Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - The Twisted World of Marge Simpson With Kallie Plagge

Episode Date: September 26, 2018

Here come the pretzels! This week GameSpot's Kallie Plagge is here for Marge's adventure in business/organized crime. We learn about coupons, the Glengarry leads, boaking accidents, checking for millipedes, and so much more. So get pretzel fever (not the kind that attacked our intestinal lining some years back) and listen now! This podcast is brought to you by VRV, the streaming network full of cartoons, anime and more. sign up for a free 30-day trial at VRV.co/WAC and help support Talking Simpsons! Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons!

this week's talking simpsons is brought to you by verve do you like streaming classic cartoons like doug anime like jojo's bizarre adventure and dragon ball super original cartoons like b and puppy cat even classics like freakazoid that you won't find anywhere else those are all being carried by verve and you get a 30-day free trial and service on Talking Simpsons if you just head to vrv.co slash WAC. Check it out. I heartily endorse this event or product. Ahoy, hoy, everybody. Welcome to Talking Simpsons, where all of your non-sexual dreams come true. I'm your host,

Oklasoff CEO Bob Mackey, and this is our chronological exploration of the Simpsons, who is here with me today. Henry Gilbert, and you can't keep up with the go-go 90s and who is our special guest callie plaguey something about the nacho penetration not being total i wrote it down i can't remember right now we'll learn more about that later but today's episode is the twisted world of marge simpson greetings humans i am Investo the Robot from the planet Opportuniac. My superior brain advises you to enter the franchise fair.

Well, we're trying to, but you're blocking our way. Today's episode aired on January 19th, 1997, and as always, Henry will tell us what happened on this mythical day in real-world history. Oh, my God! Oh, boy, Bobby!

Adriana Costanelli The original voice of Snow White Passes away Emeril Live debuts on the Food Network Bam And the English patient wins big At the Golden Globes So we've finally entered the age of Emeril

And as Henry pointed out I guess Elzar from Futurama just uses Bam as well But speaking of nacho penetration, Emeril penetration was massive in the late 90s. He eventually had his own sitcom, I think. Very briefly, an Emeril sitcom. They gave it around six, and I think it debuted shortly after

September 11, 2001, so we weren't ready to laugh at Emeril. No, it was a different time after that. I mean, yeah, the Emeril live with his putting slight amounts of pepper on things. It was like, bam, kick it up a notch. And if you listen to Talking Futurama, the whole Bam thing was because he would have the same audience for several shows. Because for a lot of low-budget shows like that, they just will film a lot of them in one day.

So that was to keep the audience and the crew awake. Because they're also full of food and wine at the same time. Yeah, I mean, all the food you get to eat and drink and we wouldn't have elzar in futurama if it wasn't for this which honestly i wouldn't miss him you can keep him uh what about the english patient though yeah the english patient which you know seinfeld made it cool to hate on the english patient i like the english patient i think it's a good movie that is well acted and i guess it has a little bit of middle eastern mysticism bs to it that's the the probably the part that's aged the least well

but i i still think it's pretty good i've never seen it based on that seinfeld episode uh callie have you seen the english patient i'm curious no i was three okay i mean i was uh hey i was wait a minute you're too young to be on the show. It soon will punish you for your youth. Yes, that comes next. But I was 15 and I wasn't buying it. So take that, English patient. No, it's not a movie for 15-year-olds. It is like a perfect Oscar movie.

It stars British people. It's about World War II. It's beautiful to look at. I confuse that with The the piano and some other movie they're all the same basically there's a beat is there a beach in this one too um there's dunes and sand the real message of the english patient is that no one is what they say they are and that everybody like there's a guy who's a master thief but he lost his thumbs so he can't steal anything it's about phonies got it the english patient isn't even english he's an austrian they just call him the english patient

when he crashes i hope you all saw it out there that's a major spoiler big spoilers now it's nobody subscribers now if you haven't seen the english patient yet you're not going to i i have i unless like a film teacher makes you see it and I feel like they're not even gonna do that in film Now if you only seen it once you haven't seen it twice I've seen it twice that's it on the second viewing is when I did appreciate it. Okay, it takes two two viewings So Callie Plagg you're a special guest in case some folks out there don't know who you are Who are you? Where do you come from? And what is your relationship with the show? And our show, too. Why not? I am the reviews editor at GameSpot.

So I do the video game thing. As far as The Simpsons goes, as I mentioned, I'm very young. But I grew up watching it. Maybe that says a lot about me. I don't know. Maybe it says a lot about my parents. But it was something that I bonded with my dad over a lot when I was younger. It was like a ritual to watch The Simpsons every night. So I've seen pretty much every episode up until the point where everyone stops watching. Really?

So I'm guessing, if I'm doing the math correctly, my English patient math, you were born in 94. I was born in 93. 93. So the point in the narrative of The Simpsons timeline where people claim it gets bad, you would have been seven. Yeah. Were you really that harsh of a TV critic?

I'm curious. No, I continued watching it kind of a couple seasons past that point. Okay. But I mean, I would watch reruns every single night. So I've seen a good chunk of it, a lot of it out of order. And then I've since gone back and kind of known where things fit in the seasons. Yeah. I'm curious if you didn't grow up alongside the show like us, like how you view the narrative

and how you fit things into, you know, because a lot of the show that people love happened before you were able to process it or were alive. Yeah, a lot of it

came from watching, like re-watching it as I grew up and discovering new jokes that I obviously couldn't have gotten. You know, the parodies

that I hadn't yet seen the origin of and then I had seen it. And then I watched that episode again. And I'm like, Oh, my God, I'm an idiot. I can't believe I didn't know what this was. So a lot of my appreciation for the show came from getting that context as I grew up. And so a lot of my pop culture knowledge is in reference to The Simpsons in a lot of ways. I've heard from many of our guests, like the viewing of syndicated episodes with a parent is a real like warm and fuzzy memory for folks here. It's like, I watched them with my parents a lot,

but really, but on the original run of them, just on the Sundays, event night. But though like every night, that's just every night a Simpsons that is new to you, like that is, that does sound like a dream way of watching it. Yeah. And as a kid, I really related to Lisa really hardcore. I was just in love with her.

And so that was also kind of a formative thing for me. But yeah, every night. I mean, eventually they weren't new. Eventually I'd seen the same episode. But like my whole family has like inside jokes that aren't like Simpsons fan inside jokes. It's just like one quote from an episode nobody remembers that we all remember. And one of those is actually in this episode. Really?

Okay. Yeah. Do you have a favorite episode of all time? Oh, that's a good question. Oh my gosh. That's so hard for me. I mean, I really like Halloween. So I always enjoy the Treehouse of Horror episodes.

I really like the, see, I don't know the names because i would just watch them as they came on uh but the one with the daughter from rosanne oh she's the babysitter new kid on the block yes yes that's a great one i like that one a lot uh i like a lot of the lisa one with the teacher oh lisa substitute yeah do it for her and maggie one yeah yeah those then that was another that is another one written by the writer of this episode too. My dad's favorite one is from the episode with Krusty's daughter where he loses the violin. Oh yeah. And the two,

they're like Homer and Krusty are on the power lines and I forget legs. And the other one are like, I hear there's a solar eclipse tonight. Maybe we should look up. And for some reason, maybe we should look up is like a some reason, maybe we should look up is a big thing in my family. Doesn't the other guy say, nah?

Yeah, he's like, nah. And that's a big thing when it's a fireworks occasion. My dad's like, maybe we should look up. I thought I didn't know the name of it, but now I do. It's Insane Clown Poppy. It's a name I've had on season 13, 14, maybe.

I don't know. It really dates that one because it's about the, he conceives the child during Operation Desert Storm. Yeah. And she's like 12 or something. Yeah. So it really dates it. God.

There are so many episodes. I can't list all of the ones that I really like. I'm just trying to think of the ones off the top of my head. I just like the ones where, like this one, where Homer is like trying to be a good person. Yeah. He's very supportive in this episode actually he's not like just waving his hand at marge's you know dreams and aspirations really on board with this even though it takes a lot of energy and effort he could be drinking beer and watching tv he's not the homer of the next episode with sherry but no my god this episode two episodes after this is Sherry Bobbins

where Homer is just like, no, I don't care. He's like, oh, your mom really seems troubled. We should help her out after this commercial. Is that the one where he goes, all those stairs?

All those stairs. That could be another one. No, that's another one. But this episode, some production details, it's the last credited episode with Jennifer Crittenden as the writer.

She was hired in season six through like a Fox Young Writers program. And I believe she was like an intern at Letterman or something before that. But really notably the first female writer on the show. By staff. On staff, right, right. Not as a freelancer. But I think secretly, or maybe not so secretly, she made these years a lot better. And there are her touches that we don't see that are credited to her that have made the show a lot more than it could have been without her i think so too i think

you know the simpsons famously they didn't have a woman as a staff writer until season six with jennifer crinton before nell scoville and mimi pond had written episodes as freelancers, but having a woman in the staff writer's room all the time, I think probably made the guys in charge make some better choices or different choices than they would have made. And I think especially like this episode and scenes in The Clash Struggle of Springfield, the previous one she'd written, is so much about the internal life of Marge that the writers seemed disinterested in until this episode. The male writers were like, we need to make this wacky. Marge is the enemy of wacky town. She really is. Marge just shows up to be like, I don't want fun. But the jokes about her being boring are great, especially in this episode.

About her being boring and afraid to take any risks. I love them. Yes. One of my lines of the show is her, we'll get to it, but it's her, I don't know, complaining about how she wanted to think of possibly doing something. Yeah. They start from the point that Marge is boring and they interrogate why she is boring or what makes her uninterested in a challenge and stuff like that. And I also think this episode, you know, it's a little sweaty on the commentary. They even kind of admit like the ending got away from them. And I also think this episode, you know, it's a little sweaty. On the commentary,

they even kind of admit like the ending got away from them. And it is, I criticize other episodes for having an ending that just comes out of nowhere or that's not an ending. And this is kind of one of those too.

Yeah, Macaroni takes credit and then kind of takes the credit back after he sees it again on the commentary. But yeah, I should point out, though, if you were alive in 1997, in the mid-90s, it was really the rise of PETA in America. And also, as we see in this episode, them really trying to Americanize it.

Because isn't that whole area a little iffy? That's one of my favorite things ever. That's my favorite joke from this episode. It's so good. I mean, we would not put crunch patties in them, or what is it, flavor sauce? Flavor sauce, yeah. But we would put ham and mustard mustard in them and things like that.

But my mom would bring them home like, what are these? But they were, and I guess, I don't remember this as well as pita, but pretzels were also taking off, I guess. Aunt Annie was the big pretzel in my area, which were just like, they're shaped donuts. They're not pretz're not let me tell you those really stink up a mall you can smell any annies from like a thousand yards away or the wetzels pretzels yeah yeah yeah no and my mall where i worked at the movie theater it was the movie theater amc theater attached to the mall so if i wanted to go through the mall to like eat at

the food court i had to walk by the annie's and just that scent is wedged in my brain now forever it's like a sickly sweet smell mixed with like weird mustard yeah but like you know it's going to be savory and salty when you bite into it it's just a confusing thing my mouth is kind of watering now by the way yeah i know now i really want one i never really liked hot pretzels they're always kind of cheap and kind of unsatisfying but now i live by a german restaurant and it's like I didn't know there were this many kinds of mustard. Oh, my God. This is great.

I ate mustard. I, though, have never really given crunch patties a try. Oh, falafel's good. Well, I think there's a falafel place like two blocks away. Yeah, they make a lot of balls puns, which I don't appreciate. It's just like, let us handle your balls. Because they serve it in ball form, by the way. Oh, that place. Yeah, I walk by that place a lot. They'res Which I don't appreciate Just like Let us handle your balls Because they serve it in ball form By the way

Oh that place Yeah I walk by that place a lot They're trying too hard I think I'm not about that sign Yeah I gotta admit

It's not very appetizing But I will say It's pretty good But if you order fries They will give you Like a grocery bag Full of french fries Really

They cause potato famines With their fry orders there I don't understand it So yeah So if you're in Berkeley Don't eat at the place We don't know the name of So we're not going there After this Probably not Unless you want a grocery bag I don't understand it. So yeah, so if you're in Berkeley, don't eat at the place we don't know the name of.

So we're not going there after this, is what you're saying? Probably not. Unless you want a grocery bag full of French fries to feed your family. I just want one of those, what are they,

crunch patties? Crunch patties, yes. Served by Christopher. The flavor's awesome. I do wonder this episode, though, the ending, what it was in,

I have a feeling it's changed Crichton's original third act, I think. I wonder what it would have act yeah i don't wonder what it would have been i don't think the mob was in her original story at all i feel like that was a i mean i don't know but i feel like the yakuza being the last thing you see that could never have happened if fat tony wasn't there so yeah mob stuff feels a little out of left field yeah

i think but not that it's it's fun there are a lot i mean this episode has a ton of good jokes but i mean it does kind of the ending is of like, you didn't see that one coming. And even the characters are taken aback by it a bit. Yeah. How'd we get here? I do really like the, like, the little guy hasn't done anything yet. And it's going to be awesome. Homer knows that his life will follow the same logic as movies.

Yeah. But so this episode starts first, just a quick thing. We don't always talk about the couch gags, but on this couch gag, they play the same music that Homer sees Krusty Fantasies, too. Yeah. Like crazy calliope music. And when the people are burning on the floor, he sees them as clowns. Yeah.

Clowns are funny. But then we come into the episode of the municipal house of pancakes they say the pancakes here stink thank you agnes let's begin i'm happy to report that our shares in dynaflux unimatics are up a delicious seven and three quarters. This means our investment club portfolio has nearly doubled in value. I suggest we pump our profits into some new high-risk ventures. Oh, oh, how about OaklaSoft? It's Oklahoma's fastest-growing software company.

Um, cushions? Everybody likes to sit on cushions. Children are so fat today. Isn't there some way we can make money off that? There's a franchise fair this weekend. Why don't we buy a business? I'm not wild about these high-risk ventures. They sound a little risky.

Oh, Marge, you are such a wet blanket. If we'd listened to you, we wouldn't have sponsored that Mexican wrestler. Yet she still gets to share in all the profits. Is that fair? I guess I'm just not comfortable with the whole idea of investing. Face it. You can't keep up with the go-go 90s.

Well, Marge, you're about as popular as Rugburn. All in favor of expelling Marge from the investorettes. Aye. All right, Helen. all in favor of expelling marge from the investorettes all right helen if i'm not wanted i'll leave you'll get your pancakes in the mail oh the investorettes i love all the investorettes but that i want to start with agnes like this yeah agnes has been great before this episode but this is my favorite one of my favorite agnes moments together ever like just the the slam on the table especially with bud like i heard these pancakes stink it's stink like that it's such a great like walla it's just walla walla voice things that you don't there it's in

the script conversation and then punctuated with i I hear that pancake's here. Stink! Thank you, Agnes. The way she hits stink is great. Also, I mean, who Agnes was was implied up to this point, but I feel like this is the first time she's coming to her own and she's being who we always thought she was. We knew she was a terror to her son, but we didn't know it was this extreme.

To all people. This is who she will be for the rest of the show. It's great. I love this this characterization of her my favorite moment with her comes a little bit later so i don't need to get to that now but yeah i know where we're going with i know what you're talking about too when it's an episode that announces her as agnes they say her name so much that it's like how can the audience not think of agnes all the time now it's not skinner's mom anymore it's agnes yeah actually i looked this up because i wasn't sure and that's a super granular that's why we're here uh in bart

the fink uh chalmers is taking her out on a date and he calls her agnes so i think bill oakley and josh weinstein named her but that was such a small scene and he just says have a good night agnes or whatever and that's all you hear of it so that was the first time she was called that but i thought it was this episode until i did frinky act research that's like kirk van houten as well they named him a year before it actually became a thing i also i like that municipal house of pancake i like a pancake house not just like i hop but uh isn't that i isn't an i hob now it's like i think they've gone back they were talking like bloods on twitter for like it's like we need think they've gone back to HOP. They were talking like bloods on Twitter for like a month.

It's like, we need to diversify two kinds of unhealthy food for you. Yeah. This Investorettes group is really cool. It does feel like,

it's starting with a core idea same as seen in the class Struggle of Springfield that it is Marge wants friends, a life outside of the home. That's how she's hanging out with these women

who are just like kind of mean to her, pretty mean to her, but she, who's how she's hanging out with these women who are just like kind of mean to her, pretty mean to her, but she, who else is she going to hang out with? I find mods behavior in this episode. The most strange,

it seems more out of character for her. Like Helen's always been terrible, but like mod, I mean, I don't know. It's always weird for me to see mod in an episode. Cause I'm so used to the idea that she's dead, but like, but it was just, I don't know. I always weird for me to see mod in an episode because i'm so used to the idea that she's dead but like uh but it was just i don't know i was watching this episode and like re-watching

it and i was like oh that's not the mod that i was expecting kind of forgot about this well she is very judgmental but i think i think even they knew like she would not be this extreme so i think like in order of lines that are given to characters like agnes gets the most and hell um and helen lovejoy gets a second most and luanne disappears she's gone out of this meaning so i think they might have must have bought her out and a hostile takeover yeah mod more so functions as helen's sidekick i guess so it's still so weird to later we're gonna hear mod say the japanese mafia yeah that's uh though you know speaking of the makeup of this group i do think it's funny that super prudes helen mod and agnes are with the very sexually free edna and luann they're all brought together in their love of investment yeah maybe they just

didn't they didn't agree with her single lifestyle they picked her out but that phrase the go-go 90s i i i'm on the podcast retronauts and i write a lot about retro games i have to stop myself from putting that into articles when i write about the 90s because it's so fun to say and write and i have to stop myself from doing go-go 90s and uh dynaflux is a pretty great name too they have the company a very 90s business name i i think too that like you know Marge is a wet blanket when she's being called that by Maude. Yeah. The queen of wet blankets.

No sugar. That's true. And I can really get in touch with Marge's fear of, like, risks. And just, she's like, I don't mean politically conservative, but she's conservative and just, like, even the idea of investment, which is the name of the group. She's like, I don't know. Doesn't the high-risk venture sound a little risky?

It's so cute. It's kind of cute, I feel. And then Agnes is just so fucking mean to her. Just like, still she gets to share in the profit. So they throw her out. Then when they get back to the dining table, it's such a great immediate callback when Homer's asking about the pancakes.

I love pancakes. God, I know. So good. Because it's a good gag when it happens. And then for him to immediately come back to it. I like the callback. It's what he's most invested in. He's like, I don't care about your problems.

I want these pancakes. I want stale pancakes sent in a man in an envelope but then he becomes much more invested in marge when he finds out the pancakes aren't coming yeah also a hot dog for dinner that's that's weird but that the animation him smacking himself in the eye with the hot dog and then the way he's like testing his eye out afterwards as they're all still talking. So, such great animation. Chuck Sheets, the director of this one, him and his team did a really great job on this. Oh, yeah, you know, Jennifer Crinton, she left this for Seinfeld. That's right.

So, I want to assume that she stayed on for the writing of season eight, not just like, I'm out of here after this one. I would think she stayed until the end. I would think her contract ran out at the end of eight and then applied for Seinfeld. She'd be on for like the last two years of Seinf Seinfeld then, so the non-Larry David years. There's not a lot of Lisa in this, but I do like that Lisa really gets behind Marge. She's like, Mom, come on, you've got to roll the dice here. Let's do it, Mom. It's sweet. I think it's actually very similar to the way she played in scenes from The Class Struggler's Springfield.

Same deal, like telling Marge to go for it. Yeah, she's really in Marge's corner. It's great to see, even though Lisa, does she have a line after this outside of the ending? They're good pretzels, Mom. Yeah, yeah. I think that's it. Yeah, I think she asks what's going on outside. Yeah, she asks what's inside.

That's the only other line I remember that Lisa says. Yeah. But I do appreciate that she's like there for marge on it i like the role reversal there the way it paints both of them i just love lisa that's my yeah uh so they decided to head to the franchise fair and take their chances that's where we get to meet investo the robot which i do like investo but i think i like more season nine's robbie the automaton i thought the line that robbie says Vesta was going to say after the coffee gets poured in him. Was that, why was I programmed

to feel pain? Yeah, that's what I thought. They're of the same piece, though. It's Robbie the Automaton that chokes Skinner and everybody applauds. He's choking me. And the man is outside in a tree. One of

Oakley and Weinstein's best drinks is observational stuff about regular life. And this feels so much like a 20 years ago franchise fair and all the different pitchmen you would see. I love all of them, really. Well, that's the miracle of the franchise. You get all the equipment and know how you need, plus a familiar brand name people trust. You'll be on a rocket ride to the moon. And while you're there, would you pick up some of that nice green moon money for me? Royce McCutcheon.

No deal, McCutcheon. That moon money is mine. Now, folks, I don't want to alarm you, but scientists say 40% of America's pictures are hanging crooked. No. Yeah, it's true. And I hear you asking, well, who's going to straighten out all these artistic abominations? Your friends? A neighbor?

Those fat cats in Washington? Good luck. Hey, you know, maybe no one will notice. Maybe the problem will just fix itself. Now you're the one who's being naive. Okay, fair enough. But you sound like you're the one who's being naive. Okay, fair enough. But you sound like you're ready to become your own boss in the

exciting world of frame nudging. Yes, for a minimal franchise fee, you'll receive a pair of straightening gloves, a canister of wall lubricant, and a booklet of the most commonly asked questions you will hear, including, who are you and what are you doing here?

There's no real profit in this business. No? It's like a very maybe perhaps someone with some obsessive-compulsive tendencies wanting to straighten everyone's pictures. Also, for that franchise fee, you're not getting a lot. You're getting gloves and wall lubricant and a book that's unhelpful.

Yeah. I love the phrase that moon money is mine. It's one of the things that runs through my head if I'm making a deal. It's like, that moon money is mine it's one of the things that runs through my head if i'm making a deal it's like that moon money is mine moon money and moon money is not like a thing he's just making it up yeah there's cheese on the moon there's not money uh and royce mccutcheon is a great name they probably spent 10 hours thinking of the perfect weird franchisee name it's very perfect i mean this is the kind of scene that makes me nostalgic for a time where i was not like a sentient being because like it's just such a perfect snapshot of something that i never got to experience that's what watching it with my

parents gets me is my parents will be like oh and this reminds us of this commercial that was airing at the time i'm like oh cool now i wish i had been born earlier like marge is sort of playing along with that window straightening guy as if she's on an infomercial. Yeah. Picture straightening guy. I love that. Because she would be the housewife co-host

on one of those infomercial programs. Like, no, you're the one who's being naive. You can't tell me it'll do this. That's what their role always was. Are you all that in one pan? This thing is not coming out. But my popcorn can't all be made in this can.

Yeah, Homer is similarly the perfect room for them. Like, no, I'm going to cut you that moon money's mine. He's not going to share the moon money. And I love the Harry Shearer voice on that guy. Like, who are you? And what are you doing here? Yeah, those fat cats in Washington. Those fat cats.

Right after that, we run into the rest of the group and marge remembers why she's here hello helen marge edna marge oh my name is agnes and you know it's agnes it It means lamb. Lamb of God. I'm sorry, Agnes. Marge? Did you know that disco record sales were up 400% for the year ending 1976? If these trends continue... Hey! Uh, your fish are dead yeah i know i can't get them out of there so yeah it's the it's the grand return of disco stew introduced in two bad neighbors uh he was

also had a non-speaking role in burns baby burns i believe he was dancing in the end oh yeah um it was funny because like you at this point in the show you would not expect him. I believe he was dancing in the end. Oh, yeah. It was funny because at this point in the show, you would not expect him to return. He was a one-note joke for a rhinestone gun gone wrong gag. But at this point, it was clear like, oh, no, Disco Stu's just going to be around for... Because, I mean, it was

popular at the time to make 70s jokes, in case you don't know. He was doing the John Travolta Stayin' Alive dance when he was going to go up. And also, A is from the Fonz for Happy Days. The kids need to know this. And also that thing with the goldfish in his shoes, it didn't happen that often, but it happened. You take him out for that night.

It seems like animal cruelty to me to have fish in your clothing. Yeah, but it was all, you'd sacrifice anything to be the coolest on the dance floor. It's true. No, it is animal cruelty. I think those fish are very well preserved for being dead in his shoes for that long. I had the exact same thought.

First of all, I had forgotten about Disco Stu completely. And I was like, oh, yeah, Disco Stu's back. And then I thought that the fish should be significantly more decomposed. Yeah, they must have just died at the fair. Yeah, he just got those shoes. He only realized it. Well, and speaking of lines used recreationally inally in real life bob and me when we're talking about our patreon and how successful it is but but but when we're talking about money we do say i i have said hey these trends continue hey

we actually have real graphs to look at Yeah, that don't end in 1976 They go beyond that And then before that, the Agnes scene One, who can't identify with starting a sentence thinking you know someone's name And then hitting them in the like, you? Buddy, how's it going? And Agnes does not mean Lamb of God It means pure or holy

I believe Elisha not mean Lamb of God It means pure or holy I believe I believe Elisha Actually means Lamb of God But even on the commentary They pointed out But it's funny when A very mean person says It means Lamb

Lamb of God She's just very insistent And I would accept that too If I was Marge I'd be like Fine Your name means that I accept it

Stop yelling at me It stuck out to me That she doesn't greet Maude Yeah At all And then the Agnes bit comes And it's like Oh yeah She's like accept it. Stop yelling at me. It stuck out to me that she doesn't greet Maude at all. And then the Agnes bit comes and it's like, oh yeah, none of us knew who she was really besides Skinner's. I half expected her to say Skinner's mom.

Maybe they froze out Luanne Van Houten. They're freezing out Maude, just not talking to her. They're just slowly trimming the fat. That's harsh. It is a mean girl treatment, the investorettes. The Sentence will be right back. whether you're listening to this enjoying crunch patties or some not bread we hope you're enjoying this week's episode of talking simpsons and we thank you for listening if you're a listener and

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stuff from cartoon brew like one of my favorites bee and puppy cat you'll find all of that at verb and you can get that free 30-day trial which also helps out your buddies at Talking Simpsons at vrv.co slash wac. One more time, vrv.co slash wac for that 30- be my line of the episode. I love Fleet of PETA so much. I love the gentle racism that the white characters express in this. I mean, I'm not on board with it, but it does remind me

of growing up in a suburban environment in the 90s and this being the attitudes people had. And also the fact that it's handled in such a surprisingly good way

in this episode in a way that like re-watching it now having not watched this episode in years, I was really surprised actually the way it was handled was impressed yeah yeah it's it's aged very well because surprisingly like american

culture continues to take ethnic food and strip it of all cultural markings to sell it in the most mainstream and white way possible and so it worked this way in the 70s i mean yeah you'll see that right now with like halal food or kebabs or pretty much anything with hummus like it it's all trying to be stripped of cultural markings to sell it to people who think areas are a little iffy yeah i mean i identify with this uh growing up my food choices were very limited because of you just didn't eat non-white foreign foods because of like the stereotypes as in like oh they make they make they eat cats and dogs or they're dirty they don't wash their utensils or whatever they're all these all these stereotypes that aren't true but like i would just

never go to these restaurants so it wasn't until college i had like indian food and falafel for the first time and i didn't eat like chinese food until i was 18 like i had a very similar experience yeah i moved to berkeley and then i I had Indian food for the first time. Wow. Yeah. I was probably in my mid twenties when I had Indian food for the first time. Yeah. I was like, who was keeping this from me?

It's delicious. I know. I mean, I was, I had the added, I didn't, I mean, it was a little bit later on. And so I don't think it was necessarily as like, that's foreign food or anything. I also happened to be an extremely anxious eater so i think that was a factor too but i moved to berkeley and i was like oh i've never like walked by this many indian restaurants or this many like i have the opportunity to try this whereas i didn't where i grew up so yeah i really relate to that yeah me too italian food was the most foreign food that

we would eat yeah fancy spaghetti if we went to a g place, it'd be like, huh, boy, Greek. I don't know. This is weird. It's like, and meanwhile, like, yeah, Asian places too is just like sushi.

This, the Simpsons captured that very well. Just like, isn't that raw fish? That's, that's to kill you. Isn't it?

Like, oh, and we talked about it too in our Treehouse of Horror, the last Treehouse of Horror, we did the Chinese restaurant syndrome. Oh, you're right. Yeah yeah it was just the ginned up fear about msg that it would it would cause you to have a heart attack which is like well could just be salty and you had a reaction

it's delicious msg is great yeah i demand it in all my food uh but let's let's all learn about crunch patties here pita well i don't know about food from the Middle East. Isn't that whole area a little iffy? Hey, I'm no geographer. You and I, why don't we call it pocket bread? What's tahini? Flavor sauce. And falafel?

Crunch patties. So we'd be selling foreign food. Specialty foods. Here, try a Ben Franklin. Falafel? Crunch patties. So we'd be selling foreign food. Specialty foods. Here, try a Ben Franklin. Mmm, that is good. What's in it? That's our chef, Christopher.

I love, I just love the pure cynicism exhibited by this franchisor in that I got to sell to these terrified white people. So I'm going to euphemize everything. These very prudish, like white Christian women. And I especially, I think the capper for the names is when she says his name is Christopher, which's like that is Christ right in it. Yeah, it's true. The perfect Christian name to give him. And the cruelty of stripping a man's name away. Yeah.

Is he actually speaking a real language? I don't think he, I want to say that Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein were a little more careful about that. I think when they spoke Hindi in previous episodes, they would often make sure, not all the time, but they would often make sure. not all the time, but they would often make sure. Same with like later in this season when they speak Japanese for the Mr. Sparkle commercial,

it is Japanese too. That is, yeah. Yeah. So it sounds distinct enough that it doesn't sound like Hank Azaria making up words. Though, if you recognize the language, let us know. Yeah, let's not. I'd be curious to see what he's saying. That was the one thing about the scene that I was like,

that was my one concern with the scene, right? Because I think everything else really nails like the, here's a white person appropriating something to sell it to white people and down to the, we're calling this a Ben Franklin, just to make you feel real comfortable that this isn't foreign. Like I thought all of that and the fact that that is a lasting, like a bit that still makes sense

that you could have aired today is upsetting deeply to me, but also is very telling and impression. So that was the one thing that stuck out to me. I was like, I really hope that those are real words. They don't even let, the woman doesn't even let her get out the word foreign. She's like specialty. Specialty, yeah. She'll let them say the other things but like for not specialty yeah

and i love she's so upset when quote unquote christopher comes out because you know that like he makes the food because they don't know how he's the one ingredient they can't get rid of or make into a white person because he knows how to make it. And she's probably just so mad and just like, get out of here. You're supposed to stay in the truck. She just back up and close the window as he's cursing them out. It's so, it's so funny. I want to give that whole bit the line of the episode.

Yeah, I love it. That's the joke. Well, actually, it's jingle fever here because before we play our next clip, it's time to play the death jingle. Wait one second, though. Actually, Marge's line after that scene, they've jumped on the one franchise I might possibly have considered thinking about becoming interested in. It's a nice capper. I'll include that in the line of the show. Yeah. Capsule we're doing here.

That's me approaching Pretty much anything In my whole life Dating Just general What should I eat today It's a hard sentence to get out I want to tweet it all the time

Or at least I want it To run through my mind But it's a mouthful It is a lot But it is It is a vibe It is a mood It is

A total mood Big reluctance No it is I If I see somebody Like I don't know, buy something, the last of something that I was thinking about buying,

but I definitely wasn't going to buy, I then think to myself that thought. I was just like, I was maybe becoming, considering, be interested in. We've got Dead Man Walking here. Jack Lemmon. Not no more, he ain't. Death stalks you at every turn. There it is, death! in here jack lemon not no more he ain't so the jack lemon the late jack lemon i as a kid knew him as the grumpy old man one of two grumpy old men and i really only explored like his stuff related to that as a kid, like Grumpy Old Man,

then Grumpier Old Man, then also watching The Odd Couple, which it is a weird pace for a kid who's 12 who's used to like, oh, comedies from the 70s are Mel Brooks, right? It's like, no, sometimes it's just angry men shouting at each other humorously. In one room. I love that movie,

but they add a scene in which they go to the grocery store like, we have to get them out of this stinky apartment. They have to go somewhere else. And it's weird. I mean, the 70s Also, R.I.P. Neil Simon. He just passed away. He just passed. I mean, so like they always have AMC on in the pizza pub I work out of. And there's

lots of 70s movies on. And I'm like at a certain point, America accepted Walter Matthau as a sexual being and they were invested in that. It's just like, I don't want to think about it. I don't want to be invested in if this man finds love

in any way, but yeah. He's also a jerk at everything too. He really is. It's like, I don't know, you're not handsome

and you're a jerk. But this character obviously is based on the Shelley character from Glen Ross. And it's funny because in a year, they will do another parody of that character that is like this times a thousand so gill voiced by dan castellaneta is

like a super hyped up impression of jack lemon which i think is kind of better than this character after having years of gill i'm like this guy is not desperate enough yeah he's not living in a storage unit with a hot plate so gil got the flanderization though yeah continual jokes i mean in his first appearance gil is sadder than frank ormond he brings a he brings a wall to his cubicle in from home like he he's scared of cookie Kwan. He's just scared of me. But they definitely got Jack Lemmon here to play Frank Warman like Shelley. And I have a clip here of him if you'd like to hear some pure Shelley desperation. Oh, sure, yeah. So you're here to sell me some land? No, I wouldn't try to sell you land.

I leave that to the salesmen, you know, the people who want to own land. I think something has to be fed, watered, and painted. But don't invest in it. And that motto has stood me in good stead. Mr. Just call me Shelly. I have never been afraid of familiarity. I'm walking out the door.

I've got to pick up my wife. Let's take my car. We'll pick her up together. Spoke to a little woman on the phone. Can't wait to meet her. No, we're going over to our relatives. Oh, she didn't say anything. I'm sure she forgot.

I'm on a plane to Florida. I'm so sorry if we put you out. No, you didn't put me out. I'm just trying to think, Larry. You know, that's the only parcel that I've got. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go back to the computer. I'm going to pull another one and we're going to speak to your relatives too.

Come on, you're a busy man, Larry, and so am I. My God, I'm in the act of giving a gift away. It's great. I mean, it's hard to listen to. It's a great movie, by the way, unless you get the wrong impression from the first scene in which you turn it off. If you think Alec Baldwin's cool, it's like, I want to be that guy. I close

all the time. A lot of assholes love that movie. The film is not about how to be an asshole and threaten people's jobs. That's not what Glenn Gary got. Not that like Dave Mamet has gone off the deep end. He really has, yeah. And it's telling that

no women speak in this movie. Are there women in this movie? You see a waitress for four seconds, I think. So technically. Yeah, I'm not going to watch that. I have a strict policy there's gotta be at least one speaking woman yeah i mean in that scene there shelly arrives like oh i spoke to your wife and then he's like well my wife's not here and it just made me think like david mamet could have

written this scene to have a woman speak to him it wouldn't we know what he thinks but i love the performance there it's so masterful but he's trying to express confidence, but there's just like this through line of desperation that he's trying to bury, but he can't do it. It's, it's like, again, it's like hard to listen to and hard to watch because you,

you empathize with that character so much. You've been in situations like that where it's like, you're basically naked. Like you're, you're, you're vulnerable, but you're trying not to be so vulnerable. And you,

all you got to do is sell this thing. And this guy's like, I really don't want this. He's like, me neither. I don't want it. But hey, I can drive you someplace. Let's talk some more. I mean, come on. I mean, I've sold Game Informer subscriptions at GameStop.

Oh, God. There we go. I did it right. I did it right. That is my daily life. Someone from GameSpot is here, and I don't want to insult them. But it's a brain thing i have watch all of glenglary again ross like actually that scene with alec baldwin being an

asshole surprisingly alec baldwin's very good at playing assholes um that scene was written for the movie they that scene isn't in the play so it actually really stands out from the rest of the movie and that was the one scene on YouTube I could find that was good with Jack Lemon that did not have Kevin Spacey in it. So also warning, if you're going to watch Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross, Kevin Spacey has a major role in it.

I forgot about that. Yep. Yeah. And he's ruined so many things. Good on you for finding the one clip without him. Damn. Well, I guess he died in 2001,

June 27th at the age of, he was only 76 when he died So that's too bad But I mean, he's great in a million things The apartment is another one that Jack Lemmon is very, very good in But let's hear him talk about some not bread I'm not coming out for the world of business Do you sound like me?

Well, the old me, which was ironically the young me. I was once like you were, young lady, like all these people, lost in a sea of flashy gimmicks and empty promises. Then God tossed me a life preserver, a tasty golden brown life preserver. Here, try a pretzel. That's not bad. Yeah, it's not only not bad, it's not bread. Not bread, you get it?

You see? I don't. Not bread. Let's hear it for the newest members of the fleet of pita franchise it's not exciting action but the animation of them all jumping through the hoops and like high-fiving each other down the line it it's very well done. I love it. And Luanne is there. She hasn't been iced out.

She is there for some reason. She hasn't been iced out there. She showed up there. Maybe she was just late to the Fleet of PETA sign-up. She had a date. That checks out. You know, that's a good... I gotta give it to the Fleet of Peeta franchisors.

They are really like, they got them to darken the whole auditor, like the whole convention center and get a spotlight on their new signups. That was great. And then somehow, I like the implication that Bart not only like jumped in, but he somehow got her to say his name and think he was one of the signups. He's dragged away. So that was the song playing. There's a lot of licensed songs in this episode.

But Patti LaBelle's New Attitude from 1984. You can play a bit of that. This is where it picks up in the show. I'm feeling good from my head to my shoes. Know where I'm going and I know where to. I tied it up in my point of view. I've got a new attitude Oh, you're having fun.

I'm in control My worries The song is played, I didn't actually know what it was until I looked it up because, I mean, I've heard the song before, but you barely hear it

and then there's talking over it. I think you don't even hear a new attitude. I feel like it was made for commercials. Like, it's all made to be like, you bought a new pair of shoes or you went to

a new store you ate the new hamburger yeah yeah all of these things giving you that new attitude there's some great 80s fashion in that music video as well i love them laughing together at not bread it's the perfect uh it's the perfect joke margaret appreciate because it's not offensive and it's very playful and lame so like she really likes she really digs it. And I think she kind of is taken aback just at first, like, wait, this isn't bread? And he's like, not bread. You get it in the little hand motion of tying a knot. It's so cute.

I love how much that's... I mean, that's something that's so on character, so it's not surprising or anything. I just love that detail you get about Marge, right? Like just that she is such a mom about that in the cutest way like she is such an adorable character through the throughout the entire episode not she loves gentle humor like the poe buddies nerfic tat yeah exactly it's funny just like you yeah no yeah i think i wonder if not bread was really what sold her on it like this this guy is a way

better salesman than shell, Frank Ormond. He's much better at it. He's more confident. I mean, there's still some desperation there, but he's not as, like, shaky as Shelley. It is laughter. Jack Lemmon's laughter here. Though there is a deleted joke there, which you can see the remnants of in it. So when you first see Frank Ormond, there's a pitcher of water right there that is distracting.

You're like, well, why would they draw a pitcher of water in there for no reason? Then he holds up the pretzel. They cut a scene where the pretzel in his hand falls apart and falls into the water pitcher. And then he pulls out another one. But if you look for real quick, you'll see the broken pretzel in the water. It's there long enough to distract you and wonder what's happening. I was distracted watching it. Yeah, I was like, why is there pretzel in the water. It's there long enough to distract you and wonder what's happening. I was distracted watching it. Yeah, I was like, why is there pretzel in the water?

I would have just kept the joke because otherwise, like what's even happening? Yeah. I guess we'll get to it. I don't know if the animation was bad or if it just didn't flow well. I mean, it might not have fallen apart correctly. Yeah, that's true. And when Marge sees the big celebration,

she invests all her $500, which is a lot of money for the... Well, Homer at this point can pull $1,000 out of his wallet and just pay for something. But that's still $500, a lot of money on their one household income. Well, I mean, it is the money she already invested. So technically, I guess she'd never really got it back. It's true. Well, yeah, they gave her back her $500 investment. So that was just her re-upping on that.

But I do... Well, yeah, they gave her back her $500 investment. So that was just her re-upping on that. But I do, the line I was alluding to at the beginning of the show, I love so much is when he's like, he's like finishing his cell and he's like, whenever, blah, blah, blah, you'll be there. And he goes, whenever nacho penetration is less than total. And I have always loved the way that was phrased. And I just think of it as just a beautiful way to put words together. Yeah, nachos are better than pretzels, I have to say. I don't know, Henry, do you have that speech?

When can I start? What's my territory? Your territory. Well, let me tell you. Wherever a young mother is ignorant of what to feed her baby, you'll be there. Wherever nacho penetration is less than total, you'll be there. Wherever a Bavarian is not quite full, you will be there. Wherever nacho penetration is less than total, you'll be there. Wherever a Bavarian is not quite full, you will be there. Don't forget

fat people. They can't stop eating. Hey, pretzels. Thank you. In case you didn't know, this is one of my favorite books of all time, and it's a real basic B of a book choice, but The Grapes of Wrath, this is taken from The Grapes of Wrath, the book and the movie, and I have a clip from that. It's the Tom Joad saying, I'll be there. I believe it's the end of Wrath. This is taken from The Grapes of Wrath, the book and the movie. And I have a clip from that.

It's the Tom Joad saying, I'll be there. I believe it's the end of the movie. The end of the book is way darker than the end of the movie, but read it. It's a great work of socialist literature, and it's still super relevant today. Wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beating up a guy, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beating up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready. And when the people are eating the stuff they raise and living in the houses they build, I'll be there too.

I don't understand it, though. I'm crying. It's great. I mean, the movie ends with the government sort of saving the family because it was made, I think, during the war or maybe shortly after the war. Yeah. 41, 42. Something like that. It ends with the government Sort of saving the family Because it was made I think during the war Or maybe shortly after the war Uh yeah Yeah 41 42 Something like that

In the book Spoilers for a book from 1933 Or something like that The Joads just get screwed I mean it's about how Capitalism screws working people The entire book They get fucked

Eight ways in Sunday The end of the book It's just like I guess we'll hole up In this abandoned barn And our daughter Will breastfeed this drifter Because there's no food

And that's the last scene In the book It's just like they're screwed forever holy shit yeah oh my god it's really dark it's really dark it's a little better to end on a henry fonda speech yeah yeah but it was sort of like this is what's happening to working people and we need to stop it that's why i mean it's the point of almost all of steinbeck's literature yeah but um well yeah still relevant today stuff like i mean the popularity of books like The Grapes of Wrath did, you know, popularize New Deal type policies as well to try and fix these things. So that was like, you know. People are still mad about the New Deal.

That's hilarious. I know. And that was like, that's the compromise version of democratic socialism is the New Deal. Yeah. Let's talk, you should join your local D the new deal. Yeah. Let's talk. You should join your local DSA chapter. But anyway. We have the biggest one over here.

Yeah, we do. I hadn't seen this movie. I've never read the book. I have read a couple of John Steinbecks, but not this one. It just seemed too daunting. I'm in a similar boat. Yeah. I mean, I read it in grad school, and it was assigned to me, but I really, really liked it.

It's super long, though. But I love the movie. I hadn't seen the movie for the longest time when I saw it. Actually, it was in a double feature that Bob couldn't make. He was out of town for something. That's true. It was Citizen Kane? Citizen Kane and then Grapes of Wrath.

And the Grapes of Wrath, seeing it on the big screen was amazing. I forget that the mom is the star of that movie. Oh, yeah. she's just her speech about how they need people like us like we're the soul of this country not money or banks or any of these people just yeah it's a gorgeous movie uh it has the same cinematographer as citizen kane so it's really beautiful yeah i really want to interject that i cannot hear the phrase citizen kane without hearing wait a minute, there was no Kane in Citizen Kane. Actually, you know what?

I think Joseph Cotton's character has a cane, the old man. But there is no famous Kane. But I do love that joke. There was no Kane. I mean, we are on Talking Simpsons. I must be a pedant about this. But I still like it. I still like it.

Well, you know what? When we get to that episode of The Simpsons, I'm going to re-watch Citizen Kane, maybe double speed, just to keep an eye out for the canes. And then I also go to Citizen Krang, so I have a twofer there. Like I said, my pop culture references are all embroiled in The Simpsons. Well, everything is parodied, so I think of the parodies first, especially the parodies on The Simpsons. Yes.

I figured with your job, it was going to the parodies first, especially the parodies on the Simpsons. Yes. I figured with your job it was going to be that you've had to hear so many times the Citizen Kane of video games a million times. I don't think anyone would ever dare to say

that phrase to me. I think she thankfully missed that era. I know. As an editor, you would delete that immediately. I would cut that and

say nothing about it. I wouldn't even say cut for flow. I would just cut it. And then you would cut them from your appointments. Yeah, and then I'd be like, you know what? Actually, I'm going to give you a kill feed. It's funny that Jack Lemmon, they asked Jack Lemmon to do a Henry Fonda speech in this.

It's kind of like, it's an odd choice. I mean, it fits. It feels like if they made a Grapes of Wrath, say, in the 70s, he would have been in the Henry Fonda role as the spirit of America, the innocent spirit of America being trampled by business interests. So when we come back for break, Marge is ready to learn how to make pretzels. Oh, hello, I'm Frank Ormond. And if you're watching me, that means you've got pretzel fever and not the kind that attacked my intestinal lining some years back.

So let's get your franchise up and running. Start by setting up an office in your basement or garage. An automatic garage door opener makes you feel like you're working in a futuristic wonder world. Next, blanket your community with flyers. A phony ticker tape parade will help you avoid littering laws. Welcome back, space girl. Now you're ready to make pretzels open your bag of ingredients check for millipedes

really gross yeah i couldn't do another take of it open i think he just had one bag of ingredients and couldn't open another one and uh callie was doing the Flanders, like waving as the door went down. I like that Flanders is like, he's just wondering what's going on in there. I was like, nope. I think it's sweet seeing Marge set up her own office. It's really cute. And whenever I also think of those garage door openers, I'm like, I'm in a futuristic wonderland.

There's a very cute moment when Marge starts a tape in which Frank turns on the camera, runs to his desk, shuffles through papers, and looks up. It's the, oh, I didn't see you there, but he's also the cameraman, so he couldn't edit it for whatever reason. It's a very nice touch, I think, that I just sort of thought about this time as a

joke. It's like, oh, that was a joke. Okay, I like it. It's cute. And the Wiggums pure love of Space Girl. Yeah, I love that. Space Girlums' pure love of Space Girl. I love that. Space Girl. He just calls her Space Girl. He doesn't realize she's not, like, what does he think she is? But just that Homer rented a...

It's a beautiful, like, Oldsmobile or something, or Cadillac or something. I don't know what it is. It's probably, like, a real car. Somebody would know. I love the implication that they were like, all right, we need a phony ticker tape parade what's the easiest way to do this lisa's space girl with like a 1950s toy space helmet yeah and like this is like a classic car anytime i open up anything like a packet of flour or flour type cooking things i'm always always like, well, I better watch out for millipedes.

I think about that generally anyway, but Again, Jack Lemmon's acting on Alright, let's get started. I think and that's kind of the end it for Jack Lemmon in this episode. Yeah, I mean his character dies. It's very final.

Never coming back. I like to assume Frank Ormond is, in my head canon, the father of Gil in the universe. Who knows? Maybe.

I like that, though. I mean, Gil's name isn't Gil Ormond. I think it's like Gil Gilston. Yeah, something like that. Yeah. That's later season stuff.

I don't dig that. In our first live show, it was about the most pathetic man in Springfield, and we left Gil out because he would win instantly. Well, it's Mole Man, isn't it? It was Barney, Moe, and Skinner, right? Those were the three choices.

Moe won, I think, in the voting that night. I could support that. Just my instinct says Mole Man. Mole Man, I think he'd be off the table, too, as an easy win. We wanted to make it hard for the audience. To be honest, I was helped with Moe winning because I had Dana Gould there saying, when I wrote off the table, too, as an easy win. We wanted to make it hard for the audience. To be honest, I was helped with Mo winning because I had Dana Gould there saying, when I wrote for The Simpsons, I thought Mo was the most pathetic.

I was like, well, awesome. And Teacher's Pet wins. You know I picked Mo before he came there. I didn't know that was before it was his favorite character. So it looks like they're all ready. They made their pretzels. And I got to say, until Fleeta Peeta arrives, they have a really good strategy there. God, it's so cute

Homer being like, what's that outside? It's what the movie stars are talking about. Yeah, God, it is so adorable. I love it. He's so supportive, and he's committing to a plan. He also helped with measuring the pretzels and gave them the thumbs up. I know. i don't know i like i said at the beginning i love the episodes where homer is is putting and despite his stupidity is still being a supportive husband and father i think jerk ass homer would have just eaten all of her pretzels yeah you don't even do a joke that oh i can't sell any pretzels today homer ate all of them like that's the easy joke and they don't go for that the only homer eating pretzel jokes is the act

break for act one where she's like what about fat people they can't stop eating and then homer comes over and eats the pretzel but he does not interfere with the pretzel uh process in the home he's also in the ticking clock bit at the end of act three he is eating a pretzel as they're watching the clock but it's stress eating yeah like there's never a bit where like he's screwed it up by eating them right which could easily have been a joke a lot of self-control from the writing team this also reminded me of homer strategy it reminded me of when i was in school i don't know if you guys had to sell candy or uh magazines yeah i went to catholic school we were paying tuition why do i need to raise more money but uh it always pissed me off because like oh the here are the super sellers for this month or magazines. Yeah, I went to Catholic school. We were paying tuition. Why do I need to raise more money?

It's a scam. It always pissed me off because like, oh, here are the super sellers for this month and they are always people whose families like own businesses. They just put the candy out

and people buy it. It's like, I got to go door to door to sell this crap that nobody wants. And I had social anxiety so I had to go with the magazine sheet

and be like, do you want magazines? And they'd be like taking pity on me and I'd sell two magazines it was the worst see that's how the rich get richer those people that own businesses they sell the most candy they can afford treatment for their social anxieties yeah yeah well people feel sorry for me and buy magazines you guys are gonna hate me then because i oh henry you bastard i had

to sell i like i am i'm slightly upper middle class but my my mom worked at a law firm as a secretary there. And so the few times I had to sell stuff like band candy, she just took it to the office and sold it. And he was riding his free bike around the poor children. I didn't get anything for it. I just sold enough. I didn't win things. That's better.

Because the kids whose families owned businesses and dealerships, they would get bikes and Nintendos. They're like like god damn it i i have no edge in this no i never hit that though that shit should be illegal though like at uh i think back now to when i was in like fourth grade or something i didn't participate in this but it was one of those magazine selling things and they you get to spend a whole like hour of school watching somebody say like and here's his bike or do you want a super nintendo we're giving that away too if you want it's not child labor because we say it isn't it's so wrong yeah i it's weird i do now in my life appreciate the parents who bring girl scout cookie orders to the office. It's a good organization, I think. But I think it is just an extension of my social anxieties

because that is another fewer person I have to talk to. Yeah, well, I like, in those, you don't have to talk to them as much when I would sign up for them because there'd just be a sheet of paper in the break room. I was like, okay, I want two of those and just bring them to my desk and I don't have to talk to them. I'm not a fan

of Girl Scout cookies, guys. I'm sorry. What? Not even Thin Mints? Nope. Don't like them. Not even a cold bunch of Thin Mints on a hot Christmas morning? I say break free of your programming, people. Jump out of the Matrix. There are better cookies that you don't have to wait for. I mean, yeah,

Girl Scout seems like a good organization. Before the Boy Scoutsouts they were accepting of trans kids in the in the group too that was sweet so uh but hey but yes homer homer selling the pretzels at the plant is pretty cute hey what's all that commotion outside why it's one of those pretzel wagons the movie stars are always talking about. Here? At our plant? That's right, Lenny. Let's all give in to deliciousness. The pretzel wagon way! Yay! Yeah!

Let's go! Yeah, Homer's right! Wow, Mom, look at all those customers! Here, nuts, everyone! Welcome to pretzel Wagon. May I take your order? Let's see. I'll have one. Hey, hurry up.

I want to get my pretzel. One pretzel. Thank you. Let's see. I will have one of your... Come on, come on, while we're young. Wow, check out that van. It looks like it doesn't even need our business.

Let's go. Let's go, let's take a look at it. Excuse me. go excuse me i had this spot first sorry dear just business well i guess macy's and gimbals learned to live side by side gimbals is gone marge long gone your gimbals very well god i love how mean she is i love that you're gimbals very well god i love how mean she is i love the your gimbals yeah it was clear it was clear she was gimbals we had to point it out i there's like three of my favorite lines here but like the your gimbals is how i that's how i operate with metaphor in person too just like has this metaphor been obvious enough i better just say like, like, you're that. You're this thing. So R.I.P. Gimbles, don't play the death jingle,

but they died in 1987. They were open for a hundred years, this department store chain, and they were competitors with Macy, I guess. Macy's. I didn't realize they were open that long, like, into the 80s. In my mind, Gimbles died in the 40s with Miracle on 34th Street.

Oh, so that was a Gimbal's associated movie? Gimbal's is in the movie. They mentioned Gimbal's. Gimbal's is the competitor. It's set in Macy's. The movie is about Macy's, but they talk about Gimbal's. They badmouth Gimbal's. And they send customers to Gimbal's.

Interesting. Okay, wow. That's the last time it was relevant. Yeah. So in my mind, Gimbal's stopped being a thing probably like, oh, five years after that movie was made. I didn't realize they lasted into the 80s. One of my favorite things in Miracle on 34th Street

is when the owner of Macy's is on the stand and he's asked if you believe in Santa Claus and he's just imagining customers not wanting to come to his store because he says Santa Claus is real. So is this before or after

Mountain of Madness? We're recording these out of order, by the way. Mountain of Madness is the next episode. So we see the growing animosity between Lenny and Carl here in this one. It's a preview of Mountain of Madness. We already recorded that, by the way. But I'm just curious. And also, I was reading reviews of these episodes. I read the AV Club review of the episode before we do, and I

read other reviews. Someone pointed out that both the Red, White, and Blue PETA truck and the fleetwood mac song uh could be a reference to the clinton's 92 campaign in which they use fleetwood max uh don't stop thinking about tomorrow whatever the actual song is called um but i could be a stretch i don't know the red white and blue stuff read to me more as them trying to americanize pita as much as possible but the fleetwood mac thing could be a reference to the clinton's tour bus and well they played it so much like it was if you live through the 92 election you think of it all the time like it was because that was like the first rock and roll as lame as it was like dad rock really but if you compare it to when you're campaigning against hw bush like

fleetwood mac is may as well just be like gangster rap compared oh dear yeah uh he was not even on board with uh brock around the clock that's more of a saturday i think we should all sit around the clock and talk about uh sports baseball not my Church. More of a weekend thing. I love how Carl says, I want to get my pretzel. That tells Lenny that he wants to order a pretzel. And then once he leaves, Carl forgets he wants to order a pretzel. I will have a... Which is the only thing they sell, a pretzel that is $1. That's it.

That's all they sell. I'm getting hungry for pretzels over here. I know. Also, I love the animation, the snappiness of the animation when Edna says, nothing personal. Ha! And then turns back around. It's real fast. Edna's so great.

The $1 price, just a sidebar, really made me think about the economics of the pretzel business and how much they're spending on gas and ingredients versus how much they're getting back and i got really stressed about it i mean like so a dollar in 1987 is like 34 today i'm guessing but still how many and how many pretzels come out of that bag of ingredients right yeah exactly how many can you make in a normal oven a normal household oven yeah like the time invested versus like the cost of that bag of ingredients if they don't have bugs in them and you have to fold all the dough in a special way yeah and like all the whole family's helping and they have to pay for the gas to get places and then the coupons with cletus which also has one of my favorite jokes there's a lot of overhead in the pretzel business

but yeah i got really stressed out thinking about that when i saw the one dollar i was like oh my god i feel like even then in 97 an aunt annie's pretzel was costing you three dollars i need at least five bucks to go to hot sam's and get like a bucket of the cheese with the little pretzel bites like as a teenager so yeah one dollar is a steal for these pretzels so a 1997 dollar is today $1.57. I think it's more. It's San Francisco money. Yeah, it's true. Bob, who are you to argue with in 2013dollars.com?

Boy, they have the URL, so I guess they win. They must be right. Yeah, Homer's right. That's another of my favorite things, just Homer. It's a Dan Castellanet ad-lib. It's like, hey, Homer's right. That's another of my favorite things, is just Homer. It's a Dan Castellanet ad-lib. It's like, hey, Homer's right. I mean, a lot of the ad-libs make it into the show. So he's a talented improviser.

That's why he was hired for Tracy Ullman. So he's good at doing on-the-fly stuff that they end up keeping. Yeah, they are such gullible rubes. Like, Lenny already believes that there are pretzel wagons that the movie stars are buying from. And then when Homer just says, yeah, Homer's right, it only makes them more excited, him agreeing with himself. Even Mr. Burns is there. He even got sold on it.

Yeah. Like, you would think Mr. Burns wouldn't spend a dollar on a pretzel lever. On pretzel bread. That's right. He learned about pretzel bread last season. He's grown a lot since last season. Then we had, yes, well, let's hear from Cletus as well. Hey, slow down. I want to talk to you.

Give us 300 pretzels. You see? A little persistence and patience pay off. That'll be $300. Hey, I don't think so. I got me 300 coupons. I should have said limit one per customer. Should have butted in us.

I hands them over. Hey, kids, we're eating dinner tonight. Come on, Tiffany, Heather, Cody, Dylan, Dermot, Jordan, Taylor, Brittany, Wesley, Roomer, Scout, Cassidy, Zoe, Chloe, Max, Hunter, Kendall, Caitlin, Noah, Sasha, Morgan, Kira, Ian, Lauren, Qbert, Phil. He's satisfied, like like I made all those you uh so they had to design like how many children are there there's got to be over 20 children right yeah at least 20

for some reason I've always thought that he says one of the names twice and listening to it again he does not so and Chloe Zoe and Chloe yeah uh for some reason in my mind he's said Taylor twice and I don't know why that's in my brain There's a lot of names There's a lot of kids

I was gonna count the kids While watching Like there are too many to count Yeah And I like confident Cletus We don't see very often I was like No I don't think so

Should've but didn't He's finally got one over On these city slickers Yeah He's triumphant But man That's a We're eating dinner tonight

Not we're eating well tonight not we're eating well tonight we're eating dinner yeah then they're i guess they're each gonna eat like 10 pretzels apiece that's dinner the uh if you have one of those 90s kids names let us know i yeah i max is in there that was my nickname as a kid because i didn't like going by Henry. Well, I'm Henry the – long-time listeners have heard this story before, but I'm Henry III, and I didn't like going by that in school. So my parents just went by the name they would have called me if I didn't get an inherited name, which is Max. So I am one of the cleanest kids in there.

Wow. I'm a Bob, so I don't fit anywhere. It's an old-timey name. There are too many Caitlins. I'll say it here. I've met too many Caitlins in this world. If you're a Caitlin. I'm a Bob, so I don't fit anywhere. It's an old-timey name. There are too many Caitlins. I'll say it here. I've met too many Caitlins in this world. If you're a Caitlin,

I'm sorry. But Rumor and Scout, those are Bruce Willis and Demi Moore's kids. So the trendiest names. We did not reach the names like Apple yet. Yes.

That would be a joke on this if Apple had been born. Yeah. Or Paris or whatever. Right, yeah, yeah. If I was Marge, I would have just floored it

and been like, screw this. I don't owe you. You're hillbillies in the woods. She's so pure. She feels like she needs to honor those coupons. Yeah, she's going to honor

the coupons because it was her mistake for not printing one per customer on them. She owes it to them. Oh, it's so sad. But saddest of all, this,

speaking of fine print, the joke about reading the copyright on an old poster. I love that joke because I would stare at copyrights, too, on things like, oh, when did this come out? And it would drive me crazy when they would have the Roman numerals to try to disguise what year something came out. And, I mean, when I was younger, it would be fascinating. Like, I was, that was like five years before I was born. Or that was ten years before I was born. Yeah, I was always younger, it'd be fascinating. Like I was, I was, that was like five years before I was born or that was 10 years before I was born. Yeah.

I was always really obsessed with stuff like that. Figuring out, like if I was reading a book, I would always check the copyright, even if it didn't. First printing when? Yeah. You know, like I was really into that. And so it's relatable. In the pre Wikipedia world where now you just know anytime something came out.

Immediately, yeah. Yeah. But I think of this line whenever someone posts the old clip from a movie with a cat or a dog and it's like, talented or not, that dog or cat has long dead. Yeah, I think about that constantly. Or when you watch Frasier.

Oh, yes, yeah. Eddie the dog, he's having fun up in heaven now. I think he recently passed away. Yeah, it was pretty recent because he went to the same dog park that my dog went to. Really? Wow. Celebrity dog park.

Celebrity dog park. Yeah, my dog has a famous friend. Wow. What was the dog's real name? It was Eddie was the name on the show. Oh, I don't remember. I should ask my dog. I'll text her.

Well, Moose the dog. That was his name. And yeah. Wow. I just saw a headline says Kelsey Grammer reveals dark secrets about Frazier's Eddie the dog That was his name And yeah Wow I just saw a headline It says Kelsey Grammer Reveals dark secrets About Frasier's

Eddie the dog Jeez Whoa You gotta You gotta talk to your dog Frasier has I mean Kelsey Grammer

Knows dark secrets Actually the dog died in 2006 Dogs don't live 25 years But Still a recent That's a long life For a little doggy like him 15 years old

Aww Yeah If I didn't want Flea to peter so much this is my line of the episode the yeah this free pretzel day at the baseball park a winner has been chosen for today's giveaway and the 1997 pontiac astrowagon goes to the fan sitting in seat number 0001C Montgomery Bridge. And the fans do not like this one bit. And here come the pretzels. Oh, no. No, don't do that. You're supposed to be tasting them. Hall of Famer Whitey Ford now on the field,

pleading with the crowd for some kind of sanity. Oh, and a barrage of pretzels now knocking Whitey unconscious. Wow, this is a black day for baseball. Oh, cheer up, Mom. You can't buy publicity like that. Thousands and thousands of people saw your pretzels injuring Whitey Ford. You could call them Whitey Wackers.

That whole scene is so good. There's so much going on there. But Hank Azaria and Harry Sherrill, Hank Azaria does that in that show Brockmire, right? He uses that baseball announcer voice but I love just the inevitability and here come the pretzels I think of that

whenever I say something on a podcast I'm like that's getting comments or whenever I post a podcast I know people it'll be polarizing I think here come the pretzels here come the pretzels this is a black day for baseball the way he burns waves from that Astro wagon. It's really great.

He's driving. He learned to drive in Homer the Smithers. Remember? I am a motorist. Oh, God. Yeah. I feel so. Yes.

Well, you talk about feeling anxiety for Marge. You think of how much money must have been spent on this free pretzel day. Yeah. And just all lost. Like everyone to give a baseball stadium, even a minor league baseball stadium, all a pretzel that's thousands of pretzels. And then she probably had to pay the isotopes to get to have there.

And I love that Burns has seat number one. Yeah. And the Pontiac Astrowagon was a new car, but it was supposed to be like sort of a crummy, practical new car. I mean, you would not want to drive one of those now, but it's sort of like a family utility vehicle if you have like soccer kids or whatever. And like, of course, he still has to win it. And take it, not say, oh, I'll give it to somebody else. Like, no, it's for me. No, and Whitey Ford, real guy, still with us.

At 89. A lifetime Yankee. He's won five World Series. In 1961, he won the Cy Young Award and the World Series MVP, which is a rare occurrence in baseball. I just love the line, pleading with the crowd for some kind of sanity. And then the cuts of him just falling over.

You don't see him get hit in the head. It's just cut back. In the commentary, they're like, we don't understand how we could animate a man being knocked out by pretzels. So the jump cut to him just on the ground. That's so good. I love that cut. I agree. Your mind really just puts it together like what happened

because it's like it would be impossible to really animate that but just the unconscious body with pretzels being hurled at it is great. And Whitey Ford is a beloved legend in baseball. Like, you wouldn't throw stuff at him, especially, and that he's an old man. He was 68, 69 when this episode came out. And so you wouldn't throw things at him though i've heard that here comes the pretzels and how you're the whitey ford from uh uh friends of mine long time listeners can probably guess who but friends of mine worked at a big video game publisher they would have to break

news that was not their choice they would have to be the bearer of bad news and get a bunch of angry comments from people for a thing they didn't want to do. And they would get, here come the pretzels, and it's like, well, I guess I'm Whitey Ford today. I have to get the Whitey whacking on here. The Whitey whacking. I guess it's presumed that Whitey Ford died

in this universe. It's a black day for baseball. God damn it. So Marge is really depressed. The butter is under her face. She slumps over at the dinner table. It's heartbreaking. And the butter's drawn on the table. At first I thought that joke was like

an ADR edition where they thought, well, we need her to say one more line. But the butter's right there on the table. I think it was planned early. And her line is not played as a joke. Aim so low no one will care if you succeed. It's sort of like Homer's the point of trying, you tried and you failed, the point is never try. That was a joke, but

hers is like, I never tried anything, you'll only fail and no one will ever care. Lisa is having real emotions at telling Marge like, oh mom, no. You're actually getting to feel sad and emotional,

which this is kind of the emotional height of the episode because soon it'll be the mafia moves into town and it just becomes a whole other crazy thing. Act three is like a mob movie. It's like another Goodfellas parody kind of. Yeah, it comes out of a very weird place coming off of this scene where you're just like so sad for,

I mean, I'm always sad for marge generally just because of where what her life is and there's many episodes where you get to see little snippets of that and then fewer where you get to explore that but yeah coming off of that where you're like lisa's devastated marge is devastated and then suddenly fat tony is there you have two mobs in this episode. Well, first Homer goes to Frank Wormond's place looking for some help, I guess for a refund or something,

which when he arrives, he sees all the lawn stuff he has and he thinks that he's rich. Like a person who owns a bunch of lawn ornaments in a regular sized house is not necessarily a rich person. It's a nice little bit of detail that helps characterize Frank because he's not in the show a lot but i guess he was sort of a whimsical person

or an optimistic person despite his desperate life selling pretzels trying to sell pretzel franchises around america and being very happy at 500 from franchising the one you it is implied that like if he sold it to margie that's probably the only person he sold a franchise to in that place, I would think. But yes, Homer's been looking for help. Looks like Mr. Pretzelman is doing pretty well for himself. I'm here to see Mr. Ormon. Of course. Right this way. Oh, I guess I should speak to the executor

of his estate. He's right over there. They were in the same car. You're my last hope. I've never reached out to you before, but my wife is in her hour of need. Your help could make all the difference in the world. Okay.

See, boss? I told you that ad in the church bulletin would pay off underrated sign gag of the church is just the word open it goes by so fast but i love how simple and funny it is just the word open well they only have so much time for a sign gag there so one word does it all i like that i i it's a funny joke that the executor of his state was in the same car. That's funny, too. That's a bad end for Frank, dying in a car accident.

Yeah. Well, this was something, too, that always brings me down and still does when I'm seeing a movie that stars, say, a Jack Lemmon type. A famous aging actor who, in character, dies in the movie. And I'm just thinking, like like this actor doesn't know how many more days they have left maybe they don't want to act out to their death scene i just i feel bad and sorry i'm really bringing things down i think like ron howard's dad that was his role for like the last 20 years of his life is playing you're the dying old man in this now i guess maybe you're just like well i might as well lean into it and that's who I am now. I mean, my main takeaway from that scene is they had an open casket funeral

after a car accident, which I find interesting. Yeah. Why not? And in his home too, not at a mortuary, but at his house. And you see them.

They don't have like really bad injuries. I guess it's just the wake, but I like the giant pile of pretzels people can eat. Well, the morticians did do their job, though.

They cleaned them up. Maybe they didn't look so good. Maybe it was internal bleeding. We don't know. These are the things I think about. A minor car accident for a man in his 60s could be fatal. If we make it super morbid. I was first hit with the

dislike of seeing aging actors die in movies when I saw grumpy old men and they kill off Burgess Meredith in there. I'm just like, this guy, because he was dead within a year of that movie coming out. So it just felt wrong of like, I get that if they figured they'd do a third grumpy old man movie, let's just write this guy off instead of risking that he's not going to live to film the next movie. But it's just a bummer. He had like four years left. Jack Lemmon? Jack Lemmon, yeah.

Not as long as you'd think. Yeah. But boy, did he live it up. I do want to continue the bummer really quickly and say that I did the math when you said when Eddie the dog died, and I feel like my dog was lied to. Your dog was lied to. Your dog was lied to.

I don't think that happened. Well, you know, there was more than one Eddie the dog on the show. I'm thinking it was a double or something because this was probably 2008.

There might have been more than one Eddie on the show. Yeah. I think that's what it was. But anyway, I just wanted to say that because about the dogs,

when you see them in movies being dead and then people in movies being dead. And now we can be happy again. But I hope you weren't lied to. I really hope not. I'll be really pissed off on my dog's behalf. That's embarrassing. You never met Moose. I'm sorry.

Lucy, I'm sorry. You know, that reminds me. Remember on Married with Children, they wrote off Buck the dog and they just, they had to, but they couldn't, they didn't directly kill the dog. It's more that he transmuted into another dog. It's true. And also, to get morbid, the man who

voiced Buck, Simpsons writer Kevin Curran, he is dead as well. So, let's get out of this death pit. Alright, hey, Homer is talking to the mafia and we've got the return of Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony. Yeah, they really wanted to bring back Fat Tony because they loved him and they found an opportunity. They mentioned on the commentary in season seven and eight,

they didn't use him enough and they really did. It's like... He's in Muchapoo about nothing, I think. Yeah, his big return was Muchapoo. Then this one and then he is... He has a few lines in Homer vs. the 18th Amendment. But there wouldn't really be a Fat Tony episode for a few more seasons, really. Yeah, maybe the one, there's got to be one before this, but the one Callie mentioned, the one with Krusty and the violin and everything. That's the next one I remember, but it couldn't have been that long.

No, Homer as the bodyguard Fat Tony is a pretty big part of it. Oh, you're right. That's the next one I remember, but it couldn't have been that long. No, Homer as the bodyguard, Fat Tony, is a pretty big part of it. Oh, you're right. That's like season 10 or something. Yeah, and then, yeah, the Krusty one is after that. My timeline is so screwed up. We should know this. No, that one I believe is season 12,

and Homer bodyguard is season 10 or late nine. Yeah. I'm not looking that up. But the idea that the Mafia put a church bulletin ad, that's pretty cute too. I like that. I think that was the best way they could have integrated that

as random as... I mean, we talked about how this scene kind of comes out of nowhere, but I thought the integration went pretty smoothly. Yeah, I mean, visually, this only works once when you watch, but Homer is in church and the pullout is to reveal he's talking to the mafia, not to God. And I wish that joke would still work on me because it is a funny joke. You think he's going to church to pray for Marge.

And then it's Legs who, I guess at some point, Legs was like, but we should advertise in the church bulletin. No, no, let's not do it. And Louie insists. And now he's like, finally, like, eh, see? A great, I love jokes like that that imply a history of many things that happened. Yeah. Ultimately, this will hurt them in the end, though.

Well, but at first, things seem pretty good for Marge. Hello? No, pretzel wagon's no longer. 300 pretzels? Wait, wait, let me get this down. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Meatpackers Union, huh? Batavia, New York.

I'll send them right out. Homer! Homie, wake up! Wake up, I'm back in business! I had a feeling things would work out for you, honey. So it's very telling that she's delivering pretzels to a meatpackers union in New York with the mob involvement.

But Marge is like, doesn't question it. She's just happy. I mean, if my business had been doing that poorly and then get like an angel order like that, I wouldn't question it. I'd just be like, alright. I hope mafia people are listening.

Yeah, well, no. They're going to ask for all of our profits eventually. That's the downside. They always want something in return. I know, how selfish of those mafias. I want some altruistic mafia people to donate to us. I mean, that's the plot of the

Yakuza games. I was actually going to say, I was re-watching it on my lunch break And I laughed out loud because our whole office Is really into Yakuza right now We have like a really big Yakuza contingent At the GameSpot office And I practically screamed I was like I forgot about this

It's about time now I mean I feel like it took like I don't know 10 years for that series to take off in America Yeah but they went 5 years Without bringing over a Yakuza game to America. And then the last year has had fucking four of them. We had Kiwami 0, 6, Kiwami 2. And they're all like 1,000 hours long. And I own all of them now in the past two years.

And I finished 0. I finished the one that's called Zero. I finished one, but it's called Zero. And next month is the Fist of the North Star game made by them. I'm mad about that. Stop making all these games. Slow it down. It's the only game Sega makes now, really. As reviewer, I'm going to ensure

that our lead is... I mean, I can't promise anything, but that's just... You gotta do it. The right people will get it, I think't promise anything, but that's just gotta do it. The right people will get it, I think. Yeah, you gotta. I think so. I think the readers will appreciate that. They'll know this is a real.

The real ones. This is viewed by true anime fans. So then we get a nice little mob intimidation montage, like out of Goodfellas or the Godfather type stuff. It's fun And it's weird to hear needle drop library music on The Simpsons But this is Sam Spence's song The Lineman

And I have that in the Slack channel You might know it This is the Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy song from Spongebob Oh wow But it's mainly known for being used in NFL reels Like highlight reels Oh man known for being used in NFL reels, like highlight reels. I'm sure it popped up in like Ren and Stimpy too.

Wow, so much is coming together for me right now. In my research, I found that this is a cover of another instrumental song called Go go man go but i looked that up and it doesn't sound anything like it it just yeah has a similar instrumentation no idea that was i completely forgot that was the mermaid man and barnacle boy theme seriously and now i'm hearing it i'm like of course it's the mermaid man and barnacle boy theme but i didn't associate it watching this scene which is blowing my mind right now yeah i like i knew that I have heard it before, so I looked and I found an old message board answering it.

I was like, oh my God, I put it all together. Yeah, and I have very strong opinions about SpongeBob, and I'm just really surprised at myself that I didn't pick up on that. When you do the SpongeBob, what a cartoon.

We gotta remember that. Yeah, definitely. Oh man, I could rank all the first three seasons of SpongeBob. I have very strong opinions. Okay, I'm excited about this. F is SpongeBob. We're doing this.

I love the intimidation of snack, the snacking intimidation, the holding the Girl Scouts at gunpoint, the stepping and rubbing out the hot dog bun. Were they letting them out at the state line, the Girl Scouts? Yeah, the county line. Though my favorite is the pizza explosion of sauce.

Like that. Slamming it. Like blind someone. Yeah, taking the little pizza table out of it and just crushing it. Yeah. So I looked that up. That's called a pizza saver. And it was invented in 1983.

So can you believe that pizza boxes before 1983 didn't have those things in it and just the cheese got stuck to the roof? That is the enemy of the Noid. But I call them tiny tables. They are tiny tables. I've seen tiny chairs to accompany them. Wow. Which is a horrible waste of plastic. That is.

I mean, the real wasters of plastic are corporations. We all know this. But I do think the little chairs are cute to go with the table. They are very cute. I want a whole living room set on my pizza. I know. Well, now I think pizza boxes,

maybe they're just sturdier. Like I've, well, some places still use it. Like I got an extreme pizza recently and they had a tiny table in there. But other ones, like we had Domino's not too long ago because we had like a freebie at it. And it was the first Domino's you'd had in like 15 years or something, I think. But they didn't have the tiny table in there. Yeah. And I mean, this is going way too far into pizza lore. had in like 15 years or something i think but they didn't have a tiny table in there yeah and i mean uh this is going way too far into pizza pizza lore but i remember like in the past pizza boxes

weren't that hefty corrugated stuff in my day when i was super young it was like the flimsy cardboard it was it was not good you needed those tables and speaking of pizza boxes have you guys seen what's happened to the papa john's boxes. They erased them from history. Yeah. Every Papa John's pizza box used to have Papa John Schnatter on them. His signature, his picture, like a quote from him saying, my pizza is great. If you buy them now,

it is blank except for the logo of the company. And that's it, which is still, it's his name. It's they, they still, they fired him, but, or he resigned, but yeah Which is still, it's his name. They still, they fired him or he resigned. And he's not bad

for racism alone. That's just one of the reasons that's why he's bad. One of many, yeah. I remember famously, like earlier in the decade, he said like, I would have to raise my pizzas a dime to give workers health insurance and I will not do that consumers, don't you worry. The people that will make your pizzas will be sick and they'll be resentful unhappy unhappy which makes for better

pizza that's all we wanted yeah and no bathroom breaks but again this is another of my favorite scenes ever the intimidation of seymour skinner are you sure the children will get enough nutrition from these pretzels? Yes, I am sure. Sure as sure can be. Oh, my God. What happened to your fingers? Boating accident. I believe it was a boaking accident. I have to go now.

Oh, that's great. I don't understand why they won't unload our falafel fixings. Ship's impounded, ma'am. Yeah, we found a couple of barnacles on the hull. That and the deck was wet. That's crazy. And what are those men doing under my van? Look, lady, if I was you, I would just leap into the air as I'm preparing to do.

Burn! Burn! Great Wiggum says. I also love Helen's like That's crazy Her indignation No one really ever calls Wiggum on his bullshit Most of the time

When he's being a bad cop taking bribes And making excuses And celebrating space girl That is a very like talk to your manager type voice So Helen is right to get that one with Wiggum Because this is insane. She is being intimidated and almost murdered by the mafia.

I love how the laser makes a noise. It shouldn't, but it sells the joke. And I love this, I have to go now. I also like the implication that no one involved with the church saw the mafia's bulletin. You'd think Helen of all people might have been. And true and the fact that love

joy was not present in the church during this meeting it is true there's just a lot going on in the background there but god that the bokeying accident like the tempo of that joke is hilarious i believe it was a bokeying he said i believe it was like he doesn't sound even sure it was. He's not even sure. And the implication that Skinner's hand was broken by the mafia or cut or something. He's a former Green Beret, too. Remember the Beauty Queen kicked those Disney lawyers' asses? He has not kicked ass since that moment. It was the one moment. It's the one time.

He gets beaten down by everybody in life. I just saw the Boking accident scene used to meme, powerful meme effect. It was one of those great side-by-side Twitter pictures. So it was a picture of a tweet of someone saying like, well, I work in an Amazon warehouse and we're treated very well. And I get to use. And then the picture right next to it is the laser pointed right at Skinner's head. That's very good.

Oh, my God. It's a perfect use of it. Yeah, Wiggum, it's just accepted that you're not even supposed to wonder, well, why is Wiggum working with the mafia? It's like, yeah, Wiggum will take money from anyone. Openly. Yeah. It's why he'll lose his job later on in the 18th Amendment.

They cut back to Moe's. Homer is making big money, like he's sliding a 50 over. I love Moe's reaction that he's, but he really says like, your money's no good here because you always give me fake money. Another great,

another joke that tells like a good history of the characters, like Homer tries regularly to pass off fake money to buy beer with. It's like, this is real money. So you already have a cute line that you think is like Moe saying, your money's

no good here, meaning your stuff's free. He's like, no, no, no. Your money's no good here. American currency is accepted here at Moe's. And I like, too, another great gag in the montage scene is that small amounts of money

are being shown in Marge's hands. Like, they're all one dollar bills and some quarters piling up. She's not getting rich off this. She's making hundreds of dollars, perhaps? Based on our estimate, possibly breaking even. Yeah, possibly. That is my greatest hope. I think Marge,

like, she is too nice. She's charging a dollar probably is like a penny of profit or something. I know, she's too nice. Charging a dollar probably is like a penny of profit or something. I know. She's just the best. She's so pure. But then we get Fat Tony attempting to intimidate Homer. Here you go, Homer.

Thanks, Mo. Ah, Homer, you know your money's no good here. Hey, wait a minute. This is real money. Yeah, my wife is raking it in. Greetings, Homer. Hey, Fat Tony. You still with the mafia? Uh, yes, I am. Thank you for asking. Now, Homer, as you no doubt recall, you were done a favor by our, uh, how shall I say, mafia crime syndicate. Oh, yeah. Now the time has come for you to do us a favor.

You mean the mob only did me a favor to get something in return? Oh, Fat Tony, I will say good day to you sir okay i will go hey wait a minute i i read a new level of humor of you you still in the mafia because it's like oh yeah you don't you don't leave the mafia of course that tony will always be in the mafia but you also can't leave it unless you get murdered i and this uh was the first time i got the implication that fat tony is doing what he has probably done a million times which is intimidate somebody that who thought oh i'm not gonna see this mobster again to ask for their money back and then he surprises you like hello get you owe me money

and he wants homer to like freak out and be scared that tony it's like no that tony like that tony has to reset like yes i am so i like that he successfully guilts fat tony also like homer is so personally offended having not foreseen this outcome. He has feelings you can hurt, I guess, despite being a murderer. I do love, I will go. He means it. Ah, okay. I will go. He's so upset in that moment. I love it. It's the one time it's ever

hit him like, this is wrong to do what I'm doing, isn't it? But it eventually hits him. His wife gets him back on track, I think. Oh, yeah. He goes the direct route. Instead of going to Homer, he goes to Marge. Is there a button or a release for these keys?

Oh, you have to push in as you turn. Yeah, that's it. Who are you? We are your business partners. And as such, we are entitled to a percentage of your profits. Something in the area of 100%. What are you talking about? We suggest you have a conversation with your husband.

You have 24 hours to give us our money. And to show you we're serious, you have 12 hours. See you at 6 a.m homer did you tell the mafia they could eliminate my competitors with savage beatings and attempted murder in those words yes oh i love i like how they make him sip a beer While she asks the question And he takes time to swallow It's great pacing

Obviously, the easy joke in a sitcom Would just be like, not in those words I didn't say exactly that But instead, Homer He said those exact words Savage beatings And attempted murder Homer suggested that They didn't even just do it on

their own he told them to he did what any loving husband would do yeah yeah well that like uh him talking about already bloated snack hole that's a pretty funny line i like that line a lot snack hole but the so they say on the commentary that it's a funny gag that he changes 24 hours to 12 hours like that i just it feels like a i say this all the time this feels like a futurama e-line to me too of like and just so you're serious 12 hours like but they also say they did it to just speed it up they're like we need them to get there earlier we can't have a whole day it's like what are we going to do just show them making pretzels for an entire day it's like and the episode has maybe two minutes left to kill i think yeah they're running out of time and though marge shouldn't say who are you

she should remember yeah fat tony was in the same loss a criminal court trial with her son as a murderer he was the plaintiff right yeah well i guess it was a civil case for skinner's murder but he was testifying against that was a criminal case for skinner's murder but he was testifying against no it was a criminal case and he presented himself as under bart and that bart ran the whole organization so i would feel like march probably shouldn't forget that yeah it's a very important moment in her son's life being on trial for murder yeah and in jail with sideshow bob in one scene but i that's i'm to blame Marge, the character. I'm going to blame the usually great at Simpsons history writers for her forgetting that.

Though, I don't know. Maybe she just didn't expect to see him again. So she didn't remember it first, perhaps. Maybe. But yeah, so then they get to making the pretzels. And they just have a lot of very tense, kind of like Sergio Leone-style scenes of making pretzels. They just have a lot of very tense, kind of like Sergio Leone-style scenes

of making pretzels. It's weird to see a Simpsons character sweat, but there's a realistic sweat drop going down Marge's neck. When that happened, I was like, that's something I have not really seen in this show. I'm glad we don't really see sweaty Simpsons characters. I am too.

But it's like a blue sweat drop. It's not like a drawing of a sweat drop or something. It's like halfway between a real sweat drop and like an anime exaggerated sweat drop. Yeah, when you can just like break off. Yeah, it's in a weird spot. But they find so many dramatic ways to draw them making pretzels, like all the different angles around. It's so many angles. It kind of reminds me of the joke of having too many crazy angles from Chuck Jones cartoons.

It reminds me of those. And when the mobsters show up, I love the sort of looking upward shot of them. They look grotesque. Their eyes are wall-eyed. They just look like monsters. But it's perfect for them being intimidating. Yes, the mafia arrives a little late. I had that dream again.

Oh, thank God. It's only Grandpa. Now what? Sorry we're late. Could we have the money now? The answer is no. I'm afraid I must insist. You see, my wife, she has been most vocal on the subject of the pretzel monies.

Where's the money? When are you going to get the money? Why aren't you getting the money now? And so on. So please, the money. You heard her. She said no. Legs, Louie, advance on them.

There they are! Well, well, if it isn't Marge Simpson and her gangland cronies. Your goon squad certainly gave you the edge in the mobile snack business. But I'm afraid we've outdone you once again. Hiroshi? Yukio? Perhaps you've heard of the Yakuza, the poison fists of the Pacific Rim, the Japanese mafia. They'll kill you five times before you hit the ground. Another great Agnes line. They're really fun with it. So I think Callie and possibly Henry might have strong opinions about this, but I don't find myself to be a pedant about language. I try not to be.

I have too much education in that respect, but I hate when people say Yakuza. Yes. It bothers me, and I don't know why, but it's the same way like, I mean, it's just the way Americans talk, and if they say A Japanese word They will accentuate

Certain syllables In a certain way Like Naruto Or Kojima But Yakuza I still have that With some words That I can't let go of

It's the second The second vowel Or the second syllable Is the one that gets Emphasized in At least American speech But when I say Like the creator of Metal Gear

When I say Kojima On a podcast People are like Why are you saying it like like that it's like that's how you say his name i yeah i don't like it's more like yaksa right yeah i don't like to be pedantic about language or anything uh because i do think that being prescriptive about language is i agree an outdated uh thing to do and i i feel very strongly about this as an editor also like my editing style is kind of like do you feel a comma in your heart? I know maybe there shouldn't be a comma there, but I can see why you want it there. I don't like to be prescriptive about it, but it's the overemphasized vowels.

It's like a grating sound to me, I think is the reason it bothers me. The Naruto, Yakuza sound is just very harsh to me which is why i thought she said it like that and i was surprised that she pronounced it correctly i was too i was expecting her to say yakuza because that i don't why would she know to say yakuza but yeah i was really i was like oh okay these are i mean these are actually japanese names she says so good job doing your research no i for the longest time, too, I was one of those people, too, who said Asuka, even though in the galley. I'm guilty of all this until semi-recently.

Dude, I said manga for a real long time. Yeah. I didn't learn it was manga. I said manga until- I think Canadians say manga, and I'm not going to point out who this is but somebody i know that's canadian says manga and i'm okay with it but uh well i learned it was forgiven i learned it from wizard magazine that said it's manga like conga like that's but though well i'll tell you what bugs me i am not i am not fluent in japanese i know tiny amount of japanese don't know that

much and but what bugs me when i hear people mispronounce it, it's not when it comes from a place of ignorance, but when somebody mispronounces it in a way that it sounds like they think they're saying it the right way, like with a snobbishness to it. That bugs me more, I think. Yeah. By the way, we're all like huge weebs at this table.

Yes. I think you should know that by now, but in case you don't, yes, we are. Please. Yes. And I, I, um, study Japanese. I studied in college and I self-study now and I've been focusing more on reading, but rather than speaking and listening. But anyway, what I was going to say was, um, yeah, the, the other awkward thing about when

you do know how something is pronounced is not over-pronouncing it because you don't want to sound like that douchebag, especially when you're reading. Like if I'm reading like a script or something for a video and i have to if i'm going to be like this actually happened it was a name of a place in japan it was yokosuka but a friend a co-worker of mine was like how should i pronounce this and i was like i think if you say yokosuka you should be fine because yokosuka like it would be like and the pokemon go event is taking place in Yokosuka. You know, like it's just like a-

You're lapsing into a different kind of accent in the middle of your speech. When I was in high school, like my friends and I had a joke about the people who would do that in our Spanish class. We'd be like,

hi, my name's Rachel. I'm from Uruguay. You know, like it's that same kind of tone. So I think she like hits the right balance here between like Yakuza and Yakuza. And she kind of says it a little bit in between those two.

Yeah. She like, it's like, I think they hit the right balance. It was very impressed. Someone told her phonetically how to say it because I didn't know. I mean, I was sort of at this point in my life starting to get into anime and like

hardcore, but I don't think I knew about the Yakuza until maybe a few years later. Actually, this episode introduced me to them but i wasn't sure if that was a real thing until later it's like movies yeah i don't think i had heard of the japanese mafia until this time either i maybe in the late 90s like 97 around the same time as this episode i was really getting into hong kong action movies which have a ton of like the chinese mafia the triads in them but i don't think it's rarely

in the the ones i watch whether there are any yakuza in there and so i wonder if this was the first time i saw it too but it was uh that's what always surprises me in the um when i played yakuza six they subtitle it as triad but they call like don't they call like uh chigoku no mafia like in japanese which i didn't know that's what they called chinese mafia japanese they just say But don't they call it like Chikoku no Mafia in Japanese? Which I didn't know that's what they called Chinese Mafia in Japanese. They just say Chikoku no Mafia. Yeah, they just say Chinese Mafia. Yeah, those games are great, by the way.

Wild the unrealistic portrayal of the Yakuza and that they are forces of good and the last bastions of manliness and they ought to help you and do quests for you. They start literal orphanages to help children. And they hate guns. Boo. Can't stand them. So this is where it just goes to wacky town in this episode. And it is fun action, though.

It's not a fair fight of three mafia guys versus five Yakuza guys. Well, the fleet of PETA people fight dirty. We've seen throughout this entire episode. Yeah. We do see cool action. But I like how we are denied a fight. And so is Homer. The audience ander both want to see more fighting we do see some really cool stuff like really well choreographed fighting moves in the in the few

scenes that we see of the fighting especially like a cool like overhead shot of people rushing fat tony but yeah i love i'm on board with homer's disappointments i know that the little guy hasn't done anything yet and i just i don't know. This is the scene that I think is also... I mean, we've talked about how it is just a weird ending. I do think that it's good that it comes full circle with the fleet of PETA people. But there's a part of me that's like, I can't tell if this is racially insensitive.

Yeah. But you have the Italian mob that balances it out a little bit i'm not the person to speak on that it would be better without uh the guy speaking at the end we'll hear him in a second yeah kind of says he kind of says breeze but um outside of that i think i think it's fun i think it's fun yeah that's i mean that's kind of what i was getting at is that's the scene where I was like, ooh. I think the humor for me comes to the fact that Maude knows about the Yakuza and Agnes is explaining who they are.

They had access to them and they know a lot about them and they're an asset. Completely off screen after the last time they got their thing blown up. They're like, well, then we're going to get our own Mafia too. Yeah, a better mafia more organized mafia but yeah i i just love the i just love the uh the introduction of them yeah they're all like cool looking characters oh yeah i love it up until that speaking point i yeah i

should have been more clear but um yeah like i i i like the input like i there's a lot of jokes in this episode that imply a history that you don't see um and this is another one where like how did you how did you call him like how'd you get him I love all of that unspoken I think that that's where a lot of the humor comes from and I wonder if Agnes is out for blood because they wounded her son you know oh yeah yeah you were hurt by Seymour it's such a great well I mean she does hate she does hate, she's like the only- Only she can hurt. She would say, yeah, that's right. You know, if I'm looking for an emotional arc that this completes, the closest I can see to it is that Marge starts the episode not wanting to invest in anything, not wanting to have a business.

She ends the episode ready to die for her business. Like, so if you want to find an emotional arc, there it is. They kind of barely give lip service to it. As Marge said in an earlier episode, it's an ending. Yeah, it's enough. But yeah, we have a big fight scene.

Homer knows the rules of action movies. Marge is, like, very sensible. Like, I don't think we should be here in this area while he's fighting. I think we should go inside. Not even, like, I think we should call the cops or anything. Just let it sort itself out. Maybe we should go inside.

But Marge, that little guy hasn't done anything yet. Look at him. He's going to do something, and you know it's going to be good. You must hate me, Marge. Every time I try to help, I just fail miserably. I don't hate you for failing. I love you for trying. What's going on outside?

Oh, it's just a mob war. Go back to sleep, honey. Forgiveness, please. You just cut that scene out and it's just... Or have him not talk or not say a very stereotypical thing. He could just bow. It would have been okay, you know? But it's funny because, like, normally

in another episode, they would be in bed together and like, Marge would say something sweet the episode would end that is now set against a mob war happening outside of their home just like a very like what happened in this episode sort of conversation but set against like chaos happening outside like wacky chaos i do enjoy that part of even though nothing is really resolved and but it is sort of a fun out of nowhere choice they just just kind of walk. I mean, this is, I would,

I will complain about it when we get to Das Bus, but this is the same. This is basically, let's say Mo. Yeah. The same, like, we don't know how to end this. Let's say that the mafia just fought each other.

You can only do so many times. I think the Lester and Eliza was kind of one of the first major ones. Yeah. That's the greatest. It's like they play with the format. So much of the characters are freaked out. Like we need to solve the problem, not these new major ones. Yeah, that's the greatest. Yeah, it's like they play with the format so much the characters are freaked out. Like, we need to solve the problem, not these new weirdos.

Yeah, I mean, like, say what you, whatever your opinion on South Park is, this is not like a crab people situation, right? Where like, that episode, like that is like next level of no continuity. We just couldn't come up with an ending. And that's like the thing I usually measure these types of things against.

I liked it later. I liked in later episodes of South Park, they would have the crab people show up as a joke of like, well, is this going to be the ending episode? No, it's not crab people. No. There's one scene where they're like planning something. I forget what the, I haven't watched South Park in a while,

but like the, they're talking about a movie they're making and they were like, what about crab people? Like in their writer's room? Yeah. Like this, this is not a crab people. And like, there's still a thread here.

Yeah. The mafia, like the mafia starts in act, they ended up too. So this mafia is connected and that they're, the other mafia is getting revenge. So, but it is,

it is sort of not resolving much, but what is there to resolve? Like Marge ends up selling a lot of pret resolving much But what is there to resolve like Marge Selling a lot of pretzels and I guess she's Like though it's a weird like she's happy Up for Homer for trying even though Actually yeah now that I just Talked about Marge's emotional arc

It shouldn't be her comforting Homer and it focusing on Homer's emotions It should be about Marge this is a Marge Episode have it be about how Marge feels Yeah Homer kind of takes over in act three I mean it should be about Marge. This is a Marge episode. Have it be about how Marge feels. Yeah, Homer kind of takes over in Act 3. That's not fair. I mean, it should be about how she learned that, yes, you should try. Because she has that scene about how, like,

if you just aim so low that no one will care if you succeed. Like, the arc, the natural arc you'd think would be, oh, I have learned that trying is somehow worthwhile, but this ending wouldn't give you that emotional release. This ending is just, hmm, Homer tried. Yeah, thinking of it that way from the aspect that this is a Jennifer Crenton, again, being handed a Marge script, which the writers hate doing Marge scripts. They see it as a negative.

Even though you get great stuff out of it, it seems like, oh, the new writers are giving a Marge script. That's what Oakley... Oakley Weinstein's first episode was a Marge episode because they just hand... It's low rung on the totem pole. They are undervalued in this show. And it just makes it sad to me that like, well, we had a Marge script, but the last third is Homer. It's all Homer. They're always worried. I love Marge and her jokes are harder to write. And I think her stories end up being better because she's a very emotional character but there is an anxiety over like well people get bored if it's just marge but uh i i enjoy her so much i love the i love the very boring characters on the show me too i really have

an appreciation for marge and i do i mean now that we're talking about it i do wish that it had focused more on her yeah in that final act because i i mean i think there was a c like the margin lisa dynamic even lisa being so disheartened like that that mom no you know like that could have paid off in a different way so went to the mafia or yeah if lisa had done it i do i like Marge and Homer having the sweet dynamic, though. That always warms my heart. So I can forgive it for that, because that is a very sweet thing to say. I really want to know what was in the original draft.

And one day we might interview Jennifer Crittenden. She's, I think, far too busy to talk to us. She's the executive producer on Veep right now. I'll give her a call. Also, someone find me her number. On Twitter, she's not particularly number. I don't have that. On Twitter, she's not particularly active

on Twitter, which is crazy. You should always be on Twitter and have her blog off. Even if you're running a TV show, be on Twitter. The main thing she uses Twitter for, I've seen,

is actually she tweets out these funny pictures of when knotholes in trees look like vaginas. She tweets those out. You know, I respect that a lot. Somebody's got to do it.

I'm thinking about it. But she did. We need more Yannick representation on the internet. There's one thing I would cut at the end of this. It's just that Japanese accent. I'm just like, no, please. Or get a Japanese actor to say that. I don't know.

Not Hank Zaria. Well, yeah, the added layer to the accent is the way he ends please with the please-oo. It's just not right's not right it's right you wouldn't do on the end of like an s sound you you wouldn't have to do that people don't say desu like we we abuse say desu but you would just say des like you don't need the oo so that's like the the biggest tell for me is, that's not even what it would be. It didn't even get that right, which is kind of calls back to the, was Christopher speaking a real language? I really want to know.

That's the thing. Yeah. But they almost made it. Yeah. Almost. 97. I'll give them some credit, but not all the credit.

No. So yes, that was the twisted world of Marge Simpson. Thank you, Callie, for being on the show. Yes. Thank you so much.

Thank you for inviting me. Oh yeah, it was fun. Let us know, where can. Thank you, Callie, for being on the show. Yes, thank you so much. Thank you for inviting me. Oh, yeah, it was fun. Let us know where can we find you, promote your stuff. I know you're at GameSpot. Yes, I am. I did it. I did it. And let us know what you do there. It's been like five hours, I think. I just wanted, I didn't get an opportunity to throw it in, but when I told my mom I was doing this, she responded with Oakley Doakley. And so I just wanted to get that shout out.

But yeah. Is your mom a listener or will she be a listener she will definitely listen she already asked me about where she can find it okay I like your show

but not those foul mouthed boys oh no she talks to me she knows it's fine okay cool but I can plug my twitter handle I guess

which is another weeaboo thing about me it's inkydojiko I-N-K-Y-D-O-J-I-K-K-O because I'm clumsy I like that yeah so that's all that's going on i am like i said i'm the reviews editor at game spot so i do uh i oversee reviews at the site i review a lot of games myself i am reviewing destiny to forsaken currently do a

lot of shooter reviews but i also really like pokemon i am a very confusing person and you probably won't hear from me very much because uh review season is coming and i'm scared pray for kelly yes i don't know when this is airing but that's what's going on right now in my life weeks i i mean we're lucky to have gotten you right before review season at that at that point it's pretty much just like there's no especially if your reviews editor there's no time for nothing except for 17 different hundred hour games pretty much. And then just editing all of those. So I mean,

I'm excited. I really like my job. I just, I'm glad I got to come here before the chaos begins. As for us, we're supported by Patreon. If you want to help us out, we have all kinds of great incentives for you to give.

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slash TalkingSimpsonsHenry. Can you please let people know two things that are Patreon exclusive they should definitely listen to if they sign up today? Well, you know, we just had an interview with Mark Kirkland,

who has directed more episodes of The Simpsons than anybody. 84 he's working on right now. He's 84th. And we talked to him a ton about not just his 30 years on the show, but also how he got started in the animation industry in the late 70s at Hanna-Barbera. It's amazing to hear. Also, we might have another cool interview by the time you listen to this. So check it out there. Another big cheese. Another by the time you listen to this so check it out there

another big cheese another big big cheese related to this season and also you should check out what a cartoon our sister show where we do the simpsony treatment but for tons of different animated series king of the hill cowboy bebop batman the animated series tons of other shows it's a real variety pack of animated series we do the same thing on there as we do with this so if you like us and you've made it this far I think you do patreon.com listening to learn my secrets patreon.com slash talking simpsons just five dollars a month and at ten dollars a month you get access to the premium videos we do one each month including where we go through every short from Simpsons history, just so we can be extra complete in our Simpsons Retrospecticus. As for me personally, I am on Twitter as Bob Servo, and my other podcast is called Retronauts.

It's a classic gaming podcast. It's been going on since 2006, so you might have heard of it. If not, check it out at retronauts.com or look for Retronauts wherever you listen to podcasts. Find a topic that you like and download the corresponding podcast. I think you'll like it. I hope you will. Henry, how about you? And I'm H-E-N-E-R-E-Y-G on Twitter. You can follow me there for tons of

political posts, but also news for when new episodes of this podcast and when a cartoon go up, and same with whenever a new exclusive goes live on the Patreon patreon check me there h-e-n-e-r-e-y-g thank you for listening folks we'll see you next week for mountain of madness Look at them! They've jumped on the one franchise I might possibly have considered thinking about becoming interested in.