What’s better than television making fun of television?The Simpsonshas arguably done it better than any other show, managing to deliver easy laughs in the form ofterrific extended parody episodeslike the two-part “Who Shot Mr. Burns?” in seasons six and seven, the brilliantly bizarre “The Springfield Files” in season eight, and even “24 Minutes” all the way in season 18. Viewers don’t have to watchDallas,The X-Files, or24to enjoy those episodes either; the references simply work as structural guidelines and additional fun for people who do get them.
Obviously,The Simpsonsstaff has so much TV knowledge that there are plenty of allusions to other shows that the average viewer won’t get. The beauty of a good parody, however, is thateven fans who don’t necessarily know which television showsThe Simpsonsis making fun of can still see the genre tropes and absurdity in them. Or, if it’s more of an homage, fans can tell that this scene is referencing something else and in a way that’s compelling enough to make them curious about what show it could be. The following send-ups are merely Easter eggs, so episode-length parodies don’t apply here, but that doesn’t mean they won’t stick in your mind for the rest of each respective episode anyway.
The Simpsons
10Cartoon Crossovers
Parody of Bob’s Burgers and references to other shows
One ofthe weirdestSimpsonsepisodes of all time, “Treehouse of Horror XXXIII” ends with a crossover. After leaving Simpsons World, a version of the Simpsons family winds up in a diner after driving for hours. Then we see their waiter is Linda fromBob’s Burgers, showing us that they’re now in a different animated realm entirely. As she walks away, she sings a song about sweaty cheese and how it’s still cheese to her.
Any crossover is strange, but this one feels particularly eerie. We get a shot of the restaurant from outside, then a shot of Bob’s Burgers Land, and then a shot that shows several areas of different animated shows. There’s aSouth ParkPark, aFamily GuyTown, aFuturamaZoo, aRick and MortyUniverse, aBig MouthMountain, and aSpongeBobSea. This isn’t a funny crossover, but it’s more than eerie enough to be among the most intriguing and meta TV references inThe Simpsons.
9The Springfield Squares
Parody of The Hollywood Squares
Live from Springfield Harbor, “where the sewage meets the sand,” there is a show called “The Springfield Squares.” Nine celebrities each get a square to sit in, and all nine squares make one large red square. Beside it, there are a few contestants and the host. Rainier Wolfcastle (Harry Shearer) gets chosen, and he describes the premise of a movie in which McBain is terrified to discover that his son has become a nerd. The movie’s title (Help, My Son is a Nerd) might make viewers think it’s a comedy, but Wolfcastle insists that it isn’t. That alone is hilarious.
It’s also great when the coast guard comes by and says a massive tidal wave is about to hit. Everyone climbs intoBarry White’s square for safety, except that one guy who gets washed away. This is a parody of a very old show calledHollywood Squares, which originally aired from the mid-60s to the early 80s. It didn’t take place on the beach, though, andThe Simpsons' season four finale demonstrated why.
8Bart nearly gets run over by a car
Parody of cliffhangers in general
In “Separate Vocations,” Bart (Nancy Cartwright) gets to spend a night on patrol with some cops. Inevitably, they get into an intense chase as some typical police-procedural music plays over the scene. One of them gives Bart a gun and asks him to cover them. Once Bart gets out of the vehicle, Snake (Hank Azaria) accelerates at the boy. Bart’s gunshots miss, and he screams as the show freezes. The words “To Be Continued” are shown along the bottom of the frame.
This is a nice reference to how some shows will end episodes on cliffhangers to keep their audiences interested in next week. Of course, this happens in the middle of the episode, so it’s just a compelling way to cut to commercial. Once we’re back, the scene resumes. But first, an announcer reads the text along the bottom: “Act II, Death Drives a Stick.” It turns out the alley got narrower as it got closer to Bart, crushing Snake’s car from each side just before he could hit the boy. Good stuff.
7"I’m An Amendment To Be"
Parody of “I’m Just a Bill”
Season nine’s “The Day the Violence Died” is one ofthe only Itchy and Scratchy-centered episodesout there, but it’s still lots of fun to watch. At one point, Bart and Lisa (Yeardley Smith) are watching TV when this program comes on with some funky keyboard playing. This kid asks who left this garbage in front of the steps of Congress, but the piece of paper tells him he’s actually “an amendment to be” and is hoping he’ll be ratified. What would this amendment be about, you ask?
According to the paper, “There’s a lot of flag-burners who have got too much freedom. I wanna make it legal for policemen to beat ‘em.” This is an absolutely hilarious parody of “I’m Just a Bill,” an old educational cartoon about how a bill is turned into a law. After he’s ratified, the amendment lets in some of his friends, weapon-wielding laws that aren’t interested in playing nice with democracy. Today, it looks like a paper-version of January 6th—making this one ofthe best prediction episodes in theSimpsonscanon.
6Alien Lineup
Marvin the Martian and ALF
Season eight’s “The Springfield Files” features a famous police lineup of various aliens from both cinema and television. The Springfield Branch of the F.B.I. has been “Invading Your Privacy for 60 Years,” and it has access to some really famous science fiction characters. While it has Gort fromThe Day the Earth Stood Stilland Chewbacca fromStar Wars, it also has ALF (short for “Alien Life Form”) fromthe show of the same titleand Marvin the Martian from theLooney Tunes.
The aliens aren’t in a good mood, except ALF, happily waving, “Yo.” The most annoyed of them all is probably Marvin the Martian, who says “This makes me very angry” after Homer (Dan Castellaneta) decides that no one in the lineup is the life-form he saw the other night. This is famouslythe most illegal shot inSimpsonshistory, and it shows just how much influence this sitcom held in popular culture that no company included in this epic crossover sued for copyright infringement.
5Lisa holds a card on fire
Parody of ‘Twin Peaks’
“Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)” may stem fromDallasoverall, but it throws in a moment that’s so bizarre that it could come from nowhere butDavid Lynch’s famously surreal mystery,Twin Peaks. Chief Wiggum (Hank Azaria) is eating a donut while trying to figure out who shot Mr. Burns (Harry Shearer) when Lisa appears from behind a curtain and holds up an ace of spades. Her voice doesn’t sound quite right, and the card she’s holding is on fire. Wiggum doesn’t understand the clue she’s giving him, despite Lisa emphasizing that it’s “Burns’ suit!”
The suit is burning—get it? Anyway, Wiggum is so puzzled that she has to break from this bizarre behavior to explain more clearly: “Look at Burns' suit! Yeesh!” People who aren’t familiar withTwin Peakswill be utterly baffled (yet intrigued) by this moment, but others will immediately recognize this as a reference to the waiting room in The Black Lodge. It’s got the red curtain, the zigzag floor pattern, and some very weird dialogue. Props toThe Simpsonsfor going so far out.
4Homer Singing
Parody of ‘The Flintstones’
At the beginning of “Marge vs. The Monorail,” Homer is asleep at the power plant asThe Flintstones’theme plays. Someone nearby wakes him up, at which point he says “Yabba dabba doo!” and slides down a big pipe in the same way that Fred Flintstone would slide down a dinosaur’s tale at the beginning of his cartoon. Homer then breaks through his car window and lands in the driver’s seat. And if that’s not enough, he proceeds to sing, “Simp-son,Ho-mer Simp-son! He’s the greatest guy in his-tor-y! From the…townof Spring-field! He’s about to hit a chest-nut tree!”
Then he screams and crashes right into that tree. This delightfully mirrors the introduction toThe Flintstones, replacing the bird-alarm with a more modern fixture and the windowless Flintstone’s car with one that wouldn’t make sense to just sail right into. That cartoon from the 60s is one ofthe most iconic animated shows of all time, andThe Simpsonspays homage to something its writers no doubt grew up on.
3Mr. Burns Rhyming
Parody of ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’
“Last Exit to Springfield” is one ofseason four’s strongest entries, and here’s one of the moments that really stands out. There is a strike at the nuclear plant, and protesters are outside the facility in the middle of the night singing about how they’re the ones with the power. Mr. Burns and Smithers stand on a balcony overlooking them all, and Burns puts a hand to his ear with a such a devilish smile on his face that anyone familiar with the 60’s TV adaptation ofHow the Grinch Stole Christmaswill know which scene they’re referencing at once.
This is a send-up of when the Grinch overhears all the citizens of Whoville singing on Christmas morning, even though all their material possessions are missing. While the Grinch pulls in his dog and angrily lists some things those people are singing without, Mr. Burns pulls Smithers in to list some things that the protesters are thriving without. At this point in the 60s cartoon, the Grinch realizes that maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. However, Mr. Burns is too evil to become nice; he merely decides it would be wise for him to just strike a deal already. It’sa perfect musical parodyof a Christmas classic.
2Fat Tony Driving Through Springfield
Parody of ‘The Sopranos’
Season 13 is often considered one ofThe Simpsons’weakest seasonsoverall, but the episode “Poppa’s Got a Brand New Badge” at least has this great sequence. It’s less about humor than about paying homage to one ofHBO’s greatest masterpieces, but that fits for what the sitcom is aiming at here. Namely, the introduction toThe Sopranos: Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) drives home from Manhattan on the New Jersey Turnpike. Along the way, he passes the Twin Towers, the Statue of Liberty, a graveyard, a meat market, and more.
Likewise, the cartoon shows Fat Tony (Joe Mantegna) driving around Springfield, passing places like Krusty Burger, the power plant, the statue of Jebediah Springfield, Moe’s (where the owner seems to be stealing from a customer who passed out on the sidewalk), Lard Lad Donuts, a pornography store that Krusty (Dan Castellaneta) amusingly frequents under disguise, and more. The exact same song is used in this parody as on the show, and it’s excellent in both instances:Alabama 3’s “Woke Up This Morning.” Both Tony’s are smoking a cigar, too. Overall, humor and respect for the drama meld perfectly here.
1Tuesday Night Live
Parody of ‘Saturday Night Live’
In “Brother From the Same Planet,” Bart’s watching television in bed when a show comes on. Krusty is absolutely bombing in a monologue that feels very similar to one you might see onSaturday Night Live. He tells the audience that he was just in a movie, but no one in the audience knows or cares about it. Krusty tells them they’ve got a great show for them tonight, but then he corrects himself: “Well, actually the last half hour’s a real garbage dump.”
That’s a pretty good description for mostSNLepisodes, and the monologue also tends to be a weak spot too. A picture of Krusty doing a funny pose reads “Tuesday Night Live” as Bart says he missesJoe Piscopo(who was onSNLfrom 1980-4). After the commercial, Krusty appears in a stupid sketch where the gimmick is that everyone has enormous ears. It’s even called The Big Ear Family, and Krusty groans, “This goes on for 12 more minutes.” In addition to the fact thatSNL-legendPhil Hartmanclearly did the voice who introduced this sketch, this feels like a hilariously top-tierSimpsonsparody.
