Marge Be Not Proud (with Bill Oakley)

<v Speaker 1>Oh, bart I can't believe you did this.
<v Speaker 2>I wanted a surprise you for Christmas.
<v Speaker 1>Oh, sweetie, this is the best present a mother could get.
<v Speaker 1>I love you so much, my little bitty Barty.
<v Speaker 3>Mom.
<v Speaker 2>Since I got my present early, I think you should
<v Speaker 2>get yours early too.
<v Speaker 4>But I got a president early, then I should get
<v Speaker 4>a present early. I want a present, Lisa.
<v Speaker 5>You have to wait.
<v Speaker 1>This is the worst Christmas ever.
<v Speaker 2>Now.
<v Speaker 5>I know you love video games, and I asked the clerk,
<v Speaker 5>which is the one every boy wants?
<v Speaker 1>You got me?
<v Speaker 6>Oh?
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, thanks mom.
<v Speaker 1>Four Finger Discount, Dude.
<v Speaker 3>Welcome to four Finger Discount. With this week, we're going
<v Speaker 3>all the way back to season seven to review one
<v Speaker 3>of my favorite episodes of all time. It is the
<v Speaker 3>second Christmas episode of the Simpsons. It is Marge, be
<v Speaker 3>not Proud, I am Dando.
<v Speaker 5>And I am Guy and we are very fortunate to
<v Speaker 5>be joined by a very special guest today, bone Storm
<v Speaker 5>High Score legend Bill oly.
<v Speaker 4>Hello, it's nice to be back here on four Finger Discount.
<v Speaker 4>It is I consider myself a veteran of this podcast,
<v Speaker 4>and so I'm here for one triumphant end of your
<v Speaker 4>appearance in d Yes.
<v Speaker 3>If please be looking and Daniel Bill Oakley appearance. The
<v Speaker 3>last time you were on the show, we actually reviewed
<v Speaker 3>your favorite episode, Radio Bart, one that you so often
<v Speaker 3>say in interviews. No one ever talks about that one,
<v Speaker 3>which it's weird because it's also one of my favorite episodes.
<v Speaker 3>I think it's classic because I always say I prefer
<v Speaker 3>the episodes that incorporate all of the town as much
<v Speaker 3>as possible, which is why twenty two Short Films is
<v Speaker 3>my absolute favorite. But Radio Bart, I'm surprised no one
<v Speaker 3>brings it up more often than what you say they do.
<v Speaker 4>It's because, you know what I figure. I think it's
<v Speaker 4>because it is not easy to describe, Like most of
<v Speaker 4>the episodes that are really famous can be described in
<v Speaker 4>two words. Mister plow, you know baseball right ever, you
<v Speaker 4>know who shot mister Burns forwards. So yeah, I think
<v Speaker 4>it's one of those things because it is complicated. Radio
<v Speaker 4>Bart doesn't really describe what's going on that's true in
<v Speaker 4>the thing. And also it's just not it's not a
<v Speaker 4>catchy episode. That that's what makes it soel great in
<v Speaker 4>my opinion, is it's not a high concept episode. It's
<v Speaker 4>a simple episode with a fairly realistic story. That incorporates
<v Speaker 4>all the things that makes the Simpsons, made the Simpsons great,
<v Speaker 4>makes the Simpsons great today, that couldn't be done on
<v Speaker 4>a live.
<v Speaker 3>Action show, which is can you list those off?
<v Speaker 5>Yeah?
<v Speaker 4>All the stuff? Okay, Well, first of all, if you
<v Speaker 4>even if to few were to film that on a
<v Speaker 4>live action show, what would cost It would cost a fortune.
<v Speaker 4>You wouldn't be able to do those those all those
<v Speaker 4>hilarious parodies of you wouldn't the Chucky cheese. You wouldn't
<v Speaker 4>be able to manufacture your own chuck e cheese. You
<v Speaker 4>wouldn't be able to do this stuff. Have that thing
<v Speaker 4>with the celebrity song, or with Sting digging the well,
<v Speaker 4>or any of that stuff. It's a showcase of Plus
<v Speaker 4>it has a good emotional story too. So in my opinion,
<v Speaker 4>it's a showcase of all the stuff that the Simpsons
<v Speaker 4>that could do that couldn't be done on a live
<v Speaker 4>action show, and the Simpsons excel that.
<v Speaker 5>You can probably get Sting the live action he'd show up.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, that's that's true, But digging the well would be
<v Speaker 4>very costly.
<v Speaker 3>What's more important to you when it comes to the Simpsons,
<v Speaker 3>the laughter or the emotion.
<v Speaker 4>It's a mix. It's totally I feel like The Simpsons
<v Speaker 4>has a large what they call sandbox. It has a
<v Speaker 4>large sandbox of stuff to play with. I love emotional episodes,
<v Speaker 4>but I also like episodes that have no emotion whatsoever
<v Speaker 4>and are filled with gags, like the bootlegging episode, you know,
<v Speaker 4>with the beer bearing right, that has no emotion whatsoever,
<v Speaker 4>but it's still hilarious. The Simpsons is one of the
<v Speaker 4>few shows that can do stuff that very emotional episodes
<v Speaker 4>as well as completely off the wall episodes like the
<v Speaker 4>baseball episode Bill.
<v Speaker 5>When you talk about things like that, when you talk about
<v Speaker 5>the sandbox of The Simpsons, I mean, I was wondering
<v Speaker 5>if you had, like a philosophy of comedy, or if
<v Speaker 5>such a thing even exists, And would you trust someone
<v Speaker 5>who said, oh, I have a philosophy of comedy when
<v Speaker 5>it comes to Michel made ex sensibility.
<v Speaker 4>I would run. I don't. I would be scared of
<v Speaker 4>such a thing that. I think having any particular laws
<v Speaker 4>about what does and doesn't work in comedy is a
<v Speaker 4>recipe for stagnants, is a recipe for trouble. And I think,
<v Speaker 4>like I mean, I think that part of what makes
<v Speaker 4>comedy so interesting is that it's often surprising and it's
<v Speaker 4>and that's I think one of the things that, for instance,
<v Speaker 4>artificial intelligence is not able to write anything funny despite
<v Speaker 4>its repeated attempts to write stuff it's funny. And I
<v Speaker 4>don't think it ever will be able to because it
<v Speaker 4>is only drawing on predictable stuff. It's always when you
<v Speaker 4>ask it people. I asked it. In fact, I when
<v Speaker 4>it first Chatch Youpt first came out, I had to
<v Speaker 4>do a whole bunch of different Simpson style stuff and
<v Speaker 4>also make up episodes of Mission Hill, the other show
<v Speaker 4>we did, and they're all so cliched. The scripts are
<v Speaker 4>so crummy, Like I mean, the scripts are like what
<v Speaker 4>a talented eighth grader would do. That's about as good
<v Speaker 4>as it can get. But they're nothing there. They I've
<v Speaker 4>never seen it get anywhere. I've never seen it make
<v Speaker 4>anyone laugh, including myself, and I don't think it ever
<v Speaker 4>will be able to do.
<v Speaker 3>You think TV writing rooms will ever use it to
<v Speaker 3>sort of just gather an idea that they can then
<v Speaker 3>work on and actually make funny or is it just
<v Speaker 3>never gonna.
<v Speaker 4>Happ I mean, I use it for that occasionally, but
<v Speaker 4>I only use it for things like I need. Here's
<v Speaker 4>a perfect example. I need this thing could be called
<v Speaker 4>project Medusa, and I need you to provide a whole
<v Speaker 4>long list of acronyms that can fit into the word medusa, right,
<v Speaker 4>And so if it does, then I can choose one.
<v Speaker 4>Or it has a kind of a I kind of
<v Speaker 4>have a chrummy one that I can fix. That's the
<v Speaker 4>only thing that's really useful for it. And that's that
<v Speaker 4>way that'll use it for stuff like that.
<v Speaker 5>I'm reminded of. I think it's a Swartzwelder technique of
<v Speaker 5>writing first drafts. And we've talked about this on the
<v Speaker 5>show before, where it's like, Okay, I'm gonna write down
<v Speaker 5>Homer says something, or Homer says something along these lines,
<v Speaker 5>and write out and write an entire script that way,
<v Speaker 5>and then like, okay, well I've got a first draft,
<v Speaker 5>and now I can actually put in what Homer says
<v Speaker 5>that is funny, you know, and I can do the
<v Speaker 5>fun part of writing, which is rewriting. I mean, maybe
<v Speaker 5>you can use GBT for that in that regards like okay,
<v Speaker 5>give me, give me scenarios like okay, we'll now do
<v Speaker 5>the opposite of what DVT has given me because then
<v Speaker 5>I can put the human touch on it. Who knows,
<v Speaker 5>maybe it's a tool that can be used for good.
<v Speaker 3>It could be done.
<v Speaker 4>I think it could. I think it could be done.
<v Speaker 4>But it's it's it's in apt at certain things like
<v Speaker 4>the comedy and creativity. It's it's good at the really
<v Speaker 4>extremely boilerplate things that that a computer can do.
<v Speaker 5>Well. Obviously, we're always saying like, why is this, you know,
<v Speaker 5>doing the art and making the music and you know,
<v Speaker 5>painting the pictures, all the fun stuff that human should
<v Speaker 5>be doing. Why isn't this doing our taxes?
<v Speaker 4>Yes?
<v Speaker 3>I completely agree, I completely agree. But this episode he
<v Speaker 3>has I was touched on it in the intro. Is
<v Speaker 3>the second Christmas episode of The Simpsons. You've mentioned before
<v Speaker 3>that the reason there was such a gap in between
<v Speaker 3>Christmas episodes was because they didn't want to put on
<v Speaker 3>the spark of the pilot.
<v Speaker 4>The pilot, well not really the pilot, but the first
<v Speaker 4>broadcast episode. Yes, I think that's true because people remember
<v Speaker 4>that episode because it was the first one, so we
<v Speaker 4>didn't want to We were very very conscious of trying
<v Speaker 4>not to repeat stuff, and so that episode being so famous,
<v Speaker 4>it would be like having another episode where Lisa, the
<v Speaker 4>substitute teacher comes to school and Lisa gets a crush
<v Speaker 4>on the guy. That's so until we felt like, after
<v Speaker 4>seven years, it's okay to do another Christmas themed one
<v Speaker 4>that takes place, you know, in winter time.
<v Speaker 3>Do you think there's a difference though, between a Christmas
<v Speaker 3>themed episode and a genuine story copy.
<v Speaker 5>Yes. Yes.
<v Speaker 4>The thing about this episode is that it's really a
<v Speaker 4>winter episode.
<v Speaker 2>Ye.
<v Speaker 4>There's Christmas stuff like the Christmas trees and the drunk
<v Speaker 4>Santa Claus, but in general it's really just a winter
<v Speaker 4>The story could have taken place any time of year.
<v Speaker 4>It has nothing to do with it. Usual when you
<v Speaker 4>was a Christmas episodsually there's usually certain themes which are
<v Speaker 4>often you know, the hackney hackneyed old Christmas themes or
<v Speaker 4>the Thanksgiving themes about family and the same you know,
<v Speaker 4>and the miracle and all that kind of stuff. It's
<v Speaker 4>wonderful life type stuff. And so for the Simpsons it
<v Speaker 4>was also like we had it. We knew that there'd
<v Speaker 4>be a little bit of Christmas stuff, but generally it's
<v Speaker 4>going to do a winter episode like Mister Plow is
<v Speaker 4>another winter episode, and those are a little harder because
<v Speaker 4>everything has to be read, all the backgrounds have to
<v Speaker 4>be redrawn to have snow on them and stuff, so
<v Speaker 4>it's a little more taxing on the animators.
<v Speaker 5>I never really considered a Christmas episode at all. I mean,
<v Speaker 5>it's just for mine. It really just stems from, you know,
<v Speaker 5>the five words you never want to hear from your parents.
<v Speaker 5>I'm not mad and I'm just disappointed, which is six words. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 5>I mean, was that the kind of the origin of
<v Speaker 5>the episode. I'man the it's a.
<v Speaker 3>Mike Scully story. It wasn't Mike Scully writer. It's based
<v Speaker 3>off of when he got caught stealing with the child. Yeah, yes,
<v Speaker 3>that was entirely it.
<v Speaker 4>I mean, Mike, Mike did a great job on this
<v Speaker 4>script and it's entirely drawn from his life. And I'm
<v Speaker 4>fairly sure it was a situation where Josh and I
<v Speaker 4>were just we were We often went ask the writers
<v Speaker 4>before the story retreats to come in and come in
<v Speaker 4>and run a whole bunch of one line ideas by us.
<v Speaker 4>And when uh, Mike told us this story, we were like,
<v Speaker 4>that's a perfect, the perfect Simpson's story. Just write it up,
<v Speaker 4>you know, And we and he developed it and fleshed
<v Speaker 4>it out, and then the margin angle came in and
<v Speaker 4>it's it just it. It's a very simple, classic Simpson's
<v Speaker 4>story that you're able to load up with all sorts
<v Speaker 4>of funny other stuff like bone Storm and through the
<v Speaker 4>House and Don Broadca and things like that, because it's
<v Speaker 4>a it's a simple story that everyone can under child
<v Speaker 4>can understand it.
<v Speaker 3>Do you think this is a marg episode or a
<v Speaker 3>bad episode? A bit of both.
<v Speaker 4>I guess it's a part episode. It's a part episode.
<v Speaker 4>But we tried to put margin the title because every
<v Speaker 4>year you have did a certain number. If we hadn't
<v Speaker 4>had a certain number of episodes with margin the title,
<v Speaker 4>Julie Cavender would have been like, why I see your
<v Speaker 4>little life this season? And and and and so. I
<v Speaker 4>I remember the moment when we were like, let's make
<v Speaker 4>this give it a title with margin it. Even though
<v Speaker 4>it's not really a Marge story, Let's give it a
<v Speaker 4>title with margin it. So it seems like we have
<v Speaker 4>more March episodes than we really do.
<v Speaker 3>Must keep Julie happy.
<v Speaker 4>I think she probably wasn't paying that much attention. And
<v Speaker 4>we had a number of other good, good March episodes
<v Speaker 4>this year. But I think it was just it was
<v Speaker 4>just an effort to make it seem a little more.
<v Speaker 5>It feels equally Marge. Now whether this is I think
<v Speaker 5>this could be testament to the writing or testament to
<v Speaker 5>Julie's work in it. But yeah, the heartbreak that she feels,
<v Speaker 5>or the uh again, disappointment or confusion that Marge is feeling,
<v Speaker 5>it all comes through very, very vividly.
<v Speaker 4>It's true. But she's reacting. She's not really the she
<v Speaker 4>is a She's not really doing anything other than reacting
<v Speaker 4>to the situation at hand, rather as opposed to driving
<v Speaker 4>the situation forward, like which Bar which Barr is doing?
<v Speaker 4>But yeah, I mean it's it's a Bart. It's a
<v Speaker 4>Barn and Marge episode for sure.
<v Speaker 3>I think what I love about this episode and just
<v Speaker 3>the Simpsons in general, is I can appreciate it on
<v Speaker 3>three different levels. So I appreciate it as a kid
<v Speaker 3>watching it, and then I got older and I appreciate
<v Speaker 3>it as an adult. And then I watch episodes like
<v Speaker 3>this and I appreciate it as a parent. And there
<v Speaker 3>are jokes in here, and there are emotions here that
<v Speaker 3>wouldn't resonate with me until I had my own kids.
<v Speaker 3>So Marge's confusion and the way she blames herself. It
<v Speaker 3>wasn't mean to mother him too much. You blame yourself
<v Speaker 3>when your kids do something wrong when no, sometimes kids
<v Speaker 3>just people just do the wrong thing. But you're always
<v Speaker 3>you look and thinking what did I do wrong?
<v Speaker 5>Yeah?
<v Speaker 4>I think you're right. It is and you're able to
<v Speaker 4>see it from different perspectives as you grow, as you
<v Speaker 4>growled or into those rules.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. And one of my favorite moments in the episode,
<v Speaker 3>which you'll touch on a bit later, is when they're
<v Speaker 3>driving Maggie home. Good God, we've got to change Maggie,
<v Speaker 3>which is just which is just a funny just the
<v Speaker 3>way hope, the way Dan delivers it. But I remember
<v Speaker 3>as a kid watching this episode and my mum and
<v Speaker 3>dad just laughing uproarusly at that moment, me not really
<v Speaker 3>getting it. And now I watched it as a parent,
<v Speaker 3>and go, I get it now.
<v Speaker 4>Seem I just watched it a few minutes ago, and
<v Speaker 4>I was like, I remember and at the time that
<v Speaker 4>we wrote that, I did not have a baby. But
<v Speaker 4>then later and now having had three bebies in the car,
<v Speaker 4>I completely sympathize and get that. I get the panic
<v Speaker 4>of that moment.
<v Speaker 5>But before we go into the episode a little more deeply,
<v Speaker 5>I'd like to sort of delve back into your history
<v Speaker 5>a little bit. I mean, I've always been really curious
<v Speaker 5>about the Harvard Lampoon and I guess how it operates,
<v Speaker 5>and I don't know the whole vibe in that kind
<v Speaker 5>of organization. I mean, also, yeah, just a reputation that
<v Speaker 5>it had when you got to Harvard. I mean, was
<v Speaker 5>it when you got there as a as a freshman?
<v Speaker 5>Were you kind of like, well, first thing I've got
<v Speaker 5>to do is, you know, try and baggle my way
<v Speaker 5>into the into the lampoon staff. I mean, can you
<v Speaker 5>tell us a bit about it and just you know
<v Speaker 5>how it sort of shaped, do you?
<v Speaker 4>I can roll you back even further than that, because
<v Speaker 4>I was the only reason I wanted to go to
<v Speaker 4>Harvard to begin with was to be on a lampoon.
<v Speaker 4>This is going to sound like I'm bragging, and I
<v Speaker 4>hope I don't sound come off that way. I wanted
<v Speaker 4>to go to Stanford with Josh and I didn't get in,
<v Speaker 4>and that I know it's between these two fancy schools.
<v Speaker 4>But the thing is that Joh, Joh, maybe you covered
<v Speaker 4>this in the podcast with Josh. I had a vision
<v Speaker 4>of going to college with Josh and us. We'd be
<v Speaker 4>partying all the time in like animal house, right, And
<v Speaker 4>I didn't get in to Stanford, and I had applied
<v Speaker 4>to Harvard and I had gotten in there, and I
<v Speaker 4>was like, Okay, well, what is there to do with
<v Speaker 4>Harvard that's any fun? Well, it's a lampoon. Because I
<v Speaker 4>knew about. I was a humor magazine nerd from the
<v Speaker 4>time I was fourteen, and Josh, I know, covered this
<v Speaker 4>on his episode when we had started high school humor
<v Speaker 4>magazine together. We started a magazine in our school which
<v Speaker 4>was easily as good as most college humor magazines at
<v Speaker 4>that time. And it was like forty pages of slick stuff,
<v Speaker 4>a lot of good cartoons and stuff. It was very good.
<v Speaker 4>And that is I believe what got me into Harvard.
<v Speaker 4>Because Harvard I was looking for people who do unusual
<v Speaker 4>things like that at a certain age. And although my
<v Speaker 4>grades were good, it wasn't like I was a superstar.
<v Speaker 4>It was more like, look at this weird thing that
<v Speaker 4>this weird guy does.
<v Speaker 3>So I knew about.
<v Speaker 4>I was a big fan of National Lampoon, which is
<v Speaker 4>long gone, but it was National Lampoon was a spinoff
<v Speaker 4>of the Harvard Lampoon, so I knew the whole story.
<v Speaker 4>And when I got to Harvard, I was all I
<v Speaker 4>wanted to do was work on the lampoon. And what
<v Speaker 4>happened was I got there and I found out, like
<v Speaker 4>everything at stupid old Harvard, it's not as easy as
<v Speaker 4>you think it's going to be. You can't just start
<v Speaker 4>working on the magazine or the newspaper. There is what
<v Speaker 4>is called a comp a competition, and they only let
<v Speaker 4>on about five to eight people per semester, so ten,
<v Speaker 4>you know, maybe ten fifteen people per year to work
<v Speaker 4>on them. I think. So like, if you want to
<v Speaker 4>work on anything like the newspaper or the poetry magazine
<v Speaker 4>or whatever, you have to go through this comp process. Now,
<v Speaker 4>fortunately I'd already had the experience of doing my own
<v Speaker 4>humor magazine, and I was already a pretty good cartoonist
<v Speaker 4>at the time, and they always need cartoonists there, And
<v Speaker 4>because there's a million people who write and draw funny stuff,
<v Speaker 4>who write funny stuff, but people don't agree on what's
<v Speaker 4>funny when it's written. And so I saw a lot
<v Speaker 4>of funny people who didn't get on because people couldn't
<v Speaker 4>agree about what's funny. But every person, no matter how
<v Speaker 4>dumb they are, can agree that's a good corct, a
<v Speaker 4>well drawn cartoon, right, And so I knew that was
<v Speaker 4>the way to get on. So I did it, and
<v Speaker 4>I got on immediately first semester with David X. Cohen
<v Speaker 4>as a matter of fact, and a couple other people
<v Speaker 4>who went on to work at the Simpsons for my cartooning.
<v Speaker 4>And this was when Conan O'Brien was still president of Lampoon.
<v Speaker 4>And now, what else did you want to know about it? So?
<v Speaker 5>What does it operate like anything?
<v Speaker 3>Just take us into the room.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, okay, So that the thing about the only point
<v Speaker 4>that really has made it is enabled to survive for
<v Speaker 4>one hundred and fifty years. In fact, this year this
<v Speaker 4>spring is one hundred and fiftieth anniversary. Is the billuilding.
<v Speaker 4>It's always been an interesting magazine, but it's had its
<v Speaker 4>ups and downs. And then in nineteen oh nine we
<v Speaker 4>got this incredible building. It was paid for mainly by
<v Speaker 4>William Randolph Hurst, who was one of the primary guys
<v Speaker 4>early on the Lampoon in the eighteen eighties. And it's
<v Speaker 4>a castle. I don't know if you've ever seen this building.
<v Speaker 4>It's a very it's in Cambridge as a landmark in Cambridge.
<v Speaker 4>It's a kind of a small, weird building that looks
<v Speaker 4>a little bit like a rounded off sphinx and it
<v Speaker 4>is a so so the building is there, so like,
<v Speaker 4>regardless of whether they published any issues that year or
<v Speaker 4>do anything funny at all, there's a building there and
<v Speaker 4>that attracts people who want to be on this organization.
<v Speaker 4>So sometimes there would only be two issues a year
<v Speaker 4>or no issues a year. Sometimes there'd be nine issues
<v Speaker 4>a year or more. And so the magazine is put out,
<v Speaker 4>but the Limpun also does other things, like there's a
<v Speaker 4>lot of parties in that building. There's pranks, there's other
<v Speaker 4>things that they know have they almore reward where they
<v Speaker 4>give us give it to a comedian, and so it was.
<v Speaker 4>The thing is it's also people kind of let's just say, okay,
<v Speaker 4>if people go into comedy writing, there is sometimes a
<v Speaker 4>reputation that people Harvard lamp people have because they're people
<v Speaker 4>who are like stand ups and had to work really
<v Speaker 4>hard to get into comedy writing are sometimes angry about
<v Speaker 4>the Lampoon. People who didn't have to do that. But
<v Speaker 4>I would say. The thing about being on the lampoon
<v Speaker 4>is it's like going it's a graduate school for comedy,
<v Speaker 4>and it's very it's really mean, like people who are eighteen, nineteen,
<v Speaker 4>twenty years old who are really funny are also really
<v Speaker 4>mean to each other, and so it's like it's a
<v Speaker 4>trial by fire to some extent. And also you're writing
<v Speaker 4>funny and you're never going to get more frank and
<v Speaker 4>brutal criticism of your material than you would in college.
<v Speaker 4>So it's like, I think what happens is people come
<v Speaker 4>out of there, having spent three or four years on
<v Speaker 4>the lampoon. They have a better idea how to write,
<v Speaker 4>how to be funny, and they also have a thicker
<v Speaker 4>in from all the shit they had to put up with,
<v Speaker 4>and that's sometimes why they are, you know, there it's
<v Speaker 4>good to hire young lampoot people because they're cheap, but
<v Speaker 4>they also have experience that other people don't have.
<v Speaker 5>It sounds like comedy spata.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, I think that's a pretty accurate analogy. And as
<v Speaker 4>I said, it's a it's a pretty fun place. It
<v Speaker 4>can come, it comes and goes, but it is and
<v Speaker 4>there have been a lot of funny people that came
<v Speaker 4>out of there, but it's it's a fun place to
<v Speaker 4>hang out as well. And it's also like I spent
<v Speaker 4>all my time in college at the Lampoon virtually a
<v Speaker 4>very little of it actually learning anything other than how
<v Speaker 4>to write, how to write comedy.
<v Speaker 5>But that paid off in the end where you went
<v Speaker 5>to the habit of comedy, the there you go.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, right, when you say Maine, do you just mean
<v Speaker 3>main spirited but from a place of love or just
<v Speaker 3>genuinely just Maine to each other?
<v Speaker 4>No, I know I don't mean it from a place
<v Speaker 4>of love once in a while, but yeah, some of
<v Speaker 4>it is a place of love thirty percent, maybe Max
<v Speaker 4>and others just like is ruthless. You know. I don't
<v Speaker 4>know how to describe it other than it's just a
<v Speaker 4>lot of young, funny people who are kind of Some
<v Speaker 4>of them are huge, are huge jerks, and others are not.
<v Speaker 4>Others are very nice, but they all get along. You know,
<v Speaker 4>there's a camaraderie that it's a little bit like Animal House.
<v Speaker 4>And I know that Doug Kenny, who wrote Animal House,
<v Speaker 4>was part of Animal House, was a Lampoon graduate, So
<v Speaker 4>I think some of that appears in the movie.
<v Speaker 5>I think if you pride yourself as a funny person
<v Speaker 5>or someone who wants to be funny professionally, even if
<v Speaker 5>someone is mercilessly taking the piss out of you or
<v Speaker 5>finds your vulnerable spot and just shives it. Oh, I'm
<v Speaker 5>going to be carrying this with the rest of my life.
<v Speaker 5>But damn that was a.
<v Speaker 4>Good jug Yeah. I think that's true. And as I said,
<v Speaker 4>you develop a thick skin because eventually you will learn
<v Speaker 4>most people will learn to give as well as they take.
<v Speaker 3>I think we learned this as Australians too, because very
<v Speaker 3>much in Australia, the sense of humor as we just
<v Speaker 3>take the mickey out of each other.
<v Speaker 4>And I've heard that.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, And and then when we go my wife, she's
<v Speaker 3>from the UK, so her family visit and I'll make
<v Speaker 3>a joke at their expense and they think, what have
<v Speaker 3>I ever.
<v Speaker 2>Do to you?
<v Speaker 3>Oh no, I didn't mean it.
<v Speaker 5>This means I like you. Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>We call somebody mate usually means we don't like them.
<v Speaker 3>That's usually there.
<v Speaker 5>Well, it depends on the internation. Oh yeah, yeah, the
<v Speaker 5>way we see it, of course, because I just called
<v Speaker 5>you mate earlier, and don't take it personally.
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<v Speaker 3>slash four finger discount. You mentioned anniversary before the one
<v Speaker 3>hundred and fifteth anniversary. What's interesting as we record this,
<v Speaker 3>this episode March Being Not Proud Celebrating is thirtieth anniversary
<v Speaker 3>from its original air date. Can you believe it? Thirty years?
<v Speaker 4>My god? No, I can't believe it. I can't believe
<v Speaker 4>so much time has passed.
<v Speaker 3>It's insane, isn't it. Yeah? I also I lose track
<v Speaker 3>of time, so I see these episodes as like late nineties,
<v Speaker 3>but no, this is season seven, mid nineties The Simpsons.
<v Speaker 3>The golden era was really like the mid nineties. It
<v Speaker 3>wasn't anywhere near the late nineties, was it.
<v Speaker 4>Well? I think that's first of all. The by the way,
<v Speaker 4>hello objective, but the gold thank you as a noisy
<v Speaker 4>cat outside the door that I think the Golden Era
<v Speaker 4>is subjective. People have to find it in different ways,
<v Speaker 4>but it is it's morally, Yeah, I think it. God,
<v Speaker 4>that's a noisy cat.
<v Speaker 3>And we have to go out there, and we've got
<v Speaker 3>them as well. I don't worry. I know what it's like.
<v Speaker 4>Okay, I have never had this problem before. I had
<v Speaker 4>a podcast, but I think that here's me talking in
<v Speaker 4>here must Oh.
<v Speaker 5>My god, what's the cat's name?
<v Speaker 4>Okay, I don't even remember. I don't know which cat
<v Speaker 4>it is. There's four cats out there.
<v Speaker 5>Oh okay, so Crazy Cat Lady's actually based on you, Bill.
<v Speaker 4>I don't evemember we're talking about it anymore. What's the question?
<v Speaker 3>Thirty divers? Oh the garden here? Simpson yea, oh.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah yeah No, I mean like I remember because I
<v Speaker 4>remember two thousand we were at Futurama. So that's the
<v Speaker 4>way I kind of like, okay, it all kind of
<v Speaker 4>I remember these times by where I was or where
<v Speaker 4>I was working, so I know, Simpsons. And then we
<v Speaker 4>have Mission. We had our show Mission Hill uh and
<v Speaker 4>that was ninety seven to ninety nine, so yeah, it
<v Speaker 4>must have been we're talking about ninety seven as the
<v Speaker 4>end of my involvement with the Simpsons, probably Oh.
<v Speaker 3>We actually asked Josh that when you guys left the Simpsons,
<v Speaker 3>you felt like you'd done everything you could possibly do.
<v Speaker 3>You thought the show was gonna be on the end
<v Speaker 3>that much more. Anyway, you want to start your own
<v Speaker 3>project Mission Hill. But we asked him, did you ever
<v Speaker 3>regret leaving the Simpsons? And he said he did, do
<v Speaker 3>you ever regret leaving the Simpsons?
<v Speaker 4>I heard that. I feel like I heard that.
<v Speaker 3>I saw that online.
<v Speaker 4>I heard a clip of that somewhere, and I was
<v Speaker 4>I want to I haven't heard that part of your
<v Speaker 4>podcast yet, but I would like to discuss it with
<v Speaker 4>him because I think, Look, I feel like I don't
<v Speaker 4>know if we have the same opinion about that. I
<v Speaker 4>felt like we had. I felt like we had. First
<v Speaker 4>of all, as both Josh and I would say, TV
<v Speaker 4>shows didn't the comedy shows didn't run for more than
<v Speaker 4>eight or nine or ten years, right, cheers mash all
<v Speaker 4>those shows in the eight or nine or ten years,
<v Speaker 4>that was the end of the line. And so we
<v Speaker 4>were assuming that the show would be over with a
<v Speaker 4>year or two after we left. Obviously that's very wrong,
<v Speaker 4>but history had if you look at historical examples, it
<v Speaker 4>would have one hundred percent been over by that time.
<v Speaker 4>So we left. Now, there's different factors in leaving. I
<v Speaker 4>felt we had done everything that we could do, and
<v Speaker 4>that we were in danger of repeating ourselves, and that
<v Speaker 4>we were even running out of steam for certain episodes
<v Speaker 4>in season eight, late season eight. And I know I've
<v Speaker 4>said this before, But also there's other things I wanted
<v Speaker 4>to do. I wanted we wanted to do Mission Hill,
<v Speaker 4>we wanted to work on other shows. We wanted to
<v Speaker 4>work on live action television. Do I miss the money? Yes,
<v Speaker 4>I absolutely missed the money.
<v Speaker 3>Money.
<v Speaker 4>Simpsons is one of the few legacy TV shows where
<v Speaker 4>people are still like earning money like it was nineteen
<v Speaker 4>ninety six. You know, TV today is a disaster. Everybody's
<v Speaker 4>making minimum if they can even get a job. So
<v Speaker 4>do I miss the money that came from The Simpsons? Absolutely?
<v Speaker 4>Do I feel like I wanted to spend one more
<v Speaker 4>day working on The Simpsons? Not really? Would you nail
<v Speaker 4>I would do one episode. I have one or two
<v Speaker 4>episodes that I still wanted to do. That's it. But
<v Speaker 4>I don't like And also, well, I guess it depends
<v Speaker 4>on the money. No, I did. I feel like if
<v Speaker 4>I was entirely, if I had an infinite amount of money,
<v Speaker 4>I would say no, I don't want I've done the Simpsons.
<v Speaker 4>But if the infinite amount of money were offered to me,
<v Speaker 4>I have consider it.
<v Speaker 5>Are you in a position to contact someone at Simpson's
<v Speaker 5>HQ and say, I've got an idea for the Simpsons.
<v Speaker 5>So I've got an idea for an episode I believe.
<v Speaker 4>So I'm in contact with the guy Matt, someone who
<v Speaker 4>runs the Simpsons.
<v Speaker 3>Now, yeah, Matt's coming on the show next way.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, oh that's great. We'll tell him, I said, Hi.
<v Speaker 4>He's been working with me. I email him regularly because
<v Speaker 4>he's trying to help me set up one of my
<v Speaker 4>dining events in La so I. So we're in touch
<v Speaker 4>about that. We don't talk about Simpsons stuff.
<v Speaker 3>It was so interesting. One of the podcasts already heard this.
<v Speaker 3>But one time he came to Australia for a Phil
<v Speaker 3>Rosenthal speaking to her and he invited me out to dinner.
<v Speaker 3>But I didn't know he was here for that tour.
<v Speaker 3>And he said, I'm in Australia, you want a great
<v Speaker 3>for dinner? And I went, okay, cool, you just text me.
<v Speaker 3>I was text me, I said, cool, we'll meet in Melbourne.
<v Speaker 3>Caught the train up there, and on the way there
<v Speaker 3>he said, do you mind of my friend Phil joins us?
<v Speaker 3>And I went, oh, okay, you joins us. That's fine.
<v Speaker 3>And I get to the hotel and Matt salinstand and
<v Speaker 3>then next to Phil Rosen and I went, oh you
<v Speaker 3>mean that Phil, And then we basically did like a
<v Speaker 3>taste test for he's going to film a series in Australia,
<v Speaker 3>feeding Phil in Australia. We just tested different places in Melbourne. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>it was great night. That was well.
<v Speaker 4>Phil is my hero and may role model. I mean
<v Speaker 4>I only do I do ninety nine percent ninety two
<v Speaker 4>percent food things these days. So yeah, no, he's in
<v Speaker 4>and I've I've also met philm and I was as interest.
<v Speaker 4>I was guess I would see his MC at his
<v Speaker 4>most recent event near here.
<v Speaker 3>Just a lovely man. Yeah.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, speaking of food, just quickly, if I may give
<v Speaker 5>a bit of a shout out on our last interview
<v Speaker 5>Bill during LS interview, you mentioned Old Bay seasoning, which
<v Speaker 5>tripped a trigger in my head. And then I actually
<v Speaker 5>found some in an Australian supermarket which was not easy,
<v Speaker 5>but wow, found a big jar of it, rubbed it
<v Speaker 5>into a chicken breast pan fried. That bad boy had
<v Speaker 5>it on a couple of had it between a couple
<v Speaker 5>of slices of sour dough with aoli with lime juice,
<v Speaker 5>crisp lettuce and pickles. Probably the best sandwich I've had
<v Speaker 5>in the last three years. So, and the old day
<v Speaker 5>was a secret sauce. So thank you very much, sir.
<v Speaker 5>I'm in your debt.
<v Speaker 4>That sounds amazing. I think I can try to make
<v Speaker 4>one of those. I don't think I've ever put all
<v Speaker 4>be on chicken, you know, because it's mainly known as
<v Speaker 4>you people put it on all sorts of stuff of teita,
<v Speaker 4>chips and like that. But it's mainly known as being
<v Speaker 4>for crabs, and that's why it's been Maryland. It has
<v Speaker 4>a Maryland Baltimore angle because I'm from Maryland. But it's
<v Speaker 4>old bee is mainly as used as a crab season
<v Speaker 4>and for some reason that's never occurred to me. That
<v Speaker 4>chicken breast. That's a great idea.
<v Speaker 5>I will send you the recipe.
<v Speaker 3>Thank you.
<v Speaker 4>Please.
<v Speaker 3>Do you have any recent discoveries food wise that you
<v Speaker 3>can shares with this?
<v Speaker 5>Yeah?
<v Speaker 4>I have thousands of them. I don't know that there's
<v Speaker 4>any that will be relevant to this podcast.
<v Speaker 3>Ye, anything anything Christmas or festive.
<v Speaker 4>No, I would just say everybody who was interested in
<v Speaker 4>that kind of stuff should subscribe, should follow me on Instagram, Yes,
<v Speaker 4>that Bill Oqley. We're just exclusively food content. And I
<v Speaker 4>also do things on my on a substack as well,
<v Speaker 4>but that's it. And I also do these dinner things,
<v Speaker 4>which is like my main job these days as I
<v Speaker 4>travel around hosting these these funny dinners that I've been
<v Speaker 4>doing all over America, and I starting to do them
<v Speaker 4>in Canada next year. And should some should some major
<v Speaker 4>wealthy corporation be listening to this podcast in Australia, I
<v Speaker 4>would gladly come to Australia as well if you want
<v Speaker 4>to sponsor me.
<v Speaker 3>Isn't it amazing what steamed Hams has brought you in
<v Speaker 3>the end. You know, thirty years ago you wrote that
<v Speaker 3>episode and it's just steam ham Society is now your income.
<v Speaker 4>Yes, you see that that sign right there, that's a
<v Speaker 4>steam tamp. That's my day un sign for the Steammam Society.
<v Speaker 4>And the steam Tam Society is actually only part of
<v Speaker 4>the stuff I'm doing.
<v Speaker 5>But it is.
<v Speaker 4>It is, Yes, it is, And I'm glad because I'm
<v Speaker 4>glad that it turns out to be about Hamburgers because
<v Speaker 4>it provided a neat transitional ramp from from comedy writing
<v Speaker 4>into food for me, and I am. In fact, I'm
<v Speaker 4>negotiating right now with a fast food chain, not a
<v Speaker 4>regional fast food chain, to make steam Tams next summer.
<v Speaker 3>Oh perfect, Yes, you've copyrighted it, correct.
<v Speaker 4>I have the trademark for steam Tams Foods steam Tams
<v Speaker 4>brand Hamburgers, Yes, I do.
<v Speaker 3>Were you surprised that it was still available?
<v Speaker 4>Yes, I it was. I mean, make this clear. It
<v Speaker 4>seems like it should be the property of Fox or Disney, right,
<v Speaker 4>because that's it's a piece of intellectual property that I
<v Speaker 4>wrote for them. Uh, and they own it. Fox owned it.
<v Speaker 4>But my suspicion is if The Simpsons had still been
<v Speaker 4>property of Fox, they would have prevented me from getting it.
<v Speaker 4>But my guess is the lawyers for Disney are too
<v Speaker 4>overworked and too busy with stuff like Iron Man and
<v Speaker 4>Cinderella and all that shit to pay attention to every
<v Speaker 4>little sipsence meme. So they were not. They were asleep
<v Speaker 4>at the switch when I went into the trademark office
<v Speaker 4>and trademarked steamed hams.
<v Speaker 3>It's interesting you brought that up, because when Disney bought Fox,
<v Speaker 3>I thought, oh, oh, you Simpson bootleggers. You're in big trouble.
<v Speaker 3>But you're right. It feels like since Disney took over,
<v Speaker 3>there's more bootlegging than ever. I'm all for it.
<v Speaker 4>I think, I think so. I don't think they have
<v Speaker 4>the legal staff to go after all this stuff, and
<v Speaker 4>I think they're probably much more concerned about things that impact,
<v Speaker 4>you know, the Disney parks and and their they're superhero
<v Speaker 4>franchises and crap.
<v Speaker 3>I probably do have the lawyers that just don't care,
<v Speaker 3>and I think it's just it's such minimal.
<v Speaker 4>Maybe they don't care, but I find it hard to
<v Speaker 4>believe that Disney wouldn't care about every little thing that
<v Speaker 4>it means.
<v Speaker 3>Have you never had a notice on Disney saying yeah,
<v Speaker 3>these steamed hams, Yeah, a little of a.
<v Speaker 4>Well now it's too late.
<v Speaker 3>I own this.
<v Speaker 4>I mean I guess I own it, and that they've
<v Speaker 4>they failed to object. They had whatever six I don't
<v Speaker 4>think they had two months to object to it or whatever,
<v Speaker 4>and they didn't.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, Well, there you go. So with the steam Ham Society,
<v Speaker 3>do you want to let us listeners know what exactly
<v Speaker 3>do you getcause you stigned to be a member? What
<v Speaker 3>do you get by being a member of the stain
<v Speaker 3>Ham Society.
<v Speaker 4>I produce a lot of food content on my Instagram
<v Speaker 4>and my sub stack and in real life at these
<v Speaker 4>dinners and things like that. So Steam TAM's Society is
<v Speaker 4>a basically it's a club for people to talk about
<v Speaker 4>food all the time. It's really just a discord and
<v Speaker 4>it's a private discord with hundreds of members from all
<v Speaker 4>over the world. In fact, what if you guys just join?
<v Speaker 3>What's that? Sorry?
<v Speaker 4>Someone from Australia. I just joined last week and I
<v Speaker 4>think it might be our first Australian member.
<v Speaker 5>Must have been the other Australia.
<v Speaker 4>There's only four or five people there, right you can
<v Speaker 4>you shout out the windows here the air congressman. So
<v Speaker 4>the it's really just a discord where people talk about
<v Speaker 4>food from all over the world. And it's not just
<v Speaker 4>fast there's fast food snacks, there's barbecue, there's cooking, there's
<v Speaker 4>chefs on there. There's people who you see on the
<v Speaker 4>internet all the time, like Barry Enderwick from Sandwiches of History,
<v Speaker 4>Sandwich Dad from Canada, a lot of food writers on there,
<v Speaker 4>and just people who are interested in talking about that
<v Speaker 4>kind of stuff. And there's furthermore, there's at least twelve
<v Speaker 4>channels of non food stuff like video games and TV
<v Speaker 4>and stuff. So it's a key. It's the community and
<v Speaker 4>it's a lot of fun.
<v Speaker 3>Do you try and steer away from Simpson's chat on there?
<v Speaker 4>No, there is a Simpsons channel there, and in fact
<v Speaker 4>that's one of the few places where I do it
<v Speaker 4>because those people are paying me money. So I'm happy
<v Speaker 4>to talk sentences with that.
<v Speaker 3>But so with March be not proud, Let's get back
<v Speaker 3>to this episode. What would some of the difficulties was
<v Speaker 3>writing a Christmas episode a christmasin episode, because you're saying
<v Speaker 3>you touched on the animation, but there must have been
<v Speaker 3>more to it, because you were saying there was also
<v Speaker 3>the issue of well, we can't air it unless it's
<v Speaker 3>Christmas time, things like that, which seems crazy to me,
<v Speaker 3>but I guess makes sense.
<v Speaker 4>Well, I don't think there arely that many difficulties, to
<v Speaker 4>be honest, I think because we knew, we knew approximately
<v Speaker 4>when each episode was going to air within a week
<v Speaker 4>or two. So we said, this is a winter episode
<v Speaker 4>and it has to air before Christmas, and that was
<v Speaker 4>no problem, and I think that's when it originally aired,
<v Speaker 4>and there isn't. Basically all we wanted to do was
<v Speaker 4>and when we told make this was just stay away
<v Speaker 4>from anything that was touched upon the in the first episode,
<v Speaker 4>in the first Christmas episode. So we made you know,
<v Speaker 4>we made it very uh. We made the episode pretty
<v Speaker 4>independent of Christmas, as they said already, And it's a
<v Speaker 4>winter set episode with a few holiday things in there,
<v Speaker 4>but it was not heavily dependent on the holiday like
<v Speaker 4>the first episode was.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that first one, I felt like the Christmas miracle story,
<v Speaker 3>didn't it.
<v Speaker 5>It looks like at the lifeful iced tea is that
<v Speaker 5>is that what you're drinking?
<v Speaker 4>Yes, I drink a lot. I used to drink a
<v Speaker 4>ton of soda, but I decided that it wasn't as
<v Speaker 4>good for me as just having iced tea. So I
<v Speaker 4>drink these huge things of iced tea all day long.
<v Speaker 3>But I was touching on difficulty. So Lawrence Teerney, You've
<v Speaker 3>run through a lot of difficulties you have with this man.
<v Speaker 3>Some of the amazing stories like the cab basically kicking
<v Speaker 3>him out and saying he's yours now, don't call me again, right,
<v Speaker 3>him screaming at somebody who was trying to open up
<v Speaker 3>a sandwich or something, just very quietly. There must be
<v Speaker 3>some other things.
<v Speaker 4>They're all in the DVD commentary. Is so for listeners
<v Speaker 4>who didn't hear that, there's no need for us to
<v Speaker 4>fully recount all these stories because they're on the DVD commentaries.
<v Speaker 4>But yes, he was thinking about Lawrence Tiernanny was that
<v Speaker 4>we had a lot of respect for the guy because
<v Speaker 4>his performance in Reservoir Dogs, and he was, you know,
<v Speaker 4>without recounting too much of the stuff, you already know.
<v Speaker 4>He was essentially kicked out of Hollywood for being too
<v Speaker 4>much of a jerk, which is that's hard to do.
<v Speaker 4>And he was a big star in the fifties, but
<v Speaker 4>he would get in so many he was so drunk
<v Speaker 4>and he would get in fights all the time that
<v Speaker 4>he was essentially banned from Hollywood. And then he was
<v Speaker 4>brought back to Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino in Reservoir Dogs.
<v Speaker 4>And he did a great job on Reservoir Dogs, and
<v Speaker 4>so then he had this new career rebirth and he
<v Speaker 4>had been on Seinfeld and I know you know this story,
<v Speaker 4>and he was he played Elane's father, and then he
<v Speaker 4>got a he took a knife out of the kitchen
<v Speaker 4>set and brandished it at Jerry Seinfeld and was and
<v Speaker 4>terrified Jerry Steffel's and was banned from Seinfeld. And shortly
<v Speaker 4>after that, that's when we had him on The Simpsons
<v Speaker 4>and he wasn't like I mean, he's a real old
<v Speaker 4>school guy. You have to understand that guys, I assume
<v Speaker 4>guys in nineteen forty nine were the kind of guys
<v Speaker 4>who would get drunk and beat you up on the
<v Speaker 4>set and that was that was just all on a
<v Speaker 4>day's work. So he was Yeah, he was a scary
<v Speaker 4>fellow for all of us nerdy comedy writers.
<v Speaker 5>I love the Tarantaine. I brought him back and he
<v Speaker 5>was apparently a menace on the Rest What Dog set
<v Speaker 5>as well, though.
<v Speaker 3>I read that I know got fired a couple of times.
<v Speaker 5>How many opportunities can we throw this guy and how
<v Speaker 5>many times can he throw them back in that face?
<v Speaker 3>What I love about that Sonfeul story too, is he
<v Speaker 3>didn't just brandish enough. Is he stole it as well
<v Speaker 3>and didn't tell anybody the knife gone he did Lawrence take.
<v Speaker 4>He is a he did a good job, you know,
<v Speaker 4>And I'd say he wasn't with the exception of whatever
<v Speaker 4>he did to that limo driver, which will never know.
<v Speaker 4>He wasn't particularly rude. He was just kind of he
<v Speaker 4>was a little bit obnoxious, but he was just kind
<v Speaker 4>of like he wasn't disoriented by the process, I think,
<v Speaker 4>And uh, it was a strange thing for him. I'm
<v Speaker 4>sure he'd probably never seen The Simpsons and he didn't
<v Speaker 4>know what he was going to do. And I know that,
<v Speaker 4>you know that he came and wanted to do it
<v Speaker 4>in a Southern accent, and Josh talked him out of that,
<v Speaker 4>and then he.
<v Speaker 5>Was uh he he.
<v Speaker 4>I don't know. He did a good job though. I
<v Speaker 4>just watched the episode and I was like, that's a
<v Speaker 4>really good performance, you know. And I'm pleased that we
<v Speaker 4>had him because we've Josh and I were always trying
<v Speaker 4>to get guys with distinctive voices, like we weren't trying
<v Speaker 4>to get famous people so much as we wanted people
<v Speaker 4>who had really interesting voices, such as Johnny Cash, although
<v Speaker 4>I guess he was both famous and had an interesting voice.
<v Speaker 4>Kirk Douglas. Same with those guys. So we like we
<v Speaker 4>tend to like old oh and ar le ermie guys,
<v Speaker 4>Old guys with gravelly voices is what we were always
<v Speaker 4>packing them into our episodes.
<v Speaker 5>Well, some security guy who drags you into the basement
<v Speaker 5>office and sort of lays down the lore. I mean,
<v Speaker 5>you're gonna want someone who's got a bit of grit
<v Speaker 5>in their voice. And oh yeah, it seems like someone
<v Speaker 5>who's been around the block and doesn't you know, take
<v Speaker 5>any guff. So yeah, Laurence standing, Yeah, that kind of guy.
<v Speaker 4>He did a good job. I think it was good
<v Speaker 4>casting on our part or or whoever suggested him, but
<v Speaker 4>to get him.
<v Speaker 3>How often did you we asked this to Josh as well,
<v Speaker 3>how often did you write characters and assign them to
<v Speaker 3>a voice, or write characters for the voice in mind?
<v Speaker 4>We only did that two times when we were there. Well, generally,
<v Speaker 4>we write the character and then we cast it. We
<v Speaker 4>have a great casting director, a body Paydelah, who would
<v Speaker 4>give us a list of people that we could potentially
<v Speaker 4>be good for this role. Right, two times we wrote
<v Speaker 4>it for a specific Don Broadca was not supposed to
<v Speaker 4>be Lauren's Tierney. I don't think until we, uh, you know,
<v Speaker 4>we had written the role and then we're like, who
<v Speaker 4>could this be. Two times we wrote it specifically for
<v Speaker 4>a person. One was John Waters. We knew that Josh
<v Speaker 4>and I had that idea for that episode or part
<v Speaker 4>of that episode for years, and we always wanted to
<v Speaker 4>have John Waters on being you know, it can't be character,
<v Speaker 4>and so that was written for him, although I didn't
<v Speaker 4>think we asked him. And the other time, the only
<v Speaker 4>time it ever worked this way in my knowledge, was
<v Speaker 4>for Rodney Dangerfield. When Rodney Dangerfield's agent called up and say, hey,
<v Speaker 4>would you guys like to have Rodney and the Simpsons?
<v Speaker 4>We were like, holy shit, we would like it so much,
<v Speaker 4>We'll write a whole episode just for him. And like
<v Speaker 4>we wrote the whole EPISO, so like that episode was
<v Speaker 4>like didn't exist. We were like, we want to do
<v Speaker 4>a Rodney Dangerfield nineteen eighties style Rodney Dangerfield movie, and
<v Speaker 4>we made it up from scratch just for him.
<v Speaker 5>I love your reaction when you said his agent cold said,
<v Speaker 5>would you would you like Rugby on what? I didn't
<v Speaker 5>even know it was even an option. Yeah, it was
<v Speaker 5>the thrill to get that call.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, So how much of his jokes though, were written
<v Speaker 3>and or how much was you know, you had something
<v Speaker 3>new on the paper and and he just put the
<v Speaker 3>roddy spin on it.
<v Speaker 4>Oh, we wrote all the jokes Ian wrote. Ian wrote
<v Speaker 4>a pretty decent number of them, but they're hard to like.
<v Speaker 4>None of them were his jokes. I think there was
<v Speaker 4>one that he that he had slightly rewritten that we used,
<v Speaker 4>but in general, like those were hard too man like.
<v Speaker 4>As I know, Josh mentioned this on his episode. There
<v Speaker 4>were certain things that were very hard to write, like
<v Speaker 4>Troy McClure titles and uh Rodney dangerfield jokes. The other
<v Speaker 4>things that were hard to write were itching and scratchy titles,
<v Speaker 4>grounds keeper Willie isms, and sideshow Bob lines, all of
<v Speaker 4>which would grind the room to at every time we
<v Speaker 4>had to do them. And yeah, and the same with
<v Speaker 4>Rodney jokes. Those were really hard. Ian did a really
<v Speaker 4>good job with many of them in his first draft,
<v Speaker 4>and the rest were just cranked out in the room
<v Speaker 4>and they're there. It's surprisingly hard to write jokes like that.
<v Speaker 5>Surprising is right, because I mean that seems like to
<v Speaker 5>me that would be the cake, that would be the
<v Speaker 5>fun part.
<v Speaker 4>It's really it's an illuminating It's an illuminating process because
<v Speaker 4>like the jokes also, Rodney's jokes are really short too,
<v Speaker 4>like and they're not like you got you gotta have
<v Speaker 4>to you gotta all those one liners, those guys from
<v Speaker 4>the fifties like Henny Youngman and stuff. It really gives
<v Speaker 4>you an appreciation for the skill that goes into writing
<v Speaker 4>jokes like that, which and they're hard.
<v Speaker 3>I'm sure at the time you hated it and the
<v Speaker 3>process was painstaking trying to come up with those titles,
<v Speaker 3>but you you appreciate the fact that you took that
<v Speaker 3>time to actually think long and hard and really find
<v Speaker 3>the best gag. Looking back on the studies that I'm.
<v Speaker 4>Glad it paid off. That's why I'm still doing these
<v Speaker 4>podcasts thirty years later, Right, it paid off the time
<v Speaker 4>that effort that we put in during those couple of
<v Speaker 4>years has has continued to you know, sustain has continued
<v Speaker 4>to be The Simpsons. Even if The Simpsons had been
<v Speaker 4>canceled in nineteen ninety eight, like we had predicted, people
<v Speaker 4>would still remember it, but they wouldn't remember it all
<v Speaker 4>that as well as they remember the Dick Van Dyke Show.
<v Speaker 4>You know, or one of these things. They people remember
<v Speaker 4>it as a golden thing, but they're not really They
<v Speaker 4>don't really remember it all that well now because it's
<v Speaker 4>been on for forty straight years and people and it's
<v Speaker 4>rerunning constantly, and kids are people are showing into their
<v Speaker 4>kids now and their grandkids, God forbid. So it's like
<v Speaker 4>it continues to have this life which is almost unprecedented.
<v Speaker 4>You know, Saturday Our Lives been on for fifty years,
<v Speaker 4>but there are very few people sitting there and watching
<v Speaker 4>old Saturday Night Live episodes from nineteen eighty three. You know,
<v Speaker 4>it's it's the Simpsons. It continues. People watch these episodes
<v Speaker 4>all the time, and then they watch them with their kids,
<v Speaker 4>which is a whole creating a whole new generation of fans.
<v Speaker 3>This show is brought to you by the Full Figured
<v Speaker 3>Discount Patreon. Well you will find over one hundred hours
<v Speaker 3>of Biden's podcast, including exclusive Simpsons reviews and commentaries, as
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<v Speaker 3>Slash four figure discout.
<v Speaker 5>Being outside of Bill, Was there a stage where you
<v Speaker 5>looked at, Oh, the simple has been going for this long,
<v Speaker 5>and now it's kind of become a perpetual motion machine.
<v Speaker 5>I don't think it's going to stop anytime soon. Like
<v Speaker 5>when it reached maybe season twenty two, it's like, Oh,
<v Speaker 5>They're going to keep this thing going for a while.
<v Speaker 4>I have no idea. I literally could not predict it.
<v Speaker 4>I couldn't tell you anything about when it's ever going
<v Speaker 4>to end. I think, as Troy McClure said, between that
<v Speaker 4>it's going to end some time between now and the
<v Speaker 4>time it becomes unprofitable, and who knows when that will be. Hey,
<v Speaker 4>my favorite?
<v Speaker 3>Do you have any favorite moments in particular from March
<v Speaker 3>being not Proud?
<v Speaker 4>Yes?
<v Speaker 3>Okay, well one of them is this.
<v Speaker 4>I have several. I actually wrote them down. One and
<v Speaker 4>I know I think this was called also on the
<v Speaker 4>DVD commentaries was thing with the cigarette and the short
<v Speaker 4>length of hose. If I wanted smoke blown up my ass,
<v Speaker 4>I'd be at home with a cigarette and a short
<v Speaker 4>length of hose. That was the biggest sensor of thing
<v Speaker 4>that ever happened at the Simpsons. It was just something
<v Speaker 4>Tom let's givka, so, you know, talking about So we
<v Speaker 4>had that line that was bread Forrester made up that
<v Speaker 4>line and it went on and the sensor. Our usual
<v Speaker 4>process with the censor was a process of ignoring the
<v Speaker 4>sensor notes because the episode was already written so many
<v Speaker 4>times that like, eventually the thing would be removed. Whatever
<v Speaker 4>whatever was offending them in the first draft would almost
<v Speaker 4>certainly be gone by the time the episode was animated
<v Speaker 4>in color, so we didn't bother with that. This was
<v Speaker 4>one where they kept noting it all the way through
<v Speaker 4>and we're like, eh, something, they'll forget about it, whatever.
<v Speaker 3>And then they didn't.
<v Speaker 4>We refused to cut it out. We delivered the broadcast
<v Speaker 4>tape to them and they edited it. They edited this
<v Speaker 4>that line out of the broadcast, out of the broadcast,
<v Speaker 4>and Jim Brooks, who wasn't really involved in the day
<v Speaker 4>to day at that point, called up the head of
<v Speaker 4>the Fox network and read them the Riot Act and
<v Speaker 4>they were like, sorry, sorry, sorry, we'll put it back
<v Speaker 4>for every future broadcast. So that was like, but it's
<v Speaker 4>funny to say. It's funny to me how much our
<v Speaker 4>national standards of decency have declined that that was a start,
<v Speaker 4>that line was so offensive that the censor was risking
<v Speaker 4>their sense, their job to cut it out in nineteen
<v Speaker 4>ninety six, And now for crying out loud, look at
<v Speaker 4>South Park or Family Guy or any of these shows.
<v Speaker 4>What they do every minute is far more offensive than
<v Speaker 4>the most offensive things in The Simpsons all put together.
<v Speaker 4>So anyway, yes, that's one thing.
<v Speaker 5>It's such a I don't know if it's the way
<v Speaker 5>that it's written or the White team need delivers the line,
<v Speaker 5>but it's such a vivid image you can actually sort
<v Speaker 5>of see it in your mind.
<v Speaker 4>I know, I know that's far. That's good.
<v Speaker 2>It is.
<v Speaker 4>It is very it's very evocative. It draws a mental picture.
<v Speaker 4>What else I remember, Don bro the name Don Broadca
<v Speaker 4>took hours and hours and hours an hour. That's another thing.
<v Speaker 4>I can't believe how long that took because we're all
<v Speaker 4>waiting for like I think it was a case forere
<v Speaker 4>George was in the room, George Meyer, you know, grand
<v Speaker 4>the old Simpson's pro best writer of all time. Possibly
<v Speaker 4>we were trying to come up with the last name
<v Speaker 4>for Don Broadca, and we couldn't find one that everyone
<v Speaker 4>liked and also that George liked, and that was the
<v Speaker 4>hard part. And I remember all night long where there
<v Speaker 4>are the phone book going through the phone that's calling
<v Speaker 4>you the last names from thousands of last names until
<v Speaker 4>we finally hit upon Broadca and I think it came
<v Speaker 4>from the phone book and then he was like, oh,
<v Speaker 4>that's a good one, and they're like, oh my god.
<v Speaker 4>So I remember that also. I remember the the other thing.
<v Speaker 4>These are all the things I like, are things that
<v Speaker 4>are really small and subtle, not even really jokes. That
<v Speaker 4>scene where part is sitting with Missus van Houghton as
<v Speaker 4>she writes the Christmas cards and all those incredibly realistic,
<v Speaker 4>boring things that she's talking about. Oh there's Dan and
<v Speaker 4>Sherry Adler like, that's that's a set of It's such
<v Speaker 4>a realistic, boring name, and I bet it took a
<v Speaker 4>long time to come up with. And then I remember
<v Speaker 4>Warren Burke, who used to tune our piano be where
<v Speaker 4>I got rid of it, who listened to Cannicksburg. And
<v Speaker 4>I remember when Steve Tompkins said, mechanics sperg we're looking
<v Speaker 4>at it was a funny, a funny, boring regular town
<v Speaker 4>mechanics spers like Oh my god, that's it. So that one,
<v Speaker 4>that whole sequence, in my opinion, is it absolute the
<v Speaker 4>apex of writing realistic, boring stuff that probably somebody would
<v Speaker 4>say in that situation. And then lastly, in that same
<v Speaker 4>vein Lee Carvallo, Lee Carvallo's putting Challenge. I remember this
<v Speaker 4>because I think I suspect I pitched it because I
<v Speaker 4>was the only one I knw who was playing video games.
<v Speaker 4>And I remember there was a Lee Trevino game. There
<v Speaker 4>was a Lee Trevino golf game that was one of
<v Speaker 4>the early video games from the late eighties early nineties,
<v Speaker 4>and I have a feeling that we actually asked Lee
<v Speaker 4>Trevino to beat Leech. Trevino is a famous golfer or
<v Speaker 4>was a fee.
<v Speaker 3>No, No, he's still with us. He's still with us,
<v Speaker 3>No he is. Okay, okay, you actually actually actually caught
<v Speaker 3>him dead in the commentary, but he's actually alive.
<v Speaker 4>Oh my god. Okay.
<v Speaker 3>In the commentary you're like, oh, he's not like with this,
<v Speaker 3>so we can said what we want about him now,
<v Speaker 3>And I'm.
<v Speaker 4>Like, well, I's still with this, Oh my god.
<v Speaker 5>And that was twenty years ago, this cometary, so uh,
<v Speaker 5>he's holding on Adam Spot.
<v Speaker 4>I think we asked Lee Trevino if he wanted to
<v Speaker 4>be in this, and I am fairly sure he told
<v Speaker 4>us to fuck off because and good for him because
<v Speaker 4>it's an insulting portrayal of his game.
<v Speaker 5>So uh.
<v Speaker 4>Anyway, So Lee car Colobralo was a neighbor of mine
<v Speaker 4>as a child, So I put that in there and
<v Speaker 4>then made it, and then made this game. And I
<v Speaker 4>love that that game is so funny at the end
<v Speaker 4>that I was watching it again now I know that
<v Speaker 4>there's an actual game. At least one person has made
<v Speaker 4>that into actual video game you play, which delights me
<v Speaker 4>to no end. And it's also that Dan, that's Dan
<v Speaker 4>Castelenaa doing that voice, and all the weird editing of
<v Speaker 4>the voice that that changes tone makes me laugh, and
<v Speaker 4>also the the way he reads you have selected no
<v Speaker 4>at the end makes me laugh. And I think it's
<v Speaker 4>such a great because I know what happened was we
<v Speaker 4>recorded it several different times with different intonations, and the
<v Speaker 4>editor put it together to sound computery and to sound
<v Speaker 4>edited and did a master They did a masterful job
<v Speaker 4>of it. And it's funny too because it's also just
<v Speaker 4>it's a post credit sequence that and my suspicion was
<v Speaker 4>probably there were probably commercials over it for about twenty
<v Speaker 4>five straight years, like you'd only see it on the DVD, right,
<v Speaker 4>because normally that's when they pushed the screen over and
<v Speaker 4>they start running ads on the side or whatever, And
<v Speaker 4>so I'm surprised it has as popular as it is.
<v Speaker 3>So we never had that issue in Australia. We wouldn't
<v Speaker 3>do that. We didn't do the side by side. But
<v Speaker 3>I know exactly what you're talking about because a similar
<v Speaker 3>thing happened with the Mother Simpson episode with Home of
<v Speaker 3>Gazing at the Stars, where there's this beautiful score underneath
<v Speaker 3>and then yeah, side by side, you couldn't even hear
<v Speaker 3>the score half the time.
<v Speaker 4>Right, yeah, right?
<v Speaker 3>But what I love about that that leek carvella is
<v Speaker 3>the may I suggest a putter free would Yes.
<v Speaker 5>This is just father touch power drive, power drive, So
<v Speaker 5>Lee Trevino, I'm not dead, but certainly dead to Bill
<v Speaker 5>a clean no, I.
<v Speaker 4>Respect, mister Trevino. Mister Travino should not have taken that.
<v Speaker 4>It was just too insulting, and it's good for him
<v Speaker 4>that he didn't.
<v Speaker 3>But sometimes they sometimes you get guest does on who
<v Speaker 3>clearly you know, they know that you're taking the mickey
<v Speaker 3>out of him, but they it's all in good fun.
<v Speaker 4>So I feel like the Cavott was too was insulted
<v Speaker 4>too much in his appearance.
<v Speaker 5>Clearly not a Harvard lampoon man.
<v Speaker 4>But yes, there's like I think there's a fine light,
<v Speaker 4>you know, and and so uh yeah, no, I'm you know,
<v Speaker 4>we got We had Tom Kate as a golf guy
<v Speaker 4>for the other episode, so he was good.
<v Speaker 3>He was great. Yes, well, I particularly like that as
<v Speaker 3>I have already touched the Homer in Marge Racing Home.
<v Speaker 3>It's one thing that I rewatching for this podcast, and
<v Speaker 3>that's just that's just great. That's me and my wife
<v Speaker 3>now these days. But more importantly the ending. We haven't
<v Speaker 3>really touched on that ending where I think it's in
<v Speaker 3>the commentary where you say, I think Scully said that
<v Speaker 3>he gave you the script, and then you said you
<v Speaker 3>haven't taken advantage of the fact that this is animated.
<v Speaker 3>We need to add in more scenes and things like that,
<v Speaker 3>but you still you kept the episode, granted, and that's
<v Speaker 3>why this episode works despite the the sort of the
<v Speaker 3>occasional wackedness, but solves his problem, not through wackiness, but
<v Speaker 3>just you know, being thoughtful and just sin serogyah. And
<v Speaker 3>he goes to get the photo, but it's the moment
<v Speaker 3>where he Marge sees the photo, she puts it on
<v Speaker 3>the frame. It fixes up the frame. Just little things
<v Speaker 3>that seed that was planned earlier in the episode with
<v Speaker 3>the photo frame tipped. But then when she buys him
<v Speaker 3>the wrong game. And what I love is that despite
<v Speaker 3>the fact that she was so disappointed and so let
<v Speaker 3>down by him, she still tried to get him the
<v Speaker 3>game that he wanted and she thought she had and
<v Speaker 3>the look on her face and.
<v Speaker 4>But still I was remarking on that too when I
<v Speaker 4>watched it. Just now it's as a masterable piece of
<v Speaker 4>direction when you see the Carvalla was putting challenge and
<v Speaker 4>you see both lower of the game and her hopeful
<v Speaker 4>faces behind it, and it's very moving.
<v Speaker 3>It is easy, it is it's great. And in fact
<v Speaker 3>the fact that Bart goes, oh yeah, thanks mom, he
<v Speaker 3>doesn't have the hard to say, I'm like, that's just beautiful.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, it is really good.
<v Speaker 5>But something that's great about it as well is you've
<v Speaker 5>added a little bit of salt to the sugar as well,
<v Speaker 5>because well, Bart gets his present. Now it's like, Lisa,
<v Speaker 5>you have to wait. Yeah, he's done nothing wrong in
<v Speaker 5>this pillar of moral virtues. No presents for your kids.
<v Speaker 4>Next question, you there eating the paste?
<v Speaker 3>All right, a couple of trivia questions before we do
<v Speaker 3>our quick run through. So my first question for you
<v Speaker 3>both is the it's a crusty kind of Christmas was
<v Speaker 3>brought to you by who, ain't I remember?
<v Speaker 4>I think about this all the time, especially in the
<v Speaker 4>holiday seasons with christial specials, but to you by ALG
<v Speaker 4>and they're selling bodies on your body's chemicals after you die.
<v Speaker 3>Yep. And they are subsidiary, I know, little sweet subsidiary.
<v Speaker 5>That's that strikes me as just a classic Simpsons joke.
<v Speaker 5>That subsidiary of ILG also one of my favorite moments.
<v Speaker 5>But yeah, was we fished you favorite moments all your
<v Speaker 5>other ones. I just wanted to shout out the bone
<v Speaker 5>storm ad. Yeah, it's a man fighting a tank and
<v Speaker 5>the kids boring.
<v Speaker 4>Boring.
<v Speaker 5>Yes, And as someone who played way too much Mortal
<v Speaker 5>combat at the arcade back in the day, it's like
<v Speaker 5>this has goro versus goro. This is this is always
<v Speaker 5>a vital bus versus binyl bus and then but Santa
<v Speaker 5>is coming in like, shove this up.
<v Speaker 3>You're starking, Yeah, who go with the buy me bone
<v Speaker 3>Storm and go to hell?
<v Speaker 5>Who was that?
<v Speaker 4>That was probably make Yeah, okay in the script.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and you mentioned the commentary how you in the
<v Speaker 3>at the time, you're like, this is going to be
<v Speaker 3>so o t t this ad and then look at
<v Speaker 3>it now compared to games we get now it's just
<v Speaker 3>it's tame. Yeah, now, dextrib question from you all, yeah, right,
<v Speaker 3>next question, right, name three of the other games that
<v Speaker 3>were for sale besides bone Storm?
<v Speaker 4>Oh, okay, this is Good to Street Current m Death
<v Speaker 4>Operation Rescue, which made me laugh because that's the whole
<v Speaker 4>you know, if you don't know, that's the anti abortion croceders. Great,
<v Speaker 4>and so that that's a game there. And what's another one?
<v Speaker 3>There's one that's almost a Troy McClure title about Hitler,
<v Speaker 3>Save Hitler's Brain.
<v Speaker 4>Oh wow, okay, I didn't know that one. I did
<v Speaker 4>not see that one.
<v Speaker 3>Got Swim Meet to Save Hitler's Brain, Canasta Master Operation. Well, yes,
<v Speaker 3>a street came named Death sim Reich, Celebrity Topity, Robot Stampede,
<v Speaker 3>and Electronic Biathlon.
<v Speaker 5>It seems like a lot of Nazism. Yeah, video game shelf.
<v Speaker 3>When you were making these site gags, were you just
<v Speaker 3>making these for yourselves thinking no one's ever going to
<v Speaker 3>see these again?
<v Speaker 4>No, we knew that people were freeze from you. I
<v Speaker 4>mean that was before before our time. Mike and our
<v Speaker 4>would tell us, you know, people are people record these
<v Speaker 4>on their VHS tap and then they freeze free them
<v Speaker 4>to see these jokes, So you got to put them
<v Speaker 4>in there. So now that had been around for years
<v Speaker 4>doing that kind of thing.
<v Speaker 5>Okay, may ask you trivia quick. I have plenty in
<v Speaker 5>what is Don broadcast middle initial?
<v Speaker 3>Oh, I have no idea. You should know billing you
<v Speaker 3>came up?
<v Speaker 4>Oh, it's on his diploma from train and See of
<v Speaker 4>Security School, isn't it?
<v Speaker 3>Is it?
<v Speaker 4>Each?
<v Speaker 5>It is J Donald J. Broadca. By the way, it
<v Speaker 5>is a great name. It sounds like the kind of
<v Speaker 5>name that a teen character would have in the fifties.
<v Speaker 5>You know, we filmed his pilots on Don Brodger Private
<v Speaker 5>Eye or something like that, or on his tailing Commandos.
<v Speaker 5>I think that's yeah, it's a fantastic yap.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, we'll do one more question each, I'll ask what
<v Speaker 3>date did Bart get caught stealing.
<v Speaker 5>Oh, there's one of my questions.
<v Speaker 4>I have no idea.
<v Speaker 3>It is on the security tape when Don puts it
<v Speaker 3>into the into the VCR to show March it's the
<v Speaker 3>twenty first, which I'm thinking, so you're course stealing on
<v Speaker 3>the twenty first. When when was missus Dan Houghton sending
<v Speaker 3>these Christmas cards out? Because it was like two days later, Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>sending him express post Mechanicsburg wasn't that far away.
<v Speaker 5>Lisa's ticket on the sleepy train is what no idea
<v Speaker 5>it is? It is a candy cane made of gingerbread.
<v Speaker 3>Handycaane made of gingerbread. All right, lovely songs by the way. Indeed,
<v Speaker 3>if it's actually kind of.
<v Speaker 5>Heartbreaking when you know Bart doesn't get his little.
<v Speaker 3>Verse, I know, well that's just okay. It's the thing again.
<v Speaker 3>We'll touch on it when we go through the episode.
<v Speaker 3>But as a parent watching this now, it's like I'm
<v Speaker 3>seeing my oldest son now is seven and he hasn't
<v Speaker 3>quite hit that age yet where I'm not cool and
<v Speaker 3>he's too cold to hang out with me. But I
<v Speaker 3>can see it's starting to come, and I'll watch this
<v Speaker 3>episode aga he's not going to be my little man
<v Speaker 3>for much longer, and I'm worried about it. Yeah, all right.
<v Speaker 3>So the original air of March Being Not Proud was
<v Speaker 3>de Sepber seventeenth, nineteen ninety five. The top three films
<v Speaker 3>at the US box office when this episode originally aired
<v Speaker 3>in third position we had Heat. In second position, we
<v Speaker 3>had Jumanji, and the number one film at the US
<v Speaker 3>box office when Marge Being Not Proud aired was Toy
<v Speaker 3>Story still number one.
<v Speaker 5>We used to make things in this country.
<v Speaker 3>The chalkboard gag, I will stop talking about, the twelve
<v Speaker 3>inch pianist couch gag. Homer notices a plug in the
<v Speaker 3>middle of the floor and pulls on it. Everyone and
<v Speaker 3>everything gets sucked down the drain. Written by Mike Scully
<v Speaker 3>and directed by Stephen Dean Moore. So the episode kicks
<v Speaker 3>off with a crusty kind of Christmas. So this was
<v Speaker 3>just pretty much a piss take of all old fashion
<v Speaker 3>Christmas specials, Right, Bill, that's right, he has the I love.
<v Speaker 3>When he looks out the window, he sees brock mid
<v Speaker 3>He's but clearly in his TV studio, just channel six
<v Speaker 3>over there. But he's got carollers at the door and
<v Speaker 3>it's respected private citizen Tom Landry, and unfortunately he cannot
<v Speaker 3>pronounce the name of the South American sensation. Who is who?
<v Speaker 3>You guy?
<v Speaker 2>Uh?
<v Speaker 3>How do we? Is a shoo shoes shooesha?
<v Speaker 4>Shush?
<v Speaker 5>What's her actual there's a shooesha, but there's also Charro.
<v Speaker 5>I'm guessing you couldn't get the rights.
<v Speaker 4>To Charro and will really be pronounced Sheetler would be
<v Speaker 4>how you pronounce it really?
<v Speaker 3>Okay, then yes, but it's not the x u xa.
<v Speaker 3>Is that how her name is spelled.
<v Speaker 4>That's the real life one shoosha?
<v Speaker 3>Right, yes, yes, that's what it was based on, of course. Yeah. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>But then Lisa said, I thought Christ he was Jewish,
<v Speaker 3>and bar says, and of course, but it's Christmas time.
<v Speaker 3>It's when all people from are religions come together to
<v Speaker 3>worship Jesus Christ. And then we see that commercial for
<v Speaker 3>bone Storm, which is I remember watching this as a kid.
<v Speaker 3>It looked like a game that you just had to play.
<v Speaker 3>You want excitement, stuck.
<v Speaker 2>That entertaining.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, so I'll tell your folks buy me bumps on
<v Speaker 4>I got.
<v Speaker 3>Were you much of a game when you were younger?
<v Speaker 3>At old Bill?
<v Speaker 4>Yes, sort of. I mean, we didn't have there weren't.
<v Speaker 4>Look I'm old enough that we didn't have home video
<v Speaker 4>game systems. There was Atari, which I always wanted but
<v Speaker 4>I never got, but I did. I was a big
<v Speaker 4>video game gamer in the arcade and the Golden era
<v Speaker 4>of arcades, the Quarters and the Donkey Kong and all
<v Speaker 4>that kind of stuff. And I spent a lot of
<v Speaker 4>time in the arcades in the eighties. And then I
<v Speaker 4>was a gamer definitely in the nineties too, and I
<v Speaker 4>had a whole like PC setup and all that stuff,
<v Speaker 4>and uh, I had, I had. I've had every video
<v Speaker 4>game system all the way up to like the PlayStation
<v Speaker 4>three or whatever.
<v Speaker 3>I gave up a Playstession three. I don't know what
<v Speaker 3>it was about the Playsession three, but I went, I'm done.
<v Speaker 3>I can't do this anymore.
<v Speaker 4>I just decided to stick with the Xbox and stick
<v Speaker 4>and and and just get the most advanced Xbox. And
<v Speaker 4>then I only played like one game every so often,
<v Speaker 4>and it's like often, but it's a really complicated, long
<v Speaker 4>one like Red Dead Redemption two, where I'm like, I gotta,
<v Speaker 4>I gotta play this scheme and until I drop, but
<v Speaker 4>that it's not as frequent as it used to be.
<v Speaker 3>Do you ever play the Simpsons video games at all?
<v Speaker 3>Or the Simpsons arcade game?
<v Speaker 4>I played Hit and Run. I really liked Simpson Hit
<v Speaker 4>and Run driving around town and and I that the
<v Speaker 4>convertible with Homer that made me laugh.
<v Speaker 3>That is my favorite game of all time.
<v Speaker 4>Okay good. It was definitely a funnier than the average
<v Speaker 4>video game, and I loved driving around Springfield with that.
<v Speaker 4>That's the only Simpsons game I replayed.
<v Speaker 3>One of our most successful reels I've ever put out
<v Speaker 3>was filming my son just walking around Springfield as Homer
<v Speaker 3>in his underies, just kicking people. And the story there
<v Speaker 3>is that they were originally going to take that out,
<v Speaker 3>and then Matt Granning did a play through and his
<v Speaker 3>favorite part was the fact that he can just kick people,
<v Speaker 3>and like, oh, well, we'll leave it in. And that's
<v Speaker 3>what everyone has memories of, just running around Springfield just
<v Speaker 3>kicking people. It's a fantastic game, and I'm surprised I
<v Speaker 3>never had a reboot. Yeah, but as you're saying that
<v Speaker 3>Ad was supposed to be Ott, but it's Tank competitor.
<v Speaker 5>Now.
<v Speaker 3>This is where we get the cash phrase Bobby Bonestorm
<v Speaker 3>or go to help, So Barb goes to Marches, Bobby
<v Speaker 3>bon Stam go to hell. Marche's annoyed by this, and
<v Speaker 3>Homer says, in this house, we have a little thing.
<v Speaker 3>We have a little word call please. What do you
<v Speaker 3>think of Homer in this episode? I have a bit player.
<v Speaker 5>Wasn't he a little bit yeah? Sidelined but brought it
<v Speaker 5>when it counted? Yeah, particularly with his critique of Police
<v Speaker 5>Academy movies, which we'll talk about.
<v Speaker 3>How did you approach the Homer character in your era, Bill,
<v Speaker 3>because he quickly became what people referred to as jerk
<v Speaker 3>ass Homer, where he was just doing annoying shit and
<v Speaker 3>having no repercussions for it. But did how would you
<v Speaker 3>describe the Homer of season seven eight.
<v Speaker 4>Like this like some of the Homers from season three
<v Speaker 4>and four, As as Josh said, I said multiple times,
<v Speaker 4>we're trying to imitate the tone of season three and
<v Speaker 4>a little bit of season four, like in you know,
<v Speaker 4>mister Plower, hom the heretic, that kind of stuff. That's
<v Speaker 4>how we were rating him.
<v Speaker 3>It was always always important that if he was a jerk,
<v Speaker 3>that he learned his lesson, but there was some sort
<v Speaker 3>of repercussion for it. That's why it gets annoying when
<v Speaker 3>you watch the team here go, why would anyone? Why
<v Speaker 3>is margin deal with this guy? He's just being a
<v Speaker 3>horrible husband. But this is where he tells a story
<v Speaker 3>about he's wanting an electronic football game as a kid
<v Speaker 3>and his parents bought it for him his happy day
<v Speaker 3>of his life. And he walks off. Then Bart, he's
<v Speaker 3>in bed, he's sad, he's not going to get his game,
<v Speaker 3>but it's tuck in time. And Bart caused March's lame
<v Speaker 3>as a result. And I never quite got this line
<v Speaker 3>as a kid. I still quite got to get it now.
<v Speaker 3>I know it's just Marge being Marge against But if
<v Speaker 3>loving my kids's lame, I guess I'm just a big lame.
<v Speaker 3>Is the fact that she doesn't understand it.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, she's so she doesn't understand it to the extent
<v Speaker 4>that she's using it wrong grammatically incorrectly.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, yes, But Bar goes. He goes to the android,
<v Speaker 3>dungeons his bone storm at the front nine nine cents,
<v Speaker 3>goes inside, and the comic book guy I summarizes the
<v Speaker 3>proposed transaction, but sarcasti, since Bart doesn't understand sarcasm, he's
<v Speaker 3>going to close the drawer. Were you're a fan of
<v Speaker 3>comic book guy, he seems like a fun character to
<v Speaker 3>write for.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, for sure, he definitely was. He's a realistic character
<v Speaker 4>who had not appeared in many that kind of character
<v Speaker 4>had not appeared in many TV shows at that point,
<v Speaker 4>and yet he is a very realistic type of person
<v Speaker 4>that we all knew, especially being in the calm book
<v Speaker 4>adjacent world. So yeah, he was always fun to eat.
<v Speaker 5>He's perfectly deployed in this situation because, I mean, anyone
<v Speaker 5>walking past the window of the Androids Dune will go
<v Speaker 5>nine none sense. Absolutely. I mean, there is no indication
<v Speaker 5>that's the rental price at all. And yeah, but he's
<v Speaker 5>treating it like gospels. Well, of course that is the
<v Speaker 5>rental price. Yeah, just yeah, being the repository of all
<v Speaker 5>this knowledge that no one else would know, but he
<v Speaker 5>anticipates that everyone else should be on his frequency.
<v Speaker 3>I love it is his attitude towards just life and
<v Speaker 3>just towards others, very much like what it was like
<v Speaker 3>being in the lampoon room. You're describing these mean people
<v Speaker 3>because he just thinks mean all the time. For the
<v Speaker 3>second being mean, that's a good question. I wouldn't say
<v Speaker 3>it's quite like that. It could have bits and pieces
<v Speaker 3>of that. Okay.
<v Speaker 4>The thing about Comic book Guy is that he believes
<v Speaker 4>he's He thinks that he is the coolest, smartest guy
<v Speaker 4>in the world, and he's very very you know, he
<v Speaker 4>feels everyone else's is beneath him, but yet he's not.
<v Speaker 4>So it's like it's his misplaced Uh, he's misplaced enthusiasm
<v Speaker 4>for himself. That is the joke. So I would say
<v Speaker 4>that the only point there was a certain little element
<v Speaker 4>of that, but not too much.
<v Speaker 3>That's why I love I'm pretty sure it was an
<v Speaker 3>episode that you produced or show show when where the
<v Speaker 3>Wise Guy brings him down a few Pagans says, oh
<v Speaker 3>fat sarcastic stature.
<v Speaker 4>Ladies, that guy is his ultimate nemesis, the guy that
<v Speaker 4>that the wise Guy voice is the guy.
<v Speaker 5>That Guy.
<v Speaker 4>His insults are always just spot on.
<v Speaker 3>Wise Guy is his favorite character of all time? Is
<v Speaker 3>he that this must be such a such a utility
<v Speaker 3>of a character. Wise Guy. You can literally put him
<v Speaker 3>in any situation. Yes, and he just works.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, he well, he has to be a specific situation
<v Speaker 4>like that. He's usually working retail at some place, but
<v Speaker 4>he's He's also like, what are you saying, Hey, Fatty,
<v Speaker 4>I got a bridge, I gotta I got a film
<v Speaker 4>for you, A fridge too far. He's always he's whenever
<v Speaker 4>somebody is needed to say something like that, happens to
<v Speaker 4>be on the scene, and.
<v Speaker 3>Even when it's not even on screen, you just hit
<v Speaker 3>it's just that voice, the wise guy voice is just
<v Speaker 3>so great. Yeah, Hey, Fatty, I'm.
<v Speaker 5>Talking about the thing in the past, the wit of
<v Speaker 5>the staircase where you know, you always come up with
<v Speaker 5>the perfect rejoinder, like five minutes after the fact. Yeah,
<v Speaker 5>but he's always got it right on that time.
<v Speaker 3>This show is brought to you by the four Fingered
<v Speaker 3>Discount Patreon, where you'll find over one hundred hours of
<v Speaker 3>bonus podcasts, including exclusive Simpson's reviews and commentaries, as well
<v Speaker 3>as exclusive episodes of Going Down to South Park, Tales
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<v Speaker 3>the One About Friends, and so much more. So go
<v Speaker 3>ahead and join the family today at patreon dot com
<v Speaker 3>slash four Fingure discount. But this is where Comic book
<v Speaker 3>Guy offers He's got a lot of copies of Lee
<v Speaker 3>Carvello's putting challenge, get the cardboard Cavet bars on interested,
<v Speaker 3>of course because he's a ten year old boy. Then
<v Speaker 3>he sees Millhouse playing bone Storm, lit House, good Storm.
<v Speaker 1>This is great, And all I've done is answer my
<v Speaker 1>name Thrillhouse.
<v Speaker 3>The music for bone Storm? Was that just something that
<v Speaker 3>who created that? Did you have any input into the
<v Speaker 3>music of bone Storm? Was that just something yet you
<v Speaker 3>described and they just gave you They nailed it.
<v Speaker 4>I'm pretty sure it was just Alf Alf Classons who
<v Speaker 4>did a music you know for many many years. I
<v Speaker 4>think we just said we want some frantic video game,
<v Speaker 4>heavy metal type music, and he probably found some reference
<v Speaker 4>from some other things. It was not a specific request.
<v Speaker 3>We should touch on Alf as well, if you rest
<v Speaker 3>in peace.
<v Speaker 4>Alf.
<v Speaker 3>But the score for this episode, whilst you're saying it wasn't,
<v Speaker 3>it's not really a Christmas episode. It does have a
<v Speaker 3>Christmas It has a special episode vibe. It doesn't feel
<v Speaker 3>it feels like Simpsons, but it feels like it feels
<v Speaker 3>different as well, And the score throughout really emphasizes the
<v Speaker 3>emotion in a lot of the scenes.
<v Speaker 4>It is an emotional episode.
<v Speaker 5>It was Yeah, by the way, shout out to the
<v Speaker 5>image of Millhouse playing bone Storm, a very evocative eighties
<v Speaker 5>poster that I think was advertising stereo equipment. I've forgotten exactly.
<v Speaker 4>Which brand it was, Max Cell cassettes.
<v Speaker 5>That's right. Yeah, someone's sitting in the chair and just
<v Speaker 5>having their whole existence blown by excel by Mike Sale.
<v Speaker 3>Sorry, I had no idea that was even a thing.
<v Speaker 3>I've just learned that again. That's what I love about
<v Speaker 3>The Simpsons. There are so many references to things that
<v Speaker 3>you know, you just unless you know, you'll never realize. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>it's just great. But the thrill ho I love this
<v Speaker 3>because you know, you just everyone's got their video game
<v Speaker 3>name and Millhouse likes to think it's thrill House, but
<v Speaker 3>it's not. Doesn't fit. But what was your video game name?
<v Speaker 5>Bil?
<v Speaker 3>Did you have one like an alias when you go
<v Speaker 3>to the arcades?
<v Speaker 4>Was just you? And it was way because all those
<v Speaker 4>games you put three characters, so it would be on
<v Speaker 4>whether a battle Zone or Donkey Kong or Centipede or
<v Speaker 4>one of those games. If you saw, ok you adult
<v Speaker 4>was me. But I wasn't usually a nice.
<v Speaker 5>Course, Yeah, I think I was usually about fourth down
<v Speaker 5>the list.
<v Speaker 3>I lot this little b plot as well of you know,
<v Speaker 3>Millhouse has got something that Butt wants and mill Haus
<v Speaker 3>just doesn't want to share because he's a kid, you know,
<v Speaker 3>and Bart wants and so there mum Butt swearing gets
<v Speaker 3>kicked out. It pays off a little bit later, but
<v Speaker 3>mum Butt's smoking. But it's true though. When you're a kid,
<v Speaker 3>you got some and you was like, I know you're
<v Speaker 3>my best buddy, but come back in a couple of days.
<v Speaker 3>I want to play this first.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah. Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Then we go to the Try and Save, which I
<v Speaker 3>think you may have mentioned this in a commentary. I'm
<v Speaker 3>pretty sure this is the first time we see try
<v Speaker 3>and Save? Is that right in this in this series?
<v Speaker 5>Yeah?
<v Speaker 4>Has that ever reappeared? I thought it was just in
<v Speaker 4>this one episode.
<v Speaker 3>I think it has reappeared in like more maybe more
<v Speaker 3>recent seasons. It's like a callback. But okay, this was
<v Speaker 3>this was the first.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, this was identity to be our Walmart type of thing.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, usually spending more time at Costington's. Costington's is
<v Speaker 3>the new one. Do you know about Costington's. Costington is
<v Speaker 3>the new department store that's where they've seen that guy
<v Speaker 3>is working. Yes, guys, now, Dan's he's not on the
<v Speaker 3>level of wise guys. He's just sort of just pops
<v Speaker 3>up here and there. But he goes to the try
<v Speaker 3>and save and he says, if I go in here
<v Speaker 3>looks sad, maybe somebody will buy it for me, which is,
<v Speaker 3>you know, the mentality of a kid.
<v Speaker 4>That I saw that, and I was like, oh my god,
<v Speaker 4>I remember that, and I remember people. I remember thinking
<v Speaker 4>that that might actually work as a kid, and oh
<v Speaker 4>my god, that that took me back.
<v Speaker 3>That line.
<v Speaker 4>I had forgotten all about it. When I saw it,
<v Speaker 4>I was like, oh God, that really did happen a lot.
<v Speaker 4>That didn't happen a lot, but it did happen somewhat
<v Speaker 4>as a kid.
<v Speaker 3>I remember in the In the commentary, Scully says he
<v Speaker 3>used to go to a place and say, are these
<v Speaker 3>cookies free? And they go no, look look sad. The
<v Speaker 3>old lady goes, all right, kid, have one. But so
<v Speaker 3>he is where he sees though I don't think we've
<v Speaker 3>seen this kid since ever. Gavin. We've all known a
<v Speaker 3>Gavin in our life. God's hateful. He's just a despicable
<v Speaker 3>little child. And yeah, like I said, my son he
<v Speaker 3>goes to school now, and I see Gavin's here there
<v Speaker 3>and everywhere, but also the mum as well, who's just
<v Speaker 3>not oblivious. She just doesn't care.
<v Speaker 5>Enabling.
<v Speaker 3>Enabling is the right word. Yeah, but but yeah, he
<v Speaker 3>gets two copies of bone Storm. Because he's not shown
<v Speaker 3>with Caitlin, he's on his sister. Reminds me very much
<v Speaker 3>of We'll mentioned toy Story Force pretty much like a
<v Speaker 3>sid in toy Stories.
<v Speaker 5>He's gonna sit esk.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, but this is where he sees Jimbo and Nelson,
<v Speaker 3>who are shoplifting. Fun fact, this is where we got
<v Speaker 3>the name of our podcast because they mentioned four finger discount. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>this is where we've got it from. But if you
<v Speaker 3>go back to season one, it's the telltale hea, because
<v Speaker 3>my kids are going back to the first season, they're
<v Speaker 3>watching it all through. He actually says five finger discount.
<v Speaker 3>In the first season, they hadn't quite Yeah, I haven't
<v Speaker 3>quite figured out the fact that the four fingers yet.
<v Speaker 3>But anyway, so yeah, so four finger discount. But ponders,
<v Speaker 3>you know, from should I steal this? Because they say
<v Speaker 3>you should steal it's a victimless crime. It's just great directing. Here,
<v Speaker 3>a great score. Where he's looking at the game, he's
<v Speaker 3>looking back at bar, it's like, oh, should I, shouldn't I?
<v Speaker 3>Then we get the the inner monologues with Mario Luigi,
<v Speaker 3>Donkey Kong, Lee Carvllo. This is the part that Lee
<v Speaker 3>Carvlo probably would have won a voice because he's you know,
<v Speaker 3>he's gaming.
<v Speaker 5>Here's that gonna.
<v Speaker 3>Help your putting?
<v Speaker 5>Help your putty?
<v Speaker 3>And then we get what is I'm assuming? Sonic the
<v Speaker 3>Hedgehog says, just take it? Yes, so puts it in
<v Speaker 3>his jacket. Oh so the jacket too. We wanted to
<v Speaker 3>touch on the fact that whenever you see Simpon's character
<v Speaker 3>wearing something different, you know it's going to be a
<v Speaker 3>payoff for later on.
<v Speaker 4>So the purple second Boat's lucky red hat. Yes, it
<v Speaker 4>was always a setup for something else.
<v Speaker 3>Is always a something exactly right. So he gets out
<v Speaker 3>of the story, thinks he's Scott free, but don Broker
<v Speaker 3>at him. This is the introduction of Lawrence Teeney, who
<v Speaker 3>was just terrifying in all meaning of the word.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Then Gavin's mom says that boy's parents must have made
<v Speaker 3>a terrible mistake, and Gavin tells her to shut up.
<v Speaker 3>We get back from commercial and just the walk back
<v Speaker 3>to the store, I've never been caught shoplifting. Have you
<v Speaker 3>been caught stealing something built or have you been in
<v Speaker 3>trouble for something on this level?
<v Speaker 4>Yes, but not shoplifting. For throwing snowballs at this car
<v Speaker 4>and the guy pulled over the car and his kid
<v Speaker 4>had been very upset by the snowballs. And the guy
<v Speaker 4>chased us for a long time and made us come
<v Speaker 4>back and apologize.
<v Speaker 5>To his kid.
<v Speaker 4>But yeah, it was very much in that. It was
<v Speaker 4>a similar type of experience.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, what wean the kid?
<v Speaker 4>Oh it happened again, you know. No, a friend of
<v Speaker 4>mine and I remember, okay, and this is in fourth grade,
<v Speaker 4>a friend of mine, still a good friend of mine.
<v Speaker 4>We love to light matches, and we were lighting matches,
<v Speaker 4>but it was we were very careful because it was
<v Speaker 4>like a cement surface. It was near a lake and
<v Speaker 4>all this crap, and we were just lighting lots of
<v Speaker 4>matches and we're not in danger, burner thinking down.
<v Speaker 3>But this woman, some woman.
<v Speaker 4>Passer by, was so enraged by that she grabbed us
<v Speaker 4>and took us back to our friend's house and and
<v Speaker 4>then you know, scolded us in front of the parents
<v Speaker 4>and stuff. And the parents were like, who the fuck
<v Speaker 4>are you? But but yeah, I remember that too.
<v Speaker 5>Citizens are rents.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, my god, how old were you when you were
<v Speaker 3>lighting matches?
<v Speaker 4>Ten eleven?
<v Speaker 5>Of courseous, we've got to be near a lake when
<v Speaker 5>we're doing this.
<v Speaker 4>We were pretty cautious.
<v Speaker 3>Drive by woman didn't care children with matches not happening.
<v Speaker 3>So did you get in trouble for that? Once she
<v Speaker 3>left with the personally the parents that lady was, what's
<v Speaker 3>none of her business? Yeah? I do like this walk
<v Speaker 3>back to the back of the store though, you know,
<v Speaker 3>walks past Santo offers the candy gate.
<v Speaker 5>Not this kid that that's one of my favorite like
<v Speaker 5>that is for him. It crashes enough then they go back.
<v Speaker 3>One of my favorite visuals in this entire episode is
<v Speaker 3>when they first go out in the back there was
<v Speaker 3>just this casual woman sitting there with and yes, what
<v Speaker 3>is her story?
<v Speaker 4>It gives you, well, she's an employee, is there on
<v Speaker 4>her break. She probably has to wear some kind of
<v Speaker 4>constrictive or hot like a para polyestra shirt, so she
<v Speaker 4>takes it off during her break so she can have
<v Speaker 4>a smoke. And it's the thing is it's a glimpse
<v Speaker 4>behind the scenes. Now you're behind the scenes. The the
<v Speaker 4>I don't have standing up. The obvious, the retail, the
<v Speaker 4>front they put on to make it look like a
<v Speaker 4>nice place is completely gone as soon as you get
<v Speaker 4>behind that door.
<v Speaker 3>It is if someone who's working in retail. It's completely correct.
<v Speaker 3>I just love the visuals when he walks out the
<v Speaker 3>back and it's just yeah, you see her sitting with
<v Speaker 3>a cigarette. I'm like, this is what it was like
<v Speaker 3>when I was like sixteen, I'm gonna work. It came out,
<v Speaker 3>it's going to be great, and get the back and
<v Speaker 3>it's just it's just hell at the back everywhere. This
<v Speaker 3>is in Sand's workshop, so he's gone at the back here,
<v Speaker 3>and yeah, he puts in the first of all, it
<v Speaker 3>just doesn't say anything, which I think is even more intimidating.
<v Speaker 3>He just makes Barts sit there and ponder for a
<v Speaker 3>little bit, and then he gets out his cigarette, throws
<v Speaker 3>in the VHS, and of course we get the great
<v Speaker 3>Troy McClure, who is Phil Hartman. Were touching it a
<v Speaker 3>lot with Josh, and do you have any memories that
<v Speaker 3>Josh didn't touch on him guys to work with Phil Harmon.
<v Speaker 3>I'm sure it's just the same story you've told a
<v Speaker 3>million times you know it off? Yeah, yeah, but Tromcouer
<v Speaker 3>story here. Remember him from other public service videos like
<v Speaker 3>Designated Drivers, the Life Saving Nerds and Funny Tornado Alarms
<v Speaker 3>Reduce Readiness? And what was the reason he's doing this?
<v Speaker 4>It fulfills his uh agreement with the foot lorker. So
<v Speaker 4>he's been stealing fancy sneakers.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, Beverly Hills, which is the story in itself, but broadcast.
<v Speaker 3>He slams off the tape halfway through, doesn't let him
<v Speaker 3>finish the tabe just you know, ends the tape halfway
<v Speaker 3>through and he says, you know, Butt says, I apologize,
<v Speaker 3>stop with for all the mush you know, you get
<v Speaker 3>the smoke blowing up his ass gag, which you've already
<v Speaker 3>touched on. What I love about that moment there, though, too,
<v Speaker 3>is the way Bart reacts. It's pretty much how most
<v Speaker 3>kids watching that scene react. I watched my kid watch
<v Speaker 3>that moment and he kind of laughed and looked at
<v Speaker 3>me as if they say, that was a joke, right,
<v Speaker 3>But I don't quite get it. It sounds it sounds weird.
<v Speaker 3>I know, I know he's making a joke, not quite sure.
<v Speaker 3>But Butt's reactionally was very lifelike. But then he calls
<v Speaker 3>his parents and we haven't touched on this. I know
<v Speaker 3>you touched on the commentary. So Lawrence didn't get this bit.
<v Speaker 3>He didn't understand the conversation that he was having with himself.
<v Speaker 3>He didn't think it was funny. He didn't quite wait,
<v Speaker 3>I know what we're doing here. So Josh says that
<v Speaker 3>he pretended that he was actually having a conversation, He
<v Speaker 3>pretended to be Marge, and then you just took it
<v Speaker 3>out later on. Is that pretty much out went down?
<v Speaker 4>That's exactly what happened. Yes, also this shoke. It's also
<v Speaker 4>I'd be curious to know what percentage of the audience
<v Speaker 4>got this joke too, because as I watched it, I
<v Speaker 4>was like, that's real subtle, and you have to remember
<v Speaker 4>the other sounds he made when he was talking as
<v Speaker 4>somebody who somebody was there. I can't I can't look
<v Speaker 4>at it impartially, so I have no idea whether anyone
<v Speaker 4>actually got it. But yes, no, Lawrence was among the
<v Speaker 4>people who didn't get it, and Josh directed him and
<v Speaker 4>they pretending to be Marge. It worked fine, but ultimately
<v Speaker 4>I'm not sure whether the joke is a is a
<v Speaker 4>really popular one or not.
<v Speaker 3>It's a it's a weird joke. I think people like
<v Speaker 3>it just because it's just so weird. It's like, why
<v Speaker 3>would he talk this way?
<v Speaker 4>So that's it.
<v Speaker 6>Hello, missus Simpson. That's a detective dog bride gear from
<v Speaker 6>Try and Save Security. That's right done, bridegire. Your son
<v Speaker 6>part has been court shop limiting.
<v Speaker 3>Ah, yeah, it's a shame, I know, but well.
<v Speaker 6>Try and have a merry Christmas. They weren't home, but
<v Speaker 6>I'll have to message on their answering you sheet. That's right.
<v Speaker 3>When he says later on though, he says they went home, Ah,
<v Speaker 3>did you just get the original and add that in
<v Speaker 3>later because it feels like he wouldn't deliver that line
<v Speaker 3>that way. He's like, that wouldn't make sense. Yes, he
<v Speaker 3>just manipulated his words. But yeah, so he's called the parents.
<v Speaker 3>He thinks that had a conversation, but he hasn't had
<v Speaker 3>the conversation. So Bart's now racing home. But before that says,
<v Speaker 3>you have a step foot in this in this story again,
<v Speaker 3>you're gonna be spending Christmas in juvenile hall capish, which
<v Speaker 3>pays off later as well.
<v Speaker 5>It's also just a great sitcom line that's like you
<v Speaker 5>understand everything except capiche.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, tries it in the cracker with the dip doesn't work.
<v Speaker 3>Then Bart's racing home and Margine home a resting home
<v Speaker 3>as well, trying to change Maggie, and then he puts
<v Speaker 3>in the Alan Sherman's camp Grenada is in the in
<v Speaker 3>the tape machine. This is a guy that you know.
<v Speaker 3>My kids are like, what's that?
<v Speaker 5>Why is he playing?
<v Speaker 3>What's he playing there?
<v Speaker 4>Anybody passed we get that joke. I mean, even at
<v Speaker 4>the time it was very outdated, but that's part of
<v Speaker 4>the joke. I mean, every time we had Homer owning
<v Speaker 4>any records, there were records that our parents had owned
<v Speaker 4>in the n eighteen sixties, nineteen sixties or earlier, like
<v Speaker 4>his collection and stuff like the Doodletown papers and things
<v Speaker 4>like that. So it was all like, I mean, we
<v Speaker 4>were writing Homer like he was our parents. My parents
<v Speaker 4>were born in that was born in nineteen twenty nine,
<v Speaker 4>so that's when Homer's you know, as Tassey's got an
<v Speaker 4>Alan Sherman record from nineteen sixty two.
<v Speaker 3>What's interesting is on cassette. We recently reviewed some of
<v Speaker 3>this season season thirty seven of The Simpsons, and we
<v Speaker 3>want to ask Matt someone when he comes on, is
<v Speaker 3>it feels like they're retcond of the timeline because you
<v Speaker 3>were saying you wrote Homer as if he was your
<v Speaker 3>parents age, right, which makes sense, but Homer now Marjinoma.
<v Speaker 3>It's almost like the retcondit so that they now grew
<v Speaker 3>up in the nineties, so they were younger than me. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>ever in the U, I imagine. Yeah, But it makes
<v Speaker 3>sense though, because if my kids are watching The Simpsons
<v Speaker 3>in twenty twenty five, they're saying Homer as my age,
<v Speaker 3>and I grew up in the nineties, so it makes
<v Speaker 3>sense to do that. It's almost like they've sort of
<v Speaker 3>retconned with the timeline.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, to an extent.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, but it makes sense, man, That's why not. It
<v Speaker 4>seems like a good It seems like a wise thing
<v Speaker 4>to do to keep the show going. It does be
<v Speaker 4>they can't be guys who are one hundred years old,
<v Speaker 4>like literally, it would be ninety six years old if
<v Speaker 4>if if they if they werelready him like we wrote him,
<v Speaker 4>he would be ninety six years old and.
<v Speaker 3>He couldn't even really be making nineteen eighties references in
<v Speaker 3>twenty twenty five. The kids wouldn't have no idea what
<v Speaker 3>you're talking about, right?
<v Speaker 2>Oh?
<v Speaker 3>Man, well, what was did you guys have like a
<v Speaker 3>level of a did you ever make a gag and
<v Speaker 3>going that's just way too niche, we can't put it in?
<v Speaker 3>Or did the niche of the bed up a year?
<v Speaker 3>I don't think so, man.
<v Speaker 4>I think that's part of the blessing. I know Josh
<v Speaker 4>covered this. That was part of the blessing of running
<v Speaker 4>the show with nobody in charge but us and no
<v Speaker 4>notes from anyone. Is as long as we thought it
<v Speaker 4>was funny, it would go in. And even also like
<v Speaker 4>as long as most of the writers thought it was funny,
<v Speaker 4>it would go in. But a lot of times it
<v Speaker 4>would just me and Josh if we thought it was funny,
<v Speaker 4>it even if the other writers didn't, we were still
<v Speaker 4>forced it in because we were That's the way we were.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, you wouldn't doing this kind of like a ratio
<v Speaker 5>of the like we've got to have like eighty percent
<v Speaker 5>of gags that everyone's going to get in twenty percent
<v Speaker 5>for us.
<v Speaker 4>No, we never thought of it that way. We had
<v Speaker 4>to find it funny, and George honestly was in a
<v Speaker 4>matter of pleasing the people that scene to sing your
<v Speaker 4>people in the room. You know, if George didn't think
<v Speaker 4>it was funny, generally it didn't go in.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, so George was like the he was the king
<v Speaker 3>if he didn't.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, quite often that was the case.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, But Homer the following day, all he bought
<v Speaker 3>his eggnogs and you get thirty sweet noggie days. I've
<v Speaker 3>never had eggnog. You ever had eggnog?
<v Speaker 5>Never had it?
<v Speaker 3>Have you ever had a bill you're of food manning? Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>So just describe what exactly is eggnog? What is eggnog?
<v Speaker 4>It's like a thicker milk. It's like it has the
<v Speaker 4>texture of heavy cream, and it has a flavor that
<v Speaker 4>is kind of like described I would describe as kind
<v Speaker 4>of vanilla like, and it's French vanilla. Have you ever
<v Speaker 4>had French vanilla? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay, it's sort
<v Speaker 4>of like that flavor. But it's like the texture of
<v Speaker 4>heavy cream, and it's very I mean, it's a very
<v Speaker 4>it's a very seasonal drink in America that is literally
<v Speaker 4>like it appears on shelves after Halloween and it's gone
<v Speaker 4>by January first every year. But there's it's popular and
<v Speaker 4>there's all sorts of others. It's like pumpkin sp You
<v Speaker 4>guys know what pumpkin spice is, right, pumpkin spice it right.
<v Speaker 4>It's very much in that vein. And I didn't. I'm
<v Speaker 4>surprised to hear it's only really in America, I guess,
<v Speaker 4>but it's been around for over for one hundred years
<v Speaker 4>or more. It contains actual eggs, I think so. I
<v Speaker 4>think that if you make it at home, I think
<v Speaker 4>it does contain eggs or egg yolks.
<v Speaker 5>Because here's the thing. I yeah, the way you would
<v Speaker 5>describe me and sounding like oh well, it sounds like
<v Speaker 5>custard or something like that, like a custard drink drink. Yeah.
<v Speaker 5>But was it with lemon molten?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah?
<v Speaker 5>Because we were talking about you said, oh, you got
<v Speaker 5>to got to catch as delian and you get a
<v Speaker 5>pistrouy sandwich and an egg cream. I'm like, I don't
<v Speaker 5>think I'm going to drink anything that's called an egg cream.
<v Speaker 5>Is that No, it's it's chocolate malten.
<v Speaker 4>Egg cream doesn't have an egg cream is totally different
<v Speaker 4>than eggnog cream discussed right, It's got soda water and
<v Speaker 4>something like Yeah, right, which sounds delightful. It's the the
<v Speaker 4>name is not the name is some sort of it's
<v Speaker 4>some sort of slang expression. It doesn't have anything to
<v Speaker 4>do with eggs.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, eggnog sounds like you're rocky training for the fight
<v Speaker 5>and you just got to crack a bunch of eggs
<v Speaker 5>and do a gloss.
<v Speaker 4>Uh yeah, yeah, well it's more. But it's a holiday drink.
<v Speaker 4>It's a holiday drink, and it some people find grow
<v Speaker 4>it's over. It is ott as you say it is.
<v Speaker 3>It is too rich and thick for many people.
<v Speaker 4>Including me. Is there a way of and those people
<v Speaker 4>serve it with rum and that a lot of times
<v Speaker 4>it's served with with well that's rum in.
<v Speaker 3>It, okay, yeah, alcoholic. So can you can you make
<v Speaker 3>things out of it? Is it just just a drink?
<v Speaker 3>Or can you pour it into like a cake, make
<v Speaker 3>it delicious like a dessert of some kind? Is it
<v Speaker 3>just maybe?
<v Speaker 4>But it's mainly a drink, but there's lots of different flavors.
<v Speaker 4>The reason I compare it to pumpkins spice latte is
<v Speaker 4>because around this time of you're lots of other things
<v Speaker 4>come out, like there's eggnog, coffee creamer and eggnog, favorite
<v Speaker 4>ice cream, and all sorts of eggnog, other products that
<v Speaker 4>have that seemed flavor.
<v Speaker 5>Bill correctly if I'm wrong here, But I mean even
<v Speaker 5>with pumpkin spice, I mean the primary flavor is not pumpkin.
<v Speaker 5>It's cinnamon right.
<v Speaker 4>Right, pumpkin space, it's it's pumpkin pie. What it means
<v Speaker 4>is the flavor of pumpkin pie.
<v Speaker 5>Okay.
<v Speaker 3>What are the festive food is the ones that only
<v Speaker 3>coming around out around this, Tommy, that you most look
<v Speaker 3>forward to these days.
<v Speaker 4>Stuffing. I have a recipe for stuffing. That's my mom's recipe,
<v Speaker 4>you know, stuffing as you call it dressing.
<v Speaker 3>Perhaps call it stuff inside of the chicken.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, yeah, that's what I have. A recipe that involves
<v Speaker 4>chestnuts that I make every year. Been making it ever
<v Speaker 4>since I was like twenty, and that's my That's absolutely
<v Speaker 4>my favorite thing that we make. And you know, you
<v Speaker 4>put it, it's like a turkey. But then you also
<v Speaker 4>have a lot of leftover is ideally making it to sandwiches.
<v Speaker 4>You can put in a waffle iron and make like
<v Speaker 4>these stuffing waffles with the gravy and stuff. That's great.
<v Speaker 3>My wife, she's from the New ka as I mentioned,
<v Speaker 3>and they're big on sausage mint stuffing that she makes
<v Speaker 3>it with sausage mints. I've never had it before. I
<v Speaker 3>mean it's delicious, but it just that sounds good. It's
<v Speaker 3>really good looking up. Yeah, uk UK sausage mint stuffing.
<v Speaker 3>It's worth getting for sure.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, and mess with your Google algorithm, I think.
<v Speaker 3>But as we're saying though, so Bart thinks he's got
<v Speaker 3>free home, he's got all the eggnog, Lisa's getting chest
<v Speaker 3>pains from the eggnog, and Marge says this time for
<v Speaker 3>the family Christmas photo at the Try and Save. Great
<v Speaker 3>direction here, you were saying the commentary it was difficult
<v Speaker 3>for him to do Stephen Deemore with the kettle coming
<v Speaker 3>outside of Barts because she says it's going to be
<v Speaker 3>at the Try and Save and don't big gag that
<v Speaker 3>she's got two kettles going, Yeah, that's true. Yeah, Bart
<v Speaker 3>has the vision of juvenile horn. This is one of
<v Speaker 3>the moments you were saying that you added in because
<v Speaker 3>it didn't feel like you were taking advantage of the
<v Speaker 3>animated aspect. And this is the kind of stuff you
<v Speaker 3>wouldn't do in a live action cut into Juvenile Hall
<v Speaker 3>now the Santa in the in behind the booth there,
<v Speaker 3>that's actually Josh doing the voice. Did you ever do
<v Speaker 3>any voices or sounds on the show as well? Was
<v Speaker 3>it just Josh I.
<v Speaker 4>Feel I don't think I ever did any voices, but
<v Speaker 4>it definitely there's some sounds. I don't remember what any
<v Speaker 4>of them were.
<v Speaker 3>Oh, okay, obviously you voiced yourself as well. No I didn't.
<v Speaker 4>He did Harry or Hank did all the Raiders back then. Yeah, No,
<v Speaker 4>we didn't do that. Josha did our voices in Mission Hill,
<v Speaker 4>but we didn't. We did the voices of different character,
<v Speaker 4>but we never did any voices on The Simpsons. And
<v Speaker 4>the only reason we did those voices on the uh
<v Speaker 4>on the Simpsons were because the last the voices didn't work.
<v Speaker 4>At the last minute, we were at the mix, the
<v Speaker 4>final mix for the show, and Josh, I know, he
<v Speaker 4>mentioned he did the voice of the horseshoe Crab and
<v Speaker 4>that and that Lisa and the the what's that one
<v Speaker 4>end of this the Cizon finale. Yes, yes, he did
<v Speaker 4>theo he did the sound of the horseshoe Crab and
<v Speaker 4>then so like basically what happens is we show up
<v Speaker 4>at the mix and the voice isn't right, and so
<v Speaker 4>then generally Josh would do the sound director of.
<v Speaker 3>The voice, like you know, voicing yourselves. Was that just
<v Speaker 3>you going, Look, we're not gonna we'll visually put ourselves
<v Speaker 3>into the show, but we don't want to feel like
<v Speaker 3>we're putting our shows into theself into the show just
<v Speaker 3>because we can.
<v Speaker 4>For some reason, it never even occurred to us, and
<v Speaker 4>I suspect that the actors wouldn't have liked it because
<v Speaker 4>they were the actors had a lot of very territorial
<v Speaker 4>about that stuff. So it never even occurred to us
<v Speaker 4>because even in the past when the writers had been depicted,
<v Speaker 4>like when Mike and now were depicted, they didn't do
<v Speaker 4>their own voices either.
<v Speaker 3>This show is brought to you by the Full Figured
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<v Speaker 3>Slash four finger discount. Did you ever get input from
<v Speaker 3>the voice cast to the gags in the show? Did
<v Speaker 3>they ever help sort of rewrite anything or give some
<v Speaker 3>input as to is shure Flanders would say this.
<v Speaker 4>Once in a while they would do that kind of thing,
<v Speaker 4>but they generally did not criticize the material, and once
<v Speaker 4>in a while they would, like Harry Shearer was a
<v Speaker 4>cantankerous fellow who would occasionally criticize the material and like
<v Speaker 4>he particularly didn't like the George Bush episode, which he
<v Speaker 4>had sort of he kind of expected us to completely
<v Speaker 4>rerate it, and we were like, no, we love it
<v Speaker 4>the way it is, but he didn't like it, so
<v Speaker 4>but he did it anyways. He's a professional. But generally
<v Speaker 4>what would happened is that the light they would not say,
<v Speaker 4>the actors would not criticize the material. They would offer
<v Speaker 4>alternate takes so on like the third take, they would
<v Speaker 4>just say a different line, or they would improvise some stuff,
<v Speaker 4>and sometimes that stuff made it in. It was great,
<v Speaker 4>Like the whole Chalmers and Skinner lying thing was totally
<v Speaker 4>improvised the first time it appeared. And there are other
<v Speaker 4>lines and you can often tell what they are because
<v Speaker 4>they don't sound written, like when when Homer says to Lisa, like,
<v Speaker 4>remember when Dady hit the referee? When Dad hit the referee,
<v Speaker 4>And she's like, yeah, that part was like you can
<v Speaker 4>tell because it doesn't sound like it was scripted. So
<v Speaker 4>those they did it from time to time, and we
<v Speaker 4>put it in a lot of times it sounded really
<v Speaker 4>natural and funny, and we put it in well.
<v Speaker 3>I used to co host a podcast with Voice at
<v Speaker 3>the Jim Cummings and a lot of voice actors get
<v Speaker 3>were guests on that show, and they'd often say, we'd
<v Speaker 3>read it as written and then read it how it
<v Speaker 3>was supposed to be. That's what the voice actors were.
<v Speaker 4>Ah, but that's a professional attitude.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and that would say that, you know, the writers
<v Speaker 3>are very you know, they're very precious of their words,
<v Speaker 3>and you have to respect that. That's their job. They
<v Speaker 3>had professionals, that's what they do. We he the voice.
<v Speaker 3>They hate to do the writing, but we'd like to
<v Speaker 3>also offer an alternate take, which is what you're saying.
<v Speaker 3>The Simpsons would do as well. But with besides Harry
<v Speaker 3>though with they pretty relaxed about it. Hank can dancing
<v Speaker 3>pretty relaxed, and Julie yes, very they were very very relaxed.
<v Speaker 4>I know Julie, like, I know, there was a famous thing,
<v Speaker 4>and I'm sure this has appeared on the Contrary where
<v Speaker 4>Julie complained about a lot this famous line like do
<v Speaker 4>you know what I'm talking about? It's like, who's mining
<v Speaker 4>the Quickie Mart? Who the fuck cares? Has this been discussed?
<v Speaker 5>I think so?
<v Speaker 4>Okay. I think it was at the front or one
<v Speaker 4>of those other episodes where Pooh is they're in an
<v Speaker 4>audience or something or other and marged, I know what
<v Speaker 4>the joke was, but I don't remember what episode it was.
<v Speaker 4>I think it was who's mining in the Quickie Mart?
<v Speaker 4>Marge says who's mining the Quickie Mart? And a poo
<v Speaker 4>and like and then you cut to the Quickie Mart
<v Speaker 4>and like Jimbo and Dolf are like using strawbers or
<v Speaker 4>something like that.
<v Speaker 5>Right, yes, that's right.
<v Speaker 3>I remember Julie saying.
<v Speaker 4>Thinking that was stupid, like why would Marge And I
<v Speaker 4>think that she had a legitimate point to some extent.
<v Speaker 4>Why would Marge ask a Pooh who's mining the Quickie Mart?
<v Speaker 4>In this situation? And she is, like, I remember, because
<v Speaker 4>she said, who's mining the Quickie Mart? Who the fuck cares.
<v Speaker 4>That was her way of protesting it. But obviously that
<v Speaker 4>park got cut.
<v Speaker 3>Out, that's deleted, says of course.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Were there many delayed scenes in the show they cut
<v Speaker 3>out for a reasonal because sometimes it's cut fit time.
<v Speaker 3>But were there's sometimes where we went, I really wish
<v Speaker 3>we had twenty two and a half minutes because this
<v Speaker 3>guy is just so great.
<v Speaker 4>Oh yeah, our episodes, this is thing Mike and out.
<v Speaker 4>When they were running the show, the episodes often came
<v Speaker 4>in short because they were really brutal about what they
<v Speaker 4>cut and you know, made great episodes. And uh so
<v Speaker 4>that's how that thing that eventuals did Flanders eventually came
<v Speaker 4>on a matter of filler, and that was what gave
<v Speaker 4>us the idea for twenty two short films. Anyway, our
<v Speaker 4>episodes always came in long. Every one of them was long.
<v Speaker 4>It was always we have to cut, we have to
<v Speaker 4>cut some stuff before we ship to the animators. There's
<v Speaker 4>a limit to how much we can animate, and then
<v Speaker 4>it would come back and we'd have to cut another
<v Speaker 4>minute and a half out of it before it even
<v Speaker 4>went to the went to air. So there are tons
<v Speaker 4>of deleted scenes in our episodes. Because and they were
<v Speaker 4>always just cut for time, mostly because we didn't ship
<v Speaker 4>the stuff to Korea to be animated unless we loved
<v Speaker 4>it already, so we uh So it was mainly just
<v Speaker 4>those things were cut for time because our episodes were
<v Speaker 4>so criminally long, it was rare. And then we'd always
<v Speaker 4>just cut the weakest material.
<v Speaker 3>Ideally, you guys do and j just with the final
<v Speaker 3>say on what got cut or did you have to
<v Speaker 3>have Jim books or some Well, George come in and say,
<v Speaker 3>oh gods, guys, guys, guys, come on.
<v Speaker 4>You know, the idea of Jim Brooks coming to the
<v Speaker 4>editing room is laughable. That he's too empowered important for that. No,
<v Speaker 4>Joshua and I would decide the editor would make a suggestion,
<v Speaker 4>you know, we'd say, the editor would say, you can
<v Speaker 4>save six seconds by cutting this, I can speed this up,
<v Speaker 4>we can save ten seconds by cutting this. We would
<v Speaker 4>ask the editor for suggestions.
<v Speaker 3>And six seconds doesn't sound like a lot, but it
<v Speaker 3>is a lot of time.
<v Speaker 5>Oh yeah, it is.
<v Speaker 4>We would actually, and on several occasions we would ask
<v Speaker 4>the network for extra time, and once in a while
<v Speaker 4>they would give it to us, because that means that
<v Speaker 4>cutting they're losing thirty seconds of ad money and so,
<v Speaker 4>but a lot of times they would just stuff the
<v Speaker 4>commercial in another break, like before King of the Hill
<v Speaker 4>or whatever. So we on several occasions we asked them
<v Speaker 4>network for extra thirty seconds and they did give.
<v Speaker 5>It to us.
<v Speaker 3>Did the Simpsons feel like a big money make a
<v Speaker 3>commodity when you guys were still working on it by
<v Speaker 3>the end we you of the show? One is, did
<v Speaker 3>it feel like you were still one of the big
<v Speaker 3>plays at folks?
<v Speaker 4>Not really, because the Simpsons had this as if you're
<v Speaker 4>old enough to recall, this had this huge, huge, huge
<v Speaker 4>America was taken by storm in nineteen ninety for this
<v Speaker 4>by the Simpsons. Right, it was a cover of Time magazine.
<v Speaker 4>There's all this every store is low with merchandise, and
<v Speaker 4>by the time that season six seven eight rolled around,
<v Speaker 4>that had that way if had crashed. So you were
<v Speaker 4>not seeing Simpsons stuff like you would see Simpsons golf ball.
<v Speaker 4>Once in a while you'd see something new like Simpson's
<v Speaker 4>golf balls, or you'd see a Simpsons you know, Chess
<v Speaker 4>said it thrift store, right, But there wasn't new stuff
<v Speaker 4>coming out, and there wasn't a lot of publicity about
<v Speaker 4>the show because it was already old and people didn't
<v Speaker 4>publicize things that were seven years old, so we didn't.
<v Speaker 4>It did not feel like that. And furthermore, the ratings
<v Speaker 4>weren't even all that great because we were still number
<v Speaker 4>forty or fifty every week. It wasn't like in season
<v Speaker 4>two when they beat Bill Cosby, the Simpsons was in
<v Speaker 4>the top ten, but by the time we took over,
<v Speaker 4>it was there on Sunday night, Thursday Night, and Sunday Night,
<v Speaker 4>and we were always getting beat coming in second or
<v Speaker 4>third to shows like Touched by an Angel or matt
<v Speaker 4>Was It Mad About You? So that we were just like,
<v Speaker 4>this is ridiculous, Like, who what person on earth would
<v Speaker 4>be watching Mad About You when there's a brand new
<v Speaker 4>Simpsons on.
<v Speaker 3>You made a gag, You made a side gag about
<v Speaker 3>that on the side of the bus.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, we did.
<v Speaker 3>That was it.
<v Speaker 4>That was our bitter. That was our bitter lashing out
<v Speaker 4>a like, I couldn't believe anybody would watching Mad About
<v Speaker 4>You when a brand new Simpsons episode was on. But
<v Speaker 4>obviously a lot of people were there more than watching
<v Speaker 4>the Simpsons, So yes, no, we were not. That was
<v Speaker 4>part of the thing. I think the fact that it
<v Speaker 4>was a people just weren't paying attention to us at
<v Speaker 4>that time, which is how we got away with all
<v Speaker 4>this stuff.
<v Speaker 3>Is that why you think the show was going to
<v Speaker 3>come to an end? Did this feel like? Did it
<v Speaker 3>feel like the show was coming to an end? They
<v Speaker 3>have felt working on it.
<v Speaker 4>Not really, but I would say by the end of
<v Speaker 4>season eight, we were like, there's we can't come up
<v Speaker 4>with any more stories. We got to get out of here.
<v Speaker 4>Is the way that that that was. But it did
<v Speaker 4>not feel like I was coming to an end. But
<v Speaker 4>it also felt like it was show that was in it.
<v Speaker 4>It was an old show that was in its twilight years,
<v Speaker 4>and that was the way that we felt that. We
<v Speaker 4>were like, we should have all the fun we can
<v Speaker 4>have with this thing before it's before it's over. And
<v Speaker 4>that's where we started doing stuff like the Spinoff Spectacular
<v Speaker 4>and twenty two short films and Frank Grimes and things
<v Speaker 4>like that, because we were like, that's this is a
<v Speaker 4>great this is one of the greatest shows ever created.
<v Speaker 4>There's so many things to have fun with here. Let's
<v Speaker 4>have all the fun we could possibly have and then leave.
<v Speaker 5>Not gonna lie that.
<v Speaker 3>Episodes like the Spinoff showcase and whatnot that I just
<v Speaker 3>didn't get it. As a kid, I was like, I
<v Speaker 3>don't know what the hell is going on here, But
<v Speaker 3>as I go, I was like, this is great.
<v Speaker 4>It wasn't really designed for kids. Yes, he said, it's really.
<v Speaker 5>Interesting though ability say that you're we'll feel like you're
<v Speaker 5>reaching a bit of creative end point. But that's when
<v Speaker 5>a real well spring starts to emerge in terms of like, well,
<v Speaker 5>you know, we've got this great playground, we can do
<v Speaker 5>anything we like, and you get these great episodes as
<v Speaker 5>a result.
<v Speaker 4>Well, that was part of the fun is we were
<v Speaker 4>like telling people we just sold you know, we'll just
<v Speaker 4>do whatever we want to do, these things that push
<v Speaker 4>the envelopes that have not been done on the show before,
<v Speaker 4>because why not.
<v Speaker 3>And that's how this stuff happened exactly. We'll just get
<v Speaker 3>to the rest of this episode. So Marge, you know,
<v Speaker 3>she asked, Bart's taking a long time to get ridically
<v Speaker 3>his word about going to the try and save. Marge asks,
<v Speaker 3>if you've got problem with you, zipp I can send
<v Speaker 3>you farther up home and was like, oh no, I'm not.
<v Speaker 5>Pretty much.
<v Speaker 3>My dad when I was a kid, he just didn't
<v Speaker 3>want to help out of that kind of thing. Bart
<v Speaker 3>comes down the stairs throwing its disguise and Marsha, she
<v Speaker 3>just wants one nice family photo. And this is the
<v Speaker 3>sea plant here where every photo has always been ruined
<v Speaker 3>by Bart doing something silly. We get the icon of
<v Speaker 3>this has been meaned a lot. I know you're big
<v Speaker 3>in the where you were big in the mean community
<v Speaker 3>for a while. Not sure if you're paying much attention anymore, Bill,
<v Speaker 3>but the I don't remember seeing that. That's a big heir,
<v Speaker 3>that one. It's a big one. Yes, So there now
<v Speaker 3>on the way, Marge locks the doors and me get
<v Speaker 3>a great visual here of but visioning the chair becoming
<v Speaker 3>Don Broadca And you mentioned the commentary like remember when
<v Speaker 3>chairs had cigarette Yes, that's trade.
<v Speaker 4>When the backseat of the car and the back seat
<v Speaker 4>of a car there would have been an ash tree
<v Speaker 4>and the seat in front of you.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>And of course, but misunderstands cash as catfish because it's
<v Speaker 3>his vision. Yes, yes, but everyone now has plans for
<v Speaker 3>the department store. And this is actually in one of
<v Speaker 3>my favorite moments as well. They're just genuine excitement of
<v Speaker 3>going to the department store. There's so many things to do.
<v Speaker 3>It reminds me of going to the mall when I
<v Speaker 3>was a kid in the nineties. It's like, I'm going
<v Speaker 3>to go to this store, Dad's I'm going to go
<v Speaker 3>to the hunting store, and my sister is going to
<v Speaker 3>go to this store. It felt like you were going
<v Speaker 3>to a new world going to the mall.
<v Speaker 5>The mall has it all. Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know about you, Bill, but our local mall
<v Speaker 3>is just not thriving. I guess you could say it's
<v Speaker 3>not going well at all. Just malls aren't a big
<v Speaker 3>thing anymore here in Australia.
<v Speaker 4>Now in the mid and eighteen eighty is there where
<v Speaker 4>they police to.
<v Speaker 3>Be Oh y, have you ever watched those videos where
<v Speaker 3>it's just someone somehow some genius set up camera in
<v Speaker 3>like malls in not the eighties, and it's like three
<v Speaker 3>hours of just being in a mall in the nineteen eighties.
<v Speaker 3>It's fine with eighties synth playing underneath. It's amazing.
<v Speaker 2>Wow.
<v Speaker 3>It just takes you back. But Homer thinks Bart's got
<v Speaker 3>tired little legs, so he carries him in. He's trying
<v Speaker 3>to avoid all the security cameras as a result, and
<v Speaker 3>Marge points out that she she always wanted a watch
<v Speaker 3>like that, and Homer the Dirty Dog says, and maybe
<v Speaker 3>someone can get it for you for Christmas. But now
<v Speaker 3>she'd be really surprised when she opens up that ironing
<v Speaker 3>board cover.
<v Speaker 5>I love his logic. There's nothing malicious in that.
<v Speaker 3>That's the worst possible gift that you could ever get.
<v Speaker 3>My dad thought that gag was hilarious. I remember my dad,
<v Speaker 3>I have I've memories of certain moments where I remember
<v Speaker 3>my parents just laughing loud, and my dad just thought
<v Speaker 3>that was the best. Then it was time for the
<v Speaker 3>photo at the photo center where people still went and
<v Speaker 3>got family photos at department stores.
<v Speaker 4>They can't out laughing at the ironing port conference.
<v Speaker 3>It's believable, and he thinks it's a great present too,
<v Speaker 3>should be really surprised his sincerity of which she delivers
<v Speaker 3>that line. Yeah, Dan was great.
<v Speaker 4>That man keep laughing at that all evening.
<v Speaker 3>So you didn't really think much about this. This photo center,
<v Speaker 3>it's just called photo center. I know that's just the gag,
<v Speaker 3>but it's just like, there's no clever title here. It's
<v Speaker 3>just photo Center. They see Flanders, the family, flannderstanding a
<v Speaker 3>lot of the models. You know, they've got the Time
<v Speaker 3>magazine covering the various portraits and whatnot. Then Bart sees
<v Speaker 3>Don Broadca just perusing and walking around the story panics.
<v Speaker 3>He tells Ansel Adams, who as a kid, had no
<v Speaker 3>idea what he's talking about, you.
<v Speaker 4>Know, Assel Adams, and I think it's even clear what
<v Speaker 4>the joke was. He calls him asshole Adams, which I
<v Speaker 4>think is a joke that nobody got but a few people.
<v Speaker 3>And Marge takes out the pacifier. She doesn't want Maggie
<v Speaker 3>to have it in her mouth with the photo. She
<v Speaker 3>starts crying. Now, you were saying in the commentary that
<v Speaker 3>this photographer had more of a bit in this episode,
<v Speaker 3>but yet to cut him out for Time. What was
<v Speaker 3>his story?
<v Speaker 4>I have no idea. I don't even know what.
<v Speaker 3>Oh apparently had more scenes. Yeah, the bit that he
<v Speaker 3>had Marvel time to put on the funny voice, and
<v Speaker 3>I was just there. Dan was great, but Dan, so
<v Speaker 3>he tries making a smile of the funny voice. Then,
<v Speaker 3>as the photo has been taken, Bar gets dragged away
<v Speaker 3>by Broadga and reveals her that Bart stole the stole
<v Speaker 3>the video game.
<v Speaker 5>Found.
<v Speaker 3>We don't want to believe it at all. I love
<v Speaker 3>the reading here of of course, now his little boy,
<v Speaker 3>he's stealing little toys, wanted to be a girl man,
<v Speaker 3>stealing stadiums and quarries.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, quarries.
<v Speaker 3>It's fantastic. But he puts on the tape. Now this
<v Speaker 3>reveal here again, Kids watching now would have this would
<v Speaker 3>make no sense to them. The various TV is all
<v Speaker 3>playing the same thing. But you know, obviously thirty years ago,
<v Speaker 3>Marge can't believe. She's in just utter disbelieve that her
<v Speaker 3>son would actually be caused to because she defends him.
<v Speaker 3>She backs from I know my little boy, and I
<v Speaker 3>know he's not a thief, but no, turns out he is,
<v Speaker 3>and she just it's almost like she second guesses everything
<v Speaker 3>she's known about her son and about the way she's parenting.
<v Speaker 3>So we come back and we get one of the
<v Speaker 3>all time homer rants about Captain Motzie's name and the
<v Speaker 3>various Police Aademy movies dailing.
<v Speaker 5>How could you haven't you learned anything from that guy
<v Speaker 5>who gives those sermons at church?
<v Speaker 3>Captain wats his name?
<v Speaker 4>We live in a society of laws.
<v Speaker 3>Why do you think I took in all those Police
<v Speaker 3>Academy movies for fun?
<v Speaker 5>Well?
<v Speaker 4>I didn't hear anybody laughing, didn't.
<v Speaker 3>You except that that guy you meets sound effects? Whoa whoam.
<v Speaker 2>Hug?
<v Speaker 3>Hug? Where was I?
<v Speaker 6>Oh?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, stay out of my boots. But apologizes too much.
<v Speaker 3>But she's just giving nothing back now, and he says,
<v Speaker 3>can I do anything to make it feel better? She says,
<v Speaker 3>once you got to bed. But she's just She says, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>I feel like I've failed him, you know, And she
<v Speaker 3>look on the wall. She puts the frame up on
<v Speaker 3>the wall and that dips slightly. Then the kids are
<v Speaker 3>brushing their teeth. And you've said that you loved doing
<v Speaker 3>scenes in the kids bathroom because it was a set
<v Speaker 3>that wasn't taking advantage of much in the earlier years,
<v Speaker 3>And I agree. I think you did have it in
<v Speaker 3>the Bart versus Australia episode. Yeah, there's there's it's it's
<v Speaker 3>a really interesting bathroom. A surprise I didn't put more
<v Speaker 3>scenes in there in the earlier seasons. Then Lisa explains
<v Speaker 3>to Bart, how Marge, you know when she's sad, you know,
<v Speaker 3>she she's really sad, and but hopes that she's it's
<v Speaker 3>not gonna last forever. He's laying in bed again. This
<v Speaker 3>is a callback to the opening. When he hears March
<v Speaker 3>singing to Lisa, he says, oh, it's time for the
<v Speaker 3>tucking time. It's almost like he's he wants it this time. No,
<v Speaker 3>slightly like he's saying, but he wants it.
<v Speaker 5>Well, I mean he's used to the status quo. I mean,
<v Speaker 5>chewing out by your dad. You can, okay, I'll take
<v Speaker 5>my licks. He's got it out of his system and
<v Speaker 5>it's all blown over. But you know your mum being
<v Speaker 5>disappointed in you. That just it was like a seismic shift.
<v Speaker 5>Feels like nothing is going to be the same as
<v Speaker 5>it ever was. And he's kind of like, oh, well no,
<v Speaker 5>it is going to be the same as well, and
<v Speaker 5>I'm going to get this same song that I've always
<v Speaker 5>had to put up with. Okay, fine, you don't get it.
<v Speaker 5>Oh boy.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. I think this episode resonates with me because I
<v Speaker 3>got caught accidentally trying to steal a Disney magazine when
<v Speaker 3>I was a kid. My mum was there when I
<v Speaker 3>got basically accidentally, so basically sorry, I wanted a Disney
<v Speaker 3>Afternoon's little comic magazine thing. Mom said, we can't afford
<v Speaker 3>it was a TV guid That's it. So I slipped
<v Speaker 3>it into the TV guide and then when the girl
<v Speaker 3>and the check at tried to scan it, it fell
<v Speaker 3>out at the register and Mum looked at me, and
<v Speaker 3>it was pretty much this story. I was like, she
<v Speaker 3>was heartbreaking, she was disappointed. But did you have a
<v Speaker 3>moment of your childhood, Bill where you remember disappointing your parents,
<v Speaker 3>Not making them angry, just disappointed.
<v Speaker 4>I remember when I was eating there was it must
<v Speaker 4>have been like four or five, when I would there
<v Speaker 4>was a couple of occasions when I would start eating
<v Speaker 4>candy bars in the store before we pay, like and
<v Speaker 4>like my parents would see me. I get in trouble
<v Speaker 4>where somebody would say, kid, you got you gotta pay
<v Speaker 4>for that, and I'd start crying or whatever. I don't remember.
<v Speaker 4>It was a very disappointing, but I remember at least
<v Speaker 4>two occasions when I must have been about five, four
<v Speaker 4>or five, where I was just taking candy and eating
<v Speaker 4>it in the middle of the store and got in
<v Speaker 4>trouble for that. But I don't remember what my parents'
<v Speaker 4>reaction was other than they taking me away.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, but this is where Homer and Marjor were in
<v Speaker 3>bed home has got his little reading glasses on that
<v Speaker 3>he has it at bedtime, and he's got plans for Bart.
<v Speaker 3>No living the house, not even for school, no no period,
<v Speaker 3>and no stealing for three months. In Marshal's I don't
<v Speaker 3>know when Bart's hand like when I slipped away from mine,
<v Speaker 3>She's got the little four year old handprint thing next
<v Speaker 3>to her, and then he says, now, I know, what
<v Speaker 3>are you gonna do? And it turns out this entire
<v Speaker 3>time he was just drawing a picture of a robot
<v Speaker 3>cooking a sausage. Then she thinks, maybe I'm mothering him
<v Speaker 3>too much, and it's it's accurate, that's exactly how a
<v Speaker 3>parent would react to the situation. Then Bart wakes up
<v Speaker 3>late for breakfast the next morning. They didn't wake him up,
<v Speaker 3>and then margin put the marshmallows in in his chocolate.
<v Speaker 3>Things like that. I think is the only grandpa appearance
<v Speaker 3>in the whole episode, is it?
<v Speaker 5>Yes?
<v Speaker 4>And it's very funny that it's this crazy reveal that
<v Speaker 4>Grandpa's suddenly there, but that's her crampas he's a lucky
<v Speaker 4>red hat of the scene where it's like, okay, well
<v Speaker 4>he's only there for his joke.
<v Speaker 5>Bill noted Foodie that you are. Have you every considered
<v Speaker 5>making a hot chocolate infused marshmallow because that looked pretty delicious.
<v Speaker 4>I did. I noticed that, and I remember it at
<v Speaker 4>a time too. No, I have not considered doing that,
<v Speaker 4>but it's a good idea.
<v Speaker 3>You should definitely do it. Your thoughts on the grand
<v Speaker 3>Bar character, because you know he gets very misused at times.
<v Speaker 3>You know, he gets sort of he's a butt of
<v Speaker 3>the joke. How did you Were you careful to how
<v Speaker 3>the Simpsons treated the Grandpa character in your era?
<v Speaker 5>Not really.
<v Speaker 4>I mean sometimes I think that Grandpa was he utility player.
<v Speaker 4>He can do a sincere story, but he can also
<v Speaker 4>just be a crazy joke where he's like the Queen
<v Speaker 4>of the Old West, or that thing where he's Hitler
<v Speaker 4>where he's dancing for Hitler and these oranges and his
<v Speaker 4>brain nothing. Yes, So he's like I think that taking
<v Speaker 4>Grandpa too seriously is perilous because he's he's kind of
<v Speaker 4>it seems fake a lot of times, because he's such
<v Speaker 4>a wacko. It's like it's better, he's better for both
<v Speaker 4>sincerity and wackiness is good and better in small doses.
<v Speaker 3>I think I find even when we do this podcast,
<v Speaker 3>sometimes we review episodes and they go, we just were
<v Speaker 3>taking this way too seriously. It's an animated content. It's
<v Speaker 3>meant to be funny. You know, don't don't worry about
<v Speaker 3>this character's feelings being hurt.
<v Speaker 4>Well, there are certain levels of certain certain sec characters.
<v Speaker 4>You know, cares if Disco Stew's feelings are hurt. But
<v Speaker 4>you know, Marge, Lisa, the more important the character is
<v Speaker 4>to the series, the more you have to take you
<v Speaker 4>have to treat them more realistically.
<v Speaker 3>I think who was the next level for you? When
<v Speaker 3>it comes to secondary characters under the Simpsons family, I'm thinking,
<v Speaker 3>like Krusty, would he be.
<v Speaker 4>One Skinner for me? And Skinner for sure? Yeah, that's
<v Speaker 4>I mean, you know, that's why we spent so much time.
<v Speaker 4>And Josh covered this too, that Skinner was so much
<v Speaker 4>like all the people we all the teachers at our school,
<v Speaker 4>and so that's why we we spend so much time
<v Speaker 4>writing trincipal Skinner episodes and jokes and things like that.
<v Speaker 4>And I wrote the whole steven Hams thing because I
<v Speaker 4>felt like I know that character. I know that character
<v Speaker 4>very well, and I know what he would do and
<v Speaker 4>say in every possible circumstance.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and you're saying that dynamic with Chilmins was born
<v Speaker 3>out of you all touching the improv with Hank and Dan.
<v Speaker 5>Yes.
<v Speaker 3>But then by here he goes to see Milhouse, who's
<v Speaker 3>now he says, even why about your mom stopped loving you?
<v Speaker 3>He goes, Nah, I'm more worried about Piranhas. Was a
<v Speaker 3>fun rotting Millhouse random stories like this thought the Piranha story, I.
<v Speaker 4>Feel like that's Mike probably put that in this first draft.
<v Speaker 4>It sounds like him, and it sounds like the mill hoos. Yes,
<v Speaker 4>it's funny. Millhouse is believable, dope, and he's if writing
<v Speaker 4>his realistic stuff is because that's what I found it
<v Speaker 4>to be, a very realistic thing that Milhouse probably would say. So, yeah,
<v Speaker 4>that's kind of stuff is always fun to me when
<v Speaker 4>it's going to nail it, like Dan and Cherry Adler
<v Speaker 4>and Mechanicsburg. That's like it's one of those things where
<v Speaker 4>it's that's perfect. That's just what he would say.
<v Speaker 3>Was your Millhouse episode? I guess you could say Millhouse Divided?
<v Speaker 3>Was that your Millhouse episode?
<v Speaker 5>Do you think? Yeah?
<v Speaker 4>I think so, I mean that was I mean, obviously
<v Speaker 4>we didn't make it up, but if Steve Tompkins wrote
<v Speaker 4>almost all of that. Yeah, but but it is, Yes,
<v Speaker 4>that's or a Milhouse episode.
<v Speaker 3>I think, Yeah, were there any side characters? You kind
<v Speaker 3>of I know you always say we done it differently
<v Speaker 3>we want to do But looking back now, was it
<v Speaker 3>probably a side character you would have liked to have
<v Speaker 3>done an episode on had you had more time.
<v Speaker 4>I think we covered it. I think I think we
<v Speaker 4>adequately covered it during that time.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, but this is where Millhouse. He's not interested in
<v Speaker 3>Bostorm anymore. It's not new thing. He's got a cup
<v Speaker 3>and ball, which is much more exciting. And they so
<v Speaker 3>enthusiastic about the cup and ball as Millhouse would be. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>but he fights, so they fight. He says bart smoking
<v Speaker 3>is where she goes to throw him out again, but
<v Speaker 3>then he asks to hang out with her while she
<v Speaker 3>does mum stuff because he's missing that motherly connection. And
<v Speaker 3>he gets with Marge and yeah, just the posting the
<v Speaker 3>Christmas cards obviously late but doesn't matter, and this the
<v Speaker 3>tell me I'm good. But but he's Marge laughing. On
<v Speaker 3>the way home, the family are making a snow family
<v Speaker 3>looking into a snow mirror, and March I don't think
<v Speaker 3>I thought you're twelve for this kind of stuff. Because
<v Speaker 3>he'sappointed when he gets it in and they haven't invited him.
<v Speaker 3>So he uses some of the snow under the car,
<v Speaker 3>which is just sludge. He finishes his Snowman, which is
<v Speaker 3>now he can actually buy this as like a vinyl figure.
<v Speaker 3>Someone has made the Bart Snowman. He can actually myself
<v Speaker 3>for Christmas. He looks inside the window and sees the
<v Speaker 3>family watching TV without him, and he's a bird ruins
<v Speaker 3>he he's Snowman. So he walks off angry, sees Nelson again,
<v Speaker 3>who has once again stolen, and then he walks bast
<v Speaker 3>to try and save and he says, everyone thinks of
<v Speaker 3>a black sheep. I'll show them what a black sheep
<v Speaker 3>can do.
<v Speaker 5>Quick note about about Nelson here, he stole a replacement
<v Speaker 5>at TAYR for a wheelbarrel.
<v Speaker 4>That's such a stupid thing to steal. I feel like
<v Speaker 4>George pitched out too, because it's perfect.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, but he just steals to the sake of it
<v Speaker 3>doesn't healing.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, but Nelson's not doing his haha laugh sort of
<v Speaker 5>a weird it's a weird, weird version of it. We
<v Speaker 5>old laugh.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it happens sometimes. But then so Bart has gone
<v Speaker 3>into the Try and Save. We don't know for what yet.
<v Speaker 3>We cut back to the home and Lisa and Marge
<v Speaker 3>and Maggie putting fake snow on the tree, making herself
<v Speaker 3>all dizzy, and Bart gets home. He's clearly hiding something.
<v Speaker 3>Much as you can't get away from me, I spend
<v Speaker 3>twenty three hours of the day here Homers go to
<v Speaker 3>mar I've also found so random, it's so funny, just
<v Speaker 3>the child door there. And then it's revealed here that
<v Speaker 3>what he did was he went to the Try and
<v Speaker 3>Save and got the photo of himself a self portrait
<v Speaker 3>to put to give to Marge because he ruined the
<v Speaker 3>last photo as his way of saying sorry. And it's just, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>I think this is this is my favorite ending to
<v Speaker 3>a Simpsons episode period. I mean, I love the I
<v Speaker 3>love it to do it for her, but I think
<v Speaker 3>just because I lived this experience with getting caught stealing
<v Speaker 3>my mum was disappointed with me, I'm a Muma's boy
<v Speaker 3>as well. I just I think the acting here, the writing,
<v Speaker 3>everything about this ending couldn't be done better. I think
<v Speaker 3>it's the perfect Simpsons ending. And if I'm going to
<v Speaker 3>show somebody why I love The Simpsons and think it's
<v Speaker 3>the best show of all time. This is the ending
<v Speaker 3>I'm showing them. I think it's just it's incredible. This
<v Speaker 3>show is brought to you by the four Finger Discount Patreon,
<v Speaker 3>where you'll find over one hundred hours of bonus podcasts,
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<v Speaker 3>join the family today at patreon dot com slash four
<v Speaker 3>finger discount. But yeah, so, as we're saying, so, she
<v Speaker 3>buys him the Leeks putting challenge. He he doesn't have
<v Speaker 3>the heart to break it to her, and we've all
<v Speaker 3>seen this ending. It's fantastic. And over the credits we
<v Speaker 3>get the Lee Carvo putting challenge, and again I love
<v Speaker 3>that they drew the parking lot as well. Yeah, but
<v Speaker 3>that is the end of March B not proud, just yeah.
<v Speaker 3>One of my favorite episodes of all time. I think
<v Speaker 3>it's my favorite Christmas episode of anything, even though it's
<v Speaker 3>not Christmas. I watched it every Christmas. I trade luck
<v Speaker 3>it's a Christmas special even though it's just set at
<v Speaker 3>Christmas time, it's not really Christmas store. Because really, you
<v Speaker 3>could have had this without the Christmas aspect to it.
<v Speaker 3>I guess couldn't you. Definitely, Yeah, that's why it works
<v Speaker 3>so well.
<v Speaker 5>But it's got Christmas things. I mean, it's good. It's
<v Speaker 5>got forgiveness, it's got family, it's got.
<v Speaker 6>All.
<v Speaker 3>It makes you feel a woman fuzzy. But I say
<v Speaker 3>this is my favorite ending of all time. Do you
<v Speaker 3>have a particular favorite ending to an episode?
<v Speaker 5>Bill?
<v Speaker 4>That's a good question. I mean, I think I like everybody.
<v Speaker 4>I really like the ending of Mother Simpson with that
<v Speaker 4>thing you know that's that's a really good one. But like, oh,
<v Speaker 4>you know what I like. I really like the ending
<v Speaker 4>of Homer the Smithers when when it says I got
<v Speaker 4>this what'd you get that for? I got it knocked
<v Speaker 4>for knocking mister Burns out the third story window?
<v Speaker 5>Did he die?
<v Speaker 4>And he says, what am I a doctor?
<v Speaker 5>Yes?
<v Speaker 4>Now that makes me laugh like crazy. That's one of
<v Speaker 4>my favorite endings, is that that line particular.
<v Speaker 5>You ever found yourself surprised by a script that was
<v Speaker 5>submitted all that had worked on that had real emotional impact,
<v Speaker 5>like the ending of Mother Simpson, for instance, But we
<v Speaker 5>didn't expect this to have the wallop that it did.
<v Speaker 4>I mean, the thing is, I'm not surprised because we
<v Speaker 4>see this, We've by the time the script is, we've
<v Speaker 4>already seen this story twenty times. We heard it the
<v Speaker 4>story retreat, We've heard the outline, we heard the story
<v Speaker 4>pitch out. So I wouldn't say I was surprised. I
<v Speaker 4>was surprised when I'm surprised the first time I hear it,
<v Speaker 4>for sure, Like the first time we heard Greg tell
<v Speaker 4>the story of Bartsell's soul, I wouldn't say I was
<v Speaker 4>surprised by the ending, but I was like, oh my god,
<v Speaker 4>that's a perfect that's a great I was very surprised
<v Speaker 4>by that story. I was surprised when Mike told us
<v Speaker 4>this story of the shoplifting, and we were like, that's
<v Speaker 4>perfect for that. So like the initial shock, I remember
<v Speaker 4>what I feel the first time I heard the story,
<v Speaker 4>even as a two sentenced version, and hopefully feel the
<v Speaker 4>audience will feel that way when they see the completed
<v Speaker 4>broadcast version.
<v Speaker 3>You've said that you come up with a lot of
<v Speaker 3>your ideas when you go for a walk getting away
<v Speaker 3>from the computer is when you think that you're your
<v Speaker 3>most creative when things come to you. Can you recall
<v Speaker 3>a moment when anic since this episode from that era,
<v Speaker 3>when you're working on it, the idea for it came
<v Speaker 3>to you. Can you remember the moment when an iconic
<v Speaker 3>story came to you and where you were and what
<v Speaker 3>you were doing.
<v Speaker 4>Yes, I remember that I came up with the idea
<v Speaker 4>for the Homer three D thing.
<v Speaker 5>Wow.
<v Speaker 4>And I remember it was in the car, because the
<v Speaker 4>thing is, I used to have a lot of time
<v Speaker 4>to drive in the car because I had a very
<v Speaker 4>long commute to the Fox lot from Pasadena where I lived,
<v Speaker 4>and it was even on a good night, it was
<v Speaker 4>forty minutes. On a bad day, it could be two hours.
<v Speaker 4>So I had a lot of time and I would
<v Speaker 4>play music and I would think about stuff, and that
<v Speaker 4>I remember that whole thing, and it was basically just
<v Speaker 4>a simple assemblage of stuff in my head. When you've
<v Speaker 4>been looking at that Little Girl Lost Twilight Zone episode
<v Speaker 4>in the book, and I was thinking like, what if
<v Speaker 4>Homer went to just like the Little Girl went to
<v Speaker 4>the fourth dimension? What if Homer went to the third dimension,
<v Speaker 4>and I remember coming up. I remember what I was
<v Speaker 4>driving on whatever, the ten Freeway in LA and when
<v Speaker 4>I came up with that, And I have a couple
<v Speaker 4>other ones like that, but that's the one that I
<v Speaker 4>most distinctively remember.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, and that's I love everything about that episode.
<v Speaker 3>It's just that you watch it now and call me crazy,
<v Speaker 3>But the visuals kind of hold up, particularly when Home
<v Speaker 3>is in the real world. That came out in nineteen
<v Speaker 3>ninety four, ninety.
<v Speaker 4>Five before Toy Story. It came out several months before
<v Speaker 4>Toy Story, which I think is a real testament to
<v Speaker 4>the fact that that was Again, also, we had no
<v Speaker 4>idea it was going to be that good. We thought
<v Speaker 4>it was going to be something that people dine on
<v Speaker 4>their home computers. Until we've got specific data images on board.
<v Speaker 4>To suddenly do it for free.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, wow, that's crazy. But just him walking down the street.
<v Speaker 3>My kids, it's one of their favorite scenes. They go,
<v Speaker 3>how is he in the real world? They were blown away.
<v Speaker 4>My kids are seven. Still it's good thirty years later,
<v Speaker 4>which is to really a testament to their great work.
<v Speaker 3>It's an incredible Yeah, and I did there's a great photo.
<v Speaker 3>Someone went to that location and took a photo of
<v Speaker 3>where it was So great, isn't it? Yeah? Alrighty well
<v Speaker 3>that is that is our review here of March being
<v Speaker 3>not Proud. Now, guy, you had a couple of questions
<v Speaker 3>for Bill before we let you go, Bill about just
<v Speaker 3>being a showrunner in general. Like, guys just really enthralled
<v Speaker 3>by the definition of what is exactly a show runner? Right?
<v Speaker 5>Well, pretty much?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 5>I mean, you know, we hear, we hear the term
<v Speaker 5>a lot, but I mean I'm just wondering about the
<v Speaker 5>actual sort of nine to five duties of a showrunner.
<v Speaker 5>I mean, now you sort of cracking whips, you giving
<v Speaker 5>shoulder rubs. I mean, that's two extremes right there, both
<v Speaker 5>job violations.
<v Speaker 3>But not anymore. They don't allow that anymore.
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, I mean, what what does the job actually entail?
<v Speaker 2>That? What?
<v Speaker 4>Certainly I can say with Josh and I we split
<v Speaker 4>the duties, but they were equivalent because we basically would
<v Speaker 4>just switch off the even and the odd episodes. But
<v Speaker 4>there's your charge of everything. The showrunner is in charge
<v Speaker 4>of everything, and obviously it's different on a live action show,
<v Speaker 4>but you're in charge of you know what's from in
<v Speaker 4>the writing aspect. It is just this part of it.
<v Speaker 4>You know, it's like what stories are we going to do,
<v Speaker 4>Who's going to write them? How are we going to
<v Speaker 4>rewrite this? What does this outline need to be improved by?
<v Speaker 4>What are we going to do? You know, what joke
<v Speaker 4>is going to go in this scene?
<v Speaker 5>What and so forth.
<v Speaker 4>Zone. So that's just the writing part, and then the animators.
<v Speaker 4>You know, you have the design is the facts. They
<v Speaker 4>used to have a fax machine in the facts over
<v Speaker 4>hundreds of designs every day. Here's a design for this character,
<v Speaker 4>this prop and so forth, and you have to go
<v Speaker 4>over them. Also storyboards which would always show up on
<v Speaker 4>the week you go home for the weekend, and you'd
<v Speaker 4>be like, oh my god, thank god, and then there'd
<v Speaker 4>be three hundred pages of storyboards you had to review
<v Speaker 4>sitting on your doorstep from film Roman and so that
<v Speaker 4>like you have to go over all that stuff. And
<v Speaker 4>then you direct the actors, you film you and you
<v Speaker 4>sit in the editing bay with the audio editor, you know,
<v Speaker 4>putting together the audio track. So this is that I
<v Speaker 4>can go on for hours, but this is what you do.
<v Speaker 4>And then you you know the same with the animatic
<v Speaker 4>comes back. You got to rewrite the animatic, you got
<v Speaker 4>to cut three minutes out of it, and then you
<v Speaker 4>and ideally you're going to be delegating this kind of
<v Speaker 4>stuff too. Fortunately for Josh and myself, we could divide
<v Speaker 4>it in half. But we also delegated it as well,
<v Speaker 4>because there's so much stuff to do. You could easily
<v Speaker 4>spend all day doing editing stuff and then nothing would
<v Speaker 4>get written in the room. So you have to have
<v Speaker 4>somebody running the room who's a trusted deputy as well.
<v Speaker 4>And then you often have a break that we broke
<v Speaker 4>it into two rooms. But like you're and you've got
<v Speaker 4>to meet with Alf Clausan to discuss the music for
<v Speaker 4>this episode. You got to meet with Travis Powers to
<v Speaker 4>discuss the sound effects for the episode. You got to
<v Speaker 4>go to the mix where all this stuff is put together,
<v Speaker 4>and so like that's and and you know that's assuming
<v Speaker 4>that you don't have any other duties outside of the show.
<v Speaker 4>So that's, uh, that's generally what you do, but you're
<v Speaker 4>interessuing the director and head writer of a movie as
<v Speaker 4>well as like you know, when you have eighty people
<v Speaker 4>that report to you with the Fox slot and you
<v Speaker 4>know three hundred at film Roman to some degree, so
<v Speaker 4>it's you're in charge of everything seasoning.
<v Speaker 5>I mentioned you would love the idea of like, this
<v Speaker 5>is a show that I adore and I love taking
<v Speaker 5>in this direction. I love having I love having my
<v Speaker 5>name on it in this regard, But at the same time,
<v Speaker 5>there's a lot of work. Always I was just another
<v Speaker 5>slob at the disk.
<v Speaker 4>As Dorothy Parker said, I hate writing, but I love
<v Speaker 4>having written. So I hate running the Simpsons, but I
<v Speaker 4>love having having run the Simpsons. So like and it
<v Speaker 4>wasn't I did I hate it at the time. I
<v Speaker 4>didn't really hate it. But it was a lot of work.
<v Speaker 4>And it was also a lot of mind numbingly repetitive
<v Speaker 4>stuff where it's just like every morning, ten o'clock, here's
<v Speaker 4>the room, the same twelve guys. We got to come
<v Speaker 4>up with a name for the agency, had to save it,
<v Speaker 4>so okay, Peyton, And as soon as you're done with that,
<v Speaker 4>there's more. There's never gonna be there's a never any
<v Speaker 4>avalanche of material to rewrite, and it's just it's not
<v Speaker 4>as fun as it might sound. Along with all that
<v Speaker 4>other stuff to do, and then you also have to think,
<v Speaker 4>like you can't just do it. You also like you
<v Speaker 4>have to also use your sixth sense of like is
<v Speaker 4>this good? You know, It's not just that you can't
<v Speaker 4>just put in the first thing that somebody pitches. You
<v Speaker 4>have to wait until somebody comes up with something that's good.
<v Speaker 4>And sometimes you have to wait long past the points
<v Speaker 4>that people think that you should have waited, where it's
<v Speaker 4>like that was good enough, that stupid name for that
<v Speaker 4>store was good enough. Let's just move on, and you're like,
<v Speaker 4>well it wasn't quite good enough. I have to stay
<v Speaker 4>and order dinner, you know. So there's a lot of
<v Speaker 4>stuff like that too.
<v Speaker 5>When you've got all these duties and they involved logistics
<v Speaker 5>and decisions and all these kind of basiness. Was there
<v Speaker 5>ever a fear between joshing and stuff like are we
<v Speaker 5>becoming suits? Were becoming execs? See that there was never
<v Speaker 5>that thing like, no, we.
<v Speaker 4>Were completely divorced from that world. No, we were completely
<v Speaker 4>divorced from that world.
<v Speaker 3>Did you ever have when you have days where you
<v Speaker 3>spend hours and hours and hours trying to come up
<v Speaker 3>with a site, gag or a name for something, and
<v Speaker 3>maybe you couldn't even come up with anything that you're
<v Speaker 3>happy with, would you say those days as unproductive.
<v Speaker 4>We started as a new thing. This was not really
<v Speaker 4>done to my knowledge that much in before season seven,
<v Speaker 4>but we started a thing where people we would when
<v Speaker 4>that kind of thing came up, we would take it
<v Speaker 4>out of the room so like we'd see everybody, you know,
<v Speaker 4>we'd send three people to go to another room and
<v Speaker 4>do it, or we'd see everybody come in with a
<v Speaker 4>list of ten funny signs for tomorrow or whatever. So
<v Speaker 4>that and then we started doing that in all our
<v Speaker 4>future shows, and it worked a lot better than having
<v Speaker 4>the whole crew sitting there in the room trying to
<v Speaker 4>think of the stuff. We just assigned it to a
<v Speaker 4>small group. We'd farm it out somehow so that we
<v Speaker 4>wouldn't get the momentum, wouldn't completely die.
<v Speaker 3>How did you kill that rut? Was he saying to
<v Speaker 3>just go for a walk? Does he say to get
<v Speaker 3>out of the room? Because sometimes you're sitting in and
<v Speaker 3>you go, I know there's an idea here. I can't
<v Speaker 3>I just grab it? Why I know I can say it?
<v Speaker 3>Why can I reach it?
<v Speaker 4>That's really more of a problem individual writer problem. You know,
<v Speaker 4>the show running the room running is a totally different
<v Speaker 4>animal for that. For what you're describing, yes, taking a walk,
<v Speaker 4>but that's when you're sitting in your computer trying to write.
<v Speaker 4>The room running thing is more like, you know, you've
<v Speaker 4>got a whole team of people there and it's you
<v Speaker 4>have to guide them into coming up with what you want.
<v Speaker 3>They were looking to you as well, Yeah, did you
<v Speaker 3>have a struggle with the role of having to be
<v Speaker 3>the boss of your peers, people who you had worked with?
<v Speaker 4>And let's just say that people comedy writers of all
<v Speaker 4>types are the most generous type. Would thing to say
<v Speaker 4>would be the we're they're weirdos. They're the comedy writers.
<v Speaker 4>There aren't that many comedy writers who are like Dick
<v Speaker 4>van Dyke in The Dick Van Dyke Show. They are.
<v Speaker 4>Many of them are extremely opinionated, many of them are loud,
<v Speaker 4>many of them are you know, have issues of other
<v Speaker 4>personal issues of some sort. So managing people is part
<v Speaker 4>is a part of the job. And managing people well
<v Speaker 4>is is hard. And I don't know that weird that
<v Speaker 4>we're I think we did a pretty good job of it,
<v Speaker 4>but that's because we often divided people and we divided
<v Speaker 4>it into groups. We know, we know this guy's in
<v Speaker 4>a bad mood, so let's put him in this other
<v Speaker 4>room today or whatever, and things like thatself like yeah
<v Speaker 4>or or yeah or reduced that kind of thing. And
<v Speaker 4>and so we try to manage people. We divide up
<v Speaker 4>the rooms so that we had an effective group. This
<v Speaker 4>guy is a guy, better story guy, This is a
<v Speaker 4>guy is a funnier joke guy. Let's try to divide
<v Speaker 4>them up like that. So we tried. I think we tried,
<v Speaker 4>and I think Jen generally did a pretty good job
<v Speaker 4>of managing the people. I think, but who knows?
<v Speaker 5>Did you end your tenure showrun as a guy? We
<v Speaker 5>can do anything now, you know we've got our skill
<v Speaker 5>set or our tool kit has just been enhanced to
<v Speaker 5>an incredible degree, or did you just build the same
<v Speaker 5>as you ever did?
<v Speaker 4>I feel like, well, the thing about it is that
<v Speaker 4>you don't want you leave the Simpsons. It's a hard
<v Speaker 4>it's a rude awakening because the Simpsons is the most
<v Speaker 4>protected TV environment you could ever possibly have. And the
<v Speaker 4>moment you go out and it's like, we're going to
<v Speaker 4>try to pitch our thing to CBS, they don't give
<v Speaker 4>a shit that you ran the Simpsons. They didn't watch
<v Speaker 4>the Simpsons. They like the mat about you much better,
<v Speaker 4>and you're gonna go. So once you get into the
<v Speaker 4>harsh realities of the regular part of TV business, you
<v Speaker 4>realize how much it sucks. And that is actually say,
<v Speaker 4>that's probably what Josh met when he said that he
<v Speaker 4>didn't we regretted leaving the simstence because The Simpsons is
<v Speaker 4>the most protected creative environment anyone could ever have, and
<v Speaker 4>the rest of Hollywood is a ruthless shark tank and
<v Speaker 4>trying to be out there and trying to sell stuff
<v Speaker 4>to to TV networks is no fun.
<v Speaker 3>Do you feel like you lost touch with the real
<v Speaker 3>well to an extent when you went to The Simpsons
<v Speaker 3>living in.
<v Speaker 4>That bubble, Yeah, but I think it meant the show's better.
<v Speaker 4>I mean, I spent on the weekends. We never worked
<v Speaker 4>on the weekend. Despite that that we worked late, we
<v Speaker 4>never worked on the weekends, so I you know, I
<v Speaker 4>did would spend my weekend doing regular stuff like going
<v Speaker 4>to Target or whatever, you know, going to the beach
<v Speaker 4>and things like that. So I tried to stay more
<v Speaker 4>in touch. I tried to stay in touch with the
<v Speaker 4>regular world to the extent that I could.
<v Speaker 3>Did the Workloine ever impact home life.
<v Speaker 4>Not too much, because we didn't have any kids back then.
<v Speaker 4>Neither of us had any kids back then, and so
<v Speaker 4>we worked late, but we didn't also the ones. We
<v Speaker 4>were the ones calling the shots as to how late
<v Speaker 4>we worked. So that was a little bit better than
<v Speaker 4>being in our employee thing, our employee who was at
<v Speaker 4>our mercy.
<v Speaker 3>We always there if someone was at the studio working.
<v Speaker 3>Did you make sure that either you were Joshua there
<v Speaker 3>as well, or would you say we're going home. You
<v Speaker 3>guys stick around till you find a gay.
<v Speaker 4>We never do this for the Raiders. That would be
<v Speaker 4>an immediate rebellion if you were to do that. But no,
<v Speaker 4>I mean we didn't stay there if the editor was working.
<v Speaker 4>We kept the hours that the Raiders kept generally, but
<v Speaker 4>then we'd aways to stay for an hour or two
<v Speaker 4>to edit afterwards.
<v Speaker 3>And before we go, Bill, did you have a chance
<v Speaker 3>to put together that marathon that I've pitched to you?
<v Speaker 4>I wanted to know whether I know. I only kind
<v Speaker 4>of partially did it because I wanted to know whether
<v Speaker 4>I was supposed to be picking episodes that the public
<v Speaker 4>would like, or is this a marathon just for me?
<v Speaker 6>This is you?
<v Speaker 3>So no one knows that Bill Oakley is going this
<v Speaker 3>is going to be a Bill Oakley marathon. It's just
<v Speaker 3>Fox have said put together a five episode marathon that
<v Speaker 3>you think I guess you could say that I think
<v Speaker 3>the public's going to enjoy. But it's more your personal
<v Speaker 3>preference as well. One that you would that you think
<v Speaker 3>you would enjoy.
<v Speaker 4>Okay, it would be Radio Boat, it would be Homer
<v Speaker 4>the Heretic, it would be twenty two short films, it
<v Speaker 4>would be the beast Ball episode, and it would be Homer,
<v Speaker 4>the Smithers Home the Smithers.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, we recently revisited that one with a local comedian. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>we've got how fantastic that episode was just so great.
<v Speaker 3>Very confident in your choices there, Bill, it's almost like
<v Speaker 3>you've done it before I can put some thought into this.
<v Speaker 3>But thank you again, Bill for your time here. It's
<v Speaker 3>always great having you on the show. You one of
<v Speaker 3>our favorite guests and you one of my favorite Simpsons people,
<v Speaker 3>So thank you so much for joining us. But before
<v Speaker 3>we go, I'll let you go plug all of your socials.
<v Speaker 3>So where can we find steam Ham Society and where
<v Speaker 3>should we be looking for? All the best Bill Oakley content.
<v Speaker 4>That Bill Oakley on Instagram and Twitter, Instagram for the
<v Speaker 4>food content. Join the steamdam Society if you care to
<v Speaker 4>Steamedamssociety dot com. It's discord and then you can ask
<v Speaker 4>me all the Simpsons questions you want as a paying
<v Speaker 4>customer Simpsons channel there, and then you know, if you
<v Speaker 4>are in America, go to Bill Oakley dot com. That's
<v Speaker 4>where all my food stuff is and you will see
<v Speaker 4>the list of upcoming events. We have events starting up
<v Speaker 4>the series of events in Portland, Baltimore, Honolulu, Houston, and
<v Speaker 4>so forth for next year, and there should be at
<v Speaker 4>least fifteen or twenty other ones as well as one
<v Speaker 4>in Canada.
<v Speaker 3>Let's find a sponsor to get you dan under as well.
<v Speaker 4>What do you reckon one hundred percent behind that quantus?
<v Speaker 4>If you're listening, we can definitely work something out.
<v Speaker 3>All right, Thank you again, Bill, and hope you have
<v Speaker 3>a fantastic Christmas.
<v Speaker 5>Thank you Bill, you too,