Thursday Humor: Remembering Truly Funny Simpsons…

You would have to be a damned fool to think that The Simpsons, now in it’s 19th season, is anywhere close to as funny as it was back in its hey-day. The Simpsons prime, I believe, started with the last half of the 3rd Season and continued through the 5th. Many of The Simpsons classic episodes are in these seasons. Everyone seems to know and love such greats as Marge Vs. the Monorail and Mr. Plow, both of which coincidently have memorable songs, but that is beside the point.

I recently had some down time and watched an episode that truly reminded me of genius The Simpsons humor. Part of what makes The Simpsons great is their fantastic use of both visual gag humor and witty writing. One episode that really stood out to me is Bart Gets an Elephant. I put together a little mashup of my favorite moments from the episode. Which is here for your viewing pleasures”

In this episode Bart wins his choice of $10,000 or an African Elephant, he take the Elephant. Comedy ensues.

The first part of the clip excellently gives us a glimpse into the beautiful psyche of Homer Simpson. We learn that with Homer’s logic that sports are solely about getting drunk and if your own mother is in the way you should push her. Also, could 1985 happen tomorrow? Homer is probably one of the only one us prepared if it does. There is also the comical visual gag of Homer cleaning the basement, classic.

The next part of the clip really shows one of the best part of The Simpsons humor, the masterful use of the 2%er. In case you didn’t know it, a 2%er is a joke that the joke teller expects a very small percentage of the audience to actually find humorus. The “If you can see this you scrubbed too hard. – Grant Wood” probably isn’t the best use of it, but if you really watch it The Simpsons used to go to painstaking lengths to achieve this sort of humor. One of the better 2%ers in the episode is when the Homer runs over a deer statues

Homer:D’Oh!

Lisa: A Deer!

Marge: A Female Deer!

The next part is truly one of my favorites, I love the family’s reaction to Lisa. The blank stare shows their lack of caring/understanding and of course Homer is there for the kneejerk reaction to send Lisa to her room, probably for confusing him or making him think.

The visual gags keep rockin’ through out the episode in the form of Snowball II (?) and Santa’s Little Helper trying to win back the families love.

One of the most hilarious parts of the episode is when the hard-nosed “Peanut Factory” (because peanuts obviously come from factories) manager finally feels validated by his feared elephant attack only to waste the moment droning on about other’s doubt rather than actually warn anyone.

I didn’t really pick this episode for any reason in particular, I just always enjoyed it. I guess because thinking about it, it would be totally badass to be a 10-year-old with a pet elephant. Truthfully, you can pick just about any episode from that era and find all sorts of little comedic gems. The show was brilliant back then, I wish new Simpsons was even half as funny. Alas, I will just have to enjoy the DVD’s over and over again….

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Now playing: Blur – Boys And Girls