Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - Two Cars In Every Garage And Three Eyes On Every Fish

Episode Date: November 4, 2015

We meet Blinky for the first time, learn to be cynical about politics, and watch Charles Montgomery Burns transform into a walking Citizen Kane reference, all in one episode. Only a moron wouldn’t listen to this episode of Talking Simpsons…

Transcribed by ESO, translated by — And who else is here today? Christopher Antistam. Oh, Henry Gilbert, hey. And I'm Dave Rudden, a.k.a. Joe Sixpack. Not Johnny Lunchpail? On behalf of Johnny Lunchpails and Joe Meatballs out there. Fuck Mr. Burns. God, he had so many great lines. They are great. But before we jump ahead of ourselves, this episode is Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes in Every Fish. I'm not going to say that title again.

Way too long, but it aired on November 1st, 1990. And Chris, what was happening in the world on this date? Oh my god! Alright, Bobby. This week in Simpsons history, President George H.W. Bush vetoes the Civil Rights Act of 1990 for fear of quotas. Washington, D.C., Mary and

Barry is sentenced to six months in jail for drug possession. Evander Holyfield knocks out Flash and the Pan Boxer. Buster Douglas and ABC announces it is standing by Cop Rock. It's a wonderfully dramatic musical police procedural. We believe in Cop Rock.

They had to make a public announcement. I know we hear everything you're saying that it's terrible and a dumb idea but we're standing by it. I believe that's called

the sunk cost fallacy. You know, so that's their fault. We all know how long Cop Rock lasted. It's in its 34th season, right? I had heard that compared to waiting for a bus and you're like,

well, it's been 30 minutes but I've waited this long for the bus. It'll have to show up. I need to waste more time. This is the first episode of the second season's production run. It is a Mr. Burns episode completely. The most Mr. Burns episode we've seen to date. I'm just happy we've done the first season. I think we're seeing the writers become as obsessed with Mr. Burns episode we've seen to date. I'm just happy, like, we've done the first season,

and I think we're seeing the writers become as obsessed with Mr. Burns as I am now. Yes. After season one, they clearly learned that Mr. Burns was their favorite character, and this is them going crazy. And I think they only wanted to write Mr. Burns. This is, like, super flowery, super old-timey dialogue. We'll get into more of that later. One of my favorite Conan O'Brien quotes about writing for The Simpsons was like,

if I could do anything, I would lie in a field all day and just come up with Mr. Burns lines all day long. I would too. I love it. You lily-livered jackanapes. That one's good, but it could be better. So this episode is also very much tied up into Citizen Kane to the point where they change Mr. Burns' name permanently. He's no longer just Montgomery Burns. He's Charles Montgomery Burns.

Just so we can say that line, like, You can't do this to me! You can't do this to me! I'm Charles Montgomery Burns! Nice. Exactly. Way to go, Hank. Alright, you're way better than me at this. Spoilers, that's what happens at the very end of this episode. But let's talk about how this episode

starts. So we have Bart and Lisa fishing. Sorry. Oh, did you have something else to say, Chris? I am a big fan, Brad, of old animation. Okay. I love me some old animation. It's gorgeous. It is beautiful.

It's very idyllic. These, like, I don't know. I'm obsessed with shit like this. You can listen to it later in time. But, like, I kind of grew up with my parents' entertainment and the whimsical stereotype of kids taking the day off to do anything. To fish? It took my friends 30 years to go fishing and be boring. Yeah, like sitting under a tree with a fishing line tied to your toe.

Yeah, one of my favorite Donald Duck cartoons is the nephews playing hooky. And all they want to do is go and fish and hang out. It doesn't happen. And I think a young person watching this now is like, why are Bart and Lisa going to go fish? But it was like... Why are they going outside? It was an established stereotype of what kids did

when they weren't forced to be in school. I also think a lot of these references, like the fishing, you know, kids fishing and the slingshots and stuff, they're intentionally, like, idiot... Sorry, not idiosyncratic, but anachronistic. Like, they are just making jokes about kids aren't actually doing this now.

I think that's what they're trying to say. It's kind of satirical. I think it makes a match with Bart, because he was still going to see the naughty movies, drinking soda too much. The reporter that shows up is an anachronism, too. He's a reporter from a 40s film. Dude, it's a reporter driving around in his car, trying to find

a scoop. Looking for a scoop. By driving around in his car trying to find a scoop. Looking for a scoop. By the way, you're listening to a room full of writers who are lamenting the idea of a writer with any free time. Well, we kind of do

the same thing but with the internet. We just drive around the internet looking for a scoop. This is nuts. I was like, how does a writer

have gas money? That's impossible, right? A car? It's a car. Something about this intro just felt like season one to me. Well, for one thing,

the theme that plays in is like the very... Do-do-do-do. Oh, right. That old, like the first season theme that I just... It's in my brain is that way. But just like the whole how quaint it is at the start. Yeah, you can tell it's still very, very early season two. Was that the first ever Bart Simpson, Who the...

Bart Simpson, Who the Hell Are You? I think so. Didn't say that in season one. I don't think he did. Out loud, yeah. Yeah, it was on a t-shirt maybe before this. It was on on a t-shirt before that so that was another of those moments of like uh it's not a bard t-shirt let's see you should probably say love his response to the guy like we didn't talk to our elders like did he have it no I don't damn it you were looking at the keyboard uh we don't

talk to her excuse me sir but I am of my generation and we do I love that my favorite retorts to anything he just totally shut down an adult. Yeah, shut down an adult. You don't get those opportunities very often. Sorry, with the quotes, I mostly also fell in love with Mr. Burns on this one and mostly Mr. Burns quotes. It's impossible not to. Let's actually establish what's happening.

Bart and Lisa catch a three-eyed fish, which prompts an investigation of the nuclear power plant by the Governor Mary Bailey, who I don't think she shows up anymore. She did return in like 18th season oh you're right yeah well they must i think they did the commentary for this when they remember like oh we have an official governor of them we should bring her back or whatever state springfield i i just wanted to point that out mary bailey is the only person of that age that has ever been

depicted on the simpsons her neck is kind of of veiny. Like a 50 year old woman. But there's Marge. And there's people in Springfield Retirement Castle. And then Mary Bailey is the only in between. She is the only in between. Of like a 50 year old woman. That The Simpsons has ever drawn. I mean it does seem pretty rare.

Maybe other than a guest star. Between middle age and elderly. There's like no one in Springfield in that zone. She's wrinkly but she's not gray. Which distinguishes her. Again, that's what this show is about. Off the top of my head, the only person I can think of is Rodney Dangerfield's character. And that was like, yeah, I couldn't tell.

You're all going to get laid. He seemed older than Homer. By the way, we'll get to that episode in about four years. We'll see you then. So the plan is investigated by some inspectors. We'll see another four seasons. Do you have anything from that, Hank? Oh, I love that stuff.

Yeah, there's so much going on, and Mr. Burns is just trying to shove it all under the rug, essentially. Okay, man. Geiger counter's on. I suppose that's normal background radiation, the kind you'd find in any well-maintained nuclear facility, or for that matter, playgrounds and hospitals. Sorry.

And then also, them just checking all the things. I love the way Burns reacts in these things. Gum used to seal crack in cooling tower. I'm as shocked as you are. Plutonium rod used as paperweight. Oh, now that shouldn't be.

Yeah, well, it's always been like that. He eventually learns out of excuses. The whole thing ends with them standing in knee-high nuclear waste. And he's like, well, just what do you want me to say? It's time for Brides. Talk to you later. Yeah, but this felt so oddly familiar but in a different way.

Because as I made the note and mentioned to Dave earlier, Homer Goes to College, which is one of my favorite episodes ever, ever, different way because as i made the note and mentioned to dave earlier homer goes to college which is one of my favorite episodes yeah ever ever he repeats these jokes but heightened yeah it's the same it's actually the same like three minute chunk and the same characters too the same inspectors i wondered if the animators did that as an in-joke to say like yeah we know these are the same where did you do i like i've known Bob for a while, but where I fell in love with you... Oh, thank you, Chris. ...was your exploration of that episode.

You finally confessed. Dude, I was smitten with, like, Bob is writing for me! That is one of the best animated episodes, period. And your exploration is of Homer goes... Where did you write that? I don't know the world.

For the Dead Homer Society. Dead Homer Society. A site that you love, Chris. I know that. No, I don't know any... Like, I've only heard Simpsons writers lament how much they hate them. Al Jean responds to them

all the time on Twitter. Like, I think he has apsons writers lament how much they hate them. Al Jean responds to them all the time on Twitter. Like, I think he has a love-hate relationship with them. Because he has to. He might have to. No, I love, yeah, just those excuses. And then when he, the bit with the bribe, I love that bit too. Okay, wait. Oh, go ahead.

No? Go ahead. Burns, if I didn't know better, I think you were trying to bribe me. Is there some confusion about this take it take it take it you poor schmo

okay here's something I wanted to point out about this character the safety inspector um does anybody here watch Bob Burgers oh yeah

he did look very familiar he looks exactly like Sam Seder's health inspector oh yeah to the placement of the eyes and the shape of the head wow I don't know if it's a specific reference but it's makes a lot of sense if you're a Bob's Burgers fan It looks exactly like Sam Seder's Health Inspector. Oh, yeah. To the placement of the eyes and the shape of the head. I don't know if it's a specific reference, but it's... Makes a lot of sense.

If you're a Bob's Burgers fan, you'll know exactly who I'm talking about. I do. I haven't seen that much of Bob's Burgers. But just the... So, yeah, the plant's in trouble. Yeah. And as a kid, I was like, well, now I just think Burns has all the money. There's not a limit to Burns' money.

So when Smithers says $56 million, you're like, okay, it's money. Who cares? He has the same amount of money Richie Rich has to fly money, where someone down on his luck friend can say, well, we could never do that unless I don't know, and then cut to whatever Richie Rich's money can afford. Burns and Smithers are not having money fights yet.

Money fights! I do love that bribe scene, just the way he does the bribe and the reaction, look Smithers, a pile of money and a very stupid man are still in this room. And the guy's like, I'll overlook this felony, Mr. Burns.

Yeah, I wrote that down. I didn't get that clip. But yeah, it's like, I'll overlook this felony. You'll overlook this felony? He just tried to bribe you. But it is, now that I'm older, this is how things work. Like, the health inspector comes in. You have 300 violations. Fix it.

Fix it? I think they failed at health. We're in that guy's space. I'll just take tens of thousands of dollars. Especially knowing that Burns never fixes it. I was annoyed by that by the end. The core problem is that Burns doesn't want to fix his plan to pay all that money, and that's still the problem at the end, but he just kind of forgets that.

And the plan is always that bad, if not worse, after this. I mean, it gets a lot worse, to be fair. That's the other thing. That's something, the problem. It's the same deal with Homer getting dumber every season. They start, this is the base level of the plant sucks and is a danger to the world. They have to keep building and building on that from season two. There's no giant spider you have to fight to get out of the plant at this point.

Overcome the spider's curse. Flippity-quot-a-vival-verse. Yeah. So Mr. Burns drowns his sorrow in like an old decanter. I assume it's full of brandy or something like that. I assume brandy. That's rich guy stuff. Absinthe.

When he sings a song that I really, this is the most I've ever felt anything. It's Brother Can You Spare a Dime. Yeah, it's Brother Can You Spare a Dime. Here are a few facts on it after this. Once I built a railroad. Made it run. So sad. Made it race against time. Once I built a railroad, now it's done, brother.

Can you spare a dime? It is a Depression-era song, if you couldn't tell. It was actually released a year before the New Deal, or before Roosevelt was elected. And these things changed around. But this was about guys who, in the post-World War I boom, built so many things. Like, I owned all this shit. I was so big. Now I'm broke like everybody else. Now I'm jumping out of a building.

That's how I feel now. Like, I worked my ass off on this project, and it's finally done. It's being well received. And it's like like it never mattered. Can you spare a dime? And the lyricist is, here's the other funny thing. It was one of the most popular songs of the 20s and into the 30s. And that the lyricist is the same as Over the Rainbow.

They wrote one of the most hopeless songs and one of the most hope-filled songs of a decade. They were the lyricists for both. I can only think of a dying Samoan now every time I hear it. Somewhere over the rainbow. It's lost all of its beauty. She's Hawaiian, I thought. It's not the same? Hold on, I need to check Wikipedia.

Two things about that scene really seemed weird to me. The first is Monty Burns crying, which I don't know if he's done since. This is the most they've made you empathize with Mr. Burns, and I don't think they would after this, because he's always just been a nightmare with a black heart. Well, I think part of his evil and his lore is that

he has the money to not work. His ego is somehow tied to the nuclear power plant. He can walk away whenever he wants. The other thing that freaks me out is that he's in the front seat of his car and it's not played as a joke. And he's driving drunk. He's driving drunk and Burns is driving it all as it was

established in Homer the Smithers. Burns never drives and doesn't know how to drive. He dismissed Smithers. You know what I have to say about that mistake? Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder. So, like, Mr. Burns accidentally wakes up Homer, who's sleeping at work at 9.30, and Homer finds Mr. Burns crying in his car, and he unwittingly convinces him to run for governor

because I believe Mr. Burns says it's getting to where no one is. We're contaminating the planet. Well, nobody's perfect. Can't the government just get off our backs? You know, I was just telling the wife that if I was governor, I'd do things a lot differently. Don't get off your soapbox, Simpson. Do you realize how much it costs to run for office? More than any honest man can afford.

I bet you could afford it, though. Yeah. I would not have stammered my way through that line if I knew you. But, yeah, so this essentially, Homer accidentally, like, kickstarts this whole thing, and he's basically forced aside with Burns to keep his job. It always strikes me weird now that because he thought of that, that literally defines Homer's political outlook. He had never thought about who he wanted to vote for, didn't know his wife was a Mary

Bailey family, but because of this relationship. Well, and this is kind of a timeless, when I was watching it, I thought, oh, this is such a timeless political story. The story of the rich guy who hates taxes and the government, so he's so rich he can run for office. I think it's become way more common, though, in recent years. I think Ross Perot was the first major standout. This crazy rich man is going to solve our problems. Well, you'd see it more in – Throw your vote away. Ross Perot was the first major standout. Like, this crazy rich man is going to solve our problems. Well, you'd see it more in like – Throw your vote away.

I think you'd see it more in city or state elections or even maybe in like Congress. But it would only be a year or two after this episode aired that Ross Perot would show that even a rich man could buy his way into the presidency. Just like, yeah, I'll be the independent. I'll take a 30-year bonus. I wanted to see how long it would take for one of you to mention Donald Trump. I just assumed it would happen right away. I have Trump written here in huge caps. I mean, Mr. Burns is essentially Donald Trump.

I mean, the same kind of story, like this wealthy jerk. I don't think that's controversial to call him a jerk. No, he's probably taking his own political pliings and things that are bothering him personally and using this like, the only way I can stop this is by controlling everything. Well, I have to imagine that Trump has a team like these guys. Now, here's the problem as I see it. While Governor Bailey is beloved by all, 98% of the voters rate you as despicable or worse.

That's why we've assembled the finest campaign team money can buy. Their job to turn this Mr. Burns into this. Why are my teeth showing like that? Because you're smiling. Ah, excellent. Landmark. Hey, this is exactly the kind of trickery I'm paying you for. He refers to it as trickery.

I believe he said excellent before, but this is the first Tented Fingers excellent. That's the first Tented Fingers excellent. He says it one more time in the episode just, I think, to solidify. He goes too high on that one, though. And something I was obsessed with the previous episode, Bob, is that you pointed out for Burn's character, he wouldn't have a boardroom full of people because he's an

maniacal asshole who wants the buck to stop with him. This is like the only other time we see the boardroom. I feel like he's entering a sphere he's not familiar with, so maybe that's why he needs them. The boardroom is being used for the first time we see the boardroom. I feel like he's entering a sphere he's not familiar with. So maybe that's why he needs them. The boardroom is being used for the first time, including, which I only wrote down, he has hired a garbologist. I had to put the subtitles on to see what they were saying. Garbologist.

Yeah. And I think they meant some guy to dig through the garbage of your opponent. It's one of those things I call a Lost Simpsons joke. But he's like, this is your garbologist. And then, boom, they're on to the next joke. Because there's no laugh track. Mr. Burns' main advisor is basically Dan Castellaneta's regular voice. He's just playing up his Chicago accent.

And it's like, oh, that's just Dan Castellaneta talking. Or it's close to his Roy Cohn lawyer voice, too. Oh, yeah. It's maybe like a half step down from that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like their finding, I think, was actually cut from syndication. Oh, that she got felt up? Yes.

The entirety of their findings is some guy that was her classmate in the seventh grade, do you have any dirt? He said he felt her up. Not good enough. And so also their lessons are totally, their insight into Burns' campaign is totally what they'd say now. If we're going to go forward, we have to neutralize the three-eyed fish right now. They get out in front of it, and their cover for Blinky is so great. This was the paid political thing.

My favorite 1U Simpsons character, Charles Darwin. Our actor playing. He's so derpy. I don't know if it's Darwin. He's so derpy. I don't know if it's intentional, but he's a reportable actor. He doesn't move. He stands in one spot

and stares in a certain way and never moves his face. Just his mouth moves. So you're saying this fish might have an advantage over other fish.

It may in fact be a kind of super fish. I wouldn't mind having a third eye, would you? No. The animation on that bit I love too that Burns puts his hands in his pockets

like folksyism. No. I don't want to talk about it too long, but that's what I love about the scene is that Burns is moving around a lot and that Charles Darwin character is just a Hanna-Barberica tertiary. Like a cardboard cutout, basically.

He doesn't move. He doesn't even move his pupils. He just talks and looks in one direction. That's why I can imagine him right now in my head. I also believe on the commentary they bring up that the tusks came back bad on the elephant, and they had to reanimate them. They were told, like,

this will cost an astronomical amount of money, but we have to do it. It's just too glaring of an area. Yeah, it's too glaring. You can't have the elephant's center on an area you can't have the the the elephant center on screen he can't have gray tusks and they also mentioned how that was a problem they had to just ignore when they did the loch ness monster and it came back pink and they're like this looks hideous but he's in a third of the episode close to it they couldn't reanimate

yeah that did stand out as weird to me until I heard the commentary and found out why. That's a weak episode, though. It's not very good. Mr. Burns is essentially playing the political game by appealing to people's worst side. Their most base impulse is just screaming about lowering taxes and talking about fat cats in the government. It's amazing now. The politics

have not changed at all. Not really. They have slightly different outlets now. It's predicting soundbite culture and I don't know. I'd say Texas are too high! And the bureaucrats

in the state capitol! That's a direct Citizen Kane riff, isn't it? Yes. There's at least five lines ripped directly

from Citizen Kane. Citizen Kane! Do you want to just talk let's just get into Citizen Kane now. Let's talk about it's a okay, what do we even say? Twice a year I get drunk and watch Citizen Kane and laugh my ass off. I into Citizen Kane now let's talk about it's a okay what do we even say

twice a year I get drunk and watch Citizen Kane and laugh my ass off I love Citizen Kane I love it a lot so much I know it's instilled in me

from taking a like I'm a film minor please don't treat me any differently but I have several English degrees Chris there's no shame

in this room but it's like it was this thing that I was taught and hammered all this shit about but it really is like to me the most fast ppaced movie on a narrative level. It's conveying a shitload of information.

I hate the idea that people are like, it's full screen and black and white, so it's old and boring. It is so fast. Citizen Kane is so fast. Visual storytelling is incredible. The league's ahead of everything that was happening then, and it's still beautiful today. You don't need us to tell you Citizen Kane is good. You don't. But I will say it makes every other movie from that era

look like it's like 50 years younger, like a silent movie. But I've probably written 100 pages on Citizen Kane. I watch it twice a year, if not more. I do love the film. There's not as many things in it because I see it mentioned a lot in conjunction, but there's not a lot of direct references.

The line at the end that you already played, that's the only real direct reference. For me, watching Citizen Kane after seeing a decade of The Simpsons, when I first saw Citizen Kane for the first time, it was going, I know that scene, I know that scene, this one, this one, this one. After this, Burns is Charles Foster Kane. At moments of this birthday party,

there's different things that happen throughout the next five years. The flashbacks of Bobo. He becomes Charles Foster Kane. Watching the movie is kind of like a Rosetta Stone to all the references from the 90s and 2000s. Seriously, I emphasize that every time I talk about it. I don't want to say you need to watch Citizen Kane as a medicinal... Do you like culture? It's so much fun for me. I love Citizen Kane so much.

But also, who could say no to Burns' theme song? It's not his fault that the stadium collapsed. You know what's weird? The stupid Bush era, if we can slam it once and not get very political, the, I'm George Bush, I approve this message, that has to be done at the end of every campaign ad. Yeah, that's right. It doesn't happen here, and I was waiting for it as if it had ever happened, and it never does. I think it was campaign reform laws or something.

Yeah, for the campaign reform that then would also lead to corporations being people that can just give whatever amount of money they want. This was also aired during the week the president, George H.W., just repealed the Civil Rights Act. Way to go, buddy. It was an election week that it came out to, or the week before. If it was Thursday, November the 1st, then the next week was Tuesday. Barney makes a reference to bars being closed when there are elections. Oh, no.

An election? That's one of those deals where they close the bars, isn't it? Sorry, Barney. Is that really a thing? My parents told me that was a law when that happened. I've never, in my life as being a voter, I've never heard of bars being closed.

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Like there are always these weird like arcane laws. You can't sell beer on a Sunday. Yeah, like so election day could be a federal holiday in which you have to close the bars. Growing up in Tallahassee, we went to this one guy, this liquor mart created by an Arab guy. And he said to us very succinctly, and we're 18, this town only has a finite amount of liquor licenses. So there's basically 12 people in the town. So what I want to do is I want to shut down the guy across the street. So you're underage,

you tell all your friends to come here. Tell all your friends to come here, I'll sell to you all you want. We've got to put that guy out of business because I want my liquor license. So Chris, you worked at Suncoast, right? I did. I overheard this on a podcast. Did you guys have secret shoppers where you'd go to different stores and report on them? Like, they're selling this early.

Shut them down, Obama. Yeah, they were third-party people they hired to do that. It's a cutthroat world. When I worked at Blockbuster, we had permission to rent out the Star Fox GameCube game early. It was a deal between Blockbuster and Nintendo. But I was the only one in the office

at the store who knew that because it was online and nobody else read it. But then Rhino Games saw we were selling it early they didn't know the deal either and they reported us to nintendo like they broke street day i'm telling on you it was maddening to see all that happening that's the fight in america and most other countries uh schools and works close so people can go and they're free to go vote at their leisure throughout the day because it's a very important day. I've never heard that bars are closed.

Now you need an ID and good luck getting off work. What's the implication? The implication? That voting is important and that you need to... It is, but voting is important but we know how much these guys like booze. So if we close the bars we'll get the drunks voting

in droves. I think that they thought drinking would impair your judgment. Yeah, that could be it. When you think about voting, and I don't, by the way, and I don't, but when do I do it? During bar hours? Well, Barney is always drunk. I know, but that's what I'm saying. That's why I don't understand the reference at all.

So I guess they're just encouraging alcoholics, just one day, don't day drink, and then maybe we'll open up at night. Switch to afternoon drinking. Sleep in. So we're getting a little bit off topic, but here's what happens next. Burns needs one more move to push him over the edge to be really appealing to the voters, and that is having dinner with a family. And it looks like the Simpsons are the most lowbrow family. He's like, they want to hit bottom to appeal to as many people as possible. So they're going to have a televised meal

with the Simpsons. So at this point in the show's history, it was a new thing for a main character who would have no reason to spend any time around the Simpsons

to then realize that by the last act he has to be in forced contact with the Simpsons. Right. Now, that's why like in season seven or eight

it was. I love that joke. Yeah, when Smithers says, nah, I'll just get Homer. Nah, nuts to this. Nuts to this, I'll just get Homer Simpson. Because it's obvious that's where all fate leads to for any character that isn't the Simpsons. You will be forced to be with the Simpsons.

But this was different here. It was just like, oh, I guess this is the most Homer and Burns ever spent together. And basically, Homer's a huge dick in this part because he's basically forcing Marge to cook for the family for this event to support Mr. Burns. And there's something he tells her that basically sabotages the entire thing. Do you have that line, Henry? Because I have it written down here. No, I don't have that one, sorry. So he just says to Marge, you don't need to express yourself through voting.

You can express yourself in the lovely house or even the food you make. So she just is like, okay, well, we're going to find out what happens next. I'll do that. So here's what I got confused by. This comes up again when he's like, I just want to snuggle. Oh, yeah. It's one of the creepiest. Well, because, like, at that point, I don't think snuggling was analogous to

Marge and Homer fucking but to me it is I think now snuggle is their official code for it but she says I don't want to snuggle I was like why is that a problem yeah I was super confused I was hoping for the non-dark interpretation

that Homer is not a rapist he's not a rapist he just had to vote the right way. I think the indication was that Marge does not enjoy sex with Homer. Well, alright. And then them getting trained, the family being trained to say what they're supposed to say, it leads to one

of the lines like, I think that we say all the times to each other. We're hoping that one of the children might pop up with a question about the upcoming election. Little girl, do you think you can memorize this by dinner time tomorrow? Mr. Burns, your campaign seems to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular?

Very good. Well, as long as I'm asking something, can I ask him to assuage my fears that he's contaminating the planet in a manner that may one day render it uninhabitable? No, dear. The card question will be fine. And then Burns, when she asks the question to Burns later, Burns is like,

ooh, a tough question, but a fair one. Yeah, we have to mention that, like, okay, so it's funny to see what mistakes shut down an election. Like, Dean, he screamed once. He was excited about being president, so he was not allowed to be president. Mr. Burns encounters, like like six gaffes.

Like the cat tackles him. The dog tackles him. That for me I believe was cut out in syndication. All the animals mauling Mr. Burns. It's a long joke in terms of because it has to get to the dog tackles him first. Because I don't know. I'm just analyzing it like a cat tackling a human, that's a funny joke. It is.

But I feel like I've never seen it. I love the little bit where he kisses him like, oh, kitty, kitty. As a personal note for me, I mentioned it last episode. I was so in love with the Halloween episode, I decided with this episode, not because it was this episode, but this is the episode I started taping The Simpsons and watching it one to two times a day. So while this show had been on the air for a while, for me, this is where the real weird fandom starts. I have this episode memorized. I watched it a lot.

And there's a great line from Bart before the dinner starts. Are we ready for that line yet? Oh, the St. Grace one? Yeah. Do you have that? Bart, would you like to say grace? Dear God, we pay for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing. Only an innocent child could get away with such blasphemy.

God bless them all. Amen. Apparently that was an incredibly controversial line. That was like a line that uptight Simpsons haters would quote in the press. He was sacrilegious. I loved that joke as a kid. It wasn't a joke to me as a kid because that's how I thought too. I just bought this stuff. God didn't give us nothing.

I should have brought that up. This week in Simpsons, religion was a huge thing. Yes. Somehow managed to control all things that were good. It still is a big factor in elections. What every candidate's religious views are. Exactly.

What bored old people will vote for. Yes. And you have to go to a church. It's just this thing of like, hey, this guy... Nope, not going to tell that story. Hey, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

But my dad once... My dad multiple times told me of just like, my dad doesn't like Democrats. And he... One example he gave, like, oh, you see these Democrats and they have to go... They have to go to a black church and show off. times told me of just like my dad doesn't like democrats and he he one example gave like i see these democrats they have to go they have to go to a black church and show off i was like maybe they want to go there why is it why does race come into this geez well it's funny because the

entire room gasps at a child saying something naughty but now like kids have their toddler say the most filthy disgusting things and put it on YouTube. I've been just in several grocery stores like, that guy is fat. Like, Jesus, kid. How do I prescribe you a filter? He's trying to go viral, Chris. So, and we are now introduced to Marge's sweet revenge, and I guess it's served cold based on how that fish looks.

Yeah, it's really weird. Let's get a listen here. Alright, three-eyed fish. Can I have your plate, Mr. Burns? His noises there listen here alright three eyed fish can I have your plate Mr. Burns his noises they're just like he is very much stewing in his own juices

yeah I love that that's a great animation sequence I had finished before it hit the ground I'm sorry

I had the one finished before it hit the it was ruined before it hit the ground like I wanted to ask you guys to listen to commentary there is in listen to the commentary.

In terms of the animation, there's one scene where Homer's getting done up for the news crew, and his hair is done. He's looking into a mirror, and he's like, but his face looks infuriating. Hello, handsome. Hey, get that stuff off his face.

We're here to have dinner with a common man, not Tyrone Power. Tyrone Power. Probably had common man, not Tyrone Power. Tyrone Power. Probably had to look up who Tyrone Power was. I think Chris is... I didn't know who it was. They gave him eyebrows. Yeah.

And they were arching downward. Yeah, Homer never has eyebrows. He looks so pissed, and I wonder, was that a replaced line for something harsher or somehow censored? No, I think it was that he had fake eyelashes attached. Yeah. It was supposed to be the effect of makeup. I went back and watched it.

It's in his mouth and his eyebrows. I swear to God he's saying something really angry. It could have been a line they changed. They did that a lot back then. It's the beauty of animation. But who is Tyrone Power? He was a big old Hollywood movie star. If you see somebody who's with with too much makeup from like the silent

error, a little afterward, like he's just the most movie starry movie star of the, of that, of big old Hollywood. And so that's the joke there that that's the joke. That's a joke there that it's such a Hollywood type thing that that's who

Tyrone power is. So Marge then unveils the, the three eyed fish. I'm not sure if it's who Tyrone Power is. So Marge then unveils the three-eyed fish. I'm not sure if it's the three-eyed fish. I assume Burns has possession of Blinky. I assume they're one of many Blinkys. That's my continuity issue. I don't want to harp on it. That's what I don't entirely understand. It's a three-eyed fish, but

it isn't moving. If you know animation from that era, the hand-drawn animation, it looks like there's a flap that they added in later. And there's a sound effect. Yeah. I like that it's such an... I took that to mean it's such an irradiated fish that even though it's been cooked, part of it's still alive or reacting. That's a wonderful interpretation.

That's how I interpreted it, too, this time. I didn't. And that also makes it inedible. I assume that Marge caught another Blinky because that river is full of three-eyed fish. Well, what I took it to mean was Bart caught blinky and this is the blinky that Bart catches in the beginning and they caught that. That's a really old fish at that point. Yeah. Unless he

kept it alive like in a bowl or something. But it also like even thinking like, okay, so that she killed his fish. Exactly. They killed the Marge killed the fish. I said it does seem kind of cruel that they would kill and eat the fish. And also like even if... By the the way it's right up there in the refrigerator i got a universal studio yeah i love that blinky the fish and even

if burns ate the fish he was just defending the fish on tv like a few weeks ago like why would you be so mean to this poor fish well he did make sure to say oh the tasting can't be beat oh okay he was giving himself the rope to hang himself that was airtight and you know what i realized i forgot to mention that. When he did that, I think that whole scene of him saying, like, but please leave alone poor. That's a Nixon thing. That's him with checkers. With him with checkers the dog, which goes back to the 50s.

Like, when he was, when, short story, short version is, when Nixon was running as vice president to Eisenhower, somebody said he took all these bribes and then he had this public meeting where he's like I didn't take any bribes except being given this dog by somebody and if you're going to pick on me fine but don't pick on poor old checkers

Matt Groening hates Nixon and you see more of that in Futurama than you do here but there's also several Dukakis jokes in this episode? yeah in the tank And you see more of that in Futurama than you do here. There's also several Dukakis jokes. In this episode? Yeah, in the tank. I love that we did a laser time episode.

It was Brett's idea. It's hard to convey, but it's the moment you become culturally aware. And falling in love with The Simpsons kind of recognizes that. And I'm aware there's an election going on with H.. Bush, H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis. And like, I don't know. I remember my dad and I both laughing at this because we instantly got to their referencing Michael Dukakis. Though that seemed to raise,

him doing that for Burns raised his profile and improved his stuff. So anyway, yeah, Burns loses the election or he can't, that was something I wish, I wish most politicians would do. And it's like, no, it's obvious you're not going to win. All right, I'm out. See you.

And all the advisors go where the money is. So they're not going to help him anymore because they know he's done. And then Mr. Burns has a, right from Citizen Kane, an old man's impotent rage freak out. And it's great. I was wondering, because he, Smithers, tip this over for me. Is this the first Burns is weak joke? I think him getting knocked down by the cat too. I think this episode is the first runner that Burns is a weak old man.

But super humanly weak. I think a lot of it is. He's not very strong when they're at his house playing the games in season one. He's not particularly strong there. That's right. I think more of it is him bossing Smithers around because he doesn't want

to trash the place himself because he doesn't want to expel the energy. But also, that scene in Citizen Kane is like a sad scene because it's like just a weak old man

just knocking his own stuff over. Expressing his rage in the only impotent way he can. It's the best. I love him smashing that shit. It's a really good scene. And I didn't realize

that was the rep as a kid, obviously. But even watching now, I was like, oh, this is so specifically CFK breaking shit. Please watch Citizen Kane. I cannot emphasize it enough. It also happens at the end of The Room. Any Room fans out there? I got mad that he ripped off Citizen Kane. So right after that came my favorite line of the episode.

Ironic, isn't it, Smithers? This anonymous clan of slack-jawed troglodytes has cost me the election. And yet if I were to have them killed, I would be the one to go to jail. That's democracy for you. You are noble and poetic in defeat, sir. That's why I don't want Donald Trump. He doesn't understand. Yeah.

He's like, I should be allowed to kill them. Why can't I kill these people? They really irritated me. He immediately drops understand. Yeah. He's like, I should be allowed to kill them. Why can't I kill these people? It really irritated me. He immediately drops the folksiness, and he's just like, I want these people dead, and I'm not allowed to. That's democracy. My line of the show is, let's go home and destroy something tasteful. And doesn't Homer help him trash their own house? Yeah, he's trying to stop him, and he's like, break something, damn you.

And he smashes his bars. Oh, God. And my line of the episode is earlier, the runaway train. Yeah, the runaway. The momentum of a runaway freight train. We say that to each other so often when we're trying to, whenever we need to express somebody saying something they don't mean. Yeah, if you're just starting, like, Laser Times, our pop culture show, and our 100th episode was all about, it's just called Simpsons reference. Because I am convinced people like us can speak

in a language of simpsons where things wouldn't make sense to like it a language that conveys through simpsons references we can convey anything yeah uh and it's really because i just like talking to people via hangout like younger people like who don't speak the language of the simpsons i can't even imagine you like i when i My girlfriend didn't grow up watching the show, so I will always be muttering references to myself as I see them happening in real life. She's like, what are you talking about? And then I have to give too much context and over-explain it, and then I get embarrassed.

The most I ever laughed was on an episode of EG Empire where Henry was trying to explain the superiority of a fucking Wii. Silent Hill shattering the memory. Because you pick up, he's like, yeah, you got to pick up the Wii remote as a phone. And Brett just goes, yabba dabba doo, I like talking to you. And I had to stop the show because I couldn't stop laughing.

And I was like destroyed because I was like, that's the best. That was my most salient point. That was such a good takedown. I can't believe you ruined me. Someone needed to do the goofy laugh. It's like the average person wouldn't understand that slightly. But hey, you guys listening do. Well, yeah.

And I mean, when we started our Patreon and people donated and they unlocked The Simpsons show, a lot of people said, like, your Patreon has the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular? And I was just like, I love our audience. You found the right people. Patreon.com slash laser time. First season's there. Dave, I think you said you thought this is the best episode of season two, maybe. Yeah, I just can't... You said it was quotable

at least. Yeah, the quotes that, like, yeah, that one, and just, like, yeah, the entire interaction at the dinner table was great. Like, when Mr. Burns, like, takes the question from Homer and he's like, I didn't expect this to be a debate. And Homer's like, I was just reading the card. I just love that

hate-ness. He's so clueless. And this episode ends with a very common theme in the early Simpsons in which it's like, oh, I failed. But your standards are so low you can't possibly fail. You're not aspiring to anything, so you can never fail. And that's kind of the moral. I was more wondering if it established that like

Burns threatened Homer Simpson throughout the rest of his career and then immediately forgets that's right it sets up that theme that Burns will never Homer is so unmemorable no matter what he does to his boss there is a level of continuity to this because it is the set up of like

you need to know who Burns is for this episode to matter too. But also, Bart has his clip like a clipping of his article of him catching Blinky and there's also a clipping next to it of the decapitation of Jebediah

Springfield. Oh right, yeah, in the beginning. It was a weird hint of continuity in the world of The Simpsons which would come to gradually become overwhelming to the show. For sure, yeah. So that has been Talking Simpsons. Thank you so much for joining us, everybody.

I am Bob Mackie, by the way, and I have another podcast called Retronauts. That clip has never been played on this show. I know. It's so stupid. Why not? Okay, so my other podcast is called Retronauts. It's class in gaming. It's great.

It comes out every week. Please subscribe or listen to it. And I'm Bob Servo on Twitter. Everybody else, get your plugs in. Ah, KNT's on Twitter, but I also co-host the show Laser Time with a bunch of these idiots every week on Laser Time. We're all co-hosts. You guys have

built some shows this year. What was the show you built this year? Oh, I did one on celebrity gaffes. How to survive a scandal. I think Burns had listened to that episode. And Dave handled Evil Kids, again, one of my favorite things that had the most... Hello, mother. The most negative attention I've gotten in a while.

Because we talked about our... Yeah, just for evil things I did as a kid. And apparently I surpassed most people. You should be in jail right now. Maybe. Well, again, if you've never heard... If you want to hear the first season, talk about this. It's on the Patreon at patreon.com slash lasertime. $5 a month. You get to hear the first season, talk about this. It's on the Patreon at

patreon.com slash lasertime. $5 a month, you get access to the first season. I do believe this is the longest episode we've ever done. I have to think that they're going to keep getting longer and longer as we have more to talk about. We love Burn so much, though. We'll run out of things to talk about. Once all the firsts are out of the way.

Well, that's it, everybody. We'll see you next week with a brand new episode. Have a good one