Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - Marge Vs. The Monorail

Episode Date: November 23, 2016

Yes, the town is swept up in monorail fever in one of the most beloved Simpsons episodes of all time! Does it stand the test of time? What are the stories behind making this one? And how much will the hosts sing along? Find out on this week’s podcast…

this week's talking simpsons is brought to you by audible and talking simpsons listeners can go to audibletrial.com slash laser time and get started with a free audiobook and a free month of audible i heartily endorse this event or product. Ahoy, ahoy, everybody, and welcome to Talking Simpsons where whiskey counts as beer. This is the Laser Time Podcast Network's chronological exploration of the Simpsons. I am your host, Bob Braindead Slob

Mackey. Who else is here with me today? I've sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haberbrook. Is there a chance that that could bend? I call the big one fighting. I think I played that at the wrong point in time. There are several heads floating around me right now, wasting time. Recently outed Chris Antista. Whoa.

Congratulations. Very brave. And I'm Henry Gilbert, and I come from someplace far away. And today's episode is The Immortal Marge vs. The Monorail, which aired on January 13, 1993, the first 93 episode of The Simpsons, and Chris will help tell us what happened on this mythical day in history. Oh my god! God damn it, Bobby.

Your mind's going to get blown because Disneyland opens Toontown USA based on the image of Who Framed Roger Rabbit in this announcer's opinion of the greatest movie of all time.

To date this even further, CBS announces David Letterman will go up against NBC's Jay Leno in his Tonight Show. Wow. And yes,

to date this even further, Ferngully comes out on VHS, but it can't top Aladdin at the US box office. Thank God. Oh my God. My name is Betty. We didn't know how good we had it when Robin Williams was playing every wacky character for like 20 years.

We didn't know we'd lose that. And also, they're both off TV now, Leno and Letterman, but we've reached the end of the late shift film, which is really, I love that HBO. I've watched it a million times. David Michael Higgins, the guy who's in the Mascots movie with Harry Shearer, he's playing Letterman. But I want to emphasize when nerds talk about this is not the glory years, the glory years have had glory years to become glory years.

Because David Letterman is the longest serving talk show host after Johnny Carson. In this period, he's introduced in the middle of the Simpsons run and retires in the middle of the Simpsons run. That's how long the Simpsons have been on the air. You're right. His CBS show. Man, that's incredible.

Just trying to emphasize that. In 30 short years. And so many Simpsons writers have went through the David Letterman thing. Who replaced Letterman? Oh, Cole Bears. No. Sorry. Oh, Conan O'Brien! Conan O'Brien! That's right. And this episode is immortal and beloved, but I do

believe it is the Simpsons setting foot in Wacky Town with Captain Wacky later renamed Homer. And I feel like this is them just fully embracing the Wacky Town. And they were afraid that Jim Brooks would hate this show because they he's on the commentary right he's not on this commentary

but I feel like for better and for worse this is the Simpsons embracing what it would eventually become like this off kilter anything can happen show where they watch TV all the time and TV has all the answers yes all the answers and but this is the second conan o'brien written show we've we've done commentary for right

and i think he pitched this one though it's his idea as he talks about on the commentary he pitched three that day elisa's rival which would be a season six episode that long after he left the show it's a great episode i love that one uh marge gets a job he pitches those two sells them and he's like you know what i'm gonna try for a third that al gene and mike reese told him was too crazy and james o brooks will never get it and then he pitches this episode and he sells it and they're like wow this guy's unstoppable i love that story of like conan like having worked at uh saturday night live during, let's be honest, a crazy glory period. Oh, yeah, for sure. And a really good period in SNL.

I'm like, I just need to go somewhere else and do something else. And he moves out to L.A. Up until, it feels like recently, but it's not. This is the only time Conan was in L.A. In his professional life. Yeah, yeah. To that point, yeah. And then he's in L.A.

He moved to L.A. for the Tonight Show and stayed there But this was a big step for him He wanted to shake up his life He had been friends with Gene and Reese And they'd known him since he was 19 Harvard Lampoon All those fucking Harvard guys watching out for each other Collusion?

Or friendship Friendship works a lot like collusion The commentary is them just like again They love Conan O'Brien so much. All they do on it is talk about how much they love him. Did you see him, not to bring up the election, but the election did color my perception of this episode this one time. It stood up for 20 years. It's great.

This one time it colored it, but Conan stood up and said, we've had many elections. Many people don't know this. I'm a history buff. And he rattled off upsets in history because you forget that Conan O'Brien is sort of like the basis of most of the things

Mr. Burns says in this season. Yeah. Like, he loves history so much. He's a very smart guy. He said, he's a Harvard just for the jokes. He said,

I love his quote that if he could do anything all day, it's lie in a field and come up with things with Mr. Burns to say, because Conan likes stupid old things that old people, only old people remember that much. Yeah, I really remember all of the old-timey sketches he would have in his early

years of his shows. I'll butter his bread. I didn't realize how essentially it was at the Simpsons when I was watching those, but thinking back, I really do now. And he thinks back on his Simpsons legacy quite a lot. I have a clip here where he talks about what monorail specifically means to him, where this was him at their Hollywood Bowl show of the Simpsons,

and he performs the monorail song live. But first he talks about what the monorail episode means to him and his legacy simpsons fans don't care no matter what i do they come out of a crowd when they see me they come up and they go and i'm like that's right mr late night they're like no man no matter where i am my wife will be giving birth i'm cutting the umbilical cord all right that's great i can't i can't emphasize enough as a disney fan the monorail was synonymous with the disney company for like 50 fucking years yeah and as we move forward in history i think it might be a tie.

Like, you will remember the monorail from this episode of The Simpsons, or if you've ever been to Disney World, not land, because that's just a fucking ride in Disneyland, whereas in world, it's a means of conveyance, because, Jesus, I don't want to go on too long,

but Walt Disney was trying to manifest a world that didn't exist and create new forms of technology and conveyance and that's what the monorail is and in disneyland it is it is the train it's how disney world is the train it's beautiful to say like i disneyland it's a thing you you circle the parking right and i wrote it at uh tokyo disneyland as well it's the circling it is in like in but nobody else has this i i meant to look into a little Like, is there a city with a fucking monorail? Isn't BART a monorail?

You know what? I think, well, I think it might be. No, it's tracks. It's train tracks. It's not one rail. I'm disappointed now. Sorry. It is.

We all know monorail means one and rail means rail. I should have counted the rails. This episode is also. But that's where the term comes from. You wouldn't remember the term monorail if disney didn't if you didn't go to disney like a monorail why is it called the monorail because it's only on one rail every fucking transit system's on one rail maybe touching one piece of electricity on the third rail yes and this episode is directed by rich moore who as i've

bragged about before i'm here i got to interview him at the Wreck-It Ralph premiere, but I specifically thanked him for this episode and said, like, I wanted to shake people. I told him at the event, I wanted to shake people there that they didn't realize, like, yes, this is a great animation director and he made a great film, but he made the fucking monorail episode of Simpsons. Like, he's the most important person here.

He is so funny on this commentary if you haven't listened to it because uh they're praising Conan non-stop and he is giving them shit for it he's like the Conan animate this scene and he's so for it but he's old friend like he's worked with Gina Reese yeah it's playful tons of stuff like it's playful but you they definitely can get the feel of the animators versus the writers. Yeah. I love that rivalry. There are certain people. I can boil down who created my sense of humor for me in my life. And it's down to three people if The Simpsons is people.

And the other people are Conan O'Brien and Bob Odenkirk. Yeah. But Conan O'Brien just because everything I loved in SNL, everything I loved in The Simpsons. And I can't really describe that in a pre-internet world. Finding Conan O'Brien on Late at Night and a friend who would tape it. It was just the funniest thing to us. It really was.

Maybe not now, but it was a living cartoon. It felt like that era's version of the Eric Andre show where you had no idea what you were going to watch. There were fake guests on the show that were UCB improv people. It was great. You would never know what you were going to get every episode were fake guests on the show that were UCB improv people. It was great. You would never know what you were going to get every episode. There's a great clip on the new Conan show where Brian McCann quits, and they show all his characters.

And it's like, gay Lincoln, the guy who bulls whales, and the FedEx Pope. The FedEx Pope is all stupid shit. It's all little cartoon characters. Masturbating bear, pimp butt. All that stuff. My favorite was them being so obvious about their joke. They said, isn't that right? Cactus Chef

playing We Didn't Start the Fire on a pan flute? And he just did it on that same thing where he talked about the election. He said, but I just want to make you laugh. And so it's tall dachshund. Tall dachshund. Tall dachshund.

There is one bit that sticks with me. It was an entire episode. He would do these conceptual episodes. And one was he was locked in a meat locker, I believe, with Gilbert Gottfried. And it was like a clip show, but there were guests coming into the meat locker with him. And it was all a clip show, but there were guests coming into the meat locker with him. And it was all one talk show episode. I was like, my favorite shows as a kid were things that were, I was always like, this should not be on the air.

So I love it. And that was one of them. So I grew up. Mystery Science Theater, Conan. I grew up under. Space Ghost. I remember riding to school with my dad and like they'd play Letterman's Top Ten and my dad would fucking crack up and I'd love it.

And I did love watching Letterman, but like Conan spoke to me. Really did. I think he is our Letterman. I think he is absolutely our Letterman, but Conan spoke to me. Really did. I think he is our Letterman. I think he is absolutely our Letterman. Especially the early weird stuff. Letterman's early weird stuff. I'm not even politically active. I remember when Obama was going through an election.

I'm like, Conan better come out on this on top. I'm not messing around. I don't care about anything else going on in the world right now. Conan deserves the Tonight Show. And there was the belief that he would not last. One of the most stated critic jokes is when jay sherman is bumped from his table by conan o'brien the joke was like no one knows who conan o'brien is jay sherman is this low in the totem pole it does seem a little a little harsh on conan yeah but again it was made by algin and

mike reese yeah all right but let's get into the episode yes okay it opens amazingly oh sorry it is amazing but i think bob and i cheated a little bit chatting a tiny bit before but i do think that you could cut out like the story of this episode is 15 minutes yeah it's about six minutes of filler including this which is great filler but the flintstones opening has nothing to do with anything. Simpson, Homer Simpson, he's the greatest guy in history. From the town of Springfield, he's about to hit a chestnut tree.

I just love how prolonged everything is. It makes a good comedy. I just do find it odd, and I'll never be able to describe this if you're too young to remember when this aired but the simpsons could only be described in conjunction with the flintstones at this point and they've never really acknowledged that connection and it just feels odd this is this is the one this is the episode that most people love to death and this is the one where they like embrace the flintstones well they break

they break reality multiple times. In Mr. Plow, just recently in Mr. Plow, which is by no means a grounded episode. No, no, no. But in Mr. Plow, him totaling his car is the start of a story. And this time it's just like, and Homer totals his car. But anyway, that doesn't even matter. He'll be driving that car in eight minutes. I say now as an old man, it's totally worth it to see him slide down that rail and through the window of his car.

It's great. And the guy pulling the guy, they just drew the same guy. Just in Simpsons non-Linstone style. All of it makes me very happy. All the southern governors who are crooks, they love their... But Lenny said, ship it up to the southern governors who are crooks, they love their... But Lenny said, ship it up to the southern governors who are crooks. I thought that was just the first time the Simpsons writers are misleading you as to where Springfield is. Because I don't know how you ship things up to the southerners.

They're in the Virgin Islands right now. They're somewhere in the Philippines. And then we get another dose of that Axel F. ripoff theme. And then we get a squirrel with laser eyes and a tree with tentacles. This is such a silly episode. You're right. It really does go like, we just did Homer's Bypass, which is a very grounded, very, it's about as grounded as season four gets, I'd say.

I call it, I don't know, I call it Perfect Simpsons because it utilizes itself well as a cartoon, whereas this is very, it's just not a show about people right now. No, I mean, Mr. Burns and Smithers are doing the dirty work that their hired goon should be doing, like literally cramming trees full of barrels of toxic waste. I love it. It's what I love in Last Exit to Springfield, too, that Burns and Smithers just do everything. They stopped delegating a long time ago. And they also really commit to a Silence of the Lambs parody for no reason

the cruelty of the joke all those bald children are arousing suspicion like ouch he's killing children and I believe they use that so Burns is wheeled in like Hannibal Lecter is did they use that joke in Bart the Murderer when Bart is wheeled in I think it's the same joke

but again it's like it's one year after this movie it makes more sense with Burns he deserves to be wheeled in i think it's the same joke because yeah but again it's like it's it's one year after this movie when it makes more sense with burns he deserves to be wielded i love this scene because uh mr burns in light of your unbelievable contempt for human life this court finds you three million dollars smith is my wallet's in my right front pocket. Oh, and I'll take that statue of justice, too. Sold! I hate to be all lefty on this. There's a great documentary out there called Hot Coffee. Yeah.

Where they talk about punitive damages and what those mean. And it's because Burns took this fee as of like, well, that's the cost of doing business. I'll just keep doing it. But if you're charged for every instance of it and you have to give it to one plaintiff, maybe you won't. And again, that hot coffee, because that was a subject of like,

a woman, dumb fucking broad, spills coffee in her lap and she gets billions of dollars. It's America, it's all wrong. No, it's the government saying, you are repenting for everybody you've ever done this to. Knowing the truth behind that,

I felt like I was lied to because it was really just like, oh, it's a negligible business. I should have known better. Not a dumb customer. This woman was burned irreparably. Yeah, she's dead now, so they could show pictures of her parts. Melted her skin. Melted vagina. And why was it

so McDonald's didn't have to switch its coffee out and keep it so hot they could never make more and keep it sanitary yeah and it'll also hurt people and like that i don't know the coffee's too hot like yeah it was it was too hot i can't speak for the 90s i can't speak for conan but i think that was part of the joke that like people who can buy their way out of lawsuits like this purchased like yeah it's on it's on the next shot it's like smithers is holding it with a happy face.

I never noticed that. And they also didn't free, he's getting rolled down the stairs. It's still in the thing. They didn't free him from that. I think Burns just likes not walking. He prefers that kind of transportation. I also love the return of the runner

that Homer only likes bad comic strips and that he loves Andy Cavill. Oh, you wife-beating drunk. Oh, Andy Cap, you wife-beating drunk. Oh, there's going to be a town meeting to decide how to spend Mr. Burns' money. Oh, what a boon it could be for our underfunded public schools. I'm sorry, I love this.

Children, it's time for your history lesson. Put on your virtual reality helmets. Excellent. Hello, Lisa. I'm Genghis Khan. You go where I go. Defile what I defile. Eat who I eat.

It's such a vile thing they conveyed with PG television dialogue of who Genghis Khan was that's another scene I feel like was ADR'd I feel like he was saying something else his mouth was moving yeah

I have a feeling defile was something they had to define maybe later on that mm at the end felt like a reader repulse

I love that no I thought it was him going eh you wanna to do you want to hang out but i still love virtual they just came out with the ps the playstation vr 24 years later this is maybe a reality yeah almost a reality bob yeah and like in 93 he would be like a pterodactyl made out of three polygons teaching Lisa about science, I think. And also Bart's dream of the giant mechanical ants. That was fun. But all these dreams, it's more filler.

Like, oh, we got to fill some time. Like, have them dream up stuff. Watch more TV. It really is. That's why I'm more than happy to skip people to the town hall. That scene with the ants, though, I was thinking like fantasizing about blowing up your school and killing your principal was a much more innocent dream in 93. It was. I just remember I never heard Alice Cooper's School's Out for Summer until a Nickelodeon promo.

We won. It was like School's Out for Summer, and they show the kids setting the school on fire. And I go to the newsstands in Mad Magazine, and I made a song out of this. I can't remember. Mad Magazine's Sizzling School Sucks issue. I believe I had that. magazine and i saw i made a song out of this i can't remember mad magazine sizzling school sucks issue we're like we're like every yeah every kid was validated with their idea that like school is school is terrible you should all you should burn it all down i believe they they had the slogan down with homework but i don't i i don't mean to hate on all these dream sequences and cutaways

because almost all very very funny yeah. They fill time, but they're so good. I don't mind. It's a non-Halloween episode, and multiple people get dismembered in this episode. Yeah, it really does happen a lot, doesn't it? Then they finally do the town meeting, which I think also leads to one of my all-time favorite snake lines.

I don't have it, but... Could this town be any stupider? Love it. Order! Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. Get to the money! In a moment. First, let's review the minutes from our last meeting.

Get to the money! Get to the money! Get to the money! Very well. We will now hear suggestions for the disbursement of the $2 million. Don't you mean $3 million? Of course. Silly of me.

Okay, and then we have one of my favorite bits in the entire series. The best character who never came back. When it happened, I forgot. I was like, oh, this is it. Because it's very similar to his line of dialogue in the King Homer episode, but this is very clearly animated to what he's saying. Yeah. Because his eyes are so funny here.

Excuse me. We could use the money to hire firemen to finally put out that blaze on the east side of town. Boring. Hello, my name is Mr. Snrub, and I come from someplace far away. Yes, that'll do. Anyway, I say we invest that money back in the nuclear plant. I like the way Snrub

thinks. I love Smithers just buying into it completely. Snrub. It's the bold fist at chest level. I like the way Snrub... When I was a kid when i realized

scrub was burns backwards i i was even more impressed so immediate i just love someplace far away yes it's such a theatrical mustache like it's a terrible bust it's wider than his shoulders that feels so conan o'brien too a fake mustache is a very conan-y thing in this era and then their batman michael keaton batman escape yeah that was a very of the time batman right yeah i mean it was how we say it's pretty much exactly how he saves kim basinger in the movie yeah it's been a while i didn't you think it was kind of weird that joey the goon was one of the guys about to beat up Burns. I was like, wow, you've got to be mad, Joey. They were just using, we need a big guy.

Don't kill. It's a small moment, but I just love how the meeting continues after that. After that grappling hook scene, just like, okay, next person. I have a poo. When a poo starts talking, there's still a poo. I would like to see this money spent on more police officers. I have been shot eight times this year, and as a result, I almost missed work. Crybaby. My name is Marge Simpson, and I have

an idea. It may sound a little boring at first. Chat away. I'll just amuse myself with some pornographic playing cards. Oh, well, surely you've all noticed the terrible condition Main Street is in. Many of us have destroyed it by leaving letter chains on our tires and carrying too much weight. These are all great visual jokes and introduced well by a narrated flashback, which hasn't really happened a lot in The Simpsons. A million cutaways. Yeah. Like, so many cutaways.

Yeah, it is a template that The Simpsons would follow cutaways yeah like so many cutaways this yeah it is a template that the simpsons would follow very closely after this and then and then also here comes conan's hate of the elderly as well but i i would give this line of the show because this makes me laugh so when i think about when hank azaria's bronson blue collar guy makes me laugh yeah this is one of the best it doesn't make any sense it's one syllable. Those potholes are becoming a real nuisance. It's that a man doing a front flip with his car into a bottomless chasm. Whoa. I feel like that's explode with popcorn.

That's the most energy that character can expel. He needs to be jaded about everything, including his own death. And again, if you're a lefty, this will color everything at this point, but I swear to God this will be funny in two years, whereas who you elected won't. Now hold on just one minute. Sure, we could fix up Main Street. We could put all our eggs in one basket.

Shut up. It wasn't done yet. I'm just saying we could blow all our money on a stupid little street, but... I ain't fur it, I'm a guinea. Okay, that's my line of the show. I ain't fur it, I'm a guinea. Thank you. I love the words for and again.

Again. Again is... I'm a Ginnit. I love a Ginnit. Yeah. I always thought it would have to be like a prospector dispute in order for me to say a Ginnit. Okay.

And so then comes the arrival. It does. And like, how do we set this up? This is an important moment. Sorry, Henry. Conan was very happy to get Phil Hartman to do this up. This is an important moment. Sorry, Henry. Conan was very happy to get Phil Hartman to do this role. Phil Hartman is one of the best

in the top three SNL cast members of all time. I would agree with you. And most of his dialogue was provided by Conan or the writers who worked on the show at the time. But he was so good at everything. And he's been a regular on the show on The Simpsons for a while now, but this is his first real starring role in an episode. Yeah, where he's been a regular on the show on the simpsons for a while now but this is

this is his first real starring role in yeah where he's a central character in the show it wasn't a one-off joke with with smooth jimmy apollo any of those characters yeah and he and yeah he is also one of the greatest it's really like i'd say he's better than any of the original cast members on snl from like what he can deliver uh constantly called phil hartman the glue because and and i i'll attribute it to uh chris parnell chris parnell is a guy who doesn't flub his lines gets everything correct and and is rarely the centerpiece of a sketch but absolutely intrinsic to it yeah and like that's what phil hartman was and i'm seeing there's there's another guy in snl right now like who the centerpiece of a sketch but absolutely intrinsic to it yeah and like that's what phil hartman was and i'm seeing there's there's another guy in snl right now like who because i

just watch snl now i'm like really no one can stop laughing like ever like everyone's a little fallon i know i know but everyone is except for there's a new guy mikey day who's like who like he reminds me of dana carvey jesus that's high praise. If you're listening to this, do not contact him. I don't want to know anybody I care about is listening. So this was his extended appearance. And as Conan had said, he wanted to write an episode that was part 70s disaster film and part The Music Man. That's really important. Yeah, it's another great Simpsons incongruity.

Two things that should not belong together, being together and working. So do you think we need to hear Lyle first? I i do i do want to say one thing this sets an important precedent i mean there were songs on the simpsons before but they were in the context of a character listening to a song or performing a song this is the first time a musical moment happens it's true where a song happens to advance the plot everyone knows the words the reality is broken for the sake of a performance of a song but no one's like we're gonna put on a show it's like no we all know the words wow yeah this is the first time it happens because they like even in the music video like do the bart man it's a dream sequence he's dreaming of his song yeah you don't even break it in that one and like capital city was a song presumably

on the radio and or whatever i mean tony bennett's it on the street, but they are listening to it. Yes. But this is Lyle Landley, played by Phil Hartman. It's never Grandpa's plan. wheel. No one knows how he got it and dang if he knows how to use it. Mule. The name's Landly. Lyle Landly. And I come before you good people tonight with an idea. Probably the greatest... Oh, it's not for you.

It's more of a Shelbyville idea. Now wait just a minute. We're twice as smart as the people of Shelbyville. Just tell us your idea and we'll vote for it. I have every... You have to wait for the song. Yeah, I mean I have every musical angstrom of this song memorized

because I had the Simpsons, I mean still have it, the Songs in the Key of Springfield CD that has all the best songs from the first like eight seasons. I listen to this over and over and over again. It includes this intro too, so it's like etched into my brain. But I still love every word of it. This map of cities is great, though. They should have really known,

like, wait a minute, he drew those on that map. Ogdenville, North Haverbrook, it sure put the... Because it's the biggest pause when I was capturing audio of it. You have to look at the map and read four names.

Was Shelbyville on that map, or did he not say Shelbyville? He didn't say Shelbyville. No, Shelbyville is not included, right? Ogdenville. Ogdenville. Ogden brogdenville ogden ogdenville north haverbrook brockway ogdenville and north yeah that's right sure put them up and they're just in the middle of nowhere it's great i guess they don't have every angstrom memory but uh fuck it but it's it's all based on what henry i lean on my gay friend yeah it is it is the music man a popular broadway musical

from 1957 that i've seen this a bunch for some reason that was then made into a 1962 film and and both starred robert preston in the lead role as the huckster who is tricking kids into buy tricking a town into buying musical instruments and then he's gonna skip town until he falls in love with the gorgeous shirley jones and he needs to find another enemy am i right like he like he he he creates the villain the form again election is colored this little the villain is vice right so this is the song that i think is if you've never seen the music man i think this is the song that in that they're taking off on they really are he's dressed exactly the same hysteria friends the idle brain is the devil's

playground trouble right here in river city where the capital t and that rhymes with p and that stands for pool we've surely got trouble right. Thank you. Gotta figure out a way to keep the young ones moral after school. I should be still in trouble. Mothers of River City, heed that warning before it's too late. Watch for the telltale signs of corruption. The minute your son leaves the house, does he re-buckle his knickerbockers below the knee? Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger? A dime novel hidden in the corn crib.

Is he starting to memorize jokes from Captain Billy's whiz bag? Are certain words creeping into his conversation? Words like swell. So's your old man. I've sold my friends. I've got trouble. Right here in River City. So everyone is waving their arms in the air like they do in the monorail song. They're all dressed like this. The bow tie, the straw hat. I forget why. Roberts Preston, I wonder why I hadn't seen him in more stuff.

And it's because that made him a star, the music man on Broadway. And he did that film and a couple other films. But then he's like, no, back to Broadway, back to live theater. That's why he's done it.

I love that mentality. Like, I'll just go back to the theater. These pictures are over. I'll get paid the same. I'll move back to the East Coast to make the same. Was that like a period piece though? It doesn't feel like it was from the 50s

It feels like it was from the 20s or the 30s My mother speaks in language of musicals So when you hear the word We got trouble And then I moved out here, I'd never seen a Wells Fargo bank And if you've never heard The Wells Fargo bank

That's from this movie too okay and then like it's that bank is not wells fargo from the movie it licensed the name from the fucking movie because that's how that's how famous it used to be uh i could be totally wrong about that i think the wells fargo bank was established uh in the 19th century but i think it went bust like it didn't exist when i was a little kid but like. But the Wells Fargo wagon was a song for my mother's generation that they sang. Gotcha. Also, if I may begin our usual minute of hate speech about Family Guy. Now, Family Guy rips off The Simpsons by ripping off Music Man as well.

Not really. I suppose. But as a gay fan of musicals, you should love what Family Guy does on a regular basis. Well, actually, I was looking this song up, and one of the hits on YouTube was Seth MacFarlane singing it. I was like, fuck you. Well, he did his own. I watched it. He did a parody of it, which was about how important writers are.

Was it for the Writers Guild strike? It was for the Writers Guild. Okay, well, I have more respect for him now. So he at least did it for that, and I'm glad that billionaire could talk about how important it was for writers to get their tens of thousands of dollars but it look can he do anything right and well he popularized shupupi though the best thing he did was to not write for american dad but that version of shupupi is not as good as the one in the music man film by buddy hackett but it's really shupupopy is from the same film. Yeah, that's right.

Which Family Guy does an entire verbatim. I showed a shade in bed. But okay, the song. The song. Whoa, no, we have to wait for that. Oh, God, no. It's in the episode. If you want to hear it now, we can hear it.

I'm getting musical blue balls. Let's hear a little bit here. Well, sir, there's nothing on earth like a genuine, bona fide, electrified six-car monorail. What'd I say? Monorail. What'd I say? Monorail. What's it called? Monorail. That's right, monorail.

Monorail. Monorail. Monorail. I hear those things are awfully loud. It glides as softly as a cloud. Is there a chance the truck could bend? Not on your life, my Hindu friend. What about us braindead slobs?

You'll be given cushy jobs. Were you sent here by the devil? No, good sir, I'm on the level. The ring came off, my pudding came off. Take my penknife, my good man. I swear it's Springfield's only choice. Throw up your hands and raise your voice. Mothering!

What's it called? Mothering! Once again. Mothering! But Main Street's still all cracked and broken. Sorry, Mom. The mod is spoken. Mon-real!

Mon-real! Mon-real! Mon-real! Mono. Don't! The wall is really... Don't! We saw the problem with rings on pudding cans in the Streetcar Named March episode.

I do want to point out, though, there is a musical thing happening in this song where in the phrases where Lyle Langley is talking, like, take my penknife, my good man, and glide as softly as a cloud, that part of the music was composed to the animation. They just told Alf Kloss and just like, just put in some music to when he's hitting the key.

So that's why it's like, plink, plink, plink, plink. So it's done after the fact. There's a word for that and I forgot it So that's why it's like, plink, plink, plink, plink. So it's done after the fact. Yeah, so that's why it sounds kind of off. But it's what he's actually playing in the animation by an animator who's probably not thinking about this music. Like, Disney made its bones by, like, creating animation to exist in music. Oh, yeah, yeah. This is the other way around. Yeah, it was.

The animation was created first. But that's why his musical phrases sound a little off. It's like, plink, plink, plink, plink. Also, he tells them to raise up their hands. I love Herman's right there in the middle with his one arm going up and not the other one. You love musicals, right? Yes. No, no.

It's more because I remember how I first saw this film. All the cool kids in sixth grade were signing up for their... It was the first time you were like, you can sign up for classes. classes what are the cool kids doing they all want chorus because it's easy as shit you don't even bring up you don't have to like hold a pencil uh and the first thing she did was like this is what this whole class is about and that noise of like a vhs going inside a chunk but like amplified through a fucking PA system and then Music Man and that's when I first saw the Music Man

in 6th grade I don't know where this stands in the pantheon of popular musicals I don't know if Conan and the Simpsons writers are making a very obscure reference I mean Conan loves the Music Man and he even talks about how in the late 90s he had been asked to be part of a revival

of the Music Man on Broadway. It was big. It was big in 57. Yeah, it's just... It's not a... It's kind of in the dead zone of not being a modern one. I've never seen it on television.

I've never seen it... Well, I've seen my... Oh, Music Man's coming on TCM. But you don't see it on networks. No, it's pretty rare, even though people know songs from it. Like, especially, like, the trombone songs. Have any of these? Trombone.

I think the state of musicals now, I'm completely ignorant, by the way, but it's either Hamilton or a musical based on a movie from, like, 95 or 96. Like, there's a Matilda musical, like, a Shrek musical. That failed. But it's Hamilton or nothing else. That's the only thing people have a memory for. But growing up in a town of, I'll just call them gay women, who love their Rodgers and Hammerstein.

I watched this a bunch. It wasn't one of my top ones. I think Bye Bye Birdie owns. Mostly because of Ann-Margret. I do too, but I don't paul lynn and that well it's paul lynn on broadway but dick van dyke but where we stand right now no one almost none of you listening have seen the music man nor would nor have you ever heard of it yeah um i don't believe that and so that's why i find it kind of weird like i knew this almost instantly well i was

reached on 70s and 80s musicals like i listened to laymiz and all the androloid weber stuff way more than i listened to the older things like that and so the synthesizer and like don't cry for me i wish you could tell like mom i'm having trouble with this math problem trouble trouble trouble like shut up mom just fucking me. I don't want to sing a song. Before we move on, I want to say it's a giant failure of the karaoke industry that there are never Simpsons songs in karaoke. I am always mad when I look through that giant book. Never Simpsons songs. Get on that, guys.

Get on that right now. The Simpsons will be right back. When you really care about someone, you shout it from the mountaintops. So on behalf of Desjardins Insurance, I'm standing 20,000 feet above sea level to tell our clients that we really care about you. Home and auto insurance personalized to your needs. Weird, I don't remember saying that part. Visit Desjardins.com slash care and get insurance that's really big on care. Did I mention that we care? Thank you so much for listening to Talking Simpsons. Hey, people, got some good news for you. This episode, oh yeah, I know you like the episode. This episode is brought to Talking Simpsons. Hey, people. Got some good news for you. This episode...

Oh, yeah. I know you like the episode. This episode is brought to you by Audible. And if you don't know what Audible is, I'm about to tell you because I have to. Audible is the Internet's leading source for audiobooks, comedy, radio shows, spoken entertainment, they call it, that works on your desktops, phones, Androids, tablets. You know the drill, but they have over 180,000 titles to choose from. So odds are, if you like listening to stuff like this over 180,000 titles to choose from so odds are if you like listening

to stuff like this you'll like listening to stuff on Audible obviously they've got their best sellers over there your Harry Potter's your Game of Thrones

your Dune's your Girls with the Dragon Tattoos but I wanted to tell you guys because of this episode you can go to audibletrial.com slash LazerTime you can start with

a free audiobook what free audiobook? dude how about I Am Spock written and read to you by Leonard Nimoy the world needs laughter and for a different perspective on Spock how about i am spock written and read to you by leonard nimoy the world needs laughter and for a different perspective on spock how about leonard my 50-year friendship with a remarkable

man written and narrated by william shatner i shouldn't have to convince you anymore you know the audible service and if you want to try this and listen to books like this for yourself and 180 000 others go to audibletrial.com slash laser time and get started for yourself. Are you already tired of 2016? Jump into the past with 302010, our weekly pop culture Thai Basheed podcast. Here's something you may remember from 1986. Othello. A brilliant film.

Tremendously compelling. A great adventure. Gene Shalit, NBC TV. An accessible, overwhelmingly handsome movie version of a classic a potent shot of cultural adrenaline bruce williamson playboy even if you're not an opera fan let it play thrilled by the passion and beauty of this film and if you are an opera fan the film is a must canon films proudly presents othello there so i wanted to mention because we talked about texas chainsaw massacre 2 last week that was released by canon films robotech is released by canon films this week as well as othello if you again

if you haven't seen that documentary electric boogaloo on canon films the golan globus team of just let's just make everything happen but there's already a Robotech movie in Japan and I'm like don't use any of our characters so they combine two different an OVA

and a television show Megazone 23 and the Southern Cross which are like unrelated things totally unrelated full screen Robotech movie

for America with none of the characters anybody recognizes this is in one week this is what in two weeks Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.

This is one company releasing all three of these films in a seven day period. Also, I don't believe it. Like, the very beginning of that, there's a Gene Shalit quote

and there's no puns or more play. Yeah, I was really surprised by that. Othello, Gofellow. Gofellow to Othello. You'll love it.

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 Lazer Time Network. 302010! So that song, it's all downhill from there.

No, it's actually still a great episode after that. If you want to hear me talk about The Flash versus Superman, I can do it all day. But when he goes to the class, he even fools Lisa. It's a rare time where, like, as a kid I thought, oh, Lisa's going to be the one who sees through this. I was shocked when it was Marge who's kind of the hero of it that they lose the plot a little

bit but maybe that's the point especially because they were writing this episode for 2016 weren't yeah they even fooled lisa lisa had a good point though like springfield is small and shitty why do they need a monorail there's no but i also love that the fucking fucking monorail salesman goes to an elementary school class to sell them on it, yes. To teach the kids. It's one of my favorite lines. Oh, you. Now I'm here to answer any questions you children may have about the monorail. Me!

Can it outrun the Flash? You bet. Can Superman outrun the Flash? Sure, why not? Hello, little girl. Wondering if your dolly can ride the monorail for free? Hardly. I'd like you to explain

why would she build a mass transit system in a small town with a centralized population young lady that's the most intelligent question i've ever been asked really oh i could give you an answer but the only ones who'd understand it would be you and me and that includes your teacher next question you there eating the paste so i guess it can't be ralph eating the paste but they never showed he asked a question yeah uh but i was going to say like after the scene is probably one of the more egregious uses of animation go ahead i do want to hear about that superman versus the flash i did it was something i was already obsessed about as a kid i was one of those kids who said but who is faster and a brief history on that is that dc never even liked thinking about that they they rarely had their characters team up with each

other and then put in competition it wasn't until the mid-60s that they had their first superman and flash race and but like three times in a row they never they always had a cop-out ending to say who was faster but mostly it was superman was seen as the faster one which wasn't very fair to flash that's why dragon ball has power levels well superman doesn't break the universe so this is pre-crisis superman who he could do everything and the flash could also do everything but Superman did it just a little bit faster but since then they made it clear that

Superman can be extremely fast but he follows the rules of thermodynamics meaning friction weight, gravity, all those things the Flash has the super power to ignore all those things. The Flash has the superpower to ignore all those things.

I love his... So he's always faster than Superman. So Lyle Landry was wrong. His modern explanation is that the Flash can move between molecules. And that's really... And again, no friction. No, like, he can vibrate through anything. And there's...

To make it really clear how fast he is than Superman these days, in the comic Flash Rebirth, there's a scene where Superman is telling Barry Allen, he says, Barry, you got to stay here. You can't. He's like, don't run away from me. And Barry's like, I got to go. And then Superman says, hey, you know, I could.

We've raced before. I've even beaten you a couple times. And Flash says, that's for charity. And he immediately loses him like he gets away from superman like that so again people is real good i'm lashes super flash is faster than superman so i know you didn't capture this chris but i want to point it out as with uh mr plow there's a lot of time wasters in this episode and one of the most egregious uses of it is the low point of this season yeah a truckasaurus the movie i feel like this is an

allegian and mike reese joint because they love making cheap jokes about brando on the critic It is the low point of this season. Yeah, Truckasaurus the movie. I feel like this is an Al Jean and Mike Reese joint because they love making cheap jokes about Brando and the Critic. It has to be theirs. Truckasaurus the movie? Yeah. I'm not fucking around. The file I had does not have that, but I do remember it. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's on the DVDs.

Yeah, yeah. I wasn't watching from the DVD. It's You Crazy Car. I don't know whether to crush you or kiss you, and it just wastes like 30 seconds. But then it goes straight to the commercials. In terms of your memories and how you'll enjoy the show, the show starts when the town hall meeting and then into like Marge figuring out something is wrong.

It does waste a shitload of time. See? Marge, I want to be a monorail conductor. Oh, no. It's my lifelong dream. Your lifelong dream was to run out on the field during a baseball game and you did it last year remember so let's go over the lifelong dreams we have the car show like a bowling pin uh the bottomless pit was there another one uh not

to that point oh yeah eat the world's biggest hoagie that was before this. Yeah, so we have four now. Four of his lifelong dreams. And also, I forgot the music. Like, that comes in there. It reminds me of Arrested Development. I'm surprised it wasn't like a minor key version of that. The last season of Arrested Development, whenever they talk about how far George Michael got with Maybe, they just say Pete Rose getting the third base. And he went there head first.

And they would just do an air horn. Also, Idiot Ruins Game. And he went there head first. And they would just do an air horn. Yeah. Also, idiot ruins game. I love that headline so much. But when Homer's watching the commercial, it's eerie that, like, the guy is him. It's him on TV. And also, a joke I'd never noticed until now. First they say, does whiskey count as beer?

Then Homer is drunk watching it. Yeah. First they say, does whiskey count as beer? Then Homer is drunk watching it. And when they angle on him saying, it's been my lifelong dream, there are like three beer bottles at the foot of the sofa. Look for it, guys. I think that is the good Homer from No Disgrace Like Home. His life has turned to shit and he's sitting on a couch. You're not thinking of poor Hoju. I love Hoju.

True or false? You can get mono from riding the monorail. False. No, wait. Maybe it's true. No, you were right. It's false. Wow, you really are going to be a monorail conductor.

That's right, boy. You know, I used to think you were stuck in an emasculating go-nowhere job. Kids. But now I want to follow in your footsteps. Do you want to change your name to Homer Jr.? The kids can call you Hoju. I'll get back to you.

So like Bart, I am not like Hoju, but I am a junior. So I could be Bobju. And like Bart, my dad is a deadbeat drunk, so I'm not known as Bobju. I'm just reminded of the low standards we have for people we look up to who give both answers instead of one. And are right.

I don't want to go any further. Let's not name names. I also like the, I hate that sound. It is a 10-second joke, but it is pretty funny. So, yeah, I thought it was a nice change-up that it's Marge who finds the problem. And who is the lone sane person in town right after learning about Possum.

This makes me very happy. According to this book, the monorail goes over 150 miles an hour. What if something goes wrong? What if? What if I'm taking a shower and I slip on a bar of soap? Oh my god, I'd be killed! Frightens me that you want to work on something that's so unsafe.

We monorail conductors are a crazy breed. Half in love with death, gobbling up danger like ordinary men eat peanuts. Am I turning you on? No. What if I undo this button? Good night, Homer. What if I talk like this? What if

I sing to you? I gave my love a chicken and had no bone. Doesn't that song make you... Him singing that song makes me feel so much older than how old America is. Because you're supposed to get that reference?

That is a folk song specifically for America. That dates back to the fucking 16th century or something like that. Wow. It's called The Riddle Song. I had to investigate it as a kid. I gave my love a cherry

that had no stone. Gave my love a chicken that had no bone. Ladies and gentlemen, Doc Watson up he's probably dead hooray covered by joan baez like and like i think famously when looking at the wiki entry is that like that's the song john belushi grabs the guitar from the person and he's singing this right you

know what animal house yeah i didn't look this up i assume homer was thinking of a song but was substituting lyric like food for actual lyrics. But it's the real lyrics. It's also a folk song, so they didn't have to pay nobody. It is a public domain song. But again, a cheap joke of like, pause is on darkness for 10 seconds. Wow, they really were filling air. But it was funny. it's still funny they

they even they even mock rich more on the commentary like you say this episode was hard you didn't even have to draw eyeballs here you know what i'm gonna give this my line of the show that's the joke so then mono means one and means rail. And that concludes our intensive three-week course. I'm sorry. Every time I... Like, you could show me a screenshot of Lyle Landley with his hand in front of the chalkboard. It makes me laugh so much.

It really makes you think, what did they cover before that? Like, what were they even doing in class for three weeks? Oh, just devastating. Like, just lambasting government bureaucracy and why everyone doesn't have a monorail. Anyway. And that's like top of the show news that Homer is the monorail conductor.

It's big news. And his file photo is one of my favorite images in Simpsons history. I love it so much. And he's just chosen it random. And he's waving his hand across the room. He's like, you will be the new conductor. And I didn't notice that until now that everybody in the classroom is pointing at themselves. Yeah.

And Homer's the first one that says, you mean me? He's like, yeah, sure. Everybody thought it was them. And Homer is dressed as the conductor as, I think, Darth Vader's second-in-command. That's one of my favorite moments in any commentary ever. Yeah. Because Matt Groening is, it's right after this,

which Matt Groening says is his favorite joke in Simpsons history. Homer, there's a family of possums in here. I call the big one buddy. I'm going to see Mr. Lambley. That's the joke. Doing it because that's Matt Groening's line of the show. He said that's his favorite line ever. And then I love in the commentary, it's like, so who is Homer dressed as here?

And you hear someone take a deep sigh. It's Thor, yeah. Not a real nerd. It's Star Wars. I think this is the character that Colonel Sanders is parodying in Spaceballs. Yeah, yeah. Who is also, uh, John Ratzenberger was one of them. Yeah, I know what you mean.

Yeah. Yeah. It's one of those things. Just a big pig in Toy Story movies now and may he live forever i'll be sad when he isn't in a pixar film again yeah that'll be the end for john um old ratsy uh margin covers the monorail truth by going to shit what town was it north haverbrook haverbrook yes ain't no monorail in the neverland it's so much fun yeah if you ever if you ever traveled through the south uh like

and seen these shitty towns where one thing was meant to save them i i live around these towns i really did i grew up around them oh my shitty town there were several isle landlies coming into town like at one point there was like a blimp factory that was going to save youngstown ohio like there's all the always these hucksters coming in like industry hucksters like we're gonna put this factory in your town we would drive to the fucking beach or like to my grandparents my dad would be able to point out this is the thing that the town rallied behind and people moved here to do this yeah and they all got fucked and and some of them are still here and like and it's just very strange i this this is an old timey thing and i hope it doesn't exist anymore i hope someone can't swindle a whole

town though or a country. Yeah, it never happened. It never happened. Without landish promises. We're broadcasting from Earth 2. But Homer, well, though I was thinking about this for the first time, Marge finds his crude drawings of how he's going to steal everything from the city.

When she finds that out, she drives alone to North Haverbrook. Does she tell the family what she's doing she really should have told homer hey homer i'm kind of worried about this monorail i'm gonna go out of town i have to tell you this is that's part of the conspiracy theory on where springfield is for people because march didn't tell anybody and drove by herself and made it there before the sunset or the sun the sun was already down. Ah, so it has to be, unless she was gone for two

days. And they show it on a map. Yeah, it's true. I think it does fit in with Marge's character. She's like, I don't want to worry anybody. She would go off on her own, just to not rock the boat in a very Marge-like way. But they meet something like, man, I hope you guys can help me here. This is the truth about the monorail system. Excuse me, miss. You asked about

the monorail? Who are you, miss. You asked about the monorail? Who are you? My name is Sebastian Cobb. Landley hired me to build his monorail. He cut corners everywhere. Bad wiring. Faulty brakes. As a celebrity on the maiden voyage with Gallagher.

This is all that's left of one of the crappiest trains ever built. Mr. Cobb, what can we do? You just better have a damn good conductor. So I like to do this research on our own so we can sound really smart in front of you, but I don't know who this person is. Well, they say in the commentary it was supposed to be Max von Sydow. Yeah.

It looks similar to him. Yeah, but the design is too specific to not be a reference to something. He's an old German man in a town where technology has failed. I refuse to believe this isn't a very specific reference. Visually, he's the basis for Farnsworth from Futurama. A little bit, yeah. I want to say he is probably a character in one of those 70s disaster movies that even they can't remember.

And I don't know which one that is. Like a disgraced scientist who knows how to solve the problem and probably dies. It is a cliche in every movie. Or even in a 50s B movie like they'd have on MST3K. The scientist. But he's all German and wearing sunglasses. I swear he's specific. I don't know what it is.

And also there's the joke Lost to Time where it's like, we took a lot of German scientists after the war and they helped us build things. So he could be a former Nazi too too, as far as we know. I'm not protecting anybody. And in 1993, I still thought Gallagher was funny. And so it was a shock to me as a kid. I was out of time. Wait, Gallagher's not funny?

Yeah. He smashes things. I had the same reaction. This and MST3K taught me I'm supposed to hate Gallagher. And this was a time in America where you could walk into any video store and there'd be a Gallagher section. Melon crazy, up in front. Better than porn, they called it.

Oh, God. I saw the videos. My parents never got it. I don't know it. I don't know Gallagher. I really screwed up the recording on this, by the way. Is Art Man different than women? Huh?

Huh? Liberals. Smashomatic. on this by the way is aren't men different than women liberals smash-o-matic so when the act ends they then start up it then becomes the towering inferno or earthquake all those we've got famous people they're all going to show up and they're going to be in this disaster and and so so everybody's so excited for the first ride on the monorail. And it's a bunch of good little jokes in a row. You've got kind of a Rock Hudson reference. Oh, yeah. I was going to ask who was the recently outed person. That's the reference I was making. I mean, Dash Gohoon.

Well, he works with so many. He could work with Dick Sargent. Dick could work with... But who was recently outed in the early 90s? I mean, well... Robert Reed was dead. No, I... Was he dead at this point?

I think so. I thought we still had a very Brady Christmas to get through. Dick Sargent... That could have been the 80s. Dick Sargent had outed himself. Really? I didn't even know that. Yeah, yeah.

Darren number two. I got it wrong, but recently outed ladies man is a really fun show. Yeah. And they just showed up like Ash Calhoun. And when Krusty showed up, he's got an illegitimate kid, which he would show up, he'd have another illegitimate kid, but not that one. Yeah, he had an illegitimate kid during the Gulf War

who would be played by Drew Barrymore. I would be 23 now. I can't get over this. Women, don't fuck clowns. It doesn't matter what happens. It's always a bad idea. Never fuck clowns. And they also have What happens It's always a bad idea Never fuck clowns And they also have a

Luke Perry Parody Yeah From Springfield Heights And we just talked to you About like the Heights Was a show on the air Right now

Oh man I forgot about that Yeah so it's a 902 Slash 902.0 Slash the Heights reference I'm drunk I apologize So they call him 34

But I want to say Luke Perry was only 26 Playing high school Man you did the same Research as me I looked that up too Like how old was he Yeah was that research Or did you just have to I apologize. So they call him 34, but I want to say Luke Perry was only 26 playing high school. Man, you did the same research as me. I looked that up too. How old was he when he was young? Yeah, was that research? You just have to open that book in your nightstand.

But he still had the crow's feet, the receding hairline. And now he's on the AARP magazine covers. Which just sucks because I'm visually so old. I watched Chappelle on SNL recently. We've aged the same way, which is none of like crow's feet the neck looks weird we're just bigger and fatter

wider and as a 34 year old now I'm laughing too hard at the elderly 34 year old Luke Perry would be on in a later episode this season being Krusty's half brother or something yeah and I consider the Lurline Lumpkin scene non-canonical.

Really? It bothers me, too. I don't like it. It almost felt like them pissing on their own creation, like, we're never bringing her back. Fuck that. Yeah, I don't like this dark end for her, but I love Doris Grau's voice.

I do, too. She's been dead for 20 years, but her voice is second to none. And here's country singing sensation Lurleen Lumpkin, fresh from her latest stay at the Betty Ford Clinic. What you been up to, Lurleen? I spent last night in a ditch. How about that, folks?

No one's voice will ever sound like that, and that's why I miss Doris Grau. She's great. That's also why she's gone. Yes, exactly. This is one of those weird things where we are living this accelerated course of Simpsons. Because I feel like we just did this episode and fell in love with Lorraine. And it's sullied for us. When it really was like a year ago.

Within like 12 episodes. So then comes the big guest star on this. And I have a clip. My last clip is Conan O'rien explaining how this happened he was not our first choice first choice was george takei george takei who'd been on the show we said all right let's bring him back he's great and i did a passable george takei impression which i used to wheel out all the time and george takei turned the episode down we said why he goes i don't make fun of monorails he said i think they're very. I don't want to make fun of them.

He was on the transportation board in San Francisco, and he didn't think someone should. We went to the only actor in the world who took monorails seriously. And he was like, no, we can't do it. So then I thought, we're screwed. And then Leonard Nimoy said, I want to do it. I was like, I'll, Leonard Nimoy, Spock outranks George Takei. That is trading up. thought were screwed and then leonard nimoy said i want to do it it's like i'll leonard nimoy spock out ranks yeah that is trading okay yeah that is trading i've heard this story before and the idea that george sakai was like that i i cannot uh supersede my rule in the monorail commission it was the monorail is a thing that can happen it was a southern california rapid

transit district that really took off, didn't it? He was on the board for that. It's the right thing. He was on the right side of history. It's the right thing to do. So George Takai was on When Flanders Failed, correct? And then he was played by Hank Azaria, that same character, in another episode. And he was in Blowfish.

He was on Blowfish as well as Akira. But it was Leonard Nimoy. I'm sorry, it was George Takai in Blowfish. Yeah. He was on Blowfish as well as Akira. Yeah. But it was Leonard Nimoy. I'm sorry. It was George Takai in Blowfish too, right? Yeah. Okay. And so he didn't want to come back for this. I think they thought they were aiming too low trying to get him and not going to Leonard Nimoy.

And that's because they tried asking Shatner and he did not want to be on the show. I don't think he ever has been. I don't think he has. But for something else, they asked him and he turned it down. So they were like, okay, we need to aim lower than Shatner. And Nimoy is on the same level as Shatner, so surely he would not do it. Oh, hey, wait. Actually, we don't play this sound effect much, but we do have cause for it, don't we?

Oh. Death stalks you at every turn. There it is. Death. Leonard Nimoy is one of the all-time best guests they've ever had, ever. I love him so much. Oh, I got to hear it. Now I'd like to turn things over to our Grand Marshal, Mr. Leonard Nimoy.

I'd say this vessel could do at least warp five. And let me say, may the force be with you. Do you even know who I am? I think I do. Weren't you one of the little rascals? The rascals? The rascals. Leonard Nimoy is so ready to be made fun of in this.

He's just like, oh yeah, do whatever you want. He's made fun of every time he appears, it's to mock Leonard Nimoy. So I know they're making fun of his Star Trek stuff, of course, but I feel like a lot of this character that he's playing is based on his In Search Of hosting role, which I have never even seen In Search Of, but apparently it was huge in the 70s. All these writers grew up with it. Like, oh, shit. There's a bunch of clips I had before that.

Let me burn those off. Mr. Landly, aren't you going to ride the monorail? Little lady, I'd love to, but I have to catch a plane. But the ride only takes a minute. Yeah, well, my plane leaves in less than one minute. Fucking Brett does that any time I give him a time limit. I have to leave in less than one minute. I guess he got murdered.

I guess he's killed. They lynch him on that plane. Yeah, we don't see what happens, but Lyle Laley never comes back as far as I know. But in terms of a viewer, they gave him, like, you wanted to see him get his comeuppance. You don't really see it, and you did.

And it's great. It's so funny, though, to me. He's flying down. Where am I landing? He doesn't know his layover. No. No. He's landing in North Haverbrook, and people on the ground are like, Seed 7B!

They know what Seedy's in! They know Attack 3F! And they can get in a tarmac. In a very over-the-top Simpsons Season 4 touch, he's holding briefcases that have money sticking out of the seams. Dollar bills are jutting out of the... Just like he drew it. I wanted to play this clip because we talked about it earlier.

I wish this was done more. The Quimby versus Wiggum stuff. This is the last time we see it, too. It might time i'm gonna take a nap all right i'm in charge here i'll run along quimby i think they're dedicating a phone booth somewhere watch it you talking tub of donut better hey i got pictures of you quimby you don't scare me that could be anyone's ass beat it i'm calling the shots i think that sash is cutting off the air to your brain. The town charter says in an emergency I run the show.

Well, we'll just see about that. Let's go to town hall. Fine. Should we take one car or should I follow you? Order as chief constable. I'm supposed to get a pig every month and two comely lasses of virtue true. the pig how many

broads do i get hey hey hey let go you're ripping it no you are no you are let go that's the charter i love like the fucking the town went by twice in the monorail i want to during that scene in terms of the artistry that document you can't read the text but it's lovingly rendered you can actually make out jeb dye springfield's signature in the center along with a bunch of other ones. So it's very well done. I love that dynamic between Wiggum. Two incompetent people who can, like, whenever they come into a room, become like Perry Mason. You got any dip for these ships or something?

Also, like, Marge's late arrival doesn't work in a post-cell phone world. And though I did love they did a second design for the scientist for his haircut. It's so funny. I shouldn't have stopped for that haircut. We'll cure your comedy of anything. You're allowed to show up to something late if you say I shouldn't have stopped for that haircut. It was a real lantern hanging of a joke. Do that next time you're late to a party.

Watch how well it works. And did you guys notice there's the Hindenburg painting on the wall? That's right. When they're getting drinks. It's great. But this is my favorite clip because, like, I think we're on the verge of – I thought we were until the country decided they wanted to sink us into oblivion, that we were on the verge of progressive things like solar power.

And I love this. This is one of those Simpsons responses to Jimmy Carter or Progressive Measures. Wait a minute. We can just shut off the power. No such luck. It's solar powered. Solar power. When will people learn?

A solar eclipse. The cosmic ballet goes on. Does anyone want to switch seats? It's like the meanest I've seen him to a guest star. I want to say that even as a kid this bothered me because a lot of cartoons at the time treated solar power like you would treat

a calculator like, oh, it just comes on when the sun hits it and then it turns off when the sun doesn't hit it. You can use it indoors. Light works on it. Let's utilize this. I feel like it's excused because this is such of a poor quality that it would work like a cheap calculator. You know, just like it turns on when the sun hits it and then it turns off when it's no longer... Monorail, it's boobless.

Yeah. There's one thing about building a monorail that will break soon, but there's another like they built a monorail that could not work for five minutes. Not even five minutes. That's why my plane leaves less than one. Yeah, Lyle Laneley got the fuck out i think uh i think the batman exchange is an underrated very great line but you're you're right because this like that line is an insertion line yeah that's that's leonard which i don't know i've had i've had to look it up on youtube because i never saw leonard nemo is insertion

save it for any reason they didn't play it for any reason. They didn't play it when we were kids. And it was just... Tenacious D introduced me to the idea that it exists. I mean, we had Unsolved Mysteries. The same template.

You just get a weird thing. Though, Unsolved Mysteries is more about murder. But for a generation, Leonard Nimoy investigated murders, Bigfoot, and aliens. He was a less legit Neil deGrasse Tyson

of the time. That's what that's referencing. It's not referencing Star Trek. Spock doesn't look at a fucking solar eclipse and say that shit. And Leonard Nimoy did for In Search Of. The real In Search Of reference would come with the Springfield Files when he would just be sitting at a desk. That was much more obvious. And then he sings a song like his famous Bilbo Baggins song.

But if you like The Simpsons, guaranteed, you've never heard of In Search Of. You've never seen it. Unless you're 50-ish. It's impossible. But he's not Batman line. I love that line. Are we going to die, son? Yeah.

Because at least we'll take a lot of innocent people with us. Homer? Homer? Yeah, hello? Homer! There's a man here who thinks he can help you. Batman? No, he's a scientist.

Batman's a scientist. It's not Batman. I think I have a way to stop the train. You need to find an anchor of some sort. Think harder, Homer. It's a visual reference, but it's so funny. It's a very Looney Tunes move where he envisions Bart as an anchor. It is, where the anchor speaks to him. No. It's a visual reference, but it's so funny. It's a very Looney Tunes move where he envisions Bart as an anchor. It is, where the anchor speaks to him.

No. It's good. And we get to see the sea captain again in his fourth appearance in five episodes. You're called an anchor. They took him out of the last episode. I feel like they wanted him as part of that last episode. They wanted him so bad, but they couldn't do it either. There's just nowhere to put him in Homer's heart attack.

Like, now separating Siamese twins is a very delicate procedure. It's like... They should be covered in blood when that happens. Unless that cauterized the wound, it was moving so fast. Oh, and the world needs laughter. I love that. So fun. So much.

All of it's so fun. But I will say, as far as Simpsons shows go, that a legendary Mr. Plow is way better. I like Mr. Plow more than this. Way funnier. After re-watching it. Oh, and I wish the donut he lands in was Lard Lad Donuts, but it didn't exist then. Yeah.

It would be three more seasons before we meet Lard Lad. I think there was less time wasting in Mr. Plow. There wasn't. Yeah. There's a bit of it. Mr. Plow is a complete story and of one and this is kind of like bounces around a bit it is a lot looser but it is such a cornucopia of jokes including some of my favorite moments ever but the animation no offense to rich more i i like the i

give the animation edge to mr plow as well and it is a more complete story. But I also think the highs I got to in this episode are higher than the Mr. Plow. I think Mr. Strub, Leonard Nimoy, and the monorail song, those are bigger than the Mr. Plow. They are, but if you want to talk where the Simpsons broke their universe it is this episode yeah yeah they were worried they were really worried about it i will take points teleports away he does he beams out i like i will take points off this episode for having the worst floating head sequence where uh there are floating heads i think at the beginning not done in animation but done with like video editing where the final floating head which is homer kind of hovers over Marge's shoulder for like three two seconds too long it's very awkward

because previously they were at least reanimated yeah they were like actual pieces of animation these were just like superimposed like cut from other they were bits of animation yeah they're moving too smoothly the ending is is like the most cartoonish like ending they've ever had involving Springfield

Dad you're a hero. Yes, son. I'm the best mono-thingy guy there ever was. Ha ha. Well, my work is done here. What do you mean your work is done? You didn't do anything.

Didn't I? And that was the only folly the people of Springfield ever embarked upon. Except for the popsicle stick skyscraper. And the 50-foot magnifying glass. And that escalated of nowhere. Mom! and that escalator to nowhere getting everyone so in order in order we see Rich Moore

Wes Archer and David Silverman going off the escalator to nowhere the three main Simpsons animators who started with season one a great tribute to themselves yeah and that was in Rich Moore would go on to Futurama and The Critic, and then Disney Animation,

yeah, Wreck-It Ralph. Oh, and Zootopia. And Zootopia, oh my god. In this time of rampant validized racism, please go watch Zootopia. Relevant now more than ever. Try everything. It makes me cry every time I think of it now. Thanks, as a kid though i think the escalator to nowhere was a step too

far for me i was like wait a minute why would the people are dying why would they do this but i came to terms with it because things will get much wackier and uh and wes archer now why can't we go back to the simple things of the tire fire exactly that was realistic i think wes archer is the supervising director main director director on Rick and Morty. Oh, wow. He works on that now. It is my favorite show on television. And he's always drawn with a beret in these episodes.

I have no idea why. I don't know what that's about. A kicky beret. I once saw this as the greatest episode ever. I think I would rank Mr. Plow ahead of it. I would. We talked more about this this I want to say yes we did but we had to

this would lay the groundwork for musical moments in the Simpsons like it's okay for us to all break into song without there being a reason for it I think the brothel song is much funnier I love who needs a quickie mart that's a great song too I'd also say yeah that Mr. Plow didn't break the show this broke the show

this crossed lines they'd never cross again. They couldn't uncross. I just don't want to put that burden on it. But it's great. I'd say it was worth it to break those rules for the jokes they had. For those three years, we'll have fun doing this show. For better or worse, I think it was more for better that they broke the show. Season six is probably my favorite, and seven. like together they're my favorite seasons and they they would

not have happened we've all talked about this episode we've all said that we think there's a benefit from the simpsons being a cartoon yeah analog for american life yeah i mean i'd say homer becoming an astronaut is the big breaker of the show but it didn't feel like one they worked real hard for that's the different they put so much effort into homer joining nasa to make it make sense to some degree but this is just like characters teleport away and like there's these these things are supposed to be an episode where you saw two people cut in half sorry three people cut those dreams you saw no not the second oh yeah that's true you you have in canon that there's a giant

magnifying glass in the downtown springfield yeah yeah it's there's a lot of broken rules no blame fun i love it great it was more of a jovial rule breaking than a mean-spirited like senioritis rule breaking where we saw that a lot much later fear is that yes exactly but that was worth it i think okay so this is our probably our longest episode ever, and I've been your host, Bob Mackie. But at least it was the monorail episode. Yeah, of course, it's appropriate. And you can find me on Twitter as Bob Servo.

I also write for somethingawful.com and fandom.com, where I write about video games. If you like video games, you'll like my other podcast, Retronauts. It's a classic gaming podcast every Monday on retronauts.com or usgamer.net, or search for Retronauts in your podcast device. Everybody else, where you h-e-n-e-r-e-y-g on twitter it's me and that's where you'll find me and hopefully by this point i'm not only tweeting about my despair over the election uh but you can also find my writing about video games at fandom.com as well and i'm a constant on the laser time podcast network which you'll hear me

on say classic episodes of talking simpsons which are only available on patreon.com slash laser time along with a ton of other great extras i helped with but it's really what pays the bills around here for you guys commentaries we do a weekly show over there. You'll find me hopefully in rehab or some other place where I'm getting help. Wait for Dufflis. Oh, I did want to say I forgot to mention the clip, the last clip of Conan talking. That was from the Simpsons Writers

Reunion series. It's really good. 90 minutes long. It is perfect. Please watch that. Him, Mike Reese, Al Jean, Jay Kogan and Jeff Martin all talking about the early years of The Simpsons. Where can I find this amazing program? YouTube. YouTube.com.

But it's the only time they acknowledge that someone acknowledges that Tracy Ullman sued The Simpsons. That is the basis of that argument. And they've never mentioned it. No one knows. Al Jean is afraid to mention it. They settle. Like, Tracy Ullman makes money off of every Simpsons episode. Period.

Like, that's very weird to think about. Yeah. Someone who didn't want involvement with it at all. Also, it's Jennifer Tilly. She does, too. She does, too. The family guy voice who makes a ton of money off of Simpsons. Yeah.

But that was the only place I heard someone mention it. Oh, you mean the Widow Simon? The Widow Simon? That's true. Hey, she took care of him. Anyway, that's how. Somebody take us out because I'm too drunk.

Tune in next week when we take a trip to Duff Gardens! Hurrah! Wow. Infotainment.