Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish

Episode Date: December 30, 2015

Get ready for some fugu, as the Simpsons enjoy their first sushi along with a heavy dose of mortality in this week’s classic episode…

a hoi hoi everybody and welcome to talking simpsons the only podcast that's fanfuku-tastic i am your host bob mackie who else is here today um hi chris antista henry gilbert um dave rudden and my skilled hands are busy. Oh, man. We can see them. Dave, stop that. Anyway, this episode is one fish, two fish, blowfish, bluefish, which I will only say once. And in case you didn't know, this is the episode in which Homer eats the poison fugu sushi and has to face his own mortality.

But, Chris, this episode aired on January 24, 1991. What happened on this day in history? Oh, my, 1991. What happened on this day in history? Oh my Bobby! The price of a postage stamp is raised to a whopping 29 cents. Apple Computers begs the FCC to set aside just a sliver of telephone bandwidth for a little thing called the internet.

And the New York Giants defeat the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XV. 22-19, the closest Super Bowl in history. Internet, that'll never work. I mean, come on. Man, those poor Bills. They never got to win a Super Bowl. The whole 90s is just watching the Bills lose. I feel like I grew up, but still, I grew up associating the Buffalo Bills with the Super Bowl,

not caring about football, every year, then the big game. Yeah, but they got to be known as, like, oh, these poor losers. Like, yeah, for any team to make it to the Super Bowl, like, two, three years in a row, it has to be a pretty good team. Yeah, I think so. I think this episode, though, it deals with an anxiety that America faced in the late 80s, early 90s. And that is the idea of eating sushi. There are so many movies and TV shows like Raw Fish.

Get the hell out of here. An episode of Doug was about this. Doug's like, I've got to eat sushi with my grandma. Oh, no. Sushi was on the tip of everybody's tongue at this point in the 90s. It took me another 10 years to try it. I was going to ask you guys that. It sounded gross. Like, grandma, oh, no. Sushi was on the tip of everybody's tongue at this point in the 90s. And, like, it took me, like, another 10 years to try it. I was going to ask you guys that. It sounded gross.

It didn't make it to my neck of the woods in Ohio until, like, 2003, probably. Yeah, in Florida it was a long time coming to. Dave lived in the metropolitan New York. So, I mean, I had it, like, probably the late 90s. But my parents are, I mean, the only time I ever had sushi with them was probably a decade ago. And they were like, mmm, raw fish? I don't know.

Whenever I had sushi, I definitely thought of this episode. When I've had it for the first time, I was like, yep, this is like on The Simpsons. It is also my favorite. I do also love the conversation of how they get to the sushi restaurant. All of this is just wonderfully written. I do also love the conversation of how they get to the sushi restaurant. All of this is, like, wonderful, just wonderfully written.

We have meatloaf! Get a wall. It's unbelievably hot, kids. Yum. I've got it dried out in peace with your name on it, Lisa. Thursday, meatloaf night, as it was, is now, and ever shall be. What are you getting at? Well, you're always trying to teach me to be open-minded, try new things, live life to... What are you talking about? Nobody's trying to teach you that.

Love that. Yeah, boy. Well, maybe Lisa's right. Tomorrow night, it might be nice to go out for dinner. Tomorrow night? Friday? Pork chop night? Mars! We haven't missed pork chop night since the great pig scare in 87. Ooh, that beats it. Mars! We haven't missed pork chop night since the great pig scare in 87. Friday night pork chops. From cradle to grave, etched in stone in God's library somewhere. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Where do you want to go?

Anywhere but hamburgers, pizza, or fried chicken. Fine! We'll go to Mars. I love that. There's a new sushi restaurant on Elm Street. Sushi? Hey, maybe this is just one of those things you hear on the playground, but isn't that raw fish? As usual, the playground has the facts right, but missed the point entirely. Sushi is considered quite a delicacy. Please, Homer, can we try it?

No! There's a million things to unpack in there. Yeah, I love that. I'm sorry for the long clip right off the bat. No, it's worth it. I mean, it establishes things. Having microwave meatloaf for dinner seemed like that's so low. Totally, yeah. I was going to say,

a lot of episodes open with Marge cooking something, but this looks revolting. Microwave meatloaf? Can you imagine that? Even when I ate meat, I could not eat a microwave meatloaf. Microwave meatloaf. The line, get it while it's unbelievably hot.

I also thought it was a very Rugrats opening of just a close-up on a food thing that then is taken out into a normal... It's that Kl a close-up on a food thing that then is like taken out into a normal... It's that Klasky Chupo touch. It just sucks because like I probably would have... I was open-minded enough to go eat sushi but Tallahassee, Florida didn't get one until like 96. Well, I

often think back to how Lisa points out that like, well, yes you get the facts right but it's actually like context to mean something and that's the case. Now it's my favorite food ever but I think I had the reaction of everybody because it's actually like context to mean something. And that's the case. Now it's my favorite food ever, but I did, I think I had the reaction

of everybody because it was, it was just one of those things that was joked about like fucking Zima or something like that. Sushi. So weird people like that.

Who would do that? Yeah. Though now I've heard from people like from Japanese people, they're annoyed at the opposite. We think they only eat sushi and they eat it all the time when,

like Lisa says, it is a delicacy meaning it is a specialty food like yeah it's a sometimes food yeah first time i ever visited japan i'm like i should get sushi and it was like i had a good i had to walk a long way to find it yeah like you can find almost anything else like curry or ramen yeah i know this sounds super spoiled of me like we waited for my first day in japan a we waited in line for four or five hours i did this for the freshest sushi ever to where like it's still moving in front of me. Like, we waited, my first day in Japan, A, we waited in line for four or five hours for the freshest sushi ever to where, like,

it's still moving in front of me. Immediately went back to California and, like, this is frozen. I was, like, I get it now. I know what,

this is from China. I can taste it. When I had sushi a second time in Japan, it's just one of the revolving dish tray ones. I wish I hadn't done this. When I had it a second time, I was like, this is

better than I've had in America, but this is nothing like it. Why do I not like this sushi now? It is really fun going to this episode with a lot of Japanese knowledge, being a recovering Japanophile, as I probably pointed out before another podcast, but like just going in... A rehabilitated weeb. Yes. Just going in and knowing that

the chefs scream irishai masen at the Simpsons. They're not just screaming gibberish. It's real Japanese. When I was a kid, I heard that. It's, Irishai Masen, at the Simpsons. It's like, they're not just screaming gibberish. It's real Japanese. And I was a kid. I heard that. It's just like, blah, blah, blah, blah. But then to hear it, they actually talk about that

in the commentary, that they took pride or they worked hard to hire real Japanese actors to speak Japanese. Including George Takei. George Takei. Yeah. Hold on. Yeah.

Happy to know. You don't know what I'm saying? There it is. Please, do not be alarmed. Our chefs are just saying hello. Oh, okay. Hello! So, the hostess has pink hair.

They mentioned that on it, too, that they... It was one of the things of, like, how they used to have purple trees on the show. They're like, eh, she's... This is just crazy let's uh just have pink hair like nowadays you could say like she's just uh imitating a japanese pop idol yeah or an anime character though they also said they were pushed into a corner because they're like well the simpsons are yellow so what color do we make japanese people oh boy they took it already. Again, George Takei. Did he ever reprise this role? He did not. Hank Azaria reprised the role

of Akira as the karate or kung fu. I think it was karate. Yeah, he was a karate guy. He would be back as the game show host on the Simpsons. Really? Yeah. He would be that guy. He also famously turned down doing the Monorail episode

We can talk about that later Oh my god that's right They mentioned it on this commentary They asked him to be on monorail He said that he was on the San Francisco Public Transit Commission He would do nothing to defame public transit And then they got Spock

And they're like why did we even ask him We should have asked Spock first The Spock jokes were better But I like this episode because the first act explores things that were probably novel to americans like karaoke yeah and uh sushi restaurants before we get into that i just have a little clip i love uh george sakai here and homer ordering i am akira your waiter may i take your order what would you recommend for a family that's not sure they should be here the swissie sub rise a little bit of everything it is very non-threatening make it two akira i'm a good man i'd like two sharks an octopus and an eel very good do you have any giant squid the kind that drags men to their deaths not

today that's so hard to choose it all looks so terrible Just bring me one of these and one of these and one of those. I did enjoy that. I didn't even notice at the time. Accurate to ordering in a Japanese restaurant, Homer gets like a 33 ounce beer. Yeah. Which I do every time I go down. A giant beer. A giant beer. A Duffahama. A Duffahama? That's what it was.

It was a great joke. You were mentioning the karaoke like. Right. Okay. For the next few episodes, Dan Castaneda will sing, and apparently it's my favorite thing in the universe. They must have had a bigger budget for song licensing in season two than one. Did he play Richie Sakai? The next producer, Richard Sakai, in this episode? I'm an anesthesiologist.

That's him. And I'd like to dedicate this next song to my wife, Patty. I was born in the wagon of a traveling show. Kate, this next song to my wife, Patty. I was born in the wagon of a traveling show. Mama used to dance for the money they throw. Papa would do whatever he could. I love the mouth drawing when he sings could. They kill a lot of time, including Bart and Lisa singing shaft.

They say this cat shaft's a bad mother. Shut your mouth. But I'm talking about shaft. Then I can dig it Shaft's a bad mother. Shut your mouth. But I'm talking about Shaft. Then I can dig it. He's a complicated man. But no one understands him but his woman. John Shaft. That is so...

I'm a little kid. I've never heard of Shaft. I don't know this song. I love watching it now. Bart and Lisa know every word of the Shaft theme. 70s nostalgia would not exist until the next episode for the most part. This was just them

tapping into the 70s nostalgia and later go nuts with in the next episode. Speaking of Shaft, should we talk about the main cook in Edna Krabappel which was,

for me as a 10 year old in 1991, that really piqued my curiosity. Thank you for bringing that up. Very salacious, Dave. That really, I don't want to say bothered me, but seeing the idea of Bart's teacher getting

fucked and maybe seeing it. And the chef calls her Miss Crabapple. Or Miss Crabapple. He says Crabapple. Okay, yeah. Which I thought was pretty funny. We should say the reason Homer is poisoned is because the main chef leaves to go have sex in a car with Bart's teacher.

I have all of this, and I can't... I can only speculate. I feel like some of this will keep this episode from being rerun much further in the future. It seems like there's a lot of white Simpsons cast members doing Asian impressions. No, no, these are all Japanese actors. There's got to be something I haven't tried, huh? Hey, what's this? Fugu!

It is blowfish, sir. But I should warn you that one... Come on, pal. Fugu me! He really didn't get that as a kid. She's here. Call her for me. Classic cover. Not fugu.

If it is cut improperly, it's... Yes, yes, it is poisonous, potentially fatal. But if sliced properly, it can be quite tasty. I must get the master. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, this crap apple. See, he's had it, grab it. Oh, yeah, it smells so good.

Oh, green. Master, you are needed in the kitchen. I said cover for me, damn it! But master, we need your skilled hands. My skilled hands are busy. You do it! Sorry, I just love this line. God, those noises are just like really porny.

Poison, poison, tasty fish. You bring that up, but this is a first in a two-part block episode where there will be a busy hands joke and sexy noises coming from a vehicle. That's right. So there's uh yeah a couple things in that that they worked really hard to get the japanese they worked hard to have the japanese they hired japanese actors to play all of them all right that guy who was like cutting

the fish is basically japanese auto like in terms of looks and being incompetent yeah this is but also the to go back to shaft real quickly and so this they originally the censors were like you can't sing the shaft song on tv it's too dirty and they had to prove that it had been on the oscars like that the song had been sung on the oscars the year it was nominated and then that's when fox is like fine you can play there's an implication dirty and starting with his name but yes there's, I think the word damn in that song, it's all good. And the bad MF-er line is like, you know, talked over or

interrupted, so yeah. Homer orders the most complicated dish at the... Did they get the name of the restaurant? Happy Sumo? Yeah, Happy Sumo. I did want to point out, Homer's ordering so much sushi, this meal is over $500. That one's mine too. Every time I go to order sushi and I always like

hold my breath and try not to think about the check. Yeah. Because in San Francisco it's really fucking expensive. One piece of sushi is like $5.

How does he order a shitload of sushi? That weird lazy animation sequence of him eating 18 rolls that just keep reappearing. It never disappears. Yeah, he just pulls the same one over and over.

Never eating sushi rolls. Yeah, it was a bit much. But yeah, that was one of those grown up things you get watching the show. Like, it was a bit much. But yeah, that was one of those grown-up things you get watching the show. Like, that would be $400. As a kid, you're not thinking how much any food costs. But none of us were eating sushi in 1991. We were not.

Maybe sushi was so desperate to make inroads that they were just like really just taking a loss at that point. I'm saying none of that bothered me when I was like 10 years old except for the never-eating sushi roll. I was like, why did that happen? I hope somebody got fired for that. But Homer eats the poison pugu, and it looks like fugu. Beautiful language, isn't it, Bart? God's sake, don't eat another bite! Oh, I couldn't possibly.

Mr. Simpson-san, I shall be blunt. We have reason to believe you have eaten poison. Poison? What should I do? What should I do? Tell me quick. No need to panic. There's a map to the hospital on the back of the menu.

Again, I think that's a great joke. And that menu, it is visible on the back of the menu throughout the entire scene. It looks really weird. I feel like he should have induced vomiting immediately instead of just sitting on it. I think this probably put me off sushi for another two or three years. It looks really weird. I feel like he should have induced vomiting immediately instead of just sitting on it. I think this probably put me off sushi for another two or three years. Not that I could tell my parents where to take me when I was 10. And one last thing about how they portray the Japanese in this.

I bet if you were to compare this to any sitcom in 1991 that would have had Japanese jokes in it or the jokes of the family going to a restaurant, they would have had more racist. I think the joke about that's a beautiful language is casually racist in a way. In a way that's like, I accept it for 1991. But it could have been much, much worse.

I only care about casual racism as far as my casual racism bingo card. That's all I care about. He gets poisoned. I'm sorry. I took the next couple episodes for some reason hit me really hard. I'll get to that. They're very emotional. And this is the diagnosis from Hibbert. These are just a great scene that i cut into two pieces

if in fact you've consumed the venom of the blowfish and from what the chef has told me it's quite probable you have 24 hours to live 24 hours well 22 i'm sorry i kept you waiting so long i'm gonna die i'm gonna die well if there's one consolation it's that you'll feel no pain I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long. Omar, I'm going to die. I'm going to die. Well, if there's one consolation, it's that you'll feel no pain at all until sometime tomorrow evening when your heart suddenly explodes. We both talked about this.

Henry and I had it. Dave, did you have it too? The Simpsons was so new and so out there and breaking a bunch of rules. I didn't know 100% that Homer was going to live through this episode. You believed that they would kill him. Yes. As a kid, I was sure he was dead.

I was waiting on pins and needles to see what would happen. I was convinced there was a chance he'd die. With 27 years of hindsight, people. And Chris and I had the same experience, too. During the episode, they show a commercial for the next episode, which is The Way We Was which starts over it's a flashback episode but as a kid I built in my head that like

Homer dies in this episode and they start over from the beginning when he meets Marge and that's what the show's going to be now I'm like it's a dumb thought to have what an amazing turn that would be though as a 10 year old yeah it was only 20 minutes but like it's I was I was wrought with tension in like the whole time.

And I love going back and looking at this now, because some of the tension still comes back. Oh, for sure, yeah. But I get to appreciate, like, this is why there's so many clips. Because essentially what happens later on is Homer makes a checklist of awesome gags. Yeah, he invents the bucket list. Yes. 15 years before the movie. He invents the bucket list.

Oh, you're right. It's a bucket list. It really is, isn't it? This alone of him coping with the five stages of him dying Now a little death anxiety is normal You can expect to go through five stages The first is denial No way, because I'm not dying

The second is anger After that comes fear What's after fear? Doc, you gotta get me out of this I'll make it worth your while Finally, acceptance Well, we all gotta go sometime Mr. Doc, you've got to get me out of this. I'll make it worth your while. Finally. Acceptance. Well, we all got to go sometime.

Mr. Simpson, your progress astounds me. This really feels like a really vaudeville-style joke. It really does. But they dust it off and they make it good again. I love it. It's so great. It's a beautiful Homer scene. And it also ends with a first of what would be a running gag in seasons two and three of the pamphlet.

There's a pamphlet for everything, so you're going to blank. So you're going to die, so you're having a bastard, I think is the... Oh, so you've ruined your life. So you've ruined your life, that's the pregnancy one, yeah. And do we want to talk about Homer's bucket list? Basically everything from here on out is kind of things on his list. Okay, because I've written down the entire list if you want me to read this out. Yeah, there were some things that he had to cross off with.

Yeah, so Homer makes a list of things to do before he dies. Here's him talking to Marge about the list in general. What's that word you use for when you and I when we're intimate? He's intimate with Marge. Can I just make

one suggestion? Can we get up early and watch the sunrise together? Watch the sunrise together? Ah, watch the sunrise. Till 6am, my dearest darling, and my last day on Earth. This still made me really sad, like, watching it now.

So as a 10-year-old... Would you go to sleep on your last day on Earth? That's what I thought. I thought, no, there's no way I couldn't sleep if I was going to die in 23 hours. Now we're finding cocaine. I feel at this point it's like 3 in the morning, though. So there's not a lot of sleep happening. But to that extent, as a 10-year-old, I didn't know what be intimate with Marge meant exactly. No, me neither.

But the fact that he saves that spoiler for one of the last things, I thought watching it yesterday, I'm like, so they're going to go and have sex right now, right? That's what I was thinking. Yeah, like, why wait? Why don't we fuck now and then also fuck later? Because I will be dead tomorrow. Not just once. But Marge isn't dying.

Why do anything else on the list just have sex for the next 24 hours? I do love that line, Marge isn't dying. I'm the one dying here, not you. One of the things on his list is to – what's his list say? Okay, his list. I'll read it out to you. And, like, most of these are scenes. So the first item is make list.

Then eat a hearty breakfast, make videotape for Maggie, have man-to-man with Bart. I have man-to-man with Bart. Cool. Do you want me to keep going? And finally, the little spot under your nose. Next, we take some toilet paper, tear out some teensy little squares,

and stick one there, and there, and any place you're bleeding. There, and there. Don't worry, the blood will hold it right on your face. Now, some aftershave. This terrified me of shaving for a long time. Shaving like an idiot.

This was post Home Alone, but it was written pre-Home Alone, so we can give them that pass. But instead of telling you the entire list, I'll tell you what he didn't do, because the rest are basically scenes. So what he didn't do was make funeral arrangements, hang gliding, plant a tree and watch the sunrise because he slept in we should we should say that like marge let him sleep until

like 11 30 because he looks so peaceful he's like i'll have plenty of time for that yeah i i actually would be very mad at her yeah i have only so many more waking hours left of life how dare you and i i just love this i love these sweet moments and i do sing this on occasion whenever i hear the song one of his scene is his things on his list is to to listen listen to lisa player sax hi dad want me to cut out this infernal racket oh let me hear you play why does your father have to explain let's just share your gift okay at least homer has reason to cry in this time he cries so much

but the pick-me-up is where it's at oh I love this part too. That was stupid. So whenever I hear that song, those are the lyrics I see. Oh, I want to be in that rumba when the saints go over there. And one of the things on this list is with Maggie. How we use electricity can be smarter, cleaner, and greener. At Electric Ireland, we can help guide you there. You see, our new Net Zero Hub has all you need to know about smart meter plans,

EV tariffs, solar panels, and much more. Making your usage clearer, your trips greener, your home cozier, and your world brighter. Find our net zero hub at electricireland.ie. Is to make a videotape with Maggie, right? But I love this scene. Before he can do that, he has to borrow a camcorder. Yeah, from Flanders.

Because filming things was not something anybody could do. I think what you're going to hear throughout this episode is at least three more things that date the technology of phone to such a degree. If this episode happened today, he'd go to Flanders to borrow his iPhone 6S because it's got a better video quality than his iPhone 4.

David, that sounds very personal and experienced. When I was dying, my... You and your family come over for a barbecue tomorrow? No, thanks. Oh, are you sure? We got that new propane beauty just sitting in the backyard. No, I don't want to. Oh, it's Brian. I have to cook up some good eating.

Flanders, I said I didn't. Tomorrow? Sure, what the hey. I'd love to come to your barbecue. I'll even bring the thickest, juiciest T-bones you've ever seen. Sounds terrific. He joked on him.

I'll be dead by then. They would revisit that idea of Homer at Ned's barbecue in just a few episodes. I thought I remembered some payoff to that, like him having to go to Ned's barbecue after promising. We can cut to the chase. In the commentary, they didn't say if they filmed it or not, but the plan was that the end of the episode would be Homer paying his debt. All the things would come and get him when he didn't die. Burns would want to meet him on Monday. He'd be at the barbecue, and he'd be thinking i'm i'm sad i'm not dead i wish i was which i was yeah yeah they use recycled animation and they also brought up

that like it's weird that homer dislikes ned more than he likes food yeah homer loves food but even in this case like naft i could have free food next door he really hates ned yeah he's he i didn't get any clips of that, sadly. I love the entire sequence of him seeing his father. They do tell each other they love one another, and they enjoy an awesome day together. There's a ton of... This is why Homer has to cross most of the things off his list,

because his dad is so love-starved, is what he calls him. That is such a beautiful scene. It was too touching a scene to me. Too touching for the Simpsons. They only made it untouching by just having it at the end that Homer was like, I cannot take this anymore. Go away. A little clingy.

But he gets arrested. He's driving as fast as he can to fulfill the rest of his bucket list. The police pull him over. Another Eddie and Lou appearance. But they have the right voices for the first time. They do. For the first time. I don't have that.

It was just, I don't know. Again, this is funny to me and no one else. Barney's answering machine. He can't call Marge from jail, so he has to call Barney. And again, you'll never have to deal

with novelty answering machine tapes ever again, kids. God, I miss them. Not really. Okay, Flash. You get one phone call. Wait. I can't call Marge.

It's our last day on Earth together. That doesn't make a ton of sense. I should want to be around Marge. I't call Marge. It's our last day on Earth together. That doesn't make a ton of sense. He shouldn't want to be around Marge. I'll call Barney. Nobody's here. Nobody's here. Nobody's here. Damn, no novelty telephone answering machine tapes.

Thanks a lot, Barney. I just wasted my one phone call on your stupid... I'm home. I'm home. Hi, Homer. You gotta help me, Barney, I'm in jail I love it, my line in the show Hi neighbor

I can't see you Just get over here and make 50 bucks for bail So Barney lives What'd you do, kill a judge? Thanks, line of the show I guess I don't know if I have that Which one, I can see you? I like our brief look into Barney's life.

Just like what a pathetic, degenerate drunk he is. Easy, buddy, because it resembles my room. Yeah, my apartment's not unlike Barney. You guys aren't picking pizza off the ground and eating it. We're not, but I'm not here. I'm really close to a giant fiber cable spool as a dinner table.

Look at the end tables in the living room. If I found that on the side of the street, that would be hipster chic. Those are my favorite things to play with as a kid, no shit. I would literally stand in them and walk around like a circus animal. I mean, for married friends, if you're the friend of a married person, you are kind of Barney

now because you're the person you knew a long time and you've cleaned up your act and have a wife and kids now but this other one is still single and living alone that just blew my mind and made me 20% happier with who I am I mean we're all Barney though

I don't need to hear that also I did like the line look what else your tax dollars paid for that was a great comeback that is the shittiest thing you could say to a cop Homer just wants homer just wants to get his ticket and get out of there but the cops are uncooperative never say my tax dollars pay your salary to anyone exactly until you're absolutely sure that's what your tax dollars go to so i guess at this point a barney and uh homer headed to mose because he's getting his like one drink with the boys i just have one sequence i love the

tots burn no when the kid i have too. Again, too many clips. The kids in Marge waiting for Homer to come home. Right, really sad. Why are we all dressed up? Because sometimes it's fun to dress up for dinner. Why are we using the good china? Because sometimes it's fun to use the good china. What's with the candles?

Sometimes it's fun to use candles. Why are we waiting for Dad? Because we love your father and enjoy his company. Why are we really waiting for Dad? That's a really heart-wrenching reading. Yeah, like, what direction could you get? Like, you are talking to your children about your husband who's about to die, so you're trying to just placate them.

What I think is great, like, there was so much planning into this narrative where they set up early, like, we're not going to tell to tell the kids like i don't think in a later episode they wouldn't even bother to establish that but here they're like we're not going to tell the kids they'll find out later if i was bart i'd be kind of upset that like i didn't get to say a real goodbye to dad yeah that is i mean did you deny me this so my line of the show is like i think this was earlier in the episode where homer is like oh no, I'm sorry, it's a little bit later, where he's talking to them when they're asleep. Whatever it is, it's after he crosses another thing off his list. He happens to see Burns in the street.

That's right. Who has never been portrayed more creepily. But he loves GAM. He is gawking at ladies. Not even GAM, just the ankles. Aren't GAMs the thighs or the legs? I don't know, because at the beginning it just sounds like he's talking about a pair of yellow tits. Smithies, check out the luscious pair on that red head.

That's it, baby. Work those ankles. Bring it in, things. Hey, bird! Eat my yarn! Who the Sam Hill was that? Is that him? It's Homer Simpson, sir.

One of the schmoes from Sector 7G. Simpson, eh? I want him in my office at 9 o'clock Monday morning. We'll see who eats whose shorts. Is that Homer, or sorry, is that Smithers at his most heterosexual? Yes, I think he's being it in relation to Burns. No, I'm just looking

and it's like, this was not defined yet. I do think it's humoring because an adult heterosexual man in 1991 would not be looking at ankles with Mr. Burns. You know, I think he's just like, yes, those are great ankles, sir. Those are great ankles, sir. No, I also, like, maybe it's the second time, but the first time it's become a runner of Sector 7G. One of your blank in Sector 7G. Yeah, one of your seat fillers.

I miss that. Yeah. I miss the Sector 7G. So Barney convinces Homer to go make one stop at Moe's. Run my strength with your buddies. And again, I love Moe's because that's the reality I'm headed straight towards at a careening speed, being a Moe's person. But a really good Moe's prank call. I think this might be my favorite one.

Oh, really? Okay. Hello, Moe's Tavern. Birthplace of the Rob Roy. Is Seymour there? Last name, Butts. Just a sec. Hey, is there a Butts here?

Seymour Butts? Hey, everybody, I want a Seymour Butts! Oh, wait a minute. Listen, you little scum-sucking puss bucket. When I get my hands on you, I'm going to pull out your eyeballs with a corkscrew. He always says the most foul shit to the kids. I still prefer, I'm going to use your tongue to paint my boat. Or I'm going to rip your head off and paint my house with your brains.

That's it, too, yeah. Or I'm going to staple an American flag to your butt and mail you to Iran. Homer says goodbye to his bar crew. And there's an inexplicable graduate reference out of nowhere. Yes. The first ever graduate reference, though. Not their biggest one ever. It feels really out of context.

Later, in the Grandpa Getting Married episode, it would make more sense because it ends with a complete graduate send-up. This was them really indulging their first time ever. We could just make it look exactly like it. It just sounded like music. The Graduate was a monumental movie for us as the writers, and we're just going to reference it for no reason.

We have the music and then Homer pounding on the window screaming, Marge! Yeah. I love that scene. It's like, bye kids, bye kids, I'm going to go fuck mom as fast as I can. I also did like the one guy at the bar. He kissed. He was like, you better be dying.

Told you this before, but sometimes when I'm at work, I think of you and smile. So often I think that, oh, words won't do it. I love you, Mo. Hey, he's not in public. You better be dying. I love you, Barney. Whoa, how you're appearing.

I love the belch after that line. It's so great. The classic punctuation of it but yeah so that also another first comes right before they're intimate that it's the first ever nude marge in bed which right yeah animators indulge in every now and then i i like the fact that marge would sometimes sleep naked like as a character fact about her though as a mom like i don't think you could like you can never predict when your kids are going to wake you up in the middle of the night with a thing. So I feel like you can't sleep nude.

You have to have a robe right nearby. But I think they just had sex. That's why she was naked. I only have the vaguest of memories of my father being way too comfortable with his own nudity. That exact sequence. Like, Dad! E.T.'s coming back into theaters what giant dong in my face like my mom trying to cover him up because he doesn't give a shit

so before homer drained his balls was my quote of the episode where homer goes into every kid's room he says like oh yeah goodbye maggie stay as sweet as you are goodbye lisa i know you'll make us all proud goodbye bart i like your sheets i, Bart. I like your sheets. I like your sheets. I like your sheets. I feel like this is a running joke of them going down the line, and they can't think of anything to say about Bart. In the first episode, the Christmas one, it's like, and Bart?

Well, we love Bart. They're just talking about their achievements. It's that, but just thinking as me, barely just a little kid, this does kind of apply now, not taking compliments well. It would make me happier to know you liked my sheets than to say something nice about me. I had George Costanza's MLB sheets when I was a kid. I was so proud of them. I had

Simpson sheets. Pulling trifectas every night? I had Aladdin sheets. I had Simpsons, Garfield, Simpsons and Garfield, those are the two I remember. Transformers, Bugs Bunny, and Rainbow Bright. I love that Rainbow Brite. In that order?

Chronologically? Yeah. Fuck, marry, kill. Did your dad worry about you? Like, why is he getting his Rainbow Brite? I, that's definitely, I think I've talked about that before. I really loved Rainbow Brite, and for years, for what felt like years, I had to convince my sister to get Rainbow Brite toys so I could play with them.

I loved Dollhouses, Chris. Yeah, like I didn't want a Barbie, but I was jealous was jealous like why the fuck doesn't my toy have a pink ferrari like that's not fair that's way the hell cool and get houses and special play sets had you guys ever heard of larry king before or i don't think so but i mean like it's it's weird to think that he's still doing what he did i am 30 years. I am shocked he's not dead. Yeah. But by comparison, listen how sprightly he sounds. Should we say like... I am Larry King. In the beginning, God created the... Yes,

Homer is his last... He's up in the middle of the night and has nothing to do, so he's like, let me check out the good book. By the way, he can check out the good book. Ooh, narrated by Larry King. On tape. By the way, Hibbert said he'd die sometime next evening. It's about two in the morning I'd say at this point.

I don't think death works like that. It's not like death sees the clock. It's like you're going to die at 2.02. I justify it now. Homer has damaged his body so much.

Fugu? Fuck you. Fuck you. Get in line. Fugu, fuck you. Heaven and the earth. And the earth was without Zair

begat Phineasas phineas begat abushu you really do need to fast forward for all these begats i must i must begat get amariya onward amariya begats i have to i have to begat all those begats it is useless in the bible like i get it jesus is connected abraham here's the genealogy i'm sorry i overloaded this whole show with clips. Do you have the end of that tape? No, I didn't because it's great because he throws in a fucking plug. He's talking to his producer like,

we're going to get some matzo balls. We're going to get matzo balls. We liked Spurs this year. I think they're going to go all the way. He was wrong. Spurs did not. They didn't win an NBA title until 1999, which was against the New York Knicks.

That's why it hurts me. That year, the Bulls beat the Lakers. It has happened many times during Michael Jordan's run. That's true. The Spurs did. They had the third best record in the NBA that year. I looked it up, but they lost in the first round. I cannot allow all the sports stuff, Bob.

I'm scared. Also, Larry King is a super Jewish guy, so he reads all the way to Revelation. Which would probably take more than a night if you're going to be a stickler, Chris. That would probably take 12 hours. If he's skipping over all the begats, he's probably skipping other parts, too. He doesn't need much of Genesis. He's like, once the arc's done with him. But for the last clip, again, presenting to you, I didn't know Homer was going to survive.

It actually really seemed to me like he was going to die. I was certain he was dead. Even having seen this episode maybe like 30 times, like 25 years later, I'm still buying into it. I'm still like touched when Marge goes up to the body, the quote unquote body. Yes, and that's why I love this clip so much because it was such a fucking relief in the beginning. I really thought we were losing Homer. Bart was my favorite, so I didn't think I cared that much in the beginning. But, yeah.

Homer. It's true. It's warm. My parents had to explain the science of that to me. Homer! Homer, wake up! You're alive! All right, stop it. Wake up! You're alive! You're alive! my parents had to explain the science of that to me and then right to credits right to? One of the few non-fade to black credits sequences is Homer eats pork rinds and watches fucking bowling on television.

I think it's like Dan Castellana improv-ing the most boring bowling announcer. I can't imagine anything more boring to watch than bowling outside of fishing. Those two are great between each other. It was the clip of Homer eating pork rinds from Moaning Lisa which is when he finds out Barney's bull-a-rama burned down each other yeah but and it was yeah it was the clip of homer eating pork rinds from uh moaning lisa which is when he finds out barney's boulderama burned down and he rushes out you can tell it's

like old animation too it doesn't look as good well that shows you how much the the simpsons have grown by this point that they're in the like 11th episode of season two yeah and already they can show you a season one thing you're like nope this doesn't my it looks totally i know this looks totally off but i, the joke is great that Homer immediately wastes his life. Like, they gut-punched... As we all do. Yeah, I mean, they gut-punched the sincerity.

Just like, no, Homer did not learn anything. He's going to continue destroying his body and not valuing his time on this earth. Yep. And nobody died. Thank God. Thank God Homer didn't die. The death jingle is on call right now.

I'm trying to think... Okay, George Takei. Sorry, George Takei is still alive. Still with us. Still incredibly gay. Yes. Yeah, and Larry King somehow still alive, too. I'm trying to think. Okay, George Takei. Sorry, George Takei is still alive. Still with us. Still incredibly gay. Yeah, Larry King somehow still alive too. I can't fucking believe it. His newest wife is younger than this episode.

Oh, dear. I'm kidding. Every time I see him, he becomes more like shoulder blade than man. He's all shoulder pad right now. He interviewed Stan Lee. And seeing them together, I was like, oh, my God. This is like two dinosaurs. Battle of the Mummies happening live on television.

Two spray-painted skeletons. They're very bronze, aren't they? So anything else to say about this episode? Like I said before, I bought into the drama, even though you can't kill Homer, period. We've established this now. We established it in Bart the Daredevil. Exactly. But again, I did buy it at the time, and this is a very emotional episode.

And again, something that I think the Simpsons, if I have a complaint about modern Simpsons, I've said it a billion times, it's the framing and the animation, and it's the non-manufactured sweetness that doesn't just come at the end of the episode. Right, I think James L. Brooks is a huge part of the things that work. Even though I complained about him before in those weird, like, grafted-on endings, it does really feel like a James L. Brooks-style thing. There's a lot of sweetness throughout this episode. Now at someone Homer's age, like, I see it in a whole new light.

Like, I was seeing, like, I guess you could say, oh, this is, like, what if my dad or some relative of mine died? But now I looked at it as, like, well, what if I'm Homer? Like, what if I was going through this? What would I think? Yeah, I'm sure. I wasn't thinking that as a kid. Probably 35 in this episode or in his mid-30s, right? Only a matter of time.

In all likelihood, one of us has to get a terminal disease in the next 10 years. If you do the math in the next episode, they are 34. Place your bets now. Who will be the first of us to die? They just have some fugu fish before this episode. So when they cut it right. So that was Talking Simpsons, everybody. I am your host, Bob Mackie.

As always, you can find me on Twitter as BobServo I also host the classic gaming podcast Retronauts Go to USGamer.net to find that Or just search for it on iTunes or whatever you use to listen to podcasts Everybody else? I am Chris Antista I host the LazerTime show And LazerTimePodcast.com

Where you can also find Talking Simpsons Among many other shows like Vigigame Apocalypse The Weekly Video Game Show Cave Crisis, The Weekly Comic Book Show Cheap Popcast You can also find Talking Simpsons among many other shows like Vigigame Apocalypse, the weekly video game show. Cave Crisis, the weekly comic book show. Cheap Popcast? Yes, the wrestling show. The wrestling show with no weekly attribution. And if you like this but haven't heard the first season, you should go to patreon.com slash lasertime for $5 a month of support for us.

You get access to the entire first season. You can listen to all our thoughts on those 13 episodes. Let us be your guides for that rough first season, I i would say it's the best way to watch the episodes can we give a shout out to uh eric nagel oh my god it's eric nagel show for having us all on thank you so much for being like just like buttering us up so much i mean so much praise was thrown at us i loved it again unbelievably sweet and it's a great episode to mention that that happened uh thank you so much eric and i look forward to having you and matt on the show at some point yeah let us know if you found us through that uh radio show we want to know for sure thank you so much guys yeah so we'll see

you next week with a brand new episode guys next time later