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S4E22 & S5E1 - Krusty Gets Kancelled & Homer's Barbershop Quartet
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Jon, Michael and Matt watch The Simpsons episodes 'Krusty Gets Kancelled' & 'Homer's Barbershop Quartet', and discuss what they say about society.
Follow us on the Socials: https://twitter.com/molemanpod
Jon: @Meroka.bsky.social
Matt: @mattperspective.bsky.social
Michael: @buttonmashhorse.bsky.social
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Focus
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, this is Mole Man in the Morning. Good Mole Man to you. Hello, welcome to Mole Man in the Morning.
00:00:10
Speaker
Man to you. I was more Christmassy than Barbershop Quartet, but I'll i'll i'll live with it. It's Mole Man who's joined some sort of choir. Because, as always, I think of these as I start saying them.
00:00:26
Speaker
who It brought a tear to this Irishman's eye. Hello, welcome to More Man in the Morning. We are a podcast about how The Simpsons has a lot to say about society.
00:00:40
Speaker
i am your host, John, and I am joined, as ever, by my two delightful and musical co-hosts, Matt. Hello.
00:00:51
Speaker
And Michael. Happy whole podcaster, you know I sing for no one. Okay, that's fair. Hide me whole podcasterino. Oh,
00:01:03
Speaker
it's like the angels themselves are singing. I was pretty fucking proud of that, I've got to be honest. That was good. I liked it. It was good. It was good. So, yeah, you may have gathered that we're onto a musical
Steampunk Humor and Banter
00:01:17
Speaker
episode. Not not immediately, but... Say it ain't so. and like We are here as we always are to talk about two episodes of The Simpsons and see if they have much to say about the world in which we live. We are right at the end of season four.
00:01:31
Speaker
Season four, episode 22, Krusty gets cancelled. ah We are then gonna launch right on in into season five with Homer's Barbershop Quartet. Mm.
00:01:42
Speaker
Exciting. And I imagine we'll probably have some sort of season recap between the two episodes, because we've done that in the past, so... Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. Cool. I need to pull up the fucking episode list if we're to do that.
00:01:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that'll probably be useful. There's 22 of them to remember, so
00:02:01
Speaker
Yeah, before we get into any of that, we must ask and answer one simple question. are we all drinking? WTF is Simpsons? WTF is beer. WTF is beer.
00:02:14
Speaker
I don't think I can do a great Total Biscuit impression, but I will go with it. I today am drinking Steam Brew, a beer I've not heard of, but I'm excited to drink. How was that?
00:02:25
Speaker
Pretty good. Alright, here we go. i don't know if you'd be able to hear the clap with my new mic set up, but here we go. There you go. I heard nothing. Yeah, I didn't think you would. nothing I did get beer on my face doing that, so you better appreciate it. Alright, here we go.
00:02:42
Speaker
That is beer. There's nothing like unique about it. an IPA, you know, it tastes like an IPA. It's very generic. Who made it? What's this one? deru is that the name of the brewery ah
00:02:58
Speaker
um it is dark where i am and i can't fucking read it because this can ah session
00:03:06
Speaker
no that's the type of ipa i don't know that was wonderful right okay fine i shall forever remain a mystery in this lighting That's fine. That's okay. I didn't need to know that badly. I'm just curious.
00:03:18
Speaker
Put in the YouTube comments if you know, dear listeners. It doesn't say it anywhere. It genuinely just says Steambrew. but I'm trying to find any kind of branding beyond that, and it doesn't fucking say it.
00:03:32
Speaker
It might just be called Steambrew. Looks it's foreign. found a website called Steambrew. There you go. Sounds like it makes... Is it is a sort of steampunky themed branding? Yeah.
00:03:43
Speaker
Okay, yeah, I think it literally, that that is the brand name. It is Steam Brew. thought it was going to be like a steamboat. I'm quite disappointed though. Fair enough.
Transcript Inaccuracies and Humor
00:03:52
Speaker
Well, i i like I like that branding. That's quite charming branding.
00:03:55
Speaker
It's but not steampunk, but it's cool branding. got They've got hats with goggles on. That's literally steampunk. Nope, that's very much not steampunk. It's all the steampunks I used to hang out with. Yes, we've had this discussion before, that that is not fucking steampunk. That was your look for a decade.
00:04:13
Speaker
The only thing that qualifie that need you need to qualify as steampunk is that it is the modern era... as if we never stopped using steam energy. That's it.
00:04:26
Speaker
It has a Victorian styling and it uses steam power. That's it. but All the cogs and shit have nothing the fuck to do with steampunk. They really fucking don't.
00:04:39
Speaker
I hate this. i As soon as I fucking started, I was like, I should stop. And then I just kept going. This is earliest derailing in this podcast I think we've ever had. Agree to disagree. It's an aesthetic.
00:04:52
Speaker
and It's not an aesthetic. It is an aesthetic. It It is. It is associated with steampunk, but it is not what makes steampunk. If you had all of those outfits, but then they all used fucking cyber tech, it wouldn't be steampunk.
00:05:09
Speaker
No, it would be a different aesthetic. It would be so cyberpunk. Yeah, exactly. Exactly, it's an aesthetic. No. Steampunk does not... Let's move on. Let's move on, Michael. I'm right, you're wrong.
00:05:22
Speaker
Well, I'm staring at my ah steampunk cat figurine and finishing off the ah hive mind meat that my good friend John got me. I will be ordering another bottle soon.
00:05:35
Speaker
Noice. I'm claiming my commission at this point, apparently. Oooh, well done. What are you drinking? Uh, crap, what do i got? Where's my can? What was it? What did I get?
00:05:46
Speaker
I got Four Pures Pomegranate IPA. Woo! Not disgusted by that one, Matt? It didn't... What was in it, sir? I didn't actually listen.
00:05:57
Speaker
Pomegranate. Ah, I mean, whatever, it's fruit in an IPA, it's gonna be bad. It tastes more like IPA than pomegranate. It's just a vague fruity as to what is otherwise a reasonably solid IPA.
00:06:11
Speaker
It's fine. Fruit and beer just don't mix. They just don't. I mean, beg to differ. the And... You're wrong. Witty response. I don't know.
00:06:22
Speaker
And cock's a steampunk. Nope. Nope.
00:06:28
Speaker
No, we can't. We're seven minutes in. We can't spend two hours arguing
Episode Analysis: 'Krusty Gets Canceled'
00:06:32
Speaker
about cogs. okay
00:06:36
Speaker
Christy gets cancelled. Oh no. I genuinely, when I read this, was like, wait, did they... it Was cancelled a term this long ago? But no, they were literally like, the show was cancelled. Well, to be fair, he does say something in the episode that might be slowly cancelled.
00:06:53
Speaker
I think a lot of people say a lot of things in most of this show that could be cancelable. This is probably true. ah This one aired on May 1993. Did anything noteworthy happen on this day?
00:07:07
Speaker
Okay, so lifting the curtain back on this segment, we get this I get this information for this segment from a certain website, and sometimes they give us slim pickings. Sometimes we just push over and say nothing happened.
00:07:20
Speaker
But I'm looking at the page this week, and I've got to say, What they've come up for, what happened on this date of historical significance, is truly pathetic. I feel like there's one noteworthy one and it gets a weird footnote.
00:07:33
Speaker
Assuming we use the same website, which I think we do. right so Right, the leading headline here. The sixth annual business person run is held in Wall Street. yeah Okay, very exciting.
00:07:46
Speaker
Comedian and TV host Arsenio Hall has a show celebrating his thousandth show. Cool. In the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, yes. Not the US, Netherlands. Yeah. George Brett hits his 300th home run.
00:07:59
Speaker
And then, like, in tiny writing, bottom of the page, ah methane gas explosion South Africa kills 50. I forgot about that. No one cares. yeah but That's not important at at all, the death of 50 people.
00:08:14
Speaker
Jesus Christ. We'll get over it.
00:08:18
Speaker
We'll pass over that and pretend that given the insignificance it apparently deserves. UK number one is still the Five Live EP featuring George Michael and Queen and Lisa Stansfield.
00:08:29
Speaker
Still not listen to it. Lisa Simpson then. Game close. And the US number one, That's The Way a Love Goes by Janet Jackson. I did not know Janet Jackson never had any number one, so this is news to me.
00:08:41
Speaker
I would have assumed it, but I think i think any like singer from before the 2000s, if you told me they had a number one, even if they didn't, I'd go, all right. Just because that's how my brain works. if if they if they If their name is famous, they must have had a number one.
00:08:57
Speaker
Yeah, probably. That's how they got famous. and ah Apparently, I owe Janet Jackson and an apology. i Humbly apologize. I don't know a damn thing about Janet Jackson. i I know the name, but I couldn't tell you a single song, so, yeah, beyond me. She has more slightly more famous brothers than her tit fell out once.
00:09:15
Speaker
That's kind of what I can give you. Right, let's let's move on into the episode gags. We were all just thinking about Janet Jackson's tit, I guess. Fair enough, yeah.
00:09:27
Speaker
Damn you, Justin Timberlake. Oh, her! I know who she is now!
00:09:35
Speaker
A lot of people's boobs have fallen out, but and I remember the specific event of Justin Timberlake ripping off the, like, front of her top accidentally.
00:09:45
Speaker
Join the Super Bowl. She had one hell of a piercing, man. Jesus. Moving swiftly on. So, the blackboard gag.
00:09:57
Speaker
I will not judge admission to the bathroom. Hilarious. I doubled over.
00:10:04
Speaker
It's almost as funny as the couch gag of the family getting caught in a net trap. Got a mild chuckle? It was first seen in Selma's Choice. I don't remember any of these, man. We've made this very clear at this point, yeah.
00:10:17
Speaker
Yeah, like, they don't stick. They're not funny enough to stick. Other than the circus, which is hilarious. Yeah, they should have had the circus 22 times. I would have made this season. I think they haven't used the circus enough, to be fair.
00:10:33
Speaker
I think we need more of it. Don't worry, it's coming. Oh, excellent. So, the episode begins with a live from the polluted Springfield Harbor, emphasized by the hacking cough crab.
00:10:47
Speaker
And its tagline, where the sewage meets the sand. Where the sewage meets the sand. I think more things in the modern era need to start with live. yeah we we missed that. That needs to come back. Yeah, I think the the enthusiasm of announcers has kind of dropped over the years.
00:11:06
Speaker
There's not enough X Factor Britain's Got Talent kind of announcers. Coming up next on Mole Man in the Morning. We need more of that.
00:11:18
Speaker
right, I'll try to remember to introduce the second half that way. Good Mole Man to you. Dude sounds like he gets paid for every syllable.
00:11:29
Speaker
He's getting paid for a few perfew here because he's introducing the Springfield Squares with your host, Kent Brockman. And it's ah Ken Brockman and a couple of celebrities. You'll be hearing the word celebrities fairly often.
00:11:41
Speaker
I know this is because... Yeah, I know this is because um it's to save on voice acting. pete you Like, getting people to voice act. Because realistically, I imagine they would have wanted Troy McClure.
00:11:52
Speaker
But... Has a newscaster ever hosted a game show? I feel like that's a very American thing. but It's an American thing. I think it has happened. I couldn't tell you any specific example. I mean, I would love it, but I don't think Trevor McDonald has ever hosted Pointless. You know what mean?
00:12:09
Speaker
Well, that is a missed opportunity. Sorry, my fault. Sir Trevor McDonald. Can I ask also, like, is this a new location? Have we noted that Springfield has a harbour yet? Or we just added a new location to the list of Springfield places?
00:12:24
Speaker
I think we've seen Sea Captain at the harbour once. We've seen water in Springfield, yeah. Yeah, we've seen but i don't think they've, like, mentioned that it is... the Springfield Harbour, yeah. There's been no specific episodic event at the harbour. They've done zoom-outs off Springfield and shown that it is in a landlocked state.
00:12:42
Speaker
Don't worry about it. Yeah. That harbour just sprung up overnight. There was like an earthquake that led to the formation of a lake. It's fine. It's alright. We see a fucking desert in the next episode. Oh yeah, that that that was mind-boggling. but It was just like, oh, we'll get there. Springfield has its own desert.
00:13:02
Speaker
So anyway, the Springfield Square is taking place and we see that ah it's a various who's who of all the Springfield celebrities and a couple of former guest stars. Since when did fucking McBain come from Springfield?
00:13:18
Speaker
Well, apparently it is. How big is Springfield, man? Apparently it encompasses Germany. Or Austria, or wherever McBain is from. I've forgotten his actual name.
00:13:30
Speaker
Rainier Wolfcastle. Rainier Wolfcastle. What a great name. So we cut to Ken Bachman cutting to Mr. Wolfcastle, and they type his new movie, which is Help, My Son is a Nerd.
00:13:41
Speaker
Wolf Castle basically explains the plot of the movie being he comes home and is horrified to see that his son is a nerd. I'm laughing already. He's pointed out to Kent Rockman, it's not a comedy. oo I just like Kent Rockman's reaction. just oh We then see the Coast Guard is in the back telling everybody that, specifically that all game shows need to get off the... ah Off the beach because tidal wave is coming.
00:14:03
Speaker
Was anyone else expecting him to then float by another game show? Like as part of the gag that that that there's just like multiple game shows being filmed on this beach because it's popularity, I guess. I don't know. I think it would have made the joke slightly better.
00:14:21
Speaker
Oh, I think a lot of things would have made this episode better, but we'll go from there. As the celebrities panic, Barry White summons everybody into his ah square of love. I gotta admit, they've got chuckle out of me. Come to my square, it's high up and sexy.
00:14:37
Speaker
it was better than his previous lines. Oh god, yeah. no i'd I'd almost blocked them out of my memory. It's weird that they got him back for another one though as well. Oh, it's one line, they probably recorded it while he was there.
00:14:50
Speaker
Oh yeah, probably. Yeah. I mean, either that or this scene was supposed to be in the other episode. and Yeah. To explain why, like, Barry White was in town. Yeah, something like that. Yeah. Also, just whilst we're analysing the celebrities here, like one of the folks on the top row is just Princess Kashmir, the exotic dancer from when Homer, I don't know, got horny. Yeah, he was got horny that time. Yeah. Nothing wrong and Marge throws an absolute fit after fucking cheating on him. That's the one, yeah. Yeah, that one.
00:15:24
Speaker
Everybody climbs up to the square except Charlie who has been in this square for 30 years and he's by gummit he's gonna stay. The tidal wave knocks him out and Homer take great joy in his death. He's dead now.
00:15:35
Speaker
At that moment, Gabbo flashes up on the screen. I have an epileptic seizure on the floor. Yeah, that was a bit intense, man.
00:15:43
Speaker
It's a Pokemon Porygon Rockets moment all over again, isn't it? Oh yeah, baffling seizure robots. ah Basically, it's just Gabbo's name flashing over and... Bart wonders what that was and Homer says, he doesn't know.
00:15:54
Speaker
Probably somebody called Gabbo. Do you know when ad campaigns actually did unique things instead of just copying whatever was popular? Yeah, can't take risks these days. too much There's money on the line.
00:16:06
Speaker
Someone might feel differently about it. o We then cut to Homer looking at the paper, trying to work out who Gabbo is and Lisa points out they're not giving enough information. Homer says he's going to engage the entirety of his brain, which is a donkey covered in flies.
00:16:19
Speaker
Yep. We then see that there's a big sign for Gabbo and, uh, Mr. Burns is very delighted that Garbo is coming. Garbo! I thought he... when he said Garbo, i I thought he was like reading that as like, Greta Garbo?
00:16:34
Speaker
Because I think she's oldie-timey, isn't she? And therefore it's a yeah Mr. Burns' old gag. It possibly yes might have been, but it went completely over my head. Greta Garbo was a star during Hollywood's silent and early golden eras. She was born in 1905. Yeah, she's prime Mr. Burns fodder.
00:16:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's fine. We'll assume that's what they were going for. i That's how I read it anyway, yeah. We then see Reverend Lovejoy doing a sermon on Gabbo, and the congregation gets confused and asks what it's got to do with Gabbo.
00:17:04
Speaker
Yeah, that was another bit thrown in. Yeah, there's a lot of that. I i don't want to be too poopy, but i don't i um I almost have nothing to say about this episode.
00:17:15
Speaker
like My notes are light, I've got to be honest. Yeah. Like, it's got good, like, you know, whenever we get what's-his-face, beardy man, saying anything, I find it amusing, but just him just being what's that about Gabo?
00:17:28
Speaker
It was all right, you know. We eventually come and... The family are eagerly waiting Gabbo on the television. The family saying Gabbo will tell them what to do. And the limo opens on the screen and Gabbo is a ventriloquist doll.
00:17:42
Speaker
I suppose I do have something to ask here. Like, does anybody remember any TV events in the 90s that were like this? Oh, the family's got to get around to see the new thing that's on TV. Like, check out the new thing that's been hyped up.
00:17:55
Speaker
We've got to see this this spectacle of a new thing is happening. X Factor, I guess. X-Factor, interesting, okay. I mean, I wasn't that excited about it, I know that it was like a huge event.
00:18:09
Speaker
I feel like the only thing that's springing to mind for me was the debut of the National Lottery. oh yeah, I remember that. Because it's Britain it's got to be gambling, of course. Were we alive for that?
00:18:21
Speaker
Yeah, it was a... Yeah, yeah, there was some point in the ninety s yeah, it was on TV. I thought the lottery had been around fucking ages. Like, 96, 97, I think. Yeah, probably. I was fucking three! I didn't say you remembered it.
00:18:35
Speaker
1994, the lottery was established. I would have been seven. I was one. I was six. You guys are old. You're gonna die before me.
00:18:46
Speaker
Those of you listening good at math can now work out our ages. Have fun. I feel like we've talked about my age enough that people probably have a good handle on it at this point. I am 31. There you just say it.
00:18:59
Speaker
I am 37. There. This is also said. I'm in denial. What?
00:19:07
Speaker
I am sad. So we see that Gabbo is a dummy and he's introduced by his ventral quest. And I forgot what this man's name is. It became Arthur something or other. Arthur Crandall.
00:19:18
Speaker
Well done. I'm literally just reading off Frankie Act, dude. Okay, fair enough. And the host, he reveals that ah they're going to be hosting a television show. It's going to be at 4pm and Bart is horrified to realise that's the same time as Krusty.
00:19:32
Speaker
Bart worries that that cute character could take America by storm, but all he needs is a hook. And at that moment, Gabbo goes, I'm a widow boy. bought you his own hook of Icarum. So uncomfortable.
00:19:43
Speaker
Yeah. Hated it. Hated it. Didn't like it. I had hoped they were doing at least something vaguely interesting with, like, the, obviously, the cultural battle for ratings and attention and eyeballs, and obviously they sort of lampshade that a bit with Bart using his own hook, his catchphrase, whatever. Yeah. But, I don't know, this, the whole Gabbo thing just... In spite of it being such a big part of the episode, it fizzles out to literally fucking nothing.
00:20:12
Speaker
i think the whole episode does that, bro. this ah but i'll I'll get into it later, but this episode is just a means of how the hell can we get as many celebrities in one episode as possible. I thought we would talk about that a bit more at the end, but yeah, did this this was just a cram celebrity. has no fucking substance.
00:20:30
Speaker
Yeah. He probably doesn't know. So we got Gabbo performing his own special song for the audience, and he does a holly coolly dance, does a Vince Coolly impersonation.
00:20:41
Speaker
He travels back in time. He throws dimes out to the audience. you know what? Actually, I'll say one thing. This song was a banger. Oh, yeah. The song was great. The song was entertaining. If the Simpsons do music, they usually nail it pretty well.
00:20:53
Speaker
Yeah. it jet It was one of those songs where I was like, I'd watch this show after seeing that intro. I mean, it's still a creepy puppet, but I'd still watch the show. Look, we get more creepy puppets. We get Imperial Guards, Cossack Dancers.
00:21:06
Speaker
Yeah. see the clown yeah Yeah, the clowns from the ah circus bit. Oh yeah, it does turn into circus bit, doesn't it? Yeah. And can-can dancers and fighter jets at one point. surprisingly small formation fighters fly through the auditorium, yes.
00:21:26
Speaker
Simpsons predicted drones. course, he's not worried because he ah watches the episode and we see the big chains pile of cigarettes he smoked as this has been on. And he goes through the list of all these enemies that he's crushed and takes particular delight in crushing the Special Olympics.
00:21:42
Speaker
Yeah, how is that weird. Weird. We don't see Christie get the ratings and realize he's losing to Channel Ocho, which is the channel that... I like Channel... I lost to Channel Ocho. What the hell is that? Turns out that's Bumblebee Man, and we see the skit of Bumblebee Man getting two eggs from his face.
00:21:59
Speaker
it is worrying that the first laugh of the episode, and probably one of the only laughs of this episode, is just a dude getting hit in the face with eggs. It's the sad noise he makes. Yeah.
00:22:11
Speaker
I feel like, to go back to the Special Olympics thing, I think it was maybe, like, something slightly entertaining to readings. not Not that, like, oh, he defeated the Special Olympics. feel like, from Krusty's perspective, the Special Olympics was competing with him for the ratings, and then, because it's the Olympics, it ended.
00:22:27
Speaker
And he was like, yeah, I beat them, because my show's still going, and theirs has ended. and it's like, it's the Olympics. It ends, dude. I thought it was just, like, a simple way of establishing Krusty as kind of a piece of shit. I mean, I think it's also that, but yeah, it's kind of funny to read it as like, oh yeah, I outlasted them. It was the Olympics. Of course you did. I get you.
00:22:48
Speaker
But then cut to Bart and his friends playing with electric cars and they're bored out their mind. Yo, I fucking loved those things as a kid. I was always way too eager though. And I don't think I ever finished a lap without like careening off the side at least once.
00:23:03
Speaker
Scalelectrics, that's their name. Scalelectrics. They were so good. Did ever occur to you put your model train on it? No, it didn't. I didn't have a model train. But what this has told me is I definitely should buy my dad some scale electrics for his birthday because he loves scale electrics. He has such fond memories of them. Yeah.
00:23:23
Speaker
Well, we learned that if you do put a train on it, it melts apparently. like Fucking melts, dude. At the moment, the boys turn on the Christie show and we see that Christie's put on a fake mustache and he's doing his own ventrural construct. The mustache that's big enough to cover his mouth is ridiculous.
00:23:38
Speaker
but that's See, Christie begins the setup of a joke and as it's going, the dummy's jaw falls off, traumatizing the audience. Christie tries to appease the situation by pointing out the dummy's dead and puts his fist through its skull, which were a trauma yeah is quite horrifying. It really is quite grim. Christie at this point begins to...
00:23:56
Speaker
to get the dummy off him and kicks it into the audience for a bit. It looks nasty when it lands in the audience, yeah. I loved how they used the same scream every time as well.
00:24:08
Speaker
Why pay for multiple sound effects? Exactly, yeah. They recorded one they're going to damn well use it. We will get into that when we're in some barbershop court. Yeah, I know exactly what you're going to say.
00:24:19
Speaker
So we then cut back to Christie and he's got his new deal. of he'll give If you watch a show, you get 40 bucks and the announcer announces that he's not being honored. It's a nice little fairway gag. We then cut to Mayor Quimby who admits that he murdered his enemy, but like Gabbo says, he's a bad little boy.
00:24:33
Speaker
This was too much to work as a gag for me. i was... like Yeah. Like, the pretense of the joke that he's, you know, he's done something wrong, he's going to use the slogan to get out of it because it's funny and topical.
00:24:47
Speaker
That's fine. But they went to fucking 90. immediately where he's like yeah i killed two people as an elected official abusing my power but oops i'm a bad widow or boy no no i i'm too focused on why does no one care he murdered two people Well, we get the newspaper headline of he wins in a landslide and two more bodies are found.
00:25:11
Speaker
Part of me is wondering, does it hit a little differently in 2025 when people are just disappearing, people they consider to be politically inconvenient, ah compared to 1993 when history had ended? Yeah, I forgot about that. I briefly, for one shining moment, forgot the modern era we live in.
00:25:31
Speaker
But I do remember one thing, guys. We live in England. That's nice. Yeah, so lovely. I mean, I don't. I live in Wales. Yeah, you're going to be the 52nd state soon enough.
00:25:44
Speaker
Wales, the 52nd state.
00:25:48
Speaker
Putting a dragon on like i like the American flag. ah like I like that we get priority over Greenland, apparently. Well, could you imagine anything more American than putting a dragon on the American flag?
00:26:00
Speaker
No, I really can't. That's pretty fucking American. Let's back to Christie and Christie has lost itchy and scratchy to the Gabbo show, and but don't worry, he's got a replacement. Eastern Europe's favourite cat and mouse team.
00:26:11
Speaker
What the hell was this, Nick? Worker and Parasite. Love Worker and Parasite. This is insanely accurate to Eastern European cartoons, man. like Oh, they they literally based it on a real one, I think. Yeah, I've seen seen Eastern European cartoons like this. this is it's It's kind of wild that they didn't really have to exaggerate for the sake of the gag, other than having them speak gibberish.
00:26:34
Speaker
Basically, it's some crudely drawn song characters speaking a load of gibberish as some workers are starving in the background before it just degenerates into loads of screw squiggles. and We go back to Krusty, who's just stern staring at open mouth a cigarette in his mouth, wondering what the hell he's just watched, before he cuts back to the fact that his entire audience has left and we just hear the door slowly close behind him.
00:26:56
Speaker
It's all gone wrong for Krusty. Oh, Krusty. Then cut back and Christy reveals to his ah casting crew that they've been cancelled. And Christy says they can be proud that they've ah never had a bad show except the time Ray J. Johnson appeared. And Christy explains Ray J. Johnson to the audience
Episode Critique and Production Insights
00:27:12
Speaker
at that moment who were probably wondering, who the hell is Ray J. Johnson?
00:27:15
Speaker
It's useful for anyone in 2025 wondering who Ray J. Johnson was as well. Yeah, I genuinely want to know if this was funny in 1990... naive his turn Uh, I apparently, according to Simpsons archive in 1978, a major beer company apparently did hire Ray J. Johnson to do that bit. And it was received, I think about as well as Christie explains it.
00:27:41
Speaker
yeah Man, this episode. Yeah. I'm quite impressed that, uh, he managed get a cultural reference considering that's the act.
00:27:51
Speaker
But Christy says that everybody's like a family and Sia Jomel is about to say something touching and Christy tells him to show Yeah, i'm just, you know, more Christy being Christy, I guess. We don't get to where the episode starts to be. Starts.
00:28:04
Speaker
and Insane. As Christy goes to visit Johnny Carson. Now, I do quite like Johnny Carson's ah Simpsons history story and I think Johnny's probably going to have more on this, I suspect.
00:28:16
Speaker
But basically played the Jose Contego from a softball play where he initially was written to be not a great character and somehow got a rewritten where he's the most amazing man, man in entertainment, which is insane to me. Yes. Yeah.
00:28:32
Speaker
Yeah. I, I, there's so many, so many bloody bits in this that, uh, I, I confess I don't remember that. I remember reading somebody had this rewritten, but, uh, yeah, I forget. I forgot that particular detail. So I think basically was supposed to be like, it was supposed to be like a shyster, wasn't he? And, uh,
00:28:49
Speaker
Essentially, he said, nope, I'm not doing that, and they went, alright. What, is he saying that Johnny Carson also did this? Mm-hmm. That he demanded he be... Brilliant....basically Jesus for this episode?
00:29:00
Speaker
And they... I mean, they're such a big star, they did it. Yeah, i mean, you gotta capitulate. Yeah, i've I've got the original citation here. The original role pitched Carson was one where he visited the Simpsons' house and mooched off them.
00:29:12
Speaker
Carson felt the role was degrading, so the writers took the opposite route and portrayed him as extremely versatile and multi-talented. I mean, the thing is, that's is like, playing it very lightly the joke we got has legs, you know, because it's not just that he is versatile, he is absurdly multi-talented. So it's it's funny.
00:29:31
Speaker
Him just mooching off of the Simpsons is like, yeah, there's potential for it to be funny, but they already did that with Otto. but also, what the fuck does that have to do with Johnny Carson?
00:29:43
Speaker
I'm guessing the crusty bit later on is probably what Johnny Carson probably would have been doing, is my suspicion. Maybe. i don't know. It's, eight yeah, I don't know why they were, but honestly, i think what they came up with was better. Like the same thing with the, uh, the softball player, like him rescuing the entire white goods of a house was hilarious.
00:30:09
Speaker
That's crusty. Johnny Carson, it's, he wants to deal with what to do with, uh, his future. Carson says he's sure that Christie, who's been on television longer than him, and must have saved up some money. And Christie's response to this is the shop stubbed by human hair for weeks.
00:30:25
Speaker
Yeah. We then see they play a racquetball game and Johnny Carson and completely wipes him out. And as Christie's invited for dinner, but doesn't want to, Johnny Carson starts listing his guests ah like he would if he was ah doing his talk show.
00:30:37
Speaker
Oh, was that the bit? Yeah, that's basically... Oh, right, yeah. No, I didn't pick up on that one. pal sagan and from the san diego zoo joan ombre and uh he does the little sound effect yeah but i'd see that christy's auditioning for a role on mel melrose brace and uh as christy's trying to pass himself off as a teen i imagine his uh his nose kind of gives him away because it squeaks but find a minor chuckle again is We're kind of seeing more of the bit where, like, Christie's makeup isn't makeup, that's just him. Although the squeaky nose is an oddity, but, like, he is still in what ostensibly appears to be clown makeup, but I guess is makeup. think that, well, he goes into that some point as well, that he, it's, it's like part of who he is, he just can't help it, kind of thing, I guess, I don't know.
00:31:25
Speaker
Well, at some point, like, one episode we've had this season, was it Highlands Triple Bypass, where he's like, this ain't makeup, and, yeah like, that I think that, but at that point, it kind of becomes canon that that, that is not makeup. We then see Christy at the Springfield Downs and he's barely his last ten bucks on a horse. As Christy's trying to encourage the horse, the horse instead just wombles over to lick him.
00:31:44
Speaker
That's cute. I like that horse. We then see the family are watching the Gabbo show and Gabbo's about to do his patented Gabbo crank call and ah Bart laments the fact that Gabbo stole this from Christy and Lisa points out that Christy stole it from Steve Allen.
00:32:00
Speaker
And Grandpa then and goes into an explanation how whatever everything is stolen, including the fax machine. The fax machine is a glorified... What is it? Toaster? Waffle iron. Waffle iron with a phone attached it. With a phone attached to it.
00:32:11
Speaker
I like that. But it's Abe Simpson saying literally anything, so I'm gonna like it. But also, he's right. Everything is stolen nowadays. Nobody he does anything original. It's all iterative. C-A-I.
00:32:23
Speaker
We see that the current call has actually gone to Krusty, and Krusty, when he answers the phone, ah points out that... ah He thinks it's the callback for his porno and tries to reassure the director he's all man. This just made me uncomfortable.
00:32:35
Speaker
Performance moment, I'm guessing, happened in the audition. Gabbo pretends that he's a but representative of a Japanese company and they want to give Krusty money for an endorsement. Krusty's response to this is to do a slightly racist accent at the fall point. Krusty cancelled, can confirm.
Final Thoughts on 'Krusty Gets Canceled'
00:32:51
Speaker
Krusty immediately backtracks and says he needs it bad and Gabbo... says, bad enough to hit yourself in the head with the phone, and Christy proceeds to do such. We hear the clumps and the... Ugh, blood! but The audience laughs and Christy twigs what's happening and points out if this is anyone other than Steve Allen, they've stolen his bit.
00:33:08
Speaker
I like that line. so I'm glad Steve Allen got his credit. Barr decides at this point he's going to ruin Gabbo, and Lisa tries to point out two wrongs don't make a right. They have a brief argument, and then Homer just calls from the kitchen.
00:33:19
Speaker
Two wrongs do, in fact, make a right. no one makes a follow-up joke which goes completely over my head i don't catch it i do not know what rex morgan is i is it is that a thing no i was thinking that with the next episode as well is like we do need to occasionally have an american on this episode to be like here's what this was didn't see that uh yeah well then like to gabbo's studio and gabbo now has his own airline commercials and uh Cabo says, they'll hold those SOBs once the camera's off-rolling and this Bart sees his opportunity and tricks the lowbrow camera operative into looking at a limerick in the bathroom.
00:33:56
Speaker
before I'm very lowbrow. Next up Funsville. It's that guy with the same voice. Yep, never get tired of hearing him. Yeah, he's informally referred to as wise guy, yeah.
00:34:09
Speaker
E, wise guy. Yeah. Bart turns on the camera to catch Gabo Gull in the audience, the SOBs, and this leads to Kent Brockman doing a news report about how this isn't acceptable. It's not how cameras work.
00:34:20
Speaker
Just, you know, it wouldn't just start broadcasting. And it also, also this was filming a commercial, so it wouldn't matter that it was recorded. None of this matters. This makes no sense.
00:34:31
Speaker
Well, this is all just set up for the gag of Ken Brockman doing the exact same and then immediately getting fired. But I did get the chuckle at the... Yeah, Ken Brockman in trouble....troubling picture that appears. He's doing the news, so, like, at least there's some plausibility for, like, catching him off guard. Yeah.
00:34:46
Speaker
yeah during a live thing. Like, you occasionally get snippets of people doing silly nonsense before... when they think the cameras haven't started rolling yet, or at the end of We'll do it live. Whatever, yeah.
00:34:57
Speaker
We then get the ah newspaper gag of Gabbo still being popular and Ken Brockman being fired. ah didn't notice that. Yeah, yeah. We then see Bart and Lisa come across a dishevelled Christie holding a sign which says he will drop his pants for food.
00:35:11
Speaker
Bart comes up and asks her how business is going, and Christie points out it's not going well because... That guy who has been for free. um Character that I prefer to hear Old Jewish Man is ah indeed that was his name. yes That's fucking weird.
00:35:26
Speaker
In fact, he's in fact doing that and his pants are down and he's singing about the old grand man she ain't what she used to be. I did not know that this is where that bit came from. This is another one of those things that just lives rent free in my Simpsons archive. Yeah, I didn't realize that was that was Harry. the Yeah.
00:35:42
Speaker
Didn't know it came from such an incredibly boring episode. We didn't see that ah the kids take Krusty back to his apartment and Krusty points out that he's been 35 years in the business and everyone's already forgotten him and Krusty can't remember anyone as an example.
00:35:57
Speaker
Apart from that man who wore a shirt. The guy who always wore a shirt. Ed Sullivan? Yeah. Yeah! We don't see that like picture of Krusty looking very unhappy with ah Luke Perry and Krusty points out Luke Perry's his worthless half-brother.
00:36:12
Speaker
And Lisa points out, he's a TV star. And Christy pulls the face as he says it's on Fox. Hey. get Get it? and Because The Simpsons is on Fox. Do we ever see Luke Perry again as Christy's brother?
00:36:23
Speaker
no Not not. I do not believe so. We then see Bart and Lisa go for all the pictures of the celebrities, which include Hugh Hefner and Bette Midler. All the people we're going to see later today.
00:36:35
Speaker
And Lisa points out to Bart, very conveniently, that if Christy got all these people together for a TV special, he'd get his career going. Christy puts up no argument to this, gives them the address book.
00:36:46
Speaker
I assume he was too lazy to do it himself. Yeah, why can't Christy call them himself, man? Because he's too washed up to call people. Well, Lisa run off and Christy declares that he's going to claw his way back onto television. He turns on the television and the old Jewish man is ah now on the television in a spotlight with his pants still down singing his song. Yeah.
00:37:02
Speaker
No, actually, they do refer to him officially here as a crazy old man, but I've definitely seen him officially referred elsewhere.
Season Four Overview and Reflections
00:37:09
Speaker
i say officially. I've seen him on Wikipedia referred to as old Jewish man. And then we see off screen that the old crazy man dancers have become and we just hear his voice multiplied by multiple. Harmonized.
00:37:21
Speaker
I like to think they were all him. Yeah. We then cut to the beginning of every single celebrity cameo, which and starts with Bette Midler picking up litter for reasons. ah Because she, well, she she she didn't do this, but like she was, she definitely had a environmentalist thing in the ninety s There was there was a know what you'd call it, but there was something where you could pay money to sponsor the cleanup of a stretch of highway. So there was indeed that specific road sign somewhere in California, I believe, that did say litter removal for the next two miles by Bette Midler because she was the one who paid the money for litter removal to be done at the highway.
00:38:07
Speaker
So the the gag here is that she's literally doing it herself. Bette is taking the job very seriously, which includes hunting down Snake and throwing a beer can at him to crash his car. Oh no!
00:38:18
Speaker
Bette Midler! I meant that line, didn't I, Miller? Also, speaking of celebrities steering the direction they were portrayed, I think this was she she asked for her anti-littering campaign to be like her focus in this episode.
00:38:30
Speaker
Bette Midler agrees to Christie's special and also lobs a can about... 20 feet to take somebody out and cause them to spiral off the road into a cliff as they swear revenge. I'll get you, Bette Midler! We then see Bart at the Shelbyville Playboy Mansion.
00:38:48
Speaker
So establishing Bart didn't have to travel that far. Yeah, this was weird. And we see Barton in this best Hugh Hefner cosplay as he and Hugh Hefner start discussing the biosphere of the Playboy Mansion.
00:38:59
Speaker
Yeah, they also use the exact same bubble pipe bit of him like refilling it and then blowing on it. And I thought, wow, that's lazy even for Simpsons. They couldn't have him smoking a pipe and I guess they just wanted it to look. No, no, it's the exact motion.
00:39:15
Speaker
of it's but they might They might as well have like used the same animation is what I'm saying. It was just it just felt weird. If you want to have him smoking the bubble pipe again, that's fine. But they do the joke of him refilling it and blowing on it. Yeah.
00:39:30
Speaker
Bart and Heft continue to talk about science and the bunnies and Bart says, Gecko, you're Heffin. You're Heffin is not having it. So we then cut to Moe's. Who somehow booked the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are not happy because Moe lied about the venue holding 35,000 people and Moe's response to this is, we had 35,000 in last night.
00:39:51
Speaker
well who Whoa, whoa, whoa, to his credit, it was only 30,000. It extra five, i a apologize. i mean, Completely unreasonable. i Mo points out the crowd again, restless, and Barney wants Chilly Willy.
00:40:07
Speaker
We want Chilly Willy! Barney asks the Chilly Peppers if they'll come play Christie's ah event, and they say they will if he can get them out the gig. Barney tells Mo what's that on the wall, and Mo stares at the wall trying to work out what's there as everyone sneaks This leads to Homer coming in asking Mo if he can join him, and Mo says it'll cost him.
00:40:26
Speaker
My wallet's in the car. Which, shouldn't your wallet have been with you anyway, because you're about to buy beer? Yeah, good point. yeah Maybe he had a tab, you don't know. It's true.
00:40:37
Speaker
That's, yeah. Homer runs out to get his wallet and Moff says he's so stupid before going back to stare at the wall. Now back to the wall! We then cut to Elizabeth Taylor's diamond-themed house and she's polishing all her wards and her agent points out that Bar and Lisa asked her to do the event and he told them to buzz off and Elizabeth Taylor was perfectly happy about that.
00:40:56
Speaker
Good. She'll be back, don't worry. this will This will be important later. I don't know that that's true. This will be included later, but I don't think it will be important.
00:41:09
Speaker
We then see Bart and Lisa return to Christie's apartment to give them the good news, and we just see that Christie is now an absolute fat mess of a man. They were gone for like two days. Christy reveals to get himself into shape he was drinking nothing but milkshakes and Lisa says the low fat ones and Christy realises his mistake.
00:41:25
Speaker
What is this gag? What is this gag? Because he would have gotten fat drinking nothing but actual milkshakes. but That is the gag that if I was taking drinking low fat ones to get into shape, but he was actually drinking full fat wasn't low fat as diet. like It was like those weight loss shakes that you... I don't know if you still get in these days. They probably wouldn't be popular in the No, don't know if necessarily protein, but I think of like Weight Watchers type stuff. He says he was drinking nothing but milkshakes.
00:41:54
Speaker
yeah I was drinking nothing but milkshakes. You mean those diet milkshakes? Uh-oh. Is the line. That's the... Nah, that's so badly written. Fuck that gag.
00:42:05
Speaker
Fine. They see that Christy is ah now at the Simpsons to stay with him while to lose the weight. Roma tries to pull the couch bed out and realizes it's the wrong thing after absolute struggle. Some ripping chunks out of it trying to pull it out. They see Christy doing a yoga with ah Marge and Marge's hair is knocking everything down. Aerobics? Not yoga?
00:42:24
Speaker
but Sorry. How dare you get it right? Get your fetishes right. Here's a fun fact for you. This is the only episode that Marge's voice actor never appears in. Oh yeah, that was, uh, yeah.
00:42:35
Speaker
Holy shit, I never realised Marge never speaks. It was, to date the only episode where she does not speak, and this was a deliberate choice. ah The voice actress, Julie Kavanagh, actually sat this episode out protesting the overuse of guest stars.
00:42:53
Speaker
Fair enough. I think that's fair, yeah. I don't think she was wronged. Fancy that Christie's trying to get his aim back with pies and Bart hardens him a scalding hot one which hits Homer square in the face. It's cream! Why is it hot?
00:43:07
Speaker
It's whipped cream. No, it's whipped cream in a in a fucking tinfoil... I hate this episode. I would like to stress that pie was not whipped cream. It was like a fruit pie.
00:43:18
Speaker
It's like purple. I don't know what cream you you're buying that's purple. You can make purple whipped cream. That's not hard. Why was he baking purple whipped cream? He was baking fruit. I stand by this. No, he wasn't.
00:43:31
Speaker
What fucking fruit pie has a massive lavishing of cream on the top? Like that. That one. Fuck off! We go to the next scene and Christy and Homer are having a boxing match to get Christy back in shape and Christy's not got the motivation until Gabo comes on the screen and Christy starts beating the bejesus out of Homer.
00:43:50
Speaker
Maggie Gray, worried, changes the channel and the announcer announces that pork prices have gone up and Homer starts beating the bejesus out of Christy. We don't cut to Christy looking in the mirror looking all jacked before he lets his muscles down and we see he's still fat, but he's not as fat.
00:44:03
Speaker
Yay! He's back to sort of regular Simpsons level fat. He's back to Krusty. Yeah. We then see Krusty's at... What was the restaurant called? Because I don't think it was Krusty Burger.
00:44:15
Speaker
ah the Oh, it's the Gulp and Blow, isn't it? Yeah. we've seen We've seen this before, like, Patty or Selma or someone went to it. Homer went there, didn't Oh, is that the one? Yes, yeah, he did. That's right. And Krusty's trying to convince Smell to come back for the show, and... ah Mel pointed out he's not going to, mainly because Christy never treated him with respect, including putting that nitrogen down his pants. and Liquid nitrogen down his pants, yeah. And cracked his buttocks with a hammer.
00:44:41
Speaker
Which is a fair grievance. It is pretty reasonable, yeah. that's valid reason to be upset. ah So, of course, he says does Mel want to spend all his time working with ah three teens, and we see one of the workers drop Christy's taco into the deep rice before he puts his hand in to try to retrieve it.
00:44:59
Speaker
Spoiler alert, kids don't do that. I'll get it. Ow, ow, ow. I smell probably how he's treated with respect by Mr. Johansson, who comes over to prove the point. I quite like the line, is this clown bothering you? Is this clown bothering you?
00:45:13
Speaker
Because it's literal. don't see Christy doesn't want his taco, and the squeaky teen is ah quite upset about it, because if he had a girlfriend, she'd kill him. Ha ha ha ha ha. But you didn't like that joke?
00:45:24
Speaker
No, I didn't. then cut back to Christy Studios and Christy is ah rehearsing
Preview of Season Five
00:45:30
Speaker
a balloon animal bit with Luke Perry and Christy makes a horsey. Sideshow Luke Perry. Christy makes a horsey and sideshow Luke makes 18th century carousel.
00:45:39
Speaker
Christy is upset at being upstaged but Luke wants to stay on because he wants to do it for mum's sake. Christy tries to imagine what Luke Perry can do and imagines him being shot of a cannon to a wall and then appearing on the cover of a magazine with his disfigured face. New look for Luke.
00:45:55
Speaker
Ah, Christy. Yeah, what a great guy. We definitely want him to succeed. We don't get the newspaper gag again over ah Christie's special airing and Gabbo to have a real boy operation, which got a slight smile from me.
00:46:08
Speaker
but that I don't even remember that. I completely blanked on that. Is that giving the puppet a penis or something? didn't see a big queue going into Christie's event, and Gabbo asks Ray J. Johnson, who is Arthur Crandall, who they've got, and it's Ray J. Johnson, which Gabbo's head starts turning at the fourth I think that's it. Gabo is now gone. as That is the end of Gabo. The last we see of Gabo.
00:46:32
Speaker
I think he will appear in, like, cameos in future episodes, but, like, as far as the the the Gabo story arc goes, who do we got? Ray J. Johnson. Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye.
00:46:43
Speaker
Bye. Gone. Done. ah We can only assume Ray J. Johnson ended his TV career. i guess that did that is the implication, yes, but still, like, God, what a bit. We then see the show begin and Christy is... ah singing the Send in the Clown song. and Yeah, and I realised where all of the time and money went for this episode.
00:47:03
Speaker
Wait, he goes backstage with the Chili Peppers before that. Oh, sorry. Yes, I skipped a thing. We see that Christy's asking the Chili Poppers to tone down their lyrics and ah the Peppers are not on board with this because the music is how they express them.
00:47:15
Speaker
Christy then suggests that a lyric change which was he wants them to change what i got you gotta to get and put it in you to what i'd like is is i'd like to hug and kiss you cheese and peppers agree and say that's much better that's much better everyone can enjoy that surprisingly wholesome moment crusty goes into his song as i just previously mentioned and crusty can't quite get through the end of it until sigil mel shows up and finishes the song off of a flourish there They reunite and Mel tells Christy he loves him and Christy tells him to shut up.
00:47:49
Speaker
Yeah. Just Christy being a dick. I mean, yeah. what Speaking of Christy being a dick, Luke Perry's ready for his stunt and Christy fires the cannon. Luke Perry misses the net, goes out the window, goes out through the- very good. I will say, like, if if if if there is one highlight to this episode, this is just a cavalcade of excellent visual gags here that I quite like.
00:48:11
Speaker
So Luke Perry goes out of the window, through another window into the Museum of Sandpaper. Out that window, through the window of the Quikimaw, through the pile of acid that I put up- He was stacking jars of acid! Why was he stacking jars of acid? As Luke Perry goes off, you just hear him on screen going, my face, my valuable face.
00:48:29
Speaker
that not go laugh I'll put for us down his final job, acid. He goes through another window into the pillow factory, which unfortunately he's being demolished and you just hear Perry screams. Then you just go back to Krusty looking quite sheepish.
00:48:46
Speaker
We then cut to the Chili Peppers doing their song and they're in their underwear for this and Krusty points out how degrading this is before he's in his little boy outfit for his little stinker sketch. We then cut to ah Johnny Carson and Krusty asks Johnny Carson what he's going to like tell some jokes or something.
00:49:01
Speaker
Now Johnny Carson wants to lift up a car over his head and then start juggling while he sings some opera. I think the thing that makes mix these funny for me, like, again, the ah the baseball one, is that clearly the celebrity was like, nah, I want you to portray me in a positive light.
00:49:20
Speaker
So what the Simpsons do is then portray them in such a stupidly positive light that it becomes a bit. m but like Yeah, it's over the top funny. He's not just an entertainer.
00:49:31
Speaker
He is the best entertainer of all time and also has super strength. And I think that's very clever. We then cut to Liz Taylor and she looks up at the screen to see Hugh Hefner playing the glasses and comments she's got to fire her agent.
00:49:47
Speaker
Hilarious. Yeah. I don't know. I got a chuckle out of that. We then get the scene of Christie and Bette Midler singing their duet of Wind Beneath My Wind. and It's all very nice, and they cry at the end, and the audience claps, and Bette Midler tells Christie he deserves an Emmy, and Christie says there's no chance of it.
00:50:06
Speaker
He says he doesn't understand why, as he begins insulting the members of the Academy before realising he's on screen. We then cut to Moe's, and we get the ah congratulation party, and... Yeah, sort of after-party kind of thing at Moe's. Like, yeah, had this massive celebrity star-studded celebration of someone's career. Where's the after-party? LAUGHTER
00:50:27
Speaker
We then see Johnny Carson johnny carson to tell Krusty he hopes he saves his money this time and Krusty is immediately given his jewel-encrusted nose. Ruby-encrusted clown nose. The Red Hot Chili Peppers return in their underwear and... I fucking... I don't know why, but I loved how the last guy says hey to Krusty.
00:50:43
Speaker
He is so excited to be there. no point, they can't come in dressed like that and then we cut to Dr. Hibbert and Chief Wiggum in their underpants saying this is the style and the Chief Wiggum says it feels good, do it and Dr. Hibbert takes him up on that advice by snapping his underwear.
00:50:57
Speaker
Which Wiggum tells him off for. Yeah, that bit. They didn't know where they were going with that bit in the end. That's a weird bit, yeah. Then see Christy find the kids and the kids pay. There's no need because they're getting 50% of the t-shirt sales and Christy's enraged because that's the sweetest revenue source. That's the sweetest plum.
00:51:18
Speaker
Yeah, that's so weird. Christy calms down and says, ah that's fine and thanks the kids. We then cut to the next scene and Bart is hosting a toast. Elizabeth Taylor's at the window looking in.
00:51:29
Speaker
Yeah, I liked Elizabeth Taylor at the fucking window. oh I missed that. Yeah, she's like in the back looking proper deer in their headlights. It's very funny. Yeah, she's just got like pressed up against the window like she wants in.
00:51:42
Speaker
And Bart declares that Krusty is the greatest entertainer, except for maybe that guy. And we see that ah Johnny Carson is playing the accordion with... ah Grandpa and Jasper on his head and Grandpa asks if this is the right bus.
00:51:55
Speaker
This is what I mean about like they they just take it to their nth degree because there have been like celebrity cameos in like other shows that just feel so inoffensive because the celebrity didn't want to be portrayed in like too much of ah of any particular light because you know it might ruin their image.
00:52:13
Speaker
So when the celebrities complain in Simpsons, the Simpsons writers are smart enough then to still try and do something funny with it, which, you know, I admire. everyone Everyone applauds Johnny Carson and that's how the episode ends.
00:52:27
Speaker
Yep. That was the end of season four. The grand finale. This was their finale for season four. Yep, it sure was. So what did we think? i've got i I struggled with this one because this is genuinely probably the most unfunny yet inoffensive episode of Simpsons I've ever seen.
00:52:49
Speaker
I don't think it was... her i think that's a little harsh. I don't think it was that unfunny. It had a few moments, but it was was really not what what they wanted it to be. You can tell they wanted this to be a big deal, and it... Yeah, yeah. And it wasn't. fine. At best. But what I'm saying, yeah, is it's it's it's not...
00:53:09
Speaker
a bad episode but it is so far from being a good episode that it's mind-boggling it is just not very like there are two good laughs in this whole episode and it's just nothing is inoffensive that's what i mean What this feels like to me is when, like, money people try and figure out what makes stuff work and try to, like... Yeah.
00:53:35
Speaker
Capitalise on other people's successes. People love the Michael Jackson episode, so... what this was, what very explicitly this was, was they liked The baseball episode, the soft softball episode, it had a lot of celebrities and did really well. So they went, ooh, what if we get a lot of celebrities again? yeah That did well last time.
00:53:55
Speaker
That's what people want. Let's just throw celebrities at it. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, that makes sense. It's explicitly what they did is that on the record, you know? Fair enough, then.
00:54:07
Speaker
It is what it is. It's just, ah it's just here's Krusty and Krusty's friends, isn't it? It's a very tentative plot pulling it all together. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think also saw somewhere that we have obviously seen a lot of big stars this season that people were wanting to be in The Simpsons.
00:54:26
Speaker
So they had a list of celebrities that they wanted to do guest bits. It just got them out of the way. Kind of, yeah. he just Let's shove them all in one episode. It really kind of was that. It's like, we've got all these people. Let's do them all at once just to like tick them off the list. Yeah.
00:54:44
Speaker
That's so fucking dumb. Anyway, for our next episode of the podcast, I've got a celebrity list that I'd like to cram in. I genuinely was almost unwilling to give this a rating because it was so... Hang on, before we go into the ratings, can I just ah give you some more production notes about this? Sure. So, one of the goals of the episode was to have an ex-president of the United States in.
00:55:10
Speaker
And they wrote... Well, the quote here is very respectful, but cute parts for each living ex-president, which included Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan.
00:55:22
Speaker
They all turned it down with only Reagan responding politely, saying no. For the musical band, they immediately pitched for the Rolling Stones, and that was a no, though Keith Richards and Mick Jagger do eventually appear in The Simpsons much further down the line.
00:55:39
Speaker
And Winona Judd, who also turned down the role The Red Hot Chili Peppers finally accepted and ad-libbed up most of their lines. So if you're wondering why that guy went more at the end, that's probably why.
00:55:52
Speaker
It's okay. So it's just some fun facts about the episode there, Pete. Absolutely. i know Yeah, so do yeah does someone else want to go first? ah Because you didn't give it a rating, yeah.
00:56:05
Speaker
I will give it to Crazy Old Man Dancers out of Homer. Because it's not what I wanted to see, but I can't take my eyes off it. Okay. I gave it lightning out of home arm because they couldn't make it strike twice.
00:56:19
Speaker
Oh, that's clever. Clever. As I was saying, I was almost unwilling to give a rating because it is so incredibly bland, but it is not irritating enough to be bad.
00:56:30
Speaker
ah So i one of the things I thought was do i Would I rather watch this Or when Flanders fails And I would still rather watch this Because no definitely this is just boring It's not irritating ah So I gave it a bat In another weirdly sexual situation Out of horror Because I'm sure someone finds it funny Right Fair enough And as you say that's the end of season 4 Yeah. Do we have any... did this Did this have anything to say about society before we get into the season proper? I think it talks about how fickle viewers can be and how one simple slip-up is enough to ruin your career, or if someone comes in and does what you do better, then you serve no purpose in the entertainment industry.
00:57:13
Speaker
But I don't feel like it was trying to say that. No. I think that is just what it said. Yeah, we come to that a lot. Like, I don't think The Simpsons intentionally says... lot about society. Yeah, I don't... Yeah, there's not a lot of intent behind a lot of it beyond lol funny gag. But that doesn't mean it can't have things that it observes or says about stuff. And that's what we're here for.
00:57:38
Speaker
But honestly, yeah, you got more than me on this one because i this was just such an empty episode that I didn't really have any takeaway. yep Probably the worst episode of the season. um Well, let's go let's Let's find out. what what What did we think about season four on the whole? Should I go through a list of the episodes then?
00:57:57
Speaker
Just really quickly? ah Very quickly. Yeah, sure. We had Camp Krusty, a streetcar named Marge, Homer the Heretic, Lisa the beauty queen, Treehouse of Horror 3, Itchy and Scratchy the movie, Marge gets a job, new kid on the block, Mr. Plough, Lisa's first word, Homer's triple bypass, Marge vs. the monorail, Selma's choice, brother from the same planet, I love Lisa, Duffless, last exit to Springfield, so it's come to this, a Simpsons clip show, The Front, whacking day, Marge in chains,
00:58:33
Speaker
and Krusty gets cancelled. Home of the Heretic was probably my favourite, if I recall. I loved Home of the Heretic. Very fun episode. I gave a few Homer out of Homers this season, so like there's there' some top tier shit. We've got Monorail in there, and I'm gonna be hard to be talked down from Monorail, honestly. God, Monorail is so mid.
00:58:54
Speaker
You guys are wrong. I think over the whole, the quality of the season is far up there from what we've had. It's consistently better than what we've had previously.
00:59:06
Speaker
yeah like I like a like Lisa's first word. um Selma's choice is great. ah yeah I think most of the episodes of this season have been good. you know yeah yeah i just think they chose the shittest episode to ah end on.
00:59:22
Speaker
I think Last Exit to Springfield is a great episode. yeah Oh, such a banger. Such a good one, yeah. Yeah, like, ah I mean, we've talked about the Simpsons sort of getting into its groove and where it sort of peaked and did well. At this point, like, it is it is full steam ahead at this point. Like, it this is this is full tilt. Simpsons is up and running and knows what it's doing and doing it very well by season four. Like, this is this is where it...
00:59:48
Speaker
I don't know. Like, i there was some bangers in season three as well because we had like Stark raving dad and whatnot in season three. Like, let's not say season three was bad, but like this felt like a very, very solid season. I'm trying to remember what episode I gave a homer out. I think I only gave one or two homers this season because I'm trying to cut back, i know I can I'm going back through my notes trying to figure out what else I gave it to because I i get... I'm sure I gave three, if not four, homers this season. I should stop deleting my old notes because I use the same document and just delete it every time.
01:00:22
Speaker
I've literally written them in a bug. One day, one day when people actually watch this show, they will collate it for us and they will be able to say, hey, they're the most generous ah Homer giver.
01:00:36
Speaker
I gave Homer out of Homer to Marge gets a job with a note that said unexpectedly a Homer out of Homer. I really enjoyed this one. I don't really remember it that much at this point, but apparently at the time I thought it was great. Oh yeah. That's a fun one. The one Mr. Burns is in love with Marge and then you're in the Tom Jones thing at the end.
01:00:52
Speaker
It also, I think it's funny that on Wikipedia, it lists like the guest stars of all the people except Tom Jones. For some reason they're just like, no, Tom Jones isn't a guest star. Tom Jones is just part of the cast.
01:01:06
Speaker
All right. as says That's Welsh charm for
01:01:11
Speaker
you. Looking ahead, there's some very strong episodes in season five that we've got to look forward to. Lovely. Can't wait for it. All right. Shall we finally move on to the one that John has been hyping up since the start of this podcast?
01:01:28
Speaker
I... Don't know if that's true. is that You are not escaping from this. you are not escaping fliation needed no You are not escaping from the absolute rim job you have given this episode from the fucking start of the show.
01:01:43
Speaker
You are not escaping this. you You can hold me to that on like, you only move twice. I don't know about Homer's Barbershop Quartet. You have... Or Bart vs. Australia....for while.
01:01:54
Speaker
it's ah It's an excellent episode. like im rubb stop I'm not gonna back down from it being a very good episode. I fucking love this episode. ah But maybe we should introduce it before we get that far. Maybe we should note that but Homer's Barbershop Quartet aired on September 30th, 1993.
01:02:10
Speaker
And it's the first episode of season five, if you haven't worked that out. And it is the first episode of season five, well observed. Right. What happened on September the 30th, 1993? 6.4 on the Richter scale Earth. Did you say September?
01:02:23
Speaker
September? Yes, yep. I'm alive! You're alive. I'm alive now! This is the first episode that aired while you were alive. What a disappointment.
01:02:33
Speaker
Wow, what? Earth and Fire have gone mental, singing the song. Oh, you remember! Exactly. Oh, right, yes. I'm glad someone got that joke.
01:02:46
Speaker
It was the 21st night of September. Wait, wait am I thinking of a different song? no you're thinking of No, you're thinking of the right song, but we're just using a different date. Because no one remembers the date, we just remember that it happened in September, and most dates work with the song, so everyone has a different number.
01:03:03
Speaker
Okay, but I feel like I'm right about the number. I think it's the 21st, yeah, I think you're right. I go back to this earthquake. oh Sure, give us an earthquake. 6.4 on the Richter scale earthquake Latour, India, 28,000 killed.
01:03:17
Speaker
Jesus, fuck. Why'd you bring the mood down? yeah This is the headline ah event on this date. We want to talk about bland-ass episode of Simpsons.
01:03:28
Speaker
US Army General Colin Powell retires age 56. He's a bit younger. He'd stayed retired. Nope, he does not. ah He will be back in the early to mid-2000s in the George W. Bush administration because he has some involvement in some Middle Eastern stuff.
01:03:46
Speaker
Yay! Love that! Yay, love that. So, um but but on the bright side, the UK number one is Boom Shake the Room by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.
01:03:58
Speaker
God fucking sick! You could have a more 90s song than that. Oh, man. this is ah This is a right banger start my life with.
01:04:10
Speaker
I was born and everything went to shit. It could be worse. Just as ah as a random trivia, just not to derail things too heavily, but like do you know what the number one one was on the day you were born?
01:04:21
Speaker
Oh, no, absolutely not. I could find out while Michael continues to do his vamping. as ah I know full well that on the day I was born, it was Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up. Oh, you absolute chad.
01:04:35
Speaker
the ah On this day, on the US side, Mariah Carey Dream Lover is the That was what was number one when I was born. Was it? Why in the UK?
01:04:49
Speaker
Well, it just says, um' I'm just on a website called birthdayjams.com. Oh, it was Mr. Vain in the UK by Culture Beat. i don't know what that is. Not me neither.
01:05:00
Speaker
Never heard it. Apparently mine was Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You by Glenn Medeiros.
01:05:09
Speaker
An ice hockey player called Austin Matthews was born on the same day as me, which is ahs funny. No, same year. same Sorry, same day, not same year. They were born four years after me.
01:05:21
Speaker
Okay. No one was born when I was born. It was only me. The world handle it. were the only person on the planet born on that day. The Earth could only handle it. They were like, no, no, I can't take it anymore. There's too much life. Too much awesome has been brought into the world. We can't.
01:05:37
Speaker
All right, thanks, guys. All right, moving on. I'm sure people appreciated you and your time. No, this is my time right now and I'm being unappreciated by two dickheads.
01:05:50
Speaker
Love me, damn it. to earn your love. No, no, no, no. I know for a fact i am the person on the podcast that people love to hear. I know that for a fact. People people will not like me.
01:06:04
Speaker
Loving to hate you so is a kind of love. It's a kind of love. That's something an abusive partner says. You lines have been crossed here, John.
01:06:16
Speaker
Should we talk about us? Yeah, maybe. We should go into it, yes. Okay, so the child boy gag. I will never win an Emmy. This was so fucking pay.
01:06:29
Speaker
No, they weren't very happy. guess that Christy cancelled into... iron Ironically enough, they do, I think, eventually. Yeah, course they do. It's Simpsons. And we get the couch gag, which is actually three couch gags.
01:06:41
Speaker
This actually made me laugh, like, proper. This was very funny to me. ah The first one, they finally run into each other and shatter by glass. The ah second one, they run into each other and merge into some horrific... Like a little club bridge.
01:06:53
Speaker
The third one, they run into each other and they explode. I just like that it's like the take one, take two, take three, take eight. Yeah, it was good. It was silly. My main vibe from this was they were ah about 10 seconds short on the run time for this episode. sta stuff yeah Yeah, so they just like made three different couch gags. And they were like, shit, just use two of the ones we've already made and put them together.
01:07:16
Speaker
Yeah, keep an eye out for these three. I will be keeping eye if like they come up again individually. The episode begins with everybody at the Springfield swap meet and Mayor Quimby's covering the mic as he points out this is the human roaches and the dregs of society and you can't buy dignity. It was just Mayor Quimby being a dickhead.
01:07:34
Speaker
Yeah, but he's a dickhead, so. Yeah. Then he finally introduces this swap meat, the swap meat, that's the one. Swap meat. And he even does his Ich bin ein Springfield swap meat patron.
01:07:49
Speaker
Yeah, that was... Sure. Yeah, I get it.
Layered Humor and Cultural References
01:07:52
Speaker
okay setting Setting things off on the right tone. Hope you like references. Yeah, just in case you forgot that one. Because this episode got them. You don't have Everyone cheers him says he needs a drink in a shower.
01:08:04
Speaker
Yeah, again, it was just like, I don't get it. Like, is it just that he doesn't like interacting with the public? It just seemed so intense that it felt like it had a purpose beyond that gag, you know?
01:08:17
Speaker
So I just, i I was too busy being distracted by the absolute vitriol He's like member of the elite ruling class. The idea of wanting somebody else's secondhand shit is just kind of gross to him. guess, yeah. It's just elitism. Like I said, it was similar to the joke in the last episode. It just went so ham that I was just like, I'm too busy not paying attention to the joke because of how angry you clearly are.
01:08:50
Speaker
I just think they could have toned it down little and that would have made it funnier which I know sounds like counterintuitive but it just felt weirdly written to me we didn't cut to see some of the sellers which includes Mo and his Lucille Ball oysters it doesn't mean it does an impersonation of Lucille Ball just in case you didn't get what the joke was I'm not familiar enough with Lucille Ball's stuff anyway so maybe I would have been in 1993 don't know I'm sure in 93 this went over like Rover.
01:09:21
Speaker
We then see the boys looking at... religious figure sports cars, which includes Mufusul rookie card, which was great. Biblical baseball cards. Yeah, when he was so excited about like free baseball cards, I was like, where is this going? And then the whole, what is it, 23 conversions in one year thing?
01:09:41
Speaker
that Yes. yeah That was funny. As long this points out, that the boys are now learning about religion. They panic and then flee. Religion? Learning? Let's get out of here.
01:09:52
Speaker
That was good. But yeah, i that's just kind of a like the cute play on words of conversions in sport versus conversions, ah you know, religious. Oh, I didn't even get that. i just I just laughed at the fact that that was his stat, you know, like in a religious.
01:10:08
Speaker
think in American football, you get a conversion, right? It's oh, wow, this guy scored 26 conversions in AD 46. Yeah, it's a football thing. Genuinely don't know. Genuinely don't know. We then see Lisa's going through a... yeah I've already forgotten baseball team we support.
01:10:23
Speaker
I support the Cardinals. I don't know about you Is that the one that... The fixer sports, yes. Yeah, so, yeah yeah, I remember that I support the Cardinals. There you go. Sweet. I have some concerns that your support may not be genuine.
01:10:36
Speaker
Because you what? So do I. Yo, yo, yo. First first game of the new season starts next week. So fucking hyped. I'll watch it with you you want. I will watch it. All right, where are we watching? right, we'll do this after. After six. Let's not do this on the podcast.
01:10:52
Speaker
Moving on. and but We see ah Lisa's going through a bucket and finds Malibu Stacy's original door, which has some very pointy bazoongas. Yay, they took it off the market after one kid poked both his eyes out.
01:11:06
Speaker
Next stop, Funsville. Spot of freeze frame fun there. There's a Mickey Mouse hand po poking out of the box of stuff that that's that that's in. Good. We don't see that Skinner's reunited with the old prisoner of war helmet that you wore. What the actual fuck was this bit?
01:11:23
Speaker
Just to remind you Skinner was in Nam. they're like small world huh like it fits like a glove all of that was fine but it's like they do they just say small world and then nodding what what is this big this is this has to be a reference to some fucking esoteric movie that no one's seen there is no way this is an intentional just gag the The prisoner number is a reference.
01:11:48
Speaker
The prisoner number is a reference, because we've had that prisoner number before, because it's also Sideshow Bob's prisoner when he was in prison. He was prisoner 24601, because that's ah the prisoner number that jeanval Jean Valjean from Les Mis has. He's a fraud, bro.
01:12:05
Speaker
Is he? Yeah. h but I feel a bit about the base there was an atomic bomb behind them as they were having this pleasantish conversation. I love that that character because he's he's never really utilised that much now.
01:12:18
Speaker
Like they used him obviously in, what was it, season two? For that whole episode? Yeah. yeah yeah And he just now just like kind of appears throughout the rest of Simpsons to be the guy with a lot of guns and that's kind of it.
01:12:33
Speaker
Yeah. I'll be honest, I hadn't even spotted the nuke behind him because my eye immediately was drawn to the shit. That's a fucking Confederate flag hanging up back there. I guarantee that this entire series of bits is a wash with glum toothpastes.
01:12:54
Speaker
Tune into fucking episode two if you want to hear that bit. Or episode one, whichever it is. quite early on. We don't see Homer going through a box of variables for five cents, which includes, um, presumably the Bill of Rights, um, a classical guitar signed by.
01:13:10
Speaker
and Yeah, the Bill of Rights, a violin stra signed by Stradivarius. it so Yeah, it is a Stradivarius. Incredibly rare American stamps that were misprinted.
01:13:22
Speaker
And there's one more because I i recognize them all. There's like a no first edition of some rare comic as well. the first edition of Action Comics, which is Superman. Yeah, every single one of these is either, like, a historic artifact or tremendously valuable. Yeah, I'm fairly certain, like, Action Comics issue one is, like, ten grand.
01:13:41
Speaker
Really? Yeah. Fancy Marge is trying to sell some crap, and it's including a wishbone necklace, which your son and daughter would love. The guy's response is, I doubt my son or daughter is that stupid.
01:13:54
Speaker
Then we see Bart and Lisa looking over records, and they find Melvin and the squirrels. Guess what that might be a rip-off of? And the comic book guy actually plays it, and... It's what you would expect.
01:14:05
Speaker
Yep. Just with Meryl LeVeux. Then the record keeps playing, but nothing's coming out. Just... Yeah, sure, why not? And the record, it ended. He put it on the last track, and then it came to an end, and yeah.
01:14:17
Speaker
And then, see, at least it's done. It's shocked to see that ah Homer is on an album, and we see that... Oh, I was indeed in a band, and Lisa questions him about it, and um I'm surprised the kids don't remember because it was... so just The last copy of Action Comics, number one, that went on sale, sold for six million dollars.
01:14:37
Speaker
I think we might have undervalued it then. With an 8.5 rating.
Homer's Musical Flashback
01:14:42
Speaker
Like, that's not even a 10 out of 10 for, like, you know, what's the word... Quality? Yeah, quality ah digital condition. That's it.
01:14:53
Speaker
Okay. So it was an 8.5 and it sold for fucking $6 million. dollars Holy balls. Carry on. Five cents.
01:15:04
Speaker
The kids are shocked to see that Homer was in a band and Homer is surprised. They don't remember because it was only eight years ago. Bart points out facts to television. He can't remember eight seconds ago when the family started laughing. No, no, no, Bart.
01:15:14
Speaker
Fucking seconds ago, Bart was two. Yeah, you shouldn't remember this because you were two fucking years old. it doesn't matter. Like, this bit is funny-ish, but no, you don't remember it because you were two. Lisa was zero when he was perfectly able to talk. Yeah, we see in the flashbacks that we get that she was basically like yeah a baby. A buh-buh!
01:15:33
Speaker
Who could speak perfect sentences. Yes, yeah, she'd learn to speak at the age of less than one. And Bart is concerned with his family are laughing about his lack of memory as he tries to point out it's a serious problem.
01:15:44
Speaker
They keep laughing and eventually Bart starts laughing before he forgets what they were laughing about. And Palmer starts going into his flashback. Yeah, it is a flashback episode. It's time, mate. We had some 80s references, but I didn't bother write them down. It this time, 1985. So hold on to your 1985 references.
01:16:03
Speaker
The flashback begins with Homer revealing him, Chief Wiggum, Principal Skinner, and Apu. Had a barbershop quartet band and Bart interjects going, barbershop? A prospector voice? That have been popular since God nang it.
01:16:16
Speaker
Those words there, know what they were meant to be. almost scold him for talking like a prospector and Bart's response is God sarnit. yeah yeah Yeah, that was a weird bit. It's just Bart likes doing silly voices, which, as you observed last time, is probably something to do with the voice actress likes doing silly voices.
01:16:33
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know, maybe. be Homer goes back to his flashback and he says, the crowds went wild for him and we cut back and it's a Barney throwing women's underwear at them. Yeah.
01:16:44
Speaker
Multiple pairs of women's underwear. It's just got loads of them hanging around ready to throw bands. I just like as that I can, based on the audio, you can kind of tell that they originally did just want the actors to sing in a barbershop quartet. And they were very clearly like, no, this is dog shit.
01:17:02
Speaker
So they did actually get someone to harmonize in the background. And it's very clearly none of the original actors. They got a band called the Dapper Dans, who are fairly famous for playing at Disneyland, specifically. Okay, fair enough. To most of this. They did mix in some audio of the actors doing voices. Oh, you definitely hear Tee Wiggum and Homer occasions. Yeah, yeah.
01:17:26
Speaker
And do you know what The only one you can't hear is Apu. That I could think Because there's definitely moments Where you can hear Principal Skinner There's definitely moments Where you can hear Homer Because obviously Homer like Sings the main like lyrics And then Wiggum just has Such a distinct voice But i I'm guessing because Wiggum and Apu Have the same voice actor So Possibly Possibly So they probably Just didn't bother I mean, maybe it's that Apu has got such an even distinct voice that maybe it was distracting sounded or something. It's really hard to sing in accent.
01:17:58
Speaker
Yeah, can imagine. That's probably the main reason. Alma goes into his explanation that rock and roll has become stagnant and achy-breaky hard by Billy Ray Cyrus hadn't come out yet, so something had to fill the void. It two years away.
01:18:11
Speaker
Seven years, according to this. seven years. apologies. My apologies. We then see the... we get a couple of clips of the barbershop quartet in action, including at the old folks' home. That's my son up there!
01:18:23
Speaker
and the the old crazy man... asks lin No, the Hindu guy. Hindu guy. We then see they're also performing at the prison, and Snake is about to throw a rock at Chief Wiggin, but lets the song end before nailing He absolutely nails him.
01:18:38
Speaker
Absolutely fucking hell. We then see them performing at the church, and the patrons are so taken in by the song they're giving generously, which... ah Lovejoy is quite happy about. Blanders is squeamish and you know Reverend this really isn't at him.
01:18:53
Speaker
look Lovejoy sends him off into the car park to look at an oil stain that looks like a saint. Saint Barnabas yeah. And we see them still performing and Moses audience has grown beyond Barney.
01:19:05
Speaker
h Which includes a name of an agent. i think yeah I saw the word Nigel, but i don't think we ever got a last name. It is Nigel, yeah. Nigel is... so I guess he's supposed to be based on the Beatles manager. John, I'm gonna i'm going to level with you.
01:19:21
Speaker
Literally everything in this episode is in some way ah reference to the Beatles. Yes, yes it is. Like, I mean, unless you are really familiar with the Beatles, which I'm not really familiar with the Beatles. I know the Beatles' music. I couldn't have fucking told you who their manager was.
01:19:41
Speaker
I guess he was fairly noteworthy because, like, looking into him, there are plaques and statues and shit of him out there in the world. Like, I guess he was pretty noteworthy. But I couldn't have told you who was the Beatles' manager. It is Brian Epstein, the guy who Nigel is, I guess, based on.
01:19:57
Speaker
Nigel basically wants to recruit the barbershop quartet, but makes it clear he doesn't want Chief Wiggin because he's two village people and Homer has to replace him. Why are you just asking him to change his clothes?
01:20:09
Speaker
No, that's too difficult. He's like, you don't have to perform in uniform, my dude. Homer's got a solution to this, which is to abandon Chief Wiggin in the woods. Like a dog.
01:20:21
Speaker
We then see Chief Wiggin howl at the moon as realizes he's been abandoned. And we then cut to the auditions to replace Chief O'Gum and some of these are quite interesting.
01:20:32
Speaker
We see that Abe Simpson is singing Oh MacDonald Had a Farm and he's getting very into it. Yeah, he's singing a sexy version. Homer tells him to get off the stage and Grandpa says he can't.
01:20:44
Speaker
We then cut to groundskeeper Willie's singing downtown and he's really emphasizing the town. Dune toon. Dune toon, yeah. Then go to Jasper singing about a summer breeze and this goes on for a gag of a day. It's the theme from a summer place, which, like... The theme from a summer place. Just, yeah. Obviously, they're kind of, like, making a gag here, but, like, I started digging into this for whatever reason, because that's just the way I work.
01:21:10
Speaker
And, like... ah It is an instrumental song, the original, but also there seem to be like ones which, versions of it which like, oh yes, no, it has lyrics. I'm like, whichs what are the lyrics? Are the lyrics just themed from a summer place over and over again? reminded me, this is going to be a reference that literally no one will get.
01:21:27
Speaker
but there is a video online of someone doing an acapella version of the dark world theme from one of the super nintendo zelda games and it's literally the guy just going the theme from the dark world the theme from the dark world and that's all i could think of and that's basically what this is yeah and i found this probably was my favorite bit of the whole episode was just him doing that sorry i missed a bit out um It's a bit where Homer introduces Nigel to the band and he introduces to Apu.
01:21:59
Speaker
And Apu's last name won't feel on the marquee, so he's renamed... Something equally as long! Apu Debeau Marche. Debeau Marche, yeah. Apu points out this is a great dishonor to his ancestors and his god, but okay. like i I don't ah don't get this, I've got to be honest. They think I think the joke is that you people will sell themselves out very easily for money and fame.
01:22:24
Speaker
But why do Beaumarchais? There's got to be something. Because French and exotic. Yeah, he chose a... He placed Apu's very long name with an equally long name.
01:22:35
Speaker
So there was no point in doing it. The thing that's been really interesting for me, though, since Apu has been introduced, and we've got ah a lot of Simpsons to fully make this decision, but I have actually been impressed by how not offensive Apu's character is.
01:22:52
Speaker
I'm not Indian, so I can't, like, truly comment. But considering what we watch now and, you know, what we we point out and say, this was racist, you know, there's obviously, John, we've talked about like in in like some of Arnie's movies, the portrayal of women and those kind of things.
01:23:08
Speaker
And you can clearly see the moments where you're like, yeah this is offensive. but there aren't that like we had what was it uh last episode we were like this isn't racist it's just weird and that's kind of what like they've managed to straddle the line pretty well and again the same thing with um the b guy he's an actual reference to an actual spanish show yeah and it's like it's one of those where you know with context that changes things and i thought that was really fascinating
01:23:41
Speaker
I mean, I will note that like sort halfway through season five, there is a very explicitly an Apu episode. And we've sort of talked about this before. Like, i I feel like every time we talk about Apu, we have to like, had the disclaimer, like, but by the way, we're not Indian and we aren't really in i position to weigh in on this.
01:23:59
Speaker
And i because of that, I feel like some obligation to try and find a guest for that episode that might be able to like have that lived... Yeah, that that that lived experience to weigh in on this with some validity that we don't have. I suppose, yeah, because there is that ultimate... aren' You know, the jokes are based on aren't people from a different culture funny?
01:24:21
Speaker
And that is yeah inherently not okay. I'm not going to say racist, but it is inherently like... a power dynamic or whatever you want to call it. So, yeah, you know, um'm I'm a white guy.
01:24:34
Speaker
i can say nothing. So anyway, Simpsons... Because of not being able to say nothing. No. Well, he's he's singing about loads of things about the animals.
01:24:45
Speaker
It's a man that looks suspiciously like Chief Wiggum in a moustache. No, that's Dr. Doolittle. Yes, I was about say, it is Dr. Doolittle until the moustache falls off and Skinner, like you, is absolutely horrified to learn that it is, in fact, Chief Wiggum.
01:24:57
Speaker
Chief Wiggum decides that bird's got a fly ahead and literally leaps on the piano and out the window. days They score a chuckle as well. this wasn' I mean, I will never not appreciate somebody just leaping out of a window. It's always funny. You can always do a leaping out of a window gag. This was something I learned recently, and I know I'm like delaying the episode a lot today, but have either of you guys watched the IT t crowd?
01:25:21
Speaker
Yes. Okay, not a great show, but whatever. Do you know the scene where the boss... um he just walks out of the window yeah yeah that was because the actor didn't want to be in the show anymore oh shit really did not know that not in a negative way he was just like i want to move on to other projects so my character's going to kill himself i just did it and everyone was like all right i would explod i don't know Yeah, it's fair enough. It worked.
01:25:46
Speaker
Yeah, like, I mean, to be fair, I talk about, like, ah anyone jumping through a window is always great, but, like, to just do it casually elevates it that much more. He just he just absolutely walks out the window. It's great.
01:25:58
Speaker
There's a great bit that everyone should watch of that's done by Monty Python's Flying Circus. Just go watch Monty Python Flying Circus Office Workers window. That should find it very, very funny.
01:26:12
Speaker
Rings a bell, but i can't remember it. It's great. It's really good. As the band are looking very depressed that they can't find a new member, they suddenly hear the heavenly tones of an Irish diddy, and they're wondering, who the hell is that?
01:26:24
Speaker
We then hear the trademark belch, and they realize it's Barney. Barney! And they all say it in harmony. Yeah. Very, very American 90s sitcom. Barney! Norm!
01:26:36
Speaker
Yeah. Let's see that Barney is... Barney's on the men's room floor looking for his toothpick. And Homer invites him to join. Oh, God, that's dawned on me what he was looking for. Homer asks him to join the band and Barney goes back to singing his lovely, charming song.
Band Formation and Humor
01:26:52
Speaker
We then cut to the next scene and Wiggum has organised a protest and we see the Barney negative signs and the burning effigy as Wiggum's delighted. Barney starts singing Sweet Adelaide he's knocking out of the park. Sweet.
01:27:07
Speaker
The audience start cheering and are crying. They flip one of the signs upside down so it says something positive about... Oh no, all the signs change. One of them chi goes from Barney stinks to Barney doesn't stink.
01:27:19
Speaker
Yeah, but one of them is literally just flipped upside down is what i'm saying and that's that was really funny. Yeah, it's like it it's it's weird because it's not like upside down is rearranged to a degree. Barney C. Wiggum Knob.
01:27:31
Speaker
Yeah, because used to say Barney is no Wiggum, and now it says Barney C. Wiggum, no. Right. It's like they cut off the sign really quickly. Yeah, youre very. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:27:43
Speaker
Well, compliments Nigel on getting the girls to scream, and Nigel says he didn't actually do that, and Mo does his best Macaulay Culkin. That's a reference to Elvis? That happened with Elvis at some point, apparently.
01:27:55
Speaker
Yeah, Elvis fever. We don't see that everybody's outside afterwards, and the band wonder what to call themselves, and... The first suggestion is Handsome Homer plus three. Barney likes it, but nobody else does.
01:28:06
Speaker
And Skinner says they need a name that's witty at first, but then gets less funny every time you hear it. And Apu suggests... like MoMA in the morning. I'm glad it's on the same level. That's just reassuring.
01:28:20
Speaker
Apu doesn't suggest that. He suggests the B-shops, and they all laugh hysterically. It just kind of tells off to them, just looking kind of indifferent about it. That's perfect. That's what they wanted.
01:28:30
Speaker
Get it? It's like a musical note, but it's also like an aphorism. Hilarious. They all put their hands into caressing the new band name, and Wiggum's hand comes on as he tries to... Wiggum tries to play it off. like You can't blame a guy for trying, as they all sternly stare at him, and he arrests them all.
01:28:47
Speaker
You're all under arrest. We then see that theyre all the kids have bought new items, including Bart, who's bought his new pencil case, and Homer immediately realizes it's a bong. Yeah, but they don't show it.
01:28:58
Speaker
They like just show enough of it to be to like hint that it's a bong. They show it's a bong, don't they? Not really. thought they showed it was a full-on bong. I think, yeah, you can see it fairly clearly. Might be a Disney censorship thing.
01:29:11
Speaker
Oh, maybe. wish on Disney it was clearly a bong. Yeah, the version I've got, like you can see it in Bart's hand, but like also realise as a kid, to like I had no idea what that was. No, I'm pretty certain Sky cut this bit. Interesting.
01:29:23
Speaker
Interesting. We then see that Marge is depressed that nobody bought a wishbone necklace. I'm a point out he has made some money because he sold the spare tire, which obviously means that the tire goes immediately. Immediate blowout. ah This is the bit where we mentioned earlier they are driving through the desert for reasons. these They are driving back to their home in Springfield from the Springfield swap meet through 12 plus miles of desert?
01:29:47
Speaker
Yeah. And they're not 12 miles from from gas. So that means they are more than 12 miles away from Springfield. And there's desert.
01:29:58
Speaker
Look, Homer decided he wanted to take the the long way around and go through Nevada. The scenic route through Monument Valley. Yeah, okay. It's pretty scenic, I guess. I can't blame him for that.
01:30:11
Speaker
As Marge goes off the gas, Homer begins telling the story again. And we see that Homer is struggling to write a song. His first attempt is just based on out the opening of Al Capone's vault, another 80s reference week.
01:30:23
Speaker
Oh, okay. Is that what that was? didn't didn't pick up on that one. Yeah, there was a famous thing where they ah found Al Capone's vault in the 80s and they thought it was going to be full of ah jewels and millions of dollars. And when they opened it, it was jack shit in there.
01:30:39
Speaker
It was like a live nationalized, televised event, so a bit of a letdown. Iroldo got the blame. Yeah. That's the song. but Fair enough. I taught you all something. very Learning. I'm learning. 36 Al Capunga versions.
01:30:56
Speaker
Religion. Learning. Anyway, Marge has got some inspiration for a song. Yeah, she has. Oh, great segue. Marge has a baby on board sign which will stop people from intentionally ramming the car.
01:31:09
Speaker
i didn't realise that baby on board signs were that old, to be honest. Do you ever have that millennial mindset where you just think everything was invented when you were born?
01:31:21
Speaker
Not quite. Not exactly, no. I mean, I can acknowledge that the telephone and the phone were... Well, I mean, literally everything, you bellends. Bell was invented before I was born. Oh, fuck off. Move. Let's just talk about Simpsons. i'm wrong. You're right. You're big. I'm small.
01:31:38
Speaker
Thank you for finally admitting it. almost started writing the song and he, uh, writes half the words and starts mumbling stuff and says, oh, this writes itself. Baby on board, something, something, but ward.
01:31:52
Speaker
We then see them recording the song in the studio and, uh, Nigel congratulates them on recording their first number one. spring Principal Skinner can now suddenly play the banjo. o And he has at this point workshopped it into an actual bop at this point. Like this, this, this song slaps. Oh yeah. The song is great. It's great.
01:32:10
Speaker
There's a, Homer can't wait to sell Marge, but Nigel says that Homer needs to keep his marriage a secret because girls are going to want to have sex women him and he wants them to think that they can. Homer's response this is he explains it exactly like that to Marge and he'll be fine. Spoiler letters, it's not fine. I've got to admit, I think Marge's reaction is a bit of an overreaction here. it is It's a lot. we just We just immediately smash cut to Marge sobbing wildly on the bed. It's uncomfortable.
01:32:39
Speaker
Homer makes it worse by pointing out it's only until he's done his tour in Sweden. the like Again, I don't want to be the guy that's like always saying how I would rewrite Simpsons. But, in my opinion, the best way to do this gag would have been Homer to say that, and then it's smash cut to him getting slapped, and they move on.
01:32:57
Speaker
That was immediately my thought as well. i was like, surely Marge just slapping him would have been a better gag, yeah. But instead we get this just uncomfortable moment that's just like, should I feel bad?
01:33:09
Speaker
o So I think, yeah, just cutting to him getting slapped and then moving on would have been funnier. And again, i don't want to be the guy that's like, I'm smarter than The Simpsons writers, but I'm kind of smarter than The Simpsons writers, guys.
01:33:24
Speaker
Let's be honest. We then, uh, cut the song actually being played out on the airwaves and, uh, Grandpa's vibing to it, points out again that this is his son. Jasper points out that, uh... Paul Harvey's on.
01:33:35
Speaker
Paul Harvey's on he changes the radio over to the story about Roy Cohn. That boy that no one liked turned out to be Roy Cohn. Wow. Wow.
01:33:46
Speaker
We then know cut to the slightly more interesting Captain McAllister fighting a squid and, uh, The song brings them together in harmony and Captain McAspen says he's got no ill will towards him, he just heard there was gold. Simpsons predicted hentai.
01:34:02
Speaker
feel like hentai existed before 1993. Hentai is very old, let but you I just wanted to make the bit, okay? wanted to make the joke. Hentai was definitely before your your birth. Michael! I just don feel like that was admitting something there. I can tell you some stories.
01:34:22
Speaker
I can probably Google some.
01:34:25
Speaker
Stories about hentai. Emphasis on about. I don't want hentai. I just stories about it. That's a difficult Google. That is a difficult Google. Don't let anyone use your computer after that.
01:34:37
Speaker
you'll be on you You will be on some form of pause after that. You'll need Clorox wipes for your computer. that kind of good Is that how I clean my search history? Just get a surface wipe! Just rub it on your screen. No one will ever know.
01:34:54
Speaker
It still comes up in the search bill. We then see that Marge tells Homer he's going to be famous, but Homer says it's not going to change him. He's going to be the same loving father he's always been. March then asks if he's seen Bart, and Bart says, oh, he's left him somewhere, and we see that Bart is underneath the laundry basket with rocks on. And they throw boulders top of the laundry basket.
01:35:16
Speaker
We then see that Homer has bought his father a pink Cadillac like Elvis, and Grandpa is delighted that he has a heart attack, and we just see Grandpa's hanging. We then get our second Beatles reference where everyone's at JFK Airport, and it's film filmed and shot in the exact same way as the Beatles getting off the plane.
Fame, Satire, and Awards
01:35:34
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
01:35:35
Speaker
I then see that they've answered some questions from the press, which is Apu being asked if he's really an Indian, and Apu's response to this is by the many arms of Vishnu. It's a lie. Yeah, okay. Barney's then asked ah how he joined the group, and Barney gives the true answer of being found on the men's room floor, and everybody laughs, and Barney's just got a single tear.
01:35:54
Speaker
Someone asks Principal Skinner if he's the funny one, and Skinner just says, yep, and everyone just laughs in hysterics. We don't see that the group are performing again and Chief Wiggum has miraculously joined the band again.
01:36:04
Speaker
Okay, I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that. light Oh yeah, and you can hear him in the background. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, they've just reused the audio from earlier of them singing Goodbye My Coney Isle. Yeah, Wiggum's still in mixed into the audio there.
01:36:18
Speaker
It's them lip syncing. It's a very early lip syncing, that's what it is. Yeah, yeah, maybe. Everyone's enjoying it, apart from Ronald Reagan, who is upset that he has to attend this when he could be working.
01:36:30
Speaker
No, he said it could be working mummy. Yes, that was uncomfortable. Why did Ronald Reagan say the word mummy? don't I don't like that Ronald Reagan said the word mummy.
01:36:42
Speaker
i don't know. i We need an American. but Also, like, last episode, they were trying to get ex-president. Like, oh, come on, you could have got him for this.
01:36:52
Speaker
He'd have done it. He would not. We should stress that this is not and this is This is the next best thing to Ronald Reagan, and it's like, I guess, probably Hank Azaria or someone doing Reagan. Probably Hank Azaria. It's always Hank Azaria. Emma then dedicates the next number to a very special woman.
01:37:13
Speaker
and she like She's 100 years old, and she weighs over 200 tons. One guy takes him literally thinks the monstrous woman coming. This ginormous woman devour us all! He then leaps off the boat, and Emma then sheepishly points out he was talking about this thing.
01:37:27
Speaker
Johnny Carson reappears and says he's, as he makes one of his, uh, gags about Chief Wiggum being a cast off and we see Wiggum start shooing the television afterwards. Like Elvis. He's then pointed out that the remote is right next to him and it's, and it's in his holster.
01:37:40
Speaker
He turns the channel and Joan Rivers is now mocking him. So he throws his gun from the TV. Also, this is, I think, where we get Wiggum's first name for the first time because his wife actually calls him Clancy.
01:37:51
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Clancy. We then see that, uh, Marge has returned and is changing the time. Homer says that all the B-Shops now need is the approval of record company Lowlifes, which cuts us straight to the Grammys.
01:38:02
Speaker
Hilarious. We then cut to David Crosby, who appeared in Marge's Chairs. Two episodes on the trot where we're reusing celebrity guest actors.
01:38:13
Speaker
We then see that in the Award for Outstanding Soul, Spoken Word, or Barbershop Album of the Year, Aretha Franklin is one of the nominees, just in case you were wondering. o I was desperately trying to figure out if the other two were a reference to something, and like nobody has the answer for me on that one. so I have a sneaking suspicion that the other barbershop were the ones that did the harmonizing. I really thought yeah i thought they were the Dapper Dans as well. I was trying to figure that out, and I could not find any pictures of them where they look anything like that. That's a shame. story But also the Dapper Dans have been around for like i ah a long fucking time, frankly, and they've changed the people in the band a lot. So trying to find who is in the Dapper Dans.
01:38:59
Speaker
fine God knows, honestly. Long short of it the B-Shops win and Bonnie tells David Crosby he's his hero. David Crosby goes, oh, you like my music? And Bonnie's shocked to learn he's actually a musician.
01:39:10
Speaker
i don't get that. Is it meant to be a Bill Crosby joke?
01:39:15
Speaker
I don't know. think it's just silly. don't know. just like, you're my hero. You like my music. You're a musician. You have no idea who he actually is. It's silly that he's his hero, but doesn't know what his work is. Homer then declares that he gets the greatest fill of his life as he meets George Harrison.
01:39:31
Speaker
Homer is very exiled because he wants to know where George but georgia got the brownie from. Oh my God. Oh my God. Where did you get that brownie? George Harrison then points out there's a big pile of them and the Homer goes out of into...
01:39:44
Speaker
Homer laughs crazily and goes into them and goes to his magical plate of brownies, which never goes down. I did like ah him just just going, what a nice fella. Yeah. George Harrison's just in the background watching. because You had no conversation with this man. But okay, sure.
01:40:02
Speaker
Should stress that this is the second of the Beatles cameos in The Simpsons. Sure is. I don't think the Ringo Starr one's ever going to be topped, though. I fucking love that one. Well, you've got one more to come.
01:40:14
Speaker
So we'll see what you think of that one when
Timeline Fluidity and Narrative Convenience
01:40:16
Speaker
the time comes. I don't know where that one know it's somewhere up ahead, but I don't know where it is. I think it's a couple of seasons away, if I'm honest. Got to be, at least.
01:40:26
Speaker
We don't see Homer on the phone to Lisa, and ah Lisa says, you'll beat Dexie's Midnight Runners. And Homer says, well, you haven't seen the last of them. Spoiler alert, we have. Is that what I want to go? They're very infamous for being a one-hit wonder.
01:40:38
Speaker
Oh, okay, right. Come on, Eileen. but Okay, yes, you do.
01:40:46
Speaker
Varnish turned up in the chat there for a second. yeah you're welcome Lisa, who can speak four sentences despite the fact we've established she's less than one, tells Homer she misses him and Homer says, I miss you too.
01:40:57
Speaker
At some point in this, there was a title that said we'd cut to 1986. So like, this wasn't, okay this was only seven years ago now, not eight. But, and Lisa must be like one now, but counting I'll accept it.
01:41:12
Speaker
But also, like, they're probably worth noting that, like, this does seem to be, I would argue, probably the first, like, definitive instance of The Simpsons' weirdly fluid and shifting timeline. Yeah. Because, like, this episode does imply that Bart was born specifically in 1983 now, when, like, he was earlier than this previously. And it's like, oh, it just changes with whatever we need it to be based on current year.
01:41:38
Speaker
And that's the way it always we should be. Yep, as the way it always will be for the next 29 years at least. Homer is now so like somehow 35 or something like that?
01:41:50
Speaker
I think canonically, in current Simpsons, Homer's about 40. When it started, he was like 35-ish. I think they specifically say he's 38 for a while.
01:42:03
Speaker
Yeah, it it does slowly shift over time, and I think at at present time they consider him to be 40. He's definitely been referred to I don't. No, no. I mean, ah it depending on which season you ask, I'm older than Homer. He's definitely been declared as 36 at some point. and We then see Homer looking forlorn out in the distance as he looks at the ah family bourbon advert.
01:42:25
Speaker
And Bellhop comes up with his champagne and Homer's got no tip for him, so he gives him his grammy. bellhop is excited and realises it's a Grammy and throws it off the balcony. We just hear a guy from below say, don't throw your garbage down here, and Homer gets wanged. Yeah, they really laid it on thick with the Grammys, man. I don't like Grammys, huh?
01:42:43
Speaker
We see the family are now back home, and we see Homer start going for the B-Shops merchandise, which includes cups, mugs, and, hey, silly foam. Homer pointed out the foam was ah poisonous, so it got taken off the market. But Homer's response to this is, eh, if you eat it, you deserve to die.
01:42:58
Speaker
We don't get to Bart eating the foam. Lisa says she can't on understand why he's not popular. And Bart says, theres the reason that you screwed up by the Beatles said you were bigger than Jesus. And Homer says they did it all the time and shows the title of their second album, Bigger Than Jesus. Which is the B-Shops walking over water.
01:43:15
Speaker
Oh, it's the it like the Abbey Road thing, isn't it? Yeah, but on water, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Toma says they're about to learn the iron law of show businesses, which is what comes up must come down. Lisa's response to this is Bob Hope has been consistently popular for 50 years and then point out Sinatra, Dean Martin and Tom Jones are still going, despite Tom Jones is the only one still going out of that list.
01:43:36
Speaker
It's not necessarily because they lost popularity. I think it's because they're dead. Yeah, though that was the point in me. But Marge then goes into little of anecdote about distracting the kid from Homer's absence, which includes making a fake Homer.
01:43:49
Speaker
rich homer f yeah Just case you missed the joke in the Gabbo show that happened previously. like yeah it yeah yes It goes wrong with the tape recorder going fast and the kids being traumatized and the balloons popping.
01:44:03
Speaker
Eventually it just leads to Marge having the dog bury it. don't think she asked the dog. I think she just threw it out and the dog buried it. Yeah, pretty much.
01:44:14
Speaker
They got to the band struggling to come up with new material in the thing, which includes singing about all the medical poop called The Surgeon General. I mean, I get that this the whole point of this was it's a bad song and they were struggling, but like, what the fuck was this song?
01:44:27
Speaker
i thought they would I thought it was them having to do an ad to get by or something. I think he wrote a song based off an ad. I mean, assuming the lyrics on Frinkiac here are anything close to accurate, for all the latest medical poop called Surgeon General C. Everett Coop, poo-poo-padoop.
01:44:47
Speaker
I will say, I think the Mr. T song had legs. i mean, is it? it Yeah, this should have stuck with the Mr. T song. I pity the fool who doesn't like he. Okay, Charles Everett Coop was the American Surgeon General from 1982 to 1989. Hmm?
01:45:05
Speaker
good ah He presided over the HIV AIDS crisis, so... Woo! Happy times, happy times!
01:45:16
Speaker
We then see Homer asks where Barney is, and Skinner points out Barney's with his new girlfriend, who looks suspiciously like a Yoko Ono.
Band's Demise and Final Performance
01:45:24
Speaker
yeah Was Yoko Ono the first real example of just horrible misogyny ruining a fandom?
01:45:34
Speaker
All the Beatles aren't as good now, must be his new girlfriend. I mean, she did influence them into making weird music. So she didn't influence them. John Lennon moved that way in his life.
01:45:49
Speaker
It wasn't Yoko Ono fucking using her spooky Asian magic to turn John Lennon shit. That's just where John Lennon was in his life.
01:46:01
Speaker
Okay, fair enough. I will defer to you one I do not know anywhere close to Nisbeth. It's just rampant, sad incel shit in the 80s. Like, incels have existed for salt- Right, fuck it. not going to rant because this episode will be like four hours long.
01:46:16
Speaker
Yeah, um my my knowledge of Yoko Ono is, I guess, just the general common public perception of her, of that she was a bit weird. She gets generally blamed for the Beatles breakup, but I'm sure though there were other issues to play. She had next to nothing to do with it.
01:46:31
Speaker
I think that i mean generally the thing is, Jonalyn was a bit of a dick. The song that they make off the back of this, which is... Which is a reference to number eight. From the White Revolution 9. Yeah, I went and listened to that because I was like, what the fuck is this about? And went and listened to it. was like, yeah, no, that's weird. That's not exactly what I expected from the Beatles. That is not the usual Beatles fare. I can see how somebody who had previously, like, enjoyed, don't know, Yellow Submarine or whatever might listen to that and These are the same Beatles, huh? No, but that's the thing. is like If you listen to if you like genuinely go and listen to more of the Beatles than just their hits, they did all fucking kinds of shit.
01:47:15
Speaker
I'm not saying they did stuff like Number 9, but the Beatles have always been experimental, or always were, you whatever. again i I genuinely only know their hits, so yeah. in in in the In the spirit of that one meme, leave Yoko Ono alone. Fair enough.
01:47:32
Speaker
We basically got the parody of this as Barney says he's taking barbershop in new and strange directions, which is just his girlfriend saying number eight and Barney belching. Yep. This leads to many an eye roll. We then see that, uh, Thomas says they know that things are over.
01:47:46
Speaker
because Skinner shows up with a US magazine which rates them as not hot and everyone realises that's the moment to split up the band. No, no, no. He doesn't he doesn't he doesn't bring out US magazine. He brings out Us magazine. Ah, sorry. was like, I've got the latest edition of Us magazine.
01:48:03
Speaker
But they are not hot. It's got Alf on the front cover as well. Because he's hot. We then see the ah everyone go back to their normal eyes, which is Skinner asking Willie what he did but how he spent his summer and will he apparently made millions in software and lost it all at the track i want that episode where's that episode show me the willy's summer episode i bet i think willy must have been on the same horse crusty did groundskeeper willy see is actually like the real inventor of apple yeah something like that yeah that would be amazing we don't see a poo go back to the quickie martin and he says it's good honest work when he immediately charges 12 for a quarter of a mil and we see that uh
01:48:42
Speaker
Barney is back at Moe's and, uh, Mo asks him why he wants some bar and he wants a beer and uh... Donny's girlfriend wants a single plum floating in perfume served in a man's hat Mo has both ready to go! He's got both ready to go!
01:48:54
Speaker
Yeah, this uh... this was served as like as some sort of weird art installation that was kind of connected to Yoko Ono at some point as well so like... at least it's semi-endorsed as a gag I guess.
01:49:07
Speaker
It's not... it's not sexist Yoko Ono approved it. Sort of, Oh my... Homer returns to the power plant and we see that he's been replaced by a chicken. Homer says he'll give the chicken a good home and then we cut to Homer patting his belly saying he did.
01:49:21
Speaker
Homer says he' and he enjoyed his five and a half weeks at the top. And the the kids have many questions which shallll point out how implausible this whole thing was including, well, happened to all the money? Why has Homer not hung up his gold record?
01:49:34
Speaker
Since when can Homer write songs? Homer gives a great cop-up answer. There's answers to that but they'll have to wait another time off their bed. We did see Homer stare at the album and he lifts up to his face and we see that Homer was facing the wrong way when the photo was taken.
01:49:48
Speaker
we get a nice crack shot of his arse. yeah And this leads to Homer making a phone call and we see him on the roof of Moe's in the next scene and Skinner says, I can't remember the last time we were here. Turns out they Dame Edna's show last year together.
01:50:01
Speaker
I don't know if anyone remembers the Dame Edna's show. ah Yes, yeah, yeah. Anyway, this leads to Baby on Board being performed for the public, and the public are enthralled by it. One last Beatles reference.
01:50:14
Speaker
Yeah, theyre they're all dressed as the Beatles were dressed for their rooftop for performance, yeah. The human fly is not happy because he spent all They're dying his underwear and everyone's not paying attention to him.
01:50:24
Speaker
i be Honestly, I would be more impressed by a dude climbing a building using plungers than I would four mediocre a cappella singers on a roof of a pub. No, they they they were a number one hit in the 80s.
01:50:41
Speaker
and Not been paying attention. So were the re so with the Rembrandts. No one remembers them. Don't know who though that who they are. They wrote the Friends theme. Okay. A newspaper boy is saying the B-shops are on the roof and a guy buys the paper, realises he's been lying to and starts chasing him.
01:50:56
Speaker
George Harrison is just driving past in his limo and comments, it's been done. It's been done. And Lou points out to Chief Wilkinson, it's beautiful, isn't it? And Chief Wilkinson says, go get the tear gas. The episode ends with the zoom out of the song and we get a bit in the credits where Homer says he hopes they've passed the audition. Everyone laughs, including Bonnie.
01:51:13
Speaker
Then we just hear Bonnie's voice go, I don't get it. And that's the beginning of season five. Cool. I mean, I get the impression Matt will not agree with me on this, but I thought it was a solid start season five. What a mediocre piece of trash.
01:51:29
Speaker
you i I like this episode. I distinctly recall last episode you were really looking forward to this. I was, because I thought it was good. My memory failed me.
01:51:41
Speaker
Okay. I like this episode. think there's enough gags to keep it going. Meh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's solid. I didn't have a lot of notes on it particularly, but like a thoroughly enjoyable episode. I mean, like Barbershop Quartet.
01:51:56
Speaker
Barbershop Quartet. just, as as music anyway. I love Barbershop Quartet. but I could probably credit this episode with me liking it. Because, like, God knows I wasn't, like, heavily into music as a kid anyway. So, like, this probably has some formative influence in my musical tastes anyway, i would imagine. I send you some of the Ink Spots. They're great.
01:52:16
Speaker
They're not quite a barb shop, quite a They're from the 1930s. They're more just like a group of, you know, like, singing dudes. But they're really good. I'm good. I'm good. Have you ever heard the Fallout theme? Like, the one that was used in Fallout 3?
01:52:27
Speaker
Nope. and Okay. Well, they sung that. and Okay, cool. Cool, I'll have to check them out. They're brilliant. Yeah, so I mean, like, will say they probably padded out more than a bit of this episode with just just singing Baby on Board over and over again, also, it's a fucking bop.
01:52:46
Speaker
What can I say? They've got lot of the dapping dance, let's say it like that. Oh, God, yeah. hope they got paid well for this one. Probably not. Probably not, no. Oh, but you're out of homers.
01:52:58
Speaker
I will give it Bart's Cognitive Decline out of Homer because I too will forget this in eight minutes. Oh my God. who He's such a bitter man.
01:53:09
Speaker
It wasn't good. was just so bland. Wow. Okay. What you giving it, John? Oh, I gave it A Baby On Board out of Homer because it was a number one hit.
01:53:21
Speaker
I'm giving it a Past the Audition out of Homer. Okay, fine. I knew i was gonna be the villain of this episode. I'll lean into it. I'm fine with it. I'm i'm but mildly disappointed you didn't like it, because I was like, I know this episode's a banger, and you were really excited for it because you remembered it being a banger. This is gonna be one that everybody loves. is this is This is like launching into season three with some top-tier shit again. and This is gonna be a great sort of start things.
01:53:47
Speaker
Nah. No? Ironically, Matt has proved to be the Yoko Ono of this episode. I'm the really artsy one that, and you know, tries to take us in a new direction and it doesn't work.
01:53:59
Speaker
You drink your perfumed hat.
01:54:04
Speaker
I will, and I'll love it. Did it have anything to say about society? This was a reference to the Beatles. That is all. Yeah, that is kind of it.
01:54:15
Speaker
The rise and fall of fame can be fleeting. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, for sure. yeah Also, wishbone necklaces are stupid. Wishbone necklaces are stupid and gross.
01:54:26
Speaker
who Mm-hmm. I mean, realistically, most jewellery made out of bones is a bit weird. there are There are levels of it, though. You could, like, intricately carve something, or you can just ah have your, like, Sunday dinner leftovers strung together in a necklace. Yeah, hang hanging bones from your neck is a bit odd.
01:54:47
Speaker
Oh, I haven't given you any Nate Myers scores. ah Nate Myers gave Krusty Gets Cancelled 3.5 out 5. Nah. na I do not know what Nate Myers gave to this because I'm going to have to abandon this bit.
01:54:58
Speaker
Nate Myers didn't review season five. So do we wait did we not have anyone that just inserted themselves into the fandom anymore? ah Honestly, i would say that bit probably fizzled out somewhere around season three.
01:55:12
Speaker
Frankly... ah David B. Grelk was cited frequently on Wikipedia for the articles for seasons one and two. um Nate Myers was cited in season three. Honestly, he's he's not shown up in the articles on season four. He's kind of... He's still carried on reviewing them. If you dig up his articles on the Internet Archive, they're still there.
01:55:33
Speaker
But like... And I've been quoting them because it mildly annoys you and it means you to do so. But like, there's no, there isn't anyone really frequently cited as with their scores ah for the last season. And ah as far as I can make out thus far from season five.
01:55:50
Speaker
I don't think there ever will be another David B. Grelk, though, who just decided to be an authority on The Simpsons. I've said before, like, my David B. Grelk is ah Nathan Dittum, who keeps, like, popping up with, like, his... the top however many fucking 50 celebrity cameo reference, film references, or whatever it is. I think it's film references specifically. Yeah. ah Like, every time they make a film reference, this showed up in the list of so-and-so's top 50 film references. And it's like, it's all film references. Come the fuck on. is Simpsons.
01:56:27
Speaker
You don't need to list them by quality. The Simpsons is fucking 50% by volume film references. Yep. No, it's fair. it was the dot It was the dawn of reference culture, or of a reference culture, I think.
01:56:41
Speaker
It's not quite Family Guy, but it's definitely there. Yeah. Yeah. Well, ah to be fair, Simpsons heavily inspired Family Guy, so you can blame The Simpsons for Family Guy if you blame The Simpsons for a lot of things.
01:56:56
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Anything else to add or should we wrap things up I think we gotta wrap things up. Matt, anything to advertise? Uhhhh... No, I'm good.
01:57:08
Speaker
Okay, cool. Michael, anything to advertise? yeah but you can follow me on BlueSky at ButtermashHorse if you really feel inclined. I'm assuming John has a spiel for the... ah previous episode so i'll leave that to you have a spiel for the previous episode do i what so what are we talking about if you want to listen to any of our fine podcasts beyond oh i see what you mean okay i thought you meant like the specific like one previous episode to this like had something to say about it intense vitriol that i was like i thought that this feels uncalled for yeah there was something very pointed about that
01:57:42
Speaker
No, no, i I tried to do it the last time and you had a whole thing prepared, so I felt mad about it. so No, no, you did a fine job, don't worry. You guys are going to i i was I was mostly just surprised that you did plug are like YouTube channel and Spotify and everything. whats all though What are those fine channels, John?
01:58:03
Speaker
If you are enjoying this podcast in audio format on the Spotify's or the Apple's, did you know we have a video format and it is on YouTube? Forward slash mole man pod, find us on there. There's a whole thing where you can see the scenes we're talking about. If you're watching us on the YouTube and are like, this is a clunky and unwieldy format to listen to podcasts in, why the fuck did Google get rid of Google podcasts?
01:58:26
Speaker
Why the fuck would I want to listen to all of my podcasts on on YouTube? Did you know we also are on Spotify and Apple podcasts? Listen to us on those as well. Just look for Mole Man in the morning. week We are well established enough at this point to be findable, which I'm quite appreciating.
01:58:42
Speaker
ah Yeah. Follow us on all of the things. Review us on all the things. Give us a thumbs up. Give us a subscribe. Give us a like. tell it Tell the algorithms how great we are. Yes, please. These are good.
01:58:54
Speaker
Follow me personally at morocca.bsky.social over on the blue skies. And follow my personal YouTube channel, which is Button Mash.
01:59:07
Speaker
It's not got any new videos. It's not going to for a while. But if you want some video gaming content, there's the some there. If you've not seen it or heard of it yet, you can go watch some old video gaming content. Go watch the Teenage Exocolonist video. I'm mentioned in that.
01:59:22
Speaker
And that immediately elevates it.
01:59:26
Speaker
Yep. But otherwise, yeah, thank you all for joining us, for listening, for watching, whatever format you may be in We'll be back next time, hopefully with a guest. I'm going to poke a guest about joining us because I want to get a guest on because we got a couple of good'uns. We're to have guests on on the show.
01:59:47
Speaker
Disney villain. Somehow that took me a moment to wrap my head around, but you're mocking my speech. Fine. Okay. weve We've got Cape Fear. It's fucking Sideshow Bob. He's back.
02:00:01
Speaker
Yo fucking Sideshow Bob. Let's fucking go But in order to elevate that to the quality it deserves, I feel we need a guest. So I'm going to do my fucking damnedest to get that.
02:00:13
Speaker
Have fun. But we'll see you then. You'll have longer than usual because I'll be in America. Okay. Don't don't get disappeared, please. I will be the goodest boy and never say anything about Mein Fuhrer.
02:00:29
Speaker
Oh, God, you're going to get disappeared. You're going to so fucking dis disappeared. Worth.
02:00:36
Speaker
Bye, everybody. Bye-bye. Bye, everybody. Should have sang that, really, shouldn't