Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - Homer The Heretic
Episode Date: September 21, 2016Season four of The Simpsons truly begins with Homer The Heretic. It’s such a great episode — truly a religious experience! So join in on this week’s podcast whether you’re Christian, Jew, or m...iscellaneous …
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today's talking simpsons is brought to you by little bits the easy to use electronic building
blocks talking simpsons listeners can go to try little bits.com slash laser time and get
20 off your first order Ahoy, ahoy, everybody.
Welcome to Talking Simpsons, where we celebrate the feast of maximum occupancy.
I am your host, Bob Mackie, and this is the Laser Time Podcast Network's chronological exploration of the simpsons who else is here with me today uh proverbial pancake
chrysanthista nice and i'm whizzing with the door open and i love it henry gilbert and i was born a
snake handler and i'll die a snake and today's episode is homer the heretic which aired on
october 8th 1992 chris will tell us what happened on this mythical day in history. Oh, boy.
Oh, my God.
I mean, you just won't believe it.
Steven Seagal's Under Siege beats the box office into submission.
Nintendo and Sony announce a collaboration on an upcoming video game technology that should blow minds.
And sitting President George H.W. Bush airs this campaign ad. To pay for his increased spending in arkansas bill clinton raised state taxes and not
just on the rich he increased the sales tax by 33 imposed a mobile home tax increased the beer tax
he assessed a tourism tax created a cable tv tax supported the tax on groceries and now if elected
president bill clinton has promised to increase government spending $220 billion.
Guess where he'll get the money?
We all know how well that ad worked.
And I'll end my news voice. I like the subtle hillbilly theme, even though that is sort of the persona he would adopt for the 2000 election.
But isn't that the incumbent Republican appealing to, like, look at this redneck asshole.
He wanted to put a tax on trailers.
Sorry, H.W. Bush, not W. Bush.
I was confused for a second. I was like, why would a governor
or a future governor be having that ad?
It's funny to see H.W. saying
he's going to put $220 billion
in spending. His son
laughs at that. Laughs at that much
government spending. He's like, he spent
trillions, trillions. Oh man, we're going to
piss off any right-leaning person in this.
I mean, this episode's about religion, so...
And I will say, why don't you just back away if you're very sensitive to a bunch of, like, left-coast...
Religious types, mostly.
Left-coast lefties.
Religious types, mostly.
But also that the Nintendo PlayStation thing...
If you don't know, the PlayStation...
How do we say this quickly?
The PlayStation is...
I can sum it up.
Please, Bobby.
Okay, Sony and Nintendo make a deal to make this.
Sony wants to take a cut of the software profits.
Nintendo says no.
They don't say no to Sony.
They go to Philips and announce they're working on a thing together and betray Sony.
Sony goes up on their own.
What's that?
In public at a major event.
Yeah, at like a CES, I think.
Yeah.
Consumer Electronics Show.
So then Nintendo doesn't make anything.
Philips makes a CD-i, and then Sony makes the PlayStation three years later.
Yes.
That's essentially the...
Which should have been the new Nintendo console.
Instead, Nintendo paid for its own competition.
Exactly.
And please listen to the Retronauts episode we covered that on.
It's the SNES episode, which is a fairly recent one.
Yes.
I need to get back.
I want to get back to the Adventure Island episode.
That is just for me.
It's a deep dive, Chris. Good. But this episode here... Again, Chris, to get back. I want to get back to the Adventure Island episode. That is just for me. It's a deep dive, Chris.
But this episode here, again, Chris, you're right.
If you're a religious person, I respect what you do.
But this is not the episode you probably want to listen to because I think this episode comes down on religion pretty hard.
It's a George Meyer episode.
Knowing who he is, I think it makes sense.
And as a 10-year-old boy, this helped me deal with religion, I think, in a profound way.
It showed, like, I was,
I was, what,
I was attempted to be drowned,
the Catholic tradition.
That one, yes.
Where the priest says,
get dunked!
We're gonna drown the God into you, yes.
That's what happened to me.
I went to a lot of churches.
I grew up with a lot of neighbors and friends
going to their churches.
My parents, not so much.
But I was very religious. And the more i questioned the nature of everything the more guilty and
self-loathing i felt and this episode was sort of like well you're not the only one with these
questions like that can point out these inconsistencies so it's you're not you're not an
evil person and you can find some humor in it i I'd never seen entertainment do that before. Yeah. You know, it's funny. I grew up in the South, too, which is a very religious place.
The Bible Belt is a real thing, especially 30 years ago.
But in Arkansas, like, my cousins and my dad's only sister who lived with us lived in the same town as us in Arkansas.
They went to church all the time.
But my dad didn't.
But my dad is conservative in that he definitely is like,
oh, he's a Christian and Christianity is the number one thing.
But I think he's also lazy to the extent of like,
I don't want to go to church.
Though it could also, my dad's taking a beating on this.
I'm sorry, dad, if you ever listen to this. But I also think it's because he's cheap and he like,
he doesn't want to tithe.
No, he doesn't want to tithe. No, he doesn't want to tithe.
He doesn't want to give money to the church.
What did George Cullen call church?
A place where white people go to compare clothing?
So I think my dad just didn't want to compare.
He didn't want to give up money.
The closest thing I did to going to church was uh i actually went for about six
six months to a year it's hard all the time feels weird when you're that young but when it was like
seven i didn't get to hang out with my best friend in first grade because on certain days because
he'd go to church he was he was in catholic school which was very different in the south
like catholic schools is close to like going to temple because you're a
baptist in the south you are not a catholic but so i went with him to his catholic things until
until it involved too much work to prepare for one of those things like oh wait i'm too lazy for this
and my parents are forcing me to do this so bye bye religion and that was the last time i really
i've never explained like i my parents i guess I can say now, were not that religious.
My grandparents were.
That's why I was baptized.
So we didn't go to church on a weekly basis.
So what I would do is stay over at friends' house on Saturday night because I wanted to go to church.
And my parents didn't go.
So I went to Methodist churches.
I went to Baptist churches.
I went to Catholic churches as much as I could because I wanted to be
I don't know, forgiven, loved.
When you're that young and you hear
the Christian stuff about
guilt and what you owe
and how you got to make good on it.
And how a man died for you, Henry.
Yeah, and that guilt shit,
I won't say it works on all children, but it really
worked on me. I was really susceptible to that stuff.
I was just thinking like, oh, but when will Jesus love me?
What will I do?
I hate bullshit.
I hate it.
Well, I don't know.
It doesn't matter if it's bullshit.
It's about what meaning you derive from it.
I don't mean to make fun of people of faith.
I will say I went to Catholic church for the absolute last time when my grandfather died.
For grandfather, he wore a cross around his neck every fucking day. for the absolute last time when my grandfather died. He had like one,
like for grandfather,
you know,
he wore a cross around his neck every fucking day.
So like,
let's go to,
let's go to this Catholic church.
And I'm there with my evangelical
aunt and uncle who like,
and then,
and so we're in this Catholic church
and just like,
and like they're laughing
and I'm laughing
because they're kind of,
not necessarily scary church, is at least up to date.
Yeah.
And like this is Gregorian.
They weren't singing in Latin, were they?
It's not a pre-Vatican 2 church.
It was so boring and irrelevant until the preacher actually got up and like started to talk, which is interesting.
But like the audience and like I always call on the Simpsons them going to church is one of the more dated aspects of the show.
Because when the show was out, everybody I knew other than me was going to church.
And now I don't know anybody, not one person, who goes to church on a regular basis.
So I do want to tell my story.
I want to hear Bob's.
I did not grow up in the South.
I grew up in a town in Ohio that was literally forsaken by God.
It was a God-forsaken town.
And my family was not anti-religious.
They just didn't have time for religion.
It's like, we're a working-class family.
I want to sleep in on Sunday.
Church is too much work.
We'll be fine.
Let's just have fun and be a nice family together.
So this changed for me when I was moved from public school to Catholic school at age nine.
And all of a sudden, I was encountering religion for the first time, really, hands-on.
And it was church that really disturbed me in a profound way
because this episode speaks to me because I didn't go to church on Sunday.
I went during school.
Like every week there would be a school mass.
And when I first started going, I'm like, what are we doing?
Like why are we doing this?
Like we could be doing anything else but this.
Why are we doing this?
This is such a waste of time.
It's boring.
I could be reading my book at my desk.
Like the existence of church and how boring it is and how it serves no purpose for all people, Why are we doing this? This is such a waste of time. It's boring. I could be reading my book at my desk.
The existence of church and how boring it is and how it serves no purpose for all people,
this is what this episode speaks to.
It's not anti-religion.
I think it's anti the shit that goes along with religion.
Ceremony.
Church does not look good in this episode.
There is no good view of church. The act of going to church is viewed as universally bad in this episode.
For me, it was.
It was really boring. Oh, for me too.
When there was a sleepover, I made sure to not sleep
over at my religious friend's house on a Saturday
because it meant I would have to go to church with them on Sunday.
I did not want to do that. I begged to go
to Southern
Baptist Camp because that camp
had 40 Nintendos.
That's pretty good. And a water slide
and a gym and projected
movies on a big... Holy crap, religion is big is what I'm saying. And a water slide and a gym and projected movies on a big...
Holy crap, religion is big is what I'm saying.
And then I went through puberty.
Women.
Women kept me going to church.
Women, women, women.
Because you literally have to hold their hand.
Yes.
In like several times.
You can hug them sometimes, Chris.
But it got to the point...
I'm fascinated to know if...
Do a lot of your friends go to church?
Do you still go to church? I don't want to... You don't have to answer that in the comments. I'm not judging anybody do a lot of your friends go to church? Do you still go to church?
You don't have to answer that in the comments.
I'm not judging anybody. I just dislike church.
I don't know.
That's the thing. I was talking to
my cousin about his
evangelical church and he's like
we were laughing at the Catholic church
and also with you
and like why are they still doing this?
There's nobody under 50
in this church
and there never will be again.
Well, Chris,
before the 60s,
it was all in Latin.
Do you know that?
Yes.
And he said,
my church literally
has dubstep drops.
Wow.
Yeah.
So like,
we had like a cute lady
with a guitar
that would come in sometimes.
Or Bible man.
That's pretty hip.
Yeah.
But again,
like this episode
really spoke to me
because I got to the point
after a year,
like I knew how much time there was left in church. Like, oh, we're at the homily. 20 more minutes. Yeah. But again, this episode really spoke to me because I got to the point after a year, I
knew how much time there was left in church.
Like, oh, we're at the homily.
20 more minutes, then it's sweet, sweet, no church.
Yeah.
You just seem like an eternity as a little kid in Catholic church.
Baptist and Methodist, I way prefer.
I mean, we're going on a bit, but I think it's important to know where we come from
to know that we don't personally hate religion.
For me, it's just the ceremony of it, that forcing it upon children who don't understand
it, I think, is kind of wrong.
I'm not the biggest fan of religion, but i also have come to hate dogmatic atheists
most of all i'm an atheist and i hate those assholes yeah i don't wear a fedora by the way
well now that's the thing it's just like why like i stopped even saying i'm an atheist because like
because you think that means oh i'm i'm such a logical egalitarian atheist and if anything you're a fucking fool
for believing in this
demon with a pointy tail
like I fucking hate those guys
it's okay to go through
Richard Dawkins' face
you should eventually stop
though at like age 20
or something
that guy's bullshit too
and Hitchens too
man fuck that guy
I used to say
it's not interesting
to be an atheist
we are all
born atheists.
Because you would not automatically make up a religion as a baby.
Unless you slide onto a baptism pool.
So we're all born atheists.
And then I said that in front of my friend from Tanzania.
And I said it at a party.
Everybody giggled.
And then he came back to me 20 minutes.
And she's like, you know how hard it was for me to renounce my Muslim heritage?
Like saying we're all born atheists?
I just don't say that anymore.
No, I actually did hear that from a fan of ours
who was very critical of me shitting on atheists
because I am used to like,
there's no cost to being an atheist here.
And I did forget what it was like where I grew up.
It was subversive.
This episode was subversive.
And I remember in my 20s, in my early 20s, where I grew up like even it was subversive this episode was subversive yeah and when like I
remember we in my like 20s in my early 20s I was working at a blockbuster I was working blockbuster
and one of my co-workers she was just like you don't really believe all that Harry Potter stuff
right that's a devil and I was like really we're having I also worship Jigglypuff yeah and I also
told her like I don't go to church at all and And she couldn't believe it. She's like, what?
I was like, yeah, I don't believe in that.
And then I was like, I got to step back from this because I'm going to get, like, witnessed here.
She's going to try to save me.
Though I could point out to her that, like, the other person I worked with there who was also super religious, she was also a huge Harry Potter fan.
Uh-oh.
How do you reconcile that?
I don't know.
Dude, check out the Golden Compass if you want to be pissed at magic.
I mean, when the second...
That guy really hates you.
Oh, yeah.
He wants you to die.
When the second Harry Potter film came out, it was one of my first nights working at my
job before Blockbuster AMC Theater.
And this is in northern Florida.
And so a kid gets their meal that comes with Harry Potter
jelly beans.
Bernie bots every flavor bean?
I remember two parents saying, don't give me that.
The beans of the devil.
We don't get that Harry Potter stuff. That's not for our kids.
Whoa.
I think that's why we have
a distaste for religion
in general. The Harry Potter
thing being the best example. Harry Potter thing being the best example.
Harry Potter is not the best target.
Yeah.
It was just the most relevant.
Yeah.
I encourage people to look up videos of preachers denouncing Pokemon as tools of the devil.
Ridiculous.
They want to become the master of the Pokemon.
Ridiculous.
They're not the most demonic parts of media.
They're just the most popular.
I think I could be more relevant if we get together as a community
and sacrifice what is relevant.
But we are talking about The Simpsons, right?
Oh, yeah. We're all naked and wet.
Yes, we're all naked and wet.
Homer, it's time for church.
I don't want to go.
It's church. You have to go.
Too cold out.
There you go.
I do think Homer the Heretic gave me the language
I needed as a kid to understand what I didn't
like about it.
It said to me, this cool thing you like says it's okay to not like church.
And from then on, I felt comfortable.
Like, I'm not wrong.
The Simpsons is right.
And I like The Simpsons.
And I have way too many clips of everything just because I love this episode.
Wait, this is the first film Roman episode.
Yeah.
Let's talk about that.
Let me burn this one off.
Hey, where's Homer?
Your father's resting.
Resting hungover.
Resting got fired.
Help me out here.
In terms of pacing, this episode is just like, bam, like it starts.
There's no wasted time.
So funny.
Like, this is, could we call this legit the first four-season episode for real?
Yeah.
It's the first production, fourth season, first Film Roman episode, too.
It's no more Klasky Chupo Rugrats people working on its Film Roman.
It is not just breakneck in terms of its jokes and gags.
It is perfect.
Well, for The Simpsons, it's perfect animation.
Not too much, not too little.
But doing things you can only do in cartoons over and over again.
I love...
Homer feels like a pile of goo in this episode.
I feel like Matt Groening probably hated this these first few years.
But yeah, this was... So the Film Roman thing Groening probably hated this these first few years. But yeah, this
was the Phil Roman thing.
We talked about this some in the previous episodes.
They dropped Klasky Chupo.
Now they're working with Phil Roman, who
had mainly worked on Garfield specials
at this point. Which were great.
Excellent. Those Garfield specials, again,
all written by Jim Davis, a guy we now hate.
Those Garfield specials are amazing. They're kind of
beautiful. They are awesome.
Garfield and Friends was not a bad show.
No, it's a funny show.
It was pretty smart for a kid's show.
Yeah, it's run by Phil Roman.
So it's his wife's name after him.
He was a longtime animator in the American animation business.
He had even worked on How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Oh, that's right.
And peanut specials, too.
Again, if I can ever get the site back up,
CartoonChristmas.com.
I'm saying this because I write about Christmas specials
and not a fan of Garfield,
and I was just like, this is amazing.
The Garfield Christmas special and the Halloween special.
Oh, there's only a couple more weeks left
and I can start watching it again.
I'm excited.
Yeah, but this episode is so...
I think they were really firing up.
They also made Bobby's World.
And King of the Hill. Yeah, Bobby's World was great firing on this one. They also made Bobby's World. Yeah.
And King of the Hill.
Yeah, Bobby's World was great.
Why'd you go, ew?
Yeah, you're right. Bobby's World was awesome.
I don't think of the animation as the best.
But did you notice...
I wonder if it was intentional that this episode begins with a birth,
and so is this the rebirth of the series under a new animation studio?
After we last saw Sperm.
Interesting.
You're right. We saw Sperm. Oh, my God. They we last saw Sperm. Interesting. You're right.
Oh, my God.
They go out on Sperm, come in with a berth.
Yeah.
So, yes, I mean, there are so many great lines in this episode.
Like, immediately Homer is home alone
and just indulging in being, like, taking a sick day from church.
Right off the bat, I have one of, like, seven lines of the show.
That's the joke.
I'm whizzing with the door open, and I love it.
Okay, I still say that every week.
I say this every day.
I do it all the time.
I work from home, and I always pee with the door open,
and I always think of that line when I pee with the door open.
See, that's not the one I think of.
I think of being in bed and just saying, like,
I'm a warm, toasty cinnamon bun.
To be totally honest, more than anything, re-watching this now, I grew up in Florida, as we said.
The snugness of a really, really cold outdoors.
In Florida, I loved it.
It's pouring rain.
Great.
An excuse not to do anything.
I don't have to leave or fulfill any responsibilities but like being able to
snuggle up in bed and just watch TV
or like a nice robe and slipper
like all of that was romanticized
for me
especially when I have to take a pee
like should I get up to pee oh god I'm too comfortable
but eventually your bladder
will force you up just like with Homer
so him in the shower I had to look up two parts
of this so first the song
he's singing is the Tom Jones
song, Delilah.
Oh, Delilah.
And then
his radio says
No Soap Radio, which I had to
look this up because even the commentary doesn't
fully explain what it is.
It's a reference to a
joke prank you can do. So,
say Bob and i are in this
in cahoots on this and you're the innocent person sure okay so i then say a joke i was like hey guys
i got a joke the elephant and the hippopotamus are taking a bath and the elephant said to the
hippo please pass the soap the hippo replies no soap radio now bob is my confederate would laugh at that acting like it's
a hilarious joke even though the punchline makes no sense and then it would wait to see if you
would laugh along and pretend that you got it and then if you started to pretend that you got it
they'd be like haha fuck you that wasn't a joke that joke doesn't make any sense. You're trying to pretend you're smart. You're stupid.
Yeah.
It's to shame you.
It's a short con.
Yeah.
It's a short con.
I only remember Bugs Bunny saying, no soap, doc, in one cartoon.
It is a 1940s prank.
Yeah.
But he said it in regards of, like, I didn't do anything.
No soap is an actual expression, but no soap radio is meaningless.
But it has nothing to do with, like, soap operas, like, soap opera free. The soap is an actual expression, but no soap radio is meaningless. But it has nothing to do with
soap operas, like soap opera free.
The joke is it's nothing.
And if you laughed at it in the prank,
then it proves you're stupid.
Or that you're trying to be friendly
with your friends.
Oh yeah, they said that joke.
This is why I don't like pranks.
Pranks are horrible.
90s was peak asshole.
The joke is like,
you trusted me, you asshole.
So there, that explains no soap radio.
To punch for flinching,
we were really mean to one another. Have any of us ever had
moon waffles before? Moon waffles?
The perfect chance to make
my patented space age out of this world
moon waffles.
Let's see here.
Caramels,
waffle batter, liquid smoke, waffle runoff.
Oh, this is, I feel like Homer toked up in the 70s and ate a lot of moon waffles. That's what they feel like. The animation on this sequence in particular, which should be boring
and Homer adding ingredients to something is so, it's not lavish. It's very expressive, even if it is a bit
off-model, which is what I like. It's just
so, but very slightly off-model
in terms of The Simpsons. I like this, I
wish every episode was like this. No, I love the slight
off-model look. I love when their eyes get really big,
their pupils get big too in these episodes. And if you want to
see if my bias is showing,
I've said how much I like season two and three.
I bought season two
and three on Amazon's digital video
service and I watched them like
that I really can't be
bothered nowadays to put in a DVD unless it's
absolutely necessary so I haven't watched
season four since for about
fuck maybe five six
years and suffer through those awful awful
they're the worst yeah they're the worst here's a
terrible animation watch it nine times
yeah I remember like I made my selection and I'm watching it on my computer, and it's like, it's 11
seconds before anything's going to happen.
We were taught in this animation, Chris.
There's 15 more seconds of animation to be played.
I never made moon waffles, but I definitely, whenever in my 20s, I was like, I'm just going
to lounge around and make pancakes for a long breakfast this morning.
I definitely had Homer's lackadaisical, like, let batter splatter everywhere.
Mmm, batter.
I have to explain this to my girlfriend every so often.
One time, it was pouring rain, and I just decided to get drunk by myself and watch Donald Duck cartoons until my eyes bled.
And so I didn't want to go out and get anything to eat.
I ordered Pizza Hut online because I wanted my ultimate comfort food.
Bring it to me.
I want a Pizzone, bitch.
Did you go to pizza.net like Sandra Bullock did in the net?
Love that reference.
It really happened.
It's so good.
It became our future.
It really did.
And I hate pizza.
It's the worst pizza ever.
There's a great pizza place right downstairs,
but they don't deliver.
You've got to walk 100 feet for that.
And I hate it.
But I ordered once five years ago in Pizza Hut.
Every once in a while, we'll send you like a earth-shattering coupon that you're like,
it would be stupid.
You're not a franchisee.
It would be stupid not to buy pizza at this price.
For $3, just get a pizza, please.
Yeah, about two times a year I order like dude a like a bounty
of Pizza Hut
for just me
because I'm embarrassed
for people to see the boxes
I
we're in San Francisco
and everyone's a foodie
so I like
I like shred them up
and run them out of my house
the Simpsons
will be right back
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Here's a taste of what you've
been missing not to speak for the lady but she just she came back after like one of those city
days of like somebody came in the bar station and dropped their pants and let diarrhea all over the
platform and it's just like i hate the city i hate it here not to defend this person but like i mean
if i had look if i was outside and i had diarrhea was it you dave i would just
literally spray it everywhere because it's like what what's your other choice all right you have
such a terrible opportunity for splashback it's like containing how closely do you squat to the
ground then dave are you talking don't squat because they don't get on my shoes are your
shoes nice i'm literally nobody wants poop on their shoes i'm downward dogging it onto some
wall i'm sorry i've heard a really good story really good story that this girl, like in a car ride home,
is just like, I've got to go, I've got to go.
I'm going to eat something bad.
I'm going to die.
You get in the garage, and it's like not going to make it,
like puts your back against the wall, like inner squatting position,
and just lets it all go.
And it's like.
Does it drop Shroud or no?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Man, how far was she from a bathroom?
Close, but it's still like, dude,
there's just a point of no return sometimes with Batman.
You're just like...
I mean, I've never done it in my pants.
I know that feeling when you're running,
and you're like,
that was a photo finish, man.
Yeah.
Like, you could have had the thousand frames a second camera
to watch how close that came.
It wins by a con.
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So, yes, the Simpsons are all suffering in church without Homer, and something I remember watching this originally, my mom...
That was my other line of the show.
Oh, okay.
Mmm, fattening.
Nice.
Yes.
The, uh, this is a throwaway line, but Reverend Lovejoy talking about the card table
for sale, my mom cracked up
over that, and she was reciting that over and over
for at least a year. If you've read a church
newsletter... Not badly damaged, missing a leg.
But I love that. It's juxtaposing
Homer being home and not in church
with how terrible, not only church is normally,
but how bad it is today.
Validating that he made the best decision
of his life. And he was cast into the fiery cauldron of hell the searing heat the scalding rivers of
molten sulfur oh i'm there i didn't set that up well that's that's there's no there's no ac or
heat in the church long version uh there's no AC in the church. Everybody's freezing.
So Reverend Lovejoy talking about fire, brimstone, and sulfur.
He's like, yes, it's so evocative.
I never noticed.
You heard a crash there.
He throws his hands back and hits a bush in the background that is frozen so solid it shatters like glass.
I noticed that this time.
I never noticed that before.
But again, that's why there's so many throwaway things,
like blink and you'll miss it.
There are icicles coming off the pulpit.
It must be like 20 degrees in there.
Jesus, my other line of the show.
Let's keep doing this.
Oh, yeah, so many great lines.
You must be the three chiropractors I sent for.
Now start manipulating my spine.
Hey, Moe, we don't know nothing about manipulating.
You heard the lady.
Grab a spine and get cracking. Moe is their leader. I mean, I think of that every time I see the Three Stooges.
As a kid, Moe is their leader.
I like that Homer's takeaway, like, he tells them what to do. I loved the Three Stooges so much as a kid.
I had a stupid Just Say Moe shirt.
I lightened up on the Three Stooges so much as a kid. I had a stupid Just Say Mo shirt. I lightened up on the Three Stooges.
I actually didn't like them as a kid.
Oh, really?
I was a Marx Brothers guy.
I thought the Three Stooges were dumb and too mean.
As an eight-year-old?
As a fucking five-year-old?
No, I mean, I guess, well, I probably first hated the Three Stooges because I played their NES video games.
That's terrible.
But then, yeah, when I saw the Marx Brothers
at like a 10-year-old, I saw the Marx
Brothers, I thought they were funnier. They played the Three Stooges
with the Looney Tunes on
my TV. Well, I also, when I saw the
Looney Tunes, I was like, well, these guys are in color
and can stretch around. They're more fun than
middle-aged men who are in pain all the time.
Can we just get together
and at least it wasn't the Little Rascals?
Yes. Oh was it was always
stratified above that
if I had that to pick
but I think I always
come back to the
Andy Kidler joke
that also turned me
on them
he said
this is him on
Dr. Katz
which is
you know I think
I figured out
why women don't
like the Three Stooges
they're not funny
they're not funny
do you think
they ever rejected
a script
I've warmed to that
when I talk about romanticizing things in this episode,
bundling up on a cold day and watching Three Stooges,
which I don't normally watch,
but every time I do see it,
I'm like, this is fucking great.
And the Three Stooges,
that's great observation of what was Sunday morning programming
in the 90s.
Exactly, yeah.
Because you'd either get televangelists
who were basically shouting at you for not being in church.
One of your uncles or something?
Or the cheat.
I do have a third cousin who is Kenneth Copeland.
He's one of the very predatory evangelists who take advantage of people's beliefs.
One of the things that we see that Sunday morning programming is that really boring news program Homer has on.
This is great.
Come on, TV.
Give me some of that sweet, sweet pep.
What's to find our terms, gentlemen?
Are we talking about redistricting or are we talking about reapportionment?
Oh, well.
Can't win them all.
We interrupt this public affairs program to bring you a football game.
Yes!
I love the logo for that program.
It's like two businessmen battling on a cliffside.
One's holding up a briefcase,
the other one's swinging a mace behind him and striking him.
So I just, for the Olympics,
my girlfriend was really in the Olympics,
I bought one of those digital antennas
and a connector to my Xbox One.
So I'm rediscovering over-the-air television.
It has not changed.
Really?
No.
Do you want to watch the local news
followed by Mama's family?
You can over the air.
It's still happening.
It is fascinating and, again, romanticized.
When I turn it on,
I can't actually sit through a lot of this stuff.
It's all public affairs.
Well-researched, smart people
talking about local politics.
I don't know.
I love it.
I honestly think that's why Nicktoons chose Sunday mornings to premiere, because what
else was happening on Sunday morning?
They had everybody, every child watching after church.
And so the Homer dance animation, there's so much great little animation here.
The Homer dance animation is great.
I love his bear slippers.
His bear slippers.
But I also really love, it's a little thing, but when he's eating the chips and then he
pours the last of
the chips on his stomach and then picks them up like it's so well observed like lazy fat guy chip
eating he's at his most hedonistic here like this is like homer in his element just just indulging
in every id in every id fantasy he has and when he imagined that this was the best day ever i do
remember my mom was somewhat offended that Homer put
it above his wedding day.
My mom did not like that. He put it above dancing
in an overturned beer truck fountain.
I mean, come on. Was there a lot of
controversy surrounding this episode?
Surprisingly, no. I heard nothing
about this. I guess the show was already controversial
on everybody's hit list, so it just would have seemed like
Crying Wolf. It was the naughty show for like three
years, so I assume that
if someone hated this show
they would assume
it would sink this low
churches hated them already
yeah
and then
though it does feel
like such a reverse
if they made this episode now
the plot would be
not this episode
in the Simpsons
but if a sitcom made it now
the plot would be
more about somebody
going from secularism
to going to church
not about becoming more secular and not going to church because to going to church not about becoming more secular
and not going to church because like going to church is is the out of the ordinary thing for
modern television characters now yes and that's that's when i do see recent newer simpsons
episodes when they go to church in the beginning it was a the joke was usually about man we have
to go to church and you only see reverend Lovejoy now when they're making a joke about religion
or advocates or moral high ground people.
So church is not just a natural part of their activities.
No, it's to make a joke about a certain kind of people,
in my opinion, because they don't,
they do it in the movie.
And I remember like even in the Simpsons movie,
like they're sincerely going to church still?
That's still happening?
Yeah, but meanwhile, like if they did it
on the Big Bang Theory,
if somebody said you're not going to church or uh another popular sitcom there is no god bazinga yeah well because
they're scientists actually i do know from watching one episode of big bang theory that
uh sheldon's mom played by laurie metcalf uh she's actually great uh she's still above that show
though she's his she's his super religious mom, and everybody's like,
oh, is this why you became a scientist?
Because your mom is super religious?
So far this year, my favorite show is Horace and Pete,
if you haven't seen it.
Because you can, most of you.
It's fantastic, and she's amazing on it.
I think the only other show where they go to church a lot
where it's not about religion is King of the Hill.
Church factors into their lives.
Yeah, but you still don't see it that much.
They don't have a famous pastor character. There's Reverend Stroop. Yeah, they you still don't see it that much. They don't have like a famous pastor character.
There's reference Stroop.
Yeah, they're Luke Fisk.
All right, all right.
But whatever, Homer makes a decision to never go again.
This is where the blasphemy comes in.
Ah, my beloved family.
How was church?
Oh, I guess that you'll find me.
What did he say?
I, on the other hand, have been having the best day of my life
and I owe it all to skipping church.
That's a terrible thing to say, kids.
Your father doesn't really mean that.
Like fun I don't, Marge.
I'm never going to church again.
Homer, are you actually giving up your faith?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Well, yes.
I love that fucking line.
Did Bart say get get Betty you old bastard
yeah
it sounded like
you don't fuck
I have no idea
what he said
it's beautiful
this was another
bad pause by me
on our tape
my pause
ended in the middle
of no no no
and then it just
goes next scene
it was so sad
but Marge's
devotion to
Christianity
almost seems
makes her look like
too spiritual
in this episode
she's like
we have to go to church.
You're going to go to hell. I have to tell
the children you're going to hell, which
if she said that now, she'd look like
beyond Flanders level.
March has to be more religious for this plot to work.
That's an excellent point, actually.
Because to say this now, you would have to be like
hyper, hyper observant.
But we didn't question it then.
So then Homer has a dream.
Well, I have some of this.
I have a bunch of this because I never heard anything like this on television.
This all makes so much sense.
Homer is right, actually.
I can't believe you're giving up church, Homer.
Hey, what's the big deal about going to some building every Sunday?
I mean, isn't God everywhere?
Amen, brother.
And don't you think that the Almighty has better things to worry about than when one little guy spends one measly hour of his week? I can see the bearded face of George Meyer speaking these lines.
Walking from between his long hair.
Because George Meyer came from a very religious family.
A Catholic family.
And a very unhappy one.
And so he hates religion and he comes through with this.
Yeah.
Oh, man.
What was the last George Meyer episode?
Something else he really hated.
Oh, it was cops.
Yeah, it was separate vocations.
It's not a fan of cops.
So Homer meets God.
And I think if you're like me you kind of forget
their Sheldon dream sequences they do clearly
label them as dreams yeah that's important
because they didn't want to infer that God
is actually talking to Homer because that's what I
that's how I remember it and I think it was either
a book or maybe a website
that included God
in the Simpsons tertiary
character section because he does come
back and I do love and I have to point this out that God in the Simpsons tertiary character section? Because he does come back, and I do love
and I have to point this out, that
God and the devil are both Harry Shearer.
I don't think they're saying anything by that.
And this is his first appearance.
This is God's first
appearance in the series.
Phil Hartman is a heavenly
voice when Bart's in heaven, but
that's not technically God.
I don't think it's supposed to be God, yeah.
It's God's PR. And he has five fingers.
That's true, yeah. Except in the last shot where they screwed up.
Yes.
Paul has forsaken my church.
Well, kind of.
But what?
I'm not a bad guy. I work hard
and I love my kids.
So why should I spend half my Sunday
hearing about how I'm going to hell?
Hmm.
You've got a point there.
You know, sometimes even I'd rather be watching football.
Does St. Louis still have a team?
No, they moved to Phoenix.
Oh, yeah.
You know what I really hate about church?
Those boring sermons.
I couldn't agree more.
That Reverend Lovejoy really displeases me. I think I agree more. That reverent lovejoy
really displeases me.
I think I'll give him a kecker sore.
Give him one for me.
I will.
So I figure I should just try to live right
and worship you in my own way.
Homer, it's a deal.
Now, if you'll excuse me,
I have to appear in a tortilla in Mexico.
That line really confused me as a kid.
It's ahead of its time.
My parents had to explain to me the idea of people see religious figures in things.
It's like the money-eating statue of Mary from Mr. Show.
I love that one.
I forgot that.
So some sports facts here, which I'm sure I will be corrected on.
I meant to look it up.
I'll believe you no matter what, Henry, so please.
So the St. Louis Cardinals weren't just a baseball team.
They were a football team.
And they had left for Phoenix to become the Arizona Cardinals, which they still are.
So this was 1992.
In 1995, St. Louis got the Rams.
The Rams left LA
and so for 20 years they had the Rams
and now the Rams have left them again
to go back to LA
so St. Louis is now the only
city to have lost
two NFL football teams
now you'll just have to go to the dump and cheer for rats
if you want local pride
I don't understand sports
go cheer for their World Series champions the St. I don't know. I don't understand sports. Go cheer for their World Series champions,
the St. Louis Cardinals,
the baseball team.
Didn't know.
They've won it a couple times.
You're dating the episode, Henry.
Sports is a good segue
to the next clip
because I am a nerd, I guess.
I don't know.
I love...
Look around my room.
It's just a bunch of
Disney duck tales,
sci-fi horse shit,
video game, game amiibos
uh sports people are the nerdiest people i've ever met without a doubt and so you've heard us
on the show like what episode was that i can't automatically think of every episode when we
describe the plot i can't think of the name of it but sports people like i ran 400 200 yards in 1976
and uh always remember but the people nerdier than that and this always seemed normal growing 400,200 yards in 1976. Always remember,
but the people nerdier than that,
and this always seemed normal
growing up in these church communities,
being able to say
an old name
in four numerics,
like, ah, that Bible quote.
That's a Numbers 14.3.
Yes.
So I love this sequence
because I don't hear
many people do it anymore
and usually it's only preachers,
but how is this ever
how we talk to one another? Do you remember bob austin 316 yes
yeah no i mackie 54 2069 i i actually think of that with regards to a i think it was roger ebert
who mentioned this once that it's a rule in film that if one character starts to quote a bible
verse the other character finishes it. They both know it.
You have to, because what it's trying to do,
what it translates to immediately is not only
do you know that exact passage,
you know what it means.
You have reinterpreted
the literal nature of most Bible passages.
But people don't do that in movies anymore.
Now they're much more likely
to say, hey, remember that scene in Star Wars
where, like, that's literally what happens in Civil War, Captain America Civil War. They say hey remember that scene in star wars where like that's literally
that happens in civil war captain america civil war they say remember that scene in star wars
yes we all remember the scene in star wars they could have said or remember in the bible where
this happens but they don't say the unbelievable speak in an aaron sorkin show where someone's like
do you remember the case of blank versus blank and like oh the case over abortion rights like that's what
they but yeah i love this when they say like it's what 10 to 4 and pick them or they say that line
all the time in sorkin speak and uh homer i'd like you to remember matthew 7 26 the foolish man who built his house on sand. And you remember Matthew
21-17.
And he left them
and went out of the city into Bethany, and
he lodged there?
Yeah. Think about it.
Another one of my favorite lines
of the show. Now,
I think this is more of a
Matt Groening thing, that Reverend Lovejoy
is not evil here.
He's not a negative repressive force.
He's not sermonizing to Homer.
He's not telling Homer,
you're definitely going to go to hell for doing this.
He's treated with a certain level of respect, I'd say.
And I know that Groening on the commentaries has said,
he didn't want to turn Lovejoy into just their repository
for mocking Christianity.
Which he is now. Which he eventually
became. Every character
becomes this extreme.
That's the perfect way to put it.
It happens to Lovejoy too.
In this episode, he is not that.
He is a good
representative of organized religion,
not just making it look all wrong.
I love him
talking to Moe about about Mo's religion.
Hello, work.
This is Homer Simpson. I won't be coming
in tomorrow. Religious holiday.
The feast of
maximum occupancy.
Pretty slack.
You should join my religion, Mo. It's great.
No hell, no kneeling. Sorry, Homer.
I was born a snake handler
and I'll die a snake handler.
He's covered with wounds and band-aids.
I just ended up looking into this, because on a recent episode of the Dana Gould Hour,
a former writer of The Simpsons, he was talking about snake handling.
It was something the government had to eventually step in and regulate.
Yeah, like, you're too stupid.
It is a 20th century thing, though, and that's crazy.
Yeah, the idea is, like, God is protecting me, so these snakes will not bite me.
But lots of people died from snake bites. Yes, tons of people died from snake it turns out god is not
helping you with the devil eventually picks somebody yeah i mean that's the same with
christian science anyway uh yes so the the flanders car chase is pretty great yes it's it's a return
to the 70s car chase pretty much we already saw in Separate Vocations.
So maybe that's just the George Meyer thing.
He loves 70s car chase.
I love the hubcap flying off, too.
Yeah, well, this is, again, where the animation is just like at the top notch for this.
I love when Homer just pounds on his wheel in the anger.
And then the jump onto the boat.
And it ends perfectly like the garbage island.
I was expecting the Flanders car to fall into the water.
It's like teetering on the edge of the dock, you know?
If this would have been season six, they would have.
Yeah.
They would have landed.
We are watching these chronologically, and just I cannot believe how much better and better each of these gets to revisit.
I hope you're listening.
Is everybody listening?
There are so many jokes.
So good.
Like, just this one of Homer reading a Playboy.
Is it Play...
An interview with Lorne Michaels.
Wait, that's no good.
Hey, now we're talking.
Our unabashed dictionary defines IUD as Love Springs Internal.
I don't get it.
I got that when I first watched the DVDs, like, a decade later.
I think I get it now, but I don't understand V. I got that when I first watched the DVDs, like, a decade later.
I think I get it now, but I don't understand vaginas, guys.
It's a intrauterine device that prevents pregnancies, the IUD.
Oh, I was the IUD.
Oh, yeah.
Sorry, I was more on the Lorne Michaels tip. The Lorne Michaels thing I got later.
Yeah, I predate the internet, and I had to learn to masturbate using magazines with photos of women.
I think we're all from that era.
No longer exists.
But I just wanted to point, those Playboy interviews were basically the first podcast.
If you've ever read one.
They're like 17 pages long of the smallest text ever.
And they asked them everything.
Where people would make revelatory statements was in Playboy.
I don't know how Playboy existed.
Well, you'd get to read the interviews where they'd say fuck yeah too they would just
be talking normally you'd see peter sellers talking about doing weed they're no shit smoke
weed all the time amazing and like i discovered that after like you know i've wiped my chest off
and i actually start reading the magazine this is an incredibly concise stereo review i'm sure
they invited you to the mansion got you stoned and then turn then turned on the recorder. I'm sure that's what happened.
Did you see the joke on the front of the magazine,
Don't Laugh, It's a Car from Japan?
Oh, wow. That's great. I missed that.
It's a really funny joke.
It's no John Updick on the martini, but it's
still good. I lost focus
on that, I guess, because I was
thinking, like, Homer's about to jerk off.
We're looking at Homer as
he's about to jerk off. I interpret it at Homer as he's about to jerk off.
I interpret it as he can't read a Playboy on his couch ever.
Yeah, I mean, he can't do that.
Unless the kids are at church.
Well, though, that takes me back to the beginning episode where Homer goes,
like, you bet your sweet ass.
That implies Homer ever worries about saying ass around his kids,
which I don't think he does.
There's too many great lines.
I love that, like, for a little tiny, tiny shred of canon that The Simpsons is keeping at this point,
Krusty is still Jewish.
Hello.
I'm collecting for the Brotherhood of Jewish Clowns.
Last year, tornadoes claimed the lives of 75 Jewish clowns.
The worst incident was during our convention in Lubbock, Texas.
There were floppy shoes and rainbow weeks everywhere.
It was terrible.
Wait a minute. Is this a religious thing?
A religious clown thing, yes.
Sorry.
Did Homer and Krusty ever interact
before this? I don't know.
No, they were at dinner together.
But this is
a very charitable Krusty in this episode.
Yeah, exactly, yeah.
Compared to the, like, child murderer of Camp Krusty,
this is a pretty good Krusty.
I think this is the show or the episode bringing out, like,
how many people celebrate God in a different way.
Yeah, exactly.
I think Krusty was their only Jewish character.
Yeah, but there's one religious cloud. One Hindu character.
This would also have been my line of the show.
Apu, I see you're not in church.
Oh, but I am. I have a shrine to Ganesha,
the god of worldly wisdom, located in the
employee lounge. Hey, Ganesha,
want a peanut? Please do not offer
my god a peanut. No offense, Apu,
but when they were handing out religions, you must have been
out taking a whiz. Mr. Simpson,
please pay for your purchases and get out and come again.
What a deeply offensive thing to say.
And I'm glad he didn't, like, the joke is on Homer being a shitty guy.
Like, the joke isn't on Apu, like, taking him.
No, it happens twice with Apu.
In, like, I really, in 92.
The other one's better.
It's so good.
We'll get to it.
But this is also, this is the real line of the show. The other one's better. It's okay. We'll get to it. But this is also...
This is the real line of the show.
Yeah.
I think of this all the time.
That's the joke.
Boy, everyone is stupid except me.
That is like...
That should be the slogan for the every comment section on the internet.
If you feel like that, if you've ever thought that to yourself,
you're already wrong.
You're already wrong.
You've never had an original thought in your life,
by the way.
I bet I could have written a better thing than this.
Most comments are predicated like,
why aren't you as smart as I am?
That's the perfect meme.
That really should be more of a meme.
Everyone is stupid except me.
Boy, everyone is stupid except me.
I love it.
So at this point, Homer does set his entire house on fire with a cigar.
Okay, so I would like to point out that the real danger here is not necessarily not going to church.
But don't smoke.
And fall asleep smoking.
I had a friend who fell asleep smoking, burned his whole house down.
It seemed like a lot of people were doing that at some point.
Maybe they still are.
I heard about don't fall asleep, don't smoke in bed, don't fall asleep smoking in bed.
It's dangerous.
It's the double thing of a lit cigarette, duh, but couches and mattresses.
The cigarette doesn't go out.
It just burns further, and a couch loves fire.
It wants to be your makeshift coffin.
Now, I said I did a bad pause on this when I recorded it,
but I did a great pause on this part
because it does...
It's an interrupted cut
back to the same shot of the fire.
And so when I paused it on the tape,
it was like fire to fire.
It looked like there was no break.
I applaud myself for that one.
The whole place catches on fire.
The damage to the house is quite extreme.
And I have a hope they got fired for that Blunder comment.
Like, okay, Homer is skipping church.
How is Flanders discovering Homer?
What's he doing hanging around?
He's part of the volunteer fire department no he's not
certain callings that are higher than god no he's not with them he's separate from them they show up
after him just next door he should be a church but that that the scene of him rescue george meyer
irresponsible scene of him rescue i wonder if he hated how this episode resolved because it does
seem to like be very pro-religion um i don't think it's pro-religion i just think it's anti
like the bullshit attached to religion.
I think he, I mean,
it felt more like a Simpsons-y ending
of, hey, we're all,
all religions are good, whatever you feel.
But
Blander saving his life is great,
especially the animation
of him diving back
into it. So beautiful. Jim
Reardon, by the way.
Your favorite director? I. Great, great.
Is that your favorite director?
I think so, yeah.
Him and Silverman after him.
They said it on the commentary for the King Size Homer episode he animated
that Reardon draws the fattest, funniest Homer.
That is definitely true in this episode here.
If you didn't hear the Patreon-exclusive season three wrap-up,
I made the case
that Barney is the VIP
of this era of The Simpsons,
and he's doing it again.
And this is not so much fun.
If you listen closely,
just that he burps
while hitting something
with an axe.
Oh, yeah.
Hi.
What are these axes for?
I don't know.
Chopping stuff.
Gotcha.
That's a nice chop.
This is the last time Wiggum could be smarter than somebody in a scene.
The very last time.
He's at his most Edward G. Robinson.
Nice chopping, bro.
Yeah.
I did, by the way, the first appearance of little Jomshed,
who I don't think we ever see again.
No, I guess it's like a retcon into being one of Sanjay's children.
I assumed he was Sanjay's.
Well, Sanjay's got a wife. We's. Well, Sanjay's got a wife.
Like, we do know that.
Like, Sanjay's got a wife.
That's true.
Just the way Chumshed pulls the shotgun.
How I've waited for this day, yeah.
He just pulls the shotgun, and the way, like, Kearney is, like, slack-jawed and dropping
the cereal falls out of his mouth.
Yes, and the shit is so well animated.
It's like, this episode...
We won't.
I think I'm going to say this every time we do a show now
this is my new favorite episode but the next episode will also be it'll be like that for the
next like five years of episodes ducks are really trying my patience also they're so cute cute uh
and fucking kent brockman again killing it he'll kill it fire man's oldest foe insable, remorseless, unquenchable. Hey, it's out!
Coming up next, which work better, springy clothespins or
the other kind? That's a great
local news, like, takedown.
I love it so much.
That is, that, again, that might be
my favorite line of the entire show. We do have an
especially cruel Homer, like a cruel
murkiny Homer, imagining Ned Flanders
burning to death in his own house
and him out in a hammock laughing about it.
So it's kind of like a jerk-ass Homer moment
like four years before it became jerk-ass Homer.
It is.
And though also God does take an active case in turn
in getting rid of the fire on the Flanders house.
So then they're all celebrating in the kitchen
showing that the house wasn't that burnt down.
No, it's just superficial damage.
But it's this wrap-up that I like so much.
Oh, I have a feeling there's a lesson here.
Yes, the lesson is...
No, don't tell me.
I'll get it.
Oh, I know.
The Lord is vengeful.
Oh, spiteful one,
show me who to smite
and they shall be smote in.
Homer, God didn't set your house on fire.
Nobody was working in the hearts of your friends and neighbors when they went to your aid,
be they Christian, Jew, or miscellaneous.
Hindu, there are 700 million of us.
Well, that's just super.
That's just super.
I love how patronizing it is, yeah. Now, I wikied this. Currently, it's just super. That's just super. I love how patronizing it is.
Now, I wikied this.
Currently, it's over a billion here. Yeah, it has to be.
I would assume so.
I assume the message of this episode is it's not like the whole church part of religion that matters.
It's helping people, being nice to people, pitching in and rescuing them if they're on fire.
Those kind of things are what matters in terms of where we are on this earth.
And no religion dictates
you doing that or not
because all those different religions were there.
No Muslims, though.
They only had two other religions to work with, Hindu and Judaism.
Apu could have gone either way.
Otto was probably a Satanist. They don't
say it, but he was there.
Lisa will bring in the Buddhism eventually.
Who knows what, was it Luanne Van Houten was the other one?
Yeah, Luanne was. But I think that's
the beautiful message of the show
and why I'm not, like I was
please do not misunderstand me. I told you all the shit
about me being a wannabe religious person
the backlash was amazing. I think we explained our positions pretty well.
I was the first Redditor with no internet
screaming in everybody's faces that God doesn't exist
and you're stupid for believing. Take the red pill dudes.
Totally am not there now. If I were to
tell you in the most hippy-dippy way,
and yes, we're all Californians,
hey, why not once a week,
why don't we all meet up together
and just talk and eat
and talk about life
and maybe about things
that we should do
and things we could do better.
I think we turned that
into a podcast.
We kind of did.
But that's essentially
all church is.
It's a celebration.
And again,
everyone needs to be careful of this.
A celebration of you
and your community.
And that's what it should be. But also be careful of this. A celebration of you and your community. And that's what it should be.
But also be careful of that when ostracizing people and condemning others.
And if you're a Catholic, you get wine.
So drink away.
Exactly.
Exactly.
I prefer Jewish wine.
It's sweet.
It's sweet.
It's disgusting.
It is so sweet, that Minashevitz.
I love it.
Boy, vague.
Love it, man.
Okay.
And also, last bit, my mom I just remember my mom was really shocked
when God says you can't
wait six months.
Don't feel bad, Homer.
Nine out of ten religions fail
in the first year.
That's game, Hendrix.
God,
I gotta ask you something.
What's the meaning of life?
Homer, I can't tell you that.
Come on.
You'll find out when you die.
I can't wait that long.
You can't wait six months?
No, tell me now.
I just remember my mom had like a little gasp when we said you can't wait six months.
Which means that The Simpsons has technically taken place in 1992, this entire time.
Oh my god, headcanon's escaping again.
So the writers were expecting there to be like a, so God says, the meaning of life is, and he trails off.
The writers were expecting there to be like, up next on Martin.
Like a Fox ad to interrupt the credits, as it always had done.
Martin, damn Gina, to hell.
They were expecting that to happen, but it didn't happen.
So God just trails off and the theme song starts up so it was
kind of like a letdown
if you were watching
it originally.
You expected the
commercial to interrupt
the credits.
The one time the
voiceover said that.
They expected the
programming to make
the joke for them.
Yes.
This is before the
credits would get
squished over to the
side that happened
in the 90s.
Yes it did.
In this era it would
just be an announcer
butting in like
Pendulet on Comedy
Central.
You're watching
Deceptions.
Also I needed the...
I needed Jimi Hendrix to be explained to me.
I did not know who he was in that game.
I thought that was fucking...
That's game, Hendrix!
That is yet another...
God, this is just...
And this episode ends with Homer compromising
where he's like, I'll go to church,
but he still sleeps through it,
which is amazing.
I love that compromise.
It's like, it's still boring,
and he's learned nothing,
and he'll still have to go to church. One of if this would be like my I could say oh this could be my
favorite episode of season four but when I know there's like four more episodes this season that
I know I love more than this one every episode from here now is gonna be my favorite yeah for
the next for the next like five seasons I think I'm gonna love every every single episode because
the amount of time I spent digitally and lazily watching the first
two, the second and third seasons,
I'm going to love. Oh, man. But again,
this episode did help me
grapple with faith, and I'm sorry if we went on for a little bit long
about our personal experiences, but I feel like it helps
ground our thoughts about this episode, where we're
coming from in terms of our religion and what
we believe, what we don't believe, and things like that. Hey, it's our show.
Yes. Well, say we want to. You have a fast-forward
button for a reason. No, no. Don't fast-forward through the ads.
Don't mean that. Your opinion is important, but also suck a dick.
Yes. I respect you if you have a
religion, but please suck a dick.
I've been your host, Bob Mackie. You can find me on Twitter
as Bob Servo.
I'm sorry about that. I don't mean that.
And if you want to read my writing, go to usgamer.net or somethingawful.com
and listen to my other podcast, Retronauts,
every Monday at retronauts.com or
usgamer.net. it's a classic gaming podcast
I just cracked everybody up if you can still
tolerate me after this fucking indulgent
episode uh K&T's on
Twitter lasertimepodcast.com we do a bunch of other
shows including laser time which is a topic based
pop culture show 30 2010 a look
if you like the new segment we do we have a whole
show that's kind of just that a look
30 years ago 20 years ago and 10 years ago
of that week in history it's really really fun and it's because of how many things we cover it's guaranteed to to
nail one of your demographics and it's kind of old at this point but i recommend the uh earnest
episode of blazer yeah i was i was annoying my girlfriend with earnest trivia for roughly three
or four days so thank you very much because. Brett's such a fucking earnest hipster.
Jesus Christ.
I love Ernest Goes to Jail.
I'll be there for your movie.
Will you?
Yeah, I will be.
Maybe not in person,
but I'll be watching it at home.
Well, you have the invite.
I can come.
Oh, my God.
And I am H-E-N-E-R-E-Y-G
on Twitter,
and you can follow my work
at Fandom,
where I am the senior games editor
and I write about games
all the time there.
And also,
I'm part still
of the Lazer Time family.
You know, I did a comic book podcast.
You can listen to an episode of that, Cape Crisis.
And I've been on episodes of Vigigame Apocalypse as well.
That you have.
But really, you should go to patreon.com slash Lazer Time
to listen to classic episodes of Talking Simpsons
that you can find nowhere else.
The first season, as well as our season two
and season three wrap up specials.
Just five dollars a month for access to that.
Patreon dot com slash laser time.
Thanks so much for listening.
We'll be back next week with Lisa, the beauty queen.
See you then. Wow. Infotainment.