Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
S5E16&17 - Homer Loves Flanders & Bart Gets an Elephant
91 Plays8 days ago
Jon, Michael, and Matt watch The Simpsons episodes 'Homer Loves Flanders' & 'Bart Gets an Elephant', and discuss what they say about society.
Follow us on the Socials:
Jon: @Meroka.bsky.social
Matt: @mattperspective.bsky.social
Michael: @buttonmashhorse.bsky.social
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Greetings
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, this is Mole Man in the Morning. Good Mole Man to you. and welcome to Mole Man in the Morning.
00:00:11
Speaker
What the hell was that? It was an elephant. We're going to have to wait till the edits find out what that sounded like because Discord did not let us hear that. That did not come through. You're welcome. Something was happening there, but it was impossible to say.
00:00:29
Speaker
There you go. That's another one. Still no idea what it is, but sure. what a way a turn off ah What a way to turn off our viewers.
Ned Flanders Episode Joke
00:00:37
Speaker
a medical emergency was happening. putting Oh, I should have done Heidley Ho Podcasterinos because it was a Ned Flanders episode. I'm such a fucking idiot.
00:00:45
Speaker
Still can't. He introduces you first. Well, we've got further opportunities to say that particular line. But first, let's introduce the podcast.
The Simpsons and Societal Reflections
00:00:56
Speaker
We are Moorman in the Morning, a podcast about how The Simpsons has a lot to say about society.
00:01:02
Speaker
I am your host, John, and I am joined as ever by my two co-hosts, Matt. Hello, everyone. And Michael. Hello.
00:01:14
Speaker
Fine. No one gets to say the line. We'll do without the line. Yeah, you just didn't say don't you say it? What you doing? No, now I look like an asshole. i want I don't want to be known as a creature of habit. I have to mix it up every now and then.
00:01:28
Speaker
You've only done 40 episodes or whatever. Wouldn't want to be typecast or anything. nah No, no, you've got to mix it up, man. You've got to be unique.
00:01:39
Speaker
man Idley ho, podcasterinos. There we go. Nailed it. Michael has never sounded more depressed. It's like, oh, it's like Bart, say the line. Michael, say the line. Idley podcasterinos. We need to make that meme now. Michael, say the line. I might just start introducing him that way. i was just like, and Michael, say the line.
00:02:01
Speaker
Yep. And you're the only one that can dance, right? I can dance. I was trained to dance. Humble brag. Very nice. yeah Cool. We are here, as ever, to talk about two episodes of The Simpsons. Currently in the fifth season, we'll be looking at episodes... What are we up to? 16 and 17. That's Homer Loves Flanders and Bart Gets an Elephant.
00:02:24
Speaker
wonder what happens in the second one. okay No idea. i haven't watched them. Well, you better make it quick, put it on fast forward. I can't remember what episodes it was recently, but I was talking i was talking about it with a friend of the pod, Blaney, and yeah, i was he did just say like, oh, you could probably just wing it one day. some I've always been tempted to just not watch the episodes and just try and bullshit my way through it. I reckon i alreadyy you could get away with it for a while. I do go for fruit seeing my scene, so yeah you can so you can't figure it out I think there'd be like a decent chance.
00:03:03
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you do make reference to specific lines a lot, so i don't I don't know how quickly anyone would pick up on the fact that you weren't recognizing any of the lines, but yeah i thought I think you could get away with it for a while before anybody genuinely clocked that you doing that.
00:03:19
Speaker
I'd feel bad, though. That's the thing. is It's like, yeah, it's a funny bit, but I do, act as much as I am the podcast grump, I do actually quite enjoy watching and talking about the episodes. that's Fair enough. Good.
00:03:31
Speaker
I'm glad. glad it's Glad this isn't an ordeal for you. That's a re-endorsement of the podcast, folks. not to Not to surprise anyone, but I am actually quite keen on The Simpsons. Good, good. Very glad. He shows up for a reason.
00:03:46
Speaker
But do you know what else we're keen on? Alcohol.
Beer Talk: Favorites and Flavors
00:03:50
Speaker
Drinking things, yeah. Yes. What we I've been boring this week. I'm just drinking an Asahi, just because I've been in America and I haven't had one. I know they have them in America, but I i did have a different Japanese dry drink.
00:04:04
Speaker
while I was there and a Korean dry actually while I was away but yeah I didn't have an acai so i and I just miss them it's probably my favourite beer like genuinely my favourite like bottled easy to consume you know over the counter easy to get over the counter like it's medication well you know what mean as in like I don't have to go to a specialty shop like I can get it at Tesco going to my doctor to get acai prescribed walking looking to my veins ask your doctor about prescribing acai michael Michael would prescribe it to me.
00:04:36
Speaker
oh yeah. Yeah, but but i mean I think we can all agree. Asahi's pretty bang. It's a banger. It's a classic. It's a very solid drink. It is one of the most, one of the biggest beers in the world, I think, isn't it?
00:04:48
Speaker
I'm not surprised. It's great. It's very easy to drink. And I think because it's very flavorful, God, I'm talking a lot about this one alcohol. Anyway, guys.
00:04:59
Speaker
Michael, what you got I'm still on the retired Peronis. Oh god, they get worse. Retired Peroni! Sorry, I meant sorry by the word expired. but No, tired the retired. Retired works. Yeah, they're in their slippers and their dressing gown and they're talking about the way it was back when they were back in date. That's what we have to that's what I have to do for Christmas now is find like a little dressing gown and get you a nice bottle of beer and put it in in a little dressing gown with slippers on the bottom. Make sure make sure it's expired.
00:05:29
Speaker
Found this right back at Binz. What are you drinking, John? I've got another Vault City beer. I was given a load for my birthday and Vault City do very silly beers, so they all just went straight into the podcast collection. What is the silly flavourings were the only one? This is a raspberry cream soda beer.
00:05:47
Speaker
Oh, no, cream soda's foul, man. I could not imagine that with alcohol. The cream soda's great. Nah, cream soda's fucking disgusting. Absolute foul shit. Nah, thank you. yes pretty It's quite tart.
00:06:00
Speaker
it's quite tart You're quite tart, you saucy little minx. yes Oh, thank you. That was not the reaction was expecting.
Upcoming Beach Episode
00:06:14
Speaker
Look, we're 40 episodes in. People want romance. Finally, the the the Matt John arc begins. the beach episode? When's the beach episode? episode Well, it's about damn time. Actually, like I know for a fact that the beach episode is when I come to visit you and you're going to force me to come on your little 6am swim. You're going to force him to do what? Are still doing? Very rarely. i haven't been in a long time, to be honest. Also, I'm moving to a town that does not have a group of 6am swimmers, but it does have an actual proper beach. So, we yeah, like... Nice. Better beach or beach episode options.
00:06:53
Speaker
Anyway, yes, this is... ah It tastes like a creep soda. but Slightly more sour and not very alcoholic. Probably quite quaffable. Quaff. I shall. Cracking word, innit? Quaff. Quaff verily.
00:07:06
Speaker
We're sophisticated on this podcast with the big words. We are. sure We're sophisticated pricks. i I didn't even say sophisticated. I said a sophisticated. Jesus Christ. I caught that. yeahp We are sophisticated. What's the what camp was so jo come let ah this sixteenth episode, the fifth season aired on March
00:07:29
Speaker
did anything happen on this day Not a great deal. I'm looking on the page right now and the first thing that's come up is it is announced there is no smoking in Cleveland Indians' new ballpark.
00:07:42
Speaker
Yep, that's of historical reference. Woe is the fans of the Cleveland Indians, I guess. Yeah, I like that. I guess vaguely, mildly interesting that historically we're moving into smoking ban eras where things are starting to ban that.
00:07:58
Speaker
Yeah. Not very interesting, but mildly interesting. No, but yeah, it's it's it's weird to be that era. People now care about their health now. Yeah. Because we lived through, we you ah all all three of us saw the death of like smoking in pubs and stuff. I think yeah i was i think I just started uni when that happened, when that came in, I think. Yeah, it what yeah was a coming in, wasn't it?
00:08:23
Speaker
I'll tell you what else was coming in. The US number one, Beside by Ace of Base. I don't know what that is off the top of my head. Not a clue. I know Ace of Base. And our UK number one, Doop by Doop.
00:08:39
Speaker
I be did also no idea. That sounds like you haven't read it and you just made something up badly. Doop is the thing I would have just gone with. I mean, doop in my head is Futurama's democratic order of planets, which was just the equivalent of like space UN, n I think.
00:08:59
Speaker
Doop. Doop. The Futurama podcast coming to a screen near you. One day. point One day. The Futurama podcast will start when we make money from doing the Simpsons podcast. I think it's that simple.
00:09:13
Speaker
I think it kind of is, yeah. Shout out in the comments. Are you prepared to give us money for watching these? Yeah, if if John can quit the job that they have become disenfranchised with and start just making podcasts.
00:09:25
Speaker
I don't need this to be the main job. but It just needs to be a side hustle. But if there's enough people prepared to make it our side hustle, then I'm good with doing bonus episodes. Yeah. but We need to eat, folks. Help.
00:09:37
Speaker
i've got I'm going to have a mortgage to pay, so, like, yeah. Pay my mortgage. food budget is one pound a day. Oof. That's
Financial Struggles of Podcasting
00:09:45
Speaker
rough going. That's probably what the podcast makes.
00:09:48
Speaker
Pay Matt to eat slightly better food. Yeah, dino nuggies. And put the heating on at least once a year. the heating stays off. I've got my blanket. I've got my gloves on. I'm fine.
00:10:02
Speaker
He's cooking those turkey dinosaurs on his heated mouse pad. It's all good. Oh, the heated mouse pad. Oh, no.
00:10:14
Speaker
And is anything on those chicken nuggets? Because that brings us in line with the chalkboard gag. Look at that segue, folks. Tenuous. Nice. Okay, yeah, go on. It says, I am not delightfully saucy.
00:10:27
Speaker
No, because I am delightfully saucy. I and think we can all agree with that. I mean, that got a mild chuckle out of me, which is more than can be said for most chalkboard gags. i thought think it was cute, yeah yeah. I noticed it for once. I think it's been like, what, six episodes since I actually registered that there was a chalkboard gag?
00:10:43
Speaker
Yeah, they have skipped it for a few weeks. there's been a few missing as well, yeah. This is true. And while you're looking at those turkey dinosaurs, I bet you can't stick one in your mouth in one piece, so you've got to slice those bad boys up. Which brings me to the couch, guys. I hope you're not going to be like this all evening. This is really annoying.
00:11:02
Speaker
I think I'm going to struggle with the organ one. Relay everything to ah to turkey turkey dinosaurs. I think we might have hit the quote on turkey dinosaurs. Hit the quote. Oh, no.
00:11:18
Speaker
Then we have to stop paying them money after a certain point because we need sponsorship issues. We'll have us the damn couch. On the couch, there's actually two couches this week. And the family spliced themselves in half so they could sit on both.
00:11:31
Speaker
this This was the first time in a while that ah that a couch guy got a straight up actual laugh out of me. This was so absurd and just took me completely by surprise that I could not help but laugh.
00:11:43
Speaker
Cool. Also, I'm going to be really pedantic. They don't splice themselves. If you splice things, you join things together. They slice themselves. Yeah. Fair enough. i'm I'm quibbling over a single letter here. I learned about splicing in Batman Beyond.
00:11:57
Speaker
That's how I learned about splicing. Yeah, it's a good place to learn. Have either of you seen the horror film splice? No. In Fab Cafe, but the sound wasn't on.
00:12:08
Speaker
Nice. Oh, Fab Cafe. Fab Cafe. What a cracking place. I went there for my 21st birthday. Good times. Yes.
00:12:19
Speaker
but but We're just reminiscing, audience. Yes. About things that nobody has any idea about unless you're specifically from Leeds. If you lived in Leeds in the 2000s, you might know.
00:12:30
Speaker
If you lived in Leeds in the year 2000s, I'm sorry. Shout out in the comments. Do you know Leeds? Hell yeah. back to the episode, which begins... It's 13 minutes in, guys. I'm bringing it back in. This episode... I've got nothing on this episode, it was such a nothing burger of an episode, so, like, we can through this. Yo, what?!
00:12:51
Speaker
Oh, hello. We're going to have an argument. Oh, really? Oh, interesting. All right, cool. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. okay So we we start with Ion Springfield, and Ken Brockman begins with the breaking report of the hundreds of men given weapons and trained to kill, which the calls the army, but it should actually be called the Killbot Factory. Factory.
00:13:12
Speaker
i' from What the hell was this? This was a kind of a joke. they've kind of They've done similar stuff before where it's like they're mostly taking jabs at of the news specifically and twisting things to make them like negative for like sensationalism purposes.
00:13:28
Speaker
But like it comes across as like weirdly conspiratorial. like It comes across as just like Kent Brockman like having a weird like extreme online bent. I thought great kind of jab at like Fox News.
00:13:41
Speaker
I think Simpsons loves making the job at sensationalist news for entertainment kind of things. I thought it was great. I'm not sure what season's in, but we'll get there eventually. But there's if you remember when they do their weather report thing with the snowstorm, and they just proper sensationalize that everyone's going to die.
00:14:02
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, i too far Kent Brockman's like sensationalist a lot of the time. like Kent Brockman is a terrible... journalist Oh, like yo yeah. He's just dog shit.
00:14:16
Speaker
This all comes back to Kent Brockman revealing that the the biggest football game of the year is on with the Shelbyville Sharks taking on the Springfield Atoms. Is this the first like major reference to football in a Simpsons episode at this po so i don't think we've had... No, they did the... The sport-centric ones were um softball and baseball, right?
00:14:35
Speaker
No, they did that Lisa Gambling one, if you remember. Oh yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah, never mind then. um that's okay. I remember that episode. Yeah, I liked that episode. Yeah. The Rain Man kind of vibe.
00:14:47
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the football's sort of mentioned in passing. I don't know if it's like a central theme of any episodes off the top of my head. i know there's a hockey thing coming up at some point in the future that is I've definitely got saw penciled in for what have Fixer back for.
00:15:00
Speaker
Yes, they do have an episode where they go to the Super Bowl, but that's very way down the line. Oh, okay. Yeah. ah Basically, the only cure to see the game, if you have the football fever, is to get tickets.
00:15:12
Speaker
There's then a disclaimer at the end that's saying the tickets should not be taken into internally, and, oh, we're proudly from the captain's seat, because of me, they now have a warning. There's a phrase that lives forever in my head.
00:15:23
Speaker
i will I will note, like, has anybody got one of those that they can, like, actually point to? Because, because like, I kind of do. What, as in a warning that is because of you? a C because of me now they have a warning, yeah. um I don't think so. I hope I don't.
00:15:41
Speaker
I know myself well enough to say yes, but know what it would be. The containers, the IBCs of high-strand alcohol that we work with, in previous places I worked, we used to just reuse them, like, you'd use the alcohol to make a product, and then, like, oh, we've got this empty container, we'll just stick whatever stupid sugary nonsense bullshit in here. and reuse it for something else.
00:16:06
Speaker
ah These days, the exact same company will say will sell you those, and they have warnings all over them saying, do not put other stuff in this, we need to reuse them. It's like, oh, I wonder where that came from.
00:16:20
Speaker
already cost that brewery some money. Possibly. Bart offers to sell Homer something for 50 bucks and Homer thinks it's the tickets for the game. Marge points out that it's not and Homer actually reads them and realizes it's for some free wigs.
00:16:35
Speaker
Bart get coupons for wigs? That's a good question. Homer's initially angry about this, but then his fantasy gets away and Homer's got a wig that looks exactly like Marge. Homer is doing... This bit here where Homer does an impression of Marge, I guarantee they put this bit in because at one point Dan Caston did an impression of Marge.
00:16:55
Speaker
And they were just like, that's funny. Put that in an episode. Homer does his impersonation of Marge and then declares in his own fantasy he no longer needs it. I don't need to...
00:17:05
Speaker
That Homer does go to the Shelbyville Stadium and we see that he's camped out overnight to be second in line. he's he's been He's been camping out for eight days. He says he missed eight days of work for that.
00:17:18
Speaker
Yeah, well, I mean, that's not really much of a loss for Homer. My man's on 80 grand a year. Like eight days of work probably is a chunk of money for him. Yeah, but he's probably salaried. That's true. Which is one where you just get a monthly yeah it's salary, right? Yeah, yeah.
00:17:33
Speaker
Well, it's quite hard to Homer that if he had have been working, he could have just bought tickets from a scalper. And Homer says in theory, yes. Then goes, jerk. Unfortunately for Homer, the prophecy somewhat comes true, as the man in front of him is actually a scalper who buys 30,000 tickets. which the woman says will be $950,000. He doesn't have that on he doesn't have that he doesn't have that o I have right now. Can I pay you the rest later?
00:17:56
Speaker
She just goes, yeah, sure. And then the sold-out sign goes up. God, I mean, I i didn't realise scalpers have been a problem for as long as they have. I know they've gotten to know a lot worse recently just because of the commodification of hobbies.
00:18:11
Speaker
But gent genuinely, if anyone is listening here or comes back in the future and listens, it if you're a scalper, you are a piece of shit. I think everyone knows scalpers are pieces of shit. think Even scalper scalpers know their pieces of shit. But it's a very profitable piece of shit to be. Oh, yeah.
00:18:25
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I think that overcomes the fact that everybody hates you. It's like, well, yeah, everybody hates me, but making lot of money. The is, when they're doing it with stuff like Labuboos, I don't really give a shit. It's when they're doing it with things like Pokemon cards that kind of bothers me because, you know, they're literally for children.
00:18:41
Speaker
You know, they're a little they're a little thing to make a little kid happy, you
Aging and Societal Expectations
00:18:45
Speaker
know? I mean, who the fuck are Labuboos for if not children? ah Sad little lonely TikTok girls. Come at me.
00:18:53
Speaker
I mean, I would still file that under children, but... Hear that, 20-year-old girls? Women, if you buy Lububus, you're a child. They're fucking toys. They're for kids. They're collectible toys. They're not for adults.
00:19:08
Speaker
Adults should not be after these things. Also, if you're 20, you're a child, so... I mentally follow anyone under the age of about 25 as a child, really. Yeah. God, we're old and miserable now. am so good.
00:19:21
Speaker
Oh, again, friend of the pod asked me the other day what unk means, because it's a gen alpha phrase. And I just immediately turned aside, it means you're old. and he And he was so sad, because he's only 28. No, he's 30 now, actually. God, I keep thinking he's 28, because I desperately want to just still only be 30. But no, I'm 32 now. Guys, I'm sad. It's all downhill for mission 40. Yay.
00:19:48
Speaker
Well, there's so much to this. Yeah. Slow fast. Oh, me. As is Homer and his car. and Very depressed they couldn't get his tickets, but there's a way of hope because... Why is Homer's car green in this scene? Animation issue?
00:20:07
Speaker
I guess. Is Homer's car not normally green? No, it's noer pink. No, it's pink. The family has two cars, though, don't know they? Yeah, the pink one and the red one. Pink one and red one, okay.
00:20:18
Speaker
i don't know. I'm looking at the picture of the green it doesn't look that weird to me. i But in my head I can't fathom what they normally are. Fine, whatever. Ooh, Mandela affair. Ooh, maybe. Maybe it is. um of The radio announces that they've got two tickets to Google away if you're the 13th caller and Omar gets a Vachon to get to a phone.
00:20:35
Speaker
Then he comes to the power plant and there's queue and Omar calls everyone suckers and just drives around over the tire traps. Yep, and says doubt or duh for every every single pop.
00:20:46
Speaker
Do-do-do-do-do! Homer finally makes it to his workstation, but unfortunately on the radio we see that the 13th caller's called in, and it's Ned Flanders. Homer despairs about this, as Ned Flanders asks what the value of the tickets is, because he's going to put it on his his income tax.
00:21:01
Speaker
Would you have to do that? Like, what is that a thing? I don't think you have to, but I think the joke is Ned Flanders is so goody-two-shoes. Absolutely, that's the that's a joke at Flanders' expense. I think prize is probably...
00:21:13
Speaker
like strictly should be classified and i guess high value prize is probably definitely so but like you have two tickets yeah cause she was obviously tax on lottery yeah yeah so you yeah the the joke is that this is a low value thing that the the the you know the tax right i wouldn't give a shit about but ned's ned's ned ned's ned An enraged Homer punches the radio and Two Tickets to Paradise comes on and we just get a solid minute of Homer rocking out. I love how they had the short intro for this episode, just so they could have a bit of Homer playing a guitar and singing an Eddie Money song. Yeah, I did say this. My note for this bit was just weird padding. was like, why? This this just kept going and going. like, okay, you didn't need Homer singing along to a song. Why did you include this bit? This was the only bit of the episode for me that felt like padding, genuinely. i ah But yeah, it it was very strange. it's I think like every long episode they do, it it does end up always feeling quite...
00:22:13
Speaker
padded because Homer going to university was a long episode and like nothing happens yeah the Dean got run over by a car what more did you want I mean my my my feeling about this episode is that nothing happened as well but um we may fight we may fight We go to Homer and Homer is despairing on his sofa, saying, why is he such a loser?
00:22:40
Speaker
Bart then reveals that it's genetic because he got it from his father and his father. Bart then works out this means he's going to get it and he's we see his dough. Yeah, he's so sad. And Lisa points out that it's just a pointless driver between Spigfield and Shelbyville, which begins with the slightly small escalation of building mini-malls, which escalates to burning down the city hall. It escalated quickly. Yeah, just... just Oh, and Mark's a lass who says that they threatened to spite the town's water supply, but didn't have the guts. We don't go to Marge in the kitchen. this is so funny. the only The only critique I'd have for this bit is that I think the dialogue was, like, lazy.
00:23:21
Speaker
Because Marge drinks the water, and obviously then the walls start melting. So then she's like, ooh, the walls are melting again. It's like, we can see that, Marge. Fucking say something else. But then they make up for it with the fucking turkey.
00:23:34
Speaker
Frankly, I'd say I'm a bit overdone. yeah I feel like the again adds to it, though, as the walls are melting again. This just happens on a regular basis. Marge is just in into it at this point. I also i also wrote in my notes, thank you, Lisa, for the exposition, because this really does... Like, we've heard of Shelbyville, right? and But have we really... Has it really established that there's a rivalry No, I don't think we have. I yeah this is where this is the first hint of it. yeah Built up, isn't it? Yeah.
00:24:02
Speaker
we've We've had like little hints of like, take that Shelbyville kind of vibe, but I don't think we've had such an ah over like Springfield hate Shelbyville. yeah I will note the the Marge hallucinating bit where the censors didn't like that and tried to have it pulled. they They got it through by arguing that it was fine because she didn't do it on purpose. Yeah, i was yeah exactly. It's like the it's the taking... Because even just like talking about drugs and stuff can bump you up to a 12A in England.
00:24:34
Speaker
i don't know if it can now. I feel like you can show full frontal fucking nudity to 12-year-olds these days. Not to sound like a bajillion-year-old man, but... But also, like, the youth of today don't like nudity and sex and things in their films anyway. Don't you fucking call me unk, you prick! Sorry, you were saying, John. were making a point there, John.
00:24:55
Speaker
was saying, like, I keep seeing stories about how, like, Gen Z don't like nudity and sex in films, they were all quite prudish about it. Yeah, I've had a lot of conversations about that recently, about when do you, you know, whoever I'm talking to, think...
00:25:10
Speaker
sex in a story is appropriate and when do you think it's not and blah blah blah I mean, I think part of that sort of generational shift, a compelling theory I've heard at any rate, is that because nobody can afford to fucking leave that, leave like, to move out when they, like, come of age these days, people are staying with their parents longer and longer. So if you have to watch TV and films, you're like, people you're probably watching it with your parents in the room, and you don't fucking want the sex scene while he sat on the sofa next to your mum.
00:25:42
Speaker
i've I don't know if it says more about me than it says about younger people. I just didn't give a shit. I'm not like sat there going, watching someone get off with me. I'm just watching it and just like being an adult.
00:25:55
Speaker
You know, we like we don't comment on it. We don't say anything. We just watch it and move on. I don't think I would care these days, to be honest. But like, i think when I was 20, if I'd been like, oh do you want to watch a film as a family? And then there's like a gratuitous sex scene. I'd probably be like, but that's the thing. Yeah. You use the word gratuitous.
00:26:12
Speaker
And I think that's where the discussion is. is like Jesus, this is not what I expect to be talking about on The Simpsons podcast. It's when is it gratuitous? you know And i don't I don't know. For one, I don't watch a lot of telly.
00:26:26
Speaker
So you know like the last thing I watched with an overt sex scene was like Arcane. Yeah. And before that, Castlevania. you know And in those, it feels important.
00:26:40
Speaker
In those moments. So I don't know i've i don't think I've ever watched a sex scene off the top of my head that felt gratuitous, that wasn't a 70s movie, like Lethal Weapon. Yeah, okay.
00:26:51
Speaker
But I don't know. i'm I'm old and miserable and I don't talk to people, so I'm probably wrong. yeah Anyway, Simpsons. Alba, in desperation, now now pleads to the deity upstairs and says, God, if you want to get some tickets... a Sorry, carry on. Alba says, if if there really is a god, you'll get him tickets to that game. The doorbell rings and Flanders invites him to the game.
00:27:15
Speaker
He slams the door in his face and then asks his god why he's mocking him. must you mock me, lord? Marge points out that that's not actually god, it's a waffle bar. It's hot on the roof. Marge gets it. Marge gets it.
00:27:26
Speaker
Marge gets it down and Homer goes, I know I shouldn't eat me and begins eating the waffle. This definitely is one of the reasons I like this episode because this is one of my favourite Simpsons bits of all times is, mmm, sacri-licious. The fact he combines sacrilege with a delicious is amazing.
00:27:44
Speaker
A couple of writers named it as one of their all-time favourite jokes as well. i was like, I mean, i it's good, but i don't I don't know that I'd rate it that highly. Oh, nah, it is easily one of my favourite, like,
00:27:55
Speaker
puns in all of Simpsons or play on words is sacrilegious. it's sort of it funny It's one of the better things. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. i think it's the most creative one.
00:28:06
Speaker
Also apparently inspired by actual melted caramel stuck to the ceiling of the Simpsons writers room. Quite how that got there, I don't know. Please, please, please someone be able to find out how that got there.
00:28:21
Speaker
We then cut to late at night and Homer rings Flanders' doorbell. Marge then sticks head out the window and goes, Are you playing to hit Ned Flanders over the head with a pipe to steal his tickets? I love that he's about to say yes. Yeah, no. He opens elbows are door and Homer does not cave Flanders' skull in. Instead, he tells him he'll go to the game.
00:28:40
Speaker
Flanders is this happy, then asks Homer if he was going to hit him with the pipe. Homer would be a shit spy They both laugh about it. Yeah.
00:28:51
Speaker
I love as well that in my notes, because I was genuinely curious about this, Flanders says, we'll bust out the Crayola and colour me tickle me pink. Call me tickled pink, yeah. Call me tickled pink, that was it.
00:29:06
Speaker
ah So I was like, is that a Crayola colour? Googled it. Actually, Flanders, it's tickle me pink. You fucking idiot. idiot Get your Crayola right. Does anyone remember that a Crayola color name? I know that like when I was little the Crayola were just called like grape.
00:29:26
Speaker
Like that was it. I would never have given any thought to what they named their colors I'm gonna be honest with you. Man you lead you led a sad childhood. I bet you ate spreadsheets for breakfast. Mmm, spreadsheet Sacri-licious Ex-a-licious Yeah, it works, totally works I'm hilarious, carry on At the Shelbyville Stadium we see Homer and Ned drive past Lenny and Carl And Homer forces Ned to duck even though he's driving This um felt very um well in a context You know, I'm glad that Simpsons is so pro-LGBT, you know, is all I'm saying
00:30:05
Speaker
Well, and hold that thought. Well, Lenny and Carl don't see it that way because Lenny thinks, oh, he's got an electric car. But ah they then crashes and Carl goes, yeah, American electric car. One those robot cars. Robot cars.
00:30:20
Speaker
Yes. And it's funny because American electric cars still suck balls. I mean, i like, we're self... I assume by robot cars this is roughly analog he means like analogous to self-driving. Yeah, was that even, like, remotely a conversation that was on the table in 1994? I guess it must have wisest joke would have existed. In 2015, they thought we'd be living on Mars and have flying cars, so yes.
00:30:45
Speaker
i I mean... Yeah, okay. We're going to go to my favourite bit of the episode where Mr Burns is giving an inspirational speech to the football team about the crippled boy in the hospital that wants Think crippled boy who wants you to win.
00:30:59
Speaker
He's crippled because crippled him. Burns himself did it. We're going go Milhouse in the hospital and cast saying he helps the team win because Mr Burns said he'll be back if they don't. He'll be back.
00:31:13
Speaker
That's fucking dark, man. Why are we so why we as a society so eager to laugh at children in pain? Because it's funny.
00:31:26
Speaker
it kinds It just catches me off guard. because I think also the fact that it's Milhouse is quite funny as well. It's like, oh, there's little cripple. What? Yeah, Milhouse. And you also know Mr Burns will be back if they don't. Yeah, absolutely. Mr Burns does not break promises. He will be back.
00:31:42
Speaker
Homer and Ned take their seats and Homer blows up a beach ball. He tries to get it going through the crowd, but then he gets braided in the head by a beer can. Oh, man. have you ever Have you ever had a crunched-up beer can thrown at your head?
00:31:52
Speaker
I've had a cabbage. for that Michael, that's not the same thing, but I'm glad you shared. It is if it's somebody on a bike flying at you. Oh, chuff in hell. Why'd that happen?
00:32:04
Speaker
They were dicks, that's the best thing I can give you. Oh, so it was just a random attack? Wait, they lobbed it at you from the bike? Yeah, they i was walking past the cycle lane and they were coming down the road on the cycle, came near me, threw a cabbage at me, laughed and kept going.
00:32:18
Speaker
Fucking hell. No context. Obviously they killed me. i Must have thought you were Liz Truss or something, don't know.
00:32:28
Speaker
Their clairvoyant powers of 2005 should have warned us. God, bet that fucking hurt. Or at least, just like the... More just like the the emotional pain of being covered fucking cabbage. This is the thing, it didn't really cover me.
00:32:46
Speaker
You just get hit it and it bounces off. if you are i'd have I'd have thought a cabbage would kind of burst. Well, it's in the sellotape, isn't it? the Oh, okay. Now I can understand why it hurt.
00:32:59
Speaker
yeah I thought you meant just like ah an ah yeah and and i was gonna sit unprotected cabbage then. A cabbage without its condom you red would just burst, I'd imagine.
00:33:10
Speaker
I think it would have been slightly less pain. Yeah, it's just a little bit... but I live to tell the tale. I don't want to. I'm not a hero. We're so proud of you for gettingt at getting through that. you we'll make We'll make sure there's a ah statue built in your name.
00:33:24
Speaker
yeahp The therapy's going well. but but Anyway... Simpsons! Yeah, sorry. supposed to be going through quickly. How am I the one keeping you guys on track this time?
00:33:37
Speaker
I'm never the one keeping us on track. May I could be on us some food. Homer eats some out before he gets to... Yeah. yeah this one this was like one of the This was probably the weakest joke of the... Yeah.
00:33:48
Speaker
Like, it's funny Homer eating some of his food, but they then stretch the joke out with the whole... I think whoever voices Mayor Quimby is just very impressed by his... Was it JFK?
00:34:01
Speaker
Who is he supposed to sound like? Yeah, yeah, I think it is supposed to be JFK, isn't it Yeah. But whoever it is, is just very proud of that impression kind of thing. And they just like... And it honestly, it sounds not great. I don't know. it's just a for It was just a very weak bit.
00:34:17
Speaker
It's Dan Castellaneda does Quimby. Right. Well, he does like a bajillion other good voices, so he's he's okay to have one bad one. ha Fandas gets Homer some snacks and Homer gets his nacho hat and Homer is singing. He's a nacho man as he's eating from his nacho hat. Nacho, nacho man.
00:34:37
Speaker
I wanna be natural man. yeah. We don't actually see that Thomas eats enough food that a bulldozer has to come to clear it all away from him. Oh, that's gross. The stain. The stain is what's the worst bit. I hated looking at the stain. Ugh.
00:34:53
Speaker
The game is on a tight end and Homer points out that the only one that can win them for it is Stan the boy Taylor. The crowd start his chant and it it trails off very feebly. Yeah, Stan, Stan, he's our boy. If he can't do it, no one will.
00:35:12
Speaker
Springfield win the game and Homer's very excited, kissing Ned Flanders multiple times. Ooh, sacrilege. And we don't see how almost trying to get autographs from the team, but they ignore him. Homer then calls them fat jerks, which gets him to turn around.
00:35:24
Speaker
Homer tries to blame it on Flanders, but Stan Taylor himself comes over and feels that Ned Flanders saved him from a life of liquor and sleeping with lingerie models.
00:35:37
Speaker
I love as well, yeah, because of the way he says it because he says, um Ned's Bible group showed me that I could have more. Homer thinks that means that he still sleeps with prostitutes and drinks alcohol, but now also has more stuff.
00:35:51
Speaker
Because he's like, so ah what does he say, like rich footballers always thinking they can have more or something? Yeah. Stan offers Ned the game ball, but Ned asks instead for Stan to give it to Homer.
00:36:03
Speaker
Well, Stan does and Homer declares that the ball is now his fourth child, which you will be called Stitchface. Homer thanks Ned and says this is the nicest thing anyone's done for him. We then see the Ned and Homer driving away from the game and Ned's prepared to get down to avoid Lenny and Carl again, but Homer declares that nope, he wants the whole world to know as he shouts out the window, this is Ned Flanders and my friend.
00:36:25
Speaker
Lenny asks what he said and Carl says, I don't know, something about being gay. Guys, the punchline is gay. yeah punchline is yeah honestlyresion i this is I... I'll land myself in hot water here. i don't I don't think this is the most egregious of gay jokes. I don't think it's particularly funny in a modern context, but I also don't think it's like...
00:36:51
Speaker
the worst you know
Homer and Ned Flanders Friendship
00:36:53
Speaker
oh yeah you know there are there are worse out there but like yeah as you say it is just the punchline punchline is gay yeah there's no like cleverness to it yeah but yeah simpsons has made worse jokes at other people's expense it's lazy and it is rooted in homophobia but it's yeah just not a very good joke yeah na that's fair that's fair We go back to Simpsons living room and Homer throws his wedding picture in the garbage to put up his big skin football. Marge points out what he's done and Homer tells her to stop living in the past.
00:37:23
Speaker
i I distinctly remember this football being in the background of like future episodes and stuff. like They make this a running thing. Yeah, i think it does remain. i think Oh, is this a thing he is like the the stone head? It's going to keep coming back, is it? Yeah, just in the background. It's not like ah an actual gag. It's just there kind of thing. Yeah, because the stone head's in the next episode, right?
00:37:45
Speaker
It is, in fact, yes, yeah. Or not stone head, whatever it's made of. it this Is it a stone head? I know Mr. Burns starts the mix. Yeah, was an as it was an Aztec stone head. Okay, so it is stone. It's just because it's brown, so... Yeah, it's double up a upper kettle.
00:38:00
Speaker
The fact that you just know that. i know, but oh dont know that that it that's that's... Yeah, no, that's just up there. i got that on deck. that's just yeah that's just locked in You know you never you never know when Sometimes you need to know these things. Whenever be out in you know shopping in South wales and someone's like what was the name of that big stone head in in Simpsons? And then you can you can just pop
00:38:32
Speaker
yeah He went a tad Irish hat. Excuse me. Anyway, Patrick Simpson's and Ned invites Homer to come try out his new pool table and they're like old buddies now.
00:38:44
Speaker
And Mates makes a quip of that and Ned Flanders friends. What next A's on bots report card? And everyone laughs at him. He's so mean.
00:38:55
Speaker
Bart does get referred to as a straight A student in the next in an episode as well. Again, i think that's for sensationalist news vibes. I guess so, yeah. It's just weird that there was that connection. I'm not sure it was intentional, but weird that it's there.
00:39:07
Speaker
We cut to the Flanders basement and we see that Homer is leaning very hard on the pool table. Flanders asked him to stop Homer says... Oh, it's because he's leaning on it! I thought... Again, this was... Let's cut to another... Here's where Matt thought the bit was going. I thought he was going to tear the...
00:39:24
Speaker
Yeah, 100% did as well, yeah. Yeah, i thought he was going to tear the... I forgot what it's called, the flock. um Yeah, I think. I don't know. Yeah, I think... i You know, that's where I thought... I thought that's why he was saying it and then it just... he coincient Yeah, I'm a fucking idiot.
00:39:40
Speaker
I remember reveals that they don't call him Springfield Fats just because he's morbidly obese. went At which point he breaks the table and he says, no, you've got a lawsuit on your hands. Just kidding. We go to Rod and Todd are watching a religious cartoon about pair of sheep. And one of the sheep is complaining because he doesn't have a sin to confess.
00:39:59
Speaker
But Daddy's sheep is here to reveal that he does have a sin to confess. The sin of envy. And we get some barring laughter. ah I just i it just dawned on me a great there's actually a kind of fun joke that they're making here whether it's intentional or not it's just the fact that um religious people don't always actually understand the parables that they're quoting or reading Because because Rod and Todd are like, you know, that's good for sheep. But what about us? And it's like, no, that's the that's the point. It's a metaphor. that's you you You are the sheep, you know, in this context. And I mean, we've all met like, you know, because, you know, we've all met religious people, a you know, and this is not a comment on all religious people. I'm just saying there are some religious people out there that will quote scripture at you. And then also be doing something against scripture in and of themselves. Like there was this woman yelling in the middle Huddersfield, quoting religious scripture. And I was like, well, you're wearing trousers.
00:40:57
Speaker
According to Galatians, you are an abomination for wearing trousers because you are a woman. Did you say that to her? I did. Yeah, i think I think the one that's always like quite famously and frequently misread is the easier for a rich man to pass through the eye of a needle and to enter the kingdom of heaven. And I was like, oh, well, the eye of a needle was actually just a gate in a city somewhere. And actually it's really easy to... No, no, he meant it literally. Like, if you're you are like, you know, a bad guy. Yeah, all like jesus jesus Jesus forgiving the whore, you know, he who is without sin, blah, blah, blah. All those things, you it again this is not a commentary on all religious people this is just a commentary on people often don't actually take the correct moral lesson from the thing they're being taught and that's funny to me and i think that's very clever if that was intentional don't know homer doesn't learn the lesson because he wants to turn the channel over but fortunately all 230 channels have been locked out this was great i thought you had a satellite dish yep 208 channels locked out
00:41:57
Speaker
That was great. That was good.
00:42:02
Speaker
almost touched by distances because i spending time let him spend time with his family it was a to go meet his family so we end up at modes because this guy isn' yes that was good Moe is not happy with him being in there because he doesn't want him preaching about the evils of alcohol.
00:42:19
Speaker
And then points out that ah he knows who Moe is. he's the He's the man who goes to the hospital to read to the sick kids. But then have a flashback of Moe actually reading to the kids with a little tear in his eye. Moe grabs Slanders and says if any word of this gets out, he's going to be muffled by his own butt.
00:42:34
Speaker
is there anyone Is there anyone in The Simpsons that needs a hug more than Moe Sislak? No, I don't think so. Sometimes with the stuff that happens to Moe, especially later in The Simpsons, i just want to like crawl through the telly and give him a hug and tell him it's going to be okay. because Jesus Christ, man. He's not having a good time. now Well, there's a whole episode about him trying to kill himself later on.
00:42:57
Speaker
Yep, you're alright. Yeah, it's a sad thing. It's weird. Homer comes home and Marge is happy to see him, but Homer can't talk. He's got to see Flanders. Go see Flanders, sex later. Later sex. And Marge is a uniquely drawn gardening outfit for this like two seconds.
00:43:15
Speaker
yeah yeah I think this outfit does come out in future episodes. Oh yeah, it's definitely I think it's been used before as well. it's just It's weird that they didn't just draw her in a standard outfit.
00:43:26
Speaker
I guess you can't really garden in a dress. This is true. gardening you know sims Simpsons is a pinnacle of realism, so I do apologise. you've got to dress for the occasion.
00:43:36
Speaker
The Flanders family are saying grace over the table, which includes saying thanks to the grocer for the meat, the middlemen who jacked up the price, and the humane and determined boys at the slaughterhouse. Homer invites himself for dinner and starts eating food off everybody's plate. there is the it is ah It is a terrifying like series of frames to watch Homer climb clamber through that window. yeah led to Ned declares that he's got to go to the soup kitchen for some charity work and Homer says that a judge made him do that, which he blames on the lack of public urinals.
00:44:05
Speaker
shit but But he assures Flanders that he won't have to suffer alone because he's coming with him. And we get our first hint that Flanders may not be very happy about this. Yeah, eye twitching. That sounds wonderful.
00:44:16
Speaker
We then cut to them arriving at the soup kitchen and an Irish shriven comes up to Homer and says, You poor unfortunate man. You poor unfortunate man. We'll get you out of those clothes and we'll do something about the smell.
00:44:28
Speaker
Homer protests it but gives up but he is never protest for protest very long. I love the outfit that he gets into. Yeah, he's given this like orange and green check jacket. It's wonderful. Yeah, it's so funny.
00:44:41
Speaker
Umma complains that they've been there for 15 minutes and they're sucking the life out of everybody. And Ned suggests that maybe he should go to Moe's. Umma says that Moe's is suspiciously always closed on a Wednesday and we see the reason why. He's reading to the homeless, man. He's reading to the homeless, little women.
00:44:55
Speaker
And Moe crying. Yeah, they realise weren't little girls anymore. They were little women. A line that nobody realizes was kind of a joke, because that's not an actual line in the book. They just made that up.
00:45:12
Speaker
but who Who knows this? Not many people. Yeah, it's like, no one's gonna no one's read Little Women. Yeah, he should you should be able to read the book to know. Presumably, yes. Anna finally has had enough of Flanders' speed and pushes him out the way and begins serving the soup rapidly quick. now Look at that enthusiasm. This is front page news.
00:45:29
Speaker
The journalist list takes a photo and we see the headline of Fat Man with Fat Heart. And the little line underneath, Thin Man Accused of a Assault, I think it was. His heart is probably pretty engorged, so... He has had open heart surgery, hasn't he? Yes. Little Thin Man Accused in Robbery. What has that got to do with anything?
00:45:49
Speaker
because just because the headline fat man yeah yeah it's just a kind of interesting joke Marge is proud of Homer but says that he's spending too much time with Ned Homer then declares that Marge has hated Flanders for years and wanted to bash his head in with a pipe and Marge points out that was him and Homer's response to this is don't hate love love but then calls the Flanders some geeks and Homer says the Flanders are not geeks but then says Rod and Todd are and the wife has a thing for him but hides it behind the mask of low girl of the hostility that's so good again intelligent Homer the best So, Homer decides that ah families are going go on a trip together and part of the spares and Lisa tells him to just go along with it because something wacky always seems to happen to them every week, so it's best to ride it out and everything will be back to normal.
00:46:33
Speaker
Jesus Christ, Lisa. The fourth war has well fully been kicked out. Absolutely. was fully expecting look into the camera. Bart does an I carumba just to end the scene off. That's the spirit.
00:46:46
Speaker
We go to the both the families in the car looking very annoyed, except Homer. But Homer can lighten the tension because he's bored. He's wrapping Ronnie Reagan tape. It's just Ronald Reagan. I like how Homer can acknowledge that there is tension, but not why.
00:47:00
Speaker
We just see that the tape is just Ronald Reagan saying well a lot and Homer just goes, he did say well a lot. the hell is happening? Fucking weird. That's very strange, yeah.
00:47:12
Speaker
We then cut to the lake and we see that Homer is guiding Ned to back the boat into the water. He's too distracted by his ice cream and Ned gets nowhere near.
00:47:23
Speaker
Yeah, scraping that boat. youll See that Flanders in the car is very much very close to the break down here. Next scene we see that they're going water skiing and Flanders asks how his kids are doing. Homer says, they're doing fine. We just see the empty lines. That is so good.
00:47:38
Speaker
We cut to the the women making a punch and Lisa points out that the punch has been advised by the punch regularly. The fruit punch advisory board. what what is what What is that? What is that in reference? They advise on fruit punch. Well, you know, you you've got to sometimes.
00:47:58
Speaker
Well, it says that walldon Todd won't be having any because they don't have any sugar. And Marjorie asks wonders of why the punch board would lie to them. I wonder if there's just a gag at, like, too much government bureaucracy, like, there's a department of everything and there the the Fruit Punch advisory board is just another do-nothing department that exists just to advise on Fruit Punch.
00:48:18
Speaker
Or it some it could even be a reference to, like, the women the like housewife magazines that, like, Marge does read, that it's, like, they call themselves the Fruit Punch advisory board, but really they're just, like, a part of a magazine kind of thing.
00:48:31
Speaker
In my head, I like that it's like an official US government department. That they've got their own symbol and they're technically federal agents. Yep, yep. We then see that ah in the woods, Bart is offering the boys pixie sticks but after saying there's no sugar in them.
00:48:45
Speaker
We then see that Rod and Todd do eat the sugar and immediately start telling each other to go to hell and have a brawl while Bart is cackling in the background. summer And the next scene raises a toast and he says he's happy that they've all come together.
00:48:58
Speaker
and uh flam just gets up and awkwardly says that he is touched but then a food fight begins which is just the simpsons so strange i love that marge and lisa like look each other for a second and then just join in yeah yeah homer did say that in a more perfectly world they'd be known as the flimpsons which was a lot of Surely it'd be the Flamson's. If you're trying to be even about it, Flamson's. guess so. We then see that the Flandersers are leaving because Rod got sesty Italian in his eye.
00:49:29
Speaker
poor Poor child. Homer says, at least let me take the boat out one more time. And Flanders kind of groans, but Homer says, it's too late. Too late. Flanders tries to beg to God to give him the strength to enjoy Homer's friendship.
00:49:41
Speaker
We then hear Homer screaming as the boat flies through the air. The slow build-up Homer scream is always funny to me. I don't know why. you just You're just hearing it and it is like the sound of thunder rolling in. you's like, oh no.
00:49:56
Speaker
We then see the Toma says, oh, your car. What were the chances? What are the odds? On the Flanders' ruined car. Completely decimated. Simpsons Archive had that that bit being a reference to the James Bond film Live and Let Die, which like I guess there were a lot of boat-based shenanigans in the Roger Moore era. I don't think it was necessarily specifically that, but maybe. And see, Dodd-Hippard just randomly appears to congratulate Owen, his charity worker, and to fail to get into his own car.
00:50:23
Speaker
Yeah, i have three cheers for Homer or Simpson and his recent charity work and jeers for this jam block or something. yeah Rusty tailgate. Rusty tailgate, that's it. yeah Very, very weird. it's all ah It's weird that they're putting so much effort in setting up this one specific gag that doesn't actually have much of a payoff. I guess it does to some extent.
00:50:47
Speaker
But yeah, it's weird. Go to the next scene and we see that Landis is now walking up a church tower and he's whistling to himself. and this This seems to me, from from from my mind, I could be wrong, but this feels like a Psycho reference. oh I think it's the second Psycho where she's...
00:51:04
Speaker
Right, okay, because I know there's a scene in the second Psycho film where she stood at the top of a church tower as well. So I thought that with the angle, that's what it looked like to me. So I guess not. I think they've referenced this before as well. Yeah, so there is a real life event where somebody went up the watchtower of a university and opened fire. think was in Texas in the And it did become a pretty famous film made in the 80s. I know there's Pitchcock references in there too, but I think it's a direct reference of that. i can't remember for the life the film's called. Yeah, i have the details of it. I will find it again for you. Charles Whitman went on a killing spree in 1966, which was made into a film in 1975 called The Deadly Tower. Yes.
00:51:47
Speaker
Was one of the people he killed a postman? Because that they make like the only like character that seems distinct in Ned Flanders' dream is a postman. Oh, interesting. shape I think that may be a reference to because when he started firing in the real life event, they started making people that were civilians on the ground deputies so they could fire guns.
00:52:05
Speaker
Oh really? Right. So interesting. right So if they killed him they wouldn't get if they killed him they wouldn't be charged. because i think It eventually came to an end because I think some of the security managed to get up with some civilians and they did eventually shoot him and i think one of the guys was actually a cop.
00:52:20
Speaker
They didn't get charged. He killed 15 people, injured 31, and was killed by two Austin Police Department officers approximately 96 minutes later. Damn, Jesus Christ, man.
00:52:32
Speaker
Yes, it's not it's not a fun story. Maybe everyone owning guns isn't a great idea. Yeah, back to the fantasy of... Flanders is at the top of the watchtower and he thinks he can see Homer everywhere as he starts randomly firing.
00:52:44
Speaker
The postman pulls out a machine gun to try to stop him. And Flanders wakes up from his dream. And Flanders is asked what's wrong and Flanders realizes... I might hate Homer Simpson. At the same time, Homer wakes up and Homer is horrified that he... What is the name of the person he thinks he's hate? Oh, Ted Koppel.
00:53:01
Speaker
ted cobble and it was and it's like no i find him informative and something something witty it's informative away yeah i could even i was because i was like the is ted cobble and it's just a news it's just a newscaster i didn't even look like is he is he like somebody that was was he is this them being weird and referencing something that was 30 years old at the time or was he relevant in the I didn't get, I just got to the thing of hip, Ted Cobble was born in 1940. He was on Nightline from 1980 2005. Yeah, so he was, looked really familiar as well, so.
00:53:42
Speaker
It's good to know Homer likes him. Very good. We'll to the next scene, and this has definitely never made the rounds as a gif on Twitter.
Classic Simpsons Meme Moment
00:53:49
Speaker
to Oh, God. As Ned is playing with his family, we don't see Homer just come through the hedge. Yep.
00:53:57
Speaker
Elmo wants to spend some time, but an Ned Flanders tells him that they're going to be spending the day with the boy's grandmother, and it's only family. Elmo initially thinks it's been still reported, but eventually Ned clarifies it's just members of the family Flanders family, and Elmo just goes, okay, and slowly goes back through the edge. This was one of those things where it's like, we want we want to do this animation. We have no idea how to lead into it.
00:54:18
Speaker
So they didn't, because they just did it anyway. And I appreciate the hell out them for it. Yeah, it's classic. and And now we have to see it constantly. And i gather from Wikipedia that they reference that like quite a lot. It seems like from season 30 onwards, there's a bunch of references ah sprinkled throughout where they keep like referencing the meme effectively because...
00:54:43
Speaker
I guess by about five years ago, yeah it was popular enough that, like, they had to reference it in the show itself. When you're referencing yourself, you know you need to stop writing.
00:54:55
Speaker
Yeah, that that was that was kind of my feeling on that as well. it's like, when once once you got to that stage, you you have been doing this too long. Oh, money talks. Yeah, yeah. So, Landers reveals that he's told a white lie and the kids say he's made baby Jesus cry because of his lie.
00:55:13
Speaker
Lies make baby Jesus cry. They're not complaining in a second because Homer comes to the front door to ask Landers if he wants to go do some pitch and putt. Landers then drives through his own garage to get away from Homer and Homer begins, like the Terminator, running down the road. Yeah, it's a Terminator 2 reference.
00:55:30
Speaker
A reference I don't get because we haven't got that far yet. Shut up! I don't see the kids as terrified the of her Homer gaining on them. He's gaining on us!
00:55:42
Speaker
Go faster! I can't! It's a geo! Homer clings onto the bumper with his... with his ah golf clubs and the kids are screaming, Flanders might just shake him off and Elm and goes, I guess he didn't most not a see he he me. me.
00:55:56
Speaker
I should also note the, uh, the censors didn't like the line, it's a Gio either, because Gio was sponsoring the network at the time. Ooh, that's a thought. So Flanders is pleased, but then he's stopped by Chief Liggum, who assumes he's on some form of substance and, uh,
00:56:13
Speaker
We then see if Flanders has been forced to take a sobriety test. At that moment, a bus goes past... What he say? He's not hopped up on... He's not hepped up on goofballs. Hepped up on goofballs. What a fucking phrase.
00:56:27
Speaker
now We then see the church tour bus come past and Reverend Lovejoy and everybody else is absolutely horrified. Then Flanders unfortunately loses his balance and Chief Lookup yells out, he's high as a kite. I'm goofballs.
00:56:39
Speaker
Are goofballs a thing? what a John, you're ever you're an adventurous person. I'm sure you've done goofballs in your time. i What are goofballs? I don't know. Oh, okay. You're the one that's the the drug addict.
00:56:51
Speaker
that's a lie That's a liable thing to say. An older slang term for barbiturates. What the fuck is a barbiturate? They were supposed to like help you relax. They were very they were very popular in the 40s and 50s. A lot of celebrities died on... damn. I think that's what killed Marilyn Monroe, actually.
00:57:11
Speaker
I didn't know that Marilyn Monroe died from an overdose. oh Allegedly. I know very little. And I'm fairly certain that the the people in the audience of this podcast like, yeah, we know Matt.
00:57:25
Speaker
Yeah, we we get comments about how little we know. It's fine. but We live sheltered lives, folks. what they do yeah We're creatures of habit. Pay us and we'll learn more.
00:57:36
Speaker
We then see Flanders outside the church and he doesn't want to go in because people's accusing eyes. Mortimer just shows him that this is a place of love and forgiveness. They go in and everybody starts talking, including calling Flanders the fallen one and evil The other one fallen in one.
00:57:48
Speaker
I love the dude that says, um i bet he's the one that wrote Homer all off the bathroom. Flanders is about to leave, but Homer then shouts out that he's got some kick-ass seats, and Flanders goes, and we see that Reverend Lovejoy is... ah this is so This is something, actually, that I've always wondered.
00:58:06
Speaker
How do the Simpsons always get such good seats if Homer is so desperate to not go? Because they're always, like, near the front. Well, you need to see them because they're the stars of the show. Okay, yes, we've had this before that it's for the bit.
00:58:20
Speaker
But like, yeah, but how? Why? Is it because, I guess... Homer's a large man and people would have been treating him as a celebrity. Can't fit into any other pew. Is that what he was saying? Also, he's just had the eye of his charity work so people going to want him to step aside so they can marvel at him. Well, i what i was going to say is I imagine it's probably because Marge makes them go on time because it's Marge or it's because assumptionpous it's like yeah yeah or it's just because Homer is such an inconsiderate prick sometimes that he just walks up to the front and just assumes people will move.
00:58:53
Speaker
Well, maybe no one wants to sit there. Maybe people don't want to be in front of Reverend Lovejoy. I mean, yeah, Lovejoy kind tool. Nobody else wants to be at the front. Yeah. Maybe Lovejoy has a large cock that no one wants to look at. These are the questions. What the fuck? Michael what? almost spat my fucking beer out. If you wanted questions, I'm offering answers. i like your answers. Please keep them coming.
00:59:19
Speaker
Just like Reverend Lovejoy. take it to archive of our own guys. Lovejoy readjusts himself and then reveals that the ceremony is about what Ned did, but that's the point he into that. love the way he says it as well though, before we get to the ceremony what Ned did.
00:59:38
Speaker
He then congratulates Homer on his charity work and Homer starts blowing kisses, and which Lovejoy thanks him for. Yeah, he said thank you for the kisses. i don't know why that got me. It was so, like, it was proper straight-faced kind of humour. I really like, thank you for the kisses.
00:59:56
Speaker
So everyone goes into silent prayer, but Homas knows his breathing quite loudly, which annoys Flanders, and Flanders finally snaps and tells Homas to breathe through his damn mouth. All the congregation are shocked and think Flanders is jealous, and this leads them quickly to the round of, let's sacrifice Flanders to the to the Lord. Let's sacrifice Flanders to our gods. What? We did it all in the 30s.
01:00:17
Speaker
Also, again, with the whole The Simpsons, the year, the you know, like their age has never changed. Like, so, is but like, it so if, if it's canon that Abe Simpson made this joke, that means he was doing it in the 30s, which means he's now nearly, no, would definitely be over 100 years old.
01:00:36
Speaker
Yeah, he's up there. yeah gay He's getting on.
Homer Defends Ned
01:00:40
Speaker
Actually, even even even in the 90s for him to make that joke would be... Yeah, like, that would have been 60 years ago from the time of this taking place, yeah.
01:00:50
Speaker
Yeah, so if he was, like, 20 then, that means he's... He'd be in his 80s, yeah. 80, yeah. I'm crap at maths. It should not have taken me that long to add 60 to 20. Yeah.
01:01:02
Speaker
Before Flanders can be sacrificed, Homer gets up and defends him by saying that Flanders has turned the cheek on him many times. And Homer then makes a very sweet line of, if there were more people like Ned Flanders, we wouldn't need to get to heaven because we'd already be there.
01:01:15
Speaker
everyone everyone feels Everyone feels bad and apologises to Flanders. And Flanders himself thanks Homer and calls him a true friend. And we see that they're still pally-pally friends, as Bart and Lisa wonder what the hell's going on because their own fury has been shot to hell.
01:01:29
Speaker
And Lisa says, i guess I guess things will be normal. We don't go to a black fade and then we come back at its Thursday 8 o'clock. I love the whole, like, my grandfather, great-grandfather left me the home thing. It's so good. so we So we get the very generic sitcom plot of Homer's grandfather has died and left him the house, which may or may not be haunted. They'll go find out.
01:01:51
Speaker
Flanders then appears at the window and Homer tells him to get lost. and Get lost, man. Then got to said haunted house And the family talking inside And it ends with family saying It's not haunted and then we hear the screams Is this the first then canonical Supernatural event Unless it was just a knife wielding psychopath I mean, with the i it was never proven that there was a ghost in there, so... Yeah. ye Oh, my mind just steps on some Lego. We don't know. My good reaction to that house was like, is that not Agnes Skinner's house?
01:02:21
Speaker
Oh, yeah, shit. Whoops. Maybe there was a popular gothic designer in Springfield. No, it's not. It does have like ah ah a tall bit on the house, but absolutely not, no. well Yeah, because Agnes Skinner's house is a reference to Saika. I guess it's one of those that there's not really a well-established canon, but like there a quick search reveals two houses. One which looks like a large but normal house, and one is Skinner staring up ah at a spooky gothic mansion on the hill, which absolutely looks like this. Yeah.
01:02:56
Speaker
m So, yes and no to that one. So, anticipating the argument, what did we think? I really liked this episode. Genuinely, I really like it. It genuinely is one of the funniest episodes we've had on a while. Oh, really? yeah And we're the air of, fight, fight, fight. John, what did you think of this episode?
01:03:15
Speaker
I was like, okay. Like, it's a completely average episode of The Simpsons. Like, there were good laughs in there, but it didn't really engage me in any meaningful way. it was like, yeah, it was okay. Sure. i'm not I'm not not enjoying it. I've enjoyed talking about it more than I did watching it. And there were definitely laughs. Like, let's sacrifice him to our God. Got a really good laugh out Because it's an Abe, of course it did. Yeah. Abe Simpson. Doing that in a church. In a church, let's sacrifice him to our God. Yeah.
01:03:44
Speaker
du um I think I liked it for those same reasons, though, as it was just a lot of, like, random-ass gags. The story, like, I feel like they managed to just...
01:03:55
Speaker
keep this loose plot going that just led to more and more gags in like a very fun and simple way so i genuinely just yeah it was just a fun episode yeah like turn your brain off enjoy the dumb references enjoy the gags and you know it was significantly better than the last flanders focused episode that we had oh yeah yeah that's true that's not hard because that was the worst episode of all time it felt like It felt like a much older episode. It felt like this came from like season two-ish or something. I can totally see that. yeah yeah It was very family and personality driven and no like completely completely insane shenanigans.
01:04:34
Speaker
yes i think they could Maybe be the boat bit. Yeah, you could definitely see this being like, change the names, change the style, and this could be any sitcom kind of vibes. There was very little about it that was uniquely Simpsons. I think that's totally fair.
01:04:51
Speaker
Michael? michael Yeah, I thought, I'm very much in the middle of it. I thought, it's a better than average episode, and I did enjoy it. The gags are good. There are a few bits in it that don't hit, but overall, it's all very solid.
01:05:05
Speaker
I mean, the only joke that genuinely I thought, meh, was the lol gay joke. That's the only joke that for me was like, i mean, was there any joke in particular, Michael, that you just like heard and just thought, nah, that not for me?
01:05:18
Speaker
No, it's just, there's some stuff with the family and there's just some stuff that just feels a bit like ears padding it. A little bit. It's definitely padded. Definitely padded. 100%. This did not need to be a long episode. I do not understand why it was a long episode. two tickets to Paradise bit, like, went on too long for me. was like, after a few seconds you're like, are you going somewhere with this? What are you doing here? Yeah, those bits are very, very common in Simpsons, and I've never...
01:05:48
Speaker
i i don't know if they started it you know because it does feel like other sitcoms have done it now where it is just quite long and then they just you know again like um whatever homer says about the song it's just a very simple great guitar riff or something wasn't yeah it's a great riff whatever and you just kind of like what what was the what was the bit it's like watching very old comedy and going this is what you guys found funny back then you know this is very old comedy yeah exactly so it just yeah it was a very odd bit yeah do we have any ratings for it i do speaking of i gave it a two tickets to paradise out of homer i'd replay it straight away because i actually do uh unabashedly love that song
01:06:35
Speaker
That's a good song. Michael? I'm giving it an American robot car out of Homer. answer It's a great idea, but it's not without its flaws. Okay. I give it How the Boys Are Doing out of Homer.
01:06:50
Speaker
Which is, like, fine. Okay. ah Okay. ah this I was like, where where is this going? ge How are the boys doing? what They're fine. fine Yeah. no like hear And meanwhile, they're drowning.
01:07:03
Speaker
um Yeah, that's totally fine. um In terms of like society, I think there were like a lot of jokes aimed at modern things, but there was no real commentary about society other than you know so it's like the turning the tables kind of vibe that they did.
01:07:21
Speaker
But it's like, just because you find someone annoying doesn't mean they don't find you annoying. But that's more of a moral than a commentary. You know, like this didn't have... I think this is the first time in a while I haven't been able to like pull something out of my ass.
01:07:38
Speaker
for ah For what it says about society.
Modern Issues in The Simpsons
01:07:41
Speaker
Okay. Well, if you cut if you can't do that I feel much better about having nothing. i I genuinely couldn't think of anything um off the top of my head.
01:07:49
Speaker
Again, it it makes jokes at modern things in expense. Like, you know, again, as always, as jokes about the police, ah church judgmentalism and those. But it's so clear that the episode isn't about anything.
01:08:04
Speaker
no other than the simple plot of homer now be you know as in flipping the gag that is the whole episode is flipping the gag of homer and flander that is it so yeah it it you know yeah i could not have said this says anything about society as much as i try my best they're completely fair does anyone have anything any any inkling or hints that they think it could No, I mean, other than the usual sort of like jabs at parodies and things.
01:08:33
Speaker
Robot cars. how we Are we parodying Tesla? Probably not at this point, but, you know, I don't know what they could be talking about at that point, really. There was that jab at the news early on, but like... Yeah, again, sensationalist media, but... It's just them doing what they normally do. They're not really like... yeah I don't know that it has that much to say. It's just them like, lol, isn't the news silly?
01:08:55
Speaker
ah Yeah, exactly. like yeah it's jokes it's It's typical Simpsons in the sense that it's joking about modern things, but it's not it's not making a commentary this time. And that's fine. Not every Simpsons episode does have to.
01:09:06
Speaker
Shall we move by Shall we have a look at Bart getting an elephant on March 31st, 1994? This was definitely an episode where I felt like I could have not watched it.
01:09:18
Speaker
And bullshitted my way through.
01:09:23
Speaker
That's fair one. So let's go through the events of what happened on the day, which was March 31st, 1994.
Michael Jordan's Baseball Career
01:09:33
Speaker
So it's the ill-fated start of Michael Jordan's baseball career. off Do you know, I always forget Michael Jordan tried to be a baseballer. Did not know he had a baseball career. so Yeah, that's what like that's what the joke is in um Space Jam. Have you never watched Space Jam?
01:09:49
Speaker
I don't think I have. Yo, you've never watched Space Jam? No. but Right okay when I finally eventually the stars align and I come visit watching Space Jam what a movie Okay i of Love Space Jam not the second one. I'm never watching the sequel you can't make me 1994 the Michael Jordan was the world's most successful NBA basketball players abruptly decided to have enough to stardom and on this day the Chicago White Sox assigned him to the Birmingham Barons of class double ace of the league which is the minor leagues in case you needed to know and also i mean i don't i don't know how the white socks minor league team stacks up or how the white socks stacked up in 1994 either but also ah in current sort of standings white socks is also one of the worst teams
01:10:38
Speaker
But the thing the thing is, above anything, props to him. You know, just being like, fuck it, I'm going to be a baseballer now. I admire the guy. So everything I read about it earlier today was he tried and had a nice attitude.
01:10:51
Speaker
But he does return to the NBA after one season, so he's back this time, 1995.
Cultural and Historical Tidbits
01:10:56
Speaker
i'm not I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised. But, you know, A for effort. Also, speaking of baseball, the walkway from Cleveland's Tower City to Jacobs Field officially opens.
01:11:06
Speaker
Ooh, big news. Ooh. So, I can't pronounce this word, so I'm not going to try, but something archaeological happens in Ethiopia. The first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull was reported.
01:11:21
Speaker
Ooh, well done. Australopithecus is one of the missing links, right? I think so, yeah. The US number one and the UK number one remain the same, so you've still got some doop going on.
01:11:32
Speaker
Doop. Doop. Doop. Matt, are you still enjoying your turkey dinosaurs? Hell yeah. And they're making their way to your organs, I imagine. Which brings me to the chalkboard gag. Jesus. No, give me credit that I'll work. You can't be allowed to carry on like this. You can't get away with it. The chalkboard gag is organ transports are best left to the professionals, which is fair enough.
01:12:01
Speaker
Oh no...
Humor of Simpsons Chalkboard Gags
01:12:03
Speaker
Fucking hell. And when you see those turkey dinosaurs, I bet your eyes light up. Oh they do, they do. And speaking of speaking of eyes... We dear to the couch gaga and the family seem to be missing their eyes, which they which they pretty much had put into their heads.
01:12:18
Speaker
First scene in Boy Scouts in the Hood. Yeah, I thought, know, yeah, yeah that was it it got a chuckle from me. I think I was just in that that kind of mood at that point to giggle at them. I don't think I observed, but the last one was an original one. That was first time seen. Yeah, yeah they like again, i have a shit memory for the cho the the gags, the couch gags. I wasn't expecting an original one. my My experience with the couch gags so far is they normally do enough for half a season and then double up in the back half. you did your little maths for it. Yeah.
01:12:49
Speaker
Well, your math was wrong. Fucking prostrate yourself. We'll have to sacrifice you to our gods. Okay. Well, we go to the morning and the dusk is rising and see that Marge has woken up to the absolute mess of a house.
01:13:04
Speaker
It includes sandwiches and... Oh, God. i did you know like i When I do the washing up, i i I'm one of those people. like If there's a lot of washing up too, I have to do i have to wear some marigolds.
01:13:16
Speaker
I could not. I think I would die if I stepped on a sandwich in bare feet. i think i would I think I would literally implode on myself and become the black hole that consumes the earth.
01:13:27
Speaker
Absolutely. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I hate that idea. yeah So, Marge unfortunately does not have any gloves and finds a bowling ball in the fridge and more underpants. Again, the answer is for the bit, right? But I'm going to ask the question anyway. Why the fuck did Homer put his bowling ball in the fridge?
01:13:47
Speaker
No, his fingers are nice and cold. You're asking about the bowling ball, not the underpants? No, it keeps them cool. Yeah, chill balls. keeps the bowling ball cool. You don't want your fingies getting too cold while you're bowling.
01:14:02
Speaker
with Well, the the fluid dynamics of its liquid centre changes if it warms up. so Imagine that some guy gets disqualified from a bowling competition because he chilled his ball before.
01:14:21
Speaker
That there may be a scandal somewhere in professional books. That's genius. Genius. They go to the family and they come down for breakfast and they're eating quite noisily and they talk about the... Why does Homer take a bite out of the waffle and then throw the bit of it away? That's so weird.
01:14:38
Speaker
Did he? I didn't notice that. Every time he took a bite out of he'd throw the other bit away. think the joke was they were being messy. Yeah, that that is the joke. Yeah, definitely. But it's just so like...
01:14:49
Speaker
i've've I can't think of a food you would do it with instead to make the bit work. But that's just my little, like, slightly OCD brain being like, you wouldn't do that with waffles. I could only imagine doing that with pizza, but then you can't have pizza in the morning. This is the spiral I go on when I watch Simpsons, guys.
01:15:06
Speaker
i mean, you could have toast and throw the crusts away. Yeah, true. Yeah, yeah,
Cultural Critiques on Food
01:15:10
Speaker
yeah. Toast work. Toast would work. if People don't like the crispy edges of waffles. you know they actually sell crustless peanut butter and jam sandwiches pre-packaged in America?
01:15:20
Speaker
God. If you buy those, genuinely, if you buy those, grow the fuck up.
01:15:27
Speaker
It's the thing of, like, when children ask for their crust to cut off, I would just say no. Because fucking eat it. It's bread. Mm-hmm. And this is why Matt's not allowing near children anymore.
01:15:39
Speaker
This is why I don't want kids. They sound like a fucking pain. Yeah. Dad, can I have the crust cut off? No, fuck off. Little shit.
01:15:50
Speaker
Family are discussing their plans for the day, which include Barton and Noah's going to the ravine to find a dead Martian. he Yeah, they got I like how he says they got a tip that there's a dead Martian down there.
Bart's Adventures and Humor
01:16:00
Speaker
A tip from a six-year-old.
01:16:01
Speaker
is that Is this meant to be a Stand By Me reference? Is it? I'm asking because obviously the whole premise of Stand By Me is they go on their journey to go see a dead body.
01:16:13
Speaker
I don't know. Maybe not. Maybe I'm thinking too hard. No one's ever said that about me. Lisa's offered a party to jam with the little white girl's blues quartet and calls Homer daddy-o, but Homer doesn't want to go because he's offered a beer-drinking costume... beer-drinking costume contest. When you participate in a sport, it doesn't matter if you win or lose, just how drunk you get. Love that line.
01:16:34
Speaker
That's your ethos. You've got that tattooed on your ass. Absolutely. Everyone's about to leave, but Marge blocks the doorway. Bob points out that it's hard for to leave while she's standing there. Homer's response to this is pushing this. Push her down, son.
01:16:46
Speaker
I will say, whatever my thoughts are for the rest of this episode, this intro, fucking hilarious. It's very good. Marge declares that nobody is leaving because they're going to do some spring cleaning.
01:16:58
Speaker
Homer's response to this is to go, oh dear God, no. Overdramatic, Homer. But tries to escape, but ah he can't undo the lock. and I think you'll find escape is impossible.
01:17:10
Speaker
I was fully expecting one of them to yeet themselves out a window. Oh, yeah, yeah, no, I thought it was going to be like, nope, got it. Yeah, he just got, he, like, climbs through the doggy door or something.
01:17:21
Speaker
Yeah. Marge declares that everyone's got to pick a floor and Homer picks the basement, which nobody complains Everyone accepts. Homer does a very tentative dough. I love the questioning dough. That's so good.
01:17:33
Speaker
Homer then opens the basement to see the absolute mess that he's got to deal with and get the proper full-on dough. I have now seen American cellars. I wouldn't want to clean one either.
01:17:46
Speaker
so they they They are vast, man. I mean, vast. Like, if have any of you lived in ah in a house with a cellar? Yes. yes absolutely' i've not lived they're not They're not massive, right? At least in England. They're not huge.
01:18:02
Speaker
Fuck me. This was like the site like as the the actual width of the house underneath the house. That's why all American houses are made of wood, is because then they'd all collapse in their fucking basements.
01:18:14
Speaker
but don't see We see that Bart is wiping the table. He's probably depressed. And just ask, can we just buy a new house? And Marge turns up. I feel that, though, when i'm like when I have to do my laundry or something, or I have to clean my room. I'm just like, can I just buy new clothes?
01:18:31
Speaker
Marge says, well, it's the music and turns off the radio, and Bart is very depressed to by the song, and he laments with Ernie that ah we get older and older and deeper into debt.
01:18:42
Speaker
Yep. Amen. We then go to Homer and Homer's found an air compressor and just blows everything around the room. He then declares himself done and Marge tells him to throw away the calendars and the TV guides. Homer calls her mad and says that a calendar from 1985 might come in handy because we don't know what tomorrow will be.
01:19:00
Speaker
I mean, we are desperately trying to take ourselves back to 1985, so... This is true, this is true. If the Return with the V guys get their way, we might need that calendar. So, Homer says that the TV guys bring back memories, including Gilmore upsetting Sarge and Carter, and Homer only remembers that episode. Which is just the two characters going... shi i am buted I am led to understand that the gag is that description apply. Yeah, it's every single episode. There's a very similar bit in um Friends.
01:19:29
Speaker
They make a joke about Terms of Endearment, I think it's called. And they say, oh I've seen this. I know this episode. It's a one where so-and-so has a miss there's a misunderstanding. So then one of them says, I've seen this one then and turns it off.
01:19:41
Speaker
I don't know if there's me reading a bit too much into this bit as well, but i don't know if there's something there about about memory and like the only the only actual takeaway Homer's got from this entire show is just the catchphrase. like He's like, oh, I'll never forget that show. I love that show. yeah the All he can remember is catchphrases.
01:20:00
Speaker
Especially considering Simpsons does love to make jokes about the fact that so many of their characters just become stupid catchphrases. Like they did the whole bit with, you know, everyone does a catchphrase. Bart says, I crumba, Barney burps. Yeah. Mr. Burns says, excellent, you know, and that kind of thing. So...
01:20:17
Speaker
yeah i Yeah, I didn't think of it, but I think that is genuinely a very astute way of looking at it. Oh, like you just mentioned, we're friends. You think back to a TV show that you watched back in the day.
01:20:27
Speaker
I couldn't tell you that many plots of Friends. All I can remember is that Joey said, how you doing a couple of times? i i want break I have seen Friends too much for someone that no longer really likes it. I genuinely think I could give you the plot of most episodes of the first few seasons.
01:20:44
Speaker
i i I have a very good memory for shit that is completely useless. Well, March breaks everyone's fantasies and tells Homer to keep of cleve cleaning to stop remembering TV.
01:20:54
Speaker
Homer's response to this is to go, why are we doing all this cleaning? Are we that vain? Are we that vain? We don't see Lisa's vacuuming and we see that the little white girls are playing outside, which includes President Clinton. For some reason, Bill Clinton is there. Get back to work. Make me.
01:21:10
Speaker
I don't know why. That got a genuine proper laugh at me. It's so simple. Make me. I don't know why. That's so good. Mo is not impressed by the president's... Well, he needs to get back to White House so so he can get a blowie from Trump.
01:21:25
Speaker
Lisa's annoyed, but then a vacuum cleaner connects onto a saxophone starts playing. os It does the womp womp noise. Womp womp. That, again, got a genuine laugh from it. I just realised now, looking back at it, Lisa's saxophone is a different colour.
01:21:40
Speaker
Yeah, just, yeah, funny. This this intro, genuinely, this like intro a bit is so great. It's it fantastic. I didn't pick up on that the saxophone's noise was specifically a womp womp. Yeah, it was womp But that you've said it, I'm like, yeah, okay, yeah. We go back to Homer, and Homer's found some Mr. Cleanser. So it's used in a well-ventilated area, and Homer tells it to shove it. know Cleanser as well. it's not even Mr. Cleaner, it's Cleanser. imagine it's Cleanser, because isn't that how you spell Cleanser? clips Yeah, it will be. Yes. Oh, yeah. Have any of you guys actually done that by accident? Like, used something that produces fumes in a non-ventilated room?
01:22:15
Speaker
Don't think so. i really did all i didt I accidentally did a load of painting in a closed-off room. Like, I was painting the walls, and this was, like, strong paint.
01:22:28
Speaker
Oh, we did that at the playoffs, didn't we, John? I don't know what I think about it. Yeah, my ex came and checked on me at the time and was like, are you okay?
01:22:39
Speaker
And I was like, yeah, why? And she's like, you haven't moved in 20 minutes. Because I'd just been stood there staring off at his face. Because I was like, high as balls. and and That's the goofballs. And then i realized I realized at the time I had a fucking throbbing headache.
01:22:58
Speaker
ah So yeah, I opened the windows and was like, oh, this is what air tastes like. Yeah, I think we did something similar when we had something... we supervised some interns to paint the wall, which i never dropp which never dried, because they used their own paint.
01:23:13
Speaker
Oh god, oh yeah, no, I remember that. Yeah, they put floor paint, which takes like a week to dry, on the walls. Oops. In... ahead of an event that was supposed to take place that night, because there was still wet paint on the walls that night, they decided the way they would solve this was by wrapping it in paper.
01:23:30
Speaker
Oh god. It dries even slower when it's not actually got access to air. That thing didn't dry for months. ah Fucking Egypt. it Yes.
01:23:42
Speaker
But, Helmer falls into the same trap as the fumes get to him and almost starts to see the bottles and all the mascots on it seem to come for life. Yeah, the things in the background we mentioned earlier, the stone head. Why don't you pick a apple?
01:23:55
Speaker
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was initially pleased by this, but then they begin to attack him, including Mr. Cleanse himself, who says, I will best destroy you. Is that what he says? Did he say miss destroy? I thought they were trying to do a play on words, but I couldn't really hear what he said, and I couldn't be asked rewind it. I didn't quite hear it, no. I must destroy you. Oh, so he's just saying it accent. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, Frankyak's got it as destroy, but I didn't pick up on the word either. Fair enough.
01:24:20
Speaker
Homer starts screaming, and Marge says, voice why is he screaming? Nothing. And he says, nothing's happening. He tells him to stop screaming, and we see Homer just start prophetically flailing on the ground. That's so strange.
01:24:34
Speaker
We then see that Bart is scrubbing the walls and he comes... Why do why you why do the Simpsons family have a... And again, I know, for the bit, why do they have a portrait of American Gothic? For the bit, don't worry about it. But, like, but why why American Gothic? Because the Simpsons writers don't just do things, you know? For the most part, they don't just do things. So why do you think that they chose American Gothic for this moment?
01:25:00
Speaker
iconic bit of american artwork i guess and like yeah mean that's funny for them to have such an iconic piece in their home that's like where the hell did they get guess yeah it is probably one of the most most recognizable even to a layman piece of americana is american gothic yeah yeah no that's fair the bar is distracted by the radio and uh we see that the they'll be calling up and if you answer the phone with the catchphrase of kbl is going to give me something stupid you can win 10 000 pounds or a stupid prize but i's distracted by this and rubs over american gothic to the point where he smudges her faces at first and then then we get the message
01:25:38
Speaker
if you If you're reading this, you scrubbed too hard, and then the name of the artist of American Gothic. Grant Wood, yeah. Grant Wood. Is it interesting, I feel like, to note that I think the art is far more famous than the artist, because like yeah you refer to the guy who painted it, and I didn't know who it was either. If you said, who painted American Gothic, don't know, no idea.
01:25:57
Speaker
I only know because it said Grant Wood. the Fun fact about American Gothic, he did not compensate the the couple in the painting. So the phone rings and Bart thinks it's the radio, but it turns out it's Grandpa and he's having palpitations. Bart's response to this is just, get off the line.
01:26:13
Speaker
More in. Eventually, we then see that the house is finally clean and Marge says, now don't mess it up again. And everyone says they won't. They walk through the door and the door clicks back and you immediately see that it's messed up again.
01:26:24
Speaker
The radio is still on and we set another call, but this time it's to the police station and... Sorry, just a random question. I know we're at like 1.30 already, but I'm just going to ask this question real quick. Do you think Simpsons would still be funny to a blind person?
01:26:40
Speaker
Because it does have a lot of like, it yeah, it does have a lot of, like, you know, word-based gags, but there's also a lot of visualness to Simpsons.
Is The Simpsons Funny for the Blind?
01:26:50
Speaker
I mean... i might may I might do an experiment and watch one of the episodes blindfolded.
01:26:54
Speaker
my God. Okay. Okay. I mean, ah yeah, as you said, there's audio gags. I assume some of it would land. yeah I don't know. I assume that a depending what sort of thing you listen to.
01:27:05
Speaker
Depends on the episode then, I guess, doesn't it? Yeah. Because can get like ahquees and stuff. ah Yeah, I mean, if it's an episode that's just like a barrage of Abe bits, there's probably, if you probably don't need much else, but like, you know, if it's Homer doing a lot of visual stuff, then you probably, probably do need to see it. um And I'm sure that they tailor certain episodes for blind people with like extra descriptive stuff.
01:27:28
Speaker
Yeah, true, yeah. That is possible. yeah just so it It was just a thought that occurred. Carry on. We see that the police force have been stripped of their underwear and are calling for help, and then we see that Snake is wearing Chief Wiggum's uniform and has a taser. We hear over the phone that Chief Wiggum is being tasered.
01:27:45
Speaker
He's initially in pain, but then just acts to the left. is cheating Chief Wiggum's a freak, man. A little saucy boy. The radio hosts do absolutely nothing to help him to say he should have said the phrase, and the phone rings again, but takes it off Homer's hand and says the phrase and he wins. I love that Homer keeps, like he just keeps talking as if he thinks he's holding the phone.
01:28:06
Speaker
Yellow. But he's given the option of $10,000, or the joke gag, an elephant. But, of course, picks the elephant, and Homer just crazily turns the monster and he's taking the elephant instead of the money.
01:28:20
Speaker
We then get a whispered argument between the radio hosts because they don't actually have an elephant. have an elephant. And they try to get to Don't whisper into the microphone. Try to get Bart to take the money and Bart says he wants the elephant and Homer sells him to stick it to the man before realising that he could actually get 10 grand and... With $10,000 we'd be millionaires. i'm fake yeah I'm fairly certain an elephant is worth more than that, which does come up. But yeah, $10,000 we'll be millionaires. That's true.
01:28:45
Speaker
And Marge wants to double ply windows and family are not enthusiastic about this, even though they'll save 4% on their heating bill. I know I'm getting old to the point where I agree with Marge. I would spend ยฃ10,000 on them.
01:28:57
Speaker
Well, if you had double ply windows, you might be able to put your heating on. Yeah, it's very true. I wouldn't spend ยฃ10,000 on it, but it is something that I'm like, that would be nice.
01:29:09
Speaker
I get genuinely excited when people buy me pots and pans for Christmas. I did live in a flat for a year that was had single single ply windows, as guess they're calling it, ply. Yeah, what do we call it? I've forgotten now. Double glazing. Glazed, thank you, yes. yeah I love when my house gets glazed, guys.
01:29:29
Speaker
Oh, God. If you could come over and glaze my house, that'd be awesome. Just glaze it all. You've got an open invite in the flat. Yeah, can confirm single glazing fucking freezing. I thought you were gonna say can confirm love being glazed. I mean, that's just a given.
01:29:53
Speaker
The joke is gay, guys. Fucking hell. I don't know, something about being gay. Flipping heck, Jesus Christ. I should not be allowed in front of a microphone.
01:30:05
Speaker
This is how you do gay humour, you don't just go all the way. Yeah, you do this. No. Oh, no. Someone's going to find these one days. It's going to end one of our careers, man.
01:30:18
Speaker
What career do you think I have?
01:30:21
Speaker
Fair. Same, really. Lisa's main objection to all this is that it's it's cruel to imprison an animal. Almost sends it to a room. i did you because That didn't even register to me, that's great. No, I missed that actually, yeah.
01:30:35
Speaker
So, Bart goes down to the studio and the radio hosts admit that they don't actually have an elephant and say, they might get fired and Bart doesn't want that, and goes, eh, he don't care. Yeah, care. think they would fire him for not having the prize. Like, they didn't organise the contest.
01:30:49
Speaker
they They bring out Principal Skinner and they say that they'll pay Skinner ten grand to keep his pants down for the entire semester, and Skinner very enthusiastic- I'll do it Bart. That's intense. So Bart says, Bart's not interested in that, so they say they'll use the 10 grand to surgically transform Skinner into a lobster. And Skinner basically we did not agree to discuss with me. Bart then sits down firmly says he's not leaving until he gets his elephant. He's then thrown out of the studio ceremoniously. Nice couple of skips as well, like a good stone.
01:31:16
Speaker
Homer says wee as he goes. Wee! We then see Bart shouting, where's my elephant? They
Bart's Elephant Contest
01:31:23
Speaker
shut the window trying to drown Bart out, but he makes it through to the radio, which amuses these senior citizens quite a lot.
01:31:28
Speaker
Hey, they're playing the elephant song. love that song. Reminds me of elephants. Reminds me of elephants. It reminds me of elephants too. We then get the newspaper headline of the straight-A student board being denied as legend.
01:31:41
Speaker
and We cut back to the radio station where this we learn that they're getting complaints and letter bombs. Fucking letter bombs, Matt, Jesus. Actively exploding in the pile, it's great. I'm trying to remember when the last, like, post-bomb in the post scare was, because I imagine even in 1994, this would have been a bit...
01:32:03
Speaker
you know, on the nose? Yeah, you never hear about letter bombs these days. and i'm i'm I'm a little concerned to Google the phrase letter bombs, but I'm intrigued.
01:32:14
Speaker
Well, I think it became more chemical substances because it was easier to get in stuff. Yeah, but that's what I'm saying. I don't remember what when the last like major bombs in the post scare was. Because, i like said, I feel like this would have been a bit like controversial as a joke in the 90s.
01:32:34
Speaker
Or it was too early for it. I don't know. i mean, letter bombs have been in existence as as far back as
The History of Letter Bombs
01:32:40
Speaker
1764. Fucking hell. What was in the fucking lettering? Fuck me. Is it just like a stick of dynamite with a really long fuse?
01:32:51
Speaker
I better open this is all I need. That seems like an itchy and scratchy bit. Uh, yeah, some, uh, Colonel Paul Paulson resigning at Borglum alley Abbey was sent him sent by mail a box when he opens it there and is found to be gunpowder and a firelock which sets fire onto it. So he became very injured. Hmm.
01:33:11
Speaker
became very injured when something exploded next to him. Well, it's only gunpowder. It would probably just go, vroom. Ah, true, yeah. Simpsons then
Early AI Predictions in The Simpsons
01:33:20
Speaker
gets gives us a hint into the early days of ai as we see that there's a robotic DJ ready to go. We'll replace the DJs if they do not get the elephant. and Whoa, that was the caller from hell.
01:33:31
Speaker
Hey, that's pretty good. yeah yeah Don't praise the machine. I love the other guys. How does it keep up with the news like that? He's very impressed. So, somehow, by some miracle, the radio DJs do find an elephant, which they drop off at the Simpsons. That's never made clear how that came about. It doesn't need to be. It's just for the bit of just, here's a fucking elephant.
01:33:54
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. This is genuinely for me where the episode goes completely downhill. The elephant blows his trunk and the cat and dog run away. We don't get the little scene of their heads. Yeah, they pop up and then it rolls again and they're gone.
01:34:07
Speaker
We go to the next scene and Bart is very happy with his elephant and Marge is concerned that it looks like it could go. And Homer goes, it does look like I'll go. I love that. That was really good line.
01:34:19
Speaker
The elephant attempts to eat Bart and Bart is finally freed and Bart laughs for a minute and goes, you tried to kill me. The blindness of the line just got me off. Yeah, it's just very matter of a fact. And Marge Poitier thinks this is a bad idea and Homer says he agrees because in theory communism works. agree He agrees with her in theory, but communism works in theory. That's such a like Homer roundabout way of not agreeing with someone is like, I agree with you, and thus that must be a bad thing.
01:34:49
Speaker
So we see the elephant scratch itself on the house, taking off the elderly and Bart goes, oh, he fixes people. Don't we all, Bart? Don't we all? Well, Homer just somehow manages to chain the elephant up in the back garden, and which begins to destroy everything inside.
01:35:02
Speaker
Bart declares he's going to call him Stampy. Yeah, and then literally the next shot, they use the same shot again. So all of the things he just stamped on are back to normal. Yeah? Oh, yeah. good The budget. What can we say? Yeah.
01:35:15
Speaker
Homer wonders why he's arguing. Lisa points out he's probably hungry and comes with a platter and says, he's got a last four. Stampy just eats the whole thing and Lisa very meekly says, he ate it too fast.
01:35:27
Speaker
Helmer suggests that they tie it down so it doesn't get hungry. And Lisa points out that's cruel and Homer's response to this is, you say everything I do is cruel. Keeping him chained up in the backyard is cruel. Pulling on his tail is cruel. Yelling in his ears is cruel.
01:35:39
Speaker
Just reference elephants eat up to 150 kilos of food a day. That was what I was frantically Googling. yeah I was like, between 136 and 300 kilos of plant matter a day. Fuck me standing.
01:35:51
Speaker
ah Yeah. Like, I'm just like, where did where do you get that much plant? I love how the WWF, like, yeah just as their like wacky fun fact, says that's around 375 tins of baked beans.
01:36:05
Speaker
Oh, good to know. It's like, just in case you needed reference... Putting it in a context that the British can understand. Absolutely. I mean, I would prefer... We eat nothing but beans. I think everything should be measured in bit tins of baked beans. Weight, distance, density.
01:36:20
Speaker
yeah That's the length of 5,000 tins of baked beans. yeah yeah How many tins of baked beans am I from from John right now, I wonder. After Homer's declaration is cruel, Stampy tries to eat him and Homer struggles out then goes, No, I've had my head in an elephant, a hippo, or a sloth.
01:36:38
Speaker
No, no, no, no. He says a giant sloth, which is an extinct species. Is it? Yes. A giant sloth is, yeah, as far as I'm aware. oh I think so. I'm going to to Google it now.
01:36:49
Speaker
Giant sloth. It is. Oh, oh okay. Alma solves the food problem by taking Stampy to Moe's, where Moe had a free peanut off of him. I think you're taking advantage of my generosity. Alma's response is to tell to shut up. Shut up.
01:37:03
Speaker
We don't see that to Stampy can't just eat peanuts. He's got to have some plants and Homer takes him to the Springfield Arbitorium. God, that's so many. if its so If it's roughly like, you know, the correct amount of peanuts, that's so... 150 kilos of peanuts.
01:37:21
Speaker
Moe has a lot of peanuts. That's so much salt. Oh, God. Yeah. Quite liked the Arboretum having a brackets tree place underneath it, just in case you weren't familiar with what an Arboretum was. That seems very Springfield.
01:37:34
Speaker
It does seem very Springfield. We come back and Stampy has eaten every single tree plant and Homer asks if there any more around. but guy know No! I like how aggressive he is about it as well. He's just like, i know what you're going to do there when you get there.
01:37:46
Speaker
A bird lands on Stampy's back and starts to peck and Homer goes, that bird is killing the elephant. Stop it. Sure. Again, this this was like they thought of a bit and they needed to include it.
01:37:58
Speaker
So they did. And it's just like, okay. yeah Elephant gags. Elephant fred. Lisa points out that now the bird is actually grooming him and Homer gets the idea and we come back to Homer and Homer has a bird on his head next to him grooming him.
01:38:11
Speaker
and like like Cleaning his two hairs. And Homer is indeed elephant fred. Elephant fresh. They go to night time and the dogs are barking and then Stampy bellows out and everybody shuts up.
01:38:23
Speaker
Yeah, that'd be nice. But he's having a sleepover with Stampy and Stampy helps push him into his bed, pulls the cover on him, starts to caress him, then tries to weed him. Then tries eat And then puts him back.
01:38:35
Speaker
Yeah, puts him back and puts the cover on him. And Bart goes, thanks, Bart. Appreciate it. I love how horrified Bart looks as well. I mean, I know, like, the recurring theme throughout this is that Stampy is just an asshole.
01:38:46
Speaker
But also, like, ah the almost that one almost seemed like there was kind of almost an affectionate kind of chewing on him from it. An affectionate affectionate type of attempted murder.
01:38:57
Speaker
I mean, he if you wanted to murder him, you would have murdered him. he just wanted to, like, nibble on him a bit. if i I could kill you if I wanted to, and therefore you should appreciate me. But Bart does. He goes back to the Simpsons kitchen, and Lisa asks Bart he's taught Stamp any tricks, and Bart goes, no, he doesn't want learn, and I don't want to teach him.
01:39:17
Speaker
yeah But then see the... I've found this little helper in Snowball 2 walk past, balancing on balls, and he goes, they've taught themselves tricks. they want attention, man. And Elva goes, yeah, good luck with that.
01:39:30
Speaker
And Elva starts complaining about the bills for the elephant, which he includes the oversized decorative poncho, which Bart says is technically for a giraffe, but he thinks he can let it out. Was it a poncho? I thought it was a top hat. It was poncho, yeah. man, my ears need cleaning out.
01:39:44
Speaker
Homer says he's coming out of Bart's allowance and Bart might add that his allowance now needs to be a thousand dollars a week. and oh Well that's what I'll do! Homer's on 80k, he can afford it. Yeah exactly. every it I wish I'd never learned this.
01:39:57
Speaker
I wish I'd never learned Homer's salary. Because every time I'm just like, you can afford this. I mean, to be fair, it's like, there's over half of his annual income on elephant expenses. I think I would resent paying that as well. I'd resent it, yeah. The dollar bell rings and some kids have come and they want to pay to see the elephant.
01:40:17
Speaker
Homer says, for the ninth time, go away. And then Homer goes, suddenly has the light bulb moment and he's got an idea. Go away. But it has a sign which has prices to see the elephant and Homer just, I have not got time to read that. Just give me the gist of it. Give me the gist, yep.
01:40:34
Speaker
We then see that people are now seeing the elephant and Homer's counting his money. And Stampy knocks over a child and Homer tries to classify it as a ride. The mummer's response to this is not that child got hit. That was not five feet. That was definitely not five feet. That's so good.
01:40:48
Speaker
That's great. Helen Lovejoy points out the animal is bad tempered and and Lisa says you'd be bad tempered too if you were in a garden being gawked at by slack jaw yokels. In comes Cletus and slack was the gawking at Lisa. Is this our first appearance of Cletus? it It 100% is. He's not named. He is just a slack jawed yokel. have not yet been introduced to him. Oh, that's why his theme song is that.
01:41:10
Speaker
Because literally the first time he was ever referred to was Slagjord Lowe because there's the episode that's that's from Cletus's perspective Cletus the Slagjord you're cool That lives rent free in my head man the song It's it's a very good jingle It's a great jingle That says he and Stampy are misunderstood and when we hear Mr Burns laughing on top of Stampy saying This reminds me of the fat man I used to ride to work.
01:41:35
Speaker
Fucking hell. He's got $58 in profit and he's the smartest person in the world. Oh my god, this may not be deliberate, but do you think that fat man he used to ride to work was Homer and he just forgot about him again?
01:41:49
Speaker
or Very possible. I love that idea. That's canon now. I'm not celebrating his money, but Marge points out that the food bill is actually 300, and Homer asks Marge not to humiliate him for the money. for the money!
01:42:03
Speaker
We don't see that Homer has to jack up the prices, and he changes $1 to $100 and $2 to $500, and nobody is paying that. Homer ambitiously goes to Milhouse's house and tries to argue that, because Milhouse saw the elephant a couple of days ago, he's under the new pricing scheme. This was such a shit bit, man.
01:42:20
Speaker
So they actually owe him $700, but they've paid him for so they only owe $696. Kirk Van Halen tells him to get off his property. This episode did not need to be an extended episode.
01:42:32
Speaker
At all. Homer comes in and declares that the entire town is a there's a bunch of cheapskates. Then declares he can't afford the outfit. Which got a chuckle out me. Part protest, but Homer says his mind is made up. But then we cut it and we see that to the dog and the cat are now playing the piano.
01:42:46
Speaker
Yes. And then he goes to the next scene and he manages looking at the elephant and he needs an elephant and he needs it today, but it's not what he's looking for. And Homer goes, what do you mean it's an elephant? You mean it's an elephant, isn't it? Well, it is it isn't. If you understand what I mean. His response to this, and Homer's response to this is just, he likes penis. He likes penis. Again, they wrote the joke and then had no idea what to put as a punchline.
01:43:09
Speaker
I mean, like, he could have just left it at it is and it isn't, if you understand what I mean. that He likes peanuts, which was not necessary. Yeah, it was weird. Just padding and fluff, whatever. like You could have just left it as the non sequitur confusing. Yeah, just just give it a solid, like, two seconds of silence and then move on.
01:43:26
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. We go to the next scene and we see that the wildlife charity is trying to recruit Stampy and Lisa says it's perfect and Homer's response to this is, how much and give it to me. It turns out they're a non-profit organization, Homer clarifies, so your bid is zero. Non-profit does not mean skin.
01:43:43
Speaker
oh No, no. like I get where, again, for the bit, that's all it is, it's for the bit, but non-profit does not mean skin. So Farmer quickly dismisses him, and the next scene, we see a poacher, and Lisa has to point out that he's an ivory dealer because his boots are made of She starts with his boots. Like, surely you would start with the things, like, for the for the for the gag to be absurdist, you would start with the things that would be obviously made of ivory. His ring, his pen, and then you would say his boot.
01:44:13
Speaker
But they start with his boots, and it's like... How? I don't know if I'm just overanalyzing the efficacy of of an absurdist bit here, but... I think they wanted something visually obvious. something Yeah. they were going for Yeah, yeah.
01:44:29
Speaker
So, his boots are made of ivory, his hat's made of ivory, and the check's made of ivory. Yeah, the absurdist joke there is that the check is... and she flicks it, and it just makes a paper noise. clear. I mean, economic theory. Yeah,
01:44:51
Speaker
but you're like i mean you're not really wrong but it does make sense wrong at the same time isn horrifying We'll come back to the pectin centers of the whole, but I just say, we love you. I hated that.
01:45:06
Speaker
but I hated that. It took the already not that funny bit and then just officially made it stupid. Okay. Lisa asks Mr. Blackheart, whose response is, why my pretty. my pretty. the they got the like The voicing for that guy was dog shit, but the lines were hilarious. Like the whole, yes, my pretty.
01:45:29
Speaker
Lisa Plum asked him if he's an ivory dealer. He's had lots of jobs, including whale hunter, seal clubber, president of the Fox Network. love And yeah, he's he's dealt a bit of ivory. Who hasn't, though?
01:45:40
Speaker
Who hasn't? John, I'm sure you've dealt a bit of ivory now. have not dealt a bit of Let's not make that joke, because that is actually like a crime.
01:45:49
Speaker
Bart is upset, Homer says, worry, forget him another elephant. Blackheart says, I'll take it down once. That got me. That was good. I liked that bit. So Homer offers him the keys to Stampy, and Blackheart has to point out that elephants don't have keys, and Homer goes, well, I'll just keep these. I'll just keep these then So Bart, late night, frees Stampy and says, they're going to run away, and they're going to keep to the back roads, and it's just 12 miles to Africa.
01:46:14
Speaker
by his by If he's got his geography right, it's just 12 miles to Africa. They start sneaking off, but Stampy quickly gives up the sneaking and starts stomping off. He stampedes through the Flanders yard and Ned wakes up and goes, it's the four elephants of the apocalypse.
01:46:29
Speaker
Maud has to point out that horseman and Ned goes, eh, getting closer. Getting closer. What does that mean? Yeah, I wrote the same thing. I was like, what else has tramped through Ned's garden that he that he is having this problem?
01:46:41
Speaker
I mean, it's like, is it he keeps getting it wrong, getting the animal wrong and he's getting closer to the correct thing? Or is it, oh, well, we're getting closer to the correct animal. mean, the apocalypse is upon us. i took it but nearly there. Yeah. I which again like you don't know. Michael.
01:46:58
Speaker
We cut to the next scene and Lisa wakes up the parents to reveal that Bart and Stampy are gone. And Lisa says, I'm pretty sure it was because of that ivory deal. That was initial assumption was that Blackheart took Bart. This wasn't the deal, Blackheart. This wasn't the deal!
01:47:12
Speaker
As Tom just starts yelling out the window. We don't see that Toma's got a plan to find them as they're just following the wave of destruction. Turns out, unfortunately, there's a twister at the same time. Toma's annoyed, but that he quickly cheers up when he realises it's got Patty and Selma, who are distressed by the wind going up their skirts. Ew. And they're doing their best Wizard of All's impression.
01:47:32
Speaker
Ew. Stampy is now on the Stampede, and the work men doing the classic gag of carrying the plane of gas have to avoid both him and Bart before throwing it in a recycle bin. Admittedly, though, like, if it got smashed up,
01:47:46
Speaker
in the middle of the road, they would have to deal with that. Oh, yeah, it's true. you know But again, this is me overthinking and ruining a bit. Yes, you are. Thanks. At least, you know, at least you're aware. Chief Wiggin begins to get phone calls and he's very dismissive about them as an elephant has stamped over someone's mailbox or just destroyed something. Yeah, this essentially this was another like extended bit that didn't need to go as long as it did.
01:48:11
Speaker
eventually gets to the bit where he gets... Yeah, no, it does pay off, yeah. It does get to the bit where a chiefly completely dismisses of a problem. Look at the store robbery, officer down, sure. No, I'm saying it pays off, it just takes too long to get there, is what I'm saying. It is quite a draw now, yeah. The noise he makes...
01:48:28
Speaker
yeah so he just goes wow it so so the end he says i'm and i'm edward g roberton who is um who chief wiggum is kind of oh okay so he did used to make that noise yeah yeah yeah okay right okay fair enough i take it back that is clever that's very little ceaser goes lisa goes to washington At the risk of not being political, we then see Stampy walk through a Republican conference where we see the nice banners of a we are evil.
01:48:57
Speaker
They walk through the Democrat thing where everybody's booing and it says we can't govern. Yeah, we hate life and ourselves and we can't govern. banners on both accounts which remain just as relevant 30 years old. Very much so. Stampy starts heading towards the peanut factory and the plant supervisor shuts the door and starts to give his speech about how they've been preparing for this day. I liked this bit. This was a great bit. Again, it went on way too long.
01:49:20
Speaker
And he's complained to both people wanting to transfer to another peanut factory. But in the end, Stampy just stampeds through the factory and he can't stop him. I don't know. I don't think I don't know. i quite like i think the timing of that was fine. is It's OK. Too long. no We've got two bars still trying to find Stampy and he thinks he's seen him. But it turns out to be a model of a mammoth at the Springfield Tar Pits, which is the best in tar entertainment. Once again, Springfield has everything it needs for the gag. I actually went to the Tar Pits. I went to the La Brea Tar Pits in Los... In Springfield.
01:49:50
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, in lot in LA. What was it? Fucking hell, what? um Santa Monica, fucking hell, yeah. Awesome, absolutely cool. Really, really liked it. But funnily enough, Brea Tar Pits means the Tartar Pits.
01:50:04
Speaker
La Brea means the tar, so it's the Tartar Pits. Fun fact. Anyway, moving on. Very good. So Bart does eventually find Stampy and he sees that Stampy's pining for... Or elephants. What Simpsons Archive is now calling the best Simpsons gag ever.
01:50:19
Speaker
Homer crashes into a deer and goes, Doh. A deer. A female deer. Who's calling it the best gag ever? it's Yeah, there's little side note here that says, The best Simpsons gag ever. it it mean Isn't there someone on the Simpsons staff, though, that said that ever since they decided that Homer's catchphrase was, Doh, they'd been waiting to make that joke for years?
01:50:39
Speaker
Or something like that. Yeah. But it worked. Yeah, it's funny. no I'm not going to like... Yeah, I'm not against it. It was funny it was funny bit. So we then see Homer delighted that they found Bart and he's happy that Bart has led him to the precious ivory. He then brought that he's connected to your lovable pet.
01:50:55
Speaker
Bart declares that Stampy's his friend and then Stampy hits him. Bart says he wants him to go to the animal refuge and Homer complains that the elephant cost him thousands of dollars and Lisa says, how would you like to be sold to an ivory dealer? And Bart says, yeah, he killed and made your teeth into piano keys. I'd love to be part of the music industry.
01:51:12
Speaker
Unfortunately, Homer has gone into the tar pits and is slowly sinking. And Homer tells Bart not to bother getting a rope because he can struggle his way out this. We then see Homer reach in to grab his legs off the tar. And now I'll pull out my arms with my face.
01:51:25
Speaker
It does not work. So Bart asks Stampy to pull him out and we then see Stampy reach in and he pulls out Barney. Well, what the hell Barney was doing in there is never explained. I, yeah, this was a this was a good bit, the whole him lighting a cigarette thing and just erupting into flames and then just quietly going, ow!
01:51:42
Speaker
There's the flaming footsteps as he walks away as well. Stampy reaches back and then does save Homer. And Homer says, Homer's delighting and says he owes it all to this feisty feline.
01:51:54
Speaker
At least he has to point out feline means cat and Homer points out elephant. sweet Elephant. It's elephant. Then Homer declares he'll be make a maker grand piano before. Morally thinking maybe he shouldn't kill this elephant because it saved his life.
01:52:06
Speaker
And Barton seems somewhat attached to it. But then he also then moralises again that who's to say what's right or wrong in this crazy world with our modern modern ideas and products.
01:52:18
Speaker
Eventually Homer declares they'll give the stupid elephant the stupid animal refuge and the kids run to hug him and then realise they're stuck to him. It's the caramel factory all over again. Marge lamentes the caramel factory and Homer goes, mmm, caramel.
01:52:31
Speaker
We cut to the animal sanctuary and Bart says his tearful goodbye and thinks that Stampy's about to eat him, but Stampy actually puts him on his back. Stampy rides off and starts headbutting your elephants. Yeah, Bart doesn't stay on their wall.
01:52:43
Speaker
But Stampy begins headbutting your elephants and... Marge says, I thought he'd be happy here. And the ranger says, nope, he will be. So Marge asks, why is he attacking all the elephants? Some animals are just dickheads.
01:52:57
Speaker
Basically, the punchline is that some animals have been abused and neglected, but some are just jerks. and we see in the background, Homer's head-blooding. Homer head-boying so fucking And the guyger guy has to politely ask Homer to stop.
01:53:10
Speaker
That's the episode. That's an episode. Yeah. What do we think? Not enthused by the sounds of it. it was It was fine. The intro bit was the best part, and then the rest of it was just kind of lacking.
01:53:24
Speaker
okay. So i I think just because I had... it it The expectations for me of like the rest of the episodes were so high because the intro was so good. Okay. I didn't really find any of the later jokes particularly funny.
01:53:38
Speaker
This felt very much like they had an idea of wouldn't it be funny if Bart got an elephant and then had no idea how to execute it. That's probably very much the how that went, if we're honest, yeah.
01:53:54
Speaker
trying see if there was a kind of origin from the for the idea, but I'm not sure like that that that's even noted anywhere in history. Michael, any particular thoughts? No, I enjoyed the episode on the whole. i thought the The gags I found funny, I found very funny. so Yeah, I mean, it wasn't terrible. like it definitely wasn't like i It genuinely had good bits in it, even in the like latter half of the episode. It just was... Compared to Homer loves Flanders, which I really enjoyed as well. so I mean, honestly, I enjoyed this more than Homer Loves Flanders. Damn, that's wild. I don't think it was an incredible episode. It was definitely not like top tier, but I enjoyed it more than Homer Loves Flanders. Nah, I really liked Homer Loves Flanders. This was this was lame.
01:54:38
Speaker
But that's the beauty of being different. If we were all the same, the world would be boring. Exactly. Let's see how different we were and give it some out of Homer's. I gave it a collection of old TV guides out of Homer. It's now stored in the cellar of my mind for me to forget about.
01:54:55
Speaker
I gave it a riding a fat man to work out of Homer. Go on. It sounds like a lot of fun, but it's probably flawed in some way. The way Michael pauses, you don't know if he's going to elucidate or not.
01:55:10
Speaker
I wanted him to do that one later. He could have left it but i wanted I wanted an explanation for that.
01:55:16
Speaker
What's your rating? I give it a Bill and Marty out of Homer because it was bit silly. Bit silly. Bit silly. Cool. Did it have much to say about society? You could stretch it to say no one cares about what kids want when profit is to be made, but it really, this episode was just a gag stretched out too long.
01:55:34
Speaker
like I mean, I think it had a bit of say about animal welfare and keeping animals in captivity and stuff. and Yeah, like i yeah that they because it was all very, like, centric on one specific thing. So, yeah, I think he could you could make that argument.
01:55:50
Speaker
It did win an award, an environmental media award for a best television episode with an environmental message for that year. So, like, clearly other people thought it had something to say about environmentalism.
01:56:04
Speaker
Fair enough. And locking up elephants in your backyard and feeding it a salad occasionally. Well, isn't it like what every year like two or three quote-unquote pet tigers are confiscated from Florida?
01:56:18
Speaker
That sounds about right. That's Florida. Yeah, I'm going to be going to Florida at some point. Ooh. Are you going to get a pet tiger? Yeah. Isn't that just... like Don't you just arrive in Florida and they give you one?
01:56:31
Speaker
and As long as you don't get it confiscated, yeah yeah. Yeah. Yeah, well, that's the test of you being a true Floridian, is they give you the tiger at the border crossing, and then you have to make sure that it's well enough hidden when you get to the next checkpoint.
01:56:44
Speaker
And then if it is, you get to go into Florida. If you can't hide a tiger, you don't deserve to be Florida. You don't get to be a Florida man. Florida man!
01:56:56
Speaker
live in a dream There was definitely that one that one now extremely famous jab at the two-party American politics as well, which yeah definitely was very pointed, very brief, but very, very pointed.
01:57:10
Speaker
Someone has some thoughts on political parties? Michael, anything? I think we've covered it all. yeah all right it It is a John Schwartzwelder episode, and he is you know, the libertarian, so presumably he doesn't think much of American politics at all. I try not to think about American politics, but they fucking have their finger over the big red button. So on that depressing note, let's end the episode.
01:57:36
Speaker
Yeah. All righty. What you got going on now? You're back in the land of the living. I mean, and the british I'm trying to know land of the livings more accurately.
01:57:48
Speaker
Yeah, i'm I'm trying to get back into voice acting. So that means I'm going to be streaming and stuff a little less, producing like YouTube content a little less because that doesn't pay. Whereas hopefully getting voice acting jobs will pay. So if everyone could give me some positive energy, it won't actually do anything, but it would be nice.
01:58:06
Speaker
Yeah, so I do want to get back to streaming, but it's not my priority anymore. I am going edit the episode of All for Arnold. I'm going to do the usual... I will edit it by the next episode thing. So that means even if I leave it until the last minute, it will be done.
01:58:23
Speaker
So, yeah. Because I like doing that off-round, but I want to get to Predator. I'm looking forward to Predator. That's going lot of fun for me. Mm-hmm. Been a long time coming, but definitely looking forward. Yeah.
01:58:34
Speaker
Michael? Yep, not much to report. You can follow me on Blue Sky if you really want at Buttermash Horse. Don't follow me on Blue Sky. Leave me alone. That's fine. You didn't tell them what it was, so they can't.
01:58:46
Speaker
hu And if you want to go visit so any of our fine YouTubes or audios, John will tell you where to do that in just a second. ah Yeah, if you're watching this podcast on YouTube, don't forget to subscribe, leave a like, leave a comment. Enjoy all the times that Michael, Michael, ah John ah corrects me.
01:59:09
Speaker
my My occasional, yeah, yes. Actually, Matthew's fucking idiot. Well, for audio format listeners, there are occasional notes and corrections and pithy observations that I put into the video format for an added bonus to our viewers. Did you put many in the last one?
01:59:29
Speaker
the last one i think couple of notes they're not necessarily always corrections there might just be something like e you just just like an afterthought that i would like added yeah know like i like i i genuinely go through most of the episodes and look at them because think they're funny i think that the the there's rarely none i think there's usually something somewhere in there that i will add in but like it varies But yeah, also, if you think YouTube is a clunky and unwieldy format to get your podcasts in, do not forget we are also available on Spotify and Apple. You should go there and give us five stars, leave a like, leave a comment, whatever the various formats have for engagement. Just engage with us, please. Please.
02:00:12
Speaker
That's how people find us. That's how people hear about us. Engagement good, because engagement algorithm's bad. Algorithm bad. Yeah. If you want to know what I'm what the hell am I up to? Am I up to anything? I'm not doing anything. I don't make videos anymore. I make this now. This is me.
02:00:30
Speaker
Follow me on BlueSky. Maroka.bsky.social. Yeah, they're not at all incredibly political and only post political things. I, yeah, join the Green Party. I genuinely reply most to most of your tweet, ah like bleats or whatever you want call them, genuinely to add some levity to your feed. Because it's so, like, I 100% agree with... I genuinely agree with everything that you um post. Like, I'm i'm like very much for your activism, but I genuinely just be like, yeah, but lol, boomers have no taste. That's why that's my fucking contributing to your very heartfelt and very worthy political activism is my dumb fucking jokes.
02:01:15
Speaker
Is it interesting that you see it as levity? I mostly see it as antagonism, but... Oh, you know me. and that's That is my levity. Okay.
02:01:26
Speaker
Right, that'll do us for today. I suspect we are past the two-hour mark and I've got to edit this shit, so let's pack it up. Badly boo, podcasteroodoos.
02:01:37
Speaker
Laters. Bye, everybody.