the ceiling and then tried to get things to stick to it because you'll do anything to pass the time. And he said that to Ed Sheeran because British people love the Simpsons more than Americans per capita, I would say.

A hundred percent, yes. British people and Irish people for sure. It's absolutely huge for us. Oh man, did I call, is Ed Sheeran Irish? Did I call him a British? I actually don't know. Let me find out. Let's check real quick before we get. I have shamelessly called a couple things Irish British. Okay, what I have for some reason done is Google Irish Sheeran which is not what I meant to do he's born in Halifax West Yorkshire English okay she's English yeah no it's true that a very good Irish friends we always talk about how important the

Simpsons were because it was you know it was on like every night six o'clock or whatever it was crucial stuff but yeah so back to that caramel so we asked Mike Reese about it and he gave us the best answer he's like you know what I'll give you the whole story and he said and he remembered it better than anybody that we asked so I'm going with his is his recall they had lots of free Butterfingers around there and he said he ate so many that he never wants to eat them again but this was not Butterfingers they also also said they had basically like, you know, plastic wrapped caramel, just, you know, like the little squares. And that one day Conan took about six of them. And as they were doing writing and rewriting, rolls it into a perfect ball, and then puts it on the ceiling. Reese is like, yeah, he's very tall,

he can easily put it on the ceiling. He puts on the ceiling and then Mike Reese says, Al Jean said that if that stays up for an entire year, he'll take a bite out of it. And it did. And Mike Reese says that Al Jean took a little baby bite, but he did say Al Jean did take the bite. So. Man, that rocks is so like the stuff that my roommates did at first year of uni Where like they left a bag of bread hanging up in a closet just to see what would happen to it

And at the end of the year, it was really moldy and it was like, yep There we go. That's it I don't have the information on hand But if you go back to our Josh Weinstein interview when we just interviewed him by himself He does talk about an instance in which one writer Had to go home because he was there to eat the berries on the bush outside of the writers room, and then he got sick That's right. That's right I like that. I like that a lot actually you know what when you were mentioning the caramels

I could instantly recall the exact caramels that I think you're probably talking about because I the exact carabels that I think you're probably talking about because I used those when I did a Simpsons baking stream last year and I made two versions of Homer's Space Age moon waffles. And I did one that was like the one from the show. You just put waffle batter and carabels into a waffle iron. And then I did another elevated one where it was like, I made like a stick of butter out of ice cream That was like really like an extra yellow ice cream

And I wrapped it in a maple waffle and stuff like that with smoked sea salt and shit like that So it was a really fun really fun challenge to make home of space station moon waffles good But yeah, I had a bag of those caramels and I used about six of them And I was like what the fuck am I gonna do with the rest of these? To die back to the show, maybe Bart made the moon waffle and that's why it stuck up there so long. It's funny on the commentary, they won't say it's Conan on the commentary.

Like they don't want to, I don't know why, they're just like, who would do, like they're joking around with each other, like this is an O2 commentary or O3, they're going like, yeah, who would do that? What kind of crazy person? They kind of laugh about not saying who it was. That's fun, I like that.

We also, yeah, we asked Bill Oakley about it and he remembered being disgusted by it and that basically the writer's room, by season four, that was the writer's room, the classic writer's room. Season five and six, David Merkin makes the writer's room his giant office and everybody just kind of sits around him in an almost cult-like atmosphere.

And then Bill told us that when he then moved it back to the old writer's room, and part of it was a de-lousing of getting rid of things like what would be caramel stuck to the ceiling. God, that's so rank. Absolutely horrid. So there you go. The history of the caramel on the ceiling,

a Talking Simpsons researched one. Get a crispity, crunchity, peanut buttery burst in every bite of Butterfinger. Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger. Welcome to the break of this sacrilegious podcast and a big thank you this week to Libby Watson for being our guest this week. You should be checking out all the cool stuff that Libby streams and also her brand new podcast that she co-hosts, What's Oldest Then, about British culture meeting Americans. It's a really great podcast. We always love having Libby back on the show Thank you so much. Thank you so much And also folks should know that this podcast and even its brand new music that you hear the intro and the break and at the outro

All of that is possible because of supporters like you at patreon.com Talking Simpsons me and Bob are only able to do this as our full-time jobs and just past the 10th anniversary Of this podcast thanks to listeners like you who support us there the $5 a month folks Not only get the satisfaction of helping us. They also get ad free podcasts No ads like this one on their podcasts every week. They get it a week early They also get brand new podcasts each month a new new episode of Talking Futurama, and Talk King of the Hill exclusively if you're a Patreon subscriber. That means you can hear us talk about Futurama and King of the Hill just like we do The Simpsons

at Super Duper in Depth. You know you're going to enjoy that. We have done over 220 exclusive podcasts there of us covering all those episodes of Futurama and King of the Hill, plus every episode of The Critic, every episode of Mission Hill, and many of our favorite episodes of Batman, the animated series. Sign up today at Patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons for five bucks a month to get all the ad-free, early, and exclusive podcasts you're missing out on. But if you want a premium podcast that's just as good as a nacho hat, you need to sign

up at the $10 level at patreon.com slash talking simpsons. That is because once a month we cover an animated feature film as in-depth as we do an episode of the simpsons. It's basically a triple-length podcast, sometimes even six hours long. This month we are covering Lilo and Stitch from 2002 as part of our summer of the early Aughts Disney films. The end of this month you're going to hear us talk about Atlantis.

And that's just the most recent stuff. We've covered all of the 90s Disney films, all of the Toy Story movies, many other Pixar films too, tons of classic Disney, and stuff that isn't Disney or Pixar like Hayao Miyazaki films like Higgy's Delivery Service or Porkoroso. Even some junk like Cool World or Shrek and our longest podcast ever is a what a cartoon movie about who framed Roger Rabbit Sign up today at patreon.com slash talking Simpsons for 10 bucks a month to get all of the cool stuff I was just talking about in an easy to find place. That's patreon.com Slash talking Simpsons Also, the Shelbyville rivalry, like Lisa calls it like they've been to Shelbyville before they named it.

It's the second town, but Lisa calls it literally a rivalry. And like around a year after this is the broadcast of the Shelbyville episode. Oh, that's what I forgot if they had actually traveled there before because they do go to Shelbyville episode. Oh. That's what I might say. Yeah, I forgot if they actually traveled there before because they do go to Shelbyville in this episode. Homer definitely goes to Shelbyville to find the orphanage where Herb was. He does that. Maybe he went there and danced in Homer or something too.

Yeah, I think, yes, you're right. That might be the first then, yeah. And apparently the censors did not like that LSD joke, but they were able to get away with it because Marge is illegally dosed. If she had chosen to get high, then it would have been not allowed on TV. God, that's so funny. That bit with the turkey saying, personally, I think I'm overdone is something that Brendan

and I say to each other. It's just like a meaningless stim. We've probably said that to each other 8,000 times throughout the course of our friendship. It's just very funny. Why does the turkey talk like that? Really good. I assumed it was because it's like, well, obviously a bunch of Americans do LSD jokes,

but I would think boomers like the Simpsons writers would associate it with like Lucy in the Sky with diamonds. And so it's like, oh, it's like British comedy, a fancy British guy with LSD. Yeah, it flies out of the window with kind of yellow submarine style animation smoke. Right. Right, and of course they've already done the bit with

when Lisa gets her braces and it's, she's Lisa in the sky with diamonds. Elpus. And Homer's saying, I know I shouldn't eat the, I've said that before eating things a number of times. Love that. See, every second, this is gonna be a long podcast, I'm saying. I've said that before eating things a number of times See every second this is gonna be a long podcast I've said density I mean obviously like Simpsons is famously very joke dense But this one it is fucking like the pace of the jokes is crazy that Homer also like God does answer Homer's prayer

Instantly, that's also just a great joke to. Not in the way he wants it though, which is crucial. And yes, I promise I'm not going to play every second of the episode in clips, but the very next scene is also perfect here. So I'm playing it here. Homer? Are you planning to hit Ned Flanders with that pipe and take his tickets? Are you planning to hit Ned Flanders with that pipe and take his tickets? Ye- no. Oh. Flanders, I decided I'd like to go to the game with you. Well, get out the Crayolas and color me tickled pink. Ooh, what's with the lead pipe?

Are you going to give my noggin a floggin'? Well, yeah. Yeah, like you said, Bob, Homer is now going to murder Ned in a regular episode and Marge gives him a now are you gonna do? And then he goes for it anyways after Marge just appears. Yeah. He readies himself immediately after getting called out. Right up to the edge and then he's like nah I can't do it I just can't and then Ned just

laughs it off. Yeah. It's, oh God, it's so perfect. Yeah. Ned laughing that off because he's again, like so kind and Christian that he has to immediately forgive this guy who was holding a pipe over his head. God, so funny. So this is where Homer gets the free tickets. They're going to go. And that's where we have the opening bit of the American self-driving car, which I've never written in one They're all around San Francisco and Los Angeles now. I've seen the last times I visited Yeah, David Merkin really loved being a troll and he loved making fun of American craftsmanship in the American automobile industry

Which is why the GEO joke is also in this episode Yes, I did not understand that at all In fact, I think I still only really know about the geo is a thing that the New York Times uses a lot as crossword clues. So I Didn't know this like you're very fancy doing the New York Times for us. We're put yeah, I really like it Unfortunately, I wish I didn't but it is a good crossword Lenny and Carl will later like they're the ones who should be questioned as gay going to this game together And also they got really good parking spaces too.

So it's time for the game. And this is where we also get a great little joke about Mr. Burns as the owner of the Adams. Men, there's a little crippled boy sitting in the hospital who wants you to win this game. I know because I crippled him myself to inspire you. Well, I hope they win or Mr. Burns said he's coming back. Mr. Burns crippled him like himself to that implies as well. I love the little act out to and he's like, I crippled him myself. Like the way his hand moves, like that's a great

he's acting out breaking Millhouse's leg. Yeah. like, that's a great, he's acting out breaking Milhouse's leg. Yeah. And I would assume this is based on the semi true tale of Johnny Sylvester, little Johnny who wanted Babe Ruth to hit a home run in the 1926 World Series. Sounds about right. Which then got popularized in the 1948 movie, the Babe Ruth story, but it appears in most movies and then there's a whole Seinfeld episode about that of George promising several home runs or what a

grand slam from one of the Yankee players I think to a sick kid. Oh wow I just thought that was sort of a trope they made up. Babe Ruth made it a trope after like by this point it was is definitely a trope. There was the very good South Park episode of the hockey team where a dying child wants them to win and then dies when they do not win. They do get amazing seats. They are right by Mayor Quimby. I have been to some wrestling shows in the past and when those people pull out the beach balls, I wish I could throw a beer can at them. It is the worst. I think they do have Homer's feeling of here comes fun. Every joke is firing so efficiently on this episode that the Quimby joke seems like it's setting up something, but that something never happens.

Yeah, it should be pretty easy to investigate who took two bites out of everything in this line-up. I want answers. And then another iconic moment. It's been a minute, so it's time for another iconic moment in Simpsons history Well, I guess I should pay my share Relax Homer. I keep telling you you're my guest. Oh, you brought me a nacho hat. Thanks, Ned Not so not so man, I want to be a Nacho Man. Nacho, Nacho Man. I want to be a Nacho Man.

I want to be a Nacho Man. I want to be a Nacho Man. And of course we were shocked when we saw them rip off this joke completely. And Despicable Me 2, which we only saw because We Hate Movies invited us on to talk about it. And of course we were shocked when we saw them rip off this joke completely. And Despicable Me 2, which we only saw because We Hate Movies invited us on to talk about it. They just steal the Nacho Hat joke completely. Yeah, Libby, I don't know if you know, for Gen Z kids, if they see a Nacho Hat,

Yeah, Libby, I don't know if you know, for Gen Z kids, if they see a Nacho Hat, they think it's referencing Despicable Me 2 and not The Simpsons. they think it's referencing Despicable Me 2 and not The Simpsons. I'm gonna go with the Nacho completely. Yeah, Libby, I don't know if you know, for Gen Z kids, if they see a Nacho hat, they think it's referencing Despicable Me too, and not The Simpsons. I am outraged. I'm becoming conservative about this immediately. That's terrible. The Nacho hat is another thing that I considered

trying to make for The Simpsons baking stream, but seems above my skill level to attempt that. Especially one that you could actually wear as a hat, I think, would be very difficult. There is some intrepid blogger out there who tried to do one, so maybe that you could actually wear as a hat, I think would be very difficult. There is some intrepid blogger out there who tried to do one. So maybe one day I'll have a go. I've seen several food influencers who do their best to build it and it's really hard.

Like, here's one of these things that I'm going to complain about right now about the Despicable Me Too thing. When the Binging with Babish channel, which is a very popular making food from TV shows and movies channel, when he did the nacho hat I Swear, he's older than me. He called it the despicable me to nacho hat not the Simpsons one and he's made Simpsons food Henry He's playing to his base outrageous despicable Despicable I say speaking of despicable me despicable him

I also did see that apparently to talk about British British things, Libby, there's a UK chain called Chiquito that is a Mexican food chain there. They apparently have made a nacho hat, though not wearable size. It is a chain that has made a hat-sized nacho delivery device. That is fascinating. Yeah, I see it. Okay, honestly, I've Googled it. Looks pretty convincing.

I've never heard of Chiquito. That must have come around after I left but pretty good stuff I think it's embarrassing that a British taco chain has beaten Americans. Seriously, what's Taco Bell doing? How come you don't have the nacho hat Taco Bell? It's terrible. But yeah, well, unfortunately now we have taco Trump. Am I right everybody? We got him finally Taco Trump again won't start war with Iran This is going live in six weeks, so maybe we're deep in a nuclear war

But the nacho hat song I love that song it's perfect It's such also again funny drawing Homer with his hands on his stomach Going back and forth. It makes it funnier as a drawing So after Homer's giant pile of garbage is taken away and the extra grease stain on it makes it even funnier This is where we learn about Stan the boy Taylor another just great little gag. Nobody calls him Stan the man He's Stan the boy gag. Nobody calls him Stan the man, he's Stan the boy. Nobody thought about that. I didn't get that until just now. Oh my god, that's so funny. He destroys any attempt at a catchy chant featuring his name.

He plays a perfect game. There's no joke to how this football action happens. It's just a good touchdown. And then Homer kisses Ned for so long. The way Ned goes, yeah, like he's so uncomfortable by it. And then I also love, kiss my Springfield behind, I'm invincible, and just the smash, like the way he gets smashed,

and then goes, ooh, like off screen. God. Yeah, hit with an entire keg. There's two deleted scenes on the DVD here as well. They're pretty quick and have a slight visual component to them, but they're funny to listen to. So they go back to the locker room after the game is won, and Burns is getting a champagne shower that causes him to collapse on the ground in this quick clip. Oh, it stings. No, my eczema.

It's going right to the crotch. Maybe a little too gross. Because it's only eight seconds, so I could guess it was just taste that made them not use that one. Then we see Homer waiting around for autographs like he's a little kid. Then insults everybody and this is where we learned that Ned also is great friends with Stan the boy because he is very believably a professional athlete would have a 12-step program and would beat Ned there. It's smart writing. This is where Homer is then gifted his new child Stitch Face. Another great line too.

This is another one that I feel like I remember as Something that made me understand how good the Simpsons was saying you will be called stitch face Apparently that was a late very late change right before the airing it was originally something like Bolly You can see I wish this was one where the script was out there Unfortunately, I have like 80% of the season five scripts that are on internet archive, but I've yet to see somebody upload a Homer loves Flanders out there, unfortunately. This has finally won Homer over. He has had the perfect day with Ned.

Ned has done everything for him, even gifting him the game of ball. And this is where Homer drives away and is proud to say him and Ned are friends, which to Lenny and Carl, just sounds like something about being gay. The line read on that is incredible. Unfortunately, it's very, very funny. Something about being gay. Something about being gay.

That's perfect. I mean, that's toxic masculinity for you too. He just says he loves his friend, and everybody's like, that just sounds like I am gay. God, it's so funny. We come back from the commercial break, Homer is throwing out their non-canonical wedding photo saying, quit living in the past.

This is where Lisa begins to know she's in a television show, as she's calling out what's next, like she's in a commercial for the episode. Homer then goes to play with his new buddy who's gonna be the nacho man, and Ned starts to realize the problems of being friends with Homer.

Be careful there, Homer. That is sort of a new table. Heh heh heh. Watch this, Ned. They don't call me Springfield Fats just because I'm morbidly obese. Ow! Now you got a lawsuit on your hands.

Just kidding. What's wrong, Jeremiah? It's not fair. My brother Joseph has a sin to confess. I wish I had one too. Oh, don't you see? You do have a sin to confess. The sin of envy.

Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha! That's all well and good for sheep, but what are we to do? Boring! Let's watch something else. Aww. Now boys, Mr. Simpson is the guest.

He gets to decide what to watch. Yeah! Hey, what gives? I thought you had a satellite there. Sure diddly-doo! Over 230 channels locked out! This is where Dave Merkin is revving up to his V-chip hatred in the series here. And in case you don't know about pool guys who died 30 years ago, Homer is referencing Minnesota Fats.

His real name was Rudolph Wanderone, and he was a pool celebrity who never actually won any professional tournaments, although his life story was popularized in the 1961 film The Hustler, where Jackie Gleason played him. Wow. Again, a joke that I just thought was a joke

about Homer being fat. That was it. I believe Minnesota Fats died in like 1995, but he was fairly old by this point in time. Which is pretty impressive for, he earned that nickname Fats as well because he was morbidly obese, and yet he lived pretty long for old fat guys back then.

Absolutely. He lived long enough to be in a Super Nintendo game named after him. Is that real? It's real, yeah. Wow. You can see a digitized picture of Minnesota Fats on the title screen.

Damn, I might have to play that. Sitting on the same shelves as Super Metroid at Electronics Boutique. Yeah. Homer also, the way he goes, now you got a lawsuit on your hands. The little paws, and also the way he's drawn. He's so cute.

I know, he looks so pathetic on the floor there. It's really, really good. And obviously, like anything Rod and Todd is so funny to me But that bit in particular the idea of saying that's all well and good for sheep But what are we to do if there's a child saying that little fucking nerdy Christian child so so good And it's a nice touch that the Christian entertainment is just Obviously much cheaper than itchy and scratchy or any other cartoon they would show you It's like three frames and also as a Davey and Goliath parody

It's even more toothless than Davey and Goliath that it's just like the sin of envy like nobody There's that's the only drama they have is like the bad thing a sheep did was he envied that there was no sin to confess. Right, that's the entire story is in three seconds though, yeah. They call Homer Uncle Homer as they run off also to paying for a satellite dish to lock everything out. That's also pretty. That's them bridging the gap between original Ned writing, which is that he's a yuppie who buys all the nice stuff Homer doesn't like and then hyper Christian Ned writing, which is that he's a yuppie who buys all the nice stuff Homer doesn't like, and then hyper Christian Ned writing.

Yeah, we still get the rumpus room, which will be phased out and then gradually face back in. I dream of a rumpus room someday like Ned's now, though of course it would be a podcasting rumpus room, a mix of that. Henry, we're in our rumpus rooms. Yeah, it's true actually. Yeah, this is the rumpus room. I mean, that to me is like peak America.

Like you know, that's one of those things where as a little British kid watching the show. I mean our houses are generally a lot smaller I think. The idea of you know, I didn't know anyone who had a room like that that was you know that just had like a pool table in it or something. I mean that was crazy to think about having that much space that you just have like a big area for fun. You know. I had one friend whose dad had a pool table. I often did not lean on it because of this joke. I was like, oh, this is dangerous. You're right, Bob.

In my rumpus room though, instead of the hang in there cat poster, it's the cell of Homer's sperm that I have. Okay, that rocks, yes. I wonder if I haven't, I don't think I have any Simpsons stuff in here, particularly, I do have some Simpsons art in the living room. So maybe I should switch it up so that it's in my rumpus room. All I have is a yet-to-be-framed duckman

So I can't help you guys. I'm sorry. Oh And I also have framed up on the other side over here the pictures of all our live show posters So Homer decides he's gonna take Ned to where his family is which is Moe's It's also just what a great idea Ned at Moe's. It's also just, what a great idea. Ned and Moe's never been done before in the series. And I love nobody talks until Barney's a little, hey. Like just, it's so great and small. It's just that whenever a stranger has to enter Moe's,

everyone there is extra miserable. Absolutely. We have another cutaway as Moe is recognized by Ned. And we see that he reads novels to six children. He is reading the 1941 novel, My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara. And I wish there was a third joke here because I like the subtle joke that all of these classics

of literature end with a very clunky sentence that also incorporates the title of the book. The name of the book, yeah. Yeah, I've actually found the ending sentences of both of these books. So for My Friend Flicka, the final sentence sentence is Ken's quick feet thudded across the green the gate rattled And when the boy came running down the path crying Oh Flicka Flicka The name that rang out on the cold air was a sound the Philly had never made before the end

I mean, it's not a million miles away from it was my friend Flicka Yes It was I mean, it's not a million miles away from, it was my friend Flickr. Yes. It was, I mean, in spirit it's the same. From reading a plot synopsis of the book that the young boy Ken cares for a sickly horse named Flickr and then they both almost die, but then they both make it guys, don't worry. It's not a sad story.

And apparently in the 1943 film, the Ken is played by a young Roddy McDowell. Always, every time I am reminded of that fact, it almost makes me want to watch it by a young Roddy McDowell. Always, every time I am reminded of that fact, it almost makes me want to watch it because I love Roddy McDowell is well, at least in ape makeup or playing the Mad Hatter. That's crazy. And then of course, with Little Women, I haven't seen it, but I'm aware of the iconic Bob Odenkirk line read, my little women. To me, it's an homage to this particular episode. That was the greatest moment. And I loved seeing that movie in theaters and had no clue

that scene was coming. That was the best moment. The movie's great. I think it actually is a really good adaptation. But that Bob Odenkirk moment was made to be funny. Yes, you were pogging at that for sure. And I would be too, yeah. I didn't know you're familiar with the works of Louisa May Alcott, Henry. You know, I feel like we were assigned chapters of it in class. I read some in high school, and also I watched the, you know, the One Nona writer, Kirsten Dunst, one growing up. Like that was my childhood, Little Women. It's funny that in both those cases, like Little Women is kind of like every 10 to 20 years, they make one of them and it's where it stars a bunch of,

at least a couple soon to be major actresses. Like Florence Pugh was, I mean she was in Stuffed before Little Women, but that was a big one for her. And now she's the white widow and everybody loves her in the MCU as the leader of the Thunderbolts. You didn't say the asterisk.

Yes, yeah, sorry. Thunderbolts asterisk. This is where Ned is threatened that the next words he says will be muffled by your own butt, which that also looks like they were forced to change ass to butt when he says that, based on his mouth movements. But that's my guess.

That one I don't know. Butt is funnier. I think it is funnier to say that, because it's funny to say butt in such a threatening way. The Homer again ignores Marge, though he does say later sex. He's got plans. Oh, it's so horrible. This is where Nan and his family are praying

to the middlemen and the butchers who kill the sloughing animals. Every link in the chain of capitalism that brought them the turkey. This whole thing is framed loosely based on the Norman Rockwell painting Freedom from Want. That's why there is the big window with the curtains parted down the middle. If you look at that photo and look at like what they're eating and where everyone

is sitting, it's definitely like a visual parody of that. Wow, I have no idea. Thank you, Bob, because that is perfect. I didn't realize that either. That's also perfect because then it is Homer invading. Homer coming through the window is funny enough, but it's him invading the Norman Rockwell painting, too. It's not the first time they've parodied this. Way back in, I think, No Disgrace Like Home, when they're spying on other families in season one,

one of the families they're spying on is basically that picture, but in Simpsons form. That is a weird episode, but a classic of the first season two, yeah. And that drawing of Homer coming through the window is one of my favorite drawings. I love that drawing so much. When you pause it, it's just wrong, but so right.

The way Homer's leg has to go through the window. Yes, the sort of running theme of Homer being not exactly supernatural, but sort of monster-like, but the monstrousness is just a friend you don't want. I mean, that's the thing about this episode, is that it really is a unique type of terror to have a friend that you don't really like but can't get rid of, can't tell that you don't want to hang out with them,

can't break up with the friend, and especially, I'm sure, if it's your next door neighbor. God, it's such a funny concept. To make it Homer and Flanders specifically. It's just really good. And you don't want to see it from Homer's standpoint that he's like, well, Ned talked to me through the window, so I'll walk through the window and talk to him. Yeah, exactly. The sort of boarish lack of social understanding is so funny. And again, like really, you know, I love the context of it being that now that I'm looking at it,

very creepy Norman Rockwell painting, you know, the boarish being that, now that I'm looking at it, very creepy Norman Rockwell painting. The boorish, disgusting, sloppy, modern man is invading this American paradise, which of course we all know is actually not quite what it seems, actually, it's kind of bad. That shot of Homer through the window, I think I've seen it become like,

I see it pop up a lot on social media these days, or I've seen it shared. Yeah, iconic. pop up a lot on social media these days, or I've seen it shared. Yeah, iconic. And this is where Homer starts just taking chicken off of plates, and he's really not reading the room here. Hehehe. Hiya, Flanders! Ooh, dinner.

May I join you? Hmm. Ah! Ah! Hmm. Ah! Ah ha ha, Homer, I'd love to chitty-chack, but tonight's the night I do my charity work. Oh yeah. Judge made me do that once, too. Stupid lack of public urinals. Hey, just so you don't have to suffer alone,

I'm coming with you. Oh, well, that sounds super-duper. Oh, you poor unfortunate wretch. You're not going to get away with this. That sounds super duper. Oh, you poor unfortunate man. Let's get you out of those claws immediately and we'll do whatever we can about the smell. But, alright. Come on. We've been here for 15 minutes. Can't you see they're sucking the life out of us?

Homer, maybe you'd have more fun at Moe's tonight. Oh, for some reason, Moe's always closed on Wednesdays. And then they realized they were no longer little girls. They were little women. So yes, Bob, you mentioned that you got the last line of that, too. Oh, yes, here's the real ending. Again, not a million miles away from saying,

YOLO my little women. It feels like she's winding up to say that, but an editor put their foot down. Yeah, it's kind of a punch up, actually. She should just finish that, like after greater happiness than this, be like, my little women. Yeah, exactly. I think more art should say the name of the art explicitly in the thing itself. I think that would improve everything. Odenkirk should have said you're not little girls anymore, you're little women. He really should have. And then the movie should have ended like what's that the distance? I think it's little men coming next summer. You know I also really like the the Greta Gerwig adaptation I think is good because she even makes kind of a in-universe joke that Louise

Mayokha was like forced to do an ending where everybody is happily married and instead of being a single career woman like she kind of slips that into the movie and also I really love there's a major death in Little Women that Greta Gerwig plays with time wise in a really interesting way of most adaptations don't, I think is very well done. That actually is during the Bob Odenkirk, My Little Women scene. Wow, okay, I'm gonna have to watch this movie, I think.

It is good. I like it more than Barbie, I'd say. If we're comparing a woman's work and telling what's good and bad about it. What about Frances Ha? You know, I haven't seen that one yet. I can't say. Well, she's laughing at you, Henry.

Oh, and also in this deleted scene, I want to say, I agree with Homer, that there should be more public urinals. This is a real thing that would fix, improve things in society. He is correct about this, you're right. When I was in England recently, I saw a sign for, I think what it basically was was a public

toilet, but the sign said community toilet scheme, and then it said business hours only. And so I assume what that is, is a sort of new neoliberal version of a public toilet where it has to be a scheme, which is I guess, you know, it's like the British word for a program or whatever, you know, a government program but only during business hours I kind of wish I'd gone to check it out to see what the state of the community toilet scheme was But it does also sound like an indie sleaze ban from 2006 I'm sure there have been many studies that have said that if you want like just having more public toilets Would improve the city like like, and help crime rates

and all of these things and cleanliness, but they would rather have, like, one police tank for the price of 50 public urinals. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. And then, of course, Starbucks has to basically become the de facto public bathroom, which is a pretty stupid way to run a country, if you ask me. Well, well, nobody asked you, Libby. Go back home.

Crucially they didn't. It seems like no one has consulted me on any of this stuff that's going on. This also is where there's the other deleted scene from the episode, which comes right as they enter the shelter or the helter shelter. They run into Seymour Skinner and this is a great deleted scene because it's Harry Shearer screaming. Yes, I love this. I wish they would have kept it in because they make Harry do this a lot. They make him get very furious or very excited

and then go, anyway, I love any kind of Harry Shearer reading where he just changes emotions on a dime like this. Totally. I have to assume this scene was only cut for time, not for quality, but here's the clip. Well, Simpson, finally giving something back to the community. Mother and I come here every Wednesday, except tonight she has a date with a man.

Oh, sir, all it takes is a dozen roses and a sack of sunflower seeds to turn her pretty little head. You better be home, woman. Answer, damn it! Answer! What could they be doing at 8 p.m. and like... Anyway, keep up the good work, Sylvester. Ha ha ha!

A sack of sunflower seeds? Yes. Fuck, that's really good. That's a great, it's a great, she has a date with a man. With a man. Ugh, amazing. I wish they did keep it in. It's also great because he just steps away to reset the shot,

just so it can be easily cut out if they wanted to. And also, yeah, that Homer easily accepts charity. This is a joke in season five a couple of times, too. Homer smells worse than an unhoused person. Homer, in his anger, quickly starts shoveling out the soup just to get it over with. and as always happens in Simpsons There's a 1940s news photographer right there. What a scoop Yeah, one of those things that I didn't again didn't really question as a kid

But now I understand it's just something that the Simpsons writers thought was funny You know, I don't think I thought that there were 1940s news photographers everywhere But I thought it was like a I guess a more widely accepted sort of trope or joke or whatever But I think is one of those things that just like one guy thought was funny and now I think is funny, you know Yeah, I missed the press card in the head now. Everyone has just lanyards. Yeah. Yeah exactly or a freaking, you know blue check on Twitter I guess not anymore, you know, I Blue check on Twitter. I guess not anymore, you know, I Also love it's the classic like flash bulb with camera that is quite out of date in 1994

Like I think I first saw it as a kid I thought that they were just normal cameras because I think it was a plot point in the great Muppet caper Not just they used it a ton But it's like it like exposes some camera film as a plot point in The Great Muppet Caper. I vaguely remember this. And this is where Homer gets the headline, big fat man has big fat hearts, little thin man accused of robbery. Oh, that's so good.

Marge finally confronts Homer with his new obsession, and this is where another running gag of jerk-ass Homer this time, he remembers that everybody else did the bad things he did. In this case, he remembers that Marge wanted to bash in its head with a pipe. Love, Marge, not hate, love. Yeah, I kind of question I had running through this episode that I thought you guys would be able to help with is like, what point in the development of the Homer character are we?

Because I feel like this is like a real, you know, high point of sort of turbo stupid Homer, you know, like he's really dumb. He's really mean. He's really evil in a way that, you know, again, obviously season two or season three, obviously he isn't, but like, you know, trying to kill Ned Flanders and then he's thinking that Marge is the one who said it, you know, like stuff like that. I feel like we're really a chug along with like mega stupid Homer. Yeah, I think David Merkin really loved to make him a disturbing figure that would act in ways that would have any father, you know, his family would leave him

long before this point in time. And I feel like in season seven and eight, Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein just kind of make him more lovable and dopey, which is another flavor I like. But here he is just like removed from reality, can be sadistic, can be scary. There's a scene we just covered where Homer starts doing the curly one, run on the ground, the family laughs, and then it keeps going on and they start getting concerned.

That is the perfect David Merkin portrayal of Homer where he's funny, but then it goes on too long and everyone worries about him. Yes. Yes, yes exactly yes. In the same scene as Homer says that he thinks Maude wants to have sex with him. It's a little too sophisticated of language for Homer but I love the phrase she hides it under a mask of low-key hostility. Yes, yes absolutely that is really good for that to be like the only time he's been verbose in his life is to be saying that. After watching the show David Merkin did a couple years before this, Get a Life,

with Chris Elliot, we see the similarities to Chris Elliot's character in the way home. And that character also, Chris Elliot's character in Get a Life definitely would try to bash someone's head in in a regular episode as well. Yeah, we covered a season two episode, I don't know, five years ago. And the premise of that episode is,

what if our main character stalked a woman? And he is murdered by her in the end, so that's how they get away with it. Right, I see. In season two, he was murdered most episodes, I think. Yeah. It's a great, if you've never seen it, Libby, Get A Life, a great, great show.

Yeah, I never even heard of it. Wow, that's huge. It is what David Merkin turned his Young Ones adaptation into when he couldn't sell that. He kind of, it morphed, well, he kind of then married it to Chris Elliot's plan for a TV show and that caused problems behind the scenes. Oh, fascinating, yeah.

Listeners, check out our What a Cartoon About It from 2020. Something like that, something around that time, yeah. No, 20, well, whatever, look it up. You look it up. So. Well, hey, speaking of postmodern things about analyzing television, Lisa explains it all easily here.

You've hated Ned for years. In fact, you wanted to bash his head in with a pipe. That was you! Love, Marge. Don't hate. Love. Flanders are a bunch of geeks, man. The Flanderises are not geeks.

OK, riding Todd R. and the wife is a thing for me, but she hides it behind a mask of low-key hostility. But we've got to give this thing a chance. I want the two families to take a trip together this weekend. No way, Jose. This way. Don't worry Bart It seems like every week something odd happens to the Simpsons

My advice is to ride it out make an occasional smart I'll equip and by next week we'll be back to where we started from ready for another wacky adventure. I rumble This joke really blew my mind as a kid because I had started to figure things out about television by this point I was about to turn 12 by the way, and it was like wow I can't believe the writers are confessing to what television is and then the follow-up joke Builds off of this in a great way too at the end of the episode. I Caramba also like bar is like getting into the spirit. Yeah

Yeah, I feel like figuring this out like you, like realizing what the joke is here is part of an extremely like formative thing. That meta humor and like realizing that you can, you know, kind of do a joke about a joke sort of thing. That's definitely a really good example of it. And again, like I sort of, I think probably felt kind of smart for being like, oh, I get it. I mean, on the joke, they're making fun of themselves, you know?

This also is where I thought Wes Archer almost got in a twister mouth which is a Wes Archer standby that he from the earliest days on the Tracy Ullman show Bart would say lines sometimes and his eyes would move in the opposite direction of his mouth and so his head would do an impossible cartoony twister and when he says no way Jose he moves his head back and forth when he says it and I was like, oh, it's so close to his twist I think it was a twister that was shut down Yeah, he'll sneak one in feel like the next one is not until the Simpson and son tonic episode Well, the frustrating thing is the macarooning would shut that down and on the commentary. He's remarking I'm watching this episode,

and I'm seeing a lot of expressions we don't do anymore, and we should do them. And I'm tapping on my watch like the JudgeJudy.gif, saying, MacRaining, you recorded this commentary 20 years ago, bring him back. Yes. They're saying those Wes Archer poses on there, they love him.

And Wes Archer is on the commentary, and I gotta think Wes Archer in the back of his head has to be thinking, you told me to stop doing all of these poses. Yeah exactly, like oh what is that good actually to do? Wow that's crazy. And you're right Bob, despite Matt Groening recognizing that over 20 years ago, the show didn't do that. It still is a very like, I think in the last five years they're trying to get more creative but it's usually more just over animate not over animate that seems Henry You're correct about that. I say stick with that I feel like they put in more frames to fool you and it just looks kind of messy to me

It's not fun posing. It's not down to it. Let me tell animators how to do their jobs, but it is the point of this podcast how to do their jobs, but it is the point of this podcast. Yeah, what's the point of having a podcast if you can't talk about stuff like that? But yeah, it's like over-animated, over-posing, characters move their hands like eight more times than they need to instead of just have a funny pose like Bart sitting upside down. When Bart's sitting upside down,

he isn't like kicking his feet in the air in circles to show off that he's moving. Yeah, some of my favorite like, you know, Simpsons drawings I feel like when someone is not speaking and they're sort of standing almost in the background and they look kind of goofy But whatever expression is on their face is funny. That is really good to me You know when someone is just listening and not, you know, not doing anything What in the next shot is another great example them Them in the car, like this is so funny.

Like Homer, everybody is mad except for Homer who is like stupidly like excited and has no clue. Actually going back to what Libby just said, in the scene where Homer is explaining the Flanders are not geeks and he's explaining the dynamics of the family, if you look, Marge is just standing there just staring into the distance. It feels like a mistake, but it's a funny little touch that if you focus on it's like, well, that's a funny looking Marge. Yeah, absolutely. And here in this next little scene we get another classic, classic moment.

Don't worry, I brought my wrapping Ronnie Reagan tape. It always makes the trip go faster. Well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well. You know something? You did say well a lot. Well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well. And I assume that they were inspired by the Rap and Rodney album from 1983. God, rap master Ronnie the Harp. Like it's them making fun of Gary Trudeau of Doonesbury's fame attempts to, well, not attempt, he did, it was him making fun of Ronald Reagan.

It was easier to do jokes then. What if Ronald Reagan, that guy, he did rapping. Oh, you see, I was thinking of Rappin' Rodney, Rodney Dangerfield, but when I looked up this rapping Ronnie Reagan thing, the Doonesbury musical did come up in my search. Yeah, the rap master Ronnie was a thing he did like through the 80s, but you're right, I also think there's a bit of the rapping Rodney,

Rodney Dangerfield in there too, yes. And nice visual touches, you see everybody in the car except for Rod. Rod is in the boat that they're towing. If you watch that scene of them going over the horizon, it's a really nice touch. I never caught that. That's so good. Okay, I'm reading the Wikipedia page for Rapmaster Ronnie.

And again, this is something I had no idea about. I thought it was just, hey, wouldn't it be funny if there was a tape of Ronald Reagan rapping? But knowing that it is parodying a specific stupid thing is so much funnier. The idea of being like, yeah, okay, this is what the rap master Ruddy would be and it's just him going, will, will, will. This is so fucking good. God, it's like the capital steps or something. I bet when Harry Shearer was doing this performance, he was probably thinking, God, we're doing this

on Le Show next week. Yeah, this almost feels like they're mocking Le Show with this. What I've heard of Le Show, I don't know, folks. It's about as funny as Taco Trump, that's all I'll say. It's also great that this is six years after Reagan's out of office, so it's such a dated, or five years, so it's out of office. So it's like such a dated thing or five years. So it's dated political comedy.

Then that Homer's takeaway from it is he did say well, a lot, which is, I love that as a way to explain comedy. I feel like I've used that in my life. Yes. You can find rap master Ronnie's music video for the long version, which is an interminable six and a half minutes. It's very long. The joke of it is it's that rap master Ronnie is surrounded by break dancers and a bunch of African American performers. And it seems saying that he's trying to appeal

to minority voters. And he's like, I'll get at least 10%. And then by the end of the song, he's saying like, I'll get at least 10% and then by the end of the song he's saying like, I'll get at least 2% like so there you go. I'm gonna assume spinning image today better version of that in the 80s. I have to assume the Brits had a speed on making fun of Ronald Reagan. Yeah we're just really extremely mean. This feels like something that I should be charging $100 for on my stream. Tick me $100 and I'll play the entire Ratt Master Roddy in six minutes. So we get to the boat, Homer scratches it up horribly by not noticing and again great the look on Ned's face is upset. Also Rod and Todd seemingly briefly drowned. I like that Bart also could you can tell Bart Homer doesn't care Bart knows they're missing

and is happy about it. Bart's cruelty to Rod and Todd is always so funny. And this also is where we learn about that the boys don't eat sugar. Like, and it's nice to see a tense margin mod exchange. We lose these and I miss them. Yeah, these are really, really good. And the way it sort of escalates, you know,

they're sort of being kind of polite to each other, and then she goes no sugar They're trying to make an argument from authority by citing the fruit punch advisory board I think it's probably a biased board. I would think even Lisa believes in it. I'm surprised by this That's why it's so funny because they would give bad advice leaves in it I'm surprised by Lisa. That's why it's so funny because they would give bad advice. I know Bob you've many times humorously used the term like why would the advisory board give bad advice? And also sugar doesn't do this to kids I'm sorry parents it doesn't happen we did the research when we talked about cornhole-io once. Wow. Yeah you mentioned that even in Beavis and Butthead they explain like

you know I heard that this doesn't cause hyperactivity in kids at all. They got enough cranky letters from smart Beavis and Butthead viewers. Pixie sticks are virtually all sugar, so that's why they go crazy when Bart gives them. I really miss a good pixie stick. I think if I put it in my mouth, I'd be in incredible pain. But as a kid, it was like, well, we're not fucking around with coatings or toppings or anything else. It's just the pure candy element in a stick. Yeah.

I don't think we really have Pixie Sticks, but I think I understood the concept. We had this unbelievably British candy, which was like a little like packet of sherbet that you got a licorice stick. And the idea was that you'd like lick the licorice stick and stick it in the sherbet. So basically it was just a horrible way to have sherbet, which is good. That sounds a bit like the American Fun Dip, which I also really loved,

where you have a stick made of candy that you wet with your tongue. And then you dip it into the powders and eat it like that. And then you eat the stick. Yes, exactly. But for some reason for us, it had to be licorice because we just can't enjoy life. Yeah, licorice, God. Henry Pixie stick. I've not heard any Henry pixie stick opinions yet.

You know, my little brother was more a fan of pixie sticks. I mean, I wouldn't say no to a pixie stick, but usually, of course, as a dirty child, when I got my Halloween candy, I would rank it by importance of eating first to last and save best for last and of course would sort it all very meticulously and pixie sticks would be in I feel like I'd eat them before tootsie rolls like which were usually low on my tier list so yeah quite right or I'd trade them with my brother for his better stuff the pixie sticks never I think it was the I honestly probably was too messy with them as a messy child I couldn't be trusted with pixie sticks. Yeah, that's true. They are messy and they're very silly It's like another candy that I learned about from the Simpsons that I was obsessed with

Finding was the ring pop thing, you know, hmm, that's in the stonecutters episode, you know when they blow into it I don't know if that is is that a candy or a toy? I'm now's a toy. I'm not sure if the Ring Pop ever incorporated the Whistle. I think in my head they were the same thing. I did like the Ring Pop, but I never ate it in the intended way, because you're just slobbering all over your knuckles at a certain point. It's disgusting. Yeah, exactly. But I'd seen it on The Simpsons, and I was like, I have to have this. It's a smart idea that the sugar looks like a jam.

It's clever, but yeah, it's a lot of work tootsie pops It sounds like I like tootsie rolls and tootsie pops more than I thought I did Those those were also my preferred suckers, too Though I associated those with like doing a good job in school like the Pavlovian responsive, you know Oh, I got a good grade on my homework and the teacher is giving out tootsie pops like that kind of absolutely very smart Let's make the reward food. This won't mess up your programming at all. Unhealthy food. This is where Homer welcomes everybody to the Flimpsons

and I love his like front-facing look and talk about great detail after that fruit punch advisory board scene. Homer in his hand, big pink fruit punch in Ned's hand, water. Didn't notice that, that's nice love that as Ned is like I love his just intake of breath like okay let's do this Homer starts a food fight as he is talking and it's a wonderful one-sided food fight that Marge and Lisa just decide to engage in too.

I love that moment too it's a real like know, sort of defining moment about the two families because obviously, you know, Lisa is sort of, I wouldn't say the Flanders of the Simpsons, but certainly she's the most likely to be disapproving of stuff. But having them sort of break towards, no, we're still Simpsons, you know, is really nice. They can't take the Flanders anymore. Even Lisa, she's like, enough of these people. Yeah, exactly, after the fruit punch dust up. And so Ned is leaving early in our next clip. My entire family is very touched and- Food fight!

Yeah! I got one for you! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Let's go! Whoa! Whatcha doin'? We're heading back. Todd's got zesty Italian in his eye. Okay. But at least let me take the boat out for one last spin. Oh, I don't know. Too late! Oh, Lord.

Please give me the strength to endure Homer Simpson's friendship. Aaaaaah! Your car. Boy, what are the odds huh? Cheers to Homer Simpson for all his recent charity work Cheers to this rusty tailgate Homer had to jump that boat a football field at least to hit the car. It's a great cheat because he's able to leave the scene and then five seconds later, jump the boat somehow. Yeah, onto the car. That Ned has now lost his boat and his car in the same moment. Do we need to explain to the children

what Cheers and Jeers was? Well, it was a section in a little magazine called TV Guide when you needed assistance in knowing what was on the television. And about 20 pages of that magazine were articles and one of the articles recurring was called Cheers and Jeers. So it'd be like, cheers to this new episode, in knowing what was on the television. And about 20 pages of that magazine were articles and one of the articles recurring was called Cheers and Jeers. So it'd be like, cheers to this new episode,

cheers to this casting choice, like back and forth, what's good, what's bad with television that week. It was always one of my favorite sections of TV Guide. It was listicle-like. And I wished I could have found on archive.org the TV Guide of this week to tell you what the Cheers and Jeers were Unfortunately, it's not on there, but there was the 1994 wrap-up

Here's one cheer and one jeer cheers to top dogs Eddie on Frasier and Murray on mad about you are turning prime time into a puppy What a bunch of hacks I was gonna say what a great gig to write that probably getting paid like the equivalent of $7,000 or something and today's money to do that. And cheers to Betty Brando for his bizarre appearance on Larry King Live. Oh yeah. I remember that. Wow. And also because it's wrapping up 1994, it's also about OJ OJ OJ is all over it.

As well. We are just, what, two months away in our chronology of the Bronco chase, I think. June 94, I believe. We're revving up the Bronco. And so we get to our next scene, and I love that Wes Archer is pulling out old Simpsons rules to use coloring

to indicate a dream sequence, which they were barely doing in season five, but it's done so well here. And having just seen it, I now recognize that this is a Vertigo parody at the start as he's going up the tower. Yeah, a parody of Vertigo in a real life mass shooting, which is hilarious.

Not even 30 years old at this point. This is all a parody of the, well, it's a parody of like a bunch of mass shootings, but specifically the 1966 killing spree of Charles Whitman at the University of Texas at Austin. We talk about this in detail on our Talking of the Hill podcast about the episode Dogdale Afternoon, which is also a parody of that famous mass murder. But then when we have the postal worker firing back at Ned,

it's based on two then infamous instances of postal workers shooting up their own workplaces. One happened in Edmond, Oklahoma in 86 and one happened in Royal Oak, Michigan in 91. At this point, I think the standard spree shooter is not associated with the post office in any way, but the term going postal is still used rarely. And I had seen Daily Simpsons share a video of side by side of this scene with the TV movie about this, The Deadly Tower, which starred Kurt Russell. And you can see they pulled a couple shots from it too, as in like, you know, screen setup of it.

But the Charles Whitman thing, again, you read the details about it. Like this is, this was a guy who like over a period of at least an hour was like picking people off with a sniper rifle, not just, you know, having a machine gun that he legally bought like 10 minutes earlier and shooting a ton of people. Crazy.

I'm saying you had to work harder. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. No, I mean, I also just recently saw Vertigo for the first time, actually. They played it at the Vista here in LA. And I did, unfortunately, have that moment where I'm like, Simpsons, watching a bit of art that the Simpsons was parodying me going, oh yeah, I know this from The Simpsons. Classic experience for me.

Did you get to see it in 70mm? I just got to see it that way. I don't know. I'm not enough of a film guy today. I was just, Louis bought the tickets and I just went along and had a lovely time. I just saw it in a million millimeter and it's great. Oh wow, okay. I'm sorry Henry, you missed the better version. Oh, sorry Henry, it sounds like you sucked actually. AI Jimmy Stewart comes out of the TV and sits down with you

and get to ask him questions. Is he in his casual outfit of the sweater with the? No, unfortunately, he's naked. They couldn't work out clothing on him quite yet. Yeah, and he's got like six or seven extra hands as well. Yes. And another depressing factoid, this used to be Charles Whitman was like number one of mass shootings

And now in Wikipedia's list of mass shootings in the United States by death toll Seven it's now 12th highest and seven are ahead of it from just the last Yeah, I mean certainly something that wouldn't wouldn't be on TV anymore. I think it wouldn't be sort of a specific parody of something like that. I think they're going to have like a Vegas concert shooting or something. I guess obviously the setting is very funny. Having Ned go up and pick off individual people who are all Homer Simpson, that is very funny. There have been many times I wanted to reply to something with Bart saying, come on, sniper,

where are you? But I feel like I might lose my account. I might get a visit from people if I do that. Yes, now more than ever. And also too, like as you said, Bob, so smartly when we did Dogdale Afternoon, it's like, this was back when there was a couple mass shootings that you could count on everybody to know as a reference and you could parody specifically. Different time.

Anyway, happier thoughts. But Ned wakes up shocked. Also, I think it helps this be funny that Ned doesn't hit anybody in his dream. All the bullets miss. I think that's an important bit too. That's funny. Meanwhile, Homer wakes up that he thinks he hates Ted Koppel instead of hating Ned, which would be the reverse of it.

Ted Koppel's still with us at 85 years old, making a lot of appearances still on CBS Sunday Morning. Yeah, he was the host of Nightline from 1980 to 2005, and Smart Line on The Simpsons is a parody of Nightline. Yes, of course. So when we come back from the break, we have perhaps the most remembered moment from this entire episode, I'd say. Yeah, I know the Terminator parody comes next, and as a kid I assumed the walking through

the bushes was included in the Terminator parody, but apparently this is something David Merkin did as a kid that he wanted to incorporate into the show. Just walking in and out of bushes and ruining them in the process. He just thought it was a really cool thing to do. But I guess they decided to kind of like incorporate it into the greater Terminator whole of Homer being creepy. David Merkin said this in 2019 about the scene's popularity on Twitter.

I wrote this in season five based on my frequent childhood behavior of actually walking through people's hedges, pretending I was dimension hopping and doing great damage to the bushes in the process Always knew it would become a famous And also credit to the account Simpson's production art a really fun account to follow on social media They found the original storyboard of this scene. You can see them lay it out and

it has the stage direction from the script on the storyboard of this scene. You can see them lay it out, and it has the stage direction from the script on the storyboard, which is, never taking his eyes off of Flanders, he backs through the hedges. Right. Yeah, no, that is absolutely crucial, like to the animation, for sure. Has Terminator 2 come out at this point?

Yes, it was, I think we're about three years out from it. That was a 91 film in the US. Right right that makes sense yeah I was crazy about Terminator 2 as a kid so I think when I saw this episode as a kid I would have understood the whole reference. Merkin and Archer both agree on the commentary they're like it sounded like they had to do a couple retakes because they kept going like no slower slower. And you know I have a very nice pair of socks featuring Homer going to the bushes, but I'd be okay if they just stopped making merch

based on this joke, and I'd be okay if the modern show would stop referencing it. Now Henry, haven't they referenced this maybe three or four times in the past five years, this joke? Absolutely, like at least, like I feel like they've done it twice this season. When the show learned it was a meme Definitely in the last five years like there was the joke where Lisa

Replies to Homer with a gif of Homer backing out of the bushes as like a joke to him. There's a joke where Bart says hey guys, let's go through the bushes like my dad and then they imitate it at Jim Brooks is Disney Legend Award, they animated a little thing of the Simpsons introducing him. They all go in and out of the hedges. Like they did it for that. Yeah.

I hate that. You know, they made shoes of it. And they also just made a Chia pet of Homer in the bushes as well. You can grow the bushes yourself as part of a Chia pet. That's actually kind of fun. I'm gonna say stop stop it's already good. Yeah 100% 100%. Family Guy also did one of it and then Homer comes out of the bushes too like so. It's been even in recent Family Guy.

See this is why you can't have nice things if you celebrate it too much then they overdo it in the show. Oh and there was another one Homer and Ned go into each other's mind palace in this recent season and they have on the wall Homer going through the bushes there too. God, what is it about the I mean look I guess as a person who is so like you know nerdy about the Simpsons this is certainly something I think is really funny and I'm aware that it has the you know that it has the wider knowledge of it but I guess I didn't realize it was that big compared to other Simpsons stuff.

For example, Grandpa coming into the Burlesque house and then immediately picking up his coat and turning around and going back, that to me is like, that that would be maybe the same level of popularity, but it's nowhere near. I would say right now in the stock market of Simpsons memes,

maybe it is number one right now I think it surpassed like old man yells a cloud for instance I think in terms of merchandise and the show referencing old jokes Henry you won't like hearing this I feel like poochie is on the tipping point I feel like we are getting too much poochie stuff, and it's it's almost I think within the next couple years I'll be done with poochie Wow I'm kind of sick of seeing Poochie. I just bought a good Poochie's sweatshirt too,

but you're right, that my ability to buy that is proof that they are merchandising Poochie too much now. Yeah, I mean, all my Simpsons stuff that I have is from a, I guess, I don't know if bootleg is the right word for it. I don't even know if I wanna say what the name of it is because I don't want them to get in trouble, but obviously they already are on Instagram and selling stuff but it's a second best pet shop. They do drops, they're based in the UK I think and they do

drops a few times a year and every single time I have to stop myself from spending $500 on you know for example an Ion Springfield hat or I have a Globex Corporation Leatherman jacket and all this shit. And I mean, I'm just way more interested in buying stuff from a fan that adores the classic seasons and could not give less of a shit about the copyright because personally, I think the Library of Congress should buy the classic seasons of The Simpsons and then also they should pass a law stopping them from making new ones. I'm really sorry.

I just really hate it so much, it makes me so mad. But this is just the thing that I am a psychotic nerd about. Hey, we've got like 15 more years of work ahead of us if they stop now, so we're fine. Now, the only reason, the best argument I've had of the show should continue is that basically, it's like a car factory in America. Like, as in once those close, they never reopen.

Like, and so in the animation business, those jobs are never coming back once the Simpsons stop. Sure, and it's job creation for writers, and I'm sure is one of the only good, like, reliable paying gigs and stuff. I don't really, really think that, but God, they've got a Muppets Go Medieval hat right now that I need to fucking buy.

I need that so much. I need that so much. Oh, that sounds great. But here, why don't we hear the original moment? Off the rim! Oh! Almost! Boy, that was close. Hey, what's up for today, Nettie? Ah, Homer, we're gonna visit the boy's grandmother. Family only, you know? Right, no reporters.

No, I... I mean, just the Flanders family. Oh, okay. Oh, boy, Grandma! We're not going anywhere. But you said... Sometimes to keep from hurting someone's feelings, we have to say things that aren't exactly lies made baby Jesus cry You know, I think as a kid my thought was I had never seen the lawnmower man yet

But I thought oh is this like a reference to the lawnmower man? I built that up in my head that like oh, it's like a creepy guy in the bushes That must be like what the lawnmower man, I built that up in my head, that like, oh, it's like a creepy guy in the bushes. That must be like what the Lawn Mower Man does. He's always in those bushes. So it was my shock watching Lawn Mower Man for the first time to see that the guy never comes out of or goes into bushes. Wow.

You know, the original can still be great to us no matter how much it gets merchandised officially and how much Disney profit off of it. And just like Bill Oakley told us about the Poochie stuff, that despite being like kind of a co-creator of Poochie, who takes a lot of pride in that Poochie episode, Bill Oakley never gets anything that for free of all of this Poochie merch.

Every time you buy Poochie merch, Henry, you have to send Bill Oakley five bucks on Twitter. I will gladly, I will gladly do that. All right, so after all of that, we then go, this is why people I think think of it as a Terminator reference because then a very specific Terminator reference comes in right after it as Homer arrives like Homer loves the pitch and putt so much that he owns his own two putters He doesn't rent them at the place. He owns them

You know the pitch and putt as a name for a mini golf place that also has batting cages. I'm assuming that's the pitch of Pitch and Putt. TG. Sounds about right. But they also make the perfect Terminator 1000 claw arms, those golf clubs. LW. Yes, absolutely. There is a wonderful mini golf place in Sherman Oaks called Sherman Oaks Castle Park, which is municipally owned. It is like a county owned mini golf that has batting cages. And I highly recommend if you're in the Los Angeles area, also has a little arcade with a halo arcade machine

and a Mario Kart arcade machine. Fucking great time, love it. And this is where, again, the joke makes it even better because Homer is not winded at all. Like Homer, who is in terrible shape for any other joke, for this joke, he has to have the same cold, unmoving face and perfect running gait of the T-1000 to make the joke perfect. Yes. Yes, absolutely. And again, like the transformation of Homer as the annoying friend

to just this sort of, again again supernatural like monster that can just haunt you like you know demonically in ways that he would otherwise not be able to do is so funny. And this is the debut of Ned's car being the Geo Metro, a first-generation in Geo Metro hatchback based on the design I'd say and I always love when they remember that this is his car. We did a couple of season 15 episodes where Ned is being chased by Homer in a car chase and he's in the geo still. I always love when they remember to have the geo. Yes. The internet tells me it has dog slow acceleration,

but any gear heads in the comments, I welcome you to explain. Is that what the joke is that it's very, it's a geo meaning it is very slow or is it, I think Bob, you're explain. Is that what the joke is, that it's a G.O., meaning it is very slow, or is it, I think Bob you're right, it's just American cars suck, right, that's the joke. I think so, yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. It's like a sacred cow, especially in the 90s, to say American craftsmanship is bad,

and I think Dave American likes twisting the knife. Yes, yeah. This is where Ned gets pulled over. Neddy! Neddy! Let's get in a quick nine down at the pigeon putt. Neddy! Neddy! He's gaining on us! I'm scared!

Come on Ned, move this thing! I can't, it's a G.O.! Hmm, I guess he didn't see me. We did it! We got rid of him! I told you, officer. I'm not hept up on goofballs. Yeah right. That Flanders I never would have imagined.

Hi it's the kite everybody. Goofballs. Ah, oh! Hi, it's the kite, everybody! Goofballs! Yeah, where's your messiah now, Flanders? A lot to get into there. Yeah, I think previously I've always said hopped up, but I forget it's hept up. Hept up, right.

Goofballs! It's another one Bob has done great, running at anytime we talk about somebody high, they're high on Goofballs. Yeah, yeah, and just a perfect Wigam line read as well. Apparently goofballs the internet tells me a blanket term for opioids so you can even use it for today's fentanyl as well. It's also what a funny idea of a policeman lying about someone being on drugs as an excuse to arrest them. Right absolutely yes. And now land is shagged And nowadays, of course, the, you know, Wiggin would claim to have been getting a contact high from touching someone who was on fentanyl and crying and screaming and throwing up and all that stuff. Extended paid leave.

Yes, exactly. Afterwards. Yeah. Wiggum says, where's your messiah now, Flanders? And this is all based on a Billy Crystal bit he did as part of his comedy act, making fun of the fact that Edward G. Robinson is in the Ten Commandments. And Edward G. Robinson has a certain voice, so it's funny to imagine that juxtaposed against biblical times. Right. The bit is saved forever on his 1985 album Marvelous by Billy Crystal.

Yes, and he is in blackface on that album cover. Oh cool, nice I'll check that out. One of many fun characters he's playing. I think I heard this recently from the great podcaster Tom Sharpling who pointed out that it was like 2009 or something was the last time he played Sammy Davis Jr. It survived much longer than you would think. But everybody thinks that Edward G. Robinson actually says this line in 1956's The Ten Commandments.

So I pulled the clip of the Billy Crystal bit, which is what, even on the commentary, David Merkin's like, yeah, we're just doing Billy Crystal's joke here. We know it's not in the movie. And then after it, you're going to hear Edward G. Robinson actually talking in The Ten Commandments. And you'll see it's a much more normal acting style. And then after you're in here Edward G. Robinson actually talking in The Ten Commandments, and you'll see it's a much more normal acting style. Oh, it's a biblical spectacular, but it's funny because there are actors in that movie who should never do biblical films.

Edward G. Robinson? Where's your Messiah now? Yeah, where's your Moses now, Shane? Let my people go now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, your Moses now, Shane? Let my people go now! There goes your deliverer. Now go find your straw. Remember the tally must be the same. Not one brick less less so there you go people online have said that line is the closest one in the movie to like there

goes your beside like that that's the line you know I have to say I had not really hurt Edward G Robinson talking before now I've closed the loop there he's the greatest villain of the Ten Commandments he's the one who builds the golden idol and gets cast down. Wow. I'll recommend Double Indemnity. He is at his most Edward G. Robinson in that movie. He's great.

Okay, good to know. Is the Ten Commandments what they're parodying when in the Troy McClure with the, he's writing down the commandments and he's getting it wrong. Oh, the Cubits? Yes. Yeah.

Well, and also not just that, but also they parodied it in the opening of Lisa versus the cubits? Yes. Yeah. Well and also not just that but also they parodied it in the opening of Lisa versus the Eighth Commandment. Yes, yes of course. Right. I always wondered what that was. Though there must have been something in the water at the same time as this because in 1993 before this aired but probably the writing would have been around the same time, Saturday Night Live did the same idea in a sketch where Rob Schneider plays the character, but they do it one better in that it's when Charlton

Heston is hosting Saturday Night Live. So he is doing the imitation and doing, where's your Messiah now? Yes, he's doing it to Charlton Heston. All right. That's pretty good. That sounds like maybe Rob Schneider's best work. We could still celebrate him though. Yeah, it's the whole scene and look it up. It's pretty funny that he keeps going like, no, see Moses, we were building this. Yeah, she like, no, I got the stick, Moses. Like, and also Wiggum's entire character has turned into an Edward G. Robinson character, so him saying it is extra funny too. Next scene, it's the church. Everybody's judging Ned.

Ned thinks he won't be judged. He thinks going to a church is a place free of judgment. You fool. Ned quickly learns differently, and I have to think that it's partially it's love joy had been waiting to twist this knife on Ned Flanders for so long. Oh, 100 hundred percent, yes. A joke I didn't even hear until maybe 10 years after this first aired, a friend pointed out

that somebody says, I bet he's the one who wrote Homer all over the bathroom wall. Yes, yes. It's whispered so quietly. It's very low in the mix. Oh God, that's so funny. It's a funny joke. Homer gets him some kick-ass seats, though,

so they have to sit in the front together. Homer's so excited. This is where Ned can take no more, as listen closely to hear a very subtle sound that is Harry Shearer's real nose. Before I get started on today's sermon entitled, What Ned Did, I'd like to publicly congratulate Homer Simpson on his recent charity work.

Mwah, mwah, I live to give. That's beautiful. We appreciate the kisses. Now let us bow our heads in a silent prayer of thanksgiving. giving. Stop it! Breathe through your damn mouth! Oh, can't you see this man isn't a hero he's annoying he's very very annoying Well, Ned Flanders is just jealous guys hept up on goofballs. Let's sacrifice him to our God Come on we do it all the time in the 30s That little thank you, we appreciate the kisses that's actually a a Harry Shearer ad lib. So in the moment, made the joke even funnier. That's great, that's one of my favorite bits of that scene. This is so back when Harry Shearer cared.

Even for a deleted scene, he's screaming his skinner, he's offering up that great lovejoy thing, he's also saying, you know, my nose makes that noise, and he's like, this is Harry Shearer, back when he really wanted to give his all on the Simpsons. He's putting his whole shussy into this one for sure yeah To cut to the end of the joke here There's a very subtle thing where it's like four frames

But Lovejoy is clearly about to grab Ned and kill him in front of the audience It's true That rocks I mean it just again Just like zeroing in on like someone who is a friend you don't really want doing something really not that annoying, but it becoming so loud. It's the only thing you can hear. It's the only thing you can think about. That's so fucking funny.

The net has been pushed so far that he blasphemies in church to say damn in church. Absolutely shades of Hurricane Nettie for sure. I also love the design of Moe in his Sunday best which is like a red bow tie and a black jacket and saying he's all hepped up on goofballs. Also where on the commentary Matt Groene is complaining about background characters but even he realizes he goes too far and he basically turns into us saying like, meh, that's off model, meh. And this is where Homer saves the day with a very sweet speech on Ned's behalf. Stop it! How dare you talk about Ned Flanders like that.

He's a wonderful, kind, caring man. Maybe even more so than me. There have been times when I lost patience with him, even lashed out at him, but this man has turned every cheek on his body. If everyone here were like Ned Flanders, there'd be no need for heaven. We'd already be there. Oh, oh, um, well, I think we all owe Ned a heartfelt apology.

We were wrong to doubt him. Hey, that guy's right! Ha! That was a very nice thing you did, homie. Lenny's Hey, that guy's right. What a great, he calls Homer, hey, that guy.

Yes. I thought he was calling Lovejoy that guy. Oh, you're right, yeah. But even so, coming to church to hear the sermon and just calling the minister that guy is incredible. Perfect button on that joke, which it does lean into sincerity after Homer says, you know, he might be better than me,

and then he goes into the actual sincere part of the speech. It is a sweet ending to the episode for a minute. It's a great joke about writing themselves into a corner or it's a joke about how on, you know, on a regular sitcom, let's say Family Matters, they would just say like, Urkel, I love you. I learned to not be annoyed by you. We're great friends.

And then it resets with no commentary on it But this is just that kind of story beat here, too Right, but this is where they realized they were led into a corner I believe they say on the commentary that this was post-animatic They came up with this final ending of the episode here And I can't imagine it without it as the fourth wall is fully broken on screen Now how about that game is a pigeon putt just try and stop me as the fourth wall is fully broken on screen. Guess what, everyone? My great Uncle Boris died and left us his old country house. There's only one catch. They say it's haunted.

But I'm sure we can prove him wrong by spending the weekend there. Hi, diddley-ho, neighbor. Get lost, Flanders. Okalee-dokalee. See? I told you, there's nothing to worry about. This place isn't- Perfect. I mean, Bart and Lisa just, they sigh. They don't even know why they're not friends anymore.

Just Homer says get lost, fighters. No reason. They're just not friends. Back to normal. This ending is great. I like how they do another version of this joke and I think Bart the Fink where they have to spend the night in a haunted, supposedly haunted mansion and then it ends up being it's great.

Lisa's like, their tap water tastes different than ours. Yeah, I always think about that. Whenever I have good tap water, I think about that. Yeah, I wondered if, I again, don't know what that is a reference to. I assume it's some sort of trope or like a specific movie where, you know, that is the premise. Yeah, I mean, I don't know where,

like unlike the Babe Ruth sick child thing, I don't know the originator of that. It feels like they're making fun of it here as an ancient trope then in 94. It must be from something. And yeah, that Bart the Fink opening is great. I also love that it's from Homer's Poor Aunt Hortense. We have Uncle Boris and Aunt Hortense.

The quiet woo-hoo's. Poor Aunt Hortense. Woo-hoo. And yeah, just the way Bart and Lisa are sad about, I guess that's the end of our wacky adventures. Like just they're broken by it. And another perfect thing I love about it is that the Chiron on screen says next Thursday at 8 p.m., which was their time slot then,

in September of this same year, it's not their time slot anymore. So they go back to Sunday. So it's a locked in time thing. And it's still that on Disney Plus. They didn't change it. I wouldn't think they would. For four out of the current 36 years of the show,

they were on Thursdays. Yes. I still think of like, finally they're back on Sundays when they've been on Sundays for 31 years at the right now. Crazy to think about. What day of the week do you think of it as Libby? Like if you think, oh, I'm watching The Simpsons on a day of the week, you growing up in the UK.

Well, what do you think of that? In my memory, it was on every night, which is maybe not true. But I mean, I didn't start. The first episode I saw was the monorail. That was when I was four. I don't really think I really started watching it. Like my memory of sitting down to watch The Simpsons regularly was actually like before I even was watching it live on TV I was watching the VHS collections that we had that was like a collection of like episodes about religion and episodes about like love and stuff

And then I remember it being on Sky 1 and by that point I was 10 or 11 So we were past the classic seasons anyway, and that was like I think it was on Sky 1 every weeknight at 6 or something I don't know. I don't really remember. But yeah, it's no particular day of the week for me. This might be sacrilege, but I think I might have liked the show better on Thursdays. Because back when broadcast TV mattered and I was in school, it was great. Thursday night, Simpsons, Friday, last day of school of the week, you see until the weekend. Sunday night, you spend all day dreading Monday, especially if you have anxiety

about school. And then it's like, well, I guess I can have the Simpsons to carry me into Monday, which helps, but you're not really locked into fun mode. Yeah, no, you're right. It's better to have it on a good day. I do recall that feeling of like, oh, there's the new Simpsons tonight and then come home from school on Monday. I can do my second watch of it off my tape. That'll be the next day though. But yeah, this actually, not just is this the end of Thursdays, but also by September when Simpsons is on Sunday That is also when the syndication begins too. So this is soon It will be Simpsons is in most American homes. You can watch Simpsons every day of the week broadcast except for Saturdays

That's on you you need to plan for that to be ready. Well, that's why you have to be HS Collections. A perfect ending to an episode full of like, many of my favorite Simpsons jokes are in this very episode. If you asked me to put together a list of 10 favorite episodes, I wouldn't put this one on here,

but every time, it just wouldn't come to mind for me by title, but goddamn, this is a't come to mind for me by title. But God damn, this is a great episode. This is one that I know I love because when I'm watching through The Simpsons and I see it's up next, I'm like, oh, yes. You know, which I guess I am about like every, I mean, my, my husband's always making fun of me because like, if we watched The Simpsons, I'll be like, Oh, this bit's really good.

Oh, this bit's really good. He's like, you think it's all good. It's your favorite show. You don't need to tell me. But yeah, it rocks. Yeah, I totally agree. This one, the premise is great. They took a while to get around to doing this specific premise with Homer and Flanders, but all the jokes are amazing. Then you have that layer of meta commentary on the state of the sitcom, which I think was super brilliant and especially groundbreaking for 94. So no complaints, except for that Quimby joke. I say remove it. I want a punchline to that

Quimby joke. It stands out as a weird joke in this great episode. I wish the script was out there that I can find out if there was a punchline to that or something, but maybe by the next time we cover this in 10 years from now. Look forward to it, everybody. Libby, thank you so much for coming back to the show. Please let us know where we can find you online and more about your podcast. Yeah. So I have a podcast with my friend Charlotte McDonald. It's called What's All This Then? We're just sort of dealing with a different topic of British interest every week. It comes out on Mondays. We also have a Patreon where you can support us, any extra content. I have

no idea what we will be doing by the time this comes out but recently as of recording we did our first mailbag episode with Pat Gill which we are charmingly calling the post box because it's Britain and we just do all kinds of crazy stuff like that on the show. But yeah I mean we've had you know previous Talking Simpsons guests Brendan James, Nick Weiger been guests on the show. Pretty fun and silly. And then I also stream at twitch.tv slash Libtron where I am extremely in my souls era and I'm sure we'll still be playing through Dark Souls 3

by the time this comes out. And Libby was recently on an episode of Retronauts talking about Bloodborne with Brendan James. Such a nice time. Bob, I have to ask if you're playing Night Reign. No, because I have sinned as a souls lover and I never finished Elden Ring. Yes, I'm aware of my sins.

To be fair, to be fair, it came out when I was moving to another country. I will say you can pick up Night Reign without having finished Elden Ring. There's no story at all. It's just Fortnite. It's Fortnite, Elden Ring, which makes it sound terrible, but it's perfect.

I adore it so much. Yeah, it's very polarizing, but I think the idea of them using Elden Ring assets to make something weird and nutty. It works great. I don't know. Obviously, it's very stupid that, as of now at least, you can only play it with exactly three people, which is stupid. There's no voice chat or anything, so if you are squatting up with randos, you've of got to hope that everyone's on the same page. But I don't know. I think it's fantastic. I'm loving that. That's wild for a decade. I didn't play any Souls games and Bob's played them all. And now I haven't played every Souls game, but I have not only beaten Elden Ring, but also

the DLC. Like I put like 120 hours into that. Yeah, I have not yet beaten the DLC. I realized I wasn't having fun streaming it because the DLC is quite, I find it very easy to get lost. And I was getting sick of just wandering around not knowing what I was doing. And I figured that's an off stream experience where I could, for example, listen to a podcast and, you know, try and find my way around. But yeah, I'll definitely probably still be playing Dark Souls 3. I want to get into doing some Bloodborne randomizer

if I can figure out how to set that up because it's completely insane. So yeah, that'll be coming up on the Lib Tron stream. We love your work, we love your podcast. And so it was awesome to chat again about the Simpsons with you. Always a pleasure. Thank you so much for letting me do a fantastic episode.

Thanks again to Libby Watson for being on the show. Please check out her podcast and also check out her guest appearance on RetroNauts. But as for us, if you want to check out more of what we do and get these podcasts ad free and also access to eight years worth of full length podcast exclusive podcast, mind you, go to patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons and sign up at the five dollar level. and sign up at the $5 level. And when you do, you'll get access to all of our podcasts ad free in one week at a time, and also access to all of our mini series episodes. Today we've covered King of the Hill, Futurama, Mission Hill, Batman the Animated Series, and The Critic.

And at that $5 level, you also get one new episode per month of both Talk King of the Hill and Talking Futurama. It's a great bang for your buck, five bucks a month, only at patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons and there is a $10 level too. When you sign up for that you get all the $5 stuff naturally but you also get one extremely long huge huge podcast once a month only for patrons of that level. What's going on there Henry? Bob is referring to our What a Cartoon and

Movie podcast where we cover an animated feature film as in depth as a Simpsons episode, which makes it basically three podcasts long. We've talked for over five hours sometimes or even six about animated feature films and right now we are deep in our celebration of 2000s era Disney films. We started it with an extremely goofy movie. Then we did Lilo and Stitch. And then at the end of this month, we'll be covering Atlantis. And you can hear those and all of our previous ones, seven years worth of what a cartoon movies. I'd say over 200 hours of them. If you are a $10 and up subscriber at patreon.com slash talking Simpsons, we've covered all

the Disney films in the nineties, a few of the classic golden age. We've covered a bunch of Ghibli movies, we covered junk like Shrek and Cool World, we've covered Who Framed Roger Rabbit for six and a half hours, and Batman movies, tons of stuff. Sign up there to see it all. You can find a collection of all 80 plus of them now, I think it's at or nearly 80, at patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons to see everything you're missing out on, including all the ad free stuff too. And I've been one of your hosts, Bob Mackie. You can find me on blue sky and letterbox and many other places as Bob Servo.

And my other podcast is retronauts. That's a classic gaming podcast all about old video games. You can find that wherever you find podcasts or go to patreon.com slash retronauts and sign up there for two full length bonus episodes every month. And Henry, what about you? You can find me on blue sky and Instagram as talking Henry still H N A Y G on Twitter a little, but if you're following us on any of those places, you should also be following at talk Simpsons pod because that's the

official Twitter account of this podcast. And what a cartoon. If you want to know when new stuff happens on our Patreon on the free feeds or any special events we're doing, you will learn about it if you follow at Talk Simpsons Pod in all of those places. And don't forget, an easy list of all the free episodes we've done can be found along with other stuff at TalkingSimpsons.com.

Thanks so much for listening folks. We'll see you again next time for season 15's My Big Fat Geek Wedding, and we will see you then. I did it! Second in line and all I had to do was miss 8 days of work. With the money you would have made working, you could have bought tickets from a scalper. In theory, yes. Sure. Give me 30,000 tickets.

That'll be $950,000, please. Look, the thing about that is I only got $10 on me. Can I pay you to rest later? Sure. Oh!