Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - The Last Temptation of Krust With Ian Boothby

Episode Date: May 1, 2019

For this dive into the world of comedy, we're joined by a writer/comedian who has worked for Matt Groening AND Adam Sandler, Ian Boothby! (Check out Sparks and Exorsisters, as well as the Sneaky Dragons podcast!) Krusty is a tired hack with racist comedy, and he's not sure where to go, so he turns to Jay Leno for help. But even when he finds a way to tell the truth, can he resist the call of Canyonero? We're telling it like it is, and this podcast is a squirrel squashing, deer smacking, driving machine!! Support this podcast and get hundreds of bonus ad-free episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron!

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It's real easy, man. I heartily endorse this event or product. Ahoy, ahoy, everybody. Welcome to Talking Simpsons, where unexplained fires are a matter for the courts. I'm your host, the truth-spewing Bob Mackie. This is our chronological exploration of The Simpsons. Who is here with me today? Henry Gilbert, and I get jokes. And who do we have on the line? Ian Boothby, and I've got to ask, why now?

Why not 20 years ago? And today's episode is The Last Temptation of Crust. Oh, you're both way overdue for a spurt. Overdue for a spurt. That should have been my intro. The overdue for a spurt, Bob Mackie. Today's episode aired on February 22, 1998. And as always, Henry will tell us what happened on this mythical day in real world history.

Oh, my God. Oh, boy, Bobby. The Nagano Olympics reach their ending point. Indy Songstress Tori Amos gets married. And El Nino causes some dangerous tornadoes in Florida. All I know about El Nino is the sketch in which Chris Farley played him. Which is Spanish for the Nino. Out of his mind on goofballs

at the time. Goofballs. R.I.P. Yeah, Ric Flair was there with him in that one too, I believe, as he gave that speech. Yeah, yeah. It's sad to think that El Nino outlived Chris Farley. Oh, that's sad. I made everyone sad. El Nino will be here forever. So, there's that. It's everyone sad. El Nino will be here forever. So there's that.

Yeah, I had never heard of Nagano or Nagano, or I believe that's the way we were all pronouncing it then. Those Winter Olympics. I think that was the first Winter Olympics I actually paid attention to. I only know them based on the video games that came out. So there was a 98 video game about Nagano. Well, actually, I do. I mean, I paid attention to the 94 winter olympics because that had tanya harding thing in it but i don't remember where

they were and uh for guys like me tori amos was the favorite singer of everyone you loved in high school uh it uh once you saw the girl wearing a tori amos t-shirt you're like all right crush city set phasers to kill. We had actually Winter Olympics here in Vancouver and did not have any snow, and that was a little bit of a problem for us. We had to import snow. We didn't really plan the Olympics

very well in advance. I've been to Vancouver twice now, and I've walked around the Olympics ruins to see all of the fallen towers of the Olympics. Yeah, the weird thing that is el nino that did that just by coincidence it was a very busy time i saw the giant uh teardrop is it like what did they make is it a water drop or is that always there it's giant uh rain that's right that's what it is it means the city has killed one person in prison uh uh vancouver's mascot is rain but it did el nino was like the joke became why did

this thing happen in the weather or why is this weird and people would just say well it's that el nino it just became the uh the it was like the bird flu of the month or so that el nino if you if you live through the 90s you had to hear about El Nino as an excuse, which is a weather effect that also means the Nino. There were several bad jokes about it. I remember the trailer to Jane Austen's Mafia, where

Jay Moore blames getting his head flushed in the toilet on El Nino. He comes out dripping wet. He's like, El Nino, am I right? Oh boy. Thanks for reminding me of that movie i never saw the actual movie i just remember the trailer uh but in happier news our special guest today is ian boothby so ian is of the podcast sneaky dragon but he's also the writer of comics like exorcisters and the comic sparks which former guest nina matsumoto is the artist of hello ian hey it's

nice to be here a big fan of the show thank. And you have a rich and storied comedy background. Number one, I cannot let this go because I have to mention it. As soon as I told Nina we were about to record with you, she told me, she said, wow, the guy from Happy Gilmore. So I know you're

more proud of other things you've done, but you are in Happy Gilmore, and I really want you to lead with that because after she told... Well, first of all, you're wrong. I'm proudest of Happy Gilmore. Oh, okay. Including my marriage. Yes, Happy Gilmore is definitely the number one. If only we could all be in Happy Gilmore.

So Nina told me you were in it, and I did believe her, and she showed me the clip. And then later, I saw it again, so it's confirmed. Ian is in Happy Gilmore. Ian, can you explain the circumstances and also how your comedy career led you there okay well first of all uh something something that i am proud of is roger ebert hated that movie like really really hated that movie and the scene he hated the most in that movie was the scene that i was in oh my god yeah a real double down on that because what it was was an ad for subway just, just a straight out ad for Subway in the middle of a movie.

It just stops the movie cold. And, yeah, I get Happy Golfs a sub sandwich into my mouth. And then I eat it. So it was an afternoon of having a sub sandwich in my mouth on a fishing line that they would just yank out. And we'd have to, like like then reverse it so it looked like it was going into my mouth uh yeah it was it was a very interesting uh afternoon somewhat painful what kind of sub was it did you have your choice of fillings yes yes yeah it was yeah i'll tell you no it was a cold cut combo that was uh that was acknowledged in the continuity it was

set up oh yeah you know and then i eat a cold cut combo every day, he says. Smash cut to the hilarious subway scene. So you're part of the next wave of product placement. You're a pioneer. You were the first one. It was really pretty damn blatant. Yeah, that's right. And I got the role because Will Sasso got the role I originally auditioned for,

who went on to do Mad TV and many other things and is a really sweet guy. But yeah, they just came and saw me do some improv and liked my look. And I guess they went, that guy's fat enough to eat a sandwich. And then we could shove something in his mouth and pull it out about 50 times in an afternoon and he'd probably be okay with that. And I was. Every so often I get a $100 check in the mail, and I go, yeah, that's pretty good. That is nice. I mean, I lived my entire life, and Roger Ebert never acknowledged me once.

So I feel like that's a great achievement to have because I love Roger Ebert. Me too. Very much so. Yeah. I saw Happy Gilmore in theaters. I was a 14, 13-year-old when that came out, so the perfect age. And I still think that is my favorite adam sandler movie actually i think it's his funniest but that scene made me laugh in the theater uh because the

joke i i knew i was having a commercial given to me but the joke was about how corny it was but it still is a commercial so it's a fun it's a fun line of like, no, you're ironically watching a non-ironic commercial for Subway. While cashing the check on Ironically from Subway, which is fine. Absolutely fine. It's kind of the Mike Myers and Wayne's World thing, and everything's fine. It's capitalism. The system works. It's okay.

And Subway would go on to be a major player in the movie industry. I remember seeing Wreck-It Ralph, and there's like Subway things all over that movie. Yeah. Or in Community, they did a great job with it by just making up a character named Subway. That's right. Just lived with them. A human owned by a company. And Subway seemingly was like, no, that's fine.

It's fine that you're a human owned by a company. But Ian, also, you have quite a history with the simpsons don't you uh yeah i wrote for simpsons and futurama comics uh until bongo just wrapped up uh last year i was working with them for about almost 20 years yeah my goodness i i remember just the volume of your work came through to me when there was a viral tweet somebody had of just a screen cap of uh of a panel from the futurama simpsons crossover of a story of like skinner it was this panel of skinner hiring fry because uh edna was out sick from eating too many steamed hams and then our mutual friend nina was like nina didn't you write this? You know, I go, that was me. That's my, that's my bill.

Yeah, that was the, that was the first Futurama Simpsons crossover. And that was back when Matt did not want to do one because they, uh, logically, uh, they weren't in the same universe. And that was the big thing was like the Simpsons is a TV show in the Futurama universe. And the reverse sometimes seemed to be true as well. And then I came up with a way of making it all work logically. And we pitched it to him. He was all down for it.

And then many years later, they did a crossover on TV and went, yeah, it's in the same universe. It's just in the future. So there you go. Man, so many questions. Well, you worked with Matt Groening then a lot, then I would guess, since Bongo was his company. That's right. Yeah. He wanted, like, the example I always use is when I was a kid, I used to read cartoon comics, like say Roadrunner, but like, well, I was a fan of the Roadrunner cartoon and in the cartoon Roadrunner would, you know, be chased by the coyote in the

comic. He was a single dad raising three kids. They all talked in rhyme and it was like what what the hell is this and uh and matt wanted to make the simpsons comic like the simpsons and the only way to kind of do that was to run things himself and oversee everything at least for the very from the start he did less so later on but always kept an eye on things to make sure hopefully the tone was uh in keeping with the show and not just giving it to someone and letting them do their own thing. One, like what was your, what were some of your favorite stories you wrote? Like, did you, and did you like going into the Simpsons history from the show and then like finding new stories with that? Yeah.

I mean, something like I always liked writing for Lisa because I think she's the sweetest character. So there was one where it looked like Ralph wasn't going to move on in class and they had to find a way to, she had to find a way to reach him as a teacher. The thing was, to me, Ralph, the one kind of angle on Ralph that people always forget is he's an amazing actor with an amazing memory. Like he, he's, he, I picture him in the future actually being, losing all the weight, being a pretty dumb, pretty boy actor and doing quite well for himself. I think the show forgot that he acted once and did a great job. Yeah, and he was great. He was heartbreaking. People were to tears.

So my thing was he's very creative. He likes making his own stuff. He likes watching TV. And he can memorize anything that's on TV. So she actually does a little TV show in the classroom. And he's able to actually absorb the information because it's on TV. So she actually does a little TV show in the classroom and he's able to, you know, actually absorb the information because it's on television and, you know, dumb people like television and can absorb television. So she reaches them that way. That's such a sweet story to do that with Ralph, who's usually just like the

one-off non-sequitur joke machine. Yeah, that's the thing that kind of makes me sad about when they use Ralph is they've really gotten into kind of the bully side of things where, you know, he's, you know, it's weird. It seems like they're doing a bunch of mentally challenged jokes. And it's like, is that really, you know, what you want to be doing with the show? You know, it's fun to do like one or two, whatever, but you got to undercut it with a bit of the sweetness there and cut that guy a break. So I like writing for Ralph. I cut that guy a break so i like writing for ralph i like writing for lisa and i like writing oddly enough for arty ziff i always found that character to be kind of interesting because he's a rich guy that envies the simpsons and the

life that they have so i uh once again there was a story we did where everyone seems to forget that marge has a gambling problem and so i I got her addicted to eBay and selling things on eBay and already buys basically everything the Simpsons has. And they've got to then get it back. And they do that by doing a trivia contest about the Simpsons, which the Simpsons actually don't know enough about themselves, but already is a super fan. So it's a little riff on that. But the one thing that already couldn't get is what it feels like to be in the Simpsons family. And Homer does a kind of sweet response to that. And it's like, then it gets all the stuff back. But you also have quite a history of performing comedically on stage through both improv and stand up. Even

today, I want to know like how this episode connects to you. Because I did Ian choose this one? Or did we choose it for him? Oh, I know it's been in the works for a while. It was a suggestion from Nina. Yeah, yeah. Like, oh, we, oh, we got to have Ian on with his background. So, yeah, it was a no-brainer. Yeah, the time period that they're doing this, I was actually doing quite a bit of stand-up. And it's definitely a tribute to Bill Hicks and that sort of comedian. And so, yeah, I did relate to this episode and have some opinions on it. But, yeah, I've done stand-up and improv, uh, since I was about 16. Wow. That's, and, and is there a, there must be

a pretty healthy comedy scene in Vancouver then too. Yeah. It's, uh, it's healthy, not financially. Uh, I'm very envious of in Springfield is to have an open mic night and people show up and like, this is a great town. Oh my gosh, you have packed Moe. Yeah. It's a, it's a good town to practice and then leave, but you've got to leave. And a lot of people don't make that next step of like, you've got to then get out of here and, and, and go see the rest of the world and get to the States or at least another major city. Cause you know, that's the problem sometimes with, with people as they, they stay in their hometown and then they're the best person in their hometown, which is just fine. But there's a whole world out there to do stuff in.

I really respect, like, stand-ups and improv people now more than ever because Henry and I now do live shows. Yeah. And the idea of working without a net, which is what they do, is terrifying because I think we do a pretty good job, Henry, on stage. We get a lot of laughs, but also I've got, like, I have jokes written down I can default sitting down I have a screen in front of me I can play clips and if things get messy just like oh watch the clip watch the clip well also when we did our last live show at sketch fest and we had you know our our friends of the show

Allie and Julia from everything's coming up Simpsons they are trained improvisers professionals at it and they were pretty cool about the show. It was about to start. But I especially was like, all right, show, just an hour away. Let's just walk back and forth. I'm sure this hour will pass. I'm the same way.

The worst time in my life is like an hour before a live show. Yeah, no one stops pacing. Everyone paces, bathroom break. Pace, pace, pace, bathroom break. Yeah, no, that's completely the case. And we've done Sketch Fest as well. Me and a sketch comedy group of mine called Canadian Content. And the nice thing about Sketch Fest is people are there to see you. Or at least even if, like we were opening for Bruce McCullough, so they weren't necessarily there to see us, but they were there to see comedy at least.

And the worst things are when you go to like a bar where they don't know you're going to do comedy and you surprise them with it. And that is not fun. We've done a surprise podcast in a place once, too. And that's like, oh, boy. I mean, we have done performances in venues where half the people are there for our show, but the other half, they're just there to drink and eat. And it's just like, I'm talking about Camp Krusty, but a couple in their 60s is eight feet away. Do they even know what's happening? Talking to each other, almost blocking our video, too. That was good times. Yeah, just imagine you're

in a bar and then a Fibber McGee and Molly podcast breaks out. How would you feel? That's basically how they I'm always waiting for that to happen, frankly. Well, yeah, I also have me and Bobber China comedy nerds, but I got even more respect for stand up when like me and a friend decided, what if we took some stand up classes? You know, it's a dream. We always because when you're a dumb kid who talks to all your friends, you're like, I'm funny. I could be a stand up. And you I had had that dream for a while. And then when I just took a few classes i was like this sucks this is our i think i was constantly

thinking of the lisa line from secret war secret war of lisa simpson which says yes a challenge i could do like that's how i felt this was not instantly easy for me doing it for three months gave me an insane amount of respect for even bad comedians because i was like you have to say the same shit over and over again and make it sound fresh and like you're doing it just off the cuff, which also means people think you didn't even work that hard because you're trying to act like you're not repeating a thing you've said a million times. And unlike, say, if you're practicing piano, you don't get to rehearse at home. You have to, it's like every time you play your instrument, you've got to do it in front of a crowd. Just

imagine that. That's what standup is like every time. So you've got to, like's like every time you play your instrument, you've got to do it in front of a crowd. Just imagine that. That's what stand-up is like. Every time. So you've got to, like I say, eat shit for years on stage. There's no other way around it. You're going to stink for years until it starts to get good. And that's, oh boy, if you can do that, good on you. It's great.

It's great if you can. And I do love doing stand-up. But yeah, it's one of the hardest things and yeah this episode too i loved it at the time because i was just starting to become a real stand-up comedy nerd like in in 98 when this aired i was definitely watching comedy central all the time and we see stand-ups but just the air of premium blend yes yeah yeah but it wouldn't be when i i would actually by 2002 was when I would really get deeper into stand-up when I got to know the comedians of comedy type dudes of Patton Oswalt, Brian Possehn, David Cross. The quote-unquote alt comics.

Yes. Yeah. They got me back into comedy because I toured doing comedy. And I had an incident where it was going so badly. And I thought that the person I was working with literally died in our hotel room. They fell asleep with their eyes open. And I thought that they were dead because of their hard living. And for a beat, I went like, good, good. The tour is over. This gets me out of it. And then I was like, oh boy, that's not healthy. So I quit for a number of years. And I saw the comedians of comedy and went, hey, you can actually do this and not be a jerk.

You can do smart material. This was all very, all of them were very different. Zach Galifianakis at the time was hanging around Vancouver doing a TV show. And yeah, it was great. And they got me back into doing it again. I've always loved those guys. Yeah, there's definitely a space for that kind of comedy now. And even people like Dana Gould, like he wrote for The Simpsons and got out of stand-up for about five years. And now he do stand-up they there are there are

different ways to get into comedy and they did purely as a writer which also means like you're a different type of comedian even if you like stand-up comics you don't really understand it well meanwhile mike scully came from a total stand-up background with a new respect for it and so or a different respect for it than i think the other writers have for the art. And so once he gets in charge, he starts doing some, he does an episode about standup comedy is not surprising to me for sure. Yeah. The weird thing about this is it's almost like when you have a musical and then in the musical where everyone just spontaneously sings, you have a character who says, I want to be a singer and you go, okay, in this universe, what is that? Do they not know they're singing and this singing is a different singing? And so it's weird in this where I'm going to go to a comedy show in a universe where everything is comedy.

And that's a real trick. Yeah, whenever you see a sitcom and they have a comedy club, it's a terrible scene because everyone's cracking jokes constantly. So what does the comic do i was actually gonna ask you that ian because like that is a challenge uh to write things that are funny to the characters in the context of a scene i actually think crusty's material is not funny the things they want you to think are funny are not funny because it's not fun to watch a character tell a joke and then see other people laugh at it it's funny just to just watch the characters be funny it felt when i was watching this that they did not like Janine Garofalo because they don't give her

any jokes to do. Like everyone else, Stephen Wright is definitely doing a Stephen Wright type joke. You don't really get to see Bobcat Goldthwait do too much. But everyone's doing the material that they would sort of do, except Janine Garofalo, who is at best doing setups to jokes and never anything in any way really funny and it's like that's it that was just an odd uh odd odd choice uh to me yeah i you know what i'll just say it now i was saving it for the clip but when i think with garofalo it feels like that they wanted to have a hip young comic and also a woman and so they just picked her but i don't think she's doing her own material i think they wrote it for her and i think it says something about the writers of the show at the time with like i don't know what's an alt girl

say she says she has her period that's exactly it feels like older guys writing for a younger woman and in not a not a pleasant way to me. It was it was a bit it was a bit off putting her scenes. Yeah, I'd like I'd like to have seen maybe her and and again, this is me the writer going like, Oh, her and Lisa would have been interesting because they're both political. They're both smart. She could have been inspired by her. There's something there's there's definitely something there. Yeah, but no, she just is kind of mean and uh and just does setups and uh there you go that's her yeah uh well i mean we'll get to it but i feel like jay leno really hogs the spotlight this feels like a sequel to crusty gets cancelled but with fewer characters who get less uh fun like yeah uh crusty gets cancelled has more famous people and they each get uh longer bits and funnier bits like uh bruce bomb might as well not even be in this episode bobcat gulfway too like just shouldn't even be here because he gets like one thing to say and that's basically it and there are some cut scenes with the other characters in them but they're also not very long like jay leno gets all of the jokes gets all of the screen time and i know why like jay leno was doing very well in late night this is post uh hugh

grant appearance like kicking letterman's ass but even at the time it was understood like jay leno is lame homer says when bart says watch me on conan o'brien he says i'm all laughed out after leno yeah like it's understood that homer has a bad sense of humor so it was weird to see him on the simpsons and the simpsons like thinking highly of him but also knowing like he is lame but then there's another understanding where comedians are like jay leno is the comedian's comedian he's one of the best he sold out by getting a talk show but when he was a comic man he nothing could stop him yeah i'm trying i was the whole time i was trying to deconstruct why leno is here and i think there's there are multiple levels to it like for scully's generation jay leno was one of the most respected

comics around from the 70s to his time taking over The Tonight Show. One of the top. There's this really great book on the history of 70s stand-up called American Stand-Up called I'm Dying Up Here. Yeah, yeah. And in that, the stories they tell about Jay Leno is like, this guy sounds great. Like he didn't cross the picket line. He sounds like he's always ready to write new material. He's an incredibly great worker.

And one of the few like non-dr drunk jerks described in it either he survived that pat marita movie he did but but yeah then by 92 he was seen as the uncool guy who took david letterman show from him and the simpsons like in david merkin's years they were firmly on letterman side they did not like jay leno jay leno lame and not funny. And a lot of those guys came from Letterman. Letterman, to me, it seems like was the first Harvard writer farm, where everyone came from Harvard. The head writer was from Harvard. It was where everyone filtered down to The Simpsons from David Letterman.

And so I do wonder with Leno in this, Mike Scully in his years with guest stars, he definitely went for fame that would help raise ratings or get notoriety which jane leno would definitely do more so than if they got like a less oh like a don rickles or rodney dangerfield in 1996 like this they did i think he didn't know if they're if you listen to the commentary i think he still is like were you guys making fun of me like does was this just a trick on old jay leno to ask me to be on your cool show well also on the commentary he just steamrolls everybody like yeah he's jay leno's a big personality i understand i will say he is funny in this episode like i like his lines i like his

deliveries i think he is a funny character on the show yeah i wonder if now they'd even be meaner because of you know how he screwed over conan and And of course, Conan from The Simpsons feels like there'd be a little family loyalty. Maybe have like, you know, the claws out a little bit more. One million percent they would. Absolutely. Like my theory on it actually is that if it wasn't for that whole Jay Leno going back and taking The Tonight Show back, we wouldn't have Trump. Because it was America learning, oh, you can just go backwards if you want to you can just like stop progressing i like i like this theory but i also hate it because it's true yeah i and also man i think uh mike scully as showrunner basis a little on his experience writing for yakov smirnoff and like oh yeah yakov probably went through if he has any soul

that he would have gone through what crusty did of like oh i thought i was an artist i'm a sellout like that's what i i'm just a hack or also his realization he probably had at some point of like my peers don't respect me i'm a joke like that yeah i mean we'll get to it but like crusty very much fashions himself after george carlin and we are right after george carlin had a fox sitcom run by sam simon so i felt like that's when carlin fans were like, Carlin sold out. He's on a Fox sitcom.

He plays a curmudgeonly old man who learns lessons. Like this is it for him. But thankfully that period for him, I remember liking that show by the way, and I'm sure it's fine, but that was not a long period for him. But I bet that's when people saw like, oh, it's done for Carlin.

Oh, and also on the commentary, Jay Leno reveals the real reason he did the show. His wife M mavis is a huge simpson's with lenis with leno it always comes back to mavis yeah she's the maris of the tonight show and that is the one pro leno thing i've got to throw in is like he always does that thing about how i've never spent any of my or my own money you know that i made on the tonight show whatever but the money does go to a lot of charities his wife, you know, knows about and works with. And there's an astounding amount of money he gives to women's rights organizations and what have you. So that's my pro Jay Leno

side of things. That's good. That's good. I mean, of Jay Leno right now, I have less respect for him even now because he's kind of a co-star on Tim Allen's Last Man Standing. He appears in multiple episodes in his full denim costume. And I mean, that show, it's the conservative grievance show. It's really just for men in their 50s and 60s to whine about kids. That's what the show is. And it's very popular. Like, I can't deny its popularity. The silliest thing about the show to me is that Tim Allen and Jay Leno have been famous

for 30 to 40 years, have been rich that long too, and have absolutely no idea what a regular guy is. So when they put on their fucking denim, they're like, I'm going to be the regular guy. Tell it like it is to all these snowflakes. I'm like, you're not normal. It's just like Krusty. Yes, exactly. Yeah.

Sorry. That's when your butusty. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Sorry. When your butler fucks up yet again. 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? Stop flapping that dicky and say thank you to Ian Boothby for being our guest this week. We thank him so much for sharing with us his wealth of experience in the comedy world and his stories from working on films like happy gilmore we really did appreciate it and everyone should check out his twitter account all of his comics all the work he's doing tons of great stuff thank you so much ian for doing this week's episode and if you love to laugh and want to hear some more comedy you

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we definitely make sure it's worth your money just sign up at the ten dollar and up level patreon.com talking simpson and i think this episode also has some interesting things to say about how comedy can age and age poorly like i i really you know this has a lot of things to say about stand-up, which I really like. But I guess why don't we get into the episode itself. With all this stand-up talk, we really are overlooking the importance of shoes. Oh, God. This is a perfect chance to get you kids some nice church shoes. What do we need church shoes for?

Jesus wore sandals. Well, maybe if he had better art support, they wouldn't have caught him. Look, Homer, there's that bird you like to argue with. Well, well, well, if it isn't Professor Know-It-All. Excuse me, Mark. They need a good, stiff, all-purpose dress shoe. Something for church, but also for doctor's appointments, dental checkups, piano recitals, building dedications, visiting elderly relatives, haircuts, and shoe shopping.

Well, we have a brown shoe. Did you hear that, kids? Brown. That's great. I remember the nightmare of boredom that was shoe shopping, and also your mom always trying to find where your toe was like push your toe up just like these shoes have got to last you for a year at least we were poor so that's why i'm not sure if that was everyone's experience yeah they remember how bad it was

trying on any kind of clothes when you were a kid i hate all of it i order shoes only through the mail i never go to a shoe store again i hate it i do that now because i just buy the same pair of shoes over and over yeah that's it yeah because they. And they do a parody there of Buster Brown with the Goody New Shoes, which was a shoe store when I was a kid that I then found out was based on a comic strip that no one remembered anymore. Like it's so unremembered. There are no collections about it. Try to find a Buster Brown collection of old comic strips. But yeah, he was a rebellious kind of the Bart Simpson of his day to be honest. He was like the little

like the upgrade of Little Lord Fauntleroy or whatever? A little bit, but he was a bit of a badass fop. Badass fop. With a dog, you know, gets into all sorts of mischief and then he sold out to a shoe company. So it works with the

theme of this or me selling out to Subway. And that's how we're beginning the episode. I recall that he had a dog. So this is not very important. But I had a great grandfather who was alive when I was very young. I was told his name was Grandpa Butt. What? Grandpa Butt.

And I was just like, well, that's an odd name as a four-year-old. Like, why do they call him Grandpa Butt? Oh, when he was a kid, he looked like Buster Brown. And I was just like, that tells me nothing. I'm four. And only later in life did I look up Buster Brown like, oh, so my grandpa looked like this little foppish fancy lad when he was small in the early 20th century. So there you have it.

Facts about me. I had a Grandpa Butt. But I do have a bird I like to argue with. Yes, yeah. Henry, I've been taking a lot of trips. You've been taking care of the a bird I like to argue with Yes yeah Henry I've been taking A lot of trips You've been taking care Of the bird

That I like to argue with Do you argue with my bird I feel like Okay does he say a thing That sounds like Shut up bitch Or like Am I just hearing

He knows a lot of words Okay number one He does not say Shut up bitch Okay But he does say puppitch Okay Because I call him puppy

But he also knows Like he wants a scritch Like to scratch his neck and birds like combine a lot of words okay i i heard he'll often say like shut up bitch it's yeah that's what i sometimes tell him to shut up because birds can be loud like shut up louis okay i'm not implying sorry i now see that it's not like well bob you say you call people bitch all the time so that's why your bird repeats it. Like, no, no, no. Yeah, no, I get to hear about the gribbler a bit.

That's another word you made up. But I will say that, from my experience, birds like peanuts way more than crackers. Number one snack for a bird is a peanut. I also like that Marge hates Homer's sacrilegiousness and just has to like, look over there, Homer, talk to that bird. But Homer's trying to get her uh like to prove her point like yes you need new shoes like jesus did yeah he's backing her up i i also love sometimes i've especially in these years they kind of make march too frumpy and unfun but i do love her listing everything children hate to do. Building dedications. Yeah. Dentist trips, trips to old relatives. It's what you think about wearing brown shoes doing while you're doing it. I like that.

And that's an angle on Marge that I think sometimes gets forgotten too, is all the boring mom stuff, she loves. Loves it. She really loves it. And you can play that for laughs because everyone else doesn't. But sometimes, you know, they'll make it, she just hates doing all the mom stuff. And I think, oh, no, you got it wrong.

That's, she really does love that. I also, I love how she even tries to make it sound like, you hear that? Brown! That reminds me of a joke from like six years earlier from when Bart and Milhouse are like fighting. And Bart's like, look at that dog. And he's like, and Milhouse is like, wow, brown. I think he's distracting him. But brown is a very uninteresting color.

It's just fun to say brown excitedly. She thinks cucumbers are neat. She likes kind of boring things. Yeah, it's good. Celery soup can be exciting, too. And also, we get a real first in this episode. So we've said it before with other characters. You can tell when a new character appears and in the writer's room, they're like, I like this guy.

Or Dan was really funny doing this character. We're bringing it back now. And so just about six episodes removed from Realty Bytes, Gil fever has struck the Simpsons writing room. Gil is not quite as desperate as he would be. He's protesting the treatment that people want to put upon him, but then he eventually accepts. I mean, he'll be much sadder soon enough. Put an old good world for Gil, won't you? In trouble with trillions not too long.

He would gladly hurt his back for a sale in the future. He would let Bart step on him of just like, if it'll sell these shoes. But yes, here is Gil the shoe salesman. Oh, rats! Talk about bad luck! I forgot to wear socks today. Guess I can't try those on. No problem.

You could wear the store sock. Eww. Would you mind lacing them up, kid? I have a bad back bad back hey if you didn't want to tie shoes you shouldn't have become a shoe salesman that's where you're wrong pal it's not enough to want a cracker you have to earn it gil giving lisa the disgusting sock is like the one time he has the upper hand in a comedic scene like the one time he gets to humiliate someone else.

Usually everyone else is inflicting punishment on him. It's true. I worry that Gil probably takes those socks home with him at night because he can't afford his own socks. He took off his sock to give to Lisa. Oh, darker. Now, could I ask this? As a bird lover, how would you rank Professor Know-It-All in The Simpsons Birds? He's probably one of my top favorite Simpsons birds.

I like him because he's just a realistic parrot. Yeah. Giving Homer like a glassy stare. I think, yeah, I think that's the funniest bit that Homer seems to be responding to him when we cut back to him. But the bird says nothing where it's like other shows would have just had the bird say say anything but just to have it meet with silence yeah i think i think the bird never talks and homer in his head thinks it's like a cartoon bird we're like oh in uh in cartoons uh parrots talk all the time and actually we watched an episode of frazier for the episode nina was on and the bird seemingly could repeat things instantly which is now how not how bird language

works they've got to hear things a lot. But it still was funny to see Niles with that cocky face. That is a very funny episode. Yeah, this is a very grounded episode until the very end where the car is doing some crazy business. But this is all very realistic. This is all stuff that really would be annoying to kids. Nothing gets really into a surreal land at any point. It's not crazy town and i

think that uh that kind of help helps this one and gives it a little bit more weight this is another of those great start with an observational thing in in the first act like i always prefer those to like you know the zany first act that has that is too extemporaneous from the main story instead this is like what is it like to go shoe shopping or what is it like to go to the carnival or all these things like that's a good entry point for the real story to begin and and this one goes really fast to the main story too which i i appreciate as well uh so yes this next scene felt uh written by people who have had to canvas for comedy shows. Excuse me, ma'am.

Do you like to laugh? Yes. As long as it's tasteful. I never had someone. What with? Excuse me, sir. Do you like to laugh? Why, yes.

Yes, I do. Well, then you'll love our comedy festival. It's for a good cause. A rest home for pirates? No, Dad. It's to fight soil erosion. Now, that's a fight I want to be a part of. Hey, somebody screwed up bad. You've got all these big comics lined up for your show, but there's no Krusty. Who? Krusty the Clown. Funniest man alive? Prince of Pies, the Sultan of Seltzer? Excuse me, sir. Do you like to laugh? Well, only if something tickles me just right.

That was nine seconds. That's a great Hibbert laugh. Yeah. Give it the credit to Harry for finding new ways's a great Hibbert laugh. Yeah. Give it the credit to Harry for finding new ways to laugh as Hibbert that deep into a long laugh like that. I also like that Bart is still a Krusty superfan despite everything Krusty has been through and all the abuse Bart has suffered because of Krusty. All he's done to him. I like that. Nearly getting punched in the face by Krusty. And though I don't like that Marge joke a little bit just because it feels veering into the territory of women hate comedy because they're not funny.

Yeah, yeah. Though, I mean, Marge, the character who is so buttoned down, I could see her being a person who doesn't personally like stand-up. But to give that trait to the mom feels a little bit in the women aren't funny category of things. Yeah, they've set up in this episode that she likes bland things. Again, getting back to the brown things. And she likes everything that's dull. And you're right. It seems like that would be the angle to take.

Yeah, it does slip a little bit into that. I feel like if they were doing it now, we'd have a cutaway to all these pirates that really would like a rest home. And they've got nothing to do but hang out in the mall because they've got nowhere to go. And in this one, they just went, nope, we're just going to... Hibbert can laugh for like eight seconds. That's good enough.

Soil erosion is a great, very pointless cause too. I like that. And that's all there. They're putting all this work into a benefit for, and then also that Steven Wright apparently really cares about soil erosion. They're all on board with this, even internet comics. Jay Leno loves it too. They all move like that. Also Jay Leno has flown out to Springfield and is apparently staying there for weeks. Like maybe he must have like a week long engagement at a

different club while he's there. In this next scene, so I was watching this this morning. It's one of those DVDs where when you're watching a thing, when a deleted scene comes up, you can just hit a button to go to it. So I watch all the deleted scenes for this one. And Jay Leno was introduced being on the phone with somebody. And he's saying like, you know, I don't know, this comedian is really edgy. Make sure he doesn't do any of his work. Okay, tell Bob Newhart it's okay to join the show or whatever. And then Bart approaches him. So when the scene starts, he's like closing his jacket. He just put his phone away. So in the reality of the scene, he just talked about Bob Newhart on the phone, but in the scene, he's just sort of closing his jacket for no reason with his face away from the

camera. Wow. Okay. I forgot that cut scene with the Bob Newhart line. That's clever. That's clever. I, but I mean, also this, this is a very realistic Jay Leno in the way that he never stops working. And he always like, that was the secret of him the whole time that he, he was doing the tonight show five nights a week, loved writing. Like he wrote a ton of material for it, probably more than most late night show hosts do. Not that I'm saying I thought they were funny,

but he did write them. And, uh, and then he was still doing stand-up all the time it's just like dude chill out but i just don't think that's the type of guy he is he never like had kids or anything so he's putting all that energy into uh working which is fine yeah well when you when you do hear his origin story well he went to los angeles and he was homeless like. He was literally sleeping in an alley next to the stand-up club until he could sleep in his car. And this went on for forever as he worked his way slowly up and slowly up. And to me, and again, I don't want to psychoanalyze the guy, but it feels like if you're not working, you're in incredible danger

because he was living in L.A. homeless. And there's that feeling of he's going to go back to that if in any way he loses his job, even though he's a millionaire many, many times over. If you see the film Comedian, Jerry Seinfeld actually talks to him a little bit about that saying, that's your fear.

You're afraid that you're going to be that has-been guy and lose everything. And it's not possible. You could not possibly lose your tens of hundreds of millions of dollars. But he's got that little bit of a thing in him yeah things were never that uh that high stakes for me but like as someone who spent most of their adult life as a freelancer and having to find work everywhere like even though

we're fairly stable in this it's like if i'm not working it's just like something is wrong this could all go away at any moment it's not a good thing to have and also from a character design standpoint they talked about how they were in a difficult situation because oh you're right yeah overbites are the rule of the day jay leno is mr chin and there are no chins more importantly there are yeah sorry there's no chins you don't draw i think they did break that rule for bob hope i think bob hope did have a chin but uh at this time i think they were enforcing the rules a bit more on their guests but that the way it works though is it's more like he just has a big fat head like

he's just he has no like neck it but it's like gene leto you know i guess i wouldn't call him thin but he he's got a big it says not that big you know yeah like actually oh sorry his border he is borderline a Family Guy character. Yeah. I'm looking at the Bob Hope drawing they did, and he kind of has a chin, but for The Simpsons, there's no chin-neck differentiation. It's all just like one tube.

Oh, yeah. So for Bob Hope, it looks like he's kind of got like a goiter that goes from his bottom lip to his chest. It's convincingly a chin, but it's not actually like a chin and then a neck, like as you would draw to accentuate the chin. I wonder if they broke that rule later with chinny celebrities. I can't remember. I think of celebrities who have strong chins who would have been on The Simpsons. Bruce Campbell's the only one I can think of. That's all I can think

of as well. Yeah. Kirk Douglas. Has Kirk Douglas ever been on the show? Not in character. No. In a character. Someone doing a Spartacus thing. Has that ever happened? as well yeah a kirk douglas has kirk douglas ever been on the show not in character no all right in a character i'm doing a spartacus thing has that ever happened that's more of a it's more of a critic bit uh yeah critic had like 17 spartacus episodes but uh but here why don't we give a listen to the first appearance of uh jay leno yeah excuse me i'm looking for someone named Jay Leno. clown that takes me back didn't he die in a grease fire no he's alive and he is so funny you could plot at least according to his press release well if he's half as alive as you say he is he's in charity eh what's my cut nothing i make more than that taking a schvitz. Hey, hey, happy birthday.

Now get him out of here. He seems reluctant. Tell him it'll count towards his community service. All right, I'll do it. Boy, swipe one pair of Hager slacks and you're paying for it the rest of your life i enjoy the phrase taking a schwitz it's uh it's not a dirty word but it sounds like one yeah it's fun like uh well also like plots too that's that's like i love jay leno's delivery here just like he died in a grease fire like he doesn't say or something. It's like, eh? It's good acting.

He knows how to deliver a joke. And I hope those balloons were the higher quality ones that didn't take those kids' eyes out that one time. That balloon cost $10. What will that cost you? I also love the joke of just thinking a celebrity's dead. That's one of the biggest insults you can do.

I actually did that on a recording. It's probably in the future. I was like, no, isn't Shirley dead or Laverne dead? Like, no, no. I'll edit that out, or you will. I forget who did that one. There's a lot of podcasts in the future, guys. I can't remember them all.

But yeah, Krusty in the 90s, he's very much like he peaked at like doing Friars Club appearances. Basically, that's who he is. I love his old comedy man steamer box that you're just like, I could imagine, you know, Henny Youngman in that box. That same kind of box. On the commentary,

George Meyer jokes that you get in that box after you exercise with a medicine ball. Yeah, like I have not seen those outside of cartoons. I think they're dangerous and the people actually don't use them after like 1939. Yeah, clearly something happened not seen those outside of cartoons. I think they're dangerous and people actually don't use them after like 1939. Yeah, clearly something happened

in those boxes. People died. They stopped using them, but they're easy to draw. So here we go. You could draw a whole steam room or this box. What do you want to do, animator? The box, the box. I also love Christie's press release. It's just a flyer with his phone

number, like somebody who gives out guitar lessons. Yeah, or most of your line. And they did that joke before Winona Ryder stole stuff. That's true. Oh, is that right? Yeah, she did that in like 2000 or something. Something like that. Yeah, man.

She got, I mean, think of what our modern starlets do. I think we should all apologize to Winona Ryder and give her money to make up for the job she didn't get i think uh i think stranger things is basically america doing that like we're sorry here's three seasons of a show i've heard that movie she did with uh keanu wasn't that good oh yeah people who would love that movie they're like man that rom-com yeah it didn't look very good so here we get to the stand-up showcase and i base this on when they talked about how they try to get don rickles for the show but it's a dicey thing i think to write stand-up for a stand-up to do in a guest appearance on the show

don rickles famously refused to do the show in season four the storyline where they have captain mccallister in uh the Bart's crush episode that was supposed to be Don Rickles and when they gave him the script he said you did my bit you did my stand up and didn't pay me and he didn't get that they were writing jokes for him to do as himself when they would pay him to be a guest and so he felt kind of insulted by that and I I wonder in here did they I already said about grothel i think they definitely wrote her material but did did stephen wright come in with that joke or did they write a stephen wright show yeah i'm wondering i think they just were like well number one like jay leno

needs to headline this no pun intended but also we have four slots these could be anybody because they don't affect the plot and whoever says says yes, we can write jokes for them. I don't know. I'm not sure if they actually had the jokes written ahead of time or if they had any like impact on the things they were saying. I'm sure they could have refused to say something if they wanted to. The Stephen Wright thing is a Stephen Wright joke. Yeah.

I don't know if it's like literally Stephen Wright joke, but it could be one. I also like that Bobcat Goldthwait is there when it's like, you burned Jay Leno's chair. Like you guys have a history, you know? right yeah yeah and like i didn't know bobcat from stand-up at 1998 no way i think it was a couple years before i finally saw his stand i was like oh there's a completely different human being than the police academy guy i saw as a kid and he was not using that uh persona either like the uh no one can do that imitation it's why it's good but uh he wasn't doing that anymore yeah he was uh i really did like his stand-up but he was he was the guy he was very very dangerous would come out would do jokes about scientology or or what have you and but then again that crazy voice uh you know started off with tom kenny when they were

bobcat and tom cat and that's where the names come from they were kind of comedy partners and then split up and did their own thing. But yeah, he was amazing back in the day. I got to have a dinner with him a couple of years ago at a Dos Equus party. Because we're both comics, we just hung out for almost the entire evening. He was just great. That's awesome, man. He's a great director now, too, on some very dark movies.

Yeah. No, his Barry Crimm's documentary too was oh yeah really good and not uh not bright i would say not not cheery but very very good world's greatest dad is like one of my favorite robin williams performances yeah and he's not super proud of uh the setting the uh the set on fire i'll just uh i'll let you know that that was just trying to do something trying to get a reaction and uh yeah but holy cow you set the tonight show set on fire holy moly that's pretty i still think it was a small fire well well also it's funny that jay leno would i you know even in 1998 maybe he was and i i and i'd be mean to him but i don't think the hip comedians were hanging out with him at stuff oh in 1998, maybe he was an, I, I, and I'd be mean to him, but I don't think the hip comedians were hanging out with him at stuff.

Oh no. And he was, he wasn't very good on the tonight show for bringing in standups either for a guy that, you know, he's not, again, I, I feel that Jay is, is very much a lookout for himself kind of guy, maybe coming from that background, but you would think the standup host of the tonight show, really the most standup guy would have more stand-ups on but no dice very very few yeah yeah i got that i got that sense too i think you know he he got more out of the dancing edos and uh some poorly aged lewinsky jokes and jaywalking jay oh headlines uh reference headlines we'll talk about those headlines yeah i i love okay, so number one,

I love Conan O'Brien's parody of his headline segment where it's just the horrible things that they make up, the writers make up. And then he's just like, wow,

I can't believe they published that. That's very good. Oh, I love that so much. Yeah, so, but I don't think

he'd be hanging out with other stand-ups backstage either. Yeah, they definitely would not respect him. Maybe Bruce Baum, I think Bruce Baum

is of his era. Let's talk about Bruce Baum what does bruce bomb even say in this episode i don't remember uh he talks to internet comic that's like what do you think in our comic is that it's i'm betting they had a cut scene for him yeah well he didn't really do joke jokes he was uh like his his stick was he would dress up like a baby and he was like big baby bomb and you know that's the amazing look at the guy he's dressed like a baby barney style but he used to be on make me laugh i remember that yes yeah yeah he would sit people would sit and you know howie mendel or him or the unknown comic would come out and they just do crazy faces and be visually because you know jokes don't work for that so that's what he kind of became known for so he doesn't really have joke jokes he just has look

i'm bizarre, but you're a cartoon character, so everyone's bizarre. So the best they could look. He's like a David Crosby cosplayer, too. That, too, yeah. No, my theory on Bruce Baum is that he's an old friend of Mike Scully's.

And he's like, you know what? Or he did favors for him, or he helped him coming up, or it's just like it came off as a favor to a friend. I mean, that could be any. They just wanted a stand-up warm body, I would think. And so just do a favor for Bruce Ball. It's not like he's bad or anything,

but no one was talking about him in 1998. Not one person. And if they wanted a prop comedy joke, Carrot Top would say yes, guys. Yeah, and I thought he was Bruce. And you've already got Leno on it, so what do you care if you have Carrot Top? i always confused him with bruce valanche because they're both like from the 70s right they're both very different personas and people but they're comedic

bruce's that's yeah they're valanche valanche i don't think ever really did stand-up stand-up he would just be like a guy who'd be on a talk show uh and then and then give whoopi goldberg a joke at the uh at the oscars i think i confused him because he was on The Simpsons too. Oh, yeah. I just remember his joke like, Whoopi would have made it work. You know, I only became aware of him when Whoopi took over the Hollywood Squares

and he was a consistent square on there. I like that. And the idea behind an internet comic, that's crazy yeah doing jokes on the internet okay whatever i guess it's fiction so you can make crazy things up every human is an internet comic now uh i mean we kind of are yeah yeah if i could complain about stand-up today and i when i go see stand-up side joy i won't name any when i go see standups, I enjoy, I won't name any. When I go see standups, I do enjoy. And their new material is still good.

I still have to remember, like at least 15 minutes of this will be replying to a Twitter or, or Instagram thing and explaining. And I'm like, you know what? I don't, if I follow your Twitter account, talk shit about the, this Twitter follower on there, do different material on stage. It kind of drives me crazy. Even at the best, they're still just like, I'm going to complain about Twitter now.

That's my hour. That's 15 minutes of my hour. That's my life. I don't need to hear comedy segments about it. Well, I mean, that's all Ricky Gervais has. If I'm there, I did say one person. Anyway. We'll never get him.

But let's remember a more innocent time with this stand-up showcase. I finally got around to reading the dictionary. Turns out the zebra did it. I don't get it. Dad, the zebra didn't do it. It's just a word at the end of the dictionary. I still don't get it. It's just a joke.

Oh, I get it. I get jokes. Hey, hey, it's Krusty the Clown. Hey, it's you, right? And this guy, with all the jokes he does. You're the reason I went into comedy. If it weren't for you, I'd be a doctor. Yeah, yeah, right. Thanks. I got my period today. Oh, good Lord. Plus, I got this new boyfriend.

And you know how it is when you're kissing a guy with a tongue stud. Yes. Oh, God, yes! Oh, I love that laughter from Dan. That's really, I do love his laughter. And I love that Krusty is never heard of. Even Jay Leno, he is so checked out from the mainstream, he doesn't know who Jay Leno is. I guess Bart doesn't either.

Maybe in Springfield, they just don't have The Tonight Show. They only have Conan. It feels like Krusty has hosted The Tonight Show a couple of times. It is odd that he does not know that. Well, so that, if I may be a continuity pedant, Krusty has never been portrayed as someone who did stand-up. And I'm not saying that stand-ups can't be inspired by clowns they saw as a kid, but they are treating him just like he was a stand-up in the 50s. In fact, there's a quote later just like he was a stand-up in the 50s in fact

there's a quote later about how he was a stand-up in the 50s but that was called a promising newcomer okay okay yeah but so it's it's just weird to portray him as a stand-up when that's not really what crusty did as uh to create his empire of clowning but i guess you know clowning and stand-up it's not like they're not related but i mean i i was sure jay leno could say to jerry lewis like you really inspired me into comedy as a kid even though jerry lewis is not necessarily a stand-up either so sure fine i talked myself out of that pen and tree no that's what i felt as well but i think crusty is just the catch-all for anything comedy you go like he had a sitcom in the sixties. Of course he did. He hosted the tonight show.

Sure. He was, he was a standup. Make sense. Sure. Whatever it is. He's got a, he's got a history that there's no linear line to it.

It's just anything generic and comedy that pushes the plot along. Yeah. He did that back then. If they want to tell a story about an entertainer or like about Hollywood, they'll use Krusty as the lens or the filter. And the, you know, there's another reading of this.

You can take the, this is a real sub tweet about Jay Leno being a hacky sellout too. You could say that. In this next clip, we've got Krusty's act. It reminds me of in the 90s when on shows they would welcome on like Bob Hope or Milton Berle. And I was like, I know these people are important to comedy. I guess I should watch this stand up. But this isn't funny to me, and this feels very dated.

Though even they would have at least had a handler that tells them, don't do an Asian accent impression. Well, this specifically reminds me of a movie called Hardly Working. Have you ever heard of that film? No. I have not. It's a Jerry Lewis film from 1980. Oh, nope.

I've heard of this one. I know this. Sorry. Yeah, yeah. If you look at the trailer for it, it's him doing all film from 1980. Oh, nope. I've heard of this one. I know this. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. If you look at the trailer for it, it's him doing all his old stick, but then he does puts on the glasses.

He puts in the buck teeth and does the Japanese character in it. And again, this is 1980. You don't, not even close to you do this now. And so that was, that was exactly what this reminded me of then. And,

and Krusty is very much a Jerry Lewis kind of character. character i mean he's the day the clown clown cried he like yeah you know this is entirely about jerry lewis now yeah i mean he is the real he's the realistic jaded jerry lewis that nobody likes like the offstage jerry lewis that everyone hated the serious director as he was playing on Animaniacs. Yes. But yes, here, why don't we enjoy the comedy stylings of Krusty the Clown. It's time for something special. The man Spencer Tracy called the most promising newcomer of 1959. Please put your hands together for Krusty the Clown.

Yay, Krusty! Yay! Yay! Yay! So, how about those TV dinners, huh? I tried one the other day. Lightning strikes, the peach cobbler goes out! Cobbler! The other thing about TV dinners,

you don't have leftovers you have reruns TV dinner jokes ooh take that Swanson's didn't like that one huh well me so sorry

oh boy I'm glad you cut it there oh no I've got the other clip it goes on for a long time i will say this lines up with crusty continuity because and i love lisa he was celebrating his 29th anniversary of the crusty the clown show which means it would have started in 1962 i believe so him being a newcomer in 59 does make sense yeah that that lines up yeah And I love the construction of that, because Spencer Tracy died in 1967. So saying that Spencer Tracy said that about him dates it enough. But Leno has to say 1959 to make it even older. It feels like the last good praise he got publicly. Publicly. I love that. And yes, TV dinner jokes, very old, very ancient. It's a very realistic stand-up thing, too, of like, Cobbler.

It's like, I got to hit it again. Maybe they'll laugh this time. This way, I am a little sympathetic to him where, you know, Gene Garofalo's slagging on him. Like, at least he had some jokes. He had punchlines to his jokes. That's true. He just had setups for yours. There was nothing you said that was like a joke but that's again that's just my

that's how they wrote janine yeah no janine janine the only joke she gets to tell is the look out swanson's like i feel like there were punchlines but we were just on the simpsons during them yeah well i've actually i've been at comedy shows With Jean Garofalo And she was a heckler In the audience At comedians That she didn't like Yeah She was a little

A little mean She went on to interact Which again Was mostly clapped her stuff Just you know Stuff that everyone agreed with And clapped too And that's fine

Not really any jokes there But that's okay I like agreeing with things So about the president huh Boo Yeah She was doing stuff About Canada too

That was just like like, not correct. She was like, yeah, Stephen Harper really wants to build a giant wall at the border, ironically. And it's like, no, he didn't. You read that article wrong. But fair enough. Clap, clap, clap. Just got in the audience and then heckled a bunch of comedians that came up that were local guys. I'm like, this seems mean.

I saw Brian Posehn in Vancouver with Nina, actually. And he told two canadian jokes that she told me were accurate but what i remember is him making fun of saskatoon so okay i learned that it was an accurate joke so good for brian posain that's good on him that's why that was the most realistic to comedians in this so they were all off stage shitting on him that is true yes uh but all right let's talk about that solly here i mean so i don't like ironic racism comedy all that much anymore i think because i know crusty's not doing this ironically no that is not no i'm talking about intentionality of the writers of using racist tropes for comedy bits in the shadow we talked a little bit about this on the boondocks too.

It's that when the, our boondocks, what a cartoon podcast that racist white people take these types of things and quote it and pretend to be ironic, but are actually just racist. And so it makes it a more dicey proposition when you want to make irony based racial comedy like this. But I,

I feel it's good it is handled correctly here because no one laughs at this. Everyone is offended. The audience is like, oh my God. It's a real producer's kind of shot of them. So, and Dan as Krusty has to go hard for it. And all he's doing is what was entirely acceptable in 1959. And it's more- Or apparently 1980 in some people's minds yes and it was just like no it's okay to do this and it shows you how badly

comedy can age in a lot of cases and it's just it's a difference between the sign of the times of society shifting or also i was sure i am sure asian people were offended by that kind of routine in the 50s too but guys like crusty didn't have to recognize that people those people were people even speaking of this sort of stereotype or this sort of like racist humor in the 90s a friend of mine like i was in fifth or sixth grade and he really loved this comedian special or this comedy special by bob nelson do you know who bob nelson is he is i believe he's a seattle comedian am i getting that right i know there's another bob nelson then maybe but anyways um we uh he showed me this comedy special as a kid and i thought it was hilarious and he played a bunch of characters like he grew up with and one of them was an asian man

and he would put on the squinty glasses and he would uh do some pretty offensive jokes i remember the one i do remember is, this is Bob Nelson saying this by the way, but the way Chinese people name their kids is they throw a trash can lid down the stairs and it's named after the sound it makes. And this was in the nineties, I believe I want to say. And then we have like things like,

didn't John Leguizamo do that a lot too? Yeah. Yes. John Leguizamo would. In a very another another sort of one-man show style thing i mean if you're talking about the past he won thousand percent did that yeah yeah past but that felt like it came in this gray area like well but he's not white so can he make these i'll give you one guess what race bob nelson is okay well this is also there's a comedian russell peters in canada who's like our biggest comedian.

And that is all that he does is looks in the audience. Where am I? And then name a race. Boom. And again, it's the thing about like, at least you're being talked about by somebody. And,

uh, you know, my, my family's very diverse and they, they love them. They love going there and like, make fun, make fun of us,

go do it. And don't you hate pants? Oh my gosh. It just, it bothers me so much but you know i yeah i don't like uh what the little i've seen of russell peters i don't particularly care for either but when you really care about someone you shouted from the mountaintops so on behalf of desjardins insurance i 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? It would be different if he was a white man. That would be...

Oh, it would be very different. Here's what they started to do in the 90s, by the way. Guys that had the homophobic and racial material, they would originally just do that, and that's enough, and you're fine. And then they'd usually do this twist on it as they went, ooh, the tide's turning. And like, you know, I saw a guy the other day,

and he said this. They'd do the joke, and then they'd go, so I said to him, first of all, they get the laugh from the racist, sexist, homophobic joke. Then they go, and here's the zinger I gave to him. And you go, well, what a great guy for standing up for it. No, you took the laugh and enjoyed it, and now you're having it both ways. So, you know, knock it off. There's another version of that where the guy would have a comedic persona where it'd be like the whole joke behind it was, wouldn't it be bad if someone actually thought this?

And Louis C.K. did a lot of that. Oh, yeah. But it's like then you get down to it. It's like, no, wait, you actually think this. There's no persona here. This is just you. I mean, there are friendlier and more entertaining versions of that. Like I think Jim Gaffigan, who I think is very funny he does love him he does a funnier version of like doing a character but that is also him like jim gaffigan

enjoys being lazy and eating and stuff but then he writes material as if he's the laziest fattest man ever basically that's good stuff yeah my pocketockets bit is still great. The one time I saw Jim Gaffigan was in Vegas, and he did a very Vegas thing of like, I know you people all saw me on the TV. You want to hear Hot Pockets. So he did this whole new hour of stuff I'd never heard before. And he's like, but you know what I like is Hot Pockets. And he does the whole Hot Pockets bit,

and then he's like, good night, everybody. I think his bit about the kudos, the granola bar kudos, is just as funny as the Hot Pocket bit. Oh, I haven't heard that one. It's about how it's just you're eating a candy bar with chocolate inside of it. Also, I just started writing for Mad Magazine, both me and my wife. And Jim Gaffigan has the sort of center spread in the latest issue. And he does a piece with his son, and they write it together about avococados and it's a really simple piece but it's very very funny and it's just nice seeing him jamming with his son that's awesome and actually yeah jim gaffigan great guy his wife

is like one of his writers like his co-writer basically which is amazing well i mean wives support lots of comedians but they don't always get the credit you know crusty here he's shocking everybody like he and it just shows it's not a, it's weird that no one makes the pronouncement that Krusty is racist. It's just that he's doing an old bit. Speaking of Krusty gets canceled, Krusty would be canceled after this.

Yes, yeah. Boy, Krusty gets canceled has a different connotation now. And Mike Scully tells a story he really regrets on this commentary about how in an episode, in a future episode, Mr. Burns, being an old timey guy, he will use the term, quote, Chinaman, unquote, to name someone from China. And he says that he got a phone call from a newspaper saying like, you know, that's offensive or you shouldn't have done that. Or what do you have to say about that? And he said, well, me so solly and they said they replied to him like is that really what you want

to say he's like no you know what no i do not i will uh take that back i'm very sorry and so he knew but he was coming at them with like a kind of like me fuck you if you're offended thing and then once somebody tells mike so you really want that in print he's like oh no no i don't i'm sorry but yeah actually they should i'm kind of shocked you need your offload i or bobcat would be saying like that's racist like that's not this is old that's racist but it gets really funny once the dicky comes out what's he gonna do next the flapping dicky i'm losing him. Time for the A material. Hey, hey!

I saw, I saw. Me like a the fly light. Me flapping dicky wrong time. and i will also one more complaint about how these kind of jokes about asian stereotypes come through is when people are like no no i'm quoting full metal jacket or i'm quoting these like uh very stereotypical asian accent characters like i'm just making a reference to a movie like no you no, you are not, you are not, you're getting,

you're trying to get away with something here. I don't like that. Now, do you think the angle on this that they're taking is that this material, if you saw it in 1957 or eight, uh, would be destroying and it would be, that was absolutely fine for this time. And it's just aged out or was it always hack horrible stuff

even even back then i think yeah sorry i think there was a more of a tradition of racial humor uh that a lot of people grew out of but all you needed to do was like have an impression or like have a prop and people would laugh because it's something like oh i recognize that yeah i think uh i think the way they're selling it with crusty is that crusty is going to his closer he's like i gotta go hard on what always worked every time back yeah so i gotta do it so i think we are to read it as this was very funny in the 50s when he when crusty was a stand-up and i just love, you can't bomb harder than just repeating your racist epithets while flapping your dickie up and down and everybody is just booing you. And he can't

get it. He's like, I should really stop now. Yeah, that seems to be an angle they don't really play is that this is just a comedian that's just out of his own time and doing the same stuff and then ironically if you look at all the comedians that are here almost all of them kind of aged out of comedy and their material that they do doesn't really fly anymore oh they've all moved on to other things because they've had to it just says an interesting thing about comedy like even if you're like the hottest thing you know you're Jay Leno and now you're the biggest hack in the world but you were jay leno and if jay leno can become the biggest hack in the world well then whatever is the freshest thing right now it's wait 20 years it's

something we see a lot of people go through like uh jerry seinfeld i mean i love the sitcom seinfeld i like the stand-up but uh once he like hit 60s like people aren't laughing at my jokes anymore and my my answer to that is like yes you, you're 60. And older comedians, people that are getting older, like Adam Carolla, just like, you know, kids don't understand me anymore. Just like, well, did your dad understand you when he was 60? Did your dad understand anything about the world?

Why do you think you should understand things? Or when Adam Carolla came into comedy when he was 20, why would he listen to some 50-year-old guy about what's comedy now? We're all eventually going to be out of touch and making bad jokes i think i'll have the self-awareness to not question just like i don't get this but i'm not supposed to yeah you've got to adjust and change i mean i think i think seinfeld's doing well with the comedians in cars the coffee because once he throws focus on another person and also

he's basically doing a podcast he's's learned, this is what it is. I'm doing a podcast in a car. That's what it is, because that's what now is. And so he's got it. I look at people like Alec Baldwin, who says, oh, man, the world's really changed and has gotten worse. It's like, no, you've gotten older. You're not the super handsome guy anymore. The world has not changed.

You've just gotten older, and now you're out of that bubble. And that's how this goes. And you've got to adjust or be left behind. Well, in the case with many standups who become, to stake a line from Bane, success has defeated you. But it really is that you get so successful, you don't know, like Jerry Seinfeld has not lived a normal person's life in a very long time. And it's not that he shouldn't enjoy his success or try to live in a one bedroom apartment when he's a millionaire. It's not that. But when your persona is living a normal life and having identifiable things that other people understand, the richer you are, the more distant you are from that life.

And it's harder for you to stay in touch with that way of being. And so, especially then when your ego is boosted so highly as a comedian, as being told you're the biggest and greatest in the world, as Bart will do in this next scene with Krusty, then when somebody tells you you're not funny, then you are immediately like, no, I'm the greatest comedian in the world. This joke was obviously funny. You're too sensitive, too much of a woman, too young, too anything to defend yourself from not thinking your comedy sucks. We're going on a long time about this, but this episode is about comedy. And I remember, like, I have no preconceived notions about Howie Mandel or, like, what he does.

But he was on the Gilbert Gottfried podcast recently. And his entire appearance was just like a tirade against modern audiences he was like uh this guy came on before me he was a gay comic he did all this gay humor why can't i say those things and also why did no one laugh at this joke i told just like well maybe like in the past howie mandel if a joke you told a joke and no one laughed wouldn't you be like i'll rewrite that joke or i won't use that joke now he's like i am entitled to your laughter i'm the deal or no deal guy and you will laugh at me. Dana Gould, I think, has a much better way of an... And Patton Oswalt, they've both kind of aged into being at least more introspective comics who are just like, you know what? If

somebody didn't laugh, it probably was because my joke sucked and I should maybe do a better one. Exactly. Just be funnier is almost always the advice. Keep going. Be funnier. That's it. And it's the audience that tells you what's funny and if they're not, you can't go the other way. Honestly, Krusty, if this was done now, Krusty would become an alt-right podcast host. He would talk about how

the culture has changed and he used to be famous. He was forced out of the comedy industry. He'd become Dennis Miller. He'd become the PragerU host, Adam Carolla. Can you fucking believe he sold out that much? PragerU, like, Jesus Christ. You can't even get it on Fox, you fucking loser. We happily turned down ads from him

when RetroNuts was on Podcast One. Like, no thanks. But yes, here's Krusty dealing with that same rejection. Hey, Krusty, great set. Are you kidding? I stunk up the joint. No, no. I was talking to Lisa back there.

We both agreed you killed. Really? Lisa, huh? Sure, there were a lot of laughs. You probably couldn't hear them. The acoustics were so bad. Yeah, the acoustics. That's what it was.

I mean, me so Charlie. Yeah. That was great. Did you get a load of Corpsey the Clown? That guy cheapens our whole profession. What do you think of him, Internet Comic?

Guys, keep it down five minutes crusty oh i ain't going back out there no five minutes to get your stuff and get out man bruce bomb really shines in this episode uh only listening to the audio did i catch stephen wright laughing there oh it's in a great laugh yeah it's really like butthead laugh it's really realistic the way bart softens the blow to crusty like that's how all bad comedians backstage have to hear like oh no no no you were hilarious you just couldn't hear the laughter like oh no i i mean me and my friend we agree you were hilarious like yeah and of course after you've bombed you want anybody to comfort you so you're like yeah you know what you're right i remember it differently now and everything went great yeah crusty trust high

ceilings the high ceilings really sucked up all the laughter you just couldn't if you were higher up oh boy crusty trusts lisa's opinion for sure yeah i love lisa huh you know we talked about them getting into women not funny territory but lisa is as smart with honestly she has the best sense of humor of everybody there like she doesn't think crusty's funny like bart does she she actually fully understands stephen wright's joke like she is urbane enough to do that. And yet she also enjoys a itchy and scratchy cartoon just as much as Bart does. That's true. She can enjoy the highs and lows of comedy. I really love the gag that they already had Krusty groan once. So the next time he groans, he groans so much he falls to the floor. And silhouette. I like that. Yeah, that's very funny. And yes, we talked about the internet comic. I did, you know, Bruce Baum gave me a slight laugh,

but it was just visually where he says, this cheapens our whole profession, and then he's in his stupid prop outfit. Oh, that's right, that's right. He does get one joke. That counts as a joke. And that's a Bruce Baum joke, because that was his thing.

He's dressing up. But yes, we then come back from the commercial, and the reviews are in. Last night's comedy benefit delivered wall-to-wall laughs without exception. The only exception was the embarrassingly dated humor of Springfield's green-haired, red-nosed hag. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Krusty the Clown! They say any publicity is good publicity.

You, sir, are an idiot. Ah, that's your answer to everything. Look at my life. I'm talking to a monkey and I don't know what the hell you are. You can be so cruel when you're sober. Well, I'll fix that.

I'm going on the bender to end all benders. There's also the great headline, dog kills cat self. Yeah, I like how unrealistically written that story is. It's like, without exception. One exception was. The one exception. Without exception, period. The one exception was. I like that there's three non-English speaking characters in this. Mr. Teeny, Internet Comic, and Professor Know-It-All.

I just wish the three of them had a scene together. Krusty is so cruel when he's sober. That's a great line, too. When he's drunk, it's when he's finally nice, which that is the opposite of my experience with alcoholics. But that's the joke. And then we get on what must be the show's fourth lost weekend parody scene. But that's the joke. And then we get on like, well, it must be the show's like fourth Lost Weekend parody scene, but it is funny. It is him drinking out of everything. They tell, Mike Scully tells a funny story on there that Fox broadcasting partner NHL was not happy at all

about the vomiting and the Stanley Cup joke. Oh yeah. Getting the NHL was a big deal for them, right? It really was. Yeah. But Mike Scully scully says like hey i'm a big nhl fan but i love the joke and we were able to tell them they don't have a leg to stand on to make us lose it and i think that you know a show that isn't the simpsons wouldn't get away with that i'm fine with them vomiting into the cup because we've had two stanley cup riots and so i do not care for that cup very much uh what is the vancouver team uh the vancouver connects oh okay and we've had tear gas in the streets and things have gone nuts and yeah it's like no we're new york keep it keep it we don't want to win it a canuck is a bad person i know canuck the crow

that's all i know that's the crow of vancouver he's great yeah and there's the maple leaves it's uh i mean america there's the texas texans, America, there's the Texas Texans. So it's not like we're more creative. We had two football teams called the Rough Riders. So we're not the most creative people either. So then it's the next day after Krusty has quite a bender. Lisa and Marge are watching something. And Lisa is definitely, like Spanish speakers out there, correct me on this on this she is not translating that she's just making stuff up right like there's

she does some character says bylar which i believe means dance and lisa does not say dance oh i i didn't read it that way i just read that she was very frustrated with that march kept asking her but lisa's never been written as bilingual before though though. So that's, I think, I have a hard read on that scene, actually. But now it's Bart's turn to take the TV as he turns on Krusty the Clown. And now, here's Krusty! Hey, hey, I'm Kent Brockman the Clown. Filling in for Krusty the Clown, who didn't come in today. He is presumed dead or on vacation.

Today's top joke, it seems a local moron threw his clock out the window. We'll tell you why right after this. Oh, this sucks. I am out of here. I love that. The gag of the setup and then the punchline coming right after that in news. Local news parlance. That's very funny. It's, you know, it's actually very nice of Kent to sub in for Krusty

when it's been established that Krusty would not want to eat a Danish that Kent Brockman touched. I didn't touch it, did he? I would get an action figure of Kent Brockman the clown. That's a good look. I do like that. It's pretty funny. But it turns out that he's not dead or on vacation.

He's in the backyard of the Flanders. And I like Rod and Todd poking him and smelling how evil he smells. That's very funny. I like how terrified they are when Bart scares them away. Just by saying, get out of here, they just run off. They are definitely making Rod and Todd less normal every appearance. They're not

good people, Rod and Todd. They just aren't. They want to poke a dead clown a lot, but they really solved the problem of getting Krusty to the Simpsons. How does he get there? Well, he winds up there drunk. He got so drunk, he teleported there. On the commentary, they say this is the first bloodshot eyes in the series. I specifically deceive red nerves in his eyes.

Ah, okay. So when Homer got drunk, say when he was helping Lisa recycle by drinking a bunch of cans, his eyes were redder, but it was just like a different shade. It was not drawing the nerves or blood vessels in his eyes. I have trouble thinking of any other time a character before this had bloodshot eyes on the show. They could be right.

Him with the hose and the grease hose, that's much later, right? Because that's when he's having horrific eye injuries and they did have a lot of veins in the eyes for that one. That was quite a veiny eye. Lenny getting his eye injured. Oh, yeah not lenny um and uh yes also crusty is his usual unrepentant drunk self who blames everything on everyone but himself and uh uh that's just how it goes but i i really like how crusty bart saves Krusty, his place is filled with Krusty merchandise, which we'd seen in the show to this point, including a Camp Krusty flag.

That's nice, yeah. And then Krusty is trying to get himself back together, and he comes to a dark realization. Man, look at all the crap with my face on it. Krusty's personal swabs? What was I thinking? All these years I should have been working on my act,

but I was too busy selling out. Now I'm just a tired old hack. Ah, that burns! What the hell's on those things? Here, quick,

use my Kr crusty eye wash hope that's a combo pack you get the eye wash to help you from the chemical burns well that's what i do that's the one thing i don't get uh about this uh in the entire episode is like like dabbing your tears with a swab like a q-tip i've never done that absorb your tears is that how that would i guess i guess they were nearby but if you look a Q-tip? I've never done that. Would that absorb your tears? Is that how that would work? I guess they were nearby, but if you look at Q-tips now, they tell you to do everything with them but put them in your ears. Like, absolutely do not put these in your ears.

Here are several other uses. Do not put them in your ears. You're wrong this entire time. Get that smoky look with your makeup. Yeah. Do that. That's the one I always remember from the back of those boxes. Dry your eyes with a Q-tip

What? I get it's a setup for another joke But the setup makes no sense to me I love the animation too of Krusty trying to pull that tack out of his head Yeah, like touching it And then They say on the commentary they cut out a scene where Jay Leno Is called

They realize it's funnier if he's just there Than the next scene Homer does point that out Yes, the bathing of a clown is this next clip Thanks for coming, Jay Krusty really needs help No question I gotta freshen up my act

Jay, you're a professional comedian, right? Right? Answer me! Yes, now stop squirming I'm trying to get these tangles out They are just impossible Well, they are Answer me! Yes, now stop squirming. I'm trying to get these tangles out. They are just impossible. Well, they are.

Anyway, don't you have some advice for Krusty? Well, these days people like observational humor about things they deal with in everyday life. Oh, yeah. You mean like when your lazy butler washes your sock garters and they're still covered with schmutz? Well, kind of. But more universal. And maybe lose the miso sally bit. Whoa. Whoa, let's not tamper with a classic Shut up kid. Come on Leno tamper teach him part

Sorry son, I didn't know you Jay Leno and a monkey were bathing a clown Well, they are so make with the loofah or get out. Homer is seconds away from removing his penis. If Bart hadn't screamed, he would have. He just didn't even realize that his bathroom had multiple people in it. But that's a real moment there of just recognizing how ridiculous the show has become and how a famous person being in their house is like yeah it's jay leno yeah we've gotten from buying shoes in the mall in the most grounded realistic scene to you've just got to acknowledge there's a monkey

and a clown in your bathroom and jay leno is uh you know he's giving him a bath yeah uh i would think his hair would be really tangled like he had based on the way crusty's hair which seems to be his natural hair looks uh is very curly and so him after a bender that's going to be very tangled up uh it's a slight gay panic joke on them looking at parties says well they are like uh yeah that's a that's a weird one because yeah he doesn't even sell it in that way so it feels like probably the take was okay gonna do this a little bit more gay then they're gonna react then they decided we don't want to make it like that that's terrible okay but we're still gonna have the reaction well now it's both bad and doesn't

make sense and that's and so now homer's gonna take a whiz so let's uh let's let's forget about i guess it is weird for a kid to be that like uh fastidious about washing someone's hair yeah yeah and it is hard bart likes fashion he likes hair he likes all that kind of stuff yeah to be that fastidious about washing someone's hair. Yeah, yeah. But that is Bart. Bart likes fashion. He likes hair. He likes all that kind of stuff. Yeah.

I mean, he'll do a very effeminate thing in the next scene of pretending to be his mom and putting on a towel on his head to pretend to do it, which I love that moment just because it is...

I think the actors really like pretending to be Julie and doing the Marge voice. It's really fun. I think they really love it. I think everyone in really like pretending to be Julie and doing the Marge voice. It's really fun. I think they really love it. I think everyone in the writer's room pitches Marge lines as Marge, too.

Dana Gould said as much. Yeah, and also the way Homer just goes, take that, Marge. I like as well just the idea of Krusty goes, I need to freshen up my act and bring it up to date and up to speed. Jay Leno? That's the guy that you've gone to.

Oh, nowadays that would be the joke in itself. I feel like in 98, that's almost the joke they're making, but not telling Jay Leno that they're making that joke. He's like, well, of course you'll talk to me. Yeah. And yes, Leno on the commentary becomes a very old comedian when Krusty is reading off of his notebook in his next clip.

And I was like, yeah, these young comics today with their notebook reading off it. I'm like, oh boy. You're like, sometimes people have to look at their notes at a show. Give them a fucking break. I've heard old comedians get mad when like the stand-up love water. Yeah. Uh, that's just like, well, I went to the Philharmonic and they had sheet music. What's that about? Learn it!

That's some real observational comedy, just like Krusty. Yay! Whoa! Krusty! Where's my water? Oh, here it is. All right.

Hello. I'm a real person, and as a real person, I've made some humorous observations about real life. For example, have you ever noticed how there are two phone books, a white one and a yellow one? Like, what's the deal with that? One's residential, the other is business. Oh. Well, that makes sense. What are they thinking next? Blue pages?

They have those. They're government listings. I see. What about two-cent stamps? Pizza pie is very hot these days. Can't open pickle jars. No mail on Sunday. How do paper towels...

Oh, oh, oh. What's the deal with cardboard? Boo! Let's just move on to Notebook 2. I really got to get dinner started. Me too. I also have to go. Boo!

Oh. I do love the immediate march line after let's move on to Notebook 2. Oh, that's great. Yeah, that whole bit was great. That is bad delivery of bad stand-up. I'm just like, well, pizza pie is hot this day. He wrote bad material and performs it poorly. It shows he's not ready for current-day comedy, seemingly.

And pizza pie is very hot these days. I love that statement of just like, okay. The last time he did comedy, pizza was new. Yeah. that statement and just like, okay. The last time he did comedy, pizza was new. Yeah, that reminds me of Andy Kindler had a great joke about bad stand-ups in the 90s. He would say like, sugar-free chocolate? Who's that for? It's for diabetics! That's who that's for.

Oh, I don't know. Diabetics? Oh, what's this insulin about? What's that? And then a third thing. That's another. I'm just doing my favorite andy kindler material here love andy kindler yeah it's if people haven't read the hacks handbook look it up and and and give it a read it's uh it's pretty great i love his uh state of the union thing he does every toronto uh just for laughs festival i enjoy him yelling at ricky gervais

on twitter always i think you stopped doing that now but uh yeah crusty has to face facts and it's time for him to read a poignant poem and the name died before the man does this have a point yes i'm quitting show business i was just trying to go out with a little class you jackass but, why now? Why not 20 years ago? Because comedy ain't funny anymore. Instead of time-tested jokes about women drivers and doctor bills, you got some big-chin schlub reading typos from the Palookaville Post. Well, here's a headline for you.

Nobody cares. Hey, I washed your hair. These comics today. Ooh, look at me. I can't set my VCR. I can't open a bag of airline peanuts. I'm a freaking moron. Krusty's going nuts.

Then you got these lady comics talking about stuff that would embarrass Red Fox. God rest his smutty soul who they slept with what time they sit on the can this is supposed to get you a husband what the hell are you laughing at i'm just telling the truth and it's funny it is in that case i'm proud to announce my triumphant return to comedy! So Krusty was reading the poem To an Athlete Dying Young by A.E. Hausman, and I actually read the poem today. He sort of edits.

He sort of cuts out a paragraph between those two lines. They gotta punch it up. They don't have all the time in the world. They don't have time for a whole poem. I love him shitting on headline typo comedy that's uh that jay leno can take it too he's like hey like i i like that i uh but also i think that homer identifies the real line between telling it like it is comics and a crazy person being very

thin yeah what you said what you said earlier about like the kind of anti-woman uh you know comedy comedy thing uh something that bothers me and that is, we're like, this is supposed to get you a husband? And it's like, all right, it's all about that. And someone's like, yeah, he's just telling the truth. All these women should be looking for husbands. That's what they should be. We agree, that is correct. Wait a minute, that's not telling the truth at all what's what's what's that about it still feels like a regressive part of cresty's act yeah like he's supposed to be very carliny like ranty 90s comic and obviously dressing like george carlin that was never really a feature of carlin's act like sexist stuff really wasn't didn't factor and i'm sure he was lightly sexist in the way a lot of 90s comedians were not really really realizing it, but not this intense. No, it feels like he, even more than Carlin, though I know he's definitely just Carlin, it feels more like a Bill Hicks type thing to me. That was the comedian around that era who was the real telling it like it is guy.

He was more of a ranter, yeah. Yeah, but like almost all the telling it like it is guy, he was using very broad stereotypes. And then people going like, that's the truth. Well, no, not, not at all. It's,

it's an easy, it's an easy generalization that you're doing and it sounds shocking and it could be entertaining and that's fine, but don't confuse this in any way with telling the truth. Whereas like Carlin did tell the truth. He'd make sure that he did a lot of verbal trickery and a word play to actually like color, color it in. And people that were trying to be Carlin-esque really did not pick up on the cleverness part of it and instead just went, hey, this, women need a husband.

Like, all right, whatever. And your defense is like, well, I told it like it is. Do you not like the truth? It's like, I don't like bad comedy. Yeah, I feel like I'm not a fan of Hicks. I loved him a lot in the 90s. i haven't listened to him in a while i got into i tried listening to him too late but i feel like he uh i'm sure if he did survive cancer or didn't have cancer he'd grow into a better comedian in my opinion but i feel like he influenced a lot of bad men where

just like he says what he thinks i'm gonna say I think, and I won't back down ever. And from a lot of the comedy I've heard of him, he was not a huge fan of women. He had issues with women, it seemed like. A few, a few, yeah. The Hicks bits I liked as a kid were the ones that questioned power more so and shit on the desert storm of just like, this sucks. Those are the things I liked about it, not so much the hate of women.

Well, I mean, let's talk a little bit about post this era of Carlin too. I loved it at the time. And now when I've gone back to watch some of it, I'm like, I think we all were a little too buying. And we were drinking the Kool-Aid a little too hard on Carlin. Not that he wasn't funny, but what I watched is modern man. I'm a modern man. I'm a download on

upswing and a zip down on the download wow like that shit's i that's not exactly what he said yeah that whole modern man thing i is just it's a performance that is three times as long as it has to be and it's just showing off that he can memorize things like uh i'm a i'm a meat-free dairy-free zippo free like it's just-free. It's just, I hate it. It's not funny. It's very close to slam poetry. It's the rhythm that he's using, and it's okay, but it's like, yeah. People that say that it's brilliant, well, if something's brilliant to you and it connects with you, that's great.

And I can't argue with that if you have some sort of connection with it but yeah i think i think people did cut that a lot of slack and then the the impersonators of him really did not get the things that made it good and then we got so many copycats and it was it was rough for a while and as carlin is a living legend doing not bad material that will get so much applause because you're like you're a living legend and you're doing still good work not maybe even great work. But that gets you a lot more credit than being an average guy, a young person doing great work. And he's a future guest of the show. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, and also, yeah, his modern man thing, last thing I'll say about that bit that I hate is that if you watch it, the audience applauds real hard like three times in it because they're like, and that's the end of it, right?

Yay, you did a good job. And he's like, nope, time to go in for some more. I'm like, no. Read the audience. They want you to stop, but they're applauding you. Did you ever see Rick Moranis do his George Carlin? Oh, I haven't. He did it in front of George Carlin once at a show.

And he went up and did it. And it's all basically just doing the setups and the ideas, and there's really no punchlines. And that's the whole idea, then looking around and picking another card out. And when he went back into the audience, George Carlin was there, and he was expecting it was going to be like, ah, that's great. And George Carlin really, really didn't like it. He just went, you know, that was pretty low, man. Damn. Just didn't like being made fun of, you know, that thing. It's like, no, that low, man. Damn. Just didn't like being made fun of, that thing.

It's like, no, that's... These irreverent comics, for some reason, have no sense of humor about themselves. This is interesting. That God rest his smutty soul line with Red Fox. It was Mike Scully who worked on a show Red Fox died on. Yeah, I believe the Royal Family is the one he worked on. Which, Red Fox says dirtier things than i

got my period today like so he's also crusty's wrong there too then we get crusty's new stand up and friends of the show citations needed they talk about how bill maher is like the blink 182 of comedy where it it pretends to be transgressive but it really isn't and that's kind of what crusty's thing is like it's not it's kind of what Krusty's thing is. It's kind of against power, but it's more performative of like, see, I'm calling it like it is about commercials. Yeah, Bill Maher every week gets very angry at his audience who turn on him more every week. Good. I've never seen anyone be more angry with their crowd as they're they're just like clearly

they're breaking up and they're still going out and you're like maybe you guys should really see other people this audience should go see another show maybe you should go do your thing somewhere else but well bill maher and bill maher before his stand-up shows uh he starts off by going uh this ain't a safe space and my thing on that is always of course it is it's your safe space yeah no one else absolutely everything to make you happy no one else can take the microphone from you no one demands their laughter other than you here and just his god his stand yeah i listened to some of his recent stand-up it's just so lame anything that people would share in just like a general email of like the president doesn't have many thoughts in his head.

Like, God, he sucks. This is just me being mad at every comedian. Well, the thing about like Bill Maher to me and President Trump is that, you know, they're both so similar in that like they both hang out at the Playboy Mansion. They're both famous for not being politically correct there's like so many things that the two of them they're both like from another era where that was their glory era and they're living now and both really annoyed that they're living now and it's like there's so much that's the same yeah when he they go after each other it's just like well this seems ridiculous you're basically the same person they're both ugly ugly men they both have carefully molded hair to make you think they're not bald uh the only difference is that like bill maher is ridiculously obsessed with like food he

eats he's like oh i only eat natural things it's like yeah you're gonna live to be a hundred buddy that's sure for you like and and also i mean they both hate women quite a lot too and muslims they really hate those people the same yeah so more similarities than uh than not yeah and so it really drives me crazy when people think he's like the voice of liberalism still and it's like he barely i don't think you really could call him that even like 2004 but fucking now absolutely not yeah i made a big deal about giving a million dollars to obama and then uh kept trying to get him on his show for like two years and he wouldn't come on his

show. And it's like, of course he can't come on your show. You bought him. If he shows up, you're going to mention that and that's going to be terrible. You idiot. You can't do it that way. But why don't we hear Krusty's stand-up that's so much better than Bill Maher's. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, I'm watching TV today. Woo! TV, yeah! All I keep seeing is dead celebrities hawking products. They got poor Vincent Price floating around on a toilet cake telling me about the horrors of an unfresh bowl. And I tell you something else. I do not believe Winston Churchill would eat a Darvina schnitzel. There's nothing those Madison Avenue grave robbers

won't do to get us to buy their crap. Impeach Churchill! Well, here's one dollar those crooks aren't gonna get their hands on yeah it's not illegal i don't care if it is illegal i'm making a stand here who's with me i am i work like a dog for this oh you're burning it all wrong, Seymour. It's my allowance, mother, and I'll burn it the way I want. Take that, you greedy fat cats.

March, give me your purse. It's $42. It's everything I have. Run home and bury it in the yard. I love you, Mom. So they're referring to a famous Dirt Devil commercial from the 90s. Ah, yes. In which Fred Astaire was made to

dance with a vacuum cleaner and people were like is this what we've come to as a nation as a society my my opinion is who cares uh and also we are far past that yeah yeah i mean here's my sorry my thing on this is like here he comes he's he's gonna be cutting edge here's the freshest hottest new material first joke it's a tidy bowl joke wow making fun of commercials this is just a weird call uh that that's your first thing and everyone's like yeah now he's back it's just like there's nothing hackier than that it's very safe too like everyone would agree with that yeah it's again blink 182 of comedy like fake transgressive uh i mean you know know, to call out commercials is bad. It's like that's at least you.

It does tie into him no longer being a sellout that he's saying, I do like the comedy that him saying how much he hates commercials is getting him a commercial job. That's right. Yeah, that is good. That does make sense. You're right. Yeah, the arc then does make sense.

So it's good in that way. But you're right, not very cutting edge to complain about commercials. I don't know what the thing about likeness rights are after you die or using archival footage or whatever. I have to assume that there are newer rules in the books, but I feel like it's your responsibility as a famous person to make sure that's settled before you die. Otherwise, you'll be like Colonel Sanders. Well, you know, yeah, that's true. Well, you know, though, sometimes even if you put it in your will, you can renegotiate rights like that. I'd heard that was the thing with Mary Poppins, that the creator Mary Poppins said she would never authorize a sequel from Disney. Once she died, then her children or her beneficiaries were like, you know what? No, we would like to license it again to Disney. Here you go. Once she died, then her children or her beneficiaries were like, you know what? No, we would like to license it again to Disney.

Here you go. Marilyn Monroe, like a company owns her image and it must be licensed if you want to use it. Elvis too. Yeah. But it's like, I wonder like with Marilyn Monroe, she did not plan on dying. It was like an overdose or a mob hit, whatever you want to call it. I don't think she negotiated her likeness rights. Like, boy, if they make a CGI commercial of me in 40 years, I want my family to be in on this. 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? You know, I don't know like what the rights are for that. Well, this Fred Astaire thing, when they're making these jokes they couldn't imagine hologram tupac at coachella that's right yeah like and and all that shit that just makes you go like is this respectful is this what the person would have wanted you know and i also think you know to get extra morbid do you really think dan castellaneta's ghost won't be selling things for disney in 2050

it's true yeah it will be that's just kind of how it goes like especially disney kind of steamrolls whatever copyright they need to the way they handled star wars has kind of been like they for one just reanimated peter cushing to be grand mo Tarkin. Do you think he signed off on that before he died? Like, yeah, make me a robot. But oppositely, they said that they would not reanimate Princess Leia digitally for Carrie Fisher after her death. They said they would at least right now, 20 years from now, who knows? But that's what they at least did then.

Then meanwhile, just the burning of money is just a very, it's again, a very silly way to stick it to the man. It's just like, least did then. Then meanwhile, just the burning of money is just a very, it's again, a very silly way to stick it to the man. It's just like, you should spend your money differently. Burning your money. I work like a dog for this. I love that, yeah. And they're all caught in the mania of it.

Like that's an insane thing too. And I love the like loving desperation between Marge and Lisa there too. They probably had conversations like that a lot. It's so rushed. They've been through this before and I like the little scene in the sting after where it's a very minor second song moment where they see each other and they give each

other a thumbs up. Like, okay, we did this. We hid the money. I love that. You see that aspect of their relationship. And this next bit, if I may pick the line of the episode this is just very much because i love when telling it like it is guys get told like it is and they don't like it so uh this scene is definitely my my line the episode if

you'll allow me the jingle bob yes please please that's. Sorry, it's like a nuclear code. We both have to turn the key at the same time. But yes, Homer is telling it like it is. Wow, you're hanging on his every word. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? I hope so. I thought I made myself clear in Boston. That is a good joke.

I like that joke. From now on, I'm going to be just like Krusty and tell it like it is. Marge, you're getting a little fat around the old thighs. Dad! You too, Marge. Oh, knock it off, Homer. You're the fattest one in the car. You didn't have to tell it like it is, Marge.

Yeah, that's very, very observational. It's so great. Yeah, that is the bill maher story in a nutshell right there yeah exactly he he tells it like it is to every person and uh i mean his stan lee one was really something else so he's like oh i'm sorry i remember when comic books were for children and maybe if you read a real book you wouldn't care about stan lee and i was just like when was what was the last book you fucking read bill maher tell me the high art you enjoy because i think you just get stoned fall asleep on the hooker and don't wait and wake back up again to your miserable fucking life we don't like bill maher on this podcast do we but i but i love homer's reaction like you didn't have to tell it like it is, Maher.

That he's the most fragile person there. But that is always the case, by the way, with the people who are the meanest. They all are the most vulnerable. You look at the biggest comedic bullies, and they really are the softest inside and can be hurt so easily. You look like an andrew dice clay and then if you see any candid footage of him it's like oh man that guy got oh he's he's really sensitive fella he does not like anything uh you know being said about him oh boy that really hits him pretty deep then back on the stage with the crazy over the top persona yeah

everyone said that don rickles was like the nicest guy offstage. Like a very sensitive guy. And all of his insults on stage were playful. Yeah, yeah. And racist. And they would end with him saying, I'm a nice guy. Oh no, they were racist. But it also was just the exception of like, well, he's your grandpa. I always put him in racist grandpa territory. It's like, well, it's my grandpa.

And he's an equal opportunity offender, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And if you go to see a, if you went to see a Don Rickles show, you knew what you were getting. And if you were the person who was like surprised by this, was like, well, did you miss the last like 60 years? This is what he does. It's a clown. It's a crazy thing. It's not real.

I understand the material can be you know offensive but i i think you also if you're going to do that kind of stuff you actually have to be nice or you're going to be terrible because you've got to have some sort of ethical boundaries that you will not cross and you'll have to know the exact target it's such a tight strike zone to get it just right yeah yeah you're there to be zinged like a poo you know lindsey ellis had a really great great YouTube essay I really enjoy about the producers and Mel Brooks stuff because a favorite thing for Republicans to say is that you could make blazing saddles now. And it's just like, I agree with them because you couldn't make a film about how racist white people are without Republicans getting angry. But what they are saying is everyone's too sensitive now you can't do that and to republicans who say that i would say then watch me burn a flag right now and see how much you love being offended to me it always with that when they whenever they say that i go like let me just see how many years

south park's been on the air oh 20 yeah you know and there's they've done stuff that's like so much more offensive than than blazing saddles and blazing saddles the big thing in that was like fart jokes and fart jokes are in kids shows now what are you talking about that you couldn't do that now blazing saddles if you made it now it would be not special i mean i personally think mel brooks could not make blazing saddles today because he's 96 years old and probably very tired so that movie could definitely not Saddles today because he's 96 years old and probably very tired. So that movie could definitely not be made today. And because Richard Pryor is dead.

Oh, yeah. And G. Wilder. And those jokes. Yes. Yeah. But again, I'm just getting mad at everybody right now. Comedy makes me angry. It's supposed to make you angry.

It's comedy. Yeah. I really do like the little story between those two uh agents that it says so much doesn't it like they don't even have names but i thought i made myself clear in boston one agent keeps thinking like you're sending me signals right he's like no i am not thank you like but he's not they still work together he's he's just like i don't want to sleep with you but like we have a job to do here just he his curtness of removing the hand of just like, I don't want to sleep with you, but we have a job to do here. Just his curtness of removing the hand of just like, I thought.

Not pulling away again and the gay panic thing. It's just like, come on. Yeah, that's exactly, that's the way you play it. And we are in 98. They did not give him a quote unquote gay voice when they could have. I mean, his turtleneck is a little gay. That's true. But Krusty hates selling out he is totally anti-selling out now he's so cool that he's in a coffee shop called java the hut which

are so cool right now and uh then crusty is offered to sell his soul oh and there is one cut scene before this oh which is not funny it It's just the comedians discussing how great Krusty is. It's like Janine and Stephen Wright and Bruce Baum discussing how Krusty's rise to fame is impressing even them. They are at the coffee shop. We still see them in the broadcast version, but yeah, okay. That makes

sense why they're there now. So they've never left town after the charity show. I guess not. Clearly at least like a week ago or something. Yeah, they're still around. There's so many comedy clubs in springfield that we don't see they're all staying in the same comedy condo full of uh disgusting things anyway yes crusty is uh gets quite an offer i'm proud of you crusty oh sure i've got material success my own show acres of cars nice microwave oven but you're out there on the edge. You're doing it for the sheer thrill. And if I wasn't so afraid of clowns,

I'd give you a big hug. Excuse me, Krusty. We've been watching you mose all week, and your credibility is just... wow. Get to the point, Armani. Well, we think you'd be the perfect spokesman for our company's new sports utility vehicle, the Canyon Aero. I guess you Wall Street weasels didn't get the word.

Krusty's not for sale. But you endorse everything. In fact, this endorsement contract comes from your line of legal forms. It's a quality form. But those things are behind me. I don't show for nobody no more. Are you sure? Because we're prepared to offer you

a free, fully loaded Canyonero. Pow! Ha! Oh, yeah. A free, fully loaded Canyonero. No! Take your corporate blood wagon and get the hell out! Are you sure? It's free!

Stop saying that! Love how his hair reacts to it. That's great. And the boing sound. So we're entering the era of SUVs and jokes about them. And in the late 90s, gas couldn't be cheaper. I remember when I started driving, it was actually right before 9-11 I started driving at age 19.

Gas was 99 cents a gallon. Wow, yeah, I remember that too. Those are good times. Good times of, now I don't drive a car anymore. I've got $20. I can fill my tank. Sure, let's do it.

Well, and yeah, it's only a year from now that Marge will be a Range Rover mom and get road rage. And the Canyon Arrow is, I mean, the best stuff comes later. I do love the Canyon Arrow, though, just in design. And the name, too, Canyon Arrow. I mean, she gets the Canyon Arrow in that episode, right? And they play the song.

They reprise the song there. I was just going to say, it feels like you're almost getting close to something with jay leno there where at that time jay was kind of known as the sellout guy he was the doritos guy and he was also the car guy as he sort of briefly mentions so it's interesting that someone's coming up to like crusty next to him and going like i want you to sell out for a car. It just feels like there's something there that they could have connected a little bit more with. It's just, nope, Jay's done, and we're going to move on. I recall Bill Hicks making a lot of jokes about Jay Leno, like even before the Tonight Show thing, for being a sellout.

I mean, the Doritos stuff was, you could see that as selling out, sure. But compare this to today's day and age, where not only do comedians sell out, but they do it to do ads on their podcasts for probably far less than Krusty gets for his Canyonero deal. I mean, we talked about this. I forget which podcast that was on. It's a recent recording, but I just talked about how I love podcast ads because there is no other context in which I can hear Gilbert Godfrey tell me about cryptocurrency or chewable erection medication. Like every guy has to do that now because it's assumed if you're a podcast listener, you're a loser. Your hair is falling out and you can't get hard.

Yeah. It's basically if you stay up past midnight and you just start watching TV, yeah, everything is, yeah. You can't get a, you can't get it up. You can't get it done. You can't get anything. You're going to die. You're going to die. You're going to die. That's the, where the Mr. Plow ad would air. Alcoholics, the dangerous and alone, the unemployable. And I do actually like listening to podcast ads because, and you guys do it well.

You're all fine. But it's very difficult for people to transition into an ad. They don't have that skill. And that's exactly what it used to be like on old-timey tv where you know the the the host of a show had to in the middle of their show just turn and go yeah colgate toothpaste and like make it smooth and make it make sense and it's it's such a throwback to the old-timey days of show business that i find it quite charming paul and i will listen to the ads because of because i'm like this could go anywhere i do like that yeah paul harvey was the master of that when i was

listening to him back in his later, later years, it's like, wow, I'm in an ad. I didn't realize it, but I'm in an ad. Well, I mean, now today, like I really enjoy Conan O'Brien's podcast, but it is still weird to me to hear him start out by saying, you know, mattresses are a real thing, huh? Like, wow, this is where Conan's at, huh?

Like, I feel like- We're all a slave to the mattress industry now. If a mattress company paid him they'd have to pay him a lot of money for him to say that on his tv show but i'm betting he's not getting a similar rate i'm sure he's getting paid fine uh but i doubt he's getting a tv kind of rate to do that kind of selling out on his on his podcast which though as i get older i also care less about selling out and like, oh, you cheap and everything you sell out. Because the most compelling argument pro selling out I heard from a comedian was David

Cross, where he said, if you love Mr. Show or even my or Arrest Development or even my most recent stuff, Todd Margaret, know that I made no money on those. And in fact, in some cases, lost money. The only way I afford to have a home i can live in and actually get paid is doing alvin and the fucking chipmunks so how about you just give me this guys can you just give me that please i was like that's fair yeah yeah mr show shouldn't even in podcasts it's like such good value it's either free or just a couple of bucks and you get all this entertainment it's like i'll listen to an ad of course this is fine i got i feel like i got a social contract here well i'll listen i can't i'm not getting

another mattress but i'll listen to your ad and and i don't think any like tim and eric are two of my favorite funny guys and they're two are currently doing ads for a certain mattress company i'm not going to name here they don't get free advertising for me but they are doing a bunch of ads for a mattress company, and I don't think any less of them. I think these are funny ads. Huh? Nice. It's nice to see Tim and Eric back together. And if someone catches a sub sandwich in their mouth in the middle of a movie and it takes you out of the movie, that's also fine. Nothing wrong with selling out in that regard. It's totally fine.

Ebert was wrong. Best scene in the movie. But yes, Krusty is telling it like it is one more time to his audience. And my secondary line of the show is Homer talking about pants because anytime an online commenter says like, why didn't you talk about a thing that had nothing to do with what you were talking about? But I wanted to hear about it. I think, don't you hate pants?

Like, ah, but yes, here's the Krusty's final standup routine. I brought a bag of money in case he wants us to burn it again. I hope he tells us to burn our pants. These things are driving me nuts.

So this afternoon, two suits come up to me and ask me to endorse some new sports utility vehicle. What'd you do? Don't you hate pants? I threw those two creeps out on their ass. Then they followed me home, begging me to take a test drive. And let me tell you, talk about roomy. The Canyon Aero combines the smooth handling of a European sports car with a rugged drivability of a sturdy 4x4. Hey, Krusty, what are you talking about?

I thought you said those guys were creeps. Yeah, but that was before I got to know them. And I'm telling you, the Canyon Arrow is the Cadillac of automobiles. That's Canyon Arrow. The Cadillac of automobiles. They all turn on him there. He also says he has other material, like the quality of computer porn.

That was a correct complaint about a 98. It was poor quality then. But I love how easily he transitions into selling out and great acting on Dan of just like, so I told him that it didn't die. The turn is really good there uh and also he just gives up on his hair his carlin hair i do love that these top puff comes down yeah the tie in the back it's nice yeah but uh yeah then he just quickly sells out and i was

like crusty come on we we loved you why did you sell out in your second stand-up performance he still thinks he can win them over by selling out. Yeah. Well, also, I love his stance of like, yeah, but that was before I got to know him. Like, that's how sellouts all say, like, well, you're not having these getting wined and dined. You don't know how cool these rich people are. They're great. I also kind of wonder if Springfield actually would be bothered by that. I know you need it for the plot turn at this point, but it just feels like, I think people would like to be on board with the Canyon arrow.

And Springfield gets duped real easily and is very, you know, you just sing him a song about a monorail and it's gonna, it's gonna work out for him. Just, just, you know, I'm,

I'm shocked that Homer isn't like down with like getting a Canyon arrow at the end of it. He's actually outraged by this ethical choice crusty has made and uh again it works for a joke but i don't know if it works for a character thing it feels like that's that's not a homer thing to do well homer personally i think he's just mad that he didn't talk about pants that's that's a good point fair enough but no you're right everybody else turns on him too when they really should just be like burning their money was stupid why isn't buying a canyon arrow as convincing to them too but yeah everyone's a sellout in springfield kent brockman's a sellout the doctors

are all sellouts they'll all ethically bend uh for for anything like that that's kind of the the way springfield works but again i understand plot wise this is where we got to go so this is where we're going to go it leads us to the canyon arrow song yes well okay so good so we have crusty sellout ending first which i do like that i wish more comedians would be as honest with themselves as it leads us to the canyon arrow song yes well okay so good so we have crusty sellout ending first which i do like that i wish more comedians would be as honest with themselves as crusty of just like i'm not in this for the comedy i did it to sell out and be rich like that's why i did this i also note here i think there's a little bit of an echo on bart saying this is roomy to make you feel the size of the canyon arrow but Interesting. Let's hear it. Maybe,

maybe I'm misjudging this. Wait, where are you going? I still got plenty of beefs, fat free yogurt. They're the quality of computer porn. I knew I should have gone on first. I don't get it. You said you would never be a shill again.

I learned something about myself tonight, kid. It ain't comedy that's in my blood. It's selling out. Come on, I'll give you a ride home. Wow, this is roomy. A little bit of an echo, I can hear. I think you're right, yeah. It really helps with the roominess of it. But yeah canyon arrow let's talk about is it i think it might be the funniest

thing in the scully years i think it might be i laughed a lot when i first saw it because it comes out of nowhere you're not expecting and i love how it drives the fox logo away and there's more songs they're so committed like we fucking love this song and we're gonna double the link yeah i also like the very clunky but clever rhyme and unexplained fires are a matter for the courts like they're getting the legalese out of the way like their legal problems like and then they got hank williams jr to do it which is who you would hire and uh he is a old crank and a big racist but man he was funny here i gotta give it to him he was he just wanted to know if we're ready for football yeah all the time i i just wonder like uh like first of all i really

love the fake out ending where it thinks it's done but it's not done that's absolutely outstanding but i think like just totally something to do with this which is great is the episode started so grounded so completely normal and nor and normally now I feel the episode would begin with this kind of Canyon Arrow thing where everything's bizarre and crazy. And then they'd have a hard time finding a place to go to justify, but because we built it all the way up and you've never seen anything like the deer being hit and the fires and anything here, the most bizarre thing was Krusty taking a bath. You know, when we get to this, oh, it's just, it's such a great strong ending because you haven't played

any of these beats yet of being in Wacky Town. And now we're, and it works in a commercial. You justify it that way. Yeah. And it just, it's such a great ending

that you couldn't do if you made it all crazy banana pants at the very start. And I don't think they'd done a parody of this, you know, tough guy truck commercial yet. I don't think they'd done a parody of this uh you know tough guy truck commercial yet i don't think so yeah it is all american it is impressively gas guzzling and killing animals

left and right deer not safe for highway or city driving and yeah there's no way jay leno didn't buy one of these immediately afterwards and and also just the line my favorite line is it's the country fried truck in my favorite visual of that i wanted to gif it and i will when i promote this episode is the boy scouts getting their bus run off the road then they get out and salute the canyon arrow out of the windows the fire is spreading like they're dying but they have to salute my favorite is that it's so all-american and celebrating the country and it ends with them burning the flag. Like the flag is burned in this all American thing by the Canyonero brand, which is just when you take it out.

They like brand the flag, right? And it burns down, which is how like Malcolm X begins. And it's a statement about burning down America. But in this case, it's so great that you can just imagine the ad guys thinking, oh, and it'd be cool if it burned like the Bonanza intro. But they make it the flag without even thinking about how sacrilegious it is to burn the American flag. It's so funny that I didn't even realize that, oh, they just burned a flag in front of me. That's great. I love that they sneak that by. That's so great. Oh, man. Fuck, that ending is great. They talk about how they

were going to have the credits over it, but they're like, this is too good. We can't distract people with credits. We got to just show them. We have another verse.

So they just deleted enough scenes to get it there so they could have regular credits at the end of the episode. Yeah, I don't want to be the guy who says,

like, it was better in the past, it's harder now. But I think they have a much harder time sticking the landing of the endings now when they've got to do those little short segments at the very, very end. And it's great seeing an ending that's just like, boom, there, and I'll let to this. Last note I wanted to say about the writer of this episode, Donnick Carey. There's a funny bit where on the commentary, Jay at the start says, oh, Donna, yeah, she wrote a great script.

He doesn't realize that Donnick is in the room. When they hang up on Jay Leno on the commentary as it's about to end, Donnick says, I'm not a girl. That was fun. And also when they say, I never noticed this until the commentary, it goes too fast even for Frankie Eck. You can't see it.

But when they point to the canyon arrow outside in the coffee shop there's a zip pan over the coffee shop and it's mike scully donna carrie and ron haugi in the coffee shop you see really okay a tenth of a frame like it's really yeah i can't catch that i guess uh no i mean not in the single screen meme version so yeah it goes really fast. But this episode is a really good episode that I think had a lot to say about stand-up then. And it awakens in me a lot of feelings about stand-up now, too.

Me too. And it brought us to the Canyon Arrow, one of my favorite little bits you can isolate and just watch and enjoy on its own. It was great to see it while we were in line at Universal, for instance. Yeah. Always funny.

It's interesting to me, like with stand-up comics, no matter how edgy you are, whether you're George Carlin or a Bobcat Goldthwait or even a Richard Pryor, you're never too edgy to also have a kid's TV series. Because they've all had children's series. And people are totally fine with that. I almost would have liked to have seen a little bit of like, what's Krusty's TV show like now while he's this type of Krusty? I mean, George Carlin was Mr. Conductor on Shining Time Station.

Yeah. Damn right. Yeah. Richard Pryor had a Saturday morning show called Pryor's Place. And Bob Gatgoldthwaite was in the Police Academy animated series. Yeah. Now, they all sell out to a degree. But, I mean, wouldn't you want to be rich?

They brought a dump truck full of money to my house. I'm not made of stone. That's right. David crossed it. He needs to chipmunk the thing. After Patton Oswalt says no, he gets it, and he does it, and that'll all be fine. The canyon arrow is his squeak wool. But thanks for joining us, Ian.

You have to go. But number one, I want to say that Happy Gilmore, available on LaserDisc, Betamax, Blu-ray, DVD, and on your favorite digital download services. Find it now. But Ian, what are you working on currently? Not in 1996. Okay. Well, I've got, as you mentioned, I've got that book, Sparks, that I do with Nina Matsumoto

and my friend David Dedrick about two cats that want to be heroes. No one takes cats seriously as heroes. So they dress up as a dog and they save the world. And that's out from Scholastic. Got Exorcisters from Image Comics, which is just the first five issues has been collected. That is in stores now. And I'm working on Mad Magazine. Got cartoons in the New Yorker on a pretty regular basis with my wife, Pia Guerra. I'm going to plug her TV series, Why, that's coming out from FX in a couple of months. I cannot wait to see that. I'm a big Why fan. I didn't want to make this about your spouse, but

Y was really great. Yeah, I absolutely agree. We went to New York to see the shooting of the first pilot and it just looks so gorgeous. I can't wait for people to see that. And I also do a podcast of my own called Sneaky Dragon with my friend David Dedrick. And we have a couple of spinoff podcasts of that where we cover like the Beatles and the Marx Brothers and Tintin. And if you go to sneakydragon.com, that is where they all are. And I've been on a few of those. Yeah, you were great. Thank you. And thanks a lot, Ian. One thing I wanted to ask you, and I wanted to ask you in

person, but we're on the podcast, so now everyone can hear the answer. Number one, did you meet Richard Kiel? Number two, he nice uh richard keel was not in the scenes that i that i did i'm sorry oh but i did get to meet briefly carl weathers and he was uh very pleasant it seems like you would be it seems like you would be that's good well thanks again and you're definitely welcome back for another episode would love to come back again it's one of my favorite podcasts so uh thanks for doing it. Again, thanks to Ian Boothby for being a guest on the show. Check out Sneaky Dragon. I've been on a few of those with former guest Nina.

And also Sparks is very good. I read that recently. And it's a great little graphic novel. And it's really fun. I enjoyed Sparks a lot. It's very cute. It's really great. Yeah.

And Exorcisters, too. I'm a big fan of the artist on that as well, Giselle Lagasse. Please, I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing that name it's it's it's a french canadian name i can't but anyway it's a really great comic yes but as for us if you want to support our shows and get some bonus stuff on top of that please go to patreon.com slash talking simpsons and if you sign up at the five dollar level you'll get every episode of this podcast and our sister podcast what a cartoon a week ahead of time and ad-free. At the $5 level, we have a ton of bonus podcasts. All of our exclusive miniseries live on that Patreon tier, along with a lot of little mini

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where we do a three hour podcast every month based on a movie the patron choose. Can you talk more about our most recent movie? That's right. If you sign up at the $10 and up level at patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons, you could hear April's upcoming movie, Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse. And you know that I am a big Spider-Man fan. So you can give that a listen right now. And all of the previous ones and like

18 months worth of $10 and up content right there for you for just $10 or more a month, patreon.com slash talking Simpsons baby don't put baby in your url just yes it'll take you i don't know where it'll take you but uh not our patreon which is important so yes patreon.com slash talking simpsons as for me i've been one of your hosts bob mackie find me on twitter as bob servo and i'm also doing some other podcasts like retronauts a classic gaming podcast every monday and occasionally on friday go to retronauts.com or look for retronauts in your podcast device and subscribe to it it'll be fun for all involved henry how about you hey i'm henry gilbert and you can follow me on twitter at h-e-n-e-r-e-y-g follow me there for all the new information when new podcasts and other content goes live on the patreon and on the free feeds

follow me there one more time h-e-n-e-r-R-E-Y. Gee. Thanks so much for joining us, folks. We'll see you next week for Dumbbell Indemnity. We'll see you then. Can you name the truck with four-wheel drive? Smells like a steak and seats 35. Canyonero. Canyonero. Well, it goes real slow with the hammer down.

It's the Country Pride truck endorsed by a clown. Canyonero. Canyon Arrow. No! Canyon Arrow. Hey, hey! The Federal Highway Commission has ruled the Canyon Arrow unsafe for highway or city driving. Canyon Arrow. 12-yard long, two lanes wide, 65 tons of American pride.

Canyon Arrow, Canyon Arrow. Top of the line in utility sports. Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts. Canyon Arrow, Canyon Arrow. She blinds everybody with her super high beam. She's a squirrel, squasher, deer-smacking driving machine. Canyonero. Canyonero. Canyonero.

Whoa, Canyonero. Whoa. Ah! Canyon Arrow! Yah! Whoa, Canyon Arrow! Whoa! Wow, a clown! Do you think he's evil? He smells evil. Should we tell Daddy? No, let's poke him a little while longer.

Hey, get away from him, you little freaks! Ah!