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