Ask Simpsons Questions Here (Jokes We Don't Get, Which Episode, etc.)

[Larson Something]

She actually said "I finally have a mother-in-law."

[Sparks]

I still don't get "living vicariously through my girlfriends."

[Larson Something]

She's sarcastically implying that having a mother-in-law isn't exactly something she welcomes (mothers-in-law being stereotypically pushy and negative toward their sons' wives). Don't get too hung up on the "girlfriends" part. Basically that's a way of saying "Now I can enjoy all the nagging and hassle most other married women get from their husband's mothers."

[Amiscribe]

Alright NHC, here's a two parter:

1. Why, in the opening credits, is John Swartzweilder(sp?) given a "consultant" credit? 2. Why do all the writers who didn't work on the first draft of a show take "producer" credits?

[Miss Springfield]

Whats the first picture in that Ivan's sig (where theres a series like Maude dying and then Bart jumping out on the big rig going it is windy!)? What episodes that from whats H saying and who is it referring to?

[Adam R]

I think it's from Saddlesore Galactica, when Homer is talking to the jockey elves. He could be saying "my horse must lose", but I'm just guessing there.

[wazzles]

What episode mentions something about "two for tunisia"?

[wazzles]

Also here is another one for yah..

Marge is saying something about seeing relatives and Homer says "if not... christmas". What episode is this and what is the joke Homer is making?

[Charlie]

Whats the first picture in that Ivan's sig (where theres a series like Maude dying and then Bart jumping out on the big rig going it is windy!)? What episodes that from whats H saying and who is it referring to?

It's from Saddlesore Galactica, when Homer's being confronted by the jockey elves, but I have no idea what he's saying because I haven't actually seen the episode...I just went through hated episodes to find what seemed to be the worst scenes to make my "Favorite moments" sig

[Bobo]

Also here is another one for yah..

Marge is saying something about seeing relatives and Homer says "if not... christmas". What episode is this and what is the joke Homer is making?

It's from Lady Bouvier's Lover. Homer is just expressing the fact that he doesn't like Marge's family, and he's hoping that they won't make it to Thanksgiving, meaning that he won't have to see them for an even longer time.

[Disgruntled Goat]

Adam was right, Homer is singing "my horse must lose" at that point.

The episodes are, in order:
Saddlesore Galactica (season 11)
Alone Again, Natura-Diddly (season 11)
Homer Simpson In: Kidney Trouble (season 10)
Monty Cant Buy Me Love (season 10)
Hello Gutter Hello Fadder (season 11)
Maximum Homerdrive (season 10)


----------
Also these questions haven't been answered yet:

Amiscribe: 1. Why, in the opening credits, is John Swartzweilder(sp?) given a "consultant" credit? 2. Why do all the writers who didn't work on the first draft of a show take "producer" credits?

me: what is the deal in I'm With Cupid with Flanders ripping a handful of Moe's hair off his chest when thrown out of the car?

[Larson Something]

What episode mentions something about "two for tunisia"?

I believe that's the movie Bart gets the "million poets working for a million years" line for one of Woodrow's letters to Krabappel in Bart The Lover.

[brody]

What episode is it where something happens to a thermos, and Homer asks if it still keeps "hot drinks hot, and cold drinks cold."

[Turambar]

Can anyone tell me what the piece of music is called in "The Wife Aquatic" when Patty and Selma show their home movies?

[Roger Myers III]

While I'm here, I'd also like to ask about the character Benovenstanciano (sp?) in "The Springfield Connection." What's the deal with his name? I saw someone ask a similar question earlier in this thread, but no one really answered it.

I think Benovenstanchiano is like an inside joke about the writer's obsession with having names of characters be realistic and not goofy cartoonish names. Often on the DVD commentaries the writers talk about how they spend hours coming up with realistic names. Benovenstanchiano may be their way of saying f*ck it and just doing something silly

I actually did answer it earlier. It’s a name from Sid Caesar’s popular ‘pidgin Italian’ sketches in his shows in the first years of television.

Sideshow Bob gets the death penalty right? (Day of the Jackanapes) Whats Jackanapes? Is it a parody of Day of the Jackal? How does he return to the following episode he is in (with Frank Grimes Jnr) when he is decapitated.

I guess we're to assume that Bob doesn't actually get the death penalty. Just sort of a throwaway gag I guess.

There actually is a loose continuity to the SS Bob eps. When we first see Bob in “Louse”, his next ep after “Jackanapes”, he is in extreme restraints in solitary lock-down confinement at the penitentiary. You can assume that he’s either still on death row, or, that that sentence has been overturned or lowered by appeal and he’s serving life, or a long term, in solitary. His term may even have been lowered as a deal in assisting Homer. It ultimately doesn’t matter, because he escapes and is ‘on the run’ at the end of ‘Louse’, until he is ‘found’ in his next ep, “Italian Bob”.

"Jackanape" means "clown" or "goof". The title is a parody of "Day of the Jackal" (novel and film) - that story is also of an assassination attempt, though the ep's assassination plot is more a parody of the novel/film "The Manchurian Candidate", involving an unwitting brainwashed assassin.

I've never got the joke with Smithers at Dr. Nick's in "My Sister, My Sitter". I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into it, or too little. Any ideas?

Popular theories (mine) he has haemmaoroids.

[138th Ep Narrator] It was never popular [/138th Ep Narrator]

gerbil up his ass.

Not the Richard Gere/Gerbil specifically – it was only implied that he had a foreign object up his ass for sexual pleasure. (Note that Dr. Nick’s check-in chart has “unnatural sexual practice” as one of the “problem” checkboxes). Any specific item is left up to your imagination – what’s already in your mind. (This point was actually addressed in the DVD commentaries, but it was cut out by the screeners.)

throughout many episodes in the simpsons there is a background music played, like in episode 9F15-Last exit to springfield when mr. burns and smithers are running the power plant themselves. the song has no lyrics and i beleive it is an older song. if anyone has an idea, your help is appreciated.

I cant help name the song, but from memory it may be the same one from the Land of Chocolate sketch (Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk) if that helps anyone else...

They are different tunes, and they are Clausen originals, but they are both meant to emulate ‘dreamy, happy music’ from instrumental scores of the earliest silent films and older musicals. He actually just did it again for another example – with yet another different tune in the same vein - just last week in Bart’s ‘town reward” fantasy in “Big Girl”.

What episode has Homer singing the Dough, Ray, Me" song parody? It's the song that goes something like "Dough, the stuff I use to buy beer, ... Ray, the guy who sells me beer, ... Me, the guy, who drinks the beer .... "
Further, does anyone know where someone could listen to a sound wave of Homer singing it? I've spent hours looking on the net to no avail.

Are you kidding ? These lyrics have been on the internet for YEARS (over a decade) so I don't think the authors would have stolen them from there.
And I don't remember hearing it in any episode in the last few seasons.
Hopefully someone will be able to give a clear and straight answer someday...

Heub is absolutely right. It is old ‘net lore, and not thjat good. (“Ray” brings him beer??}

In the commentary for 'Bart On The Road', they say that Pamela Hayden sometimes voices Martin. In which episodes has this happened?

Never, I think. Russi Taylor has always done Martin, in my recollection.

No, they definitely mention at one point in the commentary that Pamela has done Martin on occasions in which Russi was not available. No idea which episodes though. It's probably just for minor stuff anyway, like someone else voiced Fat Tony for one line once, I believe.

There were only a few times in the first 2 seasons when she did, while the secondary characters were still being worked out, and the ‘secondary children’ roles were a lot looser.

Was Jimbo Jones' name a conscious reference to Jim Jones, the leader of the Cult Group Peoples Temple?

As Heub said… that’s where “Jimbo” came from. Someone jokes that it’s Brooks – because no one would ever call him that. The “Jones” was a knowing reference to the cult leader – but not for any specific purpose. More like – ‘hey, why not?’

Wat is name the of Music when Lisa Is meditating ... and homer see Bobo in the fish tank....

It’s nothing specific – just a parody of “New Age-y” meditation/relaxation music.

You there, Simpson trivia nerds, I need help! The music that always plays during riots or times of commotion in The Simpsons, heard frequently in Scully episodes, what is it? What is its name? Who is the composer? Is it a famous track or one composed by Clausen? Anyone?

You mean the Planet of the Apes music?

In the example Neb later gives, they are the musical stings from “Apes”. Sometimes they use the “Vulcan Gladiator” battle music from some famous episode of “Star Trek”. (Some Trekkie will have to help me with the ref, as I was never a big Trek fan. They used this music a lot in “Futurama” – it was Zoidberg’s planet’s national anthem…)

I was watching All Singing All Dancing a few days ago and at the end of the episode, I noticed that in the credits there was something along the lines of "Some celebrity voices are impersonated" near the end. Does this happen often?

If the legal department is doing its job, it should be in the closing block-credits screen for any episode in which a celebrity is shown speaking, and the voice is not actually that celeb’s.

In Lisa on Ice (I think) there is a scene where Moe appears at the Simpsons house and Marge says "You caught me at a bad time, Moe." Then Moe starts talking about weird things, calls Marge "Blanche," and says that someone is going to cut off his thumbs.
The whole thing seems very out of place. What is the point of this scene, and what does it mean?

The point of the scene is that Moe made some bets thinking that he would have some inside information on who would win in the hockey match. He probably made these bets with the mob and knows he would be unable to pay so he's afraid they will cut off his thumbs. I don't exactly know why he calls Marge "Blanche" though.

pretty sure moe calling marge "blanche" could very well be a callback to "a streetcar named marge" when marge played the character blanche dubois. i'm not sure moe even knows marge's name half the time as he also refers to her as "midge".
and the scene is meant to be humorous because it suggests that moe has bet $64,000 on a pee-wee hockey game with some sort of illegal betting ring and if moe doesn't pay up upon loss they'll "take this thumbs". perhaps it's a purposeful exaggeration and satire of how seriously adults take their young-ones pee-wee games. i lean more towards thinking it's just showing that moe is an absolute idiot though.

The joke is that Moe bet so much money with the mob on something like a kids’ hockey team – and additionally, the fact that the mob’s taking taking bets on the match illustrates the importance of the match to the town at large, so it helps color the story as well.

The “take my thumbs” is a parody of Eric Roberts’ character’s actual anguished cries in the film “The Pope of Greenwich Viliage”.

“Blanche” doesn’t really have to do with “Streetcar”. An earlier running gag with Moe was that he didn’t care enough about Marge to ever remember her name – she was solely “Homer’s wife” to him, and he would accidentally call her “Midge” and other wrong guesses. Then it slowly – over time and in short tangential scenes, became layered with Moe’s desire to woo, and then an unsettling obsession with, her. (Which all paid off beautifully after so much time in “Beerest”, imo).

I didn't find anything funny about it.

[Troy] That’s not a question (or answer), Professor![/Troy]
You apparently didn’t get the joke. See LisaFan's explanation for you.

A search of snpp.com seems to indicate it's $pringfield (1F08).
"Homer, I want you to have my lucky hat. I wore it the day Kennedy was shot, and it always brings me good luck."

It is “$pringfield”. Its always a hoot to remind posters of this when the perennial complaints about “new characters like the Rich Texan(Col. Tex) are the suxxx” arise.

Also I have my own question: what is the deal in I'm With Cupid with Flanders ripping a handful of Moe's hair off his chest when thrown out of the car? That just seems so bizarre...

Moe and Ned have been opposing sides of the argument among the angry-husbands who are trying to foil Apu from the beginning: Moe is such an angry brute that he’s eager to rough up Apu, and he stirs up the others’ anger at every opportunity, even though he has no stake in the effort – he has no wife or girlfriend to be concerned about. Ned, on the other hand, has constantly been empatizing with Apu and willing to put the blame on himself and the other husbands. So they finally brawl (unseen) in the car, and Moe tosses Ned from the car. Ned is proud that in the man-to-man contest, he managed to get his own licks in – by ripping out a handful of Moe’s chest-hair. For one thing, it’s a characteristic comment on Ned’s ‘girlishness’ – ‘pulling hair out’ is a ‘girly’ way of fighting. Another point is Ned’s delivery – he is positively (and characteristically) cheerful in his violent “victory”. Another point to note is that this isn’t the first – or last – time that Ned was ‘upset’ or ‘violent’ in the series, and was just another time that his character developed some “edge”, even before he became a widower, and, organically, also became crankier. (Not that I imagine that this would ever stop folks from insisting that his character “recently changed 180 degrees”…)

Why, in the opening credits, is John Swartzweilder(sp?) given a "consultant" credit? 2. Why do all the writers who didn't work on the first draft of a show take "producer" credits?

There is very little one can determine with any from the group of “producer” credits in the opening credits.

Credits for the writers are all determined by the employment deals that the writer (really, the writer’s agent and/or manager,) have with Gracie. In television, all the senior writers are “producers”. Certain longest-time non-writers (i.e. casting director Bonnie Pietila, executive Richard Sakai,) are also granted “producer” credits. Writers from pre-unionization (with the show pre-WGA membership, such as JS, Vitti, Jean, Reiss, etc.) have more generous credit requirements in their ongoing contracts that still must be honored. Some receive credit when they have a pass/review of the script whether they have any input or not, some get credit when a character or place that they came up with are used an any subsequent show. Some writers get different “___ producer” credits when they go part-time status on the show – “Associate producer”, or “Consulting Producer”, or “Consultant”, depending on their individual contracts and the actual commitment to work on that show during that specific production season. And, for post-WGA writers, the “track” of credit you get also depends on what ‘status’ you came into the show with; someone like, say, Don Payne or JS Burns “starts out” with a higher “credit-requirement” when they join the show because they had writing experience (possibly ‘producer’ level) at other WGA shows previously, as opposed to, say, Crittendon or Chun, who worked on the show at the start of their careers.

I know it’s arcane and convoluted – that’s why I opened with that first sentence.

…I have no idea what he's saying because I haven't actually seen the episode...I just went through hated episodes to find what seemed to be the worst scenes to make my "Favorite moments" sig

I can think of no more perfect example of the manner in which “groupthink” is present and active in this thread – as a consequence of such fine and constant enforcement by Jake. Its just never this clearly, and innocently, illustrated. Thanks.

Can anyone tell me what the piece of music is called in "The Wife Aquatic" when Patty and Selma show their home movies?

"Aquarium", from "The Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint Saëns.

[Heub]

some get credit when a character or place that they came up with are used an any subsequent show.

Wow that's amazing. I'd never have thought that. Thanks for all the info once again. Keep it coming. :thumbsup

[Disgruntled Goat]

Wow, fantastic replies RM!

Moe and Ned have been opposing sides of the argument among the angry-husbands who are trying to foil Apu from the beginning: Moe is such an angry brute that he’s eager to rough up Apu, and he stirs up the others’ anger at every opportunity, even though he has no stake in the effort – he has no wife or girlfriend to be concerned about. Ned, on the other hand, has constantly been empatizing with Apu and willing to put the blame on himself and the other husbands. So they finally brawl (unseen) in the car, and Moe tosses Ned from the car. Ned is proud that in the man-to-man contest, he managed to get his own licks in – by ripping out a handful of Moe’s chest-hair. For one thing, it’s a characteristic comment on Ned’s ‘girlishness’ – ‘pulling hair out’ is a ‘girly’ way of fighting. Another point is Ned’s delivery – he is positively (and characteristically) cheerful in his violent “victory”. Another point to note is that this isn’t the first – or last – time that Ned was ‘upset’ or ‘violent’ in the series, and was just another time that his character developed some “edge”, even before he became a widower, and, organically, also became crankier.

Okay that sounds fairly simple: he was pleased that he exacted some sort of revenge on Moe. For some reason I was taking it as he was really pleased just to have a handful of Moe's hair for...well I don't know, an effigy or something...

[Turambar]

"Aquarium", from "The Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint Saëns.

Thanks very much RM III.

[LisaFan17]

In "My Fair Laddie", Lisa asks Willie "How do you address a bishop?" and Willie replies, "I'LL KILL YA! I'LL KILL YA FOR WHAT YA DONE TO ME FAMILY!" Is this just some random joke or does it refer (as I suspect) to some sort of trouble between the Scots and the Catholic church?

[Miss Springfield]

i would wager yes they are in relation to the crap between countries.

[Green_Peaness]

This might've been answered before so I'll post it here. What happened to Swartzwelder?

I'd heard stuff along the lines of him handing in fewer and fewer episodes, but that's not true. He wrote four episodes in season 13 and I think three in season 14 (two were holdovers), which is a pretty steady stream of episodes, and hasn't written any since. What happened between season 14 and 15?

[Homer Jay]

In "My Fair Laddie", Lisa asks Willie "How do you address a bishop?" and Willie replies, "I'LL KILL YA! I'LL KILL YA FOR WHAT YA DONE TO ME FAMILY!" Is this just some random joke or does it refer (as I suspect) to some sort of trouble between the Scots and the Catholic church?

Well yes, Scotland was one of the first countries to actually become Protestant, but more that, the Protestantism was Calvinism, which is more radical in some ways. But don't rule out the possibility that the bishop he was referring to was Anglican, which would probably make more sense given the traditional animosity between England and Scotland, to which another layer was added with the imposition of the Church of Scotland.

[LisaFan17]

Well yes, Scotland was one of the first countries to actually become Protestant, but more that, the Protestantism was Calvinism, which is more radical in some ways. But don't rule out the possibility that the bishop he was referring to was Anglican, which would probably make more sense given the traditional animosity between England and Scotland, to which another layer was added with the imposition of the Church of Scotland.

Ah, I see. I was thinking Anglican, too, but the Catholic church has often targeted "dissenters", so I was just curious. Thanks for the answer!

[Sparks]

What does Karl Wiedergot actually do?

[E.A.R.L]

Does anybody know the chords to the protest song lisa plays in "Last Exit to Springfeild"? or where I can find them
Thanks a whole lot

[grissom]

Does anybody know the chords to the protest song lisa plays in "Last Exit to Springfeild"? or where I can find them
Thanks a whole lot

This is the only thing I could find that was marked as "Simpsons protest song". I'm not sure it's right though:
http://www.azchords.com/s/simpsons-t...abs-37616.html

Edit:
Actually, I think this is the right one:
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/...rotest_tab.htm

[E.A.R.L]

Thank grissom thats just what I was looking for
so helpfull

[Adam R]

What's this talk of "cutting switches" from Grampa about in Natural Born Kissers?

[altoids30]

What's this talk of "cutting switches" from Grampa about in Natural Born Kissers?

Means he's an old-timey disciplinarian. "Cutting a switch" is an archaic term that refers to cutting off a thin tree branch and using it for spanking.

[Matt B.]

In The Trouble With Trillions what does the French guys say in the video?