Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - Like Father, Like Clown

Episode Date: April 27, 2016

We dig into Krusty’s Jewish heritage and riff on The Jazz Singer in another season 3 classic podcast…

Ahoy, ahoy, everybody, and welcome to Talking Simpsons, the Later Time Podcast Network's chronological exploration of The Simpsons. I am your host, Bob Mackie. Who else is here with me today? Chris Anteisdom. Henry Gilbert. Token Jew Diana Goodman. Awesome.

We do have a token Jew. I'm allowed to say that. You found one. Yes Jew Diana Goodman. Awesome. We do have a token Jew. I'm allowed to say that. You found one. Yes. Diana is Jewish. She will be walking us through this episode and all the words we don't understand. In case you want to know, this episode is Like Father, Like Clown, which aired on October 24th, 1991.

Chris, what happened on this magical day in history in 1991? Oh, my God. Oh, man. Danny DeVito is topping the box office with other people's money, NBC brings country back to primetime with Hot Country Nights, and the best-selling book is Scarlet, a long-awaited sequel to a 50-year-old film. Oh, wow. I take a not-buy the original author.

I just, I got that because Diana was here. Oh, thank you. Because I have no context for the Gone with the Wind sequel book other than remembering the rooh-ha-ha around it being released. Yeah, no, the original author was it being released. Yeah, no. The original author was long dead and her estate finally hired a romance writer to write a sequel. I mean, it was fan fiction, really.

I believe it put her back together with Rhett. Of course. I was hoping it wasn't one of those Harper Lee situations where it was like, you're clearly out of your mind and too old to know any better, so I'll steal this manuscript from you.

That's what I think happened with that last book that she wrote. Did we mention Gone with the Wind? Oh, it's the predecessor, yeah. The sequel to Gone with the Wind. I just want to make sure people got that. Yeah, Scarlet, this time it's personal. Because it's weird, but it does happen with almost everything we've ever loved.

Did you like Transformers? Here's a comic. You'll never stop getting Transformers. If you like Hard Boiled, here's a video game. You'll never stop The Simpsons, either. There's a song about that in a bad episode. So yeah, this episode is all about exploring Krusty's Judaism. And it's revealed that he's Jewish for the first time, which really conflicts with his sponsorship of pork products.

So where do we want to start with this episode, Chris? This is one of the ones I remember the commentary from very specifically, in that they said they wanted to do this bad enough to where they had set up in advance that like crusty's emblem on his on his in his studio was a star of david well so this is an mvp's episode because it was written by jay kogan and wally walidarski who would go on to be the credited writers uh what many saw as the best episode of the show last exit to springfield uh they and they're I believe both Jewish, and they wanted to, they were interested in creating

a story about Judaism. And meanwhile, Brad Bird, who is a Gentile, he though loves Krusty, he had directed Krusty Gets Busted. He was too busy to fully direct the episode, but he co-directed this one and added some of the best animation flourishes including the Krusty

face on his door is set against another triangle to make it in the shape of the Star David. I thought I remembered that they wanted to do this episode. They knew they were going to do it so that emblem appears in prior episodes because they knew they were going to make this parody. I don't think it was that far in advance.

I think the story in the commentary is like, this was the plot line that was the hit of that year's writers' retreat. Everyone was like, we need to make a jazz singer oh my god his name could be kristofsky and it was just keep bouncing ideas off of each other diana the name hyman i have a i don't want you to look at my notes i'm not sure how i said well it should be mentioned because like last year they killed this character oh you're right i mean i like to say they killed they killed fat tony now they're killing off uh hyman kristofustofsky, Krusty's dad, played by the wonderful Jackie Mason. He's still alive.

He's now a plastic surgery monster, in case you've seen him. I think it was last year. It was actually in 2014. 2014. As someone, like, I love the jerk. God, I've explained this on many other podcasts. I saw Caddyshack 2 first, so that was the one I loved, and that stars Jackie Mason. Oh, wow.

In the Rodney Dangerfield role, who is the center of the film now playing this can you imagine that today yeah uh but yeah he was killed off in the 2014 premiere which they implied like we're killing off a character who could be guess who which character could be and it's like flanders burns and like who's this oh yeah who's it gonna be i remember once i saw that ad and it had the heads of 12 possible people dying in the bottom right hand corner was hyman's head i was like well it's him he was never popular that was but that was like his third or fourth he like during the era we consider classic he never appeared again but i think he has been crusty's that ever since back a couple times there was an episode where crusty got bar mitzvahed and uh his he was back on that one

but on this one back in you back in two years. I liked how in this episode it began with, I think we've seen the end of a Krusty show so many times and they change it every time but this time just the animation of the final acts is so awesome and then it's an SNL

close with just all of them standing together for the good nights and then they even mentioned Donna Mills, who is still active. She is still an active actor. She was just in 2015's Joy. And we do see some little scene Krusty the Clown Show characters like Corporal Punishment and Tina Bell

Arena, who might be in Krusty's Super Fun House or Krusty's Fun House, those video games. Corporal Punishment kills a lot of rats. And also, though, when the episode ends, he tugs on his ear a reference to Carol Burnett. I read that and couldn't find it. I missed that. Carol Burnett, at the end of every episode

of the Carol Burnett show in the 70s, she would tug on her ear at the end, which is a sign of saying, I love you, Grandma, who died during the production of her show. So that was... In this entire episode, Krusty became their vessel for all old Hollywood showbiz stories.

That's who he is. And a lot of the writers worked for old-timey showbiz people. Like, sorry, Al Jean and Mike Reese wrote for Johnny Carson. And they apparently did not have a good time on that show.

They met him, like, twice. Yes. I think later in the show, there's a definite, like, hatred for Johnny Carson coming on. Based on the next couple episodes, there's a bunch of Johnny Carson jokes of, like, all right right we get it john like johnny's barely on tv at this point but crusty this is the the furthest they've dug into crusty i guess as a person and not a

personality and yeah the whole episode begins with them canceling everything you've got a 430 merchandising meeting cancel it therapist cancel it personal trainer cancel it the opening line on the giants is five and a half put a dime on it thank you dinner with bart simpson i don't know any part simpson crusty he's the boy who saved you from jail well we made a terrible terrible mistake uh won't happen again well there was one boy who trusted me all along part yes sir thank you oh yeah cancel it we do find out crusty is scrubbing along. Bert? Yes, sir. Thank you. Oh, yeah. Cancel it. We do find out Krusty is scrubbing the mildew out of his shower tile. That was his important business. I don't think the

Simpsons have ever done a flashback using the footage from an old episode, and what a terrible time to do it at this point. Yeah, I mean, this episode is directed by Brad Bird and Jeffrey Lynch, who's a new director, who I guess went on to direct a Spider-Man movie. Is that true? Well, no, he would direct a few later episodes and in some later seasons.

Then he would go on to the more profitable thing of being an animation or maybe the animation director for Spider-Man special effects. So the special, like... The cartoon in between the Tobey Maguire stuff. Yeah. That's the secret of most superhero films is that animators are needed to make the CG film around which you put Tobey Maguire. Secretly cartoons. Wow, I never thought of it that way. So that's what Jeffrey Lynch did. And he made a lot more money doing that than working on The Simpsons. But yeah, that's what he would go on to do.

That flashback was an interesting first appreciation of their continuity, which later it would build to in like uh the box factory episode where bart reminds him of like four more things he does for me he's like and i'll never forget it i'll never forget it like mr burns in that way yeah and also that was lois penny candy yeah who is i think they clearly had bigger plans for her than this and they just kind of dropped her i want to see more of her because i feel like they have a real kind of screwball comedy relationship. She's kind of his gal Friday, and carries a torch for him. Her name is a direct reference to Moneypenny. Oh, for sure.

The secretary of James Bond, who always has a fun tete-a-tete with him, but they never seal the deal. He's the one he can't get. And yeah, she's been carrying a torch for him she's made minor appearances since then but yeah the most she ever appeared was like in the um like if if crusty needs to have an assistant in the scene she'll be there sometimes but like in uh the episode where apu became uh the hot stud in town She was one of the women who bid on him. Oh, wow. She has to cancel on Bart. I don't have any clips of the scene, but I love Bart's room

showing a kid obsessed with a clown. I know this is Matt Groening's reference to his childhood, the Bozo era. I bring this up on every show I'm on, that they invented clown characters to string together old theatrical cartoons from the 1940s to air on television.

So in between, you'd have a character, Coming up next, kids, Popeye! And then they'd throw to a local sponsor. Yeah, and Bozo was a franchise. Each kind of network had their own Bozo. You could become a Bozo if you wanted to. I was astonished when I finally saw Bozo, and around this time at my grandparents' house with no cable,

that it was a show that was still on and exactly like this, except really not funny. Yeah, the Chicago WGN bozo is the true bozo in my book. But they were all super Christian dudes in some cases. Brad Bird talks about how both him and Mac Rainey grew up with what they thought the inspiration was for Krusty. Oh, was it Rusty Nails? Rusty Nails.

What an awful name for a clown. Who was a very Christian clown. And a sidekick tetanus boy. Pennywise. But of all Bart's stuff, I had to write down everything on the cologne bottle. Oh, me too. I want to point that out, Chris. I don't think I could read this with an SDTV.

I don't think I've seen this episode with an HDTV yet. I had to blow it up. Yeah, I had to go frame by frame because it was so tiny and written in pencil. Krusty's non-toxic cologne with a K. The smell of the big top, which is a great gag. Warning, use in a well-ventilated area. May stain furniture. Prolonged use may cause chemical burns.

I don't think anyone could have actually read that during this episode's original airing. It's so poorly written. They have a name for the gags. In that episode guide, they talk about stuff. That's one of those jokes we made for VCR people. For people who tape the show and want to pause stuff. And I hate that the modern show pauses on everything to make sure you see the whole joke instead of being able to notice it when you're watching it a second time.

I think you need a forehead VCR to read this, though. And he's singing the Steve Allen song, This Could Be the Start of Something Big. It's a song made famous by Steve Allen in the 50s, who would later go on to protest the Simpsons as being too dirty for television. After he was a guest star. Yes, yeah. A multi-time guest star.

Penny Candy convinces Krusty to go. Sex chats! You're skipping sex chats? Read this. I am. I am. D. It's illiterate, right?

This is keeping the continuity of it. D. Dear. Krust. Why? D D Crust Why? It says that the little boy who never lost faith in you Has lost faith in you Crusty, you are going to Bart Simpson's house for dinner tonight But I have plans

Hey, not the face Why, you maddening, impossible man If you don't go tonight I won't be here tomorrow Oh, alright alright I'll go But I sure hate missing schnapps night At the Friars Club Is that an old comedy thing or an old Jew thing?

That's an old comedy thing But I mean most old comedians at the Friars Club Were Jews I don't know You want to get diabetes or drunk? I'm sure Alan King is watching Do you not have the sex chat thing? No, I didn't.

It's such a small piece, but I love it. Just this weird joke that comes out of nowhere. It's one you won't get if you were born in the last year. But I've seen the sex chat referenced so many times to be online of just like, this is a club full of men who thought they'd have a chance to meet women, but it's only other gross dudes. This is not as hot a party as I had anticipated. I think I'm barely old enough to know what a party line is.

I mean, party just means more than one person, I guess. There were some tricks with your phone that you could call into these groups that was just one phone that didn't hang up. I don't know. There were all these tricks with old phones. I feel like an old man just bringing it up. But sex chat was just such a great sleazy joke. Like, you're talking to sex chat.

That it was, you had to pay extra for the ability to talk to more than one person on the phone. Sorry, kids. Enjoy your Minecraft. But Krusty eventually, finally is coming to the house. Bart, wipe your feet. Why bother? We'll just get dirty again. I've got some

good news. Krusty the Clown is coming to dinner tonight. He is? For sure? Yes. God bless that clown. But which god, Bart? You're about to find out. Krusty comes over. I want to say is this the first appearance of Mr. Teeny?

Yes. It was not. I looked it up. It was not his first appearance. Damn. Sorry, I did not get where it wasn't, but I double-checked to be like, is this the first Mr. Teenie? I always hit that Simpsons wiki because they tell you every appearance of every character. Yeah, I didn't see it there, but I thought it was. Krusty, you don't have to be on tonight. What are you talking about?

Of course he does. No, Dad. Krusty, you don't have to be on tonight. What are you talking about? Of course he does. No, Dad. Krusty is our guest. Your pratfalls and punch-and-ovo antics aren't necessary here. Really? Yeah. Just relax and be yourself. Oh, that's a relief.

Go wait in the car. Oh, we could have seen a monkey. Love that line, just because you did see a monkey, Homer. Yeah. And you commented on him. And then reading over the Simpsons wikia, which I do and do not sometimes when we do this show because it sometimes infuriates me.

Like this one. Goof, Krusty says to the monkey, go wait in the car and then walks home. I hope someone got fired for that. Did the monkey have a cigar yet? Maybe the monkey just took the car. Maybe. Mr. Teeny just said, fuck it, I'm leaving. Captain of the goofs of the Simpsons wikia.

And by the way, that Punchinello antics, that's a reference to the Italian clown type punch. Punchinello. I believe the Puccini opera is about that dude. This scene is the longest. It is probably the best, I don't know, one of my favorite moments of the whole show. The grace where it all comes out. Who wants to say grace? Why didn't we let our guests do it?

Bless us, oh Lord. Hey, Krusty, would you do the honors? Well, all right. I'm a little rusty, but I'll try. Baruch atah Adonai. Eloheinu melech haolam. Hamotzi lechem. Min ha'aretz.

He's talking funny talk. Dad, that's Hebrew. Krusty must be Jewish. Jewish entertainers? Get out of here. Dad, there are many prominent Jewish entertainers, including Lauren Bacall, Don Shore,

William Shatner, and Mel Brooks. Mel Brooks is Jewish? Krusty, are you all right? Yes, it's just that saying the bruchel brings back a lot of painful memories. The old days. Oh, there's the clarinet. My father.

A little klezmer for that ass. A little clarinet leading into some klezmer stuff. Okay, so. How accurate was that, Diana? That is extremely accurate. That is the prayer that you say before eating. How was Dan Castellaneta's pronunciation, though? Pretty good.

Okay. When I saw this at age nine, I was like Homer. I was like, what are these silly words he's saying? I don't know this thing. My complaint with most people saying Jew-y type words is you gotta hit the... Real good. You gotta hock that word. I'm gonna say...

By the way, Mr. Teeny's first appearance was Itchy and Scratchy in Marge. Oh, right. So just a background. Kind of lost a bit. And I think we missed the obvious here. This is a parody of The Jazz Singer most of this episode. And this is where it starts. I mean, The Jazz Singer, basically the first talkie, the first movie with synchronized sound.

It is, yep. And it's about a... Not the Neil Diamond version. Don't even talk to me about that one. Oh, that one. 1927. Ouch. Wow.

And I guess it's just about a very Jewish father who's upset with his son for not following in his footsteps. He wants to become a jazz singer. Right. So I forget if it's a rabbi or a cantor. A cantor is like a rabbi that sings all the prayers. Okay. Does he have the headgear and the curls?

Yeah. The headgear. I mean, that's just Orthodox Jews in general, right? Yeah. I just thought, well, maybe the jazz singer reference is a little dated for today's audience. But I also thought that the looks of the Jewish... I went to New York a couple years ago and

that's still a thing. The Orthodox dress? The black hats? What do you call it? The Orthodox? It was Mike Grimm and I walking around and we got approached by a gang of them and they were all hammered in the middle of the day.

Hey, hey, hey, hey! You Jewish? Like, no. Alright. Did I walk onto the sequel to The Warriors? What the fuck happened? Yeah, man. Oh, The Warriors totally needed an orthodox gang. Oh, man. Oh, shit.

You can't be in the same room with women, though. No, you can be in the same room with women though Keep us away No you can be in the same room With women Okay fine You can't touch them right You can't touch women That you're not related to Because

That would insinuate They are a prostitute What So they are actually Being respectful By not shaking women's hands Glad you're putting yourself Out there for this one Diane

I'm the best The best I can defend I don't Believe me Not orthodox The point is Krusty's father's a rabbi. First of all, my real name isn't Krusty the Clown. It's Herschel Krustofsky.

My father was a rabbi. His father was a rabbi. His father's father... Well, you get the idea. By the way, his name would expand, as we know from the episode where he fakes his death, that he's introduced as Herschel Schmeichel Krustofsky. Wow. But it has since grown to Herschel Schmeichel Pinchus Yeruchem Krustofsky.

Wow. That had to happen much later. I know Pinkus is the name, or Pinkus. My favorite Jewish name in the episode is this next scene starts in front of yiddles joke shop i love you and it's the same shop bart goes to later to get a disguise so like it's just nice to know that little little israel and springfield is still there and so it's another one of those springfield has everything jokes has a gorge now has like a small jewish community like like in new york i will say the port town i don't think this connects with the crusty biography we got from kent brockman in crusty it's busted right because he did not come

the goof guy on the wiki uh but i i did also love the line a black velvet painting come to life i love it yeah and it was funny just seeing homer and uh crusty at a dinner table together because the original gag on the shorts was that crustyy was going to end up being Homer in disguise. That Bart hates his dad but loves this clown. The guy looks exactly like him with a little makeup and a wig. That's why Radioactive Man looks just like Homer too, if I haven't said it before on here. We introduced Jackie Mason and his rabbinical advice is great. I want to steal his.

Yes! My father was the most respected man in the Lower East Side of Springfield. People would come from miles around to ask his advice. Red Kostowski, should I finish college? Yes, for no one is poor except he who lacks knowledge. Rabbi, should I have another child? Yes, Another child would be a blessing on your house. Rabbi,

should I buy a Chrysler? Could you rephrase that as a mythical question? This is right to buy a Chrysler. Oh, yes. For great is the car with power steering and kind of low suspension. Papa, when I grow up, can I be a clown?

No. Cl clown is not a respected member of the community i want to make people laugh personal life is not fun life is serious seltzers for drinking not for spraying fires for marching not for throwing the public but nothing do as i say or you'll get such a zits that you won't even know what hit you what's a zitz smack okay now i god he's so good in this jackie mason that i i on the commentary they talk about how they had to go to new york to record with him he didn't come to them that he won an emmy for this he was their first guest star to win an emmy on the show and that he died in the 2014 episode Clown in the Dumps. But yeah, that Jackie Mason also came from a family of rabbis and he broke from that to become a comedian.

Though some people said he had kind of a rabbinical style as a comedian. Yes! I love his bragging about his son. Did you know that my son, Herschel, was first in his yeshiva class? As a matter of fact, he was voted the most likely to hear God. Oh, go on, Jaime. You're exaggerating again. You're so proud of your son.

A rabbi would never exaggerate. A rabbi composes. He creates thoughts. He tells stories that may never have happened, but he does not exaggerate. That is brilliant. Oh, that is brilliant. That's one of those things that this is like a huge top ten episode obviously in my house because there's so many jokes that are

really aimed just at Jews. Storytelling rabbis is kind of like a running gag because there's lots of telling things through simile and metaphor sometimes of like they're giving a sermon

and all of a sudden it reminds me of this story of the wayward shepherd and the car salesman. And it's like, you know, it's, it's,

it's a good technique for learning to, you know, teach something through a story, but it's also like, oh shit, I thought we were almost out of here. Though the scene with him

also with the seltzer in the bathroom, that is a reference to Philip Roth's port noise complaint. Oh my God. No, I thought we were almost out of here. Though the scene with him also with the seltzer in the bathroom, that is a reference to Philip Roth's port noise complaint. Oh my god. I didn't expect... It was a really heavy-handed jerking off reference I never would have gotten. The book is mostly about jerking off. And a guy wanting about sex a lot.

And so, again, Philip Roth, a Jewish novelist, or I guess writer in general, he did plays as well. Krusty is disowned by his father as a result of being... I do have it. You have brought shame on our family.

Oh, if you were a musician or a jazz singer, I could forgive you. I never want to see you again. You, you clown. He references the movie they're referencing i like how they hang a lampshade on like this is what we're doing we know twice in this episode oh they do yeah like well later later on in the deli when he's ordered when jackie mason's character orders the jackie

mason he mentioned his own for you sir oh let's see i want a nice sandwich with the joey bishop there too fatty the jackie mason i don't know. Sauerkraut makes me gassy. The Bruce Willis, I don't even like his work. What is this? Frosty the Clown? That's ham, sausage, and bacon with a smidge of mayo. What? On white bread.

I didn't get that until this movie. Same here. It so insults him. It so insults Hyman that he turned his back on his heritage so much to have the whitest, gentiliest sandwich possible. Full of pork products. It needs cheese on there because that's another kosher thing you could break. Wouldn't mayonnaise be part of that because there's egg in it? Or does that not matter?

Oh, yeah. I guess it probably would. And then white bread. White bread. White bread. I did at the time get, I love the desperation of Reverend Lovejoy when they ask about a rabbi. Reverend Lovejoy, we need you to help us find a rabbi. Well,

before you make any rash decisions, let me just remind you that the church is changing to meet the needs of today's young Christians. No, no, we're not converting. We just want to find a Rabbi Krustofsky. Rabbi Krustofsky? I do a radio call-in show with him every Sunday night.

Really? I didn't know that. See, I'm answering it in my sermon every week. Oh, that radio show. Oh, yeah. It's all the kids talk about on Monday at school. Oh, well. Gavin Belkod.

There's one thing we missed. There's a bunch of scenes of the Simpsons trying to get Krusty out of the house He's looking through all their photo albums And there's one thing he does before he leaves He says ooh the concert for Bangladesh It's a 100 minute album So he's just looking for something to buy him time to stay with his family I love the concert for Bangladesh

The concert for Bangladesh is a famously long thing I would always put it on when I worked at a video store I wanted music in the background I put it on George Harrison spearheading a concert for... Just a year or two removed from the breakup of the Beatles, George Harrison, who was very in touch with India at the time. India and Bangladesh were not so happy with each other.

And so he did a benefit concert. Ravi Shankar did it with him. Former Krusty the clown guest and actually that future joke about uh crusty hating his music but accepting it that's the how the that's how uh the concert for bangladesh begins because george harrison's like to the audience i know you all came here to hear rock music but we really should hear some of the music from this alien okay take your acid so please listen to ravi shank and they and him and his group do like practice they're like near near near near like for just a minute and everybody applauds they're like yay that's it he's like that was us tuning up if you liked that then you're gonna love this 20 minutes

it's endless i always skip it because then it goes straight to George Harrison rocking out. I'm glad... Well, if I were a programmer for FXX, which runs Simpsons, I think, like four nights a week in giant blocks, I want to make a block of Bart and Lisa solving things. Yeah.

I love those episodes. Lisa does all of the work, always. That's what I love about it. I did, as a kid... Spoon, Bart. Of course. As a kid, when I saw... I didn't think it was sad, him being at the bus station, like seeing a corn-operated TV that's right on a chair.

I didn't really understand that. I was like, damn, I want that. I've never seen that in real life. Oh, I have. I saw him in airports. Okay, airports, I guess. And we had a sad bus station in my hometown. The Simpsons will be right back. We can help guide you there. You see, our new Net Zero Hub has all you need to know about smart meter plans, EV tariffs, solar panels, and much more.

Making your usage clearer, your trips greener, your home cozier, and your world brighter. Find our Net Zero Hub at electricireland.ie. Are you already tired of 2016? Jump into the past with 302010, our weekly pop culture time machine podcast. Here's something you may remember from 1986. Bob Hope had basically seemingly 10 specials a year on television back then, but this was Bob Hope's Royal Command performance all the way from Sweden for the

King Gustav and Queen Sylvia. That is some SEO level bullshit. Only 70s kids will get this. Bob Hope Ugg boots. That's 302010. A weekly look at what happened in pop culture 30 years ago, 20 years ago, and 10 years ago every Thursday right here on the

Lasert Time Network. But the kids are trying to find Rabbi Herschel Krustofsky. Wait, Hyman Krustofsky. In order to reunite him with his son. Excuse us, Rabbi Krzysztofski? What can I do for you, my young friend? We came to talk to you about your son. I have no son!

Oh, great. We came all this way and it's the wrong guy. I didn't mean that literally. That is a direct Jazz Singer reference. Anytime something references I have no son, it's a Jazz Singer parody. Including a Rocko's Modern Life episode. I have no son! I liked how he was in the non-Christian Rolodex, too.

I like that. I think in Old Money, Abe does the same thing and he rips the cloth from his garment. Yeah, you have to rend your garments in horror and shame or whatever. When someone dies, you rend your garments. Also, I love dies, you rend your garments.

Also, I love Krusty's depression that comes up when he watches the Itchy and Scratchy. His reaction. Oh God, go to commercial. And it doesn't cut to commercial. Just weeping into his arm. Yeah, and any scene that looks like this scene,

it's slightly off-model, but very expressive. It's Brad Bird. Anytime there's a Krusty scene, he wants to at least animate one of them. That's the secret of Brad Bird's career is that even on the features well up until Incredibles

but he always on if he directed an episode of a show and directed Iron Giant his feature he said I want to animate one scene just my thing on it in Iron Giant if you're familiar with that film the scene where Hogarth drinks

cappuccino in a super buzzy that's a great scene that was Brad Bird did all the animation for it the expressiveness of Krusty

is so good in this scene just you know the way his eyes are just sagging he's so sad with his it's also the

Simpsons finding finding a way to do that within its own artistic template. Because they did it a lot in the first season, but it's very off-putting to make someone completely off-model to compose a different shot. I would love to see an entire episode animated like this. It's sort of like those Halloween comics they do

where they get different artists to draw them, and they don't stick to the style exactly. It's like, wow, this is what a Peter Bagg Simpsons would look like or whatever. Yeah, I think Brad Bird had the stroke to be like, I'm just drawing this. He also, I think, is pushy enough to just say like, yeah, I'm going to draw this.

This is me. I don't care what your notes are. I'm Brad Bird. Even before he had the power to say, I'm Brad Bird. Yeah, not even Matt Groening could complain about how off-model he is. He's like, no, this is clearly awesome. I'll let you do this.

I just realized, did we even explain who Jackie Mason is? Oh, we probably should. Well, I mean, yeah, he's Caddyshack too. What more is there? He's a Borscht Belt comedian of the olden days. Olden days. Old olden days. Of the guys at the Friar Club with, like, Alan King and Henny Youngman. It's a Catskills joke in here, I imagine

from there. I have to really recommend the Gilbert Gottfried podcast. He interviews nothing but 90-year-old men. And they're all, like, most of them are ancient comedians who will tell you all these stories about when the mafia owned comedy. And it's great. It's so great. Yeah.

When they call into Gabin about God, I also did love the guy's, like, very frank opening of, like, in order to keep our broadcast license, we dedicate our Sunday night dead time to public service shows with limited appeal. And that's very Gabba about God. I like that the kids have to go through

Jewish books, the Jewish books being the big book of the chosen people, Jewishness revised, and the views on Jews. I think we did miss the porno movies, though,

that Krusty walked by. Those weren't that funny. Oh, I did? They were okay. For Your Thighs Only. The best one is Crocodile Done Me. That was good. Doctor Strange Pants, not so great. Crocodile Done Me is the best one is crocodile done me and then uh that was good doctors dr

strange pants not so great crocodile done me is the best i only just i got i had to get a screenshot of modern jewish father like just a guy at a pc oh and when they call them in when they do the izzy's deli trick and they call them there that felt like such uh an increase of the show of like here's that what they would have done on Laverne and Shirley, but we've increased it to such a silly extent that no character, no real person would believe he'd get the French Legion of Honor at Izzy's Deli. And meeting Saul

Bellow. Yeah, so that was that's one of the changes they talk about on the commentary that it originally was Isaac Bashevis Singer, who is a Nobel winner as well. I believe he's the only Nobel literature winner who wrote entirely in Yiddish. Wow, really?

It's a dying language that has lots of words that you actually know and you don't realize it. Oy vey. Like oy vey, or schmooze, or schmaltz. Don't be a schmendrick, Chris. I'm not a schmendrick. Or tukus. Putz, yutz, tuchus. Meshugana. Meshugana.

Meshugas. I read the Michael Chabon book, The Yiddish Policeman's Union. Yeah, yes. There's a lot of it there. And he was inspired because he read a book called Say It in Yiddish, which was just a kid's book about learning, about trying to pass on Yiddish to another generation. Shmata.

Shmata. Shmata. I use that all the time, though. It means rag. I shouldn't say that, though, right? It actually means rag. And it comes from a lot of Jews working in what they call the rag trade, or working as tailors or clothing business. Like Hiddle. So they had Singer as the line.

They recorded Jackie Mason saying it. And this episode, like you said, aired in October 91. July 91 was when Singer died. And so they're they're like shit we've got to change this they changed it to saul bellows who is a much more secular writer and they say like they just couldn't think of another they did think it was weird that a rabbi would care so much about a very secular jewish writer though it's still he still is a nobel prize winning there's a few more things going on in this deli there's so much stuff happening in this deli scene. We have Doris Grau making another appearance.

Watch how fast I go. It's a great line. And Krusty the Clown has a, what I feel is a joke about Jerry Lewis when the waitress played by Doris Grau is questioning whether or not he's going to receive this French award. He's like, 50 million Frenchmen, can't be wrong. And I think that is a joke about Jerry Lewis because

there were a lot of jokes about the French liking him back then. Totally. And Francois Mineron was the president of France at that time. He was there from 1981 to 1995. It is wonderful that the kids win the day, win Hyman back, just with, what, rabbinical text in Jewish literature. Yeah, well, that's one of those things that I love about Judaism, is that like

christianity you know it's so much about faith you know and you just you know there's a certain amount of like just believe stop questioning just believe and in judaism you're encouraged to argue about everything you know the the stereotype is two jews three opinions you're supposed to argue and ask why to get a better and deeper understanding. And eventually you'll answer all your questions somehow and your faith will be that much stronger. That's why I love this clip. Oh, the best charity is to give

and not let other people know. But what if your example encourages others to give? Speaking of charity, Rabbi Krustofsky, don't you think it's time you forgave your son? Don't you understand that my boy broke my heart? He turned his back on our traditions, on our faith, and on me!

Get out of here, you little pisher! Pisher? Pisher. Pisher. Yeah. Basically, he called him he literally called him a pisser. So he's saying that, you know, he's so young he still pees in his pants. He pees in his pants. And the hymen's also a mohel.

Like, Bart's at a bris. Yeah, that's true. He's a mohel, too. It's about the time of the place. I mean, I guess, well, can a rabbi be a mohel? Are most mohels rabbis? Well, all mohels are rabbis. Not all rabbis are mohels.

Is that a Socrates poem? I thought I wasn't allowed to say that. Yeah, no, it's true. That is a dedicated job. That is all they do. I would hope so. It's very dangerous work. Yeah, and perform circumcisions on newborn, you know, eight-day-old baby boys.

That's a professional gig, so, you know, they know what they're doing. I could cut up a dick. They got that down to the science. Man, they work fast. I've seen them work, and it's just done. How about that famous Jewish theologian that wins the day? Yeah, I just don't. Maimon Yeah, I don't think this works. I do like when Lisa right before this says, I'm not going to learn ancient Hebrew.

And the writers don't really buy the solution anyways. They admit like we needed a way out. So this was our way out. Bart, I am not going to learn ancient Hebrew. Rabbi, did not a great man say, and I quote, the Jews are a swinging bunch of people. I mean, I've heard of persecution, but what they went through is ridiculous. But the great thing is, after thousands of years of waiting and holding on and fighting,

they finally made it. End quote. Oh, I never heard the plight of my people phrased so elegantly. Who said that, Rabbi Hillel? Nope. It was Judas Apias. Nope. It was my amenities. Nope. Oh, I never heard the plight of my people phrased so elegantly. Who said that, Rabbi Hillel? Nope. It was Judy the Pious. Nope. My amenities.

Nope. Oh, I got it. The Dead Sea Scrolls. I'm afraid not, Rabbi. It's from Yes, I Can by Sammy Davis Jr., an entertainer like your son. The Candyman? If the former could think that way, maybe I'm completely upside down on this whole problem. All the years of joy that I've lost.

Why? Because of my stubborn ways. Think about that next time you're a dick. Yeah. And that book was written in 1965 when Sammy Davis Jr. was, I think, at the top of his career. Oh, yeah. Did he convert? Oh, he did.

Yeah. He got in a really bad car accident where he lost one of his eyes. I know the Sandler song. And he had some sort of spiritual awakening and decided Judaism was the answer for him. So he got a black, one-eyed, short Jewish guy

and he was an amazing entertainer. One of the greatest entertainers ever. It's such a shame so much of his stuff is not available because he had a lot of bad investments and he had a huge tax bill and there's no real profit in re-releasing a lot of his stuff. Yeah, I think most of the stuff...

It's such a shame. Most of the stuff you'd see him in now is like, I guess if you watch the original Ocean's Eleven, he's in that. He did a lot of the stage stuff. Cannonball Run, baby. I remember him pulling out his Star of David necklace or whatever in Cannonball Ron. That movie's balls.

It makes me mad people would rather remember Frank Sinatra when I'm pretty sure he's had people killed and he did beat up Mia Farrow. He's like the worst human being who was allowed to be famous. What a great guy. It's true. I mean, hey, I'm sure Sammy Davis has... Yeah, the Candyman thing. He released a version of the Candyman things, because he released a version of that Candyman song from

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as a single, and it is really corny. That's what Jackie Mason knows him as. That song was so corny. Same was his... He did Mr. Tambourine Man, too, didn't he? He did covers of a lot of things that were really bad.

I mean, hey, the 70s were better for me I don't even know if I know him as a singer he's just like even in Cannonball Run like the dude's funny as fuck he was really funny he could dance he could sing he could do impressions like Sammy Davis Jr. I'm not gonna learn ancient Hebrew is my line of the show

so what happens next is one of many references that Simpsons does to the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis reunion I don't even know how to begin approaching that is one of many references that The Simpsons does to the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis reunion. I don't even know how to begin approaching that. Martin Lewis. Sammy Davis Jr. was a natural segue, Bob. Yeah. Oh, wow.

I wasn't even trying. In the 60s, Martin and Lewis were a comedy duo where Dean Martin had been famous on his own and Jerry Lewis was a rising comic star. But then them together was really funny. You have this like 40 year old see like drunk uh lounge lizard next to a well yeah a much much younger entertainer who was getting frankly a lot more uh you know claim and a lot more laughs and so they broke up

but dean martin wasn't into that anymore and then i think it was in the early 80s on the telethon, they got back together. And immediately, Jerry Lewis is making fun of them again. And Dean Martin's getting uncomfortable. Like, I don't want to be joked about. I'm Dean Martin. I see your face. He always understood. We haven't seen each other in 25 years.

Oh, I love you, son. I love you too, daddy. Ay-yah! I do love that we haven't seen each other in 25 years because the audience doesn't know that. We at home know that. All the kids are like, who is this man? He's like, oh, my dad's here.

And he's like, 25 years! That animation you just don't see on The Simpsons ever because he pulled a total Daffy Duck, Chuck Jones squash and stretch and gets directly inside the camera. It does have that Brad Bird touch. And I do like the we're not doing the spotlight bit gag. Where he keeps trying to step into the spotlight. It's like, we're not doing the spotlight bit.

The father-son stuff at the end really got to me. I'm actually getting tingles now. I was just like, I don't know. Dad and their son making up. It got to me. I did love by the way the Krusty

slowly punching his way through this thing like throwing to the Lenny another Lenny in the show

band leader of Krusty and the Crumbs the house band and actually that's the Larry Davis experience at least half of them I have a terrible

line of the show oh what is it that's the joke boy you don't have to at least half of them. I have a terrible line of the show. Oh, what is it? That's the joke. Boy, you don't have to follow in my footsteps. Don't worry. I don't even like using the bathroom after you. Why you little...

He jokes and then nobody cares. They don't even notice. I never knew about that and then I got a best friend at about eight or nine years old, and I go over to his house, and every time his dad used the bathroom, I was like, this is fucking terrible. But I guess I was so in tune with whatever my family's bathroom odor was, I never noticed it before, and I would go to my friend's house and be afraid to go to the bathroom as a little

kid. And this is the first time I've ever heard that acknowledged, because at the time, I didn't think anything was left in the bathroom. You flushed it down. But my friend's dad, old Charlie, would leave such a story. And I heard this joke and I'm like, I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. Oh God, thank goodness. My favorite line

is, watch how fast I go. Because I think of that whenever I have shitty bosses who are patronizing. I don't say it, I think it. Mine's a tough call. When Milhouse breaks down at the beginning of this episode wanting to go home and crusty won't let them yeah that's wonderful i think my line of the show is going to be lisa saying you know we got to hit him where he lives right in the judaica i do have that too yeah and

like i love that that is their tactic it's like we're gonna play his game and we're gonna beat him at it although i do actually there's a great scene during that when bart is playing with a pop-up bug he's like save us save us, save us, Noah! No! Yeah, I mean, that was me sometimes in study. I had a couple times where it's like, okay, the two of you go to the library and study this thing together. One person's reading and I'm like, ooh, a pop-up book! Or everything in this book is

going to become the basis of a dick and balls with double O's. Oh Mein Papa, or Oh My Papa, was a song, a German song, actually, from the 1920s, I believe.

But popularized, or actually, it's probably all in that, but it was popularized in the 50s in America by Eddie Fisher was the singer who sang Oh My Papa,

which is actually a reverse of this situation. It is a child singing a tribute to their father who is a clown. So, yes. So what I like about this episode's

ending is i think in season three and towards the end of season two we saw a lot of schmaltzy endings that were just oh yeah yiddish i found out what schmaltz was thanks to diana it's like chicken fat spread right okay thank you so much um but anyways like this episode had a like a laser target targeted amount of schmaltz just a tiny amount with jokes spread around it so i think it works a lot better than, let's say, when Flanders fail, when it's just happy singing for 30 seconds. I just think it works a lot better. They earn it.

Yeah, for sure. They really earn it, and it is still just like, 15 seconds, boom, his dad's here, sing song, boom, and we're done, get out of here. It's a season three pacing that really helps sell a more emotional ending like this, I think. Great episode. Yeah, a really great episode.

Really touched me more than I thought it would. And yeah, the, I give you Spilkus. I made me for clamped. Uh, if anything. Yeah.

Uh, it gave me such not. Yes. That's my favorite. Not this. Do we, do we only know that because of the Mike Myers, the coffee tool?

I think so. Between that and Jay Sherman, who I'm not even sure was Jewish. No, he was. Okay. I remember when he sure was Jewish. No, he was. I remember when he tried to find out if Doris was his mother, and he goes to the orphanage where he was adopted. He goes to the orphanage where he was adopted, and he says,

Am I Jewish? What do you think? I wasn't going to bring it up, but the ending sting of this reminded me of The Critic. The Critic had those, like, chimey endings several times. Like, we know this isn't very satisfying, but it's supposed to be funny. This could be where Al Jean and Mike Reese just fell in love with, like, small, like, Yiddish expressions. Because Jay Sherman, again, would just break out into Jewish songs and say, Achm, and, you know. He could play Avon Agale in a raisin box.

Yeah. Well, Mike Reese is Jewish. Oh, that's right, yeah. Al Jean is like one of the, he's on the low end of the level. He's like, oh, every Irish joke, he's like, hey, I'm Irish, I'll make fun of you. So, yeah, that was Talking Simpsons. Thanks so much for listening. I've been your host, Bob Mack. You can find me on Twitter as Bob Servo.

Also read my work at US Gamer. And I also do a classic gaming podcast called Retronauts. You can find that every week as Bob Servo. Also read my work at US Gamer, and I also do a classic gaming podcast called Retronauts. You can find that every week at retronauts.com or usgamer.net. Thank you. Lasertimepodcast.com. I don't want to go off too much

because there's a lot of good stuff there, including Laser Time 30, 2010, and this show. But we also have a Patreon that made this possible, and you got 13 episodes waiting for you there at the low cost of five bucks, including movie commentaries, bonus shows, and video commentaries. And our Season 2 Spectacular

where we wrap up Season 2 and Bob finds a gem, a hidden gem that even Chris and I had never heard of. You guys got to listen to it. And you can only get that at $5 a month. Patreon.com slash LazerTime. Diana? I am on Twitter at ListenANerd

and I'm on 30 2010 and if you could rate and review the show on iTunes that would be great so everyone can see it we can all join together awesome thanks for listening everybody we'll see you

next week with the brand new treehouse of horror it's gonna be good Shalom Lenny a little reconciliation music, if you please. Oh, mine papa To me he was so wonderful Oh, mine papa

Come on, Dad. To me he was so good You know the words. No one could be so gentle and so lovable. I got something in my eye. Here, take my hanky. There. He always understood.

We haven't seen each other in 25 years. Oh, I love you, son. I love you, too, I love you too, daddy.