Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - Old Money

Episode Date: February 10, 2016

Abe Simpson has a tragic love affair, leading him to disown Homer and try to save the world, all as Bob, Henry, and Chris watch along…

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And if you sign up through geekfuel.com slash lasertime, you will get an exclusive Star Wars item worth $20 added to your first box. Ahoy, ahoy, everybody. Welcome to Talking Simpsons, the Lazer Time Podcast Network's chronological exploration of the Simpsons. I am your host, as always, Bob Mackie. Who else is here today? Christopher Antista. I am your host, as always, Bob Mackie. Who else is here today? Christopher Antista. I'm Henry Gilbert. Hi.

And today we'll be talking about the season two episode, Old Money, which aired on March 28, 1991. And maybe Chris can tell us what happened on this mystical day in history when there was a New Simpsons episode. Oh, boy, Bobby. Oh, my God. The Black Crows topped the charts with Shake Your Money Maker while being kicked off as the opening act of ZZ Top's tour.

IBM unveils a $6,000 laptop and Kevin Costner wins an astounding amount of Oscars, including Best Picture for Dances with Wolves in the 63rd Annual Academy Awards. Is that one of the worst Best Picture wins of all time? I think it is, yeah. It's like a three-hour- long film about the White Savior Complex. No, about the Noble Savage.

Oh, the Noble Savage, yes. That's what it was about. And I left the movie theater, and I'm like, what, 10 now? And I'm just, I remember, Dad, all I can do is think about this movie. I think that means you liked it, son. I did. I couldn't stop thinking. I thought it was the best movie I'd ever seen.

So I was totally wrapped up with it. I'm afraid to watch it again. This was the start of a bad era of Kevin Costner films. He had too much power. Inexplicable era of Kevin Costner films. Prince of Thieves is the most unintentionally worst thing in the universe. The sleepiest Robin Hood. The sleepiest most American Robin Hood.

I don't think so. Yeah. And that the late Alan Rickman just steals the film just by not giving a damn. He's just like, ah, yeah, yeah. Costner's at like one, and Rickman's at like 13. And then somewhere, and there's Christian Slater at like an eight. Yeah, I'm part of it, Merryman. Who does he play?

Like Will something. Yeah, the Robin of the group. He plays someone who's not in the Disney version, therefore I don't recognize. He plays medieval Jack Nicholson. No one can tell. I do want to say, Chris, we should get this out of the way. Do you have your death jingle at the ready? Oh boy, do I ever. We have at least one death in this episode. This is true.

Death stalks you at every turn! Ah! There it is! Death! So the death for today's episode is Audrey Meadows, who plays Bea Simmons, Abe's girlfriend for old money. And she was the wife on The Honeymoon, or she played Alice. And I don't mean to speak lustfully of the dead,

but Alice was a total babe. She was a hot tomato. Yeah. I don't know what Ralph Cramden had on her. I don't either. She had pictures or something. He became famous for threatening to hit her. I mean, it's the start.

That's true. It is the beginning of the ugly guy with pretty wife trope of television. Yeah, like sitcoms were doing the two today. It is such a copy of King of Queens now. She died 20 years ago. On the day, like February 3rd. And I was trying to look up information on her.

Thank God she has an official website that has received very few updates over the last 10 years. Well, who's going to do it, Chris? It still says on the front page, be sure to look for The Honeymooners every day at 1230 on TV Land, featuring its first logo and not realizing its home improvements and the Lopez show now. As a kid, I didn't know The Honeymooners. I didn't know that that's where she was from. Also, she apparently was one of the few people that

made a ton of money off the show other than Jackie Gleason. She had her residuals in her contract and it was like, it's only 40 episodes. Because her brother was a lawyer. Yeah, it was only 40 episodes, but they aired for so long and we didn't have cable growing up. Basically four decades and then they finally stopped re-airing. And I remember I was

pushed out of my house and into my friend's house. I'm like, why do my parents make me come over here? Because your parents are watching the honeymooners. I'm like, I hate the honeymooners. Good. I'm glad I'm here. Not realizing it was code for my parents needing a night of fuck time. Wow.

A night of fuck time is what I associate with the funny. That's quite a euphemism. Yeah, that's what it was for me. And my parents would say, we're going to watch the honeymooners. Like, I'm going to go to Brett's house. Well, Abe Simpson's got some fuck time in this episode. There's a surprising amount of rival jokes in here. There are.

We should talk about what happens in this episode. It's basically about Grandpa finding love. This episode tries to redeem Abe Simpson, but as we've uncovered through many episodes, he is a terrible human being. Just in the Herb episode, he's terrible. Just in the Herb episode he's terrible. Mostly the Herb episode just happened and he mentions, I only have one son, Abe.

Abe, we just learned you have two sons. I know production. It could be this episode where we get the name Abraham Simpson. I don't think he was given a first name. That's another long story I've heard from Matt Groening, but the short version is that Matt Groening named all the characters in the immediate Simpson family after his family. His dad is Homer, Mother Marge, Sister Lisa.

The only difference is Brother Brad is Bart. Yeah, no, Mark is Bart. Oh, I had a friend. When it came time to name Grandpa, who was on the show in the shorts, but he was just Grandpa Simpson, he said he was not going to name it after his grandfather, Abe Simpson. He was like, nope, I'm going to let you guys name it. I'll just leave.

Comes back, they're like, well, he thought of a good old man name for him, Abe Simpson. And then Matt Grayning says he just shrugged his shoulders like, it's fate. It must be. It's a living being a billionaire. It is a perfect biblical old-timey name you would never hear today. It's a nice Gus name, a World War II era name. It's rather Amish in some cases. But my question is, what does Grandpa smell like? That's a nice Gus name, a World War II era name. It's rather Amish in some cases. But my question is, what does Grandpa smell like?

That's a good question. You know, Grandpa kind of smells like that trunk in the garage where the bottom's all wet. Nuh-uh, he smells more like a photo lab. Stop it, both of you. Grandpa smells like a regular old man, which is more like a hallway in a hospital. Homer, that's terrible. We should be teaching the children to treasure the elderly. You know, we'll be old someday.

My God, you're right, Mark. You know, we'll be old someday. My God, you're right, Marge. You kids won't put me in a home like I did to my dad, would you? Well... Marge, what do we do? So, like, the episode is also a Homer redemption arc. Because the whole time he's trying to... To a degree. He's trying to be a better son to his father.

That is his motivation the whole time. At least for part of the third act. No, no, even in the middle. Second act forward, after the funeral. No, right after this, because he shows up immediately after this. Oh, that's right. He's like, no, we're going to have a good day with you. Yeah, we're going to have a great day together.

So this, for a long time, was the lost episode for me. Because we taped every episode in the Gilbert household. And I mean every single one. Except for this one. And I don't know what happened because I think we went on – it was the first time we'd taken a vacation trip on the day a new episode of The Simpsons aired. Because from then on, I was checking TV Guide. Like, I remember the Herb return episode. I knew it aired in August.

I was like, we've got to time our VCR to record it or something. Like, we're going to be in – we're on vacation this week, but we've got to record it. This time, I think like, we got to time our VCR to record it or something. We're going to be in it. We're on vacation this week, but we got to record it. This time, I think we missed it. I eventually recorded it when it aired in syndication during season six. If you put in our season six VHS, or one of them, all of a sudden, this episode comes up.

That also means... Because it looks really rough compared to... Well, there's also multiple jokes in this that were cut for syndication so that I didn't know. That exchange about the smell of grandpa, that was cut in the syndicated version. I really enjoyed it. I couldn't remember that joke and I actually identified with it because last night

I was out at my favorite pizza pub just writing and I smelled something. What smells like a musty basement? I look over, there's a table of old people who just appeared. And then this morning I watched the episode and I'm like, it's a trunk in the basement. If you can keep clean a table of old people who just appeared i'm like and then this morning i watched the episode i'm like it is it's a trunk in the basement it's if you can keep clean a pair of thousand year old clothing they just have to smell like that yeah but i was like am i smelling you aging what is that but taking ape to the liquor store is a pretty shitty it's a pretty shitty deal and he

gets he gets like a piece of jerky every time so it's like one drawer in his bureau it's like all jerky i mean take him to the grocery store at least. Why the liquor store? So we meet in the episode Beatrice Simmons. I like their 70-year-old meet cute. Now, now, Mr. Simmons. Don't make me call Nurse Baranski. Get Simpson, damn it! And these aren't my pills!

Excuse me, Nurse. My name is Simmons, and I think I have the wrong pills. I get two red ones for my packed pasms a yellow one for my arrhythmia and two of the bluest eyes I've ever seen in my life then these must be and I have your

they must have this coughing is less funny when you know Aubrey Meadows died from lung cancer I feel like our generation's old ladies won't sound like this This is a real Doris Grau whiskey and cigarettes voice

But will they have tramp stamps though? That'll be so gross They're all going to have no fear thorny tattoos That term is gross, I'm sorry I said it It's ass-handlers. That's the non-slut-shaming version. I just got fascinated with reading about Audrey Meadows, that she was headed up a banking organization in

Colorado after a while. She somehow, before she died, somebody made an... She has an official website. It's still up. Somebody's still paying for this. She was an active lady on the commentary. They talk about what a great guest she was. She's telling fun stories. I also wanted to give credit.

Dan Castellaneta does amazing in this episode because he's, number one, playing Abe the longest he's ever played him before. This is a grandpa showcase, the first one ever. And second, he is doing an old man voice next to an actual old person. And he's kind of like keeping up with her. And you're not thinking like, oh, this is a man in his 30s pretending to be old talking to an old person. And he's kind of like keeping up with her and you're not thinking like, oh, this is a man in his 30s pretending to be old talking to an old woman. And it sounds like

they're recording together in a lot of cases. Especially even with the whole family in the car later. I just need to... Just to finish my anecdote and tie it into The Simpsons. I'm on her old website

and I'm sorry, this is schadenfreude I like to delve into because of my life. Click around and see what works on an ancient website that hasn't been updated in 12 years. And there's her books, her memoirs, the DVDs for the Honeymooners.

And I click and it says it links to celebrity... The URL, I'm like, this isn't Amazon, but it looks like someplace celebrities hire to manage their URLs in the early 90s. And like, so where could this possibly go? And I click Steve Allen's store.

Steve Allen's store. So once again, entering in the Simpsons. But that would have been a Simpsons joke. Steve Allen's celebrity store, website store. What was he selling there? Like Steve Allen masks? I think it was just he probably put his name on the first store, online store for celebrities to help them manage things they couldn't.

I know this internet a little better than you. This is B's intro. I'm Beatrice Simmons, but my friends call me B. Well, I'm Abraham J. Simpson. Care to tip the wrist with me? I would be delighted. Dude, I gotta say, their pill courtship is legit disgusting. It is, and it actually is a parody of a movie scene that is equally disgusting.

I still have never seen this film. This clip is on YouTube. If you look up Tom Jones dinner scene, it is a scene of two people eating giant greasy banquet food sensually. So they're trying to go for the same effect. Apparently Tom Jones was this acclaimed comedy from 1963 that I've never seen. Not a sex machine yet. No, different Tom Jones. It was a British production.

It did win Best Picture a year, as I recall. It starred Albert Finney. The only thing I knew about Tom Jones was that when they cast Ewan McGregor to play a young Albert Finney in Big Fish, they wanted him to look as much like Tom Jones-era Albert Finney as they could. Oh, wow. Damn. And I love this clip of like, this should be rewarding. Abe trying to ask Bea out.

And just kind of coming to the conclusion that this is never not awkward. And what are you doing tonight? Sitting alone in my room. Oh well, you got plans already. No, what were you going to say? Oh, nothing. Oh, Abe.

You were going to say something. Well, I was wondering if you and I, you know, might go to the same place at the same time and... Jeez, you think this might get easier with time? I'd love to. I haven't had to do that in a few years,

but that never doesn't suck, kids. Remember. I did enjoy his lucky Lindy's pomade. Never fly solo again. That might be my favorite it is i think it's the smartest joke that just kind of flies by very dirty it's also funny the two episodes ago it was oh brother we're out now pomade i i came to know what pomade was through oh brother we're out there i just i just uh bought some to manage my jj abrams s pubes growing at the top of my head so that's what it's for we also get exposure to the Larry Davis experience right after that. And I at least found out from the commentary on this one what they are.

Larry Davis is the name of a teacher of either J. Kogan or Walidarski, one of the two writers of the episode. So they were playing in the – They were playing at the dance – Well, they were first, I think, in the flashback. No, they were on Some Enchanted Evening, the Babysitter Bandit episode. They're playing at the hotel. And they were playing at the prom in The Way We Was.

In The Way We Was, which we'll get a callback to that soon, too. But the dance scene was cute. It was probably the first time I'd ever seen a love montage like that as a child. So it probably felt new to me. Same with the very cliche of, oh, we met a girl in Act 1 who will be dead by Act 2, which is a very... It's been used in a million sitcoms and dramas

and all that stuff, but the song Embraceable You, I wonder where that was from. I like that song, and it was a jazz standard that got famous in the 1930s, recorded by the Gershwins, made famous by Ginger Rogers,

Nat King Cole, and Billy Hollis. I don't know. There's some kind of... This episode filled me with a weird pop culture melancholy of how young it felt like all media was. That television wasn't that old. Here's the first famous television personality on The Simpsons.

Seriously. Yeah. Here's Milton Berle. Here's all these people. Yeah. I don't know. All that stuff. They're all dead.

Well, yeah. We're not... Yeah. We grew up in an era where most people who were on TV, the first TVs were still alive. Yeah, it is weird, like the generation of old people The Simpsons is mocking throughout these early episodes. They're all basically almost dead, if not completely dead. It's like the greatest generation. We have a jingle for it.

Going back to the beginning where I remember watching that as a kid and seeing the joke about, oh, what if your parents got old? You have to take care of them. Now, parents are aging. Like, I have parents approaching 70. It's scary now. They're taking care of themselves. They're fine so far. But, I mean, will I be in the Bart and Lisa situation soon?

It's just that you're watching David Bowie and Alan Rickman dying, like, a year older than my parents. Yeah. It's heavy. Oh, God. Wait. Okay. How about more less? Let's move on to more distraction.

We should get to Discount Line Safari. Discount, can I please go to stop by? Because this is like the last time Abe is still friends with Herman. Oh, right. I think it's like Herman's last appearance before the Pulp Fiction reference. Yeah. He's so likely to... 22 short stories about Springfield?

That's right, yeah. Season 7. But this is a great exchange. Herman, a very special lady is having her birthday tomorrow. Ah, the battleship New Jersey. No, you idiot. My girlfriend, Bea. And since this is the only store I know.

Oh, Grandpa, nothing says I love you better than a military antique. That kind of person is dying, too. Yeah, the kind of person is dying too yeah I mean yeah the kind of guy now when I look at Herman I think I bet if you gave him

a certain wink he'd sell you the Nazi memorabilia he'd be the guy from Falling Down that's what I was thinking of yeah this is what you used

this man yeah smile on Bob's face we both know that scene so well I've seen Falling Down a lot I did like the I did like the

Grandma's World aside it was just such a quick. I did like the Grandma's World aside. It was just such a quick moment. I'm like, yeah, go to Grandma's World. I don't think they've gone there. I bet they have gone there. They lingered in that store for like three seconds. There was not even time to make a joke. It was just like he went to Grandma's World and got a shawl. I did want to comment on how many, in this episode at least,

saving grace, how many Hank Azaria blue-collar workers there are in it. There's like 17. Oh, right. There's like five in a row in this one. Price Chick. Well, that guy they even drew, it's the same guy who said, Two grapes, three kids. Now he's a cashier at this place. Yeah, Hank Azaria is Charles Bronson-esque.

Angry cashiers. Homer, at this point, was wrong to think Grandpa was senile and thought he had a girlfriend. But by season four, Grandpa is like the most senile phoebe in the world like he yeah he has no his joke is just he's almost dead and he is crazy yeah i think it's like they got rid of herman because grandpa was just a joke machine after this he did not have a life of his own like huh now this is kind of one of the last i mean when he totally dates someone else later on well Well, when he gets... Yeah. Season 14? Occasionally they'll do that.

Remember when he had sex with and married one of Homer's Vegas wives? And he said the thing, oh, you're going to let Abe back into the Oval Office? Okay. Ugh. Season 10 or something? I think it's probably... Discount Lion Safari is one of my favorite things. Just that the name discount...

It's just... Fuck. I don't know. It's a great joke I never picked up on. And the thing is, this is the worst idea ever for a business. And it's still happening. And dumbasses are still getting killed.

Yeah. Oh my God. People are stupid. They don't know this giant lion can actually rip them apart. And I think the last known fatality was in 2015 from one of these things. Yeah, drive through zoos.

Gotta be a dying art. No, I know. I love reading about dead... When I try and go to sleep at night and I can't, I read about dead theme parks. And all of these places from the 60s and 70s drive in and up to our elephants and our lions and like, eh, we're out of business.

Hang up the sign. Let's take off. And you can see skeletons of elephants. Fly elephants, yeah. They just left them there. They'll take care of themselves. We're no longer culpable. It's not a business anymore.

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 what is up talking simpsons fans chris here briefly jumping in to tell you this show is brought to you by geek fuel and if you go to geekfuel.com slash laser time right now you can get a free star wars item worth 20 just for signing up for a mystery box so what's in the mystery box you ask uh six to eight items, an exclusive T-shirt,

and a $50 value of Kit and Kaboodle featuring famous stuff from Marvel, DC, Nintendo, Zelda, Game of Thrones, Pop Figs, pint glasses, posters, you never know quite what it's gonna be, but it's like a delicious geeky gift that shows up at your door whenever you feel like it. And oh, guess what?

They've had Simpsons stuff involved in the box in the past. So go to geekfuel.com slash laser time right now sign up for one of their boxes get it as a gift for a geek in your life and get a free 20 star wars item right now yeah i think the discount line safari is another one of the things you'll see in the first few seasons where the the writers who grew up in the 70s are excising their demons or just remembering things like, oh, yeah, I remember that when I was a kid. I remember that when I was a kid. Let's put that in here.

It's amazing such a bad idea has persisted for at least 50 years as a business. Also, I timed it. By the time Abe meets Bea, the day after their last trip, it's now the next third Sunday of the month. So they had only been together a month. A month. Yeah. Because I was curious about that. They made it seem like years.

That's what a montage will do. Yeah, it tricks you. My line of the show is in this segment. I don't know if I have a clip or anything, Chris. Which one's that? It's Bart saying, Hey, did anyone notice this place sucks? I didn't know that.

It's such a blunt, like, just punched in the face joke. Just like, this place sucks. No, I just have him return, like, Abe returning. This would fit well into a traditional sitcom. It's very classical jokey. Out of my way, I got a date with an angel. You don't know how right you are, Abe. What?

I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but, uh, Bea passed away last night. Oh, no. It was a tickerer the doc said her left ventricle burst amy say she died of a burst ventricle but i know she died of a broken heart that's kind of a joke that sounds like james l brooks it does yeah it does kind of pick those out they're a little too clever for their own good yeah i feel really bad for b that she died on her birthday on her birthday winter man didn't show up uh actually the line that comes right after that on the break that was one of my favorite ones like i can tell she really cared for me she didn't make me a pall

bear and just seeing these old men carrying the thing like that is still an anxiety i sometimes have in public of like when just last night i was at walgreens just buying milk or whatever and there's this just old man who's just living his life buying stuff but i just see him i'm like what if he died right now oh no like he's just trying to buy food but he can't carry all this stuff like it it's just this weird anxiety i have we're we at the funeral now? We're at the funeral. For me, we have Grandpa Simpson disowning Homer.

We do. I can't tell you how sorry I am, Dad. Is someone talking to me? I didn't hear anything. Oh, no. Dad's lost his hearing. No, you idiot. I'm ignoring you.

You made me miss the last precious moment of B's life. I'll never speak to you again i have no okay this is one of uh several references to the jazz singer this scene in the jazz singer yeah they did it a million i mean especially in the crusty and his father episode an entire episode is the jazz singer and this i mean this podcast is about deep cuts, so I'm like, why does Abe rip his shirt? Yes. I had to look that up too.

Apparently it's a Jewish tradition when you hear someone has died. That's like a part of the bereavement process. You rend your garments. So he's saying, you're dead to me, so he rips his shirt. That explains a lot of movie scenes. But Grandpa Simpson is not Jewish, but it works for the reference. Well, that's exactly what Laurence Olivier does in The Jazz Singer, the awful Neil Diamond jazz singer. Of the 80s ones?

Yeah, I saw a clip of that on it today. Yeah, where he says, it's named I half. FF. FF, no sign. Half, no sign. He doesn't tear it enough, but I read about the production of that film, and Laurence Olivier was like, I will do no ads for this. I will do no interviews.

You'll get me me and I'm out and you pay me a bunch of money. And he was right because he knew Neil Diamond, Neil Diamond acting against Laurence Olivier, the greatest actor of his generation versus a 70s pop singer, like the worst.

It's weird. That's the only version of the movie that's online that I can see clips of. I didn't see any older clips. Why don't you go to the National Registry or something? That's like the first talkie, right? He was. You ain't seen nothing yet, folks.

But Abe ends up... Here's a weird conversation. Abe ends up inheriting money from Bea after their month-long courtship. From who does he get that news? It's not who he gets... I wanted to talk about the denomination, but here we go. It was a beautiful service Wasn't it Mr. Simpson?

Who the hell are you? Lionel Hutz attorney at law I'm the executor of Beatrice Simmons estate Mr. Simpson B was a wealthy woman And surprise surprise She left everything to you Really? There is one catch

You must spend one night in A haunted house Just kidding. Just kidding. Here's a check for $106,000 to enjoy as you see fit. Oh, I'm touched. $106,000? Ta-ta, Mr. Simpson.

By the way, old-timer, I do wills. Why don't I just give you this pen with my phone number on it? It looks just like a cigar. Isn't that something? Lionel Hutz was not editing video wills in his favor yet. No, yeah. I was just about to say this evening. I think this joke fell slightly flat. I love seeing Lionel Hutz again.

Oh, yeah. But that's his whole appearance. But it fell slightly flat for me because, yeah, when he does the video will of of marge's aunt he says like you'd be surprised how many times that works you really would like he's he's this isn't him stealing money he's not sleazy enough and that thing about spending the night in a haunted house it's happened two more times on the show bart the fink opens with that they have to spend the night in a haunted house to get their money from an inheritance and it's the best sleep they've ever had yeah and another episode ends with them sleeping in a haunted house.

I forget which one that is though. That's Homer in Love's Flanders. Oh, that's the haunted house one? Yeah, because that's when it proves they're... Next week on The Simpsons. They're like,

I hate you Ned. See, it's back to normal. I'm going to have this day in this haunted house. The writers love referencing how hacky a haunted house joke is. I love it.

It works all three times. Meanwhile, I don't see any movies with haunted houses anymore and I'm bored out of my mind. So do you know how much money $106,000 is worth today? I went to an online inflation

thing. So it is worth $185,000 today. $192 or $91. It doesn't seem like enough inflation. No, it feels like it should be worth more than that. You can buy more video games with it today. It just surprised me how low the numbers seem for someone's entire... Because he said she was very rich.

Yeah, but she wouldn't be in a home if she was very rich. I think my neighbor makes $106,000 a year. We live in San Francisco. We have people in this episode falling over themselves to get this money. The nursing home director is basically offering to give a handjob to Abe Simpson. There are rope downs. I did notice a couple dirty jokes in newer episodes of The Simpsons. And they strangely all come from Grandpa.

He makes dick interaction jokes. And strangely, he's the target or the center of most of them here. I think that makes it more palatable for a censor. Like, oh, it's an old man saying it so we can laugh at it. I know. I mean, that's Betty White's career. If this wasn't cut out in syndication, I'll be surprised. I did not pick up on this at the time.

Mr. Simpson? What is it? I couldn't help overhearing about your newfound fortune, and let me assure you that here at the Springfield Retirement Castle, money does make a difference. I mean, there are rubdowns downs and then there are rub down listen you sucker has it ever occurred to you that old folks deserve to be

treated like human beings whether they have money or not yes but it passes that's my line of the show yeah that's a good line all right let's get that because I didn't I didn't have one that will be our retroactive Hank line of the show that's the joke but also I like Because I didn't have one. That will be our retroactive Hank line of the show. That's the joke.

But also, I like that in all of these clips, there's someone entering upon Grandpa and him screaming. Yeah. And I didn't notice until I captured the clips that it all culminates with him on the roller coaster for the longest scream of all. Right. I miss Bea. I miss you too.

Oh, Abraham, calm down. I'm not here to scare you. I miss you, too. Oh, Abraham, calm down. I'm not here to scare you. I do love this line. They've got me haunting a family in Texas. Glad you keep it busy. For the other rival joke I did not pick up on as a kid ever until now, Homer wants to call his dad because his dad has cut him off. I wrote that down, too.

Oh, I totally missed this joke too as a kid, yeah. I miss my daddy. Homer, this thing with your dad has had you moping around the house for days. I think it's time for you to talk to someone who understands. Hiya. You've reached Dr. Marvin Monroe's anxiety line. If you have a sullen teenager, press 1 now. If you're estranged from your spouse, press 2 now.

If you have trouble maintaining honor... Grandpa! There we go. I totally missed that. First time I got this joke. I never heard it before. I know if you're actually listening to this, you didn't either. There's no way.

So this episode has Herman and Marvin Monroe on it. It's such a season one... Season one rogues gallery. Yeah, it really is. I also did like the flashes of... Yeah. I like that. Yeah, that was fun.

Yeah, that seems very... What do you call it? Peak Simpsons. And as they mentioned on the commentary for the Way We Was episode, the limo driver is Homer's driver from the night of his prom. Right, just a little grade up.

And they aged him up. They grade him up because it was 20 years later. That was maybe not something the writers thought of but it was something the animators paid attention to. This is a David Silverman animated one but it is like shaky. I think he mentions in the commentary that he was

way overworked and he was really tired. There are moments in this of like, that's awesome David Silverman animation. In other parts I'm like, this looks late season one he made he made a joke essentially about like throwing a tantrum about the amount of work he had to do and then they then they like you know allowed him to work at a more reasonable pace or with like less work but yeah because i think ongoing theme in the commentaries of the simpsons is that the writers take the artists for granted oh for sure yeah the the directors who do more work than the writers, I'm just

going to say it. To make the animation exist, that's more work than writing an episode. Because one writer can work on every episode of the season. One animator will work on four episodes in a season, at most. And so I can see that they're a little tired of the writers getting all the

credit. Yeah, they had to put their foot down at some point. We'll get to that episode at some point in the future. Speaking of weird credits, though, I just thought I'd throw that out there. The credits of this episode. Oh, yeah. It's the only time they did that, ever. And they said people wanted to know who did the voices,

so we just gave them the information. Yeah, but they only did it this time. It's just like Dan Castellaneta as Homer, Abe Simpson. They list every person, each person's voices. It was a weird runoff. It makes Yerley Smith look like she's not trying. The only other time they did

it was on the Simpsons movie. Remember? At the end of the Simpsons movie they showed every character too. It actually was a picture of the character for each voice they did. And then when it's Lisa, it's like, it's just Lisa. It's just Lisa. But Abe announces his intention of what he's going to do with the money.

I have an announcement to make. I've decided to give Bea's money away. There are people who really need it. I'm going to let them come to me and plead their case, and then I'll decide who needs it most. Grandpa, that's the noblest thought that's ever been expressed at this table. Give it us, Grandpa! Fart!

I like that scream. Yeah, it's funny. I think this would be a problem with the show much later, but in this upcoming scene, it's just like a series of characters coming in, doing their shtick, and then leaving. Like, the show is that confident this early that, you know these characters are secondary, and here's what they do, and here's who they are,

here's 30 seconds of each one. The lineup of characters waiting, A, there's someone dressed like Darth Vader, the Joker, and a Lady Spock. Yeah. And then B, it's like, they don't have a big enough cast of characters waiting, A, there's someone dressed like Darth Vader, the Joker, and a Lady Spock. And then B, it's like they don't have a big enough cast of characters. They're all like one-offs from previous episodes. Miss Winthrop? But it's still specific characters, not just Klasky Chupo nobodies like in season one.

All these mutants that were just in the background. It was at least like, oh, Ken Brockman gets in line buying Principal Skinner. The sushi chef is there. But the out-of-context characters is a reference to, they all went and saw, they mentioned this on so many commentaries, the writers in the first, like before the first season came out, they went and saw

Batman 1989 together on premiere night. And they're like, aren't we a family? We're seeing Batman together. And the thing that got them was that at this premiere in LA, there were guys dressed as the Joker and Batman. Fine. But they're like, why is Indiana Jones here? Why is Darth Vader here?

It just confused them so much that they then put that in there. Just this disparate amount of people in line for no reason. All begging for money. Where we do get, I think this episode's only first appearance from. Definitely a first. It's a weird first appearance, but here he is. What the hell

is that? Why, it's a death ray, my good man. Behold. Hey, you're warm. Kind of nice. Well, it is just a prototype. With proper funding, I'm confident this little baby could destroy an area the size of New York City. But I want to help people, not

kill them. Oh. Well, to be honest, Ray only has evil applications. You know, my wife will be happy. She's hated this whole death ray thing from day one. I think that's the best moment to them. Yeah, he only has evil applications. I know

that Professor Frank is a Jerry Lewis impersonation of his Nutty Professor character, but what a bizarre... He's always been like the scientist people go visit for information, not the guy pleading for a death ray. This is just a weird place to have him introduced. It was a one-off joke of like, what if a scientist wanted a death ray? Yeah, I was shocked that this is his first appearance,

not somewhere in a lab where someone needs like... What do you think it is, Professor? The voice is there, but he's not doing the fake, crazy, like, fake yiddish. Like, oh, yeah. And also, Professor Frank is named after John Frank, who was a friend of the writers who would later become a Simpsons writer himself. So if you see, like, season 12 episodes that, like, credit John Frank, that is the namesake of Professor Frank. And we do have Burns making a quick appearance and, I guess, the emergence of a running joke. They don't seem to remember their time together.

Grandpa. Call some grandpa. I can call you Grandpa, can't I? Yeah, yeah, go ahead. I need that money. Please. Please! Wait a minute.

Wait. You're the guy who owns the nuclear power plant. Well, the ownership is divided. What the hell do you think you're doing? Mr. Simpson, I dread the day when $100,000 isn't worth groveling for. Get out of here! Mr. Simpson, I dread the day when $100,000 isn't worth groveling for. Get out of here! You've just made yourself a very powerful enemy, old man.

One thing I'm noticing is that the writers love Burns so much, they will come up with any contrived excuse to get him into an episode, which I'm fine with. I feel like that's a callback for me shitting on $100,000, though. Pity the day someone doesn't grovel for $100,000. I wonder if i wonder if burns was thinking about the taunt team they both had in from 1942 but grandpa becomes obsessed with the idea of helping people uh so much this was kind of my runner-up like it's the funniest line delivered by a nobody character uh homer runs in to find his dad before he loses all his money

and gives it away and finds out he's gone to a casino to try and gamble it to make more money to give to more poor people because he can't decide he's got to save a world a world full of problems where do i give this money i'm gonna have to get more before i start dealing with it but i love the receptionist response i'm looking for abe simpson it's important i get a hold of him i have to tell him i don't care about his money and i love him we get that a lot he left this morning with a senior casino junket. Casino! Ah! Get that a lot.

Third take from him on the left. That's a fight that happens all the time in the retirement home. Oh, I'm sure, yeah. Hey, by the way, have you guys ever seen the baseball card of the guy giving the finger? No. It's a real thing. I meant to look into it. So the secret is...

Oh, you can't... It's subtle. So, yeah, this is how he got away with it. He is giving the finger, and he's meaning to, but it's just his hands are wrapped around the bottom, the base of the bat, and it's underneath the bat he only has one finger up. And it's only something people noticed after the cards were printed. I saw a different one when I was looking for this.

It's just the guy whose hand is by his side, but he's clearly flipping off the camera. Oh, there's that one too. And it's a 1972 Detroit Tigers card with the player Billy Martin. So look that up on the internet search. Ah, I know Billy Martin. I feel like I know him too. But there are several flip-off baseball cards. Not just one, so I'm not sure which one they are.

I love the Major League Baseball stars are getting away with that stuff. So the Play-Doh thing, did you catch the little boys behind Play-Doh? Hello, I am Play-Doh. Please partake of Keno, craps, and the loosest slots in town. My philosophy is enjoy.

I totally missed that. He says enjoy. There are several young men. I will be capturing every Phil Hartman character from here on out, by the way. I am continually shocked by how many. I thought I could name five. And I thought I was going deep with smooth Jimmy Apollo. But there are a ton of Phil Hartman

characters here. Did you know what song Otto was singing on the drive there? No. It was Aqualung. Oh yes. We also get introduced to Springfield's deserts. Yeah. It's the expansion of Springfield being basically the size of any of five states. And the casino is literally

one foot over the state line. This is another one of my favorite jokes, the last clip I have. It doesn't play well because it's a visual joke of Homer like, I have to stop now, and then goes to a drive-thru. Oh, yeah, that's great. I love how quickly it cuts away, and I love the drive-thru sound. A double cheeseburger, onion rings, large strawberry shake, and for God's sakes, hurry!

$5,000 and... What century is this? The 20th 20th great put it on number 20 that doesn't seem like enough food for homer it seems like a reasonable meal outside of maybe the giant milkshake maybe he just ate yeah he was like i can't make another two hours on this drive without food uh yeah and then he say he prevents grandpa from spending it and then grandpa realizes i should just invest in the old and make them as happy as i should be well that's i think it's that that uh think locally kind of kind of thing you could you could try and fix all the world's problems or you could maybe fix a few

of your own and make everyone out when he's contemplating what to do with the money he's looking at his hands it is it is one of the worst drawings i mean like i guess it makes sense with the simpsons anatomy but he looks like he has ninja turtle hands yeah like they're literally like he could be holding like a bow staff or something i'm definitely handing you the picture i took it well it's one of those things like you don't look too close at homer's feet because yeah cloven hooves but if you have to focus on them you're like oh wait a minute i think it's because they have to add definition to his hands just to make him look old and it just is not right i mean poor david silverman was told like and then in the script it says and then he looks at his wrinkly hands very carefully i guess

i have to draw this now yeah what do what do wrinkly hands look like in simpsons world i whenever i think of people being old that's one of my first things like oh yeah that's what an old person would look at their hands and realize how old they are so we got two dead people in this episode phil hartman and nodri meadows i a Simpsons continuity nerd, I was annoyed that after this episode, the retirement castle goes back to a state of disrepair right after this. Well, the state of disrepair they show it in is remarkably shitty. Just him walking in the hallway, the wallpaper's falling down. They add a ton of extra details.

I feel like all this background clutter, and that's a good thing, was a hallmark of these early episodes. Lots of little tiny details about how crappy the world is around them. So does Abe own the retirement castle or did he just give money to the people who own it to fix it? He got some rubdowns, baby. I don't know how he facilitated that, but

it happened and they have a nice new lounge with nice recliners and dignity! It's dignity, Luan! A TV that doesn't display exclusively static Yeah It was a nice Yeah so this was a nice episode Not one of the funniest

I think it's just like It's a step a little too far for me now In disassembling this show More than the person watching it would have Just thinking about who Ape Simpson is I'm like I'm not going to feel really bad for him He's kind of like a fuck up and a bad person Even to this point we knew he was kind of He was a is, and I'm like, I'm not going to feel really bad for him. He's kind of like a fuck-up and a bad person, but... Even to this point,

we knew he was kind of a... He was a jerk. Yeah, so I mean, like, going into that without knowledge, I was like, I'm glad he found love, but this episode

left me a little colder than it usually does. Yeah, this is too much sentimentality. It's a trio of episodes that I don't think work very hard. They keep listening to the show,

I know. Don't work very well comedically, but try and tug the heartstrings a little too much. I think they talk about this when we get to elisa's substitute which is the best episode of all time but that they were worried they were getting too sentimentally like that there was like the vision of writers who were like yeah we're just it's fun to tell these funny jokes all the time and then meanwhile no we got to do mushy family things it's about family so I guess that's it for us for this episode

of Talking Simpsons RIP Audrey Meadows and Phil Hartman again I guess we don't have to say that every time we don't because he's gonna appear a lot he's gonna be around for at least the next 5 or 6 years check out that awful awful fake Troy McClure in the previous episode well they had to do that I guess

but I've been Bob Mackie and I still will be him when this episode's over you can find me on Twitter as Bob Servo. I also write for US Gamer and Something Awful. And check out my class and gaming podcast, Retronauts, at retronauts.com or usgamer.net. Thank you, everybody else. Please talk. This is all spawned out of Laser Time, Laser Time, the weekly pop culture show. We've done tributes to David Bowie and Alan Rickman recently, to X-Files coming back.

And we'll have a bunch of other stuff including talking about nerds which we know nothing about. Certainly not. I've never even met a nerd. There's also 302010 our exploration of things that happened in pop culture 30 years ago,

20 years ago, and 10 years ago. If you like the start of this episode where we talked about what happened this week, that is covering it in length for 90 whole minutes.

The show has a finite run date. It can only run 10 years. You're right. It'll just repeat. Oh my god, you've got to plan for the future. And there's also

Cape Crisis, a comic book podcast I host every week, and a bunch of other great podcasts on LazerTimePodcast.com. Yep, that's it from us this week.

We'll see you next week with a brand new episode. Wow. Infotainment.