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Episode 999: The Simpsons Spectacular Part I · Stuff You Should Know

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff you should know from how Stuff Works
0:04
Speaker 1: dot com. M Hey, and welcome to The Simpsons, I
0:32
Speaker 1: mean the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's Charles w. Chuck Bryant,
0:37
Speaker 1: there's Jerry over there, and this is Chuck episode. Yeah. Well,
0:44
Speaker 1: you know how I think of this. I think of
0:46
Speaker 1: it as one thousand, just a big fat one thousand
0:51
Speaker 1: that had to leak on to two days. It actually
0:55
Speaker 1: leaked back in time. How amazing is that? Yeah, because
0:58
Speaker 1: we have to do a two parter because upon looking
1:01
Speaker 1: at this research and this topic, very special topic for
1:05
Speaker 1: us for the show, we realized it had to be
1:07
Speaker 1: a two parter and rather than do one thousand and
1:11
Speaker 1: one thousand one, what kind of person would do that?
1:13
Speaker 1: An unwholesome person. Yeah, yeah, okay, so this is episode
1:18
Speaker 1: in your view, it's it's really just part of episode
1:20
Speaker 1: one thousand. I'm with you on that. Yes, can you
1:23
Speaker 1: believe that? I, you know what Chuck up until today?
1:27
Speaker 1: I could totally believe it. But the fact that we're
1:31
Speaker 1: doing The Simpsons for our thousandth episode, it just it
1:35
Speaker 1: drove everything home, Like all the gear teeth fell right
1:38
Speaker 1: into place, and now the gears are spinning in sync
1:42
Speaker 1: and I can feel it and I'm amazed. Yeah. So, uh,
1:45
Speaker 1: we just wanted to acknowledge the one thousand here up front,
1:48
Speaker 1: and I think frankly, we're doing that because we're both
1:51
Speaker 1: so excited about doing this. I think I should tell
1:56
Speaker 1: people what you emailed earlier. We were furiously sending links
1:59
Speaker 1: back fourth this week and you said, Uh, I don't
2:03
Speaker 1: even want to record, I just want to keep researching
2:06
Speaker 1: the Simpsons forever. It's true. Man. Last night, Chuck, I
2:12
Speaker 1: was sitting there watching Simpsons episodes and I thought, well,
2:16
Speaker 1: this is the pinnacle of my career. I am literally
2:19
Speaker 1: being paid to watch the Simpsons. Yeah, and we just
2:25
Speaker 1: had to stop, Like Eveen, we could have done this
2:27
Speaker 1: for weeks and researched, and this could be uh an
2:31
Speaker 1: entire podcast and into itself with a thousand episodes. Well
2:36
Speaker 1: maybe not a thousand, close to it, but at some
2:41
Speaker 1: point we had to stop. So just know, if we
2:44
Speaker 1: didn't cover your favorite thing from the show that's been
2:47
Speaker 1: on for thirty years, or or if we're not referring
2:51
Speaker 1: to episodes under their specific naming convention, yeah, calm down, Yeah,
2:56
Speaker 1: it's just impossible. So we're gonna do our best here
3:00
Speaker 1: to talk about some of our favorite stuff and a
3:01
Speaker 1: little bit about how the show works. But here we go, right, Oh, man,
3:07
Speaker 1: let's do it. This is like an actual intro. Yes,
3:14
Speaker 1: that was an actual response, So Chuck, yes, have you
3:20
Speaker 1: ever seen the Simpsons? I have, sir, you caught it
3:26
Speaker 1: back from the beginning, like that was right in our wheelhouse,
3:29
Speaker 1: maybe even yours a little more than mine. Yeah, And uh,
3:33
Speaker 1: I mean, let's we should go ahead and just talk
3:35
Speaker 1: for a moment about episode one because I have a
3:38
Speaker 1: very distinct memory, which is I'm in high school. It's
3:41
Speaker 1: my senior year. Chris Bouten, my friend and future roommate
3:46
Speaker 1: in college, calls me Boots Bouten, and he says, dude,
3:51
Speaker 1: have you and I have to admit I did not
3:54
Speaker 1: see the Tracy Almond shorts, So let's get that out
3:57
Speaker 1: of the way right now. They were bizarre. Yeah, and
3:59
Speaker 1: this is that's where the show began. As most people know,
4:01
Speaker 1: is a little short animated bits in the Tracy Ellman Show.
4:05
Speaker 1: But Chris Bootin calls me episodes Man, I'm coming over.
4:08
Speaker 1: I'm meeting you in the basement, opened the back door.
4:11
Speaker 1: I have a VHS of this show called The Simpsons
4:14
Speaker 1: you gotta see it, and he met me over there.
4:17
Speaker 1: It was winter, it was December. Well it aired on
4:22
Speaker 1: the seventeenth, but I have a feeling this was the
4:26
Speaker 1: next day probably, and Booting came over and we watched
4:30
Speaker 1: the very first episode, which was Santa's Little Helper, and
4:34
Speaker 1: we cried tears of joy and laughter, and my life
4:39
Speaker 1: went on a different course. Yeah, I Boots did not
4:43
Speaker 1: visit my house personally with the video. We didn't call
4:46
Speaker 1: him Boots by the video because well I'm calling him
4:48
Speaker 1: Boots nickname Boots. That's classic Boots by the way to
4:53
Speaker 1: show up in the basement. Um. But he, uh, he
4:57
Speaker 1: did not come to my house. But I did see
4:59
Speaker 1: that one, and I think Guy saw it when it
5:00
Speaker 1: aired actually, and I remember watching the Tracy Ullman shorts
5:04
Speaker 1: too and just being like, what the hell is this.
5:08
Speaker 1: But then by the time I think the Tracy Ullman
5:10
Speaker 1: Show and we'll get a little more into it, that
5:12
Speaker 1: one started in seven, um and the actual show started
5:16
Speaker 1: in eighty nine. So between those two points they really
5:19
Speaker 1: like it really started to come together to where that
5:22
Speaker 1: first episode where Homer finds out he's not getting a
5:25
Speaker 1: Christmas bonus, so he gets a job secretly as a
5:29
Speaker 1: mall Santa and ends up taking his check to the
5:32
Speaker 1: dog track and betting it all and losing it all
5:34
Speaker 1: on Santa's a Little Helper, which was the dog right,
5:37
Speaker 1: But then he ends up with Santa a Little Helper,
5:39
Speaker 1: so he gets what he was after all along, which
5:42
Speaker 1: is a great Christmas present for his family. What a
5:45
Speaker 1: beautiful episode, right, Yeah, And interestingly that first episode was
5:49
Speaker 1: really the eighth one to be made, but they ran
5:53
Speaker 1: that one first, so uh, there were there were some
5:56
Speaker 1: weird differences like the show. Actually, originally I think Matt
5:59
Speaker 1: Gray thought it would be redrawn a little more slickly,
6:04
Speaker 1: but they just traced over his original drawing. So the
6:06
Speaker 1: animation was fairly crude in this episode. And then you'll
6:11
Speaker 1: notice an episode two it actually looks a little bit better. Um,
6:14
Speaker 1: and you know, the Simpson still looks like the Simpsons,
6:17
Speaker 1: but that early episode and kind of the whole first
6:20
Speaker 1: season was a little more crude in drawing and voice. Uh.
6:24
Speaker 1: And the pilot was the only episode missing that very
6:27
Speaker 1: famous opening sequence, which we'll talk about a little bit later.
6:30
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it wasn't it like a cold opening or
6:32
Speaker 1: something like that. I can't remember exactly how, but it
6:34
Speaker 1: didn't feature the iconic opening that we all know and
6:38
Speaker 1: love today. Um So, where shall we start, Chuck? I mean,
6:42
Speaker 1: I guess we kind of just did start. Yeah, and
6:45
Speaker 1: I think I already made a mistake about what well
6:48
Speaker 1: Sante's Little Hope would In the name of the episode,
6:50
Speaker 1: it was Simpsons roasting on an open fire. Yeah, so
6:53
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, that's the one that you were
6:55
Speaker 1: you were talking about, you know, yeah, but I'm just
6:57
Speaker 1: I know that like probably thousand people just slam their
7:01
Speaker 1: laptot shut. But that's what I'm saying, Everybody, chill out.
7:05
Speaker 1: That's not what this episode is about. We're not trying
7:07
Speaker 1: to show you how little you know. That's right. Ed
7:13
Speaker 1: the Grabster Grabanowski wrote this article. Actually this one was
7:16
Speaker 1: written by Unedd Grabanowski. If you ask me, why did
7:19
Speaker 1: you say that? Because it was it wasn't like five
7:22
Speaker 1: times as long as it should have been. No, I
7:24
Speaker 1: can't remember who who calls himself that for every Treehouse
7:28
Speaker 1: of Horror, but there's a D and they call themselves uned,
7:32
Speaker 1: so I thought that was probably I'm really surprised he
7:35
Speaker 1: didn't actually get that as his byline for this it's
7:37
Speaker 1: a nice estery there, my friend. Yeah. Uh, and then
7:40
Speaker 1: we did just I mean, so much supplementary information. It's
7:44
Speaker 1: sort of ridiculous. Yeah, but this is like a special
7:46
Speaker 1: request from us, wasn't it. Oh yeah, we said, go forth,
7:49
Speaker 1: grabster and write the well right the oh okay, right there,
7:56
Speaker 1: Well there were two ease in that the yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
8:00
Speaker 1: I should have noticed by the flourish of your hand
8:02
Speaker 1: what you were saying. All right, So let's go back
8:04
Speaker 1: to uh Simpsons creator one Mr Matt Greening, and we
8:08
Speaker 1: have actually met him, and we will talk about that
8:10
Speaker 1: in a little bit. Life highlight for sure. But he
8:14
Speaker 1: had a comic strip called Life and Hell, and I
8:17
Speaker 1: think the original conceit to pitch to producer James L. Brooks.
8:22
Speaker 1: Seven was a cartoon version of that. Ed writes in
8:26
Speaker 1: here he thought it would be a failure, but I
8:28
Speaker 1: read that he wasn't too keen on signing away sort
8:32
Speaker 1: of the thing he had worked on all his life.
8:35
Speaker 1: So he changed his mind at the last minute and thought,
8:37
Speaker 1: of the Simpsons. That's awesome. That sounds the second one
8:40
Speaker 1: sounds much more like Matt Graining for sure. Yeah, And
8:43
Speaker 1: he had he had no idea that would make him
8:44
Speaker 1: a super rich gazillion are either. But if you if
8:48
Speaker 1: you um know that story. The fact that the Simpsons
8:51
Speaker 1: started out on Tracy Ullman makes sense because James Brooks,
8:55
Speaker 1: who himself is a pretty like bona fide cool guy
8:58
Speaker 1: right here the married Tyler Moore shown directed terms of endearment. Um,
9:04
Speaker 1: he produced Bottle Rocket. Um. Yeah, you could say he
9:07
Speaker 1: has an eye for amazing things for sure. So he
9:10
Speaker 1: had come across this life and How strip and and
9:13
Speaker 1: wanted to basically turn it into animated shorts for the
9:16
Speaker 1: Tracy Woman Show, but then Graining swapped it out at
9:18
Speaker 1: the at the pitch meeting and said let's do this instead.
9:21
Speaker 1: But I think either way, he came up with the
9:24
Speaker 1: characters and the idea fairly on the fly, right Yeah,
9:27
Speaker 1: I mean obviously wasn't like while he was waiting outside
9:30
Speaker 1: of the pitch meeting, but h what he came up with.
9:33
Speaker 1: And if you haven't seen the Simpsons, maybe you should
9:35
Speaker 1: go watch an episode or two. Crawl up from under
9:38
Speaker 1: the rock that you're and go watch one. But obviously
9:43
Speaker 1: we should at least say what it is. And it
9:44
Speaker 1: is a sort of a traditional sitcom about um, and
9:49
Speaker 1: follows the sitcom conventions in many ways of a family, uh,
9:53
Speaker 1: living together under a roof who encounter fun hijinks along
9:58
Speaker 1: the way. Yeah, and um, that's kind of the subtext
10:02
Speaker 1: for the whole or the pretext I should say, for
10:04
Speaker 1: the whole series. Right, it's like it's a sitcom, it's
10:07
Speaker 1: a family sitcom. But there's a couple of big differences
10:10
Speaker 1: with it right there. Um, it's animated, which is huge
10:15
Speaker 1: because it's a it was a price. It became in
10:17
Speaker 1: nine a primetime animated series, and it was the first
10:21
Speaker 1: one since I think nineteen seventy two where Wait Till
10:25
Speaker 1: You're nineteen seventy four where Wait Till Your Father Gets
10:28
Speaker 1: Home went off the air. Did you ever see that show?
10:31
Speaker 1: It was like a proto family Guy basically, um, from
10:35
Speaker 1: the early seventies, and it was actually super entertaining. And
10:38
Speaker 1: then before that, of course, there was The flint Stones,
10:40
Speaker 1: but those were like the two big primetime animated series
10:44
Speaker 1: before the Simpsons. But there's a good, you know, twentysomething
10:48
Speaker 1: thirties something year lull in between those and the Simpsons.
10:52
Speaker 1: So that was a big difference in and of itself. Well,
10:56
Speaker 1: it's easy to take for granted. Now with the advent
10:58
Speaker 1: of like Cartoon Network in Adult Swim and Family Guy
11:02
Speaker 1: in Futurama, which also from graining. Yeah, I mean, there's
11:05
Speaker 1: just an explosion of animation. Right. You've got you know,
11:09
Speaker 1: starting back with Beavis and butt Head that was a
11:12
Speaker 1: descendant of The Simpsons, and then of course you've got
11:15
Speaker 1: King of the Hill, uh South Park. Um, today you've
11:21
Speaker 1: got Rick and Morty. Have you seen Rick and Morty?
11:23
Speaker 1: I haven't yet. Everyone I'm remiss. Everyone said it's the greatest.
11:28
Speaker 1: It is, it's the greatest, and man, it's one of
11:30
Speaker 1: those it's under the same thing that The Simpsons was
11:32
Speaker 1: initially taken for where you know, there's a lot of belching,
11:35
Speaker 1: so people are like, this is low brown. It's like, no,
11:37
Speaker 1: look past it to what they're actually doing. It's insanely
11:41
Speaker 1: smart and and really entertaining too. Like it's, um, it's
11:46
Speaker 1: laugh out loud funny in a lot of parts. I
11:47
Speaker 1: think we've kind of proven that we can be smart
11:50
Speaker 1: and still make part jokes. Sure, and and Rick and
11:53
Speaker 1: Morty is doing the same thing. And by the way, um,
11:55
Speaker 1: you know they listened to us, right Rick and Morty, Yeah,
11:58
Speaker 1: I remember they sent us that aunt's book and it
12:00
Speaker 1: had that was the Rick and Morty people. Yeah, so
12:05
Speaker 1: thanks again for that, guys. That's a treasured possession. Well
12:08
Speaker 1: I'm definitely watching now. Yeah, all the adult quote unquote
12:13
Speaker 1: uh cartoons that we see. But it was revolutionary at
12:17
Speaker 1: the time. I mean Flint Stone's aside, Like you said,
12:20
Speaker 1: it had been a long time and it was quite
12:23
Speaker 1: literally leveled the TV industry because it was such a
12:27
Speaker 1: smash hit right out of the gate. That's right, Yeah,
12:29
Speaker 1: I know, it was huge, right, um, and a lot
12:32
Speaker 1: of things came together for it. Um the fact that
12:36
Speaker 1: that James L. Brooks got in touch with the man Craning.
12:38
Speaker 1: That was a bit of a fluke because he got
12:40
Speaker 1: in touch with them for a different reason, but also
12:42
Speaker 1: because it was a show on Fox and Fox was
12:44
Speaker 1: just starting out as a network and they were looking
12:48
Speaker 1: to make waves. So at the time you had basically here,
12:52
Speaker 1: So here's what the Simpsons were up against in family
12:56
Speaker 1: sitcom wise. You ready for this? Um My two Dads,
13:01
Speaker 1: Major Dad, Mr Belvedere, who's the Boss, Hogan, Family Family Matters,
13:07
Speaker 1: Growing Pains, The Cosby Show, Full House, and like that
13:13
Speaker 1: was what family sitcoms or TV sitcoms in general were
13:18
Speaker 1: at the time, and you had Roseanne. Roseanne had been
13:20
Speaker 1: on for a couple of years already, and it had
13:22
Speaker 1: shaken things up some for sure, but for the most part,
13:26
Speaker 1: like this was America was this um, clean and tidy,
13:30
Speaker 1: wholesome place where everything was just peachy keen and all
13:36
Speaker 1: the problems that a family encounter were about as superficial
13:39
Speaker 1: as you could possibly come across. And this was the
13:42
Speaker 1: other big thing about The Simpsons, and it actually went
13:45
Speaker 1: really well, at least superficially with married with Children, which
13:50
Speaker 1: was that family wholesome sitcom spawn onto its very gritty,
13:56
Speaker 1: dirty underbelly. Right. Uh. The Pons was initially compared to
14:01
Speaker 1: that same kind of thing because they were both on
14:03
Speaker 1: Fox and they both like kind of took the family
14:05
Speaker 1: sitcom and turned it on its head. But it took
14:08
Speaker 1: a minute but not too long for people to start noticing,
14:11
Speaker 1: oh wait, actually this is really subversive satire. And that
14:15
Speaker 1: was the big thing that I think initially gave the Simpsons.
14:21
Speaker 1: It's it's it's base for to keep going for thirty seasons. Yeah,
14:26
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember when Fox first came out and
14:28
Speaker 1: it was like that, what, there's a fourth TV channel.
14:32
Speaker 1: I know it was a big deal. It was a
14:33
Speaker 1: big deal. And their thing from the beginning was, you know,
14:35
Speaker 1: we're gonna be edgy, We're gonna be different. This is
14:38
Speaker 1: this is not your mom and Dad's TV. And like
14:41
Speaker 1: you said, Mary with Children and the Simpsons firmly put
14:44
Speaker 1: them on a different track. Uh. And it was funny
14:47
Speaker 1: when you were just going through all the shows like
14:49
Speaker 1: they they were no more edgy than since TV's inception,
14:55
Speaker 1: and it might it might as well have been, well
14:57
Speaker 1: maybe a little more edgy than like be Re Cleaver
14:59
Speaker 1: and Sean Harriet, but not too far off. For the
15:02
Speaker 1: most part. TV was kind of the same for decades
15:06
Speaker 1: when it came to family sitcoms. Yeah, so the Simpsons
15:10
Speaker 1: was just this is not overstating it. It was a
15:13
Speaker 1: cultural revolution in every way. It definitely was. And it
15:17
Speaker 1: it took up like this already kind of nascent revolution
15:20
Speaker 1: and from Roseanne and from Mary with Children, but it
15:24
Speaker 1: was different, man, it was like it was it was
15:26
Speaker 1: its own thing and still is today. And again, like
15:30
Speaker 1: you were saying, it's easy to look back and be like, well, yeah,
15:32
Speaker 1: i mean animated, really smart, subversive satirical shows like they're
15:39
Speaker 1: they're a diamond dozen is a weird way to put it,
15:42
Speaker 1: but it's true, like they're all over the place. Now,
15:45
Speaker 1: that's because the Simpsons came along. It's as simple as that. Yeah.
15:48
Speaker 1: So the early episodes um in the In the first
15:51
Speaker 1: couple of seasons, Bart Simpson, uh was sort of the
15:55
Speaker 1: star of the show as far as pop culture goes.
15:58
Speaker 1: I mean, he was front and enter, he was on
16:00
Speaker 1: every T shirt. Every kid was saying eat my shorts,
16:04
Speaker 1: every kid was talking back to their teachers more, and
16:08
Speaker 1: it created quite a ruckuss in schools. I know that
16:11
Speaker 1: some of the T shirts were banned in certain school districts. Yeah.
16:15
Speaker 1: The Underachiever and proud of It man, Yeah, that one
16:18
Speaker 1: was banned and I think I'm Bart Simpson, who the
16:21
Speaker 1: hell are you? Yeah, But it wasn't long before it
16:26
Speaker 1: became pretty clear that it was an ensemble show for
16:30
Speaker 1: one and sort of Homer's show, let's be honest. Yeah,
16:36
Speaker 1: ultimately ended up that way in large part. He he
16:39
Speaker 1: became the central character, didn't he. Yeah, I would say easily.
16:43
Speaker 1: But then, I mean, we'll go through a lot of
16:45
Speaker 1: these characters, if not all of them, because we don't
16:47
Speaker 1: have time to read like five people's names, right, but
16:51
Speaker 1: it ended up being like a memorial or something. I know.
16:54
Speaker 1: But the Simpsons side characters and the guest characters have
16:56
Speaker 1: become just as beloved as uh as the fane of
17:00
Speaker 1: of course, Homer and Marge and Lisa and Bart and
17:04
Speaker 1: little Maggie. Absolutely. Do you want to take our first break? Yeah? Yeah,
17:10
Speaker 1: let's we're so excited. Let's go ahead and take a
17:11
Speaker 1: break real quick and calm down. All right, we're back.
17:34
Speaker 1: So the earliest clips of the Simpsons were animated by
17:38
Speaker 1: a different studio than they used now and have used
17:40
Speaker 1: for many years. It's called class Key Suppo or Cupo
17:45
Speaker 1: zupo c s u p oh. I'm not sure how
17:48
Speaker 1: they pronounced it, but they were all, of course based
17:50
Speaker 1: on Matt Greening's original sketches that had these yellow skinned characters,
17:55
Speaker 1: very bright primary color palette. Uh. And it became a
17:58
Speaker 1: little more refined over the year, SUPs, we said, but
18:01
Speaker 1: it's um it never approached like a slick looking animation
18:06
Speaker 1: by any means. No, No, the earliest stuff definitely not.
18:09
Speaker 1: And they were with I think it's class Key Zupo,
18:12
Speaker 1: I'm not sure, but they were with them for two
18:14
Speaker 1: years and and despite this stuff being really rough and
18:18
Speaker 1: like kind of hard to watch even if you if
18:21
Speaker 1: you look at it now. Um, they gave the Simpsons
18:24
Speaker 1: like their yellow skin, Marge's blue hair, and supposedly Matt
18:28
Speaker 1: graening Um when he saw the yellow skin tone palette
18:32
Speaker 1: for the Simpsons skin colors, he was like, that is perfect.
18:37
Speaker 1: Like when somebody's like clicking through the channels real quick,
18:40
Speaker 1: their eyes going to is gonna catch that and they're
18:42
Speaker 1: gonna stop because the Simpsons are on and they're gonna
18:45
Speaker 1: watch it. So apparently that's where the yellow came from.
18:48
Speaker 1: It was kind of a fluke, but they went with
18:50
Speaker 1: it just because it was so catchy. That's great idea.
18:53
Speaker 1: But then after I think two years, they moved over
18:56
Speaker 1: to something called film Roman or film Roman. I've never
18:59
Speaker 1: heard it actually really set out loud, but they they
19:02
Speaker 1: were the ones who, starting in and think season two
19:05
Speaker 1: or three, really gave the Simpsons it's defined look that
19:09
Speaker 1: stayed for years and years and years. Yeah. I remember
19:12
Speaker 1: Homer's voice early on sounded a little bit different too. Yeah,
19:15
Speaker 1: you know, I mean the same guy. It was Dan Castlenetta,
19:18
Speaker 1: but just uh was not the same Homer's voice that
19:21
Speaker 1: we know and love today. No, it was much gruffer.
19:24
Speaker 1: Plus his dialogue two was way more I mean it
19:27
Speaker 1: really was much more about Bart and Homer was way
19:30
Speaker 1: angrier and like he strangled barred it like the drop
19:33
Speaker 1: of a hat. That was like a go to gag.
19:36
Speaker 1: So this the show is still really smart compared to
19:40
Speaker 1: Who's the Boss, But compared to you know, later seasons
19:45
Speaker 1: of The Simpsons, it was really just it's rough by comparison,
19:48
Speaker 1: for sure. Don't not go boss too much though, I
19:51
Speaker 1: mean it's fine, too fine show. But man, it wasn't
19:53
Speaker 1: smart satire. You put it, you put it Who's the
19:55
Speaker 1: Boss episode up against like a season seven episode of
19:59
Speaker 1: The Simpsons. Mr. The Boss is not going to win
20:02
Speaker 1: that one. Yeah, they're not the Boss. I mean, like
20:04
Speaker 1: even Tony Danes. It will tell you that. So let's
20:09
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about the main cast and the crew. Uh.
20:12
Speaker 1: In those early years, Um, of course, Matt Graining was
20:16
Speaker 1: around from the beginning, and James L. Brooks of course.
20:20
Speaker 1: Then there was a man, uh, the dearly departed Sam Simon,
20:23
Speaker 1: who was an EP on the show from the early days. Uh,
20:26
Speaker 1: and the great Al Jean has been the show runner
20:29
Speaker 1: since the thirteenth season. Um, but I'm pretty sure he
20:32
Speaker 1: was around before that, right, I didn't exactly look at
20:34
Speaker 1: when he joined up. I believe he was an early
20:37
Speaker 1: producer as well, Okay, but eventually rose to showrunner. Bill Oakley.
20:41
Speaker 1: Josh Weinstein and Mike Scully ran the show previous to
20:44
Speaker 1: that during the first twelve seasons. We cannot list all
20:48
Speaker 1: the writers. It would be impossible, No, but some some
20:51
Speaker 1: made some pretty huge contributions. Yeah, like George Meyer and
20:56
Speaker 1: John Schwartzwelder are generally given credit to kind of defining
21:03
Speaker 1: who these characters were from the early days. Yeah, the worldview,
21:06
Speaker 1: the jokes they would make, the fact that and this
21:09
Speaker 1: is another huge thing that we take for granted today
21:11
Speaker 1: that The Simpsons really established was referential humor, like making
21:16
Speaker 1: making fun of, um, you know, film literature, trends, whatever,
21:22
Speaker 1: not necessarily part of the plot, but just part of
21:24
Speaker 1: a joke maybe or something like that, or in addition,
21:26
Speaker 1: a little layer just to make the whole, the whole
21:29
Speaker 1: idea that was being put across that much more palatable.
21:32
Speaker 1: They really kind of blew that out, and that was
21:34
Speaker 1: thanks to that early brain trust you just mentioned of
21:37
Speaker 1: people who established the show for for what it's what
21:40
Speaker 1: it was, Yeah, I mean it was a blueprint and
21:43
Speaker 1: everyone that that came along afterward sort of had their
21:47
Speaker 1: show Bible thanks to these people. Yes, you know which
21:51
Speaker 1: if you look up show Bible, there's this there's one
21:54
Speaker 1: episode that just screws up any Google search for that.
21:57
Speaker 1: There was the Simpsons Bible Stories episode, which was a
22:00
Speaker 1: stinker anyway, but it sucks because now you can't find
22:03
Speaker 1: any examples of this show Bible must exist somewhere. I
22:07
Speaker 1: don't know if you could find that online. You can
22:09
Speaker 1: find the style Guide examples online though, Yeah, for sure. Uh.
22:13
Speaker 1: And of course we got to mention Conan O'Brien because
22:15
Speaker 1: he very famously worked for a couple of years on
22:17
Speaker 1: The Simpsons. I think it's credited with four or five episodes, uh,
22:21
Speaker 1: including one of the all time classics, Marge versus the Monorail,
22:26
Speaker 1: which Conan has still talks about that being one of
22:28
Speaker 1: his great career achievements is writing that episode. I can imagine,
22:31
Speaker 1: because not only was a great episode, but you got
22:33
Speaker 1: to write and then Phil Hartman brought your stuff to
22:36
Speaker 1: life man like that was a big one. All right. Well,
22:39
Speaker 1: speaking of Phil Hartman, let's start talking about the cast,
22:43
Speaker 1: because this is gonna this is gonna take a little while.
22:46
Speaker 1: Are you ready. So, so, there's hundreds of characters in
22:52
Speaker 1: the Simpsons universe, but really a lot of them, a
22:56
Speaker 1: lot of them boil down to the voices of just
22:58
Speaker 1: six people. Yeah, so, um, two of them focus almost
23:04
Speaker 1: exclusively on just one character each. Julie Kavner does Marge,
23:08
Speaker 1: but then she also obviously does Marge's sisters Patty and
23:11
Speaker 1: Selma and her mom Jacqueline in one episode, Yeah, the
23:15
Speaker 1: Bouvier's yea. And then you'rd Lee Smith does just Lisa
23:19
Speaker 1: for the for the show. Yeah, and she's the only
23:21
Speaker 1: one that does a single voice. Um, Dan casting Lenetta
23:25
Speaker 1: obviously does Homer. He also does Grandpa Abe. It's hard
23:30
Speaker 1: to not laugh just thinking of each one of these characters.
23:32
Speaker 1: I know, you know, I kept laughing out loud researching
23:35
Speaker 1: this stuff, at the very least, chuckling to myself, you know, yeah,
23:38
Speaker 1: strickling in the office today was like I gotta ask
23:40
Speaker 1: what the heck is going on over there? And it's
23:42
Speaker 1: like we're doing an episode in Simpson's leaving Alan. He
23:44
Speaker 1: was like, what castle Lena also does Barney Gumble Krusty
23:49
Speaker 1: the Clown, Groundskeeper, Willie Mayor Quimby Man so great Hans Moleman, Sideshow,
23:57
Speaker 1: mel Itchy, kdoskil Pucci, Uh, the Squeaky Boys Team Mr Burns, Lawyer,
24:03
Speaker 1: Krusty's Monkey, Mr Teeney, and he did Bill Clinton, Great
24:07
Speaker 1: Bill Clinton Team Real no fooling Pigs. What about Nancy
24:13
Speaker 1: cart Right, the Great Nancy cart Right. So she does
24:15
Speaker 1: bart that's what she's best known for, but she does
24:17
Speaker 1: some other voices of um, some other prepubescent uh characters
24:22
Speaker 1: like Ralph Wiggham one of the great all time voices ever,
24:26
Speaker 1: Um Todd Flanders, Nelson Months has a great one. Kearney
24:32
Speaker 1: the bald headed or shaved headed bully, and um Database.
24:39
Speaker 1: I don't know who Database was. I think Database is
24:41
Speaker 1: more recent. And this is probably where I should say
24:44
Speaker 1: that I haven't seen the Simpsons in a few years.
24:47
Speaker 1: I dabbled a little bit a couple of years ago
24:49
Speaker 1: and I was like, this is this is not bad?
24:51
Speaker 1: And then you know, it was kind of hit or miss,
24:54
Speaker 1: definitely compared to two years ago. But I'm not gonna
24:56
Speaker 1: hate on anything that's going on today. It's still the
24:59
Speaker 1: Simpson you know, of course, Uh, the great, great, great
25:02
Speaker 1: great Hankers area. Uh. One of the fantastic additional cast members. Uh.
25:08
Speaker 1: While I say additional because he's not one of the Simpsons,
25:11
Speaker 1: but he's a primary cast member. Uh. He voices a Pooh.
25:14
Speaker 1: Do you want to try and say, who's last name
25:16
Speaker 1: a poo Nahasa Pima pedal on Uh. And by the way,
25:21
Speaker 1: we should mention a Pooh is taking a lot of
25:22
Speaker 1: heat in recent years for the very least being an
25:26
Speaker 1: ethnic stereotype and some say straight up racist. Uh. And
25:30
Speaker 1: there is a documentary airing Believe on True TV next
25:34
Speaker 1: month called The Problem with a Pooh from uh comedian
25:39
Speaker 1: I really love Hari Kondabolou. And you know you should
25:44
Speaker 1: watch it and sort of think of a Pooh a
25:46
Speaker 1: little bit through uh, through Harry's lens or the lens
25:49
Speaker 1: of an Indian person. So, um, well, you know, this
25:52
Speaker 1: is not the first time that the Simpsons have been
25:54
Speaker 1: called the task for offending a group, sure, an entire
25:59
Speaker 1: group or race or country like It's it's definitely happened
26:03
Speaker 1: over the course of this the thirty seasons that's been
26:06
Speaker 1: going on. Um. Sometimes they apologize, sometimes they acknowledge it.
26:10
Speaker 1: Other times they're just like whatever for sure, um so
26:16
Speaker 1: going on with hankas area. Besides the poo, mostes lack
26:19
Speaker 1: one the great characters, Chief Wigham. I mean, these are
26:22
Speaker 1: all great comic book guy who, by the way, has
26:24
Speaker 1: a real name, Jeff Albertson, never knew that. I can't
26:29
Speaker 1: remember where that one came from, but yeah, Carl a
26:32
Speaker 1: beloved beloved friend of Homer's from the bar. Uh Dr
26:37
Speaker 1: Nick Hi for rolls and body. Remember he went to
26:42
Speaker 1: the Tijuana Upstairs Medical. That's where he graduated from uh
26:48
Speaker 1: Captain McAllister, uh Superintendent Chalmers. And of course when I
26:53
Speaker 1: think of Chalmers, all I can think of is uh.
26:55
Speaker 1: I can't remember the episode title, but the one with
26:58
Speaker 1: with Skinner and the I think that was like the
27:02
Speaker 1: twenty two episodes about Springfield. One. Oh man, that's such
27:05
Speaker 1: a great one short films. I was never into that one.
27:08
Speaker 1: I loved it and I had no idea. But apparently
27:11
Speaker 1: it's a reference to there was a documentary or okay,
27:15
Speaker 1: a movie twenty two short films about Glenn Gould. Love
27:18
Speaker 1: that movie. Okay, I've never even heard of it. And
27:21
Speaker 1: this raises a really good point that I'd like to
27:23
Speaker 1: make her chuck if you'll indulge me for a second.
27:27
Speaker 1: One of the things that The Simpsons did for me,
27:30
Speaker 1: and I suspected for a lot of other people, is
27:33
Speaker 1: that it pointed me in the direction of culture, like
27:37
Speaker 1: it cultured me in culturated me. I'm not sure what
27:40
Speaker 1: the word is. The Simpsons never taught me, but the
27:43
Speaker 1: the the just the little signposts that they they point
27:48
Speaker 1: to through the references they make that you don't get,
27:50
Speaker 1: but then you find out about later what they were
27:52
Speaker 1: actually talking about. It might lead you to go see
27:55
Speaker 1: that movie or read that book, or just have a
27:57
Speaker 1: better understanding of the world than you did four It's
28:00
Speaker 1: like backwards reference. Yeah, I mean some of them are
28:04
Speaker 1: so subtle to like, there isn't a human alive that
28:07
Speaker 1: picks up on all the culture references that the Simpsons
28:10
Speaker 1: throws out week the week. You know, whether it's uh
28:13
Speaker 1: something like you were just talking about, or whether it's
28:15
Speaker 1: just simply like in a show title like don't have
28:18
Speaker 1: to Live like a referee, little things like that. They're
28:21
Speaker 1: just nuggets all over the place. Uh. Continuing of Mr Zaria,
28:26
Speaker 1: Professor Frank Cleadas, the slack jall yokel who will get
28:31
Speaker 1: to a little bit more some of those his children's names. Uh,
28:34
Speaker 1: we have some good stuff coming up, so I love
28:37
Speaker 1: so get off the dang roof bumblebee man snake. Uh.
28:44
Speaker 1: Kirk van Houghton man that that divorce episode was one
28:47
Speaker 1: of the best. Yeah, can I borrow a Drederick Tatum
28:54
Speaker 1: and Piro also known as Chase that was from that
28:57
Speaker 1: episode two? I think it wasn't that the American Ideator
29:00
Speaker 1: that that Millhouse's mom dates. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I forgot
29:05
Speaker 1: about that. Oh man, Well, that's that's it. I think
29:10
Speaker 1: these may not be complete list from Harry Shear Um, No,
29:13
Speaker 1: I'm sorry for my area. But Harry Shears next, do
29:16
Speaker 1: you want to tackle some of these? He does Mr
29:18
Speaker 1: Burns and Mr Smithers, which is that's great to to
29:22
Speaker 1: basically take those two halves of a hole and be
29:25
Speaker 1: able to fill them out like that. Yeah, and by
29:27
Speaker 1: the way, Burns was in the very first episode and
29:29
Speaker 1: Smithers is heard over the intercom but not seen in
29:33
Speaker 1: that episode one. That's a bit of trivia. But he
29:36
Speaker 1: can put in their pipe and smoke. Ned Flanders principal Skinner,
29:41
Speaker 1: Reverend love Joys, great Dr Hibbert. That laugh, he's got
29:46
Speaker 1: a laugh that almost rivals, yours joke in awesomeness, Kent Brockman,
29:51
Speaker 1: great Scratchy. I don't know who does itchy, do you?
29:56
Speaker 1: I don't know. I kind of figured he did both,
29:58
Speaker 1: you'd think so. But yeah, somebody all right in to
30:02
Speaker 1: let us know Otto the bus driver, Ottoman, Jasper Abes,
30:06
Speaker 1: friend with the long beard who can't feel them a beard.
30:10
Speaker 1: Then Lenny Homer and Carl's other friends. Yeah, anybody else? Yeah,
30:16
Speaker 1: wolf Castle and McBain. Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah. And
30:20
Speaker 1: there's here's another old tidbit I can't even wait on
30:23
Speaker 1: from our our Easter egg section later on, is apparently
30:27
Speaker 1: if you take out all the wolf Castle pieces throughout
30:32
Speaker 1: the years, there's a little coherent story that you can
30:35
Speaker 1: actually follow that is masterful. Yeah. And I'm not sure
30:40
Speaker 1: if someone has I'm sure someone has pulled that. Um.
30:42
Speaker 1: I didn't get a chance to watch, but that's pretty amazing. Yeah, Uh, Herman,
30:48
Speaker 1: George Bush, Judge Schneider, Eddie Renier, some of the other
30:52
Speaker 1: Shearer characters. Do you remember who Eddie Renier was? No?
30:55
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't either. Maybe we got some digging
30:59
Speaker 1: to do, man, some some in bigg and digging. Uh,
31:04
Speaker 1: we have to mention the great Pamela Hayden. She does Millhouse,
31:09
Speaker 1: Rod Flanders, Janie Powell, Jimbo Jones, Malibu Stacy, Sarah Wigham
31:16
Speaker 1: uh and a couple of dearly departed cast members occasional
31:21
Speaker 1: cast members. Marsha Wallace, the great Marsha Wallace from The
31:24
Speaker 1: Bob Newhart Show passed away in two thousand thirteen. She
31:28
Speaker 1: was Mrs Crabapple. I mean, what a beloved character and
31:32
Speaker 1: as in so many ways they describe her in this article,
31:36
Speaker 1: is sarcastic and sexy. That whole that whole um subplot
31:40
Speaker 1: that went through multiple episodes where she was dating Um Yeah,
31:45
Speaker 1: Seymour Skinner and then later on Mary's ned Flanders. No
31:48
Speaker 1: one saw that coming, but the fact that this show
31:51
Speaker 1: could take steps like that and then would would commit
31:54
Speaker 1: itself to to continuing it as long as as could
31:59
Speaker 1: be and and keeping it up, you know what I mean,
32:01
Speaker 1: rather than just being like, oh, forget about that, it
32:03
Speaker 1: doesn't matter that that was another hallmark of the show
32:06
Speaker 1: as well, that it could had the chops to to
32:09
Speaker 1: make big leaps like that and then keep it going
32:11
Speaker 1: without as seeming tried or tired or anything. Absolutely Marsha
32:15
Speaker 1: Wallace won an Emmy for her voice work. Uh, and
32:19
Speaker 1: they paid a tribute to her um in the episode
32:22
Speaker 1: for Regrettings and a Funeral. Barts Chalkboard Gag at the
32:26
Speaker 1: beginning said we'll really miss you, mrs Ka so sad
32:31
Speaker 1: so sad. Uh. And the Man who grew too much,
32:33
Speaker 1: Ned Flanders wears a black armband. Two more Edna, who
32:37
Speaker 1: of course took the place of his departed wife. And
32:40
Speaker 1: Maud Flanders. Yeah he's a widower twice over. Yeah. Man,
32:44
Speaker 1: that one where Maud died. That was really just a
32:47
Speaker 1: great episode. Yeah, I mean that. That's the thing about
32:49
Speaker 1: The Simpsons is as silly as it was, they managed
32:52
Speaker 1: to pull the heartstrings every now and then. It was
32:54
Speaker 1: always they didn't do too much of it, but it
32:56
Speaker 1: was always just well timed, you know, for sure, and
32:58
Speaker 1: like they could take on some thing like death and
33:01
Speaker 1: grief and do it like with heart but also without
33:04
Speaker 1: making a very special episode of it. Always felt like
33:08
Speaker 1: the Simpsons. Yeah, exactly. Uh. And of course Phil Hartman,
33:11
Speaker 1: who left us way too soon. He did a couple
33:14
Speaker 1: of classic classic characters in Lionel Huts and Troy McLure. Uh.
33:20
Speaker 1: And I had to get a few of my favorite
33:22
Speaker 1: Troy McClure lines in here. Um, and he was very famous.
33:26
Speaker 1: If you don't know the Simpsons, Toroy McClure was uh,
33:30
Speaker 1: former semi famous actor who would pop up every now
33:34
Speaker 1: and then in uh kind of like school films and
33:37
Speaker 1: stuff like that, sure or um an infomercial. Yeah. He
33:42
Speaker 1: was just like a former pretty boy actor basically. Yeah.
33:45
Speaker 1: And his his running gag was I'm Troy McClure. You
33:48
Speaker 1: might remember me dot dot dot right, So here's here's
33:51
Speaker 1: a few of my favorites. I'm Troy McClure. You might
33:54
Speaker 1: remember me from some self help videos as Smoke Yourself
33:58
Speaker 1: then and get comf and Stupid. Here's another one. You
34:06
Speaker 1: might remember me from such driver's ed films as Alice's
34:09
Speaker 1: Adventures through the Windshield Glass and the Decapitation of lead
34:13
Speaker 1: Larry Leadfoot, And then this one. You may remember me
34:18
Speaker 1: from such educational films as to minus three equals Negative
34:21
Speaker 1: fun and by a Crackers The Silent Killer so good,
34:29
Speaker 1: and Attorney Lama Huts was just great too, was good?
34:32
Speaker 1: And then which one did he date? He dated Patty
34:35
Speaker 1: or Selma? I can't remember which one. You're just I'm mortified. Well,
34:40
Speaker 1: they're so interchangeable to me, Well, they are. One of
34:43
Speaker 1: them came out as gay, actually, and one of the
34:46
Speaker 1: recent seasons was not that one, right, um I I
34:52
Speaker 1: think it was Selma. No, it would have been Patty
34:56
Speaker 1: because Patty is the one who was engaged to Principal Skinner.
35:00
Speaker 1: That's right, um So, I guess he was dating Patty.
35:03
Speaker 1: I just remember in that episode when he he went
35:05
Speaker 1: out with her one night and then showed up the
35:07
Speaker 1: next day and said, you might remember me from certain
35:09
Speaker 1: dates as last nights. Right. One of my favorite lines
35:14
Speaker 1: from that episode is, um, there in like a nice
35:16
Speaker 1: restaurant and um, Selma, No, Patty lights up a cigarette
35:21
Speaker 1: and everybody's like, oh my gosh, she's smoking smoking. Somebody
35:25
Speaker 1: goes waiter, I ordered a zeema, not emphysema. What a
35:32
Speaker 1: great line, man, Yeah. Um So. Guest stars over the years,
35:36
Speaker 1: um they have. There have been some very beloved people
35:41
Speaker 1: playing other people, and then many people playing themselves. Uh.
35:45
Speaker 1: And I made a list of my favorite people playing
35:47
Speaker 1: other people. Martin Sheen played Sergeant Seymour Skinner a k a.
35:54
Speaker 1: The real Seymour Skinner. Oh that was Martin Sheen. Wasn't it. Okay?
35:59
Speaker 1: The Great Albert Brooks played Hank Scorpio. Nice. Yeah, that
36:03
Speaker 1: was a great character. Glenn Close played Homer's mom and
36:07
Speaker 1: just such a great episode that that one. And I
36:10
Speaker 1: think also the one where he goes and um tries
36:12
Speaker 1: to find what his middle his the j stand name.
36:17
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah yeah. I don't know if she was in that,
36:19
Speaker 1: but like she she's like a she's like an off
36:22
Speaker 1: camera character because he meets like some of her old
36:25
Speaker 1: friends from back when he was such a sweet episode
36:28
Speaker 1: and then they all end up on um Payote I
36:32
Speaker 1: think in truth sim since fashion. Patrick Stewart played Number
36:37
Speaker 1: one in the stone Cutters episode. Meryl Street played Jessica
36:41
Speaker 1: Lovejoy Bart's love interest brief love interest. The late great
36:46
Speaker 1: Johnny Cash played Homer Spirit Coyote. Yeah remember that. Remember
36:51
Speaker 1: Rodney Dangerfield is Larry Burns. I get no esteem, noverre
36:55
Speaker 1: god either. Ron Taylor played a bleeding gums Murphy Lee,
37:00
Speaker 1: his sort of mentor on the saxophone who played him
37:03
Speaker 1: got named Ron Taylor. Okay, give him his due, and
37:07
Speaker 1: arties If was played by John Lovitt Sure and John
37:10
Speaker 1: Lovitts played Jay Sherman, the critic in one of the
37:13
Speaker 1: more hated episodes of all times. Yeah, the crossover episode
37:17
Speaker 1: where they throw a film festival in Springfield and Jay
37:21
Speaker 1: Sherman shows up to to lead the jury for the
37:26
Speaker 1: film festival. Well, it was. It was basically a vehicle
37:30
Speaker 1: to introduce America to the critic, which was now going
37:33
Speaker 1: to be on Fox after The Simpsons. And did you
37:36
Speaker 1: ever see that show? The critic? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I
37:40
Speaker 1: saw that. It was a little smallsey, but I mean
37:42
Speaker 1: it had its charms here there. It wasn't like the
37:44
Speaker 1: worst thing anyone's ever put on TV. It certainly wasn't
37:47
Speaker 1: Simpsons caliber. But supposedly Matt Graining was so upset about
37:52
Speaker 1: this that he made them take his name off of
37:54
Speaker 1: the opening credits on the TV screen. He was that
37:59
Speaker 1: mad about this crawl sover that had been like shoved
38:01
Speaker 1: down his throat by Fox executives. As the legend goes,
38:04
Speaker 1: good for him, sure, um, And then you know, they've
38:08
Speaker 1: had some legends that played themselves before Bob Hope passed away.
38:11
Speaker 1: He was on the show. Ernest borg Nine, Robert Goulay,
38:16
Speaker 1: Steve Allen, Robert Gooley swings his hello. He's sitting there,
38:22
Speaker 1: he's doing the treehouse at Bart's Treehouse, he's doing a show.
38:26
Speaker 1: I don't know how he got booked there. I think
38:28
Speaker 1: Nelson maybe was his agent, and like he's swinging his
38:31
Speaker 1: microphone and the quarters are so close in the treehouse.
38:34
Speaker 1: He smacks like I think millhouses glasses right off his face,
38:37
Speaker 1: like oh sorry kid, uh And then they I think
38:42
Speaker 1: there've been more than like seventy musicians and bands through
38:44
Speaker 1: the years. They've always loved featuring bands. So at the time,
38:49
Speaker 1: all the Living Beatles before George Harrison passed, and the
38:52
Speaker 1: Ramons and the Who and Metallica and R E. M
38:55
Speaker 1: and You Too and Aerosmith, Tom Petty, the late Great
38:59
Speaker 1: Tom Petty, Lenny Krab. It's like the list goes on
39:01
Speaker 1: and on. But they've always had great musical guests. And
39:03
Speaker 1: that YouTube episode that was the garbage Man episode, right,
39:07
Speaker 1: I think so so one of the great There's like
39:10
Speaker 1: this is a great illustration of just a throwaway joke
39:13
Speaker 1: on The Simpsons that just made it that much smarter
39:16
Speaker 1: that show. Right, So, like Homer is trying to sneak backstage,
39:19
Speaker 1: so he dresses up like Irish potato delivery man, like
39:24
Speaker 1: there is such a thing, right, So, so the joke
39:28
Speaker 1: is that this is what Homer thinks is going to
39:30
Speaker 1: get him backstage. But then the added bonus to the
39:33
Speaker 1: joke is that it actually works, Like when he shows up,
39:37
Speaker 1: the security guards like, where in the devil have you been?
39:40
Speaker 1: Like they've been waiting for the guy who delivers raw
39:43
Speaker 1: potatoes backstage at a YouTube concert? Like that's just the thing, right,
39:48
Speaker 1: I love that show so much. Uh. And finally, as
39:52
Speaker 1: far as guest voices, we would be we would be
39:56
Speaker 1: remiss without mentioning the great Kelsey Grammar at side show
39:59
Speaker 1: Bob prominent prominent character. And then they ended up getting
40:03
Speaker 1: David Hyde pierced to play Cecil, his brother, and then
40:07
Speaker 1: John Mahoney all from Frazier to play his father, Dr
40:12
Speaker 1: Robert to Willoker. Nice, so good, it's so so good, Chuck. Alright,
40:17
Speaker 1: let's take another break and we're gonna come back and
40:20
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about these episodes and how they
40:22
Speaker 1: are put together. Josh, Okay, Chuck, we're back, and you
40:43
Speaker 1: promised that we were going to talk more about the Simpsons,
40:46
Speaker 1: so go all right, well we should talk a little
40:49
Speaker 1: bit about I mean, we can sit here and quote
40:51
Speaker 1: lines all day long. I know, I hope this isn't
40:54
Speaker 1: getting annoying for anybody. Hopefully everybody's having as much fun
40:57
Speaker 1: as we are. No, I mean this one was bound
40:59
Speaker 1: to get super wonky. But we should talk a little
41:02
Speaker 1: bit technically about how the show is made. Hey, uh,
41:06
Speaker 1: so here's how it starts, and the Grabs are did
41:08
Speaker 1: a good job of kind of breaking this down, I think. Yeah.
41:11
Speaker 1: And also also I want to give a shout out
41:13
Speaker 1: to an article on the Verge called how uh Simpsons
41:17
Speaker 1: episode is made. It goes into even greater detail. It's
41:21
Speaker 1: it's nuts what they do. Alright. So, like most shows,
41:25
Speaker 1: or I would say probably every show, uh, it begins
41:28
Speaker 1: in the writer's room. Writer's gonna pitch ideas to each
41:31
Speaker 1: other and the producers. An episode will get a green light,
41:35
Speaker 1: and then a single writer usually sometimes they work in pairs,
41:39
Speaker 1: will go off and create a draft in a couple
41:42
Speaker 1: of weeks. But that is not the end of the
41:44
Speaker 1: writing process. No, no, no, no no. Supposedly, the writing
41:48
Speaker 1: process is one of the most um uh shape shifting
41:55
Speaker 1: parts of the entire process of making an episode. There's
41:58
Speaker 1: a lot of people pokey at it. You've got the
42:01
Speaker 1: show runner, who in this capacity serves as the um
42:04
Speaker 1: script editor and the head writer. Um, you've got the
42:08
Speaker 1: actual writers, you've got the writing team, you've got the
42:11
Speaker 1: writing assistance, You've got producers who are thinking about it.
42:14
Speaker 1: You've got all these people who are thinking of the
42:16
Speaker 1: script and rewriting it and editing it. That is supposedly
42:19
Speaker 1: a script goes through rewrites um for like four to
42:25
Speaker 1: six weeks or something like that. Yeah, and like most
42:28
Speaker 1: shows operate this way, there's a lot, especially comedies, a
42:30
Speaker 1: lot of rewriting that goes on to just I mean,
42:33
Speaker 1: they'll come down and debate a word for a couple
42:36
Speaker 1: of hours to make sure they're getting the funniest stuff
42:39
Speaker 1: they can get right. Um, then what comes next is
42:43
Speaker 1: the table read. And brother, you and I got really
42:47
Speaker 1: really lucky. When was this four or five years ago?
42:50
Speaker 1: I think it was two thousand, thirteen or fourteen. So
42:54
Speaker 1: here's how it went down. We had a listener, uh
42:56
Speaker 1: named Jesse write us and say she did worked for
43:00
Speaker 1: the Simpsons, but she was in somehow. I think she
43:02
Speaker 1: had a friend. She was friends I think with Tom Gamble,
43:05
Speaker 1: the producer, one of the users of the Simpsons. Yeah,
43:08
Speaker 1: and she said, you know, dudes, whenever you want to
43:10
Speaker 1: come out to l A and go to a table read,
43:12
Speaker 1: and then we were basically at the airport about an
43:14
Speaker 1: hour later. So I don't know. We had a trip
43:17
Speaker 1: booked for some reason or another, and we went out
43:19
Speaker 1: there and uh we met at the Fox lot and
43:23
Speaker 1: the building little bungalow outside the Simpsons. First of all
43:26
Speaker 1: is just so exciting because they have topiaries of Simpsons
43:29
Speaker 1: characters and of itself. And then the table read is
43:35
Speaker 1: a bit of a public thing, like it's not a
43:37
Speaker 1: hundred people, but they were probably besides the cast in
43:43
Speaker 1: writing staff an additional what people in there, like tourists
43:48
Speaker 1: like us. Yeah, yeah, I would say something like that
43:50
Speaker 1: like friends, family members, um, just special invitees, the ambassador
43:55
Speaker 1: of from Spain, like just just people were there and
43:59
Speaker 1: and they were like you shut up, all of you.
44:02
Speaker 1: Don't make a sound, turn off your cell phones, will
44:05
Speaker 1: kill your whole family if you if you say anything,
44:07
Speaker 1: because this is serious business. Yeah. So there's they're all
44:10
Speaker 1: the people who work on the show. We're sitting at
44:11
Speaker 1: this big, huge, long conference table. And then the room
44:15
Speaker 1: is lined all along the outside on four walls with
44:18
Speaker 1: chairs for people to just sit there quietly and uh,
44:23
Speaker 1: sit at the altar in reverence of what they're about
44:26
Speaker 1: to see and we so the one we were there
44:29
Speaker 1: um was a script read for the episode that became
44:32
Speaker 1: the Wreck of the Relationship, right. I think Nick Offerman
44:36
Speaker 1: guest starred in it as a sea captain. But basically
44:39
Speaker 1: Bart and Homer go off on this um father's son
44:42
Speaker 1: bonding tour like aboard a ship, and uh. The b
44:47
Speaker 1: subplot was that while they were gone, Marge had to
44:51
Speaker 1: um pick Homer's fantasy football team, and she decided that
44:56
Speaker 1: she should pick all place kickers and turns out that
45:00
Speaker 1: she she was right. Um like, she ended up winning,
45:04
Speaker 1: but in between picking them and not knowing what she
45:07
Speaker 1: was doing and winning the whole thing, um, she ends
45:09
Speaker 1: up like trash talking with Mo and Lenny and Carl
45:13
Speaker 1: um And it's a pretty good be subplot. Actually, yeah,
45:17
Speaker 1: And I would love to say that, um, all of
45:19
Speaker 1: the voice actors are in the room together. That is
45:22
Speaker 1: not the case because everyone is busy and doing other stuff.
45:25
Speaker 1: And they got it down to a science now so
45:27
Speaker 1: they don't have to rub elbows. But they're you know,
45:30
Speaker 1: calling it on the phone and they're doing the voices
45:32
Speaker 1: and stuff either be a phone or in person, and uh,
45:35
Speaker 1: Matt Graining was there though, Uh, Dan Castelenetta was there
45:38
Speaker 1: in the room, Julie Kavner was there. Julie Kavner was there,
45:41
Speaker 1: Udly Smith yep Beudy Smith and um, Pamela Hayden was there,
45:46
Speaker 1: but we got no as Aria or Shearer, right, but
45:49
Speaker 1: they were on the phone, so like we were sitting
45:51
Speaker 1: there listening to them do the voices. Yeah, so they
45:53
Speaker 1: basically read through the script. They'll stop every now and
45:56
Speaker 1: then and make suggestions or something on a different line
45:59
Speaker 1: reading and in the writers and producers are all furiously
46:02
Speaker 1: scribbling and making notes and stuff like that. Uh. And
46:05
Speaker 1: then afterward they they finished it up and we very
46:11
Speaker 1: like a couple of six year old sheepishly grabbed our
46:14
Speaker 1: scripts that we get to take with us because everyone
46:16
Speaker 1: gets a script to read along and uh and met
46:21
Speaker 1: Matt Greening and it was surreal. It was um yeah.
46:27
Speaker 1: What was I think even more surreal was that he
46:30
Speaker 1: was like super nice, the nicest dude you could imagine,
46:33
Speaker 1: Like he was like really nice, like Dan cast Lenetta
46:36
Speaker 1: like didn't ever look up when like Umi was there,
46:38
Speaker 1: and she took a picture of me with Dan castle
46:40
Speaker 1: Lenetta and I'm saying they're giving a thumbs up, and
46:43
Speaker 1: he's like looking down, like signing my script. Yeah, it's
46:46
Speaker 1: not like he wasn't a nice guy, but he just
46:48
Speaker 1: wasn't quite as personable in person as I'm at Graining.
46:50
Speaker 1: But I think like Matt Greening like stood up and
46:52
Speaker 1: shook hands and was like, hey, great to meet you,
46:54
Speaker 1: and he didn't know who I was from Adam. He
46:57
Speaker 1: was just this surprisingly friendly guy. Yeah, we remember telling
47:01
Speaker 1: him that we uh you mean was just laughing the
47:03
Speaker 1: whole time. She was like, you guys are just hysterical. Yeah,
47:06
Speaker 1: we really were like a couple of six year olds.
47:08
Speaker 1: I was surprised at both of us actually, just how
47:10
Speaker 1: quickly we were like kids. Yeah. I don't get superstar
47:14
Speaker 1: struck anymore, and and this one just had me like
47:16
Speaker 1: I was super super nervous. But I remember I think
47:19
Speaker 1: I told him Mr. Graining that, you know, we have
47:23
Speaker 1: a podcast and we talked about the Simpsons so much,
47:25
Speaker 1: it's almost like an additional character on our show. And
47:28
Speaker 1: he asked what the name of it was, wrote it
47:30
Speaker 1: down stuff you should know on his script, and then
47:33
Speaker 1: ate that piece of paper in front of you, and
47:36
Speaker 1: then he signed our script and he scribbles out a
47:38
Speaker 1: quick drawing he drew bart On my script I got
47:40
Speaker 1: Homer and it says your pal Matt Graining. Yeah, so
47:45
Speaker 1: nice man. That script is like under plexiglass, under lock
47:49
Speaker 1: and key trained Momo to kill anybody who comes anywhere
47:52
Speaker 1: near it. It's just like comprised possession. Now. Oh yeah,
47:55
Speaker 1: for sure. We got Dan Castle Lenetta to sign it, uh,
47:59
Speaker 1: Julie Kabner to sign and I think those are the
48:01
Speaker 1: only three autographs I got. But it was neat so
48:04
Speaker 1: to us, we were just losing our minds. It was
48:06
Speaker 1: so amazing to them, like it was straight up work, right,
48:11
Speaker 1: Like this is work to them, and it was nicely
48:13
Speaker 1: like they're they're fine, like seeing people that they're friends with,
48:16
Speaker 1: who they invited or whatever. But um, I read an
48:18
Speaker 1: interview with al Jean and al Jean said that he
48:22
Speaker 1: hates will Reads more than anything because it is real work,
48:26
Speaker 1: but it's it's in this weird kind of in between state,
48:30
Speaker 1: like letting people come wat. Yeah, I wonder whose idea
48:32
Speaker 1: that was. I don't know, but apparently a customed that
48:35
Speaker 1: they've been keeping up this whole time, despite at the
48:37
Speaker 1: very least one of the high powered executives in charge
48:41
Speaker 1: of the show hating it interesting. Yeah, I think there's
48:44
Speaker 1: lots of distractions and stuff like that, but apparently they
48:46
Speaker 1: muddled through every Thursday. Yeah, and it's I just can't
48:50
Speaker 1: say enough it was. This is not hyperbole. It is
48:54
Speaker 1: a genuine all time life highlight. You know. It was
48:58
Speaker 1: just amazing, agree, Chuck. Alright, so I think we've reached
49:02
Speaker 1: the end of part one of episode one thousand, technically
49:06
Speaker 1: episode that's a cliffhanger too, it is. Man, I'm pretty
49:10
Speaker 1: I'm pretty psyched. Like this is not planned, Chuck. This
49:13
Speaker 1: is a genuine cliffhanger. Yeah, right in the middle of
49:14
Speaker 1: the production process, people are gonna be like, I have
49:17
Speaker 1: to know how they make these shows. Well, just cool out, everybody,
49:20
Speaker 1: cool out. You can wait until what Thursday? Right, Yes,
49:24
Speaker 1: for our actual official episode one thousand, And in the meantime,
49:28
Speaker 1: you can get in touch with us on Twitter. I'm
49:30
Speaker 1: at josh um Clark and what the official handle is
49:33
Speaker 1: s y s K podcast. Charles Chuck is at Facebook
49:37
Speaker 1: dot com slash Charles W. Chuck Bryant. There's also I'm
49:41
Speaker 1: on there somewhere you can try to find me Um
49:43
Speaker 1: And then there's also an official stuff you Should Know
49:45
Speaker 1: one on Facebook. Two. You can send us all an email,
49:48
Speaker 1: including Jerry to stuff podcast at how stuff Works dot
49:51
Speaker 1: com and as always, hang out with us at our
49:53
Speaker 1: home on the web, Stuff you Should Know dot com.
50:01
Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, is
50:04
Speaker 1: a howstof works dot com