Ever noticed how similar Homer and Krusty the Clown are?
It's even more evident when Crusty showed without makeup on,
or in the episode "Homie the Clown",
where they look more or less identical.
Well, this is not sheer coincident.
In fact, it's a defining part of Krusty's character
and a key element for the relationship between Krusty, Homer and Bart.
Because while Bart show no respect for his father and is just a brat (there of his name),
he idolizes Krusty the Clown
It's meant to show that even though they both looked the same
and share an almost equal level of stupidity and pure silliness,
he treats them differently.
In fact, before the show began,
they planned for Homer to actually be Krusty the Clown
as a sort of secret identity
Just like most other animated shows,
The Simpsons uses something called a floating timeline,
in which the characters never physically age.
And as such, the show is generally assumed to be set in the current year
But they still have an age though, of course.
For example, Bart is 10 and Maggie is 1
So if all the characters had aged normally since the show began,
Homer and Marge will now be around 60 years old
Bart would be 35
and Lisa 32
and Maggie would be 26
and Mr. Burns would be over 120 years old
In the very beginning, Marge Simpson's hairstyle was assigned that way
because in the last episode of the first season,
they planned on revealing that underneath was a pair of bunny ears.
This was of course changed before the reveal,
but it can still be seen in some sprite art for The Simpsons arcade game
Between 1991 and 1993, Conan O'Brien was actually a writer and producer for the show.
In fact, a few of the episodes Conan produced
are regarded as some of the most memorable and finest episodes overall.
He's also credited as the key influencer for the series' rapid shift in direction
from grounded realism towards surreal and more eccentric plots
after he wrote the episode "Marge vs. The Monorail".
Several of the characters in the show almost always go by their nicknames.
Their full names are often revealed through Easter eggs and special episodes in the show.
Some examples are Marjorie Jacqueline Simpson (Marge),
Bartholomew Jojo Simpson (Bart),
Abraham Jay-Jedediah Simpson II (Abe?Grandpa),
Jeffrey Albertson (Comic Book Guy),
Eleanor Abernathy (Crazy Cat Lady),
Robert Underdunk Terwilliger Jr. (Sideshow Bob),
Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky (Krusty The Clown),
and Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (Apu)
What?
No wonder everyone has a f*cking nickname
Homer is the only character to have dialogue in every single episode.
Marge and Lisa have appeared in every episode,
but they didn't have dialogue in one episode each.
Bart is the only of the four main characters not have been seen or mentioned for an entire episode,
not counting Maggie, of course, because you know,
she suck
[Sucking sound]
Mr. Burns devoted assistant, Smithers,
was originally going to be a black gay man with purple hair,
which can actually be seen in the third episode from Season 1 [Homer's Odyssey]
The reason they opted not to do this though
was because they felt that a black assistant
which is extremely loyal and almost submissive towards the superior
might be seen as something else.
On the contrary, the police officer, Lou, had yellow skin in Season 1
The word
-[Bart] Meh
-[Lisa] m-e-h, meh
is a word used as an expression of indifference or boredom.
It's often regarded as a verbal shrug.
The reason I'm bringing this up
is because The Simpsons actually helped to popularize the word
back in the mid to late 90s.
The origin of the word is somewhat Inconclusive,
but before The Simpsons started using it,
it was more or less unheard of.
Pretty interesting, right?
-[Bart and Lisa] meh
In the episode "Treehouse of Horror VI", Homer is transported into a 3D world
and in one scene, you'll find a string of hexadecimal numbers displayed behind him.
When converted into ASCII, these numbers read "Frink rules",
in reference to Professor Frink.
Homer's hair and ears sometimes form the initials M and G,
which of course stands for Matt Groening
-[Homer] Form an M and a G.
Up until season 20,
the opening sequence display Maggie's worth to be $847.63
Matt has said that this was the average monthly cost of raising a baby at the time.
But ever since season 20,
the groceries are first worth $243.26,
with Maggie then doubling it.
No one seems to be quite sure what these numbers mean
or if they mean anything at all, for that matter.
In nearly every establishing shot of the power plant,
a crow can be heard.
[Crow cawwing]
This was even marked in one episode,
when the power plant moves to India
and instead of a crow, a cow can be heard.
[Cow mooing]
Ever since the show began in 1989,
fans have speculated about exactly where the show takes place.
Because if we do a quick Google search, we will find that
there are a lot of towns and places named Springfield in the United States
Being the perfectionist I am, I went the extra mile and
or actually f*ck your customary units
I went the extra kilometer
and counted and marked each and every individual location I could find.
In total, the US has 31 Springfields, and this is also the point.
The show's creator, Matt Groening, has said that
he intentionally chose to named Springfield
because he knew it was one of the most common town and county names in the US.
In other words, Springfield was never meant to have an exact location from the very beginning
However in an interview from 2012,
Matt actually revealed for the first time that
Springfield in the show is based on Springfield, Oregon.
Then again, it isn't that much of a surprise given that
he grew up in Portland only a few kilometers away.