Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - Homer The Vigilante With Neil Campbell

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

"Lisa, never EVER stop in the middle of a hoedown!" - Homer Simpson We explore the darker side of heavy sack beatings and taking the law into your own hands as we discuss an episode that reveals the cognitive benefits of rhythmic jug-hooting. Our guest: Neil Campbell (Comedy Bang! Bang!, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Digman!) 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!

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I hardly endorse this event or product. Ahoy, ahoy everybody and welcome to Talking Simpsons where podcasting makes us feel like big men. I'm your host, the part-time burglarino Bob Mackie, and this is our chronological exploration of The Simpsons. Who is here with me today as always? Much more vertical than usual, it's Henry Gilbert. And who is our special guest on the line? Dancing to a jug band, it's Neil Campbell.

And this week's episode is Homer the Vigilante. Okay, we've got the secret vigilante handshake. Now we need code names. I'll be Q-ball, Skinner can be 8-ball, Barney will be 12-ball, and Moe, and Mo you can be cue ball you're an idiot this week's episode originally aired on January 6 1994 and as always Henry will be telling us what happened on this mythical day in real world history happy new year Bobby Mariah Carey's hero tops the Billboard charts, Cabin Boy debuts

at 13th at the box office, and Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked by a mysterious masked man during practice. Let's talk about the violent tragedy, and by that of course I mean Cabin Boy's underperformance at the theaters. Yes, it is a famous box office bomb, but also I'd say it's a cult classic, or it's called classic too strong a word, but I think it is celebrated and enjoyed. I would go out on that limb.

It's also interesting in connection to Simpson's history because it's sort of connected to the end of Get A Life, which was the sitcom that Chris Elliott starred in, that David Merkin show ran, and when that ended a year later, Cabin Boy comes out, which he was working on with Adam Resnick, the co-creator of Get A Life, who quit Get A Life in season two,

because he wasn't having a great time. And he directed Cabin Boy, did we mention that at all yet? Oh, that's right too, yes. Yeah, he directed it because Tim Burton stepped out, and imagine you've never directed anything, Tim Burton leaves a project, now you're in those shoes It feels like you were being set up to fail in a certain way That's funny. I didn't realize it debuted at 13

I'd wonder how many movies that debuted at 13th place I had such an awareness of as a kid They must have just advertised it during Simpsons and stuff. I remember hearing about it some but then the negativity was so much I never watched it until it was on TV, I think, and years later, not like even like a year later. And so funny to look at it after we did a whole Get a Life podcast and seeing it as like, oh, this is a simple extrapolation from a Get a Life episode, except instead of him befriending construction workers, he befriends and he's a loser soft boy who'd be friends. Pirates. I'm glad that thanks to things like Eagle Heart and Schitt's Creek, people in the 21st century now can appreciate Chris Elliott in the way they should have in the 90s.

Yeah, Neil, have you ever interacted with Chris Elliott professionally? That's a good question. I actually don't think I have, although now I'm like panicking. Did he ever do something on Comedy Bang Bang? And I'm forgetting. But I don't think so. But I've met Abby Elliot was around like UCB and stuff like that, his daughter. You know, it's funny, I kind of always, I think I watched a little of Get a Life, but like Letterman was like, when he was big on Letterman, I wasn't old enough really to be watching that yet. And it wasn't like there was an

easy way to consume Letterman stuff. It was like a guy who I kind of had to inherit and like here was like, yeah, this guy is great but I didn't really start catching his stuff until post-Cabin Boy, post-Get A Life. Yeah, Mariah Carey's hero, when a hero comes along, beside you and be strong. It was a big hit but I don't know if it's replayed as much as, obviously not as much as her Christmas song, but even her other hits,

I don't think it's as well known, right? Yeah, this was once her signature song. I was looking into the history of this. I think that quickly changed, but it feels like it was made for future tragedies. Just file that away. I'll show up at whatever, you know, historic murder event or whatever's going on.

I'll sing it in front of a nice crowd. It's crazy that this is the beginning of the Nancy Kerrigan, Tanya Harding story for most people. I mean, how does it not make huge news and all over the media? An Olympic figure skater is attacked at a practice seemingly prevented from performing in a targeted attack and competing in the upcoming Olympics and then because it is

a hastily planned attack it very quickly becomes obvious it is connected to a rival of hers that is made for TV media and it would go on to be like one the highest rated I don't know if it still holds a record, but it was once the highest rated Winter Olympics event of all time, and at least in the United States when they finally competed. Yeah. During an episode of The Critic, right? Yes, it killed, it murdered an episode of The Critic written by a woman and directed by a woman. I feel like a lot of times you watch like a procedural show and it's someone prominent is like killed or kidnapped or something and you're like they're kind of not really accounting for the fact that this would be international news.

Like this Fabius got murdered on the steps of the courthouse or whatever. It's not really in the writing of that episode of Law and Order or whatever. But and you're like this is the kind of thing ever happened and that was like one of the few times I think in our lifetimes where you're like, oh, that actually did happen once, a big crazy scandal that was international news that seems like someone wrote it. I didn't watch the competition, but I did watch her SNL guest appearance.

I watched the documentary on it from a few years ago. I think it was a 30 for 30 and if not, it was similar. I thought it was a 30 for 30. And if not, it was similar. I thought it was really good. And there people had a little more sympathy for Tanya Harding in those stories, much less than she would get in the media then. And to the point that it then became like when a big budget biopic about it happened, it was told from Tanya's perspective, not Nancy Kerrigan's, in I, Tanya. Exactly. Yeah. Of course, this was really just to warm up

the media of 1994 for an even bigger story coming in a few months. Oh, the release of Super Metroid. Yes, that's right. Thank God. We have to cover that. But anyway, that's how we started out the first week of 1994 when this episode

of The Simpsons first aired. And yes, joining us once again is comedy writer Neil Campbell. Neil Last joined us to talk about Homer's triple bypass way back in season four. Welcome back to the show, Neil. Thanks for having me back, guys. I appreciate it. You had our most downloaded episode of last year.

We expect the same. Yeah, I gotta bring it. If you've already downloaded this on the free feed, delete it, download it a few more times. Yeah. Your ISP won't care. I want my numbers to be up, yeah. Neil, how has it been going in the world of TV animation?

Are you still working on the second season of Digman, the show you co-created? Exactly, we're in post on season two of Digman. I would say the finish line is in sight, but we still got a little ways to go. And as of the time we're recording this, I don't know the premiere date, so I have nothing useful to say about when it will come out.

But as soon as I know, I'll be posting it everywhere. That's very common with a lot of people we talk to who are making shows. They don't know when it will be out. Yes. They just have no idea. Yeah, and I'm one of them, yep. Well, keep watching Comedy Central 24-7,

and eventually you'll see it. Exactly. And since last time, you've had even more experience working on animation. I mean, does it bring you new insights into watching a Simpsons, a classic Simpsons like this one? Yeah, it does. I was watching this one and was definitely like,

oh, that's tough to do there, or that's a smart way to do that. Or even like, there's always just like like how do we cheat a crowd or something and near the end of this one when they're all rushing to the retirement home there's just like I think the shot of the sign of the retirement home and just a bunch of feet crossing the frame and I was like that's good I got to steal that for the next time we got a cheat a big mob going somewhere and not trying to actually animate a bomb. I was thinking your head must have been spinning just seeing all of these crowds. Yeah, yeah.

I was always kind of eyeballing like, how'd they do this? So I mean, always they're so great at being visually interesting and innovative, telling the story and not just being flat. You know, and we are inspired by that, I would say. And this episode also reminded me of a lot of your work, Neil, especially on Comedy Bang Bang, where many episodes were built around like,

the starting point was the parody of a film, very direct parodies, and this episode is bookended by long parodies of two different 1963 films. Funny, yeah, yeah. I was thinking that this one too, maybe we'll get into it, but there's stuff where you're like, oh, if you were trying to make the whole story about

does Homer, does he need to have more respect for the elderly? Like you would maybe start with him being disrespectful and it builds and it ends with him gaining an appreciation. It's like, I think there's like one scene where he's like, dad, you're too old. Then later he's like, I guess I was wrong. So I mean, in a way that I appreciate that does, I think, yeah, remind me of comedy bing bing as well. Or like, what are just

the signposts of the story along the way, making every moment in between fully moving that narrative forward? Yeah, I think the sixties is the last decade that John Swartzwalder went to the movie theater. So that's why we're getting this Pink Panther and Mad Mad, Mad Mad World book ending everything that's happening here. I love this episode. This is one of my favorites. It's such a great, I mean, beautifully animated, directed by Jim Reardon. But like, Swartzwalder is the best with his scripts with a great director. And like this has so many just like perfect Looney Tunes moments. But also it is, I think it has a

bit of the Merkin social commentary that makes this season so good, too Like this is about like neighborhood watch fascists. Yeah, well, it's so funny. I love this one That just is a heads up. Yeah, this is such a great one also on the Internet Archive Fortunately somebody has uploaded a table draft of this episode dated June 10th, 1993 So I will note any major changes plus there are a couple big deleted scenes on the DVD too, that when you see them, you're like, oh, this, I think both they improved upon in the final version too. To begin the episode though,

after a chalkboard gag of about Bart firing substitute teachers, and then a very good fast, just like bam, couch gag, of just the family just explodes. Like you're not wasting time with that. I love how that's paced. And the episode begins with a long Pink Panther parody right down to the music emulating the classic score of the Pink Panther, which you know what?

I debuted it recently and I'm going to use that jingle again. It's time for the new segment we've set up here. Scary math. Lisa, are you doing math? Are we talking about Pink Panther release dates compared to 93 and 93 compared to now? Is that what we're doing here? And this applies to the final parody movie

at the end of this, but yes. This episode, when we're recording it, is 31 years and a few weeks old. And the debut of the Pink Panther to the debut of this episode, if we're counting the international debut of the Pink Panther, 30 years and a few weeks. So this episode is one week older

than the Pink Panther was when this aired. That is scary. That's right. As I was watching it, I was trying to think, like, and I meant to Google it and just forgot. So I was like, now how, these things that seem like old time, like as he's referencing a fellow comedy in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,

I was like, how long ago is that? What would be the equivalent of, if I wrote something right now and I'm like, doing what seems like a parody of an old timey comedy? I guess it would be something from, it would be like Dumb and Dumber or something. I think the equivalent would be unfortunately Rat Race.

This Pink Panther parody, again, it flew over my head as a kid because I did not watch a lot of Pink Panther. And if I think of Pink Panther, I would either think of the cartoons, I mainly just watched the cartoons, or Inspector Clouseau. What about all the tasty insulation in your attic, Henry?

Oh, that's right, yes, I would think of that. Boy, nothing looked more delicious than the insulation he advertised. I mean, did you guys watch much of the Pink Panther growing up? Just the cartoons. I only learned it was the name of, I guess, is it a diamond in the first movie or something?

Yeah, I didn't know about Clouseau or anything. I just thought like, oh, it's a this Panther character That's sort of just like any Tom and Jerry kind of guy that headlines a cartoon Yeah, I'd watched the cartoon the pink panther, but I think I was aware And maybe it's even just because the opening credits in the pink panther cartoon Maybe make it seem like it's about a thief or something But I think I knew there was some other level of a Pink Panther like that They weren't parodying the cartoon here without having seen the original although maybe we'll get into this

I you know was looking at the wiki and saw it's also based on raffles a 1930s thief movie starring David Niven and so I watched some of that last night to just see and Raffles is he's a gentleman, and when he steals something, he leaves a little card behind. And it's always signed the amateur cracksman instead of the Springfield cat burglar. But it's the same exact, like, in its place there's a little card.

You've been robbed by whatever. Wow, see here I watched the Pink Panther for this, and I didn't realize that's why they cast David Niven in it is a reference to that old movie he was in. And by the way, none of us watch It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. There are certain things we will not do for this podcast. I watch all of the natural for this podcast, but I refuse to watch that film. Oh, by the way, when this was airing, we were in the middle of a Pink Panther revival, not the Steve Martin reboot, but they did a new version of the character. This time he talked and he was voiced by Matt Fruer. Oh.

Wow. I'm like 90s car, yeah, okay, now I, that's slightly coming back to me now, okay. Yeah, I barely watched it, but it was 93 to 95. So we were smack dab in the middle of what I assume was Pink Panther mania. It skipped my town. Yeah.

I love Matt Fruer as a voice actor, but I think of the Pink Panther as a cooler guy than that. Like, he sounds like a stressed dude, Matt Furrer, or like more amped up. That doesn't, I don't get it. I watched the original, and it's really interesting because it clearly was made to be like a David Niven, you know, vehicle because he's like this old thief,

and then the other guy they're boosting in is Robert Wagner, who's like, oh, you're going to inherit my thief business in the future. And so it's like, what if like a cool thief steals things from Europeans, like pretty much. But then they cast Peter Sellers for a small role in it. And as they're filming it, they're like, Blake Edwards, the director realizes,

this is the funny guy. And he makes every scene of his longer. And when he's not there, you are saying, where's Poochie? Except for Inspector Clouseau. Niven knows, not to say his scenes are bad, like he's kind of fun, but it really is a long watch when you're just waiting for Clouseau

to have another scene. I think if they knew better, they would have had Sellers play both roles. Was 63 also Strangelove? I think it was around that time and it wasn't until, I mean we'll talk about it, there are more direct parodies of Strangelove and The Simpsons. I think it was my second or third viewing that I realized that Sellers was playing multiple people in the film.

Yeah, I don't think I got that either on first viewing either. I remember Mars Attacks was maybe the first time I saw a movie where that was happening with Jack Nicholson, but not knowing like, oh just one actor is playing two roles and watching Mars Attacks and as I was watching it thinking like, well at some point they're going to do a reveal that the president is actually this like Huckster or whatever. It took a while, I mean I'm sure at some point during the movie, it becomes evident, but I remember watching Mars Attacks and thinking, oh, we, this is dramatic irony or whatever. We know that this is the same man,

but other people don't realize that the skate, whatever, guy is also the president or something. I like how in framing of this, that they make this not a mystery. The identity of the thief, I mean, maybe it's more obvious after your first watch But it's fully just Malloy's silhouette down to the mustache Yeah, but it's how you beat this character you've never seen before and he has the exact silhouette you've seen earlier like alrighty

Yes Yeah, not a mystery the entire first page of the script is just stage directions describing all of this. I don't know, how normal is that for a sitcom script with no dialogue for that long at the start of it? Pretty rare, I'd say. I don't think they get too happy about that. Even just as you're sitting there at the table read, you're like, well, no one's laughing at a stage direction. Let's get some jokes in here. We've heard countless times of the commentaries that nothing but stage directions will kill a table read.

So it feels like it's a hard place to get out of if you start there. Yeah. With the stage directions, you really got to be like, look, this will be funny when it's shot and edited. Obviously it's bad in a table read. This is a visual gag or something. Just sort of try to sell people on it. They break in.

This mysterious man breaks into the house thanks to Homer leaving his keys in the door with his name on it. They break in. This mysterious man breaks into the house thanks to Homer leaving his keys in the door with his name on it. And both Sansa the Little Helper and Homer are both fed a string of wieners cartoon style that you'd have to specifically go to a butcher shop to ask for that to have it now. It's only fed in cartoons.

This is the most realistic of Swartzwelder writing Homer literally as a dog. Yeah, like sleeping on the floor after eating the sausage. Yeah. Well credit to New Yorker writer Mike Sacks who got the only ever interview with John Schwarzwald and asked him directly about this. And here's what Schwarzwald said about it

about writing Homer as a dog. Yes, he is a big talking dog. One moment he's the saddest man in the world because he just lost his job or he dropped his sandwich or accidentally killed his family. Then the next moment he's the happiest man in the world because he just found a penny. Maybe under one of his dead family members.

He's not actually a dog, of course. He's smarter than that. But if you write him as a dog, you'll never go wrong. I love that interview. I had that like bookmarked for so long. I mean, I'm a huge sports weather fan, but that interview was just filled with so much wisdom. It's a wonderful interview.

It helps that it's the only sports weather interview ever. So if I ever like, man, did he ever say something about this episode? Though he has very few specifics in it. This was the closest like to it. Well, he did say stuff about the Frank Grime episode in there too. So in the original script,

Lisa doesn't have her saxophone stolen. So that's a good addition of like, it adds an important emotional beat. Yeah, you know what's funny as I was watching, but I was wondering if the, like when he replaces it with a noisemaker, I was like, is the joke supposed to be he's picking the worst, he's a bad burglar

and he's picking the worst thing to replace the sax with or, you know like coping with loss feels like the book he gives Bard is such like a good Simpsons joke and funny and I was trying to like overanalyze the noisemaker kind of thing if that's supposed to be what we're supposed to learn about the character from that it feels like he's giving her the worst possible thing because it could alert people to his presence yeah I don't know it's like are we supposed to think he's bad at being a burglar it's like it the worst possible thing because it could alert people to his presence. Yeah, I don't know It's like are we supposed to think he's bad at being a burglar

It's like his first thing we kind of see a second thing I guess after the sausages and so you kind of go is he bad or is he cocky or what? You know it feels like he's done his homework because he knows what each person can be tempted with Yeah, Lisa needs to blow into some sort of instruments. Yes. Yeah, she just needs the sound, and yeah, it's smart. And he steals the small TV from Bart, which, yeah, when I was a little kid, we had one black and white portable TV that I loved. The idea of having a screen all to myself, amazing.

This used to be a joke, and now this is 85% of Americans. They fall asleep while clutching their tablet or their phone. Wake up about 80 videos in to a rabbit hole. In the original script, BartsTV was an episode of Perry Mason where they're saying like, a burglar broke into the house without being seen, that's impossible.

I'd also add Marge having her necklace pop off her neck. That should be on the oddly satisfying Reddit group. I find it oddly satisfying just the sound of it. Clearly it's like she never takes it off. Most people don't go to bed wearing a necklace, I think. Maybe they do, I don't think so. I like how the Bouviers have balls of things they keep because we have ball of necklaces coming up,

which is great, and then later it's either Patti or Selma, or they share ownership of the ball of MacGyver's hair. I love Marge's, they're all heirlooms too. Like, just it's a giant ball of it in there. Yeah. The family awakens to everything being gone, they start taking account of it. Bart reveals he's a secret nerd

with his stamp collection as well there. I have a clip in our first clip here. Dad, we've been robbed! Wake up, Dad, wake up! There was a burglar and he took my saxophone! Woohoo! in our first clip here. But they're all heirlooms too. Burglar even took my stamp collection. You had a stamp collection? Ha ha ha ha! Ring, ring, ring! Stamp collection! Ha ha!

Oh, Bart's pain is funny, but mine isn't. That saxophone was my one creative outlet. It was the only way I could truly express myself. Shh, quiet, Lisa. Hey, the burglar left his calling card. You have just been robbed by the Springfield cat burglar. Cute. I took it as a joke that the calling card

is literally a calling card instead of that being a euphemism for leaving behind something. In The Pink Panther, the calling card of the Phantom is a one-white glove with a P on it. That's his calling card. Well, first, the Bart's Pane is funny, but mine is a classic Swartzwellian. What's the other episode where she's like,

it's true, but you shouldn't say it, like Homer says something about. I think it's Hurricane Nettie, and it's Ken Brockman talking about how you can name hurricanes after women because you should see them and when there's a sale or something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Anyway, anytime she has that tone. It's really funny to me that joke and then this one here Well, I do but still it's such a funny funny thing for her It explains why it can never be gone

Like that's why they don't make it a big story. This could also be the story like Marge lost her pearls. How's she going to get them back? They instantly crap all over that. Like no, she has an endless supply of them. She'll never run out. Yeah. It also feels kind of like an animation joke. They're like, we don't want to animate a whole episode of her without the necklace on, go

off model. So she has to replace it quickly. Nelson somehow knows to call for a ha ha. They're getting close to the topper of this, but his ha ha powers are only increasing. I was wondering if he had been knocked out and is able to psychically project a ha ha. Has that happened yet?

No, that's at the end of the season in Lady Bouvier's Lover. End of the season, got it. And that's when Bart is reacting to getting the bad animation sell. Right. I also love Marge's reaction of like, cute. Not just her line is good, but also her lifted eyebrow.

It's a really great face in there too. Yeah. This is where they learn from Ned that also his stuff was stolen too, and Homer cares so little that he can't even, he just says go hell. Like he's just cutting everything short with Ned. He seems to be robbing people

of the things they treasure most. To teach them a lesson, it would seem, yeah. And I guess with Barney, it's all of his filth. Maybe he just burned all those things to like, I need to fix your life, Barney. Like you're not getting this stuff back. You need to start back over again. We also hear that Ned lost his

Trout-O-Turrange beach towels, which I'm no religious expert, but that seems too Catholic for Ned to have, I don't know. I don't know, yeah, they're kind of all over the place with the things he's into. I feel like a presbylutheran like Ned, that's officially what he is, wouldn't be that into a Catholic item like the Shroud of Turrins.

Maybe they were gifts. They mean something special, they're like from a relative or something. Yeah. Skinner lost his Storm and Norman plates, which is a great dated thing since Desert Storm was years ago at this point. This has always puzzled me and I forget what we came down on with the last time we visited this episode, but the joke that they were stolen again, I'm wondering, is that a comment on how unpopular they would be and it's inexplicable while why they were stolen twice we're digging into every joke yeah

I mean that was kind of I guess how I interpreted it is like the most chintzy schlocky thing like and that it's somehow stolen twice which you think it would never be stolen once even yeah I like it is that it further makes it ridiculous that he lost them again after a thing no one would want. I think we nailed it. It took 31 years as a society. I have no insights from the original script there because that isn't what's stolen in that scene. In its place, Reverend Lovejoy had his Gutenberg Bible stolen, and then he blames God for it happening, which that is good. I like that, but that seems like too fancy

for lovejoy to have, right? A Gutenberg Bible like that is an incredibly rare thing. Yeah, exactly. It's not like it's like, oh, this makes him the most religious. It's like, oh, you have to actually be incredibly wealthy to have that. After we see Barney's filthy apartment and him nude once more in the series, we then learn what a great joke. The reveal that Homer bought no insurance and instead bought magic beans. They've just been sitting there. The way the camera pulls back to reveal them

as Homer curses them. It's all you need to know. That Marge clearly just keeps them there for the sake of a future argument. They're so committed to this Jack and the Beanstalk metaphor that the phrase sent you into town is still part of it. That's good.

Homer calls up the police and when Wigam gets back off the line, note that he calls it that was 723 Evergreen Terrace, so they're still messing up the official address at this point. We thought we had it by now. They had it set up a few episodes ago, but somebody missed it. I want to say this is the last time they say any address other than 742, but we'll be on watch, listener. And man, like, Wiggum is not dumber than Homer in this one. He was dumber than Homer in Marge on the Lab,

but he's still pretty dumb, as he somehow reworks every pushpin so long to then make it an hero Yeah This is really in terms of pacing this is peak Simpsons joke telling because I think it feels like a solid five-minute block of All of these 15 to 20 second scenes of how's this person reacting? How is that person reacting before we get back to what is to be done about this? I think maybe I brought this up last time I was on, but it's such a thing I admire about The Simpsons is they never get referenced whenever there's someone having their, like,

here's actually the perfect storytelling method or here's what every story needs or whatever. It's like so little of this would apply to a standard episode of The Simpsons that's just like, all right, let's see how the town reacts to radioactive man being shot there and having just a bunch of different scenes going around, you know, and sort of like one hero's journey along the way. Because it's season five, they understand, they trust you to know that if we cut around town, you're gonna know who people are.

In season two, they really couldn't do this. Like, what's Skinner thinking? What's Sideshow Mill thinking? What's Jasper doing? What's Frank doing? But now you get all these jokes out of these very defined characters reacting to this current event. Yeah.

Also the rest of the cops are as dumb as him. When it makes the arrow and then it's pointing to their place, they just give up and run away instantly from an arrow they should know is nothing. They just made it up right then. After they run away, we get to see another, the first of a spinning newspaper headlines, which is okay, but it's really just to set up the next spinning newspaper bit.

I think David Merkin got the best use out of Kemp Rockman in the entire series. There's always need for dumb news reporters in your comedy show, but Merkin's era comes at it as just like, no, the news is there to scare the shit out of you. Yeah, this was 30 years ago. The temperature has been turned up far more than it was then but he really keyed in on this.

Yeah. The alarmistness of it in this scene is so good in this in our next clip. When cat burglaries start can mass murders be far behind? This reporter isn't saying that the burglar is an inhuman monster like the wolfman, but he very well could be. So, Professor, would you say it's time for everyone to panic? Yes, I would, Kent. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, please, we have a major break in the case.

We recovered the burglar's handkerchief from one of the crime scenes. Now, one sniff of this baby and our tracking dog will be hot on his trail. Gosh, look at me. I'm sweating like a pig here. Oh, oh man, that's better. All right, get the scent, boy. Come on, get the scent. Now, come on! My jugular! Oh, any questions? Oh, my jugular! Ah! Oh, any questions? I really enjoy how much that is telegraphed

and how long they make you wait for the payoff. He's rubbing himself so long with that. The hearing it isolated there, that tear, I realize that tear sound effect is his jugular being ripped open. Though, I guess you shouldn't be able to say, that's my jugular. You would just be going, so another angle to it. That's funny. In the original script, Wigam has the

press conference just to announce that he's going on vacation, which is funny, but it's good. I do like seeing him ripped apart, especially that all of the news media just points their cameras at it. No one helps them. and he's ready to take more questions. Going from saying that there's a string of robberies, mass murder can't be far behind, and then instantly says, the Wolfman is real and will be killing you very soon. Here's a smart person to tell you I'm right.

Yeah. Oh, it's so good. And it leads to an even better thing later. The Simpsons will be right back. Police! I've been robbed! Ah, you say it was crispity, crunchity, and peanut buttery? Oh, yum! Who laid a finger on Bart's Butterfinger? There are six suspects, but only five alibis!

What's an alibi? No! Find out who doesn't have an alibi, and you could win $50,000! See these wrappers for details. Eh, it's Homer Hibson. I mean, Homer... Ah! Ha ha! Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds.

Recently, I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to raise prices due to inflation. They said yes. And then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those onerous two-year contracts, they said, what the f*** are you talking about, you insane Hollywood a*****? So to recap, we're cutting the price of Mint Unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a try at MintMobile.com slash switch. $45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month.

New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes in details. Hi, I'm Chris Gethard and I'm very excited to tell you about Beautiful Anonymous, a podcast where I talk to random people on the phone. I tweet out a phone number, thousands of people try to call. We talk to one of them, they stay anonymous. I can't hang up, that's all the rules. I never know what's gonna happen. We get serious ones, I've talked with meth dealers on their way

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Simpsons to see over 200 hours of what a cartoon movies and it's growing every month. And you get for watching. After this, we then have just another great collection of like, what does everybody think of this? Like just so many like brief things in a row. I feel like a network node if they were forced to take it would have said like, get back to the family. But this is, who wants to see that when you can see Professor Frank build a crazy invention. This is one of my favorite Frank inventions too because he put plastic people inside of it that would catch on fire when it fell. That's such a great and his area's delivery

won't burn quite so fast. I mean, it's funny enough to see the house catch on fire for no reason after it trips, and then there's a separate insert shot of the little people falling out on fire. Yeah, yes. Which I think they were going to replicate when the actual house runs down the street, but I feel like they backed off.

It holds for too long on that house in the next scene. I feel like people should be tumbling out on fire. They hold back from too much of a body count in this one, I guess. That somebody, after seeing that on TV, bought the thing, and then it runs away and breaks. Like, so, so great. Though this also feels like another of those, like,

Springfield is LA type moments. People buy expensive security things everywhere, but by the early 90s, like, you know, TV writers have enough money to start buying fancy security systems. This feels like a bit of a gag on that. Yeah. And it was written a year after the LA riots. So maybe people with money were starting to get a little nervous and friends knew writers who were getting security systems installed. We covered an episode in season 12 or 13

where a lot of writers are getting private security. Ha. Neil, do you depend on private security or are you more of a laser guy? You know, I'm just kind of a nail through a baseball bat, kind of take care of it myself. Sit on the front porch, just kind of, yeah, slapping it. That Bart is enjoying setting it all off is also great too.

Then everybody just turns it into a laser light show of just throwing rocks at it all day long for a free laserium. Yeah. I guess this joke would be like right when laser eye surgery was new, right? Or pretty new in 94. Seems like it, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I think it's a reference to that. Although, I mean, not a lot of fatalities, but Jasper is blinded. Yeah. His thickest condition has made worse. Canonically, from this point forward, Jasper is blind. Remind yourself of this audience. Not really.

He obviously sees things. Because he can identify Smithers as the man who shot his leg. So I was trying to think of any other times where it's provable that Jasper has eyesight that's that was the first that came to mind for me yeah well you know an operation off-camera you know it's something well actually Henry in the itching scratching poochy show it's confirmed that Jasper is blind oh that's right he calls Bart little girl he's like I'm not a girl are you blind yes and he says yes.

That's funny. Darn, all right, well so, it must go just in and out for him then. But also though, you know what, as I say he identified Smithers, he also said you shot who in the what now, so maybe he doesn't remember it so well. I think it sticks.

Obviously they had full intent on this when they wrote this, and I'm extrapolating what they wanted me to. They had new story Bibles printed. There's a separate page that says Jasper is blind. This was in the story Bible from the time they sold the show. Season five, Jasper goes blind. After that, he's always blind.

On a cartoon show, you have to decide if you want to commit to, for a joke, does this person lose an arm or did this guy always go to college here? Like it can be a tough thing to want to justify on a show, right? Yeah. I mean, another part of it is like, as opposed to like live action, like you kind of can have maybe people die as a result of a character's incompetence and it's not completely or maybe not even incompetence you just have people die to make a funny joke but it is funny because i'm sure everyone's barometer is different for it but i definitely have times where i'm like

i think it makes them too unlikable or something if like as a result of this blunder people lose their lives whereas i watch other shows and i'm, they didn't care about this at all. And I'm not sure that I'm better for caring about it. This is the era where Homer does kill a lot of people by accident. Yeah. We're gonna be talking about it soon. The diatribe of a mad housewife,

unless that came out earlier, listeners, sorry. But I was again in shock in that one. Homer kills a man on screen. He runs over him and there's a dead body on the front of his car. Like, Homer isn't watching the road when that happens, but there's a dead body and you see him die. I'm still in shock on that one.

He ran over a man in, we covered Mona, it was Mona Leaves when he drives through the police station, runs over a defense attorney, we see him die on the screen. Oh, that's right, so this season, he already, in 15, he already has killed somebody. Yeah, vehicular manslaughter. I was thinking about this just today

because I was watching the new season of Harley Quinn and it's a funny show and I like it. But in the recent episode, I won't spoil it, but they have a thing where they want it to be treated, like there's violence they want you to treat as serious, but like in the very next scene somebody has their arm chopped off and that is a joke. And I was just like, well, it just felt like a weird tonal thing that they, I don't know. It seems like a tough balance.

Yeah. Yeah. You kind of, it's always tough. There's always like, we have these internal rules and then something comes along that seems funny. And you're like, well, alright, for this one we can get away with it. After Jasper, we cut back to other old people where Abe runs into his old buddy, Maloy, who's been on the show forever. We all know Maloy. Alright, free Lazaryserion!

All the colors of the bow, man! Oh, my cataract are gone. I can see again. All the beauty of Nick... I'm blind. Oh well, easy come, easy go. Oh, it's the cat burglar! Please don't kill me! Abe, can I borrow your itemet?

Oh, it's you, Malloy. Alright. But this time, clean off the applicator. It's our big guest star of the episode who, when they would have recorded this with him, would have just started like the biggest movie of all time. And they told him, you're gonna play an old man with hemorrhoids. Yeah. Who's a burglar? Also a burglar. A cool burglar.

I mean, I love that extrapolation of that Malloy is old enough to be in an old folks home because a distracting thing in The Pink Panther is that like David Niven is quite old at it. I mean, he's only like in his late 50s, I think when he filmed it. But, you know, it's a late 50s of constant smoking and drinking. Like that's older in 1963 than the late 50s are now. But he's treated as like, oh, he's still this middle age and he can still like,

he could climb a building. It is distracting here. They're like, he's an old man. We're admitting it here. Yeah, I remember, and I'm thinking in these terms exactly, but I remember finding it a little strange as a kid when I watched this, that Sam Neill was doing this guest voice. And still now, as I try to analyze why I thought that was, I think there's something where it's like at this point in the show, and please obviously enlighten me as I say things that are probably totally wrong, but I feel like you'll have people play themselves, who may not be like huge stars like Mickey Rooney or something like that, you know.

Or you'll have like, it's a big deal Michelle Pfeiffer is playing this, not herself, but a huge guest star part that is like the second lead of that episode. And I feel like it's kind of rare that there's like a star and also like he was just in Jurassic Park but he still wasn't like the dinosaurs or the star that you know he's not like a huge star it feels like and then the role isn't like that big it's it's just I felt a little like different to me at the time it's not like Freddie Quimby was like Kiefer Sutherland played it or something you know what I mean it always felt like a little like off model to me that they had a celebrity who was in a huge celebrity doing a

Middle sized role. I guess I'm so used to now the last I don't know 25 years of the Simpsons celebrities playing themselves a lot more than they used to that it is refreshing to me It does feel like an odd choice You're right Neil and I'm wondering was this written or was he imagined for the role before Jurassic Park debuted? Or did they realize this is huge, it'd be great to get him on the show, he seems fun. Because based on the script, Henry, that's right after the release of Jurassic Park, correct? Yeah, that's what I thought about that when you said June or whatever, yeah, 93. We were all watching Jurassic Park then, you know what, I didn't check this at the time.

I'm going to do it on my phone here while we were talking but I'm gonna check if he was named on the table draft because I don't think they get a lot of the back then I still think it was a rare one for the guests to be there for the table read for it this always made me think for the longest time that Sam Neill was British because he's playing like a British fancy guy, which is the Niven impression, but he's from New Zealand. So he just does a good fancy David Niven style British accent. Yeah. And I love Sam Neill and I'm glad he's in it, but it did always strike me as being kind of not in keeping with either huge star playing a huge role or smaller star, you know,

Robert Goulet playing himself or whatever. Oh, Malloy is Dan Castellaneta on the credits for the table read draft, so he's not there then. Not cast yet, or just not there. Though Neil, do you just like him because his last name is your first name? It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt. He's got two L's though, are you jealous?

Yeah, I'm very jealous, yeah, I could use an extra. Though it's impressive with him that Sam Neill, after doing Jurassic Park, and he did like star in Jurassic Park 3, but like he would star in like, you know, he'd still star in esoteric weird stuff like In the Mouth of Madness, or like it seemed like he still wanted to be

in experimental films. Yeah, he was chasing that possession high he had. Yeah, and based on his now-abandoned Twitter account, he really seemed to be enjoying life. I assume he still is, but he has the nice farm, he's hanging out with ducks, he's checking in with animals. I remember a cute pet pig, well not pet pig, but like a farm pig.

Hey, Henry, it could have been a pet. Don't rule it out. That's true. I shouldn't assume he's already eaten that pig. He's full of it. I did try to find if there was any interview with Sam Neal where he was asked about doing Simpsons. I did find one from 2001 where he talked about like,

the big bonus is they give you a lot of merchandising. T-shirts and golf balls and shampoo and comics and a leather jacket that has all the characters embroidered on it. No, I can't bring myself to wear it, but I like it being in my cupboard. Oh, very nice. At the end of Comedy Bang Bang, Scott gave everyone who worked on

every single episode, so, and there was like five of us, maybe, who were there from the pilot to the last episode. Because even some of the birthday boys like went off and missed a few episodes as they were making birthday boys and all that. And he gave us all like these kind of letterman jackets. I have it like ten feet behind me here, but I've never worn it out anywhere. I don't know where you would wear it. I gotta pick the right occasion. I wish I knew when and where to wear it.

It's neat, but it's such an ostentatious thing. When somebody, maybe me, does the 20th anniversary of the comedy bang bang TV show panel, wear it to that. Yes, so good, yeah. I'll for sure wear it to a bang bang panel. The characters embroidered, I believe we've heard they have stopped making those a while ago for guest stars. Yeah, every year we'd have a different patch,

and I guess if you already had the jacket and you were on staff, you would get that patch. So those are phased out after a while, but you can tell some of the old timers have a ton of patches. I think Mike Reese, one of the older writers has a jacket with, you can see all the patches covering it. I love that stuff. I remember when Susan Serena was asked about it, she's like, oh, they stopped sending me patches at some time. I don't know why. I think Henry is obsessed

with Simpsons jackets, by the way. Are you fuming Henry that Sam Neill just stuck his in a cupboard? You could be wearing that. During every recording. It's collecting New Zealand dust all over it. I am jealous when we had on Nick Prueher. I spent a lot of time asking him about his collection of crew jackets that he has. It's pretty impressive. He has like so many 80s shows, collects some more of New York stuff in those productions,

but he has some LA ones too. Sometimes bought from dead celebrities. I think a lot of times like crew gifts are not necessarily of the highest quality, but I was a PA on the film Made in Manhattan. That was like my first job out of college and I'm not even in the credits. I think partially it's because I was a driver and I had to get like a special exemption from the Teamsters to drive because I was driving the costume designer all around. And I guess they were like, yeah let's just have a PA do that instead of a Teamster driving all day and

Whatever I have no idea why regardless that was the decision was made before I was there And so all that is to say at the end I got this backpack that is so high quality I still use it sometimes but it says the chambermaid New York 2002 because it was called the chambermaid at the time Not made in Manhattan. So that's my only proof that I actually did work on that film since I'm not in the credits. But I used it literally, like as we were getting out of the house when there were the fires recently,

I just grabbed a couple of backpacks. I mean, we weren't in a hurry. I was, but I still was like, I'll just take a few backpacks. I think we'll probably be okay, hopefully. And used my chambermaid backpack, still works. Still very durable. I actually, I learned some Simpsons jacket lore.

Now we're gonna waste Neil's time with this and every listener's time. But I learned that just by looking it up, if you were a guest star on The Simpsons, you would get the jacket and then every patch up until the current season's patch. So Dr. Phil was a guest on the show once in season 18. His jacket recently went up for sale and it is covered with

patches. Dr. Phil did not guest star in every one of those seasons. He just was on there once. So I assume that is the story. Maybe he was up through the mid to late aughts, but yeah, I guess you get the jacket that everyone got and then you would get every patch for every season up to that point. Wow. Man, see, the only one I'd seen in the wild on an auction site, it was purported to be Ken Griffey Jr.'s one was being sold. Was tempting, but again, I could not justify, I think it went up to over a thousand. I was like, ah, that's a bit much.

So yes, Sam Neal, he's my Maloy playing him just like David Niven. And though his affectation in it, this is another thing that felt dated in watching the Pink Panther because in 1963, this character is written as, you know, an aging bachelor who is impeccably dressed and knows all the right wines and goes to fancy parties. And it's like that just reads as gay. That just reads as like, oh, you're an old gay man. But in 1963, it was like, oh, what a fancy guy who never settled down. He's a real ladies man.

It's unquestionably how he's written in it. And he gets the dames in it as well. I think too, it's interesting that his Robert Wagner character, he's written as his eventual replacement, but they make sure to show that David Nimmin is still young and vibrant enough that he can still get the ladies too. I guess the Phantom Thread is kind of like that as well. I guess it was just, that was bachelorhood at some point.

This is the stuff of why people thought Liberace was straight that whole time. Well, that just means a fancy guy who's a ladies man, right? That hasn't settled down. Exactly. He's too busy polishing his rhinestones to find a woman. Then we have a quick bit of Appu just blasting people from his roof with a gun, which Appu, who has been shot so many times, I guess he is finally just broken. And like, okay, I'm shooting first with anybody who even approaches. Then Homer tells the kids all these new rules, except even he admits they're only human.

You gotta accept candy from strangers. We learned that Homer has gifted Lisa a new musical instrument, a jug, which man, the bit of Homer dancing to the hoedown and his heel, heel, heel, like, oh, love it, love it. Yeah, that's a classic. I was writing that down. I was like, there are certain Simpsons gags

where I am so like, I could picture a frame of them in every bit of dialogue and I couldn't tell you what episode they're from. Like I just, they're burned in my memory, but I've lost track over the years of where they're from and Jug never stopped during a hoedown. But even really specifically his thinking face as he's like shifting his weight foot to foot and she's blowing on the... burning my memory forever gag from Simpsons and that was something I was like, all right, it's this episode, that's great. But

I think before I rewatched, I don't know that I would have immediately pinpointed it as being in this one. If I could do a little bit of editing surgery, I would make both act breaks the jug joke because I really feel like they're about to cut to black after the thinking pose with the dancing and then the act break is Bart firing the gun. But then the second act break is never stop in the middle of a hoedown, is that correct? The second act break is, I didn't say stop. Oh, I didn't say stop, right, right.

The jug is so strong, and I feel like this first act is very, very long. I want both acts to end on a jug. That would make it from like a 95 to 100 scale. What were they thinking? I'm gonna have the Phantom edit for this episode if you wanna go to my Torrance site. Call up Tilfer Grace, he'll help you with that.

I love Homer. Homer being silly makes this funny, but Lisa starts crying and he actually does care. There's also emotion in the scene and that while he respects Lisa's emotions enough that he wants to get the saxophone for her, he still has to let her know like, you know, it helps me think. And she just to get it in resume.

That's another thing. I mean, again, I'm saying this with fondness, but in the same way that there's like, he doesn't respect old people. And at the end he does. This has the same like, I make a promise to you, Lisa. And at the end, she's like, thanks, dad. He fulfilled his promise. But it's like, it's not like Lisa's pony or something where you're like, oh, that's driving every decision he makes in this episode. And he's, he's going to extreme lengths because of his promise to his daughter. It's like, Oh yeah, I forgot he said that when it comes back later.

If he never mentioned it again, I don't think anyone would have even noticed. Yeah. Or they would have been like, what, what, is this going to be resolved in this episode? Yeah. Just a little nice symmetry. Oh yeah, he said that earlier and now he's coming back on it. My theory with that and with Homer's promise on the saxophone and the you're too old stuff, my theory is that it's a little bit of David Merkin being a stinker in that there's my assumption here. He was maybe given a note by James L. Brooks of, you know, ground this

more and like, let's have the moral of the story be listened to old people or Homer is interested in Lisa's missing her saxophone. And so by building off that only as much as they do, it feels like there, see, I took your note. It almost feels that way to me. Yeah. That's not the commercial break. Instead, we have Aloy stealing the spinning newspaper as it happens. And despite saying that he was thinking,

Homer doesn't have an idea, he merely steals Ned's idea, as Ned suggests in a neighborhood meeting. And it's always great to see the rumpus room with even the bar that Ned built. Yeah, it's gonna be phased out as he gets more religious but it's a rare appearance of this little space. You know what I thought this is the most nitpicky thing but it's the kind of thing that if I saw this in a digman I'd be like oh should we change something here is this is so uninteresting but sorry this will not be a highly downloaded episode um that he says Dufferoonies and then when

it cuts out to the wide, there's a Duff poster. I was just like, oh, that sort of is distracting that he used the word that then is written on screen right after that of all the different fake-o Arunis word he could have said. Anyway. I think that's an interesting note, Neil.

It makes you think about him using the word Duff in its real meaning context instead of as a brand in the show. Yeah, that takes you out of the reality of Springfield a teeny bit. This is a great mob town hall kind of scene that shows off how clever everyone is because there's a great joke where

they're not comfortable with Ned until he adds some kind of affectation to the final thing he says and then they can cheer. And then the second Ned has reservations, they say, let's get someone else. And then Homer says, I'm someone else, he's right. Just how willing, they're just going back and forth and then Abe jumps in.

Like everybody is just taking over with no regard to like responsibility or what's going to happen next. Yeah, I love how fast it goes. I also love you can tell Ned is just going like, well, I'm not much of a leader, but he's just being modest He hasn't even finished his sentence and they're like someone else

Homer jumps in to take it and also yes I do love how he says like we need to do or someone who acts without considering the consequences And everybody loves it This was a big change from the script though only a couple extra jokes came out of it in In the original script, Ned successfully starts his neighborhood watch, and instead, Homer starts a smaller, competing one out of anger and jealousy towards Ned. And then he tries to build it up like it's a West Side Story rumble type thing, and Ned is only nice to Homer and says, like, well, best of luck.

I like it better that this is the only neighborhood watch. There's no good neighborhood watch in the show. It's only just that commits crimes. That just leaves interest entirely in this idea. This is also where we get the Abe sub story in here. I'll join. I'm filled with piss and vinegar. At first, I was just filled with vinegar. Sorry, Dad, you're too old.

Piss and, too old? That's it! Too old? Why, that just means I have experience. Who chased the Irish out of Springfield Village and not for? Me! That's who! And a fine job you did, too. Aw, Dad, you've done a lot of great things. But you're a very old man now, and old people are useless.

Aren't they? Aren't they? Huh? are, yes you are, yes you are. Stop it! It's a form of abuse. Hmm. Hmm. I don't think the guns are a good idea. Bart, we're responsible adults and... Whoops. idea. Farts. We're responsible adults. And if a group of responsible adults can't handle firearms in a responsible way.

Sorry. Uh oh. Me again. Sorry. It only gets funnier every year of people irresponsibly handling us. Homer looking down a loaded shotgun is just a hilarious drawing as well. They do cite Conan O'Brien. I think he's still hanging on by his fingernails as he's being dragged away to become a celebrity.

But whenever there is vicious jokes about old people in this era, he is often cited as the one who instigated it. I was going to say that jokes about old people, the show's POV on old people is so clear and so funny in this, at least in this era, that where I like watch now, I'm like, oh that wasn't just like every show made fun of old people all the time, I didn't appreciate it for innovative it was perhaps at the time, but it is also one of the things where you could like, don't people say, oh well Homer should be his late 30s, his dad was probably what what he had you're like they're playing a play 15 years older than he theoretically really is right yeah unless there's some canon thing I

don't know about when we go back to see Abe as a new father and mother Simpson he looks a bit older than his wife so and he was supposed to have fought in World War two but the timeline is impossible to pin down. But in this scene, it implies that Abe was alive in 1904. At least able to walk, at least. So perhaps two or three when he helped chase the Irish out of Springfield. So it's really hard to say. Yeah. Yeah. But it's, they're not playing him as a 62 year old father of a boomer or something. They're playing him as someone is approaching 80, I would say.

In season seven, I think in the Mona Simpson episode is when they really committed to like, Homer was a kid in the sixties and Abe is watching the first Superbowl. They just have to make him. He's an old dad. He's an older guy in his like fifties who then married like a woman in her twenties, which totally understandable why Mona wanted to leave that. old dad. He's an older guy in his like 50s who then married like a woman in her 20s, which totally understandable why Moda wanted to leave that. But now of course in current seasons they have funny jokes about how Homer was either born in the 60s or the 80s and

he can't remember which. Funny. Well actually and they just had an episode that was like a parody of like body heat and you know, neo-noirs of the 80s and Abe is a detective in that and so he's of you know he's like in his 40s in the 80s. Whatever canon it is they do the non-canon stuff without declaring it's not canon but I wonder if in recent episodes they've held on to any vestiges of Abe being a World War Two veteran. I really want to know what the last appearance of that was. I do remember like two seasons ago, there was one where a British spy who knew him

in World War II was hunting him down. Cause that one made me go like, oh, a modern episode that still makes him a World War II vet, huh, interesting. That might be the last time, because yes, he would have to be like, I wonder what the numbers are on this, but there aren't too many World War II vets still living I don't know he might wind up being the

last surviving one I noted here at first I was just filled with vinegar another my favorite lines I feel like I've said that a lot but for sea captain he gets to be part of the gun show and he joins up with like our I'll be with you too but then he doesn't get to be the lineup with everybody else like sea captain gets cut out of it after this yeah, he's cut at the act break The Irish guy by the way, I had forgotten that gag and that made me laugh out loud when I was watching this fondly recalling how good he wasn't getting kicked out of town It's like a follow-up to the Wacking Day joke about like t was all in good fun. Yeah

Also the gun gag. This was one Fox did not like. This could just be a phantom memory I have. But I swear I didn't see the Bart scene of this until it was included in a clip for the Springfield's most wanted special. I feel like in my tape broadcast version of this in Florida where I taped it, it did not have Bart with the gun. Maybe it was a local affiliate putting their thumb on the scale. Henry, we have to consult the Gilbert archives. Yeah, for as much as I talk about it, I really should have these tapes

instead of assuming they're still with my brother in Florida. Yeah, I definitely, as I was watching this, or any app that I just watch now on the Disney Plus, I would watch all these as they would air, but then I would really watch them over and over in syndication. And so there's always the gags where I'm like, oh, I'm not intimately familiar with this

gag like I am with 95% of the rest of this episode. And there's always stuff where I'm like, I think this is a thing that was cut from syndication, but I'm not always totally positive. But I'm usually right, I would say. Then we also have a great gag of everybody being named after balls on the pool table and Homer says cue ball twice for everybody. Yeah, I think Merkin really loves non-clever jokes and Moe was really the king of this because in this scene

he just ends the scene with you're an idiot and then later he just says shut up. There's nothing clever or funny about it, just a cruel man wreaking his hatred on the world. I would assume Moe realizing how stupid Homer is, the reason he stayed in the group is just because he wants to continue being violent, I would think. Yeah.

You know, funny timing on this because this joke, this type of joke, by early 94, the movie had come out that like people, I felt like nobody really talked about Reservoir Dogs, like it was not a reference, but soon after this, I feel like if you do a joke about like somebody assigns code names, like it just turns into the scene of Reservoir Dogs, or like that's the template you use. Yeah. Yeah, I think everybody like, oh I don't want to be Mr. Pink, you be Mr. Pink.

Speaking of characters that would later reference Tarantino films, we visit Herman. That's right, a seldom seen character even in this era. Yeah, I was trying to, before he showed up, I was like, he eventually gets like, kind of kicked off the show, right? Or convicted of a crime or something? Oh, right, the counterfeit jeans ring operating out of their car hole, yes. Yeah.

I think he still is a background character, but they ran out of jokes for him. Yeah, and I was like, oh, okay, so he hasn't been caught yet. I couldn't remember when that was. I also assumed the like When they went to such a dark place of him being basically he is said from Pulp fiction in that one joke, which yeah said does some bad stuff in that movie and for them to put that on Herman

That is a dark place That's the thing of like snake has to be the victim in that. They would never do that with Snake, or even Moe. Only Herman can be that dark. And he's the exact type of guy who would sell guns to the local militia. That's good casting there. Though it's funny, this is where like, let's remind ourselves, Herman originally began as just like, Abe's gonna have a fun scene talking to somebody else. It'll be with Herman. That's like his only friend.

He's like the guy he talks to. The running joke was every time he'd be asked about how he lost his arm, it'd be a different story. Every time he sort of like Christopher Nolan's Joker. Wait, is this Nolan? Yeah. Okay, yeah. It is just like the dark night.

So Herman also, when he hears Homer is looking for something for his group, this is when he kind of gives him the tap on the nose, like follow me. Feel like in one of those type of stores for Herman, it's where you sell the Nazi memorabilia. It's like, oh, here, I'll show you the secret stuff backstage.

But instead, it is a small atom bomb that was made in the 50s to drop on Beatniks, which is a great gag. I love it. I love the design on the guy. I love that he references Allen Ginsberg's Howl as part of his poem, which is in the original poem, the line is, who vanished into nowhere,

Zen New Jersey, leaving a trail of ambiguous picture postcards of Atlantic City Hall. So that's where Zen New Jersey nowhere comes from. The poet is plagiarizing. It's going against the spirit of the movement. Homer's dropping it on him for plagiarizing. It's going against the spirit of the movement. Homer's dropping it on him for plagiarism. Speaking of potential syndication cuts, now I might immediately be wrong.

The beatniks were going on way longer than I remembered. Like they're showing the poem and then it cuts up to them in the plane and they get another like stanza or something. It's like, I don't know if the beatniks have this much air time. Maybe syndication cut out the first chunk of poetry and then they left in the second part

that is followed by Homer falling on them a la Doctor Strange Love. It's great that in Homer's vision, he wants to be Slim Pickens and he's like, this is great. I wanna be this guy. I want to die dropping a pub on Maynard G. Krebs. This reference wasn't, I didn't know what it was from then. I think it wasn't until season seven that they had enough. I think it was Sideshow Bob's last

gleaming that finally pushed young me to rent Dr. Strangelove from a blockbuster and watch it to get these references. I might have again said this last time, I forget, but David Lynch has just recently passed away and I wasn't living in that country when like Twin Peaks came out and moved back. Sophomore English class in high school and The Simpsons, Who Shot Mr. Burns, part two with Lisa's Dream aired, I think is what it was, that has a Twin Peaks parody. And my sophomore English teacher was like, oh, that was a Twin Peaks parody. I was like, oh, what is Twin Pe peaks? And I, that was, I think renting fire walk with me. Cause that was the only way I could see twin peaks was off a Simpsons reference.

Me not knowing what it was, someone telling me what it was a reference to. And then I went and rented fire walk with me, my intro to David Lynch movies and twin peaks. I had started it up a few months ago and I only just finished the second season of twin peaks. So I was slow to it, unfortunately months ago and I only just finished the second season of Twin Peaks. So I was slow to it, unfortunately, but now I get all the references. And you're about to go to Twin Peaks headquarters, AKA Washington, the state of Washington.

Yes, I'm about to visit what was the diner or at least the establishing shot of the diner. I think they shot in there, Henry. Okay. All right. Then I'm really looking forward to that. It'll be fun. I'm taking advantage of it being within driving distance of my home. Meanwhile though, as a kid, I did know Dobie Gillis

because of Airdot, Nick and Knight, so this reference to Maynard G. Crafts, I got that. Hey, me too. That's why I looked it up and I Googled it and I was like, okay, I've never seen Dobie Gillis. And we covered this on our episode of What a Cartoon About Scooby-Doo, but the cast of Scooby-Doo is based on the cast of Dobby Gillis.

Lost to time, lost to time. It's all one to one. It's each like all members of the mystery. I guess there's no dog in Dobby Gillis, but otherwise every member of the mystery team is a character on Dobby Gillis. See, Maynard G. Krabs, do you think that he preferred being remembered as Maynard G. Krabs or as Gilligan?

Bob Denver. Well, you know, if he's approached by a person who recognizes him as Maynard G. Krabs, he's not gonna get hit with a hat immediately afterwards. That's true. So Homer is told to not ride the bomb. He heads away. This is now, we get the lineup of Homer's new group,

everybody wearing their military outfits. They're still keeping at this point that Skinner was a green beret. They're gonna drop that soon, but he's a green beret here. I'm trying to place Barney's little outfit. Was he part of the Gulp and Blow staff or anything like that or the Bola-Rama? I mean, we know he, his uncle runs the Bola-Rama,

not quite part of the lore yet. Yeah, it does look like the Bola-Rama outfit, I think, but then again, the hat, I think it does, It also looks like the one that Sideshow Mel wears in that gulp and blow that he worked at in Crusty Gets Canceled. I like that it is a great design of like just a random cashier get up if it's not that. And him with the pipe, or sorry, with the crowbar as well to match it is great. His hair when he's wearing that outfit, I was like, I can't tell if this is a reference to like it looks like shaved underneath or something. Oh yeah. I was like is this because it's they're trying to make him look like a yeah some Americana character I do not know

is it just how they his hair looks in a hat I wasn't sure. And Homer quickly defines their plans as push people around make ourselves feel big big, which they all accept. And Homer gets a megaphone from Bart, which I love that he, like Bart is just, when I was a kid, I just quoted commercials to my parents all the time. So I love how Homer goes like, never mind the commercials, just give it to me. This does feel like a joke written by John Swartzwater because based on how relevant he was in terms of knowing about pop culture, rap guy, MC Hammer, who cares if it's 1993, go with it. I mean, I'm impressed Schwarzwald

would have even heard of MC Hammer. It is Hammer in the original script too. So this is the only joke in this episode I don't like. I'm sorry. Why would they think he's Hammer? I do like the dancing animation of kids kids falling after him and dancing. Same thing that makes me laugh in Charlie Brown Christmas.

It's just like, oh, if music starts to play, kids will just start dancing automatically. It's just really funny to me. You're right. It does follow the Charlie Brown rules, doesn't it? Except updated for the 90s with MC Hammer. Yeah. We see the guy's reign of terror has begun. They chase after a guy with a saxophone who bought it from Cheers, who is drawn to look like Mike Gerard, the overseas animation supervisor. Hunter, you said he bought it from Cheers.

Sears. Sears, not Cheers. Yes. And apparently Mike Gerard was a real, actually did play the saxophone and he was at the time their man in Korea. Like he was, I believe based on his credits, he was a US based animator who then was you know hired to be the guy Working with one of the Korean studios. I believe anavision and he would be you know Overseeing the directions which usually does help with you know with overseas animation It helps to have an American animator who can you know localize certainize certain things of like, oh, when they say this in the directions, they mean this. They might get lost. Stuff being shipped or maybe faxed to the offices in Korea. Is any of your production, you know, in Korea or for Caesar? Is it just in Canada?

It's just, yeah, just Vancouver, where our animation is. But, you know, when it comes to like our directors, our board artists, they're not even all Los Angeles-based, because so much can be done remotely. So some of those folks are scattered around the country, but then our actual studio, animation studio is in Vancouver. Yeah. Neil, I can go over there after the recording just to see how they're doing. Yeah, please. They get over there, crack the whip. Campbell sent me. Where are those animatics? Let's get them out here. I would assume those people in Vancouver

also need localization to understand these Americanisms that would not be lost. Exactly, exactly. A dollar, is that like a loony? Yes, yes, exactly. You're getting it. There's another little bit cut from the original script, which is to bring the mob bit even more forward,

Homer is operating a Godfather style setup bit cut from the original script, which is to bring the mob bit even more forward, Homer is operating a Godfather-style setup in the back of Moe's bar where he is granting favors, is in the original script, which by cutting that, they deny themselves one scene of Godfather that they had yet to animate. That's true. And then we quickly get a scene of Homer and his friends starting a large fire, which is less funny in this particular moment There's a lot of house on fire funnies in this one

Yeah, it's the guy who has the permit to burn leaves I think just yell at him and he's like, but I do that really is funny But then it is kind of satisfying also watch that guy grab his hose and shoot it on the roof and put the fire out Yeah, oddly enough. they dodge a moment of cruelty and they show us, no, it's fine, the fire's out, he's okay. Yeah, yeah. By season six, I think it would've just burnt out, right? Yeah.

I also love how Homer running off, too late! Then they confront Jimbo. I love this bit because it shows that, like, even when they actually catch someone actually committing, like like a petty crime They only like him. They can't even do this correctly Hey, you're that drunken posse Wow Can I join you? I don't know. Can you swing a sack of doorknobs?

You're in here's the sack, but you gotta supply your own knobs You're in. Here's the sack. But you gotta supply your own knobs. So I said to him, Look, buddy, your car was upside down when we got here. And as for your grandma, she shouldn't have moused off like that. Dad, don't you see you're abusing your power like all vigilantes? I mean, if you're the police, who will police the police? I dunno. Coast Guard?

Homer, wasn't the whole point to catch the cat burglar? And I still don't have my saxophone. Lisa, the mob is working on getting your saxophone back, but we've also expanded into other important areas. Literacy programs, preserving our beloved covered bridges. World domination. World domination? Oh, hey, that might be a typo.

Mental note, the girl knows too much. Yeah, I guess we get one little check in in the middle about the saxophone situation. Yeah, that's true, yeah. But you're more paying attention to Homer making a mental note to kill Lisa later. That's a silencer. Okay, so another thing Wikipedia says

that I didn't remember to click to see if this is actually cited anywhere is that that's a reference to a Flannery O'Connor short story a good man is hard to find when he's like the car is upside down and as for your grandma she shouldn't have been mounting off, but I Don't know if it is yeah I know that story and it's it's a you know killer kills a family that their car went off the side of the road the car you know, a killer kills a family that their car went off the side of the road. The car

flips over once but it's not upside down. If you're saying your grandma, that would mean he's talking to like the little kid. It's just as like, it's kind of like it's adjacent, but I wonder if just someone like extrapolated too much there and then put it into Wikipedia. Yeah, Neil, this factoid has been online for 10 or 20 years and I think I just took it at face value, but I looked more into the summary of the story. I never read it but yeah you're right I feel like there are just two coincidences but ultimately it's funny that Homer ran a car off the road to the point where it flipped over and he also hit an old woman in the face yeah yeah without the cut it was not thinking it's a reference of like it's a funny line to be saying but when you try like force it to fit into like well who

would he even be in this story like they they're not mad the car's off the side of the road in that story. It's just, they happen upon it. It's yeah. It feels like a bit of a stretch to me, but maybe at some point he claimed it. Homer did not slaughter a family of six. At least we hope not. I remember that again when I went to the Wiki for this too, and it was the real Wikipedia not like I've complained in the past that the Simpsons Wiki that page is occasionally filled with things of like that honestly read to me like a British fan doesn't know an American context for something and says, Oh, this is based on this British thing. And to those,

I just want to reply to be like, no way, no American thinks about that British thing. It's not a reference. But in this case, yeah, I mean, I can totally see Swartzwalder being, he could be a person who has read Flannery O'Connor. I bet he grew up reading it, but I think it's a big leap. And especially like usually on the Wikipedia official one, they make sure to say this was in the commentary. They at least tell you where somebody who produced this said, this was based on this, which they say all the time on commentaries. The fact that they didn't dare, I also agree with you guys that it's just like,

Homer did some random violence that happens to sound like a short story. There was something, I don't think we mentioned it in this podcast, maybe we did, but on Wikipedia and other Wikis, it said that Malloy is patterned to be like David Niven in the movie Raffles about a gentleman thief, but it's actually him and the Pink Panther. It's obviously the Pink Panther, but all the articles lead with, well, you know, clearly it's Raffles,

but there's a big citation needed next to all of those. Well, the only thing was that Raffles has the card. Right, right. Yeah, that he leaves. It could be just an amalgam, but nobody has said on the record, yes, this is Raffles. They have said Pink Panther. Again, somebody, if, well, hey, if John Swartzwalder ever gives a second interview.

With us, he'll be with us. Yeah, with us, and first question, so do you like Flannery O'Connor? The truth could be, like, he might not be saying something that sounded like, what could the context be? And it sort of is not literally, when it makes sense, he's saying something that sounded like, what could the context be? And it sort of is not literally, it wouldn't make sense. He's not, it's like, oh, I'm inspired by the spirit of what

happened in that story, but it's not actually matching up with what happens in that story, I guess. But still, where is someone getting that? Like, why are they making that leap? Also, I would say this is a leap I'm making. So don't add this to a Wikipedia either, but Beloved Covered Bridges, I think that's partially inspired by The Bridges of Madison County being a big hit novel in 1992. It made us all think about covered bridges.

Yeah. Beetlejuice was thoughtful as they were dangerous, but this book changed the rules. You might get to have sex with a lonely housewife. Wait a minute, is going through the bridge a met- okay I'm not gonna ask that, never mind. I've only watched the movie once, I never read the book. Well a friend of mine, you know I went to University of Iowa and a friend of mine played Meryl Streep's daughter in that movie. Oh wow.

Whoa. Local hire. Wow that's great, that's pretty cool. Well I was just thinking of how- Singer and actress, yeah. I was thinking of how at the end of North by Northwest, I've seen it in a theater a few times, whenever the train just goes in that tunnel at the end of the movie, everybody laughs. And I wonder if it's the same phenomenon

when Clint Eastwood drives through the tunnel to see Meryl Streep. He's a slow lover, so the car's not going very, well, you understand what I'm saying. Yes. Oh, and I love that Lisa, I think in Merkin's years he really writes sometimes they make Lisa like too much of a scold or I mean we have an entire jingle for how they write it like take that Lisa's beliefs where that feels like the writers are getting sick of her being a liberal scold in Merkin's years that

Lisa is written as the most morally correct person in the show, saying like, who will police the police? And Homer's terrible answer to that, you're just supposed to go like, oh yeah, Lisa's just right. Lisa is saying the correct position to have here. Yeah, it does feel like Merkin was probably the most leftist of the showrunners.

I'd agree with that. Well, I mean, especially when Marge becomes a cop, Lisa has a wonderful speech in that one too. Then there's another funny bit they cut from the original script. Actually two ones back to back here. One, Bart, they have a tiny scene where it seems like the start of a C-plot

where Bart decides to start his own vigilante group and gets his friends to join up on it. But then the first group time they try to stop the group of bullies, they get their asses kicked and that's the end of their story. Then there's a small scene where Wiggum hears about a crime and he's like, get me the simp phone. And it then becomes a scene of him as the commissioner

and the police chief calling up Homer like he's Batman in the Adam West series. Okay, so they almost snuck in a Batman Adam West reference I'm shocked they cut it. Maybe they were starting to think like have we referenced this enough now? Do we need another Batman scene? Yeah, there's something that also is kind of like funny We were just like Homer is like a vigilante. Like we don't know how seriously the town has taken these guys. I don't know. There's something that's like,

oh, they've become part of the power structure and the police call them and stuff is a different level of reality to this. Oh, I forgot this episode already a little bit later will have a Batman 66 reference anyway in it when they're climbing up the building. Oh yeah, yeah, that's right. They thought one too many. Yeah.

So we return to Smartline. First time in a little while. Last seen on Bart's friend falls in love, and we won't be seeing Smartline again until Lisa the Skeptic. Because I guess really Smartline is for a very specific need of a direct interview with a character bit. Normally Smartline, otherwise if it's just going to be Ken reporting on something, that can just be like the news. Yeah. I think they understood establishing the set piece took up too much time and they could just easily cut to Kent talking to the character within the context of just

it being a news broadcast. Do I miss the logo and set design of Smartline? It's a fun setup. We get in the line, heavy sack beatings are up. You're not hearing things. Homer does say 40. Yeah. You know what? Here, I'll play the clip of that just so you can see. I missed this as a joke as him making up a number as a kid. Mr. Simpson, how do you respond to the charge that petty vandalism such as graffiti is down 80% while heavy sack beatings are up a shocking 900%. Oh, people can come up with statistics

to prove anything, Kent. 40% of all people know that. I see. Well, what do you say to the accusation that your group has been causing more crimes than it's been preventing? Oh, Kent, I'd be lying if I said my men weren't committing crimes. Mm, too shame.

That's funny. I don't think I've ever picked up on that he said 40. my men weren't committing crimes. Mm, touche. That's funny, I don't think I've ever picked up on that. He said, forfty. I just, the joke works. Just that's him making up a statistic, you know? Yeah, that Homer made up a number with the statistic makes it even better. And I also love just how he goes like, I'd be lying if I said my men weren't committing crimes.

Like just giving up like, yeah, we commit crimes. Like, touche. This is where they get their first call in ever and it's Malloy to Taunt Homer, which it takes him a bit of time here. I have the clip for that too, because it's a really luxuriating Sam Neal's performance here.

Well, it looks like we have our first caller, and I mean ever because this is not a call-in show. Hello, you're on the air. Hello, Kent. Hello, Homer. My arch nemesis. Hello. Uh, you do realize who this is? Uh, March? No, Homer, I'm not your wife.

Although, I do enjoy her pearls. As a matter of fact, I'm holding them right now. Listen. Why, you monster! And you have my daughter's saxophone, too! Ah! Hold her! Hold her! Answer, stage manager! Oh, sorry. I'm a little nervous.

It may interest you to know that for my next crime, I'll be pinching the pride and joy of the Springfield Museum, the world's largest cubic zirconia. Listen, Mr. Catbergler, I vow to go without sleep and guard the Springfield Museum day or night for as long as it takes from now on. Unless you want to taunt me more by giving me an approximate time. We'll be right back. I get to say that.

Yeah, we have also the return of Homer's yellow, which at a certain point in the show, very early on, was neck and neck with doe as his catchphrase. That's what they would put on toys and T-shirts. Yeah, actually I have a vintage Homer behind me. Let me see if he comes with the yellow word bubble. Talk amongst yourselves. Oh boy.

Thinking Marge is his arch nemesis is also kind of a, maybe one of my favorite jokes of the episode. I guess they're all randomized. One of his might say, yellow, I'm not gonna open it though, but it just says, homage, I love your snack treats. And that's what Homer says, everybody, in 1990 at least. According to Mattel, if you could believe it. I had all those as a kid.

Bob, can you believe I had all of a toy line? Oh no. Yeah, I know. Henry would have held his breath if he didn't get that Santa's little helper. Malloy is great as the caller and the homer is dumber than Inspector Clouseau. Like he actually would have realized

it was the Phantom calling him. All right, didn't know until watching it that many of the jokes about Clouseau in the first movie is that he is a very cucked man, that his wife is cheating on him with everybody in the movie as well. He's been married to her for 10 years. That's part of his stupidity,

that he does not realize that his wife is also a jewel thief in cahoots with the Phantom. It leads to some very funny bits at the end of the film. Actually, every Peter Sellers scene is funny. He's funny as long as you can keep him as a Race that is fun to make fun of like French people Peter Sellers always great. There's another deleted scene here They actually have the audio for which is this happens right after Homer strangles this stage manager Which works so great. There's a in-camera shot. I really love that after that. There's this little bit of dialogue in-camera shot. I really love that. After that, there's this little bit of dialogue.

Well, let me tell you something, mister. I'm not gonna rest till the two of us are behind bars. I mean, except for me. I'll be on the free side. The one that doesn't have the little room behind it where you have to be locked in. You're a good talker, Kent. Help me out here. You're gonna put him in jail. I don't think so. And then you get a little more Sam Neill in there. Yeah, yeah. No, I like it. I think much later, the see you in hell from heaven is a much better, more condensed version of that joke. It's funny, every time there's like a deleted scene

on Simpsons or something like that, I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, that definitely doesn't, you could have put that in and cut a different scene and I would have had the same reaction. I'm like, oh yes, of course this other thing doesn't make sense in The Simpsons at all. Yeah. It needs the legitimacy of being aired.

Yeah. It seemed like, oh, that should be there. I guess they needed to cut it so they'd have enough time for a long scene of nodding at each other in a Dragnet parody. Yes. Man, this is the season's second Dragnet parody. Yeah, yeah, coming hot on the heels of Marge on the Lamb,

which ended with the whole Dragnet wrap-up telling you what happened to everybody. It's funny, I feel like I've always kind of, or whatever. I know that's a Dragnet parody. I've never seen Dragnet, I've never seen the movie remake of Dragnet, but I just am familiar with what like the, like that is Dragnet,

and I'm not even sure where that entered my, like my, my body of references that I get, but somehow it did. It's a good parody, not just in like the music, but also like Dragnet was famous for very tight closeups on characters' heads, mainly because it was first made as like a, as one of the earliest TV shows where, if on a tiny screen in people's homes, like you just need a close-up of a face usually,

and you'll be able to tell what you're looking at. But their nodding won't stop, like that's just great. It has to cut away. You assume you don't get to see it in naturally. The nodding just keeps happening. We also see that Jasper's doing a little better. He's not blind enough to help them steal. This also just sets up, oh, Malloy's there too.

Like this is actually a mystery. Yeah. We missed it, we're not going over every line, but I do like how John Swartzwalder put the word Yegg into a script in 1993, which just means a criminal. Oh yeah, that's great. The plug ugly Yegg, that's right. Then Homer, after first confirming that he is 36 years old,

which is not gonna stay that way for a while. No, no, no. And I remember I looked up to see when we last recorded this and Henry and I were both 34, so we thought, well, we'll be Homer in the future. Let's not worry about that. Yeah. Now we are older than Homer and will forever be,

because he'll never be written in his 40s in a regular episode. Which is painful, painful. I actually save it as one of my lock screens on my phone, is a scene of Marge saying to Homer, like, you're 39. Like when she tells him and corrects his age, he's 39. I saved it then when I was 39, and I just have it there to remind me,

like I am no longer 39. But then Homer decides he's gonna feel young again and get drunk with teens, which that feels risque to have like Homer gets drunk with underage, like they're showing underage drinking without a permit. Yeah, I thought that too, with that, plus Bart shooting a gun, I was like,

wow, this really does have a lot of stuff then. Maybe they forged a permit so he thought it was okay. Oh, we missed on screen that they gave him a permit. See, you know, George Bush was right to not like this. This is too far. It is funny that it does, I mean, I know obviously there's crazy stuff on TV because there's whatever.

There's ratings and you can do whatever, but how kind of like family friendly TV was for many decades and then like, this decade in the 90s where it's like, yep, a cartoon where kids shoot guns and drink and stuff. And then, you know, it kind of is back to like, oh, I think you'd get a lot of notes about that if you tried to do that.

I mean, other than if you're South Park or something. Your channel lead in South Park. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, cable or when I say cable, I mean streaming now. It's the Wild west on that. It makes me wonder why they even bother with network notes anymore. Though I guess children can watch that. I get it.

Yeah. At least for like sensor notes, I mean, but yeah. Then we see that the Zirconia is this stolen and this did lead me to look up again, like how not actual Zirconiaconias but like the world of synthetic diamonds has made real advancements lately. There's the argument to be made that you should buy those over real diamonds that are mined because often they involve human rights abuses or if you don't care about human rights then you should at least care that it's very wasteful to mine diamonds compared to making them. Well, my wife has my grandma's wedding ring

and I have to assume the violence was less advanced. Whenever your grandma had it. The clubs weren't as hard back then. Yeah, I guess that's the thing, I don't really know much about diamonds. I'm like, oh, is lab grown just like cubic zirconia, but they like had a glow up for the marketing, like calling things like plant based or whatever, you know.

Apparently the zirconia has been surpassed by these new, sometimes they're not even called synthetic diamonds anymore because they are like perceptively not that different, like at least like weight wise and density wise, like your average diamond, not like, you know, if they did make the world's biggest synthetic diamond, you know, it wouldn't be as heavy apparently. And the people who tell if diamonds are real or not can still tell that like, Oh, this was a synthetically made one, but they've made a lot of advancements apparently in how good they are.

Like we're far past as zirconia. This is another line, Bob. I feel like I've heard you say a lot. Like I wasn't asleep. I was drunk in regards to jerks out there. Yes. Yeah. It's a good line.

Just that a person thinks that the excuse they gave is better clarified, like, no, I wasn't asleep, I was drunk. Yeah, that's really great. Everybody's turned on Homer, even Barney is there to tell him to go home, and I love, I don't believe in nothing no more, I'm going to law school, that Jimbo dumps all of his knobs

that he's been beating people with. Yeah, yeah, we missed the recruitment of Jimbo, I think. You have to supply your own knobs, another great line. Yeah. He could fill it with anything, it could be potatoes, but no, he was told doorknobs and he got them. A heavy sack beating isn't a heavy sack beating without doorknobs.

Yeah. And this is, yes, this is where Homer is so distraught that even, even the jug music that Lisa tries to help him with can't do it, but he didn't say stop. In the original script, there's a several page scene that they cut here that Homer is given a description of the burglar to find. And it is a cartoon drawing of like a guy in a burglar mask and a striped shirt, basically the Hamburglar. That feels very sportswildery to me.

And then Homer goes around profiling people and finds a guy dressed exactly like that, holds him captive in his home. Then the burglary happens while he's there. So he's like, Oh, I guess you're innocent. I'm sorry, buddy. He lets him go. The guy goes, Oh, no harm taken. And then when he leaves, the mob doesn't know

that that guy isn't to the suspect anymore and they beat him horribly. Yeah, that's good, but there's a much more condensed version of that joke later where the guy who looks like Satan is in church. Yes, man, they cut these jokes and then they find a faster way to do it later. We come back for the commercial break,

Abe is also covered in garbage, but he just fell down at the big boy and it almost feels like he just says anyway And then he just like moves on his job This is a real murder She wrote kind of dealy because a lot of murder she wrote was Jessica Fletcher proving she wasn't having senior moment She actually knew what she was doing and they'd be like listen lady. You don't know anything You're going crazy cuz you're old and she's like, oh did you see these footprints over here? So I feel like Abe is doing the Jessica Fletcher thing in this scene.

That's a good point. The way he like presents, like, I'm glad you asked and explains it all. Like, yeah, it's very murderous. Matt Locke was their biggest competition at the time. They get more direct with like Abe and Matt Locke connections, but I think this is more like a murder she wrote. Abe is so excited to tell everybody, not everybody wants to hear it. Oh my, I had no idea how much this town loved that zirconia. Coming through, coming through! Oh, Grandpa, they pelted you too? No, actually I fell down as a big boy.

Son, I've come to help you. I know who the cat burglar is. What? Who? Huh? What? I know who the cat burglar is what oh, huh? What well well well Before I was too old and no one wanted my help Suddenly look who comes to old grandpa wait. Where you going come back? I'll tell you It's great. They do hit this type of joke twice

But it's funny both times of like Abe is explaining the moral of the plot and nobody cares and they just walk away from it. So Abe presents his ideas, which again, it's like, oh, how did he come up with it? Well, he literally watched him steal it in the end. I love the line, he wore sneakers for sneaking. It's so embedded in my head that I watched the movie Black Panther for the first time last night.

Yeah, I know, I'm a little late to the party on that. But he's getting all of his panther equipment from his science friend. You watched the movie Black Panther for the first time last night. Yeah, I know. I'm a little late to the party on that. But he's getting all of his Panther equipment from his science friend. They have names. I've forgotten them already. But she's showing him the special shoes and she's like, sneakers, because they're going to make him quieter. And immediately I turn to my wife and I say, for sneaking.

And we both had the exact same thought in our heads. Bob, that science friend is Shuri, his younger sister. Well, that scene does reference the then popular meme, what are those? Oh yeah, that's right. That's fun. Yeah. No wonder it made a billion dollars.

I also like that that's the first one he presents because it does make him seem like crazy old grandpa. He's like, well, because he wears sneakers for sneaking. It does feel, I mean, a sort of hint of this earlier or suggested it, that there might have been at some point at least the idea that there was some sort of reason for these burglaries trying to teach everyone a lesson or that everyone would have taken a lesson from these

or that he's not just a burglar and he stole stuff and then he got caught. And like, that's what it is. There's no kind of ironic kind of lesson to be learned from any of it. Yeah, Abe is just projecting. And then when he's trying to explain how Malloy was trying to show them all,

Moe just says, shut up. Yeah. And then they immediately go into the parody. I also love like for sneaking and the sneaker setup, it does mean that Malloy is wearing sneaker, like from the first almost frame of the episode, you're seeing his sneakers on the whole time. Yeah.

Which I guess to an old man like Abe, it's like you walk around wearing your real shoes. Like now everybody is wearing sneakers for sneaking. Yeah, yeah, kind of especially old folks, yeah. Oh yeah. I guess if you're. But obviously then he says, wearing sneakers for sneaking. Yeah, yeah, kind of especially old folks, yeah. Oh, yeah. But obviously, then he says, wait, he's walking much more vertical than usual

as he climbs up the building sideways, just like Batman would. And then the final thing is that unlike most retirees, he has the world's largest cubic zirconia in his living room, which is like, oh, well, then, I just did. I got your proof right there. Yeah. It's also funny that it sort of feels like when Jasper and Abe and Malloy show up to be part of the guards, like that's going to be part of his plot to sneak into the museum is like, Oh, he's going to get in there because he's pretending to be one of the

mob guarding the museum. You're like, nope, he still just did it classic cat burglar style and grappled up there, whatever, climbed a rope. It was a good gag too that he just flipped the switch on the security system, yeah. There's a little subtle noise that Abe makes that I really love that I don't know if he can catch it if you don't have headphones on.

It's just very small when Homer says, "'Dad, I could kiss you,' and he said, "'Well, kiss me right here. It's the only part that has feeling. Homer kisses him, and then Abe just makes a little disappointed grunt, as if to say, well, no, I'm numb there too. Oh, here, you know what?

I'll play the clip. Let's see if we can discern it. He was right under my nose the whole time. He lives in my retirement home. His name is Malloy. Wow, how'd you track him down, Grandpa? Good question. On one of my frequent trips to the ground,

I noticed Malloy wore sneakers. For sneaking. My next clue came just yesterday at the museum. We felt slighted by your age bashing and started home. Malloy said, I'll catch up with you. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. There was something strange about the way he walked, much more vertical than usual.

And finally, Malloy, unlike most retired people has the world's largest cubic zirconia on his coffee table but dad I could kiss you well kiss me right here it's the only part that still has feeling mm-hmm I know where the burglar're right, Bob. I'd never registered that, but it is like, oh, I don't feel that. Nice little joke. All just in like one noise. Like I was just reading something about that a friend of ours sent us, and in it there was a note about Merkin's style that Merkin maybe was the best director of the voice cast.

Like because he was a live action director, or is a live action director as well, and that was his background. No, that's a great point. I mean, a lot of the shows would be directed by the show runners, who often did not direct actors before this, but he had a lot of experience,

especially with Get a Life, and I guess Newhart as well. Yeah, Neil, have you learned a lot about being a voice direction in your time? I mean, yeah, I'm at all the records. I think luckily I'd come from a background of directing stage shows and being on set a lot for Bang Bang and Brooklyn Nine-Nine and directing it up with Brooklyn and stuff. So I was not unfamiliar at least with working with actors, but it's also been a learning

curve or lessons learned from season one into season two, but even season one from beginning to end of what we need, what we don't need, what plays, what works, what we're kind of looking for. As much as I thought I knew, you get in there and you're like, oh, I didn't know this at all or I didn't realize how good this sounds or how maybe this is not enough or this is too subtle or something. I also love the posing on Abe going to the retirement home like he shoves down Homer and does the point like it is a big hero moment for him. I also love that the mob which is there to kill Homer instantly goes

like hurrah like once they're told to go to the retirement home they they've changed on a dime. Then they get to Malloy's place, they find that everything is there. He clearly wanted to be caught, but Homer says, so it appears that the cat was caught by the very person who was trying to catch him. How ironic. As he's kind of handing out everything, I don't know, do you think this is a little bit of like a Wizard of Oz ending reference that he's like giving everybody stuff back of like, and for you, Patty and Selma, this type of, like, I don't know, maybe.

Just a nice way to work in more jokes for people, we didn't originally see these things stolen from them. It's great that even after the show is canceled, they're still calling the character MacGyver, not Richard Dean Anderson, but MacGyver's hair is what she has a ball of. Which would mean at some point, shever, not Richard Dean Anderson, but MacGyver's hair is what she has a ball of. Which would mean at some point she's just shaved Richard Dean Anderson.

Every time there's a MacGyver joke, I am reminded what you first pointed out to me, Bob, that there was five whole seasons of a MacGyver reboot that aired. It recently just went off the air. It was 2016 to 2021. It's not even like one of those one season reboots. I think the guy who played MacGyver plays the third season of Comedy Bang Bang begins

with this cold open that's like Young Scott and Reggie, a la the third Indiana Jones movie beginning with River Phoenix. And it's like Indiana Jones-esque kind of. It's some sort of like chase thing. I can't remember what it was. But anyway, I think the guy that played the new MacGyver is the guy that played young Scott. Yeah, oh wow. Lucas Till, that's the guy. Oh wow, that's great. I love that opening.

That is a really, it is a great recreation of the opening of The Last Crusade. Even down to the guy that young Scott is chasing is dressed like Scott in that. Oh yeah, that's right Just like how Joaquin Phoenix now a key River Phoenix is young He is chasing down a guy who looks like Indiana Jones. Yeah, he takes his look. Yeah, I forgot we did that Everybody watch I've said before it's all on YouTube or Plex or I think yeah be it's definitely on Plex in YouTube There's also the other great bit of that Abe is trying to brag about it and Mo shuts him down immediately. I've had my moment

It was the show punishing him for laying down the moral of the story too hard Then he hands out everything including giving the sax back to Lisa Which is also where Lisa just again says out like, just like you said you would. Thanks, Dad. This is the emotional beat hitting her. You know, when we covered Boy Scouts in the hood, that one, I think they're even more aggressively about, oh, Bart, at the end of the episode,

Bart goes, Dad, I'm proud of you, because the plot out was like, Bart's not proud of him. And then he learns to be proud, and Homer instantly goes like, shh, don't talk. Can't talk eating, yeah. Yeah, I don't wanna skip too far here. We get two very funny shut ups. We get Moe's shut up and then when Malloy's like,

I can tell you about this wonderful treasure I buried, Homer goes, shut up! Like you said, Bob, that Merkin just likes sometimes inelegant writing, of just like shut up! Though first before that, there actually is another deleted scene here, which would have been great to keep in because, Bob, you're talking about the runner of the jug. This would have been one last jug joke in the episode.

The audio for this, you're going to have to imagine they had in the sound of Lisa playing her saxophone like the jug with the, because it's silent. But here's the deleted scene you got it back just like you said you would you're welcome honey and here's the best way I know how to repay you and she's playing music Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe. It's no jug, but it ain't half bad. I like that. I like that. That line.

I would think like we're now fading to the credits. Whereas there's like still like still like four minutes of show. You're right. that does feel like, we're now fading to the credits. Whereas there's like, still like four minutes of show. You're right, that does feel like a way to go out on the episode. The closing joke is one of the funniest closing jokes in the series history, so I'm glad they went that way. This is where we get Sam Neill has another great line here that makes everybody find him just as charming

as David Niven. And of course, I'm happy to return all of your treasured possessions. Selma, my dear, your lock of MacGyver's hair. Thank you. I'll add it to the ball. And little Lisa, here's your saxophone. Thank you. And thank you, Dad. You got it back, just like you said you would. I sincerely regret any inconvenience I may have caused.

And although I have stolen your material goods, let me assure you that your dear town has stolen my heart. Awwww! Oh, he's so charming! Let's let him go! Yeah! Oh, sorry folks. Gee, I really hate to spoil this little lovin', but Mr. Malloy broke the law. And when you break the law, you gotta go to jail. Ah, that reminds me, uh, here's your monthly kickback.

You just, you couldn't have picked a worse time. See, this is where I thought, oh, Wiggum's a little smarter than he was in the previous one. He actually is, he believes in the law enough to complain about it and be like, no, everybody, we're not just letting him go. You know, now listening to just like that sound you pointed out with Abe Bob, hearing that there, I was like, oh, the sound Selma makes

when she's handed back it is great. These little murmurs peppered throughout are very nice. You take them for granted. I love how Barney just screams, let's let him go! So we then cut to him in jail and Homer is taunting him endlessly, which imagine he's been doing this for an hour when we check in here. In the original script, first Molloy teases that he was hired by Lyndon B Johnson to get a package from a book depository and then is cut off on that as well. So we lost a JFK reference. But

this is where Malloy reveals his plan. I caught the cat burglar! I caught the cat burglar! That means you, you are the cat burglar! I suppose you're wondering where I hid all the millions of dollars That means you are the cat burglar. I suppose you're wondering where I hid all the millions of dollars that I stole over the years. Shut up! Oh, well, wait a minute. Maybe we should hear him out. Where'd you hide the loot, Malloy? It's buried right here in Springfield, under a big tee. No kidding.

Big tee, huh? Well, I guess I'll be going to my home now and sleep. Yeah, me too. I will also go home for sleep. Let me through! I gotta find a big T! There's millions of dollars buried under a big T! So here we go.

I love that Homer, since we just heard that part, I love that Homer skips over in the plot of the movie. They try to keep it a secret so other people don't know that there's treasure hidden somewhere. Homer instantly screams to everybody that there's treasure hidden under a big T. Yeah, and we mentioned before, this is all a parody of It's a Madman, Madman World,

which was basically Avengers endgame for new and aging comedians of the 60s and I Will see this one day But to be honest any comedy longer than 88 minutes makes me all itchy and sweaty and I kind of like get antsy and this Is as long as Wakanda forever current reference. Yeah, it, I am curious about the, I mean, again, cause we look at like what's a 30 year old comedy right now and you know, yeah, it could be like Dumb and Dumber or whatever. I guess I just don't know, like I know it's a mad, mad,

mad, mad world is like every comedy kinda doesn't age that well. I know it's on criterion. So I'm like, wait, is it something that people actually like really are fond of and think is like a feat of filmmaking? And so I'm like, I'm curious what like the attitude is with this parody. Are they like, is it loving? And they're like, oh, this was like a comedy we loved 30 years ago when we were kids. Or are they like, we're making fun of like the most bloated Hollywood production that just missed the mark on what's funny.

I'm like really not clear on it, you know? AC It sounds like David Merkin really loves the movie, but he could be one of the few baby boomers who really, really loves this film. I hear from a lot of boomers, people who grew up with the movie, that they didn't like it. They thought it was weird and they didn't like how the three stooges didn't talk and they were very, very old by this point in history. But he worked to get all of the original music, which is what you hear during the set piece.

And then the episode ends, I believe, with a Simpsons version of the theme from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Gotcha. Okay, so it's a loving tribute, not a savage takedown of a sub. Yeah, I think Merkin, based on his age, like he would have been a child when it came out and it was treated as like this big event super movie. It's funny in both the case of it of It's a Man Man Man Man World and The Pink Panther.

Like both are what's interesting about them don't feel like sellers to you now. And that like The Pink Panther, a big thing when you watch it's like the James Bond movies Whoa, look at this the French Alps are now they're in Italy and this is like a real like street in Rome That's amazing and same with like it's a man man man man world Not just that they are going all over the US and there's like all these scenes Outdoors and it's filmed like in a very expensive way, but also it was filmed in like Cinemascope like it is ultra wide-screened and shots are composed to show that off You can see the whole movie right now on to be though. It's in the wrong aspect ratio. So why even bother?

Yeah, I Only watched it as a kid because of this joke Like I was like I have to understand this because my parents had seen it, but they also weren't telling me like it's the greatest comedy of all time. They weren't that big evangelizers of it. I remember renting two D it was a two VHS set and unlike Avengers end game, it actually has a fucking intermission in it that lets people use that through. That's great. Yeah. It's very faithful to the point where they're recreating gags, both Milton burl and

I believe buddy hackett are in the background and then we get the Phil silvers character scene They're just doing one for one in terms of even that gag and even Bart waving to the guys as car goes in the water exactly Taken from the movie like every frame right right Bart is just taking the place of the little boy who tells Phil silvers that oh that's a creek he can drive across and then he can and his car sinks. And that was what I, as a kid, I liked watching it, which is that I was like, oh, that's the scene from Simpsons.

That's the scene from, I wasn't watching it even to laugh all that much. Yeah, that's funny. Though it also does feel like kind of a cursed production when you watch it, because it's like, it's some people's last movie and you're just seeing like very old people like I believe it's Spencer Tracy's last movie I think or one of his last no Neil you

mentioned the criterion version of it I think it was 2013 they released it but it was if you're a mad man mad mad world fan it's the definitive version because they have a restored bunch of lost scenes. There was an over three hour version of it. They have a 197 minute version of the film. It's like the return of the king. Yeah, it's that long. It has commentary tracks from super fans, including Mark Avenir talking about it,

and it's in the correct aspect ratio. Now, when I learned what the aspect ratio really was, I felt even more betrayed by having watched it on VHS cropped to like four by eight because you're literally seeing a third of the scene. Yeah, that's funny. And like when you see the bit in The Simpsons where they're parroting it of everybody looking down like you know you're from ground level and the characters all pop their head into screen, that's one to one from the movie except it's in the

cinemascope aspect ratio so it's like all the way across this long strip though I get why that wouldn't be released in widescreen in a pre-HD TV era because the black bar it would be a very thin strip of your TV when I skipped around on to be watching and I was like oh yeah I don't I don't want to watch this whole thing I don't I'll say't want to watch this whole thing. I don't, I'll say there's some really funny stuff in it. If you just skipped around to only Jonathan Winter scenes, I think you'd have a good time. He's very funny in it.

That's actually the biggest cut of this in the original script. There's a few things of like, and then this scene happens from the movie, but they had one where Homer tears apart an entire gas station, just like Jonathan Winters does in the film, which I remember that being my favorite scene in the movie. Yeah. I mean, oh, go ahead, Neil. I was just going to say it's such a funny sequence in the show, but it is like maybe of any substance of the most. I'm like, wow, I really thought the story was over and this episode keeps going. Like it's not like, okay, the story's over, but we got one last little gag here. It's like, I mean, the story was over and this episode keeps going. Like it's not like, okay, the story's over

but we got one last little gag here. It's like, I mean, the story honestly feels like everyone, they catch him and he gives their saxophone back or whatever. Then he's taunting them in jail. Then they have the tea thing that they get wrong. Then they go back and get their actual clue. Then there's a bunch of gags.

You know, you watch now and I know, I've seen the episode and I know where it's gonna end and stuff, but even then I was watching, I was like, wow, it just keeps going. That's really a different pacing for most Simpsons, I would say. And I think at this point they were allowed to be this self-indulgent. I'm going to play devil's advocate and say they're doing here what people would criticize Family Guy for doing in about five to seven years, where it's like, we're going to just present the joke you like with no twist on it except Phil Silvers is Homer or whatever they're doing here.

I feel like they would work a little harder but I guess nobody was doing one-for-one parodies of this film on TV in 1993. So it was like, yes, you get the green flag, go ahead and do this. Yeah, yeah, I admire that they're doing it. It's just a funny, like, you even like start to try to make it make sense

You're like, well, maybe them being stuck in the pit is punishment for them Behaving selfishly and having this mob rule and going unchecked That's probably not it. There's another quick scene of Kent Brockman, which this is another my favorite favorite favorite lines in the whole show Hordes of panicky people seem to be evacuating the town for some unknown reason. Professor, without knowing precisely what the danger is, would you say it's time for our viewers to crack each other's heads open and feast on the goo inside? Yes, I would, Ken.

Feast on the goo inside. I expect that to be the first question because it's the one that makes me laugh the most. I forget, there's like a kind of funny first question and then the follow-up is eating the goo. Yeah. Feast on the goo inside. Not even eat their brains, but just say like, there's goo inside of skulls, eat it.

Though, in the original script, there's a line that is just as funny, I'd say, and I totally understand why I bet the TV network censors cut it, because it looks like ADR movement on Kent when he says it. Originally, he says, or at least in the script, he asked if it's time for our viewers to take their own lives by drinking some sort of poisonous household cleaner. Yes, I guess that could be seen as an attractive nuisance. Yeah, that is an imitatable

act for sure for all the kids listening. You know, I just went to a book signing of Alex Hirsch for the new Gravity Falls book he put out and he was asked like, Oh, what's something you got cut out of it? And because he was writing stuff, basically it's a book written by the arch villain of the show. And so he has bad things written in it. And one of the jokes he says that Disney wouldn't let him put in there was kids, if you're reading this book, what's that thing in your kitchen sink? It sounds weird. Put your hand in there and check. The then parody ends with them all arriving even in a recreation of the

location of where the W was in the movie and with the angelic music over the arrival at the W as well. And if you look in the background where there's the T, the W is there too. Now Neil, this is located and apparently it's called the California Incline in Santa Monica where Ocean Avenue meets State Route 1. Do you know this area? It does. State Route 1 is the Pacific Coast Highway, so I guess I theoretically know where that is. Yeah. Apparently mean State Route 1 is the Pacific Coast Highway. So I guess I theoretically know where that is Yeah, apparently if you're driving by the coast on Santa Monica, it's like this turn that they take here is like apparently called the California incline Oh, yeah, I think I know what it is, but I'm maybe I'm wrong and dumb trying to think is it also the road

They're driving down at the end of knocked up. Oh, maybe I can't It's been a while since I've seen that. I might be thinking of a different incline. I'm not sure. There's so many famous inclines in California. So they get up there, they see the big T, they start digging. And yeah, this is where in the background you see Buddy Hackett is drawn in there too and Milton Burrell. Milton Burrell is a guy tapping his shovel. Which apparently David Silverman himself animated. This is where everybody looks down at it,

taking the shot from the movie too. This is a perfect ending. I just love this. Here, I'll just play the clip, then we can talk about it. Whoa, I found something. Oh, what is it? What is it? What is it?

What is it? What is it? What is it? There it is. What is it? It's just a piece of paper. It's mine! Rightfully sorry, but there is no hidden treasure.

I have already used this time to escape from your jail. Bondus wishes. We can't make out the signature. Keep digging. We're bound to find something. I guess we're not going to find anything. How are we going to get out of here? We'll dig our way out. I guess we're not gonna find anything A lot of digging noises at the end there. Yeah, dig up stupid is something I've incorporated into my daily life in terms of a phrase I will say

whenever I hear bad advice given or if I'm out of advice to give people or out of clues, I just say, dig up stupid. There you go. It's such a great line like that. We'll dig our way out, they've already dug themselves that deep in it. How's it gonna work?

Well, just keep doing the mistake we made. Let's keep doing it. And then just dig up stupid. Like that's such a, it's so good. This replaced a much more complicated ending, right, Henry? Well, actually, there's a different ending in the script. And then there's the deleted scene ending, which I love how this is Homer is reading a note left in Maloy's voice that he's like frightfully sorry like and still nobody

it's not just that Homer can't make out the name and they don't know nobody assumes it's Maloy and they just they're like oh must be wrong keep digging we'll find the thing on the DVD there is a deleted original ending which is less good I would say and was rightfully redone rightfully sorry but there is no hidden treasure I have already used this time to escape from your jail. Bondus wishes. We can't make out the signature. Keep digging.

We're bound to find something. Well, at least our town can return to its normal crime rate, God willing. Pardon me, I've just been mugged. Right on schedule. And then that was the ending. Hey look, we all love Hans Wolman being hurt but that's not it's no dig up. I was gonna just say it's kind of a confusing joke too where it's like the normal crime it's not like he kept the

town safe and now crimes returning like that crime would have already happened he just added crime to the town you know so it's it's not like the Hans Wolman getting mugged theoretically in this version would not have happened prior, you know. Yeah, it's funny enough, but Dig Up Stupid is so immortal to me that nothing could compare. And then in the original script, the different ending was they cut back to the retirement home and Malloy has just moved back in and no one's noticed and he's hanging out with Abe

and Jasper and then they say like, oh do you think anybody will notice? And then Jasper says, I'm not even sure I know what I'm seeing here. Well he is blind. Yeah. That's been established. This character never came back for anything.

I guess he was in the movie in the scene where they just basically work everybody into a crowd. It's full of references. It's kind of it. I guess tapped out, but that in the scene where they just basically work everybody into a crowd. It's full of references It's kind of it. I guess tapped out but that's not online anymore. So who cares? That's right. Yeah, actually, so it's non canonical by being delisted I love that Malloy his entire plan was like I will bury a briefcase to talk to everybody once they leave I'll be able to escape and I'll never return again and I'll go to another town and rob everything. All he does over and over again.

He's such a wonderful one-off character. Like, Malloy, I mean, again, he's just David Niven from Pink Panther. There's not much more to him than that, but Samuel plays him very fun. And hey, Samuel's still with us, so they could bring him back while he's still here. Yeah, it's not too late. Now they're hyper-focused on giving us a lot of old references and and things and I feel like it's time. Yeah. The Return of Malloy episode yeah. And now Sam Neal is actually an old man. He's aged into playing Malloy and he won't leave his farm in New Zealand. Easy for him to just

record it remotely. Yeah sure there's a weta studio around there somewhere. And I guarantee that pig is alive and well. Great. And we go out on credit music from Al Clawson doing a Mad World parody. That sounds like I'm talking about that song, but no, it's a Mad World. Four Mads.

Just remember, four Mads. Whenever you're talking about this with your friends, as you do every day, don't embarrass yourself. It's too many Mads. You can see, again, like that is the type of, you know, stayed musty world of cinema that's Francis Ford Coppola and Dennis Hopper and all these movies are going to like explode the film industry in just a couple of years. Yeah.

I guess it was the ensemble comedy version of the big cinema scope musical. Like it was the hello Dolly of comedies, right? I wonder, I, you know, I didn't even bother to look up the box office for it. I don't think it was a crazy successful film either. And again, I think the Cinemascope screwed it for getting re-aired on TV. Though also I suppose with commercials,

even back in the 60s with commercials that on TV, like that's a five hour block of television, I would think. And then meanwhile, Peter Sellers is the one fun thing. Everything else in the Pink Panther also just feels old and musty Except for him. He's the one guy who's like Oh, this feels like a new thing in movies or actually even older because he feels like a silent comedy character as those deleted scenes of the ending show you how it could be less funny though not bad, but Dig up is such a perfect ending. Absolutely, And I guess we're doing Final Thoughts now.

I love this episode. We're still in early Merkin, and early Merkin is all about, I want to tell as many crazy jokes as possible. I want to disrespect the story as much as possible. These are fun. I'm glad he does grow out of it and tells better stories in season six, but at the same time the jokes here are all 10 out of 10s. Except for that MC Hammer joke, I'm still going to say it's the worst joke of this episode. But everything else, great. Dig up stupid, something I say every day.

I've said my piece. I love this episode as well. I think it's wonderfully animated. And so even when something that I could complain about if I was just seeing this as a script, maybe I would say like, oh, this feels like filler of a page and a half is a Pink Panther parody with no dialogue. And then, and the end of your thing, like Neil said, the plot is resolved pretty, like three minutes early, and then you kill time. It could be read as killing time of this lengthy parody,

but in execution, both are done so well in the animation and filled with great jokes that you're not feeling like you're checking your watch or that you're noticing they are killing time with a lengthy parody. Great episode. When I was a kid, I could basically just get like how many funny jokes are in an episode. I got older, I started to appreciate more the ones that had like a really nice story or something to it or some emotional, even like a hint at something. Actually, not even it doesn't even be emotional, just a story that begins in one place and ends in another but all that said I still put on Simpsons and I'm like oh I hope this is a really funny

one and this one has it's so well directed and so many funny jokes and I'm always happy to watch this up. Awesome well thank you so much for coming back to the show Neil Campbell please let us know where we can find you online and what you're currently working on right now. I am, you can find me at NeilerDude at Instagram. I don't post that often, but if there's something important in my life, I will post it. If we get a premiere date, when we get a premiere date for Digman, I'll put that info up there. Yeah, so just be on the lookout for Digman. I also did a guest voice on the Great North coming up, playing a character named Yeti

Van Halen. So I think that'll air in late February, but I'm not totally sure about that. But that's what's next for me. Awesome. We haven't covered Digman yet, but we did recently cover, I want to say Andy Sandberg's first animated voice, which would be from Hotel Transylvania. So if you want to hear how his voice acting has grown only since Hotel Transylvania. It's the thing like, oh yeah, he's been in like four very successful animated feature films in addition to all of the other, you know, work Andy's done. Yeah, I mean, he's done a lot of that in Cloudy and Rescue Rangers and all that, yeah. Storks!

Oh yeah. I'm looking forward to seeing season two of Digment. It's all on Paramount Plus right now, at least. Yes, on Paramount Plus, exactly, yes. At least in the United States. I can't speak to every country out there. Yeah, some other countries have Paramount Plus, others, it's at different places.

All of our Sardinian listeners are so mad at us right now. Climb the mountain of Paramount Plus and you'll be able to watch it. Yeah, thanks so much, always so fun. Great to see you guys. But anyway, thank you again, Neil. It was great having you back. Thanks again to Neil Campbell for being on the show. Please check out Digman season 2 whenever it

ends up on a streaming platform or perhaps on Comedy Central. We don't know yet as is this recording but it's gonna be great. But as for us if you want to check out more of what we do and get these episodes ad-free and one week at a time head on over to patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons. Sign up for five bucks you get just that but also access to over 200 full length miniseries episodes covering things like Futurama, King of the Hill, Mission Hill, Batman the animated series, and the critic.

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Dubois, which I think has held up pretty all right and is one of the most successful DreamWorks films of all time. And that's just our most recent one in over six years of What a Cartoon Movies released every month. There's a giant back catalog of I think 75 and counting What a Cartoon Movies. You get all of them and a new one each month all ad free if you sign up today at patreon.com slash talking. Simpsons we've covered the entire Disney Renaissance, many other classic Disney films, a bunch of Warner Brothers films and Batman cartoons. We've done several of the Batman films.

We have also done Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Super Duper in Depth, even Junk-like Cool World. You can hear it all if you sign up today at that $10 level to get everything ad free, early and exclusive at patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons and I have been one of your hosts Bob Mackie you can find me on Twitter and a hey blue sky as Bob servo and everywhere else is Bob servo if somebody there is Bob servo on a social media platform it's probably me and by the way of another podcast it's called retronauts that is a classic gaming podcast all about old video games

you can find that wherever you find podcasts or you can go to patreon.com slash retronauts and sign up for an additional two episodes every month that are bonus episodes in full length as well and Henry how about you? I remain H-E-N-E-R-E-Y-G on Twitter but of course I'm more active on Blue Sky as Talking Henry which is also my name on Instagram Talking Henry look for that on Blue Sky and Instagram and if you are on any of those three social media sites, you got to follow at talk Simpsons pod because that's the official account of this podcast. And you will stay up to date whenever new stuff comes out. If you follow at talk Simpsons

pod and as always an easy to find list of our previously released free episodes of everything we do. What a cartoon and talking Simpsons is at TalkingSimpsons.com. Thanks so much for listening folks. We'll see you again next time for Season 15's Marginal History Tour and we'll see you then. I'm gonna go get some food. Hello police, are you sitting down? Good, I wish to report a robbery. A robbery, right, thanks for the report. There's another one Lou, 723 Evergreen Terrace. Well it doesn't seem to be any pattern yet, but if I take this one and move it here, then

I move these over here hello it almost looks like an arrow hey look chief it's pointing right at this police station let's get out of here