Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - You Only Move Twice With Allie Goertz & Julia Prescott

Episode Date: July 25, 2018

Hank Scorpio is here! And an episode this major means having special guests! We've got Allie and Julia from Everything's Coming Up Simpsons, the OTHER top Simpsons podcast on the internet! We converse about Cypress Creek, pockets full of loose sugar, The Hammock District, reticulated chipmunks, and so much more in this special crossover podcast! So put your coat on backward and get to listening! Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons!

Ahoy, ahoy, everybody. We have some special news for you. Talking Simpsons is about to do its fourth live show this Saturday, July 28th at Piano Fight in San Francisco. 5.30 p.m. is when the doors summer and it's time to do a summer vacation episode. We'll be there. We'll have clips. It'll be just like sitting and listening to us, except you can be there and meet us and then drink beer too. And other kinds of alcohol. It's a perfect way to celebrate the summer, talking Simpson style. So that's Saturday, July 28th, the Piano Fight Bar, downtown in San Francisco, 5.30 p.m. The BART train goes right next to the venue,

so if you take public transit, it's really easy to reach. You don't even need to drive. That's right. Saturday, July 28th at 5.30 p.m. at Piano Fight. Be there and be square. I heartily endorse this event or product. Ahoy, ahoy, everybody. Welcome to Talking Simpsons, recorded live in the Hammock District. I'm your host, boiled celery enjoyer Bob Mackey, and this is our chronological exploration of The Simpsons. Who's here with me today?

Henry Gilberton. I've got a raging case of disposed of. Who else is here? Allie Gertz, and I'm reticulated. Yeah, Julia Prescott, I didn't know we were doing this, so I didn't prepare. And today's episode is You Only Move Twice. You're a northern reticulated chipmunk. Yes, you are. You are so reticulated. Today's episode aired on November 3rd, 1996.

And as always, Henry will tell us what happened on this mythical day in real world history. Oh my God! Oh boy, Bobby! Giacomo Leone of Italy wins the New York Marathon. Romeo plus Juliet equals number one at the box office. Whoa. And two days later, Bill Clinton is re-elected as president. Coincidence. Wow.

I mean, that Romeo plus Juliet, it was the cool, I think I listened to the soundtrack, but never actually saw it. It looked too scary and adult and mature as a kid. I was like, I'm only 14. I can't have these. We're like Romeo and Juliet, but it ended in tragedy. I was going to say John Leguizamo in I think his first legitimate role. Yeah, that movie's fucking great.

That sparked my thirst trap for Leo Dio. Leo Dio. Go to it. I think as a Leo-age boy, I was resentful of his fame and attractiveness. So I dodged that one. But yeah, I eventually watched it in my Baz Luhrmann watch down as I eventually do just for completeness sake. But then once he made Australia, I'm like, I'm not watching every Baz Luhrmann film. He made Australia.

He created the country. Wow. He's powerful. So our special guest today, everyone has been asking. We have a lot of guests that come through our stable, and they're always asking, like, I want to do You Only Move Twice. I want to do it. We're like, we're saving it for something else, and we're saving it for our competing, our competition, the Competing Simpsons podcast. Wow, I had no idea.

Yes, but I want to say this is a peacekeeping mission. We're on friendly terms. Yeah. I've been offered two drinks I have not passed out yet. Yeah, so hi, I'm Allie Gertz. And I'm Julia Prescott. And we're from Everything's Coming Up Simpsons. Anyway, we like to commit to a bit. Yep, we do.

We're excited to be here. We were very excited to just have you on our podcast. That should be coming out soon if it's not already out uh depending on when you're listening to it um but yeah we were we are very honored to be talking about what is uh easily in the top five episodes of all time at least that that's what i believe any sane person would say um it is truly easily the best guest uh appearance it's the best character that only shows up once. It's a perfect, perfect episode.

We've talked a lot about, you know, on our podcast, how the Simpsons movie should have been villain Hank Scorpio. Yeah, let's talk about that now. That's such bullshit. I'm still angry. I'm sure some Simpsons writers still are angry as well. Yeah, I am certain somebody wanted to do it. In our Mike Scully interview, I asked him, like, why wasn't that Scorpio?

And he just kind of was like, eh, I don't know. It's just he's a noncommittal, especially when he's the same guy. Russ Cargill is Scorpio, except less interesting. And he's with Rainier Wolfcastle, but it's not Rainier Wolfcastle. Both voiced by Albert Brooks, I think. Cargill and- Cargill and... Yeah. I mean, that was sort of like the thing that really pushed over the edge for me, where I'm like, you already got the guy in the studio.

Like, the hell? And he rants just like Scorpio, too, in the movie. It's a wasted opportunity. I agree. Scorpio's better. Well, this is the only Simpsons movie I need this episode. It feels like a movie. Yeah. It could have been a movie because they go to a different location. There's a

supervillain that's thwarted. It has its own theme song. Well, I guess he wins. Oh, yeah. The Scorpio theme song. It's such a classic episode. What surprised me in the research for this was that it was... It's the first episode that aired in Season 8 after the Treehouse, but it's a production

Season 7 one one so this was when they were like as they say tired as they were making it and but this this feels like intentionally a season premiere like let's let's start things over let's have a new setup and pretend there's a big part of this is that they want to pretend that the series is rebooting and they're leaving Springfield forever. Though I didn't even know that was the point of it until the commentaries because when I watched it, I never thought they were leaving Springfield forever. Well, can I also say that this was actually on the writer's room board for, I want to say, two years at the minimum. Josh Weinstein had spoken about this.

I host a Simpsons trivia show called Stonecutters in LA. Nerd. And he was our special guest once and he mentioned that. And that kind of broke my brain because, of course, I mean, it makes sense that they would really want to,

to a painstaking degree, make sure that they produce the best version of this story as possible and wait until it gets out there. But just as a fellow writer and creative, it made me go,

oh, great, you can ruminate on something and that's OK. Like I shouldn't be, you know, sweating the fact that I haven't written my movie yet or something, you know. Well, usually when Albert Books appears, he kind of overpowers the story in Bart's Inner Child. He's great in it as Brad Goodman, but the story doesn't really go anywhere because, as they say on the commentaries, like he ad-libs a ton. He records so much extra stuff. He writes his own jokes. So they're probably, in terms of a recording,

like two hours of Hank Scorpio on the books. Which we all need to listen to. Where can we access that? Heaven. As soon as you get to heaven, they give you that footage. I'm dying right now. I'd convert. Oh, yeah.

For that, yeah. Yeah, for that yeah yeah for that yeah uh dan castellaneta's uh his responses to all the things are so good too they're so natural they're so funny it's some of my favorite homer material even though homer himself is not being especially funny just all the uh-huh yeah that's right okay like all of those little tiny things that are going back to what i yeah brooks is saying is so funny. I also love just seeing Homer being valued and like having a good relationship with a boss in this episode. And trying to. He's not he's not lazy in this episode.

He's actually trying very hard. Right. Yeah. I just I love him like his opinion being valid and worthy. And there is a sunniness overall to this episode that I think, you know, helps translate it to being one of the most, uh, cult obsessed episodes of Simpsons fandom. I think Dan Castellaneta brings a lot of improv to Homer usually,

but with Albert, he gets to have a, a improv partner. I, it feels like they're always in the booth together. I think this is the last time they recorded together like this. Okay. Yeah.

But there's. It shows. There's so many great pauses of Homer just going like, no, or yeah. And he just gives a little bit, but just the right amount. It feels great. It's so good. Yeah. So this episode begins with Smithers in a great mood. Yeah.

Yeah. Mr. Smithers, may we offer you a ride to work? No, thank you. We're from Globex Corporation. We'd like to talk to you about an exciting employment opportunity in our nuclear division. Flattered, but spoken for. We're prepared to offer you an impressive salary plus health benefits for you and your life partner. I love it. plant. Here we are. Ten years experience. His name is...

Marge, I got a new job. It's with Globex Corporation. I get more money plus health benefits for me and my life partner. It shows how far this episode goes in that the woman in the car later kills Norman Schwarzkopf with her thighs at the end of the episode. So you have no idea that the episode is heading in that direction at this point. But his killer secretary is always there. Yeah. And I think, too, that reference to life partner, like that is that's just a normal thing, I think, in a lot of hiring deals, that it's not just a spouse that gets benefits.

It can be a domestic partner of some kind. But I think they did that because in 1995, it was all over the news that Disney was offering domestic partnership benefits, which caused some conservative groups to be very upset with Disney. That they were, because gay employees could then get their same sex and partner, you know what I mean. Yeah, absolutely. And so it's very clear that although, you know, he's in a great mood. He says, you know, flattered, best spoken for. I love it. But then it's the life partner line that kind of is just like, stay away from me and Burns. Yeah.

I love it. I love him being peak Burns sexual in this moment. It's really great. And it also, it's not a specifically different day for Smithers either. So you can assume that he always is just singing on his way to work, just happy to be working for Monty Byrne. I don't know if this parody of Silicon Valley or whatever, I mean, what is this, like the tech industry of the 90s, e-commerce, whatever's happening here. I don't know if that's lost the time because Elon Musk is very much a Hank Scorpio figure. He is actually making flamethrowers. But at this point in time, it was the era of like the crunchy, progressive CEO who was still a ruthless capitalist, you know, would slit his enemy's throats for a nickel.

But it was he offered his employees like nice houses to live in and they had a campus you could live in and things like that. I don't know if this this is lost to time, this reference they're going for. Yeah. Yeah, that's an interesting thing. And obviously, I think we'd be remiss to not talk about the Elon Musk, Hank Scorpio thing, just because that's what the whole internet talks about. But I have to say, Elon wishes. I cannot stand when people make that comparison. Cheerfully withdrawn. Yeah.

No, the whole internet says it, though, and people love to talk about it. And I totally see the connections. But come on. Just flamethrowers, you need to do. He's nowhere near as charming. He is dating Grimey, though. Grimey. There it is.

Yes, yes. I got nothing else to add. As she liked to be called. So, Homer's trying to sell them on it. I like how Marge calls it, like, not just Bart's lawyer lives here, but also that she's got this rut she doesn't want to get out of. That's how I feel about moving to. I was just like, well, look, this might be a more exciting place to move to. But I love my rut.

It just feels great. But Homer has just the VHS to change Marge's mind. Homer, I don't want to leave Springfield. I've dug myself into a happy little rut here, and I'm not about to hoist myself out of it Just bring the rut with you honey. Come on. Take a look Cypress Creek a tale of one city Let's watch up now. Are you trying to talk us into moving to this place? Oh, yeah, that's right. Let's watch this

place Somebody ought to build a town that works somebody did Oh, yeah, that's right. Let's watch this Somebody ought to build a town that works somebody did It's called Cypress Creek a planned community designed for the workers of the Globex Corporation. Cypress Creek, where dreams come true. Your dreams may vary from those of Globex Corporation and subsidiaries and shareholders. So every abandoned store turns into a coffee shop, a different kind of coffee shop, and the mailbox, sorry, James with certainty that anyone listening to this show knows exactly which little sound is each thing turning into. Because I could hear it in my head perfectly. I know. That's one of my favorite jokes about the dehumanization of homeless people.

Into. That's perfect. Not just of like, we live in San Francisco and people have written articles for San Francisco Times of like, why do I have to see homeless people? I'm going to my job and like F you, buddy. What a monster. Fuck you, grow a heart. Yeah. But this joke is such a perfect encapsulation of that idea of like, couldn't we just turn this person into a mailbox?

Yeah. It's just so cruel. Couldn't we just turn this person into a mailbox? It's kind of a thing. It's just so cruel, but with such a nice little saxophone. I think they said this was based on the Nike campus in Redmond or Seattle. Like in the Pacific Northwest, wherever that's happening. I think it's actually in Portland. Oh, Portland? Now that I'm thinking about it.

Okay. Or something. It's in there. I'm pretty sure Facebook. I mean, Facebook has a campus by where we are, but they might also have a campus in the Seattle area, too. I would bet Microsoft is where they're pulling this from.

Yeah. It feels, especially all those coffee shop jokes, like this was before there were Starbucks in every single place, so when I think of a 90s coffee shop joke, I think of Seattle. Yeah, that makes sense to me. Kind of reminds me of the stuff Tim andic would later do of making fun of the the promotional videos made with such earnestness but poorly that's actually like my favorite component of their show because i

i don't know i like pure honest people and pure honest things there's something that is very unsettling and how rascally and puckish their approach to comedy can be that i feel uh borderline exploitative yeah yeah i i assume that they were tempted to stick troy mcclure into this video but they're like no it's it wouldn't fit but like i feel like he's missing in some way well because they're trying to sell us the audience on this community not being something that's going to have a nefarious purpose. I think since Troy is such a representative of shitty DMV videos and

other shitty made-for-TV movies that it would have put a weird pallor on. He's always being disingenuous. In canon, maybe Scorpio is like, we can do better than Troy McClure. We don't need to hire that washed-up guy. Right, of course. He convinces them and they're going to move away.

I like, oh yes, when they're showing off the house that they are trying to sell it, like first when the chimney falls out the window and then when you get the establishing shot in the next scene, the fallen chimney is still there. Like this, that little bit of continuity is appreciated. Yeah, country detail is great. And when I shop for apartments, I often do think like, oh, windows. there like this that little bit of uh continuity yeah country detail is great yeah and uh when i

shop for apartments i often do think like oh windows no i can't do that uh i really love so when the family is all kind of coming around on this idea of uh moving uh you know lisa's talked about this idea of just like oh you know i'm you know i'm it'd be nice to go somewhere where people aren't like shoving shoving you and knocking you down, and Bart immediately shoves her. I love it. And Homer's defensiveness, too, when the video's over. He's like, so what do you think of Cypress Creek and me now, Marge? It's finally showing her.

The show takes us very seriously. Then they have to sell the house, which I don't think they would do later. They just move them out immediately, just have more fun in Cypress Creek. Right, cut those corners in the story. And also they'd be like, well, didn't we show this like three times already? Viewers can just assume, but they see a little lugger, they've moved. Right. That reminds me of the title of this. Like, so you only move twice.

Obviously a reference to James Bond film, you only live twice. But it also, I think, is factually accurate for this point in the series. I think dancing Homer is the only other time they moved, so this would make the second time they moved, I believe. Can you think of a previous move to this one other than Dancing Homer? They moved to that houseboat in... Oh, shit, you're right.

I don't know if they actually moved in Dancing Homer. That was more like hiding. Yeah. I don't know, it's the Thompson's. It's a move, it's a move. I think he's talking to you. Sorry, sorry uh and so they decide to just abandon the place which i thought of that so many times i just moved apartments in

december for the first time in like eight years and i so just wanted to put up the abandoned side and be like i'm out of here it's yeah he is short of lighting everything on fire. Why did I think I needed all of these video games? I really love Homer walking Flanders through being a doormat. He's like, Oakley to Oakley. I love that he has taken Ned's downstairs bathtub. Are you going to be eating this in the other house? Yes. Just the body language on Homer getting in the way of him looking at it.

We talk all the time about how oakley and weinstein are such continuity nerds these are two not the bathtub but the other two things are things homer did borrow he borrowed the tv tray was the first thing he ever borrowed uh nad in lisa's first word and then the power sander you don't see him directly borrowed from it but that is the one that ruth powers borrows from Homer in March on the Lamb. And it splits on top of it, right? Standing away the floor. Yes.

I love that. They're such nerds in the best way. But they're looking out for us, too, because they're one of us. Yeah, I feel seen by them. So don't yell at us for a podcast for three hours long. We're just as obsessed. We're doing it for them. So then they leave town and there's a big farewell and goodbye.

This was when they really wanted folks to think like, no, we've rebooted the series. It's going to be in Cypress Creek from now on. We're saying, you're never going to see these funny characters again. Can you imagine? Yeah. Getting out of stink town? Yeah, I love that. Just Homer with the rose-tinted glasses.

This town's been awfully good to us. No, it hasn't. Oh, yeah. Even Burns says goodbye, though. I know, it's sweet. I like it. So long, Stinktown is the funniest version. Because at least Stinkfield would have liked it.

That's pretty much, and I know I've at least said this on three different occasions when I leave a hotel room so long stink town I said it when I broke up with somebody in my intro I was going to say recorded live in stink town but I didn't want to seem like a bay area snob I have nothing against Los Angeles

and the people within it so then they arrive in cypress creek they also mentioned on the commentary how they always remember this is the emerald caverns episode because they always they called it that that was the name of it until they changed it late in production and so for the writers this is always emerald caverns as they say like that's instead of the cypress creek yeah Yeah, instead of Cypress Creek. That, to me, that's like when we've watched some deleted scenes, and I think, like, would this be my favorite thing if it was that instead of this other scene?

Would I love this if it was Emerald Cavern? I think Cypress Creek is better. Much better. They do joke, like, yeah, that's really funny, Cypress Creek, right? That was worth it. Yeah, well, I just also think that it's, the beigiest words so i i dig that and you get alliteration yeah yeah this is also a john schwartzwelder one which i like we didn't ask uh oh no we did ask mike reese about schwartzwelder you guys did you ask yeah yeah we talked to mike

about him and i think we also talked to alje about him. We talked to everybody we can about him. He's such a mystery man. I want to know more. Though, I mean, Mike Reese is trying to dress down his mystery. Yes. But then I'm like, no, he still sounds like a real weird, an odd duck. Yeah. We're big old fans.

We love his books. We've made a joke about making a fake documentary called Searching for Schwarzwalder. Yeah, like a Searching for Sugar Man kind of riff. Yeah, so we embark on this journey to find out the true mystery of Schwarzwalder. And then we stop by Mike Scully's house to wish him well as we're about to leave. And he's like, you know, I have his phone number. I could just tell you where he lives. And he's like, oh.

Oh. All right. Well, okay. And then we find him. And then it's over. They cold call him on a commentary. That's the one time you hear him. So good.

Because at the end of it, I mean, I'm sure everyone's already listened to it, but it's such a good thing. At the end of it, he says just like, too bad this wasn't really John Schwarzwalder. Yeah, I know. I love it. Yeah, so he plays up that mystery too. But yeah, I'm sure you guys have already read Mike Reese's book. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. And I've read the Schwarzwalder books, too. Not all of them. He's made so many. He's made a lot. But The Time Machine did it. Yes. That's the first one.

It's great. It's like a joke every sentence, not even paragraph. Right, right. Speaking of funny characters, Hank Scorpio arrives Wow. My boss. Don't call me that word. I don't like things that elevate me above the other people. I'm just like you. Oh, sure, I come later in the day, I get paid a lot more,

and I take longer vacations, but I don't like the word boss. Hey, look at my feet. Okay. You like those moccasins? Look in your closet. There's a pair for you. Don't like them? Then neither do I. Get the hell out of here! Ever see a guy say goodbye to a shoe? Yes, once.

Mr. Scorpio, this house is almost too good for us. I keep expecting to get the bums rush. We don't have bums in our town, Marge, and if we did, they wouldn't rush. They'd be allowed to go at their own pace. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm in the middle of a fun run. See you at work tomorrow. Although I don't really like to call it work.

So, that's obviously such a huge controversy. Yeah. It is the dress of the Simpsons. I say teach the controversy. Yeah, so yes once is the one. Well, so we've gotten the answer now, but when I first heard it, I always took it as Homer, at some point before today,

had seen a man yell at his own shoes. I, too, interpreted it as that. That's me. Okay. Then who are these weirdos who think that he really means, yes, I just saw you throw your shoes. I'm so happy that the four people that host the Simpsons podcast are all in agreement. It's definitive now. Because Homer's not that quick.

Yeah. Why would he do that? Exactly. And then there are the scoundrels and liars who think Homer's saying, yeah, it's fun, or it was fun. Did people think that? Yeah, that was like, yeah, it's fun. No, I don't like this Mandela effect. You're wrong out there if you're listening.

But if you want the definitive statement on it, I did find a quote from an awesome BuzzFeed writer, Kat Angus, dug into this. She first contacted Oakley, Bill Oakley, but he admitted this was an improvised line. Of course. So they didn't write it. So they went to Dan Castellaneta and here's what he said. The line was improvised. Albert Brooks always improvised whenever he did the show. That line was a reflexive response to Albert's improvised line about

seeing a man say goodbye to a shoe. I probably thought it was a previous time, but it is funnier if he means he saw it at that moment. He's wrong. He's wrong. Well, he's right to think if Dan Castellaneta thinks it's funnier to misinterpret it, but he

says his intention was he'd seen it a previous time. So we're all right. Yes, that's the important thing. What's important is we're right. End the podcast entirely. So there are two jokes in this episode that are now real things, and one of them is Marge's auto-vac, which is now just a Roomba. That was a joke in 1996 that a thing would vacuum your house automatically.

Wow, that's crazy. And now it's just like, yeah, she's got a Roomba. And it's hard in these clips not to, I normally try not to have these long clips, but just every word Albert Brooks says in this is so good. It should be celebrated. Yes. And like the cadence of it,

like how fast the clip of his talking is. Switches emotions on a dime. A fun run, yeah. A fun run. And also his, I just love his defining himself as a boss like i don't like the word boss i mean i get paid more than you yeah i take longer vacations but i just love hank scorpio the entire time through this episode and i think it is sort of going back to what we were saying earlier is that he and like gives homer some purpose and some worth and he values him and so I love him as a result.

There's also, you know, apart from him being a dastardly villain and doing dastardly villain things, those are the only time that when he's trying to kill somebody, does it seem like he's a bad guy? Otherwise he seems fucking fantastic. I'd work for him tomorrow. Yeah.

It's so hard. It's truly a moral conflict. It's kind of the separating art from the artist thing that we deal with so much is if you love someone in some way for all the amazing things that's a good point do something bad and what do you do there would you take a supportive boss if you had to blow up france at the same time that's the question no one ever says i i i would also say that i would based on the character's history i would think. Burns has killed at least as many innocent people as Scorpio has, too. So may as well work for the nice one out of the two of those guys.

The lesser of two evils, yes. I want to say ignorance is bliss. I'm going to be as ignorant as possible. Well, and Homer is quite ignorant. That's why he's so happy. And the person who's not happy immediately is Marge, who has nothing to do in this. And that broke my heart of the line of like

I guess I'll see if the beds are still made. Oh that's great. Yeah Marge and Lisa get about 45 seconds of story each because everything has to get out of the way of Albert Brooks. Yeah and so Josh Weinstein said on this, I was at that Stonecutters as well and he was saying that he remembered

feeling bad that they didn't really give much to the lisa storyline her only story is that she has allergies and right like when they check in on her again nothing has really progressed but whatever it's you yeah albert brooks takes up a lot of space in this so i understand though i also i didn't think of it i i never noticed this until mike reese mentioned it in his book but that he he said that in John Schwarzwalder's episodes, he would routinely forget to write Marge or Lisa in it. So I wonder too if the underwriting of that maybe stems from Schwarzwalder's original script. Is there a Mrs. Schwarzwalder?

Yeah. I've also heard that he misspells character names in his scripts pretty routinely. It's funny that he let Spell character names in his scripts pretty routinely. It's funny, let's spell check, dude. Find and replace. Maggie gets even less. You just know that she hates her swing-a-ma-jig. That's it. That's not resolved.

What's happening there? I guess when they move, they don't bring that with them. That's very funny. But that's a pretty great deal, too. They get a monstrous house for free on top of paying for moving like it's i want to do it tomorrow yeah if just for that i would work i he didn't wouldn't even have to be that nice i would work for i would work for scorpio and i've worked in an open office plan and this just yuck i hate i want privacy i want chemicals i seeing this no walls thing that scorpio has is just like, ugh, what a bummer.

It just makes me tense thinking about my office jobs already. Still, that whole conversation of Homer going there for the first time is perfect every single second of it. Yeah, why don't we play it? You will notice, my new best friend, that we are pretty casual around here. Yes, sir. I will notice that. Very casual, Mr. Scorpion. Don't call me Mr. Scorpion. It's Mr. Scorpio, but don't call me that either. Yes, sir. I will notice that. Very casual, Mr. Scorpion. Don't call me Mr. Scorpion.

It's Mr. Scorpio, but don't call me that either. Call me Hank. Say, before we continue our tour, would you mind hanging my coat up on the wall, please? Mm-hmm. Let's see.

Relax, Homer and Globex. We don't believe in walls. Matter of fact, I didn't even give you my coat. I love this. Yeah, it's so... That drawing is amazing. The coat backwards.

Smiling like a madman. I feel like I've seen that on Simpsons Tattoo quite a bit. Scorpion is so funny. Don't call me that. It's Scorpio. Don't call me that either. I mean, he is evil, but I like that there's no twist. don't call me that either i mean he is evil but i like that there's no twist like usually when you have a quote-unquote cool boss a like i'm a straight

shooter i'm the cool boss he's not cool that's all a front he will tear into you but scorpio gives him her face time he's very supportive like i feel like i like that there's no twist that he is actually a dick yeah yeah you could be both and And his I don't even give you my coat thing is so great, too, that he wants to do sleight of hand magician work, but he didn't do it right. And that Homer just kind of has to take it like, do I tell him he did it backwards or do I just let it go? It's a very nervous smile he has. Please buy this. And also that Homer is so dressed up. Well, he's his work dressed up.

Meanwhile, everybody else is in casual office attire now, which is just, this is just the reality of, at least of the tech websites I worked at in San Francisco. That's just how it is. Yeah, and like treadmills in the office. I was laid off for a job and lots of people were getting treadmill desks before that happened. I was like, did my job pay for that? Treadmill desks? Are you kidding me? Did you guys have trust falls with your bosses?

Oh, no. No. No. I skipped out on it, but they did get a very hacky improv troupe to teach us to trust each other. We did have that. Oh, boy. I would never trust anyone who brought an improv class into my job. No way.

Stay in your lane. I'm cool with improv troupes, but not ones that bring rubber chickens with them. When they've had the rubber chicken, I'm like, you know what? Yeah, I think maybe I could just imagine a rubber chicken. The Sentence will be right back. How we use electricity can be smarter, cleaner and greener. At Electric Ireland, we can help guide you there.

You see, our new Net Zero Hub has all you need to know about smart meter plans, EV tariffs, solar panels and much more. Making your usage clearer, your trips greener, your home cozier, and your world brighter. Find our net zero hub at electricireland.ie. Get the hell out of here, moccasins. And hey, we want to thank this week our very, very, very special guests once more. The Everything's Coming Up Simpsons crew, Ellie Gertz and Julia Prescott.

We wouldn't have flown out to L.A. and recorded with them if it wasn't for their offer to host us and record at their studio. We are super duper appreciative. And hey, you should check out their podcast if you haven't yet. It's Everything's Coming Up Simpsons and we're going to be on an episode too so you can hear our thoughts on a future episode. Not to mention that this podcast

is brought to you by patreon.com slash talking simpsons. If you're a new listener or a long time one, you should totally check it out. Why? Well, not only does it support me and Bob doing this full-time, but it also gets you tons of extras. You can get every episode of Talking Simpsons a week early and ad-free. That means you could listen to The Homer They Fall right now on that website.

And if you sign up for $5 a month, you not just get that, but also access to our other podcast what a cartoon where me and bob with a guest go through a different cartoon each week we've done king of the hill waltz and grumman dexter's laboratory steven universe and even anime like cowboy bebop we cover it all and you can hear that on the what a cartoon podcast or if you sign up at patreon.com slash talking simpsons you'll get access to it right now and we have tons of other extras like our exclusive interviews with folks who'd worked on the series like mike reese mike scully david silverman even mimi pond the

woman who wrote the first ever episode of the simpsons and tons more and that's exclusively on the patreon check that out and a ton more stuff and sign up today at patreon.com slash talking simpsons so look we can't all work at a job with hammocks but who doesn't love listening to stuff while they're at work you probably enjoy listening to podcasts wouldn't you also like listening to an audiobook the other recent talking simpsons guest yes at patreon.com slash talking simpsons we interviewed mike reese about his brand new book springfield confidential it's a great interview we dig into a ton of stuff in that hour but if you want to hear his whole book read to you by mike reese himself you can get it

at audible trial.com slash talking simpsons you sign up for audible trial.com slash talking simpsons you get a free audio book that is yours to keep and that could be springfield confidential with mike reese you can stay on as a subscriber or you can just keep your book and say hey thanks but no thanks either way it's yours for free if you just sign up at audibletrial.com slash talking simpsons Without meaning to step on it, I love what the phone call pertains to when he gets the call and drops Homer. He's just like, Homer, there's been a problem. Somebody ate part of my lunch. There's been a problem. Part of.

I love it. That one-sided phone call when you know it's part of his lunch. He's like, really? How much of it? Gotta think that was 100% Brooks. I don't want to take credit away from the writers if they wrote it. But it just feels so stand-up-y. Yeah. And of course with his established history of being an ad-libber.

And them having such a tender relationship with him as like, you know, creative collaborators. You know, he's been on The Simpsons since day one, practically. And so I think that that's like OK to assume that they kind of let him have free reign. Yeah. And I also feel that Homer, I love Homer trying at this job. It's very cute how he's like, can you work any harder than this? And they all start typing a little faster. But this is I feel like this could be a commentary on the managerial class at jobs like this, where I feel like, in my experience, they're kind of always in the way and just there to watch you.

Just like, let me get things done. Like, Homer is not really doing anything but watching people. And tell them to work harder. Yeah, like, just vague, like, work harder. Well, I've gotten speeches like Homer's later speech with his Landry hat on as well, which is just like, I'm not impressed by those. He just didn't say think outside the box. Yeah, only they'd said then they would have been.

I also like how his countdown does trick Homer. He's like, three, two, one second. Don't chalk it up to mistrust now. Don't chalk it up to mistrust now. And that's also where we get the reveal of Homer's dream of owning the Dallas Cowboys. Oh, actually. It came up earlier. So right after they watched the video, Homer admits just like, and his dream is to own the Dallas Cowboys.

Lisa laughs at it. It's like, I'm sorry. That's just cute. That's just cute. Yeah. It also felt, thanks for bringing it back to that because I also love that line because it's like a season three callback again to like a runner that they completely gave up on of Homer saying, it's my boyhood dream to be a baseball player. Your boyhood dream was to eat the world's largest hoagie.

And you did that. Yeah, totally. And so at this point we get Hank saying just like, and I bet they laughed at you when you said that. Yeah, I relate to Homer in this because I've been teased often for having very attainable dreams. I remember being at a job once and saying, it's my dream to appear on a Comic-Con panel. They were like, we work in the industry.

You can do that. I think that's, I like that dream. I think it's okay to have a collection of dreams. A pocket full, if you may. I've always dreamed of being in a Broadway audience. Yes, yeah, that's about the caliber I shoot for. And also he mentions Mike Milken, who is a real guy. He was a stock market jerk who basically,

apparently, according to Wikipedia, invented the junk bonds market and would go to jail for two years for insider trading. They sent people to jail back then? Did he work with Jordan Belfort? I wonder. That wasn't mentioned on his Wikipedia page, which is the top amount of research I did. I feel like those are similar beats.

Yeah, yeah. He's a Jordan Belfort type, I would say, at the very least. Then he is now classified, according to Wikipedia, as a philanthropist, which sounds like what you do after you're caught stealing. Yeah. They're still rich. What we call libertarians out here. We got those out here. I don't know.

A neck of the woods. But are we at the school yet? Yes. So I want to say one joke that is not a joke anymore is that the sign gag for the school is that the fact that it has a Web site. So there's a URL on the sign for the school. And that is the joke in 1996 that that a school would have a website. Wow. It is that advanced compared to, you know,

Bart's old school that has a website. That's a joke. That's a joke. I was impressed. My junior high didn't have a website. Like, did your guys' schools have websites? No. But my high school,

we had to do a lot of online stuff. I did have a sort of web design class I got to take. I did get to do that, but it was really just like, with HTML, you can make your background blue, and then it'll be bolded. Right, right. We were so easily amused back then. Make all the text blink. I don't know. I'm definitely MySpace

generation, so all of us learned how to code to make our stuff look good. Very basic HTML, but all of us knew how to do that. Yeah, I'm jealous. And I like that Bart immediately falls into his old patterns, including finding a secondary millhouse to be his. Yeah. I think Bart has met like five alternate universe millhouses.

Yeah, because we... Yeah. Well, yeah, because I'd really like the Shelbyville millhouse to hang out with this millhouse as well. He seems pretty cool. He also says rad. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm going to explode here. And he wears his backpack over one shoulder. Yep. But Bart's having some problems in his new school. Hey, Bart, do you have a best friend yet? Because I've been looking for someone to boss me around. Okay, folks, let's do it to it. Grammar, that is.

Everybody write down the sentence in circle and ounce. Bart is the newest addition to our menagerie. You have the honors. Um, uh... Well, start by reading the sentence. Two winter men jolly words. So, you never learned cursive? Well, I know hell and dab and bitter.

Cursive handwriting, script. Do you know the multiplication tables? Long division? I know of them. You know, Bart, I think you'd profit from a more remedial environment. I'm sure you'll feel right at home in the Leg Up program. I moved during school years one time, like in fourth grade. And I had kind of Bart's situation of discovering, like, this school teaches things different than my school.

And I'm kind of lost for a couple months here. Oh, no. Only with me it was I went from public school to Catholic school and I was not like in the Catholic world. I see. So it was mostly like, what are all these prayers and how do I learn them? Yeah. Yeah. I didn't switch until my senior year of high school. But that was an interesting one to go to school. Did you reinvent yourself like Lisa did? Like dress up like Blossom? Yeah, kind of. Yeah, it was. There was a little bit of that in that I was a very bad student

and then I was the I spoke at the graduation in my senior year. So that was actually kind of a fun transformation. Yeah. I never had, well, actually, I don't know. It was hard because I did switch schools and have kind of that opportunity to kind of reinvent myself. But everybody was like valley kids and like carried over from, there was overlap from every school it seemed. So people knew my true story, so I never really got that chance. That's unfortunate.

I also think cursive is stupid. Yeah, we're not much older than both of you, but was cursive... Did you have to learn cursive in grade school? Yeah, and I was actually quite shocked to learn that they don't teach it at all anymore. I'm glad. I think it's...

I love cursive. I love cursive. I write in it, and it calms me down but I also won a penmanship award if I knew that that was an option I would have gone for that too that would have replaced my comic con panel dream

hell yeah I love it I agree that it's not important and that there are better things that we could be using our time for but I feel that way about a lot of school. I think most of school is horribly, horribly dedicated in terms of

what we... There are so many things we should be learning. I know. Like, what if they taught consent instead of cursive? I say make it a calligraphy class and then it could be optional. So they don't teach it anymore. And then you've got an Etsy store that you can look forward to at graduation.

That's all you're going to be doing. Well, I also, I did have a, now I'm remembering, I had a tiny bit of Bart's kind of frustration, but I had learned cursive, but I had been taught a different cue in Georgia than the cue I was getting taught in Florida. A regional cue? Regional cue. That's an improv troupe.

Yeah. But that cursive Q is bullshit. Let's admit it. Come on. I learned a circular Q, not the one that looks like the number two like in the episode here. I also, it's one of my favorite excuses of like, I know of them. I whip that out a lot. Whenever I'm asked about something I clearly do not know about, I say I know of them.

And that Lego program, it's a dodgy situation where they're dealing with there because it's really hard not to. It's kind of a class full of Ralphs. They're all voiced by Nancy Cartwright. Yes. And I don't want them to be ableist in those jokes there. And it's kind of hard not to when you're making fun of students in a remedial class that need to learn things. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Right, but the fact that it's just a Canadian kid. Yeah. They think I'm slow, eh? So it's a Canadian, someone with brain damage, and a pyromaniac. But Matt Groening said that they were very careful about these jokes because I think even in 1996

they didn't want to be ableist. So he was sort of the lifeguard for jokes like that. Right, yeah. You know, it's an interesting thing to look at. I definitely didn't think it was mean-spirited, and I think that's, I guess, the more important thing of how they handle a joke like that. Because it's really more about that Bart

is failed by the school system that is a lower-middle-class family. And the joke is more on the system that they give the kids a circle of paper and a safety pencil and they are learning one letter per week or whatever. To just keep them behind forever, which like that's, that is unfortunate. Yeah. The, the, I think too why they're voiced by Nancy is also because I believe it's on the commentary. They say they drew them originally to all look like Ralph or to have Ralph's hairline.

And then they reconsidered that. But maybe they just still stuck with directing Nancy to play all of them Ralph-esque, perhaps. Including a Canadian Ralph. I woke up in here. It's a great line. And that his name is Gordy. Gordy, yeah. Great Canadian name. Gordy Howell. woke up in here is a great line and that his name is gordy gordy yeah great great canadian name and uh that's where also bart uh gets called totally as a case of the supposed to i love it

that's it's that is a condescending teacher thing that is very very realistic too oh yeah right right it's it's directly from uh can i go to the? I don't know, can you? Just, you know what I mean. I hate that. I also... You're in nervous sweat just hearing that. I also remember asking a teacher how to spell a word, and they'd be like, look it up. I don't know what it starts with.

I hate it. You're just asking, like, can you teach me? They're like, no, I'm not on the clock. It's just some fucking mind game that I just want to eradicate i hate it and uh and then that is when we get like the two one of the 20 seconds of lisa in this episode where yeah i'd like her line though like oh we don't have you we don't have you in springfield which that at least sets the continuity reason for why she is alert oh now all of a sudden allergic

to things like she's i guess only allergic to the things that are in cypress creek and reason for why she is now all of a sudden allergic to things. She's, I guess, only allergic to the things that are in Cypress Creek and it's why she will not have allergies ever again after this episode. That's about as good an explanation as they're going to give you. Well, they couldn't have put her in school because she would have been thrilled. It would have been like when she goes to college for the

first time. That's its own story. So they had to keep her out of there. If she had talked to any people, she would have been at home. So they kind of had to do that. Or they could have done a story where the other kids are way smarter than her, but they've already done that with Lisa's rival.

So that story's already been done. I was just thinking about that episode now. Let's talk about that one now. The second I saw that chipmunk, I knew that chipmunk was dead even at first airing i was like this chipmunk's getting killed it has a cohort later that gets revenge yeah maybe he's getting revenge uh he blames lisa for the owl getting him that's when homer buys the hat which that is such an oakley and weinstein named burman's dry cleaning how

many hours were spent he just wanted the room? Blue strike cleaning? No, no, not specific enough. And that's when Homer realizes, I'm a guy like me. And that's when he gives his meaningless micromanagement speech. But that also reminds me of Cool Offices, which is you have all these perks and everything, but all of the guys under him are working 18-hour days and are miserable. Right. Something I wanted to focus on really quickly just a second ago is the spend zone. Yeah.

Look, it's a baseball made out of secretariat. That's such a well-realized boardwalk-like new shopping district, too, of just all these things that are too expensive for the mall. They need their own windows. I was sad we didn't get more sign gags like in Summer of 4'2". The spend zone is the only sign that we see in that little downtown area. Cypress Creek, other than it being run by the evil Hank Scorpio, is a very normal town, so that includes no joke names for places like the Perm Bank.

Oh, yeah. Right, right, right. And I believe the idea of it being this polished, brand-new district, like a reborn kind of mall, so it, I think, would be, by nature, minimalist. Yeah, I can see that. But Homer, then, he realizes what they truly need,

some hammocks. Hi Homer, what can I do for you? Sir, I need to know where I can get some business hammocks. Hammocks? My goodness, what an idea. Why didn't I think of that? Hammocks! Homer, there's four places. There's the hammock hut, that's on third. There's hammocks or us, that's on third too. You got put your butt there, that's four places. There's the hammock hut. That's on third. Uh-huh. There's hammocks R Us.

That's on third, too. You got put your butt there. Mm-hmm. That's on third. Yeah. Swing low, sweet cherry. Yeah, yes. Matter of fact, they're all in the same complex.

It's the hammock complex down on third. Oh, the hammock district. That's right. Ready for the link-up, Mr. Scorpio. Homer, one second. I got to take care of this. Very important. Be right back.

Fine. Good afternoon, gentlemen. This is Scorpio. I have the doomsday device. You have 72 hours to deliver the gold, or you face the consequences. And to prove I'm not bluffing, watch this. Oh, my God.

The 59th Street Bridge. Maybe it just collapsed on its own. We can't take that chance. You always say that. I want to take a chance. Collapsed on its own. You have 72 hours. See you.

Back to the hammocks, my friend. Yes. You know there's a little place called Mary Ann's Hammocks. The nice thing about that place is Mary Ann gets in the hammock with you. I'm just kidding. You know what that is? The hammock on the left? No.

That's something for you to do. Find that out. That's a great act break. Just smiling evilly as the curtain closes or like the gate closes. Homer, this is what I was talking about earlier. Just all those tiny little subtle... I know.

Yes. Yeah. Oh. And him just standing in the background scratching his ass as all of this evil is unfolding it would be impossible for him not to hear it and yet he doesn't he chooses not to that's uh that's actually it feels kind of like an aust Powers joke. We were talking about Austin Powers off mic, but the, I want to take a chance. Yeah. All these UN guys are used to being in life or death arguments with a supervillain like this, and this guy's fed up with being told, we can't take that chance. He's finally going to tell them, we can take a chance.

I love that. I also, I love the Homer needs some sugar. Yeah! I've always wondered about this fucking joke. Yes, Hank just keeps sugar in his pockets. Do you want any milk? No. Sorry, it's not

an individual package. Why do you guys think that he has loose sugar in his pockets? He is a very helpful weirdo. Yeah. And I don't mean to be a pedant, but he says it's cream, which makes it an even spermier joke. Yeah.

Yes. Yeah. I'm sorry I said that word. Yeah, the loose sugar, it's quite a non sequitur. I get, I can't, I'm usually the one to think of an in canon reason for it,

but there honestly can't be. It's a John, I really feel like this is a John Swartzworlder joke. Yes. It's just funny. Pockets full of sugar. Walking around with a loose shirt. Doesn't need to be more than that. It can just be simple.

Yeah. He just likes the feel. Like Wizzle Wazzle. But he's so benevolent to all of his employees. He wants, like, if they need sugar, I've got your sugar. Yeah. I also like when Homer gets into that office, he says, says like i've never noticed this office before like why should you it's mine albert books just sounds guess what he's a comedic genius but it feels like he is just so

quick to everything he's firing on all cylinders too in this episode he's really in his prime matter of factly delivering all this stuff. Yes, this is Oh yeah, I do have a clip when Lisa finds out she's allergic to everything. Oh, the whole forest is blooming. Choo! Excuse me.

Oh, my eyes are burning. Choo! Choo! Oh, My eyes are burning. Chew! Chew! Chew! Little chipmunk Fred, I'm allergic to everything. Chew! Chew!

Chew! Chew! Chew! That's the end of Lisa. Hilarious. that's the end of lisa hilarious yeah i will compliment the animation for making it looks painful to have to be as allergic as she is like i have some allergies and just the way the way also yardley smith amazing acting on that pain of and stuffiness like pretending to sneeze can't be easy and especially in just voice but but she did a great job there

I do love the chipmunk's revenge of just a chipmunk I don't think a chipmunk can actually put his lips together and blow and yet this one does just as an extra F you from nature that's the reason for the animation that's where they got it

every episode needs to have one so we have the Mr. Bont Oh yes Why don't we hear some more about Scorpio and Bont Ingenious isn't it Mr. Bont Scorpio you're totally mad I wouldn't point fingers you jerk I don't expect anything from you

Except to die and be a very cheap funeral You're going to die now. Stop him. He's supposed to die. Nice work, Homer. Am I proud of you? Well. When you go home tonight, there's going to be another story on your house.

Thank you. Man, that scene is like, it has a shocking ending. They just all shoot him at the end and it cuts away. And Homer's take on that is, I tackled a loafer at work today. Yeah. Telling Marge about it. He's so proud of himself. That's what Homer tells himself. They're like, oh, I tackled a loafer at work. Like telling marge about he's so proud of himself that's what homer tells himself they're like oh i tackled a loafer at work like that's weird to do and even if that

was what he did that's weird to do yeah nobody questions it yeah and yeah just the it it's almost too dark a joke for the simpsons i'm not used to of like they they literally kill james bond on screen with just four guys just all shooting him at once. It's horrifying. I just love the Sean Connery portrayal of this character. All the voice acting in this episode is top notch. The scene where he escapes

he flicks a quarter and it diverts the laser so it shoots off all the shackles. It's really great. It's a lot more clever than the similar way Daniel Craig escaped from Blofeld in the Spectre movie, where Blofeld just forgets to take his watch, and he just drops his watch, and it explodes. That scene's kind of crappy. Yeah.

I like some Daniel Craig Bond movies. I actually didn't even ask, how much of a Bond fan are people in this? I've watched a few. I'm not a mega fan of James Bond. I was on a video panel type thing about James Bond for Birth Movies Death a while ago, like four or five years ago. And I spoke to Matt Gourley, who's the biggest fan, and Jeremy Smith, who is Mr. Beaks from Ain't It Cool News and then the late

great Devin Farachi. Yeah. And dear friend but we don't talk about him much but he had us all on and I watched about six Bond movies in preparation and I really loved them but a lot of my stuff got cut from that because I was talking about how there were, you know, just how there are no women characters that are of note, that aren't, like, with the, you know, the word pussy in their names. Right. Like, you know, I had some views, but my sister, who's ultra, ultra Lisa Simpson type, loves

the James Bond movies and still is super, super feminist and loud. But she's just like, it's my favorite thing in the world. So she loves it. I think they're really fun. I'll go to every single one that I could see. But in terms like the old ones, like I'm not a super big nerd about it or anything. Yeah. I care not for them.

That's dead shit. Though I will say that I do enjoy a good old fashioned Bond song. I think that that's about as far as my fandom goes. I remember Garbage's The World Is Not Enough being pretty nice. Yeah, I like that one. Skyfall, of course. I mean, we were all into Skyfall.

Just about as far as it goes. I've only read a few of the books, and they're great if you can stand impossibly horrible racism. Yeah, can't. Well then, you know, your time's better spent. Yeah. He was a terrible man.

Yes. James Bond? Both, him and Ian Fleming. Yes. They had to make it Mr. Bond because they were afraid of getting sued, which I guess like- Do you want to get sued? It's funnier with the...

How we use electricity can be smarter, cleaner and greener. At Electric Ireland, we can help guide you there. You're looking up. You see, our new net zero hub has all you need to know about smart meter plans, EV tariffs, solar panels and much more. Making your usage clearer, your trips greener, your home cozier, and your world brighter. Find our net zero hub at electricireland.ie. It's funnier with bonds anyway, yeah.

Which is why they deleted bond from the, how I learned to, a Springfield with a dollar sign, that one. Oh, yeah. I like how Scorpio is too enigmatic to be pithy. The line is, I expect you to die, but he's like, I expect you to die and leave a very disposable corpse. Have a cheap funeral. Yeah. Then he's like, you're going to die now.

Yeah. And also, you jerk. You jerk. It's so- So simple. Yeah. I love it. He likes being a supervillain, not being particularly clever.

And yeah, so Homer is proud of his work. He's bragging about jumping on a loafer. And we even talk about Marge's implied alcoholism, which then isn't it. So funny because she's just like, oh, and I've been having a bottle and a half of Juan today. You're supposed to have, or sorry, I've been having a bottle today. You're supposed to have a bottle and a half. I don't, you're supposed to have, or sorry, I've been having a bottle a day, you're supposed to have a bottle and a half, but I don't know,

I just can't drink that much. And I also love, I don't know if love is the word, but like her just pouring one single glass in the music, bum bum bum, you know, like Jesus,

guys, can you just throw her one bone? And that she, then it's revealed like she's just sipping on that all day, like she's not having multiple of them. Oh, it's just a glass just sipping on that all day. She's not having multiple of them. Oh, it's just a glass. It's one glass. That's so funny.

Yeah, and so I think they realize, well, we can't actually have her be an alcoholic now. Though they do do that in the episode. It's the one where they go to see, basically, Attack of the Clones and Homer and Marge. I think it's called days of wine and dozes okay yeah that that makes sense they they just become wine vineyard drunks at uh while meanwhile bart and lisa are yelling at a george lucas caricature who's for some reason like four feet tall which doesn't really make that's not if there's there's some things you can make fun of george lucas for for, but he's not short. Yeah.

I think people just look at him now with his beard and think that he looks like, what's the word I'm looking for? Not a Wookiee, but an Ewok and maybe associate that with shortness. Maybe like a human Papa Smurf-ish. Right, yeah. There's a lot of other atropies they assign to him. He's got that red hat all the time, right? That's him? Yeah. And, yeah, they all convince Homer that they assigned to him. He's got that red hat all the time, right? That's him? Yeah. And yeah, they all convince Homer that they gotta

go. It's a cute little scene of everybody just saying all their problems which they... It's heartbreaking. It sucks for Homer. Homer's been nothing but good. I know. And he finally is being treated with respect and as we said, is showing up to the job. He's not being lazy here.

He's actually doing a great job. Yeah, if he had continued, he would have been thriving. Absolutely. And also Marge's boiled celery. Her face is boiled celery. I wonder if that goes. I can't taste it. Does it pair well with butterscotch chicken?

It's a nice side. What about a caramel cod? So yeah, Homer realizes he's got to quit, and he finds just the right time to quit Hank Scorpio. You got a problem, Hank? Oh, gee, Homer, could I wait a sec, please? Well, it's pretty important. Hey, what's going on?

I'm having a little trouble with the government. Oh, those jerks always walking over to small businessmen. Don't get me started about the government. What's the problem? Well, my family wants to move back to Springfield. Let him go. You'll stay here with me. We'll go bowling. What's bothering him? Nothing big. It's just a lot of little things.

Well, you can't argue with the little things. It's the little things that make up life. I'm disappointed, but I think you need to do what's best for your family. Well, thanks for everything, Hank. T-minus 14 seconds. If you need anything, you call me. All right.

What's the number? I never had to call my own company. Someone will tell you upstairs. But, Homer, on your way out, if you want to kill somebody, it would help me a lot. Ha, ha, ha. Yeah! Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. I love when Homer's walking out and a grenade lands by him. He just like mopeily kicks it away. Even when there is like the threat of imminent death is in front of Homer and he's still oblivious to it.

That oblivious to it that that oblivious it's it's also a fine line they have to walk in this of like how many deaths can we show on screen and of them killing army men like i said you killed norman schwartzkopf just on screen storm and norman is dead and uh and the i think the most like uh troubling of the violence is the the scalded man who get the green stuff dumped on him they're just like, ah! It's so painful looking. We don't see their flesh melting off, which I feel like that could have been a treehouse of horror choice. Yeah, yeah. That's why I say, fine line, like they can't

you can see him explode, but if there was blood everywhere, it would be darker. But his death, I also like that behind the scenes you're seeing that since Homer has killed James Bond, no one is here to stop this plan that James Bond would have stopped. And that in the world of The Simpsons, at some point, it would be in their history books, a supervillain is taken over the East Coast in the universe of The Simpsons.

Which it would have, you know, what a good villain that could have been for our movie. I know. Because he's gone unported this whole time. I wonder, I mean, I'm sure that there's some record of them speaking to this, surely. But I wonder if it was more of not wanting to do a deep cut reference for the show to alienate international markets and alienate broad audiences for this i think that was their reasoning but i feel like creating a new character is just as um meaningless to newcomers as creating an using an old old like obscure character so i don't see the i don't understand the reason and they could have you know called it hank and not ever mention it yeah yeah like i believe uh one of their reasons for not having millhouse be lisa's love interest in the movie was, well, people won't know going to the movie that Milhouse has a crush on Lisa.

Like, we want new people to figure it out. But it's like, it doesn't matter if it's a new character. I mean, it doesn't matter if it's Milhouse. People are just going to walk into it like, oh, this person likes Lisa. I can figure it out. Agreed. They're seeing the Simpsons movie. They've bought in at that point.

Yes, exactly. And, yeah, it's a great gif-able moment on Frankie Yak of just him cackling with his flamethrower. So good. Again, he's not Elon Musk. I'm sorry I even made the comparison. I once made that out of felt for my friend. I got like a shadow box and I assembled it through felt and it was very rewarding. Oh, that's amazing.

It lends itself well to that. Have any rich nerds killed themselves with those flamethrowers yet? I feel like there should have been news stories about that. You can't put those things in people's hands. I like to keep positivity in my life. It's a mistake. There's a reason people can't all buy it, like normally flamethrowers. So they get back to Springfield.

It's also, it was something I really liked pacing-wise in this episode that they basically spend two thirds of it not in springfield and it just gives it a completely different feel of any other episode there's other than hank scorpio there's no other supporting characters there who are weird or silly or anything like it's it's it gives it a very different like structure than any other one and when they finally return to springfield like oh wow okay yeah i remember this like even seeing the gar return to Springfield, you're like, oh, wow, okay, yeah, I remember this. Even seeing the garish colors of their home, you're like, oh yeah, nothing in Cypress Creek is colored

like Springfield is either with its extremes. It makes the world feel a lot bigger when you get back. You're kind of like, there's this whole world out there, and here we are at home. Upstate somewhere, which is where Cypress Creek is. But Homer finds a gift when he gets there. And here we are at home. Upstate somewhere. Yeah. But Homer finds a gift when he gets there. Telegram!

Project Arcturus couldn't have succeeded without you. This will get you a little closer to that dream of yours. It's not the Dallas Cowboys, but it's a start. Drop me a line if you're on the East Coast. Hank Scorpio. Oh, the Denver

Broncos! I think owning the Denver Broncos is pretty good. Yeah, yeah. Well, explain to me why it isn't. You just don't understand football, Marge. But they later went on to become a good team.

Yeah. I know. I don't know anything about football, but I know they won the next two Super Bowls. Yeah. That's a dated joke. I remember when this episode came out, my football-loving mom, whose home team is the Raiders? My mom loves the Raiders, too. Really?

I'm like, make as many judgments as you will. She conveniently looks the other way when they are accused of cheating. Anyway, I remember watching this episode with her and her being like, alright! To Homer's line about you just don't get football marks.

She's like, I'm with Homer. I'm like, okay, everybody calm down. One joke for you, missus. But yeah, and the Denver Broncos are animated as being particularly bad at football. Not catching a five-foot throw or something. If they were producing this even in 1995, I feel like Denver couldn't have been the worst team. I'm not a football fan. I had to look up't have been the worst team. I am also, I'm not a football fan. I had to look up

that they won the Super Bowl. I can hear all the corrections pouring in. We should stop talking about this. God damn it. Though I also think Homer's, if Homer thinks he's going to ever own the Dallas Cowboys, pretty much every football team is owned by basically kings at this point.

They just gift it to their children. It's inherited. No one can buy the Dallas Cowboys from Jerry. I think the Simpsons could. Yeah. Like the entity, the Simpsons. That'd be great. Now with the Disney I think they finally can.

When is that deal ever going to just get closed? I keep feeling like I don't know. I want it to officially be owned by Disney until... I'm tired of waiting. Yeah, apparently Jerry Jones has owned the Dallas Cowboys since 1989. So from the beginning of The Simpsons until now. Wow, boy. 1989 still feels too recent to me.

I don't like thinking that is 30 years... No, 29. Yep. I'm not quite at 30 yet. But so that's that. That's the end of the episode. Then there's a whole, which will be our outro song, the Scorpio song. Yeah, it's fantastic. Thanks, Scorpio.

It's so good. Friday. That can heal her jam. Yeah. Hot dogs and burgers and beer. For me, I think this episode is one of my favorite high, it's a favorite of mine just for a guest star but also it's one of my favorite high concept ones I guess you'd call

it of like not like 22 short films it's just it's a one gag thing of just Homer works for a Bond villain where do you go with that and they find so many amazing places to go with it it's a great way to truly start

season seven after, you know, we all have fun with the Treehouse of Horror but now it's time for the real season to begin. Oh yeah,

and season seven is the best season of The Simpsons. I like it a lot but I feel like it's an even higher concept where it's like what if Homer works

for a Bond villain but also what if this new kind of CEO is actually a Bond villain so it's like all these different high concepts. I mean, it blindsided me in 1996

and that's why I still love it. You guys like what do you feel about this episode? It's one of the best episodes of all time. I mean this episode and A Fish Called Selma

are two favorite episodes of mine. Yeah. Just because like they're both very weird characters that get this spotlight. Like Phil Hartman and

Phil Hartman and Albert Brooks are like such perfect Simpsons cameo. Obviously we get Phil a lot more but I don't know. It's just, they're so, so, so, so good. It's like the trifecta is like Phil Hartman, Albert Brooks, and John Lovett. Yes.

And I mean, Phil Hartman does a lot of the voice acting, having lifting out of that trio, but they all bring a humanity to their characters, which I think speaks well to how those episodes that you named endured because it's all about humanizing these characters that we could have accepted as flat, especially Troy McClure. We could have accepted, you know, even like this Bond villain, the joke would have still played if it was just like A plus B equals C.

But instead, you know, there's all these different like gradients to it of Homer being valued and us enjoying that as an audience that loves and cares about Homer. And then, you know, the conflict of the family not getting along as well. And yeah, I just feel like this episode, it doesn't pull any punches as far as story or character development or jokes. It's really, you know, a triple threat. If you had to choose, though, would you choose Hank Scorpio or Grimes? Ooh. Boy.

Or Lyle Landley, but I feel like that's not really. I think Lyle gets a third. Yeah. Oh, God. This is hard. Grimes versus Scorpio is, to me, the hardest question. Yeah. Because they're vastly different, but they both bring so much and change the world so much.

Yeah, you're right. Yeah. I might have to side with Grimes by a hair because the metatextual element of Frank Grimes is something that just gives it a little bit of an edge over Hank Scorpio. Where it's like a normal guy in a cartoon world commenting on the monstrous people that we have grown to love. And I love that aspect of Grimes. Yeah. Well, just so I don't copy your answer. Please copy away.

No, I'm going to say Scorpio. I love his boisterousness and i also think grimes i do love but he was pulled down just a little bit for me with the grime sequel episode where his son comes back to help sideshow bob try to kill homer that that made him too silly for me but i do like the reg grimes is so they are grimy he's he's perfect in his point. And his death is one of the funniest things in the show, too. But I guess I like Scorpio's triumph more than Grimes' sad death. What do you think? I'm going to go with Hank Scorpio.

Because as far as overall enjoyment and rewatchability and the like mood and tone that I want to live in. It's it's more this episode. I feel like the Grimes episode, albeit very important to, you know, sort of changing the format of the show and changing the way that they were telling stories. It kind of feels like a Gus Van Sant movie you watch once, but go, that was very important. And I'm glad I watched that. Whereas this you only move twice uh episode is more of like i don't know like a steven spielberg type of movie that you're like i'll watch catch me if you can you know i'm having a good time it's more fun yeah i one last thing i'll say about albert brooks in this is that i had forgotten until just checking it now that like they didn't he should

have been more of a regular he wasn't used again until the 2005 16th season episode, The Heart Broke Kid. It's just so odd to me that he had been used pretty, not every season, but more seasons than not. And then after this, they're like, nah, let's not call Albert Brooks for a decade. But the way that guest stars and voice actors were used changed so drastically over the years and it wasn't about necessarily like who could do the voice best it was who could bring in the most people because we want to do stunt

casting and sometimes stunt casting is really fun it's not my thing right but it is it is there there's a validity to choosing Lady Gaga over Albert Brooks that I think some people love. For sure. I mean, Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein love getting old men like Lawrence Tierney and Kirk Douglas. But Mike Scully, he was friends with Mel Gibson. He had a lot of bigger stars on his shows, which are, I mean, I love his shows. But, yeah, it's all about the choices. I mean, I'd like to hang out with the Rolling Stones, but they're not as funny as Albert Brooks, you know.

Allie, did you weigh in on the Scorpio versus Grimes thing? I didn't, and it's something that I'm going to think about for a long time. But knee-jerk reaction, I don't know. It really tears me up inside. But I love Scorpio so much, but I think Grimey maybe. Thank God. I think it's Grimey. It's split. It's split.

I have a song about Grimey also, which means maybe I should write one about Scorpio yeah we'll see there already is the best song about Scorpio so there's really no point I know

but I guess we're gonna wrap up now so thank you so much for joining us Allie and Julia please plug yourselves and your great podcast and everything let our listeners know

where they can find you you bet you can find us at SimpsonsPod on Twitter and everything else and I'm at Allie Gertz on everything. I'm at Julia Preskin on everything.

We have a book coming out. It's available for pre-order. You guys might like it. It's called 100 Things Simpsons Fans Must Know and Do Before They Die. Yeah. And we'll be touring with that and with the live show. And we'll be posting that online. So just keep an eye out for that.

But thanks for having us, you guys. Oh, yeah. Thanks for inviting us to your studio. And next year, we're going to write the 101 things you must do before you go. Oh, perfect. It'll be so much better.

Look out, they're going to be next to each other on the shelf. Great, I love it. You have to choose. We can do the Amazon suggestions together, so that feels nice.

No, I love everything that's coming up, Simpson, so much. Some of my favorites are your recent Algene interview, so great. Oh, thanks.

Oh man, now I can't remember the man's name, but you had on a guy who works at Starburns. What's the name of the man? Oh, Dino? No, not Dino. Another guy who animates at Starburns who had worked on the earliest seasons of it. Oh, yeah. Joe Russo.

Yeah, Joe Russo. That I love because I've read and listened to millions of interviews with like the high level folks. But to hear his view of being just like a soldier in the Klasky-Chipo army was just so amazing. That guy has a well of stories that we didn't even get past the tip of the iceberg for. He's a crazy maniac. Yeah, we got to get him back on. Yeah, we got to. I love your interviews, but I also love when you have a writer on just to do a regular episode about an episode. Oh, yes.

Like the Josh Weinstein ones are great. Thank you so much. Thanks. So good. And so, yeah, as for us, you can find us on all your pod things. Look for Talking Simpsons. Please subscribe if you haven't yet. And we are also supported by Patreon.

Go to patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons. We have a lot of incentives for you to donate. We have a lot of exclusive podcasts like Talking Critic, Talking Futurama, so many interviews with so many Simpsons writers and creatives. We also have monthly community podcasts. Anything else I'm missing, Henry? Well, yeah, our season wrap-ups, and we go through the deleted scenes, and we have our special premium videos one month for $10 and up, patrons. Yes, and as for me, you can find me on Twitter as Bob Servo. My other podcast is Retronauts every Monday, occasionally Friday, at retronauts. Monday, occasionally Friday at retronauts.com.

Or look for Retronauts in your podcast machine. Henry, how about you? At H-A-N-E-R-E-Y-G. And you follow me there for all my political rants, but also updates on when things go live on this. Yes, and thank you so much for joining us, folks. We'll see you next week for The Homer They Fall. See you then. Woo!

Woo-hoo! Scorpion! He'll sting you with his dreams of power and wealth. Beware of Scorpion! His twisted twin obsessions are his blood to rule the world and his employees' health. He'll welcome you into his lair like the nobleman welcomes his guest

with pre-dental care and a stock plan that helps you invest. But beware of his generous pensions, plus three weeks paid vacation each year. And on Fridays, the lunchroom serves a dozen burgers and beer. He loves German beer. Look, lady, I'm supposed to be in the fourth grade. He loves German beer